Breaking Rules (Delta Force Strong #2) - Elle James Page 0,13
I close my eyes, I feel like I’m in the pitch-black of that body bag. I can only imagine what might have happened if you hadn’t come along and saved me.”
“You’re a smart woman,” he said. “You’d have figured out a way to escape.”
“Do you mind if I keep you company?” she asked.
His lips quirked upward. “It’s your place.”
She nodded and crossed to the couch, sat and folded her legs beneath her and pulled a pillow across her chest.
She patted the cushion beside her. “Come sit with me.”
When he didn’t move, she added, “Please.”
He sat at the far end of the couch, which wasn’t very far, since the seating was only half the size of a normal sofa. All he had to do was move his leg a little and it would touch her thigh.
“Tell me about yourself,” Sunny said. “Talk to me, and maybe I’ll get sleepy.”
“I don’t have much to tell,” he hedged, not really wanting to talk about himself when it was her he’d rather know more about.
“I’m sure you’re a very interesting person.”
“Not really,” he said.
Her lips twisted. “I see I’m going to have to pull it out of you.”
“Seriously,” he said. “There’s not much to tell.”
She tightened her hold on the pillow. “We can start with what I do know. You’re Delta Force, deployed to Afghanistan. The training must have been pretty hard to achieve Delta Force status.”
He shrugged. “It was okay.”
She snorted. “And you’re a smartass as well as a badass. What made you try out for Delta Force?”
“I like the challenge,” he said.
“What made you join the Army?” she asked.
He looked away. “I didn’t have anything better to do.”
“Are you married?” she asked.
“Ha,” he said. “Not hardly.” What woman wanted a part-time husband? Some thought they did, until they tried it. Those marriages didn’t last long.
“Do you have any family back home?” she continued.
“A sister. Briana.” He loved his sister.
“Are you close?”
Dash nodded. “We are. She’s the only family I have left.”
Sunny reached out to touch his arm. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. We look out for each other,” he said. “That’s what counts.”
“Yes, it does. And at least you do have each other.” She gave him a wistful smile. “Does she look like you?”
“No, thank God. She’s much better looking.”
“Where did you two grow up?”
“Outside of Chicago.”
“What was it like to be a younger version of Ryan Hayes, before you became Dash?”
He shrugged. “Busy. Always camping, hiking, and fishing with my Dad. He instilled in me a love of the outdoors.”
“And here we are in the great outdoors of Afghanistan. When you were a teen, did you picture yourself here?”
He nodded. “I always knew I’d go into the military.” His eyes narrowed. “Enough about me. What about you?”
Her lips twisted into a wry grin. “What about me?”
“How old were you when you started singing professionally?” he asked.
She glanced away. “Thirteen. I auditioned for one of those talent programs on television. I was selected and made it all the way to the finale.”
“And you won,” he said. “Thirteen. Wow. That’s awful young to be subjected to the cutthroat performance industry. How long ago was that?”
She glanced down at her hands. “Fourteen years.”
Dash did the math. That would put Sunny at twenty-seven years old. “How old were you when you earned your first double platinum record?”
She sighed. “I was eighteen, had the world in front of me, and was well on the way to having all my dreams come true.”
He tilted his head as he studied her profile. “You say that as if you realize it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.”
She shrugged. “I guess it wasn’t all I thought it would be. It was a little more difficult.”
“Was that when you met your partner?”
Sunny nodded. “Just past my eighteenth birthday, my agent teamed me with Justin Snow for a duet. That song sold so many copies, my agent decided Justin and I made a good team. We recorded an entire album together.”
“You were together for twelve years…?” Dash asked.
“Eleven,” she said.
“I take it you two were really close,” Dash said. “Did you ever consider marrying?”
She shook her head. “I kept waiting for him to ask.” Her mouth turned up on one corner. “He never did. I reached the point where I was ready to give him an ultimatum. Either we marry, or we end the partnership. I needed to move on.”
Dash’s brows rose.
Sunny snorted softly. “What? The tabloids didn’t get hold of that news?”
He lifted a shoulder. “If they did, I wouldn’t have