Ross closed the distance between them, he lowered her onto the blue Egyptian cotton duvet and crawled up her body. He traced his tongue up her body, heat soared through her body and she couldn’t stop herself from voicing her pleasure.
“That’s it beautiful. Let me hear you.” Ross growled.
“God yes. Ross I need to feel you.”
Her heart was racing, she could hear it thundering in her ears as he parted her legs with his thighs. Her hands moved down his chest, he was solid muscle, rock hard chest and abs. His mouth was hot and forceful against hers, she had never felt such pleasure with any other man.
Gasping, Meredith felt his cock sliding between her intimate folds.
“You’re so wet Meredith.”
“It’s all you Ross.” She purred.
Leaning down, he pressed a hard kiss against her lips as he thrust into her in one fluid movement. Meredith cried out, the feeling of sheer pleasure flowing through her. She gripped the sheets, the wave of her orgasm beginning to build.
Ross began moving in a slow rhythm, sliding in and out of her. Her nails dug into his back and moved down to grip his ass. She was a wildcat in bed, certainly not what he’d expected but she was perfect.
Flicking his tongue against her neck, he nuzzled into her neck. Her breathing hitched up as he felt her muscles begin to tense. When she cried out his name and he felt her tighten around him, he almost lost it at that moment. However he held back, needing to feel more of her, craving her body against his.
As he looked at her, lying on his bed under him, he couldn’t help but think that he was the luckiest man alive. He was one day away from the game that could take his team to the super bowl and he’d found a woman he could see himself spending the rest of his life with. Not some ditzy football groupie who wanted to sleep with as many big names as she could. Meredith was different, she was strong, independent and brave. When he’d been told about her going after the suspect, his heart almost stopped. Anything could have happened to her.
“That felt amazing.” Meredith murmured softly as he lay on his back and pulled her against him.
“You’re what makes it amazing.” He kissed her forehead softly and closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of her body against his.
*****
He had come close to getting caught. It had been far too close for comfort despite him believing his plan was perfect. Nothing was as fool proof as he had been taught. Especially when the Agent leading the investigation was as good as Meredith Rhodes. That determined female was getting far too near the truth and it pained him to think of having to take her out. He had hoped to dodge her, however that was becoming impossible.
Tomorrow would be his day. He would make sure that everyone knew who he was. Barbara would soon have a playmate. Some company so she’d no longer be on her own. She lived in fear because of what he had done and that felt so much more exhilarating that killing any of the others ever had.
The room was still dark when she woke up, Ross’s arm over her hips, his hand on her stomach as he pulled her back against him in his sleep. Considering what had happened the night before? She wasn’t sure what to feel about it. Happiness was the first feeling, excitement a very close second. Regret was also creeping around in there, he was emotionally and physically what she enjoyed in a man. Work wise, they were from two completely different worlds. His life was pretty much lived in the public eye. If they were to be together how would that work?
You’re overthinking this. You kissed the guy and then slept with him. He’s not exactly proposing marriage.
“Morning beautiful,” Ross murmured into her ear, his breath warm.
“Hey. I have to head out soon. The cheerleaders have an all-day practice. Finn is looking after the Lions squad so I’ve got bodyguard duty here.”
“I hate the thought of you putting yourself in the way of this guy.” Ross pulled her onto her back and looked at her.
“Ross. It’s my job. Besides, I know what I’m doing,” she replied confidently.
He kissed her slowly, his mouth capturing hers in a deep and passionate kiss. When he pulled back, he looked down at her.
“Just be careful. Please.”
“Always,” she replied softly.
“Okay girls! Let’s get this routine nailed today. We’ve got the field to ourselves all day and we’re not leaving until we’ve finished it!” Diana shouted at the squad.
Meredith heard several sighs from her position in the stands. The catering and cleaning staff were the only ones in the stadium, aside from the squad. She had a list of their names and their photographs which she’d memorized the previous night.
As the training began, Diana was working the girls hard. They were almost there with the routine, just needed some fine tuning, but Diana wasn’t letting them get away with it.
“Courtney I told you to get your ass into the gym last week. What the hell have you been doing? Sitting on your ass chowing down ice cream and junk!”
Courtney looked at the ground, the girl was athletic, there wasn’t a bit of fat on her.
“Diana. I respect that you have a lot of work to do but the girls have been under a great deal of stress. There’s no need to get personal.”
Diana turned and narrowed her gaze on Meredith.
“Keep your nose out of this Agent Rhodes. This is my job and I know what these girls need. You’d do better to sit there and do your job which is to make sure that maniac doesn’t take anyone else.”
Meredith stood up and made her way down to the field, she stood in front of Diana and looked at her.
“I’m not someone you can talk down to Diana. You need to learn to treat people with respect. That includes these girls. You want them to do their best? Then give them a reason to want to do their best in practice. Not to worry about it so much that they can’t focus on what they’re doing.”
The team began to clap behind Diana who turned and looked at them before looking back at Meredith.
“You think you can do better? Fine. Get them ready for the game.” Without another word, she stormed off the field.
“Well. Now we can actually get on with practice and not have to worry about her yelling at us.” Karen grinned and looked at Meredith.
“Don’t look so worried Meredith. You don’t have to coach us.”
Meredith chuckled and took a seat on the edge of the field, she watched as Karen and the squad began training.
*****
Several hours passed by the time the squad were confident that they’d perfected the routine.
“The team will be here in a little while. Why don’t we go to the bar and have a couple of soft drinks? Still keeping with the no alcohol rule Agent Rhodes.” Karen nudged Meredith who grinned.
Karen pushed open the doors to the bar and they walked inside. Diana was sitting at the bar, her back to them. Meredith glanced at the girls and took a few steps forward.
“Diana listen. It shouldn’t be like this, the girls do enjoy working with you. Maybe I was a bit harsh but I think we can work through this. Besides, I’m not going to be here forever.”
Diana never moved, Meredith sighed and walked over to the bar, she placed her hand on Diana’s shoulder and put a little pressure. Diana fell back off the stool and landed on the floor. Blood stained the bar in front of her, a ragged line across her neck, her eyes were wide and staring straight up at the ceiling.
Several of the girls screamed as they turned their gaze away from the body.
“No one move!” Meredith unholstered her gun and removed her cell phone from her pocket.
“Please don’t leave us Meredith.” Courtney whimpered.
“Courtney. I am going to get you guys out of here and then I’m going to find this guy. Stay close to me. Finn, it’s me. He’s here, at the stadium. Diana’s dead, I haven’t seen any of the other staff. I need you to get over here as soon as possible. Call the Trent and tell him not to bring the team here. I’m getting the squad out of here.” She call
ed into the local PD and alerted them of the situation.
The girls stuck as close to Meredith as was physically possible. They were right behind her as she led them through the stadium. There was no sign of the other staff which concerned her, where the hell were they?
A loud humming began vibrating through the stadium, Meredith stopped and looked around.
“It’s the roof, someone’s closing the roof and the shutters.” The lights shut off and several of the girls screamed.
Meredith removed her flashlight from her jeans and switched it on. She took slow and careful steps down the corridor, making sure the girls stayed behind her.
Maneuvering them down the hall, she then detoured the group into the gym.
“The front doors will be completely locked. He’s sealing us in.” Meredith said quietly.
“We’re going to die.” One of the girls cried.
“No. None of you are going to die. I’ll make sure of that.” Meredith promised, hoping it was a promise that she would be able to keep.
As the team bus approached the stadium, Ross noticed that the shutters were down and the roof was closed. As the bus pulled into the parking lot, Finn was getting out of his car, several police cars were pulling in behind the bus.
Standing up, he moved to the front of the bus and the second the doors were open, he moved off and approached Finn.
“What’s going on?” Finn looked at him, a look of concern on his face.
“Meredith and the team are locked inside the stadium. Whoever it is put the shutters down and the security company can’t get them to open. Apparently the system has been overridden and they can’t get access.”
“We need to get in there. That guy is going to kill them. Meredith is in there!” Ross stormed towards the stadium, Finn was close behind him.
“Razor! This has nothing to do with you. You need to back the hell off and let us deal with it!”
“The hell I will back off from this. I love her.”
Finn stopped walking, his jaw practically dropping to the floor. When he regained his composure, he shook his head.
“Okay. Despite the fact I have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on between you two, Meredith is an FBI Agent and right now she’s in there protecting the squad who are the targets. Let us do our job Razor.” Finn walked away from him and went back to the police.
Nathan placed his hand on Ross’s shoulder.
“Bro. What’s going on?”
“She’s in there. So is the killer.” Ross ran his hand through his hair.
“Oh man…”
*****
Meredith double checked the possible entrances and exits of the gym, there was a fire exit door on the far left side, the main door on the right. The girls were sitting on benches consoling one another.
“There’s no point Agent Rhodes. I have the entire building locked down. I control it completely.”
She recognized the voice and turned, aiming her gun as the girls cried out.
He held a shotgun, aimed at the girls. Wearing his coaching jacket and jeans.
“Trent. It doesn’t have to be this way. No more lives have to be lost.” Meredith spoke quietly, her gun staying aimed at him.
“On the contrary. This is the only way it can be. You see when this started it was about punishing these girls. Throwing themselves at the players, acting like whores when my boys won the game. While some of them were more than happy to offer themselves on a plate, others played far too hard to get. They had to be dealt with. Naturally I couldn’t just take the girls from our team, the Lions were a perfect target. Their coach had expressed his annoyance at the behavior of some of his cheerleaders. Since this has all started, the girls have been behaving themselves. But then I took Barbara. Held her and used her as I wanted. The power, the control.” His voice was cold, unfeeling. Meredith narrowed her eyes.
“Taking lives isn’t enough now is it? You need to own them now. Control them. Have them at your disposal any time you want.”
“Exactly. But it seems that one of my best players has a distraction. One that must be removed before it really begins to affect his game.” Trent took a step towards Meredith and aimed the gun at her.
“You’ve become a distraction Agent Rhodes. A strong, determined distraction that I must possess.”
She had to think on her feet, she could end this tonight, but the girls had to be taken out of the equation.
“Let the girls go. Then it’s just you and me.”
“You expect me to believe that you will just come with me Agent Rhodes? You want to protect these girls.”
“No negotiation. They go and we can talk.” Meredith lifted her chin confidently.
For a few moments, she didn’t think that Trent would let the girls go. But as they walked towards the main doors of the stadium, she glanced at Trent, who was holding the gun on her. Finn and the police were waiting outside for the girls, the second they were safe Meredith could focus on what had to be done.
As they approached the main doors, the shutters lifted and the doors unlocked. Trent kept his gun trained on Meredith, hers was tucked into his waistband. She could see Finn waiting outside, their eyes met and she could see the concern in them.
The girls were walking through the door when she heard someone yelling.
“That bastard killed my wife!” Carlton Marsh ran towards the door, police officers tripping over themselves to stop him.
It seemed to happen in slow motion, she saw Trent raise his gun towards Carlton who was moving in front of the cheerleaders. Moving towards Trent, she saw his head turn towards her, the blast thundered all around them.
The pain sheared through her stomach as she felt her body being thrown back, she hit the ground hard, the metallic taste of blood filling her mouth.
“Meredith!” someone yelled. She heard several gunshots and leaned her head to the side. She saw Trent hit the ground, his eyes wide, blood pooling around his head.
“Meredith. Baby look at me.” Hands were on her cheeks and her eyes met Ross’s, he looked worried, terrified in fact.
“Stay with me baby.” He pleaded.
Her head was becoming fuzzy, her vision blurring. Opening her mouth, she tried to talk.
“R-Ross…” she trailed off.
“No. Don’t talk. Finn get that damn ambulance here!”
*****
Pacing the waiting room, Ross’s arms were folded tightly across his chest. He couldn’t look at his hands, they were covered with Meredith’s blood. He’d seen everything. The blast had thrown her and all he had seen was blood.
He’d begged her not to leave him. They’d let him in the ambulance, but he got as far as the waiting room. The press were now outside, hounding everyone who came in for information on what had happened.
The She-Wolves were sitting in the waiting room, they’d refused to go anywhere but here.
“She’s tough. She’ll pull through this Razor.” Karen said softly as she placed her hand on his shoulder. Ross nodded and looked towards the ER doors.
“I know…” he wished he was convinced.
Finn stormed through the doors yelling “no comment” at the reporters who were hounding him. He strode towards Ross, his hair messed up as though he’d been running his hands through it.
“We found Barbara. Trent had rented an apartment and had her tied to the bed, she’d been sedated heavily. She’s been taken to another hospital, her parents are on the way to make sure she’s okay. Any news?”
Ross shook his head, he motioned towards the ER doors with his blood stained hand.
“No. They’ve had her in there for hours. They won’t tell me a damn thing.”
The ER doors opened and a Doctor walked out, he pulled his mask down and looked at Ross.
“We just brought her out of surgery. Several organs had been ruptured and they have been repaired, however there was a massive amount of internal bleeding. She’s had a blood transfusion and now all we can do is wait. If she
pulls through the night and wakes up, the prognosis is good.”
“Can I see her?” Ross pegged the Doctor with a look that no man could have refused.
“Of course. You can go and see her.”
A rhythmic beeping was the first thing she became aware of, immediately before the throbbing in her stomach.
Slowly, her eyes flickered open and she was looking up at a bright white ceiling. Turning her head, she saw Ross sitting on the chair at the side of her bed, his eyes closed as he leaned back.
“R-Ross…” she murmured. His eyes opened and he immediately moved over to her.
“Meredith. God I am glad to see you awake.” He said softly.
She could see the concern in his eyes but there was something different about him, gone was the cocky self confidence that she saw in him when they’d first met, replaced with a genuine concern for her.
“When I saw you go down from that gunshot, Meredith, I felt like my life was over, I just wanted you to be okay.”
“T-Trent? Barbara?” She rasped.
“Trent’s dead, Finn took him out. Barbara is safe, she was found in an apartment not far from the hotel. He brought her with him so she wouldn’t escape or risk the chance that someone could find her. We can talk about that later, right now you need to focus on getting better. I’m going to be here to help you through it.”
“Y-Your game. You need to f-focus on that.”
“And I can. But I also want you Meredith. I know we’ve only known one another for a couple of days but I think we can make a real go of this. I’m hoping that’s something you want too.” He whispered.
“I w-want that too Ross. But our jobs…” she trailed off, exhaustion gripping her.
“We can work through that. Just please tell me that we can try.”
She nodded softly. His eyes were genuine, kind and so beautiful. She realized in that moment that she needed this man in her life. She couldn’t live without him. Even in the short time she’d known him, she was falling in love with him.
Lady of Way Page 16
