Page 268 of Wild Mustang Security Firm

“I don’tdisagreewith you. Neither does Mac or General Markoff, which is why we’ve already got a rescue in mind. But, baby, you need to quit thinking you’re the Lone Ranger.”

“I don’t, I’m more a Batman and Robin sort of girl. Only we have better toys.”

“Cat Woman more likely,” he said, shaking his head and grinning. “Mac has Ghazil working with the folks in Sardinia to rearm the chopper. The current plan is to rendezvous about midway between Marshan and Tarifa. After we grab the others in the morning, we’ll be heading to Sardinia, get geared back up, and then we go fly support for the ground team.”

“And you’re okay with me going?” she asked.

The feral gleam in her eyes was hard to ignore or reconcile with the remorseful little girl he’d had over his knee earlier. He really was going to have his hands full with this one. But he loved her, and he honestly wouldn’t have it any other way.

“This is one of those difficult and confusing divergences for me,” he admitted. “Do I like the idea of my girl going in hot on a half-kicked hornet’s nest as the only air support? Hell, no!” When her shoulders deflated, he softened his tone, grudgingly admitting, “But as one of the guys from Wild Mustang, do I want our best pilot flying this mission? Hell, yes!”

Her eyes brightened first, and then she eased into a grin. “Really?”

“I love you, Avery, and part of loving you is knowing who you are. You’re never going to be content sitting on the sidelinesor manning the phones. But more than that, you’re one of the best pilots any of us have ever seen, and we don’t discount the fact that you have made the difference, getting us out of more than one really bad situation in the past.” He brushed the hair out of her eyes and kissed her forehead. “I know as confusing and conflicting as it is for me, it’s got to be even more so for you. Having the daddy you submit to also being one of the guys you’ve seen as a comrade and brother-in-arms must be hard. We’re just going to have to figure it out. Neither of us is perfect…”

“I think we’re perfect for each other,” she said quietly, the little girl peeking out from behind the warrior.

He smiled. “Daddy agrees with you, baby. I love you.”

“I love you more, and you’re right, I should have talked to you about formulating a plan that included the whole team.”

“Yes, you should have. If there’s a next time, I’m going to see it as a violation of rule eleven.”

“No risky behavior. In the spirit of being a good girl, though, I feel I ought to let you know that I’m really feeling rule seven right now.”

Throwing back his head with a bark of startled laughter, he grabbed her arms, hauling her roughly over his lap long enough to smack her bottom. He only gave her three sharp swats before rolling her over onto the bed underneath him.

“When I get you home, little brat, you and I are going to take a day and thoroughly address each and every one of the rules you’ve broken”—he stole a nibbling kiss from her beautiful lips—“or thought about breaking”—he kissed her again, a little longer this time.

“Or which I might someday think of breaking?” she asked, licking the taste of him from her lips as her eyes locked on his mouth.

“We should be proactive,” he agreed.

“Pragmatic, too. I’m almost certain to break all sorts of things if you let me get away with it.”

His cock was already swelling, stirring against both their legs as he pulled her that much closer. “Don’t worry. I don’t intend to let you get away with very much at all.”

“Maybe you should make sure,” she said a little breathlessly.

He cocked his head, but she didn’t leave him wondering at her meaning for very long. Planting a hand against his chest, she pushed him back just far enough for her to roll onto her stomach.

Twisting to look back at him over her shoulder, she bit her bottom lip and then shyly offered, “Take my bottom again, Daddy. I think I need to spend some time biting the pillow so I’ll remember to be good.”

God, he loved her.

Shaking his head, he laughed, low and breathy. “Oh, baby girl. You are going to be the death of me.”

But what a way to go.

Technically, they should have gotten four hours of sleep. He’d be surprised if either of them got two, but it wasn’t like Fariq was going to wait for them to stop screwing like rabbits. Thom helped Avery get dressed and while he closed down the cottage, she went down to the hangar to run through her preflight.

“Go ahead and jump in,” she said, glancing up when he finally joined her. “I’m just about ready.”

He climbed into the cockpit and opened the retractable roof. Thom loved watching her in her element. She was the consummate pilot—cool under pressure, professional, welltrained, and fearless. There was no other pilot in the world who he’d rather fly with. Avery lifted off and they headed to Sardinia.

Once there, Avery supervised the helicopter’s arms ammunition being reloaded as well as being refueled. As soon as they were airborne again, Thom focused on using some of the information garnered from Christian to begin hacking into Fariq’s communications grid. Absorbed as he was in his job, he had no idea they were flying as close to the water as they were until he happened to glance up.

“It feels like if I stood on the landing rung, I could lean down and touch the water,” he said, craning his head to see out the window straight down.

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