by Margaret Kay
Shepherd used the lift and lowered himself into the hot tub. He slid off the seat and retracted the arm before Diana joined him. He pointed to the dome in the corner of the room over the door to the lady’s locker room. “Just so you know, there’s a security camera there. Ops gets notified when either door opens. It is a safety feature so solo users of the hot tub are observed in case of accident or emergency.”
“Good to know it is there. I guess no one can ever get friendly in this hot tub then,” she giggled. Of course, she knew that was why he told her. “Does everyone who works for you know it’s there?” Her eyebrows raised with the smile that came to her face.
Shepherd laughed. “Yeah, everyone knows. I’m sure a few of my men have had relations in their offices and in other areas that aren’t under camera surveillance.” He paused and chuckled, remembering getting a report that Sloan and his wife Kaylee had been captured making out in the stairwell once, before they were married and before she chose to stay with him. “And the agency maintains an apartment on the ninth floor. It’s more like an efficiency hotel room, with a kitchenette. I know that room has been used for more than sleeping.”
Diana laughed as well. “How many women work for you?”
“Most of them are the wives of my men, but there are two others who are not, though one of them is now involved with one of my men.”
“You don’t have rules about that?”
“I once had a nonfraternization policy that covered coworkers, clients, or anyone associated with a case. It wasn’t needed. No one that has gotten involved with someone has jeopardized the integrity or performance of their job.” The situation with Michaela and Lambchop still weighed on him, even though Lassiter continued to report that Michaela was okay.
“That’s pretty great of you to consider the situation and not enforce a blanket policy. I will admit that I have taken the easy way out and not even addressed it in any shape or form.”
“I wasn’t so great the first time the policy was violated. I almost fired the offender. I’m glad I didn’t. He proved himself capable of still doing his job damn well.” And Angel had turned out to be the perfect addition to the agency.
Even though Diana was curious, she didn’t ask any questions. She settled in with a jet strategically aimed at her lower back and another up between her shoulders. “So, what’s for dinner tonight?” She gave him a wide smile.
Shepherd chuckled. “Whatever you would like.”
“You still owe me tiramisu, but I’ll let that slide tonight. Do you have more of that incredible fish?”
“Four more pounds of it.”
“Do you ever just order a pizza?” She asked.
“Doc allows us to order pizza for lunch once a month. But we could order one if you would like. I can have it delivered to the main desk on five and have someone bring it up to us.”
“Or we could wait for it there,” Diana said, shaking her head. “You have no idea how regular people live, do you?”
“I have no idea what you mean by that,” he said.
Diana laughed. “Of course, you don’t. Sam. Normal people do their own grocery shopping. They order pizzas and take them from the delivery guy’s hands themselves. Or they go to a restaurant and eat their pizza there with a beer or a glass of red wine.”
“You want to go to the pizzeria?”
“When was the last time you went out to a restaurant for dinner?”
Shepherd shook his head and shrugged. He didn’t know. Probably before he was shot.
“Let’s start small. We’ll order the pizza and take it from the delivery guy ourselves. But at some point, soon, we are going to go out to an Italian restaurant on a date and you are going to get me that tiramisu for dessert after an amazing lasagna dinner.”
Shepherd laughed. “I have a feeling you are going to disrupt my life something terrible.”
“I sure hope so,” she confirmed.
Shepherd liked the sound of that. “I really like that you are here with me, Diana. I need to know though, why did you get mad at me Friday night and don’t say you didn’t? You flew out of here like you were on fire.”
Diana pivoted to face him. “I couldn’t figure out why you needed me to wait in the hallway while you were on the phone. I actually started to wonder if you were discussing something illegal or something I would find immoral.” She shrugged. “Which now seems a foolish leap knowing that you and your team are federal authorities.”
Shepherd wanted to kiss her and embrace her, but he knew he could not in front of the camera. “Nothing illegal or immoral. I promise. I’m sorry, Diana. There are some calls I have to take that you will not be able to be in the room for. Friday night’s call was one of them.”
“What kind of security check would I have to go through to change that?”
“There are things that happen in this world that you do not want to know about, some really bad stuff. Trust me on that.”
“So, you are saying it is to protect me?”
Shepherd nodded. “I will always want to protect you. And yes, some things I discuss with other people in the intelligence community you are better off not knowing. Some genies cannot be put back in the bottle.”
Diana nodded. “I can accept that. I have to admit, I didn’t like how I felt when I left here Friday night.”
Shepherd grinned. “I didn’t like how I felt either. And I truly did miss you at dinner. I have already gotten used to us sharing dinner on the nights you are here.”
Diana smiled. “I missed the Mexican food. Tell me it wasn’t that good, and that I didn’t miss much.”
Shepherd laughed. “It was terrible. How about we order from a Mexican place for dinner instead of a pizza?”
“Only if we can get a pizza tomorrow night,” she said.
“Deal,” Shepherd agreed.
Oscar
Shepherd tightened his arms around Diana. His watch displayed the time, four-forty hours. His alarm would go off in twenty minutes. If she wasn’t in his bed, he’d check his phone for messages and emails. Then he’d get up early to add a few more minutes to his morning workout. But he didn’t want to do either. He just wanted to hold her and savor the moment.
The previous evening had been wonderful. After they got back to his apartment after their workout, she spent another hour studying. He touched bases with his teams in the field. Garcia and Charlie Team facilitated the video testimony of the witness with the federal court at the appointed hour. Shepherd received a recap from his men. Augie, Augustus Poe, gave compelling testimony with documented proof. An arrest warrant for his boss, a money launderer and counterfeiter, was issued immediately after his video deposition. St. Vincent would contact him back on Monday with instructions to transfer Poe back to his custody.
Later, they ordered Mexican food, ate together, and then retired to bed early, where they laid holding each other and talking for hours. There was plenty of caressing and kissing too. It was connecting, comfortable, and energizing. Every part of his body, mind, and soul wanted to make love to her, but he didn’t want to rush it. He did believe that physical intimacy between two people was something that should develop naturally. And her being in his bed had not developed naturally.
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and he softly caressed over the roundness of her behind. It was the perfect size for his hand. He felt her arm snake around his middle and her hand cupped his own ass. Yes, he felt it with no numbness whatsoever. He was so distracted by the feel of her hand on his ass that he didn’t realize his arousal flared and his hardness poked into her stomach.
“Good morning to you too,” she whispered. She arched her back, pressing her pelvis more firmly against him. She reached her lips to his and gifted him with a soft, slow kiss.
“I could get used to waking up this way,” he said when their lips separated. “Good morning.”
“What time is it?”
“Just before five hundred.”
She snuggled in and re-closed he
r eyes. “I have another hour to sleep.”
Shepherd chuckled. “I should get up and work out.”
He felt her grip on him tighten. “Or you could stay here with me.”
“That will be the best offer I have all day, no doubt.”
She giggled softly. “What do you think I am offering?”
“Whatever it is, I’m in.”
She laughed harder. “Be careful, you may be agreeing to something that you are not really up for.”
Shepherd chuckled. “I’m up for something.” He circled his pelvis.
“So, I see.” She reached her lips back to his.
The kiss was lengthy. Their hands freely explored, skin on skin. Clothing got pushed aside. Shepherd reveled in the softness of her skin, in the sensations of erotic excitement that stoked his desire. He loved the closeness and promise of more that was communicated with every kiss, with every caress. He was on fire, his skin burning beneath her greedy hands that touched him with no shyness.
As Diana kissed him and ran her hands over his hard body, she knew that they would make love this morning. The desire had been building, a desire that screamed to be satisfied. His kisses engulfed her, made fulfilling the carnal need a priority. She wanted him deep inside her more than she’d wanted any man, ever. She felt no inhibition. There was no need to evaluate what having sex with Sam Shepherd would mean. He’d been direct stating his wants. Her in his life, her in his bed. His straight communication was sexy. His confidence was sexy. Everything about him was sexy.
Shepherd pulled her boy shorts pajama bottoms from her, his avaricious touch taking in the unbelievable smoothness of her intimate areas that radiated heat. He heard her pleasure filled sighs, gasping from her hot mouth under his kisses. He deepened the kiss, attacking her mouth with a new vigor as his touch penetrated her moist softness.
Diana was on the verge of exploding. Sam’s sensual rubbing of her most sensitive areas was intense, an all-out assault. His hungry kisses had his tongue exploring her entire mouth. She felt wildly out of control, a foreign state for her. And there was no trepidation, feeling this responsive to his advances. There was no reason to hold back. No reason to not fully enjoy the moment.
She grabbed hold of his erection inside his shorts and stroked his length tightly. He groaned out a feral reply while his body quaked, momentarily halting his kiss and his hands’ assault on her. He recovered quickly and attacked her with a new need, total domination of her body. His kisses were fiercer. His hands probed her crevice’s more deeply and with more force. Even his body pressed against hers with more weight.
Just when she knew she could not handle another second of the wonderful torment, his voice blew across her ear. “I promise I’m clean. Are you on the pill?”
“Yes, and I promise I am too.”
She guided his throbbing length to her entrance, and he pressed in while his mouth devoured hers. Four incredible strokes in and out was all it took, and fireworks shattered her consciousness. The vice grip that crushed his member, combined with the trembling rigidity of her entire body, and the guttural moans that came from her, told Shepherd she came, and she came hard. He took that as a license to satisfy his needs and he turned his desire loose, plunging in and out of her with a mind-numbing abandon. He was surrounded by her hot, wet, quivering insides, so tight, so stimulating. His mind had one focus, fulfilling the desire to be as deep in her as he could be.
The sensation crashed over him as his release came hard, a rocket obliterating his brain. When he regained his mental faculties, he found he laid heavily atop her. His still throbbing cock was buried deep inside of her. His face lay on the pillow in her sweet-smelling hair. His breath was still ragged, and he felt incredible. He felt more alive than he had in years.
His phone on the bedside vibrated and lit up. He raised up and gazed into her beautiful, sparkling eyes. He kissed her again and then reached for the phone. “I have to take this.”
“And I was ready for round two,” she joked, circling her hips.
He chuckled softly and then pressed accept on his phone. “Shepherd.”
“We need you in Ops,” Tony ‘Wang’ Miraldi’s voice said.
“I’ll be there in five.” He glanced back at Diana. “No, make that fifteen.” He disconnected the call.
“You have got to be freaking kidding me,” Diana complained.
He put the phone down and then, without a word, kissed her passionately. When he pulled his lips away, he pulled out of her and then went down, kissing and sucking her at the apex of her legs. He made love to her with his mouth as fiercely as he had with his cock. It didn’t take long for her to scream through a second, intense release.
Crawling back up to her, he kissed her again and then picked his phone back up. “Five minutes. I still have ten more before I’m due in Ops. Shall I go back down?”
Diana laughed. She grabbed his head and pulled his lips back to hers. After a lengthy kiss, he pulled away. “More later. I promise. I need to get to Ops.”
Without thinking, he swung his feet off the bed and stood as he reached to his wheelchair and took a step towards it. “Sam, you’re standing.”
“I don’t feel any numbness or pain,” he said.
She pointed at him. “Sit,” she commanded.
He did, on the edge of the bed.
“You will not overdo it and re-injure yourself,” she warned. “You are not ready to walk unassisted yet.” She sat up onto her knees. After feeling around the bed, she found his underwear and handed them to him. “I’ll get rest of your clothes.”
He switched the bedside light on and watched her walk naked around his room. It was a beautiful sight. She handed him his clothes. He took hold of her hand and pulled her to his lap. After a kiss, he ran his fingers over her soft face. “I promise. I won’t overdo it. I felt strong, didn’t even think about what I was doing, standing up.”
“When I get back from class tonight, we start a new therapy plan to get you ready to stand and walk on your own. Spend as much time standing in your harness at your desk today that you can, holding up your own weight.” She pressed another quick kiss to his lips. “But don’t try to walk unassisted. I know you’re beyond ready to regain full use and function, but you need to trust me to get you there safely.”
Shepherd’s heart expanded. “I trust you completely.” And he did.
A few minutes later, he rolled into Ops. “What’s going on?”
“Sherman just got called for his piss test. He’s on comms and Lambchop planted a mic on him. He just went into the screening room. Lambchop is out in the hall. We’re recording it for evidence. I knew you’d want to be here for this,” Madison answered.
“Yes, I do. Thank you. By the way, how was the zoo?”
Madison smiled wide. “Hahna loved it! Thank you for asking.”
They listened to the UPC personnel go through the normal process. Confirm his military ID, have him recite his name, rank, and serial number, sign the label on the piss cup, and verbally confirm he has taken no illicit drugs. Then they heard what was clearly the sound of a zipper, followed by the sound of pee filling the cup.
“You just popped positive for a narcotic,” the shrill female voice of the petty officer exclaimed.
“Wait, it’s just some Darvon,” Sherman said. “For an old back injury. Come on, you know how hard we train.”
“Darvon is a schedule four narcotic,” she shrieked.
“If you check my chart, you will see I have been prescribed it a few times over the last few years. I had a few pills left from the last r-x and my back flared up after this last training cycle. We’ll have a few weeks at sea with little irritation to it. I know it will be fine,” Sherman defended. “And, if I had gone to sick call, I know a doc would have given me a few pills to get me through. It’s not a big deal. The pills were mine. I’ll go get you my old prescription bottle so you can see. Come on, cut me a break.”
“Tanisha,” a male voice that Shepherd did not re
cognize said. “I think we can cut him that break.”
“I don’t know,” she whined.
“It’ll cost you, man,” the male voice said. “An E-seven, Chief Petty Officer, an S-O, probably receiving combat pay at all times. Hell, you’re probably drawing combat pay right now, aren’t you?”
“No, man, not while being transported to the arena. But we deserve every penny of it when our asses are playing with explosives, diving out of planes, or humping it in the dead of night in some god-forsaken third world shithole during a capture-kill mission when lead is flying downrange. How many throats have you slit, corpsman? It’s different when it’s up close and personal, so don’t even try to make me defend my combat pay.”
