Free Heart of Danger by Capri Montgomery Page A

tell, and they circled the house on a constant basis, meeting in the center of the estate in front and back each time. So far that’s what he had seen from the daytime hours, but nightfall might bring more men out to keep watch. He doubted Diego feared anybody gaining access to his fortress. Not even the local government had been able to shut him down. Micah figured that was probably because they hadn’t wanted to. The money they made, off the books, from this guy probably bought him a lot of freedoms.
     
    Preston joined them. “The side entry is all we’ve got. Let’s get positioned.”
     
    “Yeah,” Micah mumbled. He didn’t want to move. He needed to see her, to ensure himself that she was indeed still alive and that they were going to get her out of there, but at the same time he couldn’t stay in his position forever. He needed to take up their attack position and be there when they were ready to go in. They had their weapons and other equipment. They were ready. Now all they needed was the cover of darkness to mask their attack.
     
    “She’s our only concern,” Preston said. “Everybody else is just collateral damage.”
     
    “You don’t have to tell me that twice,” Alex was ready to go in guns loaded and aimed to kill. The kid had a bit of a wild streak, impulsive at times, but he was good at what he did. He hadn’t spent six years in the Marines, training to be the best of the best for nothing. But sometimes they all had to remind him to take a step back. This time, it seemed Micah was too busy trying to remind himself to curtail his fury to worry about trying to keep the kid of the group settled.
     
    Micah wondered if Alex had a thing for Natalia. They were close. She laughed and talked the most with him. He was the one she listed as her emergency contact, and he was the one, out of all of them, who seemed to have just as much anger as Micah had right now. They were all angry, but the anger Micah felt coming off of Alex was the anger of a man who cared more deeply than just employee relations for Natalia. It had been his idea to have her go out to the bar with them that night. It had been he who offered to take her home and for a brief moment it seemed Natalia was more willing to go with Alex than she was with him. Had he not shut Alex down it would have been Alex who spent the night on her couch.
     
    Preston and Jet fell back to another hidden position, leaving Micah and Alex on the ground closer to the estate for now.
     
    “I have to ask,” Micah surveyed the area once again. “Is there something between you and Natalia?”
     
    Alex snorted. “Air Force didn’t make you too smart when it comes to people did it? She’s in love with you, fool. She’s been falling in love with you for the past eight years. It wasn’t my place to tell you. I figured the two of you would figure it out eventually, but when it all hits the fan sometimes covering over the sweet stuff isn’t so important anymore.” He fell back and Micah followed him. They stood a better chance at staying concealed until night if they weren’t as close to the estate as they were now.
     
    Alex’s words flittered through Micah’s mind. Natalia was in love with him. He hadn’t seen that. He didn’t know. And maybe what hit him the hardest was that he was happy about it. He wanted her to be in love with him—why? Why would he want that when she was Natalia the employee? She wasn’t his type, yet he wanted her to be his type. He shrugged off the thought. In a lot of ways she was actually his type. She was smart, loyal, honest…those were traits he wanted in a woman. Those were the important things, not the physical, but he had a habit of focusing on the physical a little too much. And if he really opened his eyes here he would admit that she was a physically attractive woman. He remembered how she danced that night, and all the sensations he had while watching her do it. He groaned.
     
    “Save it for when we get her