Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
“Fuck,” she muttered, not really meaning for him to hear, but the image he’d just painted was hot as hell. And, embarrassingly, she wasn’t as opposed to it as she should have been.
He glanced at her, then went back to watching. “Got a feelin’ I’m in for a long ride home with a knife wound in my leg.” How the hell could he read her so easily? And what would he do with that knowledge? Hell, what did she want him to do?
Shadow’s sat phone buzzed once, signaling a message. Hopefully good news from Giovanni. She wanted to get Katya out of that place tonight. She glanced at her watch. Four forty-five. Way too late to start this, but she wouldn’t question it if Shadow said they were a go.
“Copy,” was all Shadow said after thirty seconds of silence while he listened to whatever report he’d been given. Then he tucked the phone away and moved out of the brush where they’d lain on their bellies watching the house. “Come on,” he said softly. “Back to the cage.”
“Cage?” What was he talking about?
“Sorry. The Hummer. We call it a cage because it’s not as free as a bike. It’s enclosed. Can’t feel the wind around you.”
“Does it feel free when you ride bike?”
“Definitely. When we get back home, I’ll show you.”
“Might take you up on that.”
He turned and grinned. Shadow was a man who smiled freely, but this somehow looked different. His whole face lit up. That was when Millie realized that his easy-going manner, his ready smile, his compulsion to help everyone get along was all an act. He was as shadowed as his name. Always on guard. He seemed like he was carefree, like he didn’t have a care in the world, but it was all a facade. Underneath was something dark. Dangerous. And she found she wanted to explore that side of him.
They made it back to the base they’d set up about an hour before dawn. Millie was running on empty but refused to tell Shadow she needed sleep. They set up some devices around the perimeter. Shadow said something about them being an early-warning system Argent had devised for ExFil for just such cases. That way they could get some sleep, and Giovanni could warn them if anyone was too close. Though it was well into spring, the days could still be quite cold, especially on a cloudy day. Though the night had been clear, there was a thick cloud cover moving in, promising rain. Shadow confirmed it when he consulted Giovanni.
“Gonna be a storm moving in this morning. Expect tonight to be soggy.”
“Great,” she muttered.
“Don’t like the rain?”
“I like it fine,” she snapped. “Just not like this. Climbing uphill will be dicey at best of times. Mud will make it even worse.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “Was thinking the same thing.” He opened the back of the Hummer. All the cargo had been stowed on either side where it was lashed down, leaving the middle free of clutter except sleeping bags, which were laid out now as if they were ready for sleep. “In you go,” he said, picking her up by the waist and lifting her as if she weighed nothing.
“What are you doin’?” she squeaked. “Der’mo!”
He chuckled. “Just assistin’ a lady inside.” He crawled in after her. The sleeping bags had been unzipped so all they had to do was pull the top half over them once they’d lain down. Millie desperately wanted sleep, and she was so cold and tired, she was trembling with both. Any other time she’d have wrapped herself up in that sleeping bag in a little ball behind some of the equipment and just passed out, but this was different.
Shadow didn’t bother pulling the top of the sleeping bag over him, nor did he remove his boots. After closing the back hatch, he set his phone within easy reach, put his hands behind his head, and closed his eyes. Millie sat there for a few seconds before pulling the sleeping bag over herself. She’d removed her boots first thing, knowing there was no hope of getting her feet warm if she didn’t.
She turned her back to him, trying to ignore the big man with the body heat practically radiating from him while she huddled in her sleeping bag, shivering like she was dying of hypothermia.
“You should take your socks off, too,” he rumbled beside her.
“What?”
“If you want your feet to get warm, take off your socks.”
“Why?”
“Sweat. Your socks are probably damp with it. Your feet’ll stay cold until they’re dry.”
“Oh.” It was an inane thing to say, but her brain was about to just shut down from fatigue. How long had it been since she really slept? In Poland, with Shadow? And that had only been an hour or so. It had been so long since she’d slept, and the inactivity was weighing on her.