Against All Odds (Outback Hearts) Read online

  “Yes, ma’am, it’s been nice talking to you as well.” He beamed a triumphant smile at her before handing over the phone and setting her free.

  She snatched the phone out of his hand and kicked him in the shin only to stub her toes on his damned bionic leg. He sighed and shook his head before casually striding toward the luggage carousel to retrieve his luggage as she slammed the phone to her ear. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  It wasn’t quite a hysterical outburst, but it was pretty close and had the few remaining passengers filtering through baggage claim scurrying past.

  “Hang on, I’m googling him.”

  Hang on…hang on? Like hell she was hanging on. “Do you realize that on top of treating me like a spoiled kid he—”

  “Shhh.”

  Shhh? Did her sister just shush her on top of humiliating her?

  “Holy shit, Abs, do you know who this guy is?” Olivia’s voice cracked as the words spluttered from her sister’s mouth.

  Abi unclenched her fist and straightened. That’s right, little sister, your virgin big sister just landed herself a stud.

  The anger and frustration boiling her gut simmered as she watched him heft his duffle onto his shoulder and pick up his suit bag. He may have been a smug smart-ass, but by God he was sexy. “Yeah, he’s a war hero.” She went for disinterested boredom, but a little teenage squeeing slipped in between her words.

  “Jesus Christ, the guy’s like a super-soldier.”

  The shock in Olivia’s voice helped ease the desperate need to strangle her kid sister. Now she only wanted to slap her. “Yeah, he’s been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross along with Australia’s highest honor for bravery.”

  “And a Christmas tree’s worth of other medals.” A keyboard chattered in the background as Olivia gasped curse after curse. “He’s a member of some unit called the Special Air Service.”

  So he was in the air force instead of the army, big deal. The Aussies did everything upside down and back to front. “Is that meant to mean something to me?”

  An eerie silence fell over their connection. “He didn’t tell you?”

  She hadn’t asked. By the way the man cowered away from attention she’d figured it’d be the last thing he’d want to discuss. She shook her head before realizing she was on the phone, but Olivia got the message.

  “The Special Air Service is the Aussie version of our SEALs. Which means he’s probably twice as dangerous and ten times crazier than an American Special Forces soldier.”

  Most men would’ve let that nugget of information slip into the conversation within the first two minutes of meeting a woman, but oh no, not her fame-dodging culinary fiancé. The emotional roller coaster she’d been strapped to for the last fifteen hours jumped the rails and plummeted into the void. The only consolation to her bewilderment was that her sister sounded even more amazed, but the last thing she needed was another pep talk while her potential virgin buster listened on.

  Abi released the bottom lip she’d been gnawing on and cleared her throat as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and reached for her bags. “Gotta go, I’ll call you soon.”

  She hung up and shoved his hand away before tucking her phone into her pocket and grabbing her bags. “Let’s get one thing straight, buddy.” She jabbed him in the chest while channeling her nervous energy into anger. “I don’t appreciate being ignored, and I sure as hell don’t like being trapped against some Neanderthal while he does the whole caveman routine.” She ignored her aching finger and stabbed him again. “And if you so much as try to pull that shit again, I’m biting a chunk out of your arm before kneeing you in your tiny balls, got it?”

  He nodded and raised his free hand in surrender, which couldn’t have been easy considering his duffle hung from one shoulder and his backpack and suit bag from the other, but the smart-ass still made the gesture look smooth.

  She heaved in a breath and poked him with her now-numb finger…and couldn’t think of a single thing to add. He towered over her, but embarrassment, anxiety, fatigue, and several drops of crazy sauce had worn away her self-preservation instincts and gifted her the rage-fueled confidence of someone who no longer gave a shit. He was the one, and she was going to get this damned thing over and done with, even if it killed her, which it probably would. She stabbed him again. “And I carry my own bags.”

  He endured her tirade with nothing more than the slight lifting of an eyebrow. He waited patiently, as if he was making sure she wasn’t about to reload and fire off a few more rounds, but like her anger, her brain quickly burned itself out.

  He nodded and gestured toward the exit. She ignored the phone buzzing in her pocket and the fact she had absolutely no idea where she was going and stomped out the automatic doors with her luggage rattling behind her on its wonky wheel.

  Queensland welcomed her with a warm, steamy hug. The atmosphere felt like a wet blanket, and she almost had to chew the air to breathe. She had no idea what time it was, but the last of the sun’s rays ignited the horizon and set the sky ablaze with waves of citrine, amber, and ruby. She froze as the sun hung between day and night over Brisbane’s skyline and drew the thick damp air into her lungs. If the city was this beautiful, the outback and beaches would blow her mind.

  “Welcome to Australia.”

  His deep voice enveloped her from just over her shoulder. Either she’d been so captivated by the view that she’d failed to hear him approach, or he’d purposely tiptoed up beside her. It took the last of her energy not to flinch and back away.

  AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” shattered the warm tranquility. She spun in time to catch him drag out a battered black cell phone that must have come in the same demolition show-bag as his tactical watch. In a world where every artist ever recorded was a mere mouse click away, they’d chosen the same band for their ringtones. Was it destiny or another cruel trick fate was setting up for her?

  He readjusted his duffle and brought the phone to his ear. “G’day.”

  Christ, was Crocodile Dundee ever going to stop popping into her head whenever she heard that greeting?

  “Right here.” He held out the phone.

  She snatched the nuclear-missile-launching phone out of his hand and glared at him. The glare was for Olivia, but seeing as he appeared to be in cahoots with her sister, he’d have to wear it. “What part of ‘I’ll call you soon’ didn’t you understand?”

  “Shut up and listen.”

  There was a tightness to Olivia’s voice that had Abi pressing the phone tighter to her ear.

  “He’s all over the internet, and no one has a bad word to say about him, unless you’re a terrorist. Christ, if he was any more decent, they’d canonize his magnificent ass.”

  Abi sighed and eased her grip on the phone. Well, at least her street smarts hadn’t failed her there. Everywhere else perhaps, but not there.

  “And holy mother of God, Abs, the man’s a walking orgasm.” Her sister cleared her throat. “But he lost his—”

  “I know.”

  “You know? How the hell do you already know? Did you get jiggy in the bathroom with him?”

  “Sort of.” She smiled and something warm and gooey settled in her belly as the tension drained from his face. He stood by her side like a Sherpa with luggage hanging off him, but didn’t seem to notice the weight as he grinned back.

  “So you’ve already ticked off number one on the bucket list, you hussy. I’m so proud of you.”

  Abi cursed and shook her head. “No, and you’re not helping.”

  “Does he…does he know what’s hiding beneath the scarf?”

  “No.” She’d spent most of the flight ignoring the evil little bitch lurking inside her head. The last thing she needed was discussing Doris with her self-appointed sex therapist while her future sex coach looked on.

  Olivia sighed. “He’s watching you, isn’t he?”

  Like he’s trying to peer into my soul. “Yes.”

  Her
kid sister’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Did he tell you how he got his medals?”

  Her stomach clenched. Whatever the hell he’d done to deserve those decorations, she was sure it hadn’t been pretty and a part of her didn’t want to know. But the rest of her did—not from a morbid sense of curiosity, but because she wanted to know everything about the man who’d invaded her world. She pressed the phone tighter against her ear. “No.”

  “The man held off a Taliban attack until what was left of the joint US and Aussie Special Forces team he was part of was rescued. He got shot four times in the process, and his heart stopped three times on the way back to base. They say he killed between twelve and eighteen terrorists that night alone. Some of those after his leg had been blown off.” Olivia drew in a deep breath. “Abs, he’s been doing this for twelve years.”

  The sidewalk beneath her sneakers fell away as Olivia’s words burrowed into her brain. What the hell had she expected? The man was a Special Forces soldier and a decorated war hero. He was one of the guys who charged into combat first, and they didn’t hand those honors out for just doing your job.

  His eyes searched hers and he stiffened as if he’d heard what Olivia had said. Sighing, he lowered his luggage to the ground, and closed the distance between them. With the tenderness of someone trying to calm a terrified animal, he cupped her face and pecked her forehead. But as she leaned into his kiss she felt no fear only an overwhelming sense of wonder that she could feel so connected to the gentle warrior who’d risked and sacrificed so much to protect what she took for granted.

  “Abs, you still there?”

  She was vaguely aware of Olivia’s words drifting through her consciousness as she melted into his embrace.

  Her battle to draw in enough breath to feed her racing heart raged on, but not because she doubted the man she’d chosen. He was everything she’d ever imagined and so much more, and that was exactly why her skin prickled and her entire body twitched. What if she did something stupid and ruined the moment? What if her inexperienced body rejected what she wanted so desperately? What if he didn’t find her sex—

  “Abs, you there?”

  She swallowed what moisture remained in her arid mouth and slowly shook her head.

  “Gotta go. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  Chapter Ten

  Anxiety had replaced the fear dragging on Abi’s features, but he didn’t have to be an SAS operative to pick up the gist of the covert conversation she’d had with her sister.

  Ahh, the irony. How many times had he let it casually slip into conversation that he was Special Forces to spark the interest of a woman? But that’d been before he’d experienced the evil man was capable of and before he truly understood what he’d sacrificed his soul to become. He should’ve told her, but he was terrified of seeing the fire in her eyes dim as she stared back at a trained killer.

  “You Shook Me All Night Long” erupted from his phone again as he held the taxi door open for her. Christ, he hoped so, and not just all night long.

  Abi groaned and shook her head as she slid into the backseat. “Take a message.”

  He whispered an apology to the driver and gestured for him to start the meter before bringing the phone to his ear.

  He didn’t get a chance to open his mouth before his brother’s voice boomed in his ear. “You dead yet?”

  Abi looked up nervously. He shook his head and mouthed, Jarrah before answering his brother. “Alive and kicking. Thanks for worrying about me.”

  Jarrah’s bass-drum laughter vibrated through the speaker. “You sure? You looked pretty stiff and lifeless on the news a couple of days ago, little brother.”

  His mind was so preoccupied with the woman studying him he let the little brother slide. At least he didn’t have to call his idiot brother to evict him out of his own apartment for the night. “I looked that bad, huh?”

  “You looked like a giant Christmas tree up on that stage. You get any more medals and they’re going to have to pin them to your arse.”

  He tried to ease the cab’s door closed, but Abi braced it open with her knee and narrowed her eyes as a devious smile slowly displaced the concern on her face.

  He muttered a curse and dropped his voice to a whisper. “You’ve got fifteen minutes to tidy up and get the hell out of your apartment. I’ve got company.”

  His big brother by all of nine days paused and composed himself. “But I was so looking forward to catching up and spending some quality time with my long-lost kid brother.”

  The years disappeared and they were suddenly two seventeen-year-old punks all over again, torturing each other. He half turned, but it did little to alleviate the pressure of Abi’s gaze spearing into him. “Fourteen minutes.”

  Jarrah’s huge lawyer brain whirred to life as the seconds ground by. “Holy shit, I was beginning to think that shrapnel you caught in the Middle East had taken out your junk on the way through. Please tell me the company you plan on bringing to my apartment is a woman who doesn’t find a huge crippled Neanderthal such as yourself repulsive?”

  Goddammit, he should’ve booked a hotel room. “Thirteen.”

  Jarrah chuckled. “Put her on. You’ve been hit in the head so many times, and it’s been so long since you’ve slept with a woman I feel as your legal representative it’s my duty to ensure the poor woman knows what she’s getting into.”

  Like hell that was happening. “Twelve.”

  “Do you remember where everything goes? Do you want me to leave you some diagrams and notes?”

  His iPhone’s case groaned under the pressure of his grip. “Eleven.”

  “Relax, big guy, that’s why I called. The apartment’s all yours.”

  As the tension slowly drained from Ryder’s muscles and his mind started planning the next phase of Operation Abigail, the distant squawks and screeches of cockatoos and galahs sounded over the phone between his brother’s chuckles. “Where the hell are you?”

  Jarrah took what sounded like a sip from a bottle before smacking his lips and sighing. “Standing on the veranda and watching the sun set over our backyard with an ice-cold Heineken chilling my hand. I hitched a ride back on a charter flight a few days ago.”

  Memories and sensations flooded Ryder’s mind: endless red dust and infinite sapphire skies, the scent of roast beef and baked bread, deafening laughter and the peace and warmth of home. “Is it the same?”

  “Even better.” His brother sighed. “Why the hell did we ever leave home?”

  He’d been asking himself the same question for years. All he and Jarrah had ever talked about when they were teenagers was how quickly they could get the hell away from the torturous heat, endless nothingness, and backbreaking work. Now all he wanted was to get back home and drag a certain stubborn, nosy woman along with him.

  He took a few steps away from the cab back toward the terminal. “I thought we were driving back together.”

  Jarrah took another sip from his bottle. “Our ballbreaker of a mother ordered me home early.”

  Something in Jarrah’s overly casual tone shadowed Ryder’s relief. “What’s up?”

  “Nothing that can’t wait. But you better forget about spending a few days in bed with that lady of yours. If you don’t get your arse home soon, our loving, nurturing mother’s going to rip someone’s head off.”

  Namely his. Jarrah may have been one of the shrewdest negotiators in the country, but he was also full of shit. Ryder’s spidey-sense tingled, but he was too preoccupied with the woman probably planning her escape behind him to dig any deeper. “And how am I going to get home when you left without me?”

  “Relax, princess, the apartment key is at reception and I’ve left some transport in the garage. You can change the positions of the seats and the mirrors, but under no circumstances are you to fiddle with the computer settings or take it over three thousand RPM. I only picked it up a few weeks ago and haven’t even taken it for a proper drive yet.”

  He was just about to
tell his brother to go to hell when a shocking pink-and-lime-green blur shot by and snatched the phone from his hand. By the time he’d realized what had happened, Abi had raced around the side of the taxi and looked at him with a vengeful smile curving her lips. “Hi, Jarrah. This is Abi. Please excuse me, but I needed to teach your brother that stealing a woman’s phone is not only rude but really annoying.”

  It took what remained of his self-control to calmly hold out his hand and not dive over the taxi and tackle her to the ground.

  She grinned and edged around to the driver’s door. “It’s nice to meet you, too. Ryder’s told me a lot about you.”

  He mouthed another apology to the driver, who stared openmouthed back at him from behind the wheel.

  She chuckled and twirled one of the ends of her scarf between her fingers. “Yes, I am a real woman.” She nodded as her smile grew to consume her face. “Yeah, he told me about leaving the army, but he didn’t say anything about being flat broke or homeless.”

  He figured she owed him for the stunt he pulled with Olivia, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to tear his brother’s arms off and beat him to death with them when he got home.

  Her eyes widened and her features sobered as she gazed at him. “Umm, it’s been lovely getting to know you, Jarrah, but I better hand you back. He’s about to Hulk out on me.” She burst out laughing and nodded. “Yes, I promise to be patient with him, and thank you for warning me about your little brother’s erectile and premature ejaculation issues.”

  She rested the phone on the cab’s roof and backed around the bonnet as he stalked around the boot. Jarrah was laughing so hard the phone nearly vibrated off the cab and onto the road.

  He snatched it up and slammed it against his ear, but before he could unclamp his jaw Jarrah cut in. “I like her, don’t blow it. No monkey business in my bed. The guest suite has everything you’ll need. And don’t wreck my car.”

  And with that, the line fell silent and left him with a gnawing ache in his temples and a beautiful woman smiling at him from over the cab’s roof.