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

  “Easier, but not as rewarding.”

  A knock came at the door and Liliana walked over, opened it to admit her brother, who scrutinized Caterina as she lay on the gurney, tubes running out of her arms and wires leading to the pulse oximeter that was keeping track of her heart beat and the oxygen saturation in her blood.

  “She’ll be okay, Mick. We’ll be extracting the remnants of the cell lysis and antibodies plus adding some sterile plasma substitutes to help stabilize her,” Liliana said.

  Mick glanced at Carmen and held out his hand. “Mick Carrera.”

  “Liliana’s brother,” her friend said as she shyly peered up at him. “I’ve heard a lot about you from Liliana.”

  As he arched a brow, Carmen quickly confirmed, “All good things.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate you helping us,” Mick replied.

  Carmen nervously half-glanced at Liliana. “I know Liliana wouldn’t ask unless this was an emergency.”

  “It is. You’re helping save her life,” Mick said.

  Carmen nodded and faced Liliana. “I need to head back to the lab, but I’ll check back in about an hour.”

  Her friend left the room and Mick walked over to Liliana and hugged her. “Thank you.”

  Liliana returned the embrace, and then went to where Caterina was resting on the gurney. She laid her hand over Caterina’s, waking her.

  “How are you feeling?”

  Caterina offered up a weak smile. “A little dizzy and my fingertips are numb.”

  Liliana squeezed her hand. “That’s normal, but I’m going to check your blood pressure just in case.”

  Mick came to Caterina’s side and laced his fingers with hers. The smile Caterina offered him was brighter and there was a look in her eyes that Liliana couldn’t fail to notice.

  Caterina was in love with her brother, she thought as she wheeled over the blood pressure machine. As she wrapped the cuff around Caterina’s arm, she half-looked at her brother as he stood by the gurney.

  She couldn’t miss the look in his eyes either.

  Mick had feelings for Caterina. She couldn’t say love kinds of feelings because she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen her brother truly in love. But she was sure that this was more than a we’re-having-great-sex kind of look.

  Which was so not good, Liliana thought as the blood pressure machine kicked to life, inflating the cuff and then shuddering and deflating to calculate the blood pressure.

  “Your pressure is on the low side of normal, which is typical for this treatment. It’ll stabilize in a few hours,” Liliana said, inclined her head, and nodded to get her brother to meet her at the far side of the room.

  Mick reluctantly left Caterina and the anxious look on his face only confirmed her earlier observation.

  “She’s okay, right?” he whispered.

  Okay was not a word she could use considering Caterina’s condition and while she didn’t want to shatter his illusions, he seemed to need a reality check. “She’ll be better. For a little while. Until she’ll need another dose of the inhibitor drug and this starts all over again. And then when you run out of the inhibitor drug, the replication will begin again.”

  Mick tensed beside her. “Sounds like you’re warning me off.”

  “Just being realistic ‘cause I know you, bro. You’re the kind of guy who brings home strays and likes to save the world, but this is a lose-lose situation.”

  A muscle ticked along the hard line of his jaw as he clenched his teeth. “Duly noted. When can I take her home?”

  Liliana glanced at her watch. “To be most effective, I’d like to let this run for at least another hour and a half.”

  “You’re on duty, right?” he said and she couldn’t fail to grasp his real meaning.

  “You want me gone,” she said, wondering if it was because he was angry with her about her comments.

  Mick must have sensed her concern because he explained his request. “The less you’re involved here, the better.”

  It might be a little too late to curtail her involvement, but Liliana understood his apprehension.

  “Call me on the cell if you need me. Otherwise I’ll be back to help you get Caterina ready to go home.”

  He hugged her hard and whispered, “Don’t worry about me, Liliana. I know what I’m doing.”

  She embraced him and as always, marveled at the sense of safety and strength she felt in his arms. He had always been the protector in the family. Always the hero who had come through for them.

  It was why he deserved some happiness in his life.

  As she pulled away from him and shot a look at Caterina as she lay on the gurney, she knew there was no happy ending there no matter what happened next.

  She only hoped her brother was wise enough to realize it as well before it was too late.

  Sins of the Flesh: Chapter Thirty-Three

  Mick had managed to get Caterina home with little fanfare.

  She now lay tucked in bed, resting. Calls to Ramon and Franklin had yielded little more than the reassurance that nothing was happening. Yet.

  He dialed his parents’ number and his mother answered.

  “Hola, mi’jito. How is your friend?”

  “She’s doing fine, mom.” He hesitated, unsure of just how to broach his request, but then plowed ahead. “I need to ask a favor.”

  “Of course, mi’jito. What can I do? Some nice chicken soup? Or maybe some rice pudding to sit easy on her stomach,” she offered.

  He smiled. His mother always thought the world’s problems could be cured with the right dish of food. “Actually, I need you, dad, and Tony to close the restaurant for a few days. Maybe take a vacation somewhere. I’ll pay for it.”

  “Close the restaurant?” Her disbelief escalated with each word, as if he had just asked her to shut down the Pentagon.

  “It’s important or I wouldn’t ask.”

  “Pero, mi’jito, we can’t just shut down. What about our employees and our customers? What about Tony’s classes?”

  “You take vacations, mom. You visited grandma last year, remember?” he chided, wishing that his mother wasn’t turning a simple request into such a battle because he didn’t want to tell her the real reason for the request.

  That would only create more of a problem.

  A long silence filled the line before his mother said, “Is it that important, mi’jo?”

  “It is and don’t ask me why. Please. Just close up tomorrow and take a few days off.”

  “We’ll do it, but if you need us to do anything, you know we’re here.”

  “If I need you, I’ll call,” he finished, eager to have them out of harm’s way.

  “Mi’jo . . . cuida tu corazon.”

  “Don’t worry about my heart. It’ll be fine,” he said and bid his mother goodbye again.

  He leaned back in his chair and considered both his mother’s and Liliana’s warnings. He decided to ignore them. He didn’t know what was happening with Caterina, but he knew he had to see it to its conclusion.

  He surged out of the chair and toward the guest room.

  Caterina was curled up on her side, seemingly asleep, but as Mick took the first step into the room, she opened her eyes.

  He sat on the edge of the chair, his elbows resting on his knees. Fingers laced together as his hands hung loosely before him.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “Much better.”

  In truth, he probably hadn’t needed to ask. The skin on her face no longer had the flushed fever look and her voice was strong.

  “I heard what Liliana said to you. She’s right you know. This is a lose-lose situation.”

  Anger rose sharply in him. “You didn’t strike me as a quitter.”

  She sat up, holding the sheet against her body to hide her nakedness. “Just being realistic, Mick.”

  He leaned forward and cupped her cheek. The skin was smooth, the temperature of it only sleep warm and not feverish. He met her gaze and cares
sed the line of her cheek with the pad of his thumb. “Why don’t you let me decide what’s realistic?”

  Caterina laughed harshly and shook her head. “I never liked it when my dad made decisions for me. What makes you think I want you deciding what’s right?”

  He surged forward and silenced her with a kiss. Kept on kissing her until she dropped her hold on the sheet and brought her hands up to his shoulders.

  By the time they broke apart, they were both breathing heavily.

  Mick laid his forehead against hers and said, “That’s what makes me think this is worth a try. This feeling that I can’t just ignore.”

  When his gaze met hers, the blue of her eyes was as dark as the ocean at night and shimmering with unshed tears.

  “Come to bed. You need to rest,” she said.

  He nodded and toed off his shoes, but slipped in beside her fully clothed, unwilling to waste even a moment before he was next to her.

  Enveloping her in his arms, he pulled her tight to him until every inch of their bodies was pressed together. Her heart beat against his, strong and steady. Her head was tucked beneath his chin, the silk of her hair soft beneath his cheek. The warmth of her breath spilled against his throat.

  A sense of homecoming he had not experienced with any other woman calmed his warrior’s restless soul. Peace filled his heart.

  Much as he had battled for country and family, he knew as he held her that he would fight for her.

  For them.

  And this was one battle he did not intend to lose.

  * * *

  Caterina woke him with the gentle whisper of her lips against his. Invited him to join with her.

  “Are you sure?” Mick asked, his voice husky from sleep.

  That he asked confirmed to her just how different a man he was from her father who would have never sought to seek another’s permission for anything.

  “I’m sure,” she replied and so that there would be no doubt about it, she grabbed the hem of the t-shirt he wore and made short work of pulling it off his body.

  She pressed against him, warm skin against skin. The hard tips of her breasts brushing his smooth chest as they kissed over and over. Beside the soft flatness of her belly, his erection jerked to life and hardened.

  Laying her hand over him, she caressed the shape of him beneath the denim and he groaned into her mouth, reached down, and undid his jeans.

  The hard length of him sprang forward and she encircled him with one hand, stroking him. Urging him onward as he cupped her breasts and teased her nipples with his hands, drawing a pleased sigh from her.

  “Make love to me,” he said and sat up against the headboard. He urged her over him with the gentle grasp of his hips and she needed no further invitation.

  She held onto Mick’s shoulders and sank down onto him, gasping as the length and width of him filled her. As the comfort of his arms surrounded her and drew her near until she was tight against his chest.

  She couldn’t move, overwhelmed as she was by the sense of unity in his arms. Desire growing with her possession of him along with something else. Something she could no longer deny.

  “When I’m with you . . . it’s like my soul is filled with music,” she said as he cradled her face in his hands and tenderly brushed his lips across hers before moving them to her cheeks and then to her forehead.

  “It’s special for me, too,” he whispered, the words so soft she thought she might have imagined them until she met his gaze and it confirmed his sentiment.

  “Very special,” she responded, earning a smile from him which she kissed, memorizing the feel of it against her lips as a talisman for what would be the hard days to come.

  He returned the kiss and then she moved on him, offering herself up to him. Accepting what he offered in return.

  As she slowly rocked on him, he bent forward and suckled her breasts, alternating between them while holding them in his hands. Teasing the sensitive tips with his lips and hands, each little tug traveling down to her center to heighten the pleasure growing in her body.

  “Touch me down there, Mick. Please, touch me,” she said, needing him in every possible way.

  He dropped one hand and found her center. Parted her and pressed his thumb against her clit, dragging a rough shudder from her. As her body tightened on him, increasing the friction of her hips as she rode him, a sympathetic shudder ripped through his body.

  “God, Cat. That feels so good,” he said and gently nipped the tip of her breast with his teeth. She moaned and cradled his head. Urged him on.

  “I like that, Mick. I like having your mouth on me,” she said and he teethed her again.

  The climax that had been growing with every shift of her hips ripped through her. She arched her back and ground down on him, crying out his name.

  He pumped his hips up into her, prolonging her release until he finally gave in to his own climax, his body shaking and tensing beneath her as he came.

  She held him close and kissed him. Savored the peace that slowly replaced the need and realized in those moments that there was no lose-lose in his arms.

  But she understood that she would have battle beside him so that she might have more time to with him. She’d waited too long to find this kind of fulfillment and she wasn’t about to give it up without a fight.

  Sins of the Flesh: Chapter Thirty-Four

  Forty hours to go, Mad Dog thought as he drove east on the expressway, eager to discover the location of Mick’s family and hopefully the man himself.

  Bradley Beach was a little over an hour away from the hotel in Philly where he had set up his base camp after his trip in from his home in Boston.

  The town wasn’t far off the Garden State Parkway, with a quaint Main Street lined with bakeries, restaurants, and the occasional ice cream parlor.

  The library was a few blocks off Main in a red brick building on a well-maintained plot of land. The walk leading to an ornate portico sheltering the library’s large metal doors was lined with flowers in full bloom. It would be tough to break through those metal doors, but luckily there were a number of windows that could provide easier points of entry or escape if need be.

  He parked around the corner from the library on a quiet residential street, walked to the library entrance, and entered.

  A perky young teenager manned the checkout desk inside. He didn’t approach at first, scoping out the interior of the library and the number of patrons within.

  You never knew when you’d have to start shooting.

  Satisfied that no one presented an immediate threat, he approached the teen, eliciting a cheery reaction.

  “May I help you?” she asked as she stamped a date onto a card and slipped it into a sleeve in a book that she returned to the patron by the desk.

  “I have an old friend in the area, but can’t remember how to spell his last name so I can get an address for him. I know he attended the local high school and I was hoping you would have some yearbooks I could search.”

  “What year was he? Maybe I know him?” she said, but Mad Dog shook his head.

  “He’s a lot older, but he had a younger brother not much older than you – Antonio Carrera,” he advised and the young girl’s tweezed eyebrows narrowed as she mulled over the name.

  “Sounds familiar, but I can’t say I know him. Maybe Bill would, though. He’s been around forever.”

  She walked to a wall at the back of the desk area and then around behind it. He heard the murmur of voices and seconds later the young woman returned with an older man who had the look of ex-military about him.

  He wore a dark blue security guard’s uniform and was brushing away some crumbs, probably because the young girl had interrupted him during a break.

  The man could be a problem, he thought, but kept a neutral look on his face.

  The security guard eyeballed him up and down before asking, “What can I do for you?”

  “Looking for an old Army buddy. Last name is Carrera.”

&nbs
p; Mad Dog noticed the Semper Fi tattoo on the older man’s forearm. The ex-Marine squinted at him and then shot him a curious look once again. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

  “No, sir,” he answered with military precision. “From the Boston area, sir. Just came to win some money down in Atlantic City, but figured I’d drop by to see my friend.”

  Seemingly satisfied with the answer, the grizzled ex-Marine motioned with a gnarled finger toward the back of the library.

  “Phone books, yearbooks, and Little League directories are all in the reference area. You might find what you need back there.”

  He thanked the man, headed to the back where another helpful librarian handed him a couple of yearbooks based on the dates Mad Dog had found for Antonio Carrera. He hit the jackpot in the second yearbook which had a picture of Antonio in his suit and tie. The young man was a dead ringer for his old friend Mick. Probably a younger brother.

  As he flipped through the pages of the yearbook, he realized that Antonio had not only been on the lacrosse and football teams, but also the baseball team.

  Assuming that the younger Carrera might have played on a Little League team, he asked the librarian for the directories, but as she was handing them over she said, “I’m assuming you found your friend in the yearbook.”

  “I did. I was hoping to track down his address,” he said since his searches on the Internet the night before had not yielded any phone listings for the Carreras.

  “Do you know what year your friend played?” she said.

  “Actually, I found his brother in the yearbook – Antonio Carrera,” he replied and a broad smile erupted on the librarian’s face.

  “You should have mentioned his name earlier. I can tell you where to find Tony,” she said.

  Mad Dog smiled.

  Today was going to be a good day for Mick to die.

  * * *

  At noon on the nose Edwards dialed the number Carrera had given him. The mercenary answered on the second ring and his voice projected into the room via the speaker phone.