“Ellie Lucas.” The other brunette greeted her next.
Kaamisha thought back to something Cassie had previously shared. “You’re the best friend who’s also a lawyer.” She took the woman’s offered hand.
After a sideways glance in Cassie’s direction, Lucky’s pretty wife nodded. “Guilty as charged.”
“I was just letting Kam know that the guys filled us in on everything that’s happened.” Archer’s wife looked at herthree friends. “I also told her that I don’t believe she had anything to do with what happened to them.”
“I agree.” Scottie smiled.
But Kaamisha couldn’t help but question why. “I must admit, I don’t understand why you’re being so nice to me. I’m not sure I’d be so trusting if I were in your shoes.”
“You’re literally in my shoes.” Cassie smiled with a humor-filled twinkle in her eyes. “And the fact that our husbands brought you here, into my home, tells me they must trust you on some level, as well.”
“She’s right.” Natalie nodded. “I’m not sure if you’re aware, but the teammate they lost on that mountain back when they were still SEALs…he was my husband.”
“Hunter.” Kaamisha said the poor man’s name. “I’m very sorry for your loss.”
“I hope you mean that.”
“To the depths of my heart.” She met their seeking stares. “I don’t know why any of this has happened or how I got pulled into whatever this madness is. But I swear to you all, I’ve never hurt another living soul, nor have I ever been a part of an act of terror or any other form of violent behavior.”
She glanced around at the small group of women who were clearly as protective as they were supportive of their men. Relief struck when they all seemed to accept what she’d said as the truth.
“That’s what we were hoping to hear.” Natalie met her gaze once more.
“And now that we got that out of the way…” Scottie turned and started for the door. “Come on. There’s enough food downstairs to feed a small army, and I, for one, do not want to take any of it home.”
Van watched Kam closely,his gaze unable to keep from following her every move. She was inside eating and talking with the girls, and, from what he could tell, they were getting along just fine.
Speaking of fine…
No longer hidden beneath layers of her stained and torn dress, he could easily see every one of the woman’s mouthwatering curves.
The jeans she’d borrowed hugged her tightly in all the right places. The white t-shirt was tucked in, showcasing her narrowed waist and a set of perfectly proportioned breasts. And her hair…
His fingers inadvertently twitched at his sides with the urge to feel the thick strands of long, black silk.
The woman was truly a vision. Exotic, intriguing, and sexy as hell. And though in his gut, he was leaning toward her being as innocent as she claimed, the question still remained as to whether she was really a killer.
“How’s the head?” Lucky asked from where he stood at Van’s side. With his back resting against the back deck’s wooden railing, he took a sip from the bottle of beer in his hand.
“It’s fine,” Van answered for what felt like the millionth time, his focus remaining locked on the mysterious woman inside with the others.
He knew Lucky and the others were worried about his well-being, but aside from the cut on his scalp and a headache—which was finally beginning to subside—he really was okay.
“Hayes said you and Kam had a pretty good chat just before the jet’s…less-than-stellar landing.”
“We did.”
“So…” The team’s tech genius prodded, motioning toward the woman they were watching from this side of the deck’s French doors. “What did you talk about?”
“I asked her about Akimi,” Van told his teammate what Kam had said about receiving a phone call from a stranger with instructions to meet.
“And?” Lucky took another sip and swallowed.
“She said she got there minutes before he took his last breath.”
“Akimi give her anything useful before he died?”
