The whisky tumbler sat untouched on the side table as he sat staring at the television with the local weather woman as she tried to remain upbeat about the forecasted snow. Her tight fuchsia dress did nothing for him but he had no doubt the pushed-up D’s had helped her land this position.
“At least that one and another one on her knees.”
Tearing his gaze from the screen, he stared again at the article he’d torn from the newspaper. Anger swelled again, as he read the print. They’d done it again. Saved more lives, reunited more families. They never asked for recognition.
They got plenty however.
As the tide swiftly rose, so did his rage. Fame grew for them yet he struggled, never good enough. Not for them. Not for anyone it seemed.
He’d forgotten what it was like to be coveted. Needed. Idolized.
And for him, it’s what craved. He’d had it once. Being on the top, being more than just respected but also feared by many. Knowing that had given him a high nothing could since.
This situation he currently found himself in, this sorry state of being forgotten wasn’t his fault. It was theirs.
Their fault.
The Megalodon Team.
He crumbled the paper in his fist with a raging snarl.
Their time was coming. Their fall from grace, imminent.
For that reason only, he ignored the revolver on the cushion beside him. Things were in the works and he was the mastermind behind it all.
αβ
“Woman, if you don’t get up and put some clothes on, we’re going to miss our plane.”
Jayde rolled over to stare at her husband a slight smile curving her full lips. “I feel the need to remind you Mr. Kincade, I was up and dressed. My current state is your fault.”
Tyson “Cade” Kincade smiled at his naked wife, his body responding to that just mentioned current state. If possible, he loved her more every day. He shrugged without shame as he tugged the medium blue tee shirt over his damp head. “I was up. And as usual, you are sexy as fuck.”
She snorted and got to her feet.
He stared without shame at her. Jayde had turned his head from the first day they met and it hadn’t faded at all. They had two beautiful children and they were his entire world.
“I noticed,” she replied with another small smile.
“I don’t recall hearing any complaints.” He leaned against their bedroom wall as she padded nude into the master bath. Tyson was already regretting having allowed her to take a brief nap while he showered. He wanted to join her.
“Of course not. Now, stay out there. I’m not about to call Xaria and tell her we can’t be there because you’re horny.”
He grinned. “Hondo would understand.”
Her muttered phrase had him grinning even wider. God damn, he loved this woman.
While she showered, he loaded their bags in his truck along with the few last-minute gifts that Jayde had recently picked up and they’d wrapped together. The bulk of the gifts had already been shipped to the lodge they were meeting at for Christmas.
A two-fold celebration. Christmas and Hondo retiring from the SEALs to become a full-time member of Tungsten Protective Services. The adults were going to be there for a few days without the children, then they would arrive to partake in the festivities.
He shut the truck’s rear door and checked his watch. Yep, they were going to be pushing it if they weren’t out and on their way within the next fifteen minutes. As if she’d heard him, Jayde strolled from the house, locking the door behind her.
“I was about to send in a search party,” he teased.
She brushed her hand down her jacket and gave him a look promising retaliation. No words passed as he met her at the passenger door and opened it before assisting her up inside.
Tyson turned her face so they were nose to nose. “What’s wrong?”
She blinked her curved lashes and gave him a small grin. “Nothing.”
He gripped her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “I know you better than myself. I see it in your eyes. You don’t have to shoulder whatever it is alone, my little rose. My shoulders are plenty broad.” He brushed his thumb along the seam of her lips.
Tyson hated when that fear was present in her eyes. To him, it was still as powerful now as it had the first time he’d witnessed it. And even more so when he didn’t have a fucking clue why it was there. Problems he knew about, he could solve, if he didn’t, he didn’t even have a starting point.
“I’m fine.”
He kissed the corner of her mouth. Both sides. Tenderly. Then he shook his head slightly. “Don’t lie, Jayde. Please baby, not to me.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing him closer before she kissed him.
Damn, she’s short circuiting my brain.
“Come on, we don’t want to be late.”
Her words were a warm breath along his cheek. Despite the cheer she interjected into her tone, he continued to sense something was off. Brushing their lips together, he cupped her cheek. “I love you, Jayde. You know this right?”
Her smile broke his heart. “I know you do.” She mimicked the action on his cheek. “Let’s go.”
Tyson was so close to scooping her out of the truck and taking her back inside. Fuck it, they could catch a later flight. She always responded with ‘I love you, too’ so the fact she didn’t had his gut in knots.
But they had to go. The flight to Montana was going to take a bit, maybe she would open up more. Reluctantly, he backed out and went to the driver’s side.
They were—the original Megalodon Team members and their wives—meeting at a pilot friend’s lodge for the holiday. Captain Jack Golden—yes, he got a lot of shit for being Captain Jack after all the pirate movies—had offered his family lodge. The place was closed this year for some final renovations. But since Scott was pretty much family, so long as they were okay with the pool not working and the gym being out of service, they were free to use it.
He felt excited, happy to be reunited with his friends, all past teammates and some current work partners.
Even as he drove to the airport, his wife’s silence nagged at him and he hated how uneasy it had him. Reaching across the seat, he plucked her hand up from her lap and laced their fingers together.
Her squeeze was barely discernable. He had no doubt. Something was going on with her. He had a new mission. Find out what it was and fix the problem. After all, that’s what he did…fix problems.
Jayde didn’t speak much once they boarded the plane. Part due to her dislike of flying—understandable since her plane had been shot out of the sky in Central America—it set her on edge. So, he watched his wife as she read a cozy mystery by the window with the shade down.
Almost as if she didn’t see it, she had the ability to convince herself she wasn’t in a metal tube high above earth.
Tyson leaned over and kissed her.
She glanced at him and he smiled at her.
“What?”
“Nothing. Do you want anything to drink?”
“No thank you.” She lowered her gaze only to meet his once more. “Why are you looking at me like this?”
“Do you remember that waterfall in Belize?”
Her gaze darkened, nostrils flared, and he hid his smile. Yeah, she remembered.
She allowed her fingers to gaze the base of her neck, her short unpainted nails as always, a draw for him. He noticed the way her pulse jumped.
“Which has what to do with anything?”
“Just wanted to make sure you remembered.”
“Of course, I do.” She blinked at him. “You had issues with your…fruit.”
Tyson laughed. She made his world. “I was thinking of you swimming.”
The laughter faded from her eyes and it broke his heart. “We each remember what we do.” She put her attention back to her book. “I for one, remember the fruit that shot its juice all over you.”
Vixen.
He bent close and stared at her. Her plump lips twitched and just like that, hope blossomed and flooded his chest. He hated this distance between them that seemed to be there unless they were in bed. “Your fault, stripping naked in the sun. pushing my simple male brain over the top with your curves and beauty.”
She looked at him. “Really? You’re putting this on me? You could have looked away. Believe me, had I known you were there, I would have left my clothes on.”
“No fucking way I was looking away.” He grunted low. “Me like pretty.”
One eyebrow rose. “I’ll remind you of that when some man does that to our daughter.”
Hell no! “She’s joining a convent.”
Jayde patted his hand. “Calm down. Read a book or something. In a few hours, you will be with the ones who understand that language of grunting, machismo, and whatever other trouble y’all get into.”
“We scratch ourselves too.”
“I’m sure you do.” She never looked away from her book.
Tyson sighed loudly.
She turned her head, that eyebrow back up.
“Mile high club?” he suggested.
Jayde rolled her eyes. “Behave.”
Grabbing the magazine from the back of the seat before him, he flipped through the pages, not paying attention to the print. He thought over the past two months. Okay, so he wasn’t home all the time, but more than he had been, versus when he’d been a SEAL. Plus, generally speaking, there was a lot less danger for him.
Yet these past two months, he had noticed her withdrawing. Small things really but perhaps she didn’t quite understand how much he observed her. Tyson knew this woman was something special. Mother, lover, wife, and friend, he had no intention of losing her.
I wasn’t going to when we were in the jungle and I’m not now. Fuck that.
Panic tightened his chest. And he exhaled slowly. Cutting his gaze to the left, he watched as Jayde dropped hers.
She’d been watching him.
“Hey,” he said wanting to hear her soft voice instead of replaying it in his head.
“What?” She continued to read.
“What do you think about taking a trip?”
“Aren’t we doing that now?”
He’d had enough of that damn paper getting her focus instead of him and plucked the book from her hand, drawing her attention to where he wanted it. On him.
“Was that necessary?”
“I’m feeling selfish. And I mean away from everyone. No work. No kids. Just us.” He brushed the back of his hand along her cheek. “A cruise, so no airplane.”
There went that shutter again of her eyes. “Sorry, I have four shows coming up at the beginning of the year.” She reclaimed her book and was soon buried deep within the pages.
He took a drink from the flight attendant and leaned back. She was right about one thing, he needed his friends.
When they landed, he waited for her to depart first and trailed her. Twofold reason. One, he loved watching her walk and two…he could keep an eye on her and ensure her safety.
Surprise lifted his lips when he spied who awaited them at baggage claim. His best friend, Scott Leighton.
αβ
“Christ, you’re packing more than me. Do you need a few more bags to hold it all?”
Dimitri “Merlin” Melonakos lifted his head from his array of bags to stare at his wife, Landi. “No way I’m packing more than you.”
She crossed her arms beneath her breasts and jerked her thumb to the left.
Reluctantly leaving one of his favorite views—her breasts—he followed her point. Two bags. He scowled and looked back over his four. “No way. How the hell are you only taking two bags? You need six to go visit Kacy.”
Her lips kicked up in a grin. “I heard hot tub, so between my bikinis and my sheer negligees, there’s not a log of space needed. Besides, this has nothing to do with what I take to Kacy’s.”
And all the blood in his body ran straight to his cock. “You’re not playing fair.”
She lowered her eyelids giving him an unobstructed view of the deep pink balls at the end of her lashes. “I’m answering your question. Not my fault you are focused on my upcoming nakedness.”
Dimitri pushed up and strolled to her side. Hands on her hips, he put his forehead to hers. “You breathe and it’s a turn on for me, the fact you’re bringing little scraps of silk to sleep in beside me is cause for a heart attack.”
Landi gave him that slow grin which always knocked him for a loop from the very first. “Get moving.” His tiny spitfire of a wife had her hands propped on her hips as she watched him with heat in her gaze.
Honestly, he’d waited for her to say something to him about getting out of the SEALs but she’d not done so.
It wasn’t easy being the wife—or husband—of a service member, but he wasn’t one who went in to the office every morning with a coffee in hand. His office was more often than not, some foreign country and his coffee was naught but his imagination. She hadn’t wavered from his side and he loved her so much somedays it hurt him.
They had come to California to see his parents, as they weren’t going to be with either his or her family this year for the holidays. This year was a Megalodon Team Christmas. And he was ready. He wasn’t part of the old Team anymore. He’d been moved to a Team out on the West Coast and he like them well enough but they weren’t his guys. Not the ones he learned and cut his teeth with.
Moving to Landi’s side, he drew her close and kissed her, losing himself in the pure bliss of touching her.
She wound her arms around him in return, her passion matching his own. “We have to get going,” she mumbled along his lips.
“I know. Help me finish?”
“Of course.” She pushed her tongue deep into his mouth and made him forget all about going anywhere but back to bed. Landi nipped his lip when she drew away. “Let’s get all this shoved in there.”
He looked back to the bed that had his bags on it and shook his head. “Are you excited to see Kacy again?”
“Of course, you don’t think you guys are the only ones looking forward to this meet, are you?”
He knew better than that. The women were close and had been since the jump. Within a short time, he drew the zipper closed on the last bag.
“Ready?” His father stuck his head in the room and picked up two of the bags. “Taxi is outside waiting.”
Landi swiped her bright pink carry on and one of the others. He followed with the remaining ones. While the driver loaded the luggage, he said farewell to his folks then held the door for his wife and slipped in after her.
Turning his gaze to her, he captured her hand, twining their fingers. Her pink polish never failed to make him smile. His woman loved pink and rocked the color. He worried his lower lip.
She squeezed his hand. “Don’t worry.”
He rubbed a hand over one jean-clad thigh. “Worried? What could I have to be worried about?”
“The gift is there. I’ve had confirmation from Lex, so it’s safe at the lodge already.”
He leaned to her and kissed her cheek. “Thank you.”
“Relax and have fun. This is the whole point of this time. You don’t see them so much anymore.”
“No, I don’t.” Sure, they kept in touch but it wasn’t the same. It never was. Hondo was the last original Megalodon Team member so with his leaving, it was a mixed bag of sentiments for everyone. At least for him.
They got through security and were seated on the plane. He had Landi by the window and paid close attention to the people who moved by them.
She put her lips to his ear. “Figured out who the badge is yet?”
He smiled. “Yes.”
She kissed him. “You know they’re supposed to blend in. How the heck do you know who the air marshal is already?”
“He’s packing.” Dimitri intentionally kept his voice low so the conversation stayed solely between the two of them. “I know how that looks.”
“Do you think he’s pegged you as a SEAL?”
“Nope.” He raked a hand through his shaggy hair.
She cocked her head to the side. “Why is that?”
He winked at her. “I’m better.”
“And so modest too.”
“One way of putting it.” He gave her a short kiss.
As they waited for their turn to taxi down the runway, he watched her dig into her bag and pull out a sketch pad, flip it open and get to work.
“You’re not going to be working while we are there are you?”
“Nope. Just finishing up this dress for Charmane.”
“Jeb’s girl?”
“Yes. She’s graduating this year. From undergrad, can you believe that? I want to give her something nice. It was a rough year for her.”
“I bet he’s not ready for that at all. He barely held his shit together when she first dated.” No, he couldn’t believe that.
“No call to be smug for the only reason that your girl isn’t old enough to date yet.” She never looked away from the design in front of her.
“Oh, our child isn’t dating.”
“Right, she’s going to be in the convent along with the others?”
“Exactly.” He watched her sketch, her movements flowing and precise. As he observed, he took in the formulation of the dress.
“Why don’t the boys have to be in there?” she asked.
“Wait, how did you know this was a hard year for her? And while boys would love to be in a convent with all those women, our boys are fine.”
“Chauvinist,” she snipped.
“No, but our boys are raised right so it’s okay, it’s the male offspring out there that hasn’t been raised right which gives all of us a cause to worry.” He tucked some of her hair behind her ear. “Now how do you know about Charmane? What happened?” She may not be of his blood, but she was family and he wanted to protect her like he did the rest of his family.
“Nope, if she didn’t tell Ross, then there was a reason for it. I know because we check on her. She’s fine, so don’t go flying off the handle and asking a bunch of questions she may not want out there.”
“I don’t fly off the handle, Landi. I’m trained to handle stressful situations.”
She locked her eyes with his, her eyebrow arched. “Really?”
“Yes.”
“Then explain again to me who passed out in the delivery room? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the one giving birth.”
He flushed. Okay, so that hadn’t been planned. “I thought we weren’t bringing that up again,” he muttered.
“Not unless you need to be knocked down a few pegs.” She patted his cheek. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone you weren’t able to handle labor.”
“It’s different when it comes to you, Landi.” He’d never known such fear as he had when her first scream of pain filled the air and to be unable to do anything to help her out hadn’t gone well for him.
“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Her smile softened with her amusement laced statement.
She went back to her sketch and he crossed his arms and leaned back.