Point of Departure Page 19

  “Quite a place,” Ty commented wryly.

  “Really.”

  “Does it make you uncomfortable?”

  Callie shook her head. “I guess I can put up with the pretense as long as the food is good.”

  “And the company is good.”

  “Touchñae.”

  Ty reached over and captured her hand. “I wanted a quiet, secluded spot, not a place where the mañfitre d’ and his staff have their noses in the air.”

  Laughing softly, Callie responded to his touch, an ache centering deep within her. “I won’t take them seriously if you won’t.”

  Rallying, he grinned. “I like your flexibility.” Sobering a bit, he lifted her hand and kissed the back of it, her skin fragrant with perfume. “I know the good news about Burke, but tell me, how did it go today over at Personnel when you turned in your resignation? I’m just curious.”

  Sitting back, Callie said, “Strained and tense. Commander Waring, who is the head of Personnel, gave me my departing interview and studiously wrote out my reasons for resigning my commission. Most of the time he had a wrinkled brow, and he was sweating a lot.”

  With a shake of his head, Ty muttered, “I wonder if he made the call to the admiral at the Pentagon?”

  “I don’t know,” Callie said thoughtfully.

  “I’m glad to see the navy isn’t willing to lose someone who is invaluable to them. Look at the time and money they’ve poured into your education. You’d think it would tip the balance.”

  “Maybe it did,” Callie said softly. “This change means I’m going to have to prepare files on all the cases I want to pursue next week when Captain Walsh calls. Something good has come out of this after all, Ty.”

  With a blinding smile, he nodded. He’d ordered a bottle of chardonnay, and it was brought and the crystal goblets filled. Left alone, he handed Callie her glass and touched the rim of his own to it.

  “Here’s to a brave new world where you are going to make a difference,” he toasted.

  Callie met and held his warm gaze across the wineglasses. “Yes,” she whispered. As she sipped the slightly oak-flavored wine, she ruminated that Ty had made a huge, important difference in her world. Setting the goblet aside, she turned to him.

  “Do you think you’ll be penalized because of me and what is going to happen on the station?”

  With a shake of his head, Ty said, “I don’t think so. I don’t think I’m going to get any hassle.”

  Moistening her lips, she said, “But what if our relationship continues? Up until now, no one knew about it. Since I’m going to stay in, they’ll know about it at the station.”

  “What do you mean, if?”

  Callie gave an embarrassed shrug. “Well…”

  “No ‘well’ about it,” Ty growled. He tightened his grip on her hand. “I’m in for the long haul. How about you?” His breath was suspended as he met her shadowed blue eyes.

  The unparalleled warmth and monitored strength of his hand around hers made Callie choke up for a moment. “Everything happened so fast, Ty. We didn’t even like each other at first….”

  “That was my fault. I liked you the moment I saw you there in the parking lot. Things got fouled up because my commander ordered me to defend you. I admit, at first I didn’t want to do it, but later, I was glad I’d been ordered into the fray.”

  “I’m glad, too,” Callie said softly. “You showed me that there is one officer in the navy with morals more important than his concern about his career.”

  “Sweetheart,” Ty whispered as he placed his arm around her shoulders and drew her against him, “there are a lot of fine officers in the navy who are exactly like me. Admiral Burke certainly is. Remington and his bunch are in the minority.”

  “But I never thought Andy Clark would lie like that, Ty. I know I didn’t know him well, but he seemed like a really decent guy—nothing like Remington.”

  Ty sighed and shook his head in answer. A long moment later he pressed a kiss to her puzzled brow. “You know something?”

  Languishing beneath his care, her heart starting to pound a little crazily, Callie whispered, “What?”

  “Tonight is ours for as long as you want us to be together.”

  Closing her eyes, she rested against Ty, feeling happier than she even remembered being. “All night?”

  “If that’s what you want, Callie.”

  Stretching upward, she pressed a soft kiss against his very male mouth. “Yes,” she whispered against him, “all night.”

  Ty tried to contain his surprise as he drove into the parking lot of Callie’s apartment complex. She’d wanted to come home to change clothes and pick up some clothes, since they planned to spend the day at the beach after waking up at his place tomorrow morning. There, standing next to Callie’s car, was Lieutenant Clark.

  “Ty…” Callie stared at the navy officer as they drove up alongside her car. “What’s Andy doing here at this time of night?”

  “I don’t know.” Frowning, Ty shut off the engine and climbed out. Callie left the car and walked over to the officer.

  Callie tried to handle her sudden, jittery feelings as she stopped within a few feet of Clark. He was still dressed in his summer white uniform, nervously twisting the hat in his hands.

  “What do you want?” Callie demanded huskily. She felt Ty’s hand come to rest on her shoulder, felt the protection he gave her.

  “I—uh, I heard scuttlebutt on the station late today that you were resigning your commission, Lieutenant Donovan.”

  Callie wasn’t able to deny that, since Admiral Burke had sworn her to secrecy. “News gets around fast, doesn’t it?” She saw the sweat standing out on Clark’s brow and noted the anxiety evident not only in the way he was moving his hat in his hands, but in the darting quality in his eyes.

  “Damn…I mean, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize…” He stopped, his voice dropping into a guilt-ridden rasp. “I hoped it wasn’t true.”

  “The board found me guilty of something I didn’t do. Why would anyone stay in an organization like that?”

  Wincing, Clark looked toward Ty and then back to her. “God, I never meant for it to go this far. I—I just thought—”

  “What?” Ty demanded tightly. “That if you threw in with Remington and his boys you’d be nice and safe? No hassle? No career worries?”

  “Yeah, something like that,” Clark muttered. He opened his hands in Callie’s direction. “Look, I feel bad about this.”

  “But not so bad as to tell the truth?” Ty demanded.

  “Please,” Callie begged, “let Andy finish what he’s trying to tell us.”

  Bridling, Ty snapped his mouth shut, his anger rising by the second.

  “I had that coming,” Clark said. “You’ve got to understand something, Lieutenant Donovan. I never thought it would go this far. I really didn’t. I’m sorry you’ve resigned. That wasn’t right, either.” Helplessly, he shrugged, and his voice became scratchy with tension. “I’ve got a wife and two kids to support. If I told the truth and sided with you, I knew that my career was down the tubes. There’s a recession in our country. A deep one. And even though I’m a pilot, I might not get a job—it’s that bad. Please…I couldn’t risk my family to testify for you. Can you understand?”

  Callie closed her eyes, feeling the pilot’s guilt and pain over his flawed decision. She lifted her lashes and held Clark’s anguished gaze. “Sometimes,” she choked, “we all have to do things we don’t want to do, Lieutenant Clark. I’m just sorry you couldn’t put your values ahead of your pocketbook.”

  “But it was my family,” he entreated. “If it were just me, I’d have told the truth for you. I—I didn’t want my entire family punished.”

  Unable to contain himself any longer, Ty punched his index finger in Clark’s direction. “There’s no easy answer on this, Clark, and you know it. But you’re an academy graduate just like me. You’re bound by a higher law to always tell the truth and not participate in a
ny kind of cover-up. I don’t care what your reason. You were taught for four years to tell the truth no matter what. How do you think I feel about this? I’m a ring-knocker, too. A part of the brotherhood. Do you think I respect any of you for your lies?”

  Wincing, Clark took a step back, unable to look Ty in the eyes. “Don’t you think that hasn’t bothered me, Commander? I sat in that board hearing, my stomach in knots. I wanted to puke.” Lifting his head, he gave Callie an anguished look of apology. “I know you understand, Lieutenant Donovan.”

  “I understand,” Callie said brokenly, “but it doesn’t make it right. It never will.”

  “I tried to rationalize it. I spent sleepless nights looking at all the angles. I have a family to support and feed. You’re single, and you don’t have a family to worry about. I’m up for lieutenant commander, and I didn’t want my chances of getting the higher rank and the pay that comes with it screwed with this board hearing. My youngest daughter has a learning disability, and with the extra pay we were going to be able to get her to a special teaching facility.” Looking away, Clark tried to hold back his emotions by compressing his lips for a moment. Finally, he looked back at Callie. “I’m sorry. I feel like hell about this. I always will. What I did wasn’t right. I just tried to make the best decision for all concerned.”

  “You don’t rationalize the truth, Clark. Not ever! You didn’t look at all the angles, either, buddy. Did you know that Callie was up for lieutenant commander, too? How the hell do you know where the money she makes goes? Maybe it’s to a sick parent, or another member of her family. The point is—” Ty grabbed Clark by his shirfront “—you made some very lousy, selfish rationalizations that concerned you, not her.” With a growl, he released the officer. “You make me ashamed to be an academy graduate.”

  Callie choked back the desire to tell Clark that she’d decided not to resign. He looked like a beaten dog. His conscience was eating him alive, there was no doubt. He was a tortured man in every sense of the word. She felt Ty’s hand on her arm, gently urging her to come with him. Woodenly, Clark straightened his uniform and put the hat back on his head. He gave Callie a woeful look turned and walked back to his car.

  Ty was breathing hard and trying to control his anger. After Clark drove away, he released a ragged sigh. “You okay?”

  Callie turned and moved into his arms. Ty’s face was glowering with fury. “I’m okay,” she said and reached up and touched his cheek.

  “I can’t believe he lied,” Ty breathed. “Not when he’s being eaten alive by it.”

  “Water under the bridge,” Callie whispered. She allowed her hands to remain on his chest, the beat of his heart palpable beneath her palms. “Clark has to live with his decision—no matter how much he tried to rationalize it.”

  “Well, he’ll get a second chance to square with his conscience. I’m sure Burke’s team will interview him again in their investigation. But I hope like hell he has sleepless nights for the rest of his life over what he did to you.”

  There really were no easy answers, Callie decided. A part of her, the objective side, understood Clark’s agonizing decision in favor of his family. It was obvious he worried greatly over his daughter with the learning disorder. As Ty walked with her into her apartment, she felt only sadness, not anger or betrayal.

  “At least,” Callie said as she switched on one of the living-room lamps, “Clark had the courage to come and tell me to my face. I don’t expect Remington or the other two to do that.”

  Ty shrugged out of his jacket and let it drop on the back of the sofa. “I think he came over here to try to somehow make himself feel less guilty,” he said as he loosened the tie. Now, more than ever, he wanted to love Callie. He wanted to show her the good side to a man; she’d been seeing the underside for too long. Moving over to where she stood next to the lamp, the light softly outlining her strained features, he placed his hands on her shoulders.

  “I’m sorry it had to happen tonight. I wanted things to be perfect after all the hell you’d gone through,” he said, gently massaging her shoulders. As Callie lifted her chin and stared up into his eyes, Ty felt a joy suffuse him, like rolling thunder through the very heart of his body, his soul.

  “I’m not sorry,” Callie whispered, and stood up on tiptoe to place a warm, inviting kiss on his grim mouth. She felt the tension in Ty, the anger, but she also felt his lips melt and become willing beneath her gentle assault. Right now, all she wanted to do was focus on something good and clean, something that was honest—and her feelings for him were exactly that. As his arms slid around her, capturing her against him, she smiled against his mouth and surrendered to his male strength coupled with exquisite tenderness as his mouth took hers.

  With a groan of raging need, Ty leaned down and swept Callie into his arms. Her own arms settled around his shoulders, and he felt the moistness of her breath as she sighed, resting her head against his as he carried her down the hall to her bedroom. Nudging the door open, he stepped inside.

  Nothing could have prepared Ty for the ethereal beauty of her bedroom. As he stood there with Callie in his arms, warm and soft against him, he saw a four-poster bed with chiffon drapery across the top of it, tied in languorous folds to each of the posts. The gauzy pink curtains in the window were equally feminine. Large green plants, almost small trees, were nestled in two of the corners. A small round table covered with a flowery cloth compounded the Victorian decor.

  Smiling down at her, he said, “Your bedroom shows a whole other side of you.”

  Callie returned his smile, never more happy than in this moment in his arms. “I think it mirrors the woman in me,” she whispered. “The one that doesn’t have to wear a military uniform.”

  “You’re like that tidal pool we saw the other night. There are so many facets to you,” he murmured, and walked over to the bed. The thick quilt was colored with huge pink, white and red peonies on a green-and-ivory background. The pink chiffon hung in huge, loose folds, and moved slightly as he laid her on the bed, then joined her. Moonlight filtered through the window, lending a soft radiance to the room. As Ty pushed off his shoes and they dropped to the thick, dusky carpet, he felt Callie’s hands move upward across his shirt. His skin prickled where her fingers glided across the silky fabric to begin unbuttoning his shirt.

  The very male smile Ty gave her as she pulled the shirt away from his chest made Callie feel bold—beautiful. She felt an incredible sense of wonder laced with joy as he began to remove her Aztec-design jacket. His white silk shirt fell to the carpet with it. The simple black dress had a zipper, and he gently turned her away from him and began to slowly pull it downward. Every few inches the zipper would stop, and she would feel his hot breath and then a soft kiss on her back as the dress peeled open beneath his coaxing. Each kiss was like a searching quest—hot, slow and exquisite. Callie could only sit there, her breath coming in ragged sighs as Ty worked the zipper downward.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he rasped as he slid his hands beneath the dress and pulled it away from her skin. Each time he caressed her with a kiss, he felt her gasp, felt her tense, in the way of a woman enjoying each heated touch he bestowed upon her. Just removing Callie’s dress was a delicious adventure to him. And her lacy black lingerie underneath made him smile with appreciation. The luster burning in her eyes told him that she not only welcomed his touch, but desired more of it and him.

  As Ty leaned down and captured her awaiting mouth, he slid his hand beneath her and eased the black, lacy bra from her. His hand trembling, he barely cupped her small breast and felt her arch toward him with a soft gasp of pleasure. His body thrummed, hard and on fire as she melted against him beneath his caresses. Her fingers dug frantically into his shoulders, kneading his taut muscles, begging him in the silent language of love to continue his exploration of her.

  Moving his mouth strongly against her wet, soft lips, Ty realized in some distant compartment of his mind and heart that he did love Callie. When and how it had ha
ppened was beyond him, but he recognized that fierce, all-consuming feeling for the second time in his life. Humbled by the emotion sweeping like a tidal wave through him, he felt her cool fingers move with trembling certainty down across his chest and torso. Callie had gone through so much alone that he concentrated on tempering his hunger in lieu of her needs. Love was about pleasing, about sharing, not selfishly taking for one’s own pleasure. Lifting his head as he broke the long, hot kiss, he saw the joy reflected in her half-closed eyes. He felt like the strongest, most powerful man in the world at that moment.

  Time merged with the moonlight. Ty’s inciting touch slowly explored each curve, each valley of her. Callie had tried to give him equal pleasure, but somehow he’d turned the table, transforming her needs into a raging, out-of-control fire that burned hotly within her for him alone. They lay naked together, and she gloried in the strength and hardness of his body against hers. There was such suppleness to Ty, such power, that she trembled with a hunger she’d never known before as he continued to move his hands in provocative, teasing caresses.

  The moment his lips settled on the peak of her taut breast, Callie became mindless, moaning his name and clamoring for more of him. The moistness of his breath, the strength of his body meeting hers, the growl that rumbled through him as he merged into her, made her cry out in joy. There was such tenderness as he took her, becoming one with her. At first he held very still, until he was sure that she had adjusted to him, and then, with a smile in his eyes, he began to move slowly, rhythmically, just as the ocean moves in and out from the restless, sandy shore. Each surge created more fire. Each plunge made her gasp for a deepening, a joining with him. The perspiration mingled and merged, slid and became molten until she felt the oneness, the mindlessness consume her. The powerful surge exploded deep within her, spreading outward in waves and taking her breath away. In those exquisite moments, Callie clung to Ty, understanding as never before what love was really all about. She felt him holding her tightly, his head pressed against hers, his breathing ragged and thick.