He lowered his head, his lips hovered just above hers, his breath fanning across her face. She held still, afraid if she moved he might change his mind, he might pull away. She could practically feel the heat of his lips on hers.
He hung suspended there, out of reach, and then he dropped her hand and pulled away. Needles pricked her heart and she sucked in a breath. He picked her up from his lap and sat her next to him, as if he had to put distance between them or throw up or something.
Just like at the wedding. Heat suffused her face and she turned quickly away before he could see the tears his rejection caused. Was he waking up from his hero syndrome now that he’d safely rescued his damsel in distress?
He got up and paced the cabin. “Celine, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tried that, not right after your ordeal.”
“What do you mean?” She hastily wiped away the wetness in her eyes. She wouldn’t put herself out there again. She couldn’t.
He cast a wary glance her way. “I mean, after, you know…” Aaron waved his hands in her direction.
She dropped her brows and a frown tugged at her lips. “After what? My kidnapping?”
“You were raped and I’m pawing at you like a beast.”
She froze, fear milking the heat from her body. “When I was drugged? You saw them, I was – “
“I didn’t see anything but the bruises.”
Celine swallowed convulsively. “I thought the Sister’s said I was fine.”
Aaron cut across the cabin and dropped to a knee in front of her, taking her hand in his. His tortured expression raking across her like shards of ice. “You weren’t recently, but those bruises aren’t more than a week old. Look, you don’t have to talk about what happened in the beginning, with the first man, but I swear I’d rather die than make you feel uncomfortable.”
A rush of relief took the wind out of her hurt and she reached a hand forward to caress his cheek. “He didn’t rape me. He tried, but I escaped.”
He pressed her hand against his face and a thrill ran up her arm. The touch connected them. Grounded them like a lightning rod in a storm.
All the want and need and pent up desire struck. Celine leaned down, trembling from the emotions and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips.
Aaron blinked rapidly, moisture gathering in his gaze. “It was my fault you were there. I’m so damn sorry.”
Her heart gave a solid whack against her chest. “No it’s not. It’s his fault, the man who kidnapped us. You’re the one who saved me.”
Aaron groaned and dropped his head into her lap, unable to help herself, she threaded her fingers through his thick blond hair, savoring how it tickled her skin.
“You’re wrong, Celine. I should never have brought you in on the mission in the first place. It is my fault and I’ll spend the rest of my life knowing I’m the reason for your bruises.”
She forced him to look up at her, cupping his jaw in her hands. “Is that why you pulled away from me just then? Because you were trying to be a gentleman?”
He gave her a wrenching half-smile. “Yeah.”
“Do us both a favor and stop treating me like a china doll, okay?”
“Are you sure you don’t need more space?”
“I don’t know what I need, but I do know I feel safer when you’re with me.”
Aaron shuddered again but he didn’t move away. Celine patted the seat beside her in invitation. He took her up on her invite and scooped her into his lap once again. “Do you care if I hold you like this for a little while?”
“Absolutely not.” Celine snuggled against his chest, savoring the feeling of his strong arms and warm earthy scent. She intended to stay here as long as she could.
The plane touched down at exactly midnight, a thick D.C. fog rolling around the ground like a scepter stalking its territory for intruders. As the pilot pulled up to the waiting staircase, Aaron had already gone back into full blown soldier mode, where he ordered people around and shielded her from everyone and everything, touching her but not really, more like he was afraid she’d shatter if he stepped too far out of reach.
Their one flight attendant opened the hatch and Celine shuffled out onto the deck on legs that felt like day old jello left out on the counter, ready to melt right out from beneath her body. Her chest throbbed and every time she bent her right arm, she felt the swelling from when she’d so violently ripped out her IV. If the wind picked up she might blow right over.
“It’s just an airport, honey.” Aaron whispered near her ear, his warm breath sending a fresh wave of shivers down her neck and she leaned into him for support.
“I realize that, just give me a minute,” she whispered right back. She gazed out over the empty parking lot, fighting off the wave of dread pushing down on her from the inky moonless sky. Her breaths puffed out in front of her and she shivered from the cold. When they’d left Afghanistan, she’d been dressed for the desert heat, in a thin loose tunic provided by the good Sister Mary Catherine, now she wished she’d stopped to grab a sweater and some pants. Celine glanced down at her worn leather sandals, wondering how they’d stand up against the light mist falling on the concrete.
“You’ll do fine. Just put one foot in front of the other.” Aaron’s hand wrapped around her waist, intimate and touching her deeper than he probably realized. She’d come to completely rely on him since the small hospital, even though she knew it was a weakness she couldn’t hold on to forever, no matter how much she wished for it to never end.
“I remember how to walk. Just getting my air legs back.”
Aaron chuckled, “I believe they’re called sea legs, sweetheart, and that’s for sailor’s who’ve been on a ship for months.”
“Shows what you know. My great-uncle C.W. flew in Vietnam. He talked all the time about getting his air legs.”
“Whatever you say, darlin’, as long as you start working your way off this plane.” He nudged her forward and Celine purposefully leaned back. She’d go when she was ready. And right now, the empty black pavement wasn’t exactly the welcome home party she’d imagined.
Not that she should have imagined anything since she technically wasn’t here. Or anywhere. “So what am I supposed to do? As soon as I go home, everyone will know. I don’t have anywhere to hide out.”
“Don’t you worry about that; I’ve got it all handled. As soon as our guys get here with our transport, I’ll fill you in.”
She doubted very much he’d tell her everything once they got in a car together. They’d had a whole plane ride to discuss her future, and yet, not. Every conversation seemed to change when she brought up what would happen when they touched down.
She needed to get back on her own two feet and stop standing on top of his. Celine drew in a shaky breath and took her first step down on the metal grated staircase, her legs as wobbly as the loose metal railing.
She reached the bottom, her feet officially on US soil for the first time in weeks. Celine tilted her head back and inhaled the sense of freedom. There would be no more cloying clothes or bowing to men and their fists. She could go where ever and whenever she pleased.
A black sedan pulled up next to them and two men got out, the word ‘government’ practically tattooed on their matching black suits.
“Miss Latimer? Mr. Speirs?” The nearest man, a big brute with a black buzz cut asked.
“Yes?”
“I’m Daniel and this is Eli, we’re here to transport you.” Bright lights from the airport strained against the dark, casting Daniel’s shadow over her and she tried not to shiver as he focused on her with flat gray eyes. “If you’d like to accompany me to the car, I’ve been assigned as your personal bodyguard.”
Eli stayed near the car, toking on a cigarette like it was the last shot of crack for a junkie, shifting from foot to foot as his beady gaze flickered across the empty lot.
Celine took a step back, uneasy with the two men, and bumped into a familiar hard chest. “It’s okay, Colonel Grey sent them.” Aar
on’s hand dropped on her shoulder, heavy and reassuring.
Daniel his expression about as welcoming as a pit bull in a cage fight, turned to Aaron and said, “I was told you might be leaving with the plane to resume your mission overseas.”
Celine spun, unable to hide her sense of betrayal, but Aaron’s expression had changed, going blank, just like she remembered from the wedding party. She could feel him distancing himself from her even though he never let go of her shoulder, the mental withdrawal another blow.
“My mission is to safely escort Miss Latimer home. I will not leave her side until that mission is completed.”
Mission. She was a mission, wasn’t she? But the way he said it, so clinical, as if she were a thing and not a human.
“Roger. Let’s go, I’m tired of standing in the rain.” Daniel turned and went to his sedan, holding the back door open. Aaron grabbed their one duffel bag and escorted her to the car, squeezing in the back seat right beside her.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
Aaron stared straight ahead when he answered. “The Pentagon.”
XXX
Celine stayed tucked up close to Aaron as they walked quietly down the maze of hallways inside the Pentagon. Somehow she never pictured it like this, so…normal. Like the inside of any other office building, minus the windows and the fact that they were there in the middle of the night. And yet people rushed up and down the hallways, all dressed business casual, carrying on with their jobs.
The group took the elevator down, to what floor she had no idea, but Eli had to swipe his card and enter a code for access before they started moving. The doors finally dinged open and she stumbled out first, eager to get out of the claustrophobic space. “Where are we now?”
“Below ground, this level is secure. You have to have clearance to enter,” Eli answered and took over as line leader this time. “If you will follow me, please.”
Once again, Celine stayed close to Aaron as they followed Eli down the hall, Daniel bringing up the rear of their little entourage. Eli stopped in front of a common brown door, near the end of the hallway, and swiped his card. The door buzzed open and Eli held out his arm, inviting them to enter. “Have a seat, someone will be with you shortly.”
Celine entered the room first unable to shake the uneasy feeling she’d had since they’d stepped off the plane. The room was small, with a single plain table in the middle and a couple of chairs on each side. A large mirror stretched across the opposite wall and Celine nearly gasped at her reflection. She’d lost weight, she could tell that simply by the way her bones protruded beneath her skin, but the hollowed out cheeks and the purple smudges under her eyes showed more evidence of it – she looked like a recovering drug addict.
And Aaron had been up close and personal with her the whole time. Uggghhh.
“We’ll be right outside if you need anything.” Eli pulled the door shut.
Aaron stalked to the mirrored wall, his brows narrowed and lips pulled tight. Her unease slipped into fear. “What’s wrong?”
Aaron did that thing again, where he made his face go completely blank, something she’d started to hate. “It’s nothing, just the CIA, I always hated working with the sneaky bastards.”
Celine stared hard at him, concentrating on his rich brown eyes. There were tight lines around them now that hadn’t been there on the plane, and his blank expression couldn’t hide the flat lines of his mouth. Evidence that he was as uneasy here as she was. “I thought you guys were run by the CIA.”
He didn’t even blink, just stared at her without speaking.
After a few seconds the urge to fill the silence overtook her patience. “So, don’t you sort of work for them?”
He kept staring and she had to fight the urge to twitch. “You’re doing that on purpose, stop it.”
“Just trying to figure out how to answer your question when I can’t really answer your question.”
“I think you just answered my question.”
Finally, his tight lips eased into a soft smile. “Yeah, I guess I did.”
“Ms. Latimer?”
Aaron shoved her behind him and faced the open doorway. “Who wants to know?”
A tall, thin man in a suit, with a shock of red hair and pale white skin, propped his shoulder on the door frame like he owned the place. “I’m Agent O’Keefe. Sorry about rushing you down here fresh off the plane, but we just need to ask you a few questions about your time overseas while everything is still fresh on your mind.”
He reminded her of a Virginia Slim cigarette lit at the top. Except for his eyes, they held nothing, just took up empty space on his face in a way far more menacing than Daniel. “Will it help Caroline?”
“You may be the only way we find her. Unfortunately, our teams on the ground lost her trail after your rescue.”
His carefully spoken words lit a match of guilt in her chest, burning up her cheeks while her hands went numb. “Are you saying if they hadn’t rescued me, they might have found Caroline?”
Aaron’s chest rumbled against her. “Watch it, O’Keefe. There wasn’t any choice involved. If we didn’t rescue Celine, she’d be gone. At least we still know who has Caroline.”
O’Keefe rolled his shoulder around the door frame and straightened, his movements fluid like a serpent. “Ah, that’s true. But if your team had gone after Mr. J this whole thing might be over by now.”
Celine’s head swung back and forth between the two men, watching as they faced off, the tension growing thicker than the fog outside. Aaron went as stiff as the metal chair next to him. “We’ll find J and Caroline.”
“You, or your team? Haven’t each of you vowed to see him dead? What are you doing here when you could be on his trail?”
Celine felt each word from O’Keefe like a bag of concrete weighing her down and when Aaron didn’t answer, she felt that concrete harden. He really was here playing hero. Or maybe because he’d been ordered to guard her?
She’d heard about the attack on his headquarters not long ago, heard it was someone intent on wiping out his team. “Was he the one who attacked you?”
Aaron stared right through her.
“Yes, Ms. Latimer, and yet here he is, while the rest of his team hunts down the man who tried to have their entire unit and families annihilated. You must be a very special person to Mr. Speirs for him to give up his best shot at revenge.” O’Keefe circled the room, his steps slow and measured, all the while he tapped a finger on his lower lip.
“Is that true? Are you missing out on catching him?” She whispered.
“Killing him. Not catching. There will be no catching involved when I finally get my hands on Mr. J.”
Aaron’s words took the concrete weighing her down and threw an extra truck load on top. “You should go, be with your team.”
“What do you want to bet he can’t? Did someone order you to bring her here? To babysit the wounded bird?” O’Keefe drew out the word babysit, emphasizing baby.
Shame heated Celine’s cheeks. She wasn’t a pet project or a fixer upper in need of careful handling. And she sure as hell didn’t want a man by her side only out of obligation.
Or worse, pity.
The way Aaron stood stiff and distant was more of an answer than any verbal communication. He hadn’t chosen her. His commander had taken his choice away.
“Ms. Latimer, as I was saying, I really do need to ask you a few questions, and it would be better if we were alone. Protocol, you understand?”
Celine moved to the corner of the room, as far from Aaron and his pity as she could get. “I’m ready.”
“Mr. Speirs, if you could just step out in the hall for a moment. I’ll call you when we are done.”
Aaron’s face flushed. “No. I’m not leaving her side.”
“Why? Do you think I’m not capable of answering a few questions?” Celine asked.
“No, it’s not that. You shouldn’t be alone right now. You’re still in shock.”
&nbs
p; “Shock? I’m upset, yes. A little bruised. But that will not stop me from doing anything in my power to help find Caroline.” Celine paused and then said, “You understand that don’t you?”
Just like he understood the thirst for revenge.
Aaron faltered, his gaze bouncing between her and O’Keefe.
The agent walked toward the door and held it open. “Mr. Speirs?”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Aaron prowled back-and-forth just outside the door standing between him and Celine. That fucker O’Keefe rubbed him the wrong way. But he’d been smart, probably why he was a CIA intel officer. He’d tapped right into the hard drive Aaron had been running on for over a year. Revenge.
Mr. J had been the reason for his teammate, Shane Carter’s, death. He’d tried to have the Team ambushed and murdered, twice. He’d even gone after their families.
He needed to die.
Aaron balled his hand into a fist and stared at the wall, suppressing the urge to throw a punch right through it, anything to disseminate some of the rage rolling around inside him. He’d never been so physically tied to his emotions, not even before the Teams and training had hammered it out of him. But talking about J, knowing he’d been within miles of the bastard and had let him slip through his fingers, left him with acid in his gut.
Maybe O’Keefe was right, maybe he should get a hop back overseas. If Celine was taken care of…Aaron shook his head. He couldn’t abandon her now, especially to a sneaky fucker like O’Keefe. The guy had snake eyes, slithering around the room, constricting their actions and reactions. He’d controlled the conversation by using Aaron’s emotions against him. And just like a hungry fish, Aaron had taken the bait.
Something was wrong here. Aaron dropped his head in his hand and rubbed his temples, reaching back into the early days of his training, CIA protocol involved two officers for questioning a witness. One to observe, the other to ask questions and probe.
“Speirs? What the fuck are you doing in the catacombs?”
Aaron jerked up to see Agent K, TF-S’s liaison stalking down the hall, the bags under his eyes evidence he’d just woken from sleep.
Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Aaron's Honor (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Men of Mercy Book 8) Page 8
