Page 52 of Tracking Payton
Nick would never accept him into his family like that. He had nothing to offer his daughter. He was a soldier. A lifer. He didn’t know how to be anything else but this, nor did he want to.
When he was too old to be a Delta anymore, he planned on training the next generation until he kicked the bucket or the army kicked him out.
Holding Payton in his arms gave him any soldier’s worse nightmare. Hope. Hope for a better life. A future he’d never considered. A family he didn’t realize he wanted until now. Little rugrats that looked like Payton and had her fierce warrior spirit.
But it was a dream that would never come to pass. He might as well enjoy what limited time they had. He wanted to build up as many memories as he could to keep him warm on dark lonely nights.
Payton stirred in his arms. He softly kissed her brow, and she immediately settled. Burrowing as close to him as possible. As if she wished she could burrow right into his skin. Little did she know, she already had. Years ago and took up a permanent residence in his heart.
Chapter 23
Payton blinked her blurry eyes open and smiled as she stared at a sleeping Alex. They were in the same position as they’d fallen asleep in. She should be irritated; she’d told him they could only snuggle a few more minutes before they should get back to work and instead fell asleep, but she was too satisfied to care at the moment.
Her sex was sore and thoroughly used. She rubbed her legs together remembering what it had felt like with him driving deep inside her. Knowing what she wanted before she did. Giving her the control that she liked but had never used in the bedroom, only reserving it for work. Nope, no complaint about taking a little nap from her. She had no idea what time it was. It was still light outside her window, so it couldn’t have been that long.
She knew she needed to get back to the computer, but she was loathe to pull herself away from Alex. This might be the only time she laid with him like this, and she wanted to savor it as long as possible. Payton wasn’t an idiot. She knew this wasn’t permanent. He didn’t live here. He was stationed in Texas.
Payton had no doubt, Alex was a lifer just like her dad. What was she supposed to do, be his booty call when he was in town? The sex was great, but she didn’t want to be used like that. Once her dad was found, Alex would probably go back to acting like she was a leper so her dad never found out. She wasn’t in high school anymore, needing to sneak around behind her father’s back.
She deserved better than that. She deserved a man in her life. Someone who would stick around. She thought about her last boyfriend and the disaster that turned out to be. Payton thought she’d cared for Brian, but once he left, she realized she hadn’t cared for him at all. It was more two lonely people connecting. Or at least for her it was loneliness. For him it was a footstep on his career.
With Alex, there was no misunderstanding what this was. Just sex. Plain and simple. Her eyes drifted over his face. Okay, so that was a lie. She was head over heels in love with a man who would never love her back. At least she would have this to remember. This one perfect day. This one memory to fall back on when he was gone and saving the world, probably forgetting about her.
This wasn’t the movies or the romance novels—ones she’d never admit out loud to reading even under threat of a beating—where the girl got the guy in the end. This was real life. Not everyone got the fairytale happy ending.
She’d always dreamt she’d have the perfect romance like her parents. Love at first sight. Spending every second together.
Payton flopped onto her back, ruining her own happy glow. Curse her never-quitting brain. Why couldn’t she just enjoy the here and now?
Payton’s hand slipped down the necklace her father had given her. He’d given it to her mother when she had told him she was pregnant. She remembered playing with it as a child. Her mother would tell her that’s where she kept all her secrets.
Secrets. Puzzles.
Payton hand stilled.
The numbers. Holy shit. It was a coded message.
Payton sat up suddenly, the blanket dropping to her waist. “That’s it.”
Alex stirred net to her, still more asleep than awake. “What?”
“I’ve been looking at it wrong. It is connected. Dad left clues only you and I would follow. I think he might have told us where he is.”
Alex sat up looking as excited as she was. “And where’s that?”
~
Nick awoke with a grunt of pain as a fist slammed into his ribs. One would think they would stop feeling anything after a few days of torture, but he was wrong. He still felt everything if not amplified. There wasn’t a part of him that wasn’t bruised or broken. But his captors knew how to make it hurt without killing him. Bastards. Not that he was ready to die. Hell no. And give these losers the satisfaction of taking the great Nick Weber down where so many before them had failed? No way. He just needed to hold on a little longer. He hadn’t gather all the Intel he’d needed yet. All he knew was what they were after, but not who, why, or who else they might be working with.
His captor had attacked several bases to find it and knew only Nick possessed the knowledge of where it was. It was a secret he’d take to the grave.
“Nick, you know I hate doing this to you,” his captor said from behind him.
“I can tell you’re all choked up about it.” Nick tried standing up, but after near starvation and constant beatings, he had no energy left, so he just sagged back against his chains.
“Tell me where the base is and all this ends.”
Yeah in his death. Nick wasn’t stupid. This asshole would kill him as soon as he revealed where it was. Not that he would anyway.
