Hostile Territory - Marie James Page 0,60
I drink most of it? How long have we been drinking? There’s a buzz in my head, a flitter of what feels like wings against my skin, but I’m certain it has more to do with her than the amount of alcohol I’ve consumed this evening.
“No,” I manage to finally answer with a shrug. “I mean, I’ve taken a couple online classes, but formal education was never my thing.”
“You made good grades in high school.”
I frown, rolling my head on the back of my rocking chair and looking in her direction. “I said it wasn’t my thing. I never said I was stupid.”
“I didn’t say you were.” Her frown matches mine, but then her lips turn up into a grin.
“What?”
“So, commando school is more your style?”
“Commando school?” I laugh.
“Yeah.” She waves her hand in a sweeping motion to indicate my body.
I want to bite my lip and flirt with her, but I vowed during my second shower of the day, which sadly ended much like the first with me grunting her name and coming into the drain, that I’d be an idiot to pursue anything with her. There are too many women in the world that wouldn’t bring the trouble and baggage that Anna would. I wish my body would listen and take heed of that information.
“You’re all buff and badass.”
It’s even harder when she says shit like that.
“I imagine you and your guys whacking each other in the stomach with sticks to see who loses by grunting in pain first.”
“Fists,” I tell her with a lazy smile. “We used fists in basic training not sticks. God, we were idiots.”
Her laugh fills the country air around us. “So, you like pain?”
“Naw. It just felt necessary at the time.”
“I understand necessary pain. Even though it hurts, I still show up for my waxing appointments like clockwork.”
I cough on my sip of whiskey, but when I look over at her, she’s focused on the hills across the pasture. She didn’t just lay that information down at my feet in an attempt to entice me. She was just stating a fact, but now I can’t keep my eyes from roaming up her body and pausing midway up.
Waxing appointments? Jesus, is she trying to kill my restraint?
She may not be, but fuck if she isn’t.
“Life is strange, isn’t it?”
“How so?” I ask.
“Never in a million years did I think I’d be sitting on Deacon Black’s front porch in the country drinking whiskey while rocking to the sound of crickets.” I smile when she does. “I didn’t even think commandos liked peace and quiet.”
“We can’t always be running from a hail of bullets.” She chuckles. “What?”
Her eyes sparkle, the light coming from inside the house hitting them perfectly. “I don’t see you running from bullets. You shot that guy before he could get to my room.”
I was between him and the room.
We haven’t mentioned Dani or what happened back at the Four Seasons. I thought we had an unspoken agreement to just leave it alone, but it seems to be fading with each sip she takes from her glass. I know she wants to know. I also know that telling her the truth will frighten her even more. I guess it’s a good thing I’m here in case she needs me. I struggle for a moment, torn between telling her the full truth or only giving her enough to satisfy her curiosity. If I were in her shoes, I’d want all of it, so that’s what I decide to give her. The sooner she faces it and works through it, the better.
“That thug was hired by Petrovich to abduct you.” Tears pool in her eyes, and when she lifts her chin, I know she’s determined to listen without getting overly emotional. “The intel Wren obtained told us that they were going to take you to a secondary location and get Dani’s location from you.”
She swallows several times before she speaks. “I don’t know where Dani is.”
“They didn’t know that.”
“They were going to hurt me then what? Let me go?”
I shake my head. “They weren’t going to let you go. It’s very rare someone survives being taken to a different location.”
“You were gone for a week.” I know she’s not trying to accuse me of leaving her unsafe, but her tone is riddled with it.
I set my glass on the porch to the side of my rocking chair so I can give her my undivided attention.
“We raided a compound in West Africa where Petrovich spends most