Tex's Revenge: Military Discipline, Book Two

by Loki Renard

  She lowered her head and smiled secretly into his chest. “Well that's not my fault, I have been abandoned and left to my own devices far far from any form of civilization.”

  “Any place that has a bar is civilized enough, and you indulged in it plenty if the bar tender was to be believed,” Savage said, putting his hands around her waist and pushing her back a little so he could get a good look at her. He tutted and shook his head slightly. “I'm going to have to whip you back into shape again, I see.”

  “So long as there are no actual whips,” Zora quipped.

  His brow quirked at her. “With the way you've been behaving there might have to be.”

  “I can behave how I want,” she asserted herself, albeit half heartedly. It was hard to pretend to be in any form of control when she was snuggled so close to the man who made her go all melty on the inside.

  “No you can't.”

  “Yes I damn well can.” Ordinarily speaking like that would have gotten her into some serious trouble, but she said it with a playful lilt that earned her little more than a look as he laid down and stretched languidly on the bed. “I'm back now, Zora, and I'm not going anywhere, so you can put any thoughts of getting your own way aside for the next, oh, fifty years.”

  She scrambled up the bed to kneel next to him, looking down at him earnestly. “You won't leave me again?”

  “Over my dead body I won't leave your side.” His gaze was intense and sweet. “You're mine, Matthews, and I won't let you go again.”

  She collapsed against him, feeling his strength and hoping against hope that fate and circumstances wouldn't make a liar out of him. In her heart of hearts she knew he'd always tried to do the right thing, but doing the right thing was hard in a world where people had bullets and weren't afraid to use them on you. She ran her fingers over his sweater clad torso, feeling the ridges of muscle underneath the fine woolen fabric. “Are they going to come after us?”

  “I don't think so. Tex managed to come to a deal, he's quite the businessman.”

  “I bet he is,” Zora said. Tex was smooth and slick and ruthless when he wanted something. She could just imagine him taking a shine to Savage and then picking her up as part of the package deal too. “But they don't need money, do they? They're the military, after all.”

  “The military doesn't need money, but Hurtzwald loves his new yacht,” Savage winked.

  She snorted, taken aback at how easily problems could be solved if only you had enough money. “So that's the price of a man? A yacht.”

  “It is a rather nice yacht,” Savage said dryly.

  “And me? What did I cost?”

  His lips twisted wryly. “You he got for free. You weren't strictly part of the deal.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “So I'm not, like, worth a life jacket or a dingy or something?”

  “A rubber duckie maybe,” Savage chuckled.

  “Hey!” She slapped his chest.

  He caught her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “Careful now Matthews.”

  She was off and arguing again before his affectionate warning could sink in. “So why do I have to work if I'm free. Doesn't that make me a slave?”

  “Yes, it makes you my slave,” Savage winked. “My little wench to trade.”

  She smiled at the joke as she laid down properly and nuzzled his chest. Everything was perfect and right when he was there. Everything was better. She could almost push away the niggling feeling in the corner of her mind that told her this was all too easy, that the people who wanted her months ago still wanted her now and that she and Savage might have not only leaped from the frying pan into the fire, but done a deal with the devil on the way down.

  “Hey,” he said suddenly, tipping her chin up toward him. “We're going to be alright. I promise.”

  Zora wished her smile didn't feel so weak and doubtful.

  “Matthews,” he said in a low growl. “What did I say?”

  “You said we're going to be alright.”

  “And we are,” he said, tapping the tip of her nose lightly with his forefinger. “Now you cheer up before I spank you into a better mood.”

  “You would do that too,” she complained. “Cruelty, that's what it is.”

  He chuckled darkly. “I've yet to be cruel with you, young lady, and well you know it.”

  “Is that supposed to scare me?” She lapsed into playful taunts, letting her concerns over their precarious situation slip away. She wouldn't waste this time with him worrying about what might happen tomorrow or the next day. Maybe there wouldn't even be a tomorrow or a next day. Maybe they only had tonight. Maybe she only had five more minutes to soak in his essence, to feel his body, to smell his scent. She'd waited too damn long for this moment to stop and think about something as nebulous and uncertain as the future.

  “Oh yes,” he growled in sexy tones. “It's meant to scare you silly.” He rolled over and caught her body under his own, pressing his lips against hers in a kiss that began sweetly but soon blossomed into something passionate and deeply intense as his tongue slipped inside her mouth, possessing her as she so desperately needed to be possessed.

  When he broke the kiss she was breathless and limp in his arms. “I missed you, Zora Matthews,” he said softly, lowering his head to place a kiss on her collarbone. “My sweet little bank robbing brat.”

  “It was one bank once,” she groaned at the ceiling as his lips and tongue set to work at the sensitive parts of her neck. “You rob one silly little bank and that's all anyone ever talks about.”

  “It's so unfair,” he agreed, albeit in sarcastic tones as his hands drifted lower to lift her top up over her head. Left in little more than a bra and the silly skirt she'd been wearing since that morning, Zora was completely open and vulnerable to his touch, and touch her he did. Not a single part of her body escaped his attentions as he reacquainted himself with her curves and lines. Her remaining clothing melted away and soon she was completely naked, but he was still clothed.

  “Not fair,” she said, nipping his lower lip lightly.

  “Very fair,” he growled, reaching down to his zipper. “We only need a little bit of me naked for what I want to do to you.”

  “By that rationale you could just fuck me through a hole in the sheet,” Zora complained.

  For a moment he looked stunned, then he threw back his head and laughed. “Oh my god I've missed you,” he said, kissing her until she was thoroughly breathless again. “You smart mouthed, naked little brat.”

  “The nakedness is your fault,” she moaned. She wouldn't have moaned but for the fact that his fingers had dipped between her legs and were stroking her sensitive places with a gentle touch that drove her wild.

  “Yes it is,” he agreed, slipping down her body. “Now hush and let me make the most of it.”

  “If you want me quiet, you'll have to give me something to keep me occupied,” she said archly.

  Savage smiled a dark, lustful smile as his hand drifted towards his zipper. “I think that can be arranged.”

  And it so it was arranged, over and over again in a variety of positions and interesting ways, though Savage never did get properly naked throughout their passionate tryst, and neither of them appeared to notice the camera mounted in the light-shade that was trained directly on the bed before they passed out in one another's arms, quite spent from their exertions.

  Chapter Nine

  Dawn had never been Zora's friend. Though she was fast asleep and blissfully unaware of the events taking place without her, the morning after the all too brief night spent in Savage's arms bought with it yet more turmoil.

  Savage and Tex met just after the first rays of sunlight began creeping across the compound. Following the passion of the previous evening, there was a certain twinkle in the captain's eye, a glow that only comes from the physical reunion of lovers parted too long. If Tex recognized the look, he gave no sign. They shook hands briskly, eying one another up quickly in the way that men of action always do.


  Standing together outside Tex's office, they made an oddly appealing pair. Tall and broad, Savage imbued all the best qualities of earthy muscle and mind. In a pressed olive green shirt and black slacks, a touch of gray creeping through his dark hair, he looked the perfect picture of an alpha male.

  By contrast, Tex's shorter, slimmer frame was more liquid, swift to adapt, easily bent, but fiercely powerful in its own way. There was a great deal of energy locked away behind his eyes as he smiled a quick, shrewd grin. “Captain Savage,” he said, ushering the larger man into the depths of his modern office with an expansive gesture of his arm. “We need to talk.”

  “About?” Savage's gaze flicked over the glass surfaces and white upholstery before settling on Tex's face.

  “About Zora's future. I'm not sure she has a place here.” The words slipped out so smoothly they almost sounded innocuous.

  Savage's brow darkened as his casual pose faded into something stiffer. “I thought this matter was settled.”

  Tex settled himself behind his glass desk and stretched out comfortably, lacing his fingers over his stomach. “She's not precisely versatile, is she? And when she's not working, which is most of the time, she becomes bored, rebellious and destructive.”

  “All specialists have limited use,” Savage said, his tone clipped as he visibly struggled for control of his emotions. “When the time comes, you will be glad to have her on side.”

  “And in the meantime?” Tex's brows rose as his hands flowered out in a questioning gesture. “Is she to be penned?”

  “In the meantime I will deal with her.”

  “No no no,” Tex shook his head, tutting as he did. “I did not recruit your services as a babysitter. Someone else will have to instill the discipline that remains sadly lacking for a lady of her relatively advanced years.”

  Savage's jaw tightened at the unspoken insinuation that he had somehow failed. “And who would that someone be?”

  “I have some expertise in the matter,” Tex said mildly.

  Savage's snort was hardly complimentary. “The last application of your methods resulted in a half naked woman in the middle of the desert, if I recall correctly.”

  “She did not know me very well then. I will get her under control.”

  “You won't.” There was certainty in Savage's voice, certainty that visibly irritated his new employer.

  Tex cocked his head to the side. “You doubt me?”

  Savage's expression settled into an inscrutable mask. “I don't doubt you. I doubt the very concept of control when it comes to Zora Matthews. She is an... anomaly.”

  A small smirk indicated Tex's rejection of that theory. “She is a woman, Captain Savage, and all women respond to consistent discipline.”

  “I used to think that too.”

  “Do not mistake your failure for an utter impossibility,” Tex smiled coldly as he delivered the insult smooth as silk. “All she needs is someone not afraid to be a little forceful.”

  “You will achieve nothing with brutality.”

  “I have no intention of being brutal.”

  Though the conversation remained civil, there was tension between the two men. Like a string being drawn tighter and tighter, it threatened to reach breaking point as they did their best to glare into one another's eyes whilst still maintaining a certain amount of decorum.

  “She is mine,” Savage reminded him. No matter how he said them, the words were base and possessive.“You will do well to remember that.”

  “But she is also mine,” Tex pointed out. “She is mine to command. I am the one shielding her from the wrath of your superiors, captain.”

  There was no humor at all in Savage's smirk. “She will never be yours.”

  “Don't be so sure about that,” Tex held his gaze for a long moment.“But we have other matters to discuss. There's the matter of your first deployment. We have a Sheik who needs protection in Bahrain.”

  “Bahrain.” Savage gave Tex a dark look. “If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to get rid of me.”

  Tex emitted a small condescending chuckle. “Don't worry Captain Savage, I have no interest in stealing Miss Matthews from you. She's not exactly my type.” He changed subject smoothly. “You will leave immediately and serve as private security for a six week tour.”

  Savage bristled visibly. His jaw was clenched so hard the muscle was ticking, his eyes were narrowed almost to slits. “She won't like this.”

  “And that is the reason I will succeed where you have failed, Captain Savage,” Tex said softly. “I am not concerned with what she wants. I am not concerned with how she feels. I am only concerned with one thing – that she behaves as I wish her to behave.”

  “You don't care about her. She will see through you and anything you try to do with her.” Savage leaned down, placing his palms flat on the desk as he caught Tex in a steely gaze. “You think you're manipulating her, but you are only setting yourself up for spectacular failure.”

  “I don't think so,” Tex said, a slight note of condescension slipping into his voice. “She was practically offering herself to me when we were alone.”

  “If you so much as lay a finger on her inappropriately...” Savage growled. He was stopped by Tex's palm, upheld in his direction.

  “Save yourself the embarrassment, Captain Savage. Or should I say, Mr Savage, as you no longer hold any rank.”

  A red rash of fury spread across Savage's upper cheeks and neck. He stood and clasped his hands behind his back to hide the way his fists clenched and unclenched. Every part of his being wanted to go across the table and beat the hell out of the smirking devil. But he could not. To do so would be to jeopardize everything he had worked for, everything he had sacrificed.

  “I think we understand one another,” Tex said in his maddeningly soft voice. “I make the rules, I give the orders. You do not make threats. You do as you are told.” He held Savage's gaze for one long, pointed moment. “Dismissed.”

  Of course it was left to Savage to break the bad news to Zora. With little time to say his goodbyes he was forced to rouse her from sleep. Her smile of delight when she opened her eyes and saw him almost broke his heart. As he had suspected, she did not react well to the news that he was leaving after only one evening.

  “You're leaving?” Zora's voice rose to a screeching pitch. “But...”

  “It's only for a few weeks,” Savage said, trying his best to calm and console her. His eyes reflected her pain as she alternately hugged him and smacked her palm against his chest in a muted expression of frustration.

  “I don't want you to go.”

  “I don't want to go either,” he said. “But I have to. You will be safe here.”

  “No,” she said, shaking her head. “Not this again. Not this again. I don't want to be safe anymore. I want to be with you.” Her voice trembled, revealing the emotion she was trying so hard to hide.

  “Oh Zora,” he breathed, hugging her close. “You don't deserve any of this. We will get out of this,” he promised. “Or you will at the very least. You're going to have a life Zora, a proper life. I promise.”

  “Don't make promises you can't keep,” she said, lowering her eyes to hide the tears that were already welling..

  “I will keep this one. We will be together. We will be free. Just sit tight and try not to get in too much trouble before I get back.” He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Her pain hurt him almost as much as his own sadness did. It took more effort to stand up and walk away from her than it would have done to run three miles in full kit. Every part of his body was heavy with the desire to stay, but he forced himself up and crossed the room, leaving her behind once more.

  The hollow void was back in Zora's belly, a churning black hole of emotion that sucked everything inside. Her face was blank as he turned and walked away, save for a single tear that made its way down her left cheek an inch before being roughly swiped away by the back of her hand. It was just as she had feared. H
e was still married to his job, the only thing that had changed between them was the location of their agony.

  After he left she lay on the bed they had shared for a long while, crying softly to herself. Having seen him again and lost him so quickly had opened all the old wounds that had started to heal in Iron Horse. As quickly as she'd gone numb, emotions rushed out of her core again. Yearning, fear, anger, it was all raw and fresh. Her turbulent emotions made her want to act out and hurt someone. But who could she hurt?

  Her mind soon settled on the only target that could possibly be blamed for her predicament. Tex. He knew damn well how much it meant to her to have Savage around and he had sent him away almost immediately. Well, if he wanted to hurt her, he'd soon learn that he'd made an enemy.

  Determined to give him notice of his new-found status as arch-nemesis, she stormed through to the reception desk where the pretty receptionist was ensconced as usual. Zora had a theory that she was actually a robot who sank into a trapdoor in the floor every night and was pushed up again every morning. There was something cold and almost mechanical about her demeanor that wasn't quite human.

  “Where's Tex?” Zora inquired.

  “He's in his office, he's not to be dist... hey you can't...”

  Zora barged past the receptionist towards the door marked 'offices'. Tex's office was the last one at the far end of the hall. She discovered that by barging into every other office along the way, disturbing the occupants without anything resembling an apology. Having located the right room, she pushed Tex's door open hard enough to make it slam against the wall. The glass in the wooden frame vibrated so hard she thought it might break, but disappointingly it held up.

  “You need a door stop,” she said dourly.

  Tex had jumped when she entered, but he quickly settled into composed irritation. “How can I help you, Ms Matthews?”

  “You,” she said, pointing a finger at him just in case he couldn't work out who the 'you' in question was. “You sent him away. Why would you do that?”