Mike (Delta Forces Book 1)

by Elizabeth Lennox

  “Who reads this drivel?” the guy holding the book asked, and several other men laughed. The guy with the book flipped through the pages, obviously trying to find something in the text that he could read out loud. “How about this…” and he was just about to read something when Lexie rushed over and snatched the book.

  “Please, that’s not…,” she tried to hide the book behind the bar, but the guy just reached around her and grabbed it back.

  “What’s wrong, honey?” he schmoozed with what he probably thought was a silky, soft tone, but that came across as sleazy. “Are you missing a bit of male companionship? Are books the only place where you can find love?” He snickered and glanced over to his companions, chuckling as if he’d just said something hilarious. When he’d gotten the reaction he wanted from his friends, he turned back to Lexie. “I’m here for ya, babe. Just take me for a spin. I can make your world go round and then you don’t need that trash novel.”

  “Of course it’s a romance novel!” Lexie snapped, grabbing the book out of his hands again. “And if you weren’t such a buffoon, you’d ask yourself why women read romance novels!” She tossed the book back over the bar, without taking her eyes from the jerk. “Since you’re too stupid to understand, I’ll explain it to you!”

  She moved closer, poking him in the chest. “Women read romance novels for the escape, you idiot. The escape from real life. An escape from the tedium of the men that we have to cope with on a daily basis.” The guy who had mocked the book appeared startled, as if he hadn’t anticipated her challenging him, which he probably hadn’t.

  She moved closer, almost on her toes as she glared at the guy. “And the sex scenes in the romance novels? If we’re reading a romance novel to escape from our normal, boring lives, then ask yourself why we like the sex scenes! Perhaps it’s because the sex we get from the men in our lives is completely unsatisfying, tedious, and boring!” Her shoulders shifted, as if she were bracing herself. Sure enough, the lady wasn’t finished. “Furthermore, mocking literature that was written by women and for women only shows that you have no respect for women! It shows a complete lack of decency and understanding of women’s culture!”

  With that, she stomped away, leaving about a dozen men staring after her with their mouths hanging open.

  The guy who had started it all looked around, not sure what to say. He looked like an idiot and even his friends were turning away from him.

  “What a bitch!” he finally blurted out, scoffing as if he were trying to save face with his friends.

  For some reason, the guy’s reaction flipped some previously-unknown switch inside Mike’s head. Hurting a woman, in any way, was the one insult he couldn’t ignore.

  “What’s your rank, soldier?” Mike demanded, stepping into the guy’s personal space.

  The guy’s eyes widened as he recognized The Voice of Authority.

  “Uh…Private First Class Miller, sir!”

  Mike moved even closer until they were nose to nose. “PFC Miller, do you have any idea what the term ‘bitch’ actually means?”

  Mike had to give the guy a bit of credit. He didn’t waver in his stance. “I believe it is technically a female dog, sir.”

  “Exactly. Now look at the woman you just insulted.” He waited as Miller turned. “Does the waitress who has been bringing you drinks all night look like a dog to you?”

  The guy’s eyes barely moved. “No, sir.”

  “And has she been serving you drinks all evening with a pleasant smile? Or has she done something to offend you, other than defend something she feels passionate about, something you just insulted?”

  PFC Miller swallowed audibly. “No sir. She doesn’t look like a dog at all, sir.”

  Because Mike had been trained to be aware of his surroundings at all times, he knew that Joe, Derick, and Zeke had returned, and that the rest of the customers had gone quiet.

  “Since you thought it might make you look more manly by insulting the waitress, perhaps you should just pay your tab and get back to the barracks.”

  The man stared for a moment, then to his credit, quickly reached into his back pocket and pulled out some bills. “A big tip,” Mike warned. The guy pulled out anther twenty, then looked at Mike for approval. “Excellent. Be sure and take a cab back since you’ve obviously been drinking.”

  The guy nodded, and ducked his head, hustling out the front door as fast as he could. Mike then turned to the other soldiers at the table, all of them looking glum. “I didn’t hear any of you standing up for the lady, did I?” he asked softly, but with menace coloring his tone. “What’s the point in being a soldier and defending this country if you don’t have the decency to defend one lady?”

  The guys looked ashamed. Each of them pulled money out of their wallet, dropped some cash on the table, then left, following their friend.

  Mike nodded, then looked around, taking in the others present. “That goes for everyone here! We took an oath to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic! Let’s all be sure that we aren’t the enemy!”

  And with that, Mike left the bar, Zeke, Derrick, and Joe grunting their approval as they followed, defending his back.

  Lexie stared at the four men, her eyes focused on one in particular. There was just one word for him. Wow! He’d stood up for her, defended her! No one had ever done that before!

  Of course, she’d also done it herself when the jerk had grabbed her book, the book that had just been published and was her personal pride and joy. She’d put her heart and soul into that story. To have it maligned by some jerk had been…!

  But still, it was really nice to hear someone else stand up for her. Especially a guy who looked like Thor and spoke like…chocolate silk. Oh my.

  “Whew, honey!” Georgia said as she came up behind Lexie, waving a napkin as if to fan herself. “I do believe that you’ve made a conquest in that guy!”

  Lexie’s cheeks blushed and she busied herself dumping ice into several glasses. “Don’t be ridiculous. He’s just chivalrous.”

  Georgia laughed. “You keep telling yourself that, honey.”

  Chapter 2

  Mike spotted the woman in the coffee shop and almost crashed into a telephone pole. She was here! Damn, he’d been searching for her all over! And here she was, looking cool and relaxed, headphones in and a steaming cup of coffee by her elbow. Her silky, brown hair was down, cascading over her shoulders…she looked like dessert!

  “What the hell?” Zeke snapped, looking around as a horn blared. He followed Mike’s gaze and let out a heavy sigh. “So, you finally found your pretty waitress, huh?” he grumbled, leaning back. Zeke gave Mike a friendly punch to the arm. “Go get a freaking cup of coffee!”

  Mike made an illegal right turn into the parking lot and found a parking space. “She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?”

  Zeke didn’t bother to answer as he stepped out of Mike’s truck, then walked into the coffee shop. He went straight to the counter and ordered two black coffees. No milk. No latte. No chocolate or raspberry or pineapple-whatever syrup. Just black coffee!

  He handed one to Mike, and took his own to an empty table, grabbing a discarded newspaper and sitting down, completely ignoring Mike and the woman who was rapidly typing on a laptop.

  Mike watched her for a long moment, considering his options. In the end, he decided on a direct approach. He wasn’t much into subtleties anyway.

  Walking over, he sat down in the chair opposite her, and looked directly into the most beautiful pair of blue eyes he’d ever seen.

  Slowly, she pulled the headphones out of her ears and blinked at him, her soft, full lips parted slightly. He wanted to pull her onto his lap and discover the secrets hidden behind that mouth. “I’m sorry,” he told her with sincerity. “I heard you were fired from the bar and it was my fault.”

  Lexie saved her work, and closed her computer. “Its fine,” she lied. It wasn’t fine. She was in a panic after losing her waitressing job that night after the book scen
e. She needed to find another job that would allow her to write during the daytime. She only had one book published and the royalties from that one story definitely wasn’t enough to live off of. It was a start, but she needed more book successes to even eke out a small living writing the stories she loved.

  He leaned forward, the look in his eyes clearly showed her that he knew she was lying. “It’s not fine. But I don’t regret standing up for you.”

  Lexie pressed her lips together. Tim had fired her, saying he couldn’t have someone in the bar who would scare the customers away. And since the jerk that had stolen her book was one of Tim’s regulars, while the guy who defended her was new to the base and hadn’t been in the bar since that night, Lexie had been let go.

  She looked out the window. “Don’t worry about it.” She was doing enough of that on her own. Life in a military town was difficult. The whole town existed to support the base as well as the military families, and word had gotten out about the other night. Lexie had been black listed from most of the businesses around town.

  “I know of a job. The hours are better and I suspect that the pay is better too.”

  Lexie’s ears perked up. “A job?”

  She didn’t want to appear too excited, but the prospect of job sounded…awesome! She had some savings, but not much.

  He shrugged one of those amazingly broad shoulders, still looking intently into her eyes. “There are times when the work will be fast and furious. And other times when you’ll be bored out of your mind. Are you interested?”

  Intrigued, Lexie laughed. “Way to sell it.”

  He smiled slightly, and reached into his pocket, pulling out a card. “Call this phone number and schedule an appointment. General Kelly is in charge of hiring. I’ll put in a good word for you.”

  With that, he left the coffee shop without another word.

  Lexie watched as he and another guy got into a big, black Jeep and…well, she couldn’t help but notice the guy had a really great butt! It looked hard and firm and his waist was slim enough that it made his butt look…!

  When he was gone, disappearing down the street, Lexie examined the business card in her hands. Having only lived in this town for less than a year, she wasn’t as familiar with the names of the officers as longer term residents might be. So, she didn’t recognize the name “General George Kelly”. But what did she have to lose? She’d already lost her job and, if she didn’t find a new one soon, she’d have to leave this town and find some other place to live.

  Chapter 3

  “You’ll work here and,” General Kelly peered at her over his thick glasses. “I don’t need to remind you that everything you hear or see is absolutely top secret.”

  “Yes, sir,” she responded, feeling awed. The hoops she’d had to jump through to get this job had been frustrating, but the pay was great! She would be making twice as much here as she’d earned at the job at the bar, with all of her tips included! Plus, she wouldn’t be on her feet for ten hours a day and she wouldn’t come home at night smelling like cheap beer.

  Seemed like a win-win all around!

  She’d spent the last two weeks training with another person who supported a different training team. So Lexie understood her role. She’d be answering phones, filing, submitting and following up on supply requests and anything else that was asked of her. She’d gone through a fast tracked security clearance and, because she had no issues in her back ground, hadn’t ever been married, her parents had passed away years ago, and…well, she lived a boring life. So her clearance had gone through faster than normal. For some people, a security clearance could take months, sometimes years! She’d gotten her clearance in two weeks! Someone had a lot of pull, she thought as she slid the desk chair closer to the desk.

  Of course, the work environment wasn’t all that glamorous. Looking around, she took in the large warehouse that was filled with…mysterious lumps covered in tarps. There were vehicles on one side of the warehouse, some locked doors on the other side, and several offices along the same wall as her office. Her desk was at the end of four offices and there was a large, very technologically advanced conference room to the right.

  No pictures. No music. No windows. No soft lighting to make the room more habitable. It was just starkly utilitarian.

  “This is weird,” she whispered as she pulled the stack of files on her desk forward. The phone rang and she answered it. “Ovid Supply Team,” she said, exactly as she’d been trained. “How can I help you?”

  There was a pause at the other end of the line, then the deep, sexy voice that had invaded her dreams over the past two weeks spoke to her. “Lexie, this is Colonel Cain. I know this is your first day on the job. Is everything okay?”

  Lexie closed her eyes and took a slow breath. “Yes, sir,” she replied quickly. “Everything is great. Is there anything I can do for you?”

  He laughed softly, that deep, sexy voice sending shivers of awareness and excitement all over her body. “Nothing right now. I just wanted to check in.”

  There was an odd sound that Lexie didn’t recognize. “Where are you?” she blurted out. It sounded like high winds in the background.

  “Can’t say. We’ll be back in a while.” And then the line was dead.

  Lexie pulled the phone away from her ear and frowned at it. “That was weird,” she said to the empty room.

  Over the next two weeks, Lexie finished everything that was in the files on her desk, but she wasn’t sure what to do next. Calling the person who had trained her, she tapped her pencil on the desk nervously. “Hey, Melanie, I’m over here in Ovid Supply. Should I be doing something? I started this job, accomplished all of the tasks that had been assigned previously, but there isn’t anyone here to tell me what to do next.”

  Melanie laughed. “Oh, don’t worry. You’ll have plenty to do soon enough. Just hang in there and enjoy the calm before the storm.”

  Lexie shrugged, feeling vaguely guilty. Because she was so bored, she took out her laptop and started writing. For the next three days, she worked on her next novel, losing herself in the words and the scenes that filled her thoughts. It was great! After working nights at the bar to pay the rent, then trying to write during the daytime hours, this job was perfect for her, even if she felt like she was cheating somehow.

  That all changed a week later. Lexie was sitting out on a stack of…something mysterious…lifting her face to the warm sunshine. She had no idea what was under the tarp, but it was outside of the warehouse and in the light. She nibbled on her sandwich while she contemplated the next scene in her book. The building was pretty isolated from the other buildings on the base. That meant that she couldn’t just walk over and have lunch with someone. She could easily drive off the base and grab lunch with Georgia or one of her other friends, but the military base security was difficult to get through, even with her identification card. So it was better to just stay on the base during the workday.

  She heard the engine before she saw anything else. A plane? No, that was impossible. There wasn’t room to land a plane here. Looking up, she only saw the beautiful blue sky and…!

  A plane was coming in fast and hard. Lexie watched in horror, even pulling her legs out of the way since the plane was coming in so close to the warehouse.

  It wasn’t really. The landing strip was pretty far away. But because she’d never seen anything like it before, she was shocked and stunned and…well…too many other words!

  The plane had barely landed before it came to a stop at the end of what Lexie had always thought of as a really long, empty parking lot. Apparently, it was a runway! Who knew?!

  As she stared, the plane door opened up and…several weary men came down the stairs, walking along the tarmac to the warehouse building.

  She didn’t recognize them at first, which wasn’t a surprise since they were covered in dried mud and sweat, several had some filthy bandages on their head or hands, and one of them walked with a slight limp.

  “Hey Lexie,
” one of them called to her. “Nice to have you on the team.”

  Lexie smiled weakly, not sure who that man was. He looked vaguely familiar but…?

  The others nodded politely towards her as well as they all headed towards the warehouse but one man veered out of the line. He was the only one that didn’t seem to be wounded in any way. They were all big, muscular men but this guy was…oh my! This was the guy! This was the coffee shop/bar guy!

  “Lexie,” he said in greeting.

  Lexie lifted her hand, then glanced at her fingers which still held the last bite of her sandwich. “Sorry,” she mumbled, dropping it onto the wax paper. She extended her hand again. “I’m guessing that you’re Colonel Cain?” she asked.

  “That’s right. And you’re Lexie Martin.” He extended his hand. “It’s a pleasure to officially meet you.”

  Lexie hesitated for only the briefest moment before taking his hand and…the electric awareness of his touch was surprising. She tried to pull her hand away, but his fingers tightened and she saw from the look in his dark eyes that he felt it too.

  For a long moment, there was nothing but his hand and the sparks between them. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. Didn’t want to do either. Lexie just wanted to sit here in the warm sunshine and bask in the heat of his eyes looking down at her.

  Unfortunately, someone called his name, shattering the erotically sensual moment.

  He turned, keeping her hand in his as he glanced at whoever was calling. With a sharp nod, he turned back to her. “Duty calls,” he said, a smile to his eyes but instead of releasing her hand, the man moved closer. “Have dinner with me tonight.”

  It wasn’t a question and Lexie felt her heart thud against her chest. “I…can’t.” She tried to remember what was on her schedule that night, but, for the life of her, she couldn’t remember just now.