He also turned away from the body on the floor. It was over, and Ostermann wasn’t worth any more of their time or consideration. He guided Claire outside the hotel into the bright Mediterranean sunshine.
She linked her fingers through his and shielded her eyes as she gazed up at him. “What did Ra’id say? It made you sad.”
He stared out over the sea stretching before them. Remembered doing the same in Martinique after Danny had died. He’d collapsed in the blood-soaked sand, exhausted and weak from his own injuries. He’d stared out over water just as turquoise as this, under a sun just as bright, and had wondered where in the world Claire had gone when he told her to run.
She squeezed his hand. “Jean-Luc? What did he say to you?”
Sighing, he turned to her, wrapped her up in a hug and buried his face in her hair. “Nothing I didn’t already know, cher. It’s just the way the world is. C’est la vie. We get one bad guy, and another takes his place.”
Chapter Fifty
One Month Later
Key West, FL
When Jean-Luc first invited her to his teammate Seth’s wedding, Claire had been a little nervous about attending. She’d only met Seth a handful of times and had never met the bride, but nobody seemed to mind her presence.
The wedding was gorgeous, the bride glowing bright as a sunbeam in a chiffon dress that sparkled ever so subtly whenever she moved. The pile of red curls on top of her head also shimmered as she and her new husband shared their first dance in the dying October sun.
“They’re really good together,” Claire said as she studied them. You actually could see the love between the pair.
“Oh, you have no idea,” Audrey Van Amee-Bristow said. “She saved him.”
Claire smiled at the women around the table. Audrey, Gabe’s wife, wore the soft amber bridesmaid dress like it was made for her. It skimmed her slim body and showed off her growing baby bump. She was one of those women who could wear a garbage bag and look magnificent.
Mara, Quinn’s fiancée, somehow managed to simultaneously cradle her six-week-old baby boy, Jackson, keep an eye on her rambunctious toddler, Bianca, and eat her cake without spilling a crumb on her dress.
Lanie hadn’t been a bridesmaid like the other two, but even she wore a pretty blue dress that showed off her curves—which she’d only put on after much cajoling from the other two women and promises that the dress would knock Jesse’s socks off. Judging by the cowboy’s slack-jawed expression when he saw her, they were right. Lanie rocked the dress after that.
The other bridesmaid at the table, Libby Wilde, was roundly pregnant. Her husband wasn’t with HORNET, but one of Seth’s old friends from the Marines. With a grunt, she heaved herself forward and reached for a pitcher to refill her water glass.
Claire got up and did it for her.
“Thanks,” she said with a grateful smile. “I keep telling myself only five more weeks. That’s it.” She took a sip of her water, then nodded toward the dance floor. “Audrey’s not overstating things. Seth was a wreck until he met Phoebe. When I first met him, he could barely leave his house without jumping at shadows. She absolutely saved him.”
“You can see the love between them.” Claire followed Libby’s gaze to the dance floor. “Some couples are so cold…” She trailed off, thinking of her own parents. She’d always thought it’d be better to be alone than to live with that kind of indifference in a marriage. “But not Seth and Phoebe. That’s real love.”
Audrey elbowed her in the side. “Not you and Jean-Luc either. There’s nothing cold about the Cajun.”
She laughed and picked up her wineglass as she felt her face go warm. “That’s true. He does like spice.”
“Oh, I’ll bet,” Mara said. She glanced around, then covered her baby’s ears and leaned in. “He talks dirty, doesn’t he? Like, fantasy-level kinky. In a dozen different languages.”
Lanie burst out laughing. “Girl, you better not let Quinn hear you. He’ll string Jean-Luc up by the balls!”
“What?” Mara asked, all innocence. “Travis’ll understand. We have a bet, don’t we, Audrey?”
Lanie scoffed. “Yeah, ’cause Quinn’s such an understanding guy.”
“It’s purely for science.” Audrey giggled into her water glass. “So, Claire, are you gonna spill the deets or leave us wondering?”
“Oh my God,” Claire said and covered her now flaming face with her hands.
Audrey slapped the table. “That answers that. Go, you.”
Thankfully, the conversation shifted away from sex and toward the pitfalls of pregnancy. Having had no personal experience in that area, Claire sat back and listened to their stories, filled with a warm sense of belonging.
These women—the “Queen Bees,” as Audrey called their little group—had welcomed her with open arms like she’d always belonged. She’d become particularly fond of Audrey over the past few weeks. Vibrant, with an eccentric sense of style, she was the true Queen Bee. She had a take-no-shit attitude with all of the men on the team, including her stern-faced husband, who often looked at her with an expression somewhere between bafflement and adoration. The first time she met Claire, she had decided right then and there they would be best friends. In a lot of ways, Audrey was the female version of Jean-Luc.
Apparently Claire needed colorful people in her life. She just hadn’t realized it until recently.
She couldn’t begin to voice how much it meant to be accepted by the women of HORNET. She’d lost the only two close female friends she’d ever had over the past three months. First Tiffany, then Sunday. She’d always miss them. Knowing they were no longer in this world left a hole in her she thought might never fully heal. But at least now she had Audrey, Mara, Lanie, Libby, and she imagined Phoebe too once they were properly introduced. These women had formed a family around their men and, oh, she longed to be a part of it.
Speaking of the men, she searched the beachside reception hall for them. They’d all gone off together once the reception started, and she’d gotten the sense that they were talking business. Jean-Luc had been anxious about it. She’d never seen him that way before.
Audrey squeezed her arm. “It’ll be okay,” she said. “They’re not firing him.”
She started and looked at her new friend in shock. “Was that a possibility?”
Audrey shrugged. “They ordered him to not go looking for you. He disobeyed.”
She breathed out in a huff of disbelief. “He did?”
“Yeah, he was determined to find you and he didn’t care the cost. But, like I said, you don’t have to worry. I told Gabe if they fire the Cajun, he’d be sleeping on the couch until our baby is ten. It’s nothing he wouldn’t have done if I had been the one in danger.”
Mara nodded. “And Travis did the same when it was me. But I know for a fact they’re not firing him. I…happened to overhear Gabe and Travis talking the other night. They have to reprimand him, so they’re going to make him teach language classes to the trainees.”
“God,” Lanie said and took a drink. “They want him corrupting young minds?”
The men emerged from the hotel and tension eased out of Claire’s shoulders when she spotted Jean-Luc. He didn’t look anxious anymore. He was his usual happy self.
“Looks like he accepted his punishment,” Audrey said.
Smiling, Claire watched him shake hands with Gabe, then Quinn, and finally, Tuc. “I don’t think he’ll see it as punishment. Teaching seems like it might be a good fit.”
Jean-Luc all but bounced over to the DJ, exchanged a few words with him, and then grabbed the mike when the current song ended.
“Oh, boy,” Audrey said.
Lanie groaned. “Claire, please muzzle him before he starts singing.”
He tapped the microphone and it screeched with feedback. “Sorry! Sorry!” He grabbed a flute of champagne from a passing waiter and held it up. “First, a toast to love and laughter, and happily ever after. Here’s to the husband. Here’s to the wife.
May they be lovers for life. Santé!”
Everyone laughed and drank.
He held up his flute again. “And to Seth, and the rest of my boys. Here’s to hell—may our stay there be as much fun as our way there!”
“Cheers to that, Cajun!” Seth called from the dance floor.
Jean-Luc threw back his drink and held out his arms. “Now is this supposed to be a party, or what? Where’s the music? Laissez les bons temps rouler!”
Claire didn’t think it was a coincidence that the DJ started with “The Piña Colada Song”, and laughed as Jean-Luc pulled her out of her seat toward the dance floor.
“Allons danser!”
“I don’t dance,” she protested.
“No worries. I’ll teach you.” He held her tenderly in his arms and they swayed together. “They want me to teach the trainees Arabic.”
“I heard.” She tilted her head back to look at him. “How do you feel about it?”
“I get to keep my job, so it beats the alternative.”
“And…what about Marcus?”
He winced. “They haven’t spoken to him yet. They’re afraid one wrong word will send him spiraling.”
“It’s sad he wouldn’t come to the wedding. I know that hurt Seth.”
“I’m gonna kick his ass for it when I see him again, but at least he’s safely in San Diego, away from HQ and our…guest.”
She wasn’t sure how she felt about the woman who had chased her across Nigeria. On the one hand, Mercedes Raya had realized and tried to right her mistakes. A little too late, but she had tried. On the other, she had tried to drown Claire back at the field hospital and probably knew who had killed Danny. “What are you going to do with her?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. But this weekend, she’s Tuc and his team’s problem. Enough about that. This is a happy occasion. Let’s be happy for tonight.”
“I am happy.”
“Me too.” He pulled her in close again and sang softly in her ear—right on-key.
She drew back in surprise and smacked his chest. “You can so sing!”
“Of course.” He nuzzled her ear, gave the lobe a little nip. “It’s our song, cher. I can’t knowingly butcher our song.”
“You sing off-key just to torture everyone, don’t you?”
“Yeah, it’s fun.” He spun her out, brought her back and tucked her close. “So I’ve been thinking…”
He trailed off. She waited, but he didn’t continue. He seemed to be struggling to find the words for what was on his mind, and she caught a fleeting glimpse of…was that panic in his eyes? Why the nerves again? He’d already spoken to HORNET’s leadership and knew he wasn’t losing his job.
“Hey.” She laid a hand on his cheek. “What’s wrong?”
Another song started, a sexy Spanish number. Probably another request by Jean-Luc if she knew her man.
He didn’t answer her question. Only pulled her in flush against his body and nibbled his way from her ear to her chin. “Do you have any idea what this song makes me want to do to you?”
Given the growing ridge pressing into her belly, she had a pretty good idea. She subtly reached between their bodies and traced a nail along his length though his trousers. Before him, she never would have done such a thing in a room full of people, but he’d brought out a boldness in her.
His eyes flared hot and he took her mouth in a sizzling kiss that no doubt had the groom’s pearl-clutching aunts gasping with outrage. Part of her wanted to do something really naughty here on the dance floor just to scandalize the two women who’d had nothing nice to say about their nephew’s friends. They already thought the guys of HORNET were heathens and the women were floozies. Why not have fun with it?
The thought made her laugh.
Jean-Luc drew back, ending the kiss with a nibble to her upper lip. “What’s so funny?”
“You’ve corrupted me. I’m thinking about doing dirty things to you in public just to spite two women I’ve never met before today.”
“Seth’s aunts? Yeah, they bring that out in people.” He gripped her butt and gave it a squeeze. “But I always want to do dirty things to you in public.”
He was trying to distract her. She knew it, and yet she was going to let him get away with it—for now. She was learning her man liked making love in places where they might get caught. She was learning she liked it too, and the thought of a quickie right now had all of her female parts tingling in anticipation.
She stood on her toes to whisper in his ear. “Let’s find a quiet spot.”
His nostrils flared with his sharp exhale, and he got the same single-minded look on his face as when he was trying to beat his make-Claire-orgasm record in bed. He all but carried her off the dance floor.
She risked a glance back at the table where her new friends still sat. They were all grinning in her direction and Audrey gave her an enthusiastic thumbs-up. Her cheeks filled with heat. No doubt about it, the women knew exactly what she and Jean-Luc were up to.
He pulled her away from the crowd, toward a poolside tiki bar shaded by palm trees that was currently closed because of the wedding. Much like the one they’d first met at.
“This is fitting,” she laughed as he whirled her around and boosted her up onto the bar. It was the perfect height and she parted her legs, letting him in closer. He took her mouth in a hungry, possessive kiss that left her giddy with need. She’d been waiting all day for this. “Touch me, Jean-Luc.”
He slid his hands up under the skirt of her dress and hissed out a breath when he found her bare underneath. “Naughty girl. You did this just to make me crazy.”
“It worked.” He’d pulled his hair back into a neat tail for the wedding, and she gave it a tug, dragging his mouth to hers. “Hurry up. Let me feel you before we get caught.”
He one-handedly unzipped his trousers and freed himself. She scooted her butt to the edge of the bar. He scooped an arm under one of her legs and pulled her forward as he entered her in one long thrust.
He groaned. “I’m not going to last, cher.”
She nipped at his lower lip and felt his erection twitch inside her. “You don’t have to.”
He took her fast, teasing her mouth with his tongue, nibbling at her lips, and swallowing her moans as she raced toward climax.
A scrape of a footstep, followed by a happy bark, had them both freezing. Tank came bounding over and wiggled enthusiastically around Jean-Luc’s legs.
“Oh, Jesus,” Ian’s voice said.
Claire looked over Jean-Luc’s shoulder at Ian and bit her lip to smother a smile. Here he was, probably the most intimidating guy on the team, and he’d actually put a hand over his eyes and turned away like the pearl-clutching aunts.
“Uh,” Jean-Luc said. “Can you call off your dog? We’re a little busy here.”
“Shit. Yeah.” Ian whistled for Tank and the two all but ran in the opposite direction.
Claire buried her face in Jean-Luc’s shoulder and laughed until tears streamed from her eyes. He set his cheek on top of her head and joined in. His laughter shook his whole body and reminded her they were still locked together. The interruption hadn’t bothered him at all. If anything, he was harder now.
Good. Because she was still so hot, she was about to combust.
She rocked her hips forward, urging him to move. He growled deep in his throat and picked up the rhythm again. It took a bit longer to climb back to the precipice she’d been on before the interruption, but once she was there, Jean-Luc followed her over the edge.
Still breathing in ragged drags of air, she enjoyed the soft kisses Jean-Luc feathered across her collarbone and shoulder as he pulled out of her. She weaved her fingers into his hair, releasing several strands from his ponytail.
The quickie wasn’t enough. She wanted more of him. All of him.
“Let’s go up to our room,” she suggested, “and take our time.”
He met her gaze and there again—the nerves. He tried to hide the
m by stepping back and tucking himself into his pants, but she knew him too well. She could read him like a lab report. He was genuinely anxious about something, and that just wasn’t like him.
She jumped down from the bar, caught his face in her hands, and made him look at her. “Jean-Luc, tell me what’s wrong.”
“Nothing.” He didn’t sound convincing at all and she scowled at him.
He laughed softly and turned to brush her palm with his lips. “F’true. Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s perfect. I’d just…” He looked up at the gleaming windows of the hotel. “I’m sick of hotels. How would you feel about flying back to New Orleans tonight?”
Chapter Fifty-One
New Orleans, LA
It was well after midnight when the cab dropped them off on Canal, right at the start of Bourbon Street. A street performer danced by on stilts to the jazzy riff he played on a trombone.
Ah. Home. There was no place like it in the world.
Jean-Luc grinned as Claire marveled at the flash and color of the city he loved almost as much as he loved her.
She laughed. “You live here? Right in the middle of it all. Why am I surprised? Of course you do.”
After paying the cab driver, he took her hand and led her down Bourbon. His hand was sweating, and he hoped she didn’t notice. Merde. He hadn’t expected to be nervous about this, but his heart had grown wings and now beat frantically at the inside of his ribs. “I have a place a few blocks over. It’s where I keep my car when I’m out of town.”
“Is that where we’re going?”
“No. I mean, yeah, to pick up the car, but…no. I have another place across Lake Pontchartrain. It’s my real home. My sanctuary. I’ve never taken any woman there, but it’s a place that maybe…if you like…you’d be willing to call it home, too?”
She caught her breath and pulled him to a stop. “Are you…? Jean-Luc, are you asking me to move in with you?”
He released his grip on hers to wipe his palms on his shorts. “I was gonna let you see the house first. It’s four bedrooms, three baths. Nice open kitchen. It’s kinda empty right now ’cause I’m hardly ever there, but it’s a good place to start a home. Maybe do the family thing someday. The whole living room wall is glass and looks out on the lake.”
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