Free Fall (Elite Force 4)

“Stella, what the hell were you doing out there?” Shit, that wasn’t what he’d meant to say.

But she didn’t bristle. She simply rolled her eyes at him, understanding too well, probably more than he deserved. He charged across the room and kissed her forehead, taking in the warmth of her. Alive. Thank God, alive.

Her fingers stroked the back of his neck. “I was doing my job. Which included saving your ass.”

“You’re a code breaker. A data techie. That’s your job.” He angled back, looking into her glittering green eyes that reminded him of the dewy morning grass of home. “Leave that shoot-out stuff for us security dudes.”

“But I knew something was off when Brown told everyone to go west and he went the other way.” She frowned at the memory, her well-ordered brain always ready to catch a piece of a puzzle that didn’t fit. That was one of many reasons she was so damn good at her job.

“You found the mole and kept sensitive information safe. I would wholeheartedly approve if you hadn’t gotten shot in the process.” The kick to his gut was so damn sharp it was like seeing it happen all over again. “You took doing your job to a whole new level.”

Her hand slid around to caress his unshaven cheek. “My job is to love you, Jose James. That’s the only thing I care about. But you know I’ve spoken before about focusing my work life on code breaking, the desk type, out of the field.”

She was making this too easy for him, which also made it tougher because he wanted to earn her, to be worthy of this amazing woman who’d given him her entire heart.

“Loving you is the scariest damn thing I’ve ever done, Stella.” He kissed her forehead again, then her freckled nose, her mouth, quickly, carefully. “And I do, I love you… so much.”

That point had been hammered home to him in the month he’d spent without her. He’d known then that he wasn’t ready to let her go. But this last week together had been the pressure cooker that stripped everything else away—all his dumb defenses and all his half-baked notions about what he wanted for his future. The only thing that was left was his love for Stella and faith in her. Hell, if this smart, kick-ass woman saw him as a stand-up guy who could take on a family, then by God he could.

“I’m glad to hear it.” She stroked her thumb over his mouth. “I wondered if I was hallucinating when I heard you say that last night.”

No more wasting time. No more running. He was ready to take on the future, with Stella. “Let’s get married.”

She looked at her IV bag quickly, then back at him. “Did I hear you say what I think or are the pain meds messing with my head?”

“Stella, I mean every word. I want us to get married and if you’re not ready to talk about that now, I’ll wait until you’re feeling better. Hell, I’ll wait however long it takes because I’m not giving up on us again.”

“What about your concerns? You have some very real worries and while I believe in you, I don’t take those lightly.” Wary hope flickered through her eyes and he hated that she had to wonder or doubt him.

He lowered the bed rail and sat beside her, cautiously so as not to jostle her. He checked the half-empty bag of fluid and the machine blipping her vitals. Satisfied she was okay, he settled beside her. “I want to be with you. Period. I’m f**king miserable without you.”

>A smile of relief spread across her mother’s face. “Good morning, kiddo. How do you feel?”

“Mom?” she croaked, then coughed.

Her mother passed her water to sip through a bendy straw just like when Stella had the chicken pox at five years old.

How could she have forgotten that?

Annie set the cup on the bedside table. “I’ll call for the nurse.”

“No, please.” Stella gripped her wrist. “Wait. Tell me what happened first.”

“You’re in a hospital. You were shot twice. One bullet grazed your temple. The other hit a major artery in your thigh.” She squeezed her hand. “But you’re going to be fine. Jose treated you on the scene while you waited for the ambulance. The doctor said Jose saved your life.”

Her voice trailed off and she pressed a palm to her chest. Annie blinked back tears that spoke louder than words of how close she’d come to dying. She owed Jose so much. “And the list, the names?”

“Agent Brown was the leak. It appears he was turned traitor when he built up gambling debts. An enemy exploited that weakness. I’m not privy to all the details, but I’m guessing they may offer him his life in exchange for all his contacts. Regardless, the leak has been plugged.”

Annie clicked through the high notes like the seasoned professional she was and Stella felt an uncanny sense of looking in the mirror. How humbling to think she was so much like this woman whose choices frustrated the hell out of her.

She would get the rest of the details later, once she could link up with her contacts at Interpol. She intended to press hard for the right to sift through every piece of data the analytical Mr. Brown recorded, check and recheck each piece of paper he touched. If he’d falsified so much as an order for candy bars, she would find it.

And she couldn’t help but wonder if she might have been more effective from the start if she’d stuck to what she did best.

Analyzing data.

“Uhm, Stella?” her mother asked, uncertainty looking so alien on her confident mom. “You need to know I’m coming back to the States.”