Free Fall (Elite Force 4)

He delivered his answer with such a deadpan face, she almost missed his attempt to lighten the mood of a hellish day. A laugh burst free, then another until her laughter verged on hysteria. But she couldn’t stop. It was as if someone had pulled the plug holding in all her emotions, and now they flowed out, the fear, the pain, the relief, all mingling together and pouring free. She sat back on her butt and held her aching ribs.>They were all business—and her brain was still locked on that impulsive hug from Jose. For that moment, she’d forgotten all about their fight and the fact that he didn’t want to build a real life with her. She could only lose herself in the undeniable connection they shared, a chemistry that could too easily make her lose her objectivity when she needed it most.

Stella stepped alongside him as they trekked through the scrub brush, around acacia trees, the thorny branches reaching out like gnarled witch’s fingers. “Is it safe to talk?”

“For now,” Jose said, jabbing a stick at the high grasses for snakes, keeping his eyes on the horizon. “Just keep it low. Stay on the lookout. If we’re lucky, they don’t even know we’re out here. They’ll think we all got away in the helicopter.”

“That’s what I’m hoping.” She leaped over another protruding root. “I can hardly believe you’re really here.”

“You sent for me,” Jose answered, eyes ahead, searching through the night.

That she had. Guilt scuttled around inside her again, like the lizard scrabbling up a tree trunk, but she knew she would do the same again.

“I wasn’t sure the message would be picked up.” She was careful to keep her voice low so Sutton wouldn’t hear the details. “I wasn’t even sure they would understand the message if it did go through.”

“They didn’t understand.”

“But you did.” She’d suspected and now she knew for sure. “Because of that time we slipped away to a hotel along the Nile River, and in the restaurant I blinked Morse code to get you to…”

“Proposition me. Yeah. Pretty much.”

She stumbled and he caught her elbow. She forced a smile. “Keep going. I’m okay.”

Not really. Three days of limited food and sleep deprivation was taking its toll, but she couldn’t give in. She couldn’t let her guard down for a second when even a racing ostrich could be dangerous.

“You can do it.” He slid his arm around her waist with the familiar ease of a lover. “One foot in front of the other, like the snowman in that kiddy movie.”

“With legs like melting snow.” She laughed on a gasp.

His arm went tighter, pulling her more firmly against his side, muscles moving against her in perfect synch. So familiar. So sensuous. “Do you need me to carry you?”

“No.” The pain of remembering how good it was with Jose was almost more than her exhaustion-stretched body could withstand. If he took her in his arms, she could well say something she would regret. “No need. I. Can. Hold. On.”

“You’re amazing, woman. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

Had he brushed a kiss over the top of her head or was that just the heat of his breath, of his words? She was likely starting to hallucinate as her body gave out after all she’d been through.

Her side hurt from the pace. How far had they gone? A mile at least and she wasn’t carrying another human as Jose had done earlier and like Bubbles was doing now. Even as Jose helped her, he wasn’t even breathing heavy as perspiration sealed their clothes to their skin. His buddy Bubbles—the PJ with a fuzzy phobia—cleared the path ahead, Sutton bobbing unconscious again over his shoulder.

They pushed through more scrub brush, past a fat buffalo thorn tree that jutted at awkward angles as if desperately searching for a drop of rain. Deeper and farther they trekked. No sound of the helicopter. No sound of gunfire, just the faraway snort of animals—a rhino or buffalo maybe. And the sound of her labored breathing, the crunch of their footsteps.

Okay, her footsteps.

The two superhumans barely made a noise even as they charged ahead full steam. Their hard-muscled bodies moved in sleek stealth mode into nigh wrapping around them all like a humid blanket. Or was she losing consciousness? She gripped Jose’s vest tighter to anchor herself to his side, use him like a crutch.

One more step, she told herself time and time again.

Finally, they stopped.

She almost missed the fact she wasn’t walking anymore since the world seemed to be spinning. They were standing in a small clump of Acacia trees with twisted trunks. Branches spoked like an umbrella, creating a shadowy cave of sorts.

Bubbles slid his burden to the ground, then sagged back against a gnarled trunk, gasping for a second before he dropped to his knees beside Sutton. He shrugged out of his pack and pulled out medic gear.

The student was in good hands.

Stella pried her numb fingers from Jose’s vest and slid to the dusty ground. Sitting cross-legged, too tired to move, she allowed herself to look her fill at the man she’d thought she would never see again. With smooth efficiency, Jose gathered broken branches, snapping off longer ones to make shelter. He showed no signs of slowing, only his bloodied uniform and the streaks of sweat through his camo paint, testified to all they’d been through this evening.

Lean, with a whipcord strength, he had a runner’s body—a by-product of marathons he ran in addition to his special operations military training. He’d told her once he used intense running regimes to help him fight a drinking problem. While he’d been sober for five years, he still attended AA meetings and ran. And ran.

His body shouted health and vitality and pure sensuality. She’d wanted him the second she’d seen his angular good looks. She wanted to stroke her hands over his sleek black hair and test the texture between her fingertips.