Tacker (Arizona Vengeance #5)(32)

“Exactly,” Dax grits out. “So ask her and deal with it yourself.”

“I would if she’d respond to my calls and texts. It’s like she’s dropped off the face of the earth.”

“Kosovo,” Dax says, the one word causing Dominik’s eyebrows to rise and my stomach to clench.

“Kosovo?” Dominik asks, a bit loudly.

My head snaps over to where Nora and Raul are sitting side by side at the barn, eating their food. They’re far enough away they can’t hear this conversation.

I think.

“What the fuck is she doing in Kosovo?” Dominik demands, and my gaze jerks to Nora. Didn’t appear to hear that, either.

“What do you mean ‘what the fuck is she doing in Kosovo’?” Dax replies, just as loud and tauntingly. “You have no say where she goes.”

“Okay,” I intervene, placing my palms on the picnic table and bending to put myself in their line of sight. “I need both of you to shut the fuck up right now. The next man who says the word Kosovo is going to be eating my cast.”

Aaron’s chin jerks inward with surprise, and Dax just blinks stupidly.

Under his breath, Legend mutters, “Damn.”

Dominik cocks an eyebrow that seems to ask, “Did you just fucking threaten your boss with physical violence when you’re already on probation on this team?”

I sigh, cast one last glance at Nora, who laughs at something Raul says, before returning to my teammates. Taking a moment to let my gaze linger on each one, I finally settle on Dominik, since he’s my boss and I need to explain. “Just stop talking about Kosovo so loudly that Nora might hear.”

“Why?” Dominik demands curiously.

“Because she was part of the war there, and she lost family in that conflict,” I reply quietly.

“Oh, shit,” Aaron says, peering over at Nora.

“What happened?” Dax asks.

I wonder if I should say something. Nora never said what happened is a secret, and in fact, it was national news. Still, it’s a confidence she shared with me that, until she says otherwise, has to stay between us.

So I give them only the bare minimum. “Let’s just say what she witnessed happen to her family is horrific, and tomorrow is the twentieth anniversary of it.”

“Jesus,” Dominik whispers, empathy infusing his face.

“It helped you to open up to her, didn’t it?” Aaron asks.

He’s my best friend. Can’t lie to him. “Completely. I owe a lot to her for trusting me with her confidence. Made it a lot easier to talk about my shit, you know?”

“She seems pretty amazing,” Dominik says thoughtfully, his eyes moving over to where she’s sitting. “Got your grumpy ass halfway smiling again.”

All the guys chuckle, accepting the moment of levity because the situation had gotten way too serious.

But then again, the shit that seems to surround me tends to be serious lately. I’m grateful for the moments where I can just laugh with my team right now.

“Well, we got some more work to do,” Aaron says, swinging his legs out from the picnic table and grabbing his empty plate.

Dax and Legend get up as well, ambling off to the garbage cans and grabbing more water bottles from the coolers.

Dominik doesn’t move, though. I wonder if he’s going to call it a day or head out to work with us in the field.

Thoughtfully, he stares off in the distance. I don’t like to think about what calculations he might be making in that brain of his.

Finally, he says, “I’m really glad you landed here with Nora for your counseling.”

“Me too,” I agree, thinking Dr. Dumbfuck would have most likely made things worse for me.

“Have you thought about asking her out?” Dominik asks carefully.

Startled by the suggestion, I suck in air and actually choke. When a coughing fit ensues, Dominik casually passes over his bottle of water for me to take a sip. I chug it, using the few moments to help clear my thoughts and calm myself down so I don’t call him a dumb fuck once I’m able to breathe again.

He just watches me impassively, waiting for me to say something.

When I do, I try to play it cool. “Excuse me?”

“Ask Nora out?” he repeats.

“Why would I do that?” I ask, offended. “She’s my therapist, for God’s sake.”

Although damn if I don’t find myself drawn to her for so many other reasons than she’s a great listener and gives amazing advice.

A rush of guilt floods me, and I feel as if I just betrayed MJ by having that thought.

Fuck.

“Who cares if she’s your therapist?” Dominik says blandly. “I’m sure you two wouldn’t be the first to break rules like that.”

This is ridiculous. I cock an eyebrow. “You do realize it’s you who required me to seek counseling to stay on this team, and now you’re actually trying to sabotage it, right?”

“No,” he says firmly, shaking his index finger. “I’m not trying to sabotage it at all. Merely trying to point out something I think could be good for you both. You two obviously have a good connection. A bond even.”

I hate him for saying that shit out loud, because the minute he did, he opened the possibility up to me. I don’t know if my head would have ever gone there on its own, but now I can feel it taking root. It doesn’t help I’m enamored of her. Attracted to her physically, too.