Undercover Justice

by Nico Rosso

Her hands didn’t rest, either. Each ridge of his bare arms was discovered and traced. She reached his shoulders and held on there to pull him tighter, pull the kiss deeper. He gripped her and slicked his tongue along hers. The house’s central heat hadn’t been turned on yet, and still she was too warm for all these clothes. She knew that her naked skin against Arash’s would burn her completely, and she wanted that.

  She raked her nails up his back, taking his shirt with her. He hissed a breath, then lifted his arms high so she could remove the T-shirt. His mouth returned at the side of her neck. The blaze shot white-hot through her veins.

  He started to pull her T-shirt up but she leaned back to pause the motion. She carefully removed her pistol from the holster and placed it on the built-in bedside table, close within reach. Turning back to Arash, she was able to see all the contours of his muscled chest and abs in the dim light from the tall windows. With his hair down and face obscured in the shadows, he seemed mythic. But when she touched him again, she knew he was very real, warm and surging forward to her.

  In a breath, her T-shirt was gone. His hands slid along her ribs, up over her shoulders, until one palm cupped her cheek. “You are so unbelievably beautiful.”

  “Because I’m nearly naked.” A hot blush spread across her chest and up her neck.

  “I thought the same thing when you were in coveralls, elbow deep in an engine compartment.” Raw emotion shook in his voice.

  “You didn’t.” Her body believed him. Heat tightened in her breasts and swirled low between her legs. But her mind couldn’t yet let her be free.

  “I did,” he growled, hands smoothing down her arms. “And I thought you were beautiful that first night when you were powering through turns and leaving everyone in the dust.” He leaned close for another kiss. It shocked her with tenderness. He’d matched her passion as they’d been clawing at each other with need. But this was different. The truth of his words was on his lips. He wanted her, she knew that, but he was willing to go slow and savor her, as well.

  His kiss trailed over her cheek, then down the front of her throat. Each time he lifted his mouth from her skin, he spoke. “You. Are. Beautiful.” He reached the top of her chest, leaned her onto the bed and continued to kiss down between her breasts. “Incredible. Badass. Strong. As. Hell.” His mouth hovered over her belly. She trembled. Just the lightest kiss splashed shivers across her skin.

  She arched up for more. He kissed the curve of her hip, then teased his teeth into the flesh. She gasped with a laugh and felt his mouth grow into a smile on her. His deft fingers undid the fly of her jeans, then popped the top button. Yes, this was what she wanted. The doubts in her brain erased.

  Wiggling from side to side, she helped him remove her jeans, and she was lying on the bed beside him in nothing but her bra and panties. “Now you,” she said. He stood and she missed the electricity from his close body. “Hurry.”

  A moment later he was back at her side. A pair of boxer briefs were the last barrier to him being as naked as she wanted to be. The electricity returned, then amplified as she touched his chest, his ribs, his hips. Each muscle responded to her, tightening as if he, too, felt the same charge.

  Her touch moved between his legs and he surged forward, his arousal obvious. The need deepened in her and she shifted close enough to wind her legs together with his. One of his hands searched over her back and quickly unclasped her bra. The fabric was whisked away and his hot palm moved across one of her breasts. Her nipple tightened for more and he gave her the rough pad of his hand in light passes back and forth. Blinding heat coiled through her.

  “Yes,” she told him. “Touch me.” Skin was freedom, and the two of them were finally pressed together, sharing all the heat, surging with their breath. She felt every ridge of his hand on her, and understood each line of the muscles of his arms and back.

  Their mouths came together to wordlessly voice the hunger between them. He licked her tongue and she bit at his lower lip. Her fingers dug into his back. The lightest pinch surrounded her nipple and she moaned into his mouth.

  She drew him closer with her legs, so she could grind against his erection. The room was dark, her eyes closed, and everything was so bright. Like their bodies were on the brink of turning molten. Arash separated them slightly, but their connection ran so deep now she didn’t feel an absence. His hand glided across her belly, then dived down to the waistband of her panties. He waited there until she nodded, then eased slowly between her legs.

  The first touch on her most sensitive skin sent a shock wave through her. The intensity was more than she imagined and it triggered a quick fear. She gripped him and he waited again. With the roll of her hips, she showed him that she wasn’t afraid. Yes, it was reckless. They ran too hot. And that’s exactly what she needed.

  His pace on her sex matched her. Both of their bodies surged with the movement. He kissed her mouth, her face and her neck. She stroked her fingers into his hair and held there for support as she felt herself rushing toward release. Each sensation was savored, focused on until she understood how all the nerves of her body collected Arash’s touch and connected together.

  “Beautiful,” he rumbled. The added caress of his voice sent her over the edge. She believed him, and let herself crash into the climax. The orgasm racked her body and Arash firmed his hold around her, creating a protective cage for her to slam against.

  It wasn’t until she’d regained her breath that she realized she’d sunk her teeth into his collarbone. He didn’t flinch when she moved her mouth and rested her head on his shoulder. The ebbing waves of the climax retained a singeing edge. She wasn’t done.

  Leaning up on one elbow, she drew her fingernails down Arash’s chest until reaching his underwear. “Don’t stop,” he told her, voice like smoke. She felt his firm length over the boxer briefs, then tugged at the hem until he helped her remove them.

  He filled her hand. This man, so strong and capable, was moved by her, flexing his muscles to thrust with her. The pace of his moans quickened and fired up her own needs. Her heart pounded again as she and Arash sped together through the darkness.

  The rhythm stuttered and he sat up, bringing her with him. Heat focused in his eyes as he gazed at her. He leaned forward and kissed her, then gently directed her to standing in front of him. His fingers hooked into her panties and dragged them down her legs. Naked. Finally. In a house she and Arash broke into, at a bed that didn’t belong to either of them. His attention moved over her and she stood, bold. A wicked smile curled his lips. She didn’t see anything after that because he was kissing her belly, her hip, the top of her thigh, with his hands gripping her waist.

  She stroked over his hair, wondering how her legs kept her standing. But she knew the strength came from all the need that hadn’t been satisfied. Stepping away from him, she retrieved the box of condoms from the bag and pulled one out. He remained seated, took it from her and rolled it on.

  Their gazes locked as she straddled him at the edge of the bed. His arms wrapped around her for support. She balanced herself with her hands on his shoulders. Face-to-face. Nowhere to hide. She lowered herself onto his length as both of them drew a long breath as one.

  After a moment of discovering how they fit together, they started to rock. She rose up and he retreated. When she crashed back down, he was there, thrusting up. They moaned as one. His breath swept over her neck and her ear. He touched her in so many ways and she soaked it all in, building the fires hotter.

  Too hot. That was the thrill that made her blood race so hard. Their combined strength and hunger pushed her to the verge of wrecking. Complete abandon, with the trust that they would keep each other safe. She called out again and again into the empty house. His growl shook her. She was close to delicious destruction.

  “Stephanie,” he whispered. Another climax sped at her. She ground deeper on Arash and he wound his arms tighter across her back. His lips
stroked up her throat; his teeth brushed against her neck. She wrapped herself around him and set herself free. The release slammed through her, jolting her limbs, stealing her breath.

  He held her through it all, and when she regained enough strength in her arms to scratch across his back, he lifted her up and took them both to the floor. The soft carpet cushioned her back, and Arash kept his weight off her with his arms propped on the ground. She hooked her heels around the backs of his legs to urge him on. He kissed her hard and crashed their bodies back together.

  A glow burned her from within, snapping in waves to match Arash’s increasing pace. “Yes, Arash.” Her murmured encouragement remained close and intimate between their bodies. He grew more wild, moving their bodies with his strength. She clasped herself around him and called out his name again. He bared his teeth, thrust one more time, then locked his muscles as he came. Her own pleasure continued to swirl and the two of them stayed bound together for what felt like forever.

  But it couldn’t be forever. Arash shifted from her and the two of them lay on their backs on the floor, staring at the ceiling in the dim distance. He reached out and took her hand. She found her breath and whispered, “We didn’t really need the bed.”

  “We still might.” He pulled her toward him and into a kiss. How did he have so much energy? But she found that in tasting his unsatisfied hunger, her own rose again. She opened her kiss farther to let him know and his carnal grin when they separated let her know they were far from finished. “And then cookies.”

  Arash helped her to her feet and walked with her to the bed. The safety of the moment would only be a memory when they returned to their deadly purposes just a few miles away. Memories could be lost. This freedom wouldn’t last. But the passion with Arash was real, and she would hold on to him with all her strength until the danger swept them back up again.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “I’ve stolen cars.” Arash pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders and Stephanie next to him, bringing her naked body closer to his. “Before I went straight, I stole bicycles, car parts, food.” They sat on a long couch in the bedroom, facing the tall windows. The landscape was black and gray, like torn pieces of paper laid on each other. Reno glowed far away. There wasn’t another person for miles around them. “Right now I’m trying to figure out how to steal a house.”

  “Rich people steal houses. People in power take land.” She stared out the window. Emotion shimmered in her voice. “It almost happened to a friend of mine. It was the reason Frontier Justice was formed in the first place. Nineteenth-century people in the West having their lives taken, just for money. Someone had to protect them. And that fight hasn’t stopped.”

  “I guess someone’s living in the house my parents had to run from.” If he could steal this house it would be for his folks. He could always find another one nearby. “They had just enough money to get out of Tehran, but they had to start from almost zero in the States.”

  “I’m glad they’re safe.” She ran her hand down his arm and held his wrist. “Glad they raised a good man.”

  “I wasn’t always.” He shifted the blanket to reach into the half-eaten package of cookies. “But my folks had been lawyers, and if I understood anything back then, it was that I couldn’t be as bad as I’d been once I reached my eighteenth birthday. That’s when the real consequences showed up.”

  “I never had consequences. We had money to take care of that.” She took some cookies but just held them.

  “So where’d your conscience come from?” He ate the cookie and brushed the crumbs from her bare leg.

  “I got a job. My dad was furious, but I thought that if I was going to go into the family business, I had to look at all aspects.” Her words floated in the dark, as if lighting more corners of her to discover. “I finally started to see that the people who took care of everything all around me were actually people. I got out of the family business and everything fell into place when a stranger who’s now a friend showed up to tell me the history of my ancestor, Li Jie, and Frontier Justice.”

  “Sounds like a wild ride.”

  “It has been.” She pulled closer to him and he twined his leg in with hers. “It still is.”

  “My friend in high school, Marcos, he didn’t get out of the game when I did.” None of Arash’s new social circle knew about Marcos. His parents had met him back when he and his friend were teens but had dismissed him as being unreliable. Arash had never given up. “Kept trying to get him to go straight, come to trade school with me or just get a steady job at a garage. But the addiction was rough, any treatment plans were too expensive and he would just go for the fast money. He was a good driver and people were always willing to pay.”

  “I’m really sorry.” She stroked the back of his neck in a slow, soothing rhythm.

  “As soon as I had enough money, I was going to open my own garage.” All of those plans were now further away than the distant dark horizon below. “There was going to be a place for Marcos there.”

  “What will you work on there?” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “Sport tuners? Street racers?”

  “It was going to be like a neighborhood walk-in clinic. With a sliding scale for payment. People rely on cars for their work, for their lives. We would be keeping them moving.”

  “Like the woman with the bad piston pin in the parking lot.”

  “Exactly.” Sadness sank into him, knowing this would probably never happen now. He might not live through the next few days. “I could make deals with parts companies to subsidize the work. And we’d have a whole training program, getting kids in there to learn.”

  “Training the next generation.” She kissed his shoulder. “I love your idea.” Her gaze rose to his and he didn’t need the blanket with all the warmth in her eyes. “You have an amazing heart.”

  “It’s just dreams.”

  “Some people have dreams of wielding the power to destroy and hurt people.”

  “I joined Olesk’s gang to hurt him.” How pure was his own heart?

  “Because he’s the one whose dreams are polluted by money and dominance. You’ve seen what that makes him do.”

  “If my ancestors had created a vigilante group, I would’ve joined it.” Arash would never forget the stained asphalt and concrete.

  “Join ours.”

  He stared back at her. She was serious, unwavering. He didn’t doubt her heart as much as he did his own. The group she belonged to seemed so focused and organized. They reached out to help people. His only thought had been revenge. What had started as a drive to let his friend finally rest now felt selfish. But how could he shift from that when it had been his sole motor? “I’ll watch your back and help how I can, but I’m not joining up with a team like yours. You’re following a different set of rules.”

  She nodded and remained next to him. No hard sell. She wasn’t just trying to make him an asset in her fight. And he couldn’t think of her as that, either. Though he didn’t know how to define her. He only knew that his chest felt fuller when he saw her, and his blood ran hotter when she was this close to him.

  But this night with her was only a brief gasp for air before they both had to dive back under again. Where, if he wasn’t careful, any second the pressure could crush him. He couldn’t let that happen. Not for Marcos. Not for Stephanie, who was in as much danger, if not more.

  The atmosphere on the other side of the blanket chilled and sank heavier around them. Slowly, they parted and arranged themselves. The lithe curves of her naked body disappeared under her clothes. She holstered her pistol and covered it with her jacket. He took on the armor of his jeans and boots again. It was all cold, and he could only hold on to the warmth from Stephanie deep in his core.

  They collected anything personal or that could identify them, left the bed and couch in disarray and left the house through the same window they broke in. The
wilds of the hills seemed closer during the walk to the car. It was late and quiet in the winter night, perfect for predators. He handed her the keys to the minivan and they climbed back into the machine.

  Stephanie’s face was unreadable as she started the car. The engine blasted the silence to the far corners of the valley.

  “Turn it loose,” he said, and braced himself on the door. She threw it in Drive, stepped on the gas and rocketed them forward. They plunged into the twisting roads of the development, and she remained incredibly calm while the tires squealed around corners and the minivan devoured the curves. The fishtailing still bothered him, but they had a solution to fix it. Though thinking about working on the car back in the space with Olesk and the STR turned his stomach.

  A means to a deadly end.

  “We’re good.” A small smile graced her face as she put the minivan through its paces.

  “Yes, we are.” And he didn’t want to think that they were also doomed. She would survive all this. He might not, but even if he did, how could the two of them fit together in the future?

  The roads straightened and the minivan shot out of the small valley. He wanted to keep the darkness all around them, like the blanket that had kept their naked bodies together and safe. The lights of Olesk’s compound appeared in the hills ahead. She drove closer, the smile long gone from her face.

  By the time they arrived at the house, there was only one window lit, high up in the master suite, where he supposed Olesk was with Ellie. Stephanie parked in the work area around back and they entered the house through the kitchen. Everything was quiet, the air still. After replacing the keys in the garage, he walked up the stairs with her.

  They stood in the hallway between their rooms. He knew her now, and had shown her himself. They were secrets to everyone else. Reaching forward, he took her hand. She was warm and curled her strength around him. They stepped together and shared a kiss. It was brief to anyone looking, but lasted long enough for him to tell her that he would never forget her.