Kidnapped by a SEAL - Makenna Jameison Page 0,19

The way she looked at him slayed him. She trusted him—of that much he was certain.

But he sure as hell didn’t need to grow attached to a woman like her. Yeah, he wanted to protect her. That was his job. His duty. He’d sworn to protect the innocent, to fight for his country. She was an American citizen. She deserved his protection.

But now?

After they landed, they’d go their separate ways. Why that thought pained him, he didn’t want to examine too closely.

“So what kind of MREs do you guys have anyway?” she asked.

Ryker chuckled, reaching over to grab his rucksack. He rustled around, pulling out two choices. “Beef stew or mac and cheese.”

“Mac and cheese,” she said.

He tossed it toward her, and she fumbled with the package, dropping it. “Shit, sorry,” he said, reaching over. He handed it to her, his fingers brushing against her own cold hands. “Jesus, let me get you a blanket or something,” he said, standing up. She tore open the MRE as he crossed toward some of their gear. Grabbing their emergency supplies, he pulled out one of the thin, reflective blankets intended for warmth.

“Here you go,” he said, handing it over to Emily. “This will keep you nice and warm.”

She laughed, a deep, throaty sound that he felt in his groin. “They’ll see me coming for miles with this covering me.”

“Luckily they’re expecting us at Andrew’s,” he replied.

She took a bite of the mac and cheese, wrinkling her nose. It was cute as hell, not that he thought she’d appreciate his saying that.

“Not exactly a gourmet meal,” he said with a chuckle. “If you hate it, I’ll trade you my beef stew.”

“I already took a bite,” she protested.

Ryker shrugged. “I’m not picky. All MREs begin to taste the same after a while. And hell, you’re the one who’s been without choices for the past month.”

“God, you know what I’ve been craving?” she asked, taking another small bite of her food. He tried to avoid watching those full lips as she chewed. She still had the angry bruise on her forehead, but those rosy lips were doing him in. Not to mention her deep brown eyes.

“What’s that?” he asked, taking a large bite of his own food.

“Mexican. Pretty much all they fed me was rice and naan—that was better than nothing, don’t get me wrong. But it was bland and awful after a while. I ate it to keep up my strength, but I’d be lying there in my little cot, and I’d have killed someone for a burrito and margarita.”

“Amen,” Ryker agreed. “I can’t say I’ve been in captivity or had to endure what you did, but when we’re off on long missions eating these damn MREs day in and day out, I’d kill for some Mexican, too.”

“Right?” she said, smiling. She turned over the package of instant Gatorade mix in her hand.

“Mix that with some of your water,” he said.

She nodded, twisting off the cap of the bottled water and taking a sip. He watched as she sprinkled in the orange powder and then shook the bottle up, mixing it. “It’s weird to be coming home,” she said. “I was supposed to be TDY for a week. I mean—what happened to my condo while I was gone? I had bills to pay, food rotting in my fridge.”

“Didn’t you have anyone checking on your place?” he asked.

She shook her head, wincing slightly. Combatting emotions battled within him. Ryker didn’t like that she was in pain, but that long brown hair swishing around her face was sexy as hell. “I wasn’t supposed to be gone that long, remember?”

“Gotcha. I wish I had advice. I’m assuming State would handle that to some degree, right?”

She shrugged. “Hopefully. Stuff slips through the cracks though. Look at me. I thought for sure the military would come to my rescue as soon as I was kidnapped, but I ended up being gone for a month.”

Ryker frowned. “What’s wrong?” Emily asked, catching the expression on his face.

He cleared his throat. “We did come to your rescue—or we tried to at least. My team was there a month ago. We found the British soldier that had been killed, but you’d already been taken to another location.”

“You were—there?” she asked, her voice wavering. Tears smarted her eyes, and Ryker felt his gut clench.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s just I didn’t want you to think that we weren’t trying to find you. We were deployed immediately from my