Shattered (Anderson Special Ops #4) - Melody Anne Page 0,88
you,” Amira said.
“Good, because I want the world to know what you did for us today,” Carol said.
Smoke shifted on his feet. “Seriously, that isn’t necessary,” Smoke said as he took a step back.
Amira knew Smoke wasn’t a humble man, but it seemed when he was doing something that did deserve some hero worshipping he didn’t want to strut himself about. At that moment she went from thinking she might be falling in love with the man to knowing, without a shadow of a doubt, she had. She’d do everything in her power to appreciate him and what they had, as well as keeping him at her side.
“Smoke, I’m so glad you’re in my life,” Amira said as she looked at him.
He stopped trying to back away and looked down at her, something in his eyes she couldn’t quite read. He then cupped her cheek.
“I’m the one who’s glad you’re in mine,” he told her. Then he leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss. The people on the boat clapped, and Amira’s cheeks burned as she buried her head against Smoke’s neck.
They didn’t get to be alone for the next thirty minutes. Whether Smoke wanted to be acknowledged as a hero or not, it didn’t matter. When the boat docked, Smoke and Amira accompanied the mother, child, and paramedics down the boat plank where a gaggle of reporters waited to get the entire story. More cameras flashed in their faces than at a red-carpet event. It wouldn’t take long for Joseph to hear the news.
As they were placed in the back of a waiting car, headed to the hospital to make sure the boy would be okay, they finally had a moment to breathe.
“I just did what anyone else would do who’s been trained the way I have been,” Smoke told her again.
She cupped his cheek in her hand. “No, Smoke, you are a hero, and you know what that means?” she asked before leaning forward and giving him a quick kiss.
“What does that mean?” he asked, his body still tense from all of the attention.
“It means you’re going to get very, very lucky tonight,” she whispered in his ear.
Smoke’s body pulsed against hers as his fingers tightened around her. He pulled back so she could see him, then gently brought his hands to each side of her face, locking their eyes together.
“I’m lucky every moment I’m with you,” he said.
Amira’s heart melted into a puddle at her feet. She was going to marry this man, there was no doubt in her mind. She wasn’t going to scare the hell out of him by telling him that right now. She’d gone from cold to hot in the blink of an eye, but there was no doubt in her mind that this was going to last forever.
She leaned against him and smiled. They had a bright future ahead of them.
Chapter Seventeen
Brackish paced in the room in front of the other four members of their team. He was clearly frustrated, a rare thing for the man who effortlessly did his work. Sleep smiled as he waited for the explosion that had been brewing in his friend.
“I have no idea what he’s planned. There’s nothing on his calendar, nor any easily accessed info. He’s locked himself tighter than the CIA,” Brackish said to the Special Ops team. They were currently sitting in a circle around the conference room table, bright and early that morning at six on the dot.
Chad had sent a message the day before to not start their workout routine that morning, but to bring gear for swimming and running. The list had also said to bring their long guns that would reach at least one thousand yards, their sidearms, and at least four changes of clothes — to include shorts, pants, long and short sleeve shirts, and anything they thought they might use for a day in the mud, sand, heat, dirt, and every other element they could think of. The last sentence had been: Be ready to roll out by 0615.
Of course, the vague nature of what was about to happen had only created a hornet’s nest of activity. Initially they’d tried to text a reply to their boss, then call him, and after every single request went unanswered, they’d resorted to their tech genius, Brackish, to do a little digging. When the snooping had turned up nothing, the team, who were constantly in control of every aspect of their lives, collectively lost their minds.