Still (3 page)

They laughed and Wyatt had to keep from drooling once they entered the area of the canteen where the civilian food was served. Wyatt found himself suddenly starved for fresh produce and he ordered an enormous chef salad in addition to his pizza. Following Aaron through the maze of crowded tables, Wyatt was hailed by some of the men in the room that he knew. It seemed like everywhere he turned there was a face he remembered and something in his heart eased a bit to know they were still alive.

After chowing down half the salad he paused and looked up at Aaron, ready for his friend to start briefing him about the base. Before he could say anything a hint of gold caught his eye. His world stopped and his focus narrowed on the exquisite face of the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

Her pale blonde hair was pulled back into a tight bun no different than the look worn by the rest of the women on the base, but a strand had escaped and curled against her cheek. A bit of softness in the harsh, unforgiving desert. She was tall, probably a few inches shorter than his six foot height and, even in the baggy utilities, her legs seemed to go on forever. She turned from where she’d been talking to her friend and his heart thudded. A smile still curved her full pink lips, revealing straight white teeth that must have been some dentist’s pride and joy. His gaze traveled upwards, taking in a pert nose and high cheekbones, before reaching the bluest eyes he’d ever seen.

She raised her eyebrows and gave him a look that was like a mental slap upside his head. Clearly, she’d seen the way he’d been staring at her. Embarrassment flooded him when he realized she’d caught him gawking like some dumb boot. Still, he couldn’t look away as he gazed into her bluer than blue eyes. They were the color of the sky, but not the sky here. Something about the desert seemed to fade out the sky in Afghanistan until it seemed almost insubstantial. Her eyes were the color of the sky on a perfectly clear fall day back in Texas.

Something in her expression shifted and her look turned from ‘don’t even think about it’ to a more predatory gleam like that of a lioness looking down from her sun-warmed rock. Jesus Christ, his brain must have been roasted in his helmet because he knew better than to stare at a female like he wanted to fuck her. Especially a complete stranger at his new base, not to mention an officer.

He quickly looked away and busied himself with shoving food into his mouth. When he looked up again she was gone, but Aaron was grinning at him.

“So terribly sad. Another fool falls hard – helpless victim to the charms of our esteemed Lieutenant Sapphire.”

“What?”

“That officer you were drooling all over? The tall blonde that has you blushing like a pretty little school girl? That’s Lieutenant Sapphire.”

“Fuck you,” Wyatt grumbled in a low voice. “I wasn’t staring at her.”

“Yeah, right. You’ve loved blondes since we went to junior high together. If I remember right, your first girlfriend was the fair-haired Mary Olsen.”

He looked up at his buddy with a grin. “Ah yes, Mary Olsen. The girl who taught me how to french kiss.” Laughing, Wyatt leaned back. “Come on, man, you know me better than that. I always toe the line when it comes to the females, especially ones that outrank me.”

“Good, ‘cause I need you to keep an eye on her.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s a damn fine doctor.” Aaron lowered his voice and leaned closer. “And she’s the daughter of Senator Sapphire from Illinois who's chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Defense. Not to mention her granddaddy was also a Senator and a General in the Army during World War II.”

“Huh. What the fuck is she doing over here in this shit hole? PR for daddy?”

“Not as far as I can tell. She mostly keeps to herself and doesn’t talk at all about her family.” Aaron shrugged. “Sapphire can be a royal bitch, but she is one of the best doctors I’ve ever seen. She’s brought men of mine back from the dead, I swear to God…but she’s a bit hard to work with.”

Wyatt groaned. “What the fuck are you saddling me with? If anything happens to her you know my ass will be on the line.”

“It’s not that bad. You just have to do things her way and you’re good to go. Some of the surgeons don’t like her because she questions them on some of their medical decisions. But thing is, she’s always right. Some of the male surgeons don’t give a fuck if she’s right or wrong, the fact that she even questions them puts their panties in a bunch. They think they’re god’s gift, so to have a woman call them on their shit really pisses them off. It also doesn’t help that ass kissing doesn’t get anywhere with her. I’ve seen more than one ‘god’s gift to women’ doctor slink away with his tail between his legs.” He listlessly picked at his food. “Just keep an eye on her, help her out when you can. Develop a professional relationship with her and let her know she can count on you. And I do mean professional; don’t give anyone anything to use against either you or her.”

“So you’re basically assigning me to be her bitch?”

Aaron kicked at him under the table. “Be your usual charming self and everything should be fine.”

Two Months Later

Stepping over to the side, Wyatt tried to not see the blood stains on the floor from where the last man had been brought in. A Marine transport vehicle had hit an IED, and then, when the corpsman went to help the injured, snipers had opened up from the hills around them. It had been a total Charlie Foxtrot. They’d gotten five of the guys here and he didn’t think most of them were going to make it.

They’d lost too much blood. When someone bled out it always shocked him just how much liquid the human body holds. Enough to fill this hallway and he could only imagine what the OR looked like. His stomach tightened and he tried not to breathe through his nose, hating the metallic, wet iron smell of fresh blood.

He passed someone in scrubs cleaning up the still red splashes, and he had to steel himself against the rush of empathy that tempted him to really think about those men who had just died. These were not faceless Marines, but someone’s son, husband, brother, father. Gritting his teeth he forced himself to bottle everything up and went in search of Lieutenant Sapphire. He had a package of much needed meds that had just arrived, and he knew she’d want them right away.

He stopped close to the entrance to the women’s dressing room where Sapphire would probably be cleaning up right now. She’d been in the thick of the action, frantically working to keep the men alive long enough for transfusions and surgery. He’d been one of the people who'd helped bring in the wounded from the helicopter landing area and knew exactly what she’d been through.

Hopefully, this package would cheer her up. If that didn’t work, he’d reveal that his Mom had sent him more chocolate chip cookies.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but when Michelle came out of the dressing room looking as perfect as ever, he noticed right away that something was very wrong.

He took a step forward. “Lieutenant I have the meds you requested.”

She walked right past him, her jaw clenched hard enough that he could see the strain from the muscles extending down into her neck. Alarm bells went off in his head and he quietly followed her outside. She paused as the sun hit her and he hoped that might snap her out of it, but she just looked away and made a straight, stiff b-line for a supply tent.

The young boot guarding the tent said something to Sapphire and she briskly nodded her head once in return. As soon as she was inside he came up to the young Marine still standing guard.

“Hilbert, no one comes into this tent until Lieutenant Sapphire comes out. Got it?”

Something about Michelle must have worried the boot because he nodded with a grim look. “Don’t worry, Gunny, the lieutenant will have her privacy while she looks for supplies.”

Giving the kid a nod he moved into the stuffy interior of the tent. Boxes of medical supplies were stacked almost to the ceiling, forming walls like a maze. He walked through the boxes until he found her.

She stood stock still, almost like a statue, and stared at one of the boxes. A fine tremor ran through her and he mentally cursed. Something had happened with those men today that had hit her on a personal level. He’d seen it before. Someone who looked like your best friend, or your wife, or your brother would get hurt and the shit would get real personal real quick. It was funny how the mind could so easily imagine terrible things.

“Hey, Sapphire, your meds came in.”

She quickly turned on him, her lovely lips drawing back from her teeth in a snarl. “Get the fuck out of here!”

Narrowing his eyes, he stood his ground. “Fuck you, Sapphire, I ain’t going anywhere.”

He took a step closer and she trembled. God dammit. If she was a guy he’d have no trouble calling her out and giving her a chance to work off the stress and adrenalin in the fight ring. But she was a female, soft and vulnerable. He could never hit her.

To his shock, she slapped him across the face. “Get out!”

His cheek stung and he saw her brace in preparation to throw a punch and he immediately dropped the package and caught her upraised hand. When she moved to strike with her free hand, using the hand he held as leverage, he spun her around and held her tight against his chest. She struggled against his restraint, her strength surprising him. The fact that she wasn’t screaming for help or doing anything to attract attention let him know how out of it she really was. He’d never seen Michelle like this. She was always the ice queen, cool and collected, but this hell cat in his arms was spitting fire.

“You better fucking let me go, Callahan.”

She tried to kick his shin and he took her to the ground. There was no fucking way he was going to let her use him like a punching bag. He kept his weight on her, giving her something to fight against, to let loose her rage. She bucked and writhed beneath him, panting, not saying anything other than an almost constant stream of cursing him out under her breath. After about a minute of this she began to tire and stopped cursing, instead, panting as she pushed listlessly at his arms.

“It’s okay, Sapphire. I’ve got you. Let it out. You’re only human. If you keep that shit bottled up, it'll destroy you from the inside out and you'll be no good to anyone, not your patients, not even yourself. I’ve seen it happen to many good men, killin' them a little bit at a time. Let it go, darlin'.”

Finally, she began to settle, then stilled. A moment later the first wrenching sob came and his heart ached at the utter misery of her cry. He rolled to the side and managed to get them both up. The moment they were standing, he let her go and her legs buckled almost sending her to the floor before he had a chance to grab her. Her weight fell against his body and he held her as tight and close as he could, letting her use him for comfort. It killed him to see her like this. After she’d soaked his shirt with her tears, she began to take those hitching breaths that usually signaled the end of a hard cry.

The strength began to return to her body, and as it did, he lessened his hold until it was more of an embrace than a hug. Michelle must have noticed a difference as well, because she slowly slid her arms down from around his neck, her fingertips trailing over his banging pulse, and down to his collar. She stepped away, and he was grateful because he was getting an erection and didn’t want her to see it. She’d trusted him to comfort her like a friend, something he’d done for countless numbers of his men over the years. Many of those confrontations had ended with the Marine breaking down as Wyatt gave him a hug, but it had never ended with lightning sparking through his blood.

Fuck, she’d been so soft, so warm against him. Her hair smelled like peaches and vanilla, an entirely too edible scent that made him think about the soft, peach-like cleft between a woman’s legs, hot and wet for him to eat. It had been a long time since he’d had the simple pleasure of a woman’s body in his arms and he missed it.

Straightening her uniform and blotting the tears off her face, Michelle refused to look at him. He watched as she slowly rebuilt the defensive walls that would protect herself from the soul-killing hell that was daily life here in the sandbox. He cleared his throat but his voice still came out rough. “Lieutenant mind telling me what set you off? I’m askin' 'cause I want to make sure if you’re faced with something like that again, I’ll know in advance.”

“This won’t happen again.”

He wanted to kick her in the ass for being so stubborn. “You’re not a robot, Sapphire. Regardless of if it will or won’t happen, I don’t want to have to go around worrying about you.”

She cut her gaze to him, raw emotion battling with her aura of cool disdain. “You worry about me?”

“Well, not like I’m your fucking mother or anything, but yeah. You keep my men alive, and take care of everyone around you. I’ve got to make sure that you take care of yourself as well.”

She looked away and spoke quickly, so fast he had a problem making out the words. “He looked like a man I used to know. Owen. He had the same freckles over his nose and deep auburn hair.”

“Good enough. If any gingers come through I’ll make sure to shave 'em bald before you see them. Then you can just think of Doctor Evil.”

Closing her eyes, she shook her head. “Callahan, I swear your mother drank when she was pregnant with you.”

“That’s a good possibility. I was conceived after a Pink Floyd concert.”

Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and turned the full force of her gaze on him. The icy shields guarding her heart were fully back in place and once again he was confronted by a woman who seemed to radiate control and power. But now he knew about the fire hidden beneath that icy surface, and he found the contrast almost impossible to resist.

He was so fucked.

“You had some meds for me?”

“Oh, yeah.”

He bent down and fumbled for the bag where he’d tossed it and swore he heard Sapphire give a little moan of appreciation. Trying to keep a straight face while he mentally attempted to get his semi-hard cock to stand down, he handed her the bag.