by Dale Mayer
When they were finally given permission to retrieve those items, it was after dinner. Warrick nodded toward the trio and said, “I’ll get out for a bit and swing by the station and pick up everything. Before I go though I wanted to share that when shown the shooting photo, Reginald caved in and admitted his role. So that’s going to blow the case apart.” He stood up and looked at Corey. “You okay?”
Corey gave him a warm smile. “Better than okay.”
Warrick said, “Be back in a couple hours.”
He disappeared into the garage, and a few minutes later Corey heard the garage door open, then the vehicle heading down the driveway. He locked the door to the garage, just to make sure all remained safe.
Returning, he found Joshua nodding off once again.
Angela followed the direction of Corey’s gaze. “I gather that’s the drugs still leaving his system.”
“That would make sense,” Corey admitted. “He’s been through a traumatic experience.” He crouched down in front of the sleepy boy. “What do you say, Joshua? Time to go upstairs to bed?”
Instead of arguing, Joshua lifted his arms, hooked them around Corey’s neck and whispered, “Okay.”
Together the trio walked up the stairs into the bedroom they’d designated for Joshua. There was a single bed; the windows were open but had locking window stops on them, and, if they left the bedroom door open, he could come and go as needed. Once he was tucked into bed, he fell asleep almost immediately. Corey waited at the door, wondering if Angela would be able to leave him alone for the night.
She bent down, gave her son a kiss and whispered, “Any time you need me, just call out.”
Joshua mumbled something, then murmured, “Good night, Mommy.”
With a smile she stepped from the bedroom into the hall.
Corey knew it was hard for her to leave Joshua. She stood in the doorway for a long moment and watched her son sleep.
Corey gently stroked up and down her back, and then, giving into the impulse, tucked her against him. Hugging each other, they stared into the bedroom.
“I’m so damn grateful to have him back,” she said fiercely.
He squeezed her a little tighter and then released her. “Me too. You’ve got a great son there.”
She kissed his cheek and whispered, “Thanks.”
He looked down at her. “What about you? Are you ready to go to sleep?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. But I want to stay up here. I’m afraid I won’t hear him call out if I’m downstairs.”
He nodded.
She turned to look down the hall. “I just realized, with Joshua in there, we don’t have enough bedrooms for everybody.” She frowned. “We should have put him in the big bed with me,” she explained. She took a step back into the bedroom and stopped when she heard her son snoring. She smiled, a beautiful look coming over her face.
Corey had always known she would be a wonderful mom. What he’d seen today had proven it. “Not a problem. Warrick will probably stay downstairs anyway.”
She frowned. “That would make me feel bad. He needs sleep as much as the rest of us.”
“We will be on guard, four-hour watches at a time once he gets back. So it’s not an issue.”
“I hope so.” She walked to the master bedroom and stepped inside. “If there were two beds, the two of you could stay here.”
He chuckled. “Don’t worry about it.”
She nodded but appeared to still be anxious.
He walked over to the window, checked it to make sure it was locked, turned to look at the bed and said, “There is a TV if you want to turn it on.”
But she looked at him and said, “What are you going to do?”
He shrugged. “I can either come up here and work, or sit with you while you watch TV, or you can have a bath and go to bed—whatever you want. I can also stay downstairs and work.”
She frowned for a long moment, thinking about her options.
He chuckled. “This isn’t a heavy decision. Do something for yourself for a change. What would you like to do?”
She gave him an odd smile.
He frowned, then stroked her cheek. “What?”
“You’re very dense.”
He raised an eyebrow and shook his head. “I can’t recall the last time somebody said that to me.”
She chuckled. “We have the house to ourselves. The child’s asleep, and we’re in a bedroom …”
He froze.
She laughed out loud. “Like I said, you’re dense.”
“I’m not dense, but I was thinking down the road maybe we’d get there.”
“You didn’t used to be so slow.”
He opened his arms, staring at her. “I didn’t?”
She reached up and placed a finger against his lips. “It doesn’t matter what you did then. It matters what you do now.”
He raised his eyebrows, but, as he stared into her chocolate-colored eyes, he didn’t see anything that gave him a reason to refuse anymore. He wasn’t even sure why he had. Except he wanted to make sure she was over her husband and wasn’t doing this out of gratitude.
As if she wondered at his hesitation, she started to withdraw. “Of course if you’re not interested …”
Instantly he slammed his lips over hers.
She chuckled. And then her laughter turned to moans.
He kissed her hard, all those feelings from twelve years ago leashed until now. He hadn’t been holding the torch all this time, but whatever feelings he’d had back then hadn’t disappeared completely. She was still the woman he’d loved. He tucked her against his long frame and let her know exactly how he felt about where they were at right now.
When he finally lifted his head, her knees sagged. It was his turn to chuckle. He picked her up, carried her to the bed and laid her gently down on top. He sat beside her and whispered, “I just don’t want this to be out of some sense of gratitude.”
Her gaze narrowed, and a spark of temper lit inside. “I do a lot of things for a lot of reasons, and, if there was anything I could do to save my son’s life, I’d have done it in a heartbeat, but this is not gratitude, although I am forever grateful to you and Warrick and Levi and Mason and Tesla and everybody else who got us to this point. This”—she pointed between the two of them—“just might be joy. Something I haven’t felt in a very long time.” She tugged him down toward her. “So either stop protesting or get up and leave me.”
“Leaving you right now would kill me,” he whispered, and he kissed her again.
What followed next was as predetermined as when he’d first set eyes on her. He couldn’t get enough. It had been a long time for him but not so long that he didn’t make sure every step of the way was as good for her as it was for him.
Mouths fused, fingers caressing, skin against skin, and then the urgency took it so much further. When she finally settled beneath him, her thighs opened, every scrap of their clothing on the floor, he rested above her, holding her gaze with his, and slowly entered her.
“Over a dozen years ago,” he whispered as he slowly moved deeper and deeper, her eyes closing, her body arching beneath him, “we were both first-timers.”
She giggled. “What are we now, old-timers?” she asked, her lips curving in a beautiful smile. Holding her hips, he plunged in all the way and seated himself at the heart of her. He lowered his forehead to rest against hers and whispered, “I’d love to be an old-timer with you.”
She stroked his cheek gently. “I was a fool back then. I was so hurt. I just didn’t know who and what I was anymore.”
He kissed her lips and kissed her finger and then her lips yet again and whispered, “I know. I was pretty confused at the time. But we’re not those people anymore.”
She looped her arms around his neck, pulled him down and whispered, “Thank heavens for that. Now, are you planning to finish this job or just sitting around talking?”
He lowered his head and kissed her. Instantly passion fla
red, heat raced up and down their bodies as he picked up speed, kindled the flame and quickly led them to the edge of the mountain. Just before he flung them both over, he reached down, shifted her position, plunged deeper and whispered, “I never forgot, you know.”
Her back arched, her body crying, her voice breaking as she whispered, “Neither did I.”
Her words rolled over his body, searching and finding a response—his climax rippled through him. And he collapsed beside her.
Chapter 15
Angela lay with her back to his chest, wrapped in his arms with such an inner sense of peace and contentment. She hadn’t realized just how frayed and raw her nerves had been for so long. It had been years since Greg had shared her bed. She’d found it much easier to live with him when sex wasn’t part of their relationship. But she also realized it was a distance that was hard to overcome.
Now lying here with Corey wrapped all around her, it was such a different experience. One she remembered from the past. That sense of peace, sense of contentment afterward. She recalled the young woman she’d been back then and the hell she’d been through with her miscarriage. She’d retreated into herself.
Her mother and sisters had closed rank around her at the time. But she had even pushed them away. She’d gotten through the experience by being quiet, silent. He’d joined the navy soon afterward, leaving her to make peace with her world. And it had taken years.
And then she’d met Greg. What a nightmare that had ended up being. And yet now, with Corey in her life again, she wondered if she was being given a second chance. A new lease on life. A new chance at love.
He stroked the side of her cheek and whispered, “Heavy thoughts?”
She heard the insecurity in his voice, twisted slightly and said, “Only about walking away so long ago.”
Surprise was in the depths of his huge brown eyes. “I’m sure you did what you needed to do at the time.”
She was surprised at that insight. She nodded. “That’s exactly what I was doing. I needed to go away and heal. But, as I have now learned, I didn’t need to walk away from everyone I knew at the time.”
“I think we all do things when we’re in shock. Afterward we’re not exactly sure why it seemed like the right thing to do. But we did them, so we have to live with the consequences.”
She smiled. “Well, I can tell you that, right now, for the first time in twelve years, I’m happy, content. At peace, inside and out.”
He tucked her close against him and whispered, “So does that mean we can repeat this?”
She chuckled, rolled over and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Absolutely.”
Just then his phone rang. He swore softly, sat up in the bed, grabbed the phone and answered, “Mason, what’s up?”
She couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation, but he wasn’t getting upset, so she figured things were all good. She rose and went to the bathroom. When she came back, he was off the phone. “What did Mason want?”
“An update on Joshua.”
She smiled. “It’s amazing to think so many men did so much to help him, and Joshua doesn’t even know it.”
“Mason, Warrick, Levi … There are so many of us. We’re all good guys,” he said with a smile. “You just had bad luck to hook up with Greg.”
“Yes, if that’s what you call it,” she said. “How did you meet Mason? Was he one of the men in your unit?”
“No. But he’s been a friend for a long time,” he said with a smile. “Although Mason started a trend. Something most of us thought we could escape. Apparently that might be in jeopardy for me.”
She frowned at him. “What are you talking about?”
Laughing, he explained about Mason and his band of Keepers.
When she heard the story, she gasped. “Oh, my God, that’s perfect.”
“No, it’s not so perfect,” he said with dry humor. “A lot of guys are pretty protective of their independence.”
She chuckled and sat on the bed. “And are you part of Mason’s Keepers?”
“No. I’m not part of his unit,” he said triumphantly. “So it doesn’t apply to me.”
“But you wish you were,” she said in a low voice. “I know you. On the inside all you really want is to be happily married with half a dozen kids in a home somewhere and a way to make a living that honors that part of you that needs to do good in the world. Protecting others is what you were always meant to do.”
He looked at her for a long moment. “That always was the dream, wasn’t it?”
She nodded. “The thing about dreams is, we tend to turn away from them, but we never really forget them.”
He pulled her onto his lap. “How did you get to be so smart?”
She chuckled. “I’m not smart at all.”
Just then they heard a vehicle come into the driveway and roll up to the garage.
She whispered, “That’s Warrick.” She bounced off the bed and started dressing. When he didn’t get up, she said, “What are you doing?”
He gave her a lazy grin. “I wasn’t really planning on going down and seeing him.”
“He has to get rest too. I thought you were to be on four-hour watches,” she scolded him. “Come on. Get up. Get dressed.”
Chuckling, he was up and dressed faster than she was.
She frowned and grumbled, “How did you get to be so fast at that?”
“Getting dressed and being ready at a moment’s notice is something we’re trained to do.”
She nodded. “I can see that.” She raced downstairs to see Warrick at the kitchen table with her son’s backpack. “Oh, excellent. Thank you so much. I know he’ll be thrilled.”
She opened the backpack. Sure enough, her son’s homework was there. She turned to look at Warrick and caught a speculative look in his eyes. She frowned at him. “What?”
An innocent look crossed his face as he raised his gaze to Corey who was standing in the doorway. Corey, without socks. An extremely tousled-looking Corey. She gasped and turned back to the backpack. The last thing she wanted to get into was a discussion about what they’d been doing for the last couple hours. Mumbling, she asked, “Did they give you his cell phone?”
“Yes, they did.” He handed it to her. “They copied all the contacts and the history.”
She nodded. “I expected that. But he’ll be happy to know he got his stuff back.” She grabbed the phone and the backpack and excused herself, “I’ll put these in his room so he sees them as soon as he wakes up.” And she escaped up the stairs.
When she was almost at the second floor, she heard, “We have a problem.”
She stopped midstep, realizing she’d given them an opportunity to discuss something without her. She glanced down at the items, continued to her son’s room and placed them by his bed. Then she ran back down.
As she entered the kitchen, she was greeted with silence. She stood in front of Corey and Warrick, crossed her arms and said, “What’s the problem?”
Warrick looked to Corey. He stared back at Warrick and shrugged. Corey turned to Angela. “There’s a chance Warrick was followed here.”
She frowned, her arms gripped tighter around her chest. “What do we do?”
“We stand guard.”
“When did you shake them?”
“About half an hour ago. I was followed leaving the police station. But I’m pretty sure I lost them.”
She understood that. He wouldn’t have come home if he thought he was leading somebody to the house.
“Then I suggest we get some sleep.” She turned, headed back to the stairs. “Which one of you is on watch now?”
Warrick said, “I am. I need to do some work. I have to enter my notes from today and tonight.”
She nodded. “Come on, Corey. Let’s grab some sleep. Then you can come down and relieve Warrick.”
Obediently Corey followed her up the stairs. At the top she called back, “Good night, Warrick.”
“Good night,” he replied, his tone
already sounding distracted by work.
In the bedroom, Angela crawled into bed after shucking her outer layer of clothing. “Do you think we’re safe?”
“Yes. I do.”
She smiled, waited until he got into bed and had his arms wrapped around her. She cuddled up and fell asleep.
*
Something woke Corey. He lay still for a moment, then gently eased himself out from under the covers.
Instinct drove him to move. He didn’t know what was wrong, but definitely something was not right. He checked his watch and saw it was time for a shift change anyway. But he couldn’t hear a sound downstairs. He dressed quickly, grabbed his weapon and stepped into the hall. He closed the door partway behind him and slipped over to Joshua’s room.
The boy still slept, and there was no sign of any disturbance in his room. Corey listened for anything downstairs, but still there was nothing. And that bothered him. Going down the stairs meant skipping two of the risers that made noise. On the first landing, he peered around the corner and saw nothing. And yet there should have been some noise, some slight movement from Warrick. Corey made it down to the main floor. And he froze.
A vehicle was parked at the bottom of the driveway. They had company. Warrick hadn’t warned him, and that meant Warrick couldn’t warn him. That was the only possible explanation. With his gun ready, Corey did a sweep of the living room. But found nothing there.
Moving soundlessly, he shifted to the kitchen. There he found Warrick slumped over the kitchen table, blood pooling around him. All the lights were off. Corey slipped over, pressed fingers against Warrick’s neck. There was a strong, steady pulse. Good.
So the head injury was enough to knock him out but not enough to kill him. But why hit Warrick and not then steal the boy? Corey’s mind flashed through all the options, not coming up with anything that made any sense. Until he heard a vehicle start up. He raced to the front door only to see somebody running across the lawn to catch the vehicle as it left. Then a huge whoosh, and fire started all along the front of the house.
“Shit.” He pulled out his phone and called 9-1-1. But there were too many flames, too fast. He raced upstairs, grabbed Angela and said loudly, “Fire. We have to get out of here now.”