Quake Read online

  Quake

  Tracey Alvarez

  Icon Publishing

  Contents

  Newsletter

  Also by Tracey Alvarez

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Epilogue

  (Preview) In Too Deep

  About the Author

  One Last Thing

  Newsletter

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  Click here to sign up to Tracey Alvarez’s newsletter.

  Also by Tracey Alvarez

  Stewart Island Series

  Book 1 In Too Deep (Piper & West) FREE

  Book 2 Melting Into You (Kezia & Ben)

  Book 3 Ready To Burn (Shaye & Del)

  Book 4 Christmas With You (Carly & Kip)

  Book 5 My Forever Valentine (Short Stories)

  Book 6 Playing For Fun (Holly & Ford)

  Book 7 Drawing Me In (Bree & Harley)

  Book 7.5 Kissing The Bride (Shaye & Del Wedding Story)

  Book 8 Saying I Do (MacKenna & Joe)

  Book 9 Home For Christmas

  Book 10 Bending The Rules (Tilly & Noah) Coming 2018

  * * *

  Bounty Bay Series

  Book 1 Hide Your Heart (Lauren & Nate) FREE

  Book 2 Know Your Heart (Savannah & Glen)

  Book 3 Teach Your Heart (Gracie & Owen)

  Book 4 Mend Your Heart (Natalie & Isaac)

  Book 5 Break Your Heart (Vanessa & Sam) Coming 2018

  To my fellow Kiwis who live and love in Aotearoa even when the earth occasionally moves beneath our feet.

  And to those who have lost loved ones in the quakes our little country has suffered: much aroha to you.

  Quake — Tracey Alvarez

  Copyright © 2018 by Tracey Alvarez

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  * * *

  Cover Art by Kellie Dennis at Book Cover by Design

  ISBN (Kindle): 978-0-473-42897-6

  ISBN (e-pub): 978-0-473-42896-9

  Created with Vellum

  Chapter 1

  Friday, July 23. 10:14 a.m. Lower Hutt, greater Wellington area, New Zealand.

  * * *

  Daniel Calder wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Especially when the gift horse came in the form of his younger sister’s very attractive boss giving him a ride from the airport to his last appointment of the day, saving him the hassle of public transport. There was nothing at all horsey about his sister’s employer, Ana Grace, unless he were to compare her to the thoroughbreds raised on the farm next to his.

  Sleek, skittish, and knockout beautiful.

  He wasn’t idiot enough to let the thought show on his face, though. It’d been a close call at Wellington’s domestic terminal, where she’d been waiting for his flight. The photos Nadia posted on social media of her nannying charges and the occasional glimpse of their mother in the background hadn’t done Ana justice. He’d frozen for a moment, busy travellers spilling around him under the shadow of the giant Lord of the Rings eagle sculpture mounted on the ceiling, and stared at a woman typing on her phone. Long dark curls spilled over her shoulder and she absently brushed one away from her cheek. She had the dusky warm skin inherited from her Maori ancestry, and when she looked up from her phone, her eyes were a rich hickory brown. She’d given him a quick once-over before her eyes skidded back to his in unsure recognition. He’d waved, swung his overnight bag on his shoulder, and strode toward her.

  The twenty-five minute drive from the airport, around Wellington’s stunning coastal bays and onto the motorway that connected the vibrant capital of New Zealand with the neighboring city of Lower Hutt, built beside the winding Hutt River, seemed to take twice as long with the Friday traffic. Every man and his dog, as the saying went, was looking forward to the weekend. As was Daniel. He hadn’t had more than a passing catch-up with Nadia since she’d started work at this nannying job six months ago. He’d accompany Ana home after his meeting, and since she was giving his sister the afternoon off, maybe he’d treat Nads to lunch. Her choice as long as it wasn’t sushi.

  Brisk lines of traffic sped along the coastal motorway heading away from the capital’s skyscrapers. They made easy small talk on the way, as strangers who are connected by a thin thread of commonality do—how great Nadia was with Ana’s two kids, the stunning day in the middle of winter, the progression of ever-present road construction as they entered Lower Hutt. The main shopping streets of the smaller city were bustling with people and a fair share of suit-wearing professionals. They drove on to a less-populated part of the city and Ana pulled into a small parking lot.

  “Here we are.” She shot him a small, polite smile then climbed out of the car, quickly opening the back door. “So I’ll meet you back here in an hour?” Ana wrestled a heavy-looking box on the back seat toward her.

  He jumped out of the car and swooped around it. The crazily high heels she wore wobbled on the sidewalk as she staggered under the weight. He plucked the box out of her arms. “Let me give you a hand with that.”

  “Thanks,” she said. “The elevator is out of order again, so I won’t argue.”

  He hefted the box of files more securely in his arms and eyeballed the three-story building across from the parking lot, where Ana said her law firm was on the top floor. “No worries. Lead the way.”

  Weak winter sunshine filtered through the gaps of neighboring buildings as they crossed the crowded parking lot, Ana’s heels echoing between the older-styled concrete structures. No skyscrapers in the Hutt, as locals called the satellite city, unlike Wellington whose business district was crammed with them and the suits that worked there. To each his own, but he’d visited more cities than he cared to count in his thirty-three years and he’d rather have the hilly paddocks of the Calder family farm any day.

  Bypassing the Out of order tape stuck across the elevator, he followed Ana into the stairwell. She paused as the fire door clicked shut behind them and slanted him a glance.

  “Don’t judge,” she said then slipped off the strappy sandals and hooked them over her finger. “But I’m not insane enough to
walk three flights in these shoes, no matter how cute they are.”

  “They are pretty adorable,” he said, allowing only a fraction of his amusement to show.

  She laughed and the sound echoed around the stairwell. Damn, but she was cute.

  “They also give me an extra three inches.” She climbed a couple of stairs and half turned back to him. “Though someone of your height probably couldn’t appreciate that.” Her brow crinkled prettily. “How tall are you?”

  “Six two.”

  “Ugh. A veritable giant.” She huffed out a sigh and continued up the stairs, the flippy skirt she wore swirling around her bare legs.

  Daniel started after her, climbing steadily, his gaze drawn to her sweetly swaying ass in front of him. Holy hell, but he could’ve walked up another twenty flights with that view to look at. He shook his head ruefully and locked his gaze on the steps ahead of him until they reached the third floor landing. Ana pinned open the heavy door for him to go through, then raced ahead to the glass door of her office. She slipped her heels back on and opened that door for him.

  He walked inside. Ana’s law firm’s reception was strikingly neutral and painfully neat. His gaze bounced over a waiting area with two beige two-seater couches and a glass coffee table with a smattering of glossy magazines. Next to it a hallway ran the length of the building, and he could see glass-fronted offices on either side. The reception desk, across from the seating area, was a large honey-oak colored monstrosity and behind it two sets of female eyes locked onto him like heat-seeking missiles.

  “Good morning, Ana.” This came from the older of the two women whose life experience and toughness showed more in her shrewd, examining stare than the cap of iron-gray hair. She peered at Daniel over a pair of bright yellow framed spectacles and laughter lines creased the corners of her eyes.

  “And good morning to you, soldier.” The younger woman next to her, a buffed to perfection blonde, smiled at him with open curiosity.

  Daniel shot a glance at Ana, who had guilt written all over her face. “Um, Daniel, this is Irene our receptionist”—the older woman’s stern countenance slid into a welcoming smile—“and Maggie, one of our secretaries.”

  “Ana mentioned she was picking Nadia’s brother up from the airport,” Maggie said. “She also mentioned you were a military man. Special forces?” She sounded hopeful.

  “Former military,” he said agreeably. “And nothing as exciting as the SAS, I’m afraid.”

  “A woman can hope for a real-life hero, right, Ana?”

  A sliver of ice punched into his gut at the secretary’s description, but he shoved it aside and readjusted the box in his arms. “Where do you want this?”

  Ana shot a quelling glance over the reception desk and ducked around him, walking briskly toward the hallway. “My office is this way.”

  He followed her. “Nice meeting you both,” he said as he passed the reception desk.

  Nicer if they—and Ana—hadn’t assumed Daniel was something he wasn’t.

  Chapter 2

  Friday, July 23. 10:22 a.m. Lower Hutt, greater Wellington area, New Zealand.

  * * *

  Ana watched Daniel’s butt flex under his snug blue jeans as he maneuvered the heavy box behind her office desk.

  The one thing Nadia had neglected to mention was her big brother was hot. Not that she was looking per se. More an under-her-nose observation. No harm in appreciating a fine male form when it didn’t go any further. Admiring men at a safe distance was a habit, much the same as her morning battle with the hair straightener.

  Daniel toed aside another file box. A former soldier, Nadia had mentioned. Well, he sure didn’t look like a soldier. With the scruff on his jaw closer to a short beard than designer stubble, and his dark brown hair long enough for the back to brush his shirt collar, there was no ugly crew cut in sight for this six-foot-plus chunk of blue-jeans-wearing male. He bent and dropped the box in the empty space. Definitely not the stiff, formal-uniform type.

  “Thanks again for lugging the box up all those stairs.” Her words tumbled together as Daniel stood. Just what she needed to start the day—caught ogling this guy’s ass. Very professional.

  “No worries. Consider us even for the ride.” Daniel edged around the desk, which was covered with papers, pens, and stacks of folders stuffed with more paper threatening to slide off.

  Distracted by his nearness and with the box no longer a barrier, she pretended to check her watch. “I’d better not keep you any longer or you’ll miss your meeting.”

  Daniel hooked a thumb into his jeans’ pocket. “Yeah.”

  Tremors vibrated under her feet and papers rustled, shifted. A framed self-portrait Theo had sketched for her clinked and jerked against the wall.

  “Welcome to Welling—” Her flippant remark died when the earthquake, considered normal in this part of New Zealand, accelerated powerfully. Every hair follicle on her body stood rigid as the floor beneath her pitched to the left.

  Folders cascaded off the desk. A large wooden bookcase creaked, and a few heavier books tipped out and thumped to the floor. Theo’s portrait plummeted off the wall, the crunch of glass swallowed by the earthquake’s grinding roar. Someone yelled, “Earthquake,” over and over.

  Ana toppled backward, her balance thrown off in her ‘go on, I deserve them’ high heels. A hand clamped around her wrist, preventing her from falling. Instead, she slithered to her knees like a newborn giraffe.

  Daniel dragged her on hands and knees around the tight corner. “Under your desk.”

  Heart bashing a frantic staccato, she skidded on loose paper, her skirt tangling around her legs.

  He shoved aside a wheeled office chair, his mouth twisted into a concentrated grimace. “Move.”

  Debris tumbled around her, a bizarre waterfall plummeting from walls and ceilings. The quake rumbled and roared, a freight train of destruction and terror that seemed to go on and on.

  Daniel pushed her under the desk while he fitted himself behind. “Cover your head,” he ordered.

  Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop.

  The mantra flooded her brain, leaving no room for anything else. Metal shrieked, wood splintered, concrete boomed as it cracked and fell. Carpet scraped her thighs as the violent motion wrenched her body from side to side.

  Please, God, will it ever stop?

  Eyelids clamped shut, Ana drew comfort from the bulk of the man covering her. She wasn’t alone. At least she wasn’t alone. Two names, hidden in her mind’s turmoil, sliced past the confusion and left her blindsided.

  Theo.

  Alyssa.

  Oh God. My babies.

  Nausea roiled in her stomach. Sour bile spilled onto her tongue but she choked it down. Her vocal chords, fisted in a death grip around her throat, wouldn’t even let a scream escape. That didn’t stop the screams inside her head.

  The nightmare shaking finally stopped.

  Ana’s eardrums vibrated with fast-moving blood, and seconds passed until Daniel coughed. Dust coated Ana’s lips and drifted into her nostrils. She sneezed, and awareness exploded through her. Her babies. Theo was in high school, Alyssa at home with Nadia. They were both at least thirty-five kilometres from her, on different sides of the city, while she lay trapped with Nadia’s brother, a man she’d met only an hour ago.

  Images filled Ana’s head of her kids, scared, alone, bleeding.

  Dead.

  Those technicolor snapshots shredded the last of her control. Sweat oozed from her pores and her heart raced so fast she felt light-headed. “Let me out, let me out!”

  Ana braced her palm against the desk wall and shoved backward. Daniel didn’t budge. Her elbow slammed into solid male, but he only grunted and still didn’t move.

  A strong arm slid over her waist, pinning her still. “You need to calm down.”

  That was a suggestion guaranteed to have the absolute reverse effect on her demeanor. Ana tried to peel his fingers off her forearm. “Get the hell of
f me. I need to get to my kids.”

  Screams raw with grief and panic built in her chest, but the dust inhaled with each breath choked them into strangled moans. In the confined space she kicked, thrashed, and swore. Daniel just held her closer. Time slowed. Minutes, hours, days seemed to inch past. Her focus narrowed to the repetitive words murmured in her ear. Her breaths descended from panicked gasps to shuddered sighs.

  “They’ll be fine. Breathe. In, out, again.” His tone was gentle, but interlaced with unbending strength.

  The claws of hysteria retracted enough for a semblance of self-possession to return. Tension seeped out of her rigid muscles. “Daniel?”

  “Yeah?”

  She felt a guilty pang remembering how she’d kicked and elbowed him. “Are you hurt?”

  “No, I’m fine.” The roughness of his jeans brushed her bare thighs, and his belt buckle dug into her tailbone.

  God, if the circumstances weren’t so dire she’d be mortified at how high her skirt had ridden up. She eased her hand from his grasp and smeared tears off her face. “Is it over?”

  His body eased away from its protective curl around her. “Don’t know. Could be aftershocks.”