Excerpt:

The excerpt below contain explicit adult language and sexual content. By reading any further, you are stating that you are at least 18 years of age. If you are under the age of 18, it is necessary to exit this site.

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Recon by Fire

Copyright©2017

All rights reserved, Evernight Publishing.

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Sliding into the booth, he passed Aiden his beer and checked his watch. It was almost seven-thirty. “I missed you like this.” Aiden’s amused voice had Nick looking up.

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“Like what?”

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“Nervous,” Aiden replied, and Nick felt a warmth rise in his neck and knew he was blushing. “God, you are even blushing. You were like this with me at the beginning, too.”

Nick scoffed and took a large slug of his beer. “And could you blame me? You were out of my league, and I knew it.”

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“Hardly,” Aiden said with a shake of his head. “I might have outranked you, but I was never out of your league.”

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“It wasn’t your rank that made me nervous, babe,” Nick said as he leaned forward. “You are hotter than hot, and I always thought you’d realized you could do better than me. Add to that your nature and your personality and you pack a pretty powerful punch.”

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Aiden held Nick’s gaze for a moment then nodded. “I find it funny that I was thinking the exact same thing. Here you were, this powerful, forceful man, who wore authority like a goddamn jacket. That dominance and confidence that you exude is a real turn-on for me.”

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Nick sat back and grinned. “Yeah, I kinda noticed how turned on you got when I ordered people around. I knew that you’d love it in the bedroom, too. And how right I was.”

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The two of the laughed, then became aware that they were no longer alone almost at the exact same moment. Nick turned to the man who stood beside their table holding a beer in his hand, and a carefully blank expression.

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“Hey, it’s good to see you,” Aiden said first and slid further into his side of the booth. “Have a seat.”

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Sam hesitated for a moment, and Nick shot a quick glance to Aiden. He had no idea what the hell was going through the man’s head, but Sam seemed like he regretted having turned up. Sam’s face cleared to a friendly expression, a smile on his handsome face, but it didn’t reach his brown eyes.

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“Good to see you, too.” Even Sam’s tone sounded off to Nick, and his frown deepened. “The rest of the team are just coming in, and Dev wants to catch up on some business stuff, so I thought I’d come over and say hey. Sorry, I can’t join you for that drink, but maybe some other time.”

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Nick caught Aiden’s look of confusion and knew that his lover was just as confused as he was on how to continue. So, Nick knew that if they were going to get to the bottom of Sam’s sudden change of heart, it would be up to him. He should probably go softly, try to coerce Sam into taking a seat and talking about things calmly, but that just wasn’t him.

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“Sam, sit down in the booth.” Nick’s voice automatically dropped to the tone he employed when he was delivering his men’s orders. Sam’s eyes widened a little, but Nick noticed that his relaxed posture, as fake as it obviously was, because the man was anything but, seemed to snap taller as if he were standing at attention. “Now.”

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Sam slid into the booth immediately and seemed both shocked to find himself sitting there and pissed off at himself for complying. “I really should—”

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Nick figured Sam was about to launch into a reason why he should leave and cut him off before he could do it. “Unless the end of that sentence is ‘tell you both what was just going through my head’, then we don’t want to hear it.” Nick locked his gaze to Sam’s and held it.

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Aiden chuckled, drawing his and Sam’s attention. “Christ, are you two gonna just stare at each other, waiting for the other to blink? Let me tell you something you might have suspected about the good sheriff here, Sam. He is stubborn as hell and won’t ever back down. Especially when it is in regards to someone he wants.”

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Nick saw Sam shoot him a quick glance as if to see how he would react to Aiden saying Sam was someone that Nick wanted, but his expression remained clear. Aiden spoke the truth, and as soon as Sam came to realize that, the better.

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Sam sat back in the chair, his eyes narrowing. “You know, I’m a Marine rifleman. I can be pretty damn stubborn myself.”

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Nick grinned. “Hell, I know that. Aiden and I witnessed that in Afghanistan, but this is different. I want you enough to fight to get you to tell me what happened between the phone call this afternoon, and you standing by this booth tonight. And I reckon you want me and Aiden enough to put aside that stubborn streak of yours and tell us. The attraction we had for each other was immediate and off the charts. The night the three of us got together was pretty fucking powerful, too. Aiden and I want the chance to see if the three of us can have that with you on a more permanent basis, and I reckon that phone call this afternoon, and the fact that you’re sitting with us now, means that you do, too.”

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Nick waited, and hoped like hell he was right.