Free Fall (Elite Force #4)(11)
Author: Catherine Mann

“You made it in time.” She pressed her forehead to his chest, her fists gripping his survival vest.

“You called.”

“I can’t believe you’re here.” She trembled in his arms.

His body zeroed into just the feel of her against him and for a few seconds he allowed himself to forget she needed him to be a different kind of man. To forget they were in the middle of nowhere. To forget he still had tough questions to ask her.

A cleared throat had him pulling back. Even keeping a steadying palm on her waist, his arms already felt empty without her.

The injured student—now clearly awake—whistled lowly in the dark. His back against the trunk, Sutton Harper half grinned, despite his injuries. “I take it you two already know each other? Because if not, I’m feeling shortchanged on the post-rescue TLC.”

Jose shot a scowl at Bubbles for failing to alert him that their extra passenger was back in the land of consciousness. Bubbles shrugged. The trumpet of elephants blasted in the distance. The wild dogs twitched their satellite large ears before sprinting off in a streak of mottled fur.

Stella pressed a hand to her chest. “You’re awake. Thank God you’re all right, Sutton.”

“Anybody got food?”

Bubbles leaned over him, checking the cut above his eyebrow. “This isn’t a 7-Eleven, dude.”

Jose gathered his scrambled thoughts and elaborated for his not-too-chatty friend. “What he means to say is that he needs to check you over first. You were unconscious for a long time. We can take a few more minutes, but then we need to find somewhere to hunker down for the night.”

Stella handed Sutton a canteen. “Maybe some water would help?”

“Yeah, that would be good.” Sutton took a swallow and passed it back. “Tell your boyfriend thanks.”

Her hand shook as she swept stray hairs back from her face. “Old friend.”

The guy held out his uninjured hand. “Well color me lucky. I’m Sutton Harper, and to whom do I owe my life and my firstborn child? She called you Jose, right?”

He simply grunted, easing back from Stella, keeping an arm around her waist. Names weren’t passed around in his or Stella’s professions and he would prefer the less known about her life, the better.

Harper lifted an eyebrow at his curt response. “How cool to have an on-call military boyfriend if you happen to be kidnapped by warlords in a foreign country. Kinda coincidental for a simple student, don’t you think?”

Unease iced up his spine.

Stella stepped aside. “I guess I’m just a really lucky lady. Your good fortune too, to be kidnapped with me, don’t you think?”

Bubbles passed the student a protein bar. Damn good distraction and a reminder they had practical concerns.

Jose studied Harper, noting his pale face and twisted ankle. A few superficial bruises and some scratches, but no stitches needed after all. Butterfly bandages would take care of what he could see. Granted, not all torture left visible marks and there could be more injuries under his clothes. But right now he was wondering if the student had flipped, giving over information… Except what did he know?

He damn well didn’t need to learn anything more. “I think we need to stop chitchatting and find somewhere to park ourselves until our next ride rolls around.”

“Next ride?” Harper sat up straighter and scrubbed his sleeve over his sweaty brow. “So you dudes really do have a plan B. That’s a relief. Preferably something that doesn’t bail on us when it gets a little hot.”

What the hell? Saving this fella’s ass had cost them those precious seconds. If the student hadn’t panicked and set off the land mine, they could have made it to the rendezvous point, and they wouldn’t have brought a slew of forces charging right at them.

Jose forced a smile. “You sure are picky for someone who just got rescued.”

“Chalk it up to nerves. Makes me mouthy. Sorry to be an ingrate. Thanks for the Rambo moment.” The student’s voice rang with sincerity, easing some of the tension. “What can I do to help now since I’ve been a total slug so far?”

“Can you walk on your own or do you still need to be carried?” Jose turned to Stella. “And you? Are you sure there aren’t any medical issues I need to know about?”

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear with a shaky hand. He sensed a brittleness in her from her efforts to hang on to professionalism to the end. And pride, he saw that too in her eyes, a defensive wall she’d erected between them because of how they’d ended things. He scratched the ache lodged in his chest—not that he expected any relief from the pain of losing her, from the teeth-grinding frustration of knowing he wasn’t the right man to give her what she needed.

Sutton cricked his neck from side to side. “Isn’t there a boyfriend/girlfriend conflict of interest in you treating her?” He held up his hands. “What? I’m standing, ready to walk.”

Bubbles coughed once, flicking a fuzzy caterpillar off his arm in disgust. “Quiet’s a beautiful thing.”

“Fair enough.” Sutton raised his hands again. “I’m embracing the chi of quiet.”

Jose slid an arm around Stella’s waist for support, nothing more. She’d made that clear enough when she broke things off with him. There could never be anything more.

***

Stella wasn’t sure she could take much more.

She understood they needed to get far away from the compound. The place would undoubtedly be crawling with bad guys. She prayed they assumed everyone had flown out in the chopper, but they couldn’t count on that.

Still, Jose was making damn sure their tracks were covered. Now Bubbles had Sutton over his shoulder, the student’s ankle having given out after five minutes of hobbling.

They were all business—and her brain was still locked on that impulsive hug from Jose. For that moment, she’d forgotten all about their fight and the fact that he didn’t want to build a real life with her. She could only lose herself in the undeniable connection they shared, a chemistry that could too easily make her lose her objectivity when she needed it most.

Stella stepped alongside him as they trekked through the scrub brush, around acacia trees, the thorny branches reaching out like gnarled witch’s fingers. “Is it safe to talk?”

“For now,” Jose said, jabbing a stick at the high grasses for snakes, keeping his eyes on the horizon. “Just keep it low. Stay on the lookout. If we’re lucky, they don’t even know we’re out here. They’ll think we all got away in the helicopter.”