THE WATCHERS: 6 Military Romance Bundle

by Kristina Weaver

  “I took him out a while back with the help of Irina and her girls and just kept it to myself for the perfect opportunity to arise, ya know?” I say, grinning as the baby looks over at me and coos, honest to God as if he understands what I’m saying and agrees. He’s a creepy little thing, but adorable.

  Storm chuckles and nods his understanding before setting the empty bottle back on the table to burp the kid, who apparently takes after his father in enthusiasm. Darn cute when a little thing like that lets off a belch loud enough to signal ships.

  “So, you’re using the Fazir thing to reel in your old buddies. Interesting. Why make it all so hard on yourself though. Far as I can tell, and according to Jericho, you have Harem infiltrating Shadow. Just let those blood-thirsty ladies have at them and walk away.”

  Ahh, I wish. The whole messed up part of this is that Shadow would be gone—a good thing—but Nick and the others would still be sitting on a potential landmine with information they don’t even know they have, information that could have the roaches crawling out of the woodwork indefinitely. I need that information so that my contact can clean it all up and close it off for good. Plus, I promised to bring Fazir’s operation down for good, and to do that I need them to come to us.

  It’s intricate and delicate, this plan, but if all goes well…

  “The intel. I need it.”

  “Trace, I have no fucking idea what they think we have. I told you. I can’t give you something I can’t find, man,” he sighs, closing his eyes tiredly.

  “Kinsley will find it. I know that evil little genius won’t fail us.”

  “Fine. Done. Lex and Blaze are on security, so we’re safe for the time being until they decide to come at us, and the girls are okay with lockdown for now. Let’s talk about your intentions then.”

  Oh crap. He’s got that hard look in his eye and a mean sneer curls his lips as he glares at me over the sleeping baby’s head.

  “Jess doesn’t need you to fuck with her again. You hurt her like you did before, and I will personally kill you myself. Lenny likes her, and apparently, she’s including her in all the girl stuff those crazy ass women have planned for the next few months. Oh, and Evie’s already planning the wedding, no matter how many times the guys keep telling her to back off. As it stands, Lex has a hole dug for you out back. Just in case.”

  I can’t help my laughter, or the happiness I feel just knowing that these men have pulled Jess back into the fold, a fold I can be part of if I play my cards right. Thank God I’m a decent poker player, huh?

  “Good, that means I won’t have to deal with that wedding stuff myself, because we all know that woman would as soon peel her own face off than plan a wedding.” I grin. “I bought the old Burns place last week, and the contractors are out there working on it as we speak.”

  “You’re letting contractors work on your house?” he sneers, making me flip him the bird. “Pathetic. What’s next, you gonna sit and pee and wipe your ass with two ply?”

  “Screw you, loser. I have a time crunch, and besides, I’d rather get to the sex part and lock Jess down. No sense making plans if my queen isn’t on board,” I point out.

  He laughs, the evil prick, and keeps eyeing me as he stands and places the baby in the portable crib before grabbing two beers and retaking his seat.

  “Dude, that queen is so on board; she’s just a lot smarter than you are.”

  The laughter I can do without, really, but I stop the dirty retort I have for him. I pause to think, my brain feeling a little sluggish, which of course makes him laugh his ass off. The idiot.

  He doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t need to because I start actually thinking about Jess’s behavior over the past week, and it hits me. The little sneak. That gloriously sly little demon.

  “Shit. She’s freaking fly fishing me?” I groan, scrubbing a hand down my face as the week unfolds in clear detail.

  The way she smiled at me sweetly when we all went into Lenny’s hospital room to congratulate her and see the baby. The look she gave me when I held Oscar before she turned away and started ignoring me.

  The little touches she keeps giving me whenever we’re in the same room, which for the last three days hasn’t been all that often, which…dammit, I’ve actually found myself searching her out lately like some lovesick puppy dog searching for its mama’s tit. Okay, gross analogy, but you get it.

  And unfortunately, so do I. Just yesterday, I drove all the way into town to go buy Oreos because they’re her favorite and something she can’t resist. I now see how pathetic my little plans were because, yes, I spent minutes planning my ambush just right and sat my ass down in the kitchen with a glass of milk and those damn disgusting cookies, waiting for her.

  I even started eating one—yuck—when she walked in. I acted all nonchalant, patting myself on the back when she came to a dead stop and stared. I laughed my ass off for a good second when she drifted over my way. I chuckled in victory because the woman was caught, and I knew I had her.

  The patheticest—that’s a word—part of it all? I wasn’t planning to sex her up. Okay, I was. After. I mean, I did all that just to get her to sit down and talk to me. Because I freaking miss her now that she’s sleeping in the room next to Lex’s, and that man keeps catching me trying to sneak in.

  That’s another story, one I do not want to tell, but suffice it to say that besides blue balls and a serious need to fuck my woman, I miss her. Like miss her, miss her. Talking, laughing. All that shit girls like, things that I shouldn’t even want, seeing as I have balls and a dick.

  But I want that because it’s better than nothing and, dammit, just a piece of her is enough at this point.

  The cookie story?

  She sidled closer, slide kicked me, and stole my cookies and milk, and then left me on the floor while she shared them with freaking King.

  “Christ!”

  He keeps laughing at me as I piece it all together, his shoulders shaking so hard he rocks back in his chair and almost falls on his ass before righting himself.

  “Oh man, oh man. I knew there was a reason I loved that woman. Damn me, boy, you’re all played out and on the ropes.”

  My eye twitches with every chortle, and I groan when I hear four other rueful chuckles before the four Stooges join the party.

  “Don’t.”

  They all give me grins that make my skin crawl, and Lex leans over to pat me on the head.

  “Welcome to domestic warfare, my friend, and welcome to the days of never winning a battle again.”

  “Screw you,” I mutter.

  My woman is playing me. Correction, she’s played me like a fiddle for days now, and the vixen is definitely winning. I know this because I slipped yesterday and sighed a silent “I love you” when I tried to cop a feelsky at the dinner table and she nut punched me.

  It hurt, but what hurt more was the knowledge that I’d fallen, hard. Me. The iceman. The infallible. The man who planned to have it all while keeping an emotional distance. I knew I was in deep shit when I started whining to myself an hour later when she chose to sit next to Lenny to watch TV.

  I definitely finally accepted defeat when I started second guessing myself and wondering if she loves me back. And I definitely understood my demise when I started making up little poems in my head about her heart instead of her awesome boobs.

  “Just chill out and go with it, lover boy.”

  “Fuck off, Blaze.”

  That earns me another round of hilarity before Nick threatens to geld us if we wake the prince of darkness with the eerie eyes, and I’m forced to whisper every curse I can’t contain when King starts making smoochie faces at me and laughing so hard he starts tearing up.

  “You love her, huh?”

  “I should have died in that hellhole of a desert,” I mutter, hating myself a little when the thought of never seeing Jess again makes me automatically want to take that thought back.

  “Stop whining, you loser. So what? You’re in love with he
r. She’s great.”

  “I do notdo love, Storm, you asshole.”

  They exchange a glance and laugh again, albeit it quietly, when the baby snuffles and Storm glares in warning.

  “I didn’t do love. Hell, none of these other assholes did love either and then BAM! It happened. You think I wanted to love Lenny so much that I couldn’t live without her, Trace? Nope. I fought a good fight, and man am I glad I lost that battle because you know what? I can’t imagine not loving that woman. She gives me life, gives me a reason for my every breath, and as pansy ass as that may sound, it’s true. I have everything with her and if you’re a smart guy, which may be impossible for an ass like you,” he says, chuckling at my curse, “you can have it with Jess.”

  “She hates me.”

  Oh what, now I’m a freaking sap who whines like a girl?

  “Trace, that girl adores you—and you know it.”

  “She threatened to peel my nuts when I walked into the bathroom while she was showering,” I mutter, grinding my teeth at their amused faces.

  “Good for her. We talked the night you were shot. She wants more than sex, and you know what? She deserves more. Much more than what you had before. You wanna tell me how it’s okay to screw her and then send her away, like a hooker, and then plan your own death while she gets to watch?”

  “Hey! That’s not fair—”

  “Nope, it wasn’t. You really won the loser lottery that day, asshole, and if you’re still that same guy, then you might as well just let her go because I am telling you right now, anything less than your all is not enough. I won’t let you hurt her again. I had her for a split second in time, and I would have had a good life with her, that’s how good Jess is. I’m glad I didn’t get her though, because I deserve Lenny, and Jess deserves more than some tepid version of the love I gave her. If you can’t do any better than I could, then just leave her alone and let her move on. Let some other guy sweep her off her feet and give her love and children—”

  “I’ll kill any man who so much as touches her!”

  The violence I feel as the words burst out of me leaves me defeated and groaning as they chuckle again, but the acceptance that washes over me in that moment is so intense it’s telling.

  Telling because I’m about to do something I have never done before, all in the name of love and getting my dick back into my girl. Preferably soon, before it inverts and tries to crawl up my throat just to see some action.

  “Shit. I’m gonna need to free up some time to really invest in Jess if I want my wedding and future to happen before I have a fucking stroke.”

  Of course, they smile sweetly at me, the assholes know I’m about to put it all out on the table and that it’s painful for me. Sadistic bastards.

  “Now we’re talking,” Jericho crows, rubbing his hands together.

  “Lex, you’re on Fazir’s guys. I want them gone as soon as possible, but I need some information before you give them dirt baths. You and Blaze are better at interrogations than Jericho. He usually kills them before they can talk.”

  “Because I hate piss on my shoes, and they always piss on my shoes,” he mutters sheepishly, shrugging at Nick’s chuckle.

  “Aye, Aye, Cap’n! We talking VIP or just economy?”

  My grin is wicked, and the man practically punches the air with delight.

  “God forbid they shouldn’t get the best treatment while on U.S. soil,” I trill, making King grin again. “King, help your wife. I need that intel as soon as possible, and I can’t wait around for her to get to it if you’re screwing her all the time.”

  That earns me a snarl, but he nods after sighing loudly and threatening to murder me viciously. Horny ass.

  “Nick. You and Jericho are in charge of the Harem. I’ll give you Katya and Irina’s deets. Shadow may need to implode if they come looking for us too soon. You make the call if necessary. Just tell Irina I said to be humane about it. She and those women of hers can get real brutal, and it needs to look like they were taken down by another government at the least.”

  Because for the next part of my plan to work, I need them to identify the body Irina has in her freezer as mine. That’s plan B. Just in case my good buddy, the senator, finds himself second-guessing his role and the deal we made.

  “Damn boy, I’m not sure I want that job. Jericho’s contacts gave us the specs on one of the Harem jobs they were investigating last year and from what they found, those bitches are straight up vicious. I’d like to be alive for my wife and newborn son. Preferably with the use of my legs.”

  “Calm down, Storm, and stop being such a pussy. They’re great, and they’re sweethearts once you get to know them. Just don’t piss them off or offend them and you’ll be fine. Besides, all you have to do is keep communicatio open with them.”

  “Fine. What are you doing, lover boy?”

  “Wooing, asshole, or have you forgotten the whole reason I came to this shit burg in the first place. You want to convince Jess to take me back while I deal with Irina and her crew?” I ask, raising a brow in question.

  The sad truth here is that I would choose to take on Irina and her knives while Nick and Jericho take on Jess for me. See, I’m already turning into a pussy. Or is it just that Jess scares me more than the Harem?

  God, that woman is fierce and sexy and violent enough to give me a boner just thinking of her sweet method of violence.

  What a sap.

  “Uh, that’s cool man. I got the Harem,” Nick mutters, swallowing with a grimace that has us all chuckling again.

  “What a wuss. And here I thought my big, bad man wasn’t scared of anything.”

  Lenny’s amusement and the sheepish look he gives her makes my lips twitch, especially when the woman sails toward the crib, gives a long-suffering sigh and directs a glare at her husband.

  “You’re a goddamn menace, Nick Storm. At the rate you’re going, I’ll never get a moment with the little demon. You feed him, change his poopy diapers, and before I know it, he’s asleep again. How am I supposed to be sleep deprived and ragged looking if you never let me?” she complains, her nose scrunched with dismay.

  “You need your rest. After the shit you went through to give birth to him, you could have a free ride for the next ten years, at least.”

  Lenny laughs a little and plops onto his lap, kissing him sweetly and slaps his chest with a beleaguered sigh.

  “You’re too sweet and helpful, and just, darn it, Storm, too perfect. How am I supposed to justify looking like hell when I sleep like a baby and you make me breakfast in bed? By the way, my muffin survived the purge and I’m fine! Stop trying to coddle me, it’s just pissing me off.”

  “You’re sexy and luscious and your boobs make me want to spend days wallowing, babe, don’t insult yourself. As for the sleeping, the doc said you need as much rest as you can get.”

  “Rest, not a freaking coma, Storm! Come on, baby, I love you, but you look like shit, no offense. And I swear to God, if you are not fit when I get the all clear in five weeks, I will find me a man who can take care of business. Know what I’m sayin’?” she asks pointedly, getting a growl and a tap on the ass for her temerity. “Hey, Trace, what’s up with you and Jess, huh? I thought you were sexing her, and here the poor woman is eating ice cream at twelve o’clock. I think she’s using it to ice her crotch.”

  That makes them all laugh again, me not included because, darn it, I want her hot and getting hotter for me, not wallowing in dairy to get through her need. My Jess is a lusty creature, sensual and one of the very few women I have met who appreciates sex. A lot of sex.

  I need that to drive her. It’s the only chance I have to get at her without using some secret drug that’s still in development but works—

  It’s my only option, okay? And besides, the personality side effects wear off in a few days, and by that time she’ll like me enough to want me again. Don’t judge me, I have needs too, you know.

  “What drug? What does it do? Are you a freak? Is i
t safe for new mothers to take? I won’t grow a beard or nothing, will I?”

  Lenny peers at me expectantly, and I realize I was thinking aloud as I turn to see five sets of enraged eyes glaring at me, screaming murder and some disembowelment, ya know, for fun.

  “It’s not a roofie! It’s just a little something I used in Prague to make the wife of a target agreeable. It’s more of a Valium—a very strong Valium—than anything else,” I groan, hating my life.

  “You keep it clean, fucker, or that hole I dug will be filled real soon,” Lex warns, sucking at his teeth loudly.

  My life. Just eff my life, I think, as Storm sighs loudly and starts buttering his wife up. When he actually compliments me and makes me look good to Lenny, I know I’m in a world of trouble. Sure, if she smooths things over with Jess for me I win, but the way the guys are looking at me makes my junk shrivel.

  ***

  Jess

  The need to laugh has my stomach cramping as I listen to Lenny recall the conversation she eavesdropped on while Cleo bustles around shoving cupcakes at us all. Evie is stationed at the window to keep an eye on the guys where they’re barbecuing outside in the scorching heat.

  The thought of poor Trace bemoaning my methods of encouragement makes me so hopeful, ecstatic, and just plain amused that I snort out a mouthful of cupcake when Lenny makes a puppy dog face and wheezes.

  “He was sulking, Jess, honest to God sulking. I didn’t think the man was capable of feeling anything, ya know, like one of them people from that movie, ya know the smart ones.”

  “Oh yeah, that Insurgent movie, right? With Kate Whatsherface?” Evie trills, biting into her cake with a lust that makes me cringe.

  “Yeahah. Yeah, that one where them smart people are all emotionless and stuff and don’t care about others. That’s what he reminds me of. Boy am I glad I heard and saw him having a cow about the way you’re avoiding him. I was sleeping with a gun in the nightstand just in case he got a directive from the mothership to kill us all in our sleep!” Lenny says dramatically, her eyes going wide.