Hot Pursuit: Hot Zone, Book 5 (3 page)

She paused, half-expecting him to say he knew where this one would head. Vic’s chagrin showed in his expression—he understood, but he wouldn’t interrupt her story.

Her tight throat returned, but another slow sip of wine smoothed the words. “Timing couldn’t have been better. I parked in front of the apartment building and saw him coming out of his place with another woman I know in town. Felicia. They went straight into a lip lock. I watched in shock. I guess I shouldn’t have been shocked. He didn’t promise me a damn thing in his emails. We just…I thought we connected. He insinuated…” She shrugged again. “Anyway, it’s pathetic. I called him on my cell phone and told him I’d seen him kissing the woman. He told me that he didn’t know what I was upset about. That I’d blown it all out of proportion, that one little kiss didn’t mean anything. He told me to come over tonight anyway. Some people would say I overreacted. I don’t think I did. I told him I wouldn’t be seeing him on New Year’s Eve or any other night.”

“And here you are.”

“Exactly.”

He stayed silent for a short time, then said, “You didn’t overreact.” He shook his head slowly and snorted softly. “He’s being an ass wipe. He could have been with you tonight.”

Flattered, but not taking his praise seriously, Lucy groaned. “I was such a damned fool.”

“I dunno. Doesn’t sound like you did anything foolish. If he led you on and made you think he had more feelings for you than he did, that’s on his head.”

She’d never heard a man this articulate on relationships, short of Dr. Phil.

“You couldn’t see your friends tonight? Tell them what happened and go to the party?” Vic asked.

She could have. That was the shame of it. “I have a lot of nosy friends.”

“Anybody I’d know?”

“Eve Carmichael-O’Callahan, Freddie Bodine-Wallace, Marisa Clyde-Sullivan, Neena Williamson-Gilroy.”

His eyebrows sprang up. “Lots of hyphenated names.”

She tilted her head to the side and said sheepishly, “They don’t all hyphenate their names, but I thought if I gave both names it would ring a bell.”

“Sullivan? Would her husband happen to be Jake Sullivan? He’s in the army?”

“Yep, that’s the one. Eve’s husband is in the Reserves, Freddie’s and Marisa’s husbands are in Special Forces. Neena’s husband used to be in the military. Anyway, they would have filled me with wine and reasons why Danny is a turd. But I didn’t want them worrying about me on New Year’s Eve, and I didn’t want to talk about him tonight.”

“All of this is ironic as hell.” He scrubbed his hand over his chin again. “Jake and I’ve worked together before. We were both at Fort Carson several years back. I’ve been in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan for quite some time.”

Military?
Vic was in the military too? She almost groaned out loud. She’d been all ready to make a move, hoping this guy wouldn’t have any scruples about one night of heated, no-strings sex. Honestly, how many guys would?

Now he’d ruined it by telling her he was in the military. Her heart sank.

An idea dawned on Lucy. “Are you in Special Forces too?”

“No. I’m an infantry officer in the army.”

“Oh.”

He chuckled. “There’s a lot packed in that word.”

She gave him a lopsided smile. “Yes, there is.” To steer things away from her for a moment, she continued with, “Rank?”

He grinned. “Is this a test?”

“Yep.”

Vic moved closer to the table, eliminating that safe barrier between them. His body heat seemed to reach out for her. She wanted him nearer, and that made her own barriers continue to crumble even as she fought her growing attraction to him.

“I’m a major heading for lieutenant colonel.”

“You’re pretty young for a lieutenant colonel, aren’t you?”

“Thirty-two is on the young side, yeah.”

She sighed. “Wow.”

He crossed his arms and leaned on the table. “You don’t sound impressed.”

She grinned. The devilish twinkle in his eyes gave him away. “Should I be?”

“Nah. I know too many men and women who get to my rank who think they’re all that.”

She appreciated his honesty, damn it. Lucy sighed. “Like Danny.”

“Danny is a lieutenant colonel?”

“No. He’s a major. Something in logistics. I don’t understand it.”

He laughed. “Uh-huh. Is he older than me?”

“Closing in on forty.”

He made her smile again, enjoying the endless banter. Either that or the wine had been spiked with hard liquor. She couldn’t recall feeling this giddy in a long time. Once more his gaze did a cruise over her body and reminded her that Vic liked what he saw. Whether her mind wanted to be flattered or not, her body was.

“I should have known you were in the military,” she said, her voice filled with mild disgust. “You all seem to have this thing with your walk. Confident. Upright. In command. I could go on with the adjectives and adverbs from here to eternity. My friends’ husbands are all great men and great husbands. But the rest of you…” She shrugged as bad memories swamped her. “You’re all the same.”

His mouth tightened, and he leaned in closer. “We’re
not
all the same.”

His eyes narrowed, and she saw something flicker through them that looked rough and angry. It caught her by surprise.

She rubbed the back of her neck and took another sip of wine to quell the urge to scream. “I’m a magnet for all the jerks in the military. I’m moving on to quiet, easy-going, staid businessmen.”

A sardonic smile covered his mouth, barely removing the caution in his eyes. “I know a businessman who cheated on his wife five times before she caught him. Nothing staid about that.”

She half-expected him to leave and never see him again, and the thought made her ache. Maybe it was for the better though, if he did leave her be. Okay, so he had the command part down pat, and his slight chastisement had the effect he probably wanted. She smarted a little.
This wasn’t supposed to get personal. Oh, well. Just roll with it. He’s military. You aren’t getting involved. You’re talking with an old acquaintance and that’s all it is.

“Why do I get the feeling that you don’t like the military because of this ass-wipe who dumped you for this other woman?” he asked.

She swallowed hard. “He made me so mad.” Her fists clenched. “I really, really thought he believed I’m special.” She sighed, regret filling her. “It’s more complicated than Danny. Before Danny I knew another military guy who was hot and women came on to him constantly. Kind of like that woman who touched your arm right before we said hello.”

He snorted. “Clara? She’s the bar owner’s daughter, and she’s harmless. Flirts with every guy and doesn’t mean it. Even if she did, I’d never take her up on it. So what about this other guy before Danny?”

She nodded. “Women flirted with him right and left. He’d tell me but insisted he never did anything about it. I figured out that he loved the attention and that he was cheating on me. Three times. We dated six months and he was having sex with three other women at the same time. After a year, I decided I’d take a chance on Danny because he sounded so sweet and sincere and during our date we connected. Or at least I felt we did. He said he hadn’t felt like this about a woman before. I felt more secure and ready to take a chance on him.” Anger boiled up and she barely kept it out of her voice. “Then he proved that it was all a lie.”

He covered her fist where it lay on her thigh. “I know the feeling.”

“Hating the military?”

“No. Feeling betrayed.”

Lucy decided she wouldn’t let this one-sided confession continue. “Fess up. What did your ex-girlfriend do to you?”

If Lucy Creed shifted a single inch closer, Vic didn’t think he could restrain himself.

He’d have to kiss her again.

Fuck. Who was he kidding? She’d kissed him. Slipped her warm, sinfully sexy mouth over his and claimed him until he’d almost fired off like a virgin.

Sitting next to Lucy in a secluded booth while Jace Everett’s
Bad Things
spun out over the jukebox made him crazy. Did he want to do bad things with her?

Hell yeah.

He had a hard time believing that tonight of all nights he’d run into her. Talk about good luck. Or bad, if this all went south. He sensed more to this story than just hating the military because of one jerk. She wasn’t providing the whole story. At the same time, after Shelly’s betrayal, he’d vowed to have nothing to do with women for months. Years. Fuck. A lifetime. Shelly had screwed him seven ways to Sunday, and he’d be paying for it for a few months. Now Lucy had walked in and turned all his resolutions to avoid women into gelatin.

Vic stared at his old high school friend, or enemy if he held grudges. He wondered how more than fifteen years had gone by without him seeing her again. Nah, she couldn’t be his enemy. He wanted her too damn much. Wanted her with an ache that surprised him. His cock didn’t care how amazed he was. Vic’s body had reacted to her the second he turned on the bar stool and saw her marching toward him like an avenging angel.

For a second her black hair, short and spiky, had thrown him off. He’d thought he was imagining things. After all, the young woman he remembered had long black hair, a black so inky it almost glowed with blue highlights. Her lush mouth and small nose were the same. Her pale, pale skin always appeared seashell fragile back then, and it still did. Her face was slimmer, her body less round and more on the coltish side. Still, she had curves in all the right places. Rounded breasts, small waist, a pretty ass.

And her clothes. They surprised the hell out of him. She wore a stretchy red top that slicked along her body and her black mini-skirt clung to her butt without looking vaguely obscene. Her black hose skimmed down over mile-long legs, and her funky black boots looked ready for a visit in the snow. She was still about five five—not tall, not short. Yeah, her legs were plenty lengthy enough to wrap around his hips while he rode her. And damn he wanted to ride her hard.

He hadn’t expected, nor did he understand why seeing her right after Shelly’s betrayal could do this to him. Sex he could find if that’s all he wanted. But that kiss—hell that had screwed his dearly held delusions. When he’d walked in the bar this evening, he’d wanted nothing to do with a woman. A few minutes later the sexiest female in his fantasies walked in and he was a friggin’ goner.

He’d stared at her so long she blushed. God, even those stormy blue eyes flashed, berating him and turning him on at the same time. If he had his way tonight, she’d be in his bed. Under him. Next to him. However he could seduce her.

Kissing her had been heaven and hell. Her body against him had promised softness, comfort, a hot place to find refuge for his stone-hard cock. Could he look at her as simply a quick and dirty fuck? He had to. It wasn’t like he’d be in town much longer, and long-term relationships weren’t an option in his line of work. At least not in his mind.

“Vic?” her liquid-soft voice asked, breaking him out of his sexual fantasy.

“What?” He asked the question softly, forgetting her original question.

“What did your ex-girlfriend do?”

He released her hand, the one so close to his thigh. Damn. He could refuse to answer, but how fair would that be after she’d confessed so much to him? He wanted to drag her boyfriend across the floor and use his face for a mop.

“Shelly Cannell. She’s a fellow soldier. A medic. I met her in Afghanistan about two months ago and she also bandaged me up recently.”

Her eyes widened. “You were hurt?”

He flexed his still-sore leg under the table. “Yeah. Shrapnel wounds in my left thigh.”

“How long ago?”

“A month.” He felt compelled to say, “I’ll be heading back to work soon.”

She nodded, her eyes unreadable for a moment. “Off to God knows where.”

He grinned, the ironic twist on her lips filled with sarcasm. “I’m going to Fort Carson. Then I’ll be ready to ship out on another tour if necessary.”

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

Those sky-lit eyes clouded. She squeezed his forearm, and her hand looked small and pale against his sweater. Her fingernails weren’t polished, but they were long and pretty. What surprised him was the depth of concern he felt coming from her.

On impulse, he placed his hand over hers. “Thanks for caring.”

She nodded again. “So this Shelly. How involved were you?”

He released her hand, and she drew it away.

Here it comes. The confession.

“We’d dated off and on for a couple of months.”

“I take it the relationship was serious?”

He shrugged. “It was getting there.”

“What happened?”

“She decided to charge me with sexual harassment.”

He could see her eyes change, and she seemed to shrink back from him a little.
Damn it.
He didn’t want her afraid of him. He knew she’d keep asking questions, so he resolved to tell her without making it more complicated or making her work for the answers.

“I see,” she said, her tone cautious. “Why did she do that?”

He sighed. “One night we were about to have sex. The first night we were going to have sex. She told me that she was bi-sexual, but said she didn’t tell me because she was afraid I’d tell her commander. The don’t-ask, don’t-tell policy.”

“I told her I didn’t want to see her any more. Not because she was bisexual, but because she didn’t trust me and thought it was okay to lie to me by omission. She got mad as hell and decided it was time for payback. Got the JAG involved and it took some time to straighten things out.”

“JAG?”

“Judge Advocate General.”

“Oh, right. But it was your word against hers.” Her eyes clouded with uncertainty. “Did the charges stick?”

He shook his head, old anger welling up. “No. Before things could go any further, I guess she regretted it. She told them we’d had a lover’s argument, and she’d lied to get back at me.”

Lucy’s eyes still held the stain of suspicion, and he couldn’t say he blamed her. After all, she didn’t know him that well. “What a mess.”

“A monumental cluster fuck of massive proportions. Didn’t matter that I was vindicated.” He took a deep swig of his beer, suddenly wishing it were something stronger. “It screwed with my reputation. It’s going to take some time to get all shiny again.”