After the first hour on the job, Gage sighed as he took in the humor-filled countenance of his vice wing commander. He hadn’t known Carter long, but he already liked the easy-going man. “Remind me again why I thought this meeting was a good idea,” Gage said.

“Because all these whiners are your new leadership team, and you need to know where your problems are right away.”

Gage barked out a laugh. “Okay, you’re right.” His first morning on the job, he was meeting with all the various base group leaders. First up had been the ops group and they’d been full of complaints about the maintenance schedule for the new fleet of F-35s and how the maintenance guys were messing with their ability to keep everyone up to date on training on the fairly new airframe.

“Who’s next?” Gage asked.

Carter winced. “Um, that would be the maintenance group.”

Gage took another deep breath. “Well, this should be fun. Honest opinion...do the ops guys have a valid complaint or is this more of the ops versus maintenance bullshit?”

Carter thumbed at his lip. “Honestly, I’d guess it’s a little bit of both. It’s no secret that the rollout of the F-35 has been rocky at best. There are a ton of issues with the airplane, and everyone is suffering the growing pains of dealing with a new airframe, but maintenance can always push things a bit harder than they do.”

“And then,” a biting feminine voice said from the doorway, “we’ll be the ones holding the bag when one of your pilots crashes one of those multi-million dollar buckets and dies because of a mechanical failure.” The maintenance group commander looked like a shark that had spotted a school of fish to consume whole. “Neither one of us wants that now, do we?” Lieutenant Colonel Lauren Vickers asked in her no-nonsense way.

Gage stood. This wasn’t how he wanted to start off the relationship with his maintenance group. Contention between ops and maintenance remained strained on the best of days, and for this base, there hadn’t been too many days this year that could be considered even passable.

Needed upgrades for both the airframe and the pilots were far behind schedule, and they had to get that fixed. Right now, that was Gage’s number one priority as dictated to him by the numbered Air Force command.

“Of course, safety needs to be maintained,” he said, using his most diplomatic tone. “I’m just hoping we can come to an amicable solution between maintaining and flying, which as you know, Colonel, is the main mission of the wing.” He reached and shook her hand. “But, we’ll get to that in a moment. First, let’s get everyone in and settled.”

He reached behind her to shake hands with her vice group commander. The rest of the group’s squadron commanders followed suit, including Felicia’s boyfriend, Steven, who gave him a tight smile as they shook hands. “Hello again, Colonel Matthews, Major Hardesty, Major Rivera, and Major Yates. Come on in, find a seat at the table, and help yourself to something to drink before we get started.”

They followed his instructions, and he was about to close the conference room door when his secretary, Gina, rushed up. The middle-aged woman glanced worriedly into the conference room behind him. “I know you said you weren’t to be disturbed,” she whispered urgently, “but security forces just called. They’re on their way over here with some detectives from downtown and an OSI investigator.”

Gage frowned. “Do you know why?”

She shook her head. “No, but they mentioned that it was good that the maintenance guys were all here, too. They said it would ‘save time.’” She made air quotes with her fingers.

Oh, hell. What had the maintenance guys done now? As the youngest and largest groups on base, their troops were always getting into trouble. “Okay, buzz me when they arrive.”

He turned back toward the assembly watching him curiously. “Well, it looks like we may have to table our discussion about maintenance for a little bit. OSI is on the way here with some downtown police who need to talk to me and someone from maintenance.”

The squadron commanders discreetly checked their silenced cell phones. If anyone from one of the squadrons had gotten in trouble downtown, the first sergeant from the squadron would be notified first. Depending on how serious the crime, notification would work the way across the chain of command. With security forces bringing the downtown police officers directly to the wing commander, it signaled that this was something very serious.

Steven thinned his lips and punched a few buttons on his phone and then lifted it to his ear. “This is Major Hardesty. Status?”

He glanced up at Gage. “Yes, I’m in the wing commander’s conference room.” His jaw clenched. “Okay, I’ll see you in a few.” He jammed the phone off. “Sounds like it involves my troops.”

Well, this should be fun. It would really suck to already have issues with Steven’s squadron. It’s not like things weren’t already complicated enough between the two of them.

Five minutes later, his conference room had filled to capacity as two OSI officers and the security forces commander filed in behind two plain-clothes detectives wearing badges on their belts. Along for the ride was an enlisted soldier wearing an AMXS badge. Gage would bet good money that this man was Steven’s first sergeant.

Gage stepped forward and shook everyone’s hands. “As you can see, it’s a little tight in here. Who exactly do you need to speak to?” Gage directed his question equally between the detectives and the security forces commander.

Major Kurt Varnegus took the hint and stepped forward. “Sir, we need to speak to you, the maintenance group commander, and the AMXS squadron commander.”

Gage nodded toward the room. “Well, you heard the man. If you weren’t on that list, you can go out to wait in the reception area. I’m sure most of you will be briefed about the details as you need them.”

After the other personnel had filed out, Gage motioned to the chairs around the table. “Have a seat.”

Everyone sat except one of the detectives, holding a file. “I’m sorry to interrupt what I understand is your first day on the job, Colonel, but we need your help. Last night there was a break-in at a veterinary clinic downtown.”

Blood roared in Gage’s ears, but there were probably a dozen or more vet clinics in Terravista. It couldn’t be Felicia’s. He would have heard something. Well, at least Steven would have.

But Steven had sat up straighter, too, alarm flooding his expression.

“The doctor who runs it was stabbed,” the detective said, “and that’s why we’re here today. The weapon was a screwdriver, and the handle had been engraved with the AMXS squadron information.”

“I’m sorry,” Steven interrupted looking worried. “I know you have questions for us which is why you’re here, but which clinic was it?”

The detective frowned. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think it matters in this situation. We need your cooperation so that we can pinpoint where the weapon came from.”

“Yes, I know,” Steven said impatiently as he stood. “But I’m dating Dr. Felicia Parks from Valley View Hospital. Was it her clinic?”

The detective’s eyes widened slightly, but he shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’m not at liberty to discuss the victim or the extent of her injuries.”

Her. Pure fear filtered into Steven’s eyes as he turned them to Gage. “It’s her. It’s Felicia. Please...”

Gage nodded, knowing exactly what Steven needed to know. He turned back toward the detective. It was hard to push the words out past the panic clogging his throat. “I understand that you can’t reveal the identity or the extent of her injuries, but can you at least...” He swallowed, trying to hide his panic to this news. “Is this a...murder investigation?”

“No, we took her statement this morning. She should recover.” The detective shook his head as he glanced worriedly over at Steven.

Steven paced frantically and appeared on the edge of violence. Gage couldn’t blame him. Steven wanted to get to Felicia. It was exactly the same thing Gage wanted to do...run to her side and make sure she’d be okay.

But they had a job to do, and it sounded like the possibilities were good that one of their soldiers had perpetuated the attack. Rage boiled just under Gage’s skin. He wanted this fucker caught.

Gage said, “Major Hardesty, you have five minutes. Call and check on Dr. Parks. Then I need you back in here so we can answer the detective’s questions and find the asshole who did this.”

For a moment, Steven just gaped at him in stunned silence. “Thank you, sir.” He sprinted out of the room. 

***

FELICIA WAS SIGNING her discharge papers when Steven called. She debated not answering it. She was exhausted and hurting, but she knew the detectives planned to go to the base after they took her statement. He was probably worried, and she couldn’t let him stay that way.

She answered the phone, “I’m okay.”

He blew out a shaky breath. “Oh my god, Felicia. Why didn’t you call me?”

“I tried, but your phone was off. I’m sorry. I should have left a message, but Billy was already here.”

She glanced over to her friend. Billy watched her with concern from the corner of her room. She turned her back on him, not needing him to see how shaken she was by all this.

“I’m okay,” she said again. “They missed all my vital organs. I just had to have a few stitches.” Twelve to be exact, but her side burned like the screwdriver was still under her skin, and every single move seemed to pull at it. She also had one hell of a headache from the mild concussion when her head bounced off the floor when she passed out. If it felt this bad with pain meds, she was not looking forward to this afternoon when she planned to stop taking them. She couldn’t be trusted to treat her patients while under the influence, and she had too many counting on her to let a small wound interfere.

“In fact, they’re discharging me now. So, I didn’t want to worry you. I knew there was a lot going on today with the new wing commander meetings.” Steven had told her that he’d be tied up in meetings all day today as they worked to get Gage up to speed.

It was weird to think about her boyfriend having to work with her ex. Even from the outside, it felt really awkward. She couldn’t imagine what it was like for the two of them.

“Felicia, I’m your boyfriend. I love you. That means I get to worry and be there when you get hurt. Do you know what it was like to hear about this from some police detectives? Police detectives who wouldn’t even verify if it was you or not. It was only because of our smooth-talking wing commander that they told us you weren’t dead. Fuck, Felicia.” His words cracked on the emotion wracking him.

She closed her eyes at the pain in his voice. To know how devastated he would be if she’d been really hurt...her heart swelled, and she suddenly regretted not calling him again. It would be really nice to feel his big strong arms around her right now.

“I’m sorry. I just didn’t think it through. If it makes you feel any better, I’m really regretting it right now. I could really use a hug from my guy.” Steven deserved better. She had to do better to show him that she cared.

“Babe, as soon as I can get to you, I don’t plan to let you go for a long, long time. How are you getting home?”

“Billy’s here. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay.” Steven blew out a sigh. “I need to go talk to the detectives. I’ll be there as soon as I can get away.”

“Don’t worry, Steven. The clinic is closed today because it’s a crime scene, so I plan to sleep the day away. Just come by after you get off tonight.”

“We’ll see. I love you, Felicia.”

She hung up her cell phone as her eyes filled with tears.

Big, strong arms gently hugged her from behind. “Hey, I know I’m not Steven, but I can give a good sympathy hug. You okay?”

She turned into Billy’s embrace, needing his strength right now when she felt so weak and weepy. “Yeah, I’m just so tired. I feel like I could sleep for days.”

He nodded into her hair. “Yeah, between the night you had, the pain meds, and the adrenaline drop, you’re probably due a good nap. Let’s get you home.”

***

FELICIA AWOKE SEVERAL hours later to strong arms gently encircling her where she slept in bed. From his distinctive woodsy scent, she could tell it was Steven. “Hey, you,” she said, her voice scratchy with sleep. “What time is it?”

“Just after four thirty. I’m sorry. I wanted to be here earlier.”

Very carefully, she rolled so she could see him.

His expression radiated concern and worry.

It made her feel protected which she really needed right now. She hissed in a breath. Going without pain meds sucked, although her head felt significantly better after the nap. She smiled when she found his concerned face.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “It looks like you’re in pain.”

“Just a bit of discomfort. It’s fine. You didn’t miss anything by not being here today. I’ve just been sleeping. Poor Billy has been watching over me, and he’s been bored to tears. Is he still here?”

“He just left. Told me to tell you that he’d do a final check of the kennels and then leave you in my capable hands.”

She nodded. Billy had stayed all day, making sure she had anything she could possibly need. He hadn’t liked that she wouldn’t take any more pain pills once they left the hospital, but she wanted to be clear-headed.

“How are you feeling?” Steven asked.

Felicia stilled, taking stock of her aches and pains. Overall, she was sore and the throbbing at her side was still pretty insistent, but sleep had helped a lot. “Better than I did before sleeping all day. I’m good. Do they have any idea who did it?” She knew there was some sort of evidence that tied her attackers to the base, but she wasn’t sure what it was, or if Steven was in a position to know how the investigation was progressing.

“Do you know any of the details?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No, all I know is what happened here. Although the detectives said they had reason to believe the attackers might be tied to the base, they didn’t tell me why they thought that.”

Steven’s lips firmed, and his eyes flared with anger. “Not just the base. It looks like your attackers could have been some of my guys.”

“What?” For some reason, she would’ve been okay with it just being a couple of punks from the base, but having them be part of Steven’s squadron... That felt personal. But that could be because of the pain in his gaze and the sense of betrayal.

“The weapon...the screwdriver...was from one of my shops.”

She frowned at him. “How could you...” Before she could finish her question, her doorbell rang.

“Stay here. I’ll get it for you.” He jumped out of bed and was out of the room before she could argue with him.

She moved a little more gingerly and slowly, so by the time she got to the entryway of her house, she heard Steven sneer, “What? You can’t spring for real flowers?”

Her eyes widened at the aggressive tone in Steven’s voice as she noticed the huge bouquet of roses that had to have cost a fortune on the table just inside her door.

“Steven, who is it?” She couldn’t see past his bulky form blocking the doorway.

“Maybe you should step aside, Major Hardesty, so I can see her.”

Gage.

Steven made a sound low in his throat that sounded way too close to the sound a Rottweiler made when another dog encroached on its territory. And he didn’t seem any more willing to move even as she tried to gently shove him to the side. So instead, she pinched the lean muscle just above his hip, hard.

“Ow,” he complained as he frowned back at her. But it got the effect she’d been hoping for. She slid past him and smiled at Gage. “Gage, hi. Sorry. My guard dog is feeling a bit protective right now.”

“I’ll show him guard dog,” Steven muttered behind her, and she could imagine the look he was throwing at Gage.

But Gage just raised a humor-filled eyebrow at her boyfriend before he pushed a mixed bouquet of white daisies and pink carnations toward her.

For a moment, her heart caught and stilled before it took off on a gallop again. “My favorites. You remembered.”

“Of course, I remembered.”

Steven’s proprietary hand on her shoulder tightened.

Gage gave her a soft, intimate smile. “I remember every single moment of our time together. Those have always been your favorite.”

Her heartbeat sped up, and she could feel Steven’s gaze drilling into the back of her head. But it was so sweet of Gage to come by and bring her favorite flowers. She couldn’t be rude.

“Come in while I put them in water. Steven was just telling me about the connection these guys have to the base.”

“Felicia,” Steven said from behind her, “you don’t need to be entertaining. You should be resting.”

“I don’t want to intrude,” Gage said.

She shook her head. “Come in. Seriously, you came all this way. Don’t listen to Steven. He’s just over-protective. I’ve been sleeping all day, and I could use a distraction right now.”

“Okay.” Gage stepped over the threshold. “But just for a little bit, because I don’t want to wear you out. The detectives wouldn’t tell us anything except you had survived and that a screwdriver from one of our shops was the weapon.” He examined her critically.

She ran a hand over her hair. She probably looked a mess after sleeping all day.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I was lucky. The stab wound was fairly shallow, so he missed any vital organs. I just have a few stitches. Another few days or so and I’ll be as good as normal, just bruised and sore.”

The two men followed her into the kitchen, and she was paying such close attention to them that she didn’t think and bent over to grab a vase from under her sink. She hissed, and both men reached for her.

“I’ve got her,” Steven growled, and Gage backed up a couple of steps. “If you had brought the flowers in a vase, she wouldn’t be doing things that she shouldn’t right now.”

“I brought her the kinds of flowers that she likes.” Gage did a bit of growling of his own. “She likes to put her flowers in her big, stoneware pitchers so the animals won’t knock it over. If you knew her like you’re supposed to, you would know this.”

“I’ll show you how well I know her, you jackass.”

Felicia put her fingers in between her lips and whistled. Both men turned to her just in time to see her grab her side.

“Fuck, Felicia,” Steven said as he started for her. “Are you okay?”

She put up the hand not holding her side to stop his approach. “I’m fine.” She thought she could handle this, but she was wrong. “Thank you both for coming over to check on me, but I think you should leave now.”

Steven started to argue, but she glared at him. Her head and side hurt too much to argue. She was through. “No. I thought maybe you were both mature enough to handle an adult conversation. That’s obviously not the case. I’m not a bone for you to fight over. I want you both to leave. If you feel that you need to continue your alpha male posturing, you can go outside and whip your dicks out to compare there. You won’t be doing it in here.”

Then she slowly shuffled back to her room. She couldn’t deal with them right now. But dammit, she still didn’t know what the detectives had discovered out at the base about the attack.

***

GAGE STEPPED OUTSIDE Felicia’s house with Steven and blew out a frustrated breath. She’d been so pale and in so much obvious pain. “I don’t like leaving her alone,” he said to Steven, who continued to glare at him.

“Well, I don’t know if you noticed, but she kicked me out just as fast as she did you. I don’t know about the version of Felicia you knew, but this one doesn’t change her mind about things like that.” He glanced around the courtyard and nodded his head to the big truck parked behind the clinic. “Billy’s still here. He’ll watch out for her.”

Guilt plagued Gage. “I’m sorry. I guess I shouldn’t have come, but I needed to see her in person to make sure she was okay.”

Steven stopped, and looked off into the distance, blew out a breath, and then ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “I get that. I do. I get that maybe once upon a time you cared for her. But dammit, Colonel, she’s my future, and you showing up is screwing all that up.”

Gage respected the fact that Steven laid it all out there, but there was just one major flaw in what he’d just said. “Let’s get something straight, I may not have been in her life for the last few years, but I never stopped caring for her.”

At this, Steven turned the full force of his fury on Gage. “You. Hurt. Her. That’s not what someone does when they care for someone.”

“You’re right. I made some serious mistakes. Mistakes I’ve paid for ever since, but that doesn’t change the fact that I want what’s best for her.”

“And you think that’s you?” Steven’s eyes narrowed on him.

“No.” Gage shook his head. “Not necessarily. Yes, I’d like another chance with her, because she’s just as incredible as she ever was, but if she chooses you, I won’t stand in the way of that.” Even if it would kill him to step away.

Her getting hurt today had driven home that against all odds, they were in the same vicinity of each other. They had another chance. He’d be stupid to pass on that. He wouldn’t pass on it.

“So, you are going to pursue her?” Steven asked, glaring at him.

“Yes, I am. I plan to show her that I’m a better man than the guy who threw away what we had before.”

“I’m not going to just step aside,” Steven said.

“I wouldn’t expect you to, but that doesn’t change the fact that I still have feelings for her.”

Steven stepped right up to Gage, using all of his intimidating size to posture over Gage. Even though Gage wasn’t a small guy, Steven had him on height by an inch or so and easily another fifty pounds of pure muscle. “Well, that’s the difference between you and I. I don’t just have feelings for her. I know I love her and want to spend the rest of my life with her. If you hadn’t shown up with your sick dog, she would already know that, too, and we’d be engaged. But don’t you worry, I won’t be silent about it much longer.”

Gage clenched his fist. The thought of Felicia and Steven married...no, that couldn’t happen.

Fate.

Once upon a time, Felicia had convinced him that fate had brought them together. He’d lost faith in that since then, but now... Had fate brought him here just in time to keep her from marrying the wrong man?

He had to think so.

“While normally I’m all for two gorgeous men hanging around where I can ogle them...” Billy said as he ran over from the back of the vet clinic.

Gage hadn’t even heard him approach.

Steven hissed in a surprised breath and looked thoroughly embarrassed. After throwing another dark glare at Gage, he turned to Billy.

“I’m thinking,” Billy continued, “that standing out here like y’all are seconds away from coming to blows isn’t exactly what Fe needs right now. Don’t you two think she’s had enough violence for one day?”

“Yes, she has,” Gage agreed. “She asked us both to leave. Can you stick around and make sure she’s okay?”

Billy rolled his eyes. “Of course I will, but I think you both need to do a deep, internal gut check, because this alpha posturing thing you have going on isn’t helping the situation.”

“Noted,” Gage said with a nod. “Stop acting like we’re in eighth grade.” He gave Steven a bit of a side-glance before blowing out a breath. “I think we can probably handle that. Please apologize for us. She has my number if she wants to talk about...well, anything.”

“Same here,” Steven said. His voice lowered as he focused on Billy. “And thank you, Billy, I know you have responsibilities on your ranch that you’re shuffling off on someone else so you can be here for her.”

Billy shrugged. “Well, yeah, but that’s what friends do. You guys can take off. Don’t worry. I’ve got her.”

Gage nodded and got into Austin’s truck. Billy was right. None of this helped Felicia. He had to figure out another way to approach her. It wasn’t fair to her or Steven to push against him, especially considering that technically Gage was Steven’s commander. This was a disaster in the making.

But the fact that Steven inferred he’d been on the verge of asking Felicia to marry him... That just brought up the awful memory of the night Gage had planned to do the same...ask Felicia to marry him.

***

18 YEARS AGO

Gage set the unlit silver candlestick on the table and stepped back to see if it looked okay. His palms were sweaty and his stomach a knotted mess. He still had seven hours before Felicia’s plane landed. He had to calm the fuck down or he’d have a heart attack before he even left for the airport.

For the hundredth time that day, he pulled the small box out of his jeans pocket and flipped it open. The diamond solitaire flashed in the light.

She’d say yes, right? Things had been weird between them lately, but hell, they were both under a lot of stress from their jobs. She was on her last leg of her internship. Then she’d take her licensing exam, they could get married, and she could move with him wherever the Air Force took them. Once they were living together, things would get better. He knew it. They just had to have patience until then.

He checked the clock on the wall. Felicia should be heading to the airport soon.

His phone rang, and Felicia’s name showed up on the caller I.D. “Hey, beautiful,” he answered. “I can’t wait to hold you tonight. Are you about to leave for the airport?”

“Gage...” He could tell from the tone of her voice that he wasn’t going to like what she said next. “I can’t come tonight. There’s a countywide emergency. They found a huge puppy mill, and Dr. Hernandez needs me here...”

Everything else she said was drowned out by the sound of the blood rushing in his ears. He had no idea if he’d even told her goodbye when he hung up the phone. But several hours later when one of his fellow pilots, Brush, called to invite him to a New Year’s Eve party just off base, he agreed. Getting shitfaced sounded like the best idea ever.

He was never able to look at that engagement ring again.