ROAR (65 page)

Inside, he noticed that the atmosphere in the renovated version was reminiscent of the original incarnation. While they’d lost the cellar-like feel of the Catacombs with more lighting, the brickwork was the same.

Gunnar gave the hostess the Larson name for their reservation. They were seated soon after, Gunnar oblivious to the young woman’s flirting as she showed them to a table at the end of the room.

Kristoffer took the seat with his back to the room and other patrons, knowing Gunnar would need the one with his back to the wall if he was going to enjoy dinner while at the same time remaining aware of his surroundings. Old habits died hard.

“Haven’t been here since the last time you brought me, Cuz.”

“Me, neither,” Gunnar opened his menu. “More affordable this time. Of course, Aunt Claire paid for our meals that night. The Catacombs was way over my budget at the time.”

“Mother sent you money?”

He shrugged. “I’d just graduated and only had a part-time job while waiting for boot camp. Those couple months you were out here, she sent me enough to keep you in food—you ate like a horse—and whatever else you needed.”

He’d never known she’d done that. Kristoffer looked at the prices for the successor to the Catacombs. Definitely not the fine-dining prices he remembered, even adjusting for inflation, although Gunnar’s fortunes had increased significantly in the last twenty years. He was a self-made billionaire a few times over. Kristoffer hoped to continue to build on his net worth for years to come.

After they’d ordered beverages and the signature steakhouse salads, Kristoffer looked across the table. He still had no clue why they were here.

But Gunnar would get to it when he was ready. “I remember being pissed as hell at you that night for making me go back home.”

Gunnar laughed heartily. “Good thing I was headed off to the Army, because I don’t think you’d have talked to me even if I
could
make any calls.”

“If they’d have let me follow you into the Army, I probably would have. I was a lost little puppy back then.”

He shook his head. “Not without a high school diploma, you wouldn’t. You’d had your rebellious summer. Time to go home and get back to the work of growing up.” Gunnar grew serious for a change. “I’m sure glad you and Pamela hit it off. I wasn’t sure I was doing the right thing, but all’s well that ends well. You were ready to rejoin the living—just needed a little nudge in the right direction.”

Kristoffer cocked his head. “What are you talking about?”

The server filled their glasses with water before presenting for Kristoffer’s approval the unopened bottle of Sonoma wine he’d ordered. At Kristoffer’s nod, he opened the bottle and poured. Kristoffer would drink the lion’s share, because Gunnar was driving and would barely have one glass before switching back to water.

“Since everything turned out, I might as well ’fess up.” He lifted his glass. “But first, a toast.”

Kristoffer wondered what the hell was on Gunnar’s mind, but lifted his as well.

“Here’s to the land we love and the love we land. May you and Pamela have many joyous years together.”

Kristoffer shook his head and grinned as they clinked glasses. But Gunnar wasn’t smiling. Something told him the mood was about to shift. Damn, and he’d wanted to maintain this good mood after the last three weeks of hell.

“Thanks, man. I’m lucky to have found a woman like Pamela to share the rest of my life with.”

Their salads were prepared tableside, the only difference in ingredients being Gunnar’s red chile dressing versus his own sherry shallot one. They were left alone again.

When Gunnar’s mood remained uncharacteristically somber, Kristoffer leaned forward. “Stop being so bloody cryptic and tell me what you’ve been going on about.”

“Kris, you’ve been through hell since you lost Tori. Something no spouse should have to go through.”

Why was he stirring up those memories? What the hell kind of celebration was that? Kristoffer took another sip of wine, his salad still untouched.

“So when Pamela came to meet with us and ask us to bring that little girl here for additional surgeries, I thought I caught a spark of interest on her part when she first met you, until she noticed your wedding ring. Of course, it didn’t help that you were having one of those black days where you’re only half there.”

He couldn’t argue that there were times when he was there but not present, so he let that slide. “What the hell are you talking about? I barely spoke two words to her.”

He grinned. “Yeah, but your eyes spoke volumes the couple of times I saw you looking at her. I hadn’t seen you give any other woman the time of day since you’d met Tori. That’s when this idea came to me. I knew if anyone would be able to pull your head from your fourth point of contact, it would be this classy, intelligent, tough-as-nails spitfire.”

Kristoffer shook his head. He had no clue how he’d looked at Pamela that day, but in his state of denial that he was still among the living, he supposed he could have sent a signal at least Gunnar noticed. But that wasn’t the whole story. “I probably don’t want to know, but what exactly did you do?”

Gunnar’s shit-eating grin was infectious. “Well, she’d talked to me about training as a submissive, so I encouraged her to apply to The Denver Academy. But, of course, I needed to pull some strings with Brad Anderson so close to them starting a new class.”

Before he could continue, their steaks were served—Gunnar’s medium-rare porterhouse steak and Kristoffer’s medium-temperature ribeye. After checking them for the correct doneness, they nodded to the server and returned to their conversation.

“While talking with Brad about having the school take on one more student, I found out he was planning to move and would be putting the academy up for sale.”

“What does all this have to do with Pamela and me?”

“Patience, Grasshopper. All in good time.” He glanced down at his plate. “But our steaks are going to get cold. Let’s dig in.”

“Yours is still twitching.” Gunnar’s baked potato swam in the steak’s bloody juices.

Gunnar smiled, took a bite, chewed slowly, and swallowed, savoring the succulent beef—and dragging out the moment to full effect. Then he repeated the ritual for several more bites.

Kristoffer might as well eat, too. He could starve to death waiting for Gunnar to come clean about the rest of the details concerning Pamela.

Halfway through their steaks, Gunnar set down his fork and knife, took a sip of wine, and continued where he’d left off. “So I asked Brad to help me out. The night before I sent you to the academy for that tour, he called to tell me this might be an excellent opportunity to bring the two of you together and show you a different side of the lovely doctor.”

Kristoffer stopped mid-chew. “You arranged for me to walk in and find her naked? What the fuck’s the matter with you?”

“Stop right there. Brad and I had no idea she’d volunteer to be the nude model that night—although when he called to report your response to the situation, we had a good, long laugh about it.”

Kristoffer was dumbfounded for a moment then shook his head. “You placed us both in an extremely awkward situation, intentionally or not. Her eyes pleaded with me not to out her to anyone. She was placed in a most vulnerable state.”

Gunnar took another bite and grinned. “Everything worked out, didn’t it? And I swear, I had no idea about her planning on being naked that night.”

“Yeah, I suppose it did.” He still didn’t know what to think about Gunnar’s involvement in that night. A sudden thought had him looking at his matchmaking cousin again. “Then, I suppose, you cooked up the hospital-equipment project for us to work together on.”

Gunnar waved his words away with his fork. “I’d have probably done that anyway. Some of the girls from Heidi’s school have been treated at that hospital. They do good work.” He sobered. “If the day ever came where Heidi herself needed to seek treatment there, I’d want them to have everything they’d need at their disposal.”

Now that Kristoffer had found someone to love and protect, he wanted Gunnar and Heidi to come to their senses and realize they belonged together. Life was too short, and they’d missed out on so many years together already. Trouble was, one of the two stubborn people would have to agree to give up his or her life and move halfway across the world. Seven years ago, Kristoffer’s money would have been on Heidi winning that bet, given Gunnar’s love for her.

But Gunnar had remained firmly entrenched here in Colorado, and the stalemate had begun. To his credit, Gunnar had found ways to hook up with Heidi four or five times a year. Whether those visits were conjugal or strictly humanitarian, Kristoffer had no clue. He’d never gone there himself and hadn’t seen Heidi since she’d retired from the Army the year before she’d gone back to Afghanistan to establish the school for girls.

“So by putting you both on the acquisitions project, I had hoped your spending so much time together might help you see what you’d been missing. Things were going great until she had to quit the academy. I swear on Thor’s hammer I had no idea she wasn’t in top form health-wise. I regret that a lot.”

“I can’t say that I do, because my becoming her Top to help train her on some issues was one of the things that brought us even closer together.”

Gunnar smiled. “See? It all worked out, Kris!”

How could he fault Gunnar? He’d done everything out of love for his lost and grieving cousin. And Brad Anderson had merely been doing a favor for a friend.

“Yes, it did. I’m not sure how given all the twists, turns, and barriers, but it certainly did.”

They moved on to talking about the good times they’d had in Norway. He hadn’t been sure he had enough of an appetite coming in here, but had nearly finished his twelve-ounce steak. After dinner was over, Kristoffer thought they’d soon be leaving, but Gunnar showed no signs of being in any hurry.

Out of the blue, he asked, “Got any plans for the coming week?”

“Other than working for you?”

“You have vacation time coming.”

“I’d rather save it for when Pamela and I can travel together. We’re planning to go to Norway next August or September.”

Gunnar leaned forward. “You didn’t take a day off for two years—not even weekends—until that recent trip to Sonoma.” So he
had
noticed how Kristoffer spent his weekends, too. No surprise. Not much got past the man. “Before your mental health break, you didn’t take any time off, either. So I figure I owe you five or six weeks of vacation. Pamela’s not going to have a lot of time off, just starting a new job, so take advantage of a getaway while you can.”

“All right. As long as we’re back by the time Pamela comes home. Where to?”

“How quickly can you pack?”

“Pack for where?”

“I’d like to check on some investments.”

He hadn’t taken Kristoffer along on any business trips before, mainly because Kristoffer wouldn’t leave Denver. Was there a problem with one of the companies Kristoffer had invested in? “Which ones?”

“You’ll see when we get there. Pack for a week. Leave the suits at home. I’ll provide you with some special outer gear, so just wear what’s comfortable.”

“Road trip?”

Gunnar shook his head. “Oh fuck no. Flying.”

“Where. To?” he asked again, reiterating each word for emphasis.

“Man, you’re a Debbie Downer, you know that? You could trust me.”

“You know I trust you with my life.” Apparently, Gunnar thought he needed a diversion to kill the rest of the time before Pamela came home. “When do we leave?”

“Early Monday morning.” Day after tomorrow. “Bring Noma out to my place, and I’ll have my house sitter take care of her, too.”

“As long as I’m home in time to pick up Pamela at the airport.”

“I’ll personally see that you two connect without spending a minute more apart from each other than necessary.”

Kristoffer set down his glass. “We’re flying to Kabul?”

He looked exasperated a moment. “Well, you just blew my surprise.” But he couldn’t keep the grin from returning to his face. “You’d better not tell Pamela we’re coming. If I’m flying halfway around the world,
somebody
needs to be surprised.”

*     *     *

Pamela set down her shower caddy, stripped off her scrub top, and tossed it in the laundry bin before making a beeline for the shower. Twelve grueling hours on her feet in surgery, but she wouldn’t crawl into bed until she’d removed at least a couple layers of grime from her body.

The line of patients had been never-ending today. This time, she’d heard the IED and several mortars exploding in the distance—closer than she’d liked. Within an hour, new casualties arrived. She hadn’t lived in such fear in any of her past assignments.

Without a doubt, this trauma center in Kunduz was nothing like the one near Kabul, which almost seemed like a country club in comparison. So primitive—like an outpost in the wilderness. But they were surrounded by buildings and a city, even though she and other staff members rarely left these walls. Not only because the staff here was dedicated to its mission and patients, but because they had no clue whom to trust or where the next explosive device may go off or mortar fall.

At the end of tomorrow’s shift, her month-long assignment would be over. She’d catch some sleep and then be on her way back to Kristoffer. The thought of the long trip home was too daunting to dwell on, especially her five-hour trek to Kabul on a road that could be lined with IEDs.

Please, don’t let anything happen to my convoy. Kristoffer’s waiting for me.

Kristoffer had already lost one love in his life. She wasn’t sure he’d survive another being ripped away from him. Her anxiety for him was almost higher than for herself.

She also feared for the staff left behind and for the Afghanis who had to live day in and day out in this war zone with no hope of escape—except through death. Man’s inhumanity to man never ceased to confound her.

After her shower, she wrapped her hair in a towel, donned her terrycloth robe, and picked up her caddy to make her way down the hall to her sleeping cubicle. Staff members who occupied the house slept in shifts. When they went back to work in the trauma center, another shift would come in to catch some sleep.