“Is this seat taken?”
At the sound of that deep voice next to her at the base mess hall table, Tala looked up from her lunch tray and gasped in delighted surprise. “Brax!”
She jumped out of her chair with a huge smile spreading across her face, and barely resisted the urge to throw her arms around him. That kind of fraternization while in uniform was a definite no-no. “What are you doing here in Kandahar?” The latest rumors she’d heard had placed his unit up north somewhere.
His sexy grin made her heart somersault. He looked incredible, tall and broad-shouldered, his shirt hugging the sculpted muscles in his chest and shoulders. His honey-toned skin had deepened with his tan, and his full, dark beard made him even more ruggedly masculine. “Just got in early this morning. Heard from Tate that you were here, so I thought I’d track you down and say hi.”
Her brother was friends with him and Braxton’s best buddy, Mason. “I’m glad you did. You’re looking good.” Even more gorgeous than she remembered, and she thought about him a lot more than she should.
“Thanks,” he murmured, looking uncomfortable at her compliment. He gestured to the chair beside her. “May I?”
“Yes, of course.” She sat back down, put an elbow on the table and propped her chin in her hand to admire him, touched that he’d taken the trouble to come find her. “How long are you here for?”
“Couple days, maybe, just depends.”
On whether they get actionable intel on their next target. “Is Mason with you?” They were both JTF2 operators, members of Canada’s tier-one, elite counterterrorism unit. Hence the beard, due to relaxed grooming regulations in the SOF units.
“He’s around. Not working with him directly much right now, though.”
Braxton was a master sniper. He worked with small teams mostly, attached to a JTF2 assault squadron or another SOF element. “Ah. Well, tell him I said hi when you see him.”
“I will.” He leaned back in his chair a bit, giving her a slow smile that heated her insides. And she was almost positive he had no clue he had that effect on her. “Everything good with you?”
“Yeah. I’ve only got another five weeks before I rotate home. I can’t wait to see Rylee.” Her teenage daughter back in Kelowna, right in the heart of British Columbia’s lake country. “We video chat a lot, but it’s not the same.” Seeing Braxton made her feel homesick, reminding her of all she’d left behind.
“No. She staying with your parents?”
“Yeah, they’re taking good care of her. They even moved into our place so she could stay in her own surroundings while I’m over here.” Her parents were awesome, had always been there for her, including supporting her as a single teenage mom trying to learn how to take care of a baby.
He nodded, opened his mouth to say something else, stopped, and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He gave the screen a cursory glance, then tucked it away with a sigh. “Really sorry, but I gotta go.” He stood.
“I do too.” She wished they’d had more time together. But duty called. “Hey, if you end up being here for a few more days and have some time to kill, drop me a text and we’ll meet up for a coffee or whatever. If you want,” she rushed to add.
“I’d like that.” His deep brown eyes were warm as he gazed down at her, the corners crinkling slightly with the hint of a smile. He was fond of her, but she wasn’t sure if there was anything more for him than that. She wished there was. “Take care of yourself.”
“Yeah, you too.” She allowed herself to watch him walk away for a few seconds before forcing her attention back to her half-eaten meal. Except her appetite was now gone. Seeing Braxton reminded her too much of home—and also what she could never have.
Braxton was married to his unit, and tended not to let anyone in. There was no place in his life for anything else, including her. And for some unknown reason that still wasn’t enough to make her stop dreaming of him or imagining them together.
Returning her tray to the stack by the door, she left the mess hall and hurried back across base toward her barracks, anxious to get this next patrol over with so she could enjoy some downtime tomorrow. Rylee had exams this week and would no doubt be up late cramming. Maybe they could have a quick video call tomorrow.
Seated in the back of the APV fifteen minutes later, she found her concentration fragmented as they headed outside the wire and out of the relative protection of the base. Their mission today was to provide security for some brass on the way out to some rural villages to foster relations with the local farmers in the region.
Communication buzzed back and forth between the officers in charge up ahead of them in the convoy, and the sergeant riding shotgun in her vehicle. She stared out the small armored window at the dun-colored landscape, her mind wandering back to Braxton.
Twenty-plus miles into their trip, the vehicles slowed as they approached a large village. EOD teams had been busy here during the night, clearing the road of any mines or IEDs in preparation for their arrival today. Still, Tala tensed, her pulse speeding up as she tightened her grip on her C7 rifle.
She jerked when bullets raked the side of their vehicle, sucking in a sharp breath as her heart rate shot up.
“Contact right, two hundred meters,” her sergeant barked into the radio.
Tala glanced around, looking for signs of the enemy. More rounds pinged off the armored plating and kicked up puffs of gray-brown dust as they hit the ground.
The sergeant twisted around in his seat to say something, face tense, but a fireball exploded at the front of the convoy. The force of it shook their vehicle.
The radio traffic surged as the two vehicles in front of them opened, the soldiers pouring out to assume a defensive position. Tala forced back her fear and exited her vehicle with the others, rifle to her shoulder as she searched for a target. She flinched and ducked when another explosion rocked the air, another vehicle ahead of them going up in flames.
Her sergeant was yelling at them over the noise, ordering them away from the vehicle. Tala reacted immediately, glancing around for the nearest cover. She was in a bad spot, out in the open, midway between the road and the irrigation ditch to the left.
Tala ran for it.
She only made it a few steps before a blast of heat seared her back. The air rushed from her lungs as the force of the nearby explosion shot her forward, lifting her off the ground.
She landed hard on her side and scrambled upright, her ears ringing, and did a quick assessment. The APV she’d just been standing next to was a burning mass of metal. Two people were lying on the ground.
People all around her were running for cover. She had to help the wounded.
You’re not hit. Get up.
Shaken, she rolled to her feet and rushed for the closest casualty.
Brilliant white light seared her retinas a second later. More heat, this time beneath and in front of her. Then she was airborne.
The world turned upside down. She hit the ground hard on her back and lay there staring up at the smoke-filled sky. It took a moment for her brain to kick back online, the world spinning around her, the stench of cordite stinging her nostrils and her mouth filled with dust and blood. Shit. Had she been hit?
Get up. Get up.
But she couldn’t. Could only push up on her elbows, her mind reeling, her body refusing to obey. She was hurt.
Rylee.
Her daughter’s face flashed in her mind, galvanizing her. Have to get behind cover.
Through the thick cloud of dust, a figure appeared above her. A man. Kneeling down beside her. “Tala.”
She blinked up at him, stunned but recognizing that voice. Braxton. Where had he come from?
She tried to respond but only a wheeze came out. Something was wrong.
He was reaching down, past the limited field of her blurry vision toward her legs. She felt tight pressure around her right calf. “Medic!” he shouted over his shoulder. “I need a medic over here!”
Tala went rigid, her heart shooting into her throat as her gaze snapped to his broad back, blocking her view. Was she injured? She didn’t feel anything except the stinging from where the blast wave had hit her in the face and hands.
She struggled to lift her head, tried to see what had happened to her, but Braxton was in the way. Two more people ran up to help.
And then Braxton spun around to straddle her torso, leaning down to cup her face in his hands. They were slick with blood. The metallic scent of it turned her stomach. He stared down at her, face grim, his dark eyes holding her immobile. “You’re gonna be okay. Just keep looking at me.”
He was trying to prevent her from seeing her lower body.
Fear tore through her. Gunfire rattled all around them, the stench of blood and burning metal stinging her nostrils. She struggled to turn her head to see past him, see what the other two people were doing to her.
And then the pain hit. Vicious and hot. Searing through her right calf.
She sucked in a ragged breath, eyes squeezing shut as a cry of agony came out. She instinctively thrashed, trying to escape it. My leg…
Strong hands held her in place. Braxton was pinning her shoulders down, his weight anchoring her hips. His urgent voice echoed in her ears but she couldn’t understand him, couldn’t focus through the pain and terror.
Oh God, oh God, oh God… She was shaking now. Freezing cold in spite of the heat, her stomach roiling.
“Don’t move, Tal. Just stay still. You’re gonna be okay.”
Tala forced her eyes open, shock taking hold. Was he lying? She was hyperventilating, the fear and pain colliding. She met his gaze for a second, then slid hers to the left.
Through the dust and smoke she saw a boot lying in the dirt a few meters away. Several inches of bloody bone and tissue were sticking out of it.
She stared at it in horror, reality hitting her like a sledgehammer.
Oh my God, that’s my foot.
Gagging, she rolled her head to the side and retched onto the bloodstained ground.