“I can’t leave him, Scott!” Maria screamed, pulling back right before they reached the door leading to the back porch. “He wouldn’t leave me!”
Scott hesitated then. She glanced over her shoulder, noticing how Riley’s entire body language changed then.
“Ten and counting!” Riley yelled, working tediously to deactivate the bomb before he abandoned his efforts. “God help us! I can’t disable it!”
He had to abort. There wasn’t anything else he could do.
“Clear out!” Brock screamed.
Drake’s ear-piercing screams shattered her heart as David yelled, “Go! Save yourselves now!”
Drew rushed the woman, tossed her over his shoulder, and ran like hell. Cade leapt over the last flight of stairs and rushed David, but Riley tackled him right as an explosion rocked the earth.
“No!” Agonized cries filled the air.
Their shattered voices resounded as one soldier, an operative who had endured so much, met his final fate. David had survived the unthinkable with the Rodriquez gang. He’d endured hours upon hours of torture. He had emerged from one war as the victor, only to become the fallen warrior of another.
In the end, David was doomed to die.
Chapter Thirty-Five
The Next Day
“The smoke never clears,” Drew said, joining Drake at the fence next to the long driveway leading to the main road. “It’s like a heavy fog you see every morning, but it never goes away. You hope the haze will lift and you’ll be able to see clearly, but in the end, it doesn’t matter if you can see straight ahead or not.
“You’re already a product of this war of ours. You’ll always remember where you’ve been. Your mind will play clips with instant recall and you’ll drive yourself crazy asking why. You’ll want to know why you lived when it was David’s time to go and that’s just the start of it.”
Drake had been standing there for the better part of the morning and Drew was right. He was imprisoned by his thoughts, grieving the what-ifs and cursing himself for being out there by the pool while his buddy had met the deadliest enemy the Underground Unit had ever known.
“He faced Ferran Esparza’s men alone while we were outside playing—”
“Don’t,” Drew warned him, holding up his hand. “I don’t want to know what you were doing and I damn sure don’t want you to tell the authority or anyone else.”
Drake understood his reasoning. Drew had been ousted by the authority because they’d deemed him unfit for a time. He’d been given control over the first Underground Club, but it was a pie job. The authority used the club as a test model for other clubs like it, but in the beginning the clubs came into existence because Drew Remington needed a low-risk assignment.
“Do we know what happened to Ferran?” Drake asked.
“He made it out,” Drew replied.
“Figures,” Drake muttered.
He turned his attention to the country mansion behind them. The front porch was gone. Several of the large white columns would need repair. Renovations were in order anyway so he couldn’t care less about the cosmetic dents and scratches to the place he’d called home for the last five years. The collateral damage didn’t matter, but it served as a constant reminder of what had happened there. The Longhorns had suffered tremendous loss. David and Phillip gave their lives fighting for another Underground Unit cause, a cause that would apparently always be there.
Drew thumbed the air behind him. “Donovans are giving me a lift back to the airport. Suzy is worried sick. We were in town for a wedding when the call came in from David.”
Drake went rigid as he remembered a pertinent fact. The Donovans, Drew, and some spunky little redhead had arrived on the scene quickly. David had called for backup. They’d been playing house with Maria while David had undoubtedly been held at gunpoint as one of Esparza’s men wired him with the explosives.
In the distance, a car started. A moment later, a vehicle slowed to a stop behind them.
“If you need anything, call. I know what it’s like to feel responsible for a team member’s death.” He slapped him on the back and added, “We watched my brother die, Drake, and I carried the blame and guilt for as long as I could. In the end, I discovered there wasn’t anything I could’ve done to save him.
“It was Benson’s time, man. It hurts like hell to tell you that now, but it was his time. His meter ran out and he’d paid the ultimate dues. The only measuring device we had to remind us of his life was the satisfying knowledge he was well loved and tremendously respected by his family and peers.”
Drake refused to look at Drew or even thank him, but he held onto those words as Drew entered the Donovans’ rented SUV and drove away.
* * * *
Scott answered the phone about midnight, halfway expecting to hear Donovan’s voice on the other end. Instead, Manny said, “I’m fucking married.”
“I heard,” Scott said, wiping the sleep from his eyes and acknowledging Maria on the other sofa across the room.
They’d taken the first watch and she’d insisted that he rest for a few hours. He must’ve passed out as soon as she’d mentioned sleep, even though he’d had better plans, bigger notions.
“I’m sorry to hear about David,” Manny said.
“I have a feeling you were working the shadows on that one since your wife was on the scene. How’d Esparza’s little boy get away?”
“Couldn’t tell ya, bud. Melody seems to think there were only five inside. Esparza’s escape was reliant on a convoy waiting at the gates.”
“Melody does?” Scott laughed. “There’s no second guessing if the two of you have already consummated your official arrangement.”
“Fuck you, Zelmore.”
Scott shot Maria a wink. “Maria might get jealous if you start propositioning me, Manny.”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I haven’t seen my dearly beloved since we said ‘I do’ and I probably won’t until the Donovans finish debriefing her.”
“Aw, you sound disappointed,” Scott teased, rising to a seated position and motioning for Maria.
Her dark eyes danced with knowledge as she approached him. She knelt between his legs and held onto his thighs, lowering her eyes and head while he unhooked his belt and released his zipper.
“If I were you, I’d bill the authority for a decent honeymoon.”
“That day is coming,” Manny said.
“You sound like a man already taken by his wife.”
“Like hell I am,” Manny said. “I’m halfway afraid the woman could kick my ass.”
Scott gripped his cock and dragged the tip over Maria’s swollen and parted lips. Her fingers walked up and down his sac as she licked the speckle of precum from his cockhead.
“So do the Donovans think I’m in the dark about your new assignment?” He gave Maria a lazy look, watching as she looped her tongue around his swollen crest.
“You’re in the dark all right. I don’t even know what to expect next. The only proof I’m married is the gold wedding band on my left hand. Outside of that, I can’t tell you a darn thing about her. I couldn’t even tell you her birth date.”
“Sounds tender on the wedding band part.” Scott pushed his hips forward and shoved his cock down Maria’s throat. A grunt later, he added, “I have a feeling you’ll be a loving and loyal husband, Manny.”
“Psht! Says you, bud. I didn’t propose to her. As far as I’m concerned, she married the Underground Unit.”
“We all have,” Scott said, enjoying the warm sensations Maria’s mouth inspired. “The two of you just made it official.”
Maria smiled and hummed against his size. She bobbed her head up and down, greedily consuming his cock as he tried not to grunt or groan into the phone. Her eyelashes fluttered as she sucked his cock. A firm tongue snaked around his width, drawing him deep inside the heart of her mouth.
“Hang up the phone,” she whispered, rubbing her tight lips across his slit.
&nb
sp; “I heard her,” Manny groaned.
Scott watched the sexy vixen swallow his cock again. “Maria needs my attention.”
“Uh-huh,” Manny muttered. “I bet.”
Scott’s dick thrummed between her lips and he grabbed hold of her hair with one hand while clutching the phone with the other. “From what I hear, you have a wife to bed yourself.”
“Wait a minute,” Manny said. “Did I miss something? Did you up and get married on me?”
“Not yet, but as soon as Maria says she will, I’ll be saying ‘I do’ and the difference between me and you, Mancini is this—I plan to stay committed to my bride for the rest of my life.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Scott disconnected the call and tossed aside his phone. He stood and took Maria’s head between his large hands, splaying his fingers. He tangled those soft, luxurious locks around several firm digits, deliberately pulling her silken hair until she cried out with a mix of pleasure and slight pain.
Her tongue fluttered up and down his cock and a series of sensations followed the rapturous motions. He tapped the back of her throat, throwing his upper body forward and hauling her closer to his groin then pulling her back again so he could stare into those hypnotic eyes.
“Marry me,” he whispered, watching in amazement as she smiled up at him but didn’t stop her oral pursuits.
This time, she devoured him. She tapped his balls and slurped his cock, dragging him to the back of her throat and humming a sultry erotic song. The vocal disruption didn’t remotely resemble a “yes” so he pulled out again.
“Marry me,” he said again, this time a little louder.
Wearing a wicked smile, she whispered against his hooded tip, “I’m afraid you only want me for my talents.”
“You’re damn right,” he said, weaving his hand through her hair. “Your talents, heart, looks, body, and a whole list of other attributes.”
She opened her mouth and blew a hard breath against his cockhead. Scott jerked. God help him. It wouldn’t take much now. Another lick or a harder suction and he’d shoot!
“Do you love me?” she asked, slipping her tongue across his moistened salty slit.
“God yeah.”
“Want me for life, do you?”
“You’re damn straight.”
Her gaze darkened and she leaned forward, consuming every last inch of him. She bounced over him, gripping his legs as she gave him head.
When he was seconds away from blowing, he grabbed a handful of her hair and held her away from his cock. Smothering her lips with his kiss, he said, “Give me an answer now, Maria. Will you marry me?”
“I wouldn’t marry anyone else but you, Scott,” she promised, looking at him then as if she loved him more than she had the hour before.
“That better be a yes,” he rasped, thrusting between her lips and going for her throat with a hard pounding stroke.
She caressed him with her tonsils, working those talented reflexes as she swallowed his release. She hung right with him and sucked his cock dry, sipping and slurping until the noises alone were enough to drive him mad.
He not only shook in pleasure, but he screamed out in pride. “Ah yes, sub! You’ve always been mine!”
* * * *
“I feel a little left out,” Cade said, entering the room wearing only a towel. His wet hair fell loosely around his shoulders and Maria immediately noticed how vulnerable he looked without his patch.
“I figured you two would show up sooner or later,” Scott muttered, relaxing against the sofa cushions.
Drake trailed behind him and the two entered the living room cautiously as if they realized they were treading on sacred ground, the land less traveled by mercenaries and soldiers, but quite familiar ground to the Underground Unit operatives.
“Tell me I didn’t just hear a proposal for marriage.” Cade claimed a seat beside Scott and splayed his muscular legs wide enough for her to catch a glimpse of his heavy balls.
“She said yes, in case you missed that part.” Scott shot her a wink. “But the two of you are invited.”
“How long will we be permitted to stay?” Drake asked, pulling her into his arms.
He slipped his fingers down the front of her white shirt, cupping her breasts with a firm grasp. “More importantly, will we be invited on the honeymoon?”
Scott’s eyes darkened. He ground his teeth together and finally grated out, “That’s up to Maria.”
She bowed her head and watched as Drake loosened the buttons on her blouse. His large hands worked at removing her shirt and bra. He brushed her hair to the side and nuzzled her neck. “You said yes to him, but what about us?”
Maria kept her head down, hoping Scott would answer for her, wishing he’d say something to let them all know where they stood as one unit, as lovers and operatives.
“All things considered, it would be selfish of you to try and keep her for yourself, Zelmore,” Cade said, releasing his towel and dropping it to the floor at her knees.
A shiver of excitement left her pussy quaking as she moistened her lips and dared to peer up at them. “Sir?”
“Which one?” Scott asked, clearly amused.
“Will you let me love them?” she asked.
Scott tilted her chin to his and whispered across her lips. “Will I ‘let you’ love them?” He smiled then and his smile widened when he added, “Maria, you already love them. Now it’s up to you to tell us—them—what you want to do about that love.”
Cade gripped his cock and stroked, watching her as if he thought she could make a choice based on the level of lust existing between them. Drake massaged her shoulders and whispered at her ear, “Marry each of us, Maria.”
“You’re proposing to me?” She wheeled around to face him. Her heart slammed against her chest. Could this be happening? Could she have a love built around three men instead of one? “Drake, don’t tease me. Do you want to marry me?”
“I want to spend my life with you,” he said, slipping his hand up the side of her face. “You’re the reason I can stay in this career after everything I’ve seen, everything we’ve each endured as operatives, as human beings. I can stick this out and live with the decisions I’ve made if you’re by my side.”
Her heart soared as they embraced one another. Then, Drake peeled her arms away from him. He framed her face and kissed her passionately. Thrusting his tongue between her lips, he moaned as he deepened their kiss, fiddling with his zipper before releasing hers.
In a matter of seconds, they were undressed. He picked her up and bracketed her legs around his waist. He sat on the sofa opposite Cade and Scott and eased inside her. The impalement was gentle, but the fucking wasn’t. He tore through her channel with a hard stroke, ripping down barriers as he thrust inside her pussy with a hard-pounding beat.
“That’s it, sub,” he whispered, leaning back and watching her as she rode him.
He pressed his thumb to her clit and rolled the firm bud until she was set to explode. Then, he pulled out and thrust her high above him, holding her hips as he buried his face between her legs and smothered her pussy with a most intimate kiss.
His tongue locked inside her cunt, fluttering up and down until she was crazy, mad with lust and heated desire. Her pussy clenched around his tongue and she jerked once, trying to resist the urge to come without permission but realizing her demise was near, her intimate destruction was only another stroke or two away.
Drake’s cheeks rubbed against her inner thighs. “You’re mine, Maria. As much as you belong to Scott, you belong to me.”
Then, he tongued her pussy with sweet delivery. He pushed between her folds, licking up her liquid heat as she came like a violent wind, finding a natural motion as she whipped to one side before jolting to the other.
When her orgasm ended, he gradually released her. He pampered her breasts with his ravenous kiss before plunging inside her walls. Then, he fucked her as if he were fucking her for the first time—without protection, with
out caution. In a matter of seconds, he screamed out her name and promised to love her until the end of time.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Scott pressed a condom in Cade’s hand. He’d stocked up before they’d taken their post in the living room, but he’d been so engulfed in the act playing out before him, he’d forgotten to pass off the protection.
He wasn’t necessarily troubled by the fact because he was already aware of Drake’s secret. He’d had a vasectomy when he’d joined the Unit. He’d been one of many to follow the authority’s new orders and apparently let a surgeon snip away his chances for offspring. Cade, like himself, had refused to sign away that portion of his life.
“You don’t trust me?” Cade asked, ripping the end of the rubber packet with his teeth.
“It’s not about trust,” Scott replied. “When Maria is ready to have a child, she’ll have my child before she has yours.”
“Seniority?”
“Sounds good to me,” Scott said, crooking his finger back and forth as he eyed the woman who stilled his heart and owned his soul.
Maria left Drake with a jaw-dropping kiss then went to them. She parted her legs, tucked her hands behind her back, and bowed her head.
“Relax, sub,” Scott said, pumping his cock with a slow hand.
“Can you take both of us at the same time?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Sit on Cade’s lap.”
She straddled Cade and threw her hips back. Taking the position behind her, Scott fingered her warm cunt, stirring the mix of her fluids and running his fingers front to back.
Her head bobbled as he worked with her arousal, dragging out the need, that pent-up desire he knew she longed for more than anything else in that moment. Maria needed them. She wanted them to prove they could love her together, without conditions and stipulations.
He silently swore then he’d never suit up to play with his woman again except when he claimed her from the back. He wanted her pregnant with his child. He wanted her to know the love of family and the pride of having children. Tearing free a condom from the strand of rubbers, he rolled the protection over his prick and rubbed the back of his hand against her hot center.
Cowboy Boots and Uncensored Behavior Page 23
