Above All Else: A Bad Boy Military Romance (Easy Team Book 2) Read Free Page A

“Fine,” she said curtly, cutting them off.
                  She gave me one final glare before saying, “Next time, try not to ruin a girl’s night out like that. You’d be doing all us females a favor.”
                  And with that, she flipped that mass of wavy copper blonde hair over her shoulder, turned and followed the two men down the rocky unpaved road where there was clearly a jeep waiting for them.
                  I stared after the ungrateful little brat with my mouth open. Did she not know how close she had come to danger tonight?
                  Hawk’s hand slapped me on my shoulder, pulling me out of my reverie. I looked at my friend before snorting in exasperation. Hawk grinned.
                  We’d be leaving soon for another mission. And this bar and this night will soon become nothing more than a memory.
                  Good, I thought. I didn’t think I could handle such a little brat for more than one night. What a mouthy little spitfire. Ungrateful to boot.
                  Well, at least she was safe. And if nothing else, the memory of that soft, curvy body would sustain me for many nights to come.
                  I walked away that night feeling sorry for those two bodyguards. I could at least enjoy the girl through memory in one way that those bodyguards couldn’t: memories come with a mute button.
                  And if there was ever a girl who needed one, it was her.

Chapter Two
Xander
                  I plunked down on the couch with a half groan, half sigh. Immediately, I threw myself down, an arm over my eyes, exhausted.
                  “Hey, where am I supposed to sit?” Tennessee complained, swatting at my legs as I hogged the whole couch.
                  “Floor looked pretty comfy,” I mumbled, my arm still over my eyes.
                  I heard Ten snort above me.
                  We were in what we called the rumpus room. It was the small room that led to the commander’s office. Usually we waited out here until we met with the commander.
                  The room was pretty Spartan. Two well-worn couches faced each other over a scratched and marked coffee table. A TV stood in one corner on top of a stack of old crates.
                  I looked over at the other couch where Hawk, Dozer, and Tweety sat, their heads leaning back against the couch, clearly already dozing.
                  After three weeks in Colombia shutting down a drug cartel, we had then gone to El Salvador where there was a small but quickly growing army of insurgents that was going around killing and raping the local villages.
                  Easy Team went where no armies or governments went. We went where diplomacy could not. And because we were an independent mercenary group, we went wherever our contracts called us.
                  “When is the commander coming in again?” Tennessee asked. He actually was sitting on the floor, remote control in hand, as he flipping through the old TV.
                  “Should be half an hour or so,” Hawk said. “We’re early.”
                  It felt good to finally be back on American soil, no matter how seedy and broken down our part of America was. We were in an abandoned part of East L.A. Easy Team headquarters were in a nondescript brick building that from the outside looked like a derelict factory.
                  But seeing that boarded up factory made my throat tightened with homesickness. I was glad to finally be back and get some rest.
                  I threw my arm over my eyes and dozed for a bit before I woke up to a news report from the TV. Keeping my eyes closed, I half listened to the report.
                  “…safe evacuation is the most important goal for