Three and a half hours later, Jenna was back inside her apartment with a new debit card, a new driver’s license—something she’d thought of while she’d been waiting in line at the bank—and a headache the size of Texas. She’d just locked the door behind her and was heading to the kitchen for some ibuprofen when her phone dinged with an incoming text.
Taking it out of her pocket, she smiled when she saw the name on the screen.Speaking of Texas…
The message was from Ellena. After the whole kidnapping debacle—both hers and Ellena’s—the sweet military psychologist had recently reunited with her estranged husband and Ellena moved from San Diego to Texas to be with him.
Naturally, Jenna understood her friend’s need to be with the man she loved, and she couldn’t be happier for the two of them. Still, she missed Ellena like crazy.
The other woman was her person. Her confidant. Jenna told her almost everything, but right now, she was exhausted and more vulnerable than she cared to admit.
She shot Elle a quick text letting her know she’d had a really long day at work—not a lie—and was finally heading to bed. She ended the text with a promise to call her later this evening and hit ‘send’.
Tears pricked the corners of Jenna’s eyes, but she blinked them away. She wasn’t normally one to cry, but recent events—and thoughts of a certain man she wished she could forget—had her on the verge of breaking down into a pathetic, watery mess.
Her phone dinged, the thumbs up and heart emojis Ellena responded with making her smile. Switching the device over to silent mode, Jenna shuffled down the hallway to the bathroom.
After washing away the hectic night shift and an even crazier morning, she crawled into bed and closed her eyes, wanting nothing more than to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. Instead, the image of a faceless man wearing a hoodie flashed through her mind.
Her eyes flew open, and Jenna sucked in a quick breath. She gritted her teeth as the anger she’d felt before returned with a vengeance.
Damn it, she was stronger than this. Strong enough some purse-stealing punks shouldn’t cause her to lose some much-needed sleep.
Throwing off the covers, she stormed out of bed and went in search of that drink she’d thought about earlier. Something to help her relax and forget this morning ever happened.
A glass of wine or two should do the trick.
A half a bottle of crisp, semi-sweet Moscato later, Jenna’s anxiety had dulled, and her racing mind was starting to slow down. She went back to bed, and since she had that night off, she purposely didn’t set her alarm.
Settling her head against her pillow, Jenna was falling into a peaceful, unconscious abyss when a sound woke her. She lay there, listening closely, but heard nothing. Chalking it up to the wine, she blew it off and closed her eyes once more.
It happened again. And this time, there was no mistaking the sound. Someone had just knocked on her door.
Seriously?
Thinking it might be the police with information—or if she was lucky, her purse—Jenna fought her desire to ignore whoever it was and went to her door. Looking through the peephole, she saw the back of a man’s head as he began walking away.
It didn’t matter that she hadn’t seenhisface. She knew exactly who it was.
A sudden onslaught of nerves left her fingers tingling and her heart beating hard against her chest. Releasing her locks, she opened the door and called for the man who’d apparently decided to leave.
“Adrian?” Her voice was rough with sleep.
The man who’d haunted her dreams for the past two months turned to face her. She looked up into his gray-blue eyes, and her heart stopped. Or skipped. Orsomething.
Truth be told, she wasn’t sure what it did. She was too busy trying to convince herself he was real.
“What are you doing here?” she finally asked. Glancing over his shoulder, Jenna checked to see if Gabe or any of the other Bravo Team guys were with him. Her lower belly tensed when she saw that he was alone. “Is everything okay?”
The pair of tight fists at his sides told her something was definitely bothering him. She was about to repeat the question when he opened his mouth and asked, “Can I come in?”
Without a word, Jenna moved to give him room and motioned for him to come inside.
* * *
“We found it. Or more accurately, we foundher.”
The heart inside Matais Ortiz’s chest beat with the force of a drum. Could it be? After all this time, had he finally found Adrian Walker’s weakness?
Unable to contain his excitement, Matais asked the other man, “Who?”