Unexpected Love

by KaLyn Cooper

“Sssst.”

  Her attention flew to the small opening. Obviously the child didn’t realize how whispers, especially S sounds, cut through the night. All covert operators knew to speak very quietly, barely moving their lips in low tones that blended with the night. But he was just a child, bravely helping others, placing his life in danger if caught.

  “How many?” Her question must have confused the child. His face disappeared and two very small hands emerged from the hole. Lady Eagle grabbed the tiny wrists and pulled a slight body from the dirt. A child, missing his eye teeth, smiled up at her and immediately began jabbering. Then he threw himself at her legs. Her left arm wrapped around him, and she pulled her rifle to her shoulder and scanned the area to see if they had drawn unwanted attention. Seeing no movement, she instructed him to lay down flat off to the side.

  The next boy seemed a little older and a little larger than the first, but his gratitude was not an ounce less. Prepared this time, she gave him directions as she pulled him to her. The process repeated twice more before she pulled out the boy she’d caught running away. He stood in front of her, almost at attention, as the others rushed to him for a group hug.

  “Are there any more?” she asked.

  As he spoke, she understood his hand gestures better than the words. He indicated he had found all of them.

  “Operations, Lady Eagle. Five boys rescued. Moving to the extraction point now.” She looked at the first boy and instructed, “Line them up. You, at the end.” It took longer than it should before she had the boys holding hands and ready to move out.

  They’d nearly reached the end of the south side when she heard the distinct shot of a high-powered sniper rifle. Lady Eagle whipped around, automatically bringing her M4 to her shoulder and sweeping the area behind her through the sights. A man at the far end fell to one side.

  “You’re welcome,” Lady Falcon bragged. “But you’d better get moving faster.”

  Thank you, God, for my wonderful teammates and their skills.

  “Roger that.” Lady Eagle looked at the open expanse they had to cross to get to the next ridge. Not far for a trained special operator, but a long way for five little boys. The original evacuation plan had been for the entire mission team to surround the girls and shuffle their way across. She could wait there with the boys and extract all the children at once.

  More gunfire erupted inside, this time it seemed far too close.

  “Escape route blocked. We’re taking the girls out on the northeast end,” Lady Hawk informed everyone.

  Okay. So much for that idea.

  “Operations, Gray Four. Charges set. I’m on the south end behind the resistance forces. Do you want me to take them out or exit?”

  “Gray Four, operations. Exit as planned. We’ll get those fuckers with the bombs.”

  “Operations, Gray Four, ready to exit.”

  “Gray Four, Lady Falcon. You’re cleared to exit.” The statement reassured Lady Eagle that she and the boys were still safe.

  “Gray Four, operations. Move east to assist Lady Eagle.”

  “Roger that, operations. Gray Four on the move.”

  Thank you, God. Not that she was calling General Lyon God, but she wanted the Lord to know how much she appreciated his answer to her unasked prayer for help.

  Without being told, Gray Four moved to the back of her line of boys and hand signaled her that he was ready. Lady Eagle grabbed the smallest boy’s wrist and instructed the children to run as fast as they could. Her order was rapidly repeated by the older boy using different inflections and word accents.

  As soon as they started a cross the open field, word came over the com that the others had cleared the compound. There was a brief exchange of fire before Lady Hawk declared everyone clear.

  Gray Four slowed his steps and looked over his shoulder. Holding a device high above his head, still keeping pace with the boys and scanning the area all at the same time, he announced, “Fire in the hole.”

  Lady Eagle stopped, gathered the boys, and forced them to the ground, covering as much of them as she could. Gray Four’s body joined hers a second before the earth shook and a gust of power blew over her back, pressing them into the soft earth.

  Chapter 2

  Parker “Griffin” Mitchell dropped his huge duffel on the concrete and leaned his ass against the military jeep that brought him to the base’s hangar on the far side of Batman Airport in western Turkey. The other Guardian team members of Operation Save the Children milled about, chatting in small groups. Griffin didn’t feel like talking to anyone. He was still pissed that Grace had been left outside the compound, by herself, then taken on the responsibility of five little boys. Sure, his buddy Quin had finally joined them, but she had been out there alone for hours.

  At least she’d made it back to the base safely. He hoped to see her before they bunked in for several hours sleep before flying out tonight, but that didn’t happen. She had taken charge of the children while their team leader had found the kids a safe place to live.

  He crossed powerful arms over his broad chest and made himself as comfortable as possible while they waited for the Ladies of Black Swan. The armed guards surrounding their ride home wouldn’t even let them in the building. At least they were following orders.

  He had shed his operational handle as Gray Two as quickly as he’d stripped out of the desert camouflage uniform and boots. He only wished the shower on the surprisingly modern military base had washed away the horrors he’d witnessed on the rescue mission. Looking at the body language of his teammates, he wasn’t the only one.

  Quin Barrister, the newly promoted manager at the Dallas Guardian Security Center, parked his butt a few feet away and stretched out his long runner’s legs. “Sometimes I wonder why the fuck I do this, then I think about those kids.” He lowered his head and rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “Christ, what those monsters did to them. Those little boys were…” He sighed heavily. “So grateful. When Grace and I finally got them to the extraction point, they just held each other and bawled their little eyes out.”

  “Yup,” was all Griffin could say around the fist in his chest.

  Jonathan O’Neil, assistant manager at the Dallas Center, walked up and fist bumped his new boss, Quin, before shaking hands with Griffin. “It was really great to get to work with you again.”

  Even though he and Jonathan had been on several covert missions together in the past few months, the man had worked for him for several years in what they all considered to be their day job—protecting residences and businesses, as well as personal protection. “We miss you at the Miami Center.” Griffin looked over at his counterpart. “You realize you got one of my best men.”

  Quin’s smile said he knew the truth in that statement. “He’s mine, and I’m pretty sure his new girlfriend isn’t about to move to Miami.”

  “Fiancée,” Jonathan corrected. “And no, Dallas is home for me and Gwen.”

  Congratulations and handshakes were exchanged as Alex Wolf—their boss in the field and as the managing partner of Guardian Security—walked up and stood in front of them. “Great job out there, men.” He looked at the dust cloud pluming on the horizon. “In case you hadn’t heard, the girls will be returned to their parents, provided they’ll take them back. If not, they’ll join the boys at a Catholic orphanage in Italy.”

  “Good.” Griffin knew the social norms in that area of the world often shunned children who had been subjected to sexual abuse. “Did Katlin make those arrangements?” He asked of the Black Swan team leader.

  Alex didn’t bother to hide his smile at the mention of his lover, who also happened to be his business partner. “Yeah, with the help of her uncle, Monsignor Francis Callahan.”

  “That’s some serious pull she has,” Quin noted.

  Looking down the road to where several vehicles were approaching, Alex commented, “You have no idea.”

  Griffin chuckled. “Yeah, she has pulled us into USSOCOM and pulled us into t
aking on missions that don’t even involve Americans.”

  Jerking his head around, Alex informed them, “Our target was to take out the leader and his lieutenants of this rebel band of zealots. Those assholes weren’t even Iraqi. The Taliban wasn’t fundamentalist enough for them back in Afghanistan, so al Abib-I-don’t-give-a-fuck brought his faithful followers here to build a new caliphate.” He slowly swiped his hand over his face. “Only Kat and I knew about that part of the mission. When General Lyon took over USSOCOM, he found lots of holes.”

  Griffin stood. “You think we have a mole?”

  “No.” Alex shot back. “But it looks like they might. We all agreed that only the three of us would know the true purpose of that mission.” He grinned. “Why do you think I had Quin blow the place to hell? And Katlin kept Tori sniping until after the Lei Lu and Turks landed the helicopters to extract us?”

  The fact that no one got out of there alive made Griffin feel vindicated. He hadn’t thought beyond the satisfaction of sending all those men to meet their maker. Now it all made sense.

  Just then, three ancient Jeeps pulled up and stopped next to the ones that had brought the men. A curtain of dust passed over, coating everyone in fine yellow sand. Griffin ignored the grit and watched the Ladies of Black Swan emerge from the newly arrived vehicles. All five were dressed in black flight suits; the only identity patch was the U.S. flag on their left shoulders. A definite contrast to the polo shirts and khaki slacks the men from Guardian Security wore.

  Katlin Callahan approached them. Undeniably, the blonde was gorgeous—and sleeping with his boss as often as possible. As an active duty Navy lieutenant, and mission commander, she had to maintain her distance throughout the planning phase at USSOCOM in Florida and during the op. Looking at their relaxed demeanor, it seemed as though they’d been able to find each other in the post-adrenaline sexual spike. Lucky bastard. Griffin had taken care of himself in the shower while dreaming of sliding into Grace...someday.

  “You guys ready to head home?” Katlin looked to the west where the sun was slowly turning the clear sky shades of peach. “I’d rather leave under the cover of darkness, but I want to get the hell out of here. Dusk will do.”

  Grunts of affirmation came from men.

  “Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na Batman!” Nita’s smile, amidst the girl-next-door face, was contagious. She trotted toward them, arms outstretched, singing the theme song to the old television show. Stopping in front of them, she dropped her hands to her hips and looked around the very small airport. “If this is Batman’s airport, where the hell’s his cave? What the fuck is he doing hiding here in nowhere Turkey?” She looked at each man. “Well? Ideas?”

  Quin smiled and threw his palms up. “I got nothin’.”

  “I’ll bet when I landed that big black jet here a few nights ago, it scared the crap out of anyone who dared to be around.” Grace’s light laugh drove into Griffin’s chest and grabbed his heart. When she flipped her dazzling auburn hair over her shoulder, the remaining sunlight caught the red strands infusing them with rose gold. The tightness in his core migrated south and took a firm grip on his cock.

  “They probably thought the man himself had arrived.” Neither Tori’s quip, nor the nearly six-foot tall former model’s poise as she joined the group, could tear Griffin’s gaze away from Grace. Her green eyes filled with laughter and sparkled like a deeply faceted emerald.

  Damn, he wanted her in every way a man could.

  Griffin had been attracted to Grace Hall, a.k.a. Lady Eagle, from the first time he’d seen her striding out of the Miami condo in her sexy green, formfitting club dress and sinfully tall high heels. She’d been dressed to kill that night and the arrow had shot straight through his libido. She and her friends had contracted Guardian Security for bodyguards. Griffin, like so many other men who worked with him, had taken them for exactly what they looked like…socialites out for a good time in the big city.

  But Grace had seemed different from the others. She never swore, and although she danced provocatively, she never went home with a man. She and Katlin seemed to be older than the others, or at least more mature. One evening, as he was handing over their personal protection duty to Miguel, Grace had asked if Griffin would take her home, claiming that she wasn’t feeling well. He’d been more than happy to oblige.

  Before he could assist her into the back of the company Land Rover, she’d deposited herself in the shotgun seat. Griffin grinned as he remembered her saying that the loud music and too many writhing bodies were remaking her nervous. She’d touched his arm as she’d turned toward him and asked if they could stop for ice cream. It had been the first of many evenings that he and Grace had left her friends at a pheromone-filled club, opting for the virtue of coffee and strawberry ice cream.

  Griffin’s brain still had a hard time equating that seemingly innocent socialite with the war-hardened Navy lieutenant five feet away. He glanced at the big duffel bags at her feet containing her sniper rifle—the stock custom-cut shorter to fit her smaller frame—her M4, several pistols and probably a grenade or two.

  Last night, he’d seen a glimpse of that big heart of hers as she rescued those five boys. Once back on the Turkish base, she stayed with them for hours making sure they were fed and properly clothed. He had wanted so much to be the man to back her up, cover her and be sure she was safe, but his assignment had been to stick close to Lady Harrier and help her get the girls out without harm. Every time Grace had spoken, he had been distracted, downright concerned about her, too often taking his attention away from his own job.

  He was in deep.

  And it was high time he did something about it.

  The squeal and creak of hangar doors brought Griffin back to the present. He’d obviously missed a great deal of conversation. When he scanned his surroundings, he noticed the sun had completely disappeared behind the horizon painting the high desert in deep purples fading to grays.

  He grabbed his bag and jogged past his teammates who were amiably talking as they walked toward the hangar. “Grace, hold up.”

  She stopped and spun to look at him, giving him a questioning smile.

  He dropped his bag and pulled her into his arms. He didn’t care everyone was watching them. “You are so fucking amazing.” When he saw her shocked eyes soften, he didn’t need any more permission. He crashed his mouth on hers, taking her with a ferocity that he was no longer going to hold back. No more gentle, chaste good night kisses at the front door of the Miami Beach condo. No. The woman warrior in his arms could handle anything he gave her.

  Chapter 3

  The intensity of Griffin’s kiss finally penetrated Grace’s surprise. She hadn’t been kissed like that since…ever. It was a little bit dangerous kissing a man in front of her team. In front of his team. She was a Navy officer and this was most definitely a public display of affection. Unquestionably, against regulations.

  There was something about breaking the rules that excited Grace, just a little. She was a good girl. She followed all the rules to the letter.

  But this was Griffin…finally kissing her. And, man oh man, was it a kiss.

  He ran his wide hand up her spine, each nerve igniting and sending newly awakened energy throughout her entire body.

  She wanted more.

  Completely forgetting where she was, she dropped the bags she’d been carrying and smoothed her hands up his solid chest and over expansive shoulders. Threading her fingers into hair far too long to be a military cut, she pulled his head down, at the same time going on her tiptoes. When she opened for him, he thrust his tongue into her mouth, and she wrapped hers around it in a dance that was new to her.

  Kevin hadn’t liked French kissing. Sometimes he’d pressed his lips to hers so hard they nearly bruised, but all their life together, kisses had been puckered lips only. Even the men she’d dated since her husband’s death, including Griffin, she had only kissed closed mouth.

  He pulled her body even cl
oser to his, one hand dropping and cupping her bottom. Then he rocked his hips into her belly, matching each thrust of his tongue.

  Oh, this was so bad…yet oh so good. They really shouldn’t be doing this, least of all in front of their teams. But she had waited so long…all her life, to be kissed like this. His warm hand, that nearly covered her entire butt, squeezed.

  The moan she heard was hers. That realization shocked her back to her surroundings.

  She jerked her eyes open and pulled back from him, frantically looking around.

  The men trailed Katlin and Alex, walking away. Ignoring them. Tori, Nita, and Lei Lu stood ten feet away holding up fingers judging the drama in front of them.

  Grace wanted to bury her face into Griffin’s chest. Instead, she said, “We really shouldn’t be doing this in front of everybody.”

  Griffin just smiled. “Why the fuck not?”

  When he bent to kiss her again, she moved her head away. “Public displays of affection are considered unbecoming of an officer, punishable by the Uniform Code of Military Justice.”

  “I don’t give a damn. I’m no longer in the military so—”

  “But I am.” Grace jumped back. She looked over to where Alex had his hand on the small of Katlin’s back, guiding her toward the rear of the plane. That small gesture might’ve been misconstrued as PDA, but most would consider it gentlemanly. On the other hand, open mouthed kisses and rocking hips were far from approved social behaviors.

  With one finger, Griffin turned her chin to face him. “Do you really think they care?” He leaned down and gently brushed his lips over hers. “Grace, we’re all adults. I’ve just put every man here on notice that your mine.”

  “They’re not the only ones who now know how you feel.” Completely focused on him, she brought the palm of her hand to his cheek and raised herself up to meet his lips.

  “Get a room.” Nita’s nearby voice cracked the spell. A wicked smile crossed her friend’s face. In a sultry voice, she suggested, “Or share.”