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“Gun is hot,” he said.
I kept the 9mm pointed at the ground, finger pressed against the barrel instead of anywhere near the trigger. When I glanced at Elias, his eyes were wide with shock. For the most part, I was glad he’d never had to see me handle a weapon to defend the two of us. But I was also glad I could do this if I had to, and I wanted Elias to know that.
Adrian pointed to a tree about fifty yards away. It had a large enough knot that I could easily pick it out. He stepped back, and I took aim. A second later, the knot blew apart in a shower of splinters, and from the corner of my eye, I could see the little boys gripping each other, grinning.
Adrian, too, looked impressed. “What?” I asked with faux innocence.
Those dark eyes bore into me. It wasn’t hard to tell when a man was interested in me, at least physically—working as a waitress, I’d learned to deal with come-ons all the time—but it was still quite…satisfying to see that look on Adrian’s face. The flirting from all those other men at the diner had never made me feel like this. Most of the time I wanted so badly not to be perceived, but it felt delicious to be looked at like that now. By him.
“That…” Adrian said, stopping to clear his throat. “That was really good.”
I smiled and nearly gave into the urge to bat my eyes at him. “Thank you. My father taught me when I was a girl, just in case something happened while he wasn’t at home.”
A complicated look filtered across his face, but he nodded. “I get it. He wanted you to feel safe.”
“He did.” He always had. Mama and Papa had been good parents, loving and supportive. It still broke my heart that we had lost them when Elias was just a baby. He’d seen pictures and I’d told him stories, but he didn’t have any memories of them.
“And do you?” Adrian asked. “Feel safe?”
My heart thudded almost painfully beneath my breastbone. There were several feet between us, but I swear I felt the heat of his body from here. “I do,” I said. “I feel safe with you.”
EIGHT
NATALIYA
“So, you and Adrian, huh?” Emily asked later as we prepared a light dinner for everyone. Nate was still finding a new license plate, and when he called to check in, Adrian asked him to pick up two fresh burner phones. Adrian’s phone was bureau-issued and as secure as it could possibly be, and I’d been using a burner phone already—no need to tie myself to a phone plan when I could just pay as I went—but it still seemed safer to start over with new numbers. Adrian would power down his agency phone and take out the battery, and we would ditch my old phone.
I jolted at Emily’s question. “Wha—?” She smiled, knowingly, and I shook my head. “There is nothing between Adrian and me…I’ve only known him for a few days, and this is just a mission, and—” Her smile never faltered, and I stole a glance into the living room where Adrian was entertaining the boys and sighed. “I don’t want there to be anything between us.”
“But?” Emily prompted.
I nearly bit my tongue. “But, I mean, look at him.”
She chuckled. “I know.” When I looked at her, maybe a touch sharply, she laughed again. “Don’t worry. I have my own SEAL to cuddle up with at night.”
“Cuddling is the last thing I’m thinking about,” I said mournfully. What the hell am I saying!? I barely knew this woman, but here I was, gossiping like we had been friends for ages. And admitting things that I rarely even admitted to myself—like how much I missed sex. Limiting my social life had been the smart choice, both so I could keep a low profile and so I could be there for Elias whenever he needed me, but that didn’t keep me from getting lonely. It had been a long damn time since I’d had a man in my bed, for cuddling or anything else. I groaned and tried to refocus on the apples I was currently massacring. “I don’t even know where my head is,” I groused. “Elias and I have been just fine for years, and suddenly?—”
“Suddenly there he is. Big and gorgeous, and he’s protecting you and your son.”
She could read me like a book. “That sounds shallow.”
“Only if you see him as a piece of meat to slobber over.”
I wrinkled my nose. Adrian was a lot more than just a body. He was protective, yes, but he was also sweet. Once he’d understood just how hard traveling was for Elias in his condition, he’d gone out of his way to make it as easy as possible for us. He was smart too. Tracking me down had not been an easy task—I made sure of it—but he’d done it. “He’s more than what he looks like,” I said.
Emily hummed. “Then, it’s not shallow to want to climb him a little. So long as you respect him.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. God, how long had it been since I’d done that—deep and true from the belly? “What are you two laughing about?” Adrian asked, coming around the corner.
“Boy mom stuff,” Emily answered immediately.
Adrian didn’t look like he believed us, but he offered to grab the kids so we could get dinner on the table. It was a simple meal: sandwiches, chips, and the fruit that survived my knife wielding. Emily had apologized for having bare cupboards—they’d initially planned to head back home the next day, so they were getting close to the end of the supplies they had bought.
I didn’t mind simple meals. Sometimes, that was all Elias was willing to try to eat anyway. Even when he wasn’t hungry, I could usually get him to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich easily enough. I couldn’t understand America’s or my son’s obsession with peanut butter, but some days, it was the only way to put protein in his body. I would never turn it down.
As Emily and I were moving the plates to the table, Nate came through the door, plastic bag slung over his arm. His expression was bleak; it sucked all of the previous amusement from the room. “What happened?” Emily asked.
“They put up a missing child’s poster,” he said. “With Elias’s picture on it. The poster is legitimate. Hayes really is pulling out all the stops.”
