Page 4 of ELITE Justice
Why hadn’t she caught onto what was happening sooner? She was normally hypervigilant, always aware of everything happening around her. She’d been trained to be that way, and just because she no longer wore a uniform and was stationed in the sandbox, it didn’t mean she could let her guard down.
She’d been distracted by the handsome-as-a-model man in the Guardian polo shirt that hugged his well-developed biceps and stretched loosely over defined pecs. Throw a set of tan camouflage on that body, and he’d look like any of the special operations soldiers, sailors, and Marines who quietly filled the back corner of the mess tent at the secret U.S. Special Operations Command camp in Afghanistan. There was something about the way they walked, with a cocky confidence, yet quiet, always observing and assessing. To be honest, Quin was hot, too. Both the men were her type. Nonetheless, there was something about the man with red hair that clicked the on-switch to her girl parts. When he’d smiled up at her, her accelerator moved from turtle mode to rabbit.
It had been months since a man had touched her body in the good way. She’d had her butt pinched and groped several times since arriving in Dallas, although there hadn’t been time for sex. Her tingling nipples and the heat between her legs screamed that she should take time. Toys were fine for a quick fix, but there was nothing like the touch of a man’s hands, fingers, moving—
“Ma’am, Miss Bitsy, is it?” Quin’s words jolted Gwen to the brightly dressed woman wielding a gun beside her.
Damn, that new Guardian guy could send her off the planet of reality.
Without a second thought, Gwen grabbed the gun from Bitsy and shoved it back into the woman’s oversized purse. “Put that thing away before you hurt someone.” Turning to face the woman who was a decade older than Gwen, she explained, “You need to get ahold of Bill about this, not these good men.” She jerked her thumb toward Quin and the hot new guy.
Bitsy whipped her head side to side. “I can’t. He’s in jail.” She stabbed a perfectly manicured nail toward the table of police who were watching intently. “They won’t let me see him.”
The chief cleared his throat, gaining the attention of everyone listening—which was the entire restaurant except for the frantic mother who was packing up her two kids as fast as she could. “Ms. Stanton, as my offi—”
Bitsy whirled to face the highest-ranking policeman in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “Stanley, thank goodness you’re here. I knew if I could talk to you, you’d straighten this whole mess out, and get my Bill out of that awful place.”
“Bitsy, I need you to calm down.” The chief slowly lowered his open hands as though pushing the tension in the room toward the floor. “You have to take this matter up with your husband—”
“But, he’s—” She started to interrupt, but the chief cut her off.
“No, Bill isn’t in jail,” the man in blue adorned with lots of gold stripes insisted. “He posted bail the next morning and has been out for days.”
The shock on Bitsy’s face said it all.
“I take it Bill didn’t come home.” The chief drew in a long breath then sighed. “Bitsy, I’ve known you all your life. Your dad being one of my good friends and all…so I’ve got to tell you, Bill used your house as collateral for the bond. If he’s not at home, you may need a lawyer, fast. Call your daddy, now.”
Suddenly looking every one of her forty years, Bitsy’s face drooped and went pale under layers of perfect makeup. She started to collapse.
Gwen leaped behind the falling woman and grabbed her under her arms before she hit the floor. The new Guardian guy hurriedly shoved his empty chair under Bitsy’s butt.
One of Gwen’s best servers came running up with a worn backpack. Without looking at it, she unfastened the buckles of the large green first aid kit and grabbed the smelling salts. She knew where everything was located and how to use it, from splints to sutures. She’d used this kit on a battlefield and in a frontline, makeshift hospital.
Bitsy’s hands tried to bat away the small smelly tube Gwen waved under the sagging woman’s nose. She pulled it away as soon as Bitsy jerked up and opened her eyes.
“Eww. What is that vile smell?” Bitsy looked at Gwen as though she’d farted.
“You fainted, Bitsy.” Gwen closed the kit and nodded for Jacki to return the bag to its designated spot. To her waitress, she quietly said, “Tell the mother with the two kids that lunch is on us. See if you can help her, and apologize for me, will you please?”
“Sure thing, Gwen.” Jacki headed straight for the family.
When Gwen turned her attention back to Bitsy, the woman stood straight as a board. She smoothed her bright dress over her thighs and then stared at Gwen. “You have completely embarrassed me in front of all these people.”
Gwen’s mouth dropped. “I have embarrassed you?”
Bitsy wrangled the gigantic handbag’s straps over her shoulder and huffed. “Yes. I will never come to this restaurant again.” She spun on high-heeled sandals. Head held high, she strode toward the door.
“Works for me.” Gwen turned her gaze to the men who stood towering over her, blue uniforms to her left, and gray and black to her right. She pulled up all five-foot-five inches of her body, straightened her back, and smiled. “Gentlemen, thank you for handling that little interruption without bloodshed.” She purposely looked at the unsecured holsters, then moved her gaze over the men. “If all y’all will sit back down, I’ll grab some fresh coffee and warm yours right up.”
As she turned, strong fingers wrapped around her wrist, but the grasp wasn’t tight.
She froze.
Her training instructed her to use her circular motion to bring her free fist to the assailant’s jaw, pull him into her body, and bring her knee up to his groin. While he was bent over, she could smash her other knee into his face and at the same time bring her stiffened straight hand down on his neck.
But she couldn’t do that.
Ignoring every muscle memory, Gwen slowly turned. Her face was six inches from the muscled pecs she’d admired not ten minutes ago. She looked up, past a recently shaved chin, over lips that she imagined could do wonderful things to her body, and into blue and green eyes surrounded by light-reddish eyelashes.
