Trusting Love

by Billi Jean

  Seconds later he was up and she held her breath as he aimed his gun and shot at someone right above her. A loud thud broke the silence after his shot, then more shooting burst through the room.

  He was amazing. So fast, so sure of every move it was like watching a choreographed action movie, not the man she loved risking his life. His confidence was absolute.

  So much for that jerk saying Robbie didn’t stand a chance against them! He is kicking butt.

  And no wonder. She thought they’d talk forever when all of a sudden he’d attacked. She’d watched him dive into a man, topple him down out of sight, and had to bite her lip hard to keep in the need to yell at him to be careful. It had been so fast, she hadn’t had time to process that one minute they were going on and on talking about stupid stuff and the next everything went nuts.

  A man suddenly fell down on his knees in front of her then sprawled at her feet, blood spreading out in a slow pool from under his lifeless body.

  Kris tried not to throw up and tried to move backwards away from him but the back of the desk stopped her. She squeezed her eyes closed and pulled her knees up closer to her chest, trying to be as small as possible. The blood pooled closer and when it was within an inch of her shoes, she had to go. The desk was open on both sides, but since it was set up in a line with several others, she wasn’t exposed, except for the front. She also had a way out that would shield her from the fight.

  Something hard hit her cover and scraped it backwards. She went with it, scooting as fast as it did so she wasn’t exposed. She quickly tore her sling off her arm and crawled frantically to the open side and out and under another. As quick as she could, she turned around. A gun lay near her and she held her breath and made a dive for it. Her hands trembled but she got it. Behind her she heard something and turned.

  A man faced her, one of the huge guys who’d walked into the student lounge as if they hadn’t a care in the world, right after Robert had just shot the men down right in front of him.

  Time seemed to slow down and she watched, mesmerised as he lifted his gun. He had an evil face, like a big bully, someone who was used to hurting others so much he toyed with her now. She swallowed, the fear making her tremble.

  Robert was several feet away, struggling with a man who knocked the gun out of Robert’s hands. Two dead men were crumpled over a couch and the young college student was across from her, his eyes wide in his face as he huddled under a desk.

  “Oh, God,” she managed, focusing on her opponent as the world sped back up again. The gun felt warm in her hand, the weight too heavy for her injured arm, but she held it up and put her finger on the trigger.

  The guy narrowed his eyes as if he couldn’t quite believe she wasn’t screaming in fear. The next second, a shot fired through the room again.

  She gasped and squeezed the trigger, nearly getting hit in the head when the gun backfired into her face.

  “Kris!”

  Robert’s yell was followed by the bully facing her falling forward in that odd slow motion. He landed on his knees first, gripped his stomach and stared down at his hand, a confused expression on his ugly face, then he fell down on his side, with his bloody hand landing near her feet.

  The world blurred after that and suddenly Robert was there, his scent and warm body making the panic rising up in her stomach tighten to a hard knot. What if he’d been hurt? What if he’d died? What if she’d died? She never wanted to put Robert through that kind of pain. Never wanted to feel such agony again either, but now, holding him as tight as she could, she knew no matter what, she’d have these moments and many, many more. Every one of them filled with his love. That’s what he’d given her. She only hoped she’d given him the same.

  “Kris, let go a bit so I can get you off this floor,” he said, sounding so concerned, she nodded, trying hard to loosen her grip.

  “That’s it,” he murmured, pulling her up from the floor and holding her gently in his arms as though she was a child. She hugged him harder around his neck, pressing her face to his sweaty one. He was breathless, but safe and whole in her arms.

  The gun in her hand fell to the floor and she gasped. “Oh!”

  “It’s okay, it’s okay. I never want you to hold a gun again, understood? I don’t think I could live through that again. No more guns.”

  “No more guns,” she agreed, cupping her hands on his jaw to stare into his light eyes.

  He smiled briefly and bent to touch his forehead to hers. “No more guns.”

  “Oh, God, Robert,” she whispered. “I was so scared you’d be hurt.”

  He grimaced and pulled her head to his shoulder, simply holding her in his arms. She trusted him. Trusted him enough to let him love her even if he was taken from her—she trusted him to do his best not to let that happen.

  “Robert?”

  “God damn I thought you were shot, Kris. I saw that man shove the desk and shoot and I thought—”

  “Shh, it’s okay. I’m here,” she whispered. Maybe she could teach him to trust her as well, she thought with a smile. “Wait, were you shot?”

  He lifted his head at that and shook it. “Not a scratch. Thought I’d break that rule already but I squeezed by with a broken finger, I think.”

  “A broken finger!”

  “Not a scratch, though.”

  She hugged his handsome, smiling face and pressed kisses to his cheeks and jaw. Happiness, something she was going to grow used to feeling, blossomed so hard in her chest she had to swallow a few times to keep the happy tears at bay.

  Robert set her down and immediately grumbled at her, his frown back in place. “You took your sling off.”

  “I did, that man shoved the desk almost on top of me. I had to crawl out then there was a gun and I just grabbed it.”

  “You didn’t kill him. I did, darling. I did.”

  She stood on tiptoes to kiss him tenderly on the lip. He had a cut there, on his bottom lip, but he also looked like he’d have a black eye. He’d been more than scratched, she thought with a shake of her head. “I don’t want you to have to do that anymore, Robbie. No more, okay?”

  He nodded and pulled her against his warm chest. They stayed like that until his breathing had steadied out, and her heart had slowed down to a normal, more reasonable pace. “I love you, Kris.”

  “I love you too. So very, very much. Can we go home now?”

  “Not quite,” he murmured, laughing softly. “I have a wedding to go to.”

  She frowned at that and his smile grew.

  “I have to walk Mandy down the aisle, but if you would do me the honour,” he murmured, then stunned her by going down on one knee, “of being my wife, I’d like to walk you down an aisle instead. Marry me.”

  Her breath caught at the intensity in his light eyes. “Marry you?”

  He grinned, and lightly squeezed her hand. “I’ll make you the happiest woman in the world, Kristen. Trust me, trust in love.”

  “Oh, Robbie!” She flung herself at him, tears she knew he’d hate, but ones she couldn’t hold in, making the room blur. “I love you.”

  “Is this a yes?” he asked after letting her cry for a second. “Cause, I was hoping for a yes, since I’m on a knee and—”

  She grabbed his face and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissed him so deeply, she forgot where they were, what they were doing, and how close she’d come to losing him. “Yes,” she breathed when she finally let him up for air. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

  The smile he gave her made her throat hurt, but her heart filled with such peace, she smiled back at him, simply holding his shoulders and watching him with the knowledge that this man, this wonderful, amazing man, loved her.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Robert turned to face the full-length mirror, frowning at his reflection. His tie still wasn’t cooperating and they had a wedding to get to in less than two hours. He’d wanted to go see about getting Kristen a dozen roses before they walked down to meet Mandy a
nd Mac. “What do you mean, he’s not dead?” he asked, cradling the phone on his shoulder as he gave the tie another go.

  “I mean, there was no body. We cleaned up the scene, and Walters was there, but your shot didn’t kill him. He was taken in. Once at the hospital he disappeared.”

  “Carson, I’m at my sister’s wedding. I’m getting married next weekend. I’m living in Wyoming. I’m starting a new life, and I don’t need to hear this shit right now.”

  “Look, Tazz—”

  “It’s Rob, or Robert, or if you need to McNeil, but I’m not under your command any longer, Carson, and I don’t appreciate an update from you. I want—”

  “And I want you to have it. You deserve your happiness and I wish you well with Kristen. But I need to know what happened with Sonya, Walters and hell, everyone else on that team. Your report. I need your report.”

  Rob lowered his hands off his tie and rubbed his head. “I get it. I know you do and I reported in on what I knew. I don’t know what happened with Sonya. If you’re asking me…” he let that hang and Carson snorted.

  “I’m asking you.”

  “Someone has something over her, or she was working her own angle. No way did she switch sides. Think about it, she’s top of her game. She wouldn’t miss a shot like that. And she had to be the one feeding this guy information and giving me Walters to kill.”

  “Which you didn’t manage to do.”

  He held in the immediate response to that and settled for waiting Carson out. The man was in a tough spot, he gave him that. He was a good man, a hard fighter, and one hell of a commander, but the Sentinels weren’t for Robert. Not any longer.

  “All right, all right. I get that you were compromised—”

  “I wasn’t compromised. The drug needs to be destroyed. All traces of its development are now gone, correct?”

  “Correct,” Carson said. “But there are too many loose ends now. What about this drug created by Duke? That’s still out there. What about Sonya? She’s in danger—?”

  “Not my concern,” Robert said flatly. He’d died for his country. Taken shots that would kill other men and he’d killed men without questioning his orders. He no longer could do that. “I’m done. Sonya’s done. If I know her, you already have your report on what happened. Go ask her if you need more, but I suggest letting her, and this, go.”

  Silence met his outburst, but he held strong. Sonya wasn’t like Walters. He knew her. Knew that the nonchalance, don’t-care-about-anything attitude was all a sham. She would never switch sides to work for a man like Duke, but she would use her connections to ferret out the bigger fish in the ocean. Most likely she already had and more, had already reported on what she had found. “Right. I’ll just find an ex-spy that knows more ways to disguise herself than a Hollywood hottie.”

  Robert grinned. “Well, sir, it’s been my experience with Sonya that if you need her, she always turns up. Why not let it out that you need her. As her former commanding officer she might actually care enough to come help you out.”

  “I’ll do that, McNeil.”

  Robert sighed. “Good, Carson. Don’t call again.”

  Carson laughed. “I won’t, not unless it’s to wish you well.”

  “Don’t even then—”

  Carson laughed again and hung up, most likely saving Robert’s number and his new address for some file. Hell, would he ever be free? He flung the phone down on the sectional couch and turned back to the mirror. His tie still wasn’t looking right.

  “Do I look all right?”

  Robert turned at the hesitant sound of Kris’ voice and froze. She stood with the hotel windows behind her, the glow of the early evening outlining her in such detail that he dropped his hands to his side, his frustration over the tie completely forgotten.

  She’d chosen a dark blue evening gown for the wedding but she’d not let him see it on her until now. Now he knew why. His cock went from semi hard-on to fully erect. It’d been five days since he’d had his vasectomy reversed—as long as the doctor had claimed they had to wait—but tonight they were going to a wedding and after, well, after he knew what they were doing.

  By the heat turning her brown eyes a warm cocoa, maybe the schedule had been moved up.

  “Hell.”

  Beautiful didn’t even begin to describe her. It wasn’t the form-fitting blue satin or the lack of sex—it was Kristen.

  She glowed. Every inch of her body not covered by the gown shimmered with the sparkly body lotion she’d purchased to drive him nuts. Now he knew. The gown came to her upper thighs, leaving her long sexy legs exposed down to her tiny toes in four inch heels. The top pushed her breasts up so the mounds rose over the top of the heart-shaped neckline. Every inch of that skin shimmered like some amazing dessert he’d been denied too long. Even her lips were glossed over in a light pink that had him licking his in anticipation.

  “Well, either you’re speechless because I look all right, or you’re stunned I’d even think of walking anywhere—”

  He caught her up in his arms before she could finish, and lipstick or not, kissed her. She didn’t protest. Hell, she latched on and hitched her leg around his to mesh them as close as possible and when she felt his hard cock, she moaned into his mouth. She rocked along him, pulling her lips from his to search his face. He tightened his arms around her, probably too tight, but he couldn’t get her close enough.

  “You’re all better?” she asked when he let her up for air.

  “Hell, I’m golden, darling,” he assured her, cupping one lush ass cheek to pull her closer in case she missed the fact that he was more than ready. Suddenly he remembered her wound.

  “Your arm—”

  “Is fine,” she whispered, “but if you don’t do more than kiss me, Robert McNeil, I won’t be.”

  That was all it took. Five days of not having her had been a lifetime.

  “You’re sure?” he managed, but he’d already hiked her up in his arms and backed her to the wall, kissing every inch of her breasts and shoulders he could reach. She tasted amazing. “You taste like strawberries and cream.” He groaned when she got his zipper down while he walked.

  “Yes, and maybe we’ll see how your plum tastes with it too, but not now. Now I want you. God, do I want you,” she whispered and pulled his hard-on loose of the trousers with such speed that he nearly stumbled.

  “God, I love you.”

  She stopped, kissing his face long enough to meet his eyes then blew his mind by arching her hips and fitting him to her wet entrance. Still keeping her eyes pinned on him, she slid down his shaft while meeting his eyes. They both groaned together as he helped her by giving one long thrust. She was tight, but so wet it was like fucking into a silky wet fist.

  “So big, Robbie,” she whispered.

  “So tight, Kris, darling. Let me in,” he urged, giving her a gentle shove past her resistance.

  “Never make me go this long,” she gasped into his ear, kissing him there right after and nearly ending their first time before he’d got his fill of her by arching her back and driving herself down him. She’d tightened her slim legs around his hips and used her grip to tunnel his cock deep.

  “Damn, baby,” he laughed, trying hard not to let go and get what he felt already building down his spine. “I didn’t want to hurt you, go slow, slow. We have time.”

  “Oh, God, hurt me, please, I can take it,” she whispered giving him one hell of a naughty girl smirk, before she leaned in closer to say, “I don’t want to hurt you either. Go slow if you need to, especially if it hurts.”

  Her concern did fucked up things to him, made his chest get all warm and his throat hurt right in the middle of the biggest hard-on he’d ever had. He brushed his lips to her temple and breathed her in. “Not having you is the only thing that can hurt me, Kristen.”

  “Oh, Robbie,” she said, sounding like she was struggling with the same crazy emotions he was. “I love you. I’ll always be here.”

  “Ah, darli
ng,” he groaned, tensing his hips and giving her one hard thrust. “Yes, you will. No backing out now. You promised I could work my way up to that back door fun, remember? Two months, you said.”

  She laughed but cut off when he began pumping his hips to feed her slow, long slides of his hard shaft. Her pussy was so wet he slid inside easier now, but still he kept his strokes gentle, not wanting to jar her.

  Kris had other ideas. She rocked down on him harder, meeting each pass perfectly.

  “Oh, yes, yes, God, yes!” She cried, meeting his eyes with such passion his cock flooded with cum

  Her pleasure was like kerosene on an already blazing fire. It always would be. His shoulder blades tightened and under his shirt sweat dripped down his spine. A rush of prickling sensations shot down his balls and drew them up tight, not hurting in the least.

  He bucked into her harder, making his balls swing with the growing intensity and groaned as the slap of flesh on flesh sounds filled their hotel room.

  Kristen moaned and her eyelids fluttered, but she tightened her hands on his shoulders and watched his face as if she never wanted to look away. The intensity of the moment grew hotter until he had to shift her higher up the wall, keeping her from getting hurt with his arm along her back, while he used his other to grip her ass so he could take her the way he knew she loved it.

  A shudder exploded down his back when he did. A clear warning that his orgasm wasn’t waiting long. He’d be done soon simply from the tight slide along his flesh with each punch of his hips, let alone the way her tight nipples kept brushing his bare chest.

  “Hold on.”

  She cried out his name for an answer as he began giving her firmer, harder lunges. His cock tunnelled in, so hot for her he was rock hard. Every slip and slide was heaven. Each second added a layer of heat to his already simmering body. He broke eye contact long enough to suck on one perfect nipple, lunging his hips in harder when she cried out and starting bouncing down on his erection. He held on, loving the little point, frantic for the taste of her. Not willing to miss the taste of the other little berry, he released the first and found the other with his mouth, giving it the same treatment. Kris moaned so loudly he knew he’d found something to drive her as nuts as she drove him.