by KaLyn Cooper
“Thank you, Uncle Tom.” Katlin knew supper was his way to see them one more time before they left. “We’ll be there.”
“Daniel,” he called. “I know you’re there.”
Her brother stepped into the dining room and stood so the camera could see him. “Is this a business call or personal?”
She watched her uncle’s shoulders drop in relief. “It’s always wonderful to see my nephew. It’s also good to see one of my agents healthy and rested. We’ll talk later tonight. Enjoy the day with your sister and her friends.”
“I’ll do that.” Daniel walked over and slung an arm around Katlin, then kissed her on top of the head. She threw her arm around his waist and gave him a hug. Part of her was so thrilled that she got to see him, and the other part was disappointed she had to leave so soon. Maybe someday they could live closer to each other.
Tom Callahan nodded. “DD CIA out.”
“All clear,” Lei Lu declared a few seconds later. “Is there any chance Rosita has breakfast ready? I’m starved.”
As though those were the magic words, the kitchen staff marched out in a line, each with at least one dish. Within seconds the entire buffet was covered with food. Obviously the cook wanted them to fill up on her excellent cuisine on their last day in Costa Rica.
Fifteen hours later, Katlin hoisted the duffel bag filled with her weapons into the back of the SUV then swung the bag filled with her clothes on top of it. Tori tossed hers in, followed by Lei Lu. Grace and Griffin had left half an hour earlier to prep the plane.
Nita emerged from the house with her clothes bag over her shoulder, Daniel carrying her weapons. Her hair looked as though fingers had been raked through it recently and her lips were slightly swollen, like she’d been just kissed and not gently. Katlin wasn’t sure how she would feel about a relationship between one of her best friends and her brother.
She mentally shrugged. If they could make each other happy, even for a little while, she was fine with that. At thirty-eight, he should know what he was getting into, and Nita was a wonderful woman with a huge heart. Almost ten years younger than her brother, her life experiences were far beyond most her age. Besides, she often had the male three F attitude: find ’em, fuck ’em, forget ’em. Katlin wasn’t sure how that was going to work out with Daniel, though, since she tried to see him every time they were in Costa Rica.
Daniel laid Nita’s bag into the SUV. Casually, he removed her clothes bag from her shoulder and set it on top.
“Thanks…for everything.” Nita’s words were filled with so much heat Katlin needed a fan.
Stepping away from the vehicle, she decided to go look for Alex. Just as they were about to leave the bedroom, he’d received a 911 call from the San Francisco Center. That recent purchase had been a pain in their ass since the day Guardian Security had taken over. Before she could get five steps away, their driver called her name. His local accent was so thick, she had trouble understanding him. It took a few minutes for Katlin to figure out his problem. He was afraid for the women. Armed guards patrolled the big building and the woods surrounding the small airport. The man insisted big secrets were kept there. The people in the small village knew better than to go to the airport at night.
Katlin wanted to laugh out loud. She was well aware of the big secret. A sleek black jet with a ninety-foot wingspan and two Rolls Royce engines capable of intercontinental travel hid in the large hangar. She paid, and armed those men to guard the plane. It took several moments to calm the man and reassure him that she and her friends would be fine.
When she turned to check on Alex, he and Daniel stood off to the side in quiet conversation. The fact they got along so well filled her heart. Ty and Daniel had been nearly volatile. Her brother never hid the fact he didn’t like Katlin’s now deceased husband. Thankfully, her father had tolerated her husband. Daniel and Alex seemed to enjoy each other’s company.
As she walked back toward the two men she loved most in this world, she heard Daniel say, “Are you asking me or telling me?”
Just then, Damnit came running toward her with determination. She braced for the impact of one hundred pounds of puppy seconds before he leaped into her arms. “I couldn’t leave you behind, Damnit. I was coming back in the house to get you.” She struggled to get the waggling, licking dog into the back seat of one of the vehicles. After ruffling the fur around his collar, she turned back toward the men.
They were gone.
She headed back toward the house and they walked out, smiling.
“Daniel, are you riding to the airport with us?” She cherished every second with her brother, even those in a crammed car.
“Sorry, little one.” As he stepped forward, she met him halfway. She threw her arms around his neck and held him tight. He wrapped strong arms across her back in a bear hug. “You take care of yourself,” he whispered into her ear.
“You take care, too.” Her voice cracked on the short sentence that was filled with more meaning than she could ever express in words.
All too soon, he set her back on her feet and kissed the top of her head.
“I love you,” they said at the same time. They smiled in unison.
“I’ll try to get here quicker next time so we can spend more time together,” Daniel promised. They’d been inseparable all day, except for the thirty minutes he’d spent talking to their uncle in private. That was work and she completely understood.
“You’d better, big brother. We were here for nearly a month and didn’t see hide nor hair of you. Twenty-four hours before we leave, you show up,” she chastised good heartedly.
He threw his hands up in the air. “Hey, at least I got here before you left.”
She stepped back to him and gave him one more quick hug. “I’m sorry, but we have to go. I’m sure Grace has had the plane prepped for thirty minutes now.”
Alex held out his hand to shake, but Daniel pulled him in for one of those back beating, bro hug things. Katlin thought her heart would burst with love.
Chapter 5
Duffel bag in hand, Alex glanced around the penthouse apartment of the Guardian Security, Inc. D.C. Center. It looked exactly like the other nine located in cities across the United States. The only difference was the skyline picture hanging in each bedroom designating which city he was in.
The consistency was meant to give him a feeling of home, but he’d grown up in Washington, and attended George Washington University. Except for the three years in high school while living in Miami with his grandmother, the nation’s capital had always meant home in every sense of the word.
Someday, he and Kat would have to buy a house and make it their home. Alex wasn’t sure she was ready for that yet. Even though they’d known each other for nearly fifteen years, their lives intertwining too many times to count, they had finally reunited a few months ago. He was never going to let her leave his life again.
He carried his duffel bag into the large bedroom and set it on the bed. He didn’t carry much with him because he kept a closet full of appropriate clothes at each center. Digging out his shaving kit, he placed it in the adjoining bathroom next to the sink. He’d dozed off several times during the long journey back to the United States, knowing the moment they landed, he’d have Guardian business to deal with.
Before he and Kat had gone their separate ways in Quantico, he’d given her a quick kiss and made her promise to meet him for supper. Glancing at his watch, he needed to get a move on. He was already running so far behind, he’d dispatched the company limousine to pick her up at her condo.
Twenty minutes later, his cell phone rang. A quick look at the caller ID made him smile. “I take it you’re on your way up?”
“Stepping into the elevator now.” Over the phone he heard Top Cooper, the manager at this center, offer to sign her into the log. The salty Marine had known Katlin since she was a child, following her father from embassy to embassy around the world. The two of them would always have a special bond. Alex wasn't sure
if he should be jealous or thankful knowing someone would permanently be there for her.
“Shall I just use my key fob to open the door?” Katlin’s question brought him out of his pondering.
“Sure.” Alex slid the pan of lasagna made by the center’s cook into the hot oven. They had nearly an hour before he had to put in the foil wrapped garlic bread. That should be almost enough time.
When he heard the door locks slide open, he went to greet the woman he loved more than he knew was possible. He stopped in his tracks and stared at the blonde beauty before him. This wasn’t the Navy lieutenant in a shapeless flight suit, without makeup, and her hair in a ball at the back of her neck. Although he loved that woman, too, this was the woman she wanted to be for him tonight. Simply another facet of a very complicated gem that he was lucky to call his. Her hair was curled and falling halfway to her waist. She’d done that for him. He was also sure the body hugging blue dress that cupped her gorgeous breasts, pressing them together revealing several inches of cleavage, was meant to tease him.
Her magic had worked. He was already hard, wanting to be freed from his khakis and sliding into her warm wet heat. But all he had to do was think about his Kat and he’d be ready.
“Nice dress.” He ran a finger under the shoulder strap down over her the curve of her exposed breasts and up the other side. “Take it off.”
The corners of Katlin’s reddened lips curved up. “No.”
Alex raised an eyebrow.
She held his gaze. “Take it off me. Slowly. And I promise to reciprocate.”
Alex had always been the dominant one in any sexual relationship…until Kat. He loved the way they fought for control. With her, it only heightened their experience. He wanted her so bad in that moment, he would do anything for her. “It will be my pleasure.”
Her smile broadened as she reached up and cupped his face. “I’m sure it’ll be my pleasure, too.”
When their lips met, he didn’t care how it happened, just that he was inside this woman when she came around his cock. The sooner the better.
She tilted her head to the side and opened her mouth to his exploration. When he thrust in his tongue, she wrapped hers around his in a sensual dance as old as time. She scraped her short-trimmed nails over his scalp to the back of his head, awakening every nerve before she pulled him tighter to her.
Dropping one hand to slowly trace the length of his spine, she turned the kiss from desperate to tender. He understood and allowed her to lead.
Alex wanted to make love to Katlin, showing her all the tenderness he felt inside. He tore his mouth from hers and kissed his way up her jaw toward her ear before taking the lobe into his mouth and sucking. Using both hands, he slid fingers under the straps of her dress and lightly ran his palms down her arms.
With the tip of his tongue he traced her rapid heartbeat from just under her jaw down the side of her throat to her collarbone. He kept heading south wanting to lose himself in her cleavage. He peeled the top of her dress off her breasts. Blue lace barely covered her pebbled nipples.
Leaning back, he took in the sight before him. Her body was stunning. Firm round breasts, lightly tanned from their weeks in the Caribbean sun, seemed a bit oversized for her small frame, but they were real. Everything about Katlin Callahan was real, including her attitude.
She wasted no time in divesting him of his polo shirt. Running her hands from his shoulders down over his chest, she stretched her hands. Lightly brushing the dark hair over his pecs, she admitted, “I love the way your hair tickles my palms.” When she circled the dark brown around his small flat nipples, he felt his erection grow even larger.
Needing to move this along before he erupted in his pants, he reached behind Kat to free her breasts from their silken bondage. He pulled the bra off and tossed it aside before cupping her breasts, weighing them in both hands. They felt heavier than usual, more full. As he bent to take one in his mouth, he rolled the tip of the other between his thumb and forefinger.
Her shaky inhalation was all the permission to continue he needed. As he concentrated on sucking and flicking her nipple with his tongue, she once again drove her fingers into his hair just the way he liked it.
Changing to the other breast, he asked, “Does this dress have a zipper? If I don’t get you out of this in the next thirty seconds, I’m gonna rip it off you.”
She reached to the side and unzipped it while he focused on her other breast.
When the soft blue cloth fell to the floor he followed it down, kneeling before her. He kissed his way over her flat stomach, dipping his tongue into her belly button, caressing the curve of her body from ribs to hips. Catching the sides of her panties with his thumbs, he pulled them down over soft skin so they wouldn’t stop his progress.
She automatically stepped out of them and spread her feet, as though begging him to go where she wanted him next.
He didn’t intend to disappoint her.
Nuzzling into the neatly-trimmed, short blonde hairs at the apex of her thighs he inhaled slowly. Savoring the essence of aroused Kat, he closed his eyes and memorized the moment. He’d never get enough of that scent if he made love to her for the rest of their lives.
He slid his tongue between her wet folds.
She jerked and gasped, a small cry of pleasure escaping while she dug her nails into his shoulders.
He looked up at her and teased, “You like that?”
Heat, impatience, and lust filled those piercing blue on blue eyes. “No, I fucking hate it. Do it again before I hurt you.” She moved her hand over to lightly pinch the nerve between his shoulder and neck in warning.
“Yes, ma’am.” He knew what she needed and was more than ready to give it to her. He wanted her boneless from at least one orgasm, maybe two, before he slid into her hot wet channel and made her come around his cock. Using his thumbs, he parted her lips to give him better access to the tiny bundle of nerves that all too often hid from view. Not tonight. Her clit was swollen and peeking out, begging for his touch.
With the flat of his tongue he licked from her opening to her clitoris, flicking it with the tip before taking it into his mouth and sucking. When her legs started to stiffen, he slid two fingers inside her searching for that magical spot.
Her uninhibited cry told him when he’d found it. Sucking and pumping his fingers in unison brought her to orgasm quicker than he’d ever remembered. As her inner walls clamped around his fingers, she shattered and slumped, joining him on the floor, her head dropping onto his shoulder as he worked her through the last shockwaves.
He pulled his fingers from deep inside her body and brought them to his nose, smelling them before he licked each digit clean. Christ, he loved the taste of her.
Rousing, she rolled her head to look at him and smiled. “Your turn.” Reaching down she unbuckled his belt and unzipped his pants. Since he’d almost come when she had, his cock immediately popped out from the top of his boxer briefs. Without shifting her gaze, she shoved his underwear down his shaft while smearing the moisture on its tip in a slow sensual circle.
Nothing had ever compared to her soft hand wrapped around his hard cock. If she stroked him one more time it was going to be over.
“Bed. Now.” He stood with her naked in his arms.
“Whoa,” she exclaimed on a laugh and wrapped her legs around his hips and her arms around his shoulders. She leaned in and kissed him all the way to the bedroom.
He gently laid her on the king-sized bed and shucked off his remaining clothes. She’d crawled between the tan sheets, lifting it and the masculine comforter, welcoming him into bed. Their bed. He loved the sound of that. Fuck, he loved her with all his heart. His soul was whole whenever they were together.
As he slid his body next to hers, she rolled toward him, enveloping his erection in her warm hand once again. He savagely attacked her mouth, thrusting his tongue in and out as his hips involuntarily rocked into her hand.
Turn about being fair play, he circled
her oversensitive clit then rubbed it hard curling his finger to give the underside the extra attention she liked. “Come for me, babe,” he demanded.
“No,” she panted. “I want you inside me this time.” She gently fisted his cock and he almost lost it.
He rolled over on top of her using his knees to spread her legs a little wider as he positioned himself at her opening. She lifted her hips and took him in, just the tip. Her tight heat clamped around him in an intimate kiss.
She smiled as he gritted his teeth, devouring all his willpower not to explode just yet. His Kat was well aware of the torture she was inflicting.
Two could play that game.
Using the pad of his thumb, he gathered the cream from her folds and massaged it into her clitoris. When her hips jerked off the bed, she automatically took him deeper. Liking the position, he grabbed a pillow. “Lift up for me.”
Rising off the bed, her butt cheeks tightened and so did all her internal muscles as he sunk in all the way. He couldn’t move. His entire body seemed overloaded with sensations, every nerve heightened. He knew the ecstasy of an orgasm, but didn’t want to go there because he knew during that overpowering bliss he would temporarily lose the love he felt for the woman underneath him. Here, suspended on the edge, he had it all.
Katlin grabbed the pillow from his hand and stuffed it under her bottom. Wiggling her hips was an introduction to a new type of torment. “Is that better? Do you want to try to go higher?”
He knew what she was asking but didn’t think it could get any better than this. He pulled out and plunged back in. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” Then she smiled and something deep inside him warmed. “Better than fine. I like this new position.” She smirked and suddenly she seemed to lose a little enthusiasm.
Concerned he leaned over her onto his elbows. “What’s wrong? Am I hurting you?”
Her smile was supposed to be reassuring, but it didn’t quite make it. She ran her fingers through his hair and looked deeply into his eyes as though she was trying to see his soul. Then she was back again. His Kat. “I’ll tell you later. Right now I want you to fuck me.”
