by LENA DIAZ,
His hands shook as he cupped her face. “I want the EXIT program permanently shut down because of the potential for abuse. Because it scares me that someone can be judge, jury, and executioner without oversight, without their peers reviewing the evidence first. I don’t want to risk innocent people being killed because a maniac twists the program to their own purposes. But, sweetheart, if Faegan, or anyone else, threatened you in any way, I wouldn’t hesitate to take them out. I would be judge, jury, and executioner if I knew that was the only way to ensure your safety. Call me a hypocrite, but that’s what I would do.”
He traced her bottom lip with one of his thumbs, making her shiver.
“Ask me, Bailey.”
She swallowed.
He kissed her, a light brush of his lips against hers. “Ask me.”
“I can’t.”
He lifted her onto the railing and stepped between her thighs, his heat causing a delicious shiver to run up her spine. He pressed a kiss against one cheek, the other, her forehead. “Ask me.”
His hands speared into her hair. His body pressed intimately against hers, letting her know how much he desired her. His voice was thick, almost a growl when he said again, “Ask me.”
She shuddered against him, gripped his shoulders, and looked deep into his beautiful blue eyes. “Does my past matter?” she whispered. “Can you forgive me for the choices I made? In spite of everything that I’ve done, can you . . . can you . . . love me?”
“Oh, Bailey. There’s nothing to forgive. I want you, all of you. I want the little girl that no one believed in. I want the courageous warrior who tried to save a young boy from a bully. I want the young woman, fighting for a cause. I even want the assassin, whose actions saved dozens, hundreds of innocent lives. I want all of you, Bailey. The girl you were, the woman you’ve become. Can I love you? Sweetheart, I already do.”
He scooped her off the railing and carried her into the cottage, kicking the door shut behind them. She thought he’d take her to the enormous king-sized bed that dominated the room. Instead, he let her legs slide slowly down his until she was standing. And then, while he stared down into her eyes, his fingers began to work the buttons of her blouse.
“Someday,” he whispered, “I want you to wear that short leather skirt, and the leather vest for me.”
That he would say there might even be a “someday” had her damn tear ducts acting up again. She wiped her eyes.
He raised a brow.
“Allergies,” she said. “And don’t you dare say otherwise.”
He grinned, then sobered and began to slide her shirt off her shoulders, his gaze dropping to her chest. As each inch of her skin was slowly revealed to him, his face got more tense, his eyes darker, the pupils dilating. Bailey couldn’t imagine anything more erotic or sexy than watching him drink in the sight of her. It was heady, knowing she could affect him this way.
The blouse dropped to the floor. And then he went to work on her bra. It would have taken her less than a second to unclasp it. But he seemed intent on taking his time. His fingers traced the delicate lacy band beneath her breasts, slowly, ever so gently, following the material from the front, around her ribs, to her back. He stared, seemingly fascinated by the swells of her breasts above the lace, as his fingers cleverly worked the clasp behind her back. One hook, two, and the bra loosened. But he didn’t let it go. A second ticked by, two. His Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat as if he was savoring the tension.
The tension was killing her.
“If you need some help, I can pull the damn thing off for you.” She reached up to the straps, but he stopped her, laughing.
He kissed her, with her bra loose and barely hanging on, but still on nonetheless. When he pulled back, he was serious again, like a predator ready to devour her.
“I’ve been fantasizing about undressing you since the day I saw your picture in a stupid database.” His voice was husky, deep. “Let me take my time. Okay?”
She couldn’t have told him no if her life depended on it. She shivered, but she wasn’t cold. Her lower belly was already almost painfully tight, her body readying itself for him. And she wasn’t even naked yet.
Since he seemed to be waiting for her permission, she nodded, and let out a shuddering breath as he finally, finally began to slide the straps down her shoulders. He stepped close, his chest holding up the bra when it would have fallen away. And then he bent and kissed the skin where the straps had been, his hot tongue dipping into the hollows at the base of her throat.
When he finally stepped back, the shock of his warm hands replacing the cups of her bra almost sent her into a climax. She had to put her hands on his shoulders to hold herself up. And then his fingers began a slow, maddening path up the undersides of her breasts, gently squeezing, molding. His head dipped down again, and the feel of his mouth closing around her nipple had her crying out at the sheer pleasure of it. The heat of his breath, the brush of his tongue, the gentle suckle of his mouth, drinking her in nearly drove her over the edge. She curled her nails into his shoulders, whimpering against him. Then he finally released her nipple and blew across it.
She moaned his name.
By the time he finished lavishing her other breast with the same meticulous attention, she was sobbing and begging him to just do it. But he was bent on torturing her. He hooked a finger into her waistband. The sound of the snap popping open made her jerk against him. She bit her lip as he traced both hands inside the top few inches of her waistband, from front to back, his fingers dipping down, down, but stopping just short of where she most wanted them to be.
“Kade, you’re driving me crazy,” she panted. Once again she tried to speed him up, by grabbing her zipper to get out of her damn jeans.
His hands closed around hers, and instead of unzipping her pants, he raised her fingers to his mouth, and sucked.
She almost exploded, her hips jerking against his. She arched against him, reveling in the feel of him through his jeans.
He stepped back, just enough to break contact. One last suck, and then he pulled her hands up to his shoulders. Then he swooped down and kissed her, pressing her body tightly against his, doing sinful little circles with his hips in rhythm to the even more sinful things his tongue was doing to her mouth. When he finally broke the kiss, she was relieved to see that he was breathing just as hard as her. A fine sheen of sweat had broken out on his forehead.
“Okay. This has been great.” She gave a nervous laugh. “Really, reeeallyy great. You get a big fat check in the box for fantastic foreplay.” A shiver ran down her body just at the memory of his lips on her breasts and she shifted her legs restlessly. “Extraordinary foreplay, actually. Now let’s see about checking that other box, the one where we actually do it, okay?”
She grabbed his hand and tugged him to the bed. Then she turned around, hoping to quickly undress him.
He dropped to his knees and grasped the pull of her zipper with his teeth. Her belly clenched so tight she cried out again.
“Kade, please, I can’t . . . oh my. . . . ooooohhhh.” She curled her hands against his shoulders and threw her head back. Her jeans sagged down to her ankles. She didn’t know where her thong was. And she didn’t care. He played her body like a finely tuned instrument, his fingers and tongue finding nerve endings she’d never known she had, tugging and kissing and building the pressure inside her until she was weeping at the pleasure-pain of it. One last wicked stroke of his tongue and she exploded around him, her knees buckling as she cried out his name.
He caught her against him, and slowly lowered her down to the floor. Onto him. She stared in amazement at his naked shoulders, his naked chest, his naked . . . everything. How he’d managed to get undressed and put a condom on, all while driving her wild, was beyond her. And she was so glad that they were both finally, finally going to do this that she wanted to sob.
But once again, he stopped, the biceps bulging in his gorgeous arms as he held her poised over him, barely touching, he
r back against the bed.
“Kade, if you stop now, I will kill you,” she gasped.
He grinned and slowly, slowly, lowered her. He was so exquisitely gentle she wanted to pound his shoulders in frustration. And then he pushed more fully into her, and her eyes flew open. He was watching her as he slowly rocked against her, inching in just a little more. The pressure was intense, uncomfortable even, until her body began to soften more around him.
“Are you okay?” he whispered, his voice so hoarse she almost didn’t recognize it.
“Getting there.” She grasped his shoulders, balancing her calves against his thighs, and lowered herself more fully onto him. “You weren’t kidding about the shoe size, were you?”
He groaned and rested his forehead against hers. “Do you want me to stop?”
“Are you freaking kidding? Don’t you dare. You’re every woman’s dream.”
His shoulders shook with laughter until she gyrated her hips, pulling him deeper inside. He sucked in a breath, then pushed deeper. Her body had finally adjusted, the discomfort replaced with a pleasure so intense she spasmed against him.
And just like that, he became the wild lover she’d craved from the moment he’d begun this delicious dance with her. He rocked against her, pulling her down onto him, pushing deeper, and deeper, filling her as she’d never been filled.
He transported her to another place, a world filled with love and passion, where there weren’t any bad guys waiting to hurt anyone. He took her to a world where her friends never died. He took her to heaven.
The intensity of her climax shook her entire body, a wildfire of pleasure roaring across every nerve ending, bowing her back, thrusting her breasts forward. He greedily took what she unwittingly offered, suckling her while his hands molded her bottom and he drove in powerful thrusts that had her climaxing all over again.
He shoved deep inside her again and again until he tumbled over the edge with her. When he shouted her name, she didn’t think anything could have ever sounded so sweet.
Bailey lay on her side in the bed, her legs tangled with Kade’s as she watched him sleep. The moonlight shined through the tops of the plantation shutters just enough to let her see his face, so handsome, relaxed, with no worry frowns marring his brow. His long lashes formed dark crescents on his cheeks. And for once, there were no winces, no intakes of breath that she was so used to whenever the muscles cramped in his hurt leg. He was resting peacefully, and so beautiful her heart melted.
Awake, Kade was incredible.
Asleep, he was devastating.
It was five in the morning. They’d made love twice more since that explosive, surreal first time that she would always treasure and never, ever forget. Then they’d sunk into an exhausted sleep. But Bailey had been restless, waking up just a few hours later.
Because she was afraid.
Never before had she dreaded an assignment, a mission, or a task given to her. She was confident in her abilities, at peace with whatever plans she’d made. But she was realistic, too. No one was perfect. Everyone made mistakes. And she’d accepted long ago that she might make a mistake one day during a mission that would cost her her life. The thought of dying had never bothered her. And it still didn’t. But the thought of Kade dying tore her up inside. For the first time in her life, she was terrified about an upcoming mission. Because for the first time in her life, she had something—someone—to lose.
Chapter Twenty-two
Friday, 6:15 p.m.
What Bailey and the others hoped would be the final assault on EXIT Inc. was about to begin. She tugged at the harness strapped to her body and looked past Kade to the others, standing in small groups on the field putting on their harnesses.
Austin stood with Devlin, deep in conversation. He’d surprised them all this morning by walking into Mason’s dining room instead of using his wheelchair. Apparently he’d been working with his therapist on the side and was finally ready to try out his brand-new prosthetics.
Of course, his hope had been to accompany everyone on the raid. But after a heated argument with his brother, he’d finally conceded that he could become a liability if there were any issues with the prosthetics. So he would stay behind and do what he did best, logistics. Anything the team needed, from weapons to far larger equipment, he would wheel and deal with the devil if necessary to ensure they had it. Which apparently included today’s mode of transportation.
Bailey tugged at the harness again.
“You’re going to wear that out if you keep pulling on it,” Kade teased.
She blinked. “Really? Maybe I need a new one then.”
“Bad joke. Forget I said that. Trust me, you’ll be fine. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“You know I’ve been taking care of myself for years now, right?”
He pressed a whisper-soft kiss against her lips. “Humor me. I like to pretend that you need me.”
She shivered and pulled him down for a much more thorough kiss.
“I do need you,” she whispered.
His eyes darkened at her words, much as they had darkened last night each time they’d made love. She immediately regretted her teasing and looked down at her harness, pretending to check it one more time.
Somehow she had to stop getting caught up in the moment with him, stop making him think they were a couple. Because lying on the bed for hours this morning worrying and thinking, had finally revealed the truth to her—that she was kidding herself if she believed that she and Kade could ever be anything more . . . permanent.
No matter how she looked at the future after EXIT—assuming they even survived—she couldn’t picture herself as the wife, or even girlfriend, of an FBI agent. For one thing, how could Kade continue to do his job post-Faegan and pass the scrutiny of security clearance investigations when the woman he was with had a fake past? Would it stand up to the kind of scrutiny the FBI would put on it? If even a hint of her past work for EXIT surfaced, it would ruin everything.
She didn’t have anyone in the “real” world who could vouch for her. Even trying to pass a background check would be asking for trouble. Being with her would surely mean giving up everything he’d worked for his whole life. Could she really ask him to make that kind of sacrifice? Could she live with herself if he did?
“You can do this,” he said, apparently taking her silence as worry about the upcoming assault. “I’ll be there with you the whole time.”
She forced a smile. “I know you will. I’ll be okay. I thought you were going to wear your leg brace?”
He rapped his knuckles on his left thigh, making an echoing noise. “Under the jeans this time. I borrowed a pair of Devlin’s since he’s a size larger than me, and trimmed off some of the extra length. I don’t want to broadcast to our enemies that I have a bum leg. It would be like painting a target on my thigh.”
“Clever.”
“Yeah. Too bad I didn’t think of it when you and I first met.” He winked and leaned in for a kiss.
“You two ready?” Jace’s voice intruded from behind Kade.
Kade straightened and moved to stand beside her. “We’re ready.”
“ETA is five minutes out.”
Kade nodded as Austin joined them. His gait was a bit awkward on the prosthetics. But he was doing an incredible job just standing upright since the field they were in wasn’t completely level. It was only about a quarter mile from EXIT headquarters, with thick woods separating the two. Which made it perfect for their approach.
“Excited?” Austin asked, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
“No,” Bailey said.
“Yes.” Kade put his arm around Bailey’s shoulders and pulled her against him.
She sighed heavily. “Yes,” she said, changing her earlier statement. “Can’t. Wait.”
“No worries,” Austin said. “I’m in charge of logistics. And I don’t make mistakes.”
Jace rolled his eyes.
Austin elbowed him in the ribs.
“You don’t scare me,” Austin retorted. “A day may come when the courage of men fails . . . but it is not THIS day.”
“Maybe you need to watch the Lord of the Rings movies again. You’ve used that line already.”
“Certainty of death, small chance of success—what are we waiting for?” Austin said.
Jace rolled his eyes. “He’s twelve. Ignore him. Don’t laugh or he won’t stop.”
“What we’re doing today is very much like the last Lord of the Rings movie,” Austin continued, as if Jace hadn’t spoken. “You know, where the hobbits are trudging those last few steps to toss the evil ring into the fires of Mordor?”
“EXIT is Mordor?” Bailey asked.
“Bailey,” Jace warned. “Don’t. Encourage him.”
Austin nodded sagely as if Jace hadn’t spoken.
Bailey gave Jace an apologetic look, before asking, “And we’re . . . hobbits?” She looked down at her feet, just to make sure they hadn’t sprouted tufts of hobbit-hair.
He nodded again, as if he were an oracle instructing a student about the meaning of life. “We’re improving on the original, though. There were plot holes all over that trilogy. Ever ask yourself, if Gandalf had access to those giant eagles all along, why didn’t he just have them fly the hobbits up to Mordor and toss the ring into the lava to begin with?”
Jace shook his head. “Why are we having this ridiculous conversation?”
“Because I’m the logistics wizard. I improve upon the original. Gandalf may have had giant eagles. But I have something far better.”
Bailey glanced at Kade but he seemed just as confused as she was.