Footsteps sounded and four men strode into the airy and swanky living area with three-hundred and sixty-degree views of the city below. The penthouse was two spacious and expensive stories. All the bedrooms and en-suite bathrooms were on the upper level. Robbie recognized the men, all fellow security operatives for Aiden Porter. That was a relief.
“You’ve got this,” Brandon encouraged like some kind of hopped up on caffeine cheerleader. “Alice has always loved you. You’ll keep her safe and she’ll love you again.”
Robbie’s eyes widened at his friend’s cheesy and inopportune words.
Alice stepped out from behind Captain Price Sanderson and gaped at Robbie.
“Robbie?” she whispered, putting her long fingers to her full rosebud lips. Lips he had captured in heated exchanges on sweltering summer nights in Georgia.
It felt like a lifetime ago, but somehow those memories were a living, breathing thing at the moment. It was all he could do to restrainhimself from storming across the distance, sweeping the angel off the floor and into his arms, and savoring those lips once again.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, pulling her hand away and straightening her shoulders. He’d always loved Alice’s tall, curvy shape. She wasn’t some wilting flower, and she was tall enough to match his large stature. Still, he could easily pick her up and cart her around. She’d always laughed when he did that, claiming no one else could sweep her off her feet and make her soar like he did.
She wasn’t laughing right now. Her dark eyes were shooting sparks at him, and she’d asked him a question.
“Is she there?” Brandon’s voice came from the phone.
Robbie ended the call and slid the phone into his pocket. He clenched both hands into fists.
“Was that Brandon?” she asked, her smooth brow wrinkling. She tossed her dark, curly hair over her shoulder. Striding up to him, she tilted her head back to meet his gaze. Her own deep-brown eyes were angry.
The scent of sweet raspberries and cream wafted over him. Robbie had to spread his stance and command himself to hold his ground. He either wanted to step in and hold her close or run the other direction.
“Yeah,” he grunted.
“Get him back on the phone. That jerk lied to me.”
“Lied to you?” Robbie arched an eyebrow. His phone buzzed in his pocket. He ignored it. He wasn’t getting Brandon back on the phone. He could only imagine the crap that would spew from his friend’s mouth with Alice on the line.
He rubbed at his neck, wishing Aiden had an assignment for him that no one else could possibly complete. He’d vacate this awkward situation and never see Alice again. Seeing Alice again, and her not looking at him with love but with contempt, made him feel like someone had gutted him with a dull knife. He didn’t need or want this kind of agony.
“He and Madelyne told me I was coming to Venice for an epic adventure to stay safe from Big Buddha with bodyguards from Aiden Porter.” She gestured behind her. Robbie knew each of the men, Captain Price and Lieutenant River Einheart the best. These menwould be trustworthy and qualified, and it was comforting to have a familiar face and know how the other guards operated. Price arched his eyebrows. River smirked at him. A lot of help they were.
“Yeah.” Robbie nodded. “That’s the plan.”
“He never said one word about you.” Alice folded her arms underneath her chest and gave him a pointed look, obviously wanting an explanation.
Robbie had no idea what to say or do. Call Brandon back and tell him the deal was off as he’d gotten Alice here on false pretenses? Yank Alice in tight and never let her go? Run and jump off the balcony and hope he hit the canal and not a side street? He might break every bone in his body, but that would hurt less than Alice being here and not wanting him here.
He stared into Alice’s dark eyes. She was obviously angry and obviously not wanting to be with him.
Back when he was an untested Army Ranger and had felt the effects of nerves strongly, he’d stepped forward with faith. He’d prayed hard and then plunged into the battle or the assignment. His focus had come, the Savior had strengthened him, and nothing else had mattered.
He was in the midst of a battle right now, and he had no clue how to focus on anything but Alice’s beautiful and distraught face.
The nerves weren’t going away anytime soon.
Chapter
Two
Alice Marshall could not believeshe was face to face with Robbie Perrine. A throwback to her past. A past that had been happy and carefree and full of love. She was far from any kind of happiness or love now.
She couldn’t have imagined when Robbie left at eighteen to go save the world that she’d never see or hear from him again. He’d asked her to go with him, live on the army base two hours from home at Fort Benning. Leave her mother, who adored her, alone with her poor health and no family support.
Alice couldn’t do it. They’d fought for the first time in the nine months they’d spent falling in love. He’d said her mother was selfish, manipulative, making up her symptoms, and holding Alice down. She’d defended her mother, told Robbie he was the selfish one. Alice had a coveted Tuten Scholarship at Georgia Tech for the architecture and design pursuit she’d dreamed about all her life. She could be twenty minutes away from her mother. At Georgia Tech she could be independent but still visit home regularly.
She had tried to explain there was nothing for her in Fort Benning. Robbie had stormed out the door muttering, ‘Nothing you care about, obviously’. She wished she had chased after him, or tried to contacthim one of the thousands of times she had thought about him. Too late now. Far too late.
