Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 125037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
“I need to hang out with you more. You make me laugh when I thought I’d forgotten how.” He tugged at her hair. The braid was coming loose, and stray strands were beginning to behave on the wild side. He wanted to see that mass of silk shiny and naturally wild.
Once again, her green eyes moved over his face as if committing his features to memory. She seemed to make it a habit, when she looked at him, to focus completely on him. The intensity in her direct stare gave him the feeling she could see right into him. Inside. He had a lot of secrets, most of them needing to stay concealed, never to see the light of day.
Diego wanted her to see him, and yet that was the very thing he feared. He found humor in the dichotomy, needing her to see him but not wanting her to. That ability to laugh at himself was always there, but she was bringing it out stronger than ever. A good thing, he decided.
“When I signaled to Luther I was there, you knew where I was,” he changed the subject. He was genuinely curious. “How?” His birdcalls were so close to reality, he couldn’t imagine she could hear the difference.
A small frown flitted across her face. “Before I answer that, how did you know I was aware of you?”
This time Diego couldn’t resist smoothing that little frown line between her eyebrows. “You glanced up toward my location.”
“I did?” She sounded horrified. “If the enemy was watching, I could have given your position away. Or just tipped them off that help had arrived. That would have put your life in jeopardy.”
“It was extremely brief. First, I doubt anyone but me noticed. And second, they would have thought you were looking for their positions.”
She ducked her head. “Don’t make excuses for my mistake. That was a big one. Huge. You don’t do things like that in combat and jeopardize your allies.”
“Woman.” He brought their linked hands toward his mouth and then was unable to prevent himself from brushing a kiss over the back of her hand. “Stop. You didn’t give anything away. I had a weird, compulsive need to keep looking at you. I used my scope, not just enhanced vision. I could have given my position away if the sun had caught it.”
“You had a weird compulsion to look at me?” Once again, she turned the power of her large eyes on him. “That’s what it felt like? A compulsion?”
“Yeah. I couldn’t have stopped myself if I wanted to.” What difference did it make if he was honest with her? He had the feeling she would see inside him, no matter what he said or did, and he was adept at hiding in plain sight.
“Me either.” Her voice was so low he barely caught her admission, even with his acute hearing. “I didn’t hear any difference in the warning call from the bird. The notes were exact.”
“Almost,” he corrected. “Not sure anyone produces perfect birdcalls, but it’s as close as I can make them, practicing all the time. I started when I was a kid.” He pressed the back of her hand to his jaw. He needed a shave, and the stubble on his jaw scraped against her skin. She didn’t pull away from him.
“Diego?” She tilted her head back and then rested it against his shoulder. “I honestly think I would know where you were if you were within a mile of me. I think I could pinpoint your exact location. I have gifts, strong ones, but never anything like the awareness I have of you. It’s very strong.” She hesitated.
“Tell me. I’m choosing to be honest with you. This is all new for me, just like I suspect it is for you. New is alarming.”
“It’s more than the attraction being new for me. It’s the intensity of it. The quickness of it. I’m a loner. I wasn’t trained to be part of a unit. I was always sent out on my own, and I had no desire to be around the other soldiers. We were all training. My training was very specific, and I was always monitored, or I would have gotten away to look for my sister a lot sooner.”
“How did you find her? We track Whitney, and by the time we acquire his location, he moves, taking the women with him.”
Again, that little frown appeared. “I don’t know how I track people. Gut instinct? I just have some kind of built-in radar. If I follow it, I get results.”
“A gift, then. You’ve been enhanced.” He made it a statement.
“Physically. Genetically enhanced, but not psychically. The gifts I have are extremely strong, but the lab where they experiment on the volunteer soldiers doesn’t do the kinds of experiments Whitney does.”