She turned to Jordan. “You didn’t tell me you brought the whole damned team in.” She then glared at his nephew. “Isn’t Sabella close to giving birth?”
Noah’s wife was pregnant with their second child, and she knew from the first pregnancy that he became a temperamental son of a bitch if he even suspected a mission would interfere with his ability to be with his wife during the birth, or in those first weeks afterward.
“I have permission to head home if I need to.” Noah grinned back at her, his dark blue eyes amused yet concerned. “I have an understanding boss this time around.”
The last time Sabella was close to her due date just as a mission had ended. Jordan had found himself sporting a black eye hours later when he had mockingly asked Noah for a written report on the mission before he left for home.
“Did you learn anything while I was gone?” she asked Jordan.
He sat at the kitchen counter in front of John and Travis, and now Micah and Nik. Noah took the seat beside him. The two women were on the living room couch working on several laptops they had set up on her coffee table. Her living room was now a fucking command center.
“We’re working on it,” he stated coolly, but the tension radiating from his body was impossible to miss. He was furious that she had run out as she had.
“Well, I see you made yourselves at home. Should I find a place for all of you to sleep?” She straightened from the door and moved farther into the kitchen. “I hope sleeping bags will do.”
Jordan stood up, his broad shoulders appearing wider. His eyes bluer.
“Are you finished running?” he asked, his voice low, dangerous, and filled with a blatant challenge.
Tehya’s brows lifted and she came to a stop in the middle of the ceramic tile floor, aware that all eyes had turned to her and Jordan.
Surprisingly, the moment she had walked into the house and caught sight of Jordan she had felt a spark of life suddenly flare inside her that hadn’t been there before. A glimmer of hope perhaps.
Adrenaline, anticipation. A flare of hunger, she couldn’t extinguish if she wanted to.
“Probably not,” she said, her tone flippant as she fought the anger she knew she couldn’t hide if she tried. She glanced at Micah. “Or at least not until I can find a way to outrun the Rottweilers you sicced on me.”
A bark of surprised, amused laughter burst from Noah and Micah.
“I think he’s more like a junkyard mutt,” Noah said, laughing at Micah.
“You’ve always said that,” Micah agreed with a grin. “I prefer her description though.”
Tehya felt a tug at her heart. It was almost like those days back at the base. The camaraderie, male-bonding bullshit, and insanity that she had always loved watching.
“They’re all dogs,” Lilly piped up as she tossed her husband a wicked grin. “Aren’t you, darling?”
Travis gave a low, sexy growl. Tehya glanced at Jordan, only to find him looking back at her, and she felt the tension between the two of them rise.
Did he envy the others as well? Was there a part of him, as there was in her, that hungered painfully for that same emotional bonding. A hunger she knew no man could sate with the exception of Jordan.
Sometimes, she felt as though she had been cursed by him. No matter how she had tried in the months since leaving the ops, she couldn’t get him out of her head, or out of her heart. He was a weakness she now knew she had no chance of resisting. Just as she knew he had ruined her for any other man.
“You have your orders,” Jordan stated to the others, his gaze still locked with hers. “Make the necessary contacts and we’ll get this started.”
Jordan used the tone that everyone knew meant business. It made the team jump and head for the nearest safety zone. It just made her hot. It always had. It made her wet and never failed to keep her pussy throbbing in need.
Everyone was leaving except Lilly and Bailey. They rose gracefully to their feet and came into the kitchen while the men gathered files and prepared to leave.
“I contacted Ian and Kira, Tehya,” Lilly told her. “They’ve been in D.C. for months. Kira said she’s been trying to reach you since you left base. I’m certain you’ll be hearing from her soon.”
A heavy breath escaped her and she closed her eyes. She didn’t want anyone else involved in this.
“I wish you hadn’t called them,” she said.
“Darling, Kira would have killed me, and made sure it hurt. Badly,” Lilly told her, clearly amused. “But never fear, we have several excellent plans here that Ian and Kira conferenced with us on. We’re going to have such fun saving your temperamental little hide. You’ll actually thank us later.”
Laughing lightly, L