Navy SEALs Complete Series: 3 Books + 3 Novellas (Tempting Navy SEALs) (109 page)

He cradled her as the spasming tissue of her pussy held him. Tight. Gripping. His arms tightened around her, his head was buried in the pillow by her head, and he held her as though he would never let her go.

D
AWN WAS EDGING OVER THE
horizon as Ian stood on the balcony, coffee in hand, staring out at the land that surrounded the villa.

Unlike the Fuentes estate in Colombia, the villa and its grounds weren’t surrounded by mountains and jungles. The terrain was flatter, with only a slight rise of hills around it spotted with massive boulders.

The balcony wasn’t the most secure place to take his coffee, or to sit and reflect on things he would have been better prepared to deal with once this mission was over. But those thoughts refused to be extinguished. And they centered on the woman now sleeping the sleep of the exhausted in his bed.

He hadn’t expected her to say she loved him. Of all the things he had expected when he broke down Kira’s barriers, it hadn’t been that commitment.

He ran his hand over his stubbled jaw before sipping at the coffee again and staring at the huge boulders and sheltering trees on the rise across from him.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t feel the eyes watching him, it was that he was beginning to accept that they were there. And he had bigger problems than the knowledge that Durango team was out there. Kira was a much bigger problem.
She had lost her objectivity, and in a woman, that could be fatal. She wouldn’t care about her own life from this point on, he knew that about her. If it came to saving him or watching him die to complete the mission, she would give her life for him.

He should have had her tied, gagged, and shipped to a secure location until this was finished. He could have gone on as he was, risking no life or soul but his own, and finished the mission, one way or the other. His life or Sorrell’s and Diego’s. He had made that vow to himself when they had rescued Nathan eight months before. When he had seen the shape his friend had been in, and had known his father was responsible.

He had promised Nathan their heads, and he fully intended to carry that promise out, no matter what. Even his life. But not at the cost of Kira’s.

He lowered his head and ran his fingers through his hair before staring at the rise once again. She was too important. He had known that the moment he realized she was covering his ass in that warehouse. Hell, he had known it eight months before in Atlanta during the operation to protect Kell Krieger’s woman.

He was screwed.

He flipped up the secure sat phone he held in his hand and keyed in Macey’s number.

“Fuck-tard.” Macey’s voice came over the line, savagely quiet. “’Bout time you called.”

“I have a shipment that needs to go out,” he said firmly, closing his eyes at the thought of sending Kira away. “Are you available?”

“If it’s raven-haired with a marksman rating, then you can fuck yourself,” Macey growled. “I’m not touching that one.”

That wasn’t relief he was feeling.

“Why are you here then?” he asked. “Take the shot if that’s what this is all about. Save us the trouble later.”

Ian leaned back in the chair and opened himself to any shot anyone might want to take. He couldn’t be certain why
Durango team was there, but if this was all they wanted, then screw it. He was tired of the blood and the death, and he was tired of regret. SEALs didn’t forgive betrayal from one of their own. And Ian didn’t blame them.

“Killer Secrets.” Macey reminded him of the code word he had given Kira. “And we got your message via Kira. Tell me, Ian, what part of friends don’t you understand? Do you think I’m going to snipe your stupid ass while you’re sipping your morning coffee and your woman is standing in the door watching you as though her heart were broken?”

Ian turned his head.

Whatever expression Kira may have had on her face cleared instantly, but her eyes were still somber, questioning.

“Hang for the commander,” Macey announced.

“Lieutenant Richards, I’m going to kick your ass to hell and back when this is over.” Reno came over the line, his quiet voice echoing with anger. “Where do we meet and when?”

“No meet.” Ian lowered his voice further, never breaking Kira’s gaze. “No chance.”

“Unacceptable,” Reno informed him coldly. “Take your woman on a ride. You know our location.”

The connection broke.

Ian blew out a breath roughly as he shook his head. That was a meet he wasn’t about to make. There were too many eyes watching, too many ways he could compromise what he was doing.

He stared out at the rock outcropping once again.

“No chance in getting rid of you, is there?” He sighed.

“Not on a bet.” Her voice was somber.

“It would kill me if anything happened to you.” He admitted that, and even more privately, he realized it would destroy what was left of his soul. And there wasn’t a whole lot of that left.

“I won’t walk away, Ian. I won’t be forced away. If you wanted to try that, then you should have done it before last night.”

Hell yes, he should have.

“Ian, I’m not an innocent bystander here,” she continued as she moved to him.

She took the coffee cup from his hand and set it on the small table at his side before sliding onto his lap. She wore one of his silk shirts. The material slid over his flesh, warmed by her skin and carrying her scent now.

He couldn’t help but surround her with his arms and hold her close to his chest.

“I’m well trained,” she whispered in his ear. “I’m fully qualified to walk by your side, don’t pretend otherwise.”

He cupped her head and held it to his shoulder, bending his head to her, his lips close to hers, his gaze holding hers as he spoke.

“If I lost you here, it would destroy what’s left of my soul.”

“And if I walked away from you, it would destroy what was left of me,” she answered. “We’ve been playing a cat-and-mouse game for years now. It’s time to stop. Here and now. I’m your equal in everything but physical strength and you know it. Don’t push me away because you’re too much of a chauvinist to work with me.”

It wasn’t just chauvinism. It was the certainty that losing her would kill him.

“You’ll be crucified in the tabloids,” he told her.

“Got the T-shirt.” She grinned back at him.

His lips quirked. Yes, she did. She had been in the tabloids for years, either for the scrapes she had purposely managed to get into, or for the charities she and her uncle backed. She was controversial, flamboyant, and one of the government’s most covert contract operatives. She was damned scary.

He lifted his head and pressed his lips to her forehead as he let his eyes drift closed, allowing himself to enjoy holding her in his arms, feeling her warm and sweet against him. Just a little while longer.

“We need to shower.” He opened his eyes and stared into
the clear, blue sky beyond the balcony. “I have to deal with what happened yesterday.”

“You’re going after them? Do you know who they are?”

He nodded again. He knew who they were. The information had been waiting in his in-box when he rose that morning.

“Sorrell’s men,” he answered her. “I received news he was in Aruba this morning. Apparently, he’s been here for a while.”

She nodded against his shoulder. “Are we going for intel or blood?”

“We’re not going for either,” he said. “I’m sending in a small team of Fuentes soldiers to capture Sorrell’s contact as well as the two men in the boat yesterday. They left an hour ago. I just have to wait on the call now.”

It was coming to a head slowly. He had managed to foul every attempt Sorrell had made to kidnap or kill him. All that was left was to draw the terrorist into a meeting. Once he identified him, Ian could take him out.

It was a waiting game, and Ian had once believed he had the patience for it. Patience had never been a problem until now. Until Kira had walked into his life once more.

“Are you going to make contact?” Kira asked then, and Ian knew who she was talking about.

Durango team. He looked up at the rise again and sighed wearily. Reno would be pissed when Ian and Kira didn’t show up as he ordered. But hell, what could his former commander expect? Reno had no business here. His wife was just out of the hospital with their newborn child; he should have been in the States attending to his family, not out trying to cover for someone whose main objective had been to keep the team as far from this as possible.

Diego Fuentes loved playing with the men assigned to that team. He considered it his personal duty to see just how far he could push each man until he broke. He had nearly broken Nathan. If Fuentes had succeeded in his past plots he would have killed the commander’s sister and a senator’s
daughter; both women were tied intimately to two of the SEALs on that team.

He shook his head in response to her question. “It’s almost over. There’s nothing they can do to help at this point.”

“They can cover your back.”

“They can get in my way.” He lifted her from his lap, collected his coffee cup, and drew her back into the bedroom.

Closing the door and locking it, he moved to the bureau, flipped the security protocols to active then turned back to her.

“When this hits, Kira, it’s going to hit fast. I have to be certain where your loyalties lie.”

“In what regard?” Long black hair flowed over her shoulder as she regarded him warily now.

“Sorrell will die.” Nothing else was acceptable. “If you can’t handle that, then get out now. Don’t come between me and this mission.”

“Your mission is to kill him?” she asked soberly, her expression concerned. “I would think DHS would need the intel he could provide?”

“He dies, Kira. I don’t give a fuck what DHS needs or what they want. So you decide now exactly who has your loyalty. Me or DHS.”

He had her loyalty. He knew it, she knew it, but he wanted to hear it. He wanted her to
feel
it.

She licked her soft pink lips, her blue-ringed gray eyes flickering in acknowledgment of the power play.

“You have my loyalty, Ian,” she finally whispered. “But don’t make the mistake of abusing it. I’m not your puppet and I won’t be used as one.”

“I didn’t ask for a puppet.” He stepped to her, pulling her into his arms as he hid the grimace that contorted his features. “We can’t let him live, Kira. Even for the intel. He has too many ties, too many spies. I won’t risk his escape. I won’t risk Nathan or his wife, even for the information.”

The shadows of the past washed over him. For a moment, just a moment, he was a child again, screaming in agony through an empty Texas night as his mother lay in his arms, near death. He had screamed until his voice broke, until he couldn’t scream anymore. Until hope had leached from his body with the same burning pain that his mother’s blood wept from hers.

Out of the night came a child and his father. The boy who had heard his screams and awakened his family. Nathan had saved his life and the life of his mother. Ian hadn’t forgotten that. He wouldn’t forget it.

“How’s he doing?” The question was dragged from him. “He’s holding up?”

“He’s holding up.” He heard in her voice what she refused to voice. The battle Nathan was waging just to live, to survive the operations he had had no choice but to endure and the effects of the whore’s dust that had been pumped into him for so many months.

The synthetic date rape drug in such large amounts should have been fatal. Nathan shouldn’t have survived the first month.

He released her slowly. “We need to shower. I have to check on Deke, and I have a few meetings to attend in Palm Beach. You’ll be by my side. My trophy. Try not to let everyone see just how dangerous you can be for the time being.”

If she was going to work this mission then he was going to use her particular talents effectively. She looked like soft fluff. Delicate. Girly. Femininely arrogant.

“I’ve got your six, bad boy.” Her hands smoothed over the side of his ass and Ian couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his lips.

“More than you know.” A quick kiss to her lips and he turned and headed to the shower. “I’ll get things together while you shower; for now, see if you can contact Daniel. You have a four-minute secure window with the security protocols. Make it fast and tell him to stay the hell out of the
way. I’d hate to see him killed because he blindsided me or Deke, Kira. Make sure it doesn’t happen.”

Later, Ian braced his hands against the shower wall and let the warm water flow over him. Control. That was all he needed, just a little more control and he could get through this. It was moving rapidly. The team he had sent in to take Sorrell’s men was one of the best he had brought together from among the cartel soldiers Diego possessed when Ian took over the cartel.

Led by a former Russian militant, the men had training and experience that was on a level with some Special Forces teams Ian knew of. They were quick, effective, and merciless. And Ian had learned that mercy in this world brought nothing but more blood. There was no mercy. There was right of might and nothing more.

He lifted his head to the water, letting it flow over his face as his chest clenched and agony welled inside him. The blood he had shed since coming here would haunt him forever. It didn’t matter that the blood was as vicious and evil as the world itself. He hadn’t killed innocents. It was war, he tried to tell himself. A diseased world and he was weeding out the infection. But that didn’t help anymore. It hadn’t helped since the first night Kira had shown up.

It had sliced into him the night before as the words of love burst from her lips. Love for Kira would mean everything. Whoever or whatever she loved would have one hundred percent of who she was, she would give her life for whoever she loved. And he couldn’t allow that. He had to keep her safe even while allowing her into the mess his life had become.

As his eyes opened, the shower door slid to the side, and she stepped into the steamy atmosphere with him. Her gray eyes were soft, her expression filled with concern, and with love.