Armed And Dangerous (The McKinnon Legends - The McKinnon American Men Book 2) (18 page)

He laughed softly. “Nope, not one ounce sorry about ripping the shirt, Doll. I got too good a view from that act. It was a nice little reward for being a naughty monkey.”

“You are not just naughty, Mason,” she laughed softly. “You are also shameless.” There were other things he was, telling him as much, too.

“Not denying it.” He got more serious. “Barbara, I’m sorry for leaving you behind. And I’m sorry for not trusting you to know your own limit, but I’m not sorry for wanting you out of danger. That is one apology you and a thousand wild horses could never drag out of me. It would be a lie. I want you safe.”

He wrapped his arm around her upper chest and pulled her back full against him. Pulling her head to the side, he gently nibbled her just below the ear, trailing his tongue to her shoulder where he softly bit her again just before running his tongue around the superficial wound. Her soft moan was a sure sign. She was in surrender mode.

It wasn't purposefully his intention to pursue her, and it had been impulse when he kissed her shoulder. Nevertheless, he was going to be the victor. And the reward would be sweet indeed. He was glad he had turned Carmen down. She had approached him at the river the night before last just before he returned from his swim. She was a good looking woman and would have been great for a booty call under normal circumstances. However, he had been thinking about Barbara and the thought of another woman was just not doing it for him these days.

He was obsessing on this woman and the sooner he bedded her the sooner he could get back to his old life. This was twice in a single week he had turned down sex because of her. He never remembered turning sex down. He loved sex, and he loved women.

So did she, he reminded himself. Yet, something did not feel right about her. Or more precisely everything felt right about her. He was beginning to love this woman and unless she was bisexual her reactions to him were very naturally heterosexually centered. He turned her into his arms cradling her.

“Kiss me, Doll,” he lightly commanded.

“No.” She stiffened in his arms, but slowly relaxed again as he touched her, stroking her softly.

“Yes. You will and make me a believer,” he said bringing them up on their knees facing each other.

“No. I won’t.” She breathed her last breath of defense.

He was mere millimeters from her mouth, his breath mingling with hers.

“Stubborn wench,” he said closing the breach.

And for the next several hours she was anything but stubborn.

Mason woke again knowing it was about time to leave. Rolling over and covering her chest with his arm he hoped to hold her there for a few more moments while thinking she was a delicious distraction. By this time tomorrow, she would be back in Dallas and he would be doing mop-up duty. Who knew how long it would be before he got a chance to see her again.

“I really need you to stay here with Enrique. Your leg is in bad shape, and I won’t be able to concentrate if you are around.” He kissed her a final time before he stirred in earnest.

His mind was already on other things such as getting her out of harm’s way, getting the mission over and done without involving law enforcement, and getting his team back to Dallas in one piece.

It was a tall order under the best of circumstances. He was not in the best of situations.

This was his office and his work environment and certainly nothing new. What was new was this feeling of dread for her safety. It went beyond concern for a team member. He had made love to her and God Almighty it was fantastic. Only punctuating the fact it was something he had never before done with a female under his direction. He always kept business separate from pleasure. He broke his number one rule of maintaining a professional detachment to the women on his detail. The very fact he was asking her to stay behind did not bode well. He was becoming too attached. That attachment was something he could not afford on several levels.

Barbara saw where he was coming from. She wanted him and all the others safe too. However, this was her job as much as his. “Jesse trusts me, Mason. I need to be the one to go in and get her,” she countered, pulling on her clothes.

“No. Let us take care of this,” he argued softly with her. If he forced the issue with her it would boomerang back on him, he knew that for certain. She was strong-willed and very independent. It was a trait he would not change even if it did cause friction between them at times.

“I can do this, Mason. You just let me worry about me,” she reassured him.

“It is my responsibility to worry about you. That is what Team Leaders are supposed to do. Besides, not meaning to piss you off, you’re a liability to the team at this point, Barbara, and it has nothing to do with being a woman. You’re hurt.”

“Mason, you asked for my trust, I gave that trust. Now, I’m asking for yours. I know my limits, and I would never endanger the team. I’ll be fine.” Barbara felt her argument was falling on deaf ears. He was closed completely to the idea of her participating further in the extraction. The woman in her was pleased that he cared enough to see to her needs first. The warrior protested that she did not need him to take responsibility for her.

“I won’t be able to cover your back, Barbara, and that is something I promised I would do.” He stood giving her his back as he loaded his weapon.

He could not look at her as he dressed. She would see through his plan. Furthermore, he was not sure that if she pushed hard enough he would not cave to her requests. He was finding her harder and harder to resist both in her physical needs as well as her emotional needs. He sensed she needed to have closure on this mission to put old ghosts to rest. Maybe she did need this, but he needed her safe more. She would just have to settle for getting that closure vicariously through him.

Barbara watched as he dressed. She felt him shutting her out, closing her off. He was hiding something from her and after last night and this afternoon she thought he would know better than to try and keep things from her. They both had felt the bond between them strengthen.

“You are not coming back with us are you?” She felt the truthfulness of her revelation. She felt the surge of fear and adrenaline course through her veins. What he was planning on doing was far more dangerous than going in with total surprise, snatching the girl, and getting back out quickly.

Now, she was afraid for him. “You cannot think to do this, Mason. It is dangerous.”

He was not going to lie to her. She was a sharp one, seeing through it anyway. “No, I’m not coming back with you. Once we get Jesse, then you and the others will be high-tailing it out,” he said while pulling on his clothes.

“Mason, please. No, you cannot do this. It is just too risky.” She felt a surge of panic at the thought of the risks he took with his life. Only this time the risk he was taking was for the life of another.

“So- you do care.” He gave her a smoldering look. She just crossed her arms and look away. “Hah, I knew it,” he teased her lightheartedly.

“Of course, I care. I don’t want McKinnon-Bride’s liability insurance premiums to go up because we have lost a man.” She shot back tossing his sniper glove at him. She tried covering her deeper feelings of fear for Mason’s life.

“Ah. I’m so glad that you have finally come to the realization that I am the total package, Baby, and worth insuring. How much did you insure all this hunk of man-meat for anyway?” he teased waiving his hand from head to crotch and back again.

She rolled her eyes and laughed softly. “Too, damn much from the looks of it. You have seriously overrated your assets both to me and McKinnon-Bride.” She pouted slightly. The man was never serious.

He grinned, yet he felt slightly wounded, wondering if that were really true. He quickly deduced that she did care, he was good both in and out of bed, and her comment was only banter designed to hide deeper feelings about his person.

He cupped her chin. “Barbara, it was always my intention to do the mop-up detail. Furthermore at this point there is very little else you can do. You did a fabulous job on the recon last night. I was quite impressed,” he said pulling her closer kissing her on the forehead. “Just go back to Dallas and let me and the rest of the team carry our weight from this point.” He kissed her on the end of the nose and then lingered on her lips. “We have what we need thanks to you. And that aside, I’m really not liking what I see with your leg.”

There was infection setting in from the unsanitary conditions. She was already running a fever. He felt it when he kissed her forehead. If not controlled and contained, she could lose more than a little sleep on this mission. He pushed just a little harder.

“You need to get to a doctor in Panama City as soon as possible. A heavy dose of antibiotics and a tetanus shot are probably in order. You’re already running a temperature from the infection.” He saw her hesitation. “Look, Barbara, as much as I’d like for us to see this thing through together, it is just not the smartest move for us to make, and even if I’m Team Leader, you’re still my boss and out rank me. I can either ask nicely or not, but I cannot order you to stay behind.”

You’re right, I do outrank you, she wanted to say. She held her peace. It would serve no purpose other than to place him on the defensive. He understood his place; there was no need for her to emphasize what he already knew.

He smiled, pulling her into his arms. “I guess, failing all else, I could tie you to a tree. That threat seemed to work pretty well for keeping me in line.”

“Surprisingly enough,” she commented dryly.

He gave her that grin, which was becoming her undoing. She pushed out of his arms. “Mason will you get serious? You’re treating this like it is nothing more pressing than a game of touch football on Sunday afternoon. This is where the rubber meets the road and....”

“And you do not have to lecture me on the dangers of this undertaking,” he said narrowing his eyes. “As far as experience goes in dangerous missions I outrank you. Never forget that truth.”

He looked at her intently. Sure, he took risks with his own life. He could see where she might question his commitment to safety. This was different. How could she not know how serious he was?

“I am serious when it comes to the safety of my team, and I’m dead serious where your safety is concerned, Barbara. You’re hurt.”

“I know I’m hurt, and I don’t need you to tell me,” she argued, annoyed at how he was so quick to point it out.

“Then think about that when it comes down to the strength or weakness of my team.”

She saw his point and she saw that he essentially cared. A lame duck was a drain and the team was only as strong as its weakest link, who just happened to be her. She hesitated. “All right. I may not like it, but I can see your point.” She would stay.

“Thank you. I will feel better knowing you are getting the medical attention you really need.”

“All right, I stay.” She pondered this turn, and wondered how it would impact the over all out come of the mission. “Mason, at this juncture we need a very good, very public reason for our splitting up. If not it will raise questions, especially if you do not come back.”

“You’re right. I did not think of that point,” he agreed pulling on his body armor over his t-shirt, adjusting the Velcro straps and then pulling on his outer shirt. The layers were torture in this jungle heat, but the alternative was an even hotter hell with no end.

“For Jesse,” she said as she handed him her body armor feeling sure no one had thought of the girl. It would be too big for Jesse but was better than nothing.

“I’ll see to it that she gets it on,” he promised. “I’ve got to go.” He hesitated.

“I know. I’ll worry about you, all of you.”

“I’ll be fine,” he said with confidence, splaying his hand across his heart. “Ten- feet-tall and bullet proof, remember?” He winked.

“Just watch your six, will you?” she smiled weakly, not convinced his attitude would save him. One of these days his luck was bound to run short.

They stood there, each lost to their own thoughts. He was thinking how he would miss her until he saw her again. She was thinking how much of his life he had wasted in pursuit of all the wrong things.

She shrugged. “So where is that famous Barbara and Mason warfare when we need it?” She kissed him one more time on the cheek and whispered into his ear. “In a different life and a different world we could have been something special, Mason. Promise me, that you and the rest of the team will come back alive.”

“That’s the plan, anyway.” He cupped her face. He had to go and the look she was giving him almost made him want to stay. “It’s time,” he said before ducking out of the tent.

If he had known what was coming next he would have never asked her to stay behind.

Mason could feel her mood shift as they emerged from the tent, but he was not quick enough to react.

“You son-of-a-bitch! Don’t walk away from me!” she yelled loud enough to ensure everyone in the camp could hear just before she struck him on the arm, catching him totally by surprise.

“What the hell?”

“You screwed her didn’t you? Didn’t you,” she yelled.

Ahh, now he understood what she was doing. She was setting up their alibi for splitting up but it still was unsettling.

“Are you are talking about Miss Dessert Bar?” he asked in total surprise. He had let her believe he had sampled from that buffet. Was that lie coming back to haunt him?

“You think that I don’t know that you found her on our wedding night! You're despicable. Who else? Who else, Mason? Carmen? I saw you two come back from the river together.”

She didn’t have to try as hard as she first thought she might to feel as hurt as she actually felt. However, it was there, very deep and glaring. She was hurt even knowing she had no claim to his affections, and she really did not want to claim his affection if she were honest. He was so wrong for her and her for him. They came from such different worlds, looking for two very different things from life.