by Jana Leigh
Besides he knew who Arden was, had known when she told him who her brother was. She was not only Dag's sister, that would have been enough for him to help her, she was also someone important to Mason, that made it more personal. He wanted to call his friend and tell him he had her safe, but he had thrown his phone out, and needed to get another one, and soon.
He heard the door open and turned, the breath was sucked out of his lungs when he saw Arden, her hair pulled back into some kind of twist, it showed her gorgeous neck off, but she wore a pair of tiny little sleep pants and a tank top. Shit, she was the poster girl for temptation. Once again, his cock went rock hard and now not only could he not breathe, but he was sporting a woody. Fucking great.
“Hey, can we see if they have a snack machine, I would kill for a Pepsi about now.” Arden laughed and looked at him.
He had changed. He could see the appreciation in her eyes as she scanned his shorts, legs, and tank top. He was comfortable. At least he knew she wasn’t immune to him.
“Sure give me a minute, I think there was one in the entrance. I will run and see,” West said, grateful for the chance to actually get some fresh cooler air, maybe it would work like a cold shower.
Shit…shit…shit. She felt the attraction between West and her. Damn, she was torn, this was the first time in months she actually thought she found someone who could help her forget Mason, the prick, as she liked to think of him. But how fair would that be? Arden knew how the SEAL community loved to gossip. If she did something and it got back to Mason, how would she deal with it?
Mason was a little more in your face when it came to certain things, one of them was her. She knew it, she had seen it. Mason, before they had gotten together, had been protective. He ignored her now and she had the right to move on. Nodding to herself, it was her decision to get back into life, and she was going to take it. Well, probably when the whole running for their life thing would be a bit of a damper on the situation for a while, but she was determined to actually make this work.
She heard the click of the door and ran for the bed, she jumped on the side she always slept on and tried to look like she had been comfortable. When he entered she felt the sizzle of attraction, it was like a living breathing thing in the room with them. Damn, fuck waiting, she thought when he smiled at her and walked to the bed and handed her a candy bar. Her eyes refused to leave his, it was like they were locked together, unable to take their eyes off each other.
She broke the contact first, knowing if she didn’t she would strip her clothes and scream ‘take me’ in a second if the tension in the room didn't change.
West cleared his throat, walked to the other side of the bed, and sat down. Awkward, she thought and held her breath, chocolate forgotten since her female parts were currently on fire from wanting the man sitting on the bed with her.
“TV?” he grumbled.
“Sure,” she murmured and then picked up the chocolate. Seriously, she had to get some kind of pleasure tonight, even if it was a sugar high. They leaned back on the headboard together and West picked up the remote and began to flip through the channels.
She ignored it and focused on her candy bar, if she didn’t she would grab the obviously hard cock that West had and proclaim it hers. The silence in the room was stifling, they were dodging the subject. Finally, she saw he put the TV on a movie channel. Huh, who would have thought he would pick a completely unromantic action movie. At least she had one secret, she didn’t do the chick flicks, she never had, watching movies with John had always been action and she loved losing her thoughts in the story on the screen. This time was a little different, she couldn’t concentrate, but she tried.
Arden scooted down lower and got under the blankets. She snuggled with a pillow between her arms and rested her head on the pillow. Maybe it would be enough for her to snuggle with tonight. Tomorrow was something different.
She felt and saw West get under the covers and she tensed, would their naked legs touch, would they set her on fire any more than she already was. Shifting slightly, she was on the edge of the bed, perched precariously. This was gonna be a fun night.
She heard him groan and then West turned to her. “This is so not going to work. You are on the edge. I am freaking tense. We have to get this out of the way so we can get a good night's sleep.”
“Get what out of the way?” she said softly, hoping they were thinking the same thing.
“The kiss. Maybe I suck, maybe you suck, maybe we are imagining this, but damn it if we don’t see it is gonna drive us both nuts," West said and slowly pulled the sheet between them until he could reach her scantily clad body.
“Shit,” she whispered when she felt an electric current run through her even with his touch.
West pulled her until she was laying flat on her back, and he leaned over her. The closeness was enough for her to know this was so not going to suck; it was going to change everything. Was she ready to let her feelings go for Mason?
With a grin, he leaned down and gently put his lips on hers, moving them gently, testing to see if what they were feeling was real. It was. Without a thought, she reached up and wrapped her arms around him and he pressed himself on her upper half deepening the kiss. Fuckin' amazing was an understatement.
The fire that burned in her exploded as their tongues touched in a sensual dance. With each pass, they were learning each other. Testing the attraction and making sure it was solid and not a fleeting thing. Arden knew in her head this was real, this attraction was something she never could have fought for long. It was too much.
West moved his hands down her arms, linking one hand with hers and holding on tight. She felt cared for, cherished. Damn, with Mason their passion had burned bright and hot. The demanding way he kissed her had turned her on so much. At the time, she had really thought the guys from her past had been doing it wrong. His strong lips had commanded her. But she had been wrong.
West was just as demanding and forceful but in a much gentler way. She really thought the others were wimps, now she knew it depended on the man. He let go of her hand with a squeeze and moved it higher with a gentle caress. Up and up until he reached her breast. His touch was amazing; it made her fee like she was going to explode. How the hell was he doing this?
When he pulled back, she kept her eyes closed to make sure she didn’t break the moment. “Fuck, that didn’t work, I want you so much more, more than I have ever wanted a woman.”
She smiled, afraid to open her mouth and speak, she waited and felt his kiss along her chin, down her neck, he blazed a trail of heat she didn’t think she would recover from.
They kissed and petted, murmured things until Arden felt like she was going to go crazy. Then she felt the tug at her heart. Damn him to hell and back. Mason was still on her mind, she felt like she was cheating on the low down bastard.
Slowly she ended the kiss and groaned, pushing herself to the side a little.
“What? Did I do something wrong?” West asked.
“No, you didn’t, some other selfish bastard did,” she said and put her arm over her face. This was totally going to suck telling him. With a deep breath, she began to tell her story, assuring him it was over with Mason, but that she had to see him one more time to tell him to his face. She needed to clear the air, then she would move on. The only thing she could do.
West assured her it was fine, she missed the slight smile on his face when he kissed her gently. “No problem, sweetheart, can I at least hold you tonight?” he asked and she smiled.
“Please,” she whispered and then settled into a spoon shape. West behind her with his arm wrapped around her waist holding her close. They would talk about it tomorrow, she thought as she closed her eyes and drifted into sleep, feeling safe wrapped in his arms.
Part Two
Fighting to Live
"I have had to fight like hell to survive, and fighting like hell has made me what I am."
John Arbuthnot Fisher
Chapter Five
Someone was going to die, Diego thought as he stormed through the doors of his mother's residence. He was leaving tonight, and they were going to take care of those little shits tonight too. How dare they defy him, they had created a fucking nightmare, leaving a trail. Now they were in the hospital because of a silly little bullet hole, they should have known better. The bullet didn't hit anything vital. He was supposed to be surrounded by some of the most feared men of his country. Bunch of pussies if you asked him. No hospitals—meant no hospitals. Like the Americans were not going to figure out who they were, Diego didn’t give a shit if they were a state away, they were going to get caught unless he got there in time to do a little damage control.
“We are leaving now,” he grounded out and walked to the front door of the mansion. “Tell the pilot we were flying to Texas, we will be there in the morning. I want those idiots picked up and waiting for me, I don’t give a shit how you do it. Kill the doctor, kill the nurses, we have to make sure no one remembers them. I don’t care what it takes.”
His man nodded and walked back to the office to do exactly what his boss wanted him to. Diego nodded, he wasn’t stupid, this is why the man had survived so long and crawled his way to the top of the ranks in his organization. Diego knew he was going to take care of things. When he arrived, the idiots would be right where he ordered them to be. He felt a calm come over him—he was back in control.
Now, to figure out how he was going to explain to his pain in the ass brother that he was coming to stay with him and mother. He needed to be in the United States until this was over. Right now, that was where all the major players were, and finding out information in the middle of the night, when he could do nothing about it, was not the way this was supposed to go down. So far, every step he made had been thwarted.
There was no way the jarheads were intelligent enough to beat him, they had to have help. He was going to find and eliminate the brains behind the men. That way they would be at his mercy.
Diego boarded the plane and sat in the leather seat. At least he didn’t have to worry about paying for the plane, it belonged to his mother, and his pilot knew how to file flight plans so it would look like they were doing a stopover for fuel, his men on the ground would sneak him away and back before they had to depart.
Now to call his mother and explain his unexpected trip…
“Your brother will be here tomorrow afternoon. He wishes to spend time here, apparently that whore Soka broke his heart, and he needs his mama,” the Ambassador said to her son who looked up in surprise.
He knew his brother was evil, and his mother refused to see it. He had decided a long time ago, if he got the opportunity, he would be involved in putting the bastard in prison. While they were growing up his brother tortured him in various different ways. It started with the pinching and hitting, and continued until he was fourteen and his brother killed his dog in front of him to make a point—don't become attached to anything.
So when his mother announced his brother's heart was broken it took everything he had not to laugh aloud. His brother had no heart. His escape, when he was old enough to get away from his brother, was the military. He worked his way up the ranks until he made the Joint Forces Team. His country and the other members of the UN appointed their own country's elite to work with other countries for the best interest of peace.
It was where he belonged, that is until he discovered during an investigation how demented his brother actually was. Then he approached the council and asked to be assigned to go undercover, working with his mother was the perfect cover. He knew every movement his brother made, and supplied the information to the American SEALs, it was the least he could do considering what his brother had done.
Of course, if he had been in place back then, he liked to think he could have stopped the bombing. As it was, he worked the UN crew to extract the SEALs who survived and got them home. His brother was ass deep in this situation, but he didn’t have the proof yet to bring him in. Oh, he would though. Recently on a trip back home, he installed a tracer on the computer in his mother’s residence. He only needed one solid piece of proof and his brother was going to go down.
Maybe this would be for the best, there was a reason his brother was coming here, finally there was a flash of light at the end of the tunnel. His brother thought he was untouchable. Well, he would seriously love his brother to fuck up over here.
The SEALs took care of their own, they may help him solve the problem. Maybe with the next anonymous email he sent, he would finally give them a place to look along with a name. It may help speed along the process. In his country, his brother was a hero, only because he scared the shit out of most of the people, they were afraid of his wrath. However here, they had an even playing field. One he was sure he could use to his advantage.
Chapter Six
Mason and Thane leaned back in the seat and closed their eyes, they had driven around the bayou all night long hoping to find Arden’s Hummer hiding somewhere, unfortunately the had come up empty, well only partially empty. They knew West and Arden were involved in a shootout and explosion because West’s truck was the one that exploded. His mother had been frantic when they couldn’t discover where West could go, insisting she was going to have to call Bea and tell her about her missing son.
Mason and Thane had to listen about what it was like to be the family member of a Navy SEAL, they sympathized and listened but also knew West would do what it took to keep Arden safe. They had to wait for him to make contact. Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, they pulled over to rest. Mason’s mother had fallen asleep long ago in the back seat, Thane and Mason even pulled over once to get her comfortable lying across the bench. His mother claimed she could sleep anywhere, and she had not been joking. She was crashed out, snoring before the drove away again.
Now they were catching a SEAL nap and they would be off. Mason’s brain was running a mile a minute. Arden, he just needed to see her and make sure she was okay. Then he would take her to the ranch, lock her in the safe room, and throw away the key until all this ended. She wouldn't get hurt on his watch, no one else would.
He let his mind drift and it took him until nightfall when he finally decided to make her his. He had been excited, his mother was going to love her, and even though he knew he would have to talk to his best friend, Mason was sure this was the right way to handle it. Arden and he had to be on the same page.
Being around her on leave made him twitchy and unsettled, every day for the last four years when he saw her, he wanted her more. It was crazy, he knew. That was why he sat back and watched her mature. She had grown into quite a woman, one any man would have been proud to have on his arm, Mason included. If it could only have been that perfect like he wanted.
Mason sighed, she had been perfect, the heat between them had been intense, and hot, unforgettable was the word he would describe it with. She had ruined him for other women, no one would compare to her sweetness. Damn, he had to stop before he had a rock hard erection with his mother in the car. It would be too weird.
Hopefully when he saw her again, he could keep his hands off long enough to tell her they weren't able to be together now, he wasn't the same man—he was too damaged. He imagined the crying and heartbreak he was about to cause, but it was for the best. Mason shut down his brain, he couldn't keep thinking about this, it would lead nowhere, and they had too much going on right now, her safety and his mother's safety was his priority. Now apparently they would have to stop and pick up Bea, her son had been dragged into this somehow, and Mason knew he had to be cussing him out about right now. Arden could be a handful, he hoped West could keep her in line until he arrived.
Arden woke knowing she was in bed with a man. She stiffened and then remembered her week from hell and groaned. It hadn't been a dream, she was really on the run from gun-toting idiots—in a hotel with her second most perfect man—and feeling conflicted and grumpy. She wasn’t a morning person, never had been. Unless there was three
cups of coffee sitting there when she woke up, it was going to be a bitchy day.
She opened one eye and looked to her side. She was on her back with West lying by her side still cuddling. She smiled, damn he was so hot, even sleeping, she wondered if she would be able to slip out from under him so she could freshen up before he saw her in the morning. She knew she looked a fright, and wanted to make a good impression. She hoped he wasn’t one of those guys who thought women woke up fresh and beautiful without work.
She tested his hold on her by scooting to the side. West smiled and pulled her closer and whispered, “I thought you would never wake up.”
Arden winced and put on a happy face. “Hey.”
West laughed and pulled her under him again, just like he had last night. She felt a shiver of anticipation. He sighed, “Just wanted to make sure we were on the same wave length here. I know you have a few things to settle, but seriously, I am not giving up, I am waiting, there is a difference, just so you know.”
Arden felt her eyes widen, he liked to express his emotions too, what the hell, she hit the jackpot with this one. He laughed and then kissed her thoroughly and left her breathless. West kissed her nose, rolled away, and got up. “I am going to get dressed, and have Jabo run me to get phones and a wireless hook up. Then we are going to see where we stand, and figure out how to get the fuck out of here and to safety.”