Page 9 of Saved By the Marines (Soldiers Of Misfortune)

Shooting Wolfe a dark look as he strode back in, I shrugged my shoulders. “What?”

Before he could respond, peals of laughter echoed around the room. I looked back over at Bailey in shock. She was holding her stomach, bent over at the waist, laughing so hard tears were forming in her eyes.

“What the fuck is so funny?” I growled at her.

“Bro…” Kip muttered, giving me a confused look. “Why are you in such a pissy mood?” He’d said it quietly, though I doubt she’d have heard him through her laughter.

Fury was building as I watched a tear slide down her cheek. She thought she had the right to laugh at me?

“Jasper,” she gasped when she caught Wolfe’s questioning look. He always introduced me as Jas—because I hated my fucking name and this was why. “Your mom must have hated you.”

I had to get out of here before I pulled her over my lap and showed her what I did to little girls who didn’t know their fucking place. “I’ll go check the perimeter,” I snarled at Wolfe as I stalked past him. He kept his mouth shut, proving why he was the team leader.

My eyes darted around as I looked for any perceivable threat as I stepped outside. I might want to throttle Bailey—preferably while I fucked her—but that didn’t mean I wanted her to get hurt. Anyone who wanted to land a solid blow to Senator Michaels would take a serious look at his daughter. Getting to her would do damage in multiple areas of his life. His reputation and whatever blackened organ he had inside his chest. The damage to his reputation would probably bother him more than the loss of his daughter. I hadn’t missed the dismissive nature in which he treated his daughter. None of us had.

It wasn’t any of my business. My job was to keep him and his daughter alive, nothing more, nothing less. Especially nothing more. The sooner this was over the sooner we could get back to our usual missions. My eyes flicked up to the room she was staying in. As I watched, her light turned on. A shadow moved across the drapes that she had drawn. At least she kept things like that in mind. The more she did to keep herself safe, the easier our mission would be. Still, I almost wished she’d open up those curtains so I could see her undress.

I’d been right before. That meeting had gone for hours and the sun was slowly sinking down in the sky. Wiping all thoughts from my mind, I began doing a sweep of the embassy. I had a feeling keeping busy was going to be the only way to preserve my sanity through this.

My boots crunched lightly in the gravel as I patrolled the eastern edge of the compound. The last rays of light were coloring the sky. I didn’t hear Wolfe approach, but the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Looking over, I watched as he stopped next to me.

He was a quiet bastard. I’d asked him once how he managed to sneak around so efficiently. He’d just grinned and told me when you’re the youngest of ten boys you learned to be silent or you’d get your ass handed to you in hide and seek. The Wolfe brothers still played that game—and had added me and Kip into the mix the first year Wolfe had brought us home for the holidays—and he wasn’t kidding. They didn’t just play hide and seek. The rules were you got a pummeling if you were found and you couldn’t fucking fight back for a whole sixty seconds.

“What’s got your panties in a wad, Jas?” he asked, stopping next to me and lighting up a cigarette. Usually on missions he refused to smoke. It could give away our position. But this wasn’t like any other mission we’d ever been on.

Watching over a pampered politician and his daughter wasn’t exactly dangerous. At least not that I’d seen. It made me wonder if the death threats were real or if the senator was a pansy ass. Granted he was a Marine, but I didn’t know much about him. Didn’t give a rat’s ass. Wolfe had looked into him, he was the thorough one.

I shrugged in lieu of speaking. There was no way I could tell him what I was thinking—imagining doing—not when it had to do with one of the people we were here to protect.

“She’s gorgeous.”

Glancing over, I saw him watching me with amusement written all over his smug face. “Who the fuck cares?”

“If I had to guess, Brother,” he said, taking a drag from the cigarette before blowing the smoke out, “I’d say you.”

“Fuck off, Wolfe,” I muttered, looking back out past the fence that surrounded the embassy. I should have gone in at least an hour ago, but I didn’t feel like occupying the same space as her, even if it was a massive building.

“It’s not like Kip and I haven’t noticed,” he said with a chuckle. “I’ve also noticed you’re more surly than usual.”

“Because we shouldn’t be here. This isn’t our fucking job.”

“Yeah,” he replied, a hard note in his voice. “It is. Because we were fucking ordered to do this.” He shifted until he was standing in front of me. “I get it. I’m not thrilled to be babysitting either, but I know how to follow orders. Suck it up, Marine, and deal with it. Maybe then this won’t be a miserable summer for us all.” He flicked the cigarette away. “Or don’t. I have to admit, it’s hilarious watching you two claw at each other.”

“It’s kind of hot,” Kip added as he walked up. “Not you,” he said, disgust twisting his face when I narrowed my eyes. “Her. Watching her get all fired up. I like the way her tits bounce when she gets pissed and starts breathing harder. I hope you fight with her every day.”

Wolfe rubbed his forehead. “Jesus you two are worse than goddamned teenagers.” He pointed at Kip. “Don’t. Touch. The. Daughter.” He exaggerated each word and shook his head when Kip expressed his disappointment. “And you,” he continued, pointing at me. “Stop being so damn mean. You should have seen her face after you stormed off.”

Guilt pinched inside my chest. It wasn’t exactly her fault I was acting this way. I just couldn’t seem to stop lashing out at her. I nodded and stuffed my hands inside the pockets of my pants.

Wolfe took my nod as agreement and turned around to go back inside. Kip followed after him, leaving me outside to finish cooling off.

CHAPTER5

Bailey

Sighing, I flipped my blankets back and sat up in bed. Light filled the room as I flicked on the bedside lamp. I’d been tossing and turning for hours. It was a mixture of guilt and anger that was keeping me up. I felt bad for laughing at Jasper. A snort of laughter slipped out before I could hold it back. It was just funny to me to see a big buff Marine with such a posh English sounding name. Especially one who was as surly as a mule.

I was angry because I felt so guilty. He didn’t deserve my emotions. He’d started this whole thing between us. I really wasn’t sure what I’d done to make him hate me this way. Worse, I didn’t know why I cared and wanted to fix it.

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