by Brook Wilder
By the time we reached Seth’s house, I was a wreck. I hated the feeling of helplessness, the feeling that I had failed in some way and had nearly gotten myself killed.
If Seth hadn’t thrown me to the ground, I very well could have died.
The rain was still coming down in droves. I parked the car in his driveway and we both took off for the house, drenched to the skin by the time we got inside the door.
Seth shut the door and flipped on the switch, only to have nothing happen. “Power’s out,” he said as I removed my wet shoes, leaving them by the door. “I’ll get some candles.”
I grabbed his arm as he turned to go, my body shaking, not from the rain. “Can you just hold me for a second?”
He swore right before his arms crushed me to him, his heat seeping through my wet clothing. I pressed my face into this chest, forcing back the tears. I was an ATF agent for God’s sake, not some wimpy woman, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that we had both escaped death tonight.
From who, I didn’t know.
Seth suddenly scooped me up into his powerful arms like I weighed nothing, walking toward his bedroom. I clung to him, unspoken words between us as he entered the room I knew so well, the room we used to share.
But Seth didn’t stop there. He moved past the bed and into the master bathroom, setting me on the wide counter there.
“What are you doing?” I asked softly as he reached for the knob on the shower.
“We are both soaking wet,” he answered as the water steamed up the glass shower. “Might as well take a shower.”
He left off the word ‘together,’ but it vibrated in my bones. I was going to do this. I wanted to do this.
I wanted to be with Seth. How many times had I wished for this to happen again? How many times had his memory crossed my mind, making me long for the days we were together? I had been a fool to leave him, to not at least try to make it work between us.
He was the missing link in my life.
Seth turned toward me, and I pulled him close, settling him between my legs. His eyes watched me as I traced his face with my fingers, relearning familiar lines and taking in the new ones. I traced his hard jawline, the softness of his lips, running my fingers over the stubble that covered his cheeks.
Then, ever so lightly, I placed my hands on either side of his face and pressed my lips against his. A swirl of emotion entered me then, spiraling down to my very soul and reminding me this was home. I could run all my life and never feel this way about anyone else but Seth.
His hand came up to cup the back of my neck and I shivered at the warmth, allowing Seth to deepen the kiss. I wanted all of him. I wanted to put everything out on the table and leave nothing behind.
We peeled our clothes off and Seth picked me up once more, never breaking the kiss as he moved us both under the warm stream in the shower. Thunder shook the house, but I just wrapped my legs around his waist, the tiles at my back as his kiss moved to my jaw.
“Do you know how many times I wanted this?” he whispered against my skin.
“As many times as me?” I whispered, my heart squeezing in my chest.
His smile was soft, his eyes tender. “I love you, Alisha. I’ve always loved you and always will.”
My breath caught but he didn’t give me a chance to respond, his lips ravaging my own. I clung to his body, my hands roaming over his strong shoulders. When he started to move lower, I pushed at his chest, forcing him to step back under the spray. I released my grip on him, finding my own stance in the shower.
“I want to remind myself,” I said softly as lightning flashed into the small bathroom.
“Of what?”
“Of your body.”
A growl was my only answer and I smiled, stepping toward him. My hands slipped down the front of his chest, touching the hardened muscles I had known so well. Even in the darkness, I could tell he had added a few tattoos and when it was light again, I was going to revel in tracing each dark line.
But right now, I wanted him to feel my love.
Pressing a kiss to his chest, he shuddered under my lips, and my hand slid lower over his tight abdomen.
“You’re playing with fire,” Seth growled. “It’s been too fucking long.”
I dropped to my knees, my eyes feasting on him for the first time in ten years. Thank God for the darkness or he would have seen the blush stain my cheeks. With a trembling hand, I reached out and touched him, exploring the length and heaviness that was Seth Owens.
“God, Alisha,” he groaned, bracing himself with his hand against the shower. “That feels good.”
“What about this?” I said right before I wrapped my lips around him. He jerked and I inwardly smiled, glad I could get that sort of reaction out of such a strong man. Leisurely, I kissed him, nibbling on his hardness with my lips until he pulled me up to meet his gaze.
“You’re killing me.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Make me forget the last ten years without you, Seth.”
He lifted the corner of his mouth. “Gladly.”
Suddenly, the water turned shockingly cold and I squealed as Seth fumbled for the knob. “I guess that’s all the hot water,” he remarked dryly, pushing open the door. “Let me warm you in other ways.”
My body shivered at the thought as I followed him out of the shower, my feet barely touching the mat on the floor before Seth was scooping me up again and striding toward the bed. Slowly, he laid me down before covering my body with his, his hard planes pressing into my soft ones.
“Finally,” he said in a low voice, his hand brushing down my body possessively. “I have you where I want you.”
“I don’t want to be anywhere else,” I added softly as his teeth nipped at my chin.
His lips moved lower and I closed my eyes, surrendering myself to his touch, his kiss, as he wandered down my body. When his lips found my aching wet core, I arched against the intrusion, trying to twist away.
But Seth held onto my legs tightly, swiping his tongue right down my center. “You’ve never tasted better,” he said against my mound, his hands pushing my legs apart.
I made a sound low in my throat and he teased me, his fingers working their magic against my hardened clit. The pressure was overwhelming as it built up inside me, promising a release I hadn’t had in a long, long time.
Only Seth could give me that.
When he inserted a finger into my wet entrance, I cried out. I was far too close to orgasm, but I didn’t want this to end.
Stars exploded behind my eyelids as I was forced to let go, my body shaking from the force of my own orgasm. I vaguely heard Seth say something before he was covering my body with his, his cock pressing at my entrance.
“Please,” I begged, rising to meet him. “Please.”
Seth didn’t say anything as he pushed into me, my body stretching to accommodate him. I gasped as he buried himself to the hilt, pulsating inside of me.
“You are so wet, so tight,” he said in a rough voice, pressing a kiss against my lips. “God, I’ve missed you.”
I tasted my own release on my lips, wrapping my legs around him to pull him close. “Please, Seth.”
“I love it when you fucking beg.”
***
I lay against Seth’s chest, stroking his sweaty skin lightly with my fingertips. The thunderstorm still raged on around us. Seth had opened the windows to let some of the hot air out of the room a while ago, the sound of the rain now soothing and nearly lulling me to sleep.
Well that, and the feel of Seth’s light touch on my back. My body felt sated, even with my tingling muscles I knew would be sore in the morning.
But for a good reason. For the first time in ten years, I felt complete.
“What will you do when you’re finished here?”
The warm feeling in my soul dimmed just a little. “I will probably go back to Virginia. They’ve offered me a desk job.” It was in the forensics division of the ATF, giving me far better hour
s and a chance to really change the face of my career. I had been waiting for years for it to open up and if I successfully completed this job, it was as good as mine.
Seth’s fingers stilled on my back. “So, you will leave Castillo again?”
A week ago, it would have been easy to say yes, to be glad to be out of this town once more. But after tonight, I wasn’t so sure. “I don’t know.”
“We have some time.”
I didn’t answer, feeling the pull on my heart. On one hand, I knew I was still in love with Seth Owens. I probably knew that from the first moment I’d returned to Castillo and saw him for the first time. The quotes were wrong; time didn’t heal all wounds. The enormous wound in my heart closed tonight.
But it didn’t solve the differences in our lives now. I had gotten in bed with the enemy and no matter how I felt about Seth and vice versa, the line down the middle was still the same. He was still part of the problem, the reason I was down here.
I could still lose him. Even if I forced him to stay out of the mix and keep himself safe, I could still lose him. I didn’t know who would go down for the war or the lives that had been lost as a result.
I had to protect Seth. I couldn’t stand aside and watch him be put in jail for the rest of his life. I would hold true to myself and the responsibility I had taken with this job, but I would also need to find a loophole to keep Seth away from prison.
Even if we couldn’t be together in the end.
And Jon. I would have to figure out how to deal with him. Things would be different between us now. Things would be awkward, but we were still a team and still needed to work together to get this job finished.
Then I would ask for a new partner or take that forensics job in Virginia.
***
Jon lowered the camera, both turned on and disgusted by what he saw through the lens. His partner, the woman he had fallen in love with, had jumped in the sack with the enemy. He couldn’t say he hadn’t seen this coming, given the way Alisha looked at the asshole. But he had hoped his declaration to her last night would have changed her thinking.
Apparently not.
Silently, he walked back around the house and to the car that sat across the street. Tonight had been exhilarating, probably the most exciting night he had experienced in quite some time. When Lopez had picked him up from the hotel, he didn’t know what to expect, keeping a finger on his gun for most of the ride. He didn’t trust the Azteca commander no more than the next guy, but they had a common goal.
Take down the Rough Jesters.
If anyone found out he was consorting with the Aztecas, it would be the end of his career.
The same could be said for Alisha. If only she had accepted his love, then they could have taken down both sides together and gotten the hell out of this shithole.
But no, she drove him to this, and a deal of immunity in exchange for the Rough Jesters had been enough to sway Lopez to Jon’s side.
He had seemed far too eager and tonight was just the beginning of what he and Jon would do. Jon had been deliberate in his firing, not wanting to strike Alisha in the process. It was his hope that after all of this was said and done, he might recoup their relationship.
After all, once he was done with the Jesters, Alisha wouldn’t have the asshole’s shoulder to cry on.
He was going to put them all away, either in prison or six feet under.
Chapter 14
Seth
“You’re shitting me.”
Rex plopped down the photos in front of me. “No, I’m not. Tell me, what the hell were you thinking?”
I looked at the grainy photos of my bedroom, first glad Alisha’s face wasn’t visible in any of them. There was a woman there, no doubt about it, but it would be hard for anyone to say it was her. But still, what the hell?
“Where did you get these?”
“Mailbox, this morning,” Rex said, slumping into the chair across from me. “You better be damn glad I found them and not someone else.”
I pushed them across the table, using my best poker face. “No one will be able to prove anything.”
Rex let out a choked laugh. “That’s not the point, man. Do you know what position you have put us in, her in? If we got copies of these pictures, I’m sure her boss did, too. This could cost Alisha her job if they are able to identify her. You understand that, right?”
Well hell, no I hadn’t thought of that. My hands were itching to get a hold of my cell phone so I could check on Alisha and make sure she wasn’t facing any backlash, but I couldn’t. Damn, the best night of my life ruined by some asshole out to get us. “I’ll fix it.”
“Fix it? You can’t fix this, man! This is a hot damn mess of shit is what it is. I can’t believe you couldn’t very well think with your damn head and not your damn cock. You, of all people.”
“It’s Alisha,” I blurted out. She was my weakness and I knew he could relate to how he felt about Kris.
Rex sighed heavily. “Yeah, I know. You’ve never stopped loving her, have you?”
I shook my head, eyeing those incriminating photos. Rex was right. If I had given it a second thought, maybe it would have put off sleeping with her, but it was gonna happen. There was nothing I wanted more, needed more, than to be buried in her body.
“That’s not all,” Rex continued as I brooded over my dumbass move. “Salamanca is dead. They found his body this morning, thrown in a ditch. He’s been dead for quite a while.”
“Shit,” I muttered. No wonder he hadn’t gotten back with me about the truce. I felt bad for the guy who was just trying to set things to right.
“Yeah, shit,” Rex echoed, the exhaustion lining his face. “If he was telling the truth about the truce, it’s gone now. He was our only link.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling like a dumbass for letting the club down. I had been so wrapped up with Alisha’s return, I hadn’t thought about the club or my responsibility. “I should have tailed him, put him in a safehouse, something. Damn, man, I’m sorry.”
“It’s done,” Rex interrupted, nodding toward those photos. “We have another issue on our hands now. You know I would never tell you how to live your life, but I’m gonna need for you to stay away from Alisha right now. We can’t take the chance of someone else getting a hold of what’s going on between the two of you and using it as leverage, for you or her.”
I felt like shit knowing I might have cost Alisha her job. She had worked so hard to become an agent and her association with me, her love for me, could be her downfall.
I couldn’t let that happen.
Standing, I gathered up the photos and shoved them into my back pocket. “I will handle this.”
Rex eyed me. “Just don’t forget to think with your head instead of your cock, alright? I know it’s hard.”
I winked at the president of the Jesters before walking out of the clubhouse, hopping on my bike. Just as I thought, Mama Rosa had gotten her nephew to cover it up for me and when I arrived this morning to pick it up, it was tucked in like a little child. Of course, she wouldn’t let me leave until I had eaten some breakfast and I had come straight to the clubhouse afterward, feeling like I was on the top of the world.
Funny how shit rolled downhill quickly.
Firing up the bike, I peeled out of the parking lot, wanting to find Alisha. This is wrong, I thought to myself. But I couldn’t help it. I needed to make sure she was okay.
Which meant I would have to go straight into the lion’s den.
***
The house looked just like I remembered, the perfect farmhouse for the perfect all-American couple.
The same couple who had cringed when I started dating their daughter. I was never good enough for her, dragging her into the depths of the Jesters’ lifestyle and only making her life worse. With me, she drank, smoked some pot, but she’d also found her place in life. I hadn’t done anything to her that she wasn’t already doing to herself.
Except keep her alive.
***
I eyed the house with Alisha’s hand tightly in mine. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Of course, it is,” Alisha said, tugging me up the gravel path to the house. “It’s time to make this official, Seth.”
“We are already official,” I grumbled allowing her to pull me closer to the portal of hell. Okay, maybe it wasn’t hell, but it sure felt like it.