She lifted her face as the rose petals cascaded down over her skin. They tickled along her cheeks lightly, making her smile from the feeling. She inhaled the light, sweet scent of the velvet soft petals. A calmness surrounded her, enveloped her in a serene feeling.
“Jennah...”
Dom’s voice whispered through her. Just the way he said her name filled her with love and warmth.
The smell of coffee filled her nostrils, causing her to frown. How did she go from roses to coffee? Pushing her face into the cushion in a sleepy haze, she realized all of it was a dream. Dreaming of coffee was probably not a good sign. Stretching, she rolled over and opened her eyes. She was on the couch still. She blinked a few times to help focus and looked toward the window. It was near dawn.
She closed her heavy eyes and opened them too see on the table a few feet from her. She squinted. There had to be two doz
Brody sat there staring at the faded wallpaper, trying to pretend he wasn’t able to hear the argument in the next room. The disagreements were becoming more frequent as the weeks of gestation increased in Jennah’s pregnancy. If the Captain hadn’t requested they all be here for a meeting, he would have made himself scarce and allowed the couple— that really did adore each other, a bit of privacy. Instead he had to be early and now had to sit through this.“You’re supposed to be on leave, in case it’s escaped your notice—you’re eight months pregnant!” Dom growled in a low tone.Jennah’s tone wasn’t low. “As if I could forget! I’m here at our headquarters, not out in the field. I may not be able to do the leg work right now—but I still have a brain that functions.” A door slammed.Yeah, Dom was going to be in the doghouse—again. Shakin
Forcing her eyes to look anywhere but at Brody took a lot of concentration, Tess could feel his eyes on her and refused to give in. He was always looking at her with those dark brooding eyes and it unnerved her. Rubbing her aching temples she turned her attention back to the Captain, her uncle, and the decorated Military Colonel. So far they’d all sat around the room while the two men had talked quietly while looking over some papers. Smithy looked tense and didn’t take his eyes off them, which worried Tess; he would be listening in on their conversation— while it was still inside their head. Whatever it was, it was serious.When they finally turned around, Tess didn’t need to be a mind reader to know this was as serious as it got.Her Uncle cleared his throat, all eyes turned to him. “This is Colonel Reynolds and from this moment on you are to discuss none of this with anyone not in this room.&rdq
“I could have brought us here.”Brody put the SUV into park and turned to glare at Tess. She just wouldn’t let it go, but what else was new? “I would rather take twenty minutes to drive here and save your strength in case we need to get out of here in a hurry.”“I can do both . . .”Gritting his teeth, he ripped the keys from the ignition. “No.” Not wanting to pound the topic any further into the ground he got out, pulling his vest with him. Shrugging into it as he looked around, his stomach tightened. For a brief minute he was going to blame her for the reaction, but then he realized it was that feeling he got when things were about to go wrong. He grinned; maybe that was his extra talent, gut instinct. It was either that or his skill was getting shot—often, he had five bullet scars to prove it.They were out in the middle of nowhere with, fr
Pausing inside the door, he scanned the room until Tess was in beside him. She closed the door and then moved away in the other direction. They’d entered into a room that was roughly twenty feet square and completely empty. The cement floor was covered in dust, making it look like no one had been in it for a long time. They had two doors to choose from to leave the room. “Door one or two, Tess, your call.”“Let’s take door number two and see if the grand prize is on the other side.” She moved over and quickly snapped a picture of the pad attached to the doorknob. “Another puzzle for you to solve Gray.”While they waited, both looked all around the space. “This is eerily weird, Brody.” She whispered.“Yep, I’m with you there.”“You sent me a picture of a lock not activated.” Grayson sounded bored
Opening the door, he stepped into a bright room with walls that were polished steel, reflecting the light from the open door. There were no other doors except the one they stood in. ‘I’d say it’s a refrigeration unit, except there are no fans.”Tess moved past him and went over to the wall. Touching the surface, she ran her hand over it. “Too warm.”Frowning, Brody let the door close quietly and went over to touch it also. It was warm, not something he expected from a metal. “The weirdness of this just keeps increasing.”“Yeah, it’s really . . .”A loud humming noise filed the room suddenly. Looking at each other for a second, they both came to the same conclusion and headed back over to the door. When Brody grasped the handle, the lock clicked. “Shit.”“Someone else is here.” Tess stared at the door.
“How long have we been in here?” Tess sat down beside Brody and watched him pry at the fourth rivet.He glanced at his watch. “Two hours.”Sighing, she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “The team will come looking for us soon.” And hopefully it was before they were discovered.“Probably, but I’m not going to just sit here and wait.” He hissed loudly. “My knife is toast, but I think I’ve got it enough we can try to pry it open and take a look.”Opening her eyes, she knelt beside him. “Pry it open?”Brody nodded. “Any thoughts on what we could use?”Tess stood up. “I might have something.” Pulling her pant leg free from her boot, she stood up. As she lifted her pant leg up, Brody turned and shone the flashlight on her. Opening the snap on the case
Forcing her mind off the smaller part, she bent her knee up to half crawl and try to reach the exit faster. When she came to a slight turn, she stretched out, holding the light in front of her to look. “Brody.” His hand touched her ankle. “There’s a grate over the end.”“Fuck,” he panted out a loud breath.Holding still, she realized he was trying to move up along beside her. Turning onto her side, she pushed her back against the cool steel to make room for him. By the time he was at her waist, he had to turn on his side and shimmy his way up further. When they were face to face, he winked at her and then reached out and took the light from her hand and shone it around the bend in the pipe.Setting the light down he reached to switch his mic back on. ‘You find it yet, Dom?” He watched her as he listened. “Ten feet isn’t the biggest
On edge and impatient, Brody paced to the window and waited for Grayson to drag himself away from his computers to give them an update. Dom was still missing, probably in the comp room staring Gray down until he finished. Jennah and Tessa were sitting quietly discussing baby names—apparently the ten times they’d already decided on a name wasn’t the final one, yet. Joslee was leaning over his coffee like a he hadn’t slept in days, which was more than possible, they’d been free to do what they wanted for too long now. Smithy was quiet, which was his usual M.O., for the man to listen to unspoken thoughts. His silence was making Brody’s jaw tick; he kept looking at him and then nonchalantly over at Tessa. If the man uttered one word of what had taken place between them tonight he’d have a hard time reading anyone’s mind while he was head first in the toilet.“I know everyone is tired,”