Call Sign: Redemption

by Eddy, Patricia D

  Chapter Fifteen

  Trevor

  By the time our last flight lands in Boston, it’s well after 2:00 a.m. My body aches with every step. At my side, Dani stumbles as we get off my apartment building’s elevator and crashes into me. “Whoa, baby. You okay?”

  “I feel like I’ve been awake for a week,” she says, but when she meets my gaze, it’s not exhaustion I see in her eyes. It’s need.

  We both slept over half the trip from Belize, waking only when the First Class flight attendant offered us hot towels in preparation for landing. Having her curled against me felt like the most natural thing in the world. Like she’d always been there and always would be.

  I open the door, flip on the light, and invite her into my private space. I don’t bring anyone here. Not even Ford or Austin.

  “How long have you lived here?” Dani asks as she runs her fingers over the spines on my bookcase.

  “Eighteen months.” I drop our bags at the foot of the bed and kick off my shoes before arranging them precisely in their assigned spot in my closet. I need a shower. Badly.

  Dani leans against my bedroom door and tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. Haloed in the light from the living room, she looks like an angel. “Is there anything of you here?” Scanning the room, her gaze lands on my dresser. On the only items I care about in this whole damn place.

  “Oh. There you are.” Dani lifts the center photo and cradles it in her hands. In the picture, she and I stand on either side of Austin at his graduation from the Air Force Academy. “I have this same picture.”

  She takes the sleeve of her jacket and cleans a smudge from the glass before returning it to its spot between a picture of everyone who gathered at Dax’s wedding last month, and the last photo I took with my dad before he died. We’re fly fishing—or trying to—and we look like we’re on top of the world. For all I know, we were, but though I look at that picture every damn day, my actual memories of him? They’ve faded so much, I can’t even remember his voice.

  “You need to get a life, Trevor.” Though she’s smiling, Dani’s eyes are filled with pain, and she slides her arms around me and settles with her cheek against my chest. “Or at least…start living the one that’s right in front of you.”

  The silence grows between us, so big and heavy it’s hard to breathe. “I need a shower.”

  “Oh, God. So do I.” Dani tips her head back to look up at me, and her cheeks tinge bright red. “We could, um…?”

  I’m simultaneously hard as a rock and terrified. Dani’s starred in more than one of my dreams over the years, but the reality of having her all to myself, all night… “Yes. Hell, yes.”

  “I just need to get my toiletry kit,” she says as I make a beeline for the bathroom. “I won’t feel…like me if I don’t have my toothbrush.” Her nervous laugh reassures me. At least I’m not the only one scared as fuck about this.

  I strip out of my t-shirt and pull off my socks, dumping them in the hamper. Dani knocks timidly, then slips into the room wearing only the tank from last night and her panties. “Do you have…I mean of course you do. Can I borrow some toothpaste? Err. Have some toothpaste? I’m not planning to give it back.”

  She’s so beautiful when she’s nervous. Or confident. Or anything in between. “Left drawer.”

  Side-by-side, we lean against the sink and brush our teeth, like we’ve done this every night for years. When we’ve finished, I open the shower door and turn on the water.

  “I can…go after you. If you want.”

  With a roll of her eyes, Dani finds the button on my jeans and flicks it open. “Trevor? Get naked.”

  She doesn’t need to tell me twice. I shove my jeans down to the floor, and her gaze lowers to my erection straining through my boxer briefs.

  “Um, how many weapons do you have in there right now?” As soon as the words leave her lips, she covers her face with her hands. “Oh, shit. That’s like…the worst thing I could have said.”

  “Or the best.” My voice is rougher than I intend, but when Dani laughs, nothing else matters but her. “Serious answer?”

  “Please.”

  I remove the ceramic knife from my hip pocket, then the GPS tracker, followed by the multi-tool. “That’s it.”

  She eyes the hard bulge below my waist. “Prove it.”

  “You’re going to pay for that one, Danisaur.” Pulling the tank over her head, I stop breathing. She’s not wearing a bra, and her nipples tighten. When I hook my thumbs in the waistband of her panties and look for permission, she nods.

  And then she’s bared to me. All five-foot-five inches of toned muscles and generous curves. Fair’s fair, so I ease the black briefs over my dick and let them fall to the floor.

  She inhales sharply, and I hope to God that’s a good thing.

  Taking her hand, I guide her under the spray, and she moans as the hot water hits her shoulders. “Don’t take this the wrong way,” she says as she tips her head back and smiles, “but I’m not sure I’ve ever felt anything as good as this shower.”

  I snag the bar of soap from the shelf as she lathers up her hair. “Just wait.”

  “Not too long, I—“ My thumbs skate over her nipples, and her voice catches in her throat. “Trev…”

  “Relax, Dani. Just…let me take care of you for a while.”

  If I don’t get inside this woman soon, I’m going to lose my damn mind. But more than ten years of longing leaves me completely unsure of what to do now. Until she takes my hand and leads me to the bed.

  “When did you get this?” she asks as she traces the lines of the tattoo on my left shoulder. Stars tumble down my arm, both in tribute to my country and in memory of the friends I’d lost during my years with the CIA.

  “Four years ago.” I cover her fingers with mine, needing to maintain this closeness as long as possible.

  “And this?” Dani presses a kiss to the thick scar left from Gil’s knife. I can’t tell her. Not when we’re mostly naked and she’s looking at me like she wants to eat me for dessert.

  “That’s a story for another time, baby. Tonight... I just need you.”

  I pull back the blankets, then stand frozen as she sheds her towel and stretches out on her side with her head on my pillow. Her breasts are perfect handfuls, something I tested multiple times in the shower, and the trim black curls covering her mound are glistening. “Dani, I…”

  “Don’t tell me you’re suddenly shy, Trevor.” She leans up on an elbow and grabs the towel around my waist to pull me closer.

  “No.” I rip the towel away and climb into bed next to her, my hand tangling in her damp locks and angling her head so I can claim her mouth. She moans into the kiss, yielding when my tongue traces her barely parted lips, and if I weren’t so hard and desperate for more, I think I could do just this for hours.

  Her deft fingers skim down my back, and then I’m on top of her, grinding my dick between her thighs.

  “Shit, Trev…” Dani digs her short nails into my ass, and I almost lose control and come without even tasting her. “Inside me.”

  “Not yet.” My lips travel to her jaw, back to her ear, and down the curve of her neck. “I’ve waited years for this. I’m not rushing it.”

  A few drops of my precum already coat her thighs, and the scent of the two of us together is enough to make me wish I’d rubbed one out in the shower so I wouldn’t feel so close to the edge. But this is Dani. The woman I’m falling in love with—the woman I’ve loved for as long as I can remember—and we’re going to do this right.

  Her nipple tightens into a hard nub when I score my teeth over the tender flesh, and she moans and writhes under me. “Do that again.”

  “Liked that, did you?” I oblige, moving to her other breast, and her moan turns to a whimper. Her muscles tremble, the scent of her arousal fills my nose, and once my lips travel over her taut stomach to her mound, she inhales sharply.

  “Trev? What are you—?”

  “I’m going to taste y
ou, baby. What’s wrong?” My heart shoots into my throat. If she’s changed her mind…

  “I’m not…it’s never worked for me…like that.” Her voice trembles, and her eyes shimmer for a moment until she squeezes them shut. “You don’t have to…”

  I slide back up and roll onto my side so I can gather her into my arms. “I want to. If you trust me.”

  “I trust you,” she whispers, but the uncertainty in her eyes kills me. “What if I can’t...?”

  With a gentle brush of my lips to hers, I try to reassure her. “If you can’t, we find another way. Simple as that. There is nothing about you, Dani, nothing, that will make this night anything other than perfect.”

  She nods, and I start exploring her body all over again, spending extra time lavishing kisses to her true north tattoo. “I will never stand you up again, baby,” I say with my lips pressed to the latitude and longitude inked just above her right hipbone.

  “You’d…better…not,” she says between gasps and tiny mewls.

  A part of me wants to stop all of this so I can stare deep into her eyes and promise her with everything I am that I’ll never leave her. That I’ll be the man she wanted all those years ago—and more—for the rest of her life. But I’ve seen enough death and destruction, enough good men and women break those promises to their loved ones, that I can’t. I won’t.

  I’ll just love her for as long as I can. Every chance I get.

  The first dip of my tongue between her slick folds sends her back bowing and her hands twisting in the sheets. The taste of her… Holy fuck. It’s as wild as the ocean, as sweet as honey, and as fresh as a spring storm. I could live off of her—just her—for the rest of my days.

  Spreading her thighs, I find her clit, and it’s like she comes alive for the first time.

  “Trevor! Oh, God. Oh…what are you…yes!” Dani’s pleas dissolve into helpless whimpers as she begs and pleads without words for me to keep going. One hand slides up to capture a nipple between my thumb and forefinger, and the other spreads her lower lips and sinks deep inside her.

  “I can’t…I can’t…I can’t…don’t stop…” she cries when I swirl my tongue faster and add a second finger.

  That’s it, baby. Give in.

  My fingers thrust in time with my lips and tongue, and when her entire body tenses, I know she’s ready to fly.

  Biting down gently and sucking on her clit sends her over the edge, and she screams and bucks, dissolving into endless waves of pleasure.

  Dani

  I’ve never… No one has ever made me feel like I do right now. Treasured. Accepted. Safe.

  Trevor draws a blanket over us as he holds me close. My body is nothing but Jell-O. Everything but my heart. That’s steadier than it’s ever been.

  I meet Trevor’s gaze, and my entire world shifts on its axis. How could I have ever thought he didn’t care? “That was…amazing.”

  “We’re not done, Dani. Not by a long shot.” Trevor’s voice rumbles in his chest and warms my whole body. “I’m going to make your toes curl more than once tonight.”

  A shudder runs through me, and against my thigh, the press of his cock ratchets up my own arousal. “Promise?”

  “Hell, yes.” Trev twists his fingers in my hair, and so many emotions swirl in his eyes, I can’t pick out just one. “I want all of you, baby. All night.”

  Arching my back, I offer him everything. Anything he wants. “I’m yours, Trevor. I’ve always been yours.”

  The noise he makes—it’s a growl. Almost feral. He pins my wrists to the bed and straddles me, kissing me until my lips are swollen and all I can taste is my own release on his tongue. My body aches in the most delicious way, and my nipples tighten and tingle. Warmth gathers in my core all over again.

  The room takes on a slight shimmer, and I blink hard, confused at the tears brimming in my eyes. Until Trevor’s hands slide down my body, caressing everywhere with such tenderness, I can’t hold in my sob.

  “Daniella.” Trevor’s expression shutters, and he curses softly under his breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—“

  The use of my full name…it does something to me I can’t explain. All of a sudden, this isn’t just fulfilling a fantasy. It’s something more. Something so perfect, so right, every emotion is magnified.

  “Say it again.”

  Trevor’s dark brows furrow, and he holds himself over me, braced on his elbows. “What?”

  “Say it again. As many times as you want. With you…I can be Daniella. I can be…me.” I swallow hard, and a tear trails down my cheek until Trevor kisses it away. “I understand now,” I say quietly. “What you meant on the plane when you said I needed to trust you. And I do.”

  “Daniella Monroe, I’m going to make sure you never doubt who you are again,” he says as he lowers himself down on top of me and his cock nudges my entrance. “You’re brilliant and smart and beautiful. You’re the only woman I’ve ever…” He shakes his head and kisses me again, and I wrap my arms around his neck and hold on tight.

  “Make love to me, Trevor. I want you inside me. Now.”

  He leans over and rummages in the drawer of his nightstand before tossing a foil packet onto the pillow next to me. “What do you like, Daniella?”

  “You.” I reach down and wrap my fingers around his cock, and its girth…my eyes widen and I tip my head up so I can look him in the eyes. “It’s been a while for me. More than a while. And you’re…um…a lot bigger than my usual toys.”

  Trevor chuckles. “Toys? When we go back to DC, you’re going to show me these toys of yours, baby.” He shifts onto his side, grabs the condom, and rips the packet open.

  I’m mesmerized as he rolls it over his length—and a little scared, but I trust this man more than I trust myself.

  “Look at me, Daniella Rosa. You are mine, and before we’re done here tonight, you’re going to know it better than you know your own name.” His eyes darken, his voice drops, and pleasure gathers between my thighs. “And in case it’s not clear…” He takes my hand and presses it to his heart. “I’m yours as well.”

  Heavy pounding wakes me, and Trevor groans. “Whoever that is needs to go the fuck away. Right now.” After he presses his lips to mine, he rolls to his feet, then snags a pair of boxer briefs out of his top drawer. “I’ll be right back. I want at least another few hours with you in bed before we have to face reality.”

  His eyes, though still bleary with sleep, hold the promise of so very many things. I glance at my phone to check the time—barely 8:00 a.m.—and find two dozen messages waiting for me. Emails, texts…oh shit. Shit, shit, shit.

  “Don’t move!” a gruff voice commands. “Trevor James Moana, you’re under arrest for the murder of Arturo Velasquez, Roberto Cordova, and Gilberto Sosa in Caracas, Venezuela. Turn around and lace your fingers behind your head.”

  “What the hell is the meaning of this?” Trevor asks. A dull thud sends my heart shooting into my throat, and he groans, “I’m not resisting, but I want to know who’s accusing me.”

  Oh God. I scramble out of bed and grab the first thing I see—one of Trevor’s t-shirts from his duffel bag—and pull it over my head.

  “Above my pay grade, asshole. But that article in the paper this morning was pretty damming,” the first voice says. “Orders came from Washington. You’re in a shitload of trouble.”

  “Trevor! I didn’t—“ I cry as I race for the living room.

  “Freeze!”

  My eyes zero in on the barrel of a pistol, and the snap of handcuffs makes me flinch. Three police officers stand in a semi-circle around Trevor, and a fourth—the one pointing his gun at me— is only a few inches away.

  “Daniella Rose Monroe, you’re named as a person of interest in the murder of Arturo Velasquez and Roberto Cordova. Hands behind your head, lace your fingers together.”

  “I don’t understand. They came—“

  “Dani, don’t say another fucking word,” Trevor snaps as two of the officers
muscle him towards the bedroom. His hands are already cuffed behind his back, and he twists his head to stare at me, his eyes dark and cold as steel.

  “Tell me what clothes you want,” the cop on the left says to him, “and we’ll get ‘em. Try anything, and you’re going down to the station wearing nothing but your briefs.”

  “I want my goddamn lawyer.”

  “Last chance, asshole. It’s fifteen degrees outside. You want to be taken out barefoot?”

  Trevor grumbles something I can’t hear, and the other two cops focus on me. “Hands. Now, Ms. Monroe. We’ll take care of clothing for you when Moana’s done.”

  I don’t have a choice. They have guns, and Trevor’s right. Anything we say now won’t do either of us any good.

  As one of the officers takes my right hand from behind my head and twists it down to the small of my back, I swallow hard. The cuff is cold and tight, and my shoulders start to ache as he snaps the second one around my left wrist.

  Trevor doesn’t meet my gaze as the two officers lead him towards the door. He’s wearing a pair of sweat pants, sneakers, and a flannel shirt. The look on his face…he thinks I lied to him. That I published the article even though he asked me not to. I have to tell him I didn’t. That my editor must have done it while we were asleep.

  “Trevor! I…”

  “Not a word, Dani. Not one word. How could you?”

  “Get a move on,” one of the officers says to Trevor and prods him in the back.

  “I didn’t—“

  Trevor cuts me off, his voice hoarse, and anguish written all over his face. “I don’t want to hear it.” And then he’s gone, and I’m being guided into the bedroom that smells of us. The lump in my throat feels like it’s the size of a baseball, and the rest of me is numb as I direct the officers to my backpack. At least I put on panties after the last time we made love, so they don’t have to dig too deep to find my pants and shoes.

  While I dress, they read me my rights, and when I’m cuffed again and we’re on our way to the elevator, I look from one cop to the other.