Breaking Away (Delta Force Strong #3) - Elle James Page 0,19
never want you to give it up for me.”
“And I know how much you love being a part of the team.” She took his face between her palms and pressed a kiss to his lips. “Where does that leave us?”
“Between a rock and a hard place,” he said with a grin, shifting his hips so that she could feel how hard she made him. “But really. Do our careers leave any room for a relationship?”
“I guess it depends on what you consider a relationship?” she said. “If you want a woman who stays home and bakes cookies for all your teammates, I’m not your gal.”
He laughed out loud. “I remember how you baked cookies. You forgot them in the oven, set off smoke alarms and had the fire department out to douse the fire.”
She frowned. “I’ve gotten better. I only burn one of four trays of cookies now. I call that progress.”
He kissed her lightly. “I don’t need a chef to bake my cookies. I need someone to love whenever we can get together. I haven’t found too many woman who can deal with an absentee husband and father. Delta Force soldiers are on call and can be deployed at a moment’s notice. I can’t ask anyone to put up with that kind of uncertainty. It’s hard on a marriage. I’ve seen too many Deltas divorce after less than a year of marriage.”
“Those women didn’t understand what they were signing up for.”
“And you do?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I have a clue. My career has been much the same. Once I got the gig of war correspondent, I’ve been on call 24/7. I could fly out at a moment’s notice. Not too many men can deal with a wife who’s never at home to greet him after a hard day at the office.”
“So, we’re back to the question of where does that leave us?” Mac said.
“I think if two people care enough about each other, they can make anything work,” she said softly.
“Does that mean you care?” he asked, his chest tight, his hands gripping her arms.
Kylie opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, the earbud in Mac’s ear crackled.
“Mac,” Rucker’s voice blasted into his head, jerking him out of a possible future, back to the present.
He pressed a finger against the communications device. “I read you.”
“Got trouble coming,” he said, his breath huffing across the airwaves as if he were running. “We’re on our way back.”
“What trouble?” Mac asked, scooting Kylie off his lap onto the couch beside him. Then he pushed to his feet.
“Truck load of men in black outfits and turbans. Can’t be sure, but they might be Ahktar’s—”
“They’re here at the hotel,” Dash’s voice interrupted. “I’m heading up the stairwell. Mac, get Kylie out of the room and on her way out of the building.”
“On it,” Mac said.
“What’s going on?” Kylie whispered.
Mac grabbed her hand and started for the door. “Time to bug out.”
“Damn, they don’t give up, do they?” she said as she snagged her backpack on the way through the room.
Mac pushed through the door. “Apparently, Ahktar gave a damn about his brother.”
“Or his pride,” Kylie said, lowering her voice as she stepped out into the hallway behind Mac.
The stairwell door at the end of the hallway burst open.
Mac ducked down, taking Kylie with him.
When he saw Dash running toward them, he straightened.
“Can’t go back that way,” Dash said. “It leads to the hotel lobby and more than half a dozen Taliban terrorists.” He kept moving, passing them in the hallway, racing past the elevator toward the other end of the building. “Come on,” he called out. “This way leads out the back.”
Mac moved Kylie in front of him. “Run,” he urged.
Kylie took off, catching up to Dash as he opened the door to the other stairwell.
Mac was right behind her and heard the elevator ding as he rushed through the door.
He dared to look back through the window to see four men in black garb and turbans rush from the elevator car into the hallway, turning toward the room where he and Kylie had been moments before.
“They’re in the hallway,” Mac announced in a muted tone. He spun to find Dash climbing the stairs instead of going down.
“Trust me,” Dash called out softly, leaning over the rail above. “You have to go up before you can go down.”
Kylie was already halfway up the stairs, moving quickly and quietly.
Mac ran after her. They had to get out of the stairwell before the Taliban