Serena woke up with a gasp, sitting upright in bed. She dragged in several deep breaths and glanced at the clock. Her entire sense of time was messed up. She’d forced herself to stay up until nine o’clock and then let sleep drag her under.
It was three AM now. Six hours of sleep. Not bad really. Not for her. She slid from the bed and shuffled quietly toward the bathroom, entering and closing the door softly before turning on the light and splashing water on her face.
Ajax had insisted they leave the adjoining doors open between them, so she didn’t want to wake either of the men up just because she was wide awake now. She stared at her reflection in the mirror and licked her lips. “What the hell are you doing here, Serena?” she murmured.
When Charley had asked her to go to D.C. and make the connection with Ajax and Ryker, Serena hadn’t known a thing about the mission these men would be asked to accomplish. She hadn’t known they would be going into Ethiopia. And she sure as shit hadn’t known Charley would require Serena to accompany them.
Serena had worked for Charley for two years. She wasn’t kidding when she said she’d never met the woman. She didn’t even know where Charley lived. All she knew was that she made a substantial amount of money working the backend for some of Charley’s jobs.
She rarely knew all the details of any given mission, and everything about Charley’s work was sketchy. But what Serena did know was that Charley had made it her life’s mission to help people, and often those people had been wronged.
How on earth Charley knew so much about the people she hunted down and brought into the fold, Serena would likely never understand. She’d learned to never ask questions. What kept her on the team was knowing she was helping other people every day of the week. Usually several people.
Serena had quickly come to realize that the men and women she was directed to meet up with and arrange for their employment were almost always in a dire situation themselves. A situation they were not responsible for.
In Ajax and Ryker’s case, the two of them had been set up for some reason. Their lives had been stolen without their knowledge by someone covering his or her own butt. Serena knew for a fact Ajax and Ryker had not done what the military accused them of. Her certainty stemmed from the knowledge that this was Charley’s MO every time.
This particular mission was complex. A lot of lives had been destroyed this time. Eight of them to be precise, not to mention their families. Serena prayed the six men being held somewhere in this region were still alive. She had no reason to believe they would be. No matter who took them captive in the first place, it was unlikely that entity would bother to keep them alive.
On the flip side, if the six SEALs were dead, there was a good chance their captors would have broadcast their murder all over the planet. That was what they did. Serena knew that better than most people.
She shuddered as she ran a hand through her hair, her fingers dragging through the long strands until the hair finally floated free around her shoulders.
She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, trying to chase away the demons. After ten years, she was back in Ethiopia. After Charley had instructed her to take this job, Serena had spent two days pacing and worrying. She’d considered telling Charley no. That would have been risky. She could’ve gotten fired. She hadn’t been sure if she cared.
The thing that stopped her was the constant nagging sensation that she was to be an integral part of this mission. Like she’d insinuated to Ajax, she wasn’t certain what her role was, but she had her suspicions. After all, she’d lived here for fourteen years. Half her life. She knew the area. She especially knew the Tigray region.
It would not come as a surprise tomorrow if their liaison informed them they would be heading north into the thick of things. The very part of the country Serena knew more about than just about any other American citizen.
“Serena?” The voice coming through the door made her gasp softly as she spun around. She opened the door to find Ajax standing on the other side. The man was wearing nothing but a pair of cotton shorts. Jesus. He got sexier every time she saw him.
She’d found him attractive when she first stepped into the meeting room two weeks ago, even though he’d had three months of hair growth and beard. Something about his eyes… The way he looked at her.
She still wanted to kick herself for not recognizing the two of them at Dulles airport. She should have known they would clean up before heading to Ethiopia. And though the whole mountain man image had worked for Ajax, she’d done a one-eighty and shifted gears when she set eyes on full military Ajax.
Ryker was attractive too, but something about Ajax got under her skin. Probably because he was constantly all up in her business, asking hard questions, meeting and holding her gaze until she struggled not to react.
Yep, Ajax in jeans and a tight black T-shirt—the outfit he’d worn to travel—had made her mouth water.
She herself had chosen to show up dressed similarly to the day she’d met them, mostly just to throw them off and keep them on their toes. No way would she dress like that now that she was in the country, but it had been a ruse at the time.
Her suitcase was filled with comfortable, lightweight slacks and shirts. Hiking boots. Functional bras, panties, and socks. Comfort was the name of the game.
Serena swallowed as she stared at Ajax. This third version was off the charts. Every muscle on his body was defined. She wanted to stroke his chest or maybe his biceps. She shuddered as she jerked her gaze to his.
“You okay? I heard you moving around and then the faint light. And… Well, you’ve been in there a while.”
“I’m fine. I was trying not to wake you.” She absentmindedly ran a hand through her hair again.
“Jesus, woman,” he murmured as he grabbed her arm and spun her around. “Holy shit. Have you ever cut this hair?”
Oh, right. Her hair. She rarely let anyone see it down. But it had been weighing heavily earlier and given her a headache. “No.”
His hand came to the locks, and she stood very still as he picked up a section and let his fingers slide through it. “It’s so silky. I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone who never cut their hair. Is this some sort of religious thing?” he asked as he came around to face her again.
She chuckled. “Sort of. Mostly, it’s just a thing. My mother never cut hers and she didn’t cut my sisters’ or mine either. I honestly never thought much about it until I was back in the States.”
“You were eighteen. An adult.”
“Yep.”
“What did you do when you returned?” he asked gently.
“I took a year to figure things out and mourn, and then I enrolled in the local junior college, got my associate’s, and went on to get my degree in business and my master’s in international studies.” Why was she telling him all this? Simple answers would suffice. The man didn’t need to know her life story.
He smiled. “I bet you’re fucking smart.”
She shrugged. “I’m just me.”
“Smarter than me. I never attended a single day of college.”
She winced. “You know I didn’t mean anything when I suggested you couldn’t read.”
He chuckled. “I know.”
“There’s no correlation between intelligence and education either.”
“Yep. I know that too.”
“You came on so strong and cocky that I had my defenses up. I owe you an apology.”
“No, you don’t. You were thrust into this situation, same as us. I understand. I was angry and frustrated when we met. Fucking furious is more like it. I didn’t put my best face on. I wouldn’t have for anyone that day. Finding out my best friend and a man I consider a brother was still alive after being told he had died…”
“Yeah. I’m sorry about that. I can’t begin to imagine how you must have been feeling for those three months.”
“Dead mostly. And wishing I were actually dead.”
She winced again. She definitely knew that feeling.
“I’ve since pulled my head out of my ass, and I intend to find my damn team, get them to safety, and find a way to restart my life. The moping and feeling sorry for myself phase is over.”
She nodded and reached for his hand for some reason. It was probably a horrible idea, but she felt like touching him in some way. They both needed comforting.
Standing in the dim light coming from the bathroom, she stroked his thumb with hers. “I know you hate having me along on this trip—”
“Serena…”
“Just listen. I get it. I’m a woman. I look fragile, and I’m not at all the sort of person you’d have chosen to head into dangerous Ethiopian territory with. I wouldn’t if I were in your shoes either. But I want you to know, I’m not as weak, physically or mentally, as I come off. I’ll do my best to stay out of your way and let you do your thing, but I’m not as ill-equipped to be here as you might imagine.”
He nodded slowly as he flipped his hand over and grasped hers. He lifted it to his cheek and rubbed her knuckles against his skin.
Her breath hitched. It felt nice. Parts of her better left dormant came to life unbidden. She wanted to jerk her hand back to break the connection, but she wanted him to continue touching her even more.
She decided to make a joke to break the weirdness. “I promise not to flatten you on your back again.”
He grinned. “But I thought it was kind of hot, especially the part where you grabbed my crotch.”
She flushed and glanced away. “Yeah, that was… I didn’t mean to touch you like that. It’s just how I was taught. Self-defense is usually needed against sexual aggression.”
He chuckled. “I get that. I’m just glad you stopped yourself before squeezing my balls in a death grip.”
She pursed her lips. She honestly couldn’t believe she’d grabbed his… privates like that. It had been ingrained in her, part of the fluid motion. She’d felt ridiculous when she’d realized what she’d done.
On top of that, his manhood had grown stiff under her palm before she’d had the sense to release him. Good grief. She’d never get that image out of her head. Especially if he brought it up over and over.
“Sorry. I won’t mention it again. I’ve embarrassed you.”
She shook her head, a bit too defiantly. “No. It’s okay.” She forced a smile. “It was kind of funny.”
“My cock, or the fact that you grabbed it without thinking?”
Cock. She could barely think that word without blushing. Yep. She could turn a deeper shade of red. She felt the heat climb higher up her skin. That was when she realized what she was wearing and pulled her hand gently out of his to cross her arms.
She had on a thin tank top and shorts. Both white. He could surely see the outline of her breasts and probably her nipples. She hadn’t grabbed a robe when she tiptoed into the bathroom. It had never been her intention to leave the door open between their rooms, nor for either man to see her half-naked like this.
“Do you think you can get back to sleep? I bet we’re going to need all the sleep we can get before we meet up with whoever the hell we’re getting our intel from tomorrow.”
“You’re right.” She shuffled past him, glad for the suggestion. At least this way she could slide back between the sheets and cover herself.
As she sat on the edge of the bed and swung her legs up, he followed her. The man even pulled the covers over her and then stroked another lock of her hair. “Sleep,” he murmured in a rough voice before turning and padding out of her room.
He didn’t touch the door this time either, and she stared at the open doorway for a while, her heart racing. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to go back to sleep after that strange encounter. Ajax Cassman was a duplicitous man. Or maybe she was wrong. Maybe the first Ajax she’d met hadn’t been the real him. Maybe he was the nice guy she’d just chatted with in the middle of the night in the dim light.
She turned onto her side and pulled her knees up, chewing on her lip as she thought about his pecs and the way his arms didn’t fully hang straight down at his sides because his biceps were too large. She thought about his cleanly shaved face and short-cropped hair.
When she was done thinking of that side of Ajax, she thought about his beard and the longer locks he’d had the first time she saw him. She’d be lying to herself if she didn’t admit he took her breath away that day. She’d done her best to ignore him and hide her reaction, but she’d known.
She’d been leery about this trip ever since, concerned about her attraction. By the time they’d found her at the airport yesterday, she’d talked herself out of any ridiculous attraction. She’d even gone so far as to give herself a pep talk after they found their seats on the plane. See. Not a mountain man at all. The gruff figure you’ve been lusting over was an apparition.
Who had she been kidding with that self-chat? The new version of Ajax was even sexier and far more like the sort of man she was ordinarily attracted to. If she even had an ordinary attraction to anyone. That was a bit of a stretch. Her attractions were few and far between, and the number of times she’d acted on them were even fewer.
She needed to shake the odd obsession. She was not in Ethiopia to stare at a perfectly chiseled male body. She was here to help this man find his missing comrades.