AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s why I knew you wouldn’t drown. You had to come to save me.”
His features tightened, and she saw what it meant to him in his piercing green eyes.
He kissed the top of her head, wrapping his arms around her for more heat, so comfortable in his lap. He murmured, “You sure have a lot of faith in me, babe.”
She buried her face in his neck. “I’m here with you. So, the proof is in the pudding.”
His shoulders worked with a deep chuckle, and he looked deeply in her eyes. “Your new nickname is pudding.”
“No,” she said vehemently, but secretly, she would let him call her anything he pleased. His big hands swallowed hers, warming them even more. And for the ride to safety, he never let her go.
* * *
Bree openedher eyes and saw soft light spilling over Blitz. He was slumped in a chair beside the bed, his hand on the bedcovers. The Brits had insisted that she go to the hospital and get checked over. Zorro was heading there anyway.
Outside the window, she could hear an ambulance sound its siren in the busy streets of London.
She shifted to her side and simply watched him sleep. He wore his uniform, still in his tack vest. Her gaze traveled over the swarthy skin any woman would envy and the sexy stubble dusting his jaw.
Her gaze traveled down his body, remembering every muscle, his big hands and the familiar feel of them on her skin, yet it wasn’t just her body that recognized him, it was her soul.
As if sensing her, he opened his eyes. The smoky darkness sent a dagger of something delicious through her.
Her bedside phone rang, and he reached for it. Set it to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Bree! It’s so good to hear your voice,” Gavin said. It was as if he’d thrown cold water on her and she was freezing all over again, reality intruding. “Bravo, my friend. You have accomplished your task and then some. We’re all proud of you here.”
“How are Greg and the guys?”
“Mending well and getting antsy. The guys are all jealous they weren’t there to help out.” He chuckled. “You can see for yourself when you get back to DC. The bureau booked you a flight heading out of Heathrow at eleven p.m. tonight. Come see me when you land. We have a lot to discuss.”
God, that hurt, and the pain rushed through her with blinding force, crushing her chest.
“By the look on your face, I’d say you’re heading home.”
She told him about the flight. He looked crestfallen as he sat on the bed. She could hear him swallow hard. “We’re heading out tonight, too, but on the Globemaster.”
“Back to San Diego.”
He nodded, and she sighed. “I can’t believe the embassy has been closed and Niger now joins Mali and Burkina Faso under Junta rule. I feel bad for those people who are caught in that never-ending cycle of poverty and terrorism. My heart breaks for them.”
“At least AAL is broken with Achebe dead. Who knows if they’ll reform.” He took her hands in his, looking as if he wanted to say so much more. “I heard from Gator that Anya was pretty badly beaten, her nose broken. You?”
She pointed at herself and nodded. “Me. She deserved an ass-kicking, and I don’t work the bags and pump iron for nothing. I knocked her out. Leonid Olenska tied me up into a position that he hoped would choke me to death. Instead, I got out of it and he was the one who died by those cords and my hand. He got what he deserved.”
“Hmm, I’m going to have to rethink that pudding nickname.”
She laughed softly.
Joker stuck his head in. “Zorro’s being released. We’re heading out.”
He nodded and they stared at each other for a moment. She could see the awful tension in him. Her vision blurring with the enormity of her feelings, Bree said his name. His head came up and she got a good look at his face. Seeing the agony in his eyes, she simply reacted.
Her voice catching on a sob, she said his name again, then grabbed him, his agony hers.
Blitz crushed her in a hard, fierce embrace, his hand roughly tangling in her loose hair.
