Jump Start (12 page)

He disconnected himself, more than ready to get a piece of B.J., but quickly pulled up as he realized B.J. was holding a gun on Rocky.

Everything went slow motion then. Rocky’s gaze flickered to Bobby. B.J. began to turn. Bobby threw his knife, landing it in B.J.’s right shoulder, his right hand holding the pistol, dropping for an instant.

Rocky was on top of B.J. in a flash, rolling with B.J. in a desperate scramble that jarred the gun free. Bobby took the right moment to kick the gun away.

A chopper sounded in the distance. Help had arrived. Bobby grabbed the gun and aimed it at B.J., the noise rendering conversation impossible.

Once the bird was down, several armed soldiers rushed forward, led by Bobby’s own team—the Crazy Aces—with Caleb in the lead. B.J. was cuffed and loaded for transport in a matter of minutes.

Back at the airfield a short while later, Bobby found Caleb waiting for him in the hangar, and while he should have been surprised, he’d learned to expect the unexpected.

“What do we have going on here on the ground?” Bobby questioned immediately, Rocky nearby.

“Shari’s safe,” Caleb reported. “Gavin’s in custody and the property is being cleared.” He nodded at Rocky. “In conjunction with local law enforcement, the Army is shutting you down for investigation, effective immediately.”

Rocky slid a rough hand over his jaw and turned away, staring out at the cluster of activity on the airfield, police and EMS vehicles lining the edges. The bleachers were quickly being emptied, hundreds of people scattering.

Bobby stepped closer to his side, noting Jennifer’s plane on the ground in his peripheral vision. “I know you’re innocent,” Bobby said. “I’ll speak on your behalf.”

“Thanks, man,” Rocky said. “But speaking on my behalf isn’t going to undo the damage this is doing to my revenue stream. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not ungrateful for what you guys did here tonight. Unfortunately, Gavin took the Hotzone to the sewer with him. Business was slim pickings in this economy anyway. These bimonthly shows helped me stay afloat. Who’s going to want to come to another one after this?”

“You might be surprised,” Bobby suggested. “People love to be in the middle of a scandal. It’s like a rubber-necking holiday.”

“I’m done,” Rocky announced, clearly not amused by the joke. “I’m going to sell and get the hell out.” He turned to Caleb. “Who needs me and for what? Let’s get the information over with, and whatever else needs to be done. All of it.”

Bobby understood Rocky wanting the inquisition over, though he doubted Rocky had any confessions to reveal. Bobby, on the other hand did—to Jennifer—and he’d made it on that plane. Or rather—he’d made his confession. He’d told Jennifer he still loved her. But he wasn’t foolish enough to believe that got him out of hot water. Based on what she’d seen and heard tonight, she’d believe he had come back because of his duty. Words weren’t enough. He had to prove to her he was back for her.

“Yes,” she said anxiously, clinging to the wall for stability and quickly doing her best to wrestle off the parachute. “I’m Jennifer. Is Bobby okay?”

“Bobby’s safe,” he reported.

Her shoulders loosened with relief and the loss of the chute. “And everyone else?”

“Everyone else, too.” He tilted a mike attached to his ear toward his mouth. “Tell Bobby she’s wheels on the ground and safe, if he doesn’t already know.” Then to Jennifer. “I guess I see why he hasn’t signed his reenlistment papers.”

Her eyes went wide. “Bobby is up for reenlistment?”

Ryan frowned. “I guess I wasn’t supposed to say that.” He offered her his hand. “How about we get you out of here and negotiate your terms of silence?”

Her head swam, her thoughts a jumbled mess. Bobby was up for reenlistment and hadn’t told her.

“What the hell, Ryan,” Bobby called out from the side of the plane, out of her visual. “You couldn’t be without me for a couple of weeks or what?”

Ryan turned to where Bobby was; although he remained out of Jennifer’s range of sight still, she could hear the two men exchange a few words about B.J. Jennifer moved to the edge of the plane’s doorway, planning to jump down, but it was too steep. So she stood there, fuming, telling herself this was not the time to talk to Bobby about his reenlistment, or rather, his failure to tell her about it.

He’d let Marcie believe he was here for her wedding. But he was here for duty. He was here for a job. Not for her… No, she thought, her heart squeezing. Not for her.

Her heart pounded in her ears even as thunder rumbled in the night air, the moon barely visible, the airfield lights blasting a hole in the darkness to illuminate the skydivers. A flash of lightning shot through the black circle around them, one of those sudden, Texas summer thunderstorms, ready to rip and roar. How appropriate, because right now, Jennifer was ready to blow up a storm of her own.

Ryan continued to egg Bobby on with a playful jest that spoke of friendship and of a part of Bobby’s life as foreign to her as the man who’d jumped out of that plane.

“I love an excuse to come to my sweetheart home state,” Ryan said. “Besides, you know you can’t live without me.”

“Don’t count on that one,” Bobby said dryly, rounding the corner of the plane, with Ryan by his side, and bringing Jennifer into focus.

Her heart froze. She couldn’t hold back. She didn’t care who was watching, or who was listening. This explosion was years in the making. It needed to erupt. “You came here to do a job,” she blurted out. “Not for the wedding. Not for me, which is fine, Bobby. Fine. But don’t tell me you love me. Don’t play these stupid games with me. Maybe they work for you. But they don’t work for me. They hurt. I don’t even know who you are that you would want to hurt me.”

Shadowy turbulence flitted across his face. “I would never hurt you—”

“You left me without a word for seven years,” she hissed. “Yes. Yes, you would hurt me.”

“I was trying to protect you,” he said, “because I love you.”

She drew her spine stiff. “Is that why you didn’t tell me you were up for reenlistment? You wanted to keep your options open, and you thought telling me that would hurt me?”

“Ah, sorry, Bobby,” Ryan said. “And they want us in the office.”

“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to feel any pressure,” he said.

She hardly knew what to say to that. “There is no pressure,” she said. “You left. I don’t want you back.”

She walked to the other side of the doorway where Ryan had discreetly stepped. “Please help me down, Sergeant Walker.”

Bobby made a frustrated sound and was in front of her, grabbing hold of her hips in an instant. Before she could stop him, he’d slid her down the front of his body, molding her close, her feet dangling off the ground. He was warm and hard, and she wanted to hit him and kiss him at the same time.

“We’ll talk when this is over,” he vowed.

“You and Ryan can talk,” she said. “About your life. The one I’m not a part of.”

“Jennifer—”

She shoved on his shoulders. “Put me down, Bobby.”

“This isn’t over, Jennifer.”

“So you keep saying,” she said. “But you see…it is over. It was over seven years ago. I am just finally willing to admit that.”

“Make sure everyone else, Rocky included, understands,” Bobby ordered, and was already walking, pulling Jennifer along with him. “I don’t want you anywhere near these people Rocky is involved with.”

“Then you shouldn’t have brought me here and pretended it was a date,” she said.

“I’m glad we agree it was a date,” he said, casting her a sideways look. “Because it was.”

“A date is not a mission to take down some drug lord, Bobby,” she said. “You used me as an excuse to come here.”

“Bringing you here was a mistake,” he said. “I know that. It’s dangerous. Exactly why— Now isn’t the time for this conversation.”

She grabbed his hand. “Bobby, wait.”

He stopped walking and slid his fingers to her face. Raindrops began to pelt down on top of them; the cold splattering, a contrast to the hot summer night. “I need you to walk fast and get out of here before someone decides you should be a witness, and you become a target for some very nasty people. Understand?”

She visibly paled and nodded. He took her hand and made a quick path between the buildings, to the parking lot. Cars were lined up, exiting the graveled path. The rain pounded into the rocks and dirt, and clung to their clothes, wetting their skin.

Bobby stopped at the driver’s side of the rental and pulled Jennifer into his arms, his mouth slanting over hers in a passionate kiss that defied the cold rain pounding down around them. He drank of her with wild abandon, blocked out the weather, blocked out his duty. Afraid this would be the last taste of her, the last, sweet, blissful piece of Jennifer he ever had, and telling her without words how much she meant to him. And she kissed him back, clinging to him, wildly taking from him, giving to him, as if she, too, feared this was the end.

It took every piece of willpower he possessed to pull back, his hands framing the damp strands of hair dripping around her heart-shaped face. “I was already here when I was called to duty. I’ll explain everything later, but you have to go now. Jennifer…I do love you.” He kissed her forehead. “Go now.”

He started to back away, and she held on to his arm. “I…”

She was afraid to say it, afraid of getting hurt. He offered her an escape. “You have to go.” He opened the car door and motioned her inside. She hesitated a moment and climbed in.

The minute the engine roared to life, Bobby took off running. And this time he vowed, he wasn’t running from Jennifer, or from himself. He was going to run to her. That was, if she would still have him.

After tonight, he knew she wanted him. He knew she probably even loved him. He just wasn’t sure she believed love was enough.

She pulled up to her condo, the interior of the car a sopping wet mess from her clothes, and rushed to the door, the rain still coming down so hard she officially understood the saying “it was raining barrels.” She unlocked the door, to be greeted by a meowing kitty. She offered a few kitty pets and a little kitty talk, then stripped, eager for a hot shower.

An hour later, near ten already, hair dry, her face scrubbed fresh, Jennifer sat on her couch, the air cranked on high, and snuggled beneath a white down comforter. She had a cup of hot chocolate in her hand despite the season; it was like her comfort food in a mug—warm and sweet. Maybe because it reminded her of family and holidays.

Beneath the blanket, she wore pink sweatpants and a pink tank top, a bra most defiantly in place in her determination to be casually pulled together with a strong, not sexy, appeal. Okay, so maybe pink wasn’t the best way to send the strong message, but she’d changed three times and this was the best she could come up with.

Sipping her chocolate, with Julie curled in a ball at her feet, she told herself to stay angry at Bobby, to end any relationship with him tonight. Maybe if she drank enough chocolate bliss, she wouldn’t need any Bobby bliss. She sighed at the fallibility of that strategy. She fiddled with the remote, but didn’t turn on the television.

Instead, she sat there, processing, thinking. And the longer she sat on that couch, the more she saw beyond her own emotions. Bobby had been brave tonight, honorable. She didn’t know the Bobby who jumped out of planes and saved lives. Or did she? He’d been a strong, steady, dependable friend during the party when the guests had gotten out of control. Maybe he was born to be a soldier. Pride welled inside her.

“He’s trying to choose between me and the Army,” she whispered. Her hand went to her stomach, feeling suddenly queasy. He didn’t want her to know about the reenlistment in case he chose the Army. And how could she ask him to choose her? She’d seen him today—seen how he’d acted to save lives. How could anything compare? Maybe this wasn’t a fling. Maybe it was simply two people in love whose destinies couldn’t be one. Maybe rather than giving him ultimatums, she simply needed to love him while she could. To love him enough to tell him it was okay that he be who he was, that he be the soldier he’d become.

Reaching for the remote again, Jennifer hoped for something to occupy her mind, rather than sit there and think herself into some sort of insanity. At the same moment, a knock sounded on the door. She jumped and the remote went flying, her heart exploding in her chest. Julie screeched and jumped. Jennifer pressed her hand to her face. Good grief, so much for seeming together.

Jennifer threw back the blanket and rushed to the door. “Hello?”

“It’s Bobby,” he said, his voice a familiar rough sandpaper that both stroked her nerves and aroused her senses.

Jennifer opened the door to find him standing there, his clothes wet, his blond hair lying haphazardly framing his strong features, a swatch across his brow. The rain splattered around him, jumping off the awning that wasn’t enough to protect him from being any more beaten and weathered. And he did indeed look weathered and worn, tired from no sleep the night before, the expression on his face stark, as if he expected her to turn him away.

“I should never have taken you there tonight,” he admitted. “I was called to investigate the Hotzone, and I selfishly didn’t want to give up time with you. I put you in danger.”

Her heart squeezed, the need to reach for him too great to ignore. She stepped forward and forgot the rain, flinging her arms around him and holding him tight.

“You were a real-life hero tonight, Bobby,” she said, pressing her head to his chest, his heart racing against her ear. “I was proud of you.” His shirt was wet, but the warmth of his skin seeped through into hers. The strength of his arms closed around her.

“Jennifer,” he whispered, lifting her and setting her back down inside the house, kicking the door shut. “Sweetheart—”

“I don’t care about how, or why, we went to that show tonight,” she said, tilting her head up to stare at him. “I don’t even care why you came into town.”

“I swear to you, Jennifer,” he said, framing her face. “I was assigned the task after I arrived. I came for the wedding.” His voice softened. “I came for you.”

She wet her lips, her mouth and throat dry. “I believe you,” she promised. “But, Bobby…tonight I saw the soldier in you. It’s in your blood. I’m not asking you to walk away from that for me, and I know that’s what you think you have to do. But you don’t. You can’t. You have to be who, and what, you are.”

He blinked down at her, shadows flickering in the depths of his eyes, his voice whisky-rough. “
You’re
in my blood, Jennifer.” His mouth came down on hers, firm, strong like the man, his tongue sliding past her lips, demanding, claiming. Wild. They were wild. She was on her toes, or maybe he was lifting her. She didn’t know, didn’t care. This was the first time since his arrival that she let herself completely enjoy Bobby. Completely accepting that what they had been didn’t matter nearly as much as what they were here and now.

Her hands found the hem of his shirt, shoving the damp cotton upward. “Take it off,” she ordered.

Bobby yanked it over his head, tossing it on the floor, giving her a delicious eyeful of muscle. Her hands traced the hot flesh, and she cast him a tiny, seductive smile. “I love your soldier tough-guy abs of yours.”

“Oh, yeah?” His voice held a smile, rather than the duress, the torment, of minutes before.

“Hmm,” she concurred, her smile fading when her gaze lifted and latched on to his, the sizzle between them so much deeper than simple attraction. Heat shimmered along her nerve endings, desire pooling deep in her belly.

He picked her up, palms intimately wrapping around her backside. Her hips cradled his, his erection thick, pulsing against her. “I want you to like my body, Jennifer,” he said, his voice low, taut; he nipped her neck. “I need a shower.” He nipped her neck again, then her lips. “Care to join me?”

She curled her fingers together behind his neck. “It’s my shower,” she teased. “I most definitely get to join the hot, naked soldier in it.”

He kissed her then, a fevered frenzy coming over them, and she wasn’t sure they would make it to the shower anytime soon. All that mattered was touching, tasting, feeling.

Until a sudden pounding sounded at the door, jerking their mouths apart. Bobby murmured, “What the—?”

“Jennifer! It’s Marcie. Let me in. It’s raining!”

Jennifer’s eyes went wide, her hands resting on Bobby’s shoulders. “It’s close to midnight. Something must be wrong.”

Bobby set Jennifer down, snagging his shirt and pulling it over his head even as Jennifer jerked the door open.

The rain was coming down in buckets again, and Marcie rushed in the door, dripping wet. “Mark and I broke up,” she sobbed. “The wedding is off!”

“What?!” Jennifer exclaimed.

“The wedding isn’t off, Marcie,” Bobby said calmly. “You’re just upset.”

Marcie nodded. “It’s off. He hates me. We hate each other.” A panicked look flashed across her face as she focused on Bobby. “Uh, I didn’t know you were here. I should have known you’d be here.” She burst into tears, her teeth chattering. “Don’t worry. I’m leaving.” She turned to the door.

“No!” Jennifer and Bobby said at the same time. Bobby quickly pressed his hand to the door. “Stay. I’ll go talk to Mark.”

Marcie whirled around. “It won’t do any good. He hates me, Bobby. He hates me.”

“He doesn’t hate you,” Bobby assured her.

“He does,” she said, mascara running down her cheeks. “And I’m dripping all over your floor.”

Jennifer knew a hot-bath, glass-of-wine crisis when she saw one. “I’ll get a towel,” she said and started to turn away before adding, “And you and Mark are going to make up, Marcie. You watch and see.”

“We won’t,” Marcie insisted. “You don’t know how bad it is.”

Jennifer had a good idea. She’d seen them fighting. But she didn’t comment, not about to make matters worse.

“You’ve been trying to push him away, Marcie,” Bobby said as Jennifer walked toward the hall closet, silently agreeing with his assessment.

Jennifer started a hot bath with bubbles and then rushed back to Marcie with a big, fluffy towel in hand but stopped at the edge of the hallway as she heard what Marcie was saying.

“And you’re any better, Bobby?” Marcie demanded. “You ran away so Jennifer wouldn’t push you away when you became like your father. Well…I can’t have kids. Mark can never be a father if he marries me. I thought I could deal with that, but he’s going to resent me down the road.”

“So that’s it?” Bobby challenged. “You’re trying to make him hate you now, because you think he’ll hate you later?”

“No,” she said. “No, I… He says it doesn’t matter. But what’s he supposed to say?”

“He’d find a reason to walk away if he wanted to walk away,” Bobby replied.

Jennifer felt as if she’d been slugged in the chest. Bobby had found his reason to leave.

“Do you love him?” Bobby asked.

“Yes,” Marcie said. “I love him.”

“Then why can’t you just let him love you?”

She started bawling again. “Because I’m scared, Bobby.”

Jennifer had heard enough and rounded the corner, expecting to go to Marcie’s rescue. Instead, she found Bobby pulling a dripping-wet Marcie into his arms and hugging her, a big brother taking care of his little sister. Bobby looked up and his gaze captured Jennifer’s. “Then do what I didn’t,” he said. “Tell him you’re scared. Let him help you.”

Jennifer sucked in a shaky breath, feeling his words clear to her soul. He was talking to her. He was telling her he’d been scared. Telling her he was still scared.

“I don’t know how,” Marcie said, grabbing Bobby’s arms and pleading. “Will you talk to him? He’s so mad. I don’t know what to say, and I know you don’t know him well, but—”

“I’ll talk to him.”

“Now?” she asked hopefully.

“Yes,” he said. “Now.”

Jennifer stepped forward and wrapped Marcie in the towel. “To the bathroom and get in that hot tub. I even put some of that calming eucalyptus in the water you gave me on my birthday. I’ll bring you wine and we’ll talk.”

Marcie nodded and headed to the bath.

Bobby made sure he had Jennifer’s cell programmed properly into his phone. They stood toe to toe, the silent, unspoken words wrapping them with a mixture of hot sun and cold winter snow, too complex and textured to touch on now.

“Thank you for doing this,” Jennifer said. “I know you haven’t slept.”

“I’m not worried about sleep,” he said. “I’m worried about Marcie and Mark working this out before their wedding.”

“Yes,” she said, her hand resting on his chest. There was so much she wanted to say. “You’ll come back?”

He scooped her into his arms and kissed her. “I’m not going anywhere this time, Jennifer.” His lips brushed hers and then he was gone.

Jennifer stood there, stunned. Confused. He was leaving. He was staying. He was up for reenlistment, but obviously, clearly after today, a soldier. He wore the title well, wore it with honor.

Jennifer’s cell phone started ringing, startling her into action. She rushed forward, to the table where she’d set her purse. Marcie appeared in the hallway, still fully dressed, a hopeful look on her face that had Jennifer saying, “It’s probably Mark, worried about you.”

“Don’t answer it if it is,” she said. “He doesn’t want to marry me, he doesn’t deserve to know where I’m at.”

Jennifer blinked in confusion. “You just asked Bobby to go talk to him.”

“I know, but…” Marcie pressed her palm to her forehead. “I don’t know anymore.”

Jennifer grabbed her purse on the hall table and checked caller ID on her phone. “It’s him,” she said.

“He doesn’t want to marry me, Jen,” Marcie said, mascara dropping down her cheeks.

“He wants to marry you,” Jennifer said. “This is just cold feet before the wedding.” The phone stopped ringing.

“See!” Marcie said. “He already gave up.”

“It’s Saturday night,” Jennifer said. “And mark my words, by next Sunday night, you will be a married woman enjoying the first day of her honeymoon.” The phone started ringing again and she answered it.

“Is she there?” Mark asked, his voice steely hard.

“Yes.”

“That’s all I wanted to know,” he said and hung up.

Jennifer pulled the phone from her ear, stunned by Mark’s abruptness.

“He didn’t even ask to speak to me?” Marcie asked, her face already crinkling.

“You didn’t want to talk to him,” Jennifer said, trying to talk her way out of this. Marcie burst into tears.

It was a good while later when Jennifer managed to bundle Marcie up in silk pajamas. They sat on the bed and talked.