Under Fire (Elite Force #3)(35)
Author: Catherine Mann

“Would it do any good if I let it upset me?” She broke off another bite of pineapple-mango muffin. “There’s nothing I can do to change the way things are. To live with the man, I have to live with the circumstances.”

“Must be nice to have a marriage that solid. Um, I assume you’re married. I thought Liam said you were. Sorry if I—” She stuffed a piece of muffin into her mouth, chewing extra long on the sweet bite of pineapple.

Sunny shoved to her feet. “Don’t worry. We are married. I am officially Sunny Rocha. So my name is basically Sunny Rock.” Grinning, she filled two dog bowls with water. “But Sunshine Rock would be even worse, and there you have it.”

This woman was such a natural, at ease in her skin and so nonjudgmental. She was going above and beyond, and they’d never even met before. Rachel’s hands gripped the mug until they numbed. The enormity of it overwhelmed her. “Thank you for helping us, no questions asked. Liam’s lucky to have friends like you two.”

“I believe the both of you will manage just fine on your own. You used to work search and rescue stuff, right?” She placed one of the water bowls on the floor for Disco, the other for her dog.

“With my dogs. Yes. How did you know?”

“I’ve heard about you.”

“But I just got here yesterday…”

Sunny laughed softly as she reached into a cookie jar and passed the cookies to—the dogs? “The major got a little wasted at a beach picnic we threw right after they all got back from the Bahamas. He talked a lot about you before he passed out on the sofa.”

Forget wondering about the dog treats. She wanted to ask what he’d said. Desperately. But that would sound… desperate? Exactly.

Sunny took her chair at the table again, sitting cross-legged. “You don’t have to ask. I’m happy to spill all the deets. You made quite an impression on him in those three weeks you two spent together. He talked about how tough you were finding survivors. How tireless. He said if the air force ever let females into the pararescue field, you would make the cut.”

Hearing how he’d thought of her every bit as much as she’d been unable to forget him was exciting and unsettling. Although was she even the same woman he’d been taken with back in the Bahamas? The loss of that identity hit her all over again, surprising her with the new ways it could hurt her. “Yet I burned out and stepped away from search and rescue. Guess he was wrong about me.”

“I don’t know if I agree with you on that, but hey, no matter.” She leaned closer, her voice low. “He didn’t just talk about work. He said how you didn’t take crap off anyone, how you stood up to him. And he thought you were smart for giving him his walking papers, since he sucks at marriage.”

An obstacle she still wasn’t sure how to overcome. “That whole three divorce thing is tough to overlook.”

“This is a rough career field for relationships, no question.” Shadows chased through her eyes before she looked down into her coffee.

“If you don’t mind my asking, doesn’t that worry you?”

She looked up, eyes resolute. “Not being with Wade worries me more.”

Her stomach clenched. She knew too well how much it hurt to lose a man she loved. This conversation was definitely veering too close to painful territory.

Rachel reached down to let the husky mix sniff her hand. “What’s this handsome fella’s name?”

Sunny eyed her for a second before smiling, seeming to accept the need to shift gears. “My dog’s name is Chewie. We worked together as travel guides in Alaska when I, uh, lived off the grid.”

“That explains why you chose to live in a more secluded spot here.” And all of the natural touches to the bungalow. “If you were so remote, how did you two meet?”

“Wade thought I needed saving.” She rolled her eyes. “He parachuted into an Alaskan blizzard only to have me show him the best place to camp and ride out the storm. And here we are.”

“You’re lucky to have found each other.”

Masculine voices drifted down the hall. Too easily she could detect the difference between Liam’s and Wade Rocha’s. The six months they’d spent apart faded in an instant. Would that same hold true over multiple deployments, year after year?

And when had she started dreaming about the future? The present was so messed up and crazy, she shouldn’t be wasting a brain cell thinking about anything else.

“The job’s easier to take, knowing he’s got such a tight team. And Liam McCabe? He’s the glue.” Sunny’s voice trembled. “The team’s freaking out over his leaving. Me too, for that matter.”

“Leaving?” She sat up straighter, crumpling the napkin in her clenched hand.

“After some mission they’ve been working on finishes up at the end of the week, he says he’s done, out. McCabe insists his body can’t keep up anymore.”

“Is he right?” She certainly hadn’t seen any signs of him flagging—other than once in the Bahamas, watching him strap ice packs onto his knees. But good God, who wouldn’t need ice after what they’d been through during the horrific, endless work in earthquake rubble?

“He may not be as fast as he was, but he still beats the hell out of most men ten years younger. Look at them now. After the workout they got yesterday, Wade’s still aching, even if he won’t admit it.”

“What workout?”

“They do PT—physical training—pretty hard. But yesterday they finished off a day at work by swimming two miles, then hiking five miles back to base.” She tipped back her chair to check down the hall before continuing, “I understand you’re a strong woman, with the search and rescue training. We have that kind of background in common. But these guys have training beyond anything we’ve come close to seeing. If he says you need to run, then run. Don’t think. Just act. For whatever you have going on right now, you need to trust what he says.”

There was no denying the intensity or sincerity in Sunny’s voice. But what she said scared the hell out of Rachel as much as it reassured her. It was one thing to participate in a rescue where she moved forward proactively, making decisions, leading. But giving over power completely? That was hard. Really hard.

Yet hadn’t she turned over control already?

She pushed the empty coffee mug away. “I appreciate the advice.”