Uniform Desires (Make Mine Military Romance) (59 page)

Angel squinted at the sun rising on the horizon. Two weeks had passed and his arm was out of the sling, and he still felt the pull of the stitches in his shoulder. They itched like fire. But he was heading home. First, to D.C. to finish his debriefing, and then onto a new assignment. And he had choices. Which meant the agency was happy with him.

The cocaine haul topped six hundred pounds. That, and the destruction of Calderon’s factory, proved enough of a coup to smooth over the fact he’d blown his undercover assignment.

He stood on the tarmac at a private airstrip, awaiting a ride back to the States on a Cessna. Cowboy stood beside him, dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts. His bags sat beside Angel’s.

“For a while there, I wasn’t sure we’d make it out with our asses intact,” Cowboy drawled.

Angel grunted and jerked his chin toward his shoulder. “Speak for yourself.”

“That little scratch? Worth a medal, maybe,” he said, grinning. “Why the long face? We’re heroes.”

Angel aimed a glare at his friend. “We barely got out of there. If we hadn’t turned Yanez’s daughter too, we’d both be stuck at a desk.”

After they’d retrieved the shipment, they’d descended on the training camp, extracting Maria Cortez, who as it turned out, had no love for her father. The only reason she’d returned was because he’d cut the purse strings, ending her dream of finishing up a doctorate stateside. She’d agreed, with the promise of a fully funded scholarship and new identity, to provide them the intel they needed to take down Yanez’s operation.

They’d been damn lucky everything ended so well.

“So what are you going to do about your woman?” Cowboy asked, his blue eyes alight with mischief.

“None of your damn business.”

“Sure it is. I feel kinda responsible, having aided your hookup.”

Angel blew out a deep breath and gave him another glare. “Maya is home. Safe. The last thing she wants is me showing up on her doorstep and reminding her of her jungle nightmare.”

“You didn’t see her face when she left.”

Angel held still. Wanting to hear more, but damned if he was going to ask.

“She saved your life. Doesn’t she at least deserve a thank you? And you’ve got her suitcases, her purse. Want to trust all that to the mail?”

“I know what you’re doing.”

Cowboy’s eyebrow quirked. “Is it working?”

Angel felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. “Again, whatever I decide, it’s none of your damn business.”

“I’m the one who stayed outside while you two got it on at the safe house. Let me know I wasn’t wasting my time.”

“We never made any promises.”

“She loves you. She’d have stuck it out to the bitter end if you hadn’t ordered her out of there.”

Angel remembered the anguished look on her face as she disappeared into the trees. “She’s gutsy.”

“And smart. Damn good-looking. I might have to deliver her stuff, if you don’t.”

“I’ll handle it,” Angel growled.

Cowboy narrowed his eyes, then grinned. “Bet you will.”

The buzz of a plane’s engine sounded above them. Angel glanced up, glad as never before to be heading home. He still had paperwork and briefings to get through, but nothing would keep him from seeing whether the spark he’d kindled with Maya was still alive.

More than anything, he regretted he hadn’t told her he loved her. A woman like that deserved the words. All he’d given her at the end was the hard edge of his stubborn pride. Sure, he hadn’t known how things would go down, or whether he’d be free any time soon to pursue this thing between them. But she’d deserved to know how he felt.

Angel had faced battles and certain death, but facing one slim woman with large, doe eyes and a stubborn tilt to her chin scared the crap out of him.

Chapter 9

Maya sat at her desk at the travel agency with her chin propped in her hand. She had calls to return. Dozens. Lace’s adventure vacay was scheduled next, but already the glitzy ads they’d placed in
Chicago Magazine
and the
Tribune
, describing the many new vacation offerings they’d added from hunting for lost pirate treasure to secret agent school had earned them major buzz.

They’d make their next loan payment. And they might manage to give themselves raises. Not that the good news helped her mood any.

Of late, she’d had a hard time getting out of bed. Had been late nearly every morning this week to work. And her mouth had forgotten how to smile, something Susan tried to remedy by telling the best jokes her Irish pub-owning dad knew.

Lace speculated she had PTSD. Maybe she did, because she blanched at loud noises and rechecked her door locks a dozen times a day. But Maya was convinced she had something much more serious—a broken heart.

Not knowing whether Angel was alive or dead, whether he thought about her at all if he was alive, left her feeling sad, tired, and wondering whether she might disappear altogether if she stopped caring about anything else in her life.

A cup of hot cocoa thumped on the desk in front of her. Susan hovered, concern in her blue eyes.

“Sorry,” Maya mumbled. “I know I have work to do.”

“I’m not worried about the calls. I only gave you a list because I hoped you’d want to answer them.” She shook back her blonde hair and gave Maya a pointed stare. “If you’re not ready, we’ll handle it.”

A sigh escaped before Maya shook her head. “It’s not fair to you.”

Susan pulled up the customer chair in front of Maya’s desk and sat. “You’re grieving. That’s understandable. Remember when Andrew dumped Lace? She was worthless for months, but we knew if we gave her space, she’d come back around. We’ve all had relationship setbacks.”

“Angel and I didn’t exactly have a relationship,” Maya muttered. “We never committed to a damn thing.”

“But you fell in love with him anyway, didn’t you?”

Maya nodded and dropped her gaze to the cocoa. “I don’t like being one of those girls.”

“What girls?”

“All drama-drama. I never get serious over a boy.”

A grunt sounded and Susan grinned. “He wasn’t exactly a boy, was he?”

Maya shook her head, remembering how much Angel wasn’t a boy. A big hulking mass of muscle—that’s what he was. A stubborn, cold-hearted ex-merc who didn’t need a flighty travel agent girlfriend, even if she did know the business end of an AK-47.

She sighed, shoulders drooping.

“Ahem.”

She glanced up. Lace stood in the doorway, staring at Susan. She was blushing, the pink in her cheeks clashing with her bright red hair, and she angled her head toward the door.

“Buck up,” Susan said. “And if you need some time off...”

Maya nodded and picked up the list of names she needed to call, not watching as the two women moved away from her office door.

A moment later, Susan was back. She plucked the list from Maya’s fingers and circled around her chair. “Time to go. Take the day off. Take a week.”

“But—” What the hell?

“Nope, no arguments,” Susan said, her words clipped as she lifted Maya from her seat by her elbows.

Had her friend finally gotten tired of her moping around the office? Maya’s eyes began to fill. “I can handle the calls.”

“Nope. You’re leaving.” Susan bent and pulled open her bottom desk drawer, picking up her purse. The replacement Coach she’d gifted her with when Maya’s had been lost during her vacation.

Maya stood, feeling as though her last refuge was being pulled out from beneath her. The last thing she wanted to do was face her lonely apartment. “But—”

Susan set the strap of the purse on Maya’s shoulder and pushed her toward the door. “You don’t have to call. Don’t have to think about work for even a minute.”

As Susan pushed her past the door, Maya held onto the frame. If she didn’t have her job, what did she have? “But I don’t want to go home.”

“Then don’t. Get a hotel. Just leave through the front door!”

Maya’s mouth gaped as Susan’s face reddened. Susan had never shouted at her before. Always easygoing, Susan looked ready to push her all the way out of the office.

Maya glanced at Lace who shrugged. “Better do as she says. You won’t regret it. Promise.”

Curious now, because both women were crimping their mouths as though to contain smiles, she gave them both a dark scowl and sniffed. “I know when I’m not wanted.”

Which sent both women into a fit of giggles.

Strange.

But Maya didn’t look back, stepping out of the office onto the sidewalk and right into the arms of a very large man.

Maya pushed back, but the arms squeezed tightly around her. Unable to catch her breath to scream, she leaned back her head and met a dark, mossy green gaze. Her knees crumpled. “You!”

Angel’s face didn’t give any clue what he thought as once again, he held her up while she steadied herself. When her knees ceased wobbling like Jell-O, she shoved at his arms.
 

Slowly, he let her go.

Maya glanced over her shoulder at her two friends who gave her thumbs-up signals and wide grins.

“Funny, I didn’t have to tell your friends who I was,” Angel said.
 

His deep, familiar rasp sent shivers across her skin.
 

One corner of his mouth kicked up. “Lace greeted me with a hug then scolded me for taking my time.”

Maya lifted her chin. “She’s protective of her friends. I’m surprised she didn’t knee you.”

“Susan proceeded to call me a bastard, and then said if I didn’t stay right here, she’d hunt me down like a dog to edge of the Earth. Her words.” His smile flashed wider. “I like your friends.”

“Great.” Her heart pounded but she fought to keep her voice calm. “You can ask them on a date. I give you my permission.”

“I like them. Maybe we’ll have dinner sometime, but I won’t be asking them out on a date.”

Maya gripped the strap of her Coach bag, and fought to keep from flinging herself back into his arms. Angel in a tight T-shirt and cargo pants was awe-inspiring. Wearing a suit and tie like he was now, he looked delicious enough to eat. Her gaze strayed to his shoulder.

“It’s been a month. I’m healed.”

“I’m...glad.” She stood, feeling awkward, afraid to hope that he was here for something other than to thank her for saving his life.

“Thanks for saving my life.”

Her heart fell to her toes. “Thank Mark. He showed me how to shoot.”

Angel grunted. “He’s in custody now.”

“Oh. Yeah, so Garcia didn’t kill him.”

“They held him at the camp. Tortured him. He’s happy to be in jail.”

Maya’s gaze fell away. “Well, I’m glad you’re well again. And you didn’t have to thank me. You saved me, too.”

Angel issued a soft curse. He stepped forward.

Her glance flew up, but before she could ask him what she’d said to upset him, his mouth landed against hers. At first, she held firm, determined she wouldn’t be an easy conquest. If he was back in town and thought she’d fall back into his arms that easily...

His tongue entered her mouth, and she sucked it hard, pulling it deeper, groaning. Who was she kidding? She loved him. She’d be his doormat if it meant he’d love her just one more time. Her arms snaked around his neck, and she rose on tiptoe, mashing her body against his.

His hands framed her face, and he pushed her back an inch. “I love you.”

Maya’s heart stopped for a long moment, and she was sure she’d imagined what he’d said, because wasn’t that what she’d been dreaming he’d say when they met atop the Empire State Building at midnight? In her dreams, anyway?

“I love you,” he repeated, then kissed her again, breathing into her.

Her lungs expanded and her eyes bugged. And she pushed back, coughing. “What are you doing?”

“You stopped breathing.” Angel’s eyes wrinkled at the corners as he grinned down at her.

She slapped his chest, then gave him a wide-eyed stare. “I didn’t mean to do that. Did I hurt you?”

Angel laughed, bending over her, his face resting on her shoulder as his chest shook. “God, I’ve missed you.” His arms encircled her again, crushing her against his chest.

And again, she couldn’t breathe, but she didn’t care, because before he’d squeezed the breath from her, she’d caught the scent of his musk mingled with a hint of cologne. Had he primped for her?

She melted like goo, her hand clutching his white dress shirt. Tears filled her eyes and seeped down her cheeks, but she’d never felt happier. He’d come for her. She knew it. She heard his love for her in the laughter that still shook his chest.

A throat cleared beside them. “Her apartment’s about ten minutes from here. I hailed a taxi,” Susan said, her voice dry.

Maya glanced over Angel’s shoulder at her friend and reached up to point at Angel’s shoulder. “It’s him,” she whispered.

“Never would have guessed,” Susan said, waggling her pale eyebrows. “Take a week. Don’t call. We’ll be fine.”