SEALs of Summer 2: A Military Romance Superbundle (14 page)

D
ane could only
stare at the front of the room and the woman who’d walked in behind the colonel.

He wanted to blink and make the apparition go away, but it didn’t work that way. Ivy was no apparition. She was a flesh and blood woman with long dark hair and curves he’d once worshipped with his mouth and hands. Curves he’d been unable to get enough of at one time.

He remembered hot, dark, sweaty nights between the sheets with her. He remembered thinking she was the center of his universe, and then he remembered the pain that had sliced through him when he’d found out he wasn’t the center of hers.

She stared back at him coolly—and then she looked away. He stiffened, but only for a moment.

Fuck her. Fuck her and the horse she rode in on. She didn’t mean a damn thing to him anymore, and he wasn’t going to let old memories make him nostalgic.

Colonel Mendez was busy introducing the two agents, telling the team that Ivy and—was it Ace?—would be joining them to observe the mission. Dane cut his gaze to Ace, and a slow burn of something flared in the pit of his stomach.

Something he didn’t have a right to feel, but it burned through him nevertheless.

The guy was good-looking, muscular, though not as tall as Dane. Was he Ivy’s lover as well as her partner? Was he the one getting her kisses and hearing her moans of pleasure? Did he know that’s all it would ever be, that she’d never want the same things from him that he wanted from her?

Would she marry him in a drunken haze one night in Vegas and then abandon him a few months later because she didn’t want to be with him badly enough to make compromises?

With Ivy, anything was possible. She had an air about her of sweet vulnerability, and yet she was probably one of the toughest women he’d ever known. She’d melted in bed and been fierce outside it. He’d found that addictive at one time.

No more. The kind of women he dated now, when he dated, didn’t fascinate him the way Ivy once had. Hell, if he didn’t like sex so much, he’d have probably sworn off women altogether after Ivy.

“Have a seat, agents, and my guys will bring you up to date,” Colonel Mendez said before he turned and walked out of the room.

Ivy and Ace came over and sat in a couple of empty chairs. Naturally, the chair Ivy chose was right next to the one Dane had been sitting in. Karma was a bitch that way.

“We’ll run the briefing again,” Matt said. “Everyone take a seat.”

Dane hoped someone else would sit in the chair he’d been occupying, but of course everyone returned to the one they’d been in. Dane walked over and sat down beside Ivy. He heard her intake of breath, and he worked hard not to turn and glare at her.

Four and a half years since they’d called it quits, and she still had the ability to make him angry. And all she’d done was walk into the room.

He could smell her. The shampoo was the same, or maybe it was simply her own scent. She’d always smelled sweet to him, like flowers and candy. He used to love to pull her close and put his nose against her hair when they were out somewhere. Even better, he’d loved stripping her naked and tasting how sweet she was with his lips and tongue.

Someone flipped off the lights, and the presentation ran on the whiteboard. Dane didn’t pay a bit of attention because he’d already seen it. He pushed his chair back enough that he was slightly behind Ivy instead of beside her. That’s when he dared to glance at her.

She was watching the slides, but her hands were clasped tightly together in her lap. Her knuckles were white. He liked that because it meant she was as rattled by his presence as he’d been with hers.

Or maybe she was angry that she’d been caught unaware like this. Because he had no doubt she hadn’t expected him. God knows
what
she’d expected, but he hadn’t been it.

Her lids dropped, and then she cut her eyes toward him. Maybe she didn’t expect him to be looking at her, or maybe she did. He didn’t know, but he didn’t look away. Instead, he gave her a slow grin.

And then he winked.

*

Ivy’s heart kicked
hard. My God, could it get any worse? Dane was here in the same room. Worse, he was beside her, so damn close, and he grinned as if she were a fresh conquest instead of old news.

She remembered that grin. Remembered when they’d first met in a bar off campus and he’d flashed that grin at her. She’d been unable to speak for a long minute. One of her girlfriends had bumped her side and laughed about it.

But then Dane had strode over, all gorgeous and vibrant, and held out his hand. The band had been playing a slow song, and though she didn’t usually dance because she felt too self-conscious, she’d put her hand in his and let him tug her onto the floor. He’d pulled her in close, but not too close.

His touch had been a revelation to her. She’d burned where his hands rested on her waist, and she’d tilted her face up to look at him.

He’d grinned again. “I’m Dane.”

“Ivy.”

He’d run those hands up her sides, back down. Never touching her inappropriately but setting her on fire anyway.

“Well, Ivy, I think this is going to be the beginning of something special…”

And it had been. For five months, until they’d gone to Vegas and gotten married on impulse, and for three months after that, until their relationship began to fracture over the future. Over
choices.

Ivy gave her head a tiny shake and concentrated on the slides. She knew most of the information already because she’d been the one to uncover it when she’d interviewed the worker they’d found alive at the jungle shipyard. The Ruizes had been dealing with a Middle Eastern terror group. She didn’t doubt that they’d planned on fleecing the terrorists instead of selling them a sub, because that was how they operated, but clearly they hadn’t anticipated the buyers showing up with an assault team.

Another slide flashed up on the screen, this one of a missile. The guy who’d been speaking paused here and gave her and Ace a hard look.

“This is why we’re involved now, in case you were wondering.”

“We know there’s a terror group involved,” Ace said. “And that they were planning on detonating a dirty bomb on the Eastern Seaboard.”

“That’s not a bomb,” Ivy said, studying the missile. The markings were Cyrillic.

“No, it’s not,” Dane chimed in beside her. “It’s a Russian-made missile, designed to deliver a nuclear warhead from a bomber. It’s compact enough to fit into this sub.”

She didn’t want to look at him, but to ignore him in front of these men would be strange. Clearly, no one in this room had any idea that she and Dane had once been married. She didn’t plan to tell them either. There were already enough complications here. She didn’t need another one.

She swiveled her head to meet his gaze head-on. It was as if she’d driven her car into an embankment. That’s how suddenly and how strongly his presence impacted her.

“Thank you…” She let her gaze drop to his name tag as if she didn’t know who he was. “…Lieutenant Erikson.”

“Anytime, doll.”

And there was that megawatt grin again. Beside her, she could feel Ace stiffen. He was a good partner, and he took slights to her as personally as he did those to himself.

Someone cleared his throat. The captain in charge of the briefing continued, filling them in until they reached the end and someone flipped the lights back on.

Ivy knew better than to look at Dane again. But she could feel him looking at her. Boring a hole through her.

“Hey, you got a problem, man?”

It was Ace coming to the rescue precisely when she didn’t need him to do a damn thing. Ivy whipped around to glare at her partner. “It’s fine, Ace.”

Ace looked militant. “It’s not fine. You’re as qualified to be here as anyone, and this guy”—he waved a hand in Dane’s general direction—“keeps staring at you like he’s at happy hour looking for a hookup instead of in a room full of equals. Care to explain that, asshole?”

Ivy winced as Dane unfolded himself and got to his feet. All six foot four inches of him. Ace stood as well. Ace was considerably shorter, but Ivy knew from experience he wasn’t going to let that intimidate him.

Ivy shot to her feet and put a hand on Ace’s arm. Dane’s gaze lasered in on her hand, then back up to her face.

“Do you want to explain it, Ivy? Or do you want me to?” Dane asked. So polite, as if they were at tea instead of inside a war room.

“Explain what?” Ace demanded. “That you’re an asshole?”

If Ivy could have glared a hole into Dane, she would have. But of course he wasn’t content to leave the past in the past. He wasn’t going to act like she was simply another professional he had to deal with. He was going to drag up the whole thing right here for everyone’s amusement.

Dane didn’t do subtle. She knew that from experience.

Ivy met his stare with a hard look of her own. “Since you’re having so much fun, you go right on ahead.”

Dane let that slow grin spread over his face again. He looked like he was having a good time, but she knew looks were deceiving. She knew he was angry and lashing out because he still blamed her for the breakdown in their marriage.

“Well, Ace,” Dane drawled, “I guess Ivy didn’t tell you about me, and that kinda hurts. But the truth is, Ivy and I already know each other
really
well. So well that we decided we couldn’t live together anymore—isn’t that right, baby?”

“Aw, fuck me,” Ace said, turning to look at her. “Is this the ex-husband? Really?”

Ivy gritted her teeth. “The one and only. See what a charmer he is?”

‡

“I
s this going
to be a problem?”

Colonel Mendez sat behind his desk and frowned at her and Dane. After their revelation in the briefing room, one of the guys sighed heavily and said, “I’ll take them to see the colonel.”

Ivy might have argued that point, but Dane walked out on the man’s heels, and Ivy decided she’d better follow or get left out of the conversation. And since she was pretty sure Colonel Mendez had the power to cut her out of this mission, she wasn’t letting Dane speak for her because she already knew what his opinion of her presence would be.

“Not for me,” Ivy said even as her pulse thrummed and heat rolled beneath her skin.

“No, sir,” Dane said, all military rigidity and properness now. “I was surprised. I imagine Ivy was surprised as well.”

“Didn’t part on the best of terms, I take it?” Mendez arched an eyebrow.

“We haven’t spoken in over four years,” Ivy offered. “I imagine that’s due more to our jobs than malice. I have no feelings one way or the other about Lieutenant Erikson. Our marriage is in the past. For all I know, he’s remarried.”

“Nope,” Dane said. “Not on your life. Once was enough.”

Mendez’s other eyebrow went up. “Do I need to repeat the question, Lieutenant?”

“No, sir. It won’t be a problem. Lost my head for a second, sir.”

Mendez glared at them both for good measure. “That’s mighty good to know. Because if it
is
a problem, for either one of you, I’m removing you both from this mission. Is that clear?”

Ivy’s face burned hotter. No way in hell was she letting Dane get her kicked off this mission. Not when she had a personal stake in seeing the sub captured. The Ruizes had killed her mother and many more poor and desperate people like her—and Ivy wasn’t letting that happen anymore. Not if she could help it. Capturing the sub was only part of the equation. There was still so much to do in order to dismantle the Ruiz network, but she’d start with the submarine and their ability to make more of them.

And then there was the fact that if she got sent home from this mission maybe her bosses would lose faith in her ability to handle the job. Maybe she’d get shuffled off to something besides the Ruiz case.

She couldn’t allow that. She’d spent too many years trying to run the Ruizes to ground, and she wasn’t about to have that taken away from her now. Especially not by a man she’d left in the past.

“Understood,” she said.

“Yes, sir,” Dane replied.

The colonel waved a hand. “Good. Now get the fuck out of my office and get back to work.”