by Kaylea Cross
“So are you going to meet her?”
Amber shrugged. “Trin says she doesn’t need us until tomorrow afternoon, so Meg and I’ve agreed to a quick meeting before we head to the next safehouse.”
“Did she say anything about why she gave you both up? Or why she never tried to contact you?”
Amber’s eyes were flat. “She says she was told Meg and I both died soon after entering foster care, and that’s why she never tried to find or contact us after we were taken away. A fire or something.” She shrugged. “Whatever, I just want to see if it’s really her. If it is, I want some answers. Well, what I really want is to yell at her for abandoning two scared little girls when we needed her most. After that, we’re done, and we’ll go to our place in Coventry.”
Kiyomi nodded. “I hope you get your closure.”
Amber’s smile was weary. “Closure would be nice.”
Yes. They all deserved the closure they were looking for.
Amber and Jesse headed upstairs to finish packing, leaving just her and Trinity at the bottom of the staircase. Kiyomi wished her friend wasn’t still angry with her. An uneasy tension filled the space between them, then Trinity walked up to her.
After a moment of silence, Trinity’s set expression melted into one of fondness and she sighed, reaching for her. “Come here, you.”
Kiyomi’s throat closed up as her friend’s arms came around her. She returned the embrace, a staggering sense of relief hitting her to know she was forgiven. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry/not sorry,” Trinity accused, and Kiyomi couldn’t help but smile. Then Trin pulled back and took her by the upper arms. “I’m leaving to get Rycroft soon. After our meeting, you and I will need to go soon.” She nodded at Marcus’s study door. “Go and say goodbye while you can.”
Kiyomi covered a flinch, not wanting to accept that she was down to her last few hours with Marcus.
Trin gave her a sad smile. “I know it hurts. But this doesn’t mean it’s goodbye forever. Maybe one day, after all this is behind us, you can—”
“Yeah. Maybe.” Though she couldn’t allow herself to believe that. This hurt too damn much already without adding false hope that would crush her later on. She was too much of a realist, and she hadn’t asked for anything either.
Right now a shadowy figure known only as the Architect stood between her and any hope of a future. Kiyomi refused to allow herself to think beyond the mission.
As Trinity started up the staircase, Kiyomi turned to face Marcus’s study door. There was only one thing within her control at the moment, and she was going to make the most of it while it lasted.
Chapter Sixteen
The end was here, and it hurt like hell.
Heart heavy, Marcus smiled as Karas set her front paws in his lap and tried to lick his face. Zack had been taking care of her while they were gone.
“I missed you too,” he told her from the chair behind his desk, ruffling the top of her furry head while dodging her tongue. In spite of his smile, a mix of sadness and dread pressed down on him. It was raining now, the drops lashing the windows with each gust of wind. “Tomorrow it’ll be back to just you and me, lass.”
He was dreading it with every fiber of his being. This place had been his refuge ever since his ordeal in Syria, but soon it would only amplify his aloneness. He couldn’t ask Kiyomi to stay here, it was no longer safe. And the past two days had forced him to acknowledge what he’d been afraid to admit for so long.
He no longer had what it took to be effective on ops. He wouldn’t jeopardize Kiyomi’s safety by asking to go with her.
The study door opened. Kiyomi stepped inside and shut it, and just the sight of her made his heart pound and his body tighten. She had changed into jeans and a cherry-red sweater that hugged her breasts.
Smiling, she crossed the room toward him, the firelight gleaming on her shiny black hair. “How is she feeling? Any better?”
“Aye.” He patted Karas’s side. “Moving much better.”
Karas hopped her front paws off his lap and turned to Kiyomi, white tail wagging, grinning her doggy grin as Kiyomi reached down to stroke her head. “You’ll be back to yourself in no time.” Karas licked the back of Kiyomi’s hand, back end swaying with each tail wag. “I know you adore him, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to have your master all to myself for a while now.”
Straightening, she pointed at the bed in front of the fire, then snapped her fingers. “Bed.”
Karas stared up at her in astonishment for a moment, as if shocked that anyone other than him would dare to give her a command, then her ears lowered and she limped off to her bed as if she’d just been banished to the ends of the earth for all eternity. She flopped down on her bed, chin resting on the edge of it, giving Kiyomi a reproachful look that made him chuckle.
“Total drama queen,” Kiyomi said with a grin, then sauntered around the edge of Marcus’s desk.
His blood pumped hot and hard through his veins as her scent reached him. He inhaled, released it on a soft growl when she gripped his shoulders and straddled his lap in the chair. Her soft weight settled over his hardening cock. He pulled her close, one hand on the middle of her back and the other sliding into her hair.
“Everyone else is gone now, and Trinity’s left to pick up Rycroft,” she murmured, trailing her fingers over his jaw. “Which means two things.”
“Which are?”
Her eyes twinkled with sensual mischief. “We’ve got the entire place to ourselves for a while. And we don’t have to be quiet.”
Don’t go. The words were right there in his mouth. He swallowed them back. This was hard enough, he didn’t need to make it any worse. “Kiyomi, I—”
She laid a finger over his lips. “No talking. Just this,” she whispered, and leaned forward to settle her mouth on his.
Marcus tightened his grip and put everything he had into the kiss. It started slow and tender but quickly grew heated, both of them desperate for closer contact. He wanted to imprint himself on her, somehow leave part of himself inside her forever so she’d never be without him again.
He started to lift her off him, intending to set her on his desk so he could strip her and bury his face in the soft folds between her thighs, but she stopped him with a soft sound and her hands on his chest. She kissed her way down the left side of his neck, her hands reaching for the bottom of his shirt.
Marcus lifted his arms so she could pull it over his head and toss it aside. She settled back over his cock again, her fingers trailing gently down the scars covering his neck, left shoulder, chest and side. The nerve endings there were dead but his body didn’t seem to notice, her touch radiating all over him, right down to his aching cock.
The soft silk of her hair brushed across his chest as she bent her head and followed her fingers with her mouth. She kissed his scars, ducking to reach the ones over his ribs, then started at the top on the other side and worked her way down.
His pulse thudded in his ears when she looked up at him with those liquid dark eyes, her tongue darting out to lick his skin. “Stay still,” she whispered, then shifted back and scooted off him to kneel between his splayed thighs.
She murmured appreciatively and rubbed her palm over the bulge in his jeans. Marcus grabbed hold of the armrests to keep from reaching for her, unsure if he wanted to make her go faster or draw the anticipation out forever.
His mouth went dry as she undid his jeans, opened the denim and pulled the fabric down to expose him. His cock sprang free, lying thick and hard against his belly, and the sight of her face so close to his throbbing flesh had his thigh muscles bunching.
“Don’t move.” Kiyomi leaned forward, her hair brushing his cock as her lips touched the skin just above his navel. She darted her tongue into it, flicked the tip of it against the thin line of hair that led down to his groin.
Christ, she was killing him. His breathing was uneven, his fingers clamped around the armrest for fear that he’d seize fistfuls of
her hair the moment she touched his cock. He released a throttled groan when her cheek touched the sensitive crown.
Her dark gaze lifted, holding his as she placed a soft, agonizingly slow kiss to the tip. Somehow he held still, fighting for breath. A tiny smile tugged at her lips, telling him she was enjoying tormenting him. Then it faded and she slid her tongue around the sensitive underside.
He tensed, the breath leaving him on a gust of air. He couldn’t look away, spellbound, dying from the promise of pleasure in her eyes, and then she finally parted those gorgeous lips and enveloped the head of his cock in her hot mouth.
His eyes slammed shut as pure pleasure rocketed up his spine. That silken tongue ran around the crest once more, then her mouth slid down farther.
Unable to stop himself, he blindly grabbed for the back of her head, his fingers closing around a fistful of hair. “Kiyomi,” he managed to get out, his heart ready to explode.
She ran a hand up his chest and sucked him with slow, luxurious pulls that threatened to undo him, the other dipping low into his underwear to tease his balls. Marcus pulled in a ragged breath and held on, tremors racking him under the exquisite lash of pleasure.
With superhuman effort he pried his eyes open, unwilling to miss a single second of this. Her kneeling before him, the firelight playing over the side of her face and hair while she sucked him, her velvet tongue teasing the most sensitive spot just under the crown.
It was incredible. So unbelievably hot, but he wasn’t going to last much longer, and he wanted to bury himself in her one last time. “Stop,” he rasped out, tugging on her hair.
She resisted him for a moment.
“No, stop.” He pulled in a breath. “I want inside you. Want to feel you come around me.”
Meeting his gaze, she slowly pulled off him, making sure to give him one final, luscious lick along the head of his cock. With a low growl he grabbed her under the arms and lifted her, rising from the chair with effort because of his hip and the pleasure she’d weakened him further with.
Cupping her delectable arse in his hands, he made the awkward walk around the desk to the sofa, his movements hampered by the denim rolled down to his thighs. He laid Kiyomi down on her back on the leather sofa, paused only to give Karas the command to stay, then set about getting his woman naked.
Another shot of arousal burst through him when he saw the sexy things she wore underneath. A lace bra and panty set in black and crimson, so sheer he could see her nipples through the fabric.
He ran his fingertips over them, entranced by the sight, then tugged the cups aside and took one rigid peak into his mouth. Her sigh mixed with a groan as he sucked at her, his free hand trailing down to the lace between her thighs. “Are you wet for me, lass?”
“Find out.”
He intended to.
Sliding his fingers under the edge of the fabric, he brushed them across her smooth, bare flesh. Silken heat coated his fingertips. He growled against her breast and switched to the other as he began to stroke her softly. She whimpered and spread her legs apart more, giving him room.
Dying to taste her again, he kissed his way down her flat belly and tugged the knickers down her legs. Setting a hand on the inside of each thigh, he pushed them wide and lowered his face to the glistening folds between them.
Her fingers knotted in his hair as he stroked her with his tongue, a plaintive moan coming from her as he zeroed in on the swollen bud at the top. He kept going until she was panting and trembling, moving restlessly beneath his mouth.
“Now,” she begged. “Now.”
Keeping his tongue right where it was, he released her thighs and shoved his jeans and underwear off. With one final caress over her rosy clit, he knelt on the soft leather.
He grasped her legs and draped them over his shoulders before coming down on top of her, his weight braced on his hands as he stared down into her face. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes molten with desire.
You’re mine, lass, and always will be.
He didn’t say it. Didn’t want to spoil this last time with her. But he let his eyes say it for him, let his body chant the words to her as he dropped a hand down to tease her clit and then drove into her in a single, smooth thrust.
Kiyomi gasped and clutched at his shoulders, her eyes closing as her head kicked back on the tufted leather. With her legs over his shoulders he was so deep, buried to the hilt in her warmth. She clenched around him, her silken heat sending pulses of ecstasy up his spine.
He would never feel this way about anyone else. Only her. And maybe it made him a selfish bastard, but he wanted her to feel the same way.
With each stroke of his fingers and slow thrust of his cock, he told her how much she meant to him. How much he…
I love you. I’ll never stop loving you.
He was frantic with it, a sudden, sharp spear of grief threatening to pierce the rising pleasure. Kiyomi was the most incredibly beautiful thing he’d ever seen as she moved beneath him in the firelight, her face taut while she moved with him, seeking her pleasure.
He could tell when she reached the edge. Her breath halted. Her fingers dug into his back. Then her lips parted and she cried out, her core clenching around him, hips bucking.
It was too much. Marcus buried his face into her neck with a hoarse shout and let himself go, pumping into her until he shuddered. The sound of his ragged breathing was harsh in his ears as he crashed back to earth, cradled by her warmth.
Lifting his head, he propped his weight back up on his hands to gaze down at her. The sight of her like that, gazing up at him so trustingly, split his heart wide open.
“Come here,” she whispered, drawing him down for a kiss. He went willingly, all but melting into her, unable to tell where he stopped and she began.
Only when his arms began to ache did he stop and ease her legs from his shoulders. His hip burned like fire but it was worth any amount of pain to make love to her.
Awareness of the room began to settle in. Rain hitting the window panes. The crackle of the fire in the hearth and the quiet ticking of the clock on the mantelpiece. He didn’t know how much time had passed. “How long have we got left?” he murmured.
“Trin should be back soon. After that…I don’t know. A few hours, maybe.”
He sat up on his knees, locking an arm beneath her back to bring her with him. “Come up to bed with me.”
The house was still and silent as they went up the staircase hand in hand, Karas trailing a few treads behind them. Upstairs his room was dark and cold, rain pelting the roof while the wind moaned in the eaves.
The sudden emptiness around them registered as a lump of dread in his gut. He led Kiyomi straight to the bed and tucked her under the covers to keep her warm.
“Will you light a fire?” she asked when he started to climb in beside her.
He would do anything for her. “Aye, if you like.”
“I’ll never see a fire again and not think of you.”
Or him, her.
A sharp blade of agony pierced his chest. He turned toward the fireplace where Karas was already curled up on her bed, laid and lit the fire, then crawled in beside Kiyomi.
She smiled and slid over top of him, blanketing him with her silken weight, her hair draped across his chest. He stroked his fingers through it and pulled the covers up to her waist so he could still run his palm over her bare back.
Sudden pressure swelled in his chest. Rising and rising until the words he’d been holding back burst free. “Come back to me when this is over.” He fucking hated that he was begging, but couldn’t hold back any longer. “Or I’ll come to you, wherever is safest for you.”
“Marcus.” She slid her arms around him, burrowed in tight. “I wish I could promise you that, I truly do. But I can’t. Because…I may not live through what’s coming—”
He sucked in a breath, crushing her to him. “Don’t say that. Don’t even think it.” Christ, it chilled him to the bone to even imagine it.
&n
bsp; “I wish it could be different,” she whispered. “I wish I was different.”
“I don’t. I wouldn’t want you to be anything other than who you truly are.” It was why he’d fallen for her in the first place. “When this is over, I’ll come for you.”
They lapsed into silence, both of them lying there wide-awake, greedily soaking up the comfort of their last intimate embrace while the minutes ticked past.
Marcus held her close as he stared into the fire, dreading the moment Trinity returned and took Kiyomi from him.
****
Trinity pulled her hood up before exiting the car as the Lear jet came to a stop on the runway of the private airport.
She jogged toward it through the rain, hunched against the cold wind, hoping Rycroft had brought good news with him. It felt like they were close to finding the Architect, and it couldn’t happen soon enough. Trinity wanted all of this to be over so she and the others could finally move forward with their lives.
The jet’s door opened and the staircase lowered. A man’s silhouette appeared in the doorway above it. Tall, broad-shouldered.
She smiled, slowed as she reached the bottom of the steps, rain drilling the tarmac around her. “You made good time.”
“Yeah, team emergencies tend to make things move fast,” Rycroft said dryly as he opened an umbrella and came down the stairs. “Everyone on the move now?”
“Everyone but Kiyomi and me. I wanted her to have a few more hours to unwind before we leave.”
He nodded, silver eyes knowing. “She and Laidlaw together?”
“Would it matter if they were?” Kiyomi deserved every bit of happiness she could squeeze out of this life, even if it was short-lived. Trinity would give her friend every last moment possible with Marcus, but the end result was inevitable. By first light, they had to be out of here.
His lips curved a bit. “No.” The smile faded. “Did you read her the riot act for going after Rahman?”
“Yes, and she apologized to everyone. Though I have to admit, I’m glad that son of a bitch is dead. Even more so since she got to be the one to end him.” Hopefully that would give Kiyomi some measure of closure and peace, because she needed all the positive things possible to help her through the broken heart she was about to be nursing.