Fully Engaged. Catherine Mann

of that adrenaline pumped, reminding him of missions past, the calling that had urged him to join the Air Force. Everything he’d been and done scrolled through his mind, nudging him, whispering at him to reclaim it all. He heard the cops’ siren drone closer and yet he couldn’t force himself to relinquish his post guarding her. There was no shaking the inevitable.

      Uniformed or not, he was back on duty.

      Apparently she had a new watchdog after all.

      Rick hadn’t left her side except when the cops insisted on a solo interview. They’d acted as if they suspected him of being a stalker boyfriend or something worse.

      His growl hadn’t done much to further his innocence.

      She rolled her eyes. Men. She stopped by their uncomfy sofa—or at least that’s what she’d started to think of it as from their earlier chitchat in the rehab room. Given that most of the physical therapists had headed off for supper, the place was for the most part deserted except for the occasional health-care professional bustling by, past and away.

      She was on her own to get her head together before she said goodbye to Rick once and for all, a more emotional event than she’d expected, what with them almost getting blown up. He could have so easily been injured worse if he’d been standing closer to her car. She could have died if she hadn’t bothered to warm up her car with the remote starter.

      Her knees folded and she flopped to sit on the couch, her black leather boots thudding on the tile floor.

      “Are you okay?” He joined her, the cops having stopped keeping them apart.

      “I was just thinking how lucky we both are. What if I’d waited to start the car from inside and you’d been standing beside? God. We both could have died.” She swallowed hard.

      “Two warriors taken down by a car bomb.” He shook his head. “Quite an ignominious end.”

      “No kidding. Is your back okay?”

      He shrugged his shoulders, only wincing a hint as the Air Force PT T-shirt tugged at the blood on his back. “Doc put butterfly bandages on while you were interviewed by the cops.”

      “I’m so glad you weren’t hurt worse because of me.” She hated to think about causing him more pain.

      “You’re certain this was meant for you?”

      She might as well be up-front with him. She was surprised he hadn’t found out during the interview with the police.

      Nola slid her purse from her shoulder, unzipped the leather bag and withdrew a manila envelope. She plopped the envelope onto his lap.

      “What’s that?”

      “Go ahead and open it.”

      Without answering, he pried apart the metal prongs and poured out a dozen or so sheaves of paper, all black-and-white copies of notes comprised of words clipped from magazines.

      “The originals are with the police back in Charleston, South Carolina, where I’m stationed, but I keep these with me at all times in case another comes when I’m on the road so I can show local cops.”

      She watched while he thumbed through the stack of her stalker’s notes about how he was watching her. How he’d seen what she chose at the mall. When he’d noticed the specific date she’d come home from a flight.

      An outfit of hers he liked most.

      The low hum of life in the hall continued while he read. A cart rattled by. A television squawked and talked and blared laughter. Conversation echoed from the chow hall.

      All the while Rick’s jaw grew tighter with each Xerox copy before he finally replaced the stack into the envelope. “The explosion’s not coincidental.”

      “I don’t think so.” She’d kept the notes because the police instructed her to do so, but she hadn’t taken the whole thing too seriously until now. She’d been so certain her training would be enough to protect herself against anything anyone could bring her way.

      She hadn’t factored in car bombs.

      “Jesus, lady. How can you sit there so calmly?”

      He thought she was calm? Hah.

      She pulled a tight smile. “Trust me, my heart’s racing like a newbie pilot during a check ride.”

      “Have you had other accidents like this?”

      “This was the first, actually. Before now, I’ve only gotten letters. I lead a simple life. Work and more work.” Of course he was curious, but she’d answered these questions so many times she wanted to bang her head against a wall. “Believe me, the police and I have both been over and over this. We have no idea.”

      “What about an ex?”

      Was he asking about a boyfriend? “There’s none in the picture, and certainly none of the psycho type.”

      “What about your ex-husband?”

      More questions about her love life? She certainly didn’t have any romance going on now or anytime recently, and she didn’t dare wrap her brain around the notion Rick might be interested in jump-starting their short-lived affair. “Peter Grant and I haven’t been together in over five years. I even went back to my maiden name the minute we separated.”

      Which brought to mind the fact that she and Rick had been together just after her marriage breakup, a timing he apparently noticed, as well. The remembered weekend tingled through her mind, as real as if it had happened yesterday as she stared into his eyes, seeing herself and want reflected.

      He blinked slowly, without looking away. “Who else could it be then? Stats show a stalker is usually someone you know.”

      She shook her head to break the contact more than to negate his statement. “This has to be some bizarre coincidence, a threat meant for somebody else, like your mobster theory. I’m not even home, for heaven’s sake. And the letters… I can’t even hazard a guess. It has to be some freak, one of those strange people you walk past who decides there’s some cosmic connection and reads signs where there are none.”

      “Whatever his reason, there’s a huge leap from letter writing to blowing up your car.”

      His face went hard, protective, a visage she recognized well from working with these guys on a daily basis. He was in defender mode, and all she could think was that Rick had been injured because of her.

      She reached to touch his shoulder gingerly. “I’m sorry about your back.”

      He went stock-still. “It’s barely a ding. I’m fine.”

      “Still, is it okay if I say you’ve got enough on your plate medically?”

      “Not really.” He growled. Then gave her a begrudging smile. “But then I guess because of that full plate I barely notice this. Now can we drop the subject of the scratches on my back?”

      Her mind winged back to other scratches on his back, ones left by her fingernails, the intensity of their sex wringing responses from her she’d never felt before or after.

      Actually, she had no encounters after her surgery at all to go by. Showing her scarred body to a man had been a more difficult hurdle to overcome than she’d expected. She’d found it easier simply to focus on work. There was plenty of work to go around these days with conflicts all over the world.

      One day blended into the next until suddenly here she was, five years later after her encounter at the bar with Rick and her mastectomy. Ready to face the rest of her life but suddenly having her foundation blown to bits again—literally.

      Rick rubbed along his jaw. “You mentioned telling the police about the letters…” he continued like a dog with a bone.

      “Of course. I told the cops at home about the third letter. These are copies.”

      He stared at her and