Wrecked Intel (Immortal Outcasts®): An Immortal Ops® World Novel

by Mandy M. Roth

  “I don’t think so,” said Cody. “Pretty sure only one thing will fix it. Her.”

  Wheeler looked to be trying not to laugh.

  He failed.

  “Then go say hello to that one thing before she leaves, and you miss your chance,” said Wheeler with a nod of his head at the woman and her friends.

  “She’s leaving?” asked Cody, his gaze whipping around in the direction of the woman. She was still there, talking with two other females. Cody growled. “Don’t scare me like that.”

  “Tell little shark there to settle down long enough for your balls to descend since you’re acting like you’re twelve or something,” said Wheeler, crossing his arms over his chest. “Pussy.”

  Cody’s mind raced with too many thoughts to track or make sense of. He did his best to focus, and the first thing he was able to concentrate on was Wheeler’s remark. “Hey, did you call my dick little?”

  “Wondered if you’d catch that,” said Wheeler with a snort. “Shall we go say hello to the woman who managed to resuscitate little shark now?”

  Cody froze. “No.”

  Wheeler leaned back on the bench. “Okay then, we’ll just sit here waiting for divine intervention or for you to grow some balls. Whichever comes first. A little tip, you won’t be coming anytime soon if you don’t actually meet her. Hey, let’s go ask if she’s hiding a fish tail. Wouldn’t that be something if she was a mermaid? It would explain your sudden attraction to her. Your shark would view her as lunch.”

  As Cody’s heart raced, he had a sneaking suspicion his shark side saw her as something else. Something he wasn’t sure he could wrap his mind around at the moment.

  Chapter Eleven

  Bonnie’s attention went in the direction of the men on the bench as Gena tried once more to hide behind Rene, though it didn’t work as planned.

  Bonnie pursed her lips. “Um, I’m not sure they’re a couple.”

  Rene sighed. “I don’t know. I think they might be.”

  Gena began to relax. If that was the case, the blond on the bench couldn’t be the man from her dreams.

  Bonnie snorted. “Uh, then why is the blond staring over here like he’s about to leap up, run over, and hump Gena’s leg?”

  “What?!” exclaimed Gena, leaping to the side again to use Rene as a human shield.

  “Really?” asked Rene, spinning around to see for herself. “Huh. I’ll be damned. He does look like he’s about to do that.”

  Gena stepped closer to Rene’s back and leaned to the side, looking around her friend in a discreet manner. When she found the hot guy was indeed wearing the very expression Bonnie had described, she yelped and jerked back behind Rene once more.

  In that moment, she felt every bit as naïve when it came to the opposite sex as Bonnie and the others liked to tell her she was.

  Rene glanced over her shoulder at her. “Are you hiding?”

  “Um, no?”

  Rene glanced at Bonnie. “She might very well be hopeless.”

  “I know, right? The girl has a date tomorrow with a hot loaded guy and has caught the eye of that delicious specimen of manliness over there,” said Bonnie, pointing rather obviously at the blond man. “But look at her. She’s about to skulk away in the bushes, hiding under the cover of darkness.”

  Gena glanced around, wondering if the whole skulking away thing was viable or not. Sadly, it didn’t seem to be the case. Had it been on the table, she’d have taken it in a heartbeat.

  Rene flashed a wider smile at Bonnie. “Did you talk about hot guys like this when you were with Ruby?”

  “Yep,” said Bonnie. “Ruby was secure enough in her womanhood not to care about that. She left because all I do is work, and she hates the place we work for and because I never made time for her. Not because I announce when I see a beautiful, sexy person, man or woman. Besides, she’d have ranked him. One to ten thing. Betting the two on the bench would have gotten tens from her.”

  “Oh, they’re twenties, for sure,” said Rene. “Is Mr. Bigwig a twenty?”

  “Oh yeah,” said Bonnie.

  “No,” offered Gena, from behind Rene still.

  Bonnie glanced at her. “You didn’t find him attractive? You were looking at the same man I was, right?”

  “Yes, he’s attractive, but there is just something off about him,” said Gena. “I don’t know. I can’t explain it. Can we go to the bar now and stop standing out here in the open?”

  “Why? Worried about the sexpot who is eyeing you up?” asked Rene with a laugh.

  Gena stiffened. “He’s still staring over here?”

  The women both nodded and replied in unison. “Yes.”

  Gena took a deep breath. “Bonnie.”

  “Yes?”

  “It’s him,” whispered Gena.

  “Him?” questioned Bonnie.

  She eyed the woman. “From the dreams.”

  Gena expected her friend to laugh. When Bonnie’s expression turned from amused to shocked, Gena’s gut tightened more.

  “For real?” asked Bonnie.

  Rene lifted a hand. “Am I following this discussion right? One of them is the guy Gena’s been dreaming about?”

  “You told her about the dreams?” asked Gena, stunned.

  “Erm, yes,” confessed Bonnie. She then looked at Rene. “Go ask if he’s hung like a horse but can change into a shark. Hurry, I need to know if I’m right.”

  “Right about what?” asked Gena.

  Rene made a move to go toward the park.

  Gena grabbed the woman around the waist, still planted behind her, holding firm. “No! You’re not to talk to them. Ever. None of us are talking to them. We’re going to walk really fast in the other direction and pretend this never happened. Maybe he didn’t actually notice me. Bet he was staring at you two. You guys are babes. I’m a bookworm nerd.”

  “You think?” asked Bonnie as she looked to be fighting a laugh.

  Rene snorted. “Yeah, I don’t think he was staring at us.”

  “You can’t know that,” said Gena from her hiding spot. She tugged lightly on Rene’s waist, trying to get the woman to walk sideways away. She didn’t care how ridiculous it would look to others. She wanted distance between herself and the man from her dreams.

  It was all too much.

  Too surreal.

  She needed time to think clearly.

  Bonnie looked at Gena, grinning more. “You don’t want to meet him? What if it’s fate?”

  “It’s not,” said Gena, fast. If by some crazy chance the guy was really the man she’d been dreaming of, facing him while thinking about all the naughty things they’d done to one another in her dreams would leave her passing out. “I don’t want to meet him. He doesn’t want to meet me. We should go now. Like right now.”

  “Why? Worried he’s going to want in your panties?” asked Rene.

  Gena moaned slightly at the thought of the man being in her panties. If her dreams were in any way an indication to his bedroom skills, he would have her melting in the palms of his hands in mere seconds. “More like hopeful. Wait, I mean, no!”

  Her friends laughed before they parted as if they were the Red Sea, leaving Gena fully exposed to the man’s view. She froze like a deer in headlights, the sound of her blood pumping filled her head.

  Rene nudged her.

  Gena didn’t move an inch.

  Bonnie let out a long, dramatic sigh. “Want me to go talk to him for you?”

  “No!” shouted Gena before wincing at her own outburst.

  Just then, the blond stood, but the act looked stiff.

  His friend rose to his feet as well, staying close to the man. He put his hand on the blond’s shoulder and said something to him.

  The blond nodded, his gaze never leaving Gena.

  Gena looked to her friends for help on what to do or how to react.

  She found them grinning from ear to ear.

  “This isn’t funny,” she said sternly before she started to laug
h herself.

  The absurdity of it all got to her, and she giggled more. Before she knew it, all three of them were practically cackling, feeding off one another’s snorts and laughs.

  Gena bent her head, clutching her side as she laughed more. “You’re right. I’m hopeless. We should go now before I make a bigger fool of myself in front of the man.”

  “Too late,” said Bonnie.

  Looking up, Gena found the hot blond standing directly in front of her. His friend was by his side, appearing cautiously entertained.

  Gena had thought the man was sexy from a distance. Seeing him up close really drove home just how genuinely magnificent he was. And it left no room for error. He was the mystery man she’d been dreaming of.

  The scientist in her screamed at the improbability of it all. Yet there he was in the flesh. The proof was in a pair of jeans that fit him just right.

  She just stood there, her mouth agape, no sound coming from her as her brain spiraled.

  Say something.

  Anything.

  Make a noise.

  Breathe.

  She moaned as her gaze slid over the bulge in the front of his jeans. It was huge.

  Make any noise but that!

  Bonnie and Rene got a kick out of her inability to speak.

  Gena didn’t find it quite as comical. Then again, she wouldn’t.

  The man with the blond pulled out his cell phone and took a picture of his friend, who appeared to be equally as lost for words as Gena. That was at least somewhat comforting…until she wondered why.

  Had he actually had dreams with her in them too?

  If so, had they been sex dreams?

  As Gena reflected on all the things the man had done to her in the dreams, she began to breathe faster as her anxiety kicked into high gear. They’d done things in the dreams that she’d been too embarrassed to even tell Bonnie about. Things so racy they made her want to toss a glass of cold water over her upper chest to relieve the heat that seemed to be emanating from there at the moment.

  “Is anyone going to say anything?” asked Rene.

  No one other than her spoke.

  Bonnie and the blond guy’s friend snickered.

  Gena cast a pleading look at Bonnie, who shrugged.

  “You’ve got this,” said Bonnie.

  No.

  She really did not have it.

  Having it was the furthest thing from the truth.

  Her attention returned to the man from her dreams. She stared at the astonishingly handsome specimen of a man and tried to will her hormones to behave themselves. It didn’t work. Her insides shouted at her that he was baby-making material. And while she’d never given much thought to having a family of her own, all she wanted to do at that very second in time was procreate with the man.

  She understood the root of the response. Still, understanding fundamental biology and living it were two very different things. The textbooks and college lectures neglected to mention the mindlessness that accompanied the urge to reproduce or the fact she was fairly sure she was a lovely shade of plum from blushing and excitement.

  No. That had never been brought up in her studies.

  Nowhere in her education had sex dreams with mystery men who turned out to be real come up either.

  It would have been handy to have that in her arsenal for adulting. A nice defense at the ready in the event the most spectacular male she’d ever seen in her life appeared out of nowhere.

  Which was precisely what happened.

  From the look of him, he had to be easily six and a half feet tall. Maybe slightly more. He would undoubtedly breed some hardy stock.

  It took her a second to realize someone was giggling.

  Bonnie eased close to her and lowered her voice. “Breathe, hon.”

  Gena did, and it helped.

  A little.

  Her gaze eased over his strong jawline, down his corded neck to his shoulders, and she nearly shivered in delight at the idea of what his robust frame looked like over her in bed. In her dreams, he’d taken her every way and everywhere.

  Moisture pooled at the apex of her thighs, and his nostrils flared as he took a deep breath. He stepped toward her fast, crowding her space, and she welcomed the intrusion. In fact, she hoped he got a heck of a lot closer even. Horizontally would be best.

  A mix of colors, from white-blond to light brown, danced through his shoulder-length hair. It was all she could do to keep from reaching up and running her hands through his glorious locks. Truth be told, the idea of running her hands all over him seemed like an excellent idea.

  Best she’d had all day.

  Possibly all week even.

  His entire body seemed to be toned to perfection. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t been around physically fit men in her life, but the hunk she was staring at put them all to shame.

  The strongest urge to get the man naked to simply see if he was as perfect as he’d been in her dreams came over her. At the thought of him minus clothing, a trickle of sweat moved down her spine.

  “Are they going to do it right here in the open?” asked Bonnie.

  “I sure the hell hope so,” said a man with a slight Southern drawl. He snapped another photo with his phone. “Don’t mind me. Keepsakes.”

  Rene laughed. “I hope they say hi to each other first. Neither one has said a word.”

  Gena came to her senses and took a massive step back from the hot blond guy. “Um, hi?”

  When he smiled, she thought her knees might actually give out on her. “Hi.”

  “Awkward,” whispered Bonnie in a not-so-quiet way.

  The blond licked his lower lip and just stared at her.

  The man next to him shot forward and extended a hand. “Hi there. I’m Wheeler. The suddenly silent guy next to me is my buddy, Cody. We were just about to head over to Stanley’s for drinks. Would you three be up to joining us?”

  “We would love to,” replied Bonnie with a laugh.

  Gena took Wheeler’s hand and shook it.

  Cody growled lightly, his gaze narrowing on his friend.

  Wheeler lifted a brow and took his hand from Gena’s. “One of us had to break the ice. It was downright unnerving the way you two were staring at each other. I only made introductions. I didn’t ask if she wanted to skip the nonexistent small talk and do it with you.”

  Bonnie laughed so hard she sounded like a seal barking.

  Rene joined in.

  Gena stood there, turning yet another shade of red. She had to wonder if she could blush any more than she already was.

  Cody exhaled slowly, his hands shaking a bit. “Is that an option? The skipping the small talk and just doing it with me?”

  Wheeler sighed and put his hand to Cody’s cheek. “Aussie, focus. You’re kind of making a fool of yourself here. That what you want?”

  “No,” said Cody.

  Wheeler patted his cheek. “Good. Now, how about I go over to Stanley’s and grab us a table while you actually talk to this lovely young woman and her friends.”

  Bonnie glanced at Gena, smiling wide. “You okay if Rene and I go with Wheeler to grab a table? The bar is across the street, down a bit that way. Maybe a two-minute walk. It would give you a chance to talk to Cody…unless you don’t want to. We’ll stay if you’re uncomfortable at all. I know Mr. Bigwig was off-putting to you.”

  “Mr. Bigwig?” asked Wheeler.

  Bonnie tipped her head. “Loaded hot dude who asked Gena out on a date when we met him earlier today.”

  Cody stiffened. “What? Someone asked her out on a date?”

  “It’s not a date,” Gena said quickly, though she wasn’t sure why she felt the need to clarify. With a clearing of her throat, she composed herself and met Bonnie’s gaze. “I’m fine if you go ahead with Wheeler. We were planning to go for drinks anyway so Stanley’s will be perfect for celebrating.”

  “Celebrating?” asked Wheeler.

  Rene and Bonnie began to jump up and down again as if the
y’d never actually stopped from before.

  “We got the funding!” they chanted.

  Wheeler nodded but didn’t seem to be paying attention to anything except their bouncing cleavage.

  Bonnie and Rene hurried past Wheeler in the direction of Stanley’s, leaving Gena standing with Cody.

  She was about to attempt small talk once more when Bonnie turned back, about twenty feet away, cupped her hands around her mouth and proceeded to shout, “Ask if he’s dreamed of you too!”

  Heat rushed over Gena so fast that she swayed.

  Cody grabbed for her, and the second his hands made contact with her bare skin, additional heat assailed her. Breathless, she stared up at him, unable to look away. One second he was helping her stay upright, and the next he was fixated on her lips.

  She parted them as a small gasp came from her.

  Dipping his head, he captured her lips with his—and Gena shut off, gripping his T-shirt as his tongue pushed into her mouth. It explored her tongue, easing around it in an expert manner. She held tighter to his shirt, savoring his taste and his kiss. It was exactly as it had been in her dreams.

  His hands found her waist and he lifted her off her feet, kissing her deeper and faster. Within seconds, she was gasping and eating at his mouth.

  Growling, he bit at her lower lip, making her hormones shout in triumph.

  As they were busy making plans for procreation, her common sense decided to show up to the party.

  Better late than never.

  When Gena realized what she was doing—making out with a man she’d known all of thirty seconds (not counting dreams) on a sidewalk, out in the open, where anyone and everyone could see—she froze, her tongue still laced around his.

  Cody stiffened and broke the kiss slowly, still holding her off the ground with ease by way of her hips. “Shit. I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry.”

  Unable to look away from his full lips, Gena gave the slightest of head nods before reaching up and touching his lower lip. Her fingers buzzed with warmth as she did. Her jaw went slack at the same second he inhaled deeply, growling once more.

  If the man kept that up, she’d be naked and having her way with him, public space be damned. Evidently, her hormones had been put on the back burner long enough and were dangerously close to throwing a coup. One she’d end up spread-eagle for—if she was lucky.