She rolled a condom on him. It was no surprise that Jenna came prepared. Always prepared.
Opening her legs, she slipped over him like a glove he had no business wearing. A perfect, beautiful, hot glove that felt far too much like home. Like ecstasy. Lifting herself up and down, she rocked him with an abandon and passion he’d never experienced in his entire life. At first, he held on for the ride and then tried to match her pace. Soon they were in perfect sync. When they came together it was like sailing, flying, rocketing into space. All the locked and bolted doors inside him flew open wide. It was as if Jenna reached in and touched his dark places and filled them with exploding stars.
She closed her eyes contentedly and lay on top of his chest as if this is what she’d wanted all along. Him. Jenna wanted him.
Lieutenant Commander Riley was captured.
Chapter Four
‡
Holy shit.
He rubbed her hair and back while she snored softly in his lap. That was…hell, he didn’t know what that was. Exploding stars? That only happened with Jenna. As did coming with a woman in such beautifully perfect…holy hell. What had he done? Why did he let her get to him?
She messed up his neural synapses until he didn’t know which end was up. He’d been feeling overly protective, trying to ease her pain and suffering, when wham bam she army-crawled under his defenses and just like that—she owned him. Again. It was a perfectly executed attack. With Jenna he never saw it coming.
Should have dumped her on her ass, he snarled at himself.
One would think hooking up with the love of his life was a good thing. That is, if one was thinking with his smaller head. His bigger head, the one that ached with frustration, knew differently. Jenna would leave him again. Just as soon as the Harmonds were safely home, she’d find some excuse to cut him out of her life. Jenna was all about control and order. Their relationship was too gigantic to wrap her hands around and fit into her orderly existence. It was wild, blazing hot, glorious, and bigger than both of them.
Hell, it scared him too. Loving Jenna was like lassoing a tornado and hanging on for dear life, never knowing where he’d eventually touch down. Never knowing if he’d survive the ride. He glanced down at her. Jenna’s face was a weather map to her emotions, and Mack could read every one. This was how he knew the moment she stopped loving him. Eighteen months ago, she didn’t fight, or spark, or cry. She simply walked away.
She might as well have shot him in the chest.
He’d sworn to himself that he’d never see Jenna again, but here he was burying himself in her and wanting to do it again. And never stop. No. Dammit! When the mission was over, old Jenna would be back.
And he’d be gone.
The pilot’s voice came over the speaker. “Lieutenant Commander, we’re about to begin our descent.”
Gently, he kissed Jenna on the forehead, wondering if it would be the last time he tasted her sweet skin. “Wake up, sunshine. We’re almost there.”
Jenna jerked awake, blinked, and blinked again as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. “I fell asleep.” She smiled. A real one. Eye crinkles and all. “No nightmares.”
“Good. Can you get up so that I can feel my legs again?”
“Sorry.” She gave him a peck on his cheek and rose. He stretched out his legs, and his numb feet started to tingle.
“Mack that felt…oh my…it was one of the best.”
“I know.” What more could he say? He’d felt it too.
A shadow of annoyance flickered across her face. Apparently, she wanted him to say more. Well, tough shit, lady. He was in no mood for talking. He was pissed—at her, the admiral, the friggin’ CRAF guerillas, but mostly at himself for wanting her so bad.
“I’ll get cleaned up and change.” She walked toward the lavatory.
Stop watching her! Gear up!
He started loading his camo pockets the way he did every time. The blow kit came first. All SEALs put it in the right thigh pocket so that a buddy didn’t have to waste time searching for medical supplies while you bled out. The kit contained gauze, bandages, a cravat for a tourniquet to stop bleeding, and a Vaseline-coated dressing for a sucking chest wound. SEALs understood that each new sunrise brought another flip of the dice chance to get shot, or blown to hell. It wasn’t so much an if as it was a when.
Control. That was the issue. In war too many things were light years out of the freaking realm of control. The best way to stay alive and protect his buddies was to seize domination of every damn thing he could. Body protection was something he could do. He slipped the Dragon Skin Body Armor on. It was heavier and more costly than the Navy’s standard issue, but shit, it had saved his real hide many times. The Pro-Tec helmet protected his brain from gunfire, shrapnel, or any crap that fell from the skies. The rest of his gear covered his tough skin.
But there was the little issue of his fast-beating heart. How to control that? Jenna was a dangerous factor in the equation. He had little control there, evidenced by his hard-on. Again.
Be on the offensive or the admiral’s daughter will kill you. And stop thinking about her!
Rapidly, he folded up the surveillance maps and tucked them in another pocket, along with the infrared chemlights and a couple of grenades. A third cargo pocket was a perfect storage spot for a magazine for his CAR-15 rifle. He turned a breakaway fanny pack toward the front to hold more ammo, a compass, a small red-lens flashlight, a pencil flare, waterproof matches, a space blanket, and a couple flashbangs and fragmentation grenades. It looked like he had a beer belly. Jenna knew that he didn’t. She’d always liked his abs.
Slipping his Nomex aviator gloves on his hands, he wiggled his thumb free. He’d cut out the thumb and index finger up to the first knuckle on the right hand of the glove for dexterity and trigger control. Now he’d have two uncovered fingers to touch Jenna with. Dammit, Riles, stop! He slapped himself with his gloved hand.
The weapons came next. A holster on his hip held his sidearm, the Sig 226 Navy 9mm. Clipped on his belt was a wicked sharp Swiss Army knife that had gotten him out of a few tough jams. More than once, he’d used the knife to silence a bad guy so that his evil buddies didn’t hear gunshots. The suppressors kept things quiet, but to keep the element of surprise in close quarters combat, sometimes one couldn’t risk the sound of a silenced gunshot.
Along with the knife, he brought a suppressed MK-14 sniper rifle and a CAR-15 with an Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight (ACOGs) close range point-and-shoot. He kept the CAR-15 loaded with one magazine of ammo. Inside the stock, he jammed a wad of cash in case he needed to bribe his team’s way out of the jungle. The diamond ring would work for bribery too, but part of him suspected he’d never give the damned thing up.
He continued checking his weapons. As a sniper, he never went into battle without his bolt-action .300 Winchester Magnum—simply called three hundred Win Mag—and the Leupold ten-power scope. This was his long-range weapon. He rarely missed anything he aimed at with his Win Mag. His best kill shot was close to fifteen hundred yards. It wasn’t a SEAL record—that baby belonged to SEAL Team 3 Chief Chris Kyle at twenty-one hundred yards—but it was still pretty damned good.
He was ready.
Or at least he thought he was ready until Jenna returned from the lavatory.
She’d ditched the short skirt and heels for khaki cargo pants. A dark green T-shirt hugged her beautiful breasts. Her long hair was pulled back into a ponytail under a jungle-print baseball cap. The little make-up she wore was gone. He couldn’t help but stare. She was beautiful even when she wasn’t trying.
“Is this okay?” She tucked a loose strand of hair under the cap and turned around slowly so that he could catch the whole picture.
Her butt filled out the pants perfectly. His eyes took a nice easy stroll across the mounds in her green T-shirt. “Works for me.”
Her eyebrow hitched. “I’m talking about the mission. Will I blend in enough?”
With a group of rock hard
SEALs? Does a kitten blend in with tigers? “Listen Jenna, you can’t go to Colombia. When we land in Ecuador, check into a hotel and wait for the team to return. I’ll call you the moment we’ve rescued the family, I promise. It’ll be safer for all concerned.” Not to mention Admiral Collins would kill him if he knew Jenna was in Colombia.
She fisted her hips. “We’ve been over this. Jacob needs me.”
“Jacob needs to get out of there. Let me do my job.” His voice came out too harsh.
“I thought that we…” She narrowed her eyes. “You don’t want me around, do you?”
“Babe, you think that after what just happened here?” He touched the hollow of her neck, feeling her rapid pulse. “You make me crazy.”
She cocked her head. “In a good way?”
“In a ‘kill Mack’ way. I can’t be thinking about your sweet little body while I’m in the jungle. I need to focus to keep my men safe. To keep the Harmonds safe and get everyone out of there alive.”
He didn’t like the hardness around her mouth. It usually meant she was plotting.
“I see.”
Did she? Did she see the hard-on that was steadily growing inside his camos because she was too close? “Here’s the deal. No more looking at me. No touching me. And for all that is holy, no more kissing me until this mission is over. Got it?”
“I can’t look at you?”
“Not in the hot way.”
“Okay, I’ll try not to look at you in a hot way.” She bit her lip, which was decidedly hot. “What about after the mission?”
That damned flicker of hope tried to ignite again. He stomped it out virtually with his boot. Jenna was not to be trusted. He’d learned that the hard way.
“One day at a time. First, we rescue the Harmonds.”
“I agree. That’s the most important thing, Mack. We’ve got to get them out of there.” She wiggled her finger at him. “But I’m not staying in a hotel. I’m coming with the team, and you can’t stop me. And if I decide we are under-staffed, I’m bringing in more men. It’s my call.”
“And she’s back.” Mack shook his head.
The woman would be the death of him. Best to let her think she ran the show for now to save his energy for the real battle. One way or another, he’d keep her out of harm’s way.
The copilot asked them to fasten their safety belts for the landing.
Jenna stared straight ahead, her hands balled, her face pale. The peaceful respite she’d had in his arms was over.
He leaned toward her. “For the record, I’m not anything like your dad. I’d never put you in a box, Jenna.”
How could he? The woman would bust out and fill up his life no matter what he did. But he’d be damned if he’d tell her that right now. Instead, he mentally rehearsed what would happen after the landing.
*
After shaking the pilot’s and copilot’s hands, Mack grabbed his gear and went out the door. He had a pack on his bag and another slung over his shoulders. His hands were full carrying two long silver cases. Jenna scrambled to get her backpack and keep up.
The muggy air hit her like a weight when she stepped out of the jet. She took a second to get her bearings. The airport was on the small side, with lush vegetation just off the runway. In the distance, sharp snow-covered mountains framed the beautiful scenery.
“Let me help. I can carry stuff too,” she said.
“Suit yourself.” Mack lifted a third case for her. “This one’s light.”
“Yeah, okay.” But when she hefted it, she realized it could rip her shoulder off. Light? How much did those other two weigh?
Mack searched the grounds, as if looking for bad guys already. He started marching toward the immigration station, his passport between his teeth.
Jenna had a plastic manila file full of papers they were going to need to get into Ecuador. She put the silver case down to find the paperwork.
“Careful with that,” Mack mumbled through his passport.
Oh God, was it full of explosives? Sweat dripped down her back.
A man in uniform came up to them. “Ms. Collins?”
“Yes. That’s right.” She whipped her documents out for inspection. “Here is my passport. This is authorization from Senator Tonell, a signed declaration from the White House, and a letter from the CEO of EXtreme Adventures.”
“Fine. Follow me.” The man didn’t even glance at her papers.
“Jenna, it’s okay. He’s letting us through.” Mack nodded his head to the immigration officer waving them on.
“Oh. That was easy.”
Too easy. Officials must have paved the way for them to get into Ecuador quickly so they could leave just as fast. The Ecuadorian government couldn’t be too happy that Andrew Harmond and his family had been kidnapped on their soil and dragged across the border. Like EXtreme Adventures, Ecuador didn’t need the bad press. They’d just as soon let the world focus on the problems in Colombia, not Ecuador.
She blew a strand of hair that had slipped out of her baseball cap and refiled the paperwork in alphabetical order before lifting the heavy case again. Mack kept following the official, apparently not in the mood to wait for her. Fine. Whatever. She didn’t need him to look out for her. She was perfectly capable of—Umpf. Two men ran by her, bumping her with their backpacks and nearly knocking her off her feet.
“Watch out!” She scrambled to keep from dropping the case that may or may not have had explosives in it.
“Sorry, lady.” One glanced at her over his wide shoulders.
“There he is!” The other man cheered.
When she’d stabilized her footing, she took stock of the men who raced past her. They resembled buff California surfers with deep rich tans, long sun-streaked hair, and rippling biceps. Or twin gods. By any standards, they were gorgeous, and they were running toward Mack.
Mack acted like he didn’t know what hit him either. They grabbed him in a bear hug and lifted his feet off the floor. Two blonds with dark haired, blue-eyed Mack in the middle? This yummy sandwich could make a girl’s mouth water.
“Put me down you, numbskulls!” Mack barked, but he was smiling. “I’m still pissed at you two. You could’ve had any woman for your party.”
“You got that right.” The taller of the two blonds had deep dimples.
“And you chose the commanding cfficer’s daughter?” Mack growled.
“You would’ve too, Mack. She was seriously hot. Ten-plus. And she dug threesomes. How were we supposed to know we’d get caught?” The second blondie glanced at Jenna as he spoke.
“Because you were in her father’s bed, dip-shits!”
“Again, how were we supposed to know? It really wasn’t our fault, Mack. It could have happened to anyone,” the first one responded, doing his darndest to look innocent. It was clear to Jenna that these men were far from innocent. “It’s good to see you, Commander Riles!”
They lifted Mack again and swung him around.
They pounded each other on the back, everyone talking at once. Jenna got snippets of conversation, but couldn’t make sense of any of it. Gingerly, she put the case down by her leg.
Finally, Mack caught her eye. “Guys, this is Jenna Collins. She’s from EXtreme Adventures.”
“Hello.” She waved.
The one who had glanced at her earlier was getting an eyeful, sizing her up from head to toe. Mack pounded him on the back. “This is Charlie Handly. The best damned SEAL Team Six Black Pirate in the biz. Recon and surveillance are his specialties, but he’s an ace with all technology.”
“Until the moron-that-shall-not-be-named made me take a break. Being inactive totally sucks.” Charlie flashed the whitest teeth Jenna had ever seen. And dimples too? Wow, he was cute.
“Consider yourself active now,” Mack said.
“Black Pirate?” She probably didn’t want to know.
“Reconnaissance and surveillance. You think your assistant, Kat, is a whiz kid, just wait until you see what Charlie can do.
”
Charlie tipped his invisible top hat to her. “I’m also the guy who calls in the GPS coordinates to air support to make it rain ordnance on the bad guys.”
“Air support won’t be available to us on this trip. We’re on our own here.”
“You can’t be serious.” Charlie shot Mack a look that Jenna couldn’t decipher. Astonishment? Worry?
“Shit, Mack. No air support at all? I should’ve brought more ammo,” the other brother said. His voice had an edge to it.
Jenna sensed tension. “Is this some sort of problem?”
“Nah. I brought extra and my brother’s got enough explosives to wipe out three planets,” Charlie said.
“So true. Not to mention the Willy Special.” The brother stepped forward and offered his hand. “Hey, gorgeous. I’m Willy. Can I show you my Special?” He held her hand for a beat too long. Heat and sex rolled off this guy in waves.
“Um…” she had no idea what to say.
“Stand down, Willy,” Mack growled. “Jenna’s the boss.”
Willy let her hand go. “The boss? Right on. About time we got a boss that looks like her.”
Mack rolled his eyes. “Jenna, Willy is our breacher. Without a doubt the best explosives expert on the face of the planet and this side of mentally sane. He’s also trouble. Stay away from him.”
“Righteous truth, Mack. Like that intro.” Willy opened his finger in a mock flash. “Boom.”
“Yeah, maybe the other side of sane.” Mack grinned.
“Nice to meet you both.” Jenna strained her neck to look into their faces. They were all so tall and incredibly buff. Really, really good looking men.
“One question.” Willy raised his hand. “How come I didn’t get the memo? Did you get the memo, Charles?”
“No, I did not get the memo, William. Which one was it again?” Charlie laughed, obviously waiting for the punch line.
“The instructions to bring a hot chick along. I would definitely be all over that.” Willy’s green eyes focused on her breasts.
Mack slugged him in the arm. Hard. Hard enough to kill someone if it landed just right.
SEALs of Summer: Military Romance Superbundle - Navy SEAL Style Page 84