Targets Entangled (5 page)

“Working out?” Daegan responded with a smile. His blue eyes sparkled, but it didn’t ease the underlying tension between the two of them. He slowly and obviously looked her up and down before connecting his gaze to hers once again. A hot flash came over her that had nothing to do with her workout. “I mean, there’s only so much you can do on this ship.”

Ferrin didn’t take the bait that Daegan was piling up for her. All she’d thought about this past week were his parting words. He’d all but spelled it out for her what he wanted and then…nothing. She hadn’t seen nor heard from him since. Her life was too structured for her to be worrying over something that neither of them had the right to engage in aboard the ship.

“I’m not having any issues keeping myself busy,” Ferrin said, stepping off of the treadmill and walking over to the small fridge that was stocked with bottled water. There was a stack of warm bottles crated up next to the fridge and a sign reminding users to replace what they took, so she removed a cold one and replaced it with a warm one. She ignored the insignificant tremor in her hand and chalked it up to her accelerated cardio rate. “Work, sleep, a work-out routine, and a good book are all that’s needed. Jarhead, you can read, right?”

“Really?” Humor was etched into Daegan’s tone as he continued to address her daily schedule without biting on the obvious service-related jab. “You live a very exciting life, Ferrin.”

She’d always dealt with matters head on and this was going to be no different. He wouldn’t take her by surprise again now that she was prepared. She shut the refrigerator door and then walked toward him, taking her time untwisting the cap on the bottle. She fortified herself with a drink before she met his gaze and finally said what she should have a long time ago.

“Daegan, you’re reckless.” Ferrin didn’t stop until she was practically toe-to-toe with him. “You purposefully set out to do things that other people tell you not to do. You live each day as if it’s your last and while that’s not technically a bad thing, it’s not my way. I have responsibilities that I take very seriously and my job is one of them. My sister and mother depend on me financially. I won’t jeopardize my job just because—”

“Jeopardize your job?” Daegan raised an eyebrow and lifted a corner of his mouth as if her words had no impact. “You think spending time with me would do that? Those are company guidelines, nothing more. HR handbook crap for the uninitiated plebes. We’re adults and we know what the other wants. You said it yourself months ago that what we shared was exactly what you needed.”

“At the time,” Ferrin argued with a shake of her head. She should have had this conversation with him the week after all of it happened. “I was learning a new job in a new place that I need to help support my family. I can’t afford to fuck that up. I won’t deny that one weekend where I tossed caution to the winds and focused on myself was a nice distraction, but that was the end of it. We’re total opposites and have absolutely nothing in common. To continue something like this is a waste of both of our time and would only irritate our supervisors should they find out about it. Mine more so than yours because it won’t be your job on the line, Einstein.”

Ferrin hadn’t realized that her voice had gotten rather loud and she glanced behind her to see who was still in the room. A couple of the crewmembers were spotting each other in the corner and another was using the elliptical machine. No one was paying any attention to her though.

“Good sex is never a waste of time.” Daegan’s statement sent butterflies loose in her stomach, but she didn’t let on that his words affected her in any way. She whipped her head back around to find that he’d levered himself off of the bulkhead. It was his touch that had her wavering. He’d wrapped his warm fingers around the back of her neck, knowing full well she was sensitive there. “I want you, Ferrin. I want your body underneath mine and I want to hear you cry out my name when I make you come. This doesn’t have to be anything more than a physical outlet for both of us, so what we have or don’t have in common shouldn’t come into play. What we can do is satisfy each other’s needs.”

Ferrin’s body overheated and it had nothing to do with her previous workout. No other man affected her in the way Daegan did and that was the problem. He created chaos wherever he went and made her want to lose her inhibitions with him. Her body remembered what it was like to be beneath him while her mind tried its best to remind her of why it would be a bad idea. She wasn’t like Daegan and she was afraid this thing between them would become more than an outlet. There were only two other men that she’d been with and both had been committed relationships throughout her twenties. She wasn’t sure she knew how to do it any other way.

“I can satisfy myself, thank you very much,” Ferrin whispered, afraid she’d give in to her basic instincts. Her body was already humming for what it knew he could give her, but she wasn’t like him. She’d had a hard enough time acclimating after their weekend to know that she’d want more if she spent any more time with him. “I don’t need you to do that for me.”

“Don’t you?” Daegan leaned down until their lips were inches apart. She felt his warm breath against her skin and questioned herself. He could satisfy her so much better. “I will freely admit to needing you.”

“Einstein, you ready?”

Ferrin pulled away as if she’d been burned, which technically might have actually happened. She could still feel the imprint of Daegan’s fingers at the nape of her neck. Her face flushed at being caught in such an intimate position and realizing that her bottle of water was still uncapped, she took a long drink to quench her thirst. It also delayed the inevitability of turning around to see who had spoken.

“Give me a minute, Doc.” Daegan didn’t take his eyes off of her and he didn’t seem fazed a bit by the interruption. “Ferrin, I’m laying my cards on the table. One weekend wasn’t enough for either of us. If you’re worried about your job, don’t be. Discretion is my middle name.”

Ferrin had to remind herself that Daegan was a charmer and used his charisma to get what he wanted. Unfortunately she wanted him regardless that he viewed her as nothing more than a brief affair. It wasn’t as if she could fault him for being honest. He’d certainly let her know when he was done with her. The one question that remained was in the end, would her heart be reasonably intact?

“Like you were just a moment ago?” Ferrin asked, feeling more like herself now that she had room to breathe. “That wasn’t what I would call discretion.”

“There were a total of three people in this room and not one of them bothered to look our way.” Daegan pulled the towel from around his neck and used a corner of the fabric to wipe away the perspiration that had beaded on her forehead. “You trusted me enough to have a two day marathon of sexual gymnastics and not breathe a word of it to anyone. I kept my word.”

Ferrin finally tore her gaze away from his so that she could recap the water bottle. Her mind was spinning with doubts, but what she did know was that she trusted him within reason…just not with her heart. She thought of Tami, who was carefree and lived life in the moment much like Daegan. Would it hurt to loosen up a bit?

“I’m sorry,” Ferrin said, finally bringing her eyes back to up his face. “That was uncalled for and I know that you’ve been respectful when it comes to our—”

Ferrin wasn’t sure what to call the weekend they’d had. An affair? Did it matter what she called it?

“Look, I’m not like you. I need to think before making decisions. I—”

“Then think on it,” Daegan replied with a half-smile. His Irish charm was showing once again and his eyes sparkled with mischief. She felt a tug at her own lips, liking how he made her feel. “You know where to find me.”

Just like that, Daegan was gone as if their encounter never happened. Ferrin turned and saw that he’d joined Doc on the open mat in the far left corner of the room. She wasn’t sure what they had planned, whether it was wrestling or combat maneuvers, but it was time to go before he caught her staring at him. She would think on his proposal and weigh the pros and cons, but not until her body and libido cooled off. She needed a clear head to make that kind of decision and not based on the fact that she was sexually frustrated at that moment. She smothered a moan when she saw Daegan take his shirt off and she promptly turned on the heel of her running shoe. The image of his body was just as imprinted on her mind as the feel of his fingers was on the sensitive skin at the nape of her neck. What she needed was a cold shower and a solid ten hours of sleep, in that order. Too bad her plan didn’t include a good bottle of white Moscato.

‡

D
aegan tweaked the
windage and elevation knobs to adjust the reticle in his sight picture for the full value dominant winds and the fact that he was shooting over water with a bright morning sun. He brought into focus one of the floating buoys that Stick had thrown out to sea off of the stern. He tucked his new M40A6 bolt-action rifle against his shoulder and waited for the familiar awareness of his environment to become a part of him.

As was usual, nearly all sounds faded to the background as he detected the faint rush of the crosswind as it ebbed and flowed below the constant forward zero value wind created by the ship’s headway. The melodic rise and fall of the wind and the pounding of churning water replaced the everyday noise of crewmembers behind him. The ship’s hum diminished and was replaced with the sound of his heartbeat syncing with the motion of his pitching target. The smell of the salt in the air diluted and the heat of the sun beating down on his skin weakened as he evened his breathing and lined up the shot where the target would be when the bullet arrived.

The crack echoed through the air, but the sound of the naturally biodegradable eighteen-inch orange floating target sphere exploding with the impact of the round was too far away for anyone to hear. Daegan cycled the bolt, ejecting the casing so that it fell onto the deck. He would collect them later and reload them if the Norma 7.62mm x 51mm brass casing had any life left in it.

Daegan always reloaded—a technical term for making one’s own bullets—his own rounds with virgin Norma brass. His choice of brass complemented the Lapua Scenar 167 grain-jacketed, hollow point boat-tailed bullet he preferred. He lubricated each case by hand and sized the virgin brass with the full-length sizing die. He individually measured an exact charge, seated each bullet, and crimped the bullet with the factory die. After personally ensuring each step was performed exactly the same as the round before, he measured every aspect of each individual round. All these minute details were a necessity if you wanted to make the truly difficult shots since factory match-grade rounds couldn’t meet his exacting standards. Starr had made sure he always had the correct premium equipment and selected components on board in the armory.

“That seemed like a pretty serious discussion that you had going on with Gunny last week.” Stick had set up the tactical spotting scope on the bench he was using as a station for the buoys and raised his shades so that he could peer through it. The high definition optics package totally eliminated the glare of the sun and provided a unique picture of the water’s surface four hundred meters out from the ship as the targets drifted to his desired range. The temperature was a comfortable eighty degrees with varying winds that aided in Daegan’s target shooting exercise. He liked to keep his skills sharp and the way the ship was steaming through the endless ocean and the dark green water was churning into foam gave him that extra challenge he preferred. He pulled his eye away from the objective lens of his scope, wondering where Stick was going with this when there was still at least an hour before they were due back to the team ready room. “I wasn’t speaking out of turn between us, was I?”

Daegan released his loop sling and laid his weapon in its rest and pulled himself into a sitting position as he rotated his shoulder, taking the opportunity to loosen up his muscles. He turned the visor of his cap forward and positioned the material so that it snugged the shape of his head. He sure as hell could have used a cigarette right about now considering what Stick wanted to talk about, but Daegan had given his word to his sister-in-law after she’d practically hounded him to death after his niece had been born a few years ago. He wouldn’t break his promise, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

“No. I would have spoken up if I had thought otherwise.” Daegan idly picked up the spent brass and tossed it into the plastic container he used to collect them in. “It doesn’t really matter what I think anyway. Starr was adamant that this assignment be completed per the contract with no sideline mission. Gunny was in agreement.”

“If that was your sister, you wouldn’t want the man to pay for her death?”

“I don’t have a sister.” Daegan didn’t bother looking up. His answer was met with silence, but Stick wasn’t the type of man to beat around the bush. Living day to day while dismantling bombs had a tendency to make a man say his peace before he no longer had that chance. “What do you really want to know, Stick? It sounds as if you
want
Gunny to take care of personal business while we’re over there.”