Page 42 of Training Rain
“I will always be worried that you’re going to get killed. How can I do my job if I’m afraid all the time?” He got out of the bed and crossed to the window. It was dark out and only the bedside lamp lit the room.
Rain stayed in the bed but leaned against the hard wooden headboard. “I think you just have to get over it, Jessé.”
He turned at the harsh sound in her voice. “Don’t get mad,cher. I just told you that I love you.”
She hadn’t really meant to get angry, but he was being as ass. “No, you are using loving me as an excuse to get rid of me. If you really love me, you’ll man up and learn to deal with the fact that we are in a dangerous profession. People are trying to kill us right now, if we survive, it’s likely there will be others in line behind them ready to try to kill us. Together or apart, we’re in danger. I don’t want you dead. I sure as hell don’t want to watch you die. But I’d rather be with you for whatever time we have than live without you.”
He faced her, arms folded across his broad chest. “Did you just tell me to man up?”
She wondered if there was a back door she could make a run for. Had she told him that? She shrugged.
He laughed and shook his head before returning to stand over her. “I am not trying to get rid of you.”
“That’s how it sounded to me.” She wouldn’t back down. If she did, she would always be the one to give in. “Either this is an equal partnership or this can’t happen. I want to be with you, Jess. I’m willing to take the risk, but I won’t be told to stay in the background. You told me I had what it takes to be an agent.”
He hung his head. “You do.”
“Well then.” She didn’t know when it happened, but at some point she stopped thinking she should go back to the reservation. She knew she could never be happy restricted to a simple life.
Jess sank onto the bed and put his head in his hands. “I thought I understood you, but you always surprise me.”
Rain moved behind him and kissed his back and leaned her cheek on his shoulder.
He relaxed by a fraction. “There’s something I should tell you.”
“What is it?” She slipped her arms around his waist and his hands clasped hers. He smelled of rain and desire. Her body responded immediately.
“When we were in the cabin—”
“Open up.” Will’s voice was accompanied by his pounding on the front door.
Yas was up and growling before the words were out of Will’s mouth. He took off through the apartment toward the door.
Jess grabbed his gun from the side table and stood up. He kissed the top of her head and she breathed in his warm scent. “You’d better get dressed,cher.”
Whatever he was going to tell her would have to wait. She dressed quickly and joined the men in the living room. Will’s smiling face was in direct contrast to his news. “New Orleans is swarming with mercenaries. The good news is the rain stopped.”
“Do we know who hired them?” Jess asked.
Will shook his head. He carried a case he placed on the sofa, opened and removed his rifle. He attached a sight to the top and lifted the butt against his shoulder. He pointed the barrel toward the window.
There was no television in the living room and only the couch and one chair for furniture. It was obvious that Jess didn’t spend much time in his New Orleans apartment.
Yas padded over to Rain and leaned against her leg. She scratched his head. “It’s okay, boy.”
Jess started pulling blinds while Will continued to stare through his scope.
“Maybe we should ask that guy who hired him,” Will said.
Jess and Rain both rushed to the window and peered out between the wall and the blind. “Is it anyone we know?”
“I don’t know him. Here have a look.”
Jess took the rifle and leaned in as if he might shoot. It was probably five hundred yards across the street to where the mercenary stood watching the apartment building. “I never saw him before.”
Rain saw movement at the opposite block. Another man turned the corner. It was four o’clock in the morning. Not too many people on the street. Her instincts told her that was no partier on their way home from a long night. “I’ve got another at two o’clock.”
Both men turned. The second operative slipped into the shadow of the building.
