Carlos paced the arrival terminal waiting for Erin to walk through the glass sliding doors. He couldn’t believe how nervous he was at seeing her again. While he’d been away, he’d spent half his time worrying about her safety and the other half worrying about his team’s safety. He’d surprised himself when he needed to focus on their mission, he was able to push Erin to the back of his mind, and not let thoughts of her distract him like he had during their last mission.
Why was this time so different?
Was it because he’d spent time with her? Or was it because knowing she was back home—and how much he wanted to see her again—had sharpened his senses enabling him to sense danger before it happened so he could get back to her in one piece?
Was loving a person that much of an incentive to do his job right and get back home to her in one piece?
Love? Whoa, steady on soldier.
Carlos ignored that little voice, but couldn’t tune it out.
Yes, he loved Erin. Loved her more than he thought possible. But did she love him, and was she willing to be a military wife?
He thought back to Wolf’s team. All of them were married and had been for a while. They were a close unit and worked well together. They had each other’s backs, like he and his team did, but there seemed to be something extra the melded that team together. Perhaps because they all knew they had family waiting for them, it drove them to be more diligent in their actions. He’d have to ask them when he saw them next. Whenever the hell that was going to be.
“Hey.” A finger poked his chest, dragging him back from his thoughts.
Erin.
Acting purely on the love pulsating through his bloodstream, he latched an arm around Erin’s waist and pulled her tight against him. With the accuracy of sniper’s bullet, he zeroed in on her lips and captured them in a kiss.
The first touch and everything felt right in his world again. Fuck, he’d missed her so much. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and her mouth opened, their tongues dueling. His spirits soared at her response. Could she have missed him too?
“It’s. So. Good. To. See. You.” He peppered each word with a kiss.
“Well, you’re giving everyone quite the show. How about you two cool it?”
Sounds he’d blocked out returned. The buzz of conversations. Laughter. Phones chiming with messages or calls.
Carlos lifted his head and met Antonia’s amused gaze. He lifted his chin. “Hey, glad you could make it.”
“Well, don’t expect me to give you that much of an enthusiastic response to seeing you again,” she responded drily.
Erin laughed in his arms before disentangling herself and looking at her friend. “I’m not going to apologize, Toni. I’m not ashamed.”
He slung an arm around her, needing to keep her close. “Neither am I.”
Antonia shook her head in disgust, but her smile said the complete opposite. “Let’s get our bags. I hope I don’t have to put up with this level of PDA all afternoon.”
“Nah, we’re heading to Robot’s house. He’s grilling. The whole team’s going to be there.”
“Robot?” Antonia asked as they headed to the baggage claim area.
“I’m guessing it’s a nickname, right, babe?” Erin asked.
He squeezed Erin’s shoulder, hearing her endearment for him on her lips again. “Yep.”
Erin stopped suddenly and pulled out of his embrace. “Hey, I don’t know your nickname? Why don’t I know that?”
Carlos shook his head and grabbed her hand again. “It’s nothing exciting. I don’t want you to call me by my nickname. That would be too weird.”
They reached the baggage carousels and waited to find out which one the girl’s luggage would come out on.
“If I promise not to call you it, will you tell me?” Erin asked.
“It’s not a big deal and well, if you want to call me by it, I don’t mind.”
“I’ll decide when you tell me,” Erin stated with her hands on her hips.
“Italy.”
A little line appeared between Erin’s eyes as she processed what he said. The moment she understood her eyes sparkled with amusement. “Ohh, well, that’s original.”
“It’s rather boring isn’t it,” piped up Antonia. He raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, you know considering two of the other guys on your team are called Joker and Robot, Italy is kind of run of the mill. Can you change it?”
A buzzer sounded and an orange light flashed over a carousel. “Saved by arriving bags,” he muttered and moved toward the revolving belt.
Twenty minutes later they were all in his SUV, heading toward Robot’s house.
“You never did answer my question,” Antonia commented after they’d hit the highway.
He glanced into the rearview mirror. “What question is that?”
“Can you change your nickname?”
“Nope, once you’ve got one, you’ve got one. And I don’t want to change mine. I like it.”
A warm hand landed on his thigh. “I like it too.”
He placed one of his over hers. “Thanks, Honey.”
“Ugh, you two are so sickening. Tell me again why I agreed to come on this trip?” Antonia complained good-naturedly.
Erin laughed. “Two words—hot soldiers.”
“Eh, yeah, you’re right.”
Carlos laughed, enjoying the banter between them all. This was going to be a great weekend.
Chapter Ten
Erin had to admit, she was having a great time. Apprehension at meeting Carlos’s team had rode her hard on the short plane trip from New York to Virginia. She’d been glad to have Antonia’s company. She also understood why Carlos had suggested she bring her. Erin believed one of the guys on his team wanted to meet Antonia, in fact, Joker had pretty much pounced on her the second they’d walked through the side gate of Robot’s back yard. Only Antonia had kept darting glances in their host’s direction. That was interesting. She’d have to corner her friend when she got a chance.
“It can be a bit overwhelming, can’t it?”
Erin whirled around to look at who’d spoken to her and found Caroline, Wolf’s wife, standing behind her. “What can be?”
“All this testosterone congregated in a small area.”
“You’ve got a point.” Erin laughed and glanced around the area. “How is it possible to have so many good-looking guys in one place?”
“Wait until you go to a bar which is full of them.” Another woman joined their conversation. Erin recalled her name as Fiona. She was also married to a guy on Wolf’s team.
“How do you do it?” Erin blurted out.
“Do what?” both women asked in unison.
“Be married to a guy who goes off and puts his life on the line constantly. How do you cope without having any contact with them? Not knowing whether they’ll come back to you in one piece or not.”
Caroline took her by the hand and headed over to a group of chairs that were vacant. Erin noticed her husband making a move to meet them, but backing away almost immediately at his wife’s shake of her head.
Would she and Carlos ever be at the level of their relationship where they could communicate with just a look? She hoped they could.
A glass of wine was pushed into her hand as she sat in the chair. Erin smiled her thanks to Fiona. She took a sip of the white wine, welcoming the tartness of the liquid.
“Wine and ice-cream. Although I couldn’t find any ice-cream,” Fiona said.
It took a second for Erin to register what the other woman was saying. “You cope with your guys being away with wine and ice-cream?”
Caroline nodded. “Yep, and having noisy slumber parties where we all cry and get drunk.”
Erin looked between the two women, convinced they were joking with her. Their expressions showed they weren’t. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
They both laughed. “Yep.”
“Oh.” Erin took another sip of her wine. Looking around the backya
rd, there were only four women: her, Antonia, Caroline and Fiona. None of the guys on Carlos’s team were attached. She could see the other two women had a close friendship, like her and Antonia. She supposed she could share wine and ice-cream with Antonia. Her friend would be totally on board with that.
“You spend the whole time they’re away crying and drunk?” Erin voiced her concern. While she liked the odd glass of wine, there was no way she was going become an alcoholic.
Shit, how many military wives were alcoholics?
“No.” Caroline reached out and patted her hand on Erin’s lap. “Some of us have jobs, and some of us have kids. It’s only the first night we get messy. After that, we pull ourselves together and get on with things. But we spend as much time together when the guys are away on missions as possible. We usually always meet at my house.”
Erin pondered over what the other women were saying as she scanned the crowd for Carlos, needing to see him to reassure herself that he was here and she wasn’t dreaming.
There he was, standing by Robot, laughing at something his team lead said. He then turned his head and found her watching him. Her heart melted when he raised his fingers to his lips and blew her a kiss.
“Being the first is always the hardest.”
“Pardon?” Erin asked and redirected her attention from her man to the women in front of her.
Caroline nodded. “Being the first woman to capture the heart of one of the team. Wolf and I were the first ones to fall in love. I was lonely when he went away, until one by one, the guys on the team found their women, and we became one big family who support each other with babysitting, shoulders to cry on, and giver of dirty looks when one of the guys messes up.”
“Which isn’t often, but when they do, they know they don’t only have to answer to their wife. They have to answer to us,” interjected Fiona.
“A family,” Erin murmured.
“Yep. The best kind.” Caroline clinked her wine glass with Fiona and then with Erin.
The chance to question the women further was lost when Carlos, Wolf, and another man walked over to them. Erin assumed it was Fiona’s husband, Cookie, with the way the other woman’s eyes went all dreamy and her body seemed to sway toward his when he squatted down and claimed her lips in a possessive kiss. When she looked over at Caroline she found Wolf was possessing her lips as well.
Now she knew how Antonia felt when she and Carlos had kissed at the airport. The sexual energy emanating from the other couples was intense.
“Do you think we should leave them?” Carlos whispered against her ear. Her breath caught in her throat and her nipples hardened against her bra.
“Or we could join them.”
Images of them naked and arms wrapped around each other, fired through her brain. “I like the way you think.”
Carlos lips connected with hers and soon she was lost in his kiss. If this was how it was going to be every time he returned home from being away, she wasn’t going to complain. It was a pity that they still had the rest of the evening to get through before they could be alone.
Carlos unlocked the door of his apartment and flicked the light on. He scanned the room before allowing Erin to enter. It had been a great day and he couldn’t wait to make it even better. It had been a surprise to see Wolf and Cookie at Robot’s. It had given him a chance to talk to them about their relationships and how they kept their focus on the mission while they were away. The conversation had been enlightening and given him hope that maybe he and Erin could make it work.
“Are you sure she’s going to be okay?” Erin asked for the tenth time.
Carlos bit back a sigh. All he wanted to do was get Erin naked. He didn’t want to discuss Antonia staying at Robot’s place. “Yes, she’ll be fine. It’s not like she’s the only girl there. Fiona and Caroline will be there, too.”
“Only until they leave, which I’m betting they’ve already done. Maybe I should call her.”
“Robot will make sure nothing happens to her,” Carlos said as he stopped her from reaching into her bag to get her phone out.
“Can you trust him?”
Exasperated, he blew out a breath to calm himself. “Honey, I trust my life with this man. He won’t do anything or let anything happen to Antonia.”
“You didn’t see the looks she was sending him,” muttered Erin.
The last thing he wanted to think about was Robot and Antonia. There was only one person he wanted to spend the rest of the night focusing on and that was the woman standing in front of him.
He took a few seconds to memorize what she was wearing and how she looked standing in his apartment. He’d never imagined she would be in his home. In her black capri pants, a soft pink t-shirt hugging her body, showing off her curves, she looked like she’d been made to fit him perfectly. Maybe she had.
He looped a tendril of her luscious brown hair behind her ear. “You have no idea how much I missed you.”
Her face softened and a gentle smile tugged at her lips. “About as much as I missed you.”
Carlos only had a second to brace as Erin launched herself at him. He tightened his hold on her and captured her lips.
This.
This was what Wolf had been talking about that afternoon. The moment when you had your woman in your arms and everything was right in your world. You were invincible, because you knew the woman you held made you invincible. You were a better person because she was by your side.
Yes, life couldn’t get much better than this. He had the woman he loved in his arms. A woman who’d slipped into his world seamlessly and now had gotten to know the other most important people in his life—his teammates.
Life was pretty damn good.
Chapter Eleven
“Well, this is a sucky way to end a great weekend.” Erin lamented as the cab pulled out of Carlos’s apartment complex. They’d been woken up by Carlos’s phone ringing at too-early-o’clock. It had been fascinating to watch how he’d gone from being half asleep to combat ready alert in seconds. She’d known then he wouldn’t be driving her to the airport, giving her one of those long passionate kisses goodbye you see in the movies when the heroine has to catch a plane.
She got the passionate kiss, just at his front door, not the airport gate. He’d given her a key and said it was hers to keep.
“I guess it’s something you have to get used to if you stay with him,” Antonio said.
“Yep.” Even though she was scared, she knew that he would come home to her. He’d told her so. Plus, she’d met his team; they would all make sure they brought each other home—safely. “Did you enjoy your weekend, Toni?”
“Yeah, it was fine.”
Erin flicked her gaze from out the window to Antonia. Her tone suggested her weekend was anything but fine. While Erin had spent quite a bit of time with Carlos, he’d made sure Antonia wasn’t left out or ignored.
“What the hell?”
The cab driver’s exclamation was the last thing she heard before the crunch of metal boomed around the car. She was jolted violently to the side and blackness engulfed her.
Slowly, the fog of darkness lightened and Erin reached out for it. Her eyelids fluttered open, before closing again at the bright light. Her head pounded and all she wanted to do was sink back into the darkness that beckoned her.
Part of her knew she couldn’t though. Something had happened, but she couldn’t remember. Maybe if she slept, thinking would be clearer when she woke up again.
“I know you’re awake, bitch. Open your eyes or your friend gets hurt.”
A ball of nausea bubbled up and she swallowed hard so she didn’t spill the contents of her stomach on the ground. She knew that voice.
Bryan.
Everything came back to her then. She and Antonia had been headed to the airport when their cab had been hit. How the hell had Bryan known she was in Virginia? That she’d be travelling in a cab at that exact moment.
“Come on, Erin. I know you can hear me. If you
don’t open your eyes in the next five seconds, my friend here is going to make a pretty little cut on Antonia’s face.”
A whimper penetrated her fog and Erin fought to open her eyes. She couldn’t let anything happen to her friend.
“Five, four, three.”
With a strength of will, she raised her heavy eyelids. The room was blurry. She couldn’t make out anything. Had no idea where Antonia was or how badly she was hurt.
“There’s a good girl,” Bryan mocked.
“You’re a sick bastard.” She blinked a few more times and slowly her vision cleared and the objects around the room stopped looking blurry. She was lying on a couch or a mattress. Being on her back put her at a disadvantage so she struggled to sit up and became aware that her hands and feet were bound together. Determined not to show any weakness in front of Bryan, she wiggled her legs to the ground, then pushed herself into a sitting position, her side screaming at the movement. She sucked in a breath, willing the pain away.
Her head swam and the nausea returned. Somehow she managed to swallow it down—again. Bryan would take too much pleasure in seeing her toss her cookies.
Attempting to focus on her surroundings, she took in that they were in some sort of warehouse. The windows were grimy and the sunlight that tried to filter through cast eerie shadows around the room.
Antonia was seated in a chair opposite where Erin sat. Even with her spotty vision, it looked like Antonia was okay. There was blood on her top which Erin hoped came from glass and not a knife. From what she could remember, it was her side of the car that had taken the brunt of the accident.
“What do you want, Bryan?” The silence had stretched on for long enough. Fear threatened to engulf her. She wished Carlos was by her side. Although, if he had been, none of this would’ve happened.
Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Guarding Erin (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 8