Hot Shot (A Hostile Operations Team Novel)(#5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

belly-button ring? He hadn’t noticed it before because she’d been covered up. And when he’d looked at her through the scope, it hadn’t been her belly he’d been concentrating on.
    She looked up and caught him staring at her. His first instinct was to look away, but he didn’t. He just… didn’t.
    “You’re a good guy, Jack,” she said softly.  
    “Not really.” He sounded gruff.
    She pulled her robe closed and sat with her arms wrapped around her middle, and that one gesture ripped through him.
    “Shit,” he said. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to be uncomfortable with me.”
    “But I am.” Her head was bowed. “And not for the reasons you think. That look you gave me just now… I think it causes you pain.”
    He blew out a breath. “Yeah. It’s been… There’s been no one since Hayley died.”
    She looked up, her eyes shiny. “I think that’s sweet and sad and wonderful. And I’m really sorry, Jack. Really.”
    There was a lump in his throat. “I know.” He shook himself and pushed up to crawl toward the opening. “I think it’s safe to go for a swim now.”
    He stepped out of the cave and didn’t look back. Right now he needed a dip in the ocean. It wouldn’t be cold enough to douse this flame, but at least it was a start.
    * * *
    Gina slipped into the cool water and immersed herself. When she came up again, she could hear Jack swimming nearby. It was dark, but the moon was out and the stars were plentiful. After the first night, Jack had realized they were fine if they stayed in the shadow of the rock. The moon gave them light, but it didn’t pick them out for anyone who might be looking.
    Still, he’d warned her it was a risk. But it was a risk they had to take because staying in that cave certainly wasn’t easy. Gina floated on her back and thought of the way he’d looked at her. A shiver drifted over her, but it wasn’t due to being cold. She’d thought he wasn’t interested in her at all—in fact, she’d felt terrible for being attracted to him—but then he’d looked at her with such an expression of raw hunger that she’d grown instantly wet.
    She’d closed the robe because her nipples were hard, not because she’d been upset that he’d been looking. Now her nipples hardened again, spiking against the fabric of her top. She let a hand drift up and over her breasts. Another shiver rippled through her.
    She sank beneath the water again, only this time she stayed down, forcing her mind to go blank, her thoughts to drift away. When she surfaced, she wasn’t alone.
    “Jesus, Gina,” he said, his voice a hiss because his strictures about talking loud still applied. “I couldn’t see you at all.”
    She slicked her hair back from her face. “Sorry.”
    “I thought something happened.”
    Her face grew warm. “Nothing happened. Clearly.”
    She was watching him so intently that when the next soft swell bumped into her, she didn’t let it roll over her the way she should have. Instead, she let it carry her forward until she had to put out her hands to stop herself from crashing into him.
    His skin was warm, hard, and slick beneath her touch. The muscles were defined… and suddenly tense. His hands went to her waist, steadying her.
    “Sorry,” she said again. It was such a small sound. A useless sound.
    His fingers flexed against her waist. And then his hand slid up her ribcage, around to the tie of her bikini top. Her heart fluttered like a frantic moth. She wanted him to untie it so badly.
    But he didn’t. He simply traced his finger along the line and she wanted to whimper.
    “It’s okay, Jack,” she said. “Do it. I want you to do it.”
    “Do what, babe?”  
    “I want to be your first after…” Because there was something sweet about this man, something vulnerable, and she ached for him. “God, I’m sorry if that sounds insensitive—”
    He dragged her against his body—his very hard, semi-naked body—and fused his mouth to hers before she