Free Warrior's Heart (SEAL of Fortune) by Laura Day

same man who will pull the trigger to kill her dad. How could she have been so foolish?
     
    If she had known that her dad was getting money from DARPA she would have never worked on the project. And now, because of it, look at what has happened! Ronnie lies quietly on the bed, her mind a whirlwind of thoughts, staring into the gathering darkness until she finally falls asleep, not even realizing she hasn’t eaten since lunch.
     
    ***
     
    Wednesday morning Ryker forces himself to get up and go perform his normal workout. He hadn’t slept much the night before and he needs something to shake off the cobwebs. The equipment is scheduled to arrive at the distributor today. If Mahmud calls the spooks can do their thing and maybe this will all be over today. Not a minute too soon either. He is ready to get out of this fucking country and never come back.
     
    His normal workout takes forty-five minutes to an hour, depending on the day and the muscle group he is working. Today it takes two because he works himself to exhaustion, trying to clear his head. As he stands in the shower, letting the water pour over him, his thoughts are circling in an ever tightening spiral, tearing at him for his stupidity of having gotten involved with Ronnie in the first place. Looking back on the events, he isn’t even sure how it happened. It just sort of… did. There was no conscious decision, and he damn sure didn’t mean to—if not fall in love—at least become attached to her.
     
    He doesn’t love her. Not really. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still hurt to lose her. But he was falling for her, that much is true. He should have broken if off after that first night, when Hargraves had warned him off. But no, he had gone on being stupid, and just kept seeing her, knowing it was a bad idea.  
     
    He slaps the shower off. Serves him right for thinking with the wrong head. He just wishes he hadn’t hurt Ronnie in the process.
     
    ***
     
    Ronnie picks at her breakfast. After missing dinner last night, she should be starving, but she has no appetite. She had slept on the bed fully clothed last night. Well, slept in only the most general terms. She had tossed and turned last night, drifting in and out of sleep, her thoughts troubled.
     
    The problem is, she doesn’t know how to feel. Sometimes she is thankful that Ryker is willing to stop seeing her so he will be the one to go in for her father. Other times she is pissed off that Hargraves has put them in this impossible situation. Sometimes she is aghast that Ryker admitted to being willing to shoot her father in cold blood, but then that thought is tempered by the idea if he would tell her the truth about that, then he is probably telling her the truth that he is willing to die trying to get him out.
     
    The only thing she knows for certain is that she and Ryker are finished. Whatever feelings she had for him are gone, stabbed through the heart by what he is willing to do. How can she ever care for a man that is willing to shoot her dad? 
     
    She pushes her eggs around on her plate. On the other hand, does that matter? If Ryker didn’t go, someone else would, and her dad would be just as dead. If he weren’t committed to the mission, willing to do what has to be done, the next man might be more willing to take the easy way out and not even try to extract him.
     
    As she stares at her plate, looking for answers, she can feel the tears coming. She tries to hold them back, but they won’t be stopped. She quickly rises from her table, not clearing her meal, and rushes to the restroom, the door closing behind her just as she can hold the tears no longer.
     
    Ronnie spends several minutes weeping softly, mourning the potential loss of her father… and the loss of the man she thought she knew.
     

 
    CHAPTER FOURTEEN
     
    “Petty Officer Evans, please report to the motor pool immediately. Your mission is a go,” the young Marine says.
     
    Ryker springs to his feet and