Page 3 of Rescuing Micah
The SEAL had flown out with his teammate Nathaniel Trevino, who was visiting with his new girlfriend, Ava. He’dintended to hang out with the couple for a while, then find a hotel to crash in.
Unfortunately, the evening had been cut short when the couple received a call from Ava’s friend and roommate. Apparently, there had been a break-in at the apartment Ava shared with her friends and colleagues. Something to do with the organ trafficking ring that Prey had been hunting.
The same ring that first connected Nathaniel and Ava.
His buddy was supposed to tag a ship being used by the organ traffickers, but got sidetracked when he discovered a life raft floating alone in the ocean. Inside that raft had been Ava, and the two had clicked immediately, and were now well on their way to falling in love.
If they hadn't already.
Love.
What a lie that was.
Micah shook his head in disgust. While he was happy that his friend was happy, and Ava seemed like a great person, he wasn't sure he believed in the whole concept of falling in love anymore.
Not since he’d been betrayed by the girl he thought he loved. The girl he thought loved him back. Turned out she’d get on her back for anyone, including multiple anyones at the same time.
Writing the whole thing off as a youthful blunder, he’d moved on with his life. Joined the military and made it into an elite SEAL unit, he hung out with his friends, and hooked up with women, any woman. It didn't matter to him who the woman was as long as she was single and not looking for anything serious.
Life was good and yet …
As he crossed the quiet lobby of the world-renowned Prey Security, Micah found it hard to admit that something was missing. Something he’d been doing a great job of ignoring right up until Nathaniel caught the love bug.
Seeing one of his best friends suddenly smitten with a woman, a woman that Micah admitted was every bit the tough warrior as any of the men he served with, possibly tougher since she’d fought so hard without the benefit of the same training they had, had forced him to confront his unresolved feelings.
It might have been over a decade since he realized love was a lie, he might be older now, wiser, but when it came down to it, a part of him had died that day, and he was now having to accept that he hadn't moved on at all. All he’d done was ignore the whole mess and pretend that it hadn't meant anything at all.
But it had.
When he was a teenager, it had meant everything.
And now …
“Oommff.”
The startled sound came from the person on the other side of the building’s front door as she pushed it open at the same moment he pulled it open.
Caught off-balance, the person stumbled, and it was purely automatic for him to reach out to steady them.
“Sorry,” Micah apologized. “Didn't see anyone on the other side. Guess I was a little lost in thought.” As a special forces operator, he should know better than that, his life relied on him being aware of his surroundings, as did the lives of his teammates. But he was off duty, in a secure building, and a little messed up by watching the happy couple upstairs.
What he needed was to get out of there, find a bar, hang out for a while, check out the women there, then find one who was down for a fun night and nothing more. Maybe that would get all thoughts of love and forever out of his head. Love wasn't forever, it barely lasted any time at all, he knew that from personal experience.
“That’s okay, I wasn't looking either,” the person said as she gently tugged herself out of his grip.
Again, it was instinct that had his fingers tightening around the shoulders he’d grabbed a moment ago to steady the person he now knew was a woman. A beautiful woman with flawless olive skin, huge chocolate brown eyes rimmed by the longest lashes he’d ever seen, and full lips currently parting to form an O as she looked up at him.
That voice.
It was one he’d never forget.
Not for as long as he lived.
If he could go back in time, the one thing he would change was that the last time he heard it, it wouldn't be moaning as another man had sex with her. He wished he’d never gone over to her place that night, then he never would have seen it. Then again, he also wouldn't have known what kind of woman she was.
Now here Teresa Dash was, all grown up and even more stunning than she’d been as a teen.
But what was she doinghere?
