Ellory’s stare snagged on his, and in those vivid blue depths, he found that he wanted to stop living like a man already half buried.
* * * * *
Ellory spent most of her life earning her place. First, finding her “tribe” in school settings, then years clawing up every rung of her career until no one could question her being there.
She had earned her place in rooms like this one, filled with screens and men who were used to being in charge. She learned that she didn’t need to yell louder than the other kids on the playground. She simply outworked them, outthought them and outlasted them.
Which was why it irritated her beyond reason that one man standing too close undid her composure in mere heartbeats.
Ash hadn’t spoken a word to her since she entered the war room hours before. But his presence charged her system like static in the air before a storm.
She felt him before she saw him.
Knew when he shifted his weight.
Knew when his attention swung to her.
Not being in control of herself was throwing her off.
When Sophie informed her that Ash was in charge of the op, Ellory’s gaze found him immediately. But he was as unreadable as ever—self-possessed, closed off—giving nothing away.
The men crowded around the table in full gear that rustled with every shift in their posture. Con gave final orders, and the men broke away. Chickie strode out first, followed by a few others. When Opal walked straight up to Sinner and wrapped her arms around him, Ellory realized the SEALs were rushing out to take leave of the women they loved.
Sinner’s hand slid up Opal’s spine, anchoring her against him for a moment so touching that Ellory had to pull her gaze away.
Blinking at the screen she was pretending to focus on, she marveled over how it happened. The Blackout team wasn’t supposed to get close to anyone. When they joined, they severed ties with their pasts—their families, friends and everyone else.
But these men had forged new ties, not only with each other, but they’d created a family with the women they loved.
She darted a glance at Opal again. She and Ellory were similar in a lot of ways. Opal was driven to succeed and prove herself, and Ellory fought just as hard for her place.
Now Opal stood in the center of the room with everything Ellory once told herself she didn’t need. Not just her career and respect, but a man who looked at her like she was the one thing he would never gamble with.
Maybe I can have that too.
She felt heat stroke along the side of her face. Without turning her head, she knew Ash’s stare was riveted on her.
The path of her thoughts, coupled with her awareness of Angelo Ash, sent romantic images flipping through her mind.
Then Ash stepped up beside her, and any calm she’d built since their last kiss splintered. He didn’t touch her, but he stood close enough that she felt the heat of him through the thin fabric of her borrowed blouse.
“You find anything new?” His rough tone slipped to a place low and private inside her.
“No.” Her own voice was too breathless.
His shoulder came within a micro-inch of hers as he leaned in to study the screen, and the scent of him—clean soap layered over something darker and undeniably male—left what remained of her concentration in tatters.
Instead, she remembered his arms around her, the solid press of his chest as he supported her after that man tried to gun her down.
The way he had shielded her without thinking.
Her pulse tripled.
“You’re blocking the screen.”
He glanced at her, the corner of his hard lips lifting in something not quite a smile. “Am I?”
God, thoselips.She couldn’t even convince herself that he had halitosis along with body odoranda hairy ass because she knew he tasted like spearmint.
