Beneath the Layers

by Caitlyn Willows

  “It’s Zach, Midge. Pick up the damn phone. I know you’re home. Claudia’s water broke and labor started.”

  Kurt thundered down the stairs as she snatched up the receiver.

  “I’m here,” she told him.

  Kurt pressed his ear to the phone to hear.

  “Thank God. You’re closer than Phillip and Rowan. We need your SUV to get to the base hospital. My Jeep is too rough a ride for her.”

  “We’re on our way,” she replied.

  “We? Oh… we,” Zach said.

  She thought she heard snickers in the background. “Let it go, Zach.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Hey, you saved me a phone call.”

  “Whatever.” Midge hung up. “At least the impending birth will take the spotlight off us,” she told Kurt.

  “Not for long.” He dashed back up the stairs.

  They were out of the door minutes later with him at the wheel. Considering how he was shaking, Midge wasn’t sure he should be driving. He was beyond emotionally invested. Zach and Claudia were his best friends and this baby meant the world to him. But driving would give him something to do and help focus his attention better.

  His grip on the steering wheel confirmed that as he negotiated a turn onto the main road. What little traffic existed was at a crawl. Californians didn’t know how to drive in snow—her included. The heavy snowfall, the wind and iced roads were accidents waiting to happen. She didn’t want them to be one of those.

  “I think I’m going to fucking cry,” he told her. “It feels like someone’s squeezing my heart to death. The emotion is…so much.”

  Midge teared up. Such devotion. The guy was tearing down the walls around her heart one at a time. She brushed his shoulder. “It’ll be all right.”

  “Do you know how to deliver a baby?” he asked. “I have first-aid certification but everything’s blank.”

  “I do.” Vaguely. She wasn’t going to tell him that. He needed reassurance, not obstacles. “Does it bother you that they know about us?”

  “No.” He momentarily took his eyes off the road to frown at her. “Why? Does it bother you? Did you want to keep it a secret? Why?”

  “Calm down.” She laughed and brushed his shoulder again. “We’re good. I’m still a tad miffed that Zach didn’t enlighten me about your identity. But you and I are good. I want people to know. You make me feel all glowy inside.”

  Kurt’s tense shoulders relaxed with his smile. “Yeah…glowy. Jess knows, by the way.”

  “Does he? Ah…your breakfast this morning.”

  He shrugged. “He knew yesterday when I briefed him on having made initial contact with her.” He shot her a side glance. “He didn’t enlighten me, either. I’d call them both on their behavior, but Jess is my boss and I want to keep Zach on my good side.”

  “Because you don’t want to be kicked out of the birthing room?”

  A grin split his face. “Something like that.” His grin faded. “Hey, they didn’t call me.”

  Midge laughed. “You heard what he said about saving him a phone call. I’m sure you were the next on their list. They would want to secure safe transportation first.”

  “True.” His smile lit up. “I love kids.”

  She cursed the seat belt that kept her from kissing him. “I love kids, too.”

  He released the wheel long enough to squeeze her hand. “Maybe they’ll let us babysit.”

  “I’m sure they will.”

  “They trust me to watch their cat, so I’m sure they’d trust me to watch their baby.”

  “Ah…the infamous Miss Kitty. That explains why Hades was so enamored of you. He must have sensed her on you. She’s his love interest, not that he can do anything about it. Miss Kitty ignores him, eats out of his bowl, sleeps in his spot. He watches adoringly, all aquiver.”

  Kurt laughed. “Wait till I tell him that she and I have slept together.”

  “I look forward to that conversation.”

  They were quiet for a few minutes, each locked in their own thoughts. Hers went to their peeper.

  “I find it very odd that twice in one day I would have unwanted company at my house. Do you think the peeper is the same man from this morning?”

  “It better not be.”

  She turned as far as the seat belt allowed. “You know who was there this morning?”

  He drummed his fingers on the wheel. “Another investigator from our office.”

  “Why?”

  “He saw you take the packet of ketamine from Forton’s pocket. I set him straight.”

  “Did you also ask him how in the world he could determine what I pulled from Jeremy’s pocket? Clearly, he was some distance away. I didn’t see him and I would have, because there was little traffic that time of the day. Why was he following me?”

  Kurt blew out a breath. “Anders wasn’t following you, per se. He was poking around where he shouldn’t on a drug case and saw you. He subsequently followed you home, recognized the address from my report yesterday—”

  “What report? The one you made to Jess about you thinking I was this extortionist? But Jess knew I wasn’t. Anders should have known when he saw my address that I was okay.”

  “He didn’t believe you were okay. Anders had been assigned to the blackmailer case while I took over the drug investigation. He stuck his nose into my drug case, saw you with Forton, saw you go to that address and concluded you were a person of interest.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me this when you came over? You could have at least told me it was another investigator poking around so I didn’t have to worry.”

  His silence was telling.

  Midge strained the limits of the belt. “Because you thought I was guilty, too?”

  His lack of reply hurt her heart. She jerked back into her seat and stared out of the window. Tears obscured her vision, making her madder. She’d be damned if she let him see her cry.

  “Anders dug up the investigation on Stanford. He suggested you might be a ticking bomb and pointed out that you had now been linked to two ongoing investigations. He created…doubt.”

  She snorted. “How could you even entertain the possibility?”

  Another long, drawn-out silence fell. They were nearing Zach and Claudia’s house.

  “Because, until the other night, you wouldn’t give me the time of day and now you’re all over me.” He snapped his hand up, cutting her off when she sucked in a sharp breath to respond. “And I’m all over you. I know why I want you. What I can’t figure out is why you suddenly want me.”

  Midge rolled her eyes. “How can anyone as good-looking as you are have such low self-esteem?”

  “I don’t know. You tell me.”

  He pulled to a stop on the street, jammed the shift into Park and charged toward the house. Zach ushered his wife outside, waving Kurt back. Claudia was bundled up like a kid ready for a day in the snow. Midge didn’t know how Zach managed to hold on to her with all the outer garments and still carry her overnighter. Kurt opened the SUV’s back door and returned to his place behind the wheel. Midge cranked up the heat. She felt helpless watching them waddle through the snow.

  Claudia started stripping off the coat, scarf and gloves as soon as Zach guided her inside. “I am burning up in all this.”

  Midge could see why. She also wore a bulky Marine Corps sweatshirt—Zach’s, considering its size.

  “I’ll turn the heat down.” Midge reached for the controls.

  “I’ll be fine once I get all this off.” Claudia stripped the sweatshirt off and the sweater under it. “I swear the baby’s going to want out to avoid heat stroke.”

  “Very funny.” Zach hoisted himself inside, closing the door. “I only wanted you to be warm.” He glanced their way. “How’s the happy couple?”

  “Shut up,” Kurt snapped, putting the vehicle in gear.

  Claudia’s laughter was as beautiful and sparkling as she. Midge envied her poise and class, her blonde hair and blue eyes and the way those ey
es filled with love every time she looked at her husband.

  “You could have said something yesterday,” Midge told him.

  “And miss the fun of seeing the two of you bumble along? I see you’re getting along as fabulously as always. Not only can I feel the tension, I can see it. I’m not sure I want our child exposed to such negativity,” Zach added.

  Claudia fanned her long fingers against her throat. “I agree. I say they quit dancing around each other before they realize how much time they’ve wasted.”

  That was experience talking. It had taken Zach and Claudia five years before circumstances had finally brought them together.

  “I’d like them to kiss and make up,” she added.

  “You heard the mother of my child,” Zach told them.

  Midge shot him a glare. “Is that an order, sir?”

  Zach grinned. “Does it have to be?”

  Kurt turned. “You can order her all you want, but you’re not the boss of me.”

  “No, but I am.” Claudia’s laughter was cut off by her wince as a contraction overcame her.

  Zach placed his hand over hers and gently encouraged her to breathe. Once it was clear from the look on Claudia’s face that the pain passed, their attention was back on Midge and Kurt.

  “We’re waiting,” Zach said.

  Kurt settled into his seat and put the vehicle into drive. “I’ll have you there in no time.”

  “No,” Claudia told him. “I want the two of you to kiss and make up now.”

  It appeared they had little choice. They leaned in to comply.

  “And not a peck either,” she added.

  Kurt’s eyes narrowed to laser-like intensity.

  “I’m scared, Kurt,” Claudia softly told him. “I need something to take my head away from the fact that I’m about to push a person from my body, and once that happens, Zach and I are going to have our asses handed to us on a silver platter by an infant.”

  “This is ridiculous.” Midge unhooked her seat belt. “If kissing him is all it takes to get us moving—”

  She leaned over the console, grabbed Kurt’s face between her hands and gave him a kiss he ought to feel in his toes. She sure did. When she started to pull away, Kurt cupped her head and deepened it. They ended it at the same time, staring into each other’s eyes.

  Oh, the things you do to my heart, Kurt Davidson.

  “Thank you.” Claudia’s voice trembled with unshed tears.

  “Our pleasure,” Kurt replied.

  Once Midge settled into her seat, they were on their way.

  Midge’s kiss had scorched his lips. He could feel the burn sizzling in his blood. It settled in his cock and nothing could soothe the burn. Not Claudia’s soft moans whenever she had a contraction—which were much too close for his liking, even at ‘only five minutes apart’ —not the horrendous drive through a blinding snowstorm in the dark, not trying to determine who had been snooping on them in the bushes, not the rumbling in his stomach echoed by Midge’s reminding them both they hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

  As before, the drive was excruciatingly slow. An hour after they’d left, he was finally pulling up to the hospital’s emergency room doors—the closest entrance—and watched Zach help Claudia from the vehicle.

  “We’ll park and be inside shortly,” he told them.

  “We’ll bring the overnighter,” Midge added. “Go.”

  Zach gave her a sharp nod and swept Claudia into his arms.

  “You’re going to kill us both on this ice,” she said with a light laugh.

  “Not a chance, princess.” His long strides ate up the short distance to the door.

  “I hate that the system forced me to put some distance between them and me,” Midge said softly.

  Kurt headed for the parking lot in front of the hospital. He wanted to tell her it wasn’t the system, it was herself. But that would be cruel…and wrong. The system not only frowned on fraternization between the ranks, it had made it a court-martial offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. She was right to put distance between herself and the Taylors. His relationship with Claudia and Zach compromised her and he didn’t know what to do about it. Them or her? A choice would have to be made.

  “I’m sorry I made you cry,” he told her.

  Midge tucked her arms across her chest—a classic defensive position. “You didn’t make me cry.”

  “Your eyelashes were damp and spiked. Would you rather I lie to you? If I really believed the crap Anders was spinning, do you think I would have told you? And if you’re wondering if I ever would have told you about it before this, the answer is no. Why? Because it’d be like telling you so-and-so thinks you have big feet.”

  She relaxed, placing her hands in her lap. “I’ve missed them. Hell, I missed Zach and Phillip the second the case was settled and we returned to our own lives. They feel like big brothers to me.”

  “You don’t need to stay away from Phillip.” He’d left the Marine Corps a couple of years ago. His wife had followed his departure soon after Midge had arrived.

  “They’re a package deal, and you know that.”

  Claudia was Phillip’s sister. The sadness in Midge’s voice dived into his heart. He suspected where her thoughts were going—the same place his had. There were few cars in the parking lot. He chose a point as close to the entrance as he could get but left the engine running.

  “I refuse to choose between you and them.” There had to be a way to have it all.

  “I’m not asking you to.” She sighed and turned to stare out her window. “I’m so tired of living this way. I see how it is in the office. Officer and senior enlisted are going to the gym, to lunch, hanging out after-hours—men and women. No one bats an eye. I always feel as if I’m being watched by Stanford’s little spies—all of them waiting for a chance to take me down. Sometimes I feel like making it happen if only to get it all over with, but I don’t want to bring Zach down with me.”

  When Kurt brushed his fingers over her cheek, she turned to him. “First of all, Zach’s a big boy and can take care of himself. Second, I won’t let anyone tear you down. I don’t care what rank they are. I’ll fight to my last breath to keep my friends and you.”

  He cupped her neck and dropped a kiss to her parted lips. He longed to deepen it, to drag her into the back seat and take her, to whisper words his heart wanted to say but his brain refused to utter. Logic told him it was too soon to consider the depth of his feelings. Emotion reminded him that it had been two months since he’d first laid eyes on her—the woman of his dreams. Knowing the lengths he’d go to protect her now after so short an association, how would he feel when they were the ones walking into the hospital for the birth of their child? What would she say if she knew how he really felt?

  “We need to get their bag inside.” She brushed her hand down his arm.

  He nodded and cut the engine, laughing when their stomachs rumbled.

  “Great minds and empty stomachs.”

  Midge unhooked her seat belt then exited the vehicle, grabbing for the bag before he could do so. She relinquished it to him when they headed for the building, huddled into each other against the storm. The automatic doors opened as they approached. This close to the entrance there was no snow until they shook off what had gathered on their clothing. Midge pulled her hood back and fluffed her hair.

  He leaned close. “Do you know how sexy you look right now?”

  Midge giggled and elbowed his ribs. Three feet past the entrance her humor faded. A Navy corpsman blocked their path, eyes narrowed, mouth pinched. Kurt recognized her as one of Midge’s companions from the other night—Susan. Midge regarded her with equal displeasure.

  “I want my things back,” Susan snapped.

  “Not a problem.” Midge side-stepped her and started walking.

  Kurt hurried to catch up. “What things is she talking about?”

  “That damn wig and the outrageous outfit she insisted I wear.”

  So, th
ey are Susan’s. Kurt glanced over his shoulder. Susan was already gone.

  “You should have seen the boots she wanted me to wear. I refused. I should have refused it all.” She stopped and faced him. “But then, if I’d done that, I never would have had you.”

  She kissed him the way he’d wanted to kiss her minutes before—slow, long, deep. Heat swept down his body, settling in his groin. He damned the coats that kept him from showing her how much he wanted her.

  “That you, Davidson? Good God, man, get a room.”

  Yost’s snide drawl jerked them apart. The man was ten feet away and as far as Kurt was concerned, ten feet too close.

  “Who’s this pretty little filly?” He stepped closer. “You look familiar, baby cakes. We met?”

  Kurt could feel Midge’s tension. If she made a move to slug the bastard, he would not only let her, he’d swear it was an accident. Although considering how Yost ran a lascivious leer down Midge’s body, she might be the one having to back Kurt.

  “My lady is none of your business, First Sergeant. Excuse us.” He placed his hand on her back as they walked away.

  “Don’t blame you,” Yost called out. “If I had a woman like that rather than my old heifer, I’d be keeping her away from other men, too.”

  “What a fucking moron,” Midge muttered. “See? It never ends.”

  “Holy shit.” Yost’s barked laughter rang through the corridors. “Ellis?” More laughter, louder than before. “That’s it, Davidson. A good fuck’ll help loosen that stick she’s got up her ass.”

  Kurt dropped the suitcase and was on Yost like stink on shit. He grabbed the man by the shirt and shoved him up against the wall. He was so focused on Yost’s terror-filled eyes he didn’t realize he’d drawn back his fist until Midge pulled his hand down.

  “Don’t,” she said softly. “Please. Come on.” She tugged his arm.

  He shoved Yost as he released his shirt but moved no farther.

  “Please,” she whispered. “It will only make things worse.”

  She had a point, but he didn’t like it. Kurt let her ease him away, lacing his fingers through hers when their hands touched. He turned his back on Yost and walked with her to where he’d left the luggage.