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More silence.
Could she take three to four hours of sitting here, wondering what he was thinking of her? Worrying about snakes, and kidnappers, and imagining all the many scenarios where they didn’t make it out of here alive? She’d lose it for sure. She needed a distraction. Like a bolt, an idea hit her. “Hey, you never told me about the Peach Jam Jubilee.”
* * *
CLAY GRIMACED. As a change of topic, it sucked, but at least they weren’t talking about feelings and—he cringed. People who’d never had sex before.
For a virgin she was an awfully good kisser. Too good. Trouble was, he’d been so into that kiss he’d forgotten all about his job. His duty. And that was unacceptable. Not during a mission. Not ever. No woman had ever distracted him like that. And no woman ever would.
“Clay?”
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “What is there to tell? It’s just your usual hometown parade. The Peach Queen gets crowned and waves at everybody from her float.”
“Sounds...peachy.” She snickered.
Clay couldn’t stop a smile. She was something else. Cracking jokes after all she’d been through. “Yeah. There’s peach jam, peach pie, peach preserves.”
“Peach cobbler.” She gasped. “Peach ice cream,” she moaned the words.
That throaty, feminine sound made his breath catch. Don’t go there. “And don’t forget peachy pork chops.”
“Pork chops?”
“You’ve never had ’em? They’re good.”
She groaned. “Now you’re making me really hungry.”
She didn’t know the half of it. He snapped his night vision goggles down over his eyes and scanned the area. “You should try to get some shut-eye.” This time he’d be prepared for all those sexy little noises she made in her sleep. And the feel of her body against his.
“I don’t think I can.”
She wiggled and bumped into him and he looked over. She was clutching a silver medal hanging around her neck and biting her lip. Her skirt was hitched up to midthigh. She had beautiful legs. Her hips were curvy, but her waist was small. And that thin white shirt outlined her beautiful— He flipped the goggles up. Didn’t seem fair that he could see her and she couldn’t see him.
“What about the—the Speedway? Do you like car racing?”
He shrugged. “It’s okay. I went a few times in high school.
“What else did you do growing up in Talladega?”
Seriously? He’d rather go through BUD/S training all over again than talk about his life before the Navy. “Not much.”
The woman stayed quiet so long he knew—he just knew—she was staring at him expectantly. What? She wanted him to spill his life story? Not gonna happen. “It was just a regular town, with regular people, okay?”
“Okay.” She sounded disappointed. “So, you’re like a Special Forces kind of guy in the military? What is that, a Marine?”
He scoffed and threw her an insulted glare she probably couldn’t see. “I’m a US Navy SEAL.”
“Oooo, wow. A SEAL? Like the guys that got Bin Laden? Were you there?”
He shook his head. “That was SEAL Team 6.”
“What’s the difference? I mean, do all the teams have different specialties?”
“Some. SEAL Team 6 focuses more on counterterrorism. We’re SEAL Team 2. Artic Warfare, Rescue Ops.”
“Well, thank you for coming after me—us.”
“That’s my job.”
“Right, of course.”
Clay sighed. That hadn’t come out right. She’d been a real trooper, considering they’d traipsed through the jungle all day in sweltering conditions, and she’d almost been bitten by a venomous coral snake. She was just trying to make it through the night. Seemed the least he could do was talk to her.
Besides, after tomorrow, he’d never see her again. She’d asked about growing up in Talladega? He quietly sighed. “So, no Peach Jam Jubilee where you’re from?”
“In Texas?” She sounded insulted, but in a good-natured way. He caught her white teeth in the darkness. “It’s all football, all the time. My two brothers live and breathe the game. Did you play?”
“No, but my sister was a cheerleader.”
“Does she still live in Talladega?”
“Yep. I’m the only one that got out.”
“Got out? You didn’t like it there?”
He ground his back teeth. “Just nothing for me there. More opportunities elsewhere.”
She made a nodding-in-agreement type sound. “That’s why I moved to New York. I want to help my parents. They work so hard.” He could hear the genuine love in her voice and it bothered him.
“My papa is the grounds custodian for a famous shrine in San Juan. My mama cleans houses. I was the first one in my family to graduate high school.”
Clay was pretty sure his mom and stepfather hadn’t graduated high school either. Even Ashley almost hadn’t. And he’d left for basic training before his own graduation ceremony. No walking across the stage to get his diploma or throw his cap in the air. It’s not like his parents would’ve gone, anyway.
“What do your parents do?”
He snapped shut his memories. “They both work at the quarry.”
“Quarry? I didn’t know Alabama had a quarry.”
“More than one. Probably the largest industry in the state. If I hadn’t joined the Navy I’d probably still be working there.”
“You worked there, too? Like, actually digging out the rocks?”
“Yep.”
“What kind of stone?”
“Marble, mostly. Some limestone, and a few other minerals, but Alabama’s famous for its white marble.”
“Huh.”
“Started when I was fourteen. Lied about my age to get the job, too, if you can believe that. It was backbreaking work. Other than my paycheck every two weeks, I hated everything about it.”
She made a sympathetic sound and he squeezed his eyes closed. How had they switched to talking about his life again? “Tell me about New York.”
She made a different sound this time, a hum somewhere between excitement and nervousness. “Manhattan is so different from my little hometown. Growing up I never would’ve thought I’d live there. I have a little studio apartment in Greenwich Village. It’s small, but I love it. There’s a library right across the street and on the weekends, I love to take my laptop and just hang out there.”
“At the library? You live in one of the most exciting cities in the world. Don’t you want to party on the weekends?”
“I’m not really the partying type.” Her voice lowered. “I told you I was a nerd. Hanging out at the library is about the most exciting thing nerds do.”
He could kick himself for bringing that self-doubt into her voice. “You sure don’t look like a nerd.”
Funny how he could sense her stillness. He winced. He hadn’t meant to use his pickup-line tone. He wasn’t at Barney’s on a Friday night trying to find some hot woman.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the other protein bar he’d been saving for her and held it out in front of her. “Here.”
“What is it?”
“Breakfast.”
“Oh.” When she groped for the bar her fingers grazed the back of his hand and he had the crazy urge to grab her hand and bring it to his lips. Dawn couldn’t come soon enough.
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
He heard the crinkling of the wrapper. “You want half?”
“I have another. You eat that one.”
Out of nowhere rain began pelting down. Good. He needed to cool off. He pushed to his feet. “Gonna check the area again. Try to sleep. When I get back, we’ll head out.”
5 (#ulink_5501112a-29eb-5b2d-b771-00818914a411)
@nerdybankanalyst
Wanted to kiss the ground at LaGuardia yesterday. Love getting back to my job and my apartment. BTW #USmilitaryrocks
IN SOME WAYS, her time in the Paraguayan jungle seemed like a dream.
Well, more like a nightmare.
Except for the last night.
Chin propped on her palm, Gabby stared at the report on her computer screen. Her supervisor wanted this data analysis done as soon as possible, but she’d been staring at the same column of numbers for more than half an hour. Which was not a good sign for her first day back.
But her mind kept drifting. Remembering...
How she’d had to squint at the bright sun reflecting off the river as she and Clay broke through the dense foliage that morning. How the water had sprayed a fine mist on her face as a thunderous helicopter chopped through the air. How Clay’s hand clapping her shoulder had reassured her as he snapped a harness around her chest and then gave the thumbs-up signal to the men waiting to haul her up.
Clay.
Once the helicopter landed at the embassy, a nurse had tried to whisk her away before she could tell him goodbye. He’d been talking to one of the other soldiers and hadn’t even glanced in her direction.
All she could think was that she’d never see him again.
Setting her jaw, she’d wrenched from the nurse, ran to him and thrown her arms around him. He’d held his arms out away from his sides as if he had no idea how to handle such a display of emotion. But despite his stiff reserve, she’d buried her nose in his strong chest, and then looked up into light brown eyes that glinted with wariness.
She’d dropped her arms and stepped back from him with a smile, trying not to burst into tears. “You were phenomenal.”
“Just a grunt doing his job, ma’am,” he’d said with a solemn nod.
He’d been so much more to her. But she hadn’t said that. “Well. Thank you, anyway.”
He’d nodded again. “You take care, now.” Then he’d turned and strode away, back to the helicopter. She’d watched as he climbed in and the chopper lifted off and flew away.
He hadn’t looked back.
“How is it being back at work?” James appeared at her cubicle.
Gabby jumped, her heart racing. “James,” she gulped his name. “You scared me.”
He frowned, looking hurt and concerned at the same time. “I’m sorry.”
“No, no. It’s not your fault. I’m jumpy lately.”
“Me, too. Ever since...” He gestured vaguely to the room. “You know.”
Gabby nodded. At her boss’s insistence, she’d spent two weeks recovering with her parents in Texas before New York Corporate Bank Inc. allowed her to return to work. But the time off hadn’t really helped. She still had nightmares. Insomnia. Depression.
Her family was worried, but they didn’t understand. Didn’t know what to do for her, or how to act. She’d found herself resenting their normalcy. Their ability to go about their everyday lives while she—she kept seeing Mr. V with blood gushing out of his head.
She’d been told they’d recovered his body. There was a funeral in New York, but Gabby had still been in Texas. Half of her had wanted to attend the service. The other half had worried that she would completely lose it and embarrass herself. She just couldn’t believe he was dead. Gone forever.
And she’d come so close to meeting the same end.
James stepped into her cubicle and drummed his fingers on her desk. “It might help to talk about it. Want to get some lunch?”
No, she didn’t. “I brought mine from home.” She pointed at the brown paper bag sitting beside the printout of reports she’d planned to work on while she ate. “I’m weeks behind.”
“Yeah, sure. I understand.” James stuck his hands in his pockets and stared at the floor. “I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted. Before we were rescued, I mean.” He winced and raised devastated eyes to hers.
“It’s okay.” She reached up and patted his upper arm. “It was a horrible ordeal. And no one really knows how they’ll react under such circumstances.”
Except, a small voice crept into her thoughts, Clay would never have acted that way. He had protected her, reassured her and, ultimately, saved them. Of course, he was a soldier. He’d been trained to handle unspeakable violence and mind-numbing terror. But even so, there’d been something about the man. An indefinable quality that no training could give.
“I can’t sleep,” James said quietly. “And when I do sleep I have nightmares.”
