The Ranger's Chance: A Clean Army Ranger Romance Book One

by Bree Livingston

  Noah stood. “I’m taking her to dinner. Do you want me to text Ryder once we’re done?”

  “Yeah, that would be good.” Pam ended the call, and Noah tossed his phone into the chair before strolling to the bathroom. He turned on the shower and stripped as he waited for the water to heat.

  He was hot, sweaty, grumpy, and confused. Not confused. Flustered. And he hated it. He liked it when things were cut and dry, black and white. Feelings made things messy. And messy things never ended well, at least not in his line of work.

  Stepping into the water, he hung his head as he let it pour over him. How could he get a handle on things when they seemed so out of control? No, not things, himself. He’d held her hand. Kissed her. Made her think something was between them when there couldn’t be. All because he didn’t keep the goal in the forefront of his mind.

  How could he step back now without hurting her? If he slammed on the brakes, would she withdraw the offer to tag along with her as she went up the coast? And now that he knew Pam wanted him to go with her, he couldn’t see any option other than to continue things with her that should never have been started.

  What kind of balance could he strike? One foot in, the other out? She was perceptive. She’d know if he pulled away. So, what did he do? He scrubbed his face with his hands and then braced them against the wall.

  He had someone else to consider, and he’d never been so torn in his life. How on earth was he going to find a solution before he met up with her? Could he?

  * * *

  Mia shot Noah another glance. The second she opened the hotel door, she knew something was bothering him. In the last hour, he’d been quiet and reserved, and it almost seemed as though he was lost…or hurt. He had secrets, things he couldn’t confide, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be someone he could lean on.

  They’d decided to take a stroll in a nearby park before going to dinner, and it was relatively quiet at the moment. Pulling him to a stop, she faced him. “I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m here.”

  That seemed to make it worse because his shoulders sagged and his bright-blue eyes turned cloudy. “I’m sorry. I just have a lot on my mind.”

  “I can see that. You’re standing in concrete shoes in the middle of quicksand.”

  With a half-hearted chuckle, he nodded. “That’s a good way to put it.”

  “Does it have anything to do with my asking you to come with me? If it does, please know there’s no pressure. It was beyond last minute. If you have plans, it’s okay.” She smiled. “Really.”

  He held her gaze, heartbeat after heartbeat. “You’re still wanting me to come, knowing I have secrets I can’t share with you?”

  She lifted on her toes and touched her lips to his. “Yes.”

  “What if my secrets are…not bad, but they were hurtful?”

  Pursing her lips, she cast her gaze to the grass. Hurtful? It was Noah. Yes, she’d just met him, but what man would pay all that money for a private beach and then abandon it because the person they just met was afraid? Or drop everything to teach a women self-defense? He was a bodyguard, ex-Army Ranger, and she knew in her heart of hearts that he was decent and kind. If he had secrets that were hurtful, there was a good reason for it.

  Mia lifted her gaze to his. “I’ll take my chances.”

  “Is that right?”

  She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and grinned. “This hulking man taught me self-defense. I can kick your tail.”

  Noah tipped his head back and laughed. “You can, huh? He was that good of a teacher?”

  “Yep.”

  The light had returned to his eyes as he smiled. “I would love nothing more than to spend time with you. Count me in.”

  She threw her arms around his neck. More time with him? Who said her vacation ever had to end? Her job could be done anywhere. “I’m so excited.” She leaned back and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”

  His hand slid up her back and into her hair, cupping the back of her head. “If kisses are words spoken from the heart, I hope you hear what I’m about to say.” He tightened his grip on her, wrapping his arms around in her such a strong embrace that it made her pulse race, and then he brushed his lips across hers in a touch so feathery and tender that it made her shiver.

  Strong and gentle. A succinct sentence that summed him up perfectly. She circled her arms around his neck and held on to him as he deepened the kiss.

  Such a short time, and she was so wrapped up in him that she couldn’t stand the thought of her tomorrows without him in them. How would she feel in two weeks? Two months? If the trajectory was anything as blazing as the last three days, she’d be spending the rest of her life with him. Was that what he was saying? Because that’s what her response was to whatever he was trying to convey.

  He left her lips, trailing kisses across her cheeks and down her jaw, and pressed a kiss to the hollow of her throat before capturing her lips again, immediately deepening the kiss once more. A few more of these types of kisses, and she’d be signed, sealed, and marked delivered.

  With her heart pounding, breath ragged, and lips bruised and tingling, she sighed as he closed his eyes and set his forehead against hers. She had no idea the amount of time that had passed.

  He took several gulps of air and then said, “I hope you heard me.”

  “Did you hear my response?”

  He opened his eyes and held her gaze. “I think so. I just hope you still feel that way later on.”

  She brushed her lips across his. “I don’t see how I could feel any other way.”

  Those crystalline-blue eyes turned cloudy for the briefest of moments, and then he nodded. “We should get dinner and then pack. I thought maybe I’d drive so you can sightsee. I’ve been up and down the coast multiple times. If that’s not okay and you’d prefer to drive, I’m happy to be in the passenger seat.”

  “If you drive like you kiss, I’m fine sightseeing.” She smiled.

  He pushed her hair over her shoulder, pressed a kiss just behind her ear, and whispered, “Sightseeing it is.” The grin he flashed as he stepped back made her knees like gelatin.

  Mia giggled. “Okay.” She threaded her fingers in his and hugged his arm. She was falling for him. No, she could safely say fallen. She’d fallen for him, and from this point forward, the feelings could only grow deeper, especially if he was as good a man as she suspected.

  Chapter 16

  O f course, Noah took them back to the same hard-to-get-into restaurant. She ordered something different this time, and it was equally as good as the night before. No wine, but she wasn’t missing it at all. She didn’t know the whole story behind Noah’s commitment to not drink, but she was going to support him. Her drinking days were over, and she wasn’t going to miss them. Not when she had Noah to cuddle up to.

  Over the course of their meal, he’d grown quiet again. Just as she started to speak, he took a deep breath. “Thank you for not asking questions I can’t answer. At least not yet. I know it makes me sound cryptic, but there’s a reason.”

  “I know.” She set her fork down and leaned into him. “You’re—” Her phone jingled in her wristlet, and she rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. Hazard of the job.” He winked as he stood so she could get out.

  She pulled her phone out and frowned. Mr. Harrison. Great. “I’ll be right back,” she said and gave him a quick kiss before stepping away. “Mr. Harrison?”

  “I’m so sorry, Ms. Milan, but something is going on with our computer system. The power blinked, and when it came back on, your program was gone. My IT guy has no idea what happened. Is there any chance you can check it out? Make sure it wasn’t an attack on our system?”

  Mia chewed her thumb. This was something she’d never encountered before. Her program was missing? Why did this feel so…wrong? “And you say my entire program is missing?”

  “Yes, my IT says he’s done everything he knows, and the system is showing it isn’
t there.”

  This made zero sense to her, and warning bells were going off. But she didn’t care for the man personally. That didn’t mean he’d done anything wrong, and she’d been unable to crack into his files to confirm her suspicions.

  She shot a glance in Noah’s direction. He could come with her as her bodyguard. Would it really be all that bad to lie and say she’d paid him since she was traveling alone? She could work the damsel-in-distress angle, right? “I’m eating dinner at the moment, but I can be there shortly. Don’t get online.”

  “Thank you so much, Ms. Milan. I can’t express my gratitude.”

  “You’re welcome. I’ll see you in a bit.” She ended the call and walked back to the table.

  Noah stood. “Is everything okay?”

  She shook her head. “No, my client is having trouble with his computer system. Something happened with the power, and when they rebooted, my program was missing. I have to go fix it.”

  “Okay, I can drop you off at the hotel so you can get your car.”

  “Actually, I’ll tell you what’s going on, and if you don’t mind, I’d like you to come with me.”

  His eyebrows furrowed. “Okay.”

  “Just like that, no questions asked? You’d just go with me?”

  “I told you I’d never let anyone hurt you. I keep my word.”

  She hugged him around the waist. “Thank you.”

  He motioned for the waiter and asked for their bill. Once it was paid, they hurried to the car and got in. As he pulled out of the parking lot, she debated again about whether or not to tell him. It was a big deal to her. Something she’d never trusted with anyone.

  Noah covered her hand with his. “If you don’t want to tell me, don’t. I can…take you to the hotel, put on a blindfold, and ride with you. If you don’t need me, then I’m none the wiser.”

  Her heart did a backflip. Noah wasn’t pressuring her, and the need to tell him far exceeded the need to keep confidence. “I’m working for a man named Mr. Harrison. That’s the man who wanted to have dinner with me. The man who gave me the creeps. Well, he owns an import/export business that he runs out of a warehouse at the Miami port. That’s who I was meeting with this morning. He wanted to discuss using my program for the rest of his business, but I’m not sure I want to work for him again.”

  “Why?”

  How could she explain it without making the man sound guilty? “The last day I was there, I ran to the restroom and got lost. The place is like a maze. On my way, I took a wrong turn and wound up on this metal skybridge overlooking his docking area. There were women sitting in a truck, and…they could have been there for work, but I just have this horrible feeling that he’s a bad man and he’s trafficking people.”

  “What gives you that horrible feeling?”

  “They looked terrified, and I felt the same way. I didn’t see any men with guns, but they were pretty scary-looking. I’m not sure they needed guns.”

  Noah nodded. “Did anyone see you?”

  “I don’t think so. I was really quiet.” She chewed her lip. “I copied his hard drive before I left. And tonight, when he called…well, I’ve got a weird feeling. But I could have just been projecting the fact that I don’t like the man. He’s sleazy-feeling. There’s this greasy quality to him, and when I’m around him, I feel like I’m in the presence of a predator.”

  “You should go with your gut, Mia. If you think he’s dangerous, don’t take any risks.” He glanced at her as he drove. “Are you sure you should go there?”

  She shrugged. “I told him I’d come and find out what was going on.”

  “If you have a weird feeling, maybe it’s not a good idea.”

  Mia nodded. He had a point. What if there was a chance someone saw her when she got lost, or maybe the IT guy was smarter than she thought. Maybe they somehow figured out she copied the hard drive. “We should go back to my hotel room, and I’ll see if I’ve been able to crack those files. The encoding was government-level. I’ve been running a program for the last three days, and the last time I checked, it still wasn’t through.”

  “Okay, back to the hotel, and we’ll go from there.”

  “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.”

  “Then that’s what we’ll do,” he said, flashing her a smile. He pulled out his phone, typed something, and slipped it back in his pocket. “Letting some friends know what’s going on. Just in case things get out of hand.”

  “Okay.” It was a relief to tell Noah what was going on. With his experience, he’d have an idea for how to proceed or if anything should be done. Who knew? Maybe he’d even have a contact somewhere that might know if Mr. Harrison was on some watch list or something. If nothing else, she felt safer. Noah said he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her, and he wouldn’t.

  * * *

  Noah typed out a second quick text to Ryder as he stepped off the elevator onto Mia’s floor. He’d sent the first as they drove back to the hotel. He was in, they wouldn’t have to break in, he was done lying, and maybe she and Ryder could work together to decrypt those files.

  His heart had skipped a beat as she told him about Harrison, what she’d seen, and that she’d copied his hard drive. He knew she wasn’t working with the man. Of course, he was still under orders to keep his identity from her, but she was in the clear.

  It also meant she was more than likely going into WITSEC. With her knowledge, Harrison would have a bounty out on her, and she’d need to disappear. It killed him to think she wouldn’t be in his life, but her safety was more important.

  As Mia opened the door to her hotel room, she hesitated. “I’ve never trusted anyone like I’m trusting you. Not with my security program.” She couldn’t have plunged the knife into his heart any deeper if she’d tried. “I hope I’m not wrong.”

  “You’re not.” And he’d do whatever it took to regain her trust again once he told her everything.

  They stepped inside, and she stopped at the closet. “Normally, I don’t use a hotel safe for my laptop, but this one had a digital keypad. I hacked into it and changed the code so it would randomly generate a new one every time I opened it, and it sends that code to my phone. And I put clear fingerprint pads over the numbers, and see this here?”

  Noah squinted. A tiny camera? His eyes widened. “Wow, a camera?”

  “Yeah, I’ve got it set to trip if someone touches the safe. That way, I not only have a picture, but I’ve got fingerprints.” She smiled.

  Man, she was good. And he was extremely grateful he hadn’t touched it earlier. “Smart.”

  “Plus, if you try to open it without my phone near it, it’ll blare like it’s a stuck pig. The entire hotel would have been looking for the cause of the commotion.”

  “And I thought I took security seriously.”

  “This is my livelihood. I have to protect it.”

  He nodded. “I understand, and I’m impressed.”

  She fished the laptop out of the safe and took it over to the desk, firing it up as she opened it. “It won’t take but a second.”

  It took less than a second. Her fingers flew over the keyboard. “It’s still trying to break into those files. I’m telling you. Whoever encoded these goes beyond just your average IT guy. The longest it has ever taken me to open an encoded file was eleven hours, sixteen minutes, and forty-two seconds.”

  “That’s a little precise.”

  “Hey, I’m a geek. I get my kicks out of things like that.”

  Noah’s phone vibrated against his thigh. “Uh, I’ve got a call coming in. I’m going to step outside and answer it.”

  “Sure.”

  He held her gaze a second, crossed the room, and stepped outside, letting the door shut behind him. Ryder stood in front of him with a backpack slung over his shoulder, along with Elijah, Mason, and Kolby.

  “Kolby,” Noah said, shaking his hand. “Hey.”

  Kolby tipped his head, greeting him.

  Mason had his back to Noah, keeping an eye o
n the elevator. “Hey, man.”

  “Hey, Mason,” Noah replied.

  Elijah fist-bumped him. “Hey.”

  Noah could feel it in the air that something was going on. “What?”

  Ryder nodded. “Harrison knows she’s on to him.”

  Noah’s eyes widened. “Has he sent someone after her?”

  “Not yet. Chatter is that he’s still waiting for her to show up. If he doesn’t kill her, she’ll be chained in a brothel somewhere by tomorrow.”

  The very thought made Noah sick. There was no way he was letting that happen. “She’s got a copy of his hard drive, but she hasn’t been able to decrypt the files yet.”

  Ryder smiled. “Then I guess it’s a good thing I’m here.”

  “Did you get a match for that guy who followed her by using the description I sent you?”

  “No, nothing came up. He might be new. It isn’t like Harrison didn’t lose a few faces the last time we took him down.”

  Noah nodded. “Yeah.”

  Kolby tipped his head in the direction of Mia’s room. “You can’t tell her anything until Ryder’s in,” he said in a slow Southern drawl. “Until we’re sure. Pam’s orders—” He clamped his mouth shut.

  “Who’s Pam? What orders?”

  Noah froze. He hadn’t heard the door open. He did tell her he was warning some friends to be on the lookout. Maybe he could salvage this. “Uh, these are my friends. They work with me. Our boss was just giving us some instructions.”

  Mia narrowed her eyes as her gaze jumped from him to Ryder, Mason, Elijah, and then Kolby. “Oh.” She tilted her head. “How did they get here so fast? I thought you worked out of North Carolina.”

  “Name’s Ryder.” Ryder stuck his hand out and shook Mia’s. “He didn’t know we were in town until I texted him. We had a last-minute job here in Miami because of a concert.”

  Ryder hooked a thumb in Kolby’s direction. “That’s Kolby. And the other guy is Mason.”

  Noah pointed down the hall a ways. “And that’s Elijah.”

  “Oh, well, it’s nice to meet you. Would you like to come in?”