Not to be outdone, she wiggled her hands free and clutched his head. McKenna loved her fingers in his hair, her fingertips on his scalp. She loved the obstinate angles and planes to his rugged, scruffy face. But mostly, she wanted that perpetual frown turned into smiles. She wanted to hear him laugh for once.
Sighing, she smoothed her fingers down his muscled back to his ass. What a fine ass it was, every inch of him taut and firm. Not a jiggle. She stuck all ten fingers under those cotton boxers and grabbed two hands full of pay dirt, then slid one around front to prove she meant business.
Easing to his knees, he looked down at her tenacious grip, his chest heaving and his forearms caging her. When his head came back up, his heavy-lidded stare told her all she needed to know. This man was on fire for her as much as she was for him. They were burning together.
Her body reacted automatically at that erotic picture of them consumed by flames of animal lust and human love. Was there anything better? Her hips arched off the bed, begging him to take her, to grind into her. The instant she saw the question in his eye, she moaned, “Yes, I’m sure. Don’t make me tell you again. I want you and I need you.”
“But do you want me enough to keep me... after?”
Her raging hormones screamed, ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ But her heart broke at the plaintive question only a little boy could have asked.
McKenna pulled him into her body then, cradling his head against her chest. Her breasts flattened as he pressed heavily into her. Tears filled her eyes at the injustice of the world, at all the stupid, ignorant people in his life who’d thrown him away. She threaded her fingers up his neck into his thick hair to the back of what she knew was a very hard head. Only action could erase the damage done by others, and she intended to prove every last word she’d said.
If there were one lesson she’d learned well from her father, it was that once you gave your heart away, it was no longer yours to command. You couldn’t take it back, and if you were smart, you didn’t want to. It was the gift of a lifetime. Which was why Sanders Fitzgerald had never divorced Aurora. Instead, he’d spent the days of his life living between the daughter he adored and the damaged woman he’d vowed to love and honor the rest of his life.
McKenna had asked him once why he hadn’t divorced Aurora. It made sense from her childish view. His reply came back at her in the guise of a truthful reprimand. “Because she’s my wife, McKenna, and I promised I’d love her through sickness and in health, ‘til death do we part. That hasn’t changed.”
The humility of that statement in a world overrun with pornography for pornography’s sake had awed McKenna then and still did today. She was proud to be the daughter of Sanders Fitzgerald.
Fast forward to now. She’d given her heart to Beau the first time she’d seen him making sappy eyes at Kelsey. Of all the times to fall in love, that was when it happened. Before he even knew McKenna’s name. Back when he respected the one woman he could never have, Beau had proven himself to be a better man in so many ways. Because as much as he adored Kelsey—and who didn’t?—he respected her marriage vows. There were few men left in the world who honored such things, but Beau Jennings was one of them.
“Yes, Beau Jennings,” she told him honestly, her eyes squeezed tight at the very big step she meant to take. Still holding his magnificent all-male body in her arms. “You’re most definitely a keeper.”
He shifted his hips just enough to let his hand slide between them. In seconds, he eliminated the cloth barriers. Resting on both forearms, he stared at her as, inch by inch, he slipped inside of her body.
Ah, the sweet, slick burn. The warm wet intrusion. Her muscles hugged him as only those muscles could. Pulsing. Clenching. Drawing him inside. Wanting every last inch. Why, oh why, had she waited to have sex? This was incredible. This fullness. This heat.
Yet how could she not? This was a first. It was her gift to him. Lifting her ass up from the mattress, she thrust into him as he set a rhythm, his hips matching hers. His eyes never breaking contact until…
“Ah, damn. Wow,” she cried out, on the verge of—something.
“Come for me,” he growled, setting her ablaze. “Come for me, McKenna. Do it now.”
Enough! Her body exploded into warm, vibrant, burning hues. It fragmented into a kaleidoscope of him and of her. Of fire and time and space and—
Ah! So, so good! Wanting every last inch of his handsome body, his honorable heart, and his obstinate soul, she thrust upward, craving the connection, her fingernails digging into his ass to hold him where she needed him to stay. Yeah. Right. There.
Growling like a bear, he buried his face in her neck and joined her in his release. Despite worrying about the precautions she should’ve taken, McKenna spread her legs wide to receive his gift. For that was what this was, Beau finally giving a part of himself away. And she wanted every last drop.
Holding onto him and the tremendous high that came with their joining, her heart filled to the brim. Now was the time to talk, to tell him this was her first time. To tell him she was glad she’d waited. That he’d exceeded every hero in every romantic movie and romance novel she’d ever watched or read. That he had rocked her world and she’d never be the same.
But sleep deprived and sexually sated, her body turned deliciously languid. When he didn’t seem inclined to chat, she nuzzled his ear and whispered a breathy, “Goodnight, Beau.”
It was hard to hear his muffled reply with his face in her hair. But before she let her exhaustion win, McKenna was fairly certain he whispered, “Thank you, Jesus.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
A light knock woke Beau just before dawn. He made certain McKenna’s bare body was covered before he scrambled into his jeans, cracked the door, and answered. Maverick stood in the dark hallway. “Get dressed. Now.”
“Copy that.” Beau nodded, his heart pounding. Silently, he finished dressing, strapped on his holster, eased into his leather jacket, and filled his pockets with his assorted weaponry and loaded magazines. “What’s up?” he asked once he’d stealthily left McKenna snoring softly behind him.
Maverick waited with Alex and Gabe in his front room, each of them dressed in jeans and wearing light jackets, no doubt to conceal their pistols, knives, and other armament. “Mother’s been following reports of missing persons within the area. The latest just arrived ten minutes ago.”
Beau nodded, ready to charge into Hell as needed. “Who’s missing and when do we leave?”
“Sanders Fitzgerald disappeared from Golden Horizons late last night,” Alex replied grimly. “Hasn’t been seen since. Given what happened to his daughter—”
“Montego’s got him,” Beau spat, his hackles up at what this news would do to McKenna. “What are we waiting for?”
“You’re staying here.”
Beau’s brain forwarded a flashing neon ‘Does not compute’ to his frontal lobe. “Say what?”
“You heard me,” Alex growled. “We can’t all leave. As it is, you’re unfit for active duty—”
“I am not.”
“And I’ve called Lee and Adam to join—”
“I’m going.”
“They’ll be here shortly. Until then—”
“Bullshit!”
“Son-of-a-bitch. Stand down!” Alex hissed. “Someone needs to stay with the women, and that someone is you, Junior Agent.” He cocked his head like he wanted to knock someone on his ass. Beau knew the feeling. “The forensic artist will be here soon. Work with him, Beau. Protect the women and kids until Lee and Adam show. By then, we may actually know where Sanders is.”
Because you sure as hell don’t know anything now.
“Ringer’s place is vacant,” Beau shot at Alex. “You ever think of looking for her there? If she’s doing this just to get at you, wouldn’t that make sense? It’s familiar, and it’d be just like her.”
“Good thinking,” Maverick said calmly.
“Or she may break into anothe
r vacant home in the vicinity,” Gabe added. “I’ve been checking around. Not all these houses are lived in. Some are vacation homes. Some are under construction. Boss, we need to alert the local—”
“Already did,” Alex replied in that ‘do you all think I’m stupid?’ tone of his. “Chief Prince has extra patrols canvassing the neighborhoods, checking with each homeowner to make sure everyone’s accounted for.”
“Then where are Ringers?” Beau spat. “Does anyone know? Do you?” You arrogant son-of-a-bitch.
Alex took the snarky hit without batting an eye. “Still unaccounted for like you nearly were.”
Bulls-eye. Damn. Beau stepped back from the first man he’d backed down from in a long time. Alex was right. He wasn’t a hundred percent, and these men needed a full-up battle ready operator on their six, not some one-handed wannabe packing two pistols when he could only fire one. “Fine. I’ll stay back. This time.”
Alex rolled his shoulder like he thought he was still the supreme alpha. My ass.
“Lee and Adam will call when they’re close, but…” Maverick stepped into Beau’s comfort zone. “Check this out.” He directed Beau down the hall. “I’ve got a little system here that’ll help you keep track of things while I’m gone.”
When Maverick opened what looked like just another closet door, he revealed a security system to rival Alex’s. Little, nothing. A panel of monitors watched over the barn from inside as well as out, the expansive yard between and around the house and all outbuildings, as well as the pastures. “Paranoid much?”
“Always,” Maverick admitted. “An arsonist burned China’s barn a couple years back. She lost two horses. It won’t happen again.”
“This’ll make my job easier. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of the women and children while you’re gone.”
“I know you will. China and Shelby are here, and they both know how to shoot. Kyrie too. Don’t think you can’t rely on them in case—”
“Go,” Beau said. “Find that bitch. Nothing will happen here. You can count on me.”
With that uneasy truce, Alex, Maverick, and Gabe shouldered their gear bags and left through the garage, headed for the assisted living home. Aggravated at being the odd man out, Beau prowled the house and checked all points of egress. Back at the security closet, he studied which cameras did what, until he knew the lay of the land. All looked quiet on the home front. But damn. Montego now had Sanders Fitzgerald. McKenna would come unglued at this development.
Not wanting to tell her until he absolutely had to, Beau set up post in Maverick’s living room. He didn’t like that Alex had taken two agents with him. He knew something he wasn’t sharing.
In less than an hour, Lee Hart and Adam Torrey arrived. Beau met them at the garage door off the mudroom. Lee was another damned cowboy, the taller of the two, green-eyed and big in the way of weightlifters. A regular doorstopper, that one.
Beau had heard the stories. Lee did hard time in one of Afghanistan’s brutal prisons while in the Corps. That he’d survived testified to his sheer endurance and willpower. But as a direct result of those near-death experiences, he now religiously ascribed to the rigorous bodybuilding routine of one powerhouse of a man, Zack Lennox, another muscled agent. Lessons learned and all that.
Adam Torrey was one of two former Navy SEALs on The TEAM. With his hair nearly bleached white from the sun of some Mideastern country, he came into the house with that same easy lope of a predator. He’d had the extreme good fortune to marry Shannon Reagan, the one-time heir to Reagan Industries, a multi-million-dollar defense corporation. Word on the street was she’d killed her egomaniac father in self-defense, then signed nearly all of Reagan Industries over to Jed McCormack, another defense contractor who’d made it big. Now she and Adam lived like regular people with their son, Jimmy Malone. She still ran the publishing business she’d started, and he worked for Alex. Talk about a small world.
“Hey,” Adam grunted as he angled past Beau, his arms full of more surveillance hardware. “Heard anything?”
“No, have you?”
“Only that Alex and the guys are combing through Golden Horizons as we speak.”
“They find anything?”
“Not yet.”
“No police involved?”
Ky shook his head and kept going.
“Police haven’t responded yet,” Lee replied as he entered, tossing his head to keep his thick, mahogany hair from flopping into his eyes. “Golden Horizons only reported Sanders Fitzgerald as a critically missing adult. How’s the finger?”
“Still attached.” I hope.
“Boss said you’re to rest until he gets back. He wants that arm elevated like—”
“Alex sure wants a lot, doesn’t he?” Beau countered, shutting and locking the garage door behind Lee, making certain no one entered behind them. “So what’re the rules on critically missing adults?”
Until recently, the written code of Virginia was silent on missing persons between twenty-one to sixty years of age. There were no Amber Alert systems like for missing children, and Search and Rescue units weren’t authorized to commence searching until specific criteria were met. The critically missing adult had to be over sixty years of age and suffering from cognitive impairment. Sanders didn’t fit either criteria. But laws were different now.
“Means no waiting period for one, but it still takes time for law enforcement to engage, and SAR’s another story.” Volunteers comprised Virginia’s Search and Rescue. They could be mobilized as quickly as local law enforcement resources. Sometimes faster. “Have you told her yet?”
“Told me what?” A sleepy McKenna stood where the hall divided into the front room one way, the kitchen the other. She wore the same cotton shift as before, but had covered that with a fuzzy robe, the sash tied tight. Her fingers were stuck in her hair, combing it up over her head, and Beau wanted to flash-freeze that moment in time. She seemed to have moved beyond her fears. He didn’t want to shatter her all over again, not just for her sake. But for selfish reasons.
They’d just shared an intimacy he’d never known before. He’d felt something rare and impossibly warm in her arms. Once he gave her this awful news, she’d never want to hold him again. She’d shove back, and he wasn’t sure he could take that kind of rejection from her. From everyone else, yeah. They didn’t matter, but McKenna had sneaked inside his perimeter and done something to his heart.
He swallowed hard, his jaw locked.
She cocked her head, her sleepy eyes now sharp and alert enough to cut glass. Her chest heaved. “Is it my dad?”
He nodded. “Everyone’s out looking for him. Mother was right on it. Alex, Maverick, and Gabe left an hour ago.” Like any of those details mattered now?
“Montego,” she breathed.
And there it was. Beau had failed to protect the one person McKenna held most dear. “Yes,” he confessed. “I’m afraid so.”
“But... but...”
“But I’m sorry,” he told her from the deepest part of his worthless heart. “I should’ve—”
“No!” she cried, one second standing across the room from him, the next she’d crashed past Lee and was inside Beau’s arms, one arm around his head, and her face buried in his neck. “You didn’t do this. Montego did. But you have to help him, Beau. He’s all I’ve got left.”
“I will. I will,” he promised, unsure what had just happened. She still wanted him?
He dared tug her in close. McKenna did that burrowing thing, pressing and wriggling into his body like she wanted inside his skin. He’d been so busy scouting the premises that he still had his jacket on, only now her hands and arms were beneath the leather. Along with her pretty face, buried in his chest.
He dipped his nose to the crown of her head and held on. “I’ve got you, McKenna.”
And I’m never letting you go.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
McKenna sat with Beau in China’s very lovely s
olarium off the back of her house. With walls and ceiling of glass, the light was better here. She’d changed into jeans and the buttery soft button-up blouse that China let her borrow. Maverick’s wife had certainly opened her home and her closet, but that seemed the way of these former military men and their wives. They took care of each other.
The police forensic artist had arrived, Officer Taige Crenshaw. Blonde, perky, and distinctly professional, she’d gotten right down to business. Maverick and Gabe had left earlier with Alex. Lee and Adam were in the barn with China, Kyrie, and Suzette tending to the horses and Kyrie’s barn cats. Shelby was busy in the kitchen. She seemed obsessed with keeping things orderly and clean. McKenna was always looking for capable help. Shelby would make a good addition at the clinic.
The early summer sun cast an almost golden light on everything, but it couldn’t reach McKenna’s heart. It had frozen at the news of her father’s disappearance. Her nerves were stretched tight. If Montego had him... Oh God, oh God, oh God!
Beau squeezed her hand, drawing her to the surface again where she could breathe. “We will find him,” he assured her, emphasis on ‘will’.
But he wasn’t out looking for Sanders, was he? Neither were Lee or Ky. No, they were all safe, while her dad was... I can’t sit here and do nothing! My Dad!
But where to run and what to do?
“McKenna,” Beau said quietly, his fingers wrapped warm and tight around her entire hand now. Like he thought he could keep her from running? Yet even if she could, where would she go? Still, the compulsion to do something—anything—screamed, “Run!”
If not for Beau’s hold on her...
If not for his stalwart strength beside her...
Beau (In the Company of Snipers Book 18) Page 24
