Melody's Six

And, like Mel, he believed in what they were doing with the Athena Project. The assignments felt better from start to finish.

“I’m sorry,” she began.

He stopped her. “I don’t have a problem with you or anything you said.”

Her head tipped to the side. If she hadn’t been so tall, she might’ve passed for a curious pixie with her big eyes and sharp, delicate features. “I’m listening.”

He took a deep breath. “Playing your husband is the problem. Playing anyone’s husband would be a problem,” he clarified.

Her chin notched up, the wind catching at her golden curls. “We’ve done the romantic thing before. Plenty of times.” Her tongue slipped over her rosy lips. “We’ve kissed.”

Sort of. They’d done the close up, fake kisses. Those didn’t count. Not in his book anyway. And accurately defining kisses wasn’t the point here. “That was different.”

Her eyebrows arched and her mouth twitched to one side. “Do enlighten me.”

He hesitated.

“Or don’t.” She shrugged, then tucked her hands into the pockets of her vest. “You told Beck we’d take this case. If you’ve got any hang-ups we can’t get past you need to speak up. Right now.”

He closed his eyes for a second. The best way was just to spit it out. “I’m not husband material,” he blurted. “Swore off the whole lifelong commitment thing after my first marriage blew up in my face.”

Mel’s warm brown eyes went cool and her gaze narrowed as she studied him. “Bull.”

“Pardon?” He couldn’t have heard her correctly. He was braced for questions about holding back about his past. What made her think she knew better? It was his life. He’d been up close and personal with all the gory details.

“You committed to the Army. You went all-all in with Delta and Spec Ops. You committed one-hundred percent to Athena Project.” She wrinkled her nose. “Whatever trouble your ex-wife caused, it had nothing to do with your ability to make a commitment. Let’s go.”

He held his ground. “You don’t even know the story.”

She pulled her hands from her pockets. To his shock, she slipped a silicone wedding band onto the fourth finger of her left hand. “Don’t need to.”

Before he realized what was happening, she slipped a matching silicone ring into place on his finger. She smiled up at him. “With this ring, I partner with you for the duration of our assignment. I vow to help you protect the scouting crew from any harm, foreign or domestic. And I promise to remove this ring from your finger the minute we’re off duty.”

“Melody, come on.” His hand tingled where she touched him and though it was impossible, he would’ve sworn the ring was hot against his skin.

“I also vow to protect you from ghosts of the past from this day forth, for as long as we’re partners.”

“Stop.” He couldn’t take much more. She was trying to make light of his gaffe, but it felt too real. “The word husband practically gives me hives.”

“Then we won’t use the h-word.” She opened the driver’s side door for him. “Drop the old baggage and get in the truck. We need to pick up the drone.”

“I’m not your guy for this,” he insisted. “Thinking of you as my wife...”

Then he did.

He pictured Mel as his, not the wife of a faceless man in her future. His heart pounded a ragged, off-beat rhythm in his chest and he lost himself in her big, doe-brown eyes. Because of their work, he knew the texture of her fascinating curls, the silk of her cheek. She had a dark sense of humor and a brilliant way of anticipating trouble and finding a way through it. She was loyal and as honest as a sunrise.

In many ways he knew Mel better than he’d ever known his wife.

She gripped the panels of his denim jacket and pulled him close, landing a smacking kiss right on his lips. Her gaze was fierce as she stared him down. “Get in the truck, partner. You are my guy and this is our op. We’ll be fine.”

He stepped onto the running board as she rounded the truck to the passenger side. “Just work it out on the fly?” he asked over the roof of the truck.

“If that’s what it takes, sure.” Her bright grin loosened the vise that had been clamped around his chest.

Once they had two drones and the controllers securely loaded into the bed, they headed back to town for the rest of their personal gear. They would need to be smart about gear and supplies to get them through a full week of running around the mountains.

“You’re tenacious,” he said once the lodge was in the rear view.

“Don’t forget pushy too,” she agreed.

Definitely pushy, but she was right. They were good together—as partners. He wouldn’t let his old baggage drag them down.

She pulled cash and cards out of the envelope, tucking them into the console between the seats. “Remember to change your wallet.” She dropped whatever remained in the envelope into her backpack. “We don’t want to give away our actual addresses.”

Her phone chimed before he could reply. She checked the message. “Beck forwarded an update to the location list from the studio.”

“Will it be a problem?”