Kate kept her pistol leveled at Ranger and got to her feet. He kept his hands lifted, seeming totally unphased by the fact that he could die if Kate’s finger so much as twitched. “That was a test, Kate, to see if you could handle a surprise attack.”
“A test? I could have killed you.” An evil part of her was tempted to fire the gun and see just how high he would jump.
“You wouldn't have done much harm with a fake gun,’Ranger lowered his hands and nodded toward the weapon.
Kate followed his gaze and zeroed in on the plastic mold of a pistol. “Crap.”
She’d completely failed to notice thatminordetail. Kate dropped the gun to her side and sighed. So much for her shining reputation as the best analyst ever produced by the CIA.
As if reading her mind, he said, “I didn’t expect you to realize it was fake. I wanted to see if you could handle the situation the way we expect and need from our Team members, and you did.”
“I think you're rusty, but with a little bit of training, you’ll be perfect." Grey strode around the table and held out his hand, "I'd like to offer you a position on the team for the mission."
“You’re both crazy, you know that right?”
“A small dose of crazy is good sometimes.” Grey kept his hand out, waiting on Kate to accept.
She sighed and shook his hand. “When do you need me to start?”
“Right now. Follow me and I’ll introduce you to your new co-workers.”
Grey sauntered down a short hallway and Kate took the moment to quickly straighten her jacket and check for wrinkles. She was about to meet her new co-workers and looking like a slob just wouldn’t do.
“You’re fine, most of these guys haven’t worn a suit a day in their life.”
Kate jumped and spun, having forgotten about Ranger bringing up the rear of their little group.
“Sorry, habit.” Kate forced her arms down to her sides and instead rubbed her ring. New people and a new job. She didn’t likenew.She wanted consistency and clarity.
Grey pulled open a door on the right and gestured Kate to precede him. She made it through the door and barelymanaged to hold back her gasp. Three things took her attention.
First: The room was filled with men. Big men with beards and black shirts and wicked looking tattoos. All but one of them were studying a blown up topographic map on the wall.
Second: The long table was a mess. Papers, photos and various other items lay scattered completely out of order. Her fingers itched to rearrange, instead, she curled the into her palm and kept her hands at her sides.
Third: A lone wolf with shaggy black hair and a look of utter boredom, leaned against the opposite wall with his massive arms crossed. A scorpion tattoo wrapped up his arm from his wrist and disappeared in his shirt sleeve. Awareness rolled down her spine.
She’d never seen a chest that wide. Or hips that lean.
Her skin tingled and she glanced up, freezing on the spot. His Nordic ice blue eyes bored holes straight to her soul.
She’d neverfelta look like that, like he was stripping her raw in the crowded room.
“Men, I want you to meet our female bodyguard.”
Blue-eyes gave her a once over and then his lip curled and he glanced away. Heat lit up her cheeks and Kate forced herself to focus on the other men in the room.
Ranger maneuvered her over to the group, hand sweeping around as he named the men. “This is my brother, Hunter. The twins, Hoyt and Jared.”
Who didn’t look like twins at all. Jared had black hair and Hoyt blonde, along with a large nasty looking scar that ran down the side of his face. A scar that perfectly matched the dead look in his eyes.
Ranger continued, “That’s Riser, Aaron and Cord.”
“Nice to meet you.” She was mentally making a note to go to her quarters and write down all their names.
“That guy pouting over there is Ethan.”
Kate avoided glancing back at Ethan, even though she felt it the minute his gaze fell on her again. He might as well be touching her she was so aware of him.
