She pointed around the room at the screens and systems. “If you’re not bringing aliens here, what are you even doing?”
Cannon looked pained. “Ghost ops team.”
Laughter moved around the table, a sound every one of them needed. Archer felt some of the tightness leave his chest as he looked at Jolie. She always resorted to humor when times got tense, and for that, he loved her more.
She sat in the middle of it all—bandaged, bruised, tired and still making hardened men laugh. What he felt for her was breaking every rule he used to keep his distance and maintain control. But maybe he didn’t need it as much anymore.
She was becoming part of them. Part of this place.
Part of him.
He didn’t know what the future held for them, but he already knew what she felt like.
Home.
* * * * *
Jolie had expected to wake up after a kidnapping with nightmares fresh in her mind. Instead, she woke with a strange sense of calm that morning and the next few days after it.
She stood in front of the bathroom mirror and tested her shoulder, lifting her arm and rolling it carefully, feeling the skin pull across the healing graze.
The sharp sting turned into soreness and finally a low tug she only experienced when she moved too fast.
Even her eyes lost some of their hollow look as the days passed—proof she was getting back to her old self.
Well, not exactly her old self. While she was still Jolie, she was becoming a different version, one she liked more and more every time she looked at her reflection.
Her family still sat at the top of her list of important things, and every time she spoke to one of her siblings, relief flooded her again. They weren’t cut off from her and they all assured her they were doing fine.
What Jolie knew that they didn’t was that they were safe and protected from the harm that had come bursting in through that motel room door.
If this had happened even six months before, she’d be carrying the weight of their safety alone. Not anymore.
She had Archer and an entire SEAL team backing her.
And to her great relief, word came that Stina was safe and unharmed too. Without even knowing it, her friend had been given a guard who watched over her while she went about herlife, but there were still so many questions about how Jolie’s kidnapper was connected to her and Stina.
The biggest change in her world was Archer.
Being near Archer felt insanely easy, like she could finally set down burdens she’d carried too long, which scared her because she didn’t know who she’d be without them.
She’d fallen for the man in a maelstrom of snow and danger and stolen moments. She never expected her knight in shining armor to ride in on a snowmobile and sweep her off her feet, but that was exactly how she’d tell her family it went down.
If she ever got the chance.
Being stuck on the base left her with another worry—her restaurant job was behind her for the time being, and she had countless hours of time to fill. For the past week, she’d spent a lot of time with Archer.
It should have been enough to keep her content.
That only lasted until breakfast on the seventh day.
She sat at the big table, watching the base move around her in a current of activity. Guys drifted in for coffee and toaster pastries. She listened to boots in the hall and the distant clink of weights in the gym. Cannon’s voice projected from his office before the door slammed, cutting off any sensitive information.
Everyone had a task. Everyone had a place.
She was just the rescued civilian with a bandaged shoulder and too much time on her hands.
When Townie strode in to grab more coffee, she pointed to a chair. “Sit.”
