Safe. I didn’t trust easy, yet with Joe I’d had to fight not to trust him from the start. No matter what rational arguments my mind presented, my instincts refused to listen. Down deep where it counts, I trusted him to keep his word, to keep me safe.
But that ended, tonight. It wasn’t his job and I couldn’t ask him to risk his life for me again and again. The FBI meant leaving my family, going into hiding—I didn’t want to do that either. A cold sweat chilled me at the thought of leaving all the people I loved behind, but I had to do the right thing. Tonight, before my resolve weakened.
Joe parked next to me and gestured for me to come to him. He sat in a blue Ford pickup, a smile on his lips. Why was he smiling when his car was bullet-riddled and the bad guys had almost killed us? The man was certifiable.
I glanced behind me and all around, but I didn’t see anyone watching, so I hurried out of the driver’s seat, gun clutched in one hand and purse in the other. I climbed into the truck, almost toppling backward in the damn heels before landing on the seat with a grunt.
“Now what?” I glanced over at the smiling madman.
“We go home. Delta’s headed our way with some tech. He’ll be at your place in thirty.”
“Why?” I buckled my seat belt.
“We’ve been testing some jamming equipment. It should scramble any electronic monitoring. And he’s bringing me better hardware.” He shifted into gear. “Sorry we have to put that dance on hold. I wanted to see you move.” His sexy voice sent a different kind of chill racing through me, which erased the remnants of unease.
I didn’t want to count on him. I wouldn’t. “Believe me, you didn’t miss anything.” My dancing was average at best. But Joe, he wasn’t average at anything. “So you don’t think the attack should change our strategy?”
He chuckled.
Not what I expected.
“Darling, we survived, have new intel, that’s better than I expected. The plan’s working. We just keep on living and soon Mickey will become a lot less important.” Confidence infused his words and I let his confidence seep into me. I’d need it if I was going to give up his protection. It was the right thing to do.
Chapter Sixteen
JoJo
Charlie was stewing about something, I saw it in her eyes. First I needed to get us home and safe before I drew out the poison. The night hadn’t gone as expected but it accomplished my primary goal—letting off steam. The tension between us continued to grow into a force I could almost touch.
I’d wanted to take her to bed from the first day I’d seen her all serious and sexy. The attraction continued to build and she worked equally hard at denying it. If it wasn’t for the one-two punch of danger from the mob, I’d have already maneuvered her into my bed for the night.
We parked in her garage and headed into the house.
“Joe, I need to—”
“Take a shower, a bath, whatever, and relax. Once Delta leaves we can talk all you want.” I didn’t want to say it out loud but I worried there were listening devices in the house too.
She frowned, opened her mouth to argue, then sighed. “Fine, after Delta leaves.” She stretched her shoulders. “A bath sounds like heaven.”
Fuck. Charlie in that huge bathtub made for two had me thinking with my cock. Her curvy body all slippery. I wanted to slide in beside her, help her relax. I could totally take away her stress. My hard-on was there in a second. Good thing Charlie didn’t look back because I couldn’t hide it standing there. And she wasn’t on the same page, yet.
Delta texted me five minutes before he showed up. I opened the garage and waited for him to turn in the drive. He walked his bike into the garage and I shut the door. Delta grabbed two bags from his bike storage compartment.
“Brother, you sure this is your fight?” He clasped my back.
“I’m all in.”
“Why a cop? She’s not even our people.” The bastard didn’t know when to stop.
“Danvers is a cop.”
“A friend and you know it. She’s...a piece of ass? There’s a hundred of those.”
Fists clenched, I resisted the urge to punch him. Anger breathed alive and real inside me. Charlie wasn’t a piece of ass. “Don’t say that again.”
“You planning to make little cops with her? Come on.”
“There are people worth saving. She’s one.” I spoke through clenched teeth, a second away from losing my cool.
The ass grinned at me. “You going to put her in your cut?”
Why did he always go for the throat. I didn’t know what I wanted from her, but she wouldn’t want someone as tarnished as me. I walked in the shadows, and sometimes in the dark.
“She doesn’t want it.”
Delta arched a brow. “I hate to see you fall, you and Rebel, now who will I party with?”
“Get the sweeper and look for tech in the house. I’ll set the jammer up in the truck.” I decided ignoring him was the only sane option. He could pick at bones better than a buzzard.
“Yes, sir.” He gave me a two-finger salute and a sarcastic grin before disappearing inside with one of the bags.
I took the second bag and installed the small device in the truck. It should disrupt any signals and encrypt our phone conversations in the car. Rebel had found out about the toy from the security guys and he’d bought two, but we’d hardly tested them. After I plugged it into the charging port and flipped it on. I entered both Charlie and my cell numbers and that should be it. We should be protected from any more electronic surveillance. Franco would have to work harder if he wanted to eliminate us. Not that any of them would succeed. I’d promised her and her family she’d be safe. I would keep my word.
Delta met me in the kitchen. “House is clean. They must not care about your conversations. You’re clear to bone her without anyone hearing.”
I punched his arm. “Quit, already.” I glanced down the hall. No Charlie. “Get gone.”
“You should bring her to the club. Better protection there.” He glanced around the house. “They could penetrate this place in seconds—flimsy doors, glass in back. Not secure at all.”
“Can’t be bait hiding behind the Brotherhood.”
“Sucky-ass plan,” he growled. “I’m staying in town, call if you need me.” He clasped my hand and smacked me on the back. “I’ll watch your six at night, when I can. I got a couple skips up here to clear up since you’re on vacation.” He smacked the back of my head and headed out. I closed the garage after he’d ridden off.
I walked back into the kitchen to find Charlie dressed with a go-bag beside her. “I want you to take me to the FBI.” She walked to the fridge and pulled down the card from the agent on the case.
I grabbed it from her hand. “Never. You aren’t going to the feebs. Get me?”
“As a matter of fact, I don’t get you. And that’s one of the problems—one of many.” She fisted hands on hips. “This isn’t your fight.”
I was tired of hearing that.
Anger stirred inside me, but I shoved it away. Anger wouldn’t convince Charlie to trust me. “Tell me your problem with me, with my protection. The FBI will get you killed at worst, and separated from everyone you love at best.”
Color drained from her face and she stepped back.
I held out a hand. “Let’s sit and talk this through. I won’t let anyone hurt you, not even you.”
She gave me a sad smile. “You won’t change my mind.”
“Let me worry about that.”
She grasped my hand and I led her into the living room. I’d spent years interrogating others, convincing criminals that turning on their friends was best. Agreement was essential. Every time she agreed, her resistance weakened. Cold maybe, but I’d do anything to keep her safe and give her life back. Even if I had to cuff her to her bed.
That had promis
e. I shook my head and drew her down on the couch next to me, unable to let go. I wasn’t talking first. She had to get the worry out in the open before I could do anything to change her mind.
Seconds ticked by as she sat with eyes closed. Gathering her courage? Ordering her thoughts? Maybe she thought I’d just go away. Not ever. She might not be good enough for me, or even want me, but that didn’t change my feelings. Feelings I refused to explore because they went deeper than wanting her for the night.
“You shouldn’t be in danger. I can’t...” She met my eyes, desperation in her gaze. “I won’t see you hurt.”
“Bullshit. What’s the real reason?”
She leaned back at my forceful words, breaking the contact of our hands. I missed her touch already.
“That’s... I’m not your concern.” She blustered, worrying her hands together.
“I promised you, your family, so I’m definitely involved and not going away.” I narrowed my gaze and went deeper. “But that’s not why you’re running from me, so stop with the excuses. Spit it out.”
She straightened her spine and color raced back to her face. “You jerk.” She huffed. “It doesn’t matter why... I’m just done with your crazy plan.” She jerked her head back toward me. “Bullets flew at you, not once, twice, because of me. They’re hunting me.” Her voice shook. “I can’t... How can I combat that?”
Apt term. The mobsters hunted them, but those gangsters had made a fatal error—I wasn’t prey and neither was Charlie. Sure she doubted her mettle now, but in the end, she was a predator. I knew it, and soon she’d figure it out too.
“It’s damn scary when someone wants you dead. I get that, it’s what takes the biggest toll in war—kill or be killed. Predator or prey—we aren’t wired for those roles anymore. But I’ve been there and I’m no one’s prey, so already you’re ahead with me. When bullets fly, you need someone at your back who’s walked through hell and come out the other side.” I glanced down at my hands. “The very things you like least about me make me your best bet.”
I hated admitting that, but it was true, and I’d quit running from the truth a long time ago.
She drew in a quick breath. “That’s not...it’s not you—”
I cut her off with a hollow laugh. “Please don’t say it...you’re breaking up with me...you get we’re not in that kind of relationship.”
My joke flew over her head for a minute, then her lips twisted in a wry smile. “Not the best choice of words, but here’s the thing I can’t get over.” She speared me with her icy blue eyes, “You and I aren’t friends, I just met you a few weeks ago. Why? I can’t let you do this. Risk everything for me. I’m the one who signed up for that job.”
Here we were—the tricky part. She hit on the same thing Delta had hammered me on since I’d told him I planned to protect her. Why me. I didn’t want to spill my tortured past or how I’d twisted her up as my chance at redemption. While saving Charlie was a given, nothing would make up for failing Laney.
“I protected and served until Uncle Sam said adios.” I shrugged. “Can’t I just be the guy who saves the day because I have the skills and desire to do it? A good Samaritan.”
She studied me a long moment and I swear she read my soul. “I can’t let you—it’s too much, too dangerous.” She worried her bottom lip. “And it’s not the truth, at least not all of it.”
I rubbed my neck and debated how much I had to spill to satisfy her. “You remind me of my sister, and I wish to hell someone had stepped in to save her...when I couldn’t.”
Shit. I hadn’t meant to go that far. The truth tumbled out of my mouth, now I was stuck. I paced across her living room, needing space from my admission.
“You have a sister?” Her quiet question almost unmade me. She’d screwed up the most essential word. I’d had a sister.
“She died, while I was enlisted.” The words scraped across the raw wound that never healed. Laney had been all light and joy, snuffed out with a cruelty no one deserved.
“Oh, Joe, I don’t have words...sorry just doesn’t cut it.” Her haunted tone said she knew about loss. “I’m not your sister, though.”
Oh hell no. I had anything but sisterly thoughts about her. I turned to her, met her sad eyes. “I know you’re not Laney. She was thirteen when some bastard raped her, debased her and left her broken by the side of the road. He killed her after so much pain, torture really. And I was across the ocean protecting jackasses when I needed to project her.” The rage ignited my words and I yelled the last part. Thinking of the injustice of Laney’s death always filled me with rage. The same gnawing anger that had ended up getting me expelled from the military.
“Did they catch her killer?” Her matter-of-fact question centered me.
I jerked my head in a single nod. “Not that it matters, nothing can make up for her loss.” I shoved hands in my pockets. “Not even protecting you... I know that.”
“So...why me?” Of course she wouldn’t be satisfied until she’d probed the black center of my soul, the wound that never healed.
I dug up the last truth that would leave me naked in front of the woman.
“From the moment I met you—you reminded me of Laney. You fight on the side of good—driven, spunky, with real sticking power.”
She opened her mouth and shut it. “I know about grief, and you will never save enough, be enough to make up for not being there.” She shook her head and I think she understood where I was coming from because she’d been there.
“Wouldn’t you like to save someone? I couldn’t save my sister, but I will keep you safe.” I met her gaze, pleading for understanding. “Do you trust me to keep you safe?”
Emotion flickered across her face—sadness, regret and acceptance or maybe resignation. I’d take it. The tight ball in the center of my chest loosened just a bit.
“Okay, yeah.” She blew out a breath. “I understand where you’re coming from, but—”
“I’m protecting you.” I wasn’t letting her back out. “You trust me. Say it. You have to trust me more than the feebs.”
“I don’t know why I trust you. You’re—” she flicked her fingers at my cut “—everything I shouldn’t trust yet I do, but that doesn’t make this right or your problem.”
I closed the distance to her, let one finger caress her cheek. “Even if you go to the FBI or Marshals, I’ll follow, shadow you to make sure you stay safe. I’m committed.” Saving Charlie had become my only mission.
“You think we can make them back down?” A seed of hope was buried in her words.
I placed hands on each side of her face. “I know it. I promise we will because I won’t settle for less.”
“Do you always get what you want?” She hadn’t meant for her question as a flirt but it lit me up.
“I wish.” I drew toward her lush lips. “I always get what I hunt.” Lips touched together soft and tentative, I let her settle into me, exploring, holding back my need to possess her, bring her under my control.
Her tongue slid against mine and my thoughts slipped away. Touch. Taste. Temptation. I fell under her influence. In slow sweeps her kisses intensified, her touch tormented. I needed more.
I inched up the silky skirt on her black dress, stroking her bare thigh. She pressed closer, and I grabbed her ass, letting her know exactly how much I wanted her. I had to taste her, then I’d spend the night exploring her inch by inch, one orgasm building to another until she was mine, until she’d never even think of walking away.
I pulled away from her lips and she nipped, trying to bring me back. “You taste so sweet. I’ve been craving you.” Then I kissed her again, starving for another taste.
She moaned into my lips.
I brushed her pert nipple through the dress, and her hips grinded into me. Delicious. Passionate. I ate up the hunger in her kiss. Stoking our desire until we both burned.
Her hands rubbed my biceps, then trailed down my back until they settled on my ass.
“So fucking sexy.” I kissed down her neck and she bucked when I hit a sensitive spot. So expressive, she was more than I’d even hoped. I needed her naked under me.
I walked her toward the couch, needing to get her naked now.
“My room.” Her breathless words punched me in the gut. My cock, already hard, turned to granite.
I groaned. “Lead the way, darling.”
She gave me a beguiling smile and led me upstairs to her bedroom. The swish of her ass and her musky scent made me lightheaded. I don’t think I needed the extra blood in my cock, but my body was locked and loaded, ready for engagement.
We turned into her room and I swept her up and laid her back sideways across her bed. A breathy giggle escaped her, not a Charlie sound for sure, and that made it perfect.
“Take it off, all off.” I stared down at her, loving the flushed look of pleasure on her face.
“All...” She sat up then stood with her back to me. “Unzip, please.”
I did and her dress fell to the floor. A red scrap of fabric crossed her ass. She faced me and her tits almost spilled out of the crimson bra. “Sexy, darling. Now take it off before I tear it off,” I growled, my control barely there.
The panties and bra dropped on top of the dress. I prowled forward. “Lay back.”
“Make me.” Her blue eyes teased and her body tempted.
I cupped her and sucked in her nipple before trailing lower until I found the spot I’d craved. Tucked in behind a small triangle of blond curls, I nipped her clit, worrying it between my teeth. With a moan, she collapsed back on the bed.
I lifted her legs over my shoulder and tasted her sweetness with long, slow licks. Her hips pumped up with another moan. My girl was a talker. I loved every little naughty thing she did.
I rubbed her with the pad of my thumb. “So wet for me. I’m going to drink up all you give me. Make this pussy weep with my tongue.”
She shivered.
“You want me to make you come.”
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