Covertly Strong (The Strong Series Book 1) (27 page)

Yeah, any woman would find herself stealing appreciative glances in their direction.
Their loud banter and bigger-than-life personalities make them stand out from the crowd. The men want to be them and the women undoubtedly want to be with them…or
under
them.

Sloan can’t help the feeling of pride that fills her veins as Nix pulls her against his chest, wrapping his arms snuggly around her slim waist. His chin rests comfortably on her shoulder as he sings the lyrics of
Broken Record
into her ear.

Girl, your love’s a drug. I can’t quit it.

A loving smile shines from her face as he continues to sing into her ear, and she moves her hips with his to the addicting beat of the song. The way he is with her—the way he always finds a way to make her feel like she’s the only person he has eyes for in the entire world —has her nearly breathless and her heart threatening to soar its way out of her chest.

I'm a broke record, a broke record.

You've got my heart-heart skip-skip-skipping a beat

“Jesus, get a fucking room, bro!” Julian yells in their direction with a sarcastic tone.

Nix flips him the middle finger as he turns her body towards his, his muscular form encompasses her petite frame in a warm embrace. His fingers find their way to her chin, lifting her eyes to his.

With a hitch in her breath and a flutter of her long lashes, she gazes into his cerulean blues with nothing but love and desire. He’s what’s been missing in her life for so many years. He’s everything and she knows she can’t go back to a life without him in it. Sure, it’s bound to stir up an inevitable shitstorm considering her current career, but he’s worth it. He’s worth everything.

Nix has Sloan reevaluating what she used to consider were the top priorities in her life. For the first time in a long time, she is hopeful for the possibilities that lie ahead. She’s hopeful for the future. She’s hopeful for more—
more with Nix
.

He places a soft kiss upon her lips and she savors the taste of him.

Nothing tastes better than Nix.
Nothing
.

She feels his tongue sliding across the seam of her lips, begging entrance. She allows him to lick inside her mouth and press his hot, muscular body against hers. His strong hands find her ass, squeezing each cheek with nothing short of enthusiasm. He growls into her mouth as her hands sneak their way up his chest and pay homage to his hair by pulling tightly on the strands, forcing his body against hers—allowing zero room between them.

“Fuck, baby. You’re killing me,” he mutters into her mouth. “You keep this up and I swear to everything that is holy that I’m going to throw you over my shoulder and show you just how worked up you’re getting me. My cock isn’t going to behave himself much longer…” he trails off as he pulls away, eyeing her with feigned exasperation.

She leans up on her tiptoes, placing a sweet kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Is this another challenge, Lieutenant?” she questions quietly into his ear, her tongue snaking past her lips and licking along his neck.

He grabs both of her hands, holding them hostage behind her back, his relentless blue eyes staring down into hers. “My woman is insatiable and I fucking love it,” he responds on a chuckle before leaning in to whisper softly against her mouth. “But I’m not going to find a dark place just so we can sneak in a quickie. You’re going to wait, sweetheart, because I have plans for you. And my plans include
long, slow, and deep
.”

He emphasized each word in the sexiest voice she’s ever heard.

“I’m going to bury my cock so deep inside that perfect pussy of yours that we won’t know where I end and you begin. It’ll be hours—maybe even days—until I’m done with you. And the only reason I’ll stop is because your body will be shaking
so badly
from coming on my cock
so many times
that you’ll be begging me to stop.”

Yes, please
! her mind shouts in agreement, but her voice is caught in her throat somewhere behind the burning desire to jump his bones and climb up his delectable body like a spider monkey.

With her jaw nearly going unhinged and her panties damp from the dirty words he just whispered into her ear, Sloan manages to force air into her lungs and merely nod in understanding. This man, this ridiculously sexy man, just left her speechless and overwhelmingly turned on at just the mere idea of the things he has planned.

And she can’t fucking wait.

“Now, let’s finish watching this kick-ass concert,” he demands as he turns her back towards the stage and wraps his arms around her waist.

“You’re pure evil, you know that?” she questions quietly as she tilts her eyes up in his direction.

He merely smirks in response.

Damn, he knows how to get her worked up.

Sloan’s train of thought eventually finds its way back to the amazing concert.

Eric Church belts out some of her favorite songs in his famous country twang. She sings along with the crowd and relishes in the time she gets to spend wrapped up in the arms of Nix. He continues to sing into her ear and rock her hips with his, occasionally placing sweet kisses on her cheek, her neck, and her forehead.

His swoon-worthy points shoot up by the second.

When encore begins to play, she finds herself more than amused by the enthusiastic shouts that come out of all four SEALs’ mouths. They’re singing along to
The Outsiders
as if it’s their very own theme song. All four of them cheer-sing to each other with their plastic cups of domestic beers they sing together in unison. She laughs when she notices that they are drawing attention from everyone around them.

As Sloan watches Nix, Julian, Slade, and Andrew wrap strong arms around each other’s shoulders and belt out the chorus, she listens intently to the lyrics and finds herself understanding why this song hits home for them. It couldn’t be any more perfect for four men who risk their lives together every single day.
They aren’t merely work acquaintances; they are brothers.

While Eric Church continues to bellow out the lyrics to the one song that encompasses Black Mamba, Nix smiles at his fellow SEALs—his brothers, the men he would risk everything for.

And this song,
The Outsiders
, is a song every member of Black Mamba is required to know. It’s their song.
The song.
The one and only song that gets them ready for missions. The song they chant lyrics from when they’re standing in a transport aircraft getting ready to MFF—military free fall or sarcastically nicknamed
mother fucking fall
by the men of Black Mamba.

This song incorporates everything that is the men of Black Mamba.

Our backs to the wall, a band of brothers.

Together, alone, the outsiders.

Once the encore comes to a close, Nix grips Sloan’s hand and keeps her close by his side as they file out of the venue. As the crowd slowly makes its way towards the exits, she finds herself glancing around, taking inventory of everything around her.

And that’s when it hits her; she hasn’t once acted like her usual CIA self. Not once did she scope out her surroundings with rapt responsiveness, paying attention to every single detail. Not once did she think about the fact that she’s completely unarmed in a public place, surrounded by complete strangers. Not once did any of that cross her mind.

And there’s no refuting the fact that Sloan actually felt like a normal human being tonight. She felt free. She felt alive. And more importantly, she felt happy.

Her hand tightly grips Nix’s as they walk through the parking lot, drawing his attention to her.

“Everything okay?” he asks with slight concern marring his masculine jaw.

“Everything is perfect.” She nudges his shoulder with hers. As he helps her into the passenger’s seat she whispers, “Thank you,” in his direction.

His eyes take inventory of her face, silently gauging her state of mind.

She merely smiles and places a gentle kiss to the corner of his unsuspecting mouth.

Her lips seal the end of the fantastic night on a good note—
a perfect note
.

AFTER SENDING OFF HER FINAL revisions to her editor for this week’s column in The Washington Times, Sloan slides her black Nike cross trainers on her feet, tying the laces tight as she mentally prepares herself for a long run. Her mind is in desperate need of de-stressing. To say that her day was hectic would be putting it mildly. After a few scheduled surgeries with Dr. Fresno at University Hospital, she had an impromptu meeting with Chief Dubois to discuss the Guadalajara mission.

Everything went as expected until Chief began his interrogation. He grilled her on what she has been doing with her free time over the past few days. His demeanor was far too cold as he strived to pull any details relating to the Navy SEAL who has become a fixture in her life.

She hates that he could make her feel guilty for spending time with someone who means so much to her. Her mind races with the consuming thoughts that maybe she wants more out of life than covert missions and a life under the radar.

Her mind flits back to the conversation with Chief…

“I don’t relish the idea that one of my best agents is parading around with a SEAL. You’re getting too close, Fifty-Five. Too fucking close. You know your priorities and he is definitely not one of them.” His stark expression spurred anger to flood her veins as his piercing, gray eyes bored holes into her skull.

A heavy sigh escaped her lungs as she used every ounce of willpower to rein in her temper. “Chief, with all due respect, I know what my priorities are. I’ve been living those priorities for the last decade and never once have I failed to be anything but the best. I think it’d be in your best interest to lay off my personal life. I’m a big girl. I know how to handle myself.”

So much for reining in her temper. She hadn’t been able to stop those words on her lips even if they’d had the power to detonate a grenade.

“Personal life?” He let out a caustic laugh. “You don’t have a personal life. It would do you a whole lot of good to remember that this personal life you speak of went out the fucking window when you signed your life away to the CIA.” The corrosive jab hit her with deafening precision as a knowing smirk crossed his smug mouth. “Consider yourself lucky I’m letting all of this ridiculousness go for the time being because I’ve got too much other bullshit to concern myself with.

“But you need to remember one very important thing. If this mission gets fucked up because your head isn’t where it should be, you’re going to be in a heap of shit,” he warned with a spiteful tone.

“Are we finished here?” she asked with an irritated furrow of her brow.

“Are we clear?” he questioned immediately, his voice harsh and cold.

“Yeah, we’re clear. No personal life. No nothing. Just do my fucking job and forget about everything else.” Her own words cut her like a knife as they crossed her lips. She could practically feel the blood seeping out of the wounds they’d created.

“I’ll send another package tomorrow that has the final plans for Guadalajara. Be a good little agent and learn every single word—every little detail that’s on that thumb drive.” His right hand motioned for her to leave the discreet SUV in a flitting, almost belittling way.