As she left, he heard her speaking with someone, and her voice was soft and breathy. Then Captain Jeff Davis walked into his room and Dex’s brain told him to jump to attention. He wasn’t expecting the boss of the whole of Naval Special Warfare Group ONE.
“Sir,” Dex said.
“I’m here on official business, and not to see my beautiful wife. You better be behaving for her.”
“Your…wife.”
“To the letter,” Nurse Davis said, returning with his medication. She made goo-goo eyes at her husband and then left.
The captain pulled up a chair just as Commander Todd Hodges, the leader of SEAL Team Three, entered the room and he pulled the curtain for privacy.
He’d brought his own chair, nodded to Dex and sat down.
“Sir?”
“I want your assessment of your previous op,” Captain Davis said.
“I think those Marines were nothing more than a smokescreen and they were killed just moments before we arrived. I think they were waiting for us, not because they knew we were coming for those men, but because they knew when we were coming. We were ambushed.”
Jeff looked at Todd and he nodded.
He lowered his voice. “Lieutenant, we have a situation. After the smoke cleared on that cluster in the desert that robbed us of three of our best men and three damn fine Marines, we found the body of a mercenary, or merc. An American by the name of Martin Carter, dressed exactly like an insurgent. After further investigation, we discovered he took on high-end types of jobs.”
Dex swore through gritted teeth, the medication his nurse had given him not even touching his pain. His face contorted. After being in this war-torn country for almost a decade, he had met and killed some of the worst vermin alive—soldiers for hire. Men and even women who’d pull a trigger for money.
“We thought you should know. Think about it and report back to us if you have any information that can help. In the meantime, we’re shipping you back to the States.”
“Captain…”
“No, Dexter. You’re going back to fully recover, and that’s a damn order. I’m not losing another man. Oh, and we’re awarding you…”
Dexter groaned; he didn’t give a damn about another medal. He wanted to make sure that the men who’d died, men who’d trusted him, were avenged. Guilt washed over him.
“…the Navy Cross, so get used to it.”
“Yes, sir.”
The captain leaned in. “By all reports you saved lives out there and risked your own.” He reached into his pocket. “I think it’s time that junior grade was removed, and we can make you a full lieutenant.
“Ten-hut,” the captain said, and Hodges stood to attention. He opened the box and pulled out the lieutenant bars and pinned them to his gown. Then both Captain Davis and Commander Hodges saluted him.
He saluted them back, gritting his teeth against all the emotion welling up in him. Anger, frustration, pain and loss all got mixed into his being made a full lieutenant.
The captain offered his hand. “Thank you, Lieutenant Dexter Kaczewski, for your service.”
He shook the captain’s hand, then his commander’s. “We’ll make this official as soon as you’re well enough to don that dress uniform.”
“Yes, sir. About the op—”
“This isn’t on you, Dexter. This op may have been compromised. We don’t know for sure. I’ve asked the Secretary of the Navy for help and he’s going to assign NCIS to look into it. There will be a thorough investigation. Petty Officer Carver…Mike served with me when I had my own team. I know this is a blow. He was an exemplary SEAL,” the captain said, his eyes gleaming with memory.
“Yes, sir.”
Feeling ineffectual and helpless in the face of this information, Dex clenched his fists. SEALs were all about action, and he was out of the game. Nothing against NCIS, but he wanted to look into this himself.
He’d contact those NCIS agents assigned to find out the people responsible for this act of treason, and he’d ride them like new recruits until Dex had answers that would allow him to sleep at night.
He vowed that silently to Spaceman, Slim and DJ.
One hour later, as she said goodbye to her drowsy brother, Piper was dog-tired. They loaded him up and shipped him to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, moving him out earlier than expected. She’d already talked to Edward, and she was going home in another two hours, as soon as the transport with a seat with her name on it landed.
They had given her a bed to rest in, but she made them promise that if it was needed, she would be notified so she could vacate. She lay down and closed her eyes. She should have fallen asleep, but Dex’s scent lingered on her and it smelled so good.
She closed her eyes against the unfamiliar surge of attraction. Here she thought she had been ruined, utterly ruined, by her deep love for Bradley Jones, the man of her dreams. He had swept her off her feet in college. The next steps of getting engaged and married were so easy. Her father and mother had been ecstatic. Like royalty, they had merged their high-powered political families.
She bit her lip and opened her eyes. Reaching for her purse, she pulled out her wallet. There were times like right now when she couldn’t remember his face, and that caused her to feel a surge of panic. When she pulled out his picture, she breathed a sigh of relief. Ah, he had been so handsome.
But Dexter Kaczewski was lethally, dangerously handsome. And he was so alive, so virile in that wounded warrior’s body, all those muscles. Brad had been lanky and nerdy, not like the lieutenant. She bit her lip, gazing at Brad’s picture, the agony of losing him like a pile of rocks in her gut. This was the first time she’d ever thought about Brad in relationship to another man, and the panic was just a result of feeling disloyal. He was gone, but did her attraction to Dex signal that she might be ready to move on? Especially ready for someone like Dex? She had never thought she’d be one of those women who would ever go for the muscled warrior type. She’d always loved the brainy men, but the lieutenant had that cutting wit and charisma to spare.
She’d touched his warm skin, felt the gauze where his bandage had been taped to the side of his body, reminding her that this man had a very dangerous job. A Navy SEAL. Yeah, not the type of guy she wanted to even think about getting involved with. Not that it was possible. There was no timeframe to moving on. The memory of loving Brad wouldn’t fade. Was there room in her heart to love again? Her attraction to Dex was just that—a spark. She was heading home, so her meanderings were moot. He was stationed on the West Coast in Coronado and she was in DC. It was unlikely―unless he made good on his promise for a family dinner―that they would meet again.
Oh, God. The thought of him sent a flurry of weakness through her whole body, a body she thought had been numb and unresponsive to any man’s presence. Her brothers had worried that she was acting in a very unhealthy way, not letting go of Brad’s memory, but it was so difficult. Now, her head was filled with the scent and sight of Dexter. She had to adjust to this involuntary reaction to him.
It had been eighteen months since she’d lost Brad. She had only three months of his term left, and she’d fulfilled every one of his promises except passing the bill Senator Mullins wanted to block.