“Yes,” she breathes, her eyes telling him the feeling is mutual.
“Call the girls, I’ll talk with the guys, we need a night away from all the craziness. Just take today. Enjoy your time with Judge before he leaves, and we’ll discuss everything else later.”
Erik leans against the doorframe of Kas’ office, smiling like a Cheshire cat who just ate a flock of canaries.
“What is it?” Kas asks, rubbing his eyes from too many hours staring at the computer.
“Oh, not much, just that I have the name of the liaison between Prizrak and Jefferson,” Erik grins, waving a piece of paper enticingly through the air.
“You choose now to go the old fashioned route and write down the information instead of e-mailing it, texting it, tweeting it, or whatever the hell else you do?”
“You don’t tweet confidential information,” Erik chastises, staring at Kas incredulously, “how can you not at least absorb some of the mad skills of your wife when you live in the same house as her?”
“Just give me the name, Erik!”
Holding out the piece of paper, Erik yanks it away when Kas goes to take it, “First, now that Judge is going home, I want to know when you’re going to let Raina come out to play again?”
“Very funny,” Kas rebukes, “now give me the name before I hurt you.”
Laughing, Erik hands him the name before turning to leave. He stops at the door, “You know, I wouldn’t have gotten that name without Raina, just something for you to think about.”
Kas stares blankly at the paper, barely registering the name, David Brooks, his mind focused only on his wife and Erik’s words. Throwing the paper on his desk, he angrily drops his head into his hands as conflicting emotions stab him, making him question the decision he is toying with, tossing it back in forth in his mind, playing with the fire that he is sure is going to burn him. The last thing he wants to do is control Raina, but he’s afraid of her backsliding emotionally and terrified of what Parker’s capable of doing. Not able to take the consuming guilt, he calls Raina, needing to hear her voice to ease his tormented mind.
When Raina hangs up, Judge is relieved to be able to leave her feeling like her work has accomplished something. The hope burning bright jade brings such a warmth to his heart when he lovingly looks at the girl he loves like his own daughter. “It’s always hard leaving you,” Judge admits, blinking back tears, “you better be at my home for an extended stay in three months.”
Burying her head in his chest, she holds on tight, “I promise, Judge. I love you.”
“Love you too, honey,” he tells her, his voice thick as he kisses the top of her head. “You have fun tonight, all of you deserve a break to live your own lives.”
The table in the corner is the most watched by far in the rowdy bar on the outskirts of D.C. The table’s occupants are mostly oblivious to the accumulation of the feral attention.
“I swear I did!” the stunning blonde exclaims, laughing heartily with the rest of the captivating group of young women.
“Thanks for the tip, I’ll have to try that one when the Super Bowl comes on,” Maya states excitedly to Susanna, “I can’t tear Jake away from the TV during football games.”
“You’ll have to save the strawberry glaze, vanilla icing, and fun device attached to your gaming remote for another day,” Mandy can barely tell Maya between hysterical giggles.
“Why?” Maya asks, taking another sip of her fruit filled martini.
Mandy is laughing too hard from the mental image to answer, so Raina takes over, trying to tame the blush on her cheeks from her much more brazen friends, “The Super Bowl is one of their busiest days out of the year,” she informs them as her blush deepens when her thoughts stray to how Kas would rid her of the sweet vanilla strawberry covering, probably the same way he would have rid her from the chocolate if they hadn’t awakened Judge. Toys never enter her mind, they are not needed with her talented husband. Josie’s fingers tapping her arm disturbs Raina’s delicious daydream. “The crowd at the Super Bowl has become infamous for the huge distribution of handlers extorting girls,” she continues, her earlier carefree thoughts diminishing, “the guys will be immersed in monitoring the various stings the FBI conducts that day.”
“Damn, I think I need another drink,” Maya mumbles, pensively stirring her straw in the fruity concoction.
“Where are the guys anyway?” Susanna blurts out, checking her cell phone.
“I don’t know about your men, but if I was fortunate enough to be the man of one of you lovely ladies, I certainly wouldn’t be leaving a table full of gorgeous women alone for too long on a Friday night, in a bar full of men,” a tall, chestnut-haired, tan faced, muscular twenty-something states with a killer grin as he places a tray full of drinks on the table. “Looked like you ladies we’re getting a little low.”
“Thank you,” Susanna states, flashing her bright smile and grabbing a drink while Raina glances at her incredulously.
“Lighten up, honey,” Mandy whispers, laughing, “just because you accept a drink from a man doesn’t mean you have to give him a roll in the sack.”
Raina’s cheeks flush, but she can’t contain the small chuckle that escapes, “That’s it, you are all cut off for the night.”
“Thank you for the drinks, but our dates are on their way to meet us,” Maya politely dismisses him.
Raina gives her a grateful glance.
“Too bad,” he winks, his dark blue eyes meeting them playfully, “enjoy your drinks anyway, ladies.” Flashing a sexy grin, he graciously walks away.
Josie pushes her almost empty margarita aside and grabs one of the mixed drinks.
“C’mon, honey,” Susanna encourages, pushing a drink towards Raina.
Politely sliding the drink behind her plain ole tea, she is saved by the buzzing of her cell phone. She’s had enough alcohol recently to do her for a very long time, and with not using protection last night, she’s beyond happy to put the alcohol away for good. Kas’ text message states they will be there in ten minutes, and his apology is laced with a very generous offer on how he plans on making it up to her later. She doesn’t know about the rest of them, but with what her husband is promising, she doesn’t care at all how late they are, as long as he arrives in time to deliver his sensual reparation.
Biting back a salacious grin, Raina sends a quick reply, the sweet wickedness of the short message delighting her as she thinks of Kas’ expression when he reads it. The man is driving me straight to blatant wantonhood. The grin on her face proves just how much she is enjoying the ride.
“They will be here in a few.”
“I’m starving,” Susanna pouts, “let’s order appetizers.”
After deciding on the sample platter, Susanna makes her way through the crowd, her full, firm derriere collecting numerous lustful stares as she passes. Unlike Raina, who is innocently oblivious to the ample attention she receives from the opposite sex, Susanna is not only fully aware, she finds it quite amusing. Although she’s careful not to overindulge in her views of harmless flirtation, Susanna doesn’t think twice about batting her long, thick lashes and tossing her bouncy blonde hair to get what she wants.
The bartender’s gaze falls short of her face when she leans on the bar, placing the appetizer order. Susanna’s position is too tempting for one of the occupants who has had about five too many. Grabbing her pouched out tush, the debauched man gives it a squeeze, immediately elbowing his friends and laughing hysterically.
“What the hell?” Susanna yells, spinning around and landing her hand hard across the man’s cheek.
The buzzed humor evaporates as he grabs Susanna’s arm, “Oh, you like it rough, honey?”
Raina notices the flirty guy who gave them the drinks quickly rushing towards the bar. Turning around, her pulse quickens as she sees Susanna being held by a very large, very angry man. Racing towards Susanna, she cringes when the man punches the intended hero in the nose.
Not having a clue
as to what she is going to do, Raina steps beside Susanna, placing her hand on top of the perpetrator’s firm grip, “Let her go.”
“What are you going to do if I don’t, honey?” he taunts, his amused expression returning as he looks at the slight frame of the pretty redhead in front of him, telling him what to do.
“We don’t want any problems,” Raina states, finding it hard to breathe, “please, just let her go.”
His laughter is obnoxiously loud as he smirks at her, his amused gaze darting between the two women, and he eases his grip on Susanna’s arm when he witnesses the fear, only wanting to have a little fun, not frighten them.
“Let her go,” a deeper, much more threatening, voice commands from behind.
Raina spins, extremely relieved to see her husband.
“You her man?” he asks, releasing Susanna and lightly pushing Raina backwards as he steps towards Kas.
Kas’ punch lands hard against the man’s jaw. “No, I’m hers,” he growls, nodding his head towards Raina, “touch her again, and you will be crawling out of here.”
Erik reaches them and quickly pulls a trembling Susanna into his arms, “You okay?”
Nodding, her terrified eyes are fixated on the group of men circling Kas.
“Take it outside!” the bartender yells, “I’m calling the cops.”
Austin holds up his badge, “No need.”
Raina wraps her shaky hands around Kas’ arm, “Let’s just go, please.”
The plea in her tone tugs at him, and he wraps his arm protectively around her as he leads her towards the door. Once they are outside, he gives her a quick cursory glance, “Did he hurt you?”
“No,” she states truthfully, slipping inside the car door that Kas is holding open for her.
Susanna is still trembling as Erik walks her to the car. Frank opens the door to his Mustang for Josie and has just shut it when the door to the bar opens, and the group of large men barge toward them.
“Stay in the car!” Kas yells.
Raina knows that it was definitely a command, not a suggestion, and she tries, really tries, to listen, but when she sees the crew cut imbecile break his beer bottle and go after her husband when Kas is busy busting a guy’s nose, a herd a wild horses can’t drag her away from jumping straight into the fight. With one smooth movement, she sweeps her leg heavily against beer man’s legs, sending him spiraling down. Kicking the crude weapon out of his hand, she grabs a discarded bottle of beer and lands a solid blow against his jaw, making sure he stays down.
“Get back in the car!” Kas yells at her, shock in his eyes when he sees the man sprawled on the ground, out cold.
A dark-haired, fouled mouth opponent throws a punch while Kas is distracted finishing the second person who attacked him, and Raina cringes at the sound of the blow meeting her husband’s jaw. Kas seems mostly unaffected, merely shaking his head a little before retaliating and taking the attacker down with two punches.
“I said, get your butt in the car!” he demands, swinging a mean right hook at the bald mountain that just decided he wanted to play.
Before Raina can decide if she is going to do as she was told, Jake knocks a dark blonde adversary down at her feet. She steps back, right against the tall, lean frame of a man she saw with the thugs earlier, and he grabs her arm, yanking it behind her back as he yells for the rest of them to stop fighting. The murderous glare in Kas’ eyes elicits obvious stress in Raina’s current handler, and he tightens his grip, using her as a bargaining chip, which she doesn’t take too kindly to.
Throwing her head back, Raina busts the man’s mouth. Before the ugly expletive even leaves his lips, she elbows him in the gut, then spins and crashes her elbow against his jaw. He raises his fist to punch her, but she ducks and rushes him, knocking him into the car. A roundhouse kick finishes the fight, and Austin laughs, throwing his fist at his own opponent before nodding his head at Raina, “Atta girl.”
Frank’s limp doesn’t seem to affect his ability to tussle as he finishes off the carrot headed antagonist. A man who appears to be his brother takes a vindicating swing, but Frank blocks the blow, then returns the favor with a few of his own.
The bald Mount Everest is harder to handle than his friends, and Kas has to up his game, maneuvering his body to the side to avoid the man’s boulder of a fist. He rebounds with a double punch front kick, and the man stumbles, but doesn’t fall. Kas groans. Ignoring the ache radiating through his knuckles, he goes another round, concentrating on his attackers moves. Once he spots a weakness, he moves in where the man leaves himself open, elbowing him in the ribs, then kneeing him in the chin. Kas would swear the ground shook when the redwood fell, and he stares at the man incredibly when he starts to move again. “Don’t get up,” Kas threatens in the gruffest voice he can manage. He’s very thankful when the man listens.
Erik takes care of the second opponent against him and wipes the blood off of his lip with his throbbing hand. He winces as he flexes his fingers, thinking how it’s been way too long since he’s brawled, “I’ve gotta go out with you guys more often, I’m losing my edge.”
Jake pats him on the back, “You did good for a geek sheik, man.”
“Don’t be a hater because I’m smart, beautiful, and can handle my own,” Erik laughs, “I’m the whole package, baby!”
Austin bursts out laughing at the expression on Jake’s face, cutting his laughter short when he witnesses the anger burning in Kas’ eyes.
“You, okay?” Kas asks Raina, checking her arm.
She can tell she’s getting ready to hear his wrath, and she’s tempted to play up the slight pain in her arm a little, but decides against it, “He didn’t hurt me.”
Once Kas is sure no damage has been done to his wayward wife, he lights into her, “Are your ears clogged, or did you just blatantly disobey my orders?”
Raina juts out her jaw in indignation, “First of all, we’re not on the field, and, second, I didn’t hear you ordering Frank, Jake, Austin, or Erik to get in the car.”
Kas wants to scream at her, but rakes his hand angrily through his hair instead, “Get.In.The.Car!”
Raina’s back straightens as she faces her very angry, very overprotective husband, “Fine.” She slides into the back, ignoring Maya’s, Susanna’s, and Mandy’s mixed looks of awe and disbelief at her audacity.
Austin turns towards Kas, “You know, she really kicked ass tonight.”
Kas’ glare shows Austin that it’s Raina’s ass he’s worried about, not the ones she kicked.
Austin shrugs before sliding into the car, “Just saying.”
Erik checks on Susanna again, grinning like an idiot at his war wound when she kisses his busted lip.
“We’ll catch a ride with Frank and Josie,” Erik calls over his shoulder, his arm wrapped proudly around Susanna.
Jake cranks Maya’s Mazda, “What happened back there?”
Maya’s words tumble out so fast it’s hard to understand her. Spilling every little detail, Raina wishes she would’ve kept her mouth shut about the part when the man gave them drinks.
“You took a drink from a man you don’t know?” Kas asks, struggling to keep his voice calm with his already combustible wrath igniting into a blazing inferno. Gently taking her arm in his hand, he turns her towards him, “You have no idea if he drugged it or not.”
Raina has never witnessed Kas this mad at her before, even when she went to talk to Mr. Sutton. It slays her when something she has done causes his anger, and her words are almost inaudible as she whispers, “I didn’t drink any of it. Besides, the chances of that happening are slim, Kas.” His look tells her that he doesn’t share the same opinion.
Seeing how Raina’s lip quivers while she forces her tears to stay inside, he slides his hand down her arm, giving her hand a small squeeze before turning away. He wants to comfort her, but he’s too angry to let her off the hook just yet.
Jake stops at the red light and glances at Maya, “Did you drink any of wha
t he gave you?”
Maya’s silence affirms she did. “Kas is right, you can’t trust taking a drink from a man you don’t know,” he softly chastises.
“Alright, you two, I think they have learned their lesson not to take candy from strangers,” Austin interjects, his usual carefree attitude a little bristled from the guilty expression on Mandy’s face.
“He’s the only man who tried to help when the jerk grabbed Susanna,” Mandy defends the gentleman. “We didn’t do anything wrong. Jeez, being with men who are paranoid after seeing the worst of the worst really sucks the fun out of a Friday night,” she pouts.
Raina doesn’t say anything, she keeps quiet and turns towards the window, staring out at the bright lights of the city passing by.
Kas hasn’t said another word to her and, now that they are home, it looks like he’s still not in the mood for chitchat. Maya had given her a reassuring look and mouthed ‘call me’ when she had slid out of the car door Kas had opened for her, mumbling her good-byes.
“Are you still mad at me?”
“Furious,” he spits out, his back turned to her, both hands gripping the edge of the counter.
Raina slides her hand up his shirt, her fingers lightly skimming his toned muscles, “I couldn’t just stand back and watch while that idiot tried to attack you with a beer bottle.”
He spins around, his eyes showing much more concern than anger. “He could have used it on you, Raina!” he admonishes.
Oh, Kas, that’s why you are so upset. Seeing that she isn’t going to win this argument, she takes a different route, “You wanna slug it out in bed?”
The corner of Kas’ lips tilt into a smile as he shakes his head at his audacious wife, “You want to have it out, huh?”
“Most definitely,” she responds, her eyebrow arching and her eyes sparkling the brightest green.
Kas lowers his mouth to hers, stopping mere centimeters from her lips, loving watching how his wife practically pouts at his unexpected halt. “If we start this, we’re going the full twelve rounds.”
A grin spreads across her luscious lips, “Oh, I’m counting on it.”
After the Rain Page 16