Zane crouched onto the bed and crawled up her body stopping at her knees, hip, ribs, shoulder and neck to taste her. Her hands found purchase in his hair, and she tugged him up to her. The need of her kiss detonated inside him sending shockwaves through his very soul. He centered himself between her legs. Fuck! Condom!
Zane lifted away from their kiss. Her arms clung to his neck preventing him from pulling away. "Babe, I need to get a condom." His pants were at the end of the bed. He had two in his wallet. She sighed but relaxed her grip. It took only a moment to find the condom, and the package lasted less than a second. Jewell sat up and moved to the foot of the bed. She took the condom from him and rolled it down his cock. The sensation of her hands did little to alleviate the deep-seated need that thrummed through his body.
Jewell turned and positioned herself on her hands and knees. Sweet mother of god, he could not resist the invitation. He stepped forward bringing his shins up against the mattress. His hand shook as he extended it to caress the smooth round globes of her ass. She turned and stared at him. "I want you to take me, hard. I want to feel you inside me when you aren't here."
"I would never hurt you." Zane had hurt too many people in his life, he would never allow himself to bring the woman he loved harm.
"I know. But I love your cock deep inside of me. Take me. Make me yours." She dropped to her elbows and pushed back toward him. He grabbed her hips and found her core with the head of his cock. Jewell pushed back against him, encasing the tip of his shaft in her tight heat. His eyes rolled back in his head, or maybe it just felt like it, because his brain definitely short-circuited. Zane's hips moved of their own accord. He couldn't stop. Wouldn't stop. She met each thrust with her own, backing into him as he moved forward. Her staccato gasps filled the room. He reached under her with one hand and brought her up to her knees placing her back to his chest. His hand circled her neck possessively. Her hand covered his and held on. He snaked his other hand around her and split her sex. Her body shuddered against him when his fingers stroked her. He bent his knees and thrust deep inside her. Sex had never been like this before. Random fucks to get off couldn't compare to the need he had to protect and cherish this woman.
Zane lost the ability to assign meaning to his actions when Jewell lifted the hand he had around her neck and sucked two of his fingers into her mouth. The white-hot flash of desire that slammed into him lifted his balls tight against his body. He wasn't going to last, and he needed her to come before he did. His fingers added pressure to her clit with up and down strokes that coincided with the thrust of his hips. Jewell moaned around his fingers. Sensation took over, and Zane was consumed. He fought to keep them upright when his orgasm detonated like a five hundred pound bomb. The earth shook under his feet, his body fell forward, and it was a miracle that he braced himself when they both hit the mattress, or he would have suffocated Jewell. He continued to thrust through his orgasm. Her body bucked and tightened around his sensitive cock. Her muffled groan followed by huge gasps of air brought him back from one of the most fantastic orgasms of his life. Zane lunged up and over bringing him almost to the pillows. He grabbed one of them and flopped onto his back before he half tugged, half lifted Jewell up beside him. She tucked into his shoulder and brushed the hair out of her face. She draped her arm over his chest and patted him several times. "That was…"
"Epic?" He laughed, using her words from last night.
"Yeah, epic covers it." Her breathless chuckle fanned his sweat soaked skin. He made quick work of the condom before he covered her arm with his hand and rubbed his thumb over her soft skin.
"Zane?"
"Hmmm…"
"Tell me about you. I know you can't tell me much, but I don't know much about you, and I want to because you're important to me." She angled away just a bit so she could look up at him. Well, he'd known this time would come. Hell, he'd practiced what he'd tell her, but that didn't make it any less complicated. He moved the other pillow down and gave it to her and rolled to his side, so they faced each other.
He covered her hand with his and drew a deep breath. "I grew up in the mid-west. Colorado. I was an only child. My mom died of cancer when I was twelve. My dad drank himself to death. He wasn't a bad man. He was just so incomplete without her that he was never the same after she passed. He loved her so much. I was seventeen when he died. Before his death, I'd talked him into signing my enlistment forms. We both knew I couldn't stay and he didn't want to live without her. I shipped off to Paris Island two weeks after he died."
Jewell turned her hand in his and squeezed it. He lifted their joined hands and kissed the back of hers. "I excelled at two things in the Marines, hand to hand combat and marksmanship. Following orders? Not so much." He laughed and shook his head remembering the shit he got into because he thought he was all that. "But there was this officer who was getting out. I respected the hell out of the man. He'd come out to my post and did post checks, and we started to talk. He was leaving the Corps to join Guardian. The guy sold me on the organization. I had six months left on my enlistment, so I figured why the fuck not. I mean I wasn't going to make the Marines a career. I asked him if he thought they'd have any use for someone whose only skill was to fight and kill. He said he'd ask. He left shortly after that and I didn't hear a thing until three days before I was due to separate. A man showed up at the base and requested to speak to me. I was escorted to my CO's office, and I thought for sure I'd messed up royally. But the CO just left the office. The man was a recruiter for Guardian. He had my entire life in a file, down to the fights I got into at school. He told me he had a career path for me if I could pass the psych evals. I didn't even ask what it was. I said yes." He was still grateful that Kannon hadn't forgotten him when he left the service and had mentioned his name to Guardian.
"They wanted you to be an assassin?"
Jewell's question brought him out of his memories. He shook his head. "No, I was initially recruited to work with one of the teams assigned to overseas operations. After six months of training, a different man had me removed from a team run and approached me. I knew this guy was someone important, and just looking at him I knew he was dangerous. He introduced himself as Demos and asked me if I'd rather work alone. To tell you the truth the man set every nerve I had on high alert. He was caged aggression and deadly.
"I asked him what he meant. He explained black door ops in very vague terms. Then he told me the training I'd done to this point with Guardian was toddler level compared to what they'd teach me."
"What did they teach you?"
She knew the answer, but she was asking him to admit it to her. He'd never told anyone about his life, and that is why he'd practiced what he'd say. When he started thinking about how to tell her about what he'd been, she'd hate him. He'd sit silently for hours watching her work while running scenarios through his mind, what he could say, what he couldn't. The thought that she'd be interested in him was a pipe dream, one he never believed he'd obtain. Yet, he found himself with her, naked not only physically, but emotionally. With Jewell's clearance level he could tell her intimate details of each assassination, but that isn't what she wanted. She wanted honesty and to have a piece of him he'd never given anyone. "They taught me how to kill. Silently, alone and so no one could trace my actions."
Zane waited for any signs of judgment or revulsion, but none of those emotions crossed her face. She blinked at him and waited, so he continued. "I was damn good at it."
"What happened to make you leave?" Her hand squeezed his again. He rolled onto his back and gazed up at the ceiling. It had been a fucked up mission from the beginning. The man that had been targeted was the devil dressed in bespoke suits. He'd been arrested fourteen times in three countries. Each time witnesses turned up dead or suddenly had amnesia. The evidence disappeared from secure holding areas, or charges were suddenly dropped. He was responsible
for the deaths of thousands of people in the drug wars that ravaged the countries south of the United States. Zane's reconnaissance lasted for three months. During that time he witnessed the man rape, kill and then set fire to people. He couldn't get close enough to take him out. He'd seen the man walk up to a business associate and shove a gun in his mouth and blow the back of his head off. Again, he wasn't in a position to stop the insanity. All the while, the man's influence grew, and his organization continued to wreck lives and turn towns into graveyards. Then the bastard came to the United States, and Zane followed. He didn't have as many guards and had cleared the top floor of a plush New York hotel for his entourage. Zane saw the escorts arrive. He made the prostitute's bodyguard believe he was with the son of a bitch he'd been tracking. Getting up to the floor where the bastard lived was the hard part. Killing twelve of his men before he broke the bastard's neck was the fun part. And that was why he walked away. Of course, Guardian had recalled his ass. He didn't make them come looking for him. He drove down from New York and was in-processing into the facility when Jacob got the intel on his assignment. The next eight months had been a necessary turning point in his life. He'd been debriefed, and he'd been confined while he'd gone through his evals. He knew the answers to give the docs, the ones that would override their concerns, but this time he didn't give them. This time he told them why he'd taken the bastard out, where he did it and how he did it. He was done. Unless someone was in danger, he refused to take any more life. He couldn't walk over that line again for fear that he'd never come back. They'd given him the eval twice, and he failed—twice.
He'd flown through the PSO training, but hadn't been called on to do more than babysit some spoiled rich kids. Then Jason King, the fucking Arch Angel himself, called him to his office and offered him an assignment. One he was told five others had failed to complete. His assignment's name was Jewell.
"Zane?" Jewell's fingers trailed over his jaw. He turned his head back to her. What had she asked? As if reading his mind, she repeated, "What happened to make you leave?"
He searched for a way to tell her, to explain the desperation he felt, the need to stop, the futility of taking out the minions of hell one by one, only to have legions take their place. "I couldn't do it anymore without losing me." He closed his eyes to prevent the emotion he was feeling from escaping in the form of a tear. Fuck, he'd never felt so raw, so exposed. But he'd opened himself to the woman he loved. Those simple words were the essence of his truth, the version he'd never told another.
Jewell lifted up onto her elbow and leaned over him. He slid his hand up her back and tangled his fingers in her fall of black hair. Her eyes held his and just before she lowered to kiss him she whispered, "I love the man you are. All of you, that man and this one."
He folded her into him. Their kiss wasn't one of demanding passion. It was soft, tender and truthful. It joined their souls, and he felt her words weave their way through his heart. The demons of his past had no place among them and by admitting his anguish and to a degree his weakness to her, he'd exorcised them.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Four days. Four fucking days that Zane had been traipsing from Guardian to work, to out of the way diners, restaurants, stopping to drop off laundry and then going back to Jewell's Guardian provided apartment. He was beginning to think that Jewell had buried the information too deep. He wondered if she should add more crumbs, but he'd made the decision he wouldn't question her on her decisions.
Zane used the stairs to get to his fifth-floor apartment. If someone was tracking him, he didn't want to seem too oblivious to his security, after all, he was supposed to be one of the best hackers in the world, and of course, he'd make sure he was safe. He'd varied his routes enough to make someone work to trail him. Not that anyone had. Anubis and Thanatos had floated in and out of his daily treks. They'd never signaled that he had a tail, nor had he felt the presence of anyone watching him.
He glanced at the thread he'd trapped between the door jamb and the door before he left this morning. It was missing. Zane inserted the key into his deadbolt and unlocked it, then switched keys and unlocked the door itself. He put his keys in his pocket before he entered the apartment. Thanatos or Anubis could have entered. God knew none of them needed keys, but that was not in the plan unless something had gone wrong.
Zane closed the door and turned on the hall light. Thanatos stepped out of the shadows in the back of the room. "I must leave. My assignment has escalated. If I delay, more may die."
"Of course. Thank you for coming." Zane knew the longer Vista took in acting, the harder it would be for Thanatos and Anubis to remain.
"I have alerted Anubis." Zane nodded his acknowledgment. "I will be back in three days' time if all goes well."
"Take care of yourself." Zane offered his hand, and the assassin took it. He watched the man leave and sat down in the semi-darkness of the living room. If Vista didn't make a move soon, he'd be forced to call in more favors. He dropped his head back onto the chair and blew out a lungful of air. This playing bait shit sucked. He'd been trained to be on the offensive. If he had even the slightest glimmer of an idea of who this bastard was, he'd follow the fucker to the ends of the earth and make sure he never touched another keyboard.
His phone rang displaying the Guardian switchboard number. Zane swiped the face and answered, "Reynolds."
"Mr. Reynolds, this is Jewell. I've been monitoring that program you asked me to keep an eye on. It crashed about two minutes ago. All the divisions are screaming bloody murder."
"Thank you, Jewell, I'll be right in. Tell them to stop yelling at you."
"Do you think that will work?" The innocence in her voice was deceptive and made him smile.
"Doubtful, it has never worked for me." Zane ended the call and headed toward the office. Jewell had made contact or had found something that she needed him to see. It was their predetermined signal.
Jewell paced beside the Dark Net computer. The fucker. The son of a bitch. She glanced at the screen again. No. No this could not be happening. She sat down at the console lifted the keyboard toward her and then stopped. No, she couldn't answer the fucker until Zane arrived. If he had eyes on Zane, then they would know he wasn't here yet. She and Zane had discussed this over and over again, but that bastard was… fuck! She threw the keyboard onto the ledge and drew her legs up against her chest staring at the list of numbers. "Fucking motherfucking son of a motherfucking bitch!" Jewell's scream echoed around her filling her office with the frustration she felt.
"That was quite the rant." Jason's voice startled her. She spun around to find both him and Jacob standing at her door.
"Where's Zane?" He should have made it to the office before either of her brothers. Their apartment was closer.
"Hasn't checked in yet. Maybe he ran into traffic." Jacob nodded toward the screen. "What is that?"
"That is a list of birthdates."
"Whose?" Jacob asked.
And wasn't that the question of the night? Jewell gritted her teeth and answered, "Jason's, Yours, Jared's, Nicolas's and Zane's." She knew her brother's birthdates immediately but to identify Nicolas and Zane's she had to pull HR records. There were a couple others in the organization with the same birthdates, but it made sense the bastard was targeting the division chiefs.
"So he's keyed in on Zane?" Jason squatted down on his heels to look at the list of dates.
"Yeah. He had to have found the information I planted. He wouldn't know who Zane was out of the thousands of people we employ otherwise."
Her office door clicked, and all three heads spun around. Jared walked into the room. "Did you see Zane?" Jewell glanced down at the theater expecting to see him bounding up the stairs toward her office.
"No. What's going on?"
Jacob waved at the computer screen and brought Jared up to speed. Jared leaned over and then sto
od up again. "I may be asking a stupid question, but why is Zane's birthdate at the top?"
Jewell swung her head to the screen. All the other birthdates were in chronological order except Zane's. "Oh fuck. He's going after Zane first." The realization dawned just as Jewell's telephone rang. She grabbed at the receiver. "Zane?"
"They have him. I will follow and watch. I cannot engage." She didn't recognize the voice. It wasn't the assassin that was in Zane's apartment.
"I understand. Call me with the address so I can mobilize our response?" Her hands shook as she held the phone.
"I will." The line went dead. Jewell held it to her ear for several long seconds before she replaced it in its cradle.
"What the everloving fuck is going on?" Jason's question startled her so badly she jumped.
"That was the person who is shadowing Zane. He said that Zane had been taken. He will call with the address of where he's been taken when he could."
"Who?"
"Who is he working with?"
"He's working with someone?"
All three of her brother's questions bombarded her at the same time. She nodded. "I don't know who, but someone he trusted. One was watching me until I barricaded myself here and the other is shadowing Zane."
"Zane is an assassin. Where in the hell would he pull favors from?" Jason looked at Jacob when he asked the question.
"He isn't an assassin any longer." Jewell's mind raced. He'd left that life before he lost himself. But he walked right back into the fire to protect her.
"Right." The contempt in Jacob's voice brought Jewell's head up and her anger back in full force.
"Don't you dare start talking shit about the man who is out there in danger because he wants me and this fucking organization to be safe! Say one more word Jacob, and I swear I will…." Jewell grabbed her hair and stamped her foot. "I'll fucking tell Jade to kick your ass!"
Jewell (The Kings of Guardian Book 8) Page 18