SEALs of Summer: Military Romance Superbundle - Navy SEAL Style

by Sharon Hamilton

  “You set a trap for him.” She hated this woman and her brother.

  “Figured that out, did you? How’s it feel knowing you’re the bait that will bring your lover to his death?”

  “It hasn’t worked yet, has it?”

  Eva’s eyes narrowed and she straightened. “I liked you better when you were out. Don’t push me.”

  Darci took the warning to heart. Antagonizing this woman: not a good idea. She needed to stay alive until Jack arrived.

  She just hoped he hurried.

  *

  Win Bekett was a machine. The agent’s stamina and skills impressed Jack. If he didn’t know better, he’d think Bekett had been on the teams at some point. They were soaked to the skin, covered in mud and trekking through the jungle toward an abandoned warehouse in a damn tropical storm.

  “What’s Win short for?” he asked as they trudged up a steep hill.

  Win tossed a wry grin over his shoulder. “That’s the million dollar question.” He disappeared over the top of the hill.

  Jack shook his head. Obviously not going to tell him. So what was the mystery? Win could only be short for a few names: Winston, Winslow, Winfield? All of which were horrendous and probably why he preferred Win.

  “Are all you G-men this vague?”

  “Yeah, we take a special class. Hold on.”

  Jack stopped, listened and looked but saw and heard nothing except blowing wind. “What is it?”

  “Thought I heard something.” They moved onward. “Should be over the next hill. You sure the sister has Darci?”

  “I’d stake my life on it.”

  “You may be doing just that. I’m assuming she’s worth it?”

  “Yeah, she’s worth it.”

  Bekett nodded. “Then let’s go get her.”

  *

  Ouch! That hurt. Why did this woman like to hit her in the face? She could feel the swelling and could only imagine what she looked like. Probably like Jack.

  Okay, Jack, now would be a good time to save the day.

  And there he was. The front door burst open and Jack filled it, gun in hand and wearing a murderous expression. Eva spun around as Jack took out the two guards walking the perimeter.

  “Ah, the hero is here at last.” Eva knelt behind her.

  “What are you doing?”

  The ropes binding her wrists were removed, but before she could react Eva had an arm around her neck and lifted her to her feet.

  Another man had come in behind Jack, and started trussing up the two guards. Darci didn’t recognize him. Tall and lean with spiky black hair, a white dress shirt and slacks, he didn’t look like a cop. Then again, she wouldn’t know the difference. He wore the same black vest as Jack and had a gun in each hand.

  “Secure?” Jack asked the man, who nodded.

  “Put your weapons down or I blow her head off.” Eva drew their attention to where she had a gun held to Darci’s temple.

  Jack tossed his weapon aside and nodded at the other man, who pursed his lips and did the same. Guns clattered across the floor as Jack took slow steps toward them.

  No. She didn’t want him to come any closer. Eva had a twitchy trigger finger.

  “Let her go, Eva. This is Special Agent Bekett from the FBI. He has your brother in custody and he’s ready to cut a deal.”

  “Stop right there.” Eva tightened her grip on Darci’s neck. “I don’t cut deals with the FBI.”

  “Then let Darci go and take me.”

  Darci glared at Jack. He wasn’t helping. Blondie held the only gun in the room.

  “I have what I want.”

  “You can’t kill us all, Eva, so you may as well let her go.”

  “Wrong,” Eva said and Darci panicked, ready for her to pull the trigger.

  Things happened in slow motion. Darci drove her foot into Eva’s shin at the same time more of Eva’s goons burst through the door. She saw Jack and the FBI agent both reach behind their backs and pull out weapons as bullets rained through the warehouse.

  Something slammed into her temple and at first she thought she’d been shot. She heard a click, but the gun didn’t go off. Stunned, she threw an elbow back, connecting with Eva’s stomach, and heard the woman grunt. She retaliated with a punch to Darci’s kidney. That hurt.

  Her self-defense training kicked in and Darci got the upper hand. The Amazon’s spike heels served as a hindrance as Darci knocked her off balance and sent her stumbling backward. She used the opportunity to run for Jack, who returned fire.

  “Darci, get down!” Jack yelled as he and the FBI agent secured the guards. Darci dropped to the floor and covered her head as the bullets slowed and eventually stopped.

  She lifted her head in time to see Jack rise to his feet simultaneously with Eva. She should have taken Eva’s weapon away. Why hadn’t she taken it? Too late for regrets.

  Eva pointed her gun at Jack’s head. Darci screamed a warning. Jack spun around. Eva pulled the trigger. The shot echoed through the warehouse.

  The FBI agent leaped, blocking Jack with his body and flying backward when the bullet ripped through his shoulder.

  Darci saw blood and everything went black.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Boston, two months later

  ‡

  As the lights dimmed in the little Irish pub—the same pub where she and her band had gotten their start—Darci took her place on stage. Her heart felt heavy and light at the same time with the prospect of going her own way and becoming a songwriter like she’d always dreamed.

  The pub was unusually quiet for this time of the night, all eyes trained on her as Brian tapped out a light beat on his drums. Darci raised the mic at the same time Jess began playing the uilleann pipes in a haunting melody certain to bring tears to the audience’s eyes. As Kit and Gil chimed in with guitars, she began to sing, her emotion seeping into the words.

  The melody consumed Darci. She soon lost herself in the words, no longer feeling the sadness of the break-up of her band or the loss of the man she loved. She’d written their song when she returned to Boston and her band was playing it tonight for the first time as their final set. She only hoped she could get through it without bursting into tears.

  She and Jack had gone their separate ways, just as she’d known they would, known they had to, but it didn’t make it any easier. She’d fallen in love with Jack in that tropical paradise and leaving him had been the hardest thing she’d ever done.

  She’d gone straight home after her return to the States. To her parents’ house and then to visit her sisters, spilling her tale about a band of thieves and a brave, handsome Navy SEAL who saved her life and stole her heart. Then she’d returned to Boston to discover Kit was getting married. Brian had been offered a once in a lifetime chance to be a drummer for a popular rock band. She wouldn’t hold them back. They would have stayed if she’d asked, but she couldn’t do that. So, they were playing their final gig and planned to make it a good one. She’d never let her broken heart get in the way of a performance.

  The song ended and the crowd burst into shouts and clapping that brought a smile to her lips. The first time she’d smiled in two months. She’d cried herself to sleep every night since her return and hadn’t been able to put on her favorite bras and panties without bursting into tears, but it felt good to be here. These were her people, her fans, family and friends.

  As she looked out she saw her parents and two sisters sitting in the audience, smiling and lending their support. They were here for her, putting their lives on hold to be with her on this important night and Darci felt her heart swell. She realized now her luck to have such a caring family and her adventure in the Caribbean had helped her see that. It had changed her life. Changed her. And she would never forget it.

  The band broke into the next song, one that her mother loved the most. A slow ballad that always made her cry.

  “This one’s for you, Mum,” Darci said.

  A tear slipped down her mother’s cheek. She
’d cried when Darci came home, holding Darci tight while she told her what she’d been through.

  So much of her life had been spent wandering, never sitting still long enough to enjoy the family she had. She spent so much of her time wondering what waited over the next horizon, that she missed the comforts of simply being home. She’d never given it much thought before and she owed her newfound view on life to the experience in the Caribbean. It had taught her life was too fragile. She would never take her family for granted again.

  She still longed for adventure. Probably always would, but her needs were changing. She no longer searched the globe for what was missing in her life. She’d found it in Jack and she wasn’t fool enough to believe she’d find it again.

  But he’d returned to California and she to Boston. She rolled with the changes in her life, even if it did leave her feeling a little out of sorts. Her band had been her life for so long, she didn’t know how to live without them. They satisfied her wanderlust. Without them, she felt a little lost.

  She tried not to think about it too much, because it scared her. That life was all she knew. So where did that leave her? She loved a man who’d already forgotten about her, and she had no idea how to get over that.

  Pushing the painful thoughts out of her mind, she focused on her music and her audience. A sad night for all. O’Malley’s pub was a beginning and an end for the band. She owed it to her audience to make it the best show ever.

  *

  Jack slipped unnoticed into a chair in the back corner of the very crowded Irish pub. Lucky he found somewhere to sit, considering the place was packed like a can of sardines. It didn’t take him long to figure out why.

  His eyes were drawn to the stage, a small platform in the center of the pub, where the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen sang like an angel straight from Heaven. He couldn’t name all the instruments being played, but he knew the woman singing the haunting melody, her voice filling the room and wrapping around him.

  Entranced, he watched her close her eyes and sway gently to the beat of the drum. Her hair fell in dark waves to her waist. Seeing her here, like this, would haunt him the rest of his days. She belonged on stage. The crowd loved her and when he glanced around he saw tears falling down many cheeks. All eyes were glued to her as she drew them into the melody.

  The song ended. She blew a kiss to the audience, then briefly touched the Celtic necklace hanging around her neck. Cheering shook the rafters and Jack found himself clapping along with the rest of them. She was amazing. Sexy, beautiful and talented.

  He’d come straight off the plane to O’Malley’s, prepared to offer her the adventure of a lifetime, but seeing her here, like this, in her element… Maybe he’d been wrong in thinking to ask her to leave. Clearly, this was where she belonged.

  The band immediately broke into another song, this one more upbeat, yet still as haunting. The music seemed to touch a deep part of his soul, the part he kept hidden, and draw it out. But Jack wasn’t interested in the music; he wanted the singer. He couldn’t ask her to leave this life, it wouldn’t be fair, and no matter how he felt about her he would never intentionally hurt her. He’d been a fool for thinking she would give up everything for him. Now he saw how much she would be giving up.

  Pushing back his chair, he moved to stand, but the next song stopped him. She began singing about two lovers that had crossed paths and gone their separate ways. A sad song, filled with emotion that drop-kicked him back into his chair.

  When he looked up at the stage he saw tears in her eyes and watched, mesmerized, as she finished the song, took a bow and said goodbye to her fans with sadness in her smile and a tremble in her hand.

  Then the crowd pulsed toward the band and the place turned into chaos. Jack stayed put, hidden in the shadows, watching the band mingle with the crowd. He’d only caught the tail end of the show, but the praise was well deserved. They were very good. It only reinforced his earlier thoughts. She deserved what he couldn’t give her.

  *

  Darci hugged her parents, then her sisters, and waved as they left the pub. They were going back to their hotel, since her apartment wasn’t big enough to house all of them. Sadness filled her heart as she watched them drive away.

  It was over. The band had said their goodbyes and gone their separate ways. She’d agreed to stay and help close up. She didn’t want to go home to an empty apartment and think about the void inside her. It hurt too much.

  Turning the closed sign over, she turned back around and saw him. Sitting alone at a table in the corner, his back propped against the wall. Her heart stopped beating for the barest of seconds. She blinked, thinking her imagination played tricks on her, but when she opened her eyes he was still there.

  He rose from his chair and her knees went weak. Jack. In Boston. She could only stand there in silence and watch as he weaved his way toward her. He looked good. Tall, strong, healthy. His bruises had faded, leaving a clean-shaven, handsome face that revealed none of his thoughts. The cut across his eyebrow had healed, but bisected the brow, making him look dangerously sexy. He wore low-rise jeans and t-shirt that hugged everything that should absolutely be hugged. Not even her dreams could compare to the living, breathing Jack Taggart.

  He stopped a foot away from her and his scent wrapped around her, tantalizing her senses. Heaven help her, she couldn’t face him right now. She was too vulnerable, her emotions raw. Two months had passed but the pain remained. As did her love. But he hadn’t shared that love, so what brought him here? Why tonight, with her life falling apart?

  “Hi.” He grinned. “I caught the tail end of your performance.”

  “How’d you like it?” Her voice went breathless, but not from her singing. She wanted him to pull her into his arms because there she’d forget all her troubles. But he only stood there, looking at her in the dim light of the pub, revealing nothing.

  “You’re a talented woman.”

  “Thanks, but this was our last performance.” Her chest tightened at the thought. What adventure would fill the void?

  Jack seemed surprised by the news. “The band is breaking up?”

  She nodded. “Kit’s getting married and Brian was offered a career opportunity with a reputable rock band.”

  “I see.” Jack’s gaze studied her face. If he looked any harder, he would see how she struggled. He had a way of reading her like a book. That could be irritating and wonderful at the same time.

  “So what are you going to do?”

  The million-dollar question. She’d been asking herself that for two months. Write songs, for sure. After that? A mystery. She had the entire world in front of her. She could do anything she wanted: travel, sightsee, enjoy her freedom. But none of that sounded fun anymore if she did it alone.

  Instead of answering, she moved to an empty table and motioned for him to sit. Much safer with a block of wood between them to keep her from reaching for him.

  Paddy, the owner, came over and asked if they needed anything before he turned in for the night. Jack refused and Darci assured him she’d lock up before she left. She’d spent many a late night with the band, so it wasn’t that unusual for her to lock up. Paddy had been one of her first friends here in Boston and for an old coot he was as good as they came.

  “How about a beer?” She stood. “I need a beer.”

  “Sure,” Jack answered, even though he’d just told Paddy he didn’t want anything.

  She tapped out two beers and handed one to Jack.

  “Green beer.” He examined the contents of his glass.

  “Did you expect anything less?” Darci sipped hers.

  Jack grinned and took a hefty swallow. She would have to escort him to the door if he didn’t like it.

  When he didn’t push the remaining beer away, Darci relaxed. He liked it. Good. She didn’t think she could live with a man who didn’t drink green beer.

  “I’m sorry about your band.” Jack’s voice sounded compassionate.

  Darci sm
iled, hoping he didn’t see the sadness in it. “Me too, but it’s okay. Brian has a great opportunity and Maxine deserves her time with Kit.”

  “What about you?”

  Darci shifted in her chair. “I’m fine.”

  “Are you?”

  No, she’d lost her lover. Her band.

  Jack asked the right questions and she didn’t like it. She wasn’t ready to figure out her future, and certainly not with him. He’d walked away from her and that still hurt. She loved him and that hurt too. If he’d come here thinking they could hook up for the weekend, he had another think coming. No way could she handle that, so she decided to be blunt.

  “What are you doing here, Jack?”

  “I came to make good on my promise.”

  “You flew from California to Boston to invite me to dinner?”

  “I guess that blows my ‘I was in the neighborhood’ theory,” he said with a grin.

  Darci smiled. “I guess it does. Are you serious? You really want me to go with you to California just for dinner?”

  “If you’re up for the adventure.”

  She’d go on any adventure with him. She’d been wondering what to do next. Then Jack showed up with an answer to her problems. A temporary answer, but she wasn’t complaining.

  “Having dinner with you will be an adventure?” She sipped her beer.

  “It is when you include the Demarco family. Donovan has four brothers and three sisters. All Catholic and all temperamental. I figured I’d take you to lunch first and let you adjust before sitting to dinner.”

  Darci refused to read too much into that. Jack never broke a promise. He was an honorable man, she knew that, but it still had her off guard that he’d come. She’d never expected to see him again. And now she had the chance to go to California, meet his friends, and fill in the blanks as to who Jack Taggart really was.

  Her curiosity got the better of her. She had to know where he lived, how he lived and what kind of friends he kept. She wanted to know him as something other than the man who’d saved her life in a tropical paradise. Besides, she had nowhere else to go at this particular time in her life. An adventure might be just what she needed.