Colt eased down the side with the help of lattice on the side of the house. Mia lowered herself with the help of Colt and Marc followed.
As soon as his feet hit the ground, Colt threw up the sign to hold tight. Mia paused and kneeled, following Colt’s example.
Marc leaned forward to speak low next to her ear, “Colt will clear the area around the side of the house. When he returns we’ll hoof it to the tree line. He’ll go first, you in the middle and I’ll bring up the rear. Are there any motion lights on this side of the house we need to know about?”
“Yes, once we get ten yards out from the side of the house, it will flick on.”
Shit. Might as well put a bull’s eye on their asses.
With his sidearm drawn, Colt peeled off and maneuvered around the side of the house. They needed to know how close the hostiles were to their position.
“Clear on this side. Let’s go.” Marc nodded at Colt and pulled Mia to her feet. He held her gaze and put it out there in black and white. “Don’t stop. Don’t look back and sure as fuck don’t trip.”
“You might find I’m a good runner.” A hint of arrogance colored her words. Good—she’d need that confidence when the rounds started flying.
“We ready or are we going to stand here and chat all night?” Colt spoke up from his left.
“Go. Now.”
Mia shot out, leaving Colt to catch up with her. He hightailed it right behind them, his own gun cocked and ready. The old wound on his thigh flared to life, but he buried the pain and pushed harder. Faster. They had to get Mia to safety.
Just like Mia said, the floodlight burst to life the second they hit the ten-yard marker. He threw a glance over his right shoulder. Two hostiles rounded the house. “Move. Move. Move.” Colt and Mia picked up pace.
The first round slammed into the ground by his feet followed by another, this time way too fucking close to Mia. He picked up his knees and pushed harder to cover her position. More shots rang out in rapid secession. Dirt kicked up and hit Mia’s face, but she didn’t stop.
Twenty yards farther. Fifteen. Ten.
Colt and Mia hit the tree line at a hard run. Ducking behind the first big tree, they came to a stop. Colt pulled Mia between them, all three crouching to their knees barely out of reach of that damn floodlight. The two hostiles that had spotted them disappeared behind the house more than likely calling all their asshole friends over to join the shootout.
“Fuck,” he ground out. Keeping Mia between them, Colt turned to him. “You get that call out for extraction?”
“Affirmative. Before we left, I called Joel, told him to be on standby. All I had to do was let it ring. Let’s pull back and get some distance between us and them.”
“You know the ETA?”
Marc glanced at his watch. “About five minutes from now.”
Gunfire riddled their tree. Mia tucked her shoulder and dived for the ground. He fell on top of her with Colt returning fire. Rounds pierced the dense foliage and buried in the packed dirt and roots of the trees surrounding them. So far so lucky but they couldn’t take the chance with Mia.
“Cover us.”
Colt nodded and shot off five more rounds to push back the hostiles.
Marc hauled Mia up and they pushed deeper back into the woods that surrounded her house. He positioned them behind a thicker tree than the first and covered Colt while he caught up with them.
Orange cinders burst into the air when a section of the porch caved under the strain. Several trees blocked their view, but it was still amazing and heart-wrenching. Embers danced along the air current and into the night sky. It reminded him of fireflies at the height of summer when he was a boy.
More flames licked a fiery trail up the north side of the house. At this rate, the entire thing would be nothing more than ashes within minutes.
Mia leaned against the tree for support, her eyes fixated on her house. An inferno consumed her home and his gut churned at the totally blank stare on her face. Her amber eyes glowed with unshed tears.
“It’s all turning to ash…” Her words were barely audible.
“But you’re okay, Mia. Things… houses…they can be replaced.” Not that the shell of a house could be called a home. But still…
He struggled with what to do. Should he reach out and comfort her or let her be? The last time he’d opened his heart it had been shoved back at him like a piece of trash. He didn’t think Mia would be so cold, but could he risk it? Protect her he could do and fucking her was on his list, but when it came to the softer shit, he drew the line.
He ground his teeth together and consoled himself with one fact: she had Colt. His friend stroked a single digit down the side of Mia’s face and tucked a strand of her long dark hair behind her ear. “But you can’t be replaced.”
Colt’s words must have hit home. Life sparked in her eyes and it wasn’t the reflection of the flames. The tension in his chest eased when she leaned into Colt’s touch.
Marc tamped his emotions down. They’d deal with his fucked up issues and the fallout of losing Mia’s house later. Right now getting Mia to safety was priority.
“The hostiles have pulled back and I don’t want to stick around to find out why.”
Colt settled his hand on Mia’s shoulder and kissed the top of her head. Lucky son of a bitch. “Let’s move out. Follow us, keep low and stay quiet.”
Three minutes of thick brush and a few scratches later, they emerged near the main road where their extraction awaited them in an unmarked SUV. Joel. The man always came through.
They ushered Mia in the back— him on one side with Colt taking the other. “We’re in. Let’s roll.”Marc reached forward and clamped a hand on Joel’s shoulder.
“¿Papel?”Mia clasped his leg, then turned to Colt.
“What, sweetheart?”
“Paper, do you have paper? I caught some of the plate from the van.”
“Shoot,” Joel called over his shoulder from the front seat, his finger poised over a paper bag of some sort.
“I only caught the first four digits. JHQ-1. Sorry. It’s all I could see.”
“That’s more than what we caught. Good work, Mia.”
She calmed and relaxed into the seat.
“What the hell happened out there, man? Anyone take a hit?” Joel inquired from the driver’s seat.
Marc scanned over Mia and then looked at Colt. “Lucky this time, but I think Colt took out one or two.”
“Yeah, I took out one and blasted the kneecap off another, but I don’t think that will make them back off.”
“Not a chance, man. Colt, call the team, get the plane ready and add Mia’s name to the FAA’s passenger list. I’ll call in the incident with the fire department and then message the sheriff a heads up. Joel, I’m telling him you’ll call him with a few more details once you drop us off.”
Colt shifted his weight to the side to pull his cell from his pants pocket. “Copy that.”
Joel spoke up from the driver’s seat. “Will do. Any specific instructions?”
“Ask him to call me or Colt about an hour from now. We should be in the air and able to talk specifics then.”
Mia stirred and turned her gaze on him. Her eyes refocused on the here and now. “What plane?”
Marc angled his body toward Mia’s. “The way I see it, whoever is behind this knows who you work for. They didn’t come in with an assault team to take out one defenseless lady living out in the country. They just wanted to scare you. And on that note, there’s something larger than your asshole ex-fiancé at play here. Something I’m not sure how you got involved in, but one thing is for damn sure. The men that came after you tonight are armed and dangerous enough to do some real damage, so going home with you in tow isn’t an option.”
“So what’s your plan? Throw me on a plane and whisk me off to the beach?”
Marc let out a little of his frustration with a deep sigh. “Basically, Mia, keeping you close is the only option. Where we
go, you go. I think you’ll love the place along the beach in the Mismaloya area. It’s secure and you’ll be safe while we figure this out.”
Mia’s eyebrows shot up and her back stiffened against the soft leather seats. “To Mexico? With both of you?” Even in the darkened cab of the SUV he could see her bite at her lip. The little tic she had drove him freaking crazy from day one. He couldn’t focus when she did that.
Marc shifted his weight closer to her and lifted a hand to her face, gently tugging her lip free with his thumb. “I told you, don’t tempt the beast, darling. I bite.” He dipped his voice low to where only she could hear him. He couldn’t tell, but he’d bet his last dollar that her pretty skin was flushed pink again. Her tongue darted out to pass seductively along the seam of her lips. She had no idea how sexy she was to them. Fuck me. Now he was the one flushed.
He claimed her hand, caressing the back of her knuckles with the pad of his thumb, eyeing her reaction to his words closely. This he could do. Seduce her. Show her he wanted her. Her lips parted, her chest did that staccato thing and she tightened her grip on his hand. It took all his hard-earned self-control to resist claiming her beautiful lips with his own.
“But I can’t leave, Mr. Dangere. I don’t even have my paperwork. I have a job and what would everyone say when they find out I not only went home with you tonight but I’m now running off to Mexico?” Her tone ratcheted higher with each word.
Colt leaned closer and joined the conversation. “Sweetheart, I think you can drop the formality.” Colt eased an arm over the back of the seat and spread his legs out so his thigh touched the length of Mia’s.
“We’ll take care of the paperwork when we’re in the air. You still hold your citizenship to both countries, right?” Mia nodded, her face downcast, hidden from them.
“We’ll figure this out, Mia. You won’t be alone until we get this worked out. As for everyone else, I dare anyone to say anything to you. ” Marc raised her hand and placed a gentle kiss to the palm. The smile she rewarded him with calmed the stress and tension that had taken over when he’d seen how close the rounds had come to hitting her. He’d aged ten years in a blink of an eye.
What was it about this woman? He and Colt had spent the last six months tied in arguments over what they should do about the growing attraction between them. And now to find out she’s damn near a fucking virgin? Shit. What the fuck was he going to do? He was too rough for a small flower. He tried convincing himself he needed to back off. Keep his distance, but hellfire would be easier to contain than the burning desire eating at his soul.
“Romeo, we’re ten minutes out from the hangar. There’s no tail on us. We should be good.” Joel, called over his shoulder to Colt, his smirk highlighted in the yellow-tinged street lamps that lined the highway leading to the private hangar.
Marc drew Mia closer to his side. This could get ugly.
Colt sat up. “Man, you call me that one more time and it’s on, bro.”
“Like your mama and me last Friday.”
Mia gasped and hid her laugh behind her hand. He pulled her closer still. Marc broke next and laughed at the jab. “I don’t know, man. Seems you kinda walked into that one.”
“Now that’s just wrong, man. I’m wounded.” Colt’s attention swung to Mia. “You laughing at me, sweetheart?” She laughed again and it eased the knot in his chest a bit more to know she was coming around. “I wouldn’t dare, Mr. Dessire. Ever…” She crossed her heart in a mock tease. Fuck, that laugh did magical things to his dick. It was his other head that was screwed up.
“So that’s how you wanna play this.” Colt skated a hand down Mia’s thigh and rested his hand right above her knee. She stiffened in Marc’s embrace, but from the goose bumps that dotted her skin, he could tell it was out of anticipation. “Keep it up and I just might live up to my name sooner rather than later.”
Mia leaned toward Colt but kept her hand firmly interlocked with his. “Prométeme. Promise me.”
“Oh, sweetheart, you stir the fire and light the world with those beautiful amber eyes.”
Chapter Three
Mia sucked in a breath. If Colt kept looking at her with that heated promise in his eyes... Dios, sálvame. Only God could save her from here on out.
She turned to Marc to see how Colt’s words settled with him. The same lust that filled Colt’s eyes shined back at her through Marc’s. The man was a perplexity rolled up in the sexiest persona she’d ever met.
Colt gave her left leg a small squeeze right above her knee and leaned into her. Subtle undercurrents shot up her leg and landed straight between her legs. Her tigress stretched and purred, ready to pounce. “We never break a promise. But be careful what you wish for, sweetheart. Now, ready to hit the pavement?”
All the military jargon was making her head spin. Her eyebrow shot up and she held Colt’s attention, her gaze locked on his. “It means we’re almost there, let’s make a dash for it so we can get out of here faster.” Now who was laughing at whom?
“First here’s your piece. Thanks for sharing.” She passed the .38 special back to Colt and flashed him a grin of appreciation. Without missing a beat, he gathered the cold steel and replaced it in his ankle holster.
“Anytime, sweetheart.”
The SUV rolled to stop on the tarmac and Colt rushed her on board the Re-con’s private jet while Marc stayed behind to give final instructions to their team.
Mia settled in one of the soft leather captain chairs positioned up along the walls of the cabin, leaving the single aisle wide open. She’d only been on the plane one other time for client meetings with the guys about four months ago. It had been a new experience and a rush of excitement for her at the time. Now, under the current circumstances, it all seemed too much. Being whisked away by two men… men who confused her one minute and in the next made her crave a night with both. Something that never crossed her mind before coming to work for Re-Con.
Mia fiddled with the strap of her unfastened seat belt. Emotions bombarded her from every direction. The loss of her home, being under attack, and the way both men were obviously holding nothing back in the desire department. It was like both Marc and Colt knew her fantasies and wanted to make them come true. Her dirty soot-stained jeans and blouse blurred with unshed tears. Demonios.
Mia quickly strode passed Colt who stood talking with the pilot and quickly made her way to the bathroom before the tears spilled, making her look weaker that she already felt.
She locked the door behind her and stared at herself in the tiny mirror hanging over the smaller sink. She blinked several times then rested her forehead on the cool glass. “What now, chica? You’ve lost everything you saved so long for tonight.” Little as it was, it was still hers. The country house was her first home. Ever. Growing up, her sister had tried to give her that home, but with her mom’s alcohol problem and her dad’s passing it all seemed so fake.
After graduating, she’d finally had enough for the two-bedroom house on the outskirts of Los Angeles. It was close to an hour commute to work every day, but that didn’t matter. She loved her solitude. A smile touched her lips. And the late night skinny-dipping in the lake had been her own little secret. That was until today’s events. She bit down on the tender flesh of her lip, unable to shake the violated feeling that settled over her.
She’d had plans to plant a garden filled with watermelons and green beans. The latticework they’d used to escape would have supported her favorite climbing rose. Now that was lost too. Her plans literally nothing more than ash. But why? Mia raked her hands through her tousled strains of hair, burying her fingers deep. She tugged on the roots, desperate to feel anything else but the barbed wire constricting her heart.
She shook her head. She needed answers but no one had them. And that scared her. Her sister would be so mad at her for letting herself get in this mess. Only Mia didn’t know what the hell she’d done to step into the mess to begin with.
Her sister. She needed to call her and
let her know what happened. Mia patted her pocket where she normally kept her phone. Nothing. ¡Diablos! Then she remembered her phone was with the techs of Re-Con Securities. She reached around to her back jean pockets. Oh, thank God. Her shoulders sagged with relief. In all the chaos she managed to remember the phone Colt gave her.
A single tear escaped despite her battle to keep them at bay. She would give her sister a call once they were in the air and she had time to gather her riotous emotions.
A knocked sounded on the door and she jumped, quickly dashing the tear away. “You all right in there, sweetheart?” Concern laced Colt’s words and she couldn’t hold back the small smile that teased her lips. She was safe here, with them. With the exception of her older sister, Ema, no one had ever stepped forward for her like Marc and Colt had tonight.
“Sí, I’ll be out in a second.” She forced a strength she didn’t feel into her words. They had more important things on their plates than to worry about her state of mind and her little house.
“I have something for you. A change of clothes and a couple of small towels. We have enough time before takeoff for you to wash a bit. I’ll leave it outside the door for you.”
That sounded good.
She listened a few seconds until she heard his footsteps fall away from the door. Mia let out the breath trapped in her chest and opened the door to grab the clothes. She turned and caught a glimpse of her reflection. Puffy red eyes stared back at her and a tangled mess of hair topped off the disheveled look. Pieces of ash scattered across her dark locks. Fabulous. What she’d do for a brush.
Mia raked her fingers through the strands and rinsed the parts that had the most ash. She patted her hair dry and got to work on the rest of her body.
Sunrise For Three: A Military Erotic Romance (Sexy Siesta Series Book 3) Page 4