Authors: Paige Tyler
gotten along great. Or at least she’d thought so. They’d worked well together, hung out after work, become
good friends. Then Jeff wanted to take the partnership somewhere she wasn’t comfortable going—the
bedroom. Everything had gone downhill from there. The final straw came when he decided to take what he
wanted. She’d fought back, practically ripping off his face in the process, something that earned her a
reputation as a tease, a slut, and a ball breaker. Along with a brand new nickname—Poison Ivy.
After that, it was almost guaranteed her second partnership would start off on bad footing. And it had.
Dave might not have wanted to get into her panties, but his open dislike for her had made working with
him just as hard.
Ivy had begged John to give her someone from the FBI or CIA, someone who wasn’t another type A
asshole. She’d even tried to talk him into pairing her up with another EVA. But the DCO didn’t pair up
EVAs with other EVAs. That was department policy.
So, she was saddled with Landon, for better or worse. Hopefully for the better, given the way he’d
handled himself during their sparring match.
That twisting takedown he’d used to end the match? She’d never seen anything like that. Clawing his
chest hadn’t even distracted him from overpowering her. She smiled as she remembered the confusion on
his face when she pointed out his shredded T-shirt.
She picked up her grocery bags and walked out of the store. The biggest surprise hadn’t been Landon’s
reluctance to fight her because she was a woman, but her reaction to him as a man.
He looked better in uniform than any man had a right to. A military uniform, particularly the
camouflage Army Combat Uniform, was cut to make all men look good, but on Landon it was downright
criminal. The man was six-foot-four and built. When he’d pinned her against him, it had taken every bit of
her self-control to stop from leaning over to lick him. She was completely comfortable with her animal
side, but sometimes she felt as if someone else was in charge of her baser desires. Like back in that room
when she’d been locked in Landon’s arms.
Regardless of her physical attraction to him, though, she was sure going to keep Landon at arm’s length.
Even if department policy didn’t prohibit partners from getting romantically involved, there was no way
she’d ever get friendly with a military grunt. He might seem nice now, but it wouldn’t last. Sooner or later,
something would set him off and he’d go right back to being the asshole he probably was.
That unpleasant thought accompanied her home. A corner unit in a high-rise building with a view of
downtown DC, the apartment was her sanctuary from the rest of the world. It was big and comfortable, and
with the addition of various things she’d collected on her travels, she’d slowly made it feel more like home.
Her cell phone rang as she walked in. Rather than try to extricate herself from the grocery bags to
answer it, she let it go to voice mail, then checked her messages after she set the bags on the granite counter
in the kitchen. There were four other messages in addition to the one she’d missed. She scrolled through
them and groaned when she saw that three of them were from Clayne Buchanan, one of the other shifters at
the DCO. He’d always been a good friend, but lately he’d made it obvious he wanted to be more than that.
He was a great guy, and she wished she felt the same way about him, but she didn’t and was sure she never
would. That didn’t stop him from trying to change her mind. She should call him back, but knew if she did,
he’d read too much into it. She’d see him at the DCO tomorrow before she and Landon went to the training
complex.
The fourth call was from Kendra.
“Hey, girl! You took off so fast after the admin briefing with Landon that I didn’t get a chance to talk to
you, and I’m dying to know what you think about your new partner. God, what a hottie. Gotta love a man
in uniform, huh? Anyway, call me.”
Ivy shook her head. As if she hadn’t noticed how gorgeous Landon was. Friend or not, she wasn’t
going to call Kendra back, at least not right away. She was still mad at Kendra for not telling her ahead of
time that her new partner was Special Forces.
The message she’d missed while juggling grocery bags was from her mom. She dialed her parents’
number, then turned on the speaker so she could talk while she put the groceries away. Her mother
answered on the second ring.
“Ivy, dear! I’m so glad you called back.”
“Don’t I always?”
“Except when you’re on one of those trips you keep going on. I never know where you are.”
Ivy didn’t say anything. Her father had always shielded her mother from the dangers of his job as a
police officer, and Ivy had found herself doing the same thing when she joined the DCO. Her mom didn’t
know she risked her life for her country every day, or that Jeff had gotten the boot because he’d tried to
rape her, or that Dave had been killed on a mission. And while her mother might suspect, Ivy knew her
mom preferred to be blissfully ignorant.
“You’re coming to Layla’s graduation party next weekend, aren’t you?” her mom asked. “Everyone’s
going to be here and they all want to see you. Including your father and me.”
That was her mother’s way of saying she hadn’t visited in a while. Ivy chewed on her lower lip as she
put a box of cereal in the cabinet. Her parents lived in Virginia, so it was close enough for her to stop by
and see them on a regular basis, but things had been crazy since Dave died. She couldn’t tell her mom she’d
been busy with endless psych evaluations for the past couple of months.
“I’ll try to make it, Mom, but I’m breaking in a new partner again, so I’m going to be insanely busy at
work.”
Which was a pain. She really wanted to be there for her sister’s party, especially since she hadn’t been
able to go to Layla’s college graduation. But she had no idea how long training with Landon would take, or
if Todd and Kendra would make them work through the weekend.
“Again?” Her mother’s voice took on a note of disapproval. “I don’t understand why they keep
changing your partners. It doesn’t seem very efficient. How are you supposed to get to know any of them?”
Mom had always been big on Dad bonding with his partners, too. Ivy opened the freezer and put a stack
of frozen dinners inside. “I know, Mom. Hopefully, this will be the last one for a while.”
“Well, will we at least get a chance to meet him? Or is this new partner a woman?”
“It’s a guy. I don’t know about you meeting him, though. We’ll see.”
It was a lie, but it placated her mother, who launched into a funny story about how hard it had been
finding the perfect graduation gift for Layla. Ivy laughed, relieved to talk about something besides her new
partner. She wanted to keep work—and Landon—as separate from her personal life as she could.
***
in Alexandria. In addition to finding his Ford F150 parked in a space out front, he discovered half a dozen
pairs of black Army Combat Uniforms, four duffel bags, and a stack of boxes in the center of the living
room, along with the keys to his truck. It was his stuff from Fort Campbell. Well, the DCO was nothing if
not efficient.
He looked at the small pile of possessions. It was pitiful. But he’d never been big on material stuff. If he
had a bed, a couch, and a television, he was good. Based on what Todd and Kendra had said during the
briefing, it didn’t sound like he was going to have any more free time working for the DCO than he’d had
with his unit.
According to the two training officers, he and Ivy were going to be doing a lot of training over the next
few months. That wasn’t a big deal. Special Forces had pretty much cornered the market when it came to
training. Between Basic, AIT, Airborne School, Special Forces Assessment, SFQC, SERE, and LET, it took
two years to become a Green Beret, so he didn’t have a problem with that part. He was surprised when
Todd said there was no way of telling how long the training would take. If he and Ivy did well, it would be
weeks. If they did poorly, it was going to be a hell of a lot longer than that. All Landon knew for certain
was that he and Ivy would be staying at the DCO training complex in Virginia for the duration of it. He was
more interested in what kind of work he and Ivy would be doing anyway, and found out they’d specialize
in infiltration, recon and surveillance, intel acquisition, and “elimination” work.
Landon sighed and looked at the boxes. Unpack or not to unpack. Not. Definitely not. He was way too
tired. All he wanted to do was shower, crash, and make up for two weeks’ worth of sleep deprivation. But
there was something he had to do first.
He took a quick shower, then pulled on jeans and a T-shirt. Grabbing the keys to his truck, he picked up
his cell phone and googled directions to Walter Reed Military Medical Center in Bethesda as he walked out
the door. It was going to be hard, but he needed to face the demons that had been haunting him and go see
Jayson.
It was always rough when a brother went down in combat, but he and Jayson Harmon had bonded the
moment the lieutenant had become his assistant detachment commander two years ago. Next to Angelo, the
other officer was his closest friend. Which was why the idea of Jayson lying in a bed broken hurt Landon
so much. That and the fact Landon was responsible for him being there.
Landon kept thinking of the ambush that left Jayson injured. The brutality of it gave many soldiers
flashbacks and left them in a cold sweat, even now. He swore under his breath, quickly squashing the
images. He couldn’t go there right now. He needed to walk in that room and be strong for Jayson, not
tearing up like a teenage girl.
He only wished he knew what he was walking into. Unfortunately, he and his teammates hadn’t been
able to get many details about Jayson’s condition after he’d been medevaced out. But they knew it had been
bad. Then again, people with hangnails and paper cuts didn’t get sent to Walter Reed Military Medical
Center. The only soldiers who went there were the ones with severe injuries.
The facility was bigger than he thought it would be. It took Landon a while to find Jayson’s room.
When he got there, he didn’t go in right away. He stood outside the door, psyching himself up and
rehearsing what he wanted to say.
Hey, Jayson. Just stopped by to see how you’re doing. Since the doctors dug all that shrapnel out of
your back, I mean.
Yeah, that was what Jayson needed. A reminder of what happened to him. As if he wasn’t reminded
every time he looked down at his useless legs.
Landon took a deep breath.
Stop
being
such
a
coward
and
get
your
ass
in
there.
Not wanting to disturb Jayson if he was sleeping, Landon didn’t knock, but instead slowly pushed the
door open. He hadn’t been sure what to expect—that Jayson would be lying flat on his back in bed, he
guessed—but his friend was sitting in a chair by the window overlooking the common area. He looked
thinner than the last time Landon had seen him and had a serious case of bedhead, but otherwise, he was
the same as Landon remembered.
Landon knocked softly on the open door.
Jayson turned at the sound, doing a double take when he saw Landon.
“Captain! Damn. What are you doing here? Come in.”
Landon hoped he was wrong about Jayson’s legs, and that his friend would get up and meet him
halfway, but then he saw the walker by the chair. Jayson probably couldn’t stand on his own much less
walk. It could be worse. He could be in a wheelchair.
Jayson’s handshake was just as firm as it had always been. That was something.
“I’d get up, but…” He nodded to the other chair by the window. “Sit down.”
Landon took him up on the offer. The place didn’t look like the usual hospital room. There was no
obvious disinfectant smell lingering in the air or dingy curtain hanging from the ceiling ready to shield the
bed. No medical equipment, either. Instead, there was a twin-size bed, a writing desk, a corkboard on one
wall, and a TV mounted on the other. If Landon didn’t know better, he’d think he was in the barracks on an
army post.
He and Jayson sat in silence, like they were two strangers instead of friends who’d gone to battle
together. It was uncomfortable, but Landon couldn’t think of anything to say. Even if he could come up
with something, he was so choked up he probably couldn’t have gotten the words out.
“So, what are you doing here?” Jayson finally asked. “Did the unit rotate back early?”
He shook his head. “No, the guys are still on deployment. I came down on orders to DC.”