Ex Marks the Spot (Harlequin Next)

by Merline Lovelace

  “What are we celebrating?”

  “I’ll tell you when you pop the cork.”

  She sashayed past him. A second later she stopped dead on the steps leading down into the living area that ran the full length of the house.

  “This is fabulous!”

  With a small jolt Dave realized this was her first incursion inside his home. She hadn’t made it past the front door the night she’d come to check out possible crack dealers.

  “I love all the open space,” she breathed, taking in the continuous flow from kitchen to dining area to great room. “And the way the architect used columns and recessed ceilings to separate the areas visually.”

  He could tell just when the realization hit her. Her brows drew together. Her head cocked. Frowning, she made another sweep.

  “This looks a lot like the home we talked about building someday.”

  “It should. I had it designed with that open floor plan in mind.”

  “Well,” she said after a small, awkward pause, “now we know the design works.”

  “Yeah, it does.”

  Dave didn’t figure this was the time to admit he’d instructed the architect to follow Andi’s specific layout for her dream kitchen. Or that memories of the cramped bathrooms they’d steamed up on four continents had dictated the oversize shower in the master bedroom.

  “Mind if I explore?” she asked.

  “Go ahead. I’ll open the champagne.”

  While Dave detoured to the walk-in bar, she roamed the great room. He wasn’t surprised when the collection of photos decorating one wall snagged her attention. Hooking her thumbs on the pockets of her silky slacks, she studied the eclectic mix of landscapes, deployment scenes and family mug shots.

  Dave, in turn, studied the way her shoulders arched and stretched the front of her pink top across her breasts. His gut tightening, he remembered how perfectly those soft mounds had fit his palms. Remembered, too, how the nipples had stiffened to proud, dusky tips when he’d worked them with his tongue and teeth and…

  “Oh, Lord! I can’t believe you framed this picture.”

  Wrenching his attention upward, he saw her grimacing at a picture of the two of them in wet suits and face masks. They’d just surfaced after a dive off the North Carolina coast and had mugged for the camera, giving excellent imitations of pop-eyed, puff-cheeked blowfish.

  “That’s one of my favorites.” His thumbs worked the cork. “It was your first dual-tank dive, remember?”

  “What I remember is swallowing half the Atlantic before I got my regulator working properly.”

  She leaned closer to peer at another photo and treated Dave to a primo view of her rear. Gritting his teeth, he shot the cork into the air.

  The pop brought her upright—thank God! Ambling over to the bar, she perched on a swivel stool while Dave slid two tall pilsner glasses from the overhead rack. His taste in barware didn’t run to expensive crystal champagne flutes. He’d insisted Andi keep those, along with their Waterford wine goblets and brandy snifters.

  Carrying the pilsner glasses around the counter, he handed her one and hitched a hip on the stool next to hers. “Okay, what are we toasting?”

  “Nothing much,” she said with a smug smile. “Just the sign that went up today officially designating my shop as A Great Read.”

  “Congratulations.”

  Clinking glasses, they tipped the champagne to their lips. Andi took a delicate sip. Dave downed a healthy swallow. The bubbles were still fizzing in his nostrils when her smile widened into a grin.

  “And I hired an employee this morning.”

  “Double congratulations.”

  They clinked again.

  “And Roger Brent agreed to a book signing during my grand opening.”

  “Joe mentioned he was working on Brent. Glad they came through for you.”

  Andi downed another sip but obviously had more news to share. Excitement blazed in her face and had her almost squirming on her stool. Amused, Dave played straight man for her.

  “Okay, Armstrong. Spill it. What else are we celebrating?”

  “Dr. Ramirez called a little while ago.”

  Okay, he told himself. All right. No need to panic. It had to be good news. She wouldn’t be wearing that silly grin otherwise. Still, the best he could push out was a growl.

  “I need another ‘and’ here.”

  “And my latest blood test came back clean. The doc said they found no trace of my nasty little hitchhiker. None. Nada. Nixola.”

  “Sierra Hotel!”

  Slamming down his glass, he shoved off his stool, scooped Andi from hers and tossed her into the air. Champagne sprayed in all directions.

  “Dave!”

  Half laughing, half shrieking, she dropped into his arms and went airborne again.

  “Stop! This is my first taste of alcohol in five months! I’m already half sloshed.”

  “I vote we go for one hundred percent.”

  He let her slide to her feet and reached behind her to replenish her depleted supply.

  “Here’s to you, babe.”

  Dave didn’t bother to refill his own glass. Keeping her in a loose hold, he tilted the bottle to his mouth. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a buzz on—or had something this momentous to celebrate.

  Andi’s glass didn’t make the return trip to her lips. She hadn’t exaggerated. She was already light-headed. Watching Dave guzzle Sue Ellen’s expensive Piper-Heidsieck kicked the whirling sensation up several notches.

  His head tipped back to expose the strong line of his jaw. His throat worked, cording the sinew. Valiantly Andi battled the insane impulse to lean in and nip his flesh. Then hunger and need got all mixed up with the wild exhilaration still singing in her veins.

  One bite. That’s all it took. Dave froze for two, maybe three, seconds. The next thing Andi knew, he’d abandoned the champagne and banded her against him. She saw her hunger mirrored in his burning blue eyes.

  “You’re half a heartbeat away from naked,” he warned in a low growl. “If you want me to back off, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

  Andi was too far gone to heed the forever bit. Her senses were exploding in bright pinpoints of heat. Every nerve in her body now screamed for more.

  For this one night, this one hour, she could dump the worry she’d carried around for so many months. She could stop analyzing, stop trying to figure out where she and Dave were headed, stop weighing their past mistakes against a hazy future. She could stop thinking altogether, she decided fiercely, and just feel.

  “Naked sounds pretty good right now, Armstrong.”

  The husky admission had barely left her lips before he had his hands under the hem of her cotton sweater. His calloused palms planed upward. Quivering under his touch, Andi raised her arms.

  “I’ve missed this.” Dropping hard, fast kisses on her mouth, Dave dragged the sweater over her head. “The feel of you. The taste of you.”

  He had her bare to the waist when Andi reciprocated by attacking his tank. Loose and baggy for airflow, it came off with one swift tug.

  Oh, God, she’d missed him, too. Her hands slicked over his shoulders, down his back. In a frenzy of need, she locked her mouth on his and burrowed under the waistband of his running shorts. The black Lycra gave easily, and his jockstrap presented only a momentary obstacle. Dragging both down, she curved her hands over his taut butt and kneaded the smooth flesh.

  His breath hissed out. She could feel him go stiff and erect against her belly. She squeezed again, loving the power, loving the wild sensations racing through her. Loving him.

  The last thought arrowed through her sensual haze, but before she had time to process it, Dave jerked back a few inches. His breath fast and rough, he yanked on the drawstring of her slacks. The silky fabric slithered over her hips. Almost before it pooled around her ankles, he’d backed her against the wall.

  He used one hand to anchor her wrists above her head. The other wed
ged between their bodies. Dragging aside the elastic of her panties, he fingered her slick flesh. The heel of his hand applied an exquisite unrelenting pressure.

  Gasping, Andi hooked a leg over his hip to give him freer access. He took advantage of it to slide two fingers inside her. Head back, neck arched, she let him work the magic he’d always worked.

  She’d intended to take for just a few moments. Ride this pleasure only a minute or two before returning it.

  She’d counted without Dave’s skill. Keeping her pinned to the wall, he used his hands and his mouth and his tongue to devastating effect. Tight, hot swirls built in her belly. She could feel the climax rushing at her with every spasm of her vaginal muscles.

  “Wait, Dave! It’s been too long. I’m too…too—damn!”

  The swirls exploded into white heat. A groan ripped from her throat. Eyes squeezed tight, Andi let the waves crash through her.

  Dave held her while she floated back to Earth. Her lids fluttered up. The smug male triumph on his face brought a grin to hers.

  “You always were good with your hands, Armstrong.”

  “You think so, huh?” Grinning, he scooped her up again and strode toward what she assumed was the bedroom. “Wait till you see my fancy new footwork.”

  BY THE TIME ANDI RESURFACED yet again, she’d gained a new respect for all twenty of Dave’s digits. Limp and slick with sweat, she squirmed under the weight of the arm he’d flung across her middle.

  “Tell me again about Doc Ramirez’s call.” His deep voice dragged her from semiconsciousness. “The full version this time.”

  “She said my blood showed no trace of the bacteria and adjusted my mix of antibiotics.”

  “How long does she want you to take them?”

  “Until my next checkup at least.” Rolling onto her side, she nuzzled his throat. “She also said I wasn’t home free, that I needed to continue the blood work and cardiac workups for another six months.”

  He stroked her hair, digesting that. “Then what?” he asked quietly.

  “Then,” Andi mumbled into the warm skin of his neck, “I don’t know.”

  “Think you might apply to go back on active duty?”

  Two months ago her answer would have been instant and automatic. Shell-shocked by her abrupt retirement, Andi would have jumped at the chance to return to military service. Even as little as two weeks ago she might have pushed for a medical evaluation board at the earliest possible date.

  Except two weeks ago she hadn’t wrested a permit from a crooked building inspector. Or ordered almost eight thousand dollars worth of stock. Or hired an employee and watched an installation crew hang her shop sign.

  Or tumbled into bed with her ex-husband.

  She could undo everything but that, Andi realized. Wiggling out from under his arm, she levered up onto an elbow. Her tangled hair tumbled to her shoulders and enclosed her and Dave in a dark cocoon. After what had just happened between them, she owed him an honest answer.

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I thought I’d miss the responsibility, the adrenaline rush, the sense of being part of something really important. I also wasn’t sure how I’d function outside the military environment, seeing as it’s all I’ve ever known. Yet these past weeks I’ve been discovering there is life after the Air Force.”

  “That’s what they tell me.”

  “It’s true. There’s another world out there, Dave. One that isn’t fueled by sixteen-hour days and doesn’t require decisions impacting thousands of lives. It’s smaller than the world I was used to but incredibly exhilarating. I’m not sure I want to give it up—or trade my jeans and flip-flops for boots and BDUs again.”

  “Tough decision,” he agreed, curling a strand around his thumb. “Do I get a vote?”

  Again she hesitated. “Maybe. In six months, when it comes to crunch time.”

  His eyes locked with hers. “Six months is a long time to just hang loose.”

  “Gimme a break, Armstrong! You were hardly hanging loose a few minutes ago.”

  Laughter rumbled around in his chest. “No, I guess I wasn’t.”

  Propping her chin on her hand, Andi trailed a finger through the swirls of hair on his chest. “You, me…us. I feel as though we’ve taken another right oblique. I’m not sure what direction we’re marching in now.”

  “We’ll figure it out.”

  And it wouldn’t take any six months, Dave vowed fiercely. Tugging on the strand of dark hair, he brought her mouth down to his.

  PALE STREAKS OF LIGHT filtered through the shutters when a buzz jerked Andi from a deep sleep. The mattress tilted as Dave propped himself up on one elbow and fumbled for the phone on the nightstand.

  “Armstrong.”

  His bulk formed a formidable shield but didn’t block Sue Ellen’s anxious voice.

  “I can’t reach Andi. She left me a message last night, said she needed to talk to me. I’ve been calling since I got home a little while ago, but she doesn’t answer her house or cell phone. Have you heard from her? She’s not in the hospital, is she?”

  “No, she’s not.”

  “Do you know where she is?”

  Dave angled around and caught Andi’s eye. A wicked grin stretched his mouth. “Matter of fact, I do.”

  The mattress sagged again as he rolled over to offer Andi the phone. Shaking her head, she dragged the sheet up over her face. Fiendishly Dave peeled it back.

  “It’s Sue Ellen,” he announced with wholly unnecessary glee.

  “I’ll get you for this, Armstrong.”

  Andi took the phone and decided a swift offense was her best defense. “Did I hear you say you just got home? That must have been some dining out.”

  She should have known she couldn’t throw Sue Ellen off stride that easily. After a mere second or two of startled silence, her friend counterattacked in her own inimitable style.

  “It was a great dining out,” she purred. “What came after was even better. Say hello to Crash.”

  Andi’s jaw sagged. A few seconds later Bill Steadman’s amused voice greeted her.

  “Hi, Andi.”

  “Hi, Crash.”

  Surprise flickered across Dave’s face, followed by a slow, feral smile Andi had no difficulty interpreting.

  “Good to know you’re not stretched out dead on your kitchen floor,” Crash drawled.

  S.E. sniggered in the background. “Ask her where she is stretched out.”

  Thankfully Bill ignored that. “Sue Ellen turned a little frantic when she couldn’t reach you,” he said instead. “We both did.”

  “I’m, uh, fine.”

  That produced another snigger and brought Sue Ellen back on the line. “I’m guessing you’re a damn sight better than fine this morning, girl. To echo your own words, I want a full report.”

  The ridiculousness of the situation erased Andi’s chagrin at being caught in her ex-husband’s bed.

  “I’ll give you one,” she promised, laughing. “After I hear yours.”

  “Deal. I’ll swing by your place after work tonight.”

  “Speaking of work…” Andi heard Crash say. This was followed by a shriek from Sue Ellen.

  “Oh, God! Tell me it’s not really seven-ten!”

  Evidently it was, as her friend hurriedly terminated the call. “Gotta hit the shower. Later, girl.”

  Still chuckling, Andi passed the phone back to Dave. “Sounds like last night was full of surprises all around,” she commented.

  “That’s a roger.”

  When he reached over to deposit the phone on the nightstand, Andi couldn’t resist gliding her fingers over the plane of his back. As light as it was, the touch stirred something deep and almost forgotten inside her.

  How many times had a phone or alarm jerked them from sleep? How often had she longed to snuggle into Dave’s warmth for another ten or fifteen minutes before hitting the shower and pulling on her uniform?

  Why hadn’t they snatched a few quiet moments to anch
or their day instead of springing out of bed and into their frenetic routines? Quietly grieving for all those lost opportunities, Andi attempted to extricate herself from the tangled sheets.

  “You need to get to work. Your exec is probably forming a search party by now.”

  “I called him earlier, while you were still asleep. Told him I’d be in later.” As if he’d read her mind, Dave tugged her down beside him and settled her in the crook of his arm. “Tell me what’s on your agenda today.”

  “It’s not as full as yours, I’m sure, but I’ll stay busy. I’m expecting my first shipment of books this morning. Karen Duchek, my new assistant, said she’d come in to help scan and shelve them.”

  Excitement crept into her voice. She couldn’t wait to crack open box after box of books and fill her empty shelves.

  That was when Andi realized she’d already nudged close to one decision. Whatever the docs said six months from now, she’d have to think long and hard before she went back on active duty. She’d loved her old life, but the new one was opening exciting vistas for her.

  Deciding to hug her thoughts to herself until she had time to sort through their implications, she filled Dave in on the rest of her schedule. “This afternoon, my seventeen-year-old computer wiz is installing another terminal for the kids’ corner.”

  His fingers combed lazily through her hair. “Kids’ corner?”

  “That was Karen’s idea. Oh, and the Gulf Springs town council meets tonight. I promised the mayor I’d stop by for a little while. I’d better call Sue Ellen and reschedule our reporting session.”

  Her mind buzzed with all she had to do, yet Andi didn’t feel the least inclination to jump out of bed and get to it. The slow rise and fall of Dave’s chest was almost as seductive as the hunger that had literally driven them against the wall last night.

  “What about you?” she asked. “What does the rest of your day look like?”

  With a wry smile, he echoed her earlier reply. “I’ll stay busy. Want to get together after your council meeting to compare notes and decompress?”