Blood Bound (Blackhawk Security Book 2)

by Samantha A. Cole

  A tingling started in his spine a split second before he felt his balls draw up tightly. Letting go of Rylie’s legs, he set his hands on the bed on either side of her head. Her hips lifted, meeting him thrust for thrust.

  “Open your eyes, sweetheart. I want to see them while you shatter around my cock.”

  Her lust-heavy lids lifted as his pace increased, driving them hard to their destination. His mind spinning, Chase had no idea if he would recover from the intense orgasm that was coming, but he couldn’t stop it if he tried.

  Rylie’s climax tore through her only seconds before Chase’s hit him. With one final plunge of his hips, he emptied his seed into the thin latex barrier separating them as myriad multi-colored explosions ignited in his mind.

  Somehow, he managed to keep from collapsing on top of her, using his forearms to hold himself up just enough so he wasn’t crushing her. They both gulped for oxygen as a fine sheen of sweat coated their skin.

  As his breathing returned to normal, Chase knew he’d been right. Now that he’d experienced making love to this woman, he didn’t ever want to leave her bed.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Two nights later, Chase found himself having dinner with Mickey and Rylie again, something he was getting used to doing. It almost felt natural now, helping the seven-year-old set the table, while her mom cooked, then washing the dishes with Rylie afterward. When she’d called him on her lunch break and invited him, he’d been able to hear the unspoken worry in her voice. Tomorrow, they’d be meeting with the Ashfords and their lawyers at one o’clock. Yesterday, when he’d offered to go with her, the relief that’d flooded her face had been palpable. There’d been no way he’d have let her go without a familiar person supporting her. She’d only spoken to his lawyers over the phone this morning, so the first time she’d be meeting them was a few minutes before they all walked into a conference room at the offices of Drake, Jansen, and Fairbanks.

  As Rylie rinsed and Chase dried, he asked, “Do you mind if we go through the other box of Emma’s things from after she’d gotten pregnant?”

  She raised an eyebrow at him as she handed him a glass. “Um, sure. But why?”

  “I just want to get a better understanding of everything that happened back then. You said Emma told you it was a one-night stand and she never saw him again. So, if that was true, and she didn’t let Warren know she was pregnant, then how did the Ashfords know their son fathered a child?”

  Rylie gaped at him. “You know, the thought never occurred to me. What made you think of it?”

  Taking a plate from her, he smirked. “That’s why I get paid the big bucks to do what I do, sweetheart. Most days, I can’t shut down the analytical side of my brain. My guess is Emma knew exactly who Warren Ashford was. The question is why did she keep it a secret, especially from her best friend.”

  When she frowned, he added, “Hey, I didn’t mean to upset you. Sometimes we have secrets that are better left inside—at least we think so at the time.”

  “Do you?”

  “Do I what?”

  “Have secrets you don’t tell anyone?”

  Oh, if she only knew. Between his time in the Marines and then afterward, with BHS contracted by the US government to run some black-ops missions, there was a lot he couldn’t talk about—especially to a civilian. Chase had also killed in the name of his country, something he could never discuss with Rylie. He couldn’t deal with her looking at him in disgust or, God forbid, pity. Although, he doubted very much either of those emotions would be her response, it was better off, for both of them, if he never found out for certain.

  Instead of lying to her, he changed the subject, hoping she’d understand. “So, the box?”

  Rylie paused, as if trying to decide whether to press him on her last question or to accept it was something he didn’t want to talk about. After a moment, she dried her hands on the dish towel she’d tossed over her shoulder earlier and smiled at him. “Sure.”

  As she left the room, Chase couldn’t help when his gaze fell onto her swaying backside. His cock twitched in his pants, and he willed it to behave. Now that he’d been in Rylie’s bed, he couldn’t imagine a time in the future when he wouldn’t crave a repeat. He still bore a small bruise from where she’d bitten him the other night during one of the orgasms that’d gripped her. He wore the mark proudly, content in the knowledge he’d sent her spiraling out of control.

  Rylie had burrowed under his skin, and, for the first time ever, Chase saw the life he could have with a wife and kids. Were Rylie and Mickey the ones who were meant to become his family? Chase wasn’t certain, but he was damn sure looking forward to finding out.

  Rylie returned with Mickey on her heels. The pipsqueak had already donned a pair of pink, purple, and white Hello Kitty pajamas. “Chase! Want to see some of my Mommy Emma’s things?”

  Since Mickey had been so young when she’d lost her mother, apparently, it was easier for her to reference the deceased woman by “Mommy Emma” to avoid confusion when talking about her versus Rylie. Her eyes were lit up in delight, bringing a broad grin to his face. “Absolutely.”

  They spent the next hour or so going through the box, with Rylie relating stories and Mickey interjecting details she’d obviously heard dozens of times before. At the bottom of the box, there was a sealed, five- by eight-inch manila envelope. Chase picked it up and eyed the writing on the front.

  For Mackenzie, on your 18th birthday.

  Do not open until then.

  Love, Mommy ❤️

  Chase raised his brow in a silent question to Rylie who shook her head. “I don’t know what’s in it. I found it in her desk with all her personal papers. I figured it was just something special for when Mickey becomes an adult.”

  He thumbed the side edge of the envelope, curiosity hitting him hard. Was there evidence of Mickey’s parentage in there? Chase couldn’t think of anything else the woman would keep a secret from her daughter for eighteen years. Or maybe it was just a letter to Mickey as she became an adult, just in case Emma couldn’t be there for her—if that was the case, it was a bit of ironic foreshadowing. From the weight, whatever was in there was more than just a page or two.

  As he continued to fiddle with the envelope, Rylie’s eyes narrowed as if her mind was going in the same direction his had. After a moment, she tore her gaze from his hand. “C’mon, sweetie. Let’s put this all back in the box, then it’s bedtime.”

  Once everything had been returned to the box in some semblance of order, Rylie put the lid back on. However, the envelope remained in Chase’s hand. It was clear she now wanted to know what was in there as much as he did but didn’t want to open it in front of Mickey. If it was just something personal from mother to daughter, they’d seal it back up and Mickey would reopen it on her eighteenth birthday. But if it was something that could help Rylie keep custody of her, then they needed to know what was inside.

  Chase patiently waited during the twenty minutes it took for Rylie to tuck Mickey into bed. He’d learned they were reading the Harry Potter series together—a new chapter each night. Sometimes, if Mickey was too tired, they skipped it, but, apparently, tonight they were back on schedule. He suspected Rylie was anxious about finding out what Emma had left for Mickey and had been putting it off for a few more minutes, so she could gather her courage.

  Once she returned to the kitchen, Rylie sighed heavily and sat next to him, staring at the envelope in his hand. She took it when he held it out to her, her hands trembling. Before she could pull away, he grasped her wrist, and her gaze shot to his. “Easy, sweetheart. I doubt it’s anything bad.”

  The tension in her shoulders eased a bit, and she nodded. “You’re right. It’s probably nothing—Emma just wanted to write something to Mickey for when she turned eighteen. It’s something I’m sure a lot of mothers thought of doing after having a child, right?”

  “Right.”

  Taking a deep breath, she forced it back out, then turned the envelope o
ver and paused. “Um. Should we steam it open? So, if it’s nothing, we can seal it up again?”

  “If you want.” When she nodded, he stood, took it from her, and went to the sink. The water would get hot enough to create steam, instead of using a kettle and waiting for it to boil. Within a few minutes, the glue adhesive had completely released its hold on the flap. Turning off the water, Chase rejoined Rylie at the table, handing her the now opened envelope.

  She slid the contents out onto the table. Several handwritten pages had been folded into thirds. When Rylie unfolded them, she found a saving’s passbook from a local bank. She frowned and picked that up first. Chase could see Mickey’s given name listed as the account co-owner, with Emma’s name above it. As she turned the page, Rylie’s eyes flew open, and her jaw dropped when she saw the account’s balance. “Oh my God, Chase! This says there’s one-hundred-thousand dollars in here!”

  Holding it up so he could see it, she continued. “Where did Emma get this money?”

  Chase took the passbook from her to inspect it. “According to this, she opened the account with the hundred K a few months after Mickey was born and didn’t touch it after that. No other deposits and no withdrawals. If the money is still in there, it’s been collecting interest for over seven years. There’s a good chance it was escheated, if the bank thought the account was abandoned after all this time, but you’ll just have to go through a bunch of paperwork to get the money back from the government.”

  “Holy shit!” The expletive had been spoken in a hushed but still shocked tone before she asked once again, “Where did she get it?”

  “My guess is it was a payoff. Emma knew who Warren Ashford was. When she told him she was pregnant, he gave her the money to shut her up—or, more likely, his father gave it to her. No paternity test, no child support, no raising a kid Warren didn’t want, and, most of all, no press for Daddy dearest—a sitting senator.”

  “Bastard,” she mumbled, taking the passbook back from him to stare at the huge balance. “I bet it’s all still there—she never touched a dime of it, leaving it for Mickey for when she became an adult.”

  Chase picked up the papers that’d been in the envelope with it. “May I?” When she nodded, he scanned the contents of the letter, hoping to find something to help them. But when he reached the end, he was disappointed. “It’s like we suspected. Just a note from Emma, letting Mickey know how much she loved her from the moment she found out she was pregnant. As for the father, all she says is he chose not to be in Mickey’s life, and Emma hoped, as a single mother, she’d done everything she could to make up for the fact.”

  When he held out the pages to Rylie, she shook her head. “I don’t want to read it. If Mickey wants to show it to me when she reaches eighteen, then I will. If there’s nothing in her words that will help us, then I’d rather wait for Mickey to read it first.”

  He nodded then folded the pages back up and slid them into the envelope. Pointing to the passbook she was still holding, Chase said, “Call or go to the bank tomorrow and find out the status of the account. You’ll probably need Emma’s death certificate and Mickey’s adoption papers to get them to talk to you. Let me know if you run into any brick walls, and I’ll see what my lawyers can do to tear them down.”

  “Thank you . . .” She set her hand on his forearm. “For everything. I don’t know what I would’ve done this past week without your support.”

  Chase pushed his chair back a few inches, then tugged on her hand until she stood and climbed onto his lap. He cupped her cheek. “I’m glad I was here for you. And for Mickey. You have to know I’ll do anything for the two of you. I never expected to find a woman, with an adorable child, that I was so drawn to at this stage of my life, but I have to say I’m not complaining at all. To tell you the truth, I’m falling for you, Rylie. Despite everything that’s going on right now, I want to see where this goes between us, if that’s what you want too.”

  Her eyes filled with unshed tears, and she leaned down to kiss him softly on the lips. “I’m falling for you too, Chase. I never expected someone to walk into my life at this point either. I always thought there would be plenty of time to find someone to share the rest of my life with after Mickey became an adult. I was afraid anyone I dated before that would be put off by me being a single mother whose daughter took precedence over everyone else. Or that Mickey wouldn’t like the guy or would like him and get too attached, only to have them walk out of her life when we broke up.” She kissed him again. “But, when it comes to you, I don’t know what’s down the road for us, but I also want to see where this thing between us goes.”

  He saw the truth in her eyes. The passion, desire, and trust she felt when she was in his arms. In that moment, Chase knew he was no longer falling in love. He was already there.

  “Talk to me,” Chase barked as he strode into the war-room where Gordo and several members of her team were hard at work on their computers.

  With a few clicks on her keyboard, the head tech brought an image up on one of the many large screens hanging on the walls around the room. This one was right in front of her station. “I made sure I didn’t leave any tracks when I hacked into Ashford’s bank records.”

  “As if I thought you would.” He stared at the digital copy of a deposit slip from almost eight years ago, his jaw clenching. He’d had an important teleconference with the Pentagon this morning, concerning a mission a team of his was on in Sudan, so he’d sent Dusty to accompany Rylie to the bank. As Chase had suspected, the account had gathered interest for a few years. But after being unable to contact Emma after her death at the old address on the account, the bank had considered it abandoned. They’d escheated the money, handing it over to the government which would continue to hold it until it was claimed by a legal owner. Chase had already asked his lawyers to start the claim paperwork for Rylie, so the money would be returned to her and Mickey. The bank still had a digital copy of the initial deposit but had refused to give Rylie access to it since her name wasn’t on the account, hence the reason Chase had instructed Gordo to track it down. As Mickey’s mother, Rylie could petition the courts to get an official copy of the bank record, but they’d only go that route if it were necessary. For now, having damn-good hackers at Chase’s beck and call made a court order a moot point.

  “You were right. Senator Ashford wrote Emma Hart a check for a hundred grand while she was pregnant with Mickey. My guess is Warren ran to Daddy when she refused to get an abortion. I doubt she wanted to marry the weasel—probably just wanted the child support. By my estimation, she was about four months along when Ashford gave her the hush money. He was still in the senate at that point and up for reelection, so he wouldn’t have wanted the press to learn about his darling son’s indiscretion. Bastard. I’m glad I never voted for him and really glad he lost the last election.”

  Chase leaned against the desktop, crossing his arms. “He probably threatened to petition the courts for full custody if she didn’t take the money. Single mom. Teacher’s salary. The money wasn’t something she wanted to rely on, hence putting it in a savings account for Mickey. Probably for college tuition or something. From what I’ve learned from Rylie, Emma was probably too proud to use it for anything else but took it in case something happened and they needed the money. Print that out for me.” Once she did, he asked, “Anything else I need to know about?”

  She pointed at the printer that was spewing out a page. A few other sheets of paper were already sitting in the output tray. “There’s the stuff you wanted on the Ashfords’ lawyers. Cocky scumbags—the ones you love to hate. I also emailed you an updated mission list this morning. Flagged a few things, but nothing urgent.” Every morning, the team in the war-room put together updates from all field agents currently on assignments, if they weren’t able to physically check in at headquarters, to make sure no one had run into any snags. If BHS couldn’t make contact with someone, then the operative’s backup would track them down and find out if further assistan
ce was needed.

  Snatching the copy of the deposit slip from the nearby printer, Chase thanked Gordo on his way out the door. His next stop was Irv’s office to go over a few things with him, followed by a stack of paperwork in his own office, before he left for the day to accompany Rylie and one of his lawyers to meet with the Ashfords at Drake, Jansen, and Fairbanks. There was no way he was letting her face Mickey’s biological grandparents on her own. Hopefully, the meeting wouldn’t go as badly as Rylie feared it would, but there were no guarantees.

  Since it was Friday, he’d pre-ordered tickets to a movie Mickey had said she wanted to see—with Rylie’s blessing, of course—and was taking his girls out to dinner too. If someone had told him a few weeks ago he’d be spending a Friday night at Applebee’s—Mickey’s favorite—and watching a Disney animated movie, he would’ve laughed his ass off. But there he was, planning to do just that, and looking forward to every minute of it. He was in so deep he was even considering taking Rylie and Mickey to Boca Raton in a few weeks to meet his mom, something he hadn’t done with a woman since his midtwenties.

  He smiled. His mom would love Rylie and her daughter and would immediately start doting on the little girl as much as she did her grandchildren. Janet Dixon had been trying to get her only son to settle down for years now. Hell, maybe he should hold off that introduction for a little longer than a few weeks—otherwise his mother might start planning a wedding, and Chase wasn’t sure he or Rylie were ready for that. Actually, he knew they weren’t. Christ, he’d only known her for two weeks and already he was thinking long-term—like long, long-term. What surprised him was he had no desire to run from the commitment he felt rising between him and Rylie. Yeah—she was the one.