Red Zone

by Sherri Hayes

  “What’s wrong?” he mouthed. She shook her head. “Tell me.”

  She looked unsure, but eventually asked the caller to hold on for a minute. Not looking at him, she said, “It’s nothing you need to worry about. I’m sorry to have bothered—”

  He took hold of her chin and made her look at him. “Don’t even think about finishing that sentence, beautiful.”

  “It’s my sister. She . . . something’s happened, and she needs a place to stay.”

  “So have her come here.” It seemed like an easy solution. Rebecca’s sister clearly needed her. He could understand that. Even with him living in Nashville and not seeing his family often, they were still close. His mom had made sure of that.

  “I couldn’t—”

  Before she could react, Gage took the phone from her. “Hello?”

  A timid voice on the other end answered through what sounded like tears. “Hi.”

  “Rebecca’s staying with me in Nashville at the moment. Can you come here instead?”

  She sniffed. “Yeah, I guess.”

  “Just let us know when your flight arrives, and we’ll pick you up.”

  “Um . . . I’ll be taking the bus.”

  “Okay, then, let us know when your bus arrives.”

  “Um . . . okay.” She was quiet for several seconds. “Can I talk to Becca again?”

  He glanced up to find Rebecca staring at him with wary eyes. “Sure. Hold on,” he said into the phone.

  Laying the phone down on the bed for a minute, he reached for Rebecca’s hand. For once, she didn’t try to flee.

  “You don’t have to do this, you know,” she said. “She can stay in my apartment.”

  “There’s no need. I have plenty of space here. Besides, Thanksgiving is only a few days away.”

  She looked away. “I know.”

  “We should talk about that,” they both said in unison.

  The slip lightened the mood a little, as they both chuckled. “We don’t have a game this week, so I’m going home for the holiday.”

  “You can’t go alone,” she said, quick to remind him.

  “Yeah.” He smirked. “I didn’t think you’d release me for the weekend.”

  “So what do you want to do?”

  He reached up to brush his fingers along her cheek. “The only thing we can do.” She raised her eyebrows in question. “Bring my girlfriend.” Before she could comment, he leaned in and placed a firm kiss to her lips, then stood before heading toward the doorway. He paused, twisting back to face her. “Let me know when your sister’s bus arrives, and we’ll go pick her up.” When he reached the door, he stopped again. “By the way, what’s her name?”

  “Megan,” she said, her voice cracking slightly. “Her name is Megan.”

  Chapter 13

  Rebecca hadn’t said much after her phone call with her sister. The only conversation they’d had for the rest of the evening was when she, once again, insisted that he didn’t have to take her sister into his house. She was wrong about that. For some reason, it really had felt like he did. He wasn’t sure of the why, but he’d learned to follow his gut over the years, so that’s what he was going with.

  At five thirty in the morning, Gage found himself standing inside the bus station with Rebecca waiting for her sister Megan to arrive. There were more people in the bus station than he’d thought there’d be at so early in the morning. Some of them were waiting on buses themselves. Others, like him and Rebecca, were waiting on arrivals. Everyone seemed to be in their own world. No one was interacting with anyone else, content in their own little bubbles.

  Rebecca stood at his side, arms crossed over her chest, staring out the large window. Her fingers were dug into her arms so hard he was sure there would have been marks had she not been wearing a jacket and sweater.

  He’d kept some distance between them since they’d walked into the bus station, but he’d had enough. Even if she got angry with him, it would be better than quiet aloofness. Her anger he could deal with.

  Taking a step to the side, he closed the gap between them and wrapped his arm around her waist. She stiffened, just as he’d suspected, but she surprised him when a moment later she released a deep breath and relaxed, leaning into him slightly. He pulled her closer and kissed her temple. He wanted to ask her what was wrong, what she was so nervous about. He didn’t, though. Not only did he think she wouldn’t answer him, but he also didn’t want to break the mood. At the moment, she was allowing him to comfort her. The last thing he wanted was to give her a reason to remember that wasn’t in her professional plan.

  It was almost six before the bus transporting Megan pulled in. As the air brakes released, Rebecca took a step forward, out of his embrace. He stayed back, watching.

  One by one, people disembarked and filed into the station. As passengers reunited with their friends and families, the noise level increased tenfold. Some people were crying. Others were jumping up and down, hugging each other. Then there were those who didn’t appear to have anyone waiting, who either drifted to a corner to await the next leg of their journey or walked almost silently out the door.

  He watched each person find their place with no reaction from Rebecca to indicate her sister was among them. A full ten minutes after the flood of passengers into the building began, a woman with short, dark hair crept inside. She was shorter than her sister by maybe three inches, but the resemblance was there.

  Rebecca noticed her first. “Megan?”

  The young woman’s head whipped around, and her gaze locked on her sister’s form ten yards away. There was an immediate change in Megan’s facial expression. Before where it had been cautious and guarded, it now held relief mixed with pain. She hiked the bag she was carrying high up on her shoulder and rushed across the short distance to where Rebecca waited with open arms.

  Gage stayed back, allowing the sisters their greeting. He had no idea what Rebecca had told Megan about him. They’d get to that soon enough. For the moment, they both seemed oblivious to his presence. Megan was currently clinging to her sister as if her life depended on it. And Rebecca, who had minutes before looked like a worrying mother hen, soothed and comforted her.

  It was somewhat strange to witness from an outsider’s point of view, but every family dynamic was different. Maybe it had something to do with the age difference. Megan appeared to be in her early twenties. He would guess there were at least five years between them, if not more. He knew how protective Paul had been of his younger brothers growing up. Maybe this was the equivalent between sisters. He didn’t know.

  Rebecca pulled back first, bracketing her sister’s face with her hands, brushing tears away. “Are you hurt?” she asked.

  Megan shook her head.

  Although the look on Rebecca’s face showed doubt, she didn’t pursue it any further. Instead, she glanced up at him with raw emotion in her eyes. Seconds later, however, she blinked, and it was gone. He wasn’t sure what to make of it. Either way, it wasn’t the time to push to find out.

  Stepping forward, he offered his hand. “You must be Megan. I’m Gage.”

  She stiffened and reached out to take his hand. “Hi.”

  He didn’t get any more than that, but considering the sun was just coming up over the horizon and she’d been on a bus for the last who-knew-how-many hours, he didn’t blame her for the short response. “Do you have any luggage you need to get before we head out?”

  “No.” Her voice was much more timid than her sister’s. “I have everything right here.”

  Gage frowned. All she had was in a single backpack? That didn’t sound right. He thought about offering to carry it for her, probably should have, but something in her posture and the way she gripped the padded strap made him change his mind.

  He was going to suggest they leave, but before he could get the words out, Rebecca said, “Come on. Let’s get you back to the house. I’ll make you some hot chocolate, and you can get some sleep.”

  “I could really
use a beer.”

  Rebecca brushed the hair out of Megan’s eyes. “Not until you’ve had some rest and some food. Who knows how long it’s been since you’ve eaten, and I’m not giving you alcohol on an empty stomach.”

  Megan sighed but didn’t argue. The sisters walked out of the bus station, leaving him to follow and wondering what he’d just witnessed.

  Rebecca closed the door to the room Gage had given Megan. She and her sister had talked until Megan’s eyes had begun to close from sheer exhaustion. At least she was fairly certain her sister wasn’t hurt. Not physically, anyway.

  True to form, Megan had picked the wrong guy and he’d broken her heart. Rebecca would press for more details later when her sister was fully rested, but it had come down to her walking in on her boyfriend snorting what she assumed was coke. That was one thing she would give her sister credit for—she drew the line at illegal drugs. Megan could drink and party with the best of them, but she didn’t mess around with drugs no matter what they were.

  Leaning against the wall for a minute to regain her composure, Rebecca had no idea why Gage had been so generous. He didn’t owe her or her sister anything. In fact, she should have refused his offer, should have asked Hansen to cover Gage for a day while she got her sister settled at her apartment. The offer had been too tempting, however. She only hoped she didn’t regret taking him up on it.

  With Megan finally asleep in her bed, Rebecca walked down the short hallway and into the kitchen. The room her sister was staying in was the only one with a bed on the main floor. There were empty bedrooms upstairs, one right beside hers, but Gage had said Megan might feel more comfortable having her own space. Much to Rebecca’s dismay, Megan had agreed.

  The kitchen was empty, but the lights were on, so she knew Gage was nearby. Like everything else regarding him, she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Deciding her brain had thought enough for the moment, she took out the orange juice from the refrigerator and poured herself a glass.

  “Hey.” His voice sounded loud in the quiet room.

  She turned around and leaned back against the counter, taking a sip of her juice. “Hey.”

  “She asleep?”

  “Yeah.”

  He nodded, not saying anything right away, but she could tell by his stance that wouldn’t last long. Gage didn’t disappoint, but what he said surprised her. “You should get some sleep.”

  “I’m fine. I need to check in with Hansen anyway.” It was after eight. The sun was already up, promising a warm November day. He was going to call her soon to see if something was wrong if she didn’t call him first.

  “So call Hansen and then go take a nap. Neither one of us got a lot of sleep last night.” She shook her head again. “The alarm is on and I’ll stay in the house. You don’t have to worry about me or doing your job. It’ll be fine.”

  “I don’t . . . ” Her words died in her throat as he stalked toward her.

  “That wasn’t a suggestion, beautiful. You can’t protect me if you’re dead on your feet, and something tells me your sister is going to need you, too.” He ran the tips of his fingers down her arm, leaving a tingling trail of sensitive nerves in their wake. She was very aware of him—his body, his heat, his breath against her face. Her eyes closed involuntarily, too tired to resist the pleasant sensations his nearness brought to the surface.

  She felt the brush of his lips against hers a moment before they connected. The kiss was soft. Softer than anything they’d shared before. It made her want to sink into him and forget about everything else.

  Before she knew it, he had removed the glass from her hand and was putting her arms around his neck. She didn’t resist him. Didn’t want to. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she registered that she should push him away, but she ignored it. Right there, right at that moment, all she wanted was to keep feeling his mouth kissing her, feeling the silkiness of his hair beneath her fingers, and enjoying how good his hands felt pressing into her back.

  All too soon, Gage broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers. Their gazes met, and the desire lurking behind his brown eyes made her forget about everything else but him.

  “As much as it pains me to say it, you need to call your partner.” He handed over her cell phone. It had been attached to her belt, and he’d somehow managed to get it off her without her noticing.

  That happens way too much with him.

  Strangely, his reminder of her job, her duty, wasn’t the wake-up call she knew it should have been. She took the offered phone and made the call. Gage didn’t budge. He stayed right there with her, their lower bodies nearly fused together.

  His hands never stopped caressing her the whole time she was on the phone with Hansen. It was utterly and completely distracting. At one point, she lost her train of thought, and she saw his lips tilt up in a smile. She wanted to be annoyed with him, push him away, but for some reason she didn’t.

  The phone call lasted a lot longer than she wanted. By the time she hung up, her eyes were drooping and her limbs felt as if they’d been weighted down. The only thing holding her up was Gage.

  “Finished?” he asked when she pressed the button on her phone and slipped it into her jeans pocket. It would have taken too much coordination to clip it back on her belt.

  “Yes,” she whispered, her eyes drifting closed. She felt him shift his weight, and then she was no longer standing. Her eyes popped open, and her fingers gripped his shoulders. “What—”

  “You need to sleep.” When she opened her mouth to protest, he cut her off with a hard kiss. By the time he lifted his head again, she was no longer thinking of how to get out of his arms.

  Giving in, and relishing the way being in his arms made her feel, Rebecca rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Just this once, she’d forget all the things she should do, and enjoy this moment. She knew there was no future with Gage, but for whatever reason, fate had thrown them together and made him nearly impossible to resist.

  His body moved beneath her as he walked up the stairs and down the hall. He lowered her to the bed, but she didn’t open her eyes. The mattress sunk in response to his weight.

  As he released her arms from around his neck, the cool air hit her skin and she frowned. She felt his fingers ghost into her pocket. Absentmindedly, she realized he must have been removing her phone for her. That brought a small smile to her lips. Then he was gone, and the cool air of the room wrapped around her body once again. The sun was shining through the curtains of the large windows, but it was no comparison to the warmth she’d felt nestled up against Gage’s body. She felt the scowl beginning to return. Before she could think it through any further, however, the bed dipped and arms encircled her. She rolled over instinctively and buried her face in his heat. Seconds later, she was asleep.

  Chapter 14

  The first thing that registered in Rebecca’s mind as consciousness returned was that she was not alone. A very warm body pressed against her back. A very warm, very large male body, with his arm slung over her hip. There was no way it was her sister snuggled up behind her.

  Her heart rate immediately spiked in panic, and she quickly took in her surroundings. She wasn’t in her room. The walls were a warm tan color, not the blue of the guest room where she’d been staying. They were also darker than the cream in the room her sister was using. No, she was quite certain she was in Gage’s room. Lying in his bed. With him. The only consolation was that she was still completely clothed. She could feel her gun and ankle holster pressing into her leg.

  She racked her brain trying to recall how she’d ended up in his bed. After they’d picked up her sister from the bus station, she’d been exhausted. Her defenses against Gage’s pull weakened. Closing her eyes, she groaned as she remembered him carrying her up the stairs and putting her into bed. She’d thought it had been her bed, not his. What was wrong with her?

  Before that train of thought went any further, she gently lifted the arm holding her and extracted herself
from his grasp. Out of the bed, she spotted her phone lying on the nightstand and her shoes at the end of the bed. Grabbing them, she tiptoed as quietly as possible across the hall to her bedroom.

  After making sure the door was shut and locked, she let her body sink to the floor, her head falling into her palms. The weight of everything finally hit her, and she let all the emotions she’d been holding in crawl to the surface. Her baby sister was downstairs needing her to be the strong, confident rock she always was. Megan was counting on her. The problem was, Rebecca felt anything but confident. The man in the next room was playing havoc with her emotions, her body. She had no idea how to act around him, how to do her job. Now she was going to have to find it in her somehow to deal with her sister’s crisis, too. She just didn’t know how.

  She had no idea how long she stayed there, sitting on the floor, but eventually she got herself under control. Pushing herself up off the floor, she stood then walked into her bathroom and turned on the shower. Steam filled the room as she stripped off her layers of clothing one by one. Standing naked in front of the mirror, she looked at her reflection. Unfortunately, her reflection held no more answers than it usually did.

  Brushing the hair away from her face, she turned her back on her reflection and stepped into the shower spray. Tears threatened as the water cascaded over her, but she refused to let them fall. She was better than this. Stronger. No matter what life threw at her, she could deal with it. She always did. Little by little, she washed away everything, including the memory of how it had felt to wake up in Gage’s arms.

  The shower did help. She didn’t feel quite as raw as when she’d walked into her room almost an hour before. That was good. With her sister there, she wasn’t going to be able to hide out in her room as she’d been doing. She was going to have to go out there and face her sister . . . and Gage. As she thought his name, that feeling of unease began to creep up again.