by KaLyn Cooper
“But it was more than that,” he insisted.
Rayne fisted her hands and punched them to her hips. “Okay, it was oral sex, that took all of about ten minutes, and a couple of hours between the sheets. Maybe that doesn’t add up to a one-nighter in your book, but it’s close enough in mine.”
A door banged down the street and some kids came out to play.
“We’re not having this conversation on my front porch.” She opened the door wide and gestured for him to come in. As soon as he stepped into the foyer, she shut and locked the door, then returned her gun to the drawer.
“Rayne, I thought we meant more to each other.” He moved closer and reached for her, so she took a step back. If he touched her, she’d lose her resolve. “We worked so well together on that mission, then we had some the best sex of my life. When I woke up, you were gone. You’d left without a word.”
Good. He didn’t remember her kiss. The last one she swore they’d ever have. “Usually after a quick, sex-only relationship, the two people part ways and they don’t see each other again.” Then she wondered out loud, “Are you upset because I left this time? Oh, sorry, we agreed not to discuss the past.”
“Since you’ve already thrown it in my face, let’s discuss Nigeria.” Dex turned and paced into her living room. “That night meant something to me then, too. I left you in that hotel room with every intention of returning. I’m sorry, but I got called away. It was work. My whole SEAL team was in trouble. All hell had broken loose with my men, and yours.”
“I’m well aware of what happened, but that doesn’t excuse you from never calling, never checking to see if I was okay.” Rayne knew she had raised her voice, but she had boxed up all her emotions toward him and they had festered for over a decade. She deserved answers, especially after what she’d done for him the next day.
“I was just so angry with you,” he said through clenched teeth.
“You were angry with me?” She couldn’t think of a single reason why he would have been. He should have been grateful. “And I thought we had a pretty great night together.”
“It wasn’t what happened that night, because I agree, it was fucking incredible.” He glared at her. “It was what you told the investigators the next morning.”
Now she was mad. “You were mad because I told them you had spent the night with me? You were that embarrassed about admitting that you had sex with me?” She threw her hands up in the air. “Thanks!” She said sarcastically, then added, “Are you embarrassed at what happened in St. Thomas, too?”
“No.” Frustration oozed from every line on his face. “I wasn’t embarrassed back in Nigeria, or on St. Thomas. Fuck, Rayne, look at you.” He held his hands out. “You were one fucking hot woman back then and have improved with age. I love every one of your beautiful curves. I didn’t tell those investigators shit. It was none of their goddamn business who I slept with, as long as it wasn’t the prostitutes.”
Rayne giggled. “No. They accused me of sleeping with the prostitutes. They thought I had bought one for myself, too, because a woman in my position—what was it he called me? A ball-busting bitch—that I must prefer women over men.” Her grin was sardonic. “You should’ve seen the look on his face when I informed him that I was strictly dickly, but even if I were lesbian, that didn’t mean that I would need to pay for sex. And just because I was a female and the manager of such a large office, didn’t mean that I sucked and fucked my way into that position. It meant that I was damn good at my job, evidenced by the highly successful mission the day before where we had captured six of the sought-after terrorists in Africa.”
Dex burst out laughing. “Damn, I wish I’d been there to see that, especially if you had the same investigator I did.”
“Balding guy with a bad comb-over?” She asked.
“Yeah, in desperate need of a shower.” Dex was right about that.
“Oh my God. Yes. His body odor saturated the interrogation room and he kept leaning over me and getting in my face with his coffee breath.” That was an experience she hoped never to repeat. At least her next interrogator would be Deputy Director O’Brien, or maybe even the director himself, questioning her about shooting Jaja.
She pinned Dex with her gaze. “That misogynistic prick kept hounding me about who was in my room to corroborate my alibi. It wasn’t until he told me they thought you had hired the prostitutes, that I informed him that you couldn’t have. You were with me the entire evening and all night.”
“I didn’t tell them that we were together because I was protecting you,” he explained. “Those assholes were Secret Service. Us sleeping together was fraternization. I was afraid if they found out you would be fired.”
Rayne rolled her eyes. “I did almost get fired, but it was because you wouldn’t corroborate my alibi. They thought I was lying. I finally had to force them to pull the hall security video that showed us going into my hotel room around ten o’clock, and you leaving close to four.”
“But why did you tell them I had bought the prostitutes for my SEAL team?” He was making no sense.
“What the hell are you talking about? You didn’t buy the prostitutes. I never said that you did.” She wondered where he got that idea.
“Comb-over said that you told them that I had paid for the girls.” The shock on his face proved that he believed that lie.
“Dex, investigators lie all the time,” she tried to explain. “You fell for one of the oldest interrogation tricks. Besides, I knew that your chief petty officer had bought and paid for the girls to come to the hotel rooms. Prostitution is legal in Nigeria. He did nothing wrong. What the Secret Service was livid about was that my men were involved and there was video on the web, literally catching them with their pants down. Your men were there too, so that little bitch had to mention SEALs. I’m sure that metadata garnered her an extra ten thousand hits.”
Dex collapsed in a side chair. “How did you find out my chief bought the women?”
Rayne walked around her coffee table and took a seat on the couch adjacent to him. “Brian, yes, the one who is my second-in-command, came and got me as soon as he learned what his girlfriend had done.”
Dex rubbed his forehead. “Please don’t tell me that I have a black mark on my career record because of the jealous girlfriend.”
“First, you don’t have a black mark on your record. Everything about the Nigerian mission was deemed top-secret. Your official record will have pages filled with black lines where all references were redacted.” Rayne took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, but this entire debacle was due to a jealous girlfriend.”
“You have to be fucking kidding.” Dex leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.
She shook her head. “Brian had become friendly with a freelance reporter. He thought they were just fuck-buddies. She thought they were exclusive. He had no idea that she had followed us to Lagos. When your SEAL team invited my men to share the women…”
“Yeah, I get it. They were all in their twenties coming down from an adrenaline high. The body craves sex.” He gave her a knowing smile.
“We’re not sure how she got into the adjoining rooms, but she caught Brian getting a blowjob. Needless to say, she wasn’t happy. She slid into reporter mode and started filming what looked like an orgy. She darted out before Brian could grab her or her phone. It hit the Internet within minutes.” Rayne shrugged. “You know what happened after that.”
Dex reached over and took her hand. “I’m sorry. I swear, I was trying to protect you.”
She interwove their fingers. “Thank you for trying to protect my virtue. The Secret Service has a morals clause, but since we didn’t do anything illegal, there was nothing they could pin on me. It wasn’t fraternization because I didn’t hire you, nor did you work for me. We were simply two consenting adults who worked together. No one in the government was about to punish me for having an office affair, especially since I was the country’s golden child for arresting the culprits who stole four
million dollars using US credit cards.”
Without releasing her hand, Dex moved to sit beside her. “All these years. Wasted. I was mad at you over something you didn’t do. I told you I was an ass. I should’ve called you. It was a real dick move.”
He leaned over and gave her what she thought of as the sweetest kiss possible.
Rayne dropped her head on his shoulder. “I thought you knew and just didn’t want me anymore. I thought I wasn’t enough for you, so you just walked away.” He wasn’t the first man who’d dumped her without a word, nor the last.
Dex lifted her chin so she was looking at him. “Are we good, now?”
“Yeah, we’re good.” And for the first time in too many years to count, Rayne was in a good place, at least in her dating life. Work was another situation altogether.
He brushed a kiss over her lips. “How are you doing? I mean, after what happened on St. John.”
“I’m okay,” she quipped. She couldn’t lie to him. “No. I’m not okay. The flight home was weird. I’m so used to being in charge of Congressman Sedgwick’s personal safety that I felt useless sitting in the back of the plane. I was little more than a hitchhiker. Brian did an awesome job. He’s really good.”
“I take it Callie didn’t cling to you the entire trip home?” Dex rubbed his hand up and down her arm.
“No. They had given her a sedative and she curled up in her father’s lap and slept. Vanessa and the FBI doctor kept an eye on her. As soon as we landed, they were all immediately taken to Quantico.” Rayne forced a smile. “They’ll take good care of Callie and her dad. Vanessa told me that both of them will be in counseling for years. She was more concerned with how the congressman was taking the death of Angelique.”
“Were you able to sleep?” There was so much concern in his voice. No one had ever been that worried about her.
She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. “I was pretty relaxed by the time I walked on the plane. Plus, I’d had a few cat naps.”
“Since you’re off for a few days, tomorrow morning were going fishing.” He hadn’t asked, he had told her. That irked her. But she couldn’t go anyway.
“I’m sorry, not tomorrow. I have to report to Homeland Security first thing in the morning to discuss the shooting. I’m not sure how long that’ll take. It might be hours, or days. Then I have to go through the same thing with the Secret Service.” She looked up at him and smiled. “But we’ll make it fishing, someday soon.” To her surprise, she was actually looking forward to it.
“What’s on your agenda for the rest of today?” His hand continued slowly up and down her arm.
“Well, I’ve been playing domestic goddess all day, trying to keep my mind off tomorrow’s inquisition.” Through her west-facing front windows, she watched the sky turn a beautiful shade of orange with traces of pink. “I have finished three loads of laundry, changed the sheets on my bed, dusted and vacuumed the entire house, and I was about to start supper when you knocked on the door.”
He lifted her chin and brushed his lips across hers. “Invite me to stay.”
That sounded like one of the best ideas she had heard in years. She reached up and cupped his face in both hands. “Do you like Chinese food?”
“Yeah.” His voice was low and gravelly.
“Good. We’ll order delivery. Later.” She filled the kiss with all the need she had for this perfect man. It was voracious and insatiable. He picked her up and moved her onto his lap without breaking the kiss. When he cupped her breasts and ran his thumb over her already distended nipples, she needed more. They needed to be naked.
Hopping off his lap, she grabbed his hand and headed to her bedroom where her sheets wouldn’t be clean much longer. They took their time undressing each other, learning the other’s body before crawling into bed. He licked her folds and sucked her clit until she came the first time, then insisted on the second right away, using his expert fingers, stroking her hypersensitive clitoris.
When Dex reached for his jeans, Rayne stopped him.
“I’m clean. I had my annual physical about a week before going to St. Thomas. And I’m on the pill, not that there’s much of a chance that I could get pregnant. I just prefer to control when I have my periods,” she admitted. She waited, hoping he understood what she wanted.
“Alex made me go through a complete physical before I could join Guardian Security three months ago.” He grinned down at her wet folds, then stroked a finger across them, gathering her juices before he circled her clit. “Are you inviting me to go bareback?” He clarified.
“Dex, I don’t want anything between us ever again. No more lies, misconceptions, or half-truths. We’re not kids anymore. We talk to each other. We communicate.” Then she clarified, “and if we do this, we’re exclusive.” She grabbed his cock and gave it a gentle stroke. “This is mine. It goes nowhere near another woman. Am I clear?” Her heart couldn’t afford a repeat of her ex-husband.
Dex slid two fingers inside her. “And this is mine. No man touches any part of your body except me.” He bent down and took her breast in his mouth, swirling his tongue around her hardened nipple. When he released it, he stared at her eyes. “I’ve never had a problem with monogamy. You’re the only woman I want.”
It seemed as though he had more to say, but he claimed her lips and kissed her senseless before he slid into her, bareback. He moaned into her mouth, matching hers. The feel of skin on skin was amazing. Freeing. She bent her knees, forcing him to go deep, the way she liked it. In just a few moments, every muscle in her body tightened just before she leaped over that edge. He stiffened and groaned, then held her as they both fell, together, into ecstasy.
Waking up in Dex’s arms an hour later was wonderful, but she wasn’t ready for him to spend the night. Besides, she needed a good night’s sleep in order to be sharp for the Homeland Security debriefing and investigation.
Neither was in the mood for Chinese, so they ordered Italian delivery and ate it at her dining room table. Rayne was pleasantly surprised when Dex helped her rinse the dishes and put away the food.
Nervously, she wiped down the counters. As she was rinsing out the dishcloth, warm hands encircled her, resting on her belly. Dex stepped into her, his chest to her back. He pulled her long hair away and kissed the back of her neck.
“Sweetheart, I would love nothing more than to carry you back into that bedroom, strip you naked, and make you come at least twice more before sinking into your heat once again.”
Damn. She loved when he talked like that.
“But you have a big day tomorrow.” He spun her around to face him. “I want you to promise that you’ll call me as soon as you’re done.” He raked his fingers through her hair near her temple. “I’m concerned about you. You’ve been through so much in the past week.” He gave her a quick kiss. “Now, walk me to the door and kiss me goodbye. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
At her front door, the kiss was long and slow, filled with promises.
On the front porch, he looked back over his shoulder. “Call me as soon as you’re finished. I’m here for you.”
“I promise.” She closed the front door, flipped the locks and then leaned against it. Could the man be sweeter, and more caring?
At eleven-thirty the next morning, Rayne wanted to skip on her way out of the Homeland Security building. She quickly dialed Dex. “I’m done. Not only did they deem it a clean kill, but Silas Branson is putting a letter in my personnel jacket for my quick decision-making and excellent shooting skills. He also said that the information I provided about the people who had contact with Angelique during social events had led them to a DC-based terrorist cell. They’ve arrested several members and taken in over a dozen for interrogation.”
“That’s so exciting. Does that mean that you’re free for the rest of the afternoon?” Dex sounded as happy about the conclusions as she was.
“Yes.” She caught herself smiling. “You have something in mind? I could seriously use some lunch. I could
hardly eat breakfast this morning, I was so nervous.”
“Done. Meet me on the National Mall side of Twelfth Street and Madison Drive. I’ll bring lunch.”
Rayne skipped the escalator and trotted up the long stairs at the Smithsonian Station of the Metro system. As she crossed the National Mall, she noticed the hundred-year-old oak trees had started to change color. The October afternoon held a crispness in the air, but the bright sunshine held the temperature in the low seventies. Dex was waiting for her on the corner with a white deli bag in one hand and a two-drink carrier in the other.
He was the sexiest man around. Even though his eyes were hidden behind dark aviator sunglasses, she could tell he hadn’t spotted her yet. It gave her a few minutes to admire the man she called hers. A full head of dark hair with silver sprinkled throughout, nearly white at his temples. He leaned against a tree, with powerful, jean-clad legs crossed at the ankles. His broad shoulders were covered in a soft denim shirt, the sleeves rolled up exposing delicious biceps.
The moment he saw her, his bright white smile flashed.
“Sunshine or shade?” He pointed to two empty benches nearby.
“Sunshine.” As they walked the short distance, she giggled. “I’ve spent the last three days on a tropical island yet saw very little sunshine. I think that’s the story of my life. One of these days, I’m just going to go to a Caribbean island and lie in the sun.”
As they sat down, Dex remarked, “You said that before. Let’s make that happen, soon.” He opened the bag. “Ham and swiss or turkey and provolone?”
“Turkey, please.”
“Name your caffeine. Coffee or Coke?” He asked, pointing to the two cups.
“I’ll take the Coke, if you don’t mind.”
For the next half hour, they talked about her morning. Telling him about her meeting with Silas seemed so natural.
“So, now you have to face the Secret Service. Are you meeting with them tomorrow?” Dex took the last bite of his sandwich and balled up the paper.