Page 9
Brad couldn’t believe he was smiling as he and Cameron strode down the dock.
It’d actually been a good day hanging out and fishing with his daughter’s boyfriend.
Maybe it was because Brad had been so relaxed after the night he’d spent making love to Avery.
Admitting you were in love with a woman, really in love, made for some amazing sex—not that they’d had any trouble in that department before.
“That was a helluva fish you brought up, Brad,” Cameron said. “Damn thing put up a good fight.”
“Not bad for an old man, right?”
The younger man’s mouth flapped a few times. “Th-That’s not what I meant, sir.”
Brad raised an eyebrow at him. “What? The Marines didn’t teach you how to take a joke?” The relief that crossed Cameron’s face was enough to make Brad laugh.
“Ha! All right, you got me.”
Reaching the end of the dock, they turned right to head back to the resort, which was only a short distance away.
Brad stuck his hands into the pockets of his cargo shorts.
The 9mm subcompact, with the filed off serial number, in the back of his waistband felt reassuring despite it being illegal.
Like most men and women in the military and law enforcement, he felt naked when not armed.
“So ... what made you choose the Marines?”
Cameron glanced at him as if the question had caught him off guard.
They’d met three middle-aged men from Florida on board the boat and had spent most of the trip conversing with them, in between catching a bunch of fish, so Brad hadn’t asked Cameron many personal questions.
But sometime during the trip he’d found himself joking and laughing with the young Marine—and liking him.
It was as if once his daughter had been removed from the equation, the two men had ended up on equal footing, even with an almost-thirty-year gap between them.
Brad wasn’t thrilled the guy was sleeping with Lori—well, he didn’t know that for sure, but Avery was probably right, and they were consenting adults—but his daughter could’ve done far worse when choosing a boyfriend.
Cameron reminded Brad of the Deltas under his command, after they’d finished their special-ops training and joined the ranks of an elite brotherhood of men who’d lay down their lives for each other and innocent people they’d never met.
He was pretty sure Cameron would survive the intense MARSOC course and become a Marine Raider.
At least the kid would never be under Brad’s command, so he guessed it was a good thing they were in different branches of the military.
“My dad was a Marine. He was KIA in Desert Storm while my mom was pregnant with me.”
Brad’s mouth flattened. “Sorry to hear that, son. I lost quite a few friends over there myself.” He’d been several ranks lower during the Gulf War and a green Delta, fresh out of the intensive, six-month OTC—Operator Training Course.
His first mission overseas had earned him his first Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
Several other members of his team had earned them as well.
The mission hadn’t been pretty, but they’d all survived.
He couldn’t say the same for several missions that’d followed.
They walked in a heavy silence for a few moments before Cameron spoke again.
“My mom wasn’t thrilled when I told her I wanted to enlist instead of going to college, but she understood I wanted to honor the man who gave me life and gave his own, so I could live free.
My father had put in a request for Force Recon a month before he was killed.
I wanted to do what he never had the chance to.
” Many of the USMC Force Recon units had been integrated into MARSOC after it was formed in 2005.
“I’m sure he would have been proud of the man you’ve become.”
A sad smile spread appeared on Cameron’s face. “Thanks. I like to think so.”
Brad reached up and placed his hand on the younger man’s shoulder, stopping him short. “And you’re the kind of man my daughter deserves. You have honor and integrity, and you make her happy. That’s all I want for her.”
His eyes grew wide. “Thank you, that means a lot to me.”
“You’re welcome.” Brad started them walking again. “Just don’t fuck up and hurt her because they’ll never find your body.”
Cameron laughed as the melancholy mood that had settled around them lifted again. “Yes, sir. Understood.”
They reached the entrance to the resort, and Brad nodded at a man who exited and held the door open for them. “Thank you.” He then turned to Cameron. “C’mon. Let’s go find our women and a few beers.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Ten minutes later, the two ended up in the lobby again after failing to find the women in their rooms, out by the pool, or anywhere else in the resort.
Brad pulled out his cell phone and called Avery, leaving a message when it went to voice mail.
“Hi, baby. I know you’re not a big shopper so that means my daughter is doing some serious damage to her credit cards if you’re still at the market.
Give me a call when you’re on your way back.
Cameron and I will be at the bar by the pool.
Love you.” He disconnected the call and pointed at the younger man. “First beer’s on you.”
Striding back out to the bar that overlooked the pool and ocean, Brad’s eyes narrowed when he spotted a couple sitting at one of the tables.
The dark-haired beauty was wearing sunglasses and a pink bikini that had the human dogs around her slobbering despite the man sitting next to her—a man they didn’t want to fuck with.
He was tall, lean, and in peak physical condition, a fact that couldn’t be hidden by the T-shirt and cargo shorts he was wearing.
His long, blond hair was pulled back and tied at his nape, and his eyes, which Brad knew were blue, were covered by dark sunglasses.
What made him dangerous was the fact he probably knew well over two dozen ways to kill someone—so did his woman.
Luckily for Brad, the two were on Uncle Sam’s side.
T. Carter and Jordyn Alvarez were Deimos operatives.
In other words, they were both spies and assassins for the US.
Jordyn was good friends with Haven and Avery, and she and Carter had also been on the mission when Haven had been shot in the back, effectively ending her career as a field agent.
The couple had stood by her during her long recovery, which is how Brad had met and gotten to know them.
The question was, though, what were they doing at his resort in Aruba?
Smiling, Carter held up his beer to the newcomers as they approached. “Barton, my good man. Fancy running into you here. Pull up a chair. This must be your daughter’s boyfriend. The fact he hasn’t been dumped out in the middle of the ocean impresses me.”
Jordyn chuckled. “That’s a good thing, Cameron. It takes a lot to impress him, trust me.”
His eyebrows shot up at his name being spoken, and Brad was certain that wasn’t the only intel the woman had gotten from Haven.
She’d surely given all the information she’d gathered when Brad had asked her to do a background check on the younger man after finding out his last name.
Brad could have gone through Ghost or one of his other operatives, but he preferred to keep his professional life separate from his personal one—at least, as best he could.
While she hadn’t given him many details, Haven had assured him his daughter’s boyfriend appeared to be an upstanding guy, and Brad should just chill and get to know him the way most fathers would.
Cameron stared at Jordyn. “Well, since I don’t know you, it’s kind of hard for me to trust you at the moment.” His tone was polite despite his wariness. The man had good instincts and responses, which would serve him well in special ops. His gaze went to Brad. “Friends of yours?”
“You could say that.” He pulled out one of the empty chairs at the table and sat, indicating for the Marine to do the same.
“T. Carter, Jordyn Alvarez, as you’ve obviously learned, this is Cameron McGee.
” He gave the younger man a reassuring nod.
“Avery mentioned you and Lori when she was talking to Haven last night on the phone. Carter and Jordyn work with Haven.” As far as Lori and Cameron knew, Avery was exactly as she appeared to be—a long-term-duty nurse, helping a US-government employee recover from a spinal injury.
Haven, they’d been told, had been injured in a car accident while in China where she’d been working as a translator for the US embassy.
Now, she lived in Texas while still translating documents and doing research for the government.
A curvaceous waitress in a black sarong and bikini top stopped at their table. “Can I get you anything, gentlemen?” she practically purred.
Her very-interested gaze blatantly flitted from one man to the next, lingering on Carter and ignoring Jordyn, who growled and pulled off her sunglasses, revealing her blazing, chocolate eyes.
“As long as it comes out of a bottle, sweetheart, and I’m not talking about the bleach you use on your hair.
Trust me, you’ll earn a bigger tip if you stop drooling over my man. ”
Carter dipped his chin down, trying to hide his amused grin, as the waitress’s jaw dropped.
Brad and Cameron quickly ordered a beer each, and Carter raised his, silently indicating he’d take another Corona with lime.
When the bleached blonde scurried away, Jordyn tossed her sunglasses onto the table as she glared daggers at the woman’s retreating back.
Carter’s shoulders started to shake as he snickered. “Jealous much, baby?”