Sunrise For Three: A Military Erotic Romance (Sexy Siesta Series Book 3) (4 page)

And if it wasn’t, when he got his hands on the son of a bitch that had put that look in her eyes, he would squeeze the life out of him and enjoy every second of it.

Marc shifted the curtain for a better look at the grounds below. He caught a glimpse of Colt as he moved over to Mia and pulled her into his arms for reassurance. He felt pulled to join them. Instead, he shot a dark look at Colt over the top of her head that summed up the clusterfuck of a night in one second. And it wasn’t over by a long shot.

“How many?” Colt signaled five then returned to holding Mia close. He placed a kiss to the top of her head and she pulled back, her shoulders up and her chin held high. The smart, determined woman he knew now in control again.

He hadn’t missed the fact that when he and Colt had shown her affection, she hadn’t pulled back. He filed that away to analyze later. The more time he spent with her, the more he wanted what Colt wanted. A chance to explore whatever it was that drew them both into the gravitational pull that was Mia Vega. But something in him polarized her effect the minute he thought of any kind of happy future and he was damn tired of feeling as though he was adrift.

Colt joined him by the window. “It’s too damn quiet out there. We need to get a move on.” Marc pulled his cell out. “I’m calling in Joel. He’s close and on standby to—”

Glass shattered directly below them and Marc broke off mid-sentence. The wood flooring of the old country house shook with the force of another explosion. Only seconds passed before another explosion hit, this time toward the back of the house, followed by another somewhere close to their side of the house.

Marc strode across the room to the door. Smoke filtered up the stairs, trapping them to the top floor.

Fuck me sideways
.

Marc shoved the curtains aside and threw open the large window in Mia’s room. Thank God she had the room with the porch below. He pulled Mia to his side while Colt eased out to set a perimeter. “We’re going out through here. Once we get across the roof, Colt will help you down. When we hit the ground, haul ass for the southwest tree line and don’t look back.”

Colt called back to them through the window in a low, rushed voice, “Clear to move. This place is like a damn tinderbox, people. Flames have already started on the support beams. Let’s double time it.” He looked to Mia, lips hardened in a determined flat line.

She gave a sharp nod, then answered, “Ready.”

That’s my girl.

Colt offered Mia a hand. She tucked the revolver in the back of her waistband then grasped their extended hands for balance while she climbed out the window. They crossed the roof of the porch, keeping to the shadows, pausing every few feet to scope out the surroundings. He hoped whoever was attacking Mia’s house was still keeping to the south side where they entered her property line, but he doubted it. They had a slim window of time to get Mia to safety and he wasn’t going to miss it.

Colt eased down the side with the help of lattice on the side of the house. Mia lowered herself with the help of Colt and Marc followed.

As soon as his feet hit the ground, Colt threw up the sign to hold tight. Mia paused and kneeled, following Colt’s example.

Marc leaned forward to speak low next to her ear, “Colt will clear the area around the side of the house. When he returns we’ll hoof it to the tree line. He’ll go first, you in the middle and I’ll bring up the rear. Are there any motion lights on this side of the house we need to know about?”

“Yes, once we get ten yards out from the side of the house, it will flick on.”

Shit. Might as well put a bull’s eye on their asses.

With his sidearm drawn, Colt peeled off and maneuvered around the side of the house. They needed to know how close the hostiles were to their position.

“Clear on this side. Let’s go.” Marc nodded at Colt and pulled Mia to her feet. He held her gaze and put it out there in black and white. “Don’t stop. Don’t look back and sure as fuck don’t trip.”

“You might find I’m a good runner.” A hint of arrogance colored her words. Good—she’d need that confidence when the rounds started flying.

“We ready or are we going to stand here and chat all night?” Colt spoke up from his left.

“Go. Now.”

Mia shot out, leaving Colt to catch up with her. He hightailed it right behind them, his own gun cocked and ready. The old wound on his thigh flared to life, but he buried the pain and pushed harder. Faster. They had to get Mia to safety.

Just like Mia said, the floodlight burst to life the second they hit the ten-yard marker. He threw a glance over his right shoulder. Two hostiles rounded the house. “Move. Move. Move.” Colt and Mia picked up pace.

The first round slammed into the ground by his feet followed by another, this time way too fucking close to Mia. He picked up his knees and pushed harder to cover her position. More shots rang out in rapid secession. Dirt kicked up and hit Mia’s face, but she didn’t stop.

Twenty yards farther. Fifteen. Ten.

Colt and Mia hit the tree line at a hard run. Ducking behind the first big tree, they came to a stop. Colt pulled Mia between them, all three crouching to their knees barely out of reach of that damn floodlight. The two hostiles that had spotted them disappeared behind the house more than likely calling all their asshole friends over to join the shootout.

“Fuck,” he ground out. Keeping Mia between them, Colt turned to him. “You get that call out for extraction?”

“Affirmative. Before we left, I called Joel, told him to be on standby. All I had to do was let it ring. Let’s pull back and get some distance between us and them.”

“You know the ETA?”

Marc glanced at his watch. “About five minutes from now.”

Gunfire riddled their tree. Mia tucked her shoulder and dived for the ground. He fell on top of her with Colt returning fire. Rounds pierced the dense foliage and buried in the packed dirt and roots of the trees surrounding them. So far so lucky but they couldn’t take the chance with Mia.

“Cover us.”

Colt nodded and shot off five more rounds to push back the hostiles.

Marc hauled Mia up and they pushed deeper back into the woods that surrounded her house. He positioned them behind a thicker tree than the first and covered Colt while he caught up with them.

Orange cinders burst into the air when a section of the porch caved under the strain. Several trees blocked their view, but it was still amazing and heart-wrenching. Embers danced along the air current and into the night sky. It reminded him of fireflies at the height of summer when he was a boy.

More flames licked a fiery trail up the north side of the house. At this rate, the entire thing would be nothing more than ashes within minutes.

Mia leaned against the tree for support, her eyes fixated on her house. An inferno consumed her home and his gut churned at the totally blank stare on her face. Her amber eyes glowed with unshed tears.

“It’s all turning to ash…” Her words were barely audible.

“But you’re okay, Mia. Things… houses…they can be replaced.” Not that the shell of a house could be called a home. But still…

He struggled with what to do. Should he reach out and comfort her or let her be? The last time he’d opened his heart it had been shoved back at him like a piece of trash. He didn’t think Mia would be so cold, but could he risk it? Protect her he could do and fucking her was on his list, but when it came to the softer shit, he drew the line.

He ground his teeth together and consoled himself with one fact: she had Colt. His friend stroked a single digit down the side of Mia’s face and tucked a strand of her long dark hair behind her ear. “But you can’t be replaced.”

Colt’s words must have hit home. Life sparked in her eyes and it wasn’t the reflection of the flames. The tension in his chest eased when she leaned into Colt’s touch.

Marc tamped his emotions down. They’d deal with his fucked up issues and the fallout of losing Mia’s house later. Right now getting Mia to safety was priority.

“The hostiles have pulled back and I don’t want to stick around to find out why.”

Colt settled his hand on Mia’s shoulder and kissed the top of her head. Lucky son of a bitch. “Let’s move out. Follow us, keep low and stay quiet.”

Three minutes of thick brush and a few scratches later, they emerged near the main road where their extraction awaited them in an unmarked SUV.
Joel
. The man always came through.

They ushered Mia in the back— him on one side with Colt taking the other. “We’re in. Let’s roll.”Marc reached forward and clamped a hand on Joel’s shoulder.

“¿
Papel
?”Mia clasped his leg, then turned to Colt.

“What, sweetheart?”

“Paper, do you have paper? I caught some of the plate from the van.”

“Shoot,” Joel called over his shoulder from the front seat, his finger poised over a paper bag of some sort.

“I only caught the first four digits. JHQ-1. Sorry. It’s all I could see.”

“That’s more than what we caught. Good work, Mia.”

She calmed and relaxed into the seat.

“What the hell happened out there, man? Anyone take a hit?” Joel inquired from the driver’s seat.

Marc scanned over Mia and then looked at Colt. “Lucky this time, but I think Colt took out one or two.”

“Yeah, I took out one and blasted the kneecap off another, but I don’t think that will make them back off.”

“Not a chance, man. Colt, call the team, get the plane ready and add Mia’s name to the FAA’s passenger list. I’ll call in the incident with the fire department and then message the sheriff a heads up. Joel, I’m telling him you’ll call him with a few more details once you drop us off.”

Colt shifted his weight to the side to pull his cell from his pants pocket. “Copy that.”

Joel spoke up from the driver’s seat. “Will do. Any specific instructions?”

“Ask him to call me or Colt about an hour from now. We should be in the air and able to talk specifics then.”

Mia stirred and turned her gaze on him. Her eyes refocused on the here and now. “What plane?”

Marc angled his body toward Mia’s. “The way I see it, whoever is behind this knows who you work for. They didn’t come in with an assault team to take out one defenseless lady living out in the country. They just wanted to scare you. And on that note, there’s something larger than your asshole ex-fiancé at play here. Something I’m not sure how you got involved in, but one thing is for damn sure. The men that came after you tonight are armed and dangerous enough to do some real damage, so going home with you in tow isn’t an option.”

“So what’s your plan? Throw me on a plane and whisk me off to the beach?”

Marc let out a little of his frustration with a deep sigh. “Basically, Mia, keeping you close is the only option. Where we go, you go. I think you’ll love the place along the beach in the Mismaloya area. It’s secure and you’ll be safe while we figure this out.”

Mia’s eyebrows shot up and her back stiffened against the soft leather seats. “To Mexico? With both of you?” Even in the darkened cab of the SUV he could see her bite at her lip. The little tic she had drove him freaking crazy from day one. He couldn’t focus when she did that.

Marc shifted his weight closer to her and lifted a hand to her face, gently tugging her lip free with his thumb. “I told you, don’t tempt the beast, darling. I bite.” He dipped his voice low to where only she could hear him. He couldn’t tell, but he’d bet his last dollar that her pretty skin was flushed pink again. Her tongue darted out to pass seductively along the seam of her lips. She had no idea how sexy she was to them.
Fuck me.
Now he was the one flushed.

He claimed her hand, caressing the back of her knuckles with the pad of his thumb, eyeing her reaction to his words closely. This he could do. Seduce her. Show her he wanted her. Her lips parted, her chest did that staccato thing and she tightened her grip on his hand. It took all his hard-earned self-control to resist claiming her beautiful lips with his own.

“But I can’t leave, Mr. Dangere. I don’t even have my paperwork. I have a job and what would everyone say when they find out I not only went home with you tonight but I’m now running off to Mexico?” Her tone ratcheted higher with each word.

Colt leaned closer and joined the conversation. “Sweetheart, I think you can drop the formality.” Colt eased an arm over the back of the seat and spread his legs out so his thigh touched the length of Mia’s.

“We’ll take care of the paperwork when we’re in the air. You still hold your citizenship to both countries, right?” Mia nodded, her face downcast, hidden from them.

“We’ll figure this out, Mia. You won’t be alone until we get this worked out. As for everyone else, I dare anyone to say anything to you. ” Marc raised her hand and placed a gentle kiss to the palm. The smile she rewarded him with calmed the stress and tension that had taken over when he’d seen how close the rounds had come to hitting her. He’d aged ten years in a blink of an eye.

What was it about this woman? He and Colt had spent the last six months tied in arguments over what they should do about the growing attraction between them. And now to find out she’s damn near a fucking virgin? Shit. What the fuck was he going to do? He was too rough for a small flower. He tried convincing himself he needed to back off. Keep his distance, but hellfire would be easier to contain than the burning desire eating at his soul.