A Steel Town (A Gateway to Love #3)

by Chloe Barlow

  Yet, he had to fight any such nefarious urge. The last thing he needed was to bring her down in such a way. There was no way he could do such a thing again.

  Claudia managed to pull herself away from her work, and he followed her to the kitchen. He patiently watched as she sat down, pricked her finger, and began her blood sugar test with the militaristic efficiency, which only came from performing a task so many times it became muscle memory.

  After a minute, she showed him the digital reader with a smile, “Boom. Perfect. Now spill.”

  Her bright glow was too much to resist, especially since the silence of the moment and her delicate scent had driven him kind of insane.

  Trey bent toward her, sliding both his hands roughly into her hair, securing her face in front of his. Her mouth opened slightly and he could hear her short little bursts of breath puff in and out at a quickening pace. The way Claudia would still in response to every one of his touches was almost as maddening as when she’d tried to climb him like a tree in her kitchen a few days before. It told him she was his when he chose to take her, and damn was he ready.

  Yet, he’d made a promise to himself he’d do things the right way with her, and he’d already broken enough vows to the people who mattered to him. If she truly could be the second chance Trey had given up on ever getting, he’d rather die than let anything fuck it up — especially if that thing happened to be him.

  Even so, taking it slow didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy the deliciousness of her at a reasonable pace.

  Her eyes sparkled with desire as Trey closed the small distance between them, until he inhaled one of her little, hopeful breaths as his own. Sealing his lips over hers, peace seeped into his veins, even as the passion of the moment pumped powerfully through his heart and into his arteries.

  Claudia tickled his lips with the tip of her tongue, flicking her way inside his mouth. Trey had to grasp her head more tightly, holding her in place and bringing his tongue to meet hers boldly. She was sweet and hot and he wanted to taste every other inch of her. Settling for that scrape of her teeth against his bottom lip, Trey pulled away from her. The answering disappointed sigh emanating from her throat made his cock harden in response.

  She leaned in, returning close to his mouth and cooed, “With positive reinforcement like this, I’ll test my blood sugar ten times a day,” Claudia murmured against his lips, and Trey had to laugh out loud.

  “I might take you up on that,” he responded roughly, struggling to pull himself together. Moving a kitchen chair in front of her, Trey leaned his arms on his knees and said, “I finally got back the analysis of the incendiary device components we recovered from the mill site.”

  “Awesome! What did Eddie Lockley say?”

  “I didn’t send it to Eddie. That’s why it took so long.”

  “But he’s great! I worked with him when I was interning at D.C. headquarters.”

  “I sent it to someone I trust.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It went to someone who won’t have any obligation — or interest — in asking why we have remnants of a low-to-midgrade intensity bomb from a mission you decided on your own to pursue.”

  “Oh.”

  “Oh, is right. Part of me taking care of you is protecting your chance to have a career after all this is over. If this is the one you still want, it’s what you’ll have to do.”

  “My family did always say I don’t think things through…”

  “I’m okay with you being impulsive. If you waited for the FBI you’d never be satisfied, and we wouldn’t have made any of this great progress. It’s okay to be impatient with life — to want everything all at once — but living that way can have…unforeseen consequences.”

  “If I promise to be less eager, will you tell me what your secret, trusted friend found?”

  “Absolutely. It was an amalgam of Chinese, Russian, and American components, each of which was a little outdated. I think it confirms your theory about mercenaries for hire, whether they were working for a government or private company.”

  “So if it is a team for hire, they could’ve worked for these governments before and kept their supplies?”

  “Could be, but more likely they stole it. Or found vulnerabilities through hacking and stole the technology, or reverse engineered it.”

  “Including human vulnerabilities? Like David?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is that what you’d have done to hack in? What these criminals did?”

  “Yes. I would always find access somehow and take over from within.”

  Claudia’s eyes darkened, and she backed slightly away from him. It was so subtle, Trey was sure she didn’t even know she’d done it. The way he felt her prior admiration of him become slightly tainted was unpleasant, but he couldn’t let it slow them down.

  “What’s keeping you chained to your chair in there? Anything good?” he asked.

  “Maybe. I was sorting through the data the Tongue Louse virus brought in, and I came across something suspicious from about seven years ago in the CMU English Department. Someone had tried to remove it, but I could tell it was still there. It was hard to find, but I could see the remaining imprint of its code. The whole thing was pretty simplistic, but effective — it appeared to have been operating as a carbon copy of the main CMU server — a shadow, really. I’m convinced it was a virus. I feel it in my bones, as they say.”

  “And how do you see it relating to the Robotics Department’s infiltration?”

  “I couldn’t find any obvious link…at least nothing Jacobs would care about.”

  “Then it’s a good thing Jacobs isn’t here. I’m getting the feeling you’re onto something.”

  “I was thinking hacking into a liberal arts department would be a great way to get back-door entry into the other more lucrative departments, such as robotics, but I don’t know where to go with the idea,” she sighed, leaning back in her seat.

  “What’s the problem?”

  “It’s just…I’m so damned frustrated. There are all these pieces…I keep finding more, but I can’t seem to get any of them to fit with each other.”

  Trey could sense how truly thwarted she felt. Claudia needed a release, and he so desperately wanted to give it to her. It didn’t help that Trey’s mouth was still watering from his last taste of her. He needed more, and maybe he could have it, without breaking any promises. There was one thing he knew could help turn off that big brain of hers.

  “Maybe you need to focus more clearly. I can help.”

  “Like with meditation or something?”

  “Or something,” he retorted, feeling his mouth tilt into a half smile as he stood and looked down at her confused gaze. “Tell me, have you ever come before?”

  “Come?” she queried, then immediately blushed. “Oh, um, I think so.”

  “Then, no,” he answered with a smirk. “Stand up.”

  She searched his face for a clue, but finally did as he said.

  “Take off your jeans and panties.”

  Her mouth curved into a tiny “O,” but she remained silent, slowly unbuttoning her pants and sliding her jeans down the length of her smooth, olive-toned legs. The light blue cotton of her panties was next to go, revealing a small, well-trimmed triangular thatch of dark hair at the juncture point between her legs.

  After she straightened up, Claudia crossed her arms over her stomach and reached for the bottom of her sweater.

  “No. Stop. That’s all I need.”

  Trey kneeled in front of her.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Helping you.”

  The smell of her was destroying his ability to see clearly. He adjusted himself in his jeans, trying to ease the pressure of his own desire. If he was going to take things this far, it had to be about her, not him.

  Separating the lips of her perfect pussy, Trey reached his tongue out and slid slowly up the seam of her delicate folds. Whatever he’d tasted of her with their kisses had n
othing on this intoxicating experience. He had to break away to keep his sanity, and to continue with his crazy idea.

  “Do you like what I’m doing?”

  “Very much. I didn’t know anything could feel like that,” she whispered.

  “Were you feeling worried about your work?”

  “No,” she answered with a soft laugh.

  “Good. Now relax, spread your legs a little more, and tell me about what’s rattling around in your head.”

  Trey sealed his mouth over her again, licking harder at her clit, until she slammed one hand on the table next to her and the other on his left shoulder.

  “I, ah…oh.”

  He pulled back.

  “No! Don’t stop.”

  “Focus. Talk through it, or I will stop all over again.”

  “How can I? It feels too good.”

  “Breathe, use this feeling to help you see more clearly,” he whispered, pulling away from her and using the first two fingers of his right hand to pleasure her. “Look at me. I’m here for you.”

  Her eyes were hazy, but her teeth gritted in determination. The way she rubbed herself against his hand made Trey’s heart rate race with want.

  “Let the pleasure bring you focus. Why is the shadow of this virus nagging at you so much?”

  He removed his slick fingers and began licking her more briskly, moving down to thrust his tongue inside her. She moaned and squeezed his shoulder hard, but he could sense she was trying to follow his instructions.

  “Something about it is so familiar.”

  Trey eased up with his tongue, allowing her to feel the rush, without it totally blinding her. Removing his mouth from her, he eased a finger back inside her.

  “How so?”

  “I don’t know! It’s why I’m so discouraged!”

  Slipping a second finger inside her, Trey flicked his tongue against her clit for a moment.

  “You can do better than that. You know it. What stood out to you about it?”

  “It seemed so simple, ah, ah, al-almost juvenile, but it managed to be a perfect mimic of the system….”

  Trey curled his fingers deep inside her and flicked his tongue roughly across her clit, making her scream in response, and pull at his hair.

  “Oh, God, that feels so… I don’t…”

  Trey sucked against the hardened nub of her clit, and she gasped audibly in response. Pulling away for a second, he commanded, “Concentrate, Claudia. You’re almost there.”

  “I am. Oh God. I’ve seen something like it before.”

  “Good, there you go,” he muttered against her mound, stroking her gently, but slowing the pace to let her ride out whatever was happening in her mind.

  “When I was in D.C.—” And she swallowed hard before continuing. She jerked slightly, apparently overcome by a growing revelation. Trey slowed his motions in response, letting her explore the inspiration. “For some reason I keep thinking about this virus my mentor had me examine. Someone had used it on a company in Sydney years ago. That’s it! It was a perfect mimic, too…as though it was a part of it. An American Senior VP for the company, and his wife, were killed almost a year later, but no one could link them.”

  Trey backed away from her so quickly he almost knocked over a chair. Claudia was so thrilled with her discovery she didn’t notice Trey was almost numb with shock. Instead, she kept talking.

  “The murder was made to look like an average breaking and entering. They took some jewelry, but every hard drive was copied or destroyed. Why do that if you’re just some garden-variety burglar? Wait, why did you stop? Are you okay? Did I do something wrong?”

  “No. I mean…you’re perfect. But I have to make a call.”

  He knew all too well what the crime scene had looked like. In fact, he still had a set of the photos in his hard copy Operation Lexis file.

  After so many years of Trey chasing after a team of monsters, Claudia may have found a lead to them in a matter of weeks — thrusting her onto a path more treacherous than she could ever imagine.

  “Damn it, Trey. How can you tease me like this? Are you kidding me?”

  The desperate look in her eyes broke through his blind panic.

  “You want me to make it better?” he asked, breathing slowly to regain control.

  “Anything. Just don’t leave me like this. It hurts.”

  Trey grabbed the back of her head so hard he worried he might hurt her, but he didn’t stop. With his hands gripped tightly in her hair, he pulled her mouth to his, letting her taste her own essence on his lips. He kissed her hard, pushing two of his fingers back inside her, rubbing the soft front wall of her entry until she gasped into his mouth. He bit her bottom lip, causing her to scream out in response as he massaged deeply inside her.

  His cock was hard, as eager as his own mind was frenzied. His emotions were a swirl of desire and desperate fear, but he worked hard not to let either be revealed to Claudia. The worst thing he could do was show weakness to her, because she had to trust him completely in order for any of this to work.

  She gasped and clung to him.

  “I guess I was wrong.”

  “About what?”

  “I definitely have never come before.”

  Trey chuckled, and almost forgot how much he needed to do.

  Claudia was still panting, holding him tightly to her.

  “Sorry if I almost strangled you,” she muttered, releasing him.

  Trey grabbed her hands from his shoulders and kept them in his grip.

  “Don’t be sorry. I never want you to apologize for holding onto me like that.”

  He eased back to help Claudia put on her panties and jeans.

  With a voice more steady than he felt, he asked, “Have you told anyone else about any of this?”

  “All these scraps?” Claudia wondered, smoothing her shirt down over her waistband. “There wasn’t anything really to tell before. Drew called my cell earlier because I haven’t been in the office. He wanted to know what I’m working on.”

  “Drew Jaworski? That junior agent tool who sits near you?”

  “Yeah, but he’s not a tool to me. He’s my friend. I can always count on him to be eager to help me.”

  “I’ll bet,” Trey growled. He was sure any twenty-something guy would be more than happy to be Claudia’s “helpful friend.”

  “I asked him about the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, and if he knew anyone there. I didn’t say why.”

  “Don’t talk to him or anyone else about…anything…anymore. You should only speak to me.”

  “Why? What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Nothing. I just don’t know anything about this Drew guy. Did he know you followed up on the lead, which sent you to the steel mill?”

  Trey could barely get his thoughts straight. So much would have to be done now, but it took just as much strength not to let Claudia know how worried he was.

  “Sure. He’s my best friend there. He knew I wanted to be on the Taylor case, so when the tip came in and Jacobs shut me down, I went to Drew for advice. He knew I planned to check it out, but I didn’t tell him what happened when I went there. Do you suspect he’s dirty or something?”

  “I don’t know what to think about anything.”

  “I’m starting to sense you don’t like much of anyone.”

  “You’re one of the only feds I’ve ever liked, that’s for sure. I have a friend of my own I want to visit. If anyone can help us with what might have happened in Sydney, it’s him.”

  “Great!”

  “You know, I think he’s, um, in D.C. right now. We’ll need to leave soon. Probably tomorrow night.”

  “But we have so much to do here still. I can…”

  “No. Just keep working on what we’ve already found until we leave. Let me follow up on this lead. And it’s important you only discuss this case and what you’re finding with me. I can’t risk anyone thinking you’re a target for any reason… For now, until we sort this out
, I’m your only friend…I’m your world”

  “But…” she pleaded, before silencing herself. He could tell she was confused and overwhelmed by the influx of experiences barreling down on her. Perhaps she was even a little scared of him, but he had no other choice.

  “Trust me, little one. It will all be okay,” he whispered, holding her chin with his left hand, before planting a soft kiss on her lips.

  Now, if only he could trust himself that his words would turn out to be true.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “Jenna, don’t worry, I promise I’ll be there. I’ve already got my costume on and everything. I can’t wait to see you guys again,” Claudia said into her cellphone, using her free hand to adjust the poncho she’d found online to complete her Halloween costume.

  “Good, because Wyatt has really missed getting to spend real time with you.”

  “He’s putting together the best season of his professional career. I can forgive him for being a little busy right now,” Claudia joked.

  Jenna chuckled lightly in response. “Right. Luckily it’s a bye week, so Wyatt can relax a little.”

  “As much as he ever can,” Claudia teased, before continuing, “You girls are doing a good job of making me be social, and not chained to a computer all the time. I really appreciate how welcoming you’ve been.”

  “Of course…” Jenna paused¸ her tone then becoming more cautious, “Have you been working hard with Trey? Is he looking out for you?”

  “I guess you could say that. He can be pretty overprotective, but I’m getting used to it. There’s the doorbell. It’s probably him.”

  “Trey? But aren’t you at your place?”

  “I am. He comes here sometimes, when I’m not working at his house.”

  “Wait, what?”

  “Okay, see you soon. Bye!” Claudia hung up and quickly opened the door, eager to show off her costume to Trey. Yet, when she saw him, he only greeted her with a look of confusion, as he dropped a full duffle bag with a thud onto her entryway floor.

  “What the hell are you wearing? Where are your bags? I told you — we have to leave town.”