Page 69 of Silk Shadow

Viper didn't know when he'd ever been this happy.

Sure, he'd had successful ops that had made him happy, ecstatic even. Flings that were memorable, but they all paled in comparison to the heady, intoxicating few days with Izzy.

They'd spent a lot of time in their room making love. She'd surprised him with her spontaneity. When she let down her guard and opened up, she was funny and entertaining, even a little wild. He loved that about her.

Then there was the way she'd just let go and embraced their time together. Viper felt privileged that he’d caught a rare glimpse of the real Izzy Beaumont, the part that nobody else saw. The part she kept hidden under her professional demeanor and her carefully curated social profile. This side of her, only her best friends and a few lucky lovers got to see.

They'd swum in the hotel pool and gone for long walks on the beach. They'd talked about their pasts and their childhoods, and he'd told her things he'd never told anyone, not even his buddies in the military.

"Don't you remember your parents at all?" she asked one afternoon after they'd skinny-dipped in the ocean and were drying off on a big towel before walking back to the hotel.

"Not really. After my mother died, I was sent to live with my grandparents, and when they died, I was put into foster care. My only memory is a hazy woman with dark hair singing me a lullaby, but that could also be something I dreamed up along the way."

She'd looked at him with such tenderness. "I'm sorry you had such a hard start in life."

He shrugged. "It wasn't that bad. I was fifteen when my grandfather died, and sixteen when I enlisted. So, I was only in foster care for ten months, and I spent most of it camping in the woods behind my new family's house." He grinned at her. "It made me a lot more resilient during SEAL training. I was used to living off the land, fending for myself."

Her eyes had welled with sympathy. "No child should have to live like that."

"I was a big fifteen-year-old. I could look after myself."

"I'm sure you could." She ran her hands down his arms, her fingertips tracing his biceps, triceps, and forearms. "But it's still not right."

"No, but that's life, right? We just have to make the best of whatever situation we find ourselves in."

"Can't argue with you there." And she'd wriggled on top of him and kissed him until his head spun. They'd made love on the beach before walking back, hand in hand.

Was this what a real relationship was like?

He had nothing to base it on. His past relationships had been short-lived flings and one-night stands with women he knew from the local bar. With his schedule, he never knew when he'd be called up for an op or deployed into a war zone. Consequently, he'd never looked for anyone that he couldn't say goodbye to and not look back.

Until now.

But he wasn’t a goddamned fool. He knew this perfect idyll wouldn't last.

Izzy had to get back to work and he had to get back to guarding her. The question he was afraid to ask was: where did that leave their relationship?

Maybe it was best not to dwell on it.

Live in the moment. Wasn’t that what Izzy was doing?

He was used to living like that. During a mission, you had no choice but to live in the moment. When bullets were flying by and grenades were exploding around you, all you could think about was survival. Nothing else mattered. Any peripheral thought, any distraction could get you killed.

That's why he made sure he never had any.

He realized his mistake in letting his guard down when they were walking back into the hotel after a stroll around the moonlit gardens and a man in khaki combat pants and a black shirt stepped out of the bushes.

Viper saw him first, and shoved Izzy behind him. She gasped, as he drew his weapon. He'd stopped wearing his vest, but he never went anywhere without his Glock.

"Don't be alarmed," said the stranger. "I only want to talk."

"Who are you?" Viper leveled his pistol at the intruder.

"My name is Gert Henderson, CEO of GHMG Holdings."

"The mining conglomerate?" Izzy said, poking her head out from behind him.

"Yes, Miss Beaumont. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like a few minutes of your time."