She left.
5
Delta Team Headquarters
Later that afternoon…
Rocky satin his usual seat at the long oval table. Like every other man there, his gaze was directed toward the massive flatscreen mounted high on the north wall of Delta Team’s expansive conference room. But just as it had been for the past several hours, his focus was split between work and thoughts of a woman he barely knew.
Raegan’s a security guard. With a gun. A gun she used to shoot at a man.
When Rocky had shown up at the bank, he’d pulled the first uniformed officer he saw to the side, flashed his Delta Team ID, and then…the guy opened his mouth and started talking. As soon as the young officer saw the R.I.S.C. name, he was all too eager to share what he knew.
Definitely a perk of the job.
The guy told Rocky all about the attempted robbery, as well as the heroic actions of the “smokin’ hot” guard who’d been on duty. While he freely gave Rocky the scoop on what had gonedown, a witness standing nearby eagerly filled in the rest after inserting herself into the conversation.
By the time Rocky had made his way inside the bank—by the time he’d made his way toher—he’d had a pretty clear picture of what had gone down. And when he saw Raegan standing in that black badged uniform with her arms wrapped tightly around her center…her appearance slightly disheveled and her cheek bruised and starting to swell…all he could think was…
She could have died today.
Now, here he sat, hours later, and he was still reeling from that knowledge—and the fact that Raegan went to work every day packing heat.
Sure, his new neighbor was a bit feisty, and her perfectly timed, sarcastic quips and hilarious one-liners had left him in stitches the night he’d been over to her house. But even just trying toimagineher engaged in a life-and-death gun battle…
That was a picture Rocky’s mind refused to let him see.
You really need to chill the hell out, dude. It’s not like she’s yours to worry about.
No, she wasn’t his. He’d just met the woman two days ago, for fuck’s sake. But despite that, there wassomethingabout the sexy blonde he couldn’t seem to shake.
From the moment he’d first laid eyes on her from high atop his roof, Rocky had felt this sort of force pulling him to her. The confusing sensation only grew stronger after their shared meal of pizza and wings.
And despite the fact that they’d only spent a single evening together…so far…he’d be lying if he said there wasn’t a tiny part of him that wished Raegan was more than just his neighbor.
Only a tiny part?
“I appreciate you all taking the time to meet with me this afternoon,” Agent Talia Foster—the team’s new HomelandSecurity handler—appeared on the giant flat screen. “I know my request to meet was very last-minute.”
Rocky blinked himself back to the present. Less than an hour before, their team leader had gotten a message from Foster’s assistant requesting the virtual conference call. And when the agent in charge of a specialized task force that answered directly to the President of the United States asks you to meet…
You meet.
Forcing all thoughts of a certain pretty, confounding blond from his head, Rocky locked down his focus and gave Agent Foster his undivided attention.
Technically, the woman’s given name wasNatalie. Not Talia. But a few months back, during their first introductions by the team’s former handler, the thirty-five-year-old brunette had been quick to share her preference for the Syrian version of her name, instead.
My father is from New Jersey, but my mother’s family came from Syria. When I was born, she agreed to name me after my paternal grandmother on the condition that they address me as Talia, which is the Aramaic version of the name.
The explanation made sense, but in truth, the men of Delta Team couldn’t care less what the woman wanted to be called. The only thing that mattered to them was that she did her job, and she did it well.
So far, so good.
“Of course,” Christian greeted Talia from his place at the head of the table. “Luckily, we were all in-house, so it worked out well.”
“That’s good because we could potentially have an all-hands-on-deck kind of situation brewing in your neck of the woods.”
Rocky and the others shared a collective look, and just like that, every man in the room hung on the woman’s next words. But what he didn’t realize—what none of them could evenbeginto predict—was just how close to his home the government agency’s newest concern would hit.