Against the Odds by Kat Martin Page B

eyes. She was breathing much
easier, some of the color back in her face. A little of his tension eased.
    “I...umm...always carry a Pen...in my purse,” she said,
“but...”
    “But your purse went up in flames when the chopper exploded.
It’s all right. Things happen out here.” He wanted to rail at her, yell at her
for leaving the camp and scaring him half to death, but he held himself back as
much as he could and helped her slide the jeans back up when he wanted to pull
them all the way off instead.
    “What the hell were you doing out there?”
    A blush crept into her cheeks. “What do you think? I’m human,
you know.”
    His mouth edged up. And female. No question of that. “Feeling
any better?”
    She moistened her lips, which were pink and plump and made him
think about last night and how much he’d wanted her.
    “I could use a drink of water. I know we don’t have very
much.”
    He pulled the plastic water bottle out of his pack. It was the
last of the first bottle, just enough for a couple of sips. He took the lid off,
handed it over, and she pressed it against her lips. Sabrina held the wetness in
her mouth for a couple of seconds before she swallowed.
    “Thanks.” She handed him back the now-empty bottle and tried to
sit up but he pressed her back down.
    “Give yourself a few minutes.”
    “I think I’m okay. I’m a little dizzy but I think that’s
normal.”
    “You ever had a reaction to epinephrine?”
    “No. I’ve only had to use it one other time, but I remember it
worked pretty fast.”
    His sister’s friend had been nauseous and light-headed, but
without the drug she could well have been dead.
    “You’re getting sunburned,” Alex said. Capping the needle, he
disposed of it back in its case and stuck it in the pack. Withdrawing a tube of
sunscreen, he smeared it over her forehead, cheeks and nose.
    “I swear you have everything in there but the kitchen
sink.”
    “Actually, I’ve about exhausted my bag of tricks.”
    “You...umm...mentioned you have a sister. Does she live in
Connecticut?”
    “Used to. Six months ago, Rebecca and her daughter, Ginny,
moved to Houston.”
    “That sounds nice. The two of you must be close.”
    He nodded. He loved Becca and her little girl. When he found
out his sister’s husband was abusing her, he had flown back to New Haven and
confronted the bastard. It wasn’t much of a fight, just enough to show the guy
what it felt like to have someone beat the crap out of him the way he had done
to Rebecca.
    “Her husband was knocking her around,” he said, keeping it
simple. “She left him and came to Houston with her daughter to start over.”
    Sabrina’s eyes remained on his face. They were a different
shade of blue than his own, more vibrant somehow, more a sapphire, while his
were the color of the sky.
    “You know, Alex, you’re different than I thought.”
    He grinned. “You mean I’m not the cocky jet jockey you thought
I was?”
    She laughed and he felt a sweep of relief. She was going to be
okay.
    “Oh, you’re cocky, all right. But you have a tiny, itty-bitty
hidden nice streak I missed seeing before.”
    He smiled. He was a decent guy, and
now he knew that Sabrina Eckhart was a really decent girl. The kind you took
home to meet your family—if you had a normal family—which he didn’t.
    A nice girl like Sabrina was the last thing he needed. He
wasn’t ready to get involved with a woman. He had no idea what he wanted out of
life, had been trying to figure it out since the day he graduated from Yale and
signed up to become a naval aviator. He’d loved the job, but after a while he’d
learned it wasn’t what he wanted for the rest of his life.
    He liked what he was doing now, but it didn’t seem to be
enough. Nothing did.
    Her eyes searched his face. “Saving my life is kind of getting
old, don’t you think?”
    “You could have done it yourself if you’d had your purse.”
    Something shifted in her features and the softness