Page 4 of Too Guarded to Love (Project VIPER #3)

He glanced at Olivia. Once he sent her safely on her way, he’d talk to his brothers about his suspicions regarding Stella’s death.

As if sensing his attention on her, Olivia tipped her chin in his direction. She shifted her weight, her muscular legs shaking in her sexy-as-sin boots. Damn, she must be freezing, but she hadn’t complained once. Even though the storm had calmed, the chill cut through his rain gear.

Stepping to her and Joe, he resisted the urge to pull her to his chest and tuck her head under his chin.

She’d likely tell him in that self-assured twang she didn’t need protection from the elements.

And he shouldn’t offer anything besides vehicular assistance, but today’s emotional blender had shredded his good sense to ribbons.

With a sigh, he tied up the tattered pieces of his defenses into a haphazard knot. It settled in his gut like a stone as he pointed to the car. “Let’s get that tire fixed.”

Joe cocked his head to the open trunk. “We can’t. There’s no spare. I’ll call a tow truck.”

Nic rubbed the base of his skull. The neurotransmitter implanted in his cerebrum buzzed under his skin.

VIPER’s medical team couldn’t conclude why the tiny chip that networked his brain with his steel appendages vibrated when he sensed something off.

The puzzling reaction was as annoying as it was accurate.

A near hit-and-run, and no spare in a rental car that should have gone through a thorough safety inspection, didn’t feel like bad luck.

Olivia drifted toward the driver’s seat. “I’ll wait in the car until the tow arrives. Thank you for your help.”

Nic pointed to the small house across the street.

Inviting a strange woman into his space, especially one whose troubles had followed her to the beach, was the opposite of keeping his defenses intact, yet he couldn’t wrangle his offer to shelter her from the storm any more than he could control the tides.

“That’s one of Joe’s rental properties. I’m staying there for the night.

You can wait inside where it’s warm and safe. ”

“Thanks, but it will be warm and safe in the car when I turn on the heat.”

He tapped the rear bumper with his boot. “But not safe if someone hits you.” He didn’t offer to move the tail of the vehicle closer to the curb. One lift from his bionic arm would be all it took, but he couldn’t display the enhanced strength his steel possessed.

The public thought the Veterans Integration Placement Experimental Recovery program, a.k.a.

VIPER, was created to place wounded veterans back into service jobs.

Only a handful of people in the Department of Defense knew they weren’t “placed” on routine security detail.

Even fewer knew “experimental” didn’t mean temporary. The recovery part was spot-on, though.

He rubbed the juncture at his hip where VIPER’s surgeons had seamlessly melded flesh and an indestructible alloy.

That spot, along with his shoulder where man fused with machine, always ached in the damp.

He could run for miles at a speed double that of the fastest human and not feel any discomfort.

But figuring out how to stop his body from aching when the barometric pressure changed continually stumped VIPER’s geniuses.

He’d endure the discomfort over the searing pain he felt in his shoulder and hip after waking from a nightmare any day, though.

Joe dipped his chin to the radio clipped to his shoulder. His brow furrowed as he listened to the dispatcher. “Ten-four.” He looked at Nic. “Pileup on the bridge. I need to head over there.”

“How bad?”

“A big mess, but no life-threatening injuries. Cleanup will take a while.”

“Good.” Joe didn’t need a front-row seat to more death today.

Nic looked at Olivia. The temptation to answer her siren’s call smoldered under his skin. He couldn’t. While his Casanova title had been well-earned, he was first and foremost an officer and a gentleman who put safety first. “Go inside and wait for the tow truck there. ”

“What happened to letting me lead?”

“Lead all you want, as long as you lead yourself inside the house where it’s secure and dry.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “I’m not helpless.”

“Never said you were.” Helpless didn’t turn him on.

Joe stepped between them. “Okay, you two. Enough. I’m the one with the badge, so I outrank you both.”

Nic bit back a snicker. Joe had been there the day he’d lost his leg. He knew about the bionic steel under Nic's rain pants. He had no idea, though, that a simple thought could fire a deadly laser the team had dubbed a V-Strike from any of the six-hundred-plus points in Nic’s super arm or leg.

Joe shot his thumb to Nic. “I’ve known this guy for years. I trust him with my life. You should wait inside. The tow truck will be a while thanks to the bridge accident.”

Indecision and wariness warred in Olivia’s gaze for two, three heartbeats. Her shoulders sagged as if the fight left in her circled the drain.

Today’s funeral, followed by hours at the tavern, had exhausted Nic too. Only the punches he didn’t deserve, but willingly took, made him feel alive.

So had meeting a beautiful woman in a storm.

He moved to the driver’s side of the vehicle and reached for the duffel bag on the passenger seat.

The light floral scent he’d caught on the wind earlier teased his nostrils.

He inhaled the fragrance he’d uncork later when he woke from a nightmare and scrambled for something to ground him in the present.

Handing the bag to her, he glanced at the bungalow across the street. “The door is open. Tell Mrs. Alvarez who’s watching us from her porch that I checked her gutters this morning. They’re fine.”

Olivia took the bag and nodded. “Thank you. ”

“You’re very welcome.” He spun on his heel and met Joe by the parking meter. “You all right?”

“Fuck no. You?”

“No.” Nic glanced at Olivia. He’d ignored the irritation on her flushed face when he’d called her a mermaid. Ignoring the sway of her hips as she hurried across the street proved impossible.

Joe chuckled. “I can tell you’re not right. Know how I know? Because that woman isn’t in your bed yet even though the chemistry between you practically dried my uniform. The obvious is a given, but what else is wrong? What aren’t you telling me?”

Nic dropped his gaze to the ground. The cell phone he’d seen Olivia hurl to the pavement lay at his feet. He bent to retrieve the smashed device and slipped it into his pocket. As he straightened, Joe clasped his shoulder.

“Listen, Nic. You and me? We’ve known each other a long-ass time. That was my baby sister we buried this morning. If whatever has you on edge has to do with her murder, I deserve to know.”

He did deserve to know, but sharing his gut feeling with Joe about who sliced Stella’s throat was pointless until he had proof.

Once he had intel, he’d enjoy hunting down whoever was responsible and making them pay, and hope to God Joe and his family would forgive him for his role in Stella’s death.