SEALs of Honor: Shadow (12 page)

“Go. You’re useless here anyway,” Mason said in a hard tone but his eyes were twinkling.

Shadow gave him a flat look. But when he spun around to check on her the next time, Swede gave him a push in her direction.

“It’s your turn. Go be a hero.”

And he’d left. Now that she was safe again and he’d rejoined the men, it was as if he had an inner sense when she moved or needed something. Like what was with that?

“We’re leaving in twenty minutes. We’ll head to a town and see if we can get her a faster return trip,” Mason said. “Her leg is healing, but I can’t be sure there isn’t muscle damage inside that she’d need a doctor to fix. And the sooner for that the better.”

Shadow nodded. “Which rig? I’ll get her settled in.” He glanced around. “She had a pack at one time too.”

Cooper nodded to the side. “It’s over there.”

Shadow caught sight of the red canvas pack. He waited to hear the end of the conversation then walked over and grabbed the bag. Returning to her side, he watched her face brighten. And inside he sighed. He had it bad. Anything to see her smile. Particularly when it was directed at him.

“Thank you,” she cried. “I wondered if I’d see it again.”

He laid it down beside her.

She opened it immediately and rummaged through. “I have spare jeans in here.”

“Not jeans. Too hard to get on and off for cleaning the leg wound.”

She frowned and plucked at the material on her legs now. “But these belong to someone. I have to give them back.”

“They are mine and I don’t need them right now.”

With a gasp, she threw her arms around him and hugged him. Damn. He couldn’t help wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight. For a moment, he glimpsed the sunlight as it broke through the shadows. Then she dropped her arms and the light disappeared.

But it was enough. He stared at her in wonder. Is that what it was like to not be alone? He couldn’t ask her. Knew it wasn’t the time for such a question and she likely wouldn’t know as she lived in the sunlight and had no idea the world was cloaked in shadows like he did.

As he watched she went back to rummaging through her bag. She pulled out a chocolate bar in triumph. Then she stared at its size before shoving it back inside.

“You aren’t hungry?”

“I’m starved,” she confessed. “But everyone is, and I can’t break a bar that small to give everyone a piece.”

What? He studied her again. “You don’t have to share with everyone.”

“Have to, no I don’t. But I want to. So it will have to wait until later when there are less people around so everyone can have a taste.”

Not understanding her logic, he said, “We’re leaving in the other truck.” He watched as Swede started loading the back of their rig. “I need to get you over there now.”

“Is it big enough,” she asked in a low voice, mentally counting the men in the area. “Maybe I should wait here until later.”

“For what later?” he asked. “This is your ride. Now or never.”

She nodded. “Now then. If you have room for me.”

He sighed and swooped down and caught her up in his arms, startling a squeak out of her as he carried her and her backpack to the truck beside them. Swede seeing them coming, opened up the back passenger door. “Your ride, princess.”

She beamed at him. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

“Well, it’s not a plane but we’ll get you home one way or another.”

Shadow helped her sit on the bench then watched as she scooted back so her leg was resting on the seat. She took up most of the back. That wouldn’t last long. “Rest. We’ll be leaving in just a few minutes.”

She leaned forward. “But there’s not enough room for everyone.”

“There will be,” he whispered back.

That she’d be riding on his lap was something he understood, but she had yet to figure out. He was looking forward to seeing her reaction when she finally did.

S
he gave him
a flat stare when she finally understood that his picking her up and settling her on his lap wasn’t temporary. As in this was the way she’d be riding to the next town.

He grinned at her. She glared at him.

Swede, sitting in the front, chuckled. She wanted to smack him. Beside Shadow sat Cooper and then Hawk. Mason drove and Dane had been pinched into the middle in the front. Markus and Evan had stayed behind to help the Canadians out.

She turned her head toward Shadow. “I told you I wouldn’t fit.”

“And I told you, you would.”

She sighed. “You’re being difficult,” she announced.

“No, you are.”

“You can’t always tell me I’m wrong.” She gave him a curt nod for punctuation.

“If you are, I can,” he countered.

She gasped. “Are you saying I’m always wrong? That’s mean,” she cried.

Shadow rolled his eyes and stared out the window.

She caught sight of Hawk’s smirk. “He’s being mean, isn’t he?”

Immediately Hawk agreed.

Right. He knew what his role was. “You should tell him,” she said with a nod.

“Shadow, you’re being mean,” Hawk instantly said.

A low rumble of laughter rippled through the truck.

She crossed her arms. “It’s easy to see which of you have partners,” she snapped.

Cooper eyed her curiously. “How’s that?”

“All those men know better than to argue,” she replied, glaring at Shadow. “Then there are those who haven’t learned that lesson yet.”

And this time the men cracked up.

Cooper immediately started whistling a tune she vaguely recognized. “What’s that song?” she asked.

Straight–faced he opened his mouth to answer, but Shadow’s arm straightened and belted him across the chest.

Cooper coughed several times.

Arianna rounded on Shadow. “What was that for?” she cried. “We were just having a nice conversation.”

He glared at her. But never said a word.

“See, you’re just being mean again.”

The men in the truck were all trying to suppress chuckles. Cooper the most of all. She studied him suspiciously. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“Just my feelings,” Cooper managed in a deadpan tone of voice.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. Shadow is like that,” she explained to the captive audience. “He rarely explains himself. He probably just didn’t want you to give the wrong answer and be embarrassed.” She rounded on Shadow who was staring at her in apparent fascination. “If you’d explain yourself a little more it would be easier on everyone. Use those words I know you have inside,” she said nicely. “It really will get easier over time.”

“You talk too much,” he snapped.

Her lower lip trembled.

An odd silence sounded in the truck.

Cooper nudged Shadow. “Fix it.”

“It’s okay,” she said in a low voice. “It’s not the first time he’s told me that.”

And she was jerked forward and kissed hard.

Eagerly she threw her arms around him and kissed him back only he suddenly pushed her back and jammed her up against his chest.

Happily she snuggled in close. “I’m sorry for calling you mean. You’re really a pussycat inside.”

*

Shadow sighed. What
the hell was he going to do with her? Calling him a pussycat. Hell, he was a fucking panther in the dark.

“Isn’t that nice,” Hawk murmured from the other side. “I’m happy we have a pussycat in the truck.”

The group sniggered.

Mason, who was driving, came to Shadow’s rescue. “But as I recall we’ve all had similar scenarios happen to us.”

“So damn glad that’s over,” Dane said with feeling. “What a confounding stage of life that was.”

Confounding. Yeah, that was the word for it. Shadow stared down at the woman snuggled up against his chest. How could she be such a powder puff right now and yet be the same woman who’d signaled for help in the cabin window and crawled from tree to tree to knock an attacker down because he was hunting her brother? And that was without mentioning the three men she shot to death.

Now she was curled up like a baby as innocent as could be.

Yeah, he was confounded. Not only by her behavior but her thought processes. She seemed to think he was… Hell, he didn’t know what she thought. He’d say wonderful but that was ridiculous. Yet by body language alone, he had to consider it. She didn’t go to any of the other men on her own.

“Next time,” Cooper announced, “there’s a beautiful woman who needs rescuing, I get the job.”

Several of the guys chuckled. But everyone in the truck knew what he meant.

Shadow wondered if fate played a hand in picking the rescuers. Then again, he’d rescued dozens of people and outside of normal gratitude they never seemed to show any interest in him. Yet every time lately they’d been on a mission and a woman had been in trouble, she’d hooked up with one of his teammates. And he might have had a hand in that last time too. He’d known Swede had been sweet on Eva for years. But she was – in his head – forbidden. Shadow had even helped send him to her rescue, hoping it would be enough to change things for his friend. And it had.

More than anyone had expected.

That wasn’t the same thing right now. He’d never met Arianna before.

And there’d been more than just him involved in this rescue, but Arianna had apparently picked him. Shadow just didn’t know to what extent she was favoring him.

But he wanted to.

He leaned back and closed his eyes. It was going to be a long trip. All the more so the way she slumbered. His body was more than aware of the feminine body on his lap. It didn’t need any more incentive to wake up and pay attention.

Arianna shuffled slightly and moaned.

He groaned as her rounded bottom slid across his groin.

It was going to be one fucking long trip.

S
he dozed, shifted
to get comfortable, surfaced then dozed again.

When she finally woke it was to see a different terrain outside the truck window. She sat up and heard Shadow’s gasp, then groan.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she cried out in a hushed whisper as she tried to wiggle into a better position.

He grabbed her hips and stopped her movements.

“Is that better?”

“Yes,” he said between gritted teeth. Then he took a deep breath. “Just stop your damn wiggling.”

She glared at him. “Are we back to that? Remember I said there was no room in here for me.”

“Are we back to that,” he said perversely enjoying getting her riled up again. “I said there
was
enough room for you.”

She sighed and collapsed down again. “You’re getting into your mean mode again.”

He hugged her close. “No, I’m not.”

She was quiet for a long time. “Where are we? I thought we’d have reached the next town by now.”

“Shouldn’t be much longer. Although there is some concern that there isn’t much there. Apparently, small Canadian towns in the north are often only a collection of houses and not much else.”

“I remember that from last time. Nowhere close enough to drive to. It’s like six hours to the main center.”

“Right. If need be, we can do that.”

She sighed. “I hope we don’t have to. I’m getting awfully hungry.”

“You’ve still got your chocolate bar,” he reminded her. As she perked up and looked around for her bag, he added, “Don’t bother. It’s in the back with the rest of the gear.”