Prologue
The first thing Malcolm McCoy thought when the bullet hit was that he’d had better days. The second was that if he had to die, at least he was protecting his teammate. Bonus points for saving his teammate’s woman from grief since she wouldn’t have to be devastated when a chaplain showed up at her door to tell her the man she loved was dead.
No, the chaplain would show up at Mal’s parents’ house in Galveston instead. It was his mom who’d be devastated at the news of his death in a war zone, not Haylee. His dad too, but Dad would hold it together while Mom sobbed.
“Mal, you fucking idiot,” Dean “Wolf” Garner growled in his ear. “What’d you go and do that for?”
Cade “Saint” Rodgers was there too, his face a blur as he bent over Mal’s legs and worked to stop the bleeding.
“Couldn’t… let… you… get hit. Promised Haylee,” Mal forced out between clenched teeth. Motherfucker but his leg hurt.
“It would have hit the vest, you stupid fuck,” Wolf said roughly. “You’ve got no business promising my fiancée anything. She knows what we do is dangerous.”
“Couldn’t. Be. Sure.” Mal panted as the pain expanded in a hot ripple through his body. “About… the vest… I mean.” He tried to get a look at his leg, but Wolf pushed him down again. Around them, the gunfire continued. The rest of the team was pressing on, pushing the enemy back while Saint and Wolf took care of him.
It’d be a hell of a thing to die out here in the high Afghan mountains after as many missions as he’d been on to precisely this place. Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush was a thing of beauty. Too bad tourists couldn’t have a look anytime soon.
“I was fine,” Wolf said. “Holding my own. Until you broke cover and launched yourself at me.”
“Take it easy,” Saint said. “You can argue about this later when we’re back at camp and blowing off steam with a few beers.”
“How bad?” Mal gritted out.
“Missed the artery, but you’re gonna need some reconstructive surgery, I imagine. Tore through ligaments and probably nicked the bone. You’re a lucky fucker, Mal.”
Mal tried to grin. “Don’t feel lucky.”
Cade injected him with pain killers. “This’ll help. Wolf, call back to HQ and get us some air support and a ride. It’s time to get out of here. I think we’ve made our point.”
The fighting had raged for three days, but Strike Team 2 had steadily driven this particular pocket of tangos higher into the mountains while picking off several of their fighters. The end of the mission had been near—and then that one guy split off from the rest and circled around. He’d been aiming at Wolf when Mal saw him and drew his attention. It’d been enough to save Wolf’s ass, no matter what the grumpy bastard thought.
“Copy,” Wolf said. “One air taxi coming right up.”
Mal lay back on the dirt and stared up at the sky. It was turning pink and purple with the fading sunlight. If not for the gunfire, the place would actually be peaceful. He didn’t want to see Haylee Jamison’s face against that backdrop but he couldn’t help it. He saw her everywhere. The harder he tried not to look, the worse it got.
They’d rescued Haylee from a Guatemalan jungle a few months ago, and though Mal had thought she was beautiful and intriguing then, it’d been his teammate who’d captured her attention. Haylee had eyes for no one but Wolf from the very start.
And good for Wolf, dammit. He deserved Haylee. They deserved each other. And Mal, well, he was on the outside. Where he intended to stay. Nobody said a man couldn’t fall in love with another man’s woman. You could, but you damned sure couldn’t do anything about it. And when a terrorist had a bead on your buddy, you didn’t think about whether or not his woman could be yours if the bullet found a home. You definitely didn’t think that.
You did everything you could to be the one who took that bullet instead.
He’d taken the bullet meant for Wolf. But that still didn’t ease the guilt he felt every waking minute of his life. Nothing could. Nothing except a bullet whose aim was true.
Chapter One
Scarlett Reed swiped butter on her toast and poured a cup of coffee. It was just before seven but she didn’t need to be to work until eight. Fortunately, she lived close to the private hospital where she worked as a physical therapist assistant.
“Hey.”
Scarlett looked up as her roommate entered the kitchen. Justine Ziskowski was a nurse at the facility. She was also Scarlett’s savior. When Scarlett had arrived in town a couple of months ago and needed a place to live, Justine had come through despite not really knowing anything about her.
“Morning,” Scarlett said. “I hope I didn’t wake you.”
Justine worked the night shift at the hospital. She was usually home by five and in bed by six. “No,” Justine said, grabbing a cup and pouring coffee. “I was up. Moving to day shift next week, so staying up a little longer to try and shift my sleep cycle.”
“Really? That’s great!”
Justine shrugged as she wrapped both hands around the mug and gave a slight frown. “Yeah, pretty great.”
Scarlett didn’t like the nagging feeling taking up residence in her belly. Then again, she was always jumpy these days. She had reason to be. “Is something wrong? You don’t sound happy about it.”
Justine reached for her hand and wrapped her fingers around Scarlett’s. Scarlett didn’t resist even though the contact still shocked her sometimes. But Justine was one of those warm, effusive people who acted as if they’d known you for years instead of only months. “I don’t know how to say this, so I’ll just say it. Neil asked me to marry him.”
Scarlett blinked. Then she laughed and threw her arms around the other woman in a spontaneous hug. “Congratulations! This is perfect!”
Justine laughed too. “I know, right? We’ve only been dating forever, and I thought he was determined to stay single. I’m still in shock.”
“He realized what’s important.”
Neil was a doctor at the hospital, and an ambitious one at that. But sometimes people realized what was truly important in their lives. It’d been known to happen. Not in Scarlett’s life, because she couldn’t do anything normally, but in other people’s.
“I think so.” She sighed, and Scarlett’s belly twisted again. “I can’t keep this place. I’m going to sell it.”
Scarlett’s joy popped like a balloon. “Oh.”
“I’m so sorry, hon. I know you haven’t been here long, but it won’t be for a while yet. I just wanted you to know so you could start looking. Unless you want to buy it?”
Scarlett shook her head sadly. “I’m afraid I won’t qualify for a loan just yet. It’s too soon after the bankruptcy. But thank you for asking.”
“Aw, sweetie. I’m so sorry you had to go through that. It won’t stay on your record forever, though. My mom and dad bankrupted when I was a kid, and they have better credit than anybody these days.”