“For a show of dominance, you took a lot of precautions not to hurt me and to get me off, several times. You even thanked me.”
“Yeah, love has a way of fucking with manly displays,” he said, kissing her neck and snuggling against her.
“Mmm,” she murmured, moving closer to him. “I love you, Geoffroi Majors.”
“And I love you, Melissa Majors.”
Missy cleared her throat. “No. That would be Melissa Carter-Majors.”
Roi stiffened. “No, wife. Melissa Majors.”
“Don’t make me shoot you, Roi. I really do love you and would hate to waste a bullet.”
Laughing softly, Roi kissed the top of her head. “Fine, Carter-Majors it is. But my son will just have Majors for a last name.”
“Your son?” Missy asked, snickering slightly. “I think it’s a girl and she likes Carter-Majors for a last name too.”
Roi snorted. “If she’s anything like her mommy she would pick that just to tick me off.” Running his hand over her stomach, Roi stilled and let out a shaky breath. “Thank you for this gift, Melissa.”
“No,” she said, placing her hand over his. “Thank you, Geoffroi.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
“No fucking way is she going back in there!” Roi shouted as Colonel Brooks, Lukian, Wilson, and Jon held him back. He narrowed his gaze on the general and then Missy. “Tell your father you aren’t going back in.”
“He knows I’m not going back in, but I am going back down there because you guys will need my help. I can stay at our base down there and remote guide you when needed.”
Roi clenched his fists. “No, you can’t. If what you say is true, and Krauss and Molyneux are down there, I don’t want you anywhere near it. I’m sure Lukian isn’t letting Peren go.”
Lukian cleared his throat and Roi knew he wasn’t going to like what came out of his brother’s mouth. “Actually, Peren is coming. So is Melanie.”
“What?” Green asked, suddenly taking an active part in the discussion. He’d been nose-deep in research material that Missy had provided him with, and Roi hadn’t been sure the man would ever surface again. “Melanie is not going down there.”
Eadan moved forward. “Are you going with the team, Green?”
“Of course I am.”
“Then Melanie is too.”
Missy glanced around at all the men. “This isn’t up for debate, gentlemen. You’ll be cut from the mission if it’s done any way but my way. Eadan and I will go down alone and it will be me going in personally then. I don’t think any of us want that. We need to destroy three of Krauss’s main labs and retrieve whatever data I missed. This is bigger than all of us. If he’s allowed to continue, he will create an unstoppable army while successfully wiping out our best line of defense—the Immortal Ops.”
The general nodded. “She’s right. They’ve already spent a considerable amount of time and money developing weapons to use specifically on you. They won’t stop until they know your secrets and know you are no longer a threat. They will also kill anyone involved with you. Somehow they got word on Parker’s attempted assassination of Peren and know that Melanie and Missy were involved. They already have a huge target painted on my daughter’s back. I want them dead and I know you will all see to it they are. I also know that the girls are going to be safest with you.”
The general looked to Eadan and then Roi. “I need to know that the two of you can work together from here on out.”
Brooks stilled and Roi knew it was bad. “Colonel, why the hell does he want to know that?”
“Because…” Brooks paused briefly, “from this point on Eadan is to act as the sixth op. He’s to fill Lance’s position until we find someone else. Eadan also carries full PSI clearance and seniority. He has willingly set that aside and offered to serve under Lukian’s command until the I-Ops are whole again.”
“Like fucking hell!”
Shocked by Wilson’s outburst, Roi just stared at him. “Hey, shouldn’t I be the one protesting that heavily? It’s my wife’s ex-husband we’re talking about here.”
Wilson adjusted himself and stared at Brooks. “Sir, I’d like it stated on record that I think it’s a really bad idea letting Blondie tag along as part of our group. Lance isn’t replaceable. Especially not by some blond Fabio version of a spy. He held Roi and all of us back when Missy needed us, and I’ll be damned if I let him do it again.”
“Don’t make me admit that you aren’t the jackass I thought you were,” Roi said, still surprised by Wilson’s outburst.
Lukian growled. “This matter is not up for debate. If you would rather go with the person they first picked, that’s fine, but I’m thinking that will be a no.”
“Who did they choose first?” Jon asked, ever the quiet and reserved one.
Missy put her hand in the air. “Me.”
“Eadan works for me,” Roi said quickly. “No way is she coming on as an op. She’s keeping her sexy l’il ass at the base with the rest of the women.”
“Excuse me, but Melanie, as far as I know, isn’t aware of what we truly are. How are we planning to get her to come with us to South America?” Green asked, setting his files down on the briefing room table.
Missy and Eadan exchanged knowing looks as she moved closer to Roi. “You’re going to ask her to come, Green.”
“I’m what?”
Eadan laughed. “You heard the lady. You’re going to ask Melanie to accompany you on a trip. She’ll say yes because her body won’t give her a choice in the matter.”
Green didn’t look pleased by the answer. “I’m not about to force a woman to leave the country with me.”
“If you don’t, Green, she’ll die.” Missy narrowed her dark gaze on him. “The withdrawal is getting worse by the minute. I think we all know that you’re avoiding her because you don’t want to see her suffer, but that’s exactly why she’s suffering. Just being near her will ease her pain.”
“We don’t know that for sure,” Green offered, clearly not wanting to believe what Missy had to say.
Pulling free from the hold half the room had on him, Roi looked at his old friend and smiled. “I think they’re right. I think she needs you now more than ever, and I know you don’t want anything to happen to her, Green.”
“So, you’re telling me to ask her?”
“Yes.”
Green glanced around the briefing room and sighed. “Looks as though we’re headed south.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
“What’s wrong?” Missy asked as she stood on Roi’s deck looking out at the night stars. “I told you that I love your house. But I reserve the right to be upset that you didn’t bring me home to your real house until after we were married and I was knocked up.”
“Understood. But in my defense I wasn’t sure if they had the address to my house, or rather, our house now or not.”
Missy smiled. “Why in the hell do you have six bedrooms and seven baths if it was just you living here?”
“Are you trying to ask me if anyone has lived with me before?”
Nodding, she exhaled. “Yes.”
“From time to time I end up with Wilson passed out on the hallway floor. Twice I’ve even put him in a quiet bed. The rest of the time I just walk over him like he’s not there.”
Missy’s eyes widened. “You leave your friend passed out in the hallway?”
“Yep. Don’t worry, Jon stays over and writes derogatory statements on Wilson’s forehead in permanent marker when he’s that drunk.”
“How is that supposed to make me not worry?” Missy asked.
Roi shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought you’d be happy someone was close by him.”
“Writing things on his forehead isn’t the same as lending a hand if he needs it.”
“Oh, I’ll tell Jon to get another beer on hand just in case Wilson wakes and starts to lose his buzz.” Chuckling, Roi wrapped his arms around her tighter, carefully placing his hands over her lower stomac
h. “I love you so much, baby doll, that I’m terrified of leaving you and of taking you with me when we go down there.”
“Roi, I can kill a man with my bare hands. I’ll be fine.”
As much as a turn-on as that was, Roi still worried. “You’re my everything, Melissa. I mean it. Never in my life has someone meant so much to me, and the idea of anything happening to you is killing me.”
“Do you think the idea of you traipsing around the jungle with who knows what is sitting well with me?”
He hadn’t really considered how she felt about his safety. Roi just assumed he’d return to her. Now as he held her in his arms he realized how fragile life was. Being immortal was just a fancy way of saying they had eternal youth so long as something didn’t come along and kill them by the rules of their “immortality”—a blow to the heart with the right weapon and they were gone. The removal of his head wouldn’t leave him in any kind of great shape either. There were no guarantees.
“If something ever happened to me, the I-Ops would take care of you and our child.” Roi paused a moment before taking a deep breath. “I would want you to move in with Eadan again and…”
Missy twisted in his arms fast and pressed her hand to his mouth. “Don’t say it, Geoffroi. Eadan and I had our chance and we will always care deeply for one another, but we will never be more than extremely close friends.”
“Melissa, he’d see to your safety and raise our child in a loving environment. I can sense it in him. He may get on my last nerve, but he’s got a good heart.”
“He does,” she said, nodding. “But you don’t need to worry about that right now because you will come back to me, Roi. I’ll be down there to see to that. I searched for you, for what I thought was a dream, my entire life. There is no way in hell I’ll let you go now without a fight. And if our daughter is anything like her mommy, she’ll help me out on this.”
Roi nudged her gently. “You mean our son.”
“Daughter.”
“Son.”
“I know someone who is sleeping on the floor tonight,” Missy said, laughing softly.
“Did I say son? I meant daughter.”
She snickered. “Oh, and Roi?”
“Yes?”
“I’ve decided to go by Melissa Majors.”
He grinned. “Good, because that’s what I was planning on putting on our checks.”
“Roi,” she scolded. “I guess it works better than Pig’s Asshole.”
“I love you, Missy doll.” He rolled his shoulders, doing his best to ease the tension in them. “I’d still rather you not come to South America with us. It’s too dangerous.”
“Roi, I love you too and I have to come along. I’m an expert when it comes to information retrieval, and they have critical intelligence that we need.”
“Yes, but I need you. Intelligence doesn’t mean shit if you’re not in my life.”
Missy arched a brow and smiled. “Speaking of intelligence, Colonel Brooks mentioned that you had a bone to pick with Intel. Seems that you think we’re worthless.”
Roi choked. “Umm, no, I think Intel is fabulous. Can’t get enough of their helpful tips. Wow, and their response time is off the charts. They have the…”
“Roi.”
“Yes?”
She chuckled. “Shut up and kiss me.”
The End
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Critical Intelligence: 2016 Anniversary Edition (Immortal Ops) Page 20