Read Online Hot & Bothered (A Hostile Operations Team Novel - Book 8) by Lynn Raye Harris - Free Book Online

benefit of the doubt until you prove me wrong.”
    Ian shrugged. “I’m on your side this time—but I won’t be every time. That much is true.”
    Matt started to walk away, but then he stopped and frowned at Emily. She had to drag her thoughts back from the depths of her distraction.  
    “I don’t pretend to know what’s going on with you and Flash,” he said, “but clearly there’s more here than any of us knew about. You need to talk to him when you’re both calmer. This can’t get in the way of the mission.”
    “It’s not going to.”
    His frown didn’t abate, and she knew he wasn’t appeased. “Flash is one of the most easygoing guys I know. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this pissed before, and that worries me. If he’s distracted during a mission, that’s not good for any of us. And if I have to remove him from the op, that’s not good for him. You get what I’m saying?”
    Emily swallowed. If he had to remove Ryan from the mission, he’d get sent back to DC—and the wrath of Mendez. He could lose his job over her. His career. The fewer issues he had with her being here, the better. “I get it.”
    Matt nodded. “Good. Talk to y’all later.”
    Once he was gone, Ian sat back and ran his hands through his hair before settling them on top of his head and staring at her.  
    “You didn’t mention a romantic entanglement with a HOT operator. I could have made sure he wasn’t on the team.”
    Emily’s face was warm. “I didn’t think it was anyone’s business but mine and Ryan’s.”
    “Maybe not, but he’s here now, and you have to work with him. Are you going to be able to do that?”
    Emily sniffed as if it was nothing when in truth her stomach was still churning, and not just from nausea. “Of course I am. It was just a brief fling.”
    She got to her feet and picked up the abaya, her fingers trembling from the lie. “If there’s nothing else, I have some things to do.”
    Ian’s eyes narrowed. “Nope, nothing else.”
    * * *
    Ryan was lying on a bunk in the room he was sharing with Fiddler when Matt appeared in the doorway. He’d known his team commander would visit him, but he’d hoped it would take a bit longer. He was still processing everything that had happened with Emily, and he was still pretty pissed about it. His first instinct was to go find her and throw her over his shoulder like a caveman. Then he’d take her to the airstrip and load her onto a C-17 headed for Germany.
    After the plane was gone, he might calm down, though he had no idea how long that would take. Days, at least.
    So the last thing he wanted to do right now was answer questions about him and Emily, but he knew he had no choice. He was a soldier, the man frowning at him was his superior, and Ryan obeyed orders.
    Matt came inside and sank down on the bunk opposite. “So, you and Emily. Care to explain?”
    No dancing around the subject there. Ryan sat up and leaned against the wall. “Not especially.”
    Matt’s gaze didn’t falter. “You realize that isn’t an option, right?”
    “I do.” He huffed out a breath. “There’s not a lot to explain. She confided in me after the mission in Qu’rim. I didn’t cut it off when I should have because I seemed to be the only person she could talk to…”
    “And?” Matt prompted when he didn’t keep talking.
    Ryan felt his skin growing hot. Not because he was embarrassed but because he really didn’t want to talk about what had happened in his apartment that night. It was personal. And while he might have talked shit in the past about getting a piece of pussy after a night in a club or something, it felt wrong to talk about Emily that way.  
    “Flash, I have to know.”
    Ryan scrubbed a hand over his scalp. “It was only once. The night before she left with Black. She’d tried to date a guy in her class, but it didn’t work out. She needed to know if she was still capable of… She needed to know if she was normal. I didn’t say