by Vanessa Kier
“Or he could just be arrogant enough to think no one would suspect him.” Sadness colored her words.
“I’m sorry, Siobahn.”
She shook her head and one corner of her mouth lifted in rueful acknowledgment. “I try not to shy away from the truth. No matter how unpleasant it might be. I’ll do it.” She glanced down at the invitation. “It says he wants to meet me for lunch. And I did say that I wanted to get a quote from him regarding MacAdam’s death.”
“No.”
“What?”
“Don’t bring that up. Not when accepting the invitation. We don’t want to alarm him. He might cancel.”
She thought that over. “All right. We usually meet at an exclusive French restaurant not far from the Capitol.”
“That’s not acceptable. I want you to insist on someplace with outdoor seating, so you’re not in an enclosed space where there could be another gas attack. A patio next to a crowded sidewalk won’t work either, because someone could stumble against your table and stick you with a needle. How about the Washington and Jefferson Inn down in Alexandria? It has courtyard seating in the back and ought to be high class enough to satisfy the Senator’s sensibilities.”
She nodded. “Okay. I’ll set it up.”
“Thank you.”
Another rueful smile. “I’m not doing it for the SSU or for national security. I’m doing it for all the men like Toby who were manipulated and abused as if they were puppets rather than human beings. Because killing President MacAdam was wrong. And because they killed Robert and tried to kill you, me and McCormick.” She shrugged. “I never thought myself a particularly vengeful person, but I’ve reached my limit.”
“And that’s one of the things I love about you,” Ryker said. “Despite all the atrocities you’ve witnessed, you still care. Not many reporters reach your level and still have the ability to feel so deeply.”
Her lips turned down. “It wears on me,” she admitted softly. “Sometimes too much.” She plucked at the piping edging her chair seat. “I think, after this is over, I’m ready to get out.”
Ryker’s heart gave one protesting lurch before settling into a panicked beat. He’d just grown used to the idea of starting a relationship with her. He didn’t want to lose her now. But this was her choice. He cleared his throat. “I’m confident that whatever choice you make, you’ll have a successful future.”
Damn. He hadn’t meant that to sound like good-bye. He really was losing his touch. Ryker fought the urge to close his eyes and rub his hand over his head. Instead, he held himself very still as Siobahn pushed to her feet.
“Oh hell, no.” Her eyes flashed and her lips pressed together as she stepped into his personal space. So close that he could feel the heat of her body and smell that enticing, spicy perfume she used.
“Don’t you dare go putting distance between us, Ryker.” Siobahn glared up at him, her hands jammed on her hips. Didn’t she have any idea how she affected him? Did she honestly not realize that her temper made him want to pull her into his arms and absorb all that energy into himself?
“I—” What could he say? He didn’t even understand the reason himself.
“No excuses.” She lowered her eyes to the erection pushing against his fly, then gave him a pointed look. “You want me. I want you. That has nothing to do with this situation with Wallace or whether or not I quit the journalism game.”
“It does if you leave Washington.”
“Who said anything about leaving? I was only thinking out loud. I haven’t freaking decided anything. No.” She jabbed him in the chest, the squared off tip of her nail making a crease in his Egyptian cotton dress shirt. “You’re suddenly backing off.”
The hurt in her eyes undid him. Ryker pulled her against him and took her mouth. With a moan of satisfaction, Siobahn parted her lips and sucked his tongue inside. Heaven. She tasted better than the finest Scotch. He explored the silken recesses of her mouth, letting her tongue dance along his as she sought out his hidden crevices.
She pressed her body closer to his and he realized he’d been kneading the full globes of her backside. The feel of the firm flesh under his hands combined with the sensual dance of their tongues to send blood pooling in his groin. He lifted his head. “You’re wrong,” he gasped in between placing nipping kisses down her throat then back up to the delectable shell of her ear. “I don’t want to put distance between us.”
He moved one hand around to her front and cupped her breast. Siobahn rewarded him by arching her back to give him greater access. “But I’m scared, Siobahn.” The admission flew out of him and he froze.
Siobahn stared up at him in confusion. “Scared? The SSU’s fearless director, Ryker the miracle maker, is scared? Of what?”
He took a step back and ran a hand over his hair. “Of losing you.”
Her face lit up and she moved closer, but he shook his head. “Siobahn, I lost my wife and two children in a fire aboard the tourist ship Amanda Lee off the coast of Italy thirty-two years ago.”
She made a sound of sympathy, which he ignored. For some reason his mind had decided he needed to say this now. If he didn’t get it all out, he never would. And he didn’t want lies between them. “Elaine was the love of my life. She filled the emptiness inside me left by the brutality of war. Then my children were born…” Despite the ache in his heart, he managed a smile. “I can’t begin to describe the joy of being a father.”
Siobahn’s face closed off and she retreated across the room, her arms crossed tightly across her abdomen.
“At the time of their deaths, I was on a special deployment to Italy, participating in some NATO maneuvers. Elaine decided to fly over with the kids for my birthday, but I was out on a training exercise when they arrived.”
His throat tightened up. “I was supposed to start a two-week leave that night. All I could think about the whole time we were training was that after three long months I was finally going to get to hold my wife again. To hear the sound of my children’s laughter.” His teammates had teased him about his uncharacteristic lack of focus that day, but he’d been too full of anticipation to care.
“They settled into my rented apartment. To fill the time until I got home, Elaine decided to take the kids over to a nearby island that was a popular tourist destination.”
Stinging pain in his palms caused Ryker to glance down. To his surprise, he saw that he’d clenched his hands into such tight fists, his nails had started to draw blood. Shoving back the grief, he forced his fingers to relax.
He couldn’t look at Siobahn. Feared that if he saw sympathy in her eyes, he’d break. Yet even though the silence stretched out and he could feel her tension, Siobahn didn’t speak. She just let him find his way through the story the best he could.
No wonder she’d excelled as a journalist.
No wonder he’d fallen for her.
“The commander called me into his office as soon as our unit returned to base,” he continued. “He explained that my wife and children had been spotted boarding a specific tourist ship before it left the harbor. A ship that had caught fire a short time after departure and been completely destroyed. He said there were few survivors. I…” His voice caught. “I refused to believe it. For hours, I told myself that Elaine and the kids had somehow survived. That the identification had been wrong. Or that they’d managed to get off the ship.” He remembered going numb. Unable to accept the probability that his family was gone, he’d clung to every hope, no matter how flimsy. Because the thought of losing his family had threatened to send him into a tailspin.
For years afterward, he’d woken up in the middle of the night with tears on his face, thinking he’d heard one of his kids’ voices or smelled the musky perfume of his wife. Still unable to accept that they were really gone.
“The media reported it as an engine fire caused by a leaky valve,” he continued. “In truth, a bomb had been set by a local terrorist group, who styled themselves as the next Red Brigade. Because I’d
been part of a team that had experience with that terrorist group, instead of a two-week leave I ended up assigned to the team responsible for tracking down the bombers. By the time we caught up with the sons-of-bitches and brought the survivors in, the remains from the tourist ship had been recovered. But it took another three months before—”
The muscles in his throat seized up and he had to turn away. People claimed that time healed all wounds, but thirty-two years hadn’t eased the horror of knowing that only charred pieces of his family had been recovered. Blowing out a breath, he forced the next words out. “Before they had enough material to make positive identification. And they never did recover the complete bodies. The nature of the bombs and the incendiary trail set by the terrorists throughout the ship’s interior meant that the fire spread rapidly. Flames killed more of the passengers than smoke inhalation. Witnesses on shore reported people in flames jumping into the ocean.”
On good days, Ryker told himself that his family had died immediately in the impact from the explosion and that they’d never felt the fire. On bad days, he thought he heard their screams as they burned to death. “Losing them sent me into a very dark place. It took me years to recover.”
“I’m so sorry.” Siobahn’s words vibrated against his chest. When had she stepped into his embrace? When had his arms banded around her as if she was the only thing holding him up?
For a long time he just held her. Accepting her sympathy and listening to the faint tick of the grandfather clock in the corner. Slowly the grief settled back into the quiet place it usually occupied in a far corner of his soul. The pain in his heart eased. He became aware of the warmth of the woman in his arms. Not just her physical warmth, but the glow from her generous heart.
“I’ve never let a woman get that close to me again,” he confessed.
Siobahn stiffened. He soothed his hand down the tense line of her back. “Until you.”
With his other hand he tipped her head back. “I said that I’m scared, Siobahn. I am. Scared of losing you, because you’ve become vitally important to me.”
The fragile hope in her eyes undid him. He stroked his thumb across her lips. “I care for you, Siobahn. Far more than I ever thought I could.”
This time the kiss was softer. Not so much a physical exploration as a promise. Ryker sank into her mouth and knew that there was no way he would let her go.
She sighed and her arms twined around his neck. Ryker settled his hands on her lower back, content to continue the gentle give and take of the kiss.
A knock sounded on the door. “Sir, we need to leave now if you’re going to be on time for your next appointment.” Ethan’s reminder made Ryker groan.
With one last press of lips, he reluctantly let Siobahn go.
Her eyes were clouded by desire as she looked up at him. Her slow, luminous smile had him going back in for one more kiss.
“Sir! Is everything all right in there?”
Ryker sighed. “Yes, Ethan. I’ll be right out.”
He stepped away from Siobahn. “I’ll send a team over to coordinate the logistics of your meet with Senator Wallace.” He gave her a smile that he hoped held all the hope and anticipation he felt. “Expect to see me tonight. In your bedroom.”
He watched in fascination as pink tinged Siobahn’s cheeks. “Is that right?”
Leaning down, he whispered against her ear. “And I’m bringing restraints.”
She swallowed loud enough for him to hear and blinked in surprise, making him grin with male satisfaction.
Nipping her bottom lip, Ryker said, “Hours, Siobahn. I’m going to explore your body for hours.”
“Er…” Siobahn coughed and the color on her cheeks darkened.
With a satisfied grin, he turned and left before he said to hell with his meeting.
“Just for the record, Ryker,” Siobahn called, her voice husky with arousal. “I care for you, too.”
Unwilling to let her have the last word, he called back “Good” just before the door closed behind him.
“Ryker!” Siobahn arched her back and whimpered as he swirled his tongue between her legs. Sweat dripped off her body and her fingers curled against the restraints tying her to the headboard. “I need to touch you, dammit. It’s my turn.”
The wicked man only laughed and scraped his teeth lightly against her clit. True to his word, Ryker had slipped into her bedroom at the safe house while she was drying off after her shower. She still couldn’t believe that she’d let him put the restraints on her. Not that she was a prude, but she usually didn’t engage in bedroom games until she’d been dating a man for a while and learned to trust him.
With Ryker, however, lack of trust had never been an issue. Control was. Despite the fact that she’d climaxed numerous times tonight, she still hated being in a position of vulnerability. For once she’d like to be the strong one.
She clamped her thighs around Ryker’s head, causing him to glance up. “Please.”
Those penetrating gray eyes studied her. Once again she had the eerie sensation that he could see into her soul. Just when she thought she was going to have to actually confess her inability to take this sense of powerlessness any longer, he nodded. Giving her one last lick, he crawled up her body and reached for the key to the restraints that he’d placed on the bedside table.
The movement put one of his nipples within reach. Siobahn took advantage and tugged the sweet little bud into her mouth. Ryker hissed in surprise and glanced down at her. She gave him back an innocent look and bit down lightly.
Ryker’s eyes flared with heat. “Behave, woman, or I won’t release you.” He dangled the key in front of her.
Letting his nipple slip out of her mouth, Siobahn pursed her lips in a pout.
“That’s better.”
Ryker leaned across her to unlock first one, then the other restraint. As soon as she was free, Siobahn sat up, threw the restraints on the bed and rubbed her wrists.
Ryker’s expression immediately turned contrite. “I’m sorry. Were they too tight? Did they hurt you?”
Siobahn shook her head. “No, they were fine. Just annoying.” After shaking out her stiff arms, she ran her hands up Ryker’s chest to the back of his neck, then moved in for a long, languid kiss. She let her hands drift lower, stroking over the firm muscles of his buttocks. Then, before he realized her intent, she snapped one of the restraints around his wrist.
He pulled back from the kiss, one eyebrow raised.
She cleared her throat. “Do you mind?” Maybe an alpha male like Ryker wouldn’t be comfortable giving up control.
That wicked light returned to his eyes and he lay down on his back, holding his other hand out. “Go ahead. Show me what you’ve got.”
Siobahn grinned as she snapped the second restraint in place. “Haven’t you figured out yet how competitive I am? I never back down from a challenge.” Sitting back on her heels, she surveyed his body. “Hmm…where to start?”
His thick, hard cock stood out proudly, demanding her attention. Proving that Ryker most definitely did not need Viagra.
“I think I’ll start at the top and work my way down.” With that, she straddled Ryker’s torso and tunneled her hands through his short hair. He gave a bark of laughter that turned into a purr of delight as she massaged his scalp. She then proceeded to map every inch of him with her fingers, lips and tongue, until she saw the same frustrated desire burning in his eyes that she’d recently experienced.
“Okay,” she gasped after she’d finished giving special attention to his toes. “I think we’re even.” She slid up his body, letting her breasts trail across his chest, and undid the restraints.
No sooner had the second restraint fallen to the bed when Ryker grabbed a condom from the table, slipped it on in record time, and flipped her onto her hands and knees. They were both so primed that his first thrust triggered her orgasm. She screamed his name as she came, digging her nails into the bedsheets as his own climax tore through him.
&
nbsp; Afterward, as they lay snuggled together on the bed, the sweat cooling on their bodies, Siobahn whispered drowsily, “I love you Ryker. I know it’s probably too soon to say it, but I’ve been in enough relationships to know the difference between lust and love. I love you.”
Ryker’s arms tightened around her. “Good. Because I’ve been in love with you since the moment you ran into me at the Capitol.”
“Okay,” Siobahn mumbled as sleep took her. “Glad we got that settled.”
Ryker’s laugh rumbling against her back was the last thing she heard.
Chapter Twelve
Siobahn did not want to believe that Senator Wallace, the man she’d grown up calling uncle, could have cold-heartedly ordered her death. Or even been complicit in looking the other way while one of the other players took lethal action.
Yet the ball of nerves in her belly as she sat across from him at an outside table at the Washington and Jefferson Inn told the truth. Deep down, she knew it was possible he was guilty. Unfortunately, so far their conversation had been innocuous. They’d caught up on their families, discussed the weather and the local sports teams. All par for the course.
As they waited for their coffee and desserts to be brought out, Siobahn knew it was time to up the stakes. “I don’t know if you’ve heard,” she said, tracing her finger across a delicate rose printed on the tablecloth, “but I was attacked at home a few nights ago.”
She watched the senator’s expression through her lashes. Her heart sank as his eyes narrowed before smoothing into a look of fatherly concern.
“That’s terrible, my dear. Simply terrible. Why didn’t you say something sooner?” He scowled at her. “Have you notified your family?”
Yes, you bastard, that would complicate matters, wouldn’t it? She’d never considered that if she told her family her plan, Wallace might hesitate to act out of fear of retaliation from her father and brothers.