Mercy

by Dimon, HelenKay

  The noises at the back of his throat matched hers. Sweat gathered over his shoulders. Still, he held back. He wanted her hips lifting and her mouth begging. Lightly thumping his finger against her clit did the trick.

  She tore her mouth away from his and stared up at him. “Jarrett.”

  That was it. Just a hazy look and a tremble in her hands.

  He kissed her again. His tongue flicked across hers as his fingers plunged in deeper. The steady rhythm had his body shifting and pressing over hers. Between her soft skin and wet clit, his brain shut off. He couldn’t think or regret.

  Pushing her legs open, he fit his body between her thighs. He swiped the head of his cock over her slickness. By the third pass her hips rose. He didn’t wait another second. Knowing he’d never last, he slipped inside her, holding back as every one of her internal muscles adjusted to his size.

  Then he lost control. His body pushed and retreated, loving every inch of the clenching warmth inside her. He dropped his head into her neck and inhaled the scent of shampoo in her hair.

  When her legs clamped against him and her nails dug into his back, he let go. All the winding and tension inside of him exploded. His hips moved without a signal from his brain and a moan rumbled up his throat.

  She chanted his name and he spilled. His cock jerked and his balls pulled tight. Sheets rustled as he held her and thrusted. When her arms fell to her sides on a harsh exhale, he knew this time wiped them both out.

  • • •

  It took a few minutes for Becca’s breathing to slip back to normal. She opened her eyes and saw the outline of the closet on the far wall. The light from the hallway cast shadows by the door, but she could make out the important things. Like the male arm thrown across her breasts and the hot breath blowing across her neck.

  Before she could say anything, Jarrett’s hand clenched in her hair as he turned her face toward his on the pillow. She expected him to walk out or say some smart-ass thing to break the satisfied mood falling over them.

  He kissed her.

  Not quick. Not searching for another round. This was long and lingering, testing her in small nibbles before deepening the touch to a blinding kiss she felt to her toes. He reeled her in and pulled her close. For a second it was as if the long lonely months had never happened.

  After a few dragging seconds, he pulled back and his gaze wandered over her face. “Tell me exactly what you need.”

  “Oh, I think you handled it.”

  He smiled. “I mean with the computer.”

  She sat up so fast she almost smashed him in the nose. Only a duck and shift move on his part averted disaster.

  “Maybe try not to knock me out.”

  As fast as she got up, she sprawled out again. She leaned on her elbow so she could see every expression and wait for any sign of deception on his face. “Are you serious?”

  “You think we’re just going to do this forever? You live here, we have endless sex and neither of us leave the building?”

  Something punched hard inside her when she realized she didn’t hate the idea. “The list does have some pros.”

  After all those years of running, she wanted to find a place. A half-crazed, all-furious father dragged her all over the world in an attempt to punish her mother for having the nerve to divorce his hard-drinking ass. Becca repeated the pattern by cutting off her father for good and picking a career that ensured her endless shifting.

  Jarrett had been the one man to make her rethink the life plan. Even undercover, she shared bits and pieces of her real backstory. Let him know she’d once been a pawn and never wanted to play the role again.

  For him, she’d debated leaving the job. Just walking away from the only adult life she’d ever known. Then she found the drugs, and the allegations proved true and her world crumbled.

  “It’s not working.” He delivered the blow without moving or even raising his voice.

  Everything inside her froze. “Meaning?”

  “I can’t keep doing this.”

  “I still don’t get what you’re saying.”

  He sat up, not bothering to cover his bare body as he propped his back up on the pillows and threw an arm behind his head. “It’s too much.”

  “Jarrett, really, what are you talking about?”

  “Forget it.” He reached out and covered her hand with his. “Tell me what you need.”

  Maybe it was the coaxing in his voice or the feel of his skin, but the list she meant to dribble out in pieces came pouring out. “Computer access, any files you’ve collected on me, Spectrum and my team, and don’t bother saying you don’t have them. You know things about my work and the very fact Spectrum exists, or did. You shouldn’t know any of it.”

  “Yet, I do.”

  “I also need any background, documents and articles about the deaths of my team members so I can look for a pattern in how they were eliminated.”

  He cleared his throat, but he looked like he really wanted to laugh. “Gee, is that all?”

  Having gone this far, Becca didn’t see a reason to go back now. “No.”

  “Did you miss my sarcasm?”

  She rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand. “I want access to Sebastian Jameson.”

  Jarrett’s muscles tightened to the point of snapping. She could see each one freeze in place and half expected to hear cracking as the tension running through him and mirrored on the grim line of his mouth caused something important to break.

  His eyes narrowed but he did not drop her hand. “Excuse me?”

  “He got you out of the CIA charges. He might know something helpful.”

  “He knows how to negotiate.”

  “I don’t believe for one second he managed to clear the charges and your name and hand your life back to you because he was top of his class at law school. He had information. From you or from somewhere else, and I need it.”

  This time Jarrett did let go of her hand. With his palms at his sides, he pressed against the mattress and sat up even higher. “You understand what you’re asking, right?”

  “We’re talking about my life.”

  “You could be talking about mine.”

  There it was again. A one-liner that didn’t fit and begged for more. “Explain that.”

  He threw his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. His gaze went to the floor and around the room. “I’ll consider the request. Some of it, not all.”

  “Wait a second.” She lunged forward and grabbed his wrist before he could pull away. The clothing search could wait. “You just said you would give me what I need.”

  “No, I asked you what you wanted.” He just stood there. Not pulling away but not holding on either.

  “Verbal gymnastics.”

  “You heard what you wanted to hear.”

  She dropped his hand as she scrambled to her knees. Something about half lying across the bed right now seemed wrong. “Jarrett, we’re not playing a game here.”

  “We’re not playing house either.”

  She threw up her hands. “Care to expand on that? I mean, you’re a bit more cryptic than necessary this morning.”

  “You can’t ply me with sex.” He walked to the end of the bed and scooped his pants off the floor.

  “You think I’m trying?” The direction of the conversation had her head spinning. Just a few minutes ago they were all over each other. Entwined and open. His kisses had touched off a firestorm inside her and now he rebuilt that cold wall between them.

  He was making her crazy.

  He didn’t fight back. Didn’t even rise to the challenge. He just shrugged. “Sure feels like it.”

  “Did you ever think I am in your bed because I want to be?” The question sat out there in the ringing quiet. She stared at him, refusing to break eye contact while mentally making him deal with h
er instead of running away.

  “I bought that line from you once before and it landed me in jail.”

  She jumped out of bed and stood in front of him. When he started to fold his pants, she tore them out of his hand and threw them on the bed. “That’s what you get for dealing drugs.”

  “Last time, Becca. So, listen the fuck up.” He pointed at her as an icy darkness moved into his eyes. “I have never used drugs and certainly never sold drugs. You can lay a lot of shit at my feet, but never that.”

  “I saw—”

  He yelled right over her. “You got played.”

  “By whom?”

  He picked up his pants and threw them over his shoulder. “For the last eight months I assumed you were the mastermind, but since we both got played, who knows.”

  The fight whooshed out of her as his arguments bombarded her brain. “I didn’t set you up.”

  “So, you keep saying.”

  “Do you really think I wanted you to go to jail?” Once out, the words left an ache behind.

  “I thought you wanted me.” He put his hand behind her neck and brought her head in close.

  A rough kiss singed her hair.

  “Jarrett, we need—”

  Then he walked to the door, sparing her one last look. “Shows how stupid I was back then.”

  ELEVEN

  The next night Wade finally closed his eyes after a long shift downstairs on the floor. Grown men went to battle over a parking space. Another guy tried to hide a cocaine problem while running to the bathroom every few minutes. Thanks to Jarrett’s no-drugs policy, Wade had an excuse to escort that fucker out for good. Wade came back to find another idiot who had bounced two monthly payments at the bar still expecting service.

  It had been a hell of a night.

  The way Wade saw it, a percentage of the membership needed a priority check. He rolled onto his side and tucked an arm under his pillow to prop up his head. Tomorrow would be soon enough to work out all the club problems. Now he needed sleep.

  “I screwed up.”

  At the sound of Elijah’s voice, Wade’s eyes popped back open and his muscles tensed. “What?”

  “When I lost my temper yesterday and put you in the middle.”

  Wade didn’t need a road map for this conversation. After the showdown, Wade had unloaded on Eli and gotten hit with the silent treatment in response.

  Turning onto his back, Wade opened both eyes and stared at the exposed pipes on the ceiling above the bed. In the next second, Eli moved and his face swam in front of Wade. “Jarrett is not a man you fuck with.”

  “I have the bullet wound to prove that.” Eli balanced on his elbow, hovering close as his hand flattened against Wade’s chest.

  “I’m serious.”

  Elijah’s fingers tightened into a fist. “Her nosing around, him losing control . . .”

  Hoping to calm whatever storm was brewing and keeping Eli talking, Wade rubbed his palm up and down Eli’s arm. “What?”

  At first Eli shirked off the comment, but then his eyes focused again, as if he’d wrestled with sharing and decided to take the risk. “I could end up dead.”

  There it was. The nightmare scenario. And it wasn’t exactly an argument Wade could ignore. They were all on edge and double-checking locks and security feeds since she showed up in the building . . . again.

  Still, he’d been trained, had spent his youth fighting and his twenties crossing the line. After a lifetime of working dirty jobs he was out of the business, but he’d step back in. For Eli. For Jarrett. If he had to lay it on the line, even if it meant hurting Jarrett by going after the one woman who mattered to him, Wade would.

  He didn’t issue the vow out loud. Didn’t need to. He knew it to his bones and that was enough, but he did want Elijah to figure out a way to silence the battle waging inside him. “That’s not going to happen. I won’t let it.”

  “Others are dead. Strong agents, smart agents.” Eli dropped his arm and his fingers speared through Wade’s hair. “People I worked with and trusted.”

  “Did you ever trust Becca?” Wade had at first. He wasn’t sure what to think about her story now.

  “I’m not convinced she’s on the run, or needs help, or whatever line she sold Jarrett.”

  Wade noticed Eli hadn’t exactly answered the question but let it drop. “Me either.”

  “Then work with me,” Elijah whispered into the dip at the base of Wade’s throat.

  The conversation blinked out on him. The combination of Eli’s mouth and hand wandering lower had Wade’s concentration fading in and out. “I’m trying, but you losing your shit makes that tough.”

  “Because you have to support Jarrett no matter what.”

  Wade’s hand slipped to the back of Eli’s head and pulled him even closer. “Because Jarrett responds to logic and respect. When you go off, the only thing he’s thinking about is how fast he can get rid of you.

  Eli lifted his head. “You lived with danger.”

  “A long time ago.” Wade wanted more than anything to put those days behind him.

  “Did you stay calm and rational under fire back then?”

  Leave it to Eli to drag out the logic now. “Not always, no.”

  The corner of Eli’s mouth kicked up in a smile. “Well, do you blame me for having the same problem now?”

  Despite the sparkle in Eli’s eyes and the way his fingers explored, Wade refused to be reeled in. “When it comes to Becca you won’t listen.”

  “Tell me you think she’s not setting him up.”

  “If she is, Jarrett will stop her.” Or a bullet would. Wade wanted the decision to belong to Jarrett, but when the end came that might not be possible.

  “He couldn’t before.”

  “He’s smarter now.” Wade ignored the part where Jarrett was pretty fucking smart before but still got wrapped all around when Becca stepped into his life.

  “Is he?”

  “He has a weakness for her.” And that qualified as the understatement of the century.

  “I get that.”

  This time Wade laughed. “No, you don’t.”

  Wade tried to imagine Eli growing weak over anything or anyone. Even when he stumbled into the club those months ago, beaten and broken, he held his body with an assurance that dared them to try anything. Shot and bleeding, he continued to stare Jarrett down until Jarrett blinked.

  “What the hell does that mean?” There was no anger in Eli’s voice, but surprise swept around him.

  Wade weighed each word to keep from sending the conversation to a dark place where Eli got worked up all over again. Wade preferred him right where he was. “I doubt anything ever threw you off the job.”

  “You did.”

  Elijah brushed his lips over Wade’s collarbone as he angled his body closer. They lay interconnected now from their chests to the tangle of legs just below the thin white sheet. Eli’s warm breath blew across Wade’s skin.

  “I don’t know—”

  Eli bit into Wade’s shoulder. “Get on your stomach and I’ll show you.”

  • • •

  Becca propped her head on her hand. In this position, leaning over Jarrett’s chest, she could watch his chest rise and fall on deep breaths. Study him.

  His long fingers lay on his chest, and his other hand stayed tucked under her. Black eyelashes and a relaxed mouth. In sleep the churning darkness inside him faded.

  She’d wondered if he would hide from her today. After last night and her delivery of the long list of what she needed from him, he bolted from the bed. Something she said freaked him out. She had no idea exactly which point did it. She only knew that when he slid in beside her an hour ago, leaving the club floor well before closing, his arm came around her and his finger slipped inside her.

  Day five of b
eing back in his condo and he hadn’t wasted much time unleashing his revenge. He went to work, came in and out of the condo, and kept her on her back and any bit of clothing off. The fear of him hurting her faded away to nothing. Being freed from the worry this fast was a surprise. She assumed he’d toy with her, keep her dangling and on the defensive. Emotionally, he did, but not physically.

  She’d searched his place and spent hours trying to crack his computer password. She even took a few hours and worked on the door alarm. Not that she planned to leave. She just wanted to know she could break out if needed. If the world imploded on her, she’d already devised an escape out the window. To quell the anxiety, she needed that alternative. But explaining any of that to him would only start an argument and make building any trust impossible.

  “You’re making me nervous,” he mumbled without opening his eyes.

  The grumble of his voice had her jumping. She forced her body to still, but tension ramped up in her at the unexpected noise. “You’re awake?”

  “Staring makes me twitchy.”

  She spread her fingers and touched as much of that hard chest as possible. “I couldn’t sleep.”

  “Any reason?” His eyes blinked open. “Other than being tracked by the CIA and targeted for elimination, I mean.”

  “Funny how that seems to be enough.”

  “Imagine that.”

  They lay there in the silence for more than a minute. She could feel him staring and see his face with the help of the hallway light cutting through the darkness.

  Reaching over, he flicked on the small lamp next to the bed. “Okay, I give up. What’s going on in your head?”

  She squinted until her eyes adjusted to the light. “Nothing.”

  “Uh-huh. Not believable at all, by the way.” He pushed up until his back rested against the pillows. “If it’s the list of things you want—”

  “No.”

  “Then it must be that you want me to exhaust you.” His smile promised he could do it, too.

  “You already did.”

  “I seem to remember a few favorite positions we haven’t revisited.” His fingers skimmed down her bare back to the top of her ass as she cuddled in closer.