reports and all that.”
“Oh.”
He hated the sound of doubt in her voice, but what was he supposed to do? He shouldn’t even be here, in her bed again. What happened to his walking away?
He endured the silence until he couldn’t stand it anymore. He swallowed and divulged at least some of what was bottled up inside him. “When I saw him pointing that gun at you, it scared me to death.”
“Have to admit, it scared me, too.”
Adam lifted to his elbow and looked down at her, the incredible, beautiful woman he was pretty sure he loved. “Then why do you do it?”
“Someone has to.”
“But why you?”
She stared up at him, searching his expression as if looking for deeper meaning. “Because I like helping people. Because I’m good at figuring out who did what.” She smiled. “I play a mean game of Clue.”
He lay back down and stared at the ceiling, wondering…If she had any other job in the world, would he still be debating with himself over maybe staying with her long-term?
“I should go before your girls get home.”
This time, she raised up on an elbow and looked down at him, pushed strands of hair behind her ear. “I don’t want you to go.”
She ran her hand across his chest, causing him to grit his teeth. She had to know what it did to him, how powerless he was to resist her.
They made love again—the sweet and tender kind. The kind where you drifted off to sleep afterward in a blissful haze.
At least until a nightmare woke you.
Adam jerked awake, sweating, his heart pounding. The damn dream had found him again. Only this time, it wasn’t Jessica whose lifeless face stared back at him in that Humvee. It was Sara’s.
SARA WOKE SUDDENLY, prepared to defend the girls against whatever danger had roused her. It took a few postsleep seconds to remember the girls weren’t home and that Adam was with her. At least he had been.
She glanced toward the open bedroom door just as he disappeared down the hallway. She grabbed a robe and threw it around herself as she followed him. It wasn’t the side door she heard clicking shut, but rather the one that led to the backyard. She found him standing at the edge of the deck, his face pointed into a strong westerly wind that promised a storm later.
“What’s wrong?” Even in the half-light, she could tell he was sweating.
He was quiet for so long, she didn’t think he was going to answer. Finally, he heaved a deep breath.
“Just a bad dream.”
It had to be a pretty bad dream to propel him out of bed and out of the house. She thought of how she’d told him earlier that she liked to help people. At this moment she wanted to help no one more than him. Because instinct told her there was something deeper to this dream than a one-time product of the subconscious.
She slid her hand into his. “Tell me about it.” She said it so softly the wind nearly stole her words. Only the slight squeeze he gave her hand told her that he’d heard.
Again, it took him several long moments to decide to reply. “I told you I was in the army. Did two tours in Iraq, among other hot, dusty places.” He stopped, then inhaled deeply before letting the air out again. “I met a girl, an aid worker. Jessica. She was beautiful, funny, didn’t once complain about how hot it was or how crappy the food was sometimes.” He paused again and looked up at the sky despite the fact clouds had obscured the stars.
“And you fell for her,” she said, trying her best not to let him talking about another woman bother her.
He nodded.
But he wasn’t with her now, so something had happened. Nothing good.
“We were in a caravan, taking Jessica and some other aid workers to a village outside Kirkuk. One minute we’re all laughing at each other’s dirty jokes, the next we hit a roadside bomb.”
Sara squeezed his hand more tightly, knowing where this story was going now. She nearly told him he didn’t have to continue, but she suspected he needed to say it all out loud, that maybe he hadn’t told anyone.
“I only remember seeing one thing before I passed out. Jessica’s lifeless eyes staring back at me.”
“Oh, Adam, I’m so sorry.”
“I woke up five days later, and they told me I was the only one to survive in our Humvee. And I don’t know why.”
Sara