Relentless by Kaylea Cross Page B

they reached her door. If she asked and he said no, it would make any further association with him awkward. If he took her up on her offer, things would never be the same between them.
    But when she went to put the key card in the lock mechanism, Rhys stopped her by closing his hand over hers. She glanced over her shoulder at him, his touch and nearness stealing the air from her lungs.
    “I'll do it,” he said, taking it from her.
    Do what? Oh, her door. Right. Biting back a retort about not needing him to take care of her, Nev stepped back and allowed him past her. Not that she had much choice. The set expression on his face convinced her any resistance would be an exercise in futility.
    He slid the card into the slot and unlocked the door. “Stay here.”
    His high-handed attitude got her hackles up. She would've argued, but he was already through the door, so she folded her arms across her chest and waited for him to come back, which he did in a few seconds.
    “Coast is clear.”
    She raised her brows. “Really?” What had he expected to find in her room? Assassins hiding behind the curtains? She strode in and shut the door, finding him studying the paperback about Delta Force she'd laid on the night table.
    He met her gaze, amusement sparkling in his eyes. “Doing some research?”
    She flushed guiltily. No way for her to deny it now. “I was interested in what you did, and thought it might help me get to know you better.”
    In the ensuing silence, his steady gaze made her want to squirm. Finally, he spoke. “If there's something you want to know, why don't you just ask me?”
    She put her hands on her hips. “You'd tell me?”
    “If I can.”
    His answer startled her. “So anything I want to know, I can just ask you and you'll tell me.” If he could. Barring the interest of national security and all that.
    “Yes.”
    Okay, then. She cocked her head, considering him. “Why did you join up?”
    “The Army?”
    She nodded.
    His shrug was almost negligent. “Ben and I had it tough as kids. When we graduated from high school, neither of us had a clue what we wanted to do.” He ran his gaze around the room rather than look at her. “The Army seemed like a good place to keep us in line and it was a way to get an education paid for.”
    “So you served out your time there and then went into the Ranger Corps?”
    “We both served with the Rangers. I left when I was twenty-five to try for Delta.”
    She couldn't understand his decision. Did he like killing so much? “Why stay in when you had a Bachelor's degree under your belt?”
    He lifted his wide shoulders. “I was good at it. Delta was the next tier to reach after the Rangers. I fit in well there.”
    He was good at it? A lead ball settled in her stomach. Her brain refused to compute what he was telling her. Having read about the grueling selection process and the kinds of operations he would have performed, she couldn't reconcile those things with the man she saw in front of her.
    For God's sake, he'd held her hand to comfort her after he'd pulled her out of her prison.
    She struggled to put her feelings into words. “I guess I just have trouble believing you could live that way.” And do those awful things when he had to.
    She didn't think for a moment he would use lethal force unless it was absolutely necessary. No way would he relax his discipline, not even under extreme stress in the field. She would bet her life on that. Still, knowing he had killed and was good at it unnerved her.
    He faced her. “Why's that?”
    She wasn't the type to mince words. Her tendency for bluntness surprised people, but it was who she was. So she simply said what was on her mind. “You don't seem like a killer.”
    A hard smile touched his lips. “I am when I need to be.”
    A cold shiver passed through her. Human life was the most precious commodity on earth. How could he take lives in the name of duty when she knew the other side of him, the kind, gentle