Page 71 of Arrogant Bastard

Faith chooses a club chair instead of joining me on the bench seat. I allow it because I can still reach her if I want to. Plus, sitting opposite her this way, I can cop an eyeful of her stunning legs whenever I want.

She uncrosses and recrosses those very legs a minute later as we lift off. “Your horns are showing, Mr. Knight.”

“I fucking hope so. Those legs are driving me nuts.”

She flushes again, a little deeper this time, and I wonder how she’ll feel about spending the journey in my lap, specifically riding my cock.

A firm head shake before I get the chance to voice my thoughts. “Forget it, Knight. I’m not letting you distract me from my first chopper ride across New York.”

I lean back and cross my ankles. “Even if the view is much better from here?”

Her gaze drops to the growing bulge in my pants, and her nipples begin to pucker. “Yes,” she squeezes out tightly after a tense few seconds.

I allow myself a deep chuckle. “Okay, baby. If you say so.”

“I do say so. You’re not as irresistible as you think, you know.”

My mild contentment evaporates in a heartbeat. “Yes, I kinda got that from the four-year absence.”

A shadow crosses her eyes. She looks away from me for a second, at the view I have zero interest in. I wait for her. But when she looks back she doesn’t speak for a long while. “Killian…”

“You’re going to have to tell me sometime. So how about you tell me now?”

Her throat moves in a slow swallow. “You were right. I shouldn’t have been on that op that night in Cairo. I should’ve listened to you and gotten my head straight first. Or backed out altogether and let another team take care of those bastards.”

My jaw grits against the need to deny that. But I’ve had a long time to analyze it. “I was in charge. The final decision fell to me. I wanted you with me so I ignored my instincts.”

A weird acceptance settles over her face. “So you didn’t think I was ready either?”

“You aced every operation prior to that one, but in hindsight, you weren’t ready for one that struck so close to home. Not at that time, no.”

A breath shudders out of her. “God, I fucked up so badly.”

I lean forward and take her hands in mine. “No, you didn’t. You wanted to save those kids and make things right for Julia. I wanted you to have that bit of peace, so I closed my eyes to the many pitfalls in the operation. Extra backup for a start. And constant surveillance on the assholes. Hell, a couple of drones watching them, and few discreet tags wouldn’t have been amiss either. But the biggest mistake was deciding to stay the night. That was my call.”

She shakes her head and pulls her hands from mine. “We both made the decision to stay. I should’ve woken you up when I heard that boy scream. But…I had my gun. I thought I could handle it. ”

My fists clench but I don’t say anything. I get the feeling she needs the cathartic release of replaying that nightmare.

“The bastard…he was dragging the boy down one of the corridors. God, he couldn’t have been older than ten or eleven.” She shudders.

I call fuck it, release her seat belt, and scoop her up into my arms. Although she accepts my touch and comfort, she’s miles away. Too far away. “The bastard had his arm around the boy’s neck and his other hand…” She takes a deep breath. “I told him to let him go. He replied in Arabic. I didn’t understand but I didn’t really need to. He was drunk, and he was laughing as he…groped the kid. The look in their eyes, utter fear and…depravity. I just couldn’t…”

“It’s okay, baby.”

She shakes her head. “He said something to the boy and dragged him into the courtyard. The boy…he was terrified, Killian. It shattered me. I raised the gun. When the man saw it, he tried to use the boy as a shield. I think I lost my mind a little. I just pulled the trigger. I was trying to save the boy, but even shooting his attacker the way I did was so stupid. God, I didn’t even think that I could’ve hurt him.”

“You didn’t. Your training kicked in. Your aim was perfect, and you got the bastard in the carotid.”

“What happened after that is hazy, but I remember Galveston…standing over me. With a knife…”

Ice slides down my spine at the thought of how much worse everything could’ve gone while I was asleep. “Enough, Faith. You don’t need to relive every second of it. The Egyptian authorities got the kids out of there. All of them. The boy’s name is Sayeed. He was stolen from his family home the week before but he’s fine today because of you.”

I let her absorb that for a minute. But her ragged expression doesn’t alter. “When I woke up in the hospital…” She pauses, and I freeze because this is the first time we’re talking about this.

“Yeah?” My voice is a low croak.

“I was horrified. I’d killed two people in cold blood. And the terrifying thing was I knew I would do it again.”

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