Page 31 of Rescuing Brinley

Shadow’s heart was still racing. He had no idea how the hell he’d pulled that off. It had been a suicide mission. Without his team at his back, he’d been on his own.

No, that wasn’t true. He’d had Brinley.

Just thinking about what she’d done had the power to almost bring him to his knees.

When he’d seen her running down that pier, her hair flying behind her, eyes wide, terror on her face, something had shifted inside him. He’d been willing to die to help save the women who’d been taken from the ballroom, but seeing Brinley acting so bravely in the middle of complete chaos, when she wasn’t remotely trained for it, had made him want to live—for her.

To see where things could go between them.

Because this wasn’t the end for them.

It couldn’t be a coincidence that the woman who’d literally saved not only his sorry hide, but the other eight women in the back of this plane, lived in his backyard.

And he wasn’t a man to dismiss coincidences.

He hadn’t lied when he’d told her that he wanted to take her to Kodiak’s cabin. He’d been there once and it was completely off the beaten path. Secluded. It was more of a hunting cabin than a romantic getaway, but he couldn’t help thinking about chilly nights with a fire and holding Brinley in his arms as they got to know each other.

And about taking her to bed and making love to her all night long.

He didn’t know when or if they’d ever get there, but the thought of having her all to himself made an almost visceral longing course through his veins.

Those thoughts also had him flashing back to the kiss he’d stolen before he’d left her at the end of the pier. Once more, he couldn’t stop himself. In that moment, he’d been well aware that he could’ve been walking headlong toward his death, and he didn’t want to leave this Earth without at least a small taste of the woman he was obsessively attracted to.

And that kiss had lived up to every one of his expectations.

It solidified the feeling deep down inside that she was meant to be his.

When he’d killed the Red Viper who’d been attempting to fly the contestants to who knows where, he’d planned on loading the last woman, then staying on the pier to face the incoming threat, giving Brinley a chance to get away safely. He’d been resigning himself to the fact that it was likely he wouldn’t get the chance to show her how good they could be together.

Then she’d moved the plane away from the pier before he was able to get out.

He should be upset that she hadn’t done as he’d ordered…but he was too grateful to be alive. Because the truth was, if Brinley had done as she’d been told, he’d likely be dead.

And that would’ve sucked, because it would’ve meant he wouldn’t get a chance to tell her how grateful he was that she’d been by his side. How brave she was for volunteering to fly the plane. And how badly he couldn’t wait to get home to spend more time with her.

His mind continued to wander as he rearranged their unwitting passengers, trusting Brinley to fly the plane and get them to safety. He did his best to rearrange the kidnapped women, checking their vital signs, making sure they were breathing. They’d obviously been drugged with something, and that pissed Shadow off even more than he was already.

When they were as comfortable as he could make them in the small cargo area of the plane, he carefully made his way over their inert bodies toward the seat next to Brinley’s.

She was frowning as her gaze went from the instruments in front of her to the water sparkling brightly all around them. Shadow reached for a pair of headphones and put them over his own ears, before gently placing a second set on her head.

Brinley turned to him then, and he saw the barely banked terror in her eyes. Seeing how scared she was felt wrong on a deeply personal level. He felt helpless to do anything to appease it. He couldn’t fly this plane, only she could. The only thing he could do was make her feel less alone.

Putting his hand on her thigh, he squeezed lightly.

Pleasure bloomed in his chest when he literally felt her muscles relax a fraction.

“Can you hear me?” he said into the headset.

Brinley nodded.

“Keep following the coastline around to the other side of the island. Hopefully my cell will work, and I’ll contact my team and give them a heads-up as to what happened. They’ll send help to us that’ll probably be waiting by the time we land. You did good, Brin. I’m so incredibly proud of you.”

His words seemed to have an immediate effect on her, which made Shadow feel ten feet tall. Her shoulders relaxed and she sat up a little straighter in the seat. He’d done that. He’d been able to get through to her and make her feel a little less terrified. In turn, it made him feel much better about everything that had gone down minutes ago.

Keeping his hand on her leg, he reached for his cell and clicked on Echo’s name, after shifting the headphones over on one side. The call went straight to voicemail, which was worrisome as hell, given Echo and Zero had been in the ballroom with Ayla when everything went down. Next, he immediately clicked on Grinder’s name.

“Shadow?”