by Tawny Weber
Yet now it turned out she’d met with a RAT?
Her head throbbed. “I didn’t know, Curt. And I didn’t tell him anything.”
“I know Trina. We’ve got your recording to back up your statement, and Sean was a witness. Come back to the DOJ. I’ve got a few more questions about—”
Curt’s words were lost in the crunch and jolt as a car slammed into the rear quarter panel on Sean’s side of the vehicle. Trina screamed as they careened to the side. Lights and direction were a blur.
Sean kept his head and shouted to Curt what was happening even as he righted the vehicle. Again, they lurched sideways as the vehicle pounded them again. But Sean had a firm grip and swerved to avoid the brunt of the impact.
She twisted in her seat to see the relentless vehicle—but all she saw was one blinding headlight as the car came at them again, this time from behind. Up ahead, cars were stopped at a red light. She braced herself as Sean slammed on the brakes. Struck from behind by the speeding car, they shot forward, rear-ending the car in front of them. Trina saw nothing but the white of the airbag.
Keith was only a block behind Trina and Sean and closing in when he saw the dark sedan slam into the side of their car. Stuck with a dozen cars between them, all he could do was watch in horror as the sedan struck the driver’s side again, then finally rear-ended them when Sean was forced to brake.
Keith aimed for the curb and jerked to a stop, then sprang from his car and sprinted to the wreck, wishing he had his Glock at the small of his back, but DC gun laws prevented him from carrying concealed. He hesitated and considered grabbing his rifle from the trunk when the masked driver of the sedan jumped out of his car and circled to the passenger door—where Trina was likely to be seated. The man pointed a pistol at the front passenger window.
He had to be sweating under the ski mask on the hot summer night, and his wildly shaking arms said everything Keith needed to know. The guy was no operative. No military man.
Dominick had told him of Ruby’s association with RATinformant when he’d called to get Trina’s location moments ago. Odds were good this jumpy guy wielding a gun was Ruby’s partner in exposing government secrets, the RAT known by the avatar Mouse.
Mouse was so focused on the car he’d just run down, he didn’t even scan to check his six. He had no clue what he was doing. He slowly approached Trina’s door at an angle. His back to Keith.
No time to grab the rifle, but Keith could take this amateur down without it. He darted to the side, so he could get a better view into the car. Trina appeared to be unconscious. He couldn’t see Sean and wondered if he’d also been knocked unconscious, or if both were playing possum with Mouse.
It was clear Mouse didn’t know what to do. Pointing a gun at an unconscious woman was futile. The man cursed and shouted instructions that garnered no response from Trina in her slumped-over position.
Keith charged, using a football tackle that slammed Mouse into the pavement. Keith stripped the gun and sent it skidding across the sidewalk. He pinned Mouse belly down with his hands behind his back, then torqued his gun arm, and the bastard howled with pain.
Keith leaned down and whispered in the prostrate man’s ear, “You think you can go after the woman I love, and I won’t kill you?” Rage had taken over as the image of Mouse pointing a gun at Trina eclipsed everything else.
Mouse sobbed and whimpered, unable even to thrash under the heavy weight of Keith sitting on his back. Slowly, the man’s words broke through the angry haze. “The government killed Gopher. Now they’re after me. Dr. Sorensen was my only hope for leverage. My only hope to stay alive.”
From behind Keith, Sean said, “Thanks for the assist, Hatcher. I’ll take over from here. The FBI will be here shortly.”
Mouse screeched again. “No! They’ll kill me. Like they did Gopher.” He bucked upward, fear giving him strength.
Keith glanced behind him to see Trina—beautiful, perfect, amazing Trina—standing slightly behind Sean. A scratch above her eyebrow dripped blood. The frame above the left lens of her glasses was cracked—probably damaged by the airbag. Keith lost his voice for a moment as he prayed that was her only injury.
Sean handed him a zip-tie, forcing Keith to focus. “Bind him.”
Keith looped the plastic around Mouse’s wrists, cinching it tight, while Sean did the same to the man’s ankles. Then Keith lifted his weight from Mouse’s back and flipped him over, then said, “Let’s see who we have here.”
Sean reached down and plucked off the ski mask, revealing a sweaty, freckled face that looked vaguely familiar to Keith. Then he remembered. He’d seen the guy at Rav’s house, weeks ago.
Trina gasped. “Derrick Vole?”
Chapter 17
Sirens screeched as an ambulance, a fire truck, and what seemed like a dozen police cars converged on the busy intersection. Sean yanked Derrick to his feet, and Trina made a beeline for Keith, unsure of the reception she’d receive but desperate to tell him her feelings.
Before she could get a word out, he caught her against him and kissed her, his tongue plundering her mouth with the same desperation she felt. She kissed him back but pulled away quickly and cupped his face. The police would need to interview them. They’d be separated, like they were after the bombing, and she needed to tell him. Now. “I’m sorry, Keith—I—”
“I know. I am too. I—”
She covered his mouth with her hand. She wanted him to hear her. “I think I’m falling in love with you, Keith. Maybe you think that’s nuts because we barely know each other. But it’s true. And I freaked out earlier, because I was scared. Scared to trust my instincts. Scared I was mistaking lust for something more. Scared I had no judgment when it came to you and that maybe I was horribly wrong. After what I did and what I said, you probably never want to see me again. I just wanted to tell you now, when I had the chance. Whatever happened in Somalia”—she glanced at Derrick, who remained a few feet away, and lowered her voice—“doesn’t matter. I know the man you are. You had a good reason. I’m sorry I let my fear get in the way of seeing that. And I will never, ever ask for that reason. Some secrets must be kept.”
His intense gaze didn’t waver, even as medics and officers surrounded them. His eyes weren’t angry, but neither were they forgiving. He’d probably only kissed her in the heat of adrenaline. She’d gone and brought emotion into the moment and he didn’t want it. Didn’t want her.
That was okay. She’d needed to say it. What he did with her words was up to him.
She slowly lifted her hand from his lips as the silence stretched between them. An officer approached and asked something, but she lacked the ability to focus on the words. The only person who mattered was Keith.
The light in Keith’s eyes shifted. Warmed. One corner of his soft lips curled upward. Her heart, which had been racing, slowed and found a heavy bass beat. He leaned down. The breath of his whispery voice sent chills—the good kind—straight down her spine, and his words caused heat to blossom in all the right places. “After we’re done with questioning, I’m taking you home and making love to you for hours. And then I’m going to spend the next week making sure you’ll never again doubt the connection between us, never question the fact that I’m falling in love with you too.” He kissed her again, softer but still deep. His tongue slid against hers in a warm caress that made her knees weak.
Tears burned against her eyes. This amazing man was hers. He could forgive her. She’d give anything to be alone so they could revel in this moment, but an insistent police officer wasn’t in the mood to be ignored any longer.
“Sir, we have questions.”
Keith released her with encouraging reluctance and faced the young uniformed officer. “We may as well wait for the FBI. This is going to fall under their jurisdiction.”
The officer frowned and insisted on separating Keith and Trina so they could begin questioning, but as expected, minutes later FBI agents arrived, and the DC police were not very gently nudged fro
m the investigation.
Questioning took hours. She was checked out by a paramedic early on, then again after Keith must have reported she’d appeared unconscious in the car.
She explained that she’d only pretended to be knocked out by the impact. Her favorite pair of glasses had cracked, but she could still wear them. She’d have a fair number of bruises and was sure to be sore tomorrow, but that pain hadn’t settled in yet, and she felt fine. Exhausted but fine.
Derrick Vole had been whisked away, and many of the questions the FBI agents asked now centered on her association with him.
Vole. Well, of course, that must be where the rodent theme came from, his real last name. He must be the type who believed in his superiority to the degree that he planted his true identity in the name of his website and dared Homeland Security to find him.
What would Alec Ravissant do? Vole had been a key member of his campaign team. This would be a devastating blow, especially given the congressional investigation into Raptor’s Alaska military training ground. A month ago, Alec had been a shoo-in to win the Maryland senate race, but when word got out that one of his campaign aides was Mouse, a government data leaker at RATinformant.com, poll numbers would plummet.
Finally, they were done with the preliminary questions, and Curt called and told Trina that he wanted Keith and her to be at the DOJ at noon the following day. They weren’t going to question Vole until they’d finished searching both his and Ruby’s apartments. Relieved to know she didn’t need to sit through another grilling by Curt—at least not tonight—she found Keith conferring with Sean on the edge of the crowd of roadside investigators.
“You’ve been released?” Sean asked.
She nodded.
Keith patted him on the back. “I’ll take over guarding Trina from here.”
Sean chuckled. “Yeah. I figured. Rav said it’s okay to cut me loose. We think she’s out of danger now, but Rav wants you to take her back to the safe house tonight to be certain. Take a surveillance detection route to make sure the location remains secure. I’ll watch the choke point.”
Sean had explained those terms during his week of babysitting. All that mattered to her now was it meant it would take forever to reach the safe house, but Trina didn’t care so long as she was with Keith.
She gave Sean a hug, then followed Keith down the road to his car, which had been moved during cleanup of the accident. Keith draped an arm around her shoulder, and she felt safe, comfortable, and like she was already home.
She was strangely wired on the long drive. It was after midnight, and the day had been brutal. By all rights, she should be passed out in the seat. But anticipation had a way of keeping her alert.
Keith parked in the safe-house garage, and the door rolled down behind them. They were alone. At last. She’d jump him in the car, except he’d already opened his door.
She began unbuttoning her blouse as she followed him to the interior door. Inside, she kicked off her shoes and dropped her blouse on the floor, then unzipped her slacks.
“Are you hungry?” Keith turned and startled at seeing her in only her bra and panties as she stepped out of her slacks. He slowly, deliciously, smiled.
“Yes. Very,” she said and grabbed his shirt, pulling him toward her. Instead of kissing him, though, she pulled his shirt up, revealing his to-die-for abs, then his incredible pecs. He helped her by pulling the shirt over his head, exposing those wide shoulders and muscular biceps.
The guy had the most amazing body she’d ever seen, let alone touched. And he was all hers.
“I can see that,” he said, his voice husky. She’d caught him off guard, but he was quick to catch up. She could tell because she felt his thickening erection as she worked his fly open. She slid her hand inside his pants and stroked the length. He let out a guttural groan that made her wet and ready.
They stood in a small hallway that connected the garage to the living room, and she nudged him toward the wall.
She needed to taste him. To hold him in her mouth. To feel his thickness on her tongue. To make him pulse with pleasure. She’d traveled a million emotional miles today, and this was where she wanted the journey to end, with her showing him how she felt with her hands, her mouth, her body.
Keith chuckled. “Uh-uh.”
“No?” She took a step back. He couldn’t be rejecting her. He was locked and loaded. This was mutual, dammit.
“No. Not here. Let’s at least make it to the living room. And I want to go down on you first. I called dibs.”
The sudden tension released as quickly as it had coiled. “You did not.”
“I did. Silent dibs, in the car.”
“Yeah, well, I called silent dibs when we kissed right after you tied up Vole.”
“Yeah, well, I promised God when I dropped off Owen that if I found you tonight, I was going to tell you I’m crazy about you and make you come against my tongue at least four times. You can’t make me break my promise to God.”
“But your promise to God didn’t define who gets to go down on whom first.” She stroked his erection, determined to convince him she was right with whatever means necessary. “And did you really promise God that?”
“That’s between me and God. And I think I just got harder with your use of the word ‘whom’ in a sexual context.”
“Wait until you find out how else I can use my tongue in a sexual context.”
Keith laughed and scooped her up. He carried her to the living room and set her on her feet. “First person naked gets to go down first.”
Trina had a decent head start, but she’d miscalculated, because Keith only needed to kick off his shoes before removing jeans and briefs with one sweep, and she’d already opened his jeans for him, while she had to unhook her bra and slide down her underwear.
Keith won.
Which really wasn’t such a tragedy when he positioned her on the couch and spread her thighs, then traced her opening with his finger, brushing over her clit with just the right amount of pressure to make every nerve in her body sing with heat and anticipation.
He leaned in and flicked his tongue across her clit, then slid a finger inside. She was slick and ready and fought the urge to demand he put his cock inside her immediately. She wanted to rush this, but Keith was showing no signs of being in a hurry.
Then he purred with pleasure. “God, you’re beautiful. Sexy.” He smiled. “And mine.” On the final word, his tongue again stroked her clit, and the jolt of pleasure caused her to buck in response.
He continued to rub her with tongue and fingers, alternately sliding each inside her until she was in a frenzy, on the cusp and needing either his cock inside her or his tongue to push her over the edge.
But she was determined to turn the tables and rocked her hips back, breaking contact. “My turn.” She tugged at his shoulders, encouraging him to stand before her. She took his cock into her hand and stroked the shaft, then slid to the floor to kneel before him and took him into her mouth.
His thick erection firm against her tongue, she sucked on the head then slid downward. She started slowly, inching down the shaft, then holding him deep before easing back with tight lips and stroking tongue, only to ease forward and take him deep all over again. She stroked his testicles as she sucked.
He groaned in response. “Trina. Babe. Oh God. You are—damn. Amazing. I can’t—” The words came out in a slow tumble, arousing her as much as his mouth had moments before. She wanted to bring him to orgasm. To finish him with her lips and tongue. To feel his cock pulse in her mouth in a way she wouldn’t feel if he were encased in a condom inside her.
From the sounds he made, he was right on the edge when he pulled back. “Babe—”
“Shut up and come.” She took him deep again, sucking harder and faster, and his back arched as he came in hot bursts that made her feel sexy and powerful as she swallowed his ejaculate.
He dropped to his knees, bringing them chest to chest. “Babe. That was—” He kissed her nec
k and shoulder before dropping lower to take her hard nipple into his mouth. He rolled the tip with his tongue, then said, “Amazing.” He grinned and kissed her. “I’m nuts about you, babe.”
She kissed him back, loving the feel of his skin against hers, hot and ready after the pleasure of bringing him to orgasm with nothing but lips and tongue. His fingers found her opening and slid deep inside as his thumb stroked her clit.
She panted with the sudden pleasure. “I think you’re pretty damn amazing too,” she said against his lips as he quickly brought her to the edge of orgasm.
He pushed her backward so she lay on the floor. “My turn.” His mouth trailed downward, across her skin, stopping at her breasts, then continuing onward, toward her belly button. Then lower still, until he reached the juncture of her thighs and again slid his tongue inside. He grazed her sensitive clit with his teeth, then sucked on it, causing her to thrash and suck in a deep panting breath.
He repeated the action, then stroked her with his tongue while sliding two fingers inside. She was so aroused—from his touch, from his smell, from the feel of his cock on her tongue—that it only took a moment for him to bring her to a hard, intense orgasm. She rocked from the repeated waves of pleasure as he applied pressure to her clit with his tongue, drawing out the orgasm from merely blockbuster to full epic.
Afterward, they lay entwined on the carpet, drenched in sweat as she caught her breath and came back to earth. “Wow.”
His lips pressed to her shoulder. “Good word for it.” He kissed her. “But we’re not done tonight until you come when I’m buried deep inside you.”
“Five minutes,” she said. “That’s all I need.”
He chuckled. “Deal.”
She idly traced his chest muscles as her breathing returned to normal. Contentment settled in, but with it, the barriers in her mind relaxed, and fears that she’d been squelching slipped past. She snuggled closer to Keith, as if being pressed against him could ward off the worries.