MacGyver didn’t bother to disguise his grin, but he backed another step to distance himself from her finger. He wasn’t prepared for the huge-ass tear that welled over the rim of her eye and rolled down her cheek. “Aw hell, Kellie. Please don’t cry.”
She stopped abruptly, slamming her hands on her hips. “I don’t cry—ever. And especially for someone who doesn’t know enough to get the hell out of my way!” Kellie’s chin trembled as she stared him down.
MacGyver’s heart wrenched. Being upset to the point of tears obviously wasn’t even close to normal for Kellie. Her face an angry shade of red, she crossed her arms over her chest and her lashes closed halfway, effectively hiding her emotions. Yeah, she was damned mad, but he’d bet a month’s pay her temper hid something more vulnerable.
He stepped toward her and didn’t stop when she raised her eyes and glowered a warning. Didn’t stop until he pulled her in tight and held her while she hid her face against him and, for a few seconds anyway, she seemed to appreciate his closeness. As he’d suspected from the first time he’d seen her, she was simply desperate. That was okay. He could work with desperate.
“It’s all right, Kellie.” He reassured her, his hands rubbing circles over her back as she leaned into him.
After a few minutes, she raised her head. “God, I’m such a complete dork. My foot slipped off the brake, hit the gas and then got stuck. Seriously, why do they put those pedals so close together? And you—standing in the middle of the road, thinking I had a choice as to whether I ran over you or not!” Kellie slapped her hands against his chest. “Don’t do that again!”
MacGyver didn’t dare laugh, so he gave her a stern frown. “I couldn’t just let you drive out of here.”
She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, and a slight tremor rocked her as her remarkable green eyes lifted to his. “I wouldn’t blame you for being mad. It’s just…the way Tony looked at you. He’ll kill you if he catches us together again. You and Travis—you don’t deserve to get caught in the middle of this. You’ve been so nice—except for the whole naked-in-your-bed thing.” She actually rolled her eyes.
MacGyver couldn’t hold his laughter back any longer. She was talking so fast, she probably didn’t realize what she’d said. He drew his fingers over her lips to silence her. “First—I’m not mad. I might have been…a little…in the beginning, but it’s kind of nice knowing you’re worried for me.” Though he hadn’t meant to say that, he was surprised to realize it was the truth. “And second—I say we don’t let Palazzi catch us. Okay?”
She studied him for a moment. Apparently satisfied, she nodded, her wariness slipping marginally for the first time since they’d met.
“That’s my girl.” He offered his hand, which she accepted. “There’s one other thing.” He was probably pushing his luck, but he might not get another chance to outline what he expected from her while she was still feeling guilty. “We need to have a talk later, after we stop for the day. You have to level with me. If you can’t do that, we might as well part company right here. What’s really going on with you and Tony? If I don’t know what we’re up against, I won’t be much help to you. I’m talking full disclosure.”
A twinge of self-reproach assaulted him. He was equally guilty of purposely omitting Jeremy Dahl’s name anywhere in his offer to help her. Travis still hoped to use Kellie to find the man they’d been hired to locate, who’d worked for Palazzi. Until yesterday, when he conveniently disappeared the same time as an undisclosed amount of Tony’s ill-gotten gain. But it wasn’t too late to come clean with her. Once they found her stepdad and reached a safe place, he’d confess his deception, in spite of Travis, and hope for the best.
Her eyes narrowed as she examined his face, her chin tilting slightly upward with a feeble smile toying around her lips.
Travis appeared beside them, breaking the spell as he leaned in and dropped a totally oblivious kiss on Kellie’s cheek. “You almost got my ass kicked. I haven’t had this much fun since…”
MacGyver missed the last part as Travis jumped behind the wheel, his words covered by the engine turning over. Kellie’s mouth kicked up on one side, and her easy laughter melted the tension. Wearing a sweet smile, she seemed to analyze MacGyver’s reaction for a couple of beats. Hopefully it signaled a fresh start and an era of mutual reliance.Yeah, that’d be good.
He walked her to the passenger door and admired the tilt of her hips as she stepped, turned and slid into the backseat of the two-door Mustang. Admiration that spread a smoldering heat to parts of his anatomy he didn’t need to hear from while he was trying to inspire confidence and trust.
He’d been out of the game for a while, but he recognized how rare it was to encounter a woman who could brighten his world merely by smiling. A welcome change from the kinds of casual hook-ups that gave him release when needed. In between, brutal workouts kept his mind on other things and made it rarely necessary.
Since he’d been around Kellie, though, even the fragrance of honeysuckle on her skin was enough to get him going. That damn kiss, in front of the police officers, had been a mistake, leaving him restless, hard and unsatisfied. And that could be a problem since nothing about hooking up with her seemed the least bit casual.
They hit Hwy 58 north and traveled for ten minutes in silence before MacGyver’s cell phone buzzed with an incoming text. He read it quietly, then turned to her. “A Navy buddy of mine has a plane fueled up and ready to go at Perkins Field. He’ll give us a ride, but I need to tell him where we’re going.”
Kellie swallowed hard, and her attention wandered to the side window. She hadn’t refused to comply with his full disclosure edict, but it was obvious giving up her stepfather’s location was exacting a price from her.
MacGyver understood better than she could possibly know. If she wasn’t one hundred percent sure she could depend on him, revealing her stepdad’s whereabouts could be the ultimate betrayal. MacGyver didn’t push her. This was a decision she had to make for herself.
Her chest rose and fell with the emotions cascading across her face. Finally, she looked his way again. “Coeur d’Alene. My family owns a cabin on the east side of the lake.”
Without a word, he dialed a number and held the phone to his ear.
“Sorenson.” His friend barked his name into MacGyver’s ear.
“It’s me. Got our travel plans.”
“Damn, buddy, it’s about time. Lay it on me.”
MacGyver smiled. Lieutenant Commander Blake Sorenson had led one hell of a SEAL team, and he was a damn good chopper pilot. They’d met on a rare joint mission, when Taliban fighters overran MacGyver’s unit’s position, and it hadn’t looked like they were going to make it out. Blake had ordered his team to leave without him, commandeered a helo and come back in to pick up stragglers.
The chopper had taken a serious hit, but Blake managed to keep it in the air until they were four miles from the take-out point. Only after setting it down in one piece had MacGyver and two other SEALs learned Blake was wounded—one of his legs mangled by shrapnel. MacGyver had carried him the last four miles. Nerves of steel, that guy. Doctors had saved his leg, but that mission, four years ago, was Blake’s last.
“Coeur d’Alene. We’re on our way to the field now. How soon before we can take off?”
“Five minutes should do it.”