Page 35 of Explosive Vengeance

They said goodbye to the others, then crossed the street and started up the walkway along the lake. She breathed in the clean, fall air spiced with the scent of damp leaves. The mix of evergreens in the surrounding hills provided a stunning backdrop to the vivid bursts of yellow, orange and red turning leaves lit up by the ornamental lamp standards they passed.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, staring out over the lake and the thick forest on the other side that rose into the mountains.

“Yeah, and the view’s not bad either.”

Chloe couldn’t help but smile. The line should have been cheesy, but from him, it wasn’t. “Thank you. You’re not hard on the eyes either, by the way.” It felt good to flirt, and not have to hide who and what she was. She felt safe here for now, especially with him beside her. The novelty of it added to the magic between them.

One side of his mouth lifted as he gazed down the pathway before them. It was practically deserted, only a few people out walking their dogs. “Did you hear how Megan and Ty met?”

“Yeah, he was her temp SERE school instructor. She broke out of her holding cell at the camp and found Ty’s campsite out in the woods a few miles away. Then he turned her back in.”

“Crazy story.”

“I know, right? I’m more scorched earth with stuff like that. I’d have kicked his ass if I ever crossed paths with him again, but Megan’s more forgiving than me. And you know what? I think he suits her.”

“I wasn’t sure what to think at first, but now that I’ve spent some time with them and watched them together, I agree.”

“I’m happy for her. But if your friend breaks her heart, he’s gonna wind up on my hit list.”

Heath chuckled, the low sound wrapping around her. “Ty won’t hurt her. He’s a good guy and he adores her.”

“I hope it works out for them.”

He shot her a curious look. “You’ve got your doubts already?”

“Well, yeah. Long-term, committed relationships aren’t part of our skill set, if you catch my drift. But I really want it to work for them. Megan’s awesome and she deserves to be happy.” Maybe Megan could “break the cycle”, so to speak, and have something resembling a normal life.

“I know Ty. I’m willing to bet they beat the odds.”

Chloe cast him a shocked look. “Oh my God, you’re a Boy Scoutanda romantic?”

A wry smile tugged at his mouth, making her want to do some tugging of her own on it—with her teeth. “No one’s ever accused me of being a romantic before. And I’m pretty sure you said yourself the other night that I might not be such a Boy Scout after all.” He raised a dark eyebrow.

Oh, damn, he was sexy, for a Boy Scout. Or maybe because of it. And that little prelude he’d given her on the couch the other night suggested he probably liked control in bed. Arousal slid through her at the thought. She’d had to be in control her entire life. If she ever got into bed with him, she wanted to be able to let go completely just once, to see what it was like. Based on what she’d seen so far, she’d bet he could light her up like an incendiary cord.

“So I’m curious. Why explosives?” he asked as they continued walking. They’d passed the shops and restaurants now. From here the footpath continued along the edge of the lake, past homes and parkland.

“Because they’re cool.”

He huffed out a laugh. “To some people, I guess they are. Why to you?”

She thought about it a moment. “I dunno, there’s something thrilling about controlling the chaos of it. Of knowing what materials to combine, and in what amounts, to get the exact result you want. Every target’s its own challenge, whether it’s bringing down a building, or blowing up a car…or something more precise. It’s part science, part art.”

“Did you pick that specialty?”

“No. I wanted to be a sniper, but my personality wasn’t right for it, and there’s no way I could’ve stayed still long enough anyhow. I’m a wild child, always will be, and my instructors saw that early on. Explosives and demolition aren’t everyone’s jam, but it suits me,” she finished with a shrug.

“I’ve only ever been on the other side of them and seen the end result. IEDs, mostly. I was lucky I never got hit directly. The worst I had it was getting caught in the blast wave a couple times. Rung my bell and then some. A lot of other guys weren’t as fortunate.”

There was something underlying his words, something that made her think he’d lost people close to him that way, but she wasn’t sure and wasn’t going to ask. “It’s been an ugly war. I don’t use IEDs often, by the way. Too uncertain, too much risk of collateral damage. I prefer much more precise methods, to make sure no one gets hit but my target.”

He looked over at her, his expression genuinely curious. “What did you use the other night?”

“Rigged his furnace with a charge that made it look like a gas leak. Of course they’ll know it wasn’t an accident, because the body was bound.”

Heath shook his head. “I can’t decide if I’m a little scared, or impressed.”

“You can be both, I won’t judge.”

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