Page 38 of Maximus (Gold Team #4)

After travelling almost ten hours, I wasn’t surprised the boys were exhausted. By the time we touched down in Anchorage, everyone was ready to call it a night. The excitement of flying on a private jet had worn off approximately one hour after takeoff— thank God for video games .

During the flight Anaya had been a godsend.

She’d picked up on Eva’s apprehension and immediately went to work putting Eva at ease.

I was unapologetically listening to their conversation even though I had a metric shit ton of intel reports to go over.

My team had been busy gathering information on Icon and Madeleine Strotherby.

The woman was in her eighties now. She worked as a fashion model, then went into acting and fashion design.

The world viewed Madeleine Strotherby as some sort of a saint, and with all of the money she’d publicly donated to charities around the world, I fully understood why people would think that.

Personally, I found it distasteful, it looked to be more of a publicity stunt than an honest to God heartfelt giving.

Either way, Garrett had found what he’d been diligently looking for—Icon was indeed tied to Omni. And not only that, they were at the top of the pyramid so to speak.

So, with all of this new information, I should’ve been combing over the reports.

But I hadn’t been. Instead, I’d listened to Anaya talk about Emerson and Tatiana.

Anaya had been thorough in her recounting of how she’d met Kyle and the rest of us.

She’d also filled Eva in on how Brooks met Tatiana and how Thad and Emerson had gotten back together after a decade’s long separation.

It felt odd listening to Anaya. I’d lived those missions—hell, Anaya wasn’t around when Brooks and Thad had hooked up with their wives, yet her perspective reminded me how strong the women were—how close they’d all become.

The longer I’d listened, the more I wanted that for Eva and her boys and I was grateful Anaya was doing her part to welcome Eva into the women’s friendship.

She was trusting Eva with a hell of a lot of personal information.

When they’d moved on to shopping and other shit to do in the Annapolis area, I’d quit listening. But not before I vowed to make an effort to get everyone over to the house so Eva could start bonding with Emerson and Tatiana.

Now we were lying in bed after Eva had tucked in the boys in the adjoining room.

Her soft body was curled into mine and I couldn’t remember a time I’d been so content doing nothing more than holding a woman.

Hell, I couldn’t remember a time being content, period.

But with Eva tucked close, her hand on my chest, mine on her hip, I was just that.

“I still can’t believe the stories Anaya told me,” Eva murmured. “It makes what happened to me sound tame.”

There was nothing tame about having your children kidnapped and harmed, forced to commit a felony, then dodging a hitman hired to take you out. But I wasn’t going to bring her ex into our bed. She had enough on her mind with our meeting scheduled first thing in the morning .

Tex was one step closer to tracking down the man who’d set her house to explode and had successfully detonated her car, but he was still out there somewhere.

Thankfully, we were in a hotel in Alaska and he was not.

One less thing to worry about, though I still wished my team had been able to come along.

Eva’s hand started to wander and my all-too-eager cock lengthened in my sweats. Her fingertips trailed down to my waistband and my muscles involuntarily bunched as she got closer to the one mark on my body that still burned my soul.

“Sorry,” she mumbled and quickly moved higher.

Before I could think better of it, I grabbed her hand and placed it back where she had it.

“I got it in Afghanistan,” I told her.

“Sweetheart,” she murmured.

My eyes drifted closed and I let her soft, sweet voice seep down deep to my core.

“We cleaned a house and there was a woman, she was crying and carrying on about her son being taken. Her English was horrible and the interpreter was translating, trying to calm her down. When suddenly she stood and started yelling that her son was dead. I stepped closer to calm her down and missed it when she pulled a knife from her abaya. Before I could step back, she stabbed me. The woman had impeccable aim, she got me under my plate carrier. Thankfully, when she hit my belt, she couldn’t saw through that. ”

“Oh my God,” Eva gasped.

“I got incredibly lucky that day. She did just enough damage I had to be medivacted out.”

“What happened to the woman? Did someone arrest her?”

“Arrest her?”

“She tried to kill you.” The abhorrence in her tone would’ve made me grin any other time. But right then acid burned my gut.

“No, honey, she wasn’t arrested.”

Eva shot up to sitting, her back ram-rod straight, a fierce look of indignation, and more hostility than I’d ever seen pulsed from her body.

“Why not? She tried to kill you. Something had to be done. That’s insane.”

Oh, yeah, Eva wasn’t hostile—she was downright shaking with disdain.

That made the next part easier to admit.

“Because I killed her.”

Eva’s shoulders jerked before they slumped forward. “Good.”

“Good?” I felt my brows hit my hairline in shock.

“Yes. Good. She shouldn’t have tried to kill you. You were trying to help her. And if she pulled that sneak attack with you, she would’ve done it again to someone else. And what if she killed them?”

Damn, that felt good. But I didn’t think she understood.

“Eva, honey, you get that my job was dangerous. Hell, it still is. I’m telling you this not to boast but to be honest. I’ve taken lives. That’s not something I’m proud of, but I don’t regret protecting myself or my team.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sure that’s really hard on you.” Her lips pinched together and twisted. “I hate that you have to live with that, but I hope you also know the rest of us are thankful for your sacrifice.”

Something that had been lodged in my heart broke free. And for the first time in my life, I could breathe—an actual clean breath that wasn’t full of scorn and venom.

“Probably should’ve had this conversation before now.”

“What conversation?”

I took a deep breath. I’d never had this conversation with anyone—never needed to—so I didn’t know where to start. I just knew she needed to understand what she’d gotten herself into.

“The one where I tell you about my job and what we do. I think you have a general idea what Z Corps does. But you need to know, the company has just as many on-the-books contracts as we do off the books. There are some missions that fall into a gray area. We’re not always on the right side of the law, but we’re always on the right side of good. ”

“Max, honey, I’m gonna stop you right there.” Eva’s stormy gaze was like a punch to the gut.

I was asking too much. Eva had been through enough and deserved so much better than an asshole like me, with more hashmarks on his soul than he could remember.

Her soft hand landed over my heart and I bet she could feel my heart thumping under her palm.

“I understand—"

“No, I don’t think you do.” She cut me off mid-sentence.

“I don’t need you to tell me you’re on the side of righteousness.

The Max Brown I know is a protector, a champion of the truth.

Thank you for sharing something I know you’d rather have kept locked away.

I know how painful memories can be. Thank you for trusting me with that, it’s not something I take lightly.

“As for your job, I’ve had an up-close glimpse of how dangerous it is.

I also know what you do is important. So if you’re worried I have a problem with it, you shouldn’t be.

I can’t say I’m thrilled to think about you putting your life on the line.

I can’t say the thought doesn’t scare the ever-loving hell out of me.

But I also know the world needs men like you, and if you’ll let me, I’d be damn proud to be the woman waiting for you back home. ”

The sweetest burn ignited in the deepest recesses of my very being. A part of me that I wouldn’t have ever believed could be reached. But Eva had, and as that burn scorched a fiery trail of clarity, I knew there was nothing I couldn’t trust Eva with. There was nothing I needed to keep hidden.

My hand shot up and hooked around the back of her neck and I pulled her down until our mouths collided.

I was beyond words, and when her tongue swept against mine with the same fervor I knew she was, too.

I wanted to devour her, consume all the understanding she’d offered—so that’s exactly what I did.

And fuck me, she just kept offering more.

Minutes later when I broke the kiss, we both struggled for oxygen. Hands down, best kiss of my life.

“I’m totally falling for you, Max Brown,” she murmured against my lips.

“That’s good, honey, because I’m falling for you, too.”

“Thank you for believing in me.”

Christ, she was killing me. Before I could say anything or kiss the hell out of her—which seemed to be a better option since I couldn’t find the words to explain all the ways her belief in me set off a chain reaction of emotions—she settled back down next to me.

Eva’s head rested over my heart, which was appropriate since she’d snuck into my life and stolen it. Her hand went to my flank.

“Can I ask you something?” she whispered.

“You can ask me anything.”

“Why did you change your mind about me talking to the authorities?”

Eva’s change of topic had me reeling. “What?”

“Well, when Zane first brought it up, you were adamant we not come. What made you change your mind?”