Special Forces Seduction

by C. J. Miller

  “I’ve laid the groundwork. I have a meeting with Barnett in a couple of days. Come with me. We’ll destroy him and his enterprise.”

  A mission with Finn? Being together on vacation was different from being together on a complex mission in the field. She could scarcely draw a full breath thinking of being alone with Finn, of imagining days or weeks together. Emotionally complicated and fraught with problems.

  Compounded with a face-to-face meeting with Barnett, it was unimaginable. What would stop her or Finn from killing him on the spot? Her heart thundered and warnings screamed in her head.

  Finn was a passionate man and she was a fiery woman. Could they work together and get the job done?

  Her hands itched to hold a gun. That quickly, she was ready to jump back in the game.

  “If you were one of my operatives telling me you wanted revenge on Barnett, I wouldn’t assign you to this op,” Hyde said. Too many emotion-fueled decisions would lead to a mistake.

  Finn ran his hand down her arm, letting their fingers linger together. “Does that mean you want me to take someone else?” He brought her fingers to his lips and kissed her knuckles. The fire in his eyes seared her to the core.

  Finn didn’t work well with others. He followed orders, but he preferred to be in command. This mission had a personal element and that would require extra vigilance. “I’m going. But you know we’ll make more mistakes because this is deeply personal. Revenge is heavy baggage and I prefer to be light and nimble on operations.”

  Finn pulled her against him and she braced her hands on his chest. “I knew I wasn’t wasting my time coming out here,” he said.

  “How’d you find me?” she asked.

  He lifted a brow. “Former Army Special Forces.”

  “Right.” His training as a Green Beret was exhaustive and had left him with an impressive list of skills.

  She had been careful to cover her tracks when she’d returned to Bearcreek. If Finn had found her, then her enemies could, as well. Hyde wanted to protect her family. “I need more than that.”

  “Small details I pieced together over the time I’ve known you. And begging Kate West for intel on you,” Finn said.

  Surprise struck her. “Kate gave me up?”

  Finn winked. “Only because I told her I was in love with you and needed to tell you in person.”

  Hyde gasped. In love with her? They hadn’t spoken of love, not once during their relationship. Standing in the warm circle of his arms, her heart overreacted.

  Finn traced the strap of her yellow dress with his finger. “I told her what she needed to hear to give me your location.”

  It was like a hammer slamming down on a delicate flower, smashing it to pieces. Hyde shook off the disappointment that pressed on her. Finn, love and she didn’t belong grouped together in the same sentence. It wasn’t love she felt for him. It was desire, plain and simple. She would be smart to keep her eyes on the prize, which in this case, was the mission. “You think we have a chance of taking Reed Barnett down?”

  “I do. Now stop talking about Reed Barnett and let’s talk about something else. Like how we’ll spend this beautiful evening.”

  She couldn’t leave her sister’s wedding. She wouldn’t hear the end of it. “I’m staying at the wedding. My date will take me home.”

  Finn appeared a mix of hurt and surprised. “You have a date to this wedding?”

  Her sister had fixed her up with George, a coworker of Thomas’s. After suffering through fifteen minutes of awkward conversation, George had ignored her for the rest of the night. Stepping outside with Finn would have gone unnoticed by George. “I have a date.” It was nice for Finn to believe she had moved on and wasn’t still carrying a torch for him. A torch she was trying to extinguish. Finn was part of her spy life and after this mission, she was finished with that.

  “Are you dating? Is your date the reason you’re retiring?” Finn sounded indifferent, but he had dropped her hands and had taken a step away from her.

  “George has nothing to do with my career plans.” She had met him two days before the wedding at the rehearsal dinner.

  “Is he taking you home?” Finn asked, folding his arms over his chest.

  He wasn’t. Hyde had driven herself to the wedding. That wasn’t Finn’s business. Hyde held up her hand. “Don’t pretend to care what I do when we’re not together, and don’t act jealous. Territorial doesn’t suit you.”

  Finn was perpetually confident and rarely questioned himself. He leaned back away from her. “That’s an unfair statement. I care about you. I want to know what’s going on in your life.”

  Hyde scratched at her head where a bobby pin was pressing into her scalp. “I can’t get into it with you here and now.”

  “But I want to get into it.” Finn lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed the inside of her wrist.

  The caress of his lips nearly broke her defenses. “If we’re working an operation together, we need to keep our relationship chill.” They needed the reminder.

  “Chill? What does that mean?” Finn asked.

  It meant the opposite of what their relationship had been. No hot sex, no making out, no sleeping together. “It means we’re working together professionally. Nothing else except the mission.”

  Lines formed around Finn’s eyes. “I will respect your wishes.” He released her hand.

  Hyde was startled by Finn’s acceptance of her statement. Disappointment pinged in her chest. He had let her go easily and it spoke volumes. “I should get back to my family. Are you planning to stick around or do you want to meet at the airport?” She wanted him to say airport. Being around Finn left her feeling like she needed to catch her breath and clear her head.

  “I have nowhere else to be and we need to talk more about Barnett.”

  “We’ll talk on the journey there,” Hyde said. Finn’s eyes didn’t leave her. His gaze heated her from her head to her toes.

  “We should talk now,” Finn said.

  “I can’t now.” The urge to cry struck her, which was ridiculous. Spies didn’t cry when they were with their colleagues. Finn had churned up emotions she had worked hard to lock away. She needed time. “Goodbye, Finn.”

  As she walked away, she felt him watching her.

  Finn remained at the table on the far side of the tent. He had unbuttoned his suit jacket and looked relaxed, as if he hadn’t requested she go with him on a dangerous and complicated mission.

  Hyde pretended the wedding held her full attention. She was thinking of Finn and Simon and taking down Reed Barnett. Guests talked and laughed and danced. Hyde worked to put a pleasant expression on her face. She strolled into the crowd and made small talk with her family. When she glanced at the corner table, Finn had disappeared. Regret speared her. She hadn’t invited him to stay at the wedding. Perhaps she should have.

  Finn was as much of an outsider as she was. She and her family were pretending that she was part of it, but her absence had taken a toll on her personal relationships.

  Hyde caught a glimpse of Finn across the room. He was speaking to a distant cousin, who was laughing and touching his jacket sleeve. Jealousy nipped at her and Hyde suppressed the urge to stake a claim. Hyde turned away and searched for George. The DJ was playing a popular song that had filled the dance floor.

  George was speaking to people she didn’t recognize. Hyde looked around for Lydia or Thea. She needed a distraction. Possessiveness and jealousy didn’t work in her relationship with Finn. She and Finn hadn’t discussed their relationship in terms of commitment and exclusivity. This wasn’t the time to make those demands. If they were working together, their personal relationship needed to cool off.

  The song changed from a snappy pop tune to a slow love ballad.

  “Dance with me,” Finn said, coming up behind her. He s
lipped his arms around her waist and spun her to face him.

  She leaned into him, chest to chest, and his cheek brushed hers. Lust hit her low and hard and she gripped his hands more tightly. Letting go seemed impossible. She had wanted to make a clean break from her spy life and that had included Finn. Now, in his arms, she couldn’t imagine not seeing him again, not having him in her life.

  She had been trying to build a new life in Bearcreek, feeling like an outsider. Five minutes with Finn, and she felt at home.

  Chapter 2

  Finn had imagined a number of scenarios on his way to Montana to see Hyde. The entire trip he’d questioned if he’d made the right decision. But worrying about Hyde had taken over his thoughts to an obsessive point, and if he didn’t see her and talk to her, it wouldn’t stop. Coming to Bearcreek was about more than her being the right spy to help with Reed Barnett. He needed to see with his own eyes that she was doing well.

  Hyde was in his arms and that made the trip worth it. At least physically, she was fine. No overt injuries, obvious scars, limping or GSWs. He sensed something was bothering her and he would find out what it was.

  “Alexandra, will you introduce me to your friend?” A woman’s voice from behind him.

  Hyde flinched in his arms and Finn tensed. Hyde broke away from him and he missed the sensation of her soft body against his. He turned. Standing in front of them was a woman with Hyde’s same dark hair, though the other woman’s was cut short. Similar facial features, but hers were softer. The other woman’s expression was also friendlier, her mouth drawn up in an unreserved smile. Hyde carried around the stress of her job and didn’t smile often.

  “Lydia, this is my friend Finn,” Hyde said. She folded her hands in front of her and said nothing more.

  Lydia looked between him and Hyde. “It’s nice to meet you. Did you and Alexandra work together?”

  Finn caught Hyde’s subtle nod. “Yes, we did.” He’d follow her lead about her cover story relating to where she had been the last decade. From what he knew of Hyde, unlike him, she maintained a cozy relationship with her family.

  “What brings you to town? I hope you don’t want Hyde to come back to work with you.” Lydia slid her arm around her sister’s waist and hugged her. “We’re grateful to have Alexandra back with us. For the longest time, I felt like I only had one sister.”

  The guilty look on Hyde’s face could have been about her frequent travel or it could have been because she had introduced Simon to Lydia.

  Finn slid his hands into his pockets. “I’m passing through on business. I have a big job I’d like Alexandra to help me with. A short job. It will only take a few weeks.”

  Lydia looked at her sister. “I don’t like the sound of that. Alexandra gets pulled into things. A short job turns into another and then another. She’ll go missing for another ten years.”

  “It’s the one job and nothing else,” Hyde said. She pressed a hand over her stomach.

  “That’s right,” Finn said, picking up on Hyde’s anxiety and wanting to reassure her.

  “I’m sure you have other associates who can assist you. Alexandra needs to be here,” Lydia said. Anger colored the edges of her words.

  Hyde tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Lydia, I’ll talk with you about it later.”

  Lydia pinned her sister with a harsh stare. “Okay, Alex. Whatever you say.” She looked over her shoulder. “Excuse me. My daughter is awake and fussing.”

  Lydia rushed off and Finn captured Hyde in the circle of his arms. He resumed dancing with her. She moved on the dance floor like she did in the field, sleek and smooth.

  “She seems protective,” Finn said.

  Hyde swallowed hard. “They all are. They want me around. They were excited when I told them I planned to stay.”

  “Then your family is the reason you quit.” He wouldn’t stop pressing until he had the details. He needed to know what was going on in her life. She was logical and rational, and quitting abruptly didn’t fit with what he knew of her. But then again, he might not know her as well as he thought he did. Spies lied. It had crossed his mind that he would arrive in Bearcreek and discover she had a husband and family of her own she had never told him about. Learning that wasn’t the case, he was relieved.

  “Part of the reason. I want to help Lydia. She deserves better than she’s been handed. Thea is great, but being a single parent has been hard on Lydia. She’s asked me about Simon on more than one occasion and I wrestle with what to tell her.”

  “What did you tell her happened?” Finn asked.

  Hyde’s shoulders tensed. “I told her that he quit and he stopped coming to work.”

  Finn saw the flaw in that explanation. “Not much closure for her.”

  “I should have thought it through. When she asked me about him, I was still reeling from the news of Simon’s death and I wasn’t sure what I was allowed to tell her. I couldn’t believe he had been taken out. He was one of the best. He was careful. How did Barnett get him?”

  Finn had been told parts of the story. He hadn’t been directly involved with Simon’s mission, and the details were classified. “I’ve asked questions and I didn’t receive any answers.”

  Hyde looked over at her sister. “That’s the main reason I’ll do this. For her. For Thea. To give them answers and a way to move forward without being haunted.”

  * * *

  Boots hit Hyde’s second-story balcony. Finn was outside her sliding glass doors. No surprise, really. She had expected him, and Finn intended for her to hear his approach. Sneaking up on a spy was a quick way to catch a bullet in the head and the chest. Hyde still slept with a gun in her bedside table. And in her kitchen. And her living room. A woman couldn’t be too careful about protecting herself.

  She’d rented this place because of the many exit points. One day she would select a house because it made her feel at home. She would hang pictures on the walls and decorate it. It would take longer than a few months for her to stop thinking like a spy and return to being a civilian.

  Hyde counted to five. The lock clicked open. Finn was fast with a lock pick. She was faster. She hadn’t laid the jimmy bar in the door, anticipating his visit. He entered her room, closing the door behind him. Her heart raced and her fingers itched to reach for him. She counted his footsteps as he approached the bed. He dropped his suit jacket on the floor and loosened his tie from around his neck. Desire fluttered in her belly. Finn sat on the mattress, removed his shoes and lifted the sheet, sliding into the bed beside her. Heat spiraled through her. He gathered her against him. He smelled of laundry detergent and soap. “I couldn’t sleep knowing you were here alone. I’ve missed you. I’ve missed holding you in my arms.”

  Tears sprang to her eyes and she curled her body against his. The tenderness he showed her was gentler than she had experienced with any another man. It struck her as odd because he was also one of the most brutal men she had met. “How did you know I was alone?”

  His arm was slung over her waist. “I know you and I knew your date to the wedding meant nothing to you. You wouldn’t take him home no matter how lonely you were. But you seemed sad. I couldn’t leave you that way. I want you to tell me what’s wrong so I can fix it.”

  She was sad. Hurting. Lost. Confused. Now that she knew about Reed Barnett, she felt pulled back into the world she swore was dead to her, but she also felt good having a purpose and a meaningful task. Given her skill set, fulfilling work had been hard to come by in Bearcreek. “I have a lot on my mind.”

  She couldn’t tell Finn that she wanted a husband and a family and a life that involved footed pajamas, car pools and little league. A year ago Hyde believed a life of children and domestic duties was a prison sentence. She felt sorry for friends who organized playdates and spent their days playing cars and dolls. Now she wished she had con
sidered her options sooner.

  Telling Finn she wanted those things would be ice water on his libido and his feelings for her. And while it would have been a quick way to end the relationship, she wanted him to think fondly of her and remember her in a certain way.

  Finn nuzzled the back of her neck. “I didn’t believe Connor when he told me you weren’t available for hire.”

  Connor, the leader of the West Company, had contacted her about a job while she was in Munich. She had impulsively told him she was retired, and after speaking the words, she knew they were what she needed. Thinking over the experiences she had lived through as a spy, she counted herself lucky she was alive and relatively unscathed. Running, hiding and lying were exhausting, but losing her baby had broken her. “I spoke to his wife about it.” She could trust Connor and Kate not to spread it around. It was better for her enemies to believe she was in the game and not sitting around with her feet up, like a target with a big red bull’s-eye on her chest.

  Finn touched her hip, rolling her to face him. “You should have called me when things changed. You should have called me when you decided you didn’t want to work as an agent anymore.”

  Her skin prickled where his hand rested. She couldn’t get enough of him, but her desire was at war with her heart. “You would have pressed me for reasons why.”

  He shifted close, sliding his hips against her. “You’re one of the best in the business. Why quit?”

  She’d give the simple answer and leave out the stuff about love and marriage and a baby. “This isn’t the life I want.”

  He tapped his finger against her leg. “Are you planning to stay in Montana and raise cattle with your family?”

  He sounded sincere and she appreciated that he was trying to understand. He wouldn’t understand this. What she wanted now was so over the invisible line of where their relationship ended, she couldn’t voice it without feeling silly.