AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Don’t you go and get yourself hurt, Reno,” she fairly snarled up at him. “I won’t be happy.”
His off-center smile had her heart clenching with love.
“I’ll make sure of that,” he whispered, his voice quiet, almost saddened as he watched her.
His head swooped down then, his lips catching hers as her breath caught in her throat. Her throat tightened and something in her chest exploded as his kiss consumed her. Her arms went around his neck as she lifted to him, helpless, aching, as his arms jerked her closer, his hands nearly bruising as they roved over her back and shoulders, imprinting his touch into her soul forever.
A horn blew outside. Once, twice.
He pulled away from her, turned, grabbed his duffel bag and stalked from the room. Seconds later, the front door slammed and he was gone. Raven stared at the window across the room, the shards of sunlight cut across the bed, small motes of dust dancing in the air.
The silence was oppressive, heavy.
She forcibly held back her tears, the pain. She could survive this. She wasn’t angry, but God she missed him already.
As she stared at that bright swath of sunlight, a memory broke free, surging past her defenses. She had been young, so young. Barely ten as she lay on her bed that weekend, listening to her parents scream at each other. Her father had to leave again, another mission, another fight. Her mother was crying, begging him not to go. His voice had echoed with his frustration, his own anger. He had to leave. It was his job. No, her mother had screamed, it was his mistress, and she wouldn’t share him. He might as well not even come back.
He hadn’t come back. A black car and two military counselors had arrived instead. Her father had died in an unknown country, and he was never returning. He wouldn’t come home. She wouldn’t hear her parents arguing ever again, or sit on her father’s lap while he read her stories. He would never tickle her again or call her his dark angel. He was gone forever.
Which was worse? The worry or the loss? She had always wondered that. Especially with Reno. If she let herself love him, which would be worse? Never having him or knowing there would never be another chance?
She moved from the bedroom, down the stairs, and to the kitchen. The soft noises coming from the other room warned her of what to expect, but nothing could contain the rush of emotion when she stepped into the room.
The box sat by the door, barely large enough to contain the ball of fluff attempting to break free. Attached to the side was a note, written in Reno’s distinctive scrawl.
To k
eep your feet warm until I return. Love, Reno.
“Until you return,” she whispered, staring at the golden retriever pup as it began to howl pitifully for release.
“Well, little guy,” she whispered, kneeling beside the box as she touched a soft silky ear hesitantly. “At least we’ll have each other.”
She drew him from the box and stepped outside, feeling the late summer heat on her face, the breeze whispering over her damp cheeks. But they weren’t. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t cry.
But the tears fell as she cuddled the pup, staring into the brilliance of the late summer sky.
“I didn’t tell him I love him,” she finally admitted, the pain exploding in her chest as she realized Reno was right. There was no hiding from it. No hiding from him. She loved him, and she hadn’t even told him.
* * *
“It’s an easy in and out.” Reno faced his men in the small conference room, standing in front of the large monitor that displayed the target they were being sent in to hit. “We have two hostages to rescue and a laptop used by the cell commander. Laptop is priority. We’ll go in quiet, set the explosives, grab the laptop and the hostages, and run. Pickup will be waiting on us here.” He pressed the button that switched the picture to an area nearly ten miles from target. “Two Black Hawks will be waiting to fly us out to a waiting ship.”
He lifted the stack of files on the desk beside him.
“Read this carefully. We have intel reports on entrances, exits, weak spots, and so forth. We’ll meet with the assist team when we reach the ship and finalize plans there.”
“The cell commander is wanted for war crimes, Major,” Ace spoke up, his deep voice echoing in the small room. “Are we just after the laptop or his head as well?”
“The assist team will be in charge of that,” Reno informed him. “We’ll be going after the hostages. But you don’t take chances. The opportunity is there to take that laptop, you get it. We stick with our target op and adjust as we have to.”
“And pop the bastard if we get him in our sights,” Joker, the explosives expert of the team, spoke up. He wasn’t joking. This particular terrorist commander was brutal, without mercy. He wouldn’t be shown any.
As Reno opened his mouth to dismiss the men, a sharp knock had his head lifting as the door opened.
“Major Chavez, we have a situation that demands your presence,” an MP snickered from the doorway. “General says now.”
Frowning, Reno nodded to Ace as he handed the files to him to distribute to the other three men and made his way to the door.
