Special Ops Rendezvous

by Karen Anders

  No, she wasn’t. She wasn’t safe at all in either respect. What happened between them last night was smoldering right now. It wasn’t a habit of his to take a woman to the edge like that and then walk away. And it took considerable control now not to nudge her in that direction again. But then, he hadn’t expected resisting her would be easy. It was downright torturous.

  He clenched his hands around the steering wheel the pressure of her next to him wore down his self-control. She stroked his skin, her palm warm. But it wasn’t at all soothing.

  He resisted the urge to touch her, knowing it was the right thing to do, but he couldn’t quite draw his arm away. Tangling themselves up any further than they had already done was begging for trouble. They had more than enough trouble as it was. He needed to stay focused on the situation and not think about getting her naked. He swore under his breath. The little tugs he was experiencing inside his chest whenever he looked at her were downright terrifying. He’d been in her presence for only a couple of days. No way should she be having this effect on him. But there was no denying she was affecting the hell out of him. And it was more than sexual need fanning those flames.

  “Things may seem calm now, but there are forces at work in the shadows.”

  “I’m beginning to buy in to your paranoia.”

  “Oh, confirmation. Isn’t that just peachy? Do you know what we call that in special ops?”

  “No, what?”

  “A double cluster.”

  She laughed and finally drew her hand away and sat back.

  * * *

  Olivia lived in an apartment off Millbrook Road, tucked in the back with trees bordering the complex, making it seem almost as though they were off the beaten track, yet still in the busy city of Raleigh.

  As soon as she opened the door to her apartment, she cried out and ran to her computer, leaving Sam to close the door and follow. Accessing her hard drive, she saw that all the files on Sam had been deleted. “Dammit,” she said as Sam looked over her shoulder.

  “What?”

  “They got rid of everything, but I have a drive that stores all my files on a server instead of my computer.” She clicked frantically. “Dammit, they got to that, too.” She opened up an email and wrote a quick note to the company who had provided the drive about recovery. Then she shut off and packed up her laptop into the carry bag to take with her.

  She looked over to a bookcase behind her desk and swore. “Sam, they took my camera. All my surveillance footage was on it. Wait, no. I did load my last session to the cloud. Hopefully they can recover something from it.”

  “We’ll have to see. I’m sorry about this...your apartment.”

  “It’s a mess all right. After all this is over, you’re helping me clean it up.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  In spite of everything that had happened this morning, Olivia’s eyes sparkled at him with amusement. She disappeared into the bedroom and he noticed some pictures on the wall. They were mostly of her and her brother hugging each other, mugging for the camera. He took one off the wall and held it in his hand. Would he ever get over the deep-seated guilt? The two of them looked so happy. Their love for each other prominent.

  A lump formed in Sam’s throat as he thought about his own family.

  “Sam?”

  He turned with the photo in his hand. Her face softened when she saw what he was holding. She set her bag down and took it out of his hands.

  “That was last Thanksgiving. We had just battled for the last crescent roll, and one of my friends took this.”

  “Who won?”

  She turned to look at him, her eyes tearing up. He knew that look. He’d seen it on faces plenty of times when his unit came back without one of its members. The loss just hit her like when he’d turn, expecting that buddy to be there, and find he’d forgotten that vivid soul was lost to him.

  On the verge of tears, she said, her voice breaking, “My brother let me win and then I...gave him half.”

  She dropped her chin and her shoulders shook, her mouth twisting. He gently took the picture and set it aside so no tears would drop on its surface. When he turned back to her, she looked up at him and his heart rolled over so hard pain settled in his chest. He grabbed her upper arm and dragged her against him. For one brief instant she remained motionless. She slipped her arms around his neck, a soft sob wrenching loose from her when he gathered her up in a tight embrace. She buried her face into the hollow of his neck, sending his hand over her soft hair.

  He’d never been in this position before. Comforting wasn’t really one of his roles, and he’d never had a long-term relationship to ever get in deep enough to share this kind of emotion. His reaction to her was doubly strong, and it was surprising because of the short time he’d known her.

  He murmured soothing words to her, not even sure what he was saying. But all he knew right now was that this raw pain she was feeling lived inside him, too. His relationship with Dr. Owens’s was as close as a hardcore Special Forces commando could get to someone outside the unit that was as much family as Trey, Thad and his mother were.

  Tight-knit didn’t even begin to cover it.

  So while he held her, wishing there was some action he could perform, then suddenly realizing he was being active by comforting her in his own awkward way, he again wanted to rip out the heart of the person who had pulled that trigger.

  Solely because he’d hurt this beautiful woman cradled against him.

  Chapter 6

  Fighting against another swell of tears, Olivia yielded to the pressure of his arms. It felt so good to let go of that hard ball of pain that had been building ever since she’d heard that her brother had been killed. It wasn’t until she’d stepped into his office and spied the blood on the floor that reality got terribly stark.

  Sam had been right. It had been hell to go to the place where her brother had lost his life. But she guessed that Sam knew all about death. It was something that he lived with every day, saw every day.

  She had no idea how he dealt with that. She wasn’t sure she had that kind of courage.

  Mourning her brother was going to take some time, and being overwhelmed by her emotions at a time like this was probably indulging herself, but Sam held her and she took advantage of his comfort once the initial tears and pain had passed.

  Finally she loosened her arms and he released her.

  “You have everything you need?”

  She nodded.

  He bent down to look into her eyes. “You okay?”

  She met his eyes and smiled at his concern. “Yes, Sam. Thank you.”

  He looked uncomfortable for a minute, then nodded once.

  She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

  He looked surprised for a moment. “What was that for?”

  “You know what that’s for, Sam.”

  “Aw, crap, don’t get all mushy on me now. I need that warrior spirit.”

  She stared into those blue, steady, reassuring eyes of his. Their chemistry was always there even when they weren’t acknowledging it.

  “To hell with that.” She copied his gruff tone. “Thank you,” she said more softly, and kissed his cheek again, but this time he turned his head. She found that she was kissing his mouth instead. She’d been craving the taste of him since their first mind-blowing kiss. It would have been easy for her to think that she’d overreacted. A kiss was simply a kiss. No way one kiss could be so consuming, so intoxicating...so addicting.

  But even a P.I. who knew what the hell she was doing most of the time could be wrong.

  His lips were so soft, and the way he caught his breath in the back of his throat, that little guttural moan, made her instantly melt. It was all she could do not to plaster him back against the wall and devour him whole. He wove his fi
ngers into her hair, tilted her head and took the kiss deeper. There were times when he drove her crazy with his orders, but in this case, she loved his command of her, the way he took what he wanted, yet fully gave to her, as well.

  She really had expected him to come to his senses sooner and push her away. She clutched at his shoulders for balance because her mind just spun out of control. When his lips parted beneath hers, she drew him in almost greedily. God help her, she wanted him.

  He broke the kiss and she was suddenly disappointed that his rationality had prevailed, but he lifted his head only a fraction, so she could still feel the warmth of his breath, his skin. He looked just as dazed as she was.

  “Olivia, why aren’t you...angry? Why don’t you blame me for your brother’s death? It’s my fault.”

  She brought her hand up, wondering how long it would take before he really let go of that guilt. “Sam, it’s not your fault. All you did was ask for help, and all my brother did was provide what you needed. The person who pulled the trigger on the gun is the one responsible for his death. I could never blame you. My brother wouldn’t, either. So let that go, but I’m probably wasting my breath, because you probably won’t.”

  He sighed. “I’m a stubborn son of a bitch.”

  “That’s for sure,” she groused.

  But something shifted in her. It might not happen soon, but she knew it was going to happen. Before Sam left to go back to his unit, she was going to have him. All of him. Even if she had to seduce him into bed with whatever womanly wiles she had.

  If she didn’t take him the way she wanted to, she would regret it for the rest of her life. Even if he broke her heart. Which she was pretty sure might happen...was happening already.

  He ran his thumb along her lower lip, watching her reaction as she gasped at the contact.

  His chest heaved and his eyes went molten blue. “I used to think my control was ironclad, but you keep pushing past my barriers, Liv.”

  He gave her a nickname and she liked that very much. “Liv, huh? Can I call you Sammy?”

  He chuckled. “Not if you want me to answer.”

  “Oh, come on, Sammy.”

  “Okay,” he said with a smile, “only in private and never within hearing distance of my brothers or anyone in my unit.”

  “Deal.” She homed in on his sexy mouth, and the air heated up between them.

  “We really should get moving,” he said, but he didn’t move. Didn’t let her go.

  “We really should,” she agreed, also remaining immobile.

  This time he lowered his mouth to hers. “You’re addictive...” he said as he kissed her gently, almost sweetly, and she felt her heart catch a little as he held her head, keeping her mouth on his, wanting as much as she did. He sighed when their lips finally parted.

  “This...it’s the damnedest thing.”

  “Yeah,” she agreed, her hand reaching up and curving around his head, the feel of his soft hair filling a need inside her. “The damnedest thing.”

  He grabbed her bag before she could reach for it. “You know I can carry that.”

  “I know, but I’ve got it.”

  They stepped out of the apartment and Olivia followed Sam down the stairs toward the exit. As soon as they walked outside, someone grabbed Sam around the throat and hauled him backward. The man was big and wearing a mask.

  Sam dropped her bag and broke the man’s hold, but before Olivia could even think about helping him, another man materialized from behind one of the bushes and grabbed her around the waist and started dragging her away from Sam.

  He punched the guy in the face and lunged after her, but the man recovered and had him in a choke hold again. It was clear whoever Sam was up against had the same kind of training as he did, because they seemed evenly matched. Olivia struggled against the other man’s hold, but she couldn’t break his iron grip.

  She lost sight of Sam as the man half carried her, half dragged her around the side of the building.

  “Sam!” she screamed.

  When she saw that he was hauling her toward a van parked on the side of the road, fear exploded in the pit of her stomach and determination fired off in her blood. Olivia doubled her efforts.

  But it was no use, he was just too strong. When they were almost to the van, someone, also masked, threw the doors open. Using her leg, she jammed it between his and he tripped and fell, letting go of her for just a minute. They wrestled on the ground and she ripped off his mask in the struggle, getting a good look at his face. With a shock, she recognized him from her surveillance before he pulled the mask back on. He had to have been one of the men following Sam.

  He cursed and punched her in the face and knocked her back onto the grass. Then he reared over her, but she recovered enough to slam her fist into his groin. He blocked most of her swing, but her blow still landed. He swore and doubled over, still reaching for her. It was all she needed. Bracing both hands on the ground, she kicked out and caught him in the jaw. Scrambling away, she was almost to her feet when Sam came barreling around the corner of her building, his gun in his hand. He started firing the moment he saw them.

  The man chasing her stopped dead and backpedaled toward the van, his partner returned fire. Something hot and excruciating hit her arm, and she cried out, her legs buckling at the sudden shock of the pain. She dropped like a stone.

  The man who attacked her jumped into the van and it squealed away from the curb.

  “Olivia!” Sam shouted as he ran to her. The agony traveled up her arm, radiating out with a burning, stinging sensation that brought tears to her eyes. When she clutched her arm with a reflexive action, her hand came away slick with blood.

  When Sam saw the blood, he looked into her eyes. What she saw there she was sure Sam rarely showed. Fear. Stark fear for her safety. He ripped off his T-shirt and pressed it against her arm.

  “Hold that there tight,” he ordered. He scooped her up and sprinted for his truck as sirens sounded in the distance.

  “Sam, the police.”

  “No police. I’m getting you to someone who can help you.” He set her in the truck and ran to get her bag.

  * * *

  Sam banged on the door of a modest residential house, cradling Olivia in his arms, angry and feeling as protective as hell.

  “Sam,” Lucy said with a calm concern as she opened the door. “What happened?”

  “I need your help, Lucy. She was shot.”

  Lucy bit her lip.

  “I know I’m asking a lot, but I just need you to trust me.”

  “Come in.” Once the two of them entered, she closed the door.

  “Hello, I’m Lucy Sinclair,” she said to Olivia. “I’m engaged to Sam’s brother Thad.” She turned to Sam. “Do you want me to call him?”

  “No. It’s complicated, Lucy. I need you to just patch her up. Can you do that?”

  “I’m Olivia Owens.” She rubbed her uninjured hand over Sam’s forearm. “Sam. I’m all right.”

  He still kicked himself for what had happened. He should have been more vigilant, more aware instead of getting lost in that damn kiss.

  “Follow me,” Lucy said, leading him into the living room. “You can set her down on the couch. I’ll be right back.”

  Sam put Olivia down. By this time the cotton of his T-shirt where it was pressed against her arm was soaked with her blood.

  He closed his eyes, swaying, the world shifting around him. Blood. There’d been plenty of it the night he and his unit were ambushed. Two men had gone down, one with blood gushing out of a neck wound, the other man shot in the head.

  Sam braced himself on the arm of the couch as the memory of the ambush rolled over him like a freight train. They had been caught by surprise as if the men who had been lying in ambush out of the desert were specifically w
aiting for them.

  He saw Mike go down as three men overwhelmed him and one shoved a needle into his neck. Even as Sam brought his gun up in reaction, three men were on him, the foreign voices yelling at him.

  They had drugged him and Mike. It had only been a four-man mission. His C.O. had told them that was all that was needed.

  “Sam!” Lucy shouted in his ear, and he started out of the flashback. Sweat rolling off him, his fists were clenched tight.

  “Are you all right?” she said.

  “Yes, I’m all right. I know this is asking a lot because I’m sure you have to report gunshot wounds.”

  “No, it’s okay. You’re family.”

  Olivia was looking at him with concern, but when Lucy pulled away the T-shirt, Olivia hissed with the pain.

  “I know this hurts, but we’ve got to clean it and I have to make sure there’s nothing left inside the wound.”

  He knelt down next to her and took her hand. “Look at me, Olivia,” he said softly. “You were amazing. Fighting that guy off like a tough warrior.” He was royally pissed still, but he found a calm place inside him for Olivia.

  She met his gaze, hers going tender. The chemistry between them was almost too potent to handle.

  Olivia closed her eyes against the pain as Lucy worked inside the wound. “No, don’t focus on the pain. Focus on me.”

  “You’re as distracting as the pain, Sam.”

  “But in a much better way,” he said with a cocky grin.

  She chuckled and then gasped. He squeezed her hand and drew her attention again. “I haven’t told you, but you have the most beautiful hair. So many shades of brown. I always think of it as caramel, you know, just like the sauce.”

  Her eyes widened and instantly dropped to his mouth.

  Lucy glanced at him and smiled softly and he gave her a mind-your-own-business look.

  She rolled her eyes at him.

  Olivia dropped her gaze down his neck to his chest. He was still shirtless with Olivia’s blood on his chest.