Broken Surrender (3 page)

“Maybe later, big boy. For now, I have to
fill Silas here in on all the good stuff he missed after he bailed
out of the sandbox.” She tried to sound despondent. Silas took the
teasing good-naturedly, and Sarah found herself enjoying the
company of the two guys.

They were very alike, and yet there were
significant differences. Jeremy’s hair was darker, and it didn’t
have the natural curls in it that Silas’ did. Standing side by side
she could see that he also had about thirty pounds of muscle on his
brother. Silas had him in height though, and his clear blue eyes
were framed by the lushest, longest lashes she’d ever seen on a
man. She’d noticed them back when they were stationed together, but
at that time, it wasn’t acceptable or appropriate to make note of
one’s superior officer. She’d filed the fact away in her memory
banks and promptly forgotten it.

Jeremy said his goodbyes and left her alone
with Silas, and suddenly, she didn’t feel nearly as comfortable
anymore. Silas saw too much, and he always seemed to know which
questions to ask. She hated that.

Accepting the chair he pulled out for her,
she eyed him and said, “A few years ago, I might have punched you
for that.”

“A few years ago, I wouldn’t have done it.
After leaving the military, I remembered how my mama taught me to
treat a woman. It’s different when we’re brothers—or sisters—in
arms.”

She nodded, “Yes it is. Very different. A
lot of the guys I enlisted with started out treating me like a kid
sister. It took a while for them to realize I could kick most of
their asses with one hand tied behind my back.”

He snorted his mouthful of beer and laughed.
“I remember that time Rutherford challenged you to an arm wrestling
match and got his ass kicked. That was priceless.”

“No one ever challenged me again in arm
wrestling, and I spent the rest of that night with an ice pack on
my bicep.” She was relaxing a bit as their conversation touched on
various other soldiers they’d served with and what had become of
them. She desperately missed the camaraderie of the military.
They’d become a family of sorts, yet after she came home, very few
of them had reached out to her. There were times she wondered if
any of them would have shown up if she ended up in a casket instead
of a hospital.

When they finally ran out of people to talk
about, Silas leaned forward and propped his chin in his hand, his
blue eyes curious. “Tell me what happened. How’d you get hurt?”

Her emotions shifted, and her inner voice
tried to think of a way to shut the conversation down, but she met
his eyes again and heard herself say, “Thirty caliber round went
through my spine into my kidney. They said it was a sniper, but who
knows. Could have been a kid taking a pot shot. You know what it
was like over there.”

“Fuck.” He said softly. “Through your spine?
You’re lucky to be alive and walking.”

“Yeah, that’s what they tell me. Lost the
kidney, but I got to keep the bullet.” She said lightly, trying to
keep things from turning too serious. “Anyway, I went through
surgery and a lot of physical therapy before Uncle Sam decided I
was healed up enough and sent me home to Texas.”

She paused, staring down into her beer as
she remembered how difficult coming home had been. Home no longer
felt like home anymore. Her mom and dad treated her like a wounded
animal, and even the people she’d called friends before her time in
the Army looked at her with so much pity it made her nauseous. It
hadn’t taken long after she got back on her feet to realize that
she needed a change of scenery. The possibility of a job in Stone
River with a local attorney’s office had brought her here, but when
that fell through, she never left.

“How much damage is there to your spine?”
She lifted her head and frowned at him, but he wasn’t looking at
her with pity, just empathy for her plight.

“Enough. I still get spasms that are bad
enough to drop me—as you’ve witnessed—but they’re getting fewer and
farther between. They get worse when I don’t get my workout in.
Keeping the muscles strong helps a lot.”

He nodded as though he understood, but she
knew he couldn’t. He hadn’t been injured and shipped back like a
broken toy. He’d walked away by choice after dutifully completing
his service. Bitterness still burned in her gut at her forced
medical discharge. The last thing she ever imagined was that she
wouldn’t be allowed to continue to serve, and yet that’s what
happened. The government doctors decided that she couldn’t handle
her job anymore and gave her the boot.

“So what have you been up to since you
recovered?”

The question caught her off guard. No one
had ever referred to her as recovered before. Everyone still saw
her as an injured vet, but in all honesty, she was as healed as she
would ever be, and she hated the idea that she was in the world’s
memory banks as disabled.

“I…um…well, nothing really at the moment.
The VA set me up as one hundred percent service connected, so I at
least get my medical bills covered, and a little bit of money every
month. That’s been enough for now. I came down here for a job, but
that fell through. I’m not sure what I’m going to do next. Just
floating along until I figure it out.” She pushed her now lukewarm
beer aside. “How about you? What are you doing besides rescuing
damsels in distress?”

He grinned at her joke before responding.
“Not much sadly. Casey and I divorced after I got back stateside,
and I moved back here to room with Jeremy. He owns his own towing
company. The man might be a whiz at business, but he’s a terrible
housekeeper, so I pretty much spend my evenings playing housewife
to my brother. I guess we both ended up in places we’d never
imagined, huh?”

“Truth. I thought I’d spend a couple decades
serving, and then retire out with a star on my shoulder.” Admitting
the truth to someone stung, but she found Silas easy to talk to.
She’d already spilled most of her heartache; whatever else she said
wouldn’t much matter at this point.

“I don’t remember what I saw for myself when
I enlisted, but I know it wasn’t what I got. Military life sounded
a lot more exciting than it was,” he said with a chuckle.

“What? You mean you don’t miss bunking in
the elements, carrying eighty pound packs, and fighting to survive
with sand in your eyes?” she asked, pretending to be shocked.

“Nope, but I do miss the guys. We had a lot
of fun over there. In between bullets and IEDs of course.”

“Of course. Goes without saying. I miss it,
but it doesn’t do me any good looking back. I can’t change what
is.”

Silas watched her for a few moments silently
and then nodded as if he’d decided to accept her answer. There was
a weird crackle of tension between them as they stared at each
other, and then he sat back in his chair and smiled.

“Whatever it was that happened to get you to
Stone River, I have to say I’m thankful. It’s good to see a
familiar face. Especially a pretty one.”

Her cheeks grew hot, but she laughed his
compliment off. “I never thought I’d run into anyone I knew around
here, but I have to admit, it’s been good to see you, too. I
haven’t laughed this hard in a long time.”

“Me either. Hey, you know, my brother and I
are going out to a friend’s house for a barbecue Friday night. Why
don’t you come along? You can meet some more folks from around
here, and make some friends.”

She almost said yes just to see his smile
again, but then she remembered herself and shook her head. “I’m not
much for parties anymore. I can’t sit still for too long without my
back hurting, and I hate having to explain why I’m leaving
early.”

“Then don’t. Jeremy and I will pick you up
on our way out, and when you’re ready to leave, we’ll just blame it
on him.”

She couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled
up, and she shook her head. “You’re terrible.”

“The worst, but you’ll learn to love me,” he
countered with a serious glint in his eye that had her mind
dredging up all kinds of implications in his words. “Say you’ll
come. I won’t leave it alone, so you may as well agree.”

“Okay! Fine. I’ll come, but don’t be
surprised if your friends think I’m stuck up. That’s generally what
people assume when someone’s always wandering off and bailing out
early.”

“They’re gonna love you,” he assured her.
“How could they not?”

Pushing back her chair, she rose and picked
up her purse. “Thanks Silas, for the beer and the memories. It’s
been fun.”

“I’ll walk you out.” He started to stand,
and she stopped him with one hand on his shoulder.

“Thank you anyway, but I’m perfectly
capable. My car’s barely twenty feet outside the door, and besides,
this is as small as small towns get.” She squeezed his shoulder,
and then released him.

“Okay, but I want it noted that I protested.
If my mama knew I’d let a woman walk to her car alone, she’d crawl
out of her grave and beat me with a willow branch.”

“Duly noted, Sarge,” she teased, clenching
her fist to resist saluting him.

“We’ll pick you up at seven Friday night,
Sarah
,” he reminded her. She waved, but kept walking. Maybe
between now and Friday she’d come up with a good reason to turn him
down. At the moment, all she could think of was,
I can’t go
because you make my insides quiver,
and somehow she didn’t
think that excuse would work.

Sarah’s doorbell rang at six fifty-five
Friday evening, and she swung the door open to find gorgeous boy
bookends grinning back at her. Damn, they looked fine. Jeremy wore
a black t-shirt over snug black jeans, and a pair of reflective
aviator sunglasses, giving him a badass image with the tattoo
peeking out from under his sleeve. Silas looked like his polar
opposite in a pale blue button-down shirt and well-washed blue
jeans. He looked softer and less lethal than his older brother, but
still just as damaging to her feminine control. Her body responded
almost instantly, and she internally cursed her choice of a soft
lacy bra and panties rather than a well-padded cotton one. There
was going to be no doubt of her physical interest in the White
brothers unless she kept her arms crossed over her chest all
evening.

“Hey guys,” she said breathily.

“Hey beautiful,” Jeremy said, stepping into
the doorway. “Silas here tells me that we have the honor of
escorting you to the ball tonight.”

“Ball? Hmm…I’m afraid I’m a bit underdressed
for a ball. You two will have to wait in the carriage while I
change,” she teased. They filled the tiny space of her living room
to bursting, and her blood pressure ratcheted up as she scurried to
collect her purse and a sweater for later.

“It would be more fun if we stayed put while
you changed,” Silas shot back, giving her an appreciative wink.
“And I doubt you could ever be underdressed enough for our
tastes.”

The innuendo made her cheeks heat up, but
she accepted it as playful banter and went on. There was no use
reading more into their flirtations than just genuine friendship.
She’d go tonight and try to relax and enjoy herself without any
pressure to make life decisions. It had been a while since she’d
given herself a night off.

They headed outside, and Sarah frowned at
the big pick-up truck parked next to her small car. It was
enormous, but it still only had one long bench seat, which would
mean the three of them would be awfully cozy inside.

“I’ll follow you out there—” she started to
say before Silas grabbed her hand and pointed her in the direction
of the truck.

“I don’t think so. You’re riding with us
like you promised.”

“But it will be cramped in your truck with
three of us.”

Jeremy let out a loud laugh, but Silas shook
his head at her, “It will be perfect. If all else fails, you can
sit on my lap.”

He held the passenger door open, and she
frowned when he gestured for her to climb in. On the other side of
the truck, Jeremy was already in his seat grinning at her with one
arm propped up on the steering wheel while he waited. Steeling her
nerves for what was going to be a deliciously awkward ride to the
barbecue, she reached up and attempted to heft herself into the
truck. Unfortunately, between her bad back and the lift kit on the
truck that put it at least twelve inches taller than a normal truck
would be, she was clearly not going to make it.

A gasp of shock hissed from her throat when
Silas planted his hand on her ass and gave her a solid push up into
the vehicle. Flipping around, she narrowed her eyes on him, but he
just smiled back innocently and shrugged.

“Would you rather I let you fall?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Maybe.”

Joining her in the truck, his muscular frame
pinned her between the two brothers, and she felt both squished and
safe at the same time. They were such big men that their shoulders
took up a lot of room, and there wasn’t an inch to spare. She was
brushing against both of them just sitting still. The heat of
Silas’s thigh pressed into hers made her squirm in her seat to put
distance between them, only to find herself dealing with Jeremy’s
thickly muscled leg on her other side.

Blood rushed through her veins and pooled
between her legs, and her breasts felt heavy and achy. Good grief,
these two were too much to handle at once.

“So, Si tells me you’re looking for work,”
Jeremy said conversationally as they pulled out on the highway
leaving town.

“Yeah, kind of. That’s what brought me to
Stone River, but when it didn’t work out, I didn’t exactly jump
back into the job listings,” she responded.

The scenery around them was beautiful, but
she couldn’t think past the two sexy men on either side of her.

“I can ask around if you like. Being the
only tow truck operator and full-time mechanic in town, I tend to
know everyone.” He adjusted his position, and one of his hands
dropped to rest on his thigh, the side of his arm rubbing against
hers. The hair along his forearm was dark but surprisingly soft,
and she found herself wanting to rub against him like a cat.