Operation: Valiant Angel

Love was not a word that Shepherd Security Operator Jimmy 'Taco' Wilson was acquainted with. What he was very well acquainted with was being one of the best snipers Delta Force had ever seen. He served with honor and distinction and had more confirmed kills than most. He was proud of his record. And that included his record since he was personally recruited by Colonel Sam Shepherd, a man he respected and trusted.

A humble man, he saw none of his acts as anything other than just doing his job. It had been many years since he'd had a long-term romantic relationship, which he thought just couldn't coexist with his Special Forces career. He'd accepted that long ago and was fine with it. As a matter of fact, he loved his life just as it was.

Rae Ella Easton had been reborn into a new life not quite a year earlier when she'd helped the DEA in an operation that left her a woman the cartel would love to find and make an example of. Hence the rebirth as Reina Ellis, a clean and sober, upstanding citizen. Her entire life had been a struggle. She'd been on her own since she was fifteen when she ran away from her fifth foster home. She was a survivor who accepted all she'd been through and overcome as just what life was. Even helping the DEA when she did, she didn't see it as a brave act. It's what anyone else would have done had they been in a similar situation.

She had one friend who knew her past and was not a danger knowing her now because he'd helped to get her out when things got scary. He was a man who was as kind as he was attractive, a sympathetic ear who offered her solid advice. She could talk with him about anything. That man was Jimmy Wilson.

But when pushed to identify the relationship, Wilson had a hard time calling it a friendship. One of the problems was, he hadn't told any of his teammates that he'd stayed in touch with Rae. It was his secret. The other big problem was that Jimmy Wilson did not have friendships with women.

When Reina suspects someone in her new life is in trouble, getting involved also puts her in danger. Jimmy Wilson is the only person she can call to help and that's when Wilson has to confront exactly what the relationship they have is. And needing help from Shepherd Security, he also has to disclose the relationship he'd kept from his teammates.