Stranded with the SEAL Read Online Free PDF

metrosexual like all those movie stars do. I swear, some of them actresses can throw their husbands across the room, unless a high wind beats ’em to it.”
    A loud crack of thunder made the hotel walls shake.
    “Fucking Cabo San Lucas,” the men said in unison.
    Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!
    Matteo took a long swig of beer. “What do you think the others are doing?”
    “Let’s see…Jax is getting fitted with a shiny new stick up his ass, Logan is white-boy dancing at a bar with his mother, and Hawk is sitting in a dark room, brooding.”
    “Pass me the cheese balls.”
    Cowboy pointed into the bowl. “These here are what real men call cheese puffs. They ain’t no cheese balls.”
    “Whatever. Pass ’em over here.” Matteo took a handful. “You’re not far off about Hawk. What’s the matter with him lately?”
    Cowboy moved for another beer. He was going to feel like bloated roadkill in the morning. He considered what to tell Matteo. “Ain’t just lately. Been since Ralph died.”
    “What happened?”
    Cowboy eyed the second newest member of HERO Force, sizing him up. Matteo was a former SEAL — everyone but Logan was a SEAL — but Matteo was the only one who came from a different team. It was Jax who wanted Matteo on HERO Force, and Cowboy had yet to figure out why.
    Matteo was a sniper, and a hell of a good one, but snipers were nothing special in the military. No, there was another reason Jax wanted him on the FORCE, and Cowboy was determined to figure out why.
    “Tell you what, Red, you tell me what puts the sparkle in your flapjacks, and I’ll tell you what you want to know about Hawk.”
    Matteo rolled his eyes. “Not this shit again.”
    Cowboy turned to the window, a lighted palm tree whipping fiercely in the wind. He was getting to Matteo. He could feel it. One of these days he’d tell Cowboy everything he wanted to know. “Got to be something.”
    “I was the best sniper in my class.”
    Cowboy curled his lips and shook his head. “Has to be more than that.”
    “And I’m a pilot. A good one.”
    “Keep going.”
    Matteo shrugged. “You’ll have to ask Jax. Maybe he likes my full, round ass.”
    Matteo was holding out on him, but Cowboy couldn’t help but smile. The leader of HERO Force was notoriously attracted to women with large rear ends. “He is an ass man.”
    Thunder rolled in the distance.
    “Fucking Cabo San Lucas,” they chimed.
    Cowboy stood up and the world banked left. Fuck it. He’d get the goods on Matteo sooner or later. “All right, you want to know what happened, I’ll tell you. We were doing surveillance on a guy named Steele, some badass billionaire with an import/export business. Trouble is, he imports and exports shit like drugs and human beings, with the occasional shipment of firearms.”
    “Why hasn’t he been caught?”
    “Because he’s got tens of thousands of shipments coming in and out of the country every year, and only a handful are illegal. He’s got hundreds of employees and an inner circle that covers his back. The feds haven’t been able to pin him with anything.” He reached for the cheese puffs, but pushed them away, then ran his hand over his forehead. “Ralph was getting close, really close. He and Hawk infiltrated Steele’s compound, Ralph in the lead, Hawk on his six. Only Hawk walked out of there that night.”
    “He blames himself,” said Matteo.
    “Steele’s men held him down while he watched Ralph die a slow and painful death. That’s not the kind of thing you just put out of your mind.”
    Matteo made the sign of the cross, mumbling something under his breath.
    Cowboy drained his beer. There wasn’t enough alcohol in the world for this story. Never had been. If it were up to Cowboy, getting Ralph’s killer would be HERO Force mission number one, but Jax would never allow it.
    He sniffed and shrugged his shoulders. “Of course, by the time the cops got there the body was gone. No evidence of any