SEAL's Spitfire (Special Forces: Operation Alpha)
Black Eagle 1
Lynne St. James
Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgments
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
Epilogue
About the Author
Books by Lynne St. James
Books by Susan Stoker
More Special Forces: Operation Alpha World Books
SEAL’s Spitfire
Copyright © 2019 by Lynne St. James
Cover Art Copyright © 2019 by Lynne St. James
Published by Stoker Aces
Cover by Lori Jackson Designs
Created in the United States
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
© 2019 ACES PRESS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this work may be used, stored, reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations for review purposes as permitted by law.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy.
Dear Readers,
Welcome to the Special Forces: Operation Alpha Fan-Fiction world!
If you are new to this amazing world, in a nutshell the author wrote a story using one or more of my characters in it. Sometimes that character has a major role in the story, and other times they are only mentioned briefly. This is perfectly legal and allowable because they are going through Aces Press to publish the story.
This book is entirely the work of the author who wrote it. While I might have assisted with brainstorming and other ideas about which of my characters to use, I didn’t have any part in the process or writing or editing the story.
I’m proud and excited that so many authors loved my characters enough that they wanted to write them into their own story. Thank you for supporting them, and me!
READ ON!
Xoxo
Susan Stoker
Acknowledgments
I can’t thank Susan Stoker enough for allowing me to “play” with her characters. I love all of her books and being able to incorporate her characters into my stories has been so much fun. Even better, the opportunity to share my books with you is the icing on the cake. Susan is truly special, and I can’t express how much I appreciate her friendship and support.
In SEAL’s Spitfire, John “Tex” Keegan is part of my story. I have done my best to keep him the same as he is in Susan’s books, but I’ve taken certain allowances for my story.
I really hope you enjoy SEAL’s Spitfire. Remember, the best way to thank an author is to leave a review.
Lynne
xoxo
Dedication
For all the spouses and families who are patiently waiting for their soldiers to come home.
For M.G., because sometimes life gives us donkey balls and there’s nothing we can do about it. You will never be forgotten.
As always, for T.S. I love you!
About the Book
While Navy SEAL Rafe Buchanan is stuck at the airport, he is captivated by the woman cursing a blue streak with a take no prisoners attitude. He invites her for drinks and realizes she’s everything he gave up hoping he’d find. But a random glance at a TV monitor ends their flirting when Meghan Henley sees her brother’s missionary group was kidnapped in Afghanistan.
Meghan turns to Rafe as her world is flipped upside down. How could one man already mean so much to her? And Rafe is determined to help the woman who has stolen his heart. Realizing the deadly situation, he calls John “Tex” Keegan to help.
When Rafe is called away on a mission, Meghan asks Tex’s help to stage her own rescue of her brother. But things go sideways when she is taken hostage. Will Rafe, Tex, and the rest of the Black Eagle SEAL team be able to get to the hostages before the Taliban carry out their threats? Or will he be haunted forever knowing he lost his dream?
SEAL’s Spitfire is book one in the new Black Eagle SEAL Team series and features John “Tex” Keegan from Susan Stoker’s SEALs of Protection.
Chapter 1
“Attention. Passengers waiting for Delta Flight 363 to Atlanta, your flight will be delayed due to mechanical issues with the plane. Mechanics are currently assessing the issue. As soon as we have more information, we’ll advise you. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.”
Meghan Henley groaned. She’d gotten to the airport two hours early and now it looked like she was in for a much longer wait. “Dammit all to hell. Inconvenience? No shit. Just fucking perfect,” she mumbled mostly under her breath as she rummaged through her purse for her phone. “Stuck in the fucking airport. And they wonder why people have no faith in airlines anymore.”
“You wouldn’t want to get on a broken plane, would you?”
Startled at the deep voice, she jerked. “Are you talking to me?” she asked as she turned toward the voice. She’d been so focused on her book she hadn’t realized someone sat next to her. Let alone ‘Mr. Gorgeous’ with the dreamy brown eyes.
“Uh huh. Better to be safe than sorry, no?” His voice was smooth like whiskey. He was definitely military—Navy most likely since they were in Norfolk. The patches on his bag gave it away since he wasn’t wearing his uniform. God, there was just something about a man in uniform and she could just imagine him in fatigues.
“Yes, of course, it is. I am just looking forward to getting back home. That’s all.” His voice messed with her insides, but his eyes, damn. She could get lost in those eyes, like jumping into a pool of molten chocolate.
“What?” Heat spread from her neck to her face. She’d been staring while he was talking, and she didn’t have a clue what he’d said.
“I said I’m sure we’ll be on our way soon enough,” he said with a chuckle.
“Yes, probably. Are you headed home too?”
“Not exactly home, but I’m going to visit my sister and my niece and nephew in Denver.”
“That sounds like fun.”
“Oh yeah. The kids are great. Still young enough to have a lot of fun with their uncle. It’ll be good to have some downtime.”
“I bet. Navy, right?
“Yes, ma’am. Over ten years now.” Calculating numbers in her head, she figured he was probably about thirty depending on when he joined. Not that it mattered, but it was a thing she liked to do—figuring out everything she could about the people she met. It’s what made her a good journalist or would if she ever got a chance to really prove herself. Writing obits and stories for the society page wasn’t exactly her dream job.
“What about you? Where is home?” She was used to asking question
s. It was weird being on the other end.
“My mom lives just outside of Atlanta. I’m going to see her.”
“I thought you said you were headed home?” He cocked an eyebrow as he asked the question. His eyebrows were gorgeous. Thick and dark just like his hair. What was wrong with her? She’s focusing on his eyebrows? Good God.
“I am, sorta. It was home, now it’s not. But I still think of it as home. I have an apartment in DC.”
“Now I know where the accent comes from.” Accent? She’d worked hard to make it go away while in college. No one had mentioned it in years. How did he hear it?
“I don’t…” Before she could finish the intercom sputtered to life.
“Attention passengers on Delta Flight 393 to Atlanta. Due to parts and mechanics being flown in from Atlanta to repair the plane, the flight will be delayed for another few hours.” The longer she listened to the message the more her heart sank in her stomach. Getting home tonight was looking less and less possible.
“For your convenience, we can try to book you onto another Delta flight or on another airline. It’s possible this flight may be canceled.” A collected groan echoed around the waiting area. The group of strangers instantly became comrades in the fight to get out of the airport on a Friday night. Home, vacation, wherever, but everyone wanted out as soon as possible.
“I guess we need to line up with the others…” Meghan mused and glanced at her phone as it pinged with a text message. “Double shit. According to this text, they are canceling the flight.”
“Traveling is definitely an adventure,” the gravelly voice responded. No southern accent for him, just a low rumble she felt inside.
“Not the adventure I wanted.”
“Look around. You’re not alone.”
“Doesn’t this delay bother you?”
“No. It really doesn’t. There are so many things worse than being stuck in an airport for a few hours.”
“I guess there are. It’s just frustrating. Are you going to get on the line to see about another flight?”
“Sure am. Let’s see if we can blow this gin joint tonight, shall we?” He was funny on top of being drop-dead sexy. Too bad she hadn’t met him in D.C. Then there was a chance she’d see him again. Still, the view was fine, oh so fine. Wait until she told Lizzie. Now that will be a fun conversation.
As he stood and grabbed his bag, she had to tilt her head all the way back. He was a freakin’ giant. “Wow, you’re tall.” Brilliant, Meghan. The epitome of sophistication. Wow, you’re tall? WTH was that?
“You think?” He answered with a wide grin. The corners of his eyes even crinkled up. Oh yeah, great impression. She stood and grabbed the handle of her roller bag. The exact opposite of the gorgeous giant, she barely passed the five-foot mark on her tiptoes. She expected after her stellar exclamation that he’d get her back with something.
“Wow. You’re short,” he said and laughed. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist. But it’s not a lie.”
“No, it’s not. You nailed it, big guy.”
“Heh. Big guy? We never did get around to exchanging names. Did we?”
“Nope. Not yet.” She wanted him to go first. To see if he’d tell her his real name. Not that she’d know for sure, but she’d have a good idea. Just because he was the walking embodiment of a GQ cover and in the military didn’t mean he wasn’t a psycho. A girl can’t be too careful.
“I’m Rafe, it’s very nice to meet you,” he said as he reached for her hand.
“Meghan. It’s nice to meet you too.” After hesitating for a moment, she placed her hand in his. She felt so tiny as his hand completely engulfed hers. It was warm and dry. Oh, so warm. And she let him hold on to her for too long.
The color raced back into her cheeks as embarrassment made her cringe inside. She was making a fool of herself in front of a complete stranger. Needing to put some space between them, she grabbed her bag and joined the line. She had to be losing her mind. Never in all of her thirty-two years had she reacted to someone as soon as she’d met them. Lunacy. Pure lunacy.
The line wrapped around the waiting area like a snake. There had to be twenty people in front of them. The queue moved slower than a snail on a turtle. It was going to be a long night. Several of the other passengers were trying to call reservations while they were waiting in line, but she didn’t see the point. This was the only available flight to Atlanta that evening. Calling and harassing some person on the other end of the phone wouldn’t help anything. A rental car might have been an option if she wasn’t so tired.
“I think we’re going to be here for a while.” Yup his voice was definitely like whiskey as it slid down her throat leaving a trail of heat. Turning to face him, she hoped he’d say something else. It was crazy how attracted to him she was after they just met.
“I agree,” she responded. “But like you said, we don’t have many options.” As she finished her sentence her stomach growled. Ugh. She was batting a thousand, if she could find a way to embarrass herself, she’d get ‘er done.
“I’m hungry. How about we grab something to eat after we get our tickets squared away.”
She could have kissed him for not saying anything about her tummy sounds. He was earning brownie points left and right. Dinner? With him? Hell yeah, she’d like it. “That’s a great idea.”
Stuck in an airport on a Friday night was not his idea of fun. But it was a hell of a lot better than where he’d been last weekend. The mission had sucked donkey balls, it had been iffy in the middle, but they’d pulled it off and all made it back home to not talk about it. It’s all that mattered.
Meeting little Miss Meghan, a tiny bombshell wrapped in spitfire changed everything. And when she answered him in her soft southern drawl he was smitten. Languages were his specialty. He spoke ten fluently and figuring out different dialects and accents was a game. It was also a huge advantage on missions, and he’d already known where home was before she’d said Atlanta. Moving to D.C. must have been recent since there was no trace of it yet.
Not telling him her life story right away told him she was smart, or at least careful. He had a feeling if he hadn’t told her his name first, she wouldn’t have told him hers. It wasn’t enough. She intrigued him and he wanted to know her story, and he’d make it his mission while stuck in the airport to find out. It would make passing the time so much more fun.
“How long does it take to book a new ticket?” The grumbling from other passengers was getting louder the longer it took to figure out what was going on. They still had four passengers in front of them and they’d been on the line for over twenty minutes. It was a tedious process.
“The crowd is getting restless. Be prepared to take cover if food starts flying,” Meghan said in a loud whisper. The woman in front of her turned around and gave her a dirty look, and Rafe lost it. She was too funny.
“What?” she asked as she heard his laughter.
“You are funny.” He wasn’t sure how she’d take it and braced himself for a clever retort, but instead, she shrugged her shoulders and winked while flashing him a devilish smile. She was amazing. Hopefully, she’d give him her number before he lost track of her. Although who knew when he’d be able to get up to DC to see her again.
“Have you been in many food fights?”
“Hell, yeah. Hasn’t everyone?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Hmm. They were common occurrences in our house. My baby brother would start them. He was the bad one.”
“It sure sounds like it.”
“Yeah, that’s why it’s even funnier that he grew up to be a missionary.”
“Seriously?”
“Oh yeah. We still laugh about it and remind him every chance we get.”
“And your parents didn’t object?”
“Nah. My dad would join in and my mom would just stand in the kitchen shaking her head. But she’d have the last laugh since we had to clean up the mess and the kitchen when we were done.”
>
“She sounds like a great mom.”
“She is,” Meghan said wistfully. The sadness in her voice triggered his protective instincts and he had to stop himself from pulling her into his arms for a hug. He doubted she’d have appreciated it. Hell, she’d probably have kicked him in the balls for being handsy.
“Do you have your boarding pass?” Finally, it was her turn, and his, with the second gate agent.
“Here you go. I’m supposed to connect to Denver.”
“Let me see what we’ve got available.” He looked over and Meghan was going through the same process and getting the same results. Nothing out tonight.
“The earliest open flight to Atlanta is at ten a.m. We won’t be able to get you on a connecting flight to Denver until four p.m. tomorrow afternoon.”
“That’s all you’ve got?”
“Yes, unless you want to stay on this flight with the hope that they can get it fixed.”
“If I do that what’s the first flight out of Atlanta to Denver?”
Listening to the clicking of the computer keys, he wondered if it would be better just to rent a car and drive to Atlanta. At this rate, he’d probably get there faster.
“You’re kidding, right? Nothing until noon tomorrow?”
Damn, the ten a.m. flight must have booked up while they were standing there. It was looking more and more like he’d just wait it out for this flight. He’d call his sister, she’d understand. He’d already had to postpone this trip three times because he’d gotten spun up.
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