She bobbed her head up and down, shoulders drooping. The dejected look was more than he could stand. King reached for her, knowing he shouldn’t, unable to stop himself. When their hands had touched earlier a bolt of awareness had shot through him. He’d tried to dismiss it as simply being because he hadn’t touched a woman since Trinity, but there was something more beneath the surface of Laura. And damn his soul, he wanted to find out what.
He cupped her elbow, absorbing the shock that shot straight to his groin. And then slid his hand up her arm, and gently tugged her to him. When she let him, he let out a breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding. King pulled and turned, shifting so that he propped his back against the wall and set her in his lap. He palmed her head, savoring the satiny texture of her still damp hair, and laid her against his shoulder. She stretched her feet out to the side and he snaked his other arm around her waist.
She shifted, snuggling her cheek against his shoulder and in the process, wiggling her very perfect ass against his lap. King laid his head back against the wall and looked up, praying she didn’t accidentally bump up against his raging hard-on. He was here to give her comfort, not freak her out.
Thankfully, she finally settled in, her soft side melting across his flesh. “Thank you.” She reached up and toyed with the top edge of his bandage.
“For what?” Her hair smelled fresh, clean from its recent washing. She smelled like vanilla. And something else, something sensual.
“For apologizing. I think we’re all very emotional about this, understandably so.” She stopped picking at his bandage and now slid her fingers back and forth over his flesh just above it. That small touch made him think about doing things to her. Things he hadn’t thought about doing with anyone since Trinity. God, had it really been five years?
Maybe that explained it, he wasn’t a machine. Or a saint. Any man would be aware of a woman as gorgeous as the redhead in his lap. “I’d say that’s putting it lightly.”
“Did you just make a joke?” She smiled at him, breaking the contact between her cheek and his chest.
King instantly missed that touch and put her head back against him. “I don’t joke.” Although he was trying to lighten the mood a little; the rawness put him on edge. He’d been on ice for so long, this little bit of warmth was giving him a third-degree sunburn.
He needed to steer the conversation away, but he didn’t want to leave her. Not yet. “Tell me more about Faith.”
The child had piqued his curiosity. She hadn’t seemed the least bit frightened of him, or anyone for that matter. After everything she’d witnessed today she should be a mess, but if anything, she seemed completely unfazed.
“She’s a mess,” Laura said.
“Seemed like she held it together pretty good today. How old is she? Five?” Faith’s head reached to about the height of his upper thigh, she couldn’t be much older than that.
“She’s seven. But she’s small for her age.”
Almost the same age as Hope would have been. The thought planted a hard knot in his throat. Again, the image of Hope filled his mind, laughing as she ran to him and threw her arms around him. Christ. He didn’t know if he was ready for this. If he could handle the memories and stay sane.
Laura started doodling circles and shapes on his right shoulder, drawing his attention down to her. She glanced up at him, wary but…trusting. Scrubbed clean he could see every freckle, every curve. She was perfection. He’d forced her to come here, fought with her, and here she sat, strong and vulnerable at the same time. His mouth started moving before his mind could catch up. “I had a daughter.”
Her hand stilled. “Had?”
He blew out a breath and tipped his head against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. “Yeah, her name was Hope. She would have been eight years old now.”
* * *
Laura’s breath caught at the savage look of raw pain on his face. Should she ask? Could she? She didn’t have any right to pry. “What happened?”
“She was killed, along with my wife. I’d been undercover in an op busting a terrorist ring and they discovered my identity.”
Her hand went to her mouth as tears pricked her eyes. “Oh God.”
He continued as if she’d not spoken. “I almost stopped them, but couldn’t.”
“I’m so sorry.” Although that was totally inadequate. He’d lost his family; there were no words that could ever measure up to something like that. The agonizing pain she’d felt when she thought she’d lost her brother had devastated her. But to lose a child?
“Yeah, me too. Christ, I don’t know why I told you that. It’s been five years and I haven’t told anyone.”
Tentatively, she reached up and tilted his face down to hers, marveling at how soft his thick black beard was. “Thank you for telling me.” He stared at her long and hard and in that moment, she knew he was lost.
King wasn’t blind, he was broken.
He needed someone to help put him back together.
He covered her hands with his, and turned to press a whisper-soft kiss against her palm. Her breath caught, chills raced down her body. Desire pulled between her thighs, made her nipples ache. It was like there was no filter between them. That one small touch speared right through her. When he gently directed her to lay her cheek against his shoulder once more, she willingly did just that, thankful for the excuse to hide herself from him. What kind of woman was she to want him so badly after he’d just confessed such tragedy?
* * *
King shuddered and wrapped his arms tightly around Laura. He had to divert her gaze before he did something stupid like kiss her. Neither of them was ready for that. She’d opened up a Pandora’s box inside him, leaving him completely out of control of his emotions. He ached, wanting to take her, touch her, to get inside her. But he also wanted to hold her like this. This was definitely the safer of the two options. He wasn’t thinking straight right now, in fact, he wasn’t thinking at all. He was just feeling. And feeling was something he did not know how to do.
“So, tell me more about Faith. Does she play sports?”
Laura went back to picking at the edge of his bandage. “Gymnastics. She’s really good at it. She’s been working on her back handspring and was close to getting it down.”
Before he’d taken them from their home and totally interrupted their life.
“We’ve got a training facility downstairs. There are mats on the floor. You’re welcome to take her down there if she wants to practice or play,” he offered.
She laid her palm flat on his shoulder, warm heat radiated through his flesh. “That would be nice. King, I need to tell you something.”
“Anything.”
She hesitated and then said, “Faith is deaf. She was born that way.”
Chapter 12
“Is that why she’s been so quiet? I noticed she hasn’t said much of anything.”
“Yeah, she’s just started learning speech. I had her cochlear implant fixed last year and we started speech therapy. She’d been nonverbal before that.” Laura shifted, brushing against his length, his pants a pitiful barrier. King tensed, trying to concentrate on what she was saying.
“She’s got intelligent eyes, like you. I bet she’ll be a quick study.”
Laura drew her hand back down to her lap. “Yeah.” He didn’t need to hear her soft tone to know she was withdrawing from him.
Alarmed, he tipped her chin up, enjoying their brief connection more than he should. “What’s wrong?”
She averted her gaze but he wouldn’t let her turn her head, forcing her to look at him. “Laura?”
She let out a sigh. “Her cochlear implant processor was charging in the kitchen. At my house.”
King swore. “Christ. Can you order a new one? Online?” He knew absolutely zero about anything related to hearing or implants or speech therapy. Give him a gun and he could dismantle and reassemble it in seconds. But anything outside of military operations and he was lost.
She slowly
shook her head, her chin still between his thumb and finger. “No, those have to be fitted at the hospital with the audiologist and the therapist. In order for the insurance to cover it the doctor will have to order it. Then we have to go in for programming and speech mapping.”
“That sounds complicated.” And totally out of the question. He couldn’t risk letting them go back to the hospital, or even leave the compound, until Dawson was captured. For all King knew, he could have possibly tracked them here and would be waiting for them to leave. He was smart and lethal.
Laura’s gaze dropped to his mouth and his gut tightened. Light green flecks in her eyes darkened. The pulse beneath her pale skin at the base of her neck kicked up, beating faster. Her nipples beaded beneath the thin material of her nightgown. He could read her body like an open book. She wanted him.
The thought ratcheted his arousal up to an unbearable level. He should send her away, put some distance between them. Instead he leaned in closer, drawn to her. “What are you thinking?”
He could hear her slightly indrawn breath. Her cheeks flushed and her tongue darted out to wet her lips. “I’m thinking I’m totally crazy and that I should be terrified of you.”
He inched down. “But you’re not.”
“No, I’m not.” Her hands went to his biceps, her fingertips digging into the skin.
She should be scared of him. He had nothing to offer her but pain. She would hate him when he finally captured her brother. If he was any kind of a gentleman, he’d stop right now.
But he’d never been a gentleman. With a groan, King shifted his arm up and speared his fingers through her hair, tilting her head back. He crushed his mouth to hers, forceful and demanding, overtaken by the need inside him.
She moaned, leaning into him, her tongue mating with his just as forcefully. His mind went blank, his logic vanished. In that moment, sitting on the bathroom floor, it was just him and her. King deepened the kiss, his free hand sliding down to rest at her waist, the curve of her hip teasing the edge of his hand to go lower. He managed to resist that basic urge and instead squeezed her against him, her hip pressing into his hard length. Fire scorched his veins, licked up his skin. She whimpered and he nearly came undone.
If he didn’t slow down, he was going to rip off her clothes and bury himself to the hilt inside her right there on the floor. Pulling on willpower that even he didn’t know he possessed, King gentled the kiss, drawing back to lightly brush his lips over hers. He nibbled at the corners, drew her bottom lip between his teeth. She was panting, her nails digging into him.
She pulled back. He could see a glassy sheen of desire in her eyes. Shit, she was so gorgeous it was painful. King dropped his forehead to hers, breathing just as rapidly. He’d been completely overtaken by his need. Swept up in the storm of desire that it had taken him off guard.
And he’d completely forgotten about Trinity.
A wave of guilt had him closing his eyes. He’d vowed he’d never love another woman after her. He knew he didn’t deserve to. And up until now it had been easy. He hadn’t been tempted in the least. But Laura Dawson was a curveball he hadn’t expected. The sister of his enemy. He was either insane or a monster or both. Whatever he was, he was fucked up, that was for sure.
Laura pushed him back, and he willingly leaned against the wall. She cuddled like a damn kitten in his lap, moving her face around until she’d snuggled up in the curve of his neck and her hot little breasts pressed against his sensitive flesh. Wordlessly, King wrapped his arms around her and held her, unable to move away. He forced his mind away from all those deep and dark thoughts.
He needed this. He needed to hold her for tonight. Fucked up or not, he couldn’t let her go. Wariness tugged his eyes down. He could process everything tomorrow, but for now, he needed her.
Chapter 13
Laura awoke surrounded by warmth, nestled against a solid male chest. Blinking, slow to come back to consciousness fully, it took her a moment to remember where she was. And whose lap she was sitting in. Heat stole up her cheeks and she moved to get up, only to freeze instantly when she saw Faith standing at the end of King’s outstretched legs, Kitty clutched to her chest, staring eyes wide.
In that same moment, she became aware that King was not asleep and glanced up to see him watching Faith warily, like a cat being approached by a vicious dog. He was scared. Scared of Faith.
Laura’s embarrassment melted at his vulnerability, her heart swelling painfully in her chest. She couldn’t fathom how hard it must be for him.
She stretched out her hand to Faith and pulled her in closer. The child kept her eyes glued to King the whole time, yet followed lethargically. Laura fanned her hand in Faith’s face to get her attention and then signed, “This is King. It’s okay. He’s a friend.”
Faith continued to watch him just as warily, and Laura knew she was dealing with her own trauma of learning to trust men again. It had been her father’s fault he had to disappear from her life for so long, and even though John had worked hard to be there for her, it would take longer than a few months to repair her trust.
“What did you say?” King asked in a gruff voice.
“I told her your name and that you are our friend.” Although friend might not be the most accurate description, it was all she could come up with to explain to a seven-year-old on the spot.
“She looks scared,” he said.
“She doesn’t know you.”
King’s gaze was bouncing back and forth between them and their exchange.
Laura signed, “Why don’t you say hi to him?”
Faith ducked her chin, half burying her face behind her stuffed kitten and raised a tentative hand with a quick wave.
King raised his own hand and waved back in response.
“Why are you sitting on his lap?” Faith signed.
Laura felt her cheeks heat for the second time, and looked to King for help. And then she realized he hadn’t understood Faith’s question. “She wants to know why I’m sitting in your lap.”
“What are you going to tell her?” he whispered.
“I don’t know,” she whispered back. “Why are we whispering?”
The corners around King’s eyes crinkled. “I don’t know. A little rusty I guess.”
Faith made her way toward Laura and signed her question again. Laura rubbed her temples, trying to come up with an answer.
“Are we playing a game again?” Faith signed, her little expression growing hopeful.
“What’d she say?” he asked.
“She wants to know if we’re playing a game like you did yesterday when you passed out. I told her it was a game, so she wouldn’t be scared.” Laura quickly signed yes, they were playing a game.
“I didn’t faint.” King frowned, his expression turning awfully fierce.
Faith immediately mimicked his expression, pulling her lips down into an exaggerated frown. King pulled back as if shocked. Laura chuckled. “I think she likes you.”
King’s frown eased, but he was still cautious. Laura decided to take pity on him, and she needed an excuse to get up. “I think it’s time for breakfast.” She asked Faith and the girl responded yes.
She climbed to her feet. Faith pulled free of her grip and stepped closer to King, since he was pressed back against the wall. Curious now, Faith reached out and touched his beard. And then she giggled, her eyes laughing up at Laura. “He’s hairy.”
King cut her a questioning look. Laura told him, “She likes your beard.”
His expression turned half wary, half amused, as if he were dealing with a foreign being he’d never encountered. He was unsure how to act. Laura’s heart squeezed. “I kind of like it too.” She gave him a wink.
He smiled, so suddenly that both she and Faith were taken aback. “And I was thinking of shaving it.”
Those little butterflies set up in her stomach again, tickling the inside of her ribs. He’d been so serious since the moment she’d seen him, but the grin gracing his face
completely transformed him. In that moment, she got a glimpse of what she figured King was like before his tragedy. Swallowing, trying to keep it light, she said, “You would have two very upset ladies on your hands if you did.”
King slowly climbed to his feet, forcing both of them to crane their heads back. “My mama always told me never to make a woman mad.” His words took on a slight accent, something Southern. Something she hadn’t detected before. Something that made her insides melt.
She had to get out of this bathroom with this man and clear her mind. Laura grabbed Faith and backed from the room, suddenly remembering her state of attire, or lack thereof, halfway there. King had gone tense, his smile locked as he watched her move away. She couldn’t help her body’s response to his intense stare any more than she could help breathing. She practically skated around the bed, needing to put something solid between them. “If you’ll give us a few minutes to change we could meet you in the hallway.”
His dark gaze raked up from her body. “Want me to ask Melissa for a fresh set of clothes?”
Just from the way he asked that question she knew exactly what kind of clothes he was thinking about. “Not now. We’ll just put on our clothes from yesterday.”
King reached up and scratched his rugged jaw. “If you’ll give me your sizes, and a list of supplies that you need, I’ll send out for them.”
Laura opened her mouth to tell them that they didn’t need anything, but just as quickly shut her mouth. They needed everything. All their clothes, belongings, everything had been destroyed in the explosion. She still couldn’t believe that it had happened; she couldn’t quite wrap her mind around the loss of her home any more than she could wrap her mind around John and King in combat. “Thank you.”
With a nod, King left the room, and for the first time Laura felt like she could actually draw in a breath. A strong, steadying breath. King’s confession had flipped all of her judgments about him upside down. He wasn’t mean, he was hard, and now she knew why. The fact that he’d survived such an awful tragedy spoke to his strength. It also made her understand just a little bit why he was so angry at the thought of her brother’s betrayal. John had once told her that his unit, as he called his team, were like his family.
Mayhem’s King: Operation Mayhem Page 9