by Em Petrova
Lowering his lips to her ear, he let his eyes slide shut. “Yeah, I fucking do. I love you, baby.”
Her breath hitched. She issued a strangled noise. He reluctantly withdrew his cock from her and shoved it into his jeans as she yanked hers up and threw her arms around his neck.
Clinging to him, her mouth pressed to his neck, she gave another shiver. “I love you too, River. I… I think I always have.”
He wasn’t braced for the impact of her declaration.
It hit him hard enough to choke the air from his lungs. He clutched her tight, head bowed to her short hair, sucked in by the moment and an emotion he never believed he’d feel for anyone. Maybe because he never guessed having a chance with Sascha was possible.
Neither of them spoke until the screams of the crowd from the concert he’d forgotten all about thundered through the building, along with a guitar solo blaring through the PA system.
“It’s the encore,” Sascha whispered.
He swayed with her in his arms. “This’ll be our song.”
When did River become so romantic? If she had to make a guess years ago, she would definitely have laughed at anyone making such a suggestion.
After the song came to a close, River looked down at her and smiled. “Let’s get outta here.”
She nodded and put her hand in his. Since they were already out of the crowd, they escaped into the cold air before the big rush.
She felt a falter in River’s stride, and then he withdrew his phone from his pocket. As he walked, he skimmed the screen.
Pulling her to a stop, he met her gaze.
Right away, she saw something was wrong. “Oh no, what is it?”
“My team needs me. Now. They’ll be here in a minute.”
Disappointment flooded her. She wasn’t ready to let him go after their fun—and dirty—night together.
“I’m sorry, baby.” He cupped her face.
“There are plenty of cabs around after the concert. I’ll grab one. I think it’s too late for the bus route.”
“No. I’m not letting you go alone. We’ll drop you off.”
She mentally stumbled over that information. “You mean…ride with the team?”
He nodded. “Come on. They’re coming from this direction.” He set off walking with her hurrying to keep up.
She’d hoped to better prepare for meeting his teammates. After watching that film Ethan made countless times, she knew the bond between men who fought together was strong. She felt odd about intruding, but what choice did she have when River dragged her up to a black SUV?
The back door opened.
Sascha looked at River. “Why do I feel as if I’m being kidnapped?”
He flashed a grin and climbed into the vehicle. He tugged her arm, and she had to follow, squashing in next to him in a seat already occupied by another huge man.
Two big men ate up every inch of the front seats, and after she threw a look over her shoulder, she saw two filled the back as well.
“Where are the others?” River asked.
The special operative at the wheel answered without removing his stare from the road. “They’re en route.”
“Guys, this is Sascha Lacey.”
Her insides squirmed. Could they see the flush on her face? Did she appear as disheveled as she felt after the sweaty concert squashed between bodies and then taking a private moment with River in a back hallway? Her panties still bore the wetness of his release.
This definitely was not the way she wanted to meet River’s teammates. Good thing it was dark.
River grasped her hand, and the warmth centered her.
“Hello,” she responded.
He pointed to the man at the wheel. “That’s our captain and fearless leader, Penn Sullivan. But don’t call him Sully, because he won’t answer to it. That’s his brother’s nickname.”
Penn twisted to throw her a smile.
“That goon always on his right hand is Harris Lipton. You’ll never find someone as loyal or ruthless when it comes to a fight.”
The special operative’s teeth flashed white in the glow coming from streetlights. “Hey, Sascha.”
She smiled in return, liking him immediately but not entirely sure why.
“This big mofo taking up most of the damn seat is Alix Broshears. His momma put an I in his name instead of an E because she knew he’d be focused on himself first.”
He chuckled. “Damn straight.” Then he leaned forward to fix his stare on Sascha. He really was huge, muscled and not nearly as frightening as she first expected once she looked into his eyes. She saw through his rough exterior to a cushy teddy bear riding beneath the thick muscles.
“Nice to finally meet the woman who’s been taking up all of our brother’s focus,” Broshears said.
She gulped in surprise, but River didn’t deny the claim.
He went on, “Over my shoulder we’ve got Elias Gasper on the right and Jake Beckett on the left. Both these assholes will find any weakness you’ve got and dig it out with their thumbs in the name of fun.”
Both men laughed. “You’re not making us look very good to your woman, Shadow,” Gasper spoke up.
She jolted at the nickname used for River. “Why are you called Shadow?”
His lips quirked. “Because they claim I can sneak off undetected and pop up in another place before anybody realizes I left.”
“That’s right. He moves like a shadow.”
She wanted to pull River near and whisper in his ear that she believed it, after their clandestine encounter in the hallway during the concert. Nobody had caught them even when the footsteps they heard made her certain they were about to be caught and kicked out.
Thinking on the nickname, she could easily see how he’d earned it. And up until a half hour ago, he’d also been a shadow with his emotions, concealing them completely from her.
She knew he was affectionate toward her. He cared for her. But his declaration of love had come out of nowhere, caught her off guard and nearly knocked her out. Her own emotions living so close to the surface these past weeks she’d spent with River had bubbled up and overflowed. She could no more hold them back from him than she could stop breathing.
With the introductions out of the way, River asked, “So what’s going on? Are we leaving the city?”
A somber tone settled over the vehicle. Nobody spoke for a minute.
River slanted a look at her, his expression tense.
They weren’t filling him in about the reason for collecting him from the concert because she was present.
“You can fill him in after you drop me off,” she said.
From the back seat came a deep baritone from Beckett. The popular song from the band they’d just seen in concert filled the air and cut the tension. Then Gasper joined in with a harmony.
“Man, you sound like a dead owl squawking in a ditch,” River jabbed at his buddy.
Laughter followed, but then Broshears chimed in, and pretty soon the whole SUV vibrated with the song.
Sascha didn’t realize she had her phone in her hand recording the moment until the song came to a close, and River’s handsome face loomed into the frame.
As if understanding she wanted them to continue, River started up an old Elvis tune.
“Aw shit. Now he’s onto Elvis. Pretty soon it’s a replay of karaoke night. Remember that?” Lipton pivoted in the passenger seat to eye them all.
“Who the hell could forget? He took first prize. Won us that pitcher o’ beer, remember? You puked all the next day from drinking so much, Lip.”
“Bullshit. I can hold my beer, and it was what? One glass.”
The banter went on, and Gasper sang along with River, who was shockingly good at singing The King, though Gasper really sounded god-awful. Sascha contained her giggles and recorded all of that plus a rounding rendition of a Queen song that took them up to the front of her apartment building.
River stopped abruptly. “There’s that guy again. What the fu
ck is he doing skulking outside?”
“What guy?” She craned her neck to catch a glimpse but saw no one.
“I’m walking Sascha to the door, guys.”
“Make sure she’s locked in too, bro.” She couldn’t tell if Penn was kidding or not.
“Gimme two minutes.”
He reached across her and opened the door. He rushed her to the front door and inside so fast she hardly knew she was outside the vehicle.
“I never said goodbye!”
“I’ll tell them for you.” He flipped on a light and scoped out her apartment before returning to her.
“Was that necessary?” She cocked her head to eye him.
“You fall in love with a man who sees a lot of sick shit, this is what you get.” He held out his arms as if daring her to defy who he was.
A protector.
The love of her life.
She stepped into his arms, and he kissed her. The sweetness rising between them started to build until he stepped away, probably to dampen down the fire of lust.
“Gotta go, baby. Stay safe, and lock your door.”
“Of course I will.” She saw him to the door and then he disappeared, throwing a wave before climbing into the SUV with the guys. She leaned against the locked door and then remembered the video on her phone.
Instead of Ethan’s video, she had her own to watch now.
Chapter Ten
The instant Hepburn’s ass hit the seat, he picked up on the real tension running through his teammates.
“What the fuck’s going on?” he demanded.
“Air Force private found dead, lying in an alley by a dumpster.”
“Goddamn.” He rubbed his face, processing Penn’s information.
After a moment, he shook his head. “Such a fucking dishonorable death. To be found next to a dumpster in an alley. It almost seems as if a statement’s being made.”
Penn gave a nod. “That’s our take on it too. This killer has a real vendetta for military.”
“Maybe he’s ex-military with all the mental illness shit,” Broshears spoke up.
“Possible,” Penn said.
“He could have been released from some branch for dishonorable conduct.” The thought popped into Hepburn’s head and directly projected out his mouth.
“That’s a good point. Our job isn’t really the psychology of why. We’ll leave that profiling shit to the FBI. But it’s something to keep in mind.” Penn made a few turns that would lead them to the site where the man was found.
“First, we’re checking this place out. Then we’re dumping you off with a security guard uniform and you’re going to play your part, Hep.” Lipton threw him a look over his shoulder in such a bland fashion, he might have been telling him Alaska would see snow on the ground come morning.
“I’ll do whatever I’m ordered to.”
The alley proved to be a grim spot, filthy and reeking of rotted food. Hepburn’s team bugged out fast, as there wasn’t much to see there. But on the drive to the prison where Hepburn would stand in on guard duty in hopes of picking up some intel on the case, they received a call with more information.
Lipton answered it, listening intently while they were all silent.
“Goddamn. Okay. Yes, thank you.”
Penn narrowed his stare on Lipton, waiting for an answer.
Lipton appeared more shaken than Hepburn had seen the man since he broke his ankle in the national forest from a bomb blast.
“What is it?” Penn barked.
“That was Cora. She just received word that it isn’t only military men dying.” He paused for so long, Hepburn was about to demand more. At last, he said, “It’s their women too.”
“Fucking hell.” Hepburn groaned.
Lipton shook his head.
“Why the hell are they just now putting this all together?” Penn’s voice pitched toward his well-known bellow, which none of them wanted to experience while jammed into an SUV.
“Beats the hell outta me. They just drew some of those string lines on a board showing the case or some shit, and someone said oh, his fiancée’s dead too.” Lipton massaged his temples as if his head suddenly hurt.
Hepburn’s sure as fuck did. Not only were they being hunted, but they just learned that the women they loved were in danger too.
Sascha.
“Penn, I request a guard be sent to Sascha’s apartment,” Hepburn said.
His captain paused only a heartbeat. “It’s a good idea. I’ll have someone set on each of our significant others.”
Gasper nudged Hepburn’s shoulder, and he looked back to see the man handing him the guard uniform.
Dammit, he’d been so distracted from what Lipton just said that he almost forgot he had to play this role of common prison guard. He better damn well get these guys to talk and not waste his effort. The men only worked with the murdered Air Force officer. Would they really have any information they needed?
Stripping down and changing in a vehicle was no easy task for a man old enough to have his balls drop. But he managed it, and then the guys dumped him off at the prison gates.
“Good luck, Hep! Don’t bend over in there. Watch your ass!” Broshears called to him out the window.
He flipped him the bird over his shoulder and continued walking. He got a feeling this mission wouldn’t gain much of a lead. He probably wasn’t targeted by someone working with him.
An hour later, he was damn glad he was a member of the Xtreme Ops team instead of doing a dull ass job such as this. They had some down time, but it was never fucking boring. Most of the evening, he sat with a few of the other guards, BSing and learning nothing about the information he was after.
He eventually steered the conversation to what they all did before landing a job as security guards. He boldly stated he was in the Army and served in Afghanistan. If anybody had a problem with men serving in the military, they never revealed it.
He was skilled in body language. He knew what to look for from a criminal before they even made the move to strike. But none of these guys seemed to bat an eye at what he told them.
He turned to picking their brains. He got names of cousins, buddies and one told him the name of a hooker and where to find her. Said she had real cushy breasts to lay his head on when he finished with her too.
Everyone laughed, and Hepburn joined in, though he wanted to smash the guy’s teeth in just for being an ass.
When his shift ended and he punched out, he returned to the gates where the SUV waited for him. Without a word, he climbed into the back and settled beside Broshears.
“I hope you fuckers had a better night than I did,” he grumbled, unbuttoning his uniform shirt.
“We probably learned as little as you did.” Broshears sighed.
The darkness swallowed most of their faces in shadow, but Hepburn picked up on the mood of his teammates.
Penn pivoted in his seat to look at him. “What did you find out, Hep? Anything?”
“I can name a block where you can find a prostitute with very soft breasts, but that’s about it.”
From behind, Gasper chuckled. “I heard about that lady. I heard they’re natural size H tits.”
Lipton took another call. He went still and then straightened in his seat. Everyone quit the jokes about the hooker.
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph!” Lipton burst out.
Hepburn paused midway through removing his shirt, kicked off his guard uniform shoes and jammed his feet into his steel-toes while listening to Lipton’s half of the call, which gave away little. The atmosphere in the vehicle was tense as hell as they waited to learn what was going down.
A moment later, Lipton hung up and looked dead at Penn. He spouted an address.
Penn jerked his head around. “The research library?”
Hepburn straightened from tying his boot. They were given access to a database here in Anchorage, where they could access government records. Not long ago, Broshears had been searching for intel on bo
mbs being sent through the post office.
“Yes, just drive.”
“Who the hell was on the phone?” Penn demanded.
“It was Cora.” Lipton’s voice sounded strange enough that nobody spoke until the minute Penn braked hard and drove into the parking lot. As soon as they got out, Cora jumped from another SUV and jogged over to Penn’s side. He accepted something from her.
With his head bent over the object, it was impossible to see what he held.
He snapped upright and nodded. He stuck his head into the open door and said, “You guys need to see this.”
Hepburn circled the vehicle first, aware that both Penn and Cora were throwing him odd looks.
It hit him. Whatever was happening, he was involved.
Suddenly, his bowels froze up and nausea burned in his throat.
His heart raced too fast as he quickened his pace. Sascha. It had to be Sascha. Someone had hurt her. Someone kidnapped her. The women of military men were targets.
Now she’d fallen because of him.
Ears whooshing with his elevated blood pressure, he met his captain’s stare. “Is it Sascha?” he choked out. Some dizziness he hadn’t felt since his head injury almost made him rock on his feet, but he held steady. Waiting.
Penn tightened his lips. “A cop found an illegally parked car. They towed it and something was off about it, so they had reason to search it. They found photos inside.”
He swallowed hard, still reeling. Terror iced over his veins. “What kind of photos?”
Penn held out the object Cora had showed him. Hepburn managed to keep his hand steady as he accepted it and drew it to his face.
The picture had been snapped outside Sascha’s apartment. A swirl of snow hung in the air, frozen in time. Hepburn’s arms were around Sascha, and her eyes were closed as he kissed her.
Sick bile pushed at the base of his throat. “She’s the target.”
“Both of you are. And this person meant for us to find this photo.” Penn waved toward the photograph in Hepburn’s hand. “He left that car parked next to a fire hydrant at the concert.”
