Nobody's Dream (Rescue Me Saga #6)

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Nobody's Dream (Rescue Me Saga #6) Page 72

by Masters, Kallypso


  Shibari—also known as Kinbaku, a Japanese style of bondage popular in the BDSM lifestyle that involves tying up the bottom/submissive using simple yet visually intricate, sometimes artistic, patterns.

  Shibori—Japanese word for a variety of ways of embellishing textiles by shaping cloth and securing it before dyeing. The word comes from the verb root shiboru, “to wring, squeeze, press.”

  Sí—yes, in Spanish (or Italian)

  SNAFU (snafu)—Situation Normal, All Fucked Up (a Marine Corps expression)

  Sous chef—the culinary chef located just below the executive or head chef in a kitchen’s chain of command; a vital role in any commercial kitchen.

  Starter—a general term used to describe sourdough before it is added to bread dough. Starter needs to be “fed” with flour or other suitable foods (e.g. sprouts, soaked grain) to keep it active and make it strong enough to raise bread dough. The starter can be shared with others so they can “start” their own for breadmaking.

  Tarukaq mosqoyning—Quechua song meaning “Dreams of a Deer”

  “¡Te ves hermosa!”—“You look beautiful!” in Spanish

  Tia—aunt, in Spanish

  “Todo va a estar bein, estamos seguros aqui.”—“Everything’s going to be okay. We’re safe here.” in Spanish

  Tupu—the decorative pin, often made of precious metals like gold or silver, used to pin together the shoulder cloth, or k’eperina, worn traditionally by Peruvian women.

  UT—University of Texas

  Vamoose—to depart quickly

  “Whose turn in the barrel?”—Kally asked her Marine subject expert, Top Griz, how Adam might ask for volunteers in Marine speak. He said: “He could just let them know it was their turn in the barrel.”

  Zia—aunt, in Italian

  Playlist for the Rescue Me Saga

  Here are some of the songs that inspired Kally as she wrote the books to date in the series. Because each book isn’t only about one couple’s journey, she has grouped the music by couple, except for the first one.

  Relevant to Multiple Rescue Me Saga Couples

  Darryl Worley – Just Got Home From a War

  Angie Johnson – Sing for You

  Nickelback – I’d Come for You

  Evanescence – Bring Me To Life

  Daughtry – I’ll Fight

  Dan Hill – Sometimes When We Touch

  Adam and the late Joni

  (backstory in Masters at Arms & Nobody’s Angel and Nobody’s Hero):

  Ed Sheeran – Photograph

  Sarah McLachlan – Wintersong

  Rascal Flatts – Here Comes Goodbye

  Aerosmith – I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing

  Marc and Angelina

  (Masters at Arms & Nobody’s Angel Somebody’s Angel, and Nobody’s Dream):

  Andrea Bocelli – Por Amor (and others on Romanza CD)

  Sarah Jane Morris – Arms Of An Angel

  Fleetwood Mac – Landslide

  Mary Chapin Carpenter – The King of Love

  Usher – Scream

  Air Supply – The One That You Love

  Air Supply – Goodbye

  Lacuna Coil – Spellbound

  Air Supply – Making Love Out of Nothing at All

  Styx – Man In The Wilderness

  Keith Urban – Tonight I Wanna Cry

  Michael Bublé – Home

  Daughtry – Used To

  Leighton Meester – Words I Couldn’t Say

  Halestorm – Private Parts

  And a “medley” of heavy-metal music cited in the acknowledgements of Somebody’s Angel

  Adam and Karla

  (Masters at Arms & Nobody’s Angel, Nobody’s Hero, Somebody’s Angel, Nobody’s Lost, and Nobody’s Dream):

  Tarja Turunen – I Walk Alone

  Madonna – Justify My Love

  Sinead O’Connor – Song to the Siren

  Rascal Flatts – What Hurts The Most

  Marc Anthony – I Sang to You

  Simon & Garfunkel – I Am A Rock

  Alison Krauss & Union Station – I’m Gone

  The Rolling Stones – Wild Horses

  Pat Benatar – Love Is A Battlefield

  The Rolling Stones – Under My Thumb

  Lifehouse – Hanging By A Moment

  Leighton Meester – Words I Couldn’t Say

  Air Supply – Lonely Is The Night

  Beyoncé – Poison

  Randy Vanwarmer – Just When I Needed You Most

  The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus – Your Guardian Angel

  Oum Kalthoum – Enta Omri (Egyptian belly dance music)

  Harem – La Pasion Turca (Turkish belly dance music)

  Barry Manilow – Ready To Take A Chance Again

  Paul Dinletir – Transcendance

  Creed – Arms Wide Open

  Aerosmith – I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing

  Damián and Savannah

  (Masters at Arms & Nobody’s Angel, Nobody’s Perfect, Somebody’s Angel, and Nobody’s Dream):

  Sarah McLachlan – Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (entire CD of same title)

  Johnny Cash – The Beast In Me

  John Mayer – The Heart Of Life

  Marc Anthony – When I Dream At Night

  Ingrid Michaelson – Masochist

  Three Days Grace – Never Too Late

  Three Days Grace – Pain

  Drowning Pool – Let The Bodies Hit the Floor!

  Goo Goo Dolls – Iris

  John Mayer – Heartbreak Warfare

  Three Days Grace – Animal I Have Become

  Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud

  The Avett Brothers – If It’s the Beaches

  Leonard Cohen – I’m Your Man

  A Perfect Circle – Pet

  Pink – Fuckin’ Perfect

  Edwin McCain – I’ll Be

  Ryder and Megan

  (Masters at Arms & Nobody’s Angel, Nobody’s Hero, Nobody’s Lost, and Nobody’s Dream):

  Hard Corps – The Warrior Song

  Kenny Chesney – You Had Me From Hello

  Chase Rice – Ride

  Christine Perri – Arms

  Adele – One and Only

  Breaking Benjamin – I Will Not Bow

  Imagine Dragons – Demons

  The Goo Goo Dolls – Notbroken

  Five Finger Death Punch – Wrong Side of Heaven

  Skillet – Falling Inside the Black

  Sugarland – Tonight

  Adele – Make You Feel My Love

  Adele – Hiding My Heart

  Deepest Blue – Give It Away

  Kenny Chesney – You Save Me

  Train – Marry Me

  Blake Sheldon – God Gave Me You

  Phillip Phillips – Unpack Your Heart

  John Legend – All of Me

  Phillip Phillips – Raging Fire

  Rascal Flatts – I’m Movin’ On

  Luke and Cassie

  (Masters at Arms & Nobody’s Angel, Nobody’s Perfect, Somebody’s Angel, and Nobody’s Dream):

  Paul Brandt – I Do

  Keith Urban – I Want to Love Somebody Like You

  Amanda Wilkinson – Hearts Open Slowly

  Jamie O’Neal – Like a Woman

  Ty Herndon – I Have to Surrender

  Leighton Meester and Garrett Hedlund – Give in to Me

  Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson – Don’t You Wanna Stay Here a Little While?

  Shannon Noll – Don’t Fight It

  Ty Herndon – I Know How the River Feels

  Tracy Byrd – Keeper of the Stars

  Brad Paisley – I Want to Check You for Ticks

  Paul Brandt – When You Call My Name

  Kip Moore – Hey, Pretty Girl

  Dustin Lynch – Cowboys and Angels

  Josh Turner –Your Man

  Paul Brandt – Take it Off

  Jason Mraz – I Won’t Give Up

  Rascal Flatts – God Bless the Broken Road

  John Mi
chael Montgomery – Hold On to Me

  Dixie Chicks – Cowboy, Take Me Away

  Keith Urban – Making Memories of Us

  Bryan Adams – Between Now and Forever

  Luke Bryan – In Love with the Girl

  Billy Currington – Must Be Doing Something Right

  Natasha Bedingfield – Wild Horses

  About the Author

  Kallypso Masters writes emotional, realistic Romance novels with an emphasis on healing using sometimes unconventional methods. Her alpha males are dominant and attracted to strong women who can bring them to their knees. Kally also has brought many readers to their knees—having them experience the stories right along with her characters in the Rescue Me Saga. Kally knows that Happily Ever After takes maintenance, so her couples don’t solve all their problems and disappear at “the end” of their Romance, but will continue to work on real problems in their relationships in later books in the saga.

  Kally has been writing full-time since May 2011. She lives in rural Kentucky and has been married almost 32 years to the man who provided her own Happily Ever After. They have two adult children, one adorable grandson, and a rescued dog and cat.

  Kally enjoys meeting readers, although plans for 2015 are to hunker down and write more books in this series and beyond. She will be attending Lori Foster’s Reader-Author Get-together in June 2015 and RomCon in Colorado in September 2015 and will be conducting a sightseeing tour of the places she writes about in Colorado during the week of RomCon. She also will host her second annual KallypsoCon with a focus on military romance author and books October 30-November 1, 2015 in Nashua, N.H. Registration begins in April and is limited to the first 100 paid registrants.

  To contact or interact with Kally,

  go to Facebook,

  her Facebook Author page,

  or Twitter (@kallypsomasters).

  To join the secret Facebook group Rescue Me Saga Discussion Group, please send a friend request to Karla Paxton and she will open the door for you. (Please give her a few days!) Must be 18 to join.

  Keep up with news on Kally’s Web site, too!

  (KallypsoMasters.com)

  You can sign up for her newsletter (e-mailed monthly) and/or text alerts (used ONLY for new releases of e-books or print books, as well as preorder announcements) at her Web site (http://kallypsomasters.com). And feel free to e-mail her at [email protected], or write to her at

  Kallypso Masters

  PO Box 1183

  Richmond, KY 40476-1183

  Get your Kally Swag!

  Looking for your own Ka-thunk! shirt, a culinary bondage tee or apron, even an evil stick handmade by Toymaker and eirocawakening? How about signed paperbacks of any available books in the Rescue Me Saga? With each order, you will receive a bag filled with other swag items, as well, including pens, bookmarks, trading cards (with the original covers of the early books), and whatever is available and fits in the swag bag. Kally ships internationally. To shop, go to kallypsomasters.com/kally_swag.

  Excerpt from Nobody’s Lost by Kallypso Masters

  (Fifth in the Rescue Me Saga)

  Prologue

  Fallujah, Iraq, 15 November 2004

  Ryder Wilson enjoyed talking with Lance Corporal Grant. She was young, but sure as hell knew her shit when it came to advanced satellite communications.

  His recon Marine unit had been on this rooftop in Fallujah for hours, waiting for something to break and to go after the insurgents who had terrorized this part of the city for the last few days.

  Too damned quiet. Sergeant Miller suggested they eat in shifts while they could. He was informing Damián Orlando of the SITREP while Ryder spent time getting to know the Marine newly attached to their unit.

  Didn’t usually find women Marines assigned to combat units, although the cease-fire they were under meant they probably wouldn’t have any direct engagement. He hoped not anyway.

  “So where are you from?” Grant asked.

  “Born and raised in New Mexico. Albuquerque. How about you?”

  “Army brat. I’ve lived all over and then some.”

  “That why you enlisted?”

  Silence dragged out before she responded. “I guess so. Pissed my dad off that I didn’t choose the Army, but I had something to prove to myself. I just hope I’m still in when women Marines are allowed to serve in combat.”

  “Not so sure that’s a good idea.”

  She sat up straighter and glared at him. “Why not? I can perform just as—”

  “Grenade!”

  Orlando’s voice jarred them from the conversation. He and Sergeant Miller were hurtling across the rooftop in their direction when the sound of an explosion threw Ryder against the wall he’d been leaning on. His ears rang from the blast. They were under fire.

  Momentarily dazed, Ryder tried to remember what he had been doing, but his focus shifted to protecting Lance Corporal Grant. She was his responsibility and shouldn’t be in the middle of this shit.

  “Get behind me,” he said, picking up his rifle.

  “Sergeant Miller and Orlando have been hit.” Ignoring him, she moved toward the two fallen Marines, and he followed.

  “Madre de Dios! No! Sergeant, don’t you fucking die!”

  Orlando was lying under the body of Sergeant Miller. Holy fuck! Ryder and Grant reached the body at about the same time and lifted their Sergeant off Orlando with reverence and speed combined.

  “Corpsman up!” Ryder called. Once they had set Sergeant’s body down, they returned to check on Orlando.

  Jesus, no. His foot dangled by what looked like some skin and meat alone. Where was Doc? Grant grabbed Orlando’s hand and spoke to him. Ryder had never seen so much carnage in all his years serving in the Marines.

  Ryder moved so Doc could assess the situation and keep Orlando alive.

  “Keep his head down!” Doc ordered, and Ryder moved to his head where he placed one hand on the young private’s forehead and another on his shoulder. Ryder filled Doc in on what had happened, but the mention of Sergeant’s name had him glancing over at the man’s head.

  So much blood.

  The hiss of an RPG made it clear the attack was still under way. Ryder realized he hadn’t done his damned job. He radioed their immediate need for artillery and air support with their preplanned fire coordinates.

  Doc shouted, “Let’s get him off the roof!”

  “Sure thing, Doc!” With Doc’s help, he and Grant lifted an unconscious Orlando onto a litter…

  * * *

  Just after midnight

  Ryder rolled over in bed, drenched in sweat. His heart pounding, he gasped for breath. Fucking nightmares. He laid his arm over his eyes, but the images came back in living color. Vivid, but different than the one the other night.

  Blast.

  Brains.

  Blood.

  Sergeant Miller’s lifeless body. Damián Orlando’s foot blown off. Doc D’Alessio nearly killed.

  Jesus, I fucked up that mission. While he was shooting the shit with Grant, all hell broke out for his unit.

  His cell phone buzzed. Not now. He didn’t want to speak to anyone until he had time to regroup. Tossing the sheet aside, he sat up. A beer. That ought to take the edge off.

  Before he could open the door to the fridge, his landline phone rang. Whoever it was could leave a message. He wasn’t talking to anyone tonight. Even if it was Marcia. He could call his sister back in an hour or however long it took to regain control of himself.

  The answering machine kicked in, and he waited for his sister’s voice.

  “Wilson. Pick up the phone. Adam Montague here.”

  How the fuck did Top have his phone number? He must have been the one calling on the cell, too.

  Had Orlando mentioned to his former master sergeant that they had run into each other a couple of months ago on a Patriot Guard ride in southern Colorado? He had known it was a bad idea to go, but the man being buried had served with him in Kosovo. To lay low
during his funeral would have been disrespectful, and he damn well wouldn’t let any asshole activist protester disrupt his buddy finally being laid to rest.

  Another brave and hurting hero’s fucking suicide.

  Other than the Patriot Guard Riders, Ryder had severed all ties to those who survived the past and had hoped Orlando would respect his request not to say anything to the others. He wanted to put all that behind him.

  The nightmare from the mayhem on the rooftop in Fallujah told him he wasn’t doing a very good job of that, though. He reached for the phone.

  “Yes, Top. Sorry. I was…in the head.”

  “Glad I waited. How’re you doing?”

  “Great. Got myself a nice place in the Jemez Mountains. Nice and quiet.”

  Nobody bothers me, and I sure as hell don’t bother anyone else.

  “Sounds good.” Top paused a moment. “Listen, Wilson, my sister is staying at our brother’s place in Albuquerque. I have no fucking clue what’s wrong, but when I called a little while ago, she said the police were there. Also said she’d call me back when they left, but I haven’t heard a thing. Patrick’s out of the country, and I’m worried about her.”

  “Sorry to bother you this late, but would you mind running over to make sure she’s okay? It would mean a lot to me knowing someone I trust has taken a look around.”

  Go into the city? All those people? Adrenaline kicked in, and Ryder’s heart began pounding.

  A mission. His master sergeant hadn’t given him orders in nearly eight years.

  Someone I trust.

  The desire to live up to those words and help the man who had brought him and nearly every man home from their deployments outweighed Ryder’s penchant for drowning in his own shit.

  “Sure, Top.” He reached for a pen and pad of paper. “What’s the address?” The neighborhood was more familiar than he liked. Ryder also jotted down her name—Megan Gallagher. Must be married since they didn’t have the same last names. Why wasn’t her husband looking in on her?

  But Ryder would help where he could. She was Top’s sister. That’s all that mattered.

  After also taking down a couple of phone numbers where he could reach Top, he said goodbye and tucked the paper inside his jeans pocket before returning to the bedroom to grab a long-sleeved flannel shirt and his leather jacket. It got colder than a witch’s tit when the sun went down here in the high desert. Riding a Harley without a windscreen didn’t help.

 

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