Special Ops Rendezvous

by Karen Anders

  The police arrived and Thad had already hauled D’Angelis out of the pool, cuffing him. Sam felt as if his whole world was ending.

  Then she coughed and he turned her head to the side to get the water out of her lungs. When she stopped coughing, she looked up at him and he pulled her to him. He held her as D’Angelis was marched past him.

  “You think you’ve won!” he shouted. “You’ll never get anything out of me! I know if I tell, my family will be killed! I had no choice. You have no choice.” Then he looked straight at Kate. “They’re going to kill me soon enough. But, even now, Kate, other members of your family are in danger!”

  With tight lips, Kate stalked up to him and slapped him across the face. “I trusted you, Robert. You betrayed us all, including your family, your oath and your country.”

  “None of that means anything to them, Kate. You have no idea who you’re up against!” he shouted as they dragged him away. “No idea.”

  Sam had to disagree as he cradled Olivia in his arms.

  He knew what they were up against.

  And he suspected that Robert D’Angelis was just the tip of the iceberg.

  Whoever was the leader of the Cartel, he was a powerful figure.

  With D’Angelis identified, he was finally sure Olivia would be safe.

  He closed his eyes and buried his face in her hair.

  It was time for him to go.

  Chapter 17

  While Olivia and Trey were being checked over by the EMTs, Sam insisted that their mother sit down on one of the lounge chairs. D’Angelis and his thugs had taken out most of his mother’s detail. Dan Henderson was the only one to survive because he was out of it on pain meds from his tussle with Sam.

  Dan had reinjured a ligament in his ankle and was shocked and dismayed at the loss of so many men at the hands of one of their own.

  He hobbled up to Kate to talk to her quietly, then handed her the phone.

  “It’s the director, Jed Kincannon,” he explained.

  Sam nodded. “Henderson, I’m sorry about what happened.”

  Dan waved Sam’s words away. “Trey explained to me what you went through. I’m sorry that you had to endure that.”

  They shook hands.

  Dan hobbled off and Sam turned to Trey, as he walked up to him, his arm bandaged. “This is some mess. What do these people want and why are they trying to kill us?”

  “The Cartel’s plan is to assassinate several key people who may run for president in the next few years. It’s all about power.” Sam took a breath. “Trey, I—”

  “Sam, don’t you think I know how you feel?”

  “I almost killed you.” All the tension of the past forty-eight hours drew into a tight ball in Sam’s chest.

  “No, you didn’t.” Trey grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him in forehead to forehead. They stood like that for a minute. “You trusted in yourself...” Trey’s hand squeezed the back of Sam’s neck, and he felt his brother’s forgiveness and love. “...and our family bond. It’s stronger than drugs and torture. We together are stronger.”

  The gravity of the situation the Cartel had placed him in made that tension tighten into something hard and determined. He would surpass this. He promised himself. He would be himself again.

  He pulled his brother into a strong embrace and held him, unabashed at the emotion he was showing.

  Debra’s concerned voice echoed across the pool deck and Trey raised his head. “You take care, Sam. Focus on getting well, but stay in touch. If you need any of us, just call. We’ll be in D.C. before you know it.”

  “I will.”

  He walked away and Debra clutched at him as he put his arm around her and drew her into the house.

  His mother finished her conversation and rose. “Sam, thank you for saving our lives.” She wrapped her arms around him and he smiled into her hair. The familiar scent of her would always signal home to him.

  When they separated, she asked, “You’re going back to D.C. tomorrow, right?” She glanced over at Olivia, who was talking with the EMT, and Kate smiled.

  Sam followed his mother’s gaze, and his chest contracted. His mother looked up at him.

  “She’s a lovely girl, Sam.”

  “I know.”

  “I’m quite fond of her, and that doesn’t happen often.”

  He met his mother’s eyes. “I know where you’re going with this, and if I could change things, I would. But I can’t make promises I may not be able to keep. Do you understand?”

  She sighed. “I understand I raised a fine young man. That’s what I understand. But, Sam, maybe it’s time for you to move on to something else. You’ve served your country and served it well. I’m so, so proud of you. Think long and hard about everything before you make your final decision.”

  “Once I get my head on straight, I will consider...” He looked at Olivia and she turned her head at that moment and met his eyes. “Everything.” That’s what she was. Everything.

  “It was so good to have you home. I will want regular reports, Sam.”

  He smiled and squeezed his mother’s arm. “Yes, ma’am.”

  He turned and walked across the pool deck. “What’s the diagnosis? Will she live?”

  “She will,” the EMT said with an appreciative glance at Olivia. And why not? Olivia was a firecracker.

  Feeling proprietary, Sam slipped his arm around her and the EMT’s eyes dimmed. “Take care, Olivia,” he said as he turned and walked away.

  Sam shot her a sideways glance. “You okay?”

  She nodded, looking at him and then at the retreating EMT’s back. “He’s quite attractive, don’t you think?”

  “Actually I’m more interested in someone a bit smaller, more feminine and too observant for her own good and with a damn smart mouth.”

  She was amused with him. He could see it in the sparkling depths of her eyes, in the way the corners of her mouth flicked upward ever so slightly.

  Thad came across the lawn. “You two ready to go?”

  On the short ride back to Sam’s place, Olivia slipped her hand into his and he returned the pressure.

  “You going back to D.C. tomorrow, Sam?” Thad said, looking back at him.

  He nodded. “I’ll get Olivia to drive me to the airport.”

  “Okay.” Thad was visibly relieved, but his eyes were sad when he looked at Olivia. “Hey, man.” He twisted around so he could shake Sam’s hand. “It’s been great having you home. Don’t be a stranger. Let me know how it’s going in D.C.”

  “I promise. I’ll let you all know.”

  He got out of the car with Olivia. They walked hand in hand into the house he’d shared with her for just under a week. But it felt as if it had been longer.

  Then it occurred to him. He’d done what he’d always done. Made the decision without even consulting her. “Olivia,” he said as he turned to her after she shut the front door. “I wasn’t thinking. I assumed you’d want to stay with me tonight. But if it’s too much and you don’t want to, I can have Thad take me to the—”

  She covered his mouth with her fingers. “Oh, Sam, for such an intelligent man, you can be really dense.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her mouth to his. They had said everything, she had said everything, but he had held back the words. Instead he said it with his mouth and his hands.

  Longing welled up inside him, and he reached out to touch her to ease the ache, to fill the hole in his heart if only just for now. He cupped her cheek, feeling raw at the softness of it. He pressed his mouth to hers, tasting her, starving for her. His palms framed her face. He slipped his fingers into the thick caramel hair as soft silk. He would never be able to look at that shade of brown without thinking of her. For a consuming moment he g
azed down into her eyes, then bent his head again and took her mouth again, his lips trembling on hers.

  She sank into him, pressed hard against him. So small, so strong, so exquisitely feminine. She was his for the moment, for the night, for a memory he could take with him and hold on to.

  He soaked her up greedily and thought his heart would overflow.

  He dipped down and picked her up, cradling her against him. He walked to the bedroom, his eyes locked with hers. Inside his room, he set her down gently and stripped them both of their clothes.

  He kissed his way down her body, to her quivering belly and back up over her beautiful rose-tipped breasts. She lay back and stretched her arms over her head. His eyes locked on hers as he kneed her legs apart and settled his hips between hers.

  Olivia’s breath fluttered across his throat in a heated exhale. Then he filled her. Slowly. Inch by inch. His eyes still on hers. Giving her the essence of his maleness, being welcomed and embraced by the warm, tight glove of her woman’s body. Pressing deeper, deeper until she gasped his name. When the joining was complete, he pulled her to him in a crushing embrace.

  It went on forever. It could never have lasted long enough. They moved as one, body to body, need to need, heart to heart.

  Sam lost himself in the heat, in the bliss, in the comfort she offered him without words. He gave himself over to desire, thought nothing of tomorrow or the future, only of his Liv. So sweet, so strong. He wanted to give her everything, be everything for her. He wanted to press her to his heart and never let go. She filled a hole inside him, flooded all the pain away and made him believe for a moment he could start over with her, have a family, have peace, find forgiveness.

  They were wishful thoughts. But for this night he would cling to them as he clung to the woman in his arms.

  Afterward he held her and neither one of them slept. He talked about his family, his childhood, his college years and his hatred of practicing law and becoming a lawyer. He spoke about his time in the army, the friendships, the ups and downs, the devastating deaths and the unbelievable triumphs. Olivia reciprocated with more information about her childhood, how her brother had raised her, how her marine biologist parents had died at sea during a storm.

  “It’s about time we talked more about each other,” she said softly. “This has been such a crazy, adrenaline-filled few days with you, Sam. It feels good to just be together.”

  Sam absorbed her voice and the feel of her deep inside him, knowing it would carry him through the time ahead when he wouldn’t have her comfort. Leaving her felt like having his heart ripped out of his chest.

  * * *

  Olivia slipped from the bed at dawn and dressed silently in the soft light that filtered through the curtains. The time had finally come to let Sam go. It was going to hurt—was hurting already. But Olivia could never force a man like Sam to change, and she would never try. He did things in his own time according to his own code of ethics. She could only admire him for his strong and steadfast convictions. It made her love him more. She fought back the terrible lump in her throat and quickly wiped away the tears that were forming in her eyes.

  He was still sleeping. The nightmares, at least for the moment, seemed to have abated now that Sam wasn’t struggling with those terrible false memories of Trey and trying to reconcile them with the brother he knew and loved.

  She thought about John then, and her heart twisted for the loss of her brother, understanding how killing Trey would have left Sam a former shell of himself. It would have destroyed him, and these were the people his family were still continuing to battle if what Agent D’Angelis had said was true. She wanted to help them. She’d simply fallen in love with his mother and Debra and Lucy and both his handsome and amazing brothers. But she was wise enough to understand that now that the Cartel was exposed, people with specialized training could take over. In all the mess and chaos of the past few days, she would trust Sam not only with her life, but with making sure that the people who had ordered John’s death would pay for his murder. Even though Sam had so much to deal with, he had promised her and she trusted he would follow through.

  For a long while she stood by the bed and just studied him, needing to hold him in this moment in time. The light of the early morning didn’t quite penetrate the shadow of the bed. Sam lay sprawled on his belly, taking up most of the bed, his face buried in the crook of his arm. His bronzed back was a sculpture of lean, rippling muscle. The white sheet covered only a section of thigh and hips. One leg was bent at the knee, his thigh and calf strong, masculine and dusted with rough brown hair.

  She remembered the first time she’d seen his body, the first time she’d touched him, in a way that was supposed to be in a professional nature, and how she’d failed miserably. The first time she’d kissed that beautiful mouth when she’d barely known him. Their relationship was completely new, but Olivia knew without any doubt Sam was the man for her. The only man. That if he didn’t come back, if he decided that the army was his choice, she would forever feel as if a part of her had been lost with him. She would move on, most likely, but finding someone to measure up to him was going to be a challenge.

  Olivia memorized the way he looked in that moment and she accepted that she was in love with him. She had no idea where these feelings would lead, but she wouldn’t deny to herself that she felt them. She’d lied to herself enough in her lifetime.

  She had to let him go. Her indrawn breath ended on a soft sob. She tried to catch her breath, force air past the frenzy of her tumbling emotions and her rock-hard obligations.

  She wanted to wake him, grab him and run away from all this madness.

  But in the end, she knew this was the way it had to be.

  God, why now? Why did she have to go and fall in love with him now at this time in his life, when everything was in such flux for him?

  Because he had needed her, and as dawn broke over the horizon with ribbons of soft color, her heartbeat answered in kind.

  Unsure if her legs would hold her, she ran her hands over his shoulders and softly called his name.

  His sleepy eyes opened and the moment he registered her face, he pushed up in bed and swung his legs to the floor.

  “Sam...”

  His gaze connected with hers, the muscles along his jaw tensing. He reached for her and caught her against him in a fierce embrace, crushing them together from shoulder to thigh. His chest heaved as he held her locked against him. “It’s okay, Liv. It’s okay, sweetheart.”

  She shook her head, barely able to take a breath, a hot thickness that was growing denser and heavier in her chest.

  His rib cage expanding with a shaky sigh, he let her go and without a word went into the bathroom. She heard the shower come on and she sat down heavily on the bed.

  When he emerged, he dressed and packed up his duffel, finally ready to go.

  Outside, the sun was blazing in a glorious spring morning that could only happen in Raleigh. Sam put his arm around her and brushed his mouth against her hair as they walked to his car. She slipped her arm around his waist, a feeling of such longing settling in her.

  He cupped his hand along her jaw, his fingers catching in her hair as he brushed an infinitely gentle kiss against her temple.

  Olivia looked at him. He held her gaze for a second, his expression taut, then he released his breath on an uneven sigh, his hand trailing down her neck as he pulled away.

  He started the car and backed out of his driveway.

  Once they hit the beltline, he reached out and caught her hand, then drew it against his thigh. Olivia’s heart stalled, spreading her hand against his leg, trying to communicate everything inside her by touch alone. He massaged the back of her hand with the heel of his, then laced his fingers through hers, his thumb caressing her palm. She pressed down on her emotions to keep the pain and longing she was already feeli
ng at bay.

  As they pulled into a parking space across from the terminal, Olivia’s hands tightened in her lap. Once outside the truck, he offered her his hand and with the pain in her chest escalating, she took it, gently rubbing at his skin.

  Once inside the terminal, Sam completed his check-in and they proceeded to the line for security.

  He dropped his duffel and pulled her into his arms. “This is where we say goodbye, sweetheart.”

  “I don’t want to say goodbye,” she said softly. “I’ll just say take care, Sam.” Tears welled up in her eyes, and her throat tightened.

  “Liv,” he whispered.

  “Give me your phone,” she said, stepping back a bit from him.

  He pulled it out of the back pocket of his jeans. She took it from his hand and accessed his contact list and added herself.

  “There, now you can call me if you want to, but there’s no pressure.” Tears slipped down her face and he brushed them away with his thumb.

  He cupped her cheek and pressed his mouth to hers. She kissed him fiercely, desperately.

  “You stay out of trouble.”

  “That should be much easier without you around,” she said with a soft smile.

  “Still sassy, Team Owens?”

  “Always, Lone Ranger.”

  He smiled and she smiled back at him as he picked up his duffel and turned away from her.

  Olivia was trembling badly by the time he moved out of sight. Heading back to his truck, she drove back to his house, cleaned up a bit, grabbed her stuff and called a cab. Back at her apartment, she expected to find nothing but a terrible mess, but instead it was cleaned up, even the furniture that had been destroyed replaced.

  “Kate,” she said softly; she had mentioned it to Sam’s mother when she had been a guest in her home while Sam was being assessed. She dropped down on her sofa and finally let herself fully and completely cry at the loss of Sam.

  * * *

  Four weeks after leaving Liv teary and looking lost at the airport, Sam sat in front of Lieutenant Tim Aldrich’s desk.