Page 48 of Javier

“He’ll be fine.” Kai motioned for one of the men to step up. “Luis will make sure of it.”

While Kai gave the man instructions in perfect Spanish, Javier helped the sisters to get situated in the back seat. He rummaged through a grocery bag he snatched from the front seat, and handed out snacks and soft drinks to my friends.

“Missy?”

It was an order, nothing more, and he didn’t touch me as I mounted the vehicle. In fact, he almost recoiled from me when I climbed the step. I sat alone in the middle seat. Chatting behind me, the sisters passed me an Orange Crush and a power bar. I ripped open the bar, but all of the sudden, I wasn’t hungry anymore.

The driver boarded the van. Kai shook hands with Luis,who was apparently staying behind to wipe all traces of our passing and find the donkey a new home. Without giving me so much as a look, Javier loaded his ruck, gear, and duffel in the vehicle.

I bit down on my lip. The hunk had undergone the usual transformation. Inevitably, he’d turned into a jerk. And now that we were no longer in danger, he was doing all he could to show me how big of a jerk he was.

Point made. Message received. As he would say, copy that.

I clicked on my seatbelt, and, channeling Affie, projected her “go fry your eggs in some other pan” attitude at him. Well, at least I hoped I did. Attitude wasn’t something I had a lot of practice with, but hey, I was going to learn.

Kai took the front passenger seat. The van swayed when Javier mounted the vehicle, slammed the door shut behind him, and plopped down on the seat in front of me.

“You got this?” he asked, as he expanded the duffel and consolidated his ruck and all his gear in it.

“I got this,” Kai assured him. “Get some shuteye.”

Without another word, Javier slid his handgun into the back of his jeans, tucked the duffel under the seat, and propped the carbine next to the duffel for easy reach. He curled over his knees, and taking all the space in the seat, laid down on his side. His body hardly fit and his big feet hung over the edge as he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

And just like that, our dangerous adventure was over and I was on the way to my tourist destination, leaving behind all traces of my life in Nicaragua, along with the lust and the nascent affection I’d once felt for one Javier Guzman, jerk-in-chief.

Chapter Thirteen

Javier

“Heads up, Goof.” King’s voice rose over the motors’ rumble. “RP ahead.”

He followed up with a poke of his hand. Considering that I hadn’t gotten much sleep, it was totally unnecessary. I’d been awake for most of the way, pretending to be asleep, making a pointnotto check on the woman seated behind me, and trying to get over the memory of Missy’s expression when I hadn’t returned her hug.

She’d winced and her face had gone beet red. She’d looked… shocked? Sad? Angry? All of the above?

When she staked her gaze on her shoes, I’d gotten all bent out of shape inside. It was as if she felt ashamed, which couldn’t possibly be the case, because she had nothing to be ashamed of.

If anyone had grounds for shame, it was me. For all the reasons I’d so closely catalogued during my time with Missy, and again, during my feigned nap, I couldn’t have her. I wasn’t right for her. She wouldn’t want me. Not if she knew.

Still, the disappointment I sensed from her ached deep in my chest. And yet it was the way it had to be. What did she expect? I couldn’t act all lovey-dovey in front of King. Or at all. I wasn’t into that stuff anyway.

Was I?

No.There couldn’t be any of that between us, no hanky-panky, no monkey business. No more stolen kisses or sneaky touching. No more stupid longings or inappropriate cravings. My train had gotten off the tracks a few times during the extraction, but now that we were back on the main line, things had to stay strictly professional.

I had a good plan. As soon as we got back to Astor House,I’d turn Missy over to Thena and volunteer for the next mission. There were two other Astor sisters missing. I could find them. Surely, now that I had found Missy, I’d gotten myself enough clout to earn me another mission or two.

My hope was that the next op would take me as far away from the house as was humanly possible. The North Pole? Count me in. An infiltration in Siberia? Sign me up. A trek through the Himalayas? Me, me, me.

I stretched out my arms, sat up, and worked all kinds of kinks from my neck and back. My bruises had settled in, the stitches on my arm stung, and my stiff joints decried the abuse I’d taken when I fought Snake and his mercs. Not that I was gonna admit to any of that aloud. It came with the territory. Or else my ass was getting old and wrinkly and I was growing soft of body and heart.

Of heart, for sure. Missy had somehow melted my shields.

I’d never been so obsessed with a woman, the one woman in the world I couldn’t have. I couldn’t get her out of my head. How had I become so smitten with her in such a short time? When had she claimed all the space in my brain? Why couldn’t I shake my need to be with her, to please her?

I guzzled down a bottle of water, gave in to my impulse, and glanced at the backseat. Missy was curled on her side, resting the side of her face on her folded hands, asleep. She looked exactly like her call sign, which she had accepted, not from me, but rather from King.

Damn me. I trapped a grunt in my throat.

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