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When he saw the fear flash in her eyes, he grabbed her hand. Shook his head. “Not far,” he reassured her. “Just far enough to hear what’s going on outside. Figure out how close they are. They haven’t been in your cave yet, or we would have heard them. But they must be close.”
He bent and brushed a quick kiss over her mouth. “Stay here.” He eased her to the side of the tunnel, out of view of anyone peering in. Just in case. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
Hating to leave her alone, when he knew how unsettled she was about being inside the mountain, he took a deep breath and did what he had to do. He crouched down and slithered into the tunnel. He heard Laila’s sharp intake of breath but forced himself to ignore it. He needed to do recon.
* * *
Laila pressed her fingers to her cheeks as she watched Jase’s legs vanish into the tunnel. He’d told her she could use her flashlight, as long as she heard nothing from the cave. The heavy weight of it in her hand was comforting. Welcome. Being in complete blackness would be suffocating. And being here alone? The stuff of nightmares. Absolutely terrifying.
She moved two steps away from the tunnel and sank to the irregular stone surface. Leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. What the hell had happened just now?
Exactly what had been building since the moment she’d met Jase four months ago. She’d only known him as her training officer. Which meant she barely knew him.
She knew enough, herheart whispered.
He’d risked his life to save her. He’d driven through the night from Kabul with two other men to rescue her from the trap set by Bahram and Feroz. And he’d climbed up to her cave in broad daylight. He’d been horribly exposed for a long time. The Taliban could have seen him at any moment. Begun shooting at him.
And instead of being curt and short-tempered because he’d had to rescue her, he’d been concerned about her well-being. He’d protected her by finding this place to hide from the Taliban.
Because he’d risked his life to find her, she trusted him to find a way to reunite with Cody and Dev. Trusted him to understand why she had to go back to Al Kamen for her students and their families.
Trusted him to get all of them safely back to Kabul.
She might not know where he grew up. Whether he had siblings. What his favorite meal was. But she knew the important things about Jase Conway. She knew what kind of person he was. She knew how he reacted under pressure. And she knew how he treated a woman who depended on him.
Laila brushed her fingers over her lips, remembering how he’d kissed her. And how her body had responded to him. Everything inside her had pleaded with her to take him.
She shook her head, still shocked at her extreme reaction to Jase. That happened in books, but she’d always believed those were fantasies. Not real life.
But her reaction to Jase was as real as it got.
Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t hear the scraping in the tunnel until it was close. Too close. Scrambling to her feet, she grabbed the flashlight and turned it off. It was probably Jase. Likely Jase. But what if it wasn’t? What if she was too late?
What if the Taliban had been in the cave when he’d emerged from the tunnel?
