Chapter 4
A different kind of agony churns my insides. A litany of reasons why I can’t quit, makes my brain pound the inside of my skull.
I haven’t come this far to fail. This is my job. This is too important. I will not fail my mission.
“Beast,” the guy next to me repeats. “What are you thinking we should do with these people?”
The newcomer is also jacked and stacked, and just as intense. A little taller, maybe just a little leaner, but no less mean-looking.
I wave a hand in front of them, reminding them I’m here. “Helloooo. You’re doing nothing.”
The man glances between me and Beast, whoever this guy, Beast, is.
I jump at the chance to make myself clear. “We have to go back to work once the rebels leave.”
An uncomfortable silence begins. The new guy’s eyes widen, before he looks at Beast in disbelief. “She’s joking, right?”
I don’t know where this guy is from, but his accent screams deep south. Unlike me, he hasn’t tried to wipe it away to hide his roots.
Beast crosses his arms—two big tree trunks that fold into an impressive puzzle.
IfI was impressed by men like him, that is.
With fire torching my veins, I cross my own arms. They’re more like spaghetti noodles.
“I’m not joking. We’re an aid organization. We don’t run when things get dicey. Actually, we go toward the chaos because people need us.”
“Can it,” Beast grunts with a glare. “Save your practiced speech for someone else.”
The three of us stand in an uncomfortable triangle with tension building between us.
“That’s rude.”
Beast inhales deeply through his nose.
Good. He’s trying my patience to death. He deserves it.
When he speaks again, his voice is an octave lower and full of bite. “I know what you are, and I know you need guards. This area’s crawling with thieves, cons, gangs, and rebels, just like the ones that were about twenty feet from snatching your pretty little ass.”
I stare, open-mouthed.
When I extinguish the inferno in my head. I spit my reply at him. “You really are a chauvinistic pig.”
His scowl is also impressive, almost as much as the monstrous size of his arms.
If I caved to things like that.
An angry sound comes out of his chest. Maybe it has some disbelief in the tone. “I’ve been called worse. I am not a chauvinist. I actually have massive respect for intelligent women.”
His pointed glare burns hot on my skin. And he continues to smoke me with his tirade. “I’m stating the facts. You’re in over your head. Now, Storm, give her a sat phone so she can arrange for an extraction by…” He glances down at my chest.
Why did my nipples just leap to attention?
Christ!
“FamFind.” Beast spits the word out as he glares at the logo on my shirt.
The guy with the southern drawl spins on his heel, all yes-man action. “Sure thing, Chief.”
My nipples are now aching. But I REFUSE to move my crossed arms up to block his view. “You’re staring.”
When Beast’s eyes jump back to mine, they’re dark, dangerous, and utterly take my breath away.
Whoa.
Okay. That’s definitely heat in those cocoa-brown beauties.
We stay locked in some kind of weird, breathless exchange.
At least, I’m breathless.
He leans down, close enough for minty breath to dance over my skin, making my nipples turn diamond-hard.
“I’m only going to tell you once, Poppy. Those men will rape you, they will kill you, they will throw you in a ditch and never think twice. I don’t want to see that happen. So, until you get an extraction or an army of armed guards, you’re a pain in my ass. I’ve got work to do, and the first job is to get you and your team safe.”
He straightens. The muscles in his jaw flex, and he exhales roughly. He looks like he’s on the verge of snapping.
Hopefully, not my neck.
Something unsaid lingers in the air. It’s charged, and it’s big, and I’m too rattled to untangle it.
I think I’m bad for his blood pressure. It gives me a weird, brief sense of pleasure to see a man who”s obviously big and in charge totally flustered.
He whirls around, leaving me staring.
I call out to him. “Why did you call me Poppy?”
Stupid thing to care about given the situation, but it’s burning on my tongue.
He turns around slowly. His jaw isn’t the only thing that’s tight now. His gigantic fists are clenched. His body is one giant vibrating coil.
Then he forces himself to exhale and unfurls his hands.
My lips start to burn at the memory of them pressed against my mouth.
“Old habit, a friend in my neighborhood had that nickname. I remember having to look up what it meant. It suits you. Wild and complicated.”
A tremor runs through me.
It’s not just his voice. The look. The hunger. The internal conflict in his eyes. It’s too much. But to hear him call me Poppy… That’s beyond rattling. It”s too freaking much.
Poppy.
A word I haven’t heard in years. No one has called me Poppy in forever.
And I’ve never heard it saidin that gruff, sexy voice.
I force my throat to work so I can swallow the painful sting. It hurts far more than it should.
Just a dumb reaction.
Every redhead’s probably heard the nickname Poppy at least once. But I haven’t since high school.
The sharp pain refuses to go away. Like a swallowed briar bush, it works its way down my throat and starts to grow in my chest.
Carson Trembow used to call me Poppy. Amongst other things. Red, Copper, Hothead, to name a few. With him it was always a good-natured tease by a close friend.
Carson.
His name whispers through me. I always hoped he’d get away from William’s Springs. But before he got his chance, he died of an overdose.
I blink rapidly and look away with tears biting at the back of my eyes. These are private feelings. Not meant for this infuriating meathead.
But he doesn’t take a hint. He stands there, pretty much breathing down my neck, until I look at him.
Weirdly, that hurts too. Gone is the fire. In its place is a glacial detached inspection. It makes my skin tingle and my muscles twitch to move.
“I’m not leaving,” I say hoarsely.
“You’re not staying.”
I lift my chin and meet that hard, arctic stare. “At the risk of sounding like a bitch, you’re wrong. I’ve already made it clear, I have a job and you’re not my boss. The only other way you’d get a chance to earn a say in my life is if you put a ring on it.”
His gaze burns a frigid path to my ring finger. Something tightens in him. The humid air shifts. Whipped into an angry tornado.
“That’ll never happen. Especially with a woman like you.”
Ouch.
He pivots with military precision and stalks away.
I’m trembling. I can’t tear my eyes off the massive width of his shoulders as he advances across the opening.
A weird pain turns my marrow hot. Why do I feel like I just got eviscerated?