Past tense, she was speaking about his marriage in the past tense.
Seth was on the couch, pulling her legs out, and her feet onto his lap, they were ice cold. The toes were painted a delicate pink. Annie had the prettiest feet.
“You’re so cold. Tell me what happened today. Can you back out? Can you go back to California?” She looked at him through dark lashes.
“I can’t Seth. I feel as strongly about this, as you did when you left and took this assignment. They’re going to offer me a contract overseas, I could see it in their eyes. I’m going to be abducted.”
He clutched her foot, and didn’t realize it until he saw her wince. “I’m sorry baby. Please reconsider this. You can’t possibly know how bad this is.”
“Actually I can. Don’t think I went into this blind. I did a whole hell of a lot of research before I raised my hand. It’s what I do. I might not know what kind of perversions this group of people have up their sleeves, but they’re all evil and they need to be stopped.”
She covered his hands where they held her feet, and they were cold too. She was shivering. How the fuck could she be so cold in this small sweatbox in Miami? He picked her up and cuddled her on his lap.
“God, you feel wonderful.”
“Why are you so cold?” He looked around the sparse room for some sort of blanket or covering but there were only blankets on the bed. “Why are you staying in such a shithole?”
“It’s part of the cover. Nate is around, and he said someone from the modeling agency followed me back to the motel.”
Dammit, that meant they would be selecting her. Leslie would love her. “How long have you been here?”
“A week. It took me that long to get the appointment.”
No wonder Nell had been so desolate. Hell they both were. Life without Annie wasn’t worth living. “Why were you referring to my marriage in past tense?”
Annie went still in his arms. She was silent.
“Won’t you tell me?”
“I know you are married. I shouldn’t have said it like that, I wasn’t thinking. I was wrong.”
“You were wrong.” She struggled to get out of his arms, but he wouldn’t let her. He used his strength to keep her where he wanted her, which was in his arms, always in his arms.
“Let me go.”
“Stop, let me explain. Portia and I have never really been married. Not in any real meaning of the word. I’ve never once touched her. I couldn’t bear to touch her. In fact, I’ve never once touched a woman after making love to you. I thought I did, but I haven’t.” Finally she quieted, and tilted her head to look at him.
“Explain.”
“Three months before we got married, I was out with Thiago Labado and Tomas Benitez. I’d been out with them many times before, it was part of my job, part of my cover as Carson Runyon. Most times Tomas would have his daughter in tow. Portia loved hanging out with Labado. She knew he dealt in arms and drugs, and her father was in bed with him. She found the whole thing exciting as hell. She encouraged it, and the more I came to know her, the more I realized she had helped to push her father into this business. She longed to be part of this criminal empire. She’d watched too many movies where the daughter of the drug dealers were treated like princesses, and got whatever they wanted.”
“I don’t understand, her father was already rich.”
“Yes, but now she would have power. She could push people around.”
“She already had that ability being the daughter of a shipping magnate.”
“You’re not understanding me. You don’t think this way, thank God. Portia wanted to have people fear her, she wanted to be able to have them beaten if they displeased her. I didn’t know it at the time, but there was another man, a boy really, who spurned her. His dad was an investment banker, and this young man broke up with Portia. She went crazy. I heard about this from numerous people, it happened eight years ago, before Tomas ever started with Labado. A year after Tomas and Labado became partners, Douglas Larkin was shot down in front of a restaurant in downtown Miami, for no apparent reason. But everyone knew the reason. Don’t fuck with Portia Benitez.”
“That can’t be true.”
“It is, and she set her sights on me, but I wasn’t having anything to do with her. Hell Annie, I knew she was evil. I knew it consciously, unconsciously, and with my ‘found’ senses. There wasn’t one part of my being that wasn’t disgusted with her.”
“Sierra told me about her. I can understand.”
“One evening I was out with a group of people, including Thiago, Tomas and Portia, and the next morning I wake up in bed with Portia. I can’t remember a thing. I can’t imagine how we could have fucked, but apparently we had. I was so sick at the thought of having betrayed you I couldn’t think straight. It wasn’t until months later I realized it was a set-up. I had been drugged. In the meantime, she shows up and tells me she’s pregnant with my child.”
“Oh God, you believed her, didn’t you.”
“I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t take the chance it was a lie. I was so twisted up about you and me, and then the thought of my child possibly being raised by that woman in that environment. I wasn’t listening to any part of my brain, or my senses. I was reacting with fear and guilt. All I knew was I had to protect my child. I had to be there to raise him or her, and I shut out the part of me screaming something was wrong.”
“It’s because you are an honorable man.”
There she was, looking at him with eyes sparkling like precious gemstones, and she was so sincere. She meant every word. She agreed he made the right decision to marry a psychopath because of a non-existent baby. Meanwhile she gave birth to his child. Could she be any more remarkable?
“I never should have left you, but I thought it was just going to be for a month, maybe two.”
“Why didn’t you leave a way for us to get in touch with you?”
“Ah God, I was three months into the assignment when I realized we had a leak in our department. It was almost to the day, I had the opportunity to take on the role of Carson Runyon. He was a persona I had been developing, and Labado had bitten, so I showed up in Miami. I didn’t tell anyone in the DEA except Lee Isaacson, the Deputy Director. I was in so deep, we agreed if word got back to anyone back home, they would realize I was still in the game.”
“So what did your real team members think happened to you?”
“They thought I died, or had been captured by one of the cartels.”
“Why didn’t they contact your family?”
“Because they didn’t know what actually happened. Since I hadn’t told anyone but you a timeline as to when I would be back, and you weren’t asking about me, they didn’t have to provide anyone any answers.”
“But I did ask Seth. I called and talked to your friend, Bob Franks. He put me off for four months, until he finally told me you had been transferred to a new assignment in Minneapolis. When I asked for your number there, he said you didn’t want to hear from me.”
“You believed him?” Seth regretted the words as soon as they came out of his mouth. Annie had met Bob on multiple occasions in Albuquerque, he must have seemed like a good friend to Seth.
Annie’s eyes filled with tears. “Yes,” she whispered. “I believed him.”
“You were trying to get ahold of me to tell me you were pregnant, weren’t you.” He pulled her into the crook of his arm so he could look into her eyes. She couldn’t seem to get any words out, so she nodded. Finally she spoke.
“Then your parents came with the letter.” He felt a keen sense of déjà vu as he saw tears drip from eyes exactly mimicked by his daughter. “But I understand now why you wrote it.” She rushed to assure him. It was like a kick to his gut. There she was, heavy with his child, and he was marrying another woman, permanently pushing her out of his life.
“I don’t understand, explain it to me. How could I have done something like that? How could I have been fooled by Portia, even for an
instant, and left you forsaken?”
“You did the right thing with the information you had. The honorable thing. I’m so proud of you.” She said the words with utter conviction. He stared at her as his eyes stung and he struggled to breathe. Seeing his predicament, Annie threw her arms around him, pressing her nose into the side of his neck.
“Seth, it’s okay, my love.” She repeated the words over and over, but they didn’t have the affect she intended. He cracked wide open. Almost two years of utter anguish spilled out. He shuddered, and clutched at his own personal lifeline in an angry ocean. Minutes, days or hours, he wasn’t sure how long he let loose in the safety of her arms. All the time she repeated those words, or a variation, telling him it would be okay, and calling him her love. It was the last that finally penetrated.
“Do you mean it? Am I really your love Annie?”
“I will always love you. Always.” But he heard the difference. It was not the ‘I love you’ he heard from her when they both thought they were dreaming. This was the overarching I feel love for you. He had to get her back.
“I love you, I’m in love with you. That’s never changed. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted in a woman. Can’t you love me back?”
She buried her face against his chest, and he held her tighter, willing her to say what he needed, knowing it wouldn’t be enough.
“I wish I could,” she said quietly. “I’ve stayed the same, but you’ve changed. You’re not the same man. I don’t know you, I love you. I will always love Nell’s father. I will always love this honorable man holding me. But you’re not the same man I fell in love with,” she whispered.
That was his Annie, a straight shooter. “I don’t believe you.”
“I would never lie to you.” She looked confused and not a little hurt.
“Not knowingly.” For over an hour they sat on the couch, with her nestled on his lap, delving through one another’s hurts and emotional trauma. But at no time had he been unaware of the softness of Annie’s ass pressed against his cock. Now they were done with the angst portion of evening, and he been unable to talk her out of her cockamamie plans, it was time for the best part, the part that showed the truth of Annie’s feelings and soul.
“What do you mean, not knowingly?”
“I mean even in your dreams, you would not make love to me the way you did if your whole heart and soul were not invested. You’re incapable of separating lovemaking from making love with someone you’re in love with.” He watched as the words penetrated. He shifted her in his arms, so his hand could sift through the silk of her beautiful black curls, caressing the warmth of her scalp the way she liked. Their lips met, mingling the taste of their tears. They caught fire. She struggled, and finally her hands pulled his head down, so their kiss could become much fiercer.
Her plump lips were so soft as he pressed against them, and she opened. She nipped against his lower lip, and he thrust his tongue into her mouth. She hummed her pleasure. The kiss went on and on. Their mouths never parted, as hands fumbled to find one another’s flesh beneath their shirts. He couldn’t decide which sensation was best, her hands on his chest, or his hands cupping her breasts. Finally he broke away from her mouth.
“No Seth, more. Don’t leave.”
“Clothes baby. I need you naked.”
“It’s a dream.” Then they were naked and lying on the bed. She pulled his head down for another kiss, but there was no way it was happening. Not when he had her naked on a bed with the afternoon sun coming through the sheers. It would have been better if the bed wasn’t so crappy.
They were naked in a perfect bed on stilts in a beautiful lagoon, with the sea breeze softly blowing the gauzy curtains offering them privacy on three sides.
“Seth?”
“It’s a dream, Annie.” Sunlight streamed through the open canopy from above, soft enough not to burn her tender white flesh, bright enough to illuminate the glory of her body. Seth was never so aroused, he fought his every instinct, holding still, drinking in her beauty.
Finally he saw all the changes having Nell wrought on her body. Her hips were lusher, flaring out, daring his fingers to touch, to squeeze. Her once flat stomach now had a sweet curve making her even more desirable. But it was her breasts that captured the majority of his attention. He’d always been captivated by her pink tipped breasts, but now, they were so much more. He held his breath as the lush bounty swayed with her breathing, the pink turned to mauve and saliva pooled with the need to taste, to caress, to tempt and tease. But it was the knowledge she had nurtured their child at her breast that caused a sense of wonder. Reaching out, he touched her and she arched into his caress.
“Please touch me, here in the daylight. Let me touch you. I can think of nothing better than loving each other under this blue sky.” She lifted on her elbows, but he wasn’t having it. She was his to enjoy. He pulled at her hands, straightening her arms making her fall back on the bed with a plop and a laugh.
“Seth! Let me up.”
“Nope, I have you right where I want you, lying flat on your back, where I get to enjoy every delicious inch of my Annie.” He leaned over and gave her a long lingering kiss.
“I like your hair long, you look like a fierce warrior.”
“Do you have some fantasies that I don’t know about?” he asked as his hand coasted from her hip to the indentation of her waist, up the ladder of her rib cage until finally he cupped her breast.
“Being here with you, is my fantasy. Seth, you have always been my fantasy. Just you.”
He lapped at the velvet softness of her nipple, drinking in her cries of pleasure, each one a balm to his soul. Higher and higher he roused her, amazed at how sensitive she had become. But he needed more, he had to taste her essence, bring her the ultimate pleasure.
He slid downwards and parted thighs that were plumper, smiling at her body’s beauty. For one wayward moment he thought of how others were going to see her when she continued on with her plan.
“No, not now. Not here. It’s just us.” She undulated, and hooked her calf around his shoulder. Then he was caught up in the beautiful sight of her core, and all other thoughts dissolved like the mist.
Dipping his head down, he pointed his tongue and caught her silky honey, savoring the taste, crooning his pleasure, as she moaned in counterpoint. Again and again they found a rhythm until finally he was so close to the edge he had to bring her over so he could join with her. He pushed inside with two fingers, and sucked her clit. She finally gave a loud cry of joy, like the cries she had given him in the days they first came together.
“Seth, I love you!”
“I know, and I love you,” he said as he entered her. He was careful with the woman in his arms, knowing his power and size could easily overwhelm her. He pushed through warm, tight tissues, until he was seated, until he was home. Seth started to roll over so that she could be on top, but she seized him, pulling at his hair, clutching his hips with her legs.
“Stay. Surround me.” Smiling, he thrust gently, but she was having none of that, no half measures for his Annie. She surged upwards, thus began the dance. He wanted it to last forever, but how could it? She was everything, the feel of her, the smell of her, the taste of her mouth, and the sound of her cries as she soared to the stars sent him over into ecstasy.
Chapter Eleven
The sound of the hit coincided exactly with the pain exploding through her skull. Annie sprawled onto the floor, her cheekbone connecting with the cement before she could break her fall.
“You stupid fuck. The whole reason we hit them in the back of the head is so we don’t damage their face,” the woman screamed.
Annie couldn’t move, the pain came in waves, pulsing through her head, to her jaw, to her neck. She kept her eyes closed, knowing instinctively the lights would hurt and playing possum might gain her a few seconds of respite.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Labado.”
“You dumb prick, how many times do I have to tell you,
my name is Ms. Gordon. You’re fired. Rick, take this guy out and fire him.”
“No, I won’t screw up again. Please, I’m begging you.”
Annie heard a scuffle, and the man begging, and she finally realized he was begging for his life. A shot rang out and she was hit with spatters of liquid. She gave an involuntary flinch while letting out a soft shriek.
“So you are awake. Good.” There was more pain as her hair was pulled and Annie was lifted to her knees to look up into the calm eyes of a madwoman.
“Welcome to a world where I’m in charge. My name is Leslie Gordon, you can call me Ms. Gordon. Let’s get some ice on your face.”
****
“Get her out. Pull her out now.” Seth replayed the video on Sierra’s phone for the fourth time, and he would have ten more times, but she snatched it out of his hands.
“We’re not going to. She could have signaled Nate at any time if she wanted out. She knew he was watching her, but she didn’t do it. She wanted to stay. She wanted to see this through.”
“Look at her. She’s been beaten!” Seth grabbed the phone out of Sierra’s hands, and pressed play again. Annie and two other young girls were being led out of a business park office in the middle of the night. But the lighting from the parking lot clearly showed the youngest girl with her clothes torn and Annie with a bruised and swollen face. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened.
The young girl was being abused, and Annie stepped in, which was when someone took a swing at her. God knew what other injuries she had sustained. It was obvious she was unsteady as she walked.
“How can you even be sure she was capable of making the God damn signal? Look at her!”
“The lighting was shit as they walked to the car, but Nate saw Annie talking to the other two girls, giving them a pep talk. She put her arm around the girl with the torn clothes as she started to cry. Annie was fully aware and taking charge.” Sierra gently pried the phone out of Seth’s fingers.
“What if Nate loses her?”
Forsaken (The Found Book 2) Page 10