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To hell with that.
Of course, if Rowe was being honest with himself, it wasn’t just that Noah wanted to meet this guy alone. Noah had never mentioned him before. Not that they spoke a lot about what happened after Rowe had left the Army. His years had been largely filled with getting into trouble with Lucas and Snow, rescuing Ian—not a topic that anyone wanted to rehash—and then Mel. It was a fucking minefield.
Rowe didn’t feel like Noah’s time was going to be much better. Sure, he would have had a team that he worked with, but Rowe had spent plenty of time in the field. He knew what it was like. The fighting, death, uncertainty, and bad intel. He had no desire to bring up those memories for Noah. Not when he could fill their time together with happiness and good memories.
Noah pulled into the dimly lit parking lot of the no-star, two-story motel. All the doors opened directly to the parking lot, making for a quick and easy escape. Noah backed his truck into a spot facing JB’s room and cut the engine. There were only about half a dozen other cars in the lot, and they were all parked close to the motel. Lights filled three of the windows. The other guests must have called it a night. Not surprising since it was nearly midnight.
Out of habit, Rowe pulled out his gun, popped the magazine, and checked that it was fully loaded before slamming it home again. He chambered a round. No one was going to steal Noah away from him.
“You feelin’ ready over there, Rambo?” Noah drawled.
“We get a call from some guy you haven’t heard from in years, demanding that you come alone to this nowhere motel, and this is all after you’ve been shot at once. You really think I was going to come to this unarmed? You’re lucky I didn’t call in for more backup.”
Noah snorted. “The only ones off tonight are Sven and Royce. I’d rather not drag Sven out from under Geoffrey and then deal with little G-man’s wrath.”
Rowe pursed his lips so he couldn’t see his smirk. Geoffrey Ralse was a former client, friend, and now boyfriend of one of his employees. The little guy might be short, slender, and look incredibly delicate, but the kid had surprising skills and he could get vicious when someone tried to pull his Sven away from him. Naturally, the mountain of man just smiled and took it all in stride.
Despite all his talk, Noah still used the key on his ring to open the console between them and pull out his own gun. He went through the same checks as Rowe, helping to ease a little of the anxiety eating away at Rowe’s sanity.
“This is not because I don’t trust JB. If someone killed Paul and Chris, then they could also be on JB’s trail.” He narrowed his eyes on Rowe. “I’m not stupid.”
Rowe flashed him his best innocent look. “I never said you were stupid.”
Noah made a little growl as he grabbed a holster and clipped it to his belt. He shoved the gun inside and pulled his T-shirt down to cover it. Yeah, he was definitely pushing all Noah’s buttons and not in a good way, but if they survived this, Rowe would make it up to his lover. He soothed his own conscience with the idea that he couldn’t make Noah happy if he wasn’t alive.
“I’m still not convinced that the drive-by after Ian’s wedding wasn’t random or at the very least tied to you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you,” Noah snapped. “You’ve had way more time and chances to make enemies than me.”
Rowe’s mouth hung open for a moment in surprise, Noah’s words cutting across his heart. Yeah, Jagger had been his fault. The fucker had been after all of them at one time and that put Noah in his sights. He hated that Noah had ever been in danger because of him. Could his actions have put Noah in danger all over again? He’d already lost Mel because he’d not taken more precautions. He couldn’t lose Noah too.
“Whoa. Whoa. Whoa…babe.” Noah leaned across the cab, his hand sliding up to cup his cheek. He pressed soft kisses to the corner of his mouth and along his lower lip. He was nearly across to the other corner before Rowe could even respond and gently kiss him back. “Regardless of who the bastard is and why he was shooting, it’s not your fault. I wouldn’t change a thing. Don’t want to be anywhere else but right here with you.”
“But—”
“No buts except your sexy one,” Noah murmured, cutting him off. “Not going to lose me.”
Rowe closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against Noah’s. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the scent of Noah. Hints of his cologne, sex, sweat, and just the wonderfulness of his lover. Noah centered him. Knew his brain better than any other person. Possibly even better than Mel ever did. The growing panic ebbed and rational thought crept in, grabbing control of the reins again.
