For the first time since he joined Guardian, Anubis seriously questioned whether or not he wanted to retain his position within the organization. He glanced up as Sky rounded the table. When she lowered to her knees in front of him, she held his full attention.
"Kadey is asleep." Sky rubbed her small hands up and down his thighs. Her head tipped to the side as she searched his face, appearing deep in thought.
Anubis nodded at her comment, not sure he deserved where her words were leading.
"Come to the bedroom with me, Kaeden." Sky stood and extended her hand to him.
Kaeden stood and glanced at the door. "Let me lock up. I'll be there in a moment."
Sky glanced at the door and then back toward the bedroom. "Don't make me wait too long." She stood up, putting her hand on the back of his neck and pulled him down to her. She'd taken off her heels. Her head barely made it to his pecs. Kaeden leaned down. Before he met her lips, she whispered, "We both deserve a few moments in time. The ones we can look back on and remember."
Kaeden let her lead the kiss. She was the one initiating the intimacy, and he'd willingly let her lead after the mind fuck Arnie had laid on her. He remembered a confident woman who wasn't afraid to take what she wanted. Her hesitancy was Arnold T. Cross's fault, and Anubis hated the man for it. Sky's tongue swept his bottom lip, and he opened for her, giving her access and meeting her tentative caress of his tongue. When she pulled away her eyes remained shut; her lips were full and red, and her cheeks were flushed. If there was a way to commit every line of her face to memory, he prayed to be able to do it-and he wasn't a praying man. He didn't have the right to ask God to be forgiven for something he was going to keep doing.
Slowly her eyelids rose. Her pupils were wide, almost consuming the dark brown of her irises. "Don't take too long." She slipped out of his grasp and headed to the bedroom. Anubis made quick work of closing up his remaining food, placing an almost unperceivable mark on each can in an exact location. If anyone were to tamper with his food, he'd know. He locked up and pulled the drapes so no one could see inside. He checked all the windows before he peeked in on Kadey.
Kaeden stepped across the hall and pushed open the door. The shower was running, and the bathroom door was ajar. Kaeden pushed the door open and leaned against the wooden frame. The frosted glass of the shower muted Sky's naked form, but it couldn't take away from the beauty he witnessed. She leaned her head back sending her dark brown hair down her back in a silken fall. She turned to him, opened the door and smiled. He lost his clothes in as much time as it took to cross the bathroom floor. He'd secured his automatic and secondary weapon in the trunk of the car when he retrieved his food.
Sky held the glass door ajar and boldly looked at him from head to toe. He cupped his shaft and stroked it. His desire for her hardened his cock into granite within seconds of seeing her naked and waiting for him.
She backed away, and he stalked forward. "I need you, Kaeden." Sky ran her hands up his chest, the spray of the shower darkening the hair on his chest where her hands roamed.
"Tell me what you need, babe." Kaeden pulled her to him and lowered his lips to hers.
She leaned back in his arms and ran her hands up his biceps to his shoulders. "I want you to lift me up and fuck me against the shower wall. Hard and fast. I want to feel your cock inside me tomorrow morning."
It was a favorite position for both of them, but oh damn, her words. She ramped his need up into the red when she spoke with such bold assurance. She hadn't been this outspoken since he'd left her in Fresno. He was happy to have the old Sky back, if even for the little while he pushed her against the wall.
"Fuck yeah, there's the woman I used to know." Kaeden reached down and grabbed her thighs, pulling her up to his waist. Her small body was easy to lift. Her legs wrapped around him and he felt it as she crossed her ankles at the small of his back. He pinned her back against the wall and lowered to fuck her mouth with his tongue. She met his kiss with a force and desire that activated every memory he had of her. She bit his bottom lip. He pulled away and laughed at the challenge that shone clearly from her eyes.
Sky wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself up until she was even with his eyes. "I want you inside me."
"You're not ready." His cock wasn't small, and he'd be damned if he was going to hurt her. Foreplay, in his case, was a necessity, not a nicety.
"Feel me, big boy. I'm wetter than this shower. I'm ready."
Anubis slid his hand down her hip and swept the outer lips of her sex before he entered her with two fingers. He felt her slick heat. Fuck, she was ready.
Sky gasped and threw her head back exposing her neck. She bucked her hips against his hand. "God, yes. Please. Now."
Fuck, the way the woman wanted him, even after all the shit he'd drug her through, it was a miracle given to a sinner. One he'd cherish and protect. "Hang on to me, babe." Anubis waited until she tightened her grasp and reached down to position himself at her core. He cupped her thigh with the other hand holding her up. "Loosen your hold." He leaned forward placing her back against the wall and dropped his head to her shoulder. The tight heat of her sex wrapped around the head of his cock. He thrust up into her. They both moaned at the pleasure of the sensation. Anubis wrapped one arm around her waist, and the other gripped her thigh supporting her on his cock. "So fucking good, Sky. So good." His hips thrust deep of their own accord.
Sky's breath punched out with each collision of their bodies. She used the muscles of her legs to lift and drop, meeting his animalistic rutting of her in a frantic, frenzied climb toward release. Anubis covered her mouth with his when her gasps became words, and the words became too loud. She clawed at his back, and he drove deeper and faster. Sky's body tightened like a bow, seconds before she shattered.
Anubis crushed her to him as he chased his release. Her tight, hot body wrapped around him, depending on him to keep her aloft, safe and satisfied, fed his buried desires, stoking the flames until they were all consuming.
Sky was his, damn it! His and he was fucking claiming her. He thrust as far inside her as he could and lost himself.
The sensation of Sky's hand stroking his back broke through the euphoria of orgasm. He loosened his arms slightly and lifted his head. Sky's eyes searched his. He dropped a soft kiss to her lips. "I think I've become addicted to my daughter's mother." Anubis pressed his forehead against hers. "I want you."
Sky's hand stopped its up and down motion. Anubis didn't open his eyes, he couldn't look at her, wouldn't acknowledge that she might not return his feelings.
She unhooked her legs, and he let her down. "Kaeden, look at me."
Anubis squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. Her voice was so… resolute, he'd fucked up by admitting his feelings.
"Kaeden." Sky's hand cupped his cheek. "I've always wanted you."
Anubis opened his eyes. She had a sad smile on her face.
"I don't know how to do this." Anubis hated admitting his confusion and his weakness, but she deserved to know.
"Neither do I. Relationships don't come with a manual, or if they do, we sure as fruck missed it when they passed them out."
An unexpected bubble of laughter burst out of him. "Fruck?"
She slapped his shoulder and stuck out her tongue at him. "We have a daughter who is a parrot."
Anubis cupped the back of her neck and waited until she looked up at him. "I need to talk to my people. I don't know who is after me." He motioned his head toward the door, "Outside there is a threat against me. They've proven they will kill to get to me. I couldn't live with myself if I put either of you in jeopardy. I'll have to leave you, to make sure the threat is pulled away from you until my company can handle the situation."
Sky leaned into him and wrapped her arms around him. "I'm not going to lie. I don't want you to leave, but I understand."
"You-"
"Momma! I'm hungry!"
Anubis spun, putting Sky between his very naked self and his five-year-old daughter, who was obviously at the bathroom door, or… fuck,inside the room.
Sky laughed and grabbed his arm, steadying herself. "Okay, baby! Let me get out, and I'll get your dinner."
"Is Daddy in there with you?"
Anubis could see the muted form of Kadey's pink dress and her dark brown curls as she walked toward the shower. Fuck, fuck, fuck! He cupped his cock and balls trying to hide them as he crouched behind Sky's tiny form. His eyes scanned the shower enclosure…looking for an escape hatch. Something… anything! Fuck, he was trapped!
"Ummm… yeah, he's helping me wash my hair." Sky made a face and shrugged at him. It might have been funny if his dick wasn't hanging out in the open with his daughter coming closer.
"Okay. Can I turn on Dora?"
"Sure, baby." Sky opened the door and peeked around the frosted, and steam laden glass. Anubis shuffled as far into the corner of the shower stall as he could and prayed for the power of invisibility. He now understood the definition of complete and total mortification. He heard Sky talking. "You know the rules. Don't answer the door. I'll be out in just a minute."
"Don't forget to tell Daddy I get a treat because of the tests!"
Anubis inhaled and pushed back into the corner praying to every deity he'd ever heard of or imagined that somehow the tile wall of the shower would consume him.
"I won't, and I promise we'll find something special. Now pop on out to the front room. I'll be right there." Sky remained at the door for at least fifteen long seconds before she pulled it shut and spun around. "Well, that was exciting." She blinked before she burst out laughing. "Oh my goodness! You are as red as a lobster!"
Anubis dropped his cock and balls and damn near collapsed against the wall. "That shit isn't funny."
"Yeah, it kinda is." Sky laughed and grabbed the soap.
"No, it isn't!" Anubis snapped up the shampoo and poured a portion into his hand spinning Sky and working the suds through her hair as she washed her body.
"Oh, that's where you're so wrong. It was hilarious! Besides, she didn't see anything." Sky laughed out loud. "The big bad man was hiding in a corner, behind me!" Sky spun and put her soapy hands on his chest as she leaned back into the jets, rinsing her hair and body at the same time.
Anubis watched the suds slide down her skin. Her too thin frame was still unbelievably beautiful. He held the small of her back as she worked the clean water through her hair. When she moved forward, her smiling eyes opened and found him. "That is something I'll need to work on, though. I've never shut a door or locked it."
Anubis shifted her, so he was under the jets. He soaped up as he regarded her. He would love to be the one to cause her to shut her doors, but he had no idea how to make it happen. He needed to talk to Bengal or Alpha, probably both, but that needed to wait until they dealt with the current threat against him and his family. He turned off the water and wiped an area of the frosted glass clean of steam. He peeked out into the bathroom looking for Kadey.
"Is the coast clear?" Sky laughed as she reached around him and pushed opened the door. Anubis jumped back from the open area and retreated into the back corner. It was instinctive self-preservation. Sky grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her as she padded across the tile to the door. She shut the bathroom door and spun around. "You can come out now, it's safe."
Anubis grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist. "I don't think you should be enjoying this as much as you are." It had been one hell of a long time since he'd been the butt of a joke and he wasn't sure if he was alright with it. "How are you going to explain me in the shower with you?"
Sky bent over, wrapping a towel around her hair. She stood up and tucked in the end of the towel. "I don't intend to explain a thing unless she asks a question. If she asks, I'll handle it." Sky stopped and blinked staring at the steam covered mirrors above the vanity.
"What is it?" Anubis scanned the room suddenly on alert.
Sky cocked her head at him and gave him a puzzled look. "When Trey wanted to spend the night, I refused to let him. I didn't want to have to explain his presence to Kadey. I just realized what a line of bull puckey I fed him. I just didn't want him to stay because the only one I've ever wanted to have to explain to Kadey… was you."
Chapter Ten
Kaeden slid out of the pocket door and closed the desk area off from the living room where Kadey and Sky were engrossed in a movie they'd pulled up on Netflix. When he received the message indicating the scheduled check-in was pushed back, he didn't have time to wonder if the causality for the delay was related to the events of the previous day. To say he'd been distracted wouldn't even scratch the surface of the mindset he'd been working through while the doctors examined Kadey.
He couldn't imagine how Sky had managed to stay sane. By the time they left the hospital yesterday, he wanted to wrap Kadey in bubble wrap and eliminate anyone who caused her any discomfort. He may have even developed a plan or two… especially the phlebotomist that failed to find her vein the first time. Sky handled it like a champ and found ways to distract their daughter. The heartfelt sobs from his baby girl ate away at his self-control faster than a flame through flash paper. If Sky hadn't been there to settle them both down, the phlebotomist would have been sucking his meals through a straw for the next month.
His phone vibrated in his hands, and he accessed the call. "Six-four-nine."
"I pass you Cobalt." He recognized Bengal's voice immediately.
"Azure. What do you have for me?"
"The line is secure. Standby. We need to bring in Alpha and Archangel." The line went dead. Anubis sat down in the desk chair and closed his eyes. Fuck. Archangel was now the big man, the one in charge of all of Guardian. He'd seen him once at a gathering that he'd dropped into, uninvited. Archangel and Asp could damn near be identical bookends they were built that much alike.
Bengal came back on the line. "Archangel, Alpha, you have Six-four-nine, and CCS on a secure line." Bengal identified the cyber intelligence office from which his woman, and now he, worked.
"How is your daughter?" The raspy voice wasn't Alpha and sure as fuck wasn't Bengal, so Anubis assumed it was Archangel's.
"She is getting the care she needs, sir. Surgery is scheduled."
"Roger that. We've asked the Secretary of the Air Force to authorize the base to temporarily elevate the security at Taylor Air Force Base."
Anubis leaned forward and propped his elbows on the desk. "The rationale?"
"Alpha, fill him in." Archangel's voice grated against his ear.
"We have verified through several sources that there has been a hit issued on your alias, your daughter, and her mother." Alpha's words dropped like lead.
Anubis drew in a breath and released it. He repeated the action two more times before he spoke. "The identity of the entity that funded the hit?"
"At this time, we've followed the money trail back to Suriname."
Anubis collapsed back into the leather chair and stared at the ceiling. "Fuck me. They obtained blood samples from the room where they held me."
"Probably. The man who was your target, Haghen, was Satan incarnate, but his nephew, Faas? That fucker makes his uncle look like Santa Clause." Bengal added the information.
"Faas?" Anubis had no idea who succeeded Haghen. That mission had been fucked up from the start. When the security team cornered the entire kitchen staff, Anubis bided his time, but the fuckers never gave him a chance to make a break for it. Hell, he didn't recall most of the torture sessions. The fuckers who worked him over were nothing but brutes. If they knew what they were doing Anubis would have remembered every excruciating second of the time he was held.
"Haghen's nephew."
Anubis closed his eyes against the memory of the incident. Hag
hen moved through the country in erratic fits and starts. Anubis managed to work his way on as kitchen staff at one of the compounds the man frequented. The compound security strip-searched everyone who worked in the house, so Anubis procured his chemicals from within the compound in order to complete his mission. The ad hoc poison he'd used worked too quickly. Hagen's security team corralled the kitchen staff, himself included when the man collapsed. Days later, Bengal arrived and wiped out what remained of Haghen's security team to get to him. From what he'd been told and read about the operation, there had been a security contingent assigned to the compound. The belief was that they were to finish the interrogations. Anubis didn't remember the rescue. He'd been too fucked up. Bengal told him he'd died twice on the short airplane ride back to the states. However, Guardian's docs started his heart pounding again, twice, and patched him up before they sent him north. He spent about a month at a secure facility in South Dakota undergoing medical and psychological exams before he was released to recover. If he'd been a normal member of Guardian, he would have finished his rehab at the complex in South Dakota, but to minimize his exposure, they segregated him and let him leave as soon as he was able to care for himself. Anubis stuck a pin in the map and chose Fresno. The rest was history.
"Faas is a medical doctor. From what we can extrapolate, he is the one that directed your blood be gathered and tested, and from the condition you were brought back in, there is no doubt they had more than enough to process. Our hypothesis is that he was waiting for you to surface. The logic behind the trap was sound. Revenge for his uncle's death is obviously the motivation here." Alpha cleared his throat and continued, "CCS correct me if I get this wrong, but when the mother had her cousin enter your daughter's blood into CODIS, it triggered our alarms and must have also somehow alerted Faas's people. The DNA was a partial match. That meant they had family they could leverage. Only the trail ended at the Merced County Sheriff's office. Faas's people knew you had a relative in the state, so they began the search. When your blood was logged in at the hospital, they were able to trace it back from where it originated. Obviously, they had someone who was monitoring for anything that indicated an Rh-null blood test."
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