Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protected in Darkness (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read online

  He knew she was right. After some argument from Kate, Colt paid the bill. They slid out of the booth, and as they did, Colt stepped close to her. He scooped up her hand and led her from the restaurant.

  When they were outside, he turned to her. He lifted both hands and ran his fingers along the blonde strands that framed her face. Her nose turned pink around the edges, and as his fingers touched her skin, she shivered. Her eyes were glued to his. And she didn’t pull away when he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. Instead, she fisted his shirt with both hands at his waist and hung on for the ride.

  He deepened the kiss. His tongue teased her bottom lip. And when his arms circled around her body, she relaxed into his hold. He wasn’t even sure she’d stand on her own if he let go, which, if he were being honest, stroked his ego a bit.

  But eventually, he did break the kiss. Instead of pulling back, he brought her even closer, pressing her body against his. His lips traced the line of her jaw to her ear. “At the risk of becoming a walking cliché,” he whispered, “I know we only just met, but I feel like I’ve known you forever. Come back to my room with me,” he pleaded.

  She drew back; her eyes softened. “Colt, I…”

  He placed a finger on her lips. “Don’t tell me you can’t. Tell me that you don’t want this night to end, and that you’ll come with me.” Colt paused. Their eyes were locked. “I’ll beg,” he added with a smile.

  “You’re only here for a few days, and you said you’re not asking for a relationship, but I’m just not a ‘relationship’ kind of person—not a one-night stand kind of relationship, nor a long-term kind. I’m sorry.”

  “Then we’ll see each other tomorrow night as well. That way it won’t be a one-night stand, and it won’t get more personal, either.” By your choice, Colt added in his mind. He was no longer sure if he liked the ‘nothing personal’ game they’d been playing. He reached down and grabbed her hand. “Don’t answer yet. Walk with me to my hotel. If at any time, you’re uncomfortable, say the word, and it ends. We’ll decide there if you’re going home by cab or to my room.”

  She said nothing, and instead, she walked with him. And, as with any SEAL mission, he knew that this mission, too, could end abruptly and badly.

  Chapter 6

  Kate

  Kate had no idea what she was doing. Going with Colt back to his hotel room went against every rule she’d ever made for herself since going into the government’s Witness Security Program and, even more importantly, since she’d given birth to her sweet little girl, Sarah.

  But Sarah was at a sleepover. And after checking her phone twice, she knew Sarah was deep in slumber at her friend’s for the night.

  Looking into Colt’s eyes as he pleaded with her to return to his hotel with him had done her in. She wanted him; there was no pretending otherwise. It had been a long time since she’d been with a man. And Colt was risk-free. He would return to wherever he’d traveled from, and she’d never see him again. That was probably best, though at the moment she was struggling to admit to herself that she was actually considering a one-night-stand with this man.

  They reached Colt’s room on the sixteenth floor. Suddenly Kate was nervous. It really had been a long time.

  “You okay?” Colt asked, facing her after the door slammed shut behind them. He slid a hand to her waist.

  Kate nodded. “I was just thinking…”

  “No. No more thinking. Thinking at this point can only get us into trouble. It’s time to let go of our thoughts and act on our impulses. I want you. You want me.”

  She lifted a brow and smiled. “There’s nothing more personal than sex.”

  “It doesn’t have to be.”

  “Do you really believe that?” she asked, curious.

  He closed his eyes for a brief pause, then reopened them on a sigh. “Actually, no. But I will pretend if it helps get you naked and into bed.” He smiled and seemed to hold his breath for several beats. He was obviously kidding.

  Kate returned the smile. His tone was playful and his enthusiasm for getting her to stay was more than flattering. They could both pretend that this was just a casual need being met. She’d followed all of the rules—the ones set by the U.S. Marshals Service when she received her new identity and the ones she’d set for herself. Breaking one of her own rules just this one time wouldn’t be that big of a deal.

  She walked to him. He was eyeing every inch of her as she did.

  She stepped out of her heels one by one, dropping her height by a few inches.

  “Is this a yes?” he asked. “Because you are driving me crazy right now.”

  She let her cropped jacket slide slowly down her arms and land at her feet. “Yes,” she whispered. Her eyes were hot on his.

  He didn’t give her time to remove another piece of clothing. He grabbed her and lifted her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. She leaned her head down and kissed him. His lips were perfect—soft and warm to the touch. And they demanded everything from her.

  He walked her toward the bed. His hands snaked up under her shirt, touching her skin with slightly calloused fingers. He’d undone her bra with the deft fingers of a pianist.

  She lifted her head and smiled. “You’ve done that before.”

  “Would you rather have someone less experienced?”

  She laughed. “Absolutely not.”

  He threw her down on the bed, and not all that gently. “I want you. I want you right now.” There was a hunger in his voice, in the way he looked down at her.

  She scooted backwards and began to unbutton her blouse nice and slowly. She let her lips curl into a mischievous grin. His look grew hungrier.

  “You’re not at all what I was expecting,” he said, smiling.

  “I have no idea if that’s a good thing or a bad thing?”

  “For tonight, it’s a very, very good thing.”

  Chapter 7

  Colt

  Kate had surprised him. He’d spent the whole evening sizing her up, analyzing her personality. She had given very little personal information away during their conversations, and Colt was pretty good at interrogation.

  He was certain that she had a kind heart, but that she’d been hurt at some point in her past. He might never know what or who had hurt her, and that was killing him.

  He knew she’d be gorgeous naked, and was fairly certain she’d be fantastic in bed. And he’d been correct, on both accounts. What had taken him by surprise was just how damn sexy she was. She was playful and attentive, and her body moved in such ways that drove Colt absolutely insane.

  He rested his head in his hand as he lay on his side and watched Kate sleep. She was on her stomach. Her blonde hair lay across her face. With his free hand, he traced the tattoo on her right shoulder—black angel wings. He knew there had to be a story behind the tattoo, and it was most likely very personal and therefore off limits to him. For now.

  As he stared down at her, he decided he didn’t care what kind of fight she put up, he would see her again, and things would be getting personal.

  She’d given herself freely to him for the night. She might have convinced herself that it was just a casual hookup, but he hoped to convince her to see him again. He’d seen the desire in her eyes—the desire for more between them—and felt it in the way they had moved together. He had no idea how he would make it happen, but he would spend more time with her before he had to return to California. He would find out if there was some hope of a future beyond tonight. Of course, he had no idea what that would look like. He just knew he wanted to see her again.

  His phone buzzed on the nightstand behind him. It was nearing five a.m., and he hadn’t slept yet. He’d gone much longer without sleep while in training and on missions in conditions infinitely worse than his current state. He turned over and glanced at the message from Wolf: Breakfast at NS Norfolk. 0800. Update on situation in Turkey. Meet in Lobby at 0720.

  Colt lay back on his pillow and bent an ar
m behind his head. He was going to pay for staying up most of the night. But he was terrified he would fall asleep, then wake up to a cold empty space beside him.

  His fears came true just before seven a.m. He sat straight up in bed when he heard the hotel room door close softly. His eyes darted around the room, but Kate was gone.

  He sprang out from the tangle of sheets and bolted to the door. When he swung the door open and looked into the hallway, it was empty. Seeing as he wasn’t wearing a thing, he couldn’t very well go after her. At the sound of the elevator doors closing in the distance, he knew he was too late. He went back inside to see if she had left a note. He searched the desk, the nightstands, and even the bathroom. Nothing. She’d left without a trace. The best he could do would be to return to the sports bar or the diner and talk to the bartender or server who clearly knew her. What were the odds they would tell him anything?

  His phone sounded—his alarm. After he shut it off, he sat on the edge of the bed and scrubbed his hands over his face. He knew the best thing he could do was let her go. They both had agreed not to share personal information. It was for the best. His job was complicated enough without adding the inevitable complexity of a relationship. And though his team members were serious about the women in their lives, he knew it wasn’t as easy as they’d made it look. And add to the list of complications a long-distance relationship with someone he knew little to nothing about… Colt knew it was a hopeless situation.

  On the other hand, Colt could travel to Little Creek, Virginia for training, meetings in Norfolk, or simply come see Kate when he had time off. Or she could come see him in California. He’d had friends in the past who’d made long-distance relationships work. The distance gave them time to talk on the phone and get to know each other through emails and texts. Hell, Colt could even put in for a transfer at some point in the future.

  Because damn it, he liked Kate. And he wasn’t ready to accept that this was a one-night anything.

  Chapter 8

  Kate

  Kate raced home, which proved difficult since she was walking in heels. It had been a long time since she’d partaken in the dreaded walk of shame. She hugged her jacket close, shielding her against the chilly morning air.

  She smiled. Yes, it had been a long time indeed. She missed having the attention of a man. However, Kate knew that not all men were created equal. She’d gotten lucky last night, in more ways than the obvious. Colt had been worth the wait. He’d been just the right amount of kind, gentle, and… animal—in a good way—in the way he’d taken Kate.

  Kate had only had experience with men inside the motorcycle club she grew up around. She’d been taught from an early age that women were the property of an MC member. You did what they said, and you didn’t dare have an opinion of your own if you wanted to be kept around. Kate was engaged to be married to a member of Samael’s Army before the FBI came around, looking into the MC’s drug manufacturing business. And before she’d become pregnant with a different member’s baby. Life had been complicated for her, the daughter of the president of Samael’s Army and sister of the vice president.

  When Kate was given an opportunity to start over with a new identity in a new town, she jumped at the chance to give her daughter a different life than she had known—a life where her voice would matter and she would never be treated like someone’s property.

  As she walked, she rubbed her fingers over her lips, slightly puffy from kissing too much. If there was such a thing… She nearly laughed out loud in her own girlish way.

  She knew she was being silly. She was way past the stage in her life where she could act all giddy like a schoolgirl over a guy, especially one she’d met in a bar. She had a daughter to think about, and rules to follow that had kept them both safe so far.

  But she was happy, and Colt had been different than other men in her past. He’d also been different from the many sailors she’d met while working in a bar and restaurant on the Virginia Beach boardwalk. Maybe running off so quickly this morning had been rash. Maybe she would send him a note at the hotel later today. If he was interested in seeing her again, he could answer the note. If not, then he could ignore it. No harm in seeing Colt one more time before he left town. Not like there was any long-term risk to seeing him a second time… right?

  She made a couple of turns. Fortunately, she was a short walk from home. She didn’t bother to tell Colt that she actually worked at a larger sports bar a couple of blocks away from where they’d met last night and just a couple of blocks in the other direction from her home. That would have fallen into the category of personal information she had no intention of sharing.

  By the time she arrived at the cottage she rented for Sarah and herself, she had talked herself into sending a note to the hotel after she took a shower and got ready for work.

  Her home was a perfect, picturesque beach cottage a couple of blocks off the beach. It had two bedrooms and a lovely front porch with a swing that Sarah loved. She closed the white picket gate and made her way up the sidewalk to the front porch, but stopped abruptly when she saw a small animal, unmoving, splayed across the welcome mat in front of her door.

  Her hand flew to cover her mouth at the sight. Despite the cold morning, a sweat broke out across her neck. She walked closer, trying to ascertain what kind of animal it was and how it had died.

  “Kate,” a male voice said behind her.

  She turned and yelped at the same time, nearly leaping out of her skin. “Trip. What are you doing here?” She studied his attire and realized that her boss from JK Shuckers Raw and Sports Bar was clearly on a morning run.

  “What’s wrong?” He tried to see around her.

  “Uh… It’s nothing. I’ll handle it.”

  Trip was not only her boss, but after working together for years, he’d been trying to get her to go out with him for the past six months. But he was a good boss, and there was no way Kate was going to ruin a good thing. She needed the job far more than a boyfriend.

  He came closer, placed his hands on her upper arms, then lifted her and moved her out of the way. He walked up the several steps to the front porch. “What the fu—”

  Kate joined him on the porch.

  “That’s a rat,” he said. “Do you have rats in or around this house?”

  “What?” she asked, taking a step back, “Of course not.” She looked closer at the animal. “An occasional mouse, but never a rat.” A fear she hadn’t felt in months landed in the middle of her chest as if someone had just punched her. She struggled to get a breath.

  “Kate?” Trip asked. He grabbed her arms again. “Look at me. Breathe. It’s just a rat.”

  She struggled to focus on his face. When she did, he was looking frantically into her eyes.

  “Breathe,” he said again, and she did. “That’s it, keep breathing. Tell me what you’re thinking. You think someone put this rat on your porch on purpose? Who would do such a thing?”

  “I…I don’t know,” she lied.

  “You do know. I can see it all over your face.”

  She gave her head a little shake. She was overreacting to think that her brother or someone else from Samael’s Army had found her and decided to put a rat on her front porch. Her brother and everyone who was arrested all those years ago were still in prison. And even if they had managed to find her, they wouldn’t have wasted time with a dead rodent. They would just kill her. “I’m fine,” she said. “I have no idea why someone would put a rat on my porch. Maybe some guy was just playing some sort of sick practical joke, and they got the wrong house. Maybe the rat wandered up here on my porch and keeled over of natural causes. I don’t know.”

  Trip angled his head. She could see he was turning her words over in his mind. “Can you get me a garbage bag? I’ll get rid of it for you.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “I know I don’t. But you’d be insulting my manhood if you don’t let me.”

  She smiled. Trip was truly one of the bet
ter men she’d come into contact with during her new life. “You really are an amazing guy, you know that?” She moved around him to open the front door.

  “That’s me. One amazing guy.” He followed her inside. “So amazing that I’m not going to ask where you’re coming from so early this morning wearing heels I’m guessing you wore out last night to Jami’s bachelorette party.”

  Kate walked to her kitchen, wincing at Trip’s words. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. He had been a great friend to her in addition to being a fair boss. He always worked around the schedule she needed in order to provide a stable life for her daughter. He’d even helped her find this cottage when the first place she lived in had been in a bad part of town for raising a baby. And he didn’t hold it against her when she refused to go out with him.

  She found a garbage bag and handed it to him. Though she knew she was just being paranoid, she really wanted to call her witness protection administrator, Tony, to make sure there’d been no changes to the incarceration of members of Samael’s Army. Even if someone had been cut loose, there was little chance that anyone from the motorcycle club had found her. She’d taken every precaution to keep her identity a secret. Not to mention, they were supposed to think she was dead. And someone from the U.S. Marshals office would have called her if somebody had been released.

  Trip bagged up the dead critter. “I’ll take it to the dumpster behind the bar.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  He narrowed his eyes.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “See? That wasn’t so hard. You’re welcome.”

  “You want some coffee before you go?”

  He opened his mouth to most likely turn her down, but her phone sounded from her purse. She waved a hand to motion him in as she answered the phone.