LITMIR.BIZ

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Despite the EOD’s efforts, they hadn’t been able to bring him home.

      Slade had a grave, an empty one, one that honored him as the soldier he’d been. But he’d actually never made it back home.

      “Logan told me that you and Gunner had been in Peru before,” Cale said.

      She cleared her throat. “A…few times.”

      “Logan has set us up in a resort near the beach. You and Gunner are supposed to look like honeymooners.”

      Because sometimes it wasn’t about hiding in a hut or sliding through the jungle. Blending in plain sight could work so much better. The EOD knew this well.

      “And I’m your single friend, enjoying some R & R myself.” The road was bumpy and the jeep bounced. Once, twice. “Sure is a long way from Texas,” he murmured, and she heard the faint drawl in his voice.

      Cale’s home was in Texas, and the EOD agent he’d replaced—Jasper—was currently living in Texas with Cale’s sister.

      “When are we looking at extraction?” Gunner asked as he leaned forward. His fingers were on the back of Sydney’s seat. It almost felt as if he was playing with her hair. Was he?

      “Logan said this was a fast-moving mission. We want the civilian out of there within twenty-four hours.”

      Sydney nodded. Definitely doable. As soon as Logan returned, she’d start her own reconnaissance work. She could uplink to satellites and get aerial maps of the area to find the best places for them to venture in as they started the rescue operation. As long as she had a good computer and the necessary uplink, she’d be able to access anything that the team needed. Tech had always been her specialty.

      Then the jeep turned and headed through the high gates of the resort. Sydney put a smile on her face. She could pretend to be a happy honeymooner. With Gunner at her side, she could do anything.

      And she was happy, even if painful memories were trying to push their way into her mind. Peru had been a nightmare for her once, but it didn’t have to be again.

      The valet hurried over to the jeep. Gunner was already out and reaching for Sydney. His hand curled around hers, swallowing her fingers. His hold was strong, possessive. And the kiss that he brushed over her lips—it felt possessive, too.

      Just for show…or was that something more?

      Cale was laughing and saying something, playing his part. Gunner responded, but Sydney was lost.

      She actually wished that this moment could be real. That she was just a happy honeymooner. A woman with Gunner.

      But this wasn’t her life. She had a mission. A rescue. A civilian who needed her. She’d get the job done.

      She’d get her man, too.

      Gunner’s arm wrapped around Sydney’s shoulders. He steered her toward the entrance to the resort. She took a deep breath and slipped into her role.

      LOGAN’S BODY WAS pressed tightly to the ground. He kept only his head up as he peered through the binoculars to get a visual on the small camp that sat at the base of the mountain. Not a typical rebel group, from what he’d been able to tell. These guys were armed to the teeth, patrolling constantly, and that one tent to the back…the one that housed the hostage…

      There’d been no movement from that tent for the past four hours. Logan knew that fact for certain, because he’d been unmoving in his own position for that time.

      He shouldn’t have come out alone, he knew that, but before he brought Sydney out there, before Gunner got the rebels in his sights, Logan just had to be sure of his target.

      An armed guard headed toward the tent, lifted the flap, and went inside. Logan stopped breathing.

      Then the guard came out again, leading the hostage. Logan’s fingers tightened around the binoculars as he stared at that prisoner. Long hair and a beard that hadn’t been trimmed in what looked like months. The man was walking with a faint limp.

      This wasn’t a hostage who had been taken a few days ago. This was a man who had been held for a very, very long time.

      Logan stared at the man’s face.

      And knew the mission was going to be personal.

      GUNNER TIPPED THE bellman and shut the door. Then he flipped the lock and turned his attention to Sydney.

      She stood in front of a big bed, her blond hair framing her face. Her eyes were wide and fixed on him, but she wasn’t smiling.

      Sydney looked nervous. An unusual situation for her. As far as he knew, Sydney was never nervous.

      He took a step toward her, and she tensed.

      What the hell? “Sydney?”

      She shook her head. Then she smiled and gave the light laugh that always made his chest ache. “I swear, I feel like I’m on a real honeymoon.”

      If only. He wouldn’t say he hadn’t thought about what it would be like to marry her, because he had. Too many times. Even when she’d been planning to marry his brother, he’d thought—

       She should be mine.

      Then Slade had died, and he’d hated himself for the jealousy he’d felt.

      “Are you…are you okay with being back here again?” Sydney asked him quietly.

      He strolled toward the window, then looked out over the lush resort. Within the resort’s walls, everything was beautiful, perfect. But there were other parts of Peru that were savage. Dangerous. Once you left the city and journeyed into the jungle, civilization truly faded away. “I’ve been back here a few times since his death.”

      “You have?” Surprise lifted her words.

      He knew she’d stayed away. But he’d had to come back. “I tried to find him.” Again and again. “My grandfather would have wanted him brought back.” I wanted him back. He shrugged, trying to push away the past. “But I couldn’t find Slade.”

      The floor creaked behind him, and then Sydney’s soft hands were on his shoulders, curling over him. Her touch was warm, soft, and he remembered all the ways that she had touched him during their night together. The ways he’d touched her.

      The ways he would touch her again.

      He had Sydney now, and he didn’t plan to let her go. Gunner turned toward her. His fingers skimmed over the curve of her cheek. He’d spent the past two years guarding her, determined to protect her from any danger that came their way.

      Because Sydney seemed drawn to the danger.

      She was the strongest woman he’d ever met, and her brain—hell, the things the lady could do with a computer amazed him. She’d been in the air force, he knew that. A lieutenant colonel. So in addition to her computer skills, there was no plane the woman couldn’t fly. She’d flown their team out of more than a few hot spots around the world.

      Slade had been a pilot, too. Not in the air force, though. His brother had done a stint in the army, then gotten civilian flying lessons after his tour of duty.

      On a charter run to South America, Slade’s plane had crashed in the wrong spot at the wrong time.

      Against orders, Sydney and Gunner had gone in after him.

      But they’d failed to bring him home.

      “Gunner?” Her voice was soft.

      He’d pulled her out of the jungle in Peru. He’d been so afraid she’d die on him. Her blood had stained his hands. She’d shuddered and jerked, cried out desperately.

      For Slade.

      But Gunner had been the one there for her. He’d always be there for her.

      He offered her a smile, when he wasn’t normally the type to smile. He

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