Heroes in Uniform: Soldiers, SEALs, Spies, Rangers and Cops: Sexy Hot Contemporary Alpha Heroes From NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Authors

by Sharon Hamilton

  It had really happened. Cash was alive and… angry. His voice scratched through the phone. The not knowing. The bomb scare. Everything else was trivial. Everything was trivial except him. Her throat tightened. She couldn’t imagine the words to make it better.

  “Nic!”

  “He’s a bomb specialist for the FBI—”

  “I’ve learned that much on my own. Who is he to you?”

  “We dated.”

  “You live together.”

  “Technically—”

  He coughed a harsh laugh in her ear. “You’ve got to be kidding me. This is karma. This is for all the nice girls who I should’ve called and all the bad ones I should’ve left alone.”

  Are you serious? Nicola smirked into her handset. “Like Sugar?”

  “Yeah. Like Sugar. Hell, woman. You’ve got everyone fooled, including Sugar. You know, she tried to take up for you tonight. Like—”

  “I knew it. I knew you’d go see her, you ass. Fuck whatever walks, Cash. Fuck me. Fuck her. Fuck every goddamn woman you see. That’s you. I get it, but you certainly don’t know me if you think I’d sleep with you and then go home to someone else.”

  Silence.

  She checked the phone. The line was still connected. Nic was content to wait until he had something to say.

  Silence.

  He had the same plan.

  She took a deep breath, then continued. “I dated Jackson. Past tense. I broke it off more than a year ago, amicably. We’re good friends. There was no pop and sizzle. When I took the Smooth assignment, I got rid of my apartment because I’d only be home once every few months.”

  “Go on,” he said, not nearly as sharply. Hesitation still hung in his voice.

  “I crash at Jackson’s. He has the master bedroom. I have my own bedroom. I’ve stayed there three times, and you have shitty timing because I jumped in the shower after he jumped out. So there’s the truth, and I wouldn’t dare lie to you.”

  Silence.

  “Goddamn it, Cash—”

  “Tell me another truth.” Again, his voice wasn’t as angry. It still grated, and the intensity was still there, but it didn’t rasp in rage.

  “Another truth… I’m hurt you ran off to Sugar.”

  “I ran off to the closest place I could unload an automatic weapon.”

  Somewhat believable. “So you didn’t…?” She closed her eyes, hoping and listening for his response.

  “Nope. It wasn’t even a passing thought.”

  “What was then?”

  He laughed quietly. “What was on my mind? Simple. The urge to kill.”

  All right. She could handle that. “I’m glad you didn’t. Jacks is a good guy. Plus, he was useful tonight. Right?”

  “My truck’s a goner. I’m pretty sure he did it on purpose.”

  Oh, he loved that truck. Insurance would cover that, wouldn’t it? “He didn’t blow your truck up on purpose. Anyway… your turn. Tell me a truth.”

  She waited patiently, wondering if it was going to be another complaint about her being in the field working a job.

  “The phone was an excuse.” Cash spoke deliberately. A long pause expired. “It wasn’t the reason I drove back to your apartment.”

  Banging on the door drew her attention. “Hold on a sec.” She lumbered off the bed and cracked the door to see David’s weaselly face. “What do you need, David?”

  “We have to head home. Something’s gone wrong with one of my back burner projects. I’m needed in the States. You’ve been trying to go home. Let’s go.”

  A mischievous glint in his eye made her stomach tense. Instinct was a precious tool, and hers was precision honed. Something wasn’t right. Her gut screamed for her to backtrack and bed down. “I’m exhausted. We can leave in the morning.”

  “You’re already packed.”

  “I’ve been packed for two hours. Now I’m ready for bed. Leave without me, if it’s so important. I’ll hop on a commercial flight.”

  David studied her, and her muscles tensed, the hair on her forearms standing at attention. There was an edge to his voice and an off-kilter air about him that made her skin shiver.

  “Fine. I’ll have the jet prepared for a seven AM departure,” he said.

  Nic shut the door without responding. Her skin continued to crawl. She fished the phone from her robe pocket and pushed it back against her ear. “Cash? You there.”

  “Yup.”

  “Sorry. What were you saying?”

  “Nothing much. Just that this bed is lonely without you.”

  “Truth?” She missed him deep in her heart. It was just the two of them, eating through the burner phone’s minutes.

  “Truth.”

  The word made her smile. “It’s no fun to make up with you when there’s an ocean between us.”

  He laughed, and the sound felt like an embrace. She remembered the warmth of his body and how he could flash a look that made her nerves spark to life. They’d have to time their disagreements better.

  “Get in bed, and let me tell you a good-night story. Before you know it, you’ll be home with me.”

  Falling asleep to his voice, now that was a plan. She double checked the door lock and chain, shed her robe, threw back the comforter, and tucked herself into the mess of a cotton nirvana. “All right. Tucked in. Tell me a story.”

  “It’s an interactive story.”

  “Hm-okay.” Whatever. As long as he kept talking, he could call it whatever he wanted. His voice always sounded sinfully delicious. He could read her the classifieds. A thesis on temperature variables affecting long range fire power. Hell, he could recite the telephone book from A to Z. There was something so tangible in his voice that just did it for her.

  This was never going to put her to sleep, but she’d give it a try. She closed her eyes and blocked out everything but his voice.

  He started, slow and deep. “So, there was this guy and this gorgeous girl. Amazon-like, mythical-proportions-kind-of-gorgeous. They were lovers.”

  Nic’s eyes flew open. “Lovers?”

  “Lovers,” he repeated. She heard the smile in his voice and felt her cheeks flush. “What do you think their names were?”

  Oh my God. “Describe the guy to me, and I might be able to tell you.”

  “Oh, that’s easy. Tall, tan, and terrible with self-descriptions.”

  She shifted the phone from one ear to the other. “I think we should call him Cash.”

  “That sounds about right. We can call her Nic. Cash and Nic.”

  Nic giggled and nodded.

  “You’re nodding, aren’t you?”

  She smiled against the soft pillow. “Maybe.”

  Cash laughed quietly. “Back to Cash and Nic. They’d had a disagreement. The latest after a couple of ‘em. Nothing insurmountable, but—”

  “Does Cash say he’s sorry? You know, in the story?”

  Long pause. “Yeah. He’s sorry. But that’s back story, and that chapter is boring. Just know he’s sorry for conclusion-jumping and friend-punching.”

  “Good to know.”

  “Anyway.” He cleared his throat. “You know, this’d be a lot easier if you played Nic. You could do a little improv.”

  “So you’re Cash?”

  He laughed quietly again. “That works.”

  “Now what?” she asked, a little nervous and excited.

  “Now you should make damn sure your phone is charged and you have a transmission blocker turned on,” he growled. The order raked over her body like he was there, in the flesh, and purring into her ear.

  “Why?” she pushed, hoping for that feeling again. The whispered tension double-knotted her stomach.

  “Because you’re about to find out how bad I want you in this bed, next to me.”

  Her chest constricted. Her lungs went on strike. “Tell me.”

  “Close your eyes, Nic.”

  Her tummy flip as her eyes closed.

  He kept to the low murmur. “Remember i
n the shower. The water and the steam and the need. Did your heart beat faster? Did you want me to kiss you?”

  She nodded in the dark. “Yes.”

  “And did you want more? When my hands ran up and down your wet skin, do you remember how ready you were for me?”

  “Uh-huh.” It was all she could manage. His voice rocketed sensations down her spine.

  “Touch your lips for me, Nicola.”

  She complied. The rich texture of his words coated her in heat. Her fingers brushed softly over her bottom lip while her ears begged him for more.

  Cash continued. “The harder I kissed you, the harder I got, sweet girl. When your little tongue moved over mine…” He took a long, slow breath, blowing into the phone. “I wanted to feel it everywhere, but not before I tasted you.”

  “Oh.” Blood thumped in her neck, racing through her veins.

  “And I kissed your neck,” he whispered. Nic moved her fingers to the slope of her neck and felt her pulse. “It took all my strength not to move too fast. Not to touch and kiss where I was dying to end up.”

  “Where was that?” Her insides melted, overcome by the memories of him nudging her knees apart. Him creating such intense pleasure, she thought she’d drown in him, awash in undeniable bliss.

  “Your sweet pussy. But I’m getting there tonight. I don’t care how far away from me you are.”

  Oh. They were only words, not a sinful touch or a kiss that made her knees weak. But the way he said it made agonized need ricochet from her hips to her core. She was alone in a dark room with eyes shut and could’ve sworn he whispered into her ear, tickling her skin with his promise.

  “Are you in bed, Cash?”

  “Yeah, and I’m naked, missing you.” His voice was an electric jolt. There was nothing hesitant, nothing held back. Everything about Cash was strong and direct. A live wire.

  “Are you…?” She trailed off, wanting for the right words, wanting to be as bold as he was.

  “Hard and in my hand,” he answered for her. The revelation jump-started her imagination.

  Her heart was in her throat, pounding and punching for attention. “You’re stroking?”

  “Good girl.” She heard his approving smile. “Yeah, I’m stroking. Thinking of how good you feel. Where’s that beautiful touch of yours?”

  “My neck.”

  “Is that where you want it?”

  She shook her head silently against the pillow.

  Cash urged her on. “Just relax with me, sweet girl. Tell me what you want, how you love it. Let yourself go for me.”

  This was too revealing. Embarrassingly scary. She didn’t know what to say or do. Being this vulnerable with him so confident made it all the more erotic. More intimate. “Cash—”

  “You can do this if you want. You don’t have to. But you could.”

  “I want,” she promised.

  “Then trust me. Listen to me, and know there’s nothing in the world I wouldn’t do to make you come for me tonight.”

  “I’m listening.” Heat bloomed between her legs. If he kept saying things like that, she’d beg for release soon.

  “Tell me a truth, Nicola. Touch your gorgeous body, and trust me with another truth.”

  Her hands grazed her nightgown. Her breasts anticipated, her breaths shortened, and quick flashes of electricity fired beneath the surface of her flesh. A truth. Nicola pressed her lips together, summoned another round of courage and said, “I’ve been dying to taste you too.”

  His breath hitched. “Christ.”

  She swallowed away a sigh. Her confidence blazed at his reaction. He was just as needy as she felt. This was erotic power. Seduction.

  Nicola confided, “I’d kneel between your naked legs. Your powerful thighs. And then I’d kiss you.” Cash groaned quietly into her ear, daring her to continue. “Your hands twist in my hair, and you’re rock hard, scary large, but the silkiest, smoothest thing I’ve ever touched.”

  “Lick,” he growled, low and deep.

  She nodded, her fingers knotting in the silk nightgown. “And suck.”

  “Goddamn, woman. You’re not shy. Tell me more.”

  That was all she needed. He fortified her, pushing her past steamy to audacious and adventurous. “And hum. My lips vibrate around you. My tongue caresses you. You feel it?”

  “Hell, yes, I do. What I wouldn’t give to flip you around, with your mouth still tight on me, and love that sweetness of yours.” The breath fled from her lungs as he painted a carnal picture. “I’d hold your hips in place, press you to my mouth, and drive you crazy.”

  Nic’s fingers toyed with the top of her underwear, sliding back and forth over the elastic band. Damp heat teased between her legs. From a thousand miles away, Cash aroused her. She needed him to continue, needed him to voice every amorous thought. “Tell me more. Tell me everything.”

  “About how I’d make you scream my name?”

  She nodded, and her fingers slipped under the fabric. “Uh-huh.”

  “Are you touching yourself, Nic?”

  She nodded, moaning her answer.

  “Good, sweet girl. You’re wet for me. Aching.”

  “Hm-hmm.”

  “I’d hold you close, hold you open. Suck your perfect clit until I felt you tremble. Shudder and shake. Then one finger. Two fingers. In and out.”

  She could feel him. Her hands. His words. Their actions. Turned on and bolder by the second, Nicola continued. “My hands would wrap around you, sliding in time with my mouth.”

  He groaned. “Fuck yes. Tell me how good we are together.”

  “The best.”

  “Tell me what you need.”

  “God, Cash. You. I need you.”

  “Come with me, sweet girl.”

  She moaned into the phone. Her fingers worked magic like they were his. Her core throbbed. Her defenses were gone. The build unraveled in a powerful riptide. She could hear him, feel him. The strength and the arousal. Their desire. Her body craving his, sensations exploding.

  Cash whispered her name into the phone. Ripples of satisfaction slammed through her. They were in concert. Climaxing, wrapped together as one, thousands of miles apart. She loved what he did to her with words, with trust. She loved him more than she could ever explain.

  Their breaths pounded and started their sated descent, entwined through a cell phone signal. Knowing Cash held the phone to his ear felt like a lullaby, soothing her into sweet dreams.

  “Nicola?”

  “Hmm?”

  “You’re still awake? Thought I lost you.”

  “You’re never going to lose me.”

  “I have to tell you something.” Cash sighed. She waited. “I… I need you with me. Here with me. Come home to me.”

  She nodded, sleep and contentment dragging her. “I will.”

  In the room adjoining hers, the door opened and closed, jolting her back to real life. The job. David the Butler. “Cash?”

  “Yeah, babe.”

  “Got a second for work?”

  “Guess so.”

  “Get anything good off the listening devices on the butler?”

  “I think so. You want to know now or when we debrief tomorrow after you return?”

  “Now is fine. He just slammed a door, and I’m awake again.”

  “All right.” Cash cleared his throat, shuffling what sounded like his covers. “Two things of interest. First, he’s conversed with someone named Nero. He calls himself Mars.”

  Her stomach bottomed out, shooting her straight up in her lonely, rumpled bed. “What? What’d they say?”

  “You know Nero?”

  “What’d they say?”

  “Package logistics. Nothing I can make heads or tails of, though I haven’t tried that hard yet. Why? Who’s Nero?”

  “Antilla Smooth was obsessed with Roman history. One of the reasons why my cover worked so well… he could—”

  “Get to the point, Nic.”

  “Nero and Mars. Roman gods of
war. Mars may have been subservient to Nero, and if you translated some texts, even his wife. But mostly—”

  “Smooth’s dead. I blew his brains out. Clean shot.”

  Nic nodded. “I saw him, but the hierarchy didn’t fall apart completely. Maybe they picked up where Antilla left off.”

  Cash whistled. “This is what we need. Tip of the iceberg, this will prove the butler is a double.”

  “You’re right. So this godforsaken trip is worth it.” She paused, letting it sink in and squelching the urge to confront David in the next room. “What’s the other interesting item?”

  “He’s logged phone time with someone named Gianori. He’s connected to Smooth somehow, and I haven’t looked him up yet, but—”

  Nicola reached to the nightstand and palmed her chromed out .38 Special. “They’re not connected.”

  “Sure sounded like it.”

  “That’s wrong. They’re not.”

  “How would you know that?”

  She was a Gianori encyclopedia, that’s how. “Salvatore Gianori. Mafioso boss for the Gianori clan. His sons, Basilio, Durante, and Emilio, are all named Italian versions of ‘I’m king motherfucker.’ They deal in gun smuggling, bid rigging, and loan sharking. But Salvatore, his specialty is violence.”

  Her insides shook, recalling everything she knew about the mobsters who were never nailed for anything, ever.

  “Nic, why do you know that?” Concern edged his voice. Not panic, which he surely heard in hers, but ice cold concern. “Tell me you just know your mobster history, that this David asshole doesn’t know about…”

  She double checked the .38. Locked and loaded. Nic propped up on a pillow, facing the only door. “He must. He knows. It was the Gianori mob. Very few people know that, and he’s not on the short list. He sure as fuck shouldn’t be talking to them.”

  “Grab your piece.”

  “Done.”

  “And don’t move ‘til I get there.” Cash’s voice vibrated through the phone.

  “Istanbul? We’d be wheels up before you got here. Our plan isn’t changing. Not because of this.”

  “Why would you get on the plane with him, knowing that he—”

  “Because it’s the operation. The job. I’m not blowing my cover because of an added layer of danger. The fucker is a traitor, and we’re taking him down.”