Waiting... On You (Force Recon Marines) (9 page)

“We’ll see, Ashley.” Nick checked his
watch. “I really need to get going if I’m going to catch that ferry. Have a
nice lunch.”

The nurse lingered in the doorway to
the cafeteria until he was no longer in sight. One of the other nurses she had
gone to high school with walked up to her.

“Too bad you let that one get away,
Ashley. He’s still as good looking as he was in high school. No, better, I
think. Bet you wouldn’t have wanted to divorce him.”

“Bet I wouldn’t have, either,” she
replied regretfully.

CHAPTER 7

“WE’RE GOING TO NEED A ZODIAC for
diving. It’s more convenient than using your sailboat or one of Lance’s. I need
some scuba gear and specialized equipment, too.”

Hanna was sitting next to Nick in
Lance’s Jeep. He was taking her to work again, as he had every day this week.
The soft top was up, much to her relief. Arriving at work windblown was
inconvenient. So far, though, Nick had been very considerate about it.

She glanced over at him as she sipped
the espresso they had just stopped to buy. “Where are you going to get a rubber
boat? Lance’s was never found.”

“I’m going over to Whidbey Island. I
can requisition the gear I need at the Naval Air Station there. I think I’ll
take Lance’s speedboat over and tow the Zodiac back. They;re pretty good sized.”
He turned to look at her. “I wish you had the day off so you could go with me.”

“That would be nice,” she said
wistfully.

“You work too many hours.”

“Look who’s talking. What kind of
hours do you keep, Colonel?”

“Not eight hour ones, for sure.” He
shot her a glance. “It gets old, doesn’t it?”

“If you mean all work and no play, it
sure does.”

She was angled in the seat so she
could look at him as he drove. It was an indulgence she allowed herself every
time he took her to and from work. She loved observing him. She’d had so little
opportunity over the past twenty years. And he was so very easy on the eyes!

Today, he was wearing jeans and a navy
blue pullover sweater, with another golf shirt beneath it. She could see by the
collar, it was maroon. It was obvious he liked the style. She wondered what
colors he didn’t have. Maybe she could get him a couple for a Christmas. She
knew his size. She’d sent him a few sweaters as gifts over the years. In fact,
the one he had on looked particularly familiar. She knew so much about him, and
yet there was so much more she wanted to know. Much of his life was a mystery
because of the covert nature of his missions. Writing letters to one another
over the years had helped her to know about the man and his matured
personality, but it wasn’t the same as actually being with one another. Watching
his facial expressions and listening to the rich inflections of his deep voice
were little treasures she thoroughly loved collecting and storing away in her
heart each time he was home.

Nick caught her expression. “What
produced that secret little smile?”

“None of your business.”

“You’ve never tell me what those
particular little smiles of yours mean.”

“They’re my secret.”

“One of these days I’ll pry it out of
you.”

“Nope.”

“Oh yeah. I’ve always been intrigued
by them. You’ve done that since you were little, you know.”

“Really?” He’d noticed. How
wonderfully surprising! “So, what did you find out in Seattle yesterday?”

“Nothing yet. It’ll take a week or so
to go over Dylan’s laptop and check his backup drives. They also agreed to do
the background checks on the police chief and the sheriff. Kurt put Lance on
the Missing Person List, too. Having his name and picture out there might help
bring in some leads. Maybe someone has seen him.”

“Oh, I hope so.” She pushed her
glasses up further onto her nose impatiently. It seemed they were always
slipping down. “Did you go by the boat shop yet?”

“Yeah.” He took a sip from his Styrofoam
coffee cup.

“How are they faring without Lance?”
She watched his Adam’s apple move along the tanned column of his throat as he
swallowed his coffee. To her, even that part of him was sexy. So very
masculine!

“Not bad. The boat repairs are getting
done, but no one wants to do any salvage work without Lance. They wanted me to
complete a job he started.”

“Are you going to?”

“If I have time. Finding Lance comes
first, though.”

“Well, I can help you if you decide to
do it. I’ve gone down on a few salvage dives with Lance. I’ve always loved
diving, and salvage work can be a lot of fun.”

“It sounds like you do quite a bit
with my little brother.” Nick gave her a measured sideways look.

Hanna was oblivious to his frown. She
shrugged. “I guess so.” Lance was her friend. They tended to spend a lot of
time together. Nick knew that. If she’d been looking at his expression at that
moment, though, she might have wondered about it.

“Mom’s keeping the books and doing all
the billing,” he added after a moment.

Angled toward him as far as her
seatbelt would allow, Hanna lifted her eyes from her coffee cup to look at him
again. “Have you ever thought about coming home and helping Lance run the shop?
He did rename it, adding an “
s”
in the hope you might run it with him
someday.” It was a question worth testing the waters on.

“It’s crossed my mind. I could never
build and repair boats like Lance, but I’d probably like the salvage diving
well enough.”

His response wasn’t exactly brimming
with enthusiasm. Growing up, Nick had enjoyed helping his stepfather, but he’d
never had a strong inclination to go into the family business.

“Not quite as much as the Marine
Corps, though, huh?”

He shot her a quick inquiring look,
then one of his crooked half-grins. “Probably not, but you never know.”

But Hanna did know. She knew Nick well
enough to know he’d probably die a Marine. That grim thought left her quiet and
withdrawn the rest of the way to the hospital.

When they pulled into the parking lot
and drove into a spot near the ER doors, she started to open her door to get
out. Nick stopped her with a hand on her forearm.

“Hanna, wait…. ”

She didn’t turn to look at him so he
caught her jaw gently and turned her head toward him. “Are you upset with me
for something? You stopped talking to me three miles back.”

Unnerved by his touch, she shook her
head and lied. “No. I was just thinking.”

“About what?” One long finger moved
upwards, along the edge of her jaw. It stopped just under her earlobe, then
began to trace slow tiny circles over the side of her neck, just under her
hairline, sending little shivers along her spine. His gray eyes were focused
intently on her.

“Work,” she lied, unraveling inside.
“What I’ve got to do today.”

“You work such long hours, we haven’t
gotten to spend much time together,” he said, moving his thumb over the
indentation below her lower lip so that the span between fingertip and thumb
rested along her jaw. “I was hoping we could spend more time together.”

His gaze was a sexy mixture of heat
and boyish disgruntlement. The soft caress of his fingertip and thumb was
driving her crazy, making her pulse race. “I’ll be off next week,” she replied
in a softly disturbed voice.

Involuntarily, her eyes fell to his
mouth. He had a great mouth. His lower lip was full and oh so inviting. More
than anything, she wanted to feel those lips on hers again. She hadn’t been
able to get her mind off the kiss he had given her so unexpectedly in the park.
Each night she had gone to bed this past week, she had lain awake recalling
every detail of how exquisite his big hard body had felt pressed to hers.

“Hanna....” Nick moved his thumb to
her lips, rubbing them, then parting them. His voice was low and guttural,
rough with desire.

Hanna watched him as he slid his hand
to the back of her neck. He slipped his other hand around her waist, then used
both to pull her into his embrace. His mouth descended to claim hers, and
suddenly he became the center of her universe, every bit of her awareness
focused on him.

At first, his kiss was slow and
sensual, just a gentle taste, a tender bite and nibble. Dazzled, Hanna closed
her eyes and gave herself up to the drugging pleasure of it. He edged closer to
her and tightened his hold on her.

Her world narrowed wonderfully and
completely on him. His masculine heat and scent enveloped her. His arms tightened
more. Unsure where to put her own hands and arms in the cramped confines of the
Jeep, she curved them around his waist, bracing her hip on the edge of the
console between the seats, her legs bent toward the driver’s seat.

The kiss grew fierce. His mouth moved
hungrily over hers, while his tongue stroked and tangled with her own, then
thrust deep. Liquid heat pooled in her loins. He was kissing her like he was
famished for her, like he couldn’t get enough of her! Little whimpers of
pleasure escaped her throat. They sounded so needy, she was mortified.

She tried to pull away, but Nick
wouldn’t let her go far. He pressed his forehead to hers. He was breathing
hard. His words came out husky with desire. “Aw, sweet Hanna, we’ve definitely
got to do something about this!”

What was this? What did he want?
It didn’t sound like he was going to
retire and come home. For heaven’s sake, he’d just been promoted, and, damn
him, he had probably already extended his term of enlistment! He’d be leaving
her again. Her heart was too fragile for a brief affair with him, only to see
him walk out of her life once again. The last time he’d done that, she’d ached
so badly, she’d almost wished she had never let him make love to her.

Panicked and confused, she shoved away
from him. “I have to go, Nick. I’ll be late.”

There was nothing else she could say,
so she grabbed her purse, opened the door and jumped out. The instant her feet
hit the ground, her legs felt boneless, but she made them move across the
parking lot. When she got to the ER entrance, she hurried inside, without once
looking back at the man in the Jeep behind her.

HANNA DIDN’T SEE NICK for the next day
and a half. His mother replaced him as chauffeur. Jessie didn’t ask why. She
didn’t pry, but she figured something was amiss.

She knew how Hanna felt about her
oldest son, and she had always kept her confidences regarding Nick. When her
young friend was ready to talk to her about it, she would listen and maybe
advise. Until then, she’d just keep an eye on the two.

But Jessie played bridge on Friday
evenings with Colleen and a few friends, so Nick had to pick Hanna up from work
that evening. Only when he arrived, she was far from ready to leave. He came
through the ER doors minutes after ambulance attendants and two sheriff’s
deputies brought in a couple of high school kids who’d just crashed out on the
highway.

The teenage boy was bloody and badly
injured, but he was conscious enough to tell Hanna that his girlfriend had
overdosed. He had been rushing her to the hospital when he’d lost control of
his speeding vehicle and crashed. It took a bit of gentle prying on Hanna’s
part to get him to tell her that his girlfriend had injected heroin into her
veins. Despite the boy’s highly visible injuries, his companion was in worse shape.

Hanna saw Nick enter the emergency
room doors, but all she could do was give him a brief wave. The girl strapped
to the gurney was in big trouble. Her vital signs were so weak, they could
barely get a read on them. Hanna rattled off instructions to her small crew,
and in the midst of that, the young girl’s heart stopped.

“Get the crash cart over here!” she
shouted.

She administered CPR until the cart
arrived a moment later. The male assistant at her side handed her the paddles.
He set the voltage, and Hanna told everyone to stand clear. Then she applied
the paddles and the electric current. Nothing. She announced clear and tried
again. All the attendants waited in eerie silence. She tried two more times,
but after the fourth attempt, she had to give up. The teenager had no pulse.

Nick watched Hanna hit the side of the
gurney with her open hand and swear softly. Even from across the room, he saw
the anguish on her face. Losing a patient was not something she took lightly.
In spite of that, though, she quickly proceeded to the teenage boy. He was
still alive and breathing, but now unconscious.

“Let’s get him into the operating
room,” she called. “Meet you there in five.” She quickly walked over to Nick.
“This may take a while. He’s hurt pretty badly. Want me to get a ride home with
someone here, so you don’t have to wait?”

“No, I’ll stay. Got a coffee machine
somewhere?”

“There’s one in a smaller waiting room
near the OR. It’s quieter than waiting out here.” She pointed down a long
hallway.

He nodded. “I’ll be waiting there for
you. If you see the cops who came in with the victims, would you tell them I’d
like to talk to them?” Nick gave her an encouraging smile. “I’m sorry about the
girl, but you’ll save the boy.”

She smiled tiredly back at him. “I
hope so. They were so young. Damn drugs! She died of a heroin overdose. Can you
believe that? At her age?”

“It’s bad shit.”

She sadly agreed, then turned away to
hurry down the hall, where she disappeared behind the OR doors.

Nick watched her go with silent
admiration. She was something else, he thought. Beautiful, intelligent, and
compassionate. Amidst all of that trauma, she’d kept her head and directed the
people around her better than some officers he’d worked with. And she’d done it
with a soft touch. He’d never seen her in action, at the hospital, like that
before. He was impressed.