Tidal Falls (Wounded Hearts Book 1) (19 page)

9) A week later Ford here
, manages to get himself arrested. Adam convinces me, against my better judgment, to make contact. Find out what you know. But I have to say, I figured you to be in on it.”

Jared swung around in h
is seat, a WTF look on his face. “Relax buddy, I told her she was wrong, there was no way.” Adam reassured him.

“Why would you even think
Jare would be involved in this sort of thing? I don’t get it.” Frank asked the question bugging him ever since that day in the interrogation room.

Maggie answered, “We knew
Sheridan was dirty, but there had to be someone else helping him. Where was he getting his info? How did he keep avoiding our attempts to nab him? Ford fit the bill. He has a gambling problem and has had for years, yet he always has the cash to play. His family is estranged. And most importantly, he is a genius when it comes to electronics and surveillance. It would have been child-play for him to watch our frequencies, warn Sheridan of any nets.” She sighed and it curled under Frank’s guard like smoke under a closed door. Dangerous, but nearly impossible to resist.

“That brings us to ten
. Adam convinced me to break silence and make contact with you two and so now we hopefully, have evidence to lock that asshole away and if it’s as good as you say, maybe we can hook the whole organization.”

Digesting all the new
Intel, Frank was embarrassed by how much had gone down right under his nose. His job was to know everything about his men. It’s how you stay alive out there. He’d failed.

Jared,
as usual seemed to sense his turmoil and snapped him a quick punch. “Don’t. Don’t you dare start blaming yourself for shit that had nothing to do with you. I was proud to be under your command. We all were.” He shot a step up glance to the back.

Adam agreed.
“He’s right, Senior Chief, don’t blame yourself. Sheridan had us all snowed. We knew he was a jerk, but not how big of a horse’s ass he was, that’s all.”

While Frank appreciated his
friends support, it still didn’t change the fact he had seriously slipped in his duties as an officer. He thought of how it had been him who told his brother to cut through the field that day, he would catch up. He thought of the day his father died. How he hadn’t been there for him. Now this, where he had failed his unit by missing something of such importance it had almost gotten two of his men killed.

It all piled up like
a big car wreck in his chest. He was tired of it. Tired of always feeling to blame for things he had no control over. His fingers whitened as he strangled the steering wheel. His foot pressing down on the gas shot the car forward with a satisfying rumble. It was time to correct some of those transgressions, and it was going to begin with Sheridan. The man had made himself a deal with the devil. Now he had to pay.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Sara
pulled up in front of her house and turned the key off on Mirabelle to hear the chirp of contented little birds, the joyful barks of playful puppies, and the clinking groan of the old car as it settled down as if for a much needed rest. She and Nick sat for a couple of minutes listening to the breeze play a song with the leaves through their lowered windows, neither one anxious to disrupt the peaceful moment.

“Is Jessica staying with your friend Annie for a couple of days?”
Nick’s quiet voice blended with the breeze drifting across Sara’s cheek.

She sigh
ed, soothed by the harmony between them. “Yes, she insisted. I explained some of what was going on, not all of it, but she figured it out, I think. Anyway, she said Jess would be no problem at all.”

“Good, that’s good.
She’ll be safe with her, there’s no way he’ll trace her to Annie.”

Sara rolled her head on the bac
krest toward Nick, only to see he’d done the same. They stared at each other, and the poignancy of the moment made her throat clench with suppressed longing.

Nick
raised his hand and gently brushed her hair back from her cheek, his calloused fingers against her ear sending little zaps of electricity throughout her body.

“I want you
in my life, Sara. I’m not ready to give up what’s happening between us, are you?”

M
esmerized by his gentle touch and soft words, she viewed him with sleepy eyes as those sensual lips moved gradually closer. Her breath suspended as everything around them seemed to hush, the animals, the click-clacking motor, her heartbeat, all poised for the connection.

Nick’s warm mouth touched hers
, and her eyes drifted shut, soaking up the sensation like a starving bird. Her lips parted, inviting him in as he kissed first one side of her mouth and then the other. Soft, gentle, butterfly kisses that soon had her craving more. She brought her hand up and wrapped it around his neck. Her fingers delved into his mink soft hair to pull him closer, little mewling sounds escaping from her throat, but she didn’t even care. This man was her other half. It didn’t matter anymore that he’d hurt her. She’d hurt him too, she knew that. What they had
was
worth fighting for. Desperation clawed her gut thinking how close they’d come to losing each other.

T
he kisses became anything but tender as they both surrendered to the passion between them. Nick slid his hand down her neck and around to her jaw, raising her face ever closer to his as his tongue licked into her mouth, and tangled with hers.

Her left hand traced his pectoral muscles thro
ugh his shirt, their firmness tempting her to trace ever lower, until she could pull the soft cotton of his top out of his jeans and delve beneath. The skin on skin contact drove a ragged groan out of him, filling Sara with feminine satisfaction. She’d brought this strong, proud man pleasure. He needed her.

Soon all she could do was feel. Nick’s hand dropped from her jawline and trailed down
the line of her neck to the tops of her breasts swelling out of her favorite bra. Her nipples tightened into hard little nubs and as his palm cupped one and squeezed, she broke away from his lips, needing to draw air, and maybe some sanity. They were making out in the front seat of her car like a couple of teenagers, in broad daylight no less.

“Nick.” S
he moaned as his dislodged mouth nibbled and sucked her earlobe, causing comets to fly behind her eyelids. “Nick, we have to stop.”

H
er eyes fluttered open and Sara gazed into the hot sapphire depths of his. She was so tempted to ask him into her bed—but that wouldn’t solve anything between them. In fact, it could only muddy already dirty waters, so she kept silent.

***

Nick eased back, rubbing a shaky hand across the back of his neck in a bid to calm himself down. He’d only meant to give her a gentle kiss. She looked so beguiling, her golden eyes glowing in the ambient light filtering through the leaves of the Aspen above them.

The citrus of
her shampoo and the rose scent that was pure Sara made his muscles tense in response. There were distinct signs of arousal in her flushed cheeks, quickened breathing, and swollen breasts. It took every ounce of control he had to sit back onto his own side of her dinky little car, giving her back her space. His eyes narrowed as she tried to straighten her rumpled shirt and smooth her messed-from-his-hands hair, causing her breasts to thrust forward with the motion, and his heart to want to leap out of his chest.

“
I’m not going to apologize because we’re combustible together. I for one, am damned happy to keep that fuse lit. I know we have more pressing concerns right now than how bad I want to pull you from your seat and finish what we started, but sooner or later…” His voice came out husky, thinking of passion-filled nights spent slaking their thirst for each other. He hoped this was a sign she was willing to forgive if not forget, otherwise he wasn’t sure what he would do.

She gripped the steering wheel and stared out the window for a long moment before turning to him, and what he saw in her face made his heart lurch.
“You’re right, Nick. What we had was pretty special, which is why you need to understand how hurt I am because you weren’t honest with me. I had the right to know you’re an old acquaintance of Tom’s, apparently close enough that he thinks you’re willing to work…”

“Yeah
, well he’s wrong, and if you honestly believe I would do such a thing, you don’t know me at all.” He interrupted, pissed off at the whole situation. When was she going to get it through her thick skull he’d never do anything to deliberately hurt her? When he got his hands on Sheridan they were going to have to pull him off the son-of-a-bitch.

“Pardon me
, but in all the time you spent getting to know us, you never thought to say, “Hey, by the way, funny story.” Didn’t you think I had a right to know, Nick?”

“Of course you had a
right to know, but what in the hell did you want me to do? Oh wait, no, we can’t have mind-blowing sex right now, I have to tell you something first. Give me a break, Sara, I’m a man and sometimes my little head wins out over my big head, so sue me.” Her attitude frustrated him so much his fist slammed down on the dash of the car, causing a rattle, bang and clang as it protested the abuse. And since he’d been staring daggers at her when it happened, he couldn’t help but see her flinch away.

I’m a
dumb asshole.

He wanted
to gain her trust, not scare the shit out of her.

“Sara
.” He sighed, this wasn’t getting them anywhere. “Honey, I’m sorry. I was angry. No not even angry, frustrated. But I would never, ever raise a hand to hurt you, swear to God.”

After a moment of tense sile
nce, her shoulders slumped and she stretched her hand to rest on his forearm. “Look, Nick, I know you wouldn’t hurt me physically, but there’s still a lot more than sex to building a relationship and I’m not sure I can. I would have to be able to fully trust in the other person, and right now I’m just not there.”

While he wanted to argue the poi
nt, he could see he wouldn’t get anywhere with her right now. She felt her marriage had damaged her for a
real
relationship, and even though he knew if she’d only give him half a chance they could overcome it together, he wasn’t sure how to make her realize that.

“I suggest we
take a step back. We’ll go into the house, make some coffee and work on your negotiation skills, and let this rest for now, how does that sound?”

Sara nodded,
pushing open Mirabelle’s creaky door, and leading the way to her front door. She waved, as Tess called out a hello from where she’d been attending to her front flowerbeds, and then turned a bright pink, right up to the tips of her dainty ears.

She was so cute.

The house was cool and silent as they moved towards the kitchen and Nick was surprised to find himself missing Jessica’s noisy chatter.

“Where’s Jake?”
She asked, searching her handbag for keys.

“I left
him at home this morning. He was sure happy to see the guys again though, we both were.” He couldn’t resist, he reached over and planted a tender kiss on the back of her bared neck.

“I meant to ask you, Jess was worried about him.” She smiled over her shoulder. “She’s really attached to the great brute. I’m glad you showed up with him that day.”

Great, lie number two. “Abou
t that, it wasn’t quite an accidental meeting.” It was true, his Mom always preached it but he’d never appreciated the value until now. It doesn’t pay to lie because it will come back and bite you in the ass. Every stinking time.

“Are you kidding me?”

At her darkening look, Nick hastened to add, “It’s not what you’re thinking. I just want to clean the slate, that’s all. I’d actually noticed you a couple of weeks earlier when I first came to town, but didn’t know how to approach you, so I used Jake.” He shrugged uncomfortably, it seemed so silly now. “I didn’t exactly pick Tidal Falls randomly, as I led you to believe, either.” He hated rehashing this stuff, but for her… “A couple of years ago Jake and I were injured while I was in the Marines.”

“Oh, Nick, why didn’t you tell me? That’s what happened to your poor back
, isn’t it? I noticed the scars the other morning but didn’t want to mention it.” She stretched up and ran a gentle finger over his scarred forehead. “And Jake’s hip?”

He
grimaced, it was all coming back to him now. The explosion, the percussion as he went flying. The god-awful site of his team annihilated. “I needed to get away from it all for a while. My CO suggested a therapist here. I didn’t want anyone knowing the truth because I didn’t want to be treated differently. Back where I come from everyone acted as if I were a hero or some shit, instead of which that couldn’t be further from the truth. If I’d done my job maybe my teammates wouldn’t have been blasted to hell and gone. Even Jake was hurt. That’s not a hero, it’s a zero.”

Sure
this was going to be the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back, he sighed. “I know this just adds to all the other crap, but I wanted you to know the truth.”

She turned away,
and when her shoulders began to shake, he wanted to smack himself for causing her more anguish. Instead, as he swung her around to pull her into his arms he saw tears all right, but they were tears of laughter. She was laughing at him.

“What’s so funny? I’m in a cold sweat
here, wondering if I should have said anything, and you think it’s funny.”

***

Sara couldn’t help it. The whole slapstick comedy routine of their relationship tickled her funny bone. It was the icing on the cake. Their whole relationship, from day one, had been a web of lies, small wonder it crumbled at the first hurdle. “That’s just it, it is funny. I’m sorry for what happened to you, I truly am. But if not for the fact I was running from my drug selling, lying, cheating, husband, we never would have met. Then you add a messed up, slightly neurotic woman, a lonely kid, a beat up dog and a guy who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. We could have ourselves a Broadway classic here.” She could see Nick thought she’d gone around the bend, and maybe she had a little. That’s okay, laughter was a great stress reliever. She felt better already.

A slow smile
lit his face like a ray of sunshine bursting through a cloudy sky. “You’re right, our relationship up to this point has been something of a farce. But that doesn’t mean my feelings are any less real. I never thought I’d meet someone I would want to wake up beside every morning for the rest of my life, but I have. And I think you feel the same. Don’t negate everything between us, Sara, because of a couple of dumb mistakes. We’re good together, you can’t deny that.”

Yes,
they were good together. Images of the two of them talking, kissing, making love, flashed before her eyes, heating her from the inside out. More than almost anything else, she wished that they could have met under different circumstances, without all of this background between them.

Gazing
up into his rugged face, Sara admitted Nick was worth much more than she could give him. He’d already been through so much, he deserved someone whole. Someone who wasn’t so messed up. Someone who would love him for the imperfect, amazing, frustrating man he was. He looked so handsome as the light from the kitchen window streamed over his dark hair picking out the coffee colored highlights and accentuating the thin white battle scar. She traced it with her fingertip, so glad he wasn’t one of those who’d lost their lives that day.

She was trying to think of a way to explain all the mixed up feelings tumbling around inside her head
when a muffled trill from the depths of her handbag indicated an incoming call from her cellphone. Pulling out of his arms, she hurried to the counter where she’d dropped her bag; worried something was wrong with Jessica.

The number highlighted on the face was one she knew well, Tom.

She locked helpless eyes with Nick, who obviously knew something was amiss because in a couple of long strides he was there, hands on her hips, his big warm body offering silent support. Gulping in a quick breath and praying for strength she pushed send, accepting the call, and placed it on speaker so they both could hear.