She raked a hand through her hair and then pressed her fingers to her lips to stop a sob from escaping. She’d held it together pretty well up to now, but she was on the edge of her control. Eli was innocent, just a sweet little boy who was so happy and perfect. He didn’t throw fits. Cassie had said he was the calmest baby she’d ever cared for.
And he was. Just so unflappable and calm.
But what must he be feeling now that he’d been ripped from the arms of the nanny he knew? What would those people do with him?
The door opened and her manager stood there. He’d been furious with her the past few weeks because she hadn’t wanted to sign a new contract with the record label and their relationship had been strained. But now his eyes were red-rimmed and her heart dropped to her toes. Did he have news…?
“Barry?”
He stepped aside and Jack Hunter appeared in the door, all tall and golden and handsome. Oh dear God, she could see Eli in him. Her gut twisted into knots. She’d kept Eli a secret from him—from everyone except a few very trusted people who knew the baby she’d “adopted” was actually her own child—and the guilt of it tore at her.
But she hadn’t known, when she’d given birth, whose child Eli was—Athenasios’s or Jack’s—and she hadn’t known for months, not until he grew all that wheat-blond hair and his little face formed into a smaller version of Jack’s. Softer and sweeter, but unmistakable to her.
She’d been so relieved that her baby was Jack’s. But how could she tell him? How, when he’d told her he never wanted a child because he couldn’t be there for one? He’d lost his wife and unborn child, and it had nearly killed him. He’d decided he couldn’t have a normal family life like other men because he was a career soldier and his job required him to deploy at a moment’s notice. How could he be a typical husband and father with a life like that?
He’d made her heart hurt when he said that, but who was she to tell him differently? They’d spent three days together, talking about everything, but they’d still been strangers.
Jack strode into the room like he owned it. His hair was cropped closer than the last time she’d seen him, but it was still darkly golden. His blue eyes lasered into her. He wore a faded red T-shirt that stretched across his muscled chest. His tattooed arms were bare and he wore a pair of faded Levi’s with a hole in one knee. On his feet were flip-flops.
Gina broke at that moment. Whatever she’d been holding in escaped in a rough sob—and then she rushed into his arms and buried her head against his chest. If he was surprised, and she had no doubt he must be, he didn’t let it show. He just wrapped those strong arms around her and held on tight while she tried to control her tears and failed miserably.
“He’s just a baby, Jack. Just a baby.”
Jack rubbed her back. “I know, sweetheart. I know.”
The door quietly closed behind Barry and then they were alone. Jack continued to hold her, but she pushed away from him, determined to get herself together. She had to do it for Eli. She couldn’t fall apart like this.
She turned away and swiped her eyes, her fingers trembling and her heart hammering. She hadn’t seen Jack since she’d left the boat to head to the airport. He’d saved her life, taken care of her, and she’d walked away because she had to. Because he wanted her to.
She’d told herself in the weeks that followed, before she knew she was pregnant, that the feelings she’d had for him were simply the result of trauma. You couldn’t fall for a man in three days just because he talked to you like you were an ordinary person. Or because he touched you so sweetly that it made your body sing.
She knew what she was, what people thought she was, but for a few days in Jack Hunter’s presence, she’d felt fresh and clean. Like an unwritten slate. It had been a novel experience. She’d wanted more, but he hadn’t.
And really, wasn’t it best anyway? He was an Army sniper and she was a celebrity. How in the hell would that have worked out? He couldn’t afford the media attention that went with her, and she couldn’t ask him to leave his job just so they could date.
God, she was ridiculous. Always falling for the wrong guy and then finding out just how wrong he was.
Except, with Jack, she’d fallen harder than usual. It was just like her to want the unattainable.
“I’m sorry,” she said, turning back to him and forcing a smile. “I know getting upset won’t help.”
“No one can blame you.” His voice was full of sympathy and that quiet strength she’d gravitated to on the island. He made her feel safe. That’s all there was to it.
She went over to the couch and sank down on it, willing the phone to ring as she did so. Of course it didn’t. She put a hand over her eyes and tried to press the tears away. “I didn’t know who else to call.”
“Tell me what happened.”
She told him about poor Cassie, about her trip for coffee, about the three men who’d cornered her and taken Eli from his stroller. “They told her if she screamed or called the police, they’d kill her. They gave her a note and told her to call me.” Gina felt so helpless, so angry, as she thought of sweet Cassie enduring that. “They said they’d kill Eli if I called the police. They said to wait for instructions.”
“Do you have any idea who did this? Has anyone been stalking you?”
She tugged a throw pillow onto her lap and absently played with the fringe. “I always have stalkers. There’ve been some notes over the last few months…” She sucked in a breath. “But I hired extra security just to be sure.”
Jack’s face was dark with anger. “What kind of notes?”
“Someone hates me, wants me to suffer, wants me dead. That kind of thing.”
“I wish you would die, hateful bitch.” “I’m going to cut off your arms and legs and feed them to sharks.” “You should be raped repeatedly and thrown to a pack of hungry lions, deceitful whore.”
Gina shivered.
“Who were they from?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. The postmark is often from Las Vegas, but that’s as far as we got.”
“Where was the security detail when your nanny went out?”
She looked up to find Jack still staring at her. “She didn’t think she needed anyone just to go for coffee. It was broad daylight, and the coffee shop is only a block away.”
Gina rubbed her temples. She was trying so hard not to be furious with Cassie. It wouldn’t do any good and it wouldn’t help find Eli, even if it would be satisfying to blame someone. Besides, Cassie was nearly inconsolable right now anyway.
In truth, the threats were always against Gina, not Eli. And since Gina was the visible one, the high-profile one, Cassie hadn’t considered that an anonymous woman with a toddler would be identifiable to anyone. And she shouldn’t have been. But someone had obviously been paying very close attention.
Jack came over and sank down in front of her. He took her hands in his and waited for her to look at him. “Gina, I’m sorry this happened. But I don’t know what you want me to do. This is a job for the police or the FBI, not for a soldier. If you want me to make some calls, I’ll see if I can’t get the FBI involved discreetly—”
“No!” She gripped his hands tightly. “I was with you on that island. I know what you did, what your team did. You know all about covert ops, and you can find where Eli is and get him before they know you’re coming. You did it with Athenasios and those men. You did what no one else had been capable of doing. You are the right man for the job.”
CHAPTER FIVE
SHE WAS HOLDING HIS hands tightly and her face was white. Her green eyes were wide and liquid, and she looked at him like he was her savior. Like he was the only one who could fix this for her.
But how could he fix anything? He was one man, and this wasn’t his area of expertise. His gut roiled with the idea that he had to tell her no, but he had to be honest with her. It was a blow seeing her again. He hadn’t expected it. He’d seen her on magazine covers and television, so he’d gotten u
sed to that little knot of tension in his gut each time.
But to see her again in the flesh? To touch her? His body vibrated like a guitar string pulled too tight. Any second and the string would snap.
“Gina, sweetheart, the military doesn’t get involved in something like this. It’s a domestic kidnapping case, not a terrorist plot. I want you to get your baby back, and I’ll stay here with you if you need me to, but you have to let me call the FBI. This is their area of expertise, not mine. Or my team’s.”
Her expression fell—and then her face twisted in anger. Her cheeks flushed bright and her eyes were glassy. “If this was your child, would you be saying these things to me? Would you tell me that you couldn’t help, but you could call someone? Would you leave your child’s life in the hands of a bunch of strangers who might very well fuck the whole thing up?”
“I know you’re upset, but you aren’t being reasonable. The FBI isn’t going to fuck it up.”
“You don’t know that!” She ripped her hands from his and shoved to her feet. Then she stalked past him and started to pace. Her long blond hair shimmered under the lights as it whipped around with her movements. She was wearing stiletto boots and a black miniskirt with a purple silk tank top tucked into it. A wide black belt cinched her small waist and emphasized the swell of her hips and breasts.
She was beautiful. Gut-wrenching, cock-hardening, ball-busting beautiful.
And she was angry. The hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention as she sizzled and sparked. But he had to calm her down. She’d called him, of all people, and he knew that meant something. But he wasn’t a magician and he couldn’t change the laws. The military did not handle domestic kidnapping cases.
“Babe, it’s their job. They aren’t incompetent.”
She whirled again. And then she pounded her fist on her chest to punctuate her words. “He’s my baby. I love him more than anyone else, and you’re asking me to trust strangers who don’t even know him with his life?”
He spread his hands. “I can’t help you, Gina. I don’t have any authority here.”
She stopped her pacing and stared at him like he’d grown two heads. Her hands were on her hips and her chest heaved as if she were on the verge of something momentous.
“You have as much at stake in this as I do.”
A bolt of unease shot through him. “I care that you’re upset and that someone stole your child. I said I’d stay here with you. I’ll call my boss and tell him I have to take leave. I’ll be here for you.”
She stalked toward him then, her breasts jiggling with every step of her booted feet. Her hands stayed on her hips. Her eyes spit fire at him.
“There’s something you need to know, Jack. Eli is not adopted. He’s my baby.” She paused for a long moment, her gaze never leaving his, and his unease flared higher. “I gave birth to him nine months after you rescued me.”
He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t process what she was saying to him. His chest grew impossibly tight, like someone was wrapping him in steel bands and tugging with all their might. He thought of Hayley, of her car skidding out of control, and of their unborn baby in her womb. Sweat rose on his arms, his chest, his brow.
He couldn’t seem to speak at first. His voice, when he found it again, was hoarse. “You were Metaxas’s girlfriend.”
Her eyes closed as if he’d hit her, and his gut clenched into a hard knot. He knew what she’d gone through with that rotten bastard. When she looked at him again, her gaze was soft and hard at the same time. How did she do that?
“Yes, I was his girlfriend, for what that’s worth. And yes, I slept with him. I told you at the time. But I also slept with you, Jack. And Eli doesn’t look like Athenasios. He looks like you.”
Pain bloomed in his soul. It was as if someone had shot him through the heart and left him to writhe his last few seconds in agony. He was cold and hot and he wanted to sit. And maybe throw up.
But he stood there and faced her, clenching his hands into fists to keep from wrapping them around her neck. He was never emotional, never out of control. He was always cool and unflappable and patient. It’s what made him the best damn sniper in HOT. Snipers had to possess extraordinary control, and he did.
Right this moment, however, he had no idea where that control was. He felt so many emotions whipping through him. Pain, fear, anger, loss. Denial. Oh, denial was huge. She could be lying.
But even if she wasn’t lying now, she’d certainly lied before. For more than two years. He had a son, according to her, and he’d never even looked into his boy’s eyes.
“If you’re telling me the truth,” he snarled, “you have no idea how much I want to strangle you right about now. You fucking lied, Gina. To the world. To me.”
For the first time, she looked contrite. It didn’t soften his anger, but he did feel a tiny pinch of sympathy for her. And that only pissed him off more.
“It’s the truth,” she said, her voice quavering once again. “I didn’t know for sure until about a year ago. And I wasn’t sure you would want to know. You told me you didn’t want children.”
“Jesus.” He whirled away from her before he was sick. He was so fucking pissed he was shaking. He strode across the room and then back again. But he stopped where he couldn’t reach her. “I was talking about choices. But when there is no choice, when the kid already exists—I think I have a fucking right to know.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks again and his heart twisted. He wanted to hold her. And kill her, goddammit.
“You’re right. I just didn’t know how to tell you. But please, Jack, don’t let your anger with me stop you from helping me now.”
He blinked. “You really fucking think I’d refuse to help you because I despise you right now? That’s my kid too, and I’ve never even met him. And now someone has him and I might never get to—”
A sob broke from her and she slapped her hand over her mouth to contain it. He felt like an asshole. What the fuck was he saying? His vision grew blurry and it took him a moment to realize what it was. Fucking tears? He never cried—except once.
And he wasn’t about to do it again. He hadn’t been able to save Hayley, but he could do something about finding his son. Eli wasn’t lost to him yet.
“We’ll find him, Gina. Somehow, we’ll find him. I promise.”
*
He hated her. Gina could see it in his blue eyes, in the tension of his muscles. His jaw was tight and he kept his hands clenched at his sides. She didn’t blame him, not really. Guilt and fear twisted tighter in her belly. Eli was all that mattered. She didn’t care if Jack hated her so long as he helped her get her son back.
Their son.
Right. Gina shoved a shaky hand through her hair to get it out of her eyes. She hated that she’d told him the truth like this, but she was desperate. He had to help her. She didn’t trust anyone else. The FBI wouldn’t care about Eli the way she did. She knew they were competent and that they would do their jobs—but it only took one person giving away their presence to alert the kidnappers. And Eli would be dead.
She couldn’t take that chance. She needed someone who was just as invested as she was.
And Jack was. She could see it in his eyes, in the set of his jaw. She had to believe he could do this. That Jack and that magic military team of his could find Eli and rescue him before it was too late.
“I believe you.” She had to believe him. To do anything else would destroy her.
He raked his fingers through his hair. Then he blew out a hard breath. His brows drew low as he concentrated on something. “I’ll call my team leader, ask for time off. And I’ll ask for the commanding officer to call his contacts. He knows people.”
She sank onto the couch again as all the nervous energy went right out of her. She wished like hell she still smoked because she could damn sure use a cigarette right about now. But she’d given that up years ago when someone had suggested she was damaging her voice.
Still, the urge so
metimes rolled through her and made her long for the days when a little bit of nicotine in her system could calm her frayed nerves.
“Then what?”
He shoved his hands into his pockets and stood there looking a bit lost. She recognized the expression as one that Eli sometimes wore. It made her heart twist.
“I don’t know. We have to wait for them to call, right? When we know what they want, we’ll figure out what to do.”
She hunched over and rubbed her hands up her arms. She was chilled now, the anger and adrenaline of the previous few minutes draining away and leaving her empty.
“I have to cancel the concert. No way can I go on.” Barry would understand. He would handle everything in his usual efficient way. He wouldn’t be happy about it, because this was her big comeback tour and they’d been fighting about everything from the music to the costumes. But after years of doing what everyone else wanted her to do, she’d finally put her foot down after she had Eli and said she was going to do what she wanted. Fewer flashy dance numbers. Less style over substance.
She still gave people a show, but on her terms. And they were taking the changes pretty well even if Barry was upset with her over it.
“You might want to reconsider that,” Jack said, and her head snapped up. “I know you’re upset, but they seem to want you to behave as if everything in your life is the way it should be. If you don’t go on, the speculation will be intense.”
“I can be sick. It happens.”
“And the media will camp outside your doorstep wondering what’s wrong.”
She hugged herself tighter. “I don’t think I can do it, Jack. How can I go out there and sing for two hours when my baby is in danger?”
He almost smiled. “Do you know how many times I have to do things I think I can’t do? It’s my job to do those kinds of things. And I do. One thing I learned about you three years ago is that you’re pretty damn tough. You can do it, Gina, because you’re strong enough to do anything you have to do.”
Hot Shot (A Hostile Operations Team Novel)(#5) Page 4
