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That intelligence that drew him to her from the get-go sparked in the depths of her eyes. “I guess I enjoy unraveling things that other people missed.”
“You’re a thrill-seeker.”
“Not in that way. Well… maybe I do like the danger in some ways.” She propped her chin on her flattened hand. “You’re the same. What you do.”
“I serve my country.”
“But you’re known for hand-to-hand combat. I’ve read your file.”
“All of it?” He gave her a pointed look.
“Well, it is pretty thick. You’ve been on a lot of ops.”
“I’ve heard all the rumors—the ones that say I prefer to look my adversaries in the eyes when I take them out.”
She searched his stare. “So they’re wrong?”
“No.”
Her eyes flared in surprise.
“But I don’t do it because I get pleasure out of it. I do it so they know who is doling out justice and that there is no turning back.” Did it make him stone cold? At times. He killed to protect other people. But he wasn’t about to explain that to Alexia—she’d only think he was fabricating an alibi in order to shatter her belief that he killed Caden.
Protecting people and delivering justice were two very different things.
It might have been the driving force in Tripp for the first few weeks. Then he got a grip and only wanted to put his niece’s memory to rest.
“Was it difficult, leaving your SEAL team?” Alexia asked.
“Not really. You reach a point where you just know it’s time. I thought I’d have a civilian life for a while before I ran through my savings and got bored and some other opportunity would present itself. Turns out, it found me.”
“Colonel Jackson?”
Jackson gave direct orders to the MT Ops team, as well as many others in Operation Freedom Flag.
He traced the delicate bumps of her vertebrae. “I’m not surprised you know of him. Joining a special unit to fight corruption in these mountains was a new challenge I couldn’t turn down.”
When she pushed away from him and rolled off the bed, he stared at her in surprise. “What are you doing?”
“Our pillow-talk is over, Bryson.” Her lithe body moved with easy grace as she searched for her clothes on the floor.
He contained his laugh at her unpredictable, unexpected reactions. He had a feeling that spending another month in that Humvee and in hotel rooms wouldn’t tell him everything about her and she’d still be surprising him.
She yanked her top over her head and then fluffed her hair from the collar. Her stare locked on his. “And you’d better not snore tonight or you’ll find a pillow over your face.”
“Damn, woman. I just gave you two screaming orgasms and you threaten me with bodily harm.” He shook his head. “Iknewyou were cold.”
“Wakey-wakey.”
Alexia groaned. “I must be having a nightmare.”
That low, sexy chuckle was the stuff of dreams to other women. To Alexia right this minute, not so much.
The aroma of coffee wafted beneath her nose, and she opened her eyes to find Bryson holding out a paper cup.
“No more hotel coffee.” She buried her face in the pillow.
“At least give it a try. It’s better quality than that motel had.”
