Move the Sun (Signal Bend #1)(43)

“It’s my woodshop. The furniture and doodads in the house that you like—I made them.”

She turned her gaping face toward him and gaped some more. She went over to his row of shelving units, where he stored the pieces he intended to sell at art shows and craft fairs around the state. She picked up a burled vase that was part of a run he’d turned from some beautiful walnut he’d found near Kansas City. The turnings were his most artistic work.

“You made this?” He nodded, feeling suddenly self-conscious. She carefully set the vase down and ran her fingers lightly over the whole shelf of turnings. Then she went to his stock of carved pieces and spun to face him. She was holding a hummingbird at a lily, the bird no bigger than her palm. Her eyes were damp.

“Jesus, Isaac. This is—it’s beautiful. I’m—in awe.”

The hummingbird was no big deal. He’d price it for twenty bucks, dicker down to fifteen, at a craft fair.

He could carve a couple of those in an afternoon. There were a dozen on the shelf right now. But Lilli was carrying that one around with her as she looked at everything in the room. He went to her. “You want that?”

“What? Oh, I’m sorry—I didn’t mean—” She blushed. “My nonna loved hummingbirds.” She moved to take it back to the shelf, but he caught her arm and held her.

“Nonna?”

“Grandma. Italian.”

“Keep it.”

“No, Isaac. I’m sorry, you should sell it. It’s so beautiful.”

“Keep it. If you like it, you should keep it. It’s not a big deal to me. Look—there are a bunch on the same shelf you got that one.”

“But this one is the prettiest.” She smiled up at him, her eyes still shimmery. “Thank you.” He was blown away by how much this revelation had affected her.

Now she pushed her hand up his chest and hooked it around his neck, pulling him toward her. Before she kissed him, she whispered, “You astound me,” and brought his lips to hers.

Isaac was experiencing an acute case of emotional vertigo this morning. He still felt a little unsteady. But he was getting to know this woman, and he was letting her know him. Since the difficult discussion in the kitchen, there was a different atmosphere between them. They weren’t trying to figure each other out. They were relaxed, and he recognized that this was the first time they’d been relaxed together, at least when Lilli was sober.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and deepened their kiss, lifting her off her feet. She hooked her arm, that hand still holding the carved hummingbird, around his back. He set her on the worktable, then reached back and took the carving out of her hand, setting it on the table, off to the side.

He’d built the table to suit his size, so its surface was right at the level of his hips. With Lilli sitting in front of him, they were crotch to crotch. She moaned and looped her legs around him, crossing her ankles on his ass.

The feel of her tongue moving on his, the taste of her, the way he could feel the muscles and tendons in her thighs squeezing him—f*ck, everything about this woman made him hard. When she whimpered sweetly and flexed on him, he tore his mouth away from hers with a gasp.

“I want to be inside your sweet * right the f*ck now. Too sore?”

Her eyes hooded with lust, she smiled and pulled at his belt. “Not for that.”

Isaac growled and set about getting his woman naked.

INTERLUDE: 2009



Captain Lillian Accardo climbed down from her Black Hawk helicopter, call sign Big Donna. Her squad was waiting for her—fist bumps, high fives, and hugs all around. Another mission completed; objective secured, all troops back at base. Aside from a black eye Okada got when he came up too quickly behind Miller, no casualties at all.

Chief Pettijohn came toward her, heading to her ride to do the post-mission check. “All well, Cap?” he asked as he approached.

Lilli stopped and turned back to consider her ride. “She’s still got that little shimmy in the swash.”

“That’s because she’s such a sexy beast,” he winked and moved on past, toward the copter.

Lilli liked Chief. He was old-school Army, iron-grey crew cut and stub cigar included, but even so, he didn’t have trouble with a chick pilot. More did than didn’t, but she was making her way. It had taken her almost a year to get her own squad fully on board, but she had them now. She was fairly certain most of them had forgotten she had tits, or had just stopped caring. She took pains not to make them especially obvious—not because she feared the men would make inappropriate contact, which she could handle, but because she liked that the only difference they now saw in her was the insignia on her uniform. She wasn’t a piece of ass; she was their superior. She had their respect.

“Hey Cap, we’re in for cards. You in?” That was Okada. Lilli smiled but shook her head. “Tempting, but I’ll pass tonight.” This close to the front, fraternization rules were looser; camaraderie, trust, and morale were paramount. So she could certainly go hang with the enlisted men of her squad if she wanted. But





tonight, she wanted some quiet. She nodded to Mendez, her co-pilot, indicating that she had the debrief, and he was off the clock.

She reported in to Col. Corbett, the battalion Commanding Officer. Corbett had been one she’d had to work to win over. But after scores of successful missions and few casualties—and no troop losses—and after comporting herself solidly in her supervisory position, and proving physically capable, as well—even equal to, if not more capable than, many men in camp—ol’ Corby had warmed up to her.