Leveling the Field

by Elise Faber

  But then I was on my back again, and Leo was yanking at my jeans, flicking open the button, tugging the zipper down. They got stuck on my thighs, the pink scar standing out sharply in the fluorescent lights.

  I froze, thinking it would bring everything back, that he would stop, and we’d be back to all of the pain and guilt from before.

  Instead, he simply bent and kissed the line with such tenderness that I felt my eyes prickle. Then more than prickle when he rose and pressed his lips to the mark at the base of my throat.

  “I’m sorry,” he breathed against my skin.

  My hands slid into his hair, and I tugged his head back. “No more,” I whispered. “Please, no more.”

  Emerald eyes going sad, making my stomach sink.

  But before I could delve into that feeling, determination slid into his expression, his hand coming up to cup my cheek. “No more,” he breathed.

  And he kissed me again.

  It was soft and gentle, and those final tiny pieces that had been missing in my heart shifted, until there were no more holes.

  “No more,” he said again, kissing his way down my body, over my underwear, boring white cotton that he didn’t seem to mind, based on the heated look he tossed my way, how he paused to suck my clit through the material.

  My hips jerked, my fingers found his hair, trying to keep him there.

  But he simply kept moving, sliding down my legs to where my jeans were bunched on my thighs, bypassing the tangled material and reaching for my boots. One was yanked off, tossed over his shoulder and landing somewhere behind us with a thunk. My other boot joined the first. Then my socks, with hardly any fanfare—or at least noise.

  He rose back up over me, nudged the hem of my underwear to the side and licked me from top to bottom. I tried to spread my legs, but my jeans wouldn’t let me, and he didn’t seem to give a shit, just continued licking me.

  My breath hissed out when his tongue touched a particularly sensitive spot.

  “There, baby?” he asked, and him between my thighs, his lips glistening, my underwear still to the side. But that wasn’t the sexiest thing. Nor were his strong arms clenching my hips, the stubble on his jaw. No, the absolute sexiest thing was the smile he gave me.

  Arrogant, with plenty of erotic intent.

  I was too blown away by that smile to answer his question, and anyway, Leo simply allowed that smile to grow into a smirk and sank back down, his hot words against my pussy. “Yeah, that’s the spot.” And then he stroked there again, making me jump, making me moan, making me forget all about the jeans keeping my legs trapped together. At least, until they were torn down my thighs, yanked over my feet, my underwear joining them in flying over his shoulder. He spread me wide, pressed his mouth to my pussy, and allowed his fingers to join the party, one thick digit shoving inside me, his lips going back to that spot, sucking deeply.

  A shudder tore through me. “Leo.”

  “No more,” he whispered again, sliding another finger home, trailing his tongue over to my clit, flicking and stroking in a rhythm that showed me absolutely no mercy. “No more,” he repeated, the words as much a caress as his tongue, as his fingers curling inside me.

  He kept working me, not stopping when I continued to tremble, my head thrashing from side to side, my hips moving so I was all but fucking his face, his fingers as pleasure wound tight, expanded through my center.

  I needed him, needed more, wanted him deep inside me, but when I begged him to, “get inside me,” he simply laughed and shook his head. He slipped another finger into me, making me gasp and thrash against him. “Come, baby,” he coaxed. “Come on my fingers, let me feel you clench around me.”

  “I can’t,” I moaned. It felt good, so fucking good, but I couldn’t come, not without . . . “I need—fuck!” I screamed when he bit my clit, hard enough that pain and pleasure tangled together. It was too much and not enough and . . . then his tongue pressed firmly and—

  I shattered.

  My pleasure wasn’t an explosion . . . it was a breaking and reforming. It was shards shooting in all directions, the blissful sensations so strong they almost hurt, and then it was as though time froze in place. For a moment. Only a moment. And then everything reversed and flew through the air, slamming back into me with enough force that every bit of my breath whooshed out of me.

  I came to, tucked against Leo’s side, his fingers brushing through my ponytail, moisture between my thighs, and his arms wrapped tight.

  Pushing up, I stared into his eyes. “No more running from the past.”

  His lips went pale, but when he didn’t back down, his hand lifting, his thumb running lightly over my jaw. “No more,” he agreed.

  I smiled. “I think that might be the favorite thing you’ve ever said to me.”

  A little humor entered his expression. “Wait until I say that about ice cream.”

  I groaned, swatted his chest. “For your sake, I hope you never do.”

  He trailed his hand down my throat, lightly brushed the scar from the bullet, dragged it over my shoulder, along my arm, over my hips. “For the record,” he said, voice husky. “I don’t want to talk about your body as being anything but the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever laid eyes on ever again.”

  I snorted. “Leo.”

  His hand clamped down on my ass. “Never, baby.” He held my stare, not looking away, not saying anything else until I nodded.

  “No more,” I said, taking a page out of his book, but then because I’d turned over my new leaf, because I was trying to be better, stronger, more, I cupped his cheeks (the ones on his face) and glared into his eyes. “So long as you promise that from this moment onward, we are going to look forward. No more past. No more regrets. I want my life to be more, and I want it to be with you.”

  Fear. Hope. Terror. Joy. They all flared across his face.

  Maybe once that would have made me get smaller, to retreat.

  But . . . no more.

  “I can’t promise not to get hurt,” I said. “And the thought of you being injured on a mission scares the shit of out me.”

  He wrapped his arms around me, held me tight.

  “But I want what we might have together more.” I inhaled his spicy scent, held him close. “I want it more than the fear, and I want it more than I want to hold on to the past.”

  “Jess,” he said.

  I leaned back. “So now, the only question here is, do you want that, too?”

  Silence.

  My heart squirmed in my chest, my intestines tied themselves into knots.

  Then he smiled.

  And I knew it would be okay.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Leo

  I loved this woman.

  It was absolutely terrifying, and yet it was the one thing I was most certain of in all the world, and only second to that was that I wanted the possibility of us, too.

  More than the fear.

  More than the past.

  More than continuing to punish myself for my part in it.

  Jesse hadn’t pulled away when I’d told her about Clem, hadn’t looked at me with the disgust I felt for myself, and I felt as though some of the sharp shards inside me had been filed down, that they were no longer stabbing into my lungs. Finally, I could take a full breath. Finally, I felt as though the boulder on my shoulders had grown a little lighter.

  “I want it,” I said. “I want you.”

  Her blue eyes were bright with tears, and then she wrapped her arms around me and slanted her mouth over mine and kissed me.

  Desire and need. My cock growing hard again in an instant, pushing against the zipper of my jeans, desperate to be inside her. I still had her taste on my tongue. My fingers were still wet from being in her pussy.

  But I wasn’t going to fuck her on the floor of the conference room where anyone might walk in. I shouldn’t have gotten her naked here, not when Hannah might get it in her mind to unlock that door at any moment and barge in here, slinging more
orders around.

  So, I broke away, hating that I had to lose her mouth, but knowing I needed to get her clothes.

  Otherwise I was going to end up fucking her on the floor, or the table, or the wall . . . and none of those thoughts were helping me get my cock under control. And neither did Jess, not when she reached for me, groaning in protest.

  It was fucking torture to capture her hands, to press a kiss to each palm, to slide away from her and retrieve her clothes.

  “It’s a goddamned crime against humanity that you have to wear clothes,” I said, tugging her bra over her head.

  She froze . . . and then laughed, shaking her head. “Oh, Leo,” she moaned.

  “Do that again when I’m inside you.”

  Her cheeks flushed pink, and it was more fucking torture to have to cover up her sexy body. But even so, I slipped my shirt over her head then returned for her jeans and socks, handing her the latter while I turned the former right side out. I was just reaching for her boots when she murmured, “I will.”

  Heat blazing down my spine.

  Need exploding inside me.

  I’d loosened the chokehold, had allowed myself to feel, and there was no going back.

  I whipped around, saw that she was performing the sexiest little shimmy to wiggle into her jeans. “Promise you’ll do that again with your tits out,” I ordered, walking over to her and cupping her cheeks.

  “I will,” she murmured again.

  “Fuck,” I hissed.

  Her brows rose. “You asked me to promise.”

  “And now, you’re making me reconsider fucking you on the edge of the table.”

  “Fuck,” she breathed, her body drifting close, pressing to mine. Her hand trailed down my chest, slid beneath the hem of my T-shirt. “Let’s do that.”

  I groaned, picked her up, and slanted my mouth to hers, walking her to the table, plunking her on top of it, and stepping in between her thighs. Her tongue tangled with mine, her hands came to my ass, drawing me nearer. “Why did we wait so long to do this?” I asked, pulling back enough to allow her to breathe when she pushed at my chest.

  Her lips curved. “I don’t—”

  I kissed her again, swallowing the rest of her statement, and gripped the rounded bevel of wood, hearing the table creak in protest.

  That bolstered my control enough to retreat, my head hanging, resting on her shoulder, her hands gripping my hair tightly enough to sting before they slowly released, and I managed to step back from her. “You’re dangerous.”

  A smile, sexy and confident, and I felt so damned lucky to have been given a glimpse of this woman.

  I would never, fucking never do anything again that made her disappear.

  And that promise was written in my soul.

  I returned to her boots, helped her slip them on, tugging the laces so they were secure while she teased me and “my Cinderella vibes.” Then I plunked myself onto the table next to her, tucking her hair behind her ears. “Any ideas how I can get out of here?”

  Her cell buzzed, and she reached over to snag it, shaking her head at the screen.

  She lifted it, showing me the message from Lily.

  Safe word: Twinkle toes.

  “I don’t know what that means.”

  “Luckily, I do,” Jess said, tapping the screen and putting it up to her ear. “Twinkle toes,” she murmured.

  The lock clicked on the door.

  “Thank you,” Jesse said, hanging up. She met my gaze and smirked. “Should we go?”

  Love.

  So much fucking love for this woman—almost too much, almost enough that it nearly had me running from the room, running for a plane back to London. But she had courage and strength, and she was looking at me in happiness and hope and joy and . . . I was damned if I was going to let her down.

  “I’m going anywhere you want to, baby.”

  I’d intended to take Jesse back to her room, to get her to groan my name while I was buried deep inside her, but work had other ideas.

  “Thank God, you two sorted that,” Lily said, striding up the moment we walked through the door and into the hall. Her brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and her gaze was serious. She tossed him a shirt. “Here you go, Romeo. Cover the abs. We’ve got a problem.”

  I was instantly on alert.

  Jesse’s fingers clenched in mine.

  “Come on,” Lily said. “We’ll fill you in on the drive.”

  I met pale blue eyes, watched as Jesse hit the switch in her mind from woman to KTS agent, knew that I needed to do that same, but it was a struggle. Not just because of the desire to claim her in every way, but because I had no doubt that we were about to go into danger.

  And I might not be able to protect her.

  Another squeeze of her fingers and I shoved that down as we followed Lily to the locker room, joining Linc and Hannah as all of us efficiently geared up.

  “Here’s the situation,” she said, velcroing on a bulletproof vest. “Laila and her team had a bead on Daniel. They went in to recon, and it’s turned into a firefight. We’re getting on a chopper, and we’re going to get them out.”

  I shoved my gun into its holster, made sure I had extra magazines, knew my teammates were all doing the same, knew Jess was doing it.

  Hannah gave more instructions, and I dutifully filed them away, even as fear crawled up my throat.

  I felt so much more for Jess than I’d ever felt for Clem.

  It was fucking terrifying, petrifying.

  But I pushed it down.

  I needed to focus if I was going to keep her safe, needed to focus if I was going to keep all of my teammates safe.

  We finished gearing up, sprinted out to the parking garage and up to the roof to the helipad. Wind whipped over my face from the chopper’s blades, and we all instinctively ducked as we ran and jumped onto the helicopter, buckled in, and threw on our headsets as we took off.

  “Fifteen minutes out,” Hannah said through the mic, holding up an iPad with a map displayed on its screen. “We’ll drop in here,” she said, pointing to a spot on the map. “Laila and team are bogged down here. More support is coming from here”—she zoomed out enough to show the road that led into the compound—“and here”—another road on the south side of the property—“We’re going to haul ass, get in there, provide backup and evaluate, and then we’re going to sit tight until the rest of the teams get here.”

  “How long?” Jesse asked.

  Hannah winced. “They’re an hour out. At least.”

  “Fuck,” Linc breathed, and I saw that his hands were shaking.

  His woman was in there.

  In danger.

  A fucking boulder dropped into my gut, and I tried to find something to say that would calm him. But in the end, I didn’t say anything. If it were Jess in there, I wouldn’t hear any platitudes. The best thing I could do was focus, watch his back in case his focus was off, and get us all out of this firefight unscathed.

  The chopper banked to the north, mountains and trees coming into view, wilderness swallowing up civilization.

  A few minutes later, we’d reached a clearing, and the pilot lowered the bird down enough so that we could jump off. It was gone a moment after we’d hit the ground, moved for cover in the tree lines. I could hear gunfire being exchanged in the distance.

  “Closing in on your position,” Hannah said into our earpieces. “Status?”

  “We’ve moved,” Laila said. “A thousand feet east of the house.”

  “Roger that.”

  “Linc?”

  Our medic’s voice was locked down and icy cold with focus. “Yeah?”

  “We’re all in one piece,” Laila added.

  I watched the tension bleed out of my teammate, saw him nod. “Copy.”

  We took off and began sprinting through the trees, feet silent as we instinctively fell into formation—one at the front (Jess, which made my stomach clench), two in the middle, then two at the rear.

 
; Jess was fast as hell, though her pace was slowed by needing to check the GPS on this unfamiliar terrain.

  I could feel Linc’s energy roiling under his skin, but he didn’t say anything.

  Last thing we wanted to do was stumble upon the enemy and blow this extraction, causing someone to get hurt. Luckily, Jess was quick at doing what needed to be done, and each stop was as short as it could be before we were on our way again.

  We slowed our pace when voices and gunshots grew louder, circling the clearing, trying to get a line of sight.

  Laila’s team had taken up behind a ramshackle hunting lodge, barely two walls of it left standing, a huge boulder in the front yard that was almost bigger than the cabin itself.

  “We’re here,” Hannah said. “East side in the trees. We’ll circle around, take up supporting positions.”

  Laila’s voice was steady. “Roger that.”

  With rapid hand movements, Hannah divvied us up, sending me and Jess around the back of the building to cover the rear, Linc to move in closer, probably so he could lay eyes on Olive and see she was safe. She and Lily would take up perimeter positions.

  The sun was setting, and we used the shadows to our advantage, creeping closer, dodging the fallen trees and roots and rocks.

  I watched Linc dart to the cabin, take up position next to Olive.

  He kissed her soundly on the lips and then trained his gun in the direction of the trees.

  Risking a glance at my watch, I saw that our rendezvous with the other team was still a half hour off. Bullets continued flying, and whoever was out there was well-armed. They didn’t conserve anything, just continued assaulting the cabin with a hailstorm of shots, and though they had to have seen us moving into position to help Laila and company, none of the bullets fired had been trained on us during the approach.

  The space around the house grew quiet, and my skin prickled, knowing we were missing something here.

  “Hannah?” I whispered into the com.

  “I don’t know,” she whispered back.

  My eyes met Jesse’s and she shrugged, shook her head, but I could see that she had that same sensation.