Not Another Soldier (17 page)

“Maybe,” she says with a shrug of one shoulder and a
mischievous smile. She slips past me and pauses in the doorway to speak to me
over her shoulder. “You should come back to bed. You need some rest.”

“I’m coming to bed. But I’m not planning on getting
any rest.”

Sienna simply laughs and dashes out the doorway. Damn,
I’ve created a monster.

***

I wake
with a headache. Not surprising really. I never did get much rest in the end.
Thankfully, there are still painkillers on the bedside so I sit up enough to
chuck a couple back with the glass of water Sienna left out for me. I slide
back into the sheets for a moment to watch Sienna sleep. She’s not the kind to
wrap herself around you at night, but that’s fine, I’m a sprawler. She seems to
curl up into this tiny ball. I find it insanely cute. God, she’d kill me if she
knew I was always thinking of her as cute. The damned woman is so determined to
prove herself sometimes. But if it’s about give and take, is it so bad for a
man to want to take care of a woman? Maybe I’m old fashioned but she does stuff
for me, why shouldn’t I do the same for her?

On that thought, I drag myself out of bed to make a
coffee. My leg is stiff so it takes me a couple of attempts. That fall
yesterday cost me and I haven’t worked out in a few days. If it hadn’t meant
Sienna admitting to loving me, I’d be cursing myself a lot more for looking
like a weak idiot.

I make a mental note to take Sienna to the gym with
me. I’m not letting her out of my sight but I need a workout. Besides she
enjoys swimming and I wouldn’t complain about seeing her all wet and sleek in a
swimsuit. She could swim while I hit the gym. Damn, I’m good. I’ve totally got
this relationship stuff down.

I smirk to myself and slip my briefs on before
carefully opening the door and padding into the kitchen. As I flick the coffee
pot on, I consider the problem that is Sienna. I want to ask her to marry me
but the sensible part of me—the one that’s usually overtaken by my cock or my
impatience—knows it’s too soon. We’ve only been together like—what?—a day? But
I’ve known her for years and nothing’s going to make me change my mind. I’m
just going to have to tread cautiously and somehow curb my impatience. Convince
her things will be different with me.

While I’m waiting for the coffee, I chop her up a big
bowl of fruit. I’m not the best cook. Hell, what soldier is? But even I can’t
screw up fruit salad. Strawberries, banana, berries and whatever other fruit
she’s got. Some weird green thing. Avocado maybe. Then I pour the coffee and
take them both through to Sienna. I sit on the bed and she grumbles as she
stirs. I have to bite back a grin. She’s is definitely not a morning person.
But I’ll work on that. I’m willing to bet that if I can get her hot and naked
in my arms, she’ll begin to enjoy mornings.

But today, I really need to stop thinking with my
cock. Things are too dangerous right now and I need to focus. Not only on
getting her to agree to marry me, but figuring out how to get her away from
these criminals. I’ve got to admit, I am out of my depth here. Give me IEDs or
the Taliban and I’m your man, but drug dealing…

A slow smile curves across Sienna’s face when her eyes
open. Damn, that’s got me turned on again already. She looks ready to eat me
up. The woman is insatiable. We made love so many times yesterday, I’m
surprised she’s not as stiff and as sore as I am.
Stiff.
Geez, wrong
word choice. I glance down at my tented underwear and place the bowl and coffee
on the bedside table.

“Thanks,” she mumbles sleepily as she takes a
strawberry and bites into it.

Okay, this is not helping. I glance away from her
strawberry-stained lips and concentrate on breathing and trying to think of
something to turn me off. I picture my Great Aunt Aggie, bless her soul. She’s
a darlin’ but ever since I was a kid she’s insisted on kissing me on the lips.
I shudder and my libido seems to be under control again.

She picks up a little of that green stuff and eyes it
with a bemused look. But she still eats it so I guess I didn’t do too bad.

“I think you should call that detective and insist on
getting some help.” I sit on the edge of the bed.

She blows out a breath. “You might be right.”

“We’re not getting anywhere and we still don’t know
what these guys are capable of. I’m scared for you, Sienna.”

“I know. I’m scared too really. And you can’t hang
around forever.”

She’s right. As much as I want her by my side, I have
to go back to work eventually and so does she. I can’t watch her constantly. It
galls me to admit it, but I need help. “I’ll do what I can to protect you… I’ll
do
everything
I can to protect you, but we can’t just wait around to see
what they’ll do next. This is bigger than both of us, this drug shit. Who knows
how powerful these guys are?”

“I know, I know. Let me eat this… uh… fruit salad and
I’ll give him a call.”

Satisfied that we’re at least doing something, I drop
a kiss to her forehead and head to the shower. I make it quick, keen to listen
in on the call. By the time I’m done, she’s up and I can hear her in the
kitchen. I dig a shirt out of my bag, shake it out a little and put on some
clean briefs. I debate wearing yesterday’s jeans but they’re covered in dust
from my fall so I dig out another pair and bundle up my dirty clothes. I need
to prove I’m a little housetrained at least.

When I go into the kitchen to throw my clothes in the
washer, I notice she’s standing by the window, coffee cup in hand. She’s
wearing that silk slip thing again. It’s peachy and makes her pale skin
luminous. Fuck, I have to persuade her to marry me. Waking up to that sight
every morning would be amazing.

Then I spy the anxious expression on her face. “What’s
up?” I ask as I approach.

“There’s a car out there I don’t recognize.”

I peer out but I don’t really know the cars that park
round here so I don’t spot anything unusual.

“I think I’m probably being paranoid.” She laughs
lightly but there’s tension in it.

“Maybe,” I agree, not willing to scare her.

These guys have been watching her, no doubt about it.
How else would they have known when she left for work or when she went to the
shops? For all I know, that car could be theirs.

“Which car is it?”

“That one. The dark blue sedan.”

I debate it for a moment. The urge to go down and
smash my fist through the window is pretty strong but I have no idea if it is
even these guys.

“Come away from the window,” I tug Sienna’s arm, “and
get dressed. We’ll call that detective in a minute and see what he says.”

She nods vaguely and doesn’t protest when I take the
coffee from her hands and usher her into the bedroom. I put the coffee cup in
the sink and stop and think for a moment. Damn these assholes. Sienna should be
moving on with her life, not dealing with this kind of shit. If it wasn’t for
this, I don’t doubt we’d have ended up back in bed this morning and she
wouldn’t look so haunted. I should never have kept this stuff from her. I guess
I thought I was being honorable, not telling her the truth about her husband.
But now it’s one big fucking mess and I’m pretty sure I can take the blame for
a lot of it.

But whatever happens, I’m going to get her out of this
mess. One way or another. Making a snap decision, I push away from the sink and
head out the apartment. I try to look casual as I step out the door and glance
around but I don’t care if they spot me. I want them know that I stand between
them and Sienna. If they want her, they’re going to have to go through me.

I cross the road and stroll up past the car. The
windows are slightly tinted so it’s difficult to see in but someone is sitting
in it. I knock on the window.

The window rolls down and a red-headed guy glares at
me.

It’s not the skinhead who attacked her, which is good
news for him. Otherwise I might have dragged him out and left a few
fingerprints and bruises on him to return the favor. I stuff my hand in my
pockets and grin. “Can I help?”

“What?” He looks incredulous.

“Well, you’ve been sitting here…” I glance down at the
discarded cigarette butts on the sidewalk, “for quite a while, I’m guessing. I
just wondered if you were lost.”

“What’s it to do with you, buddy?”

“Well, if you’re not lost or visiting, why don’t you
get moving? There’s been some trouble here recently and the cops are on the
lookout for suspicious lookin’ people. Wouldn’t want to be mistaken for a
criminal, would you?”

His eyes narrow and his jaw tenses. I don’t know how
big the guy is, but I think I could take him. He’s older than me too with
slightly pockmarked skin. But although he might not be a threat on his own, I
don’t doubt this Johnson guy could be.

“You don’t know who you’re messing with.” With that,
he winds up the window and starts the car.

I make a mental note of the license plate and wait
until he’s gone, kinda pleased but kinda nervous. I’m not sure if I’ve just
made things worse. At least before we knew where the bad guys were. However,
now I know Sienna’s not paranoid. The woman is in danger.

I turn back to the apartment, moving briskly. I don’t
want Sienna seeing I’m gone. Glad I can still remember the code to her
building, I pause to pick up her mail in case she has already finished getting
dressed. I’m still a little pumped when I return to her apartment so I take a
few moments to calm myself before hunting her down in her bedroom. She’s just
pulling on a pale yellow top and I regret missing the floor show.

“Did you go out?” she asks as she pulls her hair from
her top.

“Yeah, just picked up your mail.” I put the letters on
the dresser and sit on the bed to watch her brush her hair and do her make-up.
I catch her bemused expression in the mirror but don’t make any excuses. I love
watching her.

When she’s done, she thumbs through the mail and
scowls.

“What’s up?”

Sienna waves a letter at me. “This company… I
recognize the name. I noticed a monthly payment to them going out from our—mine
and Rob’s—account the other day, but I forgot to call and find out what it
was.” She tears it open and her scowl deepens. “It’s for a storage locker. I
didn’t know we had a stor—Shit. You don’t think…?”

I stand and take the letter from her. I recognize the
company name as one of the storage places in the city. And I realize what she’s
thinking. What if that was where Rob kept the drugs? It’s got to be safer than
keeping it around the house if he didn’t want to risk Sienna finding them.

“Yeah, I do think.”

“What should we do?”

“I don’t know, babe. I guess we should check it out.
There’s no point in calling the cops if there’s nothing there.”

“But I don’t have a key or anything. And look,” she
jabs the letter, “it’s in his name. I doubt they’ll let me look in it.”

“They might if you take his death certificate and your
ID. I don’t know how it works if it’s not willed to you.”

“Damn.” She chews her lip. “I wonder…” Before I can
say anything, she presses past me.

I follow her as she strides into the living room and
starts digging through that damned box in the corner. I’ve been fighting the
urge to throw it out the window. It’s been hanging around like a bad smell,
reminding us of her marriage to Rob. But I knew I had to let her deal with it
in her own way, so I haven’t pressed the matter. I must admit, any loyalty to
Rob, no matter how buried it was, has completely gone now I know he hurt
Sienna. Just the thought sickens me and I can’t believe she kept it a secret.

At least I don’t feel in the slightest bit guilty
about falling in love with my best friend’s wife now. When this shit is all
over, I’m going to show her how a real man treats a woman.

She tosses the wedding album aside, followed by some
old army photos. In spite of myself, I kneel beside her and study one. I can’t
help wonder what went wrong with Rob. The photo is before we met Sienna, real
early on in our careers. We were both full of ourselves and convinced we were
undefeatable. We couldn’t wait to go to war. And at that point, we really were
best friends. I wonder if I could have done something to stop Rob getting so
messed up but part of me thinks he was built that way. He never lost that
feeling of being invincible, but I did the moment I got caught in a fire fight
and shrapnel tore through my calf. Seeing your brothers die around you is
enough to put your life in perspective. It’s what makes me so determined to
keep hold of Sienna.

“Look!” Sienna declares suddenly, drawing me out of my
thoughts. She’s holding up a bunch of keys. “I remember seeing these before and
thinking I ought to return them to base as they must be for the house.” She
begins to search through them. “I don’t recognize this one though. Or that
one.”

“It could be a storage key, I suppose. If it had a
tag, Rob might have taken it off.”

Picking up the letter she’s discarded next to the box,
she glances over it. “Well, we know the locker number so we might as well try.”