Target in Range (Ranger Ops Book 5)

by Em Petrova

  She did.

  “Fuck, the angle’s goddamn heaven.”

  Her inner walls enveloped his cock, pulling at him until he felt a wildness come over him.

  Slamming his mouth over hers, he delivered bruising kisses, which she returned stroke for stroke as he churned his hips. He bent his head and bit down on her nipple.

  It was all she needed to throw her overboard into a third orgasm.

  He followed with a roar, mind humming, body pulsing, cock shooting ropes of cum. Mind-numbing moments followed. Avery curled beneath him, holding him to her just as she had in the living room, the moment so tender it had wrenched his fucking heart.

  He hadn’t stopped himself from falling for those women before who weren’t half as good as Avery.

  Dammit, he couldn’t stop it this time either.

  It would end bad.

  Her fingers threaded into the hair on the back of his head, and she latched him to her as they rode out the final aftershocks of their shared orgasm.

  With his breaths rasping against her neck, he was aware he must be crushing her. Just one more minute. One more minute to feel you all soft and warm under me before you leave my bed and never return.

  “Jess.” Her murmur made him raise his head.

  Her gaze burned into his, yanking on his fucking heart a second time. Shit. How many times had he thought himself in love before? This was the same—only lust. A mistaken belief Avery felt as deep in the moment as he did.

  He was wrong, he knew it.

  “Jess,” she whispered again.

  He found his voice. “Yeah, baby?”

  To his shock, she cupped one breast and brought her hard gumdrop nipple to his lips. “I’m not convinced we did that right. Can we try again?”

  Holy fuck. This was gonna hurt like a son of a bitch when she left him.

  He took her nipple in his teeth.

  Chapter Six

  “Jess, a word.” Sully’s tone didn’t give away what the conversation he wanted to have would be about, but Jess already knew—Moreno.

  He stashed his boots into the bottom of his locker and closed the door.

  Sully led the way into the conference room. Jess looked around. “What the hell happened in here?”

  “New paint job,” Sully said.

  “And a table too. What happened to the old one?”

  “Guess last time Colonel Downs was here, he thought the thing was a piece of shit and requisitioned us a new one.”

  Jess blew out a breath. “Does this mean OFFSUS is keepin’ us around?”

  Since the inception of the Ranger Ops team, it had been unclear whether or not a second special ops team in the South was actually necessary. Their jobs were always up in the air, but that didn’t mean they cared any less. But job security sure would feel nice, and fixing up the headquarters might be a step toward that.

  Sully sank heavily to one of the new chairs large enough to accommodate men as big as they were. “Not sure, but I’ll take it. The table doesn’t even creak anymore when you rest your elbows on it. Look.” He demonstrated, and Jess chuckled, though he wasn’t feeling amused at what was about to come.

  What he suspected Sully would tell him was that they had what they needed to take out Moreno. For months, Homeland Security had been holding back that green flag, waiting to see what Moreno could give them.

  The man had had more chances than a sinner at Heaven’s gates to make things right and deliver intel to the right people and finally do some damn good in the world. Instead, he chose the wrong path every time.

  “Look at this.” He handed Jess a file.

  Jess flipped it open and stared at the typed report. His head shot up. “Two hundred people. You’re sure?”

  “That’s what they’re saying. The intel provided by Moreno helped kill two hundred innocent victims in a town square who were there to see a visiting Catholic Cardinal.”

  “Shit.” Jess sat back and rubbed his hand over his face. He was still exhausted after the night with Avery in his bed. Confused too, but he was putting that off for thinking about another time. Right now, he had Moreno on his mind.

  “We stop this guy, we stop others. You know we’ve been waiting for something like this.” Sully waited expectantly for Jess’s reply.

  He bobbed his head.

  “It’s just a matter of getting the intel from him first. Maybe we can stop further massacres like this.”

  Jess nodded again. “So a team on the ground. We go in and take him prisoner, pump him for information and then kill him.”

  “I think that’s the plan. Though Homeland is considering waiting till he gathers all his cohorts in one place and then perform an air strike.”

  Jess was shaking his head. “We can’t do that. It’s risky. There are children and other innocent people surrounding him at all times.”

  Sully grunted. “That’s what I said to Downs when he put it on the table. What are the chances of getting Moreno to leave his home for such a meeting?”

  “Not sure. It would probably take an undercover there to persuade. Or pay off one of his own followers to turn traitor and make it happen.”

  “Good call. Any ideas who that kingpin could be?”

  They talked for another half hour or so, and then Sully got to his feet. Jess stood too, and they faced each other.

  He met Sully’s gaze. “You know how I feel about taking out Moreno, but I want you to know that my judgment will not be clouded by the fact he’s got kids. If I believe his number’s up, we’ll move on it.”

  He clapped Jess on the shoulder. “I know where your heart lies, man, and that’s with your country.”

  Jess held out a fist, and they bumped knuckles. “I’ll be on duty tonight.”

  “Let me know if you need anything.”

  After his commander walked out of the room, Jess drifted to the wall of windows and stared through the chink between the blinds. His thoughts were running full speed, through the tunnels of his mind like subway trains, making stops on various events or discussions. When his thoughts touched on Avery, that train came to a sudden halt.

  It was impossible not to critically examine what had taken place between them the night before. So many times he’d fucked up with a woman, and that was the last thing he wanted with this particular one.

  How she responded to him… fucking hell.

  But he wasn’t so naïve as to believe because sparks flew between the sheets that she was the right woman for him.

  It was everything that had come before all that.

  How supportive she’d been when Madison had approached him in that coffeeshop, and all the hours she’d put into the ancestry research. Offering moments of comic relief from the hours of digging through online archives and skim-reading newspapers for the names of his relatives. And how she hadn’t even judged him for walking out of Madison’s life in the first place, even though he deserved it.

  He needed more time with Avery, uninterrupted where he could slow things down and maybe, just maybe, not make the same mistakes as he had in the past.

  Only now he might be called out for a strike against Moreno. He could be gone for weeks, and any progress he’d made with Avery would be lost. In his experience, women didn’t like to be kept waiting and would only put up with so many excuses.

  Even though Avery probably understood his role more than others, she still wouldn’t like being neglected. She was sexy, tough and smart, all the things men like Jess wanted in a woman. She could get so many guys who didn’t take off for Mexico for weeks on end and could shower her in affection.

  For the first time, he was considering dumping a woman before she dumped him.

  He pushed out a sigh.

  As he turned from the window, his phone buzzed. Down the hall, he heard a groan from one of the other team members as he also received the call. Then Sully’s voice—“Gear up, bros. We’re out in ten.”

  * * * * *

  “Avery, can I talk to you a minute after class
?” her kickboxing instructor called from the front of the room.

  She nodded and reached for her water bottle. Sweat tracked down her spine, and she reveled in the cool liquid slipping down her throat to replace what she’d just worked out.

  This was her third class in two days. With the incident in the parking lot still under review and Jess gone too, the workouts kept her going. For now.

  After everybody had cleared out of the room, she slung a towel around her neck and approached the instructor. He lowered his water bottle from his lips and grinned at her.

  Big, built and sexy, the instructor was the reason so many women took the class. If Avery hadn’t met another guy who pumped her up even more than this one, just with a single look, she might have drooled over him too.

  “You really kicked some ass this week,” he said.

  “Thanks. I enjoy a challenge.”

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  She arched a brow.

  “I have a week away planned, my uncle’s seventieth birthday in Omaha.”

  “Omaha? I could think of more exciting destinations,” she teased.

  He chuckled. “I know. But it’s the location. So I’ve got my ticket paid for, but I have a problem you could help me solve.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “What would you say to taking over my classes for a week?”

  She blinked at him.

  He rushed on, “I know it’s probably an odd request.”

  “It’s true I’ve never heard that one before.”

  “You’re the only person I know who can handle two classes a day and keep their stamina up to lead the classes. You’d be paid by the gym, and they’ll offer you a free membership for a year.”

  “That’s a great opportunity. Thank you for considering me.”

  He cocked his head. “Please tell me you’ll do it.”

  “For your uncle in Omaha, yes. I’ll do it.”

  He embraced her. Briefly, she hugged him in return and then pulled away. “I’m sorry I’m all sweaty.”

  “So am I,” he said. “Doesn’t bother me a bit. Thanks for agreeing to do this. I can stop worrying about it now.”

  “I’m glad to help. And that free membership doesn’t sound so bad.”

  He laughed. “Maybe when I get back from the party, we could go for drinks after class.”

  She eyed him. This wasn’t her first rodeo, and she’d been asked out enough times to know that expression in her instructor’s eyes wasn’t purely gratitude for taking over his classes. Two months ago, she might have been happy to see where a date with him would lead, but now not so much.

  Still, it was just a drink, and she nodded in agreement. Maybe it was the fact she hadn’t heard from Jess in seven days or just making new friends that made her agree to it.

  “Great, I’ll let you know the class schedule tomorrow,” he said.

  “Thanks.” She threw him a wave and walked away, her mind already shifted from teaching a kickboxing class or drinks with a hot instructor to other issues.

  Such as wanting to date a special operative who’d made it clear he didn’t want more. She’d gone to bed with Jess despite knowing this, and still she didn’t have regrets. Whenever she thought of that night, her skin still came alive with tingles where his hands had been… his lips had been.

  His teeth had been.

  He’d excited her beyond anything she’d known before, shot her into a new realm of sexual play that wouldn’t be matched for a long time to come.

  Jess hadn’t only taken over her body—her emotions were involved.

  She knew he was away with Ranger Ops, and that didn’t bother her. She could deal with him coming and going without notice. The problem was her wanting to add feelings to the mix, letting him know she cared and prayed he came home safe.

  Those weren’t the feelings of a woman who only wanted one night of passion.

  She quickly showered in the locker room and changed. When she walked out of the building, she bumped into the instructor again, and he offered to walk with her since he was headed that direction too.

  Their talk was carefree with no pressures. She didn’t dump all her problems in his lap the way she had with Jess. Was that a good thing or bad?

  Only thing she knew was how hung-up she was on Jess, even in such a short time period. She should probably try to rein that in.

  When she and the instructor said their goodbyes, she felt no pang of sadness for it to be ending so soon. She just didn’t feel anything at all for the man.

  She’d talked herself into not texting Jess after their interlude. But thinking on it now, maybe it was a mistake—it might have showed him that she didn’t care. A warm word, letting him know someone cared about him and appreciated his service wouldn’t be a bad thing, right?.

  Once she reached her apartment, she dropped her gym bag to take care of later and pulled out her phone.

  Ten options ran through her mind.

  I like spending time with you.

  No, that was corny. Might as well buy a greeting card.

  I want you between my legs again.

  Maybe that was slutty? Was there such a thing with a guy as hot as Jess Monet?

  She settled for thinking of you, and after she sent the text wished she could pull it back out of cyberspace. Too late to dwell on it, she went about her business of cleaning up, paying some bills online and the weekly phone call to her parents.

  Then she settled down with her computer tablet to read the daily news. A story on current world events popped up, and she sat straighter as she read.

  Apparently, a threat had been neutralized just off the Gulf Coast, where a ship had been blown up and capsized. Ten crew members and passengers had been rescued, and then the government seized ten thousand pounds of cocaine headed for the US.

  She set aside her tablet to process this. This was exactly something Jess would be involved in, wasn’t it? Could he have been responsible for sinking that ship? Or for the rescues?

  Picking up her tablet again, she spent some more time scrolling and found a grocery store ad for half-price pork ribs, which got her thinking about whipping up some barbecue and how much her fellow officers raved about it. Before she knew it, she had an idea in her mind. Perhaps it would keep her from the dreaded boredom or maybe it would show Jess how much she appreciated him, even if it was only from a friend stance.

  She was going to plan a barbecue for him and his team. And his daughter and her mom, if they agreed to come too.

  * * * * *

  Jess got behind the wheel of his Mustang and grabbed for his phone. Dawn was just breaking over the city, and he was fucking dead on his feet. But he didn’t want to waste a single moment he could be talking to Avery.

  Finally, he understood why the other guys on the team sometimes got quiet and retreated to their own thoughts. Hell, he’d thought about her nonstop, and all he wanted was a hot shower, a steak and Avery in his bed. Then a big order of Chinese while they worked on his daughter’s project.

  As soon as he switched on his phone and saw her short message, his heart gave a hard flex.

  She was thinking of him. Or had been less than a day ago.

  He considered texting back or calling. In the end, he brought the cell to his ear.

  “Jess.” Her tone sounded… happy. She was happy to hear from him.

  Well, this was new for him.

  He caught himself grinning. “Hi, Avery. I got your text.”

  “Oh. It was nothing.”

  Nothing? Or nothing?

  He was overthinking. He had to make a move on her or let her go forever to join the dozen other women he’d once believed he felt something for.

  “I’m in the city and I’d like to see you,” he said.

  “I’d like that too.” A smile entered her voice. “In fact… I wondered if I threw a little party if you might want to bring your teammates.”

  Surprise hit him. “What kind of party?”


  “I made a massive batch of barbecue. It’s been outside on my balcony in the smoker all night long. The meat’s falling off the bone.”

  He groaned, his stomach cramping with hunger at the thought of anything besides made to eat military rations. “Love to. And I’m speaking for them because believe me, they’ll want a meal that sounds that good. How many can you fit in that apartment of yours? Never mind—make it my place. I’ll come over and help you bring the barbecue here.”

  She laughed, and the sound swallowed Jess. For a dizzying minute, he could only think of her after he’d just given her an orgasm, when she was relaxed and glowing with pleasure and happiness. He wanted to see her like that every damn day.

  Shit—too deep. Way too deep, buddy.

  It was beyond the point of return.

  “I’ll get the meat and sauce all packaged up. I have some potatoes for a salad too. And cornbread.”

  He moaned again. “You’re mighty tempting to a man who’s just eaten dried chicken patties for three straight days. Let me go home and grab a shower and I’ll come over.”

  Silence greeted him. Then, she said, “You know I’ve got a shower too, Jess.”

  Fuck. She wasn’t messing around, and his cock was registering the fact by standing at attention with a boner of salute.

  “I’ll be right over then.”

  “Good.”

  He paused, wondering if he should warn her about his appearance. He and the rest of the team were always banged up and sporting injuries from their missions. In the end, he didn’t tell her. He’d explain once she opened the door and saw him face-to-face.

  In minutes, he arrived at her apartment. Looking up at the front of the building, he wondered what Avery had been doing while he was away. After touching US soil, he hadn’t had a moment to check into her review. For all he knew, the badge was back on her uniform. He hoped to hell it was.

  He sat there another minute, thoughts roaming over Avery. She wasn’t playing hard to get or pushing him away—at least not yet. He couldn’t figure her out, and that threw him the most.

  In his career, he was both a lock, allowing no threats past him, and a lockpicker that figured out others. But he didn’t know how to move forward with Avery. To break her open and show her how she could feel with him or to let her get close enough to break into him? Problem was, he was pretty sure he’d already let her do that.