by Lori Ryan
“We scanned you and your bags while you were asleep. You’re clear. They won’t be able to track us that way again,” Jangles said.
Okay, so that should have been creepy knowing they had scanned her while she was asleep and presumably gone through her things. She should probably be angry, but she wasn’t. She trusted these guys. Trusted Heath.
She took a deep breath and, with Heath still holding her tight to his side, stepped out into the night.
But as they crossed the parking lot to the hotel, Heath took a napkin out of his pocket and she saw he’d taken half of his meat and broke it up for the cats.
The guys laughed and shook their heads when Heath went and deposited the gift by the dumpsters for the hungry kittens, but Eleanor didn’t laugh.
No, her heart did a little flip in her chest at that. And damn if she didn’t fall a little bit in love with the big burly guy who would save his scraps for dumpster kitties.
Chapter 6
Heath watched Eleanor sleep from across the room. His arm was killing him and he should have taken his shift sleeping but he didn’t want to leave her side yet.
Not that he didn’t trust the guys on his team. These were his brothers and he knew they’d protect her with all they were, same as he would. But he was still thinking about the fact that she’d said she wasn’t married.
Why did that do something to him? He had no business wanting her the way he did. Wanting to have her back in his life. But his body wasn’t getting the message. He’d been half hard for her since the minute he’d set eyes on her. Didn’t seem to matter that it was a completely inappropriate response.
His body recognized her and there was no talking it out of the reaction.
He thought back to what they’d had in high school. He’d wanted a future with her back then. He had known from the minute they met that she was someone amazing. She was smart and funny and so damned sexy.
Now, he could see she was that and so much more. She’d always been book smart. It didn’t surprise him one bit that she was in the position she was at with the State Department or that she was being sent on an assignment like this one. This was no little thing. Demir was known for his ability to play with the people around him and to manipulate every interaction, every engagement to his advantage.
She had to be good at what she did for them to be sending her in to lead this negotiation.
He wanted to know the rest of her story. He didn’t remember her having a stepfather in high school. He wondered when he’d come into the picture and why Eleanor had decided to take his name, even though she had clearly been an adult when it happened.
He wondered everything about her. Just thinking about what had happened to her that last month they were in school made the old rage slam through his blood, seeming to boil him from the inside out. He hadn’t been able to keep her safe then. He’d been so naïve, not even smart enough to realize she needed protecting. And she’d paid the price for his incompetence.
He wanted to know if she’d gotten past it. Had she been happy in life despite what happened?
He wanted to know that and so much more. What did she do when she wasn’t working? Was there someone else waiting for her at home? Just because she wasn’t married didn’t mean there wasn’t someone else.
And what was wrong with him that he wanted to go sit on the bed with her like some creeper? What the fuck was that about?
Sure, he’d thought about her some over the years. Okay, he’d thought about her a lot. More than he should. But, she’d been the first one to make him feel like he wasn’t dumber than everyone around him. Somehow, she’d been able to explain things to him that brought his Ds up to Cs and even a few Bs.
It wasn’t until he got into the military that anyone else saw in him what Eleanor had. That anyone else made him feel like he was smart enough to be more than a piece of muscle.
Go figure. He thought he was joining the military to be just that for them: a strong guy who could do things with his body that other people couldn’t. But then he’d gotten into the Rangers and they’d taken him seriously for the first time. They’d taught him discipline and how to plan things through instead of just having fun or going off the cuff, making decisions based on emotions instead of hard cold facts and planning.
From there he’d gone to Delta where they expected him to study strategy and learn to speak other languages. He had to know how to do more than just turn a computer on. No one treated him like the jock or the class clown. Not one person there had assumed he couldn’t do it. In fact, they’d been damned sure he could.
And he did.
But that had all started with the woman lying in the bed across the room.
Heath pressed his feet to the ground to keep from going over to her. Fisted his good hand into a ball to keep from closing the space between them to brush a lock of hair off her face.
His other arm ached where he’d taken a bullet and the stitches Zip had put into his temple were itchy. He’d taken a cocktail of vitamins C and A, along with some zinc, to help him heal up but his body needed time and rest. He knew that.
Still, he wasn’t ready to leave her side.
Maybe if she hadn’t climbed in his lap the way she had when she was trying to cover them up in that bar. His body still tightened at the thought of her, his hands aching to hold her again, to pull her flush and feel all that softness against him.
Maybe if she hadn’t jumped between him and a guy who would have shot him dead without a second thought. Or if she hadn’t refused to leave him when the effects of the blow to his head meant he was putting her at risk instead of saving her the way he should have been.
Then, maybe he wouldn’t be feeling what he was. Wishing for things he wasn’t meant to have. Wishing for more than he could hope for.
His life was the military. His loyalty was to them. All he had become, he owed to his team and to the organization that had believed in him where no one else had.
Eleanor’s face tightened and she tossed in her sleep.
Heath took a step toward her and stopped, waiting.
She stilled for a minute but then started up again, whimpering and throwing her head back and forth. She lifted her arm and cried out.
To hell with this. Heath crossed the room in three large steps, pulling his arm out of his sling and tossing it aside. He settled onto the bed with her, pulling her close to him.
“Shhhhh, it’s okay Nori. I’ve got you.”
How many times had he said that to her in the last two days? It was true, though. This time, he’d be there for her. He wouldn’t let her get hurt the way he had when they were kids. He’d have her back until she was safe at home and he had to watch her walk away again. Until he had to give her up again.
Duff was taking his turn outside her door while Zip had the back of the hotel. They’d rotate soon and the others would take over. But Heath was staying right here.
Heath moved his hand over Eleanor’s temple and down her cheek, soothing her back to sleep. He hated seeing her suffer. He shifted and lay on the bed, stretching out alongside her like he’d done so many years ago. A lifetime ago.
He tried to ignore the fact that she felt so damned right in his arms. Like she’d been made to be there. Or maybe it was the other way around. Like he’d been made for her.
She snuggled into him and he watched as her face evened out, the strain of the dream leaving her.
He might not have anything to offer her after this mission, but he would damn sure see that she was taken care of for as long as he was with her. However short a time that might be.
Chapter 7
“I need to call my boss before we hit the road,” Eleanor said when they’d finished breakfast.
Heath stood before any of the others could. “I’ll take you back to the room. We have a secure phone you can use.”
Eleanor nodded and followed him out. This time the little orange kitten pranced up to Heath and wove between his legs. One of his little black-haired bro
thers followed him out and meowed loudly at Heath.
Heath went to the dumpster and knelt, placing a pile of meat on the ground for them.
“Why don’t I remember this about you when we were in high school? Certainly this pied piper thing isn’t new?”
He laughed. “Wasn’t the pied piper snakes?”
She scrunched her nose up. “Actually now that you say that, I think it was rats.”
“Rats are cute,” he said.
“Ew. The point is, why don’t I remember all these animals following you around?”
His eyes heated and she was mortified at how quickly her body responded to that look.
“If I’m remembering right,” he said, leaning in, his mouth going tantalizingly close to the sensitive spot behind her ear, “we didn’t spend a lot of time outdoors together. Bedroom, cars, those were the places we hung out.”
She flushed. It was true. They’d spent a lot of their time at her house while her mom was at work at two jobs. When they did go out to other places when she finally agreed to meet his friends, it was to football games or to friends’ houses. It wasn’t often they went anywhere like a restaurant or anything.
“Still,” she said, waving her hand dismissively in an attempt to pretend she wasn’t affected by the memories of what they did in her bedroom when her mom wasn’t home, “you would think I’d have seen it sometime.”
“Suzanne Cassidy had those cats.”
Eleanor laughed. She did remember the three cats clawing their way up Heath’s clothes so they could fuss over who got to sit on his shoulder.
He shrugged. “There was Nate Benning’s dog. She was always in my lap when I was there.”
Eleanor froze, memory washing over her at the mention of Nate Benning.
Heath stopped walking and looked at her, his face a dull mask. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”
She shook her head. Why would he? It had all been so long ago. And when he thought of that night he probably thought of Jason Babson. But it had been Nate’s house and for Eleanor, that was enough to bring not only the memories back, but the reminder that she was the reason Heath was on this dangerous mission in the first place.
There was too much between them unsaid. Too much she was afraid to say.
He opened the door to the room he and Jangles were sharing and did that thing where they checked the whole room while she waited just inside the door. When he’d cleared it, he shut the door and retrieved a satellite phone, punching in a code and handing it to her.
Eleanor took it and crossed the room, shoving aside memories and guilt and all the emotions that were swarming her with the reappearance of Heath Davis in her life.
But she needed to focus now on putting all her energy on the job ahead of her. She dialed her boss’s number as Heath went to stand sentry by the door. She knew as special forces he would have TS-SCI clearance which gave him access to top secret sensitive compartmentalized information, so there was nothing she would be discussing that he couldn’t hear.
It was six a.m. where they were which made it three in the morning in London where her boss was currently meeting with the heads of several other countries, but her boss expected calls at all hours.
“Cheryl Kenney.” The crisp no-nonsense way of answering the phone was standard for her boss.
“It’s Eleanor.”
“I got news that you’re safe but no word on where you are,” her boss said. “Will they be able to get you to Demir’s encampment in time?”
Eleanor looked to Heath, watching his back as she spoke. It was a watch-worthy back with the way the fabric of his shirt stretched taut over bulging muscles. Her breath caught. Lord, what would it feel like to run her hands down that back as he ….
She stopped that thought before it could go further. She couldn’t go there. Wouldn’t.
“They assure me they can,” she answered her boss.
Cheryl didn’t ask where they were and Eleanor didn’t offer the information. After the two attempts on her life, she had no plans to break the protocol Heath’s team had set out for her, even with Cheryl. She didn’t in a million years think Cheryl was the leak but she wasn’t going to discuss where she was either way.
“There have been some developments on the hostage front,” Cheryl said. “We’ve got solid information on where they’re being held. The push from the deputy director is going to double now that we have solid intel.”
Deputy Director Clayton Hughes was leading the push to pull back on any talks with Onur Demir while he had American hostages. He wanted them to negotiate with the ruling party to try to cut off the pipeline of weapons to terrorist groups. Of course, that meant dealing with a government who was known for committing atrocities and human rights violations against its own people.
It wasn’t an easy decision.
Eleanor focused on the intel on the hostages. “Are they at the compound?”
The hostages were going to be the trickiest part of this negotiation. There was no way around it. It would be messy and complicated and she’d be walking a tightrope where they were concerned.
“No,” Cheryl answered. “They’re at a nearby bunker. We’re talking to the UK and France about our attempts to free them and Hughes is pushing for a joint raid on the bunker. I’ll keep you posted.”
“All right. We should be at the compound in a day and a half. If I don’t hear from you before then, I’ll let you know when we’ve arrived.”
Eleanor ended the call and handed the phone to Heath.
And then it was just the two of them in the room with no one between them and no excuse of a phone call with her boss to put off the inevitable.
Eleanor shook her head and forced a smile. They both had to know they had to address their past together eventually. Still, she didn’t know how to say she was sorry for what had happened. For the way she’d handled things. She hadn’t ever thought she’d have this conversation and she’d honestly buried things so deep, she didn’t know how to bring them up and into the open now.
But there was no time to say anything as Heath’s team filed quietly into the room and gathered their go bags to move out.
She pushed all thoughts of their past aside. She needed to be thinking of the mission. It was too important not to. She wasn’t going to be able to offer military troops to Demir and his people. The US’s support of him wouldn’t be anything so blatant and visible as that. But she had arms and monetary support to offer if the talks went the way they wanted them to go. First, though, she needed to get in there and feel things out with Demir. Her first job would be to assess the man and assess whether the US should put money and support behind him.
Heath came up beside her and put a hand on her lower back, warm and strong and firm. It shouldn’t have done things to her the way it did. Especially not with all of his teammates in the room and all that still hung around them, but it did. Lord, she wanted to turn and sink into him, to let their bodies come together so the heat she was feeling deep in her belly could spread to all of her.
“All set?” He asked, the simple question seeming to carry so much weight.
It was just a question, she reminded herself. It wasn’t him asking if she needed anything, if she was all right given all that had happened. If he could help her.
It wasn’t all of that. And yet, it seemed like it was.
They hung back as the others checked the hall outside the door to the room. When Merlin ducked his head in and gave the all clear, they moved together to the SUV. And when Heath settled in next to her in the back seat, she felt safe. Despite all that had happened and all of what was to come, she felt safe.
Chapter 8
Heath shook Eleanor awake. He hated to do it but he had to. They were coming up on their chosen border crossing and he wanted her awake and alert for this. They’d been driving straight through, stopping only for the bare essentials for the last eight hours. They would be meeting up with her team the following day before making the final approach to Demir’s co
mpound.
She came awake slowly, blinking up at him before flushing and lifting her head off his shoulder. He cursed the loss. He’d liked having her leaning on him like that.
Come to think of it, he liked the way she looked waking up next to him, mussed and dazed.
Fuck. He shifted in his seat. He needed to stop that train of thought before he embarrassed himself in front of his team.
Eleanor wasn’t making it easy. She had pulled her hair out of the ponytail she’d had it in and was running her hands through it. Her smell drifted to him, soft and slightly sweet, tempting and teasing. He wanted to reach out and pull her to him. To bury his head in her hair and breathe her in. To lose himself in her body.
She looked out at the darkened night sky. “Where are we?”
“We’re a half mile from the border to Kazarus. We’re crossing over on the property of a guy we’ve worked with before. When we come up on his property, he’ll signal us if it’s okay to come onto his land. If it’s clear, we’ll be using a tunnel that goes from his property to his cousin’s on the other side of the border. If there are patrols nearby, he’ll signal us to wait.”
“Patrols?” She asked.
Zip answered from the other side of her. “Shouldn’t be an issue. We’re just being cautious. It wouldn’t really be a good thing to be caught bringing a representative of the state department into the country without clearing it with the royals.”
Merlin slowed the SUV and Eleanor watched the road ahead of them.
“What will the signal look like?” She whispered the words and Heath couldn’t help but laugh.
He stage-whispered back at her, “I’d tell you but I’d have to kill you,” and she rewarded him with a playful elbow to the gut.
He loved when she joked with him like she used to. When she let go with him and let down those walls she always kept around herself.
A light came on up ahead and Merlin picked up speed again. They were good to go.
