The Promise of Love (18 page)

It wasn’t Will, or the idea anyone could see them, or the sharing, it was Paris.
Warm, sweet Paris. She loves me. She has to. Why else do this, help us like she is, if it wasn’t because of the same thing I feel each time I touch her, or look at her?

He drove into her harder. Sweat poured down his ribs and back, slicking his skin as he brushed along hers. Will groaned breathlessly, clearly nearing the end. Between them, Paris knelt, delicate, beautiful Paris, giving them more of herself than any woman ever had. David only hoped he could earn every ounce of her love, because he couldn’t image losing her.

He quickened his pace as he felt his climax growing closer. She trembled, and pulled free of Will, then with a soft gasp he felt her tighten on him, coming so hard he had to follow her or be unable to move from the grip of her pussy. He threw his head back and shoved his hips upward and his cock deep for her. Along his erection she clenched harder, clearly lost in a powerful orgasm.

Will groaned, and David knew he was climaxing along with them. It was good, so good, in fact, he wasn’t willing to let it end. This was supposed to be for show, but finally, finally he got it.
Got her.

He loved her. It didn’t matter that he’d known her for only three days. There wasn’t a chance he’d let her go now. She tipped her head back and gazed into his eyes, and he knew she didn’t want him to.

More confident now, he caressed her upper arms and kissed the curve of her neck where it met her delicate throat. Tonight he’d show her just how wild they could get and hopefully make every dream she had come true. At least in the bedroom. Later, once they were alone, he’d start ensuring all those other dreams were reality too.

* * * *

Paris woke with a wince. Someone must have forgotten to tell her she’d be tender from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet this morning. Or whenever this was, she thought, opening one eye and frowning. It wasn’t daylight, so what woke her?

“Paris, wake up.”

She groaned. “David, I’m—”

“Thank God, I’ve been trying to get you up for five minutes.”

“You have?” She rolled over.

“Princess, as much as I want to let you sleep, I have to go. We got the call—Will and I have to go. You have to stay here, but when we’re through, we’re getting out of Dodge.”

That woke her like nothing else could have. He might as well have shouted ‘fire’.

“Ouch!” she cried when she sat up too quickly. There were very, very sore parts of her. She blamed the man even now hovering over her.

“I’m sorry, princess. We got carried away, huh?”

She grumbled but really, she had no business grumbling. She’d loved every minute of it. She’d thought, at one point, in the middle of David’s hundredth—
possibly
—orgasm, that she’d seen something wonderful in his eyes. Love, maybe.

“Where are you going?”

“The men,” he rushed to say. “The men on the mountain. We’ll be back in a flash, but we have to go.” He kissed her.

She gripped his hand and held him in place. “Wait, wait, wait.” She used his arm to get to her feet, winced again at the tug on
very
overused muscles and faced him.

She wore his T-shirt.

He was completely dressed. Fatigues, gun, winter gear and a pack.

He was ready for war.

“Oh God.” She hugged him, but froze when alarms went off. A wire hanging around his neck buzzed and he lifted something on the end of it to his ear. His eyes widened and he grabbed her hand and dragged her to the bathroom.

“I got that. Copy. Ten. Give me ten.” He paused, caught her eyes and grimaced again. “Five, I need five.”

She covered her mouth with her fingers and waited.

“Copy. Five.” His face turned hard and he pulled the earbud from his ear. “Princess, I have five minutes. Those alarms are our guys. I have to go out and meet them, then hit those bast—guys in the hills. This place is going down, but so is the other. I have to go. I promise you”—he gripped her arms, kissed her once then continued—“I will be back. This will all be okay. I promise.”

She nodded, too stunned to do much more.

“Remember the Jeep, remember the phone. If it gets bad here, you go to town. Wait, there, I will call.”

She nodded again, and he blurred. Shocked, she realized she was crying. “David, please, don’t go, I feel, I mean, I think something will go wrong.” Her skin prickled with warning and her leg ached from the memory of the last time she’d ignored her gut.

“Princess, nothing is going wrong. Nothing, okay? Now, let’s get you dressed. Do it, now, but kiss me once more before I go win this war. I’m being all soldierly, right?”

She choked on a laugh, but hugged him tightly. He kissed her then disengaged, scowling when he did. Something buzzed and he swore, then kissed her once more and turned and walked away. She felt like he’d just thrown her to the wolves.

Instead of freaking out, which she knew he expected, she sniffed back the tears. He was still gone, and worse, she was cold and alone. The alarms blared again, and she got busy.

First she dressed, then washed her face and brushed her teeth, then packed. She even packed his things, then straightened up the apartment. It felt as if the place was deserted now that he was gone, but she cleaned up and finally turned in a circle. The phone he’d given her caught her eye, but she didn’t go to it. He was busy. Being a soldier. He’d be back.

* * * *

David stared down at the mess of the camp and cussed until Will came on the com and told him to calm his shit.

“I can see you blowing a gasket, what’s wrong?”

“I hurt my damn leg,” he muttered. Not happy about it, but too worried about Paris to be macho and lie.

“Same leg as Afghan?”

“What other leg would it be?” he griped. “I’ll need a medevac and you need to go check on Paris.”

“I’ll be there in ten. Let me close this down, hold tight.”

David pulled out his cell phone, turned it on, and against all regulations he called Paris. By the sixth ring he knew something was wrong. He pulled up Carson’s number and dialed it.

“What the hell are you doing calling me on your cell phone during a mission?”

“I need you to send in men to check on Paris.”

“You’re talking to me on a mission to—?”

“Sir, if you don’t send men in right now to check on her, I’ll not only blow the rest of this mission, I’ll come and shoot you in the goddamn leg for pissing me off.”

Silence, then a low chuckle. “Jansen, glad to see you finally grew the hell up. I’ll have someone check on her. She’s in your quarters?”

“Yes, she’s there, and not answering her phone.”

“Hold tight.”

With that damn statement, Carson hung up. David waited ten minutes, got his leg under him and limped over to pick up a tree branch to help him down the slope. He’d done his job. They could damn well do the rest. Martinez was dead, David’s bullet in his brain. He only wished Savage was here so he could do the same to that bastard. At the thought of him, David stumbled. What if Savage was at Duke’s even now? What if he had—?

“Jansen, what the hell are you doing?” Will demanded over the com.

“I can make it down on my goddamn own,” he growled, firming the stick under his arm.

“Like hell you can, I’m on my way. There’s a medical team coming in on a copter, hold your position or they won’t—”

A sound to his left caught David off guard and, with the leg, too slow to react. He misstepped and for a split second considered that staying put would have been wiser, then the impact of a bullet winged his arm and he dropped like a stone down the edge of the bluff. The landing was hard enough to knock the wind out of him, then his head connected with the frozen ground and the world went all kinds of crazy on him.

Paris, just stay put. If she doesn’t, how the hell can I make up for not saying I love her before this shit hit the fan?

Chapter Ten

Paris twisted her sweatshirt sleeve and paced the room. David still wasn’t back. In the movies these things went by really fast. This wasn’t the movies, though. Tears kept building up as her fear for him grew.

Suddenly, without knocking, two men opened the door, glanced at her, at their clipboard, then stepped inside.

“Who are you? Are you on the list?”

List?
She shook her head, unsure what to say. If they were military, they didn’t dress like David. One was wearing a suit, the other a sporty green golf shirt and jeans. They shared a look she didn’t like because it was clear they thought she was here to entertain David, and not because they were dating either.
Are we dating?

“Come with us, then,” the suit said.

“Where?”

“We’ll brief you when it’s your turn,” he responded, harshly, as if she’d done something criminal. She glanced at the phone, but it was too far to reach.

“Let me get my things.” She edged toward the phone.

“Not necessary. Just please come with us, miss,” the jeans and sporty shirt said. He waved to the door as if she was going to go in the wrong direction and waited for her.

David, now would be a good time. Now. In the movies these things are fast.

Less than ten minutes later, she was seated in an area with ten other women, some of them crying, others simply staring into space as if they were absent from their bodies. A dozen men were gathered at the other end of the room, checking out the women, and once in a while reading something on a chart then zeroing in on one woman for a while.

She waited twenty minutes and couldn’t stand it a minute more. She stood and instantly two men walked over.

“I have to pee.” She had David to thank for helping her out of that little shyness.

The men frowned.

No way was she sitting back down. “It’s that time of month and I need a new tampon.”

That got them both stepping back, and one frantically glancing down at her hips as if she’d start pooling blood.

“The bathroom’s in there.” He gestured.

She walked calmly to where he’d pointed, opened the door, went in, and locked it behind her. There was a window, and they were on the ground floor.

The Jeep has to still be out there, please, please, please
.

She washed her hands, for some insane reason feeling dirty from just being near those men. The window opened easily enough. With just a little push, the screen came off. She was out and in the snow before two minutes had passed. She checked her watch, still only three hours or less since David had left. She glanced around and no one was near, but she had no jacket on and no idea where she was. She had money, but no phone, no purse, no wallet, since yeah, she’d lost that before this trip had even started. She didn’t have Sara’s or David’s numbers memorized. Now what? She couldn’t walk to town. She couldn’t go back to his apartment.

The two men who had picked her up had walked down the hall away from the exit she knew, then turned…but which way did that mean for the Jeep? She spotted no cameras and took a chance and ran for the corner. There, across from her, was the Jeep. No one was around, not even a dog. There hadn’t been that night either, but this was a raid or something like that. In the distances she could make out voices, and loud trucks. She’d have to drive the Jeep out of here unless she hid in it. But with no jacket…

I won’t get anything if I don’t try.

Instead of running, she walked as if she had every right in the world being here. She reached the side of the Jeep without an alarm going off, but she could hear men shouting and trucks moving around closer to her. The key was where she’d been told, and she used it to open the door. She thought about her phone, but knew the chances of sneaking back in, getting it and coming out were slim. She got in and, fingers trembling, started the Jeep.

Five minutes later she drove out of the compound and didn’t look back. There was no shout, or reaction to her leaving, so she tried to calm her breathing, but eventually she pulled over and off the road, hid the Jeep and jumped down to vomit on the ground.

She was still shaking when she drove into town and parked in front of the hotel she’d stayed at last time. They still remembered her, and let her pay in cash again.

She cried herself sick that night, so worried and confused she couldn’t think straight. The next and the next day were the same. Every morning she thought this would be the day, he’d show up now. She even called her uncle and told him she’d be a few days late. She’d hoped Sara might have called, or even come home, but he’d not said a word, and she couldn’t ask.

“Sugar, you sure you’re okay? You sound rough. Have you caught a cold?”

“No, I’m fine, it’s just a few more days. The kids won’t mind.”

“No,” he laughed. “They won’t and I’m fine. You have some fun.”

Fun
. She covered her mouth so he’d not hear her painful sob.

“Take a week, I’ll call the rink. I’m sure those kids are all out building snowmen by now anyways.”

“Right, okay, thank you, Uncle, I appreciate it.”

“You just have some fun. I’ll see you when you get here.”

His voice had made it worse somehow. The one person she could always count on to tell it to her straight. She didn’t even have the nerve to tell him that she’d met someone, but he’d…disappeared. It was easier to think of that, than to think of him being dead.

She called the hospital and asked if a David Jansen had been admitted, but was told no, so she called two more hospitals. She looked up bases nearby, since he’d said he used to be a SEAL, but she couldn’t figure out how to find him in the confusing websites.

After the third day, she took the Jeep back up the mountain, scared, but unable not to go. There were new, ten foot tall wooden gates on the place, and an enormous lock on them. She got out and took a deep breath, releasing it after without crying. If he was okay, he was gone. If he wasn’t… She brushed a tear off her face and thought of all the wonderful things about David Jansen—his smile, his easy humor and the way he’d been so thoughtful and sexy. Right there was where she’d turned and met his lazy blue stare. He’d been half smiling, something she knew he did on those rare occasions when he was unsure.