Page 86 of Lion’s Den

“After dinner, what’s next?” Sedona asked.

He turned back to study her for a moment. “How do you feel about a field trip?”

“Depends on where we’re going. The last field trip I was on didn’t end so well.”

“Back to where I found you in the woods.”

She stared, then said weakly, “Yay.”

He couldn’t help it. Cam laughed. “Don’t oversell your enthusiasm.”

Sedona rolled her eyes. “Go wash your hands.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He dropped a light kiss on her mouth and followed the sound of his teammates giving each other a hard time.

Minutes later, Sedona had organized them into an assembly line of choppers and hamburger patty makers.

“Are you sure about this, Sedona?” Rhys asked as he awkwardly squeezed the hamburger meat into an oblong patty.

“No, like this.” She showed him how to make a rounded patty with the hamburger in her hands. “Got it?”

The computer genius winked at her and made a perfect patty. “Yeah, I got it. You’re an excellent teacher.”

Cam knew his friend was flirting with Sedona just to mess with him, but he acted like a jealous boyfriend, which he kind of was, for the benefit of the team. Anything to create team unity, right? He growled, glaring at his friend. “Knock it off.” On cue, the rest of the team jumped in to razz him.

When they settled down, Sedona folded her arms across her chest. “The more you goof off, the longer it will take to finish preparing dinner.”

The men looked at each other and sobered. “We’ll behave,” Isaac said. Soon, the hamburgers were patted out, and the grill was heated and ready.

Cam picked up the plates loaded with hamburgers, ready for the grill. “Get the door, Isaac.” The sniper checked outside before opening the door for him, then accompanied him, shutting the door on the rest of the crew with Sedona.

Isaac waited until the burgers sizzled on the grill before turning to look at Cam.

“What?” Yeah, his tone was curt. In fact, he was just plain rude. Isaac was tough. He could handle a grumpy leader.

“We can’t wait for trouble to come to us.”

“You know it’s coming.”

“But this time, we can’t wait for it. Julio’s life is at stake.”

Cam grunted. “Hadn’t planned to just sit here. I’m well aware of the price if we wait.”

“Then you have a plan?”

“Sort of.” Not one he liked. He hoped one of his teammates would nix the idea. The plan would take Sedona to the place where she’d run from her kidnappers, bringing back terrible memories. The problem was, Cam couldn’t see another way to do this.

“Glad to see you have so much confidence in your plan,” Isaac said dryly.

“If the woman you loved would go through mental torture, would you be eager to put her through that?”

The other man stilled as only a sniper can. “You’re in love with her?”

Now it was Cam’s turn to stare. “That’s what you focused on?”

“It’s the most important part of your sentence. Answer the question.”

“I’m head-over-heels for this kindergarten teacher, Isaac. I can’t see my life having any meaning without her in it.”