Shattered (Hostage Rescue Team #11)(3)
“Need a hand?” Nate asked.
“Yeah, start documenting all this,” Bauer answered, emerging from the BMW with a sawed-off in hand.
Nate started filming everything and writing up a list. Within a few minutes they had a small pile of automatic weapons and ammo gathered on the ground, along with a bag full of cash and a couple kilos of coke.
“Okay, that’s a wrap for us,” Tuck said to them. “Forensics is taking over now. Good job tonight, boys.”
The announcement was met with a lot of smiles and high-fives. They were going home to Virginia, and Nate couldn’t get there fast enough. It had been way too damn long since he’d seen his little warrior.
He still couldn’t believe how lucky he’d gotten to have Taya reappear so suddenly in his life.
With her calm, gentle nature she’d helped heal hidden wounds he’d been carrying around for years ever since that horrific day in Afghanistan when fate had placed her life in his hands. She made him a better man, owned him heart and soul, and he couldn’t imagine ever living without her.
Chapter Two
Smothering an eye-watering yawn, Taya kept her fingers laced with Nathan’s as he led her to the front door of his commander’s house for the team gathering. The sexy half-smile he shot her sent a wave of warmth washing through her, but didn’t erase the combination of excitement and anxiety fluttering in the pit of her belly.
She’d planned to tell him the news when she’d gotten home from San Francisco late last night, but the moment they’d walked into their condo he’d pounced on her, making it impossible to think at all, let alone talk. Afterward, she’d fallen straight into a deep, dreamless sleep that had kept her under until it was time to get ready to come here. She’d started to bring it up on the drive here, but he’d wound on the phone for the last half of it.
She couldn’t wait much longer. He and the guys were leaving again tomorrow for another training thing down in Florida. So after the barbecue was over, she was going to tell him. She couldn’t tell him one piece without the other, and his possible reaction to the first part kept making her hesitate.
Noticing her attempt to hide the yawn, Nathan raised a dark auburn eyebrow at her as they stepped up onto the front porch. “You gonna make it? You only slept what, twelve hours since you got home last night?”
Her lips curved at his teasing. “I’ll do my best.” The slight jetlag wasn’t helping matters.
A baby’s happy gurgle came from behind them on the street. Taya looked over her shoulder as Clay Bauer appeared at the foot of the brick walkway with his five-month old daughter in the crook of one muscular arm. Her heart squeezed at the sight. “Hey, you two. Where’s Zoe?”
“She’ll be here in a bit. Had to grab some stuff from the store.” He shifted the strap of the diaper bag over his shoulder and loped up the steps to join them. “Okay, Miss Liberty, let’s do this.” Libby grinned up at him, her eyes locked on his with complete reverence.
Someone had their badass daddy wrapped securely around her little finger. Clay might be six-four and well over two hundred pounds, but one look at that baby’s smile and every one of his harsh edges softened. It was too freaking adorable. Without a doubt Nathan would be exactly the same when his turn came.
Taya glanced at him as they entered the house, indecision warring with her normal common sense. Should she pull him aside and come clean right now? Maybe he wouldn’t be upset about the first part. Then she could just tell him the rest and enjoy the evening.
Or he might be furious. She had a feeling he might.
Yeah, she’d wait until they left.
They all walked through the bright living room/kitchen together and out through the French doors that led onto the expansive wood deck outside. Shading her eyes, Taya took in the sight of Nathan’s teammates and some of the significant others all gathered around the deck and yard. The scent of grilling meat made her mouth water. She’d slept so late she’d missed breakfast and lunch.
“Well, if it isn’t Bauer and the Schroders,” Commander Matt DeLuca said, adjusting the brim of his Chargers ball cap as he manned the grill. “‘Bout time. We were starting to think you guys weren’t coming.”
Nathan tugged her toward his boss. “Yeah, I had trouble dragging someone out of bed because I guess I must have worn her out last night.” His eyes gleamed at her with pure male pride.
“Too much information,” Matt said, his attention on the grilling food.
“Way too much,” Taya agreed, nudging Nathan with her elbow in warning.
“I’ve got a real excuse,” Clay said. “Libby and I had a major diaper incident that required a type one hazmat response as we were getting into my truck. I had to take her back inside, throw out what she was wearing and hose her down. And now I so deserve a beer.”
Matt cracked a laugh. “That sounds pretty bad.”
“It was the shits.”
Taya chuckled at Clay’s wit. It was always a surprise, seeing someone as hard and serious as him cracking a joke. He’d sure warmed up a lot since Libby had come along, though his wife deserved most of the credit. Zoe was one of a kind, and a force to be reckoned with.
“Good to see it didn’t damage your sense of humor,” said Nathan.
Most people would say Clay didn’t have one to damage, but then most people never got to know him the way they did.