Page 65
Story: Special Ops Seduction
“I remember her shooting him.” Jonas’s voice was tight and telling, but he couldn’t seem to do anything about that. “Or I think I do. I kept going in and out of consciousness.”
There was another silence. And Jonas waited for it, because he could feel Isaac’s delight from some three thousand miles down the Pacific Coast. As if it were a seismic event.
“Jonas,” Isaac said very carefully. And without doing much to hide the laughter in his voice. “Did Bethan save your life? Did she... rescue you from the bad man?”
Isaac stopped restraining himself from laughter, assuming he’d even tried to keep it in. Jonas made a few pointed suggestions about both his parentage and potential solitary activities he could enjoy while he laughed it up.
Isaac declined. “Is this why you’ve been gunning for her since the day she arrived in Alaska? Because she had the bad manners not to leave you to die in your own misery? And then worse,thrived?”
“It wasn’t misery that was killing me. It was more the C-4 and the secondary explosions.”
“This is the best story you’ve ever told me. I can’t wait to tell Templeton. He’s going to lose his mind.”
There was no point asking Isaac to keep this to himself. He wouldn’t have, even if this little slice of history hadn’t turned out to be important to their current mission.
“Not much to lose, then,” Jonas muttered.
“Obviously I assumed you had a history, but I was thinking more the naked kind,” Isaac said. “Not this. Not that she dared see you in a compromised position and live to tell the tale.”
Jonas wanted to break things. He wanted to let the quicksand have him. He wanted to turn around right now and go deal with Dominic Carter, because he owed the other man a world of pain, and it would be deeply satisfying to deliver it.
He mostly wanted not to be having this conversation.
“We need to figure out who this guy was back then,” Jonas said with as much quiet dignity as he could muster. “And how he got from mercenary work to defense contracts and, more important, weddings like this one.”
“I have a lot of follow-up questions,” Isaac said.
Jonas couldn’t seem to maintain his cool, and that was the most galling part of this whole thing. He’d lived through one of the worst missions of all time with Isaac and Templeton without once losing his cool, despite how very many times he’d thought they were well and truly screwed. But throw Bethan into the mix, and he was a disaster.
“I’m not answering your questions,” he snapped. “Things that happened out in the field should stay in the field. Bethan showing up in Alaska complicated that, and I resent it. I don’t understand why that requires so much commentary or speculation.”
There was a pause. And as it stretched out, Jonas got to think about how incredibly foolish it had been to show his hand like that.
To Isaac Gentry, of all people, who knew him better than almost anyone else alive.
Another reason Jonas preferred to remain unknowable.
“I meant follow-up questions about Dominic Carter’s rise to power,” Isaac said calmly. Much too calmly for Jonas’s peace of mind. “Although now I definitely have other questions, too.”
The worst part was knowing he’d brought all this on himself.
“We’ll be finishing up the wedding portion of this mission tonight,” Jonas managed to say, doing an admirable rendition of the version of him who would never have shown a crack in his armor in the first place. “I think both of us are more than ready to get back to reality.”
Or maybe that was the worst part. That he could say things like that, believe them, and also have this other thing in him. The part of him that couldn’t seem to let go of how she’d felt in his arms, swaying gently to a love song. The part of him that couldn’t get past the way she tasted. The way her scent moved through him, brighter than all those California flowers.
He didn’t know how he was going to lock all that away once they made it back to Alaska and returned to form. He only knew he would.
Because what other option was there?
“Listen to me,” Isaac said then, and Jonas braced himself at that particular note in his friend’s voice. “I know you think that if you allow yourself even one stray second of anything like humanity, it’ll be the end of you. I’m going to tell you right now, it’s not.”
Behind him, the tent was filled with light and music and the sounds of happy people. But Jonas stood outside in the dark, in this place where even the stars hid themselves. Alone.
He reminded himself that this was better. This was normal.
This had always been where he belonged.
Everything else was playacting, and he knew that even if no one else did.
There was another silence. And Jonas waited for it, because he could feel Isaac’s delight from some three thousand miles down the Pacific Coast. As if it were a seismic event.
“Jonas,” Isaac said very carefully. And without doing much to hide the laughter in his voice. “Did Bethan save your life? Did she... rescue you from the bad man?”
Isaac stopped restraining himself from laughter, assuming he’d even tried to keep it in. Jonas made a few pointed suggestions about both his parentage and potential solitary activities he could enjoy while he laughed it up.
Isaac declined. “Is this why you’ve been gunning for her since the day she arrived in Alaska? Because she had the bad manners not to leave you to die in your own misery? And then worse,thrived?”
“It wasn’t misery that was killing me. It was more the C-4 and the secondary explosions.”
“This is the best story you’ve ever told me. I can’t wait to tell Templeton. He’s going to lose his mind.”
There was no point asking Isaac to keep this to himself. He wouldn’t have, even if this little slice of history hadn’t turned out to be important to their current mission.
“Not much to lose, then,” Jonas muttered.
“Obviously I assumed you had a history, but I was thinking more the naked kind,” Isaac said. “Not this. Not that she dared see you in a compromised position and live to tell the tale.”
Jonas wanted to break things. He wanted to let the quicksand have him. He wanted to turn around right now and go deal with Dominic Carter, because he owed the other man a world of pain, and it would be deeply satisfying to deliver it.
He mostly wanted not to be having this conversation.
“We need to figure out who this guy was back then,” Jonas said with as much quiet dignity as he could muster. “And how he got from mercenary work to defense contracts and, more important, weddings like this one.”
“I have a lot of follow-up questions,” Isaac said.
Jonas couldn’t seem to maintain his cool, and that was the most galling part of this whole thing. He’d lived through one of the worst missions of all time with Isaac and Templeton without once losing his cool, despite how very many times he’d thought they were well and truly screwed. But throw Bethan into the mix, and he was a disaster.
“I’m not answering your questions,” he snapped. “Things that happened out in the field should stay in the field. Bethan showing up in Alaska complicated that, and I resent it. I don’t understand why that requires so much commentary or speculation.”
There was a pause. And as it stretched out, Jonas got to think about how incredibly foolish it had been to show his hand like that.
To Isaac Gentry, of all people, who knew him better than almost anyone else alive.
Another reason Jonas preferred to remain unknowable.
“I meant follow-up questions about Dominic Carter’s rise to power,” Isaac said calmly. Much too calmly for Jonas’s peace of mind. “Although now I definitely have other questions, too.”
The worst part was knowing he’d brought all this on himself.
“We’ll be finishing up the wedding portion of this mission tonight,” Jonas managed to say, doing an admirable rendition of the version of him who would never have shown a crack in his armor in the first place. “I think both of us are more than ready to get back to reality.”
Or maybe that was the worst part. That he could say things like that, believe them, and also have this other thing in him. The part of him that couldn’t seem to let go of how she’d felt in his arms, swaying gently to a love song. The part of him that couldn’t get past the way she tasted. The way her scent moved through him, brighter than all those California flowers.
He didn’t know how he was going to lock all that away once they made it back to Alaska and returned to form. He only knew he would.
Because what other option was there?
“Listen to me,” Isaac said then, and Jonas braced himself at that particular note in his friend’s voice. “I know you think that if you allow yourself even one stray second of anything like humanity, it’ll be the end of you. I’m going to tell you right now, it’s not.”
Behind him, the tent was filled with light and music and the sounds of happy people. But Jonas stood outside in the dark, in this place where even the stars hid themselves. Alone.
He reminded himself that this was better. This was normal.
This had always been where he belonged.
Everything else was playacting, and he knew that even if no one else did.
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