"Good luck with that," she groused. "I do have a brother who's a navy SEAL, and if he couldn't coax me into the water, what makes you think you can?"

"I have my ways. We'll see."

She shook her head and snuggled against him, even though he knew it wasn't a good idea and his chest got tight thinking about them having a future together. There was no damn chance. Which made him realize that he might be looking at a lonely existence for the duration of his military service. Taking a chance again on someone who might not be able to handle his deployments left his gut in a twisted knot of a mess. He despaired of ever finding that unbreakable woman to stand by him. He thought Piper might be made of titanium and the thought of being with her again only added a newer, sizzling dimension. He wanted to tumble her into a real bed and take his time with her. But each time they were together would add one more new layer of need and want spiraling inside him until all his walls would crumble.

Realizing his thoughts were heading into dangerous ground, he closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, not liking the churning in his gut. The old anger was seeping back, and he didn't want it. He didn't want to remember how his relationships in the past had failed.

An hour later, Blessing pulled up to the Kabul Star Hotel. "Here are your key cards, and I took the liberty of buying you toiletries and clothes. Everything is in this bag. You can charter your jet by getting on the hotel wireless. Quickly now. Get out of here as soon as you can."

Piper handed her a check. "Here is reimbursement for you, Blessing, and thank you so much for everything."

"This is too much, Piper." She tried to shove it back, but Piper pushed it back at her.

"Then use it for your clinic." She kissed Blessing on both cheeks and hugged her hard.

Dex then hugged her, too. "Stay safe. I'll see you on the next go-around."

As she drove away, Piper and Dex were heading into the hotel and straight to the business area. Once inside the office, Piper sat down at a computer.

"I think we should just go straight to the airport and charter the flight. Less chance for someone to track us by your credit card."

"I don't need to pay," she said, bringing up the website and making a reservation. "We have a private company on retainer. It's a fractional ownership that my brothers and I enjoy."

"Even better, Moneybags." He smiled.

After they were confirmed to fly out in an hour and a half, they headed for the elevator. Once inside they went to the numbered floor listed on their key cards and were soon in their hotel room.

"We should get cleaned up," he said, and walked to the bathroom.

He would get through his shower fast and maybe eliminate the need that was already climbing up his groin and giving him an aching erection.

He'd like to think he was strong enough. But then she stopped him cold.

"Dex?"

"Piper?" he said, his voice rough now with need, with anticipation, as her eyes darkened with more than fear. She needed comfort and he wanted to give her that, to make her feel safe and secure.

What was left of his flimsy resolve disintegrated. She was still reacting to the events from an hour ago. He would probably never get that image of that gun to her head out of his mind. It almost made him reckless. He wanted her again. Wanted to see that look in her eyes over and over. He wanted to see it when he was inside of her, when he was making her climb the peak, when he was the one who pushed her over. He wanted to be the only one who saw that look ever, and it was that fierce, ridiculous surge of possessiveness that almost gave him back the edge he so desperately needed.

Piper was still shaken. She couldn't seem to get rid of the memory of that gun up against her spine or seeing Dex once more in mortal danger, but with his skill and quickness, he'd saved her again. She didn't want to be alone out here and she felt the need to stick close to him.

When she couldn't seem to get the words out of her mouth, he walked back to her, opened the door, set the Do Not Disturb sign on the handle, then threw the dead bolt.

He took her hand and backed toward the bathroom, stopping briefly to unzip the bag and pull out the toiletries bag. "I need someone to help me wash my hair," he said. "I don't think I can get my hands over my head."

She blinked back the moisture in her eyes. He was able to throw that knife with deadly accuracy, but she was so grateful for his understanding.

He nudged her head to one side, dropped his mouth to the spot below her ear, sending a sparkling shower of electrical shivers down her body, tightening her nipples. His mouth closed around her lobe and sucked and she gasped as he pulled her against him.

Then his mouth found hers and he kissed her, hard, deep and wet.

She set her hands on his bare shoulders. He slid his hand heavily down her spine, cupped her rear and meshed her hips to his, his hard-on caught between them.

She helped him with the tunic and the vest and with trembling fingers untied his pants. When she went to reach for her own clothes, he helped her out of them, his hands lingering as if he wanted to memorize every dip and valley of her body. He was fully aroused. It was a slow, tortuous tease until he reached for the tie to her pants.

"I can't pretend not to want you. My body gives me away," he told her, his eyes hot with passion.

Her response was to kiss his chest and curl her hand around him, stroking him.

She told herself sternly that it was all about comfort. Nothing more.

She couldn't let him be any more.

Chapter 10.

Safid Darreh,

Parwan Province, Afghanistan

Austin stopped the Jeep and parked half a mile away from the good-size village. He could see the sand walls and, as they approached the entrance, there was a man standing by a vehicle. He had a communication device and, even better, Austin recognized him as Outcast's second-in-command, Ted White.

They worked together to subdue him and when he'd been flex cuffed and turned around, Austin said, "So, what are you doing here?"

"Just some Outcast business," he said.

"Does that business include the assassination of a US senator and the murder of a navy SEAL?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure, you don't."

They walked him back to their Jeep and shoved him facedown in the backseat. Austin flex cuffed his feet and they closed the door.

"Let's find the Jamals and hopefully they're okay."

Austin nodded. They wrapped their head scarves and entered the village. When they came across an old man, Derrick spoke to him and the man pointed down the street. "He says the house with the red door."

Austin nodded. There were a few people out, but not many. Some used the water pump and a potter fired up his kiln. As soon as they got to the end of the street, Austin and Derrick split up. Austin went to the back and Derrick to the front. In the back of the house, there were numerous goats and a vegetable garden. There was also a gate. Austin positioned himself in front of the back door, taking a quick peek through the kitchen window. From his vantage point he could see a man, woman and two young boys standing in the hall. There was the body of a man with a knife through his eye slumped against the wall. The woman had her two sons' faces pressed into her sides. A man with a suppressed M9 was pointing it at them and he could hear muffled shouting.

"Where are they?"

Austin didn't hesitate. He tried the knob and it turned. He eased the door open just enough so that his body could slide inside.

On cue, Derrick knocked, and the guy glanced over his shoulder toward the closed front door. "Answer that, but if you even look at him sideways, your wife and kids get it." The thug gestured with the gun.

The man, who Austin presumed was Raffi Jamal, went to the door and opened it. Derrick greeted him and started talking to him. Austin entered the room and the woman's head whipped to him. Her eyes widened. Austin put his finger to his lips for her to keep quiet.

"Hey, pal," Austin said, and the guy brought his head around, the gun swinging in their direction. Austin clipped him on the chin and he went down. That's when he saw the two other dead guys. One was face-down on the floor and the other was sprawled in the doorway across the room. Jesus... Kaczewski was a juggernaut.

Derrick came through the door, his gun drawn. "Can you believe this? They sent five guys after this SEAL." Austin chuckled. "The guy's a one-man riot."

Derrick didn't answer. His eyes were fixed straight ahead and Austin got a chill down his spine at his colleague's expression, a resigned look and one so full of regret it made Austin's gut clench. Austin was just rising from flex cuffing the unconscious man. He turned to follow Derrick's line of vision. The woman, holding the small boys, had the exact same look in her dark eyes, along with one of abject shock.

She clutched the boys closer and said softly, "Derrick?"

Then it was Austin's turn to be shocked senseless. The older boy turned his head and Austin blinked and blinked again.

He was the spitting image of Derrick right down to his black hair, dark good looks and midnight-blue eyes.

Kabul Star Hotel,

Kabul, Afghanistan

Piper grasped and arched into Dex, the exquisite sensations spearing through her rendering her speechless as well as mindless.

Words like beautiful and sexy, said in a deep, ragged, melting voice, rasped in the steamy air.

He had her against the tiles, her crossed wrists in his big hand currently at the small of her back, the other roving over her in a possessive slide. She hungered to be taken by him. She wasn't accustomed to a man like Dex-unconventional, raw. Brad was reserved and low-key. Not that he wasn't confident, but he'd never held her like this, ever. They hadn't even had sex in the shower.

"You follow my lead," he said gruffly, not giving her a choice, but she knew she had one. "This is going to get bumpy, Piper. You drive me more than crazy, lady. Mad...completely mad."

She expected that Dex was going to shatter every concept she had of intimacy. He was already so deep inside her head, deep in her trust. "I'd follow you into hell," she whispered. "Mad, bad, reckless, shooting from the hip."

He groaned softly as if he'd lost another layer of himself to her. "I'd die for you, Piper."

"Please," she said softly, "don't. It would kill me." She'd seen him knocked down, his wound broken open by putting himself in harm's way to save her, fighting like a demon to live. She might be reacting to Dex solely from this life-and-death battle, but she didn't think so.

His palm slid across nipples that were achingly tight and sensitive, then he pinched one, cupping her breast. His eyes held hers with an excruciatingly fierce fire and she couldn't look away. A powerful, cherishing gaze, showing not only heat, but the pleasure he took in touching her, the anticipation of all that he planned. There was no doubt he was calculating what he wanted to do to her in the same tactically solid way he did for any kind of combat.

He looked like it might be slowly killing him.

Only this would be sweet. SEALs weren't just intense in combat.

He exerted slight pressure on her wrists, arching her back. His chest pressed against her breasts, so slick and hot, the skin like satin.

His breath rushed out on a soft exhale, carrying with it a panting male sound that made her hips jerk.

She'd never been so turned on in her life. This slow, excruciating way he was mapping her with his hand was torture. "Are you holding me this way so I can't touch you?"

"Bingo. You touch me and I think it will be over. I've got to...get my bearings."

"Isn't that easy for a SEAL?"

He huffed a laugh, then his mouth settled over hers. His lips were hot and thorough, moving slowly over her, kissing her one second, then the next biting her lip and licking her. He slipped his tongue in her mouth and she sucked on him. He tasted so good.

"The only easy..."

"...day was yesterday," she finished for him. She kissed his mouth, rubbing against his soft facial hair. "Let go," she whispered against his cheek.

He smiled. "Is that an executive order?"

Her eyes flicked up to his. The sparkle in his dark eyes sent her lips tilting, too. He was such a damn tease. "I'm not the president. This would be a congressional order. But I do have something I want to implement, and I believe as a member of the military, you are duty bound to obey."

He grinned now. "Oh, yeah. You have the floor, Senator. Don't ask me to salute." His grin widened. "My hands are much too...occupied."

"Saluting won't be necessary, since you are, ah, quite at attention."

He threw back his head and laughed, and she kissed the hollow of his neck.

"Oh, I don't want to propose it. I want to...execute it. It's called I want to put my hands on you."

"I think you're trying to take me out of the action, Senator."

"Oh, no. I'm comfortable with your actions. Carry on, Lieutenant."

"Yes, ma'am," he breathed, and released her. She took her palms on a sensual journey over all that hard-packed muscle, from the astonishing hardness of his rippling abs and up the wide expanse of his solid chest. God, he was so beautiful.

"I want to devour you," Dex whispered.

He moved down her body and she went liquid with anticipation. Not able to take her eyes off him, she trembled hard. The warm water flowed across her naked torso, tapped her aching nipples, slid across her skin. The spray drenching his hair and dripping off his jaw as he continued his intent foray.

His warm breath brushed against her sensitive skin, making her shiver, and he moaned softly as he nudged her thighs apart, just enough to get to the center of her.