Guardian (22 page)

The warmth of his breath brushed the core of her. She couldn’t stop her moan or keep her knees from falling farther apart to give him complete access. Her fingers tangled in his close-cropped hair restlessly, then finally—thank goodness—finally, his mouth closed over her. Kissing and sucking, nipping and licking, he worked the nubbin of nerves impossibly tighter, needier.

And for minutes or however long—she lost track just letting the delicious sensations roll over her—she did forget everything but the feel of David’s fingers digging into her hips. The rasp of his late-day beard against the
inside of her thighs. The sensation of his mouth taking her as completely as if he’d been thrusting inside her again.

Memories of their abandon in the desert sent a hot rush of bliss pumping in her veins until she flew apart. The power of her orgasm slammed through her, the force taking her by surprise. She bit her lip until she tasted blood. But David kept drawing on her oversensitive nerves, sending her higher again until her cries of another release filled the wide-open room every bit as completely as David filled her life.

Wilting in the aftermath, she relaxed into the sofa. He eased from her slowly, pressing a kiss to the inside of her thigh, then her hip bone. He wiped his face on the hem of her dress.

Smoothly, he scooped her up and into his lap as he settled on the sofa. He smoothed her dress back over her legs, even though her panties still lay somewhere on the tile floor. She didn’t speak—didn’t think she could have yet—and thank goodness he stayed silent, too.

He’d done exactly what he’d promised in making her forget for a while. But even David Berg couldn’t keep the outside world at bay forever.

Court had been torturously long today.

Sophie smacked her briefcase on the wooden counsel table, frustrated over how the verdict could go either way if something big didn’t happen soon. She wanted definitive answers in her work.

And yes, in personal life, too.

She slapped the files inside, one after the other, then pitched her pen on top. She was tired, cranky, and desperately in need of David.

After their encounter on the sofa, they’d made love again in his king-size bed. Once the phone had rung with a call from Nanny that the kids were safe and sound in Los Angeles, Sophie had curled up next to David and slept.

Deeply.

So much so, she’d overslept and almost been late for court. There’d been little time to talk this morning, just enough to toss on clothes and put her makeup on in the car while David drove. They had agreed on one thing.
The time had come to visit with Ricky’s family tonight, to review their statements and those of the cousin who’d been babysitting him the night of the accident.

A hand landed on her shoulder, and she jolted. Looking back, she found her boss. Her husband’s old friend. Here in the courtroom, though, he was definitely her boss.

Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Vaughn leaned on the edge of the table. “Hang in there. This case will be over before you know it, and life can return to normal.”

“I’m fine, Colonel. Just a little tired.”

“Sophie,” he lowered his voice, “seriously, off the record, how are you?”

“I appreciate your concern, and I know Lowell would, too, but I am truly all right. I’m doing what needs to be done to get through this,” she said, hoping he would go so she could just leave and rest her head on David’s shoulder.

“As long as you and Brice are okay.” He spun a loose pencil on the table. “Did your flyboy friend find any leads?”

“He’s digging around today into earlier test data on the new gun turret system. And we’re going to speak with the Vasquez family tonight. I want to review the cousin’s statement.”

“The cousin who was watching the boy the night of the shooting accident. Right? Any particular reason you’re consorting with the enemy officially?”

“This is a military proceeding. Our job is to find out the truth, not win for the sake of winning.” She glanced at her watch. “I’m supposed to meet David, so I really need to go.”

“Come on.” Geoffrey gripped her elbow and led her toward the door. “I’ll walk you out.”

“Thanks. Actually, I would appreciate that.” She shrugged off the unease prickling along her neck.

Was there some hidden danger lurking in the courtroom?

Or was that simply paranoia after all that had happened in the past few days? She hated not knowing who to trust.

Her gaze skated to Caleb as he talked with his lawyers across the aisle. Could he truly be capable of trying to kill her? It was one thing to accept he could be guilty of dereliction of duty. Granted, that moment caused horrible damage. But it was a stretch to tie negligence to the type of person who would deliberately try to murder her, and David, too, given the evidence of the Cessna’s compromised fuel tank.

Could the fresh-faced blond captain be that desperate?

The uneasy sensation of being watched returned. Sophie resisted the urge to check behind her and picked up her pace, her heels clicking against the floor.

When she passed a jean-clad man in the back row, he slid from his seat. The man had observed the trial all day, but she’d thought he was just a friend of Tate’s. Blatantly, the guy in jeans followed them, his every footstep reverberating in her mind. Sophie tucked closer to Geoffrey.

She wanted David.

Sophie searched for his reassuring presence. Once through the double doors, she scanned the hallway until she located him lounging against the wall just beyond the metal detector. She walked faster.

She knew the minute he saw her. Straightening, he gave her his lazy-lidded smile, almost like the first time she’d seen him. His smile stirred inside her, like a jolt of warm and rich coffee.

The young man passed her, and Sophie sagged with relief.

Until he stopped by David, looking too leanly handsome in his green flight suit and boots.

“Hey there, Major.”

David clapped the guy on the back. “Thanks, Smooth. I owe you.”

Sophie gripped her briefcase tighter. “You two know each other?”

David gestured to the guy. “Sophie, this is a friend from the squadron, Master Sergeant Mason Randolph.”

Damn, of course. Now she remembered him, but seeing him in civilian clothes rather than a flight suit had thrown her.

Randolph smiled. “You can call me Smooth, ma’am.”

“Were you here to support Captain Tate?” Although Tate’s supporters usually showed up in uniform and shot daggerlike glares her way.

The sergeant shifted from foot to foot. There was no mistaking his uncomfortable body language. “I’ll leave that for Ice here to explain.”

Ice…David…She’d almost forgotten his “cool under pressure” call sign. She didn’t like being kept in the dark.

But she didn’t want Geoffrey witnessing the tension. “Colonel,” she said, using his title to give herself distance as much as to adhere to protocol on base, “thank you for everything. I’ll e-mail you an update if we uncover anything new.”

Geoffrey walked backward for a couple steps before turning away.

David palmed her between the shoulder blades, his touch familiar. Stirring.

Distracting.

He steered her toward his Scout. She really did need to start looking for a new car of her own, since hers had been totaled in the accident.

But first things first. “Did you send Smooth to play watchdog over me today?”

His boots thudded a steady pace beside her along the walkway. “I only asked him this morning. He was on leave, stopped by to shoot the breeze.”

“You could have called or texted.” She measured her words to keep from snapping. “I was freaked out here, thinking I was being followed by whoever’s trying to kill me.”

She reached for the car door.

He flattened a hand on the door, barring her. His broad shoulders blocked out the late-day sun, the long zipper of his green flight suit calling to her fingers to tug it down, down, down.

The air hummed over the place he’d almost touched. “I’m sorry, Sophie. I didn’t think of that.”

While she appreciated his apology, she knew he would probably do the same thing again. Not purposefully but purely by instinct. His instincts made him stellar at his job—edgy and consistently right. But it also made him a tough man to have an equal relationship with.

A relationship? There that word came again, the thought, the knowledge that the connection between them was getting deep and complicated.

Her heart raced faster. “Thank you for worrying about me.”

“Do you want to hear what I found out today?”

An olive branch? She clutched it. “Absolutely, Major.”

“How about a Coke for the road, Counselor?” David’s
appreciative smile eased the bundle of tension, unraveling it into sparks dancing through her. When his gaze flickered over her legs, David cleared his throat. “It’s about a half hour to the Vasquez place. We can talk on the way and give the kids a call on the cell phone.”

Her boss’s censorious look from earlier tugged at her as firmly as the wind whipping across the parking lot. Damn it, she could work with David without jeopardizing the case. They were working together for truth, not personal agendas. He’d proved himself nothing but trustworthy.

And if she kept telling herself that enough times, hopefully she could quiet the sense that she was making a mistake.

*    *    *

Envy chewed at David.

He stared at the middle-class suburban home and drooled like a kid with his nose pressed against a candystore window. The Vasquezes had moved here after their home had been hit. They’d given up their dream of owning a place with land and horses to move back into a neighborhood. Ricky said he felt safer with houses around him. So they’d rented this place.

A folded stroller rested beside the front door of the single-story, ranch-style house. The minivan and sedan in front of the garage shouted
family
.

He’d dreamed of this kind of life, so long ago he’d almost forgotten its draw. But he simply couldn’t imagine getting married again and going through another breakup. Although he had to admit, celibacy had been damn uncomfortable the past year.

Sophie pointed toward the driveway. “Pull in behind
the van. Dr. Vasquez has to leave after supper to teach a night class.”

David whipped the Scout behind the parked mama-mobile. Sophie unbuckled her seat belt and grabbed her briefcase off the backseat. “He’s taken on the extra class load to help with bills. They need the additional money to tide them over until everything settles out with insurance…and who…”

“Who else to sue?”

She shrugged.

Guilt replaced envy. How could he have been jealous of the Vasquezes when he had the one thing they would trade all for? A healthy child.

David struggled to stifle images from the day of the accident. Sophie set him on edge, making his memories tougher to suppress. With a will of their own, thoughts of the six-year-old’s accident unfolded anyway, one of those haunting images that would stay behind his eyelids even in sleep.

Aided by years of practice, David tucked the horror away with hundreds of others he would never forget.

David leapt from the car and circled to Sophie’s side. “Let’s get to it. We’re already running late as it is.” They hadn’t even had time to change after work.

She swung her feet out. Gripping the door for balance, she slowly stretched one leg to the ground. Every inch toward the pavement tugged her skirt up, exposing more skin, offering a distraction he welcomed right now. Just when he thought he might have to arrest her for indecent exposure, she landed beside him.

Ricky Vasquez pushed through the front door “Hi, Major Campbell.”

The child’s face creased with a lopsided grin that
almost managed to hide each wince as he powered forward on his crutches.

Sophie’s eyes radiated determination, and his eyes dropped to the Bronze Star on her uniform. Ricky had a fierce protector in this woman, a determined guardian of his rights. Without question, it wasn’t about the money for her.

She gave Ricky one of those smiles David coveted, the same smile she gave Brice, the same smile she had given Haley Rose when they’d hugged good-bye.

Ah hell. He was in big trouble.

Ricky worked his way down the step awkwardly with his crutches, followed by his parents. David couldn’t help but think of that horrifying flash in time when Ricky would have been hit—something adult combat vets had trouble coping with.

While it would have helped piece together what happened if Ricky remembered more. But still…Thank God the boy had no memory of actually being hit. Sophie relied on witness testimony to build her case.

Did the boy have nightmares anyway? He must.

Too often, they returned at night.

He knew that firsthand. Only a strong woman could live with a man haunted by such tenacious ghosts. Leslie had vowed it was too much. But Sophie? She’d even faced the same hell when she got her Bronze Star. Had her husband been any kind of comfort to her?

A couple should be partners.

David looked at the yard, stroller, and porch with husband and wife arm in arm. Envy returned.