"Your right," Hannah tapped her toe. "Sorry to bother you."
"Don't sweat it. I'm glad you’re taking precautions and staying safe. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you she was coming. Had a lot on my mind. I hate to say it, but I have to go. We’regetting ready to board."
"Oh, sorry.” Hannah felt bad for disturbing him. He needed to focus on his mission, not baby her. "I'll see you when you get back."
"I'm looking forward to it." His voice dropped an octave, and it went straight to her groin. Curse him for making her wet, and then he was gone. Hannah hung up and turned her focus to Cora. Now that Hannah knew she wasn’t a threat, she could relax. Hannah opened the door wider.
"Sorry about that. Would you like to come in?" Cora waved her words away and stepped in.
"Don't sweat it, your living with a Delta Force so I’d expect you to remain cautious." Hannahhad no ideawhat she was talking about. Delta Force? What was that?
Cora's smile died at the look of confusion on Hannah's face. "I gather you didn't know that and I said something I shouldn't have." Cora wrung her hands.
"I have no idea what you just said. What's a Delta Force?"
Cora looked around feeling uncomfortable. "Maybe you should wait for Ben to come back and explain."
"No," Hannah cringed at how forceful she spoke, but who said something like that and tried to make her wait for an explanation later. "Please," Hannah calmed her voice. "Will you explain? I don’t know when Ben will be back, and if I have to wait until he gets back to explain, I'll go mad." Hannah hated using Cora's good nature against her, but she was desperate to know what a Delta Force was.
Cora seemed to debate with herself if she should tell Hannah or not, but her good nature won out. Cora sighed heavily, sat down on the couch, and patted the seat next to her for Hannah to sit. "Ben is a Delta Force operative. His whole team is, and Ben is their leader."
"Okay, but I have no idea what a Delta Force is?"
"It's a super-secret branch of the military. They don't wear insignias or anything to draw notice they are military or what their rank is."
"If they're so secretive how do you know about them?"
Cora cringed and looked away. "I ah...I dated one, and he told me."
"Was it..." Hannah hated prying, but she needed to know. "Was it Ben?"
"No," Cora said almost offended. "No offense." Cora quickly stated, obviously knowing there was something between Hannah and Ben. "I was with Liam."
Hannah stared blankly at her not yet knowing the names of Ben's teammates.
"Sunshine," Cora supplied.
Hannah remembered him now. She met him when she was rescued but hadn’t seen him since. At first, he had seemed like an easy-going guy, but by the time it was decided she come to California with them, he disliked her, and she hadn’t seen him since they landed.
"I'm sorry to hear things didn’t work out."
Cora gave her a forced smile. "It's fine. Now, enough about me. Tell me about you."
Cora hadn't told her anything about herself, but she didn’t point that out. All she knew was that Cora was Ben's neighbor and used to date Sunshine. "There's not much to tell. I grew up in Portland, I have an older brother, and a younger one, they both live here in California."
"Do you live here in California too or visiting?" Cora seemed genuinely interested in the answer, but Hannah didn’t know how to answer it. Shehadn’t given muchthought to where she would live after she was rescued. She had planned to go back to Portland after this Alejandro business was resolved, but then what?
"Did I ask something wrong?" Cora looked at her confused.
"No, I just recently came back from overseas and met Ben and his team. He's letting me stay with him for a few weeks until I go home to my parents."
"Where were you at overseas, and how didyou meet them?"
Hannah just stared at Cora. What could she tell her? Obviously, the woman knew what Ben and his team did, but how could she tell a woman she just met that she had been kidnapped, sold to a sex slave, and Ben and his team rescued her two weeks ago?
“Sorry,” Cora said. “I tend to ask questions as they pop into my head. Feel free not to answer them. It’s a trait that runs in my family.”
“It’s fine,” Hannah reassured her and placed a hand over hers. “It’s just a long story and I don’t want to get into it.” Cora seemed nice but the less she knew about her, the better it would be. What if Alejandro’s men came looking for her? If Coradidn’t know anything, shewould be safe from them.
