“Yup.” He accepted his phone back. “Chandler’s the one that gave me that information,” he added as the door opened and Reed entered. The man looked pissed.
“Hollis has arranged for us to fly out of Denver on her Boeing 747 that she apparently owns. One of three, actually,” Reed let us know.
“At least it’s a jumbo jet, since my sister can’t handle small planes.”
“Chandler okayed this?” I asked in surprise. “He’s allowing her to hijack the mission?”
“Join. Support. Followourlead.” Reed brought the phone back to his ear. “Right?” He huffed out a low, anguished noise while grimacing. “She’s also secured our invitations to the auction. I don’t even want to know how. Don’t care.”
The man really couldn’t stand this woman, which was saying a lot.
“Yeah, I hear you. Got it,” he said into the phone before taking a deep breath. “She has another team that’ll be meeting us in New Zealand for backup, too. Approved by Chandler.”
“Yeah, well, this just took an interesting turn,” I said as he ended the call just as Audrey came up behind him to join us in my bedroom.
It was getting a little crowded in here. Perhaps the guys needed to leave. She could stay. Problem solved.Fuck. No.What happened toafter? To waiting. To giving her time and space to think, breathe, and ensure she and Trevor didn’t belong together?
“What’d I miss?” Her blue-green gaze journeyed around the room, landing on me last as she pulled the side of her lip between her teeth.
Mrs. Rodriguez. Wife. Mother of my future child.Yeah, that’s where my head was currently. In that dangerous, dangerous place of hope. I am so screwed.
I cleared my throat, trying to remember I’d negotiated with terrorists before. Taken back a hijacked ship from literal pirates. And survived walking in on my parents “doing the tango in bed,” as they’d called it when I was ten.
So, you know, I could survive another few days with this woman without wanting to pull that lip betweenmyteeth instead.
I blinked my way over to Delta One, realizing words were being spoken and I’d been so busy staring at his sister’s mouth that I hadn’t heard a single one. “Who’s going where?”
Ryder shot me a funny look, reading me loud and clear, I was mentally hedging on FUBAR status right now. He jerked his chin like a command. An order to focus up.
Roger that.
“Chase and Trevor are going to be transported by way of a military escort to Buckley. They’ll stay on base there while we’re in New Zealand.” Ryder clued me in on the exchange. “Echo Team’s on their way to Colorado. Echo Four and his wife won’t be joining; they’re stuck in New York. But the other four will be picking up Rhett and Eden when they land and taking them to the base, too. Chandler wants to have his own people question Rhett. I don’t think Chandler wants Beau knowing much about this.”
“Classified. True,” I remarked in a low voice, doing my best to refrain from looking at Audrey so I could stay on mission.
“At least I know Chase will be on a military base while we’re gone. Can’t get much safer than that, I suppose,” she whispered.
“Something tells me Trevor will agree with that and want to join Echo Team as their fifth when they fly to New Zealand to meet up with us,” Ryder said steadily, eyeing his sister to get a read on how she’d handle that.
“Will Hobbs tricked Trevor into thinking he was joining Bravo before, and he risked his life for that. Then he turned down Charlie Team because of it. Now? He might actually work with Echo ...” Her voice trailed off, leaving us with a nonanswer on her opinion about him rolling with us down there.
“Musical SEAL chairs,” Reed joked, earning himself a death stare from Ryder and me. “Told you I wasn’t funny,” he said to Audrey. “Sorry.”
She patted his arm. “You’re funny to me, don’t worry.”
I had no choice but to look at her again.I basically told you I want to marry you over text, didn’t I?
“I should pack, then.” She tipped her head toward the door, letting us know she was about to leave. “Just need one bag, I guess. We’re not going too long.”
I stepped forward, and the words fell from my mouth before I could make sense of what I was saying: “Which bag?”
She slowly turned to the side, glancing at me, and my heart slammed against my rib cage as I waited for her to respond. Like her bag choice—the one I packed or his—might be a clue as to where her heart was. Getting back with Trevor. Or trying out a future with me.
Crazy. It was crazy to think this way. To hope.
But then she met my eyes and, in a steady voice, answered, “Rosa.” Her eyes narrowed, almost appearing glossy as she whispered, “I choose pink.”
Chapter Forty-Two
