Page 36 of Saved By the Marines (Soldiers Of Misfortune)

Biting my lip, I kept my thoughts to myself. It certainly didn’t look like he wanted to ride with me. He looked pissed and like he didn’t want anything to do with me. I didn’t want to be needy, though. Just because he’d…well,touchedme, didn’t mean he was going to magically turn into a nice guy. Even the thought of him being described like that made me grin. Just because we’d…shit. What did you call what we did together? We hadn’t slept together.

Just because he gave me oral,I decided, didn’t mean he was my boyfriend. My heart gave a hard thump as though it was as forlorn at the thought as the rest of me.

I had no idea how to deal with all the emotions swirling around inside of me. Even though I wanted to deny them, I’d grown feelings for all three of these men. Kissing Wolfe had been the most mind-blowing meeting of lips I’d ever experienced. Then there was what Jasper had done to me. My body pulsed as though it remembered and was saying it was ready for round two. Then there was Kip… He cuddled me close and I felt warm and loved.

Traveling through the dense rainforest with the three of them, heading back toward civilization, was a stark contrast from how I’d gotten out here. I was safe and protected and I knew it. They wouldn’t allow anything to happen to me. I just wondered if they knew how badly I’d be hurt once we got back to America and they left me. They may as well lob a grenade into my chest. The result would be the same.

CHAPTER17

Wolfe

Igot out of the SUV and opened the back door. Watching closely as Bailey got out, I waited to see if I needed to sweep her up into my arms. Her father had called out the doctor once we’d gotten back to the embassy yesterday and he’d given her antibiotics to fight off any infection that might come from her excursion, but she was still in pain. She’d refused any of the pain pills he’d tried to give her. She accepted the bare minimum of care, then asked for the first plane back to the U.S. For once her father seemed to do what was best for her and obliged. She had just wanted to get out of the country where people had taken her. I couldn’t blame her for that.

She smiled warmly at me and put her hand in mine when I held it out. If her feet were bothering her—and they had to be with how cut up they’d been—she didn’t let it show on her face. From the moment we’d turned down her father’s driveway it was as though she’d morphed into someone else. The dutiful daughter.

I fucking hated it. It pissed me off that we had to bring her here once we’d landed back in America. I wanted to whisk her off somewhere. Anywhere that was away from her father. Away from this life. Somewhere that she’d never be taken hostage again.

My phone rang and I sighed. Pulling it out of my pocket, I watched as Bailey released my hand and walked toward where Kip and Jasper were waiting for her. Seeing the number on the screen, I connected the call.

“Zinnia Hart. How’re you doing, Sweetheart?”

Laughter spilled over the line. “Wolfe, you charmer. I’m great!”

There was someone muttering something in the background, but I couldn’t make out what was being said.

“Hang on,” Z told me, but she didn’t cup her hand over the phone so I got to listen to her side of the conversation. “Keller, if you don’t want to hear me speaking with an old friend, then you’re welcome to leave.” She paused for a minute and my grin widened as she snapped back. “I don’t care what he called me. I’ve known him for years.” She paused again, then sighed. “Out! Out of my office. Go annoy Rush.”

The unmistakable click of a door shutting sounded over the connection. “Sorry about that,” she said, sounding a little out of breath.

“Sorry, if I got you into trouble,” I countered.

“You didn’t, he’s just protective.”

Possessive was more like it, but I understood it completely. We were the same with any woman we dated. Sharing with each other was one thing, but men outside of our group? They didn’t need to be speaking to our woman. I had a feeling Zinnia’s men felt the same.

“How’s the baby?” I asked, my voice softening. I was a fucking sucker for kids. Couldn’t wait to have a little brood of my own.

“Good. I’m going to give her an eviction notice here soon if she doesn’t let me get a good night’s sleep.”

I chuckled and tried to picture the Z I knew as a now heavily pregnant woman. “I bet.”

“Oh, sorry! The reason I called.” She laughed. “I swear I’m losing my sanity some days. I dug more into Salazar.”

The others were watching me, waiting before they went inside the huge family estate in front of us. It didn’t escape my notice that everything had gone back to normal with the senator now that we were back. He was mostly back to ignoring his daughter, walking ahead of her toward the house. Anger roiled inside my gut. It was getting harder with every encounter not to pummel Senator Michaels. I didn’t like him as a person, but I really fucking despised the way he treated his daughter. As though she were an object and not a person. Something he could drag around and put on display at his every whim.

“I managed to track a couple of payments made to Salazar over the last month.”

“Payments? From who?”

“Someone named Peter Coleman. I’m still digging into him, but he appears to be a businessman who was there at the embassy the same time as you. The payments are substantial. This last one was for fifty thousand dollars,” she told me. “Keep in mind, in Colombia, that’s like five hundred thousand.”

“Damn.”

“I’ll keep looking into it.”

“In the meantime, we’ll go pay Peter Coleman a visit.”

She hesitated, but I could hear the smile in her words when she spoke again. “I can’t wait to meet her. And of course, see you again.”

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