“I’ll cut it,” I say, my voice sounding distant to my ears.
His hands brace against my hips, warm fingers pressed against the fabric he covered in mud.
I can do this.
“I never knew what love felt like,” I tell him, voice raspy, a pain in the center of my body. “It’s amazing.”
“Yes it is.” He looks me in the eyes. “This is not the end, Jade.”
God. I love how sure he sounds. A tear escapes against my will and he catches it with the calloused pad of his thumb.
“Okay. Okay. I’m good,” I breathe. “We need to get moving.”
The pliers glint in the light. I slip one side of the slender tool below the wire.
Three. Two. One.
Click.
“Oh, thank god.” I sag against him. “We didn’t blow up.”
He chuckles into my hair. “You’d make a great EOD team member.”
“What’s that?”
“People who diffuse and dispose of bombs.”
“No thank you.”
I’m truthfully about to pee myself, I was so freaking scared. But he’s already in motion, dragging me toward the shelf.
“Lose the dress. Put these on. I want your legs covered.”
He passes me a pair of heavy canvas pants. I shuck off my dress and catch him staring.
My face heats as I quickly shove one leg in, shoe and all. And do the second. The waist has to be rolled down twice and the cuffs rolled up.
When I put his T-shirt back on again he rumbles, “I’m sorry you’re caught in this bullshit.”
I tie the shirt in a knot, not looking away from his eyes. “We’ll just have to make more memories to drown this one out, okay?”
A powerful emotion overcomes his expression. Warmth.Maybeadmiration? Whatever it is, the feeling slides right inside of me, heating up my heart.
God, I hope we live, because I want it all with Ryker.
“You got it. Next time you’re in my shirt, I want you at my house in nothing else,” his voice drops lower. “Sitting on the counter, distracting me while I cook breakfast for you after keeping you awake all night.”
My hands still as I picture his house. Feeling a tug in the center of my stomach I whisper, “I’d like that.”
Tearing his gaze away, Ryker clears his throat.
“I can’t think about that right now. We need supplies, toss some in that empty backpack. I’m gonna take care of those collars and try my damndest not to think about burning breakfast because I can’t keep my hands off you.”
Oof.
Apparently I can’t keep from thinking about that too. All my nerves sizzle. We’re in the middle of a freaking nightmare and my nipples are tingling.
Girl. Get a grip.
