Page 29 of Protecting Josie
Blink had honestly never been so touched in all his life. It was just an MRE. He’d eaten hundreds of them. But he’d never had someone work so hard to make it look more like a gourmet meal than this woman just had.
“Looks good,” he told her.
She picked up the cup and held it out to him. For the second time, she was offering him water that she so desperately needed.
This time, Blink didn’t hesitate. He took it from her and swallowed half the liquid in one gulp before handing it back. She finished it, licking the extra from her lips before turning her gaze back to the food.
She picked up an M&M and studied it with a small smile before popping it in her mouth. She chewed the little chocolate candy with her eyes shut, obviously relishing the treat.
Blink loved seeing her enjoy the candy, but she needed nutrients. He picked up the pouch of ravioli and speared one with the fork before holding it out to her. “Try this.”
Her eyes opened, and she leaned forward, her mouth open.
It felt so intimate, feeding her, and even though he’d done it the evening before with the meatballs, this time felt just as satisfying deep in his soul.
They took turns eating the ravioli, and she had a couple bites of the other food. Just as before, she stopped way beforehe thought she could possibly be full. But then again, her stomach had probably shrunk because of the lack of food.
Feeling anger rise up within, and the need to exact revenge on the assholes who’d taken this innocent woman captive, he looked at his brother, needing a distraction. “What’s next?”
Tate shrugged, seemingly unconcerned that they were camping out in the middle of the mountains in Iraq and anyone could stumble upon them at any moment. “Depends.”
When he didn’t elaborate, Blink asked, “On?”
“You and Kevlar. How closely do you think you guys are being monitored?”
Before his team leader could respond, a harsh snort escaped Blink’s lips. “Like a parasite under a microscope.”
“Then I’d say this time tomorrow, we’ll be back on the naval carrier enjoying a shower and a real meal.”
Josie made a noise next to him, and Blink glanced at her. Her eyes were wide in her face, and she looked both scared to death and excited at the same time.
“We made it as easy as possible for our fellow Night Stalkers,” Pyro added. “This extraction point is a piece of cake. They can lower between these two peaks, and even land on the ground there if necessary.”
The area of ground Pyro pointed out wasn’t exactly level. It was full of boulders and actually not flat at all. And the peaks he was talking about didn’t look wide enough to accommodate the rotor blades of a chopper to Blink, but then again, he wasn’t an expert on choppers. If Pyro said this was the best place for an extraction, he believed him.
For the first time, he thought about what would happenimmediately after they were rescued—especially for Josie. The US government didn’t make it a habit of picking up people from behind enemy lines without knowing something about them. And while he knew in his gut that Josie was no threat, the officers on the carrier didn’t. Hell, he didn’t even know if she was American or not. He thought she was, but without knowing anything about her other than her first name, there would be questions. Lots of them.
His belly churned. The food he’d just eaten threatened to come back up. He wanted to shield Josie from what was to come but he didn’t know how.
“We need to talk,” he blurted as he turned to Josie.
She tilted her head in question.
“When we’re extracted, we’ll be taken to a Navy ship in the gulf. There will be questions…for both of us. I’ll be taken to one area to explain what happened to me, and you’ll be?—”
Josie didn’t let him finish. She shook her head almost violently and fisted his shirt sleeve.
“It’ll be okay. You’ll be safe and?—”
She shook her head again and made a growling sound. To Blink, she sounded terrified.
“Look at me,” he ordered, reaching up to stop her from continuing to shake her head. He put his hands on either side of her face and literally held her still as he looked into her eyes. “You’ll be fine. No one on the ship will hurt you.”
She didn’t pull out of his grip but pointed at him, then pointed at herself. She did it again. And again.
“You want to stay with me?”
She nodded as best she could in his grasp.
