It may be time for her to stop reading all those suspense novels.
There was a thump and a muffled curse. “Shut up.”
“You shut up. How am I supposed to see anything when it’s pitch fucking black?”
“You’re the one who couldn’t wait until a decent hour to come barreling in here.”
Bri touched Ryan’s hand. “It’s Drew and Avery.”
“I know,” he muttered. “But I’m still debating between pretending I don’t know, and whooping their asses.”
Though she wasn’t entirely opposed to that idea, those two wouldn’t be out here at… She frowned at the clock. Yeah, they definitely wouldn’t be out here at five in the morning for anything other than an emergency. Which meant yelling at them was going to have to wait. She cleared her throat. “We can hear you guys.”
Avery cursed again. “That’s definitely negative stealth points.” They threw open the door and flipped on the lights. She gave a crow of victory. “Oh my God, Drew! I told you this would work. Didn’t I tell you this would work?”
“I’m pretty sure this was my damn idea to start with.”
Bri rubbed her eyes, trying to adjust to the light blinding her. She jumped when Ryan threw a blanket around her shoulders. “Out.”
“Oh please. We’ve seen more skin than that swimming with Bri.”
Ryan’s hands spasmed on her shoulders at Avery’s words. “Get the fuck out, both of you.Now.”
“Jesus. Fine.” Drew grabbed Avery’s elbow and dragged her out of the room. “Hurry up and get dressed. We have bad news.”
Bad news. That didn’t sound promising. Bri barely waited for the door to shut before she threw off the blanket and hurriedly pulled on the first clothes she got her hands on. By the time she’d buttoned her jeans, Ryan was dressed as well. She looked at him, unable to stifle a little sigh of happiness at how well his shirt fit. Would she ever get used to those shoulders? She hoped not.
“You better stop ogling me like that, or I’m going to say to hell with those two and lock us in here for another hour. Or three.”
She winced at the thought of Drew and Avery sitting out in her living room while they made love. “That’s not the best idea.”
He kissed her. “Let’s go see what the troublemakers want.”
She didn’t want to. She wanted to slam the bedroom door and lock themselves in here for the last six days Ryan was here until the Twosome went away and took whatever news they had with them. But that wasn’t reality.
Sure enough, Drew and Avery sat next to each other on her couch, their expressions sober. Ryan took her hand, but it didn’t make her feel any better about it. “I got a call from Major Sanders.”
She felt Ryan’s tension even before he spoke. “What happened?”
“He wasn’t in a confiding mood. He said to get your ass back to base, ASAP. Something about emergency protocol.”
Ryan went eerily still. “Fuck.”
“Yeah, that was kind of my response. He’s not happy that he had to call me because your phone was turned off.”
Ryan let go of her hand to shove his through his hair. “I can’t imaginewhymy phone would be turned off.”
“I’d like to point out the fact that we were right all along.” Drew held up his hands when his brother growled. “I packed your shit and booked your flight. We have to hurry or you’re going to miss it.”
Bri swayed, trying to process the information. She didn’t have a week. She didn’t even have a day. He was leavingright now. She tried to quell the storm of emotions inside her, threatening to break out. How could Ryan make her promises when his first priority would always be the Air Force? It didn’t matter what he wanted to pursue with her—they would call and he would go. Maybe he’d feel bad about it, but he would leave.
Just like everyone else did.
She wrapped her arms around herself and took another step away from him. He caught the move, because his eyebrows dropped and his mouth fell into an unforgiving line. She’d seen that expression before, back when they’d still been at each other’s throats. “Go wait in the car,” he said to Drew and Avery. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
“Ryan, you’re going to be late for your flight if you dick around too long—no offense, Bri.”
“Get out.”