Page 12 of Deadly Alliance

Chapter Five

It waslike floating in the Caribbean Sea. Being a Navy SEAL, Shane had spent most of his training in water, cold water mostly for perilous missions. Now, he was relaxed, as if suspended in an ocean of blue, cocooned by softness and warmth. Being surrounded by duty and pain for so long, the unusual feeling slowly pulled him to the surface. He froze, reality hitting him like a riptide.

Sunrise was barely a trace over the horizon, but he didn’t need his eyes to feel the lush, feminine body wrapped around him. Somehow, during the night, they had both drifted towards the middle of the bed. He could have put all the fault on Emme for unconsciously using him as a pillow, but it was his leg hooked over hers, one hand fisted in her hair, the other hand cupping her naked, round ass cheek.

His body heat spiked as his cock stirred in interest. From the moment he had seen her, his brain had told him the girl would be trouble. He continuously called her a girl, but it was a woman wrapped in his arms. The satin of her chemise rasped against his torso, her breasts pressing against his skin with each of her breaths. He was doomed if he didn’t find a way out soon. This entire mission was to trap a killer. So why, despite his mind shouting at him to get out, didn’t his body move an inch? And even worse, he had the mounting temptation to slide his hand up her rounded bottom, to caress the soft skin.

Emme shifted a little, and Shane held his breath. He wasn’t a coward but was tempted to feign sleep, but again, he shared equal responsibility so he’d better man-up. Gently, he untangled his hand from her hair and straightened his leg. The smell of her, a faint, warm floral scent made him bury his face in her hair before he could stop himself and he inhaled a lungful before moving his head away. Lastly, he removed his hand from her ass. So far, so good. Now, he tried to find the best strategy to slide off the bed without her waking up, thus preventing her embarrassment. After all, every time she opened her mouth to speak to him, her words dripped with sarcasm, and she rolled her eyes as if his words made no sense. So why can’t I move away?

Shane knew the minute her eyes opened, her body instantly tensed up as she realised the position they were in. He thought she would scramble away, but she didn’t. When Emme started moving, her thigh rubbed against the erection barely contained in his sweatpants, keeping her in an awkward position.

He should be mean, say something that would spark that fire in her eyes, erase the look of sleepy softness and kissable mouth just inches from him. As he tried to string two words together, a muffled noise came from the living room. It was instantaneous. Hand on his weapon, they moved in sync, quickly separating. Shane saw Emme grab her gun, padding after him silently. Cracking the door open, he listened a moment and gestured that the sound was coming from the front of the house. Emme nodded and shifted, following him into the hallway. As he reached the end of the wall towards the living room he pointed his gun and scanned for intruders. There were none in sight.

Dawn was barely piercing through the windows, but Shane’s attention was drawn outside. A truck was in the street directly in front of the house, apparently having engine trouble. The driver had probably wanted to make a turn in their cul-de-sac before it broke down. And despite the early hour, the man didn’t seem to care about keeping it quiet, cursing and swinging his truck’s doors closed with way more force than was necessary.

Not trusting that it wasn’t a decoy of some sort, he went through the house, thoroughly searching each room, before finally relaxing and returning to the kitchen where Emme was on the phone.

“Yes, exactly. If you can check the route.” As he approached, Emme looked in his direction. He saw her skimming his body before catching herself. “No, the premises are secure. Shane checked. Thanks.”

Ending the call, she turned to him, all ice and business. “I called Will. Asked him to check that truck, just to make sure it’s legit.”

“Good call.” Shane put his gun on the counter and rubbed his face. When he looked at her again, Emme gave him a surprised look. “What?”

She opened her mouth and closed it again, shrugging. “Nothing. Only surprised you would approve of anything I do or say.”

What could he say? Deep down he didn’t dare rely on her due to her inexperience. They only had one chance of catching Misty’s killer. He owed it to her and Nicholas and couldn’t let anything side track him. Not even Emme.

As his adrenaline dropped, Shane really saw her; her brown hair was mussed, and that mint green nightie should have been illegal, making him want to rip it off her. The sensation of her skin under his hand less than two minutes ago rose inside him. He needed to regain control.

He was about to walk away, when a shadow moved out from the hallway. All reaction, Shane’s gun was aiming at Lance’s smiling face before he knew it.

“Whoa, guys! And here I thought I’d be welcomed with open arms and coffee. Instead, I get two guns. And people in underwear. I’m blessed.”

Zin silently walked in behind Lance, arms folded. “We just got the call from Will and Zack, and we wanted to make sure everything was alright. We sneaked in by the side entrance and…” His sentence was cut short when his eyes went to Emme. The reaction was subtle but clear. His eyes widened, and he made a military half turn on himself and walked away.

Shane bit back a curse, and stepped in front of Emme, acting as a shield for when he returned. She blushed but didn’t acknowledge how she was dressed, instead of confronting Lance head on.

“This wasn’t an emergency. I only called Will as a precaution.”

Lance shrugged, turning his back on them, and went into the kitchen, opening the cupboards. “Maybe, maybe not. In either case, we were on duty and Beatrice and Zack were very clear about not taking chances.”

Zin returned as silently as he had gone and handed Emme one of Shane’s hooded jogging sweaters, all the while not once looking at her. The sweater was way too big for her petite frame, covering her up to her knees, but it had the advantage of making Shane forget about her curves and lessening the slight blush on both Zin and Emme’s faces.

The smell of brewing coffee filled the air, and it seemed that there was no way they were returning to bed. It was probably for the better.

Emme sat at the table as Lance brought her a cup. “You haven’t had a chance to talk to the team yet apart from that quick check-in. It looks to me like you’re so deep into this mission, you’re taking the whole married couple thing to another level.”

To her credit, the way she punched the annoying man in the ribs appeared painful. “You’re an idiot. Our mission is to appear married. We are both professionals. That’s what we do. Maybe I should take your insult as a compliment, as it means that we were credible.”

Flashes of them in bed invaded Shane’s mind and he roughly squashed them. Lance pushed a mug in his direction and Shane took a sip to clear his mind. Emme’s phone beeped with an incoming message.

“The truck is legit. A delivery was planned nearby. So that’s not our bad guy.”

“It would have been too easy. We just arrived. We need to be seen as much as possible. And make our presence known on social media. We follow the plan and we get that creep.”

Zin and Lance looked at each other, hesitating. Finally, Lance spoke up. “We aren’t only here because of the truck.”

Shane’s heart sank when Zin pulled out an envelope and put it in front of him on the counter. “There was another one. Last night. Pirbright. An army training centre in Surrey, a little bit over two hours from here.”