Free Shadow Ops: Danger's Desire (Kindle Worlds Novella) (A Shadow Ops Novella Book 1) by LS Silverii Page B

never felt so connected to another.
    “Just for that shit, hero, find your own way back. Just have your ass in that hotel room by tonight.” T-Boy stuttered in Hollywood’s direction but avoided eye contact with the Navy SEAL. T-Boy might’ve been ignorant, but not suicidal.
    Hollywood found a near empty canteen amid the dust and muck they spewed from the tires of their off-road vehicles. Alone, he carried her into the sparse shade that wasn’t inundated with brackish bayou backwaters.
    “Krystal, you okay? Speak to me.” He held her across his lap—hand shaking as it stroked her bloodied scalp. Crimson dried inside the tufts that dangled behind her ear. She stirred.
    “Krystal, please, baby. Be okay.” He kissed her forehead.
    “How many times do I have to tell you not to fall out of character?” Her eyes flitted against random streams of sunlight that breached the leafy awning. She grimaced to straighten her back over his knees. “What happened?”
    “We kicked their wretched ass and they fled. Of course, you fainted so I fought them all.” He smiled. Actually he laughed until his belly ached. It’d been way too long since he’d felt free—surrendered.
    “Did we get the gig?”
    “Yeah, gotta get to 500 Canal Street by tonight. They said to check into this room and follow instructions until contacted.” They both thumbed through the ripped open envelope.
    “Shit, Hollywood, we still need to hump it back to the Jeep and get there by nineteen hundred hours. You know the way?” She lifted herself against his shoulder.
    “Not exactly, but I can try retracing my steps.” They began to move out together. Voodoo dug in her heels. “You really who they say you are?”
    “Who’s that?”
    “What that guy said you were.” Her finger twirled aside her head, eyes rolled.
    “Yeah, what the guy said.” He grinned expecting her to rush into his arms, overwhelmed by his heroic actions for their country.
    “This way, hero.” She walked away instead. Hollywood brushed his bruised ego off and kept pace as Voodoo coasted through the rugged marsh terrain.
    “No need to thank me for making that thousand yard shot that saved your life.” Hollywood tried to make conversation, but mostly understand her distant responses. He wasn’t sure she was even interested in him for anything other than last night’s sex.
    “It was your shot that scratched my freaking ear and broke my earring. Some SEAL sniper you are.” She called over her shoulder.
    “You’re welcome.”

CHAPTER 12
    Winds gusted off the Mississippi River and blanketed Voodoo and Hollywood in a mist of muddy water and dust from the Task Force parking lot. They leaned against her Jeep while the other Task Force agents drove away.
    “Damn, Hollywood, you took an ass beating in that debriefing. Deserved it though—turning off the body wire system just to sweet talk me in private. What the hell’s so important to almost get us killed?” She soothed him with a shoulder rub. They swatted flies outside the warehouse—this wasn’t in Hollywood’s playbook.
    “Lawless your ex?” Hollywood scanned the parking lot. He wondered if the surveillance cameras had microphones—figured they did, or should. He shielded his mouth from that point forward.
    “That’s all you worried about? Shit, dude you like some love struck pup. We almost died today, and tonight we going to be these crazy bastard marionettes to do gosh knows what. All you want to know is if Lawless is my squeeze?” She rocked with feet apart in a defensive fighting stance, hands melded into hips.
    He should’ve been hurt, embarrassed, or pissed. No woman had admonished him like that since parochial school. Instead, his heart ached to understand her feelings and whether she felt for him the way he’d fallen for her.
    “I do wish you hadn’t told them about Pakistan.” Hollywood stepped close—secret agent spy close—he gawked around and over her head for counter-surveillance.
    “Paki