Saving secrets, p.19
Saving Secrets, page 19
An eerie silence covered the darkness, so I stepped inside and lit a chemical stick light.
The rain dripped from the ceiling of the shaft down, hitting the earth and creating puddles in a few spots, but everywhere else remained dry. The only inhabitants were insects drawn to my light. After about fifty yards, I found out why. I reached a pile of rocks blocking the shaft—a cave-in. No one used this tunnel anymore. It would work for the night, giving me enough time to reset Rhea’s shoulder and let her rest for a few hours while the storm passed.
I exited the cave and headed straight back for her. She might be going into shock soon. Her shoulder must be killing her, and the cuts crossing her entire right side were sickly deep.
She bantered and fought me like the maverick I’d come to expect, but her injuries would make her movements slow and climbing impossible.
I ran the half-mile back to Rhea, watching the lightning synchronize with the claps of thunder. A few feet from the spot where I’d left her, I saw nothing but rock, and cursed. Then I searched the sodden ground for her footprints.
I found her, sitting against the rockface, plastered to the stone as she stared into the rain. She almost disappeared into the cliffside. I wouldn’t have seen her unless I knew the outline of her body intimately, and only then did the whites of her eyes give her away.
She raised her gun when she saw me, then lowered it as I kneeled to her left side. “You look like a panther when you run,” she whispered.
I nuzzled her neck. “Wolf, baby. I’m a wolf.”
“Find what you were looking for?” Her words lacked their normal fierceness.
“I did.” I eased my arm around her back and draped her good arm over my shoulder. “We’re going to get dry and rest.”
She leaned her weight into me, allowing me to draw her to a stand. “Don’t tease me. It’s cruel.”
“I don’t tease.” I growled into her ear, “You know better than that.”
Her steps were unsure, but she followed my lead as I nudged her toward the cave. I could hear her teeth chatter over the large gusts of wind.
When she stumbled, I did a quick scope of the surroundings, and decided carrying her the rest of the way would be better than waiting for a rebel to spot us. Then shoot us. “We’re almost there. Can I carry you?”
I expected her refusal, but received a quick nod.
She’s hurting bad.
I stowed my rifle over my back. Being careful with her shoulder, I lifted her off the ground and laid her head against my chest. I tried not to jostle her by taking long strides over the terrain. I feared she wasn’t protesting me because she was using all her strength to keep from screaming in pain.
“I kept my promise,” she said. Her shudders were steady vibrations in my arms. I didn’t like how weak her words sounded.
I entered the cave, keeping a tight hold on Rhea. “What promise, darling?”
“I followed you.”
She was cutting me into pieces. “You shouldn’t have. It was the wrong call. We waited too long to leave.”
“I trust you, Reginn. I know you’ll get us out of here.” Her sweet breath fluttered over my neck. “You were the one I wanted when I woke up. I… I wished for you.”
I’m going to make sure you keep wishing for me. Every damn day.
I kissed above her left brow, one of the only spots on her face not cut. “You know how to break a man, Rhea.” I swept back her soaking hair. “You can’t say things like that and not expect me to give you anything you want.”
I needed to tell her she was my first thought after the crash. My first conscious words were her name. And when I found her, I swore I would do whatever it took to keep her.
But her skin was too cold. Pain flooded her eyes.
Now wasn’t the time. I wanted her to know what I felt when she could understand every word. To know it was so much more than sex between us. It was something I wasn’t ready to give up.
I broke one more chem light and placed Rhea and the glowing stick behind a few boulders. The position sheltered her from the entrance while preventing the light from shining out of the cave like a beacon.
Half-covered in mud, soaked to the bone, and panting, Rhea reached for me. “Lay with me. We’ll both rest.”
“Not yet,” I said, avoiding her curious stare. She didn’t know Eli wasn’t the only field medic. We were all trained to cover the basic injuries in combat. Gunshots. Hypothermia. Blood loss. Pneumothorax. And I’d reset a few shoulders during my last tour in Afghanistan. Those mountains took a toll on the body, too.
I loosened my bag from my back, and set my rifle down against the cave wall. “First things first. We stop the pain.” I undid the front of her flight jacket, taking my time not to jar her shoulder. She leaned forward. The suspicion in her eyes grew when I took her arm from her shirt then slipped the material over her head and off her dislocated shoulder. I unhooked her bra, ensuring the strap didn’t touch her shoulder.
I placed my palm over her chest, holding her back against the wall.
She trembled. “We’re doing this, aren’t we?”
“It’ll be better once it’s over.”
“The over isn’t my concern. It’s the during.”
I exhaled slowly, knowing I would cause her more pain first, and it was going to be intense, wish you were dead, kind of pain. “Close your eyes. It helps,” I said.
“I’m not closing my eyes. I need to see it coming.”
“Okay,” I mumbled. Not the decision I would’ve made. “On three.” I grabbed her forearm and braced her body again.
“Wait. When was the last time you did this?”
“Three summers ago. Jake’s arm.”
“Caldwell?”
“Yeah. Our medic was working on someone else. We were pinned down and he needed his arm to be in front of his body.”
“And he recovered fine?”
“I think so.”
“You think so?!”
“Three.” I rotated her forearm forward to position the arm socket. A guttural cry left her lips. Then I held her still while sliding the joint into place. Her scream ended on a deep moan. Her head fell forward, and she didn’t speak. Tendrils of hair covered her face from my view.
The moment I felt her shoulder set into the joint, I breathed in relief. “It’s done.”
At first I thought she fell unconscious from the pain, but her hands were clenched into fists so tight I knew she was aware of everything.
“Rhea, breathe. You’re going to pass out.” I tilted her head up to meet her searing stare.
She gasped for air. “You’re a sadistic prick.”
“That’s my girl.” I kissed her cold sweaty forehead and placed her forearm across her chest then made a sling from a dry shirt. “I missed your livid little mouth. You had me worried with the ‘Reginn, I wished for you’ talk.”
“I was clearly delirious with pain. Don’t take any stock in my ramblings.”
I hid my disappointment the best I could.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I captured her lips in a light kiss. Too late, darling. I like your delirious ramblings, every word, every sentiment. “Ready for pain meds and dry clothes?”
“Are you freaking Mary Poppins? What’s all in your bag there?”
When this trip was over, I’d have to let Aden know he didn’t owe me anymore. He’d split Eli’s med kit into my supply ruck and his own. I wouldn’t have had it without his forethought or Eli’s excellent packing skills. The man put half a pharmacy inside a bag the size of a shoe box.
“You can thank your boy Eli when we see him. And throw Aden a phenom birthday party because he split Eli’s bag between us. He was hellbent on coming to get you, too.”
Her face fell. “You think they’re doing okay?”
“Their fat asses are probably on the other side of the mountain, waiting for us. Aden’s on the satellite phone explaining to Conrad why he’s babysitting Eli and Tommy while I’m having all the fun.”
Rhea’s lips turned up, but it didn’t quite make a smile. “Will Conrad send a medical evac in this weather?”
“The crusty bastard plays like he’s a stonewall, but he goes full-blown diva if we’re bad off. He’s probably calling every contact he has in the Army, trading in favors and giving away his aged bourbon to get a plane here today.” I placed a canteen to her lips, and watched her sip slowly. “Eli’s only complaint will be why you weren’t there to kiss his boo-boo.”
She pushed the canteen back to me with straight seriousness. “Did you get a good look at their wounds?”
“No. I didn’t have time, but trust me, they were bickering about Eli’s ass being in Tommy’s groin when they landed.” I cupped her face and matched her sincerity. “They’re fine.”
I worried about Tommy’s blood loss, and Eli’s ability to stay conscious. Rhea knew their wounds were severe without my concern increasing her fear. Victor and Aden would do whatever it took to get them home. And I’d do the same for us.
“They wouldn’t have been shot if I’d tried to go over the eastern peak.”
“It comes with the job, Rhea. Everything we do is a risk one way or another.” I shrugged. “But all in a day’s work. Get shot at. Crash land. Go home. Do it again next week.” Except for when someone didn’t come home. Then a piece of you stayed behind too.
Rhea gnawed at her lip then spoke with an unnervingly sober tone. “Safety is only an allusion. You all lead such strange lives.”
“We like the challenge. The rush of success, knowing it’s only you and your team who will make it work.” I peered down at Rhea. She didn’t do it for the brotherhood, though. “Why did you sign the contract with Conrad? You could’ve gone anywhere in the country to fly.”
Her eyes shadowed. “Adrenaline high? Need for danger? Money would be the easy answer. But it isn’t all of it.” Rhea released my hand. “Conrad promised me something no one else had.”
“Unusually excellent health benefits?” I joked. “There’s a reason why.” I took a blanket out of my bag, fitted it around her, then stepped out of my wet pants and shirt, changing into my dry spares. “But really, why?”
“I did desperately need the money to pay for Nicky’s school. But the cherry on top was Conrad’s contacts in the department of defense, and his ability to find classified files without peering eyes knowing.”
“What are you looking to find?”
Her lips strained into a tight line. “I don’t know. Probably nothing.” She didn’t want to talk about it, and I’d rather not push her tonight. At the corner of my mind, I sealed away her hesitance. She was hiding something from me.
“Did you know Stacy has a conspiracy theory that Conrad is secretly meddling in our lives as a matchmaker?”
Rhea didn’t quip back. She laid her head back against the wall. “Cupid Conrad does have a ring to it.”
“It’s not true!” I laughed. “Jake and Lena happened because of you, not Conrad. And Aden and Chloe were… well, Aden wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
“And us?” she asked.
Two simple words. But they penetrated through me quicker than any bullet. “You said there wasn’t an us.”
“There’s you and me. And we’re both sitting in a cave. So I guess there is an us, right now. But Conrad wouldn’t throw us together with the hopes of us being together. Would he?”
“No.” I thought about it for a moment. “He hedges his bets on whatever will get the mission done with the least amount of catastrophe.” I sighed. “You and I when put together are what Conrad would call compounding problems.”
“Sorry I’m such a problem for you,” Rhea mumbled under her breath.
“Your allergic reaction to admitting any kind of attachment is the only problem I have.” I turned to pace the cave. “How is it you can encourage Jake to follow Lena, and tell him to do whatever it takes to be with her, and you can’t even tell me you want me?”
“Jake told you about that?”
“No. Lena told Chloe. Chloe to Aden. And Aden told me. We gossip a lot. AMN is really just one big knitting circle.”
“Jake loved Lena. He thought her leaving was her not loving him back when in fact it was Lena trying to do what was best for Jake because she loved him so much. We are not them.”
“We certainly aren’t,” I said, turning on a heel and crouching down in front of her where she had to look at me. “But we don’t have to be them. We could just be us.”
“Meaning?”
“We see if we can stand each other for extended time periods off the mountain.”
“Do these periods of time include things like naked time? In particular the exact happenings inside the helicopter, oh, say five hours ago?”
Yes. Absolutely yes. I’d do anything to be inside you again.
I smiled, hoping she wasn’t teasing. “Yes. And other things.”
“Other things?”
“Dinner? A meal where we sit and talk without snakes, or MREs, or Eli and card games, or any of the Echo team in general.”
“Sounds like a date.”
“Some would call it that.”
“Wouldn’t a date be boring after this?”
“I’m willing to give it a shot. Rhea, I don’t plan to make it through a meal without you throwing something at me, or kicking me under the table, or biting me. Honestly, it will probably be a disaster. But I want to try it with you. What do you say, Ace?”
Rhea paused. Her silence extended as if this idea was a radical concept. She took a deep breath. “Maybe. One date.”
“Really?”
“Not really, I want a repeat of the thing you did with your mouth,” Rhea sighed, “so I mean, whatever it takes, I guess.”
I laughed, worried she might be serious. “You can get that without a date, Rhea. Actually, I think you can get it from anyone if you walk down Broadway and ask really nicely.”
“Hmm. I prefer you. For a lot of things.” She reached out her hand for me. “You’re the only one I want to be stuck in a cave with.” She tugged gently. “Will you bring all of that warm muscle over here now?”
I eased down beside Rhea. She shifted her body, positioning herself between my legs, her back against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her to keep her warm. To keep her. Period. “I prefer you, too.” For tonight. For all of the nights.
CHAPTER TWENTY
RHEA
MY MIND WANDERED IN AND out of dreams. All of them danced around a white-haired wolf. I slid my hand up the smooth fur of the animal, and in return he nuzzled my hand. His warm snout sniffed gently. I caught myself leaning into his touch. In a flash, he nipped my finger, all the while watching me with an eerie stare.
What was I doing playing with a wild animal?
I stumbled to my feet and began to run. The snow crunched under each step. I quickened my pace, but the night was too dark. I couldn’t see the ground under the moonless sky. I was back in Alaska, in the woods.
I heard the soft pants of the creature, so close on my heels, every few feet I felt the brush of his fur.
The game had begun.
I taunted him, he teased me.
I ran faster, he chased harder.
I craved him, he wanted more.
I slipped on the snow, rolling to a stop on the cold frozen earth. The wolf was on me, his breath against my neck. I should scream, fight him, but his eyes were too familiar, too starkly blue. He bent his head to my throat, closing the final distance. Thoughts of my escape vanished under his stare.
“Reginn?” I awoke with his name on my lips. How could I not? There was a dull pain in my shoulder, but it was nothing compared to the ache to touch him, to have him one more time.
“A few more hours,” his voice rumbled over the sound of the rain, his lips at the shell of my ear.
Reginn’s hips kept me propped on my good side. Even in our sleep, his body protected mine, ensuring I kept my weight off my hurt shoulder. His actions were always caring for me, even when his words said something different.
We both lay on a dark green blanket, keeping the ground from stealing all of our heat. His thigh rested in between my legs, and I used his bicep for a pillow. The best part was when his beard grazed the back of my neck in a tender caress. Just like my dream, his nuzzling sent expectant pricks of need through me.
I turned my head slightly, arching my back like a cat. “I dreamt about a wolf,” I murmured. The haze of sleep combined with the strange dream made Reginn’s presence strangely sensual. My words slipped past my inhibitions. “I liked it.” I rolled my hips back against Reginn. “And it’s your fault,” I breathed.
Reginn groaned, capturing my waist in his hands, sealing me against his body. I could feel his length against my back as he smoothed his hand up my ribs, skimming the underside of my breasts. “You were begging for me in your sleep.” He licked up the column of my neck. “I wondered what you dreamt about.”
My nipples peaked instantly into two hard points. They pleaded for attention; so did the rest of my body. He nipped my skin with his ruthless teeth, and moved his thigh higher, into the V of my legs. I took full advantage of it, rubbing against him, trying to ease the pain. The desire.
It wasn’t enough.
I needed everything he could give me. Everything I’d missed for so many years.
I don’t know how he always knew what I wanted before I did. But he spread my legs apart with his thigh as he snapped open my pants. It was the promise of Reginn’s fingers that had me holding my breath.
He snuck his hand between my legs, parting me with his fingers. Then he paused.
No!
I couldn’t handle our game of chicken at this moment. I needed his hands, his mouth, every last bit of Reginn inside me, now. I rocked my hips forward, trying to ride his fingers without his help, but he pulled back.
He let out a strangled breath. “You’re hurt, Rhea. We should wait until you’re feeling better. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Please, don’t make me wait,” I sobbed. “I need you, Reginn. Please. I need you inside me.” My reaction didn’t make any sense. A fractured dream combined with the trauma of the crash was my excuse, but truly, I needed him without reason. I needed him so intensely it hurt.
