by Zoe Dawson
“Tyler is what’s important here, not an injury that took some stitches to close.” He gritted his teeth and pushed back the blankets. She looked horrified that he was actually going to stand.
“Dexter…maybe you should rethink this…”
He gave her a firm gaze with those intense blue eyes and his mouth tightened. “Nope. I want to see Ty before he’s shipped off to Germany. I kinda need that myself. Could you indulge me here? Give a wounded warrior a hand?”
“A wounded warrior, huh?” she said, giving him a hard, I’m-on-to-your-plan-mister stare. At his innocent look, she sighed and huffed out a short laugh at his obvious manipulation, as if she was well aware he was just like any other hardheaded man. He grinned at her and, even though his side protested rather loudly, swung his legs and set his feet on the floor.
She moved to his side and helped him stand. She smelled really good, like some kind of floral fragrance and the essential female scent that he’d missed since being deployed two hundred and twenty days out of the year. It eased some of the pain to have this strong woman helping him.
She slipped her arm around his waist, which was covered in the flimsy gown, and accidently threaded right through the opening in the back to his bare skin.
Hooyah, that surely made him realize that all his parts were still working as nature intended. He was well aware that her hand was only inches away from his completely buck-naked ass.
He was going to chalk up his hard-on to adrenaline overload, deployment and being male.
“Oh, the joy of hospital gowns.”
Even raw, he chuckled, thinking that was the way the world worked. The living kept on living, moving forward and letting go. Not just yet, but with time, he would. Damn if he wasn’t liking her even more.
“Robe’s over there,” he said as she kept her arm around him and stretched to reach the garment on the chair. She snagged it and helped him into it, wisely leaving it unbelted.
“You’re cool under fire, huh?”
They slowly headed for the door, dragging the IV stand with them.
“I’m a lawyer’s daughter and come from a long line of politicians. My two brothers, one older and one younger, gave me a run for my money, too. So, I hold my own. I’ll arm wrestle you once you’re one hundred percent. I would never take advantage of a wounded warrior.”
At the door, he huffed a laugh. “Ah, caught in the middle, were you? I have the distinct pleasure to be the baby. I have an older brother—”
“Russell—nickname Rock―former RECON Marine, tough son of a bitch, owns Rockface, a sporting goods store. He and his best friend, Tristan Michaels, run it. He was also a former RECON Marine. Engaged to an NCIS agent, Amber. Do you want me to go on?”
“Wow. You know a lot about me,” he said as two agents fell into step behind them, keeping a discreet distance.
“You are Tyler’s favorite subject.”
He had to stop moving as the affection―brotherly love―he held for Tyler churned him up all over again. His chest expanded with the rush of ragged emotion blindsiding him.
“We can rest if you’d like,” she said solemnly. “I didn’t mean to make this harder, Dexter. It’s just that Tyler loves you as much as our brother, Edward, and me, I think. You’ll have to become an honorary Prescott, for sure.”
He turned his head away and massaged his eyes, but it was clear she’d already seen the effect her words had on him. He had to get control of himself before he saw Tyler. He didn’t want to make it any worse for him. He had listened to Ty talk about his sister and her strength throughout all the hardship their family had endured over the past three years, especially with her losing her husband and child. It was as if he knew this woman.
“That is for sure. I’m racking my brain, trying to remember if I told Ty about any of the skeletons in my closet or deep dark secrets.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I wrote them all down in my diary and put them under lock and key.”
He laughed; it pulled his side and he grunted with the pain. She had him laughing through his tears. “Thanks. I needed that.”
She nodded and their gazes met and held. Suddenly he felt hot, and it seemed as if the very air around them ignited. She really had the most unusual colored eyes. For a few moments, they stared at each other until someone cleared her throat.
He turned to see Nurse Davis standing there with her hands on her hips. She was giving Piper what Dex considered a direct-order look.
“Uh-oh,” he said under his breath.
“Lieutenant, I’m sure you’re going to have a perfectly plausible reason to be gallivanting around the hospital after you’ve just been through a terrible explosion. If you rip out those stitches—”
“I do have an awesome reason for being out of bed. It’s a fellow SEAL who needs some reassurance that I’m not lying in the morgue right now. Before he’s shipped off to Germany, he needs to see me alive. Is that good enough?”
Her features softened and she sighed. “Yes, that’s good enough. At least let me get you a wheelchair.”
“No,” he said through gritted teeth. “It’ll have more impact if I’m walking, and to tell you the truth, it feels good to be moving around.”
“Senator? You got him?” the nurse said, her concern obvious.
Piper looked up at him and he got another jolt through his system at the way her eyes went over his face. “Yes, I’ve got him.”
She sure had.
As they walked away, she said wryly under her breath, “I’ll try not to keep you in stitches.” She cut him a sly look.
He laughed again and she smiled. “Really, I’ll be here all week. I must be punchy from that wonderful plane ride. Military transport is always so comfortable.”
“Seriously, do you want to pull out all my stitches? Just think how much trouble we’ll be in then.”
She winced. “Sorry.”
Had he made her nervous? Was she responding to that…whatever it was…that had passed between them? This was, again he reminded himself, Tyler’s sister.
They hobbled the rest of the way to Tyler’s room. As he entered, he moved away from her and walked the rest of the way on his own steam.
He swallowed when he saw the kind of shape Ty was in. His right eye was swollen shut and there were many scrapes and bruises on his face. His right leg and arm were heavily swathed in bandages. He had tubes and wires connected, but when Dex approached, he smiled a very relieved smile and his good eye, though dazed, brightened.
“Hey, buddy,” Dex said, returning his smile.
“LT…Dex. It’s good to see you. You okay?” Ty reached out with his good arm, and they clasped forearms, both grasping tight.
“Me?” He sat gingerly down on a chair next to the bed. “You’re the one who spent most of our time here in surgery.”
“They said you saved my life.”
“Yeah, well, at the time it seemed like a good idea.”
Tyler laughed, then winced. “Don’t make me laugh, man.” His eyes darkened. “DJ…man, I can’t believe it. Slim and Spaceman. What a loss.”
“I know.” Dex’s chest got tight again.
Tyler said, “You don’t think it’s all your fault, do you, LT? Because that intel was good.”
“Yeah, the intel was good, but something went wrong, Ty, and I have to take the responsibility for that.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Ty said again, looking mutinous.
“Don’t get your shorts in a twist. I’m sure I’ll hear from the brass soon enough.”
Ty nodded. “They’re shipping me off to Germany.”
“I’ll see you back in the States. I promise, Ty. Your job is to get well.”
“Is that an order?”
“Yeah, it’s a damn order.”
Ty reached out again, but Dex simply leaned in and gave him a quick, hard hug.
Dex looked into Ty’s eyes and Ty looked into Dex’s; no words were uttered, but Dex had never before, and probably never would again,
have a louder conversation.
He rose and gave Ty one last look, then he started walking out of the room. He heard Piper say that she’d be right back just as the room tilted a little. He made it out but had to lean against the wall for support.
“Dexter?”
“I think I’ll take that wheelchair now,” he said.
His buckling knees had her slipping her arm around his waist again as she instructed one of her detail to get a nurse.
As the guy ran off, Dex looked down into her sweet face. “Hey, thanks for the way you came to my rescue back there.”
“You’re welcome. I know something about loss. Not the same kind, but I’ve been there.”
“Also, thanks for being a sport about getting me here.” He closed his eyes. “It meant a lot to me and to Ty.”
As Nurse Davis came briskly with the wheelchair, he had to let go of Piper to sit down. It would most likely be a while before he saw Tyler’s delectable sister again, so before he was wheeled away, he looked his fill.
Back in his room, he settled against the mattress.
“Do you need anything for pain?” Nurse Davis said, her voice all of a sudden quiet and soft.
“Admit it,” he said with a smile. “I’m growing on you.”
She tucked him in and smoothed down his blanket. “As one of my most stubborn of patients. Oh, yes.”
“One? I’d better work a little bit harder,” he said, and this time, tough, no-nonsense Nurse Davis smiled.
He closed his eyes, his wound throbbing from just below his armpit all the way to his waist. The gash had been deep in spots, but especially over his ribs. He was hurting, but his commanding officer was supposed to be here shortly.
“Something mild,” he said. “I need to be lucid for a debriefing.”
“Really, Lieutenant…”
“Just until he leaves, Christina.”
His firm tone and use of her first name brought that stern look back. Then she shook her head. “All right. I’ll be right back.”
As she left, he heard her speaking with someone, and her voice was soft and breathy. Then Captain Jeff Davis walked into his room and Dex’s brain told him to jump to attention. He wasn’t expecting the boss of the whole of Naval Special Warfare Group ONE.
“Sir,” Dex said.
“I’m here on official business, and not to see my beautiful wife. You better be behaving for her.”
“Your…wife.”
“To the letter,” Nurse Davis said, returning with his medication. She made goo-goo eyes at her husband and then left.
The captain pulled up a chair just as Commander Todd Hodges, the leader of SEAL Team Three, entered the room and he pulled the curtain for privacy.
He’d brought his own chair, nodded to Dex and sat down.
“Sir?”
“I want your assessment of your previous op,” Captain Davis said.
“I think those Marines were nothing more than a smokescreen and they were killed just moments before we arrived. I think they were waiting for us, not because they knew we were coming for those men, but because they knew when we were coming. We were ambushed.”
Jeff looked at Todd and he nodded.
He lowered his voice. “Lieutenant, we have a situation. After the smoke cleared on that cluster in the desert that robbed us of three of our best men and three damn fine Marines, we found the body of a mercenary, or merc. An American by the name of Martin Carter, dressed exactly like an insurgent. After further investigation, we discovered he took on high-end types of jobs.”
Dex swore through gritted teeth, the medication his nurse had given him not even touching his pain. His face contorted. After being in this war-torn country for almost a decade, he had met and killed some of the worst vermin alive—soldiers for hire. Men and even women who’d pull a trigger for money.
“We thought you should know. Think about it and report back to us if you have any information that can help. In the meantime, we’re shipping you back to the States.”
“Captain…”
“No, Dexter. You’re going back to fully recover, and that’s a damn order. I’m not losing another man. Oh, and we’re awarding you…”
Dexter groaned; he didn’t give a damn about another medal. He wanted to make sure that the men who’d died, men who’d trusted him, were avenged. Guilt washed over him.
“…the Navy Cross, so get used to it.”
“Yes, sir.”
The captain leaned in. “By all reports you saved lives out there and risked your own.” He reached into his pocket. “I think it’s time that junior grade was removed, and we can make you a full lieutenant.
“Ten-hut,” the captain said, and Hodges stood to attention. He opened the box and pulled out the lieutenant bars and pinned them to his gown. Then both Captain Davis and Commander Hodges saluted him.
He saluted them back, gritting his teeth against all the emotion welling up in him. Anger, frustration, pain and loss all got mixed into his being made a full lieutenant.
The captain offered his hand. “Thank you, Lieutenant Dexter Kaczewski, for your service.”
He shook the captain’s hand, then his commander’s. “We’ll make this official as soon as you’re well enough to don that dress uniform.”
“Yes, sir. About the op—”
“This isn’t on you, Dexter. This op may have been compromised. We don’t know for sure. I’ve asked the Secretary of the Navy for help and he’s going to assign NCIS to look into it. There will be a thorough investigation. Petty Officer Carver…Mike served with me when I had my own team. I know this is a blow. He was an exemplary SEAL,” the captain said, his eyes gleaming with memory.
“Yes, sir.”
Feeling ineffectual and helpless in the face of this information, Dex clenched his fists. SEALs were all about action, and he was out of the game. Nothing against NCIS, but he wanted to look into this himself.
He’d contact those NCIS agents assigned to find out the people responsible for this act of treason, and he’d ride them like new recruits until Dex had answers that would allow him to sleep at night.
He vowed that silently to Spaceman, Slim and DJ.
One hour later, as she said goodbye to her drowsy brother, Piper was dog-tired. They loaded him up and shipped him to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, moving him out earlier than expected. She’d already talked to Edward, and she was going home in another two hours, as soon as the transport with a seat with her name on it landed.
They had given her a bed to rest in, but she made them promise that if it was needed, she would be notified so she could vacate. She lay down and closed her eyes. She should have fallen asleep, but Dex’s scent lingered on her and it smelled so good.
She closed her eyes against the unfamiliar surge of attraction. Here she thought she had been ruined, utterly ruined, by her deep love for Bradley Jones, the man of her dreams. He had swept her off her feet in college. The next steps of getting engaged and married were so easy. Her father and mother had been ecstatic. Like royalty, they had merged their high-powered political families.
She bit her lip and opened her eyes. Reaching for her purse, she pulled out her wallet. There were times like right now when she couldn’t remember his face, and that caused her to feel a surge of panic. When she pulled out his picture, she breathed a sigh of relief. Ah, he had been so handsome.
But Dexter Kaczewski was lethally, dangerously handsome. And he was so alive, so virile in that wounded warrior’s body, all those muscles. Brad had been lanky and nerdy, not like the lieutenant. She bit her lip, gazing at Brad’s picture, the agony of losing him like a pile of rocks in her gut. This was the first time she’d ever thought about Brad in relationship to another man, and the panic was just a result of feeling disloyal. He was gone, but did her attraction to Dex signal that she might be ready to move on? Especially ready for someone like Dex? She had never thought she’d be one of those women who would ever go for the muscled warrior type. She’d alway
s loved the brainy men, but the lieutenant had that cutting wit and charisma to spare.
She’d touched his warm skin, felt the gauze where his bandage had been taped to the side of his body, reminding her that this man had a very dangerous job. A Navy SEAL. Yeah, not the type of guy she wanted to even think about getting involved with. Not that it was possible. There was no timeframe to moving on. The memory of loving Brad wouldn’t fade. Was there room in her heart to love again? Her attraction to Dex was just that—a spark. She was heading home, so her meanderings were moot. He was stationed on the West Coast in Coronado and she was in DC. It was unlikely―unless he made good on his promise for a family dinner―that they would meet again.
Oh, God. The thought of him sent a flurry of weakness through her whole body, a body she thought had been numb and unresponsive to any man’s presence. Her brothers had worried that she was acting in a very unhealthy way, not letting go of Brad’s memory, but it was so difficult. Now, her head was filled with the scent and sight of Dexter. She had to adjust to this involuntary reaction to him.
It had been eighteen months since she’d lost Brad. She had only three months of his term left, and she’d fulfilled every one of his promises except passing the bill Senator Mullins wanted to block.
Never mind. Mullins couldn’t intimidate her, impede her or stop her. She wasn’t interested in continuing in politics. It would be a daily reminder that her husband was no longer on this earth doing the job he loved. That was hard enough as it was.
It was political suicide to go up against a man like Mullins. He was connected, rich as all get-out and powerful. It was rumored he had aspirations for the Oval Office and that he would be a shoo-in if he ever decided to run.
Her mouth tightened. She had no doubt he intended to run. And run over her. Well, he was going to be handed his…defeat.
This bill was going to the floor. She bet that stuck in his powerful craw.
She drifted after that thought. Dexter’s gorgeous blue eyes and striking features kept invading her thoughts as she fell into sleep.
It seemed like only moments later when she jerked awake. She lay still in the darkened room. Something was…different. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she heard nothing.
