Out of Uniform

She gripped his arm. “Be careful. Please.”



“Of course,” he responded automatically, already focused on the parking lot and looking for whoever had dared threaten Dee.



Chapter 10



N o one was looking for her. Dee had to accept it.



She spread her arms to pull the towel taut before folding it. Grace silently folded a second pile while the dryer tumbled a fresh load in the motel laundry room.



Three days had passed since someone had broken in and written DEAD on her mirror. Not that Jacob had been able to find anyone. Not that the cops had uncovered anything further.



Other than noting the lipstick tube had been completely wiped clean of prints.



She’d told them the lipstick hadn’t been there before, but she could tell they thought she’d absentmindedly forgotten. She disagreed then and now. She might not know some things about herself, but she knew for darn sure she hadn’t left out a lipstick tube since she’d taken a careful inventory of her meager possessions after waking up with nothing but a hundred dollars and an EpiPen. She didn’t have a stitch of makeup to her name.



Dee reminded herself to be grateful for what she did have. People seemed to accept her in spite of the amnesia.



At least there were people here who cared enough to notice if she fell off the face of the earth again. Grace, Emily…and Jacob.



Dee clutched the towel to her belly in counterpressure against the ache that had only increased since their kiss in the truck. An ache she couldn’t fill. Soon, he would be returning to his Charleston base.



Since she’d landed in Rockfish, the police hadn’t unearthed so much as a nibble on her identity, much less help in finding a child she wasn’t sure she still had. Even a long-shot attempt at hypnosis had been a bust. She and Jacob had garnered more success unearthing memories through simple brainstorming conversations. At times, she felt a change in herself, as if her mind were pregnant with memories, ready to give birth to them. And then nothing…



Her few memories of her child were real, of that she had no doubt. As days passed, she had to explore the possibility that she’d given up her baby, or that, heaven forbid, it had died. Had she lost her child and a husband, and that was why she had no one left to notice her absence? Reluctantly, her mind traveled that painful path.



Perhaps in her grief she had lost herself in shallow encounters with men like Mr. Smith. Certainly such all-encompassing pain could make a person want to forget. The scenario, while excruciating, made sense.



Otherwise, wouldn’t she be needed enough for someone to look for her? How devastating to think her life mattered so little that she could disappear.



She had to find answers. The lack of control threatened to drive her crazy. All she could do was continue to try, pester the police and save money for a private investigator.



Meanwhile, how could she be true to an unknown past while taking a chance on the future before Jacob left?



Standing outside the lobby closet, Jacob stuffed his military-issue snow parka into his gear bag. As always, the prospect of helping with a Civil Air Patrol search and rescue mission charged him, reminding him of his Air Force job waiting for him.



Only four days remained before he had to return to Charleston and he still hadn’t settled anything with Emily. His sister was going to have to accept the fact that she had to go with him. Starting tomorrow, they would have to get her school records, begin packing, hire someone to manage the motel…



Jacob glanced at Dee as she typed on the computer at the registration desk. “I can’t wait for Chase any longer. If he shows, let him know I’ve left to hook up with Bronco and Tag. He can meet us at McChord. He’ll have at least a half-hour window before the ground team heads out to start sweeping the area for the missing plane.”



Dee spun in the chair to face him, her hair swinging to drape around her shoulders. “No problem. I’ll pass along the message.”



Tearing himself away from the power of Dee’s honey-brown eyes, Jacob stuffed a box of packaged MREs—meals ready to eat—on top of his winter gear. “Are you sure you’ll be okay here alone? I could be gone all night.”



With two incidents of missing money from the drawer still unsolved, he worried about leaving her alone, unprotected. The cops hadn’t learned anything more about the intruder. He’d added extra security lights with motion sensors outside. He’d also given Dee a cell phone to carry with her at all times—in spite of her protests of “no charity.”



“I’ll be fine.” She stood and perched her hip against the counter, a shapely hip cupped by well-washed denim. “I can handle the phone lines for a few hours without you or Emily for backup.”



His hands itched. They begged him to fit both palms along those h*ps and pull her toward him. She’d started a thaw inside him that night in the back of the pickup. Her daily presence and that face-life-head-on attitude had ended his solitary days. A primal male part of him urged Jacob to pursue her, consequences be damned, before some other man came back to claim her.



What would he do then? It wasn’t as if he was any good at long-term. While he might not know much about Dee Smith, any fool could see she was the minivan-and-cookies type. His future mapped out more along the lines of wandering the world—anywhere but Rockfish with all its memories. Even moving to Tacoma shouted at revisiting the place he’d worked so damn hard to leave.



But she sure did look good in those jeans, and at his dinner table—and in his life. He’d been considering moving back here for Emily anyway, past be damned. Maybe Dee and Grace could run the motel for the few months until he managed the transfer and then…



“Jacob? Are you okay?”



“Yeah.” He cleared his throat so he could push free a full sentence. “This counts as overtime, you know.”



“This counts as doing a favor for a friend.”



Slowly he zipped the bag to give himself time to think before looking at Dee. “Is that what we are, friends?”



She fingered the cuff of her yellow flowered shirt, the flannel one he’d sent Emily to buy on her first shopping trip. The color turned Dee’s skin the prettiest creamy shade, like fine china he wanted to hold but worried he might break.



“I’d like to think so.” She leaned forward across the counter. “Let me do this for you. Please.”



He’d become accustomed to having her around, sometimes finding himself surprised at how many ways she’d sashayed her gently curved body and bossy ways into his motel and into his every thought.



And his life was better for it.



A knot held tight in his chest uncoiled, relaxed. “Okay.”



“Okay? Really? No overtime?”



“No overtime. And thanks.” Jacob hefted his bag and started toward the door.



“Jacob?”



He glanced back over his shoulder. “What?”



“I don’t want overtime.”



“I heard you.”



“But you could take me out to eat.”



Damn, but she’d thrown him another curve. Curves. Of its own volition, his gaze flowed over her. Curves. He needed to erase that word from his vocabulary.



How could one woman bring such mayhem and peace at the same time? She scared the hell out of him. Given the look on her face, he suspected she’d just scared the hell out of herself, as well. “Just friends going to the diner?”



They’d hidden out at the diner more than once when the prospect of all those motel beds waiting to be used had overpowered them.



She shrugged, but didn’t agree. He looked deeper in her eyes and saw exactly what he’d feared—and hoped—to find over the past few days. They were becoming more than friends. He wanted this woman to be more than his friend. He wanted to be her lover.



How many more empty police reports would it take before he could act on that? His body jolted in response at the mere thought.



Not five seconds ago he’d told himself he wasn’t right for her—regardless.



Well, dinner wasn’t a raging affair.



He could take her to supper. They’d eaten together every night like some old married couple, except without dessert sex.



Jacob stifled a groan.



Dee ducked her head and picked at her cuff again. “Never mind. Forget I said it. You don’t owe me for helping out. If anything, I owe you. Watching the desk for a few hours won’t even put a dent in my debt.”



There were those soulful, hurt eyes again, stabbing right through him. He didn’t stand a chance. “We could hunt down a restaurant in Tacoma that would serve you a bottle of Merlot.”



The invitation fell out of Jacob’s mouth before he could give himself time to think. And regret.



She tipped her chin with that Dee spirit he’d come to admire. She recovered quickly, he’d grant her that.



Dee pulled free a McChord base newspaper from beside the computer and plopped it on the counter. She pointed to an ad. “Or we could go to the base and have dinner at the NCO Club.”



Jacob walked toward her, slowly, and traced a finger along the edges of the paper. A paper that had been neatly folded to the page in advance, as if she’d been planning this. Another curve. “You’d like to go to the NCO Club?”



He’d noticed how often she flinched when the military airplanes flew overhead, how she went quiet whenever friends from the base showed up. Had the man who fathered her child been in the service?



“I can honestly say I can’t recall ever having been to one before,” she rambled nervously, her cheeks pinkening to match the flowers on her shirt. “I’m sure they have Merlot there. We can save Tacoma for another night.”



Another night. Another date. But not a date. Surely spending his last few evenings away from the intimacy of the motel would be wise.



He ignored the niggling sense that he was deluding himself and making a mistake, a big one. They were about to take a step forward that couldn’t be backtracked if the bottom fell out later. “All right then. Dinner at the base.”



Dee smiled, another curve of hers he’d come to enjoy viewing.



Just a simple night away from the Lodge, Jacob reminded himself.



He backed up a step. “Give Chase’s mom a call if he doesn’t show soon.”



“I will. And, Jacob?”



“Yeah?”



“Be careful.”



Jacob nodded and bolted out the door, wondering how a tiny scrap of a woman had him on the run when he’d faced down enemy threats twice her size.



Dee settled in for a slow night. No tour buses were scheduled, and the weather forecast would deter most impulsive travelers. Which left her with all night to think about what she’d asked Jacob.



Man, she had the munchies.



The vending machines called to her. At least she could feed one hunger without risking more than a couple of extra pounds. She scrounged in her pockets for loose change. After coming up with nothing but two quarters, she hit pay dirt with a one-dollar bill.



She still couldn’t believe she’d actually asked Jacob out, not that it qualified as a date, really. Just a friendly evening out. A nice, safe step toward starting a new life for herself. She didn’t plan to give up on the old one, but it could be years before she remembered. Meanwhile, she needed to create a life for herself outside the constant wondering and worrying, or she truly would lose her mind. Then she would be of no use to her child or herself.



After she’d bought a bag of sour cream and onion chips, Dee fed the dollar into the soda machine. It disappeared…and rolled back out. She flattened the bill and tried again.



No luck.



A quick trip to the cash drawer built in under the counter left her with change in hand for another try.



The red Sold Out light glared on both Coke buttons. Dee sighed. She really wanted a Coke. She could always raid Jacob’s kitchen and pay him back later. Heaven knew he’d extended the offer often enough when she’d helped at the desk before.