Wilde Nights in Paradise (Wilde Security #1)

Chapter Nine

Libby heard a splash and lowered her book. It was too small of a sound to have been Jude jumping in for a swim, and a sharp spike of worry made her set her book aside.

“Sam?”

Not that Sam would voluntarily go anywhere near the water’s edge. In typical feline fashion, he hated being wet, but there was always a chance he could’ve fallen in…

Nope, he still lay curled up at her feet, dozing contentedly in the sun. He lifted his head at the sound of his name and blinked his big green eyes as if to say, “Yes?”

She scratched under his chin. “Nothing, kitty cat. Go back to sleep.”

So what had made the splash? She scanned the pool’s surface and saw nothing. Okay, maybe she imagined it. It was more than possible. She’d been so absorbed in her book that she didn’t even realize how late it was getting. The sun had been high in the sky when she came out here to get away from Jude, but now slanted across the patio at a stark angle, casting shadows over the pool.

She really should go inside and face Jude. Couldn’t avoid him forever. Besides, she was getting hungry.

With a sigh, she crawled off the lounger and stretched her arms up over her head. Her body felt loose and warm from the sun, her muscles more relaxed than they had been in years, but she still couldn’t shake the notion that she was shirking her responsibilities by taking time off from work. Yes, it was time she’d earned. And, yes, other people took time off with no repercussions. It didn’t make her less of a lawyer, somehow inferior to her counterparts.

And still.

Maybe she could sneak some work in tomorrow. Jude usually swam laps for an hour or so in the morning. She could do it without him knowing. A quick call to Noah for an update, a couple e-mails… Really, what would it hurt? She highly doubted K-Bar had the kind of technology needed to track her all the way down to Florida from one little phone call to her office.

The idea of work cheered her as she turned around to gather her things—and spotted a huge green monster swimming across the pool toward her.

She shrieked and dropped both her book and towel. The book skidded across the concrete deck and landed in the water with a soft plop. The towel disappeared from view, but she didn’t dare drop her gaze to look for it. Not with that…thing…swimming closer. Closer. Closer.

Sam hissed and arched up onto his toes, and she snatched him up in a hug, unmindful of his extended claws.

Closer. Closer.

She couldn’t move, her knees locked in terror. She imagined giant teeth clamping on to her leg, pulling her under the surface until water filled her lungs and choked her. Powerful jaws ripping through muscle and bone and dragging her dead body away. Nobody would know what happened to her until the alligator died and someone cut it open and found what was left of her in its belly.

Oh God.

“Libby!” Jude appeared in the patio doorway in nothing but his boxer-briefs, his hair mussed from a recent nap. He held his gun in a two-handed grip in front of him, but kept it pointed toward the ground as he edged to her side. He ran a hand over her hair, her arms, and her back as if checking for injuries, then took the terrified cat out of her arms and set him on the ground. Sam tore off toward the house in a streak of orange fur, and Jude returned his full attention to her. He clasped her neck, made her look at him with the pressure of his thumb against her jaw.

“What’s wrong? Hey, Libs, talk to me. Are you okay? What did you see?”

Unable to force sound through her frozen vocal cords, she pointed a shaking finger at the pool. He turned…and laughed.

Laughed. At an alligator .

He really was crazy.

“Is that all?” He set his gun on the table between loungers and knelt at the edge of the pool. In a move so fast all she could do was squeak in protest, he snatched the thing out of the water by its tail and the back of its spiked neck. It opened its mouth, but instead of rows of deadly teeth, it had nothing but pink gums and a darting lizard tongue.

Libby scrambled backward over the lounger as Jude turned toward her with the reptile in hand. “W-what the hell is that?”

“Iguana,” he said and loosened his grip on its neck. The iguana bumped its head against his hand, and he smiled. “A friendly one, too. He just wanted to say hi. Maybe bum some fruit off you. C’mere and pet him.”

“I don’t think so.” She stumbled back another step, her heart still hammering painfully. “W-where did it come from?”

“They’re all over around here. People let their pets go when they got too big to care for, and they started breeding in the wild. They like to snack on garden flowers, which is probably why this guy found his way here. Just looking for an evening snack, huh, buddy?”

He spoke as if he planned to let it stay in the garden. He would probably tease her relentlessly, but she couldn’t deal with that. Just…couldn’t. Sure, it wasn’t an alligator like she first thought, but it was huge and looked like a prehistoric throwback from her worst reptile-themed nightmare.

“It’s okay,” Jude said and took another step forward. “He’s harmless.”

“Please—” She choked on a surge of fear-induced tears. “Please, don’t. Can you…get rid of it?”

Jude stopped. Frowned. “He scares you.”

“Yes. Very much.” And here comes the teasing , she thought. If he did something childish like throw it at her or chase her around the pool with it, she was going to murder him. Slowly. In his sleep. After chopping off his balls.

“Oh, damn.” He backed away from her in three quick steps. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize… I’m an idiot. Let me get him outta here. I’ll take him down to the beach where there’s plenty of tourists to feed him so he won’t be tempted to come back.” As he spoke, he circled around the other side of the pool and headed for the path to the back gate. “Go inside and lock the doors. I’ll be right back.”

As her wobbly knees finally gave out, Libby sank onto one of the loungers and stared after him in complete shock. Why hadn’t he teased her? She’d given him plenty of ammunition between mistaking the iguana for an alligator and squealing like a terrified child when he tried to get her to pet it. The Jude she knew wouldn’t have let it go. The heartless bastard would have been relentless about it, too, teasing her until she was sobbing…

But he hadn’t.

In fact, he’d looked horrified that he’d unintentionally frightened her. He’d even walked the long way around the pool so that the damn lizard wouldn’t be anywhere near her. That was…thoughtful. And kind of…well, surprisingly sweet.

“Who are you?” she whispered into the gathering dusk. Because whoever this man was, he definitely was not the Jude Wilde she once knew.

…

Jude dropped the iguana on a rock wall by the beach, much to the delight of the tourists watching the sun’s fiery decent over the ocean. It was only then, as dozens of cameras turned his way, that he realized he was still dressed for a nap—in nothing but his underwear. His only concern had been getting Mr. Iguana as far away from Libby as possible to erase that terrified expression from her face, and he hadn’t given his state of dress—or, rather, undress—a second thought.

But, hell with it. It was Key West. He’d seen stranger things than a man running around in boxer-briefs, carrying a lizard.

Wary of leaving Libby for too long, he gave the crowd a wave, then beat feet the block and a half back to the house. He found her exactly where he’d left her, sitting on the end of the lounger.

“Libby, I told you to go inside.”

Her eyes looked huge in the gathering darkness, and even a dolt like him could see the glaze of shock in them. He cursed himself yet again and knelt beside her. “I’m sorry I frightened you.”

“No, it wasn’t—” She lifted a shaking hand to her temple and let go a humorless laugh. “I thought it was an alligator.”

“Crocodile,” he corrected. “Alligators like fresh water. American Crocodiles live in salt water, but they’re endangered, and you don’t see them much this far south…” At her furrowed brow, he trailed off. “And that doesn’t matter. I’m rambling. Sorry.”

She tilted her head to one side and studied him with a curious expression. “You’ve been apologizing a lot lately.”

“Yeah, well. I got a lot to apologize for, don’t I?” Heat crawled across the back of his neck, and he hoped like hell he wasn’t turning red. To cover, he gripped her by the wrists and lifted her to her feet. “How about we go inside now? Get some coffee and I’ll put in a movie.”

Some of the color returned to her complexion as he led her toward the house. “If you put in Lake Placid , I swear I’ll make you into a soprano.”

“Aw, give me some credit, Libs. I have a more refined pallet than that when it comes to movies.” He settled her on the couch and then backed up a couple steps before adding with a grin, “I was thinking Godzilla.”

“I will slaughter you,” she said and wrapped herself up in the thin quilt from the back of the couch, but the threat lacked heat, and a smile played around her lips. It pleased him that she’d bounced back enough from the scare to start issuing threats.

“All right, no giant reptiles.” He opened the cabinets in the entertainment center and found a dismal selection of highbrow dramas and lowbrow comedies. Apparently, Seth’s tastes in movies hadn’t changed. “We’ll order something On Demand.”

“That bad?” Libby asked.

He winced. “Painful.”

As he straightened, Libby cleared her throat. “Um, Jude, you do know you’re still in your underwear, right?”

“I’m aware.”

“And that you ran out in public like that?”

“Eh.” He waved a hand, but decided that maybe it was time to pull on some shorts. “Key West is like Vegas. What happens here, stays here. I’ll get dressed, maybe pop us some corn.” He handed her the remote, and the quilt fell away as she reached for it. Angry red lines marred the soft flesh of her arm.

“What the hell?” Forgetting about everything else, he caught her wrist and turned her arm over when she tried to hide the marks. “That fucking cat.”

“Don’t be mad at him.” She tugged, trying to loosen his grip. “It wasn’t his fault.”

“Bullshit. He scratched the hell out of you.” Jude ran his fingers gently over the scratches, then dropped her wrist and changed course for the small bathroom off the living room. He tore open cupboards, looking for the first-aid kit that Seth kept there. It had seen a lot of use during their partying days, always kept well stocked with everything from antiseptic cream to sutures to IV bags and tubing. He found it and started back across the living room. “I need to clean you up.”

“Why?”

“Because that cat shits in a box and then digs through it. I can’t even begin to guess the kinds of bacteria he carries around on his paws.”

“Not that. I agree that I need to clean these scratches, but…why do you care?”

Her words hit him with the force of a surface-to-air missile, and he stopped short halfway across the living room. Why did he care? The question implied awe and disbelief, as if he were doing something so far out of the realm of her understanding she couldn’t wrap her mind around it. And, damn, that hurt, because he’d never stopped caring. For him, it was a fact of life—inevitable, like the spin of the Earth on its axis. No matter what he did, thought, or pretended, Elizabeth Pruitt was always going to mean something to him.

Not like he could tell her that. No, he’d had his reasons for ending things with her the way he had—reasons that still applied. So instead of saying any of the thoughts on his mind, he answered, “It’s my job. Your father hired Wilde Security to keep you safe from everything, including cats.”

She frowned. “Sam was just scared.”

“Scared or not, all cats are insane,” he said and settled onto the couch next to her. He set the first-aid kit on the coffee table, flipped it open, and searched for the antiseptic pads.

“Wait, let me get this straight.” She held up her hands to stop him from dabbing any of the scratches. “You like freaky giant lizards, but not cats?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Cats always look like they’re plotting your demise.”

“And the lizard wasn’t?”

“Nah. He just wanted to steal a flower or two.” He caught her wrist and slapped one of the pads over the scratches.

She hissed through her teeth. “ You are the only insane one in this room.”

“So you’ve said. Repeatedly. Now hold still. It doesn’t hurt.”

She grumbled, but let him finish tending to her arm. After a long moment, she muttered, “You’re kind of good at this.”

“I had some battlefield medical training.”

“All so you could tend to cat scratches.”

“Yeah, well.” With a shrug, he packed up the kit and started gathering the used bandage wrappers. “I’d much rather be here, dealing with cat scratches, than over there, dealing with a buddy’s bullet wound.”

“God. That was so insensitive of me. I apologize. I’m still shaken, I guess.” She hesitated, swallowed hard. “Did you ever see one? A bullet wound?”

“And worse.”

She bit her lower lip. “Were you…?”

“No, I never took a bullet.”

“But you were shot at?”

“Few times. Lucky for me, we had better snipers. Seth saved my ass more times than I want to admit.” He picked up the kit, the wad of wrappers, and used antiseptic pads. “Figure out what movie you want to watch. I’ll be back in a few.”

Without giving her time to respond, he returned the kit to its spot in the bathroom, then strode to the bedroom. Once inside, he leaned against the cool wood. Drew in several deep breaths.

Smile, he told himself. Just smile.

Damn, she had a way of picking at him until he felt things he didn’t want to feel. Things he tried so very hard to block from his memory. Things like the feel of a buddy’s blood seeping onto his hands from mortal wounds, the fear that he’d never make it home in once piece, the knowledge that if he did, he was going back to an empty house because he’d ruined the one good thing he’d ever had…

The past was the past, he reminded himself. No sense in dwelling on things that he couldn’t change. Bridges burned for a reason…and blah blah blah.

Dragging his hands through his hair, he shoved away from the door and grabbed his basketball shorts from the floor. As he yanked them on, he made himself smile.

But part of him in the deepest, darkest pit in his soul wondered how long he could keep smiling.