Once Greg had finished his perusal, he turned to her. Before he could even utter a word she flung her arms around his neck. “Shit, that was hot,” she murmured against his lips. “I love it when you go all macho Navy SEAL on me. Take me to bed.”
Greg chuckled, the sound of his laugh vibrating through her, sending her already heightened nerves into overdrive. She wanted him hard and fast. No slow build-up, that could come later.
“I can’t not follow an order, especially one as enticing as that.” He bent and scooped her up against his chest. “Your wish is my command, Princess.”
He ate up the short distance between where he’d finished his scan to her bed. Normally she hated small hotel rooms, tonight she was glad for it. He set her down by the bed and she immediately grabbed his belt, eager to get him out of his jeans.
“Slow down, Princess. We’ve got all night.”
“I know, but I need you now. I don’t want a slow burn. We can do that later.”
His eyes darkened at her words and he made quick work of his belt, pushing his jeans and boxers down at the same time. His cock sprang out and she licked her lips, eager to taste him again.
“I know that look, but that’s part of the slow burn road.” He chuckled and shed the rest of his clothes.
Faith couldn’t believe this fine specimen of a man was hers. Well, for the time being, anyway. Eager to join him in the naked stakes, she began undressing herself, only to have her hands slapped away by Greg’s.
“Let me,” he murmured and leaned forward to brush his lips against her neck. Shivers rippled through her, igniting her simmering desire into overdrive.
There were no preliminaries. Once she was undressed, Greg was lying over her and he meshed his lips with hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck while he trailed one hand down her side, tickling the underside of her breast before traversing lower until her found her core. He stroked his fingers through her, checking her readiness for him. She could’ve told him that he needn’t have bothered. After the kiss he’d given her after she completed her lap with the other winners, she’d already been primed for him.
“Now, Cowboy, take me now.”
Greg adjusted himself at her entrance and then pushed in. She arched her back, moaning in pleasure as he slowly filled her. Once he was seated she locked her ankles around his back and ground her hips.
“Fuck, Princess. You don’t want it to be over before it’s started.”
“Then move, dammit, I told you I needed you now.”
His response was to pull out and then thrust back in. Her eyes drifted shut and she focused on the sensations building inside of her. The burn of pleasure blossomed inside her, starting at the point where they were connected and then rippling out through her blood, until her fingertips and toes were tingling.
Her release was close and she dug her fingernails into his back. “Harder, Cowboy, harder.” She urged him on and he answered her call.
Their moans mingled and grew louder until, together, they cried out their release together. Greg collapsed on top, breathing as ragged as her
Faith turned her face so that she could kiss him. Before she closed the gap she whispered, “Thank you.” Then their lips danced together slowly.
If only time could stand still and they could be locked in this moment, forever.
Greg stirred awake, immediately on alert. He slowed his breathing and heart rate and strained to pick up what had woken him up.
A whisper of a sound reached his ears, like someone was attempting to come into the room. Immediately he was out of bed, crouching low as he crossed toward the door on silent feet. Whoever was trying to come into the room was going to be in for a rude surprise if they expected Faith to be alone.
The locks disengaged and Greg flattened himself against the wall just behind where the door would open.
A hand gripped the side of the door and in a flash Greg moved, grabbed the hand and slammed the person against the wall.
A light flicked on and he blinked rapidly at the brightness.
“What the fuck is going on?” demanded Faith from the bed, gun in hand.
Where the hell had she been hiding that?
Didn’t matter, he had more important things to worry about. “Someone just broke into your room.”
“Hey, it’s my room.” The words slurred faintly and the sour smell of whiskey assailed his nostrils. Greg grimaced but looked at the person. He didn’t recognize him, but maybe Faith did.
“Do you know who this is, Faith?”
He spared her a look before focusing back on the drunk cowboy. The guy looked like he was about to toss his cookies.
The whisper of fabric alerted him that Faith was standing next to him. “Well, do you know him?” he asked again when she didn’t say anything straight away.
“He looks vaguely familiar. Could be one of the hands from the stables.” She leaned close to Greg and said under her breath. “You may want to put something on.”
He didn’t give a fuck that he was standing naked holding a man against a hotel wall. Whoever they were had invaded Faith’s room. As far as he was concerned, the man was a danger to her until otherwise identified. “I’m fine the way I am.” He pressed his elbow against the man’s chest. “Would you like to tell me why you’re in this room?”
The guy swallowed in fear and a sense of satisfaction filled Greg. Good, the guy needed to be about ready to piss his pants. The base of his spine tingled, not in the “he was about to blow his load” way, but more in the “something wasn’t right” way. And this guy having a key to Faith’s room was way too coincidental for him.
“I’m supposed to be meeting a chick I met in the bar here. She handed me this key and told me to go wait for her.”
Greg peered over his shoulder, already knowing the answer but to make the puzzle make sense he had to ask. “You have a roommate, Faith?”
“Wait, Faith? That was the name of the girl I was in the bar with.” He leaned forward and squinted, obviously in an attempt to try and put Faith into focus. “But that’s not you. Huh? How about that, two girls with the name Faith.” His complexion suddenly turned green and Greg turned him and had him in the bathroom, bent over the toilet before he vomited all over him.
He heard Faith say something that sounded like eww gross but he couldn’t be too sure. The guy sounded like he was throwing up not only the alcohol he’d consumed, but also his gut and intestines.
Greg walked out of the bathroom and found Faith sitting on the bed. He grabbed his pants and reached down into the pocket, pulling out his wallet and extracting his room key. He held it out to her. “Here, grab your things and go to my room. I’ll deal with this guy and see if I can find out any more information before he passes out.
As she sat on the edge of bed, eyes wide with a mixture of anger and bewilderment. But lurking in their depths was a shadow of fear. Greg’s heart clenched before expanding. He hated seeing that look on her face. In that moment she looked less like an FBI agent and more a woman who’d had her privacy invaded, which was true.
He erased the distance between them in two strides, squatting down by the bed. “Princess, I will keep you safe, I promise. I’ll sort this mess out. It’s clear you’re now being targeted. Once you get to my room, call Eddy. He’ll want to know.”
As if his words woke up the dormant agent inside of her, Faith shook off her shock and it was replaced with anger. If the guy wasn’t still barfing, Greg guessed Faith would’ve been in that bathroom and demanding answers.
“That asshole, or should I say bitch. You’re right, Cowboy, something about this is off. But I’m not going to your room. I going to find out what the hell he’s doing in my room. I’m not going to your room. I’m going to stay here.” She stood and picked up her clothes and started getting dressed. “It’s my room he invaded. For a moment I may have been freaked, but I’m an FBI agent and this is my case.”
He smiled; his girl was back.
“Good. But call Eddy
anyway. I know he’ll want to be here.”
Fifteen minutes later Eddy was in the room and they were all ready to get some answers.
The guy finally staggered out of the bathroom, but promptly passed out on the floor. Greg moved the guy on the bed and called housekeeping to come up and disinfect the bathroom, which was currently being completed. Once housekeeping left he planned on waking the guy up, none too gently, and demanding some answers.
Faith and Eddy were over by the window deep in discussion, no doubt going over strategies on how to get information out of him. They’d work together as a team, and if the guy tried anything, Greg would make sure he wasn’t successful.
“Is there anything else I can do for you sir?” The hotel maid asked.
“No that’s all. Thanks for coming up so promptly for such an unpleasant task.”
The maid smiled wryly. “At least he made the bathroom. It’s never fun when they don’t make it.”
Greg nodded and pulled out the notes he’d placed in his pocket. He walked over to where she was standing by her cart. “Well, I’m glad I made the job a little easier for you.” He handed over the cash and opened the door for her. “Hope the rest of your evening passes quietly.”
The woman nodded and wheeled her cart out. The door clicked shut and he counted to ten. Faith and Eddy had come up beside him. “Ready?” he asked.
“Yep. Let’s get some answers.” Faith responded.
Greg strode over to the bed and hauled the guy up, giving him a shake. “Wake up,” he demanded.
Over the years he and the other guys on his team had done their fair share of interrogation. Greg wasn’t adept at it as Italy, but he didn’t think this guy would be too difficult to break.
“Whassup?” The guy mumbled.
Greg gave him another shake for good measure. He wasn’t worried about the guy throwing up again. He was pretty sure the asshole didn’t have anything left in his belly. “You said you got the key from a woman in a bar named Faith, correct?”
The guy’s brow furrowed and Greg hoped he hadn’t got rid of the memory of his jaunt in the bar as easily as he had in the bathroom. “Umm. Yeah, I think so.”
“I don’t want a I think so, I want a yes or a no. So I’ll ask again, did the woman you drank with in the bar tell you her name was Faith?”
There was no way to be sure whether it was his stance or tone, but it finally sunk into the guy that Greg was most definitely not playing with him. Greg was dead serious and wanted answers.
“Yes. She came up to me, bought me a drink and introduced herself as Faith.”
Greg pointed over to where Faith and Eddy stood. “Is this her? Is this woman you drank with?”
The guy squinted and gazed at Faith. “Nope, she had dark hair.”
Eddy moved to where Greg stood with the guy. As much as he wanted to do all the asking, he acknowledged he had to allow the two agents in the room to be a part of it.
“Right,” Eddy scoffed. “She willingly handed over her key to you and you didn’t ask any questions?”
The guy laughed. “No, why would I? I was looking to get laid, I thought she was a sure thing. You’d do the same.” He winked at Greg as if they were part of some club. It was a club Greg had no desire to be part of.
“If you saw this woman again would you recognize her?” Faith asked, her tone pure steel.
Greg had no idea who’d flirted with the drunk cowboy, but whatever this woman had wanted, she wanted to implicate Faith in something. But what?
“I suppose I’d recognize her again. Why? Do you know who she is?” The guy looked like an eager puppy waiting for his favorite treat. The chances of this woman ever following through were slim. She’d used him and when she found he’d failed, then she wouldn’t look twice at him.
Faith rolled her eyes at him. “I don’t know who she is, because all you told me was she had dark hair.”
If Faith had an idea who this woman was, she wasn’t going to let this guy know. A phone sounded off loudly in the room. In his peripheral vision he could see Eddy pull his out of his pocket. The next thing Greg knew, Eddy looked at Faith and whatever the look said, she nodded and followed Eddy out of the room, turning to mouth the words your room to Greg. He nodded and the door shut behind them.
He walked over to the small desk tucked into the corner of the room. Snagging the notepad and pen he brought them back to the guy on the bed. “Here, write your name and phone number down. If we need anything else we’ll be in touch.”
As if he was starting to work out that something other than a failed hook-up was going on, he eyed Greg. “Are you guys cops or something?”
“Or something.” Greg shrugged his shoulders. “Write your name down and I won’t go to hotel management and say you used a key when you were unauthorized to enter a guest’s room.”
The guy scribbled his number down. “Oh, I was told to leave this here too.” He pulled a small plastic bag out of his back pocket and handed it over along with his number.
Over his time on missions he’d seen plenty of illicit things, and the vials in the baggie could contain anything.
“What are these?” he asked.
“Fuck if I know. Faith said to leave them in the top drawer of the bedside table.”
Greg clenched his fist around the bag, to save from wrapping his fingers around the guy’s throat. “You really were thinking with your dick last night and not your head, weren’t you?”
The guy actually looked affronted at his comment. “What do you mean by that?”
“You were being used.” Greg shook the bag he held. “You were going to be an accomplice to setting up an innocent person. I’m no expert but I’d say these are some illegal substances for either horses or adults. Whoever it was you flirted with last night is after my girl, and I’m not having it.” Greg marched over to the door and held it open. “You can leave, but be aware, I will be keeping a close eye on you. Keep your phone on.”
The other guy slunk out of the room. Good, the jerk should be ashamed.
Anger flared to life in Greg as the door slammed shut. He should get to Faith to give her the information he’d found out from the intruder.
Were the events of the evening connected to the case she was working on, or was it a separate incident? If it was connected, did that mean her cover had been blown?
He scraped a hand down his face. What he wouldn’t give to talk to the team about this. Together they would talk out a situation with the facts they’d been presented. Then they’d piece together all the pieces of the puzzle and come up with a solution, or three.
There was always Tex, but the guy was already looking into the case to see if he could get any more information that could help him as well as Faith. Tex could conjure up ice in the middle of an Afghani desert, he was that talented.
He glanced at the clock, it was still too early to call one of the guys, although they probably wouldn’t care. Red would be the logical one, since he was the only single guy on the team now.
Whoa, Red was the only single guy now?
Yeah, he mentally told his inner voice. After spending time with Faith, he wanted to try and make whatever was happening between them work. He’d let her slip through his fingers once. He wasn’t going to do it again. He was in Virginia, she was probably in DC, there wasn’t a huge distance between them they could make it work. If she went undercover then they’d deal with it when it occurred, just like when he went on missions.
Adrenaline spiked through him again as the idea took a foothold in his mind and heart. He needed to see her. To hold her and reassure himself that she was safe.
Still holding the plastic bag, he strode out of Faith’s room and to the elevator. He hoped that by the time he got to his room, Faith and Eddy would both be inside so he didn’t have to relay the story twice. Not that he’d have an issue with doing that.
While he waited for the elevator he searched his contacts for Red’s details. Once he had them he hit the connect butto
n.
“Cowboy, what’s up?” Even at this early hour of the morning, Red sounded alert and ready to jump into action. Exactly like all of them. While on mission they were all able to snap awake and spring into action in a second.
“How soon can you get your ass to Houston?”
“Today.” The response was immediate and Greg hadn’t doubted Red’s commitment to him. Both he and Red were the newest members on the team, but the other guys never held that against them. They were one unit and would always be there for each other whenever they needed to.
“Great, I’ve got a situation down here that I wasn’t expecting.” Greg stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for his floor.
“What’s the deal?” In the background, Greg could make out the sounds of drawers opening and closing. Even as they spoke, Red was packing in preparation to leave as soon as he could get a flight.
God, he loved his teammates.
“I can’t say much over the phone, but you remember Faith from the wedding?”
“Yep, your hot date? Is she in danger?”
Normally he’d have been pissed off with Red’s comments, but deep in his bones, he was confident that Faith wouldn’t even give the other man a second glance. “Same girl and possible danger. There are parties involved. I’ll fill you in when you get here.”
“Roger that, I’m searching flights now and once I get one, I’ll text you the details.”
The doors slid open on his floor and knowing he had a teammate on the way, released a little of the tension riding him. “Great, see you soon.”
He disconnected the call and headed for his room. He’d given Faith his one and only key. He lightly rapped on the door. “Faith, it’s me, Greg. Open up, please.”
A second later the door opened and he swept Faith into his arms.
God, she felt good.
Chapter 11
Eddy cleared his throat behind her, but Faith didn’t care. She needed Greg’s arms around her. She’d known Greg was a SEAL and that he could kill someone with a flick of his wrist. But now, she’d seen him in action, and his strength reached out to her, complementing her own.
Guarding Faith Page 10