by S. M. Butler
“Yes,” he choked out. He coughed and drew in a ragged breath. “Target acquired. Heading toward extraction.”
“Dad said he had you.”
“He lied,” Chris said simply. He straightened up, holding her hand tightly and tugged her away from the house. “Come on. We need to move.”
She blinked, suddenly remembering. “We can’t. He has Bea. He’ll kill her.”
“Don’t worry. Jordan’s grabbing her. We have two minutes to make it to the water.”
“Water?” He didn’t explain as he dragged her behind him. She raced with him, her lungs burning, the heat of a Texas summer bearing down on them. It felt like pine needles made of ice in her lungs by the time they reached the end of the dock, where a yacht was parked. She didn’t recognize it so it couldn’t have been one of her father’s.
A hand thrust out to help her on board. She took it wordlessly and let them help her on board. She glanced up as Chris climbed up after her. “What the fuck are you doing here, Murphy?”
Murphy set her down on the deck and shrugged. “You were down a person. Nathan asked me if I could help.”
“You’re not…”
“No,” Murphy said. “It’s a one time favor to help my stupid ass brother-in-law.”
Chris growled. “You’re going to have to marry my sister to call me that.”
“I’ve been trying,” Murphy said. “Damn stubborn Hardys.”
Seconds ticked by like they were hours as they waited, looking for signs of the rest of their team.
Then they saw three figures racing across the lawn, one held between the two of them. As they got closer, Abigail made out Jack, with a rifle slung across his back, muzzle pointed up, his arm wrapped around Bea’s waist, and hers wrapped around his thick neck. Her leg was bloody, staining her jeans, her hair falling out of the ponytail it had been in. Jordan followed them up, a few steps behind. He caught up and helped to lift Bea onto the yacht then turned to the rest of them. “Might want to move it. We weren’t exactly subtle. They’re not far behind us.”
As if on cue, guards burst out from the house, running across the lawn.
“What about Nathan?”
Jordan shook his head. “He’s gone. Said he’d find us later.”
There was something in Chris’s eyes as he looked out at the party but it was gone before she could identify it. As the yacht pulled out, the guards leveled their weapons at them. They all took cover, Jordan and Jack taking up defensive positions and popping off the guards as the yacht roared out onto the open water.
Abigail wrapped herself around Chris’s body, hugging his torso. Slowly his arms came around her, gently shushing her and telling her it was going to be okay.
It was so not okay, but she loved the gesture.
~*~*~
Once they cleared the docks and made sure no one was following, they converged at the table at the back of the yacht, discussing the next steps.
“We dock here, and they’ll have a car waiting for us. Nathan arranged for us to fly directly back to Jubilee.” Chris was saying.
Abigail walked away from their planning meeting. She went inside the yacht and glanced around. But she only had a moment of silence before the big screen in the room turned on and Nathan’s face appeared on it.
“Hello, Miss Lewis.”
“Mr. Hawk?”
Nathan smiled but it wasn’t a warm one. She fought the chills that threatened to race down her spine. “Yes.”
“I remember you, you know.”
“Do you?”
“You used to work for him.” Abigail narrowed her eyes at the man on the screen. She hadn’t been able to place the face for a long time, but when she’d been in her father’s office, she saw the picture that brought it all back. “In his campaign office. It was… what, fifteen years ago, right?”
“Yes, until we had some… creative differences.”
“You punched him in the middle of his campaign office. I was like… seven at the time, I think.”
“It felt good to do it, too,” Nathan replied.
“I remember that week you made different headlines. When your family died.”
“When they were murdered,” Nathan corrected. “But I didn’t call to talk about that.”
She waited a long second. He was shutting her down. He didn’t want to chat about his family. She couldn’t blame him for that. “No, I don’t suppose you did. What do you want?”
“You know my team has a very unique setup. We can do things that others can’t because we don’t have liabilities.”
“I understand that.” Abigail nodded. “I understand that I’m a mission, and you wanted something very specific from me. Is it because of my real father?”
Nathan nodded. “In a way. We needed to bring a corrupt politician down a peg, and get a dangerous monster off the world’s radar. We had a chance at Giroux before, but we couldn’t take it because of Lewis. Lewis makes mistakes because of Giroux because he’s trying to stay ahead of him. If we took Giroux out first, Lewis would have bunkered down, killed you, and we’d be dead in the water. You are in a position to help us with both men.”
“So I’m useful to you. Is that what you do? Make sure people are useful to you?”
“Tread carefully, Miss Lewis. I’m not above making you disappear either,” he replied. She pushed out the fear that threatened to take hold.
“What do you want?”
“You gave Chris proof of your father’s transgressions. These files need to get into the right hands.”
“You want me to speak out against my father?”
“I’d like you to finish what you started when you escaped from your father the first time. I have an in with another senator. He will meet with you, take your statement, and take the case to Congress.”
“If you have this in, then you can do it,” she replied.
“I would rather not shine a light on me or my team at this time.”
Abigail swallowed. “And what about Jean Giroux?”
“Do you really want to meet that man? I mean, really.” Nathan’s face looked surprised. Apparently, he hadn’t expected her to want to go through with it. “Giroux is not a pleasant man. He’s ruthless.”
“I don’t need another father,” she said. “I don’t want one. But he bombed innocent people to get at my father. He has to stop. I’m probably the only one that could get him to.”
Actually, she wasn’t sure she could at all. But she had to try. They’d rescued her from Lewis. She owed them this at the very least.
“You don’t know the man. How do you know you can affect him at all?”
“I don’t. I have to try. If I can’t, then I will have led you right to him.”
“Alright. I’ll arrange for you to fly out to him.”
“I’d rather Chris not be there,” Abigail said. “It would… complicate things, since Jean Giroux is responsible for his near-death.” That wasn’t the only reason. She wasn’t sure she could do what she needed to do with him right there.
“I agree. Chris is too close, and Giroux gets under his skin. Jack will accompany you, and he’ll get you home safely as well.” Nathan smiled, but again, it wasn’t a happy smile. It was manipulative and crafty. It slithered over her spine like a snake. “I’m glad we’re in agreement here, Miss Lewis.”
“I wouldn’t say that, exactly.” She didn’t trust Nathan at all. But he could get her to Giroux safely, and that was exactly what she needed right then.
“Miss Lewis, I want you to know how important Chris is to my team. He is an extension of my leadership. He helped me to build it, and they’re broken right now, betrayed by one of their own. They need him more than ever.”
“I’m not sure what that has to do with me.” She also noticed Nathan had taken to calling Chris by his first name. It seemed to make everything more personal somehow.
“It has everything to do with you, Miss Lewis. Chris needs to sever all his ties to his life. He needs to move on.”
>
“And?”
“I can see him waffling now. First, it was because of his sister. I fixed that, and he finally saw how dangerous it was to have family ties in our line of work.” He paused, and she looked up at the screen, meeting cold eyes. “Now it’s you. He’s gotten it into his head that he loves you.”
She shook her head. “He doesn’t love me.”
“Oh, I assure you, he does. Which is a problem for me. I need his loyalty and if I were to cleanse the situation, he would be lost to me.”
“What do you want from me?”
“For you to see why he can’t be with you.”
“And why can’t he?”
“You are America’s princess. Wholesome, beautiful, and completely unattainable.” Nathan’s smile turned insidious. “You remind me a little of my sister sometimes.”
“That’s nice.”
He sighed. “Bottom line, I need you to stop fucking with his head.”
“I’m not trying to fuck with anyone’s head.” Abigail crossed her arms.
“He does good work. He saves lives. But right now, he’s thinking about dropping it all for you. But see, if he does, it destroys my team.”
“What do you want from me?” she whispered the question, almost afraid to ask.
“Let him go,” Nathan said. She narrowed her gaze at the man on the screen, but for the first time since the conversation started, she saw the sincerity of his words echoed in his eyes. There was pain there, too, and she didn’t think he meant for her to see that. “Let him go. He won’t do it. He’s too stupid loyal for his own good. You have to do it. For his sake. He’s hanging on to a life that should have ended two years ago.”
“Why let him leave with me then? You could have separated us.”
“Yes, it would have been easier that way. But I’m never one to take the easy way. You deserved to make the choice. So much of your life has been decided for you.”
She couldn’t say anything. There was a knot in her throat big enough to make sure she would choke if she tried to speak. Instead, she kept swallowing it back down, breathing through the pain. Nathan was right and she hated that. But when she went to Congress, she couldn’t mention Nathan’s team. They didn’t exist. Except for Chris, and the last thing she wanted, was for him to end up at a congressional hearing because of his actions to save her.
“He needs to die before the hearings start,” she whispered, pain lancing through her body so sharply she wasn’t sure how she remained standing. “He saved me and died getting me out.”
“Yes. He will die a hero who saved a sweet little girl from a lifetime of imprisonment.” She looked up sharply at the screen. He nodded to her and the screen went dark.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chris tucked away the laptop he’d been working on and sat down on the couch. Everyone else had decided to get some rest. They were all feeling Scott’s betrayal hard. They’d only been together for a few months as a team, but when you lived and worked with the same crew, day in and day out, they became family. Bea especially. She’d had to face him at the senator’s house. She’d grumbled and slapped Jack’s hand away when he tried to change her bandages and then limped her way to the other side of the yacht. Jack had gone the other way, and Jordan took over for Murphy. They’d been on this yacht for hours and would be a bit longer until the Ghosts set up a way home.
Abigail showed back up a few minutes after everyone else split. She smiled when she came into the meeting area, slid up next to him on the couch, and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Hey, you.”
“Hey, princess,” he replied. Little curls had escaped her ponytail in the breeze. He slid his fingers over them, gently losing himself in her softness. He closed his eyes, reveling in the sweet scent of her.
“What’s it going to take to get you to quit calling me that?”
“A miracle,” he replied.
“Can we talk?” she asked.
“Sure. What do you want to talk about?”
“Us,” she replied.
Chris tensed, and he looked down at her, his arms around her deliciously smooth body. “What about us?”
Her hand slid up his chest as she snuggled closer to him, her dress riding up her supple thighs. Jesus. It had ridden up so high, he could see the bottom of her ass. His cock stirred inside his pants. It was always like this with her. He’d been sleeping for two years and suddenly one little caress from her and he surged back to life.
“You’re always fighting it. The attraction between us.” She hooked her bare leg over his lap, pulling herself flush against him. He groaned. “I don’t want to fight it anymore.”
He brushed the tip of his thumb along her cheekbone, even as he tangled the rest of his fingers in her hair. He pulled out her hair elastic and tossed it away, letting her strawberry vanilla hair fall over her shoulders in unruly curls. “If that’s what you want. I’d do anything for you.”
“Then don’t fight me,” she whispered, her lips against his neck. “Let me love you and make you feel as good as you make me feel.”
Her well-placed kisses along his neck stirred his body to life. He groaned as she sucked his earlobe, and she shifted her body so she sat on his lap, a smooth, naked leg on either side of him. He ran his hands up her thighs as she took his mouth, her tongue sliding into his mouth. He squeezed the soft flesh of her thighs as she kissed him, his cock pulsing against her covered warmth.
He should have stopped her, but he couldn’t. He’d denied the sweetness of her flesh for too long, and today, he’d nearly lost her forever. He’d never forgive himself if he let her walk away now. He lifted her in his arms and stood up. She squealed, grabbing on to his shoulders and hooking her legs around his waist as he carried her down the stairs into the belly of the yacht, where the bed was.
He was helpless against her. He lowered her to the bed, not releasing her as he slid on top of her. He shucked off his shoes, grateful they were the dress shoes rather than the combat boots he would have had to unlace to get off. Hers followed, creating a light thud as each one dropped.
He brushed her unruly hair out of her face and kissed her, giving her everything he had inside to give. They might only have this night. The mission was almost over, which meant, Christopher Hardy’s time was almost up. Pretty soon, his death would be set up, and he would cut off all contact with anyone from his life.
He glanced down at her, committing every inch of her perfect face to memory. He couldn’t have forever with her, but he’d have this to keep, to remember. He studied every detail of her face, memorized the taste and smell of her.
“You, sir, have too many clothes on,” she said. He’d removed the suit jacket earlier, but now she unbuttoned his shirt, using her palms to slide over his chest up to his shoulders to push the shirt off his body. He obliged her, shimmying it off, and quickly unbuckled his pants and dropped them, kicking them off as he came back for her.
He grinned as he ran a finger down her sternum, right in between her breasts and stopped where the fabric of her sundress covered her beautiful body. “Now who’s wearing too many clothes?”
He grabbed the hem of her dress, lifting it up over her hips and stopped. He dropped kisses around her hips, over her underwear. Then lifted the dress more so it was over her stomach and kissed his way from her hips up to her navel. He kept going, even as she squirmed beneath him, kissing her body as he slowly stripped her of her dress.
Her arms fell to the sides as he tossed the dress away and gazed down at her. He ran his hands over her skin, so smooth and perfect. Freckles peppered her skin over every inch of her body, which made her ten times as sexy as he’d thought she could be. He wanted to touch every one of them.
“Chris…” she breathed as he slid off her bra straps.
“That needs to come off, princess,” he said.
Obediently, she reached behind her and the whole thing came loose. She threw it off to the side as he lowered himself to her, rolling her nipple around his tongue wh
ile his fingers scissored the other nipple. She moaned his name and her back arched. Her hands gripped his shoulders tightly as he laved on that nipple, then repeated the process with the other nipple, still working it with his fingers so they stayed in hard peaks.
Slowly, he lowered himself down, trailing kisses down to her navel again, then lower, until he reached her center, still covered in her panties. He kissed the apex of her thighs, over the fabric, loving the soft moan she gave in response. Then he hooked his thumbs in her panties and pulled them down her legs, revealing the soft, wet flesh beneath.
“Oh, god, princess. You’re gorgeous,” he said, and took his first taste of her, one long lick, ending with a flick of her sensitive bud. His hands slid under her to cup her ass, then back to rest on her inner thighs, holding her open for him. He slid a finger into her wetness, then two while he flicked her clit with his tongue.
He licked her and thrust his fingers into her as he heard her loud moans, her beautiful sexual noise encouraging him on more and more. Her fingernails dug deep into his shoulders as he felt the shudder of her orgasm overtake her, gripping his fingers inside her tightly.
Just the feel of her orgasm around his fingers nearly made him lose it inside his boxers. As she came down from her climax, he slid off the boxers and curled up with her, holding her to him. His cock was rock-hard, wanting to feel what his fingers had just felt.
She seemed to recognize it as her small hand slid down and gripped his cock, stroking up and down. He groaned. “Baby…”
“I need you to fuck me,” she whispered in his ear.
She straddled him his cock trapped against her wetness as she kissed him, her tongue sliding along his lips.
“Jesus,” he whispered.
“No, just you,” she whispered back. “I need to feel you inside me.” She grasped his cock, still stroking, and then slid it against her folds until the tip entered her body. He hooked his leg around her and flipped them so she was on the bed and pulled back. “Please.”
The need in that one word nearly broke him. “We’re not protected.”
“Birth control,” she pointed to herself. “Now shut up and fuck me.”