Silver Shield Security Box Set

by Dee Bridgnorth

  Nico nodded just as his phone dinged, letting him know that he got mail.

  “We really appreciate your help,” Alex said.

  Emily nodded.

  “We’ll do anything for Tamika,” Ace added.

  Well, that was telling them. This was purely for Tamika. Which reminded him. He needed to ask for a different operator. He opened his mouth to do just that then changed his mind. They would be here soon enough and he could ask to get rid of the crazy woman then. No need riling her up before then.

  There was a commotion on one of the screens and a sweet-looking woman came on.

  “What, I want to speak to Tamika,” she said, gently shoving Drew. The large man simply rolled his eyes.

  “Go ahead,” he said dryly. But Nico could see the fond smile on his face.

  “Tamika, sweetheart, are you okay? Do you need us to come and kick any asses over there?”

  He could almost hear the collective groans from everyone. He glanced at Tamika and found her smiling. It was a very little smile, but it was also the first real smile he’d seen on her face. It was like a light was switched on. She looked so beautiful, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. He wondered what he could do to get her to smile like that all the time.

  “I’m fine, Janey.”

  “You sure? That big bully isn’t harassing you?” She sent a fierce glance his way.

  Nico felt his lips twitch. Ha! As if anyone could harass that woman.

  “I’m good,” Tamika said with another small smile.

  “Okay. I’ll be there very soon. You hang in there.”

  Nico wanted to roll his eyes. Hang in there? Like she was lost in some jungle or something. Seriously, these people needed help.

  “She won’t be seeing you any time soon, Tamika,” Drew said.

  Janey just ignored him and blew a kiss to Tamika.

  “We’ll see you soon, soldier. And don’t get wrapped around the axle,” Emily said with a brief smile.

  “Roger that,” Tamika replied.

  Then the screen went blank.

  Well, that was interesting. He swiped the screen of his tablet and went to his inbox. Sure enough, there was an email from Emily Silver. He opened the attached document. There were several pages of forms he had to fill and documents he had to sign. It was like dealing with the IRS all over again.

  “So, how about that swim?” he heard Alex ask. He frowned. His younger brother needed to learn about keeping things professional.

  “She has work to do,” he said without looking up from his tablet.

  There was a brief silence.

  “Actually, I could do with a swim.”

  His head shot up and he glared at Tamika. She had left his seat and was standing a few feet away from the door. She had that mischievous glint in her eyes. He banished the frown and tried to look more agreeable.

  “Actually, I was sort of hoping that you would help me with the forms.”

  Alex snorted, “Lame, bro. Very lame.”

  “Shut up, asshole,” he said, never taking his eyes off Tamika. “What’s it going to be?”

  “Choose being shut up in this office with boring old forms over a glorious pool? I don’t think so.”

  “Come on, Tammy.”

  The teasing light faded from her eyes as she glared at him.

  “Oh no, you didn’t.”

  “Oh yes, he did,” Alex, the bastard said, adding fuel to whatever fire was burning.

  “What did I do now?”

  “Do not call me by that name. Ever,” she snapped.

  “What name? You mean Tammy?”

  Her eyes flashed. “I still have your gun with me, asshole.”

  Nico frowned, pretending to be confused. “You mean you are going to shoot me just because I called you Tammy?”

  She growled. It was the sexiest sound he’d ever heard and he resolved to call her that more often if it got her to growl.

  “Ignore the bastard. Let’s go cool off at the pool,” Alex said.

  Then he placed an arm around Tamika and when she didn’t shake him off, Nico wanted to growl. He suddenly lost interest in playing the game. As they walked out, Alex looked back and winked.

  Nico shook his head, he really needed to teach him more respect for his elders. So what if he was just a couple of years older than his brother? Surely that was worthy of some respect, was it not? With another shake of his head, he took back his seat and set to work. He needed to go through all the documents and ensure that he wasn’t selling his firstborn by signing them.

  He was only halfway through when he heard the sound. It was the distinctive droning sound of a helicopter. Looked like the Silver Shield people had arrived. He stood up and walked to the helipad. By the time the helicopter had landed, he was joined by Tamika and Alex.

  It was a large helicopter. From the size and sound, he guessed it was a twin engine charter helicopter. He wondered what they needed a large craft for, but when the door opened and the passengers all trooped out, he understood.

  He watched the men. They were all big, with plenty of badassery emanating from them. He wouldn’t want to be on the bad side of these guys. He probably could handle himself. He had learnt his fighting on the streets after all. But it wasn’t a theory he wanted to test.

  There were three women in all. It was easy to tell which was Emily Silver. Well, he’d just had video conferencing with her, but it was more than that. She carried herself with authority, walking briskly, her back straight, head high and a no-nonsense air. Kind of the way Tamika walked. She led the group.

  One of the women broke away from the group and hurried towards Tamika. She threw her arms around her and after a brief pause, which he would have missed if he had not been watching so closely, Tamika hugged her back. From the color of her hair, he guessed she was Janey.

  The others came to a halt in front of him.

  “Good to meet you, Mr. Ortega,” Emily said, stretching out her hand.

  “It’s a pleasure,” Nico said, shaking her hand.

  She repeated the greeting with Alex, while the others just stood watching him. Once she was done, she introduced the others. He found out that the two other women were partners of two of the operators and personal friends of Tamika. They exchanged greetings and Nico gestured towards the house.

  “If you would all come this way.”

  He led them through the cool interior of the house to the office. He noted that Tamika hung back with Rusty. They were speaking, but their voices were too low to reach him, so he couldn’t hear what they were saying. Whatever it was, Tamika did not look too happy about it.

  “Thank you so much for coming,” he said once they were all in his office.

  “How did the plans go missing?” Drew asked.

  “They were stolen from my apartment in New York.” He stayed in a penthouse apartment not too far from Manhattan. It was his usual residence, since their business was headquartered there.

  Thinking about what Chicha had done to him made him want to grit his teeth in frustration. At least he didn’t feel as helpless as he’d been feeling lately. He hated that feeling of helplessness. He’d experienced it too many times growing up that as soon as he’d been able to make the decision, he’d made up his mind to be in control of his life. He felt like Chicha had wrested that control from him.

  “Play the video, Nico,” Alex said, bringing his attention back to the group of people in the room.

  “Right,” he murmured. He was standing beside his table, so he picked up the remote and pressed play.

  Thankfully he’d wiped off the feed of Tamika tying him to the bed. He so did not want these people seeing that.

  He did not bother watching the screen. He already knew what they would see. He kept his gaze on Tamika. She had a small frown between her eyes and looked like she wanted to murder somebody. He felt a delicious little thrill knowing that the reason for her anger was the arrogant bastard sitting next to her. Rusty.

  How did he know the ma
n was arrogant? It wasn’t in anything he said. It was the way he carried himself and the way he tried to look down his nose at Nico. Which wasn’t possible, of course. He might not have the bulging muscles and overpowering physique that they did, but he was no slouch in the height department either. Besides, he liked to think that his body was just fine. Great abs, muscles that weren’t too large or too little either. His mixed heritage meant that he got the best from both sides. Yeah. He was a damn fine-looking dude, even if he said so himself. It helped that he’d never had any hardship getting women. From his adolescence, he’d practically had to beat them away with a stick.

  Just then, Tamika shifted her gaze and caught him staring. She lifted an eyebrow in inquiry. Nico simply smiled and winked at her. She stared at him for a full moment before turning away in disgust.

  Yeah. As he was saying, the women loved him. Except for the crazy woman who refused to fall for his charm. But, she was probably defective anyway, he decided as he turned to the screen with a sniff.

  Chapter Seven

  Tamika watched as the helicopter carrying her teammates took off. She stood there till she could no longer hear the sound then walked briskly to the room that had been assigned to her. She shut the door behind her and began to pace, walking from one end of the room to the other.

  She was going to kill him. There was no other option. Nico Ortega… just thinking his name made her angrier. He had gone behind her back to request another operative in place of her. How dare he! And he had the nerve to smile and wink at her as though he wasn’t a low, belly-crawling backstabber.

  The nerve of the man. Somebody needed to teach him a lesson.

  She had half a mind to haunt the bastard down and teach him to never mess with her again. But Emily’s words stopped her. Don’t get wrapped around the axle.

  Tamika sat down on the bed with a sigh. The last thing she wanted to do was get wrapped around the axle, especially where Nico Ortega was concerned. She did not want to get tangled up with him or his brother in any way. She needed to maintain her distance from them both, as much as she liked Alex, and he was actually becoming a friend, which was strange because she didn’t make friends easily. Scratch that. She did not make friends at all. The Silver Shield folks were all the friends she had. All the friends she needed.

  But she liked Alex and his laid-back, teasing ways. It was the perfect foil to her seriously serious demeanor. There was no spark between them though. Not even a little. All the nerves in her body didn’t come to life when he touched her. Her stomach didn’t dip anytime he smiled at her. Uh uh. That was reserved for the backstabbing double-crosser she was soon going to eviscerate.

  And that was what held her back. The last thing she needed during this mission was to get distracted by those deep, blue eyes. But, Lord, damn! The man was fine. There was no denying that. And he knew he was too, she thought in dismay.

  She hadn’t been attracted to a man in five years. The direct result of that was that she hadn’t had sex in five long years. So yeah, she’d been going through a drought. Not like she’d cared either way. She had not been able to bear the thought of being with another man. Not after…

  Tamika slammed the door over those thoughts. She stood up and resumed pacing. She so did not need to be thinking those thoughts now. What she needed to do was focus on how to make sure that damn Nico Ortega did not try to pull a stunt like that again. She could not afford to get kicked off the mission. She needed to know who this Chicha was and how they happened to have the exact same face. Well, almost the same face.

  At the moment, she’d been assigned to the case alongside Ryan. They were waiting on Rusty. Once he found a location for Chicha, it would be Go Time for them.

  Speaking of Rusty…

  Just then, there was a sharp knock on her door. Tamika patted the firearm in her waistband before striding to the door and pulling it open.

  “What do you want?” she asked when she saw who was leaning on the door post.

  “You,” Nico said.

  Tamika’s heart skipped a beat and that annoyed her to no end.

  “Cut the bullshit,” she snapped.

  “I’m serious,” Nico said with a half-smile. “I need you to explain to me how this stuff works.”

  “What stuff?” she asked, frowning.

  “More specifically, how long before you get off your ass and do something about getting my plans back from Chicha instead of mooching off me.”

  Tamika laughed in disbelief. She raised a finger as she tried to find the right answer for him. She opened her mouth, but could not seem to find the words. He didn’t…did he just… She shook her head slowly as she eyed the complacent, self-satisfied prick. She took a deep breath to get hold of her anger. She clenched her hand into a fist.

  “You think I’m mooching off you?”

  He cocked his head to the side as he pretended to think about it. “Well, what do you expect me to think? There’s all the food you’ve been eating…I’m going to have to order more groceries first thing tomorrow. Then there’s the fact that your team got on that chopper, and you didn’t. What do you expect me to think?”

  “That I’m here to keep your ass safe, asshole!”

  She had requested to return with them, but Emily had wanted her on ground. And then when she’d found out that the moron was trying to replace her, she’d decided to stay and monitor the situation.

  “Hmmm…and there I was thinking that you couldn’t bear to be away from me.” Nico murmured in a voice that should not have had any effect on her, yet it did.

  “Is that why you tried to replace me? Because you think you’re so damn irresistible I won’t be able to keep my hands off your goods?” She deliberately spoke derisively, running a dismissive eye over his body.

  Nico stiffened, the insolent smile wiped off his face. Good. So he didn’t like that, did he? Asshole.

  “Look, I like you and all, and I’m sure you’re more than a decent operator…”

  Tamika wanted to slap him. She was a damn fine operator!

  “But you’re crazy. I prefer to work with people I’m comfortable with,” he finished.

  His words stung. They shouldn’t have, but they did. Tamika looked away from his knowing gaze as she tried to process what he was saying. Without meeting his eyes, she asked, “Why do I make you uncomfortable?”

  “I don’t know, maybe because you pulled a gun on me? I don’t trust you. You can off me in the middle of the night.”

  She considered his words and nodded. “You’re probably right.”

  Relief poured over her. If that was the only reason he was not comfortable with her, she was okay with that. For a moment, she thought he’d spotted her attraction to him. That would have been a disaster of epic proportions. She met his gaze and saw the calculation in his. Interesting. He had come there with the sole purpose of riling her up. Well, two could play this game.

  “If that’s your only reason, I’m good. For a moment there, I thought it was because of your problem.”

  He frowned, “My problem?”

  She widened her eyes in surprise. “Yeah, you know…the fact that you can’t handle your attraction to me.”

  He looked surprised, then his lips quirked in amusement. “Is that so?”

  She nodded. “Mm hmm. I understand that you can’t keep your hands off me, truly I do. But I’m a professional and I don’t mix business with pleasure. So you can rest assured.”

  “Is that right?” He straightened up and took a step towards her.

  Tamika eyed him. “Nico, what are you doing?”

  “What am I doing?” He took another step forward, reducing the space between them.

  “Why are you invading my personal space?” She wanted to take a step back, but that would be a sigh of weakness.

  “Oh that? I can feel my problem coming on.”

  “Your problem?”

  There was less than five inches separating them now and it was like he’d sucked in all the air around th
em. Tamika was finding it difficult to breathe and her stomach was doing those funny flips again.

  Nico reached out and touched her hair. Gently. His touch was so light she almost didn’t feel it. Except she did feel it, all the way to her woman parts.

  “You know, that problem where I can’t keep my hands off you? Yeah, I was hoping you could help me with that.”

  His eyes had turned smoky and somewhere along the line, Nico had ceased teasing her. He was looking at her like a woman he desired and it was doing strange things to her insides. Her lips suddenly felt dry and she used her tongue to wet them. Nico’s eyes shifted to the movement and he trained his laser focus on them.

  He took another step forward, bringing them almost flush against each other. Tamika raised a hand to push him back, but somehow, her hand remained on his chest.

  “N-Nico…what are you doing?”

  “I’m going to kiss you now, Tamika. It’s the only thing I’ve been able to think about. If you don’t want me to kiss you, then this is the time to bring out that gun that’s tucked in your waistband.”

  Tamika opened her mouth to tell him to step back, but the words got stuck in her throat. She wanted to kiss him too. She wanted to know what his lips pressed against hers felt like. She needed to know if this thing between them was real or just a mirage.

  So she grabbed a fistful of his shirt and closed the gap between them. Just before her lips met his, she wondered briefly, if she’d finally lost her mind. This would complicate things. There was no better way to get wrapped around the axle…then she couldn’t think again. She could only feel.

  His lips were hard and cool. He brushed them against hers once, then a second time. She felt the effect right down to her toes. Then he was kissing her for real. Tamika’s hand clenched around his fisted shirt and she gasped at the warm liquid that ran through her body. He took advantage and deepened the kiss.

  It was more than she imagined. It started as a slow heat and slowly built up.

  She closed her eyes as his tongue invaded her mouth. She felt something stir inside her as she angled her head to take the kiss deeper, further. She heard a moan and knowing that it came from her, only turned her on more. She pressed closer and felt the bulge of his erection pressing against her abdomen. She gasped again as she felt the answering heat pool in her center. She pressed against the bulge and heard him groan. It was a heady feeling.