Code Name: Ghost (A Warrior's Challenge 1) (26 page)

Pulling on his arm, she led him to his cot
and waited until he sat, then she bent over, her beautiful features
only inches from his face. “Go. To. Sleep.” With a quick step she
strode toward the door.

“Jesus, woman, don’t do this to me.”

She whirled around. “To you?” her voice
rising. “How am I affecting you?”

“I—” He swallowed the lump in his throat.
“Never mind, we’ll talk when I get up.”

She nodded briskly and left.

His mind swirled in sleep, but his anger
dissipated with his dreams as Kayla’s hands slipped beneath the
band of his pants and slid them down his thighs. Her cheek barely
touched his shaft as she knelt, but blood pumped into his erection
hard and fast. A shot of desire cracked his mind in half as her
hands caressed his hips and slipped to his ass. This time when she
knelt, taking his underwear, her lips glided along his skin and a
gust of wind escaped his throat. “Kayla—baby, no,” but it was weak
and he didn’t even believe himself. His hands tangled in her hair,
pulling it gently. “Don’t do this.” The moan crawled right out of
his throat when her moist tongue slipped across the top of his
head, lapping the bead of pre-cum from the tip.

“Don’t they say all’s fair in love and war?
Lie down, Commander.” When he did, she snaked her body down his,
kissing him tenderly. “If I’m going to die, I want this moment,
whether you want it or not.”

“I want it. I just don’t want it here.” The
feel of her tongue sliding across his skin made his entire body
jerk. Gently she pushed his thighs apart, licking her way to
sensitive places and lighting him on fire. Her beautiful, full lips
covered his shaft. Rocking his head back with a spike of passion,
she gutted him of all resistance.

He wasn’t going to fight something he’d
wanted for so long and felt so damn good. Sucking on him hard, her
wet mouth sent waves of heat ricocheting through him. Lost, he was
lost as she suckled him, slowing down and turning his mind into a
blistering sensual plane, barren of anything but her touch.

The orgasm crept over him like being covered
in a wall of lava, chilling and hot, shear and raw. His hips thrust
upwards and he came hard, blacking out.

He woke with a start, and shot up to a
sitting position. “Ah, God. Bloody dreams.” Dropping his feet to
the floor, he breathed out heavily, and stretched the aches out of
his back.

“Commander?” He heard Cobbs call from the
other side of the door.

“Come.”

Cobbs pushed the door open, and leaned in.
“It’s five o’clock, Commander. Everyone’s up. Debrief in thirty
minutes?”

“Yeah.”

Cobbs stared at him as if expecting him to
say more.

“What?” he said, still waking up, the dream
still shimmering in his mind.

“You’re sure you’re going to let her do
this?”

“What?” His head shot up.

“Kayla, we have to take her tonight so she
can set up the recon and map out the grid overlay in the caverns.
After you stormed off this morning we didn’t know what you planned
to do.”

It wasn’t a dream? Somehow he’d put her
coming and his desires together. She was here. At least part of it
was a dream, seeing he’d fallen asleep with his pants on.

“The team hasn’t said anything,” Cobbs
paused. “About—well you know. But they have concerns, for you and
for her, and I share them, Thane. If you’re going to be distracted,
she needs to be replaced.” He closed the door and took a few steps
closer. “I sure as hell wouldn’t want the woman I love to be here,
let alone taking her into the caves tonight. There’s going to be
resistance. Do you want that?”

“I’m not in love with her,” he argued,
staring down at the metal floor.

“Thane,” he snapped sharply. “You better
stop lying to yourself or you’re going to get us killed. Kayla is a
smart woman, but she’s not a soldier.”

He raised his eyes to Cobbs. “I don’t want
her here, but it’s too late.” He pushed himself to his feet while
Cobbs glared at him. “She’s my responsibility. I’ll take care of
her, we’ll get the job done.”

Cobbs’ hand shot out and gripped his
shoulder. “How long have we known each other?”

He tilted his head then looked away. “Too
long, obviously.”

“That’s right. So you can lie to yourself
and to everyone else, but you won’t for very long if something
happens to her tonight. You’ll fall to fucking pieces if she’s
lying dead in your arms. Could you stand to see her body bleed out
and life slip from her eyes. Do you want to be standing over her
coffin when you tell her what you really feel for the first time?
One bullet can tear through her, and she’ll be gone.”

He ripped Cobbs hand from him. “That’s not
going to happen.”

“It sure as hell could. We’re as close as
brothers, and it’s time you got a reality check.”

“I don’t need one. I made my choice a long
time ago.”

“Fuck your choice. You made that decision
long before she came, but she’s here now.”

“What the fuck do you want me to say?”

“I want you to think about yourself instead
of war for one goddamn minute. Think about her and what you could
have together. You’ve never let yourself get close to anyone, and
you’ve been missing the best part of life there is.”

“Think about her.” Coughing out a
half-hearted laugh, he jerked his head. “She’s on my mind every
second of the day. I don’t have to try to think about her, Pat. I’m
at war all the time to get her out of my head. But I also know
Kayla, and she won’t back down.” He turned toward the heads, then
stopped. “There was nothing to miss in my life until she walked
into it.” He curled a look over his shoulder at his friend. “But it
doesn’t change anything, Pat, not what I am or what she is, and
she’s just like me.”

* * * *

After showering, he met up with the men.
“Where is she?” he growled scanning the camp. His team all looked
over his shoulder. Squatting on top of a knoll, looking out over
the sands, she sat in the falling light. “Who’s that?” he asked
squinting.

Sanders from Dev Group said, “It’s Commander
Segal. He’s giving her ‘the talk’.”

The loose ground gave way under his boots as
he climbed the hill. Rocks rolling toward him made him look up to
see Joe coming down. “She’s one tough little lady,” he
remarked.

“She doesn’t understand.”

“I don’t think you do, Thane. She
understands perfectly. She’s calm, she’s ready, she knows what she
has to do, and what might happen tonight. I think you should give
her more credit than you are.”

Credit, shit. If Joe knew the truth, he’d be
hauling her onto a plane himself. This wasn’t Kayla’s fault. It was
his.

Reaching the top, he wandered to stand
behind her. She knew he was there, but she didn’t move. “Why are
you doing this?”

“Because it’s my job.”

“Your job is back at the base, not in this
shithole of a country. Every corner, ever crack hides someone who
wants to kill us.” Hunching down in front of her the sharp rocks
dug into his knee. “I want you to go home.” His voice wavered with
unexpected emotion. “So I have someone to come home to.”

“You have an entire naval base that wants
you to come home, Commander. I’m just one person working there,
nothing more.”

“That’s not true, and you know it.”

She finally turned her eyes to his. “Make it
the truth. There are plenty of women who serve. I know what I’m
doing regardless of the fact I haven’t been in the middle of a war
zone. I can’t promise I’m not going to die, no one can promise you
that. Just treat me like the others. I’ll do my best to keep out of
your way and get the job done, that I can promise.”

“I will step in front of you to save your
life.”

“Would you do that for your men?”

“You know the answer to that.”

“Then what’s the difference?”

He knew what the difference was. Hard and
true, it bored a path deep into his heart. “None, I suppose.”
Standing up, he brought her with him, his hands resting on the sway
of her hips, beating back the urge to pull her closer. Hell, he’d
drag her into his soul if it meant keeping her safe. “Except for
the fact that you’re the most beautiful warrior I’ve ever known,
and you don’t belong here.”

She swallowed deeply, but said nothing.

“Just one distraction at the wrong time will
kill a man. When a SEAL deploys he has to leave his heart behind
him, accepting he might never see the people he cares about again.”
He quieted, realizing his heart was becoming overly verbose.

Pushing his hands away from her, she said,
“Everyone except you, you mean. You made a decision, remember? I
don’t need to hear a load of crap about love and family, and
leaving people behind. My premature departure from this planet
affects no one. So save it, Commander.”

“I could never accept your death, that’s
what I’m trying to say.” Her lips gaped open, and he wanted to
cover them with his own. Anyone looking up the hillside would be an
idiot to think he was simply giving a liaison a pep talk. “I would
never be the same man again if someone put these in my hand,”
passing his fingers across the tags resting on her chest. “I care
about you. That, Ms. Banks, is the difference.”

“I’ll try not to die. I’d hate to drag you
through hell with me, Commander. It’s not a nice place to be.”

She slid down the hillside, keeping her
balance and running the last ten yards to the ground. Lifting his
gaze to the empty desert, a quiet fear crept through him, the kind
that settles deep. It wasn’t from their mission tonight, but her
words and the look in her eyes, as if she truly knew what hell
was.

They ate dinner with quiet conversation,
steering away from their mission and focusing on home and other
things. Kayla sat beside Mace and kept her attention on everyone
but him.

“So they call you Snow White, huh?” Mctavish
from Dev Group said, passing her a cup and filling it with
water.

“Yes, thank you,” she said, taking the cup
from him.

“Ever fired a weapon before?” he asked,
glancing around the table with a cocky grin.

“Yes.”

His expression morphed with surprise. “Okay,
well, Commander Segal says I’m giving you a quick lesson on
handguns and some practice before we leave, so finish up.”

“What?” Mace darted a look between him and
Mctavish who was the sniper for Dev Group. He was good, but not as
good as Mace. “You’re not arming her,” Mace stated.

“We are that. You expect her to go in there
and not be able to protect herself? What if she gets separated from
us? She doesn’t stand a chance anyway out there tonight. You might
as well put a bullet between her eyes now,” Mctavish said, giving
Mace a brutal stare.

He was about to open his mouth when Mace
silenced the entire table. “Mctavish, if you don’t shut your mouth,
I’ll put one between
your
eyes. Let’s go, Kayla.”

She dropped her sandwich on the plate and
still chewing, stood up, but she bent over and whispered in
Mctavish’s ear before leaving.

His eyes popped open as she drew back.
“Bitch,” he ground out.

Without turning, she gave him the middle
finger and kept walking.

“But she does have a nice ass,” he said, his
brows rising and added a grin.

Commander Segal burst out laughing. “What
did she say?”

Even with worry hanging in his heart, the
Commander chuckled and twisted to look at Joe when Mctavish didn’t
want to fess up. “She said, ‘It was pompous Americans like you that
got us into this shit. Now it’s up to Canadian women to get us
out.’”

“Not far from the truth,” Joe said, reaching
for the pitcher of water, still chuckling.

A strong voice shouted out from behind them.
“Angel Face? Holy shit! Get your sweet ass over here.”

Kayla’s head snapped up and her expression
warped from annoyed to a smile so bright it would take two suns to
match. “Bigfoot?” she yelled back.

He swiveled sharply to see who could
possibly elicit that much joy from her with that kind of greeting
and a name like Bigfoot. Kayla didn’t go around the tables. With a
surprising spring, she broached the bench seat, scrambled across
the tabletop and flung herself into the air.

One big bastard of a soldier caught her in
mid-flight, her legs wrapping around his hips as he hugged her to
his massive chest, whirling her around. Eight more men converged on
them, all giving her high fives.

“What the hell?” Mace mouthed.

Commander Segal grinned. “It’s a homecoming,
I guess. Looks like they’re happy to see her, not like some people
around here,” he said, giving Thane a scowl.

The soldiers blocked her from his view, all
of them talking at the same time, a mix of English and French. The
big bastard still hadn’t let her go. Bigfoot? Who the fuck was
he?

He turned to Cobbs. Cobbs shook his head,
then stiffened, reading his expression. A Canadian flag sewn on the
upper arm badge of the men’s fatigues gave the first clue.

“That’s JTF2,” Segal said.

The Joint Task Force from Canada was an
elite group of soldiers. Canada’s fighting best against
counterterrorism. Like SEALs, they were specialists in air, land
and sea. Little-known, but as effective as SEALs they were highly
trained, and left a deadly footprint wherever they went.

Right now, he didn’t give a fuck if the son
of a bitch was the man on the moon. Bigfoot gently put Kayla on her
feet then leaned down to kiss her, a kiss that comes from a man who
knows a woman, who’s tasted her before, and wants more.

Drawing back with a simmering look in his
eyes, Bigfoot said, “Where the hell have you been?”

“You were out of country. No way to say
goodbye.” Kayla shrugged then placed her palm on his cheek, and
they stayed that way looking at each other for far too long.