by Low, Gennita
Resuming his pace, Remy moved in and out of her, his dick hard, thick and long.
“Oh, yes!” she cried loudly, in case Hatch or his henchmen were listening into her session with Remy. “Fuck me, baby. Harder!”
“Do you like to play rough, little girl?” Remy popped her thigh with a cupped palm. The sound was much louder than the pain, the sting setting off electrical currents throughout her body.
“Yeah, baby. Do it again,” she cried, only half-acting now. She liked it when he played rough. Derek had been tame, too gentle and unimaginative in bed, treating her like a porcelain doll, rather than a hot-blooded woman with needs and desires more kinky than most.
Mitchell had always been tough. Her father had been a big influence in her life. She’d never done anything half-assed and always liked to play rough with the guys.
“Ride me, baby. Give it to me hard,” she said in a breathy voice.
He leaned over her and kissed the side of her neck. “Really? You want it rougher?”
She grasped his face in her hands and kissed him, capturing his lips between her teeth and pulling. “You’re the john, make it real.”
He sucked in a breath and blew it out. “You got it.” He reached behind him, unlocked her legs from around his waist and pulled free.
“Where ya going, honey—”
Before she could say more, he flipped her onto her belly and dragged her ass up into the air. “You want it rough, here it is.” Holding her hips in his big hands, he slammed his cock into her pussy, driving deep.
Her face buried in the sheets, she gasped. “Yeah!”
“Like that?” He pulled almost all the way out and slapped her bottom. “Tell me how you like it.”
“Hard. So very hard.”
“Beg for it.”
“Please,” she called out. “Please, let me have it.”
Remy slapped her bottom again.
The pain was deliciously sexy as he rammed his big cock into her tight channel. Her muscles contracted around him. “Please. Do it again,” she cried.
“I’ll give it to you,” he said, bending over her and grabbing her breasts as he took her from behind.
He moved inside her again and again until her nerves stretched to the screaming point, her body tensed and she came apart, shattering into a million pieces.
Remy thrust again, his fingers tightening on her breasts as he buried himself as deep as he could go. His body shuddered, his dick pulsing against her inner walls. He was breathing hard when he finally loosened his grip on her boobs. “Did you like that?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah, big guy.” She stretched out beneath him and he lay on top of her for a moment before drawing free of her and rolling to his side on the bed.
“As good as it was, I have to be going.” She popped up and rolled off the side of the bed to her feet.
“That’s it? That’s all I get?” he asked, stretching out an arm.
Mitchell leaned over him and whispered in his ear, “I’ll come by your place later, after I ditch my tail.”
He pulled her down on top of him, his hand roving over her curves. “Are you sure you’ll be safe?”
“If you don’t see me in an hour, call my boss, tell him Hatch has me and send the cavalry.” She cupped his cheek. “One fuck. That’s all you get for your money, sweetheart.”
Remy ground his teeth as Mitchell drove to the nearest twenty-four-hour convenience store.
“Are you going to be okay?” she asked.
He snorted. “You’re asking me?”
She dropped him off and drove away without looking back. The car that had been following her parked across the street from the convenience store. Remy went inside, purchased a candy bar and a bottle of water, hoping they’d leave before he came out of the store.
When he walked out, the car was still on the street. Glad they hadn’t followed Mitchell, Remy was still annoyed they were watching him. Good. Let them.
He walked away from the convenience store, not really caring which way he headed, more testing whether they’d continue to follow him than anything.
They did, inching along the street behind him. At the next corner, he turned and walked faster, ditching his cell phone and wallet next to a bush. If they caught him with them, the data inside could lead them to his apartment and possibly to Mitchell if she really did show up later.
The street he was on wasn’t as well-lit as the one the convenience store was on. Remy knew he was taking a chance, but he wanted to get a feel for what he was up against, and who these people were following Mitchell.
As he predicted, the vehicle turned the corner behind him. They weren’t even trying to hide the fact they were following him. When they slid to a stop beside him, he figured confrontation was next on their list. Two men jumped out onto the sidewalk.
“Hey, you,” the bigger guy said.
Remy recognized him as one of the bouncers from the club. He figured he had two choices. Run and save his hide a possible beating, or stand his ground and find out what they wanted. He could probably take both of them. Bigger didn’t always mean better.
Wanting to appear compliant, he raised his hands. “Look, I’m just walking home. I don’t want any trouble.”
The two guys grabbed his arms and slammed him up against the brick wall of the building behind him.
“I told you, I don’t want any trouble. I’ve got a twenty-dollar bill in my wallet.” He didn’t resist their holds and kept his gaze downcast. “If you’re gonna mug me, take it and let me go.”
“We don’t want your money.”
While the bigger man held him, the smaller one frisked him, patting down his body, checking his back pocket for his wallet. “Where’s your wallet?”
“In my back pocket.”
“Try again, moron.”
“Fuck. I must have left it at the store.” He struggled half-heartedly. “Let me go. I have to go back to the store and get it before some dumbass finds it.”
“Your problem, not ours.” The smaller of two goons pressed his elbow against Remy’s throat. “What do you know about the bitch you were just fucking?”
Remy ground his teeth together and clenched his fists tight to hold onto his temper. They were talking about Mitchell and he didn’t like the way they were doing it. But this was her operation and her cover to portray a stripper and a whore. Tamping down his rage, he grinned. “If that’s all you wanted, why are you jacking me up? What do you want to know? How much she charged me? Was she good?” He narrowed his eyes. “Or are you her pimp and want to know if she’s on the up and up, giving you your cut?”
“How do you know her?”
“I picked her up at the club.” He attempted a shrug against their grasp. “Hell, if I’d known I’d get roughed up, I’d have passed. I mean she was good and all that, but not worth this.”
“Back at the club, you acted like you knew her.”
Remy snorted. “I thought I did. She reminded me of my ex-girlfriend. The bitch took all my stuff. She still owes me. You think I’d have paid her for sex if she still owed me? Fuck, no.”
“You from the navy base?” the talking goon asked.
“Yeah. Just back from deployment, looking for some release, if you know what I mean. Surrounded by guys for months, makes a man…you know.”
“Do yourself a favor and stay away from CC.”
“Why?” He widened his eyes and snapped his gaze between the guys. “Oh crap, does she have some STDs or something?”
The arm under his chin pressed harder until Remy could barely breathe. If he had to, he could fight his way out of this. But he resisted, playing the part of some dumb GI with a hard on and no brain cells.
“Just stay away from her.”
“All right, all right. You’ve made you point.”
The men let go of his arms, backed away and climbed into their vehicle.
As the doors opened and the overhead light blinked on, Remy caught a glimpse of a listening device like spi
es and private investigators used to creep on people. And if he wasn’t mistaken, a pair of high-powered night vision goggles lay beside the listening device on the front seat. Whoever could afford to buy those kinds of toys must have a lot at stake.
The doors shut behind the goons and the car swept away, spitting gravel from beneath the tires. Remy shook off his nerves and anger and started back toward the convenience store. When the vehicle turned another corner, he scooped up his wallet and cell phone and called a cab to pick him up at the store.
Adrenaline pumping and ready to smash some heads, he had to talk himself down before the cab got there. Every instinct inside him had wanted to break bones. Preferably of the men who’d manhandled him, looking for information on Mitchell.
What bothered him most was, even though Mitchell was tough and could probably hold her own one-on-one with a man, she couldn’t defend herself against these two men if they decided to rough her up.
What the hell had Mitchell gotten herself into?
Chapter Four
‡
Mitchell headed for the apartment she’d rented in the same rundown building where Dixie Lee lived. After a few blocks, she knew she was no longer being followed. Which meant Remy was. Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel. She worried about making him a target of Hatch’s thugs, and almost turned around to head back to the store to check on him.
As she slowed to turn into a parking lot, she thought of Kelli. If Mitchell went back to help Remy, who most likely could take care of himself, she could blow her hard-earned cover and Kelli would be lost. Time was not on Kelli’s side. Strengthening her resolve, Mitchell reminded herself that Remy was a trained combatant. SEALs were not only strong, but smart. They knew how to get out of tight situations, using any means they had to. If he wasn’t at his apartment when she got there, she’d alert his team and they’d help her find him.
Taking the longest possible route, checking and double-checking her rearview mirror, she eventually pulled onto a street two blocks from the apartment complex where Remy lived. The same place he’d shared with Derek until Derek’s death. She hadn’t been there when he’d cleared Derek’s personal effects. She supposed he’d shipped them all to Derek’s parents in Pennsylvania. At the funeral, they’d been devastated by his death and opened their arms to her in their grief.
After sleeping with Remy, Mitchell had cut all ties with Derek’s folks, guilt driving her away.
In the year since Derek’s passing, she’d driven by the apartment complex several times, tempted to break her vow to stay clear of Remy. Once, she’d actually stopped and climbed the stairs to his unit. His neighbor had been in the hallway and told her that Remy had been deployed. Then they’d started emailing and texting.
Time and distance had done nothing to ease the ache in her heart or the desire she’d harbored all that time. Their conversations had been about nothing, but the communication had meant everything and they’d grown closer with each letter.
Last month, she’d agreed to do an online video chat. Seeing him again resurrected all the same feelings she’d had before, if not more intensely. Remy had looked thinner, the lines around his eyes more pronounced, and the smudges beneath his eyes darker. But he was still the ruggedly handsome SEAL she remembered and had accidentally fallen in love with when she’d been his best friend’s girl.
Parking her rental car in an empty lot, she climbed out and ducked into the shadows. She checked all directions before striking out for Remy’s apartment, taking the short cut through an alley and pushing through hedges to emerge in the apartment complex’s parking lot.
Forty-five minutes after she’d dropped him off, she knocked softly on his door and waited. Her heart rate kicked up a notch and she glanced over her shoulder. The hallway was empty but she hated feeling exposed. Using the key Derek had given her so long ago, she inserted it into the lock and turned it. The door opened. She slipped inside and eased the door closed softly.
The only light in the room shone through the front window from the security light in the apartment building’s parking lot.
Just to be safe, Mitchell performed a quick search. Remy wasn’t there, nor was anyone else. And from the looks of the empty spare bedroom, he hadn’t taken another roommate since Derek.
Crossing to the large picture window in the living room, she stood to the side and peered through the blinds at the lot below. Ten minutes passed and Mitchell paced the living room, bit off a fingernail and returned to the window, unsure at what point she should call it and bring in the rest of his team. Maybe she was being paranoid, but Hatch had a lot of bad people working for him. Remy was capable of taking care of himself, but against how many?
Resigned to waiting another ten minutes, she paced the room several more times. Nearing the end of the second ten minutes, she stared down at the parking lot and out past it to the street beyond. She could see all the way to the next street corner. A cab with its yellow light on top slowed at the entrance to the parking lot.
Mitchell held her breath and prayed the vehicle held Remy. When the cab drove by, she swore beneath her breath. It looked as though she’d have to call on his buddies to go bail him out of the mess she’d gotten him into.
From her position on the second floor, Mitchell could see the cab turn down the next street. The brake lights glowed bright red and the vehicle stopped. A moment later, the brake lights dimmed and the cab moved on.
Her heart beating faster, Mitchell leaned closer to the window. Something moved in the shadows, heading toward the apartment complex. At one point, a dark figure detached itself from the corner of a fence, crossed to the apartment building and disappeared from her view.
Mitchell closed the blinds, moved away from the window and waited, all her concentration focused on the front door. Butterflies erupted in her belly and her breathing grew shallow. She rubbed her palms on her skirt, amazed at how damp they were.
Though she’d made love with him only an hour before, seeing him without the threat of Hatch’s men lurking nearby was like seeing him for the first time in over a year. Before Kelli had disappeared, she’d dreamed of their reunion. In her imagination, the event was nothing like the reality. God, had she really asked him to play the john to her prostitute? As the full impact of the situation hit her, her cheeks burned.
Metal scraping metal made her jump and she pressed a hand to her chest, as if that would slow her racing heart. She edged back into a corner and dropped behind the couch. If the person on the other side of the door wasn’t Remy…
The door swung open and a tall dark, broad-shouldered figure stepped in. By the way he moved with purpose and determination, he could be none other than Remy LaDue.
Suddenly reluctant to break the silence, Mitchell remained crouched behind the arm of the couch.
The door swung shut, he twisted the lock and then reached for the light switch.
Mitchell stood. “Don’t.”
His arm, arrested in mid-motion, dropped to his side. “No one followed me.”
“Humor me. I can’t afford to be careless.” She stepped out into the open. “Can we talk in the bedroom? It’s as far from the street as we can get and there are no front-facing windows in there.”
“Fine. But I want the full scoop. Everything.”
“Fair enough.” She led the way into his room.
Remy followed and closed the door behind him. “Can I switch on the light in here?”
“Of course.”
The click of a switch sounded and the room was flooded with soft lighting from the ceiling fan hanging over the bed.
Mitchell blinked, squinting in the sudden glare.
Remy leaned his back against the door, crossing his arms. “Okay. Start talking.”
With a deep breath, Mitchell began.
After fifteen minutes of detailing out all she’d done to position herself in Hatch’s organization, Mitchell stopped and stared up at Remy.
His gut twisted and Remy’s fists clenched. �
�You’re setting yourself up to be hurt or killed.”
She nodded and wrapped her arms around her waist. “I know. But I couldn’t let Kelli languish in whatever hell Hatch has her in. I’ve seen what happens to women who are forced into prostitution. They’re drugged, sometimes chained to filthy beds in the nastiest, bug-ridden, diseased places imaginable. I was in on an operation that exposed a small sex den nine months ago. One of the women had died chained to the bed. She’d been shot up so many times and overdosed after being raped by who knows how many men. If Kelli is in a place like that…” She shook her head. “I couldn’t live with myself if I stood back and did nothing.”
“What exactly is your plan?”
“You’re not going to like this.” She drew in a deep breath and let it out, then stated, “I’m the bait.”
Remy’s blood pressure shot up. “No fuckin’ way.”
She stepped close and laid a hand on his arm. “Hear me out. Multiple agencies have suspected human trafficking was going on in this area. In the past six months, at least one woman a month had disappeared. Two college coeds, a couple of prostitutes and some teen-aged girls known to have a drug habit.
“A week ago, a friend of mine became the seventh woman that we know of who has disappeared. Navy Lt. Kelli O’Neal was reported AWOL from duty at Norfolk Navy Base. I’d had dinner with her the Friday before she didn’t show up for work on Monday. They got NCIS involved because Kelli is Navy but the case was handed to an imbecile, Brendan Wallace.”
“Why not you?”
“Because she was my friend, and I couldn’t be objective.”
“Who would have more incentive?”
“My point exactly.” A hand slapped her chest. “I knew how important it was to move quickly. In missing persons’ cases, the longer they are missing, the more likely the trail will go cold. Brendan was moving too slow, so I did some checking on the side, ran the stats through the crime databases and discovered the pattern of missing women. Hit up a few contacts in the FBI and found out they’d been looking into the possibility of a human trafficking ring. They suspect Rocco Hatch, but have no solid evidence to substantiate. They’ve had a couple witnesses claim he was up to something, then the witnesses disappear, too.”