There was a pause. Lyn thought hard about what David was saying. Years ago, other military wives would talk to her mother about safe, well-established Air Force bases well within American territory. They’d made it sound like there was minimal risk. Of course it was awful when husbands had to deploy, but there’d never been a hint of the kind of danger David was talking about to Atlas. What he and Atlas had survived—it was something she’d known some select few had to do, far removed from anyone she knew or cared for. Only, it wasn’t so far removed anymore.
“But she should be able to enjoy a safe afternoon shopping. That town is a freaking tourist attraction. It’s the small, historic place to go around here to walk around and have a relaxing day.” Anger was seeping into David’s voice and an answering low growl issued from Atlas in response. The rapport between the two of them was getting stronger. “Instead, I see a man who shouldn’t be there. Bad news. And my gut tells me she wouldn’t have to worry about any of it if it weren’t for us.”
Why? Who? And what did they have to do with any of it?
Too many questions. She put her hand over her mouth to keep from blurting them out. If she walked up now, it’d stop him and she was not about to pretend she hadn’t overheard.
David sighed. “She looked like she had a good time today. Hated to cut it short.”
It took every ounce of will she had not to lean forward and listen harder. The breeze was blowing toward her, away from Atlas. But if she made any noise now or if the wind changed, Atlas would let David know she was near. And David was one of the best trainers she’d ever worked with. He’d be able to read Atlas clearer than printed text.
“Not sure how to proceed at this point, Old Man.”
She scowled. Atlas wasn’t old!
But then she took a breath and counted down slowly, letting the air back out silently. She’d heard her stepfather call his war buddies “Old Man” the few times she’d been around them. It was a thing, she supposed, and even the passing point of similarity to her stepfather knocked her feelings about Cruz back into a jumbled mess.
“If it were Calhoun or any other soldier, I’d brief her. Give her the details and let her decide. But she’s not a soldier. And she shouldn’t have to worry about these things.” A pause. “She’s a solid trainer. And she’s done you a lot of good. She deserves better than being sucked into whatever shit storm we’re about to go into next. Something is about to break, somewhere. I feel it in my gut and you’ve been on edge all day. We both know it’s coming, whatever it is. And I want her clear before it does.”
“Oh no. You are not sending me away.” She slapped her hands over her mouth. Then wondered how the hell they’d moved while she’d been listening in the first place. Fantastic the way she didn’t even pay attention to what she was doing when she heard epic statements of idiocy.
David and Atlas were both on their feet.
Since there was no sense lurking around the corner, she walked the rest of the way to them, trailing her hand against the chain-link of the kennel so Atlas could snuffle her fingertips.
“Listening long?” David didn’t back away from Atlas’s kennel and she decided she didn’t have any issues with stepping into his personal space.
Being near Atlas was only a partial excuse.
“Well, I still have questions so maybe I didn’t listen long enough.” She lifted her gaze to his.
Steel blue eyes, the color of storm clouds. Wow, but she liked looking into them. At the moment, his brows were drawn over them, giving him a severe expression. She ought to be at least somewhat intimidated by it but maybe she was building up a tolerance. Besides, being here with him was so much better than a couple of alternatives.
He came to a decision while she was pondering those. It crossed his face and then he seemed resigned. “What do you want to know?”
She swallowed. “Everything. Whatever there is. Whatever is going on. Because I’m already all sorts of caught up in it and I think you worry about what it means.”
His lips pressed together in a thin line.
She nodded. “Yeah. You do. And I do too.”
“There’s a certain safety to not knowing the details.” He wasn’t just standing there anymore. He was looming.
And it wasn’t going to scare her. Not anything he’d do. Because there were two men out there who’d already taken her sense of safety and ripped it to shreds. “Only when you’re sitting, waiting, hoping the bad things won’t come to find you. You sent me back here today and I followed your lead because it was the right thing to do at the time. But I won’t be staying here forever. I need to know what I’m facing when I step off this property.”
He opened his mouth.
But she wasn’t done yet. “The man who attacked me already set foot here, so even this place isn’t perfect. Now he’s made bail and he’s walking around free as you please. While you and Brandon and Alex are here with the dogs, there’s a line of defense. Isn’t that the way you put it? But no place all on its own is safe. The dogs are kenneled and you all have to sleep sometime.”
“Never at the same time,” David muttered.
She blinked, caught by surprise. The idea of the men each taking a turn in sleep and being awake was unsettling. Whether it was because they never let go of their military habits or because they were actively expecting trouble, it wasn’t something normal people did. The realization settled over her that Hope’s Crossing Kennels had never been a simple kennel.
This place had always been more, from the first day she’d walked into the office. It and the men who ran it were more than simple civilians with a shared love for dogs. They were men who’d survived hell and come to live with the rest of them again. And their survival skills had never been forgotten or even set aside, only concealed for the peace of mind of the community.
“He won’t get to you. I’ll be here for you.” David’s voice came to her—soft, serious, and sincere. A promise.
When she refocused on him, it was with a new awareness.
“You can’t be everywhere.” She looked down at Atlas standing pressed against the chain-link next to her. The big dog was as close as he could physically be with the fence between them. “No one can. We all live with the chance something will happen.”
Her stepfather had explained his reasons for being away from home to her and her mother over and over again. He was away so she and her mother could sleep safe at night. Every time he’d said it, the words had come by rote, a quote or a mantra, rather than words said with sincerity. She’d always said the same to him in reply. There was always a chance something would happen while he was away.
Back when she’d started, it’d been with a whole lot of teenage angst. In her mind, she or her mother could get hit by a bus and her stepfather would’ve been too far away to do anything about it.
“Maybe you’re right. The more information you have, the more prepared you can be.” David leaned in closer, until his heat whispered along her skin. Not looming anymore. Definitely not looming. “Seems fair enough.”
“I want the knowledge I need to protect myself.” The way she’d gone out on her own to learn how to shoot a gun the minute she’d reached adulthood.
“What will you do armed with information? Go hunting?” His words whispered against her hair.
“No.” She shivered.
“Good. Going hunting would be stupid. Will you run?”
She shook her head. “I’m not sure. Running sounds futile if someone with any kind of skills or obsession is after me. It depends on what is actually going on. But once I have the full picture I can make an informed decision. Something that makes sense.”
“Okay.” But he didn’t wax eloquent with the things she needed to know. “Why did you come out here, Lyn?”
Frustration sparked and she clenched her jaw. Changing gears wasn’t going to help her.
“I got the call from the police.” Seemed like a long time ago. Being out here with David and Atlas always made time pas
s faster. But hold still, too. Like they were all in their own little bubble. “They said I should stay near friends.”
Of course, these two were the closest she had to friends anywhere. Not just nearby. Sophie might become a friend if they kept in touch. But the side effect of traveling all the time tended to be a whole lot of acquaintances and virtually no close friends. Even the town she had on her driver’s license as home wasn’t anything more than a place to send junk mail.
“Are you worried he’ll come after you again?” David’s hand came up toward her face slowly, his index finger extending and exerting gentle pressure under her chin to get her to look up at him.
When she met his gaze, she was drawn in closer without ever moving. They were in the eye of a storm and the air directly around them had gone still.
“Yes.” It took effort to get the affirmative out. Frustrated, she pushed forward with the conversation. “Doing nothing but waiting was going to drive me crazy. I was getting cabin fever.”
His nod was almost imperceptible. Still, something settled inside her. He got it.
“Whatever is going on, you know more about it than I do.” She licked her lips; her mouth had gone dry.
His gaze dipped, focusing on her mouth. “I might. I know something. I’m not sure it’s related. But this next question is important.”
Can I kiss you?
She was doubtful that was the question he was going to ask. But the moment was drawing out and she very much wanted for him to ask it. “Okay.”
“Do you think I would hurt you?”
“No!” It popped out before she had time to think about it. Anger burned up from her chest and spread outward. She scowled. “Of course n—”
He kissed her.
Chapter Nine
His kiss wasn’t light or gentle or teasing. His lips came down on hers with heat and firm pressure. His hand moved from her chin to cup the back of her head, urging her to tilt for him. She did, opening her mouth and giving him access, too. His tongue swept in, hot and searching. She answered in kind and they explored each other.
This was…wow. More than wow. Heat swept through her and she reveled in the sensation he sent coursing throughout her body with his kissing.
It was a long time before he let her up for air and when he did, she realized she was clutching the front of his shirt with both hands. Oh hey. How about that?
“You need to get over this.”
What?
Shocked, she started to step back but David’s hand was still on the back of her head and his other arm came around her waist. Tucked against him, she looked up to see him glaring at Atlas through the chain-link fence.
The big dog had reared up and put his front paws on the fence.
“You can deal,” David said to Atlas. “Don’t even tell me you gave Calhoun this kind of interference when he was with somebody.”
Butterflies tickled her and she buried her face in David’s chest as she giggled.
“What? That’s seventy-five pounds of canine jumping up on me if it weren’t for this fence.” Despite his words, amusement colored his tone and his arm remained firmly around her waist.
“With the two of you, there isn’t anything that can keep me worried.” She smiled up at him, enjoying the fit of their bodies against each other.
David gave her a lopsided grin. “Good. I’d like to say we make a solid team but Atlas here is working for you but not with me, if you get what I mean.”
“Ah well, he’s a free agent for the time being.” She didn’t want to ruin the mood. But it’d be stupid to pretend Atlas wouldn’t be returned to duty once they’d gotten him back to one hundred percent responsiveness. The big dog was too good to retire yet.
“True.” David pressed a kiss to her temple.
“So.” She could barely believe her own audacity but the last few days, the last few minutes in particular, were all about personal evolution, apparently. “Where were we before Atlas expressed his opinion?”
Because she’d like to get back to that. And explore. In detail.
Okay, maybe she wasn’t as daring as she could be. Yet.
“Here.” David caught her mouth for another hot, fantastically mind-blowing kiss. “But I think we should all head someplace more private.”
“All?” Catching her breath was a challenge.
He tapped her nose. “Don’t go thinking too hard because it’s not anything too exotic.”
Keeping one arm around her waist, he snagged Atlas’s leash and gave Atlas the command to sit. There it was again: the half-second of consideration before Atlas made the decision to follow the command. David didn’t comment, but he didn’t have to. They both recognized it. He simply opened Atlas’s kennel.
More rehabilitation required before Atlas would be ready for duty.
“Since you feel safest with both of us,” David commented as he hooked Atlas’s leash onto his collar, “then both of us will see you back to your cabin and stay there with you through the night.”
He’d just invited himself to her cabin. For the night. Yep, she’d heard the key points there.
A thrill rushed through her. It might’ve been better if she’d invited him but she was definitely not opposed to the idea. Especially considering how nice it was to be tucked against his side as they all started walking back to her cabin. The lighted paths had less contrast and the dark beyond them wasn’t as sinister. She didn’t jump at every sound. It was a world of difference in company she trusted.
Her heart just about burst out of her chest once they got there, though. The idea of going back inside, where she couldn’t see anyone coming…“You’re definitely both going to be here. All night?”
It took everything she had to suppress the shiver when her mind went into overdrive and images of a man’s face peering into her windows flashed across her vision.
His arm tightened around her waist, grounding her and bringing her back to reality. “We’ll keep watch.”
“Just tonight?” And that was the issue, wasn’t it? She’d forgotten momentarily about the danger out there. His kiss had blown it right out of her mind but it was still there.
He didn’t push her inside the cabin, or even nudge her. She swallowed hard and walked in on her own. The attack hadn’t happened here, after all. But at the hotel, she’d been shoved inside. And next, they’d hurt her. They’d been about to do worse.
A whine cut through her thoughts and Atlas shoved his head under her hand. His cool nose pressed against the inside of her arm as he wriggled his head, demanding her attention.
“We’ll be here and we’ll take each night as it comes.” David was still outside. He’d stayed back and given her space with her fear.
She was grateful for it. Every door—every time she’d walked through one—she’d shoved this far back into the corner of her mind. Mostly, it’d worked. But not tonight. Too many thoughts were crowding her head and she wasn’t able to compartmentalize the way she normally would. Maybe David had seen it all this week when she hadn’t been completely aware.
Even knowing he was with her and wanting him there, she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t have panicked a little in that moment if he’d been right behind her. “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head slowly. “No apologies. Not ever.”
She opened her eyes wide against sudden, unexpected tears. “I’m kind of embarrassed. But I really appreciate…this.”
He was being incredibly considerate, and thoughtful, and patient. She couldn’t say the words without the emotions spilling over, and tears weren’t sexy. She wanted to recover the excited moment earlier, not be stuck in this echoing fear now.
David only gave her his smile, the one that had never failed to tempt a return smile from her over the last week. “I can stay out here. Atlas can keep watch inside.”
“No!” Her response was immediate and maybe a little horrified. “Please don’t stay out there. Come inside.”
The last ended on a whisper. Even if it was
him, someone outside would freak her out even more.
“Okay.” He stepped inside slowly and shut the door behind him.
Immediately, the imaginary vice around her lungs eased. She rubbed Atlas’s head absently, taking comfort from his weight as he leaned against her leg. Her embarrassment was evolving rapidly into something else and her cheeks burned with shame.
“Hey.” David’s voice was quiet, coaxing. “You don’t need to be embarrassed. And this is all about what will make you comfortable. You’re safe with us and everyone here would go the extra mile to see to it that you feel that way. Nothing you say or do is wrong.”
She laughed then, but even to her ears she sounded like she was on the verge of tears. Maybe this was what hysteria felt like. This unhinged, out-of-control feeling. Like she could lose it at any minute. “I’d really like to forget what made me come out in the first place and what made me lose my mind when I came back in here.”
“Would you feel better staying someplace else?” Another completely rational, patient question.
He was a good guy.
She shook her head. “Honestly?”
“Honestly.”
She lifted her gaze to his face, taking in the solid lines of his jaw and his serious countenance. His expressive eyes and those lips that’d completely scattered every rational thought from her mind not too long ago. “I’d like to go back to how I felt when you kissed me, because that’s the best I’ve got in my short-term memory currently and it was way better than any kiss I remember ever.”
Too much information. Definitely. And embarrassment was taking on whole new levels.
David’s eyebrows rose during her comment and the bastard started to look smug. “There’s a high bar set there. I’m going to need to try to outdo myself now.”
Extreme Honor Page 9