Heroes in Uniform: Soldiers, SEALs, Spies, Rangers and Cops: Sexy Hot Contemporary Alpha Heroes From NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Authors

by Sharon Hamilton

  She looked up at him and smiled. From the corner of her eye, she suddenly saw a large shape loom out of the fog. It came lumbering toward them.

  She turned her head to look, her eyes going wide.

  Oh, my God!

  Her throat constricted around the only word she could manage. “Bear!”

  Barely Dangerous: Chapter Seventy-Nine

  “Wolf, little pup, my name is Wolf,” Coop murmured lazily into Maggie’s hair, oblivious to anything but the woman in his arms.

  “Wolf, bear!” she rasped, gripping his shoulders.

  He laughed wickedly. “Okay, I get it. We can be bears next if you like. Just give me a minute, sexy lady.”

  She gave him a sharp pinch in the arm.

  “Ow! What the—” He lifted up to look at her.

  And saw the bear. It sauntered up to within a few yards of them, and sat down on its haunches, its nose waving in the air. Its head was silhouetted against the huge full moon, looking like a wild, furry cameo.

  “Holy shit!” he quietly exclaimed, and scrambled off her.

  It was the same bear he’d run into earlier. Jesus, was it stalking him?

  “Brother-in-law!” he said as calmly as he could, cautiously sitting up. The bear had been friendly before, but Coop knew that wild animals were neither predictable nor consistent in their behavior.

  It regarded them with a look he would swear was amusement. It seemed to be waiting patiently for him to do something. There was something really peculiar about this bear.

  Next to him, Maggie slowly sat up and pressed close against his side as he kneeled up on the ground.

  The bear's eyes were on Maggie now. Coop scowled. He had heard stories among the Cree about bears stealing women for wives. Myths. Allegories for marriages sometimes forced upon women by strangers from other bands, no doubt. The bear stories weren't real.

  He told himself.

  Even so, it did seem to be perusing Maggie's naked body with too much interest.

  “Brother-in-law,” he repeated more edgily, using the less formal greeting than he’d used in their first encounter. Playing to the myth. Just in case. “Would you look upon your sister like that?”

  The bear shifted its gaze back to him. “Cover yourself, Maggie,” he said quietly.

  Giving him a look halfway between fear and incredulity, she slowly reached over and pulled her shawl to her body. Thank God, for once she kept her sarcastic comments to herself.

  The bear continued to wait.

  Coop had no clue.

  “Do something,” Maggie whispered.

  No pressure, or anything.

  So he went with instinct. As irrational as it seemed. He sat down and started to chant.

  He sang the bear.

  By his side, Maggie relaxed against him. After a while, she laid her head on his shoulder. The bear seemed entranced by his low, rhythmic melody. It closed its eyes and swayed back and forth. Coop's own lids drooped, and he went into himself, into the song.

  He slid an arm around Maggie and pulled her close. And once again, a feeling of great peace descended upon him.

  Along with a certainty that, somehow, his life had just become complete and filled with meaning.

  Barely Dangerous: Chapter Eighty

  Maggie awoke from a misty dream.

  She looked around at the dimly-lit meadow. She and Cooper were still on her gown where they had made love. He was sitting, and she had sprawled across his lap. He was silent.

  The bear was gone.

  She raised up, and as she looked at his face, softly illuminated by the hazy moon, he opened his eyes and returned her gaze.

  “I am full, little pup,” he softly said.

  “Full?” she asked.

  He smiled. “Full inside, for what we have shared. I feel good.”

  She smiled back. “I am full, too, Blue Wolf.”

  His lips met hers in a long, warm kiss.

  He broke away with a wink. “We better go, before I fill you again.”

  “I probably have a little room left,” she said, “and I know just where.” She wound her arms around his neck.

  “Mmm. I've given you enough bruises tonight,” he said, sprinkling kisses over her face and shoulders. “And we're both covered with pine needles. Let's go find that fancy shower of yours, and then a nice, soft bed.” He pulled her up with him.

  She didn't protest. A bed sounded really good.

  Turning in his arms, she kissed him deeply. She laced her fingers with his. “Okay. I'd just as soon not run into that bear again. What was that all about, anyway? That stuff about it being my brother?”

  Cooper smiled, hugging her naked body to his. “Bears like to kidnap pretty women for their wives. I had to trick it into thinking you were its sister, so it would leave you alone.”

  She choked out a laugh. “Are you kidding?”

  “Hey, it worked, didn't it?”

  “No. You drove it away with your singing.”

  “Next time,” he said, “I'll let it have you.” Then he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her till her toes curled.

  Once again, they heard the low echo of thunder. She glanced up. Menacing clouds were visible above the darkening horizon. “Looks like a storm’s coming.”

  “And we've got a half hour hike home. We'd better hurry.”

  Barely Dangerous: Chapter Eighty-One

  By the time they reached the tower, Cooper had told her his version of the past few days, and Maggie had told him hers.

  Well. Most of it. She couldn't tell him the most important part—about the trial. And about her being in hiding. Because it turned out he didn’t know any of that. He’d only learned Dinny’s name because of the package at the post office. The blue sedan guy was his partner, Jack.

  She swallowed her feelings of guilt and regret. Not for what had happened between her and Cooper. Never that. But regret that things were so complicated, and guilt that he could so easily get hurt because of her. She pushed away the unhappy thought and grasped his hand tightly.

  The first drops of rain were already falling by the time they ran up the hill to the base of Tower Eight. She shed her nightgown and he peeled off his buckskins.

  “Come on!” she called, and jumped into the shower, turning on the water. It was about the same temperature as the warm rain pelting them in the roofless enclosure. He grabbed the bar of soap and began lathering her up before she could protest. After a few seconds, any thought of protest had been washed away with the pine needles.

  She pulled the soap from his hand and began rubbing it over him, cleaning away the last traces of his war paint.

  He sighed contentedly, and pressed his back against the wooden enclosure, eyes closed. “Your hands feel so good on me.” He stood there, an expression of pure bliss on his face, looking for all the world like a wet Cheshire cat tacked to the wall.

  His grin wasn't the only thing growing bigger as she pushed the suds around, working down his chest and abdomen, and lower still. She ran the soap over herself again, then leaned onto him, sliding their slippery bodies together erotically.

  It was raining harder, now, the fat drops blending with the stream from the shower.

  He moaned in pleasure, wrapping his arms around her. “I think you missed a spot.”

  “Mmm.” She licked at the water cascading off his nose. “Better check, huh?” She eased a hand between them and ran it up his hard length, smiling provocatively. “Hmm. Maybe a little more soap.” She glided the bar over his cock, and caressed him till he throbbed in her hand.

  With a strangled groan, he grabbed her wrist. “I think you got it.”

  She gave him a sultry pout. “All clean?”

  “Spotless.” He reached over and shut off the shower, soaped up her breasts again and backed her against the wall, kissing and licking her drenched lips.

  The rain ran down their skin in rivulets.

  Catching her thighs in his hands, he lifted them onto his hips, wedging her be
tween his body and the wall.

  He grinned wickedly. “Let's get dirty again.”

  Barely Dangerous: Chapter Eighty-Two

  The next morning, moisture from last night's rain rose from the ground in long tendrils of vapor as the bright sun streamed through the pines. Maggie and Cooper didn’t hear the car that rolled quietly up to Tower Eight, nor its engine die and the two front doors ease open. Everything seemed peaceful.

  She screamed, “No! I'll never tell you! No-o!”

  Cooper’s sinister voice growled, “You'd better tell me, woman, or I'll let you have it!”

  Suddenly, two men burst through the cab door, cop style, one covering the other, and halted, pointing their guns.

  “FBI! Hold it right there!”

  Omigod!

  Maggie gasped at the Beretta aimed at her. It was the blue sedan guy! Her gaze whipped to Cooper's shocked eyes, then back to the gun.

  She was kneeling on the bed, her wrists handcuffed and suspended over a window latch above her head. She was dressed only in a jeans skirt and a Forest Service uniform shirt which hung open, revealing her breasts.

  Clad in buckskins and wild long hair, Cooper loomed over her.

  Oh. Migod.

  Everyone froze. A split second passed.

  “Jack?” Cooper quickly lowered the object he was holding threateningly to her chest.

  She shook off her shock of seeing Dinny and blue sedan guy—Wait. Cooper’s partner Jack?—crouched in her doorway, pointing guns at her.

  “Dinny? What the heck?” she squeaked. Quick as a flash, she lifted the handcuffs off the latch and pulled her shirt closed.

  Cooper whipped an uncertain gaze at her. “That’s Dinny?”

  Nodding, she scooted around on her knees to face her FBI handler. She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. She just couldn’t think of a reasonable explanation for what was going on.

  “FBI?” Cooper asked accusingly.

  Oh, hell. She was in for it, now. From both sides.

  Dinny glared at her from under a dark slash of brow. “What the hell is going on here, Maggie?” he demanded. “What is this guy doing to you?”

  Jack's lips tugged upward. His gun dipped.

  “D-doing?” she stammered. “Uh—”

  Cooper prodded her in the back with the thing in his hand. “Not a damn word,” he muttered in her ear.

  “Maggie!” Dinny bellowed, wagging his gun at Cooper.

  “Lieutenant Cooper is, um, well, interrogating me,” she settled on finally. She lifted an apologetic shoulder, then let it settle against Cooper's bare chest.

  “Blue Wolf Cooper?” Dinny demanded, narrow-eyed.

  Jack snickered, and holstered his gun.

  Cooper tipped his head back and groaned at the ceiling.

  “All right, I've had enough of this!” Dinny scowled, his irritation visibly skyrocketing. “Hands over your head, pal, where I can see them.”

  Cooper's hands didn't budge, but his body did start to shake against hers. And not from fear.

  Dinny pointed his gun at him. “I am not saying it again, Lieutenant.”

  Maggie squirmed, struggling to control the laughter that threatened to explode. “Are we under arrest, Din?”

  “Oh, grow up, Paxton,” said Jack, openly grinning at her.

  “It's okay, Jack,” Cooper said. “At least he got the name right this time.” He dropped what he was holding onto the bed and raised his hands.

  It started rolling toward the edge of the bed. With hands held high, he did his best to halt its progress with a knee. And failed.

  She almost choked as it fell off the bed and rolled across the hardwood planks, halting just in front of Jack.

  She gave up, and collapsed on the bed in an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

  Cooper shot her a furious look. Then he, too, cracked and succumbed.

  Dinny's brows mirrored Jack's as they knitted together in suspicion, their gazes dropping as one to the floor. And saw what Cooper had been threatening her with.

  A family-sized aerosol can of whipped cream.

  Barely Dangerous: Chapter Eighty-Three

  “Of all the ridiculous stunts,” Dinny railed at Maggie over breakfast at the Caf.

  “Well, if you ask me, you deserved it,” she scolded back as she slid her hand absently down Cooper's thigh. She wasn't about to take the blame for Dinny and Jack's misguided entry into the cab. “Barging in with guns blazing. Jeez, Din, a few minutes later, and it would have been downright embarrassing.”

  “A few minutes later?” Cooper muttered, his face still red.

  “Besides,” she continued, “it was all very innocent. Wolf was showing me how he had come up to the lookout tower last night to try to get me to cooperate with his investigation. We just sort of...got carried away.”

  Jack snorted. “Wolf?”

  “Do me a favor, Maggie, and don't explain,” said Cooper, his expression pained.

  Jack hadn't stopped snickering since picking up the can of whipped cream. “Hey, Wolf. Want to give a workshop on undercover interrogation techniques at the next station meeting? I'm sure the guys would—” Jack halted as Cooper casually tipped a squirt bottle of ketchup at him.

  Cooper narrowed one eye, and aimed. “Careful, amigo.”

  Jack held up his hands in surrender. “I'm just glad the two of you have joined forces. So to speak,” he said, still fnittering. “Dinny and I were plenty worried you guys were going to kill each other by mistake. Between Coop thinking Maggie was a poacher and Maggie thinking Coop was a terrorist, the situation had the potential for a goatfuck of epic proportions.”

  Dinny had been uncharacteristically silent over the past hour. She knew he was itching to know how much she’d told Cooper about Whitney.

  Lori came by the table with more coffee, breaking the tension. She winked at Maggie. “I’m devastated to see you and Coop are getting along again. So much for our agreement.”

  Cooper frowned. “What agreement?”

  Maggie tilted her head and grinned. “Lori gave me until the barbecue to come to my senses about you. After that, you were fair game.”

  Cooper froze for a second, and gave her an astonished look.

  She smiled. “Can I help it if every woman in town thinks you’re hot?”

  Lori slanted a coy glance at Dinny and Jack. “Anyway. Who are your handsome friends, Maggie?”

  Before she could answer, the bell on the entry-door jingled and two customers wearing expensive-looking fishing gear ambled in.

  “I'll bet that's my take-out customers.” Lori leaned over the table conspiratorially, giving Dinny and Jack a glimpse down the front of her powder-blue waitress uniform. “Called in their order from their Mercedes.” Swaying her hips, she strolled over to where the men had seated themselves.

  Dinny's gaze had never left Maggie. He leaned back in the booth. “So, sweetheart, are you feeling safer...now that we’re sure Lieutenant Cooper is one of the good guys?”

  She squeezed Cooper's thigh under the table. “Never a doubt in my mind.” Well, maybe for a minute or two last night. But Dinny didn’t have to know that. “I’m sorry you had to fly all the way up here for nothing.”

  Leaning back, Cooper draped his arm over the back of her chair. “I'm still a little unclear why you did fly all the way up from L.A.. Jack could have cleared up this name mix-up over the phone.” He looked at Dinny with a neutral expression.

  Uh-oh. She recognized that look. It hid thoughts that were anything but neutral.

  Dinny's answering smile didn't quite reach his eyes. “We have a mutual friend. Jane was worried about Maggie, what with all the threats and stories about terrorists.” He flicked her an irritated glance. “Let’s just say, me flying up to check on Maggie was easier than facing the consequences if something had happened to her.”

  Okay. His two half-truths nearly added up to a whole.

  On the way to town, Dinny had once again ordered her not to spill a word to Cooper o
r Jack about her true connection with the FBI. She felt sick with guilt keeping it from Cooper. But then she thought about how dangerous Whitney was, and kept her mouth shut. The less Coop knew, the better.

  Dinny leaned his elbows on the table. “Listen, Lieutenant. You'd be doing me a big favor if you don’t let Maggie get involved with you. Tracking those poachers, I mean.”

  Cooper rubbed a muscle she saw pulsing in his jaw. “I don't know. I haven't had much luck so far telling her what to do.”

  She eyed first one, then the other, warily. “I'll be safe with Coop.”

  His arm slid off the chair and over her shoulders.

  Dinny followed the move with annoyance. “These poachers could be dangerous. I don't want her taking any unnecessary risks.” He nailed Cooper with a hard look.

  She could feel his thumb rub tense, nickel-sized circles in her shoulder. She sensed the two men were in the midst of some sort of male territorial battle over her. As uneasy as that made her, she couldn't help but feel a warm glow that Cooper was actually defending his right to her. No one had ever done that before.

  “Your concern is noted,” Cooper said, and hoisted his coffee cup. “But you’ve checked on her, she’s fine, and frankly, I don't see that she is any of your business anymore. Yours, or the FBI's.” He put the porcelain to his lips and took a swallow, his eyes narrowing. “Unless there is something going on between you two that I don't know about?” He held the cup poised above the saucer and raised a chilly brow.

  Dinny glanced between her and Cooper, anger lurking in his face. “There is nothing personal between Maggie and me. Jane asked me to check on her, and that's what I'm doing.”

  “Good.” Cooper nodded. “Then I can take it from here.”

  “You haven't done much to convince me you can be trusted with her safety, Lieutenant,” Dinny retorted.

  Cooper sprang up, knocking down the chair behind him, and gripped the edge of the table. He looked ready to fly over it. “Listen—”