“So, what exactly do you need to stop crying?”
If possible, her eyes grew even bigger and her mouth fell open. She stared at him like he was an alien or some creature from another planet.
Shit. He braced himself for the waterworks to go into high gear. Caroline sucked in a breath and then burst out laughing, wrapping her arms around her waist and bending over double.
Reaper was at her side instantly, grabbing her arms to lift her up straight. Had he pushed her over the edge of sanity somehow? “Caroline, take a deep breath. Just focus on my voice.” He couldn’t afford for her to lose it. Not yet, anyway. He sure as hell didn’t have the strength to carry her out of the jungle. She’d have to walk out on her bare feet.
Reaper frowned down at those cute little toes. How could he not have noticed before now that she didn’t have shoes? With all the unknowns crawling across the ground in this place, it was highly likely she’d cut herself and get a potentially deadly infection. Or step on a poisonous insect. Either scenario put her in danger.
But at the moment that wasn’t his immediate concern. She was still laughing and crying at the same time. She was definitely cracking up. Reaper grasped for something to say, anything that would calm her down. She’d expressed concern about her father, but he sure as hell couldn’t talk about her dad. That would definitely send her over the edge, and this was no time for mourning.
He didn’t know her well enough to know the things she liked and didn’t like. Hell, he hadn’t known she wouldn’t like seeing blood or severed body parts.
“Listen,” he said, “I vow on my life to get you out of here.” It was only the truth. He would give up his life to get her back to his team because that was the only way to ensure their continued existence. “We are not going to die in this jungle. Not today.”
Caroline shrugged free of his grip and wiped her eyes, her chuckles fading into soft hiccups. “Reaper, I know that. I trust you. I really just needed to vent some of my emotions.”
Emotions? Her emotions had exploded like a ticking truckload of C4. “So does that mean you’re better now?”
She grinned, and before he could stop her, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed the side of her face against the hollow in his chest. He froze in shock, his arms held out straight a few inches from his sides.
Caroline sighed, reached for his hands and placed them around her shoulders. “It’s called a hug. I’m not going to bite you.”
A glow of pleasure spiked through his system. She fit against him perfectly, the soft swell of her breasts pressed against his stomach and her tangled mop of blonde hair silky smooth.
Something like contentment fed him and he stood there a moment longer than he should have, enjoying her touch.
When she pulled away, there was a faint line of blood on the edge of her cheek where it had touched the trail streaming down part of his chest. In a trance, Reaper thumbed the stain smudging her skin. For that brief moment he let himself imagine he could let himself be weak. Let himself want her. Maybe this was how hope felt. And then the dull roar of engines gunning in the distance penetrated his senses and that fairytale was dashed instantly.
Reaper dropped his hand and Caroline grabbed it. He decided he would allow her that small weakness for now, anything that would get them moving and get them the hell out of this godforsaken jungle.
“They’re getting closer by the minute. I can hear the engines. We got to pick up the pace.”
Caroline tilted her head to the side, listening. “You’re right.” She swallowed, the muscles in her slim throat working. “They must be really close.”
Reaper froze, studying her worried expression for any hint of dishonesty. There was no way she could detect that sound that far out. It wasn’t possible unless . . .
Of course, Caroline would be able to detect sound that far out—her blood was the source of Reaper’s enhancements. She had probably been experiencing all of their symptoms since birth. Only she was less sensitized to them because she’d never known any different.
She’d been raised in the privileged life of a senator away from covert operations run by Jack Mankel. She’d been sheltered, coddled and probably given everything she had ever wanted or needed.
She was a princess.
And he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
The thought drove a spike of self-disgust through him. Even if he ever did allow himself to have a relationship, which he wouldn’t, it wouldn’t be with someone high and mighty like her. He’d need a woman who was rough around the edges, someone who could handle his . . . lifestyle. Not that he’d stay with anyone long enough for them to find out about what he did for a living.
But none of that mattered anyway. He was not interested in Caroline Cotter or her curvy body.
He was only interested in her for what she could do for him—and that was the same thing she’d done for Dr. Winters.
But if she really were enhanced like him, he’d have to tread carefully. The serum had amped upallof his men’s senses—and their exaggerated smell, sight, hearing, and touch had also helped them pick up on emotions in a heightened way. Lust. Fear. Like predators did in the wild.
If she was as adept at picking up on emotions as his teammate Thornton was, all Reaper had to do was let loose a bit of the soul-eating guilt that had been his constant companion since that day in the lab . . .
Reaper closed his eyes and thought back to that day when the bell had sounded and, like Pavlov’s dogs, his men had gone on a murderous rampage, killing every civilian insight.
Reaper too.
He’d never willingly taken out an innocent in his entire life. But that god-awful day he and the others had been transformed into monsters. Killing machines who weren’t their own masters. He hadn’t snapped again since then, but there were no guarantees he wouldn’t do it again. What if he snapped around Caroline?
Reaper rubbed his temples, the guilt-driven pain pounding through his veins. It was enough to take him to his knees. How could he have ever trusted the government with his men’s lives? How could he have failed everyone so spectacularly?
“Reaper, are you okay?” Caroline’s hesitant voice broke through the nightmares, and he cracked his lids to see her standing there, brows drawn together. She clearly wasn’t as adept at reading emotions as Thornton.
Reaper shoved his memories back, slamming them into the little box he’d made especially for them. Letting that beast out of its cage had served a purpose though—it’d severed any feelings he might’ve started having for Caroline Cotter. He couldn’t let his men be destroyed.
No matter what.
