Page 71 of Brooks

If he didn’t hurry up and move out of my way, I was going to climb over him to exit.

“Eager, huh?” His eyebrows wiggled, and as childish as his statement was, I couldn’t help laughing.

Maybe I was delirious from the mind-numbing ride. Maybe I was eager to sample some more of his hot body and talented tongue. I wasn’t sure what I blamed my next move on, but I leaned toward him as he was exiting the car and kissed him square on the mouth in front of everyone.

Nothing like jumping in with both feet and a blindfold on. I prayed I knew what I was doing.

Chapter 30

Holy fuck. I was stunned motionless. The shock of her kiss hadn’t worn off when Thad’s meaty paw slapped my shoulder.

“Move it. I want out of this tin can. And next time, you two lovebirds get the back so I don’t have to watch you make out.”

“No one was making out,” Tatiana protested. “And next time, I’ll remember my noise cancelling headset. My ears are bleeding after seven hours of the two of you arguing about deflated footballs and the Lakers’ draft pick for the year.”

“Wagner is our ticket to a winning season,” Thad argued.

“I don’t know who that is, and I don’t care.”

“You four gonna sit in the car all night, or get out?” Declan asked.

I was definitely getting out and so was Tatiana. There’d be payback for the kiss she’d planted on me. The good kind of retribution that would have her panting and begging. I hoped the walls in this piece of shit house were thick because there was no way I was taking it easy on her. Not when I was feeling ten feet tall and like a caveman.

I gripped Tatiana’s hand and helped her out of the back seat. Once she was settled on her feet, I went to the back of the SUV to grab our bags. Kyle was already standing watch, Declan was sweeping the perimeter, both had their weapons out, ready for anything. Which reminded me, I gave a sharp whistle and Tatiana turned to look at me. I patted my hip, reminding her she needed her gun at the ready as well. Her Sig cleared her holster and she followed Declan. I knew she was rolling those pretty eyes of hers and if she were closer, she would’ve given me shit. Yeah, she was feisty, I was damn lucky.

Less than an hour later, we were settled in the house, the perimeter was trip wired, and Declan’s crazy ass had set some IEDs around the points of entry. Garrett had called to inform us that he and Tex were able to move all of Matek’s money. His sons would be left penniless. They’d never touch the blood money their father had acquired. Instead, the two computer-hacker-geniuses divided up the funds and anonymously donated hundreds of millions of dollars to relief organizations around the world. There was a girls’ school in Africa that would have funding for years. A Midwestern state in the US that had counties so poor they were closing schools, were now flush with cash. A town in the state of Michigan that had water issues for years would no longer need to worry about bottled water. The money had gone all over, good people would benefit from his ill-gotten gains. That was the good news.

The bad news was, we were in a holding pattern. Tex had new drone footage of Al Issa’s compound and more men had arrived. We were already out-numbered, but it was manageable. With the addition of ten more men, it was questionable. Thankfully, Zane didn’t do questionable, so we were going to sit on our thumbs for a few days and see what the prince did.

The extra days and nights I would get with Tatiana were welcomed, but the longer we were in the area, the better the chance someone would see us and tip off Al Issa. Or think it would be a good idea to try their luck at killing a few Americans.

Thad and Tatiana were sitting on the smaller of the two couches, heads together as they looked at her laptop balanced on her knees. My gaze moved lower and something that felt a lot like jealousy started churning in my gut at the sight of their thighs touching. He was casually chomping on a protein bar and she was pointing to something on the screen.

“You look like you’re ready to rip someone’s head off, buddy,” Kyle said and followed my stare.

Thad turned in our direction and shoved the last of his bar into his mouth. He chewed, swallowed, then smirked. Then he moved. Not to get up and stop touching my woman, no not Thad. The fucker stretched his arm closest to Tatiana above his head and in a move every teenage boy in the world had tried, he lowered his arm down behind her and turned closer.

The jealousy roiling around was now threatening to bubble over.

“Great. You woke the sleeping bear,” Kyle joked.

“It’s not my fault I’m a big man,” Thad returned, humor lacing his tone.

“Seriously?” Tatiana finally glanced up from her computer and looked at me.

Thad and Kyle both chuckled, obviously finding humor in my discomfort. If I wasn’t the one pissed, I would’ve been able to see why they’d think it was funny. But I was pissed, so I didn’t see anything funny about the game Thad was playing.

“You mind?” I asked Thad.

“Not at all,” he said, but made no effort to move.

Irrational annoyance and possessiveness washed over me. I went to take a step toward the couch when Kyle grabbed my arm. “He’s fuckin’ with you.”

I knew he was. That was where my annoyance stemmed from. Tatiana wasn’t a game and I wasn’t joking. She was mine and no one, not even Thad, was going to touch her.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, caveman. We’re looking at maps, not watching porn,” Tatiana told me.

“What’d we miss? Who’s watching porn?” Max asked as he walked into the room with Declan.