by Mandy Harbin
Could it be considered chance if his sister was behind it?
Yes, yes, it could. Even if they could pick this thing building between them back up stateside after she left, he still had several months before he was eligible for discharge. Not that he’d decided if he was going to. The reality was, she would fly off into the sunset and he’d reenlist.
All logic screamed at him that touching her had been a mistake. There was no way this could be anything more than a temporary fling, but he knew if he continued to let himself steal away with her at night as he desperately wanted, and foster the intimate bond taking hold, he wouldn’t be able to sit back and watch her walk away and out of his life when her project was over.
“I hear you’ve got a little problem on your hands.”
Oh shit. Did this man know he’d crossed the erotic line last night? Crossed? Hell, he’d obliterated it over and over again.
“Seems your charge is a bit willful.”
Axle scanned his memory and came smack face-to-face with the one where Caitlin had gotten out of his sight, and he’d glued himself to her hip.
“Why was she yelling at you, refusing your help in the helo?”
Fuck, he knew.
He could be vague and discuss Caitlin’s combativeness in generalities, but Axle didn’t want to paint her in a bad light, and it wasn’t completely honest. She absolutely had a strong head on her shoulders, but it wasn’t as if she hadn’t been provoked. He’d kept the news of what happened between them last night to himself, but if he got asked outright, he’d have to own up to what happened and take the royal ass-chewing he’d get. Knowing he’d be upfront about the more intimate events of yesterday if asked told him there was no reason to hide exactly what had happened earlier in the day.
“Charlie walked away following a story lead while I was scanning the village perimeter. She did so without informing me or any member of my team of her intent. Similar to incident on her first venture out, she did not afford us the opportunity to clear the building she was near. She broke protocol, disobeyed orders, and I informed her I would no longer be outside of hand’s reach of her. She did not take kindly to that, Sir.”
Burge stared at him. If Axle wasn’t so practiced with interrogation techniques, he’d have a bead of sweat on his forehead forming under the scrutiny. But he stood there completely calm and waiting for his commander’s words.
“You lost sight of her.”
Fuck.
“Yes.”
For endless seconds, the man pinned him with his steely gaze. Then he rose slowly. “I think I didn’t make myself clear when I put you on this assignment.” He slammed his hands on his desk as he leaned closer.
Double fuck.
“Sir, my team had eyes on her the whole—”
“Except when she walked unescorted into an unsecured goddamn building days ago and attempted it again yesterday!”
“Yes, Sir.” He couldn’t say anything else. It was only seconds she was unattended, but he knew, in this world, it only took a split second for a sniper to drop a target or an IED to detonate or an RPG to explode out of nowhere. They were at war. Plain and simple.
“You better pull your head outta your ass, Landry. No fucking mistakes. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Sir!”
Burge took a deep breath and sat. “Sit down,” he said, clearly still irritated. Axle did what he was told. “What’s the status of her assignment?”
Axle blinked, unsure how to answer. “I don’t know,” he said slowly. “You ordered me to stay out of it. Not to discuss it. I’m protection only.”
Burge cracked a smile. “Good answer.” Whatever humor he’d felt quickly dissipated because his face turned steely. “I called you here because Asad Samim has been detained.”
“What?” he asked slowly. The interpreter who’d been working with Caitlin had checked out, or so Axle had thought. “Why?” he snapped.
“The timing of the MOAB drop coincided with an arms delivery. Someone sold military grade weapons to ISIS. As you are aware, we put a stop to it.”
“Yes, Sir.” His SEAL Team had been briefed on the issue prior to scoping out the area. The air strike had been successful. The tunnels destroyed. The parties involved eliminated. Private William Adin Richardson had been captured and sent to a CIA black site for interrogation. “The defector has been detained, and Aarif Yasin KIA.”
Burge gave him a sharp nod. “Asad Samim is his cousin.”
The air left Axle’s lung in a rush. Asad was Aarif’s cousin? He’d been alone with Caitlin. A lot. If he’d wanted to kill her, he could have taken her out any number of times and there would’ve been nothing Axle could’ve done to save her. His jaw clenched. If that man touched one hair on her head… “He’s a dead man.”
“If it’s all the same to you, we’d rather work him over until he spills everything,” Burge drawled with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, Sir.” Axle fisted his hands in his lap to keep from breaking the first thing he could grab.
“I need you to encourage Ms. Cooper to finish her report and go back home. Richardson, Samim, Yasin, none of their names need to be leaked. Inform her Samim was discharged from duty for some minor infraction. We’ll get her another interpreter. Unless the village attack is something bigger than initial appearance, you’ll be free to fly in forty hours.”
So, they wouldn’t be able to fly tomorrow. He just hoped she didn’t stay in her room all day since he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to stick to his decision to keep things professional. He couldn’t allow that.
“Can we enter the red zone via LUV? There are some nearby units we can travel to that were scheduled for next week. If I can move those up over the next two days and double up on flyovers once cleared, she could be finished within the week.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. Anything else?”
“No, Sir.” He was crystal clear on everything. Knowing he’d let a possible ISIS connection work closely with her only shored up his resolve, creating a solid steel cage around his chest and locking the reality into place. He had to protect her. That was it. And he had to double-time it on her agenda to get her out of his territory. He couldn’t afford anymore distractions. Nada.
The best thing to do…the smart thing to do…was to nip what was happening between them in the bud. It’d be hard to do, but the more he thought about it, the more he knew it wasn’t just best or smart, it was also the right thing to do. Whatever happened between them was over. End of fucking story.
“Dismissed.”
Axle exited the building and called Acker as he hopped into the vehicle.
“Acker.”
“We’ve been grounded for forty hours. I need to you pull the agenda, contact the COs of the last two units, and get them rescheduled the next two days.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Axle speed away. “In fact, we’re going to move a lot of shit around. I want sixteen-hour days until she’s on a C-130 back to the States. See what else you can get penciled in to shave off a few days from her trip.”
“I’m on it, Sir.”
“Where is she now?”
“She’s with Lightweight in their regular meeting room.”
He ended the communication and headed straight for where she was. His heart and his brain battled for supremacy, but the fact his heart was even in this competition showed him he’d made the right decision.
The thought of Lorenzo being close to her fueled more anger. Not only would he have to keep quiet as he watched the other man flirt shamelessly with her, he had to keep from beating the shit out of him for bringing Asad onto the assignment. Thankfully, by the time he arrived at the building, he’d leashed his fury, so that he could focus solely on Caitlin’s protection. It was all that mattered now.
His team members snapped to attention when he walked into the room. “As you were,” he muttered, his gaze on Caitlin.
Damn, she was beautiful. That luscious pink color highlighted her cheek
s and grew darker as he looked at her. In the light of day, she was more breathtaking—no. He couldn’t allow his thoughts to even wander to anything about her apart from his job.
“We’re just getting ready to break, so I can change and prepare to do a live feed,” she said excitedly.
“What’s going on?”
“Lorenzo captured footage of some locals talking to men linked to the leader of ISIS and his top soldiers before they were killed.”
Axle froze, but he hid any other reaction. “There were men linked to ISIS who were there while we were?” he asked, but he already knew that answer. The military wouldn’t have detained Asad without reason. For all he knew, Asad had used the cover of his contracted job with the military to carry missives between Kabul and the villages near the border.
“Yeah, I need to freshen up before I report live.” She was excited, and he had to fight the urge to smile and feel proud of her for coming across the information on her own. Of course, he’d have to stop her from learning more, and that was totally fucked up. It was one thing not to volunteer what he knew, but purposefully misleading her would be something altogether different. He shouldn’t have to contemplate how to keep intel from her, but he had no choice. Guilt stabbed him. He possessed information that could skyrocket her career, but it was classified. His hands were tied. This story was DOA and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to let her know.
She walked toward the door and he followed her out, tamping down all the warring urges within. He wanted her, but he couldn’t have her. He wanted to help her, but it was his career and his freedom if he did. He was well and truly fucked no matter how he looked at it. He had to talk to her, but he wasn’t sure how he would find the words that wouldn’t hurt him and her when he expressed them. The one thing he did know for sure in all this was that dreaded conversation had to take place. No matter how hard it would be, he’d have to do it anyway.
The sooner the better.
When they arrived at the barracks, he told Brooks to stay back and keep watch while he followed her inside. She reached her door, and he stood at the threshold as she walked in. She turned to shut the door, but he clamped his hand on it to stop her.
She grinned, her gaze darting past him before meeting his again. “I have to change. I don’t want to do it where anybody can walk in and see.” Then her smile turned sultry. “If you behave, you can watch.”
Jesus. Soon was looking like now because he wanted to nod like a fool and throw everything away. The temptation was almost unbearable. The only thing stronger than his desire for her was his resolve—for her. If it wasn’t sad, he’d laugh at how one woman could push and pull him from multiple directions all at the same time.
Doesn’t matter. Be direct. He knew how to steel himself and deal with all kinds of shitty situations. He could do this. He would.
“I can’t stay. I just wanted to tell you what happened last night can’t happen again.”
Her smile faltered until her mouth hung open.
“It was great. You were great. It’s just not smart. I have a job to do, and I fucked up by letting my cock do the thinking. It won’t happen again.”
She still didn’t say anything, and her eyes turned glassy. He cussed and turned, shutting the door behind him, needing that barrier between them to keep from pulling her into his arms and telling her to forget what he just said. That he’d been wrong.
He wasn’t wrong, though, and that was what tore him up the most.
Chapter Twelve
Caitlin hit the alarm before it had a chance to go off. She’d been awake for hours, dreading another heartless day in the dessert.
It’d been several days since she’d come across a piece of news that had her squealing and her boss salivating. She’d been eager to share it with Axle, but he’d pulled the rug out from under her, shutting her out without warning. He told her what happened that night between them—and all the moments leading up to it—had been a mistake. She’d been blindsided. She hadn’t known it was possible to have the wind knocked out of her without physically being punched. She now knew the truth. He’d dealt that emotional blow, and she’d almost cried right there in front of him. She’d beat back the tears of shock stinging her eyes, demanding to form and fall, so she’d been grateful he’d left when he had. She was already embarrassed enough without suffering even more humiliation of traitor tears.
She hadn’t the time to wrap her head around it either, because she had a live feed immediately following. Her report couldn’t wait, and television wouldn’t have cared her heart was breaking.
Because it had been.
It still was, opening her eyes to another devastating revelation. She’d fallen in love with him, a man who didn’t want her. The realization slammed into her, crushing her delicate heart all over again.
She didn’t know how she could fall in love as fast as she had. She’d heard of people meeting and marrying from whirlwind romances, but she’d assumed those people had been blinded with lust on their road to love. It had just seemed implausible to her. Now, she knew the all-consuming truth. It wasn’t only a possibility. It was her reality. If she hadn’t met Axle, she’d still believe falling in love so quickly was impossible. She knew with painful clarity now that she’d been so terribly, utterly wrong. There was zero doubt in her mind and her heart how she felt. But she also understood that, unlike those blindly fast courtships, there would be no happily ever after for them.
Something else she’d had trouble reconciling was his own conflicting behavior. Oh, he hadn’t said anything to her to make her think he’d second-guessed his decision. Since crushing her world, Axle had been emotionally distant as one might expect, but he’d hovered around as if he was ready to take a bullet for her. It seemed he cared more than he wanted. She reminded herself time and time again he was just doing his job, but the conflicting emotions rolling off him confused her.
And infuriated her.
He seemed to master being right there without being there at all. He talked to her only when he had to, and even then it was all business. He hadn’t touched her since that night either. Not a hand on her elbow to guide her somewhere, nothing. Not that there hadn’t been opportunity. Since the morning after their night of passion, he’d worked them all to the bone. Before sunup to way past sundown. He’d managed to reschedule a bunch of excursions, cramming them together and knocking off days from her original itinerary. He’d been a machine, seeming to need not food, water, or even rest. He was focused, and she hated the real reason for it.
He was determined to get her the heck away from him.
Yeah, that burned.
She couldn’t do it again today, and she knew that was exactly what would happen if she got out of this bed and carried on like nothing had happened. She couldn’t deal with him anymore, not that he’d dealt with her much. Alec had brought her meals ever since Axle’s curt words, and she’d been relieved—and hurt. Every night, she’d wanted to stay in the hallow protection of her room, but if she hadn’t walked down the short hall to shower, she would’ve had to do a sponge bath in her sink. She was pitiful enough to admit to herself today that she’d seriously considered that as an option the last couple of nights. The shower had eventually won out, enticing her with the possibility of feeling even marginally better. It hadn’t worked, and each morning had been more difficult than the last. Now, she was emotionally and physically exhausted. She needed a break from Axle, from the heartache, and she damn well deserved it.
What could he do if she refused to leave the barracks? Carry her, kicking and screaming, onto a helicopter or into one of those military vehicles? He’d have to actually touch her to do that. Yeah, that wasn’t happening. He’d proved that days ago.
A knock sounded on her door.
“Go away,” she muttered, but she’d said it loud enough for the person to hear.
She heard some shuffling in the hallway. The guy was probably just making sure she hadn’t overslept. She’d been taking shower
s in the evening because she hadn’t wanted to go to sleep all gritty, and she liked sleeping in as long as possible. It wouldn’t take them long to figure out she wasn’t stepping foot outside the barracks today.
She sat up and grabbed her laptop. There weren’t any emails from her producer, but Lorenzo had uploaded some more footage. He hadn’t been chatty lately, almost having taken a personal offense to the translator being replaced. Axle hadn’t explained why, and she hadn’t been in the frame of mind to ask. Lorenzo had cussed and demanded answers, though. She knew the two of them had worked together in the past, so she did feel bad for Lorenzo in that respect. She could spend the day playing catch-up on what was captured the last few days and reach out to him if she had any questions.
So it wasn’t as if staying in today meant she wouldn’t be working. There was plenty she could do.
She’d spent about fifteen minutes watching the same part over and over again. She needed the translator watch it, too, so she’d know what some of the people in the background were saying. It could be nothing, but she didn’t want to miss anything. She was still concentrating on the section when another knock landed on her door.
“I said. Go. Away,” she said slowly, but louder this time.
More footsteps sounded. One of the poor guys was probably about to get their butt chewed for not following orders to keep her on schedule. She’d apologize to whoever it was later. In fact, she needed to get contact information on all the men on her protection team, so she could send them care packages when she returned home. None of them asked to be on this assignment, so it was the least she could do to show her appreciation. For now, though, she was taking this time for herself.
Knock. Knock. Knock. “Ms. Cooper, transports are loaded. We secured chow for you.” Whoever it was sounded a little nervous.
“I have other stuff to do today.”
She started another clip.
Someone else stepped up to the door. “Caitlin, this is Brooks.”
“Hey, Brooks,” she called back to him. “I tried to explain to the other guy that I’m not going today.”
