"What are you doing at Colleen's place?" Wes sounded funny. Or maybe Bobby just imagined it. Guilt had a way of doing that—making everyone sound suspicious.
"Um..." Bobby said. He was going to have to tell Wes about what was going on between him and Colleen, but the last thing he wanted was to break the news over the telephone. Still, he wasn't going to lie. Not to Wes. Never to Wes.
Fortunately—as usual—Wes didn't particularly want his question answered. "You are one hard man to get hold of," he continued. "I called your hotel room last night—late— and you were either AWOL or otherwise occupied, you lucky son of a bitch."
"Well," Bobby said, "yeah." He wasn't sure if Wes particularly cared what he was agreeing to, but the truth was he'd been AWOL, otherwise occupied and a lucky son of a bitch. "Where are you?"
"Little Creek. You need to get your butt down here, bro, pronto. We've got a meeting with Admiral Robinson at hours. There's a flight out of Logan that leaves in just under two hours. If you scramble, you can make it, easy. There'll be a ticket there, waiting for you."
Scrambling meant leaving before Colleen got back. Bobby looked at the kitchen clock and swore. Best-case scenario didn't get her back here for another ninety minutes. That's if she had no holdups—if the T ran like a dream.
"I'm not sure I can make it," he told Wes.
"Sure you can. Tell Colleen to drive you to the airport."
"Oh," Bobby said. Now, here was a secret he could divulge with no pain. "No. She can't—she sold her car."
"What?"
"She's been doing all this charity work—pro bono legal stuff, you know? Along with her usual volunteer work,"
Bobby told Wes. "She sold the Mustang because she was having trouble making ends meet."
Wes swore loudly. "I can't believe she sold that car. I would've lent her money. Why didn't she ask me for money?"
"I offered to do the same. She didn't want it from either one of us."
"That's stupid. Let me talk to the stupid girl, will you?"
"Actually," Bobby told Wes, "it's not stupid at all." And she wasn't a girl. She was a woman. A gorgeous, vibrant, independent, sexy woman. "She wants to do this her way. By herself. And then when she graduates, and passes the bar exam, she'll know—she did this. Herself. I don't blame her, man."
"Yeah, yeah, right, just put her on the phone."
Bobby took a deep breath, praying that Wes wouldn't think it was weird—him being in Colleen's apartment when she wasn't home. "She's not here. She had to go over to the law school for something and—"
"Leave her a message then. Tell her to call me." Wes rattled off a phone number that Bobby dutifully wrote on a scrap of paper. But he then folded it up, intending to put it into his pocket as soon as he was wearing something that had a pocket. No way was he going to risk Colleen calling Wes back before he himself had a chance to speak to him.
"Put it in gear," Wes ordered. "You're needed for this meeting. If Colleen's going to be stupid and insist on going to Tulgeria, we need to do this right. If you get down here tonight, we'll get started planning this op a full twelve hours earlier than if we wait to have this meeting in the morning. I want those extra twelve hours. This is Colleen's safety—her life—we're talking about here."
"I'm there," Bobby said. "I'll be on that flight."
"Thank you. Hey, I missed you, man. How's the shoulder? You been taking it easy?"
Not exactly, considering that for the past twenty-four hours he'd been engaged in almost nonstop, highly gymnastic sex. With Wes's precious little sister. Oh, God.
"I'm feeling much better," Bobby told the man who was the best friend he'd ever had in his life. Not a lie—it was true. The shoulder was still stiff and sore, and he still couldn't reach over his head without pain, but he was, without a doubt, feeling exceptionally good this morning.
Physically.
Emotionally was an entirely different story. Guilt. Doubt. Anxiety.
"Hey," Bobby said. "Will you do me a favor and pick me up in Norfolk alone? There's something we need to talk about."
"Uh-oh," Wes said. "Sounds heavy. You all right? God—you didn't get some girl pregnant did you? I didn't even know you were seeing anyone since you and Kyra split."
"I didn't get anyone..." Bobby started to deny, but then cut himself off. Oh, Lord, it was possible that he had indeed gotten Colleen pregnant just this morning. The thought still made him weak in the knees. "Just meet my flight, okay?"
"Ho," Wes said. "No way can you make hints that something dire is going down and then not tell me what the—"
"I'll tell you later," Bobby said, and hung up the phone.
Chapter
When Colleen got home, Clark and Kenneth were sitting in her living room, playing cards.
"Hey," Clark said. "Where's your TV?"
"I don't have a TV," she told him. "What are you doing here? Is Ashley back?"
"Nah. Mr. Platonic called us," Clark answered. "He didn't want you coming home to an empty apartment."
"He had to go someplace called Little Creek," Kenneth volunteered. "He left a note on your bed. I didn't let Clark read it."
Bobby had gone to Little Creek. He'd finally run away, leaving the two stooges behind as baby-sitters.
"Thanks," she said. "I'm home now. You don't have to hang here."
"We don't mind," Clark said. "You actually have food in your kitchen and—"
"Please, I need you to go," Colleen told them. "I'm sorry." She had no idea what Bobby had written in that
note that was in her bedroom. She couldn't deal with reading it while they were in her living room.
And she couldn't deal with not reading it another second longer.
"It's cool," Clark said. "I was betting we wouldn't get the warmest welcome, since you're one of those liberated, I-can-take-care-of-myself babes and—"
She heard the door close as Kenneth dragged Clark out.
Colleen took her backpack into her bedroom. Bobby had cleaned up the room. And made the bed, too. And left a note, right on her pillow.
"I got a call and had to run," it said in bold block letters—an attempt by someone with messy penmanship to write clearly. "Heading to Little Creek—to a meeting I can't miss. I'm sorry (more than I can say!) that I couldn't stick around to kiss you goodbye properly, but this is what it's like—being part of Alpha Squad. When I have to go, I go, whether I want to or not."
He'd then written something that he'd crossed out. Try as she might, Colleen couldn't see beneath the scribbled pen to the letters below. The first word looked as if it might be maybe. But she couldn't read the rest.
"Stay safe!" he wrote, both words underlined twice. "I'll call you from Little Creek." He'd signed it "Bobby." Not "Love, Bobby." Not "Passionately yours, Bobby." Just "Bobby."
Colleen lay back on her bed, trying not to overanalyze his note, wishing he hadn't had to go, trying not to wonder if he were ever coming back.
He'd come back if she were pregnant. Maybe she should wish she actually was. He'd insist that she marry him and...
The thought made her sit up, shocked at herself. What a terrible thing to wish for. She didn't want to be an obligation. A lifelong responsibility. A permanent mistake.
She wanted him to come back here because he liked
being with her. And yes, okay—because he liked making love to her. She wasn't going to pretend their relationship wasn't based mostly on sex. Great sex. Incredible sex.
She knew that he liked making love to her. And so she would see him again, Colleen told herself. And when he called from Little Creek—if he called—she'd make herself sound relaxed. As if she wasn't a bundle of anxiety. As if she had no doubt that he would be back in her bed in a matter of a day or two. And as if her world wouldn't end if he didn't come back.
The phone rang, and she rolled to the edge of her bed, lying on her stomach to look at the caller ID box, hoping... Yes. It was Bobby. Had to be. The area code and exchange was from Little Creek. She knew
those numbers well—Wes had been stationed there when he'd first joined the Navy. Back before he'd even met Bobby Taylor.
Bobby must've just arrived, and he was calling her first thing. Maybe this wasn't just about sex for him....
Colleen picked up the phone, keeping her voice light, even though her heart was in her throat. "Too bad you had to leave. I spent the entire T ride imagining all the different ways we were going to make love again this afternoon."
The words that came out of the phone were deafening and colorful. The voice wasn't Bobby's. It was her brother's. "I don't know who you think I am, Colleen, but you better tell me who you thought you were talking to so that I can kill him."
"Wes," she said weakly. Oh, no!
“This is great. This is just great. Just what I want to hear coming out of the mouth of my little sister."
Her temper sparked. "Excuse me, I'm not little. I haven't been little for a long time. I'm twenty-three years old, thank you very much, and yes, you want to know the truth? I'm in a relationship that's intensely physical and enormously
satisfying. I spent last night and most of the morning having wild sex."
Wes shouted. "Oh, my God! Don't tell me that! I don't want to hear that!"
"If I were Sean or...or..." She didn't want to say Ethan. Mentioning their dead brother was like stomping with both feet on one of Wes's more sensitive buttons. "Or Frank you'd be happy for me!"
"Frank's a priest!"
"You know what I mean," Colleen countered. "If I were one of the guys in Alpha Squad, and I told you I just got lucky, you'd be slapping me on the back and congratulating me. I don't see the difference—"
"The difference is you're a girl!"
"No," she said, tightly. "I'm a woman. Maybe that's the basis of your relationship problems, Wes. Maybe until you stop seeing women as girls, until you treat them as equals—"
"Yeah, thanks a million, Dr. Freud. Like you even have a half a clue about my problems." He swore.
"I know you're unhappy," she said softly. "And angry almost all the time. I think you've got some unresolved issues that you've really got to deal with before—"
He refused to follow her out of this argument and into a more personal, private discussion. "Damn straight I've got unresolved issues—and they're all about this jackass you've been letting take advantage of you. You probably think he loves you, right? Is that what he told you?"
"No," Colleen said, stung by his implications. "As a matter of fact he hasn't. He likes me, though. And he respects me—which is more than I can say about you."
"What, is he some geeky lawyer?"
"That's not your business." Colleen closed her eyes. She couldn't let herself get mad and tell him it was Bobby. If Bobby wanted to tell him, fine. But her brother wasn't
going to hear it first from her. No way. "Look, I have to go. You know, paint myself with body oil," she lied just to annoy him. "Get ready for tonight."
It got the response she'd expected, through gritted teeth. “Colleen!”
"I'm glad you're back safely."
"Wait," he said. "I'm calling for a reason."
"No kidding? A reason besides sibling harassment?"
"Yeah. I have to go pick up Bobby at the airport, but before I leave, I need info on your contacts in the Tulgerian government. Admiral Robinson is going to run a quick check on everyone involved." Wes paused. "Didn't you get my message to call me?" he asked. "When I spoke to Bobby just before noon, I told him to leave a message for you and — "
Silence.
Big, long silence.
Colleen could almost hear the wheels in Wes's head turning as he put two and two together.
Colleen had spent — in her own words — "most of the morning having wild sex" with her mysterious lover.
Her brother had spoken to Bobby earlier. In Colleen's apartment. Just before noon. As in the "just before noon" that occurred at the very end of a morning filled with wild sex.
"Tell me I'm wrong," Wes said very, very quietly — never a good sign. "Tell me it's not Bobby Taylor. Tell me my best friend didn't betray me."
Colleen couldn't keep quiet at that. "Betray you? Oh, my God, Wesley, that's absurd. What's between me and Bobby has nothing to do with you at all!"
"I'm right?" Wes lost it. "I am right! How could he do that, that son of a — I'm gonna kill him!"
Oh, damn! "Wes! Listen to me! It was my fault. I — "
But her brother had already hung up.
Oh, dear Lord, this was going to be bad. Wes was going to pick up Bobby from the airport and...
Colleen checked her caller-ID box and tried to call Wes back.
The flight to Norfolk was just long enough to set Bobby completely on edge. He'd had enough time to buy a book at the airport store, but he stared at the words on the page, unable to concentrate on the bestselling story.
What was he going to say to Wes?
"So, hey, nice to see you. Yeah, Cambridge was great. I liked it a lot—especially when I was having sex with your sister."
Oh, man.
Thinking about his impending conversation with Wes was making him feel edgy and unsettled.
Thinking about Colleen was making him crazy.
A glance at his watch told him that she had surely come back to her apartment by now.
If he hadn't left, she'd be naked, just as she'd promised, and he'd be buried deep inside of her and—
He shifted in his seat. Coach wasn't built for someone his size, and his knees were already pressed against the back of the seat in front of him. He was already uncomfortable as hell—thinking of Colleen wasn't going to help.
But as Bobby closed his eyes, he couldn't help but think of her.
It was probably good that he'd had to leave. If it had been left up to him, he never would have left. He would have just stayed there forever, in Colleen's bedroom, waiting for her to come and make love to him.
She had cast a spell over him, and he couldn't resist her. All she had to do was smile, and he was putty in her hands.
This way the spell was broken. Wasn't it? God, he hoped so. It would be just his luck to fall for another woman who
didn't love him. Even better luck to fall for a woman who clearly only saw him as a sexual plaything. If he wasn't careful, his heart was going to get trashed.
Bobby tried to focus again on his book, tried to banish the image of Colleen, her eyes filled with laughter as she leaned forward to kiss him, as she pressed her body against him, as their legs tangled and...
Help.
He wanted her with every breath.
God, why couldn't he have felt this way about Kyra?
Because even back then, he was in love with Colleen.
Man, where had that thought come from? Love. God. This was already way too complicated without screwing it up by putting love into the picture.
In a matter of minutes Bobby was going to be hip deep in a conversation with Wes that he was dreading with every ounce of his being. And Wes was going to warn him away from Colleen. Don't go near her anymore. He could hear the words already.
If he were smart, he'd heed his friend.
If he weren't smart, if he kept thinking with his body instead of his brain, he was going to get in too deep. Before he even blinked, he would find himself in a long-distance relationship, God help him. And then it would be a year from now, and he'd be on the phone with Colleen again, having to tell her—again—that he wasn't going to make it out for the weekend, and she would tell him that was okay—again—but in truth, he'd know that she was trying not to cry.
He didn't want to make her cry—but that didn't mean he was in love with her.
And the fact that he wanted to be with her constantly, the fact that he missed her desperately even now, mere hours after having been in bed with her, well, that was just
his body's healthy response to great sex. It was natural, having had some, to want more.
Bobby squeezed his eyes shut. Oh, God, he wanted more.
It wouldn't be too hard to talk Colleen into giving a bicoastal relationship a try. She was adventurous and she liked him. And, of course, he'd never had a long-distance relationship with someone who liked phone sex....
Bobby felt himself start to smile. Yeah, who was he kidding? Pretending he had any choice at all? Pretending that he wasn't going to spend every waking hour working on ways to get back to Cambridge to see Colleen. The truth was, unless she flat-out refused to see him again, he was going to be raking up the frequent flyer miles, big-time.
He was already in too deep.
And, jeez, if Colleen were pregnant...
Oh, hell. As the plane approached the runway for a landing, Bobby tried to imagine Wes's reaction to that news.
"Hey, man! Not only did I do the nasty with your sister more times than I can remember, but the condom broke and I probably knocked her up, ruining her dreams of finishing law school, condemning her to a life with a husband she doesn't particularly love, who isn't even around all that often, anyway. And how was your week?"
Bobby came off the plane the way he'd gotten on. With no luggage, wearing the same cargo shorts and shirt he'd worn over to Colleen's nearly a full twenty-four hours ago.
Not that he'd been wearing them for that entire time. On the contrary.
As he came out of the walkway that connected the plane to the terminal, he scanned the crowd, searching for Wes's familiar face.
And then, there he was. Wes Skelly. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed in front of his chest, looking more like a biker than a chief in the elite U.S. Navy SEALs.
He was wearing baggy green cargo pants with lots of pockets and a white tank top that showed off his tan and revealed the barbwire tattoo on his upper arm. His hair was long and messy. The longer it got, the lighter it looked as it was bleached by the sun, as the reddish highlights were brought out.
Suzanne Brockmann - Team Ten 10 - Taylor's Temptation Page 16