Resurrection River: Men of Mercy, Book 2

by Cross, Lindsay

  She’d worked too hard today. He had no intention of letting her do it alone again tomorrow. The woman thought she had to do it all by herself. But Ranger knew better. A good soldier knew how to support himself, but an even better soldier knew when to call in reinforcements.

  If it wasn’t for his bum leg, he’d be out there in a heartbeat, even if he had to strap Chloe on his back in one of those baby carrier thingies. But as it was, crutches and all, he would probably get in the way more than help. So he settled for the next best thing.

  Out of their entire team, either Aaron or Riser had to have some experience in this arena. And those two were usually together. So he called Aaron.

  “Don’t tell me the door screwed up?” Aaron said without a greeting. Thanks to Ranger’s bum leg, he’d had to call in reinforcements to help hang Amy’s new door. Aaron, Riser and Merc had all shown up to do the task.

  “Come on, how can you screw up a perfectly good door?” Ranger said.

  “Just checkin’. What’s up, man?” Aaron’s drawl was definitely longer, more southern, with a distinct Texas twine.

  “Riser there?”

  “Yep.”

  “Either of y’all know your way around a crop-duster?”

  “Not me, if it don’t have hooves and horns and go moo, I can’t help. Hold on, I’ll ask the rest of the team.” Ranger heard Aaron pull the phone away and repeat his question. A few seconds later, he got back on the phone. “You’re in luck, brother. I happen to have one big son of a bitch right here that can help you out.”

  Ranger sagged in relief, he knew either Aaron or Riser could handle the situation. “Great. Tell Riser to be out here at sunrise.”

  “Well, I can tell him, but he doesn’t know shit about crop-duster’s.”

  Ranger stilled and lifted his head. “Who then?”

  Ethan grew up in the city, on the streets. Merc grew up who the hell knew where. The man spoke only when necessary and even then it was mainly grunts or one-word responses. He killed as easy in hand-to-hand combat as with a weapon. Aaron and Riser were the only ones who had grown up in the country.

  Ranger heard the phone shuffle. “Aaron?” If that asshole hung up on him…

  “I’ll be there.” The line went dead. Holy mother of God. Merc. The man scared the shit out of assassins and terrorists. Ranger sure as hell didn’t want him around Amy.

  35

  Chapter 35

  Ranger woke to the beeping of his watch alarm. Five a.m. The sun didn’t even shine at this ungodly hour. This before sunrise stuff sucked.

  But it would suck a whole lot worse if he wasn’t sleeping next to Amy. He’d kept his touches to G rated, knowing how exhausted she was, and lain awake half the night with the most painful raging hard on of his life. Her scent surrounded him. Her soft skin caressed him. He bit back a groan and gently nudged her awake.

  “Rise and shine.” For the past week, they’d gone no further than some heavy petting. He reacted worse than a horny teenager. His every waking thought was about her. How her hair felt like silk sifting through his fingers. The exquisite taste of her lips.

  Amy grumbled and rubbed her eyes. “Morning.”

  “Go get dressed, I’ll make you some breakfast.”

  “Okay.” She got up and walked out of the room, still half asleep. Ranger grabbed his crutches and used them to help him stand.

  He went to the kitchen, put on some coffee, and pulled out some bacon and eggs and pancake mix, determined to make her a big breakfast to get her through most of the day. He grabbed some sliced turkey and bread too. He’d be danged if he’d let her work all day with no food again.

  A little while later Amy appeared in the doorway, dressed in blue jeans and the formfitting muscle shirt. Her heavy breasts strained against the gray material. His mouth watered, remembering the taste of her nipples in his mouth. He couldn’t tear his gaze away, watching in fascination as those very nipples beaded and hardened.

  “Ranger.” The huskiness in her voice hit him with another bolt of desire. Shit. Get it together man. Merc would be here anytime and she had to get to work, but all he could think about was lifting up that shirt and devouring her pretty nipples.

  Ranger cleared his throat and turned away, flipping the last batch of bacon in the skillet, and briefly contemplating grabbing a cup of ice water to pour down his pants. She touched him, feather light on his arm, and he jerked.

  He quickly removed the bacon from the pan, set it to the side and turned off the heat. Then he faced her and immediately had to stop himself from groaning. Desire glowed in her brown eyes. Her plump lips parted and begged for him to taste. “Amy, you’ve got to quit looking at me like that.”

  She smiled an impish up to no good smile. “Why is that exactly?”

  Ranger wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against him, pressing himself against her belly. Her eyes widened in shock. Good. “That’s why. If you don’t stop looking at me like you want to devour me, I’m going to lose control.”

  “Now, why don’t you quit poking the bear and make yourself a cup of coffee?”

  “Sure thing.”

  Amy’s words were followed by a knock on the kitchen door. Her brows swooped down, “What on earth?”

  “I got it.” Ranger hobbled past her, cursing the fact that he hadn’t put on a shirt yet and there was nothing to disguise the aching bulge in his shorts. He yanked open the door anyway. Merc, the big son of a bitch, stood on the concrete patio, both feet planted on the ground. Hands clasped behind his back. Elbows out in a classic call to attention. Only Ranger would be damned if the man ever took orders from anybody.

  Ranger stood tall at six foot four, but Merc had at least another inch on him. He let his dark hair grow a little past a buzz cut, blending in with a thick beard. Heavy muscles bulged from beneath his T-shirt, pulling the material taut. “You’re early.”

  Merc glanced down. “Am I interrupting something?”

  Hell, yes you’re interrupting something. Ranger felt Amy’s presence behind him and took a breath. His friend was here because Ranger had asked for his help. His dick would have to wait. Ranger stepped to the side. “Merc, this is Amy.”

  “Ma’am.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Her gaze cut to Ranger. “Everything okay?”

  “I knew you needed some help and Merc here knows his way around a hangar. He volunteered to help you out.”

  Amy’s gaze traveled up the entire length of Merc. Ranger saw her visibly swallow. “How nice of you, but I don’t need help, really. I could never ask you to do something like that.”

  “It’s done,” Merc said and stepped inside. They both watched as he pulled out a seat at the kitchen table and sat down, stretching his long legs out in front of him. The man made the entire kitchen seem too small.

  “Well then, looks like you’re in time for breakfast.” Amy went to the kitchen, leaving the two men at the table.

  “Smile or something. You’re scaring her.”

  Merc turned his black eyes to Ranger, and he repressed a shudder. Asshole. He knew exactly what kind of effect he had on people.

  “Want some coffee?” Amy asked from the other side of the island.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Merc answered, still staring at Ranger.

  “Cream and sugar?” Amy said.

  Ranger bit the inside of his cheek. No way Merc put anything in his coffee, except maybe some battery acid.

  Then Merc surprised the ever loving shit out of Ranger. The man smiled, not that small side smirk he was so good at, but a real one that showed all of his teeth. “Sounds wonderful, thank you.”

  Holy crap.

  “Ranger, don’t just stand there, fix your friend a plate.”

  36

  Chapter 36

  Saturday morning Amy woke and rolled over in an otherwise empty bed. Ranger still refused to do more than kiss and touch. He slept on the couch every night, giving her time and space. And she’d had enough. She wanted more from him. She wante
d all of him.

  She sat up and grabbed her phone. Ten a.m.? She jumped up from the bed in alarm. She’d never slept this late. Never.

  Amy raced from the room. Chloe never slept this late. What kind of mother doesn’t hear her child cry? Surely she had cried out this morning.

  She got down the hall in record time only to hear a choking sound coming from the nursery. Her heart raced in her chest like a thoroughbred racehorse. Amy flew down the hall and skidded to a stop in the doorway.

  Ranger had Chloe at the changing table. The choking sound wasn’t coming from her daughter, but from the six foot four Special Forces operative bending over Chloe as she cooed and giggled and squealed.

  The lower half of Ranger’s face was hidden beneath a dishtowel that he had somehow secured around his nose and mouth with clothespins. Amy’s elbow length pink cleaning gloves were on his hands.

  Ranger gagged, his frame bending. Then he lifted a dirty diaper, toed open the wastebasket nearby and dropped the diaper, making sure to hold it out as far from him as possible.

  Once that part was over, he grabbed a wipe from the warmer and gently swabbed Chloe’s bottom, managing to finish the task with only a few more coughs. At this point, Amy could no longer hold it in. She grabbed the frame of the door and doubled over in laughter. Ranger turned, and all she could see was the surprised expression in his gorgeous blue eyes

  “I thought you military guys were supposed to be tough. How on earth did you do this all day yesterday?” Amy could barely get the words to her lips without shaking. She couldn’t stop laughing. She clutched her chest and tried to suck in a breath.

  She couldn’t see the lower half of his face, but she knew he was glaring. “I can handle explosives and guns and killing. But this… this is just wrong. How can such a cute little baby produce something so awful.” His voice was slightly muffled by the dishtowel.

  Amy approached him, lifted the towel and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “Thank you for letting me sleep in.”

  His eyes darkened with pleasure. “You were exhausted. Apparently Artie is too, cause he’s still sleeping. I figured me and Chloe could hang out. But she needs to come with a warning label.”

  He knocked a chink into the concrete surrounding her heart, but instead of a crack, it opened up one giant pothole. And not a regular pothole either, the potholes that knock a car completely out of alignment.

  Ranger staying here every day, taking care of the kids and the house wore on her. And not in a bad way either. She thought it had started out as a sense of obligation, but now when he looked at Chloe there was real love in his eyes.

  Love Shane never got the chance to experience. Her heart clenched, choked and restarted. No. She wouldn’t cry. Not again. Look forward, Amy. Move forward. Chloe didn’t need a mother locked in the past.

  She needed laughter. She needed love.

  And she needed a father.

  Amy reached behind his head, popped the clothespins open and gently pulled the dishcloth from around his face. His handsome features hit her hard, stealing her breath. Would she ever get over how good looking this man was? Everything about him was appealing.

  Blond hair cut close to his head. An incredibly square jaw. Freaking chiseled from stone kind of square jaw. But that jaw was softened by a gorgeous grin just for her.

  Ranger lifted Chloe, the pink rubber gloves stark against her naked belly. Chloe grabbed for his mouth, yanked his lower lip down and giggled when he nipped at her. The man was not only knocking holes in her resistance, he was laying explosives at the foundation and blowing the wall completely away.

  Mavis had stayed away from them since the hair salon and her husband hadn’t slammed the door in Amy’s face when she ordered more chemical supplies. The threat of Mavis wasn’t completely gone, but it was no longer scoping Amy for annihilation down the end of barrel.

  Ranger proved how much he cared not only for her, but for her children. In one week, he’d fixed her old barn door out back after he’d heard it creaking open in the wind. He’d replaced her broken kitchen door. He took out the trash when it got full and even changed the oil in her truck. He’d made her supper.

  And he did it all without her having to ask.

  “You okay?” Ranger seemed to sense her moods.

  Amy wanted to tell him how she felt. Let him know she was ready to move on. But not now. She would save that for tonight. “You keep my child and she’ll turn out rotten.”

  Ranger gave Chloe a big kiss on the cheek and Amy felt it all the way to her soul. She kicked and squealed and then her newly placed diaper popped free and dropped to the floor. Ranger’s eyes widened and his arms shot straight out. “Here, take her before she goes off again.”

  “Such a sissy.” Amy grabbed Chloe and swooped down to grab the diaper. She put her back on the changing table and snapped the diaper in place in under five seconds. All the while, Ranger leaned over her shoulder, studying her movements intently. “It really helps if you don’t put the diaper on backwards.”

  “What I want to know is what kind of idiot sells diapers without instructions?” Ranger grumbled. Amy wanted to poke him some more, to tease him, but she didn’t want to wound his already injured pride. But then again…

  “Look.” Amy pointed to the front of Chloe’s diaper. “See right there it says front.” She had to drive the point home, so she bit her lip to try to keep the laughter inside and rolled Chloe over to her belly. She squealed and slapped her hands down on the bed, enjoying the attention. Amy pointed to the back of her diaper. “See there, it says back.”

  Amy lifted Chloe and snuggled her belly up to her nose, savoring her soft sweet skin, and also hiding the huge grin she could no longer contain.

  Ranger stepped back and crossed his arms, his big manly chest poking out, but the effect was totally ruined by the long pink rubber gloves. “Are you making fun of me, woman?”

  “Never. I would never make fun of you.” But her laughter erupted once more and she felt the need to clutch her side.

  Chloe joined in on the fun and popped Amy in the nose, cutting her laughter off abruptly. Amy straightened and grabbed her face.

  This time it was Ranger’s turn to laugh and he didn’t hold back. “That girl’s got my back. Better watch what you say about me.”

  Amy rubbed her nose and tickled Chloe’s ribs, pulling forth another peal of giggles. She was so sweet, Amy could never get mad. “Have y’all had breakfast?”

  “Oh yeah, hours ago. As a matter of fact, we might be ready for lunch soon.” Amy let her gaze travel down that flat washboard stomach, secretly wishing he wasn’t wearing a shirt.

  “How about I make us a light lunch, and then I can cook a big meal for supper. All of us together.”

  Ranger shook his head and Amy had to catch her heart from sinking. Did he plan on leaving now that the work week was over? Did she want him to leave? She’d avoided the whole marriage thing so much, maybe she’d pushed him away.

  But ever since that night when he made that crazy declaration to Sheriff Lawson, a declaration that she was finding more and more appealing every day, he’d been careful to keep his distance.

  “Look, I know I’ve been avoiding talking to you about the other night.”

  His intense blue eyes held hers and he trailed a finger down her cheek. The small contact sent sparks of electricity shooting through her body. “Yes, you have. And I’ve let this go on long enough.

  “I don’t want you to leave.” She blurted out the declaration, her stomach tight.

  “I’m not leaving. We are going to talk. Today. What I wanted to say was I have to go out for a couple of hours, but I’ll be back before supper.”

  Her body went limp with relief. “Good. I’m ready to discuss it.”

  “Tonight.” Ranger brushed a kiss across her lips.

  “Tonight,” she agreed.

  “Aaron and Riser are going to come pick me up. Do you care if I take Arturo with me? I figure the boy needs some man time
before he turns into an all-out girl.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Ranger lifted his hand and swept it over his head, gesturing to the room. “This nursery is pink. You got him sleeping in a purple guest room. If I’m not careful, he’ll be playing with Barbie dolls next. He needs tractors. Dirt. Monster trucks.”

  “So you’re saying you don’t like my house decorations?”

  “I could care less about the color of your house, as long as you’re in it.”

  Amy started feeling generous, despite his sexist comments. “Okay, since you let me sleep then why don’t you tell me what you’d like for supper. I’ll make it.”

  “Woman, you make me happy.” Ranger pulled me to him, Chloe squished between us. “I’m a meat and potatoes kind of guy. I will leave the details up to you.”

  37

  Chapter 37

  “Now this is what I call a homecoming.”

  Amy’s heart slammed into her sternum at high speed and her eyes flew open. Ranger stood in the doorway, a duffle bag in hand, black shirt and tactical pants practically painted on. His bulging biceps rippled. Her mouth watered.

  “Where are your crutches?”

  He let the bag drop to the kitchen floor and leaned against the doorjamb, crossing his arms over his massive chest. Her breath quickened and her stomach fluttered like a teenager. Ranger’s gaze drifted down her body then back to her face, locking on her eyes, communicating his desire with a scorching look. Her nipples beaded instantly.

  “Doc said I didn’t need ‘em anymore.”

  He pushed off from the wall, stalking around the island like a true predator. She couldn’t help but devour his wide shoulders and lean hips. The man was walking sex on a stick. Amy tensed, waiting for the familiar guilt to slam into her, but all she felt was a keen yearning.

  “Where’s Artie?” Was that her voice all raspy and weak?

  Ranger leaned in, his low deep voice sending chill bumps racing across her skin. “He’s spending the night with Evie and Hunter.”

  Her mouth went dry and she grabbed her wine, tossing back the liquid in a desperate attempt to calm her nerves.