He had met Kincaid’s family, and the man they’d called Iceman during their SEAL days, the man he’d once suspected might live out his days alone, had gone all touchy-feely, unable to keep his hands off his wife and children.
Then there was Jake and Maria. Someday he would get Jake drunk enough to learn how he’d gotten up the nerve to go after the boss’s sister, risking life and limb. That had to be love, right? Not long after that, Jamie Turner had fallen into the trap with a woman named Sugar. Cody was pretty sure Jamie could entertain him for hours with that story. And now Ryan was about to marry a stunt plane pilot who would punch Cody in the nose if he said the wrong thing to her. Already he liked the woman.
It boggled the mind how each of his teammates had somehow found a woman who perfectly suited him.
“You’ll meet Charlie as soon as we get back. Kincaid’s having an engagement party at his beach house.” Ryan glanced at him. “You’re welcome to bring a date.”
Hell. Cody Roberts didn’t date. Not anymore. Yet, the way Riley’s eyes had darkened with desire when he’d kissed her popped into his mind. Since she was the only woman he knew in Pensacola, maybe he’d ask her. It wouldn’t mean anything, wouldn’t be a real date, just neighbors going somewhere together.
Liar. Not liking that voice in his head, Cody lowered his seat back and closed his eyes, pretending to go to sleep. Problem—behind his closed eyelids, there was Riley’s sweet mouth, parting open when he’d almost kissed her. He willed away the image of her leaning against the wall and how he’d wanted to push his body hard against hers and take her right then and there in the hallway of her animal clinic.
A woman who cried at the loss of someone else’s pet deserved better than he could ever give her, though. After he got home and picked up his dogs, maybe he’d look for someplace else to live so he wouldn’t see her every day.
“We’re on the ground,” Ryan said, punching Cody’s arm.
Cody blinked open his eyes, surprised he’d fallen asleep. Too afraid the nightmares would come, he never slept on planes or wherever someone might hear him call out. Since his teammate wasn’t looking at him as if he’d just stepped off a spaceship from Mars, it seemed he hadn’t yelled anything.
He’d nodded off thinking of Riley. Maybe she was the answer to keeping his demons at bay. If he could fill his mind with her before going to sleep, there might not be any room for whatever ghosts were haunting him.
“Let’s roll,” Ryan said, grabbing his bag from under his seat when the plane came to a stop. “I want to get this kindergarten operation over with so I can get home. Charlie has an air show Sunday I don’t wanna miss.”
And Cody only had his dogs to go home to. But that was the way he wanted it, right? “Yeah, let’s get it done.”
The pilot opened the cabin door, and Cody followed Ryan out onto the tarmac, where a man wearing a rental car–logoed shirt handed him the keys to a black Range Rover.
“Gimme.” Ryan made a grab for the keys.
Cody fisted them. “Nope.” He slid behind the wheel before his teammate took it in his head to wrestle for the keys. “Sweet,” he said, checking out the interior.
“I’m driving tomorrow.” Ryan tapped his phone to bring up the hotel coordinates for the place that Kincaid had booked for them for the first night. Before leaving the Des Moines area, they got a bag of burgers and two large coffees to go at a fast-food restaurant.
After turning onto the highway in the direction of Fort Dodge, Cody took a sip of his black coffee. One thing he liked about a mission was that he didn’t crave a drink. He supposed it was ingrained in his brain that alcohol and missions don’t mix, not that the one they were on now was risky. But boots on the ground was a whole different mindset, whether it involved dumb love-struck kids or bullets whizzing past his ears in the middle of some hellhole desert. Or maybe being on an operation meant he wasn’t sitting at home in the dark, afraid to go to sleep, needing the scotch to dull his mind.
“What’s the latest on Layla?” Ryan asked as he munched on a handful of fries.
At the mention of her, Cody swallowed the lump of hamburger that now felt like a jagged rock scraping its way down his throat. He drank some coffee to help it go down before answering. “The dog Wizard thought might be her wasn’t. He’s got everyone looking for her.”
“Wizard won’t quit until he finds her.”
“If . . . if she’s still alive.” He was losing hope, but Ryan was right. Cody had saved Wizard’s life, and the man believed he owed Cody, so he wouldn’t give up. Problem was, Wizard’s time in-country was about up. If Layla wasn’t found soon, then she wasn’t going to be.