For someone so big, Brick was fast and the bodyguard jumped into the back with Hayden.
Jaxon tore out of the parking garage and floored it down the street.
They made it in four minutes and that was saying something with the traffic on Broadway, but it was still very early morning.
“Drop me off at the front. Double park if you have to!”
Early morning had the sidewalk somewhat deserted.
Logan was out of the jeep before it came to a full stop, with Echo at his side. The dog gave a low, throaty whine.
“Okay, boy.” He crouched and pulled out Macy’s t-shirt. Echo nosed into the shirt and his tail started fiercely wagging. “Find Macy. Where’s Macy?”
Echo looked at him for a moment like he was crazy and Logan’s heart lurched, but then the big, dark dog whirled and raced down the block.
Logan jumped back into the jeep and Jaxon floored the vehicle after the dog. Echo turned down the alley behind the apartment building and stopped beneath a fire escape.
“Come!” Logan called and Echo jumped into the jeep.
Jaxon drove around to the front of the apartment building and Logan got out and opened the building’s door for Echo. The dog darted inside and scratched on the stairwell door. Logan opened it and Echo went up.
When the dog sniffed at the fifth-floor exit, Logan opened the door and Echo moved inside. The dog stopped and sniffing, he backtracked to the stairwell and continued upward with the jangle of dog tags and nails clicking on metal.
When they reached the seventh floor, Echo again paused and when Logan opened the door, the dog went inside.
This time though, Echo didn’t stop or backtrack. He charged down the hallway and took the corner.
Logan ran and rounded the corner to find Echo digging grooves in the door at the end of the hallway.
Logan pulled his gun and gently eased the door marked laundry open. His heart plummeted when he found the room empty.
Echo sniffed the floor and then trotted to the very end of the laundry room.
Sitting on his haunches, Echo’s whole body started wiggling.
“Heel,” Logan said, but the dog ignored him.
That was how he knew it was Macy. Macy was the only one who could get Echo to ignore his commands.
Swallowing around a lump in his throat, he stepped inside, Hayden and Brick at his flank. Reaching the end of the room, Logan looked into the small space between the washer and the wall.
The most beautiful pair of eyes in the world gazed back.
“He’s here,” Macy whispered into the phone.
“Thank you,” Logan whispered to Mac. “I found him.”
“Bring him by for dinner,” was all Mac said before ending the call.
The burner phone slipped from Macy’s bloody grip and toppled to the floor. Big, cornflower blue eyes looked tired.
“Oh, baby, what am I going to do with you?” he croaked through a suddenly tight throat.
Rather than answer him, Macy held out his arms.
Logan scooted Echo out of the way and reached for Macy. Macy clutched at him and Logan lifted the man out of the small space and into his arms.
He buried his face in Macy’s long, dark hair and drew in a deep breath.
“Keep me,” Macy sighed on a whisper.
“You sure?” he asked, drawing back to gaze down into Macy’s cornflower blue eyes.
“You asked, now you have to keep me,” Macy retorted cheekily.
Relief at the snarky comeback sent laughter boiling up, but then it died at the pain in Macy’s eyes.
“Let’s get you out of here.”
Macy nodded and wrapped slender arms around his neck.
“Guard,” he ordered Echo as he made his way out of the room. With that one word, guard, the dog watched for signs of perpetrators.
Both Hayden and Brick had guns drawn. It was a reminder that they weren’t out of the woods yet.
Echo stayed two steps ahead of him.
Jaxon appeared at the entrance to the stairwell, holding the door open.
“Hi.” Jaxon grinned at Macy.
“Hi.” Macy smiled back.
All his men were grinning at Macy snug in his arms.
“You look good there.” Jaxon waved at Macy in his arms.
Logan squinted and Jaxon laughed.
“Don’t I?” Macy gave a cheeky grin and waggled his fingers at his men.
“Get going,” he groused at his team, but couldn’t stop his smile from growing or the warmth filling his chest.
“First stop, the hospital.”
Macy
“Ouch!” He jumped beneath the gentle repositioning of his arm.
Standing protectively over him, Logan scowled at the young doctor checking his wound and, in another instant, Logan took his hand.
He loved the attention and protectiveness, but the man was treating him like spun glass.
“You’re hovering.” He squinted up at Logan.
“Am I?” Logan frowned absently, watching every move the doctor made.
Chewing the inside of his lip, he tugged his hand away. “Don’t let my small stature fool you.” It was a gentle reminder.
Logan’s head whipped up and he blinked as if coming out of a fog. Then very slightly, the corner of Logan’s mouth twitched.
“I’m sorry.”
“You constantly underestimate me.” He sniffed, not ready to let Logan off the hook just yet.
“What if I only wanted to hold your hand?”
“Bah!”
“Bah?” Logan’s face was comical.
“Yes.” He tipped his chin up, letting the overprotective, sexy as all hell hunk know he wasn’t messing around. “I’m serious.”
“Me too.” Logan drew his hand to his heart and pressed it flat. “I’m so sorry.”
His smile grew, he couldn’t help it in the face of Logan’s genuine apology. It died though at the doctor’s next words.
“He’s fine.” The doctor turned to address Logan. “The graze wasn’t too deep.”
“Hello?” He snapped his fingers at the doctor. “Sitting right here.”
“Ah yes, sorry.” The man grimaced and finished placing gauze over the injury on his side. “Keep it clean to avoid infection. Here’s a prescription for antibiotics. Be careful you don’t rip the stitches. Try not to lift anything too heavy.” He handed him a packet with the precautions and directions.
Seriously, though, all he wanted was to leave this hospital and put Logan Cobalt’s cock deep inside of his body. Was that too heavy? He lifted his gaze from Logan’s crotch and found the man eyeing him with a half amused, half stern look. Macy laughed out loud.
Even the doctor laughed.
A flush started up Logan’s neck and Macy watched, fascinated when the pink filled the man’s cheeks.
“What?” he said innocently, widening his eyes.
Jett and Nathan entered the hospital room and one look at their faces had his blood running cold.
“What’s going on?” He snapped upright with a wince and slipped from the bed.
“US Marshal Flint Ashbridge was found dead in a California hotel room,” Jett said.
“We think Siegel had him killed when he was of no more use,” Nathan added, striding to the window and peeking through the slit in the blinds.
The door opened again and Wild slipped into the room with a bulletproof vest in his hand. “Wrap it up. Siegel’s men are entering the hospital.”
Logan had his gun out and the doctor’s eyes widened.
“I’m being hunted, doc,” Macy told the man. “Get into that bathroom there and don’t come out until we are gone. Call nine-one-one,” he advised.
Sliding as quickly as possible into his shirt and the bulletproof vest Wild held out, Macy paused to check the clip on his gun. He tucked the weapon into his waistband and glanced up to find Logan watching him with a light that was caught somewhere between pride and annoyance.
“If you thin
k you’re keeping me tucked away…” he warned just in case.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
Damn right, he thought. It was his choice to either sit on that bed like a victim or take Siegel out once and for all.
The doctor opened the bathroom door and made a sound of surprise when Hayden came through it checking the clip on a nine millimeter.
“Jaxon and Brick are retrieving the SUV. They’ll meet us at the side entrance,” Hayden murmured, shutting the bathroom door and making sure the doctor was locked inside.
“We can’t have a shoot out here,” Nathan said. “What’s the plan?”
“We take it to somewhere of our choosing,” Macy growled.
Jett cackled, and it wasn’t with amusement, before he cracked his knuckles.
“Where might that be?” Logan placed a hand on his arm.
“We have a few places in Denver,” he told Logan.
“We can commandeer one of those places and setup,” Nathan added.
Jett checked his phone. “Alexander is waiting on us.”
“Sounds good. Let’s go,” Macy responded.
Logan opened his mouth and then closed it like a fish out of water and he knew that the man wanted him tucked somewhere safely away and not out fighting the bad guys.
He pulled until he and Logan were apart from the others, not far, but far enough to whisper.
“I know this is going to take some time, but you need to trust me,” he said, just to make sure Logan knew he wasn’t going to sit on the sidelines.
“I know,” Logan sighed and swallowed. “I’m trying, just know that I’m trying like hell.”
“I know.” He smoothed his fingertips over Logan’s jaw and then stood on his tiptoes to kiss the man’s lips. “Now, let’s go kick some ass.”
Logan made a snorting sound and Macy turned a bit too quickly and winced.
“Damn it,” he muttered and pressed a hand to his side before he straightened and stepped toward the door. He waited for Jett, Nathan, and Wild to take the lead and then he stepped through it with Logan at his side. Hayden brought up the rear.
To the hospital staff, it looked like a group of visitors leaving. To the bad guys, they looked like exactly what they were, bodyguards and agents. Maybe that was why they didn’t take the shot. Too many to handle. Or maybe Siegel didn’t have enough men there to handle the job.
There were seven of them, so it made sense that two SUVs would be waiting. He, Logan, and Nathan slid into one and Jaxon drove them out of the parking lot. Brick brought up the rear with Wild and Jett in the other.
The two black SUVs silently barreled down the street and entered the freeway.
Everyone had eyes peeled for the perps, but nobody was following them that Macy could see.
Jaxon didn’t drive fast, but rather took his time and a direct route to the office building. It wasn’t like Siegel didn’t have the address anyway. This way, if Siegel had eyes on Cobalt Security, they’d see Macy enter the front door with only Logan and Jaxon at his side. The rest would come in through alternate entrances.
They wouldn’t be staying long at the office, just long enough to find an alternative location.
The bulletproof vest he’d pulled on gave him a measure of comfort that he wasn’t walking with a bullseye on his back. Once inside the building, he didn’t take a breath until Logan led him into a huge room on the third floor.
It looked to be a hub of some kind and filled with activity.
“This is where the magic happens,” Hayden told him.
“Oh yeah?” He moved through the room, looking at the computer screens, and then gazed up at the massive monitors on the wall. It showed every one of his movements over the past four days.
“And here I thought I was smart,” he huffed at how easy they’d tracked him.
“Hey,” Logan said from his side. “It took the FBI, US Marshals, Phoenix, and my team to track you down. That’s no small feat. At one point, you disappeared from us for two days.”
“Yeah?” He flashed a grin up at Logan. “That ought to tell you not to fuck with me.”
Logan gaped and slapped a hand to his chest. “Me?”
Macy cackled. “Well you can fu-” He swallowed his words when someone cleared their throat.
“Hello, Agent Finch.”
“Hello, Sir.” He turned to the attractive man standing nearby.
ASAC Alexander Channing grinned. “Still in rare form I see.”
“Of course,” Macy snarked back with a laugh.
“Some things never change,” Jett called out.
Macy flipped Jett the bird and Hitch broke into laughter.
“Hey Macy.”
“Nice to see you, Hitch.”
The pleasantries over, Macy turned to check out the monitor.
“So,” Hayden began. “Do we have a plan or are we winging it?”
“Winging it?” Brick gaped at Hayden, who scowled back.
“We are not winging it.” Logan shook his head.
“I have every pair of eyes imaginable looking for Siegel. When he surfaces, we’ll get him,” Alexander said.
“We need to search for an alternate location,” Macy spoke directly to Alexander. “That way, we can lure Siegel out.”
Alexander’s head tipped and he squinted at him as if the idea had merit. Which it did. A setup, a sting to coax Siegel from hiding and put an end to this shit was the plan. He turned to open his mouth, but found the words dried up when he met Logan’s heated gaze.
“Can I see you for a minute?” the man rasped and clamped a hand around his arm.
“Of course.” He look expectantly up into Logan’s face and waited.
“In private?” Logan muttered, making him giggle.
“Oooh.” Rolling his eyes, he let Logan pull him toward the door.
Once in the hallway, Logan didn’t stop, but took him to the top level. In another few moments, Macy found himself inside a luxurious bedroom off of the main office.
Logan snapped the door shut.
“Is here good?” He tested the bed with a push of his hand and tossed a smirk over his shoulder. He was being a smartass, but Logan brought out the best in him.
“Good enough,” Logan responded.
When he turned, Logan was there, cupping his face, making his heart lurch. He welcomed this man’s touch and reveled in it. His chest tightened. It felt like forever since he’d been in Logan’s arms.
Waiting for Logan to become all possessive and shit, he was caught by surprise and had just enough time to draw a quick breath before Logan’s mouth crushed his and he moaned, pushing into the kiss.
He nipped at Logan’s mouth before tangling his tongue inside. Lifting his hands, he raked his fingers through Logan’s hair and gripped it hard, keeping the man’s mouth locked to his. Swirls of heat snaked through his cock and he shifted and rubbed against Logan.
“God, I’ve never been so terrified in my life,” Logan breathed.
“Logan…”
“Say it.”
“Logan,” he obeyed.
“No, not that, tell me you love me.”
“I love you. I love you,” he repeated it over and over, his heart swelling.
He knew without a doubt that he was in this for life.
“Finally,” Logan muttered, returning the words of endearment against his lips. “I love you, Mercedes Giles, Macy Finch.”
“I go by Macy.” He smiled up at Logan. “But yeah, I’m taking back my last name when all this is over. I’m sorry I didn’t let you tell me you loved me before I disappeared.” Macy brushed his hands over Logan’s shoulders and down his arms.
“It’s okay,” Logan breathed.
“No, it’s not, and I shouldn’t have had you handcuffed. I regretted that more than you’ll ever know.”
“You’re forgiven.” Logan brushed a tender kiss to his lips.
He stepped back, drawing Logan toward the bed.
“You’re wounded,” Logan baul
ked.
“Don’t treat me like glass,” he said, squinting at Logan.
The corner of Logan’s mouth tipped and with another tug, the man came willingly into his arms. Sure, there was a small pinch of pain in his side, but it was nothing compared to the pain he’d been through being separated from Logan.
Stretched out together, Macy plastered his whole body against Logan’s and relaxed.
“Damn, this feels good,” he whispered, knowing that it sounded inadequate. It felt more than good, it felt fantastic.
“This is right where I want you.” Logan’s arms tightened around him.
“Yeah?” He gazed up into an intense green gaze, daring to hope, and then Logan’s next word set his world to rights.
“Forever.”
Macy fisted Logan’s hair tightly. “Are you sure you can handle this?” he challenged.
“I’m damned sure gonna try like hell.” Logan dipped his head and Macy lifted his mouth.
Logan’s hands slipped into his shirt and then warm palms were sliding over the skin of his back, sending his heart and body racing.
Logan
He took his time.
No way in hell was he rushing this.
Spreading out Macy like a feast, he didn’t stop until they were both naked. He kissed at the edges around the bandage that covered the injury that could have taken this man from this world. An action that would have ended him.
He brushed his lips over the healing scab on Macy’s thigh and then the bruises on his arm before he carefully lifted the man’s left hand and brushed a kiss over the wrapped fingers.
“I’m fine,” Macy breathed, his lids dropping to half mast at each kiss. Desire flashed in the blue depths.
“Just making sure,” he replied huskily and smoothed his hands down Macy’s arching body, admiring the difference of his roughened hands and the silky smoothness of Macy’s skin.
“Love.” Macy tugged at him.
“Love,” he breathed in return and closed his mouth around Macy’s nipple, toying with the tiny metal ring between his teeth.
“Oh, oh, oh,” Macy panted.
He soothed the nipple with his tongue before seeking out the other and bringing the same response.
Macy clutched at him. “Lube, condoms.”
Logan chuckled. It wasn’t a request, it was an order. He hovered over Macy’s body and while holding the man’s gaze, he brushed his whole body against him. The catch of Macy’s breath was explosive and Logan blindly plucked the lube and condoms from the bedside table.
Without Fear Page 15
