Hot Shot (A Hostile Operations Team Novel)(#5) by Lynn Raye Harris Read Free Book Online

their job. They aren’t incompetent.”
    She whirled again. And then she pounded her fist on her chest to punctuate her words. “He’s my baby. I love him more than anyone else, and you’re asking me to trust strangers who don’t even know him with his life?”
    He spread his hands. “I can’t help you, Gina. I don’t have any authority here.”
    She stopped her pacing and stared at him like he’d grown two heads. Her hands were on her hips and her chest heaved as if she were on the verge of something momentous.  
    “You have as much at stake in this as I do.”
    A bolt of unease shot through him. “I care that you’re upset and that someone stole your child. I said I’d stay here with you. I’ll call my boss and tell him I have to take leave. I’ll be here for you.”
    She stalked toward him then, her breasts jiggling with every step of her booted feet. Her hands stayed on her hips. Her eyes spit fire at him.
    “There’s something you need to know, Jack. Eli is not adopted. He’s my baby.” She paused for a long moment, her gaze never leaving his, and his unease flared higher. “I gave birth to him nine months after you rescued me.”
    He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t process what she was saying to him. His chest grew impossibly tight, like someone was wrapping him in steel bands and tugging with all their might. He thought of Hayley, of her car skidding out of control, and of their unborn baby in her womb. Sweat rose on his arms, his chest, his brow.
    He couldn’t seem to speak at first. His voice, when he found it again, was hoarse. “You were Metaxas’s girlfriend.”
    Her eyes closed as if he’d hit her, and his gut clenched into a hard knot. He knew what she’d gone through with that rotten bastard. When she looked at him again, her gaze was soft and hard at the same time. How did she do that?
    “Yes, I was his girlfriend , for what that’s worth. And yes, I slept with him. I told you at the time. But I also slept with you, Jack. And Eli doesn’t look like Athenasios. He looks like you .”
    Pain bloomed in his soul. It was as if someone had shot him through the heart and left him to writhe his last few seconds in agony. He was cold and hot and he wanted to sit. And maybe throw up.
    But he stood there and faced her, clenching his hands into fists to keep from wrapping them around her neck. He was never emotional, never out of control. He was always cool and unflappable and patient. It’s what made him the best damn sniper in HOT. Snipers had to possess extraordinary control, and he did.
    Right this moment, however, he had no idea where that control was. He felt so many emotions whipping through him. Pain, fear, anger, loss. Denial. Oh, denial was huge. She could be lying.  
    But even if she wasn’t lying now, she’d certainly lied before. For more than two years. He had a son, according to her, and he’d never even looked into his boy’s eyes.
    “If you’re telling me the truth,” he snarled, “you have no idea how much I want to strangle you right about now. You fucking lied, Gina. To the world. To me .”
    For the first time, she looked contrite. It didn’t soften his anger, but he did feel a tiny pinch of sympathy for her. And that only pissed him off more.
    “It’s the truth,” she said, her voice quavering once again. “I didn’t know for sure until about a year ago. And I wasn’t sure you would want to know. You told me you didn’t want children.”
    “Jesus.” He whirled away from her before he was sick. He was so fucking pissed he was shaking. He strode across the room and then back again. But he stopped where he couldn’t reach her. “I was talking about choices. But when there is no choice, when the kid already exists—I think I have a fucking right to know.”
    Tears spilled down her cheeks again and his heart twisted. He wanted to hold her. And kill her, goddammit.  
    “You’re right. I just didn’t know how to tell you. But please, Jack, don’t let