Officer and the Secret (Semper Fidelis. Always Faithful.)

by Murray, Jeanette

“They look good together.”

  Jeremy’s deep voice rumbled behind her. The heat from his body seeped in through the thin material of her dress, to her bare shoulders. “I thought you didn’t like Skye.”

  He chuckled softly. “You have to admit, they didn’t start off like normal couples.”

  “No, that’s true, they didn’t.”

  “I was reserving judgment on her until later. But she makes him happy, and she’s a good person. Doesn’t get much better than that.”

  “No,” she said softly, “it doesn’t.”

  The DJ’s mic boomed. “And now, the bride and groom would like to welcome their wedding party out onto the dance floor.”

  “Come on.” Jeremy tugged at her hand, surprising Madison.

  “You’re an eager beaver.” As he swept her easily into a slow step, she smiled. “Never would have taken you for much of a dancer.”

  “Dad had me take lessons. Something about how all officers should know how to do basic dance steps should they be required to.” He snorted. “Like all company grade officers need to know how to bust out a tango at the drop of a hat.”

  Madison raised a brow. “Could you?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” He leaned down for a quick kiss, one that had her biting back a groan of frustration. How long did they have to stay before they could slip away?

  Slip away… Madison glanced around. “Shouldn’t you be dancing with Veronica? You escorted her down the aisle, and I walked with Dwayne.”

  Jeremy shrugged. “I didn’t figure it mattered, long as we were all out here.”

  “Yeah, but…” She pushed until he spun her in a three-sixty spin. “They’re not out here.”

  Jeremy did the owl-pivot on his shoulders. “Huh, you’re right. Wonder where they went.”

  Madison started to smile, laughing a little as her grin spread. “Gotcha.” As she spotted both Veronica and Dwayne slip slyly into the back of the crowd from the server entry, she crooked a finger at them. “Get out here.”

  Veronica hesitated, but Dwayne grinned his idiotic grin and tugged her behind him. Veronica was too sweet to say a word otherwise, though the mutinous look she shot D proved how much she disliked being dragged without a word.

  “Hmm. Wonder where those two have been,” she thought out loud.

  “I know where I wish I was. A dark room alone, with me not in this tuxedo and you still in that dress. I want to watch you peel out of it, one inch at a time. Exactly how fast do you think I can get you out of it?” Jeremy’s hand smoothed up and down her back, as if searching for the hidden zipper.

  She punched him on the shoulder once, then remembered they were the center of attention when a table nearby laughed.

  “She’s a cold one.”

  “Really?” Madison glanced up in surprise. “You think so? I thought she was extremely warm. Just struggles with how to show it sometimes. But she’s getting there.”

  Veronica laughed then, dipped back by Dwayne, suspended while he held her nearly upside down. Dwayne’s smile wasn’t full of humor anymore, but pleasure and something more. Something that had Madison’s throat closing with the happiness of it.

  That bitch Blair had stolen something from him. He used his sweet Southern personality as a shield, though it was a true part of him as much as anything else. It was cute and quirky and drew the women in like bees to a fragrant flower. But then the flower would close, keeping the bees at a distance.

  “And now, we open the dance floor to all those wanting to celebrate Timothy and Skye’s love,” the DJ announced smoothly, and they shifted slightly to make room for new couples joining them on the dance floor.

  But Madison kept Dwayne and Veronica in her eyesight. D was opening up again, and Veronica was the reason why. Or maybe it was just time that healed the wound, and Veronica was in the right place at the right time. Either way, they were good together, and she was happy to see her friend—both her friends now—enjoying each other and making each other happy.

  “Wow.”

  “I know. I’ve got smooth moves.” Jeremy led her into a quick twirl ending in a dip of their own, which he capped with a quick kiss on the nose. “Try not to swoon.”

  “Oh yeah, Casanova. You’ve got me.” She rolled her eyes, but smiled anyway. “I meant watching Dwayne and Veronica.”

  Jeremy glanced around, but by now the sea of people had swallowed them up. “Gonna elaborate on what ‘wow’ meant?”

  “Just that I’m happy, watching them move together, toward each other, and enjoying each other. It’s like this sweet, slow slide from friends into something more. And I wondered if this was how other people felt watching us.”

  “Probably not, since we didn’t do the slow slide so much as the quick bang.” He wiggled his eyebrows to indicate he knew damn well the double entendre he’d just used.

  “Sicko.”

  “Yes, but I’m your sicko.”

  Madison sighed and rested her cheek on his lapel. “Exactly.”

  ***

  Veronica waited to hear the door close and the light by the hallway to illuminate the room before sitting up on the couch. “Want some—”

  “Ahh!” Madison screamed, jumped back, and held a hand over her chest. “Christ on a crutch, Veronica.”

  Veronica mentally winced at the phrase, almost as a reflex. Then reminded herself no bolt of lightning was going to fly down and strike them. “Sorry.” She held up the carton in a peace offering. “Ice cream?”

  Madison glanced down the hallway toward her bedroom once, longingly, before dropping her bag on the floor and shuffling to the couch. “Why the hell not?” She snatched the carton and spoon from Veronica’s hand and dug in.

  Veronica debated reaching for the spoon to get another bite in, but the look on Madison’s face stopped her cold. She didn’t want to lose a finger, so she just gave the treat up for lost. “How was your night?”

  If looks could kill, Veronica would have an appointment with St. Peter.

  “I’m getting tired of this whole back-and-forth junk between our place and Jeremy’s apartment.”

  “Why didn’t you stay over there tonight?” Veronica eyed the ice cream longingly, wishing she hadn’t given it up for lost so quickly.

  “Because our place is closer to work. Plus, his place is gross. I spend as little time over there as possible.” She dug back into the ice cream, heedless of the drips on her bridesmaid dress. She stuck the bite in her mouth then pointed the spoon at Veronica when she dared reach for the spoon. You know, her own spoon, the one she’d gotten out of the drawer herself. “You had your time with the ice cream. Now Ben, Jerry, and I are having our quality time.”

  “Why does Jeremy not just come here, then?”

  Madison shoveled another bite or two into her mouth without looking up. Veronica waited patiently, then when Madison kept on eating, she prodded her with an elbow. “Madison. What is it?”

  “Okay, okay.” Madison set the ice cream down—with great reluctance, Veronica noted—and straightened. “We thought it might make you uncomfortable.”

  She sat for a moment, silent and stunned. “We, as in you and Jeremy?”

  “Yeah.” Madison reached for the ice cream again, then changed her mind and sat back. “I just, well…”

  Veronica bit back a smile. For a woman who was so confident in herself and so open, Madison looked very uncomfortable. “You thought I would be offended that you two would share a bed?”

  “We just decided to keep that… elsewhere.” Madison shrugged. “Plus, I have to admit having a boyfriend come over when you’ve got a roommate just feels very college-like. Know what I mean?”

  No, she didn’t. But she nodded wisely, as if in complete understanding. “I hope you won’t let my prudishness stop you from having someone over.” With a small smile, she added, “Whether h
e be staying the night or not.”

  “You’re not a prude. You’re just… more conservative.” Madison tipped her head down and raised a brow. “You know, I liked you better when you were meek and unresponsive. Those were good days, back when you wouldn’t give me lip and just nodded and smiled a lot.”

  Veronica grinned. “The meek, unresponsive girl is no more.”

  “I was kidding. Oh, happy topic. And bonus, a topic not about me.” She scooted until she could cross her legs under her. A very unladylike position for one wearing a cocktail dress. But who was Veronica to judge? “You disappeared after the ceremony for a bit. And come to think of it… so did Dwayne.” When Veronica felt her eyes widen, Madison nudged her with a foot. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you two sneaking back into the ballroom.”

  She tried, really she did, but she couldn’t hold back the small smile that curved her lips. “We might have disappeared together.”

  “Good going. You know, the more I think about this, the more I think I was entirely wrong when I gave you all those suggestions earlier about who you should start dating.”

  Veronica waved that away. “No worries. I already had decided to ignore you and Skye.” She clasped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, I mean… I meant that with… I didn’t mean to—”

  Madison burst into laughter. “It’s fine. We needed to hear it. A backbone won’t kill anyone. Thinking back, we really were a little pushy, weren’t we?”

  Veronica tried this time for diplomacy and simply shrugged.

  “We meant well, I hope you know. But we just didn’t know what the hell we were talking about, clearly. You found Dwayne. And I think…” Suddenly the laughter died from her eyes. “Not to lose the moment but… you are aware of his issues, right? The whole reintegration thing?”

  “Yes. It was sort of hard to miss, what with me flat on my back on the couch.” Veronica chewed her lip. “I don’t think there’s anything I can do to help him. But I’m hoping that my presence won’t harm him, either. I just want to be there, if he needs me, for whatever I can do.”

  “Well.” Madison clapped her hands and rubbed them together. “That’s a healthy attitude to take. I’m sure he will appreciate the extra support. He might need it. Or might not. These sort of issues can clear up as suddenly as they start. But until then, I think we’re forgetting something extremely important.”

  Veronica looked at her.

  Madison wiggled her eyebrows, a gesture that made Veronica laugh until she snorted. “While you and Dwayne ‘disappeared’ together… what were you doing?”

  “I don’t disappear and tell,” she answered, channeling her mother’s prim voice for effect. The whole thing was ruined when Madison hit her with a pillow and she snorted again.

  “I’ll drag it out of you then. I have to live vicariously through someone, and I can’t do it through Skye, given she’s got my brother in her bed and that’s just gross. Give! Give the details!”

  “Never.” She threw the pillow back at Madison and sprinted for her bedroom, laughing when Madison made threats behind her.

  Just another normal moment of life that she’d been craving. And she had it in the palm of her hand.

  Chapter 13

  Dwayne stopped by Jeremy’s apartment, but the lights were all out. A quick check told him Madison’s car wasn’t there, but both Jeremy’s bike and truck were in the lot, so he had to assume Jeremy was just as alone as he was. While Dwayne would love to find someone to hang out with—misery loves company, wasn’t that how the saying went?—he wasn’t about to wake the dude up.

  The only problem was, he had too much nervous energy to just head home. After dropping Veronica off—and settling for a simple chaste kiss at the door—he was still wired for action of some kind. A fight, a hard workout, a sweaty, moaning roll between the sheets…

  Okay. That wasn’t happening. Not tonight, anyway. But at least now that he had a candidate in mind, the prospect looked much better. He walked down the apartment steps to his truck, resigning himself to a quick workout before bed to beat out some tension, when his phone vibrated.

  Veronica. He fumbled with the pocket of his suit, then almost dropped the phone in his haste to open it. She wanted him to come back. Wanted him to take her back to his place. To finish what they were starting in the boardroom. Wanted—

  No, not Veronica. Blair. Fuck. His stomach twisted painfully. Not only was it not Veronica, but it had to be her. The one person God put on this earth to make him suffer more than an insurgent cell. He debated deleting it, then some sick version of curiosity took over his fingers and clicked the “read message” button.

  A little birdie told me you were back. I’m glad you’re safe.

  A little birdie, his ass. His Facebook profile was public, and he intended to keep it that way in case anyone from previous bases or deployments wanted to find him. But that meant Blair could see him too. Sure, he could block her, but that would give her way more power than he ever intended to. Two seconds on his Facebook wall would tell her he was back. He rolled his eyes and hit delete, but his phone vibrated again before he could pocket it.

  I miss you. I think about you. All the time.

  He tightened his grip around the phone until it was close to snapping. The lying, conniving, deceitful bitch. The one positive he could come up with about deployment was he didn’t have to deal with her constant attempts to smooth the waters. Half the time she played the victim, and half the time she acted like nothing happened. Both ploys were bullshit. But that’s the only thing Blair had to offer… bullshit and ploys.

  He almost shoved the phone back in his pocket when it vibrated again. The growl stuck in his throat though when he saw it was Tim, not Blair.

  Where did you all head to? Thought we would do a post-celebration get-together at the house.

  Dwayne texted back as fast as his thick fingers would let him. They really didn’t design phone buttons for guys with big hands.

  We wanted to give you some space. Now go have a kick-ass wedding night.

  Thanks bud. Don’t mind if I do. :)

  “Lucky-ass bastard,” he muttered as he tossed the phone into a cup holder and started his truck back up. Yeah. Tim was lucky, not that he didn’t deserve Skye. She was perfection, but only for Tim. Dwayne couldn’t begrudge him the happiness he found. Just because his own near-miss with the preacher was a disaster of untold proportions didn’t mean everyone else should suffer like he did. So he could appreciate the way Skye made Tim smile, the way he could make her laugh. And if the jealousy pinched his heart just a little, there wasn’t a problem in that.

  Though come to think of it, that small pinch was almost unfelt entirely now. Huh. Maybe the amount of time was the reason. They’d been together almost a year now; it wasn’t brand new.

  Or, he thought with a grin as he threw his truck in reverse, he didn’t feel the pinch because he had something of his own now. Something that might turn out to be just as special as whatever Tim and Skye had. And jealousy was no longer an issue.

  The freeway was almost deserted as he headed back to his own apartment. But the occasional spear of lights from traffic illuminated his cab, glinting off his phone. He threw it another disgusted glance.

  Veronica was nothing like Blair. Not even close. If she had a deceitful bone in her body, he’d be shocked. And she wasn’t pushing for the relationship. The opposite, really. She had reservations about the whole thing, though he didn’t think it was just about him. Some ass must have burned her in the past, maybe. Something. But they’d work through it together.

  There was something good there. He knew it. And for the first time since he returned from the sandbox, his heart felt light.

  ***

  Veronica leaned back in her chair, rubbing at her tired eyes. After a lunch shift at Fletchers, she really was not in the right frame of mind to work on these math problems. But
she had to finish her preparations for the GED test, and soon. The constant reminder that she was twenty-six years old and had nothing, not even a high school degree, to her name was one of the most worthless, shameful feelings in the world.

  But I’m correcting it. It wasn’t my choice to stop my schooling. And I’m doing the best I can.

  The little mini pep talk helped to boost her confidence, just a little. Rolling her shoulders, she bent over, prepared to keep plugging away until she mastered this stupid quadratic equation. Because really, who would ever need this in daily life? Wasn’t that the beauty of a calculator?

  No. Buckle down. Block out the negativity. Focus. No outside distractions. No thinking about anything but math. Especially not clear blue eyes, deep twangs that made her shiver, kisses that had her forgetting they were in the middle of a wedding reception…

  No. Bad. Veronica physically shook herself, as if to knock the heated memories back a few steps. Math was number one. She could wonder why Dwayne hadn’t called in the two days since the wedding once this was done.

  The phone rang, and she nearly knocked over her glass of water scrambling to reach the lifeline saving her from problem 2b.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey.” Dwayne’s warm Southern twang melted through the phone and into her body, relaxing her muscles the way a good massage might.

  “Hi,” she replied, annoyed with the breathless quality her voice took on.

  “What are you up to?”

  “Homework,” she said, then instantly squeezed her eyes shut on a wince. Such a juvenile term, and it would only lead to questions.

  “Really? What subject?”

  Questions like that. “Uh, math.” She shut the textbook quickly, as if he could see she was struggling with high school trig instead of college-level calculus. “But I can always use the break.”

  “I don’t think we’ve ever talked about school before. What are you studying?”

  She knew exactly what he thought. School, for someone in their twenties, equaled university. College. Or at the very least, community college. Nobody assumed someone her age was stuck so far behind, which was exactly what she counted on any time she sidestepped the topic with acquaintances. Even Madison didn’t know. “Oh, a little of everything right now.” There. Truth. As much as she could give at this point.