by Vanessa Kier
“Hey, Pirate,” Gabby greeted the cat, a laugh in her voice. She squatted down and rubbed the back of his head, then ran her finger between his ears and down the line of black fur separating the tawny right side of his face from the chocolate colored left side. Pirate butted his head into her palm, demanding a deeper caress. She picked him up in her arms and gave him a serious head rub.
“Lucky cat,” Rafe said.
Startled by how close his voice sounded, Gabby looked up and found that Rafe had left his rock and stood right in front of her. Her breath caught and her heart tripped over itself at the way his eyes devoured her.
She found herself grinning idiotically back at him, because his reaction was so typically Rafe. No beating around the bush for him. Just straightforward lust.
Pirate meowed and kneaded her with his claws, chastising her for neglecting her petting. Gabby gave him one more vigorous rub on the top of his head, then set him on the ground. Pirate rubbed himself against her legs and looked up at her. When he didn’t get the attention he needed, he moved to Rafe. But Rafe was fully focused on Gabby. With an unhappy swish of his tail, Pirate stalked away.
Leaving Gabby staring at Rafe, not certain what to say. I missed you. I love you, will you give me the rest of your life, seemed far too direct. She didn’t want to scare him off.
Dios, she looked fantastic. It was all Rafe could do not to haul her into his arms and kiss her senseless. But he’d made himself a promise. This time he’d court her properly. Give her all the romantic trappings she deserved. Show her every day how much he loved her.
Rafe cleared his throat to break the uncomfortable tension between them. “Hey, Gabby,” he said. “You’re, uh, looking good.” Ugh. Good? She looked fantastic. So sexy, heat pooled in his groin.
Her hair was different. Kind of full and stacked in the back. The ends of her hair now formed longer points in the front, highlighting her cheekbones and making her eyes look enormous.
Eyes that watched him with a mix of wariness, hope and heat.
He focused on the heat. As long as she still wanted him, then everything was going to be okay.
Even if she didn’t seem willing, or able, to speak.
“So, um…” he began. “Sorry it took so long to join you. Mission turned out more complicated than expected.” Stop acting like a bumbling idiot, he told himself. Just say it.
“Okay, here’s the deal,” he said on a rush. He took a deep breath to steady his voice before continuing. “We haven’t had what anyone would call a normal relationship, so I think we should start over and do this right.”
He held out his hand. “Hi. I’m Rafe Andros. I’d really like to get to know you better. Will you accept me as your tour guide? My father’s family comes from Mykonos, an island not far from here. I’d love to show you around.”
Gabby placed her hand in his and beamed up at him with such radiance, Rafe felt as powerful as Zeus himself.
“Pleased to meet you, Rafe. I’m Gabby Montague.” She moved toward him. “I’d very much like a tour guide. But I’d like something else even more.”
She was close enough that he could smell suntan lotion, sweat, and underneath it all, Gabby’s cherry vanilla scent. He would have closed his eyes and let himself get lost in the scent, except he was captured by the way her eyes darkened and her tongue slipped out to wet her lips.
He almost groaned.
“Anything you want, you get,” he said hoarsely. “It’s all about you.”
Her lips curled in a sensual smile that damn near sent him to his knees. That was all the warning he got before she leaned in and took his mouth in a hot, ravenous kiss.
“I need you,” she murmured.
His arms clamped around her and he dragged her closer until their bodies were aligned chest to thigh. Gabby hummed deep in her throat, a low sound of pleasure that made Rafe forget all his good intentions.
Almost. “You sure?” he said raggedly, pulling away slightly so he could see her expression. “I had a slow, romantic wooing all planned out.”
“Yeah,” Gabby said with a shaky laugh. “I’ve missed you so damn much. Romance can wait.” She nipped at his bottom lip. Rafe groaned and took her mouth again, giving himself completely over to her.
A heavy slap on his back and the laughter-tinged voice of the fisherman congratulating Rafe on his good luck broke the sensual spell.
Rafe pulled back from the kiss. Gabby blinked up at him, her face dazed with arousal. He reached down and laced his fingers in hers. “How about dinner in town?” he suggested. “We can finish this later.”
She nodded and let him lead her back toward her bungalow, her head leaning on his shoulder. “You won’t leave me?”
He shook his head and smiled down at her. “Just because I want to take it slow doesn’t mean anything has changed. You’re mine. I love you. I just want you to get to know the new me.”
Gabby rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. “Silly man. I loved you even when you were more beast than man. Nothing’s going to change that. Still, romance sounds nice.”
He laughed. “All right then. How about we start by watching the sunset?” He pulled Gabby down to sit beside him on the low wall surrounding her patio and put his arm around her.
As the sun slowly sank out of sight and the night took over, Rafe knew that his life was just beginning. A life of love with this amazing woman by his side.
Go back to where it all started. Keep reading for an excerpt of Vengeance, Book 1 in the SSU Trilogy.
Excerpt from Vengeance
by Vanessa Kier
Wednesday, Late Afternoon
Surgical Strike Unit Training Compound
Oregon
Jenna Paterson had five minutes to rescue the hostage.
She nodded and her partner rammed open the door. With steady hands, Jenna pulled the pin on a flash grenade and lobbed it into the room. She quickly turned her head away, closing her eyes to protect her vision against the brilliant explosion. Then waited for her team leader to give the signal to enter. Thankfully, the shock of the grenade had startled the hostage inside into silence. Jenna had been afraid that one more minute of listening to the woman’s terrified screams would throw her back to the night two years ago when she’d been attacked.
Don’t remember, she warned herself. It’s not the same. You’re not the victim this time. Your job is to save this poor woman from further abuse at the hands of the terrorists.
Yet her body wasn’t buying it. Her stomach tightened in dread and her mouth was as dry as the paint on a da Vinci. She pressed her back tightly against the cheap plasterboard wall of the hallway. Inhaled the scent of the grenade’s fumes and underneath that, the nauseating mixture of fresh paint and fresh blood. She tightened her grip on her automatic rifle and hoped the team leader would give the go-ahead before her nerves got the better of her.
Stick to the plan, the voice inside her head chanted. These are not the men who attacked you. That’s not Kai in there.
Jenna clenched her teeth. She was better now. She was. She hadn’t frozen during action since the last time they’d rescued a female prisoner in the middle of being raped.
“Go!” The voice of her team leader came clearly over the headset. At a nod from her partner, Jenna drew in a deep breath and counted to five. He went through the door first, high and to the left followed by Jenna rolling low and to the right.
The next minutes were a surrealistic blur. Muzzle flashes turned the lingering smoke from the grenade into a multicolored cloud. The hostage cried out in fear, not realizing she was being rescued. The terrorists grunted in pain, writhing in grotesque death dances as the bullets from Jenna’s teammates found their targets.
Then, suddenly, silence. Jenna lay on her stomach, panting, her heart racing as she searched for another target. But the room was still.
Three short bursts from a whistle signaled the end of the exercise. The house lights came up and the experienced Surgical Strike Unit operators who’d
been playing the terrorists rose to their feet, laser tagged vests glowing where they’d been “hit” by her team’s fire.
One of the terrorists pulled off his baseball cap, revealing sweat-stained blond hair. For a second he looked so much like Kai that Jenna turned her weapon toward him before reality returned. Reeling from the close call, she quickly lowered her weapon.
Thank God the man hadn’t noticed her targeting him. She never would have lived that one down. As she pushed hastily to her feet she snuck a glance at the rest of the room to make sure no one else had seen. And met the fierce chocolate eyes of Niko Andros.
Her heart stuttered. Didn’t that figure? The one person who’d observed her slip was today’s guest trainer, the man her classmates spoke about in awed whispers. The man who, with the predatory stillness of his body and the wary intelligence in his eyes, reminded Jenna of a falcon.
Jenna did her best to act casual, like nothing had happened, but Niko glanced from her weapon to the guy she’d almost shot and raised one eyebrow. Damn. She shrugged and forced a slight smile, hoping Niko would chalk her edginess up to adrenaline.
After holding her gaze for an uncomfortable moment, Niko’s expression shifted from questioning to a banked heat that caused an alarming frisson of sexual awareness to shoot through her. Feeling her cheeks flush, she quickly turned away.
Her stomach churned with nausea. She couldn’t handle this. Not now. Yes, she’d worked hard since the rape to get over her fear of being the object of a man’s sexual interest. She couldn’t train with guys and not expect to receive a few suggestive looks or comments. But until today she’d never felt anything but revulsion in response to a man’s attention.
The doctors would say that her appreciation of Niko as a male was a positive step. Yet even as a brief image of her running her fingers through his short dark hair flashed in her mind, panic began a familiar beat in her veins.
She had to get out of here. Had to—
“Hey, you okay?” her partner Elliot asked. She nodded, unable to meet his eyes. Afraid he’d see her fear. Hoping he hadn’t seen the look Niko had given her. What could she say? “I’m scared to death because for the first time in two years I’m actually feeling attraction toward a man, but all I can remember when I think of sex is pain and blood?” Yeah, that would go over well.
Thankfully, Elliot didn’t push for a better answer. Ignoring her trembling legs, Jenna followed him and the rest of her teammates outside where their trainers waited to review the afternoon’s exercise. One of a handful of privately-funded special operations groups that had sprung up in recent years, the Surgical Strike Unit, or SSU, had one of the best reputations for skilled operators in the world. Which meant their trainers accepted nothing but success.
The “terrorists” and the “hostage” moved into place in the center of the assembly area, then the senior trainer read out the statistics. Jenna had killed every one of her targets. She nodded, relieved that her nerves hadn’t affected her performance and proud that she hadn’t even hesitated this time. Not like during the exercise a month ago, when seeing the victim pinned face down under her attacker had thrown Jenna back to the night she and her family had been attacked. Trapped in memories, she’d lost awareness of the action around her. When the exercise had finished and the trainers turned up the lights it took them five minutes to bring her attention back to the present.
From his position in line with the other trainers, Niko mouthed “Good job” at her. Jenna managed a slight nod in response, then looked away before he sensed the panic his continued attention caused her.
Taking slow, deep breaths, Jenna told herself Niko wasn’t a threat. Besides, she wouldn’t see him again after today. Rumor had it that he’d been pulled out of deep cover in Afghanistan when his joint mission with the DEA had been compromised, but that Niko was headed back to Afghanistan the day after tomorrow to set things right.
So, all she had to do was avoid appearing too nervous for the rest of the afternoon, and she wouldn’t have to worry about his effect on her any more. Thankfully, no one else on the team threatened to break her reputation for being impervious to emotion. After two years of struggling to keep herself together so she wouldn’t be thrown out of the training program due to psychological instability, she couldn’t afford to have her suitability as an operator questioned now. Not with only four months until graduation.
“Hey, Thompkins, you shot out my knee again, you moron,” one of the trainees jibed. “I’m your partner, not a damn terrorist, man.”
Thompkins shot his roommate a one-fingered salute. “If you’d moved your lazy ass out of the way you wouldn’t have been shot.”
The man next to Jenna snorted. “Right. That’s what? Excuse number five hundred and twelve? Face it, you’re never gonna be as good as Paterson, here. Beat by a girl.”
“Yeah, she’s accurate. When she doesn’t freeze up and get herself killed,” Thompkins groused.
There was an awkward pause as everyone’s eyes turned to Jenna. “It only happened once,” she muttered, feeling her cheeks heat at the unaccustomed attention. Her teammates didn’t usually include her in their banter. “I’m not the one who just shot his partner for the second time this week.”
Thompkins blinked in surprise over her retort. Usually she kept her mouth shut.
“Ha! Don’t mess with Jenna, boys. She’s got bite.” Tracy Wardynski, the only other female in their training class, bumped her shoulder companionably against Jenna’s.
Jenna allowed the contact, although it hinted at a camaraderie she didn’t feel. The attack on her family had destroyed her ability to connect with others. Her heart was a cold, barren place with no room for anything but vengeance. Friendship was a risk she refused to take.
Yet she had to quell an inexplicable urge to glance over at Niko.
After the trainees and role-playing agents finished their reports, the senior trainer stepped to the center of the group, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Well done, team,” the trainer said. Then he gave them a dangerous smile that had all of them groaning. “Gear up and head to these coordinates,” he barked, reading off longitude and latitude. “You have half an hour to get there. Starting…now!”
Jenna typed the coordinates into her watch, then sprinted down the trail with the rest of the trainees.
Vengeance, Book 1 in the SSU Trilogy, is available now. Keep reading for an excerpt of Betrayal, Book 2 in the SSU Trilogy.
Excerpt from Betrayal
by Vanessa Kier
Friday, Afternoon
Branco River, Amazon River Basin
Upriver from Caracaraí, Brazil
Kai Paterson stood at the bow of the souped-up fishing boat, staring at the jungle flanking the river. Humidity pressed against his skin like a lover. Underneath the boat’s odor of fish and diesel fumes he caught the jungle’s signature stench of rotten vegetation and sweet flowers. But his mind wasn’t on the present.
“Why do you get to go after the girl,” Rafe Andros had groused over four months ago, “while I’m left trekking in the woods with a bunch of smelly, foul-mouthed men?” A characteristic smile had teased the corners of his mouth.
Kai had laughed and lightly punched his brother-in-law and fellow Surgical Strike Unit agent on the shoulder. “Because you’re the ex-Ranger, my friend. You’re the one trained in covert rescue and assault. I’m just a scientist turned spy.”
Kai shook his head. Just a scientist turned spy. Right. Try scientist turned spy turned grieving son and brother turned ruthless killer turned…what? Hell. He didn’t even know who he was anymore.
He could only say one thing for certain. He wasn’t a quitter.
Two years ago he’d gone undercover in Dr. Nevsky’s lab, investigating allegations that in his quest to create superhuman spies and soldiers the scientist tortured and killed his subjects. Today Dr. Nevsky was dead, but his assistant Dr. Kaufmann carried on Nevsky’s program, continuing to elude the SSU while wreaking
havoc with its agents’ lives.
Out on the river, a fish broke the surface then quickly disappeared into the murky water. Yeah, wasn’t that a metaphor for his life these days? Barely able to take a clean breath before he waded back into the muck.
Rafe had gone missing in action two months ago during a mission to shut down Kaufmann’s lab. Despite wanting to join the search for his missing friend, Kai knew it was his job to put an end to Nevsky’s legacy of horror. To do that, he had to find Nevsky’s daughter, former supermodel turned archaeologist Susana Dias.
He had to admire the irony of cruel, amoral Dr. Nevsky fathering Susana Dias, the half-American, half-Brazilian beauty who’d graced the cover of every fashion and gossip magazine during Kai’s high school and college years. Unlike his friends, he’d never put her poster on his wall, but he still remembered how the hint of laughter in her large brown eyes made her seem approachable. As if she saw the world as a giant party and had been inviting him to join her.
According to Susana’s background file, she’d left modeling behind years ago to enter the world of archaeology. Since then she’d made a number of significant discoveries and published several articles in prestigious academic journals, proving she was intelligent and insightful as well as beautiful. An intriguing woman. He looked forward to meeting her.
Too bad he had to deliver the news that her father had used Susana as a human filing cabinet. Christ. Even knowing the lengths to which Nevsky went to keep his data secure, Kai still couldn’t believe the man had taken the microchip containing his project data and implanted it in Susana’s abdomen. No wonder they hadn’t been able to find the damn thing. There hadn’t been any record of Nevsky even having a daughter.
But he did. Susana Dias. The woman whose mere image roused Kai’s desire for the first time in over two years.
Unfortunately, Susana’s connection to Nevsky was a reminder of all Kai had lost because of the scientist and his microchip. His family brutally murdered. Kai falsely accused of killing not just his family, but Dr. Nevsky and of stealing Nevsky’s microchip.