by Margaret Kay
This still made no sense to Mother. Why the kidnapping? Why the false entries at gunpoint into the report? His eyes met Lambchop’s. He could tell his friend was thinking the same things. Lambchop nodded to the door to outside. Mother stepped outside with him.
“We’re going to be taking off in a few minutes. Be careful. Just because no one has made a move on her since we’ve been here, doesn’t mean they won’t now that there is only one of us left.”
“We’re missing something,” Mother said.
“I know,” Lambchop agreed. “And I hate that we’re leaving with the case still open but there’s nothing more for the team to do here.”
“I know and I don’t blame Shepherd.”
Just then BT and Sherman, followed by Annaka and Remi, came outside. It was time for them to go.
“I’ll let you know if we get to execute the warrant on our way out of town,” Lambchop said.
Mother clasped hands with Lambchop and then drew him in for a shoulder bump. “I’ll be back the evening of the second. I know we are due back at HQ on the third. I won’t put Shepherd in a bad position by requesting more time if there is nothing concrete here.”
“I’m heading to Pittsburg. Better to have a few days with my family than none. Call me if you find anything. Shepherd will be in touch with the info obtained from the warrant on Carstairs, but make sure you check in with him daily.”
Mother embraced Sherman next. “Thanks for coming. I’m glad you’ll have a few days with Brielle to get settled in your new place before we go back to work.”
“She understands, but she’s glad I’m coming home. It’ll be our first New Year’s Eve together.”
He clasped hands with BT. “You’ll probably be out on your next install before I’m back. Good luck.”
“Thanks, man,” BT said, pulling him in for a shoulder bump. “Good luck up here. If you need anything, give me a call.”
“Thank you, all of you,” Annaka said. She gave each of the three men a hug.
Remi shook hands with them and thanked them as well. Then she went back inside.
Mother watched them drive away. He couldn’t blame Shepherd for recalling the team. The investigation was at a standstill. Besides protecting Annaka, there was nothing more to do. And he had less than four days left with her. He would be very worried about her safety after he left; but he would also miss her. He wanted to spend more time with her. He wanted to get to know her better.
When he returned his gaze to Annaka, he could see that she had questions. “What?” He asked with a pleasant grin.
“You’re not going to get to see your family. You could still go for a few days you know.”
Mother slowly shook his head no. “Not a chance. Right here is where I want to be, Annaka.”
“Do you think I’m still in danger?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’d feel better if we identified and picked up those two men who came in with Keeling on Christmas Eve.”
Annaka gazed across the inlet. Her eyes scanned the beautiful snow-covered peaks on Mount Redoubt. “You know, I’ve always felt so safe here. It’s a small community, and I never considered the work we do as anything that anyone would threaten me over.” She paused and let out a big breath, her exhale sending a visible cloud through the frigid air. “But oil and gas are big money. I should have realized that. I feel naïve, maybe even stupid for not knowing it.”
Mother wrapped her in an embrace. He pressed a kiss to the hat on the top of her head. “Not stupid. Maybe a little naïve, but no more than anyone else who hasn’t been a victim of violence.” He pressed a kiss to her lips this time. “We have four days. Let’s see what kind of security I can set you up with before I go to make us both feel better about me leaving.”
She nodded. That would help to make her feel safer. “I am sorry you missed out on time with your family though.”
“They understand.” He flashed her a grin. “But when I do go, I want you to come with me.”
She smiled. “I’d like that.” She reached up on tiptoes and gave him a kiss. “Thank you for being here.” When she glanced back at the windows of the research building, she saw Ayla, peering out at them. Ayla had a huge grin on her face. Oh great! Annaka thought.
“This is exactly where I want to be.” He planted another kiss on her lips. When he pulled back, he nodded to the building. “Come on, let's go back inside so you can finish up for the day. We need to hit a few stores before we head to your place.”
Annaka flashed him a flirty grin. “In Homer. This is too small of a town for us to go shopping for what we need. Already, people will be talking.”
“What do you mean talking?” Mother asked.
“The rest of your team left, and you’ll be staying at my house. And Ayla was peeking out that window just now while we kissed.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So, there’s not much to do up here. People gossip. If either of us were to walk into the drug store in Anchor Point and buy birth control, you can believe that everyone will know and be talking about it.”
Mother had to laugh out loud, thoroughly amused by her statement. “We’re both adults. I’m neither embarrassed nor ashamed that I want to make love to you. I don’t care who sees us buying birth control or who knows.”
“Well I have to live here. I’d prefer we go to Homer. I do a lot of my shopping there. It’s only a twenty-minute drive,” Annaka said.
He brought his lips beside her ear. “But that is twenty minutes longer to wait to be with you, with birth control in our hands.”
She laughed. “You’ll live,” she teased. When her eyes met his and saw the fire in them, the definition of a smoldering gaze, she knew he wasn’t joking. Even though they stood out in the cold, she was suddenly warm all over. “I can be done in about a half hour. Then we can go.”
They returned inside. Both Remi and Ayla gave her approving smiles. Mother sat in Keeling’s chair, watching Annaka wrap up her work. Finally, she grabbed her coat. “Okay, I’m done for the day.”
“Have a great night,” Remi said with a wink. She stood behind Danny, so only Annaka saw her.
“Yes, a really great night,” Ayla seconded with a smile. “I’ll see you both at eight tomorrow night.” She smiled between Annaka and Danny.
Once outside Annaka glanced at him. “See?”
He chuckled. “They’re harmless. Besides, they’re your friends. My team would be giving me the same shit.” He pulled the keys to the rental that Sherman left him from his pocket. “Leave your car here. We’ll take the car with a working heater.”
Once inside the car, she pointed east. “Homer.”
He pointed the car in that direction. All he could think about was buying that birth control and then making love to her. He glanced at her in the passenger seat. She smiled at him and his dick instantly hardened in his pants. Down boy, he thought. They had at least an hour before they’d be back to her house.
Kilo
Their shopping trip was quick. They bought food for dinner and breakfast the next morning before heading over to the pharmacy section within the grocery store. Mother loved how confidently she stood with him in the intimate protection isle as they chose the products. He insisted on paying for all items purchased. Once back in the car, he couldn’t help but give her a kiss. She was quite a woman.
Dusk crept in before they made it to her house. She watched him check the house out, gun in hand, while she stood back, holding the two grocery bags.
“It’s clear,” he said, coming up to her. He took the grocery bags from her hand and set them onto the counter. “I’ll go back out and get our backpacks.” When he reentered the house, the only thing left on the counter was the birth control. She’d put the groceries away. He couldn’t help but smile a grin of pure lust as he stepped up to her and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her, getting more excited by the second. “I hope you’re not too hungry. I’d sure like to use those before we make dinner.”
He watched her pull her phone from her back pocket. Then she stretched out on the bed with her head on the pillow closest to the desk. He crawled beside her and wrapped her in an embrace.
“So many nights, I laid here just like this playing our games, typing out messages to you, and wondering what you were like in person,” she said. She brought up the game app and clicked on his avatar. She showed him his cartoon likeness. Then she held it up next to him and made a point of comparing them. “You’re even hotter in person.”
Mother chuckled. “I hope so.”
“What about you? Are you disappointed at all by the real me versus my cartoon self?”
Mother shook his head no, a flirty smile on his face. “Not at all. If anything, your avatar pales in comparison to you.” He took the phone from her hands and placed it on the desk. His phone, wallet, and gun went beside it. He watched her eyes track his movements. She didn’t seem bothered by the gun. “Close your eyes,” he whispered.
She did. She had a beautiful smile on her face, a smile that proved she completely trusted him and was open to whatever he had planned. He gently ran his fingers over her forehead, clearing her hair from it. Then his touch brushed over her cheek bone, jawbone, and around the underside of her neck until he cupped her face in his hand. He heard her breath catch as his hand softly caressed her. He wanted to take his time and make this first time they would make love be intense, lengthy, memorable for her.
Then his lips brushed over where his hand had. He placed a kiss on her cheek, just barely grazing her lips. She hungered for more. She turned into him, trying to capture his lips, but he moved them away. He kissed her forehead, the tip of her nose, the end of her chin. Her entire body throbbed with desire. She moaned out loud when he ran his tongue down the middle of her neck. Her body undulated on the mattress, searching for his body as she wanted him buried in her.
As he kissed his way back up the side of her neck, her ear his destination, he ran a hand slowly up her body, starting at her knee. His touch lit a fire in her that craved complete fulfillment. His lips were on her ear when his hand reached her breast. She unconsciously arched into him.
She turned her head into him and ran her hand over his cheek, spearing her fingers into his hair. Her lips reached for his. She could no longer take a passive role. She had to touch him. She had to feel him. She wanted to stoke a fire in him as consuming as what he had kindled in her.
He chuckled the sexiest sound she’d ever heard. “Patience, cariño. We have all night.” Then he went back to kissing her ear and running his tongue over it. He sat up on his knees and pulled on her hand. “Sit up.”
She eagerly did.
He pushed her sweater up her torso, his fingers tickling her as they went. Then he pulled it over her head and tossed it aside. She moaned as he kissed her collar bone and trailed kisses down her chest, his lips tingling her wherever they touched. She watched him, getting more turned on by the second.
Her skin was hot. A pretty, pink blush crept up her chest. His fingers danced over the skin on her back which caused her breathing to become choppy. It came in pleasure-filled gasps. When he glanced up and saw her watching his every move with a hungry look on her face, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to control himself long enough to go slow. Fuck if he didn’t want to be inside her that minute! His lips met hers and the sparks that seared them both pushed them to quickly remove every scrap of fabric from each other. His hands caressed her most intimate places, followed by his body pressing fully against hers.
She felt his naked hardness against her. They stopped kissing and gazed into each other’s eyes, both realizing that they were at the moment that their relationship would forever be changed. Her eyes searched the depths of Danny’s. Besides the raw passion, she saw the emotion, the intense feelings he had for her.
Knowing they could not get carried away, he sheathed his length. Her hands caressed over him as he did, keeping the raging fire inside of him stoked. Then he rolled onto her, spreading her legs, and settling between them. He kissed her deeply as he slowly pressed into her. Oh, fuck, yes!
Danny’s guttural moans, expressing his intense pleasure as he moved in her, drove Annaka’s desire higher. She wrapped her legs around his waist, her hands ferociously taking in the sculpted definition of his muscles. She kissed the tattoo on the right side of his chest that reached towards his arm. She recognized it as the Marine Corps emblem, the eagle sitting atop the globe with the large anchor behind it. She hadn’t noticed it before. She saw other tattoos on him. She’d look at those more closely later. She wanted to memorize every detail about his body.
His lips took hers and his mouth made love to hers just as surely as the rest of his body did. He filled her completely, rubbed her in all the right places, and before she knew it, the first of many orgasms to come, pushed her over the edge. She tried to hold it off, to stay on that incredible peak, but his relentless movement, his maintained rhythm, his length rubbing her clit with each thrust, forced her over that summit.
Annaka’s throaty and gasping whimpers combined with the vise grip she milked his shaft with, as her entire body went rigid, triggered his own release to crash through his senses, dizzying him. His member still throbbed deep inside her as he regained his senses and caught his breath.
He remained inside her and held her. He watched her face. The moment her eyes opened; he captured her gaze in his. The beautiful sparkling brown depths held only trust and affection, and satisfaction, deep sexual satisfaction. The smile she beamed at him mirrored those emotions. He kissed her, a soft and gentle expression of his intense feelings for her. She was his woman now. And he would always take care of her.
Annaka gently traced over the tattoo on his chest. “I forget when I’m with you that you were a Marine. You’re caring and gentle in a lot of ways.”
Mother chuckled softly. “Marine’s aren’t supposed to be?”
“I don’t know. When I think of a Marine, I envision a tough soldier. Not someone who is as gentle and caring as you are.” Then her touch moved over to his arm and the two small dog tattoos he had there. Feeling over them, she noticed they each covered a scar. “There are depressions in your skin under these. Scars?”
Mother glanced at his arm where she touched. “Yeah, I took a couple bullets in Afghanistan, out on patrol one night.”
Her hand froze. “You were shot twice?”
“Yeah. Those are supposed to be dogs, as in the dogs of war. They looked better when they were first done. Might need to get them touched up.” He pointed to the one lower on his arm. “That one looks like a snowman’s head to me now.” He elongated his arm, displaying the tat on the top of his forearm. “This is my newest one.” He smiled proudly, admiring it.
Annaka gazed at it. A coiled snake was wrapped around the words ‘Death Before Dishonor’. Its head was near his elbow, its tail near his wrist. She hadn’t noticed any tattoos on him previously. Of course, the previous night she wasn’t looking at him. She was just enjoying the incredible sensations he brought to her body. “That’s really cool. I’ve been wanting to get a beluga whale tattooed on me someplace.”
“When you come to Chicago, I’ll take you to my artist, if you want.”
She smiled and nodded. “I’d like that. Only if you hold my hand while I get it, though.”
“You know I will.” He kissed her again. When he pulled his lips back, he smiled a lust-filled smile. “I plan on doing that a few more times tonight, but what do you say, should we get up and make some dinner?”
“Ah, hungry?” She smiled erotically. “Worked up an appetite, did you?”
Mother nodded, rose, and reached a hand to her. He pulled her from the bed. She noticed script letter tattoos running along the underside of both of his forearms. They were upside down, backwards to
o. She ran her finger over the letters on his left arm, trying to make it out.
He led her to the mirror, taking in the beauty of her naked body. He held his arms up on either side of her so she could read the words reflected in the mirror.
“Semper Fidelis,” she read aloud. “That’s really cool.”
He tapped the tat on his chest. “The EGA was my first, but I had the script letters done after I completed my Raider training.”
Annaka gazed at him with a whole new appreciation for him. He was a Marine who had seen combat and been shot. He was proud of the life he’d lived, a life she couldn’t even fathom. He was braver than anyone she knew, a hero, a true American warrior. And he was gentle and caring, contradictions she wouldn’t have predicted.
“We should probably put some clothes on and get something made for dinner,” she finally said.