A Dangerous Leap

by Sharon Calvin

  Enough already.

  “What does your mom do?” She needed something else to concentrate on as much as the boys did.

  Danny’s coloring had improved with fluid infusion, and he appeared more alert.

  “She’s just his receptionist. The asshole owns a charter business and fixes up old planes,” Ray said with unabashed disgust.

  Good, if he was talking, he wasn’t thinking so much about drowning or his shoulder.

  Danny gave his brother a poisonous look. “Yeah, but he was giving you flying lessons, so the—”

  “Shhh.” Kelly held her hand up and turned her head, listening. There, she heard it again. The distinctive sound of an HH-60 Jayhawk, more welcome than any lover’s whispers. She grinned. Well, maybe equal to, not better than, Ian’s soft promises.

  “Inbound helicopter. All right guys, you’ll need to hold on tight. Remember the rotor wash will be intense,” Kelly cautioned. She ensured her Thomas Pack was secure, and stowed anything that wasn’t attached to the raft or a body. Her mood, buoyed by the impending pick-up, popped up another notch and she laughed out loud. Today had been one long rollercoaster ride of emotions.

  The headache that had bugged her all day had disappeared. Hell, it had evaporated when that rat-bastard shoved his gun under her breast. Even more surprising, she was damn horny.

  She was grinning like a fool when the helo came into view. Who would have guessed the threat of death was such a powerful aphrodisiac?

  * * *

  Ian didn’t relax until Tank released Kelly from a bear hug and shoved her into his waiting arms. He squeezed her so tight she yelped. God, she was such a tiny little thing.

  “Ian, I have patients to take care of,” she protested weakly, her face buried against his shoulder.

  Dammit, he didn’t want to let her go.

  “I’ve got them covered,” Donzi, the young RS, offered from behind them.

  They were kneeling on the floor between the bulkhead and the Stokes litter containing the gunshot victim. Donzi had already removed the other boy’s splint and was positioning him for reduction.

  “You stay put, I’ll help Donzi. Tank, sit on her if you have to, but make sure she doesn’t move,” Ian said. He knew she’d take control if he gave her half a chance.

  Kelly rolled her eyes and he leaned in and kissed her. Her cheeks flamed red and she batted at him, but he saw the hungry spark that flared. Good, because no matter what she said, he was taking her home with him tonight.

  * * *

  Matt chafed at being held in a meeting room only a few yards from where Kelly and her crew were getting debriefed. At least Squirrel had rigged the phone so they could listen in.

  “I think you need to introduce me to your sister. She sounds like my kind of woman,” Squirrel said.

  Matt stopped his pacing to squint at his teammate. He was sprawled out in one of the conference chairs, swiveling lazily from side to side, his eyes closed, a smirk on his face.

  “You’re just lucky I know you’re not serious or you’d be spending the next couple of days in the infirmary.” The smirk deepened and Matt resumed his pacing.

  Most of the time Kelly’s voice sounded professional as she recited the facts, but every so often, it simply bubbled with barely suppressed excitement. Like having a gun shoved in your side was an adrenaline rush. Well, hell, it actually was, but he saw no reason she should experience that kind of thing. It was bad enough—

  “You know the Commander’s not going to give you any shit if you take a couple of days off to see your sister. Especially after what happened to her. Obviously you can’t tell her why you’re here, but that doesn’t mean you can’t listen to how she’s handling it.” Squirrel laced his fingers together over his chest as if preparing to take a nap. “Besides, she owes us a steak.”

  Matt nudged the back of Squirrel’s chair with his toe. “That would be she owes me a steak. You’re not getting within a hundred yards of her.”

  Yeah, he needed to see her and make sure she really was all right.

  * * *

  “We should keep an eye on the girl,” Andrew said as the boat eased into the channel on the way back to the marina.

  Karl glanced at his nephew. “What girl?”

  The trip back to shore had been long and mostly quiet. The loss of over thirty-three million dollars’ worth of product would not go over well with the family. Not at all.

  “The swimmer. The one that picked up Cook and the boys.”

  “Why?”

  “Cook will keep his mouth shut. But the kids will talk before Cook can convince them otherwise. They may not talk to the FBI or DEA, but I bet they talk to her.” Andrew’s expression hardened. “We should watch and see who visits her afterwards. I can do a little hacking to find out who she is and where she lives.”

  Maybe they should. And maybe the kid was cut out for field work after all.

  * * *

  After the incident reports and mandatory debriefing Kelly had to give, they didn’t make it to Ian’s apartment until almost twenty-one thirty. As expected, Kelly protested, wanting him to go to her place instead. He refused. Mizzen would survive the night alone. He wasn’t so sure he would.

  Somehow, having her in his home, where he could protect her, seemed safer. Tonight, having her safe was more important than anything.

  He’d just closed the door when Kelly plastered her body to his and buried her tongue in his mouth.

  Well, maybe sex was as important as that safety thing.

  “God, I’ve been wanting to do that since Tank hauled me into that helo,” she declared. She unbuckled his belt first, then shimmied out of her sweatpants, her mouth never leaving his.

  He pulled free. “Kel, is this a timed event?” He skimmed his hands over her bare flank. Maybe fast could be good.

  She yanked her top off. Yep, he’d been right, those babies hadn’t been tied down. They’d tantalized him during the entire drive from the air station. Then he saw the deep purple bruise under her left breast.

  “Hey, what’s this?” He lightly touched the angry-looking contusion.

  Kelly looked down then lifted her breast to examine the spot. “Oh wow, I’d forgotten about that. I knew it would bruise when that bastard stuck his gun there, but jeez, that’s ugly.” She looked up and grinned at Ian. “Now where were we?”

  She tugged his belt free. “Make me forget all the bad stuff that happened today. Please? Just make it all go away.”

  Hell, how could he refuse? And okay, so their first coupling would be down and dirty, and apparently in the entryway.

  An hour later they’d migrated to his bed where sheets, pillows and covers were strewn about like a teen’s wardrobe. Ian propped his back against a salvaged pillow at the headboard to watch. Kelly, still wired from her ordeal, sat cross legged, a pillow in her lap, hair spiked from their lovemaking, and her breasts bouncing merrily with her every move. It was a glorious sight.

  Except for the deep purple reminder of what had happened—and what might have happened.

  “You should have seen that guy’s expression when his plane detonated.” Her eyes sparkled.

  Ian sat up, his gut clenching. “There was an explosion? While you were in the water?” Hell, no one had mentioned that little fact.

  She frowned, then smiled as if it had been a minor little detail. “Yeah, see it looks like the plan was to ditch the plane then deliberately sink it in fairly shallow water. Any hooty, the idiot blew that when he dropped the plane over an area with unexploded ordnance.”

  She laughed at her own joke, and slapped the pillow in her lap, causing a distracting jiggle. Well hell, maybe after three times, she’d fall asleep.

  “Heck, if that DC-3 hadn’t hit just right, it never would have exploded. We wouldn’t have seen
the shrink-wrapped bales popping up and—”

  “He wouldn’t have gotten the brilliant idea of taking you and the Jayhawk to use as collateral. Yeah, how did we get so lucky,” Ian added, sinking back against the headboard. He could have lost her…

  Kelly nodded and he tried hard to ignore the effect that had on her body. Yeah, right.

  “Have you ever had a gun pointed at you? Man, that sure cured my headache, let me tell you.”

  As Kelly rattled on, still fueled by nervous energy, the cold hard reality of what happened settled firmly into Ian’s heart. Dear God, he really could have lost her. She could have been shot and dumped into the Gulf.

  He watched her animated expression, the way she vibrated with life. Not having her as his wife was unthinkable, but her death would be a crime against nature itself.

  Survival instinct drove him forward to cup her shoulders in his hands. “Marry me,” he blurted out.

  Her eyes widened and her mouth moved but for once, no sound came out. He’d rather hoped for a more encouraging reaction than the look of panic that was overtaking her shock. The color drained from her face and she swayed in his hands.

  “Shit, put your head down before you pass out,” he said. He pulled her torso forward across the pillow in her lap until her forehead rested on the bed. “Concentrate on taking deep breaths.”

  Her shoulders began shaking. Shit, now she was crying. He should have known better, after all the stress she’d been under, he—

  “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh,” she said between what he could now tell were giggles.

  Son of a bitch—she was laughing at him. He let go of her shoulders and sat back with a snort.

  “I’m sure this isn’t the usual reaction you get when you ask a woman to marry you, but—”

  “Hell, I wouldn’t know, you’re my first.”

  She looked up, her face glowing pink and looking way too cute and kissable. Her attempt to suppress her laughter only made it worse.

  She swiped at her hair. “What do you mean, I’m the first? What about the girl you were engaged to? Don’t tell me she asked you.”

  Ian scowled. That idea seemed to delight her even more. “No, neither one of us proposed. Someone, her parents maybe, asked when the wedding was. We looked at one another and said in a couple years. I told you we just kind of assumed we’d be together. We were comfortable, not in love.”

  Comfortable looked a whole lot less painful than what he was experiencing right now.

  Her eyes widened as a little of her earlier panic returned. She shook her head. “If you’re looking for a family like you grew up with, or what Brendan has, keep looking. I’m not a good bet for sticking around.”

  “You don’t know that, you’ve never tried.” He sounded bitter to his own ears. Hell, he was beginning to feel desperate, and that didn’t sit well at all.

  Kelly set the pillow aside and calmly climbed off the bed, seemingly oblivious to her nudity. “Growing up, I used to think staying in one place, having a real home would make my life perfect. But as I got older, I realized some people just aren’t made to settle down like that. I guess being footloose is in my blood.”

  She absently looked around the room until it dawned on her that she hadn’t undressed there. “I think I should go home,” she said and walked out of his bedroom.

  He threw back the covers and stalked after her. “If you want something bad enough, you’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen.”

  Kelly’s expression blanked, then her mouth twisted sarcastically as she pulled her sweatpants on. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I just didn’t want it bad enough.”

  How in the hell had things gone so wrong?

  “Kelly, wait, don’t go. Look, stay, we’ll talk about this some other time when we’re not both so flipping stressed. I apologize, this was really crappy timing on my part.”

  She picked up her sweatshirt and slipped it on over her head. “Yeah, you’re right.” She reached for her daypack then swore.

  Ian saw her hand shaking and narrowed his eyes at her. She was really upset, and he didn’t think it was all about his unexpected proposal.

  “I forgot. I don’t have my car. Could you take me home? Or maybe I can get a cab…”

  He walked over to her and gently removed her pack from her hand. “Stay. I promise not to say anything about marriage, love, or family.” He lifted her face with a knuckle under her chin. “Heck, if you want, I’ll even throw in some hot sex. But no lovemaking—that’s verboten.”

  She gave him a wobbly smile and quickly looked away. Her eyes were too bright, reminding him of their first meeting when he’d refused to go home with her. Dammit, he needed to find out what had happened to make her so afraid of commitment. And staying in one place.

  * * *

  Karl finished tying off his trawler in the transient’s slip. Andrew had tracked the female rescue swimmer to this marina and was below deck doing more electronic digging into her background.

  Andrew appeared on the aft deck holding a folded paper in his raised hand. “Got it,” he said, his face alight with grim triumph. “Wait till you see who—or maybe I should say what—her brother is.”

  Karl stepped onto the deck. “Perhaps we should discuss this in a more private location?” he suggested dryly.

  Andrew grinned. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you’re going to want to get eyes out ASAP.”

  Eyes? Andrew thought they needed to setup video surveillance? Just who the hell was Kelly Bishop’s brother?

  * * *

  “I’ve made such a mess out of this thing with Ian,” Kelly said and fell back onto the bed in her vee berth. He’d brought her home that morning, never once mentioning his proposal or love for her. She knew she’d hurt him last night, she’d seen it in his eyes.

  Dang it, he deserved someone much better than her. She’d never be able to—

  Caitlyn nudged Kelly’s knee. “Here’s your coffee,” she said, handing her the steaming mug.

  Kelly sat up and took a careful sip. She’d refused breakfast at Ian’s, too intent on getting away from him. Once home she’d called Caitlyn over for company.

  That was a first—she’d never had a real girlfriend before. One she could confide in. She’d never told Jenny any of her secrets. Or her dreams.

  “So, what’s the problem? Is he being a jerk, or what?” Caitlyn climbed onto the platform bed and folded her long legs under her. She looked at Kelly expectantly.

  “God, I wish,” Kelly said.

  Caitlyn raised one thin eyebrow but said nothing.

  “No, I don’t. Not really.” Kelly sighed and took another sip, trying to formulate the words in her mind first. Mizzen joined them on the bed, her loud purr a comfort to Kelly’s strung-out nerves.

  “He thinks he’s in love with me,” she said and hid behind her coffee cup. It sounded outrageous to her. She came from a dysfunctional family where everyone put their careers first. While his was the very portrait of an old-fashioned family, complete with a stay-at-home mom.

  Caitlyn snorted. “Well, duh. Of course he’s in love with you. By now the whole air station knows that.”

  Startled, Kelly looked up and stared at her.

  “Don’t look at me like I’m crazy. I heard all about his reaction when I got back last night. A flight line guy said Tank looked like he was going to deck him if he didn’t keep it together.” She grinned at Kelly like it was a cool thing.

  “What’s wrong? Oh shoot, don’t tell me. You don’t feel the same way.” Caitlyn reached out and patted Kelly’s knee.

  “No, maybe, oh hell, I don’t know,” she wailed, feeling more confused than ever. She set her coffee mug down and dropped back onto the mattress. “I don’t, well, I don’t think I’m capable of loving someone.” Jeez, didn’t that sound
pathetic? The truth was, to survive so many moves growing up, she’d learned not to get attached, to never make commitments she knew she couldn’t keep. After a while, she’d discovered walking away was much easier than staying behind. She stared out the overhead hatch at the blue sky above.

  Her husband’s leaving had certainly confirmed that belief.

  “Kelly-girl, that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard you say. Let me guess. You fell in love with a guy in high school, gave yourself to him then he ditched you for the tall blonde. You’ve never recovered and joined the Coast Guard to what, avoid men?”

  Her hoot of laughter made Kelly smile. “No, I was a bigger idiot than that.”

  Caitlyn’s expression sobered. “Who was he then?”

  Kelly rolled to her side and propped her head up on her hand. “I thought I was in love, now I’m not so sure it wasn’t gratitude.”

  Her friend settled back against the padded boat wall and motioned with her hand. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll tell you about my bastard, then you can tell me all about yours. Okay?”

  Kelly pulled Mizzen to her side and stroked her soft fur. Maybe it was time to talk about what happened. She eyed Caitlyn. Why not make it with her very first best friend?

  “Deal.”

  Forty minutes and another pot of coffee later, and Kelly’s sides hurt from laughing.

  “Now I ask you, why would I want to continue seeing the idiot after he’d just told me he was going to marry the pedigreed debutante his mama picked out for him? The bastard just couldn’t understand why I had a problem with that. Okay, I’ve spilled my sordid life to you, now it’s your turn. So, how old were you when you lost your virginity, and who was he? Inquiring minds want to know,” Caitlyn said with a wide grin.

  Kelly covered her face with both hands. “God, I was such a loser.” She peeked between her fingers at Caitlyn. “I was twenty, he was almost thirty, and it was on our wedding night.”

  “Uh-oh, from that delivery I’m guessing it wasn’t a pleasant experience,” Caitlyn said with a grimace.

  Kelly dropped her hands to her lap where Miz was curled up. “More like wham-bam, not even a thank-you-ma’am. He never even realized it was my first time.” Not that he would have done anything differently. Nope, Peter thought only about his own needs. If she didn’t enjoy it, well that was just her tough luck.