His dick woke up and practically screamed ‘hello there’ and became hard so fast that Randy almost hissed in pain. Lita’s touch was innocent and didn’t linger, and his body not only reacted, but wanted more. It was a good thing Lita’s touch didn’t last longer or Randy was sure he would’ve pushed back into the man.
Lita wouldn’t lie to himself about placing his cup next to Randy on the counter just so he could touch the man. It was a ‘flyby’ caress and he couldn’t help but smile when he noticed Randy’s head drop. Neither of them had mentioned what transpired between them the night before, but Lita was sure neither of them had any regrets. Not only had they no regrets, but Lita had no doubt Randy would only be opposed to a repeat because they were on a protection detail. A protection detail that due to very deep snow just became 100% easier.
The thought of the cartel who were used to warmer climes being effectively put out of commission due to the snow and the opportunities their incapacity offered for him to explore his attraction to Randy made Lita smile. If they were lucky, the snow would stay deep enough to prevent the cartel from striking or Burke from attempting to escape until they were ready to leave for D.C.
Randy looked at his watch. It was going on eight and he had no idea where the time went. It didn’t seem like he’d spent slightly over two hours alone in Lita’s company. Aside from his embarrassment when they were in the basement which had everything to do with his self-consciousness and nothing to do with Lita, spending time with his partner was easy. Shit, it was comfortable. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so relaxed in the company of another man. Randy didn’t want to put any thought in analyzing that feeling because he had no desire to discover the reason why that may be the case.
“I’m going to get Burke up then I’ll make breakfast,” Randy told Lita and finished the last of his coffee before heading toward the hall.
Lita didn’t reply. Instead, he grabbed the batteries he needed for the radio and picked up his half-full coffee cup before he walked over to the table and sat down. He had the radio out of the box, the batteries installed, and turned on within moments. Lita heard Randy talking to Burke and escorting her to the bathroom. His partner wasn’t gone long enough for Burke to shower again before they both entered the open floor plan area of the house. Lita smirked at Burke because he knew why Randy hadn’t offered her another shower. It had nothing to do with her needing one, because she didn’t, and everything to do with not allowing the woman any time alone unsupervised.
Randy led Burke to the table and prompted her to sit. Lita was grinning at the CIA agent and she was glaring at his partner in return. Neither of them said a word before Randy left them to return to the kitchen.
Randy started another pot of coffee and pulled out the pans he needed to make breakfast. No one spoke as he cooked them breakfast and instead, they listened to Lita trying to find a weather report on the radio.
##~~##
Chapter Twelve
Lita could admit he wasn’t expecting the breakfast Randy made to taste edible let alone good. The blueberries in the pancakes were soft and the ham in the powdered egg omelet wasn’t jerky-like as Lita expected it would be. They ate breakfast in silence. Burke hadn’t spoken a word since Randy retrieved her. His partner left her cuffed and Lita expected her to bitch about the difficulty she was forced to suffer while she ate. Burke seemed to manage just fine, but Lita didn’t think that was why she hadn’t said anything. He had no doubt her silence wasn’t due to compliance, either. He looked at Randy and caught his partner observing Burke, as well.
Randy shifted his attention to Lita and when their eyes met he was sure his partner was also contemplating what Burke could be planning. The woman was a pain in his ass and he hated remaining in his hypervigilant state. He finished his breakfast at the same time as Lita. His partner handed him his plate and fork, before he stood. Randy watched Lita disappear down the hall. He figured Lita was going to the bathroom. However, he started to hear a noise coming from the back of the house. It sounded like Lita was searching for something. Randy had no idea what his partner could be looking for, but he didn’t have a problem with Lita rooting through all the shit in the bedrooms and bathroom.
Lita stood in the bathroom. He didn’t trust Burke as far as he could throw the petite agent. So, he searched the bathroom for anything that looked out of place or that she could use for anything at all even though Randy hadn’t left her alone in the small room for long.
The shower was a frosted glass door type. Lita inspected the handle and track before he stepped in and inspected the showerhead, faucets, and drain. All the screws and parts appeared undisturbed. Next, he checked the lone towel rack and toilet paper holder. Both were wood and not missing any hardware. Last, he checked the pedestal sink. The faucets didn’t appear tampered with, but as he squatted down to inspect the water shut off valves, a crash from the front of the house interrupted him.
Lita took his time walking down the hall. He had faith Randy could deal with whatever chaos Burke initiated. She was still cuffed, after all. Or at least, she was. Lita exited the hall just in time to see Burke sweep Randy’s legs from out beneath him. Down his partner went cursing up a storm. Burke could have incapacitated him, but instead opted to bolt toward the front door. Lita knew she wouldn’t get far in the deep snow especially without shoes and a jacket. So, he leaned on the wall in the hallway and crossed his arms over his chest.
Randy was beyond pissed. Burke got the drop on him after he stood and reached for her plate. How the hell she got out of the cuffs was beyond him, but the bitch had and neither of them realized that was the case while she ate breakfast. She stood from the table and clocked him in the jaw before he knew what hit him. Her chair went flying backward and fell over with the bang. Thankfully, his chair hadn’t done the same or he would’ve landed on his ass from her punch throwing off his balance.
He reached out to grab her and fully expected her to attempt to avoid his grasp. She didn’t. Instead she stepped into his outstretched arm. Burke landed a punch to his kidney before she spun and escaped his hold. He lunged forward again and she used his momentum and size against him when she stepped to the side and kicked his legs right out from under him. Randy’s head bounced off the hardwood floor and it was as he was rolling to get to his feet that he became aware of his missing sidearm.
Shit! “Gun,” Randy yelled to warn Lita while he scrambled for cover behind the couch.
Lita hadn’t seen Burke swipe his partner’s weapon. Still, he went from relaxed and amused to instantly alert and prepared for anything in a millisecond when Randy yelled his warning. He ducked back into the hallway and drew his 0.9 mil. Lita’s last sight of the living room showed Burke moving toward the door while Randy was getting his ass off the floor.
He was sure Randy found cover since Burke stupidly didn’t try to take his partner hostage. Well, maybe not so stupidly since Randy towered over her by almost a foot and easily outweighed her by almost one hundred pounds. Still, he had no idea where she thought she was going. There was over two feet of snow outside and even the SUV in four-wheel-drive wasn’t going to get her anywhere.
“I want my shoes, jacket, bag, and the car keys,” Burke demanded.
Lita laughed. Apparently, Burke didn’t see the same level of amusement in her situation because she popped off a shot toward the hallway. Thankfully for Lita, the house was built sturdy and the wood was thick enough the shot didn’t go through the wall.
“Do you really want to do this, Burke?” Lita asked as he squatted down.
He duck walked to the end of the hall and peeked out. Another shot was fired in his direction and he pulled back so fast he landed on his ass. Fuck. Still, he was able to get a good enough look at Burke before she fired on him. She had partial cover from one of the living room chairs, but she would have to leave it to get out of the front door.
“Get my shit or my next shot will be through the couch.”
The couch was old and Lit
a had no doubt a bullet would easily tear through it. It offered Randy only so much cover as he wasn’t in sight to allow Burke to shoot him easier. Lita was sure Burke’s words weren’t an empty threat and he wouldn’t risk Randy getting shot.
“Okay, Burke. Getting it now.”
“I want another clip, too.”
“Now you’re just being unreasonable,” Lita called out. Another shot echoed in the house. “Randy?”
“Good.”
“The next one is going to be buried in your partner,” Burke claimed with confidence.
Randy lay as flat on the floor as possible. The last thing he wanted was to get shot while they were so far off the grid. There was no way help would reach him in time if Burke put a bullet in him. All he could currently be grateful for was her last shot hadn’t been aimed at the couch as she threatened. He didn’t think he’d be so lucky if she fired again. Only a few tense seconds passed before Lita called out to Burke again.
“I got your stuff.”
“Throw my shit out here and toss your gun out toward the table,” Burke ordered. “Then put these on, hands behind your back.”
Handcuffs bounced off the hallway wall and ricocheted toward him. Lita expected Burke’s orders. She was CIA, after all. She wouldn’t get far before they had her in custody again, so Lita did as she ordered. He tossed his gun and waited for it to stop its slide under the table. He cuffed one wrist and maneuvered his other behind his back before he cinched the other cuff.
“Okay, Burke. Now what?” Lita was sure she heard the amusement he couldn’t keep out of his tone. He shouldn’t find anything funny about their current situation, but adrenaline caused him to feel two things: amusement and arousal. Amusement was the better option to fall into at the moment.
“Step out slowly,” Burke replied after a few minutes.
Lita did as she ordered and wasn’t surprised to see Burke dressed in her sweatshirt, jacket, and sneakers. She also had her bag over her shoulder. The spare clip he slid out with her stuff was nowhere to be seen and the SUV keys dangled from her free hand.
“Over to the table,” she ordered as she stepped backward toward the door.
Lita took his time walking over to the table. A glance at the back of the couch when it came into view showed him Randy lying on his belly. His partner held his 0.38 in his hand and Lita could only assume it was his backup piece. He gave his head a slight shake to indicate Randy should stand down. Lita didn’t really believe the Marshal would shoot the agent they were supposed to be protecting. However, the man holding his backup weapon and forced to use the couch as cover just might.
“Sit on the far side.” Burke waited until he kicked out the chair and resumed the seat he’d occupied less than an hour before. “I don’t want to kill either of you, but don’t think I won’t if you make any sudden moves or try and stop me from leaving.”
Lita smirked and Burke frowned at him. “No problem, sweetheart.” Her frown morphed into a glare as she steadily kept him in her sights. “You want to leave? There’s the door.” Lita nodded toward the door behind Burke. “You won’t get far in the snow, so go for it.”
The last thing Lita expected was for Burke to smile. Apparently, she knew something they didn’t. Still, whatever she thought she knew didn’t change the fact that there was over two feet of snow outside and more still falling.
Burke reached behind her and opened the door without breaking eye contact with him. She had one foot buried in the snow on the porch which had piled up against the door when she spoke.
“I will shoot you if you follow me,” she declared and only waited a moment before backing fully out of the door and closing it in front of her.
Lita was out of his seat the moment the door closed. Randy was up off the floor and by his partner side before Lita made it more than two steps away from the table. He had his handcuff key in one hand and his gun in the other, he set his weapon on the table. Randy didn’t need to tell Lita to turn around. He had the cuffs off Lita and his weapon back in his hand as Lita squatted to retrieve his gun from under the table.
Lita hadn’t even stood before Randy was standing to the side of one of the front windows and peering out through the curtains. He joined his partner at the window and looked out. Burke was getting into the SUV and slammed the door behind her. They watched her start the SUV and Lita was sure Randy had to be just as surprised as he to see exhaust smoke trailing up through the cold air behind the vehicle since the snow was so deep.
“Not sure how she got free,” Randy admitted and tried not to let the guilt caused by his failure to ensure Burke couldn’t escape from joining his adrenaline.
“She likely found something in the bathroom to pick her cuff locks,” Lita replied without looking at his partner. “It had to be something from the sink because that’s the only place I hadn’t searched before she attacked you.” Randy grunted and Lita was more than sure his assumption didn’t do a damn thing to make the man feel any better.
“It ain’t your fault she got loose. It could’ve been me if you left the table and room first.” Randy only grunted at him again. There wasn’t anything Lita could do if his partner decided to beat himself up over what happened. “Hey.” Lita looked away from the window and waited for Randy to look at him. “It’s not like she can go anywhere.”
Randy appreciated what Lita was trying to do. He even appreciated the grin, the sexy as hell grin, Lita leveled on him. Not that the thought of anything sexy in regards to his partner should even be flashing through his mind right now.
“She cleared the exhaust pipe,” Randy pointed out and returned to watching Burke sitting in the SUV.
“True,” Lita agreed. “But even in four-wheel-drive, she isn’t going to be able to drive out of snow this deep.”
The snow was deep, too. Randy could clearly see the trench Burke had made to get to the SUV was easily two feet deep. She hadn’t bothered to remove any snow from the hood or roof of the SUV. Randy knew the snow would act like insulation until the inside of the SUV warmed. Burke had used the wipers to clear away the loose snow from the windshield. There was still a layer of ice on the glass the defroster would eventually take care of, but Burke could still see the front of the house.
“What the hell was she thinking?” Randy muttered. “It’s not like she can sit there until the snow melts enough for her to drive out here.”
“Dunno, but she has a plan, I’m sure,” Lita replied. They remained quietly watching Burke for several minutes before Lita broke the silence. “I’m gonna go get my other gun.”
Randy nodded to acknowledge he’d heard his partner, but his mind was busy trying to figure out what the hell Burke was planning. She had no way to escape and it wasn’t like she had a cell phone to reach anyone to help her. Hell, even if she had a cell, there was no service this far off the grid. In fact, that was one of the reasons his paranoid father bought this land and built one of his ‘end of the world’ houses here. So, Randy had no idea what she was up to.
Lita could see Randy was deep in thought when he returned from the bedroom. By the frown on the man’s face, he was either still beating himself up over Burke getting free or trying to figure out what her endgame could be since she wouldn’t be driving away anytime soon. He stepped back next to Randy at the window, but didn’t look out at Burke again. Instead, he studied Randy.
The man was attractive as hell even though he was frowning. The small lines between his brows made Lita want to smooth them out with his fingers. The way his lips were pressed together made him want to rub his thumb over them in an effort to get them to part. Just thinking about parting Randy’s lips had Lita thinking of how the man tasted. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about sexing up his new partner, but his mind didn’t seem to care. Nope. It didn’t care one iota and neither did his body apparently if the pressure against his zipper was any indication. Lita was aware his sudden lust stemmed from his adrenaline rush caused by everything that just went down with Burke. Rationally,
he totally understood why he was horny as hell for his partner. However, the irrational part of his mind slapped those thoughts away.
Randy felt Lita stop next to him. Well, more behind him then next to him. He would swear the man was close enough that he could feel his partner’s body heat, but knew that couldn’t be the case. Of course, his body didn’t seem to give a shit about the reality of how close Lita stood behind him or not. Now was definitely not the time for him to get hard. It sure as hell wasn’t the time to think about anything sexually. He gave himself a mental shake and forced himself to refocus on what he could see of Burke sitting behind the wheel of the SUV.
That focus was shattered all to hell when he felt Lita lean into him and place a hand on his hip. His breath hitched and he barely caught himself before he leaned back against the solid wall of muscle behind him. It turned out he didn’t need to lean back. Lita pressed against his back and looked over his shoulder to look out of the window.
“Lita,” Randy started on a whisper then lost all train of thought when he felt the man slightly turn his head causing his stubble to roughly scrape across his cheek.
“She isn’t going anywhere,” Lita replied.
Randy bit his bottom lip to prevent a moan from escaping when he felt Lita’s hardness pressing against his ass. Damn if he didn’t want to feel Lita’s erection do more than just rub against him. The thought of Lita being buried deep inside of him made Randy close his eyes. They didn’t stay closed for long. Lita’s large hand pressing hard against his erection had his eyes popping open almost painfully.
“Now,” Randy started and had to clear his throat. “Now isn’t the time.” Randy hated uttering the reminder because damn if he didn’t want now to be the time for whatever the hell Lita wanted.
Randy’s body belied his words. Lita felt Randy’s ass press back into him just as he felt the man trying to push into his hand when he palmed Randy’s erection. He had no doubt his partner did both unconsciously. Randy was right. Now wasn’t the time, but only one of them really needed to keep eyes on Burke.
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