Sharpshooter
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She didn’t know what Gunner’s game was. But he wasn’t controlling her. He didn’t want her. He’d made that clear when she’d tried to kiss him on that case in Texas.
Colin’s hands settled along her hips. She was wearing a pair of jeans, a top that was a little low and strappy sandals that pushed her a bit higher than her normal five-foot-six height. Colin was big, not as tall or muscled as Gunner, and—
“You don’t want to come between us.”
Gunner was there. Again. On the dance floor. And he’d just pulled Colin away from her.
This was insane.
“Sydney, come with me,” Gunner said in that low growl of his.
Colin shook his head. “Look, buddy, I don’t care if you are her friend, you don’t—”
“Is that what I am, Sydney?” Gunner asked, his voice flat. “Your friend?
He had been. After that nightmare two years ago, he’d become her rock. The man she depended on. The one who’d pulled her through her darkest time.
But she wanted him to be more than that.
She wanted more.
He didn’t.
“I don’t know what you are,” she told him. “But you should leave.” Because she was tired of living only for the job. She’d find happiness. Everyone else did. She wanted to have a real home one day. A family.
Not just mission after mission.
Why couldn’t someone be waiting on her when she came home? Someone who loved her? Wanted her?
“You heard the lady,” Colin muttered.
But Gunner wasn’t moving. He had started to give Colin a killing glare.
Colin made the mistake of stepping toward Gunner. Of shoving against his chest. “You need to back off—” Colin began.
Definitely a mistake.
Gunner grabbed that shoving hand and twisted it. Colin’s words choked off, and the dancers around them froze as they realized what was happening.
In less than three seconds, Gunner had Colin on his knees…all from that hold that Gunner had on Colin’s hand. Sydney knew the twist that Gunner was using could be incredibly painful, and if Gunner just pulled a little more, Colin’s bones would snap.
This scene was turning into a nightmare.
“Gunner, let him go!” Sydney grabbed his arm. “You’re making a scene!”
“No, he did that when he shoved me.” But Gunner let the other man go.
Colin scrambled away, eyes wide, cheeks flushed. He headed for the door as fast as he could.
Well, so much for that dance. So much for the whole night. Sydney turned from Gunner and started marching for the door. The plan had been stupid, anyway. As if she was going to find some kind of Prince Charming in a bar like this.
She pushed open the front door, and the night air rushed over her. Sydney took two more steps, then…
She stopped. “Tell me that you aren’t following me home.” Because she knew he was behind her. As a rule, Gunner could move pretty soundlessly. That was one of the reasons he’d been so good during his time as a SEAL sharpshooter. But she could feel him, so she knew he was trailing her.
“We need to talk.”
Fabulous. “I thought there wasn’t anything to say. I mean, you had your chance at Whiskey Ridge…” When she’d ditched her pride and told him that she needed him.
But he’d stayed aloof.
Gunner always held back with her. Always saw the ghost of her fiancé, his half brother, between them.
She knew now that he wasn’t ever going to let that ghost go. She might want Gunner. Want him so badly that her heart had seemed to break when he kept pulling away, but she’d survive his rejection.
She’d survived much worse than not being wanted by Gunner Ortez.
“What do you want from me?” Gunner asked her.
Everything.
Sydney turned toward him. “I want you to look at me and just see a woman. Not a ghost.”
A muscle jerked in his jaw. “You’re pushing me too much.”
She shook her head. “I’m not pushing you at all. You’re the one who came here, to my town. You’re the one who showed up in the bar.” Frustrated, she demanded, “How did you even find me here? Did you follow my GPS location?” All of the EOD agents had trackers installed on their phones. But if he’d used that tracking system…Stalker much. “Now I’m the one walking away.”
Only she didn’t get to walk far. Four steps was all she took. Then Gunner’s hands were on her shoulders. He spun her back around and lifted her up on her tiptoes.
“When I close my eyes, I see your face.”
His words, so gravel-rough, had her heart racing.
“I don’t see a ghost, I just see you.” His eyes were on her mouth. “You’re driving me crazy, taking over every moment of my life.”
She couldn’t breathe. Because what he was saying—that was the way she felt. As if he’d taken over her life.
“I tried to walk away. I tried to be strong.” His head lowered. “But I don’t want you to be with anyone else.”
Sydney didn’t want to be with any other man. “Gunner…”
“There are some lines that if you cross them, you can’t ever go back.”
“I don’t want to go back.” There was nothing in her past to go back to. Only death.
Gunner was life.
“I won’t be able to let you go.”
She wouldn’t let him go. Before Gunner could say anything else, Sydney wrapped her hands around his neck and she pulled his head down toward her.
The kiss wasn’t easy or gentle. Wasn’t the tentative kiss of soon-to-be lovers.
It was hard and deep—consuming. The touch of his lips sent need spiraling through her. Then she was crushed against him. Holding on as tight as she could as he tasted her, and she tasted him, and all of the longing that she’d held inside so tightly broke from her control.
This was Gunner. This wasn’t a dream. This was real.
And there was no going back.
HE SHOULD LET her go. Gunner knew he shouldn’t have followed her to Baton Rouge, but he’d been afraid.
I don’t want to lose her.
Sydney Sloan. The woman he’d wanted since the moment he first met her. Even when she’d been planning to marry his brother, Gunner had wanted her.
They were back at her house. He’d followed her from the bar, feeling the hunger for her burn just beneath his skin.
She stood on the porch now. The swamp waited behind her, and the sound of crickets filled the air.
He was closing in on her. There was still time to pull back, still time to do the right thing.
But he wasn’t sure what was right anymore. Slade was gone, buried in a jungle in South America. Sydney was alive. There, just a few feet away, and wonder of wonders, the woman actually wanted him.
She knew about his darkness. About the sins that marked his soul, but she still wanted him.
He would die for her.
So he followed her up the steps to the home that she’d once loved so much, before her family had passed away and left her alone. She opened the door for him. Light spilled out onto the porch.
Onto her.
There would be no going back.
The wooden porch creaked beneath his feet. Her hand was up, reaching for him, and Gunner was pretty sure he’d had this same dream before. Only then, he’d wakened alone, sweating and tangled in his sheets, with her name on his lips.
Make this good for her. Give her pleasure.
Because he only wanted Sydney to know pleasure. She’d known too much pain in her life.
He crossed the threshold with her. Pushed the door shut behind them.
Her breath came a little too fast, and she shifted from her right foot to her left. He’d been in this house before. It carried her sweet scent, light vanilla, and he knew just where her bedroom waited.
Down the hallway, second door on the right.
Could he make it that far?
“Gunner…”
He loved the way she said his name. Breathless. Eager.
Can’t make it that far. He’d done well to make it out of the street and into her house.
Gunner pulled Sydney against him, breathed in that vanilla scent and locked his hands around her waist. Those jeans had been driving him crazy. “I—I can’t go slow.”
“Good.”
She surprised him. Always.
Then his mouth was on hers. He thrust his tongue past her lips, and she was the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted.
Before, he’d told himself to stay hands-off, but in Mexico, when she’d walked away and hadn’t looked back, he’d realized that she was too important to lose.
Now his hands were most definitely on her.
Her breasts were pressed against his chest. Her hips arched against him. He wanted her naked. He wanted to kiss every inch of her.
And he would. The second time.
The first time—the time that should have been perfect—need was controlling him. Raw lust.
So he stripped her. He couldn’t take his mouth from hers. His hands learned her body and slid over her silken flesh even as he shoved down her jeans.
He heard her kick off the sandals that had made him ache. He would have liked for her to keep them on—another time.
Then they were falling together onto her sofa. He was kissing her neck now, inhaling more of that wonderful scent, even as his hands went between her thighs. He meant to pull away her panties, but his fingers were too rough and the silk tore.
Sydney just laughed.
He loved her laugh.
After Peru, it had taken too long for her laugh to come back.
No. He slammed the door on that thought and instead enjoyed the soft heat of her flesh. She was pushing up against him, whispering his name.
His head lifted. He stared at her and told her the simple truth, “You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
Her lips curled in a smile.
Take.
He yanked open his jeans, pushed his body deeper between her thighs. Waited right there at the entrance to her body. This was the moment. No going back. No—
She arched toward him, and he sank inside her.
The pleasure was so incredible that he had to clench his teeth together to hold back a groan. Nothing, nothing, had ever felt so good.
Or so right.
He began to thrust. Withdrawing slowly, then plunging back inside her. She was paradise to him, the best dream he’d ever had, and he kissed as much of her body as he could.
Her nipples were tight, pink, and when he licked one, she tensed beneath him.
Gunner felt the pleasure rock through her.
Her legs lifted, locked around his hips. Then she started pushing up with her hips.
He couldn’t hold back. His own thrusts became even harder. He caught her hands and laced his fingers with hers.
He stared into her eyes.
Saw her climax. Her green gaze went wide, then wild as the pleasure crested through her.
His release swept him away on a wave so intense that he shuddered and pushed deeper into her. The release shook his whole body. Seemed to gut him and never end.
I don’t want it to end.
He wanted to keep holding her to make the perfect moment last as long as possible.
He kissed her again because he needed to taste her pleasure, to taste all of her.
And he swore that before the night was done, he would.
Chapter Two
The ringing of her phone woke Sydney. Her hand flew out automatically, reaching for her nightstand—for the phone. But instead of scooping up her phone, her fingers collided with warm, strong flesh.
Not a dream.
Her eyes snapped open, and she found herself staring straight into Gunner’s dark gaze. There was no sleepiness in that gaze, just a deep hunger.
For her.
Then he reached out and grabbed the ringing phone from her nightstand. Silently, he handed it to her.
“S-Sydney Sloan.” Her fingers tightened around the phone. Gunner’s tanned fingers were sliding down her arm.
Goose bumps rose on her flesh as she remembered the night before. The things he’d done to her. What she’d done to him.
More, please.
“Sydney?” Logan barked. “Sydney, are you okay?”
She shot up in bed, clutching the sheet to her chest. “I’m fine. Just…sleeping.” Gunner didn’t stop stroking her. He raised himself, and his lips brushed over her shoulder.
She shivered.
“Look, I know you were due to have a few weeks off, but we’ve got a case that we can’t refuse. I’ve got you booked on a jet to Peru at three today.”
Peru.
“I’m going to call Gunner and Cale. They’ll be meeting up with you there.”
I can tell Gunner. He’s right here kissing me, lying naked next to me. She cleared her throat. “What’s the case?” She hadn’t been back to Peru in two years. Not since Slade had died in that jungle, and the place had nearly become her own grave, too.
“An American is being held hostage by a group of rebels.”
Hostage rescue. That was what their team did best.
“He needs us,” Logan said. “So be on that plane.”
“I’ll be there,” she whispered, and then, because Logan would figure the situation out when he had to make reservations for Gunner—and those flight reservations had Gunner leaving from Baton Rouge, Sydney said, “Now hold on, and I’ll get Gunner for you.”
Gunner’s gaze rose to hers. She knew that her cheeks flushed; she could feel the burn. But this wasn’t the time for secrets. They had a case to work. And when a civilian’s life was on the line, there wasn’t room for embarrassment.
Gunner took the phone from her but didn’t look away from her eyes. “Gunner.”
There was a beat of silence. Then Sydney rolled away from Gunner and climbed from the bed before she could overhear Logan’s response to the discovery that Gunner was so close she could just, ahem, hand him her phone first thing in the morning.
She grabbed for a robe. Her body ached in a way that felt so good, and she hated that their time together was already ending.
No, not ending. They were just beginning. They’d turned a corner last night, and there would be no going back for them.
“I’ll be there,” she heard Gunner say, and she looked up as he ended the call.
No man should look as sexy as he did. His hair was a little tousled. A line of stubble coated his square jaw, and his eyes blazed as they raked over her.
“We have at least six hours,” Gunner told her.
Six hours.
She nodded.
“I want you.”
Her fingers clenched around the belt of the robe. “Again?”
“Always.”
She dropped the robe and climbed back in bed with him. Six hours.
This was perfect. What she’d hoped for.
And this time, things would end well for her in Peru. She wouldn’t lose Gunner. Not the way that she’d lost Slade.
Gunner’s lips pressed to hers, and she shoved away the fear that wanted to rise within her.
Peru. The last time she’d been to Peru, her lover had died there.
It won’t happen this time. She’d finally gotten her chance with Gunner. It wouldn’t slip through her fingers.
LOGAN STARED DOWN at the phone in his hand. Gunner was with Sydney.
He’d seen the sexual awareness between the two of them. Had known that Gunner wanted Sydney, and that the sniper had held back with her. He had clung so tightly to his control and his rule that Sydney was off-limits.
But it looked as if Gunner had broken his rule.
Logan tossed aside the phone and stared at the photographs in front of him. The tip he’d received could be wrong. He shouldn’t want it to be wrong, but he did.
Because Gunner was his friend. Gunner had been through hell. The man deserved some happiness.
But if the intel was right—and this intel had come right down from Bruce Mercer, the man who’d formed the EOD—then Gunner’s life was about to be ripped apart.
“Enjoy her while you can,” Logan whispered. Because Gunner would need some good memories to hold tight to in the darkness that was coming.
PERU WAS JUST as hot and beautiful and wild as Sydney remembered. When the plane touched down, and she headed out on the tarmac, the heat was the first thing to hit her.
Cale was inside the airport, waiting for them. Gunner walked right beside Sydney, his hand lightly pressing at the base of her back.
To any onlookers, they probably looked like a vacationing couple.
That was their cover, after all. Lovers. A cover they’d used before.
Only this time, they weren’t pretending.
When they entered the airport, Cale approached them with a broad grin. Again, another cover. The reuniting friends. He slapped Gunner on the back and hugged Sydney.
“Ready?” he asked quietly, keeping his smile in place.
She always was.
They went outside together and tossed their bags into the back of Cale’s jeep.
Sydney climbed into the front seat next to Cale, while Gunner jumped in the back. In moments, Cale was driving them away from the airport.
“Where’s Logan?” Gunner asked, his voice rising over the growl of the engine. “I thought he was meeting us down here.”
“He’s doing recon,” Cale said, keeping his eyes on the road. Cale was an ex–Army Ranger, one who’d actually been targeted by the EOD for takedown.
He’d been framed for the murders of three EOD agents. He’d proven his innocence and earned his way onto their team.
“Have you seen a picture of the target?” Sydney asked. She was trying hard not to glance back at Gunner, but she was so aware of him. She was hyperaware of every single move that he made.
Had they really spent the night together? She’d wanted him for so long that part of her wondered if it had all just been a wonderful dream.
An erotic dream.
She couldn’t help herself—she glanced back at him.
And found Gunner’s dark eyes locked on her.
There was such heat in that gaze. She swallowed and forced her eyes away from him as Cale said—
“No, I haven’t seen any visuals on him yet. I just know that the order for extraction came down from the top.”
She caught the brief grin that flashed over Cale’s face.
“Seems Mr. Mercer thinks this rescue is priority, and he wanted only the Shadow Agents to take point on this one.”
The Shadow Agents. Sure, there were other teams in the EOD, but their team had earned the moniker of Shadow Agents because of the way they handled their missions. They went in soundlessly and attacked before their enemies even realized they were there. Then they vanished, disappearing like shadows.
Gunner was especially good at being a shadow. If Gunner didn’t want you to know he was there, you wouldn’t.
Sydney knew Gunner’s grandfather had been the one to first train him to track and hunt on a reservation. Gunner was the best hunter she’d ever seen, even better than Slade.
Slade’s body was in Peru. That knowledge was sitting heavily on her now that she was back in the area.
The EOD had tried to recover his remains again and again, but the rebels they’d fought that day had taken his body away from the scene. Despite the EOD’s efforts, they hadn’t been able to bring him home.
Slade had a grave, an empty one, one that honored him as the soldier he’d been. But he’d actually never made it back home.
“Logan told me that you and Gunner had been in Peru before,” Cale said.
She cleared her throat. “A…few times.”
“Logan has set us up in a resort near the beach. You and Gunner are supposed to look like honeymooners.”
Because sometimes it wasn’t about hiding in a hut or sliding through the jungle. Blending in plain sight could work so much better. The EOD knew this well.
“And I’m your single friend, enjoying some R & R myself.” The road was bumpy and the jeep bounced. Once, twice. “Sure is a long way from Texas,” he murmured, and she heard the faint drawl in his voice.
Cale’s home was in Texas, and the EOD agent he’d replaced—Jasper—was currently living in Texas with Cale’s sister.
“When are we looking at extraction?” Gunner asked as he leaned forward. His fingers were on the back of Sydney’s seat. It almost felt as if he was playing with her hair. Was he?
“Logan said this was a fast-moving mission. We want the civilian out of there within twenty-four hours.”
Sydney nodded. Definitely doable. As soon as Logan returned, she’d start her own reconnaissance work. She could uplink to satellites and get aerial maps of the area to find the best places for them to venture in as they started the rescue operation. As long as she had a good computer and the necessary uplink, she’d be able to access anything that the team needed. Tech had always been her specialty.
Then the jeep turned and headed through the high gates of the resort. Sydney put a smile on her face. She could pretend to be a happy honeymooner. With Gunner at her side, she could do anything.
And she was happy, even if painful memories were trying to push their way into her mind. Peru had been a nightmare for her once, but it didn’t have to be again.
The valet hurried over to the jeep. Gunner was already out and reaching for Sydney. His hand curled around hers, swallowing her fingers. His hold was strong, possessive. And the kiss that he brushed over her lips—it felt possessive, too.
Just for show…or was that something more?
Cale was laughing and saying something, playing his part. Gunner responded, but Sydney was lost.
She actually wished that this moment could be real. That she was just a happy honeymooner. A woman with Gunner.
But this wasn’t her life. She had a mission. A rescue. A civilian who needed her. She’d get the job done.
She’d get her man, too.
Gunner’s arm wrapped around Sydney’s shoulders. He steered her toward the entrance to the resort. She took a deep breath and slipped into her role.
LOGAN’S BODY WAS pressed tightly to the ground. He kept only his head up as he peered through the binoculars to get a visual on the small camp that sat at the base of the mountain. Not a typical rebel group, from what he’d been able to tell. These guys were armed to the teeth, patrolling constantly, and that one tent to the back…the one that housed the hostage…
There’d been no movement from that tent for the past four hours. Logan knew that fact for certain, because he’d been unmoving in his own position for that time.
He shouldn’t have come out alone, he knew that, but before he brought Sydney out there, before Gunner got the rebels in his sights, Logan just had to be sure of his target.
An armed guard headed toward the tent, lifted the flap, and went inside. Logan stopped breathing.
Then the guard came out again, leading the hostage. Logan’s fingers tightened around the binoculars as he stared at that prisoner. Long hair and a beard that hadn’t been trimmed in what looked like months. The man was walking with a faint limp.
This wasn’t a hostage who had been taken a few days ago. This was a man who had been held for a very, very long time.
Logan stared at the man’s face.
And knew the mission was going to be personal.
GUNNER TIPPED THE bellman and shut the door. Then he flipped the lock and turned his attention to Sydney.
She stood in front of a big bed, her blond hair framing her face. Her eyes were wide and fixed on him, but she wasn’t smiling.
Sydney looked nervous. An unusual situation for her. As far as he knew, Sydney was never nervous.
He took a step toward her, and she tensed.
What the hell? “Sydney?”
She shook her head. Then she smiled and gave the light laugh that always made his chest ache. “I swear, I feel like I’m on a real honeymoon.”
If only. He wouldn’t say he hadn’t thought about what it would be like to marry her, because he had. Too many times. Even when she’d been planning to marry his brother, he’d thought—