by Julie Miller
He kissed her again, slipping one finger inside her hot, weepy center, testing her readiness for him. She bucked against his hand and he slipped a second finger inside, teasing the delicate vibrations of her response.
The soft claw of ten fingertips kneaded his shoulders as she gasped against his mouth. “Thomas... You better want this as badly as I do.”
“I do.”
Sparing one moment for reason, he opened the drawers on either side of her in a frantic search to find a box of condoms he hoped one of his boys left behind. They shared a laugh when they finally found a packet in the last drawer. Jane’s hands were there with his to slide it on. And then he was inside her. Pausing a moment to catch his breath and savor the moment, he saw them reflected together in the mirror, and Thomas knew that nothing in his life had ever looked so sexy, ever felt so right.
The word love was right on the tip of his tongue, but Jane locked her feet around his backside and pulled him into her so deeply, he thought he’d lose it right there. Before the pleasure could overtake him, he leaned her back against his arm, slipped his thumb down to that sensitive spot where they were joined, claimed her mouth with his and swallowed up the joyous gasps of her release. And while the aftershocks of her climax danced around his hard length, he pumped into her again and again until it was all he could do to stay on his feet and ride the waves of his own release deep inside her.
When he knew himself again, when he felt warm hands gently stroking the length of his spine and soft lips pressed against the juncture of his shoulder and neck, Thomas hugged Jane close until their breathing synced into an even rhythm. He disposed of the condom, washed them both with his damp towel, scooped her off the counter and lifted her into his arms.
“Your leg.”
“Not an old man. Remember?”
He kissed her answering smile, feeling his strength returning, his happiness, too, both growing more powerful than he’d felt in a long time. Jane looped her arms around his neck and he carried her through the hallway to his bedroom. He laid her against the pillows and she scurried beneath the covers, holding them up so he could crawl in beside her.
Thomas wrapped her in his arms and she snuggled up against him, sliding a creamy thigh between his legs, pillowing a breast against his bare skin, heedless of the scars and years and losses between them.
And when she drifted off to sleep the way she had each night he held her, Thomas pressed a kiss to the crown of her head and whispered, “I love you.”
* * *
JANE AWOKE TO BLACKNESS. She was trapped. Her legs were bound. She couldn’t breathe. “No!”
She sat up with a jolt, twisting against her bindings until she realized her legs were simply tangled up in the sheets. Had she screamed out loud? Or had that helpless terror been part of the nightmare?
The covers had gotten over her head somehow. She could see now, but the blocky objects around her were all in shadows. A thin beam of light swept across her face, blinding her for an instant. When her vision cleared, a broad figure towered over her in the darkness, and she scooted back against the pillows and headboard.
“Jane?” The tall figure backed away. The light flickered over her bare belly and she realized she was completely naked. She grasped the sheet and quilt and tugged them up to her chest. “It’s okay, honey.” She knew that voice. A deep-pitched rumble in the night. “You’re okay. It was a bad dream.”
It wasn’t him.
“What happened? Why is it so dark?” Those frissons of panic were still coursing through her blood, making it difficult for her to concentrate. “Am I awake?”
“Yes.” The shadowy figure was wearing a faded T-shirt that read USAF. United States Air Force.
The lingering vestiges of fear shook her fingers as she gripped the covers. “Thomas?”
The familiar figure nodded and held out both hands, showing her a small flashlight and a framed picture of a young couple in a wedding gown and dress uniform. “You’re in my bedroom. Kansas City, Missouri. The sun hasn’t come up yet. I didn’t want to turn on a light and wake you.” Thomas slipped the small picture frame into the top drawer of his dresser and pushed it shut. Then he sat on the edge of the bed near her feet, reaching out a hand to her. “Tell me you know where you are and who I am.”
She pushed a tangled fall of hair off her face and tucked it behind her ear. “I know who you are, Thomas.” She trained her gaze on the concerned green eyes that were waiting for her to prove she was all right. “I guess I was having a nightmare. I thought...”
“I can imagine what you thought.” He found her foot through the covers and gave her toes a reassuring squeeze before he moved closer to sit beside her. He set the flashlight on the bedside table and turned on the lamp there instead. As soon as his face came into focus, she reached out to cup his jaw and felt reassured by the brown-and-silver dots of stubble tickling her palm. He let her press her fingertips to the smooth line of his mouth and brush aside the spikes of hair that fell over his forehead before he spoke. “Are you with me now?”
Jane nodded, feeling his strength feed her own, letting his presence calm her. The memory of the needy, potent way he’d made love to her came flooding back, suffusing her with a heat that chased away the last of the dream. “Sorry for the little freak-out.”
He pressed a kiss into her palm, then captured her hand against his thigh. “You scare me when I lose you like that.”
“I don’t mean to. I suppose the stress of everything manifested itself. I don’t even remember the images. Just being afraid. But I’m okay now. I promise.” The sweatpants he wore were soft with wear and warm from the heat of his body. She wished she could snuggle up inside them herself. Instead, she glanced over at the dresser. “You were looking at Mary’s picture. Do you have any regrets about what happened between us?” She wasn’t hurt by his actions, and she wasn’t jealous of Mary. But she didn’t want him to feel guilty about the changing nature of their relationship. She hadn’t felt so thoroughly loved, so treasured and important to another person, in years. She hoped he’d found at least half that much satisfaction and a sense of being cherished from her. “I don’t.”
“Neither do I.” A grin softened his rugged features. “But I feel kind of awkward having someone watch while I make love to you.”
“Why? Are you thinking of doing it again?”
He scooted closer to her, bracing his hands on top of the quilt on either side of her and leaned in. “What kind of stamina do you think I have, woman?”
Not feeling one whit of a threat with him trapping her like that, she splayed her fingers over his heart. “A lot. More than me. As I recall, I’m the one who dozed off.”
“You’ve got more sleep to catch up on than I do.”
And there it was again. The danger in the room. Her fingers curled into the soft cotton of his shirt. “Do you think your plan will work? That Badge Man and his accomplice will show up at the reunion?”
“Unless he gets inside this house, he won’t have access to you anyplace else between now and then. The wait will make him antsy, eager to make a move. And since he’s watching us, he’ll know I’ll be there and you’ll be with me.” She believed him when he spoke, but the worry returned as he continued. “Plus, the guy who’s targeting me likes a big stage with lots of people. It’s a more public stab at me, the potential for more collateral damage to fill me with guilt. They’ll be there.”
Now she felt guilty. How could she ever allow this good man and the people he loved to be harmed? “Collateral damage? Maybe I should stick with the WITSEC program, ask Conor to relocate me. I think I’d break if anyone else got hurt because of me. Especially you. And your family.”
When she tried to pull away, he simply moved closer, forcing her to clutch the sheet against her breasts to maintain any sort of barrier between them. Even from the dim light of the lamp
, she could see how dead serious he was about this. “If you relocate and get a new identity, I won’t be able to be with you—because of Dad and Millie, and my responsibilities to the department. The kids are making new lives for themselves, and I want to be a part of that.”
“You should be. Thomas, I don’t want to take anything away from you.”
“You’ve already taken the most important thing.” He pried her hand from the covers and placed it back over his heart. Jane almost cried at the silent message he was sending. “Hell, if you change your name and move someplace new, I might never be able to find you.” His eyes narrowed and lines of strain deepened beside them. “He’d still be after you, and I wouldn’t be there to protect you. I don’t want to lose you. Not now, when I think there’s a chance we could make something work.”
She reached out to soothe the worry lines. “I want that chance, too. After Freddie, I never thought... I didn’t think it was safe to care about anyone again. But I can’t help it.” She blinked a tear from her eye and swiped it off her cheek. She was still desperately afraid that someone would get hurt, but now she was determined to fight for the chance to live a normal life and find real love again. This wasn’t just for Freddie anymore. It wasn’t just for her. “I’ll do whatever you tell me to make this sting you’ve planned a success. Let’s take our lives back.”
Thomas nodded. “Let’s take our lives back.”
This time, he initiated the lovemaking. Her skin quickly warmed beneath the crush of Thomas’s chest as she hugged her arms around his neck and kissed him. He laid her back on the bed and stretched out beside her. Unlike that frantic, pent-up release earlier, this time was slow and deliberate, as if it was important to both of them to create a lasting memory that neither time nor danger nor death could ever take away.
Blissfully exhausted, her body still humming with satisfaction, Jane fell asleep in his arms again. If she’d known Thomas was the tonic to keep the nightmares at bay and find her way back to a normal life, she’d have let herself love him sooner.
* * *
SATURDAY NIGHT COULDN’T come soon enough, and now that it was here, Thomas wished he had another week to gather intel and prepare his team. He wished he had another lifetime to spend with Jane in his home and in his bed and in his family, to continue these last two idyllic days locked inside a guarded cage where the outside world couldn’t reach them. They’d lived their lives as a couple, arguing a little, touching a lot, laughing and snuggling, reviewing escape scenarios, talking about anything and everything except for the fragile L-word that neither one of them wanted to risk sharing again, in case the unthinkable happened tonight.
Thomas straightened his tie and the lapels of his suit jacket in the foyer mirror before resuming his pacing at the foot of the stairs while he waited for Jane to finish getting ready.
“You wear hole in rug,” Seamus chastised him. His father stood in the archway leading into the living room, leaning on the cane he was now using to move around the house. The blue blood running through his veins showed in the worry lines on his face. He understood the game plan for tonight. Part of him was as worried about the success of Thomas’s plan as he was—and part of him probably wanted to be in on the action, defending their family against the threats that had plagued them for too many months. But he settled for simply keeping his son company. “Always worth it to wait on a woman.”
“Jane’s not late,” Thomas automatically defended her. “I just want to get this night started and done with as soon as possible.”
Millie toddled down the hallway with the sweater she’d fetched for Seamus and helped him slip into it. “You know not to worry about a thing here, right?” She brushed aside a mote of lint from the navy blue wool and patted his father’s chest. “Seamus unlocked his service revolver and has it loaded. Gabe and Olivia have already checked the doors and locks. After they’re done eating dinner, we’ve got a new deck of cards to play penny ante poker until everyone comes home safely. We’ll be fine.”
Thomas stopped pacing and pulled back the front of his jacket to prop his hands at his waist. He frowned at the two seniors. “Dad, your hand isn’t strong enough to hold and fire that gun.”
“If anybody comes here and t-treatens my fam-ly, I will.”
Thomas raked his fingers through his hair and started toward the kitchen. “I’m telling Olivia to unload that weapon and lock it back up in the closet.”
He hadn’t taken three steps when he heard the click of heels coming down the stairs. He froze when he saw Jane, forgetting how to breathe. She wore a high-necked red sleeveless dress with a few sparkles dancing over the satiny finish.
And those high heels. Two black straps and a silver heel. His blood raced through his veins as she descended the stairs toward him. He’d never seen her in anything but her uniform clogs or running shoes or barefoot. The height of those heels and the dress that skimmed the top of her knees made her legs look longer than he remembered and, well, irresistibly hot.
“Do I look okay?” she asked when she reached the foyer. “Too much? Not enough? I borrowed the dress and shoes from Kenna. She thought they’d be appropriate for a cocktail party.” Had he even blinked? She’d swept her hair up in some elegant loose knot thing that he desperately wanted to undo with his fingers. She looked amazing, and for a few seconds he felt a rush of pride and appreciation that made him wish that this was a real date. “I chose red because I thought it was patriotic. We’re celebrating the air force tonight, right?”
His father, ever more eloquent than Thomas, limped up beside her. “Well, if he won’t say it, I will. You a knockout.”
“Thank you.” Jane smiled and kissed his cheek.
Seamus turned and swatted Thomas on the arm. “Close your mouth, t-son.”
Thomas snapped his lips together, feeling the embarrassment of adolescent lust warming his cheeks. He’d never get over how this woman transformed him into a man who felt twenty or thirty years younger. “It’s perfect. You’re perfect.”
Millie pulled out her phone and nudged Thomas toward Jane. “Stand together by the stairs. I want to get a picture.”
Although he obliged by sliding his arm behind Jane’s waist, he felt duty-bound to remind all of them, including himself, that tonight wasn’t a date. “It’s not the prom, Millie.”
Jane’s hand settled at his back, brushing against the gun he’d holstered there. When she stiffened, he gave the pinch of her waist a reassuring squeeze. She didn’t need the sobering reminder that tonight’s celebration served an ulterior purpose.
“We’ll be fine, dear,” Millie assured him, snapping a couple of pictures despite the grim expression on Jane’s face. “And I know you. Those men won’t get away.”
“Do you have your tracker on you?” Thomas asked. “In case we get separated. Not that I’m letting you out of my sight.”
“Right here.” Jane patted her chest, where the tiny electronic device was hooked to her bra. “Do you?”
He touched the pocket of his jacket, indicating he was plugged into the KCPD surveillance that would be tracking their movements tonight, too. “We’ll double-check with Keir and Agent Hunt in the command van to make sure they’ve got us on radar when we get to the hotel.” He held out his arm and she linked her hand through his elbow. “Let’s do this.”
Twenty minutes later they pulled up in front of the Muehlebach Hotel in downtown Kansas City. Thomas exchanged a nod with Hud Kramer, who was working as a valet, when they got out of the car.
“We’re all hooked up by radio,” Hud confirmed, indicating the police officers and volunteering friends stationed throughout the hotel and conference center. “If anything goes down, we’ll all know about it. You’ll have backup before you know you need it.”
Then he drove off to park the truck and Thomas escorted Jane inside the historic landmark hotel. They followed the
trail of bright lights across the carpeted lobby to the escalator leading down to the reception areas. They passed Al Junkert sitting in the bar off the lobby. He acknowledged them with a slight raise of his glass before turning to resume a conversation with the woman beside him.
By the time they’d checked into the air force reunion, gotten their name badges and traded hugs with Mutt and Jeff, Jane’s fingers were shaking against his arm. He covered her hand with his, stilling the nervous twitching, and leaned over to press a kiss to her temple. “Remember, we’ve got eyes all over the place here. All you have to do is enjoy the party.”
“And look for a guy with heterochromatic eyes and a neck tattoo.”
The evening progressed without incident. Mutt got up on the stage and surprised Jeff with the birthday announcement, and they all sang “Happy Birthday” and the air force hymn. A couple of the guys on the planning committee had come up with the idea of awarding prizes for the veterans who’d traveled the farthest, served the longest and had the most grandchildren. The commander at Whiteman Air Force Base gave a short speech and thanked them all for their service.
Then the band played and the dancing started. And as Thomas had asked them to, Mutt or Jeff kept Jane company whenever he couldn’t be at her side.
Thomas was returning to their table with two glasses of ice water and two beers when he spotted Jeff’s blond hair and tall frame guiding Jane across the parquet dance floor after a ’70s-era line dance ended. He set one beer in front of Mutt at the table and emptied the rest of the tray, waiting for Jeff and Jane to join them.
“Is one of those for me?” Jane asked. A sheen of perspiration dotted her forehead. Making such a conspicuous show of herself out on the dance floor was probably giving her a better workout than her morning runs.