Renner (In the Company of Snipers Book 19)

by Irish Winters

  It was ground level that frightened her. The shadows. The awful anticipation that someone might be waiting for her before she could get out of sight and safely inside. Hidden.

  Renner wished he could stay. He could keep her safe, and he’d do it from the couch. He’d keep his hands to himself. He would. But he wouldn’t ask again, and he wouldn’t demand.

  Finishing his drink, he pushed to his feet. “Hey, I hate to run, but I’ve got work tomorrow. I need to get moving.”

  She set her mug to the table, smiling and more like herself. “You’re right. Me too.”

  “You have a cell number?” he asked, scanning for a charging cord, a landline, anything.

  She shook her head. “Not yet. That’s one of those things I can live without.”

  Tara didn’t have to say it. Instinctively Renner knew. Cell phones enabled GPS locators. She was off the grid. Definitely hiding from someone in the hardest to reach places. Narrow penthouse ledges. Third story attics. Clouds and stars.

  But the thought of her stuck in this deathtrap gnawed at him. “You sure you’ll be okay?”

  “Always. Like you said, I live in a bat cave. If anything goes wrong, I’ll just climb into my wings and fly out of here.”

  Renner couldn’t let that blithe, cavalier disregard for her life go unchallenged. Reaching for Tara’s hand, he tugged her in close and cupped the back of her head in his hands. That put his thumbs on her cheeks right where he wanted them. Wanted her. Tara’s skin was soft and pure against his tanned, stained, work-roughened fingers.

  She didn’t resist, didn’t even struggle. Just looked up at him with her fingers on his shoulders, a trembling angel with questions in her sky blue eyes. That should’ve been her name. Sky.

  But he had only one answer for those questions. Leaning in close, he pressed his lips to her forehead and whispered, “Keep yourself safe, Tara Tumulty. I’m on your side.”

  “Thanks for bringing me home,” she breathed into his neck.

  “Anytime.” Renner could’ve lingered there forever with his mouth on her skin and his nose in her hair. But friends didn’t do things like that, and she’d made it clear she needed space. Still, it was with great reluctance he pulled back and got his shit together.

  “Lock up behind me?” he asked at her door.

  She nodded, her head bobbing, her eyes bright.

  “Will I see you again?” Somehow, that seemed unlikely.

  Tara shrugged. “Who knows?”

  And that was good enough. It had to be.

  He paused downstairs at the other side of her entry door. And there it was, the snick of her deadbolt, locking her in and trapping her at the same time. He had to trust that nothing would happen to her between now and the next time they met. If they did.

  But knowing someone might be stalking Tara made walking away from her the hardest thing he’d ever done.

  Chapter Eight

  “Alex?” Kelsey whispered as she peered through her dimly lit kitchen and into the darkened living room. Late again.

  It was highly unusual for Alex not to stir when she came into the house through the garage. Their security system sent instant audio notifications, as well as vibrations to his and her cells. He had to have heard and felt that notification the instant she’d activated the garage door opener, then again when their kitchen door opened and closed.

  But she was pretty sure that was him sitting in his easy chair. Who else could it be? Yet unlike her badassed husband, he hadn’t moved.

  Worried now, she dropped her purse beside the kitchen door and all but ran to him. He hadn’t been sleeping well lately, what with the threat of Catalina Montego on the loose again. And he’d been drinking more. But nothing helped him sleep.

  Alex was, and forever would be, his own worst enemy. This man was the consummate alpha, always assuming more risk and responsibility than any single man should. Always fighting the world and thinking he had to do it alone. What was it that Harley Mortimer had told her years ago? That Alex was bigger than life? Well, this bigger than life guy needed to take better care of himself, darn it. Whiskey wasn’t helping him any more than stress.

  Kneeling at his side now, Kelsey’s heart broke at the tender scene. Alex wasn’t alone and he hadn’t been drinking, either. She would’ve smelled it on his breath. He was sound asleep with their little hobbit of a daughter tucked into the crook of his arm. Lexie nestled into her father, her thumb in her mouth and just as sound asleep. Mark and Libby must have brought her home early. That happened sometimes when Lexie watched a sad movie or missed her dad and mom. Thank goodness, Alex had been here.

  “Hey,” Kelsey murmured as she lifted her sleeping daughter out of his arm. “I’m home now. Let’s get you to bed.”

  “Yeah, home,” Alex muttered, his voice thick with sleep as he shrugged one shoulder, rubbing his cheek into it as if his neck were stiff.

  “Another migraine?” she asked, swaying under the precious weight of her sweetest load ever. Lexie hadn’t awakened, just snuggled into her mom. But the little girl was getting taller and heavier. Kelsey needed to get her into her own comfy bed.

  “I’m good,” Alex replied.

  Kelsey caught the weary undertone to his reply. “If you were good, Lexie would be in bed and you’d be reading. Wait here,” she whispered. “I’ll be back as soon as I lay her down.”

  “Waiting,” he grumbled.

  She made it quick. Lexie was easy when it came to bedtime. “Sweet dreams, little one,” Kelsey breathed over her still sleeping daughter. “Pancakes and bacon in the morning. ’Nite.”

  She had no more than straightened when Alex’s arms wrapped around her shoulders. His chin landed in the crook of her neck as he murmured, “I miss us.”

  Kelsey smiled and closed her eyes, never more content than inside the circle of this man’s embrace. “It has been a hectic couple of days,” she admitted as she crossed her arms over his and held on tight to her man. “How goes the hunt for Montego? Have you talked with Jed yet?”

  “I don’t want to talk about Jed or her or work,” Alex growled, his lips hot and moist at her ear. “Just us. Only us.”

  She shivered. This man knew what he was doing to her, the brat. “Shouldn’t we take this conversation to our bedroom?”

  “Thought you’d never ask,” he said as he dipped low, reached under her knees and lifted her off her feet.

  She would’ve giggled if not for Lexie. “You must be feeling better tonight.”

  That earned her a grunt as he angled her down the hall, through their door, then quietly nudged it shut with one foot. “Where have you been?”

  “At work,” she answered easily.

  “All day?” he asked as he dropped her onto their bed.

  Kelsey nodded, watching Alex strip out of his shirt, then his trousers. Of course, he spoiled the spontaneity of their impromptu rendezvous when he took the time to toss his clothes into the hamper, then took off his shoes and socks before he turned back around in his boxers. But that was her man. OCD to the core. A stickler for everything being in its proper place. And drop dead gorgeous. Undressed, Alex was all solid angles. Nothing but power and sex.

  “Am I in my right place?” she had to ask, though why her voice squeaked, she didn’t know.

  His brows wrinkled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Well, you are all about law and order, stuff like that. I mean look at this room. Do you see anything not where it belongs?” Up on her elbows now, she gestured à la Vanna White to their luxurious but tidy room.

  He scanned their quarters, that same weariness darkening his eyes. What was that man thinking? “No,” he bit out. “Everything is not in its proper place. I can’t live like this anymore. What do you intend to do about it?”

  Whoa. The angst in that question caught Kelsey’s heart. She had to stop and really look at him then. Something sad and terrible was going on with Alex. She could tell. He wasn’t hims
elf tonight, and it had nothing to do with the order of their house or this room. Or housework.

  Scrambling out of bed, she walked into him and put both palms on his heaving chest. “You’re angry.”

  Of course, he denied it with a curt shake of his head.

  “Talk to me, Alex,” she whispered as she unbuttoned her blouse. Slowly. One tiny button at a time. “You’ve had another hard day. I can tell. You’re hurting.”

  “I’m fine,” he growled even as he tracked what her fingertips were doing.

  Off went her blouse. Kelsey maintained eye contact although he didn’t. The snap on her pants drew his gaze lower, then lower as she unzipped. She’d learned early that most of their disconnects could be resolved in this room, on this bed. Yet Alex had to want this, too. As much as it was a game, it wasn’t. All she could do was offer and invite. Tease and torment the worry out of him.

  “We’ve had a lot of new kids show up this week,” she murmured, keeping him aware of almost all her business problems. Her kids. Her constant worry over cash flow. Stuff like that. “Work has been kind of crazy, but it’ll be over before Christmas. I promise.”

  With Alex’s assist, she’d opened a home for runaway kids in the District, just off East Constitution, close to the Anacostia Bridge. She hadn’t realized it at the time, but most of her kids came from impoverished, mostly African American, Anacostia. But like Raymond, the gentle giant she’d met and lost a couple years back, every child, teenager, and sometimes even adults, needed a safe place to run to when the streets got too hard. Only lately, she’d been welcoming more homeless men into Raymond’s Kids, her home away from home for runaways. It was the least she could do.

  “I hope so,” Alex groaned, his sharp eyes intent on the way her fingers dipped into her waistband, then over her hips as she shimmied out of her slacks. “I hate coming home to an empty house.”

  She had to smile. Alex hated a lot of things, but her not being home when he arrived most of all. The silence made him feel hollow, he’d once said. It reminded him that they were gone, they being Sara and Abby, his first family. After losing them, he’d hated the entire world for a long time, but mostly, he’d hated himself for not being there when they’d died.

  But Kelsey knew he adored her, though even that had taken him some time to admit. Not that he’d denied it, more like he’d fought it. Alex was so angry back then, he couldn’t believe she loved him. Yet she’d eventually gotten brave and stood up to him. Today she knew the way to his heart, and it was not always through his stomach.

  Kicking out of her pants, she straightened her spine and stood there nearly naked in front of him. Ready to please him if pleasing was what he wanted. It was definitely what he needed, although he might not know it yet.

  His lethal gaze tracked down her centerline to her black lace panties. “Lose the underwear,” he ordered grumpily.

  “Lose yours first,” she shot back.

  He complied in a heartbeat, standing there tall and proud, at full mast, and the hottest badass on the planet. Oh, my. She’d poked the beast. Well, okay then. Let the games begin. Leaning forward, she stiffened her knees, slid the panties down her legs, and—

  His resolve snapped.

  Panties went flying, and Kelsey found herself face down on the bed in very capable hands. Alex shoved her hair over her head, his mouth sucking raspberries up the back of her neck to her ear. She squealed and kicked, loving the warmth and breadth of him spread out over her like a saber tooth tiger rug.

  “I miss you, damn it,” he breathed over those damp suction marks, chilling her with his hot breath.

  “Then you’d better make it up to me,” she teased, delighted when he shifted his weight to one side, while his hands roamed smoothly down her back to her backside. Cupping her. Squeezing her. Kneading the cheeks of her ass while he kissed a trail down her neck to her shoulder, then to her shoulder blade. His other hand had slipped beneath her bra and cupped her breast, pinching her nipple, playing like only Alex could.

  Man, she loved this guy more than breathing or eating. More than everything except Lexie. That little girl was their one purest desire come true.

  By then, Alex had lit a fire in her belly. He owned her and he knew it. He also knew how to drag out the pleasure, never letting her fall over the edge. Never letting her fly.

  “I love you, woman,” he breathed as he slid an arm under her and lifted her knees onto the edge of the bed. “So much. Too much sometimes.”

  Still face down, she waited. He started a rhythm then, slow and steady at first, then harder. Faster. His hands on her hips. Her head turned to one side. Their bodies joined in a song as old as time.

  But darn him! Just as she felt the first wave of release, he pulled out and rolled her onto her back, pressing the angles and hardness of his body into hers again. His hands cupped her head. His fingers tangled in her hair. Alex groaned when he pressed his forehead to hers as he slid back into the warmth where he belonged. Where she desperately needed him.

  “I can’t live without you,” he declared hoarsely. “Not now. Not ever.”

  There was so much pain in those few words. So much despair. Kelsey desperately wanted to ask him what had happened to make him unhappy. Yet she also knew he’d tell her if he could and when he was ready. Because many of his operations were top-secret classified, she never pressed or nagged. She trusted instead.

  Since she had no idea what he was dealing with, Kelsey gave Alex all she had to give. “I know, sweetheart, and I love you.” Spreading her legs, she settled his hips into her pelvic cradle, aptly named for the unique comfort this warrior needed. She was his home and there was nothing she loved more than belonging, in every sense of the word, to her husband. Like this. Like now.

  “There’s no such thing as loving too much, Alex,” she whispered. “Not with us. I’m here for you. Lexie and I love you to the stars and back.”

  He nodded into her hair at that, and Kelsey understood. Big tough guys like Alex hid their emotions. There’d been a day when she’d been timid and easily frightened, even of him. Not anymore. With all her heart Kelsey knew she would live for Alex, but she would also die for him. She just needed a little more time. Because there were no two ways about it.

  Catalina Montego absolutely… Would. Go. Down.

  Chapter Nine

  With Alex unraveling as fast as he was, there was no longer any choice. Renner didn’t go home. Instead, he went back to McCormack’s penthouse, keyed in the security code that got him into the building earlier, and then used the same code in the elevator. But he had to be extra cautious this time around. Montego was there, McCormack could be there by now as well.

  The code still worked. Thank you, Jesus. As silently as a wraith, the elevator opened on the second level from the top like he’d meant it to. The place appeared to be empty. Though he suspected McCormack and Montego were in bed. Yet he cleared every other room as he had before. He couldn’t afford to make another mistake. Alex deserved better. Then...

  Quickly. Stealthily. Renner planted a host of tiny TEAM cameras known as Tattle Tales throughout Jed’s apartment. Sasha Kennedy, The TEAM’s previous office administrator, had been a whiz-bang technological genius. She’d gone off on some kind of hiatus after her daughter died, but before that, she invented the miniscule audio/video devices.

  From what Renner had gleaned from the other agents, she’d also been a nosy busybody who’d annoyed Alex to no end. Hence her nickname: Mother. She’d taken that as a sweet compliment, but Renner was pretty sure Alex hadn’t meant it that way. The man might have his moments, but Alex Stewart was not that sweet. Mother had to have made him plenty angry to have earned that handle.

  Renner hadn’t told Alex what he’d planned to do tonight. Might not ever tell him. There were times in a covert agent’s life that he went rogue in order to accomplish his mission. This was one of those times. Yet Renner paused at McCormack’s closed bedroom door, knowing full well Mont
ego could kill Jed in his bed as surely as she could end him anywhere else. But she would’ve already done that if she’d wanted to. She’d had plenty of opportunity.

  No, Renner believed that Montego was up to something. Why else had she attached herself to McCormack as publicly as she had? Why did she pander to the press for attention? Despite what the media or Tara thought, it wasn’t for money or expensive jewelry. Renner felt certain of that. Montego had plenty of financial resources at her greedy fingertips. No, it had to be something else she wanted. She wanted the fame. The notoriety...

  Which brought him full circle back to Alex.

  Montego was a snake. Smart, evil, and twisted. She had to be behind Mrs. McCormack’s sudden death, Renner just had to prove it. But Montego also had to know Jed McCormack was one of Alex’s dearest friends, that he’d bankrolled Alex to get The TEAM off the ground way back when. If she could kill McCormack’s sweet wife without getting caught, what would she do to McCormack to strike back at Alex? A quiet death in bed didn’t seem likely. Montego wanted revenge, and the way she grandstanded for the press told Renner enough. This time would be different. She didn’t want to kill Jed in his sleep. No, she wanted ‘lights, camera, action!’

  This death would be highly visible and highly publicized. It might even be broadcast live. But for certain, it would be an impossible thing to stop. The day she set her final scene in motion, no one would be able to rescue Jed McCormack from his own stupidity. Not even Alex.

  The longer Renner stood listening to nothing but silence from behind that closed door, the more it made sense. Alex would take McCormack’s death hard. He’d be inconsolable, and that was when Montego would strike. She’d get through Alex’s defenses, might even get at Kelsey or Lexie. She was out to destroy him, and hurting his wife and daughter would surely do it.

  Not on Renner’s watch. He palmed his phone and dialed Seth McCray.

  Seth answered on the second ring. “Hey, Renner, what’s up?”

  “Sorry to disturb you at home,” Renner whispered, “but I need you to call Jed McCormack at home. Can you do that?”