Page 53 of Covert Temptation

“Your role in the team is important. Especially now.”

He didn’t look at her.

“You’re not out, Dante. You just uncovered information that changeseverything.”

Finally, he looked down at her, his eyes searching.

And maybe in that moment, something shifted. Not in the mission. But between them.

“You’re right,” he said quietly. “This isn’t over.”

“Not even close.” Her smile was small, and she forced more strength into it than she felt. She’d begun to lose too much hope in the world to summon it for the both of them.

His eyes locked on hers, the fire that had been burning in the dark depths now banked.

Kennedy’s faith in the world had burned to ash long ago. But if Dante lost his too…what was left for either of them to hold on to?

TEN

Dante couldn’t face the sympathy etched on Kennedy’s beautiful face. It hammered home the feelings that already tore at him.

He wasn’t an integral part of his own fucking SEAL team. At least not in the way he wanted to be.

During his military career, he battled his way to the front lines and worked his ass off to join SEAL Team 3, CENTCOM, fighting every threat in the Middle East. He cut his teeth on dust and blood, and they said the sand never left a man. Dante lived that truth.

When Blackout recruited him, he thought it was the highest honor, that he’d be at the top of the food chain.

Only to find he was buried under data and intel. They called him a specialist, but the way he saw it, his specialty made him disposable.

Needing a break, he walked straight to the bedroom and dropped to the edge of the bed, staring at the blank wall while he struggled with too many thoughts.

Kennedy’s quick, light footsteps made him even edgier. She’d be waiting for an explanation, but he couldn’t find the words—not with his thoughts twisted and gnarled like roots in the dark.

He felt her stare fixed on him from the doorway.

“Dante, talk to me. What just happened?”

He shook his head. “My team’s on an op. I’m here.”

Too late, he realized how that sounded. He caught her eye and attempted to backtrack. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

She compressed her lips and folded her arms in a protective pose. “Is there anything I can do?”

“No.”

“This has happened before?”

He raked his fingers through his hair. “I’m often behind a screen instead of in the field.”

“But you don’t want to be.”

He filled his lungs to bursting with air and let it out in a rush, the only response to her observation.

She took a step into the room. “What do you need?”

“To clear my head.”

“And how do you do that?”

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