Operation Heartbeat (SEAL Team Blackout Charlie #1)

SEVENTEEN

Returning to the hotel might be the worst idea yet. Being alone with Sophie after all that she’d said about his lack of feeling when it came to relationships made both of them tense as hell.

He tried to focus on anything but the beautiful woman who was driving him crazy.

Fat chance of that happening.

The muted hum of city life below the hotel terrace mingled with the sound of Sophie tapping away at the laptop. Returning here was definitely the right call, he had no doubt. Con’s gaze was drawn away from the beautiful view of the pool and terrace to Sophie.

She had her hair pulled back into a sleek bun, the warm brown strands smooth and glossy. Watching her work was far too distracting—and enjoyable for him too.

She worked in spurts of genius. One minute attacking the cryptogram and making substantial progress. The next, she sat back in her seat, lip trapped between her teeth, just staring at the code.

Through the open glass door came the faint knock, announcing the arrival of room service. Sophie glanced at him, a question in her dark brown eyes.

“That will be the food.”

“When did you order food?”

He pushed off his lounge chair and crossed the terrace to the door. When he passed by Sophie, he couldn’t resist touching her shoulder. The way she moved into his caress made his chest tighten.

Approaching the door, he twitched a hand toward the weapon seated along his spine. He checked the peephole before opening the door. The staff member gave him a slight bow in greeting.

Con accepted the small, wheeled cart with a tray of several covered dishes on it and closed the door again. After he locked it, he pushed the cart to the terrace doors. Filmy curtains danced in the breeze. A few steps away, Sophie was back to her mad tapping.

He abandoned the cart and carried the tray outside, setting it on the table. He knew better than to interrupt her when she was deep in the decoding process, so he simply took the other seat and removed one of the silver covers over a dish.

A chopped salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and peppers was drizzled with fresh dressing and sprinkled with herbs. He lifted another lid to see what looked to be meatballs and bread with a rich sauce.

Sophie stopped typing. “That smells delicious.”

“Can you break to eat?”

“Now’s as good a time as any. I’m stuck.”

She pushed the laptop away and eyed the tray. He picked up a plate and began dishing out food. When he passed it to her, she smiled—a genuine smile that lit up her face in ways that made his chest tighter still.

She stared down at the meal in front of her. “Wow. I can’t believe I’m getting paid to eat by this beautiful pool with this beautiful view.” She looked out at the horizon, but Con stared at her.

When he informed his men that he and Sophie would be returning to the hotel where she could focus on the cryptograms, he received more than one knowing grin. At least they thought they knew what was going on between them.

He glanced at the pool shimmering in the sun. “We only enjoyed the pool one time together.”

Her gaze flicked from her meal to his face. “You had to bring that up, didn’t you?”

His lips quirked. “That perfume really was something.”

She issued a low groan. “I told you I bought it thinking I might get back into the dating scene. The perfume gave me a boost of confidence, whether or not it worked the way the advertisement claimed it would. Like a guy taking a shot before a date.”

His smile widened. “I love the way you think.” He leaned in to study the stars glimmering in her eyes. “And I loved the way it smelled on you.”

A flush rose into her cheeks. Her eyes hooded, and she dipped them down to her plate and then back up to Con. “Maybe we should test it out again. You know, purely in the name of research.”

“Spoken like a true professor.” His feelings for Sophie were like nothing he’d experienced before. They felt big. Too big to be a simple case of lust.

“Actually, I have something to talk to you about.”

She paused with her fork midair. “I’m listening.”

“All the Blackout teams have their own computer specialist.”

She tipped her head in interest. “And yours doesn’t?”

“No. For some reason, Charlie pulled the short straw on a handful of things.”

“I’d say you won the lottery with that amazing house for your base.”

He nodded. “That’s true. It was seized from a big drug lord during a tax evasion lawsuit.”

She chuckled. “And you get to enjoy it!”

He snorted. “I spoke at length with my commander, and he is in agreement that we could use someone like you working with us on a permanent basis.”

Those beautiful eyes rounded with surprise. “You’re offering me a…job?”

“Kit says we need someone.”

“Okay,” she said slowly.

“I can see I took you by surprise.”

“You did. Ryan, I thought this was only a short gig. I thought that after I deciphered the cryptograms, I’d be back in the classroom.”

He eyed her. “If we spend more time together, we could…move to the next level.”

“Is this about a relationship?”

He shifted his shoulders. He wasn’t out of his element in most areas of his life, but he didn’t know how to navigate these unfamiliar waters. “You’ll get away from Princeton. You said this is more exciting. You can also get away from your ex.”

She took a bite and chewed for a moment. “You mentioned someone suggested that your team needs someone like me.”

“Kit.”

“Isn’t she qualified for the job?”

“She’s great. But she isn’t available to us right now.”

“Why not?”

“She’s pregnant.”

Her eyes shot wide again. “By you ?”

He didn’t know whether to be offended or not, but in the end, he chuckled. “No. It’s not my child. She’s with one of the guys on Alpha team.”

She scrubbed a hand over her face. “I thought you said you guys aren’t supposed to have families.”

A squeezing sensation in his chest made speaking difficult. How to explain this anyway? Alpha team had created their own rules. Charlie, by contrast, adhered to those set for them.

There was a reason for the rules. When they went into dangerous situations, a SEAL’s loved one could be used as a pawn to draw them out. After it had happened several times, the rules got stricter.

They were dead men walking. And they walked alone.

“We can’t have families, Sophie. But if you work with Blackout, we’ll be near each other.”

The small tightening of her lips was one he’d seen from her a lot while she worked. It meant she wasn’t going to jump in without a lot of consideration.

“It’s a really good offer, Ryan. I’m flattered that your boss thinks enough of me that I made the cut. But I need time to think.”

“You don’t have to answer immediately.”

She turned her attention to the horizon, shot with swirls of translucent clouds in the sea of blue. “I’ll give you an answer by the time the mission is over.”

His stomach twisted at the thought of her walking away.

* * * * *

Sophie lifted her fingers from the keyboard and picked up a pencil instead. She turned to the notepad next to her and began scratching out letters, then scribbling them out.

Drawing her lip between her teeth in concentration, she began again. After fitting several of the letters into spots, she shook her head and drew a dark X through them.

For hours she’d been chasing these patterns around and around, going in circles and getting nowhere. The half-drunk coffee that Con had brought her sat at her elbow. She picked it up and took a sip, wrinkling her nose at the bitter flavor.

Walking away, taking frequent breaks, was part of the process, but she was glued to this table on the terrace by relentless determination.

“I have to be missing something,” she murmured, leafing through pages of notes. Her fingers trembled. The coded message was written across several of the pages. It wasn’t only a jumble of letters—it was a breadcrumb leading to something huge, something that would result in deaths if she couldn’t interpret it.

She flipped a page over, then stopped. Suddenly, it all clicked into place. She snatched up the pencil again, plugging letters into the coordinating spots.

“Aha!” Sophie lifted the paper and waved it wildly at Con where he sat across from her.

He shoved aside his laptop to take the paper from her. “You got it?”

“Yes!”

He looked at her over the top of the sheet. “What took you so long?”

She rolled her eyes at his question and rushed around the desk to stare at the words she’d written.

He stared at the paper too. “Jesus Christ. This is another location.”

She chewed on her bottom lip. The entire time she’d been deciphering the latest cryptogram, her stomach was sinking by degrees. She wasn’t even sure she was on the right track until the final piece of the puzzle snapped into place…and she saw it was a military base.

“Fort Leonard Woods. Where is that?” she asked.

“Missouri. It’s in the Ozarks. They train Army and Marines.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

They stared at each other.

“Do you think it has something to do with that shipment? The one they set up with Deniz but never came through on?” She was probably shooting in the dark with the question, but Con nodded.

“It could be. Our intel located several ports that he ships to.”

“Is one of them close to Fort Leonard Woods?” She leaned over the paper, questioning all the work she’d done.

“Best port option is Virginia.”

“Do we know when Deniz sent the last shipment there?”

He had all the information locked in his head and plucked it out without hesitation. “Ten days ago. But it was diverted by that tropical storm and arrived in New Orleans instead.”

Her brows pinched. “It would need to go by land to Missouri, whether it went to Virginia or Louisiana. Ryan…what was in that shipment?”

He shook his head. “Deniz didn’t know—he just took the order. The authorities know the shipment was diverted, but as of two days ago when I received intel, they didn’t have eyes on it.” He snatched his phone off the table. “I have to call this in.”

“Fort Leonard Woods wasn’t a base that Bayar visited or took pictures of. Maybe I’m wrong about the cryptogram.”

“Why do you say that?”

“The person who created this isn’t stupid. Only a stupid person would target a military base with all that security.”

“You’re not wrong, Professor.”

His gruff way of saying the word left her with tingles. Whenever Con said that, she got an entirely different meaning from the word professor—like he was speaking in his own code.

“I’ll be right back.” He stood and walked into the hotel room, leaving her outside to puzzle over the implications.

She slipped her fingers through her hair. She wasn’t an investigator. She was a puzzle-solver. And none of this made any sense. Targeting specific buildings or even streets in Chinatown was stupid. Targeting bases was a fast track to prison.

Could the group with the geometric tattoo be behind it? With Bayar dead, they had few answers.

She moved toward her seat, but her nerves were firing too much to sit still. She could strip off her clothes and do a few laps in the pool, but that wasn’t the wisest decision either—she had to be ready to work when Con needed her.

She paced in front of the pool, gaze fixed on the skyline and her mind rioting.

So much happened since their arrival in Turkey. So much time working to solve the cryptogram. They’d gone to stake out that building where they believed Deniz’s wife was held, the concert…the sex.

Followed by Con’s job offer.

She whirled to walk the length of the pool again.

Working for Blackout Charlie doing things that she loved sounded like a no-brainer, but nothing was that easy.

She began a short list of pros and cons in her head. Cons. She huffed out a chuckle.

Con number one—she enjoyed teaching. Filling eager minds was one of her passions.

One pro of leaving the university was getting away from her ex. And surely she’d get a better parking spot at the Blackout base. That mansion was huge. Heck, she’d probably get her own spot in the enormous garage.

There was no denying that she’d be closer to Con—at least in proximity. But he wouldn’t always be in New Jersey at the Blackout base. He’d be gone a lot, and it was unlikely that she’d be traveling with the Blackout team.

Was that a pro or con? Right this minute, she couldn’t tell if being close to him was a good idea or a bad one.

It would be a catastrophe for her heart. Hot sex was nice, but she was already getting far too attached to the SEAL.

Maybe they weren’t that far apart. He’d taken the time to learn how she ticked. Few people did, and she’d never encountered a man who got her the way Con did.

But she wasn’t a woman who dipped her toes in the water—she jumped in headfirst. Hell, she’d already done that with Con.

Fallen in love. Could he say the same?

Decision made. She was going to turn down the offer. She’d rather go to bed early with a book than not know where she stood with Con.

When she paced back to the door, she saw him inside, his back to her and his phone to his ear. God, he was a beautiful man. Intelligent in ways that sparked her brain, and his body made hers come alive.

As soon as this was over, she would head back to her humble, solitary life. She’d deal with her terrible parking spot and her snarky ex.

But when she left Turkey—and Ryan Constantine—she would be leaving her heart with the man who owned it.