by Beth Rhodes
“Yes. The town has been in an uproar since you left. Sheriff Tagler has your shop cordoned off still, but there’s been no leads. Of course. And Bobby, he hovers like a shadow. He’s all broody, like an angry bear.”
“Should I be alarmed?” Emily asked.
“No!”
She almost laughed.
“He’s the sweetest thing.” Callie sighed.
“You know you sound ridiculous, right?”
“I know. But this guy is…well, he’s different.”
“Be careful, Callie. You hear me?”
“I know. It’s not like I’m planning on marrying the guy, you know?”
“Don’t even say that word, Callie. Your dad is going to kill me.” Marriage plans or not, Callie was only sixteen. John came through the door then, holding a to-go bag, and he looked at her with that worried look that was starting to get a little smothery.
“I should go. John said not to talk too long—which, by the way, does not bode well for thinking that you are fine, Miss Emily.”
“Well, have fun…I think.”
“Talk to you later!”
The call ended, and Emily glanced at John.
“What?” he asked.
“I’m going to have to kick Bobby’s ass.” Her stomach twisted a little, thinking about Bobby and Callie. “He’ll be good, right?”
John sat down in the chair in the corner, reminding her that he’d been keeping his distance. “We don’t hire degenerates.”
“I don’t mean ‘is he a pedophile.’” She scowled. “I mean…he won’t lead her on, will he?”
“He’s a good guy. And he wouldn’t work for Hawk if he couldn’t get the job done.”
“Not exactly high praise.”
“No,” John said, shrugging. “But I’m serious when I tell you Hawk would have his ass on a platter if he hooked up with a client like Callie.”
Emily tucked her feet under her and turned to him. “What are you doing, John?”
He couldn’t quite look her in the eye. “I don’t know. Thinking?”
She rose from her place on the bed and walked over to him. “Take it out, please?” She held out her hand to him.
Her heart went out to him when his hands shook. He picked up the first-aid kit on the table next to him and opened it. Gauze sat on top, and when he hesitated, she nudged him with her knee. “Come on. I’m sore, but fine.”
He surprised her, pulling her close, kneeing her legs apart and sitting her on top of his legs. He laid her hand flat on the table next to them. Like a crushing ninny, she went a little lightheaded being so close to him. But she took complete advantage and breathed. One long breath of everything that was John, and her world righted.
First he clipped the tubing and then he gently tugged on the tape that held the cannula in her vein. With the gauze, he applied pressure and pulled. He clipped the end and set it aside. He grabbed the roll of tape and secured the gauze to her hand. Then he lifted the hand and kissed it.
There was something about seeing him in his element—nursing, nursing her—something that filled her. “I love seeing you do your thing. It makes everything I know about you real.”
“I’ve never been fake.”
“No, you haven’t. I can’t explain it. But I love it.”
“You love it?”
She almost laughed. He seemed unassuming and kind. But he was totally calling her on her cowardice. Emily scooted closer to him and rested her arms on his shoulders. “I love you.”
“But?”
“You heard that, did you?”
He shrugged and placed his hands at her waist and massaged her. God, he was turning her on, and she had a feeling he knew it. “Talk to me,” he said.
“I’m quitting.”
His gaze sharpened on her.
She kissed him, because she had to. “I don’t know what that means right now. I know Hawk will let me go, but it’s not Hawk Elite I can’t do anymore. I can’t shoot. I’m done with field work.”
John brushed a strand of her hair back without a word.
“Say something,” she said.
“Will you marry me, Emily?”
Her mouth fell open.
“You aren’t surprised, are you?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“And?”
“And I’ve been alone almost my whole life.”
“You’ve separated yourself,” he corrected her, and she laughed.
“Who’s talking here?”
He grinned, shyly. “Sorry. But you have people—Eddie, Harbor View, and now Hawk Elite. And you have me, and through me, you have my family.”
“Very large family.” She hesitated. “You don’t expect me to have nine children, do you?”
“Is that a yes?” He held his breath.
“I think I’d be crazy not to, John Vega.”
His grin lit his face. He squeezed her hips. Then his mouth took hers, and oh. Oh, sweet kisses. Warmth filled her, dispelling the uncertainty and the cold from moments before. She hadn’t been sure of her future, and though she still had no idea what she was going to do next.
She’d spent long enough hiding from her past.
And now, she could be sure that whatever she did would be with a man who wanted to invest in her future despite her past.
Epilogue
“Jiminy Cricket, Malcolm! You have to actually hit the target or you’re dead. Dead! Do you hear me?” Emily yelled from her position behind their IT guy. His shorter height gave her a two-inch advantage, and it was the big joke on the team that Emily was taller than a couple of the guys. But she didn’t mind. She might have a vertical advantage, but he outweighed her in muscle.
Computer geek or not, the man was ripped. This man was no lean, mean, running machine. Nope. He was a fighter. He’d been working out, and it was good to see him getting back to his old self.
Of course, he was going to be dead if he didn’t improve his shooting accuracy.
“Are you even aiming for the middle of the target, Mal?”
“Yes, damn it. Geez, get off my back. I’m trying. We can’t all have your skill behind the scope, you know?”
“Try again.” She eliminated the tone of frustration. “I’m not looking for perfection, okay? Just—if you hit the paper at all, you’ll at least have a chance to run or take the guy down with your unusually large muscles. Got it?”
The other guys at the shooting range hooted and hollered.
Emily rolled her eyes. She had the guys at her beck and call for training twice a month. Some of them needed it more than the others. But she didn’t mind.
She was part of a team now, a family. Her sniper days were over, and she spent most of her time on the beach in Harbor View. She and John were working a long-distance relationship for the time being…and it sucked, but it was okay.
He loved her. And sometimes he’d show up on her doorstep for no reason at all. And he’d remind of all the things that made being with him and living the life of a soldier all worth it.
John caught her gaze and grinned. And when she smiled back, she knew that he knew what she’d been thinking, because the look in his eyes softened.
Knowing her heart. Knowing what she needed. Knowing her, inside and out.
Love you, he mouthed before sliding his eye protection back up his nose and turning to point his gun down the shooting lane. His stance was perfect. His aim was almost always right on.
At least as far as she was concerned.
He was aware of her moods and what she needed—whether that was more space or less. She had his family to thank for that. They’d gone a little crazy helping her plan the wedding. And when it got so overwhelming, she thought she might run away, John would be there to run interception.
A sharp whistle pulled her out of her musings.
“Class is over, gentlemen.” John was watching her as he dismissed her class, and she came to, embarrassed to be caught wool-gathering.
Shaking it off, sh
e shrugged. “You guys did great today. Next time, we’ll add a little contest to the agenda. Raise the stakes a bit. Malcolm?”
He turned back to her with a scowl.
“If you want to come back sometime this week, I can give you a few pointers. We can look at your weapon, too. See if it’s right for you”
“Sure. Thanks.” He hurried out, pulling a ball cap over his head as he did. Her eyes narrowed when a big, fat Harley raced into the dirt lot and came to a halt in front of him. He grabbed the offered helmet and climbed on the back.
John came up behind her and rubbed her shoulders. She leaned her head back and rested it on his shoulder with a sigh. “I didn’t know Malcolm was dating someone.”
“You know Malcolm. Flavor of the month?”
Emily turned in his arms and rested her hands on his waist. She kissed him on the lips. “I’m really looking forward to that glass of wine you promised.”
John took her keys from her hand. “I’ll close up. You go sit.”
“No.” She headed into the office to shut things down. “That’s not fair.”
“Life doesn’t have to be fair,” he added, pulling the blinds closed.
She took the semi-dark moment to pinch his rear. “Maybe not, but I’m tired of having people do things for me. It’s been two months since I was shot—”
He made that noise of dislike.
“—and the doctor cleared me after six weeks.”
As she reached the door, he pulled her back and leaned his butt against the desk behind him. She fell into the V of his legs, and his arms came around her. “Cleared, huh?”
Emily grinned.
He found her mouth, tasted her as his hands roamed south, gripped her sides, and then slid down against that sweet little juncture where he did magic things against her clit. His kisses moved down her neck. “I guess I do know it.”
A chuckle escaped. “If you’re going to be so liberal with me in the bedroom—”
“Office,” he corrected, as he then sucked at the pulse on her neck.
“—you’re going to have to let me do the little bit of work I’m still contracted to do.”
He hummed, and the treble sent desire flooding her system, making her weak in the knees, and… Thank God he knew what to do with his hands. Those fingers, pressing intimately to her cleft, rubbing her, playing her…she gasped. “John.”
He covered her nipple with his mouth—right through her clothes—and bit gently. The sensation zinged through her; she was helpless to stop it. Didn’t want to anyway. So close, she reached for him, needing him, wanting him to grab on to, to take him with her.
“Take it,” he whispered in her ear as he slipped his hand down the front of her pants, found her, and touched her exactly there. And then he held her as she came apart in his arms. He rained kisses through it all, her face, her neck, her shoulders, until she was weak.
John scooted back on the desk and sat her in his lap, which was a good thing, because her legs weren’t working all that well at the moment. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “See,” she whispered. “I told you I could close up the office without your help.”
He laughed. “I guess you were right.” A pause broke her serenity, and she got down to study him. “I don’t like being so far away from you.”
She sighed. “It’s only for a while.”
But she wasn’t being completely honest. As long as he worked for Hawk and she owned that little spot on the coast…there would be the separation.
“Let’s elope.”
She groaned. “That isn’t going to change anything.”
“Let’s go home,” he said this time, for the first time since they’d started these negotiations on the Vega-Rogers future.
Like a lightning bolt, shock zipped through her. “Idaho?”
“Yeah. I can get a job anywhere. We can be together.”
“But what about Hawkins? These are your brothers.” He couldn’t possibly mean what he was saying.
“I need you, Emily. I need you in my bed every night. I need you to end the day with, to talk to. Besides, I’ll always have Hawk Elite and I have a half-dozen blood brothers. What I don’t have is you.”
Her chin trembled. “I can’t let you do that.” Fear stoked a fire in her heart. “You’d hate me within months, days. Hours!”
He framed her face with his hands and gave her that look that warned her she was acting a little crazy. “Do you love me, Emily Rogers?”
The fear immediately dissipated. “Yes,” she answered. “And I’m leaving Harbor View.”
He laughed. “No.”
“Yes.” He worried over her seesaw emotions, but for the first time in weeks, she knew exactly what she wanted. “I’m coming to Raleigh to be with you.”
John opened his mouth to speak, but she covered it with her hand. “Do you trust me, John?”
“Of course.”
“We can turn the heat up without throwing it all the way to full blast. If we don’t settle in Raleigh, and things don’t work, then we’ll talk about Idaho.” She paused. “Unless…are you done with Hawk Elite?”
“I’m done being away from you, Emily. I don’t care about anything, at this minute, other than weaving our lives together the way we both want them. This is horse hockey, and I can’t do it anymore. Raleigh, Idaho…we could go back to fucking Doha, if that’s what we had to do—”
She laughed out loud, knowing he wouldn’t swear if he felt at all like his world wasn’t about to fall apart. “Okay, then. Raleigh it is.”
He stared at her. “Okay.”
“Okay.”
And then he grinned at her, lifted her, and squeezed her tightly. He grabbed her ass.
“Naughty,” she said, biting her lip.
He might have been raised right and nicknamed Father John, but she was lucky enough to see everything that stereotype covered up.
The End
If you loved this story, don’t miss more from Hawk Elite Security! Click HERE to find more of Beth Rhodes’ military and contemporary romances.
Beth sees love as life's biggest truth and writes stories about real people in the real world, where love is not just a happy ending but the start of a new adventure.
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About the Author
When Beth Rhodes isn’t writing, she enjoys life as the mother of six and wife to her US Army husband. She finds inspiration all around her, seeing happily-ever-afters in every conflict. Coffee, along with a dose of prayer, gets her through most days. Find more about her and her books on her webpage!
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www.authorbethrhodes.com
Other books by Beth Rhodes
Love Beyond Reason Series
Letters From Home
Outside the Lines
Hawk Elite Security Series
Strike Back
Strike Fear
Strike Zone
Strike Force, coming in September!
Novellas
For Love or Duty
The Perfect Confidence
Book Four releases in September!!
I look at book four as the last book in the series. Partly because…I can’t think of any more ‘Strike’ titles. Unless I change it up: Air Strike or Ground Strike. Ha. There are lots of characters featured in my Hawk Elite Security Series—Craig, Bobby, Jamie [who has a story conceived and started]. And those books will see the light of day…
After I take a little break.
Don’t miss Malcolm and Marie’s story, though. It is my favorite, because finally, after three years tied up in a contract, I was able to write a new story and THIS. WAS. IT. I had a lot of pent up inspiration, buried need to write a new story.
Strike Force is irreverent and gritty. It�
�s emotional and gripping.
A white-knuckle read filled with intense passions, snark, and swoons.
Coming this September
Sign up for my Newsletter and I’ll send out a preview excerpt soon!
