Czytaj książkę: «The Sergeant's Temptation»

CHAPTER ONE

“I’LL TAKE HER.”

Luke Williams couldn’t get his eyes off the petite soldier who was fighting a man more than twice her size. It was better than any mixed martial arts match he’d ever seen on TV. He was standing outside the Plexiglas window of a ten-foot by ten-foot cube that had been designed to train soldiers in hand-to-hand combat. Except Sergeant Alessa Parrino didn’t need any training; she was literally kicking his best man to the floor. This one wasn’t made from the typical army mold.

“Oh, no you won’t, Lieutenant.”

Luke turned to his commanding officer, Colonel Michael McBride. “I thought the last unit member was my call.”

“It is. You’re just not hiring her.”

Luke bit the inside of his cheek, keeping his voice neutral and friendly. “You have a concern, sir?”

The colonel raised his bushy gray eyebrows. “Have you read her file?”

Luke knew why the colonel was asking if Luke really wanted Alessa Parrino for his unit.

“Why did you let her apply and go through the test?”

“So I could check the box that we gave equal opportunity for this unit. You know how it is these days.”

“A woman could be an asset for us.” Luke said evenly. He’d worked with McBride long enough to realize the old man still wasn’t used to the idea that the army was letting women into special ops.

“I don’t see how. You get injured on the field, that hundred-and-thirty-pound girl isn’t gonna carry your two hundred and twenty pounds to safety.”

Luke watched Parrino extend her hand to the fallen soldier to help him up. Bad move. Rodgers was one of his dirtiest fighters; that was why Luke had used him for this exercise. All the other unit members had been handpicked by Luke’s predecessor. Luke wanted the open position to be filled by someone of his choosing, a member who would be loyal to him. He needed someone on the inside to help him with what he planned.

Rodgers took Parrino’s hand and predictably used her weaker position to pull downward while sliding his leg across the floor to kick her legs out from under her. Classic. Can’t believe she fell for it.

“Don’t go easy on her ’cause she’s a girl,” the colonel hooted even though the sparring soldiers couldn’t hear him through the cube.

Luke resisted the urge to make a smart-aleck comment. He was on thin ice as it was. Parrino jumped a millisecond before Rodgers’s leg would have connected and used the downward momentum her rival had created to bend her arm and bring her elbow down on the other soldier’s solar plexus.

Nice!

Both Luke and Colonel McBride flinched at the look of sheer agony on Rodgers’s face.

Luke slapped the Plexiglas wall, opening the door. “All right, Parrino, you’re done.” The last thing he needed was for one of his men to end up in the hospital. The unit was less than a month away from being fully operational. That meant he’d get to take his men and fly to an undisclosed location, far away from Colonel Pain-in-the-Neck, who would stay here at Fort Belvoir in Virginia, kissing up to the Pentagon.

Parrino released her grip on the soldier’s throat and stood. Her eyes still alert for another attack, she walked toward Luke and stepped outside. She stood in front of Luke and the colonel and saluted. Barely five foot four, Parrino had short dark hair pulled neatly into a ponytail, golden-brown eyes and cream-colored skin tinged pink around her cheeks and nose. Her breathing was even and her expression relaxed. A shiny forehead was the only indication that she’d broken a sweat.

“Well done, Parrino.” Luke acknowledged.

She nodded curtly. They stared at her, and to her credit, her face remained impassive, back straight with a stance worthy of a recruitment poster. Luke tilted his head toward his office. “Wait there.” He didn’t offer her water or a chance to go to the bathroom; he needed to see her mettle.

“Rodgers, you’re done. Go get cleaned up.” The man would never live down this exercise. It was the first one he’d lost, but the unit members wouldn’t let him forget the fact that he’d been taken down by a woman half his size.

As soon as Rodgers was out of earshot, the colonel placed a hand on Luke’s shoulder. He wanted more than anything to smack it away. “Williams, I think it’s a bad idea to take the girl. She’s trouble with a capital T.”

“Parrino’s the only qualified candidate I’ve seen.”

“What you talkin’ about? There’s a stack of good soldiers on your desk.”

Luke had gone through all the applications in the folders on his desk and auditioned ten other guys, all of whom Rodgers had wiped out. The colonel knew this; he’d been there for every test. Not that he was micromanaging Luke. No, the colonel was there to “lend support.” Luke was supposed to have the authority to hire whomever he wanted. Technically.

That was the point of this unit, Ethan’s brainchild. Luke’s twin brother had convinced the brass that the only way to deal with their current problem was to create a nimble unit that could operate without the usual hierarchy. Each of the unit members had been hired for a particular skill set and they worked as a team, regardless of their army rank. The whole idea was not to work the usual way, so their moves wouldn’t be predictable. None of the soldiers who had been handpicked by Ethan had known each other, served together or had any commanding officers in common. They were a good group of men. But they were his brother’s men.

“Sir, we need a woman on the team. Men and women are regularly separated in the Sandbox, and I don’t want to be in a situation where we don’t have eyes where we need them.”

“Have you thought about the influence she’ll have on your men, your unit?” He motioned toward Rodgers, who was staring at Parrino through the glass doors of Luke’s office.

Luke raised a brow, though he understood full well where the colonel was going. “Oh, I’ll tell them I told Rodgers to go easy on her so they don’t give him a hard time.” It was a cheeky comment, but the colonel took it at face value.

“That’s not what I mean. Unit cohesion is everything, and given her history, I worry she’ll be a distraction. She has trouble with boundaries.”

Look who’s talking. The only boundaries McBride respected were the ones that suited him.

Luke resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He didn’t have a good grasp on how to manage the colonel. How would Ethan handle this? Now more than ever he wished he’d kept in touch with his twin brother. They’d been inseparable until they graduated West Point. A rift had grown between them after they both began active duty. The last few times they’d spoken, it had been to argue over Luke leaving the army. Ethan had taken command of this unit a year ago, but Luke had hardly paid attention. He’d been too focused on getting out. The news of Ethan’s death four months ago changed everything.

“Sir, no one knows for sure what happened, and she wasn’t disciplined.”

“Yeah, but her commanding officer still had to face an Article 134. That man will never get promoted. All it takes is the hint of impropriety between a soldier and a commanding officer, and you...” The colonel wiggled his eyebrows and pinned Luke with steel-gray eyes. “Son, I have great respect for your father—we’ve served in combat together—but I have to say that given your reputation, I wasn’t entirely comfortable giving you command of this unit.”

That’s a shocker. The uptight colonel was as old-school as they came, and Luke was far from a model officer. But McBride also wanted to get his first star, and going up against Luke’s four-star general father was not the way to do that. That said, Luke was on a short leash. He had command of the unit on a trial basis. A big screwup and he was out.

That couldn’t happen.

Luke gave him a hard look. “Sir, this unit meant a lot to my brother, and I plan to make it a success. For his sake.”

“Then I suggest you think carefully. This is your first major decision as unit commander. Pick your battles. Would your brother have wanted her?”

Luke didn’t have to think about what Ethan would’ve done. There was a reason why his brother had made captain while Luke was still first lieutenant. Luke hadn’t earned command of this unit. His father had pulled some strings, and if he hadn’t, Luke would be the last man in contention for the job. The colonel knew it, and so did Luke’s men. Every decision he made would be judged, and he would be blamed if anything went south.

“Sir, I know my reputation precedes me as well, which is why I’m more willing to give Sergeant Parrino a chance. The army has a way of blowing rumors out of proportion.”

“All rumors have a basis. Now, you’re a smart boy—” the colonel drawled “—you know what’s at stake here.” He patted Luke’s shoulder in a fatherly gesture that was anything but. “I’ll leave it with you. I’m sure you’ll make the right choice.”

As soon as I know what the right choice is.

“Yes, sir.” The colonel walked away and Luke was left starting after him. He didn’t need to be reminded of the stakes. The army was Ethan and his father’s thing. Not his. He hadn’t cared about climbing the ladder. He was supposed to be out by now, starting a new life. Then Ethan had died. Well-known for his shenanigans, Luke would have to work twice as hard to prove he was capable of commanding the unit. Without it, he had no chance of finding out what really happened to his brother.

* * *

ALESSA TOOK SEVERAL deep breaths so she’d be prepared to be neutral and deferential when Luke Williams—excuse me, Lieutenant Williams—returned to tell her she couldn’t have the job. She’d seen it all over the old colonel’s face when she’d pinned her opponent to the ground. He wasn’t the first officer to give her that look of disbelief and disgust. She was a woman; how dare she show herself to be stronger and more capable than a man? It was just as well. The unit was a long shot. She’d known that coming in.

The wall clock told her she’d been waiting for well over an hour. She shifted on her feet, trying not to think about the fact that her bladder was about to explode. Forty-eight hours ago, she’d been handed papers saying she would ship out in twenty-four hours with no explanation as to where she was going. Yesterday she’d boarded a military transport and it wasn’t until she’d been delivered to Fort Belvoir close to midnight that she’d been told to be ready to demonstrate her competence for the unit commander. She’d submitted her application six months ago and hadn’t heard anything.

Her “assessment” for this job had started this morning with a five-mile run, followed by a tactical exercise requiring her to focus and stay quick on her feet, and then the close-combat fight. It had been seven hours since she’d been given the opportunity to use the bathroom.

She catalogued everything in the office, trying to paint her own picture of Lieutenant Williams. It was hard not to remember everything she’d heard about the man, but she knew firsthand that talk did not equate to reality. There wasn’t much to see, however. The office was as generic as a grocery store aisle. Standard-issue desk, a common computer and cheap ballpoint pens. There was a bottle of water beside the guest chair. Tempting, but Alessa guessed it was part of the test. Having spent more than her fair share of time in the desert, she knew how to deal with thirst.

“Sergeant Parrino.”

She moved to stand at attention.

“At ease, soldier. Have a seat.”

He took a seat across from her, and she allowed herself to get her first good look at him. She’d seen his picture in the post newspaper, standing next to the general when the story about his brother broke. His eyes had drawn her in; they were so intense, so full of determination. They weren’t the eyes of the entitled, carefree playboy she’d heard about.

“Tell me why you want to be a part of this unit.”

Because I need to get away from my current post before I destroy more lives.

“I want the opportunity to serve, sir.”

“What exactly do you know about this unit, Sergeant?”

“Not much. Just that it’s highly irregular because it’s special ops but isn’t using Delta or other Special Forces. In fact, they were purposely excluded.”

He raised a brow and she suppressed a smile. She had done her homework, called in every favor she had to get information on both the unit and the man running it.

“Glad you know the difference between special ops and Special Forces. I’m aware that you tried out for Delta—this won’t be your ticket in.”

Forcing herself to sit still, she met his gaze. “I’m aware of that, sir. Having been through SFAS, I’m familiar with the process.” Special Forces Assessment and Selection was the pathway to Delta and other Special Forces, and she had been hoping this unit might be a way in. She leaned forward. He was gearing up to tell her she hadn’t made the cut.

“Sir, when I went through SFAS, I passed the physical portion of the test with a perfect score. I was disqualified because I’d been a sergeant for five years and two days.”

He pressed his lips together and hope bloomed in her chest. It was a silly rule, that five years in the same position disqualified someone from Special Forces. She should’ve been promoted two years ago, but after the incident, there had always been an excuse for why she wasn’t fit to be upgraded to staff sergeant. Next year, Parrino. Let some time pass. This unit was the only way she would get herself out of the career hole she’d dug herself into.

“I’m thirty-five years old and the upper limit for Special Forces is thirty-six. I am special ops material, and this is my only chance at it.” Staring at him, she silently challenged him to disagree. She’d bet a month’s pay that the guy she’d just fought was the best of the unit. He had been good, and there were a few times where he’d almost had her. Almost. It had been a while since she’d had to bring up the image of her father to get the better of a man in a physical fight, but she’d done it. She’d had to. Alessa Parrino didn’t get second chances.

He sat back in his seat and his eyes flicked to a folder on his desk. She knew what was in that file and could see his gears churning. Part of her training was to get into her opponent’s head, and she was sure Luke Williams was weighing the risk of bringing her baggage into his unit.

She placed her elbows on the desk. “Sir, have you ever done the right thing even when it was against the rules?” She knew the answer to that question. Luke was notorious in the army circles. A general father and an identical twin brother with a stellar reputation while his was less than perfect was fodder for gossip. He was the evil twin, the one tarnishing his father’s reputation.

She had served with his brother when she was a private first class and Ethan Williams was a second lieutenant. Officers and enlisted didn’t mix, but she always took stock of the commanding officers on post and her assessment of Ethan Williams was that he was a rising star. His good looks had been hard to ignore and the fact that he had an identical twin who was an outrageous flirt had been a common source of discussion in the female barracks. As had Luke Williams’s penchant for bending the rules. She had done so much research, she felt she knew him personally. Remember he’s a superior officer. The last thing she needed was to get friendly with him.

“Sergeant, I get the feeling you’ve done your homework on me, and you know full well what’s in your file. So how about you give me some facts I haven’t already read about.”

She dug her fingernails into her palms. “Sir, I have nothing to hide. What would you like to know?”

“Your file doesn’t have much on your childhood. Tell me about your parents.”

She swallowed, trying to open her closed throat. She didn’t have to answer any of his questions. It was none of his business what her childhood was like. It wasn’t any of the army’s business.

“My parents were Italian immigrants—they came over newly married. I have a younger sister. Just a typical family.” Somehow she’d managed to make her voice sound normal. Maybe it was the years of practice with that line.

He narrowed his eyes. “How often do you see them?”

She forced herself to meet his eyes. Most people tried to control the pitch of their voice when they lied, but it was shifting eyes that gave them away. “As often as I can.” It was best to go with half-truths.

“When was the last time?” His startling blue eyes bored into her and she blinked. When she’d first seen his picture, she’d found herself unable to look away. In person she wanted nothing more than to avoid eye contact.

“Sir, I’m the most qualified person for this position, and if you’re hesitating because of what’s in that file, let me assure you—”

“Sergeant, I’m going to give you some advice.”

She closed her mouth, making a concerted effort to keep her expression neutral. Ever since the incident, every commissioned officer she’d met had felt the need to lecture her on appropriate behavior, as if she were a truant toddler. Never mind the fact that she’d already been in more combat than most West Point graduates would ever see. She composed herself so she wouldn’t gag when Luke gave her the tired old speech about how she could have an illustrious career if she kept her nose clean and made sure she didn’t engage in any more inappropriate behavior with a superior officer.

“If you haven’t done anything wrong, don’t sound apologetic.”

This is new. She sat up straighter.

“If there’s nothing concerning in my file, then why aren’t you selecting me?”

He raised a brow, his blue eyes sparking with a hint of gray. “I haven’t said that I’m not.”

Her pulse kicked up a notch until she saw his Adam’s apple bob. The job wasn’t hers. Not yet.

“Let me tell you why I’m right for this position.”

His lips twitched.

“First, I just beat the best man on your unit. Second, if you’re going to operate in the Middle East or Asia, you’ll need a woman to get into places men can’t. And third, I’m smaller than everyone else in your unit. I can get into tight places, like a duct, a crawlspace or a vent. You need me.”

“You missed something.”

She leaned forward. He picked up her file and waved it. “You’ve beat every single one of my men in the aptitude tests.”

That little fact she hadn’t known but would store away for later. He stood and she followed suit. He extended his hand and she was surprised to find it callused. From what she’d heard, she’d expected a man used to giving orders, not doing the hard work himself.

“Sergeant, you are the most qualified for this unit...”

She tried hard not to smile. Finally, an officer who wasn’t afraid of her reputation, who was going to do the right thing and give her what she rightfully deserved.

“...but I can’t give you the job.”