by Aliyah Burke
She thought about his question, not releasing his gaze but mulling over her words.
“A bit of both would be my guess. I’m not sure.” She canted her head to the side. “Is it important?”
“Everything about you is important to me, Avery.”
“Why did you come for me?”
Now it was his turn to mull over an answer. Through his mind streamed a million different responses, ones he’d been trained to give, others that would make him sound more like a hero than he could ever be. In the end the truth slipped free.
“I had no choice.” Derek expected more questions, expected her to ask to expound on what he said. None came.
Avery turned her head so her lips met his palm and kissed him. The lightest brush of her lips against his skin as her eyes closed. As quick as it began it was over, and she once again watched him.
“Thank you.”
A slight tremor overtook her and she rested her head against his chest. Threading his hands into her soft hair, he held her close. Neither of them spoke, and eventually the room filled with her deep, slow, even breaths, offset by the crackling of the fire and the occasional shift of the dog lying beside the couch.
Derek didn’t want to move. There was something special about having her pressed up against him all the way in such an intimate fashion. This wasn’t anything he wished to end.
It didn’t matter, he already had a bed for her that he should put her in and allow her some rest. He wasn’t moving. If it meant him being selfish then so be it, call him a selfish bastard.
His eyes closed as sleep beckoned to him.
The hot, humid, muggy air was difficult to breathe. Amazing how living in a place like Montana could affect something so necessary as breathing.
“I know you’re exhausted, babe, but we need to keep moving. I need you to keep going, one foot in front of the other.”
The woman with him didn’t appear to have much left in the way of energy or strength. Her tatty hair, shorn unevenly and desperately in need of a wash. The bruises and dried blood on her face didn’t make him feel any better.
Her tiny, slender frame had seen better days. Adjusting his grip on the machete, he continued to hack his way through the foliage, wishing there were an easier way to get her out of the hell she’d been in.
All he had to do was get to the exfil with her and meet his brother who would get them out. Then she would go home, as would he, and he could learn to get on with his life.
She stumbled and fell against him. He caught her before she could hit the ground. Frail was the first word that came to his mind. Yet beneath that was steel. Strong, powerful, unbending, unyielding steel.
Holding her in his arms, he stared into her slightly tilted brown eyes, seeing beyond the image before him, seeing the woman she was in the pictures before her life had been sucked into the hell he pulled her from. She watched him warily, distrust prevalent. It bothered him on some level; however, overall he did understand, considering what she just been through. Were their situations reversed he had no doubt he would be hesitant as well.
“I will get you out of here. You have my word.”
She didn’t speak, she didn’t look like she was going to attempt to. All she did was reach up with one shaking hand, settle it along his jaw, and brush along his scruff-covered skin.
The scene changed and they were running, bullets flying around them, and as he took down one man with a quick snap of his neck, he could see another lining up to take a shot at the woman.
“No,” he screamed.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Ever since he first touched the dossier on her, he knew this wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Her body jerked as a bullet tore into her flesh, dropping her like a stone in the water.
Rage simmered before exploding throughout every inch of his body. Single-minded focus had him ready to kill, and the man who just shot her was his target. Derek lunged for him, swiftly crossing the space between them with ease. The second he reached him more shots rang out, and in his periphery he watched as his brother went down.
His need for revenge would have to wait, there was no time to make them suffer for what he done. Derek had to get them all out of there. The skies darkened, and the thunder rolled. More men popped up, automatic weapons in hand, and they began firing.
Derek couldn’t stop it, couldn’t save them. Couldn’t even save himself. Lunging for the girl, he protected her as best he could when everything suddenly fell silent. Pushing up, he scanned the area to find he was alone with her. Not even his brother was there anymore.
She lay in his arms, blood staining her light gray shirt, the stain growing as she bled out. He couldn’t stop it, he couldn’t do anything but sit there and watch as this woman died in his arms. She never looked away from him, never blinked, never spoke his name.
As her last breath left her body, a deep keening cry rose from within him. The cry turned to a roar as it spilled from his lips.
“Derek?”
He jolted awake. Jackknifing up, he looked around, ready to take on the threat that had put fear into her voice. It took a moment before he realized she wasn’t dead or bleeding. Avery stood beside him, looking down with overwhelming concern in her eyes.
“You okay?”
Wordlessly he shook his head, even as he reached for her. Not giving her a chance to say no or pull away, he drew her into his arms and settled back against his chest. Thankfully, she didn’t fight but merely leaned into him, a large sigh overtaking her body.
The moment she stilled, he swung his legs over and got up from the couch. Not saying a word, he carried her to his bedroom and put them in bed together.
Right now this was what he needed. She never once pulled away; in fact, she burrowed closer. Skimming his hand down his face, he sighed. Then he held her tighter and closed his eyes, unwilling to face anything at the moment that had to do with him not being this close to her.
Chapter Five
“Tell me more about Cao.” Derek issued the order as he walked beside her in the snow.
“What’s to tell? He’s my companion.”
She shoved her hands deeper into the thick jacket she wore, grateful for its protection against the biting air that whipped around them as they strode through the woods. She had awakened in his arms that morning and she would never admit aloud how wonderful it felt. He held her as if she was his world.
A perfect memory for my fantasy life.
Cutting her gaze to her left, she observed the man beside her. Loose jeans, black boots, and a black leather jacket that was playing hell on her libido. Thick black strands of his hair fell forward over his face—almost, but not quite hiding those intense dark blue eyes. About two days’ worth growth on his jaw and all she wanted to do was touch.
Instead, she dug her nails into her palm. She may be romantic, she may be fanciful, but she wasn’t an idiot. And while yesterday after she admitted what she truly wanted, he told her she had him, today was a new day she wasn’t holding onto that statement like it was gospel no matter how much she wanted it to be.
“Is he protection trained?”
It never occurred to her to lie to him about it, this man knew everything about her.
“Yes, he is.”
“That’s smart. Have a dog with you that most people would be unassuming about. The decision.”
At his praise, she nearly preened. Forcing it under control, she gave a small smile in thanks. Didn’t matter what her insides were doing or the happy dance she personally wished to do. They walked in silence for a while until his phone rang, disrupting the peace surrounding them.
“Derek. You sure? Okay, Wild, I’ll be right there.” He ended the call and shoved back into his pocket.
“Time to go?”
“For me, yes. I have to go meet my brother at the office, we have a new client coming in.” He stepped close and drew her near, his black gloves gripping the excess of her coat. “Then I’m coming back here to you, and we will
work on finishing our discussion.”
Head tipped back to maintain eye connection, she shrugged. “Didn’t we do that yesterday?”
“There’s so much for us to discuss, babe. We haven’t even begun to scratch the surface.”
Her insides clenched and she grew slick between her thighs. Why was she indulging in this? This was going too end poorly for her. Not with the physical, but with the talking.
“I suppose we should head back.”
Derek nodded, his gaze never leaving hers. Instead of backing away he tugged with the hand that held her jacket until she was flush to him. Then he kissed her. It wasn’t long that she felt it all the way through her, down to her toes.
“I suppose we should,” he agreed.
He held her hand on the way back, the silence between them again not an issue for her. At the house he opened the door and allowed her to enter first. After another kiss, he left her there, slipping through to the garage. She watched him from the window as he backed out in his big vehicle and headed off to the road.
From there she took several slow, deep breaths and realized she was alone in his house. After shedding the warm outer layers, she headed for the kitchen to fix food for Cao. As he ate, she made herself a cup of tea and a piece of toast. She didn’t leave the kitchen til she cleaned up after herself and her dog. Only then did she make her way back to living room where she curled up at the end of the couch.
She didn’t want to watch any television so she left that off. Instead, after she finished her tea, she got up and began to explore. Not to be nosy, as in she wasn’t going through drawers, just that she was walking around looking at the stuff on the walls to give her more insight into the man who given her back her life.
He didn’t have much, there weren’t awards and accolades around. There was one picture over the mantel of the fireplace that drew her attention. She pushed up on her toes take a better look at and gasped when she realized what she saw.
It was his family. Mom and Dad as well as his brothers. Obviously taken a while ago, they were much younger, but it said so much that that was the only picture out.
She walked down the hall to the room he’d given her to stay in and went to a bag, pulling out some clean clothes. With one more quick check on Cao, she made her way to the bathroom to get cleaned up.
Standing beneath the pulsing sprays of the shower head, she dipped her head and allowed the water to work itself out on her muscles. She was tense. And it didn’t make much sense.
Feeling much better when she finished, she left the steamy room and made her way back to the living room.
The dog was where he had been when she left, and aside from an eye-opening and a thump of his tail, he didn’t give her any other indication he was going anywhere. She moved by him with a smile, continuing back to the kitchen to make herself another cup of tea.
Pleased when she found more mint, she quickly made herself another cup, hoping it would be enough to stave off the headache was coming. She wanted to go back to bed curl up in the dark to alleviate the pain from her eyes, but she knew she had to stay awake. At some point in her life she was going to have to learn how to deal with having this issue, may as well start now. No job would be okay with her just up and leaving because her eyes hurt. And as she on her own wasn’t rich and had no plans of moving in with her parents, coping seem like the smartest choice of the moment.
At a triple beeping, she moved to the living room and spied a delivery truck coming up the drive. Her heart sank slightly, because she had hoped it would’ve been Derek coming back.
She did understand, though, he did have a job to do and couldn’t be around her twenty-four-seven just because that was the safest for her. Or what she most wished for. Fingers curved tight about the mug, and she watched the driver slow before the steps to the house and park.
Avery didn’t feel right about getting the package for him; however, this was something he needed and she had no problem accepting it and bringing it inside, especially given the current temperature. So she walked toward the door.
Cao lifted his head and she waved him back with a hand gesture, content she was capable of doing this on her own. Opening it, she watched the thin man jog up the steps and give her a smile from beneath the ball cap he wore.
“Good morning. I have a package here for Derek Wilder.”
“I can take that for him.”
“Wonderful. I just need your signature right here and I’ll be on my way.”
She set down the tea mug on the end table, opened the screen door, then reached for the signature pad and scrawled her signature. Exchanging pad for box, she gave the man a smile and went back inside.
“Have a nice day,” he hollered as he jogged back down the stairs to his truck.
She put the box down the moment she realized she still had his pen. Yanking the door back open, she hollered for him and hurried down to the vehicle.
He slid open the door that kept the heat in, and in that second Avery knew just how bad of an idea that had been. And how fucked she was. There wasn’t even time for her to scream before he punched her in the jaw, sending her into a world of darkness.
αβ
Derek rubbed the back of his neck and paced before the office window, his unease skyrocketing as each second he wasn’t with Avery ticked by. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he exhaled heavily and spun on his heels to stare at his brother.
“We finished yet, Wild?”
“Yeah, we’re done here. Let’s go.”
“Where are we going?” Derek posed the question even as he headed for the office door.
Derek’s brother chuckled. “It’s just an expression, Derek. Doesn’t mean I’m following home to watch you get all dirty and disgusting with that sweet young thing.”
While his body may have been on board with the comment he ensured that nothing showed on his face. No sense in giving his brother more ammunition than he already had.
“I’m not the man whore you were, Wild. I have standards, morals, you know, those things that Marines don’t have.” Derek didn’t need to turn around to know his brother was flipping him off.
“Sticks and stones, my brother. Sticks and stones.”
The cold bit into them and he hurried to his vehicle the moment the office was locked. They hadn’t been open for a full day today; in fact, only he and Wild had come in to meet a client. Otherwise, they were considered closed.
After saying goodbye to his brother, Derek headed for home. His agitation hadn’t decreased, quite the opposite in fact, and he asked his vehicle for more speed. The second he turned in the driveway he knew it had gone to shit.
“Call Wild,” he issued the order as he downshifted.
“Didn’t I just leave your mangy ass?”
“Avery’s gone, get everyone over here.”
“What the fuck, man? Are you sure about this?”
He slowed his vehicle as he took in the scene, including the dog who broke through a window and was outside with blood dripping down his leg. “Absolutely. Her dog busted through a window to the outside, that wouldn’t be happening if she was inside and okay.”
Rage within him was fanned and grew until it raged like an uncontrollable wildfire.
“Derek. Don’t do anything until I get there. I mean it.”
Derek jumped out, Glock in hand, and moved to the door. The closed door. Cao looked at him, lifted his lips to show off white teeth before turning his attention back down the driveway. In his gut, Derek knew she wasn’t on his property anymore and it was killing him. She was no longer safe because he had ignored the signs.
He'd ignored his gut feeling that there was still something wrong. He’d just left her at his house because he’d been foolishly arrogant she would be safe there. And now, now, his woman was in trouble for his failure.
Moving by the dog, he skimmed his gaze over him, knowing full well he had to fix him up. But, first things first, he had to get inside and see what information he could find on what o
ccurred here during his absence.
Entering slowly, he proceeded with his gun ready and cleared his entire house. No sign of her. Aside from the broken window, the only signs of there being any problem was the fact she wasn’t there. A mug with cold tea sat by the door and beneath that was a box addressed to him.
Gun shoved back into his waistband, he strode back out to stand on the porch. The amount of blood on the snow bothered him and he called for the dog.
Cao looked over her shoulder at him but didn’t approach. At least not until Wild’s truck roared into the drive, snow spitting out from beneath the oversized tires until he squealed to a stop, ass end fishtailing.
By the time his brother hopped out, Cao stacked beside him, stance protective. Wild had his shotgun in hand as he hit the snow.
“What the fuck, man?” He gestured around with his free hand. “Broken glass, blood. What is going on? Rhodi and Adam are five minutes out.”
“Come on, I have to get the bleeding stopped on her dog.”
Wild shook his head. “Hell no, man, I ain’t going near that thing.”
“Take off your motherfucking girl panties, Marine, get over here and help me fix her dog.” He shoved his Glock into his waistband and bent at the knees to pick up Cao. Grunting as he got back up, he carried the dog in and set them down in the kitchen.
“Some hot water in a bowl with some cloth,” he barked the order to his brother.
Cao stood there bleeding onto the tile floor, not laying down, not relaxing his guard. When Wild handed over the items he’d requested, Derek crouched beside him and touched his head.
“I know this is gonna suck, boy. But I have to get this glass out of you. Once that’s done we go find your mama.”
He angled his large head so they were eye to eye. Derek may not have a lot of experience with dogs, but this one he got. Cao would put up with whatever he had to do to make sure he was okay for when they went after Avery. He sat on the floor and leaned in close, getting to work on the wounds, making sure they were clean and glass free.