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A part of her had wanted to jump into his arms, wrap her legs around his waist and kiss the life out of him. She’d wanted to wrap her hands in his chocolate brown hair and tug him down to her lips as she ground against him, demanding he take her.
The want hadn’t dissipated, and she hated that.
The other part of her wanted to run. She was good at that.
A short knock announced his return. The door opened but it was Holland standing there with a tray that looked to hold enough food to feed twenty people.
He smiled, and she waved him in. He placed the tray on the dresser and then bowed to her.
She laughed and flipped him off.
He laughed and held open his arms.
She walked into them but didn’t know why. He was Cap’s man. His best friend. And he’d betrayed her as surely as Cap had. They’d come to Minneapolis determined to root out a traitor and they’d used her and her sister to do it.
Holland had taken Olivia. Cap had taken Ava.
The difference? Holland had loved Olivia absolutely and it had nearly destroyed him when they’d learned there wasn’t even enough of her to confirm her identity after a car bomb had taken her life.
Ava felt her throat clog, but she breathed through the pain of losing her twin. It still didn’t seem real but the twisted and burned carcass of her BMW had told the tale. Olivia was dead and nothing could bring her back.
He squeezed her tight.
“I hate you, Holland,” she whispered against his chest.
“Nah…you don’t really. You may hate what I did, but you don’t hate me,” he whispered right back.
She laughed a bit at that. He and Cap were the cockiest men she’d ever met. They’d been swim buddies in SEALs and when Cap had gone on to become team leader of their SEAL team, Holland had been right there. He, Cap, and Scope had been inseparable.
“You didn’t re-up?” she asked softly, stepping back and taking a deep breath.
Holland crossed his massive arms over his even more massive chest and shook his head. “Cap wanted to go private. Me and Scope followed. He said he couldn’t hunt for you and save the world at the same time.”
She didn’t take the bait.
He smiled at her, a small curving of his lips that told of his own fair share of bitterness.
She inhaled deeply. “Do you keep her flowers fresh?”
“She has new ones every week.” Holland stared at her but Ava knew he was looking for Olivia in her features. “It hurts to look at you, minx.”
“Don’t do this to me, Holland. I—I can’t right now…” she pleaded.
“There’s not a single second of any minute of any day I don’t miss her,” he ground out.
“Me too,” Ava replied softly.
“She’s gone but you’re here. What are you going to do? You know the Russians and Chinese think you have information. I’m going to ask you, because I know he won’t—do you?” Holland’s voice was filled with warning.
“I have nothing but fear, Holland. I’ve run the last two years trying to hide.” She pressed a hand to her forehead, rubbing at the headache forming between her eyes. “I had no idea what Daddy was doing. None. Until you and Cap showed up that night with that video, I had no idea he was in bed with the Russians. No idea he’d betrayed his country.”
“Do you know any of his hiding places?” Holland asked.
She glanced at him, anger beginning to bite her. “No. I told you both that night. If I had I would have given you everything. But then I heard what your commander said, and I couldn’t think—I reacted. I ran and hid and I’ve been running and hiding ever since.”
Holland nodded. “I don’t think you think you know anything, but there’s a reason they came after Olivia and why they won’t stop coming after you. Cap knew it in his gut and when you ran, it destroyed him. We’ve taken private missions, consulting and retrieval, sometimes for the government, but that was just for money. He’s had Tex and another source in Montana looking for you non-stop. He wasn’t going to give up.”
“He should have,” she muttered bitterly.
