Hot Shot (A Hostile Operations Team Novel)(#5) (32 page)

“Oh, that offer.”

“Aw, fuck, am I too late? Did you fill the position already?”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “No, of course not. But are you sure, Jack? Really sure?” Because if he was unhappy leaving his team for her, she wouldn’t be able to stand it.

“I love what I do, but nothing says I can’t start my own security firm. Maybe I will.” He shrugged. “Sometimes the military is a bit confining. If I ran my own team, I could do things my way.”

She sank down on him again, pillowing her head against his chest. “Is that something you’ve thought of?”

He twisted a finger in her hair. “Hell, I think we’ve all thought of it. Mendez worked long and hard to get us where we are now, but even here we have limitations. Oh, the funding is top-notch, but the red tape can sometimes be pretty tangled.”

“Who would you get to join you?”

“Some of the guys would come on board, I think. I’d find others.”

“But you have a while to think about it.”

“Yeah.”
 

She found herself tracing her fingers over the ink on his side, following the loops and dips of Hayley’s name.

“Does that bother you?” he asked after a few moments and she realized that he knew what she was doing.

“No.” She could say that truthfully now. It
had
bothered her, but now that she knew he loved her, it didn’t. Because Hayley was a part of him, and she accepted that. She tilted her head back to look up at him. “Would you think I was crazy if I said I sometimes think she sent you to me?”

He was quiet when he spoke. “No, I wouldn’t.”

She bent and kissed the name on his skin. “I thought she was keeping you from loving me, but I don’t think that anymore.”

“I was scared, babe. Still am, but you’re worth the risk.”

She crawled up his body until she could press her lips to his. “So are you.”

His fingers tangled in her hair, his tongue plunging into her mouth. It didn’t take long for them to get hot again, and then she sank down on him and rode him until their bodies were slick with sweat and the pleasure was so intense she didn’t ever want it to end.

“Goddamn,” he said when it was over and she collapsed against him. “I think I died and went to heaven.”

“Mmm, not yet,” she said. “Soon, though, if we keep this up.”

“Yeah, but what a way to go.”

“I think that’s going to be the title of my next song.”

“What is?”

“What a way to go. I’ll extol the virtues of your penis, of course, and then the whole world will be singing about you.”

He snorted. “Sounds like a hit.”

“It will be.”

He pushed her hair back and looked at her, his brows drawn low. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Maybe I’m not. The world should know about your penis, Jack. It’s my solemn duty as an artist to make art when I’m inspired.”

He stared at her for a full minute. And then he laughed. “It’s going to be interesting with you, isn’t it?”

“Oh, yeah,” she said, grinning. “You just wait and see…”

EPILOGUE

TWO MONTHS LATER…

Eastern Shore, Maryland

Jack kissed his bride while everyone clapped and cheered. He didn’t want to let her go, but they were pulled apart when everyone rushed forward to congratulate them. He caught Gina’s eyes over the crowd and nearly laughed at her shrug. Yeah, he wanted to be alone with her, but they’d invited their friends—Mendez and the team, and Barry and his boyfriend—and they couldn’t disappear.

He let his gaze wander over the grounds of the house they’d bought. It was close to Waterman’s Cove, but not too close, and of course it was big and expensive. Which really meant that Gina had bought it, but that didn’t bother him in the least since she’d refused to buy a thing until he’d agreed it was perfect.

Which he would have done several houses ago if he’d known that’s what she was waiting for. But, really, this one
was
perfect, so maybe it was a good thing he hadn’t caught on.
 

Eli had been the ring bearer, and he’d done a good job of it. He was sitting in the grass, staining his white shorts and playing with the tiny dog Barry had carried in with a big pink bow around its neck. Jack had glared and told Barry he was taking the dog back out again when he left. Barry had shrugged, and Gina’d laughed.

Jesus, he was going to be walking a tiny dog on a pink leash before this was all over with. Someone handed Jack a beer and he took it. He didn’t want to think about walking a pocket dog right now.

“Man, you are one lucky dude,” Flash said.

Brandy nodded. “If only I’d taken the route through the forest that night. I could be the one with a sugar mama!”

Jack punched him in the arm, but it wasn’t a serious blow. “You wouldn’t have stood a chance with her, so forget it.”

A few feet away, the women were laughing and talking. The rest of the guys walked over to where Jack and the others stood. Even Mendez had let down the formality for a change, though none would dare to call him anything but sir.

It had been a helluva couple of months since they’d rescued Gina and killed Stavros. Mendez had been pissed that night because he’d put out a call to all the intelligence services for information on Metaxas after the mission to rescue Eli. If Metaxas was alive, they should have known about it. But someone up the chain had countermanded that order, and he’d only learned about Metaxas being alive and in DC that night. It had almost been too late, and Jack was still fucking pissed that someone had put Gina in danger like that.

If he ever found out who it was, he’d consider putting a bullet in their brain as well. But so far, the identity of that person remained hidden behind red tape. It had put a damper on Mendez’s attitude for a while now. Stavros Metaxas had been an arms dealer, but he’d hidden that business behind a legitimate shipping business, just as his brother had done. And he’d made friends in Washington, though right now no one was admitting to that friendship. And why would they? The man had been in the midst of a red-hot deal to sell arms to terrorists.

“There’s intel from Qu’rim,” Mendez said, and everyone perked up. “Someone’s pulling the strings in the Freedom Force again.”

“Fuck,” Kev said, shooting a glance toward his wife, who was laughing with the other women. After all Lucky had gone through to put an end to those fuckers, Jack didn’t blame him. “Y’all should have let me kill the motherfucker when we had the chance.”

“It’s not Al Ahmad. He’s on a rock with no comm in or out that’s not monitored. It’s someone else.” Mendez took a sip of his beer. “Nothing major yet, but I think we aren’t quite done with them after all.”

“Shit,” Iceman said. The rest of the guys grumbled their agreement.

“At least we stopped Metaxas from selling arms to them.”

“Yeah, but someone else will do it. It’s only a matter of time.”

“Saw your face on the cover of the
Enquirer
,” Flash said. “You’ve reached new heights of fame, man.”

Jack shifted his stance. Yeah, that was the part of being with Gina he didn’t like, but he was dealing with it. The fact that the hottest pop star in the world was seeing a regular guy was big news and the media couldn’t get enough. For now, Mendez kept him shielded. As soon as he crossed the security barrier of the base, he was outside the media’s grasp, which certainly made things much easier. They knew he worked for the government, but they had no idea what he did. And they weren’t going to find out.

Gina had announced to the world that Eli was his child. He’d hated that violation of their privacy, but it was necessary in case any other members of the Metaxas family had ideas about Eli’s parentage. He’d called his parents before it happened and told them personally. His father had congratulated him. His mother cried. They’d come to visit Eli, and Jack had watched as the busy people he’d grown up with turned into the kind of grandparents who acted like the kid was the most fascinating thing in the world.

Which he was, but Jack hadn’t expected his parents to care. It was oddly touching that they did. No, his relationship with them wouldn’t ever be perfect, but he was learning to accept that.

The guys drank their beers and looked at the women. Mendez had taken him aside earlier and told him he didn’t have any news on Gina’s sister, but he wasn’t finished working his contacts yet. Maybe one day Jack would be able to give her some good news. He hoped so with all his heart. She’d made friends with the fiancées and wives of the other guys, but he knew she would love to find her sister too.

After a while, Jack felt a tug on his trousers. He looked down to find a pint-sized toddler standing there, one little arm held skyward.

“Daddy,” Eli said. “Up, Daddy.”

Jack bent and scooped his son up, love rushing through him, warming him all over. God, he was a lucky man. Gina’s eyes met his again, and he tipped his beer in a salute. She blew him a kiss.

“Who is the luckiest man on earth right this minute, buddy?” Jack asked Eli.

“Me!” Eli crowed.

“Yeah, okay, I can accept that. But I’m next in line.”

He carried his son over to his wife and put his arm around her. She hugged him back and Jack sighed. He had something to show her later. He’d gone just this morning and had her name and Eli’s inked on his skin near his heart. He hoped she liked it.

“Is it everything you thought it would be?” he asked her.

She looked up. “Which part?”

“You. Me. Marriage.”

She laughed. “We’ve been married for half an hour.”

“Yeah, and it’s been perfect, hasn’t it?”

“Oh yes. Every moment with you is perfect, Jack.”

“Because you make me better, Gina. That’s all there is to it.”

Eli wriggled as the puppy galloped by and Jack set him down.
 

Gina sighed. “He’s dirty.”

“Mmm, I’m dirty too.”

She laughed. “Tell me something I didn’t know.”

“I’d rather show you.”

“Think we can sneak off for a few minutes?”

“A few minutes? Babe, don’t you know I need hours with you?”

She squeezed him tight. “Good thing you’ve got forever then.”

He dipped his head to kiss her as hot emotion flooded him. “I do, don’t I?”

Thank You!

Thanks for reading
Hot Shot
! If you like the Hostile Operations Team, here are all the stories in the series thus far.
 

Book One:
Hot Pursuit
(A Novel) -
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Book Two:
Hot Mess
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Book Three:
Hot Package
(A Novella) -
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Book Four:
Dangerously Hot
(A Novel) -
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Book Five:
Hot Shot
(A Novel) -
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Hot Rebel

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Hot Rebel
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Excerpt from Hot Rebel

Nick’s comm link crackled for the first time since this mission had gone to hell. “Need that firebird, Flash,” he grated before Ryan Gordon could speak. Jesus, this mission had been plagued with bad luck from the start. In the last few hours, a dust storm had interfered with their primary comm and sent them to backup. And now this.