Eric couldn't remember a sexier encounter. Ever.

And now, after convincing a boneless Zoe that she didn't need to reciprocate, he took unexpected pleasure in keeping watch while she slept—soaking up the feel of her heart beating steadily against his chest.

Above him, the sky was wide open—not quite the never-ending dome he'd encountered in the most remote parts of Afghanistan, but pretty. He followed the trail of an aircraft—make that a satellite—as it slid between the stars and, for possibly the first time in his life, didn't wonder where he could be happier.

Weird.

His eyes swept over the placid water.

For two years now, ever since he accepted the ridiculous severance package and became a lazy ass for a living, he'd had this antsiness in his veins. Like something had to happen or he'd slide boneless into the water one day—and nobody would notice.

Zoe made a little noise against him and dug deeper, like a cat. He hugged his arm tighter around her and sucked in a big, satisfied breath. So maybe there was something to this relationship thing after all.

He glanced at her. Would she want one? Like a serious one? Now that the idea had occurred to him, he wished she was awake so he could ask her. Although that probably wasn't how people did it, was it? Did they pussyfoot around, throwing hints and stuff? Hell no. Not his style. He'd rather—

He tensed.

Had something moved? His conscious mind had no idea, but part of him—the part that knew these things— was convinced that danger was close.

Without hesitation, he bent and whispered into Zoe's ear. "Zoe. Wake up, honey."

Her eyes opened and she smiled, which brought an instant ache to his chest. He had to force himself to push that warmth away to examine later. "Somebody's here. You need to get up, real slow and quiet."

She nodded, eyes huge, and complied, totally soundless. He gave her the knife he'd taken off the guy on the rig, snagged his own bowie knife and his handgun. Slowly, silently, he reached for a handhold and foothold on the rock they'd sat against and pulled himself up. From here, he had a view of the entire island. They'd been out here for so many hours without lights that it didn't take him long to see them. At least two dark figures, blocking out pieces of the landscape as they moved, still a few hundred yards below. If he wasn't mistaken, they were in full dive gear, with night-vision goggles. Shit.

He glanced at Zoe. She'd have to stay here. No way he'd risk taking her to meet an assault team.

"I'm going with you." She made the decision for him.

He glanced down at the one...two...three attackers and watched them closely for a few seconds.

Was he crazy to think that he knew those silhouettes? One tall, one stocky enough to necessitate a custom-made wet suit, and the third... That was a woman. Had to be. He swallowed back a surge of hope. It would serve them no purpose to ignore the potential threat here—not until he was sure.

After a beat, he nodded. "Keep your eyes on me. Follow in my footsteps. Quiet's better than fast. Okay?"

"Got it."

He led them out, glad he'd always chosen dark thermals instead of light.

As they made their silent way over the craggy, rough terrain, keeping low and sticking to the boulders, Eric kept his eyes on the figures—or intruders, as he thought of them. On his island.

Good thing they hadn't shown up an hour before, 'cause he'd been way too consumed with Zoe to notice an arrival. Probably wouldn't have seen a helo fly in, much less a quiet group like this.

He tilted his head and listened. They were close now, but he couldn't hear a damned thing. No way those goons from the rig had the skills to be this stealthy.

Hope surged.

"Coop!" When the whisper reached him from over the rocks, every muscle in his body loosened. With an audible exhale, he let his neck relax, took in the huge night sky, and said a quiet thanks to whatever power had brought his friends here.

"Who's there?" he asked, though he knew the answer already.

"Leo, Von, Ans."

They'd come. His people. Something tightened in his chest.

At Zoe's questioning expression, he nodded and reached down to give her nape a quick squeeze, though what he really wanted was to kiss her. And because he was tired of refusing himself the things that made him happy, he leaned in and did just that.

She was gratifyingly responsive. So responsive that if they'd been alone, he'd have dropped his weapons, picked her up, and brought her back to their spot like the caveman she'd turned him into. One final, long draw from her addictive lips, and he negotiated the steep climb out of their secret aerie, then reached down to pull her up before heading over to meet his friends.

"Man, am I glad to see you guys," he said as they got close. Out of caution, they still whispered, but he would bet anything they were alone here. He'd never been so happy to see his buddies. After three quick, one-armed hugs, he turned to Zoe.

"Zoe Garcia, this is Leontyne Eddowes. We call her Leo." The women shook hands, Zoe's silhouette willowy and tall beside Leo's shorter curves. "Anselm Bauer." He'd never met a guy stronger than Ans. Or more of a flirt. They didn't call him Ladykiller for nothing. He narrowed his eyes when his friend brought Zoe's hand to his mouth for a kiss. "Back it up, Killer," he muttered.

"Oh yeah?" Luckily for Ans, he let Zoe's hand go. "That how it is?"

"That's exactly how it is, Ans." Now, hands off my woman. Eric could feel all three of his friends' curious looks.

"In that case, welcome to the crew, Zoe." Ans—always pushing it—pulled her in for what was no doubt a wet bear hug.

Eric shoved his irritation way down as Zoe stepped back with an awkward laugh. "Good to meet you guys."

"Von Krainik." Von's voice was low and rumbling, his handshake quick and efficient.

"You get a look at the Daphne?" Eric asked.

"Yep," Von grated out. "Floating pretty well for swiss cheese."

"Bastards."

"What the hell's going on out here, man?" Von asked. "That call was..."

"You hear from my brother?"

Von shook his head and glanced at the others. "He still in Antarctica?"

"Yeah. I can usually get him on his sat phone down there." Eric shoved that worry aside. He'd tackle one issue at a time.

"So, what's the plan? We giving you a ride to the main- land?" Von asked.

Eric looked at Zoe, who shook her head. With a grim smile, he answered, "No."

Ans made a low, happy sound. "Didn't think so."

"You two know each other before this?" Always Leo, cutting right to the chase with the questions.

Zoe's teeth flashed white in a quick smile. Not biblically, he could see her thinking. "Yeah" was all she said.

"I usually wait for her to head home before clocking out for the night. Last night, she never showed." He didn't mention that there'd been no actual reason for him to wait for her. No relationship to warrant that level of interest.

"I run a rigs-to-reefs program out of San Diego." When none of them said a word, Zoe went on. "Instead of working to remove old oil platforms, which become thriving habitats, we work to maintain them. Something was wrong when I got there today."

"The rig was up and running. It shouldn't be," Eric supplied. "And it's not pumping anything I've ever heard of."

"No oil?" Ans asked.

"Didn't see it. Didn't smell it. No idea what they're pulling out of the water."

"I went up to check," Zoe said. "I thought maybe... I don't know. Thought they'd poorly decommissioned? Thought maybe some animal had accidentally turned things on? Now that I've seen it, I know that's ridiculous. Anyway. Somebody knocked me out."

Eric blinked and went rigid. She hadn't told him that part. And he'd let her sleep. Hadn't checked her for head injuries or anything. "You didn't—"

"I'm fine, Eric." Zoe's tone was as firm as he'd ever heard it.

"Okay." Leo sucked in an audible breath as she looked between them. "Where were you?" she asked Eric.

"On my boat. Just east of the island."

"So, where's your boat?" she asked Zoe. Leo had one of those minds that was always calculating. Add to that the daredevil thing, and she made the perfect helo pilot.

"Don't know."

"Well, hell."

For a few moments, all five of them stood in a circle, considering.

"You're in charge. What are we doing?" Von said to Eric, and for a second or two, he let that old feeling over- take him—that thing where he'd risk his life for his team and they'd risk their lives for him and they had each other's backs, all in a day's work. That support, that confidence, was something he missed like a drug.

"I wanna take 'em out. As painfully as possible," he said with a grim smile before turning to the woman by his side. "But it's not my decision. Zoe? What do you want us to do?"

"We're here to help," Leo chimed in, her voice cocky. And damn if Eric wasn't happier tonight than he could remember ever being before. Which was odd, considering this wouldn't be his team's first rodeo.

His eyes returned to Zoe, and the difference was clear as day. This wouldn't be like any other mission he'd been on. Eric slipped his arm around Zoe's shoulders and pulled her to his side. It was so easy, so natural, and the smile she gave him was so...right that it hurt his chest.

"You're the boss, Zoe." Von spoke as if she was just another squad member. "You wanna head home?"

Ans stepped closer, full of that manic energy that made him such a force to be reckoned with. "Or are we pulling an oil-platform assault?"

"Whoa, hold on." We? When had it gone from us to we? When Ans put it like that, everything shifted. Those words—platform assault—brought back a slew of memories Eric would rather have left in the past. A mission to seize a platform off the coast of Cyprus had gone terribly wrong, and they'd lost two team members. He couldn't lose Zoe, would rather die than watch her bleed to death the way Schriff had that night. And he'd been a pro. "Zoe, I can't risk you coming with us."

Everyone stilled as if frozen in time for what seemed like forever, though it was probably only a few seconds.

"Um. What?" Zoe didn't sound pleased.

"Zoe." Eric couldn't keep the hard edge from his voice. "I'll worry about you. You get that, right? These guys have fought with me. We know each other. We've been trained. You'll be...I hate to say this, but a liability."

"I'll be a bigger liability here." Christ, he could feel her anger. She was almost vibrating with it.

Leo shifted closer to Zoe. Was she choosing sides or preparing to restrain her?

He kept his eyes on Zoe. "How do you figure?"

"Because, Eric Cooper." She closed in on him, her voice getting lower as she approached. "If you leave me behind, I'm swimming over to the rig by myself. Imagine how much that'll worry you."

Shit. He should've known she wouldn't go for it. He had known it deep down, but that didn't make it easier to accept. He pressed his fingers to eyes that were gritty from lack of sleep. "You serious?"

"As a heart attack." Her chin went up, and he could see, even in the meager light of the moon, that the woman had a stubborn streak a mile wide.

"Why?"

"Why do you think? The painkillers are wearing off, my headache's coming back, and I'm pissed. You get that?" When he nodded, she kept going. "But, above all, that's my rig and those people, whoever they are, have messed with my animals. When that company decommissioned, we were the first ones here. The platform's owners gave us permission to use Polaris and no one else stepped up to protect these animals, so I did. I will. You can't keep me out of this."

Something that felt like another dose of happiness welled up inside Eric. Maybe pride. Possibly a different emotion—bigger and deeper and scarier than all the rest—but he wasn't quite ready to face that one yet. He broke out into a smile and didn't have to look around to know he wasn't the only one.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She squinted at him distrustfully, her eyes flicking around at the others. "What's with all of you?"

"'Cause there's no one else like you. No idea what most women want, but this one wants oil rigs." He leaned in, feeling closer to whole than he'd ever been. "You love oil rigs."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "I love marine life. Rigs, not so much."

"You have any idea how attractive that is? Your willingness to fight for those creatures?" He stepped close enough to touch her and lowered his voice. "When we're done here, I want to take you back up to our rock and—"

"We're standing right here," Leo said with a smirk in her voice.

Zoe's grin pulled hard at something in his chest. "I'm coming. I'll be careful, and I'll follow your team's lead, but I'm going to be there."

"Roger that," Eric said, his voice soft.

Someone else chimed in with a "Loud and clear!" and just like that, Zoe was part of the team.

***

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm a huge sucker for a kick-ass heroine--especially one who's out of her depth. One of my favorite things is writing a heroine who faces her fears head-on and still keeps going... I hope you guys enjoy this next bit as much as I enjoyed writing it!

xoxo Adriana