The reason he and Matteo were heading out was to have their women’s six. He didn’t like them out there without backup.
Chapter Fourteen
Fifteen minutes later, Archer stood on the boardwalk with Matteo, between Bally’s and Caesars, and sent Sandy a text. Matteo and I are here. text me your location.
A second later, his phone rang.
It was Sandy. Thank Christ. “We’re on Bally’s rooftop, but hurry, you need to get to the mall on the pier across from Caesars! The boss...I think he’s at the back getting into a boat. We only have a short-range drone. Bella has it hovering near there, but it won’t be able to follow him if he gets in a boat.”
Shit.
“Okay,” he told her and hung up, heading toward the mall at a dead run, filling Matteo in on the way.
Shaped like a cruise ship, the mall was built on a pier...and about to close. They made it inside and sprinted through the nearly vacant halls, bursting through the doors to the observation deck at the back, guns drawn.
But it was empty.
“Shit,” Matteo muttered, echoing Archer’s thoughts.
The faint roar of a motor boat echoed in the distance, but the night was overcast, and with clouds covering the moon, it was nearly pitch black over the ocean.
He couldn’t see a damn thing.
Thrusting a hand through his hair he muttered a curse. “Not again.”
If the man disappearing into the night was the boss from the chatter, it was possible Archer had just missed the bastard responsible for Munich. Gritting his teeth, he holstered his gun and prayed he’d have another shot at the guy soon.
The phone in his pocket began to vibrate. He fished it out and answered.
“Did you get there in time?” Sandy asked.
“No.” Son-of-a-bitch. “Tell me you caught sight of him on the drone.” They needed a damn photo of this guy.
He glanced over the edge of the pier, noting it was almost a two-story drop to the water. Good. He hoped the bastard had broken his ankle getting into the boat.
“Possibly.” She didn’t sound as confident as he’d hoped. “He wore a baseball hat and a hoodie over it. Guy’s good at shadowing his face. We lost him, so we’re making our way down to the boardwalk now. We’ll meet you outside the Wild West Casino.”
“Roger that.” He hung up and filled Matteo in, swallowing another curse as they made their way back to the boardwalk.
They were so close...
Maybe when they viewed the drone footage, they’d find a good enough angle on the guy to run facial recognition. He held onto that thought, and his spirits lifted further when he spotted Sandy coming out of the casino with Bella.
He inhaled and his whole body seemed to sigh at the sight of her unharmed. At least he hadn’t found her in one of the gunfight scenarios that had tormented his mind back at the nest.
She’d been doing surveillance. No guns involved.
As she weaved around the small throng of people, turning several male heads along the way, the interest in her eyes and the smile that lit up her face were directed solely at him. The last of the tension in his body disappeared, replaced by a rush of warmth.
He strode across the boardwalk, vaguely aware of Matteo pulling Bella into his arms, as he met Sandy halfway. “Hi,” he said, setting his hands on her hips, loving how hers automatically went to his chest. Intending to take just a small kiss, he bent down to brush her lips with his, but the instant his mouth touched hers, his body changed the rules.
Tightening his hold, he kissed her deeply, her hands warm on his skin as they slid up to fist his hair. Blame it on adrenaline from the last half hour, or his concern for her over the past hour, but longing and hunger burst through his body, mixing to form a fierce need to strip them naked and thrust deep inside her.
Whistles and cheers, and even some clapping made it past the fog in his brain, and he forced himself to break the kiss, promising to pick up where they left off when they were alone.
And not in public.
Damn...he was acting like a froglet fresh out of BUD/S.
“Sorry,” he said between breaths, kissing her forehead. “Didn’t mean for that to get so out of hand.”
She chuckled against his neck, her breath warm on his skin. “I did. Still learning how to handle adrenaline, I guess.”
He smiled and drew back to stare into her flushed face. God, she was beautiful. “Don’t feel you need to on my account.”
“Duly noted.” She grinned, smoothing his hair before setting her hands back on his chest. “But I’d rather wait until we’re at your place.”
“Duly noted,” he repeated her words back to her, and received another gorgeous smile from the woman he was beginning to realize owned his heart.
“Then we’re of accord. We’ll continue this later,” she said, moving to his side to slide an arm around him. “But first, it’s back to the nest so we can fill each other in on today’s events.”
He nodded. It was time for SITREPs, and to view the drone footage.
And fifteen minutes later, when they convened in the cyber sanctuary, Archer was pleased to see TJ had the footage already up on one of the monitors.
“So far, I’ve only found a partial of the man, but his face is in the shadows.” TJ shook his head. “It’s too bad it was dark out.”
Bella dropped into a chair. “Think that was his plan.”
Archer turned to Sandy. “What makes you think he’s the one referred to as the boss from the Federal Reserve threats?”
She turned face him. “Because the guys Bella rounded up told us some badass from overseas snuck in near Cape May and was willing to pay top dollar to slip into New York unnoticed tonight.”
Shit.
“Through the guys you apprehended?” Matteo asked.
“No,” Bella replied, examining her fingernails. “They’re too low level. It required someone with bigger connections. So, we decided to take a drone and hit the roof at Bally’s, since that’s the casino favored by the whales who are the source of the information provided by the two Dillinger wannabees in the back.”
Sandy nodded. “And I picked up some clear chatter between two men...one was careful not to talk too much. Give me a second to find it.” She glanced at the notes on her phone, flicked a few buttons on the console, fast forwarding the tape to a certain time stamp, then hit play.
Audio of a man claiming to have a speed boat at the back of the pier ready to take him to the rendezvous point filled the room, along with the other man’s one word response—“Good.”
Archer’s heart dropped into his gut. “It’s him. I recognize that bastard’s voice.” He clenched his jaw and fought to keep memories from the past at bay.
In Munich, Archer had heard the bomber laugh over the com line and state, “Too late” a second before the bomb went off.
He’d never forget that voice or the laugh.
“I won’t let him set off another bomb,” he muttered through clenched teeth.
A warm hand glided down his arm and curled over his fist, easing his fingers open. “Tell us what we need to know about him and his team.”
“His team is small. Three to four, max,” Archer said. “We think he uses outside muscle to do preliminary footwork, but we’re not certain, because they’re never found.”
“Like two guys with their throats cut, buried under tons of rubble,” Bella said.
Shit.
“Yeah, exactly like that.” He nodded.
“And another with two bullets to the chest,” Matteo added.
Rodrigo...
Archer felt Sandy stiffen, so he lightly squeezed her hand. “The circumstances surrounding his murder are unclear,” he told her quietly.
“Yeah,” TJ said. “I’m still searching through Midtown footage. I’ll find something. I know it.”
Sandy nodded. “Thanks. Do you want help?”
“No. I’m good.” TJ wisely turned her down.
Archer glanced at the live feed from
the cameras he and Matteo had set up at the other night. “Any activity at the Reserve?”
“Nothing. It’s all quiet, too,” TJ replied. “I’ll let you know if that changes. I’ve set up alarms to alert me at the slightest quiver.”
Good.
“Do you think he’ll jump right in and try to set bombs tonight?” Sandy asked.
Archer shook his head. “No. He knows he’s being watched and has to assume the Reserve is too. He’s going to case things for a few days.”
“Any chance he’ll think it’s too risky and leave?” She glanced up at him.
“Bastard likes a challenge.” Archer intended to rise to it this time.
New York had already seen too much damage at the hands of lunatics and Archer wasn’t about to allow another one to destroy any more lives and change the landscape again.
***
An hour later, after making plans to meet again in the morning, Archer left with Sandy, but instead of heading home, he drove them to the marina. The moon was visible now and the reflection off the ocean drew him in.
He parked in the lot and turned to face her. “You up for a moonlight cruise?”
“Yes.” Her smile was visible from the dashboard light. “I’ve never been on a boat at night.”
He cut the engine and grinned. “There’s nothing like it.”
And he was excited to share the experience with her...and to be the first one to take her out at night.
After he helped her on board and cast off, Archer realized she was the only person, besides Silas, to be on his boat. His sanctuary. His escape from the world. And as he piloted them out on the ocean at night, it was as if they were the only two people in the world. A private haven. Exactly where he wanted her.
Careful to anchor a few miles off shore in a protected area, not in a shipping lane, he flicked on more than just the anchor light. Last thing Archer wanted was an inexperienced yahoo hitting them and ruining their night.
“This is amazing,” she said, coming back upstairs to the help area to join him after exploring the stateroom and head below at his urging. Smiling, she turned her back to the galley and dinette area and stood next to him, by the pilot chair. “And the moon...it’s like a streetlight,” she said, gazing out the window. “It’s so clear out here. So beautiful.”
He cut the engine and tugged her onto his lap. “Very beautiful,” he murmured, cupping her face with his free hand, while the other cupped the curve of her gorgeous ass. He leaned forward and kissed her softly on the lips, nipping and tasting, taking his time to savor her sweetness.
When he drew back, she was trembling in his arms, and Archer wasn’t sure he’d ever felt so at peace. His soul was in a good place. Where it should always be.
Where it was meant to be.
“Thanks for bringing me out here.” She stared down at him, her gaze reflecting her soft tone.
He leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose. “Thanks for coming.”
A wicked grin spread across her lips. “But I haven’t...yet.”
His dick immediately stirred. “Challenge accepted.”
She ran her hands up his chest to rest on his shoulders. “Roger that.”
His lips twitched as he lowered them to brush hers. Once. Twice. Then full-on as he kissed her slow and deep and thorough, making sure she knew he planned to please.
It hit him then. This kiss, this embrace was different than any they’d shared. Just as hot, but...more, powerful, demanding everything from him, all he had. It was soul-searching and intense.
Perfect.
If it wasn’t for the fact he needed air, Archer never would’ve broken it. He banded his arms around her as they both worked to catch their breath. He was a lucky son-of-a-bitch. It boggled his mind that someone so amazing, so special, enjoyed his company.
When this mission was over, he needed to travel down to Virginia Beach to talk to her son, because he didn’t ever want to let her go.
Sandy stirred in his lap, brushing his body with her warm, soft curves, making his heart beat hard against his ribs. Then she leaned in and brushed her mouth to his ear. “Archer?”
He let out a shaky breath. “Yeah?”
“I have a present to give you.”
He drew back to meet her gaze. “You, here with me...that’s a gift, Sandy. I don’t need anything else.”
Her gaze was soft and warm...and growing wicked as she slipped off his lap and turned the pilot chair, with him in it, until there was more room in front of him. “I bought you a little something on my shopping spree today.” The promise in her words tripped his pulse, but when she grabbed the hem of her sweater and yanked it over her head—in a hot-as-hell move he’d remember to his grave—she revealed the sexiest damn bra he’d ever seen.
It was navy blue with her nipples playing peek-a-boo through a patch of lace he wanted to remove with his teeth.
Then she unhooked her jeans, and slowly drew the zipper down, inflating the boner in his pants to epic size by the time she stepped out of her jeans and stood in front of him in her sexy bra and matching lace panties.
Archer sucked in a breath and would’ve told her how incredible she looked and how much he loved his present, but all the blood had drained out of his dehydrated brain to settle in his groin, temporarily robbing him of speech.
“Do you like it?” she asked, doing a slow twirl-around that literally stopped his heart for several beats.
The lace was shaped in a vee, affording him an incredible view of her sweet cheeks, and he wanted to remove that lace with his teeth as well.
“Fuck, Sandy,” he muttered, his voice sounding low and rough with the need coursing through his body, no longer suppressed from their earlier boardwalk embrace.
She smirked. “I’m counting on it.”
Damn...he loved her wit.
Archer laughed and knew if he wasn’t careful, he could so easily fall in love with the woman.
Ah...who the hell was he trying to fool? He was more than halfway in love with her already.
She sauntered close...which was good, considering he was too hard to move without bursting the damn seams of his jeans.
“I sure hope you have a condom,” she said, straddling him on the chair, in a move that nearly caused him to swallow his tongue.
But he could still smile...and talk. “I have two.”
“Hooyah,” she whispered, slipping her hands under his shirt to slowly push it up his body, her fingers grazing his skin in feather-light touches that drove him mad. “My ever-prepared frogman.”
A thrill shot down his body over the possessive word that matched the gleam in her eyes. “Always,” he told her, and when she tried to push his shirt over his head, he helped her remove it all the way with a quick tug, then dropped it on top of her clothes on the floor.
She smiled. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.” Forcing himself to behave, he set his hands lightly on her hips, letting her call the shots, to see what she had planned for him.
Her hands made a slow pass up his arms, over his shoulders, and down his body, brushing leisurely over his abs. “Mmm...you’re so hard and hot,” she murmured in response to the feel of him, like maybe she couldn’t get enough of him. And as if to prove it, she bent low and licked his nipple, but before his hissed breath finished echoing through the helm, she straightened and gently touched her lips to his.
“Sandy—” He tightened his grip on her hips, as his entire body reacted to that light, sweet kiss.
“I know.” She outlined his lower lip with her tongue.
He groaned, and unable to remain immobile any longer, he sucked it into his mouth. Damn...he loved the taste of her, the feel of her. He’d never get enough. Gliding his hands up her sides, he skimmed her breasts and brushed his thumbs over her lace-covered nipples. She moaned, and he shoved a hand in her hair, while he ran his other down her back to cup a handful of her sweet, sweet ass.
“I want you,” she whispered against his lips.
He made a noise deep in his throat and kissed her long and slow. He needed more—needed to touch her. All of her. With his mouth still on hers, he ran both his hands up and down her body and felt her every inhale and delicious tremor. They were so close he felt her heart rock.
His rocked too.
“Sandy,” he murmured, releasing her mouth to kiss a path down her jaw, her throat, and nip at her collarbone, then soothed it with his tongue. Goosebumps broke out over her skin and her nipples pebbled behind the navy lace. His mouth watered. Damn, he needed to taste her. Dragging his mouth over her cleavage, he felt her breath hitch, while he reached around to unhook the bra keeping her curves intact. Straightening his back, he slid a finger under each strap, then met her dark, heated gaze as he slowly tugged them down her arms.
The rapid rise and fall of her chest helped his plight to free her breasts. He pulled the lace off and tossed it over his shoulder, and the sexy woman moaned before his mouth even covered her tight peak. Damn...he smiled against her skin. She was so responsive.
Sandy had her hands in his hair, and her body arched in a sweet offering Archer gladly accepted, teasing one nipple with his mouth and tongue, while he caught the other between his forefinger and thumb.
Her moan washed over him, echoing through the helm while her rocking nearly did him the fuck in. He saw stars, as she continued to rain sweet torture on his tense body. But he wasn’t the only one on edge. Still nuzzling her chest, he slid both hands down her body, tugged the small scrap of lace aside to find her spread wide open and soaking wet.
His heart rocked hard and his erection pulsed. He glanced down. Fuck, she was breathtaking.
She half gasped, half moaned, so he stroked her again. “Archer...yes...more.”
Not a problem. He was too addicted. “Yes, ma’am.” He loved to please her. Loved her reactions, so he stroked and brushed different spots, different angles, watching her face while she gripped the arms of the chair, leaning back while arching into his touch.
“Archer...yeah...there—” She rocked harder.
Completely lost in her beauty and the way she took pleasure in him, he thrilled in her moans and little pants and each sexy sound he ripped from her throat. Tension coiled in her tight. She was ready to snap.
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