Thinking fast, Serena rushed back to the bed and yanked off one of the sheets, fashioning a homemade baby sling out of it for Gracie. After making sure it was as secure as she could get it, she went back to the window and managed to get one leg outside when the door to her room smashed open.
“Stop!” the hulking figure of a man shouted.
She couldn’t make out his face in the shadows, but she sure as hell could see his gun.
Go, go, go!
Serena got her other leg out and gripped the windowsill, glancing down as the intruder cursed.
“Dammit! You’re going to get yourself killed, lady!” It was startling to realize she was hearing an American accent. The surprise made her pause—just long enough for the man to step forward into the sunlight and grab hold of her arm. Her world tilted on its axis. It couldn’t be. It shouldn’t be. And yet, it was.
Her throat dried and she squeaked out his name, “Noah?”
3
Noah stared at the face of a woman he never thought he’d see again, and for a moment, it was as if time slowed. He couldn’t count the number of times he’d pulled out his cell since their one-night stand, pressed the call button, only to get an automated message saying the line was out of service. Normally, he severed all ties with the women he slept with, but she’d been different.
He didn’t really want to think about why, especially now—in the middle of a rescue mission.
“Serena?” he managed to croak, the words sticking like glue in his throat. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
She continued to blink at him for several seconds, her grip white-knuckled on the stone sill. “I… I could ask you the same thing.”
“When you disappeared seven months ago I…” The dots slowly connected in his whirling brain. Shit. After their night of incredible sex, they’d parted still virtual strangers. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“I can’t believe they sent a SEAL in to get me.” She adjusted the bundle looped across her body with one hand and Noah scowled. Whatever was in there was squirming and squeaking. Some floofy, ridiculous dog maybe? He knew little about her, but from the TV shows he’d seen, rich people had those kind of pets, right? Weird they’d let her keep it under these conditions, though. “At least my message got through.”
Her words jarred him out of his thoughts and back to the task at hand. Noah strode over to the window and held out his hand to help her back inside. “Yes, your message got through. But no, this isn’t a military mission. I left the SEALs a few months back after completing my last tour. I’m in private security now. The Southern Soldiers of Fortune were hired to track you down and bring you home.”
“Oh.” She hesitated a moment before allowing him to help her back inside. That thing strapped to her kept moving and fussing. Based on the oblong shape of it, it didn’t seem to be a dog. Before he could ask more about it, she clambered through the window and stood before him. “Well, I’m just grateful you’re here. When I heard the commotion outside, my first thought was they’d come to kill me at last. I’d overhead the staff whispering recently about their plans and I’ve been so worried about Gracie. I didn’t know how we were going to make it out of here on our own and…”
Serena continued talking, but Noah’s brain had checked out somewhere around the name Gracie. He stared at the sheet-wrapped bundle strapped to her chest and saw a tiny hand pop out. No. That couldn’t be a baby. But then the thing wailed and—yep. It was a kid. He watched her cradle the infant and move the sheets aside to reveal a shock of dark hair, same as Serena’s, then bright blue eyes, same as…
Wait. What the—
He blinked at Serena again, his brain flatlining as she yanked her shirt up to expose her boob and began feeding the kid. Then his logic and instincts went haywire. He was no expert on gauging the ages of babies, but this one looked small—no more than a few months old. Based on when they’d slept together, that meant…
Noah looked up at Serena’s face to find her watching him expectantly.
Shit, she’d asked him something and he had no idea what. He shook his head. “I’m sorry?”
“I asked who hired you. Was it my brother or my best friend?”
“Oh, uh. Bella Sterns. The best friend, I guess,” he said automatically. Truthfully, he was still trying to process everything. Neither of them had been exactly sober when they’d had their one-night stand, and they hadn’t been particularly careful that night, so yeah. It was possible. He hiked his chin toward the baby. “How old is it?”
“Almost three months,” Serena said, smiling tenderly down at the baby. “And her name is Gracie.”
“A girl.” His chest squeezed unexpectedly.
He took a step back, struggling with all these weird emotions roiling inside him—fear, fascination, frustration, tenderness. As a rule, Noah didn’t do tenderness. And whatever the hell he was feeling, they needed to get a move on. It would be hard enough to get the two of them to the SSoF safe house on the other side of St. Dourdane by sunset even under the best of conditions, let alone with a baby in tow. He calculated the distance in his mind and the rough terrain ahead and knew they were pushing it big time. Fuckin’ A. “Come on. We need to go before those goons wake up.” He glanced down at her feet. “Do you have any sturdy boots?”
She gave him a flat look. “Hang on, let me check with my personal shopper and find out.”
Noah snorted despite the dangerous situation. He’d liked her confident snark from the moment they’d met. It was one of the many things he remembered fondly about their night together. “Dumb question. Sorry. We’ll
