Walk Away Joe (21 page)
Authors: Cindy Gerard
Cody giggled and squealed for more as Tag lowered him to his hip and pulled Lana under his other arm for a hug. “Ah, sugar, do you know what this means for Blue Sky?”
They all knew. It meant prestige, and revenue, and profit!
It also meant that Tucker was besieged by the sports network commentators and a fair share of company reps wanting him to endorse everything from splint boots to saddles to underwear.
He tossed Sara a beleaguered but happy look over the heads of the mob huddled around him. She smiled hugely, mouthed a big “Way to go, cowboy!” and waited, her chest bursting with pride, while he basked in the glory of the moment.
∙ ∙ ∙
It was nearly morning when they found their way back to their hotel room, deliriously happy and running on leftover adrenaline.
The door was barely shut behind them when Tucker spun her into his arms. “I never thought I’d get you alone,” he growled, his back against the door, pulling her with him.
“You’re a hot property now, Lambert,” she said, arching her neck to make way for the soft, nuzzling kisses he strung along her jaw. “Better get used to it.”
He raised his head, his smile so dazzling she felt fresh tears fill her eyes.
“He really showed ’em didn’t he? That little stud proved there was a world-class engine to go along with all his chrome and polish. Did you hear what Murdock offered me for him?”
“I heard. I heard you turn him down, too.”
“Hell, darlin’, we’ll make ten times that amount in breeding fees alone.”
“Something tells me if you didn’t stand to make a dime, you’d still be in this for the fun. I saw the look on your face tonight. You were having the time of your life.”
“Not near as good a time as I’m going to show you.” His grin was wicked and full of promise. “Why don’t you go take your shower?”
When she returned to the bedroom, wrapped in a short robe and toweling her hair dry, she halfway expected to find Tucker asleep.
She was wrong. He was lying on the bed, his hands crossed behind his head, wearing nothing but a loose smile and tight latex.
“You are so easy,” she said with a grin as she sank a knee into the mattress, beside him.
He reached for her. “And you are so glad.”
He ran his hand up under her robe, stroking the inside of her thigh, loving it when she shivered. “Come on down here.”
“What’d you have in mind?” she asked, easing down beside him.
“Oh, I’ve got some special plans for you.”
“Plans?”
“Plans to live up to my name. Hang on, little cowgirl,” he whispered, rolling her beneath him, “’cause I’m about to plum Tucker you out.”
She laughed and cradled his face in her hands, “I love it when you get all hokey with me.”
“And I love it when you get that look in your eyes.”
“What look?”
“That greedy look. The one that says you want me. The one that says you love me.”
“Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” he conceded, feeling a peace he’d never known. “For the first time in my life, I am.
“Marry me, Sara,” he said, after an instant of hesitation.
If a heart could talk, hers was shouting. If eyes could speak, hers were babbling. If he would remember one word in his life as sacred, it was the fervent
Yes
she whispered that made his world complete.
About the Author
Cindy Gerard is an award winning, New York Times, USA-Today, and Publishers Weekly best-selling author of action adventure romantic suspense novels featuring our military heroes and heroines. Before Cindy started writing her Body Guard, Black Ops, Inc, and One-Eyed Jacks series, however, she wrote a number of contemporary romance novels.
Cindy lives in the Midwest with her husband, their Brittany spaniel, 2 spoiled cats, 3 fresh water aquariums and 4 horses. When she's not writing, she's reading or indulging in her passion for chocolate—or both.
Visit her website at
www.cindygerard.com
If you enjoyed this Black Ops, Inc. short story, be sure to check out Cindy's suspenseful and sexy Black Ops, Inc and One Eyed Jack's series – all available in e-book and mass market paperback.
Black Ops, Inc Series
Book 1 -
SHOW NO MERCY
Book 2 –
TAKE NO PRISONERS
Book 3 –
WHISPER NO LIES
Book 4 –
FEEL THE HEAT
Book 5 –
RISK NO SECRETS
Book 6 –
WITH NO REMORSE
Book 7 –
LAST MAN STANDING
One-Eyed Jacks Series
Book 1 –
KILLING TIME
Book 2 –
THE WAY HOME
Book 3 –
RUNNING BLIND
Turn the page to read excerpts of
With No Remorse
and
Whisper No Lies
Excerpt:
With No Remorse
Chapter 1
Luke Colter's number one rule of self-preservation: Don't ignore the itch.
The last time he'd blown off the warning, he'd ended up gut-shot and on life support in a San Salvador hospital. So when he felt that first infinitesimal tickle of unease skitter along the back of his neck, he shot straight to attention.
Nothing looked out of sync inside the gently rocking train as it methodically ate up the miles across the Peruvian Andes in the middle of a very quiet June night. Still, his heart had kicked up like a marathon runner on his last leg so from his seat in the middle of the dimly lit passenger car, he methodically scanned for signs of trouble.
He'd be damned if he could see a threat. In fact, everything looked status quo: A bunch of tired people making the best of the overnight ride. Everything smelled status quo, too: the dyed, damp wool of the Quechua farmers' ponchos, stale tobacco smoke, the faint aroma of llama dung dried on the bottom of someone's shoe and the moldy, musty scent that always seemed to permeate enclosed spaces in the Andes.
On a huge yawn, he settled his stained, brown leather fedora lower over his forehead, determined to catch a few Z's before the train hit Cuzco and he caught his scheduled flight back to Buenos Aires and returned to 'life in the kill zone'. He was almost asleep when he felt the itch again.
His eyes snapped open.
Luke Colter's second rule of self-preservation: Don't second guess rule number one.
A split second later the interior lights blared on like strobes. The brakes engaged. Metal screamed against metal and one hundred fifty tons of iron on steroids waged immediate and full scale war against the law of inertia.
"Holy shit!"
The car erupted in a cacophony of startled shrieks and yelps as shocked passengers jerked awake, battling a G-force determined to wrench them out of their seats. The jolting reduction in speed damn near tossed Luke off his own perch. He caught himself before he went airborne.
"Manos arribas. Ahora!"
Hands in the air. Now!
The gunman's Spanish was lost on the Quechuas, but he got his point across by aiming a state of the art assault rifle toward the ceiling and firing off several rounds.
"Well, hell." Luke's disbelief was outdistanced only by disgust with these assholes, who were probably going to make him do something he didn't want to do. And disgust with himself because 'Mr. Cool Under Fire Colter' was feeling a little too much like taking a fast dive out an open window and letting someone else play 'hero of the day.'
Excerpt:
Whisper No Lies
Chapter 1
It was business as usual tonight at Bali Hai Casino on the Vegas strip, which meant that every nut job and wacko who could arrange bail was on the prowl. Crystal Debrowski figured that in her seven years working casino security that she'd pretty much heard every come-on line written in the casino crawlers and lounge lizards handbook. That was because Crystal was what her friends referred to as a
man magnet
and yeah, Crystal knew what men saw when they looked at her: Sex on a stick. Pixie features, spiky red hair and fairy-green eyes. Show girl breasts and round hips that swayed to a sultry beat when she walked and drew heartbreakers and bizarros from the four corners of the earth.
In her twenty-seven years, she'd been lied to, cheated on, hit on and proposed to. Just when she'd thought she'd heard it all, this guy sweetened the pot. Her latest admirer – a Mr. Yao Long according to the business card sporting an embossed Komodo dragon emblem – had come a long way for a letdown.
She glanced from Mr. Yao to the man who appeared to be his assistant. "I don't believe I caught
your
name."
"Wong Li."
Wong, a Jackie Chan look alike, did most of his boss's talking for him. Crystal was about ninety-nine percent certain that the gist of Yao's offer ran somewhere in the neighborhood of: Him, lord and master. Her, concubine and sex slave.
"Please tell Mr. Yao, thanks, but no thanks," she told Wong who hovered at her amorous suitor's side like a pet gnat.
Because he was clearly 'new in town', she cut him a little slack but that didn't mean she was going for his insulting proposition. She'd pretty much had it with the opposite sex. With several heartbreaks under her belt, Crystal's newly adopted motto was: Men. Can't live with 'em. Can't tie 'em to a train track and wait for Amtrak to do the deed. Chalk her disenfranchisement up to a string of bad relationships with men who had basically 'gotten into her' because she jiggled when she walked.
Johnny Duane Reed was a recent example. That cowboy had heartbreak written all over him and she'd be damned if she knew why every time he blew into town she ended up naked before he ended up gone. Reed always ended up gone.
In the meantime, Mr. Yao Long did not look happy. "Did he understand that my answer is no?"
Crystal's gaze darted from Wong to Yao as she turned the table back over to the dealer. "Because, I'm thinking that if he did, now would be a really good time for him to leave."
To stress her meaning, she made walking motions with her fingers.
Mr. Yao, all five foot four inches of salt and pepper hair, Armani suit and Gucci loafers, continued to stare at her through narrow eyes the color of onyx. His expression never wavered.
Was it anger? Disappointment? Gas? she wondered, as a fissure of unease tickled its way down her spine.
"Mr. Yao understands your response but respectfully rejects your answer."
She blinked. "He said that?" She hadn't heard a word.
"Mr. Yao is quite taken with you. He expresses regret that you are reluctant to allow him the opportunity to get to know you better but must insist on your cooperation."
"No, seriously. Is he like texting you or something because I never saw his lips move." This was so ludicrous it was almost funny. The next words out of the Wong's mouth, however, sobered her like a judge in night court.
"You will regret dismissing him," Wong said softly.
Harmless or not, ridiculous or not, Wong spooked her and Crystal wasn't easily spooked.
It was right about then that she noticed the three sumo wrestler types crowding in around her.