Camille wiggled to get down and Eli bent until her feet were on the ground.
As soon as she was out of earshot, he turned to look at her and said, “She may be distracted, but that question will be raised again, soon, and not by our little girl.”
Yeah, she figured that was going to be the case. Discussion tabled, but not forever removed from the table. B.B. was glad she had work to do. She hoped it would take her away from this awkward situation for quite some time.
Little did she know, she was about to get her wish in the worst way.
Chapter Three
Real Life Ghosts
B.B. and the rest of the team members sat around the large conference table and listened to Brian’s update on Wellsie and Hounder.
“Hound says he’ll be back in a couple of weeks, but Wells says that she’ll be sending him back in a few days. She insists that she is tired of his ‘hovering ass’ and he needs to get out of her space before she kills him. The boys are just … look at ‘em.”
Brian picked up a remote and pushed a button. The cutest little bundles of joy popped up on the screen. The blankets someone had purchased with Thomas and Madison were wrapped around their bodies. Little skull caps with T.J. and Mad were on their tiny heads.
“Which one of you did the skully thing?” B.B. asked.
Eli smiled one of his rare smiles in her direction as the guys pointed at him.
“Yeah. That was all me. The other guys did some stuff too.”
The screen flipped and t-shirts with their names on them and the words “My Dad’s the Baddest Man in Town” written beneath had everyone laughing.
“That is definitely from Brian. That has his name written all over it.” Sam was the one that spoke, but everyone nodded their agreement.
“Guess who this one is from,” Eli asked as he clicked a button on his screen.
A hoodie with each of the boy’s names on it was shown on one side of the photo. On the other side was a picture frame with the words “I’m a Ranger Baby” in the center of it.
“That one has to be from Trig,” B.B. guessed, but Trig shook his head.
The screen changed and a pair of knives appeared along with a black backpack with the boys’ nicknames and surnames printed along the bottom.
“Mine,” Trig stated and went back to working the piece of wood he could always be found with.
“Yep, that one is from him and the mounted figurines are from the pair of us,” Sam added.
“We could give gifts as a couple?” Isa asked.
“Shit no. Wellsie would have my head if she thought for one second I went in on something with Trig and didn’t get her something solely from me. I got her a new nightie and the boys’ some romper outfits. We also put in for diapers to be delivered for the first two months.”
“Ha! I got her a nightie too. We paid for a cleaning service to come once a week. Two babies and a chance to clean house is like the beginning of a sick joke for a first time mother.”
Isa’s words had the women in the room nodding their heads. Isa and Sam gave her a curious look. Her eyes bugged because she realized her slip up too late. Looking at Eli, he simply hid his smile behind his hand as he clicked a button on his screen.
“To answer the other question about the hoodies, those were from Isa. Charlie got the boys train sets and monster trucks.”
“How was I to know what to get them? It’s been a minute since I was a newborn.”
“Yeah, not that long ago, kid.”
Everyone laughed at the running joke that all used to torment the youngest member of their team with. One might believe that he would develop a complex about it, but he took it all in stride. B.B. did a double take when she saw the screen. To her shock, their little girl was in front of her, lost tooth and all. Her beautiful smile was shining brighter than anything she’d ever seen before. B.B. recognized the background. It was the sun porch from Eli’s house. If she ever doubted anything he’d told her, then there was proof that her little lady knew who her daddy was.
The next photo further cemented the truth for her. There they were lying in a little girl’s bed in a room she didn’t recognize, but clearly stated it belonged to their daughter by the Millie Mil sign that hung over their sleeping heads. It appeared he’d fallen asleep reading to their daughter. The caption read: “Ma caught me sleeping on the job. Not good.”
“Eli, I didn’t know you were a daddy. Who’s the beauty resting, protected by her father?”
Sam asked him the question, but B.B. couldn’t hold her peace with her baby’s face on a screen for all to see.
“That’s my Camilla Bear,” B.B. answered as she choked up a little seeing the two of them together. “That’s our little, gorgeous girl sleeping there with her father.”
“Hold up. Elijah is the father and Belinda is the mother. Well slap my ass and call me Suzy.”
“I’ll do that later if you want,” Trig said and Sam blushed from the top of her head down to her toes if the trek of pinked skin were any indicator and continued the path it began as soon as his stated was completed.
“About damn time that shit came out.”
Brian’s words surprised her.
“You knew?” she accused and glanced at Eli who wouldn’t meet her gaze.
“I was there when this bastard found out. It just about floored him to learn about it from an emailed letter. The asshole couldn’t keep a lid on the joy or the pride he was carrying when he relayed that message. I was in the hospital the day she was born.”
“Damn. You’ve known all of this time. That means you knew as well?” she posed her question to Isa who simply nodded.
“I don’t keep anything from my wife. This team is our family and she is the reason I’m able to lead with a good head on my shoulders. I don’t believe in keeping her in the dark about shit.”
B.B. nodded and wished she could be the same way with Eli, but there was so much she hadn’t dealt with. How could she expect him to take on things that she didn’t understand how to make sense of in her own head? Shaking herself to get rid of those thoughts, she looked at Trig who was giving her a knowing look.
“You knew too, didn’t you?”
“Only about the kid, not about you.”
He arched an eyebrow and gave her another once over. It was if he could see that she had something she wasn’t sharing. When she shook her head slightly, he nodded and went back to his whittling. Brian stood again and tapped the table.
“All right. Down to business. It looks like Lang and Mercer both survived the beginning of the year bombing. Mercer wasn’t completely unscathed because he’s favoring his left side nowadays.”
Isa stood as the screen changed. Folders were slid across the table to each of them.
“We’ve got a new player, ladies and germs. This one’s a real piece of work too. Nothing much on the bastard. He goes by the name of Lance Jones. There are countless statements that he’s deadly when engaged and his current alias only goes back about seven years. Before that, he’s a non-entity. It makes things a bit more complicated.”
Brian picked up where Isa left off, “They’ve been busy in these last few months. They’ve been recruiting and attempting to set up shop. We’ve been able to thwart their attempts at legitimacy but not able to get close enough to get them. Paul Wilder has only been able to give us so much. He was the bank roll, but was kept out of the loop on a whole lot of shit. He’s still not offering up explanations as to why he or Sam’s brother were involved in the first place. The general has been conveniently unavailable.”
B.B. didn’t hear most of what was being said because something in the file tossed up a million red flags. When she finally looked up at the screen, she almost shit herself. Fortunately for her, the rest of the team was busy listening to the details of the debriefing.
It fucking couldn’t be. Schooling her features, she listened to the orders given and waited for a couple of the other members of the team to stand before she did. She quickly made her way to t
he nearest exit and dialed the number she’d wanted to dial the instant she’d seen the picture in the file.
Her father picked up on the second ring, “Banneker.”
Her father never tossed out his rank. He wasn’t that type of person. She smiled at that, but quickly refocused on the task at hand as she took the steps two at a time to the main floor.
“Secure?” she asked before she spoke another word.
She heard her father tap a few keys before speaking again, “Secure. Lin, what’s going on?”
“I need you to check into something for me. What I’m about to request is going to make me sound … I don’t know, but I need this done quickly and quietly. I can’t be mistaken. If this is what I think it is, I’m about to rain down a shit storm on all of our heads.”
“Fuck!”
“Yeah, my thoughts exactly.”
“What is it?”
“I need a DNA comparison done. I know if one is in the database the other still has to be.”
“Whose DNA are we comparing?”
“A man by the name of Lance Jones.”
“Okay. Whose are we comparing it to?”
B.B. could hear keys being clicked from her father’s side of the call. She reached the base of the steps and exited the building before taking a deep breath to respond.
“Joseph Pippens.”
“Double fuck me.”
“Yeah, my thoughts exactly.”
“I’ll call you with the results as soon as I have them.”
He ended the call and she pocketed her phone. Her feet carried her to her bike. In the next ten seconds, she was on it and speeding down the road. She had no clue where she was going. B.B. just knew she needed to get away from there. Her head had to be clear if what she thought was going down was actually happening. A cluster fuck of hellish proportions was putting this shit lightly. Unfortunately, her ass and her past would be right in the thick of it.
“Fuck my face,” Eli said as he sat on the floor.
“What?” she asked with so much excitement in her voice there was no way he would possibly believe she hadn’t heard him the first time.
Still, he repeated it for good measure.
“Get your redhead, sexy ass over here and fuck. My. Face.”
He growled the last three words as he pulled his shirt over his head.
Belinda didn’t need to be asked a third time. Her yoga pants and boy shorts were off before she took a step toward the man. As she moved forward toward her awaiting Italian, she stripped off her tank and bra. He was lifting up to pull down his pants as she moved. It had him sufficiently preoccupied. He didn’t see her motions to somewhat disobey his command. She would get to the ultimate goal, but not before she tasted her Italian pop. Eli had hated that name the first time she’d used it. After the first time she made him lose control with just her lips, teeth, and tongue, he never complained again.
“What are you doing? This isn’t that you were asked … to … damn. I missed these hands.”
Belinda was bent over his extended legs and taking him in hand when he returned to leaning back against the wall. When she sucked him between her jaws, he let out a groan that had her smiling around the firmness of his cock. She felt him grow slightly in her mouth. One of his hands was in her hair as the other came around and smacked her on the ass, hard. The crack reverberated around the room and set her ass cheek on fire. Pulling off of him, she moved to stand. Eli didn’t give her a chance to speak.
“That was not what you were supposed to be doing. There will be time for that later. Preferably, while I have you using my tongue to get you off. I don’t want your mouth on me yet. I want to hear your screams and pleas as I make your body writhe in pleasure. Now, bring that beautiful puss over here so I can make good on my promise to have you incoherent before morning.”
This was one of the reasons she’d adored him so long ago and no one ever measured up to him. He’d taken one look at her face and clearly saw that something was upsetting her. Instead of probing her and asking her a billion and one questions, he distracted her with the one thing that would take her mind off of all things. Why had she walked away again? Oh, right. Fear. Dumb … ass!
“Yes! In and out. Fuck … YESSSS!” she screamed and knew his neighbors had to have heard her. As she attempted to come down—which was a feat since he still had hold to her waist and was continuing to make a meal of her. “How did I forget how … oh my … ahhhh … mmm … I’m coming … again.”
Still he continued his assault. His fingers and tongue worked in tandem until he was wrenching a third orgasm from her body. She couldn’t stand on her own when he finally released his hold on her. He had to catch her. As she drifted to the floor of his master bedroom, he helped her and covered her body with his.
“Oh, Lindy, I hope you don’t think I’m finished with you. I know you need to get out of your head. I’m going to make sure you’re riding a cloud of bliss in a few moments.”
“Fuck,” was all she could groan out.
“No, Lindy, that’s not what I’m about to do. You’re going to know just how I feel in the most intimate of ways.”
B.B. felt his fingers as the swirled around the outer walls of her center. Kisses were placed along her collarbone and shoulder before he moved down to pull her erect nipple into his mouth. The combination of touches had her twisting in an attempt to get him to move where she wanted him. She could feel the weight of him on her thigh. Moving the hand that wasn’t pinned under him, she tried to get hold of him. Eli caught her and snatched her arm above her head. He slid the head of himself up and down outer walls and even ran it over her clit, but refused to slide into her.
They were both panting with need. She could see how much it was a strain for him to not give in and take her, yet he still refused to give in to what they both wanted. He laved on her nipples and even poised himself above her. Even when she parted her legs to allow him complete access, he wouldn’t give in. It wasn’t until she began to plead that he finally let her have all of him.
“Please. Elijah baby, please, fill my awaiting puss with your Italian pop.”
He chuckled as he finally pulled back and fed her all of it. Even so, he was tortuous with the feeding. Every inch he slid his cock in was a slow torment that had her almost detonating with the sweet anticipation of feeling just how full he would make her feel.
“Lindy, I’m going to be quick. I can’t …”
He didn’t finish his statement. Eli put thought to action and began pumping into her. His motions weren’t as quick as she believed he would make them. Each stroke was smooth, long and strong. He took her in a methodical way that had her toes curling and eyes rolling in the back of her head when she finally reached that moment of ecstasy. She dragged his happy ass with her and loved how animalistic he sounded when he came.
Neither of them said a word after. They didn’t have the energy to do so. He simply stood and lifted her exhausted body along with him. Putting them both in the bed, he turned off the light before curling around her body.
“Tomorrow, we talk, Lindy. For now, let’s sleep.”
She barely heard that much. Her body was already dragging her into dreamland. Tomorrow would bring with it a whole new set of … whatever. She’d deal with it then. For that moment, she rested in bliss with her naked Italian at her back.
Belinda was up bright and early the next morning. She slipped into Camilla Bear’s room and scooped her up. They’d spent the night at the house with Eli, but she knew she needed to get her ass home. She still hadn’t heard from her father, but there was a feeling that said she needed to be in her own space to deal with everything. As soon as she and Camille were in her car, she fired off a text to Eli so he wouldn’t freak out on her once he awakened.
Making her way into her five story building with her still sleeping child in her arms, she still felt uneasy. Something was off. She just didn’t know what it was. Her phone vibrated.
Eli “Italian Pop”: Not kew
l. Dick move, Lindy. We will talk.
Yeah, she kind of saw that one coming. She’d barely made it into the apartment when her phone began to ring. B.B. answered without looking at the screen.
“Did you get your surprise?” the creepy male voice asked before she could complete the second syllable of her greeting.
“What? Who is this?”
“I think you know, Sexy Red.”
Her phone almost dropped out of her hand. When she moved to catch it, she saw the envelope on the floor. Ending the call, she took Camille to her bedroom and laid her down. Her little girl had another hour of sleep before she needed to be awake. Her focus was getting back to that mystery envelope. Opening it as soon as it was in hand, she screamed out in frustration.
Sexy Red,
You promised me you would be mine for always. I am going to hold you to it.
L.
If she’d questioned whether or not he was alive or not, she didn’t any longer. A ghost from her past was taking physical form. She was going to need to get a handle on things quickly and quietly before things truly got out of hand.
Chapter Four
The Stalker
Belinda was officially miserable. It turned out Lance had decided that was the target of his attention. It would seem that the arms deals, smuggling and other things weren’t enough to keep him busy. He’d recently named himself as the person she’d given the name “Stalker Fuck-up.” Eli was not happy about how calm she appeared to be. It was unnerving just how unsettled he was. Her point of life was the asshole would make his move soon and she would be there to wipe the floor with his ass.
Still, it was annoying to have to change her phone numbers, have Eli change her locks, lock codes and passwords along with her email accounts save for the one the bastard tended to like sending her messages through. B.B. was disgusted by the latest step the man had taken.
“All right team. I want to put this to bed and I want to do it like yesterday. We can’t keep chasing our coat tails here,” Brian said as he walked in the front door.
Field Stripped: 15 Steamy Military Romances Page 23