Page 31 of Lethal Illusion

“Oh, give me a break,” she snapped.She was sick of his judgmental attitude, and she wasn’t putting up with it anymore.“No amount of training would have mattered.I could have been Rambo with ovaries back there and it wouldn’t have made a damn bit of difference.”

“You could have provided cover fire.”

She made a sound to convey her disdain.“My job—my only job—was to play the role of Sierra Page, period, end of story.If she’d been there instead of me, would you have expected her to provide cover fire?”

The muscles along his jaw flexed, but he didn’t utter a word.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.Jackass.”It was official: she was out of fucks to give.She jabbed his chest with her index finger.“Stop holding me to impossible standards.It’s totally unfair and unrealistic, and I’m not going to put up with that bullshit anymore.”

She stomped off in the direction they’d been heading, too angry to care if she was leaving a trail or if Navarre was following her.Screw him.She’d find her own way home, even if it took two months and she had to subsist on a diet of tree bark and berries.

The sound of footsteps in the distance behind her indicated he’d chosen to follow.Then again, it might not be him.It could be a wolf or a mountain lion.Or a bear.Or maybe one of those knuckle-dragging goons who was after them.The thought sent a sliver of fear down her spine that settled in the pit of her stomach.Hindsight being twenty-twenty, venturing off on her own wasn’t one of her brightest ideas.In general, she wasn’t a fan of cutting off her own nose to spite her face.

Giving in to the urge, she tossed a glance over her shoulder and refused to acknowledge the rush of relief that came with the sight of Navarre.Like it or not, he made her feel safe, even out here in the middle of nowhere.There was power in the taut lines of his body, a strength that filled the air around him.He’d saved her from that creep.Looking back, he’d been pretty badass.That had to count for something, although she’d never admit it to him.

It didn’t take long for him to catch up with her.He fell in line with the pace of her steps, not speaking a word, which was good, because she really didn’t have anything nice to say to him.He finally broke the silence as they entered a stand of trees that grew along a bubbling stream, careful to avoid a patch of poison ivy.

“You’re right,” he said, and she stopped in her tracks.“I was out of line.I’m sorry.”

Stunned, she turned her head toward him.Wow, a man who could actually admit he was wrong.How rare was that?“That had to hurt.”

He huffed out a breath.“You have no idea.”

They stood at the water’s edge, a foot or so apart, neither seeming to know what to say next.Navarre rooted through his bag, took out a collapsible water bottle, and filled it with water from the stream.He dropped two tablets into the bottle, screwed on the lid, and put it back in his bag.

“By the way, thank you for saving me from that guy,” Sloane said when she couldn’t stand the awkward silence a minute longer.

“You’re welcome.”He still carried himself with an air of confidence, but now there was something else in the mix that she couldn’t quite identify.He reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, and the brush of his fingers against her skin sent sparks of awareness through her.“You should have let me kill him.”

“Maybe next time.”Though probably not.Call her naïve, but she wasn’t okay with killing a person who posed no immediate threat.Hopefully that act of mercy wouldn’t come back to bite them on the butt.She’d never hear the end of it.

Navarre’s mouth curved up a fraction.When his eyes met hers, warmth filled her chest, erasing the earlier tightness.

“So what do we do now?”she asked.

He turned his head, giving her his profile as he stared out at the water.“Stay alive, evade the enemy, and find our way to civilization, in that order.”

“When you say it like that, it sounds easy.”

“It’s not, but there’s no alternative, so we’ll find a way to make it happen.”

The calm conviction in his voice served as a balm on her frazzled nerves.This wasn’t his first rodeo.He’d served in Special Forces during his time with the military.In all likelihood, he’d survived worse scrapes than this.Knowing that gave her a glimmer of hope that they weren’t so screwed after all.She gestured to the rucksack slung over his right shoulder.“What else you got in the bag?”

“A few basic necessities, first-aid kit, ammo.Thankfully, the ammo didn’t catch a round.That could have ended badly.”

“How much ammo is in there?”

His mouth set into a grim line.“Not enough.”

She was kind of hoping for a more definitive answer, but it wasn’t like she knew how much ammo was enough, so she’d take his word for it.“Did anything else in there get damaged?”

“Probably.I’ll do a more thorough assessment before it gets dark.”He glanced up at the sky, where the sun had already begun its descent.“We need to keep moving.There isn’t much daylight left.”

Duringhisyearsinthe Army, Navarre had visited a lot of foreign lands and eaten foods that most Americans would consider appalling.Like fried tarantula or roasted cuy.One time, on a dare, he’d even tried fugu—one star, would not recommend.But none of them could hold a candle to the sour taste of crow.

He moved a branch out of their path as they started up the next hill.There was no way around it: he’d acted like an ass.Worse, his actions had offended Sloane, and that meant it was his responsibility to make things right.It was one of the lessons his mother had drilled into him that he followed to this very day.Thankfully, Sloane had accepted his apology without making him grovel, which he very much appreciated, and now he could focus his attention on more important matters, like keeping them both alive and trying to figure out who’d put a price on Sierra’s head.

Not many people had enough money lying around to hire a team of mercenaries to kidnap a celebrity, especially one as high-profile as Sierra Page.Her ex was the most obvious suspect.By all accounts, the man was unbalanced.But it could also be an obsessed fan, or someone who harbored a grudge for any number of reasons.In celebrity circles, those reasons could be anything from stealing a prized movie role to a perceived slight on a social media post.

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