What is happening right now?
“I-I’m fine.” She stood stunned, following his hands with her gaze as they moved down the length of her arms. “Jason, what are you—”
“That fucking bastard.”
His deep growl had Sophie’s head snapping back up. Her breath caught in her throat when she realized his intense, dark chocolate eyes were zeroed in on her right cheek.
The same one that had been hit.
The level of emotion pouring off Jason took her by complete surprise. This was a man who was always in control.Always.
But the way he’s looking at me now...
“It’s nothing.” Without even thinking, Sophie placed her hand against his chest to reassure him. “Really, I’m okay.”
His heart pounded hard beneath her palm, its frantic beat nearly matching hers exactly.
Angry eyes softened when they slid from her cheek to meet her gaze, and for just a second, she saw something in them that sent her pulse racing.
In that brief, fleeting moment, however, Sophie caught a glimpse of the man behind the curtain. TherealJason Ryker. The one that, for reasons she may never understand, he refused to let anyone see.
But then someone cleared their throat, breaking whatever spell they’d both been in. In an instant, the hardened Agent was back, replacing the man kept hidden behind his thick, impenetrable walls.
Moving almost simultaneously, Jason stepped away while she let her hand drop back down to her side. Remembering where they were, Sophie looked to Christine to make sure she was okay, but the other woman was too busy staring slack jawed at something over Sophie’s shoulder.
Or rather, someone.
She turned to see three of R.I.S.C.’s Alpha Team members standing just inside the doorway. She smiled, recognizing them immediately.
Jake McQueen, Grant Hill, and Sean “Coop” Cooper were all dressed in the same black combat gear as Jason. They wore helmets and night-vision similar in style to the ones Master Chief Warren had on, each holding their own M4 rifles.
And they were all looking back at the man standing next to her as if they weren’t quite sure what to think.
Join the club.
“Jake?” Sophie shook her head in awe as she made her way around the foot of the bed and into the other man’s arms.
“Hey, Soph.” Her friend’s husband hugged her back. “Glad you’re okay.”
Jake wasn’t just married to her friend. He was also the company’s owner and leader of R.I.S.C.’s Alpha Team.
R.I.S.C., which stood for Rescue, Intel, Security, and Capture, was the most elite private security agency in the country.
Olivia, Jake’s wife, was the lead emergency nurse at the same private hospital where Sophie worked. The two had become close friends over the past couple of years.
Sophie had also treated more than one member of R.I.S.C., as well as helping to save Grant’s wife when she was shot and nearly died. So she had gotten to know the team and their spouses pretty well.
Olivia’s going to flip her shit when she finds out what happened.
After having been kidnapped and almost sold into sex slavery while on a medical mission trip two years ago, Olivia had made a new life with Jake and their adorable one-year-old daughter, Lily.
She and Sophie had talked in length about this trip before she’d left for Djibouti. And while Olivia understood and even supported Sophie’s decision to come here, it was clear the other woman was worried for her.
“Did Liv send you to get me?” she asked Jake point blank.
The handsome former Delta Force operator chuckled. “Not directly. Although, when I told her I was coming here, she did order me to bring you back in one piece or else.”
“Or else, what?”