Chapter Seven
Colt was pissed. He wanted nothing more than to walk into that prick Lippman’s office and put a bullet in his forehead. He’d been a pain in Colt’s ass for more than a year now. Lippman seemed to have a serious hard-on for the gun and jacket. Well, that was just too damn bad. The gun and the jacket were his, and Lippman wasn’t going to get them. That was one of the main reasons he always kept both items with him. The other was that he sometimes liked to even the odds for the local police force in whatever city he was in. So, yeah, sometimes he engaged in vigilante justice.
Men like Lippman had tried to get at his weapons before. Colt smiled at the memory of the last Pentagon Head who had demanded he turn over his weapon. That general still didn’t have full use of his hand any longer. Because the weapon was built specifically for him, anyone else who touched the trigger received an electric shock to their nerves, resulting in temporary paralysis. For the few men who had tried confiscating the weapon, none had been spared. Colt drew the line when they tried to bring in engineers to review the weapon. None of them dared crossed him.
He looked at the terror in Sarah’s eyes, and Colt again cursed Lippman’s arrogance. What did that fucker think? Did he think he could make me do shit? Jane didn’t want to be found, and there wasn’t a damn thing he or Lippman could do about it. And bringing Imani into this was just asinine. He’d heard about the suspicion they had about Imani being the engineer who’d built his weapons, but he’d dismissed it then and he was going to dismiss it now. I would know if Imani was Jane! Besides, after last night, I’m sure she would’ve told me.
Colt had avoided looking at Imani because he didn’t want to deal with the fear she must be feeling too. It wasn’t every day that a person was visited by eight intelligence officers. He knew he couldn’t avoid looking at her forever. So even as they rode in the elevator up to the apartment, he listened to Sarah’s endless questions without uttering a word in response and avoided looking at Imani at the same time.
“You’ve got ten minutes to pack a bag, and then we’re heading to the ranch,” Colt told them as soon as they entered the apartment.
“Pack a bag?” Imani spoke for the first time since the incident in the garage.
Colt looked at Imani reluctantly. She didn’t look afraid; she looked pissed.
“I need to talk to you,” she told him earnestly.
“We don’t have time for this right now, Imani. They will be back soon and probably won’t be issuing an invitation so nicely next time.”
“I know, but I still need to talk to you,” she muttered.
Sarah looked between them as though she was watching a tennis match. She was terrified.
“Let’s get out of here, and then we can talk all you want.” Colt looked at them with a deep scowl. “Move!” He deliberately employed the voice he would have used with his men on the battlefield, and he wasn’t surprised when the women responded to that command with the same immediate obedience his men employed.
They left the apartment, boarded Colt’s private jet, and arrived in Austin hours later without incident.
Now that he had Imani under his roof, where he’d wanted her for months now, he was grappling with how best to get her in a bedroom in his wing of his house. The obsession he’d felt for her before, instead of lessening after having her, had only gotten worse. He wanted her under him, with him, and beside him always. This gnawing need was obliterating his usual control, and he’d do whatever he had to do to have her in his bed tonight.
The estate stretched over four hundred thousand acres of land with four ranch houses. His parents and his brothers lived in the other three houses, miles from each other to ensure privacy. The east and west wings of his house were like separate apartments, and while his bedroom was in the west wing, Sarah’s was in the east. The size of the house allowed them to live separate lives if they wanted. And if Imani was in his wing, they could sleep together without anyone being the wiser.
“Unfortunately, I wasn’t expecting company, so the rooms in the east wing are not quite ready for use. They have all being treated for insect infestation.” He didn’t even feel bad for telling that whopper. Sarah would never know that he’d called ahead and had his men dismantle every bedroom in that wing of the house except Sarah’s. After having Imani, there was no way in hell he was going to suffer without her while she was under his roof.
“It’s okay, Colt. Imani can sleep in my room until the bedrooms are fixed. We are due a girls’ slumber party anyway.”
Colt stared at Sarah in disbelief. “We have six bedrooms in the other wing of the house, and you want to force your friend to sleep with you?”
“Colt, your wing of the house is like the dungeon.” Sarah laughed. “I want Imani to have fun with me.”
And I want her to have fun with me, Colt wanted to tell her, but he knew Imani would have his head. She wasn’t ready to be open about their relationship for fear of his ward’s and his family’s reaction. Truth be told, he didn’t give a fuck who didn’t like it. If he was being honest, his concern and reason for secrecy was the age gap between them. Imani seemed to be okay with it now, but would she always be that way? Was he being fair by even taking away her opportunity for someone younger?
Imani looked at them in amusement. “As much as I would love to have a slumber party with you, Sarah, I think I’d better sleep in my own room. We left kinda suddenly, and I need to get some work done. I wouldn’t want to disturb you while I do that.”
“It’s settled then.” Colt didn’t even try to hide his sigh of relief. He was hooked. His relationship with Imani was his business, and his ward wasn’t going to dictate who he fucked.
He left them to organize themselves. Knowing what a hard-ass and how politically connected Lippman was, Colt knew that he needed information. The Pentagon had wanted the specs and design schematics on his gun and jacket for years now. The fact that they had been as unsuccessful in finding Jane, as he’d been, meant that they were probably becoming more desperate.
A few hours later, when the house had quieted down, dinner with Imani and Sarah had long been over, and he’d gotten a few more hours of work done, Colt was finally ready to go and claim his woman. He wasn’t certain which bedroom Sarah had placed Imani in, but none of it mattered because she would soon be in his bed.
He made his way to his wing of the house. After he’d gone into four of the six guest bedrooms and not found her, Colt’s anger was slowly building. Where the fuck is she? He strode to the next bedroom. Again, there was no indication of anyone arriving to take up residence in any of the rooms. What the fuck? And when he’d gotten to the last bedroom, the room farthest away from his and the smallest, he found her curled up on the top of the covers, dressed as though she were going out again. Her bags were still packed and were at the foot of the bed.
She opened her eyes and sat up sleepily. “I tried waiting up for you.”
“What’re you doing in here?” He wasn’t going to discuss her attire or her bag. That shit would just piss him off.
She looked around the bedroom as though she didn’t understand the question.
“Did Sarah put you in here? This is the smallest and least attractive bedroom in this wing.” He was irritated that she wasn’t in the best room and a room closer to him.
“Sarah didn’t put me in here. I wanted this room because I didn’t know if you would want me near once I tell you what I have to.”
Colt didn’t like the sad look in her eyes. He had no idea what she had to tell him. However, after the day he’d had, the last thing he was interested in was talking. He simply wanted to fall asleep with his girlfriend in his arms, and he had no problem telling her just that.
“Girlfriend?”
Colt grinned at her stunned look. She was clearly pleased by the title.
“We’ll talk tomorrow after I’ve fucked you a few times, and then we can avoid conversations like this.” He reached down and scoope
d her up from the bed with an arm under her knees and at her back. “And if you still need to talk to me after that, then I’ll listen to every word you say and then fuck you again. You okay with that? Because there’s nothing you have to say to me that’s going to change my wanting you.”
The fact that he was already halfway down the hall to his bedroom should have already told her that he didn’t give a shit what she said. Nothing was keeping her from his bed.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled into him. “I don’t mind the reprieve, but you may not like it so much tomorrow.”
“I’ll take my chances.” He smirked. Closing the bedroom door behind them, he set her on her feet.
She turned and looked around the room.
Colt had no idea what she thought of the room. She was the first lover he’d ever let cross that threshold. He valued his privacy, and he’d never found a woman who’d earned that honor to invade his personal space. However, with Imani, he wanted her in every crevice of his life. And if he could arrange it so that she’d never leave his house, he would be the happiest man on earth.
She walked around the massive room slowly, inspecting the original Picasso on the wall, the fireplace and mirror over it, the large screen plasma, the mahogany furniture, and the California-king bed that dominated the room. She seemed to spend a lot of time staring at the bed before turning to him with a troubled gaze.
“I know I don’t have the right to ask, but how many…”
Colt closed the space between them and clutched her against him. “You can ask me anything but be sure that you can handle the truth.”
She looked up at him, clearly hurt by her assumption of the worst.
He had no patience for it. She had to learn that he was a grown man with a lot of history, and she couldn’t get bent every time she didn’t like something from his past. His past was exactly that. Past.
“Didn’t I just say I wasn’t interested in talkin’ tonight? I’m going to take a shower,” he muttered, disappointed in what he took as her being insecure over nothing.
He was under the warm water washing the shampoo from his hair when he felt the cool air on his back as the shower door was opened.
Imani had just stepped into the shower with him.
He froze at the sight of her. Although he’d kissed and caressed every inch of her body the night before, he was still tongue-tied at the perfection before him. She was simply beautiful, and he couldn’t believe that she was his.
She moved slowly toward him until she was flush against him, the hard tips of her breasts teasing him. “I’m sorry,” she whispered and pressed her lips to his chest in a soft kiss.
The little caress shouldn’t have had him revved up like a teenage boy at his first sight of a woman’s breasts. But she just did it for him. He picked her up by the waist and lifted her high in his arms, forcing her to wrap her legs around his waist to keep her balance. He pressed her back against the cool tiled wall and pinned her with his body.
He bent his head and melded their lips in a probing kiss. Only when she was writhing sensually against him did he raise his head, resting his forehead against hers. “No woman, other than women from my family, has ever crossed that threshold,” he murmured softly. “And certainly no woman has ever slept in that bed.”
Her gaze glistened with unshed tears. “I didn’t expect to be this jealous, but when it comes to you, I can’t help it.”
“Wasted energy, baby. The last thing you have to be concerned about is an ex. They are my exes for a reason.”
“Says the same man who hung up the telephone on me at the mention of men interested in me,” she teased.
“Yeah, and I’d come for your ass every time.” He palmed the cheeks of her ass, spread them in a tight grip, and surged up into her sleek opening with an uncompromising thrust.
She cried out at the sudden invasion.
“Every time, baby.” He pulled out and drove back into her again.
She closed her eyes and cried out huskily from deep in her throat with each thrust.
He latched onto the beaded tip of her breast and drove balls deep into her.
Her cries echoed throughout the room as he pulled her on and off his cock in a slow and deep dance at first, until red-hot lust overrode his sense of caution or any ability for restraint. Need for her engulfed him. He pinned her firmly as he drilled up into her in an unrelenting frenzy. Nothing he did seemed to be enough. He wasn’t deep enough, wasn’t close enough, and sure as fuck didn’t have enough of her. He needed her with an unquenchable thirst.
She clutched her inner walls around him, and an uncompromising coil of sensation zipped up his spine. He knew that he couldn’t hold on much longer but was determined to take care of her first.
“Come for me, baby,” he demanded before covering her lips with his.
She tightened those silky walls around his cock even more, and he was powerless to stop his own violent orgasm. When he was finally able to form a coherent thought, he found her gazing at him in a daze.
“Baby, I’m sorry.” He couldn’t believe he’d lost control like that. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” He started inspecting her skin to see if there were any bruises from his boorish behavior.
“What are you talking about? If it gets any better than that, I’ll be dead.”
He smiled down at her with a cocky grin. “That good, huh?”
She rolled her eyes at him.
His bark of laughter bounced off the walls. He took his time soaping and washing her gently. And later, after drying her skin himself, he made it his mission to make her scream through another two orgasms before he let himself pour his seed into her. He wondered briefly, as he was drifting off to sleep, when she would notice that he never used any form of birth control with her. He still wasn’t sure why he was taking such a cavalier attitude about having a baby with her when he’d never wanted to with any other woman.
Pulling Imani’s soft body to spoon with his, he fell into a deep sleep.
He woke the next morning feeling more refreshed than he’d felt in a long time. For the first time, he hadn’t woken once to his recurrent nightmares about the war. His guilt at the number of men lost under his command didn’t haunt his subconscious and keep him awake. If he didn’t know any better, he would think he was happy for the first time in his life. And if it weren’t for that asshole Lippman and the mystery of Jane, he would be in bliss.
He rolled over, expecting to pull Imani under him to wake her the way he’d been wanting to for months. Instead, he met cool sheets and an empty bed. It was clear that she’d been gone for a while. “What the hell time is it anyway?” he muttered and was shocked when he looked on the clock on his nightstand. It was just past eleven a.m. He’d never slept past six a.m. since he joined the Army.
While taking a quick shower, he thought about how his brothers would give him shit for this. Whenever all of them were in Austin, they made it a point to have brunch together. And that would have started at ten thirty. Especially with this being the first time Sarah had been back home on a Sunday in almost a year, his family would use this opportunity to make nuisances of themselves. To save some time, and because he knew Imani would like it, he ignored his overnight growth of facial hair and didn’t shave. He was now more than an hour late when he pulled on blue jeans and a fitted T-shirt.
As Colt walked toward his patio, where he knew the food would have been set up, he heard the many voices before he even stepped outside. He barely refrained from scowling when he saw almost every member of his family in attendance, his brothers and their wives, his parents, and an assortment of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Now he was wishing that he hadn’t let his family know that he was home today.
And then he saw Imani. His breath stopped in his chest at the sight of her. It seemed as though time had slowed. She was laughing at some joke the other young people around her had made. God, she’s so beautiful it makes my heart ache just
looking at her, he thought. Colt wanted nothing more than to go over and claim his woman. It suddenly dawned on him that he loved her. No, not just loved her, he was head-over-heels, crazy-drunk-with-it in love. I’m so fucked!
He must have been standing there staring too long because his brother Justin had come to stand beside him, and he’d been completely unaware.
“They grow so fast,” Justin teased. “Soon you’re going to be walking her down the aisle and giving her over to some other man.”
“What the fuck you say?” Colt growled at his brother before he realized that his brother had been talking about Sarah and not Imani. He almost put his palm over his chest to keep his fast-beating heart in its protected case.
“You all right, old man? Not only are you taking beauty naps, but now you’re being clingy with your ward?”
“Kiss my ass,” Colt muttered without heat.
Justin chuckled.
They moved farther onto the patio, and Colt found himself surrounded by family members for the next hour that he hadn’t seen in years, and some of the younger ones that he didn’t care to see. Even Anthony Dean and his sister, Rebecca, were there. Anthony had been his best friend in high school. He couldn’t even remember why they’d fallen out. When he’d gone in the army, Anthony had stayed home to help his father run their ranch. Their families had always been close, but still Colt had no idea why Anthony and his sister were visiting his house. He certainly wasn’t going to ask. After giving Anthony a cool nod that served as his greeting, Colt ignored him for the rest of the afternoon. He had more important things to be concerned with.
His gaze was especially drawn to two young pricks who hadn’t left Imani’s side in the hour he’d been there. What pissed him off even more was Imani had diligently avoided his gaze and he had yet to speak to her. This was the reason he hated sneaking around. He couldn’t go over there and tell those fuckers that Imani was his woman.
He was finally able to ask his mother about them without appearing too hostile when several of the young people, including Imani, went into the house.
Secret Obsession Page 9