Waiting... On You (Force Recon Marines) (31 page)

Damn! He didn’t have any answers, and
he wasn’t sure he could ask her about all this stuff in the morning. He felt
torn between her and the life he had created for himself, a life he wasn’t
ready to abandon. But damn, he wasn’t ready to leave her, either. He might be a
battle-hardened Marine, but he figured she could easily bring him to his knees.

Taking the easier way out, he decided
to wait for time and circumstances to reveal what kind of future he and Hanna
had together. They were very close to finding out where Lance was, and that was
the task they both needed to focus on for the time being.

CHAPTER
20

BRILLIANT SHAFTS OF SUNLIGHT burst
through the double French doors off the balcony, sparkling like prisms through
the beveled panes of glass. Conditioned to rising at dawn, although he
suspected it was well past that, Nick turned his head to look at the woman
lying naked beside him.

Partially covered by the bed sheet,
Hanna was still soundly asleep, curled on her side against him, one hand
touching his chest, as if to reassure herself he was still next to her. She had
a knee thrown over his, and one narrow foot buried between his calves, while he
had one arm hooked under her neck, his hand resting on her bare shoulder.

Her face was mostly obscured by her tousled
gold hair. Gently, he brushed it back from her eyes and tucked it behind a jade
studded ear. She was so incredibly lovely!

It pleased him she wore the earrings
and necklace that he’d sent her for her last birthday so often. His gift wasn’t
a sailboat, but the set seemed to be her favorite pieces of jewelry. Not for
the first time, Nick wondered what that meant. Maybe he’d have to find a ring
that matched.

Or maybe he’d have to find her a ring
of a different nature— perhaps an engagement ring? He let the notion rattle
around in his brain for a few minutes and discovered it definitely bore serious
consideration.

Mrs. Nick Kelly. He liked that. Having
Hanna in his life permanently, taking her back to San Diego with him still
sounded pretty damn good to him. He might not be able to wake up to her sweet
warm body every morning if he was overseas or out in the field, but he sure as
hell could look forward to having her there when he came home. And, hell, he
was more than due for some state side deployment for a change.

Now that he was a colonel, he could
expect some less dangerous assignments, couldn’t he? He was in the process of
wondering if his commander might agree to some stateside deployment when she
opened her gorgeous green eyes and looked up at him with a drowsy smile.

“Good morning, Colonel.”

“Good morning, Doctor.”

His fingertip traced a leisurely path
down her nose and around her parted lips. “You look so pretty in the morning.”
He had to make a second slow outline of her mouth. It was just too soft and
inviting to resist.

Her thick dark lashes swept downward,
then lifted to reveal a glittering gaze that scanned his bare torso. “You look
pretty good yourself in the morning.”

Nick propped his head on a fisted
hand. The added elevation allowed him to see more of her. His assessing gaze
swept her thinly veiled nudity. It hit him then that this was the first time
they had awakened in each other’s arms.

“I like sleeping with you all night ad
waking up beside you,” he informed her huskily. “Having you snuggled up against
me, naked, is pretty damned nice.”

She stretched, wanting to purr like a
contented cat. “I like sleeping with you, too.” Her fingertip followed the deep
muscular indentation in the center of his wide chest that marked the space
between his well-cut pectorals. “I wish we could spend all day in bed, like
this.”

“Yeah, I do, too.” But at least they
weren’t in any big hurry to go somewhere.

As she edged closer to his big body he
hooked his arm around her waist, turned to fully face her, and pulled her to
him, securing her up against his long muscular limbs. Her breasts got crushed
against his hard chest as he kissed her, his mouth slanting over hers, his
tongue sliding inside to tangle with hers. When he felt he had given her mouth
a thorough treatment, he moved to her cheekbone, then her eyelids, closing
them. Hanna sighed in sweet surrender and stroked the whole length of his body
with hers, slithering against him.

His lips slid to her temple as he
nuzzled into her hair. “God, you feel good!” he groaned, his mouth and breath
tickling her. “You smell good, too. Like lilacs— and me.”

Hanna caught her breath, then giggled.
“You smell like lilacs, too... and me.”

He groaned in dismay this time. “So, I
pretty much smell like a flower pot?”

“Pretty much.”

He ruffled her hair. “Aw, my sweet
Hanna, what’s happening between us after all these years?”

She tilted her head back and looked up
at him. “What do you think is happening, Nick?”

He stared down at her and shook his
head, perplexed. “Something more than friendship, I think.”

She smiled softly. “I’d say so.”

“Love?”

He felt every muscle in her body tense
and freeze, and wondered why. Was that an unpleasant or frightening notion to
her? He tried to read her expression. He had no experience at analyzing a
woman’s feelings, so he didn’t know what her reaction said. He tried to ask
her.

“So what do you think?” He lifted her
chin so she’d look at him. “What’s happening here?”

She wouldn’t hold his inquisitive gaze
and glanced away with a nervous laugh. “I can’t tell you how you feel, Nick.”

He felt her move away from him and
hated it, so he teased her to lighten the mood. “Why not? You’re the genius.”

She shot him a sharp, defensive look.
“I’m not a mind reader. And I’m not a genius.”

Nick heard the anger in her voice and
figured he’d blown it. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make it sound like....” He
rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. “I don’t have any experience
with all this relationship stuff,” he sighed in self-disgust, then looked over
at her. “Let’s just enjoy ourselves and see what happens, shall we?”

“Sure.”

But she didn’t sound too thrilled about
it. Nick rolled onto his side again and pulled her back into his arms. “Screw
all this talk,” he finally decided. “I’d rather make love to you one more time
before we check out and catch the ferry home.”

He looked so adorable in his
confusion, then his eagerness to keep it simple, she had to laugh. “You sound
so male!” she chided him. “If it gets too complicated, just get back to the
basics, right?”

“Damn right! Keep it straight and
simple.”

“Oh, it’s straight, all right!”

She snuggled into his big, warm, hard
body, and they didn’t get out of the bed until an hour before check-out time.
Then they almost missed that because they showered together and took advantage
of the tiled seat.

By the time, they got on the ferry to
return to Port Angeles, they were both physically drained. After parking the
Harley on the lower deck, they went up to the top floor lounge and found a
vacant, cushioned bench seat in a quiet corner. Nick sat down with his back
against one wall and his legs outstretched along the seat. With one knee bent
to rest against the wall behind the seat, he positioned Hanna to sit in the vee
of his long legs. She settled herself against him and laid her head back
against his chest, then closed her eyes. His arms closed around her as he
closed his, too, with a deep yawn. His chin dropped to rest on the top of her
head. Comfortable and thoroughly content, they both fell asleep for the
duration of the ride across the strait.

NICK KNEW WHAT HE HAD TO DO if he was
going to find his younger brother. As much as he deplored it, he had to make a
deal with Yancy Masters. Li Chen wasn’t going to announce where to find Lance.
The drug lord might want them both dead, but he also wanted to play with them,
like a cat with a mouse before the kill. Chen needed to feel he was superior
and that he completely controlled the situation. It was the way he operated.

Nick had learned over the years that
if you wanted to capture an adversary, you had to know how he thought and
behaved. And he’d gone after a lot of enemies in his career as a Force Recon
Marine. Hunting and apprehending military foes, terrorists, and drug kingpins
had been one of his primary duties. That part of his military career was always
highly classified. This time it was highly personal.

Li Chen had been holding Lance for
over a month now. There was no telling what kind of condition his brother was
in. Knowing the Triad, they were drugging him, torturing him, or just plain
beating the crap out of him on a regular basis. He was done playing by Chen’s
game plan. Since Yancy was a multi-million dollar customer of the drug lord, he
had to know where Chen’s base of operations was located. If Nick had to put a
few million dollars’ worth of heroin into Masters’ hands to get his brother
back, he would. Temporarily, at least. Yancy could be tracked down by the DEA
afterwards and relieved of his product, hopefully before it was sold on the
streets.

With this in mind, Nick called Yancy
at his bar. The biker didn’t sound surprised to hear from him. He greeted Nick
with an angry tirade about the wiretaps he’d uncovered. Nick dismissed the
reaction, pleased that Yancy hadn’t found all his bugs, only his phone taps.
Instead, he told Yancy that he had something that he was looking for.
Intrigued, the bartender arranged a meeting.

When Nick entered his mother’s kitchen
that evening, he stopped abruptly in the doorway. Unnoticed by the women and
children, he stared at the scene before him. His heart tightened involuntarily.
Katie was in a high chair, gumming a biscuit, and Christopher was sitting in the
chair beside her, trying to feed her Cheerios. His mother, Colleen, Christine,
and Hanna were putting the finishing touches on dinner.

He was a lucky man to have such a
wonderful, close-knit family and such good friends. Not every man was as lucky.

He wanted to come through for the
people before him. He wanted to bring his brother home safe and sound for his
mother and nephew. For Colleen and her granddaughters, he wanted to clear
Dylan’s name and bring them justice so they could have some closure. They were
depending on him, and he vowed not to fail them.

His gaze slid to Hanna. He’d spent the
night in her arms on three occasions now, and while he cherished their sexual
intimacies and wanted more of them, he also realized now that a long distance
friendship wasn’t going to be enough anymore. It had been hard to leave her three
years ago. Now, he figured it damn well might be nearly impossible to leave her
behind, here in Port George, when he received his next duty station and
assignment. Even though his mind was filled with plans to rescue his brother,
it was also filled with thoughts of a future together with Hanna. How they’d
work that out had yet to be determined, but he was considering the
possibilities. Her career was as important as his, and he had to figure out how
the two might blend together.

Not surprisingly, Christopher was the
one to finally spot him. “Uncle Nick!” He set aside his box of Cheerios and
rushed into his uncle’s out-stretched arms.

Nick swung him high up in the air and
kissed him. He loved his nephew so much, he dearly hoped he would be able to
reunite him with his dad in a few days. God forbid he’d have to take Lance’s
place, but if the worst happened, he knew he’d do that in a heartbeat.

Once he set him on his feet, he let
Christopher take his hand and walk him over to the kitchen table, where they sat
down next to Katie in the high chair. She was another precious little package
he had fallen in love with over the past three weeks.

“So, what are we eating here,
princess?” He eyed the bits of gooey, gummed food and grimaced. “Looks nasty.”
The baby grabbed his forefinger and pulled it to her mouth instead. She sucked
on it hard, surprising Nick. “Lord, wait ‘til you get teeth, young lady!”

Hanna came over to the table and sat
down across from him. Her hand slid to cover his.

“Did you get a nap?” Her smile was
tender, concerned.

Nick wanted to drown in it. “No. I
called Yancy.”

The smile disappeared. “And?”

“And I’m meeting him later tonight to
talk about a trade.” His voice was low, but the other women heard what he said
to Hanna. Jessie came over to the table and asked him what was happening. Every
woman at the table was staring at him now. Each was interested in reply to
Hanna’s question. “I have some heroin Yancy wants,” he informed them because
Hanna was the only one who knew that. “I’m going to give it to him if he’ll
tell me where Lance is being held.”

“Oh, Nick, I hate to see him get more
of the stuff,” his mother exclaimed, troubled. “And do you think he’ll even
know where Lance is?”

“It’s likely he will,” he assured his
mother. “And I’m going to make sure the DEA picks Yancy up as soon as possible
after I get what I want.”

“Where are you meeting him?” Hanna
asked.

“At his place on Shelter Island.”

“With all those armed men?” Her face
was creased with worry. “Take me.”

“No.” His answer was emphatic. “It’s
much too risky.” He stared at her and enfolded her hand in both of his. “I’ll
be fine, Hanna. I promise.”

Christopher was watching, big-eyed.
“Uncle Nick? You going to get Daddy?”

Nick ruffled his hair. “Real soon,
sport. Real soon.”

NICK TOOK THE ZODIAC TO SHELTER ISLAND.
He drove it up to Yancy’s private dock at eleven o’clock that night and stopped
under the single pole light, cut the engine, then leaped over the side to tie
the craft off. In the backpack he shouldered, there were the two tubes of China
White, only not quite as full as Nick had found them.