Less than a half hour left until he could peel that velvet dress off Julia's sleek body.
Zach strode straight toward his wife. Julia.
He shut out thoughts of his first wife. Pam's return wouldn't change a thing, even if she bothered to stick around this time. Any feelings for her had died a brutal death years ago, long before they'd filed for divorce. Now, he only wanted to protect his daughters from having their hearts trounced again. Zach absently patted the side of his leg, impatient to leave.
Pam had no bearing on his relationship with Julia.
A relationship he intended to deepen very soon.
Zach cupped a possessive hand on her shoulder. His thumb worked a slow caress along her back, away from prying eyes. The crushed velvet didn't come close to rivaling the incredible satin of her skin.
The head table rose for the official recessional. Once they were out in the hall, others thronged around them, but he kept his eyes firmly set on the door. No need to sweat leaving now. The party was well underway, Bronco making an effective bouncer/keeper-of-order with his linebacker-sized bulk.
The band started their next set, Major Grayson "Cutter" Clark commandeering the microphone to growl out a tune. Zach threaded through the crowd toward the coat room, Cutter's Eagles revamp filling the hall.
Finally free, Zach guided Julia toward the coat check. The low scoop of her dress in back showcased the graceful curve of her spine. An enticing view and he intended to see more soon.
He draped an insubstantial red gauzy wrap over her shoulders, leaning closer until the sweep of her curls caressed his cheek. "Have I told you how incredible you look?"
"Your girls deserve the credit. Left up to me, I'd have probably worn silk overalls and high tops."
"Either way, you'd look as gorgeous."
"I'm not so sure the general's wife would have agreed." Julia twirled the flower between two fingers, her laugh too high, too thin.
But he'd take care of that soon enough. The wait had strung them both tight. Time to get her alone.
Zach swung open the front door and followed her along the brick walkway to Julia's sedan. Street lights hummed, illuminating a path to their car. The inky sky glinted with a partial moon and the occasional airliner in flight, but it held none of his planes tonight.
He had hours left before he turned on that radio again, and he intended to make full use of every minute.
Holding the door open for Julia, he tracked the mesmerizing glide of her legs as she slid them into the car. She dropped the flower on her lap. On her thighs. In ten more minutes, he'd be grazing her bare skin with those soft petals.
Zach shut the door and beat a path around the hood.
Behind the wheel, he looked over his shoulder to back out of the parking lot. Almost in the clear.
Julia pleated her red wrap between her fingers for three stop signs before she broke the silence. "I called home again at ten, and Shelby sounded okay."
"Good thinking." The fifteen mile-an-hour speed limit through base housing had his foot twitching. With any luck his daughter would be asleep by the time they hit the driveway.
"Shelby checked on Patrick for me while we talked, and he was sleeping soundly. She even put the cordless phone up to his face so I could hear his sweet little baby breaths.
Isn't it funny how I can recognize my child just by the way he breathes?"
"Parenthood has a way of changing the way we see things." Damn but he wished he could figure out how to fix things with Shelby, but an ice cream cone and trip to the park didn't cut it anymore.
"The parenthood thing still feels so new to me. I second-guess all those instincts. I had a great time tonight, but I couldn't stop thinking about the children. What do you plan to say to Shelby about Pam?"
Say to Shelby? He'd already tried, for all the good it had done. "I'll talk to her tomorrow after band."
He pulled into the driveway behind his truck. Three minutes to take-off. Zach reached for the door.
Julia stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Pam showing up out of the blue like that was tough for both the girls." She traced the silver band circling the wrist of his uniform jacket. "How are you?"
Sexually frustrated as hell. "How am I what?"
"About Pam coming back."