Capturing Caleb (Knight Security 3)

by Carole Mortimer

  “I told you, the shooter is long gone,” Asher dismissed with a shrug.

  “Any idea who it was, Caleb?” Gabriel’s lids were narrowed as he swept his alert gaze over the deserted car park.

  His mouth tightened. “I was too busy keeping the two of us alive.”

  Gabriel’s gaze returned to rest on Lena. “Trouble certainly seems to follow you around.”

  “That’s unfair—”

  “No, it isn’t, Caleb.” Lena sighed. “Have any of you been shot at in the past six weeks?”

  “Well, no,” he admitted.

  “Then it’s me they want, not you.” Her shoulders slumped. “Sinclair or Dukakis?” she prompted Gabriel.

  “Could be both.” He frowned. “The two cases are connected, after all. And none of the other girls we’ve spoken to actually met either Sinclair or Dukakis. The ones with you on the island only ever met the Greek’s security guards.”

  Lena shivered. “That would have been bad enough. But that means only I can testify as to Sinclair and Dukakis’s involvement,” she realized with a sinking heart.

  Gabriel nodded. “And Caleb, in Dukakis’s case. But yes, that makes you the prosecution’s star witness.”

  “You know what this means…”

  Lena turned to look curiously at Asher. “What does it mean?”

  “Safe house?” Ethan prompted.

  “Definitely,” Gabriel confirmed.

  “For both of them.” Asher nodded.

  “Definitely,” Gabriel said again.

  Lena snorted her frustration with these infuriatingly domineering men. “Would someone please explain what the hell you’re all talking about!”

  “She’s got her fight back,” Asher admired.

  “Very feisty.” Ethan nodded.

  Lena turned her exasperated gaze onto Caleb. “What are they talking about?”

  “You really don’t want to piss her off,” he warned his brothers. “The last man who did that, she wanted strung up by his balls!”

  “Ouch.” Ethan winced.

  “I suggest we all get out of here and go somewhere we can talk without running the risk of being shot at if the shooter does decide to come back and finish the job.” Gabriel took charge. “We need to decide on which safe house and then get the two of them moved in there as soon as possible.”

  Lena’s feet stayed firmly planted on the tarmac as the Knight brothers started to walk to their respective cars. “Caleb?”

  Caleb knew from a single glance at the angry flush in Lena cheeks that she was fast reaching the end of her patience. And he couldn’t blame her. He and his brothers could be overpowering individually; together, they were formidable. Single-minded. Focused. More often than not without taking into account what other people thought of their behavior. He knew from experience that wasn’t going to work with Lena.

  “Let’s meet up at my apartment initially,” he told his brothers, encouraging them to walk away so he could speak to Lena in private. “All we want to do is keep you safe, Lena,” he cajoled once his brothers had nodded their agreement and walked out of earshot. “And the easiest way to do that is to put you in the protection of a safe house.”

  Her chin rose. “Those bastards have taken enough of my life already. I am not running away and hiding.”

  “It isn’t running away, it’s a tactical retreat,” he corrected. “Think, Lena. You can’t continue to stay at Angela and Gabriel’s house.”

  Her eyes widened and then her cheeks paled as the full significance of his comment washed over her. “Oh God, no, of course I can’t put any of them in danger too.” She groaned, burying her face in her hands. “Is this nightmare ever going to be over?”

  Oh, it would be over. Caleb would ensure that it was. No matter what he had to do, who he had to fight, he was going to eliminate whatever or whoever this new threat was to Lena’s life.

  Chapter 12

  “Whose home did you say this is?” Lena was fascinated by how the building that had looked like a derelict warehouse from the outside was actually a really comfortable open-plan loft conversion inside. It also had, according to Caleb, the added bonus of a state-of-the-art security system, along with surveillance cameras outside being fed into monitors in the roof space above.

  “Zander’s,” Caleb supplied as he watched her walk about the warmly decorated open space lit by bright strip lighting overhead. “He’s a good friend and an employee of Knight Security.”

  “More ex-military?” she guessed.

  “Yes.”

  “He doesn’t mind us using his home?”

  “He’s away on assignment at the moment.” Caleb shrugged.

  Lena arched a brow. “Does that mean he doesn’t mind or he doesn’t know?”

  “He doesn’t know,” Caleb conceded. “But he wouldn’t mind if he did know.”

  “Sure about that?” Lena had sat in Caleb’s apartment earlier and listened to the Knight brothers as they worked out their plan of action. Despite Caleb’s earlier warning about pissing her off, none of them had bothered to consult her as to whether their plan suited her. So it wasn’t too difficult to realize they probably hadn’t consulted Zander either before commandeering his home.

  “Yes.”

  “What am I going to do about clothes?” She’d taken off the laddered stockings and disposed of them at Caleb’s apartment, and her suspender belt was tucked into her evening bag.

  Caleb had been able to change out of his suit, of course, and into a thin black sweater and faded blue jeans. He’d also packed a small bag, presumably with more clothes and toiletries in it. He had given her a dark green sweater to wear over her black evening dress and keep her warm before they left his apartment. It reached almost down to her knees.

  “Gabriel will bring some of your stuff over tomorrow.”

  Which meant she’d have to manage until then. “There appears to be only one bed.” She’d noted the bedroom space on a level half a dozen steps up from the open living area and kitchen.

  “Do we need more than one bed?”

  No, of course they didn’t. She was just talking for the sake of it.

  Because she felt…awkward, now the two of them were alone in someone else’s home. It had all seemed so simple earlier. Dinner together. Conversation. Back to Caleb’s apartment. And bed.

  Having their evening interrupted in that shocking way, and then spending an hour or so with Caleb’s brothers, had pretty much put a dampener on the evening. “Do you think we’ll ever be able to spend normal time together?” she asked ruefully.

  He smiled. “Probably not.”

  Lena couldn’t help laughing at his honesty. “As I said, overrated.”

  Caleb watched Lena as she wandered around the room looking at the artwork on the bare brick walls. He could sense her tension all the way across the room. “I can sleep on the sofa if you would feel more comfortable.”

  She paused to look at him. “Why would you think that?”

  “Oh, I don’t know.” He leaned back against the breakfast bar, arms folded. “Maybe because we were shot at this evening.”

  “I think we all agreed I was shot at this evening.”

  “We all agreed it’s a possibility,” he corrected. “Until we know for sure, we’re both staying put.”

  A frown appeared between her eyes. His art of the understatement was obviously starting to irritate her in her already agitated state. “I don’t ever want you to do that again.”

  “Do what again?”

  “Throw yourself in front of the bullet for me. Don’t try to deny it, Caleb,” she warned as he would have spoken. “You threw yourself on top of me. If there had been another bullet fired, it would have hit you and not me.”

  “It’s my job.”

  Her frown was pained. “Is that what I am to you, a job?”

  Now he’d hurt her. Again. Without meaning to. Because he didn’t take gratitude well. “No, of course not. It was instinctive. Bullet fired, protect the most vulne
rable target.”

  “Me.”

  “At that moment, yes.” He sighed as she still frowned. “I would do it again, Lena. I won’t lie to you, I will do it again, if need be.”

  “In the meantime, we stay here.”

  “Yes.”

  “For how long?

  “As long as it takes.”

  “Days? Weeks?”

  “If necessary.”

  “What are we going to do all that time— I meant after that.” She rolled her eyes at the pointed look he gave her.

  “Who says there has to be an ‘after’?”

  Her eyes widened, and then she smiled. “You’re good, Caleb, but even you couldn’t keep that going for days.”

  “Even me?” he mocked.

  “Well, we still have to test that particular theory.” She walked toward him, eyes intent and focused solely on him. The harsh overhead lighting allowed her to drink in the sight of him in a way she hadn’t been able to the last time they were together intimately. “To see if it’s as good as we remember,” she reminded him at his questioning look. She placed her hand against his chest, right over where his heart was beating rapidly.

  Caleb drew in a sharp breath as the heat of her palm permeated his sweater. “I’m a little highly strung tonight, Lena. I wanted to make it so good for you, and now I’m tight as a bloody violin string. I don’t want to go blundering in and hurt— Oh fuck!” His groan was guttural as she dropped to her knees in front of him. His hands gripped her shoulders as she unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, pulling them and his boxers far enough down his thighs that his fully engorged cock bobbed up and outward. “Lena…!” His knees almost buckled as he watched her tongue sweep out and slowly lick the pre-cum from the swollen tip.

  Caleb was just as beautiful as Lena remembered. Eight inches of hot, throbbing power. All for her. The skin was soft and smooth over that steely hardness, the foreskin back and baring the heavy glans completely. He tasted as divine as she remembered. Salty and sweet. Perfect.

  She heard the air whoosh from his lungs as she parted her lips and took him fully into her mouth at the same time that he grabbed the hair at the back of her head to hold her in place. Her tongue swirled over that moist tip again and then down to the sensitive spot just beneath the reddened glans. She hummed softly in the throat as she sucked him deeper.

  “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” Caleb muttered the word over and over again in a litany as the room became filled with the wet sound of him thrusting into her mouth and their groans of pleasure.

  He hadn’t expected this after the shooting earlier, had thought if it happened at all, they would build up to lovemaking slowly. That he would cajole and seduce. Work his way up to full intimacy. Instead, Lena had taken the initiative, shooting his already tenuous control straight to hell.

  The pleasure built quickly, higher and higher, and Caleb had to grit his teeth as he fought not to come. He wanted this to last. But it was just too fucking… “Good,” he gasped. “Too fucking good!” He thrusts became wildly erratic as the powerful jets of cum suddenly pulsed out of him. He used both hands to hold her head in place as he shuddered and thrust inside her until she had swallowed every last drop of his release.

  He opened heavy lids to look down at her. Her hair was an auburn tangle in his gripping fingers before cascading down her spine over his sweater. She lifted her head, allowing his sensitive cock head to brush over her tongue as she released him, leaving a trail of moisture over her red and swollen lips. His cock gleamed with a combination of her saliva and his cum.

  Seeing that made his cock engorge again.

  “That looks so fucking good,” he groaned as Lena drew her bottom lip into her mouth to lick up the last drops.

  Her eyes glowed. “I’ve wanted the privacy and freedom to do that for such a long time.”

  Caleb didn’t need her to say since Petros. He knew that was what she meant. Because he felt the same. The things he had imagined doing to her, with her, since then would probably make her blush. Which didn’t mean he wasn’t going to do every single one of them. He liked it when Lena blushed. It made him hard. Hell, Lena only had to breathe and it made him hard.

  She looked so sexy wearing his sweater that was way too large for her. Maybe because he knew what was underneath? Except he didn’t. Lena’s curves had filled out slightly since he had last seen her naked.

  He placed his hands beneath her elbows and drew her to her feet, holding her gaze with his as he pulled the sweater up and then over her head before discarding it completely. He stepped forward to slide down the zip on the back of her dress, pulling it down her arms and allowing the garment to fall to the floor.

  Lena wore a black silk bra and panties beneath the dress. Along with her black fuck-me shoes, she looked…well, good enough to fuck. Repeatedly, if his leaking cock had its way.

  He tugged her in against his body, instantly feeling her heat pressed against him. “I want to taste myself in your mouth,” he murmured before kissing her.

  Lena’s desire ratcheted up another notch from hearing those erotic words. Her lips parted to allow him access, his tongue seeking, tasting, claiming every part of her mouth for his own.

  She gave a low groan as Caleb’s open mouth now sipped and nipped at the flesh down her throat. His fingers trailed down the swell of her silk-cupped breasts, dipping in at her waist, and then out again at the curve of her hips. Fingertips skimmed along the dip between hip and thighs, before moving lower still to where damp panties covered her mound.

  Her back arched as she writhed against those stroking fingers, drawing in a breathy gasp as he pushed the scrap of silk aside. Flesh touched flesh as those questing fingers stroked her clit and the plump opening of her channel, before pressing lightly against the sensitive area between her channel and bottom. Those fingers trailed back to where her clit throbbed and ached for his touch.

  “I want to see you,” he murmured against her throat. “Look at you as I pleasure you.”

  “Oh God, yes.” Lena felt burning hot, her skin oversensitive to the touch of his lips and hands.

  “Let’s get more comfortable, hmm?” he encouraged softly as he raised his head, straightening his boxers and jeans but not fastening them before taking her hand and walking over and then stopping beside the couch.

  Lena watched unashamedly as he removed his clothes. Sweater first, revealing the solid muscles of his shoulders and chest. A scarred warrior’s chest that she stepped forward to kiss, as she had said she would. Slowly. Every last cut on his chest and back. He was breathing raggedly by the time she moved back to stand in front of him.

  He took off his jeans and boxers next. His freed cock bobbed upward, fully engorged again, slightly weighted down by the heavy, exposed glans, thick dark veins visible along its length. His sac was drawn up tight beneath as evidence of how aroused he was.

  She glanced up at his face. “No recovery time, hmm?”

  “Not tonight,” he confirmed. “But we’ll deal with that later. Right now, it’s your turn. I want to look at and explore every part of you. Take off your bra for me.”

  She arched a brow. “Dmitri?”

  He nodded. “For the moment.”

  Her cheeks burned as she reached up and unfastened her bra at the back, sliding the straps down her arms before dropping it to the floor, leaving her breasts fully exposed to his hungry gaze. The nipples instantly tightened and puckered to aching nubs.

  “Now the panties.” His voice was gruff, his cock rising higher, balls drawing tighter.

  She hooked her thumbs into the thin scrap of silk at her hips, sliding the material downward.

  “Leave the shoes,” he encouraged as she would have removed those too. “I want to feel them pressing against my ass when I thrust inside you.”

  God, if he kept this up, she was going to come just from listening to those arousing words leaving his lips!

  She slipped the silk off completely before straightening.

  “On the co
uch,” Caleb encouraged, watching her like a hawk as she lay down. “Knees bent, feet flat, legs splayed open. Yes,” he groaned as she did as he asked. The perfume of her arousal was enough to make him groan. The lips of her channel were plump and glistening, the clit above peeking enticingly from beneath its hood.

  He raised his gaze to her face, noting her dilated pupils, the flush on her cheeks, her slightly parted lips, the quick rise and fall of those delicious breasts.

  He sat on the opposite end of the couch to where her head rested on a cushion, pushing her legs farther apart, exposing her fully as his hand trailed over the exposed flesh. He dipped the tip of his finger between those wet and swollen lips, feeling as her walls closed about the intrusion, sucking his finger in to the first knuckle and then the second, contracting, squeezing along the length of his finger as he began to slowly thrust it inside her. A second finger joined the first, her channel closing snugly about them as he hooked them forward to stroke along the tight knot of nerves inside her.

  Caleb used his other hand to push back the hood above, completely exposing her plump red clit, before he lowered his head to blow on that sensitive bud and then suck it into his mouth.

  He heard Lena cry out as she came, her clit pulsing against his tongue, her channel contracting tightly about his fingers.

  It was pure eroticism, being allowed to watch and feel as she came apart in that way.

  “Watch,” he encouraged, waiting until she had opened her eyes before easing his fingers from inside her and raising them to his lips to slowly lick and suck off the slickness of her cum. “I haven’t finished with you yet,” he murmured. He lowered his head again and began to stroke his tongue along the lips of her still-convulsing channel and the sensitive nubbin above.

  She came twice more before he raised his head again, ensuring that between her thighs was absolutely drenched with her juices by the time he knelt up to roll a condom onto his length. He positioned himself between her parted thighs, the bulbous tip of his cock pressing against the entrance of her channel.