by Em Petrova
Pressing his fingers into her deeper, he raised his head to watch her face. Euphoria had her features lit like an angel’s, and she was—somehow—more fucking stunning. How the hell could that even be possible?
“Nash, I want you.”
Keeping his fingers buried inside her, he looked into her eyes. “I’m big. Can you take me this deep?”
She nodded. He drove his fingers higher, deeper. “This deep?”
“Yes! Oh God. Please, Nash.”
He lifted her a bit on his fingers, and her round ass hovered off the mattress. “You want to feel me this deep?”
Her eyes rolled back in her head.
That was all he could take. Drawing his fingers out of her, he went for his fly, attacking his clothes like it was his goddamn mission in life.
He could still walk away from this—there was still time. Keeping her safe was his top priority, and his duties to Ranger Ops and this mission were fucking real as hell right this minute.
But he was inches away from having everything he wanted.
Take her, his body urged. His cock throbbed, and his balls grew fuller.
He gripped his cock at the root and squeezed back the impending explosion.
“I don’t have a condom,” he ground out.
She shook her head. “I’m on birth control and I haven’t had sex in a year.”
“Dammit.” Why couldn’t she have told him anything but that?
“I’m checked regularly,” he heard himself say as he shoved his cargos and boxers down his hips. His boots followed and the entire mass ended up on the floor.
Watching him, she wet her lips again, nearly shredding his control. When she slowly parted her thighs in invitation, giving him a glimpse of her gorgeous, wet pussy, he snapped.
Grabbing her by the hips, he dragged her over the mattress and up to meet his cock. With the purple head poised at the center of her, he looked into her eyes. “I swear to keep you safe, always.”
In one plunge, he joined with her. The sensation was so fucking sweet it made his teeth ache, and damn if she didn’t give the softest of cries that turned his heart inside out too.
Shaking from the effort of withholding from taking her like a rutting beast, he leaned in and captured her lips. The kiss was a smooth melding of lips coupled with an emotion he’d never known in his entire life.
God, she had his heart doing maneuvers he couldn’t fathom or follow, and when she pulled him down so his weight was atop her, it suddenly became so much more than a physical need for him.
Shit. It was like… lovemaking.
He swept his tongue across hers and began to move. In slow, rhythmic pulses of his hips, he sank into her hot sheath and withdrew with a slowness that belied his lack of control. He wanted to make this good, because he had one goddamn shot at it.
Her fingers in his hair gave him some powerful electrical feelings in the vicinity of his heart. And his balls ached to blow.
He sank into her harder this time. She cried out, and he swallowed it on his kiss.
When he withdrew, she followed him, and how could he resist that temptation? He drove into her hard. She angled her hips to accept him to the deepest point, and he growled out against his orgasm, which was far too close to the surface.
With another thrust and then another, he felt her begin to tighten, clamping around him with her inner muscles. A quiver shook her.
“Fuck, I can’t stop it.” He slammed his mouth over hers and kissed her as his release hit, so intense that he lost focus of anything but the stars behind his eyes and the sensation of her clenching heat encircling him as she too began to shake from her own orgasm.
His hips moved on their own, and he couldn’t stop kissing her if he tried. The taste was too sweet and real to walk away from.
Hell, he was in so much fucking trouble here.
With the round globe of her ass still cradled on his palm, he leaned back to stare into her eyes. He didn’t know what to expect to see, but it sure as hell wasn’t the look she was giving him, one of pure and utter joy and peace.
Releasing a grunt, he dropped his forehead to hers and breathed in her scent, a light breezy note of perfume like the ocean itself. Made sense, because she was like a siren, having risen up and tormented him right to the deepest possible depths.
“I have to move you, Nevaeh. Now.”
She nodded against him, but it was more of a nuzzling against his skin.
Shit, he was sunk.
Chapter Five
“Sully, we got a domestic taking place right now.” Woody’s voice projected into Nash’s ear as he drew his Sig from its holster.
“I hear it. Fuck. Guys, I think it’s time to wrap up the reconnaissance and go in.” He was already moving fast toward the side window. When he came across a plank of wood that looked to be from a half-demolished side porch, Cav and Jess joined up with him.
Cav grabbed one end of the board, and he and Nash shoved it hard through a window. Jess began to run up it and launched inside.
“I’m in. Room’s empty. I’m gonna explore. They’re screaming too loud—I don’t think they heard that window break.”
“Jesus. Cav, get in there and watch his six.” Nash waved toward the window and Cavanagh scaled the board too, vanishing through the broken glass. How the big man fit through such a small opening would puzzle any onlooker, but they were trained for this.
“Linc, Lennon, skirt the back and see if you can enter that way. Woody, follow them. I’m going in behind Cav and Jess.” Nash stepped on the board. It sagged beneath his weight, but he moved with speed and stealth. When he landed on his boots inside the room, he spotted Cav’s back as he edged around a door.
The room he stood in was empty with only a few items of furniture pushed up against the walls. Everything they knew about this place was there were no search warrants or arrest records for any of the men they’d seen coming and going. To the public, they looked perfectly normal, but Jess had gotten one hell of a lead the previous night after using Nevaeh’s code to slip in and hack one of their emails. That had opened a whole world of codes to crack, and Jess and Penn had stayed up most of the night digging through it until they found what they wanted.
Ten years before, these same men had operated internet sites that Antonio had regularly visited. Or breached. Either way, Ranger Ops had enough to proceed.
Moving swiftly, Nash ducked through the door, following the sounds of the domestic.
A shot fired, and it wasn’t the sound of a Ranger Ops’ Sig or one of their rifles.
“Watch your asses,” he ordered as he turned and reached a closed door. The screaming of a woman—no, two women—was deafening, but a man’s shouting covered even that. He was in a rage, cussing the females in rapid Spanish.
He wasn’t the only one in a rage.
Nash lifted a boot and kicked in the door.
The stench of sweat and unwashed bodies hit him full in the face, and he turned instinctively to the man. Two women huddled in a corner, clinging to each other. Jess and Cav stormed in behind Nash and got the women on their feet and dragged them from the room as Nash aimed at the man’s chest at point-blank range.
“Who the hell are you?” the thug demanded in his native tongue.
“Drop your weapon.” Nash’s focus went to the pistol aimed at his forehead, but he wasn’t sweating it—not yet. What this guy didn’t know was Woody was moving around the back right now and had eyes on the man through the window.
“You drop yours!”
The guy’s finger twitched on the trigger, and then the window exploded in a thousand shards as Woody took the shot. The man collapsed, and Nash rushed him, kicking the weapon out of his reach and jamming the barrel of his semi-auto into his gut.
He barely restrained himself from killing the man, but Lang perched on his shoulder, urging him to deal with him minus his temper. The guy would be better use to them if he was alive to speak.
“Jess, Cav, get those women to safe
ty. Linc and Lennon, come get this asshole and bring some bungee cords.” He turned to the window. “Thanks, Woody.”
“House is all clear, Sully. They’re the only ones in it. And there’s not a trace of an electronic in this fucking place.” Lennon’s Southern drawl filled Nash’s comms unit.
Ten minutes later, they had the victim stabilized with his bleeding staunched, and he was tied with bungee cords to a chair. Nash fired questions at him, and the others kept a close scope on the perimeter of the building in case any of his buddies returned.
Finally, Nash let out a breath. “They took everything and left, he says. Gave him the place to stay with his women, but they had an argument between them about who was sharing his bed tonight, and he ordered them both to come to his bed. That made the fighting worse, and he says he stopped it. Jesus, what scum. Okay, sweep the place one more time, and then we’re moving out.”
Woody met Nash’s gaze. “You know where they moved, don’t you?”
“Yep.”
“I hope we’re launching through windows again, because that was an adrenaline rush.” Lennon grinned and turned for the door with his weapon at the ready.
Woody gestured to the man bungeed to the wooden chair. “What do we do with this piece of shit?”
“Anybody who’d shoot at a woman deserves to have his balls chopped off and fed to him. But I’m feeling generous today. We’ll leave and call in an anonymous tip to the paramedics that a man’s been shot.”
Woody reached for his cell. “Want me to do that now?”
“Nah, we’ll wait a couple hours till he’s in a healthy amount of pain.”
It was clear from the man’s face he didn’t follow their English, and Nash took perverse pleasure in that fact.
When they regrouped back at the hostel, the guys began packing up all the gear. Under cover of darkness, the computers and surveillance systems were hauled out in black bags, and Linc paid off the hostel owner with a stack of bills.
Nash was itching to call his brother, who was guarding Nevaeh, and get word that she was safe, but not yet. He had to get his men situated in another part of the city.
For the move through the streets, they split up. Nash had Woody on his three and he was damn glad for it as they scouted the area. Setting up so close to the people they were trying to nab for kidnapping Antonio Vincent was a huge risk, but Nash had complete confidence in his team.
His mind continued to dart back to Nevaeh. He needed to make that call to his brother soon. Thank God the man had shown up when he did—Ranger Ops needed his expertise, and if Nash was truthful with himself, he didn’t trust anybody else to protect Nevaeh.
That tenderness for her rose up like a bright sun. Dammit, he was going to struggle after this was all said and done—he was in deeper than he’d ever been from a single encounter with a woman in his bed.
He wasn’t exactly a playboy, but he got his fair share of sex. What he’d shared with Nevaeh was not simple wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am. That had him wondering how the hell to get out of the situation without leaving her feeling used and unworthy.
He pushed out a sigh.
“All right, man?” Woody paced next to him, their shoes squashing into the sandy soil that ran parallel to the property they were to inhabit as soon as the others slipped in.
“Yeah.” He shot his buddy a look. They hadn’t been working together all that long, but already Nash was feeling bonds with all his men, especially after the Sabine River incident. He grunted, and Woody looked to him.
“What is it?”
“Just thinkin’.” Nash bit back a smile. “Wondered how long that asshole we shot is gonna be laid up with that bullet wound.”
Woody snorted. “I don’t know. It was a good meaty chunk taken out of his shoulder.”
They shared a quiet chuckle. Then suddenly, the hairs on the back of Nash’s neck went up.
Covertly, from the corner of his eye, he noted two men dogging them about fifty feet away.
Woody noted it too, but the only indication he gave was a tightening of his lips. He raised a hand and rubbed at his jaw. “I think we’re made, man.”
“I got that too. Thinkin’ of an exit strategy versus confrontation.”
“I got an idea.”
“I’m all for it,” Nash said.
Suddenly, Woody stopped and faced him. “Kiss me,” he said.
Nash blinked. Before he could move, Woody leaned in, grabbed Nash by the nape and laid one square on his mouth.
He barely registered the odd sensation of kissing a man let alone his teammate, because he was too busy noting the posture of the two guys following them. They relaxed visibly and detoured in another direction.
Woody pulled back and swiped his mouth. “Gah. You ate the burritos, didn’t you? You never did fucking say whether or not they make you gassy.”
“Fuck you.” He grinned as he shot a look back toward the men, who were now ignoring him and Woody, thinking them just a couple of amorous men out for a walk. He gave Woody a sideways glance. “Good ploy, but what the actual fuck was that?”
Woody laughed. “I just saved our asses.”
“No. I meant the tongue.”
He grinned. “That was for effect—we had to look legitimate to those guys or they’d be on to us.” He smiled wider. “Or maybe it was just me being adventurous.”
“Asshole.” He shook his head. “If you ever try that again, I’ll—”
“Get the lube?” Woody arched a brow.
They were laughing now. They hadn’t taken two steps before Linc’s voice entered their ears, loud and clear. “If you two are finished making out, you’d better hurry over here. We’ve got an issue.”
* * * * *
Nevaeh sat near the window, though not close. Penn had instructed her to keep clear of the windows directly just in case.
In case of what? She didn’t want to think about that answer. So she pushed it firmly from her head and sat with her legs curled under her, staring at the sleepy neighborhood. It was siesta, and she wasn’t one for lying down and resting during the day, so she just watched the people go into their houses for an hour and enjoyed the silence in her own way.
So many times, she’d thought about taking Nash up on that offer to return home. She’d been in this house alone for three days now, with his brother Penn as bodyguard. The man took his job seriously, too, walking the house nonstop and checking windows and doors. At night, she had no idea if he slept, but each time she woke, she heard him walking the floors, on patrol.
He was coming now. She lifted her head and turned it toward the doorway just as the huge man filled the frame. She’d had plenty of time to study him, and she’d made a lot of familial connections between him and Nash. They were of the same height and while Nash’s chest was broader, Penn’s biceps were beefier. The two could do some major damage to anyone who crossed them. And she liked how Penn’s eyes reminded her of the man she’d begged to make her come only a few nights ago.
“What is it?” she asked Penn.
“Nash is on his way. He’ll be here in five.”
Her heart shouldn’t leap that way—why did it? So what if she’d taken her ease with the man and allowed him to break through her barricades. It wasn’t more.
So why did her heart tell her otherwise?
She nodded and got up.
Penn started forward to put himself between her and the window, prepared to take a bullet for her on Nash’s order.
Seeing Penn move, she inched to the side out of the way of the window just to keep him happy. Then she found herself moving to the nearest mirror to check her appearance.
Stupid. What had happened between her and the captain of the special ops team had been purely physical—and was unlikely to happen a second time. Hell, she still wasn’t even sure he liked her. After all, a man didn’t need to like a woman to sleep with her.
Penn’s amused look sent her scurrying from the mirror. Luckily, he turned and left the space, leaving he
r alone with a burning face. She followed him to the door. When he opened it and Nash crowded inside, her heart gave another trembling leap.
He was bigger than she remembered. Wearing jeans and a black T-shirt, he couldn’t look hotter. When he lifted his head and grazed his eyes over her, she felt the touch down to the core of her being.
She gulped too. He was sporting a bruised jaw, and a cut rode the edge of his cheekbone.
He turned his stare from her, leaving her feeling sweaty and breathless but also let down. She knew it—he didn’t like her. She’d just made a fool of herself thinking there might be more to their connection.
He locked hands with Penn in a midair arm-wrestling match. “All good, bro?” Penn asked. “I know you got into some shit.”
He gave a faint nod. “Deep shit. But we got through with only a few bumps and bruises.”
“All good here.” Penn tipped his head toward her, and if she hadn’t been staring hard at Nash, she would have missed the way his eyes narrowed. Not that she understood it.
He looked to her again, and a slow warmth crept over her insides. If she looked at him much longer, she’d begin that burn, and then she’d probably hurl herself at him and beg him to take her again.
She had to keep some distance. Besides, she was here for Antonio, and Nash could have information on him.
“I got it for now. Take a break.” Nash’s low order to Penn worked its way under Nevaeh’s skin, burrowing in places that sounds shouldn’t affect.
“I’ll be down at the pub if you need me.” Penn opened the door, and without a backward glance, left.
Nash didn’t budge from his spot in front of the door. He did lower the backpack he was carrying to the floor and reach behind himself and twist the lock, though. She shifted from foot to foot, feeling oddly turned on and totally nervous in front of this man. She hadn’t seen him since that night. They hadn’t talked about what they’d done, and she had no clue what had gone through his mind afterward. Maybe nothing—he could have just forgotten about it.