Page 5 of Gray

“Jett will have security let the asshole from IT know to leave you alone, but….” He nodded at her, his dark gaze intense. “Give me a call if there’s an issue.”

“Okay. Thank you,” she finally added. Had she thanked him earlier? She wasn’t sure. The entire evening was somewhat of a blur of frazzled nerves and spiked adrenaline. Lena wasn’t usually like this. She prided herself on being professional. Poised and unfazed by anything. She’d been frightened down by the armory, but Gray also shook her up somewhat, leaving her scrambling to right herself. Everything he said threw her off, none of it ever what she expected.

“You’re welcome.” A beat passed as they stood there. There was no need for him to remain, yet here he was.

She swallowed, nervous for some reason, and grabbed her key fob from her purse, clicking the remote. Gray reached down,pulling open her car door, and goosebumps erupted over her skin at the chivalrous gesture. Gray watched her get into her vehicle, nodding at her once as she closed the door. He was going to watch her leave, she realized. Heat washed over her face as she started the engine and pulled on her seatbelt. Gray’s eyes on her were unnerving. He didn’t miss anything. Her hands were trembling slightly as she put them on the steering wheel, but she wasn’t sure if it was from the fright she’d had earlier or her body’s surprising reaction to the man standing just outside her car door. Trying to keep her composure, she checked her mirrors and backed out of the space, giving him a silly little wave before she drove off.

Gray was still standing there, arms crossed, as she headed to the gate, looking like a sentinel on duty, making sure nothing and no one harmed her under his watch.

Chapter 2

Gray awoke with a start, twisting in his sheets, his entire body covered in a fine sheen of sweat. The still air in his bedroom felt confining—oppressive. He’d forgotten to turn on his ceiling fan or crack a window. Somehow, the flow of cool air over his skin reminded Gray that he was free—half a world away from his captors. Thousands of miles away from his hellish days of torture.

He’d been in anguish in his nightmare, fighting with his abductors in the dark, blindfolded and restrained, unable to move away from the pain they were inflicting on him. The lashings. The beatings. The sheer brutality of the hatred bleeding from them.

Gray huffed out a shaky breath, the racing of his heart finally beginning to slow as he took in the darkness of his bedroom. The silence. The complete stillness. His gaze tracked to the clock.

Oh-two-hundred.

He sat up, swiping a hand over his face, and stiffening slightly with the movement.

The scars he bore on his back were a constant reminder of the whippings he’d received. The torture he’d endured. Three fucking days in captivity, and it had felt like a damn lifetime, the pain excruciating and never-ending. And Gray hadn’t even received the worst of it. They’d captured another man as well—a Brit—who’d been slaughtered right in front of him. Was Gray more valuable to the terrorists because the U.S. flag had been sewn on his uniform? It didn’t make sense that he’d lived while another man had died, but then again, nothing about war wasjust or fair. Not the way the op had gone south. Not the hostage situation. Not the sheer brutality the kidnappers had shown to their fellow man.

Gray and his teammates had gotten out of the Army after his rescue, with Jett forming Shadow Security. While Gray had been reluctant to join the team and was the last man onboard, he’d come to realize this was his calling. They took on operations the government couldn’t or wouldn’t do. Rid the world of evil men. Righted wrongs. Saved countless lives.

He couldn’t deny the training the U.S. Army had given him paved the way for the missions the team conducted today. And wasn’t that fucking priceless. They’d been in no hurry to save him from hell, so he’d left without so much as a glance back.

Gray’s bare feet hit the floor as he swung his legs off the bed, and he sat there in the darkness, suddenly wide awake.

“Fuck,” he muttered quietly.

The incident with Lena earlier tonight had rattled him. She’d looked so fucking scared standing there, backed against the door to the armory. That prick hadn’t even noticed she was frightened. Hadn’t even considered she didn’t want anything to do with him. Gray had seen her fear in an instant—the wild look in her eyes, the paleness of her face, the pulse jumping in her slender neck. She’d been fucking trembling as he’d taken her back upstairs, his arm loosely wrapped around her. The guy might’ve done no more than grab her arm, but it had terrified her. It had been all Gray could do not to pull her into his arms and assure her that he’d keep her safe.

He didn’t do relationships, but hell. Something about Lena got under his skin. They felt like kindred spirits, in a way, even if she didn’t realize it. Jett had confided to him once that he’d helped Lena with a bad situation years ago—an ex that was stalkingher. Gray didn’t know the details, and Jett had never uttered another word about it, but Gray could tell she was still slightly haunted. Lena was careful to keep her distance from the others and her private life private. No doubt it was for her own self-preservation, something he knew all too well.

And after her kidnapping two weeks ago?

Hell. No doubt that ordeal had given her a whole host of nightmares.

He could still feel the weight of her lifeless body in his arms. Recall the paleness of her skin, the weakness of her pulse. He’d wanted to hunt down the man who’d harmed her, but his priority at the time had been rushing Lena to the hospital. His teammates had swarmed the home, and that fucker had escaped.

Lena’s shriek of surprise had him tearing out of the gym earlier. And when he’d seen that asshole touching her? Gray had been filled with rage. He’d wanted to punch the guy, pin him against the wall to show him exactly how it felt to be restrained and helpless. Lena had been too frightened to even move, and he hated that for her.

“Damn it all to hell,” he muttered, standing up. The sheets fell to the ground, twisted up just like his insides currently felt, and Gray walked naked across his bedroom. His muscles bunched with the movement, his cock swinging free. Clothes felt too damn confining sometimes. Restrictive and unwelcome. Unless he was on an op with his teammates, when he’d sleep in his boxers, he preferred wearing nothing at all to bed.

He scrubbed a hand over his jaw, wondering if Lena was asleep right now—wondering what she wore to bed every night. His cock twitched, his blood suddenly rushing south. Lena was beautiful and sexy, with dark eyes and silky long, dark hair. She always wore stylish clothes, classier than he’d ever hope to be.She wouldn’t be caught dead in the flashy things Anna often wore. Jett’s wife loved attention. Lena was happy to stay out of the limelight but was classically beautiful. Her attractive, slim figure couldn’t be hidden by her stylish attire. She had curves in just the right places—breasts that swelled against her tops, curvy hips, and an ass that he’d love to grip in his hands as he pulled her close.

Hell. Even her scent was enticing—some type of wildflower. Exotic. Sexy. Free. He wanted to bury his nose in her neck, inhaling some of her goodness, and then let his hands roam everywhere, making her moan his name.

Gray shook his head. That would never happen.

His cock was already half-hard just thinking about her, but he ignored his body’s reaction. Lena could easily get a rise out of him—both literally and figuratively. He was more than happy to jump to her defense, and physically? She was fucking perfection.

Gray strode down the familiar hallway to his kitchen, not bothering to turn on a light, and poured himself a cool glass of water. After a nightmare like that, it would be hours before his mind could settle enough to enable him to fall asleep again. Ironic that he’d momentarily forgotten about it as his thoughts had turned to his pretty colleague.

His eyes scanned his dark kitchen, the digital clock on the microwave and stove looking brighter than usual in the middle of the night. Surprisingly, the darkness didn’t bother him in his own home. Gray’s senses were honed enough that he’d know if someone else were there. And while his Glock was locked in a safe, he didn’t need a weapon to disarm a man. Gray had killed with his bare hands before, and he’d do it again, if necessary, the will to survive paramount above all else. Nothing mattered more than his freedom.

He took another swig of water, the cool liquid seeping down his throat but not stopping the torment of memories now resurfacing. He’d screamed in agony during his torture, no longer able to keep his cries silent no matter how stoic he’d tried to be. His throat had been red and raw when he’d finally been rescued, his back bloodied, his body bruised, his ribs broken. Jett had later told him he’d looked haunted—the same way Lena had appeared tonight. She might not have bruises on her porcelain skin, but she was tormented just the same.

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