Page 67 of Covert Vengeance

Hypnotized, Megan could only stare back, lost in the moment, reveling in the possessive way he held her, the look in his eyes. He was just as much hers as she was his.

His thrusts quickened. His eyes closed and his head tipped back. He shouted out his release and shuddered, all those beautiful muscles bunching, then slowly relaxed.

Breathing hard, he slid her legs from his shoulders and came down on top of her with a groan, his face in her hair.

Whoa.

She pushed out a shaky exhalation and cradled him to her, stroking his damp back and shoulders. He’d needed that. They both had. She just wished he hadn’t been so angry with her beforehand.

“Love you,” she whispered. Was she forgiven now?

He groaned and tunneled his arms beneath her back, crushing her to him. “Love you too.”

Her whole body sighed in relief. She kissed the side of his face, her anxiety swirling away. “Feel better now?”

“No. And it’s not because I don’t trust that you can handle yourself. That’s not why.”

“Okay.”

“I’m not going to try to stop you or talk you out of this, but I don’t have to like it, and I’m going to be there to make sure you’re safe.”

A smile tugged at her lips. “That’s exactly why I love you.”

He grunted, didn’t move.

She didn’t like knowing he was so upset. She didn’t want to hurt him or make him sad, ever. But she had an important job to do.

“It won’t always be this way, you know,” she soothed, holding him close. He’d never needed or come to her for comfort before. It only made her feel closer to him. “One day all this will be behind us, and we’ll all be free.” Her, Tyler, Amber and the others. She couldn’t wait for that to happen. To be able to start living a brand new life of her choosing.

Another grunt, but at least he didn’t argue or pull away.

They stayed like that, him still inside her, wrapped as close as he could get. “I can hear your brain working,” he said a minute later without moving. “What are you thinking about now?”

She grinned. He knew her so well. “I’m thinking about where I can get my hands on a bottle of hair dye, and an oxy acetylene torch.”

****

The op was a go.

Jesse glanced at his watch. Ten minutes until zero hour.

He circled back on foot to his assigned position for the op, the smell of the river filling the night air as he made his way to the back room of the portable office building on the west side of the transport company lot.

No one would see his movements, because Amber had uploaded a looped video showing the site as it was prior to set up. Anyone watching the security feeds would see no activity.

He slipped in the back door and shut it silently, the faint blue glow coming from the next room reassuring. Seated behind her bank of monitors and keyboards with Lady Ada open on her lap, Amber glanced up. “Everything ready?”

He nodded. “Just checked on Bautista and Georgia. They’re in position.” Bautista was acting as spotter for his wife, the two of them concealed on a rooftop that gave them the best view and angle into the property. They would give recon intel to the rest of the team, and take care of things if shit went sideways at any point.

“Megan and Ty still in place?”

“Waiting and ready outside,” he said, nodding toward the front of the building where the two armored trucks were parked. Their plan was clever, with a high chance of success.

Except plans rarely went as planned in the real world.

As for Jesse’s part in all this, he and Tyler were a different sort of backup on this one. The entire point of this op was to capture Stanislav and turn him over to British and U.S. authorities so they could slap all kinds of charges on him for things he’d done, all the innocent lives he’d taken. But Jesse and Tyler’s first priority was to guard the Valkyries.

To put it bluntly, he and Tyler were expendable. No one had said that in so many words, but that’s how it was. The women were way more valuable, and their mission extended far beyond tonight. They were necessary to the cause of finding their remaining fellow operatives out there. So Jesse, Ty and Bautista were all here to make sure the Valkyries were protected at all cost.

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