Special Forces Rendezvous by Elle Kennedy Page B

long she slept, but it must have been hours because when her eyes opened again, the sun was high in the sky, hinting that it was early afternoon.
    She lifted her head from the edge of Sebastian’s duffel, which she’d been using as a pillow, and tried to figure out where the heck they were. The winding dirt road seemed to be smack in the middle of the wilderness. Low-lying branches and palm fronds slapped the sides of the Jeep, and the scent of salt permeated the air. The ocean must be nearby, yet she couldn’t orient herself no matter how hard she tried.
    Eventually, she gave up and instead studied Sebastian’s rugged profile. His dirty-blond hair was mussed up, his chin covered with thick beard growth. He was staring straight ahead, and neither he nor Nick had spoken since she’d awakened. Then, as if sensing her eyes on him, he swiftly turned around.
    “You’re awake.”
    “Am I? Because I still feel like I’m in a nightmare.”
    His expression softened. “I’m sorry.”
    It didn’t escape her that he’d made no attempt to correct her, that he hadn’t offered any assurances. I’m sorry. That was it. On one hand, she appreciated that he wasn’t patronizing her by downplaying the severity of their predicament.
    On the other hand, would it kill the man to be a little less gloom-and-doom?
    The trees thinned out, revealing a small house up ahead. It had a white stucco exterior and a flat tin roof, nothing fancy, but bigger than she’d expected and incredibly isolated. Another Jeep was parked on the gravel clearing out front, along with a couple of dirt bikes and—inexplicably—a child’s red tricycle. A dusty path at the side of the house sloped down to the white sand ten yards away, where the waves lapped against the shore.
    Craning her neck, Julia spotted a long wooden dock extending out at least thirty feet, and a white speedboat bobbing in the water at the end of the pier.
    Sebastian helped her out of the Jeep, his warm, callused hand settling on her arm and eliciting an unexpected shiver.
    “Cold?”
    “A little,” she lied.
    “Come on, let’s go in and find you some clo—”
    The rear door of the beach house flew open before he could finish and Julia flinched when a man with dark hair and piercing green eyes appeared on the rickety back porch. Wearing camo pants, a white T-shirt and black boots, he was a seriously imposing picture, and the deep scowl on his face only upped his deadliness factor.
    She knew this must be Tate, Sebastian’s commanding officer, and commanding was a very apt description.
    As he stalked toward them, Julia glanced at Sebastian with wariness. “Your friend doesn’t look happy,” she murmured.
    He didn’t have a chance to answer, because the friend in question had reached them and those moss-green eyes were piercing Julia’s face like an angry blade.
    “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Tate muttered in lieu of a greeting. Then he shifted those furious eyes at Sebastian. “What the hell compelled you to bring her here?”

Chapter 7
    S ebastian had been forewarned that Tate wasn’t happy he was bringing Julia to the beach house, but just like he hadn’t apologized over the phone to Nick, he wasn’t apologizing to Tate now. Rather, he matched the captain’s steely expression and said, “Dr. Davenport is no threat to us. If anything, she’s an asset.”
    Tate’s gaze took in Julia’s unkempt braid, damp clothing and fatigue-lined eyes. “An asset,” he echoed, sounding unconvinced.
    Other women might have recoiled under that harsh glare, but Julia squared her shoulders and glared right back. “If it helps, I don’t particularly want to be here either. Sebastian didn’t give me much of a choice.”
    Her frosty tone brought another flash of displeasure to Tate’s green eyes.
    Sebastian quickly spoke before the captain could. “Julia was being held in Esperanza, Tate. A United States Army general was interrogating her. I got her out.”
    “Did you search