A Second Past Midnight (The Sentinels)

by Melinda Hunter

  “I love you,” she whispered against his mouth.

  Arrigo forced her back. “You do?” He almost couldn’t believe that she had said the words.

  She rolled her eyes at him and it infuriated him. “Are you going to see if it fits or do I have to do it?” she asked.

  Taking the box from her, he pulled the ring out. Sana quickly extended her left hand. With his hand shaking, he focused on steadying it as he slid the ring on her finger. Luckily, it fit perfectly.

  Not too bad for a last minute purchase.

  “Will you marry me?” Arrigo asked. Still holding her hand in his, Sana looked down at the two-carat diamond and tilted her hand back and forth.

  “Yes.” She titled her head back up so their eyes met, but that only lasted a moment.

  Crushing her lips with his, he savored her taste. The idea of having this opportunity every day for the rest of his life sank in. He had spent years surrounded by Marines that always had his back, but this was different. Arrigo knew she would be there for him and he would be there for her. He could love her.

  Sana let a giggle escape that caught him completely off guard.

  “What’s so funny?” Arrigo had no idea what she could be laughing at.

  “You’re dripping water on my feet and it tickles,” Sana giggled again.

  “Oh.” Arrigo cradled her face in his hands and couldn’t fathom how all of this had happened. He only just met Sana and he immediately knew that he wanted her. To be so lucky that she reciprocated the feelings amazed him. Arrigo had never considered himself unlucky, but this, this was lucky.

  “I don’t think I’ll be wearing this to work.” Sana glanced up at her hand. Arrigo turned his head slightly toward her hand.

  “I didn’t think you would want to. I don’t want them to give you a hard time about it.” Arrigo knew that the ring wouldn’t be worn often, but he didn’t mind. The ring was just a token, her love was all that he needed to know she belonged to him. Sana screwed up her face at him.

  “That’s not why I wasn’t going to wear it. It cost thirty-two thousand dollars and I don’t think that it would be a good idea to wear it in if I’m going to have to fight someone. Although it could make quite the weapon.” Sana smiled up at him.

  Arrigo shook his head and smiled at her sense of humor. He would have thought the same thing if it had been him though. Just as Arrigo was about to kiss her again, his phone rang. Only the Sentinel team had his number.

  “Who in the world could that be.” Arrigo slipped away from Sana and grabbed his phone from the counter.

  “Hmm.” The caller ID showed it was Sinjin.

  “Kane,” he answered.

  “It’s Sinjin and I need to ask a favor.”

  “Okay. Go ahead.” Arrigo hadn’t had any other conversation with Sinjin besides the confrontation in the gym so he didn’t know why he would ask him for a favor. As he listened to Sinjin explain, he saw Sana go ahead to the bathroom and shut the door.

  “My truck is stalled on Michigan Avenue and I know you’ve got a hitch on your SUV. Could you by chance pick me up and help me get her off the road?”

  “Um, okay. Give me a few minutes and I’ll call you when I’m on my way.” Arrigo wondered what would have possessed Sinjin to call him or if it merely out of logistics.

  Arrigo stepped into the bathroom to find Sana in the shower. “Hey, Sinjin called and his truck has stalled a few blocks away. I’m going to tow his car and give him a ride.”

  Sana peeked out from behind the glass door with her hair and face covered in a shampoo lather. With one eye shut, she squinted with the other.

  “Sinjin called you?” Even Sana didn’t believe it.

  “Go figure. I’ll be right back though.” He shrugged his shoulders in disbelief.

  “I can go with you if you wait a second,” Sana replied.

  “No. Just stay in there and get clean. I’ll be back to inspect.” Arrigo chuckled yet already hated that he was leaving, even if it wasn’t for long. He had post-proposal sex to have.

  Arrigo left their apartment in his Range Rover and while he didn’t have it outfitted with armor plating and bulletproof glass, the idea was very tempting. He might need to drive a client around one day.

  As he drove to find Sinjin, he grew more and more irritated that he was leaving Sana on their first night in their apartment right after she had agreed to marry him. Arrigo called Sinjin to get his location and when he got there, he found Sinjin leaning against an old beat up pickup. No wonder it had stalled. However, he was in a legal parking space along the curb.

  Pulling ahead of the truck, he parked in front of it. Sinjin walked up and got in the passenger side of Arrigo’s car.

  “Sorry to pull you away from Sana, but we need to talk.” Sinjin stated the fact as if it were public knowledge that Arrigo and Sana were seeing one another.

  “Excuse me?” Arrigo sneered. Sinjin turned in the seat toward him.

  “Look, I know you’re sleeping with her, but I’m warning you if you hurt her in any way I will personally gut you.” Sinjin went silent.

  Arrigo’s temper flared to the likes of which he had never fathomed. Who was this cocky prick to tell him about Sana? He obviously didn’t know Arrigo well enough to realize what kind of wrath he was capable of.

  “How did you find out?” Arrigo racked his brain trying to figure out when they had slipped up, but nothing came to mind.

  “I do the maintenance on the surveillance equipment at HQ and happened to see the two of you going in your room.” Sinjin tried to sound nonchalant, but Arrigo knew better.

  “I don’t know what business it is of yours, but I would never hurt her.” Arrigo practically spat the words at Sinjin.

  “Look, we’ve all had our turn at being partners with her and at some point you’ll cave and raise the white flag. The problem is that you’re screwing her and when you can’t stand working with her or sleeping with her anymore, you are going to royally fuck with our team.” Sinjin stared Arrigo down.

  Arrigo ground his teeth as he decided what to do or say. His gut wanted him to smash Sinjin’s head into the dashboard, but his mind told him just to lay it out there and maybe, just maybe, Sinjin would be rational. Taking in a deep breath, he squeezed his hands around the steering wheel until his knuckles were ghost white.

  “I’m going to give you one chance to listen to me and have a civil conversation about this before I unleash hell on you. And if you don’t think I’m capable then that will be your mistake.” Arrigo sucked in another breath. “Sana has agreed to become my wife.”

  “What the fuck?” Sinjin hissed at him. “You are psychotic,” he added.

  “Don’t you ever insinuate that she’s that much trouble again or I’ll rip your throat out.” Arrigo stated solemnly.

  A full minute passed in silence. Arrigo knew he had just betrayed the woman he loved, but he knew that he had to get Sinjin off his back.

  “She really agreed to it?” Sinjin asked. Arrigo wasn’t sure by Sinjin’s inflection what he meant by the question and it further frustrated him.

  Arrigo let out a deep sigh. “Just about thirty minutes ago.”

  He should be with right now and that made his pulse race again. “You can’t tell anyone. She’s worked too hard to get where she’s at.”

  “She’s afraid it will show she’s a woman.” Sinjin nodded.

  He did understand Sana.

  “You’ve got it. I know you’ll do what you want, but for her sake, don’t tell anyone. At least not right now.” Arrigo felt the tenseness between them relax some.

  “For Sana, but I swear, if you hurt her—”

  “I got it,” Arrigo snapped. Calming himself, he continued. “Now, if that’s all you wanted I need to get back to her. We were trying to celebrate.” Arrigo trailed off, as he didn’t feel like sharing the intimate details of their celebration.

  “You know what . . . I’ve got something for you to take to her.” Sinjin’s tone changed une
xpectedly and before Arrigo could even question him, Sinjin jumped out of the car. Arrigo watched as Sinjin reached into the passenger side of his truck and retrieve something. When he returned to the Range Rover he handed Arrigo a bottle.

  “Here, take this with you and tell her I gave it to you for helping me. She won’t know anything unless you tell her and I will keep my mouth shut. I assume you told her where you were going?”

  Arrigo nodded.

  “Good man. By the way, when’s the wedding?” Sinjin sounded almost happy now and it alarmed Arrigo.

  “We haven’t exactly had a chance to talk about it.” Arrigo looked at Sinjin in disbelief. Did all of this really just happen?

  “Oh yeah.” He paused and looked down. “Look, maybe I had you wrong. She deserves to be happy and I hope you can fulfill that so if either of you need anything you let me know.” Sinjin stepped back to shut the door.

  “Are you serious?” Arrigo thought for sure he was up to something.

  “Yes. Yes, I am. Just don’t fail her. Oh, and that wine was over three hundred dollars, so sip it!” Sinjin slammed the door shut with his last words and walked back to his truck.

  Arrigo sat in his car with the bottle of wine in his hand and watched as Sinjin drove away. He even honked at Arrigo as he passed him.

  “What the fuck just happened?” Arrigo asked himself aloud.

  As he drove back to the apartment he debated as to whether he would tell Sana the truth about the meeting. It only took him a minute though. He would tell her the truth even if she wanted to kill him over it.

  “You survived, I see.” Sana stated as Arrigo walked into the apartment.

  “For now.” Arrigo took in a deep breath as Sana approached him. Holding out the bottle of wine toward her, he composed his words.

  “What’s this?” Sana took the bottle and looked at it.

  “It’s from Sinjin. He told me to give it to you since he pulled me away from our celebration.” Arrigo prepared himself for her to catch what he had just said.

  Staring at the bottle, he saw the look of confusion blanket her face.

  “Wait, what?” Her tone sounded troubled.

  “He didn’t break down. He called me out so he could tell me to be careful with you.” Arrigo instantly doubted that the truth would be the right decision.

  “I should have known he would find out. He’s always been weird around me and I know he thinks I’m psycho. He’s probably worried that I’ll run you off, too. Just like Williams is.” Sana walked away from Arrigo and slammed the bottle down on the kitchen counter. Somehow, it didn’t break.

  Arrigo didn’t understand how she could see herself so poorly. She had it all wrong. Following behind her, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her against him.

  She started to shout, but Arrigo reached up and gently covered her mouth. Surprisingly, she didn’t fight. “Sana you’ve got it all wrong.” Turning her head toward him, she looked up at him. Arrigo quickly released her.

  “Sorry.” He apologized as she turned in his arms.

  “I don’t understand.” Sana’s eyes had glossed over and he knew that he only had a moment or two before she might lose it.

  “He warned me not to hurt you and wouldn’t back off. I finally told him that we were getting married. I’m sorry that—” Arrigo couldn’t finish his sentence as Sana did the unexpected and tiptoed up to kiss him.

  Sana knotted her hands in his hair as she held him to her. The taste of her sent him over the edge. Swiftly, he grasped her about the waist and lifted her onto the kitchen counter. Thrusting his hands into her hair and holding her, he yielded to his body's desires.

  Wrapping her legs around him, Sana pressed herself against him even tighter. His body hardened. While they hadn’t eaten since that morning, he didn’t care about food or drink, he only wanted to taste her.

  “Please take me to bed,” she mumbled.

  Arrigo groaned as she bit his lower lip. Lifting her off the counter, he carried her to their room. The light from the bathroom filtered in to give them just enough light to see by. He realized that this would be where they would be spending a lot of their time if he had anything to say about it.

  Lowering her on the bed, Arrigo crawled on top of her and trailed kisses across her jawline and down her throat. Sana let out a moan and arched her back as he moved lower. As he trailed over her body with his lips, he moved his hands over the curve of her breasts and down to her stomach. Sliding his hand up her t-shirt, he found her breasts bare. Clutching them in his hands, he nipped at her stomach until she laughed.

  Leaning back slightly, Arrigo watched the smile on her face spread as she laughed again. “I don’t see what’s so funny.”

  “It tickles.” She tried to straighten her lips, but it didn’t even last a full second as her smile returned.

  “Does this tickle?” Arrigo thrust his hand between her legs and cupped her sex.

  “Ah.” Sana thrust her hips into his hand.

  “I guess not. What about this?” Arrigo dipped his head to bite her erect nipple through her shirt.

  “What are you doing?” Sana said breathlessly.

  “Driving you crazy.” Arrigo released her sex and thrust his hand beneath the waistband of her yoga pants. As he ran one finger over her cleft, she cried out. Continuing his assault, he pushed her shirt up and dipped his head down to take in that same nipple. She smelled like flowers from her soap and he breathed in deeply. Another memory made.

  Sucking and rolling his tongue over her, he listened as her orgasm built. He wanted her to come, but he had plans for her and they were going to take most of the night. Arrigo thrust two fingers over her cleft and into her. Her body was so hot and ready for him.

  Sana threw one arm over his back and fisted his shirt in her hand as he thrust his fingers inside of her again and again.

  Releasing her from his mouth, he leaned up enough to watch her as she writhed beneath him. Her body tensed and bucked against his hand as he sustained his movements inside of her. After only a few more seconds she came. Clutching her tightly in his hand, he let her calm, but only partially.

  Swiftly, he pulled his hand back and moved so that he could pull her pants off. Once they were removed, he stared at her while he pushed his own pants and shirt off. Scanning his eyes over her creamy, porcelain skin, his breathing became shallow. Jerking his mind out of its temporary trance, he crawled back onto the bed.

  Sitting on his heels, he positioned himself between her legs. Slowly, he ran his hands up her thighs toward her apex and her body shivered in response.

  “Are you cold?” He didn’t suspect that she was, but wanted to make sure. Shaking her head, she just smiled at him. Arrigo leaned to her and slid himself inside of her. His body wanted instant satisfaction, but before he would be sated, he wanted to wring her body of another orgasm.

  Sana’s gaze met his as he slowly rocked against her. Her warm brown eyes held him. How could he have been so lucky to find this woman and for her to want him, the odds were mind-blowing. Cupping his face in her hands, she smiled up at him. Arrigo dipped his head to taste her lips again and when he did, he almost lost control. Her sweet flavor washed through his mouth.

  Letting out a growl, he rocked against her, harder. Sana held on to him as he thrust himself against her and when he felt her pleasure building, he knew he wouldn’t have to wait long. Her body began to tense and when she dug her fingers into his shoulder, he wanted to let go, but not yet.

  “Come for me,” he whispered.

  “Harder.” She demanded. Arrigo promptly indulged her request and when her body tensed, he watched her face as she came. Crying out his name, she writhed beneath him. With another deep thrust into her, he came. Arrigo clutched her body against his as he pulsed inside of her. Every time that he was with her, he thought it was better than the last.

  Feeling completely sated, he collapsed on top of her momentarily. Arrigo rolled off her so that he didn’t crush her even tho
ugh he hated to move.

  Gathering her in his arms, he pulled her against him. Nuzzling her cheek, he whispered. “I love you.”

  Sana turned to face him. “I love you.”

  Chapter 4.

  “Here,” Sinjin said to Sana. He handed her the bouquet of black lily’s. “Now where do I need to be?” he asked.

  Sana smiled at him as she took the flowers. “I have no idea,” she whispered. The courthouse was very busy for a Wednesday morning. Arrigo had dropped her off at the door and went to park. She looked toward the stairwell watching for him to appear.

  “I need to tell you something,” Sinjin stated. His tone was serious and caught Sana’s complete attention.

  Turning toward him, she noticed she didn’t have to look up to Sinjin with her boots on. He stood a couple inches shorter than Arrigo and for once, among the men in her life, she met his eyes without getting a cramp in her neck.

  “If you’re going to try and talk me out of this I’ll kill you.” Sana stated solemnly.

  Sinjin smirked.

  “I’m not suicidal, but I do owe you an apology.”

  Sana couldn’t think of any reason that Sinjin would need to apologize to her and for him to spring something like this on her wedding day might not be the best idea.

  “For what?” she asked quietly.

  “You’re a beautiful woman and a great partner and I’m so sorry that I didn’t treat you better.” Sinjin’s tone softened and for a moment, Sana thought he was getting teary-eyed on her.

  “I’m not dying Sinjin, I’m just getting married.” Sana reached up and cupped his cheek. “I appreciate your apology and your compliment, though. Thank you.”

  Sinjin smiled at her. “If you ever need anything, you just call. I mean it.”

  Sana did something at that moment that was definitely abnormal for her as she leaned toward him and hugged him.

  “Hey, what’s going on here? My best man better not be making a move for my bride at the last minute.”

  Arrigo had walked up at that moment and was just as surprised to see the embrace as Sana was to be involved. She didn’t go around hugging people, but this occasion was worthy, she thought.