I promise.” He set a gentle kiss to her lips. “And, Ana, I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
A.J. reached his arm out to the side as he lay on his back in bed, only to find Ana’s place next to him empty. He’d slept like a log all night and had no idea what time it was, but as far as he was concerned, there was still too much sunlight in the bedroom of the two-story cabin they were using as a safe house.
He sat up in bed slowly, kicked the covers off him since they’d slept with the A/C blasting, and lifted his watch from the bedside table. “Ten?” Holy hell. When was the last time he’d slept until ten?
Memories of making love with Ana at Grant’s house flew back to mind as he dropped his bare feet to the wood floors. He’d planned on a round two and three, but then his brother had shown up and everything changed.
When they arrived at the new safe house last night, he and Ana were emotionally and physically spent, so they’d crawled into bed. He’d wrapped her in his arms, waited for her to sleep, then allowed himself to pass out.
But where was she now?
He grabbed the sidearm he’d stowed just beneath the bed for emergencies and left the bedroom. The aroma of coffee hit his nose as he neared the stairs. The smell of eggs and burnt toast, too. When did Ana get food?
He went down the steps two at a time and halted in the entryway to the kitchen at the sight of Ana, Chris, and Finn sitting at the small round table in the breakfast nook that overlooked the forest behind the house.
“So nice of you to join us,” Finn said, catching A.J.’s eyes first. Finn’s greeting had Ana turning in her seat to peer at him.
She had on a pair of jeans and a loose-fitting black top. Her hair was down and wavy, still damp from a shower, and her cheeks had a healthy glow now that she’d had some sleep. “I didn’t want to wake you.”
Chris stood and stretched his back, coffee mug in hand. Then reached into his pocket, pulled out a twenty-dollar bill, and slapped it into Finn’s extended palm.
“Told you he’d join us in his skivvies and holding a gun,” Finn said with a laugh, accepting the payout.
A.J. dropped his eyes to his red cotton boxers as he strode farther in, then set his gun on the kitchen counter off to the side. “When did y’all get in? I didn’t hear you.”
Finn winked and stood, going for a refill of coffee. “Stealthy like that, bro.”
A.J. opened his mouth to crack a wise-ass comment, but he lost his train of thought when Ana padded his way.
“Good morning.” He wanted to pull her against him, but he had Echo Three and Five watching his every move. There was probably another bet about whether he’d already hooked up with Ana.
Just wait until you fall in . . . He cleared his throat and blinked a few times. “Where’s Roman and Harper?”
“On the phone with Jessica in one of the rooms down the hall. That or making out.” Chris walked by Ana, then shoulder-checked A.J. as he made his way to the coffee pot as well.
“Yeah, right,” Finn said. “That man will never get his head out of his head for that to happen.”
“His ‘head out of his head’?” Chris glared at him with an amused expression. “I swear, brother, you’re way more John Krasinski The Office than you are John Krasinski Jack Ryan.”
“You left the pot empty,” Chris said, his tone light. “Rule number, like, fifteen or something, no leaving the coffee pot empty.”
When both the guys had their backs turned to A.J., he took a quick second to step in and sneak a kiss on Ana’s cheek. Yeah, he could be stealthy, too. As long as his mom wasn’t around. Or Beckett, apparently.
“Smart picking up groceries before you got here.” A.J. leaned his back against the counter in the wide-open kitchen and folded his arms, in no rush to go put on clothes.
“Better than MREs,” Finn commented casually, facing him again. Though his words said otherwise, A.J. knew Finn was in recon-mode, gathering as much intel as he could by observing Ana and A.J. while Chris brewed a new pot of coffee, and it was unnerving as hell.
Ana stood beside A.J., her eyes fixated on the view outside the window, seemingly lost in