by CatNip (lit)
Lynx suddenly shimmied around, facing him. Plainly, she’d expected another nibble. Leo smiled. His hands at Lynx’s hips, he ground Lynx’s mound with the bulge straining his jeans. Lynx let out a gasp.
He didn’t have much longer. Lynx was close. Leo longed to stoke the fire higher. However, another powerful instinct warred within him-danger. Leo couldn’t ignore the warning.
Leo knew without being told that Craig would give his life for Lynx’s if it came to it. Craig cared for Lynx. From what Leo had gleaned, Craig had cared for her since childhood.
Craig was not fully aware of his latent Imatu abilities, much the same as Lynx. But those abilities, coupled with the fact of Craig’s military training before and with COBRA, would give Leo and his pride an edge. It could well be the edge needed if Adonis Cervantes made a move on Lynx again.
“You’re a hundred miles away,” Lynx pouted. She arched her neck and upper torso in blatant invitation.
“I know. I probably am somewhere else this morning,” Leo sighed regretfully. “Lynx, it’s just ranch business. I guess it’s still bugging me. I’m sorry, kitten. I’ll make it up to you in just a little while. That, I promise.”
Leo pulled Lynx to him tightly and claimed her lips. He would love to show her exactly what he promised to pick up later, but he had too many things to take care of first. He wanted the time to savor Lynx slowly, mark her permanently as his, without question. After just one long, heated, teasing kiss, which only extended past her lips to the tender flesh above her bared shoulder bone, he broke away resignedly. His siege of Lynx, regrettably, would need to be put on hold momentarily. With one last, heated kiss, Leo reluctantly turned and left.
~ ClumsyCat ~
Lynx sucked in a deep breath. She leaned on the bathroom sink and examined her face in the mirror. No, she didn’t really need to add any color to her face this morning. Her skin glowed already.
She quickly pulled on a bright, flowered sundress, trying to ignore the way her pebbled nipples scraped against the soft fabric or the way her lacy underwear was already moist between her thighs. Her thoughts buzzed with the memory of Leo’s earlier teasing promises.
She headed downstairs to assuage the hunger that had begun to assert itself in her growling stomach. Food sounded great at this point. Her other hungers would have to wait. Lynx made her way into the kitchen and began searching for something to scrounge up.
By ten, she had foraged enough eggs and cheese for a skillet full of omelet, along with a plate of bacon, and she had already had her first cup of coffee. She was starting on her second cup when Craig walked in with Leo following right behind. Lynx started filling her plate, trying to ignore the shivers that went through her system at the sight of the two of them in blue jeans and comfortable tee-shirts. They looked utterly male and delicious.
Demar followed right behind them, completing the trio, and it was obvious that the three of them had been quietly talking. The minute they all saw Lynx seated at the smaller kitchen table nestled into the corner, their conversation abruptly stopped.
“Well,” Demar cleared his throat and ran his fingers over his shaved head in a gesture that Lynx couldn’t help but notice was rhythmic and just slightly sexy. “I’d best be checking that out for you, Leo, and good morning, Lynx.” With that, Demar put his hat back on, ran his finger around the rim, another habit she’d noticed, and strode out towards the foyer. He seemed to be in a hurry to get on with whatever errand Leo had sent him on.
Craig looked to Lynx and then back at Leo before asking, “So, what do you have there, and is there more?”
Leo had wondered over to the stove, giving everything an approving sniff before he answered for her. “Well, I don’t know how she’d eat all that. I don’t think she’ll mind sharing, would you, Lynx?” Just the way Leo drawled that last part out had heat rising to her cheeks. Her mind had wandered involuntarily.
“No, no, of course not,” she blurted out. Lynx bent her head, letting her hair curtain her overheated cheeks. She knew she needed to keep her eyes off the two of them or else give away exactly where her thoughts had headed. Leo’s innocuous but provocative suggestion didn’t mean anything, right? A sudden fantasy of being sandwiched between the two of them was more than Lynx could take at the moment.
Lynx, stop it right now!
“What do you need to stop, Lynx?” This time the sensuous drawl of a voice in her head was Leo’s. She kept her head bent to the two men who were now seated at the small table enjoying their coffee. Sexual tension roiled through her. This telepathic communication that she seemed to have alternately with Leo and Craig was for the birds. Especially, like now, when she needed to explain.
She carefully thought the answer back. “I tend to rush, get clumsy and break things. I broke a glass just yesterday.”
“Sure,” Leo replied. He was unapologetically cheeky too, “I’m sorry about that, kitten. Did you get wet?” Leo asked.
Lynx just knew if she turned around right now, Leo would be sitting there with a knowing smirk on his face. She could just feel the wicked humor and sensuality emanating off him in waves.
She listened to the casual conversation Craig and Leo carried on behind her. Lynx battled to regain her composure before joining them at the small alcove. If she could feel their silent regard of her without turning around, she couldn’t help wonder how it would feel to be sitting so intimately between the two of them. Oh, well, last night they’d shared tea on the porch, and she’d been wearing nothing but her robe and gown beneath. Now at least she was fully dressed.
Lynx took her refilled coffee mug back to the small table.
Immediately, both men quickly made their moves to get up and draw out her chair for her. Craig backed away first, allowing Leo to do the honors. Leo grinned wickedly at her as he pulled out her chair.
Lynx sat down. She tried to pretend she hadn’t noticed their little byplay. “Thank you,” was all she said as she sat back down. She sipped her coffee intently. At first she could ignore the very male thigh now brushing her own. She tried not to act aware of a set of very male feet from the table’s other side that nudged her own smaller, delicate ones between them.
Oh, this is certainly comfortable. How could she look at one and not feel what the other was doing?
Lynx could feel the heat burning her cheeks, and she knew it wasn’t the steam from her coffee. If that weren’t bad enough, Leo chose that moment to secretly allow his free hand to slide alongside hers and his thigh. Leo’s caress left fiery sparks on her skin as he inched up the edge of her sundress. At the same time, Craig used one foot to skim up the calf of her other leg, flirting shamelessly. It worked, too.
More than the cream from her cup spilled as Lynx nearly knocked over her coffee cup in her hurry to get up. “I-I need to warm up my c-c-coffee.” She stammered over the words as both men looked at her somewhat askance.
Leo drank down the last of his coffee. Getting up for a refill, he practically chortled, “Well, at least you didn’t break the cup this time, kitten. Don’t get up. I’ll grab a towel and a fresh cup for you, too. By the way, Craig, after you’re through with breakfast, would you give Captain Slater a call and tell him what we’ve discussed?”
Lynx eyed both men suspiciously. “What do you both know that you need to talk to Slater about?”
Craig looked over at Leo, as if waiting for him to answer first. “Well, it’s a situation I’ve been keeping my eye on, Lynx.”
Felice walked into the kitchen and went to pour herself a cup of coffee. Roberto followed. Lynx felt growing uneasiness. Her sensitive instincts were not going to be put off any longer. “What situation, Leo?”
“Lynx, Roberto, and I recently came across a campfire in the woods. We were startled to find one of the campers had a familiar face, a face one doesn’t easily forget.”
Lynx looked back and forth between them, waiting for the pin to drop. Impatient, she blurted. “Well, who was this mystery camper, Leo? And what does this myst
ery camper have to do with Captain Slater? Why would he need to be told?”
For a second, Leo hesitated. But he knew he didn’t dare delay long before answering.
Lynx glared at him, waiting.
Leo finally spit it out. His tone was dead serious. “Adonis Cervantes, Lynx, that’s who Captain Slater needs to know about.” Lynx’s mouth flew open. She shut it. She recognized the name. For a few seconds, she was speechless. Oh, but she had questions.
Lynx made her way back to the coffee pot, poured what was left of the coffee into her cup, then went and sat down at the small table. “So, what is Cervantes’s remaining son doing in the woods so close to your home, Leo? And why do I get the strangest feeling this has at least something to do with me being here?” Lynx asked, though this time in a quieter voice.
Leo shrugged, walked over to Lynx, tilted her chin up as he looked at her, and said. “We don’t know for sure what Adonis is after, Lynx. But I don’t want you worrying, do you hear? I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Neither will Craig or any man or woman who works for me. Do you understand me?”
Lynx looked up at Leo for a second, her hazel eyes wide as saucers. She stepped back, her voice was clear. “I’m not worried, Leo. You, with all of your macho, protective, me big male, you little female chest pounding, don’t forget I’m a COBRA agent. Even if I was almost kidnapped before, I won’t be so easily caught off guard again. While we’re on the subject now, don’t you think it’s high time you returned my baby?”
Leo, Craig, and Roberto all looked at her with similar quizzical expressions on their faces. Felice just grinned like a Cheshire cat, and finally broke the silence.
“I think what Lynx means, boys, is she wants her gun back.” Felice chuckled and added, “I know I wouldn’t feel right without my baby close by, either.”
Roberto laughed as he went over to nuzzle Felice’s hair in an affectionate gesture Lynx had noted was typical for the couple. “Yeah, Felice never wants to take the damn thing off, either.” Roberto said, but in the same teasing manner. Felice just laughingly elbowed Roberto lightly before snuggling deeper into Roberto’s lanky frame.
Leo grinned at the couple and groaned.
Roberto didn’t seem to mind, though.
Lynx watched the affectionate byplay with Roberto and Felice in amusement. She smiled and agreed. “Felice is right. I mean my gun. I was unconscious when I came here, but I’ve had time to recover. So, where is my piece, Leo?” Lynx swallowed down the last of her coffee, and looked at Leo expectantly.
Leo swallowed down the remaining dregs of his now cooling java before he answered, “Don’t worry, you’ll get your baby back. I’ll just go retrieve it from the den. It would be best for all concerned here at the ranch to be packing at all times. Since we don’t know the extent of the threat that Adonis poses, it only makes sense to be armed and ready. Give me five minutes, Lynx, and I’ll return her to you.” Leo strode out of the kitchen and headed towards the den.
“Well,” Craig said, looking thoughtful as Leo turned the corner, “I wonder how long it’ll take Captain Slater to send in the rest of the team on this one? It would be kind of difficult to believe that Cervantes is prowling an area this close to us without some kind of connection, some sort of illegal activity going on. I just wish we knew exactly what Adonis was up to here.” In Craig’s blue-grey eyes, Lynx could see the curiosity and concern that his voice clearly reflected.
She had to restrain her desire to reach across the table and reassure him. She had a strong urge to ruffle Craig’s thick, dark hair playfully to tease him out of his worries. Truthfully, she was worried, too. She might not have been part of the operation COBRA had run during the time period when Adonis’s father and brother had headed the Ombres drug cartel, and she may not have seen the intense drug war that her team had very nearly lost, but she’d heard the chilling tales. The Cervantes name was not one to be taken lightly.
Her worried thoughts were interrupted by Craig’s hands enfolding hers. “A quarter for your thoughts, little minx,” he all but purred.
Lynx shivered. What was it about his touch? When his fingers stroked the back of her hand and he made that sound, it sent tingles through her. Then, Leo came walking through the hallway that led to the kitchen. She quickly removed her hands from Craig’s a split-second before Leo came into the room. Lynx tried to compose her expression.
Lynx’s anxiety vanished as soon as Leo held out her baby, her nine millimeter Beretta 92. She loved having the feel of the gun’s light but solid weight back in her hands once again. Her Baby Beretta, as she called it, was just one of the standard guns issued to the special ops teams back at McDill.
Lynx understood what Felice had meant. She’d felt naked without her gun on hand, too. But then she no longer felt disoriented or weak. She had when she’d first arrived. Now, despite a few dizzy spells, she was beginning to feel as energetic as she ever had, if not kinetic with energy.
“Thanks, Leo. You obviously took good care of her.” Lynx purred with delight as she carefully examined her beloved gun. Lynx noted automatically, and with satisfaction, that it was still fully loaded. All ten clips in the magazine were there, safety locked but ready to go. Still, Lynx hoped she wouldn’t need them any time soon. But if she did, she could at least defend herself again.
~ Every Pussy Needs to Play ~
Every soldier or operative Leo had ever known valued their personal weapon. Why not? A weapon became a powerful extension for a soldier. In COBRA, camaraderie and protectiveness for one’s team members was paramount, though. Craig and Lynx were no exception he could see.
Craig reached over and gently took the gun from Lynx’s hands. He carefully checked it over before returning it. Leo sensed the fierce protectiveness Craig felt for Lynx. It was only natural, of course. Craig had been protective of Lynx long before he had, he reminded himself. The years since he’d left the team were the same ones that Craig and Lynx had worked, and perhaps played, together.
The thought brought him up short. He and Lynx hadn’t yet had time to really play together. Sure, they’d had mind-blowing sex once she’d recouped enough. But she had still been weak after her arrival at the ranch. There hadn’t been time yet to find out what Lynx did for pure fun. Well, he recollected fondly, other than satisfying their crazy urges and devouring each other.
That was going to have to change, Leo decided. He didn’t want all of Lynx’s memories of fun to consist only of a time before him. “Hey, what do you both think of a night on the town this evening?” he asked. Two startled pairs of eyes looked inquisitively at him.
Craig, in particular, looked confused. “Are you sure we can protect Lynx if we go out on the town?” The question was legitimate, Leo knew.
“Don’t worry, Craig, I’ll protect you. I won’t let any big bad bitches bite you.” Lynx got up and came to stand by Leo. Reaching up, she ruffled his hair. Leo eased closer, wanting more, wanting to purr.
“I can’t wait, Leo. I hope you boys know how to dance. I hope you can keep up with me.” Lynx smirked at them. Then, she suggestively waggled her eyebrows before turning on her heel and sashaying out of the room.
“Ahem, well, she sure told me.” Craig cleared his throat, still gazing in the direction of Lynx’s exit. “Love to see you coming, but love to watch you go, too.” Craig was broadcasting, loudly, whether he realized or not. Leo shot him an amused look. He had not missed that last lustful look Craig had directed at Lynx’s disappearing, and all too appetizing, tail.
“So, I’m not the only one who loves to watch Lynx come and go?” Leo thought pointedly in Craig’s direction. Craig in turn, Leo noticed, had the decency to flush red and look over questioningly at him.
“Yes, I suppose she told us,” Leo redirected aloud to Craig, turning serious again once he heard the door to Lynx’s upstairs room close. He hadn’t wanted Lynx to overhear what he had to say to Craig. Her hearing was acute, more so every day. But all of her senses were sharpening. Ly
nx’s was tip-toeing on the verge of her heat cycle, and it was driving him crazy. She was harder and harder to resist. He understood Craig being attracted to Lynx more than ever.
“Craig, you were right,” Leo said thoughtfully, “we really do need to be on guard and exercise extreme caution while out with Lynx tonight. But I believe it’s just as important Lynx gets out and has some fun, especially since she’s been cooped up here recuperating. Still, an outing like this has inherent dangers since we know Adonis is probably still nearby.” Leo paused, considering how best to address the rest with Craig, then continued.
“There are some other issues we need to discuss, as well. To begin with, what exactly did Captain Slater have to say about the situation, Craig? Are we going to have our team to count on for backup soon or not? Are they coming to investigate this possible new development, or are you expected to be the lone wolf on this end, so to speak? I can’t imagine Daniel not wanting to be here to keep an eye out for Lynx, not after knowing he might have easily lost her.”
“Whoa there, Leo, slow down. Slow down, buddy, one or two questions at a time, please. You’re talking almost as fast as Lynx does at times.” Craig grinned. “Na, nobody can talk that fast.”
Leo sat back and spread his long legs out before continuing. Craig wasn’t answering fast enough from his point of view.
Finally, Craig answered in his usual, unhurried manner. “Yeah, Slater wanted me to reiterate that as soon as Ethan and Javiar get back from their latest trip, they’ll be available should we feel the situation warrants it. Right now, they’re out of the country for at least a few more days. Daniel should be here by tomorrow, sometime before noon most likely. Oh, and Slater wants to be notified immediately if anything new turns up on the Adonis front. He promised to come out himself, if needed. Slater plans to enlist Captain Donovan and request his team’s help, if necessary. Oh, and by the way, Leo, Slater wanted me to ask you something.” Craig paused.
“What did he want to know, Craig?” Leo asked.
“He wanted to know when your extended leave was going to be over. He made it quite clear that you’d still be a welcomed asset if you returned to COBRA, Leo.”