And as he comes down from his impossible high, I find myself staring up at the ceiling fan once more. I wish it would turn in circles faster and faster. I wish there was enough air in this room to breathe, but in the aftermath of what we've just done, this place has turned into an absolute inferno as hot as the fiery pits of hell.
His heart is beating so fast that I can almost feel it by grazing my hand down his bare muscular back. He finally manages to collect himself and rolls off of me. He kicks his feet off the edge of the bed as he rises to sit and stares blankly ahead at the vanity. I rise to my knees and moved to sit at his back. I dropped a hand over his shoulder and caressed his strong chest as he works to come down from the high. He's breathing heavy and ragged, and his chest is heaving too. I drop my head over his shoulder and the two of us just sit there in absolute silence.
"Do you want a pill?" He rises to stand, walking towards the dresser bare naked as he drops over to dig through the duffel bag on the floor. He produces a prescription bottle of sleeping pills and turns to me as he untwists the cap. "You're going to need a good night’s sleep."
Feeling slightly uncomfortable and slightly used—even though I was the one who initiated the act—I reach for the covers and pull them over my bare breasts. "Sure."
He grabs two pills out of the bottle and throws one into his throat. He reaches out to me to hand me the other, which I take gracefully and push into my mouth. I swallow it dry as he sits the pill bottle back down onto the dresser and then makes his way into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. When I'm alone, here in this hotel room all by myself, I can't help but to think somehow I did something wrong. Maybe Tosha on some level was right that I was using a wounded and vulnerable man for my own purposes. I let out a heavy sigh that he can probably hear even behind the closed door of the bathroom and throw myself back in the bed so that I'm in a lying position. And once more, I'm staring at that damn ceiling fan as it spins in impossibly slow circles. There's just something about that damn fan that I can't stop looking at. Something about that damn fan that I can't stop thinking about it. Maybe it's because it’s always moving, always spinning in circles and it never stops. It's like the inside of my head.
My eyes fall over each other and I know it can’t be the sleeping pill taking hold already. Those pills take at least a little while to kick into effect so it must be that I'm just tired. I don't try to fight the sleep as it happens.
CHAPTER TWELVE
DOMINIC
I'm in the bathroom staring at myself in the mirror. Staring at myself with an equal mixture of confusion and disgust. There's nothing about Katie that's disgusting though. The disgust I'm feeling is only at myself. As soon as I climaxed inside of her, I immediately began to feel the pangs of guilt ripping away at my soul. In many ways, I feel like I used her. I feel like I took advantage of a vulnerable woman.
She was right about something, she always seems to be right about something, and that’s that the two of us have a lot more in common than I want to admit. We've both lost something so important to us and we’re both on the eve of possibly getting that back. We both spent our lives on the outside of the law. I spent my life protecting people behind closed doors, but I've also spent my life harming them. She, on the other hand, she spent her life trying to find her brother. She spent her life bartering secrets. I'm surprised our paths haven’t crossed before now.
I steady a hand on each side of the sink as I gargle mouthwash in my mouth. When I look at myself in the mirror, I see nothing more than dead eyes. Ten years ago I lost my sister and I created a new family for myself. Now that my actions have come to light, I've risked losing the family I created for myself. Chase, Luke, Zach, Zane, Marcus, Anna, and I. That's my definition of a modern family and it's a family that's potentially about to be torn away from me forever.
I spit out the mouthwash into the pale yellow sink and then climb into the shower. I make it as hot as my body can possibly handle. Steam rises from the basin of the shower, rises to twist all around my body. When I breathe it in, it clears my passageways. I drop my head low and let the shower rain down onto my head. Water falls over my face, washing all of the sins away. I brace my hands against the wall of the shower and just stand there for as long as I can muster until I feel my weight giving out underneath me.
That's when I twist off the knob, rip the shower curtain open, grab my towel and then step outside.
I make quick work toweling of my body as my mind begins to blur. Between the hot shower and a sleeping pill, I'm about to pass out. I exit the bathroom in a hurry and then drop down onto the bed while still wearing nothing but a towel…
###
I'm forced awake by a pillow colliding with my head. I grunt out in equal parts tiredness and frustration as I jolt myself up in bed and grab the pillow that's assaulting me. I find myself ripping it out of Katie's hands and tossing it to the floor before throwing my head back down against the pillow and closing my eyes once more.
And just like that, I find myself drifting back off to sleep. The thing I hate more than anything in this world is being awoken from a good dream, and I don't have the whereabouts to realize that the dream I just had could very possibly come true today. I had dreamed of my sister and for the first time in a while, it was a good dream. We were reunited after Katie and I had stormed the castle so to speak. And we did it without any casualties.
Another pillow collides with my head and this time I thrust upwards in bed and scream, "Stop!"
I scrub my eyes clear with both of my hands and get a better view of the scene in front of me. Katie is standing there right in front of the bed motionless. A halfhearted smile fades into a frown. "Sorry, I was just trying to wake you up."
"There are much less violent ways to wake somebody up," I point out and let out a loud obnoxious yawn. "You know, waking up somebody that used to be in the military like that could get you killed."
She rolls her eyes and huffs, crosses her arms over each other and stands before me defiantly.
"What time is it anyways?" I let out another yawn as I stretch my arms over my head.
"It's four in the afternoon."
A smile pitches halfway up my lips before I realize that she's probably not joking. "Seriously?"
"Seriously," she says flatly.
"Shit." I jump out of bed and the towel I had worn to bed falls to the floor and I'm standing bare ass naked. But that's the last thing I care about right now. I glance around the room and notice that everything is already packed and then I fully realize that she's not kidding. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"
"I tried," she scoffs and leans back against the dresser. "I've been trying to wake you up for four hours but you been snoozing like a pig. It's not that it really matters though because Tosha has no more information than she had last night."
I rush to the edge of the bed where she's packed my duffel bag and collect my clothes for tonight. "So, we’re going in blind?"
She shrugs and cocks for head sideways. "That looks like it's the plan."
I grumble under my breath before climbing in to a black pair of jeans and a matching black shirt.
###
As the sun begins to set over the Pacific Ocean, Katie and I are parked five blocks down from the compound. We're waiting for Tosha to give us the signal that the cars parked outside have left but as of this precise moment, that's yet to happen.
I'm starting to think it's never going to happen. Whoever actually took my sister is probably very interested in making sure she doesn't escape. Add that into the fact that Christopher Lawson knows that I'm onto him and I imagine he's beefed up security ever since we broke into his house.
I'm fully rested—probably too well rested if I'm being honest—my whole body is pumping with adrenaline and I can't sit in this car any longer. I reach for the door handle and pop the door open, jump out of the car as fast as I can. I slam the door closed behind me and drag my palm against my forehead. The evening air is hot and my forehead is
slick with sweat. From behind me, I hear Katie climbing out of the car.
And when I turn to her, to look at her over the roof of the car, she’s staring at me and drumming her fingers on the roof of the car.
She pushes her tongue against the inside of her cheek as shadows began to fall over her face as the sun continues to set behind us. "Are we ever going to talk about what happened last night?"
I let out an exasperated sigh. "What is there to talk about?"
She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "You didn't want to talk last night. As soon as it happened, you rolled out of bed and disappeared into the bathroom. And I fell asleep alone."
"I wasn't awake for very much longer either."
"That's not the point," she scowls at me. "Do you have any idea how humiliating that was for me?"
I bite into my lower lip, shake my head profusely and then look to the side at a row of cars pulled tight to the curb outside of a street full of mom and pop shops. Each and every building is painted in pastel hues. I finally force myself to look back at her and though it's not a conversation I want to be having right now, I realize that we have to have it. "I feel something for you."
That seems to take her aback. She swallows a nervous lump in her throat and her lips tremble slightly. "You don't know me," she says lowly. "Maybe your right. Maybe we don't need to talk about this."
I rest my hands on the top of the car and pass her a knowing glance. "How about we just wait until this is all over?"
"To talk?" She purses her lips in contemplation and then nods. "That sounds like a deal." She reaches across the hood of the car to shake my hand, to seal the fact that we are not going to talk about us until this is over.
I shake her hand firmly and then pull back before circling around to the trunk of the car. I twist my key into the trunk and then open it to find semi-automatic weaponry, a few handguns, some smoke bombs, and a few silencers.
I reach into the trunk and grab a pair of handguns. I drop the clip from each to make sure they’re fully loaded and then pass one into her hands while I shove the other one into my side holster. I cock my eyes to her. "Let me show you how to use that thing."
"Are you serious?" She takes a measured step back and laughs wildly. "What the hell makes you think I don't know how to use one of these? Do you not remember me and my girls saving your ass?"
"Fair point." I offer her a wicked grin of approval. "Girls that know how to fire guns are beyond sexy."
"Really?" She rolls her eyes; she always seems to be rolling her eyes. "We're not talking about that, remember?"
"Yeah…" I grab the four smoke bombs from the trunk and attach them to my belt. I then grab two handgun silencers and screw one onto my gun and screw the other onto hers. "I remember."
She smirks and it's one of the sexiest damn things I've ever seen. Almost as sexy as when she first straddled me last night. Almost as sexy as she was when she rescued me from the back of Christopher Lawson's van.
She averts her gaze, combs her hand through her hair and looks out into the distance as the sun finally rests behind the houses on the harbor. It's getting closer and closer to showtime, and with every minute that passes, my heart beats a little bit faster. If this were any other situation, if I were attempting to rescue someone unknown, I wouldn't be this nervous. It's all the more difficult and urgent when you're trying to save someone you know. With every client that has ever walked into the Ford Security offices, I've never quite put myself in their shoes. Going forward, I'll be sure to think about what the individual client is going through. I'll take this experience and use it to become a better soldier for all that's good in the world.
"How much longer do you think it's going to be?" I question her, tapping my fingers on the roof of the car.
She sighs and passes me an animated shrug. "I'm just waiting on word from Tosha or Alice."
"We can't wait all night," I grind out through gritted teeth. "The longer we wait, the more likely they are to move her."
"If they try moving her, then Alice or Tosha will see it's on the satellite. And if they try to move her, we will have to make our move then, but right now it's in our best interest to wait."
I dig at the back of my head. "Aren't I supposed to be the one organizing this raid?"
"What do you want to do? Do you just want to storm the castle in broad daylight?"
I point a finger above my head at the evening sky. "It's not exactly broad daylight."
She wags her finger at me as if to say she's not arguing with me. "Let's just wait a little longer and if those cars are still there then will make up a plan."
"Whatever you say," I say under my breath, "Captain."
She passes me a disapproving glare before circling around to the driver's side of the car and climbing inside, pulling the door closed behind her.
I pass her a confused look, which she can't see since she's inside of the car and I'm on the outside. I swallow my pride and shuffle around to the passenger side of the car and climb into the passenger seat of my own damn car. As soon as I close the door, I look over to her see her smiling from ear to ear. "What do you think you're doing?"
"This seat is more comfortable." She chuckles softly and looks me dead in the eye. "And besides, you know I like being in control. I like being in the driver seat."
"You're a real difficult woman to handle, aren't you?"
"Do you realize that in the last few minutes you’ve asked me more questions than a college test?"
I decide to play her game with her. "Do you realize that you just asked me another question?"
"You're a real smart ass, you know that?"
"That's because I choose to be a smartass," I say to her, reflecting back on the conversations in her hallway where she gave me the lecture on how we always make choices.
She does what she always does; she rolls her eyes and glances out the driver window. And as she's looking at whatever she's looking at, I find myself looking at her. Her dark brown auburn hair trails down the back of her black shirt. For all intents and purposes, she basically looks like a robber. Not that I can say anything since I basically look just like her in my all black attire.
When she turns her attention back to me, she catches me staring at her. It would be awkward if it hadn't happened before but it's happened a multitude of times already.
I force a wild grin. "What are you looking at?"
"That's enough of the questions, Mr. Ford."
Did she just call me Mr. Ford? I move my lips to speak but before anything can come out, she's reaching across the distance and planting her mouth against mine.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
KATIE
I don't know what the hell I'm doing but it would seem that I’ve lost my ever-loving mind. I don't know what's come over me. I don't know why he has this kind of power over me. He doesn’t even need to do anything. All he has to do is look at me in a certain way and it ignites something deep within me. Ignites something that makes me want to jump his bones like I'm a hormonal teenager again.
I like to pride myself on being independent and never in need of any man. But it's not like I need him or anything. It's quite the opposite actually. I don't need him. I want him. And I'm not used to wanting anyone.
His lips are dryer and more cracked than they were last night, but they're still completely buyable. He doesn't fight me on it either, even though we both agreed we weren’t going to talk about this until this was all over. While we never actually said we weren't going to do anything—we said only that we weren’t going to talk about it—I imagine that what we’re about to do was written in the small print when we both agreed to hold off on whatever this is.
But I've been sitting in this car for too long and my emotions are running too high. I try to force away the thoughts for moments at a time but it never seems to work. He and I can joke around and it can relieve the heavy weights on my soul but only for seconds at a time.
I can't help but to wonder what my life is going to
be like if I find my brother. When finding him is no longer the sole focus of my mind, I wonder what I'll think about. Maybe I'll think about Dominic or if something can work with him, maybe I'll actually be able to think about surrendering myself to another man.
He breaks away from my kiss and pants, "What are you doing?"
"We're not talking about it…" I drop a hand to caress his growing erection through his jeans. "But if we are talking about it, then what we are doing is me finishing what we started last night."
"We did finish."
"No, we didn't." I bite into my lower lip. "You did. I didn't."
A knowing look passes over his face and I gather that he understands exactly what I'm trying to say.
If this were a sports car like mine, this wouldn't be possible. But we are in one of his Ford Security company cars and it's much larger than my sporty BMW. As he's kissing me, he reaches down to below his seat and pushes his seat back to give him more room.
We’re both sitting in our respective seats, staring wildly at each other. My hand continues to shift over his jean-clad hardness. And then he reaches across the way to un-button my jeans, pushes his hands underneath and begins to massage me in slow circles.
I'm not in the mood for foreplay, however, because we don't have a lot of time. I remove my hands from his lap, unbutton my jeans and then push them down my legs to scrunch just above my boots. I fumble around in the front seat as I try to remove my boots in a quick haste. And once they are removed, I slither out of my jeans without much problem.
Now dressed in nothing but my black shirt and black panties, I cock my head to glance at Dominic who's already slithering free from his jeans. He passes me a shit-eating grin as his lips part. "You do know we are in public, right?"
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