Lock and Load (SEAL EXtreme Team) (19 page)

“We are.”The engines started and the
junk
was moving. “See?”

Good. The sooner they got away from Hong Kong, the better. An idea started to form in her frantic brain. If she could use Willy, her father could pay him once she’d gotten away. “What will it take for you to help me escape?”

The dimples disappeared. “We are escaping. Look out the window.”

This shouldn’t be so hard.
The
junks
of Aberdeen were far off in the distance. But that’s not what she meant. He clearly wasn’t getting the message.

Leaning forward, she put a hand on his muscular knee. It was as solid as a boulder. “I can’t go home. They’ll kill me. All for a stupid mistake! I need someone like you…” She rubbed his leg. “Strong. Capable. Good with a gun. To help me…” She made circles with both hands up his thighs. “To help me disappear.”

His eyebrows shot up. “You’re going to run from the team?”

Finally.
“And the bad guys. They could kill us all. But if I got away, you’d all be safe.” She got down on her knees and wiggled herself between his legs. “Will you help me?”

He shook his head as if to clear the foolish idea from his brain. “I can’t do that.”

“Can’t?” She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed into him. Wow, his hard-on was inspiring. “Are you sure?” she said breathily. “I’m innocent, Willy.”

He scooped her up and eased her onto his lap. “Sweet thang, you are far from innocent. I told Charlie you were too much woman for him.”

That stung a little. She tried to ignore it. “So?” She rocked against him. “Will you help me?”

He nuzzled her neck. “What would you give me in return?”

Huh, maybe Dad wouldn’t have to pay him after all. Willy spoke in sexual terms. She could deal with that.  It wouldn’t be the first time she screwed a man she barely knew and this time was for a good reason. Her life was on the line. So was her country.

“Whatever you want, sweet thang,”she imitated.

“Really? Because I have big, big needs.” He gripped her butt and held her in place.

“Whatever…” She swallowed hard, almost losing her nerve. “You want.”

“I like to party. Fast, slow, hard, soft…” He nibbled on her chin. “All night. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is always completely satisfied.” From another man, the statement might have sounded arrogant. Willy stated it as a matter of fact. “Unfortunately, we don’t have much time. Maybe a few hours, at best.”

Her breathing was coming faster. She couldn’t help herself. “So…what’ll we do about that?”

“We get this party started.” He sucked her ear lobe, sending electric sparks down her spine. “I’ll call Charlie.”

She pulled back. “Wait. What?”

His expression was pure mischievousness. “He can join us. We share everything. We’ll rock your world, sweets. It’ll be the best two hours of your life.”

She just about choked on her tongue. “Together?”

“Yep. We’ll be gentle, or rough. It’ll be your call.” He leaned closer and whispered in her ear. “Seriously, hot. You will not…” He tugged on her lobe with his teeth. “Be sorry.”

She was already seriously hot. Charlie and Willy at the same time? Her call? Her mind raced to all sorts of images—muscular arms wrapped around her while other hands, lips, and hard planes touched her, everywhere. Lust pounded through her.

Willy whispered in her ear, “You’re interested.”

She was. The idea made her wet and scared. She’d never been with two men before. It took great strength not to beg him to call his brother. Instead, she pressed her palms against his solid chest and pushed back, giving herself a little space. “No. I’m mad at Charlie. He used me.”

“Used you.” The rumble of his chuckle rolled through her. “As opposed to what you plan to do to me?”

“It’s not the same.”

“Really? Why?”

“Because Charlie and I have…”
Something.
She cared about Charlie. More than she’d be willing to admit. “It’s just different.”

“Then cut the guy some slack. His orders were to leave certain truths out the equation until you came clean, that’s all. Be fair.” He traced the hollow of her neck with his finger. “My brother’s a good man, stop punishing him for doing his job.”

Cutting Charlie slack could be a good idea. A really, really good idea.
Her call
. Why did that sound so enticing? Lots of naughty ideas popped into her head.

“If we…” She licked her lips. “If we do…” She could hardly put a sentence together.

“Each other.”

“Um, yeah. After that, you’ll leave with me? Protect me and help me escape?”

He ran his hands down her back, slowly, until he reached her butt cheeks. He gave her a slap. “No way, sunshine. A SEAL never abandons his team. You’re not going anywhere without all of us.”

She bolted off his lap. “You bastard!”

“Hey, I didn’t start it.”

“Would you have finished it?”

“Hell, yeah!” He shrugged. “We still can. I’m game.”

She took a swing at him, hurting her hand more than his arm.

“I’ll take that as you need time to think about it. Charlie would be up for it, if you asked. Well, as up as he can be. Poor guy was stuck with the brains in the family while I got this.” He winked, pointing to his package.

She grabbed an apple off the table and chucked it at him. “Get out!”

Willy caught it and sunk his pearly white teeth into the flesh. “Thanks. I’m starved. Let me know if you want to continue what we started.”

He left her alone to stew in her misery.

Seducing Willy had been a colossal waste of time. Now what was she going to do?
Think!
She’d gotten herself into this hell and she
would
figure a way out.  She had to. Her mind raced, grasping for options, desperate for choices.

Her high school principal’s condescending voice crowded into her thoughts, “Choices, Amber. We all have them. You choose poorly, you pay the price.”

Because of a creepy man she had paid dearly. Hacker. Thief. Convict. Employers didn’t hire people with a record like hers, which is how she found herself in this mess working for Jacques. Add treason and traitor to the record.

This isn’t helping!

Pacing the galley with short choppy steps wasn’t helping, either. The team was ordered to protect her and bring her home. If they succeeded and she was lucky enough to get out of China alive, they were to bring her in. The admiral would try her as a traitor to face a firing squad, or was it lethal injection? She shivered, as the cold reality sank into her bones. Circling back to the fact that she was scared out of her mind and completely alone, she dropped into a booth, folded her arms on the table, and lay her head down.

She’d made bad choices all of her life and now she’d run dry of options. There was no way out.

Charlie slipped into the galley. A lamp cast gentle fingers of light across Amber’s bent head, sugar coating the tips of her red hair. Her body rose on the inhale and softly fell on her exhale. She was asleep. Good. It was about time she got some rest.

Quietly, he squeezed into the booth beside her. She was so damned beautiful. And young. When her eyes were closed, blocking out the spark and fire, she seemed almost…innocent. Every molecule in his being wanted to protect her, hold her. He had the sudden urge to reach out and touch the freckles that lightly sprinkled her nose. To kiss a soft eyelid.

He didn’t dare. The last time he was this close to her, she acted like she hated him. Her words kept pounding their fists inside his brain.

You know what, Charlie? You aren’t any different than Jacques. He used me for information too.

Was he like Jacques? Shit, no. He was trying to save her life and protect the team. He had to know what he was saving her from. Subterfuge and evasion were a big part of a SEALs life. Half-truths and non-answers were normal elements that went with the job. A job he was good at. But it sucked he couldn’t be completely honest with a girl he was falling in love with.

Whoa,
love
? Where the hell had
that
come from?

He pinched the bridge of his nose. Handlys didn’t love. They screwed and left, or got screwed and imprisoned. Just ask Dad. No, he was not, one hundred percent
not,
falling in love with Amber Fitz. Impossible. But he did feel…He shook his head. He didn’t know what to call it. Feelings? Handlys weren’t supposed to have those either. He used to joke that Willy was adopted. Maybe the joke was on him and
he
wasn’t a Handly. That would explain a lot, actually.

As soft as a breeze, he traced the edge of her jaw with his knuckle. How he wished they could go back to the way things were when she was his closest friend outside of the SEALs. When they treaded water in the harbor, she had looked at him as if she couldn’t believe he was right there in front of her, as if she’d waited her whole life for him. The way he probably looked at her right now.

As light as a feather, he ran his thumb across her silky bottom lip. So soft and sweet. Shit, he’d really messed up. During one of their online games she said it was hard for her to trust because her heart had been broken too many times. And he went and broke her trust within, what? A few hours. What did that say about him? How could he get her to trust him again? Would she ever?

Out there on the
sampan
, when he’d told her the truth, the pain and shock in her eyes had cut him. What if she never spoke to him again? It would kill him.

Everything about Amber Fitz—from the sexy rasp of her voice, her intelligence, the way she challenged him like no one else—was perfect. He’d never known anyone like her. He couldn’t lose her now. When he thought about how he could have lost her forever in the Ho King Shopping Centre, his blood boiled. If that RPG really had her name on it, there would be a new brand of hell for those bastards. Someone out there—he cast his gaze toward the black sea—was trying to kill her. Make that several someones. Black Ops, triads, potentially the entire watch-list of terrorists—they all had reason to snatch the data and use it against the U.S.

Guess what, assholes? You can’t have either one.
They’d have to go through him and he’d never give up. He’d do his damnedest to bring Amber and the data home safe and sound. No one would hurt his girl.

But
he
had hurt her. He felt like a colossal sonofabitch.

She moaned in her sleep. The sound did things to him, terrible and wonderful things. He wanted this woman. He needed her more than ever. Before he could stop himself, he did something he shouldn’t have dared. Charlie scooped Amber up in his arms and kissed her lips.

She blinked in surprise. “Charlie?”

“Shhhh. You’re dreaming,” he said against her lips. “Close your eyes.”

She did as told, but the corners of her lips turned up. “A nightmare?”

He held her closer. “No, sweetheart. The best dream you’ve ever had. With an über-hot, sexy pirate.”

“Sounds good.” She made her voice sound dreamy, playing along. “Where’s Willy?”

He kissed her eyelid. It was as soft as he thought it would be. “He’s on deck.” He kissed the bridge of her nose. “Wait. Why?”

She cracked an eye. “He said you two share everything.”

He stopped kissing her. Stopped breathing.

She opened both eyes. “Is that true?”

He held perfectly still, his heart pounding. Why did Willy tell her that? He was going to punch him so hard— “Do you want it to be true?”

“I’m not sure yet.” Her cheeks reddened.

So she was thinking about a threesome. His chest squeezed. He didn’t want to share her with anyone. She was his girl! But what did she want? Did she like Willy more than him?
Shit.

“Charlie?” She searched his face, waiting for him to say something.

What was he supposed to say when every molecule in his body screamed “Hell, no! You’re mine!”?

He let go of her and sat up. “My brother likes to have fun. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“I know what your brother wants,” she said softly. “How about you?”

Her perfect sweet lips were begging to be kissed. Her intelligent eyes studied his every move, waiting. He felt like he was back in Africa the night he got sucked into quicksand. No matter how hard he fought and struggled against it, he got sucked down, inch by inch. She waited, watched, and he sank further. What if he told her the truth about his damned feelings and she didn’t feel the same way about him? That was a stupid question. He knew what would happen. He’d lose his only civilian friend. Hot Girl would disappear for good.

“Charlie? What do you want?” Her voice was soft, but it might as well have been made of sharpened steel the way it flayed him open. His body armor was gone, his heart exposed.

“You, sweetheart. It’s been you from the moment you kicked my ass in our first game together.”

She sucked in a sharp breath. “Battle on Zelion.”

Wow, she’d remembered. He caressed her soft arm. “That’s right. It was the start of my dismal losing streak. Somehow I’m always distracted when Hot Girl shows up.”