by Vaughn, Ann
“Yes, sir...I will tell you this...if she was still like I used to know her there’s no way in Hell I’d send her undercover with them. They’d break her. Now, though, I just don’t know.”
“She’s changed that much?”
“It’s been years, sir.”
“Just let me know.”
“I will.”
He opened the door and wasn’t at all surprised to see Tessa leaning against the wall waiting for him. He felt his heart accelerate when their gazes collided and locked on one another. Would she always have this effect on him, he wondered.
“Can we talk?” she asked.
He glanced at his watch. “I’ve got PT exercises for the next two hours,” he said, heading off down the hall.
“You’re the C.O., you can be late.”
“Not really.”
She grabbed his upper arm, stopping him.
“Come on, Shane. Talk to me.”
“Why? So you can pull rank on me?”
“That comment is beneath you, McCanton.”
He rounded on her, stepping right into her personal space. “You knew you were coming here. I didn’t even know you weren’t in the Army any more. You couldn’t be bothered to tell me in one of your emails or texts? You couldn’t tell me you would be coming to work here?”
“I wasn’t allowed to tell you.”
“Bullshit!” he roared.
Captain Martin stepped out into the hall. “Is there a problem, children?”
“No, sir, heading to the gym,” Shane replied, walking away.
“Dammit, Shane!” Tessa seethed.
“Right back at you, sweetheart,” Shane tossed over his shoulder.
The Captain chuckled, extending his hand to Tessa.
“Bruce Martin,” he said, once again introducing himself to her. “and that, my dear Agent Kelly, was my God-son.”
Tessa turned speculative eyes to the Captain. Shane was his God-son, huh? This might just work to her advantage.
Chapter Six
Shane got stopped several times on his way to the gym. Reports needed his signature. Phone calls needed his attention. By the time he rounded the corner to the gym, he was wound so tight he felt sorry for whoever was fool enough to step into the ring with him first.
“Son of a bitch,” he groaned when he stepped out of the locker room, seeing Tessa in the ring as he stepped through the gym doors.
“You’re late, Sergeant,” she chided.
“I’m not fighting you, Tess. Forget it.”
“I trained with the best of the Army Rangers. I can hold my own.”
“I don’t doubt that for a minute but I’m not fighting you.”
“Come on, McCanton.”
“I will not fight you.”
Turning on his heel, he went back toward the locker room. Tessa was out of the ring and blocking the door before he reached it. He stopped in his tracks and glared at her.
“Look, I get it, you don’t want to hit me. I just want to show you that I know what I’m doing. I can handle this.”
“I know you can. In a fair fight you could probably kick my ass, but these guys won’t fight fair. I outweigh you by a hundred pounds at least. You might get a few good shots in but at some point I will over power you. You may fight like a man but you’re still a woman.”
“Yes, I am. I don’t have to win the fight. I just have to incapacitate you long enough to get away. Don’t underestimate me.”
“Fine. You wanna out macho the boys go right ahead. Doesn’t mean I have to watch.”
For a moment they stood glaring at each other. Each knew from past experience that they wouldn’t make the other back down.
“I recommended you over a Ranger battalion for this because I thought you’d be the best person for this job,” Bruce said from behind him. “Are you going to be able to put your personal issues aside?”
Shane shifted his gaze from her to his Captain. “How would you feel sending Patricia into something like this?” he asked, referring to Bruce’s wife. He watched the horror flash across the Captain’s face and nodded. “Exactly.”
“Shane, I can do this,” Tessa insisted.
“Fine...but if I don’t feel you’re ready when the time comes, we pull the plug.”
“You aren’t the one to make that call,” Tessa dismissed.
“SSA Gibson has given us that authority,” Bruce clarified, “and I agree with Shane. When the time comes, if he doesn’t green light this, it will be a no-go...now, the two of you are old friends. I want you to figure out how to get along so this case has a chance for success. Am I clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Shane replied.
“Absolutely,” Tessa agreed.
Bruce left them then and for a moment Shane considered walking out, too, but he thought better of it.
“You drive me insane,” he seethed, “I feel like we’re back in grade school.”
“Don’t stand in my way on this, Shane.”
His eyes raked over her, from her pony tail to her FBI grey T-Shirt to her black Nike shorts and long, tanned, muscular legs.
“Hey, Serg, we doing this or what?” Joe called out from the mats on the far side of the gym.
“In a minute,” he called. “You wanna train with us, fine. We’re practicing take-downs. But don’t you ever ask to get into the ring with me again. I got no problem dropping you on your ass but I will never hit you, not even with full gear on, you get me?”
“Lead the way, Serg,” she smirked.
He bit back a retort and turned to cross the gym, knowing she was behind him. As the exercises got underway, he had to admit he was impressed with her skills. She was quick; it took his guys a few tries to get her and so far they’d all managed to get hands on her but none had succeeded in taking her down.
“Your turn, McCanton,” she said after she finished with Pete.
“Yeah, come on, Serg, this has to be an equal opportunity smack down,” Crownover panted.
Shane took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Fine.”
Tessa smiled when he stepped up to her. “Can your ego handle this?” she asked.
“Can yours?” he countered, making her laugh. He knew he was going to win; she was too confident and he’d spent the time she was taking on his guys to assess her weakness. They circled each other a few times and when she lunged for him, he easily side-stepped, shot his leg out and just like the third grade, planted her on her smart ass. The guys whistled and laughed. Tessa glared up at him but accepted his hand to help her to her feet.
“Class dismissed, boys and girls,” Shane said, heading to the locker room.
“Walking away, just like that, McCanton?” she called after him.
“Looks like,” he tossed over his shoulder.
His guys chuckled as they each shook hands with her.
“Just what exactly is the history between the two of you?” Joe asked, “I’ve never seen him like this. We’ve trained with women before.”
“We dated in high school,” she supplied.
“Ended badly?” Pete asked.
“No, we were just headed in different directions at the time. He’s actually my best friend.”
“Well, no offense, ma’am, but if he’s your best friend, he sure seemed blind-sided by your arrival today,” Crownover said, “and the Sergeant? He don’t like surprises.”
She sighed. “I wasn’t at liberty to tell him. Look, I really need to talk to him one-on-one. Can y’all help delay him while I change?”
The guys exchanged an uncomfortable look. She didn’t think they wanted to tick Shane off, so she was surprised when Crownover spoke up.
“I’ll keep him talking while these two change. When I come out you can go in. How’s that?”
“Bless you,” she replied.
“Are you nuts?” Joe asked when they were walking away from her. “He’ll kill us.”
“Won’t be the first time,” Crownover shot back.
Shane kn
ew his guys were up to something the minute they walked into the locker room. He had no doubt it involved Tessa since they’d stayed behind to talk to her. They’d all come in singing her praises, impressed that he’d been the only one to drop her. He also saw right through their whole ploy of each one coming to talk to him one-on-one while the others showered and changed. They were stalling him. His suspicions were confirmed when Crownover abruptly ended their conversation the minute Joe and Pete left. When the locker room door opened two minutes after Crownover left and he saw Tessa walk in he could only shake his head.
“Why am I not surprised,” he mumbled, buttoning the cuff of his sleeve.
“We need to talk, Shane.”
“I really don’t have time right now.”
“Make time. Don’t shut me out like this.”
He sent her a pointed look. “Just returning the favor.”
“You’re being petty and that’s not like you.”
“Isn’t it?” he countered. “How would you know? I’ve been little more than a pen pal to you these last few years.”
“That’s not fair.”
“It is what it is.”
She watched him pack his gym bag, aching to touch him. Throwing caution to the wind, she stepped closer to him, invading his space.
“I think you’ve gotten taller,” she mused, placing a bold hand on his chest, right over his heart. “I know you’ve put on more muscle.”
“So have you,” he said, his eyes on her body...but he kept his hands at his sides.
She trailed her hand up his neck to let her fingers tangle in the hair at his nape.
“I’ve missed you,” she said, brushing her lips lightly, quickly, over his.
“Have you?” he asked dryly.
“Stop being such a cynic, McCanton. I can feel how much you missed me,” she said, pressing against his arousal.
“You’re beautiful. I got eyes,” he said simply.
She smiled and caught his bottom lip between her teeth, running her tongue over it before releasing it.
“My hotel is just down the street.”
His gaze locked on hers. She could tell he was tempted.
“How do you know I’m not seeing someone?”
She laughed. “Because I know you, McCanton. If you were serious about someone else you wouldn’t have still been keeping in touch with me all this time and you damn sure wouldn’t be letting me touch you now.”
Nailed him and he knew it. “You wanna walk or drive?” he asked.
“I rode with the others so either you drive or we walk.”
“Let’s go,” he said, slamming his locker door shut.
They didn’t speak on the walk through the station. He stopped briefly at his desk to shut his computer down then they continued on to the parking garage.
“Nice,” she said as he opened the door to his black Ford truck for her.
“Which hotel?” he asked when he got in.
“Marriott.”
He didn’t speak again so she remained quiet, too. He pulled into the valet parking station and they got out and went into the elevator still not speaking. When the doors shut and they were alone, she stepped closer to him, looking up into his deep blue eyes. Again, nothing was said. The elevator stopped. She stepped back and led the way to her room. She put her card key in the reader and opened the door. When it shut behind him, she turned to face him, intending to ask what his problem was but she never got a chance. Shane’s arm snaked around her waist and pulled her roughly to him. She gasped but clung to him when he claimed her mouth in a kiss that left her breathless and lightheaded.
He lifted her with his hands under her butt and slammed her back against the wall, being sure to keep her head from hitting. She blinked when he pulled back abruptly, pressing his forehead to hers.
“God, Tess,” he breathed.
She wiggled her hips, grinding his arousal against her core. He groaned, kissing her again. It started out intense and aggressive, but halfway through, she felt him gentle, melting into her.
“Shane,” she whispered when his lips dropped to her neck.
“Tell me you’re still on the pill,” he said, his lips to her ear.
“Absolutely,” she confirmed.
He lifted his head and looked into her eyes, studying her.
“You want this?”
Her hips again ground against him. “More than anything.”
“You aren’t seeing anyone?”
“Shane, seriously, shut up and take me.”
He studied her a moment more, then nodded once. He placed her back on her feet and tried to step away but she wanted no part of that. She grabbed his shirt and yanked it from his pants, then sent buttons flying when she ripped it open, pushing it off his shoulders, eager to get her hands on his skin, frustrated when she realized he wore an undershirt.
Shane pulled back to shrug out of his shirt, undoing the buttons at his wrists to free them, then made quick work of peeling her out of her clothes. When she was nude, he lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed, lips locked together.
“God, I’ve missed you,” he breathed, his hands going on a journey of exploration. Her body had changed so much since he’d last seen and felt her. He felt muscles that were even more cut than the last time he’d held her and…
“Tessa!” he cried, shaking fingers tracing a long, jagged scar that began by her navel and ended at her hip. “Baby, what happened?”
“Shrapnel from an IED,” she explained, fascinated by his change in behavior.
“You never told me you’d been wounded,” he said, tenderly caressing her scar.
She shrugged. “I didn’t want you to be upset.”
“Is this why you left the Army?”
“Partly…you’re over dressed for this party, McCanton,” she said, tugging at his undershirt.
“In a minute,” he said, brushing her hand away. “What’s this?” His fingers brushed some ink just above her bikini line on her lower abdomen.
“Oh. Uh, yeah, um…that’s a tattoo.”
“I can see that. What does it say?”
“You have suddenly lost the ability to read?” she asked dryly.
“No, but I want to hear you say it.”
A smile tugged her lips. “It says, ‘Shane’s’.”
He rewarded her admission by placing a lingering kiss over the ink. “Bet that made for some interesting conversation with your other boyfriends.”
She didn’t reply. Her silence alerted him and he looked up from the tat to meet her direct gaze.
“There haven’t been any other boyfriends, Shane.”
He went completely still. “What?”
“There hasn’t been anyone since you. I told you that six years ago.”
“I know, but, it’s been years.”
She nodded. “I’ve been busy building my career.”
“No one? None of those Army Rangers you were around?”
“Fraternization is against regs,” she reminded him, “and I wanted them to see me as a soldier, not a potential bedmate.”
He stroked his thumb over the tattoo. It was small, maybe the length of his middle finger, black ink in beautiful script.
“When did you do this?”
“Right after we were together that last time back home. I wore a bikini sometimes at parties. I wanted the guys to think there was someone back home waiting for me, so they’d leave me alone.”
“You wore a bikini low enough for this to be seen?” he asked incredulously.
She smiled. “Hey, ya got it, flaunt it.”
“Hence your need for the tattoo of a semi-imaginary boyfriend.”
She looked up into his eyes and stroked her hand over his cheek. “You look pretty real to me. Besides, they’d heard us on the phone together before.”
“Must have worked.”
“Well, that and the fact that they were all intimidated by me.”
He shook his head. “I’m sure they placated themselv
es by saying you were a lesbian.”
“Yeah, there was some of that talk, too.”
“Got some ink of my own,” he said, pulling his shirt over his head.
Tessa came up on her knees to inspect the tribal dragon on his left pectoral. It was black ink, intricately done, and within the swirl and points of the design, where the heart of the dragon was, were the initials T.K. in red, right over his heart.
“T.K.,” she said, touching the letters.
He rubbed the heel of his hand over the ink, catching her fingers under his hand. “You’ve never been far from my heart, Tess,” he confessed.
“Aww, you can be sweet. My hometown golden boy,” she teased.
She kissed the tattoo then pulled his head down to kiss her lips. That they both marked their bodies with the other’s name said worlds about their feelings. Shane smoothed his hands over her hair and face, pushing her back to the mattress. Tessa looked up into his blue eyes and what he saw in her eyes took his breath away. Absolute trust. It was as if they were back on that blanket by the waterfalls. She looked at him in that moment like he was everything in her whole world.
“I’ve missed you so damn much, Tess,” he whispered.
“I’ve missed you, too, Shane,” she admitted.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and when he slid inside her, they both took a deep, calming breath, both realizing they’d just come home. They made love tenderly, rediscovering and reclaiming each other. He found other battle scars on her body; she kissed the scar under his eye and on his knee from his fight with her father all those years ago, found other battle scars on him as well.
In the afterglow, she lay nestled against his side, her ear over his pounding heart. For several long moments they lay silent, each lost in their own thoughts, still stroking each other.
“You’ve seriously not been with anyone since me?” he asked, stroking her hair.
She looked up at him, her eyes serious. “No,” she confessed softly. “What about you? I’m not naïve enough to think you’ve been celibate all these years.”
He was idly stroking her hair, loving the feel of its silky strands between his fingers. “No, I haven’t…but there’ve only been a few and nothing serious. No real relationships since you.”
