Free Riding Shotgun (Mercenaries 3) by Anne Kane Page B

that be. No one knew how many of the girls had escaped.
    “Kalie?” It was more of a question than a statement. The woman staring at her in shock had changed a lot since those days in the lab, but Kalie still recognized her.
    She took a deep breath. “Yeah, Winter. It’s me.”
    “Kalie!” This time her name was a squeal of delight as her former bunkmate enveloped her in a bear hug. “We thought you were dead!”
    “Easy! You’re going to kill me yourself if you keep squeezing that hard.” She couldn’t keep the joy out of her voice. She’d missed them so much.
    “So who’s your friend with the guns?” Winter took a step back, eyeing up Shotgun.
    “Not my friend.” She turned to glare at Shotgun. The fact that he just smiled cheerfully did not improve her mood. “Ask Saralyn and her new beau. Apparently he’s with them.”
    “He needs to learn not to point weapons at things he doesn’t intend to shoot at.” Winter frowned disapprovingly.
    “She’s one of us, Shotgun. You can put the gun down.” Saralyn came rushing over to hug the new arrival. “It’s been forever, Kalie. Where were you hiding all this time?”
    Kalie hugged her back, savouring the unexpected joy of being one of the group again. She’d been on her own for so long, she’d forgotten how good it felt. “In the racing pits, where else? With my ability to coax the best out of my ride, I make enough to keep me in beer, but not enough to attract attention.”
    No one asked her why she hadn’t contacted them before now. They just accepted her. They weren’t blood siblings but she considered them all to be her sisters. Sisters of the heart.
    Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Shotgun click the safety back on and lower his rifle before he moved off to talk to the tall dark-haired guy who’d been with Saralyn. After marching her into the clearing at gunpoint, he thought he could just walk away without even apologizing? Now why did that annoy her? She turned her attention back to Winter and Saralyn. “So what have you girls been up to?”
    By the time Kalie had greeted each of the girls, Shotgun had disappeared.
    Damn.
    * * *
    “Sounds like a great idea.” Shotgun answered Jackson automatically, his attention on the girl he’d tackled up on the cliff. Kalie sauntered across the clearing, arm in arm with one of the other girls. Her tight-fitting outfit outlined her luscious curves with groin-tightening detail. She’d twisted her hair up in a ponytail, a streak of brilliant blue weaving through the long dark tresses.
    His gaze fell to her shapely ass, and his cock twitched as he remembered how she’d felt beneath him. An image flashed through his mind, of her lying across the rocks up on the cliff, holding the rifle, caressing it almost. Now that he’d confirmed she wasn’t the enemy, he had to admit she stirred something deep inside him that he hadn’t known existed anymore. Something fierce and protective. Something lustful.
    “So you’ll back me up when I talk to Sarge?” Jackson slapped him on the back. “Thanks!”
    “Sure. No problem.” He sure hoped he hadn’t agreed to anything outrageous. With Jackson, you never knew what you were getting into. He remembered the time the wily mercenary had convinced them all to go to a party in the next province. Hopefully whatever he’d just agreed to wasn’t that dangerous. “Excuse me.”
    He quickened his pace, angling to intercept Kalie and Winter. Was it his imagination, or did she slow her pace to allow him to catch up?
    “Hey there. How’s it going?”
    Kalie slanted an inscrutable look from under her lashes. “Going just fine. Where did you disappear to in such a hurry back there?”
    So she’d been looking for him. “Just had to check in with Jackson, make sure I was clear for the rest of the day.”
    “And?”
    “And what?”
    “Are you free for the rest of the day?”
    “Oh, yeah. The group’s on stand-down for now.”
    “What group is that?”
    He