Chapter 2

two

Seth Harrison looked around the table at his team. He had done his best to make sure to build the camaraderie. At least once a week, they met up for drinks or dinner. Or drinks AND dinner.

“I’m ready for our first weekend to cover for Alpha,” Robbie Ramirez said. He had the good looks of his father—his words, not Seth’s—who was Mexican, and his mother’s eyes, who was Italian. The former SEAL had been on Team Six—the one no one is supposed to know about. He had the same build as when he was a SEAL and was always looking for action—at work and at play.

“Jesus, Rami, don’t jinx us,” Nikki Kekoa, the former Coastie who originally hailed from Maui, said. Since that was the island they usually covered, he thought it had been a stroke of luck she had applied. She’d pushed all her dark hair from her face, making her appear younger than she was. He knew that she used that to her advantages in the field.

“There are no such things as jinxes,” former NCIS agent Kapone Hanson said. He drawled out the words in his southern twang that he bumped up whenever Kap was romancing women or when he’d had a few beers. It didn’t hurt that he was taller than Seth, who came in at 6’3”.

“You deal with your weird mainland things, and I’ll be in charge of the local legends,” she quipped back. “And Rami, don’t give us bad juju for next weekend.”

Seth glanced at the quietest of the group, Ryan Morrison. He was former LAPD, and Maya, his SAR dog, was at his side. Morrison looked like he should be playing volleyball or in a movie on the beach. He had those good looks that turned the heads of many women, with one of those square jaws, deep blue eyes, and messy blond hair.

“Woah, TFH, three o’clock,” Rami said.

Seth turned around and immediately wanted to curse. Autumn Bradford was making her way from an expensive sports car with Ian Smith. The former MI-6 agent seemed to be her constant companion. When she saw them, she smiled, one of those amazing smiles that always caught his breath in his chest.

They changed directions and made their way through the patrons to their table.

“Hey, Bravo, howzit?”

Every now and then, he forgot that while she’d spent all of her childhood in a cult, she was from Hawaii originally.

“Going okay,” Kapone said, his accent thick and his smile widening. Fucker.

She laughed but said nothing else.

“Are you here by yourselves?” Nikki asked. “And if you are, please rescue me from the sausage fest my life has become.”

Autumn glanced at her companion, who had said nothing. While Bravo and Autumn were dressed in t-shirts and cargo pants, Ian was dressed as if he had somewhere else to be. The dress pants and button-down just didn’t fit in with them—along with shoes he was sure were more than Seth would pay for a pair. Hell, they were probably a couple months’ paycheck.

Ian nodded.

“We’ll go order, then grab a couple of chairs.”

They left the group.

“Do you think they’re bumping uglies?” Nikki asked the group.

“Ugh, why are you the most crass of all of us?” Ramirez asked.

“Raised in a house of four boys and no mom.” Nikki’s mom had died when she was young, and her father didn’t remarry until she was in high school. “Also, I have a set of balls while the rest of you are missing them. Either way, what are the odds?”

“Nope. I do not want any betting,” Seth said.

“Why not? Alpha does it all the time,” Nikki said.

Inwardly, he groaned. He loved Team Alpha. They were the original Task Force formed a few years ago. Bravo—and soon Charlie—was formed to help with the expanding need for their expertise. Team Alpha had a bad habit of betting on each other’s love lives. Their commander, Martin Delano or Del, had told them to knock it off. Unfortunately, some of that rubbed off on his team during training.

“No,” Ryan said quietly.

“No betting?” Nikki asked.

“No, they aren’t together. Their body language is off for something like that.”

They all looked at the pair. As Autumn and Ian turned, the team found something else to look at. Well, everyone but Seth. It was always difficult to concentrate when Autumn was around. From the moment they’d met, she’d intrigued him. As they returned to their table, Nikki and Kap grabbed chairs. They all scooted around to make room between him and Nikki. When he caught her smile, he knew she had some kind of plan.

“Ian,” she purred, “I heard you have a couple of the Daniels brothers working with Dillon Security.”

He naturally sat down next to her to talk shop, leaving the chair next to him open. Autumn hesitated just a moment, not enough for most people to notice, but enough for him. He was tuned into her on some weird level that left him itchy. He still hadn’t figured it out.

“You work today?” she asked, settling in the chair.

“Yeah. We had to run some drills and help find a tourist at Diamond Head. They overheated and had to be rescued.”

She rolled her eyes. “When will they learn?”

Before he could answer, someone called out her name. She held up her hand, and the man brought her order to the table. The amount of food on the tray made his eyes widen. She shrugged. “I missed my afternoon snack.”

“Maybe you should have had a snack and kept your trap shut,” her companion said.

Her eyes narrowed as she cut a glance towards Ian. “Shut it, Mix.”

“Don’t call me that.”

She smiled. “You know what they call Ian at Dillon Security? Mix. He loves that nickname.”

“They do not, and I do not.”

“Which one is it?” Nikki asked.

Ian opened his mouth, then he snapped it shut and frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, either it isn’t your nickname, or it is. Can’t be both.”

Everyone around the table stared at him, the silence stretching out. Ian Smith was starting to discover what it was like to be part of the Task Force Hawaii family, or ‘ohana as the Hawaiians called it. The silence was broken by the waiter who brought over Ian’s food. Then, Seth realized that they ordered separately, meaning there was a good chance this wasn’t a date. Why that made him happy, he didn’t know, or he would rather not think about why it did.

“They do not call me Mix. One annoying office member uses that name, but thankfully, she’s on the mainland right now.”

“Emily isn’t on island?” Autumn asked.

He shook his head. “She needed a break from her brothers, and Dillon needed help with personal security in Miami.”

She turned to Seth. “You should see Emily. She looks like a kindergarten teacher but could take down any of the men around this table. I guess it helps when Mad Dog Daniels is your brother.”

His eyebrows shot up. “The MMA fighter?”

She nodded as she took a bite of her taco. Her humming sound sent a shaft of heat spiraling through his blood. What was it about this woman? She constantly irritated and aroused him. He had never been this interested and repelled by a person.

“I might need to rethink my betting strategy,” Nikki said, cutting into his infatuation. He frowned at her, a look that he knew scared people. Nikki smiled.

“What were you doing today?” Rami asked.

Autumn finished a bite of food and swallowed it before answering. “Nunya.”

“Nunya?”

“Nunya business.” Then, she took another healthy bite. She was rude, making everyone around the table laugh—except Ian, who looked worried.

“You don’t take a lot of time off.”

“I had a thing,” she said. “Plus, Adam threatened that his mother would no longer make me the fried rice I love. He was lying, but I didn’t want to take a chance.”

“You have to be threatened to take time off?” Rami said. “You need someone to teach you how to relax.”

There was no doubt from the tone in his voice what he meant. Rami had a different woman every weekend. He didn’t brag, but Seth had seen him with various women at clubs. He rarely went home by himself.

“I have batteries for that.”

Again, a beat of silence. Then laughter filled the air around the table. Autumn blinked as if she was confused by it. Not in a hurt way, just that she didn’t realize it was a funny response. Interesting that she didn’t pick up on Rami’s innuendo.

“Gross,” Ian said. Oh, yeah, they weren’t a couple. Seth couldn’t put his finger on it, but they weren’t a romantic couple.

“Are y’all on call this weekend?” Autumn asked.

“We’re always on call, for the most part, especially Morrison and Maya.” He nodded to his dog handler. Then, Autumn realized Maya was with them since Ryan was sitting the furthest away.

She immediately forgot about her food—a first for him to witness—as she stood and hurried around the table. Dropping to her knees on the pavement, she cooed the dog.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t see you here, sista.” Maya licked her face, and Autumn laughed. She kissed the dog’s head and then returned to her seat.

“Do you have a dog?” Seth asked.

She was still chewing her food, so she shook her head. Once she swallowed, she said, “I work too much. Not good for a dog to spend that much time alone.”

The way her mouth turned down told him that she wished she could. Or maybe he was reading more into it than he should.

“I have a few cats.”

“No, you feed a few strays. That’s not the same thing,” Ian said.

There was something in his tone, an undercurrent Seth couldn’t decipher. He would bet dollars to malasadas that they weren’t a couple, but there was a history there.

“Shut it, Mix. So, what’s everyone doing if you aren’t working this weekend?”

“You need to be careful with that Harrington,” Ian said as he drove her back to her apartment.

She glanced over at him. “Why? He’s a fellow team member, or rather, I don’t know what we call Team Bravo, but you know what I mean.”

He sped around a dilapidated minivan that looked like it would break down any minute, and her mind drifted to the team captain. Seth was…god, he was gorgeous. He had a way of looking at her with those grey eyes and all the ridiculous eyelashes around them. It was hard to understand why this man sent warmth throughout her entire body with just a look. Granted, he was a former SEAL, so his ability to hold his breath did intrigue her. But she had never really been infatuated with a man—not like this.

“He is not someone you can mess around with. I’m sure he would want to know all your secrets.”

She frowned and drew her attention away from the scenery. “Do you think he has anything to do with Joyous Wave?”

“God, no. That guy would never bow down to someone like Joseph. What I mean is that he’s not like us. He’s normal.”

She snorted to cover her hurt, but Autumn knew precisely what he meant. Ian had been raised to be a spy, and she had been raised by a narcissistic opportunist who wanted to sell her to the highest bidder after she turned sixteen.

“I understand.”

“Do you?” he asked as he pulled into a parking spot near her building.

“Yeah, I do.”

He sighed. “I didn’t mean to be harsh.”

She shook her head. “No. You’re just your usual Taurus self.”

“Stop with that astrology rubbish.”

She laughed. “Stop being a Taurus. Later.”

She kissed him on the cheek and turned to slip out of the car. He stopped her by putting a hand on her arm.

“What?”

“Be careful.”

“I told you I wouldn’t do anything with the SEAL.”

“No. I mean, in general. There are more than likely a few eyes on you.”

She offered him a small smile. “That’s nothing new for me, Ian, and you know it.”

She slipped out of the car and made her way to her apartment alone. As much as she loved Ian, he would never understand. She would always be alone. It was the way it had to be.

Joseph Watters watched his daughter as she shut the door to her apartment. He sighed, irritated that the surveillance cameras were the only way he could see what she was doing. At least he had that.

After Joyous Wave was reduced to rubble, he was helped by more than one of his followers, or True Believers as they liked to be called. Yes, they were idiots in many ways, but they had helped him get off the islands and somewhere safe. They were why he was sitting in an upscale condo in Waikiki with a view of Ala Moana Harbor. He was sure they had all scrapped together the millions so he could live in luxury. Of course, the pharmaceutical revenue helped.

“Why is she living there?”

He glanced at his now second-in-command. He missed Hank, but his former second-in-command had been preparing to turn evidence over for a lesser sentence. That could not be allowed, so Joseph had him killed.

This idiot, well, he was boring. Peter Moreno was in his twenties, stupid as a rock, and just about as interesting. But he was dedicated to Joseph.

“I have a feeling she has no idea of her inheritance.”

There was no way his child should be living in that apartment.

It had taken him a little maneuvering to get the cameras up in the first place. Hell, just finding out where she lived was hard enough.

“Seriously?”

He shrugged. “When Summer was stolen from me, she went into seclusion. The old man was dead then, and the money was in a trust. If no one approached her, the money just kept earning interest until she turned thirty-five, or that’s what one lawyer told me.”

To this day, he would never forgive his bitch of a wife for helping his daughter be stolen—especially by one of her exes. The fucking Brit would pay for it.

“Do we know if she and Smith are involved?” he asked.

“No, they are not. If they are, they hide it well.”

He nodded as he rose from the chair and patted the shoulder of the young man.

“I think I will get some sleep. We have much to do tomorrow.”

“Of course,” he demurred as he bowed his head and stepped out of his way. Joseph wanted to roll his eyes, but he did not. He still had Joyous Wave members who thought he was their leader, and there was one thing he was sure he would need the young man’s help with to exact his revenge.

But first, he needed rest, and, hopefully, the nightmares would be held at bay.