Page 48 of Brooks

"Goddamn, Doll," he choked out. "You cannot tell me shit that is going to make my dick hard while some asshole is following us."

His comment made me smile. "I can't? Why not?"

Brooks gave me a sideways glance as he weaved in and out of traffic, putting more space between us and the Mercedes.

"They're not gonna wait until we get to the exit." All the humor in Brooks’ voice was gone. "Passenger's making a move."

I unbuckled my seat belt and started for the back seat when Brooks’ hand on my bicep halted my progress. "What are you doing? Put your belt back on and get down," he snapped.

With a shrug I knocked his hand away and found what I was looking for. Out the back windshield I could see the passenger of the Mercedes, now sitting on the open window frame.

"He's gonna take his shot, Brooks," I warned.

Sure enough, the man fired through the traffic-laden Causeway. His shot went wide and came nowhere near our car. But the surrounding drivers quickly sped up or pulled to the side of the road, giving the shooter his desired outcome, a clear shot.

"Goddammit, Tatiana. Get a fucking seat belt on now!” Brooks yelled.

"Hold your underwear on, jeeze."

With the AR15 now in my hand I'd almost righted myself back into my seat when Brooks veered hard right, making my body thrash.

"Seat. Belt!" he growled again.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. I'm not putting the damn belt back on and sitting here like some helpless ninny.” I quickly checked the magazine was full, pulled the charging handle, lowered the passenger window, and facing rear, I balanced on my knees. “Your choice, brake and get me a shot of the fucker shooting at us or switch lanes and get me in view of the driver.”

“Christ,” he mumbled, looking in the rearview mirror. “The driver will be easier. Brace yourself.”

I flipped up the rubber lens covers on the Aimpoint CompM4 Red Dot sight, steadied myself the best I could, and shouldered the AR15. Brooks switched lanes and hit the brakes. I took aim, clicked the safety off, and waited for a clear shot.

I had the driver in my sights “In three…two…” I pressed the trigger.

Three things happened at once; the recoil of the rifle and the awkwardness of shooting left-handed out of a moving vehicle made me flinch, my ears hurt so fucking bad from the .223 being fired in a small space with no ear-pro in, and the driver of the white Mercedes slumped.

“Goddamn, woman.”

I could barely hear Brooks over the ringing in my ears. I recapped the Aimpoint, ejected the round from the chamber, and clicked the lever back to safe, keeping the AR in the front seat with me.

“I think I busted my eardrums,” I told him as I sat down in the seat. “Thank God, I only needed one shot or my ears would be bleeding.”

“Now that you’ve taken care of that issue, how ‘bout we get back to the Underoo conversation?”

“Are you always like this?”

“Like what?”

“Have sex-brain in the middle of car chases?”

As soon as the question rolled off my tongue, I realized I didn’t want to know the answer. Mainly because it would crush me if he said yes, but also, I didn’t want to know anything about Brooks’ past. The less I knew about him, the easier it would be when he walked away.

“Hell, no. The guys on my team don’t talk about their underwear. And if they wear Wonder Woman Underoos I don’t wanna know.”

With a sharp nod I continued to stare out the windshield.

“Doll.” He reached for my hand and intertwined our fingers. “The answer is still hell no, however I’ll clarify. I have never found a woman wearing cargos, tac vest, and brain bucket sexy—until you. I have never, not once, gotten a hard-on when a teammate, male or female, was checkin’ the magazines and rackin’ the slide of their firearms—until you. I have never taken a shower or crawled into bed with a woman while on an op. I’ve certainly never had sex on a mission. And I’ve never thought about the sexy woman next me’s panties while she was expertly handling an assault rifle out the window of a moving car. Does that answer your question?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and gave the only answer I could manage. “Yep.”

“Good.”