“You okay?” he asked softly.
It felt as if they were the only two people in the room, even though Taylor knew they were surrounded by half a dozen others. “Yeah.”
“And are you really okay with the name tags?”
Taylor nodded. “It’ll make things . . . better.”
“Then I’ll make sure everyone knows to put theirs on as soon as they step inside Silverstone Towing.”
“It seems like overkill when I don’t know that I’ll be here all that much,” Taylor said honestly.
“Why not?”
She frowned in confusion and shrugged. “Because I don’t work here?”
“So? Many of the wives of our employees hang out here. And their kids too. You’re my friend, so you’re welcome to come by whenever you want. You need a change of scenery, you can hang out here. You get sick of your own company, you can come here. Sometimes I like hanging out at Silverstone more than my own apartment. I don’t really like the quiet. I can’t promise we’ll have name tags for all the significant others, but if someone works for Silverstone, they’ll wear one, and you’ll know who they are.”
Taylor wanted to cry again. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
Eagle shrugged. “Because I like you, Taylor Cardin. Your condition doesn’t define who you are as a person. I don’t care that you don’t recognize my face. I know you know who I am here . . .” He picked up her hand and placed it over his heart. “And I don’t say that lightly. I’ve told you more about myself in the last two weeks than I’ve told anyone other than my three best friends. And after tonight, you’ll know all of it. If you still want to hang around me, you’ll be more than welcome here, and anywhere else I am. Understand?”
She didn’t, but Taylor nodded anyway.
Eagle’s lips quirked, as if he knew she was lying when she agreed. He took a step back, and Taylor couldn’t help but feel the loss.
“Eat, Flower. We’ll talk after.”
Knowing Eagle wouldn’t tell her anything before he was good and ready, she clipped her new name tag onto her shirt and picked up her fork. She shoveled a piece of the pasta into her mouth and closed her eyes in ecstasy.
“Good, isn’t it?” Skylar said from next to her.
Without even opening her eyes, Taylor nodded.
“Wait until you try his tamales. They’re even better than this.”
There was no way anything was better than this. She opened her eyes and glanced over at Eagle. He was watching her with a smile on his face. Deciding to concentrate on the joy of an amazing meal and the company of people who’d made her feel more welcome than anyone had in her entire life, Taylor forked another piece of lasagna into her mouth, her own small smile on her face.
Chapter Four
Eagle was having second and third thoughts about telling Taylor about Silverstone tonight. It was obvious how much Skylar’s gesture meant to her, and now, after eating dinner, she was relaxed and happy. He hated to do anything to make her feel differently.
But before he got any more attached to her, and she to his Silverstone Towing family, he needed to explain what he and his friends did.
This was a huge deal. Bull, Smoke, Gramps, and Eagle had made a pact not to tell anyone about their missions. Not unless they trusted them one hundred percent . . . and they thought there was a chance they might spend the rest of their lives with the other person. Hell, they hadn’t even told their families what they did. For all anyone knew, they were just the owners of Silverstone Towing. Period.
He felt in his gut that he and Taylor were on their way to being much more than friends. He was probably still jumping the gun in telling her everything, but Eagle felt a connection with her that he’d never felt with anyone before. Not even his friends. He had no idea if he and Taylor would ever have an intimate relationship, but he felt a deep compulsion to tell her.
And it scared the fuck out of him.
Because despite the fact that it had only been two weeks, she was important to him.
He wanted her in his life any way he could get her.
And telling her about Silverstone could ruin that.
But Eagle had never been one to shy away from tough things. Be they missions or discussions.
They were currently sitting on the couch upstairs. The television was on low, but no one was really watching it. Bull, Skylar, Smoke, and Gramps had all stayed to chat. And the drivers who were on duty had been coming and going depending on their callout schedule. They were all relaxed, and Eagle was thrilled to see how well Taylor got along with everyone. She and Skylar had talked about their jobs, and not once had the conversation lagged.
But it was time. Eagle needed to get the discussion with Taylor over with. He’d been stressing about it for too long.
Leaning over, he asked quietly, “You ready to talk?”
Taylor immediately nodded, and he wondered if she’d been as worried about what he wanted to tell her as he’d been.
“We’ll be back,” Eagle told his friends, not knowing if they’d be back to hang out or if it would only be to say goodbye as he took Taylor home.
Ignoring the looks his friends were giving him, Eagle steered Taylor toward the stairs. He liked touching her, but dropped his hand from her back as soon as they started down the steps.
They walked silently through the downstairs rec room toward the safe room once more. He unlocked it with his fingerprint and held the door open for Taylor. After entering, she stood uneasily in the middle of the room, as if not sure where to sit or what to do.
Eagle held out one of the chairs around the table for her, and she immediately sat. He took the one next to her and didn’t beat around the bush.
“I’ve told you that my friends and I were in the Army.”
Taylor nodded.
“We were Special Forces. Delta Force.”
She nodded again.
“Do you know what that is?”
She frowned at him. “Of course I do. I’m not an idiot.”
Eagle smiled a bit at that. “So, we were sent on highly classified missions all over the world. Some were hostage rescue, others were only to gather intel. Still others were to find and eliminate dangerous targets.”
Taylor nodded, not looking the least bit alarmed at what he was telling her so far.
So Eagle kept going. “What I’m about to tell you can’t go any further than this room,” he warned her.
“I won’t say anything to anyone,” Taylor said seriously. “Who would I tell, anyway?”
“Right. So, our last mission was to Pakistan. We were to find and take out Fazlur Barzan Khatun, the leader of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen terrorist group.”
Her eyes widened. “Holy crap, that was you?” she whispered.
Eagle nodded. “Yeah. Khatun and his organization had claimed responsibility for killing almost fifty American and British soldiers in Afghanistan the year before. He was proud of what his organization had done and vowed to continue the killing.”
Taylor put her hand on his arm. “It’s good that he’s dead, then,” she said simply.
Her words made Eagle hope that this talk might turn out all right. “Yeah, it is. During the mission, we interrupted a meeting Khatun was having. We lined up everyone who was in the room and discovered that another well-known and most-wanted terrorist was there too. Nabeel Ozair Mullah.”