"But she wanted to.''
"Of course.''
He waited for her to volunteer more, but apparently he'd landed in bed with the one woman who wasn't into post-sex chitchat. "You mentioned a sister. Any more? What about brothers?"
After such a solitary childhood, he vowed to pack his house with kids and noise, a haven after he quit active field ops.
Or sooner maybe.
"I have the older sister I mentioned, my best friend actually.'' She paused. "And another younger half sister, too.''
"You're lucky to have siblings."
"Living the American Dream.''
God, he liked her upbeat attitude. Sure she'd come from a broken home, but focused on the positive. Her small town. Her father. Her best friend sister. With everything he learned about this woman, he became all the more certain he wanted to keep her and her light in his world.
Her soft thigh tucked between his and already he was plotting how he could convince her to move in—her with him or him with her. He didn't care where as long as they shared a bed and a breakfast table.
Morning rays through the blinds played on her pale skin. His hand rested on her side, his thumb tracing a small strawberry birthmark on the right side of her flat stomach.
She squirmed, laughed lightly. "That tickles.''
Another discovery about his new lover, a passionate woman who liked to take things slow. Who enjoyed long, gentle lovemaking.
And so many more things about her left to uncover. His hand smoothed around to cup her bottom as he rolled, her onto her back...
An explosion shook the ground.
From his head or in the compound?
Blake blinked. Tensed. Cleared his mind.
A bloom of smoke puffed from the terrorist training field. Nothing to worry about now.
And later? The bastards weren't going down easy. But they were going down, even if they hadn't dared touch what was his. Even if they hadn't done the unthinkable to the gentlest human being he'd even known.
A woman with a strawberry birthmark right over the small, undeniable bulge of her belly.
A soft whistle cut the night. Carlos. His partner whistled once more to announce his return a second before he crawled into the trench. "Everything okay?"
"They're all three alive." He repeated the essentials to Carlos. "And they're ambulatory."
Carlos settled beside him. "You went in, further, to see her, didn't you?" He held up a hand. "Wait. Shit. Don't answer that."
His partner knew him too well. More of that wordless communication from working ops for years filtered back and forth. He couldn't tell Carlos the worst, but the man would no doubt feel the fallout radiating off him. Only Sydney understood him as well.
Gunfire sputtered, sparked the sky. Carlos thumped him on the back. "Are you okay with all this?"
"Don't worry. I can do my job. I'm not gonna get you killed."
"I know that. I'm more worried about you getting yourself killed."
Blake forced himself to be light. "Won't happen, dude. Not now that I know she's okay. I've got everything to live for, right?"
He couldn't let himself think about what had happened to her or he'd turn into some berserker opening fire on everyone in the compound he could find and damn the consequences.
Patience. Steady. Like through the caves in Afghanistan. Hold the nerves together. Because he sure as hell did have a reason to live.