Adjusting his position to put pressure on her clitoris, he kept up the pace in that position. She squeezed her eyes shut; her pants whispered across his face as he quickened. She flung her head back and cried out.
Her spasms squeezed him tight. He marveled at his control. He paused to watch Darcy ride the wave of pleasure, her skin glistening, the smell of sex giving off a heady scent. She was beautiful in her passion.
He stared at her as he plunged. Communicating with his body his need to be united with her in the most primitive way. She belonged to him as he belonged to her with each thrust.
She pulled him down to kiss him tenderly. A soft brush of her lips before her hand cupped his face. “Reeves.”
Her eyes were wide open with love, and his name was enough. He didn’t need any other words as he drove into her one last time and spilled his seed..
“I know, honey. Me too.” He pressed to his forearms to take his weight off of her, but he didn’t want to pull out of her body. Not yet. Not after how long he had waited.
“But …” She started.
He pressed his finger to her lips, swollen from his kisses. “Not here in our bed. Here we only share our connection. Can you trust me that we will work everything out?”
“I trusted you the minute I met you and hated you for it. I wanted you to be the bad guy.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
“You didn’t disappoint me tonight.” She raised her eyebrows, mimicking his movement.
He nudged himself against her. “Never, Darcy Wilson. I promise to do my best to always make you happy.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Reeves and Darcy walked side by side toward the entrance of the IT building. Strands of her red hair caught the sunlight, intertwining gold with filaments of fire like the explosive woman she was in bed. There was truth to redheads being passionate women. She was demanding and responsive—pushing him to new heights of honesty and emotional connection. A blending together of not knowing where one stopped and the other began. Having Darcy next to him, a partner in bed, a partner in this undertaking, and a partner to walk with into the future would make his world complete … after today.
He was relatively calm despite his heart pounding against his chest, echoing like a Grave Digger concert. Darcy had instantly transformed since they exited the car, from a relaxed and sated Darcy into a high-alert, full battle soldier.
He took in a deep breath and slowly released it to center himself. The Jenkinses had spent the early morning running through the setup with him and Darcy. The men had been relentless, demanding constant repetition of every movement of the plan to commit the actions to muscle memory. Nothing was overlooked. And every variation was planned for possible complications. Their approach was perfected by ex-spec ops forces, so Reeves followed their lead. Learn from the experts. Develop your techniques from their experiences.
Finn had worked with Reeves on how not to inadvertently signal Wainwright with either body language or facial tells. Reeves had woken a few times during the night worrying that he might not be able to mask his horror and anger once he saw Wainwright.
The timing was a little tricky since Lars and Finn would make sure they were separated from Wainwright. Darcy and Reeves had to run down the stairs and be outside soon after Wainwright and after downloading his computer.
Darcy squeezed his arm when he released another deep breath.
“You’ve got this. Remember, don’t lead with your emotions.”
He would have laughed if the situation weren’t dead serious. He had led with his emotions, enabling him to capture the woman of his dreams. But it wasn’t the right technique to capture a sociopath. And Wainwright was a sociopath.
Reeves was ready to finish this and get on with his life with Darcy. To avenge his friends, knowing that he had destroyed Wainwright as the man had done to Tex and Charlie. Maybe it made Reeves a lesser man for not considering forgiveness. Maybe it would come with time. When his and Darcy’s house was filled with grandchildren.
They neared the bank of elevators in the sleek new building. The computer science unit generated all the income for the entire mathematical department. Many of the graduates donated to their alma mater after they made their millions with their tech companies. The building looked more like it belonged in the center of Silicon Valley and not on a university campus.
Reeves stepped back to allow her to enter the elevator. He had to remember to always stay on Darcy’s left to not impede her firing hand.
Darcy slowed and inspected the elevator. He wasn’t sure what she expected to find.
Darcy’s body tightened further if that were possible. Her spine was ramrod stiff, her eyes scanning every inch of the space. Her hesitant and vigilant entrance raised the little hairs on his neck. Knowing there were likely cameras in the elevator and not underestimating Wainwright’s ability to hack them, he pulled Darcy close as if in an affectionate nuzzle. “What’s wrong?”
“The panel in the ceiling isn’t completely closed. It could be purely accidental, but I don’t like it. We’ll take the stairs.”
Trusting Darcy’s instincts, he followed her out. “You do know that his office is on the twelfth floor.”
“Yep, so time to show off your cardio fitness.” Darcy moved fast toward the stairwell door.
“You want to race?”
“Smart-ass. Let’s go. We don’t want to throw off the time frame, so we’re going to have to book it.”
It was too late to change the timing. Nick would initiate the bomb threat twenty minutes after their arrival at Wainwright’s office. Enough time hopefully not to link the threat to their visit and not too long of a time for Reeves to lose it from being in Wainwright’s company.
Darcy wasn’t joking that they had to book it. He didn’t say anything about the risk of entering a stairwell. Darcy would have weighed the options and the risk.
Darcy led, which gave him plenty of time to watch her hips and ass work in the pants that somehow Danni and Sophie produced, along with shoes she could run in. She was extremely fit, but Reeves wasn’t getting the work out that she was with her short legs.
When they reached the seventh floor, she stopped, bent over, and took deep breaths before checking her watch. “Sixteen minutes. We’re cutting it short. We’ll have to pick up the pace.”
He didn’t comment.
“Okay, I have to pick up my pace. I can’t help that I’m height challenged.”
“There is nothing wrong with you. You’re perfect.”
She huffed before she raced up the stairs. Looking over her shoulder, she said, “And don’t be staring at my ass. Focus on the mission.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He grinned.
Without warning, a loud explosion detonated. It was hard to pinpoint where the blast had taken place in the walled cement stairwell, but it was in the building and close. It had to be powerful since the metal handrails vibrated through the concrete.
Without a pause, Darcy took off up the stairs.
Reeves’s initial response was to go down to ground level, but he followed Darcy.
She shouted, her breathing unaffected by the grueling pace she set, “Wainwright knew we’re coming. We need to stop him before he hurts anyone else.”
Reeves’s brain was catching up to the last seconds and how the game had changed dramatically. “That was the elevator?”
He took the steps two at a time to keep up. Who knew she could move that fast, even wearing a splint? The woman was amazing.
“Yep.”
The realization of what Wainwright had planned for him and Darcy fueled Reeves. If she hadn’t been vigilant, the bastard would have killed Darcy, the light of his world, without any remorse. Reeves intended to strangle the last breath out of the fucker. It wasn’t enough that Wainwright killed his friends. Now he would have killed Darcy.
Darcy didn’t miss a beat. “Sureños must have a mole in the police department who alerted Wainwright to the bomb threat.”
Darcy waited at the door to the twelfth floor. She raised her hand to pause before pulling out her new Sig.
Right behind her, he reached for his Glock. They had both worn jackets to conceal their weapons, which made for a hot run up the stairs.
Sweat glistened on her forehead from the sprint in a suit jacket. Her focus and intensity were centered on him. Her eyes searched his, her pretty wheels spinning options of how to accomplish their mission and keep him safe.
“Don’t consider it. I’m not staying in the stairwell.”
“Fine. But you stick to me like white on rice. And nothing heroic to defend me.”
“Got it. Be adhesive and do nothing stupid.” He was willing to abide by her lead. He wasn’t an idiot, but she was his woman, and he would protect her. Best not to put words to the thought right now.
She rolled her eyes. “He’s desperate and unpredictable. Our goal is to take him in. Not kill him.”
She was good. She had read his intention not to follow the team’s plans but do a little revenge-hunting.
“Roger that.”
“Make sure you do, or this could go sideways.”
She slowly opened the door, peering both ways, and entered the empty hallway. Reeves was next. His thumping heart was the only sound he could hear in the eerie silence.
Darcy crept along the hallway toward Wainwright’s office. She never stopped scanning the walls, ceilings, the floors, or looking for booby traps. Paranoid was good, really good at this moment.
The burst of adrenaline had pumped his muscles and laser-focused his brain. He was rearranging the game pieces, trying to anticipate Wainwright’s next moves. Reeves had thought he’d have the satisfaction of outwitting him, but Wainwright was always two steps ahead of them because of his inside knowledge. It ended today.
Wainwright couldn’t have anticipated that they hadn’t taken the elevator, so their visit would be unexpected. If he hadn’t already taken his computer and made a run for it. Reeves wouldn’t allow the possibility that Wainwright had escaped.
No more from this maniac. Reeves planned to see to it personally.
He kept watch on their backs, wanting to ensure no surprises from the rear.
In front of Wainwright’s office door, Darcy raised her gun hand for him to halt. Would they storm the office or wait for Nick and the team? He wanted to burst into the office and stop the maniac, but he didn’t like the idea of Darcy directly in the line of the fire.
Darcy whispered. “You open the door. Then I’ll go right, and you’ll go left.” Since Darcy was one-handed and right-handed, the plan was perfect. And at that moment, he had absolute clarity. He and Darcy were totally in sync, just as they had been in the Snakes Ahead game. They had worked as a team and had beat all odds against the bad guys. Today would be no different. He and Darcy were formidable and would vanquish the enemy. His breathing and his racing heart settled. He was in his battle zone, ready for anything and everything.
Reeves went left into the spacious area. Wainwright was bent over his PC open on its separate desk, close to the window, likely wiping it clean.
“Stop! Step away from the computer. Nice and slowly,” Darcy commanded in a voice Reeves had never heard before.
The bastard smiled. “Reeves’s girlfriend. It was a clever ploy to present a Fed as your girlfriend, but not clever enough.”
Wainwright looked the same in a crumpled Oxford shirt, half-tucked into his wrinkled pants, a pair of glasses on the top of his head. His distinguished voice, with his clear dictation, was the same. Everything was the same. But everything had changed. This man had murdered his friends and was still trying to murder him and Darcy.
“Why?” Reeves was as shocked by his question as Darcy, who stopped in her move to get closer to Wainwright. “You have everything—full professor, chair of the department, international recognition.”
Reeves had to understand. He had labeled Wainwright as evil and a sociopath to explain and distance himself. But now, standing in the familiar office with someone he had thought he had known and cared about, he had to understand … to solve the problem. To make sense of this twisted world that was now upside down and inside out. It was what he excelled at.
Wainwright took a step toward Reeves.
Darcy leveled her Sig at Wainwright. “Don’t move.”
“Darcy, you must be CIA or deep undercover in the FBI. None of my contacts could find anything on you, which made you an intriguing problem.”
Reeves bristled at Wainwright’s use of Darcy’s name. One good thing—Darcy’s cover wasn’t blown.
“Darcy has nothing to do with this.”
Wainwright shrugged. “You were the best of the three. I’m not surprised that you’d be the hardest to outwit. Poor Charlie with all of his childhood baggage, and poor Theodore, too shy and awkward to make a life for himself. But you—always a shining star and then the ultimate reward, working for Richard Dean, the billionaire who is royally treated when he deems to make an appearance on campus.”
The bile rose in Reeves’s gullet. He might be sick after listening to Wainwright’s indifferent account of his dead friends and his jealousy of Richard.
“It was Richard who put the bug in my ear. You know that he often speaks here. Richard is quite a curious man with a breadth of interests. He was expounding on your success. How grateful he was to me for my tutelage. He was impressed that you made your first million before he had. And that was the moment I hatched my plan. Years of dedicating my life to students for what? Lucky to receive a bottle of scotch at Christmastime, to have the ‘honor’ of introducing Dean when he spoke on campus. It was a brilliant plan except that Charlie was an erratic partner. After he overdosed, I discovered in the last weeks that I excel at being a criminal. And it was easy until you and Darcy got involved.”
Red, blistering rage exploded behind Reeves’s eyes. “This was all for money? You killed Charlie and Tex for money? You sold out your country to the Russians for cash?”
“To be precise, I didn’t kill either of them. Charlie killed himself, and Tex was killed by the Sureños. And you’ll never connect me—you’ll never connect me to anything. You might be smart, but I’ve always been smarter.”
“But you don’t deny you sold out your country.”
Wainwright shrugged. “I wanted to watch Richard Dean, the billionaire who consults with presidents, be accused of being complicit in treason because of his connection with you. I must say the plan was magnificent to use ‘your’ game to make millions and bring about Richard Dean’s downfall. How many DOD contracts do you think Dean would win after the accusation? It doesn’t matter if they were false. He’d be tried and found guilty in the public eye.”
Reeves had no response. Nothing. He was empty of emotion.
“Let’s go, Wainwright. I’m sure we’ll find something for you to spend time on behind bars.” Darcy moved in.
Reeves didn’t like that they had nothing to restrain Wainwright. He didn’t trust him, and he sure as hell didn’t like how close Darcy was to the villain.
And suddenly, it happened in a blur. Wainwright extracted a knife from his long sleeve in a surprisingly deft motion. Coming from the side, Darcy struck the knife out of his hand with one swift and forceful kick. Wainwright didn’t stop but charged Reeves.
Reeves leveled his Glock. Darcy fired faster, hitting Wainwright in his lower leg.
Wainwright dropped to the ground, writhing as the blood flowed on the rug.
Darcy kept her gun on Wainwright. “I’ll need you to check him for any other weapons. I’m a little hampered here.”
�
��Not too hampered. Nice shooting, babe.”
Darcy shook her head. “Are you all right?”
The door burst open. Finn and Lars exploded into the space with their guns raised. Looking at their aggressive and intimidating entrance, Reeves was glad they were on his side.
Finn dropped to the floor and searched Wainwright as the man moaned and demanded medical care and his lawyer.
“Took you long enough.” Reeves’s hands and knees were a little shaky as he put his gun back. Darcy was right. Shooting at the practice range was not the same as shooting a person. But Reeves knew he would have shot Wainwright to protect Darcy.
“We’ve been a little busy since we didn’t know if you and Darcy were on the elevator.” Lars lifted his eyebrows. “Nick was beside himself, thinking he’d have to explain it to Emily.”
“Nick and I bet that Darcy wouldn’t have gotten on the elevator. Lars wasn’t as confident … you being Army and all,” Finn added.
Darcy stepped over Wainwright, tucking her gun away, and walked to Reeves. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her out of the office away from Wainwright, away from the pain that one pathetic person had caused. Reeves didn’t fool himself that this drama was finished. It would take time, time with Darcy to heal himself and find a way to put this insanity in some kind of perspective.
He tightened his hold on her. “Just like in Snakes Ahead, you covered me. How lucky I am to have a superhero as my partner.”
“And you stopped the bad guys from crossing the bridge to get to me. You know I’ll always cover you, Reeves.”
“As I will you, XChoco.”
Epilogue
One month later
Darcy plopped back on the pillows, breathlessly in awe of her lover. “Unbelievable. How do you do it?”
Reeves, his chest glistening in sweat, on his knees astride her, loomed over her. “First, you have to be naked. And then, I take my …”
Darcy grabbed and twisted his chest hair. “Smart-ass. I’m not talking about mechanics.”
Mission: Impossible to Deny (The Impossible Mission Romantic Suspense Series Book 7) Page 16
