Free Desire Unmatched: 4 (Coded for Love) by Lynne Silver Page B

phone buzzed, sending her body straight to
sitting. She raced to the bathroom, ran a brush over her hair and another one
over her teeth, then hurried out the door.
    She ran to the conference room, praying she hadn’t missed
his arrival. She reenacted her scene from hours earlier, bursting into the
conference room. This time only a tiny handful of soldiers was there, Shep and
Mr. Bristack among them.
    “Emma,” Shep said, standing. “I thought you’d gone to bed.”
    She looked around the room. “I couldn’t sleep. Is he close?”
    All the men in the room stood and came toward her. “Gavin
called. He picked him up from the airport and they’re a few minutes out. We’re
meeting them at the front gate. Come with us.”
    She fell into the group, walking with them, only realizing
she wasn’t wearing shoes when they exited the front gate. It was a cold night
and her toes instantly howled in protest. She ignored the discomfort. She could
put up with a little cold, especially when Xander had put up with God knows
what.
    She stood in the small group, suddenly feeling a buzz of
energy go through the men. She didn’t have the enhanced night vision they did,
but soon she could see the black SUV breaking off from the main road and
turning toward them.
    Her heartbeat counted the seconds until the gate swung open
and the large car rolled in and came to a stop in front of her group. She
squinted, trying to see into the tinted windows, unable to see whether Xander
was in the backseat or the front passenger. She supposed it was a good sign it
wasn’t an ambulance. Dimly, she heard two car doors slam and two men were
walking out of the car toward them. She only had eyes for Xander, who looked
thinner and a lot hairier. He had a full beard and his normally shaved head had
hair at least an inch and a half long.
     
    Xander blinked in the shadows at the floodlight pouring from
above the doorway of the main office building. The light formed a circle around
a huddle of people, presumably there to greet him.
    The cold air seeped into his skin under the thin button-down
shirt he wore. He wished he hadn’t rejected Gavin’s offer of a blanket to wrap
up in on the car ride home, but he’d had to turn it down. He was fine.
Returning home wrapped in a blanket like some kind of invalid was a guaranteed
way to incur his father’s scorn.
    He wondered what his father’s attitude would’ve been if he’d
come home in a blanket, only on a gurney with the blanket pulled over his stiff
face. He didn’t get another second to think that morbid thought.
    Emma was in the group. Looking more beautiful than in his
imagination. He’d pictured her every day of his capture and still she exceeded
every image of his memory. His feet turned his body toward her and he reached a
hand out before snatching it back.
    Every second of every day he’d been gone he’d wanted to get
the hell out of his captivity and return home. For his match. Emma. Standing
inches away from her and not grabbing her to kiss her was more deadly torture
than anything his Marseille abductors could’ve cooked up.
    “Xander,” she whispered, separating from the group and
stepping toward him.
    He couldn’t let her see her effect on him. His reasons for
keeping his distance from her hadn’t changed in his absence. His father was
still a controlling dick, and he still had to keep his distance from Emma, no
matter how he might want it different.
    “What are you doing here?” He forced a scowl and went for an
intimidating tone.
    “You’re home. Did you really think I wouldn’t be here?”
    He’d forgotten the beauty of her accent, feminine, so
different from his voice. He took another second to let her feel the full
weight of his glare. She needed to run from him. Now. If she stayed close, he
couldn’t contain his inner joy at seeing her again after so long.
    He took a step toward Commander Shepard and the rest of the
gang, knowing they had a million questions about his