“Not a word!” Mindy whispered, trying to hide the shock of their mutual experience.
All four women nodded almost imperceptivity as they silently entered Jinx’s restaurant. All four of them felt, and most likely looked, stunned. Maybe a bit horrified.
“I didn’t know…!” Nina whispered, slowly…carefully…sinking into one of the chairs. Her lips pressed together and she left that statement unfinished, still…utterly stunned.
“None of us knew,” Jinx replied, her hands resting on her knees as she stared blankly at the table. She couldn’t look at her friends. None of them could look each other in the eye. Not after…!
Nina cleared her throat, then slowly lowered herself into one of the chairs. “It was…!”
“Don’t say anything!” Mindy hissed furiously, but she couldn’t look at her friends.
Kaia nodded her head. “Yes, perhaps the events of this day should never be spoken of again.” And she took the last chair at the square table.
All four ladies sat in complete silence, unaware of the movement of other customers coming and going or the laughter drifting in on the breeze from the beach. The waves crashed against the surf in the distance, but they didn’t hear any of it. They were too shocked to do anything more than just…stare at the table.
“Hey there!” Donny called out with his normal cheer. As the head chef at Jinx’s restaurant, Donny was smart, funny, and always exuberant. He was also a good friend to all of the ladies, loved to cook just about anything and was currently carrying four cocktails on a brown tray. “How was your…?” he paused, registering the stunned expressions, “…spa day?” The last two words trailed off as his concern increased when he realized that none of the four women were speaking. Or looking at each other. Or even moving!
“Oookay,” he whispered, almost to himself. He shook his head slightly, then stepped forward, feigning happiness in order to cover his concern. “Obviously you ladies aren’t your normal excited selves. But maybe these will help.” He set a pretty, fruity cocktail down in front of each of them with a flourish. When none of the ladies touched their drink, he tucked the brown tray under his arm, glanced at each of them, then walked away, knowing what he had to do.
“Not a word!” Mindy whispered again.
“Hey guys,” Donny called out as he approached the table on the opposite side of the restaurant, giving the men time to pause their conversation. He had no idea why, but Jinx had warned him that the men’s conversations were private. Donny couldn’t care less about what they were talking about, but he’d protect their privacy. He worked in the kitchen here at Jinx’s for fourteen hours a day and considered this to be his home, which meant that these men were part of his family.
James turned to wave at Donny as the other three men leaned back in their chairs, sipping their beers. “Hey Donny. Are the ladies back yet?” James asked.
Donny ran a hand through his hair, unaware of the confusion clearly visible on his face. “Yeah, sort of.”
The men had already started to stand up. But at Donny’s words, they froze, staring at him, waiting.
Donny moved closer, still confused and concerned. Each of the men was tall, well over six feet, and each was covered with muscles. All of that brawn tensed as the four men went into battle mode. “What do you mean?”
Donny glanced over his shoulder at the ladies, then back at the men, adding a shrug and a small shake of his head. “Something happened. They don’t look happy or relaxed like they normally do after a spa day.”
The men were already moving towards the ladies’ table before Donny could finish. When they spotted their women, each of the men came to a sudden stop, alert to danger as if they could smell it.
“What the hell?” James muttered.
Buck and Diesel almost pushed James out of their way to get to their wives and James snarled as he too hurried towards Jinx.
Jack held back, unable to stop the bitter taste of jealousy surging through his body as he stared at Mindy and knew that he didn’t have the right to demand to be told what had hurt her. He didn’t have the right to slay her dragons! He didn’t have any rights!
At that moment, Mindy lifted her emerald gaze and he felt it like a gut punch. Screw “rights”, he thought with rising fury. Mindy might not be “his”, but she was a member of his team, dwindling as it was. And…oh hell, he walked towards her, forgetting that she was a team member in his need to find out what was wrong. The stunned, horrified look in her beautiful, green eyes tore at him.
He would kill the person who had put that look in her eyes! He would tear the guy’s limbs off! Yeah, he knew that Mindy could take care of herself. She was beautiful, but also tough and strong and…sexy as hell!
Jack walked over and knelt down beside Mindy. “What’s wrong?” he asked gently.
Mindy looked at him, eyes widening slightly. “I just…nothing is…!” She stopped, her soft, full lips pressing together as she stared at him, then shivered slightly. “We can’t…!”
A snort of laughter pulled Mindy’s attention back to the ladies sitting at the table and Jack turned to discover Jinx with her hand over her mouth.
Another giggle and Jack saw that Nina and Kaia were doing the same thing. Laughter? Or…were they crying? Jack looked at the other three men, each of them staring at their wives. The guys glanced at Jack, trying to figure out what was going on, then looking to each other for answers since the ladies weren’t willing to explain.
Jinx burst out laughing, her hands over her face, as if she didn’t want anyone to notice.
“Stop it,” Kaia got out, before she burst into laughter, tears already pouring down her cheeks. Nina buried here face against Buck’s neck, her shoulders shuddering as she laughed so hard that her knees went weak.
Jack turned, shooting a questioning look at Mindy. She was torn between laughter and horror. “Don’t say anything!” she hissed furiously to her friends, then her lips quirked up. The laughter was imminent and Jack’s shoulders relaxed slightly.
“What happened?” Jack asked again.
Mindy put a hand on his shoulder and a bolt of white-hot heat shot through his bones. Jack ignored the surge of lust, concentrating on Mindy and trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
Now Mindy was laughing as well and Jack wanted to pull her onto his lap and…and what? He didn’t have any right to pull her onto his lap, to kiss her and tease her until she told him what had happened. He wanted to smother her in kisses and touch her everywhere! He’d had so many dreams about that body since she’d been assigned to his team and, although he’d been furious at the time, Jack had to admit that Mindy was a damn fine agent. It wasn’t her fault that he was more than half in love with her.
James and Jack shared a glance from their crouched positions across the table. “So, none of you are hurt?” James asked cautiously.
Jinx lifted her head and glanced at the other three ladies, which caused them to burst into another round of hilarity.
Jack stood up, irritated and somehow deflated. He’d wanted a dragon to slay and…apparently, there were no dragons. Damn! A good fight was exactly what he needed right now. Since meeting Mindy all those months ago, none of the other women who had crossed his path had been even slightly attractive. Since sex was out of the question, a knock-down, drag-out fight was his only outlet for this increasing tension he felt.
Buck and Diesel stood as well. “We’ll get it out of them tonight,” Buck promised. Diesel and James nodded, leaving Jack’s frustration to ramp up another notch. No fight. No information and no right to use all those innovative and enticing tactics to find out what had happened. Jack wanted to…? He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do other than to pull Mindy into his arms and…and? Damn it! Jack rubbed a hand over the scruff on his jawline, wishing for something he could never have.
Buck scooped Nina up into his arms as Diesel pulled another square table closer. Then the men arranged the ladies so that each was sitting next to her mate. Thankfully, that also meant that Jack was able to sit beside Mindy. He might not have the right to touch her as his friends were doing to their wives, but it was enough just to sit next to her.
At least, that’s what he tried to convince himself.
“What happened?” James asked yet again, his voice smooth and confident as he addressed the group of women, even as Jack unconsciously leaned closer to Mindy.
“None of your business,” Jinx replied, softening her non-answer with a kiss to James’ cheek. James growled, then looked to Diesel and Buck. The silent message was clear enough. They would get answers from their ladies, one way or another.
Jack’s temper increased yet another notch, because Jack wouldn’t have Mindy in his bed tonight. He couldn’t tease the truth out of her with sensual touches and…well, other ways of getting the truth out of a woman when she was resistant to offering a simple explanation.
Jack turned, taking in the view of Mindy’s full, round, amazing breasts. Breasts that were made for a man…no, not just any man. Those breasts would fit into his hands perfectly! He didn’t know this for an absolute fact, but there had been enough times over the past year when he and Mindy had been in a tight situation and those breasts had been enticingly close to his hands. And his chest, or his back or…hell, too many parts of his body. He’d white knuckled his way through the situation, reminding himself that they were on a mission and making a pass at one of his team mates was wrong on just about every level. Not to mention, it could get them both fired. Or worse, separated to different teams.
Jack didn’t want her to be assigned to another team. First of all, she was a damn good agent. Her intuition and creativity in gaining information had helped them succeed in several important missions over the past year. And secondly…okay the second issue was that he didn’t trust the other teams to protect Mindy’s back well enough.
One of the waiters brought out food that Jack didn’t remember ordering and everyone dug into the meal. The beer was cold, Jinx’s food was perfectly cooked with interesting spices and perfectly matched textures, and there was great conversation.
And yet, at the end of the evening, Jack couldn’t remember what was said, or if he’d even participated in the conversation. That was pretty much par for the course when he sat beside Mindy all night, her feminine scent hinting at the delicious female that he knew she’d be, and all of that delectable femininity mixed with the soft scent of…roses? No. Lily of the Valley. Yeah, that was her the base of her perfume. It suited her perfectly. It was light and vivid, just like her.
