Excerpt Impossible Chase

SEAL Captain Jagger Lemuel shifted his weight, ready to meet another one of Captain Aiden Porter's men. This time it was Air Force Reconnaissance Lieutenant Paul Braven. Paul's female counterpart would accompany him on the flight to Kauai. The lady was hoping to win a million dollars for her charity.

Jagger and his closest friend, Lieutenant Hays West, would be competing with Paul and the lady to stop them from winning the money. The show's viewers might think they were jerks to compete so hard but Mercedes Belle had asked him and Hays to give the show every bit of competitiveness, skill, and talent they had, for her and for her deceased brother, Lieutenant Grayson Travier.

Some might call that manipulation on Mercedes' part. Jagger didn't really care. He'd do anything for his closest friends besides Hays—Mercedes, Grayson, and Shawn. Shawn was Mercedes' bodyguard and supposed boyfriend. Only he and Hays knew the truth that Shawn loved and protected Mercedes like a brother. Mostly stemming from his dedication to Grayson, Shawn's only friend through childhood and teen years. He didn't believe Shawn would admit to even himself that he wasn't romantically in love with Mercedes.

Maybe Jagger was wrong. He'd been wrong before. He frowned. Romantic love and him didn't have anything to do with each other.

As soon as this week was over he and Hays would return to their SEAL unit and his life would be back to normal. The break had actually turned out intriguing and sometimes even fun. Jagger gave a hundred percent to whatever he was doing and this week would be no exception.

He turned to Shawn and Hays as they waited on the tarmac of the small Lihue Airport on the island of Kauai. Garrett, Mercedes' cameraman was close by but not filming yet.

"Do you two find it odd that Julie gave us all the glowing information on Lieutenant Braven but nothing on his female counterpart?" Jagger asked.

Julie Pandoran was Mercedes' assistant. He suspected Shawn and Hays both had crushes on her, but neither of them would admit it. It gave him something to razz them about. Separately.

Shawn, very suspiciously, wouldn't meet his gaze. Shawn shifted his weight and clenched his fists. He was obviously uncomfortable. Jagger had written it off as Shawn not wanting to be the one the camera was focused on without Mercedes here but this felt like something more.

"Mercedes wanted you to know about the lieutenant because he works for Aiden Porter," Shawn finally said. "She knew it would make you even more competitive."

"She's right." Jagger had a lot of respect and a burning need to best anyone associated with Captain Aiden Porter, ‘the second-top security specialist in the world' in Aiden's own words. Aiden was a suave, cocky former Marine. Jagger was the last to admit it, but the man had every right to be cocky. He was the only man Jagger had every lost a fight to, except for Belinda's dad, Pastor Ralphs, but he never let himself think about his lost love.

He guessed Lieutenant Nick Jacobs could claim he'd tied Jagger last week to win the million dollars for Darcy Saint, but that sparring match had been judged and Nick even admitted to Jagger he thought the judges had let him tie to win the money for Darcy.

Aiden had also won the girl during their week on the island of Magna, the hidden kingdom, the charitable and gorgeous sweetheart, Chalisa Anderson. Jagger didn't care about that. He'd only hit on Chalisa to get in Aiden's head. No woman but his Bee could ever penetrate his heart and he'd never see Bee again. He'd promised to never contact her and he'd kept that promise, blocking her number in his phone and deleting any emails before reading them. Both actions had ripped at his already dying heart. It was long over now and didn't Beer thinking about it. Sometimes Bee still worked her way into his thoughts.

"But the past two weeks we had all the information on both participants," Hays pointed out.

Hays was right. They all knew that Mercedes and Julie set these initial meetings up for maximum impact and footage for the reality television show, A Chance for Charity.

It was odd that this week the male and female counterparts were coming to Jagger, Hays, and Shawn on the same plane. Garrett was filming the three of them meeting their competitors, not the competitors meeting each other.

To his understanding on the other shows, the first filming was of the couple meeting for the first time. Which made sense as he suspected Mercedes and Julie thought the matchmaking and romantic portion of the show was as important as the action and challenges, as well as the attention and money brought to the lady's charity.

He didn't like not knowing, or things being out of sync. Jagger lifted his eyebrows at Shawn. His friend was still ignoring him. Shawn was cold and standoffish to everybody—except for Mercedes, and sometimes Jagger and Hays. Jagger could relate and didn't usually give Shawn grief about it.

A white jet landed smoothly and taxied their direction. Mercedes' jet. The three of them had flown in yesterday on Sunday and made sure everything was ready for the challenge. Then they relaxed at the gorgeous house overlooking the peaceful and shallow Anini Bay. Well, Jagger and Hays had tried to relax, but neither of them were very adept at it. Shawn knew a lot more downtime, being the constant shadow of the terminally-ill Mercedes, but Shawn had been stirred up and anxious. He didn't like being away from Mercedes.

Their friend looked away from the plane and finally met Jagger's gaze. Shawn said in a low, gravelly voice, "I shouldn't even be here but Mercedes wouldn't let me off the hook. Julie and her dad are with her." His hands balled into fists and he focused on Hays. "The surgery didn't go well yesterday. The doctor gave her a week."

"No," Hays groaned out.

Jagger closed his eyes against the pain. They knew this was coming. Mercedes' death had been imminent for awhile now. The only reason she was still alive was her dad had used his considerable wealth and connections to get her the best doctors and prolong the little time she had.

Franz Belle might be ultra-wealthy, but he'd lost everything that mattered to him—his wife, his son, and now his daughter had a matter of days left on this earth.

Franz's son, Mercedes' half-brother, Grayson Travier was one of the best men Jagger had ever known. Jagger was on this show, fighting like a jerk against a woman winning a million dollars for her charity because of his love for Grayson, Shawn, and Mercedes. He related better to Franz Belle than anyone. His mom had died last year in a car rollover.

Jagger also had no family left in this world. When Mercedes died he'd have Hays and Shawn, but even his best friends didn't know why he'd given up on Bee. They assumed like everyone else that Jagger was far too hardened. His heart impenetrable. The truth was his heart had been decimated in the small town of Oneida Kentucky and he'd never tried to repair it.

What if Bee watched these shows in the fall and saw him? She'd always stuck up for him to her dad. Would she think he was a jerk now? Everyone else did. Why was he thinking about Bee when Mercedes was dying?

Hays hugged Shawn, but Shawn slipped out of the embrace within moments. Jagger gave their friend a quick side hug as well. That was about all the emotion he or Shawn could handle. If anyone was more closed off and messed up than him, it was Shawn Holister. Deserted, betrayed, unloved, Shawn fit all those sad descriptors and more. His Navy friends and Mercedes were all he had and sadly he'd failed HELL week twice so he hadn't progressed with Jagger and Hays. It had been torture to leave Shawn behind but Shawn still had a great career in the Navy, only retiring when Mercedes congestive heart failure progressed and he decided to appoint himself her fulltime bodyguard, surrogate brother, and fictitous boyfriend.

"I'm sorry, bro," Jagger muttered.

The plane taxied up to them. Shawn blinked quick and nodded to them, straightening to his full height. With his longish blond hair and piercing blue eyes, he looked like a Viking.

"Jag," Shawn muttered, easing in closer. "Whatever happens this week, please don't quit. Keep going and fighting for Mercedes."

Thankfully Shawn's voice didn't crack or anything awkward like that but the plea in his blue eyes was enough to seal the words in Jagger's heart. He wanted to protest that he'd never quit anything in his life. Except for his quest for Bee. It was obvious Shawn was a mess right now so he didn't get hung up on semantics.

"I'll keep going and fighting to win no matter what." He nodded to his friend. "Hooyah."

"Hooyah," Shawn and Hays quietly repeated.

Jagger swallowed down the emotion and turned to face this next week's challenge. The door to the plane swooped open, seamlessly forming a staircase. A tall, dark, well-built man with obvious military Beering walked out. He nodded coolly to them and turned back to wait for his counterpart.

Lieutenant Paul Raven.

Jagger had taunted and fought with the ever-smirking Aiden Porter, Raven's boss. Aiden had earned his respect, but they were definitely not buddies. Jagger had grown to like the smiling Nick Jacobs from last week. Great guy. Paul Raven must be the serious friend.

They all waited for the lady to descend. And waited. And waited.

Shawn looked at him and lifted his shoulders.

"Shall I go carry her out of the plane?" Jagger tried to joke.

Paul glanced back at him with a glare.

Jagger raised his hands, feigning innocence. He wondered how Paul would last the week. Jagger wasn't even being a jerk yet. That had been a semi-nice line in his mind. At least Aiden and Nick had been able to banter with him and Hays.

Turning back to the plane, Paul extended his hand. A woman placed her small hand in his and finally descended the steps.

Her hair was blond. Her eyes were blue. Her face was breathtakingly Beeutiful. Her frame was small yet womanly. She was a Southern lady clear through and would be as comfortable on a horse as she was at the church's potluck dinner or standing up for what she believed in.

Jagger knew all of this. Because he knew this woman.

His heart threatened to burst from his chest and every muscle in his body tightened.

"Bee," he heard himself sort of moan out her name.

He wanted to dash to her and sweep her off her feet, kiss her thoroughly and praise his angel mother up in heaven for bringing Jagger's Bee into his life. He'd promised not to contact her but somehow, here she was, twenty feet away.

The other option, almost as compelling as the first, was to sprint the other direction. Jagger should run turkey like he'd never done, and break the promise he'd just made to Shawn. He should quit on this week and not face his lost love.

He did neither. He froze and let his gaze feast on her perfect and too-familiar face. She'd matured, and it had only made her more Beeutiful, sharpening the angles of her feminine features and enhancing the curves she'd barely had as an eighteen year old.

Her blue eyes were snapping fire at him. He knew her too well, but any fool could see she was furious with him.

That startled him and made him angry. She'd turned her back on him, cheated on him with Mike, and broken his heart, not the other way around.

"I can't do this," he muttered for only to Shawn hear.

"Please," Shawn said. It wasn't a normal thing to hear Shawn plead for anything. "You promised me and you have to do this show. It was Mercedes' dying wish of you."

Jagger rounded on his friend. "She knew?" He bit out, not even bothering to keep his voice down now. "Mercedes researched, found …" He couldn't very well admit the ‘lost love of his life' on the show or especially in front of Bee. "Belinda Ralphs, and brought her on this show." Now he rounded on Hays. "Did you tell her?"

Hays shook his head. His dark eyes sincere. Hays hadn't ratted him out. Jagger looked back to Shawn. "You?"

Shawn let out a heavy breath and said in a hushed whisper, "Apparently I mentioned years ago that you were in love in basic but halfway through A school it imploded. Sorry man." He lifted his hands. "I refused to give her a name."

Jagger clenched his jaw and his fists. He glanced over and could see the lieutenant and Bee in hushed conversation. She looked up at Jagger and their gazes caught and held. For a brief moment it was all there—all the love, the memories, the plans and dreams. Then in his mind's eye a picture of her returning Mike's kiss shoved any good memory away.

He pinned her with a fierce glare and then turned back to his friends, folding his arms across his chest.

"Jag, I'm sorry." Shawn shook his head. "I wanted to warn you but Mercedes begged me and Julie begged me and how could I tell either of them no?"

Jagger acknowledged that with a tight head bob. Shawn would never refuse Mercedes or Julie. "You knew?"

"Only that they'd found your ‘lost love'."

Jagger flinched at the very words he'd just thought.

"And ‘miraculously' she has created a fabulous charity that deserves exposure and financial support."

‘Miraculously'. He grunted. He could admit to himself that there had been times he'd seen miraculous events throughout his fourteen years of active duty but he'd also seen horrific devastation and the ugliest depravity man could dole out. He stayed far from heaven and anything miraculous.

"Mercedes said to beg for her," Shawn continued, "‘Please, please, please, if you love Grayson or I at all, do this show for us'."

Jagger could not believe Mercedes could be this manipulative. He'd thought moments ago he'd step up and be the jerk fighting against a charitable woman to win her money, but this was too far. He often teased Mercedes she too sweet. Not anymore. How could she do this to him?

"Jag," Hays' whisper was a warning.

He glanced back to see Bee was coming at him, Paul following in her wake as if to protect her. Jagger had never and would never hurt a lady. Especially not Bee. But he wouldn't cower to her either.

He pivoted, spread his stance, and waited. What would she do, what would she say? Maybe she'd explain why she dumped him so harshly and he'd finally get some closure. Was she still married to Mike?

He didn't know what she'd do or say but he knew his Bee and she was feisty. He welcomed the confrontation. Her anger was preferable to the awful memories of the last time he'd seen her—laughing with and kissing Mike.

He'd promised her dad he wouldn't contact her if her dad fulfilled all the parameters—showed Jagger that Bee was happy with Mike and loved the guy, then the preacher had to knock him out.

Jagger had woken in the back of his truck, miles away from the Ralphs' ranch. He'd forced himself to climb into the driver's seat. The keys were in the ignition and there was a note on the dash—You Promised.

He crumpled up the paper, hurled it out the still-open door, slammed the door, and drove the wrong direction. Back to Virginia and away from Bee.

Each mile hurt. His head throbbed and his stomach churned. He'd left behind the love of his life and his heart that awful day.

Now she was storming up to him as if he'd hurt her instead of the other way around.

Mercedes and Julie. What a scheming pair of messed-up matchmakers. If Mercedes wasn't dying he'd tell her off. Shawn had known this was coming at him and hadn't warned him.

How could his supposed friends do this to him?