Betrayal of the Dove (Men of Action) (15 page)

He laughed and shook his head. “Women. You all find a way to fix anything don’t you?”

“I can’t speak for all women, but I’ve spent many of years having to create cover stories, mostly to keep the brothers McGregor at bay. I’ll alibi you in a heartbeat.” She patted his arm. “Now, I really do want you to take some time; okay? Losing a friend isn’t easy.”

“Later,” he restated once again. “Besides, we have a date tonight.”

“We can do it some other time. There will be other meteor showers…eventually.”

“No,” he shook his head. “I want tonight with you, under the stars, surrounded by the mountains watching the heavens rain down from above. I want that. I need that. Will you allow me that?”

“Yes,” she stood and wrapped her arms around him. “I’m here if you need to talk.” He wrapped his arms tightly around her, lowering his head to rest atop hers. She could tell he was hurting, but trying to hold it in, trying to control the anger and sorrow within him. It was probably his nature to keep it together, grieve later, after things were finalized, and right now it sounded as if there were new revelations that could make the one murder case turn into two. She could only imagine what he was going through, the war his emotions were fighting against each other within him. She wanted to be his compass; that anchor that kept him rooted on stable ground; that guiding factor that showed him his way back home if ever he deviated off his course.

“Am I interrupting?”

She pulled away slowly and turned her attention to the voice that beckoned her out of her present utopia. “Officer Davis,” she smiled. “How are you?” He had told her before not to call him by his last name. “You can use my first name,” he had said, but still, she tried to do that as little as possible.

“Fine,” he said with an edge to his voice. “Didn’t realize the two of you were together.”

She didn’t know what to say. Technically they weren’t really together. They were going to have one official date tonight, but that did not a couple make. Although she wasn’t sure she should advise Craig of that either. She wanted him to back off; maybe this was the way to get him to do it.

“Did you need something?”

“The robbery,” he looked at Shane before looking at her. “It’s getting closer to your store here and I think it might be best if you took better precautions. It’s not very safe to live above your store right now.”

“This is more than my shop; it’s my home and I’m not going anywhere.” Not that she could even if she wanted to. Shane had been right; she couldn’t afford paying to keep up two places. It wasn’t just the mortgage payment issue; there would be utilities for two places, combined with taxes for two places. She just couldn’t afford it right now.

“Well I’d suggest you make sure you can trust your security.”

She hadn’t missed the disapproving tone in his remark. Shane was a darn good security consultant. He had implemented so many changes in her store. There were a few more he wanted to make, but he had to order in some products and his “go to guy” was off on an assignment for another two weeks. She was also thinking of upgrading her monitored security system to something with better security ratings. She didn’t have the worst thing out there right now, but she did have a basic plan per month and now she was thinking she might want to upgrade her package and maybe get some motion sensors too. Maybe she should call Brinks and compare the price with her current outside security monitoring system. Shane wouldn’t be in her store twenty-four hours a day and she was going to need to make sure the system she had kept her safe at night too. She had never really thought much of the basic service package until Shane pointed out all the flaws.

“I’m upgrading my security system within the next week or two, so I think between Shane and Rider Security Systems I’m good to go.”

He shrugged. “Suit yourself. I just hope you’re thinking with your head and not something else right now. Hope you know who to trust;” and on that final thought he turned and walked out of her shop, leaving her standing there fuming.

“There are so many things I could have said to him, but I didn’t because none of them would have been ladylike.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head. The eye rolling thing had been contagious after all, she mused. Clearly Eve had rubbed off on her there.

“I told you the man wants you.”

“Insulting me is not the way to my heart,” she said in a low, nearly lethal tone. How dare he imply that she was too dumb to think clearly just because of a man?

Chapter Eight

“A
re you comfortable?” Shane had laid out several blankets in the cab of his truck so that they could recline and watch the sky whenever they wanted to. He made sure he tossed in a couple pillows too. He wanted her to be comfortable because he didn’t want her to want to leave too quickly. He didn’t want her to leave at all.

“Yes,” she whispered as she rolled over onto her side, propped up on her elbow and looked down onto his face. Her smile could set a man’s soul on fire. She was so sweet, so beautiful, and in the midnight light her eyes looked an even deeper shade of blue. She was, in his opinion, one of the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes on. She had kicked off her shoes and left them in the truck before tiptoeing around to the cab and crawling in. They had sat with their backs against the side, watching the sky and talking until she had shifted in a manner that made him think she was uncomfortable. That’s when he suggested they recline, and now he was glad he had made that suggestion because she was closer now than she had been when they were sitting next to each other just talking about life in general.

“Would you like to stop skirting around the personal issues and talk to me about your friends?” She had a voice that made him want to lie on her couch and tell her about his history—maybe even lie in her bed and tell her. Although if he were in her bed he wouldn’t be doing much talking unless he was telling her what he was going to do with her body while they were in there.

“I can’t tell you very much.”

“Military secrets,” she nodded. “I know. And I’m not asking you to tell me anything you can’t talk about. I’m asking you to talk to me about anything that might help you cope with the loss of two of your friends. The way I see it, you haven’t done much talking to anybody about it.”

She was perceptive, he could tell that from the first day he met her, but he was getting an up close and personal view of that perceptive side of her now. She was right; he hadn’t talked to anybody about it. He didn’t have anybody he could talk to. “Our team started off with just four of us. We were all told we would be on an elite team. None of us knew each other before that day, but there we were, sitting there and being given a chance to do something great for our country. We even got to pick the name.” He laughed. “I can tell you we came up with a lot of crazy things, but then Vicki Sky, the lone female on the team, said since we were keeping peace maybe we should come up with something that resembled that peace instead of something that was a frat boy’s dream.” He laughed hard. “Jeeze, we were all so young when our team started. We all had experience for sure, but we were young and cocky and mostly SEALs. Vicki was an Army soldier—the only person on the team not in the Navy at the time. She suggested the name
Dove Team
, because doves represented peace.” They had all laughed at the name, but their commanding officer loved it and went with it. “My little girl loves doves,” he had said, and so they had adapted the name and it stuck. “Our numbers grew. We gained some, lost some. Vicki was killed on a mission. Sweet woman, skilled, funny, you would have liked her,” he smiled. “She could make any situation seem like a walk in the park. When she died it hit us all hard—especially the original team members because we knew her the longest; the deepest. Anyway, the
Dove Team
numbers had risen and we were being broken up into smaller teams. We went from four to forty, and then they—our superiors—decided to break us all up and put us in small groups. Four to a team, except my team. We stayed with our original commander and there was about eight of us by that point on our team. Guess they didn’t want to break up their best covert ops. A couple of us retired, and the rest have stayed in—some because they’re not at their twenty years plus one day yet, and others are still in because they love the job. They wear it as if it were a second skin for them.”

“And you; why did you leave?”

“I was just ready,” he said. “I went into the military right after high school. The ink hadn’t even dried on my diploma, at least that’s what my mother had said, before I hit the road. I didn’t even stay to walk in the ceremony. I just wanted out of there. And since I didn’t really have much to go back to New Mexico for I didn’t see a reason to get out of service once my first tour was up. Then, I was in so long. I felt like I was making a difference and I wanted to keep making sure the home I would come back to would still be safe. I wanted to keep my country safe. My last mission took me to Hawaii. I can’t tell you about it.”

“I know.”

“Anyway, after that I just wanted out. I wanted normal. I’m still available should a situation arise, but for the most part, I’m out. That’s what I wanted. I made some good friends,” he sighed as he looked up at the stars twinkling high above. “Some great friends,” he rephrased his words. “Lucky Leo’s one of them. He’s going to be out here in a couple weeks. Something about the Mainland having some beautiful women.” He laughed. “I think the man is ready to settle down and get married. I’ll introduce you when he gets here; just don’t let him try to take you away from me.” He saw the smile on her lips. Whether she knew it or not, this was serious for him—it wasn’t just a fling. He wanted a relationship, and he wanted that relationship to be long-term.

“Wait…Lucky Leo…Valencia Dugan-Mishoto’s brother?”

“Yeah. You know him?”

“No. I’ve never met him, but I’ve heard Thomas mention him before. You…” she laughed. “Valencia asked you to help me; didn’t she?”

He chuckled. “Good Lord you are quick,” he said. “I figured you would probably figure out exactly who was behind it. Valencia asked if I knew somebody. I’m the one who decided that I should be that somebody. Make no mistake about it, Alyssa; I’m here because I want to be here.” He looked into her eyes, beseeching her to hear his words.

“So Thomas is behind this. I knew he was; I just hadn’t figured out exactly how. I should have known he wouldn’t keep his nose out of it after our discussion at his wedding.”

“He shouldn’t have kept his nose out of it,” he told her. “This is serious. I’m guessing you didn’t tell him how serious that third attack was or he probably would have been on a plane out here that same day.”

She nodded. “He would have skipped his honeymoon and I didn’t want that. Besides, I didn’t want him to come out here.”

“Playing it close to the vest?”

“It’s not that,” she looked up to the sky before looking back down at him. “It doesn’t really matter I guess. I got a chance to meet you.” She placed her hand softly on his chest and he immediately covered her hand with his.

“You’re beautiful.” He said breathlessly. She smiled.

“Oh, you just want me because I’m a pretty face,” she laughed. “And here I was thinking you were attracted to my mind.”

He laughed. “Trust me, Alyssa; you’re a lot more than just a pretty face.” He lifted his hand and cupped the back of her head, pulling her in for a kiss. His lips met hers softly at first, exploring the soft plump lips that was the doorway to tasting her mouth before he slid his tongue over her lips, prompting her to open her mouth and let him have full access—and when she did he took it. Tasting her, teasing her, kissing her fully and swallowing every delicious moan that escaped her.

He rolled her onto her back, bringing his body to fit between her legs and he kissed her more; longer, harder, deeper than before. He enjoyed her taste, her sounds, her smell of arousal and he wanted more. He wanted it all. He caressed her gently with one last kiss before rolling onto his back and pulling her into his arms. They looked at the sky, watching the show from above. “Will you come out here with me again tomorrow night?”