You Only Love Twice by Lexi Blake Page B

guns at the
ready. They moved in an easy formation that spoke of years and years of
training. They were utterly silent, their faces covered by dark masks, but
Jesse had learned to see through such trivial things. He remembered men by the
way they walked, the way their shoulders set, and how their eyes moved.
    He’d seen these men before. He’d watched them in battle.
They might want to stay anonymous, but he wasn’t about to let that happen.
    “Tennessee Smith!” He couldn’t really hear himself, but he
was trying to shout.
    One of the men stopped, but Jesse watched as his jaw
squared. “Find her. We don’t leave without her. Get it done.”
    Li tried to get up, but he had a gun pointed at his head.
    Erin kicked out at her opponent and for a few seconds it
didn’t look like the man knew what to do. She caught him squarely in the
midsection and Jesse knew his ears were clearing because he heard an audible
huff as the operative briefly lost the ability to breathe. He had to give the
kid credit as he came right back up. He caught Erin and hauled her back against
his body. She immediately brought her elbow up and back, easily getting away.
    She didn’t get more than a few steps before the man tackled
her. He tossed his full weight on top and wrestled her down to the floor.
    Just like that Jesse knew Ten had given orders not to kill.
There was no other explanation. No one was going to fire a shot. The guns were
there to intimidate, but no one had told Big Tag that. Ten likely thought he
could do a quick, get in, get out mission since it was the middle of the day.
He possibly believed shock and awe would work, but what the stupid fucker
hadn’t counted on was Charlotte Taggart throwing a baby shower and the office
being full of women and kids.
    Tag was going to kill someone. Maybe a whole lot of
someones.
    A big guy with an M4A1 carbine pointed it his way. “Get on
your knees.”
    No fucking way. He felt the pressure build. It always seemed
to start low in his gut, though he knew it was all in his brain. Somehow the
fear manifested itself in a physical way and it didn’t matter that it was a
lovely day in Dallas and the air conditioning was set low because Charlotte
always seemed warm these days. None of that mattered because his vision blurred
and he could feel the heat of the Iraqi sun on his face, feel his skin. It was
too tight. He’d woken up after the IED had blasted his Humvee and he’d been
shoved out of the vehicle, reaching back for the new guy.
    “I said get on your knees. In a minute or two this is all
going to be over and you can go about your day,” the man said.
    Jesse was caught between worlds. He was almost certain the
man in front of him was Case Taggart, but about half the words that came from
his mouth were said in Farsi.
    He took a deep breath. He wasn’t going to go there. He
needed to stay in the here and now. Dallas. He was in Dallas and Ten had come
to reclaim his lover.
    Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen.
    He punched Case right in the face, secure in the fact that
the soldier had likely been told not to fire a shot.
    “Shit!” Case yelled before returning with a punch of his
own.
    Jesse took it right on the jaw. The pain flared, but it also
kept him in the here and now. He looked to his left and the operatives had
scattered, though their numbers had diminished since it was taking two of the
eight to hold down Li and Erin.
    “They won’t shoot!” Jesse yelled.
    “Like fuck we won’t,” the one pointing a gun at Li said.
    Case pointed that gun at Jesse again. “Stand down. On your
knees.”
    Jesse wasn’t fooled again. Though the words the man used
were a trigger for him, the actual trigger told the tale. “Your fucking
safety’s on, asshole.”
    He punched him again, hard across the bridge of his nose,
and Case went down. Jesse looked up and Big Tag was moving into the room, his
body protected by a large man in the same black uniform everyone else was
wearing. He had his hands