Next to Die (21 page)

The hairs on Joe’s nape prickled. In other words,
murder.
“The terrorist who bought the ricin,” he guessed.

“Most likely,” she agreed.

“That’s why the cops are out front. They’re protecting you.”
Jesus.
He ran a hand through his hair, then searched her face for the fear she had to be feeling.

There it was, in the tremulous smile she gave him. He wanted to hug her for being so brave.

“So, what has you running up to my door at midnight?” she inquired, lifting her chin.

It took him a second to remember. “Oh, yeah. I got new orders today.”

Her eyes flew wide. “To where?” she gasped.

“Right down the road. Dam Neck Naval Annex. I’m going to take command of Team Twelve.”

She seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. But then she gave him that look that made him feel transparent. “And that made you drink tonight,” she realized out loud. “Why, aren’t you happy with your orders?”

He had to look into the fire. “It’s a lot of responsibility,” he hedged.

She waited for more. Her silence wrapped around him, giving him time to voice what he’d felt all afternoon since the detailer’s call.

“I think about what happened when I took command of a four-man squad. This time I’ll be in charge of forty guys. I’m . . . scared I’m gonna make a call that gets more guys killed.” His voice shook.

“Oh, Joe.” And there she was, slipping an arm around him, resting her cheek briefly on his shoulder. “You’re going to do fine, better than fine. You were born to lead others, and you know it. What happened in Afghanistan was not your fault, but it will make you a better leader, Joe. You, more than anyone, will understand what you’re asking of your men.”

He’d known she would reawaken his self-confidence without lying or flattering him. He sent her a grateful smile, and their gazes locked. Without a trace of forethought, Joe kissed her, lightly, on the lips.

Her indrawn breath had him realizing his mistake. “Sorry,” he said. But he wasn’t really, because her mouth had been soft and sweet, just like he vaguely remembered from the night he’d passed out. He just had to kiss her one more time.

She didn’t resist. In fact, she parted her lips in welcome, moaning faintly as he rubbed his tongue with hers.

The room started to spin again. “Whoa,” Joe laughed, pulling back. “I’m still drunk,” he added as a means of excusing his behavior, covering up his astonishment that she could taste so good.

The hurt he glimpsed in her face made his gut wrench. He wanted to explain that he didn’t trust himself not to hurt her. Their burgeoning friendship was special. He didn’t want to ruin it. “I should go,” he said.

“You don’t have to,” she whispered softly.

“Call me,” he added, ignoring her scarcely uttered invitation. “If anything happens and you need me, I’m right next door, you know.”

“Oh, I know,” she said, looking down at her hands.

He got to his feet, careful not to touch her again. Her vulnerability had a powerful pull on him. He wanted to give her what she’d been missing all these years, except she had expectations of sex that he didn’t have.

“’Night,” he said, heading straight for the door. “Sweet dreams.”

Penny shut the door and turned the deadbolt. She drew the edges of her gown closer and sighed at the throbbing emptiness inside her. The only way her dreams would be sweet was if Joe had stayed and . . .

What?
she asked herself.
Slept with you? Kept you up all night?

Yes! After five years of celibacy, she deserved a night of abandonment.

And what would you expect after that?
argued her reason.

“I don’t know,” she conceded. She’d always expected to marry and raise a family. But with Joe, those expectations would get her nothing but heartache. Maybe she could harness them.

If he even wants you,
mocked the inner voice. He’d walked away pretty damn fast.

Shaking her head in confusion, she turned and plodded up the stairs to retire alone, again.

Lia pushed through the exit at Wavy Television Studios with confidence in her stride.
I got the job!
she marveled, tamping down the urge to do a happy dance.

Slidel and Holmes, her police escorts, watched her waltz into the sunshine. She drew herself up to walk like the professional she was, briefcase in hand, to her car.

The human-resources office had called her for an interview on the same day they’d received her résumé. They were looking for a field reporter—articulate, tenacious, with a nose for news.

“I’m your girl,” she’d told her interviewers, a former news anchor and his male secretary. She’d folded her legs just so, flashing her cream-colored stockings and drawing their attention to her slim calves, proving—once again—that it’s not what you know but how you use it that gets the job done.

All those years of taking drama back in high school had paid off. Not once did they realize that beneath her woolen charcoal suit, she was suffering through cold sweats.

“We’ll call you this afternoon with an official offer,” Mr. Grady promised her. “But I can tell you right now that you will love working for this station. I’ve been happy here for twenty years.” He’d pumped her hand enthusiastically, his gaze dipping toward the satin ribbon that peeked over the lapels of her jacket.

She wasn’t certain she was all that qualified for the position, but what did it matter? They were going to pay her a decent salary,
with
benefits. Not only could she afford her rent again, she might even buy a new car!

Best of all, Vinny might just see her on the news.

She envisioned him slapping his forehead.
Oh, man, I could have had that woman!
He could have. She’d been right there in his bedroom with the alcove overlooking the ocean, all hot for him, praying he would rip her clothes off. Instead, he’d taken her bowling.

Okay, maybe he had his act together. Maybe he looked like the responsible adult, with a thing or two to teach her about growing up. But those days were over. Ophelia Price was getting her shit together now.

And she couldn’t wait for him to realize it, either.

Hell, she could rub his nose in it this very minute—without having to
share her life
with him.

Slipping into her car, she reached for Penny’s cell phone and snatched up the Post-it with Vinny’s contact information on it. She dialed his number, then gazed out the window at the fountain in the manmade pond, hoping to leave a message.

“Yo, this is Vinny.” He sounded full of energy and impossibly young. And he was there in the flesh in the middle of a weekday.

“It’s Lia,” she said, caught off guard by that. “I just wanted you to know that I got a job. I’m a field reporter for Channel Ten.”

“Well, well,” he said, with more warmth than she could’ve hoped for. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you. I’m surprised you’re home. It’s two in the afternoon.”

“I get off early on Wednesday so I can go to class,” he explained.

“Oh. Well, I don’t want to make you late.” At the same time, she didn’t want to hang up yet.

“Actually, I was thinkin’ of skipping class today and taking my Harley for a ride.”

“You do not have a Harley,” she countered, suddenly breathless.

“Yeah, true, but Westy does, and he said I could borrow his whenever I wanted.”

She had no idea who Westy was, but, “Oh, my God.”

“Wanna go for a ride?”

“Uh . . .” Yes, but she had a slight problem. Her police escorts would pitch a fit if she tried to hop on a bike with a total stranger. “I need you to pick me up somewhere,” she said, tingling with sudden excitement.

“Sure. Like where?”

She gave directions to a boutique on the oceanfront. “Meet me in the alley in the back, by the employee exit,” she instructed.

“Okay.” His tone was suspicious, but he didn’t ask.

“I’m still in Portsmouth,” she added, hurrying now to start her engine and back out of the parking lot. “I’ll need twenty minutes to get there.”

“See you in twenty,” he said, and the phone clicked in her ear.

Vinny knew trouble when he smelled it, and when Lia slipped out the back door of the jewelry boutique smelling like a million dollars, he knew he was going to find himself in a pile of shit eventually, and he honestly didn’t care.

Wearing a gray suit with cream-colored stockings and pearl earrings, she looked chic and sexy. Her golden-red hair was twisted up into a knot. The spikes on her high heels qualified them as weapons.

She took his breath away, and that was before he even noticed the coy satin string that cinched up whatever she was wearing underneath. God have mercy, because he knew that Ophelia Price wouldn’t.

He wanted her in his life, forever.

“Who are you hiding from?” he demanded, handing her a spare helmet.

“Don’t worry about it.” Her turquoise eyes glimmered like gemstones as she hiked her skirt to leap on board behind him. Whatever she was up to, she was enjoying the hell out of her herself. “Just get me out of here, fast.”

Calculated risks were an everyday affair for Vinny, but there wasn’t much calculating going on in his brain as he squealed out of the alleyway with Lia plastered to his back.

She wanted a onetime deal, he reminded himself. And she was still keeping secrets. Since once would never be enough for him, he had to find a way to keep her coming back.

It was Joe’s last physical-therapy session. As Penny eased her thumb into the serratus posterior inferior to the right of Joe’s spine, she savored the velvety texture of his skin and the density of his muscles, wishing she could touch him this way forever, wishing he was hers.

In the same breath, she berated herself for her continuing obsession with him. And he should not have kissed her the other night—not if he didn’t mean it. She hadn’t been able to think straight since then. Her body ached for more. This business of caressing him, inhaling his unique scent, listening for his groans of pleasure was just slow torture.

“How’s—ah—how’s the turnover period going?” she asked him in a desperate bid to get her brain functioning at a higher level.

He grunted, betraying reluctance to talk. “It’s good. I decided to meet the men at the top of the wall, sort of catch ’em off guard during their PT time.”

“The wall?”

“It’s part of the obstacle course.”

“Oh.” His low, sleepy voice sounded so sensual. It made her want to touch him in other, quite specific, places. Last night, as she’d lain in bed, that had been her fantasy—touching Joe’s body with her lips, tasting him with her tongue. Her imagination had fast-forwarded, and he’d flipped her over and done the same for her. Lost in the yearnings evoked by her fantasy, she’d had to sate her body’s needs, her climax so ferocious that she shed a tear, crying out, “Oh, Joe!”

The memory made her palms hot now, made her breathing quicken. She hoped he didn’t notice.

“You want to come to my change-of-command ceremony?” he asked, oblivious to her heightened state.

“Sure, when is it?” Was this like a date? Was he inviting her in the place of a spouse?

“This Friday,” he murmured. “Please don’t stop.”

The sensual plea made her pulse speed up.

“That’s an awfully quick turnover,” she commented.

“Mmmm. The outgoing commander has cancer. He can’t work right now.”

She paused. “Oh, that’s awful.”

“He’ll beat it,” said Joe with conviction. “I’m having a party Friday night, too, if you can come. Remember, I said I’d introduce you to some friends.”

He might as well have slapped her hands off his back. Penny stopped what she was doing. “I’ll try to come,” she said, bringing their session to an abrupt end. “The muscles in your back have healed, Joe. As long as you keep up the stretching exercises and limit heavy lifting, you’ll be fine from now on. If you feel any spasms, alternate with hot and cold compresses.”

She stepped down off her stool.

Joe lay there motionless. “If I paid you, would you still give me massages?” he asked with unguarded longing.

A pang went through Penny’s heart. “I don’t think so,” she said, hurt by his offer to pay.

He lifted his head and looked at her. “I didn’t mean that like it sounded,” he told her gently.

She drew a deep breath, fighting back the impulse to burst into tears. “I know.”

A rapping at the door saved her from the emotional roller coaster. “Yes?” Penny called out.

The receptionist peered through the cracked door. “You have an urgent call on line three from an Officer Slidel,” she told Penny.

The walls in the small space did a slow turn. “I’ll take it in my office,” Penny said, hurrying from the room.

She was gripping the receiver in consternation when Joe sidled up to her office door. “What’s wrong?” he demanded.

Tears pressured her eyes. “Lia’s missing,” she admitted. “She disappeared out of a boutique on Atlantic Avenue.” She fumbled the receiver as she replaced it.