Marine's Mission - Rebecca Deel Page 0,80
and I will leave in the morning. Many weapons suppliers will want my money.”
The man’s gaze slid over Gigi’s body. “He might make an exception for this one. He appreciates beautiful women.”
“Hey,” Owen snapped. “Eyes on me.”
Short Man’s eyes narrowed. “You’re in our territory. You should be careful.”
Owen stepped in front of Gigi, completing blocking her from the view of Gonzalez’s soldiers. “No one leers at my wife. She belongs to me. Keep your eyes and hands off of her.”
Short Man moved forward two steps. “You think you can stop me if I want her for myself?”
“Try me.”
When the man lunged, Owen met him halfway, blocking a roundhouse punch. His fist slammed into the guy’s gut with a rabbit punch, then he swept Short Man’s legs out from under him.
Gonzalez’s man climbed to his feet and came at Owen again only to be taken down by an uppercut to the jaw. This time, he stayed down.
Owen gave Tall Man a come-on gesture. “You want to try me, too?”
The thug gave a cold smile. “The boss wanted the message delivered. I did my job.”
“Do I bring my wife tomorrow or do I make plans to leave town with my money?”
Tall Man glanced at Gigi for a moment, then shifted his attention to Owen. “Bring her. She will not be allowed to stay in the room for the negotiations. That is a line Gonzalez will not cross.”
“Agreed.”
With a nod, Tall Man hoisted his partner up over his shoulder and carried him from the beach. Two more men came from behind Owen and Gigi, intersected with Tall and Short Man. The four men walked away.
Owen waited until the men were out of range before he turned to Gigi. “Game on,” he murmured.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Gigi wrapped her arms around Owen. “That was scary. Why did you provoke Gonzalez’s thugs?”
“Men like Gonzalez only respect strength. I demonstrated that I’m strong enough to take them on and defeat them.”
“They were armed to the teeth. What if they had pulled a gun on you?”
He shrugged. “I’d have handled the threat. It’s what I’m trained to do.”
“You’re incredible.”
He kissed her, his touch light. “Want to continue walking along the shore or head back to the cottage?”
Although she hated to admit it, her legs wobbled. She wouldn’t make it more than a few steps under her own steam and refused to ask Owen to carry her across the beach like some fainting Victorian woman. After catching her breath and allowing her stomach to settle, she’d be fine. “What about sitting on the sand a few minutes and enjoying the waves? My legs feel like cooked noodles.”
“I can carry you to the cottage if you want to go back.”
“If those men are still around, I don’t want them to think they rattled me. I don’t rattle.” Not much, anyway.
He chuckled. “You were magnificent, G.”
“Ha! I watched you knock a man flat. Doesn’t take skill for me to do that.”
“You trusted me to take care of you and the threat, and did exactly what I told you to do. You gave me room to work. Gonzalez’s men needed to see you standing strong, showing that violence is nothing new in your world.”
Still not convinced she’d helped much, Gigi wrapped her hand around Owen’s, led him to dry sand, and sank down. When he joined her, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
They sat in silence, watching the waves and seagulls, the salty breeze blowing strands of her hair against Owen’s face and shoulder.
Minutes later, her trembling ceased. Thank goodness. She hated appearing weak in front of her tough warrior. Gigi turned her head and kissed Owen’s jaw. “I’m ready to go.”
Without a word, he stood and pulled Gigi to her feet. Hand in hand, they retraced their steps to the cottage. When he closed the door, Owen went through the same routine of checking their accommodations for bugs and cameras. He returned to the living room, eyes glittering.
Oh, man. Glancing at his outstretched hand, she understood why Owen was furious. Two cameras and five bugs. “Looks like you went shopping at an electronics outlet.”
He snorted. “You can bet I’ll demand a discount because of this invasion of privacy. Let me take care of these, then we’ll talk about dinner.”
When he returned, Owen wrapped his arms around Gigi.
“You can’t be surprised by the new electronics. Why are you so upset?”
“The cameras were in our bedroom and bathroom.”
She stilled, stomach churning. If Owen hadn’t checked, Gonzalez would have discovered their ruse.
His hold tightened. “I