by Zoe York
From the darkness of the alley, Vince stepped silently into view. He shook his head. “Not us.”
Not tonight, but it would be soon. This town was about to become the next front in a dangerous, unstable conflict, and Miles would be at the heart of it.
“Do we head back?”
He glanced at Sutter, then at Nash. “How much closer can we get?”
Vince shrugged. “Front-row seat if you want.”
There was no question what they had to do. “Then let’s pack up and go see what these assholes are doing.”
— SEVEN —
The next morning, Piper said goodbye to the aging hippies who ran the hostel, grabbed her supplies from the communal kitchen and trundled off like a pack mule to Sue’s townhouse. The door swung open in welcome as she wobbled her way up the steps.
“Welcome! Here, let me take something.” Sue held out her hand and Piper handed over her small bag of groceries from the hostel kitchen. Sue chuckled as she looked inside. “Peanut butter and crackers…hopefully we can do one better than that for a bit of breakfast. Come in, come in.”
Piper found herself being herded into the front room, her rucksack slung on the bannister and her backpack propped on the floor beneath it. “Should I put these somewhere else? I wouldn’t want you to trip over my bags.”
“Nonsense. Everyone should live with an obstacle course from time to time, keeps you nimble. First, tea and scones.”
They settled in the sun room at the back, and Piper was enchanted by the view of the narrow backyard. Someone had transformed the small space into a number of miniature gardens connected by stepping stones beneath vine covered arbors. She could see a wooden chaise lounge at the far end, peeking out from beneath a willow tree.
“Thank you again for staying here while I’m gone,” Sue said as she poured them each a cup.
“Really, the pleasure is all mine.” Piper smiled. “You said you’re going on a cruise?”
“Yes. Truthfully, it’s not my preferred method of travel, but Annie at the Travel Hut convinced me that it was too good a deal to pass up.”
“Do you travel a lot?”
“As often as I can. I always have. I was a stewardess back in the day, and although we didn’t get to stay very long in any of the exotic destinations, we did get to see glimpses of the entire world.”
“Wow, that’s amazing! This is my first time traveling by myself, but I’ve been on a couple of shorter trips with my mom. My favorite place so far has to be Rome. How about you? If you could pick one highlight, what would it be?”
“South Africa. There is nothing more stunning than a sunrise on a safari.” Sue smiled at a private memory, and her eyes went all soft and dreamy. “That was my honeymoon.”
Piper poured them both more tea, and as they sipped and ate the buttery scones, Sue shared some of her adventures to Iceland, Russia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.
“And you went to all of those places by yourself?”
“Oh heavens, no. I was lucky enough to have a husband who liked to travel, so some of those trips were with him, but he passed away almost twenty years ago. I like to go by myself now—no one else quite gets my pace, if that makes sense.”
“Totally does.”
“Now, I’ll give you a key and show you around. I’ve got a Women’s Auxiliary meeting this evening, but I’ll be back for a late dinner. Do you have any questions?”
“I don’t think so.” Piper stood and followed the older woman into the kitchen, where Sue pointed out the essentials and took a spare key from a drawer. Then they headed to the front of the house, where Piper picked up her bags and climbed the narrow staircase to the small second floor.
“That’s my room, there, and once I leave, if you want to change the bedding and sleep in there, you can. But tonight you’ll be in here.” Sue pushed open the other bedroom door, revealing a twin bed bathed in sunlight.
“I really should get a bigger bed. Miles doesn’t visit that often, but when he does, he practically falls out of this thing.”
Piper stood, frozen to her spot in the doorway, staring at the bed as Sue brushed past her. “I’ll get you extra pillows and blankets…” Her words trailed off, but Piper wasn’t really listening anyway.
Email him. Tell him that you’re staying here.
Her pulse pounded in her neck. Her chest. Lower.
She flicked her gaze around the room, looking for any sign of him, and came up empty. But the room carried a faint scent that she recognized, and when she slowly stepped toward the bed, she realized it was his cologne.
“Everything okay?”
Piper jumped and spun around. “Yes! Great.”
Sue smiled at her. “Thanks again.”
“Yeah.” Piper returned the smile.
“I’ll be downstairs if you need anything. The bathroom is at the end of the hall.”
When she was alone, Piper lay down on the bed and pulled out her phone. Hands shaking, heart pounding, she scrolled to his name in her contacts and pressed the envelope icon to start an email.
And this time, she was going to finish it and press send.
— —
Miles headed across the common room for the computer lab.
“Hey, Dumbrowski, we’ve got an O Group in five, you’re heading the wrong way.”
“I know, I just need to check my email.” It was getting a bit wishful thinking at this point. The good news was that it wouldn’t take five minutes to look at an empty inbox.
But when he typed in his password to his xmail account, it wasn’t empty.
Two messages. A slow smile curled up his face as he clicked on the first one.
Hi Miles,
Funny story. I’m lying on your bed. I mean, the bed that you sleep in at your aunt’s place. I’m going to be house-sitting for her. And so I’m lying here, thinking of you. Feeling kind of bad for not sending this message sooner.
I wanted to. I just didn’t know what to say. Hi, I guess. Let’s start with that. I hope you’re safe. I think about you every day.
Piper
Grinning like a fool, he clicked on the second message.
Me again. I forgot to add that the bed smells like you. In a good way. Really good. And now I’m blathering, and I know it’s an email, so I could delete this, but…maybe it’s better if you can see how random my thoughts are when it comes to you.
Piper
He clicked reply, already composing a response that would get past the censors but still let her know he was thinking of her, too—and how hot it was that she was sleeping in his bed, in a way.
But as his right index finger hit the H button, everything went down. The lights, the computers. His fucking good mood.
The back-up generators would kick in any second, but by the time he got logged back in, he’d have to log back out again.
Fucking war.
With a sigh, he pushed away from the desk and headed for his orders group. Hopefully he’d have time to get back to the computers before they headed back to the front.
— —
The house was quiet when Piper returned from the picnic.
She’d opted not to play, but it had been fun to spend social time with Kate and her friends outside of the pub. If Miles had been there, she might have tried playing. The thought of Miles covered in mud and sweat, muscles flexing, tugged low in Piper’s gut. She swallowed hard. If I didn’t let go of the ball, he’d have to tackle me. Pin me down to the ground, brace his legs against mine, slide his hands between the ball and my chest.
With a giggle, she fanned herself and shoved that fantasy away for later.
Wandering into the kitchen, Piper found a note from Sue stuck to the fridge. Made a salad for dinner, it’s in the fridge. Open a bottle of wine, I’ll be back soon. -S
Wine glasses were easy to find on an open shelf, but plates were not in the cupboard above the sink or behind any other doors. One cupboard was full to bursting with cookbooks, another spices, and the last few en
ough dry goods to survive a prolonged natural disaster. Piper shook her head. Apparently Sue didn’t follow conventional kitchen storage practices. Success was found in the first drawer she opened—colorful mismatched plates and bowls of all shapes and sizes.
Sue returned as Piper was setting the table. Over dinner, Piper prodded her to share more travel stories, and then left her to finish packing while Piper wrote to her family with a more detailed update of her first week away. Immediately after hitting send, her phone rang.
“Hello?”
“We just got your email and realized you’d still be awake. How are you? I’m so glad you got a phone!” Piper smiled at the sound of her mother’s voice. “Tell me everything. Oh God, we miss you.”
“Miss you too, Mom. I just told you everything in the email! And you know I love you, but I’m having a great time… Dial down the panic, okay?”
“Piper, it’s my job as a mother to worry. You’ll understand someday.”
“Mmmm. Well, I’m only twenty-four, so let’s not worry about that just yet. So, how’s Dad? Anything interesting happen this week?” Piper listened as her mother filled her in on the gossip, and then the phone was passed in turns to her father and younger sister, Anna. “Are Joe and Lauren there, too?”
“Not yet.” Anna covered the phone and mumbled something their parents. “They’ll be here in an hour or two. Will you still be up?”
“Probably not, I’m beat, but I sent Lauren some photos today. Ask her to share them with Mom and Dad. I’ll send you some tomorrow, ’kay?”
“Okay. Miss you, Bug.”
“Miss you too, Banana. Night.”
On the way to the bathroom, Piper noticed that Sue’s door was closed and her light was already out. No big goodnight, just quietly retiring when ready. So unlike Piper’s family, but very much like Piper herself. After brushing her teeth and washing her face, Piper changed into pajamas and pulled back the covers. A warm thrill spiraled up through her body as she rolled her face into the pillow. She was acting like a teenager and she didn’t care. Miles had slept on this bed, and the scent of him lingered. For the next ten days, she’d be alone in this house. Tomorrow, she was losing the pajamas.
— EIGHT —
Piper shivered as fingers skimmed up her spine, edging her toward consciousness.
“Wake up, Piper,” Miles whispered, pressing his body flush against her back as she rolled onto her side. As he teased at the side of her breast, she groaned, desperate for his thumb to swipe at her nipple, standing tight and begging for attention.
Tentatively at first, and then with more confidence, he alternated teasing strokes and rolling pinches, until Piper’s breath was shallow and panting. His mouth burned hot against her neck.
“Miles,” she begged.
“What do you want?”
Piper blushed. She couldn’t possibly answer that question!
“Piper, do you want me to…” Miles trailed off, his fingers teasing the waistband of her pajamas.
“Mmmmmm.” Piper rolled her hips toward his hand.
“Wake up, Piper.”
That wasn’t Miles. Piper’s eyes flew open in panic. She could smell him, but she was alone. Sunlight flooded the small bedroom, and she realized the voice was Kate’s¸ and it was coming from her bag. With a groan, she remembered programming the alarm clock on her new phone with her boss’s voice after the rugby game.
“Wake up, Piper.” She smacked the screen, willing it to stop, and stomped off in search of Sue’s coffee maker. A Miles sex dream shouldn’t be interrupted—that was her new rule.
Especially when dreams were all she had. He hadn’t responded to her email yet, and he might not for a while. She had no idea what the conditions were like where he was, and so far she’d managed to resist doing an Internet search.
She snorted. What was she, her own worst enemy? She poured herself a cup, and leaned back against the counter, willing herself to think of anything other than Miles. Not the way he smelled or what his hands felt like on her skin. How he kissed her—demanding, hungry. What it would be like to have all the time in the world to explore each other’s bodies…
Stop it.
Kate’s voice rang out again from upstairs, and Piper admitted to herself that it was, in fact, time to go to work.
The alarm was annoying but effective.
Back in the small bedroom that smelled like the man on her mind, she skirted the bed and focused on her suitcase instead. She put on her black wrap top and soft blue jeans—the same outfit she’d worn the night she met Miles. Then she took a selfie and fired off another email to him, with a brief note saying she understood if he couldn’t respond.
She headed to the pub, and promised herself not to think of him until the end of the day.
She broke that promise ten seconds later.
— —
The next morning Piper didn’t wake up until Miles was done his dreamy seduction. When she waltzed into the pub, a ridiculous smile on her face, she was certain Kate would ask what was up with her mood, but her boss was busy with lunch prep and deliveries and barely noticed.
Maybe Piper didn’t look like a puddle of goo after all. She didn’t have any experience against which to compare this feeling. Her previous real-life relationships had never been as hot as Miles in two nights of dreams. Had her orgasm this morning really happened? Even if it had been a solo effort with a dream guy, it still had been the best of her life.
She floated through her shift and splurged on takeaway curry for dinner. Humming a random tune, she let herself into Sue’s house just in time to hear the answering machine turn on.
First she heard the recorded message—Sue’s happy voice encouraging the caller to try back another time because she rarely remembered to check messages anyway, and then a beep. Piper stilled as she heard Miles’s voice fill the room, surrounded by crackly static.
“Hi. It’s Miles. I got Piper’s email, and then needed to leave for a different base. No Internet here, but I snagged a sat phone. I’ll try again later.”
She’d started for the phone as soon as she heard his voice, and now she dumped her dinner and purse on the counter before snatching the handset up. “Miles!”
“Piper.” The rich timbre of his voice lit her up inside. “Hey.”
“Hey.” A big, dumb grin spread across her face. “It’s so good to hear your voice.”
“I don’t have long.” More static sounded in her ear. “It’s going to be a while before I can email you back.”
“I’ll keep sending you little messages. They’ll be waiting for you.”
“That sounds real good. You sound good, too.” He laughed. “Listen to me. First chance for a phone call in days and I lose my vocabulary.”
She knew the feeling. “It’s hard to squeeze everything you want to say into a few minutes.”
“That’s the truth. I’m looking forward to holding you again, though.”
“I can’t wait. You be safe, okay?”
“I gotta go,” he said softly, and her heart surged into the phone line, desperate to hang on to him.
“Okay,” she whispered.
She held the phone to her ear for a long while after they said their goodbyes. The cool metal made a poor substitute for Miles’s warm strength. If he was here she’d wrap herself around his torso, run her hands up his chest, beneath his shirt, and find his thumping heartbeat. She wanted his arms around her like she’d never wanted anything else in her life.
Curry forgotten, Piper slithered upstairs with the half-empty leftover bottle of wine and drew herself a bath. Her sister had given her a travel-sized bottle of vanilla shower gel, and Piper decided it would suffice as bubble bath. While the tub filled, she pulled the cork and toasted herself in the mirror. “You have it bad, you know? Ignoring how much Miles makes you feel is foolish.”
She slid into the scented, soapy water and let the warmth carry her away for a minute. Seeing Miles. She shivered in anticipation and reached over the ed
ge of the tub to grab the wine bottle.
By the time her fingers were wrinkled, her stomach was protesting at the excess of alcohol and lack of food. She pulled the plug and wrapped herself in an oversized towel. Gripping the railing, she headed downstairs to grab the curry, her phone and a book about reconstructing Germany after the Second World War. The least romantic combination possible, but as Piper ate her dinner, wrapped in a towel on top of a bed she and Miles had both slept in, albeit at different times, she couldn’t ignore the persistent ache of desire.
She’d never looked forward to sleep—and dreams—so much in her life.
— —
Miles climbed into the back of the pickup truck. Out here the desert was quite beautiful. Not a bombed-out building in sight. No stench. Only a passing chance of being shot.
It was practically a vacation.
“You want one?” Vince held out a pack of cigarettes and Miles shook his head.
“I’m good.” He pulled out his brew kit and fired up the tiny stove, making both of them steaming cups of instant coffee in a minute. “Here.”
“Who’d you call earlier?”
Miles grinned. “A woman I met on leave.”
“Shit. First Jared, then Trick, now you…everyone’s dropping like flies.”
“I just met her, man.” He grinned again, this time a bit sillier than before. Shit. He could imagine Piper being the one. Maybe. “War makes you think crazy shit.”
“No kidding. What’s she like?”
“Pretty. God, so pretty. Curvy brunette. She’s from San Diego, actually, traveling across Europe for the summer.”
“That’s convenient.”
Miles shrugged. “She’s not looking for anything serious. I didn’t tell her I’m based in Coronado.”
