by Julie Miller
But four hours of playing babysitter when Kyle Black was nowhere in sight? “Why don’t you go on and see if you can catch the end of the street dance,” she suggested as she continued toward her car. “Or have a beer at The Bounty.” She pulled a twenty-dollar bill from her jeans. “Here. They’re on me.”
“Oh, no, ma’am.” Thibideux touched her elbow to push her hand back inside her pocket. “The captain said to stick with you, and unless you’re having that beer with us, we’re goin’ wherever you’re goin’.”
Tess checked her watch for the fifth time in as many minutes. Where was the captain, anyway?
“I’m sure he’ll be calling soon, ma’am.” Jaynes had the insight to see how worried she was about Travis.
Had Trav gone all the way to Longbow Island? Had he found Hal, or had the search been tabled until daylight returned? Was Hal all right? Had he suffered another heart attack? Were the Craddocks and Eileen all right? And what about Travis? Was his leg holding up? Was he so worried about Kyle Black that he wasn’t following all those safety procedures he kept harping to her about?
Tess nodded a reassurance she didn’t quite feel. “I’m sure he will. So, are we having that beer?”
Ten minutes later, Tess was at a table at The Bounty, waiting for a pirate wench to bring them three beers. The bar was crowded and smoky. If she didn’t feel she owed her makeshift bodyguards a tangible thanks for giving up the last night of their leave for her, then she’d have skipped the skull-jarring level of music and conversation and headed for home and a hot shower.
The least she could do was give her bladder and eardrums a little peace. She slipped the twenty onto the table and pointed over her shoulder toward the ladies’ room in the back. “Remember, they’re on me. I need to stop at the little girls’ room.”
Thibideux climbed off his stool. “I’ll go with you.”
“No, you won’t.” Old, reliable Tess would have given up the argument and let the young man accompany her. Correction, the old Tess wouldn’t have come here in the first place. Though she felt a little like Mrs. Robinson with the two young studs in tow, she wasn’t interested in entertaining the troops herself. She spotted a pretty brunette tapping her foot at the bar. Tess pointed her out. “Why don’t you go ask her to dance. If I’m not out in five minutes, then you can storm the john. Okay?”
“Okay. One dance.” Thibbs had to practically shout to be heard. “If you’re not at the table when the song’s done, I’m coming in.”
Tess laughed and gave him a tiny shove toward the brunette. “See if she has a sister for the corporal, too.”
The quiet of the rustic, tiled bathroom was almost painful as it rushed in on her eardrums. She waited until a young blond woman had exited and the empty spaces beneath each stall told her she was alone. Tess paused a few moments at the mirror to simply breathe and relax. She looked like she’d put in a full day. Tendrils from her ponytail curled loosely around her forehead and cheeks. Her Royals jersey was wrinkled from where she’d tied the carpenter’s bag for change around her waist. She had a spot of nacho cheese in the middle of the white R on her left breast, and she looked beat.
But as she leaned in closer to inspect the shadows under her eyes, she wasn’t thinking about how her work at the hospital and the concession stand had exhausted her. She was thinking of the night before, and how replete and languid and weary she’d been after making love with Travis. How proud and sexy she felt to know he was completely turned on by her.
Tess leaned in closer to the mirror and touched her lower lip. She gently tugged her mouth open, wet the tips of her fingers and traced the rim of her mouth. Was this the image Travis had seen at his window? She trailed her moist fingers down the length of her throat, slowly mesmerizing herself as she felt the same stirrings of electric energy that had pulsed through her last night. Had he seen her eyelids grow heavy with passion? Her breathing grow shallow with desire?
Would she ever have another night like that in her life if Travis stuck to the deal they’d made and moved on?
He cared. He loved her as a friend. He wanted her as a woman. He’d given her everything she’d asked of him and more. But it wasn’t enough. Two weeks and a kiss goodbye would never be enough with Travis.
Curling her exploring fingers into a fist, she dabbed at the tears stinging her eyes. She couldn’t be his friend after this. She couldn’t want him this much, love him this way, and simply call him friend.
So what was she supposed to—?
A sharp ringing in her purse startled her from her heartbreaking thoughts. She quickly pulled out the phone and flipped it on. Relief surged through her. “Travis?”
“Uh, no.” Amy. “Hey, kiddo. Don’t you check the number before you answer?”
She didn’t need yet another lecture on personal safety. The last of her patience leaked out on a weary sigh. “I’m tired. What do you want?”
“I just wanted to call to give you a heads-up. Kyle Black was here at the house.”
Everything inside Tess tensed.
“Are you okay? Is Mom?” Now she could hear the stress tightening Amy’s voice. She hugged her purse beneath her arm, and even in the ladies’ room, she couldn’t keep herself from glancing over her shoulder. “Did he get into the house? Did he hurt anyone?”
“No. Morty yelled at him.” It was triumph, not stress, giving her thirty-five-year-old sister’s voice an almost giddy quality. “He threatened to call the police. He said he didn’t give a rat’s ass what kind of rights Kyle had to park his car there. I could hear him through the front window. Morty said Kyle was terrorizing Mom and me, and that he needed to move his car now. You should have heard all the rights and regulations he rattled off. Morty cussed!”
Morty Camden?
“You know. If he asks me out again, I’m going to say yes. Heck, if he doesn’t ask me out, then I’m asking him.”
“Amy?”
“Oh, right. The main reason I called was to warn you. When Kyle left here, he headed straight into town. You’d recognize him, right?”
Black hair, blue eyes, handsome face? “The poster boy for the USMC? I’ll know him.”
After she hung up, Tess raised her gaze to the mirror. Her startled breath rushed out so fast, she couldn’t even scream.
Black hair, blue eyes, handsome face—standing right behind her in the mirror.
“Poster boy for the USMC. I’m flattered. Tess Bartlett?” The hand the man extended toward her held a knife. A jagged, wicked-looking thing that was no overture of friendship. “I’m Kyle Black.”
“ARE YOU KIDDING ME with this?” Tess left the ladies’ room with Kyle Black right behind her, his arm linked through hers, holding her close. He wedged the knife between them, close enough to cut a hole in her jersey and prick her skin. “I know who you are and what you did to Amy. Are you going to beat me up in the parking lot, too?”
“And give your friend McCormick the chance to play hero all over again? I’m just taking back what he owes me.”
They circled the crush on the dance floor and she caught a glimpse of Thibideux’s tall head bobbing over the other dancers. She turned to make eye contact, but Kyle breathed a warning against her ear. “Don’t even think it. Both your sidekicks are occupied right now. It’s just you and me.”
The fresh night air, cleansed by last night’s rain, should have revived her, but a creeping sense of helplessness began to consume her as he led her farther away from the noisy throng. “Where are we going?”
“My car.” His grip on her wrist tightened with a painful pinch as he turned down a dark alley, taking a shortcut to someplace with lights and people, she prayed.
“My car’s closer.” It was worth a shot.
“Right. And your car has a bag of baseball bats in the backseat. I’m not arming you.”
“You went through my car?”
“You really are missing the point, aren’t you.” Kyle stopped at the darkest part of the alley, beside a trash dumpster, and p
ushed her up against the wall. The bricks felt cold and slimy against her back. Captain Black felt warm and slimy against her front. “We can do this easy, or we can do this hard.” He ran his hand up her thigh as he nuzzled her neck. “I can make this very nice for you.”
“That’s called rape, you bastard.” She slapped at his hand and squirmed to wedge her arms between them. “There is nothing nice—”
“Shut up.” He covered her mouth with a rough hand and shoved her head against the bricks. Stars swirled behind her eyes, but she breathed deeply and blinked to keep his icy eyes in focus. “Believe me, this will be your choice,” he promised.
Her skull throbbed. Feeling dizzy, her feet stumbled beneath her as he pulled her along beside him. By the time her vision cleared, they’d left the alley and he was half carrying, half dragging her toward a low-slung red sports car.
“No!” Ignoring the threat of the knife, Tess jammed her elbow into Kyle’s gut. His grip loosened with a startled “oof” and she started to run.
But she had nowhere to go. Kyle snatched her by the wrist, slung her around and smacked her back against the car. A bolt of pain radiated along her spine, but it was his hips grinding into hers and the knife at her throat that scared her more.
“That wasn’t very nice.” He cut one button loose. “I thought Ashton was famous for its summer hospitality.” Two more buttons popped loose and her jersey gaped open. “Now you’re gonna get into the car, and you’re going to do what I tell you.”
His fingers bruised her arm as he jerked her to one side and opened the door. Tess’s foot rolled on something uneven near the curb. Something long and cylindrical. She braced her hands against the door and frame, resisting when he tried to push her down onto the passenger seat. “What do you want from me?”
“Satisfaction.” He breathed the word against her ear, trailed the knife blade along her nape. “Captain McCormick needs to come down a peg or two. You’re what he wants, so I will take you.”
“My sister didn’t want you. I don’t want you. You can’t force me to—”
“You don’t understand.” Kyle spun her around and backed her against the car frame. This time, he didn’t use violence, but he dropped his voice to such an icy, unemotional timbre that it coiled like a snake along each nerve cell, leaving plenty of fear in its wake. “You don’t want to mess with me. McCormick is going to lose one way or the other. You can kiss me, nice and real friendly-like. Or I can hold up his assignment to Special Ops. I can arrange for the paperwork to cross my desk and get lost for a very long time. He’ll be a desk jockey for the rest of his career—if he doesn’t wash out first.”
“He’ll never leave the Corps.”
“It’s your choice, Miss Bartlett—the kiss or the job?”
Tess’s right heel rolled across the cylinder again. She had to duck her chin to hide her urge to smile.
There was a third option.
Kyle Black’s artificially minty breath washed over her as she thought back to that very first night on the beach with Travis. With that impromptu game of stickball, a friendship had been rekindled, a love affair had been born, and a bond of love and loyalty that she would never break had been forged.
“Travis’s career means everything to him,” Tess whispered. “I won’t let you take that from him.”
“So it’s the kiss. The betrayal.” Kyle sounded pleased.
“Just a kiss, right? You won’t force me?”
“We’ll see how good you are.”
Tess slowly raised her head, using every seductive skill Travis had taught her to give her confidence. “I can be very good.”
Kyle laughed as he reached inside her jersey to cup her breast. He slowly closed the distance between them and covered her mouth with his own.
Interesting. Not a single babble. When Travis kissed her, her thoughts scattered. With Kyle, every impulse was clear as a bell.
She concentrated on her right foot, on moving her lips, on sucking Kyle’s bottom lip between her own.
And then she bit. Hard.
“Bitch!” Kyle smacked her across the face as he jerked back and pressed a hand to his bleeding mouth.
Concentrating through the ringing concussion of pain, Tess let the momentum of the blow carry her to the ground. She grabbed the pipe beneath her feet and came up swinging.
A hit to the solar plexus. He doubled over with a raspy curse.
“Keep your mouth and hands…” The knife blade flashed. She swung again. “…and threats to yourself!”
“There she is!”
Kyle roared as the knife flew out of his hand and clattered into the gutter.
“Call 9-1-1!”
“I called as soon as I knew she was gone.”
Fear-charged adrenaline drove her now. She lifted the pipe to strike again.
“Tess!” A steel band of arms grabbed her from behind, cinching her arms to her body and lifting her off the ground to keep her from swinging the pipe.
She recognized Travis first by scent, then by the husky voice whispering in her ear. “You got him, babe. You got him. It’s all right. You can stop.”
“She’s a menace, McCormick.” The furious haze began to clear. Kyle Black’s face swam in front of hers, his lip bleeding, two fingers hanging at an abnormal angle. “You deserve that ugly excuse for—”
“Hey!” Travis’s voice barked a threat. “You want me to let her go so she can practice her home-run swing on you again?”
Tess jerked in Travis’s arms and Kyle lurched back. But the poor man had no place to go. Jaynes and Thibideux had him pinned. “You keep her away from me,” Kyle protested. “She’s crazy.”
“You’re the one who needs help, Black. Kidnapping a woman from the ladies’ room?”
The warmth of Travis’s body seeped into hers, and Tess’s brain finally cleared. “Travis?”
“I’ve got you, babe. You’re safe now. I’m not going anywhere.” His hold on her shifted. He pried the pipe from her hand and passed it back to someone standing behind him. She turned her nose into the salty damp scent that clung to his clothes and he pulled her more fully into his embrace. She felt his lips in her hair and Tess didn’t know whether to break into tears or let her shaking knees collapse as the last of the adrenaline drained from her system.
Ultimately, she decided to laugh.
“Captain Black?” She knew that voice.
So did Kyle Black. “General Craddock. Sir.”
Major ouch.
“When you’re done with the police, you and I need to sit down and have a talk. Captain McCormick?”
Travis straightened without releasing her. “Sir?”
“I know you want that Special Ops position. Call me. Your dad has the number.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
Tess tightened her hold around Travis’s waist. He was getting the job. His dream was coming true.
And in a few short days, her dream would end.
Friday, thirteen hundred hours,
Quantico, Virginia
“I STILL DON’T SEE WHY I had to come. I don’t even know these people. They’re all from your S.O. unit, right?” Tess had made a gallant effort to keep the conversation light and impersonal on the drive from Ashton. But now that she was here, on the bustling military base that Travis called home, her emotions threatened to get the best of her.
“Yeah. C’mon. They’re unloading the personnel bus now. Let’s go welcome them home.” Travis reached for his white hat, or cover, as he’d called it, and put it on as soon as he climbed out of his father’s truck.
Of course, the rat had to look particularly handsome today, spiffed up in his summer class-B uniform with his royal slacks, khaki shirt, and enough ribbons on his chest to start his own flag corps. As he circled the truck to open her door, she admired the way his shoulders and chest accommodated the brass buttons and silver captain’s bars. His limp was barely detectable in his proud gait. He was all man. All military. All heartbreaker.
> She ought to know.
Tess reluctantly climbed out into his world and smoothed the skirt of her white sundress. When he took her hand to hurry across the parking lot to the bleachers and ceremonial drill field, Tess dug in her heels and held her ground.
“Trav—we’ve already said goodbye, you and me. Last night was beautiful, every moment of it.”
He lifted her fingers to his lips and kissed them. “Yeah. Who knew how creative we could get with red wine?”
She could think of dozens of ways she wanted to get creative with Travis. Every one of them would be sweet or funny or mind-blowingly hot. But her time with him was over.
“This is your world, you belong here.” She rested her hand against the scar that lined his jaw and gave him such character. “But I need to go back to mine. The summer’s winding down. I need a clean break.” The umpteenth tear of the day pricked the corner of her eye, but she refused to shed it, just as she’d refused to shed all the others. “I’m trying to be sophisticated and mature about this. We agreed to two weeks, no strings attached. I need to be done.”
“Hey.” He brushed his thumb across her cheek. Okay, so maybe one had fallen. “Just trust me for a little while longer, T-bone.”
Her heart was doomed. She wouldn’t have thought a friend could be so cruel.
Travis pulled her into step beside him and they wove their way through the waiting crowd. After a brief ceremony, with music and thank-you’s and very short speeches, the men and women in their desert khaki uniforms were unleashed. Tess found herself openly crying at the reunions of husbands and wives, fathers and children, sisters and brothers, parents and sons and daughters. She laughed at noisy toddler kisses and stole Travis’s handkerchief when she saw a father meeting his newborn daughter for the first time.
And something stirred, low in her belly and deep in her heart, when she saw quite possibly the largest man she’d ever seen in person pick up a rather Rubenesque-looking blonde and spin her around before dropping to one knee and pulling her onto his lap to claim the woman’s mouth in the most passionate of kisses.
