Freedom Code

by Elaine Levine

  “This is more of your freedom code.”

  “Yes. I have women who translate the stories I write for the Middle Eastern markets. Their families here would not like them being exposed to these radical feminist ideals. It’s part of the work I do with several literary foundations. The women who do these translations strengthen their English skills. It also helps them find their own voices. I often see them going on to telling their own biographical stories about their lives—before and after immigrating. Those are the most important stories for them to tell. The foundations I work with collect and share those stories.

  “And it isn’t just immigrants I work with, but women in impoverished communities here in the U.S., women on reservations, homeless women.” She looked at him, wondering if he got the importance of what she was saying…if any of it registered. “Having a voice is a freedom and a right. It’s a step up from invisibility and oppression. One step closer to being empowered. These are the women you want me to expose. Most of the money I make in the Middle Eastern markets I donate to these foundations.”

  “And all of that can be traced and accounted for properly?”

  “Legally, you mean? Yes. All of it is properly handled through legitimate distribution services.”

  “It was these women you warned to stay away from work because of me this morning?”

  Zaida frowned. “Yes. How did you know?”

  “Because I cloned your phone. I can see everything that your phone sees.”

  Zaida covered her mouth as her eyes widened. “I thought cloning my phone meant you copied my contacts and such. Not that you were spying on me.”

  “In all fairness, I did tell you I cloned your phone.”

  “Wait…do you read Arabic?” She’d purposely written that text in Arabic so he couldn’t read it.

  “No. I had Rocco translate it for me when we were in Wyoming. I want to meet these women.”

  “No.”

  “Zaida…I need to meet them. I need to rule them out. What if one of them is working with the bad guys? What if she’s a weak link, potentially exposing you and the others for her own gains or maybe just for her own protection? If they are as vulnerable as you say, then they need my help, too.”

  Zaida lowered her forehead to her knees and thought about it. What choice did she have? “All right. I’ll call them into the office in the morning.” She turned to face Levi, her cheek still resting on her knee. “Jamal hated that I worked with them. He wanted me to abandon the work I was doing with them.”

  “Why?”

  “Respect. Safety. It was another reason why I could never accept him.”

  “Do your parents know about this?”

  “No.” She stared out at his field. “I’m really getting afraid, Levi. My father wasn’t exaggerating when he said this might ruin all of us, perhaps even our entire community, if the haters in the outside world learn of it and twist reality to suit their beliefs.”

  “I know. Which is why the faster we can figure this out, the safer everyone will be.” He stood and offered her a hand. “Let’s hit the sack for tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll make some more progress.”

  She nodded and accepted his help to rise. He didn’t immediately let her hand go. Zaida’s heart started a rough beat. What would it feel like to be kissed by him? Not the fast peck she’d given him this morning, but a passionate embrace?

  Inadvertently, she licked her lips, watched him track the movement of her tongue.

  “I’ll go down first,” he said.

  Whoa…had she heard that right? “You’ll what?”

  “The ladder. I’ll go first.”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  He bent and swooped up the other blanket, dropping it over his shoulder. When he was a few steps down, he waited for her to join him on the ladder, then they descended together. Once they were on flat land, he stowed the ladder on the side of the house.

  Zaida walked to the back of the house and stopped at the base of the stairs, giving the sunflowers a last look. Heat lingered in her body from their near kiss, which she still craved.

  When he returned to her, the moonlight showed the resignation in his face. He caught her hand in his, then pulled her into his arms. “Tell me no. Right now.”

  She shook her head, her eyes locked with his. “Yes.”

  He ran the fingertips of both hands up her neck then into her hair. He looked like he was about to devour her. She shivered and moved her hands up his hard chest.

  He leaned down and set his lips to hers. One of his hands cupped the back of her head, the other slipped around her waist. He lifted her, moving her up a step to ease the differences in their heights, then deepened the kiss, turning his head to get a better angle.

  Never had Zaida been kissed so savagely…by a man starving for her the way Levi was. He moved closer, wrapping both arms around her. She ran her hands up to his broad shoulders, then hooked them behind his neck. His hands went to her face, holding her near as he broke their kiss, then he started it over, his mouth wide open. She wanted to feel his hard body against her soft one, but the stupid blankets over their shoulders buffered them.

  She tugged at the blanket, but it didn’t budge. Levi pulled back, an irritated frown wrinkling his brow. He tossed his blanket down and followed it with hers, then reached for her again. She pulled his T-shirt up, baring his ripped abs…and his holster. He finished removing his shirt, yanking it over his head then dropping it on the ground.

  She had already begun unbuttoning her shirt, wanting it off before he thought to rip it off her. It had a lot of buttons. So damn many. Her fingers were shaking, as if contact with his body was a fix she needed desperately. He pushed her hands aside, but his big fingers weren’t suited to tackling her buttons, so she took things back over.

  He spread the top of her shirt wide, baring her chest and all of her bra. He smiled as he looked down at her. He caught her up to him, his hands on her back under her shoulder blades. He kissed her bared skin, his lips nipping and sucking. She wondered if he’d given her a hickey. Whatever he was doing, she wanted more of it. When he bent his head to the crook of her neck and moaned, her panties were instantly wet. His beard was prickly against her skin, tantalizing her.

  He wrapped his arms around her arms and body, lifting her up the steps to the landing. When he joined her there, he was once again too tall for her short frame. He backed her up to the house and reached over to open the porch door. She stepped up into the house, but he pinned her against the doorjamb. Inside, the house was shadowy, but moonlight still illuminated half his face…clearly showing the war he fought with himself.

  “What is it?” Zaida asked.

  He leaned his forehead against hers. “I can’t do this.”

  “Do what?”

  He didn’t immediately answer her. When he did, his words came out in a low growl. “I’ve had fast and easy. A lot of it. Now I want something different. Deeper. Permanent, even…if that really exists. Anything we do now will be tainted by this case.”

  Ice poured through all the secret places inside Zaida that had been burning just seconds ago. She’d told herself this was nothing, a fling. That giving herself to Levi did not bind them in any permanent way.

  But that wasn’t how he was looking at it.

  She wanted to laugh at the pickle she was in, but for the life of her she couldn’t.

  He fisted her hair, forcing her head back as he stared down at her. “If you’re not after the same thing I am, then leave. Now.”

  “Levi—” her voice was whispered. Even she didn’t know if she was urging him on or begging him to stop.

  His nostrils flared and his cheeks bunched. He made the decision for her. “Take off your clothes,” he ordered. Her body grew chilled as he pulled away, disappearing into the house as he unfastened his belt.

  She stared after him a long second, filled suddenly with doubts and a wretched desire that still burned. Could she really sleep with him, a virtual stranger?

  He w
as barefoot when he came back to the porch. His jeans were unfastened and rode low on his hips. His belt was open and dangling lazily. His holster band was gone. Where had he put his gun? He leaned against the big opening from the house and folded his arms. “You’re not naked.”

  God, were they really going to do this? She’d met him, when—two days ago? She licked her lips. He arched a dark brow. She removed her shirt, then opened her jeans and slowly pushed them down her hips, wiggling out of them…not because she was giving him a show but because they were tight and had to be coaxed off her legs.

  Standing in her panties and bra, she stared at him, almost like a girl who didn’t know the next steps. That was ridiculous. She wrote about this all day long. But the truth was, a lot of time had passed since she’d been with anyone.

  “Come inside,” Levi said, slipping into the shadows behind him.

  She folded her lips between her teeth, pinching them, running her tongue over them. How many times had her female characters indulged in this type of wild behavior—pure carnal exploration? A lot.

  And yet…she never had.

  Until now.

  She followed him into the house. He stood near the sofa. She looked across the space to her room. She could run there. Lock her door. Hide from him, from this…from herself.

  But God help her, she didn’t want to.

  She walked up to him and put her palms on his chest. It was nicely furred in the area over his pecs, then narrowed to a thin line that ran down the center of his chest, widening a bit below his navel, disappearing into his black boxer briefs.

  He cupped his hand under her chin, then his long fingers slipped into her hair, sending tingles along her spine. He lifted her face as he bent to kiss her. This kiss wasn’t as hard as his first. He held himself back, letting his tongue gently enter her mouth. It stroked hers. Zaida shivered at his gentle exploration, then began doing to him what he did to her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and ran them up his back, feeling the power of his muscled body.

  All too soon, he pulled back. Before she could complain, he lifted her into his arms. She caught his neck with one of her hands, holding herself up. For a long moment, he stared down into her eyes. Then he said, “Let go of me.”

  “What?”

  “Lie back in my arms. I’ve got you.”

  “Levi—”

  “Do it.”

  She eased her hand away from him.

  “Relax. Completely,” he ordered.

  “Levi—”

  “Now, Zaida.”

  She tried to do as he requested, but it was awkward holding her head up.

  “Go limp.”

  She took a deep breath, then finally relaxed in his hold. Her head was draped down over his arm. The room spun in upside-down shadows and shapes. And then his lips were on her neck, his tongue, too. Her nipples hardened at the contact. She arched up against his mouth, feeling his hot breath as he kissed his way down the side of her neck. He lifted her body to his face, kissed her collarbone, let his mouth move over the lacy edge of her ruby bra.

  He lifted and turned her body toward his face as his mouth moved toward the center of her ribs, down to where her belly was soft. His tongue dipped and swirled in and over her belly button. He buried his face in the tender skin between her navel and her panties.

  Zaida sucked in a sharp draw of air as his hot breath heated her mound. There was nothing she could do to participate. This was his own private feast that she was the beneficiary of. She did cry out, in pleasure and yearning, when his chin ground against her folds. And then his teeth were on her thigh—one, then the other.

  Never had she been so ready for sex as she was at that point.

  She closed her eyes, wondering how long he meant to torture her this way. Suddenly she felt the room shift. They were moving…toward the sofa. He set her down on the long side of the L-shaped sofa, then shooed Beau off it, ordering him to go to his dog bed. Straightening, Levi dropped his jeans and stepped out of them.

  Zaida reached up to run her hand over his strong thighs, up even more to cup his balls. Levi hissed and widened his legs, giving her all the access she wanted. She found the hardened length of him and followed it to its wide tip.

  He knelt on the sofa, between her legs. Then settled himself over her, rocking himself against her core.

  Zaida sighed, loving the feel of him over her, his strength, his weight. “Levi—do you have protection?”

  “Of course.”

  “Where is it?”

  “Under the cushion here.”

  Zaida’s eyes popped open. “You keep condoms in your sofa?”

  “Well, yeah. Don’t you?”

  “No. I have two condoms in my bathroom.”

  He grinned. “Two? You only stock up for half a night of fun?”

  Her lips parted even as her body quaked at the thought of needing more than two condoms. “What else do you have in this sofa?”

  Levi kissed her neck, her chin. “Guns. Knives. A fucking armory.”

  Zaida pushed him up. She stared up into his face, but couldn’t make out the finer nuances of his expression. Maybe he wasn’t kidding. What was she doing having sex with a mercenary? Was she out of her ever-loving mind? She didn’t do casual sex. And things with Levi were never going to go anywhere. “I have to go.”

  Levi sat up. “Go where?”

  “To my room.”

  “Briefly? Or for the night?”

  “The night.”

  He caught the corner of his lips in his teeth and nodded. “Okay.”

  Levi watched her sweet, rounded ass as she edged past him and went to her room. He’d been surprised that she hadn’t stopped him sooner. He was curious to see how far she was willing to go…and couldn’t help wondering if she was doing it to get under his skin? Did she think to control him by offering him her body? That he couldn’t shoot someone he’d fucked?

  Hadn’t been an issue with Julia.

  Levi went to the fridge and pulled out a beer. Twisting off the cap, he went back and sat at the end of the sofa nearest the grate blowing cold air from the swamp cooler. His body was hot as hell and needed to cool the fuck down.

  Unfortunately, neither the beer nor the cool stream of air stopped his thoughts from going where they always did in his still moments…to the real reason he left the teams when his latest tour had ended. Jules. Sweet Julia Rickers.

  He sat forward on the sofa and banged his beer down on the coffee table, then dropped his head in his hands. Two years had passed since that terrible day, and still it was as fresh as when it happened.

  Levi polished off his beer, then called Beau over and settled in for a few hours rest. Tomorrow was going to be harder than today was…and he was going to need his mind functioning.

  Jules was gone. Zaida was not…would never be…a replacement for her.

  So why did he feel a crazy seed of hope when he saw her? Why did he find himself wanting to make her laugh? Wanting to hear her stories and her hopes and dreams? Why was he torturing himself with what would never be?

  10

  The next morning, Zaida was up, showered, and dressed by eight a.m. She hadn’t stepped out of her room yet, though the smell of Levi’s freshly ground coffee was a sore temptation.

  She was nervous about what to expect from him…and embarrassed by the fact that her body still burned for him. He hadn’t tried to dissuade her from leaving last night. She knew he’d been fully aroused—she’d felt the evidence of that. Had he been playing a game?

  Well, it had worked. She was fully discombobulated today. And on this, of all days, when she needed her wits about her. They were going to meet her translators. Somehow, she had to convince Levi to respect their privacy. She had to get him to understand the fine balance these women walked between what their families thought they did and what they actually did do.

  When she did open her door, Beau charged toward her, happy to see her after the long night. She set her purse on the sofa, then sat do
wn to rub his ears.

  “Looks like you figured out he’s not going to eat you,” Levi said as he handed her a coffee mug, the rich elixir fixed just how she liked it.

  “I’ve never met a dog I liked before Beau.”

  “He’s not a dog. He’s my best friend. My only friend, really.”

  Zaida looked at Levi, saddened by his admission. She was not a loner like him. She had a ton of friends—she made friends easily. But the truth was, none of her friendships were very deep. She wondered if she did that on purpose, building a wall between her and the outside world through light friendships that were never very taxing.

  Maybe she and Levi weren’t so very different after all. She looked at her coffee, suddenly realizing this was the second time he’d made it how she liked it…but she’d never told him how that was. “How did you know I liked my coffee this way?”

  “Lucky guess.” He shrugged.

  “I texted my translators,” she said. “They’ll be in the office around ten this morning.”

  “Where’s your office?”

  “In Fort Collins. It’s just a small suite on the third floor of one of the Old Town buildings. I can walk to it from my apartment.”

  “Have them bring their computers. I’m still looking for the origin of that worm.”

  Zaida texted that directive from her phone. She frowned as she looked at Levi. “How do you know the worm originated from one of my computers?”

  “Not sure how that conclusion was drawn. I wasn’t given that info. Just that it had come from one of your computers.” He set some plates out and started dishing out breakfast. “I made us omelets. Let’s eat, then we can go.”

  Zaida took up a fork and pulled her plate closer. She looked across the wide counter to the mercenary whose hands and mouth and body she still craved. His eyes were hard as he returned her stare. He finished before her, then switched his focus to washing the dishes, banging around more than was needed as he filled the dishwasher and scrubbed the pans.