Finding Dani (Once a Marine, Always a Marine Book 3) (11 page)

That’s when she noticed the activity. Everywhere.

The soldiers were relaxed and unarmed in the compound only this morning, merely going about their normal duties. Now, every man and woman was armed and moving with intense concentration.

“Dr. Bordeaux, you do not have access to these quarters.”

One of the Marines guarding Gunner’s tent had spoken, jerking her attention from the compound to his face.

He had to be mistaken. “I have blood to give to Dr. Halverson.”

The other soldier inclined his head toward the command tent next door. “Dr. Halverson is in protective custody and only command staff and his escort have permission to enter.”

“I don’t want to push the issue, but I have to give this to Dr. Halverson. Can you call him out here?” She paused and tried to smile. After all, she wasn’t the threat. “Please?” she asked when neither of them moved.

The Marine who’d initially spoken made quick eye contact with the other one. After receiving a slight nod of assent, he entered the tent, leaving Dani outside with only one guard. It was strange to be on the outside, basically needing permission to do her job. But she could also understand the precaution. So, she waited patiently.

The soldier popped back out quickly, followed by Gunner.

“Sorry about this, Dani, but I didn’t have a choice.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Reaching out, she handed him a small cooler with everything she had. “This is Hailey’s blood and something else.”

Gunner accepted the cooler. “What else?”

“Hailey came in holding a metal container with two empty syringes and an unmarked vial.”

He frowned as he opened the cooler. “You think it’s the mutated strain?”

Dani shrugged. “What else could it be? But we won’t know for sure until we can look at it under a microscope.”

“There’s enough to sample?”

She nodded. “Barely enough. Is there any way your watchdogs are going to let me in to help you?”

To his credit, he looked apologetic. “Your entire team is about to be quarantined, if my guess is right. Damon said the CO is scared and pissed off. That means everyone under suspicion is likely to be rounded up and interrogated.”

“We don’t have time for that, not with more sick people coming in.” The rest of the team she could understand, but not her. At the same time, she understood the paranoia that accompanied an outbreak. And that made her think of something else. “How did our blood tests come out?”

Gunner lowered his voice because he knew what she was asking. “The three of us are showing no infection. And I took more blood from Damon about an hour ago after he brought Hailey in to the infirmary. His blood is still clear, even after two very close exposures.”

“Will you be able to recreate your serum? For everyone else.” She really hoped he could, because it could save lives if that was the case. The worst scenario was that the three of them were just immune for some reason, and the shots they were given didn’t work, in which case there was nothing Gunner would be able to do and more people would fall ill and die.

“If I had more time and better facilities, sure. But this virus is moving so fast that we’ll lose most of the camp before I can synthesize something useful.”

“Damn,” she said. Damon was right about her, she was a crusader, but she was also pragmatic. If she was going to be arrested and held with the others, she wanted a shower first.

“Where is Damon?” she asked.

“Hunting Travis. He seems to have found a good rock to hide under.”

“He might be out of camp. As the contact tracer for our group, he normally comes and goes and no one would have thought anything of it.”

“Damon is checking into that as well. Don’t worry, Dani, he’ll find him.”

“That’s what I’m worried about.” Travis was no match for Damon’s strength or tracking abilities. If he tried to get macho with Damon, he was going to lose more than a little pride. But she couldn’t worry much about that now. She was hot, tired, and in desperate need of some soap and water.

With a quick wave, she left Gunner with the vial and headed toward her tent. It only took a couple of moments to gather up the stuff she needed for a shower plus a change of clothes. She stepped outside and ran headlong into two Marines that were clearly waiting for her.

“I need you to re-enter your tent, Ma’am.”

Dani had hoped she’d get that shower, but the very serious young men standing in front of her looked like they took their orders to heart. No exceptions. But she still tried.

“I was warned that I might be detained and I will fully cooperate, but can I cooperate in the shower tent? I promise to do nothing more subversive than bathe.” She made her tone light and teasing, hoping they would have a sense of humor and maybe indulge her. It wasn’t like she’d be able to do anything else if they said no. They both towered over her and were armed with big scary automatic weapons.

“I’m sorry, Ma’am, but we have our orders.”

She was about to give up hope when she heard his voice. The sound of reason in her suddenly messed up world. The tension unwound and she could feel her shoulders begin to relax.

“I think we can let the lady shower before making her spend a sweaty night under guard,” Damon said.

He’d come up from the side, out of their vision like a shadow. His nickname was apt. Even she hadn’t seen him until he’d spoken, and she should have.

“We’ve got our orders,” they both said. Dani thought it was eerily in unison, but that was just military.

“You’re orders are to keep Dr. Bordeaux contained and under guard, correct?”

They both nodded. Dani hid a smile because she knew where he was going with this.

“Then you can keep her under guard in the showers. And I will be inside myself, so I can guarantee that she won’t get past me to cause you any trouble with guard duty.” Then he sidestepped her watchdogs and took her hand.

The soldiers exchanged a look, shrugged, and followed along.

“I don’t think those two are going to be able to be flexible enough to allow me to get my shower gear, so you’re just gonna have to share, Red.”

“As long as you don’t mind smelling like lavender.” The thought of him soaping up with her bar caused a hot tingle to start low in her belly.

“I think I’m secure enough in my manhood that I can handle some girly soap,” he said.

“It’s the only thing girly that I can bring when we’re deployed. It reminds me of home when everything sucks.”

They reached the tent and Damon pulled her inside. It wasn’t a large space, but each shower cubicle was enclosed and shoulder high to help with privacy. He’d brought her to the men’s shower quarters, since it was closer to her tent than the women’s. He released her hand and took his shirt off while she was talking.

“I get it, and it smells nice on you.”

But Dani didn’t reply because she had her eyes glued to his shirtless body. She wasn’t really sure what to do. She thought maybe sharing her soap meant taking turns with one of them outside. Clearly, he was planning on showering at the same time.

And Lord, he was built right. Muscles bulged in all the right places and his tanned skin was smooth enough that she wanted to glide her hands over him to see if he felt as hard as he looked.

He turned slightly and she saw his back for the first time, and the scars there caused an involuntary gasp. She stepped closer and hesitantly touched the first scar. It was a spider web of lighter colored puckered flesh, marring the perfection of his skin.

“It doesn’t hurt,” he said softly.

Her eyes jerked to his. He watched her intently, not moving and not stopping her from touching him. “But it must have hurt like hell when it happened,” she replied.

His whole back moved up and down when he shrugged. “I lived, Doc.”

She couldn’t stop her hand from moving lower to another webbed ring of flesh. When Gunner had said Damon had been shot twice, it hadn’t really registered for her. Logically, she understood, but right now, emotionally, she wanted to cry that he’d been in so much pain. Probably healing alone in some military hospital, not even his father knowing he was hurt. He should have had at least one person that loved him around.

“This one is so close to your spine. It could have caused paralysis or worse.”

At that, he turned further so that her hand slid from his lower back to his abs. Rock hard six pack abs that contracted at her light touch.
Good Lord
, she thought, and fought the need to lick him from navel to neck—and everything in between. His scars were mostly forgotten as she willed her eyes up toward his face. She was embarrassed to be ogling his magnificent body. But she was a doctor, after all, and she admired the human form. At least, that’s what she tried telling herself.

“Well, it didn’t cause any paralysis. As you can plainly see.”

She followed his glance downward and found his camouflage pants tighter than usual. His erection was as impressive as he was and she had to clench her hands to keep from reaching out to touch him. You’d think she never had a man the way her hormones were reacting.

“Oh,” she whispered. Tearing her eyes away, she saw that he was smiling at her. And she hoped that her sudden all over body flush would be mistaken for embarrassment instead of blatant arousal. “Maybe we’d better get in the shower and cool off.”

She was proud that her voice shook only a little.

Damon laughed. The sound husky and too sexual for her peace of mind. “Coward.”

She stepped inside a stall and closed the curtain, refusing to fall victim to his taunt. He was too damn sexy for his own good, and she was already biased. That was the problem. Damon was her husband’s twin, so she had firsthand knowledge of his anatomy, without ever touching him or seeing any more than she already had.

It was a sobering reminder. But only for her mind; her body was remembering.

“Sorry about the quarantine, Red. I tried to keep you out of it, but the CO is a hard-ass and doesn’t trust anyone outside his own unit.”

Dani smiled, thankful to focus on something else beside her lusty thoughts. “It’s frustrating, but understandable. I would probably do the same thing in his place.”

The walls were high enough that she’d have to be on a tall ladder to check out Damon’s nakedness. She almost wished she had a ladder. But it broke up the sexual tension, and if she were honest with herself, she was relieved. With a side of disappointment.

Once she was stripped, she turned on the shower and had cool water streaming down over her body. She stood on tip toes to pass Damon her bar of soap. Then she heard his chuckle from the other side and wished she could see his face.

“What?” she demanded.

“I’m going to have to be careful around the guys smelling like this.”

“Afraid they might get a little frisky?”

“Damn, skippy.”

“Well, you do have a cute ass.”

“’Bout time you noticed.”

Dani shook her head as she soaped her hair. Getting clean was clearing up her head too. “Did you find Travis?”

“He’s not in the camp. He skipped out this afternoon before I was able to get the perimeter locked down. And that makes him look guilty.”

“He might be working—,” she defended, “—And he’s used to coming and going from camp.”

“It’s not his job at this camp. That’s what Monty’s team is for.”

Dani didn’t have an argument for that, because he was right. Even pitching in and helping was at the discretion of Dr. Nelson. Here, now, he was team leader. Even though he was with Doctors Without Borders, and not the CDC, he was a good leader.

“Need me to wash your back?” Damon asked, holding her bar of soap over the curtain. All she could see was his hand.

She laughed, “I’ve been washing my own back like a big girl for some time now.”

“What fun is that?”

His shower turned off and he was toweling off as Dani finished soaping up her body. And if her soapy fingers lingered on her breasts just a little longer than strictly necessary for cleaning, then she couldn’t be blamed. Because Damon’s sexy voice and teasing tone were doing things to her that should be illegal. She wasn’t even seeing anything, just listening to him talk. She heard him step out and the towel rasp across his body and she had to stop herself from peeking.
 

Her mouth watered at the thought of Damon, naked and still wet from his shower.
 
Closing her eyes, she tilted her head back and rinsed her hair, half wishing Damon would go ahead and come wash her back. Her poor body, which was finally somewhat cool, revved up to broiling in an instant.

“Let’s go, Red. The water’s about to turn off on you.”

That got her attention and she turned and rinsed off her front just as the water clicked off. She knew it was to preserve water, but Dani could have used a couple minutes more. Thankfully, Damon was dressed when she finally looked at him.

But the look on his face was more than mischievous. It was downright naughty.

“I’ll be outside waiting. But hurry up, we need to discuss something important when we get back to your tent.”