Page 3 of Luck Be Mine
Anger. Guilt. Fear. All scraped his guts raw, knocking him off balance.
“Would you stop pausing and get up these stairs, please?” She rubbed her face against his shoulder and hissed. “My face still hurts on that side.”
“Must have been the brick wall you hit,” he muttered. Hunt closed down any idea of tracking the group that executed the suicide bombing. He’d chosen to stick with Cait. She needed him.
Cait laughed softly. “Was that supposed to be humor, Hunter?”
“Yeah. Bad humor.”
She didn’t answer him. Testy pain spoke in the hiss from her lips.
Hunt tightened his arms around her, trying to transmit how precious she was to him without stumbling over the emotional words jammed in his throat. He took the remaining steps in gentle, smooth succession. Awkwardly balancing her, he pulled his keys from his pocket and juggled to get the key in the lock. “Don’t expect much, honey. I haven’t been here in four months.”
“Hunt, my household goods are in storage. My car is at my sister’s house. I have no home. This will be fine. Please, babe – I need a bed. I’m over this…”
She tried hard not to let tears fall in front of him. He faced tough shit all the time, but Cait crying hit him hard.
He kissed her forehead and opened the door. “I’ll get you there, honey. Give me a sec.” He pocketed his keys and shiftedthrough the doorway, bride in his arms – which was not as romantic as it should have been. He flipped the switch, and the ceiling light in his small living area came on. The empty room, with its stretch of beige carpet, felt hollow.
But Cait sighed, soft and sure. “Home.”
“Yes, we are.” He maneuvered into the bedroom and flipped the light switch there, too. The apartment smelled fresh, so the cleaning lady had been here. But the bed’s bare blue, name-brand queen mattress looked bereft in the small room. “I’ll get the sheets. Let me set you in the chair.”
Her lips settled against the throbbing pulse in his neck. “Thank you.” Her whisper washed over him with a familiar spark.
The brown leather recliner sat lonely in the corner. He’d bought the chair on the spur of the moment and never regularly sat in it. The blinds were drawn over the window leaving the afternoon light on the opposite side. He never noticed how dark the room could be. His life needed to undergo some serious adjustment. He didn’t want this for Cait. He eased her onto the chair’s padded seat, wincing when she groaned.
Thank God the sheets were clean. So were the blankets. The cleaning lady had earned a bonus. He made quick work of making the bed.
She slumped back into the chair and inspected the room. Her lips quirked and broken laughter floated in the quiet. Her blue eyes, minutes before drowning in misery, danced with amusement.
As much as he loved hearing her giggle, Hunt assessed to see what he’d missed. There wasn’t anything laughter worthy. “Cait?”
“Is that a gun safe?” She pointed across the bed.
“Yeah.” Confused, he dropped to his haunches in front of her. “What did I miss?”
Cait rubbed her face. “Cave. Weapons cache. Bedroom. Gun Safe. The similarities are hilarious.” She giggled again, then gave a sharp gasp. “Darn ribs.”
Hunt grinned and swore in equal measures. That fucking mountain mission should have been a humanitarian-only action but turned into something violently different. Not to mention the part where she nearly froze to death. He grimaced. “Similarities to be sure. Not one I did on purpose, though.”
“Of course not.” Her smile lingered, and the tension leaked out of him.
He rose to his feet and pulled back the covers.
Cait used her toes to slip out of her shoes. Her new phone chimed. She fished it from her pocket. “Jackie. Checking on us.”
Jackie Shay was Cait’s sister by choice, and she couldn’t have been a better one. Geez, he now had not only a wife, but a sister, too. One of these days the edge would be off his disbelief.
Hunt smoothed the white blankets on the bed, bemused. Only his team checked on him. “She’s making sure I got you here.”
“No, she can track my phone. She knew we were here.” He turned his head to hide his expression. Security issues reared. “I only allow tracking with her and her with me.” As if she read his mind.
Not something he wanted to argue about because he wouldn’t mind being able to track her either. He couldn’t allow Cait to do the same thing with him, but she’d understand. Besides, Jackie had become trusted family for him, too. “It’s fine. If you’d let me, I’ll add you to my phone so I can check on you, too.”
She nodded. “But if I go to Texas to visit Jackie sometime while you’re gone, you’ll know why. Cause that’s the only place I’d go unless my commander gets demanding. Thanks for replacing my broken phone, by the way.”
“You’re welcome. What are you going to do about your Commander?”
