"We should take a break. In there, we'd be protected. You could get some sleep and let your leg rest."
She nodded. “I hate slowing us down, but I need a break.”
"We're going as fast as we need to go. I've left a few marks along the way, telling my buddies where they can find us. If it's safe up there, we'll be rescued."
Ansley nodded, but she’d been so out of it she hadn’t seen him leave the marks. She would just have to accept that his team would find them. She settled on the floor, sighing as she closed her eyes and rested her head against the wall. When those jerks had taken her from the room, they’d been intent on destroying her. But now, she was with Link and safe. This was going better than she’d expected. Hopefully, they would be reunited with his buddies soon.
Chapter 6
Link watched Ansley sleep.Maybe he shouldn't have invited her to the beach condo, but spending time with her was refreshing. He'd never felt this way on a mission. It was a little worrisome, but they weren't in danger, not the imminent kind, but still, he needed to keep his head on straight.
If he hadn’t lost coms, he would have been in contact with his team. He trusted them to finish the mission and get to safety before they came looking for him.
If more than forty-eight hours passed, he would find his way to a safe place and contact operational support by whatever means he could find. They would survive, he would make sure of it. For now, he needed to rest.
Ansley mumbled something in her sleep, but it didn't sound English. Interesting, she spoke other languages. Link closed his eyes, clearing his mind so he could get some sleep. If he heard a noise in the tunnel, he would wake. His training had taught him how to regulate how deep he allowed his sleep to get.
When he finally opened his eyes, Ansley was still sleeping. He guessed he'd gotten about three hours of sleep based on how he felt.
They needed to move soon. First, he needed to eat something. The orange sounded good. He had it half peeled when Ansley woke.
The confused look on her face was cute and made him warm. Both of her arms shot up, and then she winced.
“Ouch.”
“Yeah, I bet that hurts.”
She grunted and rolled her shoulders. “How are you?”
“A little stiff. I’m good. You should eat.”
“Need to pee.”
He lifted his chin. “I can keep watch in the hall.”
He stood and helped her up. Her gaze met his, and she didn’t look away.
“This sucks, having to piss in the hall like this.”
“It does, but it’s temporary.”
He checked out the path down one of the side halls and then stepped back so she would have some privacy.
“It’s all yours.”
Ansley rolledher eyes as she limped past Link. This was embarrassing, but she’d done this many times before on missions. Her embarrassment was amplified because she was doing this in front of Link.
How had she gotten herself in this situation? Being attracted to a guy on a mission was deadly. But she wasn’t supposed to be on a mission with Link. This was one of those weird anomalies where she ended up with someone she never would have met otherwise, and the man was very sexy.
After she finished and stood, she leaned against the wall as she pulled up her pants. The pain in her leg wasn’t getting better. It was actually much worse.
“Hey, you okay down there?”
“Yeah.” She glanced down and stepped around the mess on the floor, wishing she didn’t have to deal with the reality of her body in front of Link.
It was weird how women were expected to be nearly perfect to be considered desirable. Women were humans and their bodies had human bodily functions. She’d been shocked by how many young male recruits in boot camp had no idea women farted or threw up. She guessed they’d never been close enough to a woman to understand that women’s bodies were like men’s bodies in many ways.
But taking a piss in front of Link had her cheeks heating. She should push thoughts of Link being interested in her out of her mind. There was no way someone like Link wanted a relationship with her. She wasn’t model cute, or even close to what most men thought was sexy. Though fit, being a Marine didn’t lend to being desirable in a way most men thought was desirable.
