Page 21 of Stone (Claimed and Protected #3)

S tone

Dani lingered where she stood as if expecting me to say something else. I couldn’t. Hell, I didn’t know what to think any longer. Having her in my space even for a little while did nothing but remind me of the man I used to be.

The one that had been lost somewhere in the desert of Afghanistan.

Her deep sigh was one of resentment.

My skin tingled even as the shot of electricity faded the moment she walked away. I tipped my head over my shoulder to watch her moving like a beautiful ballerina across my tile floor until she disappeared into the shadows. I hated myself for not being able to communicate with her better.

Even just like a friend.

Yet we were so much more.

The ache in my heart continued and it was nearly choking me to death.

I remained where I was, nursing my drink and doing nothing more than studying the ocean. I had the most beautiful woman only yards away from me and I’d never felt so dead inside. Maybe that wasn’t true. I’d always been good at masking my feelings. That’s something Kage had pointed out.

She was interested. I felt it. Hell, people a mile away could easily feel the chemistry between us, but she deserved better. She deserved a man who could provide her with everything she needed.

I wasn’t that man.

I was far too broken inside.

With my drink empty, I headed inside, grabbing the whiskey bottle and bringing it to the coffee table. I thumped down on the couch, still able to hear the ocean waters. I poured another drink and sat back. Having her in my house was wrong on so many levels.

Yet her presence also felt right.

A soft laugh pushed past my lips as I brought the rim of the glass to my lips. While I might not have a single clue how to handle her being so close, I knew one thing that wouldn’t change.

I’d protect her at all costs.

If Matis dared try to touch her again, he’d need to go through me.

As I leaned my head back, I tried to relax, but since retiring from the military, the only thing that had allowed any sense of peace was riding the waves.

Too late tonight. It was impossible to keep thoughts and images of Dani from my mind.

Like the way she’d looked when spooning out the fresh fruit salad she’d insisted on making.

Or the way she’d yelped when cutting her finger and immediately sucking on the tip. And she had a way of opening a bottle of wine that was mesmerizing, including the very precise way she cut the foil off the top.

My favorite thing about her was the way she separated her food. Fish never touched the rice and dared not come close to her beloved strawberries.

Watching the way she lifted the fruit, licking the juice from every side before taking a tiny bite had pushed my cock to the point of sheer agony.

Just like reliving the moments in my mind was doing once again. I lifted my pelvis, shifting my dick from one side to the other. There was no relieving the pressure, only a reminder she’d been the only woman in my life to drive me so freaking crazy.

When we’d gone out to eat, she’d taken the cheeseburger from my hand to take a bite. Every. Single. Time. How could any man not consider a woman adorable when seeing hamburger juice trickle past her succulent lips?

Licking it off had been the best part.

Christ. I was hard as a rock, my balls tight as drums. This wasn’t going to work. I’d pick up a few additional shifts taking the boat out to create some distance between us. If I didn’t, I’d fucking lose my mind.

Or I’d make good on my other promise of chaining her to my bed.

After another swallow, I closed my eyes. Maybe the memories of a different life would eventually pass.

Maybe the pain would ease.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

The bullets flew as we rushed the partially burned-out building. I crowded the exterior wall, scanning the surrounding area to ensure we hadn’t been compromised.

Flames continued to ravage a portion of the structure, filling the night sky with an orange glow.

“We have the target in sight.” Commander Jenkins had accompanied the team on the mission. We’d surrounded the building, the intel received checked and double checked.

“Roger that,” I said, ready to move in.

I threw a look toward Maddox, my teammate standing only a few feet away. We’d hunted the bastard for weeks, coming up empty even after several qualified tips. The asshole was responsible for gunning down several innocent bystanders in his attempt to trap and kill several of our own.

Every sound reverberated around me as we advanced, the goddamn insects on a mission to drown out every noise.

Kage motioned from only feet away. We were about to enter. As soon as we did, the creaks and groans of the building became a clear indication the initial missile dropped on the location had been a direct hit.

We had night vision goggles, but the lingering smoke from the earlier attack turned every surface into a dark shadow.

We advanced in formation, rushing toward the area where the Afghan soldiers were supposedly holding innocent civilians, a former interpreter for the United States military who’d been grabbed off the streets along with his entire family.

It was our job to rescue them while eliminating the enemy.

The missile had targeted an unused portion of the building, the location meant to create chaos.

As we blanketed the area, the commander giving constant orders, we listened for any additional telltale signs of the enemy soldiers. Other than the sound of gunfire, which was lessening as every minute passed, there was an eerie quiet that troubled me.

We’d been in dozens of situations involving enemy soldiers, almost all of them dangerous. We’d been openly attacked, bombed, and almost drowned, but with every risky mission, we’d had a clear understanding of our directive while remaining certain we could handle anything thrown in our way.

Maybe that had always been too cocky. But we were just that good.

Yet tonight felt different and something had nagged at the back of my mind. There’d been no outward reason why, but as I followed the path laid out by our commander, I couldn’t dismiss the feeling we were being led into a trap.

I stopped just before heading into one of the rooms where the sensors had found human life, listening for even a single sound that would indicate my intuition was right.

Maddox flanked the other side of the doorway, Kage only inches behind him while Greg had my back.

There were three rooms noted on the heat sensors, several figures moving every few seconds while others remained in one location as if shackled.

The room we were about to enter held four unmoving entities.

“Watch your six,” Commander Jenkins said into the communications system. “Go. Now!”

Explosives were one of my specialties, every nuance something I’d studied thoroughly over the years.

While soldiers in true military operations used sophisticated equipment in their methods of destruction, there were dozens of smaller groups who cobbled together firepower using every scrap of metal and gunpowder they could find.

They were the most dangerous.

As soon as Maddox and I rushed in, the single sound registered immediately.

“Bomb!” I called, reacting immediately and shoving Maddox back by several feet. As another round of gunfire reverberated all around us, I had a split second of registering the horror in front of me before the crude bomb exploded.

A woman and three children shackled to chairs, their tearstained faces something that would haunt me for the rest of my life. Surrounding the woman’s chest was a bomb. Our advance had tripped a wire.

As the explosion pitched us back by several yards, their screams were firmly implanted in my mind.