Above All Else: A Bad Boy Military Romance (Easy Team Book 2) (4 page)

              But a ranch in Wyoming…
that
made a lot more sense.

              It was remote. Isolated. Distant.

              All the things I
didn’t
want! I wanted to be close to an international airport and possibly large media outlets. Neither of which Wyoming could offer me.

              “I thought you lived here!” I said, gesturing to the apartment.

              Xander took a large bite from his sandwich and shook his head. “No, this is just kind of a halfway house for me. After a mission, we always come back here to debrief with Commander Wolffe at headquarters. So I have this apartment here. I stay here for a day or two to catch up on some sleep before I head back to Wyoming.”

              He watched me pick at my sandwich. “So eat,” he said again. “It’ll be something of a drive from the airport to the ranch.”

              Oh god, how far into the American wilderness is he planning to tuck me away in? How could I possibly be any help to Uncle Gregory in a place like that? This definitely would
not
do.

              “You don’t have an accent,” Xander observed, nearly finished with his sandwich. “Not much of one, anyway.”

              “What?” I said distractedly, busy trying to think of plans to weasel my way out of going to some random country ranch.

              “You don’t have much of an accent when you speak English,” he clarified.

              Feeling exhausted and scared and annoyed, I fell back on my normal attack tactic—I snapped. “Of course I don't! I went to boarding school in Switzerland and university in England. I studied and spoke four language before I was sixteen. Why the hell would I have an accent?”

              Xander raised a brow at my sudden outburst but kept his voice calm, not rising to my bait. “I just meant,” he said patiently in a voice that made me feel ridiculous and foolish for snapping, “it’ll be easier for you to blend out there because there’s no strong accent.”

              That might be true but I had no intention of blending in with some country town in the middle of nowhere. I was staying right here in L.A. I knew L.A. I was familiar with the city. I felt comfortable here. I felt some level of control.

              And if there was anything I desperately wanted at this moment, it was some semblance of control.

              “So eat,” Xander said again for the millionth time. I could tell by the way he said it tightly that he was getting annoyed with how many times he’d had to tell me to eat. Well, if
that
annoyed him, he’d be in for a surprise on just how annoying I could be. Thirteen years with a governess was ultimate training in annoying behavior.

              But for now, I picked up the sandwich and took a bite. I’d have to spend the night cooking up a good plan to make sure I would be close at hand for Uncle Gregory.

Chapter
Four
Xander

              I nearly threw Sofia at the ticket counter. Raking my fingers through my hair and sighing in complete exasperation, I looked up in a harried way at the girl behind the ticket booth.

              She gave us a small uncertain smile. I’m sure we made quite a pair.

              Sofia, having no other clothes on her except the clothes she had landed in America with, was wrapped up in one of my old denim jackets. And I meant,
wrapped.

              She was small enough that I could easily wrap the sleeves around her, straightjacketing her. And after all the crazy annoying stunts she pulled this morning, that was exactly what I was doing with her.

              “Checking in?” the ticket woman asked.

              “Yes,” I said, keeping a good grip on the sleeves and ignoring Sofia’s death stares. “Under Vaughn.”

              I slid over my driver’s license and the phony driver’s license for Sofia. I saw Sofia’s eyes widen when she saw the copy. Her forged papers had been dropped off this morning by courier. Easy Team had connections and we worked fast.

              “Alrighty then. Welcome, Mr. Vaugh and Ms. Smith,” the woman smiled as she tapped rapidly on her keyboard.

              Sofia rolled her eyes at the name and I gave the jacket a little jerk to remind her not to give her cover away. That only made her roll her eyes harder which made me want to throw her over my knee and give her a good ass whooping.

              But I breathed in deeply and tried to think of anything that could give me a sense of calm. Literally a traffic jam in Manhattan would be more calming than carrying Sofia around at the moment.

              “Here are your tickets. You are in Gate 24B to your right,” the woman said, handing over our tickets.

              “Thanks,” I said. With an arm around Sofia’s shoulders, I pulled her along with me, ignoring her squirms.

              When we got to the gate, I pushed her into a seat, wondering if this was what it must be like to take care of a toddler. Always on alert, always telling them to stop doing something, always trying to stop them from wandering off.

              “Alright, are you hungry?” I asked, now able to finally breathe since we had reached out gate. “You didn’t eat any of your dinner last night.”

             
Now I really
did
sound like I was talking to a toddler,
I thought with some dry amusement.

              Clearly Sofia heard it as well and she was not amused. “No, I am
not
hungry. And I do
not
feel like getting on that plane!” Her voice rose higher and higher as she spoke, drawing some curious stares.

              Not wanting people to think I was trying to kidnap a girl, I plunked down on the seat next to her and shoved down the baseball cap Sofia wore even further down over her face.

              “Hey,” I whispered, “wanna take it down a notch? Or do you want every person here with a smartphone to take a photo of the runaway Loranzian princess?”

              With my hat and large jacket, it was hard to make out Sofia’s features. I had sunglasses for her as well but they were too big and made her look more suspicious than casual. So we opted for just hat and jacket. Or, really,
I
opted for hat and jacket since at that point, she had lost all her rights to have a say in the matter.

              “Well,” she responded in the same strained whisper-yell, “maybe I
want
someone to report my kidnapping! Then maybe someone will listen to what
I
want for once!”

              I looked at her in frustration. Those blue eyes were narrowed at me with her full lips set in a firm line. I suddenly had the urge to kiss her attitude away. Quiet her mouth with my mouth. But I shook that thought away. That was not appropriate thinking for someone on duty and definitely not appropriate when the target you were protecting was a sovereign head of state.              

              “Don’t you think that kind of attitude is what got you in this little mess in the first place?” I said. “It’s not always about what
you
want. Sometimes you have to do shit and say shit you don’t want to for the betterment of the situation. You think your uncle flew your ass this far and risked his neck just so you can pout and go on national TV to say that you didn’t like not getting your way for once?”

              I saw Sofia rear back a little, as if I had slapped her. She stared at me. Her large blue eyes lost their anger and suddenly she looked like a child, her face soft and her gaze confused and frightened.

              I sighed, suddenly feeling a little guilty even though I hadn’t said anything untrue or wrong.

              “Look, we’re going to be boarding in a few minutes,” I said, trying to make peace. “Do you want something to drink or eat from the food court?”

              Sofia shook her head and instead, sank into her seat, letting the large jacket consume her. She tucked her head down and the bill of the cap nearly covered her entire face. The message was clear: I don’t want to talk anymore.

              And that was the mood she was in all the way through boarding. Once we took off, I bought a sandwich and some chips from a flight attendant and handed it to Sofia. She really hadn’t eaten much at all. A bite from dinner and we had had no time for breakfast. And she had already had that slightly sunken look when I had met her in Commander Wolffe’s office that said she probably hadn’t eaten properly for days.

              But when I handed the food to her, it just sat in her lap. Sofia had looked out the window, ignoring me. I decided to give her some space but when I checked on her again, I saw that she had fallen asleep. Her eyes still roved underneath her lids and I could see the tight line of her jaw. She was sleeping but it was a fitful sleep.

              Finally able to take a breath for myself, I leaned back in my seat.

              “Sir? Could I get you something to drink?” a flight attendant asked as she stopped with the drinks cart.

             
Yeah, a Jack and Coke. In a bucket. And keep ‘em coming.

              But instead I shook my head and said, “No thank you.”

              From the minute I had woken up, Sofia had been determined to find a way to stay in L.A.

              I had slept on the couch, giving Sofia the bed. She had closed the door right away and I had seen the light go off so I had assumed she had fallen asleep relatively early.

              But when I woke up and knocked on the door, I opened it to find her sitting in bed, her knees to her chest, with only the corner of the bed she sat on disturbed. She hadn’t even lain down once.

              “You didn’t sleep,” I said it in a statement but I meant it as a question. Clearly, the girl was exhausted. What had she been doing staying up all night like that?

              Seeing her sitting in bed, with her arms wrapped around her knees, she looked so small. It was incredible to think such attitude and chaos came from a body so delicate. And with a reckless history to boot. I realized now that those two men who had trailed after Sofia that night in Colombia had been royal guards. And she must’ve somehow given them the slip to head out into the wild to party it up.

              God, did she not know how goddamn breakable she was?

              I stood in the doorway, almost getting mad at her for something she had done months ago.

              Sofia raised her head, the smudges underneath her eyes darker. “I’ve decided that I am staying in Los Angeles,” she said with a regal air of command.

              I quirked a brow at that. “Funny,” I said casually, crossing my arms across my chest. “I think I remember telling you that we were flying to Wyoming last night.”

              Sofia bounded out of bed. “That’s right. You
told
me. But I never consented to such a plan,” she argued. “I’m not going.”

              She crossed her own arms and stared at me.

              I looked down at her. “That’s too bad, sweetheart.”

              “And stop calling me that!” she burst. “It’s much too familiar! And I
am
staying in Los Angeles. You can’t make me go.”

              “Wanna bet?” I countered.

              Sofia bit her lip before rallying again. “I want to speak your commander! Bring him here!”

              I gave her a slow smile. “Sweetheart,” I said deliberately, “as far as you’re concerned, I
am
the commander. I am the commander, general, and
King
when it comes to you and me. And as the all ruling great one, I’m telling you that you
are
going. Now,” I said, prepared to show a little mercy now, “do you want something quick to eat before we—”

              But before I could finish the sentence, Sofia slammed the bedroom door in my face.

              I had figured to let her stew in her own brattiness for now and decided to take a quick shower before we left for the airport. I was in the middle of letting the hot water sluice away the stress when I heard a sudden loud creak from outside the bathroom.

              I knew this apartment like the back of my hand and I knew that creak could only come from the front hallway near the front door. Gritting my teeth, I immediately jumped out of the shower, threw a towel haphazardly around my waist and shot out of the bathroom.

              And there was that little hellion opening the front door, about to sneak out. Immediately I rushed after her and slapped my hand against the door, slamming it shut.

              Sofia gasped and whirled around in surprise, her large eyes round and blue. But the eyes got rounder as she took in my steaming wet body looming over her.

              “And just where,” I whispered, water dripping down my temples, “did you think you were going, princess?”

              Sofia’s fair cheeks began to turn a rosy pink before deepening into a shade darker. She seemed to have trouble figuring out where to look. But I had no problems. Standing over her, my arm still stretched over her head, I had a good view of the top of her dress where her breasts swelled tantalizingly against the fabric. She licked her lips unconsciously and I felt my cock twitch at the sight.

              “I—” she started in a husky whisper before clearing her throat and starting again. “I have an apartment on the west side. I prefer to stay there instead of Wyoming.”

              Although she still had a tone of haughtiness in her voice, she had lost all the bite and power. Her voice instead was a breathy plea that made my pulse jump. I could see her own pulse beating rapidly against her throat. I wanted to wrap my lips around that pulse and feel the beat of her echo within me.

             
Get your shit together, Vaughn! This is a goddamn mission!

              Right. I had to keep my head clear.

              “You think there won’t be photographers and reporters swarming that apartment by now?” I asked. “Hoping that you’d be dumb enough to show up there so they could snap the first photos of you here in the U.S.?”

              Sofia’s cheeks reddened in anger and embarrassment at the holes in her plan.

              “Why don’t you go back and clean up and find a jacket of mine you can wear?” I said calmly, trying to ease my nerves as much as hers. “Then once I’m dressed we can head out.”

              Sofia stood her ground, refusing to move and follow my orders.

              I gripped her chin and gently but irresistibly lifted her chin up. “Do you need help getting dressed?” I asked softly, my lips nearly brushing her cheek.

              I heard Sofia take in a shuddering breath before shoving me away. “No I don't!” she yelled as she ran back to the bedroom.

              I stood there and let the sudden heated shiver of her touch pass through me before I shook my head and chuckled a little.

              If I was going to get this kind of physical reaction every time I was near her, it felt good knowing that at least I wasn’t the only one walking away a little shaken.

              I had recognized the blush of her cheeks, the dilation of her pupils.

              But now was not the time for this. I had to hurry up and shower before Sofia got any other harebrained schemes into her head.

***

              As I drove, I took in deep, gulping breaths as the Wyoming air blew in through the window. Already, I could feel my body healing itself with the clear, wild air.

              I looked out the windshield at the rolling prairies and the huge, towering trees that were probably centuries old. I relished the wide open space that surrounded us without a hint of L.A. traffic or smog in sight.

              This was home for me. This was where I felt most at peace. With a chunk of land to call my own, I knew that no matter where I went, no matter how long I was gone, Wyoming would always be the place I returned to.