Love, Tussles, and Takedowns (21 page)

Now he was just curious as hell as to what she was planning.

He got dressed quickly and packed up his campsite.

A half hour later, they were chasing the sunrise back towards Yuma.

When he saw the landscape become even
more
deserted and heard all the familiar sounds he hadn’t realized he missed until now, he looked over at Lia in wonder.

“The Yuma Proving Ground?” he asked incredulously, damn near reverently. The thirteen hundred square mile facility the U.S. Army had tucked away in Arizona to test nearly every ground combat weapon system at their disposal.

As well as some not yet at their disposal.

“Yep. I figured you’d recognize it. How many times have you been here for training?”

“Three times, but the last was over five years ago.”

At the entry gate, Lia used her civilian base badge to gain them entrance.

More surprises. “I thought you only handled the private sector.”

“I do. But sometimes, we need access to the facilities and the Spencer’s organization has been working with the folks here for years.” She smiled. “But I mostly come out just to visit. One of the guys here is basically like an uncle; he’s Jack’s oldest friend.”

She parked his jeep and threw him back his keys. “See, we got here in one piece. Now that wasn’t so painful was it?”

It actually was. He adored Lia to no end, but for good lord, the woman couldn’t drive a stick to save her life. He’d definitely have to recalibrate his clutch later…or ask Lia’s mechanic friend to do it, since she was so fond of tinkering with his vehicle and all.

They headed over to the main office, where Lia ran up to hug the officer awaiting their arrival. Hudson just barely tamped down the compulsion to salute. But he of course addressed him properly.

“Colonel,” Hudson extended his hand formally.

Lia made quick introductions. “Hudson, this is Jefferson Walters, one of the Spencer’s closest family friends. Uncle Jeff, this is Hudson Reyes,” she flicked her eyes at Hudson, “my boyfriend.”

He felt a huge thump in his chest and grinned like an idiot. Damn if that didn’t feel like she’d just called him the high commanding emperor of the moon.

“Good to meet you, Sergeant Reyes. I’ve heard a lot of good things.”

“Please, call me Hudson. Thanks for having us over today.”

“Little Lia hasn’t ever introduced one of her young men to me before so it’s my pleasure entirely. And after talking with your former commanding officer, I hear you were quite the valued asset for us.”

The past tense verb use of that stung.

And apparently, he wasn’t hiding his reaction well.

Lia’s eyebrows dipped down in concern and after a swift mental kick to his own ass, he leaned over and gave her a quick kiss to clear the clouds he’d caused. “It’s actually a very cool experience to come here as a civilian,” he murmured honestly with a smile when Lieutenant Colonel Walters called over one of his men to give him directions for today’s visit.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think it would make you sad,” Lia whispered back, worried.

Shit, he felt like the biggest ass in the world.

“It didn’t honey. Honest. This is an amazing surprise. I love it.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.” And he meant it. “You setting up this day for me—” Hudson’s words grinded to a complete, astonished halt when a new Stryker armored combat vehicle unlike any he’d ever seen before, wheeled into vision.

No. Effing. Way.

“Is that what I think it is?”
he asked in an awed voice, sounding even to his own ears like a kid who’d just discovered a mythical new superhero truly existed.

“Yep,” said Lia with a beaming grin. “And they’re going to let you play with it today.”

* * * * *

DREW SWITCHED ON his Bluetooth and answered his ringing cell phone, just as he was pulling out of his friend’s apartment complex. “Hello?”

“Hey Drew, it’s Lia. Are you busy?”

“Nope. Just heading out to run some errands. I’m actually back in Arizona for a few days, staying at a friend’s house before I start my internship with the DOD.”

He was pretty sure he could hear her smiling.

“So you did get it! Hudson had mentioned you were being considered. I am so crazy proud of you. You know that, don’t you?”

He did know. Mostly because Lia had made a point of telling him so as often as she could for the last eight years. “I wouldn’t have gotten it if it hadn’t been for Hudson.”

At the slight hitch in her breathing, Drew immediately pulled his rental car over. “Is everything okay with you two?”

“What? Yes, of course. Everything’s great.”

Drew frowned. Lia had never been a good liar.

“Okay, well, there is something...” she admitted seconds later.

Just as he thought.

She took a deep breath and asked hesitantly, “Do you think you could look into something for me?”

That was a surprise. “Sure. Is this about Hudson?”

“Yes, actually. I was wanting to do something for him and I need you to find a few names for me. And since I figure whatever voodoo you do on your computer generally trumps even the highest-level military clearance, maybe you could help me find the info I need.”

Drew exhaled in relief. “That’s it? He’s not hurting you or anything like that?”

“No! Of course not! I just want to help him is all.”

“Next time lead with that. You had me worried there for a second.”

She sighed. “You are getting to be more and more like the Spencer boys every day.”

Hell of a compliment. Drew had always respected each of his foster brothers. “I still have a long ways to go before I can hover over you as fully as they do.”

Her soft chuckle was her wordless agreement, warm with affection.

He grinned. It was always great to hear her laugh. For the first few years after Leo went missing, her laughter had been non-existent. Lately, he noticed she was happier than she’d been in a long time. “And to answer your question, it’s not a problem. I actually already have a file on him so I might even have what you’re looking for already.”

A brief pause and then a scolding: “Have you been snooping
on Hudson?”

The fact that she sounded so genuinely surprised had him smothering back a laugh. She was the only one in his circle who seemed to forget he was a hacker.

“Lia, you’re my former sister-in-law
and
my foster sister. And you’ve been living like a nun for the past eight years. Of course I’ve been snooping on the one guy you’re actually serious about. I had a full workup on Hudson even before Caine asked.”

“How touchingly disturbing.”

“Does this mean you don’t want this information?” he teased lightly.

Ooh, that was definitely a glare he could feel over the phone line.

“Gabe and Max have been horrible influences on you,” she muttered.

It was actually a two-way street, but he thought it best to let his foster brothers take the blame for this one. Seeing as how his halo was so shiny and all.

“I’ll be by your shop in a few hours with the file.”

* * * * *

DREW PARKED IN the brewery side lot between Ocotillos and Desert Confections so he could run in and grab some lunch at the brewpub before meeting Lia. He was nearly at the side entrance when he heard the unmistakable sound of someone crying.

Rounding the building of the chocolate shop next door he felt a kick in the gut when he saw the tears belonging to a familiar face, now ten times prettier than he remembered the last time he saw it. She’d always been cute in a jail bait sort of way, but there was something else about her that had always drawn her to him. Even back when she’d been a freshman he had no business noticing during his senior year, she’d had a way about her.

Now, nearly two years later, she was well on her way to becoming the beauty he’d predicted she’d turn into. A beauty who was still way too young, still too sweet for him.

But like a masochistic moth being drawn to a flame that could singe him, he went over to her anyway.

Skylar’s tear-filled eyes grew to the size of saucers when he crouched down in front of her.

“Drew? Drew Lawson?”

Good lord. The way his name sounded on her lips...

He retreated back a safe step before grabbing a seat on the ground in front of her. “Hey, Skylar. Long time.”

Her jaw dropped. “You remember my name?”

“Why wouldn’t I remember your name? We talked in school, worked on some homecoming decorations together too, if memory serves.”

“B-but. You’re three years older than me.”

“And yet you remember
my
name.”

“Well, yeah. How could I not?” she replied instantly. Before flushing bright red.

So freakin’ adorable.

“Well, I could say the same back to you,” he tossed back. “Even when you were a freshman, you were active in everything—student government, school event planning committees, and about five clubs I never knew we even had at the school.”

“Still. I can’t believe you remember me.”

“You’re kind of hard to forget.” He caught himself. Damn, those eyes of hers were worse than truth serum. “You were always hosting all those community service projects and getting the whole school to participate,” he added in recovery.

Understanding and a twinge of disappointment he hated seeing dimmed her eyes. “Oh. Yeah. I guess I did pester you seniors a lot.”

“In a good way. You’d be surprised how jaded kids get by their senior year. You were kind of inspiring. In an intense and on-a-sugar-high sort of way.”

A genuine smile then.

She’s still in high school
, he reminded himself. “So why are you out here alone crying?”

“My boyfriend.”

Dammit, but he
really
hated hearing her say those two words. Shocking since he had no claim to her whatsoever. “Do you need me to kick his ass for you?”

Please say yes.

“No,” she sighed. “Since he’s not my boyfriend anymore.”

Excellent news.

“You don’t sound too broken up about it. So again, why the tears?”

“Because he cheated on me. He wasn’t exactly the best boyfriend in the world, but he’s basically like the nicest guy in our grade. He’s never cheated on any of his other girlfriends before. But he cheated on me.”

“He’s an idiot.”

“Yeah, that’s what everyone’s saying. But the girl he cheated on me with is super hot, and actually really sweet. She’s smart, funny, and pretty—”

“Honey, you’re all those things and more. You’re special. I’ve always thought so, and I’m always
going to
think so.” Running his eyes over her adorably astonished face he launched over his last grenade, “The only reason I’m not
proving
these things to you is because you’re sixteen and I’m nineteen.”

When she just sat there and gaped at him, he steamrolled right along. “After my undergrad, I’m applying for a Masters degree with a fellowship in D.C. that I’ve been informed I’m on the short list for. In total, I’ll be done in five years.
Five years
, Skylar. Exactly how many years it’ll take for you to no longer be off-limits.”

Those beautiful, expressive eyes of hers widened to the size of saucers.

“And baby, you better believe I’ll be coming back here to see if you still need me to prove those things to you then.”

As he stared down into the stunned face of the girl who’d only grown to become even more of a knockout than she’d been a year and a half ago, Drew wondered over his declaration.

Then he thought about the two folders of information in the hidden pocket of his laptop bag.

One with information about Hudson that he was going to show Lia.

And one with information about Leo that he most definitely wasn’t going to show her.

The latter still had a long way to go before he could show anyone. But he wasn’t going to stop keeping that file close while he searched for the answers he was looking for. He didn’t care how long it took, years even.

He felt the same way about his attraction to Skylar, he realized.

Amidst this revelation, Skylar was still silently processing his earlier statement—he liked how she did that. Even as a freshman, she’d always been a thinker more than a talker.

He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Until then, you’re just going to have to hear me and believe me when I say that I’ve always thought you were more than just smart, funny, and pretty. In fact, ‘special’ is far too mundane a word to describe you, as far as I’m concerned.”

Wiping the last of her tears away, he promised in a rough whisper, “Five years, beautiful. And to be clear, I’m not asking you to wait for me.”

“I’m just letting you know to expect me.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“YOU, SWEETHEART, just made twenty guys crazy happy today.”

Lia cradled the phone against her ear, grinning. “Aw. If I had a nickel for every time I heard that…”

Hudson’s deep chuckle echoed over the phone line. “Imp. I mean it though. The rehab center got your gift this morning.”

“The donation was from both Spencer’s and my shop. It wasn’t just me,” she corrected. “And besides, it’s Gabe who did all the rigging with the bells and whistles.”

“But it was your idea.”

“Inspired by how you said your hand felt after you got a chance to work with rifles again at Yuma that day.”

“Okay, enough with the modesty. If you hadn’t worked with your fabricator and Gabe on this, these new rehab exercise weapon models wouldn’t be half as functional, and the Center’s therapists wouldn’t have had so much trouble keeping all the guys from wanting to push extra hard today.”

Lia was failing horribly at not getting emotional at the image. She knew how frustrating it had been for Hudson not to be able to get his hands to work the way they used to. When she learned there were countless injured soldiers in the same situation, but that only the ones that were being rehabilitated to return back to active duty were set up on rehab simulators with weapons to retrain their muscles, Lia knew she had to at least try and see what Gabe and their team of top-notch fabricators at Spencer’s could come up with.