By the time they reached Djibouti, Miranda was more than ready for a hot shower and some decent sleep. She’d tried to nap on the trip, and there had been plenty of seats to stretch out and do so, but it hadn’t been easy with the whine of the engines and the utter lack of heat. Flying in a military plane wasn’t like flying commercial. The temperature control was practically nonexistent, though they claimed to have heat. The blanket she’d been given hadn’t been enough to warm her up, and she’d spent much of each flight shivering.

And now she was hot. Djibouti wasn’t exactly an alpine nation. With average daily temperatures between ninety and 106, this place was smoking. The terrain was flat, dusty and dirty and rocky, and the base was a combination of military tan, dirty white, and stacks of what looked like shipping containers but were really barracks or Containerized Housing Units. The base shared a runway with the Djibouti airport, so at least the trip wasn’t far from landing to lodging.

They weren’t taken to the CHUs though. They were taken to a special compound much like the HOT headquarters back in DC where they had to pass through layers of security. Though not as sophisticated a facility, it was still heavily guarded. Lucky sidled up beside her as they walked down a hallway and told her this was a HOT facility. Then she smiled reassuringly and Miranda smiled in return.

She wasn’t scared, but she wouldn’t turn down a gesture of friendliness from one of the women on this mission. She wondered about the other woman’s scars, but she knew better than to ask.

“Have you been here before?”

“Once or twice.”

“I didn’t realize we had women in Special Ops.”

Lucky shrugged. “Not enough of us, that’s for sure.” She stopped at a door and opened it. “This is us in here.”

Miranda stepped into the small room. There were four bunks inside, a light, and a table. To say it didn’t even compare to the worst budget hotel in America was probably an understatement.

Lucky slung her bag to the floor and sat down on one of the mattresses. “Jesus, I’m so tired I could sleep in my clothes. Hell, I just might.”

Miranda set her bag down. “Is it just us in here?”

Lucky opened an eye. “Victoria will be here as soon as she finishes copping a feel of her husband.”

Miranda blinked. “Husband? She’s on a mission with her husband?”

She thought of the big dude sitting next to Victoria in the briefing and the way he’d squeezed her leg.

Lucky laughed. “We both are. Victoria’s married to Nick Brandon, Alpha Squad’s sniper. Kev MacDonald is my husband. Also Alpha Squad,” she added. “Kev’s the second-in-command.”

“And you and Victoria are Alpha Squad too?”

“We’re freelancers, so to speak. We go when needed.”

“Isn’t that a little difficult? Working with your spouse, I mean?”

“Sometimes. Mostly we just do our jobs.”

The door opened and Victoria walked in, looking as cool as a cucumber even in this heat. Miranda wondered how she did it. Victoria threw her duffel on the floor and sat on the only other lower bunk.

“I’ve just been telling Jane about our husbands,” Lucky said. “I think she’s a little stunned.”

Victoria snorted. “I sometimes think they’re still a bit stunned too. Nick actually spent about an hour on the flight asking me if I didn’t want to hang out here while they went to Jorwani. I finally shut him down, but not before I threatened to cut him off for a month—or six.”

Lucky laughed. “Oh yes, that would do it for Kev as well. He knows better than to even try these days.”

Victoria turned and fixed her with a stare. “What about you, Jane? Got a man in your life?”

Miranda wasn’t sure if the question was genuine or if everyone knew about her and Cody and this was simply Victoria’s way of digging at her. “Not at the moment.”

“Looked like you were getting cozy with Cash. He’s a nice guy, but don’t let him fool you—he’s a horndog. Probably stuck that thing in half the waitresses back home. I’d think twice before I let him stick it in me.”

“I really wasn’t planning on it,” Miranda said. “He’s nice enough, but…”

“He’s no Cody McCormick,” Lucky finished.

Miranda let herself look confused. “I’m sorry?”

Lucky glanced at Victoria, who smirked. “We couldn’t help but notice the tension back at HQ and on the plane. Cody doesn’t appear to like you, which is surprising since he usually likes everyone. And then there was the private meeting you had with him before the briefing.” Her smile widened. “News travels in our circles.”

“Clearly.” But how much news?

“Now I don’t know for sure,” Lucky went on, “but I’m guessing you and the CIA agent Cody was with in the desert a few weeks ago are one and the same. He didn’t tell us the death was a fake, by the way.”

Miranda felt like a balloon someone had pierced with a straight pin. Did she keep up the pretense or admit what these two women already knew? On the one hand, she was conditioned to keep everything close to the vest. Never let anyone see your hand.

But at the same time, fuck it, what did it matter? They were all on the same side, she had no doubts about that at all, and she was tired of acting like nothing ever got under her skin when Cody seemed to be the exception.

“He didn’t know,” she admitted.

Lucky sat up abruptly.

Victoria’s brows drew down. “He didn’t know? You mean he thought you were dead for real?”

Miranda sank onto the lone chair in the room. It was metal and not all that comfortable. “Yes. That’s why I met with him. To apologize.”

Victoria whistled. “Lordy, lordy. No wonder he seemed so pissed off. Girl, that man is HOT through and through—they are the best of the best—and he’s not going to take it well that you kept the truth from him. These guys are tough and loyal to a fault. But you jerk one around—Jesus, it doesn’t go down well. And yes, I speak from experience.”

Lucky raised a hand. “Me too. Though nothing so terrible as faking my own death. But I did jerk Kev around a bit, that’s for sure.”

Miranda’s throat was tight. And she felt strangely relieved too. She had five sisters, but she never talked to them anymore—except for the next oldest to her, whom she talked to about once a year. She’d always felt like a substitute mother rather than a sister, especially to the younger girls, and she’d fled the first chance she got. To actually have women to talk to like they were friends?

It was nice. Oh, she knew they weren’t really friends and this wasn’t the beginning of a lifetime of girl chats. But it worked for now.

“I don’t know how to fix it,” she confessed, giving in for once to the little voice that urged her to share.

“Do you want to? Or do you just want him to forgive you so you feel better?” Victoria was looking at her intently. “Because there is a difference. You want to fix it for him because you care that you hurt him, or you want to bury it under the rug and have his forgiveness so you don’t have to feel bad anymore.”

“I care that I hurt him. If he hadn’t helped me in Vegas, I’d be dead for real. I owe him better.”

Lucky scratched her cheek. “Well then. Guess we’re going to have to think of something, aren’t we?”

Victoria nodded. “Absolutely. And we’re going to start by getting him to take Cash’s place on this mission. Cody has to be the one spending time with you, not Cash.”

Miranda shook her head. “Cash asked him straight up if he wanted the job back on Andrews. He said no.”

Lucky waved her hand dismissively. “Of course he did. But that is about to end, isn’t it, Vee?”

“Hell yes it is. We’ve got this.”

Miranda let her gaze slide between them. She wasn’t accustomed to this. At all. “I appreciate that you want to help—but why do y’all even care? You don’t know me. Maybe I’m a royal bitch and Cody’s better off hating me.”

“Cody’s one of the easiest-going people I know,” Victoria said. “But he hasn’t been the same the past few weeks. So either he gets you out of his system and moves on, or he doesn’t and y’all work out your shit. Avoidance solves nothing. Trust me, I know that from personal experience too.”

“Yep, have to second that,” Lucky said. “Life is easier when you confront your problems head-on. If I’d gotten away with avoiding my issues, I’d still be in Hawaii and I wouldn’t have married Kev. Believe me when I say I far prefer the life I have now.”

“I’m not— I don’t feel that way about him,” Miranda said. “This isn’t about getting together or getting married. Just so you know.” But even as she said it, her belly tightened.

Victoria arched one of those expressive eyebrows of hers. “Of course not, honey,” she said. “That’s never what it’s about. It’s just how it ends up.”

* * *

“Man, that woman is hot, hot, hot,” Money said as they stood in the shower together. It was the next morning after they’d arrived and the SEALs were getting ready for the day. They’d do some last minute massaging of the plan based on intel, and then they’d board commercial flights into Jorwani, separating into smaller groups so that they didn’t all enter at the same time. Once there, they were to head to the aid organization’s headquarters and regroup.

“That ass, those tits, those lips… Christ, what I wouldn’t give to get up in that.”

Cody grunted and turned his back as Money extolled Miranda’s virtues. What he really wanted to do was wrap his hands around Money’s neck and squeeze.

Alex “Camel” Kamarov chimed in. “Dude, smart of you to volunteer to hang with her. Maybe when you’re pretending to be married, you can actually do the deed, you know?”

Cody whirled. “You two need to shut the fuck up. There’s no time for that shit. We go in, we finish our plan so it’s airtight, we get Conti, and get out.”

“Man, he can bang her in the next night or two. We’ve got three nights until Okonjo leaves, so why not?” Camel said. “He can bang her all three nights.”

“Nobody’s banging anybody,” Cody said. “Jesus Christ, are you two on a mission or playing a fucking video game? You can’t pause this shit to get your freak on and then unpause and go back to the action.”

“I think that’s up to me and the lady,” Money said, soaping his chest. “Why do you care, anyway?”

“I don’t.”

Cody turned the taps to let colder water stream over him. He was getting pissed and needed to cool his temper. Money merely grinned, the bastard. Cody turned his back and rinsed off, then shut off the taps and grabbed his towel. He dried vigorously, scrubbing his head and body, then yanked on his clothes—civvies since they were flying into Jorwani later this afternoon—and grabbed his bag before heading back down the hallway to the bunk room he shared with Money, Camel, and Adam “Blade” Garrison.

He left everything and headed to the mess hall where he grabbed a tray and then went down the line, grabbing eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee. Then he went over and plunked the whole thing down on a table. He was doing a good job of eating and not thinking about the things Money had said when Miranda sailed into the room, looking cool and fresh in a summery dress that went down to her ankles and was held up by a tube of fabric clinging to her ample breasts. Oh Lord have mercy.

Victoria and Lucky were with her. Also wearing dresses. Also looking cool and fresh.

“Dude, you do know your eyes are bugging out of your head, right?”

Cody swiveled to find Viking sitting down beside him. Cage took the seat across from them. Cody dropped his fork onto the plate.

“I’m pissed off, all right? Is that what you assholes want to hear? She fucking lied to me, and I’ve spent six whole weeks wondering what the fuck I could have done differently. How I could have saved her. Turns out she didn’t need saving, that she cooked up this whole goddamned thing with Samantha Spencer and her people. It was a ruse, and I was the dupe.”

Viking’s eyebrows climbed his forehead during Cody’s speech. “Totally get that, Cowboy. You’re pissed, and you have every right. But you don’t look at that woman like you’re pissed.”

Cody blinked. “Sure feels like I’m pissed.”

Cage laughed, then leaned in and lowered his voice. “I say this with love, man, but the truth is you want to get into those panties pretty badly.”

“So does Money,” he snapped. “Doesn’t mean it’s gonna happen.”

Cage dug his fork into his eggs. Then he looked at Cody. “So you gonna let him have the chance, huh? All cozied up with her for three days before we infiltrate the compound. Sounds reasonable.”

His chest tightened almost unbearably. Let Money spend three days with Miranda in close quarters? After everything he’d said in the shower? No fucking way.

“No.”

“No?” Viking asked, looking amused as he stabbed some fried potatoes.

Cody blew out a breath and picked up his fork again. Goddammit. “No, I’m not letting Money have a chance. I’ll take the assignment. I’ll be her partner for the trip.”