You Only Love Twice (Masters and Mercenaries #8)(76)

She couldn’t do it again. She just couldn’t.

“You okay?” Ten looked down at her. He still had cuts on his face and hands where the explosion had gotten him, but he swore he was fine.

Jesse was dead. Oh, he was standing at the big bay window with Simon, looking out over the spectacular view of the Persian Gulf. He smiled that crazy-sexy smile that made her catch her breath and he pointed to something in the distance. She’d watched the news report his death and now his golden hair was a muted brown and he wore aviators when they were in public. She didn’t like it.

“I’m fine.” She watched him, but her mind kept going back to those newscasts. Jesse Murdoch, former soldier, killed in an accidental explosion at the club he worked at. It had dredged up all the former nasty allegations, and some of the news agencies were even speculating that Murdoch had been the bomber.

They would have a mess to deal with after this, but Ten swore he would make it right. It was one more crappy thing she’d brought into Jesse’s life.

Taggart had worked quickly, covering up everything with the full cooperation of the Agency and the DPD. No one it seemed wanted to publically acknowledge the war that was happening right in the streets of the US.

Ace Monroe had been killed in the explosion as well. He was scheduled to be buried with full honors at Arlington National Cemetery later that week. “He should have been exposed.”

Ten sighed. “You know Jesse was the one who wanted it this way. If we’d opened up that can of worms, we might have sent the Caliph back underground. It was a necessary evil.”

But Jesse hadn’t seen it as evil at all. He’d explained that he didn’t want Ace’s parents to know what had become of their son. Ace Monroe, Jesse had explained, died in Iraq. His body had simply survived his soul. Everything that made up the soldier had been destroyed by the Caliph, and it did no one a lick of good to ruin a dead man’s reputation.

He was too good for her. Just looking at him made her heart ache.

She couldn’t do it again. No way. She was going to leave when this op was over.

Jesse strode up to her and took her hand. “Come over here. You’ve got to see this view.”

He pulled her over to the window, his hands winding around her waist and his head settling next to hers. They’d been separated for days. Jesse had been in hiding and Phoebe had been working with Ten to prep for their trip. It had almost been a relief to be apart from him. She’d dived into work, studying all the power players and writing up reports on each. She’d found a proper distance.

Now her body heated up and she could feel her willpower draining away. The minute his hands were on her, she was reminded that he was alive and she couldn’t resist him. It was dangerous.

“Do you know what I’m going to do to you tonight?” Jesse whispered in her ear. “I owe you some discipline. Don’t think I’ve forgotten how you disobeyed my very direct orders back at Sanctum.”

“I’m tired,” she managed.

“Won’t save you. Besides, you managed to sleep on the plane.”

Only because he’d dragged her into his lap the minute it was safe to do so. He’d pulled her out of her chair and petted her over and over while he and Simon and Ten talked. At first she’d been uncomfortable with her brother there, but Jesse had been patient. In the end, she’d been draped across his body, sleeping in his arms.

Tonight she would do more than sleep in his arms. Tonight she would let him spank her, make love to her. She would fall more helplessly in love with a man she couldn’t have. Shouldn’t even want.

“God, you two get a room,” Erin said irritably as she walked in followed by Theo Taggart.

Jesse just grinned. “We’re working on it. Any word on where our contact is?”

“He’s on his way. Apparently he has a massive entourage, so we’re going to try to blend in,” Theo explained. “I also just talked to Case. He’s deeply enjoying his bonding time with big brother.”

Case had broken his femur when he jumped from the moving truck. Just being reminded of it made Phoebe a little queasy. If Case hadn’t been tailing Ace and the bomb had gone off where it should have, they would all have been gone. Her brother, Taggart…Jesse. She’d dreamed about it the night before. She’d dreamed she was the sole survivor walking through their bodies.

“What did he really say?” Ten asked.

“He told me that Ian’s a f*cking maniac and I better come back to the States and get him out of there. He wants to know why he couldn’t have gone out to the Circle M, or pretty much anywhere else.”

Ten shrugged. “I owe Tag. Also, Charlotte was very insistent. I do not argue with pregnant women, especially not one as good with firearms as Charlotte is.”

“I’m thrilled he’s getting to spend a little time with the old guy.” Theo frowned. “Could we forget I called him the old guy?”

“I’m texting him now,” Erin replied, her phone in hand.

Simon stepped away from the window. “How about you two stop bickering and we get to the reason for our very long flight. Did you read through the files on the plane or just insult each other?”

“She’s the one who’s in the perpetual bad mood,” Theo shot back.

“That’s because my real partner got replaced with a little boy,” Erin complained. She had not been thrilled when Tag had pulled Li from the op. With Dean in the hospital and Alex on paternity leave, Li had stayed behind to do much of the day-to-day operations. Ten had stepped up to lead because Ian wouldn’t leave Charlotte, and Theo had replaced Liam on their team.