He unwrapped the foil around a condom and slid it on quickly. Then he reached for her waist and pulled her up and over him, maneuvering her until she was straddling his body, with his erection pressing against her aching core. “Oh, Stryker…” she moaned, and rocked her body against him. His hard length rubbed against the sensitive nub of desire, and she gasped as sensations exploded through her body.
“Does this feel good?” Stryker asked, his voice tense.
“Yes, but I want more. I want…” He reached down and positioned himself so the tip of his arousal pressed against her core, and she shuddered. “Yesssss,” she groaned. “I want that.”
She moved her body back and forth, testing the feel of him just barely penetrating her. Breathing heavily, she began to press down on him and threw her head back in ecstasy. Slowly she took him within her body until she felt she couldn’t take any more. Then she arched her back, and he slipped into her to the hilt. Her hands were clenched on his chest, her nails digging into his skin.
“Anya.” His voice was hushed and raw. “Anya, are you all right?”
If she hadn’t been lost in a world of pleasure, she would have laughed. But her body was overloaded by sensation as she felt her inner muscles ripple to adjust to him, sending additional shivers through her body. “I’m more than all right,” she replied when she was able to find her voice.
Slowly, she lowered her head and looked down at him. His face was intense, the features pulled tight, showing his strong jaw and high cheekbones. But there was something in his eyes…a blaze that burned bright just for her. He was such a handsome man and could have any woman he wanted. And he had chosen her.
She smiled softly and traced his eyebrows, his nose, his lips. And then she moved, and she gasped loudly at the sensation. “Stryker!” she whispered urgently.
“Slowly, bella, slowly.”
She did as he said and began to slide her body up and down his length, raising up on her knees until just the tip of him was in her, then slowly descending back down on him, shuddering each time as his cock filled her completely. A rhythm began in her body, and she began rocking up and down on him, grinding on him when she had him at the hilt. She arched her back and raised her hands into her hair, moaning softly, chasing the pleasure she knew he was going to give her.
She looked at him through hooded eyes, and he was watching her with similarly hooded eyes. He reached up and his fingers lightly flicked her aching, pouting nipples. She cried out with pleasure, throwing her head back and riding him faster.
His hands gripped her hips, and he began to thrust up into her, the urgency having apparently caught him as well. She felt as if she were at the edge of a very high cliff and was about to tumble over the side. “Stryker…Stryker…” She breathed his name like a mantra.
“Come with me, Anya. I want to see that sweet face of yours when you come with me.”
His words made her entire body feel hot as she lowered her head and looked at him. He began to thrust into her harder, faster, and her hands fell to his chest, her nails digging into his flesh again. “Oh, Anya… Come with me, Anya!”
She felt the tension suddenly vibrating through his body. It sent her over the edge, and she was falling, flying down the side of the giant cliff. “Stryker!” she yelled his name, nearly screamed it as her whole body convulsed and fell apart in spasms.
He was still thrusting into her as he leveraged himself up on one hand and pulled her to him for a kiss hotter than any they’d had before. His tongue matched his movements inside her body, and she felt herself climbing again, and she began to grind against him hard, seeking the next peak. It slammed into her, and she screamed into his mouth as she fell apart in his arms.
Chapter 16
“Anya.”
“Mmm.”
Stryker smiled. Even in her sleep she was absolutely amazing. He wanted more of her. But his time was up. They had to leave for Corpus to fly into Matamoros, where they would assume their new identities and attempt to infiltrate the cartel.
He didn’t know how long he would be gone, but he wanted to be back already. He needed Anya in his arms, in his life, as much as possible. And the sooner they were finished with this mission, the sooner that would happen.
“Anya, bella, I must leave, remember?”
“I have selective memory problems,” she mumbled. Lying on her side, her naked rump nestled up against his crotch, she was making him desire her all over again. He slowly turned her in his arms until she was lying on her back, his arm as her pillow, and he was able to look down at her.
“You are terrible at playing possum. You know that, right?”
She cracked one eye open to look at him. “Do you really have to leave?”
“Unfortunately, yes. But I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
She sighed heavily and opened both eyes, lifting her arms to run her fingers through his thick hair. “What made you decide to go caveman on me?” she asked, rubbing his short beard and tugging gently on his longer locks of hair.
He chuckled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’m just enjoying a life where I don’t have to shave every day, and I can go for a couple of months without getting a haircut.”
“I’ve seen plenty of bull riders with facial hair. There’s no rule against it.”
Stryker had to think fast. “Yes, but being shaved and clean-cut was the desired appearance for most of the bronc and bull riders. There were always a few rebels.”
“Hmm. Whatever you say, cowboy.”
“I don’t want to leave you.” He couldn’t believe he’d just confessed that out loud. He had lost his mind.
She looked up at him, her face very serious. “Then don’t.”
He lowered his head and pressed his lips firmly against hers, and kissed her until they were both breathless. “I’ll have last night to think about while I’m gone. And then I’ll be back in no time. You’ll see.” How he hoped that were true. He had never felt more at home than he did at that very moment, and all he could think about was how right it seemed.
Could this be what was missing in his life? Could it be that he had needed a strong, independent woman around to hold him, to kiss him, to need him in more ways than one? He shook his head at himself. It was a foolish notion. He had never needed anybody. Other than around his SEAL brothers, he liked to be alone.
“We need to go, bella. I still have to get ready for my trip, and I’m catching an early flight out this morning.”
She sighed dramatically, then smiled up at him. “Last night was…amazing.”
Stryker felt the possessive need to grab ahold of her and never let her go. He didn’t want to leave this magic bubble they were in. He didn’t want to face the ugly, violent world he knew existed. He just wanted Anya and her joy and her smiles. But he had a duty to fulfill, and that was exactly what he was going to do.
They fumbled around in the dark until they found their clothing, and Stryker was disappointed when Anya was all covered up again. Seeing her lying nude before him had been so incredibly erotic, because she had held nothing back.
For the second time, as he held her in his sleep, he hadn’t been tormented by nightmares. He felt more refreshed than ever before. Anya was good for him. But was he good for her? He didn’t know.
To the east, a faint glimmer of pink showed on the horizon, and Stryker knew they had to get moving, even though every part of him wanted to stay exactly where he was. It wasn’t that he was dreading the assignment ahead. He was just dreading the time apart from Anya. Which was a very new sensation for him.
They had everything packed up faster than he had expected, and he untethered the horses and led them to where she stood waiting for him. The first rays of light were stretching, and in the pale glimmer, she seemed to glow. He couldn’t believe his fortune. This incredible woman wanted to be with him. Him. And she had slept out under th
e stars with him, snug against his body, chasing away his demons.
He caught her chin and pulled her in for a gentle kiss before turning and helping her mount her horse. He swung up on his, and they headed back for the ranch in a comfortable silence. It seemed right that the only sound was the cattle calling to each other in the early morning light.
They arrived at the house far too soon, in Stryker’s opinion. They both dismounted and the horses stood by lazily, still half asleep, as Stryker walked Anya to her truck. She turned and leaned against the cab of her truck, a sleepy and satisfied smile on her face. “Thank you for last night,” she murmured.
“I’m the one who should be thanking you,” he said, his own lips twitching into a smile as he leaned against her, brushing her hair out of her face and hooking it behind her ear. The idea of not being with her for the next several days suddenly seemed unbearable. It came with being a SEAL, though. Once they left for a mission, all communication went dark. He’d have to wait until he had finished things in Mexico before hearing her sweet voice again. “I won’t have time to call you while I’m away,” he said softly. “I’ll call you as soon as I’m headed back. It may be from a number you don’t recognize—just promise you’ll answer?”
She bit her lower lip and smiled up at him, her fingers hooking in his belt loops. She tugged him closer to her. “Give me one last kiss before I go, cowboy?”
“Anything you ask for, señorita.” He leaned down, brushing her lips lightly, then more firmly, until she sighed and her lips parted for his tongue to take a sweet taste of her. She was just as intoxicating as she had been the previous night, and he was growing hard remembering.
With reluctance, he pulled back. “Goodbye, bella.”
“Goodbye, Stryker. I love you.”
* * *
Cell phones had been used for communication within cartels since the day they’d been invented. But the cartels had become so talented with cell phones that even modern search tactics utilized by international agencies weren’t able to keep up.
The cartels had learned quickly how to disable GPS and voice recognition software, as well as any distinguishing characteristics that could allow law enforcement to track them. Over the years, they had become creative with their methods of communication, creating their own unique language that they were constantly changing up to keep everyone on their toes.
A company in Canada had finally realized the market they could capitalize on. They began manufacturing various smartphones that came fully prepared for the cartels to use, encryption codes included.
But after months of gathering damning information, the feds had brought the company to a screeching halt. The CEO was in prison, and the assets of the company were worthless. So the cartels were back to coming up with their own communication plans. Fortunately for the Scorpions, they had “acquired” a man gifted in coding and cyber intelligence and had changed their communication across the board. And it was paying off for them in ways they hadn’t expected.
Benicio had proudly taken charge of a section of a large cartel operating out of Nuevo Laredo as a young man, one of the youngest lieutenants in the business. He had worked hard and been recognized quickly for his cunning abilities and ruthless pursuits of adversaries.
Within five years he had moved up to become a capo’s second. The cartel was so large, they had multiple capos to oversee the regions. Too large, in Benicio’s opinion. He had watched how fat and content his capo had become—how many of the capos had become—and knew they’d lost touch with the way it was on the streets.
It had all been just a matter of time.
More time than he had wanted, but his time came. He had been the capo’s second for nearly seven years when the perfect opportunity presented itself. Several of his lieutenants were dissatisfied with the capo, and he had already secured the sicarios to back him up. That was when the capo had been in an unfortunate accident that had left him, his driver, his treasured Rolls-Royce, and his mistress at the bottom of Lake Casa Blanca in Laredo, Texas.
Benicio had quickly stepped up to fill his role of capo and carry out his grand plan: to separate from the cartel, form his own, and slowly but surely bring down all the capos who hadn’t taken him seriously before. Less than three years later, he had succeeded and launched the Scorpions.
The Capos from other cartels weren’t challenging him, at least most of them weren’t. One Capo had died a year after Benicio had created the Scorpions, and as much as Benicio would’ve liked to take credit for it, the man’s death hadn’t been by his hand. And only a couple of months ago, the Capo of another cartel had been captured by the Mexican military and the feds. Many cartels were falling to pieces, and he was picking up the top performers and absorbing them into the Scorpions. If they kept growing, he might need to consider making Hector a capo and managing the cartel like the well-greased machine it was becoming.
It had been a stroke of good fortune that had brought David Castro to head up their intelligence division. He was already working for a major leader in Colombia, and his talents with the computer were being farmed out to various criminal organizations throughout Mexico and Central and South America. His skills had been obvious to Benicio when he and his friend in Colombia had used him to make their network more powerful than they had ever imagined. That had been years ago. David seamlessly assisted their operations, and they grew stronger every day because of David’s talents.
David didn’t report to Benicio directly, the only thing that frustrated Benicio. His friend in Colombia held all the power and approved all David’s assignments. Benicio didn’t like reporting to anyone. He was a drug lord, a king in the industry. He would find a way around his Colombian friend.
Over the years, with David’s work, Benicio’s level of encryption on the dark web had yielded them a new opportunity to offer protection to small stores and shops near the border that had recently been left defenseless after the large cartel continued to disintegrate. The opportunity to spread their fingers closer and closer to the border only furthered his goals. And, he knew, it would please his friends in Washington, D.C., who were watching his movements so closely.
* * *
Stryker showered quickly and tried to think about the things he had left to do before they hit the road to Corpus. His go-bag was packed, and he had his fake identity well mapped out in his mind, and… I love you. Her voice had sounded so sweet. He knew she hadn’t planned to say it, the way her cheeks had turned bright red and she’d slid into her truck rapidly.
The words had stabbed straight to his heart. When was the last time he’d heard those sweet words? Years. Back when he and his wife had been besotted with puppy love and thought the real world wouldn’t interfere with the life they were creating. But the longer they had remained married, the longer the time went without her saying she loved him. And the further he had pulled away from her.
Focus, sailor! Focus! Damn it to hell, he was going to lose his mind reliving the moment Anya had whispered the words, as if they were natural for her to say. As much as he had enjoyed hearing them, he’d believed that the likelihood of her truly loving him was far-fetched. He was her first. He was the man who had claimed her innocence, and he knew he’d taken her to ecstasy not once but twice the night before. She must be confusing love with lust.
He turned the water all the way to cold and welcomed the pelting jolt to shake his thoughts back to their rightful place. In his go-bag, he carried a variety of things that he’d learned never to go without on a mission. That included his point-and-shoot camera that looked and felt like a simple mint tin and had been crafted for him years ago by an undercover agent. An all-purpose tool was a no-brainer, as were a couple of hydration packs to carry water.
Thinking about his go-bag while under the icy water from the showerhead was finally pulling his mind off Anya. When he started to shiver, he turned the shower off and sluiced water from his body befo
re grabbing a large towel. He was moving quickly because he knew they were going to need to leave soon.
He wore a simple pair of jeans and an untucked, name-brand T-shirt that shouted money. That and a pair of expensive boots completed his ensemble. In order to play like a big-time drug dealer, he needed to look the part. He scanned his room one last time and glanced longingly at his bedside drawer. He wanted nothing more than to bring his gun with him. But he had no doubt there would be a pat down as soon as they arrived in Matamoros, and he wasn’t about to lose that weapon. It had seen him through far too many tough situations.
He entered the dining room and was surprised to see Snap already awake, beginning preparations for breakfast. He looked up when Stryker entered and nodded to him silently. It was an unspoken rule that you left a sailor to his thoughts right before he was about to leave on assignment.
A few minutes later, Phantom entered, his face lost in concentration. Stryker watched Phantom as he finished his preparations, and knew his friend was fully immersed in his character’s backstory. Which was exactly where Stryker needed to be, but he kept getting jerked back to the moment when he was leaning against Anya at her truck and she had whispered such sweet words so softly into his ear.
Buzz came into the dining room and nodded to all the men. Stryker looked at his two teammates closely, and they returned his gaze, then nodded in acknowledgment, and without saying another word, the three of them left the house, ready to tackle their new project. They piled into Phantom’s truck and were silent for the first thirty minutes of the drive.
Buzz was the one who broke the silence from the back seat. “I’d like to go over our key points in our assignment—a high-level overview.”
Stryker shifted in the front passenger seat so he could look at both Phantom and Buzz. “We arrive at Corpus to meet with Admiral Haslett for any final intel. We’ll have some downtime on base until twenty hundred hours. Then we’ll take a private chopper down to Matamoros. We should arrive in Matamoros around zero two hundred, roughly.
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