And the body of the soft woman in his arms.
He didn’t move when he first woke, too content to keep holding Veronica. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d just held someone. Maybe because there wasn’t a memory.
She was different.
And he was lying to her.
Hell.
The truth would come out, sooner or later. The truth would always come out. When he brought down her brother and the EOD agents took Cale away, what would he say to Veronica then?
Sorry about Cale. Sorry about lying to you. But, hey, maybe we can still hook up? The sex was incredible.
It was more than just the sex. More than just pleasure that he’d lose if he lost her.
She’s more than I thought. She’d slipped under his guard. Strange, when he should have been the one guarding her.
“Why do you look sad?”
His body tensed. He hadn’t even realized that she’d been awake. But his gaze rose to her face and he found her stare on him, seeing into him as few others had done.
“I’m worried about you.” That was true, even if there was more involved. Worried about her safety, worried about losing her.
“Why? You’re here to keep me safe, right? The big, bad ranger.”
She made him smile. He bent and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “You’re right—that’s why I’m here.” His smile faded. To keep you safe and to bring down your brother. Jasper cleared his throat. “We should head back to the main house. See if Wyatt has any more information for us.”
She nodded and slowly pulled away from him. She sat up on the side of the bed, giving him a perfect view of her back and its elegant curve. “I don’t regret anything that happened,” she told him, and looked over her shoulder. “Just in case you were curious.”
He rose slowly. The sheets bunched around his waist. “Remember that.” His knuckles slid down her spine. Her skin was so smooth. She sucked in a little gasp when he pressed a kiss to the base of her back.
Never another like her.
He lifted his head. Rolled away to his side of the bed, then stood. “We’ll head back to the house, check in with Wyatt, then start searching the rest of the property.” Though he was curious about the progress that Sydney and Gunner might have made. They probably had been caught in the storm, too. But the team would be back in action soon.
He grabbed his jeans, jerked them on and yanked his shirt over his head. He heard the rustle of Veronica dressing behind him, and he just had to turn and enjoy the view.
A virgin. That news still shocked the hell out of him, but it also...made him happy. No one else had ever seen her eyes go blind with pleasure. No one else had heard her sweet gasps when her climax hit.
“What is it?”
She’d caught him staring at her.
Clearing his throat, Jasper told her the truth. He figured she deserved a truth from him. “You’re beautiful.” And dangerous to me. So very dangerous.
A flush of heat filled her cheeks, and then a warm smile spread over her lips. “You’re pretty gorgeous yourself.”
Right. The woman had seen all his scars. Kissed them. He still couldn’t believe that she’d done that. She hadn’t been repulsed or scared. She’d just been...loving.
Perfect.
He was so messing everything up with her. He knew it. His breath rushed out. He had to talk with Logan. Get permission from the EOD powers-that-be, aka Bruce Mercer—the bigwig Mystery Man who seemed to run Elite Ops—to brief Veronica fully on the situation with Cale.
She deserved the truth.
He couldn’t, wouldn’t keep lying to her.
Veronica was dressed now and staring at him a bit uncertainly as her smile wavered.
He walked toward her with slow, sure steps. She tilted her head back to look up at him. “You aren’t what I expected,” he told her.
“Is that good? Or bad?”
Both.
“Don’t hate me, okay?”
Her brows rose. “Ah, is this typical morning-after etiquette for you? You tell a woman not to hate you because—”
“There’s nothing typical about you.” That was a big part of the problem. If she hadn’t been getting under his skin, he could have kept playing his part, and he could have stayed the hell away from her last night.
But he’d wanted her too much.
A reckoning would come soon. He’d pay for that desire.
As soon as he got her to the main house, he was calling Logan and Mercer. No more secrets. No more lies.
Jasper pulled his gun and headed toward the door. He peeked through the blinds of the nearby window, searching the area outside. Then he moved to the other windows, scanning and checking.
“Do you think someone was watching us l-last night?” she asked him, voice suddenly hushed.
Giving a quick shake of his head, Jasper told her, “No, the storm was too bad. No one was out there.” And it looked as though no one was out there now. He went back to Veronica, took her hand and led her outside.
The ground was still wet, heavy with mud, while standing water covered much of the area. Driving back to the main house would be tricky, but the truck would handle it. He cast a quick, worried glance at Veronica. He didn’t want her to have any bad memories if the truck started to slide.
She climbed into the truck, buckled her seat belt and said, “I’m fine, Jasper,” in a determined way that told him she knew exactly what he’d been thinking.
He hurried around to the driver’s seat. He secured his weapon and cranked up the vehicle. When the engine growled to life, he gently pushed down the gas even as he swept the steering wheel around in a large circle. The driving would be slow going—so damn slow—but he wouldn’t take any risks with Veronica.
His gaze swept the area up ahead. The storm had knocked over trees, sent the stream to swelling and had pretty much ravaged everything in sight.
“It’s funny,” Veronica murmured. “Once we got together, I forgot all about the storm.”
He started to smile.
But then he saw a glint up ahead. A flash of the sun on metal, one big white line that shouldn’t be there. Swearing, he jerked the steering wheel to the right, but he made his move too late.
Gunfire exploded, and a bullet ripped through the windshield. Veronica screamed as the truck careened, rushing forward. The bullet had hit him, his blood was seeping out and he couldn’t control the truck.
Couldn’t stop it.
The truck slammed into a tree. Glass shattered and Veronica stopped screaming.
Chapter Eight