Defending Morgan (Mountain Mercenaries #3)(21)
“You amaze me, Morgan,” he whispered against her hair. Then he pulled back and took her hand in his once more. “Come on. Let’s go see what Meat found us to eat. Then we’ll get you back to Nina. She needs you. She’s not adjusting well.”
Twenty minutes later, Morgan stared up at the neon lights of the building in disbelief.
“The Hard Rock Cafe?” she asked with a laugh.
Arrow shrugged. “Told you it wasn’t fish.”
Morgan felt as if she’d fallen down a rabbit hole. This was so not her life, was it?
Without another word, Arrow tugged on her hand and headed for the door.
She pulled back, refusing to take another step.
“What?” Arrow asked, alarmed, looking around for danger.
“I’m not going in there!” Morgan hissed.
“Why not?”
“Because! Look at me! I’m disgusting. I still smell like fish. I think that stench is stuck in my hair for good.”
“Are you hungry?” Arrow asked.
She stared up at him and bit the inside of her cheek before admitting, “Yes.”
“Then we’re going in. I’m not going to leave you outside, Morgan, so don’t even suggest it. No one is going to say anything. Meat has already ordered food for us. All we have to do is go up to the counter and tell them we’re here to pick it up. I’ll pay, and we’ll be out of there. Ten minutes, tops.”
She wanted to keep refusing, but the delicious scents wafting from the building were too much to resist. “I don’t like this,” she told him.
“I’m aware. And I wish I could take you inside as if we’re on a date. With you wearing a slinky black dress that shows off too much leg and too much cleavage that I could stare at all night. I wish I could be a different man at the moment, who wasn’t armed with eight different ways to kill a man, not including my bare hands. But if I was a different man, then I’d probably leave you to stand here while I went inside to pick up our food, and that would leave you open and vulnerable to anyone who might be walking by—or might be scoping out the joint for a wayward American woman who someone desperately wants to keep in their clutches. So we’re going inside, together. I’ll protect you from anyone who dares think they can take you from me. We’ll get the lunch Meat ordered for us and get to the hotel, where you can see Nina, we can start figuring out who’s been behind the last year of hell you’ve endured, and we can get that beautiful hair of yours all fixed up. Okay?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever owned a slinky black dress,” she blurted.
And just like that, the scowl on his face was replaced with a look she couldn’t interpret. She took a deep breath at seeing it. It was intense, and somehow it seemed like he could see right into her brain to her insecurities and doubts.
“Then I’ll make sure you have one in your closet when I do ask you out. Now, come on. I’m starving.”
And with that, Morgan followed him into the iconic American restaurant.
Exactly ten minutes later, they exited through the same door. Morgan carried a giant bag of food. Arrow had apologized, said he’d carry it, but he wanted both hands free, just in case. She had hurried to reach for the handles, happy to let him be in charge of protecting them. She’d gladly carry the food.
Her mouth watered as they walked down the sidewalk, trying to blend in with the other tourists who were milling about. She wondered why Arrow’s friends hadn’t holed up in the Marriott Hotel near the Hard Rock, but she didn’t ask. He had his reasons for everything, and so far things had worked out, so she wasn’t going to second-guess him. This was a very different area from the one she’d been held in. Touristy in comparison, and thus it felt a bit safer.
But she knew that even one block away, things could change very rapidly. One second they could be surrounded by foreigners on vacation or businessmen, and the next they could be in the slums.
They walked for several blocks toward the waterfront before they took a left and headed for a building that looked completely out of place in the poor country.
“A casino?” she asked incredulously.
“Yup,” Arrow responded. “It’s a perfect place to blend in.”
“Hide in plain sight, huh?”
“Exactly.”
Arrow looked down at her with such pride, she felt herself blushing. They walked under the brightly lit sign proclaiming the building a hotel and casino and headed straight for the elevator. Morgan assumed Arrow knew what room his friends were in, and was surprised when he hit the button for the top floor.
“I figured you’d want a room on a lower floor, for an easier escape route if needed.”
“Good thinking, but the higher the floor, the harder it is for anyone to surprise us. Black installed wireless cameras in the stairwells and elevators. No one is going to sneak up on us.”
“And if they don’t sneak, but make a blitz attack?” Morgan asked.
Again, Arrow looked pleased at her perception. “Then they’ll regret it. Believe me, between me, a former Marine; Black, a Navy SEAL; and Ball, a badass former Coast Guard officer . . . no one will be getting their hands on you or Nina anytime soon.”
Morgan knew he meant his words to be reassuring, and they were. Knowing that the other two men were just as capable of protecting her and Nina as Arrow was went a long way toward helping her relax . . . just a bit.