Page 38 of Skull

“Yeah,” Breakneck agreed, standing and collecting his notes. “Let’s get on with it.” He looked at Iceman. “

Iceman stepped away from the table, setting his jaw. “Strekoza, you take Blade’s phone. Be ready to move within the hour.”

Strekoza gave a small nod. “Understood. I’ll coordinate with Anna.”

As the team began to disperse, Skull locked eyes with Walker. He saw the determination burning there, mirroring his own, and gave her a short nod. Two days. Maybe less. Every second mattered. And if the brass wanted to worry about optics, let them. Skull was worried about saving lives.

A dark silence settled over the team, determination etched on every face. Outside the briefing room, the wind rattled across the compound as if echoing the simmering outrage and raw resolve inside. Two days left on Pincho’s clock, and every second was a step closer to either saving their teammates or losing everything.

He turned to follow the others, steel settling into his gut. They would make this happen. One way or another, they would get Blade’s family out and rescue Hazard and Leigh before Pincho’s deadline struck midnight.

Walker satcross-legged on the bed, the soft cotton of the coverlet bunching beneath her knees. A faint glow seeped in from the curtained window, turning Skull’s skin to a mosaic of highlights and shadows.

Freshly showered and feeling the same frustration that lined every hard packed, powerful flexing muscle in Skull’s gorgeous, pacing body, each stride displaying the long sweep of muscle in his thighs. After his shower he’d donned nothing but shorts, leaving the rest of him bare, a feast for her eyes. He had an amazing body, athletic and honed to perfection by all the demands the Navy put on him to be the warrior they needed against their country’s enemies. A Tier 1 warrior who came with elite skills in more than just outside-the-wire operations—he also knew exactly what to do between the sheets. The man had some good hands.

Thank you, Uncle Sam.

She took in his broad shoulders that tapered to a lean waist, not an ounce of fat on him. The shorts he wore hugged his tight ass, showing off his delineated thighs and calves, his big, sure, well-formed feet eating up the floor, back and forth, back and forth. There was a primal aura that radiated off him. He looked like a dark caged predator, impatiently waiting to go on the hunt, needing some outlet in this momentary lull. Her pulse ticked up whenever his gaze cut to her, a lightning flash of intent she wasn’t sure she could withstand.

Underneath that restless energy, she sensed the same frustration roiling in him that she felt coiled beneath her skin. Their rescue mission remained on pause while bureaucrats deliberated. Being benched was like denying them both breath.

There was no mistaking this man for anything other than what he was…a warrior. She took a soft breath.Herwarrior, a man with strong impulses and direct action moves that left no doubt what he wanted, and a meltingly protective stance that was so foreign to her. She was used to being alone. She was used to isolation. She wasn’t used to craving touch, or genuineness, or having to resist a temptation that was overwhelming.

She’d claimed him, and he’d claimed her after so much sexy nonsense between them she felt shame for the way she’d acted, like he was nothing but a conquest, and back then, he had been. Who wouldn’t want such a man? Her aggressive pursuit culminated in one of the most intense, arousing, mind-blowing, intimately satisfying encounters of her life. Her edict of fuck him and move on seemed like such a good idea at the time, but she couldn’t stop wanting him. Talk about putting a crimp in her plan.

After what they had shared, her definition of fucking took on so many levels of nuance, her body responding to all that male aggression and power, and he’d done something no one had ever been able to do. He touched her heart…a shiver of fear slipped down her spine, and she wasn’t so sure he hadn’t claimed her heart right along with her body.

They had been on the move almost since they touched down in Bogotá, anguished at the loss of Hazard and Leigh, worried sick about their welfare, their emotions tense and easily rising to the surface, and stretched to the maximum of their endurance while searching for them. This was the first breather they’d had in days.

So, he had to be as exhausted as she felt, and until the powers that be made the tough decision to send them back into Lealtad, they languished on the sidelines waiting for that go ahead.

Watching him move was such an arousing and glorious sight. She’d finally had him, and it wasn’t simple, and it wasn’t easy, and it was going to cost her. Her mind went back to those alleyways, danger surrounding them as they ran Blade into the ground.

“You sent Bones after me.” There was a pensive quality to her voice as she toyed with the frayed end of the coverlet. Bones’s tail started thumping as he sighed softly in his kennel, and she looked toward the now relaxed canine, knowing at Skull’s command, he would turn into that protective, snapping juggernaut in seconds, reminding her that this wasn’t just about two hearts colliding. It was about the entire team.

Skull paused mid-step, turning that intense hawklike, cinnamon-brown gaze on her. Tension rippled through his body, then eased, replaced by something gentler that made her stomach tighten. Even half-dressed and half-feral with frustration, he was the only man she’d ever known who blended lethal competence with a fierce, unexpected protectiveness.

She frowned slightly as she smoothed out the material, her heart contracting at the meaning of what he had done. Of course, he would have backed up any of his teammates, but he chose to unleash his beloved partner to guard her. “That was courageous and forward thinking.” She swallowed, wanting to tell him how much she appreciated it, but the words stuck in her throat, so she switched to a different aspect of the act. “If it wasn’t for him…for you and your team…we’d be back to square one. Trying to chase down a man who would be even harder to find now that he was alerted to our pursuit.”

Her bare shoulders rose and fell with a steadying breath she was trying so hard to maintain. Under normal circumstances, she would have slipped into the protective solitude that came as naturally to her as breathing. But tonight, wrapped in Skull’s presence, her usual defenses felt less necessary and seemed useless against the kind of man she was beginning to realize he was.

“What I don’t get is how he got on the roof.”

Skull smiled, his gaze flicking to the dog. “Bones can climb ladders, he can cross wires, he can breach doors, crawl through air ducks, and freaking fly over gaps normal canines would balk at. He’s fucking superdog.”

That got her to smile. “You’re such an idiot with that dog.”

He chuckled, shrugging.

The muffled city lights outside gave the bedroom a soft, diffused glow. Skull ran a hand through his thick hair as he mulled over the latest development “Yeah, and now we’re cooling our heels, told to stand down while they make a decision about our brother and the woman he loves, a dedicated attorney who fought tooth and nail to bring Alzate to justice. It’s driving us all crazy while we wait for the brass and the Justice Department to make the right decision.”

She reached out her hand. “Come here. Relax for a moment. We might not get a minute to breathe once they do make the right decision.”

Skull ran his hands through his wet, tousled hair again, which normally was combed off his face, but he was agitated, distracted. The messy hair was sexy as hell as the inky strands fell against his sharp cheekbones, curled around the back of his ear, dark as sin.

“Blade isn’t going anywhere, and his ultimatum was clear. He won’t talk unless his wife and family are whisked away to safety,” she murmured. “There’s nothing for us to do right now. Come here,” she whispered, tilting her head. “That call will be here soon enough.” The anxiety of the day weighed on them both, yet here, for this quiet moment, she wanted only to focus on him.

She sensed the aggravation in his exhale, but it didn’t stop him from crossing the room and sinking onto the edge of the bed. Warmth radiated from him, reminding her how he’d been there for her through the madness of the past few days, and how that comfort scared her as much as it steadied her. He looked like an untamable rebel, that rough, dark stubble coating his jaw accentuating the label, but he was exactly the opposite, a committed, caring son, a dedicated, lethal warrior, and before she met him, the kind of man she doubted existed…genuine, honest, direct, and strong enough to put his own heart on the line.

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