“You know,” he whispered, nibbling on her lobe. Painfully slow, he moved again. In. Out. In. Out. He was so close, any faster movement than that would make him come, make this sweet rapture over too soon. “I could get used to this.”
“You and me both,” she breathed. “Oh, right there. Oh. Do that again.” He sucked a waiting nipple into his mouth, licking and teasing the hard bud until she shuddered. “Keep that up and we won’t go at the same time.”
They’d made a pact this time. She wanted them to come at the exact same time. Exact. He was more than happy to oblige. “Are you close?”
“You have no idea.”
He had a feeling he did. Her channel fisted him, squeezing him with spasmodic quivers. “I’m not going to last much longer.”
“Me, neither.”
He pulled out, paused before inserting back inside, sheathing himself in her moist warmth. The waves of his orgasm started to shake through his body. “Charis...”
“David, I—” Her entire body clenched, milking him, bringing him in tighter. With rapid thrusts he came the instant she did, and they both cried out. He continued to draw cries out of her as he moved, completely lost in her. Hell, yes. He could really get used to this.
He suddenly tensed, and it had nothing to do with their lovemaking. Something didn’t feel right. His neck hairs stood up. Someone else was in the room with them. “What the—who the fuck are you?”
Before he knew what was happening, someone huge threw him off Charis and clear across the room. He hit his head against the wall. Hard. She screamed, which sent him into action. Seeing stars, he sprang to his feet, staggered to stay upright, and tried to shake off the orgasm-inducing delirium, not to mention the possible concussion.
An enormous man stood over his sweet lover, his hands clenched at his sides. David couldn’t see anything in the darkness aside from the fact this guy had to be seven feet tall.
His gut clenched, his blood cooled. No one would touch Charis. Without a moment’s hesitation he ran toward him to stop him from hurting her. Blind rage turned everything red as he charged.
“Who...” She whimpered, grabbing the sheet to cover her.
With a quick spin, he hit the intruder across the shoulder with the heel of his foot. Jesus Christ, that hurt. He whipped around and took a step toward David.
“Just what in the fuck do you think you’re doing?” The man rasped, clearly pissed as hell.
David answered him by giving him a stiff left hook to the jaw. Holy shit. The man had an iron jaw. As he shook out the pain in his hand, the man staggered back. Taking advantage of his surprise, David then spun and kicked him directly in the midsection. The man let out a whoosh of air.
As the intruder dropped to his knees, David grabbed him by the hair. He moved out of his grasp and grabbed David by his right shoulder.
He hollered out in pain. Goddamn it. He almost dropped to his knees.
The man’s fist came from nowhere and made contact with David’s temple. Seeing stars, and only stars, he stumbled. The man kicked out a knee and David dropped. He rolled out of the way just as the man’s huge fist came down. It slammed into the floor.
Jumping up, he tried to take out the man’s knee. He missed in the darkness and fell flat on his ass. The man jumped on top of him and made contact with his lip. It split and he tasted blood.
“You bastard! I’ll kill you!” the man spat at David.
“Oh no,” Charis muttered. “Wait! Stop!”
David bucked him off and kicked him in the ribs. He growled out a curse and rolled.
“David!” she cried.
“I got this,” he told her, reassuring her. Because if he didn’t, if this man killed him, God only knew what he’d do to her. “Come on, you fucker.” David moved back and forth, hopping from foot to foot. Hell, yeah. He was ready for battle, had been craving it ever since leaving TREX.
“No! David!” she cried. “Stop!”
“Get out of here,” he told her. If he got her away from the house, then she wouldn’t have to see how ugly two men fighting over a woman could get. “Now!”
“David!”
He launched at the man, pulling him into a chokehold. It may not be as lethal as Weber’s but it would still render a man unconscious.
Or not. The man twisted and had him in the same chokehold. David punched him in the gut over and over until the man let him go. With a head butt, he sent the man staggering back. Another left hook and he fell onto the bed.
Charis screamed and leapt from the bed. Instead of her running into his arms, she jumped in between them. “Stop this! Both of you!”
“Get out of the way, love,” he ordered and doubled up his hand into a fist to knock the man back down. He stirred and sat up on the bed.
“Jesus Christ, Charis. You know him?” the man demanded.
“Of course I know him, you idiot!” Having already memorized every tone she’d ever conveyed, David knew the guy had just landed himself in serious shit with her.
“What kind of homecoming is this?” The man stood, stumbled, and then gained his footing.
“This isn’t your home!”
The man turned to her and then quickly looked away. “Holy shit. Put on some clothes. Tell your hero over there to do the same. I’ll be in the kitchen getting a goddamn icepack.”
David froze. This guy, this intruder trying to kick his ass, knew Charis? And what right did he have helping himself to anything in her kitchen? Just who in the hell was he?
The bottoms of his PJs hit him on the side of the head. He blinked and looked over at Charis. Even in the dark he recognized the glare she threw at him. “Congratulations. You just beat up my brother.” With that, she threw on some sort of robe, grabbed her glasses, and stormed out of the room.
What the fuck? He jumped into the bottoms and hurried out after her. How was this his fault? He was simply protecting his property. Strike that. What he thought needed protecting.
He squinted against the light in the kitchen. There, sitting at the island with a scowl so deep it looked like it would permanently etch into his features, sat a very pissed off Chris McKoy.
He glared as David walked out of the hallway into the kitchen. Chris possessed the same intense blue eyes as his twin, though David only clearly saw one since Chris’s right eye had swelled along with the side of his lip. He got off a few punches on David. He imagined what he must look like. He ran his tongue over his swollen lip, still tasting blood.
“Here.” Chris threw him a bag with some ice. He caught it and immediately brought it up to where his head hit the wall. The knot growing there rivaled Mt. Rainier.
“What are you doing here, Chris?” Charis handed him a wet washcloth. She then turned and walked over to David with another one. With a quick adjustment to her glasses, she ordered, “Sit.”
“I don’t need you—”
“Sit,” she ordered firmly, thinning her lips. It wasn’t up for negotiation. He sat. She went about the task of cleaning him up. From the way she scraped the washcloth across the tender parts of his face, and the way he cringed and winced as she did it, she didn’t have an ounce of sympathy for his injuries.
Why the hell not? He was only trying to protect her. Why be pissed at him?
“I’ve never been so embarrassed,” she muttered for his ears only, scraping at his flesh.
“Easy,” he urged, the pain sending surges through his system every time she touched a fresh mark. Damn, she was brutal.
“Don’t speak.” She walked over and rinsed the washcloth, added more water, then came back and started in again. “You,” she said to her brother. “Start talking.”
Chris winced as he watched her scrub at David’s face. “Jeez, sis. Give the guy a break. He just got his ass kicked.”
“Hah!” David shot back. She pushed on a tender spot on his cheek, causing him to hiss in a breath. He looked at her. She glared back.
Yep. Very pissed off.
Damn if it didn’t mak
e his opinion for her jump up even higher. For whatever reason.
“What right do you have showing up at my house at five in the morning?” She stopped scraping at David’s face, thank God, and started in on her brother after throwing the first rag in the sink. “Barging into my room like that?”
“I heard... Uh...” Chris looked down and rubbed the back of his head. “Noises. I thought you might be in trouble.”
“What are you even doing here?”
“I just got back from overseas. I drove by and didn’t see any lights on. Dad told me you were out of town so I figured I’d stop in and at least turn on your porch light. When I used the hide-a-key to open the front door, I heard... Well...”
“Okay.” She stopped him. The crimson in her cheeks brought out a beautiful glow.
He lifted his gaze to David. “Now that I see what’s going on, I’m glad I stopped by.”
Just what did her brother have against him? “You got a problem?”
“Yeah. What were you doing on top of my sister?”
* * * *
Charis rubbed her temples. Even the Tylenol she took didn’t help with the throbbing headache she’d developed over the past half hour. David and Chris kept flexing their testosterone, neither willing to admit defeat. Not that it mattered. She just wanted her brother to go home and for her to go to bed.
Preferably with David by her side. Even though she should make him sleep on the couch. Or outside in the freezing cold.
Chris still sat at the island in the kitchen, while David and she had moved to her couch. She grabbed her favorite fluffy peach-colored pillow, laid it over her lap, and tucked her feet under her to keep them warm. He had a hand on her leg, which she didn’t know if she liked or not. The gesture gave her an extreme sense of security, of being protected. Yet, it also made her brain foggy from the way the heat from his touch seeped into her system, made her pulse jump sporadically. Even at five-thirty in the morning when she could barely keep her eyes open.
“So, this is official?” Chris growled into his cell. He shook his head, muttered a few incomprehensible words. She watched him from over her shoulder, resting her chin on the back of the couch. David didn’t seem to care. His gaze had barely left her since they were so rudely interrupted. Actually, he hadn’t left her side since Chris showed up.
Again, she didn’t know whether she liked the gesture or not. It made her feel warm, safe, confused.
“Working? Not from what I could see,” he stated, his voice growing more and more intense. “Yes, I do realize what time it is. No, I didn’t call to rat them out.” He growled and eyed David. “No, sir. Yes, I do like my job.”
“Who do you think he’s talking to?” she asked David.
“Weber,” he almost chuckled as he spoke. “And from the look on your brother’s face, Weber is not pleased to be woken up so early in the morning, let alone to have a new recruit call to rat out agents on an op. The man doesn’t like to be questioned, and he certainly doesn’t like to be woken up.”
Hmm. Must run through the blood of all TREX spec ops agents. She raised her chin and plopped her arm under it to get a little more comfortable. She had a feeling they’d be at this for a while.
David’s eyes danced as he watched Chris struggle to get back into the good graces of his boss’s boss. Damn him for enjoying this. She just wanted to go to bed, to get some sleep. They’d spent most of the night either making love or leading up to it. She craved slumber.
Chris grunted a few more times into the phone before hanging it up and shoving it back into his shirt pocket. “I guess I have to apologize. Sorry, sis.”
“What about me?” David asked him.
He didn’t acknowledge David’s question. Instead, he kept his focus on his sister. “The director wants a status by 0700 hours. I’m supposed to report in to my SAC at the same time. Allen doesn’t like to be kept waiting. I guess that’s it then.” Chris stood and headed toward the front door. “You,” he bit off and turned back, rested his blazing gaze on David. “Keep your eye on her.”
David gave him a curt nod. With that, Chris walked out, slamming the door behind him.
Charis went back to rubbing her temples. She needed to have her brain at 100% if she planned on tracking down Surreal before he knew he had a tail. A headache didn’t help.
“Let me do that,” he hummed in her ear. He massaged her upper neck and head. Oh mama. Her toes curled. Her nipples perked.
“Hmmm,” she whimpered. Her headache started to subside, thank God. He knew exactly what she needed, and when. No wonder she was in love with him.
The realization sucked the breath from her lungs. Holy cow. Holy holy shit. She loved him?
She did. She loved him. More than life. She wanted him more than she wanted her next breath. Which said a lot since she couldn’t breathe after her epiphany.
“Are you all right?” he asked. “You jerked forward. Did I hurt you?”
She finally pulled in a breath. He touched her cheek and the connection shot jolts of lightning through her system. Pushing off the couch and out of his reach, she gave her best attempt at a smile. She faltered, but then found it and planted it firmly on her face. “I’m fine,” she lied. She was so far from being fine. She was in love. Love! And with a man she barely knew anything about.
She still didn’t know his middle name.
“Maybe you should lie down,” he offered. “We could go back to bed.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her.
“I’m fine,” she insisted, feeling a bit better. She’d simply keep her epiphany to herself. If they had a future together, and she prayed to God they did, it would have to wait until after this op.
She put on a pot of coffee. Not that the caffeine would help their already over stimulated nerves, but she needed to do something. If she didn’t, she’d run into his arms and declare her undying love. And, in turn, push him so far away he run for the hills. He’d already said he’d never take that path again.
“Good, I need coffee this morning.” David stood and stretched as best he could with his shoulder. “After the night we had, I’ll need to suck on the grounds to keep me awake. A few more nights on this op and neither of us will be able to walk.”
“That is unless we stop having sex,” Charis countered.
They both looked at each other and broke into hysterics. She knew he wouldn’t go for that, and neither would she.
“I’ve served with Logan, and now I’ve met Chris.” He winced and ran his tongue across his swollen lip. “I hope I don’t meet the other two the same way.”
Her heart palpitated. He wanted to meet her brothers? She ignored the jump in her pulse, the thought of her bringing him to one of the McKoy Sunday dinners at her parent’s house. Earth to Charis. David isn’t your boyfriend. Although she couldn’t define what they were, she at least knew he wasn’t that.
“Ready to work?” He spoke after the gurgling of the coffee pot silenced.
She nodded and poured them both steaming mugs. Handing one to him, she walked down the short hall into her office and sat down in her high back leather roller chair in front of her multitude of monitors while David pulled a chair in from the dining room. He took a seat next to her, much too close for her comfort. She loved having him near, but she couldn’t even reach her keyboard with him like that.
She held her coffee in both hands, loving the way it kept her hands nice and toasty. As she took a drink it steamed up her glasses, reminding her she needed to get a replacement pair of contacts.
Peepers came in and meowed for attention. After eyeing the intruder, he hopped up onto his mistress’s lap and rubbed against her. “Good morning to you, too.”
“Meow,” he replied and purred loudly.
She brought her cup to her lips with one hand while stroking Peepers’s back with the other. He meowed again, drooled and shed all over her clothes, then hopped down and left the room, completely ignoring David.
“Thanks a lot, cat,” she muttered and shook the
hairs off her fingers. It didn’t take her long to run a check on every site she’d planted traces on, even with the limited access she had to her keyboard. Surreal hadn’t hit any of them. Or, if he had, he’d done it so stealthily her algorithm didn’t pick up on it.
She knew better than that. Surreal had an MO. Every person did. That’s how she found David, and it would be how she’d find Surreal. He loved to make an entrance, loved every bit of attention he drew. No way would he sneak into a site undetected. He’d make sure she saw him and start the game of cat and mouse.
As if on cue, one of the tracers picked up Surreal’s entrance and shot back information. Her heart fluttered. She set her coffee cup down on a coaster and immediately started analyzing the data.
“We got a hit,” she told him after she positively ID’d the IP address. “It’s him.”
“It’s about damn time,” David muttered and scooted his chair even closer. “Where is he?”
“Could you...” She motioned for him to move back. He furrowed his brow but did as she asked. She reached her keyboard with both hands and followed his trail from the airport’s surveillance site to their passenger database. He confirmed the flight into Washington DC. Then, just as she predicted he would, he hacked into that surveillance site. “He took the bait.”
He leaned forward. “He thinks we’re in DC?”
She nodded. Surreal may be a gifted hacker, but he didn’t have the sense God gave a goat. He always took the obvious path, the one of least resistance. “He’ll spend half the day searching their surveillance databanks to try and spot us. Knowing Surreal, he’ll get pissed when he realizes it was a decoy and go back to SeaTac’s passenger list to see if he can find out where we really went. Hands down he won’t even attempt to cover his tracks in his haste to find us. He’d forget his own name when he was in a hurry. He was always predictable that way.”
He sat back and sipped his coffee. His eyes remained hooded, dark and clouded as he kept them riveted to the monitor. “So, you know him pretty well?”
Seek and Destroy (TREX, #5) Page 20