When There is Love: A Christian Romance (The McKinleys Book 3) Read online

  If they decided not to go through with it… Well, she didn’t really want to think of that possibility.

  Her cell phone rang as she clicked to save the document. Victoria stared for a moment when she saw it was Trent’s number on the display, then slowly tapped the screen and pressed the phone to her ear.

  “So how’s the computer working?” Trent asked.

  “Very well, thank you. Just finished working on something, and it was nice to not have to worry that an error message was going to pop up on me.”

  “No issues with the backup or virus scanning? I set them to start around three in the morning so they wouldn’t interfere with any work you might need to do. Of course, I probably should have made sure you didn’t do a lot of work at that time of night.”

  “Oh, that’s fine. I’m not up that late ever.”

  “Neither am I,” Trent said. “At least not by my choice.”

  “You still need to send me the bill for this machine,” Victoria reminded him.

  There was silence and then he said, “Yeah, I keep forgetting about that. I’ll try and get to it this weekend.”

  “Well, I don’t want to keep bugging you, but I also don’t like to not pay when I owe someone.”

  There was another beat of silence and then he said, “How about we do a trade?”

  “A trade?” Victoria leaned back in her chair. “What sort of trade?”

  “How about we agree to some home-cooked meals and some baking. Kind of like what you sent with Eric on Tuesday. Thank you for the cookies, by the way. They were delicious.”

  Victoria felt a rush of pleasure at his words. “You’re welcome. They were the cookies I made with Sarah while I babysat her on Monday. I’m glad you liked them.”

  “Which is why I’m suggesting a trade. A few home-cooked meals and some baking for the computer.”

  “That would take forever for me to work off.” Plus, Victoria didn’t know if she could handle spending that much time with Trent.

  “Not really. As I said before, you apparently don’t realize the value of a home-cooked meal, especially to a guy who eats way more takeout and fast food than he should. You’re rather jaded in that regard because of having grown up with someone like your mom who cooked good food for you. My meals growing up were more likely to consist of some fancy French dish. You know the ones where everything is so small that nothing touches anything else on the plate?”

  “Yeah, I’ve always wondered how people survived eating like that.”

  “Well, I didn’t. I used to take my money and buy a loaf of bread and a jar of cheese spread to eat after those meals because they were unfulfilling on so many levels. So for me, the value of a home-cooked meal is fairly high.”

  “What exactly were you thinking then?”

  “How about some cookies and a meal once a week for a month?”

  Once a week for a month? She still thought she was getting off easy, but this was his deal. “And will you tell me what you want to eat?”

  “Nope, that’s entirely up to you.”

  When she thought of how she could funnel the money from the computer into her savings account, it suddenly became more appealing. Sure she’d have to spend a little extra on groceries, but not a lot. And she could compensate in other areas. So from a financial standpoint, it was definitely worth considering. It was just the emotional cost that worried her a bit.

  But in the end, the thought of adding money to her savings account for the surgery won out. “Okay. That’s a deal.”

  “Nice!” The pleasure in his voice warmed her. “So, are you free tomorrow?”

  Her traitorous heart skipped a beat at the prospect of seeing him again. “You want to have dinner tomorrow night?”

  “Yes, but I was also going to see if you were interested in going to the compound with me to do some shooting.”

  “Shooting?”

  “You mentioned the other night that you’d always wanted to learn to shoot. I was thinking maybe we could go out to the company compound for a couple of hours, and you could see how you like it. Then go back to your place for dinner afterward.”

  She felt far more excited about his suggestion than she should have. “That sounds like fun.”

  “Good. How about I pick you up around two thirty? And I can help you with supper when we get back if you want.”

  “Nope. The deal is I cook and that’s what I’ll do. I have some ideas on how to make it work even if we go out to the compound. Just tell me now if there’s anything you really don’t like or are allergic to.”

  “No allergies that I’m aware of. There’s nothing that I really hate to eat, but I will admit to not having a real fondness for brussels sprouts or asparagus.”

  “I will keep that in mind.”

  Trent chuckled. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  As Victoria hung up, she wondered if she’d just bitten off way more than she could chew.

  Victoria was up early Saturday morning to start the meal she decided to serve Trent after their time at the shooting range. It didn’t take long to brown up the ground beef for the spaghetti sauce she planned to leave simmering in her slow cooker until they got back. She also started a batch of French bread and mixed up the crisp part of the apple crisp she would make later.

  Once that was all underway, she took a quick shower and applied a light amount of makeup. This wasn’t a date, after all, but that didn’t stop her from spending far too long trying to figure out what to wear. What did a girl wear to a gun range? She’d spent some time the night before watching some videos on the internet about guns and shooting.

  One had mentioned something about hot brass—which she’d learned was the spent shell casings—and how it didn’t work well with a low-cut shirt. Not that she wore low-cut things, but the warning made her look more critically at the possible choices she had.

  In the end, she settled on a pair of dark blue jean capris, a hot pink tank top and a pink plaid button-up shirt that she belted and left the top few buttons undone. She was glad that her mom had a knack for sewing. Most of her clothes needed some kind of alteration, and her mom was able to do whatever was necessary so Victoria didn’t look like a kid playing dress-up. Or worse, having to wear clothing styles more suited to an eight-year-old.

  By two o’clock, the rich, tangy tomato scent of the spaghetti sauce mingled with the freshly baked French bread causing her stomach to rumble appreciatively. She just hoped that Trent would agree. All she’d have to do upon their return would be to make the salad and the noodles.

  After giving the sauce a final stir and making sure the slow cooker was set on low, Victoria went in search of appropriate footwear. Though she usually wore shoes that had some sort of heel, everything she’d read had said to wear practical shoes. So she’d settled for a pair of flat low-top, black lace-up shoes. The last thing she wanted to do was show up at the gun range dressed inappropriately, so she’d sacrifice fashion for practicality.

  When she answered the door at precisely two thirty, Trent’s gaze traveled the length of her body, clearly taking in what she wore. She felt her cheeks flush under his gaze.

  He smiled as he said, “Perfect. I was afraid I might have to ask you to change.”

  “Good. I wasn’t sure what exactly one wore to a gun range.”

  “What you’ve got on is just fine.” He sniffed the air. “And whatever you’re cooking smells fine, too.”

  Grinning, Victoria looped her purse over her shoulder and pulled the door shut behind her as she stepped out onto the porch. “You’re gonna have to wait for that.”

  “Definitely something to look forward to,” Trent said as they walked toward his car.

  She popped the trunk of her car so he could get the stool out again. The August afternoon air was warm so the coolness of his car felt good as she climbed in and buckled the seatbelt.

  “How far away is the place we’re going?” Victoria asked as he braced his hand on her seat to back out of her driveway.
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br />   “About thirty minutes depending on traffic.”

  Victoria watched as he deftly maneuvered the wheel and soon they were on the main highway heading west. “How was your week?”

  Trent glanced at her, but she couldn’t see his eyes because of the sunglasses he wore. “It was good. A few glitches to take care of but nothing I couldn’t handle.”

  The grin that curved his lips set her heart racing. She wasn’t happy that he was having this effect on her and tried to keep her thoughts from completely scrambling because of it. “What exactly do you do at BlackThorpe?”

  “I oversee a group of five computer geniuses. Three of them specialize in creating security programs and protocols for businesses. The other two work more with sensitive security issues. We monitor the security systems for businesses and also do other computer work as required.”

  “Hacking?”

  Trent sent her another one of his grins. “We don’t like to use that term. It’s more like information reconnaissance and gathering.”

  “Aren’t you afraid of getting caught?”

  Trent shook his head. “We’re not hacking into government systems. For the most part, the systems we gain access to involve illegal activities to begin with so it’s not likely they’re going to call the cyber police on us. And we are very good at what we do.”

  “I can’t quite figure out if BlackThorpe is scary or benign. I mean, you guys walk around in suits and ties with briefcases. But then I find out you’re all armed which makes me think you believe that danger lurks around every corner.”

  “Truthfully, different parts of the company involve more danger than others. I spend most my time in the office, so my job doesn’t hold the physical risk of the others. Where we’re going now is Justin’s territory. We have teams come in for training on a regular basis.”

  “Teams?” Victoria found herself a lot more interested in BlackThorpe now that she was spending time with Trent even though Eric had worked there for several years.

  “Special ops teams come to train for overseas missions. We have security teams come in for training when traveling with business personnel around the world. Justin has a group of six men who help with the training and then he has two other teams of six who actually go out on security missions.”

  “Do you spend a lot of time where we’re going?”

  “I go about once a week. We have a gym at the office so I make use of that, but Marcus likes us to keep up on our combat proficiency. Justin makes sure we stay in shape.” Trent lifted his hand from the wheel and smiled as he flexed his arm. “Even us computer nerds.”

  Victoria smiled and then turned to look out the window at her side. Though Trent had always been an attractive man, his appeal to her was growing as she spent more time with him. That was going to be a dangerous thing. Though she had told him height wasn’t an issue when it came to a guy, that wasn’t entirely the truth.

  All things being equal, she really didn’t have a preference when it came to dating an average person versus a little person. But, unfortunately, all things weren’t equal. She was used to being stared at and whispered about, but none of that really got any worse when she dated a guy who was also a little person. Her experience in dating average‑size guys had been completely different when it came to the public’s reaction.

  The first guy had been at the start of her senior year in high school. They hadn’t been going out for very long before rumors started to float around school about the guy. Things like he must like little girls since he was dating her. It was more than the guy could handle, and he’d dropped her like a hot potato.

  Two years ago, she’d decided to give it another try when a man at church had asked her out. She had assumed it had just been because of the immaturity of the first guy that he hadn’t been able to handle a few whispered rumors. But when the same thing had happened again, Victoria realized that it just might be more than any man could really handle. No guy in his right mind would want to be known as liking little girls just because he chose to date her.

  Though it was tempting, Victoria just wasn’t sure if she was ready to try again for the third time. Particularly since Trent was her brother’s friend. If things went south like they had with the other average-size guys she’d dated, it would be way more awkward. So, in spite of all that her heart was telling her, Victoria knew she needed to keep things on a friendship level.

  Thankfully, Trent seemed to have pulled back from his overt flirting. That would make it a bit easier.

  “This is also BlackThorpe land,” Trent said as he turned down a rural road. “That building there is where Melanie Thorpe works with the wounded warriors.”

  “Wounded warriors?”

  “Yes, since both Alex and Marcus are ex-military, they set it up to help other veterans. They offer support for the physical, emotion and mental struggles that a vet might have. Lots of the guys who come through there are struggling with things like PTSD. They have psychologists on hand to help them. They also have physical therapists to help with the physically wounded vets. Some need prosthetics or help learning to do things again after a severe injury.”

  “That’s great that they give back that way.”

  “Yes, it is, and Melanie is amazing in the work she does. She and Adrianne do a lot of fundraising for the organization in order to help more vets. Mel’s a quiet one, but when she believes in something, she goes after it full force.”

  Victoria couldn’t believe the twinge of jealousy she felt when she heard the admiration in Trent’s voice. This really, really wasn’t good.

  “I try to volunteer there once a month or so,” Trent continued.

  “What do you do?”

  “Depends who's in residence when I go. Sometimes we play ball or maybe some video games. Sometimes it’s just talking to them. If nothing else, I walk a dog.”

  “They have a dog there?”

  “More than one actually. Last time I was there they had four. A couple were retired military dogs. The other two were trained service dogs. It seems that sometimes the dogs can calm and ground a guy more than anything else.”

  “I’ve heard that before,” Victoria said. “And I’ve seen them using dogs in hospitals.”

  “Here we are.” Trent slowed the vehicle and turned into a driveway that was blocked by a large gate.

  As Victoria looked more closely, she realized that behind the trees that ringed the property there was a thick wall. She watched as Trent pulled up to a scanner near the gate and placed his hand on it. Within seconds, the gate began to silently swing open.

  “Is it okay you’re bringing me?” Victoria asked as she realized how secure the compound was.

  “I okayed it with Marcus yesterday. And Justin knows you’re coming. It helps that you’re Eric’s sister.” Trent smiled at her. “And I vouched for you as well.”

  Trent swung the car into a parking lot and came to a stop. “Not sure how many people are here, but Justin set aside a spot for you to try shooting, if you want.”

  Well, she hadn’t come all this way to just watch. After all, she’d sacrificed fashion in order to be properly dressed to shoot…so shoot she would.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  AFTER helping her out of the car, Trent grabbed a bag from the trunk and gestured toward the largest of the three buildings in the immediate area. “That’s where we’re going. The other two are living quarters for the teams here for training.”

  Victoria heard shouts and looked toward where the noise had come from. “We’re safe here?”

  Trent laughed. “That’s probably just a group of guys indulging in a no holds barred game of football or something. Nothing dangerous.”

  He opened the door of the building, and she stepped into a carpeted reception area. There was no one in the room, and Trent didn’t pause as he led the way to a door to the left of where they had entered. He pressed his hand to a scanner again, and Victoria heard the door click. After pulling it open, he gestured for her to go ahead of him. />
  Immediately, things became more utilitarian as they stepped into a long hall. The floors were bare tile and the plain beige walls had no windows, but fluorescent lights kept the hallway from being dark. There was a smell in the air that Victoria couldn’t quite place. As they neared the end of the hallway, she could hear muffled shots.

  Trent opened another door with a hand scan and the noise became louder. She had kind of hoped that it might be just her and Trent there to shoot but clearly that wasn’t the case.

  They walked into a large room that had couches and tables and chairs scattered around it. The upper half of the wall to the left of where they’d walked in was entirely glass so she could see the range. Victoria looked at the people beyond the glass and became acutely aware of the fact that she was likely the only female in the building. She glanced up at Trent, wondering why on earth he’d brought her there.

  “Hey, Hause!”

  Victoria looked around to see a tall man approaching them. She recognized him from the wedding and realized that he must be Justin. He was taller than Trent by at least six inches and wore a pair of dark jeans and a black T-shirt that stretched across a very muscled chest.

  “Justin.” Trent shook hands with the man then touched Victoria’s back as he said, “This is Victoria. She’s Eric’s sister.”

  A smile briefly crossed Justin’s chiseled features. He held out his hand and took hers in a surprisingly gentle shake. “Nice to see you again. So you’re wanting to do some shooting?”

  “I kinda mentioned it in passing, and here we are,” Victoria said with a laugh as she glanced at Trent.