by Billi Jean
“Whoa, there, firecracker? The drug made you horny?”
“But it’s worn off now, I think,” she paused and winced at the surprise on his face. “I’m not sure. I mean since I met you that side effect hasn’t bothered me. I mean…” She felt her face warm. “I mean I felt a normal attraction to you, not the ache and pain—”
“Pain?”
“Uh, well, it was the drug—”
“Never mind, woman. Do you think I care what happened before me, or who you were with? Not a chance.” He gripped her shoulders and tightened his hands. “But I’m staying and so are you. Look…” He winced again and shook his head. “Before you? I couldn’t bring myself to climax for two years. I’d get hard as hell and nothing. Not once, okay? I couldn’t go to a woman. Hell, I thought women would see me as a monster.”
“Oh, Cody!”
He shook her gently. “We are meant to be, I think. You, me—it’s more than sex between us. Damn it, Sonya, it’s—”
She covered his mouth with her hand and simply stared at his pain-filled eyes. “You couldn’t, uh, masturbate for two years?”
He shook his head but his eyes narrowed to slits.
“Oh, Cody, I’m—”
He dragged her hand off and pulled her in close with a grip on her shoulders. “If you say you’re sorry, I’ll spank you for real.”
She widened her eyes at that then burst out laughing. She couldn’t stop it. It was crazy, but just like the tears, she couldn’t seem to make it stop.
“Laugh it up, firecracker. Do you have any idea how hard it is to be erect and not drop a nut? For years?”
“Drop a nut?” she gasped and laughed harder. “Sorry. Sorry, it’s just that, I couldn’t either. I couldn’t either.”
He hugged her tightly and whispered, “That’s why we’re meant to be, Sonya. Both of us, we were meant to meet on that mountain. And if after all this you want to travel the world, I’m going with you. I’ll take you but—”
“Cody,” she whispered and hugged him around the neck, crying again but so relieved she couldn’t stop. “I promise I’m not insane,” she managed even if she felt a bit crazy. “I worried, you know, that this would bother you. The drug was horrible, just horrible,” she whispered. “But you, you always got the real me—how I want to be and am—not the drug me.”
Carson could wait. Walters could wait. She wasn’t letting go until she was ready and even then, she hoped Cody meant what he said and never left.
Around and around and around we go. But now we’ll decide where we go. Together.
Cody suffered through the bout of crying because he could tell it was needed.
You always got the real me—how I want to be…
Those broken words made his heart feel as if she’d ripped it in two at the same time that she filled him with such hope—hope that she meant she loved him as much as he loved her.
He did too. He goddamn loved her so much that he was in a panic from the thought of her leaving, let alone her tears.
Stay.
He wondered what would have happened if that song hadn’t come on. Sonya had a lot she’d never experienced, he was guessing. Stay really pinned her—to a point.
No one knew her the way he was beginning to. She hadn’t really ever lived—not really lived. She’d had a messed up childhood, then had run from being raped right into being a spy for one of the biggest countries in the world, then switched sides to work for the other one. Now she sat in his arms, after what? Two weeks of being free of it all, and she was ready to go back in and leave him behind just to make sure he wasn’t harmed.
But she wasn’t going back in alone. She wasn’t going to leave him, either. He could feel that in the strength of her small arms around his neck. If she held him any tighter he might not be able to breathe.
“Sonya, baby, you’ve got to stop. Come on. We need to get this guy so we can have a vacation. Maybe Paris, kissing on top of the Eiffel Tower, huh?” he suggested, brushing his lips along her warm sweet smelling hair. “Or maybe some island off the coast of Greece?”
She sniffed but eased against him, the tears, he hoped, stopping for good. A man didn’t ever want to see a woman cry, but one as happy and strong as Sonya? No, not happening again.
“Good,” he murmured. “Now, what’s our plan?”
Sonya brushed at her tears and winced but took a deep shuddering breath. She was so damn beautiful every time he saw her but today he’d had the breath knocked out of him by just how stunning she was.
“I need to call in. I’m supposed to meet—”
“Call who?” he asked, carefully easing her back so he could see her face clearly. She took his breath away. Again.
How is it she looks even more beautiful with her green eyes all soaked with tears?
He brushed them aside with his thumb as gently as he could. “Who do you call?”
“My old commander. Carson. He’s doing the clean-up on this one. The Sentinels are no longer a unit but he’s in charge until the drug is back under the government’s control and Walters is brought in,” she added with a sharper glance at her watch. “We can still make the ‘copter, but I think we should face Walters now, here. If we run—”
“Face him. What do you mean?” He wasn’t letting her within a mile of the guy if he had his way.
“How did you know he was here?” she asked, instead of answering him.
“Troy. He’d heard that a guy, blond, scarred you know? Kinda like me.” He grinned at that and she rolled her eyes after a second of confusion.
“You are nothing like Walters. He’s a beach bum who never should have made it past basic training. He’s not as tall as you and heavier set, with—”
“I was teasing, sparkie,” he said and ruffled her red hair. “Troy said he asked about a cabin too. That was days ago.”
“Days ago. One? Two? Five?”
“Two or three.”
“Two or three…” Her green eyes got seriously scary, considering he knew she was packing her Sauer and she was trained in ways he didn’t want to know. “So he might find the place today, maybe tomorrow. But we’re not there. And he’s not here in town.”
“How are you sure of shit like that?” he demanded.
“Instinct.”
He studied her serious face and nodded. Her eyes widened but then she cupped his face in both hands and leaned in to kiss him.
“You’re amazing,” she whispered. “I like that, too, about you.”
“Damn, don’t say things like that,” he said. “I’ve wanted to hear that you at least like me for how long and now, when we have to—”
“Cody, focus. He’s not here, so that means he thinks we are going to waltz back to the cabin and be easy targets for him.”
Cody frowned but agreed with her. “How do you know he knows there’s two of us?”
“He’ll know. If he’s up to the place, he’s gone in.”
“Hell, I don’t like the sound of that,” he muttered. He didn’t like any of this—her in danger least of all. What if he’d not met her? What if Troy hadn’t told him? What if—?
Sonya tugged his hair, grabbing his attention pretty damn easily. He winced, but she was frowning at him so he tried to listen. “Cody, pay attention.”
“I am. I’m just thinking things through—”
“We have to go if I’m going to make the meet and convince Carson that we can handle him, we should go—”
“Can we? Handle him, Sonya?” he asked, wondering as he did, if it mattered. He wasn’t going to let her go, or go after the man alone.
“You’re a Ranger, aren’t you? Think you can do one more mission, with me?”
He smiled at that. “I think I can. Just don’t get your ass shot, or hurt, or—”
“I never have, so let’s make that record stick, okay? Come on. Let me go so we can go back to relaxing. You still owe me another fishing trip.”
Relief settled over him, making him feel like maybe, just maybe, they�
��d survive this.
“Damn you’re hard to please,” he grumbled. “Get this truck moving, woman. Troy is following us, so let your commander—”
“He’s not my commander. Not any longer. I quit. Didn’t you follow that?”
“Oh, I followed,” he said and strapped on his seatbelt. He was betting on Sonya being a worse driver than he was. “Let’s go, hotshot. I’m ready.”
She glanced at him and exhaled nervously, but he could see she was in control. “I know. You always are, aren’t you?”
“Well, other than that one foul-up, I’ve been keeping up, I’d say.”
“What foul-up?” she asked, but backed out of the spot.
“Turning you down, woman. Don’t you remember that?”
“I was being nice,” she murmured, then shot him a quick smile. “Hand me a piece of cornbread, please.”
“You got me cornbread? Hell, I might be in love,” he grumbled but caught her quick glance at him. He ignored her, and pulled out the cornbread. “Damn, you got enough for an army.”
“Or you. Don’t you dare offer Carson or Bryson and Jansen any either.”
“All right by me,” he said and handed her a piece of the warm bread. “Now, tell me who these guys are while we drive, then I’ll tell you what I think we should do.”
Surprisingly she drove very well, kept to the speed limit and talked around her mouthful as she did. She also didn’t do more than lift a delicate eyebrow at his mention of an idea. With her, he guessed she trusted him. More than trusted him, she counted on him.
The thought made his chest feel silly shit—like happy, when right now he should’ve been getting anxious and ready to protect her from Walters. If he guessed right, the guy wanted more than to kill Sonya.
Cody wasn’t letting him lay a hand on her.
As she drove, she didn’t hold anything back and he could tell from the way she described Bryson and Jansen that she respected them both. By her quick appraisal of Carson, she didn’t seem too impressed with him, but then she might just be that way. Most commanders weren’t that impressive. Only a few really got what it meant to be in command of other people’s lives. He’d been in the service long enough to get that.
“This bread is good. Are you sure you can make better?” she suddenly asked, giving him one of her sassy smiles.
“Damn straight,” he hedged, taking a big bite of BBQ beef sandwich and chewing while he thought how best to lay out his plan. “Let’s talk about my plan.”
Sonya. What was he going to do with her? She broke his heart at the same time as she made it beat like crazy just being near her. Now it was going nuts over the thought of her in trouble.
“Do you have an extra firearm?” he asked.
“Yep, under your seat, and more in the back, under the bucket seat.”
“Good girl,” he muttered and handed her another piece of the bread. “I’m hoping we won’t need them, but in case, we should pull them loose.”
“Oh?” she murmured and shot him a worried frown.
“My idea is simple,” he began. “You rappel down that cliff, and I go in with Troy, just looking like neighbors stopping by to help out a friend. While we keep him talking, you shoot him in the back of the head.”
Both of Sonya’s pretty eyebrows disappeared behind her red hair. “Shoot him in the back, huh? What if he doesn’t come out of hiding?”
“He will. I’m going to make it seem like you’ve left for DC, won’t be back for weeks while I’m talking to Troy. Unexpected trip, so he believes it. He’ll come out, either to talk to me or to leave. Then we kill the bastard.”
“Carson won’t like that,” she warned.
“He won’t need to know that part, will he?”
Sonya drove quietly for a few more miles and he took the time to fill up on his first meal of the day outside of one of her power bars. He’d need it. This meant saddling up, riding to her place and putting on a show, possibly waiting for hours for the asshole to come out of hiding. Either way, she’d be behind him, up on those cliffs and as safe as he could keep her from Walters’ grasp.
“I think it’s solid. Might even work,” she finally said. “We’ll fill the boys in once we’re in position. Carson,” she muttered, “we’ll see about.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he agreed. His heart was heavy with worry now that they had a plan, but there wasn’t a chance he’d lose Sonya, not now that he’d found her. He also wasn’t willing to chance getting killed right when he’d discovered the best thing in the world.
She slowed to a stop at the crossroads on the south side of town, killed the engine and turned to him. The way her gaze flickered over his face, he could tell she was nervous about him getting hurt. But as with all the other times since he’d met her, she never once took his lack of a foot into consideration as making him unfit. The fear in her eyes wasn’t because of that. It was because of something else.
Losing him.
He reached over and didn’t bother to keep the smile from his face. She might have been shy about it, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to miss the chance to make sure she got what was going on. With her, he guessed he might have to man up more than most guys and just lay it out there first.
“We’re going to be careful, Sonya,” he said clearly, taking her hand in his. He heard Troy pull up behind them and park. “No foul-ups, understood?” he asked, drawing her complete attention to him with a firm grip on her hand to pull her closer to him.
“Understood. No foul-ups allowed,” she whispered. Her green eyes had darkened to that sexy color he knew at any other time would mean he was in for one hell of an afternoon delight, but now, he knew might mean a hell of a lot more than he ever understood.
“Good, because I’m not going anywhere without this,” he said, tugging her close enough that she fell against him with a soft ‘oh’. “I plan on spending the rest of my life with you, woman.”
Her eyes widened then, surprising him. She narrowed them and pulled free to grip his hair in both hands. At the same time as she took his bottom lip in her teeth and bit down so gentle but firm, she gained his full attention. Watching him, she released his lip and breathed against his mouth.
“Good, Cody. That’s good, because I love you, damn it, and I will be seriously pissed off at you if you get one inch of your equipment damaged.”
With that she kissed him. Not just kissed him, but crawled over the seat and onto his lap to give him the most amazing kiss of his life.
Chapter Twenty
Sonya watched Cody’s expression as the helicopter touched down and moved in closer. She took his hand to link their fingers. He gave her a tight smile, but she could tell he was relieved a little at her gesture. Cody was determined, but she knew he was also worried.
“Don’t worry. I’m a harder ass than Carson will ever be,” she soothed him.
Troy sounded like he choked on a laugh, but Cody turned completely to face her and tugged her in closer so she fell against him. He wrapped his arm around her and lifted her up off her feet.
“That isn’t my worry,” he said sternly. “Your safety is. Carson can kiss my ass. We get this done and we move on.”
“Okay,” she said with as much sarcasm as she could. “You can put me down now, show-off.”
He did but not before he gave her a long, hot kiss and made her heart flutter like crazy.
“Cody,” she groaned, exasperated with him but happy, too.
“I like that, sassy pants, but keep that for later, will you?”
She rolled her eyes but if she could have been happier, it would have been only if they could’ve left now and hidden forever from Walters. “I will. Let’s get this done, cowboy, then that’s all we will do. I promise.”
The tightness around his eyes eased but the hardcore Ranger remained even as he turned back to face the roar of the ‘copter settling down on the grass a hundred yards from them. He took her hand again and threaded their fingers. Emotions rose up high again but she s
wallowed them down.
Troy moved to her other side and nodded to the ’copter. “That’s one impressive vehicle.”
She sent him a grateful smile for getting her back on track. Troy was much more than she’d first thought.
“Yeah, it’s meant to fly far and fast,” she said, adjusting her collar. She’d changed clothes, much to the grumbling of Cody, who seemed to think her telling him she loved him should come with more than a kiss. She’d promised much more as soon as they got rid of Walters.
For the first time in a long time, she felt hopeful. The ’copter’s doors opened and Carson jumped down first, followed by Jansen and Bryson. All three were loaded with weapons and were battle ready. She hoped so, because she was, but it felt right. She felt right. Solid. Maybe even happy. Cody had certainly made her happy, complaining about her taking her clothes off in the SUV and putting on a show for no reason he could see other than to tease and torture him.
He’d only stopped when she’d covered his mouth with hers and kissed him quiet again. The sneaky man had then whispered when they did take care of all this, he wanted a real strip tease. Little did he know, she’d gladly strip for him every day for ever if it meant that this danger was behind them and he’d be all hers.
“That’s Carson?” Cody asked, leaning in closer so she could hear him.
“Yeah, the older guy,” she shouted.
The ’copter had cut its engines, surprising her, but then maybe the pilot was saving fuel. Carson was dressed in fatigues with Jansen and Bryson right on his tail as all three men rushed over, heads down like people do near a ’copter, even though the blades could never really touch them.
“Changed your mind?” she asked, but didn’t let go of Cody’s hand. “I thought we were going in.”
Carson’s gaze scanned her, then Cody and Troy. “Who are the men, Petrok?”
“Cody Johnson, former Ranger, sir,” Cody said and reached out for Carson’s hand.
