Serving the Soldier - Part 1 (An Alpha Military Romance) (4 page)

“You in there, Angie?”

I startled, realizing that I was holding a spoonful of stew over my bowl. I straightened my shoulders and glanced at Jax, and then at Michael. “Sorry, just daydreaming.”

“About me?” Michael grinned.

I tried to prevent the smile from lifting the corners of my lips but failed. Great. A charmer on one side and a noncompliant and hot, sexy patient on the other. “Nope,” I said, lifting the spoon to my lips. I realized that both of the guys had nearly devoured their stew already. I swallowed and made to rise. “You guys up for seconds?”

“I am,” Michael said, lifting his bowl toward me.

Jax shook his head, staring at his friend. “I know you just didn’t come by to check out my new nurse or to snag a free meal. So what’s up?”

Michael glanced at me and then back at Jax, gesturing slightly with his chin. “Maybe we ought to take this into your office.”

Jax leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “Angie’s going to be living with me full time for a while. If it involves me, this house, or the property surrounding it, I figure she has as much a right to know as I do.”

Michael thought about it for a moment and then slowly nodded. “Okay then, I’ll just spit it out.”

He glanced at me, lifting an eyebrow. “I hope you’re not high-strung.”

I stared at him a moment with a lifted eyebrow. “I’m a nurse. There’s not much that rattles me.” I glanced quickly at Jax and saw the expression on his face. “Don’t even think it,” I warned, narrowing my eyes at him.

Michael glanced between a grinning Jax and me and then shook his head. “I don’t even want to know.” Then he grew serious, placed his spoon back in the bowl and put it down on the table, seconds forgotten.

“You asked me about the guys,” Michael said, watching Jax.

Jax nodded. “And?”

“Well, I haven’t told you about Benz.”

Like Michael, Jax placed his spoon beside his bowl, apparently finished. “What about him?”

“Well, he headed off to California when we got back. To visit his family.”

“And?”

“And after he’d been gone for a few days and we hadn’t heard anything, Gaithers called him to ask how long he was staying.” Michael paused a moment, frowning. “Benz didn’t answer the two calls or the voicemail that Gaithers left him. The next day, Gaithers called Benz’ parents.” Michael paused again, fingering his spoon before he looked up at Jax. “His parents haven’t heard from him.”

I glanced between Michael and Jax, sensing the sudden tension. Jax frowned. He had just opened his mouth to ask a question when Michael continued. “Needless to say, we did some digging. He was supposed to get on a plane a couple of days after we got stateside, but none of us could find a plane ticket in his name.”

“What the hell?” Jax muttered.

“I went by his place the next day. His car was still in the garage, all his stuff still there.”

Jax swore. “Why haven’t I heard anything about this before now?” he demanded.

Michael gestured at him. “Jax, you were in surgery, then recuperating, and you just got home. There’s nothing you could have done. The guys and I are on it.”

“Done about what?” Jax asked, leaning slightly forward now.

“Jax, Benz is dead.”

I sat stunned, and I could only imagine how Jax felt. I assumed that Benz was part of his squadron. Jax frowned, but I saw the wince that briefly twisted his features.

“How? When?”

“Not sure about the when, but we do know the how. Long story short, we finally found him up in an old family cabin in the Virginia woods—”

“Virginia?” Jax exclaimed. “How did he end up there when he was headed to California?”

“We’re still working that out,” Michael explained.

Jax said nothing, but glanced at me before returning his gaze to Michael. “What happened to him?”

Michael lifted a hand, palm out, stopping the question. “I’ll save that for later. There’s more.” He paused a moment, glanced at me uncertainly, and then with a nod from Jax, continued. “Just last week, Benning was poisoned. He got to the hospital in time, but it was a close call.”

I glanced between the two men, my alarm increasing. Jax had turned dark, and to say I wasn’t intimidated would be a lie.

“Who’s targeting us?” he asked, the words forced out between gritted teeth.

Michael shrugged. “I can only assume that it’s a covert stateside terror cell.”

Terror cell? Covert? What were they talking about? My eyes widened as my gaze switched between Michael and Jax. Neither seemed particularly panicked, although my blood pressure had increased exponentially as the discussion proceeded. What were these guys into? Wait a minute. That was a stupid question. They were special ops.

“Would foreign forces or covert terrorist cell members specifically target members of a specific unit here? Why?” I blurted.

“Are you really so surprised?” Michael asked, glancing at me. “Ever since 9/11, the risk has increased. In the last year alone, the FBI has identified at least five Al Qaeda groups operating here in the states.”

“But—”

“Did you know that over tens of thousands of Iraqis and Afghanis, Saudi’s and other Middle Easterners now live in the US? Just last year, the FBI questioned about fifty thousand of them in their effort to find sleeper cells here in America. Joint terrorism task forces are nothing new, and domestic terrorism in the post-9/11 era keeps not only various federal agencies busy, but us and other special ops units as well.”

I shook my head. That many? I was certainly not naïve nor uninformed, but I guess I had never really thought too much about it.

“Domestic terrorism is alive and well in the US,” Michael commented, glancing at Jax.

Jax turned to me, obviously saw my concern, and spoke. “I’ll understand if you want to quit, Angie,” he said. “Helping me recuperate is one thing, but putting yourself in danger is quite another. Your call.”

Well, no one had ever accused me of being a quitter. Besides, they weren’t sure what was happening. I glanced at Michael. “Do you have any definitive proof that someone is targeting your unit?”

“No,” Michael said. “But it seems likely. We’re all taking extra precautions.” He looked at Jax. “You should too. Just in case. In the meantime, the rest of us and the squad commander is looking into this. If there is someone targeting us, you can damn well be sure we’re going to find out about it and quickly.”

Jax turned to me.

“Like I said, Angie, it’s your call. I won’t think any less of you if you decide to leave.”

I was still trying to process all this extra information and now he was asking me if I wanted to quit. Well, the plain truth was, I didn’t. I shook my head. “Unless there’s a definitive threat, or you feel it’s no longer safe, I’ll stick around for a while, if you don’t mind.”

He grinned. “I don’t mind in the least.”

The look he gave me was enough to have me picturing him upstairs in bed with the Swedish lady again. I quickly shook that image from my thoughts, grabbed their bowls, and headed toward the sink.

I stood there for several moments, not knowing what to say or do. I decided to go back to my room, let Jax and Michael discuss things among themselves. Besides, I had some thinking to do.

I excused myself, telling Jax that I would come down and take care of the dishes later. I bid goodbye to Michael and then nodded to Jax as I left the kitchen. I didn’t linger, but quickly headed up to my room.

I stepped inside and closed the door, frowning. I had talked myself up downstairs, but did I really want to stay in a place where I might be in danger? I was a nurse, not a covert operative. I knew nothing about Jackson Andrew’s world.

My thoughts also wandered back to his earlier comment about me being his “new” nurse. I glanced at the clock on the wall and realize that it would be too late to call Nancy. She would’ve left the office for the evening and it wasn’t an emergency, so it could wait until morning.

Making a mental note to call her first thing in the morning and ask about the disappearing nurse, I sat down on the bed, my fingers gently caressing the soft bedspread, trying to process everything that had happened today.

I sat there for quite a while, and it wasn’t until a knock on the door jolted me out of my reverie that I realized that dusk had settled, casting long shadows through the bedroom window. Without thinking, I responded. “Come in.”

The bedroom door opened and I turned. Jax stood in the doorway. He stared at me for several moments and then stepped into the room.

“You comfortable here? All unpacked?”

I nodded. “Has Michael left?”

It was Jax’s turn to nod. He stepped closer to the bed. To my surprise, he sat down next to me, leaving barely a hand’s breadth of distance between us. I resisted the urge to scoot away and increase the distance between us.

“Like I said downstairs, I’ll understand if you don’t want to stick around,” he said.

I was silent for several moments, arguing with myself. Perhaps it would be better if I left, but for some reason, staring up at his face, his eyes searching mine, I didn’t want to appear like a coward to him.

I lifted my chin slightly and shook my head. “I’ll stick around for a little while,” I said. “But believe me, if things get hairy, I’ll be the first one to run up here and pack my bags.”

He grinned, stared at me for several more moments, and then asked a question that jarred me. “Did you like what you saw?”

I frowned and nearly forgot how to breathe. While I had an idea what he was talking about, I didn’t even want to contemplate it. “What I saw?” Was he talking about his nudity at the swimming pool or the raw sex I had viewed between him and the Swedish woman?

“You were spying on me and Hilda.”

Seriously? Hilda? That gorgeous blonde with a knockout body was named Hilda? I felt yet another flush warm my cheeks. I made a face. I hadn’t blushed so much since I was a teenager. What the hell was wrong with me?

I was tempted to lie and fought a desire to run from the room. Instead, I opened my mouth and stammered a reply. “I didn’t mean to… I mean I—” I sighed. “I’m sorry, Jax, I didn’t mean to invade your privacy. It’s just that I’ve never… I’ve never—”

“You’ve never watched other people have sex?”

I shook my head. How embarrassing!

He raised an eyebrow. “You’ve never watched porn? Never watched an X-rated movie with an old boyfriend?”

I shook my head. He probably thought I was a prude.

He gestured with his head. “I’ve got a few downstairs in the den, if you ever want to pop in a DVD,” he said, looking perfectly serious.

He had dirty movies? I don’t think I had ever met anyone who had dirty movies, but then again, should I be surprised? He was young, healthy, obviously well equipped, and sexy as all get out. Still, my exposure to sexual ‘adventures’ were limited.

“You never tried that?” he asked, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

“Tried what?” I asked, curious in spite of myself. “I already told you that I’ve never watched an X-rated movie.”

He shook his head. “No, I meant that position.”

Dammit, another flush of heat, this time it spread to my toes. I quickly shook my head, plucking at the fabric of the bedspread in nervousness. “No, never tried that,” I said. “To be honest, I’m not that experienced with sex, and the few boyfriends I’ve had were never really interested in—”

“Pleasing you instead of just themselves?”

I glanced at him and began to nod, then suddenly stopped. Mortified. Why the hell was I having this conversation with him? I was his caregiver, not his girlfriend. This topic was so far over my personal boundary, I couldn’t find it with a map.

I straightened my back and frowned. “I don’t feel comfortable talking about such personal things with a total stranger,” I began. “As a matter of fact—”

“A total stranger?” he asked with a short laugh. “You’ve seen me naked, you’ve seen me sucking on another woman’s pussy, and you’ve seen my dick in her mouth. How can I be a total stranger?”

Just the image his words created caused me to grow wet again. Dammit! Yet another flush of heat. I quickly stood, putting some distance between us before I turned around and gazed down at him sitting so casually on the edge of my bed. Placing my hands on my hips, I attempted to speak firmly. “Jax, I’m your nurse. I’m not your girlfriend, and it’s none of my business what you do or with whom you do it. I’m here to do a job and that’s it.”

Smiling, he lifted his hands in mock surrender. Seconds later, his smile disappeared and he grew serious. It took me by surprise. His moods could change on a dime. Something else I would have to get used to. One minute teasing, the next minute dead serious.

“Angie, I just want you to know that if anytime you want to leave, you’re perfectly free to do so. I won’t hold it against you, and you don’t even have to give me notice. Michael and I don’t think there’s much chance of anybody finding me here, but I’ll be keeping a careful eye out. If I get even a feeling that things will get hinky, I’ll let you know. I’ll pack your bags myself and send you on your way. Okay?”

I nodded. He was so serious now and I frowned. “Do you really think someone’s targeting the members of your squadron? Why would they? Why would they take the chance of exposing themselves? And why your squadron?”

He shook his head. “We just got back from a mission, which of course I can’t tell you about, but let’s just say we more than pissed off a few people. Word travels fast. We still haven’t verified that the incidents against the squadron are due to a terror cell, but until we find out for sure, none of us is taking chances. We have each other’s backs, and Michael will keep me updated.”

I nodded and blew out a breath I’d been holding. I guess it wouldn’t hurt for me to do a little extra research, become a little more aware of what was going on in the world around me. I had been so busy taking care of homebound clients over the past year that I rarely even watched the news. Nothing like keeping my head buried in the sand.

Jax stood. “Well, I’ll let you be. You can have the run of the house, go where you want, although I would just like to ask you not to go into my office.”

I nodded. “Okay, no problem. Tomorrow, I’ll probably need to run to the store and grab some groceries. You don’t have much in your pantry.”

“No problem. You can take the SUV in the garage. The keys are in a dish on the kitchen counter.”

“You need anything?”

He grinned.

“Don’t be a smart alec,” I frowned. “I mean do you need anything from the store?”

“Nope,” he said, making his way to the door. “I’m going to take it easy tomorrow. I think I might’ve tweaked my back a little bit this afternoon.”

I stared at his back as he left the room, laughing. Of course, his comment put the image of him and Hilda back in my head, probably just as he’d intended. I couldn’t help but smile. There was something about Jax Andrews that appealed to me. I had a feeling he was going to be a major pain in the ass, but at the same time, he seemed okay. Then again, I had only spent part of the day with him. There was a good chance that after a few days, I would be changing my mind about him completely.

I needed to talk to Nancy, get her opinion. Not only was she my supervisor, but I considered her a friend. In her mid-fifties, Nancy was a no-nonsense and experienced nurse who had opened her own health care agency a few years ago. She had always wanted to go into business for herself, but I had always wondered about her choice. You didn’t make a lot of money running a home health care agency. While she got a decent enough cut from private pay families, Medicare, and other third-party payers, she still had plenty of overhead, not to mention the cost of insurance coverage.

Nevertheless, she seemed to enjoy it, and had slowly built her business over the past few years. She’d gone from two home health care aides to now employing twelve certified nurse’s aides, two nurses, an occupational therapy specialist, and she even had a doctor on a small retainer for emergency situations or questions.

Nancy would be able to provide me with some good advice. I supposed it would be okay to talk to her about the situation, but I should’ve asked Jax first. I thought about leaving my room to go find him and then decided against it. I had seen enough of him for one day, literally. I could ask him in the morning before I called Nancy.

I sighed and sat back down on the bed. I didn’t hear any sounds in the house and wondered if Jax had gone to bed himself. I didn’t feel like dealing with the dishes tonight and decided I would leave them until morning. I got ready for bed, changing into shorts and a tank top to sleep in, then went into the bathroom, took care of business, and brushed my teeth.