by Katie Reus
Axel forced himself not to look any lower, not to get a peek of her legs and all that bare skin. That was made easier when she stepped forward before he could even answer, raw lust in her gaze.
Swallowing hard, he shuddered as she pressed up against him, her hands settling on his shoulders. Before he realized it he’d moved, backing her up against the closest wall without actually touching her. His palms were flat against the wall as he looked down at her, caging her in even as he tried to order his feet to back up, to give her space.
Just walk away. And get her face wash or whatever she’d wanted.
But when she slid her hands over his chest, his entire body froze. He still didn’t touch her though. Just curled his fingers against the wall. He could only watch as she slowly slid a hand down his covered chest, lower, lower…oh fuck. What was she doing? He hadn’t remotely expected this.
Her dark eyes went heavy-lidded as she rubbed a hand over his erection. His cock ached, and he was desperate to feel her touching him, stroking him skin to skin.
“Can I?” she whispered, her own breathing harsh and out of control as she teased her fingers over him.
He let out a strangled sound that was supposed to be a yes. Thankfully she understood because, grinning wickedly, she unfastened his pants, shoved them down and…fuuuuuuck.
Feeling like an inexperienced teenager, he felt his balls pull up tight as she fisted his cock with her smooth palm. Yep, this was heaven. And he was about to die. What a way to go.
She wrapped her fingers around him and began stroking, slowly at first. All he could do was stare at her, his heart nearly seizing in his chest as she stroked up and down, over and over.
He hadn’t remotely expected this. Fantasized about it? Yeah.
Her own breathing was harsh as she looked up at him. He arched slightly off the wall as she continued torturing him. He wanted to touch her everywhere and went to move but she just grinned, showing off that adorable dimple.
“No touching me,” she whispered, her grip tightening.
That was…insanely hot. “Gotta kiss you.”
“Okay.” She’d barely got the word out when he crushed his mouth over hers, his need to taste her overwhelming.
He might not be able to touch her everywhere he wanted but this he could do. Her taste was sweet as he dominated her mouth, hungry to consume all of her. This sexy, surprising woman who’d taken him off guard tonight.
He hadn’t expected this boldness from her and he really, really liked it.
He’d never been so turned on in his life as he was right now. With her in his shirt, covered in his scent…he wanted to cover her in his come. Which felt raw, primal and kinda fucked up but he didn’t care. He needed to mark this woman even if she could never be his. Even as he had the thoughts he cursed himself.
And started coming. There was no controlling it, not when she was pumping him with a perfect rhythm with her perfect hand. God, everything about her was perfect. As if she’d been made just for him. Which was stupid but… Pulling back, he groaned out her name as he came even harder in long jets against her hand and his stomach. His climax seemed to go on forever and for once, he had no damn control.
Shuddering as he finally came down from his high, he looked into her dark eyes, completely captivated. Yep, she owned him already, no doubt about it.
And he desperately wanted to give to her what she’d just given to him, to tease every inch of her body with his mouth and hands. God, he wished he had six hands right now. When he grasped the edge of her long shirt, ready to lift it over her head, she surprised him and placed her smaller hands over his.
“I’m not ready for more tonight.” She almost looked apologetic, which stunned him.
He wanted to get on his knees and worship her pussy but if she didn’t want more right now, that was okay too. This wasn’t over though, not by a long shot. “Okay.”
“Okay?” She seemed surprised.
“I want to taste you coming against my tongue but yeah, okay.” He sure wasn’t going to pressure her even if he felt selfish for being the only one to receive pleasure tonight. It made him feel off-balance and even more desperate to taste her. “We’ll wait until you’re ready.” He cleared his throat. “I’m going to clean up but…do you want to stay in my bed tonight?”
She nodded, her cheeks pink. And just like that he started to get hard again. Axel had a feeling that was going to be a perpetual problem around her.
* * *
Skye stepped back from the abandoned car, frustrated that she and Colt had found nothing. Nothing they could use anyway. And they’d come prepared to search the vehicle. They’d done a luminol test in the trunk and there was blood visible with a black light, and if she was a betting woman she’d guess it was from the guy who’d attacked Hadley.
So no sleep lost there.
But they hadn’t found any damn fingerprints. Which was flat-out wrong. So what the heck was going on? She couldn’t wrap her mind around it. Someone attacked Hadley and then someone else incapacitated the attacker. But then what, he’d killed the attacker? Disposed of the body? Why? Who was this other man? Why had he helped Hadley?
“Let’s see if we can get some of the blood and do a test on it,” Colt said quietly as he glanced around.
The marina was out of the way, not one of the major ones in Redemption Harbor. It was quiet, which was no surprise since it was two in the morning. As far as she knew no one lived in any of the boats here. If they did, no one was moving around.
She and her husband were in disguise regardless. Nodding, she let her husband do his thing, cutting a couple swatches of the rug from the back of the trunk.
Once they were back in one of their company’s vehicles—with an untraceable license plate—Colt said, “What’s really going on with you?”
She wasn’t certain what he meant as he steered out of the gravelly parking lot. “How so?”
“You’re more amped up than usual about this. Is it because we don’t have a job?”
They weren’t in a lull exactly as far as work was concerned but everyone was busy with something at the moment and they didn’t have anything pressing they needed to deal with. Which, as a former spy, she completely understood. There wasn’t always going to be action, action, action. She definitely knew that more than most. In her downtime, she simply exercised a whole lot and cleaned her weapons. A lot of that had to do with her ADHD. She needed to keep busy and stay focused on something. It was also what made her so damn good at her job.
“I’m just worried about Hadley, that’s all,” she finally said.
Colt snorted softly. “Lie to yourself, don’t lie to me.”
She let out a sigh. The man always saw through her and had right from the start. “Fine. I don’t know how to say it exactly. Before you, before us, and all of this, I never had people to worry about. Not really. And doing the job was easy.”
Because helping strangers was easy, at least for her. And part of it was selfish. Doing the right thing made her feel good and she liked protecting people. That deep-seated need was embedded in her DNA, she guessed. She had this drive to simply make things better. If it was part of her DNA, she’d come by it naturally, considering her parents had been spies too.
But now… “I’ve got people I love and care about. A lot of people. It’s weird. Because Hadley, Valencia, Mary Grace, her new baby, they’re so damn innocent and I hate to use the word fragile because that’s wrong, but I want to protect them all the time. And the world is messed up. Anything could happen to them any time of day. And I hate that I can’t stop it.”
Colt reached out and took her hand in his as he pulled up to a stop sign. “I know. I worry about them too.”
“It’s hard to compartmentalize and turn off my brain on the best of days.”
He nodded. “It’s one of the downsides to having so many people in your life. It’s worth it though.” He didn’t phrase it as a question but she got the feeling that he was asking. As if he dou
bted she was glad about this huge change in their lives in the last couple years.
“Yes, it is definitely worth it. It’s just made me very aware of my mortality and, okay, afraid for my friends.” And she wasn’t used to feeling afraid. She had only ever felt truly afraid when it came to Colt being in danger. Now she had all these people to worry about. It was a new, exhausting experience. She wasn’t sure how anyone had kids, ever. She’d die of exhaustion worrying about them and fighting not to let it show.
He squeezed her hand again and lifted it to his mouth. Then he pressed a soft kiss to her knuckles. “I love you,” he said.
“Right back at you.” Pushing out a breath, she found herself calming. They’d figure out this mystery soon enough.
Chapter 7
—Remember when I asked for your opinion? Yeah, me neither.—
Hadley laid her head on Axel’s chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat. Strong and steady. Seemingly like the man.
After they’d gone horseback riding, they’d basically been vegging out by her brother’s huge pool. It was kind of weird to be here without Brooks, but he’d made it abundantly clear that she should feel free to use this giant place as her own. He’d told her that he would be offended if she ever acted like a guest here, which yeah, just made her love him more. She wasn’t sure how she’d gotten so lucky having him for a brother. Right now, however, she was a little glad he wasn’t home. Because he’d probably go all overprotective crazy about Axel being with her.
It was strange not to have anything to do for a week. Heck, she’d been working since she was sixteen and normally worked over every single school break to save money. She hadn’t been sure what she was going to do with herself, and now having all this free time with Axel was kind of incredible. She was really afraid she was falling for him, which was insane. They’d barely spent a day together. But he brought out this wild, fun side of her and she felt as if he really saw her.
Obviously there was so much they didn’t know about each other but she wanted the chance to get to know everything about him.
“What’s going on in that pretty head of yours?” Axel’s fingers were lazy against her back as he rubbed up and down in a rhythmic fashion.
Cuddled up against him, there was nowhere else she wanted to be. “Nothing really, just enjoying today. It’s kind of strange to be so lazy and do nothing.”
The sky overhead was blue with just a few clouds scattered around but there was more warmth in the air today. Not enough to shed their jackets yet, but spring was truly coming and she was ready for it. It had been a bitterly cold winter.
“Are you expecting anyone?” he asked suddenly, his body stiffening ever so slightly.
“Ah…no. My brother shouldn’t be back for a couple days. Why?” And her dad wouldn’t be back until the next week since he was dealing with some business stuff in Florida. Even though he swore he was retired, Hadley didn’t feel like he really was because he still worked a lot. Something she understood. She couldn’t imagine not being busy.
“I thought I heard something.” He sat up swiftly, his eyes scanning the patio and pool area. The Olympic-size pool glistened under the sunlight. Beautiful but still far too cold to get into. Even if it did have a heating system, Hadley wasn’t sure how to work it and she wasn’t getting in the thing anyway. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” But the tense line of his jaw said otherwise as he pushed to his feet. Reaching out, he took her hand. “Let’s head inside.”
Okaaaaay. She wondered what was going on with him but didn’t push as they headed for the back door. As they reached it, it swung open, surprising her. Even more surprising, Skye stepped out.
Hadley’s eyes widened in surprise, but she was happy to see the other woman. “Hey! What are you doing here?”
Instead of answering, Skye swept a critical gaze over Axel. There was absolutely nothing sexual about her look either. Nope, she seemed as if she was sizing him up to literally fight him. Which wouldn’t surprise Hadley, considering what she’d learned about Skye.
“Okay, since you’re not going to answer me, Skye, this is my friend Axel. Axel, Skye.”
Skye’s eyes narrowed on him.
“Have you lost the ability to speak?” Hadley demanded.
Skye gave a tight smile. “Is this the guy you went out on a date with?”
Holy balls, what was wrong with Skye? “Uh, yes. Can we take this into the kitchen? Seems a little weird that we’re all standing around here in the doorway with you looking a little like you want to punch my date.” Hadley looked at Axel and rolled her eyes. “This is one of my older brother’s friends. And she’s my friend too. Though maybe after today I’m going to rethink that,” she said, giving Skye a hard look.
Axel extended his hand to Skye. “Nice to meet you,” he murmured.
Skye ignored his hand and stepped back to let them in.
Rolling her eyes again, Hadley wiggled past the other woman, dragging Axel with her. Maybe hanging out at the ranch hadn’t been such a good idea. And she wasn’t going to deal with getting grilled by her friend. Especially since Hadley was a grown-ass woman. She made her own decisions, and while she might love how overprotective her brother was, she wasn’t going to put up with any garbage about her personal life. Not from anyone. Because she was under the impression that her brother and his friends thought she was helpless. In reality, she’d been taking care of herself for far longer than she should have been, thanks to a mom who hadn’t given a crap whether she’d eaten or not.
As they stepped inside, Colt came in from one of the other entries. He smiled when he saw them, nodded politely at Axel. “Hey, I’m Colt, Skye’s husband. What are you up to Hadley, enjoying your spring break?”
“Hey,” she said, stepping over to give him a hug. She swore he was usually the only sane one of the bunch. “Colt, this is Axel and yes, I’m enjoying my spring break. What are you guys up to?” she asked as the two men shook hands.
They seemed to be sizing each other up, but it was much more subtle than what Skye Crazypants had been doing.
“Just stopping by Brooks’s office to grab something. Saw an unfamiliar truck in the driveway and wondered how anyone got past his security.”
Axel cleared his throat. “I’ve actually got to head out but it was nice to meet you guys. Hadley, want to walk me out?”
Disappointment rushed through her, but she tamped it down. He’d gotten a few texts earlier but had ignored them. She knew he was in town for interviews so either he had to get to one or was freaked out by Skye’s weird behavior and was leaving. She couldn’t actually blame him.
Once they were outside, she said, “I’m really sorry about my friend. She’s being a total weirdo.”
He snorted. “It’s no big deal. It’s clear she cares about you.”
“Yeah…” Hadley started to say that Skye was normally, well, normal, but that was a lie. She’d heard Mary Grace say that she was crazier than a bag of cats. Often.
“Listen…I’ve got to prep for an interview. Can I ask you something that will make me sound like a weirdo too?”
She laughed lightly as she nodded. “All right.”
He took a deep breath. “Can you promise to stay here? At your family’s ranch? Until I can pick you up?”
“Ah…yeah, I hadn’t planned on leaving. Why?” They’d driven here separately so she had her car—not that it really mattered since Brooks had multiple vehicles here that he’d said were always at her disposal.
“I can’t tell you. Yet. But I do need to talk to you as soon as I wrap up this next interview.” His phone buzzed again in his pocket.
She frowned. “What’s going on? Are you in any kind of romantic relationship?” She’d already asked him but she wanted to ask again, to gauge his reaction.
He blinked once, clearly surprised. “What? No. Shit, no. I…” His phone buzzed again. “I’ve just got some stuff to deal with, but promise you won’t leave.”
She re
ally wanted to push him but there was a sort of desperation in his clear eyes and apparently she was a sucker for him. “Okay, I promise.”
Relief bled into his gaze before he bent his head, brushing his lips over hers. She felt the kiss all the way to her core as butterflies exploded inside her. Man, a simple kiss and her knees were weak. This man had completely gotten under her skin.
“I’ve got my phone on me. Call me for anything,” he murmured as he stepped back. “If I don’t answer right away I’ll call back.”
“Okay.” She stayed outside as he left, watching him head down the long driveway. To get onto the ranch she’d had to put in the code her brother had given her at the main gate—a couple miles away—and an alert had been sent to Brooks’s phone that someone new was on the property. He’d know it was her because of the code and because she’d texted him, letting him know she was here. At least Axel wouldn’t have to enter a code to leave. The sensor would let him out.
A cool breeze rolled over her as she headed back inside, making her wrap her arms around herself. It was silly but she already missed Axel. Don’t be stupid, she ordered herself. And getting too attached to him would be just that. Stupid. They were just having fun and he would be leaving soon. Something she needed to remember. She was so curious why he wanted her to stay put and wondered if it had something to do with his current job. Maybe he wasn’t in finance but something else, like law enforcement, and he wanted to tell her? Gah, she was just pulling stuff out of the air now.
“So what the heck was that craziness?” Hadley asked Skye as she stepped back into the kitchen to find the other woman making a sandwich with far too many layers of meat and cheese.
“What are you talking about?”
“You were so rude to him. And you looked a little bit like you wanted to punch him in the face.”
The other woman shrugged, completely unapologetic. “I was simply sizing him up. I promised Brooks that I would look out for you. So that’s what I did. If the guy can’t handle it, he’s not worth it.”