dark ops 3 - Renegade by Catherine Mann Read Free Book Online Page B

straighter, her skirt a bold psychedelic splash of color against the stark white linens.
    “Glad to hear it.”
    “You sound as if you do not believe me. If you wish, check me over, Colonel.” She paused to inch her flower-child skirt up provocatively. “I will be glad to show you any healing injuries.”
    Yeah, this was the same troublemaking woman he’d met last spring. “I’m sure they’re lovely legs, but I’ll pass. We wouldn’t want to give Tanaka over there a heart attack.”
    She cocked her head, long chandelier earrings brushing her shoulders. “Thank you for the sweet compliment.”
    “It wasn’t a compliment.”
    “I know.” Her smile broadened.
    He’d considered her high-strung, and he still did, but that didn’t stem the guilt over her being hurt on his watch. If-onlys were a pain in the ass, but he couldn’t stop his thoughts.
    If only he’d found Chuck sooner.
    If only he’d discovered the mole faster.
    If only he’d insisted those damn entertainers abandon the tour the minute he’d smelled trouble.
    Except it hadn’t been his call to make.
    She patted Tanaka’s hand on the bed rail, gripping the metal bar as she rose slowly. “I need to go. You enjoy your visit with the colonel.”
    Livia leaned to kiss the airman’s broad forehead, her tank shirt hitching up and revealing a creamy patch of skin along the small of her back. The tiniest edge of a tattoo peeked out, but not enough for him to determine the design.
    Rex blinked twice and averted his eyes, but not soon enough to avoid something stirring inside him, something he’d been too grief-numb to consider in a year—heat. And he resented the hell out of the fact, because it reminded him that even if in some strange universe he could reach out and touch this woman, it wouldn’t be as good as what he’d lost.
    Livia straightened from the hospital bed, her shirt sliding back into place. Rex stepped away, opening the door to speed her exit.
    He stayed silent, holding the door wide, as she gathered the crutches. Hey wait. The crutches were hers?
    Rex clamped his slack jaw shut. He’d assumed . . . Ah hell. He was off his game today. It had to be because of Heather, certainly not due to some flirtatious woman who toyed with men for kicks.
    He cleared the door as she passed, fanning a wave.
    “Good-bye, Colonel.”
    He watched her thump-thumping down the hospital corridor. She had on two shoes, no cast or braces that he could see. It must be something to do with her left knee, bent and bearing no weight.
    He didn’t think that her injuries in the explosion could have been worse than what he’d been initially told. Surely if there had been more to her accident, the star-hungry paparazzi would have reported it.
    Must have been something that happened afterward—a simple sprain maybe, probably from rehearsals.
    He turned back to what had really brought him here—a morale visit to Chuck Tanaka. “So she comes to see you often?”
    Damn it. So much for forgetting about Livia and focusing on Tanaka.
    “She came to visit me back at the start when I was still pretty messed up, said she felt bad about what had happened to me.”
    “None of it was her fault.”
    “I understand she wasn’t to blame, but apparently she feels guilty about some outing where she left against security’s advice.”
    She had come close to blowing the whole undercover operation when she left the American air base in Turkey against lockdown orders. “I’m sure she’s here out of more than guilt.” Rex was done talking about Livia. “So, Captain, what’s the next step with your rehab?”
    “The docs say I’ll be out of here tomorrow.”
    Tanaka didn’t look ready to leave.
    “That’s great news.”
    “I’ll have outpatient rehab for a while, until, well, until I stop getting better. With some determination, I should be back on a surfboard by summer.” His stubborn jaw set, Tanaka stared at the cast on his leg, swallowed hard, then looked back.