Mercenary Trilogy - Willing Part 13

"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.

"For now," she taunted, unable to stifle the need to push him.

"For as long as you agree to share your body with mine."

"You mean our arrangement is exclusive?"

"d.a.m.n right it is."

"Watch it, Nitro, your temper is slipping." And wasn't it interesting she could impact it like she did, a

mere obsession like her.

Her thoughts splintered as he stood up in a silent, feral rush. He came around the table with an unmistakable intent.

"I was just teasing you," she screeched as he pulled her out of her chair and swung her up over his

shoulder. "What are you doing?""Feeding my obsession."

"Are you sure you're not just trying to a.s.sert your male dominance?" she asked breathlessly as she fell back on the bed where he tossed her.

"No man could dominate you, little warrior."

Maybe not, but her love for a man might make her submit to behavior she would normally crush beneath her size-seven combat boots. "I'm not a warrior. Not anymore."

"You're a warrior in here." He pressed his forefinger against her left breast. "It doesn't matter what youdo with your life; underneath you'll always be who you are."

If someone else had said that, she would have felt despair, and a resurgence of her ongoing fear she would never have a normal life, but the way he said it made her feel as though being a warrior at heart was a good thing. His expression said that to him, she was anything but a freak, so she smiled and pulled his head down to hers.

Their lovemaking was elemental and fast and left her panting beneath Daniel in total shock at how quickly her body could find the ultimate pleasure in his.

"You're really good at this," she croaked.

"We're good together." He kissed her, hard and thoroughly, until she clung to him in renewed pa.s.sion.

He pulled his lips away and looked down at her, his expression as fierce as any tribal chieftain. "

Remember that. You wouldn't feel this way with another man." He kissed her again. "Only me."

She knew he was right, but was afraid it was because her emotions were a lot more involved than she could afford them to be rather than a simple s.e.xual chemistry thing.

There was a city police car parked in front of the house when Daniel pulled his SUV into Josie'sdriveway."What in the world is going on?" Josie asked.

"Let's go find out."Claire came out the front door as Daniel and Josie got out of the four-wheel drive. She looked evenmore disreputable than the first time he'd seen her, and her face was pinched with exhaustion.

She stopped in front of him and Josie, her expression bleak. "The house got broken into last night.""What?" Josie asked. "When you were here?""No. It happened before I got home this morning."Daniel put his arm around Josie's shoulders and hugged her into his side. "What did they take?""The usual...our computers, the television, my grandmother's l-locket..." Claire's face crumpled.Josie pulled away from Daniel to wrap her friend in her arms. "Oh, honey...I'm sorry.""I don't know what I'm going to do. My laptop is gone. I can't do my schoolwork. Yours is, too. I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it. We'll figure something out, and it's certainly not your fault."

Claire nodded. "The police don't think I'll ever see Grandma's locket again. It was the only thing I hadof my family. It's like I don't exist anymore."Daniel could hear the pain in her voice, but he didn't know how to comfort Josie's roommate and was frankly glad it wasn't his job.Josie hugged Claire again. "Oh, sweetie..."Daniel left Josie comforting Claire and went inside to talk to the police."It looks like a standard break-in and entry and burglary," the officer in charge said."Did the neighbors see anything?" Daniel asked."Not that we've been able to ascertain." The uniformed policeman referred to his pad. "The best we can do is narrow the break-in time to a six-hour window."

Daniel's instincts were screaming at him that this break-in had been anything but routine. It was linked to

the explosion on the mountain; he could feel it. He'd wait to see if Josie drew the same conclusion beforesaying anything, though.He went over the list of items missing with the police officer. "Your girlfriend will need to go through her things as well, so we can make sure the list is complete.""I'll make sure Josie does that."The officer nodded. "Well, there's not much more we can do here. I'll file my report and get back to you if we find anything out."

"Josie, are your CDs in their cabinet?"