Way of the Warrior

by Suzanne Brockmann

  Arbor urged Rook and Knight to seek out the help of a man more powerful than most but one who had something the other men in power didn’t have—honor. He gave them a single name, The Piper, and a number. Arbor told Rook that The Piper would be very interested in the information both Rook and Vivi had.

  Rook knew what he was setting in motion was going to tip the balance of power for some of the most powerful people in his government.

  And it was all good. Because Rook was in for a penny, in for a pound. He’d destroy them, and if he gave his life in the process, so be it.

  CHAPTER 7

  Vivi opened her apartment door and walked in, dodging her cat and throwing her keys on the table. It’d been two weeks. Two weeks with no calls from Rook and a level of diligence she’d not thought herself capable of. She hated looking over her shoulder and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt she wasn’t cut out for field operative work.

  Her cat meowed loudly, and Vivi sighed, unbuttoning her dress shirt and shrugging it off. She flipped on her bedside lamp and a whisper of fear danced over her flesh, catching her off guard even though she’d damn well knew better than to let her mind wander.

  Someone was in her room. She turned, and there he was, casually leaning against her bedroom door frame, hands in the pocket of his jeans, head cocked arrogantly to the side and a knowing smile on his face.

  She lifted a hand to her chest and tried to catch her fleeing breath. “How’d you get in my apartment?”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “Damn it, Rook Granger. You scared the shit out of me,” she whispered.

  He grunted. “I can see that. So much for watching your back.”

  She shrugged and let her shirt fall to the floor before unzipping her skirt and letting it fall too. His indrawn breath had her smiling. His “Goddamn, woman,” had her heart tripping.

  “I need a shower. You gonna leave, or you here for a while?” She held her breath. What would it be? She’d been digging for two weeks, but she’d not heard from him. Not a peep, and she’d worried. But she’d never picked up that damn sat phone to call him. It was for emergencies, though she’d been tempted as hell.

  “Oh, I’m here for a while, baby,” he said softly.

  Chills danced along her skin.

  “I really like you in red, Olivia.”

  “Yeah. I kinda thought you might.” Then she went all in once more. “I’ve worn it every day since I left Oregon.”

  He hissed in a breath, and she closed the bathroom door and proceeded to take the shortest shower in history. She wrapped her hair in a towel, wrapped another one around her body, and stepped out, right into Rook.

  Her gaze rose, meeting his. His black eyes, normally filled with ice, were hot. So hot they singed her skin, their heat sinking deep and wrapping around her heart.

  He traced the healing wound at her neck, face hard, mouth in a flat line. “You know I want you,” he said in a growl.

  She nodded.

  “I’m an all-in kinda guy, Vivi. It’ll be you for me and me for you as long as we’re together. You get me?”

  Vivi got it. She got it so much she had to squeeze her legs together to ease the ache between them. “All in how?”

  He smiled, that full-blown, sexier-than-hell curving of his lips that took her mind and scattered it. He reached for the towel on her head and tore it off. A shiver rocked her at the intent on his chiseled face. Her wet hair was cold against her quickly heating flesh. Then he reached for the towel covering her body, and she went liquid.

  “Right here, right now, Vivi, all in you,” he murmured as he lowered his head.

  She thought he’d kiss her, but he bypassed her mouth and stroked his lips over the healing mark on her flesh. Her hands rose of their own accord, sinking into his hair and tugging on the short strands. She sighed, and he chuckled.

  “You taste really good, Vivi. I wonder how you’ll feel?”

  She moaned as he licked over the shell of her ear, peppering kisses along her jaw until he hovered over her mouth. Their breaths mingled, and her lips parted. “I feel pretty good right now, Rook.”

  “Just good?” he asked, and his thumbs stroked over her cheeks.

  She smiled, feeling wanton and needy. “Well, yeah, right now I feel pretty good. But I’m sure, Sergeant, that once you go all in, I’ll be feeling much better than that.”

  “Oh, Olivia.” He paused, dropping his lips even closer to hers. “I can guarantee it’ll be much, much better.”

  Then he picked her up, turned, and deposited her gently on her bed. He stepped back, toeing off his boots, pulling off his black T-shirt, and very slowly lowering his jeans. That left him in a pair of black boxer briefs that lovingly cupped his impressive erection. The tip peeked out the waistband, and Vivi wondered what he tasted like. Spicy? Sweet?

  Vivi licked her lips.

  He groaned. She smiled.

  “You’re going to take it all off, right?” she asked.

  His body tensed, and his gaze narrowed on her. “I said all in, yeah?”

  “Yes, you did. So get to it…yeah?”

  He growled, and she giggled, but then he was on top of her, sucking all the energy out of the room and giving it back to her with his mouth. He poured his need for her down her throat, leaving nothing but the taste of him on her lips. Desire coiled inside of Vivi, flaring and burning everything it touched, leaving her brand new.

  Rook took her higher with every touch, every kiss. Along her collarbone, between her breasts, over her nipples, and across her belly.

  “Goddamn, Vivi, you’re so sweet,” he murmured against her flesh.

  He whispered a kiss at the top of her pubis before he spread her legs and wedged his broad shoulders between them.

  “Look at me,” he ordered.

  She did. The sight of him there, at the entrance of her body, made her thighs quiver. His black eyes burned, and her hips lifted. He grinned, then spread her pussy open and sank inside with his tongue. He drank from her, teasing with nuzzles then dipping deeper as he stroked her clit with his thumb. She spiraled. Up, up, up she flew before the lights behind her eyelids coalesced and burst. He caressed her through her orgasm, wringing every drop from her until his hands became more purposeful once again. He slid up her body, palming her breasts and kissing her neck, her lips, her shoulders. Nowhere was safe. He was devouring her, and she burned for him.

  “Please, Rook,” she begged. Her release moments earlier had only banked the roaring blaze inside her. His hands on her body rekindled it, making it flame even brighter.

  She heard the rip of a foil packet and opened her eyes. “I’m safe. We don’t need it,” she said. Whose voice was that, she wondered. A wanton seductress’s.

  “Are you sure you’re ready for this? For me?” he asked, face strained at holding back.

  She nodded and rose to her knees. “I’ve never been more sure.” Her hands wound with his hands, palm to palm, fingers curled with his—a lover’s embrace. “All in,” she whispered.

  She unleashed the beast then. The same beast she’d seen writhing under his skin in the prison. She’d known then that she wanted him. Something in his eyes had called to her. Now she’d have him.

  He pushed her back gently, coming over her and seating his cock at her entrance. He pushed into her slowly. His jaw tensed, and she stroked her hand over it, smiling.

  “I’m so glad I came for you,” she said softly.

  His eyes closed, then opened, and she knew…she’d be his until time ended. His body went still above her, and then he pushed in to the hilt.

  He was so big, and she was a tiny woman, but as he settled his hips against hers, stroking her from the inside out, she knew he fit her just right.

  “What you do to me,” he said harshly.

  Then he ushered her to a place she’d never been before, thr
usting into her body, taking everything she was and returning it to her a hundred times over.

  “So good,” he said as he lifted away and put a pillow under her bottom.

  “So mine,” he reiterated as his hands traced her curves then grabbed her hips, holding her still.

  He shifted as he thrust deep and stole her soul, wrapping it up in his own and sheltering her in the midst of his storm.

  “Vivi?” he demanded.

  “Rook?” Their eyes were as connected as their bodies. He refused to let her close them, anchoring her mind as he ravaged her body.

  “I’m not letting you go.”

  “That’s good, because I’d hunt your ass down,” she murmured.

  Then he showed her his intent, pounding into her body, making her keen in desire and finally forcing them both over the edge in a white-hot wave of release.

  “All in,” he muttered again before he tucked her into his side and covered her legs with one of his.

  She relaxed against him, replete, complete, like she’d never been before. Then she slept.

  CHAPTER 8

  Vivi woke at his side slowly. Rook had watched her sleeping, cursing himself for coming here but knowing she was in his blood and he’d never be able to resist her lure. She was both the last and only thing he needed. Olivia Bentwood was a huge complication in a life already so FUBAR it was hard to process.

  “You’re thinking really hard,” she muttered as she snuggled into his body, licking his skin before she placed her chin on his chest.

  He wiggled his eyebrows. “That’s not all that’s hard.”

  He’d always been known as a rough and mean son of a bitch. This tiny woman made him soft. The imp smiled. He cupped her luscious ass and then smacked it. She moaned, and he almost, almost rolled her over and sank into her heat. “Get dressed and come into the living room,” he said as he pulled away from her and sat on the side of the bed.

  Rook needed to tell her, but it was going to be hard. He was never going to be a free man. He’d signed on with the devil in order to capture the ones who’d done this to him. And Vivi wasn’t part of the deal. He’d been allowed forty-eight hours with her to make sure she was safe, and then he had to head back to his new headquarters in Port Royal, Virginia.

  He reached for his backpack and pulled out some sweats, glancing at his watch and bemoaning the fact that he only had about six hours left with her. It wasn’t enough time to make a lifetime of memories. But it was all he had until this business was finished.

  She got up and threw on some sweats and the T-shirt he’d discarded last night. She tossed him a shy smile, and he rubbed his chest. He hoped he made it to heaven, so he could first thank her brother for sending Vivi his way, then choke the life out of him for the same reason.

  “Come on,” she said. “I’ll make us some coffee.”

  He followed her into the kitchen, watching her prepare the coffee, enjoying her naturally seductive movements. She’d once been a dancer. She loved the beach. She made love like a goddess. She tasted like sin.

  He hoped he lived long enough to claim her. She set the coffee, creamer, and sugar in front of him and watched as he pushed everything but the coffee away.

  “Black? Eww,” she complained with a laugh.

  “I’m a soldier, Vivi. Not some frou-frou CIA field operative.”

  She laughed. He smiled and rubbed his chest again. The skin over his heart would be raw before all was said and done.

  “Tell me,” she said as she hopped up on the stool beside him.

  “This shit is deep, Vivi. I can’t give you any more than what you already know. You’re in the clear right now. Arbor managed to talk the warden at Leavenworth into keeping your presence there a secret. He’s former Army, knew Arbor really well, so we got lucky. Johansen’s death was chalked up as a suicide due to the stress of his job. But right now, you’re safe. Being with me puts you in the crosshairs. They’re hunting me and Knight, Vivi, and they won’t stop.”

  “Did you bring me the disk?” she asked as she sipped her own coffee.

  Rook wanted to wipe the frown from between her brows. “No. You’re not touching that disk.”

  “So what you’re saying is that when you leave here, you’ll not be back?” Her voice was mild—the energy drifting from her was anything but.

  He blew out a rough breath. “Yeah, that’s what I’m saying.”

  “No.”

  A simple refusal full of her intent.

  “You weren’t cut out for this, Vivi—”

  She held up a hand and cut him off. The woman was a constant surprise and obviously had no fear of Rook. His cock went brick hard. She was perfect for him.

  “You didn’t call me for two weeks, and you think I wasn’t busy researching my cyber-spy ass off? Oh, Rook, for such a smart man, you’re incredibly stupid.”

  Rook smiled. Vivi frowned.

  She set her cup down hard. “I know who you’ve aligned with. I wish there were another way, but there isn’t. And now I, too, have cast my lot with your new boss. I believe he likes to be called The Piper. You see, he’s been my contact since the beginning.”

  Rage made his gut roil. “You cannot do this,” he said in a hard voice. “No goddamn way am I letting you into this, Vivi, you’re too… Wait. Since the beginning?”

  She raised a brow. “Too what?”

  Rook wasn’t taking her bait. He was a man, built for war. She was a woman, built for loving. “It’s not happening,” he damn near yelled.

  “You’re a sexist pig, Rook Granger. I’m good enough to fuck but not to stand beside you in this fight? Have you forgotten what they cost me? My brother died because of their damn war games!”

  He reached for her, but she hopped off the stool and sidestepped him, moving around to the other side of the counter.

  “And then you’re forgetting the most important thing,” she muttered.

  “Yeah? What’s that, Vivi?”

  She narrowed her gaze on him. “They also brought me to you. I want to find them and thank them properly.”

  He snorted. “You’re a vicious one, aren’t you?”

  She cocked her head. “You have no idea. Besides, your new uber-secret black-ops group needs a cyber spy with CIA contacts and mad computer programming and hacking skills. Knight vouched for me.”

  He was going to run right through Knight when he saw him next time. The fear he thought he’d shed was back in full force. It wasn’t as comforting as it normally was because now he had his woman to worry about. His brain halted. His. Woman.

  His woman.

  Holy…his woman.

  “I meant what I said on that plane in Warrenton, Vivi.”

  She nodded. “I know you never say anything you don’t mean, Rook.”

  “You’re mine.”

  “And you’re mine, Rook Granger. I won’t let you go without a huge fight. You became mine when Michael brought your story to me two years ago. Then I saw you chained in prison, and you made me realize what honor was. So you remain mine.”

  “The men perpetrating these war games are powerful. We still don’t know how high this reaches. And there are other governments involved. We’re talking world order kind of shit, Vivi. You’ll have no choice but to come to Port Royal. If you signed on with Endgame Ops, then you know that.”

  “Yes. We sharing quarters there?” she asked.

  “If I can’t talk you out of this then goddamn straight. What about ‘you’re mine’ didn’t you understand?”

  “Just making sure.”

  He rubbed his chest.

  “Why do you do that?” she queried.

  He ground his back teeth. All in, Granger. “You make my heart hurt. You have from the moment I saw you in that goddamn prison.”

  “It’s only fair,” she responded.

 
“Why’s that?”

  “Because you do the same to me.”

  He calmly got up and walked to her, pulling her against him and holding her close. “I don’t want you there, but I can’t let you be anywhere else. Endgame Ops was formed specifically to fight these guys. That we’re using their code name for their war games is thumbing our noses at them, but they’ll find out eventually. We have no idea who this is, who’s pulling these strings, setting the moves into play, killing our men and putting our country in jeopardy by selling secrets and weapons. Are you sure you want in on this? I can talk to—”

  She looked up at him, and he knew. She was all in.

  It made his heart beat fast and hard, the drum echoing in his cock. Her eyes widened, and he lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and he pressed into her.

  She hissed in a breath. He lowered his mouth and suckled her breast through his T-shirt. She moaned and he gloried in the sound.

  He pulled away and lifted his head, gazing deep into her eyes, willing her to understand.

  “I know,” she said. “I feel it too.”

  “He knows you’re coming back with me?” Rook referred to the head of Endgame Ops. The man sitting in a cushy office up on Capitol Hill, controlling things for this entire operation. The Piper. The man Vivi had been corresponding with from the very beginning. They’d have to talk about that soon—all three of them, together.

  She nodded solemnly.

  He pushed down his panic, let the fear grab him by the throat, and relaxed. Then he walked them to the bedroom, laid her on the bed, pulled their sweats off, and proceeded to make love to her every way he knew how.

  When morning came, he checked in at Port Royal and helped her pack her clothes and her cat.

  “This is it, Vivi,” he said as he kissed the tip of her nose.