“So you came all the way over here and got yourself taken captive so you could get a date?” Sierra asked.
Grover snorted. “Hey, I’m the last of my team to find a woman, and I’m not getting any younger.”
“Please. I’m sure women trip over themselves to get you to look at them. In case it’s escaped your notice, you’re fairly good-looking, Grover.”
“I’m thirty-three, not twenty, Bean. I’d like to think I’m not so shallow as to go home with every woman who decides she wants to sleep with a soldier. I’m not denying I went through that phase when I first joined the Army, but that’s not what I want anymore. Not for a long time. And not as many women as you think want to get involved with a career soldier like me. Someone who has to leave at the drop of a hat and can’t talk about where he’s going or when he’ll be back.”
“Then they’re stupid,” Sierra said softly. “I’m not saying it’s easy to be married to someone in the military, but I think, for me, I’d be proud of what my boyfriend or husband was doing. I’ve learned firsthand how important it is to keep the tyrants from taking over the world.”
Grover was silent for a while. He didn’t know any of the basics about Sierra. Things like whether she was a morning person. If she spread her stuff all over the bathroom counter or kept it all neatly lined up on her side. Her favorite movies or books. The things he did know were far more important, and he liked all of it. A lot. She was practical. Smart. Down-to-earth. Compassionate. Loyal. A little bloodthirsty.
He knew that last one wasn’t something most people thought was a good trait, but he wanted a partner who understood that killing was part of his job. The Deltas didn’t kill on every mission, of course, but when they did, it was absolutely necessary.
Grover shifted on the ground and winced again. Damn, he hurt. Shahzada was a vicious son-of-a-bitch, and he wouldn’t be sorry to see him dead.
As if she could read his mind, Sierra asked, “Do you honestly think your team will find us? I mean, how will they be any different than anyone else who’s looked in the past?”
“They’ll find us,” Grover reassured her. “And I know because if one of them was missing, I wouldn’t stop until I’d figured out where they were being held and rained hellfire down on anyone who dared keep me from them. Besides, I left them notes on everything I did when I was on post, and what I had planned to do the night I was taken. They’ll follow up and get us out.”
“I don’t understand why Shahzada has been so…hard on you,” Sierra said.
“He probably has a small penis,” Grover said.
There was a beat of silence, then Sierra burst out laughing. Once again, Grover couldn’t help but grin at the beautiful sound.
“Well, all right then,” she said when she had herself under control.
“In all honesty, I’m not one hundred percent sure myself,” Grover said more seriously. “I know he’s pissed the base is locked down. And like you said, he’s frustrated that he hasn’t been asked to move up in the ranks. He’s still stuck here in this town. He wants more. And because he’s spent so much time on the post, he’s probably jealous or resentful of men like me.”
“Special forces?” Sierra asked.
Grover shrugged, forgetting the damage being strung up had done to his shoulders. He bit back a pained groan and took a deep breath before continuing. “Of men stronger, bigger, and who don’t need to rely on fear and intimidation to be powerful.”
“Tell me about your friends?” she asked.
Some people might’ve thought her question was an abrupt change of topic, but Grover followed her logic. He liked that she thought of him and the rest of his team as the opposite of Shahzada. Honorable.
So Grover told her all about his team. He talked about some of their missions—without including details about where they were or what they were doing. He mentioned a few of their close calls and explained how much they relied on each other.
He told her the story of how Trigger and Gillian met when her plane was hijacked. He described how devastated Lefty had been when Kinley entered the witness protection program, but how he’d never lost faith that he’d see her again. He explained about Brain’s amazing ability to speak and read so many languages, and how much it had come in handy over the years. Shared the story about Sergeant Spence, who’d tried to kill Brain and Aspen, and how relieved the other woman was to be out of the Army.
He talked a long time about Logan and Bria, Oz’s nephew and niece, and explained his own not-so-great relationship with his brother, after Spencer’s actions had almost gotten their sister Devyn killed. He told Sierra about their duties at the Olympics and meeting Ember, and how he wasn’t so sure about her at first, but now loved her like a sister.
After talking for what seemed like hours about his friends, Grover’s throat was dry, but he couldn’t stop. He found himself talking about his home. About how he’d torn down the dilapidated barn on the property and his team had helped frame out a new one. He told her about the beautiful barn doors he’d repurposed and put into his home. About how much he loved waking up, going out onto his back deck, and sitting in silence as he took in the morning. He joked about the media room Devyn had convinced him to put in. There was an odd room at one end of his house that had no windows, so she’d decided it would be perfect for a home theater. He’d put a huge-ass screen with a projector in there so he could watch TV on a move-size screen with rows of super-comfortable chairs.
Grover eventually realized he’d been talking nonstop without letting Sierra get a word in edgewise. He frowned. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to blab on and on,” he said a little sheepishly.
“Don’t be sorry. I…I think I love your friends, and I don’t even know them,” Sierra said softly.
“They’re all good people. Not perfect by any stretch, but together, we all just seem to work. We love that the women all get along so well. It makes us feel better when we get deployed. We know they’ll be there for each other no matter what,” Grover said.
“It sounds like it. And you said Aspen had a little boy, right?”
“Yeah. Chance. And Riley had a girl not too long ago. Amalia.”
“Wow. From what you said, she and Oz haven’t been together that long, right?”
Grover chuckled. “Right. But once Oz experienced the joys of fatherhood with his nephew and niece, he decided he wanted more kids. Immediately.”
“Good that Riley agreed,” Sierra said dryly.
“You want kids?” Grover asked, then mentally kicked himself for the intimate question. “Sorry…that was rude.”
“No, it’s okay. It’s not like this is a normal situation. If we were on a first date back in the States and you asked, I’d probably send a friend an SOS text and ask her to initiate ‘get me the hell out of here.’”
“Do I want to know what that is?” Grover asked. “I mean, I can guess from the name, but still…”
“I can’t believe you don’t already know. And yeah, it’s exactly what it sounds like. A woman and a friend set up an emergency ‘out’ for a date. The friend will call or text with a fake emergency, allowing the woman to leave early if things aren’t going well.”