Page 38 of A Soldier's Temptation
“I guess so. But where does that leave me? Are we any closer to figuring out who he’s working with?”
“Not yet, but Alex and Rock are hopeful they’ll have more information by this afternoon.”
“That would be great. I want all of this to be over already.”
“Sit tight for a bit longer and we’ll get to the bottom of this. Just stay close to Riot and he’ll make sure you’re safe.”
“I will. I don’t think he’d give me a choice,” she said and stuck her tongue out at John. “Please thank your team for me. It almost feels like there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
“It is, Baby, it’s only a matter of time,” John said as he reached for her hand across the table. “It will be okay, you’ll see.”
“Okay, gotta run. Talk to you later. Riot make sure you watch your six,” Chase said as he disconnected the call.
“Do you really think Chase’s team will uncover information that the FBI didn’t?” Ari asked as she refilled her coffee.
“Yes, I do. I’m not sure what’s going on with the FBI. It could be that they do know all about Chen and kept it to themselves. It wouldn’t surprise me either.”
“That’s true. Colin told me that they aren’t obligated to share any information with me.”
“Right, besides with the trial coming up, they probably don’t want to risk showing their hand. But I know we’ll get to the bottom of it. Chase was a SEAL too and we don’t give up.”
“Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?”
“Hell yeah I am, I’m a SEAL.”
“Is that your standard answer?”
“Pretty much. There usually isn’t a better one.” John laughed as she rolled her eyes. He loved teasing her, it was almost as fun as kissing her. Just the memory of the softness of her lips made him wonder what it would be like to slide his fingers over her skin. And instant hard-on. Dammit. If she stayed with him much longer, he was going to need to buy some looser jeans.
“I still can’t believe they discovered all of that about Paul since last night.”
“With any luck, they’ll figure out the rest of the puzzle before the weekend is over.” He was able to read Ari well enough to know that she was afraid to hope that this would all end soon. Not that he could blame her since it had been going on for over a year. No wonder she was afraid to get close to anyone.
“Do you think we can take Mr. Darcy to the dog park. It’s such a beautiful day and he’d love it.”
Hearing his name, the fluffy stinkball’s tail thumped against the floor. He did his growly speak that sounded more like a combination of a low moan and a series of woofs. He was quite the talker—from both ends. It was like karma had given Ariana a gift for all the shit it put her through. The dog was so well-behaved he had to belong to someone who’d loved him before he ended up at the shelter.
“I’m not sure your jailors will agree, but we can try. I took him out while you were sleeping, but I’m sure he needs to go again. I’ll take him while you finish your breakfast.”
“You don’t mind? It’s sure easier than dealing with the Shadows. Oh, before you go, do you have a charger I can borrow? My phone is dead, and I didn’t pack mine. With the mess in my apartment, I probably wouldn’t have found it anyway.”
“Let me get mine and we’ll see if it will work.” Grabbing his charger from his bedroom, he brought it into the kitchen. “Here you go,” he said and handed her his charger. “If it doesn’t fit, Mr. Darcy and I can pick up a new one on our walk.”
“Thank you,” Ari said as she took the cord.
Without thinking, he dropped a kiss on her forehead as she slid by him to plug her phone into the charger.
“Yay. It works.”
“Excellent. One less thing to worry about.”
“In case I didn’t tell you last night, thank you for letting us stay with you. I don’t even want to think about having to be in some strange place with the Shadows watching every move I make.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad you’re here, although the safe house might have been a better idea. There is still the chance you’ll need to go into Witness Protection, okay? I’ll do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen, but we don’t even know who we’re dealing with right now.” Just saying the words made John’s insides twist into knots. He couldn’t lose her now, not to whoever Chen was working with, or to WITSEC.
“With you and Chase’s team working on it, I’m going to take some of your confidence and believe it will all work out.”
“Baby, I love that you’re putting your trust in us, but there always need to be backup plans. As a SEAL, I learned that you need a Plan B, C, D, and maybe E too.”
