Warrior: A Navy SEAL Mountain Man Romance
Author: Renee Rose; Vanessa Vale
Date: 2022-09-06 07:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Contemporary; Contemporary Romance; Military Fiction; Military Romance; Romantic Suspense; Romance
Description: **Mistake #1: Sleeping with a friend** Hooking up with Quincy was a no-brainer. The sexy hot-shot Navy pilot wasn’t on my SEAL team. I thought she’d be safe for a one-night stand. **Mistake #2: Letting her walk out the door** I realized too late she wasn’t a one-and-done for me. But now she thinks I’m a player. Okay, she *knows* I’m a player. Which is why she won’t go there with me again. **Mistake #3: Wanting to repeat Mistake #1** Quincy’s on my team. We live in the same barracks. We’re friends. I don’t want to screw that up. Being near her is pure torture. I don’t know how much longer I can

ALPHA MOUNTAIN: WARRIOR

BOOK 3

VANESSA VALE

RENEE ROSE

Alpha Mountain: Warrior

Copyright © 2022 by Bridger Media and Wilrose Dream Ventures LLC

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author's imagination and used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from both authors, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover design: Bridger Media

Cover graphic: Deposit Photos: Fourleaflovers, appalachianview

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Epilogue

Also by Renee Rose

Also By Vanessa Vale

About Renee Rose

About Vanessa Vale

ALPHA MOUNTAIN: WARRIOR

A Mountain Man Mercenary Romance

Mistake #1: Sleeping with a friend

Hooking up with Quincy was a no-brainer.

The sexy, hot-shot Navy pilot wasn’t on my SEAL team.

I thought she’d be safe for a one-night stand.

Mistake #2: Letting her walk out the door

I realized too late she wasn’t a one-and-done for me.

But now she thinks I’m a player. Okay, she knows I’m a player.

Which is why she won’t go there with me again.

Mistake #3: Wanting to repeat Mistake #1.

Quincy’s on my team. We live in the same barracks.

We’re friends. I don’t want to screw that up.

Being near her is pure torture. I don’t know how much longer I can last.

Before I risk the biggest mistake of all–losing her.

CHAPTER ONE

QUINCY

There was nothing better than the feel of the stick between my thighs. Okay, maybe there was a different kind of stick that felt pretty good in that location. And maybe only one specific stick I preferred at that.

I would never forget the glory of that one. Long and thick, I barely got my fingers around it. Steely hardness beneath heated velvet. And the guy it belonged to?

A mixture of sweet sin and ruthless danger to both my heart and body.

To the enemy? They never knew the cause of their last breath.

But Chase Berghart, call sign Kennedy because he’s the ladies’ man, wasn’t here.

His talented dick wasn’t about to sink into my eager pussy.

No, I had a different kind of thrill I was taking for a ride today.

“Returning to base. Heading zero-six-two.” The comms unit built into my helmet transmitted my message to the guys who were closely following my position.

The helicopter tipped to the right as I pulled on the cyclic control stick.

“Copy that. Everything looking good.”

I glanced at the radar on the display and confirmed because the weather was holding and so was the visibility. For now. Storms blew in with record speed in Montana, and some were expected.

“Watch your six.” It was a different voice than usual. Taft’s casual but focused response was replaced by another. One I was all too familiar with. One who had spoken in my ear before with that deep, dark tone.

Kennedy.

It made me wet then offered all kinds of carnal promises. They had definitely been fulfilled. That first time happened two years ago at the base in Qatar after a SEAL mission. Our adrenaline had been pumping and needed an outlet. We’d found it in each other. I’d known he was a man whore, but I hadn’t minded. We’d fucked. He’d fled. Sent on a mission I hadn’t been privy to.

We were working together again—this time not in the military—but with Alpha Mountain Security. There were no rules, no protocols or laws to stay within.

I glanced at my radar again. “I’m good.”

“Get back to base,” he practically growled.

I rolled my eyes. I’d flown helicopters my entire military career. There were very few women combat fighter jet pilots in the Navy. Starting out, my options had been limited in comparison to my brothers. I chose helicopters because they got me behind enemy lines. I helped my fellow soldiers, including the SEAL teams who needed to be extracted.

I was the best they had. Until I quit. Now I was Alpha Mountain’s best. And only in this small corner of the world. Which meant I was the person who was called on for anything involving a helicopter, including searches and rescues.

“Lay off, Kennedy,” I snapped. “I’ve got this. The guys were dropped off and are on their way to the lost hikers. I’m a few miles off the targeted landing area. But no issues.”

“You’re not out of there yet.”

“I’m well aware of where I fucking am.” I wasn’t behind enemy lines. Or on an Alpha Mountain mission that, on paper, didn’t exist. That never happened.

“It’s not just you at risk this time,” he reminded.

Those words gave me pause and explained his crankiness. Yeah, it wasn’t just me that needed protection on this run. But I wouldn’t be grounded. Not yet and not by him.

And not for a simple Search and Rescue team shuttle.

“You need to–”

Alarms blared, and my dash blinked red.

I cut off my words and focused, not on Kennedy and his possessiveness, his concern for me being up in the air, even this close to base, and being coddled and protected like a child. I had bigger problems than a bossy ex-SEAL who gave me shit.

“Holy fuck. Incoming,” I said. I saw the flare of the missile in my periphery just as it appeared on radar. “Evasive maneuvers.”

“Christ. What the–”

“Two incoming.” Taft’s voice cut off Kennedy’s. Taft was thinking with his head and not his dick.

After a few recent bouts of angry, wild sex with Kennedy, he’d gone commando on my ass. Well, and one other reason.

I banked right. Hard. The ground, which was thickly forested rolling hills, got bigger.

“Who the hell is shooting at me and why?”

The first missile passed, and I banked again to avoid the second.

“What the fuck is going on?” Kennedy shouted.

“Some helo is firing at Quincy,” Taft countered.

I could hear chatter in the background, them bickering, and–

My thoughts ceased, and I focused solely on my training, on getting my ass out of this situation. I’d been shot at before, with soldiers who relied on me to get them home in one piece. No one was in the chopper now, but I still had precious cargo. Cargo I couldn’t allow to be harmed.

I heard Taft’s voice in my ear. Kennedy’s, too. I ignored them and just flew.

The second missile hit my left landing skid, the slight impact jarring the copter off course.

“I’ve been hit.” I checked the gauges, then pressed the button to shut off the alarm as I veered along the ridge of the hillside. I relayed the damage. Damage Ford wasn’t going to be happy about, not to his brand new helicopter. “Not sure about landing, but I’ve had worse.”

“Fucking-A, Quincy!”

“Shut it, Kennedy,” I snapped. “Get your ass off the fucking comms.”

“You’re my woman, and–”

“I’m not your woman,” I countered. “Taft, shut him down. I’m returning to base. I don’t need–”

The alarms blared again.

“Incoming. Someone sure as shit doesn’t like your ass,” Taft said.

This time, it wasn’t missiles, but another chopper. Of course the missiles came from a chopper. Where else would they be coming from around here?

I whipped my head to the left where the radar indicated another bird.

“Fuck.”

I dipped over the ridgeline to be sheltered by the rugged hillside, but the chopper followed.

“It’s a Bell. Friendly.” The whiz of bullets–and the missiles–had me changing my mind and direction. “Shit, not friendly.”

I used every bit of my knowledge to evade the chopper, but I couldn’t outfly it. More bullets came at me in a long barrage.

“Quincy! Get the fuck out of there!” Kennedy shouted. He was still listening in. So probably were all the others back at the command center. This was me on a simple run, shuttling the Search and Rescue guys. Nothing more. Now it was like I was back in the Middle East.

I was fucked. I was a few miles from Alpha Mountain and my helipad. There was no way I could avoid this guy for that long or even long enough for him to run out of bullets.

“They want to shoot me down.” Duh.

“Get back to base!” Taft called.

“I’ll bring them right to you.”

“Oh shit,” Kennedy said, understanding what I was putting down.

I had weapons of my own thanks to Ford’s obsessive need for being prepared. The only way to save myself was to turn on the offensive. I banked left, hard, but that opened my side up to attack. I changed elevation, aiming for the clouds, then banked to the right, bringing the other chopper into my sights.

He knew what I was doing. He was an experienced pilot whose mission was to end me.

“Take this, you fucker,” I muttered. Sweat glistened on my skin as I pressed the fire button. I watched as bullets shot from the fixed mounted minigun. Yeah, Ford had bought an armored, armed tank of a helicopter for Sparks, Montana, and it sure as shit was coming in handy right now.

He banked. Aimed. Fired.

This time, I had nowhere to go, no chance to evade. I only angled my chopper, so it protected me. But the bullets tore through the tail boom.

I lost control of the steering. Then everything else. “Fuck. Come on…. Come onnnnnnnn.”

“Get an extraction team on the horn,” Kennedy yelled.

“Extraction team? Quincy is that team.”

“Give me something,” Kennedy snapped back.

“Coordinates are–” Taft stated.

Kennedy and Taft were talking in my ear, but I was tugging on the stick, using the pedals to try and level, to try to keep from going into a tailspin. The ground rushed up fast. Too fast, even as I tilted the rotors forward to get as much lift as I could.

“Mayday. Mayday,” I called, but Taft already knew the deal. I might be close to home but not close enough.

“Stay alive, Quincy. Stay fucking alive.” Kennedy’s frantic voice was the last I heard before the crash.

CHAPTER TWO

KENNEDY

Four weeks earlier

She was in the shower.

Naked. Just a few feet away from me.

But I wasn’t thinking about that. I wasn’t thinking about what she looked like unclothed. Dripping wet. That long hair unbound and streaming down her back.

Nope. Not at all. Living with Quincy was not a daily torture for me. Not in the slightest.

After the shit show with Indi, or Indigo Buchanan, Ford’s girlfriend, being stalked and then kidnapped on top of a mountain by Tully, the psycho involved in her brother’s–and our SEAL team member’s–murder, we all agreed that a helicopter would come in handy.

I’d been all for it. Taft and Hayes had been in as well. Even Mrs. L had been eager for the alternate mode of transpo although a helicopter was a big step up.

Except I hadn’t thought about who would fly the bird.

Until it was too late. After we built a landing pad. After we built a hangar.

Because not only did the brand new chopper arrive, but so did the pilot.

Melissa Mason, aka Quincy.

The best damned pilot I knew in the Navy. She should’ve been a TopGun, but the barriers to female pilots were still too significant.

She was also the best damned lay I ever had.

Which posed really big fucking problems. We weren’t in the Middle East any longer. We weren’t on gripping, hellish missions where a sweaty bout of sex released all the excess adrenaline.

She’d avoided me like the plague while I sniffed around her for months when I saw her around missions. Then she finally gave in to what we both knew was between us, and it was beyond spectacular. It had been the heat of post-mission that made her cave–that sexual affirmation of life that was so damned necessary after coming close to dying. It probably stemmed from some deep biological survival instinct–reproduce before it was too late that ensured the survival of the species.

Whatever the reason, after that night, I wanted to survive just to get between those sweet thighs again.

Our chemistry had been off the charts.

Still was. And that was the issue.

Now we were out of the Navy, living in close quarters in Sparks, Montana. Population… less than what filled a major league ball stadium. Hell, half that. We’d worked together before but only in passing, and that sure as shit hadn’t been long enough.

Her job had been to shuttle whomever and whatever. Wherever. That included SEAL teams in and out of tricky and dangerous situations. She’d done it with precision, focus and integrity. And full of threats.

Now the most dangerous situation the two of us faced was bumping into each other in the bunkhouse in the middle of the night. Me seeing her in skimpy sleep shorts and a tank top that did nothing to hide her perfect body, those lush tits that were topped with pert nipples I remembered licking and sucking on and went hard every time I was around.

I knew this because I couldn’t help but look.

Every fucking time.

Which was all the time. Because this new team we were on was small. So far, besides Ford, it was me, Hayes, Taft, and now Quincy.

Which meant it was nearly fucking impossible to keep from grabbing her from her bed and tossing her over my shoulder, carrying her back to my room and giving her round two. Or tossing her over my shoulder after she finished the obstacle course, her skin slick with sweat.

Yeah, I wanted to toss her over my shoulder 24/7.

Because she might be a badass in the pilot’s seat of a helicopter, but I wanted to be in charge when it came to her orgasms.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t happening. She’d set a clear boundary after the first time we had sex and reaffirmed it when she got here.

“Not. Happening,” were her exact words, each delivered with an index finger poke to my chest. “Find another hookup. I’m not your FWB.”

My forehead had scrunched up at that, and she had to explain, “Friend with benefits. Find someone else.”

I’d expected that stance to change once she realized how slim the pickings were around Sparks, but it hadn’t.

Yet. Besides, my dick seemed to only want one woman. The one who didn’t want anything to do with me. Quincy.

“Dude, you having a stroke?”

I stirred and blinked at Taft, who’d come into the industrial kitchen in the bunk house. I had been Ford’s first hire, and we’d designed this space together. Eight bedrooms, each with its own full bath. A common family room and kitchen combo with a dining area that seated twelve.

Mrs. L, Ford’s grandmother, always cooked in her kitchen in the house, enjoying feeding us all. But at five in the morning when I got up–not something I could break after years in the service–no one expected her to have a full breakfast spread. She got up early but not this early.

I’d made the coffee and had been pouring a mugfull when I heard Quincy’s shower kick on. Which meant she was naked and wet and soapy.

And I was staring at the steaming brew without doing shit.

I gave Taft my signature grin as he went to the mega-fridge and pulled out a carton of OJ. “Debating adding sugar or if I’m sweet enough.”

Who was I kidding? I liked sugar with everything.

He chugged directly from the carton, which had a sticky note on the side that had his name on it. Now that he’d just contaminated the whole thing, I didn’t need the reminder.

“It’s those lollipops.”

I didn’t reply because he was right. I had an oral fixation that was constant–and not only for Quincy’s pussy… fuck, I was mental–that I’d had since I was a teen.

I’d gotten into drinking and smoking in ninth grade. A rebellion against my parents’ stiff rules and proper etiquette required of a rich, social climbing DC family.

When I realized they weren’t going to change from the fake fucks they were, I had to. I’d stopped my self-destructive ways and enlisted. That got my ass in gear.

I heard the shower shut off, but Taft didn’t seem to notice. Or care.

Which was good because I didn’t want to punch his face in for even thinking about Quincy as anything but a teammate and pilot.

Not that I was supposed to, either.

He set the carton back in the fridge, the door slapping shut behind him. “You coming? We got PT to push through.”

I gave him a middle finger salute, then worked my way through my coffee. “I’ll be there in ten.” Before Quincy came, I was always the first out the door in the mornings, but now I found myself lingering, unwilling to leave any building in which Quincy was naked.

I doubted Hayes was in his room. He usually spent his nights at his girl’s place in town. Megan was one of the sheriff’s deputies and had a sweet little house near the station. I didn’t blame him for wanting to stay there. There was no question they were hitting it hot and heavy and didn’t want an audience.

I was thrilled with that. No reason to listen to others getting off when I wasn’t getting any.

Leaning against the counter, I worked through my brew.

A few minutes later, Quincy’s door opened. She came out in a pair of leggings which did nothing to hide her toned legs. Or tight ass.

She stopped short at the sight of me.

“Morning,” I said.

“I’m surprised you’re here,” she replied. She was braiding her hair into a long tail even though it was wet.

I arched a brow. “Oh?”

“Figured you’d be in the redhead’s bed.”

She was referring to the waitress who’d come onto me last night. We’d gone to dinner in town as a group for Indi’s birthday. While she was pretty and eager, I didn’t touch the woman, only flirted. Not that Quincy needed to know that. She didn’t want me, my sex life, or lack thereof, and it was none of her business. Besides, the last thing I wanted her to know was that I was pining for her like a teenage boy with his first crush and first hard-on. It was better for her to think I wasn’t affected. “I don’t linger, sweets.”

She rolled her eyes at the name, one I started calling her after I got a taste of her that long ago afternoon.

“Not your sweets. And I’m all too familiar with your fuck ‘em and leave ‘em routine.”

A routine? Yeah, well… I was known as a player. A man whore. Whatever.

The reputation meant I was safe from any woman wanting seconds.

That meant attachment, and I didn’t do strings. Except I wanted strings and seconds with her. But since she didn’t want it in return, I had my pride.

I only shrugged, which made her huff.

She turned and her long braid whipped over her shoulder.

“You’re the one who doesn’t want repeats,” I reminded.

She glared. “I don’t do sloppy seconds.”

“See you out there,” I called, gritting my teeth. She didn’t want me, that was fine. But I wasn’t going to have her think I was pining for her. Even though I fucking was.

She bent down, her ass in the air for a brief moment, as she grabbed her flip flops which were on the shoe rack by the door. We all agreed the bunkhouse was a no-shoe zone.

“Nah. I’m headed with Mrs. L to yoga. We’re meeting the others for the class at six.”

The others were probably Indi and Megan. Maybe even Holly from the coffee shop. The ladies were tight, and I was glad for it.

The thought of Quincy doing yoga, bent over, ass in the air, made my cock stir. It also made me think about how flexible she was and how much fun that could be.

Yeah, I was obsessed with her, which made me cranky. I didn’t obsess about any woman. I couldn’t. Wouldn’t. Except I couldn’t stop with her.

“Good thing I already had my workout with the redhead,” I lied.

She stilled at that, glared daggers over her shoulder before she left, slamming the door behind her.

Yeah, I was a dick. While we never mentioned our little fuck-fest overseas, the air was constantly thick with tension about it.

I’d go back for seconds. Thirds. Hell, I was afraid I’d never get enough of her. And that was why I was pissed. And cranky. And a downright asshole to her.

Because the more she hated me ensured that I wouldn’t get her beneath me again. She’d felt too good. Too perfect. And that meant trouble.

CHAPTER THREE

QUINCY

I walked out of yoga class feeling warm and loose. Not bad for a workout that didn’t involve me pushing limits and proving something to everyone around me.

Yoga wasn’t my thing, but it was a nice break from my usual training. I was a Navy pilot. I preferred running, lifting weights, or Crossfit. But I’d moved to a small town, and my circle of friends was even smaller. So if I got invited to a 6 a.m. yoga class with the only three women I knew in Sparks, I had to go.

It was better than another workout with the guys.

Scratch that. It was better than working out with Kennedy. Because the man was Adonis in gym shorts, and every time I got physically near him it made me want to get physical with him.

Which couldn’t happen again.

I liked Kennedy. Far more than I cared to admit. But he was a player. He had a reputation that went far beyond the Navy SEALs. I swore every female in the Navy knew about Kennedy. Maybe in every port around the world. Ford’s entire team had been quite popular, from what I heard, but Kennedy was known as the charmer.

He had those dimples. That ridiculous habit of sucking on lollipops and winking when he talked to you. Even the redheaded waitress the night before hadn’t been immune.

“You guys coming for coffee?” Holly, the owner of the Feed ‘N Seed, which doubled as Sparks’ local cafe and hangout, asked us as we hit the sidewalk, our yoga mats tucked under our arms. It was summer, but the morning air was still cool coming off the mountain. It felt great after the workout. Besides myself, the morning yoga posse consisted of Holly, Indigo, and Megan.

“Definitely,” Megan said. “I’ve been craving your maple walnut scones since last week. So delicious.”

“I’m totally in,” I said. I could eat about five walnut scones right now.

My phone rang as we walked on the grass-choked sidewalk toward the Feed ‘N Seed. I checked the screen and winced, clearing my throat before I answered. “Hello, Admiral.”

“Melissa.” The speaker’s familiar voice was deep and stern.

I waited for him to say more.

“Your mother said you haven’t called in over two weeks.”

I rolled my eyes. I spoke to my mom more often than I spoke to my dad. I liked her. “Nothing to report, remember? I killed my career when I chose not to reenlist.” Or so he’d told me. Several times, in fact.

My dad let out an exasperated sigh. Yeah, I called my father by his rank. He was an admiral in the navy. My brothers, a rear admiral, a commander, and a captain. Me? A Navy dropout, at least in their eyes. “Melissa, call your mother. She wants to hear from you. We both do.”

“I’ll call her after our briefing.”

“What is the op?”

I had to laugh. He thought because he was such a high rank in the military that he could nose his way into my life. Wasn’t happening.

“You know I can’t discuss that with you, Dad.” Call me silly, but I loved parroting back the same things I grew up hearing from him. “Our clients have a right to their privacy.”

My dad grumbled. “What kind of clients are these, Melissa? Drug cartels and supervillains?”

I snort laughed. “Did you just say supervillain?”

It showed how little he thought of my new job.

“Mercs take on dangerous work. I don’t want you wrapped up in anything illegal.”

“I’ll take that under advisement.”

“I’m serious,” he barked, using his admiral voice. “I looked into your boss, Ford Ledger. I found out he was dishonorably discharged.”

Like this was new. I was surprised it took him this long to bring it up. I’d been at Alpha Mountain Security for over a month now, and it was Ford’s company.

“Then you must’ve already heard about David Buchanan’s murder and name being cleared.”

Buck was Indi’s brother, and he’d been framed for an Afghan soldier’s death after he, himself, had been murdered. Yeah, big stuff.

“The circumstances around the entire incident are unclear.”

“Unclear?” I practically shouted. “Your intel is shit then.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that the intel I do have about your new boss isn’t shit.”

I frowned because he was right. Ford had been kicked out for trying to clear his friend’s name, but even with that taken care of, Ford hadn’t been exonerated.

Yet.

Dad was high up, and I suspected he was partially angry because he knew nothing about what was going on. The story that was being shared in the Navy was full of holes and paper thin. He wanted legit intel. From me.

That was probably why he was calling more than him actually caring about me.

Now I was losing my temper.

“Whatever you’re seeing is wrong, Dad. Someone high up was running an illegal drug trade out of Afghanistan, and they tried to pin it on Ford and his friend. So yeah, things have been suppressed to protect the guilty. Since no one else is doing it, Alpha Mountain will expose the whole operation before too long.”

There was a pause as my dad digested that information. “I’ll put some feelers out, but I don’t want you involved in this, Melissa. If that’s true, you will all be in danger.”

I rolled my eyes. My entire career in the Navy had been dangerous. He hadn’t wanted me to enlist in the first place and had been very vocal about it from the start. My brothers, he was proud of. Me? I couldn’t do anything to satisfy the man. If I told him I was going to become a yoga instructor, he’d scoff at it. I’d never been able to make him proud. It probably started when I was born without a penis.

“I’m with an entire team of ex-Navy SEALs. No one will get past them.”

“Don’t get cocky,” my dad snapped. “You’re not a SEAL. You’re my daughter, and I won’t have you–”

“Hey Dad?” I interrupted. “I’m going into the coffee shop with my friends. Can I call you later?”

“Melissa.” He growled my name like a curse.

“Bye, Dad. Love you.” I ended the call and sighed.

“Do you call your dad Admiral?” Megan asked as we climbed the wooden steps to the Feed ‘N Seed. They’d been walking along beside me as I had that fun chat. “Sorry, I wasn’t eavesdropping, but I heard that much.”

“I only do it to be a smart ass and piss him off,” I told her.

Holly went behind the counter where a sleepy-eyed teenager was making espresso drinks for the town’s coffee connoisseurs and started making ours.

“Is he an admiral?” Holly asked, glancing over her shoulder.

I nodded. “Yep. Navy big shot. My three older brothers are all gunning for that rank, too.”

“Wow. Three older brothers. You followed in their footsteps?”

I frowned and couldn’t keep the grumble from my words. “I’m the baby and the only girl. I spent my entire life trying to catch up with those boneheads.”

“No wonder you’re such a badass.”

Whatever.

“Says the badass.” I bumped hips with Megan, who was not only a sheriff’s deputy but, it turned out, was also an accomplished cat burglar. She was exceptional at yoga too.

“Go and sit down.” Holly foamed milk in the stainless steel pitcher, the steam making a high hissing sound. “I’ll bring it over in a sec.”

Megan, Indi and I sat down at a corner table, leaning our rolled mats against the wall. Other tables had customers, some familiar to Indi, who waved at two older men. The scent of baked goods and coffee made the place welcoming, and it was obvious why it was a hit in town.

“So I guess they hate that you left the Navy?” Indi probed.

“Well, that’s the irony. They never wanted me to join the Navy and held me back at every turn, but now that I’ve left the Navy for merc work, they’re going out of their minds with worry. I haven’t called my mom in two weeks, so I had to answer to the big gun this morning.” I crooked a grin.

“I guess he doesn’t think much of Ford?” Indi ducked her head. “Sorry, I might have overheard too much, too.”

“My dad dug into his background and learned all about his dishonorable discharge. I set him on the right trail.” I shrugged then glanced at Indi to make sure she wasn’t upset about the blackballing of her boyfriend. I knew she was, but we all lived with it until we could ferret out the truth and bring the bad guy, or guys, to justice. “My dad can be a bulldog when it comes to interfering with my life.” I flashed a knowing grin. “Who knows, with his misplaced worry, he might rattle the right cages and actually unearth something useful for the team.”

“Ah, I see how you think,” Indi said. She didn’t seem bothered but picked up on the fact that I was spinning my father’s anger into having him dig for results. If he hated me working for a supposed-bad guy like Ford, he better help make Ford turn into a good guy. “I like it.” She glanced past me and lowered her voice. “Oh, don’t look now, but I think you have an admirer.”

I waited a beat before turning, but before I could, a friendly male voice sounded behind me. “Well, hello there, ladies.” A large hand dropped, not to my shoulder, but to the chairback behind me.

I spun to gaze up at literally the only hot and eligible bachelor in Sparks. Lee Landers, the local mechanic. I gave him a brilliant grin. “Heyyyy. Lee, right?”

He leaned over with a smile. “That’s right.” He extended a hand to shake mine, even though he hadn’t offered it to Indi or Megan. Although he’d known both of them his whole life since I’d heard he’d grown up here too. “You’re Quincy.”

He remembered. I beamed up at him as I shook his rough palm.

I’d met him a couple times in passing at the coffee shop and had hoped to extend our acquaintance to a date. Or drinks. Or a basic hookup. I could be as much of a sailor as the rest of the guys when it came to getting my sexual needs met without any strings. And I had a feeling this guy could do it.

With his rugged good looks and quick smile, I was surprised Holly wasn’t all over him. His dark hair was a little long, and it fell over his forehead. Wearing jeans, sturdy leather boots and a black t-shirt that didn’t hide one bit of his muscled torso, he practically oozed blue collar perfection I read about in romance books. Especially with the tattoo on his biceps.

I felt calluses on his fingers. A man who worked with his hands was probably very skilled with them.

“What are you ladies up to?” His gaze swept over my yoga clothes, taking in the rolled mats. “Morning workout?”

“Yep,” I replied. “Now we’re caffeinating before work. What are you up to?”

“Me, too. I’m headed to the shop.” He thumbed over his shoulder in the direction of his auto shop a few blocks down. Mrs. L told me he ran a brisk business, taking over the place from his father and building it up. His dark eyes didn’t leave mine.

He stared.

I stared.

“We’re going to K-Sparks later,” Megan announced, mentioning the name of the local microbrewery. “You should come around.”

Lee didn’t look toward Megan when he asked me, “You going to be there?”

“Yeah.”

I hadn’t had sex in a while. A long while. I was all for a fling, but I was selective. Especially now. Especially after that one time with Kennedy when my feelings had gotten involved. I hadn’t meant for that to happen, but they had. I didn’t long for the gorgeous SEAL and his magical dick since we pulled out, and he used it on women from coast to coast, but I was… something. Hung up. I had to be because being around him only riled me up. Sexually and emotionally. That made me angry because I didn’t want to be into a guy. Especially not a soldier. I had enough soldiers in my family.

That was why Lee might be exactly what I needed.

Attractive. Nice. Employed. Didn’t live with his mother—that I knew of. Definitely wasn’t in the military or was ex-military. And he wasn’t Kennedy.

Yeah, he’d do.

“See you there.”

He winked then left.

Everyone was quiet because I had a feeling we were all staring at his butt.

“He’s a really nice guy, Quincy, but be careful.” Megan warned. “He recently got out of a relationship. He may be interested in only a rebound.”

A rebound could work because it meant he wasn’t interested in commitment but just a little fun.

“Well, actually, it’s probably been a year,” Megan corrected, blowing on her hot coffee. “It’s safe enough. I’d do him. But don’t tell Hayes.”

We laughed, knowing it was definitely better not to tell Hayes.

“I’m not blind,” she added. “He’s hot. And nice.”

“I’m not looking to marry the guy. Just for some entertainment in the form of broad shoulders and strong hands.” I flexed my own small hands for emphasis, and my friends hummed in approval. “Being a rebound is fine by me.”

Except the strong hands that popped to mind didn’t belong to Lee but Kennedy. Those long fingers knew exactly where to touch me. How to bring me to org–I shook my head to clear that thought. Inwardly, I groaned.

This was exactly why I wanted to get something going with Lee Landers.

I needed to work Kennedy out of my system once and for all. The guy had gotten under my skin in a way I hadn’t seen coming. We hadn’t just hooked up the night I decided to scratch an itch with him. We’d gotten down and dirty. He’d given it to me rough. Then gentle. Then kinky as hell.

And the worst part? He’d spent the night.

That was what left me undone. I hadn’t expected it from him. I’d never actually slept with a man before. I left for the military straight from my parents’ house at age eighteen and, of course, sleepovers were strictly prohibited in the Navy. It wasn’t like I had private quarters. It was only until I was deployed when the ratio of men to women was so vast that I had a space of my own. Small and cramped but alone.

Then, I’d been raw and vulnerable after the mission we’d just completed. I’d bared myself to him–not just my body but my soul–and he’d stayed with me. While it had been a one-time thing, we’d done it way more than one time. His stamina had been… impressive.

By morning, Kennedy had been more than a hot SEAL who gave me a joy ride and that was the part that ripped me apart. Because I’d known he wasn’t playing for keeps. Not even remotely.

“So, I guess we’re going out tonight?” Holly asked pulling up a chair. “Is that what I heard?”

“Yep, looks like it.” I sipped the foamy cappuccino she made me with appreciation.

“Do me a favor?” She lifted her brows suggestively, a sly smile turning her lips. “Bring the rest of your team when you come.”

I tried not to bristle. There was no reason to keep Holly from the eligible guys. Taft might like her.

But I’d rather not. I’d very much rather not. Living with Kennedy was hard enough, especially when I knew the way he rolled. I didn’t want to have to witness him doing the morning-after routine with a friend of mine. Knowing they’d slept together…

“So it’s a couples thing?” Indi asked with mock innocence. “Or do you just mean the available ones?”

“Oh, your men can stay home.” Holly wagged a finger between Indi and Megan because they were in solid, unbreakable relationships with Ford and Hayes. “But bring the other two. It’s no fair you keeping them all up on that hill to yourselves.”

Indi and Megan chuckled. “Me? Us?” Megan said, pointing at herself then Indi. “It’s Quincy who’s got them all to herself.”

I hid my scowl in my coffee because it wasn’t Holly’s fault her words poked a wound. I didn’t blame her. I was eager to jump the guy myself. Kennedy. Not Taft. She could have him.

But I’d be damned if I mentioned anything to the guys. If Indi and Megan wanted to make this a group event, they’d have to arrange it themselves.

CHAPTER FOUR

KENNEDY

I’d been trying to track down any lead, any detail, blip, snippet… any kind of electronic intel whatsoever on who was behind the drug smuggling ring that had gotten Buck killed and Ford blackballed. With the fucker Tully’s death–a fall into a craggy ravine that wasn’t harsh enough–we had some closure. Except he was only a minor player in the game. Someone higher up was pulling the strings, and he hadn’t been identified. He was getting away with it, and that pissed me off.

Ford was the most chill guy I knew, and I knew it kept him up at night. His mind was eased some when Buck had been cleared and his honor restored. Out of the two issues, he’d rather have that done. But I wanted both of them cleared and the fucker, or fuckers, behind all of this brought to justice. Or dead.

That was a good option, too.

I tugged off my headphones, amazing noise-canceling ones, to take a break. I needed my sugar fix, and I’d get that from the cookie jar filled with lollipops that were on the counter in the kitchen. The new command center that we were building was almost done, which meant my days working in Ford’s grandma’s sewing room were almost over.

“What will you wear?”

It was Mrs. L’s voice from the kitchen. As usual. It was after lunch, and the scent of something baking, something chocolaty, made me hungry. I wasn’t sure what she had planned for the evening meal, but I was eager for her chocolate cake. Or brownies. Or whatever the hell it was that had my mouth watering.

“Jeans and a cute top, I guess.”

Quincy.

Just the sound of her voice made my dick stir.

“Wear a dress. If I had legs like yours, I’d want to show them off. Especially on a date.”

What the… what?

I spun my chair around to face the doorway to the kitchen but didn’t move. Quincy was talking freely, and she sure as shit didn’t do that when I was around. To say that every single fucking interaction we’ve had since her arrival had been awkward and angry was an understatement.

No woman should affect me like she did. Yet she did.

And she lived right down the hall!

“It’s not an official date. I’m just meeting him there.”

“Even more reason. He’s a good one, dear.”

Who was a good one?

“He likes you.”

Who liked Quincy? I gripped the armrests of my chair and wanted to rip one off and throw it out the window.

Quincy laughed. “You don’t know that.”

“Actually, I do.”

“He told you that? That he liked me?”

“I get all kinds of information out of people,” Mrs. L replied.

She sure did. That meant if some guy liked Quincy, it was the truth. But who?

I stood and stepped closer.

“Just like I can see from looking at that sly smile on your face that you like him, too.”

“Mrs. L,” she scoffed. “I barely know Lee, and I’m not looking for a relationship.”

“Then definitely wear the dress. Easy access.”

What the fuck? What kind of eighty-something spoke about easy access to pussy?

I stomped into the kitchen and saw the blush on Quincy’s cheeks, and it wasn’t from the heat of the oven.

“You’re going out with Lee Landers?” I asked. Yeah, my voice was a little raised but whatever.

Quincy blinked at me, then her forehead wrinkled with exaggerated incredulity. The kind that said, stay out of my business. That was the look I was used to.

She scoffed. “It’s none of your business, but yes.”

“But you’re not looking for a relationship,” I clarified.

Mrs. L, in her jeans and yellow top, eyed us like she was watching a tennis match. In her hand was a spatula with chocolate frosting on it.

“Were you eavesdropping?” Quincy questioned, setting her hand on her hip.

“My desk is right there.” I pointed to the other room. “I can’t help but overhear you talking about tossing up your dress for a guy to have his way.”

“Oh my God.”

I’d gone too far.

She crossed her arms over her breasts. The beautiful pair I’d seen and sucked and licked.

“Says the man whore. Did you even get a chance to shower off the redhead before PT this morning?”

“Aw, sweets.” A slow grin spread across my face. I sauntered past her to grab a lollipop from the cookie jar and unwrapped it, trying to act more nonchalant than I felt. Inside, I was seething. “I didn’t know you cared so much.” I tucked the candy in my cheek and flashed her both dimples.

She huffed. “I don’t.”

“Then what I may have done with the redhead shouldn’t matter.”

She had her panties in a twist thinking I’d slept with the waitress the night before. That meant she cared because if she didn’t, she wouldn’t give a shit who I fucked.

But she did. That gave me hope that I might get another shot with her.

“Just like it shouldn’t matter what I do with Lee Landers in my white sundress,” she countered.

Fuck, that white sundress was the cruelest outfit ever. She couldn’t wear a bra with it, and the skirt was full and came to just above her knee. It wasn’t overly sexy, but it only made me want to fuck her and fuck her hard.

Now she was going to wear it for Lee, whose dick was definitely going to get hard for her because I knew he wasn’t gay.

And it definitely had easy access. Dammit.

Ford stomped up the back steps and tugged open the screen door. “I can hear you two shouting an acre away. Let’s go. We have to brief about our job tomorrow.”

He let the door slam behind him, and he was off.

“Thanks for your advice, Mrs. L,” Quincy said. “Sundress for easy access it is.” I swore she added an extra flounce to her walk as she followed Ford outside.

I glanced at Mrs. L, whose mouth had a slight tilt to it.

“Sorry for the argument,” I said, leaning against the counter.

“You want her,” she said.

It was my turn to sputter. “Hell, no. She’s a member of my team. I know better than that. Besides, you saw how we hate each other.”

“Why do boys pull on a girl’s pigtails in elementary school?” she asked, then answered her own question. “To get her attention.”

“She’s going out with Lee.”

“She could definitely do worse.” She gave me a hard stare. “He’s a good man. I’ve known him his whole life. Quincy deserves a decent guy to take care of her.”

I grunted because I hated the fucker on principle. She was going to go out with Lee, the nice guy. He wasn’t going to head off on some dangerous mission he couldn’t ever talk about. No, he’d wake up beside her and take her to breakfast. And give her flowers. And babies.

“Fuck!” I shouted, then stalked across the room, gave Mrs. L a kiss on the cheek and grabbed the spatula from her hand. I licked the frosting from it as I stomped across the yard to the briefing.

The team had a mission tomorrow. Well, I had one tonight.

Operation Fuck With A Date. No way was a nice guy like Lee getting under Quincy’s sundress and into her panties.

They were mine, dammit. She just didn’t know it yet.

CHAPTER FIVE

QUINCY

“You sure you’re not a ringer?” Lee asked as I got another bullseye.

We were at the K-Sparks, the local music venue and bar in the back playing darts. I’d driven into town with Indi, who’d been at the compound checking out the latest work on the house she and Ford were building by the creek. She, along with Megan and Holly, was at a four-top table by the bar. I’d had one drink with them before Lee showed up and invited me to play darts.

They’d all but shoved me in his direction.

This wasn’t a real date because I drove myself, he met me here, and I was leaving in the morning. Alpha Mountain’s latest job included me. We were headed to Mexico to rescue an American couple who’d been kidnapped in the capital for ransom. The intel Kennedy and Taft collected suggested they were being held at a house in the mountains an hour outside of the city. I would be flying the team in and out to a designated point nearby to get them.

So tonight, I flirted with Lee, set the foundation for a date–and maybe more–for after I returned.

With that in mind, I’d worn the white sundress like Mrs. L suggested but paired it with a jean jacket and cute cowgirl boots. While I was attracted to Lee and was open to what might happen between us, Kennedy’s words about me flipping my dress up for Lee had me playing conservative.

He was handsome and interested. He’d be down for sex if I gave him the signal. But even if he was on the rebound, I wanted more than a quick fuck in a bar’s bathroom stall.

I smiled. “Not much to do during downtime on deployments.”

His easy grin slipped a little as he took me in from head to toe with a glint of male appreciation. “I forget you were in the service. Weren’t you scared?”

I arched a brow and tried to hide most of my frustration at the gender-specific question. “You ever ask Ford if he was scared?” I doubted anyone ever asked my dad or my brothers that.

“Nope. I’ve also never thought he was cute either.”

I didn’t reply because I couldn’t be all that angry. He was a regular guy, not military or ex-military. He thought of me as a woman, not a soldier. Since I was wearing a flirty dress, I fed into his male-caveman thinking.

I walked to the board and pulled out our darts.

“I never really had time to be scared. It’s more… exhilarating. I love to fly.”

“You like to skydive?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“So you’re a thrill seeker.”

“I don’t shy away from adventure,” I admitted.

“Why the Navy?” he asked.

“Family business.”

He arched a brow, and so I explained how I’d followed my father and older brothers into the service.

“Now you’re here working for Ford. You guys must be close.”

I shrugged as I handed him his three darts. “Have to be since our work is still sometimes dangerous.” I didn’t tell him about the mercenary jobs that came up from time to time. The ones that weren’t on the books, that had me literally flying under the radar. Like the imminent rescue job in Mexico. “But we don’t always get along. I–”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the bane of my existence walk in.

“What the hell?”

I didn’t realize I said that aloud until Lee turned around to see what I was starting at.

“That’s one of your teammates, right?”

I frowned. “Kennedy. Ignore him. He’s a pain in my ass.”

Lee turned back, taking me at my word, raised a dart and aimed. Then tossed.

I stared at Kennedy as he went to the bar and leaned against it, waiting for the bartender to work his way over. He was in jeans and a simple white t-shirt. His copper-blond hair was longer than it used to be, enough so it was starting to curl. I hadn’t even realized it did that.

A tap on my shoulder made me jump. “You’re up.”

I smiled at Lee, who was pointing at the dart board.

I spun on my boot heel. “Sorry. I don’t know why he’s even here.”

“You don’t like the guy?”

I threw the dart, and it wedged into the twenty section deeper than usual.

“He’s arrogant. Annoying. A pest.”

“Yet you work with him.”

I tossed the second dart.

“He’s good at what he does. I’ve never met an analyst like him. Did you know he speaks three languages? I mean, that’s not uncommon for a SEAL, but–”

“You sure know a lot about a guy you seem to dislike.”

I looked up at Lee then frowned. Gah–why was I singing Kennedy’s praises? The whole point of going out with Lee was to get Kennedy out of my system.

“You’re right.”

I aimed for the third shot and took it.

This time, Lee went to retrieve the darts. I checked out his ass, which looked mighty fine in his jeans, but I instantly compared it to Kennedy’s. And instantly remembered how his muscles had bunched as I’d held onto it when he’d thrust into me.

I groaned and wiped a hand down my face. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kennedy join the ladies at the high top. He smiled.

“You sure you don’t have a thing for him?”

I startled at Lee’s voice. Once again, I was staring.

“No,” I said immediately.

I blushed and looked up at Lee. God, he was handsome. And nice. Fun, too.

But he wasn’t Kennedy. I was a bitch for thinking of having sex with one guy while on a date with another. “I’m sorry,” I admitted.

Lee cocked his head and studied me. “You do like him. That’s why you hate him.”

I looked down because he could see the truth. I even felt my cheeks heat.

“Hey, it’s okay. I admit I’m a little jealous of the guy.”

“It’s just…”

“You used to be together?”

“Not used to as much as…” I winced and realized he deserved the truth. So much for anything ever happening with him now. “Just once.”

Lee nodded thoughtfully then looked over my shoulder.

“Did he hurt you?”

My mouth fell open in surprise. I shook my head. “It’s not like that. He’d never do that. Never,” I repeated because it seemed as if Lee might go and beat the shit out of Kennedy for doing me wrong. “You’re a good guy.”

He winced. “Thanks, but that’s the last thing a man hopes to hear from a pretty woman. You want to be with him?”

I shake my head. “No. He’s not into me. He’s… a player.”

His spine went rigid, and I set my hand on his forearm.

“Not in a bad way. It’s not like I didn’t know the score. It was after a mission, and… well, you don’t want those details.”

He shook his head.

“Kennedy doesn’t do relationships. I’ve known him a long time. Like I said, he’s a player.”

“Then why’s he here?”

“To piss me off,” I replied quickly.

“Then let’s piss him off.”

I narrowed my gaze. “How and why?”

“How? That’s easy. Why? To see if he’s into you in return.”

“Huh?”

Lee lowered his head and whispered in my ear. “Play along.”

His breath fanned my neck, and I shivered. God, he was big. Tall. Manly. Smelled good. And nice. He was so nice.

I felt his fingers at the top of my back and slid down my spine while he seemed to be sniffing my neck and hair. He stood close. “If he’s into you, then he’ll be over here in about twenty–”

“Maybe you two should get a room.”

“--seconds,” Lee finished. I felt his smile against my neck before he lifted his head. His fingers at my waist clenched.

“Kennedy,” Lee said.

“Landers,” Kennedy replied.

Slowly, I turned and faced him. The arm Lee had behind me remained in place, and now his hand rested on my belly. Kennedy’s gaze was on it, and the thumb that slid up to just beneath my breasts.

Kennedy held a full beer in one hand and a pool cue in the other.

“You’re interrupting my date,” I said.

“Your makeout session.” Kennedy’s normally laid-back manner was replaced by something darker. He wasn’t happy.

“Want another beer?” Lee asked me, stepping back and giving me a wink that Kennedy couldn’t see.

“Sure.”

He headed to the bar, and I crossed my arms over my chest. “What the hell are you doing?” I hissed.

Kennedy took a step closer. “You want to fuck, Flyer? I’m right here.” He held out his arms.

I hadn’t heard that nickname since Qatar.

“So’s Lee,” I countered.

“Yeah, but you know I’ll give it to you just how you like it.”

I stepped close like I might actually be willing to partake, then I punched him in the stomach. Because he was fit as fuck, his abs were like slabs of granite, and he only let out an oomph.

“I’m not interested in taking a number like at the deli counter with the other women.”

“Yet, you like my salami.” He grinned.

“Oh my God.” I stepped around him and walked off.

* * *

KENNEDY

I should’ve been flirting with Holly, Indi’s friend who was actually interested in me. Instead, I was achieving a new level of pathetic getting shot down–again–by Quincy.

I watched her ass twitch in that short white sundress, her lean, muscular legs descending into those cowgirl boots turning every male head in the bar.

She couldn’t really be interested in that asshole, could she?

No. Fucking. Way.

Lee Landers was… lame. His name made him sound like a 70’s movie star. Obviously just out to get one thing from her. I wanted to rip his lungs from his body and watch him suffocate.

Okay, maybe that was a little drastic, but–fuck.

Quincy deserved so much better. She deserved a guy who knew she was more than a pair of great legs and a winning smile. A guy who knew just exactly how talented, hard-working and loyal she was.

A guy she’d shared real life and death experiences with.

Fuck. I wanted that guy to be me, but I was so far from the mark of what was right for her, it made my chest ache.

I wasn’t sure what Quincy wanted from a man, but she’d made it clear she didn’t want a repeat of the night we’d shared in Qatar. Even though we’d gotten so tight during those twenty-four hours, I thought she might be the one. After ten years of soulless port sex without a single relationship to show for it, I was ready to change my ways.

Especially after watching Ford and Hayes get pussy whipped.

My scandalous sex life–the one I began long before I even graduated high school as an act of rebellion against my parents’ expectations that I marry well–came to a screaming halt.

I was ready to bring Quincy back to DC and introduce her to the family. That wouldn’t go all that well. They’d hate her to start with since her aspirations in life were more than being a trophy wife who sat on charity boards. Still, I’d flaunt her nonetheless, and they’d pull out the commitment and service to our nation bullshit for her as well.

It didn’t matter though.

Quincy hadn’t just walked away.

She’d run.

And she was still running.

She strutted past Lee, saying something to him before heading to the ladies’ room. I glanced at the table where her friends sat. Holly looked this way. She was pretty in her girl next doorway.

Old me would’ve already nailed Holly at least three times since I moved to Sparks. Old me would’ve already had every available woman in this bar.

New me? Post-Quincy me?

I wasn’t feeling it. I hadn’t felt anything–or anyone–since Quincy.

Literally.

I’d kept my dick in my pants. Why I was remaining celibate was beyond me. It wasn’t like Quincy had asked me to prove I wasn’t a man whore.

It wasn’t like she’d asked me to be faithful.

But I had been.

I hadn’t slept with one woman since that night in Qatar, even if she thought I’d been with the redheaded waitress from dinner the night before. I couldn’t help it that the woman had been flirting, but that was all it had been. Quincy had made assumptions. I just hadn’t denied them.

Quincy ruined all other women for me.

Holly lifted her hand and waved at me, beckoning me to their table. Fuck, I was in trouble here because totally my type. Definitely fuckable.

If I hadn’t had some scruples and personal rules when it came to women, I would’ve used her to make Quincy jealous. But I couldn’t hurt Holly that way because she definitely wasn’t the fling type. And I wasn’t an asshole. In fact, I’d lay out any guy who did that.

I watched as Quincy emerged from the ladies’ room and headed toward Lee at the bar.

Fuck, no.

I sat the pool cue on the nearest empty table and strode forward, willing my brain to come up with something–anything–I could do or say to get her away from him.

It crystallized halfway across the floor, and my swagger shifted into a more purposeful walk.

“Quincy.” I took her elbow with a firm but gentle touch. My tone was clipped and serious. “Ford needs to re-brief us on the mission tomorrow. Something changed.”

She searched my face, which I prayed I had composed well enough to deceive her.

Not quite.

Her eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”

I tugged her forward. “Come on. You can ride with me. We have to get back right away.”

Landers didn’t put up a fuss–the guy really was an idiot to let me move in on his date this way. No way would I have let her go without a fight. “I’ll see you later, Quincy,” he called. “Have fun.”

“Fun?” She twisted to look over her shoulder as I hustled her toward the door. “No, I don’t think this will be fun.”

“Say goodnight, Quincy,” I growled, that gnawing jealousy getting the better of me.

“Goodnight, Quincy,” she muttered as we stepped out into the crisp night air and jogged down the wooden steps to the dirt lot where I’d parked a company SUV.

“Wait, so what is happening exactly?” Quincy demanded as I walked her swiftly to the passenger side.

I unlocked it, opened her door, and she climbed in. I took my time admiring her creamy thighs as the dress rode up. She yanked at the hem, which had me blinking. It took me a second to go around to the driver’s side and join her because I had to adjust my dick in my jeans. “We have to get back ASAP. Ford has new intel that changes the mission.”

“Wouldn’t this be better done in the morning? I mean, I’ve had a beer.” She threw her hands in the air. “Whatever.” Crossing one shapely leg over the other, she turned her hips toward the door and stared out the window at the darkening sky.

I didn’t care if she gave me the silent treatment. I didn’t care that the ride was awkward as hell. All I knew was that I’d just prevented Quincy from hooking up with a guy who didn’t deserve her, and I deserved a goddamn trophy.

My price was breathing in her soft floral scent in the closed confines of the cab. I knew it was her shampoo because the sweet aroma drifted from her room in the morning after her shower. My dick was still hard and pressing painfully against the zipper of my jeans.

I pulled up at the bunkhouse, shut off the SUV and climbed out.

“Where’s the meeting?” she asked, shutting her door behind her.

I willed my brain to come up with an answer to the question. I’d had the entire ride to prepare one, but apparently, I’d been more concerned with trying not to imagine what kind of panties Quincy wore under that easy-access dress.

“Kennedy.”

Oops. She was onto me.

She stomped around the vehicle to block me from entering the bunkhouse. “There is no meeting, is there?”

Fuck, she was beautiful when she was riled. At first, it was one of the reasons I liked to push her buttons. Then she became angry at me in general. So she was always fucking pretty.

I leaned a hand against the building. “Not officially, but we need to get a good night’s sleep for the mission.” I gave her a signature Kennedy wink.

“Are you freaking kidding me?”

Oh damn. My dick was leaking pre-cum at the sight of her all riled.

She thumped the center of my chest with an open hand. “You just interrupted my date for absolutely no reason other than to screw with me? You used work to get your way. Unbelievable.”

I gave her my most charming grin. “Sorry, sweets. I just couldn’t take it.”

“Couldn’t take it?” she sputtered. “Couldn’t take what? Watching a woman have casual sex the way you men do?”

I didn’t know why, but everything about that question hit me the wrong way. I advanced on her, but she held her ground. “If all you wanted was casual sex, you could’ve had it with me. You didn’t even have to head into town. Or put on a fucking dress.” I put my hands on my hips and met her glare with a challenging gaze. “A dozen times over I could have had you forgetting your name. You know I give it good.”

It stayed light late in Montana in the summer, and there was enough twilight left to see the flush of color that stained her cheeks. I also noted the peaks of her hardened nipples showing through the thin sundress.

She wasn’t completely immune to my charms, as much as she’d have me believe.

“So that’s what this is about?” She mimicked my stance, with her hands on her hips, her cowgirl boots spread wide. “You dragged me home, so I’d hit it with you instead of Lee?”

I tipped my head to the side and gave her my slow, spreading smile. “Did it work?”

She stomped her foot. “No, it did not work. In fact, I’m going back there. No,”–she fished her phone out of her purse– “I’m calling Lee and have him come here. You can listen to the two of us–”

“The hell you are!” I didn’t know what overcame me, but I snatched the phone from her hand and threw it as far as I could. So far into the growing darkness, I didn’t even hear it land.

Quincy stared at me, mouth open, eyes wide with outrage, and then she sprang into action. I thought I was going to have to race her to the phone, but she didn’t go for it.

No, she came after me.

Quincy shoved me with both hands.

With our difference in weight, there was no way she could knock me back, but she tried a couple more times before our bodies stayed together, hands tangling in each other’s clothing, lips devouring each other’s mouths.

I reached beneath that short sundress to squeeze and knead her ass with one hand as I walked her backward into the bunkhouse. She bit my lip–hard–her kisses angry and frantic.

“I hate you,” she snarled then kissed me, her tongue plunging into my mouth.

Two more steps and I had her straddling my waist taking a swift ride straight to my room. I’d talked Ford into outfitting each one with a queen bed–thank fuck–instead of the usual standard military issue single cots, and I lowered her to the center of mine. She had my shirt up to my armpits already, so I reached behind my back and yanked it over my head while she kicked off her cowgirl boots. They thudded to the floor.

“Fuck, I love it when you hate me,” I muttered as I settled between her legs, wasting no time in yanking her panties off, so I could taste her.

She gasped and pounded her fist on my shoulder when I began, making me lift my head to make sure I hadn’t fucked something up. I had her taste on my tongue, and my dick was weeping to get in her. I was pretty sure those kisses meant consent, but I wasn’t going to take it for granted.

There was hate, and then there was hate. One fueled this chemistry between us. The other I’d never do.

“Why’d you stop?”

“You punched me.”

“Don’t stop.” Her brows were down, mouth open, eyes wild. She shoved my head back down. “Get back to it, sailor. This is what you wanted.”

In the back of my head, I heard my more reasonable side urging me to slow down. To make sure this was, deep down, really what she wanted. But living with Quincy this last month had been too much of a torture. I’d been dying to eat her glorious pussy and make her scream again. Now I finally had my chance.

Her taste was on my tongue, and I wanted more. I was ravenous.

I pushed her knees wide and cupped her ass cheeks, lifting her to meet my mouth. I’d make it so good she couldn’t regret it. I opened wide and devoured her, taking as much of that tender flesh in as I could before I backed off and used my tongue with more finesse. This was no time for slow and sensual, but I gave her the best tongue lashing I knew how to give, stroking her from clit to anus and back again, licking every fold and cranny, sucking the little nubbin of her clit until she beat both my shoulders with her fists and kicked her heels into the bed to push her hips up.

I might have smothered to death, but what a way to go.

“Come here,” she rasped, sinking her nails into my arms and urging me up. “Enough. I can’t wait.”

I lifted my head and grinned, shoving two fingers into her at the same time I said, “Who said you had to wait?”

She didn’t.

The moment I rubbed her G-spot, she came, her pussy weeping over my fingers, her tight flesh squeezing.

As soon as it passed, she sat straight up, her dark hair a messy halo around her face. A strap of her sundress hung off of one shoulder. The bottom half was bunched about her waist. She still looked wild. Furious. Horny as hell.

Then she shocked the fuck out of me by biting out the single word, “mine” as she wrestled me to my back.

“Damn straight I’m yours, sweets.” I looked up at her and was content to let her have her way.

That just seemed to make her angrier. She unfastened my jeans and yanked them off with dark intent like my dick was the enemy, and she’d been sent on a mission to destroy it.

And she did.

In the best way possible.

She put her mouth on me and didn’t stop moving.

“Holy fuck,” I said, my hands clenching my comforter.

I was already so close to coming, so every lick and suck was delicious torture. My hips involuntarily jacked off the bed, so I choked her with my cock, but she took it, her small hand working up and down my length in a tight fist as her lips, tongue, mouth and throat all worked in tandem to give me what I needed.

Yes. Holy shit, yes.

Her free hand massaged my balls and the base of my cock.

I stared at the ceiling and tried to think of every password I knew to calm down. I didn’t want to come in her mouth. I wasn’t sure Quincy was going to stay in my bed long enough for round two, and I sure as hell wanted to make sure I gave her what she needed.

I liked it fast sometimes, but this was way too fast.

“Hang on, baby.” I caught the back of her head as she bobbed up and down over my cock. “I want to give you what you need. Shit, that’s good. But it’s time for you to take it for a ride. Yeah?”

She popped off, her chest heaving like she’d been running a race. My balls ached for her mouth to return, to feel that sweet suction again, but knowing it was going into her dripping pussy…

“Yeah.” The breathy syllable made every cell in my body celebrate.

In a flash, she was over me, lowering herself down over my very hard and ready cock.

“Wait–” I choked out as my eyes rolled back in my head with pleasure. I was going to tell her about the condoms in the side drawer, but then it felt so good, I forgot. Her pussy rippled with need, adjusting to take me so quickly. I was big. Big enough that I had to take it slow with a woman to get all of my dick in her. I remembered Quincy being tight and taking my time to get her soft and worked up to take me.

Now she slid onto me in one go. She was wet as fuck but still.

All I could do was surrender to the sensations. Grip her hips with both hands and drive up into her as she rode me hard and fast. The bed bounced and shook with the vigor of our movements. I wanted to slow us down. I wanted to pay attention to those hard nipples bouncing under her dress, but I couldn’t. I wanted her bare, but didn’t want to take the time to stop. All I could do was reach up, hook my fingers in the neckline and yank, so one breast popped free.

We were like wild animals, mating for survival. Enemies battling to see who could reach the finish line first. We fucked like this was the most important mission we’d ever been sent on. Like our lives depended on it.

Our gasps punctuated the rushed slapping of flesh, the eager coupling of our bodies. We were desperate and hungry and undeniably made for each other.

That’s what I thought, anyway.

Quincy came first, her head flung backward, like a she-wolf howling out her conquest. The moment her juicy flesh gripped my dick, I followed. My hips jacked off the bed, lifting both of us into the air as I came and came and came like a founta–oh shit.

“Quincy.” I lifted her off me, spilling some of my cum. “Sweets. I didn’t use protection. I mean, I’m clean–one hundred percent sure–but…”

Quincy’s cheeks were flushed. Her wide eyes glassy. I wasn’t sure she even understood my words yet. She was still recovering, trying to catch her breath. She was sweaty and panting, her body lax and pliant and fuck, we were sticky and wet. My dick wasn’t going down anytime soon knowing I marked her. It might not have been on purpose, but every fiber of my caveman being pounded my chest with male satisfaction.

“It’s okay,” she panted after a moment.

“It is?”

“Yeah. I had the birth control shot.” Sadly, she pulled her dress up and covered her breast as she backed off my bed. “I’m good. No worries.”

She picked up her panties.

I already hated that she was leaving. I hated that I ruined the moment or cut it short.

“Well, that was a workout.” She grinned at me. Sweat glistened on her cheeks and forehead. “I guess that made up for swapping PT with yoga this morning.”

I swung my legs to the floor and reached for her waist, drawing her between my knees. My dick aimed for her, and I glanced at it for a second, caught the way it glistened with our combined fluids.

I groaned. I’d never gone bare with a woman before. Ever. Not once. And now I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to ever wrap it again. Or be with anyone but Quincy.

“I’m not sure if it was quite enough cardio. We’d probably better go another round to be sure.” I was ready for round two right away. Hell, with her, I could go all night.

She gave me a lopsided grin and backed out of my arms. “Nah, I know better than that, Kennedy. I knew better than to go the first round with you.” She eased the trauma of that statement by leaning back in with her hands on my shoulders and her lips beside my ear. “Not that it wasn’t worth it. Pretty good orgasms for hating a guy.”

And then she walked out. I knew my cum was dripping down her thighs beneath her dress.

I stared at my closed bedroom door. Fuck. The only woman who’d ever gotten under my skin had slipped through my fingers once again.

For now.

CHAPTER SIX

QUINCY

The entire team was on this job; Ford, Hayes, Taft, Kennedy and me. We were sitting in the borrowed helicopter on a rustic Mexican runway which was little more than a clearing of trees on a steep hillside. I’d just landed and shut down the rotors because nothing drew more attention than that kind of noise.

Half my job was done, flying the guys to this desolate spot from Mexico City. Their task was to hike into the exchange point and extract the couple who had been kidnapped. From what I’d learned, it was a politician’s daughter and son-in-law. From the briefing, they could take any measures necessary for successful retrieval, meaning shoot to kill.

The men were dressed like commandos in dark green with matching backpacks and matching machine guns. Ford was riding second seat with the others in the back.

Hayes and Kennedy were speaking in Spanish, yakking back and forth as if they were at a swim-up bar at a Cancun all-inclusive resort instead of waiting for the ‘go’ to kill members of a Mexican drug cartel and rescue captives.

I tuned them out since I seemed to be the only one who didn’t speak the language. I had no idea what they were talking about. Ford didn’t comment, but the corner of his mouth tipped up now and then as if amused by the convo. Taft, having a photographic memory, probably learned it in first grade.

I wasn’t amused. Not about being left out. Not about anything. Not since the other night and that crazy hate fuck. I was hot and itchy and unsatisfied even though Kennedy had thoroughly satisfied me. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. And being mad at myself more than Kennedy. He’d gone to the bar and broken up my date, then I’d jumped him like sex was on sale and running out.

Kennedy laughed at something Hayes said, and I watched the way he tipped his head back, the way his Adam’s apple bobbed. The strong muscles that worked in his neck and shoulders with the action.

I glared because why did he have to be so good-looking? A man in uniform? Yeah, totally got me hot. But a commando? A guy with a gun, who knew how to use it–literally and metaphorically–I was doomed. Although glancing at the four men right now, women anywhere who weren’t blind would hand over their panties.

Kennedy’s pale gaze met mine, and I was suddenly hot all over, and it wasn’t from the heat of the afternoon. It had rained before we took off, and the humidity was so high, I could probably cut the air with a machete.

If I had one.

Well, if I had one, I’d have used it on Kennedy first, then the weather.

I’d obviously seen him since I left his room the other night. In fact, the only time I’d been out of his sight had been the few hours of restless sleep I got in my own bed after I left him in his bed and the times I’d been to the bathroom.

A job meant close contact. Since I slept with the guy… no, we hadn’t slept. Since I screwed the guy, it was a little awkward because there was no way to steer clear of him. Or explain why I wanted to be far, far away.

I didn’t want the others to know. Obviously.

Sleeping with a coworker in any kind of job probably wasn’t a good thing, but one as tight as ours, where we depended on each other with our lives… it made things tricky.

Especially since I knew I was… again, or still, another in a long line of women who had made it into Kennedy’s bed.

I wouldn’t say that he’d seduced me the other night. Far from it.

I wouldn’t say that it had been one-sided.

If it was, it was on my side.

I literally climbed him like a tree knowing full well he was a player.

I’d told him I hated him then attacked him with my lips and my needy pussy.

What was wrong with me?

It was the feelings I got from just looking at him. His gaze bored into me, saw past my permanent tough girl act to the woman beneath. He got me to forget I had to be one of the guys in order to get ahead.

The military wasn’t too keen, even in these modern times, to have women in the ranks. Some didn’t care what sex you were as long as you did your job and did it well. Many, actually. But there were rules and other things in place that made it difficult for a woman to get ahead. An example of that was that only recently could we be fighter pilots.

I didn’t have a penis, and that had been a problem for me since birth.

My father had been thrilled that my older brothers had followed in his footsteps into the Navy. When I’d decided to enlist as well, he’d laughed. Nothing I could do would be enough because… yeah, no penis.

My mother was a stay-at-home mom. She’d had four children to raise since my dad was the breadwinner. The man. They were happy in their designated roles, but I saw from an early age that Mom got left out of the fun. The boys got to go play on the big, fancy equipment. Fly. Go in submarines. Have adventures.

I’d wanted that, too. Still did. I didn’t want to be my mom, at home. Bored. Well, she might not have been bored, but I would be if I was her. She couldn’t have both. Be both. A mom and a pilot. A mom and a … whatever.

No. A woman like my mom got held back. So I didn’t want to be like my mom. I was anti-Mom. I did everything a guy could do except pee standing up.

So those feelings I had, that I was having now staring at Kennedy as he stared right back, meant I was in trouble. Because I wanted something from him I didn’t want from any other guy. He treated me like a woman. Held me. Lifted me without effort. Fucked me. Sucked me. Did all the things to me he did to all the other women he got into his bed.

With him, I wasn’t his co-worker. I wasn’t his pilot. I was Melissa, the woman.

That scared the shit out of me because if I let even a sliver of the idea that I wasn’t the teammate who had her own set of brass balls, then I wouldn’t be anything when he moved on to his next conquest.

Because he would. The only way I could be in his life was as Quincy. Not Melissa. Because he’d be back to the redheaded waitress’s bed by next weekend. If not hers, another woman’s.

So I needed to keep right on hating him because it was easier than being angry at myself for wanting him. Because he’d gone all Neanderthal and broken up my date with Lee, and I fucked him anyway. And it had been the best sex of my life.

“You could speak in English,” I snapped at him, even though Hayes was equally as guilty.

“Could. Just sinking into the culture.”

I glared. Sinking into the culture? “We’re not here for a study abroad program.”

Instead of answering, he winked.

I glared some more.

He stared and then grinned.

“Sorry for leaving you out,” Hayes said. “Ford doesn’t know much Spanish either, if it makes you feel better.”

Ford didn’t say anything. He never did, saving his words for when they were really needed. I doubted Hayes because SEALs had language immersion as part of their training, and Ford seemed to know everything.

“Which languages are your specialty?” I asked him. No chance all he knew was English.

I’d flown these guys on missions before, but we hadn’t sat around and talked.

“Arabic and Russian,” Ford said.

“Jesus,” I muttered. “Don’t like the Latin alphabet?”

Ford shrugged a broad shoulder. Sweat dotted his brow. It coated all of the guys’ skin, but they didn’t seem fazed. Nothing fazed SEALs. Discomfort meant they were alive or some stupid t-shirt phrase.

“Taft here is Mr. Lingo,” Hayes said, tipping his head in Taft’s direction.

The youngest of the group didn’t say anything because we all knew he was the human knowledge sponge and probably spoke ten languages or more. If we sat here long enough and gave him a workbook, he’d probably be fluent in Farsi or something.

I’d hate him for it if he wasn’t so damned nice. I’d actually never heard him speak anything but English.

“What’s your special talent?” I asked Kennedy, then thought better of it. Too late.

He grinned again. “I think you have a good idea of that.”

Ford’s cell pinged, and he pulled it from his pocket, and read the screen.

“We’re a go.”

The men shifted from one second to the next from relaxed and casual to focused and intense.

Taft slid the back door of the bird open, and he hopped down.

Hayes followed.

Kennedy offered me one last wink before I returned it with a middle finger salute.

Ford opened the passenger door but faced me. “Back soon. Be ready.”

I nodded. “Hooyah.”

I watched the four jog off although my focus was on Kennedy. I was used to the guys going off on missions. That was the job–shuffling soldiers, often into danger. Sometimes to their death.

We weren’t in the military now. These men were my colleagues. Friends. One was my on-again, off-again lover. I didn’t want any of them dead.

But something in me became anxious as Kennedy disappeared into the trees, AR raised and ready. Because while I may hate the guy for being a man whore and breaking down my resolve with his charms anyway, it was moments like this that I realized it might not be hate that I felt for him. It was a big fucking problem because while Kennedy would move on after we got back to the States, I just realized I hadn’t thought about Lee Landers once since I’d walked out of the bar with Kennedy the other night.

* * *

KENNEDY

“You slept with Quincy.” Ford’s voice tipped low as he walked directly behind me.

We were in one line, Taft in the front. He’d studied the topo maps and all the other intel we’d collected for this extraction and knew exactly where we were headed. We all did, but he liked point.

We had over a mile to hike to get to the meeting spot, which we’d do in minutes. We’d sit in wait for the kidnappers to arrive, finish them, then get those they’d taken out of the country without any money passing hands.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I replied, giving him a brief glance over my shoulder.

Crickets and other animals were noisy in the woods. Droplets of water from the earlier shower dripped from the canopy above us. My shoulders were wet from it. The air wasn’t overly hot, but it was muggy as hell.

It was nothing like the sandbox of Afghanistan or Iraq. The only Mexican sand was on stunning beaches hundreds of miles from here.

“She’s a member of the team,” he added.

He didn’t make me admit it. I didn’t kiss and tell and wouldn’t disrespect Quincy by doing so.

“You fuck the team up, I might have to get rid of one of you.”

I slowed and gritted my teeth. Ford was one of my best friends, and I had his back. But this? Accusing me of being a dick with Quincy? I didn’t like what he was insinuating.

“You won’t fire her for this,” I snapped, protecting the woman.

“I wasn’t talking about her.”

I stopped this time and turned and faced Ford.

“I’d never hurt her.”

“You did. What was it? In Qatar?”

“How the hell do you know that?” I wondered.

A whistle came from behind me. Hayes. Yeah, we were slowing shit down. I turned around and double-timed it to catch up.

“It was right about when she started ignoring you completely,” he said. “I’m guessing you two got it on one night on base, and it went south.”

It didn’t go south. The only thing south was the direction I’d headed on her body.

“She still ignores me,” I replied, skipping the sex replay. I could jog for miles and not get winded. Same went for the others. The downside was a convo like this one with Ford. There was no escape.

“Which means she still has feelings for you.”

I tried to ignore the leap of excitement that pronouncement gave me. I wanted Quincy to want me. After the other night, I was even more confident that she was the one for me. Like Indi was for Ford or Megan for Hayes.

Except Ford was right. If shit went bad between us, it would be a nightmare on the team.

“I’m not sure if that’s true. But even if it was, I wouldn’t hurt her,” I told him, which all but admitted that we’d been together. That I had feelings of my own.

“You already have,” he said.

“No, bro. You have it all wrong.” Quincy was the one who’d insisted it was just sex, and she didn’t want more. She grabbed her clothes and walked out, my cum dripping from her. It wasn’t the other way around.

“You sure about that?”

Still, I started to slow, mulling it all over, and Ford slapped me on the back and ran ahead.

Fuck me. Was her rejection of me really a disguise for hurt?

Had I hurt her? Was I hurting her now? No. It couldn’t be. Quincy was strong as hell. I hadn’t taken anything from her, I’d given.

But now wasn’t the time to have a tea party with my emotions. We were about to meet up with ruthless drug lords and most likely kill them with double taps. I’d steer my anger where it belonged.

On them.

Up ahead, I heard shots fired, and I was instantly on alert. My training kicked in.

It was go time.

CHAPTER SEVEN

QUINCY

“It’s a surface wound.” Kennedy hit me with that lazy smile of his–the one that made his dimples wink, and I wanted to knock him upside his bleeding head.

“Head wounds can be dangerous,” I snapped, rubbing another alcohol wipe over his temple to mop up the blood.

I’d flown the guys and the package–a.k.a. the rescued civilians, back to Mexico City with my heart pounding out of my chest the entire flight. I’d had the bird up and running, rotors spinning as they came out of the woods. We were off the ground the second Taft stepped onto the running boards, not even waiting for him to climb in. My adrenaline had flooded my system when I saw the blood on Kennedy and knew we needed to get the fuck out of there.

Turned out, he’d been grazed by a bullet. His skull had been in the way of a firing gun. I still couldn’t breathe thinking about it. One fraction of an inch more, and Kennedy’s brains could’ve been splattered all over the Mexican forest.

It wasn’t okay.

I wasn’t okay.

Now, as I stood between his knees to dress the wound, I wanted to throw up. The fact that he seemed unconcerned about it made me even angrier. Why was he so calm about this? I had to wonder if he’d been injured like this before, and it wasn’t even a big deal to him.

Well, it was a big deal to me.

“Do you know how lucky you were?” I raged. “Seriously, Kennedy. Do you have any idea? You nearly died back there.”

“Aw, all this time you’ve been pretending you didn’t care.” Kennedy’s normally panty-soaking grin made me want to kick him.

“This isn’t funny!”

His large hands settled lightly on my outer thighs as I rubbed antibiotic ointment over the open wound. My hands shook as I packed gauze into the little trench. Kennedy was right–it was just a flesh wound. It missed the bone. Just seared the skin on the side of his forehead. Still, it wouldn't stop bleeding, and the sight of blood running down Kennedy’s face made me sweatier than the Mexican weather.

I should’ve told him to keep his hands off me, especially in front of the rest of the team, but I was the one pressing my tits in his face wearing nothing more than my tank top undershirt. Besides, the sensation of his steady touch eased some of my panic.

He was still here, being annoyingly charming as ever. He was alive.

He’d heal from this wound in a matter of weeks. There weren’t even any metallic shavings or shrapnel in there as far as I could tell, only a hint of burn around the edges.

“Thank you, Flyer.” For once, Kennedy sounded serious. He gave one of my thighs a squeeze, and his blue gaze met mine. Held.

That’s what got to me. I had to work hard, but I knew how to steel myself against Kennedy’s charm. But when the man got real with me?

That I couldn’t take.

I didn’t do intimacy. There hadn’t been room for it growing up because every emotion, every angry or sad outburst was considered a deficiency. A weakness. There certainly hadn’t been a place for that in my family or the Navy. Not until someone died or came close to being killed.

So when it happened–when I’d let my guard down with Kennedy, and he’d let his down with me–there had been no container for it. No place to go once we’d shown each other our true selves that one time in Qatar.

Then, we’d both still been enlisted. Had orders to follow. Lives to save. Missions to complete. After that one night, we’d needed to pour ourselves back into our uniforms and go on being the sailors we were trained to be.

We’d gone our separate ways to help save the world.

Now, though? The situation was even worse. We were out of the military. Dating was possible. Long-term relationships were happening all around us. Ford and Hayes had fallen in love and fallen hard. The idea that I possibly could have a real relationship with a guy scared me.

I didn’t think I was cut out for that because it meant someone could see every one of my weaknesses and use them against me.

Even if I were open to a relationship, I would never choose Kennedy. He was a heartbreaker, through and through. He’d be the least safe choice I could possibly pick.

Why, then, could I not stop thinking about what it would be like with him?

I backed out from between Kennedy’s knees, pulling away from his touch. “Next time wear a dang helmet,” I growled as I stalked away.

“Hold up.” Kennedy reached for my hand, shocking me with the inappropriate gesture.

I yanked it away and shot right up against him. “Are you crazy?” I hissed in a low voice, glancing around. We were alone, but it might not be for long. “You don’t get to hold my hand. Try it again, and I’ll chop yours off.”

His brows shot up in amused surprise, but he didn’t let me go. “Hang on, sweets.”

I stalked out of the small rented house we were using as our home base for the night, but Kennedy was right on my ass.

I stopped and whirled. “Back up, sailor. We just had a discussion about personal space.”

Kennedy’s lips twitched. “Oh, is that why you were just tits-to-ribs with me?”

When anger blazed in my face, he lost the smirk and the bravado, and I saw the man from Qatar. “Hang on, Quincy. I just walk to talk. Can you give me five?”

I put my hands on my hips. “What is it?”

He tipped his head, indicating we should walk further away from the house and the possible ears of our teammates. I followed him to the clearing. We were somewhere in the outskirts of Mexico City and would fly back to Montana in the morning.

“Did I do something wrong? I mean, I know I fucked up your date the other night, but I sort of thought I’d made that up to you.”

I rolled my eyes. Of course he’d be proud of himself. Any guy who got around as much as he did had to be built of solid confidence when it came to his skills in bed. “Yes, you did, didn’t you?” My words were as sweet as sugar but as fake as saccharin.

His brow arched, and his gaze roved over my face. “So what’s going on? You’ve acted like you’re allergic to me since the day you arrived. Did I fuck something up? The way I remembered it, you were the one who didn’t want more after Qatar.”

My face heated. Not with embarrassment, with something even deeper. More personal. Kennedy was calling me out on having feelings, and I sure as hell didn’t want to reveal that lunacy.

“No, you’re right.” I tried to play it off, giving his shoulder a slap. “You didn’t fuck anything up. All good, Kennedy.” I tried to make my escape.

He snaked an arm around my waist and tugged my back against his front. “Hang on, Flyer.”

I stiffened in his hold. “You’re two seconds away from me going Kung Fu on your ass. Believe me, when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, I can take down a guy twice my size.”

Kennedy chuckled and released me. “I don’t doubt that.” He held his palms up in surrender. “Listen, I can’t help but feel there’s something huge I’m missing here. If you were only out for sex, why not hit it with me again? I know I satisfied you.”

I let out a light scoff at his arrogance.

“And if you wanted something more–”

“I didn’t,” I cut in quickly. “I told you then, and nothing’s changed. I’m not out looking for a relationship.”

“What are you looking for?”

My breath choked me for a moment, but I managed to shake my head. This was when I could tell him the truth, but it wasn’t going to happen. “Nothing. Nothing from you.”

“What did I do?” he asked again.

There was no smile this time. No dimples. No swagger. Kennedy was letting down his guard and asking for the truth.

Dang it. I owed him that much. He’d done nothing wrong. Not a damn thing, except rock my world and shake my walls to the ground. More than once.

I rubbed my lips together. “Kennedy, I–” I worked to swallow. “Qatar was great. Really. You were there for me when I needed you.” I blinked some more. “But as far as guys go, you’re about as safe as a hand grenade without the pin.”

“What?” Kennedy looked genuinely offended. “You don’t think you’re safe with me? I’d never hurt you. I might be ruthless with my job, but not with a woman. Not with you.”

I knew what he said was true because when he held me, when he touched me with those lethal hands, I felt safe.

“I just mean you’re a player. You don’t just have a woman in every port, you have multiple women. You’d already slept with half the ladies in my squadron by the time you got to me, and I’m sure you had the other half before you left.” Kennedy was shaking his head, but I plowed on. “Look, I like you, Kennedy. A lot. But I’m not interested in being one of your play things. I mean, it was fun and all but–”

“You weren’t a plaything,” he interrupted. His jaw flexed. “You were never that. I wanted–still want–more than that from you.”

I opened my mouth, then shut it, surprised by this revelation.

Kennedy wanted more? From me? I found that…implausible. I knew what we’d shared in Qatar had been special. At least, I’d hoped I was different than his average lay, but it was still a leap to believe Kennedy wanted a lasting relationship with a woman. Especially me.

I shook my head with regret. “We’re on the same team. You know this is a bad idea. Workplace romance is forbidden in most businesses because it’s a match in a powder keg.”

“I’m going to assume you keep using bomb references because I blew your mind with my incredible skills.” The words sounded like Kennedy’s usual light, flirty banter, but the way he studied my face showed something else.

I offered a sad smile. “You definitely blew my mind. Probably ruined me for other men.”

I had no doubt his chest was puffing with male pride.

“Well, then?” He spread his hands.

“No. We can’t. I care about you. You’re amazing in the sack. But this just isn’t going to work. Go back to the redheaded waitress. I’m sure she’s eager for seconds.” I reached up on my tiptoes and gave his cheek, scratchy with scruff since he hadn’t shaved since we left Montana, a peck. “Thanks for the short-term offer, though. I’m honored.”

I walked back to the house, and this time Kennedy let me go. I was exhausted from the job… and dealing with him. I wanted to climb in my bed and sleep for a week, but no matter where I did that, the man would be right there.

“Honored,” I heard him mutter as I stepped inside. “What the fuck?’

For some reason, I actually believed I may have hurt his feelings.

But that couldn’t be.

Kennedy didn’t have feelings when it came to women.

He was just broad shoulders and a very talented dick.

CHAPTER EIGHT

KENNEDY

“At least we’re not being shot at,” Hayes said.

I grinned at him as we both held the handles of a backboard, carrying a fake car accident victim to a waiting ambulance. It was a week after our mission in Mexico, and we were back in Sparks doing some community service. It was a Saturday morning interagency emergency response training. That meant there were several different fake accidents happening at once, so different departments learned to work smoothly together and ensure everyone’s skills were fresh in case something real came up. We all wanted to be prepared. It wasn’t just the motto for the Boy Scouts.

Quincy and Ford were working with Indi and mountain rescue to track, helping to retrieve pretend lost and injured hikers and bring them back to town by helicopter. Hayes and I were working a fake motor vehicle accident with the fire department. Hayes was with Megan and the sheriff’s department.

This meant I wasn’t near Quincy. Again. She’d kept her distance since the night we’d had sex in my room at the bunkhouse. I’d given her space, even though I hated it. I still couldn’t figure out what she wanted from me. She hated that I was–had been, past tense, because I wasn’t anymore–a player, that much was clear. But I couldn’t figure out how to prove to her I could be something different.

“This is simple stuff for you two, I’m sure.” The fire chief–a guy in his thirties with a quick mind and laid-back leadership style–held another corner of the backboard. A fresh-faced eighteen-year-old had the other. He was clearly new to fire/rescue and was as eager as a golden retriever.

Christ, had I ever been that young and earnest? I’d gone into Basic Training at that age. I hadn’t known about all the fucked up, evil shit in the world. I’d only been jaded to being used as a political pawn, not to anything else. Like war and unnecessary death. Of my friend being murdered and my other friend being fucked over.

“Living in Sparks has its perks.” I may not be a senator like my dad, but I could be diplomatic. We couldn’t speak of our missions–in and out of the military–and they might not believe us anyway if we shared them.

The EMTs were waiting at the back of the ambulance with a gurney, and we set the patient down. From what I’d been told, he was another volunteer firefighter who had tweaked his groin muscle in a softball game and couldn’t participate in the all-county disaster drill other than laying on his back and pretending to be unconscious.

“You’re up, guys,” the chief told them.

They gave him a smile and a little salute and went to ‘work’ on the guy. A paramedic was supervising their part in this, a skills assessment on how to triage and care for a car accident victim.

I turned and surveyed the event. We were in the high school parking lot with a collection of fire trucks, sheriff’s vehicles, and even forest service SUVs. It was going well, and I was impressed with the joint venture.

A totaled car–delivered by none other than Lee Landers and his tow truck–was being ripped apart for training by the fire department. One guy was using the jaws of life on the driver’s door while two others were pretending to treat a dummy who was in the rear seat through the broken back window as if he’d been in an accident.

Hayes and I had been part of the mass casualty portion of the training, forcing the sheriff’s department to triage a large number of injuries. I saw Megan and Taft working on a group who’d volunteered from the local church to be patients. The guy we’d just handed off had been one of them, one of the worst with a supposed femoral bleed.

Mrs. L had enlisted us to help in this Saturday morning activity. We were members of the community now and well trained for situations like these although we were the ones usually creating the carnage or injuring people. Although we didn’t injure. We gave everyone a double tap, one bullet to the chest, one to the head, to ensure they were dead.

Ford had agreed with his grandmother, and none of us had complained because while this was different than our usual, SEALs trained constantly. Staying on top of our game, knowing we could work and survive as a team was everything. If this morning’s event could save some lives, I was all in.

“If you ever want to join the department, we’d love to have you.”

I turned and faced the chief. He was in bunker pants and beneath the red suspenders that held them up, he wore a navy Sparks FD t-shirt.

“We’re better at making fires than putting them out,” I admitted.

He grinned. “Must be hard to go from your old lifestyle to this.” He waved his hand to indicate Sparks.

A fight song cut through the sound of the jaws of life. My gaze took in the playing field beyond and the marching band that was practicing. Football players were working drills. School started next week.

This was real life. The real world. What the SEALs went to war for. Normal, everyday activities. Up at Alpha Mountain, we had a fancy and complex obstacle course. A helicopter–which was out now as part of this exercise–and a cache of weapons and explosives that would make the sheriff shit his pants if he knew about it.

Being a SEAL wasn’t normal life. Being a mercenary didn’t change that all too much. I didn’t have to wear a uniform or report up a chain of command but our view of the world was skewed. Our Saturday mornings didn’t include marching band practice. Or even a real car accident call.

Maybe that was why I was drawn to Quincy. She knew the score. Our real world. Life and death.

“It’s definitely different,” Hayes said. “I like it here.”

“Heard you locked down Megan Hager.”

Hayes’ gaze narrowed on the chief, but the man didn’t seem to be messing with him. Only stating fact.

“That’s right.”

“Good. My brother went to elementary school with her. She gave him a black eye in dodgeball. I’ll never forget him coming home from school with a shiner. From a girl.”

The rotors of a helicopter had us looking toward the mountain. It was headed our way. Here on the ground, three people with neon orange sticks spread out on the back section of the parking lot to form the perimeter of a landing pad.

We watched as Quincy slowly brought the chopper over the high school then carefully lowered down and into the center of the landing area. The wind kicked up, and I squinted against the dust. Cutting the rotors, the engine quieted, and the blades slowly came to a stop.

Ford, along with Indi and two others, hopped out of the back and pulled out a pretend hiking victim on a backboard and carried him to the ambulance.

“That helicopter is real handy,” the chief said. “A big help around here.”

I agreed, but I was thinking more about the pilot. How amazing she was. Talented.

I watched as she took off her headset then climbed out. Her feet hit the asphalt, and she shook hands with someone who’d been a passenger. From the outfit, he was Search and Rescue.

“She one of yours?” the chief asked.

Not one of ours. She’s mine, I thought.

All mine. I knew every inch of that body. How she looked when she slept, when she came. When she smiled. I knew her on a mission. I just… knew her.

“Quincy. Our pilot. Former Navy,” Hayes told him.

“Impressive.”

My hackles went up from him complimenting her.

“Gotta get back to training.” He slapped me on the shoulder and trotted off toward the totaled car and his crew.

“Thought you were going to rip his head off there for a moment. We’d have a real casualty event,” Hayes said, turning to me and crossing his arms over his chest.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You going all beast mode over Quincy.”

I frowned.

Hayes tipped his head back and laughed. “Either you’re an idiot, or you think I’m stupid. Since I’m not stupid, then you’re a fucking idiot.”

“Jesus, I have no idea what that means.”

“It means everyone knows about you and Quincy.”

“Oh?” I wasn’t giving anything away. Quincy wasn’t just a woman I banged and didn’t care who knew.

“Taft said he heard the two of you get it on. Your come sounds aren’t what I want to ever hear, so I’m thankful I sleep at Megan’s.”

Fuck.

“When are you going to stop prowling around each other like two feral cats?”

“Feral cats?” I ran a hand through my sweaty hair. It was late August in Montana, but it was still warm.

Ford came over, having handed off his patient, and saved me from answering. “This is going well.”

I glanced around again. Things were wrapping up. The dummy was out of the back of the chopped-up car. The jaws of life had been turned off, and the crew was putting away their tools. The fake patients were off the gurneys and walking toward the refreshment tent where Mrs. L and some other volunteers were handing out drinks and snacks.

Hayes and I both offered grunts of approval.

“This is our lives after we get too old to go on jobs.”

I narrowed my gaze at my friend. “We’ll always be going on jobs.”

I didn’t know anything else. Couldn’t imagine being a fire chief or a football coach.

Ford’s mouth turned up, which for him was a full-blown smile. “Eventually, we’re going to have to hire a younger team, and we’ll be the ones barking orders.”

“Who peed in your Cheerios?” I asked. “We’re not that fucking old.”

“Just being realistic. This town, these people, are doing their thing. This’ll be us. Normal shit like being volunteer firefighters.”

Ford’s repeating of my thoughts from earlier made me a little grumpy. “I blow stuff up, not put it out,” I reminded him. “The two of you have women. You’re already doing normal. For ex-SEALs.”

“Well, you could settle down. Get real with Quincy although the two of you are like–”

“Feral cats,” Hayes finished for Ford.

Now Ford laughed outright. Better than him firing me as he’d suggested when we were on that job.

“Fuckers.” I stomped off, giving them the middle finger as I headed toward Quincy. My steps hitched when I saw her sag back against the helicopter and wipe sweat from her forward. Her face was pale, and she looked tired.

Quincy was a champ. She worked and trained as hard as the rest of us and never looked wiped out or exhausted. Something was wrong.

I quickened my steps, opening my mouth to call out to her, but it was too late.

Quincy crumpled to the ground in a heap before I could reach her.

* * *

QUINCY

“Quincy? Quincy! Airman down! Get the paramedics, now.” Kennedy’s frantic voice shouted far too close to my ear.

I groaned. “Jesus, keep it down, Kennedy.” I tried to figure out what in the hell just happened. My stomach roiled. My head hurt. It was way too hot out here on the asphalt. I fought to sit up and found myself wrestling with Kennedy, who apparently was holding me in his arms.

“Can you lie her down, sir?” someone asked politely.

“She passed out and hit her head,” Kennedy snarled. “I’m not going to lay her on the hot pavement. Get a gurney over here.”

“No gurney,” I said weakly.

I made my eyes focus and found my worst nightmare–a swarm of firemen, paramedics and my teammates surrounding me. Talking about me.

Freaking out.

No, that was just Kennedy. The rest seemed appropriately concerned but not out of their minds.

“Are you all right? What happened?” One of the paramedics asked, squatting down to take my pulse.

Oh, God. I was so embarrassed. I smacked Kennedy’s arms off me, so I could sit up. “I don’t know. I guess I…overheated? Dehydrated maybe.”

It seemed bizarre. I’d been in the Navy for years in all kinds of conditions–hot and cold. I’d never passed out from the heat before. Maybe it was a combination of the high altitude in Montana plus the heat? Although it had been higher in Mexico and much hotter. Humid as hell, too.

Someone uncapped a bottle of water and thrust it in my face. Kennedy snatched it up before I could and held it to my lips.

I drank a little, but with my stomach revolting, I was cautious.

When I pulled my face back to refuse, Kennedy tipped the bottle and dribbled water down the front of my shirt.

I smacked him weakly with the back of my hand. “What the fuck, Kennedy?”

“If you’re overheated, the water will help cool you down.”

“You just want to see me in a wet shirt,” I mumbled and someone–I thought it was Hayes–laughed.

Because this was literally the most humiliating experience in the recent years of my life, I made a show of rallying. “I’m fine, everyone. Just need to drink a little water.” I took the bottle from Kennedy and drank some more. To him, I growled, “Help me up, sailor.”

“Are you sure? We don’t even know what hap–”

“Now,” I growled.

“I gotcha.” In a flash, I was hauled to my feet by a pair of strong hands beneath my armpits. Kennedy kept me close to his side, though, like he was afraid I’d teeter over and fall again.

Had I fallen? Passed out? It was so weird. I rubbed the throbbing egg on my head.

“Get her some ice!” Kennedy shouted.

“Again, with the yelling in my ear. Not cool.”

His voice instantly softened, and his fingertips sought the egg on my head with light exploration. “I’m sorry, sweets.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Here’s an icepack. Why don’t you come and have a seat over here by the ambulance, and we’ll take your vitals?” the paramedic offered.

I had to move fast to accept the ice pack before Kennedy took it. I held it to my head. “I’m totally fine. Really. Just a bruised ego at this point. Please carry on. I am begging you.”

“Maybe a snack would help. Could be low blood sugar if you didn’t have breakfast,” Megan said. “I’ll go and get you something.”

“I’m fine,” I insisted, although a snack was starting to sound good, despite the queasiness in my belly.

“Hey,” Kennedy said softly. He still hadn’t left his position as my boulder to lean against in case I got dizzy again. “You have nothing to prove here. Why not just give yourself a break and sit down?”

Nothing to prove. If only that were true. I’d spent my entire life proving I was tough enough to fit in with the boys. I sure as hell wasn’t going to ruin my rep now fainting from sunstroke. It was…absurd.

“Really, Quince. You don’t have to be a badass every minute of every day.”

I turned around, ready to bare my teeth at him, but the depth of concern and caring in his expression stopped me. Once again, Kennedy was getting real with me, and it was always my kryptonite. No wonder he was so good with the ladies.

He put his hand on the side of my shoulder and slowly stroked it down my arm. “I’m good,” I muttered, but the humiliation slipped away. The sensation that I’d screwed up and shown my weakness–acted too feminine–slackened.

Maybe Kennedy was right. Maybe I didn’t have anything to prove. Not with my teammates. My friends. Nor the fire and rescue group who were all here practicing to ensure they were prepared to help people.

Definitely not with Kennedy.

I was out of the Navy now. No longer chasing my brothers hoping to be included with the big boys. I was a big boy, minus the penis.

“Thanks, Kennedy. I think I just need to cool down.”

“Over here.” He instantly propelled me, not toward the back of the ambulance, which I would’ve hated, but to the shade of a tree at the edge of the parking lot. Ford and Hayes stepped away, thankfully not wanting to hover.

The two of us leaned our backs against the bark, and I relaxed as he opened the granola bar Megan had tossed him as we made our way here. He unwrapped it and held it out to me.

I took a bite and chewed. “I scared you, didn’t I?” I poked him with my elbow. “You were yelling like I’d been shot down over enemy land.”

Kennedy chuckled. “Scared the hell out of me,” he admitted.

“Now we’re both going to have to live this down.”

“Nope,” Kennedy said, shaking his head. “No one’s going to rib you for this without me breaking noses.”

I twisted my head to peer up at him. Those dimples and his cocky swagger made him appear laid back. Friendly, even. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t just as capable of violence as any SEAL. I’d seen him in action. I knew what he could do.

And it seemed he intended to use it to protect me. My feelings.

Part of me wanted to fall back on my usual, immediate protest that I certainly didn’t need him to defend me, but the other part kept me silent.

The part that marveled at the fact that Kennedy seemed almost…attached.

Like I meant something to him.

More than hot sex on a sweaty night.

Kennedy was showing me a side of him I didn’t know existed, and it took my breath away.

I leaned my head against his very sturdy shoulder. “Thanks, Kennedy.”

For once in my life, having someone look after me didn’t feel like an insult. It felt like the highest form of praise.

“Anytime, Flyer. Anytime.”

CHAPTER NINE

KENNEDY

I tossed my lollipop stick in the trash can at my feet. I was frustrated because I’d been working on my computer for two hours and had zero luck. Not just this morning but for weeks–months, even–looking for any bit of information that might clear Ford. I spent the bulk of my downtime at my desk searching.

I hadn’t even found the intel on Tully. He’d come to us. Indi had been snooping around on her own before she hooked up with Ford, not believing that her brother, Buck, had done the things the military had told her and her parents after he’d died.

No way was the man a murderer. Part of a drug ring. It was too ridiculous to imagine for Buck to do. He had been too fucking honorable. When Ford started looking into it, not taking the military at their word, he’d been discharged under a shitty excuse. That, of course, had driven him to create Alpha Mountain Security, not only to build the best merc team outside of the SEALs, but also to get the best together to figure out what the fuck had been going on.

It had been Indi’s searches that had brought her to Tully’s attention. He’d come to Montana to track her down. To kill her because she had proof that her brother was innocent. Buck had sent it to her to keep safe. She had, and she’d kept herself alive from Tully.

The memory card Buck had sent her had cleared him. Given him an honorable discharge, posthumously, and redeemed him.

Ford, though, hadn’t been cleared.

The charges against him didn’t drop away. His honor was still tainted, and none of us could stand for it.

So I’d been trying, and fucking trying, to find something as to who Tully’s boss was. Since Tully was dead, he wasn’t talking. Whoever had pulled his strings had ensured all incriminating data was gone. There was nothing to find.

“Still searching?” Mrs. L asked, coming into the command room–her sewing room–and settled in her high-backed chair. There were crocheted doilies on the armrests and a basket of yarn beside the chair.

She looked more like a grandma sitting there than ever. But that was deceiving because Mrs. L was shrewd. Savvy. Wise.

“Haven’t found a thing in weeks. It’s like the guy doesn’t even exist,” I replied.

She pursed her lips and frowned. It was her grandson who’d been disgraced, and she didn’t like it any more than any of us did.

“If there’s someone who will find it, it’s you, Kennedy.”

“Your belief in my skills might be off.”

“I’ve been manifesting lately. It’ll come around soon.”

“Manifesting?” I asked. It was something different with her all the time. Yoga. Portrait painting. Car mechanics, which only made me think of Landers and his date with Quincy. The one I’d broken up to get the girl.

Yeah, I’d had her. In my bed.

But she’d fled afterward. And apart from that moment we’d shared after she’d passed out in the high school parking lot, I’d barely seen her in the last week since then.

That had been fucked up. But once she’d had some water and a snack, she rallied quickly and was back to her old self.

Which meant she steered clear of me once again. Because of me.

She didn’t like to share much, but she’d let out that I’d hurt her by being with other women. Well, I hadn’t. Not since her. She just didn’t know that.

I’d told her the truth. More than I ever had with any other woman. It hadn’t been pillow talk or post-orgasm blathering. I wanted more from Quincy. I wanted it all with her.

No one else was like her. Fuck, not only was she beautiful and made my dick hard every time I got a glimpse of her, but she was smart. Brave as fuck. I didn’t know a better pilot, man or woman. She understood the life of a SEAL. Or the life we had here at Alpha Mountain. The danger. The secrets and intense moments.

She had guts and nerves of steel. Yet I looked at the line of her neck, and all I wanted to do was nuzzle it with my nose and protect her and hide her away, so no harm could come to her. Even something as simple as getting dehydrated. I wanted to make sure she always had enough water.

But no matter how protective I felt of her, it seemed I’d hurt her. Me.

The one thing I’d told her I’d never do. I’ll never hurt you.

I’d meant physically. The idea made me sick. I’d used my hands to hurt and kill many people, but they’d been the enemy.

I never considered any other way I might hurt her, that her emotions were involved. That she was putting up the angry act to protect herself. Since she was only angry with me among our team, I was the one who was fucking up.

“Did you have a good trip?” Mrs. L asked.

I blinked. “What?”

She smiled. “You went somewhere just now.”

I blushed. I could feel the heat on my cheeks. “Sorry.”

“You have quite a bit going on. Lack of evidence can be frustrating.”

“What do women want?” I blurted then bit my tongue.

Had I actually asked that?

Mrs. L cocked her head to the side and then pushed to her feet. “Come to the kitchen with me. I need to put the pork roast in the crockpot before I go.”

I wasn’t sure where she was off to this morning, but it had to do with helping someone in town, I was sure.

I stood and followed, grabbed another lollipop from the jar.

“Men are simple,” she said. “Get the roast from the fridge for me, please.”

With the candy stuck in my cheek, I pulled out the piece of meat and set it beside the crockpot. She grabbed two apples from a bowl along with an onion and set them on the wood butcher block.

“Men need sleep, food and exercise. They get those three things, they’re happy. If a man’s cranky, then he hasn’t had one of the three.”

I thought about that as she roughly sliced an apple and tossed it in the pot.

Sleep, food and exercise. A man also needed sex, and a lot of it, but I assumed Mrs. L put that under exercise. Otherwise, she was probably right.

“Women are more complicated.”

I grunted and leaned against the counter to watch her work. I’d help, but I didn’t know what she was making. And, she was armed with a knife.

“I assume you want to know what a woman wants in a man.”

She looked over her shoulder at me. I wasn’t getting out of this since I opened my big fucking mouth, so I nodded.

Of course, she wasn’t poking fun at me like the guys would. We didn’t talk about feelings or women. Or anything besides guns and the power of C4 and how a big explosion made us happy.

“It’s pretty simple. She wants a guy who sticks. Who sees only her. Always.”

With a big fork, she sat the pork roast on top of the apple slices. Then she added more apples on top along with the circles of onion.

“That’s it?”

She grabbed the apple juice from the fridge and poured a cup or two into the pot. I wasn’t sure what this recipe was exactly, but I knew it would be delicious. Everything she made was fucking good.

She set the lid on the top and pushed the button to start the cooking process. By the time dinner came, the meal would be ready.

“That’s it.”

A guy who sticks. Who only sees her.

I put Mrs. L’s words together with what Quincy had said to me. Quincy didn’t think I would stick. Even though I’d taken care of her after she’d passed out, she thought I jumped from bed to bed. Which meant she didn’t think I only saw her.

I was doing this wrong. Mrs. L listed two things, and I was messing them both up.

Really. Fucking. Wrong.

* * *

QUINCY

It had been two weeks since we’d been back from Mexico.

I’d learned that not only did Ford want a verbal debrief from the job, but written statements from each of us. The report included an inventory of supplies, so for me, I had to put a borrowed helicopter on the list. The amount of fuel used. Any issues with the machinery. User challenges. What my opinion was on whether we’d use the same bird or company again.

Only after he’d collected everyone’s reports did Ford write up a master one to share with the client along with the bill. I could only imagine the itemized expense report.

But jobs like the retrieve and rescue we’d just accomplished paid the bills and bought the fancy helicopter that was in the hangar up on the mountain. And my salary. I’d heard the tab was in the low seven figures–the extraction, not my salary–so Alpha Mountain Security was doing pretty well.

That was why Ford ensured that whoever went on a job had at least a week of downtime after. Since the entire team went, we had a stretch off. Except for PT in the mornings and the emergency rescue training we’d done in town, we’d had free time.

I didn’t like to think of my little fainting spell because while the guys never mentioned it, they’d watched me with a touch more concern, and they ensured I was never without a water bottle. They weren’t doing it because I was a girl but because I was part of the team.

Taft had his knee shot up on deployment, and while they didn’t baby him, they ensured he took care of himself and didn’t overdo it and fuck up his knee any worse.

Still, I was sick of their faces. So it hadn’t been hard for the other women to pull me into a ladies' night, starting with dinner and then later moving onto drinks at K-Sparks.

Holly, Indi and I were at a booth at the local steakhouse. Megan had arrived late, just getting off shift. She’d gone home and changed out of her uniform and now matched us in casual jeans or flirty skirts. Holly’d gone so far as to curl her usually straight hair.

“So what are the men doing tonight with us women not there to keep them in line?” Holly asked. She was the only one of us not working for, or in a relationship with, someone at Alpha Mountain.

Indi smiled. “Mrs. L made lasagna, which is the guys’ favorite. I’d say they’re going to eat too much of it, then sit around moaning and groaning because their bellies got too fat.”

“Those guys and belly fat?” Holly asked. “Never happening.”

“Yeah, I know the saying is ‘bounce a quarter off a tight ass,’ but I’ll say the same for those men’s abs. Megan, please tell me you feel up Hayes’ six-pack all the time,” Holly said, hope in her voice.

The waitress stopped by to take Megan’s drink order, and I realized she was the redhead. The waitress Kennedy slept with a few weeks ago. Ugh.

“Gin and tonic, double lime, please,” Megan said. Once the waitress left, she turned to Holly. “I feel up his abs and other things.” She grinned and waggled her eyebrows up and down.

Holly groaned. “I need a man. With abs of steel.”

I’d been following, but I watched the waitress as she worked her way to the bar.

She was younger than me. Her boobs were bigger, hips wider. That red hair was wild, and I could see how Kennedy would want her. I’d do her if I was into women.

“Earth to Quincy.” Indi waved her hand in front of my face.

I blinked then smiled at Indi. “Sorry.”

“You okay with Erin as our waitress?” she asked.

I blinked. “Erin?”

She crinkled her face up and winced. “You know, the one–”

Ah, she knew too what happened.

“The one Kennedy slept with?” I said for her.

Megan’s and Holly’s heads whipped around toward the bar and the redhead. Erin.

All three of them grew up here, but Indi seemed to know the woman personally, at least enough to know her name.

“He did?” Holly said. “I thought–”

My cell chimed in my purse, and I pulled it out, thankful for the reprieve. I never told any of them that I’d slept with Kennedy in Qatar and especially not before the mission a few weeks ago. Shit, had it been almost three weeks since he’d broken up my date with Lee?

I glanced at my screen. “It’s my dad. I’ll be right back,” I told them then hopped up from the booth.

“Admiral.”

I worked my way through the tables and outside. I didn’t want to disturb anyone with my call because I could never be sure how the convo would go.

“Your boss might not be in the service any longer, but Alpha Mountain Security has been spoken about several times this week.”

I wasn’t sure if I should be pleased or petrified, so I settled for, “Oh?”

No pleasantries. No asking after my health, the weather. Nothing. Just straight to the point.

“The rescue mission you did out of Mexico. Diplomatically, it couldn’t have been done by real SEALs.”

Real SEALs. I couldn’t imagine saying that to any of the guys’ faces. They could kill a man with their pinky finger and survive in the wilderness for a week with just a spoon. Probably had.

“Yep, those are the kinds of jobs we get.” We were the runners-up. The not-top choice, but we’d do when it needed to get done and regular channels just wouldn’t work. “I’m always so glad you call with your passive-aggressive put-downs.”

He sighed.

“I heard you flew them in and out of there. Sounds like your team did well.”

I blinked and paused at his silence. “I’m sorry. What?”

Was he giving the team a compliment?

“I’m proud of you, hon. I admit, when you first went into the service, I thought it was because you were trying to prove something to your brothers. That you could keep up. Well, you didn’t make it to admiral, but you sure know how to fly.”

I closed my eyes and blinked away tears. I got a fucking compliment out of my dad. He was proud of me. Yet from one breath to the next, he ruined it. Yeah, I’d never make admiral because I quit the service. To him, walking away meant I gave up.

“At first, I thought you got yourself knocked up or something. Or maybe that your head was turned by a man, but I can see that a civilian job is where you need to be.”

“Knocked up?” I sputtered. “Jesus, Dad.”

“Well, it can be a career-ender. Look what happened to your mother–she could’ve been a brilliant scientist, but I got her pregnant on our first date.”

Um, gross. And, first date?

“After having Zach, she never went back, and three more kids ensured that.”

Oh. My. God.

“Sounds like you ruined her life, Dad. I hope you’ve made it up to her.”

“Well, she’s proud of her kids. I think that’s been enough.”

Long live the patriarchy. My father could really be an asshole. A misogynistic asshole. Who called to tell me he was proud of me for quitting because I’d never been cut out for the military like him and my older brothers.

“Good talking to you, Admiral.”

I hung up and took a second to unclench my jaw and fists. Then I went back inside, settled into the booth with my friends who were laughing about some weird order Holly took at the Feed ‘N Seed coffee shop this morning, then waved my hand for the waitress.

Erin. The woman the guy I was fucked up over had slept with.

She came by and smiled. It wasn’t her fault for handing Kennedy her panties. He was single. Free and clear. Hell, we should form a club. Kennedy’s Dick Fan Club.

“Another beer, please. Maybe a pitcher,” I told her.

“No problem. Where are the men tonight?” She glanced between us. The guys of Alpha Mountain were known in town and famous among the single ladies. And Erin knew one of them really well.

“Doing their own thing,” I replied.

“Too bad. I like the dark-haired one.”

I frowned, then looked to Indi, who was smiling. “You mean Taft?”

The redhead nodded. “The one more my age. He seemed really kind. Hot, too.” She smiled.

“I’m sure he’ll be interested to know you asked after him,” Indi said. “Erin, you probably know Megan and Holly. This is Quincy. She works with Taft.”

I opened my mouth like a fish, forgetting all about the call with my dad and focusing on the fact that Erin’s interest was in Taft.

Taft.

“Kennedy not do it for you?” I asked, hoping I didn’t sound too snarky. Moving from Kennedy to Taft was pretty bold.

Her smile slipped a little. “The flirt?”

Megan, Indi, and Holly laughed. “That’s definitely the one,” Megan said.

Erin shrugged. “He’s okay, I guess. But… Taft? That’s his name?” A blush spread across her cheeks. “I bet that baby face of his gets all the girls.”

“I’d say you might have a shot,” Holly offered.

“You didn’t… I mean, I thought…” I sputtered like an idiot.

“What?” Erin asked.

“I thought you and Kennedy… that night.”

She flushed hotter. “What night? Oh, you mean when you all came here a few weeks ago? God, no. He winked at me, but I saw him wink at Callie, the bartender, too. I’m sure he’s a nice guy and all, but I want a guy who’s all in with me. Who only has eyes for me.”

“Awwww,” Megan said, reaching out and taking Erin’s hand. “You’ll find the guy. And if it’s Taft, you’re going to be one lucky woman.”

Erin left after that to get our pitcher of beer and to tend to her other tables.

Kennedy hadn’t slept with Erin? Why hadn’t he said anything? Why had he let me think that? Was he trying to make me believe he slept around?

Had he been trying to–my mind nearly exploded–make me jealous?

I wasn’t jealous. I was angry. Annoyed, too.

Whatever it was he was up to–or not up to with Erin–I was going to get the truth.

CHAPTER TEN

KENNEDY

I sprawled on my bed debating whether it was wrong to jack off to thoughts of Quincy while she was still out on the town. I didn’t like her being out without me because if Lee was sniffing around her, other guys would, too. She was too fucking gorgeous to be ignored. I was being a good boy, so I didn’t follow to cock block her on her girls’ night.

Again.

I may or may not have pumped Indi for intel before they left to ensure Landers wasn’t invited, though. I might have gotten away with it once, but the guy wasn’t stupid. He’d be sure she didn’t get away from him again.

From Indi’s intel, it sounded like it truly was a girls’ night, so I stayed in the bunkhouse, trying not to think about the way Quincy looked in that hip-hugging jean skirt she left in. I’d already beat one off in the shower, and now, as I lounged with the towel still wrapped around my waist, I still felt unsatisfied.

This was how it had been every day since Qatar. Yeah, that long. I just couldn’t settle for anything but Quincy. Since I’d had a taste and feel of her again a few weeks ago, my need for her was worse than ever. God, that had been hot and wild. She’d been uninhibited and greedy, and I’d loved every fucking second of it. Except when she’d fixed her dress and left.

I was just about to give in to the urge to rub one out again when my door burst open, and the woman I’d been fantasizing about stood there in all her glory. White tank top, jean skirt, sandals with straps that went around her tanned ankles. Too much skin showed, and I wanted to touch and taste every inch of her.

“You didn’t screw the redhead.” She said it in an accusing voice like it pissed her off.

She didn’t move into the room, just stood there backlit by the light from the main room.

I sat up. “Sorry?”

Her gaze traveled down my bare torso to my towel-covered lap. “Oh.”

My cock twitched in salute, and there was no missing the way it tented the terry cloth.

“Come in, sweets. You’re not interrupting a thing.” I turned on the charm.

She took a step in and angled the door shut behind her, but not all the way. She was leaving herself an out.

“You didn’t screw the redhead.” Her gaze darted to my lap again.

She definitely wanted another ride.

“That upsets you? That I didn’t sleep with a woman?” Mrs. L’s words flashed in my mind. I was more confused than ever.

“You made me think you had.” Now she pulled the door all the way closed and leaned against it, folding her arms across her chest, making her perfect tits lift. “Were you trying to make me jealous?”

I grinned. “Did it work?”

She pushed off from the door and took a few steps toward me. I wanted to reach for her, but I stopped myself. Quincy wasn’t the type of woman you coaxed into anything. She had to come on her own, or she wouldn’t come at all.

She stopped with her hands on her hips. “I really don’t get you, Kennedy. Why would you do that? Why did you want me thinking you were a man whore?”

It was time to come clean. I should have told her the last time we talked–I didn’t know why I hadn’t.

Because you’re a stubborn idiot of a man who self-sabotaged.

“Sweets, I know you think I’m a player. I definitely got around before we hooked up in Qatar–no denying it. I was no monk and definitely not a virgin. Neither were you.”

She blinked then gave a quick nod. Neither of us had any intention of talking about past partners, but I had thrown the redheaded waitress in her face, even if it hadn’t been true.

“But I haven’t been with anyone since.”

Quincy’s mouth opened, and she stared at me. “You haven’t been with anyone…” she echoed in a stunned voice. “Wait, since that night, you mean?”

I shook my head. “Since Qatar.” I held my hands up. “I swear to God, sweets. I know we didn’t make any promises or commitments to each other, but after you, no one else seemed to measure up. I didn’t feel like going there with anyone else.”

Quincy looked like she was going to faint or something. She swayed on her feet, staring at me in shock. Yeah, the man whore who turned into a born-again virgin because of her.

“If that doesn’t make you feel good about yourself, I’m not sure what will.” I let out a rueful laugh. “I know it’s a shocker. It sort of shocked me, too. I just want you, Quince. Can we revisit that as a possibility?”

Quincy blinked rapidly. “Um.” She let out a ragged laugh. “This is so weird.” She stumbled forward–almost to my arms but not quite.

I managed to keep from dragging her the rest of the way in, but I did reach out and grip her muscular thighs, stroking along the bare skin below the hem of her skirt.

“You’re telling me you… you gave up women after me?”

I grinned. “I didn’t give them up. I was saving myself for the best.” I winked at her, and she let out a breathy laugh, finally taking that last step to fall into me. Her hands came to my shoulders, and my face went between her tits. I slid my palms up her legs to cup her panty-clad ass underneath the skirt, which was up around her waist now.

“Saving yourself,” she scoffed softly. “That’s ridiculous, Kennedy.” Her fingertips explored the tattoo on my back.

“It’s all true.”

“I…I’m flabbergasted.”

I pulled her hips forward and down until she landed straddling my lap. “Let me shock you some more.” I nibbled at her breast through her fitted t-shirt while I pulled her ass up so the heat between her legs caged my raging hard-on. “How’s your head?”

I wasn’t doing anything if she wasn’t up to it.

She reached between us to grasp my cock. “My head’s fine. How’s your dick? Ready to go? You offering me another ride?” Her tone was just as suggestive as mine. Her head was fine. Check. She was running hot and ready to go. Check.

“I thought I just explained that the offer is always open where you’re concerned.” I pulled her panties to the side, and she adjusted her position to line my cock up at her entrance. “Do you need my mouth there first, sweets?”

The question died between us as she lowered herself onto my length. Turned out she was already plenty wet and ready to take me. Her mouth opened in a silent gasp of pleasure. She closed her eyes and undulated in a slow, sensual way as I peeled her t-shirt off and unhooked her bra.

“Hang on.” She dismounted and quickly stripped out of her skirt and panties. I stood and tossed the towel that had fallen from my waist to the floor.

“On your back, sweets. I need to fuck you hard and deep tonight.”

She dove onto the bed and rolled to her back, and I climbed over her. “You really haven’t had sex with anyone else?”

I gripped my cock and fed my length into her. “Apparently he only works for you now,” I told her. “And don’t think I’m not a little bitter about you stonewalling me these few weeks. In fact, punishment might be in order.” I gripped her wrists and pinned them beside her head, shoving in hard.

Her eyes flared with excitement. We’d gotten a little kinky in Qatar. She liked to be manhandled–I remembered that. It had taken a lot for her to surrender, but once she had, she’d wanted to be dominated completely. To let go.

“Oh yeah?” There was a dare in her breathy response. In the way her chin lifted, and she held my gaze.

My grin turned feral. I shoved in harder. Faster. “Yeah.” I lowered my head and sucked one pert nipple then scraped my teeth over it. I repeated the action with the other, sensing her anticipation growing.

Pulling out, I rolled her to her belly and pinned her hands at her low back. I smacked her ass, hard. Her hips bounced on the bed, and she rolled her ass for more. I proceeded to spank her, alternating sides, heating her ass up with the flat of my hand. All the while, she made soft hmms and ahhs of appreciation, squirming, like she loved every minute of it.

“I am definitely going to have to tie you to this bed soon,” I murmured, and she arched her back in invitation.

I entered her from behind, keeping my grip on her wrists, so I was still in charge. “Spread those legs wide for me, sweets.” She obeyed, and I entered her without needing to use my hand to guide my cock in. I was so hard for her, and she was so wet, we would have found each other and connected if both of us were tied up and blindfolded.

I tugged her elbows backward, making her arch a little as I fucked her from behind. The sweet slip of flesh inside flesh made my entire body flush with inferno-like heat. Or maybe it was the fact that it was Quincy beneath me. The woman who made my blood sing.

She was already coming, her ass squeezing, her thighs straightening out tight as her internal muscles pulsed around my dick. It came on a breathy exhale, a low moan that made my balls ache. Thank fuck she didn’t scream. I remembered Hayes had said Taft had overheard. We’d have to keep things quiet. Quieter.

“That was one,” I counted. I intended to make her come many more times tonight.

She’d come to my bed willingly, and I was going to reward her for it. Show her what she’d been missing. Teach her to come back to me, night after night. I’d give her whatever she needed.

I pulled out and lifted her hips in the air, so she rested on her knees and her torso sloped down. Re-entering her from this angle, I wrung another small aftershock out of her. She felt so fucking good. I was completely lost in everything that was Quincy. Her scent. The lean, muscular lines of her lithe body. Her long, thick hair splayed out around her. She was beautiful.

I gripped her hips and pumped in and out of her, hard enough to make the bed shake and rock beneath us. She braced her hands against the headboard to push back at me, to take me even deeper. “That’s it, sweets. Take me deep and hard. Good girl.”

She came again right after that. Good to know she had a praise kink. She liked being called a good girl.

“That was two.”

She let out a sob of satisfaction. I didn’t stop my vigorous pounding.

“H-How many are we going for here?” she panted.

Thank God for the daily cardio because I was pretty sure I could go on forever like this. Damn sure I wanted this to never stop. “What was our previous record?” I'd made her come at least five times that night in Qatar.

Her laugh was throaty and raw. "Oh my God, you are crazy. Does everything have to be a competition?"

I continued pounding into her. “Well, I hold myself to a high standard. I am a SEAL, after all.”

“You’re cocky as hell.”

“And you love this cock, as far as I can tell.”

“Too true,” she gasped. “Please…” I slowed a little in case she meant please not so hard, but she immediately said, “No. Please, I need it, Kennedy.”

Damn. Now I was going to lose control. Just hearing those words from her sent me over the edge. I gripped her with bruising strength and slammed in and out. “I’ve got what you need, Quincy-girl. You don’t have to beg. I’ll give it to you any time you want.”

“Oh God!” She tucked her toes under, which made her pelvis arch even more. When she turned her face to look over her shoulder at me, I nearly lost it.

She looked so beautiful. So abandoned to lust. I needed to slake that lust like I needed my heart to keep beating. My breath to keep cycling.

“I want it now.”

I forgot to be quiet. Didn’t give a shit that Taft might be in the building. Forgot that Quincy probably wouldn’t want the team to know we were hitting it. Except I didn’t care. If they knew I was satisfying my girl, then I didn’t give a shit.

Yeah, she was my girl. The only one for me.

A roar of satisfaction ripped from my throat, and my thrusts turned wild. Another six seconds, and I was coming like a bullet train, emptying my balls, filling her with my release.

She didn’t need any coaxing to join me. Her muscles squeezed and pulsed, milking my cock of all its seed. Before she finished, I reached around to rub her clit and got another huge spasm out of her, along with a cry of satisfaction.

“Good girl,” I praised, remembering.

She squeezed again, her channel tight around my cock. “Oh my God.” Her body went slack. “Kennedy.”

I kept our hips glued together and dropped to my side to spoon her. “That was only three,” I murmured against her ear. “I’ve got my assignment, and I’ll complete my mission. Don’t you worry.”

Her laugh made me feel like a warrior.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

QUINCY

Six orgasms.

Kennedy was freaking out of his mind. Well, actually, he’d sent me out of mine. The man had the stamina of a bull. If the military had a breeding program, he would’ve been the Navy SEAL of breeders.

Ha. That was an amusing thought. I should have written that fantasy up and posted it on an erotic story website where the female sailors sought masturbatory fodder when on tour. My old teammates would have loved me for it.

Now, as I lay in Kennedy’s arms, limp as a ragdoll, wrung out by pleasure, my brain slowly came back online.

“You really haven’t had sex with anyone else since Qatar?” I demanded, breathing in the sweaty scent of sex.

“Nope.” He said it so easily and immediately I had to believe him. Why would he lie? He was a notorious womanizer. You’d think it would hurt his male ego to admit he’d been celibate for the nearly two years since we’d parted.

“I mean…” I just couldn’t wrap my brain around it. “You weren’t waiting for me. It’s not like we had any kind of agreement after that night. You weren’t actively chasing me or anything since we both had our work. The SEALs sent you one way. I went another.”

“Well, I may be a player, but I do consider myself a gentleman. I always respect a woman when she tells me no.” He slid his hand up from my waist to cup my breast and lightly strummed my nipple with his thumb. “Besides, it’s not like I had much of a chance. I didn’t see you again until Ford hired you, and then you were sort of off limits.” He kissed my shoulder. “You technically still are. Ford told me if I fuck things up with you, he’d fire my ass.”

“What?” I rolled over in his arms and nestled up against his side. He had golden hair on his chest that made him seem leonine. He was definitely all king of the jungle. Wild. Feral, yet ruthlessly controlled. Anyone who fell for his casual nature had never seen him on a mission.

“Yep. I guess you’re more useful than I am when it comes to the team.”

“No chance of that. But what do you mean fuck things up with me? Does that mean he was encouraging you to…pursue me?”

Ford wanted us to be together. It couldn’t be good for team dynamics.

“No.” Kennedy gave a dry laugh. “The opposite. He wants me to keep my dick in my pants.” He went silent, and I thought I sensed a change in him. A stiffness.

“What?” I pried.

Kennedy just shook his head. “Nobody believes I could be serious about a woman–yourself included. Maybe especially you.”

“Well, you literally told me in Qatar you would never settle down.”

He turned his head to look at me, wincing. “I did? Fuck. No wonder you ran.”

I shook my head, my hair most likely a wild snarl on the pillow. “I didn’t run. I was shipped out, and then so were you. But yeah. I thought you made things pretty clear.”

“That wasn’t–” He turned his face back to the ceiling and stared for a minute. “I guess I meant it at the time. I’d just gotten to know you a little. The experience hadn’t soaked in yet, and after, when we were sent to our next mission in Africa, the distance had me realizing what we had was… more. Special. I wanted more from you.”

I didn’t like the way my heart seemed to be beating outside my chest. I shouldn’t care so much about the direction of this conversation. I didn’t plan on pursuing a relationship with Kennedy. Hell, I hadn’t planned on climbing into his bed again.

I wasn’t much for following my own orders when it came to this devilish man, though, was I? I’d thought he was a womanizer, and I’d had sex with him twice. Three times, if I counted Qatar. It seemed he was impossible to resist, even with what I thought of him.

Which had been wrong.

“You soaked into me, too,” I admitted, apparently losing my sanity again.

Kennedy rolled to face me, leaning up on his elbow. “Here’s the thing. I became a sworn bachelor at thirteen as soon as I figured out the path my parents had laid out for me.”

I went still, listening. I actually knew nothing about his past. His home life. Where he came from. Hell, I didn’t even know his real name. I didn’t realize how hungry I was for it, though.

“Do you know who my father is?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Should I?”

“They didn’t just pick the call name Kennedy for me because the ladies like me. Have you heard of Senator Joe Berghart?”

My eyes widened. “Sounds familiar. Which state?”

“Maryland.”

“Is he your dad?”

“Yep. And I was supposed to follow in his footsteps. My grandfather’s before him. I was groomed with fancy prep schools and country club golf tournament trophies. Those things I actually did. They expected me to continue the legacy with a law degree from Yale, followed by a marriage to a rich socialite to help bankroll my campaigns. A trophy wife who smiled beside me and made perfect photo-op babies then handed them off to a nanny. They’d help me get elected as a state representative and work my way up, using the family name to propel my future.”

My stomach turned. I was sure that dream would be amazing for some kids, but Kennedy was a salt-of-the-earth kind of man. Sure, he was brilliant and charming, but he was also a warrior. Dangerous to the enemy. He was physical and grounded and real. Not polished and fake like a politician where the only adventure was making deals on the back nine.

He took down ruthless drug lords and terrorists. Other things that were classified that I couldn’t even imagine.

I scraped my nails through the hair on his chest, making goosebumps stand up along his arms. “I’m guessing you joined the Navy to run away from that future?”

“Exactly. I played along until I was eighteen, but I wanted to be the anti-kid. The black sheep. Whatever I needed to do to get as far away from the veneer as possible. It totally backfired though.”

“Oh?”

“Instead of my career choice pissing them off, they made it work for them. They used my service as a SEAL to show their patriotism. The senator’s son putting his life on the line in duty to his country. The Berghart family, committing themselves to the people of the US in different ways.” He laughed, but he didn’t look like he found it at all funny. I didn’t either.

“So they inwardly hate you but love you for the good PR spin,” I recapped.

He sighed. “Until recently, yeah. This mercenary work with Alpha Mountain sure as hell doesn’t sit right with them though. I’m thirty years old, and they still need me to keep my image perfect. They don’t like me associating with a disgraced officer. They’re afraid it will come out and tarnish my record, too.”

“Another good reason to clear Ford’s name,” I murmured.

He shook his head. “No, fuck them. I know the real Ford, the kind of man he really is. I don’t give a shit if he’s labeled dishonorable or not. I’ll still have his back. But I want to clear Ford’s name for Ford. I could care less about my parents’ concerns.”

“I take it you’re not close?”

His pale eyes met mine. “They were awful parents. Judgmental pricks who I could never please. They never forgave me for joining the Navy instead of going to Georgetown, where I’d been accepted. And I flushed the chance of a Yale law legacy down the toilet.”

I glanced up at him. “I’m sorry. My parents never wanted me in the Navy, either.”

Kennedy brushed the hair back from my face. “Really? Isn’t your dad an admiral? I thought all his kids went into the Navy.”

“Yeah, we did, but I’m a girl.” I wrinkled my nose.

His hand cupped my bare ass. “I’m well aware of that.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Ah. I see. Were you supposed to stay home, be a school teacher, and have babies or something?” Kennedy flashed his dimpled grin–the one that dissolved me into a puddle of hormones.

“I don’t know. I honestly can’t tell what my dad wanted for me. Be that housewife because as a woman, I could be content with my husband’s life being mine. Or be a Navy pilot and say it was because I was trying to keep up with my brothers and then telling me I wasn’t a real woman since I never had a family.”

I sighed because I’d never verbalized how my father messed with my head.

“It seems like whatever I do is wrong. Going into the Navy. Leaving the Navy. Being associated with Ford. I guess our parents have that bias in common.”

“The Navy is a good place for people with daddy issues,” Kennedy said with a smirk.

I snorted. “What are you talking about?”

He shrugged. “Expectations are clearly laid out. It’s easy to succeed there.”

“So, back to your daddy issues,” I said, not willing to examine my own too closely. “You vowed not to get a trophy wife to spite your parents?”

He shrugged. “Trophy wife? Never. Married in general? Essentially.” He swallowed. “I’m never going to do the wedding ring and picket fence. What’s expected and perfect. I definitely don’t want pedigreed children. I would never curse a child by bringing them into this world with grandparents who expected them to carry on the Burghart legacy. That’s a hefty burden.”

I checked in with my emotions, but no part of me felt daunted by what Kennedy was saying. He wasn’t saying no to a relationship. Only to one that was shaped the way his parents wanted him to do it. He lived his life on his own terms, and I respected that.

I did that for myself as well.

“Yeah, I never wanted a picket fence, either. My mom gave up a dream career as a biologist when she got pregnant with my oldest brother. It always seemed sad to me. I promised myself I would never give up a career to have a family.”

Kennedy shifted, rolling me beneath him. He brushed my hair back once more, and I got lost in his gaze. In him. In the feel of his weight. The comfort and safety I felt in his hold.

Kennedy leaned forward and kissed the soft flesh above my nipple, then worked his way up my neck. “So we’re in agreement. No picket fences. No two point five kids.” He kissed across my jaw until his lips brushed over mine. He hovered just above them. “Just us doing… this… together.”

My heart stopped beating. Then restarted at a gallop.

Together?

Like, together-together?

“Exclusive.” The muscle in his jaw flexed. “No more dates with Lee Landers, or I will plant a car bomb in his vehicle.”

Pleasure bloomed in my chest. Kennedy was claiming me. I never thought the guy would claim any woman in his lifetime, least of all me.

I laughed. “I might pop a tire on that redhead’s vehicle if you keep winking at her.”

“I’ll control the winking,” Kennedy promised.

I rolled my hips when he kissed me then looped an arm behind his neck to deepen it, claiming him right back.

CHAPTER TWELVE

KENNEDY

“Bingo!” Quincy burst through the door to Ford’s grandma’s house–aka Alpha Mountain HQ–and marched into the office where Ford, Taft, Hayes and I sat going over the latest intel for an upcoming job.

Any time she walked through those doors, she snagged all of my attention, but even more so now because she appeared to be bursting with news.

“What’s up, Flyer?” I asked, leaning back in my office chair, trying not to smile too big. I didn’t need to signal to everyone that she and I had spent the entire night exploring each other’s bodies. Thoroughly.

That I’d nearly made her cry with so many orgasms.

That I’d slept with her tucked up against my side.

I had a feeling they all knew we were together, minus the intimate details.

“I just got off the phone with my dad. It’s usually a painful experience, and I won’t bore you with the reasons why.” I knew some of them, but she was humming with energy as if she’d had a gallon of high-octane coffee. “He doesn’t like me working with Ford because of the whole dishonorable discharge thing, sorry, but yeah. A while ago, I threw out a few scraps about the truth. What really happened because while he’s an expert in passive aggressiveness, he follows facts. Since I work with you Ford, he knew my intel was solid. I knew he’d follow up, and he did.”

I blinked, trying to follow, but Ford sat at attention. “Admiral Mason?”

“Keep up, Master Chief. Yes, Admiral Mason, my dad.”

“So what did he find out?” I asked after pulling the lollipop from my mouth, rubbing my fingers together to get ready to type the info into my keyboard.

She cocked a hip. “Well, he wouldn’t say over the phone. He asked me to fly out there, so we could talk in person, but that must mean it’s important.”

“Is he still at 32nd Street?” Ford asked, using the insider name for Naval Base San Diego.

She nodded, which sent her dark ponytail swinging. “Yes. I booked a flight out of Missoula this afternoon.”

“Taft, you’ll go with her.” Ford swiveled in his chair to face him. “I want two pairs of ears there. Book a hotel room because you won’t go there and back in a day.”

“What?” I rocketed out of my office chair, sending it rolling behind me. “No fucking way. I’m going with Quincy.” Not a chance in hell Taft was sharing a hotel room with my woman.

Ford grinned at me, and I realized I’d totally tipped my hand.

I tried to cool my jets. “I mean, no way I’m missing out on fish tacos from The Shack.”

Hayes snorted and rolled his eyes.

Taft frowned like he was offended to be taken off the job. When I gave him a hard glare, though, he caught on. “Right. Kennedy should go. He probably knows the admiral, and I don’t.”

I didn’t, but I wouldn’t mind having a little chat with the man for treating his daughter like anything less than a princess.

Quincy looked everywhere but at me. A slight flush ran up her neck, making me want to nibble my way along it again.

“Is that okay with you, Quince?” Ford asked.

She lifted her gaze to his. “Oh. Yeah. Uh-huh. Definitely.”

We weren’t fooling anybody. I wasn’t sure why we even tried.

“Okay, Kennedy, get on that flight with Quincy,” Ford said. “What time are wheels up?”

“Fifteen thirty-five,” Quincy said. I glanced at my watch. Just over three hours.

“I’ll pack my bag,” I said, moving swiftly toward the door and giving Quincy a wink only she could see when I passed.

Quincy heading to California alone? Not happening. Meeting with her pain in the ass father solo? Again, not happening. I had her back, and I was going to prove it.

No way I was letting that woman out of my sight. Not when I was still drunk on the taste of her.

* * *

QUINCY

“I hate not being in the cockpit,” I told Kennedy as we tilted our seatbacks and got comfortable. The plane was small so there were only two seats on each side of the aisle. The good thing was I didn’t have to share a row with anyone else.

“I’ll bet.” He flashed me with those panty-melting dimples. “At least I don’t have to jump out of this one. I get to stay on for both takeoff and landing.”

That made her smile. “Commercial air travel for the win. Especially since we can order a drink. I definitely need one or two any time it comes to dealing with my dad.”

Kennedy turned his laser focus on me, his brows dropping. Because the seats were so close together, his face was right there. As in, if I leaned forward two inches, we’d be kissing. “Is he a hard ass at home, too?”

“Home? I haven’t really been home much in the past few years. None of us kids have. I meet up with my mom for a girls’ weekend at different spas around the country instead of heading to San Diego. But back in the day? No, he wasn’t a hard ass. Not like that. He was a decent, loving dad. It’s just the whole being a girl–and the baby of the family–in a household of boys. I’m always trying to prove I’m worthy and never measuring up.”

“Then he’s a dick.” Kennedy said it like it was fact. Like he’d just measured my father and found him lacking. He reached for my hand and laced his fingers through mine, setting them on his jean-clad thigh. I stared down at our tangled hands, somewhat shocked by the simple, yet dramatic gesture.

I was holding hands with Kennedy. Almost as if I was his girlfriend. Kennedy–the notorious womanizer!

The flight attendant came by, and we ordered gin and tonics. When they arrived, I took a deep sip of mine, expecting to enjoy the bite of the liquor and the tang of lime, but for whatever reason, it didn’t taste good to me. I set it back down.

“Here’s the thing.” Kennedy swirled his plastic cup to mix it better. A mother with an antsy toddler passed us to go to the bathroom. “You’re a grown-up now. You’re also no longer in the Navy. So you don’t have to answer to him for anything. We don’t have to answer to him for anything. There aren’t rules or protocols to follow. We’re not under his command. And while he might be your dad, you run your own life now.”

We.

I wasn’t sure if Kennedy used that pronoun because he was reminding himself he no longer answered to higher ranks like Admiral Mason, or if he meant the two of us were a combined unit. Either way, I loved the way it hit my chest. Like a spreading warmth that filled me and lightened some of the bricks that had settled there thinking about the visit.

I wanted to get the intel my dad had about Ford, but being forced to go to California to get it? I would feel like shit if he pulled the request just to get me to tell me what to do. If anyone had even a scrap of information on who was fucking with Ford, any one of us on the team would jump.

“Easier said than done, though.” My mouth twisted in a wry smile. “My dad is like a bulldozer who flattens everyone around him with his own ideas about how things should be.”

Kennedy appeared amused. “And you’re incapable of being flattened. Look at you, Flyer.” His gaze raked over me in my simple blue scoop neck T and jeans. I had my hair in a braid and only swiped on mascara and lip gloss before we headed to the airport. But he eyed me in a way I hadn’t seen from a man before. Appreciation. Respect. Heat.

“Have you acknowledged how much you achieved? You’re a top-notch pilot who doesn’t take shit from anyone. You’re beautiful. Badass. And nobody’s bitch–especially not some crusty old admiral’s.”

I couldn’t stop myself from smiling back at Kennedy, basking in the warmth of his gaze. But I knew the pep talk wouldn’t last. My dad had a way of making me shrink into that twelve-year-old girl who got left behind when the older boys went on hunting, snowmobiling or skydiving trips with him.

And even though Kennedy talked a big game, I knew he was hardwired to respond to an admiral’s authority, too.

“Ten bucks says you salute him when he barks your name.”

Kennedy met my challenging gaze and a slow smile spread across his face. “You’re on. I will not salute the crusty old bastard once. That C-note is mine.”

I laughed.

“So what’s the plan?” Kennedy asked. “Are we going to your house–his house–someone’s house?”

I nodded. “Yes. My mom wanted to make us dinner, but I told her not to wait. Even though we go back an hour with changing time zones, it’ll be late. Besides, I figured we’d rather get tacos from The Shack.”

His eyes lit up, and he practically licked his lips. “Yes, please. Don’t tempt me with a good time. My mouth is already watering for them.”

I was quiet for a moment, considering something important. “I don’t know what you want to do about sleeping. My mom will want me to stay there.”

“Is that what you want?” Kennedy’s blue gaze held no judgment.

I gave his fingers a little squeeze. “No. Not really.”

“Thank fuck.” He sighed and raised our joined hands to his mouth to kiss my knuckles. “I have no intention of sleeping down the hall from you ever again. Especially in your parents' house.” He leaned in to whisper in my ear. While the noise of the engines muted most conversations, what came next was for my ears only. “The idea of defiling you in your childhood bedroom makes my dick hard, but while I might not like your father, I respect him and your mom. I’ll fuck their daughter in the privacy of a hotel room.”

I can’t help but laugh and squirm a little at his words.

“I made a hotel reservation, sweets. To get you beneath me, but more importantly, if being around your parents makes you feel disempowered, I say the least amount of time we spend at their house, the better.”

Another band of tightness around my ribs loosened. I shouldn’t have needed permission from someone else to set boundaries, but my parents were difficult terrain. It was easy to fall back on who I used to be when I was with them instead of who I was now. Kennedy’s permission to make my own choices and be my own woman made it all seem easier. Possible.

“Are you going to tell my dad we’re sharing a room?” I teased. “I assume you got only one.” Because my dad’s form of intimidation went into hyperdrive when it came to men who were interested in me.

“One room, one bed.” He said, then his smile faltered. “Do you want me to tell him?”

I laughed. “Up to you. But if you do, don’t be surprised if we find a team of Navy SEALs sneaking into our hotel room to take you out in the middle of the night.”

“No SEAL is coming into a room you’re sleeping in without permission,” Kennedy vowed. “Not if they want to live.”

I patted his bulging biceps. “I appreciate that, tough guy, but I can–”

He held up his hands. “I know, I know. You can look out for yourself. I would never believe otherwise. But I’ll be here if you need me. And remember, whatever happens, afterward, I’ll fuck you hard enough to forget your own name, let alone that you met with your parents.”

I swallowed hard because that definitely was going to be on my mind.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

KENNEDY

San Diego. I always loved “Sandy Eggo” as we’d called it when I was stationed there. I’d done my Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado where the weather was perfect year round. The water, which some days we’d been in more than on land, was fucking cold. When not training, there’d been no shortage of good tacos and beautiful women for us there, not that I cared about that now.

Well, I’d take a few tacos, and I had my beautiful woman. My sole job of this trip was to protect Quincy because she was the one to get the intel that might give us a lead to help Ford. Not that I believed anything would happen to her. We were in California, not Kandahar. No, I was actually worried about protecting her emotions. I might as well have cut off my balls and handed them to her. I’d never given any thought to a woman’s emotional state beyond ensuring she was into what I was offering and understood that it was just playtime.

Now, oh, we’d have playtime, but she’d come first and often. That would happen after we took care of shit with her dad, and I made sure her head was on straight. Because while I was out of the SEALs, I could call in a wet team to make even an admiral disappear.

Yeah, I was that into Quincy.

After tacos at The Shack, which were as amazing as I remembered, we took a rideshare to her parents’ house, which was an immaculately kept place on the golf course.

“This is where you grew up, huh?” I looked around, trying to imagine a younger Quincy living here, chasing after her older brothers, wanting to be included.

“Yep.” She sounded stiff and her lips pressed together in a thin line as she surveyed the house. Her energy had already shifted, like she was on lockdown emotionally. I recognized it because I did it myself when I saw my own parents. A rare occurrence, but it happened more than I wanted.

“Treat it like a mission,” I said softly as we walked to the door. “In and out, and no one gets hurt.”

She gave a humorless laugh as the door flew open, and a woman in her sixties rushed out and threw her arms around Quincy. “Melissa! I’m so happy to see you. When Dad said you were coming… oh, I couldn’t believe it. How long can you stay?”

Admiral Mason stood in the doorway with his arms crossed over his massive chest. He wasn’t in uniform, but his khaki pants had creases as sharp as dress whites.

Her mom broke the embrace and urged Quincy toward the door as she extended a hand to me with a warm, friendly smile. “Hi, I’m Janet. I didn’t know Melissa was bringing a friend.”

I saw where Quincy got her warmth and openness from because it wasn’t from her dad. But she got his dark hair and eyes. There was no question she was his daughter.

“Teammate,” Quincy corrected, and I winced, but then as I shook Janet's hand, Quincy added, “Well, yes. He’s a friend, too.” She moved on to give her dad a stilted hug. His arm went around her back and patted as if she might be wearing an IED.

The admiral was staring at me as he did so. His gaze narrowed on me, assessing. “Chief Warrant Officer Chase Berghart. Navy SEAL. Son of Maryland Senator Joe Berghart. Did not re-enlist after his commanding officer Ford Ledger was dishonorably discharged.”

He had done his research. Either he’d accessed TSA records and had my name that way, or he had intel on all the guys at Alpha Mountain Security. I assumed the latter.

“Yes, sir.” I offered my hand to him to shake, and he took a moment before slowly deigning to grasp it. When he did, I suspected he was trying to crack my bones with his grip. I just gave him my most easy-going smile in return.

Compared to warlords or drug kingpins, an aging admiral was a walk in the park. The only land mines around here were anything I might say that would put shit onto Quincy.

“You should have cleared bringing members of your team with me first,” he scolded Quincy.

“We work as a team. And, my boss sent him,” Quincy said dryly, both reminding him that she no longer was in the military, and she answered first to someone else now.

“Well,” the admiral said, sounding put out. “Your mom will want to have some time with you first.”

“What can I get you both to drink?” Janet asked bustling us through the tidy, upper-middle-class house and into the kitchen. “Are you both staying the night?” She glanced at the bags we’d pulled from the car. We’d both packed light–Quincy had a backpack, and I had a small carry-on with my computer and a change of clothes. If the admiral’s intel had any merit, I wanted to dig into it right away.

“We leave at 0600 tomorrow,” Quincy answered. “And, no, we will be staying in a hotel.”

Both her parents seemed startled by that information. I watched the reassessment happening behind their eyes as they looked from Quincy to me.

I desperately wanted to claim Quincy in front of them. To put my hand on her back and show her she had my full support. But I also didn't want to overstep. This was her familial home, and it was up to her how she wanted to play this. I’d dealt with higher-ups before, but not when one was my woman’s father.

We might be in a relationship and considered ourselves exclusive, that had been to deal with the Lee Landers and redheaded waitresses, not parents.

“Well, business first then,” the admiral said. He tipped his head toward the hallway, and we followed him into a stately masculine office. The desk was neat, nothing out of place. I had to guess if he made his own bed, the corners would be precise, and he’d bounce a quarter off it each morning.

When I compared the house and this office to our current temporary headquarters–essentially Mrs L's sewing room that we'd taken over–the differences were laughable. Still, Ford was no less of an imposing presence or dignified leader than the admiral.

Hell, he had the skills, the connections, lacked the rules and regs, and made a shit ton more money. So did I. Quincy, too.

“Have a seat,” he instructed, taking his place behind the great oak desk. Quincy and I sat in the chairs in front of it.

“What did you find out?” Quincy asked, getting right to the point.

The admiral caged his hands together and gave us both another stare down. “Well, nothing definitive. But whatever David Buchanan got himself into, it’s big, and it goes all the way up the chain of command.”

It was still hard to hear about what happened to Buck. I hadn’t grown up with him like Ford had, but he’d been my teammate for years. A friend. Losing him, or anyone as close as we’d been, was hell.

“We suspected that much,” I said, earning a sharp glare from the admiral, like I wasn’t permitted to speak or be a part of this conversation any more than being the “teammate.”

“How do you know?” Quincy asked.

“I looked into Ford Ledger’s dismissal. Pulled his file. Asked to see the evidence of his failed drug test.” He frowned. “There wasn’t any.”

“I told you th–”

The admiral held up a hand to cut Quincy off, and I narrowed my eyes. Total dick move.

“A few days later, I get a call.” He paused, I presumed for dramatic effect. Yeah, he was leading this show.

“And?” Quincy prodded.

He looked to her. “It came from Admiral Williams.”

Ice cold washed over my arms at the name. Williams had given the orders for a number of our missions in Afghanistan. He’d been our commanding admiral. Lincoln, our buddy on the inside of the SEAL teams here in San Diego and was a mere captain in comparison, answered to him then. Still did.

I ground my molars waiting for the rest of the story because this was bad fucking news.

“Williams asked what my interest in Ford’s case was. I explained that my daughter was working for him now, so I wanted to make sure the guy was safe.”

“And?” Quincy prompted him again.

The admiral set his forearms on the desk and folded his hands together. “And he painted a picture of an officer who had long-term, ongoing drug problems. One who would lie and cheat and break rules. Williams said they’d thought Ford Ledger was involved with the drug trafficking incident with Buck, but now it appears he was working with this guy Tully, who he conveniently pushed off a cliff in Montana.”

A murderous rage simmered in my blood as I realized the implications of the admiral’s words. Admiral Williams and Lincoln had been supporters of Ford, even after his discharge. Or so we’d thought. So if Williams fed Quincy’s dad this story, that meant…

He was at the top of the corrupt chain. It didn’t go any higher up than him. But did it trickle down to Lincoln?

“Interesting that a man who thought so little of him would’ve thrown his security company so many jobs after he left, don’t you think?” I asked tightly. Lincoln, presumably under the agreement of Williams, had consistently sent work our way since Ford formed Alpha Mountain Security. Was he doing it to hide his involvement? Or to absolve his guilt?

I didn’t know Williams. Hadn’t even met the man. Lincoln, though, was the leader we looked up to. Reported to. He was on our side. Our rep when it came to dealing with shit like this.

But was he?

Holy fuck. Had we been looking so far away that we never even noticed the corruption right in front of us?

The admiral arched a brow at me. “I found it suspicious, to say the least.” He dropped his hands onto the desk with a heavy thud. “I don’t like it, Melissa. Now that I rattled this cage, it can’t be unrattled. Ford and the rest of you” –he looked between the two of us– “just became untidy loose ends. Whatever goodwill that kept your boss from getting killed along with Buck probably just expired.” He directed his gaze at Melissa. “I want you out of that outfit, right now.”

“No.” She bit out the word before I even had a chance to take a breath. “I stand with my team. We intend to clear Ford’s name. That’s been our main mission all along. We knew sometime, somewhere, things would get stirred up. Sounds like you did it. We’ll take it from here, even if it means bringing down your buddy.”

His buddy, an admiral, who might be the head of this whole fucking mess? How had we not seen any involvement from him before? Oh yeah, because his details and actions were highly classified, or he had some underling working for him who ensured he stayed squeaky clean. Probably both.

But was it Lincoln? The idea of such a backstabbing made my gut churn.

“My buddy?” he sputtered. “Melissa, that’s not what this is about! This is about your goddamn safety. Your life is in danger right now! All I did was toss out a scrap about Ford Ledger to make sure I knew you were safe, and now you’re not.”

Even though I knew the admiral was right and even though Quincy’s safety was of the utmost importance to me, too, I couldn’t take his side. Sure, I wanted to tie her to my bed back at the compound, so she couldn’t go on any missions and get even the slightest hangnail. But I couldn’t do that. I’d be just like her dad, and I wasn’t that. Not when I knew how much being sidelined meant to Quincy.

“And my safety will be ensured by us taking down the entire corrupt network.” Quincy sat back, slapping her palms on her thighs. “Did you have any other intel for us?”

The admiral pushed back his chair and stood. The action was intentional and probably ingrained from decades in the service. “I mean it, Melissa, I want you out–”

“Thank you for your help.” She stood, and I followed suit, not letting him have the least bit of advantage.

“I forbid you to–”

“You’re not in charge of me, Admiral,” Quincy snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. “If you want me safe, keep rattling cages on your end until we have the proof we need to put an end to this. A good man was murdered and framed. Another good man had his career destroyed over this. Good soldiers. We owe it to them to make it right. And we owe it to the fuckers who are doing this to put them down. I’m part of a team that’s going to do this. I’m good at what I do, Dad. I’ll get these SEALs in and out safely. They do the hard work.”

“I won’t have it!” the admiral bellowed as we walked out.

Quincy paused in the doorway. “End of discussion,” she said firmly. “If you keep it up, I will leave without visiting with Mom.”

That was my girl.

That shut him up. His mouth snapped closed, and he sank back into his chair, his face red. I shut the door behind us with a firm click. The info had been solid and secretive enough for the admiral wanting us to come all the way here to talk about it. But that was all he was going to get out of his daughter.

* * *

QUINCY

Kennedy put his hand on my back as we walked down the hall to the kitchen. I was sure he could feel the shakes that rippled through me. I was so angry and frustrated with my dad, it was almost impossible not to lose my shit. But that was what my dad had wanted me to do. To burst into hysterics, to act like a girl. I’d had years of practice keeping all my emotions tamped down. Turned out, he was the one who’d gotten riled because I wouldn’t bend to his commands any longer.

“Not flattened at all,” he murmured behind me.

I stopped in the darkened hallway and turned to face him, letting him gather me loosely in his arms. I took a deep breath, let it out. Breathed in his familiar scent. “Thanks to you,” I said softly, setting my forehead on his chest.

Kennedy shook his head. “No, it was all you, sweets.” His big hand stroked over my hair.

“Williams was your commanding admiral, right?”

While I flew SEAL teams in and out of missions, I wasn’t based with them or had the same commanding officers. In fact, the chances that Kennedy and the guys ended up in my chopper was random. It could have been any number of pilots who flew them. There had been, actually.

So I never came across Williams before. There weren’t too many admirals, so I’d heard his name, but that was it.

“Yeah. I can’t believe it. It’s Lincoln though, that I have to deal with first.” He pulled out his phone. “I’m going to text Ford right now to give him the heads up. Your dad is right. We could all be in danger.”

I swallowed. I wasn’t afraid for myself, but the thought of my team being taken out was my worst nightmare. Indi had unintentionally drawn that guy Tully to her by a simple Internet search. Having my father toss out a few sentences about a former SEAL and getting a bite from the biggest fish in the sea? “We need to get ahead of this thing.”

I stayed quiet as he typed. It was impressive with his big hands on the small screen. Only when he tucked the cell away did he respond. “Yeah. He said they’ll get started on things tonight. There’s nothing we can do from here except visit with your mom.”

This man. I dropped my forehead again against Kennedy’s sturdy chest. How had I believed him incapable of meaningful relations? He was literally showing up as the ideal boyfriend right now. He’d been with me when talking to my dad. He knew how important it was for me to visit with my mom, even for a little bit. She might have married my dad, and I wasn’t always sure why, but she was her own person, and I loved her.

“Thank you,” I said into his shirt.

He cupped my nape and dropped a kiss on the top of my head. “Your mom just saw us,” he said in a low voice.

“Oops. Let’s go.” I grabbed his hand and led him to the kitchen where my mom had prepared an entire charcuterie spread.

“Can you stay and visit a little while?” My mom asked hopefully, uncorking a bottle of red wine.

I gave her another hug. “Totally. Thanks, Mom, this looks delicious.”

“I’m just going to step outside to make a phone call, if that’s okay,” Kennedy said, “but I’ll be right back.”

Mom nodded and pointed in the direction of the glass French doors that led out onto the back terrace. If it was daylight, Kennedy would be able to look down the fourth hole of the golf course.

“You calling Ford?” I asked.

“Yes. He already texted back asking for details. I won’t be long.”

As soon as Kennedy was gone, my mom asked, “How long have you two been seeing each other?”

My face heated, and I grabbed an olive from a small dish. “We’re not. I mean… it’s new, I guess. I mean, I knew him from before, but–” I waved my hand. “I don’t really know.”

“I thought you didn’t like olives,” she commented, eyeing me.

The salty, tangy flavor sat on my tongue. I’d never been a fan of them, but this one was good. I had no answer, so I shrugged.

“Well, he seems wonderful.” My mom poured wine into four glasses. Dad hadn’t appeared, but she clearly had hope that he would join us.

“Yeah… I, uh, had underestimated him. But it seems like he’s worth the risk.”

“What are you risking?” She lifted her own wine glass to her lips.

“Eh. Just getting involved, I guess.” I shrugged.

“Please get involved,” my mom said. “I need some grandchildren. None of your brothers seem like they’re going to help me out in that way.”

“Nope. Not happening here, either,” I said quickly. “Don’t pin those aspirations all on me just because I have a uterus.” I tried a sip of wine, but the smell of it made my stomach turn.

My mom let out a sigh. “I get it. Your career is important. I’d just hoped now that you’re out of the Navy…”

“Sorry, Mom. You’ll have to lean on my brothers for that. My career didn’t stop with the Navy.”

“Well, as long as you’re happy, sweetheart. That’s all I care about. So get involved for other reasons.”

“Mom!” I laughed.

“What? There’s nothing wrong with having a career and a relationship. They aren’t mutually exclusive.”

“You thought so,” I said then bit my tongue.

She shook her head and took a sip of her wine. “Being a wife didn’t mean I couldn’t have anything else. I picked what I wanted and have never been sorry about my decision.”

I popped another olive in my mouth, so I didn’t tell my mom that I didn’t want to have to pick. I wanted it all.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

KENNEDY

I’d lied when I told Quincy there was nothing we could do from here in San Diego to work her dad’s intel. There was something I could do. Something I had to do. But I didn’t want to include her, not because she was a woman, but because she wasn’t a SEAL. Hadn’t had Lincoln as a CO. Didn’t look up to the man. Respect him.

I did. Had.

While Quincy visited with her mom, I got on the horn with Ford.

“You’re fucking shitting me,” he’d said after I gave him the rundown.

I ran a hand through my hair, breathing in the salty air coming off the Pacific. I missed the tang, the thick marine layer that coated everything once darkness descended. The air in Montana was sharp and clear. There was no traffic. No crowds. It was quiet and peaceful, as a place. But all of us on the team were far from peaceful with the drug kingpin out there, and Ford’s dismissal still unresolved.

Maybe that was why we’d all enjoyed the emergency response drill the previous week. It was a glimpse of peaceful, of community and belonging that we all wanted, but couldn’t have until this one mission was complete.

“I believe him,” I replied. “He’s an asshole, but he loves his daughter and wants to see her safe. No way would he keep this shit from us, or give us a line, if she might be in danger.”

“Indi poked the hornet’s nest and look what happened,” he growled.

He still hadn’t gotten over learning she’d been up in the wilderness with that asshole. She’d been kidnapped and had saved herself until Ford had gotten there to finish him. No way would he want her to take on that burden, someone else’s death, no matter how much it was warranted.

“Which means if an admiral is snooping around, Williams and Lincoln should feel threatened.”

I could hear his sigh across the miles. “You really think Lincoln is a part of this?”

I shook my head even though he couldn’t see. The idea was something none of us had ever considered. Not once. “I don’t want him to be, but it makes sense. Steering us the way he wanted to keep us from the truth.”

“Puppets.”

“I’ll learn the truth. Tonight.” My voice was deep and final. My task for this job wasn’t to accompany Quincy this time. It was facing Lincoln.

“Let me know what you find out.”

He was sanctioning my visit to our old CO although I didn’t need it. I was going no matter what.

That was how I ended up sitting in an armchair in Lincoln’s bedroom a few hours later, watching the man sleep. It was two a.m., and the house was dark and quiet. He was a bachelor and lived off base. No one was around to bother our little chit-chat.

I couldn’t stare at the guy all night. I was here for a reason, so I stirred just enough to wake him. He was a SEAL even if he rode a desk these days. Still, he was trained to hear every sound, every possible danger. Awake or asleep.

He sat up in bed and reached toward his end table.

“Looking for this?” I held up his service pistol.

He pushed the covers back and turned to sit on the side of the bed. His bare feet rested on the area rug.

“Stay where you are,” I commanded.

He stopped moving. “I knew one of you would show up. I expected Ford.”

“I was in the area.”

He didn’t comment on the fact that I’d broken into his house and settled into his bedroom without him knowing. If I’d woken him by accident, I’d know my skills were shit. Breaking and entering were child’s play for a SEAL.

The room was dark. Only the light from the hallway and a street lamp outside lit up his features.

“Mason?” he asked, referring to Quincy’s father.

I nodded. “Heard some pretty damning things about Admiral Williams.”

“And you think I’m involved.”

“If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck and all that,” I replied.

“I think Williams has been the head of the drug smuggling operation out of Afghanistan.” He was succinct and to the point. Didn’t reply with five sentences when one could do. Typical Lincoln.

“Why didn’t you tell us? Because you’re involved?”

“Because I didn’t have proof,” he countered. “Ford needed a team to take whomever it was down, and I’ve been feeding him jobs that enabled him to build one. Jobs that Williams knew about and approved.”

Fuck.

“If Ford deals with this alone, he’ll be pinned as rogue. It’ll only make him more guilty of shit he never did.”

That made sense. I stayed quiet, let him talk. I knew interrogation techniques, but so did he. I could torture him for the intel, and he knew it.

“He’s got you, Taft, Hayes. Even Quincy. I expect Van and Harding will defect to your company when their tours are up.”

Van and Harding were two other members of our old SEAL team. They were still on it and OCONUS, or outside the contiguous United States. They were deployed on a mission. Ford had talked to them about joining us eventually with another teammate, Carter, too.

If we had those guys at Alpha Mountain, we’d be the best mercs in the business.

I stood, raised his gun and aimed right for his forehead. He didn’t move, didn’t even blink as he sat on the side of his bed in his boxers.

“Ford hates that he got kicked out. It’s like sticking a hot poker in a wound and never pulling it out. It goes against everything he is, everything he lives by.”

“I know.”

“I’m not done. He can live with that. You made sure all of us could handle any hell on earth through BUD/s and all the other training we did. But his woman was kidnapped and almost killed. He made sure that threat was eliminated, but she’s not completely safe. That is what drives him now.”

“And you? This middle of the night visit?”

“I left a warm and well-satisfied woman in bed to come and chat with you. Let’s just say she looks a hell of a lot better in underwear than you.”

Quincy was across town in our hotel room. Actually, without underwear. She was naked and sleeping off the three orgasms I gave her. Her scent clung to me, and I wanted to get back in bed with her before she realized I’d left. I wanted to wake her up with my head between her parted thighs.

The corner of his mouth tipped up.

“No doubt. Good to hear you’ve found someone.”

“Chatting about my love life isn’t why I’m here,” I reminded.

“You having this visit for Ford or for the warm and well-satisfied Quincy?”

Fuck, even he knew we were together. How, I had no fucking idea.

“Qatar,” he said, answering my unspoken question. “I know everything about my men.”

“Quincy’s not one of yours. Never been on your team and doesn’t have anything to do with this. She’s mine. My woman, and I won’t have anyone fucking with her.”

“You’re here to protect her, from what? No way Williams would go after another admiral’s daughter. It’d be suicide.”

Valid point.

“Williams has got a hard-on for Ford. Why do you think he’s been feeding jobs to him? I did it because I thought… fuck, I sound like an idiot, but I thought it was to help him out. For setting him up with a solid career outside the Navy. But Williams has pushed them down to me to–”

“Know exactly what Ford’s up to.”

“Right. It’s not out of the generosity of his giving heart, that’s for fucking sure. The best way to keep tabs on your enemy is to keep him close.”

“And you helped by making it seem like you were tossing Ford a bone or two.”

He ran a hand over his short hair. “Yeah, well, I’ll have to live with that one.”

“This shit’s getting old. I want it done with.”

“I’m sure Ford agrees.”

I grunt in reply.

“Then let’s bring Williams down. Together. Your team’s ready. Williams may have controlled some jobs sent your way, but that’s all. Ford’s recruited a solid team, and you have other outside business now. Big money makers based on the new helicopter.”

“You’ve been watching.”

“Like I said, I keep track of my men.”

We were his, even out of the service.

“Your team’s solid and can take Williams down.”

“Hooyah.”

That made his lip tip up. “I’ll see what Williams might have next in the pipeline for Ford and let you know.”

“Think he’ll try to do something on that job?”

“It’s the perfect time,” he replied.

I stared at him. Thinking. There were no answers here. Not in the middle of the night. I needed to get back to Montana and hash it out with the others. Make a plan. To end it all.

“If it turns out you’re involved, you’ll be dead, and you won’t even know it.”

My threat made him smile.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from my men.”

An hour later, I slipped back in bed with Quincy. She stirred and rolled toward me. I pulled her into my arms and kissed her hair. My dick stirred.

I’d think about Lincoln. And Williams. And even Quincy’s father. Later.

I had my woman and a bed, and I was going to make the most of it. I gently rolled her onto her back and pulled the blankets down, revealing her perfect breasts. I took one nipple into my mouth and felt it harden against my tongue.

Quincy whimpered and shifted her hips.

I may have had her a few hours ago, but I wanted her again. Needed her.

“Kennedy,” she whispered, slowly waking up.

“Need you,” I breathed.

She stroked my hair and looked at me through the darkness. Her hand went to my shoulder and pushed. I fell onto my back, and she climbed over me, straddling my hips and then sinking down onto my hard dick. She was slick from my cum still deep inside her from earlier.

Her head tilted back as she moaned. I gripped her hips and helped her find her rhythm.

Fuck, she was gorgeous. Her pale skin, swaying breasts. Her pussy clenched around me.

I wanted her happy. Satisfied. I licked my thumb and reached between us, circled her clit, and I felt her clench.

“Good girl. Come for me.”

She got lost in the pleasure she wrung from my body, tumbling into her orgasm in a way that stunned me. I followed, sinking deep and not wanting to ever come out.

Quincy was mine, and nothing was going to change that.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

QUINCY

The atmosphere in Alpha Mountain HQ was sober as we discussed the latest developments. Kennedy and I had flown in this morning, and we were now all gathered in the sewing room, which was far too small to handle all of us, especially with the amount of tension we were radiating.

I’d been too queasy to eat breakfast this morning, which wasn’t unusual for me when I got up at o-dark-thirty, but I hadn’t really felt like eating lunch, either. The room was hot, and I didn’t have a chair, opting to stand in the doorway for fresh air, but now I was feeling a little lightheaded.

I might have to duck out and eat a little something.

“All this time, I thought Williams was one of the good ones. A true fucking leader!” Hayes growled. “But he’s the piece of shit behind all this.”

Ford took a swig from a glass of his grandmother’s iced tea. “It seems that way. We need solid proof to bring someone like him down, though.”

How he could be so calm when he finally had a name for the person who’d not only tarnished his reputation and had him thrown out of the military, but he’d had his best friend murdered. And had been handing off jobs not out of kindness but deceit.

I wasn’t sure why he didn’t want to hurl, too. Or throw something. Shoot something. Hell, blow something up, preferably the admiral himself.

“Or we just kill him in his bed,” Hayes suggested, making Taft, our resident Boy Scout, shoot him an alarmed look. I, for one, was all for it. But if that was the plan, it’d been done by now. By Ford himself.

“That won’t clear Ford’s name,” Kennedy pointed out. “We need this whole thing dismantled, and that means getting evidence. If we don’t do it right, Ford will look even more guilty. Us, along with him.”

“That’s what Lincoln is working on,” Ford reminded. Kennedy had told the guys that he’d gone to pay their former CO a visit last night. While I’d been sleeping. I’d known nothing about it, and I’d given Kennedy a death glare when I’d learned he’d left me in the dark. I couldn’t say anything because then everyone would know we’d been in bed together, and that I slept like the dead.

I was angry that he hadn’t told me, but I grudgingly understood. I couldn’t have gone. I could fly a helicopter, but breaking and entering wasn’t my specialty. I also didn’t know the man, and I would’ve only been a distraction. Or annoyance.

If Kennedy wanted the guy to talk, one on one had been the way to go.

Still, he could’ve told me anytime after, so I’d be having a little chat with him about that one.

Hayes rubbed a hand over his cropped hair. “And in the meantime, we’re sitting ducks. Especially if Lincoln’s lying, and he’s in on it.”

“He’s not,” Kennedy said.

The others looked to him then nodded. If he said Lincoln was innocent, he was. Their deep trust was insane. But I felt that toward the men as well. I took them at their word because they’d only give it if they felt they could back it one hundred percent.

“We’re probably sitting ducks,” Ford confirmed Hayes’ words. He turned to him and Kennedy. “I want you two to double the security measures on the compound.”

“You think they’ll come here?” I asked.

Ford glanced my way. “No. I think it’s far more likely they’ll try to hit us on a job, most likely the next one he has Lincoln toss our way. Or frame us for wrong-doing of some kind while on that job.”

“So no more jobs referred by Lincoln or the Navy,” Taft said.

“On the contrary.” Ford’s grin was wicked. “We take it and wait for the ambush. If they’re planning on taking us out, it’s the perfect time to do it. We’ll look like fuckups and be dead. For us, if we’re expecting them, what better way to get our evidence?”

“Okay,” Taft said with appreciation. His face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Defensive offense. Or offensive defense.” He grinned. “Sounds like a good plan.”

“What about Friday’s job? Was that from Williams?” Kennedy asked.

“No, that came from a referral from a past client. No connection with the Navy,” Ford said. “It’s still a go.”

“I’ll be right back, guys,” I said, slipping away to the kitchen.

Mrs. L was there, putting something in the crock pot–it seemed to be her favorite kitchen appliance–and the smell of the barbecue sauce turned my stomach. I swallowed hard and took a detour for the bathroom and stood over the toilet, heaving a couple of times. Fortunately, nothing came up.

Okay, I just needed to eat a piece of toast or something. I was probably just hungry.

I returned to the kitchen to find Mrs. L examining me with shrewd eyes. “Are you feeling okay?”

“My stomach is a little queasy. Seasoned nuts on the plane aren’t like your breakfasts. I think some toast would help.” I reached for the bread and popped a piece in the toaster.

She came around the kitchen table and stepped close, setting her hand on my shoulder. “Have you taken a test?”

I blinked at her. “I’m sorry?” My toast popped, and I snagged it, dropping it on a small plate and slathering it with butter. I’d grown up with it kept in the fridge, but Mrs. L had it on a plate left out so it was nice and soft.

Even now, I wanted and didn’t want to eat it at the same time. I forced my mouth to open and take a bite. I chewed the bread and my body responded with gratitude. Apparently, I was hungry, I just hadn’t felt like eating.

“Are you late, dear?”

I still couldn’t follow. I wasn’t late, our plane had even gotten in early. What was she talking–oh.

I blinked then glanced over my shoulder. The guys were still in the other room, fortunately. They’d rather hear about dismemberment or gangrene than about a woman’s period.

“Oh no.” I gave a nervous laugh. “Not possible. I’m on the shot.” I took another huge bite of toast. I seriously could eat that whole loaf of bread now.

My answer only indicated that I was on birth control not that I hadn’t had sex, which I had. Which meant she probably knew I had. Which meant every single person knew Kennedy and I were together. Or together-ish or whatever we were.

“Sweetheart, when you finish your toast, could you run me into the store? I need to pick up my allergy meds.”

I eyed Mrs. L suspiciously. She didn’t need me to run her to the store. Despite her age, the woman was perfectly capable of driving herself, and I’d never seen her even sneeze or sniffle from pollen.

Then again, some ginger ale might be helpful with this nausea. “Sure, no problem.” I ate the rest of the piece of toast in record time and rinsed off my fingers. “Ready now?”

Mrs. L already had her purse on her shoulder.

“I’ll just let the guys know.” I popped my head into HQ. “I’m running Mrs. L to the store. Be back in a bit, unless you need me.”

“That’s fine,” Ford said. The guys usually planned the jobs without me. I was the newest but also was only a pilot. My expertise was needed on flying ops and until we were given the job from Lincoln, I had no role. I might not have any at all if it was land-based.

Out in the car, I peered over at Mrs. L who looked suspiciously innocent with her bag in her lap.

“When I got pregnant with Ford’s dad, I was sick the whole first trimester,” she offered as we bumped down the drive.

“I can’t be pregnant,” I assured her. “I took the shot. I’m not due for another one for two more weeks.”

“Sometimes pregnancies still happen. Even with vasectomies. Or when a woman is on the pill. Some men just have very strong swimmers.” She gave me a wise old owl look. “Kennedy seems like he might be that kind of man.”

“Oh my God!” I said with a laugh. I couldn’t believe I was discussing Kennedy’s swimmers with Mrs. L.

The heat on my cheeks was like an inferno. I used driving as my reason for not looking her way, instead keeping my gaze fixed squarely on the road in front of us.

“We aren’t–”

“Yes, you are.”

“It’s not–”

“Yes, it is.”

“It can’t–”

“It can. Think about it, honey. You passed out at the emergency training last week. You’ve been queasy. All of those things point to a pregnancy.”

I suddenly wanted to throw up again and not because I ate bad nuts on the plane.

Damn.

She could be right. But it wasn’t possible. I meant, it shouldn’t be. The shot was ninety-nine percent effective.

Oh God. Could I really be the one percent?

I let out a soft groan. I was turned off by alcohol, and I was now eating olives.

“I thought we should just pick up a test or two, just to put our minds at ease.” Mrs. L adjusted her purse in her lap.

“Yeah,” I said weakly, freaking out a heck of a lot. “I guess you’re right. That probably is a good idea.”

I couldn’t be pregnant. It would really… not be cool.

It felt like we couldn’t get to the store fast enough. Anxiety stirred in my belly, creating a fresh wave of seasickness. I parked and climbed out of the car on shaky legs.

I wasn’t pregnant. I wasn’t pregnant.

I kept telling myself that the entire walk into the store. Through the aisles. To the counter to pay for the box. Mrs. L thankfully gave me room, going off in search of… I had no idea what.

“I’m just, um, going to use the restroom here,” I told her when she found me at the register. There was no way in hell I was taking a pregnancy test back to the bunkhouse. Pregnant or not, I didn’t want any of the guys to find the box in the trash.

They’d think then that I was a woman, not a pilot or a team member. And Kennedy? He was the last person I wanted in on this. He’d made it very clear his stance on babies.

As usual, her penetrating gaze saw all. “Of course you are, dear. I’ll be waiting.”

I went into the restroom and opened the box with trembling fingers. I unfolded the instructions and quickly skimmed. The box contained two tests, which was good because it recommended testing first thing in the morning, but there was no way I could wait for that. I was here, stick in hand, hovering by a toilet. If I got a negative now, I could always retest tomorrow morning, just to be sure.

But the negative now would calm my nerves a lot.

I was sure it would be negative because I. Got. The. Shot.

I unwrapped the stick and held it under a stream of pee, then capped it and waited, exiting the stall to wash up and throw away the packaging from the test. I didn’t need to have that box lying around at home.

No, this little exercise could remain between me and Mrs. L.

Just as soon as I got my negative.

I checked the timer on my phone to see how much time had passed then looked in the window.

Fuck.

Two lines.

It wasn’t negative.

I didn’t have to wait until tomorrow morning to confirm.

I was definitely pregnant.

Damn Kennedy and his powerful swimmers.

I was having his baby.

This was going to ruin everything…

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

KENNEDY

I ran down the hill to our usual finishing spot on the obstacle course. Hayes gave me a high five, and I set my hands on my hips as I walked in circles, catching my breath.

While Quincy and I had been on a plane returning from California, the others hadn’t done the usual early morning PT because of a hard rain. A little water never stopped SEALs, but it was just exercise, not a battleground. Taft didn’t need to fuck up his bad knee because of oversaturated soil.

Maybe it was better this way. We all had energy and anger to burn after our briefing. Mrs. L and Quincy had returned from town, and we decided a little obstacle course competition before dinner would be fun.

Yeah, we liked to torture ourselves.

Taft beat me back and was wiping his face with the hem of his t-shirt. Hayes and Ford came in neck and neck. While I was squirting water in my mouth, I watched the hillside looking for Quincy. She was slower than usual, and I worried she may have fallen or tripped. I was about to run the course in reverse to find her when I spotted her bright yellow tank.

“Took you long enough,” Taft said playfully.

He patted her arm as she finished, then she began to walk in circles. She was sweating and breathing hard, her cheeks flushed. She gave him a death glare before setting her hands on her thighs and bending at the waist.

“Don’t be a dick,” I told him. “We were on the six a.m. flight this morning.”

His smile dropped, and he held up his hands. “Sorry, Quincy. Just playing.”

She waved a hand in the air as a sign of something between don’t worry about it and send the paramedics.

I moved beside her and leaned down. “You good?”

That had her popping up and taking a deep breath. She pasted on a smile. “All good.”

She started walking toward the bunkhouse, and I kept pace. She didn’t look my way.

“Kennedy, a little space?”

I stopped, and she spun around. Yeah, she wasn’t happy. She was out of sorts, but I didn’t know why. I hadn’t been a dick–that I knew of–and nothing had happened that might piss her off besides her dad the night before.

“Space?”

“I feel smothered.”

“We were in California together.”

“You were the one who pushed yourself onto the trip. Taft was supposed to go.”

No, he wasn’t. Ford had been fucking with me. But that was irrelevant because my saying that wasn’t going to help this situation, even though I didn’t know what it was.

“Sweets, is it because you were slower than usual on the course?”

I was taking wild guesses as to why she was upset.

Her eyes narrowed, and a lesser man’s balls would’ve shriveled.

“Are you going to kick me off the team for a bad showing?”

I reared back. Seriously? Was she getting competitive with me? It made my chest ache to think she was that hard on herself. “What? No. What the hell? Everyone has a bad day.”

She shook her head and spun on her heel again.

“Yeah, you got on the same plane. Did the same course, and you weren’t slow. Of course, you weren’t.”

“Sweets–”

“Stop calling me sweets!” She stalked into the bunkhouse, the door slamming against the inside wall. I watched her ass sway as she walked down the hallway to her bedroom.

“What the hell is going on? I think you want me to spank your ass to get the truth out of you.”

She stopped and turned. “No, Kennedy. I want you to take a hint and leave me alone.” With that, she headed into her bedroom and slammed the door. I heard the lock click.

I knew with women that sometimes when they said one thing, they meant the complete opposite. However, this time, I had the feeling she really did want me to leave her the fuck alone.

Except I had no idea why. I’d done something, that was for fucking sure. I scratched my head and knew I had to wait it out to learn what it was, so I could apologize.

* * *

QUINCY

I showered and went into my bedroom where I leaned my back against the door. Fuck I was tired.

Mixed up. Nauseated. All of it.

This pregnancy had hijacked all my plans. My life. This new thing with Kennedy.

How was I going to make this work? Ford wouldn’t let me keep this job being pregnant. I couldn’t even keep up on the obstacle course, and I’d only found out not even two hours ago. I wouldn’t even be able to waddle soon when I looked like I swallowed a watermelon.

Sure, they’d give me allowances, but not for a baby. Besides, I didn’t want allowances.

On top of that, these guys were way too alpha male to let a pregnant woman into the field. They’d make me stay behind. I’ll be the kid sister all over again, left at home with mom while the big boys got to go and have all the fun.

Only I’d be the mom left at home.

I could kiss my whole career goodbye now.

More than that, I couldn’t do this to Kennedy.

He’d told me in very specific terms that he hadn’t wanted kids. No 2.5. Ever.

I’d told him I was on birth control, and it was safe. It was my fault. He would’ve used a condom if I hadn’t promised I had it taken care of.

Well, to be fair, I thought I had it taken care of. How was I to know Kennedy had super strong swimmers? Of course he did, the caveman.

He was lucky he didn’t already have a dozen babies with the way he got around before me if his super sperm could bypass the most foolproof of birth control methods.

This was unbelievable. How ironic. Just when I thought I’d achieved the unattainable–reformed a player into wanting something more, wanting something committed and ongoing, being a real boyfriend–I did the one thing that was a deal breaker for him.

Got pregnant. Who’d want to bring up a child with our fucked up parents as examples? I only knew what Kennedy had mentioned about his family, but he was a pawn, a PR fixture for his father’s political career and nothing more. And he damn sure wasn’t having PR progeny.

Kennedy was a stand-up guy, and he wouldn’t bail or shirk his responsibilities.

But I wanted to be with him as an equal, not a responsibility.

He didn’t want this. Point blank.

I didn’t want to be the person he resented for turning his entire life upside down. It was enough that my own life was just blown up like detonated C4.

I didn’t need to make him give up his freedom and future along with me.

I curled up on my bed, exhausted from the long day. Probably just exhausted from the drain of making a baby.

Well, I’d never shirked my duty. Not once. I was a world-class helicopter pilot in excellent shape. I was going to ace this pregnancy and parenting thing, too.

Not here though. It wasn’t going to happen at Alpha Mountain. Nor in Sparks.

I’d have to leave because as soon as the guys learned the truth, I’d be grounded and not allowed on missions even to carry bags. Hell, I’d never lift anything again.

Which meant I was useless.

I needed… something different. I sat up on the bed. Yes. That was exactly how I’d make a smooth exit out of this position. I’d tell Kennedy and Ford and the rest of the team that I’d had an offer for another job that I couldn’t refuse.

Better pay. More benefits. Something.

I didn’t want to make Ford think he had to offer me more, so it would have to be something he couldn’t provide. Like…

Proximity to my parents.

Actually, that idea wasn’t half bad, either. Hadn’t my mom just asked for grandbabies? I could definitely use her help and support with this single parenting thing.

Only Dad would see me as just what he’d thought I’d be all along. A woman, and that was my biggest flaw.

I’d deal with him because I’d rather deal with him than Kennedy either hating me or resenting me while he did his duty to his child. I wasn’t sure which was worse.

The trick would just be to get out of here without raising suspicion. Mrs. L might have guessed although I’d lied at the store and told her the test was negative. Thankfully, she hadn’t said anything on the ride from town or since. I hadn’t been able to stomach hashing it through with her–my brain had been exploding with the ramifications.

It still was.

I could say my dad, after my visit, hooked me up with a cush position, and I was moving back to San Diego. I would stay just to complete this weekend’s job because it turned out a helicopter was crucial to the op, but then I’d leave immediately afterward.

It would be hard for anyone to argue with my plan especially if I acted happy about it.

Kennedy might be hard to fool. He knew I wasn’t that close with my dad, especially after the night before and seeing him in person. Maybe I’d tell him I was doing it for my mom. He’d believe that. Maybe.

I’d just have to break things off with the old, “it’s me, not you” thing. We’d only had sex a few times since I found out he wasn’t actually a player and had wanted me. And only me.

Fuck.

A knock sounded on the door, and my stomach lurched a little. It had to be Kennedy.

I stood and opened the door. “Hey.”

“Hey. Can we talk?”

I forced what I hoped was a friendlier expression than the one I’d been previously wearing. “Yeah, I’m sorry I was so crabby out there. I think I’m just overtired from the trip.”

He’d showered too, his hair damp and his jeans and t-shirt laundry fresh. He reached out and stroked my cheek. “Okay. Are you sure there’s nothing else?”

“Actually…there is.” I drew a deep breath and stepped back. I had to do this. For him. “I, um, talked to my dad today.”

Kennedy’s gaze was intent on my face. I didn’t like how well he could read me. I needed to play this right or I’d screw everything up. “And?”

“He convinced me to go back to the Navy. He’s got a sweet contractor position on base for me, and I’m going to take it.”

Kennedy drew back like I’d slapped him. “Wait… what?”

“I know this probably seems like it’s coming out of left field considering I don’t have the best relationship with my dad, but the job is perfect for me. And I do miss my mom.”

Kennedy’s forehead wrinkled in confusion as he continued to study my face. “He didn’t mention it last night, and you were pretty pissed at him.”

I shrugged. “I know. He left a message this morning, and I just talked with him.”

“You don’t like the guy,” he countered.

“Yeah, but you saw my mom. She’s desperate to see me.”

That was the truth, and I felt bad about it. Even with our spa weekends, she wanted to see me more. Now I could help with that and try to find some kind of inner zen with my dad.

He took a step closer, and I was forced to breathe in his clean scent. “Are you scared about this Admiral Williams thing? I mean, it’s okay. I definitely want you to be safe. Maybe you should go take that job until we get this thing wrapped up. I totally support that.”

I should’ve played along, and just said yes, good idea, but I had a lifetime of trying to prove I wasn’t scared or too weak to overcome, so I immediately snapped, “No, I’m not scared! This is just what I want to do.”

Kennedy’s eyes narrowed, and a muscle flexed in his jaw. “Let me ask you this, sweets. Is this really about us instead?”

My breath left my chest in a whoosh. “No.” Dammit, I sounded breathless. “Why would you say that?” Was my voice higher in pitch?

“Things got serious. You got scared. Now you’re running.”

Oh God, I was going to puke. Or pass out. I was definitely dizzy.

Should I agree? But then he might try to convince me to stay, and that would seriously break me. I wasn’t strong enough to survive Kennedy when he was being sincere and sweet. I could barely withstand his womanizing charm. It had been so much easier to keep my walls up with him when I thought I’d been one of a long line of women. That he didn’t care for me more than a fun romp while deployed. Burn off a little post-battle horny.

I did the best and worst thing possible. I lifted my chin, put my hands on my hips and squished my face up with scorn. “You thought things got serious?” I scoffed. “A couple make out sessions doesn’t make us serious, Kennedy. The only thing I was serious about was getting off. Don’t pretend you wanted anything deeper. We had that discussion. It was just sex. Exclusive, but still just sex. So, no, I’m not running from you. I just had a better offer, that’s all.”

Watching Kennedy’s eyes go dead was the worst thing I’ve ever seen–and I’ve seen real death in the field. He stepped back, let his arms hang at his sides.

Before my eyes, he went SEAL mode. Focused. Closed off. Leaving the personal behind.

I’d hurt him. Others might not notice, but I couldn’t miss it. My words had hit their mark and made me see how much Kennedy was all-in with me.

Knowing I was the one who made him shut down gutted me. I swallowed hard to keep the words in—that I hadn’t meant it. That it was all a lie. But the baby taking crazy possession of my body wasn’t a lie either.

A hardness crashed down on his face. “Got it. Loud and clear. Just sex, and now it’s off. Roger that.” He saluted before he flung my door open and stalked out.

I stood there trembling for a count of three, and then I covered my mouth to hold in the sob.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

KENNEDY

I couldn’t fucking believe it.

Seriously. The irony. The one time in my life I actually thought about settling down. Forming a deep and meaningful relationship. Exploring something more than sex with someone, and she claimed to only want sex.

The thing was–I didn’t believe her.

Not after our talk the other day about me not being with anyone since the first night we spent together overseas. Not since our trip to California. I’d met her parents, knew her backstory. Knew why she pushed and did everything to prove herself competent and worthy. Since then, sex with her felt different. Better. Beyond Intimate.

As I stared at her closed door, I knew. She was running. Just like she’d run after Qatar. Sure, we were deployed, and our time hadn’t been our own. We had orders. Missions that took us to different countries. Even different continents.

Still, Quincy had intimacy issues. Who didn’t when fighting a war? I had no idea they extended this deep, though.

Giving up her job with Alpha Mountain just to run from me? And taking one from her dad who she didn’t even like?

It seemed crazy.

Why would she give up a job I’d thought she loved?

Ford had bought a helicopter specifically for her to come on board and fly it. He paid a hell of a lot better than the military. She had flexibility and adventure without the structure and rules of the Navy. Or her father. Sure, we did dangerous shit, but she lived for that stuff.

Whatever. I couldn’t figure her out, and right now, I didn’t want to. I’d tried. I stormed off, out of the bunk house and just… out.

I’d been there for her, tried to give her what she needed. I’d given it my best even when it seemed I had no fucking clue what that was. Nothing was going to make her change her mind now, especially if what she wanted to do was go work for her fucking father. Pursuing her harder was just going to make her run faster.

I kicked a stone with my shoe and sent it flying. I was done. Maybe having a serious relationship just wasn’t in the cards for me. Laying it all out there. Admitting I’d had blue balls for months over a woman had done nothing for me except… have blue balls for fucking months. It wasn’t worth it. Hell no. I should go back to meaningless sex. Go fuck that redhead at the bar.

Even as I thought it, I knew I wasn’t going to. My dick wasn’t going to stir for the waitress no matter how nice or pretty she was.

This thing with Quincy was like an open wound. It was going to take a while before I even looked at another woman again.

The only saving grace was that Quincy was leaving, for whatever her reasoning. I wouldn’t have to live under the same roof with her and suffer not having her. She’d be back in San Diego, around all those Navy men and work with them again.

“Fuck!” I shouted to the mountains.

That thought had me ready to butcher every last one of them. They’d see how amazing she was. How smart. Funny. Sexy. Brave. Adventurous. Wild. Then they’d want her.

But I had no rights to Quincy. She’d made that crystal clear. I needed to scrape her out of my mind, purge every thought, fantasy and feeling I had about her, or I wouldn’t be able to go on.

* * *

QUINCY

The next morning, Kennedy left me alone. It was a good thing because I couldn’t keep lying to him. I wasn’t great at it to begin with, but being pushed would make me blurt out the truth.

The truth that was making me sit on the cool tile of my bathroom floor, my stomach debating whether it wanted me to throw up again or not. I leaned against the bathtub and pushed my hair back.

I was a mess. My life was a mess. I’d fallen for a guy–yeah, I’d fallen hard–who didn’t want kids, and yet I was having one. His.

There was no question I was pregnant. Besides the stupid test, morning sickness was hard to ignore. Especially when it didn’t only happen in the morning.

I’d slept through the night tossing and turning, not from nausea, but from miserableness. I should have been down the hall in Kennedy’s bed, but look where that had gotten me. I’d skipped PT. Like a high schooler, I cut. A no-show. No one had bothered me or come knocking. Maybe Kennedy told them to give me some room.

None of the men wanted to face a crazy woman, and that was, absolutely, what Kennedy probably thought of me now.

After my alarm went off, I’d slept in. For hours. I hadn’t slept until ten since… before basic training. But this demon bean in my uterus wanted a nap. Then it wanted me to hurl, so I was woken up by a revolting stomach. I ran to the bathroom in time to empty my guts into the toilet.

That had been an hour ago. I was still here, sitting on my ass and waiting to feel better.

I didn’t think that was coming anytime soon. Not just because I had eight more months of this, but because I’d be leaving, and that meant leaving Kennedy and my job and–

“Ugh,” I muttered.

I slumped down onto the bathmat and stared at the ceiling. Grabbing my phone, I called the one person who might understand.

“Hey, Mom,” I said when she answered.

“Sweetheart. Got back okay?” she asked.

“No problem.”

“Good. It was so good to see you. I hope you come this way again soon. But we should do that little spa up in the mountains outside of Seattle.”

She wasn’t giving me an intentional guilt trip, but I felt one anyway. Just because my dad was a controlling, misogynistic prick didn’t mean my mom deserved to be lumped in with him. Especially if I might be heading their way.

Except I couldn’t tell her I was doing that. Because I wasn’t sure what I was doing, and I didn’t want to get her hopes up. All I knew was that I needed to get the hell out of Sparks before I started showing–or everyone caught on to why I was vomiting all the time. It was cruel to tell my mom I was going to move to San Diego when I might not.

“I’m sorry we didn’t get to visit longer,” I replied. It was the truth. I missed her.

“You have an important job.”

It was important to me. It wasn’t like I was serving my country any longer like my brothers and father.

“What about you, Mom?” I wondered.

“What about me?”

“You wanted to be a scientist–you were working on your degree when you met Dad. That’s an important job.”

She sighed. “I did. You’re right. But dreams change.”

“You stopped wanting to be one?”

“No. I loved studying science in college. If I hadn’t had Trent, maybe I’d have gone into it. But it still would have been hard.”

“How so?”

“We moved a lot, as you’re well aware. It’s hard for a Navy spouse to have a consistent job when you’re relocated all the time.”

“Scientists are needed everywhere. I think.”

I knew nothing about it other than the word scientist was a pretty broad term.

“I had Trent. Then Thomas. Then Bradley. Then you.”

“I’m sorry we got in the way of your dreams.” I turned on my side, my cheek on the soft bath mat. My legs pressed into the cool tile, and it felt good.

“No, I didn’t walk away from a career, sweetheart. You kids were my career.”

“That was enough? Don’t you regret not excelling at something?”

“I raised a rear admiral, a commander, a captain and a lieutenant in the Navy. Three led others, and one became a pilot. I’d say I excelled at something.”

I heard the bitterness in her words. I’d insulted her. I never thought about it from her perspective before, but she had made us what we are. Or at least got us to adulthood, and we’d used the foundation she made to be successful people.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I just–I don’t know what I’m asking.”

“Do I wish I had a career outside of my family?”

I played with the fringe on the rug. “I guess.”

“Not for a minute. You played volleyball in high school. Do you regret not keeping up with that?”

I frowned as I stared at the base of the sink. “Volleyball? No.”

“Didn’t you enjoy that pottery class?”

“Yeah, it was a one-semester art elective, but it was fun.”

“But you didn’t become a potter.”

I couldn’t see myself at one of those spinning wheels to make bowls and pots. Unless Patrick Swayze was behind me. Then I thought of Kennedy and his arms around me.

“No.”

“I liked science. I studied Biology, but I was happy to leave it behind. I had you kids. We saw the world from one base to the next.”

“We all left, Mom. Got jobs and careers far away.”

“Of course, you did. You know why you all did that?”

“Why?” I wondered.

“Because I did such a good job.”

I had to smile because she was right.

“Otherwise, you’d be living in my basement being a troll on social media. I’m sure you can see Trent in his boxers with a bowl of Chex mix downstairs at a computer with a headset.”

I couldn’t help but laugh picturing my oldest brother with even a hair out of place, let alone eating cereal from his lap.

“I guess it’s a good thing you did a good job then,” I replied.

“What’s this all about?”

I wasn’t telling her about the baby. It was too early, and I didn’t have my head on straight about it.

“Seeing you yesterday had me curious, that’s all.”

“I’m so proud of you, sweetheart. You had so many things you could do, but going into the Navy had to be the toughest. Yet you made your mark, in your own special way, then moved on. It sounds like you have a good team where you are. Work that you like. But find balance–make room in your life for that man of yours. Make room for love.”

I pressed my lips together to hold back a sob.

It was too late–I’d already given love the middle finger.

My mom went on, oblivious to my despair. “Women can have it all. A job. Not a job. Kids. No kids. Or both. A job and kids. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You can have everything if you balance it right.”

“Yep,” I managed to say, swiping at the tears with the back of my hand. “I’d better go. I love you, Mom.” I ended the call before she caught onto the fact that I was crying.

Oh God. Maybe I made a huge mistake with Kennedy. With my life. I was making it all or nothing.

What if there could be balance?

* * *

An hour later, I finally felt good enough to scrape myself off my bathroom floor. I showered, then went in search of food, hoping to avoid the team. Mrs. L was in her kitchen when I came through the screen door. She was peeling potatoes over the sink.

The men were nowhere to be seen, and I didn’t hear any voices coming from the command room. I peeked around the corner to make sure Kennedy wasn’t in there with his headphones on.

“They’re at the barn looking over the latest contractor work. I’d say you’ll all be into your new space by the end of the month. And I’ll get my sewing room back.”

“Do you even like to sew?” I asked. I hadn’t seen her once pick up a needle and thread although I had only been here a short time. And her room had been invaded.

She laughed. “Not much any longer. I used to. Made my own dresses back in the day. Now? I have no interest. Too many cute things in the shops anyway.”

I couldn’t argue with that. If I had to make a dress, I’d surely sew the armholes closed.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

I shrugged and turned away from her, stuck my head in the fridge. “Fine.”

“When are you going to tell him?”

I grabbed the pitcher of tea and spun around. She was closer now, holding out a package of crackers.

I gave her a look and frowned, but grabbed the crackers with my free hand. She certainly hadn’t bought my lie the day before.

“I’m not.”

She blinked. “What?”

I set the pitcher on the kitchen table and grabbed a cracker, shoved it in my mouth. It was dry and bland and my stomach practically applauded.

“I’m not telling him.”

“Why not?”

“Because he doesn’t want kids,” I admitted.

“How do you know that?”

“He told me outright. No kids. His parents use him as a political marketing tool, and he refuses to bring kids into this world.”

She frowned. “I don’t like his parents.”

I huffed out a laugh and crumbs flew out of my mouth. I covered my lips with my fingers and carefully chewed.

“He doesn’t want kids,” I repeated.

“Well, he’s having one,” she countered, grabbing a glass from the cabinet and pouring tea into it. She handed it to me, and I took a big swig, thankful that it got the cracker down.

“It’s not his fault. It’s mine. I guess the shot sucks.”

“It’s not your fault, honey. Things happen. But it takes two to tango.”

I wasn’t commenting on the tango part. “I’m not messing up his life because of this.”

“He’s going to find out soon enough,” she said, glancing down at my still-flat stomach.

I pursed my lips. “That’s why I’m going to leave.”

“What?” she gasped.

“As soon as Ford finds out, I’ll be grounded.”

“He won’t do it right away.”

I give her a look of, really? “I’ll do this last mission with them, but he’ll ground me for sure. I know it. Which means I won’t be allowed on jobs. What’s the point of paying my salary if I can’t do my work? He’ll have to hire someone else to fly.”

That didn’t sit well at all.

“And after the baby’s born, the same goes. It’s not like I can put the kid in a baby carrier in second chair and fly a helicopter.”

She picked up her peeler and grabbed another potato and went back to work.

Yeah, that was what I thought. If she had answers, she’d have spit it out. She knew I was right. About all of it. I had to go.

“Tell him, Quincy.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I think Kennedy might surprise you. And I’m sure you’ve heard this, but it takes a village to raise a child. You don’t think I’m thrilled at the idea of having a little one around here? Those boys will dote all over that kid. If it’s a girl? They’re all doomed.”

“I’m a pilot. I don’t want to be left at home with the babies while the brave soldiers go off to war. That would suck. If my career is over, I need to at least go somewhere where I don’t feel the loss of it every day.”

She set the peeler back down and turned around, leaned against the counter.

“You’ve been around too many men. A woman can have it all, whatever that is.”

God, she sounded just like my mother.

“A woman’s career is everything, not just a job that pays a salary. When you’re my age, you’ll look back and tell your grandchildren that you were a badass pilot in the Navy and a mother and whatever else you do. You’re young. You can fill your life any way you want.”

“But–”

“There are no buts, honey. This is your life. It might not go as planned, but neither do missions. There are contingencies and changes, but the outcome is the same. Success. You’ll be grounded for a bit, but you’re making a person. It doesn’t mean you won’t fly again.”

She came over and patted my hand. “Trust me. You’ll look back on this child as the greatest accomplishment of your life.”

Tears flooded my eyes because the baby clearly made me a sappy mess.

“Don’t steal the same joy from Kennedy. Tell the man.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

KENNEDY

“Tell me what?”

I walked into the kitchen to find Quincy and Mrs. L having some kind of heart-to-heart that involved me.

Thank fuck. I sure as hell hoped it was about her staying. Giving us a chance. Not tucking tail and running just because things suddenly got real between us. Or whatever her issue was.

Quincy looked up at me with those big brown eyes shimmering with tears, and all the anger I’d had toward her for giving up on us dropped to the floor. In all the times I’d known her, I’d never seen her look worried or scared, but right now she did. I swiftly crossed through the kitchen and took her into my arms. “What is it, sweets?”

God, she felt good. Soft, warm. I breathed in her scent, and my dick got hard. I couldn’t help it. “Whatever it is, I’ll fix it.”

Mrs. L tactfully evacuated the kitchen, but still, Quincy looked around, like she didn’t want anyone hearing.

“Come on. Let’s go for a walk.” I took her hand and led her out the back door and toward the mountain on the same path I’d taken last night when she’d damaged my pride and my heart by claiming this thing between us had just been about sex.

I was grateful when she didn’t argue or resist because Lord knew, she did a lot of that when it came to me. No, according to Mrs. L, she had something to tell me. If she hadn’t come willingly, I’d have tossed her over my shoulder.

If I fucked up, I wanted to make it right. Hell, I was going to do stupid shit all the time, and I had a feeling I’d be groveling. A lot.

But me doing something that had her saying she was going to take a job in fucking San Diego? That was seriously spooked about intimacy. Hopefully now, she’d come to her senses. Except the tears made no sense.

Hell, women made no sense.

I had to slow my pace to match hers, and her hand felt clammy in mine. She was definitely nervous about this talk.

I tried to lighten the mood. “You can just say I was right. I’ll do the I’m right dance, and then we can kiss and move on.”

It worked. Quincy let out a bark of laughter. “Excuse me? Right about what?”

I hesitated. She’d already ripped my heart from my chest and stomped on it. I didn’t exactly want to get vulnerable with her again. Not without knowing whether she cared. Whether she was in this with me or not.

But I was no coward. I’d been hurt worse as a SEAL.

Well, that had been flesh wounds. This? It hurt in ways I wasn’t sure would heal if she kicked me to the curb. “About you running. From us.”

Quincy’s breath caught, and she stopped walking to face me. Her expression held regret. Angst. Trepidation. “Kennedy…”

I squeezed her hand. “Do you know what the I’m right dance looks like?” I teased. “It’s like this.” I dropped her hand to do a couple of slow body waves that made me probably look like a male stripper.

Quincy laughed. She drew in a long breath and exhaled.

“Kennedy, I’m pregnant.”

The smile fell away from my face. I stared at her.

My mind went completely blank. Like I understood she’d spoken words, but they didn’t compute.

Then it all came crowding in. Quincy was having a baby. That was why she was leaving. That was why she’d been crabby and tired and sick. That was–

Holy shit, she was having my baby.

I didn’t know why it took me a moment longer to comprehend that part.

I frowned. “And you were going to leave without telling me?” That felt even worse than her running from our relationship. She was running from our family. That baby was mine, too.

She licked her lips, which looked too dry. Her eyes filled with tears again, and I wanted to punch myself in the face. “I know you don’t want kids. I didn’t want to saddle you–”

“Saddle me?” I snapped. “What kind of asshole do you think I am? First, you don’t think I’m capable of a relationship, now you don’t think I can be a decent father?”

Her eyes rounded, and she held out her hands. “Whoa, whoa. No. That’s not it. Not at all. I’m not the jerk here. I just didn’t want you to resent me. Or feel trapped. You made it very clear you didn’t want marriage and kids.” Her beautiful eyes filled with tears again, and I finally yanked my head out of my ass.

Oh.

“Shit.” I started to reach for her, to fold her into my arms and apologize. To fix this rift between us and reassure her that with her, I’d throw away all my previous notions about family.

But that was the moment Hayes came sprinting up the path, yelling Quincy’s name.

We both whirled. “What is it?” she asked.

“Search and Rescue called. They’ve got some hikers injured up in the national forest. A trail was washed out, and they fell going around it. That’s all they told me, but they want to know if you can fly them out there. You can get them much closer and will cut off some time.”

Quincy and I looked at each other for a moment, both of us opening our mouths, but not making sounds.

“You should go,” I managed to say because it was the right thing. It would be just like the training exercise the week before. It wasn’t like she was headed to war. She might be pregnant, but she wasn’t having the baby anytime soon.

We could talk when she got back. It would give me time to formulate my thoughts and not come off as a dick because the woman was having my fucking baby. A baby!

“Right.” She bobbed her head and then ducked it, following Hayes down the mountain.

I walked beside her, reciting a million promises to her in my head, dying for the moment I could get her alone again.

Taft and Ford were waiting at the helipad along with two Search and Rescue team members who seemed familiar with Quincy. They briefed us quickly on the situation, that they’d be dropped off in a clearing they found on the topo map near where the hikers were supposed to be and would hike in from there.

“I’ll go with you,” I suggested when she started to climb in.

“No, they may need all the seats on the way back. I’ll be on comms,” she said. Her gaze met mine and held.

“Be careful,” I said as the door closed.

Quincy rolled her eyes. Of course, she would hate that. She wasn’t the type who ever wanted to be babied.

I’d get her past it. Even if I had to tie her up to let me dote on her. It wasn’t just her now I had to protect.

“We’ll talk when you get back,” I vowed.

“Yep.” Quincy was all lieutenant now, her spine straight, her face composed into a resolute expression.

Dammit. I’d royally fucked up that talk, but I would make it up to her when she got back. I’d make sure she understood just exactly how much I wanted to have that baby with her and what I’d do for the two of them–which was anything and everything.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

QUINCY

“Is that the clearing?” I asked, pointing to what had once been an open area.

One of the Search and Rescue guys, Marquette, he’d said his name was, sat second seat beside me. He wore sunglasses and had a jaw so sharp and square it could probably cut glass. He wasn’t smiling.

“Used to be,” he replied. Baby pine and aspen trees dotted the area. It had definitely been an alpine field a few years ago, but nature was taking over and filling it in. I couldn’t set the helicopter down on top of five-foot-tall trees and shrubs, and it was too much of a jump for them if I hovered.

“Fuck, this isn’t going to plan. Although calls like this rarely do.” That was Anderson from the back.

“Can you circle wider to see if there’s a different place you feel you can put her down?”

I nodded and turned the bird to the east, then took a broad loop over the mountainous terrain. We were about twenty miles as the crow–or helicopter–flew from Sparks, but civilization fell off fast. There were only dirt access roads cutting through the terrain like ribbons, and they were rare. The peaks were jagged in spots with thick patches of snow that never melted.

“How about there?” I pointed to a reasonably flat alpine meadow. It was maybe a thousand feet below the tree line.

“That will work, but we’re probably a mile further away from where the hikers are than planned. We could be hours,” Anderson said.

It didn’t usually take that much time to hike a mile, but this land was rugged and without a trail.

“Weather report calls for possible storms,” Marquette added, glancing at the sky. Clouds were forming from the west, but nothing too bad yet. “You should head back to base, and we’ll formulate a plan for extraction when we find the hikers. I’m hoping they’re stable. If the weather’s shit, you’ll be grounded, so we’ll have to hike out to the nearest access point where our guys can meet us by vehicle. Otherwise, we can give you the exact coordinates, and you can circle for a nearby spot once it clears.”

“Understood.”

I wouldn’t be thrilled about being in the wilderness in bad weather, but this was their job, and they lived for this. Indi was used to it as a backcountry guide. We were trained for anything in the Navy, as well, but not the wilds before a storm.

This wasn’t war. This wasn’t even Naval transport. This was Montana. I carefully set down in the field, the wildflowers whipping about from the rotors. The men climbed out, and Marquette turned to face me. “Thanks for the ride,” he shouted since they’d ditched their headsets. “We owe you a beer when we’re back.”

He didn’t wait for me to respond, just slammed the door shut, and they were off. I waited until they disappeared into the trees then lifted.

“Search and Rescue has been dropped off. Returning to base until further update,” I said into the comms.

“Affirmative.”

Taft.

I had about thirty minutes before I made it back, and I knew Kennedy would be waiting. To talk.

I’d dropped the baby bomb on him and then left.

Maybe that had been the way to do it. I was giving him a chance to realize his life would be better off without the extra baggage of a child he never wanted.

It would crimp his lifestyle. He went on missions. Risked his life. He wasn’t a baseball coach kind of dad. From what he’d said, it sounded like his father hadn’t been anything like that, or if he had, it’d been for a political photo op. Nothing more.

Kennedy wasn’t anything like what he’d painted his parents to be. I wouldn’t have been interested in him if he had.

During our little conversation where he’d told me kids weren’t in his future, I’d told him the exact same thing. I was on birth control because I didn’t want a baby. At all. But I got pregnant anyway, regardless of our wants or plans.

I was pregnant. I was having a baby. But Kennedy could still walk away.

But my even suggesting that had pissed him off. He wasn’t the kind of guy who bailed on his responsibilities. Hell, he faced them head-on.

I didn’t want to be a responsibility. If I was going to be with him, I wanted to be his everything, just as I would want him to be mine. Devoted. In one hundred percent for love. Not responsibility.

So even though I’d land and he’d tell me we’d raise the baby together, I didn’t even know what that meant. What it would look like. Because I knew it wouldn’t look anything like love, no matter how I felt. It would be obligation.

My father had wanted children and a family. He’d been devoted, in his own way, but the Navy was like a second family and had put the heavy load of raising four kids to my mom. Hell, they’d have stopped with my brother Trent if he’d been an accident.

I had to face Kennedy and his feelings on this. Let him come to terms with it and then make a choice. Me… all of me… or nothing at all. Because I would go to San Diego if he chose nothing.

* * *

KENNEDY

“You giving up sugar or something?”

“Huh?” I asked Taft, who was in my seat in the command center. I dropped into Mrs. L’s armchair, and I picked at one of the doilies. I shifted the lollipop in my mouth to the opposite cheek.

“What’s crawled up your ass?” He had on comms head gear to talk to Quincy, but pulled one ear muff off and looked me over.

I set my hands on my thighs, and I blinked. I was a little stunned. And angry. And lost. And freaking out. And pissed.

Quincy was pregnant.

We’d made a baby.

She’d told me she’d had the birth control shot. It wasn’t like I didn’t believe her, but wasn’t that supposed to actually stop a baby from being made?

Then I thought about my powerful sperm that got to her egg. Yeah, those boys wouldn’t be stopped by fucking birth control. The one and only person I hadn’t used a condom with and bam! Pregnant on probably the first go.

I had to admit, I felt a little virile and proud of that, that Quincy would grow round with my kid.

My dick throbbed in my jeans at the idea. Damn, Quincy pregnant was a fucking turn-on.

But we hadn’t had time to talk because she wasn’t happy about it. In fact, she’d been afraid of my reaction. She’d said it was her fault. Her fault? I’d had my dick so far up in her it couldn’t be a surprise at all she got pregnant. Still, she dropped that bomb and then flew off into the sunset. Completely freaked out.

She assumed I’d be mad. That I’d hate her for… what? Trapping me? For a mistake? An accident?

She was having my baby. We were making a person. A little boy who’d blow shit up and survive in the woods with a pencil. No. Fuck that. That little boy would be tucked in safe in his little bed with lasers for a security system making sure he was protected.

And if we had a girl? With Quincy’s dark hair? I was totally, completely fucked. Lasers wouldn’t be enough. I’d have to camp out beside her bed with a K-bar and an AR locked and loaded.

Any child we made wasn’t a mistake. Sure, it hadn’t been planned, but it wasn’t an accident. An accident meant something went bad, and that had not happened.

It was fucking good. Amazing.

Holy shit. We were having a baby.

I pushed out of the chair and grabbed the second comms unit. I put it over my ears and growled, “Get back to base.”

I had plans for her. In bed. I’d tell her how I felt about our situation and show her my opinion of it. And her. If she’d only get her ass back here.

“Lay off, Kennedy,” Quincy snapped. “I got this. The guys were dropped off and are on their way to the lost hikers. I’m a mile off the targeted landing area but no issues.”

“You’re not out of there yet,” I reminded, impatient.

“I’m well aware of where I fucking am.”

“It’s not just you at risk this time,” I reminded. I trusted Quincy as a pilot and knew she could fly and fly safe. But she had my baby up there with her, and I couldn’t protect either of them.

“You need to–”

I could hear alarms blaring through the comms, and I glanced at Taft. His fingers whipped over the keyboard and pulled up the radar.

“Holy shit. Incoming,” she said. “Evasive maneuvers.”

“Fuck. What the–” I began, but Taft cut me off as he stared at the monitor and the radar display.

“Two incoming.”

Holy shit. Quincy’s bird was heading in our direction and there were two blips coming in hot.

“Who the hell is shooting at me and why?” she asked. Her voice was more pissed than scared.

“What the fuck is going on?” I shouted.

“Some helo is firing at Quincy,” Taft barked.

“No fucking kidding. Why? Here? What the fuck? FORD!” I shouted, my voice echoing off the walls.

I heard the screen door slam, then Ford and Hayes raced into the room and came to a stop. I had no idea where they’d been, but thank fuck it had been close. Taft flipped a switch on the speakers, and I ripped off my headset. He did, too.

Quincy’s voice came through loud and clear for all of us when she said, “I’ve been hit,” she said, then relayed the list of damages.

Ford’s eyes widened. “Hit by what?”

“A missile. Gunfire. Someone’s up there trying to take her out.”

“Williams?”

“How the fuck do I know?”

“She was on an emergency call,” Hayes pointed out. “The trip wasn’t planned. It’s not like he’d have known about it in advance and sent a team.”

“Then they’re coming here and decided to take her out first. Her and our chopper.”

“And my baby.”

All three men stared at me. Complete silence in the room.

“Not sure about landing, but I’ve had worse,” Quincy said.

“Fucking-A, Quincy!” I shouted after picking up the headset and speaking into it.

“Shut it, Kennedy,” she snapped. “Get your ass off the fucking comms.”

“You’re my woman and–”

“I’m not your woman,” she countered. “Taft, shut him down. I’m returning to base. I don’t need–”

We heard the alarms blare again.

“Incoming. Someone sure as shit doesn’t like your ass,” Taft said.

We stepped close to the monitor and watched. “That’s another bird.”

“Definitely Williams. Surprise attack,” Ford said. “Hayes–”

“Fuck,” Quincy muttered.

I never once, not in any firefight or infiltration, HALO jump or even drown proofing had I been scared like this.

“It’s a Bell. Friendly.” The familiar whiz of bullets had the hairs on my arms raise. “Shit, not friendly.”

“Quincy! Get the fuck out of there!” I shouted.

“They want to shoot me down.”

“Get back to base!” Taft called.

“I’ll bring them right to you,” she countered.

“Oh shit,” I breathed. I covered up the comms speaker and turned to Ford. “She knows it’s Williams and doesn’t want to bring them to us.”

Ford clenched his jaw. “They know where we are. They were coming here anyway. She’s trying to protect us.”

“Christ, we need protecting?” Hayes said, patting his chest. “Bring it.”

Ford nodded.

“Take this, you fucker,” she muttered.

“She’s firing back,” Hayes said. We couldn’t see shit, but we could picture it in our heads.

“Fuck. Come on…. Come onnnnnnnn.”

“Get an extraction team on the horn,” I yelled.

“Extraction team? Quincy is that team,” Hayes reminded me.

“Give me something,” I snapped back.

“Coordinates are–” Taft stated.

“Mayday. Mayday.”

Holy shit. She’d been hit, and she was crashing. From what I could tell on the radar, she was a few miles from here in the hills. It was rugged terrain with no place to land. It didn’t sound like she was landing.

“Stay alive, Quincy. Stay fucking alive.”

Taft popped to his feet. “I know the coordinates.”

“Get the gear.”

Hayes led the dash to the greenhouse where we had an impressive supply of weaponry.

“Where’s my grandmother?” Ford asked.

We were sprinting across the field, and all I could see in my mind was Quincy in a twisted heap of metal.

“In town. City council meeting,” Taft said as we entered the greenhouse and began to prep for an attack and a rescue.

Thank fuck she wasn’t here.

“Text her to tell her not to come home until she hears from us. They’re coming here next,” Ford said. “We have minutes.”

I was putting on my backpack, loading it with weapons and ammo without even thinking about it. Quincy. That’s all I had on my mind.

“I’m going for Quincy.”

“We’re all going for her.” Ford snapped a thigh holster into place. “These mercs, whoever Williams hired, don’t know this land. The terrain. We’ll finish them on our turf.”

“We said they’d be stupid to go after an admiral’s daughter,” I said, remembering our earlier convo. “I guess we were wrong.”

Taft nodded, gripping his AR.“We’ll get to Quincy. And the baby.” Hayes slapped me on the shoulder.

“Then we’ll finish this with Williams. Our way.”

We set off, Taft taking point. He knew exactly where to go, and we’d had plenty of practice pushing ourselves on the obstacle course.

This time, we weren’t racing the clock, we were racing for Quincy.

CHAPTER TWENTY

QUINCY

A good pilot knew how to fly in difficult situations, weather and terrain.

A top-notch Navy pilot knew how to crash land.

Sometimes, though, especially with helicopters, there was no landing involved with the crash.

This was going to be one of those cases.

It was funny how in an emergency, things became crystal clear. Time slowed. You knew exactly what was important and what you had to do to protect life at all costs.

This was one of those moments.

It wasn’t just my own life on the line here. It wasn’t just my own future.

It was my baby’s. And Kennedy’s.

I had to be smart and stay alive, so the three of us could have that future.

I cut the engine since it was smoking. I had no power, but that didn’t matter because the rotors were still spinning. I pitched the blades down and got the lift I needed for autorotation. I was going down, but on my terms. There wasn’t a good spot, which was the issue, but I was able to slow down enough to make the impact better.

Time went still as I pulled up hard. My velocity slowed and with it, all the frantic, circular thoughts I’d had about the pregnancy disappeared.

I somehow knew that Kennedy was all in.

He’d been right after all. He did get to do the I’m right dance. I’d been afraid of getting hurt, so I’d pushed him away. I doubted his intentions and his love.

Of course, Kennedy would stand by me. And, of course, it wouldn’t be out of obligation. He’d already made it plain he wanted a relationship. With me. He’d challenged me to stop fighting it.

We may not have planned to have a family, but we were going to have one, and rather than this being a big mistake, it just might be the biggest blessing imaginable.

I was being gifted with a future I never even imagined for myself. One I thought I hadn’t wanted. But now that I’d adjusted to the idea–could imminent death do that?–I couldn’t think of anything I’d want more.

A shot at real happiness.

Real love–both with Kennedy and our baby.

A family.

As soon as I came to that realization, my survival extinct kicked into high gear again. The ground was still approaching more quickly than I’d like. I was in for a hard landing. My harness was tight and there was nothing I could do except hope.

As I scraped across the ponderosa pines, luck was with me, because the helicopter caught in a treetop and settled. I jerked in my restraints, suspending me above the ground without any impact. The rotors sliced up the trees it encountered, making a whirlwind of twigs and greenery until they stopped.

Breathing hard, I unclipped my harness and pushed open the door. I was fifteen feet off the ground, but I climbed out, descended a tree like an uncoordinated black bear.

“We did it,” I muttered to the baby, even though she was just the size of a grain of rice at this point. I glanced up at the chopper snagged on the trees. It hovered there, like caught on giant toothpicks.

Holy shit. I stumbled across the steep ground to get away from the wreckage. I felt a little banged up, maybe some bruising from the harness and scratches getting out of the trees, but I wasn’t hurt.

“Now we just have to hike out,” I said aloud, catching my breath. My adrenaline was pumping. Hard. I didn’t hear the other chopper. It probably saw me hit, then flew on as planned.

“I’m going to guess your daddy will be here in about T minus ten. They’re smart and quick like that.”

I hadn’t been following the radar there at the end, but I’d worked myself closer to the compound. The helicopter full of men who wanted us all dead would be there by now. That had me quickening my pace. They were headed right to Kennedy and the others. I hadn’t had tons of time to think on it, but it seemed my dad’s poking around had gotten Williams to act as we’d all thought. Except we expected them to do it on one of the assigned jobs, not at a random day and time.

What if Kennedy and the guys couldn’t take them?

No, I couldn’t think that way. They were ex-navy SEALs on their home turf. And with my being shot out of the sky and all, they had a heads up of things to come.

If I knew my team, those assholes who put my baby in danger were already dead.

I hoped. Yeah, I was already ridiculously protective.

The thought of Kennedy being shot before he got to meet this baby terrified me. And I didn’t mean a scratch on his head.

Had I actually intended to keep a baby we made together from him? To not tell him about its existence? I must’ve been out of my ever-loving mind.

I checked the sky to make sure I was headed in the right direction, but the clouds that had been threatening to storm had fully gathered now, blotting out all signs of the sun. I knew I wasn’t more than a mile or two from base. I also knew it was down, not up the mountain. Civilization of any kind was at a lower elevation. Talking with Indi, I remembered her saying once to find a creek or a stream and follow it out if ever lost and stranded.

“Okay, baby bean. It looks like we might get wet, but that’s okay. Mama has toughed it out in worse.”

Not five minutes later, thunder rolled, and I shivered as the sky opened up and dumped pelting rain on us. It also erased the smoke from the crashed helicopter that might have helped my team extract me. If they’d been monitoring radar, they’d know my last coordinates. They’d find me. I knew they would. Except they might be busy with bad guys. In the meantime, I would find my way out. My job was to get us to safety.

I sure as hell hoped Search and Rescue had found their hikers. Too bad I wouldn’t be able to pull them out.

“Maybe I’ll commandeer the enemy’s helicopter after my team takes care of them,” I say to the baby. The thought cheered me as I made my way down the incline, using the base of the pines to help.

A whistle pierced the air. It was a sound I recognized. It was Ford’s signal.

I didn’t know how to whistle, but I sent up two loud whooping sounds with my voice.

The whistle immediately responded with two notes.

“Quincy?” I heard Kennedy’s shout echo off the mountains.

“Here!” I shouted back. My heart kicked in double time. He was here!

A few moments later, he called again. This time, his voice sounded closer. “Quincy?”

“Yes!” I ran in the direction of his voice, watching the ground, so I didn’t trip.

As if the sky was celebrating our reunion, too, the rain slowed to a drizzle.

“Quincy!” I didn’t know why he sounded more frantic. He’d found me. But when Kennedy barreled through the trees toward me, I suddenly knew what it was like to be loved. He was in jeans and a t-shirt, not his usual mercenary outfit, but had a backpack strapped to his back, a thigh holster, and was carrying an AR.

This man… I knew it in my bones. In my cells. In the womb where our sweet tiny baby grew. He was mine.

He didn’t have to say it. Kennedy loved me. He wanted me. The rest we could figure out.

“Quincy, thank fuck!” Kennedy caught me in an embrace, lifting me off my feet. He was big and solid and warm and dripping wet. “You’re not hurt?” He stroked over my body with his hands, pulling back to inspect my face, the rest of me. “Oh God, I was so fucking scared.”

“I’m okay.” I caressed him back, catching his face in my hands. “I’m okay. We’re okay.”

In my periphery, I saw the other guys arrive behind Kennedy, forming a circle around me. They weren’t in fatigues, but they were armed just like when I’d flown them into enemy territory. We weren’t in a war, but we had a fight on our hands.

“Oh sweets. Oh thank God. Fuck, the helicopter.”

I pointed behind me. “I think it might be totaled. And getting it off the top of some pines is going to be really hard.”

“Fuck,” Kennedy breathed and pulled me in for a hug.

“What’s the status on the enemy?” I asked, stepping back. I loved being in his arms, but this wasn’t over yet.

“Probably in pursuit,” Ford said grimly. “We heard them fly in as we were coming to you. They landed on our helipad, I’m sure.”

“A fucking welcome mat,” Hayes grumbled.

I swallowed. “You let them breach the compound?”

“Extracting you was priority one,” Ford said.

I shook my head because tactically, coming for me wasn’t the smartest move. Instead of feeling defensive that they were babying me, though, my eyes went misty. Leave it to my team to put my safety above all else.

“Mrs. L,” I gasped.

“She’s in town. Staying there,” Taft said, his gaze scanning the forest.

Relief coursed through me knowing she wasn’t in danger. The merc team wanted us and would probably use Ford’s grandmother against him.

“We need to get back right away,” I said. “Before they destroy the place.”

“You’re not going anywhere until we know it’s safe,” Kennedy said.

I pulled the gun from his thigh holster. “I’m armed. I can take care of myself.”

Kennedy shook his head. “Not happening.”

“Stay close. We all cover Quincy if there’s any fire,” Ford ordered, at odds with Kennedy. I wasn’t a SEAL, but I wasn’t a simple civilian either. “You’re good to hike it out?” he asked, shifting his gaze from mine and downward to my stomach.

I nodded. “I’m not injured. I’m good.”

I looked at Kennedy as I fell into step, and the group closed around me in a pack. Kennedy walked behind me, AR up and ready. “You told them?” I looked over my shoulder.

“You got shot down in a helicopter. I was nearly out of my fucking mind.”

Again, instead of taking offense, I grinned. I patted my still-flat belly. “Your daddy is going to take very good care of us,” I told the baby.

Kennedy’s steps faltered. “Damn straight,” he growled. “And you’re going to let me, right?”

I turned, and he stopped, moved the assault rifle out of the way when I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Yeah,” I said softly just before I kissed him.

“Your job is to cook this baby, but I have to stand back with my thumb up my ass. This isn’t something I can fix or take care of. I’m helpless.”

I never thought about it that way. Besides his super sperm getting past my birth control, he was on the sidelines for this job.

“I’ll let you,” I told him. If it gave him some peace of mind… and something to do, I was okay with it.

Some of the tension in his body slackened, and he kissed me back, hard. Then he turned me around, smacked my ass and told me, “We'd better keep walking.”

As it turned out, there was no time to walk. Shots rang out in the air, and we scattered and dove for cover behind trees, weapons drawn.

“Two o'clock,” Taft shouted.

Someone returned fire. Hayes, I thought.

Kennedy made eye contact with me where he stood ten feet away behind a tree. He made a hand signal that I should stay. I nodded. I wasn't going to do anything risky. Not with the precious cargo I carried and only a pistol.

More shots were fired from several directions and a body dropped. “One down,” Hayes called.

The mercs were good. Clearly trained as well as the Navy SEAL team. Quiet and organized.

“I count three more. Nine o’clock, two, and three,” Hayes said in a low voice.

Nobody moved for a moment. It was dead quiet except for the droplets of water falling from the trees, the call of a bird somewhere overhead.

Then, all three of the enemy team started firing on us at once, reminding me of a grand finale at a fireworks show.

Kennedy stepped out from behind his tree to return fire. From the sound of things, so did Ford, Hayes, and Taft. I stayed put.

I heard the thud of two more bodies dropping and prayed they didn't belong to anyone on our team. At least I had a clear line of sight on Kennedy to know he was okay.

I breathed in the cool air, let the tree at my back hold me up.

“Take the last one alive,” Ford ordered, and a rush of relief washed over me. That meant none of our team had gone down. Thank God.

Someone started shooting up the tree I was behind. I dropped and pressed against it as bark and wood chips splintered around me. I tucked my head into my knees and covered my head with my hands.

Kennedy darted out and fired five times with his AR.

“I said alive!” Ford shouted.

“Sorry, boss,” Kennedy said, tucking me beneath his arm, so I was curled in a ball.

No one moved for a few beats.

“Stay where you are,” Kennedy said to me in a low voice as he crept out from behind the tree to investigate.

“Clear?” Taft asked.

Kennedy crept forward silently to check the pulse on one of the fallen bodies.

I heard movement from the others as they emerged from their tree cover.

“Okay, Quince, stay close, sweets.” Kennedy beckoned me.

The moment I stood and walked out, I saw movement just beyond Kennedy. Just like I’d known what to do without thinking back in the helicopter, I lifted my pistol and fired right over Kennedy’s right shoulder.

He didn’t even blink, it happened so fast.

There was a grunt, and the guy fell backward, shooting his gun as he went.

Kennedy launched himself at me as I dropped to the ground. He knocked the wind out of me with his weight.

Hayes and Taft–I assumed it was them since all I could see was ground–fired. I heard the thud of a body collapse on the ground.

Kennedy scrambled forward off of me and disarmed the guy. “He’s still alive.”

“See? We do listen sometimes,” Hayes announced proudly.

I couldn’t help but laugh. I’d never gone on a mission with the men before where I was part of the firefight. I had to admit–and I immediately thought of my mother–that sometimes missing out was okay.

I wanted to be included, but I was good now.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

KENNEDY

I didn’t know how I would survive Quincy’s pregnancy. I seriously thought I was going to have a coronary imagining everything that could’ve gone wrong back there. She could’ve died in multiple ways. A fucking helicopter crash, for starters.

Now, as we waited with local law enforcement–we’d called in Megan and her partner Dan from the sheriff’s office–for the Navy to show up and deal with our prisoner and dead bodies, I had to force myself not to replay the past scenes and think about how lucky we got.

Because it was “we” now. Me, Quincy, and our baby.

I heard the beat of helicopter wings and let out a slow exhale. Quincy was back. After all that, my beautiful, brave pilot had taken one of the helicopters the other merc team had shown up in to go pull out the Search and Rescue team with their stranded hikers. We’d gotten word of the retrieval, and with a perfectly good helicopter at the ready, she’d offered to go and get them.

Not that she hadn’t been shot out of the sky and been part of a shootout. And pregnant.

She wanted to help. Needed to. The idea of forcing that team to walk out to help wasn’t something she could do if she could get to them herself.

I hadn’t been thrilled about her doing that and had wanted to go with her. I’d acted like a fucking two-year-old having a meltdown, and I hadn’t gotten my way. There hadn’t been room.

That was the reason. No seat for me.

I’d let her go. I laughed just thinking that because I hadn’t let her do anything. It was her job to help people, just like it was mine. Except she was the only one who could fly. The only reason she’d crashed–fuck, I was going to have nightmares for months over it–was because of the team Williams had sent in. She was safe. So off she went, and I’d had to stand on the sidelines and wait.

Hayes had slapped me on the shoulder and offered a commiserating look, but that hadn’t done anything to help. It had been hell on my nerves, but I had to let her go, just as she let me go off on jobs. Jobs that were fucking dangerous.

Less than an hour after she left, she landed on the helipad and turned off the bird. I had to admit, it was a nice one, and I wondered if it was finders-keepers in situations like this. With our helicopter in the trees a few miles up the mountain, this one might be ours now. I jogged out to meet her.

“Thanks, Kennedy, we owe you that beer,” the Search and Rescue guy called out as he helped the three hikers–I’d only thought there had been two–out of the helicopter and toward a waiting SUV. They didn’t appear all too injured—one was hobbling and another held a shirt to his bleeding head. They’d go to the hospital to be checked out and hopefully told to stay out of the woods from now on.

I caught her waist as she climbed out.

“I don’t need help, Kennedy,” she chided, but there was a smile on her face.

“I know, but you’re getting it, anyway.” I slid her body down along mine, so she landed on her feet without an inch between us.

She lifted her face, and I cupped the back of her head to show her how relieved I was that she was back. I kissed the hell out of her, my tongue sweeping between her lips, my teeth tugging on her lower lip. By the time I was through, her lips were swollen, and her eyes glassy. “Wow. I should crash more often,” she said.

I bristled and had an internal freak-out.

“Don’t even say that,” I growled through gritted teeth. Yeah, there would be a lot of nightmares.

She shook her head and cupped my cheek. “Kidding. Just a joke.”

“Listen… we should talk.”

Her gaze darted away. “Yeah.”

There was something softer about Quincy. That wary defensiveness she usually carried like armor had dropped away.

I laced my fingers through hers and started walking, slowly, toward the bunkhouse. “I’m sorry I was a dick when you told me about the pregnancy.”

She slowed and glanced up at me. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kept it from you. That was wrong. Of course, you have a right to know and to be involved in any decisions I make.”

The remaining anger I’d felt when she’d told me she was pregnant and had chosen to leave without telling me fell away.

“If you have to go to San Diego, I’m coming, too,” I said. “I want to be with you, Flyer. I need to be your wingman. If that means leaving Alpha Mountain, so be it. You and the baby are all that matter to me.”

Quincy stopped altogether and turned her face up to mine once more, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “I want to be with you, too,” she said. “You were right–I was afraid of things getting serious, or of getting hurt, or whatever. I thought you would resent us for changing your life. But I should’ve given you more credit than that.”

“You know what happens now, don’t you?”

Quincy caught my teasing tone and smiled. “Is it the I’m right dance?”

“Yes.” I held both my hands in the air. “Yes, it is.” I gave her a slow undulation of my body while she laughed and rolled her eyes. “Okay, I’m done.” I dropped my arms like an actor dropping character and reached for her waist. “I love you,” I said softly.

She blinked rapidly. “I… I love you, too.” Her voice was choked with tears.

“Say it again,” I murmured as I leaned in for a kiss.

“I love you,” she said.

I brushed my lips across hers. “One more time.”

“I love you,” she whispered.

“I love you so fucking much,” I said fiercely. “I’ve loved you since Qatar, even if I was a dumbass then and didn’t know it. I’ve been waiting all this time to figure out how to make you mine.”

“That’s why your sperm broke through the birth control shot!” She slapped my chest, the smile on her face broad and beautiful.

I laughed. “That must be exactly why.”

We turned and continued walking hand-in-hand.

“What’s the status with the prisoner?” she asked, since she’d been retrieving the hikers and Search and Rescue as he was hauled at gunpoint out of the forest.

“He broke down during interrogation.”

He was a merc and in it for the money. He knew he was going to jail, so he had no reason not to give up his client. No waterboarding or other options needed to extract the info we wanted. Although there might have been a little persuasion on Ford’s part as well.

“Ford got him on tape admitting Williams sent him. Just as we thought.”

Elation made her smile. This had been a while in coming for all of us. “Ha! So Ford’s name will be cleared.”

I nodded. “Yes. Ford called Lincoln, and they pulled your father into the conversation as well.”

Her eyes widened. “My father?”

“Yeah. Since he’s the one who gave us the lead we needed.”

We were all pissed about not being better prepared for the attack on our home turf, but at least we’d had a heads up from the admiral–Admiral Mason, not Williams, obviously. I wasn’t sure how we were going to beef up our security from an air attack, but it was going to happen. That was for us to figure out. Later.

“Between the two of them, Lincoln and your dad, and now this admission from our prisoner, the case is airtight. Williams is being arrested right now.”

“Hooyah.” Quincy offered me a fist bump, and I returned it.

“You’ll have to see your father again soon, I’m sure. You okay with that?”

It’d only been a few days since we were in California, sitting across from him. So much had changed since then. My outlook, my future.

For once, she didn’t feel like she had to please her father. To try to keep up. She’d be forging her own direction now.”

“I’m going to follow my own happiness.”

“Oh?” I asked.

She nodded. “I’m not going to be just a pilot. I’m not going to be just a mother either. I don’t know how I’ll find the balance, but I have a feeling I will, and I’ll have a lot of help doing so.”

“Why’s that?” I asked, glad to hear her think so calmly and confidently about her options.

“Because you love me and are going to be at my side the whole way.”

“That’s fucking right,” I said, giving her a sweet kiss.

“Are we needed for debrief?” she asked.

“You’re not needed for anything but a hot shower and my tongue between your legs.”

I wanted her beneath me and screaming my name, so I knew she was safe. Whole and all mine.

“And a snack,” Quincy added.

I smacked my forehead. “Shit. Yes. Snack first, then shower, then pussy licking.”

“I’d race you there, but I’m so tired I can barely put one foot in front of the other.”

I swept Quincy up into my arms and carried her. “Problem solved, Flyer. I’ve got you.”

She wrapped her arms around my neck and leaned her head on my shoulder. “I know,” she murmured.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

QUINCY

Things didn’t go exactly to plan. Kennedy had fed me, snagging some crackers and making me a plate of a variety of leftovers. I’d scarfed it all down before being led to the shower where he’d soaped and touched and kissed every inch of my body. Especially my flat stomach.

He’d tucked us into bed and before he could do more than pull the blankets up, I’d fallen asleep.

His plan to get his tongue between my legs did happen though after a nap delay. Because him sucking and nibbling on my clit was how I woke up from it.

I arched my back and moaned.

“This is how I want to always wake up,” I murmured.

There was still light in the sky, so I must not have slept too long.

“I can make that happen.” Kennedy lifted his head enough to look up my bare body and meet my eyes. “Feeling okay?”

“Don’t stop, and I’ll feel better.” I reached down and ran my fingers through his silky hair.

“Yes, ma’am.”

SEALs were precise and thorough in their tasks. Diligent. Focused. That trait carried over into other things, like having my pussy eaten. He added a finger, then two and had me to the brink of coming in an admittedly short time.

I wasn’t sure if it was his skill or my desperate need for him.

Either way, I didn’t care.

“Don’t stop!” I cried, when he pushed up with those strong arms to hover over me. His lips glistened with my need.

“You’re going to be grounded soon,” he said.

I blinked at him.

“You want to talk about this now?” I asked, reaching up and grabbing his hair and trying to push him back down between my legs.

Instead of doing that, he shifted his hips, lined himself up at my entrance and thrust deep.

I moaned.

His eyes fell closed for a moment.

He felt so good. Thick and long, he filled me up.

“If I had my way, I’d stay right here, like this, forever,” he breathed.

“The baby’s going to have a hard time coming out around your dick.” I lifted my hips, trying to get him to move, to do something.

I clenched around him, and he hissed.

“I know you want to fly. You need to. But today, fuck.” He dropped his head and kissed me. I tasted need and desperation on his lips along with my arousal. “I’m going to be protective as fuck. I already am. You’ll fly, I won’t stop you. But the baby will. You okay with that?”

He was checking in, making sure I was good with what was to come. Maybe it was too early because changes were coming we couldn’t even fathom yet. Still, he was trying to be present, to take care of my current needs.

“My mom told me I could have it all. I think she’s right. I’ll fly again, but I’ve got a different job now. At least for the next eight months or so.”

He pulled back and sank deep once again.

“Fuck,” Kennedy breathed.

“I’m good,” I murmured, rolling my hips. “We’ll take it one day at a time. As long as you’re with me.”

“I’m with you, sweets.”

He took my hands and raised them over my head, gripped them in one of his big paws then started to move.

Hard. Deep. Each time he filled me, I met him. Thrust for thrust.

Hooking a hand behind my knee, he pushed my leg up and back, going deeper.

Then he stopped. Pulled out. Dropped between my thighs and sucked on my clit.

I stared up at the ceiling as I came with the focused little pulls.

Then he shifted again, back up and spearing me while I was still coming.

“Kennedy!” I shouted. Oh. My. God.

I was coming so hard I was sure I was strangling his dick.

He dropped to his forearms and caged me in as he fucked me, his motions losing their consistent rhythm. He was lost in me, finding his pleasure in my body. He found his future there as well.

When he held himself deep, filling me with his seed–which we knew was potent and powerful–he whispered. “You’re mine, sweets. All mine. You’re giving me everything I never even knew I wanted.”

I stroked his sweaty brow.

He lifted up enough, so his pale gaze held mine.

“I’ve been all over the world, but what I want is right here.”

I blinked back tears and nodded. “It’s all right here.”

He rolled us so he was on his back, and I lay sprawled across him. Reaching down, he tugged up the covers and kept his arms wrapped around me. I fell asleep listening to the beat of his heart.

All I ever wanted was right here, too.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

KENNEDY

Five weeks later, we gathered on Ford’s new deck for a celebration. Construction had begun on their homestead on the property a couple months ago, and the exterior was built out. He and Indi couldn’t move in yet, but the outdoor area was ready. It had been designed for entertaining, with a huge deck and grill and picnic tables he’d bought from Buchanan Hardware. The spot was perfect, down by the river. The view alone made it an unparalleled location for big gatherings.

We’d brought the food and supplies down from Mrs. L’s for the barbecue.

The entire Alpha Mountain Security cohort, including Mrs. L, Megan and Indi, was sitting at two long picnic tables pushed together eating grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. We were joined by our colleagues from San Diego–Lincoln, Admiral Mason and Quincy’s mom, Janet.

“Thank you for your help in gathering evidence to take Williams down,” Ford said to the admiral.

Mason’s face darkened as he looked across the table at him. “Are you kidding? He shot down my baby girl. He’s lucky I didn’t have him executed.”

The man’s jaw was clenched, and he was pissed. I knew the fucking feeling. Williams had shot down his daughter–my woman–and my child. It was probably the one and only thing I’d have in common with the man. The need to protect Quincy and the baby.

“James!” Janet exclaimed, sounding shocked.

He swiveled to face Quincy. “I told you I wanted you out of the fray,” he accused.

“Uh oh.” I said, smirking. “He’s doing the I’m right dance.”

It worked. Quincy laughed instead of getting riled up by her dad. She knew how I’d felt about all that had happened, and she couldn’t blame her father for being upset. There was protective, coming from love, and protective coming from some misplaced belief about women in a man’s world.

“Excuse me?” he swiveled to raise a stern brow in my direction.

I didn’t care. He wasn’t my dad or my commanding officer. He would hopefully be my future father-in-law, though, so I flashed him my most charming smile. “You were right, of course,” I smoothed. “But thanks to your heads’ up, we were semi-prepared for the attack.”

Quincy chuckled some more. She and I had been on a honeymoon of sorts these last weeks. I made it my life purpose to keep her well fed, rested and sexed, and she’d relaxed into the promise of our future.

Ford had pushed off any jobs for the time being. He and Indi had been working on the house, and we’d all been analyzing and working on our security.

We decided to stay here, in Sparks. Quincy didn’t want to give up her career, and she didn’t have to. Ford was willing to keep her on the team in whatever capacity she wanted. He’d purchased a new helicopter, although Lincoln had said we could keep the other merc team’s birds indefinitely because it wasn’t like they were going to come asking for it back, being either dead or in jail.

It had happened fast, but Quincy and I had put an offer in on a two-bedroom house in town, just up the block from Megan and Hayes, and we were set to close next week. I planned to throw my time into fixing the place up before we moved in–fresh paint and flooring. A cozy nursery for the baby.

Taft was thrilled he wouldn’t have to listen to us for much longer although we tried to keep things quiet.

We hadn’t told her parents about the pregnancy yet, but Quincy planned on spilling the beans sometime this weekend while they were visiting. She was still in her first trimester, so still feeling sick and taking lots of naps. According to my extensive research and Mrs. L, she should perk up in another couple of weeks. Whatever happened though, I’d be there for her. Whether it was middle of the night pickle runs to the store or holding her hair back when she threw up.

“Their dishonor was unbelievable,” the admiral grumbled. “And they were former Rangers.” He shook his graying head. “What a disgrace.”

It was. The fact that they were all military or former military, men made the betrayal even worse.

“Well, here’s to Ford’s name being cleared.” Hayes lifted his glass of beer, and we all clinked glasses.

“Yes, thank you for that.” Ford raised his beer toward Lincoln, who smiled in reply. Once Williams had been taken down, Lincoln was able to have the drug test Ford supposedly failed thrown out, and his dishonorable discharge erased. I expected the wheels of justice within the military to move slowly, but this had happened fucking fast. Perhaps there had been more people who believed his innocence and had only been waiting on the proof of it to fix it.

Ford Ledger was now officially on Navy pension like the rest of us.

“Where’s your drink, dear?” Janet asked Quincy when she toasted with a bottle of water. “Do you want some wine? I brought a bottle of rosé we could open.”

“No, the water’s fine,” Quincy said. “Actually…um” –she glanced up at me for support, and I put my hand on her back– “I’m…ah…”

“Pregnant?” Her mom threw down her napkin in triumph, her eyes wide with excitement.

“Yes.” Quincy laughed.

“Oh my goodness, I’m so excited!” Janet stood from her side of the picnic table and ran around to give Quincy a giant hug. “How?” She quickly shook her head, blushing. “I don’t mean how–when? Were you already pregnant in San Diego?”

Quincy nodded. “No. Well, yes, but I didn’t know it, then.” She took a shaky breath and exhaled. “I found out right before the helicopter crash.”

Now her dad threw down his napkin. “They’re dead. Williams, his lackeys. The remaining member of that merc team. Nobody shoots my grandchild out of the sky.”

I didn’t think he meant it to be funny, but everyone at the table roared with laughter. Me included.

Quincy set her hand on mine.

“Yeah, Kennedy was ready to tear them limb from limb. We all were. It was hard to get the guys to take one alive,” Ford said.

The old man pinned me with another glower. “I don’t see a ring on her finger.”

Again, I didn’t let him get to me. I gave him my cockiest grin. “Working on it. Quincy doesn’t love it when I get mushy, so I’m waiting for the right opportunity to pop the question.”

Quincy shot me a surprised look.

“Come on,” I said, drawing circles on her back with my hand. “You had to know it was coming.”

Quincy blinked rapidly. The hormones had made her far more emotional than usual, which she hated.

“You didn’t?” I asked more softly, my words just for her.

“Um…I just didn’t know if you were into that,” she admitted, leaning in close, as if everyone else wasn’t surrounding us eating barbeque. “You know…with your parents and everything.”

We hadn’t told my parents yet, either. I’d planned on doing that after I convinced Quincy to marry me. We’d have to invite them to the wedding, after all. But I’d be damned if I let them turn it into another political media circus. Maybe we’d elope. Maybe we’d get married right here on this deck.

The rest of the group tactfully shifted the conversation to give us some privacy.

I tipped my forehead down to touch it against hers and murmured, “Flyer, I’m into it. I’m into you. I’m into us. This baby. Our family. Of course, I want to marry you.”

She nodded, clearly still struggling not to cry. “Cool.”

“Does that mean you’re going to say yes?”

“Are you asking me now?”

I shook my head. “Nope.”

She let out a watery laugh. “Then I’m not answering.”

I groaned. “That’s my girl.” Always giving me pushback. That was one thing I was sure of. Quincy was going to give me a run for my money with everything.

And yeah, I was totally up for it.

One hundred percent.

“So, what’s the plan? Are you staying here? May I come out for the birth?” Janet asked when we brought our attention back to the group.

“Yes and of course,” Quincy said. “I will definitely need you.”

Janet’s eyes filled with happy tears. “I’m so excited. I love babies.”

“I know.” Quincy smiled warmly at her mom. “Our baby will be so lucky to have a doting grandmother.”

“And a senator and an admiral for grandfathers. We might have a future president on our hands,” the admiral said.

I had to work not to grit my teeth. I knew the admiral was just proud of his future grandchild, but his prediction was far too close to what my parents would want for comfort.

Quincy reached for my hand again, this time under the table. “Our baby won’t be going into politics,” she said quickly. “At least, not unless she or he is totally willing.”

Her father took a long, musing look at me and seemed to understand. He nodded. “Of course.”

I squeezed Quincy’s hand. “If she’s anything like Quincy, she’ll do whatever the heck she wants and excel at it. Because she has pretty fucking amazing parents.”

EPILOGUE

QUINCY

I stood on the beach on Coronado Island and sank my toes into the sand. Rose petals were scattered in the shape of a heart around me. I held a bouquet of pale pink roses in my hands and a wreath of them crowned my head. A white, lightweight, flowy sundress, cut in the babydoll style so there was nothing constrictive around my swelling belly, served as my wedding gown. I’d become so sensitive, I couldn’t stand rough fabrics or anything biting into my skin.

It seemed like pregnancy made me feel like a big baby, so I’d have some compassion when I was finally caring for one. I had my energy back, but I still napped a lot. Ate more than one breakfast. Felt like crying when I was hungry or tired.

Three more months, and we got to meet this baby.

Our daughter. Yeah, a girl. When the guys found out, they went into SEAL mode, super protective and planning all kinds of baby-proofing. They even started a master plan for screening her dates when she turned thirty. Yeah, thirty.

I just laughed and rubbed my belly listening to the crazy bunch.

Around me stood all the people I loved. The Alpha Mountain team. My Navy friends who could make it. Some local friends from growing up in San Diego. My parents and brothers.

Kennedy’s parents and friends from the service were here, too. In fact, there were enough Navy SEALs here to make a woman swoon, if I was looking at anyone besides my groom.

Kennedy stood against a majestic sunset in a pair of navy blue beach shorts and a loose short-sleeved white button-down, open at the throat to show his tanned chest. His eyes crinkled, dimples winked. He was literally the most handsome man on Earth.

We picked the beach in San Diego as the site for our wedding since we had friends and history here. The Bergharts had wanted a big formal affair in DC, but we’d refused, and they’d backed down when they realized how far along I was. No photo ops of pre-marital sex for them. There was no hiding this pregnancy–not that I thought I had to.

So far, it had been one big casual celebration. Last night, the entire gang had taken over The Shack for a private rehearsal dinner, which was actually just eating a ton of tacos.

Today we’d played beach volleyball after brunch and swam in the ocean until it was time to go in and clean up for the ceremony.

The Navy chaplain who was our officiant addressed our guests now. “Good afternoon. Melissa, Chase, and I would like to welcome everyone on this gorgeous day. It's because of all of you—because of this strong community—Melissa and Chase's relationship has strengthened and grown and led them to this very moment. Thank you for being here, for supporting their journey, and for honoring the next stage of their lives.”

It was sweet. He probably said it at every wedding, but I felt it was true. We did have support all around us. I wouldn’t be bringing our little girl into this world alone, as I’d originally feared. No, I had Kennedy and a robust village to help raise her. We may not know much about babies, but our daughter sure as hell would be the best-protected child in the country.

“The bride and groom have written vows to each other that they will exchange now.”

Kennedy pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it, then caught my gaze and winked.

My heart fluttered. I would never be immune to that panty-melting charm of his.

“Melissa, I choose you to be my best friend, partner, wife and the mother of my children. I choose to spend my whole life with you, in sickness and health, for richer or poorer, in good times and bad. I promise not to do the I’m right dance, except when it’s completely necessary.”

My laughter burst through the tears that were threatening. Our guests laughed and cheered, too. It was so Kennedy to lighten the mood and charm every heart at the wedding.

His proposal had ended up being simple, like this wedding. I’d waited for it, since I’d known it was coming, but it never did. Old me wanted to think he was chickening out, but nothing about his actions or words supported that.

Finally, one day in the shower, he’d gotten down on one knee under the spray of water. He’d hooked one of my legs over his shoulder, pinned me against the tile and pleasured me with his mouth. Then, in the middle of it, he’d said, “Marry me?”

I’d burst into laughter. “This was your big proposal?” I’d demanded.

He’d shrugged those broad shoulders. “I was trying and trying to think of the perfect proposal. This morning, I decided you probably didn’t care about perfect.”

“This is perfect, Kennedy,” I’d said, still laughing.

“Is that a yes?” he’d prompted.

“Yes.”

He’d flicked his tongue over my clit and brought me to a celebratory finish.

Now, I gazed up at his handsome face as I read my vows now. “Chase, I choose you to be my best friend, partner, husband and the father of my children. I choose to spend my whole life with you, in sickness and health, for richer or poorer, in good times and bad. I promise not to push you away when things get too real. I know you’ll show up and be there for me no matter what happens, just like I will for you.”

Oh shit.

Kennedy looked like his eyes had misted now.

I needed another joke, quick. “And I promise not to crash any more helicopters while pregnant.” I ad-libbed. This garnered another roar of laughter from our guests although Kennedy clenched his jaw.

“Melissa and Chase will now exchange rings as a symbol of love and commitment to each other. Your wedding rings are special; they enhance who you are. They mark the beginning of your long journey together. Your wedding ring is a circle—a symbol of love never-ending. It is the seal of the vows you have just taken to love each other without end. Melissa, I understand your groom has chosen to wear his ring as a tattoo on his finger.”

Our guests laughed again.

Kennedy had had the ring tattooed on last night at the same ink shop where he’d had the tattoo put on his back when he was in SEAL training. We’d decided wearing a metal ring on his finger didn’t make sense for a man like him. He didn’t want something that could be removed by an enemy, or lost in the field. He wanted his commitment to me marked permanently on his skin. To say he’d gotten lucky last night after seeing the final result was an understatement.

“Melissa, please touch the ring on Chase’s left hand and repeat after me,” the officiant said.

I handed my bouquet to Megan and picked up Chase’s hand in one of mine, tracing the freshly-inked tattoo with my finger.

“As a sign of my love,” the officiant recited.

I looked into Kennedy’s eyes. “As a sign of my love.”

He winked again. I melted a little more.

“That I have chosen you.”

Our baby kicked, making me smile. She wanted to celebrate our commitment, too. “That I have chosen you.”

“Above all else.”

I swallowed, thinking how much I already cared about Kennedy and how much more I knew was possible. Every day I let him into my heart even more than the day before as my trust and joy grew. “Above all else.”

“With this ring, I thee wed.”

“With this ring, I thee wed.”

As Kennedy placed the titanium ring I picked out–because it was lightweight and no-fuss, of course–on my finger and repeated the promise, our baby kicked again.

Maybe she was doing the I’m right dance.

Maybe she knew all along. She was the one who brought us together. The one who would keep us together. Not out of obligation or duty but out of an ocean of love.

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“Prelude” in Black Light: Roulette War

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ABOUT RENEE ROSE

USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR RENEE ROSE loves a dominant, dirty-talking alpha hero! She's sold over a million copies of steamy romance with varying levels of kink. Her books have been featured in USA Today's Happily Ever After and Popsugar. Named Eroticon USA's Next Top Erotic Author in 2013, she has also won Spunky and Sassy's Favorite Sci-Fi and Anthology author, The Romance Reviews Best Historical Romance, and has hit the USA Today list eight times with her Bad Boy Alpha and Wolf Ranch series, as well as various anthologies.

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ABOUT VANESSA VALE

A USA Today bestseller, Vanessa Vale writes tempting romance with unapologetic bad boys who don’t just fall in love, they fall hard. Her 75+ books have sold over one million copies. She lives in the American West where she's always finding inspiration for her next story. While she’s not as skilled at social media as her kids, she loves to interact with readers.

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