Page 43 of Dangerous Affair (The Phoenix Three #2)

Prologue

Two years, three months, fifteen days ago.

“D eparture is at oh-two-hundred hours. The plane will have you in position over your drop point by oh-two-fifteen, and it’ll be a mile walk to where the captive is confirmed. The second team will be waiting for you a quarter mile south of the drop with supplies and transportation to get you out.”

The warehouse where she presented her intel was bleak and dingy, but it had served its purpose, Mia Barnes thought. She looked at each member of the four-man Navy SEAL fire team sitting around a card table that had seen better days, likely before any of them were born.

She saw nothing but dedication and devotion on three of the faces.

On the fourth…

“Nothing like a babysitting mission to make the blood flow.”

The remark was deliberately cutting, and Mia struggled with her own response to the man who spoke it.

Garner Withrow.

One of the most well-respected—and mouthiest—SEALs on the team.

She shot him a stern look but was well aware, before she even saw the sexy light in his eyes, that she was going to fall short of quelling his response.

That had a way of happening when a man had seen you naked.

Tactical error? Or monumental break with reality?

Mia had vacillated between the two ends of that spectrum, even as her body still hummed with electricity nearly forty-eight hours after the most extraordinary sex of her life.

“Be that as it may, I suggest you take the intel seriously.”

She knew about Garner Withrow. Mia actually knew a shocking amount about all four men sitting before her, but Garner had always stood out. He’d reached the designation of special warfare operator and was widely considered one of the most valuable SEALs to place on a mission.

Bearing a mix of grit and determination and those consistent flashes of casual humor, Garner was respected by his teammates and navy leadership in equal measure.

The man was also far too attractive for his own good, Mia thought as she caught that deep, dark stare still leveled directly at her.

It was full of challenge—one she was more than capable of handling.

But those subtle flashes of awareness that told her he still remembered their night together in vivid detail were a bit too close for comfort.

“This isn’t babysitting,” she continued, convinced of her point. Of the value of this mission. “It’s an extraction.”

Garner’s eyebrows rose, a clear sign he wasn’t backing down. “Yes, and once we extract this tech CEO from a drug cartel, we need to babysit him all the way home. The man’s got loads of private security. Why are we even in this?”

“Because his company manages both satellite and private cloud infrastructure that powers government databases. He’s your mission, Officer, not a recalcitrant child.”

Garner’s colleague, Davis Washington, spoke up. “We’ll be ready, Mia.”

“I’ve no doubt about that.”

With Garner effectively silenced, Mia quickly finished up the intelligence briefing. It was data she’d meticulously curated, a skill honed after years of hard work. She knew many things, her job as an analyst ensuring she had deep knowledge on quite a few bad actors on the world stage.

But this cartel…

She fought off a shudder. Ruthless in its choke hold on the region and now determined to build farther afield, the cartel was rapidly expanding its influence throughout South America and beyond.

Her knowledge of South American politics made her perfect for this assignment.

But it was her exhaustive knowledge of the tech industry and the risks and rewards to be found in those tools where she really shone.

She’d learned to code before she could drive, and her technical skills had kept her well employed by the US government, her top-secret clearance level a reflection of that.

“I’ve never slept with a woman with top-secret clearance before.”

Garner’s voice was lazy in her ear and as sultry as the thick air that swirled around them.

“I’ve never slept with anyone with top-secret clearance before, either.” She nearly giggled at the idea of it before a new thought struck.

Getting up quickly on one arm, she looked down at him. “I don’t sleep with my colleagues.”

The humorous sparks lighting his eyes faded, his eyebrows narrowing as he stared up at her. “I don’t, either.”

Mia thought it was oddly telling Garner remained flat on his back, the position just submissive enough to leave her with the upper hand in the discussion.

A fact he no doubt knew.

“I wasn’t suggesting you and your fellow SEALs were holding orgies with each other.”

“I couldn’t give a rat’s ass what the rest of my SEAL team members do, with others or with each other. I know myself, Mia. I didn’t start this because I was looking to make a notch on a proverbial bedpost, or anywhere else for that matter.”

“I didn’t—” She stilled the thought. Why had this gone so lopsided after what had been a really sweet and sexy comment?

Which was why she was utterly mortified by what came out next.

“I’m not all that experienced. I mean, I’ve had sex, but I don’t usually do this.

And certainly not outside the country. On a mission. With—”

Her words were cut off by those magnificent lips, his arms wrapping around her as he rolled her to her back in one smooth move.

The South American hotel they were in didn’t have much in the way of air-conditioning or running water, but it boasted a larger-than-average bed, for which she was suddenly grateful.

And with a man like Garner to share it with, she could have given that same rat’s patoot about air-conditioning.

Or running water.

Or…

“We’ll be at the assembly point at oh-one-thirty.”

Davis’s affirmation pulled Mia firmly out of her sexy daydream and back to the four men standing before her, ready for their mission.

With a nod for each of them, she watched them go, their preparation prior to a mission something she left to them.

She provided intel, nothing more. It was these brave men who would take the information she provided and see it through.

All while she stayed back and retraced her steps over and over, searching for any gaps in her intel. Determined there would be none, she took one of the small folding chairs the men had been in and reviewed her notes.

Drop points.

Last known whereabouts of the tech CEO who’d been kidnapped.

Details on the cartel.

“It is a babysitting mission.”

That deep voice floated over her senses along with the light whisper of breath against her ear, and Mia wasn’t sure if she was going to scream in surprise or melt into a puddle.

“Garner.” She tried on as stern a voice as she was able considering her underwear had just gone up in flames. “I thought we discussed the importance of your mission.”

Since sitting there with him behind her, his broad chest pressed to her shoulders, put her—and her panties—at a distinct disadvantage, she stood up and turned toward him. “Babysitting has nothing to do with it.”

“Oh, but it does.”

That voice—the one that made her think of sex and warm, cozy blankets all at the same time—persisted in that low-throated, smooth way of his. “I meant what I said before.”

“So did I. This is a valuable mission and one that you need to take seriously.”

He stood taller at that, his back arrow-straight. “I take them all seriously.”

“Then why the dismissal of this one?”

“Something’s off, and I don’t like it.”

Although the man kept her senses on high alert simply by being in the same room, at his words she stood taller, her back straightening as well. “Are you concerned about something?”

“Your intel’s rock-solid. And I don’t doubt it or you.”

“Then what?”

“Something isn’t sitting right with me on this one. The tech CEO? He’s got top-notch security, yet somehow the cartel still snatched him?”

She had considered that, but every member of his team was cleared after exhaustive questioning. Their backgrounds were fine-tooth-combed for any hint of vulnerability or susceptibility to a bribe. Their tech had been scrubbed, too.

Nothing suggested the four men on Theo Stockton’s security detail were anything but bested by the determined cartel leadership.

“No security is infallible.”

“No, I know.” Garner ran a hand over his short hair before shaking his head. “I know . But this is more than me giving you a hard time or making jokes.”

“If we need to hold another day, I can do some more digging.” She had nearly turned away, already itching to get to her computer set up across the room when he stopped her.

“It’s me, Mia. This is all me.”

“You’ve been at this a long time. If your gut’s telling you something, I’m inclined to listen.”

He reached for her, one hand going to her hip while he teased the skin of her upper stomach through her blouse with his other index finger. “You’re in my head.”

“I’m not here to make problems.”

“No, I—” That delicious teasing with his finger stopped along with his words.

“You’re in my head in a good way. That’s all this is.

I’d rather be done with this mission and making love to you in a proper bed with central air and nothing hanging over our heads. No missions. No intel. Nothing but us.”

It was a dreamy thought, one Mia could feel herself getting carried away on. If she thought having him touch her was magical, hearing that was… Well, it was everything.

“Now’s not the time or place.”

“I know. But I promise you, I want to see this through. With you. Once we get out of this godforsaken place with some of the planet’s worst inhabitants.”

“I’d like that.” She glanced down where his thick forearm still pressed against her waist before lifting her gaze back to his. “I’d like that a lot.”

Those lips she hadn’t stopped thinking about came down over hers, a mix of reverence and awe filling her as he kissed her.

She should have her head in the game. Should be focused only on the mission and on pulling Theo Stockton out of the clutches of some very nefarious people.

But…

On an inward sigh, she pressed her lips to his once more before pulling away.

The mission had to take priority.

It was what she reminded herself at 2:00 a.m. when Garner and his fellow SEALs walked to the waiting plane to take them into enemy territory.

It was what she repeated to herself, over and over, when the intel faded, all comms cut off for her and the team waiting back at their drop point.

And it was the sole thought that remained in her head when Garner walked out of the jungle with the tech executive over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Blood crusted over the side of his head, and his deep brown eyes filled with a bleakness Mia knew she’d carry in her soul forever.

His three brothers-in-arms were dead at the hands of the cartel.