Dirty Dealers

by Tia Louise

  My bottom lip is caught between my teeth. I’d always been so fiercely independent, yet sitting there with him, hearing his sincerity, I would willingly cede my power to his. I never wanted to lose him. I’d wait for him to come back, and I’d let him protect me. I’d vowed this to myself.

  Only that isn’t what happened.

  Now he’s here. He’s the best of the best, like I always knew he would be, and I’m facing a debt I’ve only one way to repay.

  My stomach is churning with the reality of what’s to come, but Logan’s voice pulls me from my thoughts.

  “How is your aunt?”

  A little start. I hadn’t expected us to go there. “She died shortly after you left,” I say, blinking down.

  Logan’s body stiffens at my side, and his warm hand covers my upper arm. “I’m so sorry.”

  I listen to the shushing of the waves moving across the sand, the tiny bubbles sizzling in their wake. I think about that day, and what I thought was the most devastating moment of my life. I had no idea it was only the outer bands of the storm moving in to destroy me.

  “What happened?” he says gently.

  Pushing a strand of hair behind my ear, I see her face in my mind’s eye. Her light brown hair streaked with grey, her kind brown eyes in a lined face. She’d raised my brother and me after our mother died of cancer. We never knew our father.

  “She was riding her bike.” I can’t believe how easily the words flow from my mouth. For so long, I couldn’t even think them. “A man driving a truck ran a stop sign and hit her.”

  My eyes heat, and before I can resist, I’m in his arms. Strong arms surround me, and my cheek is against his chest. His hand strokes the back of my hair, my neck. He kisses the top of my head, and I melt into him. It’s so incredibly soothing.

  “You were alone. You must’ve been devastated.”

  My insides cling to him. How does he know what to say? How has he always known? Swallowing the thickness in my throat, I lift my chin, closing my eyes as I inhale.

  “I didn’t have time. I found a job… We could stay in her apartment, but I had to prove I could take care of Cam.”

  Then the unthinkable happened.

  “I wish I’d known.” His arms loosen, and I step back, turning my face into the wind.

  “You were training,” I say quietly, remembering those nights when I cried for him. “You couldn’t have come back.”

  “Still… I could have done something.”

  My eyebrows pull together as I think about this. “What could you have done?”

  We start to walk again, and he doesn’t answer right away. He’d been as broke as me back then. We were like gypsies, sneaking and borrowing everything we’d done. Laughing and living on the razor’s edge of being caught at every turn.

  “You’re right,” he finally says. “I had nothing and I couldn’t leave. Still… I could have comforted you.”

  It’s a sweet sentiment, but as much as my noble warrior would have wanted to help me, he would have been as powerless as I was in the face of that year.

  The waves echo in the shelter of the boardwalk, and Logan stops. “Here we are.” A smile is in his voice, but I’m confused. “Don’t you recognize it?”

  I’m on the spot, and I’m racking my brain for the right answer. “We spent a lot of time all over this place.”

  He catches both my hands. “I saw you for the first time right here. You had your back against that post, and you were reading… something.”

  Reaching out, I slide my hand down the weathered wood. “The sun was so bright that day.”

  “I was jogging, and there you were.”

  “You went right past me then turned around and came back. Why did you do that?”

  “Hm…” He takes a few steps away, toward the water. “You were so beautiful. You were so absorbed in that damn book. I’m pretty sure your nose was touching the pages.”

  “I was trying to hide,” I say, remembering. Quatopygia… Embarrassment heats my cheeks. “I was checking out your butt when you suddenly turned around and caught me.”

  Happiness and sadness fight it out in my stomach. I’d been so innocent back then.

  Logan steps closer, his large hands covering my waist. That sexy grin is in his voice, and I can’t deny the hum it sets off under my skin. “You were checking me out?

  The heat from our bodies is intoxicating. My fingers move from his wrists up his muscled arms, and I can’t seem to breathe normally. “It was a new experience for me.”

  “I remember your level of experience.” He leans forward, and my lips are heavy. I remember my first time, our first time. He’d been so gentle, so amazing.

  “Don’t tell me it wasn’t a new experience for you.” I try to tease him. “I’m sure you’d never been attracted to a bookworm before.”

  “Every guy has a sexy librarian fantasy.”

  “Even massively handsome jocks?”

  “Those in particular.”

  Jesus, that grin in his voice has me right back to all the ways he’d made me feel—light and free and so sexy. I’d never felt sexy a day in my life before him.

  “Logan—” His name escapes on a sigh just before he takes my mouth.

  As always, his kiss is consuming, and I’m right there with him, holding the sides of his face and opening my mouth. Our tongues collide, and heat floods my pelvis. I’d decided earlier it would be best not to sleep with him, but when he lifts me and slowly eases us to a sitting position, me straddling his lap, I know I won’t be doing what’s best.

  His hands are on my waist, and my knees dig into the soft, cool sand as I push up on them, holding his face in my hands. I kiss him like I’m tasting fine wine, so delicious. Large hands grip my legs, sliding under my skirt, moving higher to the tops of my thighs. My mouth breaks from his, and I exhale a moan. The desire is excruciating.

  In my kneeling position, his face is right at my breasts. I feel the scruff of his beard against my skin, and I quickly pull the string of my bikini top. It falls loose, and I rake my fingers desperately along the V-neck of my dress, spilling out my breast and allowing him to pull a tight nipple into his mouth.

  “Oh, god, yes,” I gasp, clutching his cheeks and tracing my fingernails through his soft beard.

  He makes a groaning sound as his hands find the seam of my bikini bottoms, teasing me. My thighs shake with desire. My forehead is hot. I can barely take it anymore when a thick digit goes inside me, and I lose control.

  “Logan…” My nails dig into the skin of his shoulders.

  “Shit, Kass,” he hisses as his fingers invade, deep and curling. His voice is low. “You’re so wet… I want you so much right now.”

  “Please…” I slide my tongue across his top lip before pulling it into my mouth. “Please don’t stop.”

  I barely have time to react. His hands move down my back, and he rolls us so that I’m lying on the hill of sand under the boardwalk. His head is at my waist, kissing a line along my hip bone, moving lower. “I want to taste you.”

  My hips jump when his beard teases the crease of my thighs, and I gasp as he pulls the material aside and circles his tongue around my clit.

  “Logan!” My back arches, and he begins his slow assault, massaging and sucking, the groan of his hunger vibrating through my body.

  Pleasure fizzes through my pelvis, snaking down my thighs. His hands cup my ass, holding me to his mouth as he continues circling, teasing, sucking, until my body erupts in a shuddering orgasm. I’m moaning and whimpering, and he takes one last sweep of his tongue.

  Nothing has changed. He’s up, leaning forward to pull my lips with his mouth. Only a moment he breaks away, rising above me like a dark, sexy mountain. I hear the rip of foil, and I’m breathing so hard. I remember this so well.

  Reaching out, my fingers fumble over his thick cock, sliding down his shaft as he rolls the condom over it. So big…

  He leans down to kiss me again, long and slow. Everything about Log
an is big. I slide my hands over his cheeks, down the length of his neck, inside his shirt that’s now unbuttoned. I trace my fingers through the coarse hair on his chest—another new thing. With a shiver, I think he’s a man now. I touch a beaded nipple, and he groans and kisses me deeper. I trace the lines of his torso, and he rocks his hips, moving closer to my core.

  My knees are bent at his waist ready for him, but as always, he’s taking his time, kissing my face, my neck, my eyebrows as the orgasm cooling inside me rages to life again. My hands are at his narrow waist, and my thumbs move forward, tracing the V along his pelvis. I feel his erection touching my thigh, and I’m aching, dying for him to fill me.

  “Please, Logan,” I whisper, and he kisses me again, rocking closer to the center. “Oh, god, please.”

  Then he pushes into me in one swift move. My back arches again, and I cry out from the incredible fullness, the intense pleasure mixed with a touch of pain.

  “Oh, fuck, Kass,” he groans, kissing my cheek and rocking a little faster. “You’re still so tight.”

  I don’t tell him it’s been quite a dry spell since I last had him. I don’t say I’ve been dreaming of him ever since. I only moan as he rocks into me faster, kissing me again, his warm lips full, pulling mine with his. I lift my hips and he bucks into me harder.

  “It’s been so long,” he gasps, leaning down to kiss my neck, pulling the skin between his teeth and sending an explosion of pleasure through my core. He kisses my ear, and my thighs shudder.

  With another groan, he rises up, holding my thighs and pushing into me. “Kass…” He pinches my nipples, pulling and teasing them, sending surges of electricity clenching my insides.

  He kisses the arch of my foot before moving my leg around so he can lay behind me on the sand. He pulls my body into his as he pumps me so deep.

  My orgasm is sparking, racing to the top, and he kisses the back of my neck, causing me to break into tremors.

  “Oh, god!” I sigh, falling forward before arching back to hold his cheek, bucking my ass against his pelvis.

  Small hairs tickle my back. Large hands cover my breasts, squeezing and massaging. Warmth rushes up my spine—my senses are overwhelmed.

  The orgasm extends, jerking my body, clenching the muscles inside me holding his massive cock. His mouth open at the back of my neck, and his teeth graze my skin as he finds his release with a loud noise.

  He grips my hipbones so hard, I know he’ll leave a mark, moving me against him, and I feel him pulsing, filling the condom. I feel his stomach shudder, and my eyes squeeze closed. It’s the most erotic sensation, and I remember it so well.

  His hands move to my stomach, holding me against him. Warm lips touch my neck, and chills skate down my arms. I thread my fingers into his soft hair as we come down together. Turning my head, I find his lips again, and salt touches my tongue.

  Our bodies are slick with sweat, and all I can think is Oh, god, Logan. I want to cry and I want to laugh and I want to hold him. I’ve missed him with my whole being, and I’m so amazingly satisfied. Another kiss and he reaches down to hold the condom as he slides out. I roll onto my back and reach out to touch his chest, to slide my fingertips over his skin. He’s everything I ever wanted. He’s more.

  I still love him so much, and I am so fucking screwed.

  Closer

  Logan

  Sunlight streams through the blinds, and I’m lying on my bed. All I can think about is Kass. From the moment I held her in the stairwell through our ride on the motorcycle, throughout dinner when we laughed and caught up I wanted her. I wanted to feel her coming apart on my cock like she did so many times before.

  I’d wanted it, but I’d prepared myself for it not to happen. I didn’t want to be a presumptive asshole, thinking someone as beautiful as her didn’t have anyone. I never asked that question. I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

  If she had told me no, if she had pushed me away, it would have been over. She didn’t. We made love with all the passion and intensity of those early days. Our reunion was spectacular, and I had wanted to bring her here, spend the night reconnecting a few more times.

  She’d wanted to go back to her place… I couldn’t tell, but she seemed shaken. The thought makes me grin. I complied with her wishes, but not before making plans to spend all day today with her. I can’t wait to have her in my arms again.

  Maneuvering my bike through the winding streets to the warehouse district, I glance up at the colorful awnings. I’d started out dreading this personal leave, and now I never want it to end. Rowan was right about time away and resetting my thoughts, but neither of us could have predicted I’d find this precious thing I lost.

  Kass always loved visiting bookstores—the smaller and more obscure the better. A new one opened in a shotgun shack by the public beach, and a small café and ice cream shop are nearby. I want her to know I remember everything. Our time together was the happiest of my life, and I want her back if she’ll have me.

  I don’t know the details of how it would work with my job or if she would want to move here… But I’m confident we can work these things out if she feels the same.

  I’m still on my bike trying to wrap my mind around my decision when she skips out the door of her apartment building to meet me. She’s dressed in a beige tunic top and her long hair ripples in pale waves around her shoulders. The bow of her swimsuit peeks out at the back of her neck, and again, those silly sunglasses are over her eyes. Any doubt I might have had about my feelings for her disappears. She’s amazing.

  “We are going to the beach this time, yes?” Pink lips curl into a smile, and I can’t resist. I reach out and catch her by the waist, pulling her to me for a kiss.

  She melts into me, clutching my broad shoulders. I’ve only just tasted her when I feel her teeth against my lips. She’s smiling, and happiness tightens my chest.

  “Yes,” I say. “We’ll apricate, grab some lunch, and then I have a surprise for you.”

  “A surprise?” Her eyebrow arches. “Sounds interesting.”

  “If you keep looking at me that way, I’ll have to rearrange our day again.”

  “How so?” Her breath skates across my neck as she leans into me, tossing a leg over the bike and taking her place at my back.

  “I’ll take you to my apartment and spend the day making love to you instead.”

  Her hands tighten on my stomach, and her chin is on the top of my shoulder. “I like that plan, too.”

  It’s a warm purr at my ear, and heat rushes below my belt. Fuck me, I have to focus on how much she’s going to love that tiny bookstore, or I will seriously do it. Hell, we have time for everything. If I can convince her to give us another chance, we’ll have all the time in the world.

  “Tomorrow,” I say, turning my head to capture her lips once more. “You’re staying with me tonight.”

  She drops her chin so that her cheek is against my back. “But I didn’t pack anything. I don’t have a toothbrush—”

  “I’ll buy you whatever you need.” My tone is final.

  Her hands tighten around my waist, and I love the feel of her body pressed against my back. I’ll do everything in my power not to lose her again. A sharp roar, and we’re off, headed for the ocean and our favorite place.

  It isn’t long before we’re walking on the beach, holding hands. Our fingers are entwined, and our palms press together. I glance over at her and smile. She’s swept her hair up in an adorable bun, and she’s stepping lightly, keeping closer to the edge of the water, while I’m up on the softer sand, dodging shells and driftwood.

  “So!” She’s more animated today, and I swear she seems as happy as I am we’ve found each other. “Tell me your favorite thing about being a member of the king’s elite guard.”

  “Good question,” I say, smiling at the way she says my title, punctuating the words like they’re very important syllables. I suppose they are.

  “You do love it, don’t you?” Her brow lines, and I can onl
y imagine what her eyes are saying behind those Jackie O shades.

  “I do,” I nod. “But you asked my favorite part. That’s more precise.”

  “You’re as serious as you ever were,” she grins, looking out at the ocean. “You’re allowed to change your answer later.”

  Pulling her hand up, I kiss the back of it. “I only ever want to be completely honest with you.”

  Her smile dims slightly, and I wonder why. Has someone lied to you, my Kass? She’s hinted at bad things happening in those years we were apart. I want to know what happened. I want to help her repair the damage.

  In the meantime, I’ll answer her question. “The strategy of tracking and finding the bad guys.”

  She lifts her chin, making a little impressed face. “Please elaborate, Mr. Hunt.”

  Stopping short, I pull her to me for a kiss. “You’re adorable.”

  Straight white teeth appear as she smiles, and she places her palm on my cheek, touching my mouth with the pad of her thumb. “You’re distracted.” With a skip back, she pulls me to start walking again. “Tell me about your strategy!”

  I think about my most recent job. “Last year, when we were tracking a kidnapper and trying to find where they were hiding, we searched manifests, satellite imagery, even security cameras piecing together the trail. We put together piece after piece until we found what we were looking for.”

  A little nod, and her expression is focused, listening closely. “It sounds interesting.”

  “It’s definitely more interesting than standing around watching the royals and pushing back paparazzi.”

  Her cute nose wrinkles. “I don’t think I could do that.”

  “It’s an important part of the job.”

  She makes a little noise of disgust and shakes her head.

  “Your turn,” I say, pulling her arm gently. “What did you do in America?”

  Her smile falters at my question, but she recovers quickly. I make another mental note.

  “I worked in shipping,” she says, looking up. “You know, logistics, importing and exporting… Pretty boring compared to what you do.”