Hot Shot (A Hostile Operations Team Novel)(#5)

by Lynn Raye Harris

  “Ah, Gina, how lovely to see you again.”

  Gina spun around as Stavros walked into the room. He wasn’t quite as tall as Athenasios had been, or as broad, but he was unmistakably a Metaxas with his dark slashing brows and curly hair. And he was just as dirty as his brother had been, trading illegal weapons for cash and not caring how many people got hurt because of it.

  “How dare you?” Gina spat, and Jack felt the first prickle of alarm slide down his spine. She stalked toward their host, her body vibrating with fury, and Jack wanted to snatch her back against him and pull a gun on Stavros before he could hurt her.

  But Jack didn’t move, and Stavros didn’t look anything other than amused.

  “You took my baby off a street, Stavros! You traumatized him! I want to see him right now.”

  Stavros’s face darkened. “You are in no position to demand anything!” He leaned toward Gina, his teeth bared. “You thought you could keep Athenasios’s baby a secret from me? From the family?”

  Gina, God, don’t say it. Don’t.

  He knew she was seething, that she wanted to tell this man again that Eli wasn’t a Metaxas, but they’d talked about this. If Stavros learned that Eli wasn’t his brother’s, he would have no incentive to keep any of them alive. For now, he wanted the kid—but if there was no family connection between them, what was the point?

  Yeah, she’d shouted it at him over the phone in Vegas, but he clearly hadn’t believed her. And why would he? If she insisted now, the game might change.

  She dropped her gaze and went for demure. Jack breathed a sigh of relief.

  “I did it to protect Eli,” she said.

  “I will protect him now,” Stavros said angrily. “And I will protect you.”

  Gina’s head snapped up. “I don’t need your protection. I have my own.”

  Stavros’s gaze flicked to him. “This is your protection?” He snorted. “I let you bring him because it made you feel better, but my men have disarmed him. What kind of protection is that?”

  “I don’t need your protection, Stavros.”

  “And I think you do.”

  She lifted her chin. “From what? Random stalkers? Overly enthusiastic fans?”

  Stavros reached out and ran a finger along her cheek and Jack stiffened. He kept his expression neutral, his eyes on a fixed point on the wall. But he saw everything, and he wanted to strangle this man for daring to touch her.

  “I know you were here that day, Gina. The day Athenasios died.”

  She paled. “I don’t know what you mean. I wasn’t here. I left after we docked that day—”

  His hand was over her mouth now and Jack’s gut twisted. “Hush, Gina mou. Do not tell me that lie. I know. Maria was here, too. And she told me everything.”

  “Who?”

  “The maid, my dear.”

  “She’s mistaken.”

  “She was not mistaken. She was very clear. I made her repeat it before she died.”

  “Sh…she died? How did it happen?”

  “It was necessary. For your safety. There are men who would not be happy if they knew you were here when their brethren died.”

  “What men?” Her voice was barely audible.

  He didn’t answer. “Let me protect you, Gina. Let me keep you safe…”

  Stavros had his hands on her shoulders and he was leaning toward her again. Jack closed his eyes and told himself not to react. Not to go over and throw the man against the wall. He’d be dead if he did that, and Gina would be on her own. She was smart and strong, and she could take care of herself up to the point where he had to intervene. And he would let her do it so long as he could.

  She put her hands on his chest and pressed her cheek to his shirt. “Oh, Stavros. Thank you.”

  She was cutting off the kiss, Jack told himself. Her eyes met his, just briefly, and he saw the abject fear in them. She’d done the only thing she could think of to prevent him from kissing her, but she hated the fact she was standing in this man’s arms.

  Stavros wrapped his arms around her, held her close. And then he dipped his head and pressed his nose to her hair. Jack’s blood ran cold.

  “Athenasios was a part of some terrible things. He knew terrible men. They will want revenge if they know. I’ve done everything I can to keep your secret, but if they find out…”

  Gina managed to extract herself from his arms. “Revenge for what? I don’t know anything!”

  She paced away from him while Stavros clenched his fists at his sides and watched her with hot, greedy eyes. Jack could see on the other man’s face that he wanted to possess her. That he had no intention of letting her go.

  Crap, where was HOT?

  Stavros Metaxas was the incompetent younger brother who’d lived in the elder’s shadow. But he’d inherited the business, and now he wanted the woman his brother had been with, the woman he’d thought had given birth to his brother’s baby. Stavros wanted to possess her as if she were a status symbol. As if having her would somehow make him better than Athenasios.

  That’s what this entire thing was about. He’d kidnapped her child to force her to come here. To force her to become his. So that he could one-up a ghost.

  A fresh chill spread through Jack’s gut. He wouldn’t let it happen. He’d told her he was jealous, and he was. She belonged to him. When he’d been buried inside her, when she’d been screaming his name and shuddering around his cock, he knew she was his. And he couldn’t imagine her being someone else’s. Not even for the sake of this deception.

  “You were here,” Stavros said. “You escaped while others died. How did you do this, Gina?”

  She wrapped her arms around her middle. “I took a car and drove. And then I got stuck and I walked until I found the beach. I had to hide in a cave, but on the second day there was a fisherman—and he took me to Iron Bay. I called Barry and he arranged everything.” She sniffed. “But why did you take my baby, Stavros? Why didn’t you come and talk to me about this in person?”

  Stavros’s expression hardened while she spoke. “Eli is where he belongs, and now you are too.” He walked over and took both her hands in his. “We’re getting married, Gina. If you want your baby back, you’re going to marry me.”

  Gina’s skin went white and her mouth fell open. Jack’s teeth were going to crack.

  “M…married?”

  “Yes,” Stavros said, his voice cool and deadly calm. And then he snapped his fingers and a door opened. A priest walked in, followed by two acolytes. “Married. Right here. Right now. That is the deal.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “I… I NEED TO see Eli first,” Gina said, her throat so tight it was hard to get the words out. She couldn’t quite credit that Stavros was standing here with a priest and telling her she was going to marry him. Now, this very minute.

  And yet she didn’t doubt that he meant it—and she couldn’t see how she was going to get out of it.

  Stavros’s dark eyes were hard. He’d always made her skin crawl and now was no exception. He grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the priest. She stumbled on her spiked heels and fell against him. She didn’t dare to look at Jack as Stavros righted her. He took the opportunity to run his hand over her breast while he was at it and she wanted to puke on his expensive loafers.

  But that would do her no good.

  “After we’re married,” Stavros said, giving her a smile that threatened to make her throw up anyway.

  Gina dug in as he pulled her forward. No, oh please no. How could she do this with Jack here? How could she possibly do this?

  “I really think Eli should be a part of this ceremony,” she blurted. “He’s a Metaxas, and you’re going to be his father. He should witness this moment when his family comes together.”

  Her heart hammered in her throat, but she prayed he didn’t notice the fluttering of her pulse. He terrified her—but that’s because she now realized he was utterly cracked in the head. She’d thought he was creepy before, but now she k
new he was mad. Or maybe he wasn’t mad in the conventional sense, but he was definitely out of touch with reality in the areas where he wanted to create his own reality.

  And if she could play up to that, he might let her see her baby. She didn’t know if Jack could stop this, but maybe if she stalled a little bit, his team might arrive for backup.

  He’d told her he usually went in with a radio link, but they hadn’t been willing to risk it for this operation so he was working blind. But HOT knew where they were because he had a GPS tracker on his phone—and an extra one on his body, just in case. Stavros hadn’t confiscated their phones, probably because he didn’t see how that was an issue for him out here on his remote peninsula. Who the hell were they going to call anyway? The cops?

  Not likely, and Stavros knew it.

  “Perhaps you are right.” Stavros stared at her thoughtfully for a long moment. “Tell Patricia to bring the boy,” he said to one of the guards standing at the door.

  The man disappeared and Gina’s heart thudded. A bead of sweat trickled between her breasts. She could feel the gun against her thigh. It was a solid hunk of metal against her body, weighing her down and reminding her that she wasn’t as vulnerable as Stavros thought. So help her God, no matter what Jack had said to her about the gun, if Stavros tried to rape her, she would shoot him herself.

  It only took a few minutes, but a woman walked into the room carrying Eli, and Gina burst into tears as she rushed toward her son.

  “Mama!” he cried, stretching his little arms out, and Gina grabbed him and held him close while she sobbed.

  She needed to get it together, needed to be strong and get through these next few minutes with Stavros—and with Jack—but she couldn’t stop crying. And that made Eli start to cry, which forced her to snap out of it damn quick.

  She pushed his hair off his forehead and kissed his little cheeks.

  “Oh, baby, Mommy’s sorry. Don’t cry, sweetheart. Mommy’s happy. See?” She forced a smile, though she was shaking desperately, and Eli hiccupped a couple of times. Then he collapsed onto her chest and hugged her tight.

  Love flooded her. She would do anything to keep him safe. Absolutely anything, including marry Stavros if that’s what it took

  Gina managed to glance at Jack, and the look on his face pierced her heart. She hated this for him. Hated that he had to see his son for the first time like this. He couldn’t hold Eli, or talk to him, or do anything but stand there stiffly and pretend to be completely unconcerned with everything going on around him.

  He was about as important as the furniture to Stavros, and she supposed she should be thankful because it meant Stavros had dismissed him as useless.

  “Give him back to Patricia,” Stavros ordered coldly. “And let’s get on with it.”

  Gina hugged Eli tight. She wanted to refuse. She never wanted to let Eli go again, but if she didn’t hand him over, she risked his safety because Stavros would have him taken by force. She kissed Eli’s cheeks and gave him to the woman standing there with her arms out. Eli started to cry again, reaching for Gina, his little face turning red as he screamed.

  Stavros was beginning to look furious as Eli’s screams didn’t cease.

  “Please let me hold him,” Gina said. “He’ll be calm if I’m holding him.”

  Color slashed Stavros’s cheeks. “Do it then.”

  Gina took Eli back and he buried his head against her neck. She was furious and frightened, and yet she had to pretend everything was okay. She turned toward the priest and stood there quietly, rocking Eli in her arms and just letting herself be in the moment with him.

  He was safe. Safe. And he was hers.

  “Begin,” Stavros ordered, and the priest opened his Bible.

  “We are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony…”

  *

  “Holy Christ, Lucky,” Kev said as his wife untied her bikini top and dropped it on the teak decking.

  “Shut up, handsome.” She stood and waved toward the men on the shore. “Woohoo!” she screamed like a college coed on spring break.

  Nick had to hand it to her. Lucky not only crushed balls—terrorist balls—but she had elephant-sized balls of her own.

  She reminded him of a woman he’d gone to sniper school with. Victoria Royal had a stripper’s name and a stripper’s hot body. All the guys had wanted her, but she’d wanted nothing to do with any of them. She’d been his only real competition there. A fiery redhead with rain-gray eyes and a mouth he’d wanted to kiss senseless before watching it wrap around his cock.

  But if Victoria had disliked all the men in sniper school, she’d hated him especially. He wondered what had happened to her. Last he’d heard, she’d left the Army and disappeared into obscurity. Probably went back home, married some guy, and started popping out kids.

  Nick stroked the stock of his Mk12 SPR sniper rifle where it lay against the side of the flybridge and tried to be patient. It was a risk coming in here like this, but it was their only choice. Nick let his gaze run over the yacht’s gleaming reflection in the water. Damn shame, but this baby was going to get a few bullet holes in her before the day was done.

  Men along the shore—men who were clearly supposed to be guarding Metaxas’s compound—watched Lucky with the kind of slack-jawed focus that only bare tits could cause. The yacht glided up alongside the dock and Flash threw out a line. One of the stupid bastards caught it and tied it off.

  “Hey, y’all,” Lucky said, strutting across the deck while Kev tried not to look as if he would kill someone. “Is this Leon Barton’s place? I swore we wouldn’t be late, but my stupid boy toy here can’t read a map. Can you believe it? Has the party started yet?”

  “Uh, ma’am, you’ve got the wrong place. You really need to turn around and go.”

  Lucky managed to look crestfallen as she put her hands on her hips and thrust her breasts out. Nick decided to enjoy the show since everyone else was. Plus Kev couldn’t see him. Like most of the guys, he didn’t often think of Lucky as a woman since she was one of the team—but times like this… Well, shit, it was impossible not to realize how fucking hot she was. Kev was one fortunate bastard.

  “What? Are you sure?” Lucky turned and glared at Kev as if it was all his fault. He was standing there in board shorts and reflective Ray-Bans, a beer in his hand, looking like a hapless good ol’ boy out for a sail with a high-maintenance woman. “You know, you’ve got a big dick, but you’re fucking stupid as hell,” she said disgustedly.

  Then she turned and walked back over to her lounge chair where she picked up an oversized T-shirt and slipped it over her head. Nick was almost sorry the show was ending—not only Lucky half-naked, but also Lucky giving Kev hell because that sure was amusing—but another show was about to begin. And that one was going to be fun for them all.

  As soon as Matt gave the signal, Nick lifted the rifle and started picking off targets.

  *

  She was stuck at the part where she was supposed to say “I do.”

  Gina stood there with Eli tight in her arms and swallowed hard while the priest waited for her to speak the words that would bind her to Stavros.

  Dear God, Stavros. She closed her eyes and fought down a wave of bile. Jack was behind her, quiet and deadly and solid. She wanted him to take the gun from between her legs and put a stop to this. She needed him to act.

  But he didn’t. No one did. They simply waited.

  “Gina,” Stavros said, his voice a warning.

  “Y…yes,” she said. “I d…do.”

  Her heart cried out in agony when she said the words. She’d never been married before, and she didn’t want to marry Stavros. She wanted it to be Jack standing beside her. Jack who she promised to love, honor, and cherish.

  But it was Stavros, and her belly churned. She could get through this if she had to, but please God, please don’t make her have to have a wedding night with him. She’d thought she could do it if she had to, but after the
things she’d experienced with Jack, she would rather die than give herself to this man.

  The priest turned to Stavros and started to ask him the questions that would bind them together. But there was a shout outside and then another. The sound of gunfire shattered the air and Stavros whirled. But then he grabbed her and Eli and dragged them toward the door where one of his personal bodyguards stood with drawn weapon and dead eyes.

  She turned to look over her shoulder at Jack. He was looking right at her, his eyes sharp and hot and filled with fury. Her heart skipped a beat at the look on his face. His eyes slid to the guard, then back to her—and then he was in motion, rushing toward her, tumbling onto the floor in front of her. A second later, his hand was on her thigh—and the gun came free from the holster.

  He aimed between her legs and the gun exploded twice in succession. Gina couldn’t even scream it was so sudden. Eli did, however, and she hugged him tight and tried to reassure him.

  “Get down, Gina,” Jack ordered, and she dropped to the floor as he fired again and again.

  Her gaze met the priest’s across the room. His eyes were wide as he made the sign of the cross. His acolytes were huddled together on the floor, praying.

  Outside, the gunfire was rapid and strong, and Gina prayed that Jack’s team were the ones winning. If they weren’t, then she didn’t think that she and Jack and Eli would be trekking across the island or holing up in a cave. If Jack’s team wasn’t winning, they were all dead.

  Something exploded nearby, and Gina gasped. A huge fireball roared upward into the blue sky, and men screamed and shouted.

  Jack got to his feet and went over to the door. There were four men lying on the floor and Gina’s gaze darted between them as she prayed Stavros was one of them.

  He wasn’t, and her heart sank like a stone.

  “Come on,” Jack said from the door, and Gina got up and followed him. He handed her a gun he’d taken from one of the dead men, and she realized he had the rest of them on his body.

  “I don’t know how to use this,” she confessed as Eli wrapped his arms around her neck and held on tight. He’d stopped crying and she thought maybe he was fascinated by all the noise and commotion rather than scared now.