Delta Recon (SEAL Team Phantom Series, Book 2) (5 page)

Damn it. Why was she still a virgin at twenty-six years old? And more worrisome. Why did she waste such a precious gift on him? Tay needed to make sure she understood he was not a forever kind of man. He was a Navy SEAL. His team and country came first and last in his world. He didn’t have the time or energy to be in a relationship. With his mind firmly made up, he walked back into the room. The setting sun made the room look almost magical, a small beam of the last ray the only bit of light, yet it was enough that he swore she looked like a goddess laying with the white sheet pulled up to her hips. Lying on her side, her eyes ate him up.

Her nipples beaded under his stare. The slight shift of her legs made the sheet dip a little lower, exposing the smooth and rippled abs of her stomach. Jaqui was more than just fit, she was a soldier. Surely she hadn’t been saving herself for him, but hadn’t had time to find a man who she felt comfortable with. He nodded, his legs taking him across to the bed before he’d realized that was where he wanted to be.

She surprised him on so many levels, but none so much as when she stood, and pushed him onto his back. Tay was sure his eyes rolled into the back of his head for the second time as Jaqui took her time exploring him. Grabbing a condom, he rolled it on, unable to take anymore, he gripped her narrow hips in his palms and lifted her onto his cock.

“Jumping Josephite,” he swore. He forced her onto him, the slick wet heat of her made his entry a little easier this time.

Jaqui moved with the sensuous grace of a dancer, her strong thigh muscles bunching and flexing as she lifted, only to fall back down. He groaned as she moved faster and faster, the silk of her pussy caressing his cock had him close to coming. Tay tried to slow her movements, knowing he wasn’t going to last. He tensed, moments from spilling his come.

Her back bowed as she leaned back, giving him access to the little cluster he knew would make her go off like a rocket, or at least he hoped it did. Running his finger around in it, he gathered some of her sweet arousal.

“Yes. Tay, fuck me harder.”

Grinning he continued to flick his finger over the bud. His hips lifting and falling. Her body began gripping him, his balls ready to spill his load and Tay did just what the lady asked, grabbing her hips and took over. Moving her up and down, faster, harder, racing toward the sweet release he needed. This time when they came, their breaths were both ragged, and when Jaqui collapsed on him, he wrapped his arms around her.

His dick twitched inside her. “Tell Junior he needs to take a break,” she murmured around a yawn.

He chanced a quick look down, but her eyes were closed. The deep even breathing let him know she slept. Never had he ever wanted to stay in bed and think about forever with a woman before. The sound of a phone vibrating caught his attention. He eased out from under Jaqui, knowing both of them needed to check their phones in case of an emergency. Since his was on the nightstand he assumed it had to be hers and went to retrieve it.

The message from her friend Summer that popped up had him freezing in his tracks.

“Hey girl. Hope you lost your V card to the man you love. I expect an invite to the wedding.”

He looked at the phone and then at the sleeping woman in the bed. Thoughts swirled in his head. Had she thought he’d marry her if she gave him her “V card” like her friend stated? Shit! He needed to get out of there and get some air.

Grabbing up his discarded clothes, he quickly got rid of the condom and quietly dressed. Before he left, he scribbled a note on the hotel notepad, thinking he’d be back in a few hours.

––––––––

G
od, if he could go back to that night and return, instead of running away like a coward, he would. Now, he held his weapon in front of him, preparing to shoot the animal. He circled the pair, heart racing. Every part of him wanted to jump onto the spotted back of the jaguar.

The man in him wanted to rush forward and check the woman, but the soldier held back, securing the perimeter. Tay took a deep breath, forcing calm to settle over himself to fight off the rising fear. He’d get nowhere or dead real quick if he acted rashly. Up close he couldn’t see the rise and fall of the cat’s body.

Kai stayed back, his presence reassuring. They needed to hurry, but his leader was giving him a chance to adjust to what they were seeing.

“The jaguar’s dead,” Tay said. He swung his rifle around on his shoulder, the familiar move done without him having to think about it.

He looked over his shoulder, but it wasn’t worry in Kai’s eyes. It was pure unadulterated rage. The same anger burned in his gut. Pushing everything to the side, he bent and felt the first bit of relief wash over him as he found a pulse beating in the outstretched arm of the woman. He had to move the dirty hair off the woman’s face, but he knew it was Jaqui. With the dead animal lying on her, the two hundred pound animal had to be squishing her. “Help me get him off her.” Tay deliberately turned his head toward the job at hand. He and Kai rolled the cat off, seeing the bullet wounds showed them how she’d protected herself.

The unmoving woman who they came to rescue was too pale. Tay gave up on not looking. He squatted down, brushing the dirty hair away from her bruised and bloodied face.

“Fucking hell,” Kai growled.

The urge to kill rose up swift and hard. “We need a Helivac, Kai.”

Kai looked around. “We’ll have to carry her some distance to find a clearing even for that. Let’s check her injuries.”

Tay sighed. His mind knew he was right, but his heart didn’t want to waste a minute. While Kai ran his hands from foot to head, checking Jaqui for breaks, he stood guard, watching her face for any sign of distress. As the seconds became minutes, and her breathing didn’t change, worry replaced fear.

“I don’t feel anything broken, but I can’t say if she has any back or neck injuries. It could be too dangerous to carry her over your shoulder. We could build a stretcher, but I’m thinking her problem isn’t that. She has a lump on the back of her head.” Kai pulled Tay’s hand around, letting him feel the large lump. “We need to move her out with as little fuss as possible. We also don’t know for sure if Medellin had her or not. I can guarantee you if he did, he’s not happy she escaped.”

He pinned Kai with a hard stare. “I’ll kill the son of a bitch if he comes after her again.”

Kai nodded. “I figured you’d say that, which is why I need you to keep your shit together and focus on Jaqui. This mission has gone south, and not just in destination. We weren’t here to stop drug trafficking, but to find out if the cartel was into human trafficking. I hate to think Jaqui may have stumbled into something she shouldn’t have, and is now a target.”

Noise behind them had he and Kai spinning, guns up before either man could say a word.

“Damn, what happened to our girl?” Sully moved with silent grace, ignoring Tay’s glare, he knelt next to Jaqui’s head and checked her over. “Her pupils grow smaller when I shine my light in them. See?” Sully lifted each eyelid again, demonstrating what he meant.

“We need to get to higher ground. I can get us a ride out of here, but through all these trees.” Kai’s arm swept out in an arc.

The huge towering things surrounding them did more than just provide the perfect cover for drug traffickers, but it also made it difficult for them to get an injured soldier out. “She’ll be okay, man.” Coyle’s deep voice broke into his thoughts.

“I’ll carry her.” Tay dared any of them to deny him his right. When nobody said a word, he carefully lifted her into his arms. She’d lost weight since the last time he’d held her. Forcing himself to not think about that time, he took up a position in the middle of his team.

The pace Kai set was brisk, but nothing like what they’d usually do. They were all taking into consideration their injured team member. The low moan had his heart clenching.

“It’s okay, Jaqui. I’ve got you,” he whispered down, hoping he wasn’t jarring her too much. He’d wanted to use the water they had and clean some of the blood and dirt from her face, but out in the field they needed to conserve...just in case. Now, he wondered just how badly she’d been hurt. Thoughts of what she’d endured almost had him stumbling.

“Is she waking up?” Sully asked.

“No. I think moving her is hurting even in sleep. We don’t know what those fuckers did while they had her for three motherfucking days.” His arms squeezed a little tighter, his voice a mere rasp, but he never faltered in his steps.

Kai’s eyes glittered as they looked over his shoulder. “We’ll get them.”

At the top of the waterfall a river flowed, but there was more than three feet of clearing, enough for a helicopter to land. That was all Tay needed in order for Jaqui to get lifted out.

The unmistakable sound of womp, womp, womp, could be heard, and in that moment he knew he’d have to hand his burden over to someone else’s care.

“She’ll be alright. We need to finish our mission, Tay.” Kai’s dark eyes looked from him then to the man waiting by the helicopter.

He was furious and wanted vengeance for what was done to Jaqui, and all the others who had suffered beneath the cartel. Instead of handing Jaqui into the outstretched arms, he climbed into the back and lay her onto the stretcher. “You make sure she is taken care of like she’s the most precious thing in the world. Tell Commander Lee I want to be notified as soon as she wakes. Feel me?”

They looked at the blood covered woman, and then him who was now covered in blood as well and nodded.

Tay put his lips to Jaqui’s ear and murmured too low for anyone else to hear how sorry he was, and promised to make it up to her. He begged her to be okay, and told her he’d kick everyone’s ass who’d hurt her. Then he kissed her bruised and swollen cheek before standing.

“She’s a SEAL, boys. Remember that.” He made sure he looked at each man, memorizing their faces. He wanted them to know he would make sure they were held accountable for her wellbeing from this point on.

When he climbed out, his team stood there with equal looks of fury radiating off of them.

“Let’s go hunting, men.” Tay swung his gun around.

A round of
Hooyah
were growled out.

****

J
aqui woke up with a start. The unfamiliar room and beeping had her trying to sit up, then she cried out as pain rocked her from her head to her toes. She couldn’t move her arms, which freaked her out until she realized she was strapped down, then she panicked.

“Oh no. Please God, no,” her voice didn’t sound like her own. It hurt to say those few words, and tears she didn’t want to shed flowed from her eyes.

Her eyes jerked open as a woman entered. “You’re awake. Thank the lord. I’ve already alerted the doctor on call. How are you feeling? Oh, silly question. Can I get you anything?”

Holy shit, was this woman for real? “Thirsty.” Jaqui moved her fingers, hoping the woman would release her.

After she had her vitals checked, and Jaqui was ready to claw the perky lady’s eyes out, a man dressed as a doctor came in, and still she’d not gotten a drink, or been released.

“Hello, Ms. Wallace. I’m Dr. Davalari. I’m more than pleased you finally decided to wake up.” He came to stand next to the bed. “Molly, let’s get these restraints off of her. I don’t think she’ll try to hurt herself again.”

His words made no sense. Her last memory was of the large jungle cat jumping on her. Jaqui was sure she was going to die in the middle of the jungle beneath a freaking animal, after being beaten by a drug dealer. Hell, they made Lifetime movies after ordeals like hers.

As the straps were released, she immediately wanted to rub her wrists, but IV lines in one had her pausing, while swelling and bruising on the other made her take a long look.

“How long have I been here?” It couldn’t have been too long since her bruises weren’t fading.

A pen light was held in front of her face, and she followed directions, while what she really wanted was water.

Her tongue came out, licking dry cracked lips.

“Ah, would you like something to drink?” He reached for the cup with the straw in it from the nurse.

Looking from the doctor to the nurse, Jaqui allowed him to place the straw in her mouth and took a sip. Her first instinct was to spit it out, worried about being drugged, but the refreshing liquid felt too good on her tongue, she sucked harder.

“Where am I?” She asked when he pulled the cup back, staring at the tray holding the water.

“Not too much at once. We don’t want you getting sick.” Dr. Davalari performed a few tests she knew were all normal, but her mind didn’t feel like it was functioning properly.

When she heard the word concussion, and Walter Reed, Jaqui finally let her body relax and cried. If she was at Walter Reed, then she was in the United States and that meant she was safe.

“How?” The one word came out as a croak.

Dr. Davalari shook his head. “You’ll have to ask your superior. I’m to inform him as soon as you woke up, which I’ve already done. Now, let’s go over your injuries.”

She listened as he rattled off the fractured zygomatic bone, or her cheekbone from Jose Medellin’s fist. The bruised ribs from being crushed under a two hundred pound jaguar, and other deep tissue bruises that would all take time to heal.

Not to mention the fact her face looked like she had gone two or three rounds with a boxer. Or so the good doctor said. She had a fuzzy memory of Tay whispering in her ear, but that couldn’t be right. He’d been in the U.S., while she’d been in the middle of godforsaken Columbia. A shudder wracked her, making her cry out before she could stop herself.

“Try not to move too much.” The tone was gentle as he shone a light in each of her eyes again, making her wince. “I’d say you were very lucky, Ms. Wallace, your pupil dilations are all normal.”

Jaqui blinked up at him. If he thought being beaten by men twice her size, then chased through the jungle, first by men, and then a freaking jaguar...then yeah, she was lucky. Of course, she was alive to tell the tale. Maybe she’ll make a status on social media with a hashtag. The image made her smile, which then reminded her of the fact her cheek was fractured.