Page 6 of ELITE Protection
From the middle of the living room, Hannah watched Isaac prowl through the house like a cat on silent feet as he checked out every room, every window, and every door. She followed him upstairs and to the basement. He wouldn’t find anything because she had done her own sweep less than an hour ago. Finished, he went directly to the coat rack in the foyer.
As he shucked off the parka, all Hannah could do was stare. Muscles rippled under the dark green sweater that highlighted the jade ring around his brown, nearly black irises. The man was built. She’d worked for years in the desert with soldiers who were in excellent shape, but most were on the thin side and looked like long-distance runners. Isaac had broad, well-defined shoulders and the thick thighs of a swimmer.
She couldn’t help herself, she had to know, “Are you a SEAL?” She saw the ever so brief hesitation in his movement as he hung his coat.
“I work for Guardian Security.” He turned toward her. “But I was a SEAL. That shouldn’t make a difference. I’m here to protect you, and I’m completely able to keep you safe.”
Hannah certainly hoped so. According to her brother, the bounty for her—dead or alive—was now up to $500,000 U.S. Aziz’s family certainly wanted revenge.
CHAPTER3
Hannah Kader was notwhat Isaac had expected, especially after Alex Wolf told him ISIS was after her. Even though Guardian Security often worked directly for the United States Special Operations Command, none of his boss’s high-ranking contacts could tell him why the terrorists wanted her dead.
To Isaac, Hannah seemed more like the girl next door than a threat to the Middle Eastern extremist regime.
Slightly wavy, dark brown hair draped just beyond her shoulders, but it was the huge Bambi eyes and full lips that held Isaac’s attention. She reminded him of Angelina Jolie. Their build was even similar. He held back a smile as he thought of Hannah dressed like theLara Croftmovie character in a tight-fitting skin suit with weapons strapped to her thighs and across her back.
His cock twitched at the picture he painted in his mind. Hell of a time for his libido to decide to reawaken. He’d gone nearly a year without a real hard-on. Coming home from a tough mission to find his fiancée dead on the bathroom floor was a real cock blocker.
Before the constant regret could overtake his every thought, Isaac returned his attention to the woman in front of him. He mentally measured her for skis and the gear they would need tomorrow morning. She was about five-feet, seven-inches, maybe a hundred and thirty pounds. She looked fit.
“You seem to be in pretty good shape,” Isaac commented.
“I have to be for my job.” She shifted her weight. “Can we sit down like civilized adults?” She walked into the living room and sat on one end of the couch then popped back up. “I’m sorry, I truly do have manners. Would you like something to drink?”
Without waiting for his answer, her long, shapely legs took her to the refrigerator. The yoga pants she wore showed off strong thighs and calves, not to mention one of the nicest asses Isaac had ever seen.
“I have sports drinks, flavored water, beer, several kinds of juice, and milk.” She looked over her shoulder expectantly.
He was on duty so beer was out of the question. “Gatorade would be great.” As an afterthought, he added the word, “Please.”
With the flavored water in one hand, she stuck out her arm, practically shoving the sports drink into his abdomen on her way back to the couch. “Come and sit. I can’t stand you looming over me.”
Isaac sat in a chair several feet away from Hannah. Unscrewing the cap, he took in the beautiful house. The exposed timbers were very typical of Big Sky homes, as was a huge stone fireplace. Windows filled the side facing Lone Mountain from floor to the ceiling peak twenty-five feet above. He had closed the drapes covering the three sets of sliding glass doors that opened to a deck that ran the width of the house but the other windows had no coverings.
“Nice place,” Isaac noted. “I take it this is a winter vacation home for your parents?” He took a long pull on his drink. Growing up in the area, he was quite familiar with beautiful homes that were only used for a week or two in the winter. The rest of the year they remained empty or rented through one of the local real estate agencies.
“We’ve often spent holidays here, even Fourth of July.” Defensively, she added, “My parents have very high-pressure jobs. They come here to get away from the big city atmosphere and relax.”
“What do they do?” Isaac hoped the question would keep her talking. They needed to develop a familiarity since they were going to be stuck together for at least a week, longer if Homeland Security couldn’t pin down the ISIS cell soon.
“My father works for the Center for Disease Control and my mother is an emergency room physician at Emory Hospital.” She lifted her chin as though to say,See, their work is very stressful.
Isaac was tempted to counter by telling her,My father is a rancher and my stepmother is his trophy wife who doesn’t know how to do anything except spend his hard-earned money.And damn, Isaac knew exactly how hard it was to earn money raising cattle and the physical labor required.
Instead, he asked, “Do you know how to ski?”
She cocked her head and raised one eyebrow. “I learned to ski when I was three. I’m a long way from competition level, but Stillwater Bowl is one of my favorite runs. In case you don’t know—”
“I’m familiar with every trail at this resort,” Isaac cut her off.
“You’re a local?” Hannah asked, bottle of water halfway to her luscious lips.
“No.” He didn’t want her forming an opinion based on where he grew up. He may have spent the first eighteen years of his life in and around these mountains, but the last eight years in the Navy, six of those as a SEAL, had made him the man he was now. “I already told you, I live in Atlanta.”
Changing the subject, Isaac asked, “Have you ever done any backcountry skiing?”
Hannah’s whole face lit up and it was as though a beam of sunlight had cut through the darkness of the enclosed house. “It’s one of my favorite things to do here at Big Sky. Are we going Alpine touring?”
