Page 50 of Protected By The Green Berets

Iwalked back to the house with Rush and Keller. The others were moving faster, trying to get Roj’s guy inside before we were spotted. We were giving Rush a chance to catch his balance. Having a man fall on you had a way of making you dizzy and I was pretty sure the man had hit Rush harder than he was willing to let on.

We’d still needed a live prisoner to interrogate, I’d seen him on the balcony and saw my opportunity to take him. Unfortunately, he fell on Rush. I hadn’t taken that possibility into consideration when I’d belted him with my rifle.

Guilt and worry were mixed up with all of my other emotions. I felt terrible that I’d nearly hurt Rush. The guy who’d been about to shoot one of my boyfriends on the other hand… He was lucky we needed him alive, or I’d have killed him. Wouldn’t have felt at all guilty about it either. No one fucked with my men.

“I’ll be fine,” Rush told me, tucking me up against his body while we walked.

We were keeping an eye out and keeping the noise low. We didn’t want to draw more attention to ourselves.

“Are the rest of you okay?” I asked Keller while giving Rush another kiss. I’d asked Alden the same, but my mind had been drenched in adrenaline and I needed to be reassured again.

“Yeah, we’re fine.” He was walking so close to me on the opposite side of Rush that our hands kept brushing as we moved. “No lecture?”

“What?” I asked him, confused.

“You’re not going to yell at me for ordering Rush to get you out of there?” He arched a single brow at me, humor twisting his lips.

“No,” I told him. There was no need. They’d done what they thought was necessary in the heat of battle. Had I wanted to stay and keep the team together? Yes. But ultimately, it was Keller’s call. I just hoped I could prove to him I was more of an asset than a liability in the future.

Keller grabbed my wrist, jerking me to a halt. Rush kept walking, we were within a few feet of our front door, so he went inside and left us alone.

“I didn’t send you away because I don’t trust you.” His voice was low, urgent.

It made me believe what he was telling me. It also made me wonder if he was a damn mind reader. That was the last thing I needed. Keller King could already read my emotions all too easily, it seemed. I didn’t need him poking around in my brain.

“Okay,” I told him. I wasn’t angry. The only thing I felt was grateful that we were all alive and uninjured. Relatively, I amended as I thought of Rush and his likely concussion.

“Z.”

I looked up into his bright green eyes. They were intense, shining in the waning moonlight like emeralds.

“I just needed you to be somewhere safe.” He shook his head, his dark hair swinging over his eyes. “I wasn’t going to be able to concentrate knowing you could get shot at any point.”

My breath caught in my lungs. He sounded like he cared. “I don’t understand you.”

His brows pulled low. That hadn’t been what he expected me to say.

“One minute you’re being a complete dick to me. The next, you’re saying things like that.”

“Is it really that hard to figure out, Z? Am I really that difficult to understand?”

The urge to lean into him and fit my mouth to his was strong, but I didn’t. The last time I had he’d been cruel. It seemed I wasn’t the only one caught up in the power of the fading moon.

Shockwaves thundered through me as he yanked my body against his and kissed me. He wasn’t rough, just…left me with the certainty that he could be. The vibe was this was happening whether I wanted it or not. Because it was happening even though he’d been clearly fighting it. Truth was, I did want it. I wanted him. Badly.

The things he’d said to me didn’t matter. Not when his tongue was brushing mine and we were molded together, his strong arms wrapped around me. He set off little sparks as his hands roamed over my body.

He pulled back with a growl of frustration. “We need to get inside. It’s not safe to be doing…this out here.”

My mind was still spinning, my body on fire, as he shoved me gently through the door. As soon as he stepped in behind me he donned a cold mask. It almost made me wonder if what we’d just shared had been a fantasy that I’d created within my mind. My cheeks were flushed and my nipples scraped against the fabric of my bra.

A scream ripped through the air, helping to cool my libido. Alden brought a hammer down on the hand of the man tied up in the kitchen. The sickening crack made my upper lip curl in disgust. Nothing cools you off faster than a man's blood curdling scream.

“You don’t have to stay for this,” Torque told me, coming over and kissing the top of my head.

“It’s fine,” I whispered. I watched as Keller and Alden began to systematically break down every defensive barrier the man tried to throw up.

They barked questions at him, broke bones, punctured skin, used fists, fire, and sharp implements until the man was a sobbing, bleeding pile of broken bones in front of us. All his fingers and toes were bent at awkward angles and my stomach churned just looking at him.

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