Chain of Command (4 page)

The idea had seemed so simple a few months ago when he pitched it to his friends and baby sister—get the land and the permits, purchase the weapons and work on a marketing plan. Open a gun range and personal security business. Build a life outside the military. Create a family of sorts and move forward. Finally lock up the demons that hounded him.

They all bought in and now one woman blocked their path. She had a right to. Rob’s will didn’t leave much doubt. Sawyer knew because he’d gone to the courthouse and checked. Hailey owned the land and if she knew about Rob’s promise to turn it over she wasn’t letting on.

“I’m starting to wonder if you have boundary issues.” She made the comment from right over his shoulder.

He fought off the flinch and forced his body to turn slowly instead of spin around. It was as if thinking about her conjured her up. Lost in thought, batting down the arguments bombarding his brain, he’d missed her approach. Pretty impressive. Not many people could sneak up on him. He had tens of thousands of dollars of government-sponsored training to ensure that sort of thing never happened.

“Hailey...or is it Sue?” He made a show of looking at her hands. “No bat, I see.”

“You can call me Hailey.” A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Feel free to cut the sarcasm while you’re at it.”

Gone was the flat tone she used on her front porch. She didn’t quite return to the sexy flirting from the bar, but he considered this progress. And he’d venture into dick territory if he didn’t pull back. “Fair enough.”

She leaned her elbows on the fence post. “What are you doing out here?”

The tone sounded civil but he wasn’t taking any chances. It might look like they were two cordial neighbors chatting over a property line, but they weren’t. “I’m not on your property.”

She shrugged. “Didn’t say you were.”

“But you’re not surprised to see me.” She’d cut out the threats and curt responses. He had no idea what that meant and wasn’t about to get sucked in until he figured out her strategy.

“You don’t strike me as a guy who slinks away without pushing for what he wants.” A breeze caught her hair. Whipped it around until she tucked the loose strands behind her ear.

Something about the move, so feminine, had his brain stuttering. So did the slim V-neck T-shirt and jeans. The woman looked better in jeans than almost every other woman he knew. Curvy with slim legs and a rounded ass. His favorite combination.

Which was the only explanation for his mouth running off while his common sense lingered behind. “Are we talking about the land or my proposal in the bar?”

Instead of batting him down, she leaned in. “That’s the thing, Sawyer. For me those are two different issues and need to stay that way.”

Jesus, he could smell her. Vanilla, cinnamon...some familiar scent that would likely have him getting a hard-on over cake for the next few weeks. But first he needed to make sure they were talking about the same thing. “You’re saying sex is off the table if I press you about the land.”

She winced. “I’d be more delicate, but¾“

“Why?”

She sighed. Shook her head. “The land has become this crazy business thing. I don’t want that seeping over into my private life.”

Yeah, she wasn’t getting his point at all. “I meant why would you be more delicate.”

This time she frowned. “What?”

“Sex. Hot and dirty. Bodies rubbing over each other. Tongues and hands. Ain’t nothing delicate about that.” Seemed simple to him. Things only got confused when people mixed in love and commitment and other crap that got in the way of fun.

He’d seen people pair off because of deployments and for religious reasons or family pressure. In Jason’s case, over a false pregnancy scare. Sawyer had yet to be convinced of a match that couldn’t benefit from more sex and fewer rules.

She bit her lip as if she were trying to fight off a smile. “You’re saying you’re not the boring missionary-position type.”

“The position isn’t the issue. Missionary works for me. The idea of seeing your face as I enter you is pretty fucking hot.” Hell, he’d try whatever position she wanted if it meant sleeping through the night without dreaming about crawling between her legs. “It’s about the friction. The need.”

“I...um.” She cleared her throat. “How did we get on this topic?”

“Apparently we naturally drift to sex talk when we try to say anything to each other.” Which promised nothing but trouble.

Yeah, the sex would be great. A woman who could chase him off a porch with a bat would not be shy between the sheets. But he had goals and his ass-kicking attraction to her stood in the way of those.

“That’s an interesting thought.” She started walking. “Tell me why you need my land.”

He kept even with her, matching step for step, and shortening his stride when he noticed she had to double-time it to keep up. “After you just gave the speech about keeping the fucking and the business separate? I don’t think so.”

She held a nail between her fingers and twisted it around and around. “You’re saying you’re interested.”

She had to be kidding
. “Are you blind?”

If she gave him one sign he could have her without any weird property restrictions, he’d be climbing over the fence and dropping them both to the ground. The need ran through him that fast and that hard.

She stopped and faced him. “Then you have to decide.”

“Excuse me?”

“Look, we could spend days of me pretending I’m not attracted to you while you come sniffing around, playing this game, or I can tell you what I want. What I think you want.”

He suddenly lost the ability to swallow. “Which is?”

The wind plastered her shirt tight against her body, highlighting every firm inch of her. “I believe you called it friction.”

“Fucking.” Because that’s what it would be. Not sweet. Certainly not delicate. Hot and crazed and...damn. He could almost see it in his head.

“We’re saying the same thing.”

He actually did think they were speaking the same language. And he loved her openness. He didn’t want some virgin crying in a corner. Not when he could have a sexy woman, sure in how to find pleasure.

But there was a catch. There was always a fucking catch. “In return, no property talk?”

“It’s a fair deal.” Her gaze scanned his face. “But apparently not an easy choice for you.”

He searched his mind for the right words. Emotions and opening up were not his strengths. He’d spent a lifetime issuing orders and expecting them to be followed. Listening and working through issues with other people tended to make him stumble.

He tried anyway. “Have you ever taken on responsibility for people? Made promises and assurances, until everything rested on your word.”

“I’m guessing you need my property for that to happen this time.” There was no heat behind the words. Just a hint of confusion.

“I thought it was mine.” And that was the truth. He never would have rested so much on a maybe.

“I’ve had a line of businessmen come to the door trying to convince me of how much money I can make if I just partnered up.”

Not a surprise but Sawyer hated to hear it. That meant his proposal would be one of many, and not a lucrative one. “Difference is I’m not offering you big checks. I’m talking about a conversation I had with Rob.”

Not a great argument in favor of his position, but a truthful one. Sawyer hoped that would mean something to her.

“One he never shared with me,” she pointed out.

That sounded bad. “Okay.”

“You don’t believe me.” She pulled back. Maybe not physically but the space between them grew. There among the trees and open land. It was subtle but it happened.

He understood her reaction because he didn’t like having his word doubted either. And truth was, he didn’t doubt hers. “We barely know each other, but I do. The woman Rob described to me wouldn’t ignore a conversation she had with him about what he wanted.”

Silence stretched between them. Birds sang and the wind whistled through the overgrown grass covering the state-owned protected property where he stood, but neither of them moved.

After a quick glance at her hands and the nail sitting in her palm, Hailey looked at Sawyer again. “You talk about being responsible for others. I’m worried about being responsible for Rob’s legacy. About losing this last piece of him.”

Sawyer battled with that same need to fill the void. He ached with it. Grieved for a friend lost like so many others. For Sawyer, the loss got wrapped up with guilt and pain. Things he couldn’t share with her because if she knew the role he’d played in Rob’s death she would walk away and never look back.

Still, Sawyer needed her to understand one truth. “The property isn’t Rob.”

“It’s part of him.”

“Is it?”

Like that, whatever spell had woven around them broke and the tension eased. She tucked the nail in her front jeans pocket. “We do digress when we talk, don’t we?”

He saw an out and took it. “I’m happy to go back to fucking.”

“You mean talking about it.”

Not really
. “If you say so.”

“That’s up to you.”

The chance of him misreading that comment seemed high, so he went for a clarification. “How’s that?”

“You want to go back to the people we were in that bar and spend a few days having fun? We can talk about that.”

An interesting trap. One the man he was even a year ago would have slid right into as he dug a condom out of his back pocket. “So long as I give up the property talk.”

She shrugged. “Looks like you need to figure out your priorities.”

He’d been struggling to do just that for months. Put the military and battle and short-term decisions behind him. Build something and plant roots.

“I tend not to let my dick run my life.” Saying that sentence almost killed him.

She made a sound almost like a short hum. “I know that’s a good thing, but in this instance I’m actually sorry to hear it.”

That made two of them.

She shot him another smile, this one less sunny and welcoming. “Goodbye, Sawyer.”

No way was he letting whatever they had end that way. “For now but we’ll see each other again soon.”

Chapter Four

Sawyer didn’t make it two steps into the small foyer of his rental house before the weight of sarcasm smacked into him. Marcus didn’t even have to say anything. He sat on the couch with his sneakers up on the coffee table and stared at his phone. Sawyer knew what played on the small screen because Jason had been torturing him with it for days. Looked like Marcus had driven up from Coronado where he used to be stationed to join in.

The brothers sat there, a few feet apart, like a set of grinning idiots. Jason and Marcus were two years apart but they might as well have been twins. The same dark hair and blue eyes. Matching kick-ass capabilities. Jason hid his behind a wall of joking and an easy demeanor. Marcus tended to go for hitting things.

Sawyer had grown up with both of them, fought beside Jason and admired the hell of out Marcus. Marcus refused to confirm the accounts of his Navy SEAL days but newspaper articles and the family rumor mill suggested his humility was misplaced.

Heroism aside, right now Sawyer wanted to punch both of the McAdams brothers right in the head.

“I’ve been watching this home movie,” Marcus said, looking far too comfortable propped up in a stack of pillows in the corner of the sectional. “Turns out it’s a comedy. The guy in it has no game at all.”

Little did they know just how bad he’d gotten. He’d actually picked a strip of open land over a woman that made his brain hiccup. Being a grown-up sucked sometimes.

“Shut up.” Coming around the side of the couch, Sawyer made a move for the phone. “It’s me on Hailey’s front porch.” Sawyer fell into the chair across from the brothers. “Let’s move on.”

“Technically, it’s you not getting past the front door,” Marcus said.

Jason leaned over and joined in the phone viewing. “I’m thinking maybe I should take a run at her.”

Ignoring the way he phrased it, and Sawyer had to struggle to do that, no way was anyone else from the office getting within fifty feet of Hailey. “Go near her and you die.”

It was a business decision and nothing more. He kept repeating that in his head even though another part of him wanted to focus on her ass.

Jason sat back. “Well now.”

“Interesting,” Marcus said with a smug expression that matched his brother’s.

Forget punching. Sawyer thought banging their heads together might work better. “Because she already knows me.”

And that was his point...sort of. If he forgot the smoking-hot body and those intelligent eyes. If he somehow got past the kick-your-ass attitude that fueled his blood and had him thinking about going back for more. If he got around all of that and ignored the pretty round face, he could concentrate on business. He had to believe he could get her to agree to talk business...then focus on fucking.

“How do you figure you and Hailey have some sort of relationship?” Jason asked.

They’d talked sex. Hell, he might even have mentioned wanting to lick her. Not that he planned to share that information with these two. “She’s distrustful of men asking about the property. Throwing a bunch of us at her will only scare her off.”

Jason scoffed. “Right, that’s the problem with me taking a turn. I mean a turn talking to her about the business, of course.”

Sawyer didn’t want to talk about any of this. “Shut up.”

“We should look for an alternate location.” Marcus turned the phone and started typing again.

“Not necessary.” Sawyer knew he had to put an end to that shitty idea before it took hold and they got even further behind on the original business plan. Open land in San Diego was both limited and at a premium. Combine that with all the rules about outdoor gun ranges, where and how you could open them, not to mention the cost, and the options narrowed even further.

Marcus looked at Jason. “Maybe if we go further north.”

“I said I’d handle it.” Sawyer raised his voice. Threw in his marine big-dick-in-charge major tone.

They both stared at him again but Jason spoke. “You couldn’t even get in her front door. Apparently you suck with women.”

A female voice cut through the room. “Leave my big brother alone.”

Sawyer looked up in time to see Molly push away from the doorframe. She walked across the room with her usual confidence. Tall and smiling with her skirt bouncing around her knees and her motorcycle boots clunking against the hardwood floor. She smiled at Marcus and glanced at Jason.

The way those two pretended not to notice each other drove Sawyer fucking crazy. So did the idea of his best friend even thinking about Molly as anything more than the off-limits kid he’d known for years. She might be twenty-five and an adult but that didn’t mean Sawyer wanted to see her get sucked into Jason’s messed-up personal life.

She sat on the armrest next to Sawyer. “What’s up?”

Marcus dropped his cell on the coffee table. “Sawyer struck out.”

“Okay.” She frowned. “When was he at bat?”

“Funny you should mention bat.” Marcus sat forward and slid the cell toward Molly. “Take a look.”

Sawyer grabbed it in midslide. “That’s enough.”

He’d erase the evidence later. Either that or break the damn thing in half. That would teach Marcus to use a security code.

“Clearly I’m missing something.” Molly glanced around the room as she swung her leg back and forth.

Sawyer considered that a good thing. “I’ll fill you in later.” And by that he meant never.

“I doubt that, but back to the property.” Molly sighed. “Where exactly are we?”

“We should start looking for other property,” Marcus said.

“We are not starting over with another parcel. This is it. The sheriff will sign off on the shooting range if we put it here. I can make this work.” Sawyer’s voice snapped and the words came out more as a command than an explanation, but he had to make his point.

He would make this happen. He’d made promises. With talk of jobs and financial security, he’d convinced them all to settle in San Diego instead of spreading out across the United States. All those hours spent poring over site plans and combing through regulations. No way was Sawyer backing down now.

Molly’s leg swung faster now. “Did you use that tone with Hailey? Because it’s annoying.”

“I was charming.” Though not yelling that probably would have been more convincing.

“Real people charming or your form of charming?” Marcus asked.

Usually Sawyer could count on some assistance from Marcus. Apparently not this time. “That’s not helpful.”

Marcus winced. “You can be...how do I put this?”

Jason didn’t wait for his brother to finish. “A complete ass.”

“Challenging,” Molly said at the same time.

“Oh, come on.” Jason shook his head. “Dictatorial, annoying. Maybe imposing, but challenging?”

She eyed him up. “Do you have a problem with that word?”

Something in the combination of her tone and withering I-will-end-you glare must have gotten through because Jason’s head pushed back and his expression went blank. “No, ma’am.”

She nodded. “That’s right.”

Marcus snorted. “Because she will kick your ass.”

It was tempting to watch that. Sawyer debated letting Jason crash in flames but jumped in instead. Not that he passed up the opportunity to issue a warning of his own to Jason. “And if you don’t watch it, you get to deal with me.”

A strange quiet fell over the room. Due to the size of the place, Sawyer could see the entire downstairs from where he sat. A bedroom on the other side of the main hall from the front door. The kitchen in front of him. Nothing moved. The buzz of sprinklers and hum of the refrigerator ceased.

Marcus cleared his throat. “That’s one way to kill a conversation.”

At least he ended the topic. Sawyer was ready to circle around to the main one anyway. “Back to the property issue.”

“I can talk with Ms. Thorne,” Molly suggested with a long-suffering men-are-stupid sigh.

“She’s your age. I think you can call her Hailey,” Jason said.

Sawyer had to admit this wasn’t the worst idea they’d kicked around. Maybe Hailey would view Molly as less of a threat. Put the bat down and listen.

He let the possibility rumble around in his brain. “Some woman-to-woman talk could help.”

“Right, because all women think the same way.” With a headshake and more mumbling than seemed necessary, Molly stood up. “Honestly, you’re lucky she didn’t hit you with that bat. I still might.”

Sawyer had no idea where he’d gone wrong. He listened, he’d agreed, and still came up with the wrong answer. “I was supporting your suggestion.”

“You were acting like women meet then sit around doing our nails together.”

Jason leaned over to Marcus. “That’s wrong, right?”

He shook his head. “You are asking the wrong guy about the habits of women.”

Sawyer’s patience expired. The last of his control ran right out of him and Molly proved to be the closest target. “Did I say anything about your nails?”

“Okay.” Marcus stood up. “I think we’ve officially lost focus.”

Maybe now that two of them were saying it they could get back on track. Though Sawyer doubted it. His sister stood there biting her lip, as if she were ready to launch into the first of a thousand questions. Jason lounged on the couch and didn’t look ready to move anytime soon.

“I’ll take another shot,” Sawyer said anyway.

Marcus stopped in the middle of the doorway to the kitchen and turned around again. “Are we sure that’s a good thing?”

“This time I’ll do a bit more background research.” On Hailey. Sawyer had conducted plenty on opening the gun range. He’d been all through the liability issues and various financial scenarios to ensure they could all make enough money to be able to eat and avoid living in their cars.

“Oh, yeah.” Jason nodded. “The ladies love background checks.”

Grabbing onto the last of his control, Sawyer tried to make the point one more time. “I’m not dating Hailey Thorne.”

“Why is that again?” Jason asked.

Because he asked and...hell, he didn’t know why the whole get-into-bed scenario went sideways. Sawyer decided the safest thing to do was ignore the comment. “I’ll figure out exactly what her relationship was to Rob and go from there.”

“He did leave her the property,” Molly said as she inched closer to Jason and put her hand on the couch cushion right by his head.

“It wasn’t sexual.” The answer worked for the question and his sister’s movements. Sawyer wasn’t all that fond of either at the moment. “And before anyone asks how I know, I just do.”

“What happens after you take this other shot?” Marcus asked.

Problem was that’s where Sawyer’s plans ran out. “Good question.”

Fifteen minutes later Sawyer stood at the kitchen sink, staring out the window above it. The coffeepot next to him dripped and hissed, signaling the beverage was ready to go.

The low rumble of conversation carried on in the family room behind him. Some television show. An argument between Molly and Jason over something. There was always something.

His mind should be on food and business plans. It was on Hailey and her offer.

Damn her.

“You okay?” Marcus walked into the room without making a noise. All that training helped him move as if he weighed nothing. His shoes didn’t even cause the usual squeak on the floorboards by the small table just inside the doorway. Those boards squeaked for everyone. All but Marcus.

Sawyer shrugged. “Sure.” It was a practiced move. Beat back the thoughts muddling his brain and concentrate on the issue in front of him.

The kitchen chair scraped across the floor as Marcus dragged it then sat down. “Try again.”

Sawyer grabbed the coffeepot and two mugs on the way to join Marcus at the table. “I just need this to work because¾“

“Because my brother is turned around after having his wife walk out on him and your sister is reeling from losing your mom and thinking she’s to blame. You’re taking on a lot here.” Marcus talked right over Sawyer. Talked and poured and even took a sip of coffee. “Setting up a business, helping the people you care about, wrestling with Hailey Thorne.”

Sawyer refused to believe his life had come down to this. That it could be boiled down to a few boring sentences. “Do you understand what I did for a living up until recently?”

Marines special ops. During his time in the 1st Marines Special Operations Battalion he’d led men and fired his weapon more times than he ever thought possible. Between dodging IEDs and struggling to keep his company intact, he’d lived every day, every hour, under a pile of stress.

Dealing with Hailey hardly qualified as being as difficult as war. At least he hoped that was true.

Marcus stared at Sawyer over the rim of the mug. “Scary, awful shit. Understood.”

The amusement was right there in Marcus’s tone. Sawyer got it now. His friend picked a fight to make a point. “Do you want to have a marine versus SEAL battle?”

Marcus waved Sawyer off. “Nah, I’d win.”

“How do you figure?”

After downing the cup, Marcus reached over and grabbed the coffeepot for a refill. “Don’t make me embarrass you.”

In a force-against-force battle they matched up evenly. Since Sawyer had no intention of letting Marcus get the jump on him, even in an informal go-around, Sawyer put the military whose-dick-is-bigger comparisons aside. But that left Hailey. “You think I can’t deal with one woman.”

The wood creaked under his weight as Marcus leaned back in the chair. “Not if you treat her like she’s an insurgent or a tactical problem to be solved.”

“Because you know about women.” It was Sawyer’s last argument and a lame one, but he threw it out there anyway.

“Just because I don’t sleep with them doesn’t mean I don’t know how to keep from pissing them off.”

The serious tone spooked Sawyer. He wasn’t looking for a fatherly lecture, especially not from someone close to his age. “Look, I get that I could upset her and blow this business deal.”

“It’s not your job to rescue everyone, Sawyer.” Marcus reached over and filled Sawyer’s mug. “Jason and I can find work. Your sister is tougher than all of us. You don’t have to fix everything so that our lives are easier.”