Bailee scanned the rows, heart sinking. Packed. Every seat taken. Except one.
Right next to Bear.
Of course.
He sat solid in the narrow seat, broad shoulders crowding the space, K9 crate wedged against his boots where Flint’s low whuff vibrated through the deck. He didn’t look up, didn’t move, just radiated that impenetrable calm, like he could ride a hurricane in silence.
Her stomach tightened. Damn, how long was this flight, and was she expected to make small talk with him? The thought of that sucked. She hated small talk. Bear didn’t seem the type to enjoy it either, so maybe that tall, silent thing he had going would save her.
Except it didn’t.
Why couldn’t she just get past it? Why did his nearness twist her nerves into knots when she’d faced down warlords without blinking?
He discombobulates you, Bailee, she told herself. You’re powerless to counteract it.
“Move it, CIA,” one of the crew growled, jerking a thumb at the empty spot. “You’re holding up the bird.”
She clenched her jaw, slid past knees and gear, took the friggin’ seat, pulled her laptop from her bag, and fired it up like the roar of engines and the weight of him beside her didn’t exist. Work. Pretend. Ignore.
But she should’ve known better.
His heat hit her immediately, thigh brushing hers, their arms a breath apart.
Don’t react. Don’t feel it. Pretend control isn’t an illusion.
Bear’s low voice rumbled over the drone of the C-130. “We just finished a forty-eight-hour op. Don’t tell me you’ve got work to do now.”
She didn’t look at him. “I have reports to write, intel to read and analyze for anything actionable. As you know, the world doesn’t rest. Criminals and terrorists are always on the move.” Her fingers flew over the keys, sharp, precise. Then, before she could stop herself, the tease slipped free. “But you go ahead and get your winks in. You could use the beauty sleep.”
D-Day leaned forward, wedged between Blitz and Zorro, grin wide, eyes dancing. “She ain’t wrong, big man.”
Of course she was wrong. It was nothing but a way to get a response out of him.
Bear didn’t even blink. “You aren’t exactly supermodel material, D.”
Of course, he was wrong. D-Day…his whole team was overwhelming in the looks department. The laughter that rippled down the row eased the tension everywhere but in her chest. Bear hadn’t smiled. He hadn’t softened. He’d just answered in that steady monotone, unruffled, unknowable. Damn if that didn’t discombobulate her more than a grin ever could.
Flint’s nails scratched softly against the crate. Bear reached down, brushed his fingers along the mesh, and Bailee’s pulse betrayed her, thudding hard at the tenderness of it.
The engines thundered, the bird shuddered into the sky, and Bailee sat locked in silence beside the man who undid her with nothing but breathing.
Buck snorted. “Goddamn me, Bear, you still look fresh as a daisy.”
Blitz leaned in with a grin. “Yup. With those rugged looks, I’m sure you could walk that runway like a boss, make all those New York women want a piece of our Native American warrior. Just a vest, camo pants, and boom, we’ve got ourselves a fashion show.”
Bear didn’t even tilt his head. “Blitz, your imagination astounds me.”
Zorro chimed in without missing a beat. “He’d rock it. Camo would become the new black.”
The laugh broke out of her before she could stop it, sharp, startled, real. She clamped her mouth shut, heat crawling up her neck.
Then she realized he was looking at her.
That prickle of embarrassment bloomed into a blush, hot and traitorous. It wasn’t a mocking stare, not even curious, just steady, as if he were absorbing her joy, soaking it in like it belonged to him. Her nerves fired in a rush, and she jerked her gaze down, desperate to escape that probing silence.
Bad idea.
Her eyes snagged on his hand, broad, capable, steady where it rested on his thigh. The smooth skin of his forearm, the sleeves of his cotton shirt rolled back to reveal corded muscle. God, why were forearms so sexy? Male eye candy, a line that drew her gaze helplessly up the rounded biceps, to the heavy breadth of his shoulder. Heat suffused her, treacherous and swift.
