Fire Burns Hot ((An FBI/ Romance Thriller~ (Book 5))) (39 page)

Tori liked finding out things about him, and the next three hours were going to be fun. “Tell me about your family.”

Julian nodded. “That’s an easy one. I’m the
second child out of five. I have an older brother, a younger brother and two younger sisters.”

Tori’s heart
broke. She’d had a brother she loved once too, until death and war stole him away.

Julian could feel the pain radiating from her, but he pushed anyway. “I noticed you have a brother.”

“I had one, yes. Trey died five years ago.”

Littlemoon stroked her knuckles with his thumb. “How’d he die?” he asked, softly. If Julian knew anything, it was that death could change everything.
When his father died life was altered. To this day, he only knew that his dad died in a hunting accident. His mother kept the rest quiet, to not upset the kids. The details to that day were still sketchy, and his mother wouldn’t speak of it.

Tori sighed. “He was stationed in the middle east and one day on patrol an incendiary device blew under his
Humvee. They packed enough explosives in that roadside bomb, that it blew it to bits. The only good thing was he never felt pain or fear. That’s my only solace.”

Julian was a little surprised that Tori was opening up and telling him everything. In fact, he was very shocked.

“Is it why you’re the bomb expert for the Blackhawks?” he continued asking. “You seem to handle all their arson and bombing assignments.”

Tori shrugged. “
Not really. I dealt with a lot of bombs in the Middle East and the skill stuck,” she answered, changing the subject back to focusing on him and not her. “Tell me more about your family.”

Julian got the picture. She’d talk about her personal life, but her time as a soldier wasn’t open to discussion.

Yet.

“My brother is a soldier,”
he said, releasing her hand and tapping her on the chest. The tell-tale clink of her tags made him smile. “When you dove in the swamp and tossed them over your shoulder so they were down you back, I’d seen it done before with him and a few friends. It’s how I knew you were hardcore military.”

She smiled. “You learn early on in a warzone that you need to have your tags on all the time. If you die, they need them to
identify the body. Mine have the rubber around them because I used to need to move in silence. Our unit walked the streets in the dark, and you didn’t really want to tell the insurgents where you were coming from. I still wear them as a remembrance of my brother and others I lost over there.”

Julian knew she was uncomfortable discussing it any further
. Tori began staring out the window, as if lost in thought. “What branch of the service is your brother in?” she finally asked.

“J
ulian is a Marine and my youngest sister Claire is in the Navy. You should see the arguments they get into at the table. My mom has to referee all the time. I have to admit, it’s fun to watch as a neutral party.”

Tori laughed. “I bet your
parents are extremely proud,” she said softly. “I know my dad was when we both enlisted.”

Ah, well this brought up flag number two on the mantle.
Slowly they were working through all three of them. “My dad died when we were all fairly young, but I’m sure where ever he’s at he’s proud. As for the head of our family, my mom raised us by herself. She’s the reason I’m the sensitive romantic that I am.”

Tori laughed and grinned at him. “Yeah, well she did a good job.”

He was surprised. “You just gave me a compliment, and I wasn’t holding you at gunpoint.”

“Want me to hand you my gun?” she asked, laughing more.
“Maybe I should rephrase it then. You’re more a romantic than I am.”

He squeezed her hand.
“Ah, there’s the Tori I’m used to dealing with now. I knew she was still in there somewhere.”

“I was raised by my dad, and that’s probably why I fit in better in fatigues than at a party. Raised by a soldier
, to become a soldier, to die like a soldier. That was his motto in life.”

“So
your dad was in the Army too?”

“Hoo-ya!” she said
grinning. “As was his dad, and his dad, and … you get the point. The only thing that he was disappointed in was that I never could train to be a ranger. I was born with ovaries, and he couldn’t figure out how to fix that little tactical error.”

Julian laughed.

“He made sure my brother trained me to live and think like a ranger. That’s why the swamp thing and the tags down my back,” Tori admitted. “Pop wanted me as safe as possible in the warzone,” she paused. “That’s the irony of it all.”

He glanced over. “What do you mean?”

“When he got the news that Trey died, he had a massive heart attack and collapsed. He never got to see Trey’s burial service or see the flag draped casket. The two rangers died before the woman that wasn’t permitted to be one.”

Julian thought back to his own father’s death and funeral. His mother kept all five kids in the dark about most of it. There had to be a good reason.
“Maybe that’s for the best.”

Tori nodded. “
Yeah, it probably is, but it would have been nice to not have been there alone that day. I did back to back funerals and trust me that sucks. I dropped one man in the ground to turn around and drop another two days later.” Then a year later she stood there and buried a fiancé, but she let that go.

Julian didn’t doubt that it did.

“I know where this is heading, Julian. You want to know about the third flag,” she said, referring to Quinn’s triangular box above the fireplace.

“I do.”

“I’m not ready yet to talk about it.” Tori’s eyes looked haunted, and her hand clutched the Native symbol he’d given her.

Julian backed off, since she’d told him a great deal.
He was touched that she was using his necklace as a crutch to get through it all. Next step would be her using him. “Actually I was going to ask about your mom,” he stated. “Unless you’re not ready to talk about that either.”

The atmosphere in the car changed drastically.

Tori glanced over at him. “I’d have to care about the woman to not want to discuss her. But since she bailed when I was four, she can kiss my ass. One day she woke up and decided that motherhood wasn’t fun, and she never looked back. I haven’t heard from her in thirty years, and honestly I don’t care. There’s no love lost between myself and her. When my dad and Trey died, she never showed up for the funeral. From that day, she’s dead to me too.”

Julian could see that. “I’m sorry she left you.” He wouldn’t know where he’d be without his mother. She was funny, tough and worked hard her entire life to raise five out of control Natives.” 

“What’s your mom like, Julian?”

He laughed. “Well, my mother doesn’t put up with any shit from anyone, especially her kids. She’d bake you cookies
, but if you didn’t say thank you she’d beat manners into you in a heartbeat. I had my ass tanned a few times as a kid.”

Tori
giggled. “Oh, I bet you did. You should probably have it beat now as an adult.”

“Oh you weren’t a bad kid?” he asked, glancing over.
“No wild side, Tori?”

She shook her head. “
Nope. I never got in trouble, ever. I follow rules well, and I don’t generally break them.” Except fall in love with her commanding officer, have a torrid affair, get engaged and lie to the military. “I never got spanked or beat.”

“Want to start now,” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows and making her laugh.
“With the spanking anyway? We can skip the beating part.”

She
absolutely wasn’t going to comment, but it was hard to not grin anyway. “I was a very well behaved child. I try to avoid trouble as much as possible. Wild people like Elizabeth can track it down all they want. I like to stay far away from chaos and mayhem. My idea of fun isn't taking a nine millimeter to a vest to and center of my chest. My balls aren’t quite that brass.”

He opened his mouth
to make a comment.

“Zip it, Julian,” she said
laughing.

Julian continued on,
“And yet you became an FBI agent. Why not a teacher or a nurse then?” he asked, curiously.

“I get to play with
weapons,” she answered laughing. “I like my guns and they frown upon having them in a school or a hospital.”

Julian started laughing. “My
mother would like you,” he said suddenly. It was out of nowhere, and even caught him off guard.

Tori wasn’t sure how she was feeling about that statement. “Maybe one day
I’ll meet her.”

Julian grinned at her
, prepared to confess his big secret sin. “Remember that authentic Native American food we discussed earlier?” he said, holding tight to her hand.

“Yeah,” she answered, suspiciously.

“Well it’s at
my mom’s house with all my brothers, sisters, spouses, nieces and nephews.”

Tori stared at him openmouthed. “I’m sorry, what?”

“In my family we celebrate Christmas Eve with a big meal, lots of laughter and complete and total chaos.”

“Julian, if you’re being serious I’m going to be really pissed at you, and then I’m going to vomit in your car.
Possibly on you at this point, and you’d deserve it.”

He started laughing. “Want me to pull over?”

Tori just stared straight ahead. Here she thought she was spending a quiet evening alone with Julian, and instead she was playing the role of date in front of the family. In her mind she just kept repeating
‘THE ENTIRE FAMILY’
.

“You okay, Tori?” he
inquired, still grinning.

“No, I’m really not.”

He couldn’t help but snicker at the look of sheer terror on her face. “Sweetheart, it isn't that bad.”

“You’re a dead man Julian Trent
on Littlemoon. Once I get out of this car, you better run for your freaking life!”

~
Chapter Eleven
~

Saturday
Afternoon

The autopsy suit was quiet, as most of the techs had already escaped for the evening. Tonight was about spending time with their loved ones, not sitting in a room full of death. For the rest of the night, the living would come first over the ones that no longer had that luxury.

That was true for everyone but the
ME, because he was still sitting in the dark doing paperwork by one single light at the metal table. Elizabeth knew then, if there was any doubt, that there was definitely something wrong.

“Hey Chris,” she said, announcing her arrival.

He didn’t even move at the sound of her voice.

“Hey
Director.”

Elizabeth knew something big had to be bothering him for this melancholy to be swallowing him
and now he wasn’t even using her nickname. “We need to have a little chit chat before I escape the cuckoo’s nest for Christmas.”

Chris turned on his stool and crossed his arms.

Mentally, Elizabeth scanned all the possible things she could have done to piss the man off, and simply came up with a big fat zero. This hostility couldn’t have anything to do with her, and that meant swallowing the aggressive body language for a friend.

“What’s wrong with you? You’re not your usual jovial self
, and it’s becoming a real downer. Last thing we need in the death room is a cranky ME.”

He erupted and she actually jumped
out of surprise.

“I tell you what’s wrong. I am. I’m a complete and total fuck up. I find a beautiful woman that wants to go on a date with me, and then I can’t seal the damn deal because of my morals.”

Elizabeth stared at him wide eyes. Okay, it was a woman issue, and that she understood, but the anger was still way off for him. “Want to talk about it? Maybe a tad bit more calmly?”

Chris sighed. “I’m sorry
, Lyzee. It’s really nothing. I’ll be okay.”

She somehow doubted that entirely. “Chris, we’re friends. We’ve been friends since the day you were fresh out of
medical school. I was your first assignment. That means something, right?” she asked, trying to get him to laugh. “You never forget your first.”

He did laugh. “I’ll never
overlook you breaking me in and ruining me for every other agent.”

Elizabeth patted the table beside her. “Come on over and talk to your friend and first
agent.”

Chris grinned and joined her on the table.

“Now, how about you walk me through it all and we go from there. Chances are it’s fixable.”

He signed. “We were having a great time, and it was really an amazing stroke of luck that she wanted anything to do with me in the first place.
As we both know, I’m out of her league.”