John (Guardian Defenders Book 3)

by Kris Michaels

  “We’ll see. The plane will be there in the morning. I’ll get Jeremiah there before the sun comes up. If you are cleared, you’re part of the team. If not, you’ll remain at the ranch.”

  Shae nodded. “Understood.”

  “Oh, bingo. Another hit.” Jewell’s voice was damn near a shout. “We are scratching the top of the mother lode. She’s wanted by the FBI, money laundering, drugs, and get this, three counts of murder. Seventy-three percent match, variations noted in the jawline and nose. I’m applying those parameters to all the other searches. Thank you for that little hint, John.”

  “You two try to get some rest. Things are moving rapidly. We’ll bring you in for a briefing before you get on the plane. Archangel out.” His screen went black. Jewell waved and Jared turned away from the screen as they went black, too.

  “Rest.” Shae snorted. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to follow that order.”

  “Let’s go back to the house.” He looked around. “Where is your coat?”

  “Oh…” Shae looked around. “I don’t think I wore one.” She shrugged. “It wasn’t important at the time.”

  “Here.” He lifted his coat from the back of his chair and dropped it over her shoulders before he opened the conference room door.

  Mike looked up from his desk and stood. “Anything I can do to help?”

  “No, thank you. We’ll be heading out in the morning.” He looked down at Shae. He couldn’t imagine leaving her behind.

  “I just got a notification of an inbound bird. Projected arrival time is 0800 hours.” He turned his attention to Shae. “I got a notice to have the conference room ready for Dr. Wheeler at 0700 for your Go/No Go evaluation.”

  “My what?” Shae cocked her head.

  “Sorry, it is what we call the determination any of the doctors make that allow someone back into the field. It is either a go or a no go.” Mike turned off the light in his office. “It’s been a long day even though it's only ten-thirty. I’m ready to call it a night.” He tossed the keys to the ATV to John. “Take this, it will get you home sooner.”

  He caught the keys and put his arm over Shae’s shoulders. “Let’s go.”

  Chapter 21

  Shae poured them each a shot of bourbon. John was taking a shower. He smelled of cattle and horses, or so he said. She didn’t dispute the fact, and honestly, she was thankful for a few moments alone. She leaned against the counter and stared sightlessly into the night. Earlier this evening her mind had been whirring about minutia. How had she let such minor things worry her? She was in love with John. Moving in with him was, as Jeremiah called it, a no-brainer. Funny how meteoric impacts made all the noise of life fall into place immediately.

  The thought that John had betrayed her, that he was somehow involved with that woman, had cemented into her thoughts immediately. She hadn’t given him the benefit of the doubt. She’d accused and lashed out, and John, in his steady way, had absorbed her accusations. How did she deserve the love of a man like him? Well, after months of counseling with Jeremiah, she knew the answer to that question. One didn’t deserve love, they either received it like the gift it was or they didn’t. John had given her his love. She’d accepted it and had given him her love. To think that woman had placed their precious connection in jeopardy was right on course for her.

  That damn woman needed to be stopped. Shae drew her hand through her hair. Stopped. Ha. She had ideas of how to stop the bitch. But how could she wish death for John’s sister? Dear God, she couldn’t let that woman come between them again, but after what she’d done, that was next to impossible. There would always be a divide between her and John now. He loved the woman he knew as his sister and she understood that. But at this very moment, if Shae could put a bullet between the woman’s eyes, she would.

  How did a man of John’s character have a sister like her? She heard him as he padded down the hallway and closed her eyes. Communication. They needed to talk. Hard, direct words that could separate them forever.

  “One of those for me?”

  She smiled and handed him one. “Salud.” They both downed the drinks and she poured them one more. “We need to talk.”

  “We do.” John took his glass and then her hand. They walked into the living room where he stoked the fire before he sat down on the couch with her.

  “I want you to know I love you. This situation with your sister has the potential of driving a wedge between us and I don’t want that, but I can’t help what I feel.” Shae took a sip of the bourbon, keeping the glass in her hands, giving her something to concentrate on.

  John took the glass from her and set it beside his on the coffee table. He held both her hands and waited until she looked up at him. “The girl that grew up with me is not the woman who did this to you. I don’t know what happened to make her change. I will always cherish my memories of her. That young woman is who I remember, who I will continue to love. The woman who was involved in your torture, in providing profiles for criminals, well, she isn’t a person I recognize. I don’t know when or how she took the wrong road. It could have been while I was in the military or after.

  “I’ve lived with the guilt of her death for years. It nearly destroyed me. I thought that maybe if I paid more attention, if I could have gotten to her sooner… I asked myself what I missed. My car and my apartment were targeted. If Guardian hadn’t stepped in, I would have been in the car. The apartment explosion was only an hour after I’d cleared out. Guardian used the vehicle explosion to stage my exit. To the world, I was dead. At that time, we believed the Agency was trying to eliminate me. But now…”

  “She tried to kill you and then to hide anything you had in your apartment.”

  He nodded. “What would she gain?”

  “Money.” The word popped out of her mouth before she could stop it.

  John nodded. “Those profiles would be worth millions. She was good but lacked the patience to learn the new software, the new safety measures that governments were including. She didn’t work with me as I learned them.”

  “So, she needs money?”

  John shook his head. “I don’t know. If she’s Stratus, why would she need money?”

  “Good question.” She fell back into the cushions with him. He tucked her into his side, and she let herself relax against him.

  “I won’t let her come between us.” His chest rumbled as he spoke.

  Shae sighed. “She already has.”

  “True, but no more. No matter what happens past this moment, we make the decision to not let her come between what we have. We are stronger together.” His thumb caressed her arm, running up and down.

  She lifted away from him and stood. She wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the fire. “I need to know that she won’t take you away from me.”

  John rose and closed the space between them. “I’m here. With you. Always.” He dropped his hands to her hips and tugged her closer. “Always.” His lips dropped to hers. The warmth of his tongue opened her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer until there was no space between them.

  John picked her up without releasing her from the blistering kiss. Finally, he broke away and carried her through the house to the bedroom. He lifted a knee onto the bed and laid her down, immediately covering her with his body.

  Once again the kiss possessed her, lifted her worries, and firmly shoved them away from them as a couple. John was assuring her with his body that he was there with her and it was exactly what she needed. She returned his kiss with just as much need and passion. She pulled the hem of his shirt and he lifted away to rip the damn thing off. She pulled her shirt over her head. To hell with the buttons. She sat up as he straddled her and unhooked her bra, flinging it to the floor. John smiled in a wickedly delicious way and moved to the foot of the bed. He tugged on her jeans and she unfastened them. He slid them down her legs. “Damn.” He pressed his hand against his cock, which was still confined by denim. “You’re going to mak
e me cum in my pants. You are so damn beautiful.”

  Shae lifted a leg and let her body fall open. John’s eyes riveted on her sex. “You have too many clothes on.” The thong she wore wouldn’t last. She’d lost most of the new ones she’d purchased, but it was so worth it to see John lose his mind.

  He dropped his jeans and stared at her. “All of it.” The groan he let loose was almost wounded. He removed his boxers and crawled onto the bed. She gasped when he lowered and licked the inside of her ankle. He lifted his eyes and smiled. Oh, God, this was going to be… “Ah!” A small bite along the inside of her knee followed by a lick and a kiss. John reached the apex and she arched toward him only to have him drop to her other ankle and start the divine torture again.

  Her hands fisted the bedcovers as she propped herself on her elbows and watched as he worked his way up her leg. By the time he reached the V of her leg she was shaking, her hips undulating of their own accord. She wanted his mouth on her, wanted to feel that friction and the… “Oh, yes!” She hissed the word and dropped onto her back, her hands threaded through his hair, and as he divided her with his tongue she hung on. John’s shoulders settled between her legs and the feel of his chin, nose, and tongue as he added friction and pressure to her clit was unbelievable. He entered her with two fingers and curved them as he sucked her clit into his mouth. She exploded. There was no other word for what happened. Her body drew tight and then with rhythmic thrashes, she orgasmed, not once but twice.

  She opened her eyes sometime afterward. John was above her and a devilish grin lingered. “You liked that.” He leaned down and kissed her.

  “I think you made me pass out,” Shae laughed as she wrapped her arms around his neck. The taste of both of them on his lips was erotic and so intimate. “Perhaps it is my turn to make you pass out?”

  He scooped her up and rolled them. Shae laughed as the world righted itself. She straddled him and leaned down, her breasts flattening against the hair on his chest. “Hello, cowboy. Oh… I heard a song on the radio.”

  “You did?” He lifted up to kiss her, but she moved back, teasing him.

  “I did. Something about saving a horse?”

  He laughed, “I may have heard that song. Are you going to ride this cowboy?”

  “Until he passes out.” She lifted and centered his heavy shaft under her. Her body accepted him, but she was going to tease him like he teased her. She lifted and lowered until finally, he was deep inside her. His hands gripped her thighs and she smiled down at him. She cupped her breasts in her hands and started a slow dance on his cock, up and down with a figure eight when they were joined deeply. His hiss and the way his fingers tightened on her thighs told her what she needed to know. She dropped and braced her hands on his shoulders before she sped up and used more of her weight to bring them together. His chin kicked back and the cords of this throat convulsed as he swallowed hard. She leaned down and licked his neck before she doubled her efforts and speed. He felt amazing inside her but what she was doing to him was heady and emboldened her farther. She stopped and lifted off him.

  “No!” His eyes popped open.

  “Shh…” She turned around and took him inside her again.

  “Oh, fuck.” His hands found her ass and she moved her hips forward and back as she lifted and sank down. “Shae… God, Shae…”

  She reached down and rubbed her clit as she moved, making sure he could feel what she was doing. His hands cupped her hips and he brought her down hard on his cock. His barked shout as he came set her off and she climaxed again while rubbing her clit. The sensation of coming in this position with John buried so deep inside of her drew out the orgasm.

  Finally, with one hand braced against his thigh, she tipped to the side and fell onto the bed. His hand landed on her hip. “You kill me.” He panted the words, which pulled a smile from her. A completely-sated, in-love, God-that-was-great-sex type of smile.

  “You’re still talking. Not dead.”

  “Oh… right.”

  The comment struck her as funny and she started to laugh. He moved, spooning her from behind, putting them crosswise on the bed. “Shae?”

  She twisted in his arms so they were face-to-face. “John?”

  “I want to marry you.” John pushed her hair out of her eyes. “I love you and I’m willing to wait, but I want you to marry me. I need you to know that.”

  She lifted her hand to his face. The love in his eyes was all she could see, and she knew that love was mirrored in hers. “I love you.” She leaned forward and kissed him. “I want to marry you, too. One day, in the future, I want to have a family with you. But we need to finish what she started. When it’s over, we will have our time.”

  “When it’s over.” John smiled and pulled her into his chest. “Guardian has a saying. Whatever it takes, for as long as it takes.”

  “It’s a good saying.” Shae closed her eyes, exhausted, content, and in love. She had a good idea what it would take to rid themselves of that woman. Tomorrow she’d worry about how long it would take.

  Chapter 22

  Shae sat across from Jeremiah. They’d been talking for a half-hour. Her eyes kept sliding to the digital clock mounted on the wall by the huge video screen.

  “In a rush to get somewhere?” Jeremiah moved his eyes to the display and back to her.

  “We have a transport due in at eight. To take us to…” She paused and then looked at Jeremiah. “Where is Guardian’s headquarters?”

  “D.C.,” he supplied.

  “Oh. To D.C., then.” She folded her hands around her empty coffee cup. “I’m fine. I can do this.”

  “I know you want to do this, but what happens when you come face to face with John’s sister?”

  “I won’t know that until it happens. In reality, I could be on a different team and not be within a hundred miles of her. I’ve worked missions before. I know what a sweep entails. She could run and we’ll never find her, or she could die trying to evade apprehension.” She leaned forward. “But I need closure. I need to know that I did something to help.”

  “But you decided you didn’t want to do missions again. That’s why you are pushing paper here at the ranch.”

  “And I love what I do here. It keeps me productive and I provide a service, even if it is only allowing Mike to go home at a decent hour. I have every intention of settling here with John. He’s asked me to marry him.”

  “Congratulations. When’s the date?”

  “After.”

  “After?”

  Shae snorted. “Stop. You know exactly what I mean.”

  “So, you are postponing your happiness until this situation is resolved.”

  “Yes.”

  “What if it is never resolved?”

  “We will cross that bridge when we come to it. The immediacy of the situation would suggest it will be resolved.” She glanced at the clock again. “Are you going to prevent me from going?”

  Jeremiah stared at her long enough to make it an uncomfortable exchange, but she didn’t glance away. She held his stare.

  “Why should I let you go?”

  “That woman almost took my life from me. I went through some pretty low times and I don’t want to go on missions as a routine. But I am strong enough to maintain discipline and manage not to shoot the bitch between the eyes at the first opportunity I get. If only for John’s sake.”

  “You want her dead?”

  “I want justice, but I would only take her life when use of deadly force would be authorized.”

  “And when is that?”

  “To save my life or the life of another.”

  “You haven’t qualified on a weapon.”

  Shae chuckled, “I’m an expert marksman. If Guardian wants me to qualify it would take moments to show them my skills.”

  “And what happens when she’s captured or killed?”

  “Then John and I come back, and we live our lives.”

  “That simple?”

  Shae dro
pped her eyes to the table. Was it that simple? She searched her heart and her mind before she nodded. “It is that simple. Events like this put minutia into perspective, don’t they?”

  A twitch of a smile lifted the corner of her doctor’s mouth. “Indeed.” He leaned back in the chair. “I’m going to give you a go under one condition.”

  “A condition?”

  “Yes. If you can’t agree to it, you’re staying here at the ranch.”

  “What is it?”

  “Any flashbacks whatsoever and you pull yourself from the mission.”

  “I haven’t had any in months. Even when I found the photograph, I was angry, confused, and very emotional, but I didn’t have a flashback.”

  “You haven’t been under the stress you’re going to place on yourself with this mission. I have your word on it, or you don’t go.”

  “I will pull myself from the mission if I have an episode.” Shae extended her hand.

  Jeremiah took it and held it. “Be smart, Shae. You have a lifetime to look forward to with John. She is not worth losing that future.”

  Shae released his grip. “Believe me, I know that. And that is what is keeping her safe.”

  Jeremiah chuckled, “You must have been a kick-ass operative.”

  “I still am.” Shae lifted an eyebrow at him. “But now I have a reason to be careful.”

  “So, you do. Be safe, Shae. I’m here if you need me.”

  She watched him leave. Resolve, determination, and confidence coalesced as she considered the broken, damaged path that led her to this moment. She’d survived. She was strong and whole. She was ready. It had taken almost a year, but the woman that had emerged from that mission was different yet the same. Stronger and yet permanently wounded. Determined but apprehensive. Her strengths were bound to her weaknesses and through the melding, she was whole again. Changed, true, but ready nonetheless.

  John stood beside Shae as they waited for yet another entrapment area to clear them through to Guardian’s offices. She glanced at him and lifted an eyebrow. He smiled at her and put his hand at the small of her back when the buzzer releasing the locks sounded. Shae breathed a sigh of relief when they exited into a hallway. “Rather security conscious, aren’t they? Four checkpoints?”