Serving Trouble (5 page)

 

Chapter Five

W
AKE UP,
S
LEEPING
B
EAUTY.

The memory of her soft voice floated through his dream. Hours earlier, before the sun sank behind the mountains for the night, Josie had knocked on his truck window. He'd been locked in a dreamscape filled with one boom after another—­an attack so vivid he could almost smell the burning canvas of the tent the insurgents had managed to hit with the rocket fire. Caroline had been by his side, shouldering an M16 while wiping away tears . . .

Caroline.

Noah opened his eyes and stared out into the bright morning sky. Right now, Josie wasn't standing outside his truck ready to drag his ass into the bar when all he wanted to do was pull her in and lose himself in her soft curves. To hell with the fact she worked for him. To hell with Dominic and the shit storm he'd rain down on Noah for laying a finger on his sister. To hell with the last five years.

He ran a hand over his face. Sometimes he wished he'd never left the barn that night five years ago. If he could have stayed there with Josie, keeping everyone else on the other side . . . but damn, he couldn't live the rest of his life believing he could save the world. Tonight marked night five and he couldn't even find the one person he wanted to help.

Last night, after he'd followed Josie into the bar—­which she'd set up for the busy shift
after
she'd completed his inventory and done a helluva lot better job than he could have—­he'd endured hours of watching her move and smile at the customers. He'd closed up early and then, he'd gone to meet up with Josh Summers. Together, they'd searched another section of Oregon timber country for Caroline, who sure as shit acted like she didn't want to be found. He'd driven home close to dawn, parked his truck beside the barn, and rested his eyes for a minute. That minute had extended until the memory of Josie woke him, sporting a whole world of wanting.

He adjusted himself and opened the truck door. As he stepped down, he glanced at the barn. Shit, the light was on again. Had his father wandered out? Not likely. His old man had a hard time navigating the gravel separating the house from the barn with the walker the doctors had insisted he use after the fall. And they didn't keep animals in there anymore. Too much work.

The side door opened before he reached the structure and a familiar face peered out.

“Caroline?” He stopped four feet from the barn and stared. “How the hell—­”

“I had your address,” she said, her voice soft. Her mouth formed a thin line. Freckles dotted her nose, suggesting her fair skin had been exposed to the elements for a while. And her long dark hair, which he'd grown accustomed to being pulled back in a tight bun, now flowed loose around her shoulders. He didn't know much about women's hair, but he knew she needed a brush, and maybe a pair of scissors.

She wore black pants, a baggy black T-­shirt, and combat boots. The clothes were three, maybe four sizes too large for her frame. Between Caroline's height—­she stood roughly as tall as Josie—­and her delicate girl-­next-­door features, she'd always looked like she belonged in Disney World playing a fairy-­tale princess, not in the US Marine Corps.

“So you walked here from where?” he asked, focusing his sleep-­deprived brain. He moved closer to her, but stayed out of arm's reach. He wanted to offer her the illusion of safety. He couldn't make promises, but he doubted there were threats hiding in the barn. He'd been home for months and the only things he'd found were some old furniture, the mechanical bull, and memories.

“I was staying with my sister in Northern California. But he found me,” she said.

“Dustin?” he asked.

“Yes. He showed up and threatened to turn me in.” Her tone was devoid of drama as if she expected to open the door and find her rapist on her doorstep.

“Did he hurt you?” he asked, not that it would change a damn thing. If he saw their former commanding officer again nothing would hold him back. He wouldn't wait for justice. He'd beat the crap out of Dustin.

She shook her head. “He didn't touch me. But he said he was planning to call the police.”

And when they found her they'd hand her over to the military. She'd probably face jail time for her unauthorized absence. It wouldn't matter that she'd run because she couldn't face serving alongside men who'd fought at her side one minute, placing their lives in her hands, and threatened her the next. And if she had returned, serving with those men would be pure hell because she'd accused one of them—­their leader—­of rape. She'd gotten their commanding officer kicked out of the marines because she'd had a witness willing to testify.

Him.

“So you ran,” he said.

“I needed to find you,” she said. “Dustin's pissed at me. But he blames you for losing his career. His wife left him and—­we should move inside.”

Caroline scanned the house and the drive, showing a hint of fear for the first time. He knew his dad wouldn't wake for a few hours. And he was familiar with the sounds—­cars speeding over the dirt road, the neighbor's rooster, who operated on the assumption that it was always rise-­and-­shine time—­but she clearly viewed them as potential threats.

“Sure,” he said and followed her into the old, mostly empty barn. The hay bales had disappeared years ago, but otherwise the space looked pretty much the same. Old boxes, some tools, a rusted gate, and a collection of broken furniture that belonged in the dump.

He left the door open behind them, allowing a beam of light to slip in and illuminate the mechanical bull in the corner surrounded by faded red, white, and blue cushions. His dad had thrown an old western saddle over the bull's back. Now the damn thing looked like it wanted to go for a ride even though it probably hadn't been turned on since he'd left for basic training.

He followed Caroline into the light and over to the pads surrounding the bull. A backpack rested on the edge, packed and ready to go. It was the only sign she'd been staying in his barn.

“How long have you been here?” he asked. “After you talked to Josh Summers, hell, I've been out looking for you every night.”

“Yesterday afternoon,” she said. “I wasn't sure I could trust Josh. He started talking about how they needed to start clearing the land. And he mentioned the police would be called in to remove anyone found on the premises. So I slipped away when he went to get his phone.”

“He thought you were trying to save the trees,” he said. “But Josh is a good guy. He just thought it sounded a little nuts when you claimed someone was after you.”

“Dustin wants revenge,” she said simply. “He thinks you stole a lot from him.”

“He took a helluva lot more from you,” he said. “I remember, Caroline. Shit, I got up every night to walk you to the bathroom and make sure he wouldn't find you alone in the dark again and take what he wanted even if you made it clear you weren't interested. If Dustin shows up here, I'm going to start throwing punches before he says a word. Do you have any idea how badly I wanted to hit him when he tossed out those degrading commands? Every damn time he ordered you to his bed in front of the guys, laughing it off a second later like it was one big joke?”

“I know,” she said.

“If he shows ups here—­”

“Noah?” Josie's voice came from the open doorway and he heard the sound of her shoes clicking on the barn's cement floor. What the hell was she doing in heels in his freaking barn?

Breathing life into my fantasies . . . Another ride on the bull. . .

But they had an audience and Josie was wearing the office-­ready dress she'd worn for her first shift at the bar.

“I heard your voice,” Josie said. She came to a halt and looked past him. The sunlight formed a halo around her as she slowly raised her hands, palms up in a show of surrender.

“And you must be Caroline,” she added, looking past him. “Please don't shoot.”

 

Chapter Six

A
S A RULE,
Josie usually forgot to feel fear until it was too late. Her ex-­boyfriend had towered over her, her cheek still stinging from the smack of his palm, and she'd thought,
I'm going to kick the shit out of him.
The fear hadn't seeped in until after Noah had chased him away.

But staring down a wild-­haired woman sporting a wood-­nymph-­meets–GI Jane look, complete with the gun pointed at her, and Josie's fear rose fast and furious. Her heart pounded and she couldn't for the life of her tell if she was still breathing.

“You can put the gun down,” Josie said. “I work for Noah. The assistant manager at Big Buck's.” Oh, she was definitely landing a promotion out of this mess. “We're going to Portland to—­”

“Caroline,” Noah said, his voice surprisingly calm as he stepped in front of the gun-­wielding woman he'd spent the past five nights searching for in the woods. “Put the gun down.”

She stopped breathing this time. No question about it. Every muscle in her body begged to move, run in front of Noah, save him—­and stay frozen all at the same time. It felt as if her brain had gone haywire and started sending out mixed signals.
Go! Stay! Save Noah!

“Please, Caroline,” he added.

Ms. Crazy-­Hair GI Jane lowered her arms and tucked the gun into the waist of her cargo pants. But she didn't offer a
sorry, I forgot I wasn't supposed to shoot Noah's employees in his barn.

Of course, if Josie had gone to war and been attacked by the good guys, she'd probably keep a gun or two in her pants as well. She'd heard enough while walking up to the barn to piece together why Caroline had come looking for Noah. He'd been Caroline's hero when she needed one most.

Welcome to the club, GI Jane.

Josie looked past Caroline to the mechanical bull. The last time she'd seen that bull, it had been wearing her dress and spinning to a slow, sensual beat while she lay naked on the padding below. And Noah had just walked out the door to greet her brother . . .

Did Caroline belong to the naked-­bull-­riding-­with-­Noah club too? He would jump to a woman's defense even if she wasn't
his
. But she'd also bet the marine looked pretty with her hair brushed. Pretty and kind of like Josie's more athletic twin in a strange way.

Not that it mattered. Noah wasn't hers. And from the sounds of it, Caroline had much bigger problems than whether Noah wanted to take her for a naked ride, on his bull or anywhere else. Problems Caroline had delivered straight to Noah's doorstep.

“I need to go to this meeting,” he said to Caroline. “But I'd like you to stay. My dad's up at the house. I'll take you up and introduce you before I head out. And we'll lock up that gun.”

Caroline pushed her hair out of her face. “I'd love a shower. But I need—­”

“You'll get the gun back,” he promised. “But tonight. After we've had a chance to talk and determine your next step.”

Caroline let out a brittle laugh. “I've just been trying to get from one day to the next and not burn through all the money my sister gave me too fast.”

“Take a shower, rest, and we'll talk,” Noah said as he walked over and picked up her backpack. He let her keep the gun, Josie noted as they headed past her. She followed them out into the parking area.

“Josie, wait here. I'll be right back,” Noah said, glancing at her over his shoulder.

She nodded and turned to her car. Her heart rate had slowed after Caroline lowered the gun, but it wasn't anywhere close to normal. Not yet. She'd landed herself in stupid situations before. But a gun pointed at her? That was a first.

But it had almost been worse seeing it directed at Noah.

Fifteen minutes later, Noah walked down the porch steps and headed over to her. “Let's go. You're driving so I can sleep. Consider it part of the assistant manager job.”

“So I get the promotion?” She followed him to her red Mini and opened the driver's side door. “And a raise?”

“Don't say a word about Caroline, and yeah, I'll bump up your hourly.” He opened the passenger side door and settled all six-­foot plus of his muscular body into her compact car. Thank goodness she'd unloaded most of her belongings at her dad's place.

“I won't tell a soul.” She buckled her seat belt. “I mean if word got out about how you helped Caroline no one would ever buy your I'm-­a-­surly-­jerk routine again.”

“You heard a helluva lot,” he muttered.

“Enough.” She slid the key into the ignition.

“Look,” he said, turning his head to face her. “A lot of ­people wouldn't agree with what I did. Testifying against my commanding officer. The marines are like a band of brothers. And I broke that bond. But if I hadn't said something, it would have been her word against Dustin's and he claimed he never touched her. My testimony proved otherwise and he changed his story to an affair, pretending she'd consented to sleep with him. And after all that, they expected her to go back and finish her term of ser­vice alongside some of the other guys who'd harassed her.”

“What?” she said. Seeing Caroline now, it was hard to believe anyone would march up to her and demand the she continue to serve. She wasn't sure Caroline should be allowed to have a weapon, never mind defend their country. “How could they?”

“The men we served with haven't done anything wrong. I watched her fight alongside these guys, driving them around and getting shot at, only to return to the base and become the butt of their jokes. In the beginning, she played along, trying to be one of the group. And I did too, laughing at some things that were pretty damn inappropriate. But over time, it crossed a line and turned into harassment.”

“She couldn't do anything?” She felt a large dose of outrage on behalf of the woman who'd pulled a gun on her earlier.

“Against a few good soldiers? That defense still holds a lot of weight, especially when you're talking about what looks like a grey area. Hell, the only way Caroline got anywhere with her rape case against our commanding officer was because I testified. And even then, Dustin was acquitted for rape. He received a dishonorable discharge for adultery. He was married at the time, and not to Caroline.”

“That's awful.”

“Yeah.” He turned his head and stared straight out the window. “But that's how it is. Being a marine doesn't make a man a hero. I served with plenty of good men and women who deserved the label for their actions. Take away the label—­soldier, sailor, Special Forces, whatever—­and put them in those same situations and they'd still be heroes.”

“You are too,” she said firmly.

“No, I just did my job, which sucked half the time because it turns out I like shooting at paper targets, not ­people. And I took a lot of shit for who I chose to defend.” He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “Planning to start this car anytime soon?”

She turned the key. The car sputtered and made a clicking noise. And then nothing. “Shoot.”

He opened one eye. “Is this toy going to get us there?”

“It's temperamental.” She turned the key and this time it worked. “See? Fine now.”

“Uh-­huh,” he murmured. “To be clear, I don't know how to fix this thing if it breaks down between here and Portland.”

“I do. As long as we don't need a new part. Dominic taught me. But nothing is going to happen today.” She glanced over at Noah as she reached the top of the drive. He'd already drifted off to sleep. The facial muscles he tried to force into a scowl instead of his breathtaking smile appeared relaxed.

He's so damn sexy when he sleeps.

“You're a good man,” she whispered as she turned out of his drive. “I know you are, Noah.”

N
OAH COULD HAVE
slept for a week. But they reached the brewery in a little over an hour. The owner and brewmaster had started the meeting with a solid “never,” as in Big Buck's would not sell the West Coast's hottest beer in this lifetime. But after talking to Josie and hearing her spout numbers as if she'd memorized his books for the last month, the owner had warmed to her suggestions.

Hell, maybe she had memorized the books and analyzed the numbers in her spare time. Back in high school, she'd earned a full ride to college. Noah knew they didn't hand those out lightly. He'd led his football team to state, but he'd never come close to four free years at a top-­tier university.

Part of him hated the fact that her education was derailed. She could have done a helluva lot more than win over the head of Oregon's trendiest brewery. But Noah wasn't about to complain. He'd spent years fighting to keep Big Buck's afloat. And Josie had turned the brewmaster's “never” into a one big “yes.” They wanted the new IPA all the college students drove over an hour to purchase because no one carried it in their area? Done. The pale ale too? Not a problem.

An hour later, he followed a triumphant Josie back to her Mini.

“You did a great job,” he said, climbing into her clown car. “Earned that assistant manager position and the right to work with any of the other local breweries directly from here on out.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I enjoy serving drinks, but taking meetings and negotiating? It feels great to go in there and win.”

And I'm so damn glad I could give that to you.

She put her car in reverse, her movements swift and self-­assured. Did she have a clue how her confidence spoke to the parts of his anatomy that had no business responding to his employee's victory? After all she'd been through, Josie hadn't lost her drive. This wasn't a woman who played the victim. She pushed through, fighting her way back.

I'm proud of you, Josie.

But hell, if he said those words she'd probably demand another raise.

“I'm planning to sleep on the drive back,” he said. And God help him if he started dreaming about her. He had a feeling his mind would head straight for inappropriate with the woman who'd just proven to be his most valuable employee.

“I won't bother you,” she promised. “But I have one question first.”

“Shoot.”

“Is there any reason Caroline can't work for you?” she asked.

“What?” he said.

“You need a dishwasher, especially on the busy nights. It wouldn't pay much. But it would be something,” she continued if he wasn't staring at her profile trying to figure out if he'd missed something. The nap on the way down had helped his sleep-­deprived mind. But after working and worrying twenty-­four/seven for five days, he needed a solid five or six hours before he felt fully functional.

“So any reason she can't join the Big Buck's team?” she asked, glancing at her blind spot as she merged onto the highway.

He grinned and shook his head. Yesterday, he'd told her he had a rule against dating his employees at the bar. And now she was asking . . .

His smiled widened. “You're fishing.”

After five long days of torturing himself with images of Caroline dead in the woods, or injured and alone, after six days of working with Josie, knowing she'd come to him for help after losing her child, and facing the fact that he still wanted her, she wished to know if he'd slept with Caroline. All the pain and mental torture of the past few days, all the hard facts, had been reduced to a question innocent seventh graders asked each other: Do you like her?

“Yes.” She glanced over at him.

“Thinking about taking me up on the offer to lick you clean?” he asked mildly.

She let out a laugh and then fell silent. Finally, she said, “I want to help Caroline.”

“So you're looking out for the woman who tried to shoot you earlier?”

The color faded from her cheeks. “She wasn't going to discharge her weapon.”

Probably not, but Caroline had still scared the hell out of him.

“You've been searching for her after work,” she said. “I know you want to help her.”

“I do,” he admitted. “And now that I've taken on more management, I'm thinking about relaxing some of the rules.”

“Oh,” she said. “Really?”

“Like maybe I could pay one very part-­time, temporary employee off the books and in cash.”

“That's not the rule I was talking about and you know it,” she said.

Yeah, he knew. But he couldn't resist the urge to tease her.

“Plus you paid me in cash out of the register that first night,” she added.

“I'm thinking about relaxing the other rules too.”

But not because Caroline showed up.

He leaned his head back, knowing he needed another combat nap or he'd fall asleep standing up at work tonight. He closed his eyes and prepared to drift off into a dream that might become a reality—­if he meant what he'd said about relaxing his rule. Sure, Dominic would still kick the shit out of him if he ever made his way back to Oregon. And after losing her baby, suffering a breakup with her asshole ex, Josie might be looking for a helluva lot more than Noah could deliver.

He frowned. She deserved a lot after all she'd been through. What had she said yesterday?
Look all you want, I don't fall for the good guys?
But he wasn't a saint. Not even close. If she accepted that, then maybe a night or two—­

“I just wanted to know if Caroline was part of your naked-­bull-­riding club,” Josie murmured. “If her membership might be current.”

“No. We were never involved,” he said without opening his eyes. “And for the record, sweetheart, you're the only member of that club.”