Secret Maneuvers
Secret Maneuvers
Jessie Lane
Dedication
From Crystal: First, I would like to dedicate this book to my Nana, Viola Fetherman, who passed away at the end of last April. She told me many times how proud she was of me for pursuing my
dreams and Secret Maneuvers was the book she was waiting to read. I miss and love you Nana. Thank you for being the wonderful grandmother that you were. You’ll always be with me in my heart. Secondly, this book is dedicated to all of the men and women who wear the uniform and fight for our freedom. You’re an inspiration and a daily reminder that freedom is not free. It comes with hefty price tags that you all shoulder for the rest of us. Thank you.
From Melissa: To all of my family members and close friends who served in the military and those I call my brothers currently overseas; this is for you. THANK YOU! To all the men and women who have fought for our freedoms, your sacrifices are paramount and words alone cannot express our gratitude to you. But we can try. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Acknowledgements
I’d like to start by thanking my Daddy, Scott Fetherman. Even though he likes to pick on me for writing romance novels, he’s still pretty awesome about answering the gabillion questions I have about weapons and the military during the writing process. So thank you Daddy, for just being you. Which sometimes is a crotchety old man who still rocks out to George Thorogood’s Bad to the Bone on his air guitar, but I wouldn’t have you any other way. I love you tremendously. (From Crystal)
To my friend Aimee Percy, who was part of the inspiration behind Annabelle’s character. Thank you woman! And I mean dag-gum! LOL (Also from Crystal)
Next we’d like to thank our two beta readers: Crystal at Reading Between the Wines and Laura at Little Read Riding Hood. You two ladies are amazing, and we simply adore you! Thank you for being such great friends to us.
To Alizon and Kristin at C&D Editing, thank you for the hard work ladies. Love you for what you do!
A big shout out to all of the reviewers we work with! You all are a truly amazing bunch and we love working with you! Thank you for the love and support you’ve shown us this past year. Lastly, to our readers who support us by buying our books! Thank you bunches! You are amazing. We wouldn’t be here without you.
Ex Ops Series
:
Book# 1
Published by Jessie Lane
at Smashwords
Copyright © 2013 by Jessie Lane
First Edition Edited by C&D Editing
Published: June 15, 2013
Cover Art by Jessie Lane
ISBN: 978-1301452095
If you have purchased a copy of this eBook from Smashwords or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book. This purchase allows you one legal copy for your own personal reading enjoyment on your personal computer or device. You do not have the rights to resell, distribute, print, or transfer this book, in whole or in part, to anyone, in any format, via methods either currently known or yet to be invented, or upload to a file sharing peer to peer program. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. If you no longer want this book, you may not give your copy to someone else. Delete it from your computer. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors
Secret Maneuvers
Ex Ops Series: Book 1
Copyright © 2013 by Jessie Lane
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of Jessie Lane, except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976.
All rights reserved.
Published by Jessie Lane
Cover Art by Jessie Lane
First Edition Edited by C&D Editing, Published June 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-1301452095
Secret Maneuvers is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
No part of this book can be reproduced in any form by electronic or mechanical means, including storage or retrieval systems, without the express permission in writing from the authors. The only exception is by a reviewer who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Annabelle
The Georgia summer night air was hot and humid, but that didn’t stop me from cuddling as close as I could get to the boy I loved most in this world. The sweet smell from the azalea blossom that Bobby Baker had tucked behind my ear drifted around me, creating a false sense of security. My chin was settled on the back of my left hand as I lay propped up on his chest. With so much weighing on my mind, I was distractedly staring into oblivion over his body in the general direction of Bobby’s beloved 1967 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500.
The car’s black paint blended with the night, but its white racing stripes glowed brightly down the center in the soft moonlight. Bobby said the only thing that he loved more than that car was me. However, that love wasn’t strong enough to stop him from leaving me behind tomorrow.
He kept telling me that I was worrying too much. That everything was going to be alright. No matter his reassurances, the massive lump of dread in the pit of my stomach wasn’t going away. That uneasy feeling you got when something terrible was about to happen was haunting my every moment, and it was only a matter of time before whatever it was would come to pass. The question was, would I come out alright on the other end of the impending catastrophe?
Sprawled on top of a blanket on the bank of the creek, my mind was moving faster than the speed of light at what lay ahead of us tomorrow. Bobby was holding me tightly while he stared at the bright stars above us. The familiar sounds of the critters in the forest, accompanied with the crickets around us, did nothing to ease the heavy silence that Bobby and I were trying so carefully to tip-toe around.
What felt like a thousand pounds of pressure on my chest eventually became too much. I resigned myself to broach the subject he was trying so desperately to avoid. “What time do you leave tomorrow, Ace?”
Bobby’s hand tightened on my shoulder for a second before he started stroking the bare skin above my tank top. “I’ve got to be at the bus stop at seven.”
My chest seized up and the ability to breathe suddenly felt impossible. Fighting my instincts to sob uncontrollably was almost painful, but necessary, as I reminded myself that tonight would be the last night we would have to spend together for months. Tomorrow he was headed to Fort Leonard Wood in Waynesville, MO for ten weeks of Army Basic Training. After that, it would be at least fourteen weeks that he would be gone during the next phase of training for an Infantryman position. Even longer if he was selected to attend Ranger school. Months and months before I could see, taste or touch him again. I had to reassure myself in the most basic ways that Bobby Baker, one of the town’s golden boys, was really and truly all mine; that someone like him could, in fact, love a girl like me; to have the physical proof from his hands and mouth as they touched me that I was not alone in this world. Those were hard facts for me to accept when Bobby was all I genuinely had here.
Sensing the direction of my thoughts he grabbed my chin gently and turned it so that I was looking at him. “Don’t think about it tonight, Belle. Tonight is just for us, remember? Come here.” Rolling to his side, Bobby pulled me up the last few inches so that we lay facing each other while he stroked his fingertips down the side of my face. “Don’t feel sad, baby. What’s our plan?”
Holding back the tears that threatened to escape from my eyes, I placed one of my trembling hands over his heart. “You’re going to basic. While you’re gone, I’m supposed to stop by your momma’s as often as possible, so everyone knows I’m okay. If Daddy gets drunk or becomes trouble again, I call your dad right away to come and get me. Then, when you’re done with all of your school, you’re going to come back and get me because I’ll finally be eighteen. You’ll take me far, far away from this small town and we’ll live happily ever after.”
Cocking his devastating, good ol’ boy grin, Bobby nodded his head. “That’s right, baby. Don’t forget the plan. You’ve just got to make it a little while without me. Then first chance I get, I’ll be back for you. You’re the town tough girl. You’ll be just fine. Promise me, though, that if you run out of food again, you’ll go see Mom.”
My cheeks burned with embarrassment. I knew he was just looking out for me, but who wanted to admit that they often went hungry because their father would rather buy his booze and cigarettes than provide a warm meal for his child. Tucking my chin to my chest I murmured, “Promise.”
“When I get back on leave, we’ll have our happily ever after, Belle. You and me forever, with no one standing in our way. I’ll get to wake you up in the morning with those slow kisses you love so much. Put you to bed at night after I’ve touched every inch of your sweet, little body with my hands.” My body gave an involuntary shiver at his words. “Come here and give me some hot memories to keep me warm on the lonely nights to come, baby.” Bobby’s mouth covered mine. His tongue caressed my own in sweet, smooth strokes that warmed me from the inside out. He kissed me senseless until I had to gasp for air. “Do you feel better now?”
He wasn’t talking about my emotional state of mind. I’d had a horrible case of strep throat that my dad had refused to take me to a doctor for. After missing a few days of school because my fever was over one hundred two degrees, Bobby finally talked me into going to his house so his parents could try and help me. His father might be a farmer, but his uncle was the small town’s physician. After one phone call, a home visit from Dr. Baker, and strict instructions for drinking as many fluids as possible while taking the medication, my fever had finally broke. Now, a week and a half later, I felt like my old self again. Or, at least, I would if my heart wasn’t breaking into a million pieces inside my chest.
“Yeah, Ace. All better. The antibiotics cleared me right up.”
“Good,” he said softly before gently brushing his lips against my own. I brought my hand up to cradle the side of his face, sweeping my thumb over his cheekbone. My eyes traveled slowly over Bobby’s face, memorizing for the millionth time every feature he had. Starting with his thick, lush, chestnut hair with subtle blond highlights, due to his long days spent in the sun. That hair curled around his ears and dropped down into his eyes since he’d forgone his usual monthly haircuts. His extraordinary baby blue eyes with flecks of white and gray reminded me of sunny days spent lazing about in a hammock, cuddled next to him in the Bakers’ backyard. They were the most beautiful eyes I’d ever seen. His prominent cheekbones, straight nose, and strong jaw completed a handsome face of a boy that was on the verge of becoming a man. The kind of good looks that you knew would only get better with age. He was attractive now, but when he was older, I just knew he was going to be the kind of stunning that women became mesmerized with.