Edge of Brotherhood (Love on the Edge Book 6) Read online

  A shot of heat hit my core with her words. That had been our signature line whenever we noticed the other was too much inside their own head. It happened to both of us more often than either of us liked. Natural with our history, and even more so with the lives we led—always on the cusp of danger that could snuff your light out in a blink.

  I shook my head, leaning back in my seat and turning so I could face her. Her blue eyes read me easily and she glanced around at our newly appointed crew before smiling. She cupped my cheek, rubbing her thumb over the stubble that had grown in the last five hours since I’d shaved. “They’ll be fine.”

  “Who said I’m worried?” I tried to smirk but I’m sure my grin came out looking more pathetic at trying to hide anything from her. Rain had the incredible ability to cut through all manner of bullshit, as well as any walls I’d throw up to keep things from her—well, I didn’t do that anymore but I had when she’d come back into my life after a nine-year absence. Which was my fault, too, and I’d spent every day since making it up to her, despite her continuously telling me I didn’t have to. She’d forgiven me for leaving her all those years ago—after her father had died right in front of me—long before I’d forgiven myself. Which was a continued work in progress.

  “They know what they signed up for,” she said, keeping her voice so low only I could hear her. “Unless,” she said, slitting her eyes, “you’re still worried about me?”

  “I always worry about you.” I kissed the angry line from her mouth. “No. I was an idiot last night. I shouldn’t have asked you to stay behind.”

  “Damn straight you shouldn’t have.” She smoothed the crease between my brow. “So where are you at?”

  I released a deep sigh and closed my eyes. On the backs of my lids I saw the dense jungle that had more shades of green than I had names for. I could hear its many voices, as it was never silent—all kinds of creatures making their presence known in a beautiful and terrifying way. And finally, I saw a lake that was so out of place it could’ve been a find in itself, but the ornately carved stone structure peeking out of it was what had my breath stalling.

  “Paititi,” I whispered. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I’d found the City of Gold but I knew I needed proof for the rest of the world. As for me? I couldn’t explain it. It was something in my blood that settled after a find—which could sometimes take years of searching. That sensation pulsed inside me now, right alongside adrenaline, anxiousness, and fear. I wasn’t afraid of failing, or being wrong. What made it hard to sleep at night was knowing I was putting a crew I hadn’t known more than two days under my responsibility.

  Each of their lives were now attached to mine, whether they’d admit it or not. They wouldn’t be traveling to the jungle if not for me. They wouldn’t have had to say goodbye to their girls who had tried to hide their tears outside the airport. I’d promised both Blake and Sadie I’d bring them back. And if Wade had someone, she hadn’t been there, or I would’ve promised her, too. Three lives—strangers’ lives—was a lot to take on, but exploring the City of Gold would be worth it. Harrison, Rain’s father, who I often still spoke to despite his passing, would be proud.

  “I can’t wait to see it,” Rain said after a few moments.

  “It’s beautiful. Deadly, but beautiful.”

  “We’ll be careful. Everything will work out.” She teasingly ran her fingers up and down my thigh. “It always does.”

  The more pressure she put behind her touch, the more focused my mind became. The carnal need to feel Rain against me successfully pushed the worry from my mind. I leaned over, swiping my tongue along her lips. Her blue eyes went molten as I sunk my fingers into her hair, drawing her closer so I could slant my mouth over hers. I didn’t care that we were mid-flight, that my new crew could be watching. I needed to taste her. She knew it, too, because she arched her head back, allowing me to stroke her deeper. I ran my hands down the side of her arms until I could grip her thighs. She jerked her head back to take a stuttered breath, her cheeks flushed, and she wiggled slightly in her seat.

  A slow grin finally shaped my lips.

  “You’re with me now,” she said, clearly wanting me to amend my earlier answer to our special question. Her eyes were bright with lust, and I wanted her that much more.

  “Always,” I said, bringing her hand to my mouth and kissing it tenderly.

  She eyed the bulge straining against my khaki shorts, and I adjusted so it wasn’t glaringly obvious. My dick begged me to take her to the bathroom and join the mile-high club, but Rain wasn’t a girl you fucked in a bathroom. She was my wife. The light in the darkness that had been my life. She deserved time enough to worship her body until she wept, not a quickie.

  After another hour of teasing her with deep kisses and whispers of what I’d do to her once we set up camp, I rose from my seat to stretch in the small space of the aisle.

  Connell and Dash took that as their cue to do the same, and soon after Wade followed.

  “And here they stand,” Wade said. “The E.D.G.E. men in all their pre-expedition glory.”

  A smile tugged at my lips. Try as I might to resist the guy’s jokes, I had to give him credit, he was hitting the mark perfectly as he jabbed at the studio’s grand ideas of what four men who liked to live dangerously could do on one show. I didn’t care about all that. I cared about Paititi and what these guys could do to help me reap all the site had to offer.

  Wade nodded to Dash, who leaned over his seat to face us instead of standing. “You think we’ll see any twisters?”

  Dash shook his head. “No. More like so much rain we’ll be breathing it in. The area we’re going is at a higher elevation due to the mountains surrounding the jungle, so we could be dealing with torrential downpours capable of raising the Amazon River, and even more capable of washing us all off the site.”

  “Fuck,” Wade said, as he stretched his arms over his head. “Good thing you picked the weather man.” He smacked my shoulder.

  Dash’s jaw clenched at the term, but he let it slide. Something I was quickly learning about Dash Lexington: the dude could keep his cool. I liked that. That kind of chaotic calm was something I definitely needed on the team. “He’s the best atmospheric scientist in the US.”

  Dash glanced at the floor. “Let’s not go that far.”

  “Daniel told me all about you, Dash. No use in trying to be humble.” The guy was too much. Humble, smart, loved his woman as much as I loved Rain. Fuck, I bet he didn’t even have a speeding ticket. There wasn’t any darkness in his eyes, not like I could see in both Connell’s and Wade’s—easily recognizable because I saw it constantly in the mirror. I wasn’t sure if the other guys’ darkness was there because of a death, but I could attest for mine.

  Seeing death, feeling like you caused it, it was something that changed your general makeup and darkened your outlook. Rain brought the light back to my life. Maybe Sadie had for Connell.

  Dash looked like he’d never been touched by it. I couldn’t decide if I envied him that or if it made me like him more. It was almost refreshing seeing someone who totally had their shit together. I had married my soulmate and was able to travel with her all over the globe, but I was still haunted by nightmares of Harrison’s death and too many close calls with Rain’s life than I could count.

  “Whatever.” Dash waved me off. “But you can be sure you won’t be surprised. If we have to run, I’ll at least give you a five-second head start.”

  “Nice,” I said. Fuck, I hope he’s joking.

  “Blake mentioned you guys had a close call recently?” Rain piped up from her seat, glancing at Dash. Her and Blake and even Sadie had become fast friends, bonding over dinner and drinks last night as I tried to give the guys a crash course in Survival 101.

  “Yeah.” Dash cleared his throat, his eyes shifting down to the back of his seat for a moment.

  Oh, maybe you do have some grit in you.

  “Blake went after an F-4. I wasn’t there,” he
said, that muscle in his jaw ticking once again. “When I found her, she’d been hit by a massive piece of debris. I thought I’d lost her.”

  “Damn,” Connell said, finally breaking his silent streak. I hadn’t pushed for conversation because, honestly, the dude looked a little green, and if he was getting airsick I didn’t want to draw attention to it.

  “Blake told me about that one,” Rain said. “But she said there was one more recent? An F-5, I think?” She stumbled over the proper classification of the storm, and I was grateful she was in the dark in that area as much as I was. Dash had gone off on a weather tangent last night, all hyped up about measurements and predictions and charts, and I didn’t have a fucking clue what he was saying.

  “Oh!” Something clicked behind Dash’s eyes. “I forgot about that one.” Rain raised an eyebrow at him, and he shrugged. “It wasn’t any closer than others we’ve had. Though, it was a monster. Almost a mile wide. The tornado had shifted course just as we approached it from the southwest. My crew hung back but Blake and me . . . we had to get closer. We always have to get closer.” He chuckled like he’d shared an inside joke before quickly moving on. “Anyway, a tree trunk slammed under the truck. We were stuck and had to bolt. I’ve never run so fast in my life. Footage was amazing, though.”

  Connell shook his head. “I lived there half my life . . .” He glanced at Wade and myself. “Oklahoma. We’re from the same area.” He motioned to Dash. “And I never saw one up close. For a minute I thought I wanted to. I’d run into a couple of chasers, and they made it sound so easy.”

  “It’s not,” Dash said, grinning. “But if you ever want to come on a chase, any of you, I’ll take you.” He sucked in a breath. “Never been diving. Not much opportunity for that, other than lakes, in Oklahoma.”

  Connell nodded. “That’s where I learned. Lakes. Nothing compared to the ocean, though.” He pulled back the hair that had fallen out of its tie and secured it. “Being under the water, that deep, it’s like being on another planet. Of course, it tries to kill me as often as your tornados do, I’m sure.” He damn near laughed but settled on a tiny smile I wasn’t even sure could be considered one. He was the definition of sulky, and I wondered how he could do what he loved and have someone as beautiful as Sadie, and be . . . mopey. Of course, I knew it wasn’t my place to judge. I had days where I couldn’t stand anyone other than Rain, even myself.

  “On our last site,” he continued, “I got stuck between an expanse of fire coral and a group of tiger sharks. The coral had nicked me through my suit,” he said, holding up his arm to show a one-inch scar that you could barely see through the tattoos. “Once the blood hit the water, I was certain I was done.” He sighed and put his arm down. “Sadie wasn’t having that shit. Woman shot an underwater flare toward them, yanked my ass free, and we booked it to the surface.” That same almost-smile came back, but he quickly crossed his arms over his chest, glancing at me first, then Wade.

  “Last week I drove a motorcycle through a brick wall before doing a back flip off it while holding a pair of .45s.” Wade opted to go first.

  “Real brick?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Mostly. Loose mortar though.” He shrugged.

  “Any damages?”

  “To the wall. And the bike.” A sad look flashed across Wade’s eyes. “I loved that bike.”

  “Easton thought it would be a good idea to try to sweet-talk a lioness in Africa a few months ago,” Rain said before I could call on my own story of survival.

  “I’m standing right here.” I motioned to where I stood not a foot from her. “Why not tell them about the time you flirted with a tiger and it sank its claws in you?” I hissed at my own recollection of the story, though thank God I hadn’t been there to witness it. I’m all for protecting wildlife, but I would’ve fucking torn that tiger’s head off and worn it like a madman’s trophy.

  The next two hours were spent rehashing tales of survival and close calls and the high that is only experienced by nearly dying. If any of the scarce passengers on the plane were listening to us, I’m sure we sounded certifiable. But it was good, the stories, the shared chaos in our professions. We weren’t heroes—not cops or firefighters or military who put their lives at risk to save people. We were just people with a passion for knowledge, adrenaline, and being the damn best at what we do. The fact that we were so much alike in this regard had worry nagging at the back of my head again, causing a wicked headache I couldn’t shake for the rest of the flight.

  We were all the best at what we did. There was no denying that. And I wondered if it would become a problem when we actually had to work together—not just sit around swapping scary stories. When push came to shove, I needed these guys to be able to take orders. I’d spent years cultivating relationships with local tribesmen, spoke fluent Spanish and other tribal variations of the language, and knew the area better than any of them. Even Rain, which was a rarity. It wasn’t hard to see that I was taking the reins on this particular “special” even though we were all equal in our respected fields. And while I was happy to take on the responsibility of their lives and getting them home safely, I had to hope they’d be smart enough to listen to me.

  Once again I wished the studio had given us more time to get to know each other before shoving us out the door. I’d asked for as much, but their need to shoot this in Dash and my show’s off seasons, plus this being the lower end of the constant state of rain in the Amazon, they wouldn’t hear of it.

  “You’ll whip them into shape on the journey. By the time you get back with the footage unveiling the City of Gold, you’ll all be brothers.”

  Glancing at Dash, Connell, and then Wade, all of which were sleeping while I was up worrying about this shit, I wanted what Robert had said to be true. It was too early to tell.

  The only thing I was certain of was the network had brought together four alpha wolfs, and I hoped to hell we’d defy the odds and form a pack.

  Our lives depended on it.

  I LEANED AGAINST the concrete building of Alejandro Velasco Astete International, trying like hell to get my stomach to settle. I hadn’t eaten anything in the past seven hours—only able to scarf down a few crackers on the too long plane ride before I’d thrown them up—but my stomach rolled and threatened to spew bile over the pavement beneath my feet. I clenched my eyes shut and took a deep breath through my nose, letting it out slowly. Thankfully the other guys were busy talking to a helicopter pilot on the tarmac and didn’t notice my struggle. Last thing I needed was to catch shit about airsickness from my new crew.

  Sadie’s eyes flashed behind my closed lids, along with that damn smile of hers. When she had told me the exact reason why she was pulling us off a site in Jamaica to fly to L.A., I had been tempted to strangle her. The hopeful look in her eyes, matched by those lips curving up into a plea I couldn’t resist, brought me to my knees instead of doling out much deserved punishment. After she had come into my life, I’d gotten ten times better at communicating with other people—something I had struggled with since my brother’s death—if only a few words at a time. Somehow she’d taken those baby steps as a cue to insert an application on my behalf for a fucking television show.

  I shook my head, a smirk cracking my lips. That woman. If it weren’t for her I would still be calling Death an old friend and begging him to find me in the darkest and deepest portions of the ocean. She’d saved my ass in more ways than one, and I loved her for it—fuck, I loved her for just about everything she did. Hell, she was even adorable when raging mad at me. She hadn’t been in a while, though, and after agreeing to do this show—led by her favorite reality star, Easton Wells—I probably racked up enough brownie points to get away with just about anything when I got back.

  I licked my lips, the send-off she gave me fresh in my mind. I hadn’t wanted to say goodbye to her to get on a plane for nearly twelve hours just to be stuck in the middle of the fucking jungle, but I couldn’t be mad at how she’d said goodbye.

&n
bsp; She’d woken me up in nothing but a black lace thong and my softest white T-shirt that I’d worn the day before. When I’d slipped my hands beneath the lace, she had already been slick and ready for me. She didn’t rush it, electing instead to tease me with those delicious hips rolling against me until I went wild with want.

  The hotel bed was likely broken, and I still had her claw marks in my back and her taste in my mouth. She made damn sure of it, too. Sucking in another long breath, I could almost smell her signature scent of sun and sand and salt, and it helped to soothe the waves rolling in my stomach. The teasing images left me with a much more urgent ache, one that wouldn’t be satisfied until I’d returned home and got her wet again.

  “The angle you’re holding up that wall really brings out the massiveness of your guns,” Wade said, and I snapped my eyes open. “Do you live at the gym or did they get that way from wrestling sharks?”

  Moving slow so I didn’t roll my damn stomach again, I shifted to where my arms were crossed over my chest and stared Wade down. The guy wasn’t all bad, but I hadn’t decided what I thought about him just yet. Dash and I got along instantly and easily enough as we shared stomping grounds back in Oklahoma.

  Easton was on my shit list because Sadie had drooled over him every Friday night for the better part of a year, and while I’d always had the excuse that our paths would never cross to get jealous, somehow fate had brought us together. If it weren’t for that reason alone, I could respect his no-bullshit attitude and the way he took charge of situations. But, again, Sadie giggled around him like a schoolgirl so I couldn’t like him on principle.

  And Wade. The joker. Probably the biggest adrenaline junkie of us all. He was in the middle of the list, and him interrupting the time I needed to get my shit together was moving him dangerously close to the same column Easton occupied.

  “You don’t say much,” Wade continued when I hadn’t answered his question. He pulled out a sucker from his pocket, quickly unwrapped the paper around it, and popped it in his mouth. “I bet I can guess the reason for that,” he said.