Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
“Yeah. What else.” Falcon looked like he was in so much pain. When he spoke, it was a hoarse rasp, like he was choking on the emotion clearly visible in his expression. And I knew.
“Joilyn. You love her.”
“I used to. I’m not ever going to lie to you, Gina. No matter how much it hurts me.” He shook his head. “I was supposed to marry her. She died. That was more than two years ago. I might not have known she was alive, but she knew how to contact me, and she never did. So it doesn’t matter if I still love her or not.”
“Yes, it does, Falcon. Your feelings matter.” I ducked my head and he let me, resting his hands on my knees as he stayed on his knees. “I understand this must be a shock to you.”
“Yeah. It is. I’m still processing, but Joilyn isn’t the important thing right now.”
“You said these people were supposed to rescue her. You’re going with them. That’s why you have to leave. Isn’t it?”
“It is. They’ve given me and Rattler the opportunity to go with them. Even if I’m not with Joilyn anymore, I can’t leave her safety in the hands of someone else. Not even men I know are competent. She’s Rattler’s sister. The three of us grew up together and relied on each other until we were adults. Even then, we had each other’s backs. No matter what. Rattler and I went into the Marines right after high school, and we sent money home to Joilyn so she could go to college. She was the smart one. Me and Rattler were grunts.”
“Sounds like you admired her a lot.”
“I did.”
“What do you think happened? I mean, with the car accident and where she’s been all this time.”
“That’s something I want to find out, but it’s not the reason I have to go with the team assigned to rescue her.”
“I don’t understand.” I was so fucking close to tears, I knew there would be no way to get much farther before I broke down. Christ, this was going to hurt. Because I could already tell there was no way I could measure up to this woman.
“Me and Rattler hadn’t been here long. We were still prospects when Rocket and Lemon first got together. Before that, we’d just come off a mission where my whole fuckin’ team was killed. Eight men and women. Rattler and me were the only two who made it. Today we learned there was a third person on that mission.”
“Joilyn?” My heart pounded. It was one more way this woman was better than me. If she’d been on the same mission Falcon had been on, did that mean she was a soldier too? Had she sacrificed her safety and freedom in the name of service? Even knowing I was likely to lose Falcon to this woman, I couldn’t hate her.
“Yeah, baby. She was the agency’s asset on the inside of that terror cell. No one told me and Rattler or we’d have burned down the fuckin’ earth to bring her home. And she’s been there ever since. Two fuckin’ years. The one thing I always promised anyone under my command was something I heard in a movie once. As a warrior, it made sense to me. Dead or alive, we all come home together. I’ve never left anyone. The fact it was Joilyn makes it so much worse.”
“Because she was your fiancée.”
“Because she was someone I considered family.”
“I understand. You need to bring her home.”
“I do, baby.”
I gave him a tremulous smile as tears overflowed and spilled down my cheeks. Falcon stood and pulled me to my feet. Instead of stepping back, though, he lifted me into his arms and picked me up. He carried me to the couch, then sat, positioning me so I straddled him and rested his hands on my hips. His expression seemed more relaxed. He wasn’t at ease by any means, but I thought maybe what he’d told me about him and Rattler and Joilyn had been something he needed off his chest.
More, I now knew he blamed himself for the death of his team. He hadn’t come out and said it that way, but for whatever reason, he felt like he’d failed them in some very important way. “I promise you, Gina, I will come back. I’ll get Joilyn back to safety, then I’m coming home.” He met my gaze and held it steadily. “To you. Then we’ll have a long talk about what we both want.”
“Just promise you’ll let me know you’re safe. When you get back. You don’t have to see me again if you don’t want to.” It hurt. God, it hurt! Falcon was a protector first and foremost. Sure, he tried to hide it under a macho exterior, but I could see that side of him in the way he’d taken care of me these last few months. There was no way he could turn his back on a woman he loved. And that woman wasn’t me. It was the woman he was supposed to marry.