Face flushed, every nerve alive, she stared back. Shocked. When had she ever experiencedthat?
“This … This is trouble,” he said, his voice husky.
She swallowed, covering her mouth. Still living that kiss. Smiled.
He shook his head. “I need air.”
She snorted. “We’re on the roof.”
But he went inside. Left her there.
Left her.
Alone.
Like everyone else.
After all she’d just offered. Not intimacy, though she had never kissed or been kissed like that—a shared passion. But … herself. The real her.
* * *
What in Sam Hill had he been thinking?
Range paced his bedroom, hands clasped behind his thick skull. That kiss had pulled out all the stops in their relationship. He’d never felt anything like that. Ever. It was like getting caught in a riptide. Yanked out to sea, drowning. Drowning in passion and a ... deepness. A connection.
“No, no,” he gritted out, turning toward the window and closing his eyes. There was only one place a kiss like that led. And it couldn’t. Wouldn’t. Ever.
Yet he had weeks more to spend with her to get her out of the country, through Pakistan, down to the gulf. Should he risk them catching a flight in Pakistan instead? Speed things up in getting back?
Heck yes.
No, that was panic, desperation talking. No need to pile mistakes on top of mistakes. How had he’d gotten so far from “she’s a monster” to …this?
They needed to get moving. Idle hands made for trouble. He stalked out of the room and found Zaki. The man did not look up.
“Where are we on the documents?”
“I told you tomorrow,” Zaki said, words and mouth tight.
Range hesitated. Was something wrong? Eh, didn’t care. Time to get back to business. “Is there somewhere I can pick up supplies and disposable phones?”
Zaki gave him a furtive glance. “What supplies?”
The guy was upset about something, but Range was done playing nice. “Standard—protein bars, medkit, thermal blankets. I’d like some ammunition, but that might be a stre—”
“Caliber?”
Seriously?
“Come.” Zaki motioned him to follow. They wound out of the house and across the carport into the second structure, which held another complete house with a greasy, spicy smell. “Moor, just coming through,” he shouted to his mother as they wound to the left, ducked through a door and down a set of stairs.
Light erupted below, tempting him deeper into this hidden madness. Cursing himself for leaving his Sig, he snagged his KA-BAR and held the blade along his wrist and forearm.
He heard a beeping—was that a detonation timer or a security pad? Then a buzz from somewhere that sounded … distant.
Feet shuffled back to him and Zaki peered around the corner. “Come, come.”
Range joined him and found a stone wall with a reinforced steel door partially ajar. Unsettled at this new aspect to the seemingly innocuous man who had betrayed his childhood sweetheart, Range slipped through the opening.
