“Wanna know why?”
“Okay. I’ll bite. Why, Dutch?”
“Cuz it always tastes like you made it just for me. Just because you know how much I love it, and since you love me, that’s all I taste.”
She shook her head again. “I’m not sure I follow that, but as long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters.”
“You make me happy with every breath you take, baby.”
Her cheeks along with that sweet spot on her neck turned pink, making him wish that, instead of going to meet Doc, he could carry her upstairs and ravage all the anxiety out of her body so all she could feel was him.
“You make me happy too, Dutch.”
“Ready?”
“Not really.”
“Let’s finish this, Malin, so we can get on with the rest of our lives.”
—:—
While the danger she faced now was less than she had many times during this mission, the nervousness she felt was twice as intense. This was it. One way or another, by this time tomorrow, the last vestiges of the work she’d done for the past year would come to a culmination.
What would it feel like to wake up in a few days and know this was all behind her? The mission she’d accepted to give herself time to get over Dutch, at least in part, had become the very thing that brought him back into her life.
Now here they were, not just working together, but loving each other too.
“Let’s go,” said Dutch, holding his hand out to her.
Malin picked up the angel ornament that sat on the table, and twirled it on her finger. “I’m tempted to bring it with me. Is that silly?”
“Not at all. Put it in your pocket, baby.”
Malin smiled and followed his suggestion.
* * *
“Let’s run through this one more time,” Doc said when she and Dutch came into the winery. “Montgomery’s plane will land in under an hour. He knows how to make contact with Malin. What we anticipate is that he’ll make nice and ask for a meeting so she can brief him on the outcome of the mission he believes she’s ready to wrap.”
Malin felt herself wanting to chew her fingernails, a habit she’d broken in high school. All of their plans were predicated on Montgomery doing exactly as Doc had just laid out. If he didn’t, they’d have to adjust on the fly.
Malin watched Dutch pace, aware that his anxiety was greater than her own, just like it would be for her if he was about to put himself in the direct path of danger.
Several of the K19 team were already staked out in various places in the winery, although even she had no idea where they were. The plan was that she would suggest Montgomery meet her there.
Once they heard from Montgomery, Gunner and Razor would be out front, while Dutch was in the back. Doc would be closest to her.
Dutch hadn’t liked it, but between the two of them, she and Doc had convinced him that neither Doc nor the other four men positioned in the winery would let anything happen to her. Above all else, Malin was armed and perfectly capable of defending herself.
“He’s thirty minutes out,” Doc relayed from the radio headset. Malin held her breath. What was Montgomery waiting for?
As if on cue, her cell phone vibrated. “Kilbourne,” she answered.
“Agent Kilbourne, you’ve been one difficult woman to track down.”
“Yes, sir.”
“McTiernan briefed me on your mission. I understand you’ve uncovered something quite significant.”