The beauty she possessed would have a man bending over backward to give her what she wanted. That, added with her openness, the sweetness in her eyes—the way the light brown warmed her gaze—she could bring a man to his knees.
And that was what I was fighting against, ten minutes after meeting her. The pull of her was so strong it had made me recoil in fear. Never had I had the urge to throw a woman over my shoulder like some barbarian and hide her away, promise her the world, keep her for always, and claim her as mine.
Keep her?
Claim her?
What the hell was wrong with me?
The last thing I wanted was a woman. A woman meant responsibility, sharing, giving, it also meant taking. Out of all that it was the taking part that bothered me the most. I could give but I would never again take. Not in any way, shape, or form. I would never again take anything, not kindness, not compassion, not sympathy.
But I could give Evette something—protection.
Someone was trying to kill her and that was why she was here.
The reminder brought me back to the room.
Evette took the seat I’d offered.
Zane and Ivy Lewis had settled at the head of the table. Lincoln Parker to his brother’s right. The rest of my teammates: Owen, Kevin, Myles, and the newest member Cooper had also found seats. Leaving me and Kyle Smith standing. Kyle wasn’t on the Blue Team, he was on the Gold Team. The only reason Kyle had been in the office that day was to go sit in on our debriefing with Cruz, an FBI agent who’d help with our last mission.
Evette had gotten lucky and picked a day to show up when her friend Anaya’s husband was in the building.
Seeing as Anaya and Evette were close, or as I’d heard from Anaya “sisters” it was understandable Kyle was not sitting but pacing like a caged animal.
Ivy, being the only person in the room with any sort of manners, made the introductions and as she did Evette looked at each man in the room. With her eyes no longer on me, it gave me a chance to take her in without falling victim to her appeal.
Evette looked scared but determined.
Fearful yet angry.
Then it hit me. Evette London did not fly across the country for protection; she came here for help. She had a plan. I saw it in the way her shoulders were squared, her spine straight—the woman was prepared for battle.
And something about that made my heart beat faster.
Her resolve was even more beautiful than her flawless skin, her long, wavy, rich brown hair, those tawny eyes that held nothing but promise, and her stunning figure.
Promise?
Seriously, what the fuck was wrong with me? I didn’t wax poetic about eyes. Hell, I didn’t wax poetic about anything.
I wanted nothing.
I cared about little.
I loved few. Those being my teammates, and I loved them with brotherly love born from loyalty and battle.
Again, what in the Sam fuck was going on?
“It’s nice to meet you all. I’m sorry for barging in this way.” Evette’s voice was shaky but her tone was firm. “I didn’t know who else to turn to.”
“The police,” Kyle offered.
“I’m sorry, Kyle,” she whispered.
“If not the police,” Zane started. “It’s my understanding you live in Riverton, why didn’t you reach out to Rocco and his team? Are they not in country?”
That was a good question. Rocco, Gumby, Bubba, Rex, Ace, and Phantom were all active-duty SEALs. Ace had married Evette’s friend Piper and Phantom was with another one of her friends, Kalee. Any of those men would’ve offered her protection especially Ace and Phantom. Actually, Phantom would’ve gone beyond offering his protection and would’ve neutralized any threat to Evette. The SEAL wasn’t big on playing by the rules and he was less of a fan of anything worrying Kalee. And if the rumors were true Kalee was deeply loyal and one of her friends in danger would’ve sent her over the edge.
“No, they’re home,” Evette admitted.
“Then why didn’t you call Ace or Phantom?” Kyle voiced my question.
I watched as Evette glanced around the room, she did this slowly, thoroughly taking in each person as if she were weighing her options—how much she was going to say.
So the woman did have a plan. She was going to follow through with that plan no matter what—that much was obvious—but she was measuring the weight of her response.
Interesting.
Smart.
Evette’s gaze finally landed on me and she let it linger longer than she had with the others. This was disconcerting. As was the way she seemed to be imploring me to give her the answers she needed without me knowing the questions. That line of thinking was ridiculous but it didn’t negate the fact I knew what she was looking for.
I dipped my chin in nonverbal encouragement and her eyes flared.
Yeah, fuck yeah.
There it was—recognition.
Evette straightened and once again looked at Kyle.
“Don’t you think Ace, Piper, Phantom, and most especially Kalee have been through enough?” Evette’s voice was not shaky, the tone was firm. It held contempt and intention.
Unfortunately, I was unclear what her intentions were and that would prove to be a tactical error on my part. I might not have given her the go-ahead to continue had I known Kyle would lose his shit.
“It goes without saying they all have,” Kyle returned.
“Right. So then you’ll understand why I didn’t go to any of them. Why I couldn’t go to them. Besides, this involves Anaya and I thought you’d want to know.”
Kyle stiffened at the mention of his wife’s name.
“How is Anaya involved?”
Evette closed her eyes and that was when she exposed the crack in her armor. She couldn’t hide it and seeing it made me want to scoop her up and take her away from Kyle’s anger.
“Kyle,” I called and waited for my friend to transfer his glare from Evette to me. Cold. Hard. Deadly. “Let’s start at the beginning.”
“I need to—”
I cut Kyle off and reminded him, “You’ll get the full scope if Evette starts at the beginning.”
“Fine,” Kyle snapped and took the empty seat next to Linc.
Evette opened her eyes, clenched her jaw, and leveled Kyle with a guilty stare before she cleared the look and fortitude infused her face.
Yeah, I liked this woman’s grit.
I’d heard Anaya call her friend Evie instead of Evette countless times. But she didn’t look like an Evie to me. The nickname was too soft, too sweet for the woman I’d met. No, Evette reminded me of a cute little koala—soft and cuddly but if they felt threatened they’d bare their fangs and slice you to shreds.
“You’re a reporter, right?” Linc asked.
“Yeah, I work for the nonpartisan media group, The Wire.”
Silence fell and Evette shifted uncomfortably in her chair.
“This isn’t an interrogation,” I started.
But before I could continue Evette cut me off.
“It isn’t? It sure feels like one.”
“Well, it’s not. You came here for a reason. Instead of us cross-examining you, why don’t you tell us what happened?”
Evette licked her lips and I found myself watching the way her tongue glided over the bottom one, I did this with more attention than I cared to admit. Acknowledging—even to myself—that I couldn’t take my eyes off her mouth would mean I’d have to accept I couldn’t tear my gaze away because I wasn’t watching; I was fucking enthralled. And that was an issue, a big issue seeing as my cock had also taken notice.