Hot Shot (A Hostile Operations Team Novel)(#5) Read Online Free Page A

handed it to her, it was cold.  
    Gina put it to her face, wincing a little as she did so. “Thanks.”
    He was putting stuff back in the pack. “I’m sorry I couldn’t stop that from happening.”
    Her heart contracted at the regret in his voice. He cared and she liked that. No one cared much about her as a person so much as they did about her status and money.  
    Stop. That’s pitiful, and you aren’t pitiful.
    Damn straight. She’d never been pitiful and she wasn’t going to start now. Poor little rich girl. She was self-made, but money came with heartaches of its own. She’d learned that lesson only too well, but she still wasn’t going to whine.
    “You saved my life. I’d be pretty ungrateful if I was angry because someone hit me first. Wouldn’t be the first time it happened.”
    He grew still. “What does that mean?”
    She was embarrassed she’d said that much—and then she thought, What the hell? He was a stranger to her and it no longer mattered. Maybe they wouldn’t make it out of here anyway, no matter what he said. Why keep pretending?
    “It means I didn’t have a dad. It means I had a mother who changed boyfriends like most people change socks. It means that some of them were angry, and some of them lashed out.”
    “Jesus,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
    She shrugged. “It was a long time ago. I’m over it.”
    “If it helps, I’d shoot those men for you if I could.”
    She laughed, though maybe she shouldn’t. “I almost wish you could.” She pulled in a breath and shifted the Mylar blanket he’d given her earlier over her body. “The worst one was a guy named Randy. He was a soldier. He liked to drink and slap women around. Mom first, then me. And then one day he had a bulge in his pants when he was hitting me—and I just knew I had to go.”
    “Christ, Gina.” He sounded horrified, and she liked him even more.
    “Nothing happened. I ran away that night, and that was it. The end of Regina Robertson and the beginning of Gina Domenico, though it took a lot of years of hard work. I slept on streets sometimes, in bus stations and dodgy apartments…” She shook her head. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this.”
    “I don’t mind.”
    “No selling your story to the tabloids later, all right?”
    It was his turn to laugh. “Sweetheart, my boss would hang my ass from the spire of the Capitol if I did such a thing. Even if it wasn’t against my moral code, it’d be career suicide—and this is all I have now.”
    She hated how lonely he sounded. She reached out and put her hand on his. His skin was warm, and once more that sizzle of lightning flooded her. “I was kidding, Jack. I know you won’t go to the press.”
    He didn’t move for a long moment, and then he turned his hand and ran his fingers against her palm, softly, sweetly. It was as if he’d touched the heart of her, because her entire body grew tight with anticipation.
    “What made you choose the name Gina Domenico?” His voice was soft, and she knew he was deliberately moving on. Getting her away from the awkwardness of what she’d just told him.
    “My mom always called me Gina, so that was easy. And then I saw a story about an Italian artist named Domenico something-or-other.” She laughed. “I can’t remember his last name, but I never forgot Domenico. It sounded foreign, classy, and I decided that would be my stage name.”
    “It worked for you.”
    “Definitely.” She wanted to whimper when he dropped his hand away. “What about you, Jack? How did you end up here?”
    “I joined the Army because I wanted adventure and a paycheck. Here I am.”
    She sensed it wasn’t the whole story, but she had no right to push him. “Here you are. Good for me.”
    His gaze dropped to her mouth and sparks snapped in her belly. It shocked her that she wanted to lean into him, press her mouth to his, and feel his heat and strength. After the last week with Athenasios, it surprised her that she could want