Next Door Knight

by Nicole Flockton

  His body stirred back to life and he deftly undid his trousers and let them fall to the floor. “I’ve got your phone.”

  Kerry looked up, a slow smile spreading across her face. “Hmm, that’s not all you’ve got.”

  Her sultry comment only intensified his desire. He held up the condom he’d found. “So, I guess we can put this to good use?”

  A slight pink hue crept up her cheeks. He chuckled.

  “Well, you certainly look like you’re up for the task. So how about it, solider? Ready for round two?”

  He stalked toward the bed, ripping the square foil as he went. “That’s airman, ma’am, not soldier. And I’m more than ready for round two.”

  *

  Kerry lay snuggled against Caleb’s chest one arm firmly around her back and his other hand was absently scratching Willow.

  She didn’t want to kill the post-sex relaxation mood they were in, but there were questions she wanted to ask him. Even though she’d come over to celebrate his retirement, they’d talked about everything but that over dinner. Not to mention the news he’d dropped on her about his father passing away. And then they’d skipped dessert for a different kind of sweet.

  Now was as good a time as any. She took a deep breath and dove in. “We never did talk about what you’re going to do now that you’ve decided to retire.”

  Lying so close to him, she couldn’t miss his muscles tensing. Retiring had to have been a hard decision to make, but she’d seen the way his leg had crumpled beneath him when he’d gotten out of bed. Being a liability was the last thing Caleb would want to be.

  “I’ve got a couple of options in mind. I need to speak to some people. I technically don’t retire for another couple of months, so I don’t have to make any rash decisions.”

  There was not a scrap of emotion in his voice, the words so matter-of-fact her heart hurt. No wonder Willow had latched onto him. She’d wanted to stop his hurting. And for some reason, he hadn’t fixed the area where Willow could escape from her home into his yard.

  That had to mean something, didn’t it?

  “I think whatever you do, you’ll do it well.” Now that he was being more open with her, she wanted to know more. Only this next question might bring the barriers slamming back down around him. She said a silent prayer that wouldn’t be the outcome. “What happened to your dad? Was he sick?”

  A shudder rippled through Caleb and Willow whimpered. Kerry glanced up in time to see him loosening his grip on Willow’s fur. In all likelihood, he hadn’t hurt her pet; it was more that Willow sensed his distress and she didn’t like it.

  “He died in a car accident. He was on his way to see me in the hospital.”

  Kerry swallowed against the lump forming in her throat and blinked her eyes a couple of times to prevent the tears from falling. How awful for him. So much to handle in such a short amount of time. When he needed someone to lean on and help him, he’d been left alone.

  But he’d also said that his dad prepared the traditional meals.

  “What about your mom? Where’s she?”

  Another sigh huffed out of him. “She and dad divorced when I was barely one. I hardly remember her. She was from England and so she moved back, remarried, and had another family. You can’t miss what you’ve never had.”

  Wow, life hadn’t been very fair to Caleb. No wonder he’d been so prickly when they’d first met.

  The words I’m sorry were on the tip of her tongue, but, right now, she had an idea he didn’t want to hear that phrase. Instead, she placed a kiss over his heart and laid her hand on top as if to keep the kiss from escaping into the air.

  They lay there for a few moments, neither saying anything, the only sound being an occasional snore coming from Willow. Kerry would have to leave soon; she had the lunch shift today and had to pick up the cease-and-desist letter from the lawyer George had recommended. He’d phoned her back within two hours, stating that in Texas law Winthorn had no claim, and she had left everything behind anyhow. The lawyer could forward it to her ex by courier, but Kerry would rather hand deliver it. Then she’d know for sure he’d received the letter. She couldn’t believe her problem could be solved so quickly and without her having to see her jerk of an ex.

  “Who’s Winthorn, and why is he asking you for money?”

  Where had that come from? Oh, yes, Caleb had seen the letter. Now she didn’t think she’d get away with avoiding the subject. Not after he’d shared details about his family.

  God, talking about Winthorn was about as appealing as a root canal. Was there an etiquette rule about talking about an old lover while in bed with your new one?

  Caleb’s fingers brushed up and down her arm, giving her the silent support she’d given him.

  If they had any chance of a future—and after spending the night in his arms, she hoped like hell they did—she couldn’t hide her past from him. Nothing good would come of it if she did.

  “Winthorn was my ex. We were together for over seven years.”

  “Why is he saying you owe him money? Are these funds part of a divorce settlement or something?”

  Kerry scoffed. “As if. I was never good enough to go from girlfriend to wife. I was simply a doll he played with and then when he decided I wasn’t good enough he chucked me out.”

  She yelped as Caleb moved and she found herself on the sheets instead of resting against his chest.

  “Sorry,” he muttered and changed his position so he was curled around her. “What do you mean he chucked you out?”

  She sighed. “It’s best if I start at the beginning.”

  “Okay, but, Kerry…” He paused and she looked up at him, her heart skipping a beat when she saw longing, not pity, in his gaze, his chocolate-brown eyes so warm and welcoming. “Whatever you say won’t change how I feel about you.”

  How she wanted to ask what he felt for her, but she didn’t. And regardless of him saying that her story wouldn’t change his thoughts, she couldn’t help but think it might. Who would want to be with someone weak like her?

  “Thank you,” she said. Hopefully, her worries weren’t showing on her face. “I met Winthorn at the beginning of my third year of college. He was the cliché of college movies and novels. The rich, good-looking guy who could have any girl he wanted, but he picked me, the shy quiet girl who wasn’t in any sorority and didn’t have a lot of friends. Of course, I was flattered that the best guy in the senior class was interested in me. We dated that whole year and he treated me like a princess. I had visions of us marrying and having kids and the perfect life. He graduated and started working at his parents’ investment firm in Dallas. We attended so many functions that I was missing a lot of classes. Winthorn encouraged me to leave school, said I didn’t have to worry about anything because he would take care of me.

  “Like the lovestruck girl I was, I gave up, much to my father’s annoyance but my mom’s delight. She was getting sicker with her MS, and all she wanted was to see me married to a wonderful man. In her eyes, Winthorn was that man. He was a man who could look after me. Mom was still a little old-fashioned and thought one of my jobs was to make my man happy and to create a beautiful home for him to come back to each night. It was never my dream to be a housewife, but between not wanting to disappoint my mom when I knew she was going to die and wanting to please Winthorn, it wasn’t hard to give in to their ideals.”

  “I take it he wasn’t.” Caleb commented when she paused.

  “No. Over time, he manipulated me so cleverly that I didn’t see it. He would come home with outfits for me, saying he loved shopping for me and wanted the best-dressed woman on his arm. Slowly, he overtook everything in my life. Told me how to get my hair cut. What to say when we went out, which, toward the end, was to keep my mouth shut and smile. Even then I didn’t see what he was doing. Dad did and tried to tell me. Mom, at this time, was bedridden and still saw Winthorn as my white knight, so she would brush Dad’s concerns away.”

  Pain stabbed her in the stom
ach. How stupid she’d been. But after today, it would be all over. When she delivered the letter she planned to tell her loser ex to stay out of her life—permanently.

  “I’m sorry you went through that, honey. I can see you’re beating yourself up about it, but you got out and, from what I can see, have taken back control of your own life. You should be proud of what you’ve accomplished.”

  “Well, it’s only because he kicked me out when he’d decided I was no longer useful to him. I had nothing but the clothes I was wearing and sixty dollars in my wallet. I didn’t walk away. I was shoved, and I had no choice but to pick up the pieces.”

  Caleb changed their positions again so he could face her, and placed his hands on her shoulders. Admiration shone in his eyes and her fear of rejection disappeared like a magician’s coin. “But you did, and it doesn’t matter how it happened. You could’ve collapsed in a heap or gone crawling back to him. I’m surprised that wasn’t the outcome he wanted. I’m betting he hoped you’d realize you couldn’t live without him and beg him to give you another chance. When you didn’t, he waited until he deemed the time was right to disrupt your life again. And now is that time, seeing as you’ve got a house and steady income. Everything he held you back from achieving.”

  “I had the same thought. But anyway, I’ve got the situation under control, and when I’m finished with him, he will wish he’d never tried to extort money out of me.”

  “That’s my girl.”

  She crawled over Caleb until she was straddling him, her hands resting on his chest. “I think we’ve done enough talking for one day.” Against her butt she could feel his growing erection.

  “I totally agree,” he said and pulled her down for a kiss.

  Everything about being with Caleb was different than when she was with Winthorn. The way he spoke to her, treated her, hell, even kissed her. With Caleb, everything seemed right, too right, and it scared the crap out of her. How could she trust her judgment when she’d been so wrong in the past?

  Chapter Nineteen

  There was a lightness in Caleb’s step as he opened the door to the veteran’s center. He’d received a call from George while he was kissing Kerry goodbye.

  He wondered if this meeting was about a couple of the possible job opportunities they had discussed the other day. He wasn’t sure he was ready to make a decision today, but listening wouldn’t hurt.

  After, he planned on visiting someone else, once he found out a little more about Kerry’s ex. It had taken everything in him to keep his muscles relaxed while Kerry relayed everything she’d been through with the jerk. She said she was going to handle it, and he had no doubt that she would, but it wouldn’t hurt for him to visit the guy and tell him that Kerry was his.

  And she was. After this morning, he didn’t want to be alone anymore. He wanted to walk in on the sight of her and Willow in his bed every morning. He hoped she felt the same way. He had no doubt Willow would be happy with the arrangement.

  Damn, two months ago the idea of having another dog in his life was abhorrent to him. Then a corgi had decided he needed rescuing, and she wasn’t going to give up.

  No, he couldn’t totally give Willow all the credit. If it weren’t for his attraction to Kerry, he would’ve fixed the hole in the fence, refused to help with Ron, and definitely refused to have dinner with her.

  Kerry had given him his life back and he planned to do the same, after he’d seen George, of course.

  She’s not going to like you interfering.

  He ignored the voice in his head.

  He knocked on George’s door, unconsciously straightening his spine like he did when he always entered his lieutenant colonel’s office. Old habits died hard.

  “Come in.”

  He opened the door and smiled when the other man waved him in, exactly like Blue used to do. “Hi, George.”

  “Caleb, glad you could make it. Now that you’ve made the decision to retire, I want to expand on the ideas I floated one of the times we chatted.”

  His stomach dropped. Going into the military had been his focus since high school. After his first year, he’d always pictured himself not retiring until he was in his sixties. Now the thought of a new career freaked him out a little, but he also couldn’t stay at home all day twiddling his thumbs.

  “What did you want to talk about?”

  “As you’re aware, a lot of therapy dogs come into the center. We’ve found over the last year, since we started the program, that the animals have helped our vets significantly.”

  “Right, what about it?”

  “Well, the agency that trains the dogs is looking for someone to oversee their recruitment. The person in the position has decided to leave, like Bill alluded to when we were talking that day. I think this will be perfect for you. You’ve had experience with handling dogs and know what to look for.”

  A cold sweat broke out over his forehead. He could spend time with Willow because he was used to her, but to be surrounded by dogs day in and day out?

  “I’m not sure that’s a good fit for me.”

  George leaned forward and clasped his hands on top of the shiny desk. “Look, I understand what happened to you and your K-9 partner. I imagine it’s difficult getting past knowing your friend basically sacrificed his life for yours. But, Caleb, this will be a good way to heal. You don’t have to stay there forever, but as a job out of the air force, I think it will be a good fit. You wouldn’t have stayed in the K-9 unit as long as you did, even knocking back offers for promotion, if you didn’t love working with dogs. Think of this as easing your way back into civilian life.”

  He scoffed. “Easing my way in by working with the one animal that it still hurts to be around? I’m really not sure about this, George.”

  “I get your reluctance, I really do, but I want you to think about it. Think about all the ex-servicemen you’re going to help. You never know, it might be therapeutic for you. I’ve seen what Willow and Kerry have done for you.”

  He sat a little straighter, surprised at George’s observation. “What do you mean?”

  “One of the first times you came in, you did everything you could to ignore Willow. You wanted to get out of this place faster than a solider seeking shelter from a gun-toting terrorist. You also kept sneaking glances to where Kerry was. And I’ve seen you two together a lot since that game night.

  “Slowly, I’ve seen you become more relaxed around Willow, too, I’m not sure you’re aware of it, but when she’s near you, you visibly relax and you automatically pat her.”

  Caleb let George’s words sink in. Everything he’d said was true—hadn’t he just admitted to himself earlier how important Kerry and Willow were to him?

  Hell, he was falling in love with Kerry, and that wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for a therapy dog.

  In love?

  The thought should scare him, but it didn’t. Joy and a sense of calmness settled in him. Could he do this? Could he spend his time around dogs?

  Yes.

  It would be a way he could honor Trigger and the importance of what he’d done when they’d been a team and the sacrifice he’d made for him.

  “Yes, I’ll talk to them.”

  George beamed. “Excellent. They’ll be so happy. I had thought about getting you involved in some way here, but I think this will work out better. Besides, I’m sure I’ll be seeing a lot of you anyway. Now let me see where I put the contact details.”

  He shuffled some papers and Caleb pulled out his phone and searched Winthorn Hartigan the third. Now that this meeting was over, it was on to the next one.

  Two hours after his meeting with George, he stared at another door. This time it wasn’t nerves beating their drum in his belly; it was anger on behalf of Kerry. The worst thing he could do was charge in there, guns blazing. He needed to be cool and calm. In control of his emotions and his words.

  “Are you planning on standing there all day, buddy? If you don’t move, I’ll call the police and
get you removed.”

  Caleb had just found who he was looking for, if his tone and threat was anything to go by. He turned and the man behind him fit every preconceived idea he had of a pretentious asshole. His hair was coifed in a style that screamed I come from money. And even though Caleb had a few inches on him, the other man still managed to look down his nose at him.

  “Winthorn Hartigan the third, I take it,” he commented, trying to keep the anger out of his tone.

  “Who’s asking?”

  That was as good as admitting who he was.

  “Caleb Bradshaw, a friend of Kerry Williams. I’m here about the letter you sent her.”

  Winthorn’s eyebrows rose. “A friend of Kerry’s?” Then he laughed, and Caleb thrust his hands in his pockets to stop himself from punching this guy out. “Oh, this is rich. She sends a lackey to come see me because she’s too scared.”

  Polite wasn’t going to cut it with the guy. Caleb stepped up to him so that there was barely an inch between them. “Listen here, asshole. Kerry didn’t send me. I found you and came to see you myself. But I will say that when you threaten Kerry, you’re threatening me. So take this is as a warning—I know you think you have a monetary claim over her, but I’m telling you, you need to back off.”

  “Or what? What are you going to do? Drag me through court? Because, let me tell you, I have the financial means to drag this out for a very long time.”

  “If you’re so well off, why do you need to go after Kerry?”

  For a second, a flicker of doubt entered Winthorn’s eyes. “You don’t need to know. Is that all? Because, unlike you, I have work to do.”

  He shoved past Caleb and into the building. Once the door shut, Caleb ran his fingers through his hair. That hadn’t gone the way he wanted it to. Somehow, he had a feeling he’d made things worse for Kerry instead of better.

  Dammit, he should’ve listened to the voice in his head that told him this was a bad idea.