Intercepted Risk

by Sidney Bristol

  She snuggled closer. “Fine. I’ll let you tell me what to do because you’re drunk and obviously need someone to watch out for you.”

  “I’m not that drunk. Tipsy is more like it.”

  “Right. Keep telling yourself that.”

  “It was the shots. I should know better than to do shots.”

  “Not to self, always give Logan a shot.”

  They both laughed.

  This was feeling more and more comfortable. To think, a few nights ago she’d come over here intending to lay out exactly why anything between them wouldn’t work. Now, she was hoping to find reasons to stay.

  TUESDAY. LOGAN MULLER’S Apartment. Washington, DC.

  Logan rolled over and blindly reached for Kelsey’s small form next to him.

  The sheets were cool to the touch.

  The swish of material tickled his ears.

  Someone—Kelsey?—was moving around the apartment.

  He lifted his head and pried an eye open in time to see a Kelsey sized shadow pass in front of the bedroom door.

  What was she doing up?

  He peered at the clock.

  It wasn’t even two yet.

  His mouth was horribly dry and he could feel a headache coming on.

  Reaching over, he turned on the bedside lamp.

  “Kel?” He pushed up and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

  She stepped into view, one hand braced on the doorframe. “Sorry, did I wake you?”

  “I don’t think so.” He squinted at her.

  She’d changed into pajamas earlier, which only made her look more at home at his place. He liked it.

  “What’s wrong?” He pushed to his feet.

  She sighed and let her hands flop to her sides. “My brain won’t shut off.”

  He lifted his hands over his head and stretched. “I hear you there.”

  “What are you getting up for?” she asked.

  “Water. Something for my head.” He gestured at his face. “And I want to brush my teeth again.”

  Kelsey grinned at him. “You’re an adorable drunk, just so you know.”

  He shuffled toward her. “I was not drunk.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes.” He gripped the doorframe on either side of her and bent his head.

  She chuckled. “We’ll agree to disagree.”

  Kelsey lifted up on tip-toe and brushed her lips against his. Almost every time they kissed, she did this rapid blink thing, as if she didn’t quite believe it was happening. He understood that feeling. Sometimes he wanted to hold on to her just so he knew she wasn’t a product of his imagination.

  Kelsey lowered herself to the carpet. She had a hand on his shoulder now. “Your breath doesn’t smell bad, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  He gestured at his mouth. “It’s this taste in the back of my throat. It’s not pleasant.”

  She chuckled and stepped aside.

  He shuffled past her and into the kitchen where he got a bottle of water and the pills.

  “I’m just having one of those anxiety nights.” Kelsey braced her elbows on the bar and sighed, watching him as he downed the bottle of water.

  The last of the water trickled down his throat. He sucked down air and crushed the plastic bottle before tossing it into the recycling can.

  “Can’t imagine why,” he said.

  One side of her mouth hitched up. “Smart ass.”

  “Want to watch TV?” He wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing she was up pacing.

  “Not really.” She turned and began to pace.

  “Then talk at me. Tell me what’s got you worried.”

  He moved past her and into the bathroom.

  An unfamiliar blue toothbrush sat on the vanity, the bristles hanging over the sink. He picked it up and put it in the holder next to his. Satisfied, he grabbed his, squeezed more toothpaste on it and got to brushing.

  She sidestepped him into the bathroom and leaned against the towel rack. “I want to understand Nadine’s motives better. I wish I understood how much of a threat this Skilton really is. I mean, all we really have is Zora’s word and some boogeyman like stories from the others. It doesn’t really add up, you know? I want more facts. I want to really get it. Also, what the hell is going on with Zora and Tucker? It’s not just me, is it?”

  Logan shook his head.

  They’d all wondered what the nature of Zora and Tucker’s relationship was. They didn’t act like they much cared for each other, but Tucker was her shadow. And there had been times when Tucker could tell Zora something that Logan couldn’t, simply because she’d dismiss what Logan said. It was frustrating from a leadership standpoint.

  “Do you know anything? Like, what’s their history?” Kelsey asked.

  Logan bent over the sink and spat. “He says they worked together way back in the day. That’s all either of them have ever said.”

  “Right. Worked together.” She rolled her eyes.

  None of his team bought that story either.

  Tucker and Zora had history neither wanted to share. Chances were they couldn’t considering the classified nature of whatever it was they’d been doing.

  Logan kept scrubbing his teeth until he was satisfied he’d brushed away the lingering taste of his night out with the guys. He rinsed and put the toothbrush back in the holder.

  “Am I overthinking?” Kelsey asked as he wiped his mouth.

  He glanced at her. “No. Zora’s compartmentalized everything. No one knows enough to see the whole picture. It makes it hard to really comprehend the threat we’re facing when we don’t know what Skilton’s resources are. I’ve been thinking about that...”

  “Yeah?”

  He leaned against the vanity and shook his head. “There was something about those guys in the vans. Something was familiar, but I can’t put my finger on what.”

  “Sorry.” Her shoulders slumped.

  “For what?”

  “Making you participate in my crazy thinking.”

  “You aren’t crazy.” He reached over and took her hand, pulling her to stand between his feet. “You’re smart. You’re reading the situation and making contingency plans.”

  “I feel like I’m running in circles.”

  “I get that. In the beginning that was one of the hardest things to adjust to.”

  Kelsey stepped closer and slid her arms around his waist. “Keep telling me that, please?”

  He rubbed her back. “I can do that.”

  “Thanks.”

  She sighed and leaned against him.

  Logan closed his eyes and pressed a kiss to her brow.

  He’d been hoping they could reach this point. She was so fiercely independent and strong. He respected that about her. It wasn’t something he wanted to change. But everyone needed someone to lean on. He wanted to be that for her, even if she only leaned on him in private.

  Kelsey tipped her chin up and lifted her hand to his jaw. He leaned down and kissed her.

  Each time he did this, he caught himself holding his breath, afraid the vision of her would vanish and it would all be in his head. But the press of her warm lips to his was very real.

  “We don’t do that enough,” she muttered.

  “Kiss?” He slid a hand down to rest on her bottom.

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ll work on that.” And maybe it would begin to feel natural.

  She leaned in again, setting her lips to his.

  Her hand wrapped around his cock with only the thin barrier of his boxers between them. He sucked in a breath and she used his momentary shock to tease him with her tongue. Her hand stroked him with no hesitation.

  “I have a really great idea how to wind down,” she said against his mouth.

  This was a plan he liked.

  She grinned at him. “Stay right there.”

  “What?”

  His brain was too muddled from the mix of lust and the daze from sleep. That was the only reason he could come
up with for why he remained just standing there.

  Kelsey went to her knees, pulling his boxers down with her.

  It took him a moment longer than it should have to understand what she was doing, and by then it was too late. Her hands were around his cock and she grinned up at him.

  “Kelsey,” he croaked out.

  “Let a girl have her fun,” she said.

  She leaned forward and licked the underside of his cock. The still-forming thoughts in his head fizzled and ceased to exist. Instead, his whole world centered on the sensation of her touch. The way her tongue was soft, wet and on him.

  Kelsey licked him root to tip then wrapped her lips around the head of his cock. Logan couldn’t recall a moment in his life when he’d been so frozen. Or more accurately, he couldn’t recall much of anything beyond a few seconds ago.

  Logan thrust into her mouth. It felt so damn good, but this wasn’t what he truly wanted.

  With great effort, he placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back onto her heels. His cock slipped from between her lips. The loss of contact was almost painful. His balls ached for release. But he was after more than momentary pleasure.

  Logan wanted it all with her.

  20.

  Tuesday. Logan Muller’s Apartment. Washington, DC.

  Kelsey gasped as her bare backside pressed to the cool wall. Her clothes lay on the floor in a hastily discarded mess. Logan gripped her bottom and leaned into her.

  One moment she’d been on her knees, and the next she was naked and in his arms.

  “Logan—your shoulder,” she managed to get out.

  “It’s fine,” he said against her ear.

  Her heart raced. Logan was always so tightly controlled. For the first time she was seeing that control slipping, and it was chipping away at that last barrier she’d been able to keep between them.

  His lips kissed a trail across her shoulder.

  She slid her hands around his neck, but before she could dig them into his hair, he grabbed her wrists and forced them up over her head.

  Kelsey gasped and shivered.

  It was like she’d discovered the lock on the cage that contained Logan’s baser, more carnal side.

  He released her hands. She let her arms relax, folding them over her head, but didn’t reach for him. Not yet, at least.

  His lips blazed across her chest, down to her breasts. He boosted her a little higher, just right for his mouth. She tilted her head back as he licked her nipple.

  “Fuck,” she muttered.

  If she’d had any idea, he might be like this, she’d have woken him an hour ago.

  His fingers slid through her pussy.

  Kelsey gasped and arched her back.

  His touches weren’t teasing. After a cursory caress, he thrust them inside of her, curling them to reach every nerve ending within her.

  “Oh—God. Logan.”

  It was zero-to-sixty.

  Her insides were suddenly too hot. Need coiled within her. She tightened her legs around him, wanting to feel him deeper.

  Logan wrapped his arms around her and lifted her away from the wall. He carried her out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. Everything was dark and hard to make out, so she clutched at his shoulders and sucked down air.

  She gasped as her bottom touched down on the very cold surface of his dresser.

  “Sorry,” he muttered in a rough voice that didn’t sound the least bit apologetic.

  Kelsey didn’t reply. Her head was spinning too much.

  She heard the rip of a condom wrapper. The bathroom light fell across Logan’s body as he rolled the condom on.

  Men weren’t usually beautiful creatures, but that was how she saw him. He was strong and loyal and handsome and...

  He grabbed her by the hips, startling her out of her thoughts.

  She could only hold on to him as he turned, pressing her back to the wall. There was something about being manhandled by him like this that turned her on. It was unusual to say the least for her to find it appealing. Right now, she wasn’t about to question it.

  Logan leaned in and kissed her, his lips working against hers.

  Just as she began to relax into the kiss, she felt him press against her pussy. She gasped, and he swept into her mouth at the same moment he thrust. She felt him deep within her. Her spine arched, and she simply held onto him.

  He held her against the wall and thrust, fucking her harder and deeper than before. Yet she knew he was completely in control. A man his size with his strength was powerful. He wouldn’t hurt her. That simple knowledge allowed her to let go. To enjoy it and everything he made her feel. It was more powerful than simple physical desire. It went deeper, and she was beginning to crave whatever this intimacy was.

  “Come, Kel. Come now,” Logan said into her ear.

  She opened her mouth to tell him it was pointless to command her body to do anything, but her words were stolen by a long, deep moan. The tightly coiled need within her released. Her vision blurred, and she held tight to him as her orgasm unfurled.

  Logan surged into her, groaning.

  She wrapped herself around him and closed her eyes.

  Her whole opinion of Logan had been turned on its head. He wasn’t the stick-in-the-mud she’d imagined him to be. One thing was still the same.

  He believed in commitment.

  Kelsey didn’t know if she was wired that way, but for the first time she wanted to be. She wanted to try, at least. Logan deserved that much from her. She just hoped that she wasn’t too much like her father.

  Logan pressed a kiss to her cheek, then the corner of her mouth.

  “You came?” he asked.

  She chuckled. “Uh, yeah.”

  “Oh, good.” He hugged her to him. “Think you could sleep now?”

  “Maybe.” She doubted it. At the very least, the idea of curling up in bed next to him sounded pretty damn nice. The man was a furnace.

  Logan wrapped his arms around her, easing her away from the wall and set her on the dresser. She kissed his jaw as he groaned and pulled out of her.

  “You’re killing me,” he muttered.

  “I seriously doubt that.”

  She slid off the dresser and gave his very firm ass a light smack.

  “Want to use the bathroom first?” he asked.

  “Sure, if you don’t mind.”

  “Go ahead.”

  There was something about the way he looked at her that made her feel exposed. Not naked-exposed. But seen on a deeper level. She turned and fled to the bathroom to collect her thoughts and clean up.

  Her mind supplied no further commentary on the feeling. In fact, her thoughts were blessedly slower. More calm.

  Maybe she could sleep?

  She’d never felt like this with anyone else. It was intoxicating. She found herself thinking about him all the time. Was it going to get worse? Would the infatuation fade and leave her bored?

  That was perhaps her biggest worry.

  She’d never let anyone in deep enough for her to learn what love could be like. It didn’t seem fair that Logan should have to bear that burden. If not him, then who?

  Kelsey finished in the bathroom and padded out into the bedroom. Logan passed her, reaching out to brush her hand.

  Her skin tingled from the touch.

  If she had to make a decision based on sex, she couldn’t see herself ending things with him. But where Logan was concerned, it was more complicated. And those wrinkles were what truly concerned her.

  The bathroom door shut, taking most of the light with it.

  What was happening here?

  She glanced over her shoulder at the door. He was worming his way into her life. Into her heart. Just like she knew he would.

  Kelsey gathered her clothes and dressed in her pajamas again.

  Caring for Logan was easy. Once she’d let go of her perceived slights and met him halfway, there wasn’t a single reason to dislike him.

  She crawled in
to the bed and lay on her side.

  If she let herself love him, would she regret it? Would she hurt both of them?

  She pressed her palm to her chest.

  The bathroom door opened, and the light flipped off, leaving only the bedside lamp. Logan went straight to the dresser and pulled out a clean pair of boxers, leaving the others lying on the floor. She didn’t know why that made her smile. He was so tidy. She kind of liked the idea that they were rubbing off on each other.

  Logan reached for the lamp, but froze halfway.

  It was the slight tilt of his head and the widened eyes that made her internal alarm clamor to life.

  Kelsey sat up, straining to hear what he heard.

  He laid a finger across his lips and flipped the lamp off.

  Kelsey slid out from between the sheets and dropped to the floor in a crouch. She grabbed the bag she’d thrown together and shoved her phone inside. Logan was already at the bedroom door.

  A low squeaking sound. No, was that straining? What was it?

  It was coming from the living room.

  The balcony doors.

  Kelsey shoved her feet into her shoes and drew her gun.

  Logan padded around the bed to her and pulled her close so he spoke into her ear. “Two on the balcony. Maybe more.”

  She nodded and tossed her bag on the bed.

  Common break-in? Her head said that was unlikely. Did it make more sense if they were being targeted?

  Logan yanked on sweats and a hoodie, then bent and pulled a large, black duffle bag from under the bed. He waved her to him and once more pulled her close to speak into her ear.

  “I want to see who they are. Let them get inside. Take cover in the kitchen and wait for my signal.”

  She nodded and moved past him on light feet, keeping low.

  It made sense to face-off in the apartment. They controlled the battle ground. They limited how many attackers they faced at once. She didn’t like allowing an intruder into Logan’s home, though. Not at all.

  Something snapped behind the thick curtains that blocked out all the light.

  She crouched in the small galley kitchen and listened.

  The sliding door slowly opened, letting in a gust of cool air and the ambient sounds of DC at night. A man’s voice spoke too softly for her to make out.