Page 76 of Mountain Defender

Quickly, she pulled back into the parking spot and cut the motor. She took off at a run to the store. He was nowhere in sight, so she had to search several aisles for him.

When she found him standing in front of a display of marshmallows, a cry escaped her.

His head jerked up and he strode toward her. Closing the distance, she threw herself into his arms.

He caught her against him, locked her to his firm body and buried his face in her hair.

“I can’t let you go this way. I don’t want this to be over!”

He cupped her face, looked into her eyes and kissed her long, hard and deep. As if they were the only two people in the town, in the store…in the world. She dug her fingers into his biceps and gave in to all the hope that she’d refused to buy into before this very second.

When they broke apart, his eyes gleamed. “We’ll figure it out, princess. I’ll call you later. Promise.”

She nodded and backed away. But he rushed at her again, hooking an arm around her middle to haul her in for another dizzying kiss. The whir of shopping cart wheels made them tear away from the kiss again.

With a laugh, he released her and gave her a pat on the bottom. “Go. Work on the case.”

“I’ll do it for you. So you have closure.”

When she turned and walked away from him this time, she had a little bounce in her step. It wasn’t over. He would call her soon.

And then just maybe she would be able to tell him what was in her heart.

ChapterEighteen

When the MT Ops SUV pulled up in front of Tripp, he opened the door and climbed in. Rafe was behind the wheel with several guys in the back.

“Hey, asshole. What ya got in the bag?” Guns reached over the seat to clap him on the shoulder.

He placed the bag on the floor between his feet. “Figured since I missed out on the op, I’d spring for s’mores fixin’s.” He looked at Rafe, then peered closer at the bandage on the back of his hand.

“You guys have a rough op without me?” he asked.

Rafe made a scoffing noise. “As if we needed you. We had Ollie.”

Tripp leaned back in his seat. “I’m not worried about Ollie taking my place. He can hardly fight,” he said, in total opposition to his previous claim about the pilot’s skills.

“We didn’t even know you weren’t with us. You hardy add anything to the team,” Guns shot at him.

Vlad chuckled. “Oh, we did have that discussion about how Tripp slows us down so much. Isn’t that right, Rafe?”

He held up a palm as if passing on the opportunity to take a piece out of Tripp.

Vlad turned to Guns. “He’s just being diplomatic, but I heard him tell Colonel Jackson that Tripp is on latrine duty for a month.”

“Now thatistrue.” Rafe’s words had everyone laughing, including Tripp.

When it died down, silence fell over them.

Tripp sensed something more. “You guys are making me nervous. What’s going on?”

Rafe cocked a brow at him. “So you fell for the fed.”

Tripp’s grin couldn’t be stopped. It spread across his face. There was no use in denying it.

“She’s no Olympic skier, but I do love sparring with her.”

A loud complaint sounded from Guns. Cruz held out his palm. “Fork it over, asshole. You lost.”

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