Page 46 of Freeing Hawk
“How come?”
My heart did a strange little flip, but I could hide nothing from him. “Because I’ve never been with someone like this. I never thought I’d ever get to this comfortable place—you can’t change, Angel. I want to get to a place where I can meet your sister.”
“So, your goal is all the way in?”
I nodded.
He said nothing else. A bit of turbulence shook the plane, but he didn’t even seem to notice. Angel wrapped his fingers tenderly against the back of my neck, pulled me to the very edge of my seat and kissed me deeply.
We landed at a private airstrip just outside of Ciudad Juárez to avoid drawing attention to ourselves. There, we met up with Cadmus. We hugged each other and I introduced him to the team. With that out of the way, we piled into SUVs and drove in convoy to where we’d be hunkered down until we could carry out our mission.
It wasn’t the most luxurious setting, but it would have to do. We all settled in, to map out what we needed to do. Cadmus had a sniper rifle for Romeo. I watched as my friend picked up the rifle and checked it out as if it was a second thought.
With our plans in place, we had to wait until night.
Cadmus and Dude headed out to get us food.
Chapter 10
Angel
Romeo was quiet.
“You okay?” I asked him.
“Yeah—why?”
“This isn’t your favorite part of the job.” I reminded him.
“I know. But this family needs protecting.” Romeo told me, lifting his eyes from where the rifle sat to look into my eyes. “Just because I don’t like what I might have to do, doesn’t mean I’m going to sit back and let you walk through the fire alone.”
I hugged him. “I owe you.”
Romeo winked at me and I went to find Hawk. She was standing on the second-floor balcony, the heated breeze dancing through her hair. I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her.
We didn’t speak.
Even as she melted backward into my chest, no words passed between us.
Kissing the side of her head and neck as she moaned and cuddled into me made me feel strong. Sighing at the task ahead, I stood there with her, watching the day become brighter and brighter until someone called us for food.
I sat around, listening to Cadmus and Romeo tell stories from our days on the same Army Ranger squad. Though we’d seen some horrors together, it hadn’t been all bad. We’d depended on each other to stay sane and had made it out a little less broken than they thought we should have been.
A little later, I took Hawk aside for her to curl into me and get some rest. I knew she hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. Though she protested, Hawk settled into my side and closed her eyes. I knew she didn’t do it because she wanted to. Deep down I knew she gave in because she could see I was worried.
I kissed her head, the urge to hide her away from all the dangers in the world raging through me. But if I was any kind of a man, I wouldn’t take that fight from her. It was something she’d always done and from the looks of it, she’d done well in putting the fear of God in men who thought it right to hassle the weak.
Hawk was good at keeping the law, of holding the feed to the fire of those who would break said laws. Still, I could see her heart. A loyal woman who knew when to kick some ass and when to show empathy. Where would I ever find another like her?
Shifting back a little, I stared down at her face, at the scar at the corner of her eye. I traced a finger over it, wondering where it came from and who would dare. Probably a gift from her days in the army. Using that same hand, I dragged it over her bare shoulder, down her arm to lace her fingers with mine. I allowed my eyes to travel back to her face, her resting face without make-up. Still, Sasha Bracken was the most beautiful woman on the face of the earth.
The fear of having her leave when this was over tore at me. It made its way down my throat and lodged itself in the pit of my stomach threatening to make me ill.
I held my breath, forcing the fear to stay where it was as I leaned down to press my lips to the warmth of her forehead.
I didn’t want to lose her—but one could never trap a butterfly for fear it might fly away. Though it killed me, I knew I had to let her go and pray she came back to me.
Closing my eyes, I released her hand and pulled her a little closer as I shifted to get a bit more comfortable.
