Chapter 20

Everywhere Sarah glanced on the return trip from Denver, cows and horses grazed and aspen and spruce trees danced in the wind. Around every turn the view seemed more beautiful than the last. Thank God she and Todd had found the valley and river property before they’d ever made this drive. How could they have chosen just one place amongst such beauty? Slowly, with each mile toward home, she felt the tension of putting her kids on a plane by themselves seep out of her like a slow leak from a tire.

The drive up had been a different story. Kevin sat silently fuming. He felt displaced by Dodge, despite her telling him it was at her insistence they leave. Lyle seemed confused and still so quiet and unsure. She needed to talk to him, ease him out from behind this weird wall he’d put up, but there hadn’t been time.

Sarah had spent a fortune on the last minute tickets to Charlotte where Todd’s parents would meet them at the airport. Normally the kids would be thrilled with a visit back east to the expansive lake front home of the Woodwards. Their grandparents would let them lounge on the two story dock eating junk food when they took a break from the countless hours they’d spend on the water.

But this trip wasn’t a vacation, but a forced exile. Neither boy was happy to go. Sarah could only hope they’d be able to relax and forget about the battle going on back at the ranch. The voice from the driver’s seat startled her out of her thoughts.

“Why don’t you lean that seat back and close your eyes for a little while?” Mary Beth McAlister spoke over the low hum of the radio. Sarah could only see a resemblance in the eyes, the slightly downward tilt of her eyes were the same as her brother. Mary Beth was seven years older than Dodge, a little wide in the middle, and much fairer skinned than her perpetually tanned brother.

Mary Beth had volunteered to leave her teenaged kids for the afternoon and shut down her at-home bookkeeping business for the day to escort Sarah and the boys on their drive to Denver. It had been Dodge’s idea, of course, for someone to accompany them after what little sleep Sarah had had the night before. As Sarah’s eyes drooped with fatigue, she knew Dodge had been right. The only problem was that Mary Beth wasn’t someone she and the boys felt comfortable talking in front of. The whole ride to the airport, the tension between Sarah and her sons all but crackled in the air. Every few miles Mary Beth would make comments about the scenery or throw out some tidbit of history, but her presence just kept the hostility between them bottled up, sure to explode at another more private time.

“Um,” Sarah cleared her throat. “I can’t sleep in the car. Never could.”

“Isn’t it funny how that works for some people and doesn’t for others?” She tapped her fingers on the wheel to the beat of a soft rock tune. “I can sleep like a baby. So can A.J. Sometimes, when he was a baby, Mama would strap him in tight to Daddy’s truck and ride him around the property until he fell asleep. Only way he’d be still was when he was asleep.”

A.J. It was odd to hear someone call Dodge anything other than his last name. But wasn’t it odder still that she was sleeping with a man she referred to only by his last name? He wasn’t her teammate, for Christ’s sake, he was her lover. “What does A.J. stand for?”

Mary Beth smiled and let her eyes skim Sarah again like she’d done when Dodge had introduced them outside the feed store where her husband Shelton worked. “Andrew Jackson.” Sarah heard pride in her voice. Whatever his sister had thought about Dodge when Wendy Hawkins made her big announcement, she sure thought the world of him now. “You two are sweet on each other.”

It was more a statement than question. Sarah didn’t know if she needed to answer, so she decided to ask a question of her own. “Anybody ever call him Andy?”

“My mother called him Andy, or more like, ‘my little Andy.’ No matter what he did, or didn’t do, mama would go through the house saying, ‘Who made my little Andy cry?’ or they’d play peek-a-boo and she’d call out, ‘Now where’s my little Andy?’ Mary Beth shook her head at the memory. “She loved having a boy. She was so happy to have him. I wonder if he remembers how much she loved him.”

“It’s a mother-son thing.” Sarah said. “There’s nothing quite like it. Of course, I don’t have girls, so I guess I’m not the best judge.”

“No, you’re right. I’ve got both and the boys, well, they’re only ours for a short time. Once a woman gets a hold of them they’re gone. Girls,” she shrugged. “They’re with you forever.”

The thought of her boys only being with her for a short time caused Sarah’s eyes to close and little pictures of them throughout the years to swirl around her head like photos in the wind. When she opened her eyes again, they were pulling into the parking lot of Shelton’s feed store.

“We’re here,” Mary Beth announced quietly as Sarah sat up in her seat and rubbed her hands over her face.

“I guess I dozed off there for awhile.” She yawned. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. You needed the sleep.” Mary Beth pulled the truck to a stop and looked over at Sarah. “You awake enough to drive Dodge’s truck back to the ranch?”

“Don’t you need a ride home?”

“I can catch a ride with Shelton. It’s quitting time.”

Sarah started back to the ranch just as the sun began its journey behind the Mountains. She hoped Dodge had taken the time to get some sleep. While she’d slept, her dreams were of the boys, images of them at all ages, obscure thoughts of them as adults. But now, in the quiet of the dying day, her thoughts wandered to the man waiting at home.

She’d spent the whole day with his sister and was left with more questions than answers. Her image of him kept changing, shifting like sand in a bottle. The young son beloved by his mother, raised by a quiet father and a house full of sisters. They’d all let him down, but were there for him now. She wondered what he was like as a boy and growing up as a teenager. She wondered what his ex-wife was like, and why thinking of him married to someone made her feel curiously nettled.

And through it all was the need for him, so unmistakably a part of her now. The more he brought her into his life, showed sides of himself she hadn’t seen before, the more she wanted to know. He intrigued her, challenged her and excited her in a way she hadn’t thought possible after Todd. And yet it all felt so new and different.

They hadn’t spoken all day. Cell coverage through the mountains was spotty at best and Sarah was anxious to learn if there’d been any discoveries made, either at the ranch or through contact with Kimberly. They needed to formulate a plan for the coming night. Her eyes searched the barn and house for Dodge or Miguel. Seeing no one, she preceded to the cabin.

After a quick shower, she heated up a bowl of canned soup and had reached for the phone when she heard the sound of an approaching vehicle. A quick glance out the side window confirmed it was Dodge. She made her way to the door to meet him. He looked tired. He’d obviously showered and caught maybe a small nap, but his gait was slower than normal and his eyes looked heavy.

“God, I love that robe.” He flashed a grin she felt all the way to her toes and planted a loud kiss on her lips. “Did the boys get off okay?”

Sarah closed the door behind him and followed him inside the cabin. “Yes. What’s in the bag?” She moved to the bar where he’d placed a brown paper sack.

“Night vision goggles,” he answered while rifling through the refrigerator. “What’s that smell?”

“Night vision goggles?”

“No, the food smell. I’m starved.”

Sarah moved into the kitchen, nudged Dodge away from the microwave and placed the steaming bowl on the counter. “Chicken noodle. You can have it, I have more. I’ll even make you a sandwich to go with it if you explain about the goggles.”

“You sure?”

“Eat and explain.”

Dodge sat at the bar, slurping the hot soup while he talked. “A high school buddy’s ex-military. Why he still has these, I don’t know. But I’m glad he did. They should make things a lot easier tonight.”

Sarah placed thick slices of ham and roast beef on bread she’d spread with mayonnaise. “What’s the plan for tonight?”

He dropped the spoon heavily in the empty bowl and reached for the plate Sarah handed him. “The plan, right now, is for you to let me have a look at what you’ve got on under that robe.”

###

Sarah laughed. “Well, you’re mood has certainly improved since I left this morning.”

His mood had improved. He looked longingly at the woman who had a lot to do with his moods. After she’d left with Mary Beth, his head felt full of doubts about introducing her to his sister and opening another door of his life. He wasn’t all together sure how he felt about his family and it seemed to muddy the water a bit to push Sarah into the mix. But there’d been no other choice.

Once the weirdness of the situation had passed, he felt damn grateful his sister was willing to drop everything and escort Sarah to Denver for the day, especially considering he'd been unwilling to define their relationship. He’d chosen to ignore the bond of family life during the years he was gone. Who else would drop everything when you needed them? Family. It felt good to know that after everything that had happened in the past they were there for him now.

When he thought about what Sarah had said earlier, that Burwick was too smart to do something to harm her, he knew she was right. And when her safety was no longer on the front burner of his concern, a giant weight lifted off his shoulders. Property, he could defend without emotions getting in the way. Sarah, no way. Now that Kevin and Lyle were safely tucked away across the country, defending the property seemed more like a boy scouts adventure than anything. Wouldn’t it be just desserts to catch Burwick’s henchman red-handed and watch the mighty senator fall?

“You could say that.” He waived her over from around the bar. He loved to watch her move, watch the gleam in her eye when she realized the power she held over him, watch her enjoy the dance of seduction. She wore every emotion on her face, and right now her face showed desire, plain and simple. Dodge braced his hands on her hips and pulled her between his legs, let his hands wander her backside. “Ummm, nothing under here that I can tell. Only one way to be sure.”

Dodge let the thin fabric drift down her shoulders. He fisted the thin material and used it to hold her in place while his eyes feasted on the wonder of her body. She was narrow from shoulder to hip to toe. He gazed at the fluttering pulse in her neck, the slow rise of her chest and the slim tapering of her waist. Her skin shimmered in the afternoon light. She was his for the taking. He itched to touch her, taste her, take her, but first he needed to see her and try to figure out why she'd led him to break every rule he’d ever made about getting involved with a woman. When he lifted his eyes to hers he saw her need and a flash of caution in her deep emerald pools. He moved to take her mouth with his own.

###

It was the first time he’d sought her out, drawn her toward the heat that bound them together. Sarah felt her stomach quiver as his fingertips brushed her skin, taunting her with his slow deliberate movements. He pulled the robe apart bit by bit. She watched approvingly as his lids dropped to half mast as he stared, felt the tight pull and loose give of her body under his scrutiny. Gone was her apprehension about being exposed to him, her questions about his past and their future. Her mind snapped shut like a vault.

“A.J.” Sarah whispered his name, let her eyes flicker closed. Her robe fell at her feet and when she expected to feel him move into her she felt nothing but air. She opened her eyes.

“What did you just say?” They were centimeters apart and yet she felt him step back from her as if he’d moved physically.

“I said your name.”

“Hummm.” He straightened, added real distance.

“The man at the hardware store calls you Dodge. Tommy and Miguel call you Dodge. My sons call you Dodge.”

“It doesn’t feel right coming from you.”

She picked up his hand and guided his fingers to her breast. “Touch me, A.J.”

He stared in stony silence, his mouth set in a stubborn line, but his hands began to knead. She arched into his palm, and let out a shallow moan when he pinched. She moved into him and nipped his bottom lip with her teeth. “Kiss me, A.J.”

“Sarah…” His voice was tight with aggravation.

She forced his hand down with both of hers, felt her need lick his fingers as she moved into it. “Make love to me, A.J.”

“No one but family calls me A.J. Why are you doing this?”

She shuddered when his hand began a rhythm of its own. “I want to be someone different, someone special.”

He reached for her hands as they tugged at his zipper, held them together between his, and stared intently into her eyes. “You are different. You are special.”

She pulled hands free and clasped them around his neck. “Only in private, just between us.” And when he scowled, she said, “I’m not your high school football coach, Andrew Jackson. Let me in, A.J. Please?”

He sighed. Irritation simmered just beneath the lust. “There’s a price to pay, Sarah. A big one.”

“Name it.”

“You. Wherever I want, whenever I want.”

“How about right here, right now?” She lifted his shirt over his head, felt the tickle of his chest hair against her skin and let out a gasp when he lifted her onto the counter and plunged. He was rough and insistent, her price for getting too close. She knew she'd spooked him. She relished his loss of control and the urgency of their joining. He couldn’t command her with words so he’d punish her with his body. But his punishment was the sweetest torture she'd ever known. She came without warning, a violent twisting pinpoint of pleasure, a monumental ascent and a leisurely slide back to earth. And still he plundered. When she opened her eyes and found him staring at her, his eyes almost black, she understood what she’d cost him. She reached her hands up to stroke his face. He let himself go.

He pulled up, braced his weight on his elbows and studied her face. “Do you always get what you want?”

“No.” Far from it. And she couldn’t remember wanting anyone quite this much.

###

The black Towncar sped down the two-lane highway like a bullet, slowing only to pass the occasional tractor that meandered onto the road. With every passing mile, Benji’s agitation grew and he feared Kimberly had noticed. She kept watching him with curious eyes as be blotted his sweat-soaked brow and methodically checked the time on his watch. Evening was fast approaching, swaddling the horizon in the golden fingers of dusk. The sky had opened up the night before, and rainwater choked the usually dry ditches. Even the sage brush acres of barren land held the freshly washed sheen of a shower.

He’d pinned all his hopes on last night being the end. He was supposed be able to relax today with Saxton off his back and guilt off his conscience. The rain had ruined everything. With a clear forecast the plans were back on for that night. The only thing that had changed was his alibi; he and his staff would be on a late night flight back D.C. He only hoped the cramped interior of the plane didn’t suck the air from his chest like the backseat of his car did now.

“Senator, is everything ok?” Kimberly asked from beside him, her brow furrowed in concern.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine. Just organizing my thoughts for the meeting.” He reached for his leather bound notebook with hands that were far from steady.

###

Kimberly turned her head to the window to hide her amusement at the sight of Benji wound tighter than drum. She’d talked to Tommy earlier and told him of their plans for the day and night. They both assumed things would proceed later that evening. Despite her worry, she couldn’t help enjoy watching Benji struggle with the fear that he’d get caught. She hoped deep down in the pit of her stomach that a little part of his nervousness came from guilt, but after nearly eighteen months of daily contact, she couldn't be sure.

She knew Benji had planned something bad. She’d watched him excuse himself from one meeting after another with his cell phone clutched tightly in his fist. She'd never seen him so jittery. She’d even gone so far as to call her brother Roger to ask him if he’d heard anybody bragging about doing some work for the senator. He hadn’t heard a thing. All she could do was wait like the rest of them and hope to be around to watch Benji implode.

Her job was over, as far as she was concerned. She couldn’t work for a man who’d endanger a woman and her children for the almighty dollar. If she seemed a little joyful in watching him sweat it out the last few hours before his demise, well, so be it.