Special Forces Seduction
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C.J. Miller
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Chapter 1
Alexandra “Hyde” Flores caught a glimpse of undercover operative Finn Carter in her peripheral vision. But as she turned her head, she saw that he’d vanished. The orange candles and strings of white lights inside the wedding tent created shadows and apparitions. Hyde’s life was haunted by ghosts of her past.
Her oldest sister Victoria was glowing and stunning in a thirty-thousand dollar, diamond-white couture wedding dress. Hyde knew part of her glow was that she was three months pregnant, and Hyde’s niece Thea would soon have a cousin. For the first time in Hyde’s life, seeing someone with the classic American dream made her envious.
She had been involved in complicated and dangerous missions for the last ten years and up until the end, she had loved it. Her psyche was changing and craving normal. Normal was good and safe.
Hyde claimed a spot for herself at a high-topped table in the corner of the white tent with a great view of the dance floor. It gave her pleasure to watch her parents, her sisters, her new brother-in-law and her niece dancing with the extended family. She had been on the fringes of the family for so long that her absence wasn’t noticed.
A twinge of sadness nipped at her, but not enough to force her to mingle. Relearning social protocol in Bearcreek, Montana, was a throwback to her youth. Her job had trained her to read between the lines and to look for hidden agendas. She anticipated backstabbing and lies from the people she worked with. Her family, on the other hand, spoke plain and their only agenda tonight was to celebrate Victoria and Thomas.
Sensing someone watching her, Hyde turned and reached to where her gun was usually holstered. Her fingers came up empty and a mild panic threaded through her. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. It was a slim chance, but possible that she’d been found by an enemy looking for revenge.
Instead of an enemy, Hyde’s gaze connected with Finn’s. She closed her eyes, waited until her thoughts cleared and her heart slowed to a normal rate. Thinking of him got her going, a shot of adrenaline to her heart. She blamed the weekends they had spent together. Quick, steamy rendezvous and abbreviated goodbyes were their trademarks. She and Finn had carried on their affair for three years without any commitment, without anniversary celebrations or promises of a future.
It had been great while it had lasted. It was no longer what she wanted.
When Hyde opened her eyes, he was gone. Or rather, her imagination had stopped playing tricks on her. Finn wasn’t in Bearcreek, Montana. He was on his latest mission somewhere in the world. Hyde would never see him again. She was out of the spy game, and a life of secrets and lies was behind her. The pang of sadness that struck her had everything to do with her desire to have a normal, stable life and nothing to do with missing her former life—or Finn.
A masculine, strong arm slipped around her waist and though her instincts were to react defensively, she froze when Finn’s familiar scent wafted over her, the smell of soap and sandalwood. Memories of him naked, in the shower, in her bed, flickered through her mind. Her heartbeat faltered, skipped, and her breath backed up in her lungs.
His voice cemented his identity. That deep, slow drawl that replayed in her dreams for months after she saw him. He appealed to her as no one had before or had since.
“You have never looked more beautiful than you do tonight.”
Hyde whirled and came face-to-face with the man she had fallen for hard. A man she couldn’t have a serious relationship with, a man who was almost as daring and wild as she had been. He embodied everything she had wanted in a man. Strength, cunning and excitement had been at the top of her list and now she wanted to add stable, honest and calm.
Despite not having been invited, Finn was dressed for the occasion. Black suit and gray button-down with a silver and black tie. Understated elegance. His tie clip and cuff links matched, small green gems adorning them. His dark hair was slicked back, every hair in place. He looked positively dashing.
Her heart overreacted, like it always did. “The most beautiful? You have a thing for canary-yellow and carrot-stick-orange dresses?” Her bridesmaid dress was bright and fun and in colors Hyde rarely wore.
“If you’re the one wearing it,” Finn said.
“What are you doing here?” She hoped she had pulled off sounding casual.
Finn could be working an operation. An op in rural Montana would be unusual, but spies worked in every corner of the globe. Hard to imagine terrorist plots afoot in this part of the United States, but Hyde was justifiably paranoid. She had been lied to and double-crossed far too many times.
“I’m looking for you.” His hands slipped down to her hips and pulled her against his body. A mewling sound she recognized as hers escaped her lips. Their attraction was the one steady part of their relationship. Not a strong aspect to hinge a future on.
Hyde hadn’t met a man who held a candle to Finn. Tall and muscled, his dark hair had a touch of gray at his temples. He looked good clean-shaven and with facial hair. He had about a day’s worth of a beard.
“This is my sister’s wedding.” Even with the table between her and the throng of guests, someone would notice him. Finn was impossible to overlook. He hadn’t been invited to the wedding and if Victoria spotted him, she would know it and ask questions. Hyde didn’t want to answer questions about Finn. She had too many of her own. When it came to Finn, her emotions were a tangled mess.
Finn was an accomplished liar, but he wouldn’t know the details of the cover story she had told her family about her career. Her family believed she was a sales rep for a luxury car company and having become road weary, had made a career change. Believable, except when evidence to the contrary, like her former lover and world renowned spy, showed up out of the blue at a family function.
“This is a big day for your family, and I don’t want to intrude. I’ve missed you,” he said. He took her hand and led her away from the table and out of the wedding tent and into the open fields of her family’s farm.
The farm spread over fifty acres, and her sister’s wedding was being held in one of the most scenic areas. Hyde used to lay a blanket out under the stars in this exact spot and stare at the sky. The longer she gazed, the more stars she could see, and as a child, she had believed she could see outside the galaxy if she watched long enough.
“I can’t leave my sister’s wedding. It’s not over,” she said.
“I can’t wait another minute to be with you. If you miss the bouquet toss, does that matter? Did you want to be the next to be married?” he asked.
For the first time in her life, Hyde did want to be married. She hungered for family gatherings and going to the gym and appointments at the salon. “I could catch it.” She was the oldest unmarried woman in her family. Well, the oldest unmarried woman who had never been married.
“I had to see you. Kate West was right,” Finn said, referring to the wife of the man who ran a black ops company they contracted with periodically. The West Company was a first-rate special operations firm that hired experts as the situation called for them. The West Company made it their business to handle problems quickly, efficiently and quietly. Hyde and Finn liked working for the West Company. They had professional and personal connections with the firm.
Hyde focused on what Finn was saying. “Kate was right about what?”
“You’re not part of this life anymore,” Finn said. “I see it on your face. I see it in the way you look at me.”
Finn must know her better than she had believed. “I am retired from my former career.” Hyde had a good relationship with the West Company and because she and Kate had formed a friendship, Hyde had wanted to do more than disappear and ignore phone calls. An explanation had been in order.
“Your sister is married. Is that what this is about?” Finn looked at her intensely and she had to catch her breath. She and Finn had always created fireworks when they were together: in the bedroom and when they fought.
Hyde linked her hands behind her. She didn’t want to touch Finn or reach for him. They wanted different things and her new life would bore him. “I have decided I don’t want to be in that line of work anymore.” Her sister’s wedding reinforced her decision had been the right one, but it hadn’t been the initiating factor.
Finn folded his arms, and the bunched muscles in his biceps reminded her of how it felt to be held by him. A shimmer of desire piped through her. In Finn’s arms, she had never felt safer and she could let down her guard for a few hours with him watching her back. He was a fighter. He was strong. He was passionate about everything he did, including his affair with her.
“I need to talk you out of this,” Finn said.
“I’m not changing my mind,” Hyde said. If he intended to rope her into taking another job as a spy, he would be disappointed.
Finn inclined his head. “What are you planning to do? Get a job in an office?”
Office work was on the list of possible jobs to investigate. She could work forty hours per week, clock out and spend the weekend binge-watching television and running errands and doing chores. “I have marketable job skills.”
“I know you have job skills. I’m questioning if they apply to any jobs in this small town.”
She hadn’t had enough time to explore her options. She didn’t want to think about her decision again or justify it. If anyone could talk her out of this course of action, it was Finn. “I’ll be fine. Thanks for checking on me. Burn my address. I don’t want anyone following me here.” She had made enemies and some held grudges.
Finn drew her against him. “No one followed me here. Whatever happened, tell me and I’ll fix it.”
The pleading in his voice nearly felled her. He couldn’t fix what had happened. She could not name the emotion that passed through her, but her heart clenched. “I don’t want to be a spy anymore.” Speaking the words was a relief. She realized she had worried about what Finn would think and she waited for the disappointment or an argument.
Finn’s face remained frustratingly neutral. He blinked at her. “I’m going after Reed Barnett and I need you.”
Reed Barnett, international drug kingpin, murderer and all-around bad man. Hyde agreed he needed to be taken down, but she had no intention of getting involved. A Reed Barnett operation was far too dangerous and complex. After what had happened during her last mission, Hyde was staying on the safe side of the street.
“I can’t be involved,” Hyde said. She wouldn’t consider it and she didn’t want the details. Tracking and hunting Reed Barnett was a suicide mission. The man had money and a private army and arms en masse. It was rumored he owned a private island.
“I need someone I can trust at my back,” Finn said.
Temporary loyalty on a mission could be bought. “I’m the wrong woman for the job.” Questions about the mission swirled in her head. She wouldn’t voice them. If she spoke them, she would get pulled into Finn’s plans.
His jaw was tight. “Barnett killed Simon.”
A spear of hurt struck her in the gut at the reminder. “I know he killed Simon.” Simon had been a dear friend. He had once saved her life on an operation. He deserved better than what had happened to him.
“We can avenge his death. For Thea,” Finn said.
Thea. With her name came a searing hot flash of regret and pain. Finn was one of the few people who knew that Simon was Hyde’s niece, Thea’s, father.
“It’s the right thing to do,” Finn said.
Hyde wrestled with her guilt. She didn’t want to step back into this life. The adrenaline rush, the excitement and the danger were highs she would chase for the rest of her life. But to avenge Simon... “I don’t know if seeking revenge against Barnett is right. I have thought about killing the man on many occasions, but the logistics and the reality is that I’d end up dead, not Barnett.”
Finn took her hand in his. “This isn’t an impulsive plan. We have the West Company backing the mission. We can take Barnett down. We can stop his drug ring. Protect more families from going through what Lydia and Thea are going through,” Finn said.
He’d known the right angle to play with her. Hyde loved her sister and would do anything for her and Thea. To finally tell Lydia about Simon and what had happened to him, to give her a sense of peace and closure, would mean so much. Hyde was afraid to tell Lydia the whole truth about Simon. Her sister would dig around and land in Barnett’s crosshairs. Or Hyde would reveal a piece of her life that was classified and open a can of worms. Could Hyde safely give Lydia the truth about Simon if Reed Barnett was dead?
Her mind was churning through her contacts, looking for an in with Barnett’s crew and coming up short. Barnett was notorious for keeping his inner circle limited and forcing business associates to prove their loyalty in incriminating ways. “You make it sound easy. How will you get close enough to Barnett to strike?”
“I’ve laid the groundwork. I have a meeting with Barnett in a couple of days. Come with me. We’ll destroy him and his enterprise.”
A mission with Finn? Being together on vacation was different from being together on a complex mission in the field. She could scarcely draw a full breath thinking of being alone with Finn, of imagining days or weeks together. Emotionally complicated and fraught with problems.
Compounded with a face-to-face meeting with Barnett, it was unimaginable. What would stop her or Finn from killing him on the spot? Her heart thundered and warnings screamed in her head.
Finn was a passionate man and she was a fiery woman. Could they work together and get the job done?
Her hands itched to hold a gun. That quickly, she was ready to jump back in the game.
“If you were one of my operatives telling me you wanted revenge on Barnett, I wouldn’t assign you to this op,” Hyde said. Too many emotion-fueled decisions would lead to a mistake.
Finn ran his hand down her arm, letting their fingers linger together. “Does that mean you want me to take someone else?” He brought her fingers to his lips and kissed her knuckles. The fire in his eyes seared her to the core.
Finn didn’t work well with others. He followed orders, but he preferred to be in command. This mission had a personal element and that would require extra vigilance. “I’m going. But you know we’ll make more mistakes because this is deeply personal. Revenge is heavy baggage and I prefer to be light and nimble on operations.”
Finn pulled her against him and she braced her hands on his chest. “I knew I wasn’t wasting my time coming out here,” he said.
“How’d you find me?” she asked.
He lifted a brow. “Former Army Special Forces.”
“Right.” His training as a Green Beret was exhaustive and had left him with an impressive list of skills.
She had been careful to cover her tracks when she’d returned to Bearcreek. If Finn had found her, then her enemies could, as well. Hyde wanted to protect her family. “I need more than that.”
“Small details I pieced together over the time I’ve known you. And begging Kate West for intel on you,” Finn said.
Surprise struck her. “Kate gave me up?”
Finn winked. “Only because I told her I was in love with you and needed to tell you in person.”
Hyde gasped. In love with her? They hadn’t spoken of love, not once during their relationship. Standing in the warm circle of his arms, her heart overreacted.
Finn traced the strap of her yellow dress with his finger. “I told her what she needed to hear to give me your location.”
It was like a hammer slamming down on a delicate flower, smashing it to pieces. Hyde shook off the disappointment that pressed on her. Finn, love and she didn’t belong grouped together in the same sentence. It wasn’t love she felt for him. It was desire, plain and simple. She would be smart to keep her eyes on the prize, which in this case, was the mission. “You think we have a chance of taking Reed Barnett down?”
“I do. Now stop talking about Reed Barnett and let’s talk about something else. Like how we’ll spend this beautiful evening.”
She couldn’t leave her sister’s wedding. She wouldn’t hear the end of it. “I’m staying at the wedding. My date will take me home.”
Finn appeared a mix of hurt and surprised. “You have a date to this wedding?”
Her sister had fixed her up with George, a coworker of Thomas’s. After suffering through fifteen minutes of awkward conversation, George had ignored her for the rest of the night. Stepping outside with Finn would have gone unnoticed by George. “I have a date.” It was nice for Finn to believe she had moved on and wasn’t still carrying a torch for him. A torch she was trying to extinguish. Finn was part of her spy life and after this mission, she was finished with that.
“Are you dating? Is your date the reason you’re retiring?” Finn sounded indifferent, but he had dropped her hands and had taken a step away from her.
“George has nothing to do with my career plans.” She had met him two days before the wedding at the rehearsal dinner.
“Is he taking you home?” Finn asked, folding his arms over his chest.
He wasn’t. Hyde had driven herself to the wedding. That wasn’t Finn’s business. Hyde held up her hand. “Don’t pretend to care what I do when we’re not together, and don’t act jealous. Territorial doesn’t suit you.”
Finn was perpetually confident and rarely questioned himself. He leaned back away from her. “That’s an unfair statement. I care about you. I want to know what’s going on in your life.”
Hyde scratched at her head where a bobby pin was pressing into her scalp. “I can’t get into it with you here and now.”
“But I want to get into it.” Finn lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed the inside of her wrist.
The caress of his lips nearly broke her defenses. “If we’re working an operation together, we need to keep our relationship chill.” They needed the reminder.
“Chill? What does that mean?” Finn asked.
It meant the opposite of what their relationship had been. No hot sex, no making out, no sleeping together. “It means we’re working together professionally. Nothing else except the mission.”
Lines formed around Finn’s eyes. “I will respect your wishes.” He released her hand.
Hyde was startled by Finn’s acceptance of her statement. Disappointment pinged in her chest. He had let her go easily and it spoke volumes. “I should get back to my family. Are you planning to stick around or do you want to meet at the airport?” She wanted him to say airport. Being around Finn left her feeling like she needed to catch her breath and clear her head.
“I have nowhere else to be and we need to talk more about Barnett.”
“We’ll talk on the journey there,” Hyde said. Finn’s eyes didn’t leave her. His gaze heated her from her head to her toes.
“We should talk now,” Finn said.
“I can’t now.” The urge to cry struck her, which was ridiculous. Spies didn’t cry when they were with their colleagues. Finn had churned up emotions she had worked hard to lock away. She needed time. “Goodbye, Finn.”
As she walked away, she felt him watching her.
Finn remained at the table on the far side of the tent. He had unbuttoned his suit jacket and looked relaxed, as if he hadn’t requested she go with him on a dangerous and complicated mission.
Hyde pretended the wedding held her full attention. She was thinking of Finn and Simon and taking down Reed Barnett. Guests talked and laughed and danced. Hyde worked to put a pleasant expression on her face. She strolled into the crowd and made small talk with her family. When she glanced at the corner table, Finn had disappeared. Regret speared her. She hadn’t invited him to stay at the wedding. Perhaps she should have.
Finn was as much of an outsider as she was. She and her family were pretending that she was part of it, but her absence had taken a toll on her personal relationships.
Hyde caught a glimpse of Finn across the room. He was speaking to a distant cousin, who was laughing and touching his jacket sleeve. Jealousy nipped at her and Hyde suppressed the urge to stake a claim. Hyde turned away and searched for George. The DJ was playing a popular song that had filled the dance floor.
George was speaking to people she didn’t recognize. Hyde looked around for Lydia or Thea. She needed a distraction. Possessiveness and jealousy didn’t work in her relationship with Finn. She and Finn hadn’t discussed their relationship in terms of commitment and exclusivity. This wasn’t the time to make those demands. If they were working together, their personal relationship needed to cool off.
The song changed from a snappy pop tune to a slow love ballad.
“Dance with me,” Finn said, coming up behind her. He slipped his arms around her waist and spun her to face him.
She leaned into him, chest to chest, and his cheek brushed hers. Lust hit her low and hard and she gripped his hands more tightly. Letting go seemed impossible. She had wanted to make a clean break from her spy life and that had included Finn. Now, in his arms, she couldn’t imagine not seeing him again, not having him in her life.
She had been trying to build a new life in Bearcreek, feeling like an outsider. Five minutes with Finn, and she felt at home.
