Dark Redemption (Broken Souls #1)

by Sarah Marsh

  But a truly submissive woman who captured his attention like no other? It was a quality he hadn’t found in a woman in quite some time.

  “There are two possible scenarios for what will happen once we find the drive and verify it is what I’ve been contracted to recover,” he said after thinking about it for a few moments. “I can give you the injection which will erase your memory of the last forty-eight hours and you will wake up back in your life like none of this ever happened. Or…you can choose to remember it. The choice is up to you.”

  Eitan didn’t spell it out for her, but he knew she was smart enough to figure out the choice he was giving her. If she chose to forget everything that had happened to her, and between them, then it was pretty obvious how she felt about it. Sure, he felt a connection to this woman, but that didn’t mean shit about what she felt. Her answer to this question would, though.

  She didn’t react for quite a few minutes…just stared out the passenger side window until finally she took a deep breath in.

  “Will you show me more…if I choose not to forget?” she asked in barely a whisper.

  His body instantly responded to the submissive tone in her voice. That was exactly the answer he’d been hoping for.

  ***

  They’d just pulled in through the gate of the storage lot and parked as she finally had the courage to whisper her question to him. Sofia was still thinking she’d lost her damned mind because deep down, she felt like she knew Eitan wouldn’t really hurt her. She knew he’d shared more with her than he’d intended, and she ached for how much guilt he’d felt at his sister’s disappearance.

  Of course, she should be choosing to have her memory erased and sent on back to her happy, shining little life…her happy, shining, boring little life, that is. Sofia had been waiting her entire existence to feel anything as exhilarating and exciting as what she’d felt when Eitan had touched her. The truth was she wanted more…but would he give it to her? Sofia held her breath, waiting for his answer.

  She watched him walk around the car and open her door for her, and then he reached out his hand for her to take. His face was still unreadable…those stoic gray eyes and chiseled features not giving a hint as to what he thought about her request. When she placed her palm in his and he gently pulled her up toward him she shivered at the heat of his body so close to hers, and when he leaned forward, she knew she was helpless in his arms.

  “I’ll show you everything,” he whispered next to her ear before drawing her earlobe into his mouth and sucking gently.

  Sofia’s heart raced as she remembered what his talented mouth had been doing earlier this morning, and she clutched at his sweater to try to draw him closer.

  “Will you kiss me?” she asked in a shaky voice.

  How silly to need something so benign as a kiss, but Sofia had a feeling that kissing Eitan would be so much more than just lips touching lips. She had a feeling it was something special to him, and she wanted it now more than ever.

  “I will,” he answered as he stepped back and took her hand in his, leading her toward her locker unit. The look on his face made it clear to her that everything would be in Eitan’s timeframe and surprisingly, that turned her on even more.

  Oh God, she thought. How can this man just declaring that he intends to kiss me be so much hotter than any sex I’ve ever had? Sofia didn’t know what the connection was between them at this point, but she felt it all the same, and she intended to savor it for as long as she could.

  When they arrived at locker twenty-one, it was just as she had left it, the large silver lock untouched.

  “Oh crap, I forgot to tell you the key was in my purse,” she said, feeling like an idiot for not remembering.

  “I know.” He just smiled at her and lifted his hand to show her the key ring with her favorite Star Wars Lego figure on it, “Chewy, huh? I would’ve pegged you for a Han Solo fan myself.”

  “Well, I’m glad I can surprise you with something,” she murmured back.

  “Oh trust me, baby,” he said as he opened the lock and lifted up the metal door. “You’ve ended up being more than a surprise to me.”

  Sofia liked that he said that. She liked that he admitted some small weakness to show he couldn’t have anticipated this connection between them either. It made her feel like it was more substantial…like she could trust it more.

  “So what are we looking for?” she asked, taking a measure of the dozen boxes she’d just put in here.

  “Well, it looks like you taped them all closed,” Eitan answered, closing the door behind them, “So any box that looks like it may have been tampered with should be where we look first. The drive is small, so he wouldn’t have needed to open the box fully to sneak it in there.”

  Truthfully, Sofia still couldn’t believe any of this had actually happened to her. Had she been targeted by Carl in the first place, or had it just been an opportunity he saw and it was just bad luck on her part? There was no point in speculating about it now. It was best she just concentrate on how to get this resolved.

  Then it hit her. That slimy bastard had been fidgeting with one of the boxes as she’d pulled the car up. She remembered because it was the one with all her old textbooks in it and she was worried the tape hadn’t held so much weight and that’s why he’d had to reclose the top of the box. That must be the one he put it in.

  “Hey, I think I remember which one he put it in,” she said, searching the labeled boxes frantically. “It should be the one marked as textbooks.”

  Of course, they finally found it buried in the back corner, as the nice boy from the front desk who had helped her would have stacked the heaviest stuff on the bottom. Eitan quickly opened the box and started to remove the heavy books inside. He took all of them out and Sofia looked to the bottom of the box with disappointment.

  “It’s not in there?” she asked in confusion. “But I’m certain that was the one he had played around with.”

  “Well, Donovan isn’t an amateur at this, so let’s check the books,” Eitan answered as he began to open the first one.

  Sure enough, after several were checked, when he finally picked up one of the largest books and pulled both covers back, a small zip drive fell from the pocket covering the spine of the book.

  “Ah ha! We’ve got you now, you bastard,” he said as he picked up the drive and quickly put the books back in the box.

  “So what now?” Sofia asked, glaring at the small object that had turned her life upside down.

  “Now my boss will pick up the drive, then this will all be over soon,” Eitan answered as he led them back to the car, careful to make certain they were still alone. “The drive will be encrypted, so it will probably take them some time to verify it. Until then, we stay put back at the apartment.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Eitan left Sofia in the kitchen to lay out their take-out meal while he called his boss from the bedroom.

  “Kent, have you got it?” Hays barked as soon as he answered. The man wasn’t known for his patience.

  “Yes, I’ve got the drive.”

  “Damn, that’s a relief. The deputy director is all over my ass to get this cleaned up ASAP.” Hays’s tone clearly sounded exhausted. “I’ll send someone over to pick it up for verification right now. Expect them in ten.”

  “Fine,” Eitan answered before he hung up. Ten minutes, huh? He’d of course known his handler would most likely have agents in the area, but having them that close made him paranoid that they’d been watching him. Did Hays question his loyalties with information this important? Sure, the information was worth ten times what his contract would pay if he had intentions of stealing it for himself and selling it out on the black market. But Eitan liked to think that Hays knew him better than that.

  He walked back out into the living room and not five minutes later there was a knock at the door. Sofia jumped and looked toward him with a frightened expression.

  “It’s okay, Sofia. They’re just here to pick up
the drive,” he said, grabbing his gun and moving toward the door. “Just go wait in the bedroom and close the door, okay?”

  “Okay,” she answered quietly as she looked from his drawn gun toward the door and then ran to the bedroom.

  He got a text on his phone from Hays confirming that the agents had arrived, so he punched in the code, the electronic lock opened, and he let them in. Two large men stepped inside and he had to commend his boss’s crew, they were dressed just as any regular man might be walking down the street. He had always thought it hilarious that most feds wore suits and held themselves in a way that immediately identified them as law enforcement to anyone knowing what to look for.

  “Kent.” The taller of the two men nodded to him. “We’re here for the drive and the woman.”

  That stopped Eitan in his tracks.

  “Hays didn’t mention you were picking her up. The drive’s yours, but she doesn’t go anywhere,” he answered, tossing the zip drive to the shorter man, who had been looking around the room, clearly trying to find Sofia. Eitan knew that if she went with them, there was no telling what would happen to her. She could very well disappear altogether.

  Suddenly the tension in the room got very thick. Both agents went still and Eitan’s hand gripped his gun just a little tighter, preparing for them to make a decision on how to deal with his refusal to hand Sofia over.

  “The boss wants her,” the tall one shrugged off Eitan’s declaration and then nodded to his partner. “Miles, she must be in the bedroom. Go get her.”

  Miles got one step before Eitan was suddenly standing next to the man giving orders.

  “One more step toward the bedroom, Miles, and you become a solo act,” Eitan said as he pushed the barrel of his gun closer against the agent’s temple.

  “Jesus! I told Hays you couldn’t be trusted, Kent.” The man was surprisingly calm considering he had a gun to his head. His partner, on the other hand, looked about ready to shit his pants―he must be new.

  “Hays can trust me just fine,” Eitan answered, motioning the other agent to move away from the bedroom door. “He contracted me to find the drive, which I have, and you’ve now got that. So you can take it and leave.”

  “The girl might know something, Kent. You know we can’t leave loose ends on something of this magnitude.”

  “The girl doesn’t know anything about what’s on that drive. She hasn’t even touched it,” Eitan said, pushing his gun in a little bit harder, “and you’d better have a care, Agent. You may get me suspicious that you’d start to consider me a loose end…and you surely wouldn’t want that now. I get awfully cranky when I feel threatened.”

  “Miles, call Hays,” the tall agent said, and when Eitan nodded in agreement to the other man, he dialed his phone and put it on speaker.

  “Miles, do you have the drive and the girl?” Hays said impatiently once the call connected.

  “Hays, the girl wasn’t part of our deal,” Eitan answered, the irritation clear in his voice. “Your men have the drive. Once you’ve verified it, I’ll wipe her memory and she goes free and clear. You don’t need her.”

  “Dammit, Kent, what if she―”

  “She doesn’t. She’s never even touched the drive and she didn’t spend any time with Donovan. It was a random drop for him,” Eitan cut him off before he could finish.

  Hays was silent on the other end of the phone for a moment and Eitan didn’t like it. He was so tired of these pompous assholes thinking they could just do anything they liked with other people’s lives and get away with it.

  “I’m telling you, Hays, leave it alone. I will vouch for her, but if I get the impression that you send anyone to do so much as look through her mailbox, I will rain hell down on you, and that is a promise,” Eitan said with venom in his tone. “You owe me your life. Let’s not forget that fact.”

  He had taken a bullet for Hays when he was still just an agent before he’d been promoted and Eitan had resigned, but Robert Hays knew the kind of man Eitan was, and he knew how serious he took his vows to protect someone. This was the first time he’d played that card and he wouldn’t have done it for anyone other than Sofia.

  “Fine,” Hays answered with irritation. “But she’s your responsibility, Eitan. If anything goes wrong I’ll expect you to take care of it permanently.”

  “Done. Now get your men out of my apartment.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  When Eitan had finally come to get Sofia out of the bedroom, she was still a little shaken up about the entire situation. She’d heard the commotion and listened at the door. She’d figured out that those men had wanted to take her and that Eitan had stuck his neck out for her…but what did that mean exactly?

  She was still lost in thought, playing with the last piece of food on her plate when Eitan got up and moved around to her side of the table. She sighed when he stood behind her and slowly moved the hair from her shoulder, barely trailing his fingers along her sensitive skin, then placing a delicate kiss on the nape of her neck.

  When his tongue lightly made its way along her neck up to where he nibbled on her ear, her pulse started to race. Eitan moved his hand up until he had a firm grip on her hair, turning her head so he had access to her lips, and he hovered there in front of her, his mouth just a breath away from hers. When she tried to close the distance, his grip on her hair tightened.

  “Can you give me control, Sofia?” he whispered, almost touching her lips with his own. “I won’t accept anything less. You need to decide if you want this. If you want what I can give you.”

  After having a taste of what it felt like to be at his mercy, there wasn’t anything she wanted more at this moment. She’d never been more turned on in her life.

  “Yes,” she whispered back, still trying to meet his lips.

  He finally moved forward, licking and gently sucking her lower lip. When she moaned in response he invaded her mouth with deliberation. The way Eitan kissed her felt like he wanted to burn the memory of all other kisses from her mind forever. It was so intense and so passionate, Sofia couldn’t think of anything other than his tongue, his lips, and the way his hands caressed her. When he stopped and released her hair, she felt desperate for more.

  “Go to the bedroom, undress, and get on the bed,” he said to her as his hand absently moved down to run over the hard outline of his cock she could see through his pants.

  Sofia was still staring at his slow moving hand, thinking about doing all sorts of fun things with that bulge when his voice came through again to snap her out of her distraction.

  “Sofia, now.”

  The command in his voice made a shiver run down her spine, causing her already hard nipples to ache for him, and she immediately got up and went to the bedroom, undressing as she walked. She knew he was doing the same as she could hear his clothing fall to the ground behind her. When she finally slipped off her panties and got one knee on the bed to crawl across, she heard him groan.

  “Stop,” he said in a gravelly voice, thick with arousal. “Put your other knee up and stay just like that.”

  She did as he said, which left her at the end of the bed on her hands and knees, ass high up in the air. When she felt his calloused hands palm her ass, she moaned at how delicious it felt. Eitan took his time exploring her curves, running his fingers along the back of her legs and deliberately avoiding her now very wet folds. He ran his thumbs up the crease of her thighs, still teasing her, and when she tried to move in frustration, Sofia yelped in shock when he quickly smacked a palm across her ass.

  Neither of them said anything for a moment. Sofia was still processing the fact that once the surprise wore off, there was a warm, tingling left behind from his hand that was affecting her in a unexpected way. The feeling of new awareness became even more exhilarating as he then took his large hands and rubbed over the spot that he’d spanked, finally dipping his fingers lightly along her labia, teasing her clit softly.

  “Mmmm, you liked that,” he noted. “I’m not s
ure if that’s going to work as a punishment in the future then, is it?”

  “Punishment?” she replied in a breathless voice.

  “When you try to take what I haven’t yet decided to give you, Sofia, then you will be punished. You need to trust that I will give you what you need,” he said, once again giving her ass one more good caress before he urged her to turn over.

  “Do you understand?” Eitan asked, looking into her lust-filled eyes. “If I do something you really don’t like, you can ask me to stop, but I’d like you to trust me to see to your pleasure.”

  He was now kneeling in front of her as her back rested against the padded headboard. She understood his words, but it was fairly difficult to concentrate with his beautiful naked body within touching distance. When her gaze fell on his hard cock, her mouth watered and she licked her lips. She wanted to taste him so badly.

  “Nod if you understand and agree with me, Sofia.”

  When he stopped touching her she finally looked up into his face and nodded her agreement.

  “Lay back a bit and raise your hands, Sofia,” Eitan said as he swung a leg over to straddle her torso and put her wrists once again in the soft cuffs attached to the wall. “You want a taste of my cock, baby?”

  ***

  When Sofia had licked her lips and stared at his shaft like she wanted to devour it, Eitan had almost lost his control. He wanted so badly to sink inside of her and come that he was having a difficult time pacing himself. In all the years that he’d been playing this particular game in the bedroom, not once had a woman tested his control like sweet little Sofia.