Wanting more, he pressed his tongue to the seam of her lips, and her mouth parted. So good, so damn good. It had been too long since he’d had his mouth on a woman’s, and he couldn’t suppress a moan. At the sound, she pulled away and blinked as if coming out of a trance.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“I’m not.” It was too dark to see the color of her cheeks, but he’d bet his two drinks for that night that she was blushing. Although he didn’t know how to do tender, something inside him felt weirdly soft for this woman, a stranger to him, and it wasn’t a feeling he liked.
Riley Austin, kisser of strange men, target of an unknown enemy, stood and brushed the grass from the back of her shorts. He wouldn’t at all have minded doing that for her, but doubted she’d appreciate his hands on her ass. And it really was a lovely one. Cody pushed up and waited to see what she would say.
“Well, I guess it’s possible you saved me from being hit by a car. That would have just been the last straw on an already crap week. So thank you.” She glanced over at his dogs, both on their bellies, their attention glued on him. “I’m a veterinarian and to repay you, I’m offering my services free for a year.”
The bad, bad side of his brain almost had his mouth saying that he’d love to have her services for a year. The small part of him that was still civilized managed to stop his mouth from uttering the words.
“Not necessary,” he said, “but appreciate the offer. I do need to find a vet for them, and you’ll do just fine, but I pay as I go.”
“First visit is free then. My clinic is listed. Emerald Coast Animal Care. Night.”
And just like that, she was gone. “Good night, darlin’,” he softly said as she closed her door behind her. And he would be keeping an eye on her because whether or not she wanted to believe it, there was no doubt in his mind that whoever was driving that car had aimed right for her.
His interest in her had nothing to do with how sweet she’d tasted when he had kissed her. Nope, not a thing. Sally and Pretty Girl, sensing his mood as they so often did, trotted quietly alongside him into his house.
After making the first of his two drinks for the night, he went out to the porch and picked up his guitar. He strummed a few chords, then settled on the Clapton song bouncing around in his head, one he rarely played. As the sound of “Wonderful Tonight” curled around him, he closed his eyes and quietly sang the words while thinking of Riley Austin and the kiss they’d shared. When the song ended, he sat back and stared at the house across the street. He never should have kissed her.
“Soldier.”
The quiet voice stopped Cody. He motioned for his spotter to head on up to the roof of the building they’d scouted out a few days earlier. Cody was familiar with the occupants of the house across the alley. Covered in a burqa, Asra, the teenage girl who lived there with her parents and two brothers, beckoned him before disappearing inside.
He ran low to the other side of the street and ducked into the open door of her home, his Glock palmed in his hand. Taking off on his own was against regulations and foolhardy, but she’d given him good intel on the Taliban twice now. Her only condition had been that no one know about her. He understood. The Taliban would kill her and her family if they ever learned of her treachery.
Adjusting his eyes to the dusty shadows of the house, he zeroed in on Asra, doubled over and holding her stomach. She yanked away the material covering her face. Blood dripped from a cut on her neck. Every hair on his body stood on end. The situation was bad, but he wasn’t sure why. Had the Taliban somehow learned that she’d been passing their locations to him? He stepped toward her. It was quiet, too damn quiet.
The air behind him shifted, and he spun . . .
Drenched in sweat, Cody shot up, gasping for air. Nothing about the nightmare made sense. He didn’t know anyone named Asra, and was sure he’d never stepped inside her house. Why did he keep having this dream that always ended at the same place?
He’d only been injured once, but had no memory of what had happened. His team had found him unconscious on the street with a large knot on the back of his skull, so they assumed someone had hit him on the back of the head. Cody wasn’t so certain, but he had no other explanation. Yet, he couldn’t quite accept that anyone could have gotten that close without his sensing danger.
Since he had no desire to go back to sleep and risk the nightmare returning, he untangled his legs from the covers. Gray light poked in around the edges of the window blinds, telling him it was dawn. Plenty of time for a run before he had to leave for work. Pretty Girl and Sally, instantly leaving their beds when seeing him up and slipping on running clothes, pranced around his feet.