“Discreet. Right.” Corbray snorted. “You’re in a compound with a bunch of intel experts and analysts. Do you think they don’t know? You need to keep your head in the game,cabrón. What happens when you toss Ms. Hamilton aside like you always do with women when you’ve had enough? What happens if you break her heart and she runs to her daddy?”
Now Derek was angry.
Is Corbray hitting a little too close to home?
“She would never run to her father.” And Derek didn’t want to hurt her.
She wasn’t like the others. She wasn’t just the best first-time sex he’d ever had. There was something about her, something more than sex…
Are you listening to yourself?
Maybe Corbray was right. He needed to get his head back in the game.
He changed the subject. “If you’ve read the report from our meeting this morning, then you know we believe Kazi is behind this.”
“If that’s true, it’s a big problem for us—and for her.”
They’d built their primary base in Afghanistan in Mazar-e-Sharif because of their relationship with Kazi. They had millions of dollars of vehicles, computers, small arms, and other gear here. If Kazi had turned on them, they were in trouble.
“Our priority is getting Jenna … Ms. Hamilton… out of the province and the country. We’ve got a strategy meeting tomorrow at oh-eight-hundred.”
“I’ve called in some muscle to help. You’re going to need more boots on the ground. And, Tower, make no mistake, if we lose Ms. Hamilton, we lose the company, and we’re out of business for good.”
No way inhellwas Derek going to lose Jenna.
Corbray moved on, going through their current operations one by one. “Our security detail has cleared the embassy in Venezuela, so the diplomatic team will be arriving tomorrow.”
The operatives in Jakarta had noticed an uptick in the number of former IS fighters trying to recruit in Indonesia and had reported it to the Pentagon. A U.S.-owned hotel in Kenya had requested security personnel and training in the wake of another terrorist attack in Nairobi.
Then Corbray dropped a bomb. “Holly is pregnant.”
“What?”
“You know what that means, right—baby in the belly, bun in the oven?”
“I know what it means.”
Corbray chuckled. “I was on the phone with Andris when Holly told him. She was in a complete panic, telling him she wanted an epidural. He told her she’d have to wait until she was having the baby for that.”
Derek was happy for them. “No more deployments for her for a while.”
“She’s on light duty stateside, effective immediately. We need to select someone to fill in for her.”
“Yeah. Right.” That was going to be tough. “What else do you have for me?”
* * *
Jenna stoodin the elevator on her way down to the mess hall, reliving the past couple of hours in her mind. The tug of Derek’s mouth on her nipples. The rasp of his beard on her skin as he’d kissed his way down her body. The bliss of him going down on her, pounding into her. The rush of having all that man and muscle focused solely on her.
Don’t forget the greatest orgasm ever.
No, she wouldn’t forget that. How could she? Her body was still singing, the wetness between her thighs a sweet reminder of what they’d done.
Jenna was amazed that a man who’d spent his entire adult life at war could be so tender, so thorough, so damned good in bed. He was a fantasy come to life.
Lord, have mercy.
She knew her time with him was going to end sooner rather than later. She’d heard every word he’d said afterward. She knew that Derek wasn’t the kind of guy who planned on settling down, and she had no idea where she’d be tomorrow. Once Cobra got her out of Afghanistan, she would probably never see him again.