Chain of Command (10 page)

Chapter Ten

The man could kiss. Kiss, lick, touch. Sawyer excelled at all of it. The buzz hadn’t worn off the next morning. Hailey was a bundle of energy, zipping from here to there as she made breakfast. Now and then she would glance up to see Sawyer reading the news on his phone or setting out plates on the breakfast bar.

He was not a guy who needed to be told to help. He dug in and did it. She tried to imagine anything sexier...nope, couldn’t come up with one thing. The T-shirt and faded jeans only added to the package.

When she’d woken up earlier she’d lain there, not moving, sure he would have snuck out during the night. Not him. He stayed. Hung around. Kissed her awake. They’d finally gotten around to eating the chicken around midnight. A few more hours in bed, touching and tasting and getting to know every inch of him, but no running for home. Not even a twitch to suggest he’d rather be somewhere else.

He opened the box from The Bakery and smiled. “Muffins.”

She thought she heard him sigh. He’d showed close to the same level of excitement last night when he saw her breasts for the first time. She wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not, though she had to admit they were good muffins.

So much about him made her smile. “I take it you approve?”

“I’d have been happy with a cup of coffee.”

He sounded like he meant it. The comfort now highlighted the huge pile of baggage stacked between them that they both ignored. When he touched her, sliding over her as his hands slipped under her knees she hadn’t been thinking about property or inheritance or loss. She’d been too busy exploring every muscle and the hard flatness of his stomach.

They hadn’t broken her vow. Sex stayed off the table but she’d run right up against the line. At one point she begged him to enter her and he froze. He told her after he’d keep his promise not to have sex even if it meant plunging into an ice bath. He was growling at the time and managed to use the word “fuck” four or five times, which only made the vow sweeter.

Then it hit her. They were in a different day. Going to the bedroom now wouldn’t break anything. “We could¾“

She heard a noise. Felt the slight change in the air moving through the room. She glanced up just in time to see Jessie walk in with her gaze bouncing from Hailey to Sawyer. The only sound came when she dropped the gym bag in her hand and it clunked against the hardwood floor.

Hailey couldn’t figure out how to drop her spatula or why she was even holding one. “Um.”

Sawyer stood up, but not before he dropped a muffin on the plate in front of him. “Well, this is interesting.”

There were so many words Hailey wanted to use. “Interesting” was not on the list. “Is it?”

Sawyer looked over at her. “I’m not sure how mornings after work in this house, but the frozen-in-place thing you’re both doing is weird.”

“Morning after?” Jessie asked.

The day started out so great but Hailey clearly had lost control. “What Sawyer meant to say was good morning.”

“Right.” He snapped his fingers. “That.”

Jessie put her keys in a bowl on the table next to the couch. “I’d ask how dinner went but—”

“Don’t.” Hailey waved her hand, which meant waving the spatula around. She put it down to keep from hitting herself since it was turning into just that type of day.

“Pretty great actually.” Sawyer talked right over the tension choking the room then did a double take in her direction. “What? It was good chicken.”

Jessie bounced back. A smile formed on her lips as she rested her thigh on the back of the couch and balanced there. “You’re actually talking about the food?”

“I am.” Sawyer nodded and managed to look serious while doing it.

Spoken like a man who didn’t want to be kicked out before he got bacon. Hailey admired his priorities.

“But you had a sleepover?” Jessie asked with one eyebrow raised.

Where was that sisterhood
can read your mind
thing when she needed it? Hailey never really believed in that sort of thing but right then would have been a good time for it to kick in. “We’re not talking about this now.”

But Sawyer had already launched into an explanation as he unwrapped his muffin. “I fell asleep after dinner and ended up staying here rather than heading home.”

Not a total lie but nowhere near the truth either. The verbal shortcut left out most of the good parts. She appreciated the chivalry, but it’s not as if she didn’t intend to share some of the details with her friends. He didn’t need to worry because he’d come off well in her version of the storytelling. Very well.

“Nodding off? That doesn’t sound all that promising in the fun department.” Jessie’s smile grew even wider. “Way too G-rated.”

He shrugged. “I do not have one complaint.”

Silence fell over the room. The bacon sizzled and the scent of burnt pork hit Hailey. She’d forgotten all about the food until right then and would have run to check on it, but leaving Sawyer unchaperoned, even though she’d be a few feet away, scared her a bit.

“Maybe this really is a bad time.” Jessie slowly rose to her feet.

His eyebrow lifted. “I thought you were living here right now.”

“Kat and I had fried food and movie night, and I stayed over.” She sent Hailey an apologetic wince. “Clearly I should have made it last a bit longer, but I can leave and come back later.”

He cleared his throat. “Fried food night? I’m asking because that sounds pretty great.”

“No green food allowed,” Jessie explained. “Needless to say, we can’t do it very often without going into a food coma.”

After the other day, Hailey had a bigger concern. “Have you heard from Pete?”

“No.” Jessie’s eyes narrowed. “He’s gone weirdly silent.”

“Isn’t that good? You want him to go away, right?” Sawyer asked before Hailey could.

“Yeah.” Jessie nodded. “Sure.”

Sawyer didn’t look as if he was buying the response. “If not, let me know.”

That grabbed Hailey’s attention. “What would you do?”

“There are some Navy contacts I can call for help.” Sawyer’s gaze switched from Hailey to Jessie. “From experience I can tell you jackass men don’t cease being jackasses just because.”

Hailey caught the snort just in time. “No kidding.”

“Look, I should go.” He held the muffin. Looked like he wanted to pop the whole thing in his mouth. “I have to head over to Pendleton.”

At the reference to the huge marine base in far north San Diego County Hailey froze. Forget about worrying he’d go back in eventually. He’d found his way right back to the military as soon as he got out. How was that even possible? “I thought you were out?”

“I do firearms training there.” He didn’t say anything else. Just stared at her.

The words were emblazoned on her brain. Every fear burst to life, pushing out the good memories of the night before. Rob had talked about how being in security gave him everything he needed. About how he didn’t have to seek danger and could enjoy life, but the second he got the offer to go into the middle of a war-torn area and help out, he did.

Going back mattered more than the life he built. More than his fiancée. More than her...and that was the thing Hailey couldn’t handle.

“A man with a loaded weapon.” She tried to make light of the ache in her stomach, or his side job or whatever it was.

“Are you antigun?” His expression stayed blank and unreadable.

“No.” She could offer up her experience and talk about all the hours she’d logged on the range. She decided to stop there instead and get them off any conversation which took her mind back to the place where he kept his life attached to dangerous situations.

“I’d be happy to take you out to the range. I do some shooting on reservation land nearby.”

Funny how he assumed she didn’t have any experience. Between that and the reservation comment she didn’t know what to ask first. “How did you get permission for that?”

“It’s a trade—firearms safety instruction for time in the stalls.” He shrugged. “We’ll set up a time and go out.”

A gun date. That had her blinking. “You’re going to teach me how to shoot?”

“Sure. It’s my job.” He started picking at his muffin. “If you learn how to use a gun and understand how to take care of it, spend some time training, you won’t be afraid of it.”

Jessie snorted. “She’s not—”

Hailey cut her off with a flick of her hand. “Okay. I’ll take you up on the offer.”

“Good.” Then he leaned in and kissed her. A swift but possessive touch of his lips to hers. “I’ll call.”

The touch of his lips sent the blood rushing from her head. “That sounds like a line,” she mumbled as she tried to get her bearings.

This time he brushed his fingers over her chin. Acted as if Jessie wasn’t standing there, as if nothing stood in the way of them having more than a few nights together. “Maybe but you’ll figure out soon enough that I always do what I say I’ll do.”

The second the door closed behind him, Hailey headed back to the stove. She turned down the heat and kept all her focus on the pan. That might lessen the barrage of questions she knew was about to hit her.

“You can shoot,” Jessie said with more than a little amusement in her voice.

Hailey winced, mostly over the burnt bacon but over the comment, too. “I know that.”

Jessie popped up next to her. “Why aren’t you telling Sawyer the truth?”

After a few seconds of trying to ignore the conversation by moving bacon around in the pan, Hailey gave up. She dropped the spatula on the counter and looked at her dearest friend in the world. “Because he’s all chivalrous and commanding.”

“The bastard.”

Hailey had to smile at the fake outrage in Jessie’s voice. “I’m serious.”

“Uh-huh.” Jessie picked up a muffin and peeled the paper wrapper off. “I’m having some trouble following your line of thinking here.”

That made two of them. Thoughts bounced around in Hailey’s head and she rushed to keep up with them. Something about Sawyer had her flailing and she did not flail. She’d lost both of her parents in a war she barely remembered. Then she lost Rob. She’d survived it all, growing tougher with each mind-numbing blow. But her bone-deep clarity crumbled when it came to Sawyer.

“He clearly likes being charge.” In the bedroom and out. She appreciated a heavy dose of his dominating nature last night and loved every second of it.

He’d known just where to touch to catch her skin on fire. He told her to raise her arms or held her down. The rough words made her body implode. Pleasure had washed through her until she wondered how she held out on the sex thing.

And the man could kiss, intense and passionate.

“So, you’re going to pretend to be a weapons novice?” Jessie asked as she picked at the top of the muffin.

“More like I’m going to give him a little lesson in not assuming things about me.” He said he liked strong women. She was one, and he needed to know the rescuer thing, while hot and appreciated, was only part of what she wanted from him...to the extent she was ready to admit she wanted any part of him.

“I almost feel sorry for the guy.”

“Don’t. He’s doing fine.”

“Which brings me to—” There was a knock on the door then the knob turned. Kat walked in with Barkley bouncing beside her. “Look who’s here.”

“Me and my quiet lap dog.” Kat unhooked Barkley’s leash and he took off on his usual smelling frenzy, stopping at every piece of furniture and walking around in circles. “Why is the gate unlocked?”

“I did that this morning.” Used her phone to unlock it so Sawyer would be able to get out. Of course, that meant anyone could come in without her knowing. These two were fine but others might not be. Hailey made a mental note to relock it once she figured out where she put her phone.

Kat didn’t look impressed with the explanation. “Okay, then why are you guys just standing there?”

“Hailey, do you want to answer that?” Jessie popped a big piece of muffin in her mouth and started chewing.

“Don’t.” Hailey had to concentrate to keep from ending the word with a growl. Something else she never did until she met Sawyer. The man was messing her up big-time.

“What’s going on?” Kat joined them in the kitchen. She reached for a piece of bacon then stopped after taking a good look at the charred mess in the pan.

“Sawyer was here this morning.” Jessie leaned back against the counter. Amusement filled her voice and that huge smile suggested she was having a bit too much fun with this topic.

Three of them in the small space suffocated Hailey. She grabbed a muffin and circled around to the barstool Sawyer had occupied just last night.

“You mean he stopped by,” Kat said.

“No.” Jessie dragged out the word to multiple syllables. “That’s not even close to what I mean.”

Kat’s mouth dropped open. “Seriously?”

“Nothing happened.” The muffin crumbled in Hailey’s hand. She didn’t even know she was squeezing until she held muffin dust.

“Ha!” Jessie shook her head. “From the stupid grin on his face when I opened the door this morning and the stunned one on yours, I think you’re lying.”

Kat and Jessie both started talking then. Hailey held up both hands in the hope of gaining some control over the runaway conversation again. “Okay, something happened. But
the main event
didn’t happen.”

“That’s disappointing,” Jessie mumbled as she reached for the dog treat container and threw a bone to Barkley.

“I’ve known the man about five days.” Not that there was a time limit for these types of things. Hailey wished there were a rule book of some sort, but no.

She’d put the brakes on to give her brain a chance to catch up with whatever was happening to her body whenever she saw Sawyer. She wanted to be smart and not get wrapped up in a weird mix of business and personal. Not when the business part loomed and there was no way for her to make him happy on that score.

She was not selling the property. Rob gave it to her. He’d split his assets between her and Kat and handed his company over to two of his partners. She had so little left of him. Thanks to Kat giving her blessing, Hailey decided she would keep this.

“That guy looked like he knew his way around a woman,” Jessie said.