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“I’m Reid Bennet,” Reid said and backhanded Teller in the gut. “And this is Teller Osgood.”
Teller’s cheeks reddened. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”
“Oh, please,” Leilani said. “Call me Leilani. You can board the bus now.” She crossed to the group of seniors. “Aloha, ladies and gentlemen.”
“You heard the lady,” Devlin said. “We can get on the bus.”
“I’ll wait until the others board first,” Angel said.
The four men stood back as their guide checked off each name, smiling as she did so.
“I’ll be glad when we get to the Big Island,” Teller said. “It’ll be good to see the rest of the team.”
Devlin frowned, “The others are probably living it up on Oahu. There’s a lot more to do there. The nightlife is a lot livelier than any other island, and they’re right smack in the middle of it on Waikiki Beach. Lucky bastards.”
Rex Johnson, Levi Evans, Jackson Jones, Gabe Atkins and Cord Mendez were the other members of their crew of special forces guys who’d formed a black ops team for hire after they’d left their respective branches of the military. They’d worked for a couple of years in various locations from Afghanistan to Syria and, more recently, in Africa.
They might still have been in Africa if Hank Patterson hadn’t flown out to meet with them. In his own, very persuasive way, he’d talked them into coming back to the States to man the Hawaii division of the Brotherhood Protectors with the first of his guys to land there, Jace Hawkins, aka Hawk.
Angel had been on a mission with Hawk years ago in Afghanistan. The man had saved his life when a Taliban rebel had thrown a grenade at them.
When the grenade had rolled to a stop at their feet, Hawk had bent, grabbed the grenade and tossed it back in the direction from which it had come. As soon as it had left his hand, he’d tackled Angel, knocking him backward. They’d landed around the corner of a building just as the grenade exploded.
Hawk and Angel had suffered minor and temporary hearing loss. The man who’d thrown the grenade hadn’t been as lucky.
Angel owed his life to Hawk and his quick thinking. If the grenade had had a shorter fuse, neither one of them would have survived.
When Hank had mentioned Hawk would be in charge, Angel was sold. Besides, he was tired of the desert and Africa. They all were. The timing couldn’t have worked out better. The man funding their work had ended up having a heart attack. The guy who’d taken over wasn’t interested in paying them the money promised by his predecessor.
They’d packed their equipment and flown back to the States with Hank, landing in Montana where they’d stayed two nights at Hank’s place with his movie star wife, Sadie McClain, and their two kids before being flown to Hawaii for what Hank had insisted was a much-needed vacation.
After two days hanging out at the pool, they’d all grown restless. They’d been running high-octane operations for so long that none of them knew how to power down.
Angel had signed them up for the tour, hoping a little hiking would help burn some energy. If that didn’t do it, he’d contact Hawk and ask to come on board earlier than the week they’d been “given” at the resort.
The older tour group members finally made it onto the bus and settled in the seats closest to the front.
Leilani turned to the four men. “Ready?”
Dev grinned. “Ready and willing.”
Angel elbowed the man. “Dial back a little. You wreak of desperation.”
“I can’t help myself.” Dev smiled broadly at Leilani before murmuring beneath his breath. “Our guide is hot.”
Angel stepped past the man and climbed the steps up onto the bus.
Dev followed, still grinning.
Reid settled in the seat behind Angel and Dev. “She’s probably married with half a dozen curtain climbers.” He snorted. “But wait. That never stopped you before.”
Dev’s brow dipped low. “How was I to know Mandy was married? She didn’t tell me. I didn’t find out until her husband showed up at my apartment, threatening to blow my balls off. I don’t make a habit of poaching on another man’s woman.”
“Mandy?” Reid chuckled. “I was talking about CeCe. The chick in San Diego.”
“She said she had broken up with her boyfriend,” Dev argued. “She hadn’t. It led to an awkward moment when we both showed up at her place to take her out on a date. Being a gentleman, I bowed out gracefully.”
Reid snorted.
