Page 20 of Deadly Alliance

The problem? He wasn’t ready to face what that option meant. Last night, when she had climbed into bed naked, he had damn near had a seizure. Her perfect skin with the moonlight glinting off it had been softer than silk. Her curves were full and womanly and when her lips had touched him, he had fought it for a second before he had succumbed to her.

She was not the most experienced woman he had ever been with but her responsiveness and the way she let herself go, showing him by her reactions exactly how he made her feel, had made him feel like a god. Her small hands on him had been delicious torture. He had never felt anything like the connection they shared. She was the type of woman he could lose himself in forever, which was precisely why he had to put a stop to these feelings and thoughts.

They had no future, he had nothing to offer her, and she deserved more from any man lucky enough to have her. So why, when he decided to put things back on a professional footing with the stunning woman who had broken through his hard shell, did the thought of her with any other man than him make him want to punch a hole in the windshield?

Arriving at the house, he was met by Lucy, Jace, and Bea. He ignored them all as he moved to the passenger seat and lifted Emme out. She felt so right tucked against him and he battled with the desire to snap at them as they got in his way. He took her upstairs as Lucy followed with an IV bag.

Gently, he laid her on the bed they had shared, the covers still rumpled from their lovemaking. Lucy quickly got to work hooking up an IV line to get some fluids into her to flush the drugs out her system. They knew exactly what they were dealing with as this guy always used the same M.O. of drugging his victims withRohypnol.

Lucy swept Emme’s hair back from her face as she took her pulse and vitals. “What were you thinking, silly girl,” she whispered.

Shane paced as he watched, but he came to a stop when he heard those words, his back going stiff. “What did you say?” he asked coldly.

Lucy looked up in surprise, but her face closed, going blank at his tone. “I asked her what she was thinking and called her silly,” she replied calmly.

“How fucking dare you say that to her?”

Lucy stood slowly and if he had been thinking straight, he would have seen the danger. She prowled closer to him, her movements slow and controlled. When she was within a foot of him he looked at her, fury evident on his face as he tried to control his anger at himself for not protecting her.

“I have the right because I’m her mentor and I care about her. What’s your excuse for letting your partner down and not seeing what she would do?” Lucy tilted her head in question, but he knew she was calling him out. He felt his anger leave him as his shoulders dropped.

“I lost my focus,” he replied as he sat down on the bed beside Emme, his eyes drifting over her sleeping form. He felt regret move through him, he couldn’t save Misty and now he was making the same mistakes with Emme. “I should walk away from this operation. My head isn’t in the game.”

“Sometimes, it being personal is the best focus you can have,” Lucy said as she stood at the bottom of the bed looking at Emme. “What you need to do is trust us and trust her. My guess that the reason she went solo is because she feels you don’t trust her.” He could hear the truth in her words.

“I find it hard to trust people,” he replied not knowing why he was telling this virtual stranger that.

“I’ve been where you are, Shane. I’ve lost people I cared about, family members, and what I’ve learned is that when shit goes down, you need to trust people to have your back because if you don’t, it will end badly.”

Shane nodded, taking her words on board, still not sure if he had what it took to trust. He had believed in his teammates as a SEAL, but losing Misty had shaken him more than he cared to admit.

“What if I can’t?” he asked as Lucy went to leave the room.

She stopped and turned towards him, her hand on the door. “Then we all lose,” she replied as her expression softened and she looked at Emme.

Shane sat by the bed, his fingers rubbing over her wrist, feeling the strong pulse there. Could he do it? Could he put his trust in Emme or was it ultimately himself he didn’t trust? He knew he had shut Emme and everyone out trying to fix this problem on his own, trying to prove to himself and his best friend that he could do it alone. That he could redeem himself after letting everyone down.

Now he needed to decide if he was going to see this through and face his biggest fears or become the very thing he hated—a coward?