UnderFire

by Denise A. Agnew

  * * * * *

  Kathleen was reasonably certain she’d lost her mind. She looked around the holiday chaos in Danelle and Patrick’s big living room at their house in the woods outside of town. Her friends joked and seemed to be having a great time. Kathleen, however, could only worry about how things would turn out this weekend for all of them. It was driving her batty.

  Kathleen and Jake had arrived early with the food they’d promised to bring. Lena and Rick had arrived separately and Melanie and Matt had come in one car. It seemed in one way or another they were all still tied together. She wondered how much longer the dream would last. Kathleen kicked herself all over the place because she hated that deep pessimism she seemed to have been born with—or that she’d learned from her father’s relentless cruelty.

  All she could think about was how sexy Jake had looked as she’d ridden him to a breath-stealing orgasm. When she’d danced to the raunchy song and taken total control of their lovemaking, she’d wondered why she’d felt safe enough with him to let it all hang out. It hadn’t mattered. Deep primal craving had stirred her until she’d discarded caution. She’d never participated in sex that raw before and it scared her in a way she didn’t understand at first. She knew she wanted him with a potent desire that wouldn’t disappear.

  Across the room Jake laughed at something Rick said, and she ached. Ached like she had some sort of lovesickness, damn it. A new song came over the digital television’s music station. The melody had a soft but sexy beat and spoke of love lost and found. Kathleen wanted to smack herself for noticing and connecting everything to her growing feelings for Jake Frasier.

  Cold weather outside mocked her. She wanted to be locked away with Jake for the next several weeks doing nothing but having mind-numbing sex and sleeping. As she watched the men joking around, her gaze wouldn’t leave Jake. While Matt, Rick and Patrick were undeniably good-looking men, feelings swamped over her whenever she heard that low, slightly raspy voice that belonged only to Jake. She found it hard to concentrate and recognized she’d become so infatuated with him she couldn’t see straight. She tried to tell herself not to think beyond Saturday. He’d be gone on Sunday and then she’d return to Los Angeles and make decisions on what to do with the rest of her life. An empty ache started low in her stomach at the thought of Jake not being somewhere in the picture.

  “Come on, ladies.” Danelle headed toward her master bedroom. “We have some girly stuff to do.”

  The guys grunted like only men could, the sounds primitive and predictable. Kathleen and the others followed Danelle like the good friends they were. She wanted them to try on the dresses one last time to make sure no last-minute adjustments would be needed. Thankfully she was also a damn good seamstress in her own right if anything required fixing. They all slipped into their dresses. The gentle blush-pink color of their long gowns complemented the understated elegance of Danelle’s full-length cream-colored off-shoulder dress and its short train. Nothing featured too much frippery or finery, just clean lines and grace. The ensemble of dresses fit everything in Danelle’s wedding perfectly.

  Danelle smiled, tears in her eyes as she looked into the mirror above the dresser. “Everyone looks so pretty.” She laughed. “I’d say group hug but we’d get wrinkled.”

  “Hell with that, group hug anyway,” Kathleen said as tears welled in her eyes too.

  The girls huddled together and giggled. Kathleen allowed the totally girl side of her to emerge. Tears touched her eyes too but she quickly made sure they disappeared before her friends could see them.

  “We’re pathetic. We’re crying over weddings and dresses,” Kathleen said.

  As Melanie unzipped Danelle’s dress, Danelle said, “You love weddings. Why the cynicism?”

  “Why?” Kathleen’s hands went up. “Eight times a bridesmaid. I want to start planning weddings so I don’t have to be in them all the time.”

  Lena grinned at her as she stepped out of her dress and stood in bra and panties. “Maybe you can plan a wedding for Melanie and Matt. The way they’ve been drooling over each other makes me think they’ll be next.”

  Melanie turned read and swatted Lena’s arm, then she threw her friend a tight grin. “Shut up.”

  They laughed, and Kathleen loved the lightheartedness that surrounded their little group. “We’ll remember this day. Hell, we’ll remember the entire last week for more than one reason.”

  “That’s for certain.” Danelle sat on the bed and her face had turned serious. “You know, if anything had happened to you guys…” Tears welled up.

  “Damn.” Lena sat on the bed next to her and put her arm around her friend. “It’s all right.”

  Danelle sniffed as her eyes swam with tears. “I’d like to blame this on hormones but it’s not. I think every day about what might have happened, how this all would have ended so much differently if…”

  As Danelle trailed off, Kathleen allowed herself to go there. Her throat went tight. “I’m glad Jake was there in the supply closet. I know we would have made it out all right but he protected me. He was a rock. He protected everyone in there, even that awful man.”

  Danelle took the tissue Melanie handed her and Melanie sat on the other side of Danelle. “All the guys were wonderful. There’s no denying that. I was so damned scared in that bathroom. I thought… I don’t know what I thought. I was worried about what was happening to all of you.”

  Danelle took a big breath and let it out. “Sorry. Sorry.” She stood. “I didn’t mean to start this. Let’s get out there before the men take over the universe and convince us they’re the best thing since sliced bread.”

  “Okay, bitches,” Kathleen said in mock seriousness, “it’s time to eat. Just don’t eat too much or none of us will fit into our dresses Saturday.”

  The other woman laughed again.

  Danelle hung her dress on a padded hanger and slid it into a special place in her closet. “There’s tea tomorrow. We can’t starve until Saturday. I want you ladies to have a good time. Let’s enjoy ourselves.”

  They would have enjoyed it a bit more but as they stepped out of Danelle’s bedroom, Rick said something that put a damper on the entire thought.

  “Weddings. I’m not ever getting married,” Rick said.

  Lena’s face fell like a cake.

  * * * * *

  As Jake drove Kathleen back to the hotel, Kathleen sank deep into her thoughts. After Rick had said he never wanted to get married the atmosphere of the holiday had chilled slightly. Kathleen stepped into the dead silence by rounding everyone up to put out the rest of the Thanksgiving food. Talk about the possibility of testifying and the shooter’s trial came up. Kathleen’s voice cracked when she said all she wanted to do was forget it had happened. When Jake had taken her hand, the comfort that had flowed from his touch had brought a huge lump to her throat. Lena seemed most traumatized by the mall incident, and although Rick tried to reassure her, his earlier statement about weddings had visibly put a damper on her interest in listening to his advice.

  “Rick stepped in it tonight,” Kathleen said as they entered her hotel room.

  Jake shut the door but didn’t take his coat off. She threw hers across the straight-back chair.

  Bewilderment covered his face. “How?”

  Kathleen sat on the bed and pulled off her boots. She let them thud to the floor. “He said he never wanted to get married.”

  Jake still didn’t look enlightened. “So?”

  Kathleen flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. “You’re a man. You wouldn’t get it.”

  He made one of those eternally male grunts that conveyed disagreement. “Okay, so I’m a guy. Sue me. I kind of resent your assumption that all men are a bunch of gorillas who have no sensitivity at all.”

  His response surprised her, and so did the vehemence in his voice. Still, she was on a roll. “He obviously doesn’t have a clue that what he said hurt Lena.”

  Jake made another one of those male no
ises guaranteed to infuriate a woman. “What are you talking about?”

  She folded her hands over her stomach and continued to peer at the ceiling. “If Lena is falling for him, don’t you think that would make her feel bad to hear he never wanted to get married?”

  He leaned over the bed, placed both of his hands on the bed near her waist and peered down at her. “Maybe. Maybe not. Not all women want to get married. We haven’t a clue what’s going on between them or what’s happening between Matt and Melanie. We need to stay out of their business. I don’t get involved with my brothers’ love lives. Ever. Neither should you.”

  Kathleen bristled and she glared at him. “Don’t tell me what to do, Jake Frasier.”

  His face turned to granite, eyes distant and cool. He moved back from the bed. “I’m not your father, Kathleen. Not even that ass we were stuck with in the supply closet.”

  Defensiveness flared to life and old wounds split open. “Look, it’s been a long day. Maybe we should call it a night.”

  A darkness entered his eyes, a finality that sank her heart.

  “You’re right.” He walked to the door.

  She followed him, and as he opened the door she wondered if he’d leave without a goodbye. He stood on the threshold, his dark brows drawn down, mouth a hard line.

  “Have a good night, Kathleen.”

  He left without another word, without a kiss. She locked the door behind him, then leaned her forehead against it, her mind reeling and unable to take in what she’d experienced. Today she’d felt affection from him and a sizzle she couldn’t deny. They’d jumped off the bridge when she’d told him she wouldn’t be bossed around. Additional anger brought frustrated tears to her eyes. She walked to the bed and landed facedown, the urge to growl and punch something high on the list. Maybe it was better they cut off this fling here and now. She had no more illusions that their relationship could move forward. She bunched the coverlet in her fists, frustrated as her anger at him simmered. Maybe all men felt it was okay to tell a woman what to think and what to believe and what to do. She was over that, and even the most amazing, drop-dead gorgeous, sexy man she’d ever met couldn’t take away who she was or change how she wanted to run her life.

  * * * * *

  The next night Jake was in Patrick’s suite. Patrick’s suite was pretty lush, for a suite in a small hotel in Constitution. Jake took in the surroundings as he sat at a table with Patrick, Matt and Rick with an array of beverages in front of them. The suite featured a separate bedroom, a kitchenette, dining table and bathroom. Cozy enough digs.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Rick asked Jake suddenly. “You’re staring off into the distance.”

  Jake tossed back a whiskey, the only one he planned to have the night before the wedding. “Nothing. Best I’ve been in a long time.”

  Patrick’s eyebrows went up as he sipped a beer. “Yeah? How’s that?”

  Jake grinned but there wasn’t a damn bit of humor left in him after the previous night’s disastrous breakup with Kathleen.

  “Let’s just say when your big party is over, Patrick, I’ll be glad to see the back of Constitution,” Jake said.

  “Ouch.” Matt had a pained look. “I’m right there with you, buddy. Right there with you.”

  “Uh-huh. Why do I feel as if there’s an undercurrent here I don’t understand?” Patrick asked.

  “My brothers are complicated that way,” Rick said as he tasted his diet cola. “But I’m not in the same boat they are.”

  Patrick’s blond eyebrows twitched again as he looked at his buddies. “Oh yeah? You patch it up with Lena?”

  Rick smiled. “Not talking about it.”

  “Great, look at that shit-eating grin,” Jake said and tossed a disgruntled look at Rick.

  “Okay, I suppose I shouldn’t ask this but Danelle was nagging me for answers last night.” Patrick cleared his throat and took another swig of beer. “Danelle’s worried about the girls. She thinks you’re going to leave Melanie, Kathleen and Lena with broken hearts.”

  The guys groaned, including Jake.

  Jake headed in another direction, not wanting to think of Kathleen’s beautiful face and sexy body dancing for him. “Can we talk about sports or something else less complicated than women?”

  Rick’s smile widened to Cheshire cat status. “Women. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.”

  “We’ve lived without them pretty well up until this point,” Matt said.

  “Nah, that’s not true.” Patrick shifted on his chair, as if the whole conversation made him uncomfortable. “I love Danelle. I love her more than life itself.”

  Jake felt that right in the heart, and the reason stunned him. He wanted more with Kathleen, and leaving her the previous night had torn him up. He’d come back to the hotel and dulled his brain on useless television. A nightmare about losing Kathleen to the mall shooter had burned into his brain.

  “All right. We’ve had a great week here for your wedding and that’s what we should concentrate on,” Jake said.

  Patrick looked at each of them, turning the beer bottle around and around on the table. “Yeah, you’re right. I just hope you aren’t missing out on something good with Danelle’s friends because you’re going macho on them.”

  Jake’s mouth dropped open and he saw surprise dart through Matt’s and Rick’s expressions.

  Rick wasn’t having any of it. “Look, bro, Lena’s very special to me. Like I said the other day, I wouldn’t hurt her. I resent being needled about it.”

  Jake felt a tension growing in the air and worked to head it off at the pass. “Uh, look, can we get back to drinking and telling dirty jokes?”

  They did, and yet for the rest of the night Jake thought about Kathleen, his need for her burning in his mind and body. He yearned to be back in her arms. He hoped maybe one last dance with her tomorrow would do the trick and he could purge himself of wanting her forever.

  Chapter Six

  “This reception rocks.” The young woman standing next to Jake batted her gunked-up blue eyes at him as the wedding reception burst into full swing.

  The disc jockey put on a ballad but no one was dancing yet. Jake knew he had to dance with Kathleen, and he was happy and sad about the idea.

  The reception at the hotel had started twenty minutes ago and he’d spent part of that time in a reception line with Kathleen next to him. She’d spoken to him during the wedding, and walking down the aisle with her on his arm had stirred unwanted feelings of possession. He wanted more time with Kathleen McSwain, and she had barely given him the time of day. Oh she was pleasant enough but her greeting lacked warmth and so did her gaze. She’d shut him out, and he couldn’t blame her. Wasn’t it better this way?

  “I’m Talia Duncan.” The woman pushed back a long toss of messy platinum-blonde hair.

  “Jake Frasier.” He held out his hand and shook hers. “You didn’t go through the reception line.”

  “Nah. I was late. I’m the daughter of wedding planner. I’m helping her out.”

  “Oh. I see.”

  He returned the woman’s grin and her cheeks went pink. She looked all of twenty-one and she’d worn a low-necked, sleeveless pink dress that was at least a size too small. It clung to her curvy body in intriguing ways, and she acted as if she knew it.

  She turned full toward him and he felt her gaze latch on to him. “Wait. You’re that guy. One of the brothers who kicked ass in the mall on Tuesday.”

  He couldn’t restrain a laugh. “What?”

  “Yeah. I saw it in the paper.” She shrugged. “The online edition. You guys are heroes.”

  “I haven’t watched the news or read any papers the last few days.”

  “It’s all over the place.” Before he could deflect her praise, she shifted closer to him. “Think you could introduce me to your brothers? They’re both hot.” She looked him over. “You’re not too bad either.”

  He made a half-laughing, half-strangled sound.


  Before he could escape with some excuse, the disc jockey made the announcement that the wedding party would dance directly after the bride and groom. Patrick and Danelle went onto the floor and a love song started.

  “Hope you’ll dance with me,” Talia said, licking her lips.

  “I think the groomsman has to dance with me first,” Kathleen said from behind them.

  He swung around and so did Talia. He wanted to thank Kathleen but her straight face didn’t appear amused.

  Talia planted her hands on her hips. “I know that.”

  He almost rolled his eyes. If he didn’t know better he’d think these women had decided to fight over him.

  “Yep, that’s right.” He smiled at Kathleen but she walked away without another word.

  Talia smirked, hands still on hips. “Man, she looked pissed. Is she your girlfriend?”

  He knew the answer right away. “Yes. I’d better go talk to her.”

  Before he could escape Talia, two other people in the crowd waylaid him to ask questions relating to the mall incident. Talia and the other two women hung on his words, and he didn’t feel comfortable with it. He smiled and answered their questions.

  Relief came when the disc jockey announced the wedding party dance. Jake excused himself from the conversation and went looking for Kathleen. When he approached her as she stood talking with a couple, she didn’t smile. He ached with a desire to change her expression. It didn’t matter because he would drive out of here tomorrow. He craved her in his arms and this one dance would be his last opportunity.

  He held out his hand. “Ready to dance?”