“If you think it’s a good idea, I’m for it.” She took a sip of her wine. “I suppose you could stay there before or after missions. It’s a lot closer to Denver and the airport. When you have early flights, you’d be able to sleep longer.”
“Yeah, that, too.”
“I love it up here, Thor. I love this house. I love living with you.”
“Good.” He loved sharing his life with her, too.
From its perch in a nearby pine, a great horned owl hooted, and another answered.
Who-who-who. Whooo-whooo.
Thor kissed the top of her head. “You made a great impression on Elizabeth, Holly, and Gabriela tonight.”
“I like them a lot, but it’s hard to imagine them as spies.”
Thor chuckled in part because it was true. “I’m not sure they would have called themselves spies. Holly’s job was to date foreign visitors—people who posed a danger to national security—and set them up for surveillance.”
“You mean she bugged them or something?”
“Yes, or put a GPS tag on their vehicle.”
“Wow.”
“Gabriela worked undercover for eighteen months as a nun. She was taken hostage by a drug cartel, and we came to rescue her. That’s how she met Cruz.”
“You’re not the only Cobra guy to hook up with someone you rescued?”
That made Thor laugh. “Oh, hell, no.”
It was a hazard of the job.
“What about Elizabeth?”
“She was a counter-terrorism analyst and interrogator. She’s also a top-notch hacker and communications person—an all-around genius and good judge of people. I think the two of you would get along.”
“She still feels bad about not uncovering Delaney’s identity sooner.”
“That’s the thing about our jobs. When you screw up, you lose data or make an instrument malfunction. When we screw up, people die.”
“That’s a lot of pressure.”
“Yeah.” There was no denying that.
“I think Holly tipped off Dr. Newton about Nathan. When I looked back at her, she winked at me.”
“We all overheard him. When I came over to you, she went for Dr. Newton. In her own way, she’s more dangerous than any of us men.”
“I believe you.”
But Thor hadn’t been able to put what that bastard had said to Samantha out of his mind. “I’m sorry about tonight. I should have ripped his fucking head off or made him eat his own balls. What a son of a bitch.”
“You did exactly what I needed you to do.”
“Yeah? And what was that—stand there looking big and scary?”
Samantha turned to face him, wine glass in hand. “You made me feelsafe.”
Okay, he liked that. “I’m glad I did something.”