“But—”
He cut off her protest. “I’ve lost enough friends recently, Safara. I don’t want to bury any more. I can’t, and especially not you.”
She flinched as if his words wounded her in some way. Her hand briefly settled against his chest right over his heart before dropping back down to her side. “I don’t want to hurt you, Eli, but I won’t ignore my duty to my people. It’s not in me to do so. If you can’t live with that, then there’s no future for us. Not even friendship.”
He wanted to back away, to protect himself from further loss, but his bullheaded size thirteens refused to take that first step. “Fine, but just know I’ll want some reasonable concessions from you when it comes to all this barrier stuff. Got that?”
“I seem to remember someone recently saying he didn’t make promises until he knew all the facts. Who could that have been?” She poked his chest with her finger. “Oh yeah, that was you. That seems like a good policy to me.”
Eli captured her hand with his and held on tight. “Fine. Here’s the deal. Whenever possible, I want to know in advance when you’re coming up here. Otherwise, I’m going to have to build myself a comfortable platform up in that damn tree.”
“Agreed, although I can’t promise that I can give you a lot of notice.”
“And I want to know the full story of what is going on. I’ve spent years keeping my mouth shut about the missions the army sent me on. If my word was good enough for Uncle Sam, it should be good enough for you and your father.”
“Agreed, only because I’d already decided to tell you everything I can.”
Okay, was she trying to hedge her bets? That was not happening.
“Not everything you can, Safara. Everything, period.”
She was already shaking her head. “I won’t leave out anything that would endanger your life, and I won’t tell you any lies. However, there are people who have worked hard to pass as human in this world. I won’t out them all just to satisfy your curiosity. It wouldn’t be fair to them.”
As much as he might not like it, she had a point. Besides, he had his own new identity to protect. He wouldn’t appreciate it if Mike or Jamison decided to start blabbing his secrets to some stranger no matter how much they trusted the person.
“It’s a deal.”
A dark shadow washed over them, drawing his attention up to the sky overhead. Clouds were rolling in, and there was a damp scent in the air. “We’ll continue this discussion back at the cabin, because it’s going to start pouring any minute now.”
Then he frowned. “Unless you were planning on heading back down to your place tonight.”
“No, especially if you don’t mind me crashing on your couch again.” She grinned, probably in memory of Vedin’s confusion over that expression. “I’d like to hang around and keep an eye out for that group of rogues.”
This was sounding better and better. “My house is your house.”
Especially if he could coax her into sharing his bed instead of camping out in the living room. Now wasn’t the time for that discussion, not with the first fat drops of rain splattering down from above.
By the time they’d made the short hike back to the cabin, they were both soaked to the bone. That didn’t mean he was going to lead her straight to the front door without first doing another perimeter check. He couldn’t risk leading her into a trap.
“Wait here. I’ll flash the lights again.”
She took shelter under the low branches of a nearby cedar. “Fine, but you’ve got some explaining to do, too.”
The last thing he wanted to do was drag her into his problems. Regardless, she had to know the risks of getting further involved with him. “I will.”
It seemed reasonable to seal the promise with a kiss or, hell, that was probably just an excuse for what he wanted to do anyway. In his defense, he really meant to keep it simple, but he should’ve known better. There was nothing simple about his reaction to the sweet and spicy taste of Safara Dennell.
If she had resisted, if she’d protested at all, he would’ve stepped back, flashed her a quick grin to keep matters light, and disappeared into the trees to make sure there weren’t any bogeymen lurking out there in the darkness. She didn’t do any of that as her hands slid up around his neck, making him a willing prisoner within the circle of her arms. She was the one who deepened the kiss, her lips and tongue taking no prisoners.
The world around them disappeared from his consciousness, probably not a smart thing under the circumstances. He couldn’t bring himself to give a damn. Who could worry about commandos or crazies when he had this warm and willing woman in his arms? Not him, that was for damn sure.
He stroked Safara’s back, loving her supple strength and wishing it was her bare skin he was touching instead of the cotton fabric of her uniform shirt. His hands had moved on south to palm her lush backside when the breeze suddenly kicked up. Evidently the branches overhead had been storing up cold rainwater for just such a moment and proceeded to dump the entire load on the two of them.
Safara squealed and jumped back as the blast of cold hit them. At least, he thought she was the one who made that noise. He hoped she was, anyway, because Special Forces guys didn’t do such things. He tried to swipe the dripping water off his face with the hem of his shirt, but it was too wet to be of much help.
“Let’s get inside. I’ll flash the signal as soon as I circle around to the other side of the cabin.”
She nodded as she tried to wring what looked to be a gallon of water from her hair. “Fine, but hurry. I’m freezing out here.”
