Extreme Honor

by Piper J. Drake

  She opened her mouth to yell at him. What she’d say, she wasn’t sure, but she’d come up with something witty on the fly because he was going to be impossible to work with if she let—

  He closed the distance between them and bent to capture her mouth. She hadn’t dodged. Her mind had been too preoccupied with generating witty commentary. Which was a lost cause because his lips burned into hers until she gasped and he deepened the kiss until she was drowning. His tongue teased and coaxed her until she responded in kind.

  “Foei.”

  She was breathless and off balance, leaning into David and blinking to clear her vision. David had an arm around her and the other out, holding Atlas at arm’s length. The big dog had tried to jump on David again but this time David had caught him and held him back, balanced on his hind legs.

  “Foei,” David repeated. “That’ll be enough of that.”

  There was a long pause as man and dog stared each other down. Atlas finally settled back on all fours, then sat. Lyn had never been caught in the middle of a pissing match between men before, but somehow she imagined it’d be something like this. Probably.

  “He’ll be all right sleeping out here,” she whispered. Maybe she was being disloyal to Atlas. All things considered, she’d make it up to him tomorrow with extra-long walks and a whole lot of belly scratches.

  Tomorrow.

  David nuzzled just behind her ear and caught her earlobe between his teeth in a gentle nibble. Then he brushed his lips over her ear. “Both of us can make do out here while you get some rest.”

  “What?” She jerked her head back, almost catching his chin as she did.

  He kept hold of her and brushed her cheek with his thumb. “You’ve got a lot going on inside your head right now and you are the definition of vulnerable. I’d be a complete ass to take advantage of you.”

  Please. Take advantage.

  “I want to re-establish your sense of safety first.” He just had to sound incredibly reasonable. “And then, take you out on a real date.”

  “A date.” She repeated the words slowly, rolling the idea over and over in her head. Now that he mentioned it, she’d hated saying no the first time he’d asked. Still, he was being incredibly stubborn at the moment and part of her didn’t enjoy the way he was holding out. Mixed messages.

  “I figure I should at least buy you dinner before I try taking advantage of you.” He winked, and there was enough heat in his voice to make it clear he was interested.

  Her resistance evaporated. “You are incorrigible.”

  He screwed up his face in mock dismay. “Sorry. Can you use a smaller word?”

  “Impossible.” She balled her hand into a fist and thumped him on the chest.

  “That’s only one syllable shorter.”

  “Bad!” She thumped him again. “You are a bad, bad man.”

  He laughed and snuck a kiss, which she gave him. And she nipped his lower lip for good measure. “I plan to be.”

  “Good.” She was pouting and smiling at the same time and she didn’t even know how he’d managed it.

  He grinned. “See? Bad. Good. I can handle the easy vocabulary.”

  “Tease.” She threw it out there as an accusation.

  “I’ll add it to the plans.” He grinned. “Limited vocabulary. Excellent memory.”

  “Fine.” She blew out a breath. “I guess we’ll be calling it a night then.”

  A very frustrating, probably restless night. His kisses alone had her melty and tingly and wound up in all sorts of ways. God, how would it be when they did get all tangled up?

  He nodded solemnly. “It would be a good idea.”

  “But not together.” She might’ve sounded disappointed. And it served him right if he heard it and felt guilty.

  He kissed her. Kissed her until she melted for him, all the rigid outrage gone as she pressed up against him trying to fit herself against the entire length of him. She wanted to touch everywhere. When he let her up for air, he gave her a smile that meant bad, bad things. “Not yet.”

  * * *

  “David? Are you hungry?”

  Define hungry, he thought, because first thing in the morning his appetite was focused on something much more satisfying than pancakes.

  He didn’t open his eyes. Instead he considered his surroundings, how close Lyn might be, and most important, whether he had his pants on. He shifted a leg, took note of the loose slide of something too soft to be denim across the top of his thigh.

  Nope.

  He did have a light blanket across his lower half. The thin fabric protected him from the chill in the cabin but it definitely wasn’t enough to hide him from the light of day. While he was mostly certain Lyn found him attractive, she might not appreciate the part of him most awake first thing in the morning. At least not yet.

  Lyn sighed. “Different question. Bacon? Yes or—?”

  “Yes.” There wasn’t ever another answer. Ever. He opened his eyes and sat up. It’d been a long night and he hadn’t gone to sleep until a few hours ago.

  Lyn was already headed back to the kitchen area so he couldn’t get a look at her expression yet. Her hips swayed as she walked, though, which could’ve been a torturous tease if he hadn’t already spent a week or so appreciating her walk. So she wasn’t throwing anything special into how she was getting around for his benefit. Biggest issue at the moment was her not giving him any clues as to whether she was upset with him for the way last night had played out.

  He’d been trying to be a good guy. Do the right thing. His balls were blue enough to torture him without her being angry with him this morning.

  “Did you sleep well?” Safe question. He hoped.

  Her gaze shot up and pinned him to the couch. “Did you?”

  Not quite mad, but definitely touchy. He’d have to proceed with caution.

  “Well…” He drew out the response to give himself time to think. “I stayed on watch until Forte texted me a few hours ago to let me know we’ve got an eye on the grounds. Then I was up for a while longer, thinking of you.”

  God, he enjoyed the way pink spread across her cheeks. He planned to tease her more often. This was also a good sign. He’d take whatever he could get.

  From the middle of the floor, Atlas snorted and rolled on his side.

  No opinions from the peanut gallery, thanks.

  Not that he had any delusions of the dog being a mind-reader, but there was no doubt Atlas was aware of the pheromones floating all over the place. Dog probably had a better idea of Lyn’s mood than David did.

  “If you were so…interested, maybe you shouldn’t have insisted on sleeping out here last night.” She turned to the stove and a second later, the sizzling of bacon filled the room with mouth-watering aroma.

  He took the opportunity to snag his jeans from where they were hanging over the end of the couch. “Seemed like we were on the same page, but you did get some upsetting news yesterday. Wanted to give you time to ease into things.”

  Plus, he’d still been on edge after the run-in with the other ex-soldier earlier in the day. He didn’t trust himself to keep things light and easy. Her first encounter with him should be at his best for her, not when his old issues were so close to the surface. She’d seemed to appreciate his reasoning last night.

  Of course, she’d given him a look that could kill a man when she’d closed the bedroom door.

  As she set a plate on the table, it landed with a loud thunk. He winced. Maybe she’d reconsidered overnight.

  Enough.

  He stood and got himself into his pants while she was still being stubborn giving him her back. Then he stepped over Atlas and came up behind her in the kitchen, putting a steadying hand around hers on the skillet to keep her from whacking him across the head with it. Other hand on her hip, he ground his own into her backside so there was no way she could ignore the raging hard-on he still had even zipped up inside his pants.

  “Believe me, I wanted to join you in your room la
st night.” He leaned his head close to the side of hers and nipped her ear. “But same reasoning applies this morning even if we both lost some sleep from frustration.”

  She didn’t try to step away but her back was straight as a board and her shoulders squared.

  “You’re being very considerate. And I should appreciate it. I thought about it a lot last evening. I don’t like the mixed messages and I don’t like running hot only to be put into a forced cool down. You had me incredibly wound up last night and then you decided it was all about the chivalrous thing to do.”

  He swallowed hard. Okay. He backed up a fraction and gave her room. “I’m sorry.”

  After a moment, she sighed, turned off the heat on the stove and placed the skillet down safely. Then she turned into his arms. Rising up on her toes, she pressed a kiss against his jaw. “But you had good intentions. I’m hoping talking about this will prevent a repeat and that you’ll make it up to me.”

  No sane man would ignore that hint.

  He kissed her, enjoying the sweet honey taste of her mouth. He also gave thanks she’d changed her mind about keeping professional distance because even the minimal space between them due to the clothes they were wearing was too much. He sincerely hoped she’d be as interested in pursuing this thing between them after he clued her in to all the other shit going on around them.

  And the thought effectively chilled him. A man didn’t need cold showers when he had this much insanity to deal with inside his own head. His mood was grim by the time they’d finished breakfast and gathered up Atlas to head back to the main house.

  “It’s a vet visit for you, Atlas.” David noticed Atlas had been much more amenable to commands this morning. Small battle won there. He expected to have a few more instances like last night’s contest of wills before Atlas made the decision to listen a hundred percent of the time. It was a turning point between every dog and handler. The trick with Atlas was to get him to a point where he would accept a new handler at all.

  Lyn held Atlas for Doctor Medicci while she checked on the healing scrape along his side. Atlas stood still under examination, amazingly responsive to Lyn’s encouragements. David stood back and let the ladies work.

  “He’s healing well, not showing any signs of pain.” Medicci murmured as she ran her hands along Atlas’s back and legs. “You kept him on light exercise, right?”

  “Easy training and daily walks. No running for any real distance,” Lyn answered. She paused then added, “Mostly. He’s an active dog.”

  “Mmm.” Medicci sounded noncommittal but not angry. Atlas was looking good and they all knew it. “On principal, he should be kept to light exercise a while longer but as long as the area around the wound is free of redness or swelling, he should be fine. Sutures will dissolve on their own.”

  “Got it.” David figured he’d keep the training review at the current pace. No need to rush Atlas, and Lyn was working wonders with the dog in general.

  “While I’m here, I’ll do his basic exam and take samples for the standard tests.” Medicci took out her stethoscope and pressed it to either side of Atlas’s chest.

  Things looked to be fine until Medicci took out the big scanner and passed it over Atlas’s back. She frowned, checked the device, then passed it over him again more slowly. “He’s chipped, isn’t he?”

  “All military working dogs are.” David pushed away from the wall and came to stand at Lyn’s side. He ran his fingers through Atlas’s coat along the dog’s right shoulder, seeking the small bump under the skin he’d encountered grooming. “It’s right here.”

  “Whatever that is, it’s not a functioning microchip.” Medicci shook her head. “I just used this before I got here on two other dogs. It’s in working order. His chip must’ve malfunctioned or been damaged.”

  It wasn’t likely, as small as the chips tended to be, but anything was possible.

  “I’ll remove it now and we’ll re-chip him to be safe.” Medicci reached for her sterile implements.

  “Remove it.” David cleared his throat. “But we’ll take him on base to get a new one in.”

  Two feminine gazes pinned him with questioning looks. It was not the most comfortable he’d ever been. “The microchips for MWDs are more robust than the average pet chips linking a bar code to an owner’s name, address, and phone number. All military working dogs have GPS too.”

  Medicci nodded. “We’re going to need to restrain him. This won’t cause major pain but it will be more than a pinch.”

  “You don’t need to put him out, do you?” Lyn sounded concerned.

  He didn’t blame her. Anesthesia wasn’t something to do lightly. He’d never seen Medicci do it, wasn’t sure she could on an on-site visit like this.

  Medicci shook her head. “Normally, it’d be something I’d recommend an office visit for. These chips are intended to be permanent and even though they’re inserted to sit below the skin, they can sort of migrate over time. If they do, I’d need to make a bigger incision and maybe even tease apart the tissues to get a good hold of it. ”

  She spread the fur to expose the bump David had pointed out. “This one is easy to locate, obviously. It’ll be a pinch. Just enough of an incision to retrieve the chip. Should be fine to restrain and muzzle him. But you two should probably leave the room so he doesn’t associate any negative experience with either of you.”

  Chapter Ten

  Come in.” David closed out a few spreadsheets and directed his attention to Medicci as she walked into his office.

  “All done. Lyn is with Atlas now, fussing over him.” Medicci smiled. “Good to see a softer touch for these dogs sometimes. You all do a great job with them; don’t get me wrong. But the battle weary deserve a dose of spoiling here and there.”

  David didn’t plan to argue since he agreed. “Small doses. Anything I should know about aside from what we talked about before?”

  The amusement fled from Medicci’s face, her gaze darkening and the corners of her mouth turning downward. “A couple of things. First, once I shaved away the fur around the area, it looked to me as if the chip had been placed fairly recently. The skin had newly healed from an incision. It definitely hadn’t been there for several years. Which was odd because I thought the size of the bump was indicative of scar tissue forming around the chip. There should’ve been more scar tissue around it under the skin, developing a sort of sheathe. That wasn’t the case.”

  Medicci placed a wax-covered object on his desk. Her expression was completely blank. “This is not the microchip any vet anywhere implanted. Military or otherwise.”

  David touched the wax. The right length, but flat and rectangular instead of cylindrical. It was a micro SD card, for shit’s sake. What was it doing in Atlas?

  Of course, he’d seen something like this before in animals and in humans. Hell, people had been known to bury the damn things in open sores on their own bodies, letting the wound scab over. It was scary what a person would do in the face of necessity…or desperation.

  He had no idea what to say but Medicci definitely didn’t need to know everything. “This is—”

  Medicci held up her hands. “It’s out. As long as there is no threat to any animal’s health under my care, I don’t need to know. It’s best if I don’t, isn’t it?”

  David nodded, grateful. He’d lie if he had to. But the best lie was one he didn’t have to tell. Or truth. That worked well, too, in the proper dosage.

  “Keep the incision clean and he’ll heal just as fast if not faster than the other injury. If you think there’s more, we could do an X-ray at my office to locate any other potential implants. I didn’t detect any more bumps under his skin, though.” Medicci headed for the door but paused. “He’s a good dog.”

  “He is,” David agreed.

  And all this time, he’d really been carrying the weight of Calhoun’s last message on his shoulders.

  He pocketed the micro SD and headed down the hall, finding Lyn with Atlas in the examinatio
n room. “How’s our guy?”

  “Acting like nothing happened.” Lyn laughed, giving Atlas a hearty rub around the shoulders.

  Atlas deigned to give David a doggie grin, tongue lolling out. When Lyn’s rubbing migrated over his back to his rump, the dog’s eyes practically rolled back into his head as if to say, Oh yeah, that was the spot.

  Atlas had to really trust Lyn to allow her behind him that way and in a dominant position. Even for butt rubs. Usually military work dogs were too dominant and aggressive to let anyone but their handlers such privilege. In Lyn’s hands, Atlas could almost be a normal dog.

  “Let’s keep things easy for him today. You feel comfortable going for a walk around the property? Forte’s still on watch this morning and he’s got your mobile in case he sees anything on the perimeter cameras.”

  Lyn straightened, her expression momentarily somber. “Didn’t realize you had video surveillance all around the property.”

  “Had it on the entrances before and added more to cover the entire perimeter since last week.” David and the others had considered it previously and cursed themselves for not already having it installed. No matter how quiet the town was where they were located, forewarned was forearmed and they’d corrected the mistake immediately, each of them contributing to the cost from their own private funds. “We’ll all have notice if anyone is even snooping around the fences, much less tries to step onto the property again.”

  She nodded slowly. “All right.”

  Atlas had settled down, sensitive to her change in mood. He’d be hypervigilant with her this agitated. Which was even better. The big dog wouldn’t be tempted by random distractions like squirrels or rabbits while Lyn was agitated. No running off chasing furry things or coaxing her to play fetch. He’d stay with her and ensure her safety. He shouldn’t be running today anyway.

  “Okay. Take a long walk then, and I’ll get some administrative work done here. Check back in with you both at lunchtime.”

  Lyn nodded. A minute later she had Atlas on a leash and they were out the door.

  Back in his office, David dug into one of his drawers. After way longer than he’d like, he came up with a small toolkit. Armed with those tools, a soft cloth, a firm bristled toothbrush and isopropyl alcohol, he went to work. Removing wax from a micro SD card wasn’t fun but it wasn’t hard either. He’d done it with fewer tools to hand. This time, though, he wanted to do it right in one shot with minimal chance of further complications.