Page 9 of Dangerous Games (Tempting SEALs 2)

The DEA agent was decked out in an overabundance of leather and chains that sang in an unholy jangle as Clint seemed to shake him without effort.

"Clint, dammit, let him go!" Morganna grabbed Clint's arm, her nails biting into his forearm as Craig's body tensed to fight.

"Get back, Morganna, before I rip your pansy-assed boyfriend in half," Clint snapped.

"You're crazy!" she yelled, attempting to shake him loose. "Let him go."

"Is this how you get your jollies?" he snarled back at her. "Does Reno know where you go for fun, Morganna?"

The threat. There it was. That familiar warning that assured her Reno was going to get a phone call.

"I don't know; does he know how you have your fun?" she sneered back. "Go ahead and rat me out like you always do and I'll tell him what you had in mind for me before you were interrupted. Now let him go." She slapped at Clint's arm, furious, terrified. Craig was starting to turn blue.

Clint jerked his arm away, turning back to her, the primal danger she glimpsed in his eyes taking her breath. It wasn't violence; it was lust. Pure, hot, unadulterated lust.

"Get out of here." His voice was hoarse, his hands balling into fists as he faced her. "Get out of this club and get your ass home. Now. Right now, Morganna, or God help us both if I get my hands on you again."

She jumped back, watching as Craig quickly moved around him. Craig's hazel eyes were concerned, his wavy hair disheveled, as he gripped her arm and began pulling her backward down the hallway.

She stared back at Clint and knew it wasn't over. Not by a long shot. The look in his eyes promised her he would come after her. Soon.

"Move it, girl," Craig muttered as he dragged her behind him. "Merino is having fits in the van. This has fucked the entire night up."

No shit. Morganna turned and followed him through the throng of dancers, nearly stumbling more than once as she fought to make her limbs cooperate. She could still feel Clint's touch, still ached for his kiss. She wanted to look back, see if he was following, but she knew he was. She could feel him.

"He's behind us," she informed Craig as they moved through the front door.

"Tough," Craig growled as the warm night air washed over them, the sultry South Carolina heat reminding her of Clint's touch. "Get in your car and head home. We'll meet up with you at the house later."

"You can't do that," she snapped as they moved into the parking lot. "I'm telling you, he's going to follow me to the house; he'll have a fit. You've got to give me time to explain."

"You get out of here; Merino will take care of the SEAL."

Morganna turned on Craig. She jerked her arm away from him before slamming her hands into his chest and pushing him back.

"I said no," she repeated furiously, aware that Clint would be turning the corner into the parking lot at any minute. "I'll come in tomorrow and that's final. Merino can wait on me this time."

This was too important to allow male ego and pride to suddenly mess it up. If Clint found out what she was doing, he would fly to Hawaii himself to tell Reno all about it. Clint had always been a damned tattletale, ratting her out every chance he got. There was no way he would let this pass. And once he did tell, Reno would hit the roof.

What made her think she could keep this from her brother or Clint, she had no idea.

"Don't mess this up, Morganna," Craig hissed as he checked the parking lot for curious ears. "You know what's at stake."

"Then don't you mess it up." Her furious whisper was followed by her finger poking into his chest as she turned on him. "I told you when we'll meet and that's it. Because trust me when I tell you blood will be shed if he finds you at the house tonight. And it won't be his."

She didn't wait for an answer. She turned away from Craig stiffly, moving across the driveway and heading for her car. She turned to glare back at him, barely catching the sudden alarm on his expression before she heard the squeal of tires.

Morganna turned, blinded by a sudden light flaring in front of her eyes as her ears filled with the screech of tires and the sudden awareness of danger.

She heard Clint scream her name a second before something, somebody, hooked her around the waist and slammed her through the air. Gunfire echoed around her. It had to be gunfire, blazing across her senses as time slowed, inching by as she felt herself falling, aware of the hard pavement that would meet the end of her journey.

A thousand thoughts blazed through her mind; uppermost was the fact that it was Clint's arm hooked around her waist, then Clint's hard body bracing hers as they hit the ground and rolled. She could hear his curses in her ear, explicit, enraged, as he took the brunt of the impact before rolling her beneath his body. One hand cupped the side of her head as the ping of bullets pelted around them.

She could hear car alarms shrieking now as shattered glass rained over her. Clint was using his larger body to shield her, holding her in place as she fought to escape the bullets, to get him out of the line of fire.

"Move it!" He lifted her to her feet and with a surge of motion dragged her between the nearby cars, pressing her into the side of the nearest vehicle as sparks flew from the pavement.

The sound of gunfire filled the night again as he grabbed her around the waist and forced her into a ducking run to avoid the bullets firing toward them.

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