The Soldier (Black Hawke Security #4)

CHAPTER ONE

MARSHALL

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I eye the tray of hors d'oeuvres that passes by me and ignore the rumble in my tummy. My gaze drifts back to Savannah and Ryder—or rather Savannah—because Ryder is fucking Delta Force so I don’t know why I need to be standing so close to his wife in this penguin suit when he could eliminate any threat just as fast as I could.

Well, almost.

I smirk to myself.

The truth is, I do know why I’m glued to Savannah. She’s the hottest thing in Hollywood right now and it’s the after party for her movie premiere. I’m one of Savannah’s private security details tonight— one of them—so it’s my job to be glued to her while over five hundred celebrities mingle around, sparkling and smiling like the rich fuckers they are.

My stomach gurgles again.

Damn it, I should’ve had that extra fish taco.

I have no issues with obscenely rich and overpaid actors...except for the guy who is currently running his hand over Trina Thomas’s ass.

Speaking of hottest.

The corner of my lip quirks when she grabs his wrist and gives him her death stare. One I’m extremely familiar with.

“I’m paying you to watch Savannah not Trina, asshole.” Ryder hisses.

“I’m doing both. We learned to multitask in the Special Forces.” I drag my eyes from the long-legged brunette and grin at Ryder.

He’s not smiling back. Nor was I expecting it, which makes my dig even more enjoyable.

“ Necesitas que cuide de tu mujer ?” I smirk harder.

Ryder’s eyes narrow.

I know he doesn’t speak Spanish and when I start throwing around one of the four languages I speak it makes my friend and coworker very irritable. And me, very entertained.

“What did you say about my wife?” Ryder growls.

So, he picked up one word. Lucky me. I asked Ryder if he needed me to take care of his wife. If he was able to translate the entire thing, I’d be on my ass bleeding right about now.

Ryder pulls out his phone and swipes angrily.

“Say it again.” He demands, pushing the phone into my face.

“ Tienes una esposa encantadora.” I grin.

“Fuck you, that’s not what you said. You’re fired.”

I laugh, but my focus remains on the job around me. Every single person has gone through a metal detector and had a pat down before stepping inside the party.

Despite our banter, Ryder knows I’m doing my job. Just as I know he’s doing my job for me. He might be Savannah’s husband, but he will always be the best bodyguard she can ever have.

He also can’t fire me.

I’m employed, like him, by Black Hawke Security, and the two men standing with the long-legged sexy woman I’m trying not to focus on, are the only people who can fire my ass.

They might, but I highly doubt it.

Josh, who is married to Cassy, and Aidan, who is engaged to Briar, look about as thrilled as I am to be here.

I know both of them would rather be at the gym or home with a beer watching football.

At least I’m getting paid.

A pregnant Briar, who is also Savannah’s PA, drifts over with Aidan in tow. The others, including Trina and Alice, follow.

“Everything is going amazing.” Briar places a hand on Savannah’s shoulder as she casts her eyes around the room. “Did you see Jason Momoa is here? Oh my god.”

“No. She didn’t.” Ryder curls the corner of his lip.

I snort.

“I saw. He said hello. Nice guy. Big guns.” Trina sips her drink and dryly looks my way.

“Fan of big guns, are we darlin’?” I lift a brow, amused.

She scowls back.

God, she’s fucking gorgeous and the more irritated by me she gets, the more beautiful she is. At least to me.

“I’ve seen guns bigger than the one you’re carrying in your little pouch, sunshine.” Her eyes dip to my crotch.

Aidan, Josh, and Ryder roar with laughter.

Keep your eyes on my crotch baby. That’s where I want her attention.

For weeks she’s been trying to break me but it hasn’t worked. It only makes me want to fuck her more. And trust me, it’s already a lot.

I lean in closer. “Shall we take them out and see, darlin’?”

Trina blinks.

My smile widens.

A microsecond later, she gathers herself. “If you feel like embarrassing yourself. Go right ahead.” Trina waves out a hand and takes a longer sip on her champagne flute.

I straighten and lick my lips.

She’s not as brave as she makes out and I’ve been having fun testing her patience. She’s about to snap and I’ve got the popcorn ready for the moment it happens.

Hopefully, it will snap her legs wide open at the same time.

I know she wants to fuck me as much as I do her. At least, I’m ninety-nine...ninety-five percent sure. The crass and sassy twenty-seven-year-old hottie has been the subject of my attention for long enough. I want my mouth on her pussy and her legs over my shoulders.

I stopped myself looking her up in our system which accesses some of the highest security information in the United States. Or higher if we need to go into the dark web.

Overkill obviously.

I don’t expect to find anything on Trina Thomas there and it’s nothing that would help me get a “date” with her.

In any case, I’m enjoying the chase.

Immensely.

I also followed one night when she left the Black Hawke Security offices after our regular Friday night drinks. All the girls join us now that some of the guys are hooked up.

Trina left earlier than usual and I was curious. I slipped out after her and kept a distance behind the Uber which took her to a restaurant.

Lucky I’ve got experience being patient doing surveillance. It was a long night watching her sit and chat to the bozo she was on a date with.

Then the fucking idiot took him home.

What was she thinking? He could’ve been a serial killer or rapist.

For the next hour I’d paced outside her house, wondering if I should barge in. He suddenly left when the fire alarm went off.

Oops.

My bad.

An hour was long enough and I needed to know she was alive. The light that went on in her bedroom soon after, and my M22 night vision binoculars, told me she was just fine.

Very fine.

God, I want her mouth around my cock. What better way to silence her naughty smart mouth?

“You two are always a source of entertainment.” Briar leans against Aidan as his arm circles around her back protectively.

He’s been even worse since learning she’s pregnant with twins.

“Yes. Hilarious.” Trina rolls her gorgeous blue eyes. “Anyway, shouldn’t you be working, toy soldier?”

My heckles rise.

Goddamn her.

I fucking hate it when she calls me that. Which is why she does it every single time we see one another. Or at least when she can see me.

Trina’s lip twitches when she notices the slight crease between my brows. I can’t recall the precise moment she figured out my tell, but I was impressed that she had.

Perhaps it’s a survival instinct.

But what it told me was that she’s paying closer attention to me than she makes out.

And that I affect her.

More than she wants anyone to know. Especially me. Making the game even more fun.

I swear if she up and ran, I’d probably chase her like a fucking mountain lion.

Thing is, though, Trina is hard to read. Even for me. I know every unique quirk she has; the way she runs her fingers over her ear, tucking her long dark hair away, and shoots me quick glances hoping I don’t notice.

The scowl only appears if I’m looking.

I’m always fucking looking.

The way she slides on lip balm every forty-five minutes. Almost to the second.

Raspberry.

I can almost taste it on the tip of my tongue.

One night, at the BHS offices, I was leaning against the bench sipping a beer when she pulled it out and began sliding it over those plump lips.

It would have taken a nuclear missile to drag my eyes away. I watched her do one, two, and then three coats before her eyes connected with mine.

Then they narrowed.

And I winked at her.

With a huff, Trina slammed that thing back inside her purse while my cock thickened.

I have big plans for all that built-up frustration. Mainly her riding my cock like a bull fighter as I grip her neck.

She’s going to come so damn beautifully when she finally lets go.

Otherwise, the lithe beauty is as closed as any book can be. But she needs to know, I’m going to rip her open and lick every single one of her pages.

That sounded better in my head. What can I say, I’m a soldier not a poet.

“It might surprise you that a Green Beret can talk and do his job at the same time. We’re very highly skilled.” I wink. “Anyway, Savannah is currently surrounded by a US Marine, Navy SEAL, and one of those imaginary Delta Force members. She’ll be fine while I flirt with you.”

“Ew, we’re not flirting.” She takes a physical step back.

I fight my smile.

That’s her trigger—one I like to push often.

I also know another little spot that would set her off if she’d let me play a little more. She will. One day very soon.

I’ve almost broken her down.

At least that’s what I keep telling myself. Honestly, she’s a worthy opponent and it’s just going to be that much sweeter when I fuck her.

“Looks like flirting to me.” Alice, her other bestie, pipes up, chuckling.

Two people couldn’t be more different. Alice is quiet, sweet, and thinks everything is romantic.

There’s nothing romantic about my feelings for Trina. When she’s underneath me I’m going to slam so hard inside her pussy she’ll forget she ever hated me.

“Imaginary.” Ryder shakes his head. “You’re a dick.”

So long story short, Delta Force doesn’t officially exist as far as the US government is concerned. The truth is the team is made up of the best of the best from all departments of the military. They work off book and on special missions for the top tier.

As in POTUS.

What no one knows is that I was invited to join Delta. I declined, left the Special Forces team—aka the Green Berets—and joined Black Hawke Security.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t wind the guy up.

“Whatev’s. I’m going to powder my fu-fu.” Trina spins and struts off.

Briar and Alice share a look and start giggling.

“The fuck is a fu-fu?” Josh asks.

“I’ll show you later, honey.” Cassy pats his thick chest.

“No need. I figured it out.” Josh nods slowly. “Wait. No. You will still show me.”

Adian laughs at the delayed reaction as I spy one of the servers hovering around in the shadows demonstrating slightly unusual behavior. I press my finger to my ear.

“Eleven o’clock. Damien, eyes on the penguin.”

“On it.”

Twenty seconds later: “He’s having girlfriend problems and texting her while working. No threat.”

Ryder’s gaze roams the room in reaction to my body stiffening moments earlier, then lock on me.

I shake my head and his shoulders relax.

Josh slaps him on the back. “Let Marshall do his job. Take your wife around the room to network.”

“Go,” I say gruffly. I might joke around a lot when off duty but on the job, I take what I do very seriously. It’s how we stayed alive out on the field and how we keep our clients safe and protected.

I know I wouldn’t be working for the company if I didn’t. They hire only the best of the best. And make no secret of it.

“Come on, baby.” Savannah takes his arm. “I’m fine. Marshall is doing a great job.”

“How do you know?” he grunts.

“I’m still breathing aren’t I?” She kisses his cheek.

“Do not joke.” Ryder shoots us a strained look.

He’s extremely protective of her. All the guys are of their girls, but Ryder had the poor luck of falling in love with one of the most famous women in the world.

Savannah was shot while under his protection and I don’t think he’ll ever completely relax when it comes to keeping her safe.

Which is why I’m here tonight shadowing them. He trusts me and while I might ride his ass about being in Delta, I don’t take that trust lightly.

Savannah, like Cassy, Briar, and even Alice, Trina, and Scarlet are part of us now. Under all our protection.

I think they know it too.

Trina is the only one who seems agitated by it... and then only by me.

This is my last protective assignment for the foreseeable future. I’ve been asked to pick up some of the black ops work now Aidan and Josh have stepped back from the tasks.

I agreed, but the truth is I left the army and declined the Delta Force position for a reason. I was trying to save the last pieces of my soul. The pieces I protect fiercely with my cheeky humor, banter, and flirtatious nature.

I’m well aware it’s a survival mechanism.

That’s the fucking goal.

Most don’t understand what we go through in the field. Not really. They try...or they don’t.

The things we see. The things we have to do. What it does to our psyche and how we struggle to function back in normal society afterward.

All this talk about privilege—it’s a fucking privilege to be alive. The fury that kind of shit triggers inside me—goddamn it, I want to scream some days.

It takes one bullet to end a life.

One second.

I know. I’ve done it. I’ve taken lives and almost had mine ripped from me.

One fucking second.

People need to get off the internet and hug a damn tree, gaze into a lake or up at the clouds, and appreciate what we have.

Before it’s gone.

In one single second.

So yeah, it’s not all rainbows and puppies inside my head. There’s a darkness that I work to keep at bay and hidden from those I love. My family and friends.

I don’t want to put this shit on them.

So, I’ve said yes, because I know the guys need to be here for their girls, but I hope like hell it doesn’t drag me under.

Six feet under.