Mac was crying, and didn’t have a clue why. She hadn’t known those men. But Gage had, and their deaths had hurt him, so she hurt, too. “August of 1996,” she murmured. “Isn’t that what they called Desert Strike? I remember reading about it somewhere, but I don’t remember seeing anything about any US ground casualties. We just dropped a bunch of bombs and fired off some cruise missiles.”
He snorted. “Yeah, that’s what they called it. But the bombing and cruise missiles happened in the days after the initial attack. Didn’t do us or the Kurds any good. My squad was wiped out by then and I just barely dragged my shot-up ass back to the extraction point in time to hook up with the rest of the platoon. They’d been pretty beat up, too, but nothing like my squad. The worst part? The official report reads that my squad members all died in a training accident down in Kuwait. No one wanted to admit the US even had ground forces up in the Kurdish region.”
Crap. “Is that why you decided to get out?”
He hesitated for a long time before answering. “That had a lot to do with it. I just couldn’t be part of the big machine anymore. They didn’t even care about us.”
Mac understood Gage a little better now than she had before. How he’d risen so fast through the Dallas PD ranks, why he’d taken over the SWAT team and rebuilt it in his image. They were an organization that took care of their own above all else.
His arm tightened around her. “Sorry I unloaded on you like that. I’m not sure why I did. It definitely doesn’t qualify as romantic pillow talk.”
“I don’t mind,” she said. “I get the feeling you’ve needed to tell somebody that story for a long time. I’m just glad it was me.”
“I guess you’re right.” He sighed. “I try not to think too much about that part of my past. I didn’t even realize it was weighing on me until I told you about it.”
She tilted her face up to kiss him. It was amazing how close she felt to him after that little peek into his past. It made her want to learn everything about him. “You can tell me anything.”
He gazed at her so deeply and thoughtfully she almost teared up again. “I might just take you up on that offer sometime.”
She rested her head on his chest again, smiling as she realized his heart was now beating in the strong, slow rhythm she was used to. “Anytime you’re ready.”
Chapter 10
Gage couldn’t help returning Mackenzie’s smile as he held open the door to the restaurant. “After you.”
He would have been quite happy hanging around her apartment again tonight, watching TV, talking, and making love like a couple of minks, which was what they’d been doing for the past two days, but she’d wanted to go out to dinner. And whatever Mackenzie wanted, Gage was ready to give her. She’d picked this place way out toward Bonham. He’d never heard of it, but she promised him it’d be worth the hour-plus drive to get out here. He didn’t care where she wanted to eat. As long as it was with him, he was game.
Across from him, Mackenzie scrunched up her nose as she studied the menu. He smiled. She looked so cute when she did that. He still couldn’t believe how well things had worked out. Last night—sometime between dinner at her place and making love on the couch in the living room—Mackenzie had told him she was dropping the whole SWAT-team-on-PEDs story. They both knew there’d never been a PED story, but that had been her way of saying she was done snooping around. His pack was safe.
But while he’d started out hoping to keep a nosy journalist from finding out his pack’s secret, somehow, he’d wound up falling for Mackenzie and finding the one woman in this crazy world he clicked with. It was way too soon to say he was in love, but he was more serious about her than he’d ever been about any woman. And he liked to think she felt the same way about him.
“So, what do you feel like eating?” Mackenzie asked, still studying the menu.
When he didn’t answer, she gave him a quizzical look. She must have read his mind because she grinned. “On the menu, Gage. On the menu.”
He chuckled. “I’m feeling like a big cheeseburger with a huge pile of fries.”
“Sounds good to me. Make it two.” Mackenzie closed her menu and placed it on the table. “So, what were you asking me as we pulled in the parking lot?”
She was looking at him expectantly, her blue eyes dancing. Apparently, this was a test, and if he didn’t remember what they’d been talking about, she was going to seriously start thinking he was some kind of deviant who constantly thought about sex when he looked at her. Which was actually true, but he forced his mind back to their previous conversation. They’d been talking about his work schedule, then her schedule, then what she’d be working on next week. Yeah, that was it.
“I asked you what story you were going to work on next. Since the SWAT piece didn’t pan out.”
That sounded so smooth he almost patted himself on the back, but then he noticed she was grinning at him like she knew exactly how hard it’d been for him to remember. She didn’t call him on it, though.
“I wouldn’t say it was a complete waste of time.” She gave him a sultry look that made him wish they’d stayed at her place. “I’m not really sure what I’m going to work on. I haven’t given it a lot of thought.”
Gage let the waiter set down their drinks and take
