Page 25 of Protecting Josie
“Tate, Pyro, Kevlar…meet Josie.”
The other men nodded at her from across the way. She could barely see them, but she gave them a little wave anyway.
“Holy crap, she’s just like you. How many times have you given me that dorky little wave when we part ways or meet up?” Tate said with a laugh. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean that in a bad way, Josie.”
“Whatever,” Nate said with another smile as looked at her. “Josie,” he said quietly. “It’s so nice to meet you.”
She returned his smile, feeling shy all of a sudden.
“Although, I still think Spirit fits you. Go on, lie down. Use me as a pillow if you’d like.”
Josie frowned and shook her head, pointing to a few of his injuries. He was hurt. She wasn’t going to lie on him. No way.
But Nate chuckled. “You weigh like two pounds. Having your head on me isn’t going to hurt. Not in the least.”
She still had no plans on using him as a pillow…but the next thing she knew, they werebothlying down and Josie was on her side, up against Nate, with her head on his shoulder and an arm around his belly.
“Perfect,” Nate said on a big sigh.
Josie could literally feel his muscles relaxing. They were lying in the dirt, in a cave in the mountains in freaking Iraq, and yet, she felt safe for the first time in weeks. She had no recollection of falling asleep, only of feeling a sense of rightness…then nothing.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Try this.”
His brother’s voice woke Blink the next morning. He felt stiff and sore, but amazingly, better than he had the day before. Tate’s fussing over his wounds had obviously done some good, as had the antibiotic he’d taken with dinner. He’d slept hard. Probably because with his brother and team leader there, he felt safe to completely let down his guard for the first time since he’d been captured.
Turning his head, he saw Josie and Tate sitting at his feet. His brother was encouraging her to try what looked like the cherry blueberry cobbler that was inside the MRE he and Josie had shared the night before.
Seeing Josie with his twin felt…good. She was skittish, with very good reason, but clearly not afraid of the other men.
Josie. Just knowing her name felt as if they were taking a step forward. It was a strong name, yet cute. Just like her. Shestill wore the brown T-shirt and the socks, was still caked with dirt and frightfully skinny, but her eyes were bright. And that she kept her food down last night, and was able to eat this morning, even if it wasn’t very much, was a good sign that she’d be okay.
“That’s the best part of the MRE,” Blink said as he sat up.
Josie’s gaze immediately found his, and she smiled. Blink would do literally anything to see that smile on her face every morning for the rest of his life.
She held the sweet treat out to him.
He shook his head. “No. You have it.”
Josie shook her head stubbornly and wiggled the fork at him.
Chuckling, Blink shuffled his feet around and sidled up next to her. He took hold of her wrist, much as she had last night when she’d held the fork with the meatball, and brought the treat to his lips.
They held eye contact as he took a bite and chewed. The flavors exploded on his tongue. A little sweet for this early in the morning, but he didn’t care. “Good,” he said with a nod.
Josie smiled again and returned his nod.
“Sit rep?” he asked Tate, tearing his gaze from Josie’s. As much as he wanted to revel in her infrequent smiles, he needed to get her to safety.
“Pyro and Kevlar are scoping out the area. Everything’s been quiet.”
Blink relaxed a fraction.
Until Pyro came back into the cave with Kevlar at his heels and announced, “We need to go. Now!”
Tate was moving even before Pyro had finished talking.He stuffed the trash from the MRE into his pack, and Pyro balled up the emergency blanket Blink and Josie had used, putting it into his own backpack.
