by Margaret Kay
“He’s yours,” Cooper confirmed. “Okay, we have our short-term plan. Doc will stay on overnights monitoring the equipment. Madison and I will take overlapping evening and overnight shifts with Doc as needed. We’ll assist the digital team when we’re not on. Sloan, Sherman, and Brielle, you’re assigned to monitor the feeds from now through twenty-one hundred when Doc will take over. Come up with your own schedule for coverage, two of you on.”
That must have been a known signal to the others that the briefing was over. Brielle watched them all get up. Doc left the room, she assumed to sleep. Landon, Danny, and Rich left together. She heard Landon prompt them with a desire to get coffee. They’d plan their mission in the galley.
“Cooper and I will go cook up some breakfast for everyone,” Madison said.
Cooper grumbled but followed her from the room.
Brielle was excited that she’d get to be involved and monitor the camera feeds from the bayou and any other surveillance that was put in place. She would love to watch Sheriff Henderson’s movements. She’d love to catch him doing something illegal, the bullying prick.
“Do you want to catch a shower, Brielle?” Sherman asked. “Sloan and I can take the first monitoring shift.”
“That would be great, thanks.”
“Don’t forget to take everything in you’ll need. There are towels stacked on a shelf in the far-left corner of the room and a bin beneath them for the dirty ones,” Sherman said. “By the way, Sloan, do you know if anyone checked on laundry facilities so we can dry our clothes from last night?”
“Yeah, Mother already did. He gathered up everyone’s clothes, and he’s tending them.”
A smile cracked Sherman’s lips. He should have known Mother would already be taking care of it for them.
Brielle rushed back to their room, grabbed her backpack and entered the empty bathroom. She went to the shower stall to the far left and then she grabbed a couple towels. As she finished her shower and turned the water off, she heard two male voices enter the bathroom, Landon and Danny.
“I respect the hell out of him for speaking up,” she heard Lambchop say.
“Charlie Team has been on the Power Grid Protection Project for what, well over a year?” Mother said. “It’s only natural Handsome would feel his other skills have gotten rusty.”
“We should have anticipated it. Well, we will with the other team members as we loop them back into traditional cases.”
Brielle heard toilet stall doors close and then she heard what could only be the sound of the two men peeing. She remained perfectly still and didn’t make a sound.
“Yeah, actively surveilling a Sheriff is high stakes, though from what Brielle and Sherman say about him, I don’t think we’re going up against someone with a great deal of training,” Mother said. “Sounds like the perfect job to reintroduce Handsome to surveillance work.”
“I’ll talk with Cooper. We may want to take an inventory of his skills and come up with a partial retraining plan if any other required competences appear rusty,” Lambchop said, thinking aloud.
The toilets flushed and Brielle heard the stall doors open. She heard water at the sinks turn on.
“We’ll run this like a standard surveillance in all other regards, acquire the subject, pair his phone, and surveil his movements,” she heard Landon say.
Then their voices grew quieter. She assumed they left the bathroom until she couldn’t hear them any longer. She quickly toweled off and dressed. Then she brought her backpack back to the room where she towel-dried her hair more and combed it out. She left it loose so it could air dry. Hopefully at some point, she’d be able to go outside and sit in the sun for a half hour to allow it to dry completely.
When she reentered the lounge, she found Brian and Gary eating their breakfasts. A full plate sat in front of the empty third chair for her. Her heart swelled with gratitude, realizing how considerate that was for someone to think of her.
“That looks and smells amazing,” she said as she approached.
“I got you a little of everything,” Sherman said. “I’ll eat whatever you don’t want.” He beamed a smile at her, appreciating how beautiful she looked without a trace of makeup on and her wet hair combed back from her face, hanging loosely.
“Thanks,” she acknowledged with a smile of her own as she took her seat. “Any movement on the cameras so far?”
“Just a few boats coming and going. So far, no one has approached the dock by the target facility,” Sloan reported. “And no one has taken a smoke break either.”
“Spencer must be a hard-core smoker if he stepped out during last night’s storm to have one,” Sherman remarked.
“Yeah, I can’t believe there isn’t somewhere in that facility to sneak a few drags,” Sloan chimed in. “And if they’re making drugs with slave-labor, I can’t believe they’re that concerned with a healthy workplace.”
Sherman nodded, deep in thought. “You’re right. There may have been something more involved in those two men stepping outside last night.”
Lima
The three of them manned the monitors from nine-thirty a.m. through nine p.m. Brielle stayed the majority of the day, letting Brian and Gary each go take five-hour naps. Besides her shower, she only stepped away to use the bathroom or to get herself and the guys food from the galley. By the time Doc headed over to the tables with a cup of coffee in his hands, she was beat.
“That’s the fourth time in the last minute that you yawned, Brielle. I told you, go to bed,” Sherman said.
Doc took the third seat. “I’m on now and Cooper is in the galley, heading this way. You’re both relieved.”
Brielle came to her feet.
“You go on,” Brian said. “I’ll brief Doc and be in shortly.”
Brielle yawned deeply again. The lack of sleep the previous evening and sitting still watching the feed on the monitors nearly all day, had gotten to her. “Sounds good.” She hit the bathroom on the way to the room, passing Cooper in the hallway. She was relieved no one was in the bathroom. She didn’t like the coed bathroom thing one bit.
She laid on her back, on top of the covers in all her clothes, just waiting for Brian. He came into the room fifteen minutes later.
Sherman gazed at her stretched out on the bed. She looked very peaceful and relaxed. “You’re not going to sleep in your clothes, again, are you?”
Brielle giggled. “And you’re not going to sleep nearly naked again, are you?”
Sherman crossed the room and laid atop her, snuggling in close. “How about we both sleep nearly naked?” A beautiful smile curved her lips that instantly perked his cock up. Either that or it was because his pelvis was nestled against hers.
“Not happening,” she said.
Sherman chuckled. He loved how tough she was. He kissed her as softly and gently as he could, given he wanted to rip her clothes off and bury himself deep inside her. After a lengthy and vigorous kiss, he pulled his lips back and hovered but an inch over hers. When she opened her eyes, they were dilated with an intensity that convinced him she wanted more.
He caressed her cheek and then slid his fingers gently down her neck as he stared into her beautiful brown eyes. He traced along the neckline of her t-shirt, dipping his fingers beneath. He felt the soft flesh of her breast beneath his touch and then slid his fingers under her bra. Her nipple hardened as his fingertips brushed over it.
“Brian,” she gasped, grabbing his hand.
“What’s it going to take for you to trust me?”
“Just more time.”
“I’d never hurt you. If I’m with you, I’m with you and only you.”
She pulled his hand out. Her eyes flashed a questioning and then a knowing gaze.
“Bobby told me how your last two boyfriends hurt you, Brielle. I’d never do that to you.”
“He had no right to tell you anything.”
Sherman saw the fire in her eyes. “He only did because he loves you. He was warning me away, told me he’d never fo
rgive me if I hurt you.”
“What else did he tell you?” She demanded, stunned they’d have that conversation, pissed that Bobby would have told Brian what he did.
“That you’re not a fling kind of girl. You believe in relationships and commitment. He told me to stay away from you if I couldn’t be that for you.”
Brielle huffed out and her head snapped to the left, focusing on the door like she wanted to run out it. Sherman could see she was pissed. He hoped her anger was directed more at Bobby than him. “Brielle, look at me.”
She kept her eyes focused on the door. “I can’t believe you and Bobby had that conversation.”
“Brielle, look at me,” he repeated more forcefully. When she didn’t, he pressed a kiss to her cheek. Her heated gaze instantly flew back to his. Her lips were twisted into a scowl. “What are we doing here? We both want to see where this can go, this thing between us. So, I know your last two boyfriends were scumbag assholes that cheated on you. If I knew who they were, I’d pay them a visit and give them both a beatdown for hurting you. I know we’d eventually get around to talking about our pasts and you’d tell me. Why is this an issue?”
She huffed out a disbelieving sigh. “You think I don’t want to have sex with you because my last two boyfriends cheated on me? Is that it?”
“Partially has to be. I wouldn’t be so eager to trust someone if that happened to me.”
“Brian, what don’t you understand about me just wanting to take it slow and really get to know you before we jump into a physical relationship? If we weren’t together under these circumstances, if we were starting a normal relationship, we’d have a first date. Then a second, then a third. Things would move more slowly, a kiss goodnight, more kisses, making out. I wouldn’t go to bed with you the first few nights I went out with you.”
An amused grin curved over Sherman’s lips. She wouldn’t? What kind of Pollyanna world did she live in? “So, consider that first night and the morning on the boat our first date. The second night at my place was our second, with more kisses. Last night was our third, and this is our fourth. Aren’t we to that making out point yet? Or that open conversation where we talk about what we really want in this relationship?”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s not quite that easy, you know. I like you, Brian, a lot. But I need to take this slow for reasons you can’t understand, and it’s not just because I’ve been cheated on.”
“But that is part of it, isn’t it?”
She shrugged. She didn’t want to admit that it was probably a big part of it.
“Answer me three questions,” Sherman pressed.
She nodded.
“Do you like sex?”
Her facial expression showed her surprise he’d asked her that. “What kind of question is that?”
“An easy one to answer. Do you like sex?”
“Yes,” she softly admitted.
A small grin formed on his lips. “Good. Do you like to kiss me?”
She couldn’t help the smile that tugged at her lips. “Yes,” she admitted, embarrassed.
Sherman’s smile grew larger. “Do you believe me when I tell you that I would never hurt you?”
Her gaze wandered over his face. “You are probably the most honorable man I’ve ever been with. I have no reason to doubt you.”
“So, that’s another yes?”
She chuckled that laugh he loved to hear. “Yes, that’s another yes.”
“I told you I don’t play games. I told you I am attracted to you and that I would ask you again to make love with me. I told you I would abide by your terms, and I have. But damn it, Brielle, we are both adults and just kissing you and holding you at night isn’t enough. I want to feel over your body, over your skin, not just over your clothes, which I haven’t even been able to do to my satisfaction. I want to enjoy you as a man enjoys a woman. I cannot be any clearer with my intentions.”
“No, you have been clear,” she conceded. “You’ve been honest.”
“I’d say it’s time for you to be honest with your intentions, too.”
All past hurts clouded her thoughts. “Asking me that is asking for a lot of trust.”
“No relationship can succeed without trust, Brielle. I trust you enough to be open about my intentions.”
“I promised myself I would take it slow with the next man I was with. I didn’t do that the last few times.” She saw he was about to comment on that. “And before you tell me you’re different from how those guys were, I already know that. This whole situation is different. How long will this investigation last? A week? Two weeks? A month? And then what happens after that? You go back up to Chicago and then what?”
“That’s what this is about?” Sherman asked. “Son-of-a-bitch, momma. You think I’m just gonna say goodbye and go back up north when this mission is over and leave you?”
She shrugged again. Yes, that’s exactly what she thought.
Sherman placed a tender kiss on her lips. “I said I wanted to see where this thing between us can go and that’s not tied to this operation. I want to see how you can fit into my life, because I think you’ll fit pretty damn well. I’ve got a hell of a lot of leave time saved up, time I’ll take to see you. And I’ve got money saved to fly either one of us to see the other. This thing between us doesn’t end when this mission ends.”
Sherman kissed her again, this time holding nothing back. He burrowed his pelvis more intimately against hers, pulling on one of her thighs to give him better access. Then that hand tucked itself under her ass and he groped over her cheek. He kissed her and ground his pelvis into hers for at least five minutes. She kissed him back enthusiastically.
Heated, he removed his t-shirt, quickly pulling it over his head so that his lips were not off hers for too long. Her hands greedily felt over the flesh on his back. She wasn’t holding back. His blue jeans became uncomfortably tight. Encouraged, he stood and dropped his jeans. He could see the wheels turning in her head. Was she ready for this yet? Taking her silence as consent, he reached down, unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans and then took hold of each pant leg and pulled them from her.
As he yanked her pants off, she stared at his manhood, amply displayed in his undershorts. Her gaze raked its way up his well-formed abs and chest. Her eyes locked onto his as he came back atop her. With their jeans off, a whole new awareness struck her as his hard length pressed between her legs. She gasped from the near invasion of him.
Things heated up and escalated quickly from there. His kisses sizzled. Her flesh tingled wherever his hands caressed, and they glided over her entire body. At some point, she realized both of his hands groped over her breasts. Her bra was unhooked and pushed aside. When had that happened? He rolled them, rearranging their position, so she was on top of him, her legs straddling him. He kept hold of her neck so that their lips did not part.
When she felt his hands tuck into her panties, and he freely fondled over both ass cheeks while he moaned his pleasure, grinding his cock up against her, she knew she was reaching her point of discomfort. His fingers dove deep, meeting her outer lips and she pulled her other lips from his. “Brian,” was all she had to say, and he withdrew his roving hands from within her panties. He caressed over her back, his lips reaching back to hers.
A few minutes later, at the sensation of her t-shirt being pushed up, she again stopped him. “We need to slow this down,” she pled.
“Oh, momma, no, we need to take this to the next level,” he replied. He shoved her shirt up. “Let me take this off.” His other hand pulled down on the back of her panties. “And these off.”
“Brian.” Her voice was soft.
Sherman moaned out his frustration. He knew she had reached the end of her comfort zone. But damn, did he want to make love to her. He knew she had been as into it as much as he had. He pulled her panties back up, pulled her shirt back down and then just embraced her.
He rearranged their position again, so that they each laid on their sides, facing e
ach other. He kissed her lips one more time. “I respect that this is where it ends tonight. I don’t like it, but I respect it.” He gave her another kiss, and then he got up.
Brielle watched him pull his jeans back on and then he stepped towards the door. “Where are you going?”
“To take a shower.” Then he left.
When Sherman reentered the room, Brielle laid in the middle of her bed, under the covers. Her eyes were open and staring at him. He shed his jeans and came back over to the bed. “Move over and give me some room.”
She scooted over, keeping her face turned towards him. He slid into bed with her, taking her into his arms.
The clean scent wafted off Brian, filling Brielle’s nose as his skin warmed hers. “Are you mad at me?”
