Stitched Up Heart (Combat Hearts Book 1)

by Tarina Deaton

  “Kind of. But they have those, too.”

  “So she’s probably seen some pretty serious shit.”

  Jase pulled from his beer. “Probably. We haven’t talked about deployments or anything.”

  “But she’s probably gone through some stuff too, even if she wasn’t kicking in doors.”

  Jase laughed. “She called me a door-kicker today.”

  “Well, you were.” He looked at the bottle in his hand and swirled the dredges. “Where do you see it going?”

  “Honestly? Long term. Bree’s the first person to make me want things since Tony killed himself.”

  “It’s good to hear that. You had Mom worried for a while. Hell, you had us all worried. You went kind of wild when you first got back. Mom thought you were going to self-destruct. Then, after Tony… Even though you started V.E.T. Adventures, you still weren’t really all there. I think that scared Mom even more. Happy looks good on you. Good to have my kid brother back.”

  Shit, is that what it was? Happy? He felt like something had been lifted from his shoulders. Even before Tony killed himself, he didn’t really engage with people. It took too much energy to answer the questions, ignore the looks when people found out he was part of an elite team of U.S. soldiers. Bree just saw…him.

  But that wasn’t something he was going to articulate to his pain-in-the-ass brother. “We gonna hug? Do I need to go get you some tissue so you can dab your eyes?”

  “And there’s the little shit I know and love.” Tim toasted him with his beer before taking a sip.

  Jase lifted the cover of the grill to check on the steaks as Bree and Denise came out carrying a salad and other sides. They set everything down on patio table.

  “Do you guys need a refill?” Bree asked.

  “Sure,” Jase said.

  Tim drained the last of his beer. “I can do another. Thanks.”

  The patio door closed behind the girls and Tim asked, “So what’s Denise’s story?”

  “Not sure. I know she and Bree are really close. I got the feeling they met while in the service. Ask ‘em over dinner.”

  Bree and Denise returned with plates, silverware, napkins and beers for everyone.

  “How much longer?” Bree asked.

  “Depends on how you take your steak,” Jase said.

  “Medium rare.”

  “Same here,” Denise said.

  “Then probably about five minutes,” Jase told them.

  “So how long have you two known each other?” Tim asked.

  “About ten years, I guess,” Bree replied, looking to Denise for confirmation.

  “Wow, it has been that long.”

  Tim grabbed foil-wrapped baked potatoes from the top rack of the grill. “How did you meet?”

  “We were trailer-mates in Iraq for, what? Nine months, give or take?” Denise took the platter from Tim and set it on the table.

  “Give or take.” Bree sat at the table. “You got there a few months after I did, and I left a month before you did.”

  “Where were you deployed?” Tim asked.

  “We were at Camp Victory,” Bree explained. “I was assigned to the CASH unit there and Denise was working for a Joint Task Force.”

  “What’s a cash unit?” Tim asked.

  “Combat Army Surgical Hospital.”

  “I thought you were Air Force.”

  “I was, but we were back filling the Army positions because they couldn’t fill them. Something about the Army sucking,” Bree said, winking at Jase.

  Jase smiled and shook his head at her. “Which JTF?”

  “High-Value Individuals. We were tracking al-Qaida insurgency leaders.”

  “That’s sounds interesting.” Tim said. “What all did that entail?”

  “I can’t really talk about it,” Denise said.

  “Or you’ll have to kill me?” Tim suggested.

  “Nah. We don’t kill people anymore, just stick them in secret prisons.”

  “Was that the only time you guys were deployed together?” Jase asked as he removed the steaks from the grill.

  “No, actually. We were both part of a CST in Khanadar.”

  Jase paused, tongs suspended in mid-air and turned around. “Wow. Really?”

  “What’s a CST?” Tim asked. “Quit talking in alphabet soup.”

  “Sorry. It’s a Cultural Support Team,” Jase explained. He removed the last steak from the grill and set the plate on the table. “All-female team that’s trained to go out with Special Ops guys. They engage with the women and kids on target. They get trained on language and culture and go through five or six weeks of intensive training.” He flipped off the knobs of the grill and closed the lid. “It’s a really hard course to get through, from what I hear.”

  “We had four or five guys decide to go through the training with us because they didn’t think it could be that hard. You know, ‘cause we’re women,” Denise said. “A couple of Rangers, a SEAL, and a Green Beret, I think. All but two dropped out, and by the end of it they had both injured themselves.” She stabbed a steak on the platter and moved it to her plate. “They finished out of sheer stubbornness more than anything else. Needless to say, we didn’t get any shit about how easy the training was after that.”

  The corner of Jase’s mouth lifted and he looked at Bree. “So you were a door-kicker too.” No wonder she didn’t ask him any questions. She was a bad-ass. He took her in. Really looked at her physique and not just her body. She wasn’t muscular to the point you would think she lived at the gym, but she was lean and strong. That explained her taking him down at her house. His gaze drifted back up to find an amused smile on her face.

  “I didn’t do the door kicking. I just walked in after it was already off its hinges,” she said.

  “You should go out on the trip with Jase next weekend,” Tim said, passing the coleslaw to Bree. “You can probably teach some of the guys a thing or two.”

  “I can’t do it next weekend. I’m scheduled through the end of the month, but if you let me know ahead of time, I’d love to go,” she said. “My availability for next month is due next Friday. I just need to know dates so I can block them off.”

  “What about you?” Tim asked Denise.

  She shrugged. “I’ll go. I just have to know when so I can schedule a couple of extra people for the weekend.”

  Jase cut into his steak. “I have a trip lined up next month that’s a bunch of guys who try to go together a couple times a year. It’s more relaxed than the regular trips.”

  “What do you have to schedule people for?” Tim asked Denise.

  “I run a doggie daycare and rescue.” Denise took a bite of steak.

  “She also does training for service dogs and companions,” Bree bragged.

  “What’s the name of the rescue?” Jase asked.

  “Wiggle Butt Rescue,” Bree and Denise answered in unison.

  Tim put his fork down with a clunk. “You just picked up a contract with the county K-9 unit.”

  Jase smiled as a flush creeped up Denise’s cheeks. “To do what?” he asked.

  Denise cleared her throat. “We’ve been contracted to supply potential candidates to the unit.”

  “Where do you get the candidates from?” Tim asked around a bite of food.

  “We get pregnant surrenders all the time. We assess the puppies and do some preliminary training for the first twelve weeks. Any pups we think would make good K-9s, we’ll turn over to their trainers for further assessment.”

  Bree scooped up a fork of coleslaw. “We also have an agility course on site they’re going to use for some of their training. The county’s in pretty bad shape, and they haven’t been able to get the funding to refurbish it.”

  “If they don’t have the money to refurbish their course, how do they have money for the puppies and training?” Jase asked.

  “We’re doing a lot of it as a donation. They’ll pay for the pups they take for training. The ones they don’t take we’ll train to
be companion animals. Those people pay for the training and upkeep until the dogs are ready to go to their new person.”

  “We?” Tim asked.

  Bree lifted her beer from the table. “I’m a silent partner.”

  “Bree is the owner,” Denise said. “She put up the money for the entire operation and makes sure everyone gets paid.”

  Bree blushed. “What? I’m passionate about rescue. Sue me. And it’s a non-profit, so everything gets written off.”

  She’s passionate about a lot of things, Jake thought. Wounded Warriors. Wounded dogs. Damn, she kept getting better the more he discovered about her. She put her money where her mouth was - literally and figuratively. She took action and got her hands dirty. He smiled, remembering how passionate she’d been that morning. How passionate he was going to make her later on.

  “That mama isn’t doing so well now that her pups have been weaned,” Denise said. Jase shifted his attention to Denise. What mama?

  “Bring her by tomorrow night. We’ll see if she’ll settle down out of the kennel with fewer dogs around.”

  “You know that’s going to be a fail if you take her, right?” Denise asked.

  Bree shrugged. “Meh.”

  Denise smiled and shook her head. “You’re a nut.”

  Bree grinned at her friend and took a bite of salad.

  “Fail?” Tim asked.

  “Foster fail,” Denise explained. “Most of our rescues go to foster families - people who can do some basic obedience training and see how the dogs react in a home environment. When a family can’t let the dog go, we call it a foster fail. It’s actually not a bad thing.”

  Watching Bree and Denise, Jase felt a pang of jealousy. He missed the easy familiarity that came from having a history with someone. Tim was right. He’d checked out after Tony died. It’d been easier to avoid people than to care. He’d been wrong. How much had he missed out on in the last few years because he wouldn’t let people close?

  They carried their empty plates back into the house. Bree and Denise cleaned up in the kitchen while Tim and Jase finished cleaning up outside.

  Denise wiped her hands on a dish towel and hung it over the bar on the stove. “I’m out. Thanks for dinner.”

  Jase closed the fridge. “Any time.”

  Her mouth quirked and she hugged Bree. “I’ll call you tomorrow to work out when to drop the dog off.”

  “Sounds good,” Bree said.

  Denise waved a hand over her shoulder as she opened the door. “Tell Tim I said ’bye.”

  “Will do,” Jase said.

  The kitchen door closed as Tim walked around the corner. “’Bout time to call it a night. Early morning tomorrow.”

  “Denise left, too,” Bree said.

  Tim pulled Jase in for a bear hug, lifting him up onto his toes. “Good to have you back.”

  Jase groaned as Tim squeezed him tight. “Ugh. Put me down, jackass.” His heels hit the floor when Tim released him, and he took a deep breath. Shit, he felt like a rib cracked.

  Tim kissed Bree on the cheek. “I look forward to seeing a lot more of you, Bree.”

  Her eyebrows raised and she smiled. “You too, Tim.”

  “’Night, guys,” he said.

  Jase watched as Bree closed the door to the dishwasher and started it. He pulled her close and brushed her hair away from her face as she wrapped her arms loosely around her waist.

  “You look beat,” he noted.

  “It’s been a long day.”

  “It has, now that you mention it. What time do you have to be at work tomorrow?”

  “Seven-thirty. My first appointment is at eight.”

  Jase leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “Why don’t you head up? I’ll let the dogs out one last time and lock up.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah, I got it.”

  “Okay.” She went up on her toes and returned his kiss before heading to the stairs.

  Jase let the dogs out onto the back patio and stayed out there while they did their business. This was easy. It’d been a day, and it felt like a routine they did every night. He scratched the dogs on the head as they trotted back to his side. He locked the door behind him while the dogs settled onto their beds by the fireplace. After walking through the house and turning off lights, he climbed the stairs. Only the top of Bree’s head peeked out of the covers, her hair spread across the pillow.

  He stripped out of his clothes and climbed into bed. Leaning up on an elbow, he pulled the edge of the comforter away from her face. Her light lashes rested against the pale skin of her cheek, a smattering of freckles sprinkled across her nose and cheek. The corner of her mouth pulled down so she appeared to frown in her sleep. He brushed a finger across her cheek. Shit, she was beautiful. He shifted close to her back and pulled her close. He buried his nose in the nape of her neck and inhaled the light fragrance she used. He smiled and closed his eyes, an unfamiliar sense of contentment settled over him.

  Bree woke slowly, blinking against the early morning light. Pressed against the length of Jase’s body, she flexed her fingers, then released them against his abs. One arm across his torso, a leg thrown over his, her knee nestled against the junction of his thighs. Her head was tucked into the pocket of his shoulder. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand as she calculated how much time she needed to get ready and make it to work on time. Bree smiled. Time to get creative.

  She raised her head from his shoulder and lifted her arm and leg off his body, watching him closely for any sign he might wake up. She grabbed a condom off the nightstand. Pulling the sheet down, she revealed his six-pack abs and impressive morning erection. She bit the corner of her mouth. Sweet baby jesus.

  She glanced at his face still relaxed - mouth slightly downturned and his short but thick, dark eyelashes resting against the soft skin under his eyes. She raised up on her knees and straddled the smorgasbord of maleness before her.

  Running her fingertips down his abs, she stopped at the sculpted ‘V’ and couldn’t help but think of a meme a friend had sent her. It was a picture of a male model with chiseled abs and an arrow pointing to the ‘V’ with the caption, I don’t know what these are called but they make girls stupid. Bree knew what they were called, external obliques, and they still made her stupid.

  Unable to resist the urge, Bree ran her tongue along the valley created by those defined muscles. She grasped the base of Jase’s cock and swirled her tongue around the head before slowly sliding as much of his length as she could into her mouth. She pulled her mouth up, dragging her tongue along the base of his cock.

  Jase groaned before she reached the crown as he ran his fingers through her hair. He clenched his fists in her hair and held her head in place.

  “What are you doing, Bree?”

  She flicked the tip of her tongue along the slit, tasting the saltiness of his precum. “Getting creative.”

  Her hand slid up along his length. Her mouth covered his head and followed her hand down to the base of his shaft. There was no way to take him fully in her mouth; he was really too long and she was no porn star, but she would do her damnedest to make it feel that way for him. She worked his cock with her mouth and hand for several minutes. Jase’s groans, his fingers massaging and fisting her hair, and his legs shifting under her drove her own arousal.

  “Fuck, Bree,” Jase moaned. “I want you on my cock. Ride me, darlin’.”

  Needing no further invitation, Bree kept moving her mouth up and down Jase’s cock as her other hand grabbed for the condom she had placed by his hip. Shifting her weight to her knees, Bree ripped open the wrapper while hollowing her cheeks and increasing the suction before she released Jase’s cock from her mouth. She pinched the tip of the condom and rolled it quickly down his erection before climbing over him, sliding her wet pussy back and forth over Jase’s rigid length, rubbing her clit against him and coating him with her juices.

  “Quit teasing, Bree.” Jase grabbed her hips and positio
ned her over the tip of his cock. He brought her down as he drove his hips up, slamming into her in one hard thrust.

  Bree’s head fell back as Jase used his hands to rock her hips back and forth, setting a steady pace while keeping his cock buried to the hilt. Running her hands up his abs and chest, Bree dropped her head to look at Jase. She shifted her weight and rose over Jase, allowing him to slide partway out of her hot core before sliding back down his length. Jase kept rocking her hips as she rose and fell.

  Jase suddenly sat up, breaking their rhythm. One hand delved into Bree’s hair, forcing her head back as he ran his mouth up the column of her neck.

  “Keep moving, Bree.” He nipped her ear lobe.

  Bree closed her eyes and tilted her head toward his mouth with a groan. Running her hands up his arms and over his shoulders, she continued to roll her hips.

  “I’m close,” she told him with a gasp.

  He moved his mouth to her chin. “What do you need?”

  “Play with my clit.”

  “Look at me, Bree.” He kept his hand in her hair as he tilted her head forward and brought their faces close. “Eyes on me. I want to see you come.”

  Jase wedged his other hand between their bodies and thumbed her clit.

  Bree’s breath caught and she watched Jase with hooded eyes. Her blood gathered in her core. An incoherent shout escaped and she ground down on Jase as her orgasm exploded. Throwing her head back, she dug her nails into his shoulders and rode the wave of pleasure crashing through her.

  Jase flipped her onto her back and hooked his arms under her knees. He thrust into her four, five times, before throwing his head back with a shout. He fell forward, slowly unhooking his arms from under her knees as he fought to steady his breathing.

  She relished the weight of Jase’s body, her thoughts scattering in every direction. Jase let out another groan as she licked the space between his neck and shoulder.

  “I think you’re trying to kill me,” he accused her.

  She flicked her tongue again, tasting the saltiness of his skin. “I like the way you taste.”

  Jase lifted his head and rested his forearms on either side of her head, smiling. “Morning.”