“I’m beginning to think you don’t need us at all,” Swanny muttered. “I honestly think you could kick someone’s ass all by yourself if they tried to mess with you.”

“Money can only buy so much,” Eden said in amusement. “But no, I’m not just a pretty face, not that I ever thought you thought so. My brothers and father have always taught me to defend myself and I’m actually an excellent shot with both pistols and rifles. And as I told you previously, though you showed me up quite nicely, David and Micah had been working with me on self-defense moves and a variety of martial arts techniques.”

“I’m more than happy to take over that aspect of your training,” Swanny said, a grin pulling at the corner of his mouth.

“Enough flirting, you two. I’m starving,” Skylar said. “And I’m excited to see the city at night from the river. I think this is going to be so cool.”

Swanny glanced up at Edge. “We all set?”

Edge nodded. “Car is around back waiting.”

Swanny reached for Eden’s arm, pulling her into his side, wrapping his arm around her waist as they stepped from the entry to the hotel room. The door swung closed and Swanny ensured it was shut tight and not ajar and then tightened his hold on Eden.

“Then let’s get on with your night, honey. I want you to enjoy yourself.”

“Oh I will,” she said in a low voice as the others went ahead of them. “How could I not when I’m with you?”

The surge of satisfaction that filled his chest lasted the entire car ride to the riverside dock.

CHAPTER 25

SWANNY relied on his gut for just about everything. It had saved his ass—and others’—more times than he could count. His teammates joked and said he had a sixth sense for sniffing out danger, but they didn’t argue that when he spoke, they listened. They accepted without reservation when he hesitated and they acted accordingly.

Six months ago on a seemingly simple extraction, it had all gone to hell and they could have all died if it weren’t for Swanny and his legendary “gut.” They’d been sent to go in and out, cover and protect an ambassador’s wife and daughter and take them from a precarious, escalating situation in an unstable country.

Swanny had known something was off the minute they retrieved the wife and daughter. Joe had started to lead the way to the back of the house where a helicopter was landing to complete the extrication, and Swanny had frozen, calling out to Joe as he stepped from the house.

Thirty seconds later, they would have been in the chopper when it exploded into fiery pieces, courtesy of a grenade launcher.

So now as he stood with Eden, Skylar and Edge, preparing to board the dinner boat, he marveled that his gut was quiet. No screaming at him that there was imminent danger or that he was an idiot for giving in to Eden’s request for dinner on a f**king boat.

Eden looked as excited as a child at Christmas, and even Skylar had a wide smile on her face. Eden’s enthusiasm was infectious because he swore he actually saw Edge give her an indulgent smile.

Swanny shook his head. He wondered if anyone was safe from Eden’s charm.

They were seated near the head of the boat, and true to Eden’s word the tables around them were empty with only a few occupied toward the middle, close to the cabin. The back of the boat was filled to capacity, but there was very much a feeling that they were the only four on board.

Quiet descended as the boat disembarked and a waiter appeared to pour them their choice of wine. Swanny, Edge and Skylar declined, opting for water instead while Eden chose a red, sipping it, seemingly savoring every taste.

“I can’t thank you enough for this,” she said, a broad smile lighting her face, her eyes twinkling in the lights of the city. “The city is so beautiful at night. There’s a magic to it.”

And yet she’d never opted to take the trip before. What was it she’d said? That there’d never been someone else she would have considered going on such a trip with.

Swanny’s heart swelled, as did other parts of his body, to his eternal disgust. The least he could do was get through the evening without a perpetual hard-on. He was already looking forward to taking her back to the hotel and making love to her the entire night.

He knew he had to be gentle and patient. She would be tender from the night before, but he was imagining a dozen ways he could accomplish just that without causing her a moment’s pain.

He sat, watching Skylar and Edge actually relaxed and laughing, Eden joining in, their enjoyment of the city and the lights and landmarks, and he marveled at how normal it all felt.

Was this what normal couples in normal relationships did? Normal wasn’t something he was very accustomed to. Sure, he’d seen members of KGI fall and fall hard for the women they loved, but in no way could one ever call their courtship or resulting relationship normal.

He hadn’t ever realized he’d even craved normal. Or craved a relationship at all. He’d always assumed anything more than a one-night-stand or at best a brief arrangement was out of his reach. And in his line of work, what woman would be lining up to sign up for something like that even if he wasn’t damaged goods?

The Kelly women seemed to have no issues with what their husbands did, but then it was “normal” to them. It was how they’d met their husbands, not some surprise sprung on them after months of dating and then the guy casually says, Oh, by the way, I kill people for a living.

Not that killing was their official goal. In fact, they always made the effort to make their missions as clean and effortless as possible, but there was always the possibility of it all going to hell and at that point it was either kill or be killed. No one had to ask their preference on that matter.