Sarah pulled her truck onto the gravel drive. When she saw light and movement coming from the barn, she parked near the side door. Christ, she thought as she sat in the truck just outside the barn as thunder beat a staccato melody overhead. She opened the door just as the first drops began to fall and made a dash for the musty barn.
Miguel, his hands coated in grease, worked on an engine of unidentifiable sort. Sarah could tell by the look on his face she’d startled him.
“Hola, Miguel.” She felt ridiculous trying to speak a language she didn’t have a knack for remembering. “Donde esta Dodge?”
Mercifully, Miguel answered in English. “He’s in back pasture, by old road.” He motioned with his hand in the direction. “Tractor broken.”
“The boys?”
When he smiled, his perfectly aligned teeth gleamed in the dark interior of the barn. “Home.”
Back in the truck, she used her cell to call home and told the boys to stay inside because of the storm. She set off toward the back pasture to locate Dodge and infest him with her latest flavor of neurosis. She found him just where Miguel had said, working feverishly under the hood of his John Deere tractor, rain bouncing like ping pong balls off his hat and jacket. She honked the horn, watched him jump and wince when the movement caused him to injure his hand. He scowled at her, looked down at the engine, squinted up at the sky and quickly made his way to her truck. Sarah reached over and pulled up the lock, her stomach fluttered with longing and dread as he climbed inside.
“What are you doing out here?”
“I need to talk to you.” Something in her face must have given away her panic because he reached over with his damp hand and laced his fingers through her hair. Her mind instantly blanked at his touch.
###
Dodge pulled her closer across the small bench seat. The musty cab held her scent in the air, the rain infused it in his head. He’d spent the better part of the day driving to Westmoreland tracking down the one dealership this side of the mountain that had the belt he needed to get the tractor running again. And all the way there and all the way back he’d thought of her. He remembered everything about the hour they’d shared the day before. He’d catalogued in his mind every touch, every sound, every movement she’d made and was all but bursting with need for her again. But the tractor had a need for the belt and he wasn’t quite sure how to proceed with Sarah after their first roll in the sheets. He’d been afraid an over-eagerness on his part would scare her, cause her to classify him as a typical male or worse, give away his insatiable need to have her again. He kissed her forehead, caressed her scalp with his fingers and waited for her to take the lead.
###
“I…” Sarah began, hesitated. He stared at her, his fingers making lazy circles on her head. What a disaster it had been not to have a condom the first time, and she could tell from the look on his face there would be more times, and here she sat, wanting him again. Had she thought to buy condoms at the store when she’d had her epiphany? Of course not.
“We didn’t use protection when we…”
Dodge chuckled, his dimpled grin mocking her panic. “I know when you’re talking about.”
“How can you laugh about this?” She didn’t know what to expect from him, but she hadn’t expected laughter. “I know I’m old. It’s been forever since I’ve worried about an unplanned pregnancy, but it can happen. Todd would just look at me and I’d get pregnant.”
His hand paused on her head. “You don’t have to worry about getting pregnant, Sarah. Not from me.”
She slumped against the seat, the heat from his body warming the cab as the rain ran like teardrops down the windshield. “I don’t understand. You’re…you’ve had a vasectomy?”
“No.”
His face changed, the coyness she’d seen there swiftly hidden behind a mask. He’d shut his emotions off like a curtain in a play and it fell with a swoosh between them. “I don’t understand,” she said when he just stared at her.
Dodge lifted his hand from the tangle of her hair and took off his hat. “I was married once before.”
“You were married?”
“In Chicago. The former client, the one who sends the fancy wine? He was my father-in-law.”
Dodge turned to face the windshield. The movement caused them to separate by inches, but Sarah felt like a great ravine had formed between them.
“We were married for three years, two of which she tried to get pregnant. Turns out I’ve been shooting blanks all along.” He looked at her then and shrugged. “A little ironic. Anyway, the stress and the disappointment of it brought the marriage down.”
“Jesus.” All along she’d pegged him as the wounded loner, someone whose past had kept him at a distance from everyone. Everyone but her. The fact that he’d moved on from his past, had married and tried to have children, selfishly it hurt her pride and made her think less of what they’d shared. But when she looked at him, really looked at his face, she saw a wounded loner. Every part of his past was just as painful as what he’d endured before. “She blamed you.”
“I was to blame.”
“No. Lots of people can’t have kids. It doesn’t make you less of a man, less worthy of love.”
“Love’s not always easy, Sarah. You’re a fine example of how much it can hurt. It wouldn’t have worked out anyway.” She could tell he’d shut off that part of his life, knew he didn’t want not to talk about it. “She was…we were from two different worlds. She’s happy now. Two kids and a banker husband. Probably even a dog and white picket fence.”
Sarah put her hand over his, leaned closer until their knees brushed. “So, there’s your proof. There’s no way you could have gotten Wendy pregnant.”
“Let it go, Sarah. I have. After my outburst at the diner, so have most of the people around town.”
She shifted on the seat, took his hat from his hand, put it down beside her. She’d do anything to bring a smile to his face. “Any more revelations you’d like to share? More heartbreak?”
“I’m no angel, Sarah.” Dodge ran his hand down her arm, laced his fingers with hers. “Don’t confuse me with some movie star cowboy or one of your made up heroes.”
“I’m not romanticizing about you. I haven’t forgotten about your categories.”
He shook his head and closed his eyes.
“Dodge, you shouldn’t belittle what you’ve been through.”
“It’s just something that happened. And now it’s over. It’s why I don’t do relationships.”
She felt her heart slip. “You got married. You can’t say you don’t do relationships.”
“It failed. I don’t do them anymore.”
“There were two of you in that marriage.”
“I learned my lesson. Besides,” he touched her chin with his finger, “you don’t do casual.”
“I’ve never had the opportunity for casual. Why do I feel like you’re breaking up with me?” She heard the whine in her voice and tried another tactic. “Why do we have to put a label on this? This thing between us…it’s like a roller coaster ride. We’ve strapped ourselves in, now we have a choice. We can either close our eyes and pray for the end, or we can wave our hands in the air and enjoy it.” She shifted on the seat and straddled him, settled into his lap, laced her fingers through his hair. When his hands clasped around her waist and pulled her closer, she eased her whole body into his, her lips a whisper from his. “However long it lasts.” She kissed him, slow and tempting. “What do you say?”
“You’d better hold on tight,” he said as he made quick work of the buttons on her shirt. “This ride’s about to start.”
They made love in the small cab of her truck while the storm swirled around them. It was sweaty and cramped and heartbreakingly passionate. They could barely move, but she felt unspeakably moved by the quiet way he whispered her name, the tenderness of his touch, despite the amateurish location of their pairing. She eased the pain from his eyes with her words and gave him
her body to heal him, the same way he was healing her.
Chapter 19
It was the clinking. Kimberly Weston shook her head and sat up straight in her chair. That damn clinking noise was getting to her and she wanted to bolt from the room with an almost overwhelming absurdity. She looked at her watch. Again. Nearly midnight and Benji was still at it.
First he’d shocked her by insisting she accompany him to the fundraising dinner in the ballroom of one of Denver’s finest hotels. He never took her anywhere even remotely social when his wife and daughter weren’t present. And while they were off at some weight loss spa in the desert, Kimberly sat listening to the irritating clinking of plates and glasses, silverware and bar drinks while Benji downed another scotch and made the rounds of the room yet again.
Kimberly had never seen him like this. He hated fundraising dinners, especially dinners honoring anyone he felt beneath him on the political hierarchy. And Dalton Maddox didn’t register a blip on Benji’s radar as far as Kimberly knew. Yet here she sat, miserable and exhausted at a corner ballroom table littered with dessert plates and empty alcohol glasses. No wonder political fundraisers were so expensive; the bar bill alone probably came to more than her yearly salary.
She’d spent the last half hour trying to coax the Senator out of one conversation or the next, thought surely he intended to leave as soon as she’d whisked him free. But just as she’d wrangle him out of one boring discussion on subsidies and gas prices, he’d bound head long into another until Kimberly had given up. Sitting in the uncomfortable ballroom chair watching Benji work the room and wipe beads of sweat from his brow, Kimberly started to notice Benji’s strange behavior. With broad smiles and a bunch of back patting, he worked the room harder than the Energizer bunny. But it didn’t make sense. Most of the bills he’d signed on to support were either dead in the water or had sailed through committee. There wasn’t a need for him to rush from conversation to conversation, stirring the pot, as he liked to call it when he needed to get support from one backer or another. And if Dalton Maddox was beneath Senator Ben Burwick, surely his supporters didn’t merit his undivided attention.
Kimberly dropped the napkin she’d been worrying when the cold realization of what was going on tingled up her spine. Tonight was the night, it had to be. Benji wasn’t working the room for votes or money, he needed an alibi. And there was no better alibi than a room full of political supporters and a public relations photographer. She reached into her clutch for her phone and, after making sure Benji slung his political shit around the room, stepped into the hall to make a call.
###
“Hello?” Tommy answered his rarely used cell phone. He’d been asleep on the couch. The news had ended and the laugh track on an old Seinfeld episode all but drowned out the voice on the other end of the line.
“Tommy, its Kimberly. I don’t have much time.”
He sat up on the couch with a jolt. “Kimberly? Is everything ok? I can barely hear you.” He pressed the mute button on the remote.
“I think whatever is going down at the Woodward place is happening tonight. Benji dragged me to some fundraiser in Denver at the last minute. He’s determined to stay much later than normal. I think he’s using this party as an alibi.”
“Are you sure?”
“I can’t be sure, but my gut tells me I’m right. Have you heard from Mrs. Woodward?”
Tommy felt the sting of panic begin to rise in his throat. “It’s almost midnight. I’ll call Dodge. He’s staying out at the caretaker’s place. If anything’s going on, he’ll know.”
###
Dodge had been sleeping like a baby. Ever since Sarah had guilted him into a public declaration of innocence, he hadn’t had a single dream or nightmare involving Wendy Hawkins. His mind was finally as free as his conscience. Of course, part of the reason he slept so well had to do with the fact that Sarah had wrapped herself around him in the truck that afternoon. She’d seduced him, twice. And he couldn’t have been happier.
Dodge had set the alarm on his phone to go off at one a.m. so he could get in his truck and make a sweep of the ranch. They didn’t have any leads into what Burwick had planned and every morning when he woke to find that nothing had happened, he heaved a sigh of relief. But there was no way for them to know when Burwick would strike, so he continued his nightly watch and tried to head off the trouble that was bound to come their way.
When Dodge realized the phone rang from a call and not from his alarm, he sat up and reached for his cell. “Yeah?” He answered sleepily and didn’t bother to check the id.
“Dodge, its Tommy. I just got a call from Kimberly. She thinks tonight’s the night.”
“How does she know?” Dodge dragged on his jeans and shirt.
“He’s hauled her to some fundraiser in Denver and she thinks he’s using the public appearance as a cover. Give him a room full of alibis.”
“Shit.” Dodge threw on his hat and jacket before heading out into the blustery night. Another round of storms assaulted him as he ran to the truck. “It’s raining like hellfire out here, Tommy. I don’t know if I’d see anything even if I knew what I was looking for.”
“Do you want me to come over?”
Dodge tried to think as he maneuvered carefully along the muddy roads. “No, no, I’m so jacked up and with the weather I’d probably shoot you by mistake.” The truck swerved sharply when the tire hit a deep rut. The phone dislodged from his hand. Dodge picked it up quickly and shouted, “I’ll call you back if I find anything. Let me know if you hear from Kimberly again.”
He needed to call Sarah. He stole a quick glance at the dashboard clock. She’d probably gone to bed, but he had to warn her to keep a vigilant watch around the cabin.
“Hello?” She answered on the second ring, sounding groggy. “Dodge, what’s wrong?”
“Tommy heard from his cousin. She thinks tonight’s the night. I’m out in this mess looking for anything suspicious. I need you to check on the boys, make sure you’re locked up tight. Keep your eyes peeled for anything unusual.”
“What…what does she think is going to happen?”
“She didn’t say, but I don’t want you to worry. Just check on things there and sit tight. When I’ve made a thorough sweep, I’ll be by the cabin. I’m keeping watch near your place tonight. I’ll have Miguel watch the front entrance.”
“Dodge.” Sarah sounded panicked. “If you see anything, anything at all, call the police. Please don’t try to handle this yourself. I’m begging you.”
Dodge frowned at the fear he heard in her voice. “I won’t do anything stupid. Just lock yourselves in and stay put. Promise me, Sarah.”
“I promise. Please,” she begged. “Be careful.”
###
Sarah’s fear felt like a living, breathing thing. She’d lived for days with the fear of what Benji might do, but her fear for Dodge and his safety felt fathoms worse. She ran from window to window searching the rain clogged night for any sign of his headlights, any sign he hadn’t run head-first into danger.
Guilt lay as heavy on her mind as fear. Dodge was out there, defending her land and her family, knowing the danger had nothing to do with him. She wanted to run out into the night and fight the battle with him instead of holing up in the safety of the cabin like a princess waiting to be rescued. But she’d learned her lesson the last time. She knew an impulsive move on her part could put her in harms way or worse, jeopardize Dodge and put him in more danger.
“Mom, what are you doing?” It was Lyle, still half asleep as he wandered out from the bathroom.
Sarah whipped around. “Nothing.” She tried to be casual, moved from the window and began folding the afghan he’d left on the floor when he’d finally drifted off to bed.
Lyle yawned, shook the sleep from his face. “I heard the phone and then you, moving around like your butt’s on fire. What gives?”
Sarah sighed, gripped the afghan in her arms. “I’m looking out the windows for Dodge.” Whe
n Lyle’s head cocked in confusion she dropped the blanket on the couch. “He’s looking for someone who might try to cause trouble again. I’m looking for his truck.”
“Like when the wires got cut?”
“Yes.” Sarah moved to the side window, lifted the corner of the wood blind in search of him again. “Just go back to sleep, honey.” She watched the window fog against her breath, felt Lyle beside her. She turned to catch the worry in his eyes as they scanned the dark, rain soaked night.
“What’s he going to do if he finds someone?”
“I don’t know. Call the police, I guess.” Sarah hoped she was right, but knew the police would be an afterthought for Dodge.
Lyle grabbed her hand, squeezed hard. Her throat tightened in response. He was still the peace keeper, still able to gauge her moods and temper them with a look or a touch. A gift from his father. “He’ll be ok, Mom. Dodge isn’t going to let anything happen to us.”
“I’m worried about him.” She said it quickly, too quickly to think what the statement might reveal. She didn’t want to have to explain their relationship to Lyle. “He’s alone and in this weather…”
“He’s been staying with Miguel because he figured there’d be more trouble. He can handle it.”
They both jumped when Kevin cleared his throat. “Why is everybody up making so much noise?”
Sarah straightened, looked at her boys. “Dodge thinks there may be trouble tonight. He’s out looking and I’m--”
Dodge the Bullet Page 20
