by Sienna Snow
My heart immediately skipped a beat. He was so handsome, and when he smiled it was breathtaking.
“Hello there, First Lady.”
“How’s it going, Mr. President?”
“Much better now that you’re here.” He stood and came around his desk. “Tell me not to go and I’ll stay here.”
“I can’t do that.” I shook my head. “You’ve wanted this summit for the past year. This is your opportunity to fix the relationships your predecessor destroyed.”
“I take it your dislike for Edgar hasn’t eased?”
Lifting a brow, I flicked Ashur’s tie with my fingers. “The only redeeming quality about that man is his wife. It will take two terms for you to undo half the shit that man did to this country.”
“Not everything he did while in office was bad.”
Furrowing my brow, I scowled. “He negated anything redeemable about him the day he said the American people had better things to do then worry about immigrant girls in another country whether they were forced to marry an older man or not.”
I remembered the first time the recording of Edgar discussing the captured American girls had leaked to the press. It still made me sick to think about. The audio file revealed Edgar had a tier for whom he considered to be an American citizen. He’d had the nerve to say that since those girls were the first generations born in the US, their value wasn’t as important as those who’d lived here for multiple generations.
I couldn’t wait until the day the bastard keeled over, then the world and sweet Amanda Edgar would be free of the asshole.
“Woo, Tiger. I see the fire burning in those eyes. Forget I said anything positive about him.” He slid an arm around my waist, drawing me to him and giving me a wicked grin.
I released a deep breath. “You riled me up on purpose.”
“What can I say? I love it when my wife gets in her ‘save the world from the pseudo-dictator’ mode.”
“I hope you remember this statement when I give you grief with my many crusades.”
“I think I can handle it.” As he said those words, his gaze softened and filled with an emotion I still couldn’t get used to seeing or accepting.
I hadn’t let him say the words on our honeymoon, but I knew how he felt.
I wanted to hear them, to accept them, to believe this thing between us would last beyond the contract, but would he still feel the same about me once he learned all the things I’d done and was still doing to undermine the laws he worked to uphold?
“Stop thinking, Tara. Accept what we are.”
“I do accept us.” I glanced to the side, not wanting him to see the uncertainty I felt.
He cupped my nape and pressed a thumb up the column of my throat until my chin was tilted so I could look into his eyes.
“No, baby. You want to trust in us but you fear it won’t last. I’ve told you. I’ll fight for us.”
“Ash.” I stood on tiptoes. “Don’t make promises you may not be able to keep.”
I covered his mouth with my fingers before he could argue. We stared at each other for a few seconds.
I wasn’t supposed to let it get to this level of emotion ever again. I should have protected myself. Hell, I should have protected him. I was going to destroy this man once again with deceit, but this time with was my own doing, not because someone else was forcing me to do it.
Ashur pulled my hand away and said, “You think too much, Mrs. Kumar. I believe I need to occupy your mind with something more important.” Then he sealed his lips against mine.
I let out a slow moan as his intoxicating taste invaded my mouth. He deepened the kiss, pushing his tongue past my lips and igniting my desire for him. All my worries and uncertainty were replaced by a lust-filled need.
He lifted me against him and maneuvered us until he reached the sofa in the far corner and sat down with me on top of him without breaking our embrace.
“I want to do something,” I murmured while continuing to nip on his soft lips.
“What?”
Sliding off him, I dropped to the floor between his legs. Slowly, I glided my hands up his thighs, feeling the muscles bunch as my fingers crept closer to his engorged erection.
Leaning down, I nuzzled the line of his cock behind the fabric of his pants.
“Tara, I thought you said this has been done.”
Was that panic and uncertainty in his voice?
Oh. Mr. President was anxious about the cameras. A sense of power flooded my system, and I wanted to see how far he’d let me go.
“I changed my mind. This isn’t something illicit. Besides—” I unbuckled his belt and then lowered his zipper, “—it’s my husband’s fantasy to have me on my knees in his office, sucking his cock.”
“There is something to be said when a fantasy becomes a reality.” He watched me with a devilish grin.
“Does this mean you’re going to let me have my wicked way with you in the office?”
“Absolutely, Mrs. Kumar. Especially since I turned off the surveillance when you came in.”
“So, you were expecting something scandalous to occur?”
“I knew it was a distinct possibility. You see, my wife craves my cock as much as I crave her pussy.”
Heat and desire sizzled through core. I couldn’t figure out why, but I loved it when he was crude and unrefined with his words.
His fingers slipped into my hair as I tugged at the waistband of his pants, pulling his shirt free and giving me access to his boxer briefs. The beautiful thick, hard length of his cock strained against the snub cotton, and with a slight shift of the fabric, it bobbed free, a hairsbreadth from my salivating mouth.
A man’s erection wasn’t supposed to be so appealing, so arousing, so tempting.
My tongue poked out, licking the drop of precum on his flared head before circling the crown three times. I gripped the back of his cock and then trailed the line from his sac to the weeping slit at the tip of his length, dipping my tongue into the ridge.
He let out a small hiss and tightened his hold in my hair.
He tilted my head back and gazed down at me with lust and need. “Open up, love. I want my cock to imprint itself into the back of your throat.”
“As you wish.” I opened my lips and he pushed in deep.
I had to immediately relax and swallow to open the back of my mouth and to not choke on his generous length.
A moan escaped his lips. “Yes, baby. That’s it. Fuck. I love that mouth of yours.”
I began a slow and steady rhythm. Moving up and down and following each stroke of my mouth with a squeeze in the same direction as my palm.
I pressed my thighs together, trying to alleviate some of my own need pulsing in my pussy.
He grabbed hold of my hair, moving it out of the way so he could watch me work his cock. “I love watching your lips as my cock fucks into your hot, wet mouth. It’s almost as good as your cunt.”
A shiver worked its way across my body and I had to touch myself. As I worked him, I pushed the finger of my free hand past the waistband of my pants and underwear through my soaked slit and to my aching clit.
A spasm shot through me, causing me to lose the tempo of my mouth on Ashur’s throbbing cock.
He immediately tugged my mouth off him with a hard jerk that had me gasping for air and crying out with an insatiable need to continue.
He glared down his body. “Did you forget, unless I give you permission, you don’t get to make yourself come? Your orgasms belong to me.”
I stopped the motion of my fingers. My eyes watered, desperate for the orgasm that was almost on me.
“Please, Ashu.” I moaned.
“Come here.”
I released his cock, pulled my hands from my pussy, and moved up his body. Before I knew what was happening, I found myself face forward against the back of the couch with Ashur behind me. He unfastened my pants, shoved them down, and impaled me on his cock. I cried out, arching against him.
H
e set a hard, fast pace that left me breathless and mindless. Within a few strokes I was going over, and barely two seconds later, Ashur followed.
Chapter Sixteen
“Excuse me, Mrs. Kumar.”
I turned to Casey. There was a look in his eyes that had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.
“May I have a word with you?” He glanced toward the guards stationed at the door.
“Sure. Leo, Aston, would you mind closing the door?”
They nodded and left me alone with Casey.
The second the click of the lock engaged, Casey spoke. “Before I begin, I am going to say I highly advise you against doing anything rash.”
I frowned. “You do realize that only means you already know how I’m going to react?”
“Yes. I trained you.”
“Not sure what that has to do with anything, but go ahead. What’s going on?”
“Kartik Khan believes he’s located the holding spot for Ms. Kamini.” Casey passed me surveillance images and a map. He pointed to an area about a two hours’ drive north of Karachi, Pakistan. “There has been intense movement along the roads in this area, and locals have mentioned a blond-haired Caucasian woman living in the mountains.”
“That section of the mountains is controlled by Fahad Awan. He’s into arms, not human trafficking.”
“It looks like he’s decided to diversify.” Casey showed me a few more images of Awan moving trucks filled with women and children into the area he controlled. “Kartik’s sources say Awan is looking to unload a special package for the right price.”
“Ameera.”
Casey nodded. “I think our constant surveillance is taxing his resources. Plus, with a third-party interest in the auction, it only means there is a greater risk for him to be discovered.”
“What are you saying?”
“Awan wants to meet with us. He says he’s willing to trade his American package for double what his original buyer was willing to pay.”
“When does Awan want to meet?”
“In two days’ time.”
“Then I guess I’m going to Pakistan.” I pushed my rolling chair back and stood.
“I need to express my concern for you leaving while the president is at the summit. There’s no way to guarantee your safety.”
“Your concern is noted. This is the first solid opportunity to get Ame back. I’ll be damned if I’m going to wait around anymore. Get the plans in motion. We’ll leave in two hours.”
A little before four forty-five in the morning, my flight touched down at a remote landing strip an hour and a half north of Karachi, near the Hub Dam Wildlife Sanctuary. The property we were using as base camp was owned by Kartik Khan, a retired agent who happened to be part of one of the more influential families in Pakistan. His frequent travel schedule made it easy for access to and from his estate without drawing undue attention.
It had been two years since I last stepped foot on this property for my mission to save the American girls and nothing had changed. Sitting alongside the runway were a series of bunkers, and a fortified metal fence stretched for as far as the eye could see.
The area looked deceptively rural and barren but behind the façade was a military compound protected with the latest technology. Kartik liked to say no one could sneeze on his one hundred thousand acres without him knowing about it. He’d grown up looking over his shoulder so it made sense he wanted a safe place to call his own.
I gathered my day backpack, throwing it over my shoulder, and glanced at the two men Casey had assigned as my protection. They were both Solon agents who worked for the Secret Service.
“Is everything ready?” I asked Kartik the second I deplaned.
He handed me a map. “They are holding her here.” He pointed to a bright-yellow-circled section of a small village near his estate. “There is a compound hidden near the cliffed section of the mountains. We believe she’s in there. Awan and a group of his men were spotted leaving the area with their convoy about fifteen minutes before you touched down.”
“How many do they have in the compound?”
“Our best guess is around twenty. He also left his best general behind.”
Awan was known for keeping his top men with him at all times. If he left a general to oversee his territory, that meant he was leaving something very valuable behind.
Ameera.
“Where am I supposed to meet him?”
“I’ve arranged for a meeting at noon today at a café near Frere Hall in Karachi. Your decoy will check into the hotel near there in—” he glanced at his watch, “—exactly two hours and twenty-three minutes.”
“Good. Make sure she doesn’t leave the hotel until right before the meeting. This will give us approximately six hours to maneuver up the mountain, get into the compound, free Ame and get back here.” I motioned for my protection to follow the other agents prepping for the mission and then strode toward the bunker that led to an underground tunnel into the main house of Kartik’s mansion. “I’ll need twenty minutes to freshen up and then we leave.”
Kartik followed after me and said, “You can’t go in. I won’t risk you.”
I stopped and turned a glare at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“If anything happened to you, I could never look Ashur in the eyes again. I’ve known him for longer than you have. That man loves you.”
I’d forgotten Ashur and Kartik had met while studying at Harvard. They’d been part of a group of students who’d joined together to create a bitcoin farm. By the time they were in their senior year, all of their group had amassed such a high valuation of bitcoin that they were essentially billionaires. Thankfully they’d gotten out of the market before the bust and bought real estate in exchange for the high dollar value of their bitcoins.
“My relationship with Ashur has nothing to do with getting Ameera back.” I scanned my eye against the bunker entrance and walked through, once it activated.
“It has everything to do with it. I was there the day the air force medevac brought him and Veer back to Germany after they’d gone missing. Ash thought he was going to die, and he didn’t ask for his parents or his sister. He asked for you. He wanted to see you.”
My steps faltered, and I braced my hand on a near wall.
He asked for me.
“Then why didn’t anyone contact me?”
I knew the answer as soon as I asked the question.
“Minesh Kumar,” was all Kartik said.
Minesh had tried to keep Samina from Ashur, so why would he allow me to see him?
My stomach hurt. All those times Ashur had said he’d never stopped wanting me or that he’d waited years to get me back, he wasn’t just saying those things. He’d meant every word.
“I can’t tell you how to handle any assignment, but I can voice my objection. If anything happened to you, it could cause more problems than anyone could ever imagine. No one outside of Solon knows you aren’t in the US. Will you not consider coordinating from the trucks and let your team go in to get Ameera? She’d be the first to tell you not to come in guns blazing.”
“I’ve never stood by while my team was in the line of fire. How can you expect me to watch from the sidelines?”
“You aren’t only valuable to the men and women who you lead. You belong to Ashur and your country. Your loyalty can’t exclusively belong to Solon or your causes.”
I almost denied his admonishment, but then stopped.
He was right.
For so many years, Solon and my law practice were all I had. My identity was tied to my role, to the lives I saved, to the innocent people I defended. My safety was a mild concern compared to those I saved from human trafficking.
Oh God, what had I done? I let my worry about Ameera cloud my judgment and put myself in a position that could not only destroy Ashur personally but also his position as president if it got out.
I glanced at Kartik, who watched me with knowing eyes. As if he’d had
to make the same realization I’d just come to.
He gestured to the hallway and then said, “It isn’t easy, but sometimes it’s worth letting others take the lead if it means protecting the ones you love.”
“Is that why you retired?”
Kartik had been one of the top agents in Solon. He was a legend. The countless lives he’d saved was a goal all of us had aspired to reach. Then one day, I was sent a report that Kartik had resigned from active duty status and would only work in a limited capacity of his choosing.
“I had to learn from my mistakes. The exact ones you are making.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you remember when I had my accident?”
“How could I forget? Tyler and I were the ones who found your shot-up car.” I ducked under a low-hanging electrical wire and made my way to the door leading to the main house, but before I pushed it open I waited for Kartik’s answer.
Whatever he had to say wasn’t for anyone but us.
“I loved what I did for Solon. It gave me a purpose, but while I was getting my next fix of adventure—” his face grew grim, “—I lost Tazia, the woman I was going to marry. She couldn’t handle knowing the next time I left could be the last time she saw me. After my accident, she broke our engagement and is now with another man, the mother of his children, and living on the other side of the world.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but he lifted his hand and continued, “Ashur is a good man, and he deserves better from you. Just as Tazia deserved better from me. If you can’t leave Solon, there are other options.”
“It’s not that easy. I can’t be part of Solon and first lady.”
“Yes, it is, but you refuse to see it.”
My fingers closed around the levered handle of the metal door, and I closed my eyes. Could I do both roles?
I shook the thought from my head.
Kartik saw my reaction and shook his head. “Stubborn.”
Pushing open the door, I entered into the kitchen of the house and was bombarded with the scent of simmering food and spices.
It always felt so comfortable here. Kartik had turned this place into a home. A home for all the agents who constantly passed through, with a hot meal and a comfortable bed available at all times. He’d lost the only woman he would ever think of marrying and the consolation was a hodgepodge of men and women from all over the world he cared for as his family.