Seal of Honor(58)
Yeah, he definitely didn’t want whoever was now pounding on the door to see her like that. “Cover up, Audrey.”
“Huh?” She yawned, then looked down at herself. “Oh!” She scrambled for the sheet and clenched it to her lovely breasts. He liked the flush that climbed up her chest into her cheeks. It reminded him of how she looked when turned on, when he was moving deep inside her.
Wouldn’t it be nice to crawl back into bed with her and forget everything again?
He sighed, turned the doorknob, and found Liam Miller with his fist raised in mid-pound.
“Liam,” Gabe said and leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, to block his view of the bedroom. “Still got a temper on ya, I see.”
Liam’s upper lip curled. “Gabe Bristow. Imagine my surprise when my men dragged you unconscious from that poppy field. Lost your edge, I see.”
Gabe eyed the garment bags Liam carried. “And you, playing butler for the scum of the earth. I don’t know why I’m surprised.”
“I go where the money is. As a mercenary now, it’s something you’ll learn fast.” He gave a bitter laugh and shoved the garments toward Gabe. “The infamous Commander Bristow, a mercenary. It still tickles my funny bone to say it. My, how the mighty do fall.”
“My, how the spineless do flee. Tell me something, have you pried that tail from between your legs yet?”
Liam’s teeth gnashed together. “I had to flee. I had no choice because of you, you self-righteous prick.”
“Hm. Hey, Liam.” Gabe made a brushing motion near his nose. “You got a little something…”
Liam raised a hand halfway to his nose before he caught himself. Eyes spitting fire, he said, “Back up.”
Unperturbed, Gabe pushed away from the doorframe and stepped back. Liam slammed the door and the lock snapped into place again.
“Whew,” Audrey said on an exhale a few seconds after the door closed. “That’s some bad blood there. I take it you know each other.”
Gabe nodded and laid out a plastic-wrapped dress on the end of the bed for her. He opened his own garment bag to study the contents. A freaking tux and dress shoes. And here he was hoping for cammies and combat boots.
“Let me guess,” Audrey said when he stayed silent. “Long story?”
“Yes and no.” He pulled out the crisp white dress shirt and slid into it, but left it hanging open, unbuttoned. “If you want to know the bare bones, I got the bastard kicked out of the British Special Forces during an op a couple years back, and he’s had it out for me ever since. It’s a mutual hate-hate relationship. Now get dressed, hon.”
She pushed aside the garment bag, ignoring the plum-colored gown inside. “Kicked out? What did he do?”
Gabe started to say, “That’s classified,” out of habit, but caught himself. Considering he’d spent the afternoon inside Audrey, making love to her, she deserved more than the rehearsed response he reserved for SEAL wannabes and frog-hogs. And, technically, Liam’s disgrace was public knowledge—or at least it was in Great Britain. He sat beside her on the bed and pulled her into the crook of his arm, savoring the softness of her skin under his hand.
“Liam Miller—which is not his real last name; he went by Collington back then—was one of the British SAS officers helping us to locate a CIA operative who…” He trailed off. Insurgents had held the CIA operative captive in a training camp near the Turkey border. By the time the SEALs located him, he’d been skinned alive. With no way of knowing how many classified secrets he spilled, orders came down from on high to neutralize the camp. Including the women and children.
Um, yeah, Audrey didn’t need to know the nitty-gritty. And he didn’t much care to relive the experience.
Gabe cleared his throat. “That part’s not important. But during the mission, I caught Liam snorting something. Come to find out later, it was coke. That put my team and his in danger, so I reported it to his superiors and they jettisoned his ass so fast he probably still has road rash.”
“Sounds like he deserved it,” Audrey said.
“He did and then some. The drug use wasn’t the whole of it. A couple days after his replacement arrived, we discovered he’d been stealing and selling ordnance to terrorists for years.”
Her eyes widened. “And he was never arrested?”
“He bolted and found himself a comfy position as Mena’s right-hand man. As long as he stays here and Mena stays out of prison, he’s safe.”
Part of the draw of taking down Mena had been the opportunity to get Liam Collington-slash-Miller behind bars as well. It had been Gabe’s pet project right up until the car accident that stole his career. Throughout the many tedious hours he’d spent in the hospital, he often wondered if the accident was more premeditated than accidental. The driver of the pick-up that had caused the crash was never located, and with Gabe out of the teams, the operation came to a dead halt. As far as he knew, nobody had revived it.