Point Blank Range

by Em Petrova

  It was how she knew he trusted her as much as she trusted him.

  She raised her weapon and took aim.

  * * * * *

  “What the hell just happened?” Sully rubbed a hand over his jaw and stared at the shoreline, and Linc moved up next to him to stare at the fucking hell they’d rained down on Operation X.

  “Well, I’m not going to say we wiped the fuckers out, but we gave it a hell of a run this time,” Linc said.

  As Ranger Ops had engaged them in an all-out battle, their backup had moved in from both sides, Team Rou and Knight Ops providing the cover they needed to obliterate the dozens of small vessels that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, manned with machine guns. They’d sprayed enough bullets over the shore that Linc swore he’d traveled back in time and landed on Omaha Beach in World War II.

  A trickle of blood ran down his cheek, and he swiped it away. Sully looked at him. “Go get yourself taken care of.”

  Linc gripped Sully’s shoulder. “You all right, man?”

  “Fucking lucky to be alive. If Nevaeh knew about this, she’d never let me walk out the front door again.”

  Linc’s lips tipped into a humorless smile. “Then you’d have to use the back door. And Sully… I don’t recommend telling her the details.”

  “You can’t exactly do that with your ATF agent, can you?” Sully and Linc turned to look at Nealy standing with Lennon, head bowed with either fatigue or because she was shattered by the things she’d seen and done. Linc still had to find out, but he was damn afraid of the control he’d given up so she could prove herself.

  And that director of hers… Linc would bet his dominant hand that the man was ass-deep in Operation X, and she’d struck on something that would link him to the illegal smuggling.

  He’d tried to throw her off with the flash drive, had sent her in with the wrong information so she failed, but Linc’s gut instincts had guided him to retrieve the drive anyway. So when Nealy had returned to DC and placed it into her director’s hands, he’d attempted to sweet-talk her with a promotion in order to throw her off his stench.

  Then her director had sent her to stop the ship coming into port.

  Which they knew had all been a trap.

  Only they’d come out on top.

  Since Nealy knew too much—and her director was well aware of it—she was even more of a target. At least until Linc personally escorted her back to Washington and personally fucked the man up enough with a warning to stay away from her.

  “Go on,” Sully said, seeing Linc staring at his fiancée.

  As he crossed the ground that was littered with fallen bodies, she looked up at him. From here, he could see the tough-girl persona she claimed whenever she worked. But he knew underneath that callused skin was a woman he could unravel bit by delicious bit.

  Lennon gave him a nod at his approach. “I’ll hand her over to you.”

  Nealy dragged in a breath. “I don’t need handed over or watched over, for that matter.”

  Linc grinned at his twin. “Now look what you’ve started.”

  “Have fun with that.” Lennon moved away to the group of Knight Ops huddled together, talking and celebrating living through yet another day.

  Nealy still had her mouth open, prepared to spit bullets at him, but he caught her by the hand and drew her away. When he found a spindly tree, he sank to the ground and leaned his back against it.

  She stared down at him.

  “C’mere,” he said.

  She glanced around.

  “Nobody cares about us. C’mere,” he said again, softer this time.

  Her posture relaxed, and she settled beside him. He didn’t hesitate to pull her across his lap and wrap his arms around her. When he bowed his nose into her hair and inhaled deeply, she gave a shiver and slipped her arms around his neck.

  “Thank God nothing happened to you,” he groaned out.

  “Or you. Are you all right? After being trapped again and creating another bomb—”

  He kissed her into silence. The gentle caress of mouth on mouth had his cock hardening immediately, and she wiggled over it.

  They shared a moan.

  When he withdrew, he stared into her eyes. Up close, they lit with desire but he read her well enough to see the worry there as well.

  “I’m fine. Promise,” he said.

  She nodded and snuggled closer, tucking her head against his shoulder. He cupped her nape and held her there, just taking in the moment of respite before they fought yet another battle. Though the next wouldn’t involve ammunition and his skill set with a tactical weapon, he did intend to make her job safer for her.

  “You know we have to go back to DC, right?” he asked.

  She moved back to look at him. “We?”

  He nodded. “I won’t let you go alone. We both know what the hell went down and who was behind it all.”

  With a sigh, she said, “I do. I was just hoping you wouldn’t try to get involved.”

  “I’ve got your six—forever. And you need my word as a way to nail the bastard.”

  “My guess is he’s been taking money from Operation X to not catch them.”

  “I’d say you’re right.”

  He eyed her. “Looks like if he loses his job, you might be sitting at that desk sooner than you expected.”

  Studying his eyes, she gave a light shake of her head.

  His brows pinched. “What is it?”

  “Linc… I haven’t discussed it with you yet, but I think I might transfer here. To one of the Texas offices. See what good I can do in this part of the country and toss my hat into the ring for a promotion nearby.”

  His heart pumped hard against his ribs. “Are you sure? The last thing I’d ask is for you to give up the job you want for me.”

  “It’s not just for you. It’s for us. Something about Texas changed me, you could say.”

  He grunted. “Well, it hasn’t changed you enough.”

  She blinked in shock. “What? You don’t think I belong here?”

  “Didn’t say that. But if you’re stickin’ around, you need to get your Texas talk down better. A Texan would never say you want to see what good you can do in ‘this part of the country.’”

  Confusion wrinkled her brow as she stared at him.

  He smoothed a fingertip over her forehead. “They’d say ‘this neck o’ the woods,’ babe. You’ll just have to listen and learn, I guess. Hopefully in time, you’ll be a Texas girl.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him, and he chuckled, drawing her tighter into his embrace.

  “You have some things to teach me.” Her voice hitched with a wobble of desire—he heard it loud and clear.

  Rocking his hips up into hers, he ground his erection against her ass. She let out a rasp of a moan and leaned in, her lips a breath from his and her eyes beginning to blur with desire.

  “I can’t wait to get out of here and be alone with you,” she whispered.

  He captured her plump lower lip and gave it a suck. “I bet I could find a nice row of hedges to hide behind.”

  * * * * *

  When Nealy entered the ATF offices, she didn’t take five steps inside the door before people were popping up from their cubicles throughout the room. A round of applause greeted her.

  She stopped in her tracks, aware of Linc right behind her, taking this reception in.

  “Is this normal?” he asked.

  “Of course. It’s how they always greet me.” She tossed a grin over her shoulder and began to move through the people, hearing congratulations so many times she lost count.

  Her mind whirled about what was to come. As soon as she stepped into Mitchum’s office and faced the man eye to eye, what would he have to say for himself?

  She’d played scenarios over and over during the flight from Texas. And she could only guess at how Mark would attempt to throw her off his trail and twist things to make her seem incompetent or worse, hormonal.

  Linc rested a hand on the smal
l of her back. “You’re tense. Don’t let your thoughts get away with you. You can do this.”

  “Don’t talk please. Don’t try to back me up in there.”

  She’d said it half a dozen times during the flight, and he’d given his word that this was her show and she was the one running it. He was just here as a bodyguard.

  Drawing a deep breath, she nodded. “Let’s go.”

  She led the way to the acting deputy director’s office. When she opened the door, she was stunned to see not Mark in one of his new suits—probably purchased with dirty money—but Chief of Staff Holden.

  He offered her a big smile as she entered and looked to Linc. “Close the door, Alexander.” He extended a hand to her and then Linc. “You must be Reed.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I hear our thanks are in order. We’ve been on the trail of these guys for months and without your team, we never could have stopped them.”

  Linc nodded and shook his hand. “You’re welcome. But we couldn’t have located them without Agent Alexander.”

  The man’s eyes gleamed. “Let’s not pretend there isn’t more between you. I hear congratulations are in order.” He smiled into her eyes.

  She felt a flush climbing her cheeks, both with the pleasure of Linc giving her credit but because she hadn’t had a chance to actually tell people the news about her engagement, yet her chief of staff knew.

  Who else did? Heck, she hadn’t even told her parents yet, and they’d kill her if they heard before she told them.

  There was another question pressing on Nealy’s mind.

  “Sir… where is Mitchum?”

  “We have some things to discuss, Alexander. Please sit.” He gestured to the chairs, and she sank to one before Linc followed. She could feel the tension rolling off her fiancé. Since he had such a sixth sense about things, she couldn’t help but feel edgy too.

  Holden leaned back in the chair and eyed them both. “We have some big accusations thrown your way, agent.”

  She schooled her expression into that of calm. Or what she hoped passed for it. “I’d like the chance to defend those accusations, sir.”

  He nodded. Linc crossed one leg over the other, giving the impression he was cool and relaxed, but she knew by the set of his shoulders that was far from the truth. She had to do her best to defuse the situation before her lover took it upon himself to kick someone’s ass on her behalf.

  “Several things have been documented. First being that you viewed classified information on that flash drive.”

  Her brows shot up in surprise. “I was told to retrieve the drive, sir. Not research whatever data is on it.”

  Linc shifted, dropping his other boot to the floor with a thud. “I think the bigger question—” he began.

  She placed a hand on his knee to stop him from speaking and looked up at her superior. “Linc’s right, the bigger question is why I was told the drive was in one spot when it was in another.”

  “And how did you come to find it?” Holden asked.

  “Linc discovered a difference in the wall, as if a panel had been cut out and papered over.”

  “Mistakes happen all the time, intel is fumbled. The fact that you did not have the right coordinates doesn’t mean foul play,” Holden said.

  She nodded. “It was only one thing that tipped me off. The other…” she met Holden’s eyes, “is that we didn’t tell anybody where we actually found the drive, and yet Mitchum told me he knew it was in a different place.”

  Holden’s lips tightened as he processed this. If he had something further to say, he was saving it. “There are other reports.” He lifted some papers.

  “May I see them?” she asked, reaching out.

  He handed her the sheets, and she skimmed the text.

  Linc was staring at her—she felt his heavy gaze boring into her, trying to read her. Later, he would hear her vent, that was certain. What she read had her seeing red and every shade of purple anger that existed.

  She set the pages on the desk, but before Holden could take them, Linc snatched them up. She should wrench them from him, keep him from reading what they said about her.

  But it was too late.

  He wadded them up in his fist like they were tissue paper and dropped the ball on the floor. “This is total bullshit,” Linc said.

  “I think what he means to say is that if you look closely, you’ll see the person who filed these was Mitchum. I have reason to believe he’s been gunning for me all along. And that he is directly working with Operation X, perhaps accepting bribe money in order to turn a blind eye to what they’re doing. When that failed, he provided wrong information, directed agents and the Ranger Ops away from them so they were not caught.”

  Holden looked at her for a long moment. “I had to know,” he said.

  Confusion hit her. “Sir?”

  “I had to know if you were in on it with Mitchum. He’s been stripped of his badge, his position and will likely see jail time for his role in Operation X. But he pointed the finger at you, said you were in on it as well.”

  Linc shot to his feet, the sheer power in his muscles seeming to thrum in the small office space. He slammed a fist onto the desk, causing Holden to jump in his seat and bringing Nealy to her feet.

  “Linc, it’s all right. Holden isn’t accusing me. He’s just said that he had to know if I was responsible. He’s presented all this to us in order to see my reaction or catch me in a lie.” She rested a hand on Linc’s shoulder in hope it was enough to keep him from going for the chief of staff’s throat. She looked into Holden’s eyes. “I will swear before any judge in this country that I had no knowledge of treason or treachery, other than my suspicions about Acting Deputy Director Mitchum.”

  “He doesn’t bear those titles any longer,” Holden said. “In fact,” he tossed a look at Linc as if afraid of what he’d do at his next words, “the office is open and you were next in line for a promotion, Alexander.”

  * * * * *

  “You had something to do with that,” she tossed over her shoulder at Linc as she strode as fast as she could toward the elevators.

  “Hell I did. That was all you, babe. He said himself you were next in line for a promotion. And why would he listen to a word I said? You saw how much the guy likes me—he looked ready to climb the office walls to escape me.” He caught up to her by the elevators. She jabbed a button, and when the door didn’t immediately open, she stabbed it repeatedly.

  Linc caught her elbow and turned her to him, gently, slowly. She came, facing him but refusing to do more than stare at his chest.

  Which she could do later—when he stripped them both and took her in a wild afternoon of passion that would lead to an evening and end in an all-nighter.

  He was going to fuck his girl, and good too.

  “Babe,” he said quietly.

  She pushed out a sigh through her nose. “I know you didn’t really have anything to do with the promotion, Linc. Holden respects you, though. He’d take your word.”

  “Well, he should, but I think that respect is born of fear. Anyway, you turned it down. Why did you do that?”

  “You know why.” She lifted her eyes to his. Just then, the elevator door opened, and luckily nobody else was inside.

  She followed him in, and they stood there a moment in silence before the doors shut.

  Linc made his move.

  Jamming his thumb into the emergency stop button, bringing the unit to a jerking halt, he lifted Nealy in his arms and crushed her against the wall with his lips over hers.

  She cried out, and he devoured the sound as he fumbled over the buttons of her blouse and went to work on her pants. She ripped off his shirt and made a mewling sound of despair when she struggled with his belt.

  He whipped it open for her, offering her a grin. “This time, the lights are on.”

  “Good. I need to watch your big cock sink into me.” She kicked out of her clothes and fell into his arms. He lifted her, angled against
the wall with his hands under her round ass as he sank his cock deep in one swift, slippery glide.

  They went still for a second, gazes locked, and began to move.

  His balls swung forward to brush her body with each churn of his hips. Under his lips, every single freckle raised into a goose bump to meet his kiss. He pressed kisses down her throat and snaked his tongue lower, over her nipple.

  It beaded on his tongue, and she cried out, yanking him down by the nape to get closer as he sucked and pulled at her bud with his lips, teeth and tongue. Need was burning up from the base of his spine.

  “It’s only been about twenty-four hours since I had you, and I can’t get enough,” he rasped.

  “What does that mean for our married life?” She dug the blunt points of her nails into his shoulders. He threw his head back on the harsh pleasure she gave as good as she got.

  He pierced her in his gaze and shoved his cock deep into her pussy again. “It means we have some negotiating to do.”

  “Lemme hear it,” she grated out, her words ending on a whimper as he reached a spot she liked.

  “We do this at least once a day,” he murmured against her lips, the throb increasing in his core.

  “Only once? And does that mean we have to install an elevator in your apartment?”

  He laughed, burrowing his face against her neck as he rocked with pleasure and total joy at having her in his life.

  “More than once.”

  “As many times as we want.” She sank her teeth into his earlobe and began to pulsate around him. Her inner muscles a flutter that soon became a tight clenching he couldn’t resist.

  “I’m coming!” she gasped out.

  He tucked her close as she shuddered and his own orgasm hit with a force that stole his breath.

  After the last stream of cum soaked her insides, he caught her gaze. “We at least need a wedding reception venue with at least one elevator.”

  “To consummate our marriage.” She laughed, the throaty sound gripping him all over again.

  Drawing out of her, he let her slip down until her feet touched the floor. This time, as they dressed, she gawked at his body and didn’t try to cover herself like the first time they’d done it in an elevator.