Storm Warning (Security Specialists International Book 4) (24 page)

Ace rose and gathered her into his arms, which feat of sheer strength never ceased to amaze and thrill her. Her big, strong alpha-geek carried her into the
casita
and thoroughly washed every square inch of her body, giving her another orgasm with his fingers. He called it an appetizer. She couldn’t wait to see what dessert would be.

The setting sun cast shadows over the trendy shopping district. The heat of the day could still be felt radiating off the bricked streets. The cantina DJ and Ace had chosen had an outdoor bar and patio seating; it looked out over a square that featured a small burbling fountain in the center with large pots of colorful tropical flowers spaced all around the perimeter.

While the setting was gorgeous and romantic, DJ felt eyes on them through drinks and appetizers. Because the plaza was crowded with tourists, it was hard for DJ to single out who was focusing on them. While the SSI team had speculated someone might follow Ace, the reality made her nervous. Having just found the man with whom she wanted to spend the rest of her life, she wanted to protect him.

Right now, she felt about as useless as tits on a boar. Her arm candy outfit had necessitated leaving her hand gun back in the room. Yeah, she had a knife strapped to her thigh, but guns always trumped knives in an ambush.

“How many do you think are following us?” She idly ran a finger up and down Ace’s muscled forearm with its smattering of dark blond hair.

Ace leaned into her and brushed a kiss over her cheek. “One, at least. My neck began to itch as soon as we left the hotel. Conn’s been on us the whole way.”

DJ casually looked across the square at another cantina and spotted Conn standing, his back to the bar, nursing a beer and watching the crowd. She didn’t know Conn all that well, but could tell he was alert by how his gaze quartered the square. Some of her tension dissipated. Yeah, the former Marine had their backs.

Situational awareness. She and the men both had it. Hers was from her tours in third-world countries, and from being a female in a world where there were, unfortunately, a lot of male predators. Conn’s was from being a Marine and from living in a South American country where the top dogs changed weekly. She wasn’t sure where Ace had gotten his situational awareness; she didn’t think M.I.T. taught it. Maybe it was bred into the Walsh genetics.

“Call me crazy, but I’m feeling more than one set of eyes. At first, I chalked it up to passers-by checking us out. But within the last few minutes or so, the feeling of being observed ramped up”—she kissed his cheek—“and not in a friendly oh-aren’t-they-a-cute-couple sort of way.”

“Passers-by wouldn’t give me a second look. You were the one catching all the attention as we walked here.” Ace leaned back in his chair and looked around as he picked up her hand and kissed the palm. “Case in point, I spy several Latin Lotharios scoping you out, but they aren’t bothering to hide their interest—the fuckers.”

“Ditto on some cougar-type females.” DJ growled at a woman at the table next to them who was at that very moment licking her over-collagen-filled lips at how Ace’s jeans hugged his muscular thighs. The woman, who had to be old enough to be his mother, inhaled sharply as DJ aimed a narrow-eyed glare her way and turned back to the slightly over-the-hill male sitting with her.

“Bitch,” DJ muttered under her breath then turned to find Ace smiling at her. “What?”

“I appreciate your territoriality.” He leaned over and gave her a full, on-the-mouth-with-tongue kiss that left DJ gasping for breath when he moved away. “Now, that should take care of the bitch and her man who’s been eye-fucking your breasts since he’d slipped the waiter money to sit next to us.”

“Now
that
I hadn’t noticed.” DJ rubbed her cheek over Ace’s shoulder. “Do you think they’re the ones who’ve been following us?” She looked at the couple, who were now focused on anything but her and Ace. “I don’t get any bad vibes from them, just skeevy ones. If I were going to swing, it wouldn’t be with people old enough to be our parents. Can I just say
ick
?”

Ace choked on his sip of beer. “Just for information purposes, I don’t share. You’re with me. I’m with you. That means no one else is welcome in our bed but our pets and kids—and the last two won’t be there when I’m making love to my wife.”

“Wife?” DJ inhaled a sip of her margarita and coughed until her eyes watered. “Did you…” cough “…just propose?”

Please, please, say you did.

Ace put his beer down and then turned her face toward his. “We love each other. I said I wanted three kids, and you didn’t disagree. I figured marriage was understood.”

He looked and sounded pissed. He was scared she was back-tracking.

DJ covered the hand cupping her face. “Ace, lots of people live together, make a family, and don’t get married these days. I didn’t want to presume—”

“Presume,” he growled just before he took her lips in a hungry kiss, leaving her breathless. “I’m a Walsh. We mate and marry for life. You think you can handle that?”

Joy swept through her like wildfire. The man she loved wanted to marry and make a family with her. Yeah, he’d said as much before, but a proposal was concrete; it made it real. Images of little Aces tussling with their daddy and loving their mommy made her heart hurt with happiness. They’d have to have a little girl for Ace to love and treat like a princess. The world suddenly seemed brighter and filled with infinite possibilities.

“Yeah,” she whispered. “And I can handle you.”

“So that’s a
yes?
” Ace’s voice still held a hint of anxiety.

She opened her mouth, but couldn’t speak; her throat, tight with too much emotion. So, she nodded, several times. Her answering smile was so wide it made her jaw hurt.

He smiled and leaned over to press a kiss to her lips, then whispered, “Thank you for making me the happiest man in the world. I’ll make you happy, I promise.”

Still unable to form a word, she nodded and kissed him back.

Ace settled her even closer against his side, then picked up his beer. “By the way, you can handle me anyway you want—and I’ll love it.”

Images flooded her mind at just how she might handle him—and he would handle her. She licked suddenly dry lips and took another sip of her margarita. Her mouth twisted into a slightly naughty grin as she anticipated what delights the rest of the evening might include. If anyone had told her she’d like sex this much, she would’ve laughed at them. But she craved sex with Ace.

The sooner they finished eating, the sooner they could return to the
casita
, get naked, and proceed to drive each other crazy with pleasure.

“Later, right now we’re playing bait to lure out our watcher or watchers, so Conn can identify them.” He kissed her exposed shoulder.

“Are you reading my mind again?” She took a passing look around the plaza. Whoever was watching them was still out there. She sighed and shoved lovemaking out of her head, for now. The op was important, and she wouldn’t let the team down by not carrying her share of the load.

“Nope.” Ace grinned as he toasted her with his beer. “You blush when you’re thinking about sex.”

DJ moaned. Damn her fair skin.

“Back to the being-watched feeling,” Ace said. “The odd couple at the next table definitely aren’t the ones making our necks itch. They were at the cantina when we arrived, sitting at a table on the other side of the patio. Let’s see what our friendly shadow has to say for himself.”

Ace pulled out his phone and hit a set of numbers. When DJ made a move to pull away, he tightened his arm around her shoulders. “Stay put. Snuggle closer, sugar, so you can hear.”

“Sugar? I didn’t know you cared, buddy.” Conn’s laconic voice was atonal to keep others from overhearing what he was saying, but came across the phone loud and clear. Although from the laughter and music in the background, DJ was fairly sure no one could hear what the man said even with a super-sensitive listening device.

Ace snorted into the phone. “You aren’t my type, asshat. How are you finding Cancun?”

“Too crowded. Maybe we should go snorkeling sooner than planned. I can be ready at dawn.”

Snorkeling was the agreed upon term for when Conn had confirmed the identity of the tail. He’d also just confirmed they had more than one watcher. DJ was happy to know her gut was working efficiently.

“Okay, my sugar baby and I will check out earlier than planned. She’s looking forward to spending some time at a secluded snorkeling spot.”

“I’ve got just the one all picked out,” Conn said. “Nice and private.” His tone had changed, grown grittier. The sound set her nerves on edge. Something about their tails had bothered Conn and that couldn’t be good. “Besides making a new friend here, I ran across an old friend … from my military days.”

Conn knew one of their watchers? Since Conn had been MARSOC, that meant the “old friend” was highly skilled. DJ stiffened and Ace rubbed her shoulder.

“Anyone I know?”Ace asked.

“Indirectly. You have friends in common from back home. He’s also very interested in the new friend I made. My military friend might try to contact you to catch up on old times.”

DJ stiffened and forced herself not to search the crowd for anyone watching them too closely. Ace gave her a gentle squeeze. She sighed and then relaxed into him. They’d expected to be spied upon. It was good to know Conn had eyes on both men. She had no issues taking anyone out who might be a danger to Ace and their operation. If they had to, she was sure she and the guys could rig up a convincing accident. Lots of people died while boating alone in strange waters.

“If you talk to your friend, say hello from me.”Ace had just given Conn the go ahead to take out Conn’s acquaintance if the man became a danger.

Conn chuckled. “If I talk to him, I’ll just invite him along for the trip to Belize. I’m fairly sure he knows how to dive. He recently spent a lot of time in Key West and on an island off the Bahamas.”

Now, it was Ace who stiffened. “Fuck.” His voice, now an angry rumble, he muttered into the phone, “Crocker’s here?”

Crocker? The guy who kidnapped Elana and took her to the Russian
mafiya
boss? From the story DJ had heard, the man was supposed to be in a Federal prison for his crimes in aiding and abetting a traitor.

“Yeah.” Conn’s tone had also turned fierce. “Shall I offer to buy him a drink?”

“No. Leave him alone. If he does contact you, suggest you meet to catch up on old times and common friends.”

“Gotcha,” Conn said. “That’s how I’d play it also. Have a nice last night in Cancun. See you bright and early tomorrow. I’ll make sure the yacht is spic-and-span for your trip down the coast.”

The yacht would be bug-free for their trip. Probably the last time they wouldn’t be on someone’s video or audio for the remainder of the op.

Don’t think about it. Just pretend you’re in a movie and the hidden cameras are filming scenes.

And that would be a porn movie.

Yet, there was no way, she’d go without sex with Ace now that she’d realized what she’d missed all these years. Plus, they were a couple—it was part of their cover.

“Sounds good, buddy. See you bright and early in the morning.” Ace swiped the highly sophisticated phone off. The signal was routed through NSA satellites and scrambled so no one would be able to trace or decode the call in time to interfere with the op—if they even could break the encryption.

Ace turned toward her, a dark, glowering look on his face. “Shit. Could never have seen that coming in a thousand years.”

“Is that the Crocker I think it is?”

Ace nodded, one short abrupt movement of his head. He was furious and no wonder. Sam Crocker was
persona non grata
at SSI.

DJ had heard the story from Keely. Crocker had tried to kill Elana for Syd MacLean, a DIA traitor. When MacLean fled the country, Crocker, a savvy survivor, switched sides and kidnapped Elana for a
mafiya
chief who wanted her.

Keely had also been a target of Crocker’s and his band of mercs when he’d worked for MacLean. It made no difference to any male at SSI that Crocker had later attempted to protect Elana and had been injured while doing so. If he was in Cancun, some kind of deal had been made.

Unfortunately, in the intelligence community, men like Crocker had skill sets and knowledge that could be used; it was the “enemy of your enemy is your friend” credo.

“Do you think the Feds turned him?” DJ murmured against Ace’s ear. Anyone looking would see a woman nuzzling her man.

“Maybe,” Ace turned to mutter against her cheek. “When we get back to the
casita
, I’ll call my sister. She’ll know what to do. If Crocker’s working on a black op for the U.S.—and even though he’s a fucking douchebag—I don’t want to screw it up.”

DJ rubbed her nose alongside his. Ace wouldn’t talk to Ren, because she suspected her future sister-in-law’s husband would rush down here to take out Crocker’s sorry ass even if it blew their current op.

“I need to know what this effin’ douchebag looks like,” DJ said. Because she was determined to protect her man’s ass and needed to be able to identify any and all potential enemies.

“I can get you his military file tonight. If Conn recognized him, Crocker must not have changed his identifying features.” Ace hugged her and placed a tender kiss on her lips before settling back into his seat.

The waiter placed their entrees on the table. After the man left, Ace cut into his grilled sea bass and muttered, “Damn. Crocker
let
Conn see him. For a reason. I figure you’ll be meeting the man tomorrow when we drop anchor to go snorkeling. If he doesn’t come in soft—”

DJ took several deep breaths as adrenaline set her heart to racing. Her body was ready to fight, but the enemy was still unseen. She forced herself to relax. What had started out to be a simple intel-gathering undercover op had suddenly gained the potential to turn dangerous.

“We’ll handle it.” Calmly, she cut and took a bite of her Tilapia, then hummed under her breath as the flaky fish melted in her mouth. “Does this mean the evening’s planned entertainment is off?”

She had all this adrenaline pumping in her bloodstream and no danger to leech it off … but sex could.

“Fuck no.” He shot her a glance so scorching it could melt iron. “First, I’m buying you a ring. There’s a jeweler on the way back to our hotel.” He picked up her left hand and kissed her ring finger. “I want to mark you as mine.”