Page 78 of Brooks

“I wanna stay. Are you okay with that?”

“Fuck, yeah. I was trying to come up with ways to make you not wanna leave.”

“Will Zane be okay with…um…”

“Us?”

“Yeah.”

I let my eyes drift closed for a second, ridiculously happy there was an “us.”

“He’ll be fine. Jasmin and Linc are on the same team.”

“But they’re married.”

“And? Where is it you think we’re headed?”

“You wanna marry me?” Her words came out rushed.

“This keeps going like it has been, then yeah, Doll, I wanna marry you.”

“I’ve only known you like a minute.”

A minute, a day, a year, I knew she was the one. The day I’d walked into the UN annex and met this prickly, smart, beautiful, sexy woman, my life had changed. I’d known it then and wasn’t stupid enough to let her go now.

“And?”

“You’re crazy.” She laughed.

“Crazy about you.”

Her body continued to shake with laughter, and as much as I was enjoying her warm body pressed against my side and her happy, we had to get up. The rock that had been tumbling around in my gut was now a boulder. Tatiana was right, something was off, and nothing about Leon made sense. When all of this was over, we were going someplace tropical, with a beach, fruity drinks, and peace. I wanted her all to myself where we could stay in bed all day without the threat of someone trying to kill her. Right after I convinced her to say, I do.

Chapter 33

Unfortunately, we’d gotten out of bed and dressed. I would’ve much rather have stayed where we were but Brooks was right. We needed to talk to the guys. Leon Brown being MIA was a problem. And now that we had confirmation he’d ordered my weapon to be rendered useless, it wasn’t a stretch he’d also sold us out to Al Issa.

I’d started to open the bedroom door when Brooks stopped me and pulled me close. God, I loved being in his arms. Loved when he wrapped me tight and looked down at me. I felt loved and protected and that was okay because I knew he believed I could take care of myself. For some reason, that made all the difference. Him respecting me as an equal allowed me to lower my guard. It felt good, something I’d never had before. I didn’t have to prove to Brooks I was good enough, he already thought I was.

His head lowered and his firm lips touched mine. It was a sweet kiss, all too short, the kind that left you begging for more.

“Later when we get back into bed, I’m gonna show you how much I love you.”

My world shook. Fireworks sounded. My vision dimmed.

It took me a moment to realize it wasn’t his declaration of love that had tilted my universe. The house had literally shook. There were no fireworks bursting in my mind, we were taking heavy artillery. My eyes hadn’t clouded over in a haze of joy and happiness, the lights were out and the ceiling was crumbling.

“Fuck. Stay at my back,” he ordered.

The only indication he’d opened the door was the creak, it was that pitch-black. I had to shuffle my feet so I wouldn’t trip on the broken pieces of plaster on the floor.

“SITREP?” Declan shouted.

“Four out front approaching,” Max answered.

I collided with Brooks’ back when he came to a halt. “Here.”

I fumbled with the helmet that was shoved into my chest, barely keeping ahold of the gun in my hand. I shoved my weapon into the waistband of my cargos, happy we’d gotten dressed before the attack, and strapped the helmet on, fumbling in the dark to pull the night vision goggles down.