Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
His enormous feet brought him closer. And closer. “You came to Europe to get lost for a while. Not because you were running from that.”
“So what if I was?” Anger burned so hot inside me, it threatened to explode. “Go to hell.”
He drew in a deep breath, his expression serious. “Thanks, but I’ve already been.” His strong, rough hand touched my cheek, his thumb brushing over my lips. “Tell me about your time in hell, and . . . I’ll tell you about mine.”
Unexpected warmth spread from his caress and his words. He dangled this information as incentive to get what he wanted, but I was skeptical. “You’ll do that?”
His hand curled, tilting my head up as he leaned down, lowering in so his intense, beautiful eyes were all I could see. “I’m tired of secrets.”
His kiss was disarming. Gentle and sweet, but it leveled me all the same.
I steadied a hand on his arm, struggling to act immune, and pushed him away. “Fine, I accept.”
He stepped back and went to one of the side tables, retrieving a glass filled with a honey-colored liquid. He must have found the bottle of bourbon the bar had sent up last night. It caused a pang to ricochet through my heart as he held it out for me.
There was no point in stalling.
“We were coming back to base when there was a bang, and the Blackhawk began to shudder. It got progressively worse until I thought we were going to shake apart.” I carried the glass over to the couch, sat, and stared at the drink in my hand. “Main rotor failure. We all knew we were going down, and the crew chief picked the clearing on the mountain. He said we were going to make it.”
My gaze slowly worked its way over to him. Ethan leaned against the side table, and although he tried not to look it, he was obviously tense.
“There wasn’t enough momentum left in the blades to control the descent.” I took a sip, and the smoky warmth spread across my tongue. “We fell out of the fucking sky. I don’t remember the impact. When I came to, the chief, Damon, and the two Rangers we’d picked up . . . they were already gone. The other pilot, Gonzales, he was in rough shape. A lot rougher than me.”
“Wait a minute,” he said, straightening from the table.
“Yeah. The media left that part out, for his family.”
His chest moved with his rapid breath. “Jesus, what happened to him?”
Part of me didn’t want to remember. It had taken ten hard years to push it down, even when I knew it wasn’t healthy. Why risk telling him if it was going to bring that horrific night back into my thoughts? Yet I only felt alive when taking risks. Maybe it was better to feel the pain than continue not living, being numb and empty inside.
“He died, bawling like a baby and begging me to kill him. I spent the last thirty minutes of his life trying to keep him quiet so no one would find us.”
His expression was heartbreaking, and I couldn’t bear it another second. I took another sip of bourbon and stared at the coffee table.
“That was when Kathryn died,” he said.
It was barely a whisper. “Yes.”
Since I’d taken my eyes off him, I didn’t know he’d moved. He was always silent. The couch cushion shifted as he sat next to me. He pulled the glass from my fingers and drank from it. The simple of act of sharing a drink shouldn’t have been that big of a deal. But it was this drink, the one we both drank whenever we were missing home.
Our fingertips grazed as he handed the glass back.
“I don’t remember where the grenade came from,” I said. “Probably one of the Rangers brought it on board, or the chief had it. There was a munitions box I was worried the Taliban fighters would go after, once they discovered the crew was dead. I pulled the pin and tipped the box on the safety lever, right next to the leaking fuel tank. I was so stupid. I didn’t know how big the explosion was going to be.”
Or how much it was going to hurt.
Even after the fire was out, I was sure my back was engulfed in flames.
“Look at me,” Ethan commanded.
I held my breath, not wanting to see the pity and horror in his eyes. But it wasn’t there. It was only that intense, inescapable stare.
“You’re a hell of a woman, you know that? And you’re so beautiful, it hurts.”
Why did he do that? My stomach lifted into my chest like I’d hit an air pocket midflight. His gaze strengthened and heated until it was smoldering.
“You’re doing it again,” I said on an uneven voice.
“What’s that?”
“Looking like you want me to kiss you.”