“Are you involved?”
I fired up the engine and put the Humvee in gear.
“Not anymore,” I said.
We rode back to the base in silence.
NINE
Jade
When we arrived at FOB Cobra, everything looked a bit different somehow. The knowledge of a huge conspiracy just out of my reach drove me crazy.
“You’re going to cut it out with the investigating, right?” he asked after parking.
“Yeah, yeah,” I lied. “Too dangerous for me.”
“Good. I’d hate to see someone like you get wrapped up in this. It’s been hell for me trying to get out.”
“Why is that?”
He grinned and pointed a finger at me.
“Ah, there you go again. Nice one. You almost got me.”
Out the window, Tony Roth rushed toward us.
“Fuck,” I said.
Cooper twisted around in his seat and opened the door.
“What’s up, Roth?” he asked.
“Captain wants to see her. Right away.”
“What about?”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, climbing down from the massive vehicle.
When I walked around, I saw him staring at me.
“Be careful,” he said in a quiet voice.
“I’m always careful,” I said confidently as I walked past him.
Tony dashed back to the CO’s office building, reaching it before me. Cooper walked back to his CHU. I smiled at how familiar I’d become with the terminology in such a short time period.
Inside the long, metal building, my smile faded as soon as I saw Captain Jeffries behind his desk.
“What in the hell were you doing off base with Cooper?” he asked, skipping any form of greeting.
“Hello to you, too, Captain.”
I walked over and sat down in front of his desk.
“You better answer my question,” he said.
Our eyes met. I flipped through a few options in my mind.
“Me and Cooper have been getting along, and…”
“Don’t say anymore,” he interrupted, raising his hand into the air. “I don’t want to hear it.”
“It was my idea, not his.”
“I don’t care whose idea it was, Ms. Hart, he should know better than to go out in that area unaccompanied and with a civilian.”
“We were fine. I didn’t see anyone around for miles.”
“You didn’t see anyone?”
I shook my head and lied one more time.
“No.”
“Nothing out of the ordinary?”
I laughed nervously.
“Now you got me thinking I missed something. Do you want to tell me anything?”
“Yeah,” he said. “You’re leaving on the next chopper out of here.”
“I thought you had to wait because of the Taliban or something.”
“The situation in Afghanistan is still fluid, Ms. Hart. I want you to be packed and ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Do you understand?”
“I’m not done with my story!”
“That ain’t my problem,” he said, damn near smiling.
I stood, furious at him and the rest of the male dominated world. After leaving his office, I headed to my quarters to pack my belongings.
Should I go talk with Cooper? Or maybe Max? Would one of them give me the information I needed before I got kicked off the base?
All I had brought with me was a week’s worth of clothes, my laptop, phone, and various cords and chargers for the electronic equipment.
It didn’t take long to get it all packed up. Would the CO really kick me out? Returning without a story would not go over well with the website that had hired me.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. The thought repeated itself, bouncing off the imaginary walls of my mind. It got even worse as images of Cooper and Max both popped up.
The two men were similar in some ways, both alpha males teetering on the edge of being an alpha hole or a straight up psycho. They had their differences too.
Cooper was definitely the smarter of the two. Beyond his semi-romantic picnic on top of a hill in the Afghanistan boonies, something about him made my soul smile.
On the other hand, Max was down to earth and to the point. He was dumb, but I’d never had good luck with smart men. Would the hulk of a man even want a woman like me?
What type of woman am I? The question floated past my consciousness for inspection. I toyed with it, wondering if I would ever be able to answer it completely.
Both men attracted me in one way or another, but it didn’t matter if I liked either of them. I would be going back without a story and wouldn’t talk to either of them ever again.
I placed the blame for my failing to get the story at their feet. If they hadn’t been such assholes, I might have been able to dig around enough to come up with some sort of story to save my ass.
Did the criminal conspiracy really go all the way to the top? Was I sitting on another scandal like the Iran-Contra Affair? The thought excited me. People would finally see me as a real journalist.
I closed my eyes, pleasant thoughts floating through my mind as I drifted through the land between waking and dreams. As I approached sweet sleep, I heard a knock at the door. Who could that be?
TEN
Jade
Cooper stood in front of me with an expression I recognized.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, glancing around. “I’m supposed to be leaving soon.”
“It won’t be until the morning,” he said. “Can I come in?”
“Sure…”
I stepped back. He came inside, brushing against me.
Why does he have this power over me? I asked myself as a tingle ran through my body.
“You’re all packed?” he asked, looking at the suitcases piled up near the door.
“Yep.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “You ready to talk more about the smuggling?”
“No,” he said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
“Then why are you here?”
“Earlier,” he said.
I tilted my head to the side, trying to understand him.
“What do you mean?”
“This…”
He stepped forward and put his hands on my waist. At the same time, his head came toward mine, tilting slightly. I froze, closing my eyes, anticipating the moment our lips would touch.
When they did, I felt as if heaven had opened shop deep within my body. Pleasure and joy danced into my mind, causing my heart to beat faster. Is this happening?
I pulled back and said, “Pinch me.”
“Excuse me?”
“I need to know if I’m dreaming.”
He smiled then kissed me again, sliding his tongue into my mouth this time. I swirled mine against his, so warm and wonderful.
As we kissed, his hands moved along my body. When he squeezed my breast through my shirt, I moaned, wanting more, so much more.
“Do you have a condom?” I asked in between kisses.
“Yeah,” he grunted, lifting my shirt up.
I raised my hands into the air, allowing him to take it all the way off. Standing in front of him with bare breasts, I wondered if I was making a bad decision.
Emotions took over, and I didn’t care anymore. The only thing on my mind was getting him inside me. While I didn’t get my story in Afghanistan, at least I’d have something to remember.
He bent his head and licked one nipple before moving to the other. While he explored my naked flesh with his wet, tongue, I undid his pants, sliding them down enough to expose his cock.
And what a marvelous cock it was. I fondled it while we kissed, amazed at the size. He stepped back and lifted his shirt off, exposing his rock-hard chest and abs. I leaned forward and kissed his skin.
He took his pants off the rest of the way. I did the same with mine. We were soon standing in front of each other, naked. My eyes lowered, scannin
g his body, liking what I saw.
The momentary pause to get our clothes off ended as we resumed passionately kissing each other. I loved the way he made my whole body tingle when his tongue slid against mine.
Time slowed, became somehow irrelevant. All that existed in that moment was him and me, our bodies about to lock together in bliss. He moved forward as we kissed, pushing me toward the bed.
I sat down on the edge of the mattress, looking up at his face, enamored by those magical blue eyes. He grinned and got down on his knees in front of me. A moment later, he kissed my pussy.
As he went down on me, I closed my eyes and threw my head back, not believing how good it felt to have him kissing, licking, and sucking my sensitive flesh. He ran his fingers back and forth over my pussy.
Blood rushed between my legs as a familiar tingle spreading through my body. I hadn’t been with a man in so long. And he was so good at what he was doing. His hands ran over my smooth skin.
I forgot for a moment or two I was in Afghanistan that outside a war was going on.
“Do it,” I begged. “Fuck me hard.”
He looked up from between my legs. A moment later, he was on his feet in front of me, that huge dick swinging back and forth in front of him.
I watched, enthralled, as he wrapped a condom over it.
This is it. He’s going to fuck me.
The thought turned me on so much. I wasn’t sure if it was the fact we weren’t supposed to be doing what we were about to do or the fact I was in a strange country, but something was different.
None of the other men who fucked me compared to Cooper, and he hadn’t even pushed it in me yet. I expected great things – like a mind-blowing orgasm in Afghanistan.
He stepped forward and lifted my legs. Our eyes met as he rubbed the tip of his cock over my wet pussy before putting it in. I squinted my eyes and moaned.
HIs look of hunger turned to surprise at the sound of an explosion outside.
“What the hell?” I asked.
He dropped my legs and spun around.
“Fuck.”
“Are we under attack?” I asked, standing up.
“I don’t know,” he said as he slipped his underwear on.
As we dressed, I heard a second explosion outside from the same direction.
“That sounds like it’s inside the camp,” he said. “Stay here.”
“Don’t worry about me,” I said, my heart racing and adrenaline pumping.
He flung the door open and bolted outside. I ran over and peeked outside. Flames rose into the air about five hundred feet away, near the wall surrounding the base.
I shut the door and locked it, wondering what the hell I should do. My suitcase and bag were sitting next to the door. Would I ever get back to New York? The idea wasn’t sounding so bad now.
The thought of not making it hit me hard as I took deep breaths, trying to calm myself. As a journalist, I wanted to find out what the hell had happened.
After opening the door, I stepped outside. No other explosions had occurred. Was it a car bomb? An RPG? Something else? I saw men running toward the blaze.
Before I decided to follow them, Tony Roth ran up.
“We need to go,” he said. “Are you packed?”
“Now? Seriously?”
“Captain Jeffries wants you out of here right now.”
“This is bullshit,” I said, nodding to the flames. “What the hell happened?”
“That’s on a need-to-know basis, and you don’t need to know. Can I help with your bags?”
“I’m not leaving,” I said, defiantly crossing my arms over my chest.
“If you don’t, Cooper will be in even more trouble.”
“What do you mean?”
“That’s on a need-to-know basis too, and…”
“Let me guess,” I interrupted. “You don’t think I need to know.”
“It’s not my call,” he said. “Are you coming, or do I need to call the MPs?”
“I’m coming,” I said then stepped back inside to grab my suitcase and messenger bag.
“Hurry. The chopper is waiting,” Tony said as I followed him to the large, open space in middle of the camp.
“Will you please tell me what happened?” I begged over the loud sound of the chopper blades and engine. “Was it the Taliban?”
“No,” he shouted. “It wasn’t an attack. You need to get on the chopper. Now.”
I glanced around, wondering about Cooper. Would he look me up and call to let me know what had happened? Fucking him was the furthest thing from my mind as I searched for him.
“You need to go,” Tony shouted, pointing at the helicopter.
“Fine,” I shouted, ducking my head and jogging over.
A soldier helped me inside. As soon as I sat down, the chopper lifted into the air. I peered over the side, looking down. Cooper! He looked up at me in the chopper as it flew away.
The entire trip to the Kandahar airport, I thought about what had happened at FOB Cobra. I hadn’t gotten the story I sought or the man I desired.
All I wanted to do was get back to New York and my normal life.
ELEVEN
Cooper
Two Years Later
As I got out of the yellow cab and saw the New York City skyline, I suddenly realized how much I had missed the city. The car drove away. I walked up on the sidewalk and pulled out my phone.
Everything had fallen apart after Jade left FOB Cobra in Afghanistan. Captain Jeffries, involved heavily with the smuggling operation, had ordered her to the chopper after Max blew himself up.
The damn fool had constructed a bomb from mining dynamite. It had gone off before he had a chance to take it off the base. He had said it was to shut-up a local Afghani who wanted to report us.
I glanced up at her building from across the street, wondering what apartment was hers. Was she looking out a window at me right in that moment? I checked her address on my phone then put it away.
After more than two years of not hearing from her, I had looked up her information online. It had cost me two hundred dollars, but I got it.
Crossing the street, I wondered why she hadn’t contacted me over the years. Her last night in Afghanistan had turned hot and heavy, but she was sent away before we could finish what we had started.
I made it to the front door of her building, not seeing a doorman. After finding her name, I pressed the button to ring her apartment. She’s not home, I thought immediately, stepping away. I’ll come back some other day.
“Hello? Who is this?”
The sound of her voice thrilled me.
“Me,” I said.
“Who is me?”
“Cooper.”
“Cooper?”
“Yeah, from Afghanistan.”
“Oh, Cooper! Come in.”
The door buzzed and clicked, unlocking. I walked through, entering the lobby. On the way to the elevator, I thought about the two years since I’d last seen her.
Was I insane for showing up out of the blue? Questions went through my mind as I rode the elevator up to her apartment on the eleventh floor.
The moment I reached her door, I knocked. The door swung open immediately. When I saw her beautiful face, memories of the naked moment we shared in Afghanistan flashed through my mind.
“Cooper,” she said, her long, dark hair as curly as ever. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s been two years since we met, and I thought I’d look you up.”
She didn’t seem thrilled to see me. I guess I didn’t know what to expect.
“Come inside a minute. I need to leave for work.”
I stepped into her apartment.
“Anyway, like I said, we were separated a bit abruptly, and…”
“Yeah,” she interrupted then took a step toward the floor-to-ceiling windows on the other side of the living room.
Her shoes tapped on the well-polished wood floor as she walked over.
I followed her
, captivated by her body. She hadn’t changed a bit.
“That’s quite a view.”
“Right? It’s why I moved here. The rent is crazy expensive, but I think it’s worth it.”
“You must be some big-name journalist by now.”
She frowned.
“No. I’m an editor now.”
“Oh, working on the other side of the equation? Still a journalist though. They kicked me out of the Army about a year after you left. I’ve been roaming around since then.”
“I’m not actually a journalist anymore. I edit…other stuff.”
The way she said “other stuff” peaked my interest.
“I’d love to talk with you about it.”
“Like I said, I’m on my way to work. It’s weird that you caught me. I’m usually not here this late in the morning. How did you find me, anyway?”
“Oh, some stuff I did online.”
She smiled.
“Turn-about is fair play.”
“How about dinner tonight?” I asked.
I watched as she took a deep breath. No matter how hard I tried, I wasn’t able to stop thinking of her naked body. If anything, I found her even more beautiful.
“Okay,” she said. “But I need to go now.”
She put her hand on my arm then let go and walked toward the door.
“I’ll pick you up around six?” I asked as I followed her.
“Yeah, that should work. Give me your number.”
“Here…” I dug my phone out and handed it to her. “Call yourself.”
As her fingers manipulated the screen, my eyes kept stealing glances of those perfect breasts. I wanted to see them again, taste them again.
She handed my phone back to me as we stood outside her door.
“If I don’t call you, meet me here at six,” she said as she turned the doorknob to check that it was locked.
“Here’s hoping you don’t call me.”
She smiled.
“My life’s a little chaotic right now, but it’s good to see you, Cooper.”
“I understand. We can take it slow.”
As we walked down the hall side by side, I pushed all the questions aside. The elevator doors closed and my body tensed as I fought the urge to take her right there.
She turned and grinned at me as we rode down. Did she feel the sexual tension in the air too? The doors slid open and we walked toward the front door.
“It’s good to see you, really,” she said again, gently placing her hand on my arm.
Mr. Charming_A Mistaken Identity Bad Boy Romance Page 19
