Deadly Descent (7 page)

The fact that she flew a Black Hawk and could talk shop with the best of them?
Hot as hell.
And her laugh.
God, she had the dirtiest laugh he’d ever heard.
Every time he heard it he thought of sex.
Hot, sweaty sex, the kind that left a man exhausted and weak and his partner unable to move.

He shoved his hands into his pockets, admiring the shape of her butt when she leaned down to adjust her pool cue.
Her shirt pulled taut along the lean plane of her back as she lined her shot up and executed a perfect bank shot.
Almost a month had passed since Ty’s funeral.
That made it almost four months since she’d have last seen him alive.
A long time considering they’d only been casually dating before he deployed.

Cam didn’t believe for a moment it was coincidence that she’d sent the e-mail about her arrival at Bagram only hours before showing up.

Couldn’t be solely guilt over Ty, though.
Not at this point.
Maybe she was still avoiding other relationships?

Namely with him.

Something else was still hanging her up.
The difference in their ranks put a definite wrench in the works.
If that wasn’t the problem, then damned if he knew what it was.

What other woman could talk to him about forward-looking radar and Egress training, let alone because she understood them first hand?
He remembered Ty’s smug grin the night he’d introduced her.
Devon had been describing a midair refueling when he’d walked up to say hello, and his eyebrows had shot up in shock.
Then she’d turned her bright smile on him, and in that instant he’d felt some sort of primal recognition deep inside.
Like his body knew she belonged with him and not Ty.
At the time, it had shocked the shit out of him.
Not anymore.

Since then he’d admired her from afar, content to be one of her buddies.
The awareness in her eyes when she looked at him made it damn hard.
So hard he’d wanted to tell her how he felt long before Ty’s death.
He thanked God he hadn’t stooped to poaching.

Maybe Devon did still feel conflicted about wanting him, but Cam’s conscience was clear.
If he could’ve talked to Ty about it, he knew his friend would approve of them being together as long as he treated her right.
And if anything did happen between them, it wouldn’t be short term or casual.
With her, Cam intended to play for keeps.

Another rumble of laughter rose around the pool table, and Cam caught Devon’s saucy grin.
She had every cell in his body standing up and paying attention to her.
Him and all the other men around her.
Horny bastards.

From out of nowhere, an unprecedented surge of possessiveness streaked through him.
The hair on his nape stood up in primitive reaction, his body demanding he go over and claim her in front of the others.
She was
his
.

As though sensing his stare, she straightened.
When she turned her head with a swish of her shiny hair and focused her storm-gray eyes on him, he almost forgot to breathe.
She seemed to glow under the overhead fluorescent lighting.
Her skin was like pale cream, her inky brows and lashes emphasizing the unusual color of her irises.

She stilled, eyes widening a fraction, and a telltale flush crept into her cheeks.
Attraction?
Or nerves?
She had nothing to worry about, though.
He knew or at least recognized all of the guys in the room.
None of them would rat them out to a superior.
And he’d never do anything to jeopardize her reputation or career.
Didn’t she realize that?

Her lips twitched nervously for a moment before breaking into a quick grin, dazzling despite the fact that one of her front teeth overlapped the other.
Yet another detail he found irresistibly charming about her.

Coming out of his paralysis, he moved through the crowd.
She set down her cue and took a few steps to close the distance between them.
“Hey!”

“Hi, Dev,” he said when he reached her, pulling her into his arms for a hug.
She hesitated the tiniest instant before wrapping her arms around his neck and returning the embrace.
He bit back a groan at the feel of her.
Sweet God she felt good.
The light floral scent that rose from her skin and hair drove him crazy.
Delicate and understated, just like her.
Subtle enough that he had to get up close to smell it, but once he did it went to his head faster than a half-bottle of tequila.

Her body was strong and supple, and all too feminine.
Her small, firm breasts pressed against his chest.
He wanted more, so much more of her.
His dreams were haunted by images of her spread out beneath him as he moved in and out of her clinging body, those soft lips parted on a desperate moan of pleasure while she stared up into his face.
Every inch of him got hard thinking about it, and he set her away before she noticed.

Her eyes were anxious as they scanned his face.
“You okay?
I saw Ryan—he said you had a tough night.”

He brushed a lock of hair away from her smooth cheek, touched by her concern.
“Yeah, it wasn’t my best.
But I’m okay.”

She studied him for another moment, her smile saying she didn’t believe him.
“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

Not if it means going without seeing you
.
“I got a few hours already.” The painful politeness of the conversation bothered him.
If things deteriorated to the point where they talked about the weather, he’d lose it.
“What about you?
All settled in?”

“Yep.
Co-pilot and I had our briefing, and as of morning we’ll be on standby.”

He laughed at the excitement in her voice.
“You realize that being called out means somebody’s in real bad shape on the other end of your flight.”

She winced.
“I know.
But think of how fast I’ll get to them, and how quick they’ll get to a medical facility.
And if I’ve got a PJ like you on board, their chances are even better.”

The earnestness in her eyes made him want to kiss her so bad he almost gave into the temptation.
“Much as I’d love to go up with you, I don’t think that’s gonna happen.
They’ve got me doing insertion and extraction runs in case they need CASEVAC during the missions.” She was smart enough to fill in the blanks he’d left.
The men the helo crews delivered could get into serious trouble out there.
Tough as they were, the bad-ass SEALs and Delta operators still bled like everyone else when they got shot up.
So did the Rangers and Green Berets.
If they were hurt bad enough, they died like every other mortal being, despite every effort to keep them alive.

And sometimes a PJ died defending those same wounded, because it was his duty to make sure he got them out alive, no matter the risk to their own safety.

They were both thinking about Ty now, he could tell from the shadows in her eyes.
The knowledge of his slow, painful death lay between them and Cam didn’t want that.
“You guys got room for one more?” he asked, nodding at the table.

“Sure.” She moved back and picked up her cue, flashing him another smile as he rounded the table to wait his turn.

Liam handed him his cue.
“You’re just in time.
I need to crash for a while.” He threw him a rueful grin.
“Actually you’d be doing me a favor, because she’s a sniper with that thing.”

“I’ll take one for the team and stand in for you, then.” Liam waved and headed for the door, leaving Cam alone with Devon at the table.
He noted the subtle difference in her posture as she faced him.
A stiffening in her shoulders.
“Mind if I rack ‘em up again?”

“Go ahead.”

He got the balls into place, casting a glance around the room.
No one was paying any attention to them.
“As I recall you beat me last time we did this.
Guess I’ve got to defend my honor tonight.”

“You can try.”

He grinned at the amused twinkle in her gray eyes.
“Ever occur to you I took it easy on you last time?”

“Nope.
You might be sweet, but you’re still alpha enough to not like losing.”

“You think I’m sweet?”

A light flush spread over her cheekbones.
“Most of the time.”

Except for what had happened in her hotel room.
He needed to fix that somehow.
But sweet was good, right?
He hung the rack up on the wall.
“Don’t expect me to show my softer side in the next ten minutes.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” She leaned over the table and executed a perfect break, sinking two solids.
Her cocky smile taunted him playfully.
“Watch and learn, Cameron.”

God, when she said his name like that he could hardly think.
“I’m watching.”
Oh baby, I’m definitely watching.

She sunk two more balls before narrowly missing her next shot and sidled past him with a negligent shrug.
“All right.
Let’s see what you’ve got.”

The challenge made him meet her eyes for a moment.
She thought he was sweet?
If they’d been alone he would have upped the stakes between them and stroked his thumb over that pouty lower lip of hers, but she knew damn well he wouldn’t touch her in front of anyone.
Instead he gave her a slow, wicked grin, pleased when her flush deepened.
If she thought he was giving up on them, she had another thing coming.

Before she could say anything, he leaned in and lined up a shot.
He executed it perfectly, then rounded the table to move in next to her.
Devon moved a step to the side, but she didn’t have much room to maneuver and couldn’t go far.
He took advantage of that and stretched out for his next shot, making sure his hip almost brushed hers.
Close enough that he could feel her warmth.
Every cell in his body was aware of the way she watched him set up.
He could feel her eyes on his face, almost like a caress.
She made it damn hard to concentrate.
The sharp crack of the cue against the ball broke the subtle tension between them.

On her next turn she went to the other side of the table.
She didn’t line anything up, though.
Instead she chalked her cue, a slight frown creasing her brow.

“Something on your mind?”

She met his gaze.
“Yeah, kind of.”

“Okay, let’s hear it.”

She shifted her weight and focused once again on her pool cue.
“I’ve been hearing conflicting bits and pieces of information since I got here.” Her gaze darted to the side as if she was making sure no one was listening.

“What about?”

“Nasrallah.”

Whoa.
Of all the things she might have said, he hadn’t expected that one.
Cam leaned a hip against the table and gave her his full attention.
“What about him?”

“Some people said he’s still in the area planning more attacks and that his army’s even bigger than it was a few months ago.
Others told me he’s disappeared into the mountains and no one knows where he is.”

He waited for her to continue.

“Which is it?” Her eyes searched his, challenging him to tell her the truth.

“Bit of both.”

She set her cue down.
“What’s that mean exactly?
Or can’t you tell me?”

As bad as he wanted to tell her everything he knew about the situation with the warlord, most of it was classified.
He couldn’t tell her much, but he wasn’t going to lie to her, either.
“He’s still out there with some of his former Northern Alliance pals.
Intel says he’s probably in Pakistan fundraising and recruiting.”

“And the men he’s already recruited?”

Cam sensed the buried unease in her, but he refused to lie.
“Could be anywhere, but more than likely there are still some groups in the surrounding area.”

She blew out a breath and nodded.
“That’s what I figured.”

“The chances of you coming into contact with any of them on a mission is pretty remote.”

Her eyes flashed up to his.
“Maybe.
But not for you.”

Ah, honey
.
“I’ll be okay, Dev.” He smiled to make it clear he wasn’t trying to placate her.
“What about you?
You okay with flying again so soon?”