Las Vegas Sidewinders: Drake (Book 2) (10 page)

Placing a gentle kiss
on her knee, he swiped at his eyes, fighting emotions he couldn’t quite
articulate. Thinking about how her body had become this scarred gutted him; he
didn’t know if he would have been able to come as far as she had if he’d been
the one who’d been hurt. All he could think about was taking this pain from
her, and he’d never felt like that before. He’d thought showing her his
acceptance of her body would be good for her; it never occurred to him it would
change him too.

As he continued down
her leg, he found the marbled hyperpigmentation wasn’t too bad on her calf,
light brown and faded compared to the burns on her thigh. He ran his hands
along the skin, his fingertips tracing lines along the marks as he wondered how
she was feeling. Did she have any idea how much her broken body moved him?
Knowing this had happened to her because she was proud enough to fight for her
country meant more to him than he could express. He played sports for a living
and complained when he pulled a muscle; he didn’t even deserve to share the
same air as someone like Erin.

“Isn’t it terrible?”
she whispered, startling him.

He shook his head
abruptly, blinking up at her. The emotion running through him made it hard to
talk and he licked his lips as he struggled to come up with an answer.

“Are you…okay?” Her
eyes met his in surprise, her fingers traveling to his face.

“I’m, uh, I’m just…” He
had to swallow before he could find his voice. “I’m sorry. I can’t even imagine
how much this must have hurt, or how much you suffered.” He slid his hands up
to her waist, pulling her closer. “I hurt for you, Erin. I don’t think it’s
ugly at all; I think it’s a badge of honor.”

Tears puddled in her
eyes as she stared at the amazing human being on the bed with her. She reached
for him, her hands shaking slightly as he pulled her into his arms. “I don’t
want you to hurt,” she whispered. “I already hurt enough for both of us—I want
you to make me feel alive again. I don’t feel better knowing I made you hurt
too.”

“I know, baby.” He
kissed the side of her face, letting her curl into his body, resting her head
in the crook of his shoulder. They fit together perfectly and he felt the
misery draining out of him.

“Please don’t hurt for
me, Drake.” A tear slid down her cheek and she swiped at it with the back of
her hand.

He stroked her back.
“I’m okay. I just can’t believe how much you’ve been through, and how much
you’ve endured. You make me ashamed that I’m just an athlete.”

Her head snapped up and
she looked at him in surprise. “What happened to me didn’t happen because of
you—or anyone, really. It happened because there are bad people in the world.
That doesn’t make what you do frivolous.”

“But you put yourself
in the line of fire. You make the sacrifice so that I can play hockey and drive
a nice car and take lavish vacations! Meanwhile, you’re in debt and dealing
with injuries I can’t even imagine. It seems like I, or people like me, should
do more.”

“You are doing it,” she
smiled faintly. “You’re here with me, making me forget about all that. When you
make love to me, Drake, I forget all about my burns and Afghanistan and everything.
You make me happy just the way you are—I don’t want you to feel guilty. I want
you to keep on being you, because I really like you a lot.”

“I like you a lot too.”
He rolled onto his back and pulled her on top of him. “And I’d like to show you
how much.”

She gave him a sweet
smile. “That’s exactly what I was hoping you’d say.”

Sitting at her desk,
several monitors open in front of her, Erin was deep in concentration when she
heard her phone buzz, indicating another text. She’d heard it beep earlier but
she’d been too busy to reach for it. It had buzzed multiple times over the last
hour, and she finally fumbled under the piles of files on her desk to look at
it. The newest text was from Drake, but as she thumbed through, she found
several texts: one from Jan and one from Clay. Uh-oh. This couldn’t be good.

Deciding this would be
a good time to take a break, she got up and walked towards the break room,
punching in Jan’s number.

“Erin! So good to hear
from you.” Jan sounded breathless.

“Is everything okay?”

“Clay and his lawyer
are going to try to get you to agree to split Shay’s life insurance or stop
paying for your father’s care. I wanted to warn you.”

Erin sighed. “I’m not
giving it up. He wanted me to have it, dammit.”

“Clay might relent if
you let him have the dog tags.”

“Not a snowflake’s
chance in hell!” she barked. “I’m sorry, Jan. I know he’s your son too, but
I’ve suffered enough. He’s not getting the dog tags, and he’s not getting the
money. Shay was under no duress to make me his beneficiary—I didn’t even know
about it. And frankly, I need the money more than he does.”

“I know, dear.” Jan
sighed too. “I’m just worried that Clay will file to stop the payments to the
nursing home, but I suppose you know that. So, how are you? Do you have plans
for Christmas?”

“I’ll be working. I
took all my leave in October and November to have that last surgery, so I’ll be
here.”

“What about Kate? Will
she be with you?”

“I don’t know. Her
mother has been unhappy that she hasn’t been home to visit in over a year
because of taking care of me, so I told her she should go home.”

“Erin, I don’t think
spending Christmas alone will be healthy for you.”

“I have to work, so
I’ll be on a shift with other people, and Liv might fly in. If I had the damn
life insurance money I could pay for it, but right now, I’m just keeping my
head above water.”

“Erin, dear, forgive
me—you know I love you—but why are you so broke? You’re a Captain, so you must
make a decent salary. Clay is paying for your father’s care and we put a decent
chunk down on your townhouse. Where is your money going?”

“I’ve seen dozens of
doctors that are not military—they don’t pay for most of the cosmetic stuff.
Plus Clay kept everything in the house. I had to charge all the appliances, a
bed, a couch, dishes…”

“Goodness, he kept
everything?” Jan seemed confused. “But he told us he gave you that stuff.
That’s why he bought all new things. I went shopping with him.”

“He lied.” Erin sighed.
“Jan, I’m sorry. I’m not going to play games and try to make you like me more
than your son, but he’s not a nice guy. He’s mean, he lies, and he manipulates
people. It’s part of why he’s a good lawyer. Unfortunately, he’s not a very
nice man. That’s why Shay left me his money and his dog tags. He realized that
something was off with Clay—he was actually going to talk to you about it when
we got back. He thought Clay may have some sort of bipolar disorder or
something.”

There was silence for a
few moments and finally Jan coughed lightly. “Actually, he did mention it to me
before he died, and Clay was diagnosed last year. That’s partly why he backed
down during the divorce—I threatened to tell his bosses that he was unstable.
It was the only way I could protect you and I knew Shay would have wanted me
to.”

“I’m sorry you’re in
the middle, but I’ll be okay. I appreciate your support, and I miss you.”

“What about dinner next
weekend?” Jan asked. “We’ll go somewhere nice and catch up. I can’t wait to see
the results of the last surgery.”

“That would be nice.”
They made arrangements and ended the call. She texted Kate next.

What’s up?

Are you working?

Of course.

So I’m in Vegas working
with my client on the hockey team here. I saw Drake at a charity event—with a
woman!

What?!

He told me they were
just friends, but I thought you should know. You need to work harder at this,
girlfriend—or you’re going to lose him.

Ugh. Gotta get back to
work—thanks.

Erin walked back to her
desk feeling depressed. It had only been two weeks and he was already dating
other women? They talked and texted every day, but he hadn’t said anything
about a date or a charity event. Feeling annoyed, she hit the speed dial for
his number on her phone.

“Hi!” He answered on
the first ring. “I texted you a little while ago.”

“Because you knew Kate
would tell me about the woman you were with?”

He paused. “No, because
I wanted to talk to you. I told her, and I’ll tell you, Lisa and I are just
friends. We’ve known each other since high school. She just happens to live in
Vegas now, and once in a while, when I need a date to keep the gold diggers
away, she goes with me to a function. We have never slept together, nor are we
dating. I’ll give you her phone number and you can ask her yourself.”

Erin sighed, feeling
foolish. “I’m sorry. But you had to know Kate would tell me, especially if
she’s pretty. Is she pretty?”

“Not as pretty as you.”

“That’s not what I
asked.”

He sighed too. “Yes,
she’s very attractive. Green-eyed redhead with big tits and great legs. She’s
also been divorced twice and has sworn off men. However, she does enjoy hanging
out with me on occasion, and like I said, we’ve known each other since we were
14. I wasn’t interested in her then, and I’m not now.”

“Okay.” Erin spoke
quietly. She had to trust him, didn’t she?

“So, are we going to
have a conversation or are you still going to doubt me?” He was feeling annoyed
too. He’d never given her any reason not to trust him, and though they hadn’t
discussed being exclusive, she was the one who’d said they had to go slow.
There were women available to him any time he wanted, and he hadn’t so much as
looked at anyone, but of course the one time he made plans with a friend he got
caught, and by one of Erin’s best friends to boot.

“I’m sorry,” she said.
“I told you I wasn’t good at relationships!”

“We’re going to have to
work on that,” he said after a moment, trying to lighten the mood. He didn’t
want to upset her. She was healing well and so far things had been good between
them. Even if their relationship didn’t work out, the last thing he ever wanted
to do was cause her distress after everything she’d been through.

“So Dickhead is going
to try to trade the life insurance policy for my father’s care,” she said,
changing the subject.

“What!?!”

“His mom called me
tonight. She thinks I can bargain him out of it by giving him Shay’s dog tags,
but one of the last things Shay said to me was that he wanted me to have them.”

“You know that they’re
nothing more than glorified ID cards.” He spoke gently. “Your memories of Shay
are in your heart, your mind and in all the pictures and stuff you have. I know
you have everything from his bunk in Afghanistan, and you’ve shown me both
video and pictures on your phone. Why not give him the tags and get your
money?”

“You’re right, of
course,” she admitted. “I just hate to go against Shay’s wishes.”

“His wishes, if I’m
reading him correctly, were for you to be happy. I’m sure he’d rather you have
the money than the dog tags.”

“Probably.” She pursed
her lips.

“At some point, you
need to cut your losses. The money and your father’s care are more important
than those dog tags.”

“I know. We don’t go
before the judge again until after the holidays… I think I’ll let him stew
until then.”

Drake chuckled. “Okay.”

“So, what are you doing
for Christmas? Will you fly to Chicago for your two days off?”

“Unless I get a better
offer,” he teased.

“It’s a four-hour
flight and a three-hour time difference,” she said. “I have to work Christmas
Eve, although I have Christmas Day off.”

“So I could try to get
a red-eye the night before, after the game, or a really early flight on
Christmas Eve.”

“It’s going to cost a
fortune,” she protested.

He laughed. “I make
plenty of money, you know!”

“Actually,” she paused.
“I have no idea how much you make.”

“I have a three-year
deal for $10 million that’s public record, just so you know. I have a roommate
and a car payment. My expenses are stupidly low. I can afford a plane ticket on
Christmas Eve so I can see my girl.”

“Really?” Her voice
grew breathy with excitement. “You would come for one day?”

“I would come just to
have lunch and then turn around and go right back if I had to.”

“That would be the best
Christmas present ever.”

“I’ll call you back!”
He hung up and immediately called his travel agent. This was going to happen if
he had to walk to Washington!

Christmas Eve was a
chilly, overcast day but Erin was grinning as she drove into work. Drake was on
a 5:30 a.m. flight, arriving in D.C. this afternoon. She’d worked extra hours on
Sunday so that she could leave early to pick him up at the airport, and by
early afternoon she was walking onto the elevator. Pulling her scarf around her
neck, she exited the building and headed to her car. She paused as she rounded
the corner, immediately noticing the man standing by her car.

Despite her issues
since coming back from Afghanistan, she was still a trained soldier and her
instincts kicked in. Slowing down, she looked around to see if anyone else was
in the lot, and found it regrettably empty. She dug her phone out of her purse
and immediately called back into the building.

“Colonel?” She spoke to
the commander that had still been in his office when she left.

“What’s up, Captain?”
He was the new commander in the department and they didn’t really know each
other very well yet.

“There’s someone I
don’t recognize in a long black coat standing by my car,” she said. “Could you
call the gate and find out if a civilian was allowed in?”

“Stay where you are!”
he said sharply, putting her on hold.

Staying in the shadows
of the building, she watched the man pace restlessly, looking at his watch in a
motion that was vaguely familiar. She frowned, waiting impatiently for Colonel
Nicoletti to get back on the line.

“Hey, Erin?” His voice
sounded odd.

“Do they know who it
is?” she asked.

“Your husband?” He
sounded confused.

“My
ex
-husband!”
she snapped, irritated. “Sorry to have bothered you—I’ll deal with him.”

“You want me to come
down? You okay alone with him?”

“I might have burns,
but I can still kick his ass!” she muttered.

He laughed. “I’ll turn
on the security cameras on my monitor,” he said. “Just in case.”

“Thank you.” She hung
up and walked quickly in Clay’s direction.

He turned as she
approached, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked her over.

“What are you doing
here, Clay?” she asked abruptly.

“Well, hello to you
too.”

“We’re no longer
married,” she said. “You have no right to come on base.”

“Everyone here knows
me,” he waved his hand flippantly. “It’s not like it’s a big deal.”

“It
is
a big
deal,” she snapped. “There’s a little thing called security. This is a military
base.”

“Don’t get your
feathers ruffled,” he looked at her more closely. “Your face looks great. The
new surgeon did a good job.”

“Thanks.” She folded
her arms. “What do you want?”

“I wanted to see you.”

“How did you know I
would be out here now?”

“Mom told me.” He
looked almost sheepish. “She said you were leaving early and if I wanted to
talk to you I had to do it now because I guess you’ve got plans for the
holiday.”

“For the third time,
what do you want?” Erin had to force herself not to look at the time on her
phone.

“Geez, relax. It’s me,
okay?”

“
You
are an
asshole,” she said frankly. “So say whatever it is and let me go.”

His eyes narrowed.
“You’re quite the little bitch since you came back from Afghanistan.”

“You’ve got 10 seconds
before I motion security. Guys in my office were alerted you were here as soon
as I got into the parking lot.”

He gazed at her. “How
come you were never this feisty when we were married?” he asked with a smirk.
“I might not have divorced you.”