Bound by Trust

by Lila Munro

  That’s what you think.

  He deposited her at the table with her friends and strode around the dance floor to the hall where the restrooms were.

  “Where the hell have you been?” Donna demanded.

  “Nowhere,” Madi lied. She knew her face was still flushed and told another story. “Where’s Jared?”

  “He left with some woman. He asked if I’d take you back to the motel.”

  “Well, I need that ride.” She looked around to make sure the perfect stranger she’d just gained carnal knowledge of in the shadows, wasn’t coming back yet. “Right now.”

  She grabbed her purse as Donna stood and dug her keys out of her pocket. Hurrying across the floor, she made her escape.

  With the condom disposed of and his shirt tucked back in, Rafe left the restroom to retrieve his mystery woman. Walking past the table where Aiden sat, he looked around and found he couldn’t locate her.

  “If you’re looking for that hot chick you just had outside, she left with her equally hot friend.” Aiden drew another swallow of his beer. “So, did she have on underwear or not?”

  An unexplainable fury built in Rafe at his friend’s asinine question. He slammed his hand on the tabletop. It occurred to him that he didn’t even know her name.

  * * * *

  “So, do you mind telling me why we are fleeing like two murderesses from the scene of the crime?” Donna put the car in gear.

  “Not particularly.” Madi checked her side mirror to make sure he wasn’t following.

  “I hope it was worth it.”

  “I never kiss and tell.” Madi frowned, knowing if she ever saw him again, she’d do it all over. He was well versed in the fine art of pleasing a woman and once with him hadn’t been nearly enough. She already felt empty again.

  * * * *

  Rafe was just getting in from work Monday and walking toward his house when he saw them pulling in across the road. A black Lexus driven by a woman and a four-wheel drive extended cab Ford driven by a man. The windshields had the Army’s 101st emblem emblazoned on them.

  He’d seen the Lexus with Kentucky plates parked in front of the old house a few weeks ago and thought then he might be getting a new neighbor. No one had lived there since Colleen Collier had died. Death didn’t usually affect him, he’d seen so much of it, but he’d always liked the old woman and had been saddened by her passing. He’d done everything he could to help when her son couldn’t come by. Then she’d become so ill her family had to put her in Shady Oaks in town where she could get around-the-clock care, and a few days later she was gone. He missed the wise old woman next door who fed him frequently, let him feel like he was making a contribution by helping her now and again, and talked about her granddaughter constantly. She’d never criticized his endless stream of beautiful women that drifted in and out of his house. She just asked occasionally if he was ever going to marry one of them. His answer was always the same, “Not until I come across one like you, CeCe.” Within days of her dying, a moving company had come and cleaned the place out, but there hadn’t been any indication the place was for sale. He was a little surprised that Julia or Meredith hadn’t told him someone had bought the place. Since Thomas and CeCe were gone he saw them pretty frequently, talked to them often, and tried to help them when they needed it.

  He went inside, dumped his gear, and took off his cammie blouse. The new group of students going through MP training this cycle was the worst bunch he’d had in a while, and his ass was dragging from correcting them all day. Not to mention, his mood had been far from happy ever since he’d lost track of the gorgeous dark-haired mystery woman he’d shared a most enjoyable encounter with Friday night. He’d gone to the parking lot after he found out she left in hopes of stopping her, but she had already vanished, and none of her friends would give up who she was or how to get in touch with her. He felt like Aphrodite had cynically turned the tables on him and he was now on the receiving end of the game he’d so cleverly played with so many women he’d lost count.

  He went to the refrigerator and found a beer, then decided he should go introduce himself to the new people. With two more beers, he headed across the road. If he had driven all the way from Kentucky he would need a drink, they probably would as well.

  * * * *

  Madi looked around the barren house. She hadn’t been in it for a couple of years and had decided that the months of being left empty hadn’t been at all kind to the old structure. The walls needed a fresh coat of paint, the floors needed refinishing, and there were water spots on the ceiling in two of the bedrooms. She would need to find a roofing company to come look at that as soon as possible. In her mind’s eye she saw money disappearing that she couldn’t afford to shell out. She silently apologized to CeCe, her ungrateful attitude was unwarranted. Just having a roof over her head should have been enough whether it leaked or not. It looked like she would just have to leave a lot of things in boxes until she got the work done that needed doing. At least there was plenty to keep her busy until she found piano students to take up her time.

  A knock on the screen door frame brought her out of her thoughts.

  “Is that the welcome wagon already?” Jared clapped his hands together in mock enthusiasm and rubbed them together.

  Madi blew out a breath. She opened the screen door, stepping out and seeing someone’s midriff. The first thing she noticed was the digital camouflage, not the pattern she was used to seeing on soldiers. Terrific, a Marine had found his way to her door.

  “Can I help you?” She looked up and froze. “How did you find me?”

  “What no kiss? I thought we were closer than that. By the way, my name’s Rafe, Rafe McCarthy. We seemed to have skipped the introductions before. And I didn’t find you, I live across the road.”

  Her grandmother had gone on and on about Rafe before she died. No wonder feisty old CeCe had liked him. What wasn’t to like? And CeCe wasn’t even privy to what he could do with all his perfect parts. His eyes were even more mesmerizing in the daylight. They drew her somehow, those seducing eyes, making her stare back at him like some star-struck teenager.

  Rendered speechless, she held her breath as the realization that she’d unknowingly screwed her neighbor began to take root. Despite her promise to not feel anything for him after wondering where he was all weekend, she found herself attracted to him all over again. She made a quick mental inventory of why she shouldn’t be, but she fell into a trance over his eyes, and muscles, and voice anyway. His occupation was something CeCe had conveniently left out of her descriptions of him. All Rangers wanted to do was gallantly march off to war, she couldn’t imagine what a Marine might be like. All that devil dog and Ooh-Rah crap. If his finesse for fighting was anything like his finesse for making love, she was surprised he wasn’t off killing something right that moment. He needed to go back across the road and stay there. Great sex or not, they couldn’t go there again, and she had her new strict no relationships policy to adhere to.

  * * * *

  Rafe swallowed hard, trying to formulate the next thing to say to her. He couldn’t stop looking at her, even though he now knew she was a married woman. Two cars had pulled in. She’d been driving one and a man drove the other. Her husband was somewhere inside. Coveting his neighbor’s wife wasn’t a good way to start what he had hoped would be a friendly relationship. And they had gone just a smidge past coveting already. Married women were definitely not part of his repertoire of female companions and he hadn’t even bothered asking her if she was Friday night. He’s just assumed no ring meant no husband. He couldn’t deny he was still taken aback by how beautiful she was, and even more so in the light of day. Her long dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and not an ounce of make-up covered her striking features, the only flaw being the dark circles under her eyes. Maybe if he were around to hold her at night, they would disappear.

  She’s your neighbor’s wife, stupid.

  “So, do you have a name?” He wondered if she woul
d ever move or speak. She was apparently as stunned as he was.

  “Sorry, Madi. Melbourne.”

  “So, was it the welcome wagon?” Jared joined her at the door and gave Rafe the once-over. “What no band?” He chuckled and stepped out. “I’m Jared Collins, and you are?”

  “Rafe McCarthy. I live across the road.” Rafe finally managed to avert his eyes. “It’s good to meet you. Thought you might like a cold one after a long drive.” Two last names and Collins wasn’t wearing a wedding band. Odd. Didn’t look like he was the husband after all.

  “Sounds good.” Jared took one of the beers and moved toward the edge of the porch. “We can sit out here, no furniture yet.” He sat on the slick, faded boards and dangled his legs off the edge.

  Rafe walked over and sat opposite him leaning his back against a support post. “So, are you transferring in? Taking your rotation on the drill field?”

  “No, thankfully. I’m headed back to Fort Campbell in a few days. I’m just here getting Madi settled in.”

  Nothing was adding up so far in Rafe’s mind. Two names, no rings, and he wasn’t staying. Was she spoken for or not? And how could he find out without outright asking and making an ass of himself. Maybe Jared was her boyfriend. But that didn’t make sense either; he had left with someone else from the club. They didn’t look like the type to share, but it wasn’t past imagining. Some people were into kinky stuff.

  Madi watched the two men bond from the door and slowly came back to her senses. If she remembered correctly, not only had CeCe been enamored by him, she had mentioned a bevy of young and gorgeous women who came and went from across the way. Donna had been right, he did make the rounds. Now she’d had her turn with him and would have to live with him being right next door like the forbidden fruit.

  She reached down and picked up the last bottle Rafe had set on the porch for her. Twisting the cap, she sent a hiss into the air and sat on the top step, taking a pull. She tried to avoid making eye contact with him and just listen to the two of them conversing. Halfway through her beer he slid off the porch and stretched.

  “Well, I guess I’ll head back across the road. My mares need fed.” He started to leave.

  She let herself look at him again and her breath caught. He was staring at her and a surge of warmth overtook her.

  “You know, I was thinking of going to pick up a pizza. Maybe you could come back over…” What am I doing? What happened to not getting involved?

  Rafe looked long and hard into her eyes.

  “I don’t want to impose.” He turned and started down the driveway.

  “You wouldn’t be imposing; it’s just a pizza for crying out loud.” Madi followed after him across the slippery rutted road like a lovesick girl trying to catch the attention of the quarterback.

  “What would your boyfriend think about that or what happened at the club?” He whirled to face her and nearly knocked her down as she raced to catch up. When she ran right into his hard chest, he was forced to grab her by the arm to prevent her from landing on her ass in the mud.

  My boyfriend? Her gut clenched and her color left her. Looking up, she saw his eyes held less of the interest they had earlier and more disdain. He thought she was a cheater. Why wouldn’t he? It did look pretty bad. She gave herself to him freely one night and showed up the following week with another man in tow. But, then again, he was being presumptive and should have asked if he was curious, instead of accusing her of something she wouldn’t do in a million years. Strangely enough, as mad as it made her, it also hurt her feelings.

  She jerked her arm free, turned on the heel of her loafer, and hurried back across the mucky path, chastising herself for ever having thought she could do something like have casual sex with a perfect stranger. Now he thought she was just another camp tramp. How degrading.

  “Madi? Are you okay?” Jared watched as she went in the house and come back out with her purse. “What did he say to you?”

  “I’m fine, Jared. He didn’t say anything.” She opened her car door. “I just had a moment that’s all. It’s been a long day. I’m going to run in town and get that pizza. Maybe you could drag our stuff in while I’m gone and you can have the bathroom all to yourself for a while.”

  He knew she was lying. Maybe her going to town wouldn’t be a bad thing. That would give him a chance to talk to Rafe alone. Just as soon as she left the driveway, he headed over to her new neighbor’s. He’d said he needed to feed his horses, so he rounded the corner of the house to the barn, where he was greeted with a low growl.

  Hearing the growl turn into sharp barks, Rafe put the feed bucket down and stepped out into the backyard. Jared was standing with his hand out, trying to convince his German shepherd, Gretchen, that he wasn’t a threat.

  “Gretchen, easy, girl.” Rafe squatted and called the dog to him, allowing Jared to come closer. “What do you need, Collins?”

  “Well, I was just wondering what the hell you did to put Madi into such a tailspin. She’s upset and I don’t like it.”

  “I may have alluded to the fact that being in a relationship and being a flirt don’t mix. No offense, you two can do anything you want, but I’m not into sharing. And I wouldn’t take my girlfriend being too friendly with the neighbor as well as you apparently are capable of.” He stood and gave Gretchen a look that caused her to lay beside him with her head on her feet.

  “Flirt? Wait a minute, just what the hell do you think is going on? She’s just trying to start over, and she’s always been an outgoing person. She tries to make friends everywhere she goes.”

  Little do you know how friendly she really is. “Starting over, huh? Starting over from what?”

  “Madi’s a war widow,” he spat out defensively.

  Rafe ran a hand down his face. Damn. Could he have been any bigger an ass? That had certainly never crossed his mind. Being at a training installation for almost three years had dulled his awareness that his brothers in arms were still fighting the war. Without the daily death toll on the local news everyday, it was easy to forget that women were still being made into widows on a regular basis. He’d managed to insult her before he even gave her a chance to explain her situation to him. Not that it should have been any of his business. And he’d managed to rip a scab off her wound in the process by accusing her of being a cheat.

  “He was Airborne too, I take it?” Rafe finally answered.

  “Yeah, he was. He was killed in Afghanistan back in the fall.” Jared hesitated, then continued. “I was his best friend. Was. That’s another story, but I can tell you this, I’m nothing more to Madi than her friend. So if you thought she was doing something inappropriate to us, you were wrong.” Jared hesitated in asking him for help. “I’ll be gone come Friday and she needs someone to keep an eye out. It seems reasonable enough that being her neighbor you’d check on her once in a while. And you’d probably understand her situation better than most.”

  He didn’t know if he could trust Rafe to keep an eye on Madi without making advances, he’d seen the look in his eyes when he stared at her. The same look that half of Gage’s unit had when they saw her. He wasn’t even sure there wasn’t something already brewing between the two of them. She’d refused to talk about what they’d been doing on the patio for so long Friday night. But one thing he did know, she needed a friend, and denying her that would keep her from adjusting, and that wasn’t good either. While it was true she had her mother and sister and Donna, she needed more than that and someone that had some grasp on what she’d been through.

  Rafe pondered Jared’s proposition for a moment. “I can do that, if she’ll even speak to me again.”

  Rafe had done four back to backs before being assigned to the schoolhouse as an instructor. The first tour was the worst for his battalion. Wives suffered more than anyone, and when their man didn’t come home at all, it was devastating.

  All the while he finished his feeding, he admonished himself for being so quick to judge. He supposed it came from seei
ng the cheating so much, the Marine Corps had the highest rate of divorces in the military. Maybe that was why he’d failed to commit to just one woman yet and considered married women taboo.

  Chapter 3

  Just who the hell did that arrogant ass Marine think he was, anyway? She’d heard they were that way—overassuming, cocky, and all of them thought they were God’s gift to women. Well, the gift part she now had a better understanding of, but that didn’t make up for the unfeeling, cold, and mean she could now add to the list. Hoping she didn’t see him again, she just wanted to get back, eat, take a shower, and crawl into her sleeping bag. Tomorrow would be another long day and then all the work that needed doing would start.

  She sat with Jared on the porch and ate, watching the sun begin its descent. Something about it triggered a memory of how peaceful it was sitting on the creek behind the house as a child, when she used to spend the night with CeCe. The suffocating humidity would ease, night sounds would begin, and eventually the stars would dot the sky. Maybe being here, where everything was quieter, and without the constant reminder of her tethered life as an Army wife, she could begin to appreciate those things again, and get on with her life.

  “You know,” she said, getting up, “I think I’ll take a walk.”

  “Do you want me to go with you?” Jared started up.

  “No, I’ll be fine. I’m going down to the creek for a while.” With that, she walked toward the field behind the house and started down a path cut through the middle of it.

  * * * *

  With the sun hanging low in a kaleidoscope of hazy orange and pink, Rafe made his way down the path toward the creek. When he’d returned to talk to Madi, Jared had informed him she was gone on a walk to the creek. He was familiar with the way there, CeCe had let him use her creek access for fishing, but he did more sleeping and thinking than anything else while he was there.

  When he found her, she was sitting against a cottonwood with her legs drawn up, hugging them with her head on her knees. He heard her sniffling and thought perhaps now wasn’t as good a time for this as he and Jared had thought. Maybe this was one of those times she needed her space to grieve. Then an overwhelming desire to comfort her overcame him, and he wondered what caused it and what to do about it. The urge to cradle her in his arms was nearly more than he could deny himself.