It was probably only wishful thinking that she was finally starting to surrender to his wit and charm.Like that is ever going to happen.And just as well it didn’t, since this blonde-haired, green-eyed sorceress was making it harder and harder to focus on the short term.
A wisp of a smile stayed in place as she shifted away from him and leaned back. MacGyver reached across her for the lap belt and buckled it around her. His hands lingered at her waist, and a rush of heat enveloped him…until Blake, clearing his throat, broke the spell.
“Name’s Blake Sorenson, but I’ll answer to just about anything.”
“Travis Monroe. Likewise.” The two men shook hands.
“You served with my man, MacGyver?” Blake nodded his head toward the back.
“That’s right—one of only a few men I trust with my life.”
“Fucking A! He’s the best. Hey, did he tell you he saved my sorry ass a few years back? Course, I had to save his first.” Blake let loose a hearty guffaw and glanced over his shoulder, looking from MacGyver to Kellie and back again. “Hey, buddy. Are you going to introduce me to this gorgeous lady, or do you plan on keeping her all to yourself?”
Aware of his friend’s reputation with the ladies, MacGyver eyed the pilot dubiously. “Blake Sorenson, meet Kellie Greyson.”
The teasing smile held for a moment and then dissipated as Blake turned halfway in his seat and swept an assessing perusal over Kellie. Sorenson was a natural-born flirt, but the way he was eyeballing her, as though sizing up the enemy, bordered on hostile. Kellie tensed, and MacGyver couldn’t blame her. What the hell?
“Thanks for the lift, Blake.” Kellie’s weak smile appeared forced as she extended her hand.
Blake removed his sunglasses and hooked them on the neck of his T-shirt, then gripped her hand. “Ms.Greysonis it? Have we met somewhere?”
“I don’t think so.” Kellie’s answer was quick and defensive. “I mean…it’s possible, but I’d remember you if we’d met before.” She laughed, a dry brittle sound with no humor.
As Blake continued to study her, she tugged her fingers from his grasp and crossed her arms over her stomach. MacGyver would have had to be comatose to miss the abrupt chill in her body language. Whatever had transpired between them, it’d made her damned uncomfortable.
With a familiar grin, the pilot seemed to shake off his musings. “Iamhard to forget, honey.” Blake winked and turned back toward the front, focusing on the plane’s instruments as though something noteworthy hadn’t just gone down.
Travis’s quick glance into the backseat, eyebrows raised, told MacGyver he hadn’t imagined the exchange or the uneasiness that had gripped half the occupants of the small plane. He shrugged slightly in reply.
Leaning toward Kellie, he lowered his voice so only she would hear. “Everything okay?”
When she met his gaze, wariness had returned in her strained smile. “Fine. Just not a big fan of flying.” She laid her head against the back of the seat and closed her eyes, apparently satisfied she’d appeased his curiosity.
Right. And elephants have fucking fairy wings.
Chapter Seven
Can this possibly get any worse?
MacGyver’s pilot buddy was also a former Navy SEAL—and not just any SEAL. Lieutenant Commander Blake Sorenson. MacGyver’s introduction had rocked her already unstable emotions. Not that Blake needed an introduction. She’d Googled his name when she’d first learned he was the man pushing for her court martial.
His thick, black hair was longer now, just meeting the collar of his Levi’s jacket. Stubble covered his cheeks and chin, making him appear older than his reported thirty-four years. A scar zigzagged from his forehead above his right brow, disappearing into the hair at his temple. Dark, chocolate brown eyes held anger, directed at her.
Sorenson had almost certainly recognized her, too. Though they’d never met in person, he could have seen her picture on the news. The suspicious way he’d asked for confirmation of her last name seemed to indicate he remembered her by another.
Her final deployment to Iraq was the time period in question. Probably safe to narrow that estimate further to the worst day of her life—a day that made the last couple look like a romp through a field of daisies.
Kellie laid her head against the seat and closed her eyes, shutting out MacGyver’s curiosity. The tension between her and Blake hadn’t been lost on MacGyver. He knew something was wrong, and she couldn’t allow the concern in his eyes to coax her into confession. It was her burden to bear…alone.
She’d been Kellie Bowman back then. Her biological father’s name was on her birth certificate…and Anna’s. Kellie had legally changed hers to Greyson, her mother’s maiden name, after returning to civilian life.
Did Blake know who she’d been a year and a half ago? Maybe she was just being paranoid.If only. The truth had stared back at her when his smug regard seemed to penetrate her soul.Would he tell MacGyver and Travis?
So what if he does?She’d saved a young girl from injury or death that day, and she wasn’t sorry for her actions. The Marine Corps Criminal Investigation Division had eventually agreed she’d been justified. Unfortunately, all anyone seemed to remember was her name linked withcriminal investigation.The damage had been done by the first wave of media attention. Neither the results of the investigation, nor the commendation she’d received, had been reported with the same level of zealousness.
A weight landed on her, and she cracked her eyelids open as MacGyver finished tucking the edges of his jacket around her. What was with this guy? Considerate, kind, honorable and drop-dead gorgeous—he had it all. MacGyver was a guy who could distract her from finding Anna if she didn’t keep her distance. Too bad, because he was also a man she could easily be attracted to…if the timing wasn’t all wrong.
“Thanks. That feels good.”