“No,” she hollered, “because I trusted you. I left my tools and you sent those whores to the bathroom so I wouldn’t have time to get it.”
His chest rose and fell rapidly, but he didn’t attack. Baine stood there looking at her, his jaw slack like he didn’t know what to say. His lips closed and his features softened.
Baine dropped to his knee before her. His brilliant blue gaze never left her face as he grabbed his holstered pistols between two fingers and laid them at her feet. “Sia Kolat Johnson, first-born daughter of Sylva Kolat and Daniel Johnson, first friend and only love of mine…I have never, and will never, betray you.”
Sloan hadn’t heard her given name since the day her parents were taken from her. In the protection of her father’s arms, he hid her face from the unmentionable things the soldiers did to her mother. But he couldn’t block her mother’s screams. So, rocking Sloan gently against his chest, her dad whispered the mantra over and again: “Sia Kolat Johnson, you are loved. You are loved. You are loved.”
The weight of the memory and the weight of Baine’s words brought her to her knees. The pistol slid from her hand. “You knew. This whole time, you knew,” she marveled, her voice as thin as a reed.
Baine collected her in his arms and held tight. His warmth encompassed her and his lips brushed her forehead and hair.
“When we met as children, I had no idea what my father did. I knew what he did to me and my mother, but I had no clue about the atrocities he’d committed. I wish I had known. I wish I’d cared to know where his wealth came from, but I was away at school. I only saw him on holidays and then I spent my time avoiding him.
“I fantasized later about what I would have done, if I’d known what he did to your family. I was only eight and couldn't have done anything to help you. Hell, I couldn’t even help myself when he got angry. And your parents were already dead, but if I could have saved you, I would have.”
His hands smoothed over her arms and back as he continued, the words tumbling from his lips. They hurt and soothed at the same time. Emotions whirled. Tears crashed onto her cheek.
“It wasn’t until college that I began digging. I questioned my mom and she always cautioned me to let it go, that it wasn’t safe. But I pushed relentlessly. Finally, she told me out of fear I would do something to catch my father’s notice.
“There were no words to describe the hate I had for the blood flowing through my veins.
“My mother hated my father and planned to leave only a year after they were married. She found out she was pregnant shortly after, but kept it a secret. Devereaux Kendrick has many on his payroll. The doctor she saw happened to be one of them. My father told her if she attempted to keep any other secrets from him, he would cut the baby from her belly, and if she tried to leave him, he would kill everyone she’d ever held dear. So, she stayed. I still can’t agree with her actions, but I wasn’t in her shoes either.
Baine’s chest heaved against her cheek.
“I demanded we find proof and go to the government. She was terrified of my father, of what he’d do to us for betraying him. But she agreed. And then he killed her.”
Sloan twisted in Baine’s arms and wrapped her own around his torso. She hugged him to her, longing to give him some of the comfort he gave. There were still so many things she didn’t understand about Baine Kendrick. So many questions to be answered. Sloan’s gut told her this man was good, despite everything he’d been through, despite the tainted blood that gave him life. In spite of every shred of intel she had on him. And her heart agreed completely. Her head, for once, gave itself over to the other ruling governs of her body.
Baine’s knuckle tipped her chin up and she drank in his face. The harshness of this formidable man softened and Sloan caught not a glimpse of the caring boy she’d once known, but of the loving man he’d become. His eyes shimmered like a clear lake with unshed tears. The constant rigidity of his jaw hung slack as he stared at her with an expression close to…wonder, maybe.
Sloan closed the small distance between them and fused her mouth to his. Baine gave himself completely, letting her own him. Her lips pushed against his, molding their pliant silk to her own. Slowly, she nibbled his bottom lip and eased her tongue inside his mouth. Warmth enveloped her seeking tongue. Swiping and tasting, over and over she caressed him while his strong arms held her to him.
His words danced in her head. Perfect sentiments in an imperfect world. Her heart floated on hope she’d banished long ago. For if this man could love her, if he could be a shadow of the compassionate kid she’d known, then she would do anything to help him remove his father from power and even more to try and keep him in her life. Self-protection and caution be damned.
Cool air drifted over Sloan’s wet lips as Baine pulled back, bracing both strong palms against her shoulders. His eyes were fiery blue and more intense than she’d ever seen, and for this man, this force of nature, that was saying something.
“I planted a camera in his office before I left for D.C. The code I gave you was the code he used yesterday. He must have rolling codes, which means he has a device feeding him the sequence. We have to find it. We have to find the code and get that damn book.”
Baine’s right hand moved to cradle the nape of her neck. He smothered kisses over her cheek and the bridge of her nose.
“We will take everything from my father for what he did to your family, my mother, and the thousands of others he’s hurt. Your attempt on the safe will show on his report. But remember,” he cupped her face and held it, making laser-straight eye contact. “You’re mine. You belong to me and I belong to you. Above all, I will protect you.”
21
“They’re spending a fuck load of time in that goddamned bathroom,” Kobi spat.
The lion didn’t respond. Only crouched on his bedroom floor, fanged grin gleaming as always. He’d like to shoot and stuff the creature again for its mocking expression.
Kobi stalked back to the computer screen, irritated with himself for bitching at a cured corpse, instead of marching down to Baine’s room and making a fresh pair. He plopped down in the computer chair. His eyes crossed and blurred as he struggled to bring the black and white footage into focus.
The vodka he’d iced an hour ago tasted like water as he pounded it down his dry throat. He stunk too. Not just of metaphorical desperation—the whiff of B.O. he’d gotten with the liquor was enough to cause himself whiplash.
“Fuck it. Nothin’ to see anyhow.”
When he stood the chair scraped the floor, echoing a vile screech throughout the room. With a solid kick the polished wood skipped twice then slammed down. A satisfied grin spread his lips, until he turned back to close the laptop screen.
Kobi’s jaw might have hit the keyboard for the shock of the scene unfolding before him.
Baine Kendrick, rough and tumble ladies’ man, carried the hooker to the bed and laid her down as if she were a piece of fuckin’ china, not a high dollar piece of ass. He eased her shoes off and instead of spreading her legs wide and ramming his dick home, kissed and caressed his way up her body.
Who the hell was this guy, Don Juan DeMarco? And what made him so special? To a whore? To the boss? Why him? Why not me?
Rage left simmering for far too long bubbled over. Kobi hefted the computer in his hand and hurled it across the room. It hit the floor with an anticlimactic thud, which only heightened his anger. On his way to the shower, Kobi planted a boot through the shattered screen.
“Just you wait, asshole. Just you fucking wait and see.”
22
Sloan had never given much thought to the concept of love, having had it in her life only a short while. It seemed more a dream than a feeling or memory. Over the years she’d clung to those precious moments to save the fleeting whips from the erosion of time. Still, practical things consumed her mind. First, life’s essentials. Food. Water. Shelter. Then later, education. Revenge.
Love wasn’t her salvation. Watching, eyes wide, as
it had been ripped away, love morphed into her own broiling hell. The comforting punishment of physical training soothed her body, not gentle hands. Cold gunmetal in her palm calmed her nerves, not pillow talk. Logistics and tactics lulled her to sleep at night, not the arms of a lover.
But, once again the topography of her world had changed in a heartbeat. The beliefs that had gotten her through the void, independence and distance, sailed out the window in a hale gust of Baine’s declaration.
“The cameras,” Sloan whispered. Not that she believed for one moment her weary warrior had forgotten them, but perhaps he wasn’t thinking about all of the possible ramifications.
Baine nibbled her ear and kissed the line of her jaw until his gaze evened with hers. His smile warmed her belly. In a rough, quiet voice, he said, “I disconnected the audio. But fuck Kobi. Sloan, I can’t properly make love to you on a bathroom floor, and that’s what I need to do. Right now. If he wants to watch, let him.”
His lips brushed hers. Only a graze, before his bristly cheek lay over her heart where the low-cut dress dipped, revealing loads of cleavage and yards of skin. He stilled, for a moment, except for his hands, which eased up the coverlet and smoothed over her palms. Their fingers interlocked, but the pressure didn’t pin her to the bed. This wasn’t a show of dominance, but of affection.
He connected them. Not in sex, but in love.
The perfection of his gesture formed a lump in her throat.
Baine raised his head, his smile gone. His expression, one she’d never seen, sent bursts of love shooting from her heart like a damn meteor shower.
“I’m about to love you so purely and completely, Kobi’s eyes will burn and all your unanswered questions won’t matter. You’ll know the type of man I truly am, not by the intel or the assassinations, but by the way I love you.”
Her heart expanded like a red giant, consuming the love Baine offered.
He buried his face in her palms, his breaths drifting through her fingers. Sloan didn’t have the slightest clue how to compress into words the whitewater of emotions coursing through her body. So, she hugged his face with her hands, trying to reciprocate some of his tenderness. The bristles of his chin prickled as he placed his hands over hers and squeezed.
Full lips kissed away the tingle. Baine worked his way down the sensitive skin of one arm, sending little comets sparking through her veins. She giggled and threw her free hand over her mouth to quiet the noise.
“Pure magic. That sound. Good Lord,” he mumbled, still mapping the landscape of her surprisingly ticklish bicep, and coaxing another laugh from her throat.
“Ah, now I know your secret,” he whispered.
“I have no secrets from you because apparently, you see right through me.”
Baine shook his head while nipping her collarbone. “No, love. But give me time and I’ll learn your many expressions.”
God help her. She couldn’t see past this day, this moment, this man, but the thought of him wanting her on the other side of this mess they waded in sent a thrill spinning through her belly and ramming headlong into her heart.
With Baine’s reverent touch seducing her skin and his gaze adoring her form, she felt love as she never had before.
She ached with it.
Baine’s fingers smoothed over her brow. “I’ve seen your sorrow, even though you try your damnedest to mask it. I saw wonderment out on the Highveld today,” he stroked her cheek while he continued, “and when Kobi hit the ground, smug satisfaction. I’ll admit, it made my chest puff out.”
“It’s a damn fine chest,” she admitted. Just the thought drew her hands to it, the steely bulk immovable under her sure fondling. His tiny nipples beaded beneath his shirt as she played. The buttons came next. One after another Sloan worked his torso free and was rewarded with a view of his tanned, taut skin and carved muscle. She even glimpsed the swart hair that dusted the perfect V of his abs below his belly button and disappeared at the top of his pants.
“Look hungry all you want. I won’t rush this.”
Sloan rubbed her legs together in glorious frustration.
The corner of his mouth formed a crescent. “Patience, love.”
“I thought you liked my impatience.” Her hand fell over the edge of his oblique and rushed toward his belt buckle, eager to release his cock and get him inside her, to ease the angst building between her legs.
Baine took her hand in his and placed it over the hard column of his penis, his pants creating an irritating barrier. “I more than like it, but I’m doing my best to love you right.” He dragged her hand away, collected her other in his grasp and raised them over her head, holding them to the bed as he loomed over her. “Now, where was I?”
His feather-light touch grazed her jaw and she arched into him. “I’ve figured out mad. Most people clench their teeth, but when you’re angry, you poke out your jaw and cock your head ever so slightly. Then your eyes turn molten. I swear, they could burn me alive, if I got too close.”
He kissed her lids before moving to the bridge of her nose and working his way over her lips and down the centerline of her neck. “I should fear that look. Any wise man would. It just makes me hard.
“In the foyer by the pool, when you turned it on me the first time, it took everything I had not to take you right there, not to wrap your legs around me, move that strip of cloth covering your exquisite ass and thrust into your pussy.
“And yesterday there was no holding back. No stopping myself when you came to me. I couldn’t slow down. Couldn’t take my time. My control broke and I had to have you.”
A ragged breath escaped Sloan’s lips. Her belly shivered as his words sparked vivid pictures of the scene he described and fanned the flame burning deep in her core. “I didn’t mind.”
His brows drew together. “My sore jaw would say otherwise.”
“I... It’s always been black and white for me. Good guys. Bad guys. And I’ve always been on the right side of the line. You were grey. Still are, no matter what my gut tells me...or the way you treat me. My mind just...”
Baine’s grip tightened on her hands and he attacked her mouth. His lips slid over hers. He tugged her lips through his and rasped her with his teeth. Slick warmth coated her mouth and her sex. She groaned, Baine’s mouth swallowing the sound as he pillaged.
Too soon he eased back, breathing hard, eyes storm-dark and filled with wanting. His head hung between his massive shoulders. The white button-down gaped at the top revealing the contour on his sturdy back. After one long exhale, Baine lifted his head and turned those amazing blues on her.
“In your situation I wouldn’t trust me either. I won’t put you in danger just to ease your mind about me. There are things you can’t know. But know this...just like you, I learned that line at a young age, and just like you, I have always been and will always be on the right side of it.”
That was all she needed for the last vestiges of doubt to evaporate. Stupid or not. Reckless or not. She believed him.
With every fiber of her shattered heart, she loved him.
“I trust you,” she said.
Apparently, that was all he’d needed. Like a veil being lifted, the hint of concern at his brow and the tightness in his jaw vanished. He appeared younger and hungrier, if that was possible.
His head lowered to the swell of her breast. He cupped one with his free hand and pressed, the crest of it brimming the strapless top of the shimmering black gown. Hot, languid kisses smattered her chest. One rough yank bared her nipples to the pleasure of his tongue. The receptive light brown skin of her areola flushed a rosy hue as Baine dragged each in turn through his white teeth then flicked her pebbled tips with wet strokes, coaxing them to stiff peaks.
Sloan’s back arched, urging his ministrations. She longed to spread her legs for him, to wrap herself around him and never let go, but his weight held her in place. Ever the agile soldier, she braced her back on the bed and thrust her hips forward, using her body as a weapon to get wh
at she needed.
Even through slacks and the fabric of her dress, the broad head of his penis gave an electric shock on contact that made her eyes roll back in utter bliss. She rolled and rocked his hard length against her swelling lips and the hood of her clit.
A primal groan rumbled in Baine’s throat. His hand left her breasts and clamped onto her ass, pumping her into him with greater force than she could manage on her own. Back and forth, he rolled his hips in rhythmic time, his shaft strumming her toward the edge. Her heart galloped over it as her breaths came in shallow pants until it stopped altogether, relishing the free-fall of orgasm.
When she finally exhaled, Baine eased back. “Sweet Jesus, you almost made me shoot off in my pants. Like a damn teenager. Your breathing…gets me. But maybe that’ll hold you for a minute and you’ll quit rushin’ me.”
Sloan couldn’t stop her smile, his admissions and playful side getting the best of her.
“I was about to release your hands, but that look says you can’t be trusted.”
She winked. “Maybe I can. Maybe I can’t. No risk, no reward.”
He winked in return and a slight dimple formed at the corner of his crooked smile. “I’ll just have to keep you busy.”
He released her hands and straddled her body, slowly drawing down the zipper along her side then working the garment off.
Moving to stand at her feet, Baine shook his head. “A masterpiece such as I’ve never seen,” he whispered.
The adoration in his expression made her melted-marshmallow gooey on the inside. She was no marshmallow, but something about this man transformed her.
With agile hands, Baine stripped his rumpled shirt, toed his shoes off, then shucked his pants and black boxer briefs in one swift motion. What a wonder to behold. She wasn’t complaining, since she’d been cheated the other night by their impatience. The man who stood before her was a beast, in the most beautiful interpretation of the word. Thick muscles lay beneath his hulking frame. There was nothing angular about him, every surface curved by his cursed DNA and hard work.
Enemy Mine (The Base Branch Series Book 1) Page 12
