Operation Swift Mercy (13 page)

Her own room?
Holy crap—she hadn’t been as in to it last night as he’d thought?
No way—she couldn’t have faked that…could she?
He felt himself beginning to panic and he tried to calm down—Force Recon
did not
panic…ever! “You can’t,”
he blurted and hid a wince at the look she sent him.
” I
mean—if you do that, then Willow will get suspicious and she’ll know something is up and she’ll fight with Del…and probably call off the wedding. You wouldn’t want to be responsible for that would you?”

“Oh for goodness sake!”

He felt a bit bad making it sound so melodramatic, but he couldn’t risk her putting that much space between them after last night…
a tiny voice mentioned it seemed a little stalkerish of him to be thinking that way, but he brushed it aside—he knew he wasn’t reading this wrong—she’d definitely been into it last night, he hadn’t turned her off, but something was spooking her this morning
.

“Look, if it’s about last night...if you’d rather we didn’t—”

“No.”

Chase was
surprised
and more than a little relieved when she cut him off, even though she stared at him as though she hadn’t meant to say it quite so
vehemently.

“It wasn’t about last night...it’s just that, you’ve bailed me out of so much—I feel awkward about not paying my way.”

“Don’t worry about the money—trust me, that’s not an issue. The rooms already paid for, so it makes no difference either way. Besides
—
,” he added quickly when she frowned
uncertainly
.
“
—i
f
you’re planning on moving interstate, you’re going to need whatever money you still have.”

At least she seemed to see the truth of that
statement
, she didn’t necessarily like it, but he could tell his words had managed to hit home a little.

“I guess you’re right. I still feel a bit weird. We’re practically strangers.”

“We can work on that, if it makes you feel better,” he said and chuckled when she sent him a raised eyebrow. “
Wow, is that all you think about?
I meant by talking—getting to know each other.
”

“
O
f course you did,” she said dryly.

“I swear,” he held up a hand in protest.

“Well, I’m glad you want to s
p
end some quality time...getting to know me,
”
she said
,
dropping her tone, and stepping closer to him.

He caught his breath when she lifted her face to give him a rather
sultry
look, her lips parting ever so slightly and r
unning
a finger around the open collar of his
shirt. “Because
I told Summer we’d be back to help fold napkins
and set
the tables up,” she smiled, stepping back with a low chuckle
and crushing the sudden hope she’d managed to rise in him…amongst other things.

She didn’t step back quick enough though, and Chase circled her waist, pulling her back against his chest firmly. “Now that wasn’t playin
’
fair. Didn’t anyone tell you what happens when you provoke a medic?”
H
e
murmured
a breath away from her lips. He saw her eyes widen a fraction, a spark of
excitement
glimmering within.

“What happens?”

“This,” he whispered, covering her lips and
lifting
her into his arms to place her on the nearest bed. He may well have to suffer for the rest of the
afternoon
trying to twist napkins with his big, clumsy fingers into ridicul
ous
shapes, but at least he’d be able to let hi
s
mind drift back to
this
while he did it.

He could live with that.

Chapter
Twelve

Mercy sat outside on the balcony watching the sunrise creep across the horizon. She’d woken up and hadn’t been able to get back to sleep again. Admittedly it was hard to drag herself away from the warmth of Chase’s big body
lying
next to her, but too many things
were
running through her mind to continue laying there a second longer. She would have loved to make a coffee, but she didn’t want to risk waking Chase just yet. She needed some time alone.

This was the third day they’d been together...three days and here she was, already thinking she could so easily get used to waking up ne
x
t to the guy each morning.

Seriously?
Who thought things like that after only
three days?
Was it just the turmoil in her life over the last few days? Or was it something else?
S
he wouldn’t be waking up next to him much longer—and that thought only served to depress her even more.
People had holiday romances all the time! Just chalk it up to something like that and move the hell on!
Her voice of reason or
slutty Mercy
as she was more inclined to call it,
counselled
.

And it wasn’t only Chase she was busy overthinking. There was still the small matter of what to do about the evidence she had on Nikkos
.

“Morning,” Chase said, startling her momentarily.

“I wish you’d stop doing that,” she muttered. It was like he was part cat or something. Her slight irritation at being surprised soon vanished as she took in
the fact
he was naked from the waist up,
looking
sexily
rumpled as he stood in the open doorway watching her.
How did men do that?
She wondered briefly. Wh
en she woke up she just looked plain
old
rumpled
and her hair
looked like
a bird had made
a nest
in it…she never looked
…well,
like
sex!
That’s exactly what he looked like—sleepy-eyed, wake you up with a raging hard on
,
morning sex.

As though he could read her thoughts, a slow grin broke out over his face and he reached out a hand to her wordlessly.

Oh sure, like I’m that easy, I’ll just follow you back to bed and let you ravish me,
she thought—for all of a millisecond, before she took his hand and did exactly that.

****

The morning was as hectic as the previous few days had been, with last minute errands and running around, but by afternoon, everything had taken on a calm, almost laidback atmosphere. The actual wedding itself was held on the beach and it was gorgeous. Little Emily was a flower girl, fulfilling her duties faultlessly while her parents looked on proudly.

Mercy held her breath when it came time to
say
the vows, but Del out did himself by keeping it simple, to the point and from the heart, doing what Mercy wouldn’t have thought possible and making Willow cry tears of happiness as she cupped his face in her hands and kissed him—even before the celebrant had reached the
you may kiss the bride
part!

The reception was
held
in a small hall overlooking the beach
. The decorations were simple, but elegant and the hall had been transformed
,
combining rustic
charm with the
graceful
beauty of
white and red roses, candles and a
gorgeous
towering wedding cake as a centre piece.

“Having fun?” Summer asked later, coming over to sit beside her when Chase got up to find some drinks.

“I am. It was a beautiful wedding,” she smiled. It felt more than a little odd, when she thought about it, that here she was sitting at a wedding of people she hadn’t even know a few days earlier, and yet she felt as though she’d known them for a lifetime.

“We’re leaving first thing in the morning, so I wanted to make sure I
got to say
goodbye,” Summer said quietly.

Mercy was truly sad to hear the news. It seemed hard to believe she’d never be seeing this woman again
.
“Thank you for including me in all this,” Mercy smiled.

“Thank you for making Chase happy. I don’t know anything about your relationship,
or how serious it is, but I will tell you
this…
you’re different.
He’s
different when he’s with you—in a good way,” she hurried to add. “I know it seems impossible to have a relationship with someone in Chase’s occupation, but if you feel the same way about him as he obviously does about you—then I recommend you give it a go. It was the best decision I ever made
,
” she said a
s
her gaze fell
on her husband across the room. A
gentle smile
,
so full of love
appeared o
n her face that it caused a small sting of tears behind
Mercy’s
eyes. “Anyway, I hope we see you around again someday,” she said leaning in to hug her.

“Thank you,” Mercy choked out, and had to clear her throat quickly.

When Chase came back he did a double take of her expression, and she quickly smiled to reassure him she was okay. “Do you want to leave?”

“I think I might, b
ut why don’t you stay longer?” S
he said, hating
that she’d
be taking him away from a good friend’s wedding while it was still fairly early.

“Nah, it’s wrapping up soon anyway,” he shrugged.

They said their goodbyes and Mercy felt that same
melancholy
feeling
when she realised this was probably the last time she’d be seeing these people.

As they
pulled into the underground car park
,
Mercy waited while Chase locked the car before joining her. T
he squeal of tyres nearby snapped her head up in alarm and
saw
a dark coloured sedan headed towards them. Chase pushed her out of the way but his shoulder connected with the vehicle and saw him clutch at it painfully. “Get
to the elevator
,” he yelled at her when she
made to
move towards him.

The car was reversing and the back passenger door was
open,
a man
emerging from within
. “Go!” Chase yelled, already turning to face the man
rapidly
approaching. Mercy kicked off her shoes and
began running along the rows of parked cars, her gaze fixed on the green exit sign in the distance.
She had to get help. She had no idea how many men were inside the car, but already Chase was outnumbered.

She heard a
gunshot
and her heart lurched painfully. As she turned to look back, a hand grabbed her, roughly pulling her hands together behind her back.

Mercy screamed as she struggled, desperate to locate Chase, but the man who held her kept her pinned to the side of the car in front of her.
Over the thundering beat of her heart and jaggered breathing, s
he heard him calling that he had her, and the
n moments later, the
sound of a car moving at speed towards them.

She was about to be abducted—and there was no way of knowing if Chase was hurt or not.

Mercy
was yanked backwards as a car pulled up alongside
them.
The man holding her, seemingly with little difficulty, was twice the size of her and even though she struggled and kicked out at his shins, he did little more than grunt irritably at her attack.

No!
She
screamed inside,
I am not going down without a fight!
She
tried frantically to recall self-defence tips, before remembering something about an instep. Lifting her foot, she stomped as hard as she could backwards and surprisingly he swore and loosened his grip slightly—not enough but it had done
something
. Unfortunately she didn’t have an opportunity to do anything else, as the driver hurtled abuse from the front seat and got out of the car to come around and open the back door.

Mercy
thrashed her head a
bout,
hard as possible, trying to hit his face with a head
-
butt, but she only reached his chest and it did little more than make her dizzy.
As he ran to get behind the wheel, she heard t
he driver
swear
violently at his partner, yelling at him to get her into the car
.