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“I wish,” she offered, choking up, “I wish there was something I could say… to help you…” and she offered her hand and a helpless shrug. Sierra saw the hardness in his gray eyes melt as he regarded her. The silence strung out gently between them.
“You’re doing it,” he said gruffly.
Confused, her brows drew downward. “I—don’t understand, Mace.” And she didn’t, giving him a quizzical look. She saw one corner of that hard, chiseled mouth of his briefly move up.
“Someday you will.” And then, his voice softened to a low growl. “Anyway, for whatever reason, you sure as hell know how to pull secrets out of a man. I don’t know how you do it, but I was flapping my jaw last night about personal things I’ve never shared with anyone.”
Swallowing, her heart in her throat, yearning so damn badly to hold and kiss this scarred warrior, Sierra gave a slight shrug. “I don’t know, Mace. I usually have a good bond with the men I work with. Like Cale and Nate. They’re like older brothers to me.”
Nodding, Mace said, “Yeah, I saw that. You’re good with people, Sierra.” And then he said, “Maybe you missed your calling. Maybe you’re a shrink in disguise. Or a social worker?”
She gave an abrupt but quiet laugh over that one. “Me? No way! I prefer to get along with my team rather than be a burr under someone’s saddle, that’s all.”
Grunting, Kilmer studied her. “Well, my men are happy you’re here. I haven’t seen them let their hair down and have so much fun, laugh so hard, as they did yesterday evening with you. Whatever you have in you, Sierra, it’s a special magic.”
Her? A special magic? Her flesh became heated and inwardly Sierra groaned because she was blushing once again. She liked the way Mace regarded her. “I’m just the salt of the earth,” she assured him. “Nothing more.”
Lifting the baseball cap off his head, Mace said, “Not from where I’m standing, Sweetheart. You’re something else and I haven’t yet figured out how the hell you got through all my walls, walked into my secrets, my personal life, and just opened up the door and let them fly free.”
She felt his quandary. “Whatever you share with me, Mace, is going nowhere. I promise you that.” Sierra knew how important it was in the healing process to let old grief go. And last night, maybe for the first time, Mace had talked about his marriage. His wife. His lost baby. Her heart winced and felt such anguish for him. The lines in his face were deep, telling her of the weight and responsibility he’d carried as an operator. There was no question he was a responsible leader. He cared fiercely for his team. And all these years, Kilmer had carried such raw grief for all his losses. There had been so many.
“Thank you,” he replied gruffly. Looking down at his watch, the time had flown. It was 0800. Their guard duty was over. “Come on, I’m going to show you how we set up two of the motion sensors we have nearby. If anyone, man or animal, comes down our trail, the two sensors will notify us back at camp.”
“Why don’t you use them 24/7?” she wondered out loud, walking with him out of the tree line.
“Because they run on batteries. A helluva lot of batteries. We can’t keep enough of a supply in to keep them operational. So, we use them when we’re here at our base camp and turn them off, cover them in plastic and camouflage them until we need them again. The rest of the time,” he said, sloshing through the mud and water on the trail, “we set out night watches.”
“Probably don’t work because of all the rain and high humidity?” Sierra asked, walking at his side.
“Yeah. Trust me,” Mace said with derision in his voice, “there’s no manufacturer on this planet that can make something waterproof for a jungle climate like this.”
Sierra believed him, her trousers stiff and chaffing at her thighs. She knew she would have abraded skin by the time they arrived back at camp. And yet, she was sorry that their time together was at an end. Mace had trusted her with his most precious and painful memories. Unsure of what that even meant, or of what was even happening between them, Sierra let it all go. Maybe she was just at the right place and right time. Maybe if it had been someone else, Mace would have unloaded all of this on them instead.
All Sierra did know was that Mace intrigued her on every level. He was a man carrying a lot of secrets. And her intuition told her, none of them were good.
CHAPTER 8
Sierra found herselfwithout even a single moment of spare time to feel her way through that night she’d stood guard with Mace. He’d sheltered her through one of the daily downpours she’d almost gotten used to since. That night he’d shown her the ropes of protecting their safe place from potential drug team incursion into the team’s campground. Ever since she’d flown in, their numbers increasing by one, from three to all four of them, the time of each member’s watch on their night guard rounds had decreased. She missed Mace being at her side, but that was a purely selfish feeling. And nearly every night, it rained down buckets. Mace had told her to wear her poncho; that it would protect her from the worst of the cold and she wouldn’t get as wet as before. But nothing stayed dry. Ever. Sierra yearned for a hot, dry summer. She still had desert-thin blood in her veins.
When she came back at 0800 on the last day, they were making camp in the meadow, she saw excitement in Cale’s and Nate’s faces. They were hopping around like energized bunnies, their rucks out and they were rapidly packing them up. Sierra looked toward Mace, who was standing near the fire grate, cooking their breakfast of the last hens’ eggs they’d bought days earlier. She saw him lift his chin; his gray gaze settling on her as she approached. Her whole body went hot, and she felt that gnawing sensation. Damn, the man could turn a rock on with just one heated look!
“Go get some drier clothes on,” he told her. “And then pack everything up. We’re meeting a Hawk up on the Highlands area in four hours.”
Frowning, she halted. “Why?”
Mace stirred the dozen eggs in the skillet. “Because the US Army, in all its wisdom, is getting us out of this green hell for a week off in Cusco.” He studied her. “You interested?”
“Oh, yes!” she blurted, thrilled.
Nate and Cale snickered, both of them on their knees, happily packing their rucks.
“She learns fast,” Nate said, laughing.
“REAL fast,” she told them with a grin. She glanced down at Mace as he squatted over the grate. “Honest? Seven days? In Cusco? In a dry place? And I can use a dryer on my hair?”
Cale howled. “Oh, for a hair dryer!”
“Oh, stuff it, Merrill,” she muttered darkly, shaking a finger in his direction.
