Page 28 of Sweet Refuge
“Mind if I sit?” he asked one of her teammates.
One of the guys grunted. The rustle of a body against a seat reached her.
“So…you and Lena were married?” Frost’s question almost pried her eyelids open.
“Ancient history,” Slade returned. “How’d you guys find me so quickly?”
“Lena. She knew your pseudonym. Your phone passcode, too. Basically, she saved the mission.”
She held her breath, waiting for what Slade would say to that. He’d probably like hearing it—too much. It would inflate his head to an even more enormous size, and he was already far too confident in his ability to win her over.
He made a humming noise. “Sounds like Lena.”
“Yeah, she shocked the hell out of us,” Frost said.
“I’m shocked she admitted to being married to me.”
“Kind of needed answers when she got into your phone so quickly. She saw that photo you took on the street with the guy following you. You were smart to snap it.”
“Knew it couldn’t be good when I noticed he was tailing me. I went into the bar and didn’t even get my tequila before five guys surrounded me.”
A scratchy noise came to Lena, like one of the men was scrubbing his knuckles over beard stubble.
Just thinking of that being Slade’s stubble had her thighs squeezing together and her pussy throbbing with instant want. God, she was getting wet too. All over a sound?
Hormones. Definitely hormones.
“I woke up chained to a pole. Fed them a story about going apeshit and killing Roderigo’s group. He was upset that his brother went to jail and wanted me as revenge.”
“Didn’t quite turn out the way they expected. Except Roderigo’s still out there and Ramon took the bullet instead. Thanks to Lena.”
“Yeah… Thanks to Lena.”
Irritation rolled through her. She didn’t like the way he delivered that backhanded compliment. She’dsavedhim.
“Mind if I ask what went wrong with you two?” Frost’s voice jogged her brain back to their conversation.
She breathed shallowly so she could still hear what came next.
After an eternity, Slade said, “It’s complicated.”
But was it complicated? Not in her eyes. She expected him to treat her as an equal, but he tried to save her, guard her, protect her at every turn. How could they ever live a normal life? He would be shoving her behind his brick wall of a body in the grocery store to keep a shopping cart from running into her heels.
She wanted to be seen for her strengths. Slade took away her power every chance he got. He even tried to take over his own rescue mission.
The blanket slipped from her shoulder, and the chill air in the cabin brushed against her neck, reminding her far too much of his lips pressed to her skin. Shelovedwhen Slade nibbled on her neck.
Her nipples puckered at the very thought and she had to force herself not to squirm in her seat.
She couldn’t let herself slip again with him. He was far too tempting to her traitorous body. It was almost as though hecontrolledit. But she wouldn’t let him in, especially when they hadallthe reasons to be together now.
A baby.
The last thing she needed was Slade trying to do the right thing. Everybody said not to stay together for the kids.
She didn’t need a man. Didn’t require a rescue.
She tugged the blanket up over her own shoulder and forced Slade from her mind.