“What?”
“I live in a house, near the campus. I share it with a roommate.”
“You can’t possibly need to share.”
She knew what he meant. Mercenaries were paid well, and she’d been in the business since she was eighteen. “I own the house, but Claire was looking for a place, and I offered to let her move in with me.”
“Why?” He sounded as if he could not imagine wanting a roommate, and probably he couldn’t. Nitro was a loner despite his close friendship with Wolf and Hotwire.
“She’s a computer geek who has a hard time communicating with anything not driven by binary code and electric impulses.”
“Sounds like a lot of fun as a housemate.”
“Actually, she is. We understand each other better than you might expect. Neither of us fits into the world around us, and that gives us a common ground. Besides, I like not being alone, having someone there when I get home from classes.”
“Why did you decide to get out of the business?” He didn’t sound condemning, or worried like her dad did when he talked to her about her decision to change her life.
Nitro just sounded curious.
“I woke up one day and realized being a soldier was my dad’s vocation, not mine.”
“So now you want to study computers?”
“Yes.”
“And Hotwire is helping you?” There was something in Nitro’s voice she was too tired to interpret.
“Yes. He’s amazing with a keyboard.”
“Being savvy with computers does not mean he knows what to do with a woman.”
He sounded jealous. She must be really tired if her mind was playing those kinds of tricks on her.
“If you say so.” She was the last person to comment on a man’s abilities in that area.
She didn’t quite catch the word that Nitro uttered in response. “What are you going to do once you’re done with school?”
“Hotwire offered me a job with his and Wolf’s new security consulting business.”
“Is that what you want?”
“I don’t know. I’m in an accelerated degree program, but I’ve still got several months before I have to decide where exactly I want to go with my new life.”
Nitro pulled into a gas station and got out of the car, then disappeared into the convenience store attached to the station.
He came back carrying a small carton of milk and a muffin. “Here. I don’t want you getting sick.”
“What about you?”
He reached behind the seat and pulled a bottle of water from the small cooler on the floor. “This’ll do for now.”
She drank her milk and ate the muffin, which settled her stomach, and then fell asleep again.
Daniel woke Josie on the outskirts of Portland for directions to her house. She gave them, and he found himself in a quiet neighborhood west of the city center. He expected her to live closer to the PSU campus, but she had bought a house in a residential neighborhood obviously designed for families. There was a park right across the street from her modest white ranch-style house.
He grabbed his gear while she climbed out of the car and followed her to the front door. She unlocked it and pushed it open.
“Josette, what in the world happened to you?” The feminine shriek came from a bespectacled woman about Josie’s height, but there the similarities ended.
Claire was soft and rounded, and where Josie’s hair was a dark reddish brown, Claire’s was the color of cooked carrots…or maybe a shade or two darker, but very red nevertheless. It sprang out from her head in curls she’d done nothing to tame. Her clothes looked as though she’d gotten them at a rummage sale. Worn and faded jeans, an oversized Portland State sweatshirt that had seen better days and tennis shoes that would have looked disreputable on a homeless person.
“There was a fire at the mercenary school.”
Claire rushed forward and hugged Josie with one arm. “Are you okay? Can I get you anything? A cup of tea. I bought a new apricot blend. Maybe you want a glass of cold water.”
“I’m fine. I just want a shower and bed.”
“Right. Look, you take your shower, and I’ll make you a cup of tea. You don’t have to drink it if you don’t want to.”
From Josie’s description, he’d assumed Claire would be quiet, but the woman was a chatterbox.
“I wouldn’t mind some if you’re making it,” he said.
Claire and Josie both turned startled eyes on him as if they’d forgotten he was there. It was a new experience for him. He didn’t court female attention, but he didn’t seem to be able to avoid it either.
“Of course. My name is Claire.” She let go of Josie’s shoulder and stuck her hand out.
He shook it, impressed by her firm grip and steady brown gaze.
“Daniel Black Eagle.”
Claire looked at Josie as if asking for an explanation.
“It’s Nitro.”
Claire’s eyes widened, and she gasped. “Oh.”
He frowned at Josie.
“He’s dropping me off because my car was destroyed in the fire.”
Claire’s eyes filled with concerned dismay. “Oh, I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right. I’m alive and so is Dad. That’s all that really matters.”
“I’m not just dropping you off, Josette.” He liked that name and figured if Claire could use it, so could he. “Until we find out whoever is responsible for the fire, you and me are going to be like Rodgers and Hammerstein. Always together.”
She stared at him with nothing less than shock. “You can’t stay here.”
“Sure I can.”
“I don’t have a spare room.”
“Your sofa looks comfortable.” If a bit short, but it was longer than average.
The overstuffed couch looked a whole lot more amenable to sleep than a lot of beds he’d had over the years.
“That’s not the point. You aren’t staying here, Nitro.”
“I asked you to call me Daniel.”
She rolled her eyes, her frustration palpable. “Daniel…you cannot stay here.”
“Then you are going with me.”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way.”
She groaned, and he couldn’t help the smile that creased his lips.
She was damn cute when she was irritated.
“I’m a trained soldier. I don’t need a bodyguard.”
“Why can’t he stay here?” Claire asked as if Josie hadn’t spoken.
“You know why!”
“It would seem to me that would be the very reason to let him stay.”
“It’s a bad idea.” Josie frowned darkly at him.
He hadn’t understood anything the two women had just said except that Claire thought he should stay.
He turned toward her. “Someone tried to kill Josette’s dad with the fire, and she could be at risk, too. I’m going to help her find the culprits.”
Claire spun to face Josie again. “Someone tried to kill your dad? Where is he?”
He listened to Josie explain while he found a place in the hall closet for his duffel bag and weapons case.
