Chapter One
ICE: Key West
As Syndra Banks read the brief text her body went haywire. Her pulse raced, chest grew tight, stomach flip-flopped and a wave of cold sweat raced from her head all the way down to her toes. But then Ice always had a profound physical and emotional effect on her.
First up was the inevitable rush of excitement, the thrill of knowing he was all right, had survived another dangerous mission, and wanted to see her. Then the anger and irritation set in. After not hearing from him for seven long months, he sent a text summoning her, assuming she’d drop everything and run to him. Then again, she always did.
She ached to do just that—see him, touch him, kiss him. Get naked with him.
He’d warned her from the beginning. Ice hadn’t sugar-coated anything. He’d been upfront, told her in that cold and concise way of his exactly what being with him meant, the sacrifices required. Very limited contact, little or no notice of when he’d be available to see her, no details of where he was or what he did.
“The only easy day was yesterday,” Ice had stated. The SEALs motto. “There’s nothing easy about loving a SEAL.”
Therein lay the problem. She’d done the most stupid thing imaginable, traveled straight down the road to heartbreak. Regardless of countless warnings issued by her head, Syn’s heart had gone and fallen ass-over-teakettle for a Navy frogman who went by the rather apropos call name of Ice. A sharpshooter who killed with cold precision.
And once again, Ice had managed to shoot her carefully orchestrated plans to hell, not with his rifle, but a few swift keystrokes.
A chirping sound alerted her to a new email message. An encrypted message that could only be opened with a special program Ice’s buddy remotely uploaded to her laptop. Top secret code the general public didn’t even know existed. Without opening the message, she knew it contained the address where he’d be staying while the team was on standby. Writing the information down was a big no-no. She’d have to memorize it quickly because within sixty seconds of opening the email there would be no trace of it left on her computer or any server. Same went for the text, which had already disappeared.
Syn closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “I can’t do this anymore,” she informed her laptop.
She had to end their pseudo relationship, make a clean break, sever all ties with the sexy, dangerous man she loved because he couldn’t be what she needed. No more endless days spent worrying, dying to be held in his arms, to hear his gruff voice whisper in her ear. Next month she’d be thirty-four, and her time for having babies was running out. She wanted a husband, a real family, a couple of kids and a dog. Things she’d never have with Ice. Not that she had any other candidates waiting in the wings. She refused to look before first ending it with him.
This meant Ice had once again turned her life upside down. She’d have to rearrange her schedule to go see him, make love one last time, then end it and get her life moving forward.
With a heavy sigh, Syn called out to her assistant, “Karen, reschedule the Miami shoot. Push everything back a week.”
“God dammit! That fucker’s timing is impeccable. He does this shit on purpose. I know he does.”
Karen did have a point. Ice going on standby did coincide with quite a few of her scheduled cover model shoots. He’d let her know in no uncertain terms how much he disliked her working for an erotic book publisher, snapping pictures of hot young guys in various states of undress. In turn, she’d made it clear that being with her a handful of days once or twice a year gave him no say in how she paid the bills. They’d agreed to disagree on the subject.
Surely the timing was coincidence. How could Ice possibly know her schedule or keep track of her while on deployment? Then again, he did have connections with some super scary techno types. A shudder raced through her as goose bumps rose on her skin and Syn cast a surreptitious gaze around the office. Did he have someone watching her?
Nah! She shook off the crazy idea.
Since their heated argument over work, she’d had several new clients contract her services out of the blue, keeping her schedule booked. A prestigious interior design firm, an exclusive private music school, and even a pet shelter. She chose not to dwell on the fact that the women who ran the businesses all had husbands, brothers, or fathers in the military. Another coincidence? She wasn’t sure she believed in things happening by chance.
Syn shook her head. There were too many odd occurrences piling up to discount. This had been the first opportunity she had in months to squeeze in time for the hunks, which was what pissed Karen off. Her assistant looked forward to flirting up the models. Karen’s continual muttered complaints, however, were getting on Syn’s last nerve.