Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
“As tired as I am, I was thinking about heading to town and hitting up a club to see what all the fuss is about.” Finn stifled a yawn, sitting on the retro flower-patterned couch in the living room across from Wyatt and A.J.
“You go to a dance club?” A.J. laughed. “Since when are you some raver?”
“I can be diverse in my choice of music and hobbies,” Finn shot back.
“He’s kidding, brother,” Wyatt said before A.J. could respond. “And since when do you let Finn pull one over on you?”
“Must be my lack of rack time.” A.J. tugged at the brim of his hat and settled more comfortably on the couch.
“How’s, ahem, Chandler?” And great, maybe Wyatt would prefer joking about a nightclub than answer Finn’s question.
Because Natasha was fine. More than fine.
She’d tasted and smelled incredible. Her lips had fit perfectly with his.
Her body, too. She was funny, and her humor in crazy situations matched his own.
They were both probably messed up from their own past experiences—war and relationships.
They were perfectly imperfect together, and that scared the bloody hell out of him.
“Why do I feel like I’m missing something?” A.J. spoke up.
“Our boy was getting naked with the pretty CIA officer, and I had to rain on his party.” Finn rolled his lips inward to hide a grin.
“It’s parade,” A.J. quipped. “Rain on his parade.”
“Whatever.” Finn rolled his eyes.
“But hell, I shouldn’t be surprised since you two have swapped spit in the past.” A.J. swatted Wyatt’s leg with the back of his hand.
Finn lowered his elbows to his knees and leaned forward. “Whoa. What happened now?”
Wyatt looked skyward, wishing he could make both his mates disappear right now.
Natasha in that black bra blew back to mind. Her fit body. Her amazing smile. Those eyes—damn, now he understood how Helen of Troy had launched a thousand ships. Natasha could easily be his Helen, the woman to make him lose his senses.
He needed to calm down. To get his mind, not just his dick, to ease up. To back off.
She’s Admiral Chandler’s daughter. She’s CIA.
I’d rather jump off a cliff than end up like my parents.
Divorce.
People fucking die all the time. It hurts.
Love sucks.
More reasons buzzed to mind as he attempted to squash his feelings, feelings he didn’t know he was still capable of having.
“Wyatt met Chandler at his ex-wife’s wedding a few years back, ain’t that some shit?” A.J. was talking, divulging the details he’d shared last night before the rescue. Damn him. “Luke showed up and made him the offer to join the team, and he never got a chance to close the deal.”
His abbreviated story summed it up—tie a ribbon and put a bow on it.
But he needed to shut down the part of his brain that kept yelling to get her digits so he could see her again. “Why the hell did I tell you that?”
“Looks like I ruined it for you today. Sorry,” Finn said as the sliding glass door opened, drawing Wyatt’s attention to Jessica entering the room.
Saved by the boss.
“And?” Wyatt stood, hoping they’d have some good news to deliver Natasha.
“CIA Director Rutherford spoke to the COS at our embassy in Algeria, and between the phone recovered, and the tracking device you tagged that guy with on the beach—”
“We got a location on the AQIM compound?” A.J. interrupted, on his feet as well. “Tell me we get to go in and take those fuckers out ourselves? Get some payback for that helo crash.”
“Wait, what?”
Wyatt’s attention swerved to Natasha now stepping up alongside Jessica. The woman had stealth-like skills to sneak up on them like that.
Jessica’s forehead tightened. She was usually more careful than to let an outsider hear intel, but they hadn’t slept in days, and was Natasha really even an outsider?
“The military isn’t planning a drone strike, are they?
I was hoping to find evidence that could lead us to the hacker who sold them the intel,” Natasha spoke quickly, worry in her tone.
“I mean,” she sputtered, “I want those guys taken out, but I also have to think about the hacker’s next target—prevent another attack from happening. ”
“I get that,” Jessica began, “but this is out of our hands. And as for the operational plan, we’re not being clued in since it won’t be our team handling this.”
“Damn it.” A.J. dropped a few more curses, removed his hat and slapped it against his leg.
“But these bastards will be taken down, try and focus on that.” Wyatt wished he could make her feel better, but he also understood her concerns. Payback was one thing, but stopping the next attack and saving more lives was the number one priority.
Natasha folded her arms, standing her ground. “Who will be calling the shots? Who do I need to talk to?”
Damn, this woman had balls of steel.
She was a hardened CIA officer after her target once again and not the soft woman who’d writhed beneath him earlier. All business, no sex. He had to get his head back on straight and focus, too.
But her lips.
Her stubbornness.
Her gorgeous smile.
Her damn everything.
It was like he’d painted her with infrared, and she was all he could see in his scope. Bang straight in his crosshairs.
“You know how these things work,” Jessica said, her ice-blue eyes fixed on Wyatt for an assist as if she sensed there was a connection between him and Natasha.
He brought a fist to his mouth and tapped it there as he tried to figure out what to say.
“I need to go back to Algiers and find my source. He betrayed me, but if he’s still alive, I might—”
“He’s dead,” Jessica cut her off. “Farid’s body turned up outside the city.”
Natasha cursed under her breath, crossed the room, then brushed past Wyatt and swung the door open to get outside.
“She’s like someone else I know.” Finn bit back a smile, eyes on Jessica. “You two make a pair.”
“I’ll talk to her,” Wyatt offered.
“Thanks. Wheels up in an hour. We’re heading back to New York,” she replied. “The admiral should be here soon.”
Wyatt wrapped a hand over the doorknob and looked back at them. “She’s gonna be angry.”
“More than she already is?” A.J. joked.
“I can’t say I blame her.” Jessica glanced at her wristwatch and then twirled a finger in the air to get a move on.
He nodded and went outside in search of Natasha, hoping she hadn’t attempted to run again.
Thankfully, she’d parked herself on a bench near the perimeter of the estate. He slowly strode toward her, searching for her gaze, and she finally lifted her eyes to meet his. Her shoulders relaxed, and she pressed her back to the metal bench, which was wedged between two palm trees.
“Sorry. I’m just upset.”
“I get it. Trust me, I do.” He pointed to the bench, and she slid to the right to let him take a seat next to her. “But like I said earlier, I know you’ll find him. And I’m sure whoever is dispatched to go after the AQIM will be successful in taking them down.”
“This hacker, he’s good, though. Really damn good. And I’m worried he’s only just getting started—that this is the beginning.” Her voice trembled slightly. “And if I don’t stop him sooner rather than later, how many more people will die?”
He eyed her palm on her thigh and slipped his hand on top of hers. “You have to focus on what you can do, not what you can’t control.”
“But I like being in control.” A tight-lipped smile crossed her face.
He gently squeezed her hand. “Believe me, so do I.” He continued to hold her eyes, and she shifted on the bench to better face him.
They were caught in some type of cosmic moment, and they stayed that way for a little while, sitting in the quiet, listening to the sounds of the sea off in the distance, somehow understanding each other without speaking.
They were one and the same, weren’t they?
“You’ll find him.” He finally released her hand and forced himself to stand, to break free of their shared moment. He didn’t usually allow himself to have such moments, not that he’d ever found anyone who’d managed to freeze time and make the rest of the world disappear until her.
“And what will you do next?” She stood and rubbed her arms as if chilled.
He angled his head, the sun hitting him in the eyes. “Sleep on the flight back to the States.”
“And after that?”
“Kill some more bad guys.”
She grinned. “Thought your specialty was hostage rescue.”
“They go hand in hand.” He brought his focus to her luscious lips.
“I guess I’ll, uh, see you in another two or three years, then?
And hopefully, next time won’t be for a rescue.
” He started to turn but then peered back at her.
“And, uh, go easy on your old man. He just cares about you like any father should.”
She nodded solemnly. And then she flashed her gorgeous smile, the one that traveled all the way to her eyes. “Take care of yourself, Lord Wyatt Edward Frederickson, the third.”
Her words were a shot to the balls. Of course she’d discovered his given name. She was with the Agency, after all. “See ya, Chandler.” He winked, then turned away, hoping he’d see her a hell of a lot sooner than three years.