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“She told you that?” I asked.
He grimaced. “Of course not.”
Unexpectedly, Stirling burst with laughter. “Hold up——it’s not——you’re the one——six weeks, right?” He bent over and put his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.
The corner of my mouth lifted in amusement as I realized what had set Stirling off. “Cora wasn’t upset, was she?” I needled. “You’re the one who’s disappointed.”
Huntley’s expression was the closest I’d ever seen to a pout on the face of a badass Navy SEAL. “You just wait until you can’t have your girl for six whole fucking weeks.”
When I thought about Huntley’s situation, I suddenly understood his predicament a little more. Chances were high Piper and I would be in a similar situation once or twice while we were having kids. Just the thought of going over a month without being able to sink my cock in her tight pussy was enough to sober me up instantly. I cuffed Stirling on the back of the head to get him to quit guffawing. “Dummy-up, sailor.”
We’d reached the front of the line, so we focused on collecting our meals, then I followed the guys as they returned to their table.
Cash walked in carrying a stack of files and made a beeline for us. He handed them out to each of us, and I opened mine to see the details of our mission. “Brief with Captain Hiller in thirty.”
I scanned the documents in the folder, and my focus turned to my job. Distractions could get me and/or my teammates killed.
* * *
“What the fuck happened?”I shouted as I stormed into the safe house. This had been a straightforward extraction that should have been done in a week, two at the most. Now we’d lost the target, and we’d have to regroup while I dug around for the asshole’s new location.
“They knew we were coming,” Stirling growled.
Kade, an Ensign who specialized in interrogation techniques, slammed his hand against a wall. “Fucking informant tipped them off,” he snarled. “The whole thing was a Charlie Foxtrot from the beginning.”
I swore and stomped over to my computer setup. It had taken me a week of digging and hacking just to locate where the target was holed up. Once our local informant had confirmed it and I’d scouted out the security in person before tapping into it from the base, I’d set up at the safe house.
Getting in and out of places was my area of expertise, so I’d remained at a distance with my laptop, watching my team’s six and manipulating the security system. Then everything went dark, and the team ran out seconds before the place blew.
Huntley burst into the room, looking mad as hell. “We lose anybody?” He’d been leading the small contingent who’d gone in for the snatch and grab.
Stirling shook his head. “Gunther took some shrapnel to the shoulder, but it wasn’t critical. Cash took him to the medic at the nearest base. He’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
I grunted and turned to my equipment, tuning out everything around me. I was pissed as fuck that we’d be delayed in returning home. I’d been doing my best to keep an eye on Piper through hospital security and the system I'd installed in her house the day before I left, but we’d gone dark three days ago, and I was feeling anxious. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off with her. Her expression had grown more pensive as the days passed, and she’d lost the spring in her step. The only thing that gave me any peace was knowing Merrick had promised to watch out for her.
I put every bit of my energy into finding the man we were after for the next three days until he finally popped on my radar.
“We do this without help on the ground this time,” I told the five men prepping to move on the target. “Kade checked it out earlier, so we can trust the intel I gave you.”
Four hours later, we had our man. Cash and Stirling left to meet up with a team who would take the target to a black site while the rest of us cleared out of the safe house.
A transport was headed back to Coronado in two hours, and I fully intended to be on that plane. It was time to go get my girl. The next time I had to leave, she’d have my ring on her finger and my last name.
7
Piper
“Are you doing okay?”
My head jerked up at Cindy’s question. I’d been so wrapped up in my thoughts that I hadn’t noticed anyone was near.
“Yup, I’m good.” My answer was automatic, and when I realized it didn’t sound very convincing, I forced my lips into a smile.
My charge nurse didn’t buy it, though. Her eyes narrowed as she scanned my face. “It’s a good thing you have the next four days off. You look exhausted.”
That was a fair assessment since I hadn’t slept much over the past couple of weeks. My bed felt empty without Deacon in it. I’d only had a week with him before he had to leave, but he’d somehow wormed his way into my heart so much that I missed him every day. He was my first thought when I woke up and the last thing on my mind when I fell asleep.
As though she could hear my thoughts, Cindy pointed at me and ordered, “And if your new man comes back to town, don’t let him keep you up all night long. You need to sleep.”
