Show No Fear (33 page)

She didn’t bother asking him where he was headed. He couldn’t tell her anyway. She wasn’t sure she even wanted to know.

But if the FARC couldn’t break her spirit, then she’d be damned if she would let the scarcity of her time with Gus get her
down. “Excuse me, Jackie,” she called, summoning the waitress by name. “We’re going to need that pizza to go,” she informed
her with a grimace of apology.

Glancing at Gus, she found a crooked smile on his face. “Good thinking,” he murmured.

“Yeah? You want to hear something else?” she asked, a wicked smile kicking up the corners of her mouth.

“Sure.”

She leaned toward him, a sultry invitation in her eyes. “The windows of my SUV are tinted,” she whispered in his ear. “We
don’t even have to go anywhere.”

“Hot damn,” he murmured, his eyes darkening with desire.

But then Lucy glanced at the dozen roses and her grin faded. “Oh, we can’t do that, the roses will wilt.”

“To hell with the roses,” said Gus, folding up his napkin. “I’ll buy you more next time.”

Because there would be a next time, Lucy swore. And then a next time after that. After everything they had been through,
nothing
could get in the way of their happy ever after.

EPILOGUE
      

Six months later

L
ucy entered her boss’s third-floor office suite with a drag in her step. She knew she was ready for a new assignment. Her
PTSD, reawakened by the trauma in Colombia, was on the wane, and there was only so much paper pushing a girl like her could
stand. But finding time to spend with Gus was her priority these days, and that was about to get much harder with her job
sending her overseas.

Rhonda, Gordon’s secretary, glanced up as she eased into the doorway. “Oh, honey,” she sympathized, whipping off her glasses,
“it’s not going to be that bad, I promise.”

“Right,” said Lucy forcing her chin up. God, was she that transparent?

“He said for you just to go right in,” Rhonda added with a reassuring smile.

Behind the closed door, Lucy could hear Gordon either talking on the phone or in person with a third party. For no reason
whatsoever, except that he was always on her mind, Lucy thought of Gus, who’d been training for the last two months in the
Mediterranean. She pictured him tan and vibrant, surrounded by way too many girls wearing bikinis. Wrenching the latch on
Gordon’s door, she thrust her way into his office and drew up short.

Her sour mood fled as she beheld the object of her obsession rising from his seat with a shy smile on his face. Two months
in the Mediterranean had put copper highlights in his hair. He looked so healthy and vibrant that Lucy had to lean on the
door to steady her weak knees.

“Gus,” she breathed. “What are you doing here?”

He glanced at Gordon. “I’ll let the boss answer that question, since he’s the one who wanted to surprise you.”

Spearing Gordon with a sharply curious look, Lucy managed to cross toward Gus with outward poise, brushing a kiss across his
cheek while resisting the impulse to lean against his solid, suit-clad body. “You look good,” she added faintly.

His whisky-brown eyes raked her with a look that sent her heart pounding. “Likewise,” he replied.

She sank weakly into the seat beside him. “So, what’s up?” she asked, her curiosity thoroughly piqued.

Gordon’s dark eyes danced with amusement. “Well, Lucy, I have a new assignment for you,” he announced.

She nodded. “I figured as much. That doesn’t explain why Gus is here.”

“I think you should be the one to tell her,” Gordon said to Gus.

Lucy’s gaze swung back and forth between them. “Tell me what?” she demanded, her anticipation rising. She could sense positive
vibes coming from both men.

Gus drew himself up straighter and announced definitively, “I resigned my commission.”

Stunned, certain she’d misheard him, Lucy just looked at him. “What commission?” she asked.

“My officer’s commission. I’m no longer in the Navy.”

Aware that her mouth was hanging open, Lucy snapped it shut. “But why? You worked so hard to make it.”

“I did it for my father, Luce,” he explained, holding her gaze with a steady look. “At the time, it was the right thing to
do. But today I’d be honoring his memory more by spending time with you.”

Lucy shot a guilty glance at Gordon, who grinned. “It’s okay,” he reassured her. “Your passion for Gus isn’t exactly a secret.
Nor is your closeness surprising, given all you’ve been through.”

She turned her attention back to Gus. “Are you sure it’s what you want?” she asked, even as her heart expanded in relief.
It would be so much easier to get together now that he wasn’t a Navy SEAL.

“Positive,” he said, grinning at her happily.

“Gus has decided to join us full-time,” Gordon announced, adding to her incredulity, “working on the paramilitary side. As
a matter of fact, I’ve assigned you two to work together on another assignment.”

A quiver of excitement shot through Lucy. “Where?” she asked, sharing a look of anticipation with Gus.

“You’re about to be sent to Phuket, Thailand, allegedly to enjoy your honeymoon…”

The word
honeymoon
caused Lucy’s heart to stop on a downstroke, then take off at a trot. She’d been dreaming about that honeymoon Gus had described
at the
casita
ever since he’d mentioned it. To think that it was about to become a reality! Only…they weren’t married.

“…and then to remain when Gus gets a cover job at a local shipping port,” Gordon continued, oblivious to her racing thoughts.
“Lucy, you’ll be a freelance photographer. Your objective will be to monitor an Islamic insurgency group suspected of planning
attacks on westerners at any one of the resorts in Phuket. Terrorism has been a rising concern in the area. Lucy, I assume
you’re willing to partner with Gus on this assignment?”

Even with her extremities tingling and her heart racing, Lucy managed a cool, “Of course. He is my partner,” she replied.

She ruined it by grinning at Gus as she envisioned the glorious months to come—white beaches, shockingly blue water, sun,
and just a dash of danger to keep life interesting.

An hour later, with a date set for an in-depth briefing, Gus and Lucy were dismissed for the day. With their relationship
out of the bag, he deliberately held her hand. Recalling how upset he’d been the last time they’d walked out of a briefing
together, Lucy had to smile at how far they’d come.

As Gus pushed the button for the elevator, his sidelong look warned her of his intent to kiss her silly as soon as they found
themselves alone.

The elevator slid open, and he drew her sedately into the cubicle, waiting with deceptive patience for the door to close again.
In the next instant, he jerked her into his embrace, crushed her mouth under his, and kissed her like a man starved of affection.

Lucy moaned. If there were just some way to keep the elevator from opening again.

His taste, his intensity was everything she needed to be happy, except…using all the strength in her arms, she freed her lips.
“Marry me,” she demanded on a breathless note.

He gave a startled, incredulous laugh. “What?”

Lucy’s confidence faltered. “We’re going to Phuket,” she reminded him, worried that the stunned look on his face meant he
never intended for them to exchange vows of any kind. “You told Bellini and the others you wanted to take me on a honeymoon,”
she reminded him.

He laughed again, releasing her to rake his fingers through his hair in his signature gesture of discomfiture.

The thought occurred to Lucy that his talk about a honeymoon hadn’t been sincere. He might have just been making up words
to reinforce their roles.

With a self-conscious step backward, she pulled away. “I’m sorry,” she said as the elevator touched down. “I thought that
was where our relationship was headed. My mistake.” The door slid open, and she dove for the exit, intending to retreat with
her dignity intact.

With a groan, Gus caught her elbow and swung her back into his arms. Two quick jabs of his finger, and they were isolated
in the soundproof space again, headed to the uppermost floor.

“There’s no mistake, Luce,” he reassured her, stroking her defiantly lifted chin with his fingertips. “It’s just that you
took the words out of my mouth before I could say them, and I’ve been practicing,” he admitted ruefully.

Lucy’s stiff posture relaxed. “You’ve been practicing proposing to me?” she asked with incredulity and relief.

“I should have guessed you’d beat me to it,” he added without rancor.

“Well, go ahead,” she urged. “Let’s hear what you’ve got.”

Seriousness vied with humor in his golden-brown eyes. “Nah, I never got it right. I think you should do it,” he decided. “You’re
the one who took the initiative.”

He surprised her further by reaching in the lining of his jacket and producing a velvet pouch. “Go ahead,” he urged, placing
it in the center of her palm. “Ask me.”

Lucy swallowed hard. With a wide-eyed glance at him, she pulled the ring out of the pouch and gasped in delight. The glittering
tier of diamonds on the platinum band reminded her of the stars viewed from the top of La Montaña. “Oh, Gus. It’s beautiful!”

The elevator slowed to a stop and the door slid open. A distracted glance revealed the director of the CIA himself about to
join them. Taking in the vignette before him, he hesitated, then, to Lucy’s dismay, stepped right inside and pushed a button.
“Don’t let me interrupt,” he told them with an indulgent smile.

Gus cocked an eyebrow at Lucy, who wavered with uncharacteristic cowardice.

“We can do this later,” she assured him, trying to give the ring back.

“No, you started it. You finish,” he insisted, humor edging out seriousness for the time being. “Besides, it should be spontaneous,
not practiced.”

The elevator began its agonizing descent. “Okay,” she agreed, drawing a breath to clear her head. Ignoring the director as
best she could, Lucy focused exclusively on the man she loved. Her thoughts went back eight years ago to the carefree days
of college, then fast-forwarded through their harrowing experience on La Montaña, to the last bittersweet weeks of mixed pleasure
and yearning. “I wish I’d never shut you out of my life,” she admitted, pushing her confession through a tightening throat.
“Please marry me, Gus. Stay with me forever and never,
never
leave.”

A slow, tender smile lifted the corners of Gus’s mouth as he pulled her into his arms. “That was beautiful,” he praised. “What
do you think, sir?” he added, surprising Lucy, who had almost forgotten the director was still there, playing witness. “Should
I accept?”

“Lucy Donovan, is it?” the man asked, running an assessing gaze over her. “Your reputation precedes you. I’d say you’re in
good hands with her, young man,” he decided, clapping Gus on the back.

“Then I accept,” said Gus, relieving Lucy’s trace fears. Taking the pouch from her hands, he slipped the ring onto her fourth
finger, a perfect fit. “I’ve had this since the end of my senior year,” he surprised her by admitting. “I was planning to
give it to you when you got back from Spain.”

“Oh, Gus,” she whispered, regret stitching through her at how terrorism had torn them apart. Ironically, it had also brought
them back together.

“I’ve never stopped loving you, Luce. You’re the only woman I’ve ever wanted to share my life with,” he added gruffly.

The elevator gave a bump as they touched down for a second time. With a handshake for Gus and a kiss for Lucy, the director
stepped out ahead of them. “Now, that’s a story for the grandkids,” he added, wagging a finger at them before walking away.

“Wait,” said Lucy, drawing Gus back in the elevator. “I want to savor the moment,” she added, pressing the button for the
uppermost floor again. “Besides, my mother’s still in my apartment.”

Gus groaned as he encircled her in his arms. “Maybe we should get a hotel room,” he suggested in advance of a blistering kiss.

Desire rose in conjunction with the ascending elevator.

“I don’t suppose you know how to jam the door?” suggested Lucy breathlessly.

He slanted the door in question a considering glance. “I bet I can figure something out.”

Lucy’s blood thrummed with anticipation as he forced open a panel under the buttons and eyed the display. “We could lose our
jobs over this,” she added with a nervous laugh.

“I won’t do anything that can’t be undone,” he promised, flicking a switch. Immediately, the lights in the cubicle dimmed
as the elevator slowed to a halt.

They met in a clash of silk and wool, lips and tongues. Within seconds, Lucy’s back was against the wall, Gus’s hands bunching
the slippery material of her skirt. Encountering bare skin beneath, he growled with appreciation. “I’m so glad you hate pantyhose,”
he muttered thickly.

Lucy hummed her agreement. This was one story the grandkids probably shouldn’t overhear.

Dear Readers,

As you probably already know, SHOW NO FEAR is the most recent addition to my Navy SEAL series, all centered around the absolutely
irresistible heroes of Navy SEAL Team Twelve. My joy in writing this series came from bringing seven very distinct but equally
captivating men to life. I hope you’ll indulge me as I tell you a little about each one of them.