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When she finished off the pint, he set it aside. Water had escaped down either side of her mouth and he wiped each corner of it with his thumb. It felt like a moment of intimacy, and he thought he saw her eyes change, grow heavy-lidded. Shaking off what he probably had only wished he’d seen, Mace held her gently. “Better?” he asked.
“Much,” she whispered, pressing her cheek into the hollow of his shoulder. “Thank you…”
He sat there, feeling like a man who had just been pulled out of hell. Sierra was soft and warm in all the right places. She nuzzled against his damp t-shirt, her hair falling across her shoulder and down across her breast, a silky waterfall of another kind. Inhaling, Mace smelled her fear-sweat but, above that, her special womanly scent. Pulling her a little more firmly against him, she offered no resistance, which surprised him. Given both of their past histories, Mace understood clearly why Sierra wasn’t even about to think about a relationship with him. Mace was sure those gutting memories of Jeb were yanking Sierra’s heart away from him, even though he felt she was just as attracted to him as he was to her.
Sierra sighed and whispered, “This is wonderful… thank you, Mace. It makes my head pain lessen.”
He smiled a little, moving his stubbled cheek against her hair, its strands sleek. Without thinking, he placed a light kiss upon her hair. “What? I’m better than taking an Ibuprofen?” he teased. She lay fully relaxed against him, one hand resting against his chest. His flesh tightened beneath it, and he wanted desperately to love this woman. He knew Sierra would be wild and willful in his arms, lush and hot.
“You’re like a big, protective teddy bear,” she whispered.
“I’ve been called many things in my lifetime, but never that.”
“What? A teddy bear? I grew up with the one my mom gave me when I was born. Pooh, my bear, slept with me every night. I never went anywhere without him.”
He smiled a little, gazing around the cave, needing to remain alert. “So, you see me as a Pooh bear?”
She managed a little laugh and moved her hand across his chest, smoothing the wrinkles of the damp t-shirt that lay against his skin. “You’re not a Pooh bear, that’s for sure. More like a snarly old grizzly. Dangerous. Unpredictable.”
Mace combed his fingers gently through her hair, luxuriating in the intimacy building so naturally between them. Sierra was rallying with being in his arms, but he also knew she was terribly vulnerable right now with that concussion. And she wasn’t remembering everything. In time, it would all come back. “Is that how you see me?” he wondered, resting his jaw against her hair, careful not to put pressure on her skull.
Opening her hand, Sierra murmured drowsily, “Sometimes… but other times… like now… you make me feel safe…”
Mace felt her body sag fully against him, her hand sliding a few inches down toward his belly as she dropped off into unconsciousness once again. A concussion could do that to a person. He leaned back against the wall of the cave with Sierra in his arms. Closing his own eyes, feeling deep exhaustion pulling at him, Mace wished they were anywhere but in this green hell. He felt Kushnir and his team out there, searching for them.
Hours earlier, out on his scouting excursion from their waterfall cave, he’d connected with Cale and Nate via their sat phones. The rest of his team was still moving toward the rally point deep in the jungle. They hadn’t made contact with the Russians, either. Mace had told them about Sierra’s condition. Nate had gotten on the sat phone and they’d discussed her head injury. He’d advised they stay where they were for at least another twenty-four hours, if possible. Sierra’s dizziness, he’d told Mace, was a level-two symptom and, if they could hole up and wait, it would be best for her condition.
Mace had no problem staying here. He’d never found any other military boot prints anywhere near this waterfall, but that didn’t mean the Russians didn’t know about this place. Sierra might feel safe in his arms, but there was no safety anywhere else around them. His mind and heart strayed back to Sierra. He felt the slow rise and fall of her breasts against his chest. She trusted him. It was such a pulverizing realization. Ana Beth had never trusted him wholly with her life. But Sierra, who lay like a sick child, so trusting in his arms right now, cleaved open Mace’s closed heart in a way that made him deeply aware of just how much he liked her. His mind skipped around the word love.
No way. Hecouldn’tfall in love again. If he did… No! Sierra lived just as dangerous a life as he did. And Mace knew with a clarity that few people had experienced, that nothing was guaranteed in life. To allow himself to fall in love with this brave woman would place him in an untenable position.
Mace knew he couldn’t remain an operator if he allowed himself to fall in love with Sierra. It just wouldn’t work. And he wasn’t about to ask her to give up her own career. That’s not how it worked. A ragged sigh tore from him as he held Sierra close. The music of the waterfall was soothing to him, like wispy droplets splashing through his exhausted mind.
Mace closed his eyes, wanting desperately to sleep deeply. But he couldn’t. He had to remain alert. Take cat naps only. They were being actively hunted by Kushnir. Mace could feel it.
Still, he kissed Sierra’s temple, tipping his head against the rock wall, holding her safe against him. If but for a little while.
CHAPTER 13
Sierra awoke slowly.She lay on her side, face against her ruck sack. The waterfall sound was soothing. Her headache had reduced, and she felt better. Probably because Mace had given her an IV to replenish the badly needed liquids she’d lost. Grimacing, she opened her eyes and saw that everything was bright, the cave wall staring at her. Her mind slowly put the pieces back together, where she was at and what had happened to her. At least as much as she could remember.
She heard a slight sound and rolled over on her back. Mace was standing above her, watching her, his baseball cap tipped back on his head. His face was darkened by stubble, and she saw exhaustion in his gray eyes. His M-4 lay across his shoulder. He was still in his olive-green t-shirt and cammies, his knife in a sheath around his waist and his .45 drop holster on his thick right leg.
“How you feeling?” he asked, kneeling down, setting the rifle on the floor to his left.
“Better, I think,” Sierra muttered thickly. Pushing up into a sitting position, her hair fell around her face. She pushed the heavy strands away, feeling a keen need for Mace. Carefully touching her skull, she felt the huge bump on it. There was also some dried blood around the area where the rock had struck her. “The headache is much less.”
Mace nodded. “You slept well.” He glanced at the watch on his wrist. “It’s 1500. Midafternoon.”
“Not surprised,” she said slowly, her mind still shorting out. Slowly looking around, she wanted to memorize the small cave where the light shafted down through the hole above it. “Are things quiet?” and Sierra lifted her head, worried. She knew the Russians could be looking for them.
“So far,” he admitted, sitting down, crossing his legs, his elbows resting on his knees. “I just got back from making a swing around the area. I talked to Cale about an hour ago by sat phone and they said Kushnir’s team was trying to track them. Right now, they’re leading them off on a wild goose chase, doubling back on their heading, and using a stream to hide their tracks to throw the hunters off even more.”
She scowled, touching her brow. She was damp and sweaty. “Do you think Kushnir split his force? The rest looking for us? Or all of them chose one trail?” and she searched his dark, pensive eyes. Mace was a big man with shoulders that seemed to go on forever. Sierra remembered falling asleep on that powerful chest of his, inhaling his male scent, her palm against the fabric, feeling the slow beat of his magnificent, brave heart. Did he realize how courageous he really was? Sierra felt her heart open wide with her need for Mace on every level. He was a hard man, molded by the military, had suffered such great, heartrending losses and yet, here he was. With her. His gray gaze warmed as he held hers. Feeling that deep longing she always did whenever he was nearby, Sierra swallowed, her throat tightening. The risk of falling in love with Mace was tempting her as nothing else ever had. And yet, Sierra knew it wouldn’t work. A part of her wept inwardly because no man had ever rocked her world, not even Jeb, as much as Mace was doing right now with his mere, quiet, stoic presence.
“That’s what I think. Kushnir’s men know how to track. I’m sure he saw two sets of prints veering off on two different trails and decided to take all his men onto Cale and Nate’s trail to hunt us down.” Mace gave her a one-cornered half smile. “We’ve been a thorn in his side since Belov took over the drug team. He’d like us off his back. Now that you took Belov out, Kushnir is the leader.”
“Have you come close to killing him before?”
