by Em Petrova
“So you blew the truck and they came running back. I’m assuming there was a fight.”
He wasn’t about to linger over the details of hand-to-hand combat and sprays of machine gun fire. Or the second rush of men they hadn’t expected. Recalling those things made Linc glad Nealy had been kept out of it. He wouldn’t have been able to fight and keep an eye on her.
Though it sounded as if she could handle herself. Fucking Manilo. He shook his head.
He gave her enough of a story to satisfy her curiosity. Then she went dead silent. He didn’t know what to think of that or if he should say something to breach the silence. When she turned into his gated apartment complex and punched in his entry code, he stared at her.
“How’d you get access to that?”
She offered him a small smile. “You’re not the only one with information. I also know you’re withholding parts of the story you just told.” She pulled into his driveway and parked the car.
He was given a look at her backside as she climbed out of the car. It took him a moment to unfold himself from the origami shape he’d settled into, then he followed her up to the apartment.
To his surprise, she also had his entry code to the front door. He was just about to give a smug snort because she wouldn’t have a key to the deadbolt he’d installed after moving in. But she produced a gold key and stuck it into the lock.
“Jesus,” he muttered.
She turned and shot him a grin. She pushed inside and flipped on a light. As soon as the warm glow illuminated her beautiful face, his heart shoved against his ribs.
He reached for her. “Nealy.”
“Don’t try to butter me up, Reed.”
“If you don’t want buttered up, why did you come home with me?” He cupped her face.
Her eyes slipped closed, and she let out a stuttering breath… and leaned into his touch.
“God, babe. C’mere.” Unable to hold back another second, he pulled her into his arms. She was stiff at first, her arms enfolded against her body as a barrier between them. But when he buried his nose in her hair and breathed her in, she began to relax.
Inching his lips to her ear, he flicked his tongue over her soft earlobe. “I want to keep you safe.”
She swallowed audibly.
He tongued the shell of her ear. “You can’t blame me for loving you.”
With a gasp, she threw her arms around his neck, a hand on his nape, and jerked him in for a kiss. The crush of her lips under his ripped a groan from him, and he lifted her against him, locked in his embrace as he plundered her mouth.
At that minute, it didn’t matter that she hadn’t returned his sentiment. It was enough that she knew how he felt.
It was enough that she was here with him and he might find a way to make everything up to her.
Chapter Eight
“How did you get my access code?” he whispered between rough, straining kisses.
The pulse thrumming through Nealy couldn’t get more forceful—it was like the drums of war. And she didn’t know if this was love or a fight to the finish. All she knew was neither were coming out of this without feeling the effects of the other.
Raking her nails over his spine, she reveled in his sharp intake of air. “Do you think you’re the only one with insider perks?”
“I’ll show you some inside perks.” He cupped her ass, lifting her against his heavy erection. She wrapped her thighs around his waist and clung to his neck as he moved through the apartment to his bedroom.
The bed was neat, as she’d left it. And when he laid her down on the mattress, their mingled scents rose up to welcome her.
Linc braced his arms around her, doing a slow, grinding pushup against her body. Nuzzling his nose over hers, he moved down to her cleavage and then drew a line back up to deliver a toe-curling, tongue-tangling kiss.
She went for his clothes, and he went for hers. The untamed movements spoke of how much they wanted this. What she didn’t know was why. Practically from the start, they’d been stalking each other in circles and now they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. The sexual tension was off the charts.
He’d told her he loved her.
And God help her, she loved him too.
Yanking him down, she spread her legs and angled her bare pussy upward just as he thrust home. Seated deep, he gave her a dark look and ground his hips. The tip of his cock hit her innermost point, raising a cry from her throat.
“Linc. Fuck me.”
“I’ll do better than that. I’ll make love to you.”
Her heart shattered with love in return, though she couldn’t vocalize it yet. She wasn’t ready. She was still mad at him.
Wasn’t she?
He palmed her breast and leaned in to suck on her throat, while she writhed against him. A twitch of her hips dislodged him enough that he withdrew an inch from her pussy. It felt so good, they both issued a groan and he began to fuck her the way she wanted to be fucked.
Deep, hard.
She took his lower lip between her teeth and tugged. Suddenly, she was tumbling as he flipped her to straddle him.
“I know you want to go at me. So here I am.” He egged her on with a flash of white teeth.
“I’ll take that challenge.” She clenched her pussy around him as she sank to the hilt. Then she clamped her hands on his and locked them to the bed. Her hair hung around them, and she shook it back to give him a grin. “I’m going to drive you so crazy that you beg me to get you off.”
She pulled off his cock again, this time teasing her wet folds over the mushroomed tip of him. Linc’s eyes darkened as he stared up at her, his lust raw and exciting as hell.
Her insides fluttered, and he let out a growl.
“Don’t make me flip you over and take you the way I want you,” he said.
Sinking over his length, she pulled another rasp from him. She sat there, unmoving, until the muscle in the crease of his jaw began to twitch from restraint. She let the desire build, aching to ride him to the finish line, but she was going to make good on her word.
“Babe.” The word came out as a warning, which she didn’t heed. She stared into his eyes with a half-smile on her face.
But she couldn’t stay smug for long—he pinched her nipples, twisting them with a light touch that had her grinding on him again.
“That’s it. Take that cock.” He bucked his hips upward, and she couldn’t stay still if she tried. All willpower gone, she was helpless to his rough fingers working over her nipples and the deep throb of his cock stretching her.
Tossing her head back on a cry, she let go as the first rush of pleasure washed over her. Juices soaked his shaft, and he stiffened. When the warm spray of his cum hit her body, she lost her mind for long minutes, sucking every last moan of pleasure off his tongue in their kiss.
* * * * *
Linc slipped his bulletproof vest over his head and dropped it into place. Next to him, Lennon did the same. Then his twin turned to Linc.
“What’s the deal with the ATF agent?” Lennon asked.
Linc didn’t look at him, just fastened the vest around his torso. “What do you mean?”
“I mean are you takin’ her home to momma?”
Giving him the barest of glances, he just grunted in response.
“You won’t take her home to meet the woman who raised us singlehandedly, but you’ll take her into danger to stop another shipment of guns from reaching the border.”
A low noise broke from Linc as he spun to jab a finger into his brother’s chest. “Not my call, man.”
“I’m just sayin’—life’s short. And Momma has been bugging us for grandbabies for how long now?”
Linc’s gaze drilled into the pair of eyes so similar to his own. “You and I might have shared a womb, but we don’t share ideas about women.” He was in a shit mood and had been for days since learning Nealy was coming with Ranger Ops.
He had his own reasons for wanting to see the bastards of Operation
X buried six feet under, but now that feeling was doubled. Maybe even tripled. If he could end this without bringing the woman he loved into the equation, he’d fucking do it in a heartbeat.
“Where is she?” Lennon asked.
Slicing a look at his brother, he muttered, “Waiting for us.” While the thought of seeing his girl decked out in military garb kind of turned him on, he’d like it better if it was confined to the bedroom.
Lennon closed his locker and gripped Linc by the shoulder. “I’ve seen her in action. She can handle herself.”
Linc didn’t want to tell him that was what he was afraid of. When Nealy set her mind on something, she went after it.
The time it took to cross the border and set up to wait for the trucks to cross had Linc grinding his teeth. With Nealy so close, it was hard to keep from turning to her and grabbing her. It was also impossible to keep from grinding his teeth each time his buddies would joke with her.
Sully approached, and Linc looked up, shifting his weight and trying not to reveal how damn tense he was.
“You good to go, Linc?” Sully asked.
He gave a hard nod.
“We’ve gotta get these fuckers this time and capture them alive. We need them all squealing like pigs so we get the location of the rest of them.”
“Yeah, picking up five here and there isn’t cutting it. Not when they’re growing in numbers like a colony of rabbits.” Linc didn’t mean to send a look Nealy’s way, but he’d been automatically checking on her for an hour.
His captain followed Linc’s gaze.
“She’s part of the reason we need to end this today, man,” Sully said. “It’s not usual for ops teams to be working so closely with other agencies. Too much shit can go wrong.”
Linc eyed him. “You think there’s something up with that?” He’d been feeling it for a while now. Why was Nealy being thrown into danger this way? Not that she didn’t do it on a daily—fucking Manilo, he reminded himself—but he’d have to say her director was coming down hard on her, giving her one of the biggest illegal weapons groups in the US to deal with.
Sully gave him a direct look that told Linc his radar wasn’t off. Which only raised his hackles.
“Who do you think she pissed off in the agency?” Sully asked.
Linc shook his head. “No fucking clue, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she has a lot of enemies, knowing the way she comes off at first. When we put this thing to bed, I’m going to DC and find out who’s gunning for her.”
Sully nodded and moved off, back to his position.
Casting another glance Nealy’s direction, Linc’s mind worked over the situation.
Government agencies worked together all the time, especially on big threats to state and country. But Nealy should be sidelined or behind the scenes, feeding them intel, not in the trenches with them.
Or in this case, the desert. The ride had been long and Linc had ground his teeth most of the way, so eager to pick Nealy up and plunk her in his lap, to feel the soft globes of her ass cradling his hard cock.
He pushed off the thoughts and looked around him. There was a smell in the air in these parts that made him think of bonfires and ridin’ dirt bikes. Which led him to thoughts of actually doing what his twin had suggested and introducing Nealy to his mother.
When this was all over, maybe he’d take a few days off and go home, see that pony his momma was so thrilled about. And see how a city girl like Nealy fared in the country. After all, Linc wouldn’t be in the Ranger Ops forever. Eventually, he’d kick back and find a nice spread of dirt to call his own. Maybe have a few horses and a yard big enough for kids and dogs to run in.
He caught Nealy staring at him. When they made eye contact, she dipped her head in hello.
Dammit, she shouldn’t be out here.
Pushing out a sigh, he raised a hand to her.
She waved back, and in that moment, he felt a connection even from twenty yards away. No matter how far she got from him, she was still holding onto his heartstrings. He hoped to hell he’d made it clear to her that he felt this way. Not getting any sweet words in return was weighing on him, though. Did she feel differently or was she just not ready to say the words?
He sighed and got into position. What felt like hours passed. He glanced at his watch more than a half dozen times. When Jess, who was on his three, let out the tenth sigh, Linc spoke into the comms unit.
“I’m gettin’ the feeling we’ve got the wrong time, place or both.”
“Copy that,” came Sully’s response. “I’m making a call to Downs.”
A minute later, Sully stood. “Party’s over, folks. Move out.”
Linc stood from his crouched position and let the guys pass as he waited for Nealy. Her lips were pressed into a stark line, and she looked ready to do some severe damage with that weapon she gripped.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“It happens.”
“Someone tipped them off,” she spat.
He let his stare drop to hers. “Could be right.”
“Dammit.”
“Calm down. This shit happens. We just need to regroup, get another set of orders.”
“The great Lincoln Reed needs to plan ahead? What happened to barrel in and make shit up as you go?” She stopped walking to gape at him.
“That’s not what I said. C’mon.” He led the way to their vehicle and watched as she stowed her weapon with the rest of the guys. Before she got into the vehicle, he dragged her off some distance to keep the team from overhearing.
“If this is some attempt to keep me from—”
He cut her off with a fingertip on her lips. “I’m not keeping you from anything, babe. I was about to ask you how the hell you’re not the director by now. You shouldn’t be out here risking your neck. How many years do you have in?”
“Enough,” she said with a low note of frustration. “A colleague with almost an identical background as mine was promoted over me.”
“Why is that?”
“Probably because he has a dick.”
He knew injustices still happened for women in this world, but he’d met his share of superior officers who were female.
Nealy sighed. “Maybe I wasn’t ready,” she said by way of finding the reasoning behind them promoting someone ahead of her. “That’s why I need this. I need Operation X on my resume so I can take it back and shove it under somebody’s nose and prove myself.”
“And you will, when we’ve got the timing correct,” he soothed, wanting to enfold her in his arms. But that would probably only tick her off further.
“Why are you grinning?” She settled a hand on her hip.
“Just thinkin’ you’d bite the head off a rattlesnake if it meant one-upping them. I never met such a competitive woman in my life. Hell, I’ve hardly met a man as competitive.”
“So?”
He moved in a step. “If you want to lay down some stakes, I’m willin’ to take whatever dare you set.”
She caught on to the soft drawl of his words and the meaning behind them. Taking one step forward, she held his stare. “Wonder who will come out on top this time?”
He dropped her a wink and jerked his head toward the vehicle. “Let’s go home and find out.”
* * * * *
Nealy watched Linc bypass the sidewalk leading to his front door.
“Where are you going?” she called out.
He tossed her a crooked grin over his shoulder. “C’mon.”
She followed him around the building, past a row of dark hedges. When she spotted the flickering glow of moonlight on water, she stopped.
He came to a standstill as well, inches away. “Dare you.”
“To what? Swim?”
Nodding once, he let his gaze drop to her breasts and back up to her face, leaving behind a trail of heat so scorching that she felt it to the marrow of her bones.
“How many of these apartments overlook the pool?”
“You chicken?”
“No. Just don’t want to upset some family.”
“Nobody will see. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”
With a swipe of her tongue over her lips, she let her gaze wander over his muscled chest, the dips and swells standing out in his dark T-shirt. Mind made up, she reached for the hem of her top. Tugging it free from her waistband, she drew it up and over her head.
The warm Texas air kissed her bare skin, and her nipples puckered inside her sports bra. Linc’s steady gaze never swayed from her as he drew off his own shirt. The blue light of shadows spread over his beautiful body, carving him into that statue of David again.
Passion swept her up, and the words were suddenly there on her lips—I love you. But she couldn’t utter them, not yet. This could all be a heat-of-the-moment affair. They were thrown together, working closely. Could she trust her emotions?
After removing his boots, he pushed his cargo pants and boxers down his hips. As his cock bounced free—hard, thick, long—she hurried to strip off her own pants. She was already damp with arousal, her nipples tightened into hard puckers. Pinching them, she stepped toward him and out of her clothing.
Bare naked, each of them, standing inches apart.
He didn’t reach for her, just turned and dived into the pool. She watched his dark form cut through the water for a moment before jumping in after him. The water was warmed by the heat of the day, but it was still cool enough to refresh.
Pushing just beneath the surface, she opened her eyes underwater to make out Linc’s location and saw him pop up a few feet away.
She did the same, treading water and shaking it out of her eyes. They shared a grin.
She took off again, swimming laps using various strokes, and he matched her every move, even when she dog-paddled. She giggled at the huge muscled man dog paddling and bobbed over to the edge to grip the cement.
He disappeared under the surface, and she watched him somersault before coming up next to her. Dipping her mouth under, she gathered some water, so when he came near, she spouted it at him.
The stream hit him in the cheek, and he splashed her. A squeal threatened to leave her, but she was trying to keep it down so they didn’t attract any attention from the other apartment dwellers. Getting out of the pool naked with spectators around was not a happy ending to the night, in her opinion.
