Page 44 of Fighting for Lucy

Startled, his head snapped up to look at her. Kneeling as he was in front of her, his eyes were level with her chest, and this time he took her chin and tilted it down to meet his gaze. “You'd wait for me?” he asked, confused. Why would she offer something like that when he’d told her he couldn’t make any promises. It wasn’t that he didn't want to, it was just the damn fear again. It was crippling and he hated it, but he didn't know how to get out from under its crushing presence.

Her brow furrowed adorably. “Of course I would. You feel it, too. I know you do so don’t bother pretending otherwise.”

That sass had him smiling, or maybe it was just because he loved how straightforward she was. Never would he have to guess what his girl was thinking. “I wouldn’t pretend otherwise. It’s just, there’s darkness inside me, Lucy. And I don’t want to contaminate you with it.”

“Isn't it my choice what I get “contaminated”,” she made air quotes as she said the word, “with? I'm a big girl, and I've lived through a lot of uncertainty. I know that it might not work out between us, I know that even if it did, something could steal our happiness away from us. But one thing that living with epilepsy has taught me is to cherish the good moments. I'm willing to risk losing you to have you, the only question is, what are you willing to risk?”

Before he could tell her that there wasn’t anything on Earth he wouldn’t risk for more moments with her like the one they’d just shared, he heard something.

Something that had the hairs on the back of his neck standing on edge.

Quickly he straightened, pulling Lucy’s jeans on and zipping them, then righting his own clothes. “Shh,” he breathed out the sound, touching a finger to Lucy’s lips because he could sense her confusion. “We’re not alone.”

Nodding so he knew she was ready to follow any orders he gave, he slipped on the backpack, righted the NVGs, and took her hand. There was someone out there, Raul’s men searching for them, but he also heard the sounds of the approaching helo. All he had to do was get his girl onto that chopper.

If he had to stay behind to make sure she got out of there safely then he’d do it.

Anything to get her home alive.

Pulling her in for a quick kiss, he then led her out of their little hiding place. They only had a couple of hundred yardsto cross to the point where the helo would pick them up, they should be able to make it without being seen.

Given that he was a weapons dealer, Raul had access to all kinds of weapons, including those that could take down a helo. But the man also had no idea that Zander wasn’t who he said he was, that he wasn’t a rogue Delta Force operator, and that the intel he was gathering to bring down the terrorist would also lead to Raul himself being captured. There was no reason for the men searching for them to have anything other than guns on them because they didn't know he was waiting for an exfil, they thought it was just him and Lucy alone out there.

The sounds of the helo got louder, and he snatched Lucy up and threw her over his shoulder, ignoring her pained grunt as he took off at a dead sprint to the spot where the rope would come down. A rope that would get his girl out of the jungle and back home where she belonged.

Going for speed over everything else, the sounds gave away his position and bullets began to fire at them.

Thankfully, it appeared that the men weren't wearing NVGs because their accuracy sucked, and as the helo appeared in the sky, Zander was already closing in on the pickup spot.

“As soon as the rope gets down, I’ll buckle you in. You cover your head with your arms, keep it tucked against your chest on the way up,” he ordered Lucy.

“You're coming with me, though, aren't you?” The tremor in her voice about killed him.

“After you go up, I’ll have my turn.”

Small hands clutched at his T-shirt. “No. We go together. I can't lose you already, Zander. Don’t make me. Together. We go together.”

More gunfire split through the night, but this time it wasn’t just coming from behind them but from above them, too.

“I’ll be safer with you on the rope with me,” Lucy said, tightening the screws. “Up there alone I'm like a sitting duck. But with your cover fire, and the guys on the helo covering both of us, I have a better chance of making it without getting hit.”

“You don’t play fair, do you, sassy girl?”

Lucy grinned. “Not when your life is at stake.”

Since he couldn’t argue with that, he nodded, and when the rope came down, he made quick work of buckling her in, then snapped himself in and gave a tug.

In the next second, they were sailing up into the air. Shots fired all around them and as they hit the top of the tree line they were so exposed that he fired every bullet he had at the spot where the shots had been coming from.

No way was he letting his woman get hit.

He hadn't been able to save his team, but he damn sure wasn’t failing the woman who owned the keys to his heart.

It seemed to take forever, but then hands were grabbing him, pulling him into the safety of the helo. Lucy was pulled in as well and the second they were unbuckled from the rope she was throwing herself into his arms.

Her slim body shook, and her cheeks were wet as she pressed her face against his neck. At first, he thought she was crying out of fear over almost being shot, and the shock of surviving an ordeal she likely thought she wouldn’t.

But when she spoke he realized he was wrong.

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