Part 22 (1/2)
Her laptop and American History text lay on the counter where she'd left them after finis.h.i.+ng her paper that was due tomorrow. He touched the book cover. ”So, the cla.s.ses going okay?”
”Yeah. I'm getting back into the groove and already decided I'm going to try going full time next semester.” She went about making coffee while Zack sat at the island bar. His gaze caressed her every move, heating her skin. ”It will be tough, but I also would like to get into med school before I'm forty.”
”I have faith in you.”
She looked at him and smiled, her heart swelling. ”I'm glad.”
”Bobby in bed, too?”
As the coffee brewed, she leaned against the sink. ”Yeah.”
His brow lowered as he studied her for a moment. ”Where'd you get that s.h.i.+rt? It obviously isn't new.”
Surely, he didn't remember it, did he? ”Where do you think?”
He shook his head and laughed, but it was choppy and short-lived. ”That's not the s.h.i.+rt I gave you for your eighteenth birthday, is it?”
Tracy turned and poured two mugs of coffee. After dumping four heaping spoonfuls of sugar into his and milk into hers, she headed for the island. With his brow furrowed and his kissable mouth twisting in puzzlement, he looked more handsome than any man had a right to. She took the stool next to him. ”Yes, it is.” Before he could comment, she asked, ”How did the questioning go?”
For a moment, Zack stared at her, then shook his head and picked up the steaming mug. ”As I expected. Brent and Jake denied everything. Dawn checked out their alibis tonight. Jake's appears to be watertight. He was in Waco last Friday with a girlfriend.” Zack glanced at her, as if he were waiting for a reaction.
Tracy didn't even blink at the news. ”How about Brent?”
”Colleen Stryker provided him with a story, too.”
”Johnny Blackwell's mother?”
”Yep.” Zack sipped from his cup. ”Brent was with Johnny Blackwell and his son Matt all night playing poker at Colleen's place.”
”d.a.m.n, I was hoping they were the culprits. If for no other reason, just to have the rustling stopped. Good people are being hurt badly by this.”
”I know.” Zack looked into his mug, his brow low over dull eyes.
Tracy lightly rubbed his shoulder and leaned forward for a better look of his face. ”What's wrong? Somehow, I don't think it's only the case bothering you.”
He met her gaze. ”Wyatt got a call this afternoon.”
She pulled back. ”My cousin?”
He nodded. ”Rachel was wounded today and airlifted to Germany. I don't know much more than that, but I know from personal experience only the seriously wounded get sent out that quick.”
The breath whooshed out of her and her hand flew to her mouth. ”Oh G.o.d, no. She came home just this past May. We went honky-tonk hopping one night, and she told me she was hoping this would be her last deployment.” She jumped off the stool, spun away from him and paced the tile floor. Her heart ached with the news of her cousin. Rachel McPherson had been one of her closest girlfriends after she moved to Texas. ”Dear Lord, how many more people, who shouldn't even be over there, will get hurt?”
”What do you mean?”
Halting in mid pace, she stared at him. Unable to stop the tears, she let them slide down her cheeks. ”You, Dylan, and now Rachel. She only joined the Army because Lance decided he wanted her sister instead of her. Dylan was over there because Leon forged Granddad's will and stole Oak Springs Ranch out from under him. And you...” She stepped closer and took a shaky breath. ”You were only there because ofof what happened between us.”
Zack's gut twisted when she covered her face. He got off the stool and pulled her to him. ”Shhh...”
He held her tightly against him as she sobbed into his neck. Her arms wound tightly around his waist, and he buried his nose into her hair at her temple. She was too tall for him to rest his chin on top of her head as he'd always done when he'd held Lisa. The thought of his dead wife brought him up short. He tried to ease out of the embrace, but Tracy clung to him tighter than before.
”I was so afraid, Zack, when I heard about you getting shot.”
She looked up at him with rivulets of tears running down her cheeks. Pain and fear reflected in the depths of her eyes and his heart twisted. Had she cared so much about him?
”Then the news came that you were in a coma and the docs weren't at all sure if you'd live. I prayed every day, every minute, that G.o.d would let you be okay.” Her lips twitched as if she was trying to smile, but never quite worked up the effort. ”I even made deals with Him.”
She shook her head and laid it on his shoulder. As she trembled in his arms, she held on to him so fiercely the shudders ricocheted through his own body.
”I know ifif things had been different, you wouldn't have joined the Marines. I'll never forgive myself for you enduring all that you did while over there. It was my fault, and I would have given up anything and everything...” She hiccoughed on a sob. ”I knew you could never be mine again, but the world would be a much darker place without you in it.”
Her confession and raw emotions rattled him. He rubbed her back and sucked in a breath, catching the light scent of flowers and honey. Tracy had always smelled this way. Her unique fragrance had haunted his dreams while he slept on the hard desert sand a half a world away.
”Aw, baby, I joined up because it was the right thing to do. As cliched as it sounds, I joined out of love for my country, not for any other reason.” He was surprised at how right that answer was. He couldn't blame Tracy's betrayal or Lisa's hatred of the rodeo any more.
Tracy looked up at him again with s.h.i.+mmery eyes. He stroked her wet cheeks, drying her tears with his thumbs. How many times had Lisa cried for him? But never had her tears ripped him apart as much as Tracy's did now. ”It may not have been the Marines, but I would've joined something after Nine-eleven.”
”Zack...I...”
Her voice trailed off, and she held him captive in her gaze. When she leaned in, he met her lips. He responded to her and caressed her upper lip with his tongue. She opened her mouth under his and they drank each other in. He needed her, wanted her.
She yanked his uniform s.h.i.+rt out of his pants and unb.u.t.toned it, all the while kissing him with desperate pa.s.sion. Her hands slid between them and up his chest. When her soft fingers found the sensitive buds of his nipples, he hissed and eased out of the kiss.
With a smile, she simply took his hand and led him upstairs to the master bedroom. He didn't protest the invitation, despite her son and his daughter sleeping down the hall.
As she locked the door, he shrugged out of the s.h.i.+rt and took stock of the dim room. Only a small lamp was lit on the dresser between the windows. His impression of the room was a mismatch, an indication that she hadn't done much redecorating after her step-uncle vacated the house. The walls and carpeting were masculine shades of tan and blue, while the bed was piled high with lacy white pillows and feminine floral linens.
Her turning to him to caress down his chest to stop on his belt had him forgetting everything but her. He'd taken off his service belt and locked it in the truck, which reminded him of the last time they'd been together and his feverish trip to the drugstore. ”Are you sure about this? I don't have any condoms on me.”
She swallowed and glanced away. ”I bought a box the other day after you were here to pick up Mandy. If you hadn't been so tired, I would've dragged you upstairs then. The only thing that stopped me from doing so anyway was the fact I didn't have condoms.” Her cheeks pinked slightly, and she shrugged as she slid the zipper down and pushed the pants and briefs over his hips. ”But now I do.” Her wicked smile was completely at odds with the soft blush. ”And I intend to use 'em.”
”Good, because I'm up for the challenge.” He leaned in and captured her lips again.
His pants tangled around his boots, and she pushed on his shoulders until he sat on the bed. She stood before him as he caressed her smooth, silky legs from her knees to her hips, lifting the hem of the old t-s.h.i.+rt to reveal plain blue cotton panties. No woman had ever fired his blood as she did, and though he hated to admit it, that was the real reason he hadn't sought someone else out after he'd recovered from his grief after Lisa died. The guilt he'd never get over.
He pulled the s.h.i.+rt over her head and dropped it to the floor. All thought evaporated from his overheating mind like rain on the hot pavement of Highway 6 in mid August. His mouth went dry and his groin ached with need. Cool air kissed her skin, tightening her nipples into hard raspberries ready for devouring. He pulled her to him and flicked his tongue over one of the points, while he plucked at the other with his fingers. With his other hand, he stroked up and down her spine.
She moaned, and he watched her long lashes veil darkened pewter eyes. He teased until she pulled back and knelt before him. After undoing the lacings of his work boots, she pulled them off, then tugged off his socks, and removed his pants. She slid between his legs, her fingertips scorching him on their slow trek up his legs to his groin. Antic.i.p.ation kicked his heart into high gear, as she closed her warm, smooth hand around his erection and gently stoked. He held his breath when she leaned in to place a kiss on the tip, then she slid her lips along the length. The feathery touch was blissfully excruciating.
She looked up at him. ”Remember the very first time I did this?”
His breath hissed out between clenched teeth, and his hands tangled in her hair when she took him completely into her hot, soft mouth. Fighting for control, he gasped for air and rasped, ”Yeah. You told me...it was my...Christmas present.” His head lolled, and he struggled with wanting her to continue and wanting her to stop. ”Tracy...d.a.m.n... It's too much. Stop, baby.”
She caressed his sac as she sucked him. Watching her was almost as hot as what she was doing to him.
”Tracy...I'm...” He groaned and was lost. Tightening the grasp on her hair, he held on and growled a curse as light exploded through him.