Ethan waited and remained incredibly still as his woman convulsed around his body. It lured him closer, but he refused to fall.
He wanted and needed so much more.
When her eyes cleared, she pulled him down to her mouth to sink into the kiss. As Ethan focused on that, Elizabeth rolled with him still buried deep in her body. “My turn, handsome,” she purred as her body drove the new pace.
This was her favorite position, because she could watch his face and see him find the ultimate pleasure. There was something erotic about him beneath her and at her mercy.
“Oh, Lyzee,” he moaned, as she slid up slowly to fall fast and hard. “So good! Please, don’t ever stop.” This time it was his fingertips biting deliciously into her hips as he held on for dear life.
Ethan never had to worry about any of it ceasing to exist. That was damn sure. These moments were addicting and desperately needed to survive. Continuing the motion, Elizabeth watched his eyes cloud with desire. She’d seen the look before, and he wasn’t far from the edge.
She linked her hands with his, as she pressed them above his head, making him even more of her prisoner. With each slide down his erection, he moaned and fought for control. “Please,” he begged as the pleasure overwhelmed him. “Finish me.”
Elizabeth gave him his wish as she released his hands and pulled him up into the sitting position. As her body made love to his, her mouth followed suit. Tongues slid silkily across each other, pulling pleasure from the kiss.
“Please tell me you’re close,” he whispered, his body shaking as she rode him.
Oh, she was right there with him. When his hands went to her hips, pulling her down harder and at the perfect angle, she knew it was time. “Now,” she whispered, taking him with her over the edge, mouth to mouth and together as one.
He tumbled as he was wrapped in the pleasure of the moment. Now, Ethan was surrounded by the one person who could always find the way to heal his heart and soul when he was hurting.
“Ethan,” she moaned, feeling herself falling with him to the bed and pillows. Elizabeth was in his arms and protectively back against his strong frame.
The only sound in the room was the tick of his wristwatch and the slight labor of breathing from them both.
“Want to talk now?” she finally asked.
“Yes,” he replied, needing to get it off his chest.
“What’s haunting you, Ethan?”
“I want to give you something,” he answered, reaching down into his messenger bag and pulling the little box out. “I bought this today,” and then he told her everything that the man had said.
Elizabeth took it in her hand and opened it. Inside sat a beautiful ring.
“It’s for you to remember me when we’re apart, and to keep you safe when I no longer can.”
Emotions swamped her. The love that she felt for him was overwhelming. “Ethan, it’s gorgeous!”
She hugged him and could feel all the worry begin to return. If telling him would give him peace, she would offer just that. “I bought wind chimes. I wasn’t going to, but I felt the need.” Then she told him what Artemis said about Timothy.
Ethan listened intently.
“I don’t know how they knew, but I still believe he’s around. Maybe all the ‘thin veil’ talk is true. Whatever the reason, I’m going to be safe. She told him about the dream and the Kevlar while they were in Cypress Grove. Ethan was aware that he told her to wear it, but she shared the rest. “If I wore it, I wouldn’t see him for a long time. I don’t believe I’m in danger. Now, I need you to believe that too.”
He closed his eyes. “If anything were to happen to you, I’d die. I almost did when you were taken. To find you on an altar,” his voice cracked as emotion filled him. “It would destroy me.”
Taking his face in her palms, she stared into his eyes. “I promise you that I will be fine. I have NEVER broken a promise to you or Callen, have I?”
He shook his head. Ethan stared into her eyes and found reassurance and steely resolve. “I want to have more kids.” He finally got it off his chest. “I know that you want to wait, but I need a daughter. I hold little Cat and I see her changing. She isn’t going to look like you, or me. It hurts to know that we don’t have a little girl made from us.”
She understood. Already, Catherine’s eyes were going green. They weren’t the same eerie color as Desdemona’s but more a mix of hers and Callen’s.
“I want a little you running around, raising hell and making all of us crazy. I want more little children to fill our home. When I leave work and head home, I find my peace. When CJ calls me daddy, I feel like everything I see every day is justified. The death, the hell, and the pain all fall away. I know you don’t want more right now, but I do.”
She stared at him. “It’s not that I don’t want more kids, Ethan.” Had she made him feel that way? “I’m tired. My body needed a little break. I swear to you on my own life, you’ll have more children. I wish I could promise you a house full of girls. Just give me a couple more months. I’ll be able to pull off another pregnancy.”
He’d take it. “Do you promise?”
Her lips met his and she punctuated each of her words with a gentle kiss to his lips. “I swear to you, my sweet darling man.”
Ethan relaxed at her words of endearment and began to think about his grandfather. “Do you think he’s here?”
“Yes, I do.”
He thought about it. “Then we better get dressed.”
Elizabeth laughed. “You’re probably right.”
Then he reconsidered. “Unless you think that we should practice making more kids. I may be a little rusty, since it has been a while.”
She would never say no her Ethan.
“Practice with me, Lyzee my love?”
“Absolutely, Mr. Blackhawk.”
It didn't take Callen long to return to the room with dinner. When he found them, they were both semi dressed and his brother looked much calmer. Something compelled him to go to him. “Ethan?”
He looked up from his phone. “Yeah, Cal?”
“I love you.” With that, he hugged his brother tight.
Ethan was completely caught off guard. “I love you too, Cal. Are you okay?”
“I just needed to tell you, because I don’t say it nearly enough.” In fact, he planned on saying it more often to everyone who he loved.
Blackhawk didn't know what to say, but for the moment he leaned on his brother and just enjoyed the familiarity of his touch. Here was the man that he had carried for so many months, and now he was offering him some strength.
Ethan accepted it and leaned while he was feeling off balance. There was no doubt his brother would have his back.
Elizabeth crossed to them and joined in the embrace. “I love you both,” she said, wiggling her way between them.
Callen grinned. “I love you too.”
Ethan didn't have any words. He simply stared into their faces, as tears filled his eyes.
Nothing that he could say could top what he was feeling and willing to share.
He rested his forehead against theirs and took the chance at being weak, and in the end he didn't suffer alone.
He found everything that he needed in their love.
~ Chapter Nine ~
Cyra hadn’t heard from him all day, and she honestly hoped that Elizabeth’s advice would pan out. Leaving him alone to think was beginning to feel like a very bad idea.
At any second, she was going to start the desperate texting, to just hear anything from him.
Certainly by now, he was over it.
God, she couldn’t handle it.
It was decided. Now, the texting would begin. What did Elizabeth Blackhawk know about men anyway? Picking up her phone, she started a message, only to be interrupted by a knock at the door.
Going to see who was there, she peeked out and found him. Okay, she took that back. Apparently, Elizabeth did know more than she did, because Chris was standing t
here and looked just as miserable, if not more.
When Cyra opened it, she waited for him to speak. “Can I come in?”
He’d stayed away as long as possible. He needed to face the truth and just get it out. If she walked away because of some weirdness in his family, what could he do? At least he had the memories.
And the hurt.
“Sure,” Cyra answered as took a seat on the edge of the bed while he took off his jacket.
He didn't know where to even start.
“Are you avoiding me, Chris?”
There was no way that he was going to lie to her. Although he sucked at dealing with women, he at least knew that lying to them was a bad idea. “Yes.”
“Why? What did I do?”
It all came out in a gush. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “It’s not you. It’s my life. I wish I had a normal mother that didn't scare every woman away that I ever brought home. Belladonna Leonard is hard to appreciate, and I don’t want to make you run for your life.”
She watched him as he purged it all off his chest.
“Why can’t I have a mother that doesn’t dance naked in the moonlight around a sand circle? Or celebrates weird holidays with even more bizarre customs? What normal person has to plant rosemary at each door to keep evil spirits from moving in?”
Cyra wanted to smile, but managed to hold it back. The poor man was getting himself worked up for no reason at all.
“Is it so damn wrong, that for once, I want to be normal? I don’t want to worry that you’re going to look at the mausoleum and run from me.”
Chris dropped into a chair and sat there staring at her dejectedly.
It wasn’t hard to see how to handle it, and now that she knew why he was so upset, they could deal with it. “If you want the truth, I’m kind of jealous of all that.”
He stared at her like she was a few crackers short of a box herself. “What?”
“Your life must have been fun. Growing up was an adventure for you, and it had to be amazing.”
Now, it was his turn to stare blankly at her.
“Christopher, ordinary is overrated. I grew up normal and my brother is still an embarrassment. He gets paid to set criminals free. My dad’s wife grills any man I bring home and tries to set me up with only Jewish guys. Your life growing up at least sounded like fun.”
He never thought about it that way.
“I think you’re so worked up because you like order and science and your mother makes you crazy.”
Chris laughed. “She picked out my house, and I hate it.”
Cyra stood and crossed to him. “Then sell it, but I can promise you right now, that I’m not having a relationship with you because of your mother or house. I’m with you because you’re really good in bed.”
He opened his mouth as she caught him off guard.
Cyra started laughing. “I’m kidding. I’m with you because you’re funny, sweet, polite, and very sexy. Just focus on that and stop trying to over think my motives or feelings.”
This was what he wanted to believe so badly.
“Your mother won’t scare me, but you walking away and avoiding me all day was frightening. What we have is pretty great and I don’t want to quit now. We just began this adventure and I love every second of it.”
He hoped she was telling him the truth.
“Why did you think I’d run because your mother is Wiccan?” she asked.
Chris pointed at her throat.
It took Cyra a minute to figure out what he was talking about and then it dawned on her. “My necklace has you all worked up like this?”
“You’re wearing a cross and my mother is a witch,” he answered. “They don’t really go together all that well.”
She finally got it. “Remember how I told you that my mom died of cancer?” she asked, touching the little gold cross with her fingertips.
“Yes.”
“She was wearing it on the last day that I had her in my life. I don’t wear it because I believe in the power behind it, but because it was my mother’s. It reminds me of her. When I think about her, I always see her with it around her neck and it gives me peace.”
Apparently, he’d made a big assumption there. It was funny, because when it came to his job, he refused to speculate. Here, he had done just that with Cyra.
“You and I are all that matters in this relationship. How about we worry about that and stop sweating the things we have no control over?”
“You’re right.”
She was well aware of that fact. “Do you feel any better?”
“Yes I do,” he replied. How could he not? His girlfriend had just accepted the scariest part of his life without batting an eyelash. This was a bigger win for him than when he found out he could legally change his name.
Then he paused as realization dawned.
His name.
Chris stood up. “I need to tell the Blackhawks something! Do you want dinner?” he asked, excitedly. Not only had he fixed them, but he believed that he had found a way to find the name of the first victim.
Cyra was a little caught off guard. One minute, they were talking about them and the next, he was off to something else. “Uh, yes. Okay.”
“I’m going to run up to their room, and then go grab us take out. I’ll be right back.” He turned, starting for the door and then decided to take a chance. Turning, he went back and pulled her into his arms. The kiss was searing and full of passion.
She held on for the ride and found herself being turned on by the battle of tongues. She wasn’t sure how long it lasted, but finally he broke away.
He looked around the room in confusion. “What was I going to do?”
That one statement made her laugh. “You were going to talk to the Blackhawks, and then go get us take out,” she answered, handing him her room key. “I’m going to shower and wait for you.”
“Can I sleep here with you tonight?” he asked. Chris never wanted to never leave her side either.
“I think that can be arranged. You better get moving then.” She laughed as he raced away. Her heart skipped in her chest, at the silly look on his face, as he closed the door.
Yeah, there was no doubt. She was definitely in love.
Outside, Chris tucked the key into his pocket as he walked away grinning. Now, he needed to take care of those two little things and the evening would be perfect!
He watched him leave.
There was so much anger and rage in him at that moment.
The woman behind the door was the reason that he was sent away like he did something wrong.
It was all Cyra’s fault. There was no doubt in his mind that she was going to work her way up the FBI ladder by sleeping with the doctor.
Everyone at FBI West knew that when it came to the Blackhawk inner circle, Chris Leonard was in it. He held a special place in Elizabeth’s heart. Often, he’d find her down in his office having coffee with the man and laughing without a care in the world. The doctor would also have lunch with the threesome regularly.
Cyra thought she was tricky, but now he got it. This was her plan all along.
Why else would she shack up with a man, that was nothing more than a nerd with a fancy title?
Part of him wanted to go after the medical examiner, and the other part wanted to kick the door in and show her want a real man was like, and not the geek who just left.
He gave it a couple of minutes, as he waited to make sure that the doctor wasn’t going to return, and then he planned his move.
Yeah, Cyra Austin was going to regret ever going to the Blackhawks and ratting him out.
He’d have the last laugh yet.
Once at their room, he knocked on the door. He needed to tell them about what had popped into his brain, and then get the hell out of there fast. Chris honestly hoped that he wasn’t interrupting anything.
There wasn’t a ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door, so the odds were in his favor. When Ethan opened, he was shirtle
ss and his jeans were unbuttoned. Chris tried to not notice his hair was free and messed up.
If he had a question about what had gone on before he arrived, it was solved when he was escorted in to find Elizabeth sitting beside Callen on the bed in his boss’s dress shirt. Yeah, it was obvious.
Ethan handed his ME a beer.
“Thanks. I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” he stated, grinning at Elizabeth. If he could torment her, it was another little lift to his evening.
She timed it just right. “No, it was just a threesome.”
Chris started choking and both men simply laughed at him. They saw that one coming a mile away, too bad that he didn't.
“Lyzee!” he spat out, between gasps of air. “If you kill me, you’re down to a newbie ME.”
Grinning, she pointed to the end of the bed. “Want some Chinese?” she offered, holding out her container.
“No thank you. I’m going to get dinner for Cyra and myself now, but something work related occurred to me.”
She waited for it.
“We couldn’t find the identity of the first victim, but did we try a reverse name search on the state name change database? If she was born in this state, we should be able to get it. If that comes up empty, then we can run it on the remaining ones.”
Ethan was more than happy to do just that. “That’s a great idea.”
“How did you come up with it?” Elizabeth asked, taking a glass of wine from Callen
He stared at her. “It was just an epiphany.”
She wasn’t buying that at all.
Oh crap, he sicked the pit-bull on himself again. For someone so damn smart, he should have anticipated this one coming. In hindsight, he should have emailed Christina to handle it.
“I think you know this from experience, or you’d say otherwise,” she added.
Chris looked embarrassed.
“Spill it,” she said laughing.
“My mother named me something ridiculous and I changed my name before I started college. Okay? Happy?” he stated, chugging the rest of his beer.
“What was your name?” she inquired while the men both snickered.
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