****
Hawk shook his head. Damn she was stubborn.
Was she as determined to hold onto her antagonism toward him as she was in denying the magnetic sparks that arced between them? He watched the swing of her long hazelnut ponytail as she went to the garbage can and tossed the cup away. That heavy swath of tawny hair naturally streaked with blond seemed to beckon provocatively “follow me”.
The trim, tight curve of her hips and buttocks drew his attention. A vision of him cupping her rounded derriere in his hands lanced through his thoughts with the impact of a cruise missile. His mouth went dry and his breathing grew short.
Why was he leaving himself open to frustration and rejection? She obviously wanted no part of him, and being Brett’s sister, he couldn’t pursue her anyway. Brett would expect him to protect her, not try to coax her into bed. The only reason he’d offered them a place to stay was to look after them. Wasn’t it?
The slight hitch in her stride didn’t bother him. Brett had told him about the accident that had nearly cost her a leg. She was a fighter, stubborn and strong. He recognized those qualities in her already. But Brett hadn’t said anything about her obvious distrust of men. He hadn’t told him how delicate and lovely she was, either. The slender self-assured young woman who stood before him looked very little like the gangly twelve year old child with freckles across her nose in the photograph Brett carried in his wallet.
To give her time to think about his offer, he changed the subject. “You’re very good with your niece.”
A small smile, the first he had seen thus far, peeked out. “She’s been around for a while, so I’ve had a little practice.
She’s unhappy because she hasn’t been allowed to see Brett. Sharon thinks it would be too upsetting for her even if she could.”
He read the strain in the faint, bluish shadows beneath her eyes and the lines around her mouth. The numerous hours she spent with her brother at the hospital were already wearing her down.
“When are you going back to the hospital?”
“At seven-thirty. They’ll let us stay till nine, but won’t let us stay the night.”
“You have to rest sometime, Zoe. Brett will need you once he wakes up.”
If he woke up.
He could see the words punch through her thoughts as they did his.
“I’d like to go with you,” he added, drawing her unusual pale blue gaze back up.
He noticed the dark blue ring around the lighter blue of the iris, the sweep of dark brown lashes, and the unblemished texture of her complexion. Would her skin be as smooth on other parts of her body?
Wayward parts of his anatomy responded to the thought.
Hawk cursed beneath his breath. Focus. Complete the mission. Get Zoe and Mrs. Weaver settled in his house and look out for them until Brett recovered and could do it himself. That’s what Cutter would do if something happened to him--if he’d had any family left to look out for. An ache settled beneath his breastbone for a moment. He twisted his thoughts back to the task at hand.
“I’ll have to drop Mom, Sharon, and Katie Beth off at the motel. Sharon needs to rest and so does Mother.”
“What about you, Zoe?”
“I’m doing Okay.”
The stubborn tilt to her chin brought a smile to his lips. He hadn’t seen much resemblance to Brett until then.
A squeal and splash from the pool caught her attention. She straightened and looked toward the water.
“Doc’s in the pool with Katie Beth and Langley’s children. He won’t let anything happen to them,” he said.
He thought she might be beginning to relax with him when another smile tilted her lips.
“Katie Beth swims like a fish. She’s also fearless. He may find he’s bitten off more than he can chew.”
“It must be a family trait. I’ve never seen Brett back off of anything, either. And from what he’s told me, you can hold your own.”
Her smile died as quickly as it had blossomed and her expression grew shuttered. “I hope you’re right, Lieutenant. Brett’s going to need everything he’s got to come back from this. So will the rest of us. Please excuse me, I’d better check on my sister.’”
He swore beneath his breath as she limped across the deck and down the steps.
“How about a beer to drown those flames,” Chief Petty Officer Langley Marks said as he held out a bottle dripping with condensation. His quick grin slid into a smirk. “Don’t take it to heart, Hawk. The lady hasn’t been any more receptive to any of the other men.”
“It isn’t like that, Lang. She’s Brett’s sister, she’s off limits.”
Langley’s thick brows rose. “You’d better fill the other men in on that, then. More than one of them has been urging her to test the waters.”
He experienced a quick twinge of irritation. “And?”
“She never even got her toes wet.”
He fought the smile that tugged at his lips. “Good. If just one of them gets involved with her, there’ll be hell to pay when Cutter wakes up.”
Words of doubt weren’t voiced, but hung between them. They both tipped their beers upward.
“I’ve offered them a place to stay until Brett recovers.”
“Jesus, Hawk.” Langley’s lantern jaw hung open a moment. “I don’t think you have a clue what you’re taking on here.”
“Probably not, but I’ll get by.” He rolled the half empty bottle between his palms, mindful of mixing alcohol and the pain medication he’d taken. “There’s room for them and I’m not there much.”
“You will be until that knee heals,” Langley pointed out.
“I’ll be taking another language class while I’m recovering, and once the swelling goes down, I’ll have PT about an hour a day.”
“Damn son, don’t you ever relax?”
Hawk smiled.
Langley rolled his eyes. “You’ll have to make sure you don’t throw your underwear around, take out the trash after dinner each night, and put the toilet seat down.”
“If that’s all you do around here, it’s no wonder Trish does so well while you’re gone,” he said.
Langley grinned. “There are a few other things I take care of that I didn’t mention. If the situation changes between you and Ms. Weaver, I could offer you a few pointers.”
Hawk took a swallow of beer. He wasn’t interested in a permanent relationship, and Zoe Weaver had permanent written all over her. Permanent meant being there when you were needed, and as long as he was with the Teams he couldn’t be. “It’s not happening. She’s Cutter’s sister. I’m not laying a hand on her. Besides, her mother will be there to chaperone.”
“I can see how that would put a cramp in your style, which leads us to another problem. If you’re not laying hands on her, you won’t be laying hands on any other female on the premises while they’re staying there.”
He shrugged. “I can lay hands somewhere else then.”
Langley grew thoughtful. “You’re really serious about this.”
“Yeah.”
“It could be months, Hawk, it could be never.”
Pain twisted his gut into knots. “So could my knee. It doesn’t hurt anything to keep a positive attitude, to hold onto hope. I figure if they can,” he pointed the neck of the bottle he held in Zoe and her mother’s direction, “I can.”
“It wasn’t your fault, Hawk. None of us knew Brett was in trouble. If you’re doing this out of some misplaced feelings of
guilt--”
“It was my responsibility to keep track of my men.”
“You saved his life, man, and damn near got killed doing it. No one could ask any more from you than that.”
But it didn’t change the fact that Brett was hurt. He viewed the operation as a personal failure, though they had succeeded in destroying the building. The whole point of the mission was to get in and out without shots being fired, without injuries being sustained.
What had happened to Brett in that buil
ding? Who was responsible for his injuries? Until he knew the answer, it would continue to drive him crazy.
His gaze strayed to Zoe as she sat next to the pool in a lawn chair and watched the children paddling in the water. Doc O’Connor, the corpsman of the team, sat beside her on the concrete. She smiled at something he said then shook her head. The man took her hand and pressed it over his heart. She laughed then withdrew her hand and wagged a finger at him in a negative motion.
The tension drained from his shoulders and back when she rose to call Katie Beth out of the pool. Keeping Zoe Weaver from becoming involved with one of the team members was going to be a challenge. He could handle it.
Finding out what had happened to Brett Weaver would prove more difficult. But he’d do it.
He had to know.
CHAPTER 2