Rising (Anderson Special Ops #2) - Melody Anne Page 0,90

own in her eyes. “I’m very tired.” He held her hand as he led her to the bedroom and securely shut the door. It had been too long since he’d shown her how much he desired her. He’d do it over and over again on this flight, and over the next few days in Paris. He had her back — and he didn’t think he’d ever let her go again.

Chapter Eighteen

“Good morning team,” Chad said as he walked into the conference room, his cup of coffee in one hand and a large box of donuts in the other. As he threw the box toward the center of the table the scene reminded him of what he’d watched on the Discovery channel. A bunch of piranhas had been thrown a fish that had been sliced open, and then the water had turned into an explosion of movement. The fish was demolished, and within seconds the water was calm again as if nothing had just happened. Not a single scale of that fish had remained.

The donuts shared a similar fate. Before the box made contact with the surface of the table Smoke caught it, ripped it open, grabbed two maple bars, then threw the box back onto the table. Sleep and Green tied on who had their hands on the box next, and neither of them were letting go. The tug-of-war lost steam as Eyes grabbed the first two donuts his hand reached while they fought for power over the box.

“Let go, you overgrown Ken doll,” Sleep grunted at Green.

“Never, you Frankenstein monster freak,” Green replied.

“If you two don’t stop, I’m going to take the rest,” Smoke said through a mouthful of maple bar.

Brackish, who was sitting next to Smoke, had been typing a million words a minute on his keyboard. That led to a lack of situational awareness from Smoke because he counted Brackish out of the race for the sweet treats. But suddenly Brackish swiped out like a viper and grabbed the half donut sitting on Smoke’s napkin. Before Smoke could react, the confection disappeared inside Brackish’s massive pie hole.

Sleep and Green saw the theft and formed an instant treaty. They knew it would only be moments before Smoke would come back into the fray, and the end result might be the two of them sharing crumbs.

“You son of a . . .” Smoke was scolding Brackish before his brain told him that time was of the essence, his focus shifting from the donut thief to what donuts were left.

All of the men began reaching inside the box, grabbing whatever they could. There was sugar and spice and everything nice crushed and flung about. The comedy in all of this was that they’d all eaten twenty minutes prior to the treats being delivered, and none of them were necessarily hungry. But they were all very competitive, just like siblings, and each wanted to be the winner.

They’d never act this way if they were in the public eye, but there was nothing to hold them back when they were in the privacy of their secret headquarters. Chad loved watching the men, how they related to each other, and how they handled situations. If they didn’t blow off some steam they’d explode — he knew that well. He was the same ten years earlier. He’d calmed over the years, especially as a husband and father now.

“That was entertaining,” Chad said with a laugh. “I filmed the entire event.”

“Are you trying to psychoanalyze us?” Green asked, wearing a smile that said he was more than satisfied with his bounty. For a guy who’d sold his last company for over one hundred million dollars, the fact that he was genuinely happy with a donut was remarkable.

“Always,” Chad said. “A team is only as good as its leader.”

“I agree with that. I wonder why we’re so good then,” Smoke said as he leaned back and grinned.

“Yeah, yeah,” Chad said with a roll of his eyes. “I’m a damn fine leader and you all know it.”

There were some laughs and a few nods. They’d rip at each other all day long, but they were indeed a team, and they respected each other and him. He couldn’t be happier with this job, or the guys who’d been chosen. He hoped as they added more people inside it wouldn’t hurt their dynamics. He’d have to be extra careful choosing who was brought in.

“Now that we’ve had our morning fun, let’s get down to business,” Chad said, letting them