by Kaylea Cross
MacKenzie gave her a nod. “Appreciate that.” He glanced at the rest of them. “You’re all here for another few days, if we need more for the investigation?”
“Until Sunday,” Ryan said, running his fingers through the ends of her hair, the soothing motion doing nothing to stem her growing anxiety.
MacKenzie closed the file and stood. “Thanks for coming down. I’ll be in touch when I have an update. You all have a good night.”
As he left, Candace looked up questioningly at Ryan. He gave her a gentle smile and cupped the side of her face in his free hand. “Don’t worry, it’s fine. Nothing’s gonna happen.”
It better not. They’d been through so much together already. He was her beating heart, her whole world. Which was why she felt it so keenly when he hurt her.
Ryan kept his arm solidly wrapped around her shoulders as they walked back to their room together, but she couldn’t shake the worry that had taken root inside her. There was nothing she could do about that situation, however, so she let it go and focused on something she could control—finishing the talk she and Ryan had started yesterday morning.
So much of their future hinged on resolving her career issue, and she wanted his support in whatever direction she took next. She wanted to know they were on the same page with everything, and make plans for the future.
The moment they got back to their room, she was laying it all on the line.
“We’ve got a problem,” Lyle said through the phone.
At the grave tone, Eric braced himself for bad news. His second-in-command had been working with a few others all day to find out more information about their unwanted guests from last night, and clean up what they’d left behind at the training site. “Not my favorite words to hear, but all right then. What have you got?”
“I got IDs on all four of them, from someone working the front desk at the resort. We’re still looking into two of them but I already got a hit on the others when I did a search and ran them past my contact, and it’s not good news. Staff Sergeant Ryan Wentworth and Tech Sergeant Cam Munro are both AFSOC.”
Shit. “And the other two are military as well?”
“Not sure yet, but the front desk clerk said they’re supposedly all here for a wedding that’s scheduled for Saturday morning. What do you think?”
“I think it’s possible, but it still seems like one hell of a coincidence that they show up here snooping around right as we’re getting to the end stages of planning the first operation. And I’d bet my favorite assault rifle that the other two guys are either military or even SOF-trained as well. You saw the way they moved.” Just like he and his men used to back in Afghanistan.
Lyle pushed out a long breath. “Yeah.”
Eric dragged a hand over his face, his mind whirling. “They’ve seen too much. There’s no way they found all those casings, the tracks, and the shredded trees and didn’t report it to someone.” He shook his head. “We can’t risk leaving things the way they are. This has to be dealt with. Tonight.”
“All right.” Lyle didn’t sound too happy about it and Eric wasn’t either. This was a risk none of them could afford, but he had to be proactive. “What are you thinking?”
“Some kind of a diversion at the resort. Something small-scale that looks either like an accident or a case of mistaken identity. We have to divert attention away from us and the site so we can evacuate the area.” And he also wanted to make a statement. Let the government know he was a force to be reckoned with, hit at least one target before he went on the run. Those men who had found the training site would serve his purposes nicely.
Changing locations now, at this critical hour, was a huge goddamn headache and inconvenience he couldn’t afford. It would take days for them to pull it off completely, but he needed a solid window of at least a few hours to dismantle the most critical equipment and get it to a safe house where he could hide.
Because cops and Feds would be out hunting him now, and it meant all his work and the painstaking precautions he’d taken in setting up headquarters here were finished. He was looking at months of disruption, of being on the run and changing safe houses every day to stay one step ahead of the authorities that had been hunting for him for the past three years. He had no choice.
“I’ll call up some of the guys,” Lyle said.
“No. I want just you and our three best soldiers.” He typed in some commands on his laptop and pulled up his personnel files.
After scanning the reports and spreadsheets he kept on each member, he named the three men he wanted for this op. The best marksmen with the most trustworthy backgrounds. “Call them now and alert them to be on standby. Then I want you in here immediately so we can plan everything together. Once we know what the diversion will be, you’ll meet up with the others and outfit them at a staging area.” One well away from this site.
“Got it.”
He checked the time. “I want this planned and the boys ready to go by oh-two-hundred hours.” The timing was critical. He had to be out of here and in the clear before the Feds or whoever else arrived.
“Understood. I’ll be there shortly.”
Eric disconnected and checked all his security cameras surrounding the entrance to the bunker system, and farther out around the inner perimeter. Nothing moved in the view of the infrared cameras and no alarms had been tripped, but the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach was growing stronger by the minute.
He was out of time and everything hinged on him getting this place sanitized before he left it. The best defense was a good offense, so he was going to strike before anyone could come after him.
Chapter Eight
By the time they made it back to their room a few minutes later, it was almost one in the morning. Candace headed straight for the bathroom to brush her teeth and get ready for bed, unable to shake the anxiety that had followed her from the meeting.
Though judging from the way Ryan had just pinned her to the elevator wall on the way up a few moments ago, it was clear he wasn’t even thinking about a possible threat and was raring to have sex the moment she stepped out into the bedroom. On the one hand she wanted more of that connection with her husband, but on the other, she was too caught up in her head to be able to enjoy it right now.
She smoothed her hands down the front of her dress, suddenly nervous about what she had to say. Well, more about his reaction and response to it. But putting it off any longer wasn’t an option.
When she stepped out of the bathroom a few minutes later, however, she wavered. Ryan was stretched out on the bed watching her, stark naked, one muscular arm tucked beneath his head. Pure, decadent sin.
“Come over here,” he said in that low, sexy voice that always made her insides clench in anticipation.
She faltered for a moment, drinking in the sight of that beautiful, hard male body waiting for her. You can still enjoy him afterward, Candace. She raised her eyes to his, cleared her throat. “I want to talk.”
His face went blank, then wariness crept into his eyes. “Now?”
“Yes, now.” She’d never be able to sleep tonight until this was cleared up.
“Can’t we talk after?”
He was such a guy. “Sex doesn’t solve everything, Ryan,” she said, frustration making her voice sharper than she’d intended.
A slight frown creased his forehead as he slowly sat up and propped himself against the headboard. “Okay… Is this about what MacKenzie said?”
“No. Well, partly.” Letting out a deep breath, she crossed to the bed and sat on it, her hip inches from his. She’d thought about how to word this for weeks now, had to make it clear so he understood. “I miss you.”
He searched her eyes for a long moment, as though she were a puzzle he was trying to figure out. “I’m right here.”
She lifted a hand to stroke his face, let her fingers linger on the soft whiskers of his beard. She’d been bottling this up for so long and now she had to let it out. “I told you most of it
yesterday, but there’s more.” When he waited, she continued. “I feel like we’re drifting apart and I’m scared if we don’t stop it, that it might lead to big problems between us. Like, us turning into near strangers and our marriage falling apart.”
At that he sat up straighter, concern on his face. “Why would you think that?”
Was she really the only one who felt this way? She wasn’t crazy; they had been drifting apart. How could he not have felt it, or at least noticed? She twisted her fingers together in her lap. “We just…we’re not as close as we used to be. Emotionally.”
He slipped an arm around her hips and dragged her onto his lap to tuck her into the cradle of his body. The ache in her heart eased the moment his arms closed around her. Heavy and strong. Loving. “I know we’ve been apart a lot over the past couple years, but that hasn’t changed the way I feel about you one bit. I love you even more now than I did the day I married you.”
She lifted her head to look into his mahogany-brown eyes. “You do?”
“Of course,” he said, sounding offended that she’d question it. “Why, are you saying you don’t love me the way you used to?”
“I do; I just feel like we’re not as close as we were and I miss that. And I’m not trying to make you feel guilty about being away—you know I’m well aware of what your job requires and that I fully support your career. But I miss us. I miss my husband,” she finished, her stupid voice catching as her throat locked up. She didn’t even know if she was making sense, but she didn’t know how else to word it. “I miss being in bed with you and waking up with you there, being able to talk to you about anything and everything. Making plans together for our life.”
He stiffened slightly. “I tried to stay in touch with you this last time as much as I could.”
“I know, but in all our e-mails and phone calls, we mostly talked about surface stuff, especially after that tense call. Nothing really important about what we want, or anything about our future as a couple.”
“So you’re saying…what? You want me to quit?”
“No,” she said, aghast that he’d even think she’d ask that of him. “I know how much you love your job, and if you quit because of me you’d resent me for it.”
He visibly relaxed. “What then?”
“I guess I want us both to try harder when we’re apart,” she said, tracing her fingertips over the notch between his collarbones. “We both need to make more of an effort to stay connected with one another on an emotional level.”
She was quiet a moment. “Remember when we were out in those mountains together? It was the scariest thing I’ve ever been through, not gonna lie, but I’d never felt closer to anyone than I did to you then. And for those few weeks afterward as well.”
“If you’re saying you want us to get trapped behind enemy lines together in the Hindu Kush during the dead of winter so we can bond again, I’m gonna have to pass,” he said dryly.
She couldn’t help but laugh, beginning to feel stupid and insecure and wishing she hadn’t brought this up. “No, I wouldn’t ever want to go through something like that again either. My point was, I miss the strength of the link we had then. And I still really want to have a family. Sooner rather than later. I’m willing to be a single stay-at-home mom for a little while, but I don’t want to raise our kids all by myself while you’re overseas all the time. We need to plan for that together.”
He nodded. “That’s fair, I get it. And if we had kids, I wouldn’t want to not be there for them either.”
She tipped her head back. “When do you want to start a family?”
“In a couple more years maybe. Definitely before you hit thirty-five; otherwise your eggs might all be dried up.”
She poked him in the chest, smirking at his dry humor. “My eggs are just fine, thanks very much. You just worry about your swimmers.”
“You mean my fast-movers.”
“Sure, your fast-movers then,” she said, smiling at the reminder of what he’d said to Cam yesterday morning. Laying her head against his sturdy shoulder, she snuggled deeper into his embrace, already feeling ten times closer to him than she had in a long time. “And what about my job?”
He stroked a hand over her hair. “If you really want to get out that badly, then you should get out.”
The words sent a wave of relief washing over her. “What if I can’t find anything I want to do once I get out?”
“Then we’ll handle it when the time comes. Clamp down a little tighter with the finances until you do find something.”
She wound her arms around him, tightened them, a sense of peace blanketing her. “Thank you.”
“Welcome. We good now?”
The hopeful note in his voice, along with the hot gleam in his eyes when she glanced up at him, made her smile. Such a guy, wanting to get straight to the make-up sex portion of the evening. “Yes. We’re good.”
“Great. Now come here.” He scooped her up and turned her, the muscles in his shoulders and chest bunching as he reached up to take her face between his hands. “I love you more than anything, and I missed you like hell while I was gone.”
Relief poured through her. He wasn’t very romantic, or flowery with his words, so his saying that to her now meant the world to her. “I missed you more.” And for the first time in months, she felt like they were finally in sync again. A huge relief.
Now she wanted the special intimacy that only their physical connection could bring.
Bracing her hands on his broad shoulders, she bent and covered his lips with hers. He nipped at her lower lip, ran his tongue across it then sucked gently, his hands framing her face, taking complete control.
She sighed and made a soft purring sound as she opened for him, hungry for more of the heat he’d ignited in her. Just as things were starting to get interesting, she jolted when the fire alarm blared to life.
Ryan stilled and lifted his head, instantly on alert.
Coming up on her knees, she looked up at the ceiling and inhaled deeply. There was no smoke and the air seemed clean. “Smell anything?”
“No.” He rolled out from under her and peeked out the window. “Don’t see anything.”
“Must be a false alarm. Come back here.” She grabbed his shoulder and turned him back toward her.
Grinning, he resumed his former position beneath her and cupped his hands around her breasts, his thumbs brushing over the hard, sensitive tips. “My sexy wife.” He kissed the side of her neck, the brush of his beard making her tingle all over despite the continued blare of the fire alarm. “Just ignore it and focus on me.” He turned her face back to his, slanted his mouth across hers before skimming his way over her jaw, to her throat.
“Mmm…” She tipped her head back to give him more room, running her hands over his bare back. The sheer power of him never failed to get her hot. Then Ryan rolled her over onto her back and blanketed her with his weight, the hard ridge of his erection pressing against her throbbing mound.
She sighed and threaded her fingers into his hair, letting her eyes drift close, the sound of the fire alarm fading beneath the rush of desire.
Something flickered against her closed eyelids.
Her body went rigid as she opened her eyes and saw the yellow-orange glow flickering through the window. “Ryan.” She pushed at his shoulder.
At the urgency in her voice he sat up and reached for the blind covering the window, shoving it aside to look down. A second later, she smelled it. Faint, but unmistakable.
Smoke.
Ryan jumped off the bed and pulled on his underwear. “Something’s burning down there,” he said, reaching for his jeans. “Get dressed.”
After yanking on his boots, Ryan unlocked their door and opened it to check the hallway. The moment he did the scent of smoke grew stronger, and there was a faint haze in the air. Maya and Jackson’s door opened and Jackson stuck his head out.
“Not a false alarm,” Ryan told him. “Meet you guys outside?”
&nb
sp; “Yeah.” Jackson slammed the door shut behind him.
Ryan ducked back inside and turned to Candace, who was pulling on a sweater. “We should go.”
Calm but decisive, his wife hurried to the dresser across the room to grab some things. “I’ll get our IDs and wallets. You get the weapons.”
Good call. Leaving live ammo in a fire wasn’t an awesome idea. He went to the closet, grabbed his jacket, and then the hunting gear Wade had loaned him.
Candace was pulling on her shoes when he met her at the door. “Any idea where it is or how far it’s spread?” she asked.
“Definitely on the ground floor at our end of the building. Not sure how big it is yet.” Just as he said it the emergency sprinkler system activated overhead, spraying them with cold water. “Come on,” he said, pulling open the door, rifle in hand and the rest of his gear in the backpack slung over his shoulder.
She stepped into the hallway and turned right, toward the far end of the hall opposite where the flames were, where that stairwell would hopefully be clear. Maya and Jackson appeared behind them a few moments later. There were only four rooms per floor, and no one answered when Ryan pounded on the others, so there was no one else to warn and clear out.
The smoke grew thicker every second, the blare of the fire alarm echoing off the walls and ceiling. He moved in front of Candace as they neared the far stairwell door and opened it to check that it was safe. The lights were still on inside and the air was clearer here.
“Clear.” Ryan took the lead, with Candace behind him, then Maya and Jackson bringing up the rear. They were almost to the third floor when the stairwell door there shoved open to reveal Wade, Erin, Cam, and Dev. “This is sure an exciting wedding trip you two’ve got going on here so far,” he said to Wade.
Wade grunted and held the door for the others while holding his rifle, his own gear packed into a duffel in his free hand. “I was hoping for a lot less excitement, believe me.”
“Yeah, us too,” Devon muttered as she entered the stairwell, the soles of her running shoes slapping against the concrete steps.
