7
Izzy stroked her hand over Capone's head, pulling at his ears like he liked. Groaning, he rolled even further over top of her.
"Damn it, dog, I'm not a pillow!"
But he was used to her griping and merely wagged his tail, smacking her in the leg, tongue lolling happily from his wrinkly face.
Izzy laughed at him, pushed him off her and rolled out of bed. Padding to the bathroom she did her business, slipped on a pair of sleep pants beneath her long t-shirt and urged Capone off the bed. "Come on, lazy bones. I know you have to pee too."
The one-eyed Bull Mastiff mix slid off the bed and headed for the back door of the house. Izzy let him out into the fenced yard, knowing it would take him a while to water all the weeds he liked. Then he'd have to warm up in the sun with an early morning nap to recover. Then he'd want to come in for breakfast.
Her spare time revolved around that damn dog and he loved it.
She wished it revolved around another big male.
It had been three weeks since she'd seen Drake, or talked to him. They’d texted a few times the first week, but she thought he’d gone out of the country because it had been radio silence since then.
Two weeks of watching the news more than she ever had before for hot spots in the Middle East. The last two weeks were filled with hoping beyond hope that she would hear from him. A phone call, a letter, a smoke signal, anything.
It had almost taken her that long to recover from the wedding from hell. No, she couldn't say that. The wedding had been fine. The reception had been hell for her personally, but Kiko had been oblivious to everything going on until the end.
Tyler and Kiko had gotten back from their honeymoon two days ago and were counting down the hours until Tyler’s leave was over. Izzy had called her and texted her a couple times, but she was letting the newlyweds fit in every spare moment of connection they could before he left. After Tyler was gone she and Ginny would steal Kiko away for a spa day or something. They all needed friend contact, so bad!
There was a knock at her door. Izzy glanced at the clock, wondering who could be there at nine oh-three in the morning. Padding through the silent house she peeked out the window beside the door. A young woman stood there, a flower delivery in her hand. The logo on the vase corresponded with the logo on the truck parked on the street. Izzy opened the door.
The woman grinned. "Are you Izzy?"
Nodding, she took the flowers and signed her name. "Oh, I don't have a tip. Hold on."
The young woman waved her hand. "Already taken care of. Enjoy!"
Izzy backed into the house, looking down at the huge bouquet of roses. They were a vivid wintergreen lozenge pink, and while she didn't normally like roses, these ones were spectacular.
She sat the vase down on a table and pulled the card from the plastic holder. Inside was a handwritten card in black. The color reminded me of that damn Pepto-Bismol dress... I miss you. I want to see you. Just so you’ll wear that dress and take it off again.
The signature was a heavy D across the bottom of the card. She laughed, holding it to her chest. She missed him too, terribly.
Then something occurred to her. He was in Virginia. How did he know what color these roses were, in Colorado? And the card! He didn’t…
Her heart stalling out she bolted for the door and flung it open.
Drake stood there in a tight gray t-shirt and jeans that seemed to be molded onto him. There was a bashful smile on his face and he'd propped a pair of wraparound sunglasses on his head. He held out his hands to her in supplication. "I know I didn't call and I hope you’re not mad Kiko gave me your address."
Izzy didn't give him a chance to say anything else, just wrapped her arms around him and brought his head down for a kiss. Drake didn't fight her, cupping her head in his hands to deepen the contact.
Izzy's body responded like they'd never been apart. Leaning into him, she let him know how happy she was to see him.
Drake pulled back from her enough to urge her into the house. He followed her in and swung the door shut behind them. "You're not mad?"
"No, of course not. I'm ecstatic to see you."
He grinned at her and her heart palpitated. Damn, was that joy in his expression? And relief. Had he actually expected her to turn him away? His face seemed very open.
"I thought I was going to come see you, though?” she asked, confused. “Did you get more time off or something?"
He made a face. "Kind of. I'm ..." he hesitated for a long moment before squaring up. "I don't want you to feel rushed or on the spot or anything, but I'm feeling out a couple of job prospects. One is in Denver. The other in Montana."
Izzy felt her mouth fall open. "You're leaving the team?"
