Page 4 of Strike Fast

“Of course! She’s awesome. And I like that she knows how to use a gun.”

Reid’s heart almost burst with pride. “She’s her daddy’s girl,” he murmured, watching her chatter on to Khan.

Maka scratched his chin, watching her. “How long you figure until she starts dating?”

That wiped the smile off Reid’s face. “Dude, she’s only nine.”

Maka shrugged his massive left shoulder, shifting the thick black, tribal tattoos roping down the length of his arm. “Okay, so that gives us, what? Another five years or so until the boys start sniffing around?”

The thought was absolutely terrifying. “Jesus. Five years?” The last nine had already flown by way too fast. And soon he was going to have to worry about horny teenage boys?

Maka nodded. “I was about fourteen, yeah. You?”

Reid scowled. “Yeah.” And unfortunately he knew too wellexactlyhow teenage boys thought.

His buddy clapped him once on the back. Hard. “Don’t worry about it yet, brother. Let’s go get this briefing done so we can spend some quality time with our ladies.”

Reid rescued Khan from getting his ear talked off, and held Autumn’s hand as he escorted her to the kitchen. “I think there are some of those cookies you like. Unless Uncle Kai ate them all. And you can have some milk with them—” He stopped in the doorway to the kitchen when he saw the blond-haired woman sitting alone at the table, her profile to them as she read a newspaper.

What wasshedoing here?

Agent Dubrovski looked up from the paper, gave him a quick smile before focusing on Autumn. “Hello. Who’s this?”

It had been months since their paths had crossed overseas, and he’d never imagined bumping into her again stateside.

He shook himself and found his voice. “My daughter, Autumn.” Was she here for the briefing or something? That didn’t make sense, since she was a pilot, and the last time he’d seen her had been at the FOB in Afghanistan back in January. What a hell of a night that had been.

“Hi, Autumn. I’m Tess.”

Tess. Reid let his gaze wander over her as she got up and came over to shake Autumn’s hand. He hadn’t been able to get an up-close look at her before, and at the FOB it had been too dark to see her face clearly, but he sure was curious about her. She and her crew had saved his entire team that night.

She was tall for a woman, around five-nine or ten, and maybe in her early thirties. The dark jeans she wore hugged the womanly curves of her hips and thighs, and the deep blue T-shirt emphasized the generous swell of her breasts.

Seeing her in civvies was a hell of a lot different than seeing her in a flight suit and combat boots. Though on her, both were equally hot. She had a lush, ripe body, curvy in all the right places, made to fill a man’s hands. How the hell he’d never noticed her back at Bagram was a mystery.

“Do you work with my dad?” Autumn asked, shaking Tess’s hand politely. Reid noticed Tess wasn’t wearing a ring. Was she single?

“Sort of. We worked together overseas a few months back.” She glanced up at him, a hint of humor in her light green eyes. Faint laugh lines fanned out from the corners and a light scattering of freckles dusted the bridge of her nose and cheekbones. He’d noticed she was quick to smile, her lips full and kissable.

“Are you on the FAST team too?” Autumn asked.

Tess chuckled softly. “No. I’m a pilot.”

Autumn’s eyes widened. “You fly planes?”

“Helicopters. Big ones.”

His daughter grinned. “That’s so cool.”

No, it was downright hot.

“It really is, yeah,” Tess said with another smile, and straightened, a slight dimple appearing in her left cheek. Realizing he was staring, Reid forced his gaze back to his daughter.

“I had to come here with Dad because he’s got a meeting. But after that we have a special date planned.”

Yeah, so special she’d invited Maka and Khan along, Reid thought with a mental snort. “Right, so you can sit over there and have some cookies while you wait,” he told her, and headed for the cupboard, his entire body attuned to the woman standing behind him.

As soon as he opened the cupboard, he bit back a curse. Of the dozen packages of cookies that had been there the last time he’d checked a couple weeks ago, just one remained. And when he pulled it open, there were only two cookies left.

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