A Heart's War (The Broken Men Chronicles Book 5) (20 page)

Spring had sprung and all around, everything around me was thriving.  I sat on our back patio and watched over Morgan as she went about, tending one of her many gardens.  Just the sight of her had me smiling.

“How’s she been feeling?” Dalton asked.  I hadn’t seen him in a month due to a job he’d been on, but when I turned to look at him, I caught the wistful look on his face as he watched my wife work.

“Better now that she’s in her second trimester.  Her morning sickness has tapered off and her energy is back.”  I couldn’t help the grin.

Dalton chuckled.  “I bet you’re loving that.”  He took a swig of his beer.

“Mmm,” I mumbled as I tilted my bottle back.  “So what’s new with you?”

The man sighed and leaned his head onto the back of the chair he sat in.  “I’ve got another contract coming up.”

“Anything good?”

“I’m heading North to Canada, and then to Mexico,” he announced, looking down to his hands.  “I could really use your help on this one though, brother.”  His gaze met mine, the look he was sporting was a somber one.

“What’s going on?”

“I was contacted a week ago by some politician up in Ottawa.  The member of parliament in question has a son who’s been making waves in the news as of late due to a drug habit.  The man’s fiancée disappeared while they were off on a trip to Mexico.”

“Shit, are you talking about Minister Wentworth?”  My eyes sought out Morgan, who had dropped her gloves and had gotten to her feet with her bucket of weeds, proceeding toward the back of her barn where I’d set her up with a new composting station shortly after we’d moved back into the house.

Dalton nodded.  “Yeah.”

I had heard about this case.  It had made headlines here in the States since Wentworth was Canada’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, but also because of the nature of his woman’s disappearance.  It was clear that foul play was involved.  The politician’s son was the main suspect, despite him being found passed out from near lethal cocaine amounts in his bloodstream. He’d been covered from head to toe in blood; blood that had been proven to belong to his soon-to-be step-mother.

“So, why you?” I asked him, Morgan reappearing, her face, arms, and hands rinsed off.

“Turns out he’s got some family ties in the area.”  The moment my wife had reached me, I made a grab for her, settling her on my lap with one arm around her, and the other surrounding her small but noticeable baby bump.  “Wentworth said that I’d worked a case with a relative of his, but for the life of me, I have no clue who the hell he means since he refused to give me a name.”

“Wentworth?” Morgan asked.

“Yeah, Dalton here’s been asked to look into the politician’s woman’s disappearance,” I caught her up before turning my attention back to my friend.  “But you do background checks on everyone you work with, don’t you?”

He nodded.  “It would be suicide if I worked with people I couldn’t trust.  Hell, I even ran checks on Bryce and Cade before they started to work for me.”  My eyes widened at this.  “Yeah, I know…but after what you’ve been through with Rick, what I’ve been through that landed me with my medical discharge,” he growled the last, “can you blame me?”

I suppose I couldn’t.  This was his business, his livelihood.  I’d probably do the same thing if I were in his place.  Hell, I’d even paid him to run checks on a few of the guys I’ve hired as foremen since
TL Construction & Engineering
had taken off.

“Maybe he meant that you handled a case for one of his relatives?” Morgan pondered aloud.  Maybe she was right.

“That’s what I thought too, but I had Brycen look into things and he hasn’t been able to find anything.  Wentworth slipped and I know that we’re dealing with a female, but that’s about it.”

“How long will you be gone for this time?” I asked him.

“Gone?  You mean you’re leaving again already?” I kissed Morgan’s temple.  I absolutely loved the concern this woman had for my family and friends.  I couldn’t wait for our child to be born.  She’d be the best mother; I just knew it.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be gone for,” he said.  “I’m meeting up with Wentworth in Ottawa on Tuesday.  Depending on the information I get, I might be coming back to pack up and ship off to Mexico right away.”

“You’re going alone?” I asked.

“I am.”  Morgan’s body tensed over my lap with this news.  “I’d bring Cade along, but his team is in charge of training the new SAR recruits.  Brycen can do everything from here, and the others, well, they’re only part-timers.”  He ran his hands through his dark brown hair.  “I need to get some new blood in.  A few full-time guys that have our kind of training and are willing to go outside the US to do their jobs, especially if contracts like Wentworth’s start coming in.”

“I don’t like this one bit.”  Morgan bit down on her lower lip, eying the both of us.  “We’ve been watching the news and keeping up with what’s going on.  Going to Canada is one thing, Dalton, but heading to Mexico when you already know that drugs are involved and…and don’t get me started on the other gross details of this case.”  She shook her head vehemently.  “No, it’s too dangerous to go at it alone.”

“Baby…” Morgan was getting herself worked up about this, and to be honest, I wasn’t thrilled about Dalton’s plan either.

Morgan turned to me.  “Do you remember what you told him in the ambulance ride from the warehouse?”  I nodded.  “As much as I don’t like the idea of both of you being gone, I know that having both of you working together would be safer.”

“What are you saying, Morgan?” Dalton asked.

“She’s granting you your wish, Dalton.”  The man looked confused.  “I told you once that I had your back, and I meant it.  I don’t like the idea of you heading off to Mexico and going it alone about as much as she does.  I don’t have any new jobs lined up for at least another month, and now that I have foremen that can look after things, I can spare some time.”

Dalton snorted before finishing off his beer and getting up to fetch another one from the ice bucket that Morgan had set up for us shortly after my friend’s arrival.  “Gee, thanks, Mom.”

“Toss me another too, while you’re at it.”

“Got a water there for me, Dalton?” Morgan asked.

“Sure do, pretty-” Dalton’s words halted by the doorbell.

“I’ve got it.”  Morgan got up to head for the front door.

Handing me my beer and setting my wife’s bottle of water down beside my seat, he eyed me up and down.  “Are you sure about this?” he asked.  “I know I said that I could use you, and it’s true, but you’ve got a pregnant wife here at home.  I know Brycen can handle himself out in the field, I could always get him to come with me.”

“You’re not leaving me behind, and if Morgan has it her way, you can bet your ass that Brycen will be on that flight out to Mexico with us, too.  I wouldn’t put it past her to get Shane to finally use some of his holiday time and make sure he’s with us.”  I chuckled at the imagery.  My beautiful tiny spitfire of a woman sure had all of us wrapped around her little finger.

Dalton, smirked.  “Yeah, she’s that crazy, but I think that’s why we all love her, bro.”

Morgan’s panicked shriek tore through the stillness of the afternoon.  “Theo!”

Dalton and I got to our feet and rushed the house, only to come to a dead halt in front of Morgan, who had some woman sprawled on the floor, her head in her lap.

“What the fuck?” Dalton said as I crouched down beside the duo on the tiled entryway.

Morgan’s eyes were wide.  “She was just standing there one minute, and then the next, she collapsed into my arms.  She’s burning up, Theo.”

“I’ll call 911.”  Within seconds, I had my cell in my hand, doing just that, watching as Morgan wiped the beads of sweat off the woman’s forehead while Dalton rushed to the kitchen, only to come back with a bottle of water and a damp cloth.

“Here, I’ll do it.”  Morgan ripped the cloth from Dalton’s hands and immediately started dabbing it over her face and neck while the man began to pace.

The sigh of relief the woman emitted was quickly followed by words that made me blanche.  “Mr. T.”

I heard it, I know Morgan had too as she looked at me wide-eyed, and Dalton froze right where he was.  “W-what, did she say?” Dalton collapsed to his knees beside all of us and studied the unconscious stranger before us.

“Danger…Kip,” she managed, and then all was silent.

Dalton’s hand gently cupped the woman’s cheek as he whispered what I already knew.  “Huss?”

I was tired, filthy, and stunk to the high heavens of the swamp and jungle, but getting off of that plane and setting foot on Jacksonville soil a week after I’d left invigorated me.  I didn’t care that my truck would need a full detailing after riding in it.  I just wanted to get home, find my woman, feel her in my arms as her presence erased all of the bad I had witnessed in such a short amount of time and fill me with her light.

I rolled up the drive slowly, taking in my home and saw a head peeking up over a bundle of rosebushes as I parked my truck.  It didn’t take but two seconds before I saw Morgan throw her sheers up behind her and started making a run for me, gardening gloves, rubber boots, dirt-smudged cheeks, a mint green sundress, and all.  The second my feet hit the gravel out of my truck, I sprinted forward, catching her as she leapt with an excited shriek into my arms, fusing her lips to mine.

“Oh, God, you reek!”  Morgan actually gagged, but her arms had yet to loosen their grip, and so did the two legs that were now wrapped around my waist.  “Where the hell have you been?  Why didn’t you call when you landed?  I would have-”

I slammed my lips back onto hers and pulled away.  “Shut up, woman,” I growled.  “Please tell me that you’re done for the day.  I haven’t seen or spoken to my wife in a week, I’ve barely slept because I worried about her and our baby, I’ve been told I reek, which means I need to hose myself down before thinking about going into my house to take a shower and spend the rest of the day sinking myself deep inside my wife to remind her of how much I love her.”

A throat cleared behind us with Morgan giggling into my shoulder.  “So I guess we’re done for today?” a voice I recognized immediately said.

I turned around and grinned.  “Well if it isn’t our little Hussy!”

The woman blushed.  “You can stop calling me that now that you know my name, Theo.”

“You’ll always be Hussy or Huss to us, Devolin,” I told her.

She nodded, looking down at her feet.  “I’m glad you’re back safe,” she whispered.  I could see the wheels turning in her head, knew that she was fighting the urge to ask me how the rest of the team was, caring more for one particular member than the others. “I-I guess I should get going.  Morgan, give me a call if you need me.”  Meeting my gaze, she forced a smile and then turned to leave.

“Hey Dev?”  She turned to acknowledge me.  “He’s okay.”  A look of relief entered her features, but as soon as it appeared, a wall of indifference took its place.  She waved and then proceeded to jump into her car, driving off.  Still holding Morgan in my arms, I squeezed her ass in my hands before lowering her back down to the ground, my lips brushing hers softly.  “Head on into the house and get the shower warmed up.  Give me a couple of minutes to hose the jungle off of me, and I’m all yours, baby.”

Watching those hips of hers sway as she walked off had my imagination running on hyper drive with ideas of what I wanted to do to her when I got inside.

Leaving my soiled clothes in a heap by the back door, I made my way through the house and into our bedroom in nothing but my birthday suit.  The steam in the air hit me as soon as I entered the bathroom, and so did the low moans.

The sight of my woman through the glass enclosure, leaning back against the tiled wall facing me as she pleasured herself had me groaning.  “Fuck, Morg, you’re killing me here.”  To show her how she affected me, I grabbed my cock and gave it a few hard strokes.

“Why don’t you hurry that sexy ass of yours up and come and join in on the fun.”

She didn’t have to tell me twice.  In two strides, I was opening the door to let myself in.  She made to reach for me but I shook my head.  “No.  Keep playing with yourself, baby.  I want to see all of you.”  I licked my lips.

“But-”

I took myself in hand and her eyes darted down to my crotch.  She moaned.  “Don’t worry about me just yet.”  I lowered myself to my knees, continuing to stroke myself slowly as I bent enough to nuzzle her pubic bone with my nose, then lifting my head enough to drop a kiss onto her belly, which seemed to have popped out even more during my absence.  “You’re so sexy, Morg.”  I released myself, putting my hands on her hips and meeting her hooded gaze.  “Tell me, are you ready for me?”

“Always,” came out breathlessly as her fingers thrust into her heat, her thumb circling her clit.

“Good,” I growled.  “Don’t get yourself off just yet, baby.  Your orgasms belong to me.”

Life didn’t get any sweeter than this.  Aside from scrounging a little sustenance for dinner, Morgan and I had yet to leave the bedroom.  Now, the sun was setting on the horizon and she was cocooned in my arms, our baby bump wedged between us.

That’s when I felt it.

That first kick, which had my body going stiff.  Then the second one.  That one had me tightening my hold on Morgan as I buried my head in her neck, my body beginning to shake, my eyes burning behind their closed lids.

Morgan’s grip on me tightened.  “Baby, what’s wrong?”

I couldn’t open my mouth to say anything for fear of breaking down, but a moment later, it happened anyway.

“Theo?”  Morgan’s voice quivered.  “Baby, you’re scaring me.  What’s gotten into you?”

Taking a deep breath to control the tears that were now free-falling against Morgan’s shoulder, I rolled her onto her back, cradled her face in my hands, and pressed a tender kiss on her lips before whispering, “Thank you.”

“Theo, what’s-?”

“You’ve given me so much more than I could have ever imagined,” I told her.  “I thought I knew that already, I thought I’d let go of everything in my past that made me hold on to the guilt, but it wasn’t until just now that I felt truly at peace with my decision to move on.”

“Oh, baby.”  She pulled me to cradle my head against her chest.

That night, I couldn’t sleep.  It wasn’t because of worry, but because of excitement.  In my arms I held my best friend, my love, my whole world – my life.

When I’d come back to Jacksonville and met Morgan for the first time, I’d felt vindicated in my belief that settling wasn’t the way to go.  But she’d proven me wrong about that, and in so many other ways.

Now I knew that my way of thinking was what it was – a ploy of self-preservation.  Morgan made me a better man.  She made me happy.  She made me stronger.  She healed parts of me I never thought would ever get better.

But despite all that, there was one thing that had eluded me, until tonight, that is.  Despite my numerous blessings, I still couldn’t bring myself to feel as if I deserved everything that was thrust upon me over these last fifteen months.  Feeling those kicks seemed to have knocked me to my senses, though.  That one last missing piece to my life’s puzzle clicked right into place.

In Morgan I had found my salvation.  But in the life we’d created together – therein lied my redemption.  What more could this marine ever ask for?

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