Why is Gray’s side of the bed cold? Riya pushed further and finally found warmth, but Einstein’s fur wasn’t the same thing as Gray’s sleek flesh.

She pushed up on her pillow, then looked at the clock on her nightstand. Three o’clock in the morning? Where was Gray? Einstein butted his head against her arm. She gave him a few strong strokes. “You’re nice and all, but I was really hoping for something yummier.”

Riya got up and picked up all of her clothes and threw them in her laundry basket, then put on her sleepshirt, sweatpants and fuzzy socks. Hot chocolate sounded good. Maybe Gray had gotten hungry, but she doubted it, he would have been back by now. His pillow had been too cool and Einstein had been too comfy.

When she got halfway down the stairs she saw Gray sitting on the couch with his laptop. He must have brought it in from his car. She saw the glasses he was wearing and felt a tingle go through her body. He looked so distinguished. Then there was the hint of blond stubble. He was hot, with a capital ‘H’.

Down girl.

And he’d said he loved her. She gripped the railing tighter.

“I hear you.”

Gray didn’t turn his head, he continued to concentrate on whatever was on the screen in front of him.

“I didn’t make any noise. You couldn’t have heard me,” Riya protested.

“But I did. Why did you stop? Aren’t you coming downstairs?”

She came down and sat next to him. He shut the laptop as she snuggled next to him. “Is it confidential?”

“’Fraid so.”

“I was going to make cocoa, want some?”

“I don’t have the chocolate tooth you do. I think I’ll pass.”

“Hot milk?” she asked.

“That sounds nasty.”

She laughed as she got up from the couch and started for the kitchen. He followed her. He opened up the cupboard above the refrigerator and took out the antacid bottle.

“Old man, you need reading glasses and antacids?”

“You’re supposed to respect your elders,” Gray said as he leaned against the counter and watched her put a mug of water in the microwave. She ogled him out of the corner of her eye, but as she did she saw that he was looking at her oddly. She pulled the mug out and mixed the cocoa in.

“Gray, what’s wrong?”

He sighed. That was odd. She didn’t remember him being a man who sighed. She set the mug down on the counter.

“Darn it.” She grabbed a paper towel and wiped up where some spilled because her hand had trembled.

“Riya, nothing’s wrong.”

“That’s not true. You’re acting funny.”

He picked up her mug and set it on the kitchen bar, then pulled out a barstool for her to sit on. He sat beside her.

“Just tell me, Gray. I hate not understanding something.”

He pulled her hands out of her lap, and held them. “Miranda said you suffer from Asperger’s syndrome.”

He was looking so concerned, she tried not to wince at his use of the word ‘suffer’. Her heart started to beat fast. She took a deep breath. She tried to make sense of his expression. Concerned, maybe? But what does it mean?

“Okay, so she told you today? Why?”

“Aiden did. But Honey, the Asperger’s isn’t an issue. You know it isn’t.”

This totally didn’t make sense. She blew out a stream of air. “Aiden? Aiden O’Malley?”

Gray’s eyes grew stormy. “It was a clusterfuck. Miranda said something to Griff who talked to Aiden. They were just trying to make sure you felt comfortable. They wanted to make sure everyone was kind of laid-back.”

Riya thought back to when she started at TAID. She’d been up front with Miranda that she was on the high-functioning end of the autism scale, that she basically had Asperger’s. She explained that it shouldn’t be a problem with her work, but that sometimes she was slow to clue in to some social situations. Miranda had been great in helping her out.

After six months she’d told Riya that she thought that a lot of times when she had trouble dealing with situations she thought it was her lack of work experience, not the Asperger’s, and she should cut herself some slack. She could tell that Miranda had studied up on the diagnosis and worked hard to assist her on the job. Riya had been overjoyed to find such a great mentor.

“Why is it a clusterfuck if they were just trying to be nice?” She had to be missing something. “It’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

“They had the best intentions. My friends have great hearts, I just don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”

“Is that why you’re up in the middle of the night?”

“Partly. I was also checking up on some things from our last mission.”

She studied his face, trying to get a read on him, at the same time trying to figure out how she felt that people had to be told to make her feel comfortable.

“How awkward was it for your friends?”

“Huh?” Gray twined his fingers between hers so that their palms met. “Oh. Shit, Riya. Jack, one of our former teammates who wasn’t there today, damn near called a team meeting to tell us how to behave before we met Beth. He thought she needed to be handled like spun-glass.”

“Did she?”

“Maybe in the beginning,” Gray admitted. “I think Griff only told Aiden. who more than likely told Evie about you.”

Riya thought through the day’s events. “Dalton. They told Dalton. He was really calm and gentle.”

Gray gave a wistful smile. “Dalton has his own story, so no, that’s just the way he is.”

“Then I don’t understand. Why are you so upset if the host and hostess were told I needed to be eased into a social situation? I know some people are bothered by this, but they didn’t seem to be. I mean, I can explain it to you. It’s really a lot more common than you’d think. Wait, I have a book on it, let me go get it.” She tried to pull her hands out of his grip, but he wouldn’t let go.

“Calm down, I don’t need a book.”

A book? Had I really offered a book? What a dumbass. Wait a minute…

“Are you weirded out, now that you know?”

He reared back and looked at her askance. “Are you seriously asking me that question?”

She looked at him and relaxed. “I guess I shouldn’t have worried.”

“Damn right you shouldn’t. I love you. I love every single thing about you, even your wrapping paper fetish.”

She tightened her fingers on his. “I’ll handle time with your friends better as I get to know them.”

“Hell yeah you will. I’ve watched you handle everything. Hell, you even managed to conquer Drake Avery at the end.”

She snorted. “It was easy as soon as he got around his wife, then he got all gooey.”

Gray let go of her hands, draping his arms around her neck and rubbed his nose against hers. “And me? When do I get all gooey?”

“My man? He doesn’t get gooey, he gets hard.”

Nothing was better than Gray Tyler’s laughter.

“Riya?”

She wrote a note, then shut off her microscope and looked over at the door of Jonah’s lab, where she’d been hiding.

“Hey Susan,” she smiled.

“You have your cell phone turned off again.”

Riya sighed. She fished out her phone from her lab coat and realized it was powered off. “It was ringing too much. I’m on a deadline.”

“There’s a pissed off general in Miranda’s office. She’s been holding him off, but I think she needs your help. What are you doing in here? We’ve been looking all over for you.”

Riya turned on her phone as she quickly walked over to Susan. “Shit, there’s a ton of texts, and they’re not just from Miranda. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. But you’re a popular girl. The CDC has been calling for you, too.”

“I’m sorry, I was hiding in here to get this last set of tests done. Jonah took today off, and he keeps a tight ship, so leaving my lab was worth it to finish up. I’m sorry, Susan.”

They went out the door and across the campus to Miranda’s office. When they got there, she saw Lieutenant General Astor drinking coffee and laughing at something Miranda was saying.

“There you are,” Miranda smiled. “The general told me how impressed he was with your work last month. Of course he didn’t go into as much detail as I would have liked.” Miranda waved her to the seat beside the general.

Well she had done a good job, but she sure didn’t remember the general singing her praises. It must have been more of the Porter magic.

“Dr. Patel, it’s good to see you again.” He cleared his throat. “She and I were reviewing your file. When you took your job with TAID and got your clearances with the government, it was with the understanding you might be asked to work on classified and / or top secret assignments.”

“Yes, I remember. It also said that the assignments were at my discretion.”

Riya thanked God that the leather seat she was sitting in had high arms, it allowed her to slip her hands under her legs to contain the sweat forming on her palms.

“Riya, I think you understand that if we asked you to work on something that was top secret it was because your country needed you. I talked to everyone at the Pentagon, and I was told you were the man for the job. I mean, woman.”

When things were this confusing, she found it was just better to wait, and let the person speaking to just keep talking, so she waited.

“We have a top secret international assignment. It’s critical that you go on this mission. Your country needs you.” His eyes drilled into hers, it took every ounce of her willpower not to drop her gaze. “Will you do this?”

She sat up straighter. “Of course I will.”

“Good.” He gave a brisk nod.

“General, when will this assignment begin? Is there something that Dr. Patel can review prior to leaving?” Miranda asked.

“She’ll be leaving out of NAS tonight. When she reaches Coronado she’ll join the briefing with the team. Members of the CDC will be meeting us there with the equipment she’ll need.”

Suddenly she wasn’t as worried. He was talking her language. “What kind of equipment, Sir?”

“She’ll need a portable biocontainment lab.” He spoke to Miranda instead of her.

Riya looked over at Miranda and did a quick eyeroll that the general couldn’t see. Then she turned back to him.

“Understood, General. I’ll be dealing with at least a BSL-1 safety hazard, got it. Is it the same one I was researching before? The airborne toxin?”

“Are you excited about this?” It sounded like he was angry. No, it was more like he had eaten something he didn’t like. It took her moment to figure out what he was thinking.

“I take my projects very seriously. I think you are misunderstanding my eagerness to assist you, with some sort of elation.”

“Oh. Well then,” he smiled. She could tell she had appeased him. “Riya, I’m grateful to have you working on this. I’m just sorry I didn’t have you continue working on the toxin longer, like you wanted too.”

Having dealt with enough Pentagon personnel, she knew better than to smile at this point. But inside she was smiling. Inside she was thankful that she had continued to analyze the poison and come to some of her own conclusions. Maybe this would give her a leg up on whatever job she would be doing.

“Mason, do you have any idea what this is about?” Gray asked his counterpoint, the lieutenant of the Midnight Delta SEAL team.

“I’m as much in the dark as you are,” Mason responded.

They looked up as the conference room door opened.

“Hey, guys,” Max Hogan nodded his head.

“Well, this has to be big, if they pulled you in from Virginia. Did they bring in your entire team?” Gray asked the lieutenant of the Night Storm SEAL team.

“Yep. We just got in an hour ago,” he said, taking a seat at the table. He looked tired.

“Weren’t you just on an op in Bolivia?” Mason asked.

Max waved his hand. “Something like that. We got home five days ago. We’re ready for something new.”

“Kane was a real help to us on our last mission,” Gray said. “I really appreciated that.”

Max gave a wan smile. “Don’t think Dex and Clint haven’t returned the favor.”

The door opened and Commander Liam McAllister and Captain Josiah Hale walked in the room. Shit, this had to be big if they were bringing in all three teams, and the captain was the one briefing them.

Captain Hale walked to the head of the conference table and pressed his fists down on the polished surface. He leaned in, his expression grave. “In just a second, men, Lieutenant General Astor of the United States Marine Corp will be walking in here with three scientists. The long and short of it is, we have a major clusterfuck on our hands, and it’s related to the mission Black Dawn was on last month. When the assignments are doled out, I’m sending Gray’s team and the most experienced scientist to the most likely hotspot. Then we’ll—”

The door opened. “Sorry I’m late. Hello everybody. I’m Lieutenant General Astor.” He held the door open and in walked Riya followed by two men.

Gray stood up, and Mason grabbed his arm. “Riya?” Gray’s voice was incredulous.

“Do you two know one another?” General Astor asked, as Riya, the general and two men sat down on the opposite Gray and the other two SEAL lieutenants.

Riya’s face showed no expression.

“Dr. Patel?” The general turned to look at her.

“Yes, I know Lieutenant Tyler. Miranda Porter is married to one of his men.”

Captain Hale cleared his throat. “This could be convenient. Let me introduce my men. Lieutenant Gray Tyler is in charge of Black Dawn. His team completed the mission in Al Khobar last month.”

“Damn good work,” the general said.

Gray gave a sharp nod. He kept his focus on his captain, he couldn’t handle looking at Riya, everything was too surreal.

“Mason Gault is in charge of Midnight Delta.”

“I’ve heard of your team,” the general smiled at Mason. Then he turned to Max. “You command the Night Storm team, right?”

“Yes Sir,” Max nodded.

“What have you told your men?” the general asked Captain Hale.

“Not much,” the captain said as he stood at the front of the table. “I was waiting for you to arrive.”

“Good. Who’s this?” The general nodded toward Liam.

“This is Commander Liam McAllister. He’ll be coordinating the three teams while they’re out in the field.”

The general grinned for the first time since he came into the room. “Your reputation proceeds you, McAllister. Seems like you’ve pissed some people off lately.”

Liam didn’t say anything, but his smile was shrewd. While the general and Liam had a mini-bromance, Gray tried to get Riya’s attention, but she was busy folding the corner pages of her black composition notebook. She might not show any expression on her face, but her nervous tic showed she was as stunned by this turn of events as he was.

“Have a seat, men,” the general said to Hale and McAllister. After they were seated, he looked around the conference table. “Gentlemen, and Lady, we have a problem that is going down in the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours according to our sources at Langley. Someone very close to the upper echelons of the Saudi royal family is planning something big. They’ve been dealing with a lot of negative international media attention which has turned into some instability within the family. It’s creating a power struggle. Our CIA source, who is exceedingly reliable, says that the Prince is planning something in less than two days.”

The Middle East, like that was something new. But the idea of Riya being part of something with the Saudi royal family made his blood cold. He tried to get her attention, but her gaze was fixated on her notepad.

“You think the Saudis are responsible for creating that toxin?” Riya asked the general.

“Yes. Our team was able to analyze the delivery system used in the proof of concept they pulled in Las Vegas. It has the same signature as one the Saudis used with a nerve agent in Yemen.”

“What proof of concept?” Liam asked.

“That’ll be explained at the overall meeting,” the general said. “In here, I want to go over what Langley said and the team assignments.”

“There is a tech conference in Dubai, a fashion show in Bahrain, and a humanitarian award ceremony in Abu Dhabi. Every single one of these is a viable target, but we’ve identified the most people the Saudis might want to take out, at the Abu Dhabi event.”

There was a ringing sound, and the general pulled out his phone.

“I need to take this,” he said as he got up and went to the corner of the conference room.

“Why do we need scientists?” Gray said looking at Captain Hale.

The general put his phone back into his pocket. “Good question. I’ll handle that explanation when we’re with you and your entire teams. Where are they?”

“We have all of our men assembled together down the hall,” Mason said.

“Great. We’ll go meet with them,” the general said as he stood up. “The CIA thinks all three targets have a high likelihood of being hit, but I’m convinced it’s going to be the humanitarian award ceremony in Abu Dhabi. There are five or six high profile targets that the Saudis are salivating to take out.” He pointed at Gray. “Since your team just handled Al Khabor, I want Black Dawn there.” He turned to Captain Hale. “Captain, who do you want on the other two assignments?”

Captain Hale gave Gray’s counterparts considering looks. “Max, you’re Bahrain. Mason, you’re taking Dubai.”

The general started talking again. He turned to Liam. “We’ll follow you, Commander to the meeting room.” He motioned for Riya and the other two scientists to follow him out of the room. Riya kept her head down as she left.

“Fan-fucking-tastic, we get to babysit a bunch of models in Bahrain. Seriously, put a bullet in me,” Max said under his breath.

“Aren’t you single?” Mason asked Max, as Gray watched Riya’s braid swing behind her while she walked out the door.

“Yep,” Max answered. “And when I was younger, I dated models. These days I’d prefer to dress in a chicken suit and carry one of those billboards in Times Square.”

God, could these two clowns take any longer to get out of the room?

“Speed it up, I need to get to the briefing.” Gray growled at Max.

“What’s up with you and the pretty scientist?” Mason asked.

“If you’d get out of my way, I can tell them that the pretty scientist isn’t qualified to go on a mission.”

Max and Mason stopped, blocking his way. Mason pushed a hand into his chest. “What the fuck are you thinking?”

“Riya is mine, and she sure as hell isn’t going on a mission to some sort of hotspot. No way, no how.”

“Man, you have no choice.” Max’s voice was implacable.

“Watch me.” He pushed past Mason and Max and yanked open the conference room door.