Sooner or Later (17 page)

Jack had decided to ride
it out a while, let Marcie cool her heels waiting to hear from him. His patience lasted all of one day. To his surprise he found himself wasting a good deal of time thinking about the beauty shop owner.

Although he wasn’t thrilled with the way she’d broken off their lovemaking, he realized it had cost her plenty. When he was able to overlook his own disappointment, he felt a certain admiration for her.

Jack had experienced his share of women over the years. He loved them, was generous with them because he could afford to be, and then he left them. Not without certain regrets. Generally, when he went off on a mission, he did so on good terms with the woman of the moment. That way when the time came for his return, the lady friends in his life would welcome him back with open arms. Marcie had done exactly that a number of times.

He’d been attracted to her for the simple reason that her sexual appetite was as vigorous as his own. She was one of the few women he could spend two or three days at a time in bed with.

This was the way he’d played the game for a good many years. Women floated in and out of his life, often two or three at a time. He loved them all.

Lately, however, Jack had been giving serious consideration to a monogamous relationship.

It wasn’t anything he’d voiced aloud. Certainly not to Murphy, who would have laughed himself silly. He appeared to have reached this decision in the last couple of weeks. It might be that Cain and Mallory had influenced him. When the two former mercenaries had married, it’d shocked the hell out of everyone at Deliverance Company.

This was slightly different. Jack wasn’t considering marriage. No need to go overboard on this one-man, one-woman idea. It was important for him to keep his options open. But that didn’t mean he’d be cheap about the arrangement. He planned to lavishly set up the woman of his choice and gift her with an abundance of his attention.

In return he’d ask for certain considerations. First and foremost was complete and absolute faithfulness. Until Marcie had broken off their lovemaking, he wasn’t sure a woman was capable of such steadfast devotion. Marcie had proved otherwise. By her own words, she’d admitted that she wasn’t head over heels in love with her plumber friend, yet she’d refused to betray his trust.

Jack was impressed.

He wasn’t sure what had changed Marcie, but
whatever it was, he found himself liking the woman she’d become. True, he wanted her in his bed and had almost from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her. But now he wanted her in his life.

He waited until he knew she’d be home from work and then reached for the phone and dialed her number. She answered on the second ring, almost as if she’d been waiting for his call.

“It’s Johnny.” Sooner or later he was going to have to tell her his name, but for now he’d let that slide.

“Johnny.” Her voice had that breathless, excited quality about it. She made it sound as if the highlight of her day had been hearing from him. As if he were the most special, the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to her. A man could grow accustomed to this land of welcoming.

“I felt we needed to talk,” he said.

He sensed her hesitation. “Talk? About what?”

“Anything. Everything. I don’t want to lose you, Marcie.”

“Johnny, don’t, please.”

He could see her clenching the phone, her eyes closed, her conscience fighting him as she battled down her desire for him.

“Did you tell Clifford about our date?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Did you promise him you wouldn’t see me again?”

She paused, as if she didn’t really want to answer him. “No. I should have, but I didn’t.”

Jack smiled knowingly. She hadn’t promised Clifford something she wasn’t sure she could deliver. Another admirable trait. Honesty. “I need to see you.”
He dipped his voice to a throaty, seductive level and emphasized the word “need.” It wasn’t any stretch of the truth. Just hearing her voice had made him hard. He hadn’t been this randy in months, and he wasn’t willing to settle for second best. He wanted Marcie. The burning inside him grew hotter until it became an exotic torture to merely talk to her.

“All right,” she whispered after he remained silent, “but someplace public.”

“Fine. You name where.” The restaurant hadn’t hampered him any. Their naked hunger wasn’t going to cool simply because they happened to be around other people. If anything, that could well enhance it.

“When?” She asked this with the same breathless quality as before.

“Now.”

She hesitated.

“I need you, baby,” he whispered into the receiver.

“Oh, Johnny, I don’t think this is such a good idea.”

“I do. Nothings going to happen, I promise. Just let me see you.”

Again she paused, then sighed and said, “Have you ever played putt-putt golf?”

Now he was the one who hesitated. He frowned and scratched the side of his head. “You want to play miniature golf?”

“Yes.”

He heard the hint of defiance in her voice and grinned. He knew a challenge when he heard one. She seemed to think if they were involved in something silly, they’d be able to keep their minds off what they both wanted most: each other.

“Sure. Name the time and place and I’ll be there.”

He was waiting for her when she arrived in that rattletrap of a car she drove. Replacing her vehicle would be one of the first things he’d do for her. She’d look good in something deep blue, he decided. Ah, what the hell, he’d buy her a little red sports car.

Marcie’s gaze nervously skirted his as she approached him.

“Thank you for coming,” he said, and leaned forward to brush his lips across her cheek. She was wearing a sleeveless, full-length summer dress with a scooped neckline, and she smelled of roses and sunshine. It was all he could do to keep from closing his eyes and inhaling the warm, fresh scent of her.

“I should warn you, I’m good at this,” she announced while he paid for their tickets.

“Do you want to place a small wager on the outcome of the match?” he suggested.

She eyed him speculatively, as though she weren’t sure she’d like his terms. “Like what?”

“An ice-cream cone.”

A smile lit up her face. “You’re on.”

What Jack didn’t tell her was that he hoped she’d allow him to lick the ice cream, and when his tongue was good and cold he’d suck her breasts. It was a game they’d played in the past, one she’d apparently forgotten.

The first hole was a windmill contraption. The object was to putt in time so that the golf ball would miss the windmill blade as it circled past the hole.

Marcie went first and bent forward, holding the golf club. It may have been his imagination, but it
seemed that she purposely projected her derriere toward him. Then she wiggled it in such a manner to entice him beyond endurance.

“Marcie…” He squeezed his eyes closed and groaned aloud.

“What?” she asked, twisting around to confront him.

“Do you have to hold the golf club like that?”

“Like what?” She batted her eyes at him in a gesture of innocence.

“Never mind,” he returned brusquely. “It doesn’t matter.”

It didn’t take Jack long to realize she’d been telling the truth. She beat him handily and enjoyed every minute of it. The surprising thing was, so did Jack.

“I suppose you’re going to make me buy you that ice-cream cone?” He made it sound as though this were insult on top of injury.

“You’re darn tootin’ I am.”

They walked next door to the small parlor, where he ordered triple-decker cones for them both. They sat across from each other at a picnic table in the shade. Jack reached for her hand, turned it upward, and drew lazy circles in her palm with his index finger.

“You said you wanted to talk,” Marcie reminded him, tugging her hand free.

“Yeah.” Now that the time had come, he wasn’t sure where to start. “We’ve been good friends the last couple of years.”

“Have we?” she challenged softly.

Her question caught him by surprise.

“We’ve been lovers and little else, Johnny. There’s
more to a relationship than a two-or three-day love fest every few months.”

“Okay, okay, you’ve got a point. But I want all that to change.”

She stopped licking her cone and regarded him with large, round eyes. “How do you mean?”

His gaze held hers. “I like you, Marcie. A lot. You’re one hell of a woman. I’m ashamed to admit that I took you for granted until recently.”

“You mean until Clifford entered the picture.”

He didn’t have much ground to stand on with that argument. “You’ve got a point, but this time is different.”

“You’re right it’s different. I’m not falling into bed with you the minute you snap your fingers. I’m crazy about you, Johnny, I have been for a long time, but it hasn’t gotten me anywhere.”

“Jack Keller,” he said softly. The time had come to lay his cards on the table, expose his hand, and deal honestly and fairly with her.

“Jack Keller?” she repeated.

“My name isn’t Johnny, it’s Jack. I felt it was time you knew that.”

She didn’t say anything for the longest moment, and then, to his shock, he noted that her eyes brimmed with tears. “Marcie?” He reached into his hip pocket and produced a clean handkerchief. “What’s wrong?”

She stood, walked over to the trash receptacle, and tossed her ice-cream cone inside, then folded her arms around her middle.

He’d expected a number of reactions to the truth, but tears wasn’t one of them. He followed her, threw
away his own cone, and then gently placed his hands against the curve of her shoulders. “You can still call me Johnny if you like,” he suggested softly.

“You didn’t even tell me your name.”

“I did,” he rushed to tell her. “But we were in a bar, remember? The music was loud, and you must have misunderstood me. I meant to tell you later.”

“But you couldn’t very well announce that I’d gotten your name wrong when you’d just finished screwing my brains out.”

“Wrong. I didn’t care what you called me as long as you let me stay with you,” he whispered. He pressed his lips to her neck. “I want us to start over, Marcie. This time let’s do it right.”

“Why should we?” she whispered. “We both know that there’s only one thing we have in common, and that’s a healthy physical appetite.”

“Agreed, but if we get along so famously in bed, can you imagine how well we could get along outside of it?”

Her shoulders lifted in a half laugh. She smeared the moisture across her face with the back of her hand. “Okay, let’s say I agree to getting to know you better outside of bed. In other words, you want us to become friends, right?”

Jack bit his tongue. This wasn’t exactly what he was suggesting, but close. He wanted her to move in with him, but he didn’t intend for her to take up residence in his guest bedroom. The impatience he felt to have her back in his bed was keen, but he realized if he moved too quickly, he might lose her.

“That is what you want, isn’t it?” she asked, twisting around and confronting him.

“Yes,” he agreed emphatically. “Friends.”

“Then what?” she pressed.

He hesitated, not sure what she wanted him to say. “Whatever you want, baby. We’ll let this relationship go however you say. You’re the one at the helm.”

This appeared to shock her. Her eyes were wide and expectant, as if she weren’t sure she should believe him. Then, as if she wanted to test the waters, she said, “Let’s start with a little honesty, then. If I had your name wrong, there might well be a few other matters we should set straight.”

“I agree.” He raised both hands, indicating that she should ask away.

They started to walk with no real destination in mind. Because the temptation to touch her was strong and he was fairly certain she didn’t want him to, Jack clenched his hands behind his back.

“Are you married?”

“No,” he returned adamantly.

“Have you ever been?”

“No.”

She studied him as if to gauge the truth of his response. He met her gaze boldly. “It’s the truth, I swear it.”

“You’re away so much of the time.”

“True.” He didn’t elaborate until he read the skeptical look in her eye and realized she was testing him and if he failed now, he could lose her. “But I’m not a salesman the way I’ve led you to believe.”

“You’re not?”

He dragged deep breaths through his lungs. The truth might be too much for her to accept. This was a
gamble he had no choice but to take. “You probably won’t like this. There’s a danger in that, but if the truth is what you want, then I’ll give it to you.”

“You’re an IRS agent, aren’t you?”

He laughed, and because she was so damned cute, he leaned over and gently kissed her lips. “No. I work for Deliverance Company. We’re a group of highly trained professional soldiers who specialize in rescue operations.”

“You’re a mercenary?” She sounded incredulous.

“Yes.”

“Oh, God.”

“Sweetheart, listen, I’ve been doing this for a lot of years. I’m damn good at what I do. I’m alive, aren’t I?”

She nodded, but he noted that some of the shine went out of her eyes. She found a park bench and sat down.

“Say something,” he said, sitting beside her.

She studied him for a long moment, then flattened her hand against the side of his face. “If I asked you to change jobs for me, would you?”

The woman went straight for the kill, he noted, and at the same time he respected her for it. No need beating around the bush if they deadlocked over an important issue.

It took him a couple of moments to compose his reply. “I don’t know.”

“That doesn’t tell me anything.”

“Let me put it like this. I’d be willing to give it a try, if you felt you couldn’t live with my profession. Two men in the company were married a few years back. They both left Deliverance Company, and appear to
be content. If Mallory and Cain can make the adjustment back into civilian life, then I imagine I could as well.”

“They both married?”

“Yes. Happily, it seems.” This didn’t seem the time to announce he wasn’t considering such a drastic step himself. He wanted Marcie in his life, but the legal ramifications of marriage were more than he wanted to ponder at this point.