Breaking Away (Delta Force Strong #3) - Elle James Page 0,13

were much broader than when she’d known him so long ago. Hell, he was as sexy, if not sexier than he’d been back then. Yeah, it might be a bad idea to bring him in, but she did it anyway.

Mac knew better, but he went in anyway. He’d kissed her earlier, spinning up a whole slew of emotions he wasn’t ready to deal with. Being alone with Kylie in confined quarters was a recipe for danger to his heart.

He squared his shoulders. All he had to do was keep his hands off her. She had someone else already.

Mac waited for Kylie to sit on the cot. Because there was nowhere else to sit, he sat beside her. That’s when he spotted what she had in her hand.

“That’s mine,” he said.

She glanced at the photo with a smile. “Yeah, it fell out when I pulled your sleeping bag out of the duffel bag. Why do you still carry it?”

He shrugged. “It’s been my good luck charm. It’s gone with me on every deployment. I’m afraid if I leave it behind, something bad will happen.”

She smiled. “Since when did you become superstitious?”

“As many missions and battles as I’ve been in, you tend to get that way. The one time I didn’t bring it, I got shot in the arm.” He raised the corner of his T-shirt to show her the scar.

“Maybe you were lucky you didn’t bring it. Because if you had brought it, the bullet might’ve hit you in a much more lethal area,” Kylie suggested.

“No, because every other time I brought it, I never got shot.” He tipped his chin toward the photograph. “Remember that day?”

She nodded. “I remember.”

“Do you remember when the Ferris wheel got stuck at the top?” he asked. “That’s when we took that picture.”

She chuckled. “I remember we were up there for thirty minutes.”

He smiled down at the picture. “We got quite a bit of necking in during that thirty minutes up there.”

“Yes, we did,” she said. “Those were good times.”

“They were,” he agreed. “And we were so young. I was barely out of bootcamp, and you were still in college.”

“And look at us now,” she said with a wistful smile.

“And look at us now,” he said. “Sitting on a cot in Afghanistan, after being shot at by bullets and rockets.” It felt good to sit close to her.

Kylie leaned her back against the metal wall and closed her eyes. “It’s been a long day.”

Mac pulled her over to lean against him. “Go to sleep. It will be too soon before we’re heading out of here. You need some rest.”

Kylie peeked through her eyelids. “You do too.”

“I’ll close my eyes,” he said, “if you’ll close yours.”

“Deal.” She yawned and kept her eyes closed. Soon, her breathing deepened.

For a long time, Mac sat with his arm around her, inhaling the scent of her hair. His heart squeezed tight in his chest. For so long, he’d dreamed of holding her again. Now she was with him…and yet…not. Mac had no right to be with Kylie. She had another man in her life. She’d given him up all those years ago. So, while he had the chance, he drank in every bit of her that he could. From the tips of her toes in her flip-flops, the well-defined muscles of her calves, her rounded kneecaps and the swell of her thighs, he absorbed her beauty.

At some point, he must have fallen asleep. The next thing he knew, there was a knock on the door.

“Mac,” Rucker’s muffled voice sounded outside his quarters. “Mac, are you in there?”

Mac slipped his arm from beneath Kylie, pushed off the cot and opened the door a crack. “I’m here.”

“I knocked on Kylie’s door,” Rucker said, “but she didn’t answer. Is she in there with you?”

“Yes, she is. It was the only way I could really keep an eye on her.”

“That’s good. We have a helicopter on standby. Can you two be ready in thirty minutes?”

Mac nodded. “We can.”

“Grab some chow and meet us out on the helicopter pad.”

“Roger,” Mac replied, then closed the door and turned to Kylie.

She was off the cot, standing, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “I’ll be dressed and ready to go in less than thirty minutes.”

“I’ll wait outside,” he said and headed for the door.

“Mac,” her voice called out.

He paused with his hand on the doorknob, and then turned to face her.

“I missed you, too.”

After stepping outside, Mac close the door.

What did she mean by telling him I missed