Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Redemption for Misty (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Pierce Securities Book 5) by Anne Conley

bed, and Chris allowed it. He’d taken Chris in hand-to-hand combat training a couple of times. But he wasn’t willing to fight in front of Misty. Not right now.
    “I told you! You were the one guy I trusted to not fuck my sister, and what happens? You’re fucking her!” He raised his fists to hit Chris, and he understood. He totally got it. Crash had trusted him, and he’d broken that trust. The bro code. He’d fucked up.
    But he couldn’t see any way around it. He had to go against the loyalty to his best friend to be with the woman he loved.
    “Dude, hang on a second—” Before he could finish his sentence, Crash’s fist smacked his jaw and pain radiated throughout his head, rattling his brain around. His neck snapped back, and the pain floated toward his shoulders, but Chris ignored it, looking his friend square in the eye.
    Crash’s dark eyes were full of betrayal—a betrayal which bled over into murder. Chris was confident his best friend was about to kill him.
    Misty was holding the sheet up to cover herself, sitting up in the bed on her knees. “Andrew, stop it.” Her voice was calm, and a ripple of admiration went through Chris.
    “Dude, chill,” Chris tried to placate. If he could calm Crash down, he could explain how things had played. But Crash wasn’t seeing any of it.
    “Do you have any idea? What? Are you planning on just fucking my sister and leaving in the night, like the asshole you are with women? Do you not understand what she’s been through? She doesn’t need that shit in her life. I trusted you,” Crash seethed as he bounced from foot to foot, ready to strike again. His eyes darted around wildly, finally landing on Chris’s nudity. “For fuck’s sake.”
    “I love her.” Telling her brother first wasn’t the way Chris wanted it to happen. He’d imagined a candlelit dinner and an explanation he hadn’t uttered those words to any woman besides his mama. But Chris was about to screw things up royally between them, and he needed his friend in his life.
    “I’m going to pretend this never happened. You make me fucking sick.” Crash’s fists dropped, and his shoulders went limp. He looked defeated. “Get some fucking clothes on. I’ve got a job and I need you away from her for today so I can think about this without worrying you’re fucking up her life.”
    That hurt, but Chris nodded. He looked over at Misty, who was staring at him, eyes wide and unblinking. What if she didn’t feel the same way about him? Had this just been a fuck for her? He didn’t think so, but she’d never said as much. He didn’t expect her to love him the way he loved her, because she hadn’t been staring at his picture for years. But he’d hoped she at least cared for him.
    God, she was beautiful with her hair all mussed from the long night of love-making and her mouth swollen from his kisses.
    “We’ll talk about this later.” Chris leaned over and tangled his hands in Misty’s hair, pulling her toward him. “After I calm him down, we’ll talk. I mean it.” Kissing her possessively, he wanted to leave no doubt he’d meant what he said. He loved her. She was his. Now he just had to make her brother—his best friend—understand that.
    ***
    After she heard the guys leave, Misty got up and got ready to go in and open the coffee shop. It was still a little early, but there was no hope of her getting any more sleep. She’d never seen Andrew so angry before. And Chris’s words were still banging around in her head. I love her. Stated so simply. She had no idea if he really meant it or if he was just trying to keep Andrew from beating on him more, but she liked hearing it.
    Because she loved him, too. If she’d had any doubts before last night, they were now eradicated. The way he’d physically shown her so many acts of love and kindness in the last twenty-four hours had only opened the door to her feelings for Chris Malone.
    She’d fallen face-first off the cliff and was mired in