Redeeming Justice (11 page)

Throwing back the covers, she sat up, swung her legs off the bed, and just sat there,
wishing for just a second that her mom was around. They were exceptionally close,
but even so, Meghan hadn’t ever confided her fears and concerns about David. She couldn’t
bring herself to share such intimacies, but right now, she could really use another
woman’s perspective.

As if on cue, her tummy growled, sending her into the bathroom to wash up and get
dressed so she could go in search of breakfast. Deciding on a well-worn pair of jeans
that clung to her curves like a second skin and a simple t-shirt she gave her reflection
one last glance. Not bad for having gotten no sleep.

If Alex was cool and distant, she’d make the best of it. Maybe hang around a day or
so, get that horseback riding lesson Gus promised, then go her merry way. It wasn’t
running so much as it was conceding defeat. She’d do it if she had to but not happily.
There was something about Alex Marquez that invaded her soul and made her want things.
Things that got her wild side churning.

Drae and Cam huddled together at the far side of the kitchen watching Alex putter
aimlessly. Neither of them missed the fact that he kept his eyes on the doorway, probably
waiting for his guest to appear.

“Second breakfast is not my thing,” Cam grumped as he picked at a plate of bacon and
a stack of flapjacks from Ria’s over-the-top breakfast buffet. Apparently everyone
wanted to impress the sexy gym teacher Alex was losing his shit over.

Drae dropped his plate on the breakfast bar and nodded in agreement. “Just keep eating,
man.”

“All this food is going to make me fat.”

Drae laughed at Cam’s dark scowl, watching as he pushed the food around the plate.
“Shut the fuck up, man,” he chuckled. “My wife is in full nesting mode. She loves
all that domestic shit! There’s no way she’d let me out of the house without having
breakfast first so this is killing me too.”

Nodding toward Alex, Drae commented, “At least he cleaned up. Can’t remember the last
time I saw him that messed up. This situation blows, Cam.”

“He’s been carrying this guilt for way too long but fuck me if I know what to do about
it.” Cam considered his former commanding officer with shrewd eyes. “Did you even
suspect he was corresponding with The Kid’s fiancée? I sure as shit didn’t.”

“Are you kidding?” Drae spit out. “He’s such a closed book, and it’s not like I stick
my nose into his personal life. It is surprising though, considering the load of bullshit
he tells himself about what happened.”

Brody suddenly appeared out of thin air and made immediately for the buffet, piling
up a plate before joining them.

“Mornin’,” he muttered. Always a man of few words, their K9 guru, also former Special
Forces, threw them both a quizzical look as he noted Alex’s prowling. “What’s up with
him?

“You know Alex. Always something on his mind. Probably building a fucking robot from
scratch in his head.” Cam’s answer gave nothing away but he and Drae quickly glanced
at each other anyway. It wasn’t going to take long for everyone to pick up on the
heavy vibe rolling off the man.

Turning to Drae, Brody told him, “Been keeping my eye out for the perfect pup, like
you asked. Think the missus would like a big, goofy Labrador? One of the female pups
seems to have
fuck with the St. John’s
written all over her.”

All three shook their heads and laughed at Brody’s mocking words.

Looking shell-shocked Drae admitted, “I must have been out of my mind to think about
getting a puppy. Don’t know that a baby and a puppy at the same time is such a great
idea.”

Cam made a gesture with his hands that mimicked tiny violins playing and cried, “Wah
wah!” That got an even bigger laugh, which caught Alex’s scowling attention.

At the dark look Brody muttered just loud enough for the other two to hear, “Looks
like more than a fucking robot if you ask me.”

“Hi.” The tentative female voice got the whole room of men turning toward the sound.

“You’re up,” whispered Cam to Drae as he pushed him with his elbow.

Reacting quickly, Drae put on his very best suave and debonair expression and hauled
ass in Meghan’s direction. “Mornin’ pretty lady! Grab a plate and dig in. Ever tasted
sourdough flapjacks? They’re one of Ria’s specialties. I think she’s trying to impress
you because she never makes ‘em for just the bunch of us.” He kept it light and friendly,
hoping to give the uncomfortable tension in the air some competition.

“Thanks,” she muttered, grabbing a plate and sliding one of the enormous flapjacks
into the center. “This thing is enough for two people.”

“Maybe there’s someone you could share it with,” Drae answered smoothly. He didn’t
miss the way her eyes immediately flicked toward Alex, who stood silently brooding
on the other side of the enormous room.

Stupid fucker
. What the hell was he doing? Drae tried not to roll his eyes. Is this what he and
Cam had put Alex through when they were knee deep in angst over the women who eventually
became their wives?

The normally tight-lipped K9 guru chose that moment to become a chatty fly in the
ointment. “G’mornin’ Ma’am,” he muttered to Meghan. “Can I help you with that?” He
all but pushed Drae aside in order to take the plate Meghan was holding as he started
up an inane conversation while piling all kinds of food on her dish.

“Gus is looking forward to getting your ass up….uh, I mean helping you learn to ride.”

Drae almost smacked him for being such a dumb fuck. He noted the darkening scowl overtaking
Alex’s features as he silently watched the interaction between Brody and Meghan.
Damn it.
This wasn’t going as he and Cam hoped.

Meghan wished the butterflies performing an Olympic routine in her belly would settle
down. Facing an unruly group of kids on a basketball court was easier than navigating
this obstacle course of unfamiliar emotions.

Used to being the only girl in a room full of guys, she had instantly noted all the
players present. She wondered if Draegyn and Cameron were on hand to provide some
kind of buffer between her and Alex. She wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case.
Everything she knew about the three men suggested an unbreakable fraternity that she,
quite frankly, admired. Meghan was comfortable around that sort of bond; it was something
she’d been exposed to her entire life. With every male member of her family being
a cop, an EMT or a fireman, she understood the solidarity of their relationship.

Brody’s presence and obvious interest in her was however, unexpected. Draegyn’s body
language when he’d been pushed aside had not gone unnoticed. His innocent suggestion
that she share her flapjack with someone had
not
been an invitation for the K9 dude to step in, and he seriously looked like he was
going to strangle Brody when he did.

It didn’t help alleviate her anxiety that the only person she wanted to be with at
that moment was keeping his distance. Damn. She’d been worried about just such behavior.
Some part of her wanted Alex to stride across the room, flatten Brody, plant a hot,
wet kiss on her, and drag her off to God knows where so they could finish what they’d
started last night. Judging by the way he was scowling at her, that wasn’t going to
happen any time soon.

Turning her attention to Brody she responded to his statement about the riding lesson
with her usual brand of sass mixed with a good dose of
BBBB
.

“I’m looking forward to it! I hope Gus knows what he’s in for. This fappy backside
has never been in a saddle before!”

Brody looked bemused. “Fappy?”

She laughed. “Never heard that before? Must be a Boston thing!”

“What’s it mean?”

“Oh, you know….fappy. As in fat and happy!” She giggled at the look of shock on his
face.

Across the room Alex slapped his hand with a resounding thud on a counter and glared
like she’d just declared all Special Forces Vets pussies. She jumped, startled at
his reaction.

“You are in no way
fat
!” he growled.

Brody, Draegyn, and Cameron each wore an expression that translated to
WHAT THE FUCK
? Cam especially looked as if his eyebrows couldn’t have gone any higher on his forehead.
She was guessing that the Major was not usually prone to such outbursts. Okay then.
Maybe this was a good sign.
Hmm.

Taking the bull by the horns –
ah, she loved a Western metaphor
– Meghan turned her full attention on Alex and flashed him a calm smile.

“Good morning to you too, Major.” Now let’s see what he did with that.

She had to bite the inside of her mouth to keep from laughing when she saw a look
of exasperation flash across his face.
Oooooh
, so he’d been trying to keep his distance but hadn’t quite managed. A surge of female
satisfaction lit up her insides.

Moving with obvious reluctance into their midst, Meghan couldn’t help but admire the
way he carried himself. He looked just as handsome and sexy this morning with his
messy hair and burly presence as he had last night. She did however detect a tinge
of green around the gills and wondered what he’d done after they parted. No stranger
to the aftermath of having tied one on, she looked a bit closer and caught the telltale
bloodshot eyes. Maybe pushing her away hadn’t been what he really wanted after all.
Either that or he hated her guts and couldn’t wait for her to be gone. Somehow she
doubted that was the case. Having felt a very distinctive erection pressed into the
seam of her backside last night disproved the hate her guts scenario.

God, she was just so drawn to him in such a primal way. She’d never, ever experienced
such skin tightening awareness of another human being. Was it weird that she wanted
him so desperately after only knowing him for a day? Okay, so maybe putting it that
way wasn’t entirely accurate. She might have only known him physically for a single
day but the letters they’d exchanged had given her an insight into who he was as a
man. There was simply no denying that she liked the person she knew and was drawn
to who she saw.

Taking her breakfast plate from Brody’s hands, she saw him give the man a look that
suggested he back the hell up – and fast. She wanted to jump into to the air and scream
Yee Haw
! There was nothing like a territorial Alpha to make a girl feel all tingly inside.
When he turned his bloodshot gaze on her, she melted just a little bit.

“Good morning,” he grumped.
Lord, but he was cute
. “C’mon over here and eat your breakfast in peace,” he told her, gesturing with his
hand toward the table.

Turning his attention on the other three he sniped, “Don’t any of you have something
better to do?” She almost fell down laughing at how quickly the room cleared. When
Dad speaks, the kids listen.

He sat across from her pushing some scrambled eggs around his plate. Probably not
a good choice for a hangover, but he put on a good show. Having him so close was making
her deliciously aware of him on an almost cellular level. For some ungodly reason
a scene from an old movie flashed in her mind causing her to restrain the impulse
to kick off her sandals and run her foot up his leg under the table. He’d no doubt
choke to death from shock if she tried.

Clearing his throat he asked, “So. You ready to get up on a horse?”

Okay—so discussing what happened last night wasn’t on the agenda. She was good with
that. Maybe he regretted how things ended. They’d moved too fast and he’d gotten spooked.
If she had any goddamn sense she’d be spooked too, but his powerful pull on her senses
wiped out what good sense she still had.

She smirked and rolled her eyes telling him, “I have no idea if I’m ready! Guess we’ll
know in a little bit, huh?”

He nodded. She sighed. A man of few words.
Great.

“There’s not much opportunity to learn to ride where I’m from, but I’ve always wanted
to try. Got a thing for cowboys!” she added with a silly leer that seemed to loosen
him up just a tad.

“Ah. I get it now. That’s why you want to hang around for the Cowboy Festival. Didn’t
make much sense at first.”

Shoveling forkfuls of flapjack into her mouth, she smiled between bites. “It’s the
curse of having brothers. It was either Cowboys or GI Joe.”

He snickered at that. “I grew up around the Cowboys. Must be why I ended up a real,
live GI Joe.”

“Do you ride?” she asked.

He shrugged, dropped his fork, and pushed the uneaten plate away. “I used to. Was
compulsory as a kid around here. Sometimes I still get in the saddle but …”

“Mmm,” she said. “It’s hard on your leg?”

“Yeah. It’s not so much the riding as the aftermath. Pisses me the fuck off.”

“If I don’t fall on my fappy ass, will you ride with me sometime?”

The look he shot at her took her breath away.

“Meghan.
Shit
,” he barked. “You are not fat. I don’t care if it’s just an expression – don’t talk
about yourself that way.”