Private North (10 page)

He leaned toward me. “Yeah, the hometown hero who is going fucking nuts knowing that the most incredible girl on the planet is sitting across from him in a skin tight dress with no panties.” He smiled at me. “And the way she blushes just makes her that much hotter.”

Rocko returned with the wine. His weathered cheeks wrinkled as he grinned. “You know, Dalton, this girl reminds me a bit of my niece back in Italy.” His wink reminded me of Kris Kringle in the Christmas poem. Rocko walked away and I took Dalton’s hand again.

“I remind him of his niece,” I said pleadingly.

“So?”

“So, I’ll bet that his niece never sat in his restaurant without panties.”

Dalton laughed. He pressed my palm to his mouth. “All right.” He sighed disappointedly. “Go put them on.”

I picked up my purse.

“Besides, this prim, proper side of you is almost as big of a turn on as the wild side.”

I slid out of the booth and stared down at the floor as I walked through the dining room. I was sure that the blush in my cheeks was darker than the pink roses on each table. I dashed into the bathroom and pulled on my panties.

Feeling my old self again, I walked back out with my chin up. A framed newspaper article hung in the hallway, and I glanced quickly at it and then stopped. I stepped back in front of it. The article had been lovingly saved behind a piece of glass and oak frame. There was a picture at the bottom. Dalton was standing in his army uniform next to another soldier. There was a mischievous twinkle in the other guy’s eye that matched Dalton’s. Hesitantly, my eyes drifted down to the caption.
Private Dalton North and Private Bryce Colton, Baghdad, Iraq
. I began reading the article, not completely convinced that it was a good idea, but also not able to look away.

“It’s not easy to pull the pieces back together after losing your best friend. I left a piece of my soul back there,” Private Dalton North commented from his hospital bed where he has been recuperating from the fourth surgery to save his leg. It was his only comment. The young Private had lost muscle and bone fragment from his left leg when a nearby IED exploded. He’d been injured carrying his mortally wounded friend, Private Bryce Colton, to safety. Colton succumbed to his injuries on route to the medical facility. “Our lead vehicle had been hit. North jumped out and ran to save his friend without any concern for his own safety,” Private Tex Felton commented. “That kind of loyalty, that kind of bravery, sticks with you. North definitely earned our permanent respect that day. We’d all like to think we’d risk life and limb for a friend, but I don’t know how many of us would dive headlong into a field of explosives.” “Nothing about it surprises me,” Dalton’s father, Professor Thomas North, commented. “Dalton has always been the type of person who would do anything for the people he loves. He loved Bryce like a brother. They were inseparable growing up. My son’s unselfish act was not extraordinary. It’s who he is. That’s why people love him.”

My throat tightened as I ran my finger lightly over the picture of Dalton’s face. That’s what it was. It wasn’t just because he stole my breath away with his kisses and his touch. Dalton North was the kind of guy you could trust with your heart, your soul and your life.

“I thought you got lost,” his deep voice drifted down the narrow passage. He looked at me. “What’s wrong? You look upset.” And then he noticed the frame on the wall. “Jeez, does Rocko still have that article up?” He walked up next to me and looked at the picture.

“I think I would have really liked him. He looks full of mischief and humor.”

Dalton stared at the picture and his lip turned up. “Yeah, he was. We got into plenty of trouble together, but we always had fun.” His arm went around my back.

I turned to face him. The sadness I’d seen before in his handsome face had returned. I placed my palm against his cheek. He closed his eyes and pressed his face hard against my hand. I kissed him and he led me silently and with pain filled steps back to the table.

***

The dinner had been delicious and we’d spent half the time just looking at each other. We hadn’t needed suggestive comments to keep us completely hot and aroused. As hard as we’d concentrated on enjoying our meal, it was obvious that both of us only had an appetite for one thing.

The inside of the car was freezing. Dalton turned on the engine to start the heat. He pulled out of the restaurant parking lot. I leaned over to the driver’s seat and nibbled his ear lobe  as he tried to stay focused on the icy road. I sat back in my seat and reached up beneath my dress. My hands surfaced with my panties, and I dangled them on the end of my finger. “I think I’ve really confused my panties tonight.”

He laughed.

“There must be some dark, secluded place to park around here,” I said hopefully.

“Well, there’s always the old mill but then there was that incident out there—”

I dropped the panties. “What incident?”

“Oh, it was nothing really. People say it might just be a myth, but still—”

We’d turned onto a dark road. “What myth?”

“Hey, now that you’ve slid your panties off, there’s no turning back. We’ll just keep the doors locked.”

I scooted over closer to him. “What incident?”

“If you’re sure you want to know— the story goes that a crazy man lives in the woods around the old mill. The place shut down years ago, and the mill is in ruins. The guy was a fisherman with a hook on one arm. Lost it to a shark bite, supposedly. Two kids drove up there to make out, and just as the girl took off her bra, there was a scratching sound on the car door. She pleaded with her boyfriend not to go outside, but he wanted to make sure his car was all right. She heard a yell and her boyfriend disappeared. She drove down to the police station to get help, and when she got out of the car—” His eyes went wide with mock terror. “—there was a hook hanging on the door handle.”

I smacked his arm. “That’s the exact same story we used to tell at slumber parties. You could have at least mixed it up a little.” I reached for my panties. “But if you think it’s too dangerous, I could always slide these back on.”

He reached over and grabbed them from my hand and shoved them in the pocket of his jeans. “I’ll risk being skewered by a hook.” He turned the car into an empty lot that was surrounded by tall pines on one side and an abandoned building on the other. “I lied. Mill sounded more romantic. It’s actually an old mini mart that went out of business. I’ll leave the engine running for heat and music.” He scooted the seat back as far as it could go.

“That’s all right.” I reached over and unzipped his pants. “I just experienced an hour and a half of the hottest foreplay I’ve ever had in my life and you hardly touched me. I don’t think this will take long.”

He pushed his pants down, freeing himself from his jeans and making me instantly breathless. I unbuckled my seatbelt and got up on my knees. He pushed my dress up. “God, you are fucking beautiful.” His hand slid up the inside of my thigh.

I couldn’t wait any longer. I climbed over the console and straddled him. I leaned down and kissed him long and deep while his hands went around the back of my legs. His fingers found the slick moisture between my thighs. A cry caught in my throat. I had to hold back to keep from losing control with just the feel of his fingers on my hot flesh. “Did you come prepared my very sexy,” I rubbed against him, “very hard, boy scout?”

He reached into his pocket. “Do I earn another badge?”

I took the package from him and rolled down the condom. “Definitely.”

He took hold of my waist and lifted me up. I sighed with contentment as he pushed deep inside of me.

“I knew they should have let girls into those meetings.” His fingers roughly grabbed my bottom and we moved together in urgent rhythm.

I wrapped my arms around his head and pulled his face against my breasts as he slid in and out of me. “I can’t get enough of you,” I said breathlessly. My head felt light on my shoulders as his movements intensified. I clutched him harder inside of me as the spasms began and rolled through me in waves that made me nearly faint with ecstasy.

His hands tightened around my hips and he drove deeper and deeper. “Don’t ever leave me, Auggie. Please don’t ever leave.” And his head dropped back with a deep groan as he climaxed inside of me.

I collapsed into his arms and lowered my face to his shoulder. He reached up and his calloused fingertips ran along my cheek. “I mean it. I’m fucking tired of losing people I love.” I lifted my head and gazed down at him and blinked back tears. He took hold of my face. “Don’t ever leave me.”

Chapter 15

Once again, a light snowfall cascaded past the kitchen window. I poured myself some hot coffee and smiled as I listened to his uneven footsteps approach. His body warmed me like a heated blanket as he pressed up against me from behind. He leaned down and kissed my neck, and his mouth lingered on my skin until sharp footsteps forced him to pull away.

Professor North came around the corner of the kitchen. His mouth was drawn tight in a thin line and the hardness in his face sent a chill through me. “I have urgent business and phone calls to make so I have no time to make breakfast.” The tension surrounding him was palpable as he leaned past me to the coffee pot. He made none of his usual overtures or morning greetings and his unusual coldness led me to believe that he knew Dalton and I were more than just friends. A few days earlier I would have been embarrassed about it, but now I was so crazy about Dalton that Professor North’s opinion of me no longer mattered. I would finish the task he’d asked me to do and then return to my apartment. And I had every intention of inviting Dalton to join me for as long as he wanted to stay. Professor North shot an even harsher scowl at his son and then walked out of the kitchen.

I looked at Dalton questioningly.

He shrugged in response. “I’ve never seen him like this.”

“Is he mad about us?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No, I don’t think that would upset him like this.” He seemed to ponder what he’d just said. “At least I don’t think it would.”

“Well, I don’t need to anger him more, so I’m going back in to the office to work.” I looked back the direction that the professor had gone and then swung back around and kissed Dalton quickly.

“So, you’re just going to kiss me and leave?” he called to me as I headed to the hall.

I looked back and pressed my finger to my lips to shush him and then went to the office. Two minutes after I sat at the computer, I was not disappointed to hear his footsteps coming down the hall. I listened as his confident step was followed by a muffled, sliding sound, and I realized how familiar and thrilling the sound of his uneven gait had become to me. Dalton had wrapped himself around my heart, and now, all I could do was hope, against what seemed like some tough odds, that he would not break it.

I pretended to be occupied with work as he entered, but I stared at his reflection in the monitor.

“It’s really lonely out there without you.” He pulled up a chair and plopped down with a small moan.

“Did you use a heating pad last night?’ I asked.

“I don’t need any damn heating pad. I need you, lying naked and warm on top of me. Then all the pain goes away.” He scooted his chair close enough that he could touch me. I smiled.

“I need to get this work done or your dad will be even angrier.”

“Fuck him” he said. “It’s winter vacation. You shouldn’t be working.” He reached over and slipped his hand beneath my sweater. His fingers deftly found the strap on my bra, and he slid it down my shoulder, exposing my breast beneath the sweater. “What are you typing?”

“Nothing,” I sucked in a breath as his rough finger drew a sensuous trail around my nipple. “As you’ve probably noticed, my hands are now frozen over the keyboard,” I drew in another long breath as his finger teased the nipple, “because . . . all logical . . . thought processes have left my head.” His hand slid out of my sweater and found the heat between my legs. “Dalton, please,” I begged, wanting him to continue but knowing he should stop.

His hand pressed harder against me. “Please,” I said again.

He leaned over and kissed my ear. Then his tongue moved along my earlobe. “Keep pleading like that, Sugarplum. It is making me so damn hard, I’m about to take you right over there on the desk.”

Ethan’s approaching footsteps felt like a cold shower. Dalton leaned back but left his hand between my legs until just before his brother showed up in the doorway. I slumped down in my chair, closed my eyes and made a conscious effort to slow my pulse. Even with my eyes closed, I knew Dalton was sitting just inches away watching me and feeling the same disappointment.

“Dalton, you should leave her alone. She’s working” Ethan’s tone was as cold and distant as his dad’s.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t want her not to do your share too,” Dalton snapped back. “I mean, after all, you’ve let her do all of the fucking work by herself.”

“Dalton,” I said quietly. “I enjoy this work. I’m learning a lot.”

“I’ll let you work then,” he looked at me for a moment and then leaned over. “Tonight,” he whispered.

He left the room. Once I’d finally gained control of my thoughts, I returned to my task.

I heard Ethan shuffling around in the boxes but decided not to pay him much attention. Unfortunately, he had other plans. “I guess I misjudged you, Auggie.”

I did not look away from the computer, but my back went rigid with defensive anger. “Is that so?”

“You just seemed too smart to allow yourself to be taken in by his charms.”

He threw the insult at my back. I bit my tongue for all of a second before spinning around to face him.

“Charm?” I asked tersely. “Charm is a little girl playing hopscotch. Charm is an elderly gentleman holding a door open for you. Charm is a deer standing in a snowy forest nibbling tree bark.” I looked hard at him, and he twisted his mouth as if regretting his comment. “What Dalton has is not charm. That’s what you’ve convinced yourself he has just to make him sound shallow and easily forgotten. When Dalton North walks out of the room, all the energy in that room leaves with him. And you know it. There’s no way you could have been around him all your life and not known it.” I turned back around and blinked back the stupid tears that had threatened to spill onto my cheeks.

Ethan stood stock still and silent behind me as I picked up the next bag and began to enter the data. I startled when his phone rang but I remained focused on my work. Now, more than ever, I wanted to finish the job.

“Hey Roni,” He stepped into the hallway but I could still hear him.

I typed in the data for the next piece and made an effort not to eavesdrop, but his deep voice resonated in the empty hallway. “The mailman doesn’t come for a few more hours. Why don’t you just tell me what the gift is, Veronica?” He paused. “Fine.” Another pause. “No, I’m sorry. I’m not mad at you. There’s just some stuff happening here at the house. I’ll be sure to call you as soon as I get the package. Bye.”

He did not return to the office and I was relieved. If I could just take my mind off Dalton for awhile, I could plow through three or four boxes and be close to finished with the entire job.

***

Once again there was no invite to a warm lunch and no fragrance of good food beckoning from the kitchen. But I was definitely hungry. The house was quiet as I headed down the hallway and then I heard Professor North talking to someone in the kitchen. I turned around to head back to the office but then something he said caught my attention.

“I wasn’t ready for it today,” the professor said with a tone that bordered on frantic.

I stopped and felt a tinge of guilt as, once again, I found myself listening in on a private phone conversation.

“Yes, yes the stone post on the right side of the drive,” his voice broke as if someone was telling him of a death. “It is the only way to make it seem legitimate. I will just have to prepare myself mentally.” The conversation ended and I scurried on soft feet back down the hall to the office.

I walked over to the window seat and sat down. It had been a strange conversation, and I might not have thought much of it except for the fact that the professor had sounded as if he might have a break down at any moment. With less confident than usual footsteps, he walked past the office and closed his bedroom door shut sharply behind him.

I stared out the window and wondered where Dalton had spent the morning and then as if I’d conjured him just by thinking about him, he appeared. With the help of his walking stick, he plodded through the newly fallen snow back toward the house. I ran to my bedroom to freshen up and brush my hair and then I headed out to the kitchen.

The front door opened and my heart jumped like the silly school girl I’d tried so hard not to be. But my shoulders relaxed as Ethan walked in from the front porch. He double checked the clock on the wall. He’d acted nonchalant to Veronica on the phone, but obviously, he was waiting anxiously for her package.

I went into the kitchen and looked into the refrigerator as if I was looking for something to eat instead of waiting for Dalton to walk inside. Ethan grabbed the coffee pot, filled a cup and stuck it in the microwave to heat up. He didn’t say a word to me. I hated the angry tension between us.

The front door opened. He nearly filled the doorway with his broad shoulders and the second he looked at me, I felt instantly better. He shook the snow from his black hair and threw his coat on the rack next to his dad’s coat with the distinctive red tartan scarf draped around the collar.

“What’s for lunch? I’m starved,” Dalton asked, and the cold atmosphere in the kitchen melted with his smile.

Ethan glanced down at his wet army boots. “Where were you?”

“Hiked down to the main road and back to stretch my leg. Should I have gotten permission?”

Ethan didn’t answer him. He pulled his cup out of the microwave. “Did you happen to see the mailman while you were down there?”

Dalton looked at him. “Yeah, he should be at our mailbox right about now.”

Coffee spilled over the brim of the cup as Ethan slammed it on the counter. Dalton watched with curiosity as his brother raced to the coat rack and stopped. “Where the fuck is my coat?” He plucked his dad’s coat off the rack and raced out the front door.

Dalton turned to me. “What the heck was that about?”

I opened my mouth to confess my eavesdropping incident when Professor North stepped into the room. He was as pale as the snow outside, and his breathing seemed erratic. He glanced frantically around the room. “Was that Ethan’s voice I just heard?”

“Dad, what’s wrong. You look terrible.”

“Where the hell is Ethan?” he shouted.

Dalton stared dumbfounded at his dad. My heart raced with the sudden realization that something was horribly wrong.

“He just went out to get the mail,” Dalton said quietly.

Professor North’s face took on an unnatural color and I was sure he would collapse. But he raced toward the door and froze in front of the coat rack. “Where is my coat?”

Worry rolled off of Dalton in waves. “Ethan borrowed it to—”

A loud explosion outside shattered the tightly wound atmosphere. “Ethan!” Professor North yelled and ran out the front door. Dalton grabbed his stick and raced after him at a pace that had to be nothing short of torture. I followed, scared to death of what I might see once I reached the front porch.

Snow White, it was the first bizarre notion that popped into my head. Skin white as snow and lips red as blood. Ethan was sprawled in the snow and deep red blood had been splattered across the icy surface as if someone had wildly flailed a paintbrush filled with red paint. Professor North looked as if he had just woken in a horrific nightmare. He leaned over Ethan with his phone pressed to his ear. The entire wretched scene seemed to move in slow motion with the exception of Dalton. Using his stick like a ski pole to carry him along, he raced through the snow toward something or someone. As I ran toward Ethan and Professor North, I saw a flicker of movement in the trees below. It was a figure dressed head to toe in white to be camouflaged with the landscape, but his black gun was easy to spot.

I took a small breath of relief when Ethan’s arm moved. He wasn’t dead but he was badly hurt. A rich, red pool of blood formed under his side.

Professor North’s hands shook almost uncontrollably as he stuck the phone back in his pocket. “Help is on the way,” he said in a barely audible tone.

“What should I do, Thomas?”

He looked toward the road. “Call Dalton back. It’s dangerous.” It seemed like an odd worry at a time when his son laid bleeding to death in the snow, but I followed his request.

I stood and looked for Dalton. He’d dropped his walking stick, and the downhill steepness of the road hurled him with a speed that seemed faster than he could bear. And I was right. He fell painfully hard on the icy ground. The white figure was long gone. Dalton pushed to his feet and trudged back toward us. He leaned down and picked up his stick but rather than use it to move easier through the snow, he stepped off the road. He yelled out as he smashed the stick against the tree. It splintered into pieces.

Tears poured down my cheeks as I stooped beside Ethan. His skin had taken on a pale blue cast that resembled the piece of pottery he’d taught me about. Blood dripped freely from the gunshot wound in his side. Professor North looked close to catatonic as he sat in the snow staring at his son.

The tartan scarf lay across the snow like a great plaid snake. I balled it up and leaned over Ethan. “I’m going to press this against the wound,” I said softly. “I apologize if it hurts.” I got up on my knees, reached over Ethan, and pressed the scarf against the hole with all the strength I could muster with shaky hands. I looked over at Professor North. “How long will it take for the ambulance to get here?”

He looked at me in a daze as if I’d just asked a question in Latin.

“Twenty minutes, at least,” Dalton said. “We’ve got to move him from the snow. He’s going into shock. We need to get him warm. Auggie, move to the other side and keep pressure on that as I carry him to the porch. Dad,” he paused as he noticed his dad’s state of distress for the first time. “Dad, pull yourself together and go inside for blankets.”

Professor North peered up at Dalton, and it seemed, for a moment, that he would not be able to move. Then he pushed to his feet and lumbered across the yard to the house.

I hurried over to Ethan’s other side and held fast to the scarf. Dalton leaned down and scooped his brother into his arms. Ethan was nearly as tall and heavy as him, yet Dalton lifted him with ease. But the pain in his leg was clear on his face. I stumbled along next to him keeping pressure on the wound. He carried Ethan up the front steps and laid him gently on the blanket his dad had placed on the ground. I kept my hand in place as they bundled him in blankets. Ethan drifted in and out of consciousness.