Don’t Look Back

by Dawn Ryder

  She kissed him first. Rising up to press her mouth against him. It was more than the feeling of his hard body against hers that drew her up to claim that kiss. In his words, she glimpsed a look at the thing she’d been disillusioned about. That elusive element so lacking in every relationship she’d had. Raw, hard sex she’d encountered in the world.

  What she craved was intimacy.

  There was a hint of it in Dunn’s eyes. Did he know it was there? She wasn’t sure but it drew her to him, making her reach for him as he pushed her back onto the bed. They fell in a tangle of limbs, frantic to touch and be touched. The moment of total immersion finally arrived as Thais let her legs tangle with his and threaded her fingers through the crisp hair on his chest.

  He rolled her over, but she kept going, ending on top of him. His cock was hard and pulsing against her slit. She stretched her back, arching as she let the sensation ripple through her, drawing her nipples tight with anticipation.

  “Christ in heaven…,” he muttered, reaching up to cup her breasts. He kneaded them and rolled her nipples through his fingers.

  “It’s my turn, Dunn,” she informed him. Her tone was husky and she realized for once, it wasn’t a practiced application of her skills. “I’m going to watch you this time…”

  She lifted up and his cock sprang away from his belly. The head glided into her wet slit, making it so simple to lower herself onto. He caught her hips as she sheathed him, his lips drawing thin to expose his teeth.

  It was raw …

  She’d known the element of lust would be there. Part of her enjoyed watching him as she rose up and plunged down onto his cock, answering the same need inside herself.

  The hard edge of pleasure glittered in his eyes. It spurred her up again and brought her down with enough strength to see the bed rocking beneath them. She wanted to push him as far over the edge as he’d done to her.

  But there was something else, too. Another need clawing its way up from deep inside her where she’d banished all of her personal emotions.

  She wanted to be with him …

  Not merely experiencing the physical connection between their flesh. There was something else beyond the climax, a thing she’d never truly stopped believing in, no matter how hard she’d tried to.

  He tried to turn them again.

  “No,” she said, through her teeth. “I’m going to … push you over the edge…”

  Thais didn’t think she’d ever meant anything quite so much. Dunn bared his teeth at her.

  “You’re coming, too, baby…,” he rasped out.

  His cock was rock hard. Letting her know he was close to climax. Her thighs were burning from the repetitive motion. Perspiration coated her as she listened to her own raspy breath and heard the headboard begin hitting the wall. Dunn reached forward, pressing down on her clit as she rode him.

  “Yes!” Thais wasn’t certain if she meant him or her, only that every fiber of her being was focused on one goal.

  She felt him jerk inside her, his cock releasing its load as pleasure tore through her. It was a deep climax, one that made her feel like she was caught between breaths, suspended in the space where her heart had just beat, and she waited for it to thump once more. All the while she was twisting and straining toward her lover, pleasure wringing them both like wet towels and flinging them down to the ground to land in heaps.

  The headboard hit the wall a final time as she rolled off Dunn and onto her back.

  So spent …

  It was more than the sex. Everything inside her was open and relaxed. The state of constant guard she normally existed in required too much effort to return to at that moment. So she lay back, trusting the man beside her. Trusting his attention to details as she just let herself open to whatever fate had in mind to deliver.

  Except she wasn’t alone. Dunn shifted beside her, rolling toward her and clasping an arm around her waist.

  She didn’t know exactly what to think of it. But thankfully, her mind was still blissfully unwilling to reengage.

  She could reboot in the morning.

  * * *

  Ireland.

  Ricky Sullivan had made a name for himself. In the underworld of thugs and hitmen, he’d distinguished himself among them as a man who got difficult jobs done without leaving a mess.

  Or a trace, which was something he doubled his rates for.

  Retirement was an achievement as well. One only a handful of his kind ever lived to see. His memory was sharp with the times he’d almost joined those who didn’t make it. A hellhole of a Mexican prison was one of the bright spots in his memories.

  Carl Davis had left him there to rot.

  Ricky enjoyed a flash of rage as well as a very sweet rush of satisfaction as he recalled helping Kagan cut Carl Davis deep. Kirkland Grog had been feeding Carl cash from underground brothels and using his vast network of media influence to keep Carl’s face in front of the voters.

  Ricky had enjoyed helping put Kirkland in prison. He hoped Carl was watching his ratings in the polls slowly diminish. The United States election was big news in Ireland, and Ricky enjoyed looking at the newest numbers, because Tom Hilliard was closing in on Carl Davis, the gap between them narrowing every week.

  It was a fucking thing of beauty to be alive to see …

  Of course, he was only able to enjoy it so much because he’d worked with Kagan. The section leader of the Shadow Ops was a tough one to figure out. The only thing Ricky knew for sure about the man was he was someone even an ex-hitman like Ricky didn’t cross.

  There were some men in the world a wise fellow steered clear of and when they came to you, well, you gave them what they wanted.

  Ricky sat looking at his messages and the buzz in the field was that Dunn Bateson was looking for him. As in Dunn had made sure several of Ricky’s contacts told him so.

  Dunn Bateson wasn’t a man to cross, either.

  He was the type a hitman didn’t take a contract on because it was a hell of a lot more trouble than it was worth. That wasn’t to say Dunn was safe, he was just safe from a man like Ricky who could actually get the hit accomplished.

  Now a new kid with shit for brains? Sure, he’d take the contract and never realize until it was too late that he was never going to see that money because Dunn was just too hard to kill.

  Ricky tapped his fingertip against the worn tabletop he was using as a desk. The house he was living in was a dump but that was just for the moment, as he decided what to do with his golden years. Outside, the church bell was ringing again. He peered out the window as Cat came down the road. Ricky felt a smile flashing his teeth at her while she looked up to see if he was watching her again.

  She had a great set of tits and a gleam in her eye that told him she knew exactly what he was thinking about her. He touched his fingers to his lips and blew her a kiss. She tipped her head to the side and sent him a wink.

  Saucy …

  Damned if he didn’t want to tap her.

  Bateson was a Scot. Ireland wasn’t too far away for their paths to never cross. Ricky got up and strolled across the worn floor to where his backpack was. He’d have to take a trip and make a call somewhere outside the area he’d taken up in.

  No need to blow his cover completely if Bateson only wanted some bit of information from his past. It might even be worth some money to the man. Bateson would get his call though, because Ricky wasn’t stupid enough to spend his life looking over his shoulder for the man. Better to face him straight on.

  That way, Ricky could get back to seeing if Cat wanted to have his babies. A few years ago, he’d have laughed at anyone who accused him of wanting a mundane life.

  Mexico had changed that.

  Funny how life suddenly seemed more precious when you lost all control over keeping it. Ricky had spent a lot of time thinking about just that fact while Kagan had him on ice in an underground bunker with just enough food to last until the section leader came back.

  Okay, Ricky had thought a lo
t about killing Kagan, too.

  In the end though, he’d wanted to see the sky, smell the sea air, and stick with one woman long enough to see if she’d put up with him when he was sick.

  Only his mom had ever brought him tea with honey.

  She’d loved him.

  Cat was saucy but she was going to evening services with her family. She knew how to love.

  And how to have fun.

  Ricky headed out. He wanted to close out his past life. Just one last loose end and he was going to close all his accounts and settle all the way into retirement.

  * * *

  Thais woke up to the sound of water running.

  She rubbed her eyes and stretched but the underground room didn’t give her any hints as to what time of day it was.

  Well, it was morning judging by how rested she felt.

  There was another mark of a seasoned agent. She knew when she was running low on sleep and exactly how good it felt when she dropped off into a deep slumber for the entire night.

  She felt wonderful.

  “Bath is ready.” Dunn appeared in the doorway wearing only a pair of pants. The lights in the hallway were all the way on now, giving her a clear view of his chest.

  He didn’t skimp on the workouts.

  The man was chiseled, proving he put his time in and controlled his carbohydrate intake. There was no fitness fairy.

  “Glad you like what you see.”

  His comment cut through her fascination with his bare chest. There was a tingle of heat in her cheeks that made her roll her eyes as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

  Dunn chuckled, reaching out to hook his arm around her waist as she tried to slip past him. He turned her neatly in a circle, putting her back against the wall before gently tipping her chin up so he could stare at the stain warming her face.

  “Enough, Dunn,” she muttered, fighting off a sudden feeling of being tongue-tied. “You’ve had your fun at my expense.”

  “I’m enjoying the novelty of seeing you blush for me,” he answered before stroking the side of her face. “My guess is, a seasoned agent like yourself doesn’t do it very often.”

  “Unless you’re around…” She snapped her mouth shut, horrified by how exposing her comment was.

  “I know the feeling.”

  His tone was so low, she almost didn’t make out the words. Just a whisper, like a secret he was hesitant to let the rest of the world hear.

  Their gazes fused and something shifted between them. It was a moment that stretched into a small eternity as they both seemed to flounder on just what to do next.

  Something buzzed, breaking the connection. Dunn muttered a word under his breath in Gaelic that needed no translation. He reached into his pants pocket and withdrew a small tablet. Thais swept it up and down as he read whatever was on the screen.

  “Impressive, Dunn, those are supposed to be in the testing phase only,” she muttered before she slipped farther down the hallway. She was still nude but the distance helped restore her poise. Even if it felt strange to gather her shell around herself. It was almost like it didn’t fit anymore.

  The moment is over …

  “My company produces them,” Dunn replied as he shook the little tablet known as a Lynx before dropping it into his pocket. “In a world of super-connected people, the next must-have device is one with a built-in scrambler. People will pay for privacy.”

  “On the grid and yet your signal is bouncing off of so many towers, there is no way to track your location,” Thais said, supplying the function elements of the Lynx.

  He followed her into the bathroom. “A rather useful tool when I’m dating a fugitive.”

  “I haven’t dated in a long time, Dunn,” she said as she dipped her fingers into the tub he’d filled for her.

  “So enjoy it,” he offered before he scooped her up and deposited her in the tub.

  The water was perfect. Rising up to cover her breasts and ease the aches left from sleeping so soundly. He contemplated her for a long moment.

  “You knew I was watching that night,” he said. “Watching you in your bath.” His lips parted in a grin. “You are a minx, Thais. I nearly had my nose pressed to the screen as you toyed with the bubbles.”

  “You know what a woman looks like nude.”

  He shrugged. “As I said last night, maybe we could both use a little more simplicity in our lives. I know I enjoyed watching you play in your bath, more than any naked woman I’d seen in a long time. I think you liked teasing me, too. Because you knew I couldn’t reach you.”

  Playing with fire …

  She shifted her gaze away from his. “It was a poor choice on my part.”

  “You wanted to be seen,” he said as he lowered himself behind her. He cupped her shoulders and leaned her forward. “I saw you, Thais.”

  She’d known he had.

  It was the reason she’d avoided him. He had the power to strip her down, baring her so very completely.

  He reached into her field of vision and picked up a bar of soap. His hand withdrew and she felt it gliding across the wet skin of her back.

  Why are you letting him wash your back?

  She didn’t really know the answer, only knew without a doubt that moving would hurt too badly.

  Not hurt … no, the word was “wound.”

  And it wouldn’t be her pain, it would be his as she rejected him.

  “So when do I get to see you, Dunn?”

  He squeezed the sponge, sending a shower of water down onto her back. The sound of it echoed around the bathroom before the Lynx chirped. She heard a soft sound from Dunn before he pulled a towel off a rack and dried his hands. He was halfway to the doorway when he answered the call.

  It wasn’t the first time she’d listened in on a conversation after using sex to get into someone’s private space.

  Today though, she found herself battling a serious bitter taste in her mouth over it. Burnout was something every agent faced the threat of. Of course, just like most of her Shadow Ops teammates, she’d thought herself immune to ever needing more than her badge.

  Fate had a very twisted sense of humor.

  “I was looking for you.”

  Dunn hadn’t moved down the hallway. He’d turned, catching her with a hard look.

  “Someone put a hit out on my mother. I understand you’re the sort of man who can help me find the man,” Dunn informed whoever he was talking to. “I can make it worth your time and his, to forget the job.”

  Dunn listened for a moment to whoever was on the other end and then he was lowering the Lynx.

  “Ricky Sullivan,” Dunn said, giving her the name of the man on the other end of the conversation. “Thanks for the tip.”

  “If I were following the rules, I wouldn’t have given it to you,” she admitted before rising from the tub. It was time to get back to the case.

  Dunn caught her as she was toweling dry, wrapping his arms around her and binding her against his body. “I like you without your badge, Thais.”

  Whatever protest she might have voiced died as he kissed her. The night’s excess hadn’t ended her need for him though. The hunger flared up as she let him strip her again and carry her back toward the rumpled bed.

  She went willingly enough.

  Maybe “desperately” was a more precise word to use. Because she reached for him with a need that was driven by the fear of knowing time was against them. Reality was going to crush the space they enjoyed, flatten it with a hundred logical reasons why they had to walk away from each other.

  So she made the moment, that moment when Dunn was close enough to touch, the only thing she allowed into her mind.

  * * *

  Ricky knew his stuff.

  He opened his battered backpack and looked at the selection of prepaid cell phones inside it. By the look of the fabric, someone might think there was nothing of value inside.

  They’d be way wrong.

  Being able to be untraceable was es
sential to being a hitman. The dozen or so phones were a result of years on the open road. He never passed up the chance to add to his little collection. Some were years out of date as far as cell phones went but they connected just fine.

  The other thing a hitman needed was brains.

  The type of smarts to memorize numbers, names, addresses, license plate numbers, and the list went on. Ricky never forgot a face and he never had to look at a phone number twice. The information was in his head, a tool for him to use in his trade. The actual kill was the easy part of it all. Making sure you had your target in a kill box and you weren’t going to get caught, that was the challenging part.

  He dialed a number from memory. Kagan answered.

  “Ricky Sullivan here.”

  There was silence for a moment.

  “Now, I was all set to never speak to you again,” Ricky added when Kagan didn’t say anything.

  “What changed your mind?” Kagan took the bait.

  Ricky lost his teasing demeanor. The section leader wasn’t a man to mess with and Ricky didn’t even know very much about him. Of course, that made Kagan just the right sort of person for Ricky to consider keeping on his good side.

  An ace in the hole.

  “I seem to recall that one of your agents is married to Miranda Delacroix’s daughter,” Ricky said. “Word on the airways is, someone picked up a fat contract to take the congresswoman out.”

  “You know who’s got the contract on her?” Kagan cut straight to the information he was interested in.

  “I figured it out after Dunn Bateson reached out to me.” Ricky laid down his cards. He’d be hiding out in the worst of armpits if Kagan hadn’t cut him a deal. “Seemed to me, you might like to hear from me considering the circumstances. Also figured you wouldn’t be too happy to hear I knew about it and kept my mouth shut.”

  “You figured right. Can you give me the hitman?” Kagan asked bluntly.

  “For the right incentive.”

  “Don’t fuck with me,” Kagan warned. And it was a warning Ricky took seriously. Kagan was the one man who knew where Ricky was buried in the world. The section leader could tag his passport so fast, Ricky would never know his golden retirement was shattered.