Page 78 of Dangerous Devotion

“That’s not what I’m doing, May.” His voice came out rougher than intended, but he didn’t back down. “I’ve worked with women in the military. Iknowthey’re badass. This is different. This is keeping our cover intact. If the op is blown, it’s over—all of it. Right now, weknowthat bomb is in the hangar. Not moving. That could all change with one phone call.”

She blinked, her anger flickering as her calculating mind took over. “If Simpson knows about the bomb and has some control over where it goes…” She trailed off.

He nodded. “Then we’re already running out of time.”

She crossed her arms.

“Oh, here it comes. You can’t leave it alone and see reason.”

She ignited. “Is this one of your ‘no common sense’ comments? Because I’m not going to stand here and listen to it!”

God, he wanted to kiss her until there was nothing left to say. Nothing but sweet words would remain.

“I don’t like that Simpson bumped into us again. How stupid would you say he is on a scale of one to ten?”

“Six?”

“Okay, well, that’s four too smart for my peace of mind. I don’t want you going in there, May.”

Her dark eyes flashed with frustration that seemed to quiver all through her body. “Wehaveto do this, AJ. Ihaveto do that training.”

“Like hell you do.”You have to give me your mouth.

“Don’t you see? This is our best shot at getting closer to getting into that hangar. There’s no reason for Simpson to be suspicious. What have we done? Went to a military gala—not so out of the ordinary for people in my line of work. The training is the perfect cover. I do the training, and you get to snoop around.”

“Exactly. All those things you listed are reasons why hewouldbe suspicious. No one’s ever used training as a cover for an op before, and I’m not sure it will work now.”

She sighed. “You know what I mean. Now who isn’t using any common sense?”

He scrubbed his hand over his face. Traces of her body wash clung to his skin, as if the woman had claimed his very pores.

Hell, she had. And his heart.

When she stepped closer to him, his body reacted. A SEAL always had control over his pulse rate, but this time he didn’t. Where May was involved, all the rules flew out the window.

“This is a terrible idea.”

She tilted her head to search his eyes. “I’ll be safe. There will be witnesses.”

He saw why she thought this was a solid plan. He really did.

But it wasn’t.

Because Simpson was dirty. On the take. And he undeniably steered them away from that hangar then cut their tour short with a made-up story about a meeting.

It may have been coincidence that Simpson chose the same restaurant he and May had, but something was off, and Henner never ignored his instincts.

His gut screamed that this was a trap.

“I have to run everything past Con before we take action.”

“I know he’s your CO, and it’s only right that he knows what we’re doing. But what if he vetoes our plan? This is how we get our hands on the bomb, AJ!”

He leveled May in his stare. “And I want a tracker on you.”

She snapped her mouth shut but he watched pink irritation spread across her cheeks.

“Isn’t this how relationships work? You have to take into account how your spouse thinks or feels about something. There are discussions in relationships too.”

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