Part 13 (1/2)
”My father.””You look a lot like your dad?””Yes.” There was no pleasure in his voice at the comparison.She'd never heard him mention his parents. ”Do you see him very often?””Never.””Is he still alive?””Yes.”Daniel's eyes burned with rage for a brief moment, but then it was gone. Nonetheless, it had been too poignant to mistake.”You don't get along?” she fished.”No.””Does he still live on the res?” Hotwire had told her once that Daniel had been raised on a reservation, but not why he'd left it.”No.”If he were anyone else, she'd be sure the short answers meant he didn't want to talk about it, but Daniel was laconic at the best of times. He was also blunt enough to tell her to mind her own business if she
asked him something he didn't want to answer.
”Where is he?”
”In prison.”
No wonder Daniel didn't like resembling his father.
”What about your mom?”
”She died before he went to prison.”
”I'm sorry.”
”I am, too. She was a gentle woman. Soft.”She stretched, pulling her T-s.h.i.+rt taut across her braless b.r.e.a.s.t.s, the nipples of which were still reacting tothe image of licking syrup from his naked torso. ”Unlike me.”
Daniel's grim expression turned s.e.xual in a heartbeat, just as she'd hoped it would. She rememberedwhat he'd said about her softness yesterday and wanted to refocus his mind and take the look of griefout of his eyes.
”You feel soft enough to me.”She grinned, feeling soft in a place she couldn't afford to tell him about. Her heart. ”I'm glad you think so.”
”Hashkeh Naabah.””What?””It's my true name among the Sioux.””What does it mean?””Angry Warrior.””Why?””I made no secret of the fact that as soon as I was old enough I would leave the reservation. The one way I knew I could do it was as a soldier, so I told everyone I was going to become one.””Why angry?””I have a hel-heck of a temper.”She smiled at how he stopped himself from swearing. She liked that he tried to around her. It was like an ongoing reminder he saw her as more woman than soldier. Not that she was a soldier anymore...at least that's what she kept telling herself. How well her attempt at transformation was working, she wasn't entirely sure.
After all, she'd armed herself just like the old days when she took Daniel into her dad's hiddenunderground room.”I've never seen you lose your temper.””That's because you didn't meet me until after I was a.s.signed under Master Sergeant Cordell.””He taught you to control your temper?””Yes. He knew about my dad and drilled self-control into me as an alternative to turning out like him.””Your dad has a bad temper?”
”Yes.”She wondered if that was why he'd ended up in prison, but didn't want to hurt Daniel by asking. ”MasterSergeant Cordell must be a pretty good trainer.”
”He is. He's the one that nicknamed me Nitro. I hated it at the time. It was a constant reminder I was like my dad. He meant it to be. He pushed my temper every chance he got until I could control my anger in the most provoking circ.u.mstances he could imagine, and he had a pretty good imagination.”
Josie read between the lines to the torment Daniel must have endured to learn his immovable self-controland shuddered. ”I'm not sure I'd like this master sergeant.””You will.””You expect me to meet him?””I want you to.””Why?”
”He's a friend.””Where does he live?””He retired to Tillamook.””Is that why you wanted to buy in to my dad's training school? So you could be near him more often?””That was one reason.”She knew the other already. Daniel wasn't ready to get out of the business, even though Wolf and Hotwire had been. He'd turned down their offer of partners.h.i.+p in the security consulting venture in order
to go into soldier training with her dad.
Not wanting to dwell on his inability to move on from the paramilitary life, she said, ”My mom used to call me Josie-bear.”
One corner of his mouth tilted, and his brown eyes warmed. ”Is that your secret name?”
She nodded gravely. ”I don't bandy it about.”
”I can see why.”
”You think it's too kidish, or that it doesn't fit?” she asked archly, never having been flirtatious in her
whole life. ”Don't you find me huggable?”
”The name fits you perfectly, but you're safer not advertising how cuddly you are. Other men might get
the wrong idea.”
”You mean that they can cuddle me?”
”They can't.” He was back to looking fierce.
”You're pretty possessive for a guy who sees me as nothing more than an obsession.”
”You're my obsession.” But he didn't deny that's all she was to him.