He’d have thought jerking off while imagining himself with her would’ve done the trick. All it managed to do was relax him enough to fall asleep, allowing his subconscious to take over and torture him some more.
Nate woke up in spurts, going back and forth between kicking his own ass for almost kissing her and beating himself up because he hadn’t.
All. Fucking. Night. Long.
When Gabe sent the group text an hour ago alerting Bravo of the meeting, the first thing that ran through his head was that Gracie would be at the office, too.
The level of anticipation he felt surprised him. Nate normally didn’t get excited just from the possibility of seeing a woman. Especially one he wasn’t even dating.
Not that he didn’t have an enormous amount of appreciation for the opposite sex. Nate loved a good roll in the hay as much as the next guy. He wasn’t quite the man-whore Turner was, but he had a normal, healthy appetite for sex.
Add to that his good looks and military background, and finding a willing partner was never usually an issue. At least, it didn’t used to be.
Lately, the empty, meaningless sex he normally enjoyed was becoming…well…meaningless. More and more, Nate had been feeling as though something was missing. And he fucking hated it.
Just seeing Gracie’s smiling face when he’d first walked into R.I.S.C. a few minutes ago gave him more excitement than his last few sexual encounters combined.
He was afraid it would be awkward, given how things ended last night, but she’d greeted him pleasantly and professionally, as if nothing had ever happened.
Which technically, it hadn’t.
So, either he was reading too much into things and she didn’t feel the same, incredible connection he had—one that, if he were honest, scared the shit out of him—or she was mature enough and professional enough not to let it interfere with work.
Nate ignored the little voice inside his head praying it was the latter.
Jake walked in the room, a welcome interruption to his thoughts. Closing the door behind him, he went to the front. Pushing
thoughts of Gracie aside, Nate sat up a little straighter and got his head into the game.
Dressed in a suit and tie, McQueen bid them all a good morning. Getting right down to business, the highly-respected man used the remote in his hand to power up the interactive board on the wall behind him.
“I asked Dawson to call you in here today because I have a job for Bravo. As you know, Homeland contracts us out, from time to time, when there’s something they need done but they are unable to get directly involved.”
“I’m guessing this is one of those times,” Zade stated casually.
With a nod, McQueen clicked the remote again. Two seconds later, a man’s face appeared on the large screen.
“This is Petty Officer Third Class, Craig Wyatt. Up until June of last year, Wyatt served as an active member of SEAL Team Five, stationed in Virginia.”
Curious, Matt asked, “What happened in June?”
With another click, the men in the room were shown a picture of two Humvees on a desert road. Or, more accurately, what was left of them.
Both vehicles appeared to have been destroyed by some kind of bomb. Metal was twisted and blown apart, hundreds of pieces scattered on the dry dirt around where they’d been hit.
“Last summer, Wyatt and his team were on their way to a meeting. The mission was to gather intel from a known associate of Achim Akmar in order to locate and capture him. They never made it to that meeting. Team Five lost three men that day. Craig Wyatt was among those who survived, but he lost his leg, effectively ending his Naval career.”
Achim Akmar. Nate had heard that name before. He just couldn’t remember from where. “Akmar…why does that sound so familiar?”
“Achim Akmar is a cleaner,” Gabe answered for Jake. “He’s well-known and well-connected.”
“Akmar’s a monster.” Jake looked at Nate. “You want someone gone, he’s your man. Need intel extracted, he’ll do whatever it takes to get it.”
Gabe chimed in again. “He gets off on what he does, which makes him even more dangerous. This guy has no qualms about torturing women, the elderly, anyone who stands between him and his money. Achim Akmar is all about one thing…the bottom dollar. Bastard would kill his own grandmother if you paid him enough.”
To Gabe, Nate asked, “Why hasn’t he been stopped before now?”
“The guy’s a ghost, Carter. Not only is he the best at what he does, he’s also a master at disappearing.”
