by Dana Marton
“What’s all this?” Troy asked as he strode over and dropped his duffel bag on the deck next to her.
“A welcome home dinner,” she said.
The smile he flashed her took her breath away. He looked good—tall and strong, larger than life. A warrior angel. She bit back a groan. God, she had it bad.
She nudged the burgers around for something to do. “So I take it the mission went well?”
“Rapid Response Retrieval is a success. We already got calls from three more potential clients. Cold cases, but I think we can handle them.”
They were going to rescue businesspeople who got in trouble abroad—Allison’s idea. She’d spent a rough few weeks looking for her fiancé in Afghanistan. She’d met Jake there, a story she’d shared with Claire at one point while they’d waited for their men.
Allison and Jasmine had come to visit her a couple of times on the boat. They claimed the visits were just to “hang out,” but they liked grilling her for details she’d heard from Troy that they hadn’t heard from Jake and Gabe.
Claire liked the company, and had come to like the boat. Its gentle swaying on the river calmed her. She slept through most nights these days. In Troy’s bed.
When she dreamed, she dreamed of him, which she so wasn’t going to admit. Ever.
Jake put down Allison and picked up Jasmine next, twirled her around, too. “And where’s our youngest sister?”
“Out on a date,” Jasmine said when her feet finally touched the deck again.
Jake stiffened. “Authorized by whom?”
Jasmine punched him in the shoulder. “Next time, I go off on some exciting mission and you stay home and try to hold her back.”
“Burgers are ready,” Gabe called after making a show of testing one with the spatula. “A lot of good food was prepared for us here. Let’s appreciate it.”
That drew everyone to the table.
Claire brought the meat. But she didn’t sit down with the others. “Before we start…” She cleared her throat and tamped down her nerves. She looked at the men. “I’d like to join RRR for the next mission.”
Troy choked on his lemonade.
“I have the background. I’ve been looking for a job since you’ve been gone. I can’t find anything to save my life. It’s not like the Congressman is going to give me a good reference.” Especially, since he was in prison, along with over a dozen XO-ST commando soldiers who’d been convicted of being involved with combat tourism.
Troy put a hand on hers. “Claire, you have to—”
Jasmine pushed her chair back. “Actually, I’ve been thinking the same.”
“No,” Jake and Gabe said simultaneously.
She shot them an annoyed look. “Sexist much? Are you saying we couldn’t handle it?”
The men looked at each other and smartly stayed quiet. None of them were going to touch that live wire.
“Actually, I have an announcement, too.” Allison sat up a little straighter.
“You’re a businesswoman. Please, be reasonable,” Jake begged her.
She gave him a quiet smile. “We’re going to have a baby.”
All hell broke loose at that.
Much later, after the mountain of food had been eaten to the last bite and all the congratulations warmly accepted, Jasmine and Claire were conditionally put on the team. After the others had gone, Claire sat with Troy, alone at last under the stars.
“I have one more piece of news,” she told him to fill the silence that suddenly crackled with all sorts of tension. Okay, not ‘all sorts’. Mostly just sexual.
“I don’t think I can take more. Have mercy.” That raspy voice of his reached straight to her heart.
“I have a new apartment.” She picked up her bag. “Actually, I better be leaving.”
Disappointment flashed through his eyes. “Maybe you should stay. Just tonight. At least.”
She hesitated.
“I have some injuries. I might need some help with the fresh bandages.”
She still didn’t say anything.
“We kind of downplayed how rough we had it out there. I’ll probably have nightmares. It would be nice not to have to be alone in the night.”
She smelled a rat. Troy loathed to admit any kind of weakness.
“Listen to all that whining,” she teased.
He stalked her. Caught her. Held her.
“I’ve been thinking about coming back home. A lot.”
“And were they happy little fantasies?” she teased some more, as her heartbeat sped.
“Very. Actually, in those fantasies, when I got home, you stayed.”
“Were you delusional from blood loss at the time?”
“I missed you,” he whispered, leaning in.
And, oh, what the hell, she let him kiss her.
“Just because you’re fresh from the fight and all that,” she said when they pulled apart a few heated minutes later. “You’re practically a hero, blah, blah, whatever.”
He flashed her a grin that would have made a lesser woman swoon. She might have swayed a little.
She didn’t protest when he picked her up, carried her down below and laid her on the bed. The bed where she’d slept for the past many weeks, where she’d held long conversations with him over the internet and got to know him, made friends with him, fallen in love with him.
He lay down next to her.
She would have been lying if she said she hadn’t entertained a few fantasies about this herself. Except, reality was turning out much better. She gave up pretending that she didn’t want this as much as he did, and tugged his shirt out of his pants.
The sight of his scarred, magnificent torso made her swallow. She ran her fingers over the old ridges. There weren’t any new ones, just a few scrapes.
“Sorry,” he said. “I know it’s not fun to look at.” He tugged the shirt back down. “I should probably keep this on.”
She wouldn’t let him. “Don’t be stupid.”
“It’s not just ugly. It’s scary ugly.”
The toneless way he said those words made her think he was quoting somebody who’d told that to him. “Not to me,” she said fiercely.
Warmth and wonder came into his graphite gaze as he watched her and accepted her declaration with a slow nod. “Claire Montgomery, you are a miracle.”
Then he kissed her.
“My turn,” he said in a raspy whisper when they pulled away a long minute later. He went for the hem of her T-Shirt. “I get to check for new injuries, too.”
“I didn’t go on an op. Where would I get injured?”
“You could have slipped on deck. Technically, I could be held liable since I’m the boat’s owner. I have to confirm that you sustained no injuries while you resided on my property. Common sense. And legal stuff,” he added.
She arched an eyebrow. “Legal stuff?”
“I’ll come up with something better later. Right now, I want you so much I can’t see straight.”
She liked feeling wanted. So she let him pull the T-shirt over her head.
“Nice.” He stared at her lace bra.
“Jasmine and Allison took me shopping. They said my military issue underwear collection was appalling.” She felt shy suddenly under his admiring gaze.
“Remind me to thank them later.” He opened his mouth to say more as he fingered the front clasp, but then it popped open and he didn’t say anything.
He kissed her again, long and deep, trailed kissed down her neck, over her collarbone, working a winding path to her nipples.
Heat and need shot through her as he nibbled.
His left arm supported his weight, while his right hand went to the buttons of her jeans. He undid them with agonizing slowness, slipping his long, capable fingers inside her panties. He glanced down.
“They match.” He sounded breathless.
There had to be some snappy comeback or snide remark to that but, just now, she couldn’t think of any.
“It’s been
a pretty long time for me,” she told him instead.
He held her gaze. “Same here. We should be able to figure it out. If we can’t, I’ll download some pictures from the internet. There might be an instructional video on YouTube we could watch together.”
She gave a weak laugh. “I think we can manage. Us being two reasonably intelligent adults and all that.”
He came up to his knees on the bed and pulled down her pants and underwear in the same smooth move, baring her completely. His eyes hesitated on the old battle scars on her hip. He softly drew the pad of his thumb over them. “Are you sure you want to join the team? How are you doing with the flashbacks?”
“Gone.”
“Nightmares?”
“Not for a while.”
“Why undo all the progress?”
“I wouldn’t be going into battle with bombs and tanks. We’d be investigating. Tracking and surveillance.”
“And armed confrontation. Do you want to risk getting hurt again?”
“I’m a warrior at heart. Even if I ran away from it… It would find me. It did at the mansion,” she tried to explain.
“Run harder.”
“On this team, you’ll be with me,” she said quietly.
“You’re damn right. I don’t want to let you out of my sight ever again.”
And then he moved up alongside her body and kissed her.
And then he made love to her.
_ _ _
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dana Marton (www.danamarton.com) writes fast-paced action-adventure romances that take her readers all over the globe. She is a Rita Award finalist and the winner of the Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence. She loves writing stories of intrigue, filled with dangerous plots that try her tough-as-nails heroes and the special women they fall in love with. Her books have been published in over a dozen languages all over the world. She loves hearing from her readers at [email protected].
CRITICS ARE RAVING ABOUT DANA MARTON’S BOOKS:
“This is definitely one to add to the must-read pile!”
suspenseromancewriters.com (THE SPY WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS)
“Readers are launched like rockets straight into the action…”
RT Book Review Magazine (THE SPY WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS)
“…a delightful, suspenseful novel with a surprising whodunit at the end… Ms. Marton has delivered a terrific book to readers!”
The Romance Readers Connection (THE SOCIALITE AND THE BODYGUARD)
“What a terrific surprise this book is! …it has depth, excitement and suspense as well as great sexual tension. Do yourself a favor and don't miss it!”
romancereviews.com (THE SOCIALITE AND THE BODYGUARD)
"...a slickly scripted story with engaging characters and witty dialogue."
RT Book Review Magazine (THE SOCIALITE AND THE BODYGUARD)
"The pounding pace of this book begins in the opening pages and does not stop or even let up. The action and suspense are thoroughly exciting, and the characters filled with a depth of emotion that perfectly rounds out the story...”
Coffee Time Romance (ROYAL PROTOCOL)
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