Ripped!

by Jennifer Labrecque

  “Thanks again for coming along today,” he said. “Your assistant will send them along with a bill?”

  “We’re not having the bill discussion,” she said, her throat growing tight with what felt like, correction, what was goodbye. “It was an honor to be there.”

  “The guys certainly enjoyed you being there. They may be old but a man never gets tired of looking at a beautiful woman.”

  She opened her mouth to correct him. She wasn’t beautiful. She dressed to her strengths and aimed to look her best but…. Then again, Mitch Dugan wasn’t a man with a glib tongue. If he wanted to tell her she was beautiful, by God she’d take that.

  “Thank you. Mitch…” She paused. She’d never told a man she loved him before—well, her junior high crush didn’t count and this was nothing like the puppy love she’d had for Rodney Metcalf at fourteen. Maybe it wasn’t the wisest decision she’d ever made, but it seemed wrong to feel this way about someone and not tell them. In her book, love and joy were meant to be shared, even if they weren’t reciprocated. And it wasn’t as if she’d taken the safe, wise route with him from day one, had she?

  “Yes?” he prompted but she didn’t miss the guarded note in his voice.

  “I wanted you to know…” She stopped and tried again. “Do you come back often to visit your grandfather?”

  “Seldom. Usually once or twice a year. He said if he hasn’t kicked the bucket—his terminology, not mine—in six months he wants another reunion.”

  She nodded. “You’re welcome to stop over.”

  His eyes were as unfathomable as those of her courtyard statue. “That could get awkward, couldn’t it?”

  “How so?”

  “What if you were involved with someone else?”

  “What if I wasn’t?”

  “There’s no reason to think you wouldn’t be.”

  How did she tell a man she’d only met days ago that she’d fallen head over heels in love with him without coming across as some needy stalker chick? Especially since he wasn’t exactly coming across as being interested in moving forward. But how did she walk away from what she felt for him, what she felt between them, without trying?

  “Yes, there is. There’s every reason. All you have to do is ask me.”

  “I don’t have that right. I live in North Carolina. Near an Army base. You know what that means.”

  Yes, she knew. It meant limited leave time. Limited time of his own in general. It meant all the rules she’d been so happy to escape from as an adult. But she felt they could find a way to work through it, if only he could see things as something other than black and white.

  She took a deep breath and leaped off the edge of the cliff. “It’s funny how life has a way of handing us exactly what we think we don’t want. Maybe that’s what I want.”

  Mitch shook his head slowly and his gaze swept the room. “This is where you belong. Just like the Army is where I belong. We both know they’re worlds apart.”

  “Does it matter anywhere in your assessment of our situation that I love you?”

  There was a flicker of joy, of acknowledgement in his eyes which he quickly banked. But she had seen it, felt it. Whatever came out of his mouth, he loved her, too. “It doesn’t change the outcome.”

  It didn’t surprise her, but it hurt nonetheless. “There are some people who have jobs that they get up and go to and at the end of the day, they’re done. We both know that’s not us. What we do is who we are.”

  She did love him as surely as the sun would rise in the East in the morning and set in the western sky. An offer hovered on the tip of her tongue—to move to North Carolina, to Fayetteville and become part of his world. A cold sweat broke out over her skin. She couldn’t do it. Couldn’t say it. She was where she belonged, as was Mitch.

  Tomorrow he would leave. Tomorrow she’d only have memories of the last few days and nights. Tomorrow and all the days that would follow, she could mourn what couldn’t be. But tonight she would spend making memories.

  Eden linked her arms around his neck and kissed him, loving him enough to let him go, hoping her actions spoke louder than words.

  TWO WEEKS LATER MITCH SAT at his desk and opened the overnight packet. The old man’s reunion photos. Only the photos weren’t the first thing he looked at. He picked up the sheet of paper on top. Eden had included a brief note, telling him she hoped he was pleased with the photos and asking if all was well with him. He could swear he caught a whiff of her scent from the paper.

  “What you got there, Lieutenant Colonel?” Murdoch asked, dropping into the chair opposite Mitch’s desk.

  “Pictures from the geezer get together.”

  “How’d they turn-out?”

  He was in a piss-poor mood. The only upside to being back at work was that he’d learned that McElhaney had finally pissed off the wrong person and was now facing a disciplinary hearing. Still, it didn’t give him the satisfaction he expected to feel. He looked back at the photos. “I just opened them, Murdoch.”

  Murdoch, however, remained unfazed by his abruptness. “Well then, let’s see.”

  At the bottom of the packet, was a bubble-wrapped package with a sticky note on top. For your desk. Mitch opened it. A simple, stark black frame held a candid shot of all of them sitting around the table. But it was more than that. It was as if, for that moment in time, she’d captured the history, the shared experiences, the brotherhood that bound the five men.

  “Damn, that’s nice.”

  “It is, isn’t it?” Mitch thumbed through the photos. He’d really look at them later. “She does good work.”

  “You talked to her?”

  “No.”

  “You haven’t called her?”

  “I’m busy. She’s busy. She’s got her career. I’ve got mine. It was never meant to be anything more.”

  He said aloud what he’d told himself over and over since he’d returned from New Orleans. He should’ve come back to Bragg and stepped back into his job, picked up his life. Only it hadn’t happened that way. Mitch, the man who’d always had spectacularly singular focus, couldn’t get Eden Walters out of his head.

  Murdoch grew uncharacteristically somber. “I wasted a couple of years and damn near walked away from the best thing that ever happened to me. Eden scares the hell out of you, doesn’t she?”

  There was no room for fear in Mitch’s life. He’d been trained to set a desired outcome and move forward on that mission. But as much as he wanted to tell Murdoch it was none of his damn business, much as he wanted to deny it, Mitch wasn’t a coward. “Yes. She scares the hell out of me.”

  “That’s because she’s your weak spot. There’s no armor in the world that can protect you against her. And the sad news, buddy, is that it’s not going to change, no matter how damn hard you try to deny it. You’re done for. Been there. Done that. Got the badge…and the ring. Don’t sit around and lose the best thing that ever happened to you.” Murdoch pushed to his feet. “I’m outta here. Tara’s dragging me to a movie.”

  “Close the door on your way out.”

  Mitch sat at his desk and it was as if a mortar shell had just landed next to him. He felt shattered. Disoriented. Damn Murdoch to hell and back. He loved Eden. Walking away from her hadn’t changed a damn thing. He still loved her. Ignoring the old man’s advice hadn’t mattered a hill of beans. He still loved her. And he always would. Yeah, she was his weak spot, his Achilles’ heel and that might be uncomfortable as hell, but it was what it was.

  So, he loved her and she loved him. But how the hell did they make this work? The framed photo on his desk caught his eye. She’d printed it in black and white but he realized that it was all the shades of gray on the glossy paper, all the in-betweens that gave it the depth and the meaning she’d captured with the lens.

  Their future, their relationship didn’t have to be black and white. Maybe it was in exploring the shades of gray that they’d find a way to make things work. She’d asked him once if he would have came
looking for her and he’d said no. That was about to change.

  He’d accrued plenty of leave time over the past few years. He just needed a favor or two to get it pushed through pronto. He picked up the phone.

  He had to get back to New Orleans. And Eden.

  14

  “THE CALENDAR PROOFS are ready for approval,” Val said, standing in the door of Eden’s office. “I’m overnighting them today. That gives the base commander a month to review them.”

  Eden made a snap decision. “Cancel the FedEx. I’ll deliver them.” Enough was enough. She’d waited and waited and waited…and been absolutely miserable. If Mitch really didn’t want her, didn’t want to find a way to make them work, then let him say so. She’d replayed that last night in her head a thousand times. He hadn’t told her he loved her, but he hadn’t told her he didn’t, either. And what made her so good at her craft was her ability to read people. It wasn’t desperation or some crazy infatuation on her part—Mitch Dugan loved her. It was in his eyes, in his kiss, in the tender way he’d made love to her in her courtyard.

  She’d sought solace in her work, her home, her life and all she’d found was that whatever she’d had before, whatever used to be enough for her, wasn’t near enough now. Not without him.

  Val’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. “You’re going to deliver them to the FedEx office? Why do that when they pick up here at the door?”

  Feeling better than she had since Mitch Dugan had walked out of her life, Eden smiled at her confused assistant. “No. I’m delivering them to Fort Bragg. Can you book me a flight for tomorrow morning?”

  A sly, knowing smile spread over Val’s face. “Ah. I see. Rental car? Return flight?”

  “Rental car and just go with an open-ended ticket. What do I have scheduled for next week?”

  “You’re in Boston Thursday and Friday but it could be rescheduled without a lot of hassle.”

  “I’ll let you know.”

  Eden felt a surge of panic and excitement. If she was going to Fort Bragg tomorrow, she had a lot to do today. She needed a haircut. Her nails. A wax job. If she was laying siege to Lieutenant Colonel Mitch Dugan, she was going in armed to the teeth.

  MITCH GOT IN HIS BRONCO. Suitcase? Check. Cell phone? Check. Airline ticket? Che—Dammit to hell. He’d left it on his desk.

  He climbed out of the truck and headed back into the building, pronto. He’d been ready to leave when Hardwick had requested some last-minute bullshit paperwork and then he’d been in such a damn hurry, he’d left the ticket on the corner of his desk. Just the kind of thing he never did, but he was coming to realize that when it came to matters involving Eden, his norm went out the window.

  Traffic would be a bitch on a Friday afternoon and if he missed his flight…He rounded the corner and collided with another moving object. In a moment of extreme déjà vu, he found Eden sprawled at his feet in that pencil skirt and those sexy red heels. Or maybe he’d just slipped over the edge. He shook his head to clear it, but she was still there. He realized he was grinning like an idiot.

  “We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” he said, saying the only thing he could think of. Damn. Now he not only looked like an idiot, he sounded like an idiot.

  “I don’t know, soldier, I’m pretty okay with meeting like this. You know what’s going to happen when you help me up, don’t you, Lieutenant Colonel?”

  Not just no, but hell no. No more public kisses in the hallway.

  “We’ll take that up in my office, Ms. Walters.”

  Mercifully his office was the second door on the left. Before she could blink properly he had her on her feet, in his office and against the closed door. Then his mouth was on her—her lips, her neck, her shoulder. His fingers were in her hair and he wanted to absorb her into himself. It was that same rush he felt when he jumped, ripped the chord and engaged his chute, only better. A thousand times better.

  “I was an idiot,” he said, in between kisses.

  “You won’t get any argument from me.”

  “A token protest would’ve been nice.”

  “Sorry.” Ha! She was totally unrepentant. That was, however, one of the very things he loved about her. And speaking of…. “I love you.”

  “I know.”

  “You do?”

  “Of course. But it’s nice to hear you say it. It’s about time you manned up.”

  “Manned up?” He laughed. She’d never let him get the upper hand, at least not for long. And she was exactly what he wanted, what he needed. He sobered. “I love you, baby, but how are we going to make this work? I’ve turned this over a million times in my head. I can’t ask you to move here and I can’t give up the military. How do we make it work?”

  He was turning it over to her. He was used to being in charge, calling the shots, but in this…he needed her insight, her unique way of viewing the world. His world. Her world. Hopefully, their world.

  “It’s unorthodox. It’s different. And it’ll mean compromise.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “We split our time between New Orleans and wherever you’re stationed. We won’t always be together.”

  “You mean six months on, six months off?”

  “There you go with a schedule,” she said with a teasing smile. “No, not exactly. You can make up a schedule if you want to, but it isn’t necessary. Basically, you’ll spend part of your leave in New Orleans and I’ll spend part of my non-travel time where you are. Like I said, we won’t always be together, but I’ll always be waiting for you, whether it’s here or there.”

  Mitch took a minute to wrap his head around the notion. Military relationships…what the hell, who was he kidding, military marriages were unorthodox to begin with. There was a lot of time spent away from family. The only difference would be that she wouldn’t be cooling her heels in Fayetteville when he was away on assignment. “As long as you’re mine at the end of the day, I can’t see that anything else matters.”

  Tears gathered in her eyes and clung to her lashes.

  “Hey, that was supposed to be good news.”

  She sniffled. “It is, you idiot.”

  “I was coming for you,” he said.

  “You were?”

  “I was.” He moved away from her arms long enough to snag his airline ticket from his desk. “I didn’t have a plan, I didn’t have the answer, but I was coming for you, baby.”

  “Oh, Mitch,” she said, melting against him, into him.

  Once again, he felt that ripped sensation, only this time, he knew that a safe landing was only the beginning. He never, ever wanted to free-fall without her being there to catch him, to save him from the impact.

  “I need you. I love you. Marry me.”

  “Is that an order, Lieutenant Colonel?”

  Her tone was playful but he sensed the deeper side to her question. She needed to know their marriage wouldn’t be like the one her parents had, that he wouldn’t require her to subjugate her career—or herself—to him. “No, baby. There won’t be any orders issued between us.” Then remembering the games they played in the bedroom, he added, “Unless you want me to, of course.”

  “Roger that, soldier.”

  Wait!

  Now that Mitch and Eden have finally decided to make a go of it, aren’t you wondering how Eli Murdoch and his wife, Tara, ended up so blissfully—and dare I say it, sickeningly—happy? Find out in our bonus read, TRIPLE THREAT, by Jennifer LaBrecque. Enjoy!

  Triple Threat

  1

  “WHERE ARE YOU HEADED?” Captain Eli Murdoch asked, his duffel bag slung over his shoulder as he and another soldier crossed the parking lot at Fort Benning, Georgia, home of the U.S. Army’s paratrooper jump school.

  “Anywhere but this hellhole,” Lieutenant Colonel Mitch Dugan said with a grin.

  Mitch was full of shit. Eli and Mitch had met five years ago in basic training, fresh out of college, both ROTC guys, and struck up a friendship. After spending the last five years at diffe
rent bases, they’d both made the decision to move into Special Forces and wound up at the same three-week jump school rotation.

  Eli had embraced every minute of the challenge that was paratrooper training. Mitch hadn’t been one to shy away from the challenges, either.

  “So, your folks already headed down to Florida?” Mitch said.

  “Yeah, they drove down from Tennessee a couple of days ago so they could be here this morning, but they’re back on the road now. They’ll spend a week with my sister and her triplets. Better them than me. Teresa’s kids are cute but they’re wild. Seriously, man, they could bring those hellions in for Special Ops training and they’d probably kick our asses.”

  This morning, after three weeks of intense training, Eli and Mitch had earned their wings and become part of an elite fraternity, the Airborne. Eli’s folks had shown up at 0900 at the south end of Eubank Field on Airborne Walk to observe the final jumps, the graduation ceremony and the awarding of the coveted paratrooper wings. And then they’d promptly continued south.

  His mother’s eyes had sparkled with unshed tears and a quiet pride when she’d hugged him. “Grandpa would be so proud of you. In fact, I think he’s watching and he’s proud right now,” she’d whispered.

  Funny, but Eli had felt the same way—that the grandfather who’d regaled him with tales of serving on the European front in World War II and later in Korea and Vietnam was aware that today his grandson had taken one step closer to being a more effective soldier. A paratrooper. From the time he was a kid, Eli had known he was meant to serve and defend his country.

  Not surprisingly, no one had shown up on Mitch’s behalf. From what Eli had seen over the years they’d been Regular Army together, Mitch’s family was a bunch of losers. Eli knew he was blessed with a close-knit, albeit small, family. No matter how far across the globe he was stationed, he always knew his folks and his buddies who’d stayed in Jackson Flats, Tennessee, had his back. He’d always had a home base. Mitch, on the other hand, never elected to visit family on leave. Not once, ever. The guy was straight discipline, hardcore army all the way. Eli had invited Mitch to come home with him a couple of times for the holidays, but it soon became apparent that even though they were friends, Mitch wasn’t going to take him up on his offer.