by Addison Fox
Brody smiled through the kiss, the feelings she brought to life in him flaring with white-hot light.
Oh gods, how had he lived his life without her? The mere contact of her mouth was more enticing—more erotic—than anything he’d ever experienced.
The firm crest of her belly cradled his erection as she pulled him toward her bed. As he held on to her, they fell backward on the bed in a tangle of limbs. Brody reached for her, so impatient to remove the barrier of clothing that he dragged her top over her head, catching on the back of her bra and carrying it along. Her pants soon followed his into a large heap on the floor.
Shifting, he lay back on the bed and drew Ava so that she sat astride his hips. Her breasts jutted toward him, her nipples a bright pink in sharp relief on her pale, luminescent skin.
Reverently, he reached up to touch one rosy peak, satisfied when she arched into his touch. With short strokes of his callused fingers, he pulled at her tender flesh, a growl building in the pit of his stomach when the distended tip grew even harder under his questing fingers.
Impatient to have her underneath him, Brody shifted their bodies so the down comforter was at her back. He took one nipple in his mouth while he used his fingers to pluck at the other, feeling it grow hard in his palm. Soft, sweet moans greeted his ears as he laved his tongue over that sensitive peak, drawing on her in deep, sucking waves.
In unconscious rhythm, her hips undulated in sexy circles, the lush scent of her filling the air and driving his already-stretched senses into overdrive. He moved his hand from her breast, running his fingers over her body in tender yet unyielding strokes, over the underside of her breast, past the firm skin of her belly and farther on to the blond curls that hid the core of her femininity.
Another growl escaped him as his fingers met her hot, slick center. A surge of power flooded his veins as she let out a long, low moan when his thumb brushed over her clitoris.
He’d pleasure her until her mind was numb from the sheer bliss of their joining, until she couldn’t see for the pleasure, until she was moaning his name and begging him not to stop.
“Brody.” He felt her hands on his cheeks before he registered her voice.
“Yes, darling.”
“This is about us.”
His body was on fire and his ability to conjure a coherent thought was limited, but this he knew. “It’s about you.”
She held his shoulders—he could feel the light pressure of her palms there and she pressed at him. “No. It’s about us. Both of us.”
When he could only stare at her, she smiled, shifting her weight until she was back on top of him. “Here. Let me show you.”
Those long, slender fingers of hers drifted over his chest, her fingernails scraping over his nipples, shooting hot sparks straight through him.
“Ava?”
“Mmmm . . . hmmmm.” Her lips followed her fingers as hot suction covered his nipple while her hands ran circles over his stomach muscles.
He tried to fight through the pleasure; he tried to make her stop, but he was helpless before her as she navigated the length of his body.
And then she shifted, her hands on the full length of his cock, and he nearly came off the bed. A small, triumphant smile crossed her features as she drew one long, low groan from deep in the back of his throat. With torturous movements, she stroked him in one long, tight grip, from base to tip and back again.
His body arched into her touch, her expert strokes pulling wave after wave of pleasure through his body.
“This isn’t—,” he panted, trying desperately to figure out how to regain the upper hand and desperately wishing he didn’t have to. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. This moment is for you. A prop-proper send-off before I leave.”
“Oh, but it is, Brody Talbot. This moment is as much about me as it is about you.” And then there were no words as her hand fisted around the base and with skillful movements she pumped his flesh. “It’s time to shut up and take it, big guy.”
He knew it the moment he lost the battle. His head fell back against the pillow and his hips moved to the rhythm she set as he pressed himself into her.
So good.
So hot.
So necessary.
Waves of power crashed through his life force as she pumped him—great, glorious waves of pleasure that tightened his body and freed his soul.
Somewhere along the way she managed to shift the position of her body on the bed. And then he figured out why as the position of her hands shifted, too. Opening his eyes, he momentarily forgot the sensual haze she wove around them when he realized she wasn’t kneeling next to him.
Then he couldn’t think at all as her hot mouth wrapped around his cock, drawing every rational thought from his head. Although her movements weren’t nearly as sure with her mouth as they’d been with her hands, the tentative, daring strokes of her tongue slammed sensation after sensation through him in blistering waves. Mind-numbing pleasure crashed into him as her tongue seduced. Enslaved. Enraptured.
Completely helpless and utterly exposed to her, he was powerless to resist her.
Utterly vulnerable and open to her.
Helpless to deny her.
Her tongue was like a brand as she worked it around his cock. Sharp, little darts at the tip were followed by wet suction as she worked her way down over the crown; then lapping waves of pleasure as she caressed down to the base.
Over and over, she drew on him with her hot, wet mouth, driving him more and more deliberately toward his moment of greatest physical defenselessness.
He knew the moment he’d gone around the bend. His already-tight body grew even harder, the urge to spill himself something he couldn’t fight any longer.
With determination that matched that of the generous woman before him, he gripped her shoulders, pulling her up. Ignoring her protests, he crashed his mouth to hers. “I can’t wait any longer. I have to have you.”
Shifting their bodies, he rolled them over, her beautiful nipples hard points as they pressed to his chest.
She reached down and guided him into her body, the mere touch of her hand nearly sending him off. Gritting his teeth, he sank himself into her warm, welcoming wetness, a loud groan coming from him as the tight sheath she made wrapped around him.
Mindless, beyond rational thought, he thrust into her, her movements matched to his as light streamed in the window and over their bodies.
Without knowing how, he held on until he felt the telltale response begin in her very core, the tightening of her muscles as her orgasm began. With a loud, glorious shout, he followed.
As the very essence of himself spilled into her, his life force roared through his veins.
His mouth sought hers and as his tongue took possession, tangled up in hers, he knew he’d never be the same.
Never.
Chapter Nineteen
“You want to do what?” Quinn’s rapt expression—eyes fully focused on her and his BlackBerry firmly in his pocket—had a small smile ghosting Ava’s lips. So . . . despite his ability to multitask, even the Bull needed to fully focus on things sometimes.
“Brody and Kane need to finish picking up the rest of the stones and then we use them to draw Enyo out.”
“Should have just ported immediately after London. Why are we wasting time?” Kane muttered.
Quinn shot him a nasty look and Brody stepped in, narrowly avoiding a fistfight, if Ava wasn’t mistaken.
“Even our stubborn and resourceful Bull couldn’t get the museums to part with their stones early.”
“What a load of bullshit,” Quinn added. “Each museum already agreed to being a part of the exhibit. We should be able to damn well move the stones when we want to.”
Ava couldn’t help the shift into curator mode. “Actually, these items bring in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars a day in visitors. Every day the stone isn’t in the collection is a day of lost revenue.”
Quinn muttered something she couldn’t hear as
they all turned toward Kane. “How are we going to get Enyo out in the open?”
The Scorpio had arrived at the mansion shortly after her and Brody and had been prowling the halls ever since. Brody had filled her in on what had happened between Kane and the other MI6 agent and, if she wasn’t mistaken, there was a raw element to his demeanor that was unmistakable.
Unmistakably, he was in love.
What’s this about, Ava Marie? You fall in love and suddenly everyone else has to be, too.
And as the thought crossed her mind, another one followed, sucking the air from her lungs and driving her to sit on the luxurious leather couch in Quinn’s study.
Love.
She was in love? With Brody?
One look at him where he stood across the room and she knew. Fighting it was pointless—silly, really. She was so in love with that man, it was amazing it wasn’t visibly coming out of her pores.
Correct that. It probably was some wonderful pheromone that told the whole world she was totally, utterly and completely in love with him.
“Earth to Ava. You okay, baby?” Brody sat down next to her on the couch.
“Oh. Sorry. Yeah.” She heard the dazed, breathy quality in her voice and fought for focus. “So what we need to do is bring the stones together and then tempt her to them. You do know how to reach Enyo, right?”
Kane and Brody nodded, while Quinn added dryly, “When she feels like being reached.”
“How does one go about reaching a goddess?”
“We can get a message to her on Mount Olympus,” Brody said, patting her back.
“Where will we meet her?”
“I want the meet on Mount Olympus, too,” Quinn interjected. “It’s her home turf, but it’s also filled to the brim with gods and goddesses. If Ava truly has the power over the stones we think she does, it’s not going to sit well with the Pantheon. They’ll side against Enyo if they think both the stones, and Ava’s power to use them, is a threat to their existence.”
“Will they hurt me? The gods and goddesses?” An unexpected sense of dread filled her. “If all that power makes them mad, I mean.”
“No one will touch you. I promise,” Brody added. “But Quinn’s right. Mount Olympus is the best place to deal with the stones.”
Kane shifted from foot to foot. “You ready?”
Ava laid a hand on Brody’s forearm. “Can I talk to you before you go?”
Kane and Quinn hightailed it out of the room before she could even ask as Brody swooped in and nuzzled her throat. “I think we have time for some other things before I go, too.”
“Brody.” She giggled, swatting at his shoulders. “Come on, Brody. You need to get there and back. Get this moving.”
“I’m building my strength.”
“Seeing as how we had a quickie before we left my apartment, I’d say you’ve got plenty of strength.”
He looked up from nuzzling her neck, a broad smile covering his face. “You can’t blame a guy for trying.”
“No, you can’t.”
They sat there like that, heartbeats stretching out one after the other until she felt as if she’d burst if she didn’t say it; if she didn’t tell him exactly what she felt in her heart. “I love you, Brody Talbot.”
Brody shifted until they faced each other on the couch, his movements slow and deliberate.
Oh God. Stupid, stupid, stupid, Ava. You never say it first. Never. Ever. Nev—
Brody got to his feet and pulled her up with him. Drawing her close with one arm, he used his free hand to cup her chin and pull up her face. Eyes level, his gaze seared into her, like a brand on her heart. “Say that to me again, Ava.”
Fire crawled a blazing path up her throat toward her cheeks. “Brody, come on. Don’t embarrass me.”
“I’m not embarrassing you. I love you. And I want to hear you say it.”
His words echoed through her, soaring through her heart like a bird taking wing. As she took in the warm look in his eyes, she couldn’t have held the words back if she tried. “I love you, Brody.”
With infinite sweetness he bent his head and laid his lips against hers. With whispered words, he murmured against her mouth, “Then on that we are agreed.”
“Tourist. You’re supposed to blend in and look like a tourist,” Kane hissed at him as they moved through the throngs of people at the Louvre.
“I am blending.”
“You look like a hit man.”
Brody shot him a wry grin. “Takes one to know one.”
“And this would be why you don’t get put on stealth detail very often. Quit acting like the king of the pride and do the damn job.”
Brody growled and continued to push his way through the throngs of people in one of the museum’s most well-visited halls. “You take care of MacIntyre?”
“Yeah, got it covered. Son’s being moved to an intensive care facility with specialized treatments, courtesy of MI6. Mother’s heading for a rehabilitation facility for a while.”
“Ava’s worried about her.”
Kane grinned at him as they sidestepped a woman with a double stroller. “She already asked me about them.”
Brody shook his head. If he weren’t so blindingly in love with the woman, it might not make him so damn mad. “The woman held a gun on her and tried to turn us over to Destroyers. And Ava’s worried about her.”
“You don’t like it because you don’t see the world that way.”
“Excuse me?”
“You want to run the show, Leo, king of the jungle. And the moment someone crosses you or tries to do it differently, you get all bent out of shape. We let you work alone for a reason.”
Brody came to a halt behind the long line of people waiting for their chance to look at the stone. “You let me work alone?”
“It’s the reason the guys leave me alone, too. Come on, you don’t miss me all the way across the pond, do you?”
“Not like it’s hard to find you when we need you.”
“Exactly. So in the meantime, you’re happy to leave me off on my own.”
Brody thought through the rest of his comrades, images of each one snapping in and out of focus. He was part of the North American brotherhood, driven by the skies in that part of the world. They used New York for the anonymity it provided, then maintained rural outposts in Idaho, the Arizona desert and a large ranch in Texas to further conduct business.
Some band of brothers they were.
How often did he see any of them? Either because of his own travels or those of his fellow Warriors?
Grey and Quinn were loners, too, their Ram and Bull tendencies making them increasingly difficult to work with. Kieran and Pierce had each other, biological brothers with their Gemini bond forged in their infancy that empowered them even as it kept them distinctly separate from the rest of the Warriors. Aidan, Rafe, Drake, Gage and Rogan had all been on missions for the better part of a year, taking care of their own leads, using their innate areas of strength to maintain order.
Max was so damn busy building Capricorn Communications, they saw less and less of him as he sought to rule the world of telecommunications. Xander had sunk deeper into his pre-Warrior memories, his search for a killer the driving force of his life.
What had happened to all of them? These men he’d transitioned with, fought with, lived with. What had happened to all of them?
Where they used to be a universe in sync with one another, now they were like separate planets, spinning in their own orbit.
“It’s not as though the rest of our little band of merry men are all that well adjusted.”
“No, but we’ve got some predetermined personality traits that don’t help. Come on, Brody. We’re all pretty fucked up and don’t play well with others. As technology has made it easier to stay in touch remotely, those traits have only gotten worse.”
He knew the truth of Kane’s words—lived it. Hell, he hadn’t seen the Scorpio in almost two years prior to this job. He had a basic sense of the
man’s work for MI6—a broad idea of where he was and how to get a hold of him at any given time—but beyond that, no contact.
“So what? Are you suggesting we need to create a little coffee klatch and visit with one another every week?”
His dropped mouth and wide eyes would have been funny under other circumstances. “Hell no. I’m just saying we need to accept we’re all doing our own thing. We pull together when we have to, but when we don’t . . .”
The thought hung there, heavy between them as they approached the visitor desk. Was this what Themis wanted? What she’d intended when she made her great arrangement with Zeus? A band of brothers only when it was convenient for all parties involved?
Brody and Kane smiled at the attendant and shared their retrieval papers.
Museum security arrived exactly thirty seconds later, guns drawn.
Brody and Kane made the last port into Sydney, but they already knew what they’d find. Polite chitchat with museum security as they showed their paperwork. A puzzled frown from the museum director as he kindly reminded Brody that he’d already picked up the stone. Panicked fury when the museum realized it had been duped.
The stones had been stolen.
“Dr. Talbot, surely you know I need to report this.”
Although Brody’s anger hadn’t diminished one bit, it had changed since his first trip to Paris, then to Alexandria where the situation had grown more clear.
“Trust me, consider it reported. Emerald Security is all over this one.”
The debate raged back and forth, with Brody and Kane doing their level best to calm the agitated museum director who now knew a multimillion-dollar piece had just gone missing from his collection.
Three hours later, he and Kane finished in Sydney and ported back to the mansion. Everyone was assembled and waiting for them.
Ava was across the room and in his arms in a heartbeat. “What’s wrong?”
“The stones are gone. All of them.”
“How?”
Brody gritted his teeth at Quinn’s question. Fuck if he knew how. “Apparently my twin has done us the great service of retrieving the stones. Cleared security and was a good enough match with my picture and credentials Quinn sent on ahead that no one questioned it.”
