by M J Adams
Luke stayed in the chapel, needing certain parts of his body to relax before he could leave. Which meant no breakfast.
Luke didn’t care at all. Kissing Cora had become the single best event of his life, and he couldn’t wait to do it again.
“It’s cold there,” he said when Cora presented Alberta as one of her top three choices.
“It’s also remote,” she said, flicking her gaze toward him. They sat next to one another, and she had her hand on his leg under the table. He’d need ten cold showers to get her touch out of his system, and he wasn’t sure how Isaac got in the same bed with her and then just went running.
Maybe that was why he went running, those dogs chasing after him and unable to keep up.
Cora’s hand tightened on his leg, and Luke dang near shot out of his seat. “What?” he asked, his voice a little too rough.
“I said, what about Wisconsin?” She looked at him as if she knew exactly what, and he glanced at Max and Isaac, both of whom stood over a map of the US.
“It’s cold there too,” he said.
“I like the idea of Wisconsin,” Max said. “I won’t lie. Property is cheap there. There’s not a lot of people. And it’s still in the country.”
“My third choice is North Carolina,” she said.
“That’s out,” Max said at the same time Luke said, “Nope,” and Isaac said, “Luke’s from North Carolina.”
Cora glanced around at all three of them, a smile growing on her face. “You guys are funny, how you know everything about each other.” She stood up, and the tension in Luke’s body skyrocketed. “Do you think I’ll ever know as much about you three?” She walked toward Max, who kept his eyes glued to her.
“I’m sure you will,” he said, standing up straight as she ran her hand up his chest. Luke licked his lips, more enthralled than he thought he’d be to see her flirt and touch another man.
“Where are you from?” she asked him. “And no lying this time. If we’re going to do this, and I think it’s clear we are, I get the truth.”
“Sacramento,” he said.
Cora nodded, and Luke couldn’t quite see her face. He definitely saw her stretch up and kiss Max right on the mouth—and it wasn’t a chaste union either. He swept his arm around her and kissed her back, like her touch was made of oxygen and he needed it to breathe.
“Damn,” Isaac said under his breath, and Cora rounded Max and kissed Isaac too. Their kiss was obviously more advanced than Luke’s, slow and erotic, as if they’d had plenty of time to practice.
“And you?” she asked.
“Virginia Beach,” he said breathlessly.
Cora turned her sights on Luke, and the whole room got hotter. He couldn’t imagine her trapped away in a locked suite, because she looked calm and completely in control of all three Army Rangers in the room as she moved toward him.
She bent down, giving him a hint of her cleavage before she asked, “What part of North Carolina?”
“Aberdeen,” he said, getting his reward too. As he kissed her, he found it strangely wonderful to have his two best friends watching. Their kiss lasted longer than the other two, and Luke didn’t mind a bit.
When he felt the weight of four eyes on him and Cora, though, he did pull back. His first glance went to Max, who stood at the head of the table grinning. He exchanged a look with Isaac, and then bent over the map again.
“Wisconsin,” Max said as Cora sat back down in her seat. She put her hand right back on Luke’s leg, and he leaned over to her.
“You’re driving me crazy,” he whispered.
“I feel a little crazy,” she whispered back.
What she’d just done—circling the room and kissing all three of them—was stunningly crazy.
And Luke was glad he was on the crazy train.
Things only got crazier from there. They decided on Richland Center, Wisconsin, a tiny little town halfway between Milwaukee and Minneapolis. Population was only about five thousand people, most of whom worked on dairy farms or in the cheese factory there.
Cheese was a very big deal in Wisconsin, as Luke learned over the next couple of days. Max made plans for Silver Lake, while Luke worked out every detail for Richland Center.
Max’s meeting with the Grand Master about their team’s termination was in two days, and he had to have Cora’s relocation plan ready to present. He did. He went over it in his sleep, keeping Luke awake.
Luke wouldn’t present his plan until after that interview. That way, Max wouldn’t have any of the details to give.
Two more days, he told himself as he studied the timeline once more. Isaac was in training with Cora right now, and then they’d have dinner together. Cora usually disappeared into her room after that, and the team had their debrief for the day.
Then Isaac would go to Cora’s room, and Max would talk to himself, and Luke would dream about his future life in Richland Center with his Army pals and the woman he couldn’t stop thinking about.
“Please let this work,” he prayed as he stacked the papers, slid them in the folder, and put that in the false bottom of the desk in their bedroom. If it did, everyone would be at the house he’d found on the outskirts of town in less than a month. If not…well, Luke didn’t want to think about what would happen to them if he couldn’t get them all to the right place at the right time.
Max entered the room. “Hey. Your appointment with the Grand Master is Wednesday morning.”
“All right,” Luke said, a tremor of fear running through him. “Are you going to prep me on that?”
“You and Isaac both,” he said. “Let’s do it tonight.” He wore a look of serious dread on his face and added, “I’m going to shower before dinner.”
Luke nodded, his thoughts already back on Cora and if he could sneak in a kiss with her before the debriefing that night.
Chapter 15
Cora
“Focus,” Isaac calls from somewhere outside of my vision. He’s always in my head, giving me directions. Because of him, I am stronger. I am more focused.
Luke scuttles through my mind too, and I want to succeed at these obstacles for him too. For Max, who’s putting more on the line that I even know. At least that’s what Luke says.
So I focus. I kick out just right, and the dummy’s head snaps back. Pride blooms in me, and I realize for the first time in a long time that I am capable of something hard.
I am brave.
I am loved.
Cora wiped her face with a towel at the same time the door to the gym opened. Isaac had left a few minutes ago, after congratulating her on another great training session. “You’re ready,” he’d said, just before kissing her in that powerful yet sensitive way he alone possessed.
Now that she’d kissed all three of them, Cora could definitely categorize why each of them were so important to her. Max was steady and strong, always thinking everything through, and leading the group. He thought of things no one else did, and that included the way he made her feel when he kissed her, where he placed his hands, how much of himself he gave.
He was passionate, but with extreme control that Isaac lacked. Cora adored kissing Isaac, because he let things loose that Max kept close. He could be wild, and he could pull back when he realized how out of control he was.
Cora longed for the day when he didn’t have to pull back. When she could take all of him, exactly how he was and exactly how he wanted to give himself to her.
And Luke had always been the most emotionally available of the three, and he kissed like it too. Cora had enjoyed the explosive nature of him, the way he let everything he was feeling pour right into the kiss.
And it was Luke she now found herself facing, sweat still dripping down her face. “Hey,” she said. “What’s going on?” She glanced behind him, like the other two team members would be standing there, counting until it was their turn to come in.
“Nothing,” he said, but Luke wasn’t as good at hiding his feelings. She worried about that, becaus
e all of them had to be stoic and silent to carry off their escape to Wisconsin. He had exit interviews he had to pass, and Max had assured her that he’d coach Luke for them so he’d be ready.
“Wondering if you had a few minutes,” he said casually.
“Sure.” Cora tossed her towel in the laundry bin and faced him again. “How are things going with the extraction plans?”
“Good,” he said. “You’ll be arriving second.”
“You’re first?”
“That’s right,” he said. “And you’ll only be alone in Texas for a few days. Long enough for Max and Isaac to clear the forms and close the case.”
“You don’t have to be part of that?”
Luke approached her, his fingers trailing down the side of her face. “I never have been before. Of course, I’ve always been here, so I’m not sure how everything will play out this time.”
“Makes me nervous,” she said, leaning into his touch. Her hands seemed to act by themselves when she was with Luke, and she wrapped her arms around his waist.
“Me too,” he murmured, his lips following his fingertips until he kissed her. He knew what he wanted, and he wasn’t afraid to ask for it. Cora, surprisingly, wasn’t afraid to give it to him.
He pulled back, his breath coming quickly against her throat. “Sorry,” he murmured, skating his lips along her skin. “Just saying hi before dinner.” He backed up, a wolfish smile on his face.
“Can we eat by ourselves?” she asked, unsure of where the idea had come from. She and the Rangers had settled into an easy routine, and if there was one thing Cora liked, it was routine.
“You mean sit at a different table?” Luke’s smile slid off his face. “I don’t see how that’s possible, unless you’re going to specifically tell Isaac and Max they have to sit somewhere else.” Luke shook his head. “I don’t—”
“It’s okay,” Cora said, feeling foolish. She wiped her palms down her thighs, trying to figure out where she belonged with the three men who’d started rooting themselves inside her heart. “We’ll have lots of time in Wisconsin, right?”
“Without cameras,” Luke promised, his smile back. “Now, come on. You’re late getting in the shower, and Isaac will complain if we go down to dinner five minutes later than normal.” He cradled her face in his palm for an extra heartbeat, and then he slipped out as easily as he’d come in.
Cora stayed in the gym for an extra minute, feeling just as hot as she had when she’d been boxing. She left and headed for her room, and Luke turned back from further down the hall.
“You know what we could do?” he asked.
“What?”
“Cookies tonight,” he said. “You in?”
“What time?”
“Ten-ish? I think that’s when the first batch comes out.”
“If I’m asleep, come in and wake me up.” Cora gave him a smile she hoped was flirtatious and went inside her room. A quick shower later, she felt more like herself—at least the woman she’d been before marrying Rich.
The four of them sat together at one of the long tables, the way they always did. She glanced around, but she stopped herself much sooner than she normally did. Max didn’t glance around, even if he was nervous. Isaac didn’t either. Even Luke had the utmost control in these types of situations.
“Everything’s set for Silver Lake,” Max said, as if they talked about their business over meals. They didn’t. Cora had told them about her two sisters, and she’d learned bits of information about them. Easy things, like that Isaac had been a good swimmer in high school and Luke had moved all over the country with his military-serving parents, thus his time in Texas for a few years. He had no siblings.
Cora blinked at Max and then Isaac. “Who’s taking me?”
“Isaac,” Max said.
“Should we be talking about this?” Cora asked.
“This is not the secret, Cora,” Max said, hiding the movement of his lips behind his fork full of meatloaf. “Once our interviews clear us, we’ll be free. Luke usually doesn’t play a part in the relocation beyond the planning stages, so he’ll be done as soon as you’re cleared to leave the Academy.”
“Max and I travel in stages,” Isaac said. “I’m the front man on this mission, and he’ll be somewhere behind.”
Cora almost rolled her eyes. “You guys sound like you’re reciting lines for a play.”
Luke snorted, but neither Isaac nor Max seemed amused. “No one else ever had a problem with our delivery,” Max said.
“Well, last time I checked,” Cora said, leaning forward as her voice dropped to a whisper. “No one else is planning to run away from their jobs to a remote Wisconsin town with their charge.”
“Cora,” Isaac said sharply, and he did glance around now.
She straightened and scooped up a bite of mashed potatoes. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
“Isaac will take you to Silver Lake,” Max continued as if she’d said nothing out of the ordinary. “I’ll be somewhere behind. We’ll have paperwork and concluding interviews to complete before we’ll be done with our jobs here.”
“I’ll likely be last,” Isaac said, looking at Luke. He gave a single nod, and Cora realized how many conversations they were having.
“How long?” she asked.
“Couple of weeks,” Luke said. “A month, depending.”
That got Max’s attention, and he paused his eating. “A month?”
“I have contingencies,” he said. “I expect the Grand Master to assign Isaac to check on our previous charges before he’s discharged.”
“He has a point,” Isaac said.
“We can’t really know until our meetings,” Max said.
“When are those?” Cora asked, tired of waiting for the Grand Master to make an appearance.
“Mine’s tomorrow,” Max said. “Isaac on Tuesday. Luke Wednesday.”
“And I leave Friday.”
“Yes,” the three of them said together, and Cora couldn’t help smiling. She ducked her head and studied the food on her plate, a breeze of happiness flowing through her.
After dinner, the guys went to their room for their daily debrief. She usually enjoyed her time alone, and she’d been using it to journal her days here at Parkwood Academy. She started each one with a line of gratitude, and today she wrote, I’m grateful I feel stronger today.
And she did. Her muscles didn’t feel like they were about to crack, though Isaac certainly pushed her farther than she wanted to go.
She flipped back through the book she’d requested her second day here and read through the gratitude lines. Every one of them was still true, from her feelings of being swept away from her dangerous life before to how grateful she was to be able to be falling in love again.
Cora turned away from those thoughts. She knew what it was like to love, but so much of that had gone cold in the year she’d been with Rich. She shivered as if he could still come through the door behind her, his breath hot and his anger hotter. Or his breath rancid and his hands wandering.
She hugged herself and closed her eyes. “Five more days,” she murmured to herself. Five more days, and she’d be away from Parkwood Academy and onto a new, better part of her life. A healthy dose of fear accompanied the idea, and she let it swirl around, acknowledging it.
Max had taught her that she needed to deal with her feelings of fear and panic, not stuff them away. And so the fear stayed for a few minutes, but it eventually faded. She had three Army Rangers at her side. She could do anything.
Together, they could do anything.
A knock sounded on her door, and she said, “Yeah,” knowing it would be Isaac. He always came to her room after their nightly debrieffs. Sure enough, he came in, his face free from emotion.
“Standing at the desk again?” He crossed the room to her, his smile brilliant.
“I miss the windows,” she admitted as he drew her into his warm embrace.
“You’ll have plenty of windows in Wisconsin,” he said. �
�Luke showed us the houses just now. Tons of open space.”
Cora caught on something he’d said. “Houses? More than one?”
“There’s two,” Isaac said, trailing the tip of his nose down the side of her face. Excitement started to dance within her. He was the master at foreplay, and she often found more pleasure in the lead-up to his kiss than the actual thing.
“The main house where we’ll live is down a road on the outskirts of town. It’s the only house on that road, so it’s kind of out of the way.”
“That’s good, right?” She gripped his shoulders as he brought her closer, his hands slipping under the hem of her shirt.
“Yes.” He paused and drew in a deep breath, his face buried in her hair. “But there’s another house, a little smaller, right at the turn-off. It was for sale too, and Luke thought it would be wise if we bought it also. That way, we know who’s coming up the road if someone comes. I mean, we should be the only ones. They’re big properties, but they are adjacent, and he wanted us to be the only ones out there.”
“Luke has some good ideas.”
“The best,” Isaac agreed. “Not only that, but he thought having two houses might give us all a place to go if we need one. A place to be alone. Or a place to go so other people can be alone.”
Cora wanted to see floor plans. She wanted to discuss who would live in what room, and what her obligations to each of them would be.
There are no obligations. The sentence ran through her mind in Isaac’s voice, as she’d asked him this question already.
“Kiss me,” she whispered, almost begging him. He never did until she demanded it, and then his mouth covered hers completely, drawing from her the very thing she wanted to give him.
She accelerated their kiss this time, though Isaac usually had no problem doing that himself. He growled in the back of his throat and turned her toward the closet. Pressing her into the door, he kissed her roughly, causing pure exhilaration to pound in her veins.
She hadn’t slept with him—and she wouldn’t. Not here, in a room where the door didn’t lock. She slowed the kiss and took his face in her hands. “I get my own room, right?”