by Honor James
“The SUV,” he said softly. He used his hold on her hand to tug her to a stop. “Piper, what are you thinking?” he asked. He sounded so damn suspicious all of a sudden. She couldn’t, for the life of her, understand why, either.
“Just planning my outfit for inventory,” she told him honestly. “The SUV. Good.” Pencil skirt with a slit up to her ass, six-inch come-fuck-me shoes, and a silk barely there shirt. Yep, she thought, she might be able to keep him distracted a little, which would distract her a lot.
“Yeah, that’s kinda what I’m worried about,” he said. Squeezing her fingers, he let her hand go, and waved her off to the closet. “Go, choose your weapons well. I’ll get changed, gear up, and we can get out of here.”
She had to laugh. God, this man knew her far better than she could have ever expected. She walked away from him and into her closet, pulling out clothes and then going to her drawers to get the thong and push-up bra that would display her breasts just for him. Once she had everything, she walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her so that when she came out he would be surprised by what she was wearing.
She could hear him doing his thing out in the bedroom. First changing, definitely changing, she was sure. The sound of a gun chamber being cleared came to her. She’d become rather familiar with that sound, which meant he was getting his weapons on. That gave her another two minutes before he’d start calling to her impatiently.
Once she had her hair rolled into a bun on the top of her head, she walked out. The black skirt and white silk shirt looked amazing on her. The shirt was so thin that it was practically see-through and showed the pretty white bra she was wearing perfectly. She didn’t say anything, she just walked out and grabbed her six-inch heels and stepped into them. “I’m ready. Are you ready?” she asked, grinning because the look he gave her was one of pure heat and need. She loved seeing that look on his face, especially when he stopped dead in his tracks to give it to her.
“You are not leaving the house wearing that, woman,” he said. “Jesus, Piper. Are you trying to give me a permanent hard-on? Fuck me, woman. No way in hell am I letting any of the guys see you wearing that. I’ll have to kill them all, and only for the thoughts I know will be going through their heads. Let’s not even touch upon what the fuck will be coming out of their mouths. Jesus,” he said again. Shaking his head, he walked to her, his hands landing on her hips, and pulled her in closer to him. “You are sex on a stick in this outfit. If I wasn’t so determined to get you out of the house I’d fucking tear all this off you and fuck you until you couldn’t remember your own name.”
“I love you, too, Aeron Cutter.” Piper leaned into him and brushed her lips to his cheek. “And yes, I am wearing this. I’ve worn it before, and I will wear it again. Now come on. We have booze to count.” So she might put a jacket on or another shirt to make him happy, but honestly, right now she was loving the look on his face and the way he kept growling at her. She never dreamed she would be turned on by something like that, but she was. A lot.
His hands slid over her ass and then squeezed. “How the hell are you going to count bottles in this outfit?” he asked her. “It’s so tight you’ll bust a seam if you move the wrong way. You do realize this, right?”
“I guess that would just mean that I would have to wear your clothes home, then. Would give me a reason to get naked with you and give you a reason to lose your shirt to me.” Her hands moved up and down his chest lovingly and she added, “Besides, the skirt has more give then you think.” She turned then, showing him the back with the slit to her ass cheeks. “See, lots of give.”
“Geez,” he breathed out. “Don’t you own a mumu, or a caftan or something like that?” he asked. When she turned to look at him, he had a hand pressed to his chest, and his eyes were closed. “Grab a jacket. We’re leaving now, before I do something you want me to damn well do. Now,” he ordered, throwing his arm out to point unerringly at the door to the bedroom.
She couldn’t deny that she wanted him to do exactly what he was thinking of doing. She just grinned and grabbed her jacket. Tugging it on she zipped it up and started down the stairs. The jacket went past her ass so now it looked as if she wore chaps or something similar to them that made her internally giggle. Once out the door, she slipped her hand into his, turning slightly to do so. “Now, off to go and count bottles and kegs.” Oh, joy.
He grunted at her as he grabbed his jacket off the coat rack and checked the pockets. At the door he pulled it open and stepped out. He did his usual scan of the neighborhood as she eased out behind him, pulling the door shut and locking it. Tucking her close to his side, he seemed additionally alert, not really a surprise, as he walked with her to his truck.
Chapter Eleven
The day had been long but wonderful. Aeron had certainly kept her busy and inventory took a great deal longer than it should have. She was relaxed and feeling all loosey goosey. Here it was almost midnight and nothing had happened. Home. Finally! It was over. She was sure of it. The deadline came and went without incident and now, finally, it was over. The date inscribed on the Silver Star was all but over now.
Walking in ahead of Aeron, she tossed her jacket onto the barstool and called out, “Yoshi, we are home.” She turned and turned off the alarm, watching Aeron as he walked up behind her.
“Oh, good. You are home,” the voice from the shadows said a moment before a whisper of a sound like a small cough sounded after a small flash of light.
“What the?” Piper turned so fast that she twisted her ankle slightly, the shoes on her feet looking good, but were dangerous as hell for the one wearing them.
A thud caught her attention, and she watched Aeron hit his knees, a hand pressed to his chest. Another small cough had blood spraying from his shoulder. A foot to his chest pushed him back out the front door a moment before it was shut and the locks thrown. The gun, which she was finally cluing into, turned on her then. “If you would turn the alarm back on so we won’t be disturbed.”
“Mother?” Piper was too stunned to move. She was utterly flabbergasted. When her mother stepped fully into the light, though, she gasped. “Oh God.” Her mother had been badly scarred somehow. She was damaged, deeply, but she was also holding a weapon on Piper. “Why?” So many whys she had. Why did her mother make her think she was dead? Why did her mother leave her to her own devices? And why was her mother trying to kill her? She was also thinking of Aeron, he had been shot. She was freaking out inside but she knew that somewhere out there his team was waiting, and he had his comms set on. “Why?” she begged again. She didn’t move to set the alarm, just stood there, looking at her mother.
“Set. The. Alarm.” The gun never once wavered. The look from the woman behind the weapon was chilling. “I have zero problem shooting you, sweetie. Not how I planned for this evening to go, but I’m more than willing and able to improvise. Set the alarm, and do it properly. If you send out a warning I will be forced to shoot you, and believe me, you will not like where I put the first round.” The gun lowered until it was pointing at her hip.
Piper nodded and moved to set the alarm. She looked out the window and saw Aeron laying there. Tears filled her eyes because he was so still. Had she done the wrong thing not running out to him? With a shaky hand, she set the alarm and turned. “There, it’s set. What about Yoshi? You didn’t hurt him, did you?” She thought of sweet Yoshi, the quiet man that made waffles just to make her smile and to give Aeron a hard time.
“He is sound asleep in your little guest room. I did tie him up, just in case he came to sooner than I planned, but he won’t be harmed. He doesn’t have anything to do with this, sweetie. Your Marine there, though, I owed him for interfering as he did. Looks like he’s bleeding out nicely, maybe he’ll survive, maybe he won’t. If he does he’ll have to move on without you. Shouldn’t be too hard, given his looks. A mite brutish for my tastes, but the right woman would tame him, I’m sure. Move, up to your room,” she ordered with a jerk of the gun. N
ot very far, just a bit of emphasis to get Piper moving.
Piper moved up the steps to her room. In her mind she kept going through what might be up there for her to use. She had seen that Aeron had three handguns on him, so there was a fourth. She just didn’t know where he had hidden it in the room. There was a knife, but a knife versus a gun was never a good situation for the one wielding the knife. She had to think, she had to get out of this, because she needed to be sure that Aeron would survive the shot to his shoulder.
She still couldn’t get over it. Her mother had shot Aeron. God, her mother was fucking alive! “Why, Mom? Why do all of this?” She had loved her mom. They had been a very close family, loving and laughing, but now this. This woman might look like her mother, but she was a complete opposite of the woman she recalled as her mother.
“No loose ends, sweetie,” her mother said, prodding her with the gun at her back. “Onto the bed, on your back, and bind your feet first before laying down.” Piper could see a series of padded cuffs locked onto the end of the bed and the headboard. Another prod, this one hard enough to leave a mark, pushed her forward.
“And if I say no?” Piper didn’t move. She knew that the moment she allowed herself to be tied up she was dead. “Because I have to tell you, Mom, there is no way in hell I’m doing that. If you feel like you have to kill me then you better damn well do it like a real woman and not kill someone that can’t fight back. Why? What the hell did I ever fucking do to you besides love you?” Tears rolled in fat waves down Piper’s cheeks. She couldn’t have stopped them had she wanted to. Her heart was broken, shattered at the betrayal that faced her right now. Not only that, but she was in agony not knowing if Aeron was okay or not.
A heavy sigh sounded behind her. “I suppose I could play the part of the stereotypical bad guy and tell all. Not like your little friends will get in here soon enough to save you one way or another. And I have learned over the years to be flexible in all things, including my plans.” A hard push had her stumbling toward her bedroom chair. “Sit your ass down, and listen well, this won’t take long to explain.”
* * * *
“Cutter, for the love of fuck, Cutter! Damn it, are you alive or not?”
Groaning softly he rolled slightly, biting a curse back as he let a breath hiss out through his teeth at the burn in his shoulder. “Alive,” he managed to wheeze out.
“Fucking hell,” Timmons muttered. “He’s alive, repeat, he’s alive.”
A hand under his uninjured arm helped him into a sitting position on the stoop. Then Timmons was crouching in front of him and waving a light in his eyes. Flinching back, he bit off another curse. “Get that out of my fucking face or you’ll need to have it surgically removed,” he snarled.
“Glad to see your personality wasn’t damaged with that gunshot. Speaking of, who the ever-loving hell shot you?”
“Woman, older, didn’t really get a great look at her. She looked injured, but old injuries, like years old injuries. All I really noticed was the gun, and the fact she’d shot me.” Patting his chest, he found the hole from the first shot and tore the shirt open to reveal the vest underneath. Thank fuck he’d put it on while still at the bar. The first shot had been to the middle of his chest. Would have hit his lungs if not for the vest, likely the only reason the woman had shot him a second time. Peeling the Velcro sides open, he sucked in a deeper breath and rubbed at his chest. “Mother fucker, that hurt.”
“Better than being dead,” Timmons muttered. “What?” he asked, looking away, then up. “Copy that. Shit, the woman’s got Piper in the bedroom. But Markham can’t get a clear line of sight with the drapes pulled as they are. He’s getting glimpses now and again, but he can’t be sure who the hell it is.”
“We need to get inside,” Cutter told him. Pushing to his feet, he accepted the helping hand. He damn well needed it. It felt like an anvil had slammed into his chest full force, and he was having a hell of a time drawing a full breath.
“Here.” Bradley jogged up with a spare shirt in hand. “We need to bind your shoulder, bro. You’re bleeding like a stuck pig.”
“No time to do it up pretty,” he muttered. Sliding the remains of his T-shirt off, he tore a strip off it. Bundling the remainder up, he handed it to Timmons, and then passed the strip off to Bradley. “Stopgap measures for the moment.”
Thankfully the men knew what to do. They’d done it often enough in the field; it was no different in that moment, despite the homey locale. “How are we getting inside?” Bradley asked as he tied the knots.
Cursing the new fire shooting down his arm, Cutter pressed a hand to the outside wall of the house to keep on his feet. “I put the app on my phone for her system. We can disable it remotely, and slip in with the spare key I had cut. Back pocket.”
“Uh, I’ll flip you for it,” Bradley said.
“Fucking hell, man,” Timmons muttered. He dug into Cutter’s jeans and pulled the phone out.
Taking the phone, Cutter got into the program’s app, turned everything to silent mode, and then disarmed. “The keys are in my jacket,” he said. No way in hell was he going to bend over and try to retrieve them himself.
“Got them,” Bradley said, moving to the door. “We good?” he asked.
At his nod, the man unlocked the door and eased it open slowly. “No one does anything until we know where Piper is, and if she’s safe. She is the only priority. If need be, kill the bitch that shot me. Clear?” he said, keeping his voice quiet.
Both men nodded. At his go, they began moving into the house. Bradley cut off from them to sweep and clear the main floor while he and Timmons went up the stairs slowly. At the top he could hear a murmur of voices. Signaling to Timmons to check the other rooms, Cutter made his way to the master bedroom, slowly pulling the only gun he could currently reach on his right hip.
Pausing outside the door, he peeked through the gap, but couldn’t see shit. Easing it open slowly, he stopped as soon as he saw an arm. He’d wait and see what the woman wanted with Piper, as long as his woman wasn’t in any danger, he’d let it play out a bit longer and hopefully come up with better options.
* * * *
“You see, sweetie,” her mother was saying. “I had gotten a fabulous offer back in my teens. It involved travel, espionage, and so many other things. All I had to do was learn the English language, meet an up-and-comer, marry him, and even play house for a time. That would be your father, if you haven’t figured it out. His position let me into so many places, all before security really became an issue, of course. Which allowed me to gather hordes of information for my government. Then they recalled me, told me to get out, the heat was on, and people were becoming suspicious. So I had to fake my own death. Well, one thing led to another, and my people discovered that your uncle was being promoted. A terrific position for him, not so much for us. This is when you became a liability. Because if that asshole asked the right question of you, who knows what you might have remembered of Mommy’s activities all those years ago. I, of course, volunteered to terminate you. A mother needs to do some things for herself after all.”
Memories rushed at her. She felt her world tilt on its axis and looked to her mother. “I remember many times we would meet with a man at the café on the corner a couple miles from home. I have no idea what streets but you would always act around him like you did around Dad.” She would kiss the man, he would fondle her and more when they got to the car. Memories were a shitty thing when you had a gun pointed at you. “You are a monster.” She lost her mother years ago. This woman might be the body of the woman that gave birth to her, but she wasn’t her mother. “And what about Daddy? Did you do that, too?” She had to know. Had this woman killed her father, too?
“My handler, my real lover,” she said with a purr. Then she shook off the softer moment and turned hard again. “Your father’s death wasn’t my doing. Sadly, I was deprived of taking him out personally. Oh, how I wish I’d been allowed to remove him. After all the sick things
he’d done to me over the years, a few days of torture would have evened the scales.” Her mother huffed out some air, actually appearing greatly miffed that she hadn’t had the opportunity to kill her father. “Neither here nor there, he’s dead. As you will be momentarily. Do you have any more boorish questions you feel the need to have answered prior to me terminating your life?”
The bedroom door moved slightly. It was a slow, gradual movement, but Piper noticed it because of how she was sitting in the chair. Her mother’s back was to the door, thankfully, so she didn’t notice it.
“Yes, actually, I do have another question.” Time. She needed to buy Aeron a few more seconds. Moments that he needed to ensure that he was able to kill the woman before her. “Why today? Why my birthday of all days?” She was turning twenty-nine today. Well, technically she was already now twenty-nine, seeing how the time was now after midnight. “Why would you do this? Even if I had recalled something it wouldn’t have gotten anyone anywhere at all. Everyone was sure you were dead. I was sure.” She had mourned the loss of her mother. It had eaten at her, but now the woman sat before her and all that Piper could think was that she wanted her dead.
“My people do not like loose ends of any kind. No matter how minimal the risk, all must be removed before we can move forward. As to your birthday”—she gave a shrug, and waved the gun around slightly before it was pointed right back at Piper—“I thought it fitting. I brought you into this world on this day, why not take you out on the same day? It all seems very symmetrical when you think about it, really. Now, if you’re done wasting my time.” She looked at her watch, the gun dipping ever so slightly to the side. “I have somewhere to be, so I’ll be getting on with it now.”
That was when Aeron fired. The shot hit her mother in the shoulder causing her to spin with the force of it and drop the weapon at the same time. Not that she was out of the game. She screeched, pulling a knife from somewhere, and dove toward Piper. A second shot stopped her, causing her to drop to the carpet and gasp for air.