Absolution: The Hunter Mercenary Series (Book Two)

by Morgan Kelley

  “I’m going to do it wrong.”

  He laughed.

  “I have news for you. I am trying to blindly navigate this myself. Care to join me on a clusterfuck?”

  She snorted.

  “Well, with that kind of offer,” she stated, smiling up at him.

  His heart skipped.

  “You’re the most beautiful woman in the world.”

  She stared into his eyes.

  “Rogue.”

  “Tonight, let me make you forget what I’ve done, and let me show you what I can give you. Don’t answer the other question yet. Let me give you this.”

  She needed that.

  It had been a rough day, and her heart still ached a little. What she needed was tenderness.

  Before him, she’d been so alone.

  “Show me, Rogue.”

  He didn’t hesitate. Rogue wanted her more than anything, but he wanted to give her something in return. She’d taught him to make burgers, and that love was patient, kind, and gentle.

  Now, he’d give her all of that.

  As his mouth moved across her bared skin, his fingers worked on the buttons of her shirt.

  He could feel her hands tugging his dress shirt from his trousers, and he loved the feeling of it.

  There was the tug, the way her fingers found his bare skin, and the sound of their mouths making love.

  When he had her shirt open, he moved down her body, leaving a trail of kisses.

  She arched into his mouth as he moved from her neck to her chest. He managed to unhook her bra from behind.

  “You are a master burglar,” she teased.

  It made him laugh.

  “Well, a man has to survive,” he teased back.

  Instead of speaking more, with the tip of his tongue, he swirled it across her nipple until she reacted. Her body bowed, and her hands found their way into his hair, keeping him trapped against her.

  “Oh, Cordy,” he muttered, never having so good of a time with anyone of the opposite sex.

  Rogue knew he was going to need to do this once or twice a day for the rest of his life.

  When he nipped her, she moaned.

  It took all he had to keep moving slowly. They’d done fast, crazed, and out of control, and that lived in him, but he needed her to feel.

  To learn to love this feeling with him.

  He pulled her up, so he could free her from her shirt and tangled bra. All the while, he kissed her, afraid to break that contact.

  She shoved his now open shirt from his shoulders, and her hands were wandering.

  “Please touch me,” he said, offering his body up so she could explore all of him. He craved the feel of her warm hands on his flesh.

  Cordelia did what he asked, and he actually shook as she explored.

  “I love tattoos.”

  He laughed.

  “Well, that’s probably a good thing. I have over forty.”

  She touched the bare spot on his heart. His chest was covered, but there was a patch that had nothing there. “Uh, run out of ideas?”

  “That’s for whoever I marry. I’ve always kept it tattoo-free. I’m a romantic.”

  She smiled.

  “That’s a good quality to have in a man. Every girl likes romance.”

  Oh, well, he had news for her.

  She was going to be romanced. He was going to do whatever it took. He already knew whose name belonged in that bare spot.

  “Shall we?” he asked, shoving her back onto the bed. She laughed.

  “Getting all bossy. So hot!”

  He laughed.

  What he loved best about Cordelia was she was fun. His life hadn’t had that in…ever. Now, she was there.

  “I’ll remind you of that later.”

  She was sure he would.

  Gently, he tugged her pants off and tossed them over his shoulder.

  “You like tattoos, and I like that,” he said.

  “Women’s panties?” she asked, trying to keep a straight face.

  He stared at her.

  “Uh, well, not enough to steal them when you’re not looking, but…”

  She snorted.

  “Make me cum.”

  His whole body went hard. To hear her even say those words in a fantasy would make him explode, but that she said them to him…

  Her wish was his command.

  Rogue got to work.

  As his tongue swirled around her bellybutton, his fingers slipped behind the pale fabric, and he found her wet, slick, and ready. He slid her panties off and got down to business.

  She wanted to cum, and he was going to make sure the only thing she remembered from today was that.

  He dove in. Teasing her clit with his tongue, he enjoyed the way she moaned his name.

  “Rogue!”

  He didn’t give her a chance to even think. He drove her up, over, and into the pleasure.

  “God!”

  Cordelia couldn’t breathe. The man had some crazy oral skills. As she was floating, he was already back at it.

  Her hands clenched in the bed linens as he ground his tongue against that sensitive bud.

  Tonight, she was going to be his.

  When her hands found his hair, again, burying themselves in it, he was in Heaven.

  Then her thighs trembled, and his dick twitched in anticipation. It was so hard not to bury himself in her. It took all he had to go slow.

  He wanted her in the worst way, but she needed this. Cordelia needed to see what lived in him.

  For her.

  So, he would give her exactly what she needed. This woman, so strong and yet so easily broken, needed him.

  Love.

  Tenderness.

  As he lapped, teased, and tormented, Rogue could feel her getting ready to break apart all over again. He drove her up to the edge, and then over into one hell of a second orgasm.

  As she shattered apart, he didn’t let up.

  He couldn’t.

  Rogue wanted more of her. The taste of her was on his lips and she was addictive. He couldn’t imagine having her like this morning, noon, and night.

  He wanted to spend his days like this.

  So, he slowed down, savoring what he could do to her body. He could die right now and be a very happy man.

  “More?” he asked, kissing his way across her body and up her thigh. As his tongue teased the back of her knee, she shook.

  “Jesus! Your mouth should be outlawed!”

  He laughed.

  “Uh, you’re evading, Detective. You may be the boss in an interrogation room but in here…I know how to run the room.”

  What sane woman was going to stop a sexy man with tattoos from making her cum?

  NO ONE.

  “Carry on! I have all-night.”

  He grinned.

  “What a coincidence, so do I.”

  She flushed red as he ran his fingers over her clit, teasing that bud as he kept kissing his way around her body.

  She began shaking, as his fingers drove her wild.

  “Rogue!”

  “Go over for me,” he said, biting her on the inside of her thigh to give her that kiss of pain.

  She did.

  Tonight mattered. It was going to be the official beginning of their romance. She wanted that? Well, he’d give it to her and more.

  Teasing Cordelia was his pleasure.

  Tormenting her brought him his own ecstasy.

  As she moaned his name over and over, he had the overwhelming need to bury his body in hers. Maybe not to make her cum, but to feel the aftershocks before he took her again.

  When she began breaking apart in her second orgasm, he quickly slid up her body to find his way home.

  The second he drove into her, Rogue knew he’d found that one amazing thing that his brothers had.

  Dakota had Sarah.

  Zayn had Stella.

  And now he had Cordy.

  Rogue knew he could never give this up. He could never give her up. />
  It would kill him.

  He leaned over her body as she rode out wave after wave of pleasure. When it was done, and only when she opened her eyes, did he begin moving.

  “I think I need to join you in that pleasure. Mind?”

  She laughed.

  “I will never mind.”

  Cordy knew she was screwed.

  This man…

  He’d gotten through all her barriers, and now, he was in her heart. She’d never loved a man before, but she knew this would be something that would change her forever.

  She was in love.

  Rogue’s stamina was mind-blowing.

  She came again, and still, he held on.

  After driving her up again, she couldn’t believe how good he felt in her.

  “Yes!” She moaned as he continued his way in and out of her body. With each pass, he stroked her with his rock-hard erection and she was putty in his hands.

  She wasn’t going to last, and she knew it.

  As she gazed up into his peculiar colored eyes, she saw something there.

  “Rogue,” she whispered.

  “My beautiful Cordelia,” he whispered back, on the verge of falling.

  He was so close.

  In that moment, Rogue wanted to blurt out his feelings, but if she ran, he couldn’t survive it.

  “I can’t hold on,” she whispered, as he drove himself deeply into her.

  Oh, he was struggling too. That wet heat enveloped them, and he was slipping.

  “More,” she pleaded, not talking about the sex.

  She wanted his heart.

  She wanted all of this man.

  She was in love.

  “Now, Cordy!” he shouted, driving into her with one long stroke. As soon as he was buried in her, he couldn’t hold on any longer either.

  They fell together.

  Rogue could feel her hands on his back. He could feel her drawing what felt like a heart with her fingers.

  It staggered him.

  “Can I be honest?” he asked, afraid to be wrong.

  “Yes.”

  “I think I’m in love with you,” he admitted. “I don’t understand how, but I think I really am.”

  She didn’t speak.

  “Cordelia?”

  “I’ve never been in love before,” she stated.

  “Oh.”

  “But I think I am, too, and I’m scared that I’m going to get hurt.”

  He rolled to his back and held her against his body. Instead of trying to reassure her, Rogue just held her.

  “I have you, Cordelia. I have you.”

  He hoped he hadn’t lied. He was crazy about his cop.

  His…Jesus.

  Cop.

  Life was funny, but for the first time in…ever, he was at peace.

  And madly in love.

  * * * H U N T E R * * *

  Four Twenty-Five

  Chartres Street

  When they arrived back at the house, Storm was in the kitchen, and so was Stella. She was making the woman something to eat.

  Stella had her mothering groove on as she kept the woman company.

  As soon as they came in, she excitedly looked around for her sister.

  “Where’s Mercedes? Did you get her? Was she not there?” she asked.

  Then she saw the looks on their faces.

  Her heart sank.

  “Stella,” Zayn stated, knowing it was his duty to deliver this bad news. Dakota had wanted to do it since it was on him, but Zayn knew better.

  “Oh no,” she whispered, staring at her husband. “She’s dead, isn’t she?”

  “I’m sorry, my sweet Stella.”

  “What happened?” she asked through the tears.

  “We went in, we were about to take them down, and someone was in the trees surrounding us. They killed her.”

  She sobbed.

  Zayn held his wife.

  In fact, Sarah and Dakota surrounded them and hugged her too. They knew she was hoping to get her sister back. They all knew that she had been the last blood relative.

  The whole time, she’d been acting like nothing was wrong, but she had been praying for this one miracle.

  And now it was gone.

  Gamble returned to Storm’s side and watched the woman cry for the other woman too.

  She knew what she’d lived.

  AND survived.

  “I didn’t bring her home, my sweet Stella, and I’m sorry. We couldn’t bring her home. We couldn’t explain how she died to bury her.”

  She sobbed even harder.

  Everyone’s heart broke in that room. There was so much pain, emotion, and devastation.

  “Please take me to bed,” she whispered over and over again until Zayn picked her up and carried her out of the room. Her sobbing echoed through the house until he got her all of the way to the upper floor.

  Dakota sat.

  “She’s better off, you know?” Storm said suddenly and out of the blue. “She’s better off now than living with this in her head forever.”

  They stared at her.

  “God! Please don’t tell her that,” Sarah stated.

  “I won’t but trust me. She’s better off dead. I wish I was dead like her. She’s the lucky one.”

  Then she, too, left.

  “She didn’t mean it like that,” Gamble stated. “She’s been through a lot.”

  They didn’t blame her.

  They knew that Storm was going to have a long battle ahead of her, and as ex-federal officers, they’d help her. While the FBI dropped the ball, they would pick up the slack. After all, she deserved someone to have her back.

  “It’s okay,” Sarah stated. “Go make sure she’s okay. We’ll talk in the morning.”

  “Gamble?” Dakota said, stopping him.

  “Yeah?” he asked, watching him with his bicolored eyes.

  “Thanks for today. You did a damn good job, and I’d give you my back any day.”

  He appreciated that.

  “All in a day’s work.”

  When he left, Dakota sighed.

  “Let’s go to bed. Tomorrow is that party, and for Rogue’s sake, I hope he has a way to get us into that gambler’s den.”

  Yeah, Sarah hoped so too.

  They were running out of ways to catch Chesky and Taz. Rosemary might be dead, but until this was completely cleaned up, none of them would rest.

  This job…

  It was killer.

  And it was weighing on them all.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Thursday Morning

  Detective’s Home

  W hen he woke, she was tangled around his body in some deliciously sexy knot. Her hair was on his chest, her long, strong legs were tucked between his, and her hands were holding him to her. Cordelia, in sleep, had found a way to even brighten that moment of his life.

  In her pink bedroom, filled with perfume, pretty things, and all of the dreams from a childhood she never had, he found peace.

  He also found panic.

  It was almost six, and he needed to check-in with the team. When he reached for his pants, beside the bed, he found his phone. The movement shifted Cordelia, and she rolled over.

  Rogue got an amazing view of her ass.

  His dick throbbed.

  Morning wood for hours or wake the detective?

  Then he saw the countless texts from his team. There were texts from Sarah and Dakota looking for him. He knew the man was not going to be happy that he’d gone off the grid to be with Cordelia.

  He scanned through them, and it was the last one that worried him.

  Their mission…

  It went bad.

  Guilt filled him, and he knew what he needed to do. Sex would have to wait.

  While it pained him to say that, he had a long day ahead where they had to get things taken care of for this case. They couldn't find Julius, they couldn’t find his son, Phil King, and they still had to figure out how Charlotte and Jasper, being siblings,
connected to all of this.

  Did Charlotte know?

  How did they get involved?

  As he pulled on his clothes, more guilt swamped him.

  SHIT!

  Cordelia.

  How was he supposed to include her in this? She was a cop. They weren’t.

  He was going to put a whole shitload of faith in a woman he’d just met.

  AND LOVED.

  Yeah, he was crazy about her.

  Seeing the stationary on her neatly organized desk, he smiled as he picked up a sheet.

  Then he scribbled a note.

  When he was finished, he left it on his pillow, leaned over, and gave her a kiss before heading out.

  Hopefully, he could get his team to see that Cordelia could help them.

  And keep Zayn from killing her.

  Yeah, this was going to be work.

  * * * H U N T E R * * *

  Four Twenty-Five

  Chartres Street.

  When he got up, Stella was wide awake, staring at the ceiling above their bed. She wasn’t crying, but she looked like she had one hell of a headache from the tears.

  Getting out of bed, Zayn grabbed an aspirin and some water to take care of her.

  She took them without saying a word.

  Then he sat beside her, simply waiting if she needed him. He would take care of her in any way she needed. It was the least he could do.

  “I hate them,” she finally stated.

  He understood that.

  “I have never hated before,” she stated. “I’ve never had this rage in me. What do I do with it?”

  Oh, the irony of that. He’d been there long ago and look how that turned out. He was the last person who should be giving advice about what to do with that rage.

  REALLY.

  “Kill people?” he asked, trying to make her smile. “It’s why I have multiple names. It’s easier to hide.”

  She rolled over.

  “I want to hurt someone.”

  Zayn sighed.

  “I felt like that a long time ago, when Adsilla was killed. When Chesky and his goons hurt her, it made me so angry that it made me this person.”

  She listened.

  “I became the monster, my sweet Stella. Trust me on this one. Find the way around this anger. Find some way to forget that you’re filled with the rage.”