Barret, page 22
“Apparently that rejection really hurt,” he noted.
“Apparently enough that he wanted to do something to hurt me and get back at me or whatever. So that explains all the snide comments and the poisoning accusations that started from the time I began helping out in the kitchen.”
“I think he had demonized you in his mind so much that he believed it was you. Then today, after the two of you spoke, he realized it was Thomas. Afterward, in the chaos and the emotions of their argument, Ralph ended up drinking tainted tea, laced with vanilla.”
She nodded. “I don’t even know what to say.”
“Well,” he said, as he started pulling off his clothes, “the good news is you get to sleep in, and the better news is that now I’m off for the night.” She sat up and looked at him, and he grinned. “Of course maybe that means you don’t want me here anymore.”
She opened her arms. “It’s been really nice to have you here,” she murmured.
“Only nice?” he asked in a teasing tone.
“Oh, I don’t want to be too eager,” she stated, with an eye roll. “But you are taking a damn long time getting out of those clothes.”
He burst out laughing, quickly stripped down to the skin, and winced at the cold. “Will you share any of that heat?”
“Absolutely, as long as you’ll share some of yours,” she said, with a chuckle.
And, with the two of them quickly wrapped up under the covers, she smiled. “There is something to be said for body heat.”
“There’s a lot to be said for body heat,” he repeated, with a smile, as he wrapped her up in his arms and pulled her close.
She tilted her head back and asked, “Is it really over? At least the poisoning gossip?”
“It is really over,” Barret confirmed, with a smile. “Absolutely over.”
“Thank God for that. Maybe now, when people find out what really happened, they’ll stop looking at me sideways.”
“I’m pretty sure they will.” Barret grinned.
“So, these poisoning events were what? Just another unfortunate incident to go along with all the others in this very unfortunate scenario going on here?” she asked.
“It is, and it’s not a reflection on you. It’s not a reflection on the CO. It just is what it is,” Barret said. “So, let’s take some time to relax and to let it go. When you get up in the morning, you may still have to deal with Steven, but, when he finds out the truth, he’ll likely back off too.”
“I hope so,” she muttered. “I can’t say the two of us are getting along very well, and it made me question whether I really wanted to stay in the kitchen.”
“Of course,” Barret agreed. “Nothing quite like having an asshole on your back all the time.”
She laughed. “Isn’t that the truth. Did you know that Chef and the CO go way back?”
He nodded. “Yep, I sure did.”
“I don’t know the whole story, something to do with the brass trying to help Chef keep his son alive. Unfortunately it didn’t work in the end, but the CO did everything he could to help Chef’s son.”
“That kind of devotion is amazing, isn’t it?”
“He was there for him when Chef’s wife died too,” she added, “which was a few years ago now.”
“Right, breast cancer, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, it sounds as if both of their wives died of breast cancer,” she added.
“It’s sad enough that one went that way, but for both of them? That’s brutal.”
“But it’s also a bonding experience, I guess. Not exactly a bond I want to have.”
“Nope, I wouldn’t think so,” he muttered, as his hand drifted up her belly to cup her breast. “Besides, these things are beautiful.”
She murmured something indistinguishable, as his hand gently cupped and squeezed, before stroking up above and then down to her ribs and under her shoulder to pull her a little closer into his arms.
She mumbled again, and he whispered, “You don’t need to talk.”
“I wasn’t planning on talking,” she said. “I just can’t stop making sounds when you do those things. It feels so damn good. It’s been a while,” she muttered. “I just hadn’t realized how much of a while.”
“We’re not in a rush,” he told her. “We’ve got all night.”
“Yeah, but is it only for the night?” she asked, looking at him. “Not that I’m pushing, you know?”
“I figure we’re still here for quite a few more weeks, so we should work out any kinks in our relationship by then, don’t you think?”
She laughed. “Oh, no doubt, but I tell you what. If you say you want to go for a holiday, and you choose Iceland or something, I’ll tell you to go alone.”
He burst out laughing. “What? You want to go down to the Caribbean or something like that?”
“No, but I could go for kayaking in Alaska. That would be cool.”
“Oh, I like that idea,” Barret agreed, looking at her with a smile.
She nodded. “I love kayaking. I love kayak adventure tours too.”
He leaned over and kissed her gently. “A woman after my own heart.”
“Maybe not so much,” she said, with a smile, “but still we’ve got some things in common.”
“We have a lot in common,” he stated firmly. “Honesty, morals, ethics, all kinds of things, the stuff that you don’t think really matters, until it matters.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him down for a cuddle, and said, “I think you’re talking too much.”
He let out a bark of laughter, lowered his head, and kissed her until her toes curled, sending her belly in flight with butterflies.
When he finally lifted his head, she whispered, “Dear God, you can do that anytime.”
“I will. I promise.”
He lowered his head again, and, by the time she was more than ready for him, he was still teasing her, until she was crying out in frustration. He slowly entered her body, stretching her wide to accommodate his girth. When he finally started to move, she almost screamed with joy, coming apart in his arms time and time again. He collapsed beside her, exhausted and yet replete.
She murmured something, as she curled up against him.
He whispered, “I didn’t hear you.”
She smiled. “That’s okay. There’s time for talking later.”
“I just wanted to know what you said,” he told her, with a laugh.
“I said it was perfect, absolutely perfect.”
He leaned over, gave her a hard kiss. “I don’t know about perfect,” he hedged. “I think we need to practice a little more. A couple things we could do a little differently.”
She placed a finger against his lips and whispered, “We can repeat it as often as you want, but it doesn’t change one fact. It was perfect.”
Epilogue
When Whalen Brown woke up the next morning, it was almost noon, but he’d been up half the night, dealing with generator issues. He was now in the kitchen, and he smiled to see both Barret and Avalon come in together. “There they are. The sleepyheads finally decided to show up.”
She flushed as she walked over. “Hey. How’re you doing?”
“I’m doing fine. Maybe not as good as you two are though.”
She laughed. “Nothing quite like finding out what the hell happened to make all the rest of it go away.”
“And to make you guys take another step in your personal world.”
She flushed and nodded. “Still, it was a good choice.”
“It was, indeed. Barret’s a good man,” Whalen stated.
She smiled and grabbed two cups of coffee and came back. “I got to sleep in for the first time since … God only knows how long.”
“And you won’t get it again,” Chef announced from the counter. “I told Steven to shift out of the kitchen.”
She stared at him in dismay. “But then it’s just the two of us again.”
He nodded. “Rather have you in my corner any day,” he declared, with a big fat smile. “But somebody new is coming in, and I might shanghai them too.”
“Who’s that?” Avalon asked.
“Her name is Chrissy, and she’s a baker. Although I’m not sure that she wants to be doing any of that work here. Let me just say she was a baker before she signed up.”
“So, you’ll shanghai her into the kitchen, will you?” Avalon repeated in a teasing manner.
“Absolutely. At least if I can.” Chef looked over at Whalen and frowned.
Whalen frowned right back.
Chef laughed. “Do you know her?” Chef asked. “You know her from somewhere?”
Whalen shook his head. “Don’t think so. Don’t think I know anyone named Chrissy.”
“That’s because it’s Crystal,” Chef clarified.
At that, Whalen stiffened, and he nodded. “Yeah.”
“I figured you knew her, but I can’t remember why.”
“That’s because we were an item a while back,” Whalen shared. “If it’s even the same person, which I don’t know for sure that it is.”
But then a bright and cheerful woman walked into the room. She stopped when she saw Whalen, and the smile fell away. “You,” she said, almost a bit venomously.
He groaned. “Hi, Crystal.”
“It’s Chrissy,” she stated. “You’re the only one who ever called me that.”
“Because it’s your legal name.”
“Doesn’t matter. I always preferred Chrissy.”
He nodded. “Point taken.” He looked over at Chef. “Yeah, I know her.” Whalen stood and looked over at her. “How you been?”
“I’ve been fine. How about you? I mean, after all, the last thing I heard from you was, I’ll see you after work.”
He winced. “Yeah, that was a while ago.”
“Five years,” she declared, as she crossed her arms over her chest. “I joined up because of you.”
He stared at her. “Really?”
She nodded. “I wanted to understand the draw that made you choose this life over me.” And, with that, she gave him a fat smile and added, “And now I get to find out for myself.”
This concludes Book 4 of Shadow Recon: Barret.
Read about Whalen: Shadow Recon, Book 5
Shadow Recon: Whalen (Book #5)
Deep in the permafrost of the Arctic, a joint task force, comprised of over one dozen countries, comes together to level up their winter skills. A mix of personalities, nationalities, and egos bring out the best—and the worst—as these globally elite men and women work and play together. They rub elbows with hardy locals and a group of scientists gathered close by …
One fatality is almost expected with this training. A second is tough but not a surprise. However, when a third goes missing? It’s hard to not be suspicious. When the missing man is connected to one of the elite Maverick team members and is a special friend of Lieutenant Commander Mason Callister? All hell breaks loose …
The last thing Whalen expected when he was called in to investigate the strange events at the arctic training camp was to find his old girlfriend, Chrissy. And as the first meeting showed, she was still angry at him. Not exactly the type of under cover type existence he’d been hoping for.
Chrissy joined the military because of Whalen. Not to chase after him but to understand why he did what he did – or more to the point why he’d chosen this life over her. Now older and wiser, but still as in love with him as ever, she finds herself in the kitchen of the camp from hell. She only wants to finish her tour and head back home to open a bakery with her best friend.
Too bad some one at the camp has other ideas. And it’s going to take everything the two of them can do to keep both of them safe… Even as others show up dead.
Find Book 5 here!
To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Barret: Shadow Recon, Book 4! If you enjoyed the book, please take a moment and leave a short review here.
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Cheers,
Dale Mayer
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About the Author
Dale Mayer is a USA Today best-selling author, best known for her SEALs military romances, her Psychic Visions series, and her Lovely Lethal Garden cozy series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Broken But … Mending, Hathaway House series). Her thrillers will keep you guessing (Kate Morgan, By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life, a stand-alone novella; and the Broken Protocols series, starring Charming Marvin, the cat).
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BARRET: SHADOW RECON, BOOK 4
Beverly Dale Mayer
Valley Publishing Ltd.
Copyright © 2023
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN-13: 978-1-773367-30-9
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