Cove's Blind Date Blows Up Read online

  Cove twisted his wrists, making sure he’d be able to use the key to undo the handcuffs.

  The sound of tires rolling over pavement caught his attention. “Here comes more people.”

  “That’s Geri,” Bosley said. “Sorry about this, but I have to make it look good.” He shoved Cove to the ground and kicked him in the gut, though not very hard.

  Cove groaned, holding his middle.

  Geri parked the SUV and stepped from the driver’s side. “Well, you did something right this time, Bosley.”

  “I did my part, now let my family go,” Bosley said, holding up his cell. “You set my wife and kids free, or I blow myself up.”

  “Don’t make me laugh. You wouldn’t do that.”

  Cove’s gut twisted. This, he hadn’t anticipated.

  “I’m not kidding.” Bosley took off his jacket and sure enough, strapped to his chest, was a small bomb. “I have nothing to live for if I don’t have my family.”

  “You’re a fucking idiot.” Geri yanked open the back passenger door and pulled out an unconscious Serenity and tossed her to the ground.

  Cove inhaled sharply. He knew his team was in place. He knew they could hear everything, but that didn’t make him feel any better about the way this shit was going down.

  “But I’ll grant you that request as long as you disarm that motherfucking thing,” Geri said.

  “Prove to me my family is safe, and I will do just that,” Bosley said.

  Cove took a few seconds to study the C4 and the wires, and that’s when he realized it wasn’t an active bomb. That didn’t mean it couldn’t be armed, it just meant that Bosley probably had no intention of blowing himself up.

  It was a bold move, but a good one.

  As long as Geri didn’t call him on his bluff.

  Geri bent over and grabbed Serenity by the arms, dragging her across the pavement.

  Cove had never hit a woman before in his life, but he might enjoy causing this one bodily harm.

  Serenity moaned as she flopped over on her side in front of him. He scooted as close as he could. “Serenity,” he whispered. “Wake up, babe. I need your help.”

  Geri held her cell up as it rang out on speaker.

  “Hi, honey. Are we all good?” a male voice rang out.

  “Almost, but I need you to let Bosley’s family go and snap a picture of it so he knows I’m not going back on my word.”

  “You’re the boss,” the male voice said.

  Geri tapped her heeled foot and stared at her phone. “Look. They are in the van, and he’s taking them home.”

  “Okay. But this isn’t coming off until they are home and Big Mike isn’t anywhere near them.”

  “You know what?” Geri tucked her cell into her pocket. “It doesn’t matter. Blow yourself up for all I care. You’re going to die one way or the other, but rest assured, your family will not. I don’t like to kill kids.”

  “Gee, that makes all of us feel so much better,” Cove said.

  A bird call echoed from above.

  Thank fucking God. Cove fiddled with the key and the handcuffs that bound his hands. His team had done a sweep, and that was their signal that they had secured the building. Geri must have confidence that Bosley wouldn’t flip and that her team wouldn’t be overrun by his.

  But that isn’t how this was going to go down.

  Nope. Today, the good guys were going to win, and he was going to have another week with the woman he…he…loved.

  Damn, that thought nearly cost him the key to his handcuffs.

  “Of all the people you had to fuck, you had to choose Serenity. I’m still shocked by it,” Geri said as she waved her gun wildly in the air.

  The woman had come unhinged.

  She’d always had an edge to her and not necessarily a good one. She’d been volatile with her emotions, and now that he thought about it, he kept her at an arm’s length because of it.

  And maybe he kept all women at a distance because of her wide range of ups and downs.

  “Just to set the record straight, we’re not fucking. I’m in love with her.” The first chain clicked open. He knew he probably shouldn’t bait Geri by telling her he had real feelings for Serenity, considering he could never say those words to her, but he was hoping pushing her into a certain emotional state would help him, and Bosley, who had started to shift his position, inching farther away from Cove, but to the back side of Geri.

  His team would be moving in as well.

  All he had to do was make sure she didn’t discharge her weapon.

  Now that both of his hands were free, he curled his fingers around the handle of the gun Bosley had provided him with.

  Serenity blinked her eyes open and moaned. “What the hell?”

  “Welcome to the party,” Geri said, pointing her gun in Serenity’s face. “So, let me tell you how this is going to go down.” She put her fingers to her lips and whistled. “My crew is going to set up to have this look like Bosley here blew this place up. Thanks for the extra C4.” She waved her gun in his direction. “And then poor Bosley is going to take a gun to his temple.”

  Ignoring the current banter, he focused his attention on Serenity. “You doing okay?”

  “Other than my head is killing me and I’m a bit confused, I’m okay.”

  “Just trust me,” he whispered. “Hey, Geri,” he said with a tough tone. “Do you remember when we were at West Point and we had a riflery contest?”

  “Yeah. What about it?” Geri asked.

  “Do you remember who won?”

  Geri laughed. “Of course. I did.”

  “You sure did, and it pissed me off, so I made sure I got better.” He rolled, drawing his weapon and pulling the trigger, firing.

  Pop!

  Geri jerked back.

  Pop!

  “Fuck,” Cove said with a groan as a bullet tore through his shoulder.

  Pop!

  A second bullet hit his biceps. Fucking woman was still a better shot, but she wasn’t prepared for the shitstorm that came as the team that he assembled came barreling down.

  Pop! Pop! Pop!

  Bullets ripped into Geri’s body, sending her to the pavement.

  Things hadn’t gone exactly as planned, but they were leaning in his direction even though he’d been shot.

  He closed his eyes and let the darkness consume him.

  “Cove,” Serenity said, tugging and pulling at her restraints, but the metal around her wrists just dug in deeper.

  “Ma’am, just relax for a moment,” a man wearing all black and carrying a large rifle said as he fiddled with the handcuffs.

  Someone else tended to Cove and his wounds while still others helped Bosley take off the C4; someone else worked on Geri, and others secured the area. She’d been in enough sting operations to understand what was happening around her, but she didn’t like the amount of blood that pooled underneath Cove’s body.

  She wiggled her hands free and jumped to her knees. “Cove,” she whispered, resting her hand on his chest, checking his breathing.

  It moved up and down, slow and methodical, but he was alive.

  “Cove,” she said again.

  An ambulance pulled up next to the SUV along with an FBI SWAT team van.

  “I’m here,” he said with a raspy voice. “Fucking bitch shot me.”

  “Yeah, she did. But your team took her down.”

  “Good,” Cove said. “What about Bosley’s family? Are they safe?”

  “I don’t know. Hang on.” She glanced over her shoulder, making eye contact with Bosley who nodded. “Yes. They are safe.”

  “Good,” Cove said. “I’m going to close my eyes now.”

  “I need you to stay alert, sir okay?” one of the paramedics said.

  “I’m tired,” Cove said.

  “I know, babe, but they need you to stay awake?”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know about them, but I kind of want you to repeat your declaration of love
for me.”

  “My what?” he asked with a slight smile.

  “You said you loved me.”

  “I think my exact words were that I was in love with you,” he said with a cough. “But I suppose that could be taken as the same thing.”

  “It could be.”

  “Good to know,” Cove said. “Can I rest my eyes now?”

  “No. Not until the first responders have you all hooked up,” she said.

  “Did we pull it off?” Cove asked. “Did we take Geri down?”

  “We sure did,” Serenity said.

  “Good,” Cove said. “I really need to close my eyes. Just for a minute.”

  “It’s okay,” one of the paramedics said. “He’s stable. He can rest.”

  Serenity let out a long puff of air and lay back on the pavement. “For the record, Cove, I love you back.”

  Cove blinked his eyes open. The bright florescent lights blinded him. “Serenity,” he called. He could have sworn he saw her sitting on the edge of the bed.

  That was, of course, if he wasn’t hallucinating.

  “I’m here,” she said.

  He turned his head, catching her gaze. His heartbeat increased, and his skin warmed. There was no other person he wanted to see at this moment. “It’s over?”

  “Yes. Thanks to you, Geri, Big Mike, and Sarah are in custody, and Bosley has been reunited with his family. You are going to fully recover from your wounds. All is good in the world.”

  “The only way that statement will be true is if you really do love me,” he said with an arched brow. “Serenity, do you love me?”

  “I was going to ask you the very same question.”

  He smiled. “I asked first.”

  “Well, that’s a no brainer,” Serenity said. “I love you with everything that I am.”

  “Enough so that if I took a job stateside, you’d take me in?”

  “Cove, I love you so much I’d join the Army to be with you.”

  He chuckled. “Well, we don’t have to go that far, but good to know.”

  Epilogue

  Six months later…

  Becoming as a full-time liaison Army engineer specializing in homegrown terrorism and working with Homeland Security hadn’t been something Cove had anticipated for a career.

  But not only did he love it.

  He couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

  Besides, he got to be permanently stationed in New York City with his girlfriend—hopefully soon-to-be wife.

  That was if she accepted his proposal.

  Something he never expected he would be doing either.

  He sucked in a deep breath and stared at Serenity who smiled back at him while she stood with her dad in the middle of her childhood backyard.

  “Are you ready for this?” His own father smacked him on the back.

  “No,” he admitted. “I seriously need all of you to just go away.”

  “What you need to do is just ask her, and we all know she’s going to say yes,” his father said.

  Whatever made Cove think it would be a good idea to propose in front of both families at a barbecue should have him shot.

  Again.

  “I’m glad you are all so confident,” Cove said, fingering the ring burning a hole in his pocket.

  “Here she comes. Just do it,” his father said before making a beeline for the pool deck halfway across the yard.

  Wonderful. Left alone to crash and burn.

  “Hey, soldier. How goes things?”

  “They are okay but would be better if you married me.” Well, there. He popped the question. It wasn’t romantic or even remotely appropriate considering the circumstances but who gave a shit, considering all they had been through.

  “Come again?” she asked.

  “I love you, Serenity. Will you marry me?” He pulled out the ring, lifted her left hand, and slipped the diamond on her ring finger. “Whether we want to believe it or not, we were made for each other.”

  “That I know to be the truth,” she said, throwing her arms around his shoulders “Yes. I’ll marry you, but on one condition.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You give up that shithole of an apartment.”

  “Done,” he said. “Anything else?”

  “Yes. I want kids. And I want them soon.”

  “I can get on board with that,” he said.

  “I love you, Cove.”

  “I love you too, Serenity.”

  Who would have thought a blind date with an old friend would have worked out so well?

  About the Author

  Welcome to my World! I'm a USA Today Bestseller of Romantic Suspense, Contemporary Romance, and Paranormal Romance.

  I first started writing while carting my kids to one hockey rink after the other, averaging 170 games per year between 3 kids in 2 countries and 5 states. My first book, IN TWO WEEKS was originally published in 2007. In 2010 I helped form a publishing company (Cool Gus Publishing) with NY Times Bestselling Author Bob Mayer where I ran the technical side of the business through 2016.

  I'm currently enjoying the next phase of my life...the empty NESTER! My husband and I spend our winters in Jupiter, Florida and our summers in Rochester, NY. We have three amazing children who have all gone off to carve out their places in the world, while I continue to craft stories that I hope will make you readers feel good and put a smile on your face.

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