“We were doing a routine sweep in a village we’d been to dozens of times. The place was remote, but so was pretty much everything else we saw in the desert. There were no signs of a threat. We knew the village by heart. Every dwelling, every road. Everything was good to go. Business as usual.”
Air like an oven, almost too hot to breathe…sunlight slashing past the glassless windows in the mud-brick walls, throwing patterns on the dirt floors…
Everything had seemed so fucking normal. Right up until it wasn’t.
Devon cleared his throat. “A lot of times, insurgents hide in plain sight, blending in with the friendlies so they can get close to U.S. soldiers. They don’t discriminate. Women, the elderly, kids. The insurgents would strong-arm anyone if it meant getting close enough to hurt us, which is why we swept the places pretty regularly. Part of our job was to keep the friendlies safe.”
Inhale. Exhale. Get the story out. “Kellan and I paired off to check one of the dwellings in the village. The locals used the place as a school of sorts.”
“Oh, my God. Were there kids inside?” Kylie whispered, but he read the fear in her eyes and shook his head. At least he could reassure her of one good thing.
“No,” he said, and Kylie’s relief-tinged breath out was warm as it coasted over his cheek. “The school was nearly empty. That wasn’t totally unusual because it was a little late in the day. One of the local men who taught the kids was there, though. He greeted us, invited us in, then left. I checked the back room, and everything looked solid.”
Guilt and regret flooded Devon’s veins, making his hands shake at his sides. But rather than shy away from the story that she had to know had no happy ending, Kylie laced her fingers through his, holding strong.
“Everything wasn’t okay, though, was it?”
“No. There was a hostile who’d been hiding in the back. I swear, I never saw any sign of him. He grabbed me from behind and put a gun to my head. Then he said something I’ll never forget.”
The cold pressure of steel against his sweat-slicked temple…the steady, evil voice sliding from Devon’s ear to the center of his chest, so clear and so deadly, he could still hear every syllable, every inflection…
If you move, I will kill your friend. It won’t be fast. You’ll watch him die screaming, and then I’ll kill you just as slowly. Your men will come running, and they too will die. All of you will die today.
Kylie sucked in a breath, and only then did Devon realize he’d relayed the man’s threat out loud.
“So, what did you do?” she asked, her tone wobbly despite what looked like a Grade-A effort to stay steady.
“I didn’t do anything,” Devon said past the pounding of his heart against his rib cage. “Kellan shot the guy dead without so much as blinking. He saved both our lives—all our lives—and all I did was stand there.”
Kylie’s lips parted. “Devon, you were being held at gunpoint. Of course, you just stood there. If you’d fought back, that man would’ve killed you.” Abruptly, understanding lit like a switch in her eyes. “You blame yourself for that ambush, don’t you? You think it was your fault you and Kellan were in harm’s way.”
He took a step back on the carpet, his frustration going from a simmer to a boil. “Of course, it was my fault. I did the sweep! There had to have been a sign, something I missed somewhere.” Devon had been over that day so many times, the details were permanently etched in his memory.
“There wasn’t,” Kylie said, pinning him with a stare that cut off the protest she must’ve seen brewing in his expression. “You’re meticulous to a fault. If that insurgent had left even the slightest hint he was there waiting, you’d have seen it.”
Funny, Kellan had said the same thing, over and over. Still… “I risked every one of my teammate’s lives that day, including your brother’s. I don’t deserve his trust, or yours.”
“And yet you have it from both of us.”
Her words startled Devon so thoroughly that all he could do was gape like a Neanderthal while she continued. “I know I’ll never forget how terrified I was when Fagan put that gun to my head, and I can only imagine how much worse it was for you, with that threat extending to other people you cared about. But the man to blame died in that village. He’s the bad guy. Not you.”
Kylie let go of his hands, her palms coasting up to frame his face, and Christ, when she looked at him like that, he wanted so badly to believe her. “I should’ve seen him. I?—”
“There was nothing to see.”
“How can you be so sure?” he asked, the words little more than a hoarse whisper in the quiet motel room.
“Because you keep me steady when all I want to do is fall apart. You’re calm and smart and sure, and I know in my heart you’d do anything to keep me safe.” Her arms slipped around him, and Christ, no one had ever felt so good there, so right. “I don’t just trust you, Devon. I need you. No matter what happened in the past, or what happens after today, I only need you.”
9
Kylie lifted her mouth to Devon’s without hesitation. She might not know how to convince him he was worthy, or if she could come up with any words that could accurately describe how she felt in this moment. But the guilt pouring out of him nearly gutted her, and she had to do something—anything—to show him what she knew by heart.
Devon would keep her safe. He would keep her steady.
Kylie trusted him with her life.
His arms wrapped around her in a flash. Returning the soft press of her lips with a desperate bid for more, he quickly took the kiss from a whisper to a scream. Devon parted her mouth, searching and taking with his tongue, his lips pushed so hard over hers that she ached. But the more urgent he got, the more Kylie gave back, her tongue sliding over his, diving deep before retreating to let him have control.
