by Em Petrova
Oh fuck. He planned to remove one of the members from Xtreme Ops. Penn’s chest tightened. Who would it be?
“Sir, if I can speak freely.”
“You can.”
“I can attest to the fact that each man on this team pulls his weight. I can’t ask for a better first in command than Lipton. He’s shouldered more responsibility than I ever asked for, and without complaint. Broshears is proving to be the best marksman we have. Hepburn might have done amazing things serving this country, but he’s taken that to a whole new level here.” He opened his mouth to continue running through the men, with accolades for Gasper and Beckett as well, but Colonel Reinsel stopped him.
Penn waited, lips compressed.
“You’ve bonded this team in a short amount of time. If you think I’m about to tell you I’m taking one of them from you, you’re wrong.”
“Sir?” He tensed further.
“Alaska’s a big state. The ports haven’t even really opened yet, which will open all sorts of channels for more crime. You’re about to be thrown into the deepest waters, Sullivan. It’s why I’ve spoken to my chief officers at OFF and they’ve agreed to grant you more men.”
Penn jerked at the words. “More men, Colonel?”
“As I said, Alaska is big. We can’t have six men spread so thin. OFFAT is sending you four more special operatives.”
He shook his head in amazement. “It’s something the guys and I have discussed—needing more people, wishing we had more hands on deck. But to actually have a team of ten men is more than I could ever have asked for, sir. Thank you.”
He nodded.
“When can we expect them?”
“They’re already here.”
Penn’s gaze darted to the closed door.
“Before you meet them, Sullivan, I want to give you a rundown of their accomplishments and strengths.”
“I’m certain OFFAT has chosen the best of the best for our team, sir.”
“That’s damn true. Nobody better. This one in particular I think you’ll want to hear about, though.”
Penn went silent, listening.
“This person is fresh out of special forces training for Homeland Security. Graduated top of the class with a recommendation letter directly from the instructor.”
He nodded.
“This person has knowledge of the Alaskan landscape few people can claim to have.”
Penn’s stomach dipped. The colonel was wrong—Cora knew her way around better than most trained men would, simply from living this life.
The colonel continued, “This person led a team of men through the wilderness hunting one of the top wanted men in the world.”
He swallowed.
“Then created a diversion and singlehandedly annihilated two other men belonging to the same trafficking ring.”
Penn gripped the edge of the table. His heart thundered in his ears. When he pushed from the table, stood and walked to the door, he didn’t bother asking for the colonel’s permission.
He also didn’t try to hide the tremor in his hand when he opened the office door.
His stare landed on Cora. His angel with the blue-gray eyes. Tougher-looking and wearing the winter gear of a special operative rather than the red parka.
She gazed at him from a few steps away, hands clenched at her sides.
The colonel walked out of the office past Penn. He paused to grip Cora’s shoulder. “Congratulations on your first assignment, Hutton.”
“Thank you, Colonel.”
“Sullivan, meet your personal pilot and guide for the Xtreme Ops team.”
Without looking from Cora, he thanked the colonel and then watched him walk away.
All the breath whooshed from Penn’s lungs. He grabbed her hand and yanked her into the office, slamming the door behind them. He spun on her. “What the hell? You’re part of our team? You’re the one who completed training at the top of your class?” He spat all this even as he walked her up against the wall and braced his hands on either side of her.
His insides shook, and he wasn’t going to deny that all the emotions he’d managed to hold back during these months without her now returned full force.
“Um…surprise?” Cora offered a quirk of a smile.
“Goddamn right it’s a surprise. Woman, I can’t believe this. How? You left and I figured you were flying planes again. Instead, you were flying what? Choppers?” He couldn’t stop looking at her. He’d never seen someone more beautiful, and just staring into her deep eyes sent a throb to his heart.
“Yes, and other aircrafts. I need to be well-rounded if I’m going to do the team any good. My orders are to pick up and drop off.”
“And the guide part?” He cocked a brow.
“As needed based on the mission.” She held his stare. “After we parted, I knew what I wanted after a week away from the team. I love this team, Penn. I love…” She dropped her gaze and brought it right back to him. “I love you,” she rasped.
A sound broke from his throat and he caught her against him, locking her into his arms with the mental promise to never let go.
She found his lips first, and he never knew happiness until those plump lips brushed across his. He cupped her face, looked into her eyes and then dipped his head to plunder her. Suddenly, it felt as if they were standing on the ridge again, locked in a kiss so laden with passion that neither of them knew what to do with the energy between them.
He did now.
He drew back a fraction.
“So you’re okay with me being here?” she asked.
His chest heaved. “Fuck. I don’t want you in danger—ever. I can’t survive it, Cora. I fucking love you, and I can’t lose you. But you earned it. I can see your strength, and I thought you were strong before. Now—”
She locked in his words with a finger along his lips. “Stop. Did you just say you love me, Penn?”
Hell, he did. Now that the words were free, he wanted to shout them to the world.
He swept her into his arms. “I love you, Angel. Having you alongside me will probably kill me, but when it doesn’t, you better bet your ass I’ll be showing you how much I love you every chance I get.”
She slipped her arms around his neck. “And there’s always a cabin somewhere.”
“Or a freezing tent. I don’t give a damn—I just want you with me.” He slammed his mouth over hers, teasing a stifled moan from her.
She studied his eyes. “You’ll let me do my job, though, right? You won’t hinder me because you think you’re protecting me.”
“You showed more strength, determination and skill on that mission than many men I’ve worked with. I’m honored to serve alongside you, Hutton.”
She grinned, the tips of her lips enticing and more beautiful than he’d been able to conjure from memory. “Thank you, Captain.”
He arched a brow. “When we’re alone, you won’t be calling me captain.”
She toyed with the hair on his nape. “No?”
He kissed her, a deep, intense kiss that he had to tear from too fast.
“Maybe I’ll call you my lover,” she whispered, resting her forehead against his.
He nodded. “For starters.”
Her eyes glowed. “How soon can we be together?”
“Tonight, barring we don’t receive any calls.”
“Where are you staying?”
“OFFAT provided huts for us each on the south side of the base.”
“Then I guess I’ll be meeting you in that hut in say…five minutes?”
His heart hit the floor and dragged along behind the woman he loved as she sashayed to the door.
“Cora,” he called before she walked out.
She turned, offering him a coy look tangled up with the love he saw gleaming in her eyes. “Yes?”
“For some reason, I can’t wait to see you in a pair of puffy snow pants.”
She laughed. “You’re sick, Sullivan. Don’t keep me waiting.”
She walked
out.
A cheer went up from the guys, and Penn grinned broader than he ever had in his life. His life was crazy at times and never predictable. But now at least he had somebody to share every single moment with.
Epilogue
“I think my bones are melting.” Cora tilted her face to the sun. While still far from the equator, Texas felt hotter than any place she’d ever been.
Floating around in the pool nearby with his baby niece in a floaty ring, Penn chuckled. “Then come join us in the pool. Little Opal wants to spend time with her Aunty Cora. Don’t you, darlin’?” he baby-talked the little girl who came as close to a Disney princess infant as Cora had seen in her life.
She swung her legs off her deck chair, stepped to the edge and then dived into the swimming pool. The water felt like a hot bath compared to what she’d endured to reach her goals. Under the surface, she pushed through the depths to reach Penn’s side.
She popped up beside them, and Opal issued a giggle so perfect and so contagious that she and Penn joined in.
“Awww, she loves you two.” Nevaeh emerged from the house bearing a tray of drinks and snacks. “She loves the water. She wants to swim so often, I swear I’m permanently shriveled. I’m glad you two are entertaining her while you’re visiting.” She beamed at Cora and then her brother-in-law Penn.
Seeing her momma, Opal kicked her feet. Her face lit with excitement as she realized that she could propel herself in the floaty by kicking. Penn released her tube and Cora caught it as it floated her way. Nevaeh settled on the side of the pool, dangling her feet in the water to watch her young daughter’s skills.
“She’ll be deep in the Pacific soon.” Nash’s deep voice made Cora look toward the house. He and several other men stepped out to join the impromptu pool party.
“Here, go to your momma.” Penn led the floating baby to the side, and Nevaeh leaned over to lift her out.
Penn grabbed one of the glasses and swam it a few feet to where Cora relaxed against the side of the pool. The look in his eyes had her narrowing hers.
“What are you up to, Sullivan?”
Everyone went still and quiet, the guys watching intently and Nevaeh ignoring the baby in her lap and staring at her and Penn.
Cora’s heart thumped. She straightened from the side and faced her captain, best friend and the love of her life.
He loomed closer, hovering over her. “Cora. My angel.”
Her breaths came so fast now, she wondered how she’d survived the Pacific if this was giving her heart failure. “What is this?”
“A toast.” He put the goblet into her hand. When she turned her attention to the soap bubble-thin glass and the golden depths, she spotted it.
Her mouth dried, and she almost dropped the glass. “Penn!”
He drew in a deep breath. “We met on an adventure, Cora. And I never want to take another step in life without you by my side.”
Tears burned at the rims of her eyes.
He took the glass from her and lifted it to her lips. The sweet champagne hit her tongue, and then the cool metal of a ring bumped her lips. She straightened, and the ring tumbled toward the water. But Penn’s big palm was right there to catch it, the same way he caught her whenever she needed it, in their personal life or in the line of duty.
He set aside the glass on the pool edge and held the ring up to catch the sunlight. Diamond sparkles blinded her.
“Marry me, Angel. You’re already my everything. Be my wife too.”
A tear trickled from the corner of her eye, and she let it go, aware of how many emotions she shared with Penn and how he always held her through them, good or bad.
Everyone waited expectantly, and the man she loved stood chest-deep in the water, awaiting her response.
She threw her arms around him. “Yes, Penn. Yes, I’ll marry you!”
A cheer went up, and Penn latched onto her, pulling her under the water with him. Their lips met, and she smiled against his mouth. A second later, they came up gasping to more shouts of congratulations and Opal flapping her little arms with joy.
Penn drew Cora to the side of the pool and slipped the ring onto her finger. “I promise to love you for all of our days.”
“And I’ll love you no matter where we go, or what we see or do. You’re my everything too, Penn.” She hitched her thighs around his hips and kissed him with all the passion inside her.
THE END
BONUS READ
NEXT UP:
TO THE XTREME
Harris Lipton must have lost his damn mind.
For six months he’d been in the Alaskan wilderness hunting fugitives, drug smugglers and human traffickers, and the minute he got a short leave from his duties with the Xtreme Ops, he took off backpacking into Denali National Park. Instead of heading to Cali for some sun and sweeties, he was trekking through thick mud on the edge of Big Stony Creek.
He planned to set up in one of the zones that permitted camping, but he already knew a week wouldn’t be nearly enough time away from it all.
From the corner of his eye, he spotted the bleached white of bone.
Fucking great.
The fact he was totally desensitized to the possibility—and likelihood—that it could be human remains told him this trip away from his work was essential.
Lipton changed his path to circle closer to the bone. He might face the remains of some grizzly’s dinner. Or a murdered hiker. Out here, he never knew what to expect.
As soon as he saw the long, spikey tines of a caribou antler shed, relief surged through him.
Scrubbing a hand over his face to clear out half a dozen images of death flitting through his mind, he stood staring down at the antlers people liked to hunt for and collect. If he had a home of his own, he might tie them to his backpack and haul them home to nail on the wall over a mantel.
At present, his home consisted of what Xtreme Ops called sleeping pods—small rectangular buildings lined up along the base and outfitted with beds and a composting toilet. They were damn lucky to receive this accommodation, and he didn’t take it for granted after the places he’d stayed.
Serving four years in the Navy had been the basis of his training, but he’d quickly climbed ranks as a top diver and found himself on dives as the Navy’s number one person to call when they needed a bomb deactivated.
As if the pressures of not blowing himself up every week hadn’t been enough, he jumped at the chance to join Xtreme Ops. His buddies called him a stress junkie. Lord knew he spent enough months in therapy to figure out the same thing. Bottom line—a stressed young boy sought other stressful events as a man looking to control them.
Which made him a control freak too.
He squatted next to the antlers and stroked a fingertip along the smooth, bleached bone. Pretty in a primitive way, just like everything here in Alaska.
Lipton continued on his journey, hiking for miles along the drainage area where mountain runoff created a creek of sorts and sometimes flooded out. Someday, he’d return during the flood time just to witness the power of the water changing the land.
In the distance, Denali rose up, awe-inspiring with its massive size as North America’s tallest mountain. She had some clouds on her, softening her jagged peaks. Yes, Lipton damn well needed more of this.
He pulled in deep breaths. Cool, fresh air washed through his head, clearing away the dark, cobwebbed corners. Early in his military career, he learned he had to find a way to let shit go. Right now, right here, he was making peace with all the bad but necessary deeds he’d done.
His only plan was to commune with nature. Maybe say fuck it to shaving for a week. And he definitely would not be pulling out a map anytime during the course of his leave.
In the distance, he spotted a grizzly with two cubs, the babies a darker shade than their mother and striking against the landscape. He stopped to watch them play for a little while before continuing on with no sense of purpose. It felt good to shut down the tactical portion of his mind.
Was this how normal people lived? Just blue sky, pines and himself.
Wandering out of the flat land came as second nature to him. He couldn’t go long without a challenge, so he angled up the hill. Soon his muscles burned with the exertion he was so familiar with on a daily basis, but this time his goal was personal—to reach the top and find a view.
His captain wasn’t giving orders in his ear. He didn’t tote a rifle. And he wasn’t out here to hunt a criminal. As he hiked, he repeated these things to himself. Didn’t people say they needed a vacation from their vacation? No wonder—doing nothing was hard work. He had to continually remind himself to unplug, shut down the internal grind of his mind.
When the sun reached high in the sky, he found a clearing in the trees and stopped.
Staring across the lowlands he’d just hiked, a sense of peace gripped him. Like having a hot cup of coffee on a frigid morning at camp before his teammates climbed out of their tents. Or knowing he’d gone the distance to serve and protect.
He reached out and gripped the tall, thin pine tree in front of him to get a closer look. The clouds were blowing away from Denali, revealing the majestic snow-capped peak.
Above his head came a loud crack and Lipton ducked, his body trained to find cover from rifle shots. His feet went out from under him, and he hit the earth with a bruising jolt just as branches and pine rushed at him. He reached for his weapon out of instinct, but he never laid hands on it.
When he opened his eyes, he didn’t register anything but the gritty scent of dirt and sap. Then a pair of warm green and gold eyes burned down into his.
He must be losing his fucking mind. He couldn’t even take a vacation without fucking it up and conjuring some danger that wasn’t really there.
“Are you okay? Can you hear me?” The green eyes were attached to a voice, as soft as the whisper of breeze through the pines just before that loud report of a rifle sent him into full alert mode.
Lipton’s memory sparked in his temporal lobe, and he dug the heels of his hands into the forest floor to push upward.
