“You’re probably wondering why we’re taking such a risk.” Fredo tried to act casual, but it wasn’t working. And he wished Lupe would stop shaking because it was making him nervous, too.
“I’m a reasonable man. I’ll listen.”
“Way I hear it, you’re not supposed to be hanging around here. You’re required to move off somewhere else, good riddance and all.”
Sonny laughed in Fredo’s face, his guffaws markedly loud.
“I’m not going anywhere. Didn’t you hear? I’m free. Thinking of settling down, finding a nice woman,” he said as he nodded to Lupe. Fredo quickly assessed it wasn’t going so well with Diego, who flinched as if he’d been slapped.
“Well, maybe we can sweeten the pot a bit. We want the center left alone. We want to fix it back up. We don’t want the walls tagged or the windows broken again. The Mayor wants to be able to come down here without fearing for his life.”
“That can happen anywhere, and you know it.”
“How much money would it take for you to leave and never come back?”
Fredo watched as Diego’s eyes grew to be saucer-like.
“How much we talkin’?” Alvarez asked.
“I don’t know. What’s it worth to you?”
“Well, if I’m gone, then you still have to work with these dudes.”
Fredo was running out of options. He saw two other men on a catwalk above the walls to the right of the open gate. He made sure he and Lupe were not an open target. With Sonny and the two others in the way, no one inside was going to start shooting.
He had to get closer. Fredo saw something glint in the sunlight off in the distance to his right and realized Danny had pulled out one of his knives. He hoped Diego or Sonny hadn’t noticed the glare.
“Look,” Fredo said as he took two steps forward. To his surprise, Sonny let him. “We’ve brought the baby as an act of good faith. We want you to relocate your enterprise. Just think what a couple hundred thousand dollars could buy you.”
“Why don’t I just make the same deal with you? You and your buddies leave my town, and I’ll agree not to kill you.” He chuckled slightly, aided by his two helpers.
Fredo judged the distance carefully. Sonny wasn’t used to holding the assault rifle, and he certainly wasn’t ready to fire.
He slowly turned, keeping his peripheral vision tuned to the rifle in Sonny’s hands. That assault rifle could cut him in half if the man knew how to properly use the weapon. He noted Diego was covering the butt of his handgun with his left hand. The other lieutenant looked like he was window dressing, his eyes rheumy and his breathing ragged. “Lupe, honey, show them how cute the baby is.” As he turned toward her, he also took another step closer to Sonny and Diego.
Lupe’s eyes were filled with panic. Fredo motioned for her to come toward him, and as she did, everyone either looked at the baby, or at her lovely face and sensuous low-cut cotton top. Fredo made his move. He grabbed the AK from Sonny’s hands and hit his nose with the butt of the deadly weapon. Immediately, Sonny doubled over as blood began spurting everywhere. Fredo gave red-eyes a swift kick to his kneecap and heard a satisfying crack. Then he heard the dull thud as a throwing knife hurled out of the shadows and hit Diego between the shoulder blades, sinking in nearly to the hilt. Diego screamed and fell off to the side.
“Down,” Fredo yelled as part of their cover was gone. He kicked Sonny again in the face, and this time, the man fell unconscious. Fredo immediately trained the rifle on the two guardsmen. Kyle and T.J. appeared from the opposite side of the opening, both yelling, “Drop it.”
Seeing their friends completely disabled, they quickly made the decision to cooperate and take their chances, rather than starting a gun battle. As their rifles dropped to the ground below, Fredo felt the tension completely leave his body. He was left with a sense of peace and calm he hadn’t felt since that day back at the hospital when Mia had visited him.
And fuck it, yeah. He was rock hard again.
Chapter 11
‡
Riverton was not happy when he and several other detectives, as well as a number of regular uniformed policemen arrived after getting the 911 calls. The huge SWAT Team vehicle completely blocked the entrance to the complex. Two ambulances and a fire truck also converged on the scene. Some news crews had also found the complex, and there was a helicopter overhead broadcasting live shots. Speculation was rampant, some even calling it a terrorist cell broken up by the project organizers. Riverton was busy making communications. The Feds were still on their way, which meant San Diego P.D. was bearing the brunt of the costs.
A handful of gang-affiliated youths were arrested inside, all of them younger than twenty. Sonny Alvarez was taken into custody and escorted to the medical center where Fredo had been just days before. There were mountains of evidence to collect, catalog, and haul away. Neighbors and curious onlookers had to be kept at bay.
Riverton wouldn’t look at Fredo. He wouldn’t say more than two words to anybody. Finally, Fredo asked him.
“You got the bad guys. Caught them with all their stuff,” Fredo reminded him. “The good guys won, for a change, Clark.”
“You’re not to interfere. You’re a fuckin’ SEAL. Stay off my lawn!” Riverton looked like he was going to burst a blood vessel. Fredo didn’t understand the intensity of his fury.
“I don’t get it. Please clue me in.”
“I’m gonna have my ass handed to me. You don’t make the Feds look bad, Fredo. You make nice; you take their resources. Our county now has to pay for all this shit,” he said as he waved his arm over the beehive of activity. “You just couldn’t stop yourselves from interfering.”
“Fuck no, not after what they did to Julio. Not after what they were planning on doing to what was left of the neighborhood.”
“You stupid macho kids. You gonna be around for the trial or will you be half way around the other side of the earth? Some defense attorney’s going to have a field day,” Riverton said, his face beet-red.
Fredo rolled his shoulders and puckered his lip with a frown. “Not what I do. That’s your department, Clark.” He knew they had evidence—too much evidence, in fact. They’d toured the complex and found black hoodies, spray paint, and items stolen from the school.
He figured Riverton just wasn’t going to get to the same page, so Fredo retreated to the company of his brothers on the Team, where the mood was considerably more jovial.
Armando grabbed Fredo’s arm. “You better get hold of Mia. She’s going into full-tilt panic mode. She and my mom have been on the phone non-stop, watching the news and everything.”
“I got it.”
Fredo was able to get signed out, and before he left, he gave a hearty thanks to the guys who had helped him. The rescue and fire crews were enjoying doing some smack talk with the SEALs. Normally, Fredo would kick back and wear some accolades like beads in New Orleans, but now, he had another mission to run.
Her cell phone was going straight to voicemail. Mia was continually forgetting to charge her phone then forgetting where she put it, sometimes going two days without it.
Fredo stopped by his favorite florist and bought some deep red roses. He wanted a shower, but didn’t want to keep her waiting.
He felt himself getting teary-eyed. Maybe he should not even tell her about the testing, but he tossed that idea out the window. She’d see right through him.
He remembered what Coop had told him way back on the day he’d been to the doctor.
Let the woman decide.
Hell, she could do anything she wanted with him. She could put him chained in a holding cell for all he cared. If it made her happy, he was all for it. But this, this one thing she wanted, he couldn’t do for her. He mentally told himself, whatever her reaction, he’d love that too about her. She’d be disappointed; he knew she would, but he’d love her even more for it.
Before he got to the house he got a call from Dr. Patterson.
“Hope this is good
news.” Fredo said. He noticed the little soreness in his chest was not present any longer.
“Very good news, and I’m calling you before I call his mom. Julio’s got feeling in one foot. Still not out of the woods, and we have to get that slug, but I’d say this is about the best sign we’ve had. We can work with it.”
Fredo wanted to kiss the doctor through the phone.
“Well, you go enjoy your evening. Just thought you’d like to know.”
“Thanks, doc.”
“And thanks for helping with the cleanup today. It’s all over the news.”
He rang the doorbell instead of using his key and stood to attention with the roses at his chest. The door swung open. Her beautiful face was framed in curls cascading down over her shoulders. He could barely see part of one large golden hoop earring brushing against the fine texture of her long, flawless neck.
The spark and fire that was Mia, even when she was calling him names and insulting him, was there in her eyes, as it always was. But today, she was filled with relief, as well. Her abundant lips colored in red smiled at the sight of him. She looked straight back at him before she acknowledged the roses. Like she knew Fredo by his heart and not by the wrapper he came in.
“Mi amore. Oh, thank God you are safe.” She slammed into his arms, crushing the roses, but he didn’t care. He allowed her to pull him to her, hold him. He found peace in her scent, and the warmth of her soft body. He whispered in her ear how much he loved her. He didn’t want to cry, so he kept holding her until he could compose himself.
Her red fingernails pawed over his back as her breathing grew deep, and he could smell her arousal. It would always be this way, coming home to Mia. Whenever they were apart, there was a celebration of epic proportions when he returned, that almost, but not quite, made the parting worth it.
“You are so bad not to call me.”
“Where is your cell phone, Mia?”
“I lost it about two hours ago.” She pulled herself away from him, slammed the door shut at her back, and grabbed his hand. She flicked her long hair up over her neck and then let it drop.
“How could I have called you? I tried. I really did.”
“You need to try harder, Fredo,” she said over her shoulder.
And, oh baby, yes, he was harder already.
“Punish me, if you like, but I am yours for the next twenty-four hours, Mia. You can do with me whatever you like, and I won’t complain.” He was mesmerized by the sight of her tight ass swaying back and forth. He liked her exaggerated moves for his behalf. She peeled off the cobwebs from his dark brooding nature with the way she manipulated him, and he so willingly took it. She was, and would forever be, his wild child.
“Wait!” She suddenly stopped, and he ran into her backside. “The roses. You brought roses.”
“Yes, my love, but they’re all over the floor by the front door. We smashed them.”
“Then they are the best, all fragrant and moist!” She winked at him and licked her lips, and Fredo nearly came to his knees. She ran back to the living room and picked up the bouquet, with most of the roses hanging their heads, broken at their delicate necks.
Fredo frowned at the ruined bouquet.
“I read in one of my books where the hero and the heroine crashed into each other, and she was carrying a huge bouquet of red roses, and they fell all over them. Their first touch. He fell in love with her right then and there.”
He was all in. “Yes! I’ve fallen in love with you, Mia. I fell in love with you again, just now. These roses are magic,” he said as he stepped to her. He saw in her eyes that she was game for a little foreplay. Although he wanted inside her peach so bad, he could withstand a few moments of play, especially if it heightened her pleasure.
Mia acknowledged his idea silently with a smile, and then a kiss. She pulled away when he went deeper. Shedding their clothes, they frolicked down the hallway to the bedroom. He didn’t feel as graceful as she looked, bending over so he could watch her jeans slide down her smooth ass. Mia removed her bra and pulled her hair up over her head, giving him that sideways sultry look before she licked her lips.
She handed him half of the roses. “Come, we must prepare the bed, yes?”
Well, of course! Absolutely!
Grabbing the bobbing heads of the fragrant roses, she yanked and beheaded each one, throwing the long green stems over the bed and away from them. Her delicate fingers crushed the petals nearly to the point of squeezing liquid from them. She sprinkled the gloriously scented red petals over the mattress. He was standing before her, naked, with a hard-on the size of the Chrysler Building. But he had forgotten to do his part with the roses.
“Fredo, you have a one-track mind. Shame on you.” She put her finger in her mouth and returned a coy expression.
His heart was light. He loved watching her do anything, especially when she got in one of her playful moods like today, welcoming him home to her open arms, and smothering him with her free spirit and lightness of being. He even liked watching her sleep, brushing her hair, and helping her do the dishes in the kitchen sink and getting water everywhere.
How could he have been so lucky? He felt unworthy of the reward of being permanently mated to the one thing he was truly addicted to and could never get enough of: Mia.
She crawled up on the bed, lay on her back, filled her palms with petals, and sprinkled them all over her body.
He dropped the roses at his feet, climbed up on the bed and let his fingers travel up her smooth thigh. Mia arched up, her breasts looking luscious with petals falling from her nipples and into the cavity at her belly button. He explored the pink flesh between her legs. Mia let out the most luscious moan he’d ever heard in his life when she spread her knees and gave him deeper access.
Kneeling before her writhing body, he bent over, lapping her arousal and savoring every drop of her wonderful elixir. He played with her little bud, chasing it around with his tongue, letting it be elusive like the woman who played with his soul every day. He brushed the bunch of petals over her smooth abdomen, around both breasts, and up under her chin and around her neck. He was nearly on top of her now. She gave him the needy look he dreamt about when he was overseas and missing her the most. Her arms were lying against the white cotton pillowcase, her red fingernails toying with her curls.
He kissed her neck below her ear, a place he knew was her favorite spot.
“You bring new meaning to the word homecoming, my love.”
“Ah, Fredo. We will love each other’s bodies forever, won’t we?”
He hesitated, faltering on her words a bit, not quite sure where it was leading.
“Of course. Forever and ever.”
“We are good for each other, Fredo, aren’t we?”
“Yes, my love. We are the best.” He brushed a petal over her cheek, up around the side of her eye, and across her forehead.
She moved her palms to his butt cheeks, bent her knees, and arched herself to receive him. Her fingers deftly encircled his cock as she rubbed his tip over the fleshy petals of her sex and then pressed him inside her.
“This,” she said in a hiss, “is what I live for.”
“Mia. Beautiful Mia. You are everything to me.” The heady aroma of the crushed blossoms filled his nostrils as he pressed his lips against hers and felt her melt into him.
They traded slow kisses and nibbles, tasted each other in a long, slow love-making session that wasn’t urgent. He let her orgasm build, watching her for little signs of things she liked. Having this exquisite creature explore and taste him was nearly more than he could handle. She pushed and pulled him to pick up the rhythm until she was pressed against him, holding herself and then letting herself go. Against her warm insides, he gave her what he could. He filled her with his seed.
And no one needed to know they had dented foreheads and didn’t move. It would remain, as long as it could be, Fredo’s secret.
The End
Sharon Hamilton
NYT and USA Today best-selling author Sharon Hamilton’s award-winning Navy SEAL Brotherhood series have been a fan favorite from the day the first one was released. They’ve earned her the coveted Amazon author ranking of #1 in Romantic Suspense, Military Romance and Contemporary Romance categories, as well as in Gothic Romance for her Vampires of Tuscany and Guardian Angels. Her characters follow a sometimes rocky road to redemption through passion and true love.
Her Golden Vampires of Tuscany are not like any vamps you’ve read about before, since they don’t go to ground and can walk around in the full light of the sun.
Her Guardian Angels struggle with the human charges they are sent to save, often escaping their vanilla world of Heaven for the brief human one. You won’t find any of these beings in any Sunday school class.
She lives in Sonoma County, California with her husband and two Dobermans. A lifelong organic gardener, when she’s not writing, she’s getting verra verra dirty in the mud, or wandering Farmers Markets looking for new Heirloom varieties of vegetables and flowers.
She loves hearing from her fans:
[email protected]
Her website is:
www.authorsharonhamilton.com
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Life is one fool thing after another.
Love is two fool things after each other.
The SEAL Brotherhood Series:
Purchase Accidental SEAL (Book 1 in the SEAL Brotherhood Series) here.
Also available in print and on Audible.
Purchase Fallen SEAL Legacy (Book 2 of the SEAL Brotherhood) here.
Also available in print and on Audible.
Purchase SEAL Under Covers (Book 3 of the SEAL Brotherhood) here.
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Fredo's Secret, A SEAL Brotherhood Novella: A SEAL Brotherhood Novella Page 7