Finding Trust (Centre Games) (8 page)

“I got it,” he said confidently. He gently took hold of the cannon bone in her front leg and placed his other hand under the mare’s shoulder. With a bit of genetic assistance, he easily took the weight of the horse’s shoulder, which allowed him to ease it from between the rails of the fence.

The mare immediately rolled and then lurched to her feet when the pressure was released.

Brayden casually approached and began running his hands down her legs, checking for any cuts or abrasions. The mare stretched her neck around and began to rub her head over his strong back as he checked her front legs.

“She sure likes you,” Rihanna commented. What she was really thinking was,
Lucky horse being able to innocently rub herself all over his delectable form. Half her luck!

In response, Brayden just chuckled. “I guess I have a new friend.” What he didn’t let on was that the mare was silently thanking him and also recognising him as her alpha. He lazily began to stroke her neck.

“You really do have a way with horses.” Rihanna seemed surprised. “You weren’t the least bit concerned about getting in there. You weren’t kidding when you said you had grown up around horses.”

If only you knew, he thought. The words immediately hit him hard in the stomach. Sometimes keeping secrets just about ate him alive but on the other hand, she would probably run screaming from the hills if she learned the real truth about him.

He cleared his throat to cover his uncomfortable fears and decided to go with another tack. He moved in beside her and casually drew Rihanna into a loose hug. The clean cinnamon smell of her hair immediately filled his nostrils and he pressed a light kiss to her forehead. He turned, leaving his right arm casually draped over her shoulders.

“Come on, let’s get out of here.”

They walked up the paddock, maintaining the casual embrace that was actually providing the connection that was sending sparks shooting between them. The mare followed a pace or two behind. They both seemed lost in thought, most of them about lust and wanting but neither really sure.

As they climbed through the fence, Brayden ran his hand down the nose of the mare and murmured, “Catch you later, girl.” She immediately turned and headed off towards the other horses that had gathered under the shade of the trees lining the creek bank.

Brayden took her hand and headed back under the fig tree. He turned her to face him and cupped her cheek with his hand. Concern was etched all over his face. His fingers lightly caressed her soft skin.

“Rihanna, have you been in the house yet?” he quietly asked.

“No.” Her eyes were huge with the horror of what she surely imagined her house had become.

“Why don’t you wait out here and I’ll go in and check things out?” Before she had time to respond, he rushed on. “While you were sitting out here, I contacted my team and my boss has instructed me to take you back to my place. We’re to wait there until further notice.”

She pulled away from him and took a step back. “But what about this place and all the mess that needs cleaning up? I have to get started on sorting everything out,” she demanded, although he could tell from her tone that, in actual fact, the cleaning up of this place was about the last thing she currently wanted to do. The carnage was too real, new and just so totally overwhelming.

“You don’t have to worry about a thing. The boss is sending a forensics team that will take all their samples and then a clean-up team will be sent in to get it all back to normal.”

She took a deep breath and then said, “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with all this stuff happening at the moment. I feel so out of control. I don’t seem to have any ability to make decisions about my life anymore.”

“Yeah, I can see where you are coming from but really we need to keep you hidden and out of harm’s way until my team can get a lead on the guys who have got the virus,” he empathised in his very soothing and convincing way.

“You want me to head in and see if I can grab some clothes for you?”

Shit, she thought, glad someone was thinking. She was still wearing his T-shirt and a pair of soft cotton gym shorts of his. He’d found an old pair of flip-flops that someone had left behind to put on her feet.

She pulled what was left of her courage together and started to head to the house.

“Guess you’re coming in.” He smirked.

She immediately spun and barked up at him, “Do you think I want to go in there and see how these people have trashed my house and pawed over all our things? Do you think I want to have all the good memories of this house and growing up here with my parents erased in a snap?” She snapped her fingers together for emphasis.

He didn’t respond, which just seemed to incite her further.

“Well, I don’t. I don’t want to go in there but I have to…I have to see for myself.”

With that, she spun and stormed towards the steps. Bray rushed to her side, halting her and pulling her into his warm embrace. “If you are going in there, you are going in there with me beside you. I don’t want you to have to face whatever has happened alone.”

He took her hand and guided her up the front steps to the house. He reached for the front door and turned the door handle but paused before pushing it open.

“We face this together,” he said. His words provided Rihanna with the strength to continue through the door. Whatever was on the other side would not be pleasant but at least she felt as though she had someone there looking out for her. Someone who actually cared how this was impacting on her as a person. Someone who actually cared that this whole thing was tearing her apart.

They walked through the door and the sights that assaulted them were pretty much the same as they had experienced when they walked through the vet hospital and lab.

“Why don’t we just see if there are any clothes that you can take and get out of here as soon as possible?” Brayden suggested. “Forensics will go through here and then the clean-up crew will be through. I don’t think you need to be in here any longer than necessary.”

Without saying a word, Rihanna turned and buried her head into his strong chest. He immediately embraced her in a hug that felt as if it kept the rest of the world at bay. She was safe in his arms and somehow none of this chaos around her was happening. She wasn’t quite sure how long she stood there soaking up his silent strength before she turned, her hand still holding his, and headed towards her bedroom.

Her bedroom was not so bad compared to the rest of the house and the hospital. They had obviously opened drawers and cupboards but the contents were mostly still where they should be, just haphazard in their arrangement. Rihanna broke away from Bray and quickly grabbed a large gym bag from her cupboard. In less than five minutes, she had packed what she needed, grabbed her travel toiletries kit and a couple of pairs of shoes, and headed for the door.

Throughout the whole process, Bray watched on with interest. Not once did Rihanna flinch; she simply and efficiently packed her bag. Hardly surprisingly, she seemed in a big hurry to get out the door. He hurried behind her to keep up.

“Do you need to organise anything with the horses?” he thought to ask.

“No, we have staff scheduled to do the feeding morning and night. Dad and I had actually scheduled the time out from New Year to the middle of January. Both of us worked all of Christmas so that a couple of our staff could take some time off.”

“You’ll need to tell them something about the forensics and the clean-up crew. It would be best at this stage that we keep this whole situation as quiet as possible.”

“Okay, that makes sense,” she agreed.

“Why don’t you tell them that the government contractors are doing some upgrades to the lab and that you are getting some renovation work done to the house while you are away on holidays?”

“Mmmm, they might buy that. I hate lying to people but I guess there is not much of a choice.”

A burning pain immediately struck him in the heart. Her words were far too close to the truth again for his comfort. He felt the same as she did on this subject but fear of rejection and confidentiality were keeping him from telling her the truth. He had a horrible feeling that the truth would come out one day and likely soon. Just how would she take it?

***

They were almost home to Brayden’s when Rihanna’s phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and said to Bray, “It’s my friend Jazz. What should I tell her?”

“Can you let it go through to voicemail?”

“No, she’ll worry if she can’t get me.”

“Let her think we hooked up. Will that work?”

Under her breath, Rihanna muttered, “Probably beyond your wildest dreams,” as she pushed the button to take the call. “Hey Jazz.”

This should be interesting, he thought. He would be able to hear every word of the conversation, just as he had heard Rihanna muttering about how their hook up would likely be well received to her friend. He was very curious as to how she was going to describe their relationship.

“Hey Rih, how you going?”

“Great and you?” Rihanna was obviously trying to sound as normal as possible.

“Brilliant. Andy and I are back on again,” the bright female voice on the other end chirped.

“Is that good?” she asked cautiously.

“Derr, it is awesome. You know how much I love him—just sometimes I don’t like him all that much.” There was the unmistakable sound of female giggling.

“Well, as long as you’re happy.”

Uh oh, Rihanna, sounds like you will need to play the supportive friend again, he thought. Better stock up on tissues and chocolate; it would only be a matter of time.

“So where did you get to last night?” Jazz’s voice came through to him loud and clear.

Here it comes—what would she say?

“Well, I kind of went home with someone…”

He bit his cheek to stop from laughing. He dared a sideways glance at her. She was looking out the window, obviously struggling with deciding just how much to say. Her right hand was viciously tugging at a lock of her hair, clearly uncertain about what to tell her friend.

“No way—not that guy from Steel?”

“Yep, the one and the same.”

Hah—he loved it; Rihanna sounded almost smug. Clearly Jazz’s reaction had given her immediate confidence in the situation.

“Oh, this is just too much. Where are you now?”

“At his place.” Rihanna’s ear was immediately assaulted with high-pitched squealing.

He was glad she was turned the other way or she would have seen him visibly flinch at the horrible noise.

“You lucky thing, you. He is sooooo hot. Is he as good in bed as he is in the looks department?”

“Ah ha.”

“Oh, I get it, he’s right near.”

“Yep and we would prefer that you don’t tell anyone about this.”

“Does that imply you are staying there for a bit?”

“Something like that.”

“You can’t just say that and not tell me what you mean.”

“Exactly that. We just want a few days alone to see how things go.”

“Oh, you are sooo bad and sooo lucky and I am sooo jealous.”
Rihanna looked up and realised that while she had been talking, Brayden had stopped the car in the garage and was waiting for her to finish her call.

“Ah, Jazz, I have to go. I’ve just got to go do something.”

“Yeah, I bet. More like someone. Call me tomorrow. I live for details, you know that.”

“I do. Bye, Jazzy.”

Rihanna disconnected the call and slowly turned to face Brayden; judging by the look on his face, he had heard at least some of Jazz’s comments. Oh God, what’s he going to think?

He leaned over the console and gently wrapped his hand behind her head and drew her into his kiss. His lips were warm and soft against hers and her heart immediately began to race as he slowly slid his tongue over her bottom lip, deepening the kiss as he sought entry into her mouth. At his mercy, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him in tighter to her body. Her breasts brushed teasingly against the planes of his chest and her nipples immediately pebbled and began to pulse with the intense heat that was building between them.

He explored her mouth with a thoroughness that was unhurried and totally erotic. His kiss was taking them higher and higher. Ohhh, she needed his hands on her anywhere, everywhere. And almost on cue, he removed his hand from the nape of her neck but rather than to move it somewhere more interesting, he gently pulled back from her, breaking the connection.

The electricity between them was almost visible, a current stretching between the two conductors. Their gazes connected and he smiled that cheeky grin that was oh so Brayden.

“Wow, that was hot, babe.”

She lowered her gaze, embarrassed by how direct his comment was.

“Well, Minky, I thought I’d just make sure you had some accurate material to discuss with Jazz tomorrow. Methinks you told a few little fibs, although I have to say I like the sound of where you were heading with your thoughts.”

“You told me to let her think we were together,” she responded accusingly in a very half-hearted attempt to defend herself. After all, what could she really say? “
Hey Jazz, I’m in the middle of a potential bio-terrorism event…and Brayden is some sort of secret spy or something,”
she thought to herself.