In the Line of Fire: Hot Desert Heroes, Book 1 (24 page)

Beck put his attention back on the task at hand. He tried Coffee & Confections first, thinking perhaps she’d drown her sorrows in a carrot cake muffin, but the girl who answered the phone said she wasn’t there. When he asked to talk to Lily or Andi, she asked him to wait a minute, and when she got back on the line she told him they weren’t available. She sounded nervous when she said that, so he knew they were unavailable to him.

Colbie was next. She was at work at a new job she’d started the day before. She froze him out too. Finally he called Rachel. From the way she answered the phone, he knew Delaney was with her.

“I need to see her, talk to her,” he told Rachel. “I said things to her I didn’t mean. Please. Ask her to let me see her.”

“Wait a second,” came her quiet response.

He waited several seconds, his dread increasing with each passing one, until she came back to the phone. “She’ll see you. But let me tell you something,” she said in a voice as icy as Colbie’s had been. “You say one thing that upsets her and I will rip your lungs out through your nose. You got me?”

He appreciated the sentiment and the loyalty of friendship it depicted. It was obvious by the way the women had circled the wagons around Delaney that she had good friends.

“If I upset her, I’ll let you,” he said in all seriousness.

“I’ll text you my address.” She hung up and in another couple of seconds his phone chirped and showed her address.

He and Ty got underway after he changed into clean clothes, and twenty minutes later they pulled into the driveway of a cute little adobe house not far from where Delaney used to live. “You’re coming in, right?” he asked Ty, needing the moral support. Not that he was sure he’d get it, because at this particular time Ty’s wagon was assuredly in the circle around Delaney’s camp.

“Not gonna sit out here in the car,” Ty responded.

They didn’t even have to ring the bell. Rachel opened the door and was waiting for them as they walked up. She gave Beck a critical up-and-down and said, “You look terrible. If you’re going to pass out, do it near a bed or we’ll just leave your ass on the floor.” Looking at Ty she mumbled, “He shouldn’t be out of the hospital yet.”

“Wouldn’t stay in once he heard what he’d said to Laney.”

Rachel turned startled eyes his way. “You didn’t know?”

Beck shook his head. “I vaguely remember her being there. I talked to Ty before I spoke to her, and I don’t remember him being there at all.”

She moved out of their way and motioned with a sweep of her arm for them to come inside. She looked at Beck and said, “Down the hall, second room on the left. She’s expecting you.” To Ty she said, “You want some coffee?”

“Love some.”

“It’s not as good as you get at Coffee & Confections,” Beck heard her say as he walked down the hallway, “but it’s good.”

Beck wiped sweaty palms on his jeans. Ignoring the burgeoning ache in his shoulder, he paused outside the second door on the left, giving himself a silent pep talk.
Do not screw this up, you fucker. She’s the best thing that will ever happen to you, and you’d better get your head out of your ass before you lose her forever.

He rapped his knuckles on the door and heard her soft, “Come in.” He pushed open the door and walked inside, then stopped and stared at her.

Delaney sat on the edge of the bed, still in one of her adorable little sleep-shorts-and-tank-top sets. Her face was completely bare of makeup, her eyes red-rimmed and swollen.

Even so, she was still the most beautiful woman Beck had ever seen, and he swore right then and there that if he got her back, he’d never do anything ever again to give her such pain. He hadn’t realized how much he’d hurt her by his unwillingness to talk about his past. He closed the door behind him and sat beside her on the bed.

She bent her knee, bringing one leg up onto the mattress, partially turning to face him. “Should you be out of the hospital?” Her voice was hoarse, quiet, hardly any life in it.

Fuck him.

“I’m right where I need to be,” he told her.

She gave a slight nod but didn’t say anything.

“Laney…” How did he start? At the beginning, he supposed. Looking down at his hands, he said, “When I was ten, one Friday night my parents had gone out on their weekly date night and on their way home their car was broadsided by a drunk driver. My dad was killed instantly.” He glanced up at her and saw he had her full attention. “My mom lasted another day, but she never woke up. I didn’t get to see either one of them again until their funeral a week later. Alex’s folks had been named guardians in my parents’ will—my dad was an orphan, and my mom’s folks died when I was a baby, and they were both only children—so I went to live with the Kemps. Which helped a lot because they were good people.”

“Beck…” Her voice was a whisper, but had grief in it for the little boy he’d been. That was something, and he’d take it over the deadness that’d been there before.

“Life was all right then, though I missed my parents. I grew up, went to college, enlisted in the marines. Can’t talk about the missions,” he said with a glance of apology to her. “Except for the one that concerned Dujardin because it’s not classified. You remember Ty’s a fugitive retrieval specialist?” At her nod he went on, “There’s a reason, and it’s because he’s a damn good tracker. He led my squad to a neighborhood in the eastern section of Kabul. Before we could proceed, an Afghani man came to us and begged us to help his cousin. He said a foreigner had taken the family hostage and was barricaded in their house.”

Memories surged and he had to stop.

“Beck, you don’t have to go on,” Delaney whispered.

“Yeah, I do,” he said. “You need to understand the type of man I am.”

“I already know the type of man you are.”

He shook his head. “You need to know this.” He swallowed then surged ahead, “Somehow, even though we were careful, Dujardin realized we were comin’ for him. He killed the family livin’ in that house, all eight of ’em. Youngest was fuckin’ six years old.” He clenched his jaw, trying to get hold of his emotions so he could go on. After a few seconds, when he was sure his voice would be steady, he said, “We thought Dujardin had gone out the back, that we’d lost ’im. I was kneeling by the littlest one, puttin’ a blanket over her, when I sensed movement behind me. I turned, bringing my weapon up, and saw a woman standing there, a gun in her hand, pointin’ it at me.”

“My God.”

He kept going, “I told her in English to put it down. She looked at me like she didn’t understand me. I’d learned some rudimentary Dari and Pashto, enough to tell her to drop her weapon in both languages, and she still didn’t respond. I got up slowly, not wantin’ to startle her. She looked around at the bodies and said in English, ‘You made him do this.’”

“Oh my God.”

He met her eyes a moment then put his gaze on his hands again. The telling of this was hard enough, without watching her process it. “She stood in front of this tall cabinet and told me she wouldn’t let me have him, then brought up the gun in such a way I knew she meant to shoot me. So I shot her.” He swallowed. “I was well trained, Laney, and I was trained not to miss.”

“Honey…”

The softness in her voice nearly undid him. He pushed on, “I killed her, a bullet right between the eyes. Dujardin came bustin’ outta that cabinet, shooting like a maniac. He killed one of my men and wounded me. That’s what sent me home. What cost me my fiancée.”

“It was self-defense,” she said.

He looked up at her. “You believe that?” he asked, searching her eyes. “I could’ve shot her in the leg or shoulder. Incapacitated her. Instead I went for the kill shot.”

“If you’d incapacitated her, that wouldn’t have guaranteed that she would’ve dropped the gun. She still could have killed you.” She scooted forward and took his hands in hers. “Listen to me, Beck. You were in a war. You did what you had to do. And if she was there with him, was there when he killed that family and used you as an excuse as to why he did that, then there was something not right with her.”

“Still, I failed.”

“You didn’t fail.”

“No? Think back a little bit. Remember standin’ in the lobby at REG, holdin’ a bomb?”

“That’s on him, not you.”

He shook his head. “I should have killed him when I had the chance.”

“That wasn’t your call then. You had a job to do, and you did it.”

He finally put into words what he hadn’t been able to for so long. “I got out of the corps because I didn’t understand why I was doin’ what I was doin’ anymore. It all seemed so pointless. Take out one insurgent and there were ten more to take his place.”

“I get that,” she whispered.

“I love you, Delaney Murphy.”

Her breath stuttered and her eyes went liquid.

He cupped her face and slid his thumbs across her cheekbones. “Don’t cry,” he murmured. “Rachel said she’d rip my lungs out through my nose if I upset you.”

That startled a laugh out of her.

Keeping his eyes on hers, he repeated, “Baby, I love you.” He moved his hands from her face to her back and yanked her into his arms, holding her tight, needing her more than he’d ever needed anyone in his life. He ignored the fire in his shoulder. He’d put up with a hell of a lot of pain to have her right where she was. “You can’t leave me,” he whispered. “You can’t leave.”

Delaney wrapped her arms around Beck and held on. God. Finally, he was opening up to her, and just as she’d thought, it was glorious. “I fell in love with you the first time I saw you at Coffee & Confections,” she confessed softly, her forehead shoved into his neck. “And every day I’ve been with you I’ve fallen more and more until there’s no more falling. I love you and will always,
always
love you. Until the stars fall from the sky and the sun refuses to shine, I will love you, Beck Townsend.”

“I remember,” he whispered. “I remember you saying that in the hospital.” His voice broke at the last word and he lifted his head.

And what she saw made her realize just how much he had opened up to her, because those beautiful stormy eyes of this man who was all man, the strongest man she knew, those eyes were wet.

Dear God. What she’d said meant everything to him, and he was showing that to her.

His hands came to her face, cupping it, his thumbs once again caressing her cheeks, and his eyes never left hers. He wasn’t trying to hide what he was feeling.

And it was beautiful.

“Come home with me?” he asked.

She nodded.

He pulled her back into his arms and slanted his mouth over hers. The kiss began tender and soft, but quickly escalated to harsh and desperate. When he lifted his head, they were both breathing heavily. “Let’s go home,” he said and stood.

When he held out his hand, she took it, letting him pull her off the bed. Together they walked out of the room and into their future.

About the Author

Jett Munroe lives in the desert Southwest because she got tired of the cold and snow of Northeast Ohio. By day, she’s a mostly mild-mannered human resources manager for a nonprofit organization, and by night (and weekends), she writes hot and spicy contemporary romance.

She focused on her writing career starting in 2005, and over the next ten years had several paranormal romances published under the pen names Cynthia Garner and Sherrill Quinn. She loves action movies and chick flicks, reading romance (just about every subgenre!), watching HGTV and the DIY Network, and hates shopping.

In the Line of Fire
, the first book in her contemporary series Hot Desert Heroes with Samhain Publishing will be released in June 2016.

Social Media Links:

Website:
www.jettmunroe.com

Facebook:
www.facebook.com/CynthiaGarnerBooks

Pinterest:
www.pinterest.com/jettmunroe

Twitter:
@jettmunroe

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The Black Orchid
, Book 1

That was then…

While hunting down his target in Jamaica, Kael Bradford fell hard for a beautiful, unsuspecting tourist. He thought the only thing he needed to protect her from was him. Until the line between personal and professional blurred in a cloud of deadly danger.

This is now…

Rain Howard thought she’d met the perfect guy. But after two romantic weeks in Jamaica, he disappeared. Two years of trying to forget him, and she’s finally found the courage to quit her job and open a beignets and coffee café. Then he appears out of the blue, wanting to pick up where they left off.

And there is only one truth…

Kael never wanted to leave her, but it wasn’t safe for him to stay. He had to put space between them before the bad guys figured out there was someone he loved. Besides, if she discovered all his secrets…she wouldn’t want to be with him anyway.

Now, the coast is clear. And he’s returned, finally, to reclaim what’s his.

Warning: Could inspire erotic new beignet-eating techniques that’ll get you thrown out of the Café du Monde. Also includes: spanking, dirty secrets, dirtier desires, political assassinations, and jealous best friends.