Meagan's Marine (Halos & Horns) (22 page)

chapter 27

Returns and Revelations

The door of the house swung open before
Mitch even shifted the car into park.
Niki
came
running out, with Tex bringing up the rear.

She jerked the car door open and gushed
at the little boy in the back seat. “My little Buckaroo! I’m so glad you’re
home, little man. Did you miss Aunt
Niki
?”

Buck nodded. “I missed
youw
pancakes, Aunt
Nik
.”

“Ah, the boy’s using me for food
already!”
Niki’s
tone was overly dramatic, as she
gave him an awkward hug, trying to work her way around his arm cast and leg
brace. “But guess what, Buck? I baked for you.”

Buck’s face lit up. “Is it
bwownies
, aw cupcakes?”

Mitch laughed as he came around to lift
Buck gently from the back seat. “Not even through the door yet, mom, and he’s
already thinking of junk food.”

“That’s because his Aunt
Niki
has brown-nosed her way into his heart, via chocolate,
since before he’s even had teeth.”

Niki
shrugged at her friend. “Hey, when you’re good, you’re good.”

“You’re such a sugar pusher.” She
reached out to give her friend a one armed hug. “But you’re allowed, this one
day. Hey, Tex. Glad you could be here for this.” She kissed him on the cheek
before following Mitch, carrying her son, into the house.

****

Niki
covered her mouth, and held back tears at the thought of what could have
happened. She leaned against Tex, happy that he’d turned up for Buck’s
homecoming. “Lord, this could have been so much worse, Tex.”

“But it wasn’t.” He pulled her to him
for a hug. “They make a good couple, don’t they?”

“They sure do.” She looked around to
make certain the two of them were alone. “I don’t think either of them suspects
it was us who sent that text. Has Mitch mentioned it to you?”

“Only that Meagan thinks it somehow
could
have been Buck’s dad.” Tex shivered. “That’s some freaky shit, there.”

“But convenient, don’t you think? After
the crap he’d been putting us through in that house, I figure I earned the
right to use his presence, just this once, to get those two together.”

“Uh huh.” Tex leaned in to give her a
quick kiss. “
Almost
as convenient as getting locked in the club after
hours with no way of getting out.”

“At least not without setting off the
burglar alarm, anyway, which we never would have lived down,” she added. “Thank
God, Mitch went to the club to look for
Meggie’s
phone.”

Tex laughed. “And his bladder that he
had to go to the head, so we could sneak out of there without him seeing us.”
He turned her in the direction of the house. “You think they’ll ever figure it
out?”

She let him lead her inside. “I won’t
tell, if you won’t.”

****

A little before 10:00 p.m., Mitch looped
Meagan’s waist with one arm and planted a soft kiss on the side of her neck.
“Come sit with me for a while, before I go home, Megs. We’ve done all the
cleaning we can do in this kitchen for one night.”

She folded her dishcloth in half and
draped it over the edge of the sink. “I guess you’re right.” A long, low roll
of thunder echoed in the distance as rain pelted the windows. The lights had
flickered and gone out about a half-hour earlier, necessitating the lighting of
candles in some rooms. A couple of said candles were scented. As a result, the
soft scents of warmed cinnamon, combined with a light orange and vanilla candle
to fill the air with deliciousness.

Meagan leaned over the jar candle
sitting on the kitchen counter, and used its own lid to smother the flame.
 

She let Mitch lead her into the living
room, feeling just a little shy. Her stomach churned with butterflies as he
pulled her to the couch. Since Buck’s accident, they hadn’t really ‘talked’
about much more than that. Mitch had hinted a few times that they would, once
her son made it home from the hospital. Here it was, November 6
^th
,
already, six long days after the accident, three days after Buck had woken up
with no loss of brain function.

Part of her looked forward to what
Mitchell had to say, suspecting he’d given up the idea that she and Buck
weren’t safe with him. The other part of her was too accustomed to
disappointment, and terrified to hope for a life with this man. Her run of luck
had been so bad for so long. Why should now be any different?

Mitch settled on one end of the couch,
his back up against the arm, and pulled her down with him, holding her close.
“I think we need to talk.”

Candlelight flickered from the end table
while a hurricane lamp on a stool at the opposite end of the hallway cast an
ethereal glow from the opening.

Oh God, here it comes.
She swallowed the bile building in the back of her throat. When had she begun
to rely so heavily on Mitchell’s presence for strength? When had she fallen in
love with him? She could almost hear the words forming in his mind.
“
You
and Buck are entirely too much trouble to risk a
relationsh
—”

“I
love you, Meagan.”

What?
“You do?” Her mind couldn’t seem to
grasp and accept his words. There
had
to be a catch.

“And
I’m crazy about Buck.”

Someone started a drum cadence in her chest with a
pair of sledgehammers.
She
finally got the courage to face him, biting on her lower lip to keep the
quivering to a minimum.

He
reached out to brush a stray lock of hair from her forehead. “Well?”

She
swallowed. “I’m waiting for the but…”

He
frowned. “You’re waiting for the butt…it’s not a joke. There’s no joke and no
butt. I love you and your son.”

She
shook her head. “Not like the butt of a joke, the B-U-T…like ‘I love you,
but
we still can’t be together,’ or something to that effect.”

He
pursed his lips, almost as if he was trying to hold back a laugh.
What in
hell
did he find so funny
about this situation?

“Are
you trying not to laugh at me?”
Her
heart was about to pound out of her chest from anxiety and this son of a bitch
was trying not to laugh?

He
coughed and seemed to sober. “
Ooo-kay
…” he drawled.
“You’re absolutely correct in assuming there is a
B-U-T
, and here it
is.” He cleared his throat loudly. “I love you, and I love Buck, and I want you
both in my life permanently…but…” He held up a finger and touched the center of
her forehead. “I can’t have that unless you and Buck both want me in your lives
also.”

She
blinked several times, trying to keep the tears from blocking out the sight of
him.

He
looked at his watch. “I guess it’s kind of late to ask Buck tonight, so I guess
his answer will have to wait until tomorrow.
But
…it sure as hell would
be nice to get an answer from you right now.” He slid to his knees on the floor
in front of her, fitting himself between her legs. “So, are you
gonna
keep me in suspense all night? Because I’m not
leaving here without an answer. No—scratch that! I’m not leaving here without
the
right
answer.”

She
slipped her arms around his neck and smiled. “You don’t have to wait until
tomorrow Mitch. I’m making an executive decision for both Buck and me.”

“You
are?”

“Uh
huh. I know how I feel about you and I know Buck’s crazy about you…so yeah.
Yes
, you can be a part of our lives.”
She kissed him then, a long, lingering kiss that left both of them wanting for
more. He didn’t have to say a word for her to know that…every square inch of
his body revealed how much he wanted her. She shivered at the nearness of him,
breathed in his masculine scent. Then she ran her hands down the front of his
shirt to his belt.

He
stopped her hand from travelling any further. “Uh
uh
uh…not so fast. You don’t think I’m going to let you use me without getting a
commitment from you first, do you?”

“But,
I already said you could be a part of our lives…”

“That’s
only part of the right answer and I’m a total package
kinda
guy.”

She
wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled him closer. “Oh, God…You sure are.”

“So?”

“So…I
love you. But you knew that already…Didn’t you, Marine?”

Mitch
kissed her, then nibbled and traced a sensual path from her mouth to her ear.
She shivered, her entire body anticipating his next move as he growled low in
his throat.

“Mm…I
suspected.”

*~*~*~*

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Excerpt of

RAINY
SEASON

(title subject to change)

(Haley Broussard & Ben Bonin’s story)

Introducing
a new character, Bo McAllister, into the

Niki
and Tex subplot, as well as a
continuation of

Meagan
and Mitch’s storyline.

chapter 1

Thanksgivings and Thanks for Nothings

Tex glanced up from reading the paper.
Haley entered the room, looking about as cheery as a Golden Retriever with a
dead duck tied around its neck. “What’s going on sis?”

 
She flopped down on the couch, her laptop
tucked under one arm and holding a family size bag of skittles in the other.
She dug around in the bag and came up with a handful of red ones, but still
didn’t answer.

“Why the hell don’t you go to the mall
and buy bags of just red ones?”

Eventually, Haley graced him with an
irritable glare. She picked up the remote and began flipping through the
stations, finally landing on the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

“You know, little sister, your boyfriend
may be dealing with something that requires a higher priority than keeping a
phone date with his girlfriend.”

Haley turned to him, her eyes wide and
filled with threatening tears. “No! Really?
That
thought
never
crossed my mind…jerk.”

“Hold on, now. I doubt there’s a hell of
a lot going on where he is right now. He’s in the North Helmand Province, isn’t
he? He’s probably spending most of his time on the base, being bored out of his
mind.”

“If he was on base, I’d have heard from
him by now.” She pulled her phone from her pocket and waved it at him. “He said
he’d call or email or message me first thing this morning to wish me a Happy
Thanksgiving.” She dropped her phone on the couch beside her and popped a
couple of Skittles in her mouth. “He always calls when he says he will.
Wherever Ben is, he’s sure as hell not sitting around being bored.”

Tex folded the Beaumont Enterprise and
rolled it up as he’d found it on the doorstep of his parents’ front porch this
morning. He swatted his knee a couple of times, then stood suddenly. “You need
a change of scenery, Haley girl. Go get dressed, because you and me are
takin
’ a little road trip.”

“Where to?” She let him pull her up by
the hand.

“We’re going to Louisiana. Just ‘cause
mom and dad decided to go skiing in Colorado for the holidays, doesn’t mean you
and I can’t have a decent Thanksgiving.”

“We’ll be back by tonight, won’t we?
I’ve got to be here to take care of my horses.”

“Nope. Pack a bag for
the night. Give ‘
em
a little extra hay, they’ll be
fine until tomorrow evening.”

“But I hate leaving
Dakota.”

Tex stared down at his
petite sister. “For Christ sake, she’s a twelve hundred pound horse, not a
child. I
think
she can handle one
night away from you without succumbing to separation anxiety. Besides, she has
three other horses out there to keep her company. She’ll be fine.” He grumbled
under his breath. “God knows their stalls are all nicer than my own house.”

“That’s only because
you live like a slob. Bachelor pads are supposed to be
welcoming
to women, but yours is disgusting.” She shivered. “You
can’t set foot in that place without having to step over take-out cartons,
empty beer cans, or dirty laundry.” She tucked her computer under her arm and
scooped up her phone. “You really should hire somebody to clean once a week.
God, I thought Marines were supposed to be neat and organized.”

“Hey, I had to be neat
and organized for twenty years. Now I can be as sloppy as I want to be.
Besides—” he slapped one of his biceps. “Once the ladies get a hold of this,
they’re too mesmerized to see anything else.”

Haley walked away from
her brother, snorting with laughter. “Yeah, Stud…you just keep
tellin
’ yourself that.”

Tex watched his sister
slip her boots on and head outside, thankful he’d been able to pull her out of
her temporary depression. There were a few good reasons for a Marine not to
contact his favorite girl on Thanksgiving Day. Worse-case-scenario? Him, lying
dead from some sniper, rocket, or IED, which was a possibility, though less so
at this point in the war. Other reasons were injuries, which were also a
possibility, a lack of signal, or wanting to dump one girl for another. From
the sickly-sweet phone conversations he had witnessed on occasion between Haley
and Ben Bonin, he figured that was
highly
unlikely. Chances are he was busy with supply runs or on patrol and lacked the
equipment to phone home. Both included an element of danger. She’d just have to
wait it out. In their parents’ absence, he figured the least he could do was to
make the waiting less painful for her.

He pulled out his phone
and found the contact he was looking for. He punched in the number and waited
through three rings before Mitch Hebert picked it up with a jovial
“Happy Thanksgiving shit brick!”

“You also, jerk wad!
You up to a visit from your two favorite Texans?”

****

“Mom!”

“Hang on, Buck, I’m coming.” Meagan
topped the green bean casserole with the last of the French fried onions and
slipped it back in the oven for the last 10 minutes of baking time.

She wiped her hands on her jeans and
went into Buck’s room. He sat on his bed trying to dress himself, but without
much success. She laughed at his half-dressed predicament, one leg in and one
leg out of a pair of oversized sweat pants, and one arm and his head through a
#8 Texans football jersey.

After a struggle, she finally got his
braced leg through the second leg of the sweats. She sat back and groaned at
his choice of shirts. “Son, you have other shirts, you know. Two weeks straight
of the same football jersey is getting old.”

“But it was my daddy’s
favwite
team, and Mitch gave it to me.”  He looked up
at her with pleading eyes as he kicked his good leg against the side of his
bed. “Please mom?”

“Okay, but after this cast comes off, I
don’t want to see you in jerseys for a while. And you will be dressed up in an
adorable little suit for Christmas if it kills me!” She finagled until she
finally got the cast through the arm of the jersey. “You want me to carry you
in the living room?”

“No, I want to go in the kitchen with
you and
Nik
.” He got his crutch and hopped to the
kitchen as if he was born using the darn thing.

Niki
passed him in the hallway and groaned. “God, I can’t wait until he gets off of
that crutch. It’s like having our own little Tiny Tim from that Dickens novel.”

Meagan laughed as she placed the
buttermilk pies on the snack bar next to the pumpkin pie. “I know, but it’s so
much better than the alternative, right?”

“Definitely! Hey did you remember to
pick up whipped topping for the pumpkin pie?”

“I’d forgotten, but Mitch is bringing
it.”

“Are you sure? Because, I only have
pumpkin pie once a year and it’s not the same without it.”

Meagan looked up at the sound of
knocking at the front door. “There he is, go ask him yourself.”

****

Niki
jerked on the door and held it open wide as Mitch entered, carrying a large
roasting pan. “Good Lord, that smells awesome!” Her gaze followed the roaster
as she pushed on the door. “But where’s the whipped topping?” Something large
stopped the door from closing. She turned to see Tex Broussard in the doorway,
wearing a
shit
-eating grin.

He pushed his way inside brandishing two
cans of whipped topping and a twelve-pack of domestic beer. “Ask and ye shall
receive, madam.” He bowed gallantly at the waist before holding the cans out to
her.

His younger sister, Haley, pushed her
way around him. “Yeah, yeah! Mitch already bought it, you just carried it in.
Hey
Niki
, how are you?” Haley reached out to give
Niki
a hug. “I hope y’all don’t mind that Mitch asked us to
come along. Our folks went to Colorado and it sucks being alone on a holiday
with only
him
for company.”

“Not at all, and I’m good, Haley. More
importantly, how’s it going with Lance Corporal Bonin?”

Niki
watched enviously as Haley’s soft brown eyes lit up with barely concealed
excitement. “God, I miss Ben so much! He sends me a rose every single Monday,
Niki
. Isn’t that the most romantic thing? He wants me to
fly out with his mom to Hawaii when he gets back from this deployment in six
months.”

Tex groaned and made a show of rolling
his eyes. “Jesus Christ, that’s all I hear lately. ‘Ben said this!’ and ‘Ben
did that!’” He shook his head. “Give me a break, would you?”

Haley surprised her brother with an
effective punch to his gut. “Shut up, you jerk! You know, it’s not a sin for a
guy to be romantic. From what I hear, you could take a few lessons from him in
the consideration department.” She winked at
Niki
before heading to the kitchen and leaving the two of them alone at the doorway.

Niki
stood with her hands fisted on her rounded hips. “Well, I sure as hell didn’t
expect to see
you
here.”

“Disappointed?” he said, stepping in
close for a kiss. What he got was a barely-there brush on her cheek as she
turned her face.

“Well no, but I am surprised.”

He stood to his full height, looking
somewhat shocked at her reaction to him. “After those fabulous couple of nights
we spent together, I figured you’d be glad to see me, Nicole.”

She smiled at him, showing her dimples.
“I was
disappointed
two weeks ago, when you didn’t call after
said
nights. I’ve moved on since then. Now, I’m simply surprised that you’re here.”
She batted her eyelashes at him. “Thanks for carrying in the topping though.
That was surprisingly…considerate …of you.”

She made a show of checking her watch as
another knock sounded at the door. “Oh, hang on, Tex. That must be
my
dinner guest.” She swung it open, greeting the newest arrival with squeals of
delight at the gorgeous basket of fall flowers in one hand and two bottles of
wine in the other. “Hey, sweetie, come on in!” The tall, good-looking man
leaned over and she threw her arms around his neck to kiss him soundly on the
lips.

“Happy Thanksgiving,
Niki
.
And thanks again for inviting me to this dinner.” He held out the bottles of
wine. “This is for the two lovely hostesses, but the flowers are all yours. And
uh, there’s a little surprise inside for you, but you’ll have to look for it.”

“Oh, I love surprises!” She took the
wine from him and placed it in the fridge to chill, then set the flowers down
on the table to start her search. “Oh, Bo McAllister, this is Tex. Tex, this is
Bo,”
Niki
threw in, while continuing her search for
the surprise. She pretended not to pay much attention, as the giant of a man
from Texas seemed to size up his equally large competition. She smiled to
herself, doubting seriously if Tex ever came face to face with someone as big
as he was.

Tex was the first to step forward and
offer his hand. “Matthew Broussard, but everyone calls me Tex.”

“Bo McAllister. It’s nice to meet you
man, and Happy Thanksgiving.”

“You t—”

Niki
cut off his reply with an ear-splitting screech as she jumped up and down. “The
ballet! You got tickets to the ballet? I adore The Nutcracker! Oh thank you,
thank you Bo!”

Bo caught her easily as she jumped in
his arms. The room resonated with his deep laughter as he spun her in a circle.
“You know I aim to please.”

****

Tex stood by, watching the display with
a growing sense of alarm burning in the pit of his belly. Mitch approached his
side.

“What’s going on in here?”

Tex looked at his friend and cocked one
eyebrow. “He scored some tickets…to the
ballet
…something about cracking
somebody’s nuts. Looks like it could be his. Who is this kid, anyway?”

Mitch gave him a friendly shove into the
kitchen once Meagan joined the noisy melee in the living room. “He’s Red
McAllister’s first cousin, and he’s a hell of a nice guy, so don’t even think
about giving him a hard time, or I’ll have to pull
Nik
and
Meagan off of your ass.”

“Thanks bro…semper fi to you too,” Tex
snorted at his friend.

Mitch gave him a casual shrug. “Hey, I
told you to call her, but you had more important things to do. You remember,
like that blonde pole dancer in Beaumont?”

Tex hooked his thumbs in his belt loops
and cocked his head. “Dude, do you have any idea what kind of muscles those
girls
use
to hang upside down from those poles? That is some serious
stuff, man, I shit you not!”