“You’ll shut up and kiss me right now if you know what’s good for you,” he commanded softly, his big palm in the center of her back pressing her forward to do his will for the first time ever. He kept the kiss chaste, but wet and deep enough to be satisfying. The girls needed to know what real love looked like, and how much he worshipped this feisty woman.
How much he loved them all.
Chapter Four
“Hey folks.” Rory peeked through the front door. “Do we have room for one more?”
Ember brushed around him, dressed all in black. She was pale, her pretty eyes small, swollen, and red, missing her expressive dark eyeliner. Only the touch of lipstick on her mouth gave her any hint of color. She’d dyed her blonde hair to an inky black after Todd’s murder. She seemed to be pulling herself away from The TEAM more every day. “Don’t get up. It’s just me.”
Mei couldn’t get across the room fast enough. “I’ve been so worried about you.”
Ember went silent, but Mei heard the strangled sob for her lost love, the cry she suppressed. Mei wrapped her up tight in her arms, needing to impart some small spark of energy back into this poor woman. “I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what you’re going through, but talk to me. I’ll always be here for you.”
Ember shook her head, still not speaking.
Rory angled his broad shoulders around the women, murmuring softly to Zack and Connor in the other room, something about how he’d had to make another stop or he would’ve been back sooner. That he was glad Ember decided to come with him. That it was snowing again.
“Hey, Zack. Connor,” Ember ground out, blinking hard and easing out of Mei’s embrace. “How’s it going, guys?” Everything out of her mouth sounded so forlorn.
“We’re having a tea party,” Zack said from the floor where he sat with LiLi and Song. LiLi had succumbed to his charm again. He and the girls were playing with the pink tea set Conner had gotten her for Christmas. “Get your butt down here. We’re opening presents. There’s one for you.”
Ember shook her head, still not really looking at anyone. “No thanks. I’m not staying long. I just came to say Merry Christmas and... and...” Her voice caught. “I’m sorry, God, I can’t do this. I’ve got to go.”
“You’re staying for dinner.” Rory made it an order.
She shook her head, her palm forward as if to stop any kindness coming her way. “No, Rory. Really guys. I’ve got to feed my cat and... and…” There it was again, the stifled sob. That broken heart. “I shouldn’t have come. Take me back.”
The darnedest thing happened. Rory was at her side in a second, his big manly hands cupping her cheeks. “Yes, you can, little girl,” he said, his voice incredibly tender. He tipped her forehead to his. “This is where you belong, Ember. With us guys, not sitting alone in your apartment with your cat. Not today. Stay a while. Eat something. Please? For me?”
Mei had to look twice. What was it with these guys? Were they all as gentle as Zack?
Ember’s lashes lowered, her bottom lip trembling. She took hold of Rory’s wrists. “I… miss him,” she whispered so quietly Mei had to strain to catch it.
He tipped Ember’s chin upward, forcing her to look at him. “We all do. Todd was a good man, but he wouldn’t want you sitting by yourself crying your life away. Now stay. Let me fix you a plate. You’ll feel better after you eat.”
“Come on, girlfriend.” Connor slapped the couch beside him. “We’ve always got room for one more. Get your butt over here.”
“Okay then.” Her black lashes dropped, hiding her eyes. She headed to the couch. “Thanks, guys.”
Mei held her breath. Rory looked torn, as if he wanted to do more than just fix a plate for Ember, but he dropped his hands and went straight to the dining room table where the Christmas feast was spread. He didn’t ask what she liked or wanted, just served her. Mei couldn’t miss the tenderness in his eye. Interesting.
“So why are you guys still here?” Ember asked, looking around. “Don’t you have some place else to be? Connor? Rory?”
“This is our last day,” Connor explained. “Now that the big guy’s back, we’re officially off duty. We just wanted to hang around for the happy ending, then I’m headed home to Boston. Mom’s holding Christmas dinner for me. All my brothers will be there.”
“That’s nice,” she whispered, a catch in her throat as she eyed to Rory, still ladling her plate high at the table. “And… you? Don’t you have family? Someone?”
He stopped just long enough to make eye contact with her and Mei could’ve sworn the man’s eyes glistened. “Don’t worry about me. I’m your ride home, remember? I leave when you leave.”
If Mei didn’t know better, she’d say that Rory’s heart was on his sleeve.
“Mommy’s getting married,” LiLi announced out of the blue, spoiling Mei’s romantic vision of Ember and Rory’s future.
“Oh, yeah? To…?” Ember let her words trail away as she sat down on the edge of the couch.
“To Zack.”
Mei had the good grace to blush at her daughter’s breaking news story.
“When did this happen?” Rory asked on his way to Ember, a fill plate in one hand, utensils and a glass of milk in the other.
“While you were gone,” Zack replied, his deep, warm gaze on Mei, melting her all over again. They’d had their intimate moments during the operation. He didn’t even have to look at her to grab her soul’s attention. He just had to breathe. Or grumble. Groaning worked. Yes, definitely groaning...
“I’m glad something good came out of this mess,” Ember said.
“A lot of good came out of it,” Rory said as he made himself comfortable between Connor and Ember, his arm sprawled along the back of the couch behind her. “Anytime you save a child, you’ve saved the world, and we saved over three hundred. Look at LiLi, sitting there with her mother. Tell me that doesn’t make you happy.”
“And who can miss the goofy smile on Zack’s face?” Connor teased. “He’d the luckiest dog I know. He came out of this op with an entire family.”
“I don’t have a goofy look on my face,” Zack protested.
“Yeah you do,” LiLi said very seriously. “Every time you look at Mommy, your eyes go squishy.”
Mei smiled across the room at her dearly beloved. She hated all the attention over their good news when Ember had no one but her cat to go home to. How sad.
Zack lifted a small foil-wrapped box from the branches of the Christmas tree behind him. “Here, Ember. The guys went shopping. This one’s for you.”
She set her plate aside to open her gift. “I really wish you guys hadn’t done this,” she said softly, her long slender fingers working the ribbon despite her words. She lifted the lid off the box under the pretty paper. Her fingers flew to her mouth as her lips formed an O. A sob choked out of her and Rory’s arm slid to her shoulders as he tugged her against him.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, holding the gift for all to see. A silver star glittered from the cotton in the box.
Rory cleared his throat. “It’s a small thing, but it symbolizes the ultimate gift of Christmas. It’s hope, Ember. That’s all.”
“It’s not even solid silver,” Connor quipped, “so it’s not like we spent a fortune. Wipe those pretty eyes and get back to eating. Zack made your favorite mousse, and he’s going to set it on fire later.”
“But there is hope, Ember,” Rory said firmly. “You’re not alone in this, little girl. We’ve all got your back.”
Mei watched the tender exchanges between the guys on The TEAM with their sister agent. That was twice Rory had called her little girl, a particularly tender endearment. Ember didn’t seem to mind. She had a long road ahead of her, but these guys were walking it with her. She set her gift aside and took a couple dainty bites from that heaping plate on her lap, a small but a good sign.
Snowflakes drifted beyond the living room windows. It was Christmas and the house was warm and full. Mei let her gaze roll from Zack a
nd the girls to Connor and Rory, to Ember, then back to Zack. Every single one of these agents had been solidly in her corner since the day she’d foolishly thought she could infiltrate The TEAM to get information on her missing daughter. At that time, she’d honestly thought she was fighting the world alone, that no one was on her side. But these tough guys all proved her wrong. Ember had, too.
“Here. Drink.” LiLi, in her charming, bossy way, poured another round of imaginary tea for Zack and Song. Zack played along, but sweet little Song just watched, and wasn’t she the smartest little girl? She was watching the man in her life, the big guy with rippling muscles beneath his V-neck shirt, the fierce protector who’d faced off against the evil Black Dragon Syndicate, the 4th Street Tigers, and a couple corrupt federal officials, to save her life and several hundred others just like her. From now on, he would be the benchmark she measured every other male in her life against. He would be her role model, her father... her first love.
A tear sprang to Mei’s eye, then another. There she sat in the company of snipers, all celebrating Christmas and doing what they did best, looking over their shoulders and looking out for each other. Standing up for each other and the innocents caught in harm’s way.
She lowered her head, fighting the rising flood. Throughout this nightmare, she’d vowed not to cry until LiLi came home. She bit her lip to make them stop, but something had cracked open deep inside, and the damn let loose. She bowed her head and broke down. There was nothing she could do to stop the flood.
“Mommy!” LiLi jumped to her side, the tea party forgotten, tears in her eyes. She wrapped her skinny little arms around Mei’s shoulders as far as they could reach. “Don’t cry, Mommy. Please don’t cry. I’m here. I’m here!”
Mei pulled her panicking daughter onto her lap. She couldn’t stop crying, and neither could LiLi. Suddenly, Song joined in, bursting out with one loud, “Bah!” and crawling fast and furiously to join her new, big sister. Mei gathered the little tyke up on her lap. LiLi made room and hung tight to Song.
“It’s a freakin’ chain reaction,” Connor muttered. “Damn, what do we do?”
By then, Ember was bent over, her elbows on her knees, her face in her hands, and sobbing. Rory located a box of tissues and spread them around. Mei could no longer see through her tears, but Zack’s big manly hand was suddenly on her knee. “It’s okay. It’s good. It’s just Christmas cheer,” he soothed.
“You call this cheer?” Connor asked, quietly distressed. “I’d hate to see what goes on at your house at birthday parties.”
“It’s the best kind of Christmas cheer if you ask me.” Zack settled in beside Mei on the floor, one arm around her shoulders as he tugged her into him where she belonged.
Embarrassed, she dabbed several tissues at her eyes. “I’m sorry. I can’t seem to stop.”
“Then don’t,” he said simply. “Cry it all out. Scream if you want to. Break things. Kick the walls. Throw things. I’ve got a little sister, I understand. You girls are just raining love in this house, that’s all. Your hearts have been broken. Yours too, Ember. It’s about time you let it out, and I’m glad you’re able to do it around us guys. It’s a storm. It will pass, and we’ll still be here when it’s over. We’ll still love you.”
That was precisely what Mei needed to hear. No pressure. No scolding or humiliation. Just the broad shoulders of an understanding man. Her tears slowed. She blinked the last of them away and dried LiLi and Song’s sweet little faces. Her ocean of angst, the one she’d tended for so long, vanished in the tender warmth of Zack’s solid body. Rubbed her cheek into his neck, she drew in a long deep breath of leather and spice.
His words seemed to cal Ember, too. She sagged back into the couch, her dinner forgotten.
This day had been a long time coming. Mei finally let the shadow that had stalked her for months go. She didn’t have to be mean to be strong anymore. She wasn’t fighting the world alone. Zack would never let her. Lifting her chin, Mei looked up at him. He smiled down on her, the chocolate light in his eyes warm and sexy.
“Merry Christmas,” she whispered, her index finger tracing a fine line over his bottom lip, that lush lip she wanted to bite.
He gathered his three girls in his muscular arms for one massive bear hug, but ended with his mouth and a kiss against her ear. “It is now,” he whispered. “Merry Christmas, Mei. I promise. I’ll love you forever.
Mei took a deep breath. She’d started out this horrible operation with nothing but fear in her soul and hatred in her heart. But now… Now? She had it all.
Warm Hearts
Mark and Libby’s First Christmas
This Christmas tales takes place after the shootout in Zack, Book 3. If you’d like to read more about Mark and Libby, check out this Amazon link: Mark, Book 2.
Chapter One
Mark Houston drove straight home after work like he always did.
There was a time when he was a kid that home meant an empty house with four bare walls and a taciturn father called John Houston, an unhappy man filled to the brim with bitterness for the world. Not anymore. Now home was a cute little starter house at the end of a cul-de-sac where traffic was slow and kids could play without worry along friendly streets and neighbors looked out for each other.
Home was the brick window ledge where an orange-striped cat, Thom, lay curled and basking in the sun, biding his time until he could coax his way inside and out of the chilly weather. It was the sugar maple Libby’d planted in the center of their front yard. In a hundred years, it might make a grand centerpiece for their postage stamp lawn, but now it looked like some giant kid had played lawn darts and left one behind when he’d been called in for supper.
Home was that intelligent, athletic, and very pregnant woman waiting for him with light in her eyes and a welcome smile on her face. Dinner on the stove. She’d ask how his day went with a hug and a kiss. Home was simply—Libby.
He paused at the end of his driveway and looked across the snow-covered lawn, his hand still on the wheel. Everywhere Mark looked, he saw the gentle influence of his wife, from the cheery red cardinal wreath gracing their front door, to the mailbox she’d painted red, white, and blue, now stuffed with Christmas cards and letters from family and friends in her home state of Wisconsin.
It was a calming sight after an exceptionally tough day at the office, a sight to make a man reconsider his career choice working for his hard-hitting boss, Alex Stewart, and his covert surveillance outfit, The TEAM.
Until this afternoon, the office had been a home of sorts, a place of safety and normalcy, a hideout to come back to after dangerous overseas operations in third world countries, most of them in states of unrest or outright conflict. The office had meant routine security details, and minimally invasive covert surveillance missions. Until today, it meant filing reports and collecting intel for some federal entity to make their case against another. Boring stuff like that.
Mark enjoyed his work, even the occasional armed confrontations with bullies across the world. He was good at his calling, an ex-military sniper. He’d been lucky, and he knew it. But today trouble came calling a little too close to home. The mastermind behind the Black Dragon Syndicate and the illicit child smuggling business on the Eastern Seaboard, had shown up in person. Interpol Director Daniel Peters. The snake. The murderer.
He’d fully intended to keep his hand in the dirty business, but to do so, he’d meant to leave no TEAM agents alive to challenge him or out him. For a moment there, things looked pretty grim. David Tao. Zack Lennox. Harley Mortimer. Murphy Finnegan. Ember and Mother. They all could’ve died along with Mark. Peters literally had the drop on them because, well, the office was supposed to be safe. None of them thought something so deadly as an ambush could happen to them. Not there.
Fortunately the alpha wolf himself showed up in the nick of time. Alex had laid waste to the perpetrator and his goons, but wasn’t that the miracle of the day? Alex shouldn’t have been at work. He was supposed t
o have been on bed rest at home after he’d barely survived the bombing that took out the parking garage at TEAM headquarters the day before. Mark and the others owed their lives to some uncanny sixth sense hardwired in Alex. And a whole lot of prayers.
Mark bumped his fist to his nose, an automatic reflex at the memory of all those smells. Television viewers get the cleaned-up, trumped-up Hollywood version of death and mayhem, the version that made it look good when it was anything but. Up close and personal, death by gunshot was a gruesome, three-dimensional nightmare, a horrific assault on all the finer sensibilities. Smells a guy never forgot. Sights that will haunt him until the end of his days. Producers and directors know how to twist reality so death was an exciting and inviting illusion of the truth, something the public paid big bucks for. Not Mark. He’d seen the real deal. He didn’t need to pay to see it, not and call it entertainment.
By the time the shooting had stopped, the corrupt Director of Interpol’s Washington D.C. office and his paid assassins were dead, and The TEAM conference room had been turned into a bloody battlefield. No TEAM members died in the exchange, but only by the grace of God and Alex, they could have. Today was a hard won battle against the spread of the child sex trade and a man The TEAM had once hailed as friend.
Mark knew karma didn’t grant a guy many second chances. Something had to change in his life. He was a family man now, and someone infinitely more important than his job lived in this cul-de-sac with him. She warmed his heart and his bed. It all came back to Libby.
He climbed out of his car and strolled the few steps to his porch, pensive. Wondering and worrying. He made good money and Alex never failed to offer incentives and bonuses. Free health care and time off. Mark loved his job and the people he worked with, but was it enough? Was it worth the hidden cost, the very real possibility he might one day leave Libby a widow with children to raise all by herself?
Mark scrubbed a hand over his head, wishing he knew the right answer when the front door burst open. There she was, the honey-blonde haired woman who made him weak and strong at the same time, waving his big bruiser of a dog out of her house at the end of her broom.
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