Let Us Prey: BBW Military Paranormal Romance (Wild Operatives, #2) Read online

  “The big guy who looks like a bear wearing a Stetson?”

  My grin widened a little. “Yeah, that one.”

  “Mm, he was nice. You were both so nice,” she mumbled against my shoulder.

  I thought I’d imagined her checking us both out when we were cooling off beneath her peach tree with our shirts off and the case of beer I fetched from the corner store. Then Russ confirmed it on the way home, and we both had a good chuckle.

  Another glance down confirmed she had fallen asleep, her face closer to my neck. Without waking Leigh, I slipped my arms beneath her body and raised her up from the sofa. Her cramped bedroom was neat and tidy, with little more than a full-sized bed and a banged up dresser. Photos of her decorated the mirror in a collage style, fastened by tiny squares of tape. I tucked her in and took a moment to look at them on my way out the door.

  The young woman in the high school graduation photos was at least forty pounds lighter, slim at the waist and hip. Without the cap and gown, her modest black dress revealed long legs and toned, athletic arms. Sliding my eyes back and forth between the photo and the real woman in the bed, I drew comparisons between Leigh’s thicker waist, rounder face, and the picture’s smaller proportions. The only thing I preferred about her younger visage was the careless smile on her face. It touched her eyes and overflowed with happiness. The Leigh I knew never smiled as freely.

  After tidying up her living room, I borrowed her second bed pillow and sprawled on her new sofa. The smell of the manufacturer and showroom floor was gone, replaced by her scent. I let the memory of her touch carry me off to sleep.

  Chapter Five

  ~Leigh~

  I awakened without any regrets about my evening of wine sipping with Ian and spent my first conscious minute remembering the way his abs flexed beneath my stroking fingertips. The man had a stomach I wanted to kiss.

  My old clock told me it was half past ten, long past the hour I usually got up to prepare for church in the morning. I groggily slipped out of bed and ran my fingers through my disheveled hair.

  Just as I was preparing to set out clothes, a strange sound from my living room startled me out of the daily routine. With my dad’s Louisville slugger in my hands, I tiptoed to the hall where a peek revealed Ian stretched facedown across my couch. Snoring.

  I sighed.

  After I spread a blanket over the chilly man, I shuffled into the bathroom and got in the shower. I made sure my legs were damned silky, wrapped a towel around myself, and stepped into the hall just in time to come face to face with Ian as he emerged from the kitchen with a glass of OJ. The kitchen doorway placed him barely two yards from me.

  “Uh...” I clutched the towel a little tighter. It was tiny scrap of rectangular terry cloth insufficient for my tall frame, coming to a stop higher than mid-thigh. It barely covered my ass in the back and left an inch wide strip of my side visible. Ian’s eyes followed the narrow path of ivory.

  “Morning, Leigh. Hope it was okay to raid your fridge.”

  “Morning,” I whispered back. The two yards between us became mere inches as he bridged the gap before I could shuffle into the bedroom to die of embarrassment. Beads of water glistened upon my cheeks and arms, droplets occasionally splattering against the floor from my dripping hair.

  Ian moved a slick strand from my face and tucked it behind my ear. The casual gesture made me tremble with rising anticipation of the next touch. Thankfully, the plush fabric of my newer bath towel concealed how stiff my nipples hardened beneath it.

  “Leigh?”

  “Hm?”

  “Do you have a bathing suit?”

  “A b-bathing suit?” I stammered.

  “It’s a pool party, sweetheart.”

  “A pool party in November?”

  “We’re only a couple days into November, and it’s Texas, darlin’. Sixty-five degrees out there today.” His cocky, uneven grin warmed my heart. “Plus it’s a heated pool.”

  “Oh! Just gimme a second to figure out if I have one I can still fit in.”

  Ian’s lips brushed against my temple. “Take your time.”

  My favorite pre-pregnancy two-piece was a no. I didn’t feel confident enough to strut my stuff in front of strangers bound to resemble the cast from Magic Mike. I settled on a blue, halter style tankini with a white polka dot print and modest boy shorts instead.

  While he waited outside, I rummaged for the perfect ensemble to accentuate my curves. The sea-green pleated skirt I found suited my above average height and swished around my legs, and when paired with a wide belt to emphasize my waist, confidence surged through me as I looked in the mirror.

  I emerged from my bedroom to whistles and enthused catcalls. “You look amazing.”

  “I do?” I came up short of grabbing my purse from the coffee table and stared at him.

  “Pffft. As if you ever had any doubt about it.”

  I did, but he didn’t need to know that.

  ***

  Ian’s home was a spacious, two story nestled outside Quickdraw city limits. The massive backyard deserved its own zip code and housed an in-ground, rectangle pool with its own dive board. Sasha and Juni had stretched a volleyball net between both sides.

  “C’mon, Leigh. We need one more for a game of volleyball. Ian claims you’ve got a badass spike,” Taylor called.

  “And Russ will cry if their side is short a person,” Sasha added.

  “I will not,” Russ protested.

  “He will,” Dani confirmed from a lawn chair on the deck. “I’d play, but I’m feeling sort of tired from pulling those extra hours at work all week. Just gonna sit here and read a bit.”

  “I don’t know, guys. I haven’t played in a couple years.” I tried to imagine myself leaping around in the water and jiggling while Sasha pranced in her white mesh bikini. The hot little number evoked instantaneous feelings of inferiority.

  Then I realized they didn’t care. No one gave me a cross look for my swimsuit choice.

  “C’mon over to the dark side,” Russ encouraged.

  “Bet I can spike one past you,” Ian taunted.

  Fuck it. The only person who cares about my rolls is me. Overcoming my biggest fear, I joined them in the pool and had the time of my life. The best part of all was discovering the passing of years barely dulled my skills. By the third game, it was all coming back to me in a rush. My adrenaline pumped when Ian and Russ began arguing over sharing me.

  “Guys, guys. I’ll swap with Sasha next game.”

  “But we don’t want her!” Taylor cried.

  The intensity of Sasha’s dirty look made Taylor recoil. “Sorry. Uh, I mean... We’d love to have you, baby doll! You can have Leigh back, Ian.”

  We played three more games before the tough soldiers threw in the towel. Ian picked me up and swung me around in a circle, laughing because I’d won him 500 bucks off Taylor.

  “Told you she had a better spike game than you,” Ian taunted him.

  “You brought in a ringer, man. Not cool,” Taylor grumbled while the girls dragged me away to chat.

  “Do you kickbox?” Juni asked.

  “No, I’ve never tried it. Not sure it’d be so good for my knee.”

  “Oh.” Juni flushed. “You can tell me to mind my own business if you want. I was just thinking you have great legs for it. The guy I train with has worked with people with knee injuries before, you know.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah.” The slimmer girl beside me had a set of muscular thighs I envied, so I couldn’t imagine her believing mine were great for anything. Her modest, navy blue one-piece covered more than Sasha’s bathing suit, but Juni lacked my insecurity and wore it with pride.

  If I can look at her and see she looks great, why couldn’t I feel the same way about myself?

  “I’ve never really considered kickboxing before, but it could be fun once I’ve saved up some. I know I won’t have a job with Betty forever.”

  Ian’s glance made me regret my words.
I bit my lip and ducked my head down, wishing I’d phrased it better.

  “Why don’t you apply to return to school?” Sasha’s question pierced the tension like a knife slicing butter. I aimed an appreciative smile to her.

  “I don’t know. Maybe it’ll be possible once Sophia is in school. I have a year of courses to finish and daycare is too pricey.”

  “Check and find out if any of the courses you need are available online,” Dani chimed in. “I’m going to get a start on my master’s and have a couple I can do from home.”

  By the time Russ announced the barbecue was ready, Dani had fetched a pecan pie from indoors. I ate without shame or fear of judgment, stuffing myself with delicious ribs and sweets until I slumped uselessly against Ian’s chair. He slipped an arm around my shoulders, inviting me to snuggle close.

  “Your friends throw good parties,” I mumbled.

  “The best.” I may have been surrounded by hot military men, but his was the only body I wanted to cuddle.

  At the end of the evening when Ian dropped me off at home, I kissed his cheek before leaving the vehicle.

  “Thanks for today.”

  “Looks like they all loved you, sweetheart.”

  “I loved meeting them too.”

  It was a struggle to unwind for bed after a day with Ian’s amazing, nonjudgmental friends. With only hours to go before between me and the biggest day of my entire life, I sipped chamomile tea to soothe my nerves. Sophia and Ian’s faces blessed my dreams once I finally fell into slumber.

  ***

  My custody hearing should have been an open and shut case. It started with Judge Ritts asking for my proof of employment, which I provided when I passed over my pay stubs.

  “How do you plan to continue working once Sophia is in your care, Ms. Denton?”

  “I have an agreement with my boss and client. Sophia will come to work with me each day.”

  “That isn’t very professional. A child in a working environment?”

  “They’ve both encouraged it. I brought a written statement from her and my employer.” I slid those to him. Ritts set both aside when he finished reading then he sighed.

  “I received a report from child protective services about the state of your home. I couldn’t in good faith allow her to return to you until I’ve received proof it’s hazard free.”

  Thanks to Ian’s advice, I came prepared with a few Polaroids. I set those in front of the judge, too, and watched him exchange a dubious glance with Sophia’s grandparents.

  Everything seemed to lean in my favor, pending another drug screening and a home assessment by CPS. Then Mr. and Mrs. James had their lawyer drop a bombshell on me.

  They wanted to retain custody of my little girl and claimed they would give her the life I never could. When the judge asked me if I would voluntarily surrender my parental rights, it took every ounce of my control to decline without profanity. I glanced behind me to see Ian staring daggers at the judge, his jaw clenched. He was angry, but I couldn’t breathe. All of the air was leached from my lungs, my emotional pain manifesting as physical agony I’d never felt before.

  Judge Ritts demanded more proof I could provide a stable home. Apparently my employment, growing bank account, and sobriety didn’t count. We would reconvene in a month to decide the fate of my parental privileges. I left the courtroom feeling numb from head to toe, barely aware of my surroundings or that Ian was guiding me to his Escalade by one arm. My foggy head made it difficult to focus, and I stumbled going down the steps. Ian steadied me.

  “Hey, I’ve got you. Slow down, Leigh.”

  “I’ve done everything. Everything they asked,” I whispered. My body was numb, useless as he guided me.

  “The Good Ol’ Boy System at work,” Ian muttered. He shook his head and opened my car door.

  Despite Dennis’ crimes, his mother and father were still highly respected in the community. As far as our fellow residents believed, his wrongdoing wasn’t because they’d spared the rod and spoiled the child — it was me, the junkie and corruptor who led him down his wayward path. I had the drug history and criminal background he didn’t have prior to his arrest. Dennis got caught up in my bullshit, and now he was dead at the young age of twenty-five, his light extinguished too soon.

  “What do I do now, Ian?”

  “We’ll fight it. My friend, Argus, specializes in finances, but I’ll ask him if he can recommend an associate in family law. I should have gotten you a lawyer to begin with.”

  “I can’t afford a lawyer.”

  “I will pay for it.”

  “And I can’t ask for you to do it!”

  “You’re not asking me, but I’m telling you this will happen, and you’ll owe me nothing for it. Because it’s the right thing to do, and I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I don’t.”

  “There has to be a way to do this without costing you a lot of money.”

  Ian rubbed his chin thoughtfully and gazed into the distance. “I’ll have a word with them. We can try conversation first. I’ll talk it out with Mr. James, and we can do this like men.”

  “It’s not going to be easy, Ian. You can’t just strut into someone’s house and lay down the law like you’re back in the Arm—”

  “Air Force,” he corrected me.

  “Air Force,” I gritted out through my teeth. “They don’t have any reason to believe a single word you say to them. They don’t have a reason to trust me. What? Do you think I haven’t tried to get through to them?”

  “I understand, Leigh.”

  The thing I hated about Ian was no matter how much I ranted and raged, he kept a cool head and waited it out as I transitioned from despair to fury.

  “The hell you do!” My sharp scream startled me, but it failed to coax a reaction out of him. “What do you know except that your current charity case is about to lose her daughter for good? Why do you even care? You don’t have anything to gain from this. Why are you here at all?”

  “Are you done?” he asked gently.

  Sniffling, I wiped my eyes with his handkerchief and nodded. Crying was exhausting business.

  “Good. You want to know why I care so much, so I’ll tell you, Leigh. I care because after my dad died, my mom gave me up. She didn’t want me. When Gramps passed away, it was just Grams and me and a lot of people didn’t think she could raise a little boy alone. Maybe she didn’t make your mistakes, but she did right by me. I believe you mean it when you swear you’re off the drugs.”

  The story of Ian’s family history jarred me out of my self-pity session. I stared at him through the haze of my tears. “She gave you up?”

  “Yeah. I was about to celebrate my sixth birthday. She walked out of my life and didn’t try to contact me until she heard I had a big military commission. Tried to write her son the Colonel, and she made sure to ask me for money, too.”

  I couldn’t imagine walking away from a child without a damned good reason for doing it.

  “Did she ever tell you why?”

  “Yeah, she did.” Ian’s pained smile told me everything I needed to know. I didn’t pry. “Anyway, why don’t we go and have lunch to give them a chance to return home.”

  “They won’t listen to you, Ian.”

  “They will. Trust me. When I finish with what I have to say, they’ll be glad to give Sophia back to you.”

  Chapter Six

  ~Ian~

  I knocked on the door to the James household without a single plan in my head. I knew they loved the kid, but what they had decided to do went above and beyond the call of justice. They were trying to replace their child with someone else’s daughter.

  Leigh made her mistakes, but she’d received her punishments and fulfilled every stipulation set by the law. So why hadn’t the judge restored custody at the hearing? I had my guesses.

  Someone peeked at me through the peephole then I heard the rustling of a security chain. As the door cracked open, I assumed my most unintimidating stance, with my ha
nds folded together behind my back and my spine straight.

  The portly older man in the doorway smiled at me, no doubt aware of the reason for my visit. “Mr. MacArthur, what can we do for you?”

  “I’d like to talk to you about Leigh and Sophia. May I come in?”

  Mr. James stiffened and clenched his jaw. “I think we’ve spoken enough about Leigh and Sophia.”

  The whole town knew I served in the military. I had a reputation here, and I certainly didn’t plan to fuck it up by scaring an old man in his own home. I wanted to chat with him on the level, but he was making it hard to remain patient when I couldn’t even get a foot in the door.

  “You haven’t talked with me personally on the matter,” I said quietly. “You can let me in now, or you can wait until I contact a lawyer. Which will it be?”

  “Lawyer” was the magic word. The old man let me in this time, and we took seats in the living room, him in his chair and me on the sofa.

  “I’m sorry about your son, but I’m going to cut straight to the point, Mr. James. None of you have any reason at all to suspect Leigh hasn’t turned over a new leaf. She’s clean. She’s passed every piss test the state has thrown at her. She’s working—”

  “At a job you created for her,” the man cut in.

  “A job is a job,” I replied mildly. “This recent request is a slap to the face. Don’t you think it’s been long enough? A child deserves to have a mother. Leigh loves Sophia. She’d do anything for her — has done everything for her. She’s been clean almost four months.”

  “And when she relapses, then what? Sophia’s gonna be the one to suffer.”

  “She won’t.”

  “You don’t know that,” he insisted while rocking in his chair.

  “You can’t punish her for something she hasn’t done yet, either.”

  “She is my grandbaby. I’m not going to let her mom ruin her life, not when we can give her better.”

  The way they gave Dennis better? I bit back the retort and kept the irritation from my expression and my voice. “Sophia will have a great home. With her mom.”