The big guy smirked. “Sure. We’ll question him in a few, find out who he’s working for.” He dragged the murderer toward the door.
“See ya soon, sweet cheeks.” He sneered, the gap shining between his front teeth.
The soldier named Bobcat smacked him on the back of the head. “Shut the hell up, asshole.” He hustled him outside.
A tall blond man strode over, his rifle pointed toward the floor. He tilted his head toward Kaci. “How are you?”
“I’ll live.” I hope. She rubbed her wrists and tried not to squirm in her seat.
He nodded. “You’re in good hands.” He lifted his gaze to Zeke. “Anything you need?”
“Just for everyone to clear out, Captain. So I can do my job.”
Another man with impossibly dark eyes entered through the front door. “The other suspect is out in the woods. Jason’s got a bead on him.” He touched his ear and paused. “Got it.” Shifting his gaze to the captain, he gave a predatory stare. “Jason thinks he’s close. I’m circling around. We’ll get him.” With that, he sprinted outside.
The captain turned toward them. “Okay, then.”
“I’ve got this.” Zeke squeezed Kaci’s shoulder.
“I know you do.” Confidence filled the man’s face. Turning, he strode toward the door. “While you take care of Ms. Phillips, I’ll go assist Bobcat in getting some answers.”
With the room empty, he knelt in front of her. Leaning forward, he brushed his lips over hers. “Trust me?”
“Absolutely.”
“Good.” Lying on his back, he positioned his head between her feet. “Hmm. I think we’ve done this before. On the top of a bar, maybe?”
A nervous laugh shot from her mouth. “Uh, yeah. And while I, um, exploded because of your amazing mouth and tongue, there weren’t any bombs involved.”
He chuckled and removed a pair of wire cutters from his belt pack. “I’d like to get my mouth and tongue on you again.”
She smiled. “I don’t know. I’m pretty beat up here.”
“Sweetheart, you’re beautiful. Amazing. Brave as hell.” Pushing with his feet, he slid his body toward her, his head disappearing under her chair. “We might’ve started as a one-night stand, but I’m in this for the long haul.”
She closed her eyes and sighed. “Me, too.”
“Good.” He brushed his fingers over her calf. “Okay, so I’m going to cut this wire and then we’ll go get dinner. Burger, pizza, or would you prefer something more along the lines of steak and lobster?”
“Zeke?”
“Yeah?”
“I…I need to tell you I, um—”
“Hold that thought. Here we go—”
A sharp crack thundered outside the cabin. Kaci jolted, and Zeke grabbed her ankle to hold her still. More gunfire followed. Voices shouting.
“Fuck,” he whispered. His body shifted. “Captain Beckett, what the hell is going on out there?”
She held her breath, her heart slamming against her ribs.
“Shit.” A harsh rush of air left him. “Get him. We’ll be out in a couple minutes. Just wrapping it up here.”
“What happened?”
“The guy we captured is dead,” he growled, his frustration clear. “His partner doubled back. Got a kill shot from the forest line. The team and local SWAT are combing the woods. They’ll find him.”
She swallowed. God, I hope so. The idea that the murderer with the blond ponytail still ran free out there somewhere chilled her to the bone.
“All right. Let’s cut this wire and get you out of here.” He moved his arms. “Here we go, sweetheart. One…two….”
Chapter Thirteen
Good God, this is it. Life or death. Kaci held her breath. Dear Lord, I just met this amazing man. Please, let it be life.
“Three.”
Snick.
Silence.
The next thing she knew, Zeke’s strong arms pulled her off the chair and up tight against him. Canvas coat, cotton shirt, and Kevlar vest couldn’t muffle the pounding of his heart from her ears. The air in her lungs rushed out. Oh, yes, life!
His hold on her intensified, and he positioned himself to meet her gaze. As he searched her face, she couldn’t help but get lost in his gaze. She loved this man with everything in her.
“I love you.” Seriousness filled his face.
Her breath hitched. Damn, he’d beaten her to it. Brows scrunched, lips thinned, and stare fixed—not exactly the declaration of love she’d dreamed of as a little girl, but she would take it.
The weight of the past six months had eased the moment she saw him on the One-Night Sail yacht. He’d brought joy to her shattered life. The man made everything so much better.
Laughing, she cupped his handsome face. “I love you, too.”
“I was so afraid I’d lost you. I always thought love at first sight was some corny cliché, but I think I fell for you the moment we first locked eyes six months ago. You’ve never left my thoughts or my dreams.” Pulling her closer, he buried his face in her neck. “Damn, I thought I’d lost you again.”
“Lost me? You saved me. Again.” She stroked his hair. “You can’t lose me. I’m yours for as long as you can handle it.”
“How does forever sound?”
She smiled, and he planted a long, soft kiss on her mouth. She didn’t even mind the twinge of pain from the pressure of his lips.
“Come on.” Releasing her, he stood and helped her to her feet. “We need to get you out of here and to a hospital. But first….” He shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Better?”
She nodded, butterflies swirling low in her tummy. Damn, the man looks fine in that tight white T-shirt.
He grinned. “Let’s get you taken care of and get some clothes on you.”
He slid his palms up and down her arms, sending tingles racing along her skin. “Why bother? You’re only going to take them off again,” she joked.
His gaze heated even as he laughed. “True. But I don’t feel like beating the crap out of the guys on my team for leering at your almost naked body.” Moving his hand to her lower back, he urged her toward the door.
“Wait.” She rounded back toward the living room. “The flash drive. We have to find it, or this will never stop. They’ll keep after me till I’m either dead or they find it.”
“She’s right, Diz, we need to find that drive and get it analyzed.”
Zeke tensed. Kaci looked up to find the tall guy everyone called Captain.
“Jesus, Ghost! Do you always have to live up to your damn name?” Scowling, he moved in front of her. “How long have you been there?”
“After the tango got shot by his own guy, I came back to cover your six.” He arched a brow. “You really think I’d leave you alone in here?”
Three other men strode through the doorway. She recognized them from the first rescue six months ago. I could never forget the guys who saved me. They gathered around, their expressions a mixture of empathy and energy. They’re remembering that day, too. But they’re ready to do whatever it takes to end this nightmare.
Zeke eyed his team. “So, any information we would’ve gotten is now zipped up in a body bag?” Frustration rang in his words.
“’Fraid so.” Equal irritation filled the captain’s voice.
“And the guy who shot him?” he growled, rounding toward the youngest guy. “Jason, you were on his ass. What the hell happened?”
He shook his head, regret flashing across his face. “I tracked him along the edge of the lake, but then the bastard vanished.”
The guy they called Bobcat frowned. “So, we need the drive. My gut says it’s tied in with the rest of the shit we’ve been dealing with.” He turned toward her. “Sorry for the language, ma’am.”
“It’s all right.” A cuss word was nothing compared to what she’d endured, but she appreciated his thoughtfulness.
He shifted his attention back to Zeke. “Listen, I think this is tie
d to what happened with Siobhan and that sniper. So, lay off the kid and let’s figure this thing out.”
Zeke gave the man a menacing glare and rounded again on Jason. “So, what you’re telling me is he’s still out there. The guy who rigged that bomb, the asshole who strapped it to Kaci and almost….” He gritted his teeth, and his nostrils flared. “You’re telling me you lost him? That he’s still out there, running free?”
“He had to have stolen a boat, or maybe he swam across the fucking lake.” Jason squared his shoulders. “I tracked him. The trail ended. I wanted the fucker as bad as you did.”
The captain grimaced. “Stand down. We need to stay focused. The guy is gone. We need to find that drive because I agree with Bobcat. It’s tied to this whole mess.” He looked at her again, his face softening. “Do you have any idea where it might be?”
“Actually, yes.” She gestured toward the mess surrounding them. “Since they tore this place apart, all that’s left is the boathouse. My mother used to spend a lot of time in the inflatable rowboat we had. Whenever we were here at the cabin, if you couldn’t find her, all you had to do was go down to the lake and she’d be floating around in that thing.” She swallowed hard, but smiled. She would always have great memories of her family. The bastards couldn’t take those from her. She twined her fingers with Zeke’s, his warmth offering her strength and reassurance. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stray off track.”
“Don’t worry about it, ma’am.” The soldier with the impossibly black eyes assured her. “It’s stories like that you’ll hold in your heart forever. Every one of us here knows a loss of one kind or another. Believe it or not, we enjoy the little blips of life we get to see here and there. I’ll bet your mother was one heck of a woman.”
Kaci swiped at the tears threatening to fall. “Thank you. She was.” She sniffed and tried to stand a little straighter. “Anyway, the boathouse always attracts mice and bats and other wild creatures. She got tired of buying a new inflatable boat every other weekend, so my father finally installed a small safe down there. We always laughed at her, joking she was the only person we knew who had a five-hundred dollar safe for a thirty dollar rubber raft.”
“That’s got to be it, then,” Zeke said.
“The combination is my parents’ anniversary. Six, twenty, eighty.”
“I’m on it,” Bobcat piped up. Pivoting on his heel, he strode out the door followed by the other three men.
Zeke skimmed his hand over her shoulder. “You’re awesome, you know that?”
“Back atcha.”
From outside, one of the guys announced the arrival of the ambulance.
“Okay, beautiful, time to blow this joint.”
She cringed at his choice of words. When he bent to scoop her into his arms, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you, Zeke, Diz, Sergeant Matthews.”
“And I love you.” He smiled, striding toward the door. “I can’t wait to show you how much as soon as you’re healed.”
~ABOUT THE AUTHORS~
Though born and raised in the south, L.J. Garland has lived on both the east and west coasts. She adores traveling, the latest adventures added to her Bucket List: Machu Pichu and Australia’s Rainforest and Great Barrier Reef.
Married to her best friend for over twenty years, she spends her time home schooling three rambunctious boys, editing in the epub industry, and writing stories that she hopes catches her readers’ imaginations as much as the characters and plotlines captivate her. In her spare time (what there is of it LOL), she has a multitude of hobbies, including building archery equipment from scratch and creating stained glass. She has a passion for anything that goes Boom!…from fireworks to high-powered combat rifles…it’s all good. She and her husband are both rated helicopter pilots and spent their 10th anniversary flying cross-country from east to west coast…an adventure she highly recommends.
A member of RWA, she has several published books, and is hard at work, brainstorming and writing her next romance story.
You can visit L.J. at:
www.lj-garland.com
Born in Wichita Falls, Texas, at the age of two Debbie and her mother moved to New Jersey, spending many happy years on her grandparents' horse farm. You'll sometimes find this setting as a backdrop in her work.
As a teenager, she and her mother found a new home in Vermont, where she currently resides. With a daughter in the Air Force, one son in college and the other working for the family business, Debbie now shuffles her time between a full time job as a nurse, and writing.
About seven years ago, while looking at over three hundred treasured books lining her shelves, she realized there was a multitude of stories of her own clamoring for release. Since then, she's seriously persevered in keeping the keyboard in constant motion.
With two novels, Mountain's Echo and Infidelity, and two novellas, November Rain and Second Chance now published, Debbie is now also working with a partner, L.J. Garland. Together the two have written Sins of the Mind and are hard at work on many more manuscripts.
Debbie has been a member of KOD, FTHRW, ELEMENTS and RWA Online.
You can visit Debbie at:
http://authordebbiegould.com
Or Debbie and Laura at:
http://garland-and-gould.blogspot.com
Sins of the Mind by L.J. Garland and Debbie Gould
Seven years ago, Abby Montgomery survived a brutal attack. Now she is ready to put her pain in the past and move on with her life. The problem is, one by one the men in her life are being viciously murdered.
The detective assigned to the case, Ethan Parker, has demons of his own to hide. As the danger gets closer to Abby, so does Ethan. But can they get past his secrets before the killer gets to them? Sometimes the sins of the mind are more depraved than the sins of the heart.
Dead or Alive by L.J. Garland
Rhykar Evierse has been on the Most Wanted list for years. His attempts to expose the evil deeds of Vast Innovations’ founder, Mertan Graiton, has landed him on the wrong end of the law—and on the wrong end of a sexy bounty hunter’s pistol. Now, Rhykar’s wanted for a murder he didn’t commit. Desperate to clear his name, he contacts the one woman who can save him. He hopes she’ll give him one night to prove himself.
When Selea Val’keer receives Rhykar’s call for help, anger and lust rip through her. How can she be attracted to a criminal? Unable to resist, she accepts his invitation to meet through Madame Evangeline’s 1Night Stand service. But what will she do when she sees him again—kiss him or shoot him?
Second Chance by Debbie Gould
Lieutenant Colin Beckett, US Air Force special ops, lost his wife in childbirth while off on a mission. Two years later, he’s still trying to come to grips with the guilt that tortures him. And to complicate matters, he finds himself undeniably attracted to his wife's sister, Emily. Struggling with his desire, he tells himself he doesn’t deserve a second chance with such an amazing woman.
Emily wants Colin in her life and her bed. Enlisting the help of Colin's teammates and Madame Eve's 1Night Stand dating service, she plans to prove to Colin he can have everything he lost once again
Will their one night lead to the happy ending she longs for or the loneliness he thinks he deserves?
Explosive Conditions Page 6