Grant snatched up his wallet and yanked the condom out. He ripped it open and rolled the latex on while Melody sauntered toward him.
She didn’t hesitate when it came to what she wanted. Her gaze locked on his and she straddled his thighs. He gripped his erection, holding it as she lowered onto him. Her hips shifted, finding the perfect angle while she braced her hands on his shoulders.
He groaned as the tight vice of her pussy enveloped him.
It was always so damn good. Even from the beginning.
She used his shoulders to lift herself a bit before sliding back down, all the way to the root. He leaned forward, taking her mouth in a wet kiss. Her hips rocked forward then back, her muscles working him over.
“God, Button,” he groaned against her lips.
She didn’t say anything; then again she rarely spoke during sex.
He gripped her hips and helped her rise over him. Without warning she lowered, fast and hard, impaling herself on him.
“Fuck,” he muttered.
So that was how it was going to be? Fast, hard and without mercy?
He sat up and wrapped an arm around her waist, the better to steady her and guide her. She gripped his shoulders, rising and falling, her pussy stroking him. He ducked his head, kissing her, touching her breasts, all those sensitive spots he’d memorized. He knew her body, knew what she liked, how she came.
Grant sucked on her nipple even as her nails dug into his skin and over old scars.
He wanted her in his life. He couldn’t imagine them not together.
She cupped his face, forcing him to look at her.
“Make me...?” she whispered.
Her request took him by surprise, but he didn’t hesitate.
Grant stood, taking her with him, and sat her bare ass on the table. With their positions reversed, he had greater access to her body. He cupped her mound, sliding his fingers through her curls to the slick bundle of nerves there.
He thrust. “Whatever you want, Button.”
Her head tilted back and she groaned.
He drove into her, praying that this was enough, that she’d see.
Melody’s head tilted back and her grip on his shoulder’s tightened. Her face creased in bliss and pain. Her clit always was hyper sensitive. Her spine bowed and she whimpered as her orgasm rippled through her.
Grant looped his arm around her waist and pistoned into her, swiping his thumb back and forth. She jerked each time, her nails digging in to the point of pain now. He dropped his head to her shoulder, breathing in the scent of her shampoo, the body spray she wore and their sweat mingling together.
A tingling started at the base of his spine. His knees wobbled a bit, but need drove him on. He rocked into her, his hold tightening as release surged through him.
He held her tight to his chest, praying she saw what they had, too.
Before Melody, Grant hadn’t thought much about the future. He’d always been a soldier, life was about the job, saving people. Falling for her had meant wondering what else he’d been missing out on. She brought balance to his life. What they had was special.
Grant gathered Melody into his arms and carried her spent body to the bed. He laid down with her spread across his chest, her slight weight comforting. Her hair spilled over his shoulder, tickling his skin.
No other woman had made him think about settling down. With Melody, she understood him. She didn’t fault him for living for his job because she did the same thing. But she also reminded him that there was more to life. Lazy nights eating pizza and watching movies.
Whatever had come between them, they could fix it. This, them, was too good to let go.
He smoothed her hair off her face. “See? You still feel something for me.”
Her body tensed.
He smoothed his hand down her back.
They could come back from this.
Melody pushed up, sliding off him to sit on the mattress. Her hair fell over a shoulder, partially obscuring her breasts. The pink and blue lights from the party outside cast ominous shadows on her serene face.
“Our problem has never been chemistry. It’s that we don’t have anything else, no substance. A kiss, sex, doesn’t change that, Grant.” She swung her legs off the bed and stood.
“What do you mean, we don’t have anything else?” His rubbery legs weren’t keen on standing, but he got up anyway, following Melody toward the bathroom.
“I mean, you don’t know anything about me. And it’s been a year.” She paused in the doorway and glanced over her shoulder. “We’re still over.”
“The hell we are,” he muttered.
He knew plenty about her. What her favorite foods were. How she liked to be touched. The odd cleaning quirks she had. She was scared of something and he wasn’t going to let her run away from him.
WEDNESDAY. PRIVATE Yacht, Ibiza.
Liman stared down at the two men bound and gagged, secured to a bulkhead.
“Where are the other four?” he asked Khaled.
The man fidgeted. It appeared even he was feeling the pressure. Good. “The men are still looking, sir.”
Liman grimaced. This plan only worked if he had all of them. He needed bodies to barter with, to prove his point.
He kneeled next to the big one, the one who’d nearly taken out four men.
Liman switched to English. “Where are your friends?”
The man just stared at Liman.
“This will go easier for you if you cooperate.”
They both knew the prisoner wasn’t going to speak.
Liman patted the man’s cheek then straightened. It was time to handle this personally.
“Move them to the shore. I want a report ready by the time we land.”
“Yes, sir.”
Khaled scurried off to relay the order, leaving Liman alone.
He took the stairs back up to the deck and stared out at the ocean. A few years ago when he’d been approached about heading this secret group, he’d thought it sounded like bad science fiction. Super soldiers augmented by science. It was ridiculous. And yet, they’d achieved something singularly amazing with their test subject.
A test subject who’d become Liman’s most valued agent and who was now missing. He’d been pissed to learn Elio’s history that had been kept from him.
If Liman had known Elio had once been employed by this Aegis Group company in his former life, Liman would have never used him for that mission. Anyone else could have done what Elio did. Granted it might take five to his one, but they had the numbers.
There was only once Elio, and Liman intended to get him back, if for no other reason than the American government could never know what they’d done to the man.
4.
Thursday. Hard Rock Hotel, Ibiza Town, Ibiza.
Melody stared out of the windows, soaking up the impossibly blue ocean.
This was paradise, and she was miserable. Not only was her team missing in action, but she’d let Grant lure her in with kisses last night.
There was no denying that they had chemistry. He was a generous lover, but sex wasn’t everything. She needed more.
Grant sighed in his sleep and rolled over.
He’d sat up late last night, long after she’d given in and gone to sleep herself.
The man was the definition of stubborn. He was determined for the world to fit his order, how he wanted it. There wasn’t room for any other way. Which made his assertion that she didn’t just get to break up with him all the more annoying.
Grant wasn’t her boss, he didn’t own her, she could break up with him if she damn well wanted to. She didn’t have to have a good reason and she didn’t have to justify the decision to him.
A little part of her wanted to. Maybe if she did that he’d understand how much he hurt her and change.
Yeah, right.
Grant was as immovable as a mountain. He was who he was, and while she cared for him, she knew he couldn’t be the man she needed. It was better for
her to end things. Move on.
Her heart ached at the thought of losing him. This would be so much easier if she wasn’t in love with him. But she’d already been through this with men like him before. She loved him. She wanted him to be invested in her, but instead he treated her like a houseplant. He’d water her when she needed it, ensure she was safe, but that was it. Sex was the only time she felt close to him, the only time he opened up to her.
Hadn’t she promised herself she wasn’t going to do this to herself anymore?
Grant wasn’t the first alpha hole guy she’d been with. After Melody had quit being a cop, all she’d dated were men with badges. Though calling what she’d done at the time dating was probably generous.
That was a whole chapter of her life Grant knew nothing about, because he’d never asked. He couldn’t be bothered to question what she’d done before joining his team.
The bedside clock buzzed.
Grant’s hand slapped out, silencing the alarm.
“Any word?” he asked.
The man went from asleep to awake in three seconds. It was both useful and annoying.
“No. I was waiting for you.” She braced herself and turned toward the bed. He lay with the sheet up to his waist, all that bare skin to admire. The tattoo at his collar still surprised her. It just didn’t fit his clean-cut image.
Grant sat up, running a hand through his hair and over his face. He tossed the sheet back, revealing his underwear. “I’ll head downstairs, get us some breakfast and a phone.”
“I need something else to wear.” She gestured at her sweats and blouse.
“Any preference?”
She didn’t expect much of an option at a hotel gift shop. “I’ll take what I can get.”
“Okay.” He stretched. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Melody glanced back at the windows to keep from watching him dress in the clothes she’d neatly folded for him.
It was time to put these emotions away. This business between them could and would wait until they’d found the rest of their team and got the hell out of here. She wasn’t going to breathe easy until they were on a plane.
Grant dressed and left the room without further comment.
She had to start thinking proactively. With any luck, Zain was aware of their situation and sending help. Or at least new passports.
Melody busied herself with packing up their things and checking over her guns. Typically she didn’t carry a weapon. It helped her build rapport with their assets. The more they saw her as another civilian the easier they found it to trust her. That didn’t mean Melody was incapable of protecting herself.
She’d been one of the best sharpshooters in her police academy class. Given her size and stature, she’d had to be the best at everything else just to make it to graduation and earn her badge.
Ten minutes later she was making up things to do when a familiar knock sounded on the door.
Grant.
Only he did that pattern.
The door beeped and he stepped in carrying three bags with him and two large coffees.
“Food or clothes first?” he asked.
“Did you get a phone?”
“Yeah. Picked it up off some kid sleeping on a bench.” Grant handed the phone to her.
She hated stealing like this, but they couldn’t risk being found.
Melody perched on the bed and tapped the internet browser icon. The phone wasn’t even locked. It was far too easy.
She navigated to a popular news site, clicked an article from the previous day and scrolled down to the comments. It took her three articles before she found one from a guy calling himself 4BeachBum2.
“Found it,” she said as she scanned the comment. It was a bunch of gibberish. The first two lines were somewhat related to the article, but after that it was pure code.
“What’s it say? Who posted?”
“Hold on.” She mentally did the translation in her head. “Two of them and an address.”
“Two?”
Melody glanced up, her stomach in knots.
If only two of their team had checked in, where were the others? What had happened to them?
THURSDAY. PRIVATE RESIDENCE, Ibiza Town, Ibiza.
Grant glanced up and down the well-kept suburban street. It was late morning, almost early afternoon, and there wasn’t a soul to be seen other than him and Melody in this part of town. Not awake and coherent at least. He had counted at least four people sleeping on lawns and a few signs advertising rooms for rent.
How had Nolan and Vaughn wound up all the way out here? Had Melody read the note right?
The address the internet comment had led them to was clear on the other side of the city from where they’d been attacked.
“This is it.” Melody gestured at a large, square white house.
Unlike some of its neighbors, this house appeared recently renovated. The exterior was pristine, almost spotless. A few palm trees swayed in the breeze. Wooden pergolas created exterior living spaces, one of which appeared to be a bedroom for people who didn’t mind sleeping on lawn chairs. A collection of beer bottles circled them like some kind of boozy arcane ritual.
He eyed the twenty somethings passed out still wearing yesterday’s party clothes, drenched in sweat and alcohol. There hadn’t been a day in Grant’s life when he could have let loose like this. From the time he’d been little his parents had instilled a sense of responsibility in him. It wasn’t him to do this kind of stuff and he couldn’t begin to understand it. But that was the beauty of it. He didn’t have to comprehend other’s choices. He just respected their right, did his own thing and moved the hell on.
Grant stopped on the sidewalk and peered at the house, considering their approach.
“Do we just go inside? Knock? What?” Melody glanced up at him, her face half hidden by the large floppy hat and sunglasses she’d donned to help disguise herself.
He squinted and considered the options. The owners were probably not awake and they didn’t exactly what to be remembered. “The fewer people we disturb the better. Come on, let’s go around back.”
He stepped off the sidewalk and onto the manicured grass. There was no fence to bar their way, so they circled the large home under the shade of more mature palm trees to the back yard.
This was where the party had been.
Blow up rafts did double duty as mattresses for those guests who hadn’t wanted to leave the pool. Speakers were set up along the veranda and an empty table identified where the DJ had been at some point. A table full of empty beverage containers stood as a testament to the debauchery that had gone on, like an alter to the party gods.
The back door to the house stood open. The pull-out sofa accommodated at least three partially dressed bodies. The cushions were now a pallet for another couple. More bottles and cans littered the floor. This was so not his scene, and quite possibly the best cover their guys could have found.
Grant glanced at Melody. She’d pulled her sunglasses off and was peering into the house, a frown curving her lips.
Anyone could walk in there, steal stuff, mess with people. There was no security, nothing to stop a person with ill intent.
“Stay close?” he whispered.
“I think we in more danger of stepping in vomit than getting jumped. Come on.” She sighed and headed toward the house.
“Can you believe these people?” he said for her ears alone.
Melody glanced up at him. “I’ve been one of these people.”
Grant’s mind came to a screeching stop as he tried to picture Melody, always perfectly styled and put-together, as one of the passed out bodies littering the lawn.
He managed to step into the house just before she did. “Seriously?”
“Yes. I was young and stupid once. Not everyone was born with the weight of the world on their shoulders.” She turned from him and they both surveyed the house.
“Hey.” He grabbed her arm, stopping her in the doorway. “That was a st
upid thing for me to say.”
She looked up at him. “It’s how you really feel.”
He kept staring at her. “That’s not what I meat.”
“I know what you mean.” She put her hand over his, gently removing it from her arm. “How can they be so careless? So reckless? It’s because their lives are perfectly safe. Because someone like you makes it that way. You’ve never been that careless.”
“And you have?” His brow furrowed and he tried to imagine what it might be like to trust his surroundings—strangers—that much.
“Yeah.” She nodded. “I can’t see myself doing this kind of thing now, but as a fearless kid? I’ve been here before.”
Grant considered her words as he looked around the house.
If it weren’t for the party carnage, it would be a pretty nice place. The updates were more obvious here, from the modern, stainless kitchen to the sleek floors and furnishings.
The cleaning bill was going to be astronomical.
Thank goodness it wasn’t his place.
And Melody used to party like this? How had she never told him that?
She reached over and tugged his hand. “Come on, let’s find them.”
They tip-toed through the first-floor rooms finding nothing but passed out partiers. Their missing team members were nowhere to be seen.
“Upstairs?” Melody whispered.
Grant ground his molars together. He wasn’t keen on being boxed in, but if that was where their people were, that was where they were going.
He palmed the gun in the waistband of his shorts and wished once more for the comfort of his jeans and boots.
Together they climbed to the second floor. A toilet flushed. The faint sounds of music came from one of the rooms along with a few hushed voices.
The house wasn’t going to be quiet for long.
They needed to find the guys and get out. There was an itch developing between Grant’s shoulder blades. Nothing good ever came from that kind of funny feeling. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was bothering him, he just knew he didn’t want to be on this stairwell with Melody as a target.
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