A Reason to Love (9 page)

Even if he wasn’t speaking to them.

Gage walked back to his cruiser and shut off the flashing lights. He waved at a couple of the neighbors as if to let them know the show was over for the night and came strolling back up across the yard.

“I’ll give the owner of the paper a call when I get home to let her know what really happened here. I’m not saying Reilly would embellish the story, but sometimes she needs to give his leash a good hard yank.”

Gage took his hat off, which made him look less like a hard-nosed cop and more like a concerned friend. “I think she’ll be reasonable, Spence, but he was right. I can’t legally stop him from running the story.”

“Yeah, I know.” His neck was tight. He rolled his shoulders in a futile attempt to ease the tension. “Maybe I could’ve handled the situation better, but it’s been a long day.”

He glanced down at Melanie and then back at Gage. “Do you two want to come in for a beer? I was headed that way myself when all of this started up.”

“I’ll take a rain check if that’s okay.” Gage put his hat back on. “I’m actually off duty, and my daughter, Syd, likes me to get home before she goes to bed.”

“Thanks for coming, Gage. I’ll try not to need your professional services for a while.”

He expected Gage to laugh, but he didn’t. Instead, his eyes bounced back and forth between Spence and Melanie while he was probably trying to decide how much to say in front of her. “Not a problem, Spence, but here’s the thing. You did the right thing by calling us, but your reaction was over-the-top. Hell, Reilly’s half your size and couldn’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag.”

Spence’s face flushed hot. The man wasn’t wrong, but that didn’t mean he wanted to hear about it. Not with Melanie standing right beside him, listening to every word. Did she always have to witness him at his worst?

Gage was still talking. “Next time, walk away. Lock yourself in the house if you have to, and then call us. If he’d insisted on filing assault charges, I would’ve had to drag both you back to the station to sort it all out. That would not have made me a happy man.”

What could Spence do but apologize?

“Sorry, Gage. Like I said, I’ll try to stay off your radar for a while.”

“See that you do.” He touched the brim of his hat. “Good night, Ms. Wolfe.”

“Good night, Chief Logan.”

As Spence watched Gage pull away, he remained acutely aware of the woman standing beside him. Why hadn’t Melanie made an excuse to leave, too? Especially since the only reason she’d come running was that she’d seen the flashing lights. Instead, she’d stayed.

“Would you like that beer?”

He hadn’t meant to repeat the offer, but he couldn’t think of anything else to say. While he waited for her to answer, he walked up the stairs and unlocked the front door. Reaching inside, he flipped on the outside light, which bathed them both in its soft light.

She followed him up the steps, making the small porch seem crowded. “No, I can’t stay. I was on my way over to see how things went at the factory with Mr. Cosgrove when I heard the police siren.”

She rubbed her arms as if she were chilly. Didn’t she have enough good sense to dress for the weather? He shrugged off his leather jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.

“It went fine.” Realizing how gruff he sounded, he added, “By the way, it’s no longer Mr. Cosgrove. I get to call him Will now.”

Silly as it was, he was actually pretty proud of that fact. Melanie was clearly impressed, too. “Wow, that’s quite an honor. Even after all the years they worked together, my father never got to do that, but then Dad always drew a sharp distinction between management and the people who worked for him.”

What could Spence say to that? Both of her parents had always struck him as cold and aloof, which made him wonder how Melanie had turned out to be so warm and approachable. When she looked up at him with those gentle eyes, he was reminded that there were good people in the world, ones who would never betray him. His gut instinct said that once she gave her loyalty, there would be no holding back, no second thoughts.

A man would do well to have someone like her at his side. She’d bring such passion to every facet of their lives.

Not liking where that line of thought might lead, he decided it was past time to put some distance between the two of them. With everything that had happened since he left the factory, his control was about shot. He pulled the door closed and locked it again. “Come on, I’ll walk you back to the house.”

“You don’t have to, Spence. I know the way.”

He ignored her protest and used the only excuse he had. “I want my jacket back.”

Neither of them pointed out that she could simply hand it back to him right there. As they cut through the grounds toward the main house, she stopped and touched her fingers to her forehead. “I swear half the time I’m lucky to remember my own name. There was something else I wanted to ask you. Didn’t you used to drive one of the delivery trucks for my dad?”

Where was she going with this? “Yeah, he had me cover whenever one of the regular drivers was on vacation or out sick. Why?”

“I got a call right after dinner that one of my delivery guys has to go out of town for a family emergency. He’ll be gone the rest of the week. Ordinarily, I could shift a few things around and make do, but he didn’t give me enough notice to do that. We’ve got a full schedule of deliveries to make tomorrow, and I’d rather not ask customers to wait an extra day.

“Please feel free to say no, but I was wondering if you’d be able to drive one of the trucks. You wouldn’t have to cover the rest of the days, but it would really help if you could fill in for him tomorrow.”

Why not? It wasn’t as if he had any pressing engagements on his calendar. “Sure. What time do I need to be at the factory?”

She started walking again. “The trucks are loaded and ready to roll by nine. I’ll call your buddy Will and tell him that you won’t be able to help tomorrow night.”

He so didn’t need her doing her mother hen imitation right now. “No, don’t. I can handle both.”

“That will make for a long day, don’t you think?”

Shit, could she not hear the thread of temper in his voice? His bad mood was not her fault, but her concern wasn’t helping matters. “Damn it, Melanie. If I couldn’t handle the work, I wouldn’t volunteer.”

She shot him a considering look as if deciding if she could believe him. “Fine, then, but I will pay you for tomorrow. No arguments or the deal is off. Got that?”

He liked that she didn’t back down. “Yeah, since you put it so nicely.”

They’d reached her patio. She took off his jacket and handed it back. “Thanks, Spence. You’re a real lifesaver.”

Before he could turn away, she rose on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

She no doubt meant the gesture as a simple thank-you for helping her out of difficult situation, but his body reacted as if he’d stepped on a live electrical wire. He stepped back and waged a hard-fought battle not to gather her into his arms and show her what a real kiss was all about.

He lost the fight.

She’d already started up the steps when he threw his jacket on the ground with a muttered curse and followed after her. Melanie immediately turned around and came back down to the first step, which put her right at his eye level.

“Did you need something, Spence?”

“Yeah, I do.”

He grasped her upper arms and tugged her tumbling forward to land hard against his chest, her mouth in the perfect position for a kiss. Melanie immediately opened her mouth to protest or maybe did so simply out of surprise. He didn’t care why she did it; he was just grateful for the chance to take the kiss to a whole other level, deep and hot and hungry.

At first she protested and tried to push away from him. He immediately softened the kiss, aiming to coax her into enjoying the moment. Five seconds in, and she was right there with him, taking as much as she was giving.

He might go to hell for this, but right now he was pretty sure it was worth the price.

M
elanie pried open one eye to make sure she was really kissing Spence Lang. Hot damn, she was! Back in high school, how many nights had she lain awake dreaming of a moment like this? Far more than she would ever admit to anyone. It was everything she’d ever hoped for, possibly the best kiss she’d ever had.

His tongue darted into her mouth and swept across hers, tasting and teasing. Earlier, the temperature had been chilly, but right now the two of them were burning up the night. His arms cocooned her in a powerful grip, one that shut out the rest of the world and made her feel safe and protected.

Clear thinking was nearly impossible. This was no time for second thoughts, only pleasure bubbling out of control. Then Spence’s big hand brushed across her bottom and settled there to lift her firmly against his erection. In that instant, the simple kiss transformed into something so much more complex.

As attracted as she was to Spence, she wasn’t ready to take that next step. It was too much and too soon. This time when she pushed against Spence’s chest with both hands, he ripped his lips from hers and took a giant step back, looking as stunned as she felt. She grabbed onto the stair railing in part to regain her balance, but mostly to keep from following right after him.

Even if she regretted breaking off the embrace on one level, seeing the panicky expression flash across Spence’s face made her glad she hadn’t given in to the temptation to invite him inside. She should say something, but what?

She went with the first thing that popped into her head. “I’m sorry.”

He went from panicked to pissed in the blink of an eye. “What the hell for? I’m the one that started it.”

Would apologizing for apologizing be completely stupid? Yeah, probably. She shut her mouth and left the next move up to Spence. He glared at her, but somehow she sensed she wasn’t the real target for his anger. “Go inside. I’ll wait here until you lock the door.”

“But—”

“Don’t push it, Mel. Go now.”

Don’t push what? Obviously this wasn’t the time to ask. She ran up the stairs, each step of the way feeling as if she were making a huge mistake. A few seconds later she was inside with the locked door providing a safe barrier between her and the man still standing in her backyard. What was he doing out there? She had her answer when her cell phone rang. He was already talking before she had a chance to even say hello.

“Look, I’m the one who should apologize. These days my temper rides pretty close to the surface. I shouldn’t take it out on you.”

He paused as if waiting for an answer. All things considered, she went for the obvious. “Apology accepted.”

Watching out the window, she could tell he jerked his head in a quick nod, but it was too dark to read his facial expression. What was going on in that head of his that kept him hanging on the line but not saying anything?

“I’ll see you in the morning, Spence.” She softened her voice. “Get some sleep. You’re going to need it.”

He shook his head, but she was pretty sure he was smiling now. After picking up his jacket, he started across the yard still holding the phone to his ear. When he was almost out of sight, she said, “Good night.”

His last words before he disconnected stabbed her right in the chest. She was almost, but not quite, sure what he’d said before hanging up was “Good night, Callie.”

Maybe she was wrong, but then maybe not. It was all too easy to believe, especially thinking back to the night of the wedding and the look of despair on Spence’s face as he watched Callie marry his friend Nick. As Melanie turned off the lights and trudged upstairs to bed, she pondered what had just happened. It was all too clear in her head exactly who she’d been kissing out on the patio: one Corporal Spencer Lang.

The real question was: Who had he been kissing back?

•   •   •

Groaning, Spence rolled over in bed and reached for his cell phone. He’d set his alarm to go off at seven thirty, but it wasn’t even six yet. What the hell had woken him up at this ungodly hour?

He stayed right where he was and waited to see if he heard the noise again. A few seconds later, the racket started up again. As near as he could tell, some kind of an animal was raising a ruckus out on the front porch. It sounded as if the damn thing was trying to dig its way under the house.

His sidearm would provide a quick fix to the problem, but he’d promised to stay off Gage’s radar for a while. Waking up the neighbors with gunfire just so he could scare off a varmint would no doubt violate that agreement, but he had to run it off somehow. For Melanie’s sake, he couldn’t let the place be torn apart by some four-legged intruder.

He crawled out of bed and grabbed a pair of sweatpants to pull on. Padding into the living room, he peeked out the front window but couldn’t see anything. Things were quiet out there again, so the critter must have knocked off for the moment. Rather than open the front door, Spence headed toward the kitchen to go out the back way and circle around to the porch to do a little recon.

As he rounded the side of the house, his feet stuttered to a stop while he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. At first he couldn’t believe his eyes, but the proof was sitting right there staring at the front door, wagging his tail, and whining.

“Mooch?”

The dog froze, his tail stopping midswing. Spence started forward again. “Dog, how the hell did you get here?”

The mutt’s only answer was a joyful bark as he came barreling off the porch to bounce off Spence’s chest. The blow knocked Spence right on his ass. Landing hard on the gravel driveway hurt like hell, but he didn’t care. Not when his arms were full of wiggling canine love, something he’d been missing for months.

The two of them rolled and wrestled with a lot of hollering and barking. Spence fought hard to fend off an early-morning doggy-spit bath while Mooch was just as determined to give him one. Finally, Spence surrendered and conceded victory to his buddy. After all, the dog had been on a mission and successfully captured his target. A soldier, even a four-legged one, deserved to celebrate a victory like that. It was good for morale.

When Mooch draped himself across Spence’s chest and sighed in contentment, Spence gave him a thorough scratching. “Mooch, how did you find me?”

There were only a couple of possibilities, and just one of them made sense: Somehow the dog had tracked Spence to the cottage. The other option would mean that either Nick or Leif had dropped Mooch off and then simply driven away. Neither of them would’ve done that, not without calling first or at least waiting to make sure that Spence was home.

Which meant they probably had no idea where the dog was. As much as Spence didn’t want to talk to either of them, he couldn’t let his friends worry unnecessarily. He shoved the dog to the side and rolled up to his feet.

“Come on, dog. Thanks to you, I’ve got a couple of phone calls to make.”

Mooch danced around him all way to the back door, nearly tripping Spence again. “Damn it, Mooch, quit it. God, I forgot what a pain in the butt you can be.”

The dog didn’t care and neither did Spence. Mooch bolted inside and launched an immediate inspection of the tiny house. It didn’t take him long to scope out the living room, the bathroom, and the single bedroom. He was back in the kitchen in time to watch Spence start cracking eggs into a skillet.

“You’ll have to settle for scrambled eggs with no bacon, Mooch. Be glad you’re not getting a bowl of dry cereal. I wasn’t exactly expecting company.”

Mooch flopped down on the floor right were Spence had to step over him every time he made a move. Some things never changed. The dog had always taken up more than his fair share of space.

Spence scraped half of the eggs into a bowl, filled a second one with water, and then set them both down on the floor. He fixed his own plate and poured himself a cup of coffee. It didn’t take long for his uninvited guest to wolf down his breakfast and then assume his official mooching position right at Spence’s feet. Since there was no telling how long the dog had gone without eating, Spence caved and set his own plate on the floor.

“That’s the only time I’m going to let you eat people food, Mooch. If you’re going to hang around here, it will strictly be kibble for you.”

If
being the operative word there. Logic said the dog had been living with Nick and Callie for some time now. Plus, he needed a stable home, something Spence couldn’t offer him right now, when he didn’t know where the hell he was going to be long-term.

All of which reminded him that he had no choice but to call Nick or Callie. Drawing a deep breath, he hit Nick’s number on speed dial. It rang four times and then went to voice mail. Spence closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief as Nick’s message played out.

“Listen, Mooch showed up on my doorstep this morning. He’s safe and fed.”

What else should he say? “I’ll be gone until late this evening, but the fur ball can hang out with me today.”

He disconnected the call and considered whether he should give Callie a ring, too. Knowing what a soft heart she had, she’d be worried about Mooch. Who knew how soon Nick would check his messages? On the other hand, they might not even know the dog was gone yet.

Cursing himself for a fool, he dialed her number next. Experience said that it should kick over to voice mail after four rings. Crossing his fingers that his luck would hold, he counted them off in his head. One, two, three—

“Hello?”

Damn, he should’ve known he wouldn’t be lucky twice in a row, but hanging up now would only make him look like a coward.

“Callie, it’s Spence. Thought you’d like to know Mooch is with me. Not sure how he figured out where I was staying, but he’s okay.”

“Hold on for a second, Spence, while I tell Nick and Leif. They’ve been going crazy looking for him.” After a second’s hesitation, she added, “Please.”

He wanted to hang up, but he couldn’t. Not when she sounded as if she knew that’s exactly what he’d been about to do. Despite everything, he couldn’t bring himself to be that rude. Not to her.

“Okay, but I have to leave for work soon.”

She’d already put him on hold, but she wasn’t gone long. “Thanks for calling. I’m not sure what we’d have done if something had happened to him. He’s all we had left of—”

She cut off midsentence, but he knew what she was about to say. Mooch had been all she had left of Spence. Feeling as if he’d just taken a roundhouse kick to the gut, he said, “I didn’t want you to worry.”

“I appreciate that.” She sniffed as if fighting back some tears. “We all love you . . . your dog.”

Her voice cracked on that last part. What could he say to that? The silence dragged on until he reached the breaking point. “Look, I’ve got to go.”

“Wait, Spence. Don’t hang up.”

“Why?”

She was crying now, which made him feel like a total jackass for hurting his best friend this way. That didn’t mean he was up for a long discussion about everything that had happened.

“Look, Cal, I’m sorry you’re hurting right now, but I can’t do this. I get that it’s my fault, that the problem is mine. I really am glad that you and Nick are happy even if most of the time I don’t act like it. It’s just that ever since I woke up in that hospital, everything about my life has been torn apart. Eventually, I’ll make sense of things again, but right now it’s mostly still all a jumble. I hope someday you’ll find a way to forgive me for being such a jerk.”

He drew a long breath as he tried to find the right words to say, to make things go back to the way they were between them. When he couldn’t, he settled for saying, “Look, I’ll drop Mooch back by the house soon.”

Not that he could carry the dog on the Harley. Besides, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to give Mooch back at all. Callie had Nick and Leif. Spence had nobody to call his own. Not anymore.

“No, Spence. Keep him. After all, he’s yours. The house is, too.” Callie got real quiet and then whispered, “And there’s nothing to forgive, Spence. You’ve always been my best friend. No matter what, that hasn’t changed. All I ask is that you’ll let me know when we can get together and figure all of this out.”

What was there to figure out? Did she really think he wanted to move back into that place after she and Nick had been living in it? The thought made him sick.

“Look, I’ll keep the dog. You keep the house. Call it a fair trade,” he said.

Then Spence hung up before she could say another word. He ignored it when it started ringing a few minutes later. He might have answered if it was Callie, but the caller ID showed Nick’s name. He set the phone aside and leaned forward, elbows on his knees and head in his hands. What a fucking mess!

From the beginning, Mooch had been sensitive to the emotional state of the people around him. It said a lot about how upset Spence was that the dog abandoned the last of his breakfast to lay his head in Spence’s lap.

Stroking the dog’s soft fur, Spence’s fingers brushed across the jagged scar on Mooch’s shoulder, another reminder of the ugly circumstances under which they’d met. The dog had come close to losing his life when he warned Spence and the rest of his squad of an enemy lying in wait for them. That event had forged an unbreakable bond between the two of them.

It was the same kind of bond that had existed between him, Nick, and Leif as well. Right now that connection was bruised and battered; only time would tell if the three of them could patch it up.

He stared down into a pair of worried-looking eyes. “So, dog, what am I going to do with you today while I work?”

He couldn’t lock Mooch in the house all day, not to mention that he didn’t have any more food for him. Maybe he should call Melanie to see if she could give him and the mutt a ride to work this morning. She wouldn’t mind if Mooch rode along with Spence while he made deliveries. Later, the dog could hang out with him and Will Cosgrove while they worked on the machines that night.

Glad to have a plan of action, he dialed Melanie’s number, but it went to voice mail. He left a brief explanation of what had happened and asked her to call him back. While he waited, he’d take a quick shower and get dressed.