“Yep. I can show you how to secure the connection.” Wren slides her computer closer with a quick glance up at me, and I press a kiss to the top of her head.
“Back to Popov.” As much as I’d like to lose myself in Wren’s body or spend the next few hours simply answering her questions—or maybe asking some of my own—we have a job to plan, and the sun’s already gone down. “You know where he is? Because I don’t think we want the real Popov showing up at the door while the two of you are inside.”
“Yep.” West pulls up a map. “He’s an hour away, in a little town called Roshchino.”
38
Wren
The tension in the room is about to send me fleeing back to the pile of sleeping bags in our little sanctuary, but Ryker has my hand clasped in a death grip.
“Promise me,” he whispers with his forehead pressed to mine, “you’ll stay close to Inara.”
“I promise. I’ll be fine. She brought almost as much firepower as you did.” I try for a smile, but Ryker pulls me into a tight embrace, and I swear I feel him shaking against me. “Ry, you can’t be at my side for the rest of my life.”
“Watch me.” His voice carries a rough edge, and suddenly I worry he’s serious.
“Ryker McCabe. I’m not helpless.” Jerking away, or trying to, I meet his gaze, and he releases me. “I love that you want to protect me. And most of the time, I’ll let you. But Inara isn’t going to let anything happen to me. And you and West will be back in a couple of hours.”
“I don’t know how to do this,” he whispers.
“Care?” At his nod, I cup his cheek. “You’re doing a good job. Just…relax a little, okay?”
He threads his fingers into my hair and pulls tight. The slight pinpricks of pain along my scalp make me feel alive, grounded, real, and I yield when his tongue traces the seam of my lips. The kiss is slow, sensual, and tender, so unlike the man he projects on the outside. I lose myself in the sensation, pleasure filling me all the way down to my toes. Until he sucks my bottom lip between his teeth, then pulls away.
“I have to gear up,” he says, his voice rough. “Will you…” Pain fills his gaze, and he stammers as he tries to get the words out. “I mean…if you’re here…I…”
“I’ll be in the bedroom. You need to focus on the mission.” I smile as relief washes over him. “I can read you, Ry. You don’t have to worry about asking for what you need. Just don’t shut me out.” With a quick peck to his lips, I head for our little oasis, though I don’t shut the door completely. I can still see him, his back to me, as he goes through his routine.
Patting down his pockets. Putting on his vest. Guns. Dart gun on the right, pistol on the left. Extra magazines. Knife. Compass. Earbud. With each item, he pauses, his head bowed, and touches its destination twice as if he’s cementing its location in his mind.
West sits cross-legged on the floor a few feet away, his eyes closed. Inara’s upside down in a headstand that would be the envy of yoga teachers everywhere. She’ll run comms while West and Ryker do the dirty work.
Ryker whispers to himself, and I can’t make out the words, but his hands move up and down his body as he goes, and I think he’s confirming, yet again, that he has everything he needs.
“Ready, Sampson?” he says when he’s done.
“Hooyah.” West rises in one fluid motion, in direct opposition to Inara’s descent from her headstand. “Comms check,” he says.
“Roger,” Inara replies as she moves to the table of computers. “Trackers on and transmitting. Romeo?”
“Check. Loud and clear. You see anything out of place on the satellite images—”
Inara snorts. “This isn’t my first trip around the sun, boys. Come back alive. With the target.”
As Ryker opens the door, and West heads for the car, he glances back and meets her gaze. “Hooah.”
* * *
“You can come out now, Wren,”Inara calls. “The boys are gone.”
“I won’t distract you?”
“Not right now. I’ll let you know when they’re getting close to Popov’s home. At that point, just keep quiet.” She offers me a tight smile and angles her head, indicating I should join her at the table. A few hours ago, Ryker found stools up in the attic, and I perch on one, my hands clasped in my lap.
“Why did West say ‘hooyah’ while Ryker said ‘hooah’?”
Inara huffs out a laugh. “Because there’s a long-standing rivalry between SEALs and Special Forces. ‘Hooyah’ is the battle-cry for the SEALs. ‘Hooah’ is for the army. Marines say ‘oorah.’”
