Handcuffed by Her Hero (34 page)

He pivoted, only to be yanked
back. “Zeke!” she sobbed. “Please, no!” He caught a glimpse of her crumpled
face before she threw herself against him. “I’m sorry.” She wound one hand over
his shoulder and the other under his opposite arm, squeezing him in an awkward
hug. “I’m so, so sorry.”

A pool of wetness soaked through
the front of his shirt. Zeke sighed and held her in return. Fuck. He was
so
starting to lose his edge.

“I’m sorry, too,” he mumbled.

She whispered her desperate
thanks and pulled on him tighter. Pain flared down his back.

“Ow.” He got the word out on a
laugh, half grateful for the excuse to set her back. Luna bit her lip as she
swiped at her running mascara.

“Oh, God,” she blurted. “I didn’t
hurt you, did I?”

Z shrugged. “Don’t worry about
it. One of Mua’s assholes nicked me with a knife on Saturday. You put the
squeeze on the most tender part of the wound.”

“Oh hell, Z.” She grabbed at his
shoulders. “I—I didn’t know—”

“Of course you didn’t.”

To his relief, Garrett appeared.
“Z,” he pressed, “we gotta fly. Sage just texted me with two new things for the
damn list.”

He grabbed one of Luna’s hands
and squeezed. “So…are we cool?”

She smiled but the look wavered
as if her brain was directing her to do something else. Z told himself it
wasn’t his problem, that
she
wasn’t his problem, but he worried. He made
a mental note to chat later with Max about her. They’d see each other at Hawk’s
bachelor bash. The club owner would definitely be there, since he’d be getting
his Jag back from Zeke at the same time.

“We’re cool, Zeke,” she
confirmed. She wrapped both her hands around his. “We always will be, okay?”

“You bet. See you around, then?”

“Yeah. See you around.”

He turned and made his way to
where Hawk waited, the truck already started. He didn’t look back. He already
knew he’d find Luna still gazing at him. Watching him like the cat in the
corner, waiting until her moment to strike was absolutely right.

“Just twenty more minutes.”

The second Rayna said it, her
eyes locked with Sage’s in the mirror.

They squealed together.

That did nothing to help the warm
sting behind her eyes. “Oh, Sage,” she breathed, resting her chin on her
friend’s shoulder. “Oh, my.”

She was a breathtaking bride. Her
dark blond hair, now extra thick because of the pregnancy hormones, hung in long
loose curls that fell from beneath a simple white headband adorned with purple
and white wildflowers. She wore a white knit sweater that had gold threads
woven into it, tied with a purple satin sash. Because of that, her gown’s
bodice was simple, flowing into a skirt of multiple lace layers that stopped mid-calf
in front, sloping to the ground in back. Her shoes, which were actually
low-heeled white lace boots, completed the look.

“Sweetie, you’re so beautiful.”

Sage twisted her hands. “I’m so
nervous
!”

“Whaaat?”

The exclamation bounced through
the room, as things usually did when they were issued by Sage’s mom. Heidi Weston
burst into the room like the doting, excited mother of the bride that she was,
her gold dress swishing around her tall body and her joy-filled hazel eyes.

“Mom!” Sage surged to her feet
and rushed into her mother’s arms. Rayna watched them with a wistful pang. The
last time she’d hugged her own mom had been at Sea-Tac, a month after her
twelfth birthday. Mom had volunteered for an aid trip to Honduras, then
devastated by Hurricane Mitch. Though she’d been immunized against malaria,
there had been no time to start on pills, too. She’d died doing what she loved
best: helping others who needed it the most.

“Rayna!” Heidi charged. “Get your
backside over here, girl; don’t think you’re getting out of this.”

She giggled but steeled herself.
The guys at the base’s sports bar hadn’t nicknamed the woman “Mama Vise Grip”
for nothing. Heidi hugged people with every muscle in her body. Today was no
exception. Rayna gasped in tandem with her friend as they got squeezed
together.

“Heidi!” A man’s voice buzzsawed
the air. “You want me walkin’ her down the aisle or shuttlin’ her to the med
center for cracked ribs?”

An older, barrel-chested man entered,
his uniform decorated with enough medals to trim a Christmas tree. Rayna joined
Sage in throwing grateful glances to him.

“Baby!” Heidi ran over to him,
foregoing the rib torture in favor of curling herself against his chest.

“Major Boone.” Sage offered her
hand and a smile. “Aren’t you the dashing one today?”

The man’s face crunched on a
frown. “Sagie Pie, I’ve known you since you were twelve. Your mother’s been
wearin’ my engagement ring for a year. Can we try for ‘Dad’ today?”

Sage’s eyes glimmered. Rayna
swallowed hard, witnessing her friend struggle with the request. She’d shared
water rations, dirt cages and complete life stories with this woman. To Sage,
the only meaning that went with “Dad” was the alcoholic asshole who’d skipped
on her and Heidi when Sage was ten. In a moment of ugliness that didn’t belong
with the day, Rayna entertained a secret fantasy that the man had hooked up
with Zeke’s mom and they’d died of alcohol poisoning together.

Her friend’s watery sigh jerked
her back to the moment. “How about ‘Walker’?” she suggested to the major.

He beamed. “That’ll be just
fine.”

Rayna fidgeted with the cowl
neckline of her own dress. The soft dark purple wool hugged the rest of her
torso, including long bell sleeves that were emulated in the flowing swirl of
the tea length skirt. “I still want to know the meaning of ‘Sagie Pie,’” she
quipped.

“Another day!” Sage chuckled.

The major stepped back and
admired her from head to toe. He jutted his chin as his eyes glittered over. “Dear
God, Sage,” he rasped. “That boy’s gonna want to throw you over his shoulder
and cart you off to the woods before any of us can utter a felicitation.”

“Aww, Walker. Th—”

Sage interrupted herself on a
gasp.

“The woods!”

Rayna cried it together with her.

“What about the woods?”
questioned Heidi. “What’s wrong?”

“My bouquet,” Sage explained. “I
wanted it to contain some wildflowers from the local forest.” Her eyes misted
again. “Ava and Ethan volunteered to go pick the flowers, but that was an hour
ago.” She swung a pleading look to them all. “The flowers are important. Thinking
of this place…the lake, the egrets, the flowers…kept me sane so much of last
year.”

Her voice faltered through the
last part of it. Rayna grabbed her hand and twisted hard. “Don’t cry,” she ordered.
“You don’t get to cry until Garrett does, missie.”

Sage’s gaze sparked with such
bright green tints, she seemed a mischievous fairy. “You’re sounding exactly
like Zeke Hayes on some very scary levels, Ray.” She broke out in a laugh as
Rayna felt her whole face being dunked in the blush bucket. “Oh. My. God.
Rayna
Chestain
! We are
so
talking about this during the reception!”

“Damn, dear.” The mutter came
from the major. “You’re right. They really do have a language all their own.”

Rayna knew a good chance for
escape when she had one. “I’m going to go find Ava and Ethan,” she announced,
riveting her gaze to the floor as she scooted to the door. If Sage got another
look at her now, her friend would detect the truth,
all
of it, in a second.
Then she’d end up spilling what had gone down during she and Zeke’s own trip to
the woods yesterday. The last thing her friend needed today was a maid of honor
sobbing for all the wrong reasons.

Fortunately, everything looked different
on the path this morning. Nearly twenty hours ago, wind and autumn sun had been
slashing through the trees, sharp knives of weather that were so perfect for
the pain in her heart with every word, glance, and touch she’d exchanged with
Zeke. Their lasts of everything…

This morning, the world seemed
ready for a new beginning. A silvery mist floated over everything, turning the
world into a hushed herald for whispered vows of love. Rayna smiled as she
looked toward the water. As if they’d been summoned by special messenger just
for Sage, three egrets flew in through the fog and took position on the dock.

She delved deeper into the
forest.

“Ava?” she called. “Cuz, are you
still out here?”

That was an instant lesson in
unsuccessful. Her voice got absorbed by the mist, traveling two feet at best. Rayna
smiled, enchanted by the atmosphere. If her best friend wasn’t getting married
in fifteen minutes and her cousin didn’t have the bridal bouquet, she would’ve gone
exploring for a fairy prince and princess—preferably a couple who could order
Sage and her impish imagination into line.

“Ava? Ethan?”

She shouted it a little louder.

“Hey, you two. Where—oh!”

 Her cousin and Ethan forced the
cry from her as they seemed to materialize from behind a tree. She dismissed
the hocus-pocus theory in an instant, since Ava was wearing half the tree in
her thick hair and down her back. Her cousin’s pale pink cashmere sweater
showed off a nice collection of leaves, bark, and twigs, not that Ava noticed.
She was too busy catching her breath and forcing her neckline to behave again.
Ethan didn’t look any less guilty. Rayna smirked as he mumbled something like
an apology, pushing Sage’s completed bouquet into her hands.

“Thanks.” She pushed some of the
flowers around to create a more balanced look, blending in the forest blooms
the pair had found during their mission. Obviously, that wasn’t all they’d
found out here. Her grin widened. “Hey, umm, Runway,” –she deliberately used
Ethan’s radio call sign, thinking it would help the guy in the composure
realignment department— “you have—some lipstick—”

“Shit.” Ethan wiped at his mouth.
“Where?”

Rayna looked up to assist with
the pinpoint. She burst into a giggle, instead. “Everywhere.”

“
Shit
.”

“Don’t worry. Cut up the path to
the right after you go back through the gate. There’s a side door into Sage and
Garrett’s kitchen.”

“I owe you big time, woman.”

She laughed again, but the mirth
faded fast as she turned up the path herself. As Ethan headed toward the
shortcut, he ducked his head as if panicked. A second later, she saw the reason
why. The mist gave up Zeke’s distinct form. Ethan had avoided getting caught in
his uniform and a face full of smeared lipstick by two seconds.

The close call had nothing to do
with her halted heartbeat.

Was he even real?

The dark jacket of his dress
blues made his shoulders stand out against the fog in broad, perfect relief.
His sergeant’s stripes, along with the curved triangle at their bottom denoting
his staff sergeant rank, gleamed on his upper arm. His newly short hair turned
every bold angle of his face into a proclamation of his power as a warrior and
his potency as a man.

You want to
repay that favor now, Runway? Make the world go away so I can drag your
teammate into the mist and hump him like a naked forest nymph.

They walked toward each other
with slow, hesitant steps. Rayna picked nervously at the bouquet as she walked.
Hell. Cue the sappy soundtrack and they’d make for damn great filler footage in
a campy cable TV movie.

When he got within a few steps, Z
stopped. “Christ.” His tone was full of reverence. “You’re fucking beautiful,
Ray-bird.” He grunted at himself. “Shit. Sorry.”

Rayna let the corner of her mouth
tilt up. “It’s all right. I’m the one who knows you’re human, remember?”

She expected a snarl. She got a
self-deprecating laugh, instead. “Right. Thanks for the reminder.” He lifted a
hand toward her but dropped it after a few inches. “You okay?”

She rolled her eyes. “That
question’s getting a little redundant, Sergeant.”

“I know. But I’m human, remember?”
He ducked his head to look through the trees, across the grass at the ceremony
site. The string quartet started up, sending the strains of Brahms’
Menuetto
toward them. “I think it’s residual paranoia, too. Garrett’s freaking out. Sage
probably is now, as well.”

“What? Why? I left five minutes
ago, and she was only at alert level orange on the spaz scale.”

“That was before we realized
Franz is a no-show.”

“Oh, damn.”

“Oh, damn is right. Not often you
get to have a CO who’s also ordained.”

She smiled. “Franzen’s a pretty
cool guy.”

Zeke tucked her arm beneath his
as they walked back through the gate. Rayna was tempted to pull away but he
kept his fingers pressed atop hers, a silent order to let him be gallant. It
wasn’t like he was guiding her back to civilization by the ass. Not that she’d
fight him much on that scenario, either.

“Well, right now his ‘pretty
cool’ presence has been missing since he and Hawk traded texts yesterday at
lunch. He confirmed he’d meet us for some beers at the Opal last night and
never showed. Now this…”

“What do you think’s going on?”
She knew he’d feel better if he could vocalize his strategy. If there was
anything she knew categorically about Z by now, it was his allergy to
helplessness.

He slowed their pace and lowered
his voice. “I think whatever they’re spinning up for us on the mission, it’s
going to be complicated and dangerous. I think they’ve sealed Franzen behind
closed doors for the briefings on it.”

“Crap.”

“Pretty much.” He glanced to
where Tait, Kell, Rhett, and Rebel helped to seat people in front of the
ceremony arch. His mouth pressed into a tight line. “Which is why it’s really
vital we get our friends married today.”

Rayna yearned to refute the ugly
inference of his tone. But playing ostrich didn’t do anyone good. Garrett
needed to put a ring on Sage’s finger now. Her future, and the future of their
child, might depend on it.

“So what’s the plan?” she
insisted. “Do we have one?”

“Yep. It’s called stalling. Major
Boone has a couple of chaplain friends and is sure he can round one up.”

“Thank goodness.”

They were back at the door to the
canopy that covered Garrett and Sage’s back patio. Reluctantly, she let her
hand slip from Zeke’s arm. The next appropriate thing was a cordial good-bye. Z
was right. Sage was likely pushing code red in the freak-out department and
needed her.

Her brain pounded with what Zeke
had just shared with her.
Complicated. Dangerous.

That meant some of the team could
die. That meant Z himself could die. Shit.
Shit.

When he grabbed her fingers
again, she clung just as tight in return.

“Rayna,” he murmured. “Listen.
When we’re out there, I could really use—” He cringed and cleared his throat.
“What I mean is—” He stopped again, shaking his head. “Fuck. I know you can’t
do the Friend Zone. I don’t blame you. But it would be cool if—”