A Major Distraction (11 page)

Trying to figure out what to do about him kept her preoccupied well past her shower, laundry, and into the next morning.

She heard knocking at her front door and answered it as she slipped on her earrings. Brad stood there in his uniform, and she wanted to eat him up all over again. “Hi.” Feeling unaccountably shy, which was just ridiculous, she stepped back to allow him entry.

He walked past her then turned around and kissed her breathless. “I’m possessive. We’re dating, and everyone on the fucking planet will know it before the day is through. But”—he paused while she caught her breath—“I promise to behave professionally at work. I swear I won’t interfere in your business again, unless some jackass is pawing you. Then I reserve the right to rip his face off.”

“I—I— Okay.”

His smile lit up his eyes, and she could only stare as he leaned close to kiss her again. “Good. One other thing to think about.”

Think? “Yeah?”

“When I said payback’s a bitch, I meant it. Your ass is mine this weekend. All mine.” He gave an evil laugh then turned around and walked out. “See you at work, Ms. St. James.”

She smiled and shivered, wondering just how creative Brad could be.

The following week, Brad did his best to appear serious when he really wanted to dance his way through work. Genevieve had blown his mind, and he’d had her tied up. Her orgasms encouraged his own, but seeing her face buried between his legs and watching her long red hair wrap around his thighs was an image that refused to fade.

They’d made love until they were both exhausted then seen an action movie, played mini-golf, and argued over who’d tried to cheat whom and had a blast doing it. She’d come over for Sunday night dinner and once again impressed his parents. Mike and Kyle thought she was perfect for him, and he couldn’t disagree.

Hell, even Olivia and Maria liked her, and they made a habit of dissecting and critiquing his love life. For the first time in a long time, he could think of Dana and not be so angry. As if Genevieve’s beauty and kindness—and meanness—had washed away his regret and rage over the Great Mistake that had been Dana.

Nothing could mar his good feelings lately. Even her meetings with Toby Westover and the other scrawny dickhead didn’t bother him because her boss had gotten the message, and it seemed Toby had too. That or he wasn’t as big a prick as Burrows. Either way, Brad was loving life.

He looked over a recent memo in his email and frowned. He read it again and realized Genevieve had made a mistake, which wasn’t like her. But if she was anything like him, she’d been so distracted by the amazing sex and fun they’d had she’d let this slip by her. She could be forgiven.

He drafted her a response, telling her to fix the memo before sending it out. Nothing left the G2 with errors, and especially not an item with his name on it. As joint project managers, and with the colonel’s approval, they could only work with what he’d agreed to. Changing the project at this late stage didn’t make sense.

Thinking she might have been working off an old draft, he sent the response and put it out of his mind. The rest of the day passed smoothly. But by the day’s end, he wondered that she hadn’t responded to his correction.

He looked for her but was told she’d left early to take her car into the shop. Funny she hadn’t mentioned it to him.

He realized that, though they’d grown close, it didn’t mean he was entitled to know everything about her day. Thinking he’d see her soon at home, he left the base and settled in at home to wait. He would have called her, but he didn’t want to appear clingy. She’d wanted space, and he resolved to appreciate her sense of independence.

But by the time eight o’clock rolled around, he started to get nervous. He was just about to call her when he heard her car pull in the drive. Hurrying out to meet her, he was surprised by the anger on her face.

“Hey you. Where have you been?” He tried to hug her and met with stiff resistance. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? I’ve been calling you for hours. First you sent me that weird email, which wasn’t funny, by the way. Then, when I found my
second
flat tire and had to go into town to buy a new one, I had to rely on Captain Batista to help me out. Who apparently has a bone to pick with you as well.”

“
Batista?
Did he screw with you?” He clenched his fists, ready to do what he should have done before—beat Batista to a pulp.

“No. Actually, he apologized. Apparently he said some things that were pretty bad, and you called him on it. We also had a discussion about why I never wanted to go out with him in the first place.”

“That shit.” He saw red, thinking Batista had made him out to be the bad guy while hitting on Genevieve again.

“No, wait.” She put her hand on his chest to stop him from leaving her. “Jim was actually very nice about the whole thing. Especially when he realized you and I are dating.”

Jim?
“Yeah?” Anger still made it hard to think clearly, so he calmed himself and concentrated on being the intelligent, rational officer able to process information and make sense of it. “Wait a minute. Let’s back this up.”

“Where to?”

He tugged her with him into his house, where he poured her a sweet tea and sat her down. “What email are you talking about? The one where I corrected your memo? They can’t go out when you don’t have the colonel’s authority to change the project, honey.”

“What are you talking about?”

He described what she’d sent him and saw her frown.

“I didn’t send that. But I did get your email telling me to keep my legs closed around the other Marines—Batista and Hearst in particular. Not funny. But I’m getting the sense you didn’t send it.”

“I never got your phone calls either.”

“That’s weird.” She pulled out her phone and dialed him again.

He shook his head. “Hold on.” He retrieved his phone from the living room and brought it back with him. “I see your calls, but I didn’t hear them. What the…?” In the settings, he saw that someone had muted his phone and turned off the vibrate function. “Someone turned off my phone. And screwed with our emails, apparently.”

She looked worried. “Then maybe my second flat wasn’t an accident either.”

He walked with her back to her car and popped the trunk. They studied the tire but saw nothing obvious. “You say it was flat too? Like the other one last week?”

“Yes.” She looked at him with worry darkening her eyes. “This is a little weird. Strange emails? Flat tires? Sounds like maybe someone has it in for me.”

“Yeah.” He’d start by questioning Batista. A coincidence that the captain just happened to be around when Genevieve’s tire went flat? “I would have come to help you if you’d needed it. And I would never joke around with you like that, especially not on a work computer.” He didn’t like any of this. “Tell you what. Let’s spend the weekend out of town. How does a trip to Raleigh sound?”

“Like just what I need.” She blew out a breath and moved into his arms. “I’m sorry I thought you’d ignore me or that you would ever send me such a rude email.”

“I should have checked when I didn’t hear back from you. I know what a stickler you are about work.” He rubbed her shoulders. “Let’s blow town, and we’ll deal with this stuff Monday.”
When I throw Batista up against the wall and interrogate the crap out of him.

Their weekend away had been just what Brad needed. Enjoying the city and a romantic getaway at their hotel, he’d appreciated just being with Genevieve. Oddly, for all their intimate time together, she still blushed when she caught him looking at her. She was so damn pretty, so special to him, that he found himself watching her and wondering how he could feel so deeply for someone he’d casually known for a while, but had intimately known for only a few weeks.

Mike teased him good-naturedly about his fascination with the “tech geek.” Brad took it in stride, knowing his brother and sister had called it. Brad had it bad for the sexy redhead. She could be so sweet, kissing him and stroking his hair when she thought him asleep. Or fixing his coffee for him, thoughtfully leaving him the paper to read first before she trashed it skimming through articles of interest.

They discussed politics, and it floored him to be able to have a smart, meaningful conversation with someone about the world from an Intelligence viewpoint. She understood his background and ideas, though she didn’t always agree with his conclusions. Learning how her brilliant mind worked enthralled him. He had a feeling it would take more than a few months or years to get over the way he was feeling about her. It would take a lifetime.

He spent Monday working and waiting for an opportunity to confront Captain Batista. He got his chance when the Marine asked for a private audience later in the day.

“Sir? Can I have a word?”

“Come on in, Captain.” Great timing. The captain stood at attention in front of his desk, and
Brad walked around him, shut the door, then put the man at ease. “What’s up, Batista?”

Batista flushed, and Brad blinked, not sure what he was seeing. The man looked contrite.

“Sir, I just wanted to apologize again for what you overheard a few weeks ago. Ms. St. James had a problem with her car on Friday, and I helped her get to a garage. We talked a bit, and she’s a really nice person.” Batista swallowed loudly. “I feel terrible that I was talking about her like, ah…like that.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I hadn’t realized you two were dating. Knowing what you heard… I’m still surprised you didn’t take me out in the coffee mess and wipe the floor with me.”

“Trust me, I wanted to.” Something wasn’t adding up. Why would Batista turn all nice and apologetic if he was out to get Genevieve? “You know, this is her second flat tire in a week.”

Batista nodded then frowned. “Yeah, she mentioned that. But this was a different tire than the one she had plugged. I don’t know. I didn’t see any glass or nails by where she parked. She either has really bad luck or someone is messing with her car.” At Brad’s look, Batista held up his hands. “Whoa. Not me, sir. I was a jackass, yeah. But I’m sorry for it. Why the hell would I screw with her tires?”

“Jealousy?” Even as he said it, Brad shook his head.

“She’s hot—no offense. But so is my neighbor, the woman I just started seeing last week,” Batista explained. “I honestly just wanted to help Ms. St. James the other day.”

“Yes, I see that. Thanks, Captain. We’re square. Takes a big man to admit when he’s wrong.”

“Thank you, sir. I appreciate your time.” The captain excused himself and left.

And Brad had more questions than answers.

An hour later, after dealing with a staff advisor in the G-4, he returned to his wing and looked for Genevieve, passing the tech office. Just as he went by the doorway, he overheard Marcy mention Genevieve’s name to Lieutenant Gabby Sheer.

“Genevieve is so easy to work with, and I really like her, but I can’t believe she’s doing that to him.”

“Major Cava is so hot. Why would she want that civilian when she could have
him
? I’d give anything to go out with him.”

Brad’s blood turned to ice.

“I dated him a while ago, and he was so sweet.” Marcy sighed. “He deserves someone who respects him. Not someone who’d cheat. I wouldn’t have believed it myself, but I heard from someone else that she and that Westover guy met at lunch when
she said
she’d be in a meeting with the colonel. An out-and-out lie. Westover’s her new boss, so I get having to meet him. But a hug is inappropriate any way you look at it.”

“No kidding. And it if was innocent, why lie about meeting the colonel?”

“I know. Maybe the rumors are true. She really did sleep her way to her current position. Maybe she’s doing it again for a promotion.”

“I hate that. Women who sleep around to get ahead make us all look bad.”

“I know.” Marcy sighed. “Poor Brad.”

Brad didn’t hear the lieutenant’s next comment. Instead he saw himself being once again taken in by a woman’s winsome smile, by her secret ambition to be more than she merited on her own basis—than he could give her.

He left without looking back and tried to muddle through his thoughts without hitting someone, or something, in the process. Yet the void in his heart hurt worse than he’d thought it might because he kept trusting and loving the wrong women, and turning up a loser in the end.

Genevieve frowned. There must have been something in the air because she’d had a bad feeling all day. Though she and Brad had emailed back and forth a few times, she couldn’t shake the sense something worse was coming.

Arriving home and not seeing his truck in the drive, she decided to take a walk around the neighborhood before the sun went down. She changed into casual attire and sneakers and enjoyed the near-summer air. Hot but balmy as the sun set, the temperature soothed her need to be outside. Where she could think.

About him.

Despite the odd happenings at work and her recent transition to a
good
boss—thank God—who believed in family, she felt off-kilter being so happy because of a relationship.

Where did she think she and Brad were headed? She liked him more than anyone she’d ever met. She sure as heck lusted after him all the time. They referred to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend, yet she wanted more. She’d known him for months, but only recently had she gotten to truly know him.

The man had an inner kindness that drew her on so many levels. He was loyal to friends and family. They could converse on any subject matter, and he never bored her. His analytical mind meshed well with hers. So much that she could transition from code to Marine-speak to intelligence issues with him without having to over-explain herself. She loved being around him, felt fluttery and nervous and…

In love.

So silly to be scared by two little words, but she was. She’d had boyfriends before, but never this deep connection to one man. Hell, he kept up with her in bed, had even tired
her
out. He never made her feel dirty or bad about herself for liking unconventional sex.