Stealth Ops Series Box Set

by Brittney Sahin

  She grabbed hold of his face and kissed him, cutting off his words. He pulled her tight against him, wrapping his arms around her body to lock her in place.

  A touch of laughter left her lips a moment later, brushing against his mouth, and he damn near buckled at the sound.

  Her hands pressed to his chest, and she pushed back a little to view his eyes. “This thing between us is messy and complicated,” she said with a nod, “but it’s ours.” She let out a breath and then kissed him again. “It’s ours.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “It’s been less than five weeks since I met him.” Sam pressed her palms to her cheeks and eyed Emily in the reflection of the bathroom mirror. “Am I crazy?”

  Emily smiled. “First of all, you fell in love with Owen, like, the second you bumped into him in the lobby in Mexico; otherwise, you would’ve told him your name that day.” She pointed a scolding finger in the air. “And second of all, you’re not crazy because you love him; you’re crazy because you’re in a bathroom right now, at a party, talking to me.”

  I love him. She had wanted to tell him this morning, but she hadn’t been able to get the words out.

  She pursed her lips together and turned to check her dress in the mirror, trying to deflect her thoughts so she could focus on the party. “The mix of Navy SEALs and Hollywood hotshots here today . . . it’s pretty damn awkward.”

  Emily’s palms landed on the counter. “Yeah, but interesting, right? And Luke’s fiancée’s brother, Harrison”—she fanned her face—“is so hot.”

  Sam folded her arms, a smirk on her face. “I know who you actually like; don’t even pretend.”

  “And, on that note, I’m going back to the party before we miss the big gender reveal.” She swirled her index finger in the air and turned away.

  “When do I tell him?” she rushed out before Emily opened the door.

  She pivoted to face her. “You’ll know when the time is right.”

  After their conversation this morning, she was still terrified of one thing. “I don’t want him to think he’s replacing Brad or he’s my second choice.”

  Emily released the door handle and faced Sam. “Brad will always be in your heart, and I think Owen might be the only man who won’t be jealous of that fact.”

  “And if something happens to him, too?” She thought back to the agonizing seven days Owen had been in Russia, and then her mind circled to Owen’s words to her that morning. He’d practically warned her he could die any day.

  “Sweetie.” Emily wrapped a hand around her forearm and gently squeezed. “There are no guarantees in life, and you know that. But don’t give up a good thing because you’re afraid.” She smiled. “Now get your ass out there so I can go flirt with some hotties.”

  A laugh broke through, stifling her tears. She knew in her heart Emily was right—she couldn’t lose Owen.

  “Thank you.” Sam swiped at her face, ensuring she was tear-free, then followed her friend out to the party where throngs of people were gathered.

  She was grateful Owen had asked her if she wanted to bring Emily so she wouldn’t feel so overwhelmed.

  Sam scanned the crowd, spotting Owen chatting with Eva and her brother, Harrison. He tipped his head back and laughed at something Harrison said before his eyes caught hers from across the room.

  He raised his Corona to his lips and held her eyes, and it had her pulse jumping. He motioned for her to approach, and she nudged Emily in the back, encouraging her to come with her.

  As far as she could gather, Eva and Luke weren’t married on paper, but they both wore rings, and she was pretty sure they were married in their hearts.

  “There you are.” Owen winked and then pulled her to his side and wrapped his arm around her waist.

  Her sense of security heightened about a thousand times. “Are you nervous to find out?” Sam asked Eva, and she rolled her eyes in the direction of Luke standing a few feet away, talking to some of the guys from Echo Team.

  Apparently, there were ten guys plus Jessica in their black ops group, but retired Navy SEALs also worked with them at Scott & Scott Securities. Pretty much everyone who worked with Owen was crowded into the restaurant they’d rented out, but she could barely keep track of all of the names, except for one couple she quickly adored: Grace and Noah Dalton. She’d learned Grace was a die-hard Rocky fan, like her.

  “I’m not nervous,” Eva finally answered.

  Her brother elbowed her in the side and raised his tumbler to his lips. “Sure you are,” Harrison said and smirked.

  Eva shook her head. “Okay, maybe I’m nervous that if we find out we’re having a girl, Luke will go into cardiac arrest.”

  “Better now than in the delivery room next month,” Owen pointed out.

  “Touché.” Harrison clinked his glass to Owen’s bottle.

  “Excuse me one second.” Emily left their sides and joined Liam, Knox, and one of the Echo guys.

  “My money is on Liam,” Owen said, following Sam’s gaze.

  “What?” She smiled.

  “No, no,” Eva said. “Knox all the way. Both from the D.C. background.” She chuckled. “I could write their story in my sleep.”

  Sam laughed. “Nah, that Echo guy, Wyatt, from what I can tell . . . he’s the exact opposite of her type, which is why he’d be perfect.”

  “We placing bets?” Harrison reached for his wallet, his steely grays catching Sam’s eyes.

  Owen flicked his hand through the air. “Like we can match yours.” He polished off his drink and announced, “And here’s the man of the hour.”

  “You ready to get this over with?” Luke pointed to the large present in blue and pink wrapping on a table at the center of the room.

  Eva rested her hand beneath her belly. “You sure you don’t want to wait until the delivery?”

  “No damn way.” Luke tapped his watch. “By my calculations, I still have three weeks and four days to make preparations. Give or take a week if you’re early or late.”

  “Speaking of which, you going to take some paternity leave?” Harrison asked, and Luke looked to Owen.

  Normally, Owen took over whenever Luke wasn’t around, but honestly, he didn’t know if he wanted to be in charge, and based on the way Luke was looking at him, he had already figured as much.

  “My last day was yesterday, in case Eva delivers early. I’ll be taking an additional two months off once the baby is here.” Luke jerked his thumb toward Asher. “I just told Jessica she’ll be co-leading the team with Asher.”

  Sam chuckled as she saw Jessica waving an angry finger Asher’s way while he casually bit into a celery stick and shrugged.

  “Guessing she’s not too keen on the idea,” Harrison said with a laugh.

  “They’re fire and ice.” Eva shot Sam a knowing look; clearly, she had more insight into the two than Sam, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out there was more between them beneath the surface.

  “Don’t let them kill each other while I’m gone.” Luke nodded Owen’s way.

  “I’ll do my best, man.” He glanced at Sam and winked.

  A few minutes later, the entire Hollywood Reed family from Eva’s side, as well as Luke’s buddies, gathered around the present.

  Eva stood on one side of the gift and Luke on the other, and then they slowly cut the center of the box open. When pink balloons flew into the air, Sam cupped her hand to her mouth as a grin stretched her lips.

  She’d swear Luke had tears in his eyes.

  Luke slowly moved around the table and cupped his fiancée’s face. Then he kissed her like there was no tomorrow.

  Owen squeezed Sam’s hand and whispered into her ear, “Want to get out of here? There’s somewhere I’d like to take you.”

  “I can’t believe you have me strapped in the cockpit of a plane.” Sam eyed all of the instruments around her.

  “Not just any plane: it’s a Lear 60XR with less than a thousand landings clocked in, which is pretty decent for
a ’14 model.”

  She studied his hands, moving deftly over the buttons and controls, none of which she knew anything about. She hated being in the back seat, let alone in the front—where, she now realized, everything looked that much more complicated. “How did you pull this off?”

  “I made a few calls before the party and arranged some flying time.” He smoothed his hand over the wheel, which he’d informed her was called a yoke. “It belongs to a friend of mine who has a lot more money than me.”

  “I still don’t know how you talked me into flying.” Her hand fell to her lap, and she double-checked that her belt was secure, even though they were already at cruising altitude.

  “The fingernail marks in my right arm might take a while to disappear, but . . .”

  He wasn’t exaggerating. “Shit, I’m sorry.” Her fingers stroked his arm.

  He released the yoke and pivoted to face her.

  “Wait! Don’t let go of that thingy!”

  “The thingy will be just fine for a second. Planes have autopilot, like cars.” His lips stretched even more, and she touched his clean-shaven jaw. This was her first time ever seeing him sans beard, and she loved both looks equally.

  “I know flying is a big part of your life, and I’m grateful you wanted me to experience it with you.” She lowered her hand to touch his arm again. “But if you try and get me to jump out of a plane, we’ll have some problems.”

  His rich laughter met her ears and heated her body, but then he grew quiet for a moment, and his warm hazel eyes shifted back out the front window. “Flying always makes me feel closer to my brother.” His voice was throatier this time. “I’m not sure if heaven is really above the clouds, but either way, I feel more connected to him when I’m up here.”

  She gently squeezed his arm, trying to calm her fears enough to feel how Owen did—at peace, maybe?

  “Sam, you make me feel like it’s okay to live my life and be happy.”

  Liquid gathered in her eyes faster than she’d thought possible, and her chest tightened.

  “I’ve felt guilty,” he said, facing her again, “for surviving when others in the past haven’t. But meeting you has changed me.” His jaw muscle tightened. “Changed everything, actually.”

  He reached for her hand and laced their fingers together before releasing a breath.

  “You changed me, too.”

  His eyelids tightened for a brief second before his hazel irises found hers, and then he reached for the chain around her neck with his free hand and smiled. “And I’ll fight like hell to always come back to you. I promise.”

  He sat back in his seat but kept his right hand with hers. They both peered toward the clouds, toward their second chance at life.

  Epilogue

  Three Weeks Later - Los Cabos

  Sam’s fingers traced over the initials R.M.H., and a smile skirted her lips.

  “Ride me hard, maybe?” A voice like rough velvet blew over her bare shoulder, and her palms flattened onto the bar.

  “If you’d like to,” Sam whispered, goose bumps spreading over every inch of her skin when his hand slipped to her hip.

  Owen spun her around in one quick movement, and she looped her arms around his neck. “You’re back.”

  “I’m back.” He edged closer and captured her mouth, kissing her with a ferocity that she’d missed over the seven days he’d been gone.

  Everything sizzled inside of her, a warmth spreading through her limbs now that he was safe and with her. When their kiss ended, and he pulled back, her brows drew together at the sight of a new cut along his right temple, disappearing into his hair. “You got hurt.”

  “Just a scratch.” Lightly shaking his head, he motioned for her to have a seat at the bar. Once she complied, he rested a hand on her jean-covered thigh.

  “I have to admit,” she said with a smile, “getting a text to meet you here . . . you surprised me.”

  “You opposed to a weekend getaway?” He ordered a round of drinks and looked back at her.

  “Of course not. This past week has been hell. I buried myself in work so I didn’t think about what could be happening.” She cleared her throat. “And what did happen?”

  “How is working with your father, by the way?”

  Eerily normal, given what happened. “Don’t change the subject.” A smile teased her lips.

  He reached for her hand on her lap and squeezed it. “I’m here, and I’m fine. The bad guys—not so much.” Owen winked, but then went quiet for a moment. He smoothed the back of his free hand over her cheek. “Do you want me to quit?”

  Her eyes stretched at his words. “No.” She shook her head, no doubt in her mind as to her answer. “I would never ask you to do that.”

  “I don’t want you to be a nervous wreck every time I’m gone.” His hand dropped from her cheek. “I could take a position at BUD/S. Be a teacher.”

  She almost laughed. “Funny.”

  “I’m serious.”

  She pivoted on her stool to better face him. “I love who you are, and I don’t want to change you. It may never get easy waiting for you, but I want you to be happy.”

  “I am happy. Finally.”

  “We can revisit this conversation when you’re in your forties.” She smiled. “That was when you originally planned to retire, right?” She thought back to what he’d told her about running the bar with his brother.

  He released a lungful of air. “Deal.” Their arms fell between them, and he leaned forward to kiss her.

  “But why are we here, at this exact spot?”

  He sat up straight and took a sip of his drink. “Because the night I met you here changed my life.”

  “But I lied to you; doesn’t that taint the memories?”

  “That’s why we’re here. To make new memories.” His brows lifted and fell quickly and he tilted his head toward the DJ who played the song “Something Just Like This,” by the Chainsmokers and Coldplay.

  “Perfect song, huh?”

  He stood and extended his palm. “I’m Owen York. I love flying, chasing down bad guys, and hot fudge sundaes.” He shook her hand, and she chuckled. “And I love you so damn much.”

  She rose, allowing his warm hand to continue to envelop hers. “I’m Samantha McCarthy, and I’m starting to hate flying a little less, and I’m beginning to believe in fairy tales and superheroes. And I’m never opposed to ice cream.”

  He gently yanked her against him, her body colliding with his.

  “Oh!” She smiled. “And I love you, too.”

  Two Weeks Later - Charleston

  “You have to wear the blindfold. I don’t trust you won’t look.” Sam folded her arms and glared at Owen.

  “Fine. Fine.” He surrendered his palms, and she wrapped a red tie around his eyes and knotted it. “But I’m telling you, I’ll pass your test.”

  “Sure, you can identify every smell. Blah blah. Heard it before.” She went over to grab her prepared bottles from behind the bar.

  The tavern was closed down for the winter, and so she and Owen had the place to themselves for the weekend.

  Her gaze swung to the spot where Brad had proposed, but guilt didn’t claw at her; in fact, she was pretty sure Brad and Jason would want nothing more than for them to be happy. Even her dad had told her last week, “Brad would approve. Owen York is one hell of a man.” She didn’t need her father to convince her of that, though.

  “Okay.” She came back in front of him and held an open bottle out.

  He leaned forward and breathed in the scent. “Eucalyptus.” He shook his head as if unimpressed by her attempt to outsmart his super-nose.

  She waved the tin of coffee beans in front of him before offering the second scent. “Next one.”

  “Funny,” he said. “You added basil to the aniseed. Nice try.”

  “Oh my God, you’re ridiculous.” She chuckled.

  He shrugged and his smile stretched.

  “Okay. Give me a second. I have someth
ing you won’t guess.”

  She hurried around to the side of the bar, where she’d asked Owen’s neighbor from the townhouse next door to wait for her.

  “Thank you,” she said in a hushed voice, and the old man saluted her before she tentatively walked back inside.

  Before she had a chance to test Owen’s nose, a howl erupted at her side, and Owen quickly shoved off the tie and stood. His eyes fell to the dog on the leash, and she lifted her shoulders.

  “What’s going on?” He crouched to pet the dog. “Why do you have a Siberian Husky?”

  She squatted along the other side of the black and white dog and found Owen’s eyes, but the dog lifted his nose and bumped her in the face.

  “When we were in Mexico, it got me to thinking about what you said about having a dog.”

  “Okay.” He cocked his head, still petting the dog.

  She stood upright and pressed her palms to her hips. “When I was grabbing us breakfast in town yesterday morning, I saw this handsome guy at a rescue shelter. His blue eyes roped me in.”

  “That’s why you were gone so long?” He arched a brow.

  She nodded. “I have to bring him back later for the rest of the papers and stuff, but they let me bring him here to meet you first.”

  “You’re adopting him?” He rose and cupped the back of his neck.

  “We work a lot, but maybe between the two of us—we could take care of him?” Nerves tangled in her throat. “He needed a home, and I thought who better to—”

  Owen sidestepped the dog, grabbed hold of her, and kissed her, seizing her words and her train of thought. But at the feel of the dog’s paws at their sides, he released her and laughed.