Avenged (Hostage Rescue Team Series) (Volume 5) by Kaylea Cross Read Free Book Online Page B

then closed it and nodded, easing back into her chair. “Okay.”
    Pulling his phone from his pocket, he was startled when it buzzed in his hand. But it wasn’t Cruz or Vance texting him, it was the woman who’d crawled out of his bed in the middle of the night a week ago. Her fourth attempt to contact him. He withheld a groan of frustration.
    You free tonight? Would love to hook up if you don’t have plans.
    Jesus, she was persistent, he’d give her that.
    Not interested , he texted back, then deleted her message, just as he’d done with all the others, and this time blocked her number. He was annoyed at her continued attempts to contact him, but that wasn’t really fair of him. Eight days ago he would probably have taken her up on the offer, but the morning she’d left had been a wakeup call and he’d made up his mind to stop using meaningless sex as a crutch.
    The truth was, he wouldn’t have been interested in any woman who’d contacted him this past week. Not since he’d heard about Taya coming to town. And now that he’d seen her and talked to her again, the idea of hooking up with some random woman just so he could use sex as a Band-Aid turned his stomach.
    Refusing to read too much into that, he faced her, hands on hips. “You need anything else while we wait?” Because he’d love an excuse to leave the room right now.
    Taya shook her head, her frown melting away. But her eyes told him she knew exactly what had just happened to him a minute ago. “I’m okay, thanks.”
    He was saved from saying anything else by three sharp raps on the door. “It’s Cruz,” a familiar voice called from out in the hallway.
    “That’s them,” he said to Taya. Grateful for some space and a minute to collect himself, he strode to the door and opened it. Vance’s wide shoulders all but blocked the light coming in from the hallway as he followed Cruz inside, nodded at Nate.
    “DeLuca told us you were already here,” Cruz said. Nate could see the questions in his teammate’s light brown eyes, but thankfully all Cruz did was lift his dark eyebrows and say, “Care to introduce us to our principal?”

 
     
     
Chapter Four
     
     
    After making the introductions, Nate moved off to the side of the room and stayed there, one shoulder propped against the wall and his arms folded across his chest as his teammates took over. He felt like a loser, having nearly lost his shit in front of Taya like that, but he wasn’t going to leave her yet.
    Cruz laid out the nitty-gritty of what he and Vance would do to keep Taya safe in the coming days. For his part, true to his easy-going nature, Vance merely nodded on occasion and spoke up only when necessary.
    Through it all, Nate observed Taya’s reaction. She was quiet as she absorbed the new security protocol, waiting until Cruz had finished before saying anything.
    “So basically I only leave the building when necessary, and when I do you guys will be with me.”
    “Right,” Cruz answered. “Either with you directly, or tailing you and another security team you might be with, usually by vehicle.”
    “And when I’m here?” She indicated the hotel room with a quick glance around.
    “The FBI will post guards outside your room, just like they are now.”
    A slight frown appeared between her eyebrows. “And after what happened today, how do we know that no one followed me here from the airport?”
    Cruz didn’t try to downplay the threat; instead the former MARSOC Marine inclined his head in acknowledgement of that possibility. “Investigators are double checking everything now, using CCTV footage and satellite feeds, eye witness accounts, things like that. If anyone followed your team here, we’ll know real soon and take care of it.”
    She didn’t appear too comforted by the rundown, and Nate didn’t blame her. “All right.” Then she turned her attention on him, her eyes full of questions. “Will you be assigned to a detail for one of the other