SEALs of Summer: Military Romance Superbundle - Navy SEAL Style

by Sharon Hamilton

  Power throbbed between his legs too. He dropped the keys in her palm. The plan to seduce the admiral’s daughter had taken a one-eighty, but walking away was a big hell, no.

  He’d made a big mistake that day. He should’ve walked and saved himself the heartache.

  *

  She didn’t like the pain on Mack’s face. He was remembering things they should both forget. It was time to redirect the conversation. “Charlie. How will we find the Harmonds? It seems impossible without Jacob’s cell phone.”

  “Impossible? Nah,” Charlie grinned. “You have me! And the most high-tech communications system in the world. If we get close to the guerillas, I’ll hear them.”

  “We get close enough and I’ll blow them sky high.” Willy high fived his brother.

  “First, we figure out how to sneak in and extricate the hostages without any of us getting shot or blown up. And that takes time, skill, and intelligence. We let Mack plan this thing so we do it right,” Tavon said.

  “Keep monitoring the LST and comm units. I want to find those bastards with their pants down,” Mack said to Charlie.

  Jenna sighed. “I wish I knew this area better. I’ll contact my trackers. These are local guys who lead expeditions through these jungles. They might know where we should start looking.”

  “What is your problem, lady? Don’t you think you’ve screwed up this mission enough?” Tavon glowered like an evil Jolly Green Giant.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Leave her alone,” Mack warned.

  “We should leave her behind,” Tavon growled.

  “Of all the pig-headed…” Her blood boiled. Had Tavon forgotten she was in charge of his paycheck? “How about your wife? How does she feel about you leaving her behind?”

  He was fast for a big man. Before she could blink, he stood over her, his barrel chest rising and falling before her eyes.

  “Listen lady…”

  “Knock it off, you two.” Mack stepped into the fight.

  They were like three green peas in a pod. Jenna was one steaming pea. “Believe me, boys. She’s not happy. No woman wants her husband to leave her and risk dying on foreign soil.”

  Tavon’s black eyes were predatory. In those depths, she saw more than anger. She saw truth. She also saw that he wanted to kill her for speaking it.

  “Yeah, okay, I believe you. Shit, I have no idea what a woman wants,” Willy replied, working to defuse the tension he’d caused.

  “He’s right about that. Willy’s horrible with women, and yet they keep falling into his bed. No one knows why. It’s a great mystery.” Charlie shrugged.

  “Oh, we all know why. The Handly men are hung like bulls.”

  “You said it, brother.” Charlie slapped Willy on the back.

  “Would you two shut up?” Mack snarled.

  Something buzzed. Mack pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, read it, and dropped it back in again. “Stand down, Tavon. She’s not mad at you. It’s me. Go ahead, Jenna. Tell them why fighting for the country, eliminating threats, and rescuing hostages makes me an asshole.”

  A stream of sweat rolled down his painted cheek, and his eyes…Her insides twisted at the sadness she saw there. She couldn’t get lost in that emotion. Not now.

  “No, Mack. That makes you a hero. All of you are heroes. And I am so proud of what you do for the country. I am.” She looked at the faces surrounding her. “But I don’t need a hero in my life. I need a man who loves me with everything he’s got and doesn’t let go.”

  Mack leaned closer. The world narrowed down until it was just this man standing before her. His jaw tightened in anger, and his lips… She couldn’t take her eyes off his lips. “I didn’t let go. You did.”

  She had to. How does anyone hold onto the wind?

  Charlie nudged his brother. “Let’s check the satellite again. Looks like you’ve done enough damage here.”

  “I’m coming.” The brothers quickly moved away.

  Mack’s cell buzzed again.

  “Why don’t you get that?” she asked.

  Tavon stepped back. “Go ahead, man. Take it.”

  “It’s not important. I’ll answer it later,” Mack mumbled. “What’s taking Ty so long?”

  Another buzz. It had to be a text. And if he wasn’t going to answer it in front of her…

  “Seems important.” She studied his face. Tavon was all but forgotten. “Is your girlfriend calling?”

  “No. Just drop it.”

  Narrowing her eyes, she said through clenched teeth, “The father of an ex-girlfriend calling?”

  Mack tipped his head skywards and air seeped through his lips. “Yes.”

  “Damn you, Mack!” She shoved him as hard as she could. He didn’t budge. “You’re working for him, aren’t you?”

  “Jenna—” He reached for her arms. He wanted to hold her now?

  She blocked his hands. “Don’t touch me. I should have guessed the admiral would behind all this. Just like old times, right? Nothing ever changes. I thought you came back for me. I hoped we could…and after the jet…but no…stupid, stupid me!”

  “Come back for you? You ended things, babe. You didn’t write, didn’t return my calls. A Navy SEAL wasn’t part of your grand plan, remember? I was outside your freaking realm of control. You cut me out of your life. Simple as that.”

  Simple as that? She laughed. There was nothing simple about what she went through. Well, it was sort of a laugh, more like a croak, or a cry. The way her lip quivered it was definitely a cry. “I’m a control freak? What about you? Lieutenant Commander Mack Riley is always in command.”

  His nose was almost touching hers. Waves of anger rolled off him. “That’s where you’re wrong. I lost control the moment I laid eyes on you.”

  Mack slammed the knife into the tree trunk behind her. “I’m going after Ty. Bring an extra scope and follow me, Tavon.”

  She was still shaking as he disappeared over the ridge.

  Chapter Nine

  ‡

  Slumping to the ground, Jenna pulled her knees to her chest and covered her face with her hands. How had her life gotten so screwed up?

  Giving her heart and soul to a SEAL had been a mistake. Given the chance, she’d do it again for the rest of her life. He touched her as no one ever had, made her laugh, think, and turned her on in a hundred different ways. Mack was the perfect man she could never have. But that hadn’t stopped her from wanting him.

  Mack was strength. With him she’d let go of the death grip she had on being in control and could simply be herself. She’d never known that sort of peace with anyone. She’d didn’t trust anyone like she did Mack. On their third date, she let him choose a restaurant. In the booth at the back of a smoky steakhouse he’d said, “Damn, woman, you take my breath away.”

  “Is that so?” He’d been doing a good job of stealing hers too. Smiling, she ran her finger along the rim on her glass, collecting salt. Across the top of his hand she drew a heart with the crystals. “I can think of other ways to take your breath away.”

  “But you don’t get involved with guys in the Navy.”

  “I sleep with them. Sometimes.”

  Heat poured over her, through her. She needed Mack Riley more than she needed to take her next choppy breath.

  “Now we’re talking.” He reached under the table and touched her bare knee. From there he moved his hand slowly, slowly up her inner thigh, while never taking his gaze off her face. “I have a question for you, but don’t take too long thinking about it…”

  Oh, God.

  His hand touched the edge of her panties. He slowed even more, the anticipation building. Her cheeks were on fire, her lips parted. “Jenna, do you want me…”

  She gasped when he found her sweet spot.

  “To make hot, passionate, dirty…” With one finger he pressed against her nub. She gripped the table cloth with both hands, tipped her head back and shut her eyes. “Nu-uh, open your eyes, baby.”

  She di
d. Every inch of her body responded to him, begging for more.

  “What’s the answer?” He made tiny circles against her nub. “Do you want me to make love to you. All…” She was breathing heavily now. Wetness soaked through the cotton fabric. “night…” She panted, coming undone. He pressed a harder and a tiny squeal escaped her lips. “Long?”

  “Yes, yes. Please, Mack.”

  He threw the money on the table and got her out of there before they both exploded.

  Once at her place, he lifted her into his arms and made love to her like no one had ever been loved before. Sweet Lord, he’d been magnificent in bed. And on the couch. On the balcony. In the shower. Before she’d known what happened, she’d given Mack her heart. Madly. It had been a mistake to love a SEAL, but she couldn’t have stopped herself any more than she could’ve stopped the ocean, which carried all Navy men away.

  The rays of sun filtering through the trees stopped hitting her skin. Jenna uncovered her hands to see Tavon glaring down on her. His stance was more than a little intimidating. His blood streaks and patchy face paint made him seem diabolical.

  She mentally eye-rolled. Did he think he scared her? Men assumed that they could push her around. More times than not, they realized they were sadly mistaken. She was an admiral’s daughter, for heaven’s sakes. She’d risen to the highest ranks possible without actually being a founder at EXtreme Adventures. Who did this giant green man think he was?

  “Do you have something to say to me?” Jenna asked.

  He shook his head.

  Tipping her chin up, she forced herself to look into his angry dark eyes. “Then why are you glowering over me? And why are we still here? We should be out tracking the guerillas. What’s taking so long?”

  “Sorry, boss.” He didn’t need to add air quotes. The way he spit out the word got his point across. “We’re not going anywhere until Mack has figured out the routes in and the exits. He’s our navigator. He’ll use the intel from Ty and Charlie to make it as safe as possible for us. Until then, we monitor movement, traffic, and sit tight.”

  “Sit tight?” That was one of her pet peeves. Along with, “just be patient” and “let a man handle this.”

  She longed to pinch someone’s head off. Too bad she couldn’t get her hands around Tavon’s big head.

  “We don’t go in half-cocked. Intelligence reports indicate that CRAF typically surround their captives with several layers of armed guards. There’s a chance any attempt to rescue the captives will cause the guards to shoot them outright.” He put an imaginary gun to his head and pulled the trigger. “Boom. The Harmonds are dead.”

  She tried not to flinch. “That’s why we should bring in more men. Trackers and fighters. Let’s build up our army.”

  Tavon towered over her. “Don’t you get it, lady? CRAF supporters could be anywhere. Peasants, rebels looking for a cause, they all could be part of the guerilla network. They have families and grannies, and hell, who knows what to tip them off? Have you stopped to think about why the Harmonds were taken captive so easily? You had men posted throughout the area and yet none of them got there in time. Why?”

  Jenna swallowed hard. “You think one of my guys took the Harmonds?”

  “I know it. Franco was the mole. Roberto gave up the name with his last dying breath.”

  She pressed her hand to her stomach. “Franco was one of my men.”

  “The truth stinks, doesn’t it? What do you think of your army now?”

  The truth burned. She’d given the orders. Requiring minute-by-minute tracking of Andrew, she was the one to broadcast the family’s location to men who were supposedly protecting the Harmonds. Franco was a guerilla spy… Oh, no. Was she to blame for the kidnapping and the death of her men? Swallowing bile, she focused on maintaining her composure. Tavon was trying to get to her. She wouldn’t let him see he had.

  “We’ll find some more good men. I’ll text EXtreme Adventures to find out who we can trust.”

  Tavon leaned closer. She could smell his woodsy deodorant. “You call in one of your men and you might as well announce to the guerillas that we’re coming. Just like you did when you gave them our landing coordinates. Do you want to kill all of us?”

  “No. Of course not!”

  “Then stay out of it! Let us do the job we were hired to do.” If he could shoot bullets with those dark eyes, Jenna would be dead already.

  Was he trying to push her buttons? If so, he’d lit them all up.

  She glared right back. “Hate all women, Mr. Sting, or just me?”

  When he grinned, he looked like another person entirely, but just as intimidating. “I love women, Ms. Collins. Except for bossy, blowhard man-eaters.”

  Ignoring the comment, she swung her arm toward the jungle. “My family is out there. My responsibility. I’ll do whatever it takes to save them. Understand?”

  He whispered in her ear. “Mack is my family. My responsibility. I’ve got his back and will do whatever it takes to protect him. You feeling me?”

  The threat lifted the hair on the back of her neck.

  She wiggled her finger so that he’d dip his big head toward her. She whispered in his ear, “Twenty thousand bonus of my own money for you. Just keep Mack alive.”

  He pulled back until they were face to face. The angry light in his eyes dimmed back. Blinking a few times, he said, “What did you say?”

  Lifting her lips in the best grin she could muster, she doubted she looked a fraction as intimidating as he did. “You heard me.”

  “Hell.” He dragged the word out long and hard. “You want him back.”

  “Of course I do.” Good Lord. What did he think? That she’d staged this elaborate hostage situation to get Mack killed? “I love him, Tavon. Always have, always will. Do your job and protect him. Keep him safe.”

  He rubbed his hand over his bald head. “I don’t want your money.”

  “Fine. Give it to charity. Do we have a deal?” She stretched out her hand.

  He rocked that big head from side to side and kept his hands to himself. “I’ll bring my brother out alive. I always do. But you’ve got to understand one thing—I destroy Mack’s enemies. With a gun, grenade, stick, my bare hands, it doesn’t matter. Dead is dead. Consider yourself warned.”

  Tavon Sting grabbed a scope and followed after Mack.

  Jenna let out a deep breath. She felt that, all right.

  *

  As Mack crept up the hill, he focused on his surroundings. He listened for enemy noise, smelling, tasting the air for guerillas. All he heard was the sound of the jungle. Nothing was out of place except for him and his team. Silently, he stepped over the thick vegetation. His boots climbed the hill, but his mind was still back at the helo landing. With Jenna.

  Seeing his girl shoot had done all kinds of things to him. First, he’d forgotten that Jenna wasn’t his girl. When would he get that through his thick skull? Hard to do when she’d looked amazingly hot with a rifle in her hands and had felt so good in his arms. As she’d leaned into him, nearly melting in his arms, he’d smelled her warm skin. He had the crazy desire to drag her behind the helo and have another round of sex therapy.

  Then the admiral called and everything went south—the tenuous trust that had been building between them, the cease fire, letting the past stay in the past. All of it slipped away. He couldn’t let it get to him. He had a mission to accomplish and lives to save.

  Mack sprinted the last hundred feet up the hill.

  Even though Ty was in plain sight, it took Mack’s trained eyes a few seconds to spot him. Ty was a perfect chameleon on the ridge. Flat on his belly with his binoculars up to his eyes, the man’s BUD/S blended in with the grass and dappled light filtering in through the trees.

  Scoping out the area for hidden dangers, Mack flattened himself next to Ty and brought the binoculars up to his eyes.

  “Whatcha got?” Mack asked.

  “Matching the coordinates from the kid’s cell phone, CRAF should
be there.” Ty pointed to a thick patch of trees.

  Mack’s binoculars followed the line from Ty’s finger. “And?”

  “And nothing. No movement, cars, people, nothing.”

  “Shit. They’ve moved the captives already. We’re screwed.”

  “Maybe not. I saw…” Ty paused for a second. “…there.”

  Mack trained his sights in the new direction that Ty was pointing.

  A thin line of white rose up through the trees. Smoke!

  “Damn. That’s close!” Mack said. Too close. If those were CRAF guerillas down there, they were almost on top of them. He tapped his comm line. “Charlie, I’m sending you new coordinates. Figure out what we’ve got. Send Tavon after us and tell Willy to protect Jenna. We’re going in.”

  “Copy that,” Charlie said.

  “Protect Jenna!” Mack said one more time.

  They moved quietly and efficiently through the trees. Tavon caught up with them at the bottom of the hill. He and his men were chameleon killing machines. Mack’s heart pounded hard and sure. His breath was nice and even. This is what he was trained for. The vest, belts, ammo, and weapons weren’t heavy. They kept him balanced, stable, and grounded. His boots didn’t make a sound. It would be difficult for the enemy to see them, and surprise was on their side.

  Motioning with his fingers, he instructed Tavon to watch the flank while he and Ty advanced. The smell of cooking meat rose up in the air. They were close. Slowly, slowly, he moved a mirror to peek around the tree.

  There! Two men sat by a fire cooking what looked suspiciously like a squirrel.

  Mack raised two fingers. With his peripheral vision, he watched Ty. He hadn’t spotted any others. Slowly, he turned toward Tavon. The big man shook his head. No others. He checked his cell.

  Charlie’s text said. “See only two. Could be others. Canopy thick.”

  Were these two men CRAF guerillas? Mack had no idea. Was it a setup? Mack didn’t know that either. There was a high probability CRAF knew they were alive and coming for them. If so, they were about to be ambushed one more time. He might never see Jenna again.