Defending Morgan (Mountain Mercenaries #3)(36)

“She was held captive?” Morgan interrupted.

“She was kidnapped by an obsessed man who wanted her to be his sex slave. Gray helped her escape, but she was taken again. We went in and found her almost immediately, though.”

“I’m not sure it matters whether or not someone is held for one day or three hundred and sixty-five,” Morgan said. “The feeling of helplessness is the same.”

“Damn, you’re wise,” Black said with a small smile.

Morgan shrugged. “Pragmatic. I’ve had to learn to be that way.”

Arrow picked up her hand and kissed the palm before putting it back in her lap. “You’ll get to meet the rest of the team, and Allye and Chloe—she’s with Ro; he’s the British bloke. She recently lost her brother, who was the only family she had left. I’m sure she and Ro will invite you to stay with them, as well. Or I can take you to a hotel, if that’s your preference. Or you can come back to my place with me. It’s just an apartment, and not nearly as nice or fancy as Gray’s house, but you’d be safe there.”

“Do I have to decide right this second?” Morgan asked.

“No. And once you do decide, you can change your mind at any time,” Arrow told her.

“Thank you.”

“We need to talk about tomorrow and the press conference,” Black said.

“Not to mention she really needs to get checked out by a doctor,” Ball added.

Arrow held up his hand to stop his friends from saying anything more. “Right now, we’ll celebrate the fact that Morgan is free. She’s back home and safe with people who care about her. Everything else can wait until tomorrow.”

Black nodded and relaxed in his seat.

Morgan could tell the other man was frustrated, but she gave him points for letting it go. And Arrow was right. She was overwhelmed, and the last thing she wanted to do was think, let alone talk, about dealing with the press tomorrow or seeing a doctor. She had no idea what to tell the media. They’d want to know what happened to her and where she’d been for the last year. They’d ask questions about who she thought had kidnapped her and other things she had no answers to. Just thinking about it made her head hurt.

“Don’t,” Arrow said softly.

She looked over at him. He’d shaved before they’d left Santo Domingo, but the scruff had grown back a bit, giving him a badass vibe. He and the others were still wearing the black cargo pants they’d had on in the Caribbean, but they’d taken off the vests and emptied most of their pockets.

“Don’t what?” she asked.

“Don’t think about tomorrow right now. One minute at a time, remember?”

She smiled. “Yeah.”

He returned her grin, and Morgan did her best to relax. She’d trusted these men with her life, and they hadn’t let her down. It had been a long time since she’d hung out with people for fun . . . since she was snatched, in fact, but this seemed different. More important. She wanted Allye and Chloe to like her for who she was. Not because she was another woman the Mountain Mercenaries had saved.

They drove for a while, and Ball explained that Gray lived north of Colorado Springs in a remote neighborhood where most of the houses faced Pikes Peak. Eventually, she saw fewer and fewer buildings and more and more trees. They drove down a street with tall pine trees on either side, and the limo turned onto a long driveway that Morgan wouldn’t even have known was there if she’d been driving.

Then she was staring out the window at a huge house. The men in the limo with her hadn’t been exaggerating the size of the place, after all. There was a garage off to the side of the main house, but all Morgan’s attention was glued to the people standing on the front porch.

The limo stopped, and Black and Ball immediately jumped out, leaving Morgan and Arrow.

“They won’t bite,” Arrow teased.

Morgan turned to him. “I know. It’s just . . . what if they don’t like me?”

“Beautiful, they’re going to love you. Come on.” And with that, he scooted over to the door and held out his hand. Morgan took a deep breath and placed her hand in his. The second his fingers closed around hers, she settled. That was all it took.

They climbed out and headed for the group. Arrow kept a firm grip on her hand, as if he knew she was a second from bolting back to the limo, and stopped after they had climbed a couple of steps and were standing in front of everyone.

“This is Morgan Byrd,” Arrow announced. “Morgan, meet the best group of friends a man could have.”

“Hi,” Morgan said softly. “It’s good to meet you.”

“No, it’s good to meet you,” Allye said, before stepping forward and hugging Morgan warmly.

Morgan stiffened for a moment, not sure how she felt about being hugged by a stranger, but Allye must’ve sensed her reticence, as she immediately let go and stepped back.

“I’m Chloe,” the woman with the straight black hair said, holding out a hand. “We’re so glad you’re all right. We don’t get to meet the women our guys help that often, so it’s an honor to be your welcome party.”

“I’m Gray,” a man who stood over a foot taller than her said, and held out his hand.

Morgan shook it, keeping her left hand firmly tucked in Arrow’s grasp.