* * *
At the base ops parking lot, Gray thumbed the unlock button on his key chain. The running-board lights glowed to lifelike a beacon in the dark as he strode ahead of Lori to open the passenger door. He reached to brace her elbow as she stepped up into the Explorer. Even weaving on her feet, she ignored him and used the hand grip and running board to lever herself inside the car.
Fine, if that's the way she wanted to play it. He kept his eyes firmly off her slim hips, not that it helped. His mind's eye remembered them well.
He circled and climbed into the driver's seat, the hint of gently musky perspiration and peaches already invading his car as well as his senses. Memories marched over him, images of choosing peach-scented lotion for her at the mall. He'd tested half the selections on Lori, working his way up inch after inch of the tender inside of her arm. Stirred into a frenzy by the time they'd reached the end of the display counter, they'd sped back to his apartment…
Gray rolled the windows down. Cranking the air conditioner, he let it blast out the oppressive heat. "Where are we going?"
Her startled gaze met his.
Double entendres stunk, and they seemed to abound around Lori. Gray chose his words carefully. "Where do you live now? You mentioned an apartment over an office. I assume that means you're not renting the carriage house anymore."
"Oh, right. I moved this year. When I landed the job to start up the offices here in Charleston, the building we use has offices on the first floor. I rent the second. It just made sense for me to live there."
"And that's where?"
Crickets hummed an evening tune while he waited. She twirled the end of her braid around her finger, one of her understated signs Gray recognized as nerves. With his reserves nearing zero, he needed to get her in bed soon.
Bed? Damn.
Had Freud and his infamous slips jumped in the car with them while Gray was busy ogling Lori's silky hair? "Lori? Where's your place?"
"Oh." She laughed and slumped back against the seat. "I must be punch drunk from lack of sleep. You were right not to let me drive. It's downtown on Broad Street."
"Great locale." And a long drive. He shuffled aside his own pressing need to fall facedown on his bed.
Alone. He rushed the thought before Freudian slips and double entendres could bite him on the libido again.
Slower and slower Lori twisted the end of her braid. "It's a fixer upper, but worth the elbow grease. I'm happy with it."
Happy. She'd moved on, carved out a great life for herself. Time to yank himself out of limbo. He raised the windows and slid the Explorer into drive.
Lori started fading before he reached the base's front gate. Traffic was sporadic and light, not many drivers other than truckers venturing out after twelve on a weeknight.
Gray blasted the air conditioner on his face to keep himself alert and Lori awake. "And you're happy with the job?"
"Yeah. I love it. I just hope the new southeast division makes it through its probationary period. Placing these children without a hitch will go a long way in buying us some security."
They'd never discussed her work much in the past, although her dedication was obvious. Her life-threatening sprint on the flight line went beyond dedication. "What made you switch jobs?"
"Working for the Department of Social Services was starting to wear on me. I tried to focus on the kids I helped, but there are just too many loopholes in the system. Children don't always end up where they should. Every time I had to return a child to a home my instincts told me wasn't safe, it tore me up inside." She crooked her arm against the window to pillow her head. "Maybe I'm being selfish. But there's more immediate gratification in this job, finding homes for these children, even being a foster parent in a pinch. These kids give me so much. I never forget a face." Her smile faded.
Magda might as well have been sitting in the back seat, because her tear-streaked face all but hovered between them. "You're the last person I would call selfish."
"Thanks, Gray," she whispered, "but maybe you just don't know me all that well."
Highway streetlights whipped past in bursts and fading flashes. His grip tightened around the steering wheel. "So have you found the guy who does know you?"
The question fell out of Gray's mouth before he could think to stop it. He turned another air-conditioning vent on his face because he must be groggier than he thought he was to have let that one slip.
Still he waited for her answer, not sure what he wanted it to be. After two mile markers of silence, he glanced at her. She lay limp against the door, her lashes against her cheeks, her br**sts gliding in the even rise and fall of deep slumber. He'd always enjoyed watching her sleep.
Gray jerked his gaze back to the road before he landed in more than a ditch. The turnoff to his North Charleston apartment approached, Lori's place still at least a half hour away. He blinked past the grit in his eyes and stifled a yawn.
He looked at the road sign again. Without giving himself time to change his mind, he turned at his exit. She could sleep in the guest room. He would take her home in the morning.
Unlike Lori, he'd never had any problem being selfish.