He shook his head, checked their surroundings once more. “The general concept sounded great. Small groups were right in my wheelhouse. Two-man teams that could be independent, strategic and effective? Count me in.”
She’d had similar thoughts. “The issue was trusting a woman.”
He nodded, clearly annoyed with himself. “I was up front with Hank that it was my issue, not any problem I had in particular with you or the others on the project. All of you are strong, smart, and amazingly talented.” He raked a hand through his hair. “With you, though, something clicked.”
“Yes, it did,” she agreed. “We’ve been a fabulous team.”
A ghost of a smile curved his lips. “I’m glad you agree,” he said. “My ex-wife was the polar opposite of loyal. The experience burned me. I buried it, but the effects lingered.”
“It hardly shows at all.” Mel smoothed his ruffled hair. “You don’t have to do this,” she murmured, glancing around. “Especially not out here.”
“Yes, I do. Working with you has helped. More than I realized. I feel like the man I wanted to be.” He sighed. “My ex had me completely fooled. She was only after stability, benefits and the piles of money she convinced herself I had. Fortunately, she was also careless about covering up her affairs. Thanks to a couple of buddies keeping an eye on things while I was away, the inevitable divorce moved fast.”
“Small consolation.” Mel wanted to find his ex-wife and make her life miserable. She didn’t care that it had been more than a decade, Dean deserved so much better. He definitely deserved not to have a challenging assignment complicated by her curiosity about where more of those hot kisses might lead them.
“All that said, you should know working with you means everything to me. We’re a team.” He touched her bullet-torn collar. “Of course, I trust you.”
A delightful, unexpected warmth flowed through her. They’d never spent much time on this kind of talk, bonding over other things instead. For Mel and Dean, they’d found common ground in moving to Fool’s Gold, the interesting assignments, shooting practice, and learning how to help around the ranch.
She opened her mouth to thank him and her stomach growled. Dean’s lips twitched with amusement. She hoped that meant they were back on track. As a team. As friends.
“We’ll get food, but first, let’s agree to a new rule,” he said. “We are not doing the divide and conquer thing again. To hell with Spalding’s precious schedule.”
His voice dropped to a sexy growl that made her senses light up like a Christmas tree. With his lips right there in kissing range, she forgot all about food. He’d just bared his soul, or a good part of it anyway. This was not the time to let the adrenaline lurking in her system obliterate her common sense. She tried, and failed, to drag her gaze away from his mouth. Her mind away from the memory of last night.
“Works for me,” she managed.
As if she wasn’t wallowing in wishful thinking, remembering the feel of his mouth on hers. Yes, that lip-lock last night had left her craving much, much more. Unfortunately, taking that leap would be an entirely new kind of risk and reward and she wasn’t sure Dean wanted to explore such a drastic change in their relationship.
“Come on.” He gave her hand a little tug. “Food first, then we can sort out the rest of this assignment.”
Thank goodness one of them was still tethered to common sense. She couldn’t possibly make any advances and wreck their partnership just because the lingering adrenaline was messing with her head. She’d been scared for a few minutes. Not the first time. Although a physical connection—sex—was a natural, instinctive way to affirm survival, it wasn’t the right move right now.
Unless. Was Dean working through similar needs after the attack in the park? He focused way too much on that bullet hole and he was certainly hovering at every opportunity. Almost like a concerned husband.
She told the tiny voice in her head to shut up. She didn’t need those fantasy images running amok in her mind. Sneaking a peek at him as he drove, she was relieved that he seemed oblivious to her internal debate.
All too often as they worked, Dean knew what she was thinking before she did. This particular issue was something she needed to shut down and bury deep before he caught a whiff of the lusty thoughts hounding her.
Dean had given her plenty of convincing kisses during their previous ops. And on this assignment, he was doing a fabulous job with the doting husband routine. She had to remember this was all part of their act. They were close partners. Naturally, there was an inherent intimacy in that bond. That didn’t mean they should toss a wrench into it with something as fleeting as sex.
Unfortunately, Dean made it tough to stay on the safe, smart side of that line as he took the turn to her favorite fast-food chain. He hadn’t needed to ask, he’d just known what she needed. How was it he understood her like no one else? She didn’t think she was all that complicated or high maintenance. When he reached the speaker, he automatically ordered her favorite pulled-pork sandwich with sweet and tangy barbecue sauce, coleslaw, potato chips and a side of fresh fruit.
She was over here tearing up and all he’d done was remember her food preferences. Good grief, she hadn’t been this twisted up after the assassination attempt. She tried again to pull herself back into partner-mode. But when he passed the drinks and bags of food to her, his fingers brushed hers and sent a hot little zing through her system.
“Adrenaline is bizarre,” she muttered, setting the order of onion rings in the cup holder between them. She willed the familiar, normal action to settle her down.
“Truth.” He popped an onion ring into his mouth. At the next stoplight he turned in his seat, giving her his full attention. “Anything else you need before we’re back on duty? You look a little flushed.”
She looked away, too unsettled. “No, thanks.” What a lie. “The food will kick the last of this shaky feeling.” She wasn’t about to discuss any intimate thoughts with a potentially bugged truck.
“Then join the party.” He held out an onion ring, giving her a smile that made her pulse skip.
Frustrated with herself, she stayed quiet for the rest of the ride to the Lattice Creek Ranch. It didn’t feel safe to talk about the assignment and the only other thing on her mind was jumping Dean’s hot, sexy body.
“Dale, Andrew, and Lacy must be back by now,” Dean said as he drove under the welcome signs at the ranch.
“There’s one SUV.” Mel pointed to the far side of the parking area near the cabins. “Andrew sure didn’t waste any time getting Lacy away from Spalding.” No one from the location scouting group was in sight, so she assumed they’d all gone their separate ways.
“What do you think that’s about?”
“Lacy and Andrew?” At his nod, she gave her opinion. “Oh, there’s way more between them than a professional bond,” she said. “And it’s pretty new.”
“That’s my take, too.”
“It’s sweet,” she added. “They’re cute together.”
“I’ll take your word on that.”
Dean parked the truck and touched his lips with a finger. As if she’d forgotten the reason they’d had the radio turned up.
“Andrew was in Afghanistan with Spalding,” Dean said once they were out of the cab. “But he’s way more focused on Lacy than causing any trouble.”
“Agreed.”