Second Chance Soldier

by Linda O. Johnston

  She nodded, and her reddish hair bobbed slightly as it framed her pale and sad face. “That’s what I figure, too.”

  “We’ll visit the station tomorrow and show them the text. We’ll schedule it around the class you planned.”

  “Fine.” She looked at him as if she wanted to say something, but it took a moment before she began. “I shouldn’t be so upset about this. I wanted to out whoever killed my dad, and that person is apparently upset enough to start making threats. Maybe this is a prelude to learning, at last, who it is.”

  “Maybe, but it would be a good thing if you stayed alive long enough to find out.”

  “Yeah, there is that little angle, isn’t there?” She took another swig of beer, but at least now she seemed to be calming a bit. She appeared more determined, and that worried Evan. What if she started blabbing all around town her intention to find out and reveal who the killer was, just to see what occurred next?

  What if she put herself in more danger?

  Damn, but this gorgeous—and foolish—woman exasperated him.

  And that wasn’t all she did to him…

  He moved his chair even closer to put an arm around her, draw her nearer. “Look, Amber. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you need to be especially careful now. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  She turned and looked him straight in the eye.

  Not long ago, he’d have been highly uncomfortable with that. Looked away immediately, maybe gotten up to retrieve another bottle of beer.

  Not now, though.

  He started to reach over to pull her into his arms, but she beat him to it. They were suddenly both standing. Amber pressed herself against him—and raised her mouth to his.

  *

  Bad idea, Amber thought as she reveled in the feel of Evan’s lips against hers, his tongue inside her mouth teasing hers. She felt every hard plane of his body as he held her close—and that wasn’t all she felt against her.

  His erection below was like an agitator—not a person wrapped in a big, protective balloon of a suit, but a taut, hard shaft that agitated, triggered, all her sexual needs.

  Don’t pull away this time, she begged him silently. And at this moment, at least, that possibility seemed unlikely. His hands explored her back, then downward, gently squeezing her butt. One of them kept going, along the top of her jeans-clad thigh and to her front, staying below, grasping her most sensitive parts from outside.

  “Evan,” she breathed, making sure her own hands were equally engaged in touching his buttocks, then moving forward until his hardness was beneath her grasp outside his jeans.

  “Come with me,” he whispered against her, and without ending their kiss began walking slowly with her.

  She knew where they must be going: his bedroom. She knew the layout of this house, and it wasn’t far down the hall from this kitchen.

  In moments, they reached that room. He didn’t turn on the lights, though there was slight illumination from the hall behind them.

  She listened and heard doggy paws on the wooden floor, but figured that kind of audience would be just fine.

  But…was this a mistake? An unconscious—or conscious—way to deal with the threat she had received?

  So what if it was? This man had attracted her from the moment they had met, no matter how inappropriate that might be. Maybe this would satisfy her enough to get any further idea of sex with him out of her mind forever.

  Or not, she thought as he began pulling off her T-shirt. And then her jeans.

  Before he could reach for her undergarments she returned the favor, stripping him of his outer clothes.

  Oh, my. He had always been dressed in clothing that hid what was beneath: his gorgeous physique…and the scars all over it that were a better explanation than anything he’d said about the origins of his fortunately dwindling PTSD.

  Maybe that was why he had backed away last time…

  “Oh, Evan,” she breathed.

  He looked at her then and must have seen where her gaze was focusing. “That was a couple of years ago,” he said. “It hurts some now and then, but mostly I’m fine.”

  Except for his state of mind, sometimes. And Amber wanted to bend and kiss every one of those horrendously painful-looking scars.

  Instead, he removed her remaining clothes, then his own shorts. She was definitely distracted.

  He took her hand and led her to the bed, pulling down the coverlet as if they were old hands at this, experienced in going to bed together. He kissed her again—they kissed each other—and suddenly they were lying on the sheets and his hands were touching her breasts, and he was kissing them, even as his fingers found her most sensitive area below and began stroking her.

  “Evan,” she gasped, a plea for him to continue, but he pulled away. Was it like last time, an ending to a hot, sexy fairy tale barely begun?

  But no, this time he reached into the top drawer of the bedside table and extracted a condom.

  He was not only sexy, but also smart and responsible.

  “Me.” She held out her hand, and with a little help from him she didn’t just get to grasp and feel his erection, but she sheathed it, too.

  Then he was inside her, gently pumping and moaning softly, even as she did the same.

  She reached her climax much too soon, but she could hardly complain. He seemed to reach completion, too, judging by the way his body tautened, then relaxed.

  She just lay there for a moment, wondering what to say or do next. But he beat her to it. “Doesn’t seem like either of us needs lessons for this kind of exercise.”

  She laughed as he rolled back onto her and kissed her again.

  *

  He’d have liked to have done it again. And again. But for the moment, he actually was sated.

  And not terribly uncomfortable or embarrassed that she had seen the ugly, scarred state of his body. It hadn’t kept her from engaging in what felt like the best sexual act in his entire life, either before or after his injuries.

  Right now, he needed to get up and get dressed and be there when Amber called the cops about that damn text message. At least alert them, see if there was anything they could do that night—before he accompanied Amber to the station to show them the message and learn what they would to do to protect her.

  That was his assignment for tonight.

  In a few minutes, he would walk Amber and Lola back to her house. He would sleep on the sofa with Bear at his feet, for tonight and maybe longer. Until they got the cops to take over whatever they could do to make sure the SOB who sent that text couldn’t make good on the threat it contained.

  Or at least get some backup here, like the obvious security guys he had seen patrolling the resort when they’d had dinner there.

  One way or another, he was going to make sure whoever it was got what was coming to them.

  Chapter 21

  The delay had been delightful. No, a whole lot more than delightful.

  But Amber wanted—needed—to make that phone call to the cops. Not before she’d checked on her mother, though.

  Even so, she felt reluctant to get out of bed. Was this the one and only time she would have sex with this incredibly hot and desirable man?

  It should be, considering their situation. In fact, considering their situation, it shouldn’t have happened at all.

  But she was glad it had.

  She tossed Evan a smile and slid out of bed, fully conscious of his eyes on her, which made her begin warming once more, especially in her most vulnerable areas. “I’ve got to get back to the house,” she said unnecessarily as she began getting dressed. To chill herself as much as possible, she turned her back on him.

  “We both do.” She heard a rustle behind her and figured that he, too, had risen and was putting his clothes back on.

  A shame—but it needed to be done, especially since he had confirmed he was accompanying her to her home, which she highly appreciated.

  Soon they both were clad onc
e more in what they’d previously worn. Amber couldn’t help pulling her phone from her pocket again. No more texts, but she looked again at the one she had received earlier, the threatening message that had turned her life upside down, at least for now.

  Would she have made love with Evan if she hadn’t received it? Would he have made love with her?

  And now, what was going to happen? Could the police figure out who’d sent it—and do what was necessary to arrest that person and keep her safe?

  She wished.

  “Ready?” Evan asked from beside her. On the floor nearby, both dogs skittered, tails wagging, as if they knew it was time for another outing.

  And since dogs were always insightful, reading clues as well as human minds did at times, Amber had no doubt they knew that the people with them were taking them for another walk.

  Perhaps the dogs were also on duty to protect them. Their dear friends were programmed, after all, to alert them to any dangers outside. But Amber had no reason to believe anything would happen to them on the way back to the house.

  Although maybe her father hadn’t believed anything would happen to him on his own property…and as far as she knew he hadn’t been warned.

  “Are you okay?” Evan asked, and Amber realized she was staring at the floor rather than putting her shoes on.

  “Better than okay,” she said firmly, attempting, at least, to cast all those negative, frightening thoughts aside.

  But he must have read her mind, or at least recognized what she was likely thinking. “It’ll be all right, Amber. I promise.”

  How could he make such a promise? Although she trusted him, wanted to rely on him…

  “Now, let’s go to your place, check on your mother and make that call.”

  *

  Evan couldn’t help it. He was concerned, too—mostly for Amber’s safety. Once they were out his front door, he locked it, then bent down to the ear of the dog at his feet and whispered, “Bear, protect.”

  He looked up to see Amber staring at him. Had she heard him? Understood him? Her slight smile suggested she knew what he had done and approved of it.

  Bear stood straight then, despite not having a vest on telling him he was on duty. He knew.

  Now Bear leaped ahead, ears up, nose in the air—clearly ready to protect them from whatever happened to appear.

  Nothing did, though. Lights were on inside Orrin’s house but the guy didn’t come out, not surprising at this hour unless he actually was the bad guy and planned to harm them this night.

  In a few minutes they reached Amber’s door, which she opened with a key. Only then, with humans and dogs all inside, did Evan allow himself to take a deep breath.

  He was too worried over a stupid text—maybe. He’d have been less concerned if he’d been the one to receive it instead of Amber.

  But once they were locked inside he said, “Let’s go check on your mom.”

  “I’ll bet she’s asleep,” Amber said. “She was heading for bed when I left with Lola.”

  Hopefully, that was the case. And in fact, when they reached Sonya’s bedroom door, Evan swallowed his concern and allowed Amber to open it quietly and peer inside.

  If anything had been wrong, he’d rather be the one to discover it.

  There was no light on in the bedroom. “Can you see?” he whispered to Amber.

  She nodded, watched for a minute, then closed the door. “The light from behind us was enough for me to see she was lying in bed, breathing,” she said, also quiet as they turned and walked back down the hall. “She’s fine.”

  “Good.”

  They went downstairs to the kitchen and Evan said, “You need to be the one to call the cops so they’ll capture your cell phone number and, hopefully, know it’s you. But put it on the speaker so I can participate.”

  “It’s too late and too calm right now for me to call 911,” Amber said. “But I have the general number for the police station programmed in.”

  Her tone was sad and ironic, and Evan felt bad for her, even as he understood why she might have that number so readily available: to call and check on the status of their investigation into her dad’s murder.

  He doubted she ever did that, though.

  They sat at the kitchen table. Amber pushed a couple of buttons on her phone, and he heard it ring. “Chance Police Department,” said a female voice. “Is this an emergency?”

  In a way, Evan thought, but was glad Amber said, “No, but it is important. I’d imagine the answer is no this late, but is Assistant Chief Province there?”

  “No, ma’am,” said the operator. “Can someone else help you?”

  “I hope so, though I’m not sure who to ask for.” She gave a brief description of who she was and the text message she’d received.

  “Let me connect you to Sergeant Guyan,” the operator said. “He’s in charge here tonight.”

  “Fine,” Amber said.

  After a wait of a minute or two, a male voice said, “Hello. This is Sergeant Guyan. I understand you’re the daughter of Corbin Belott, and you’ve received a threatening text message.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  Amber repeated what she had told the person who answered the phone. When she was done, Evan said, “This is Evan Colluro. I’m Ms. Belott’s employee at the K-9 Ranch and live in one of the homes here. She was walking a dog outside my house when she got the message so she knocked on my door, and I’ve been with her since then.”

  Of course he didn’t mention what they’d been doing for part of that time, although the brief recollection did cause a reaction down below that he ignored—or at least tried to.

  “I’m concerned about Ms. Belott and her mother,” he continued, “so I’m going to stay with them at least until tomorrow. You may not know it, but Chief Shermovski and Assistant Chief Province, along with your two K-9 officers, were here yesterday for a demonstration of some of the dog training the ranch will be providing. Ms. Belott has been talking with Assistant Chief Province in particular about what happened to her father, and we’d like to see the assistant chief as soon as she’s available.”

  He felt Amber’s stare as he talked, and now he glanced toward her. Her face was pale, her expression somber, but she nodded and mouthed the words thank you.

  “I can schedule an appointment for eight thirty tomorrow morning, if that works for you. Meantime, I’ll send a couple of officers to your place to touch base, and make sure patrols go by often for the rest of the night.”

  “Sounds good,” Evan said, and again Amber nodded at him. “About how long will it take for the officers to get here?”

  “I’ve set up a visit even as we speak. Someone should be there in ten minutes or less.”

  “Thank you, Sergeant,” Amber said.

  “You’re welcome, and be sure to let us know if you get any more texts tonight—or if anything else happens.”

  “I will.” Amber’s voice rasped, and she closed her eyes before looking back toward Evan. “I certainly hope not.”

  “Me, too, ma’am.” They said goodbye, and Amber pushed the button to end the call.

  “Do you want to wake your mother to let her know what’s going on?” Evan asked. “She’s bound to hear the cops arrive, especially because the dogs are likely to bark.”

  “You’re right,” she said. “I’ll go get her.”

  Sending him a look he interpreted as both resigned and sad, she left the kitchen.

  He bided his time by checking a few things on his cell phone—including searching for news stories originating around Chance. Nothing stood out.

  A few minutes later Amber reentered the kitchen with her mother behind her. Sonya was dressed in a robe, and her reddish hair was askew.

  “Amber told me about that text she received, and that the police are coming,” Sonya began. The timing was perfect, since the doorbell rang then.

  All dogs in the house, including Bear, began to bark. Evan easily shushe
d him, and Amber did the same with Lola, but the young dogs in the den kept it up.

  Evan watched, poised to protect her, as Amber looked out the peephole, then opened the door. Two uniformed officers, one male and one female, stood there. “We understand you received a threat,” said the female officer. “May we come in?”

  Amber stood aside, then shut the door again after the cops entered. She showed them into the living room.

  The conversation was short and to the point. They asked Amber to show them the text, which she did. They said that a tech expert would be at the station tomorrow morning when she came to see Kara Province and would check out the phone and source of the text. Meantime, as the dispatcher had said, patrols would go past this area more frequently than usual tonight. And if there was anything else Amber, or anyone else in the household, could tell them now, she should do so.

  But everything had already been related. Amber thanked them, and so did Sonya and Evan. Evan noted that both gave brief pats to the two dogs in the room, which raised them up a notch in his estimation.

  Then they left.

  “How can we get any sleep tonight?” Sonya asked when they were gone. “Will we be safe, even with the dogs?” At least the young ones had finally settled down, and Lola was lying at Sonya’s feet on the living room floor.

  “You’ll be safe,” Evan promised. “Bear and I will sleep right here.” He gestured toward the couch, where all three of them were sitting. “And I’ll go with Amber and you to the police station in the morning.”

  “Oh, thank you, Evan.” Sonya definitely sounded relieved.

  Evan just hoped he could do as promised, and keep them all safe.

  *

  Despite the small size of the Chance Police Department, one of their crime-scene investigators also had skills in computer and technology forensics. Or that’s what Amber heard from Kara the next morning when she, her mom and Evan arrived.

  They were in Kara’s office, and she’d been given the rundown on the situation that had been related by last night’s phone call and the visit to the ranch by the cops.

  Amber had been glad Evan had stayed the night in their house, though fortunately nothing happened. They both walked dogs in the morning and said hi to Orrin as he came outside to work, but everything seemed normal—except when she pulled her phone from her pocket to look at that terrible message again.