“But this might.” Her head hiked toward the back door. “Move it. It might not work for long.”
“What’d you do?” He jumped to attention, all of him, and hustled out the cage and down a long corridor. They weaved through a maze of hallways until she stopped at the door and turned the lock with another key.
“In here.” She practically shoved him into a dark room and closed the door behind them.
Something large and heavy prevented him from moving farther into the room. He turned to search for a light and bumped into Natalie’s lush backside. His teeth gritted to stifle the groan that worked its way up his throat.
“We have to change and get out of here. We can’t be our covers anymore, and I can’t be a major either. I knew what paperwork I needed to get you transferred into my custody, and I knew what to say. Base Branch gave me the credentials and a digital fingerprint, but I don’t know how it’ll hold up under real scrutiny.” Metal screeched against metal then he heard her hand running along the wall. “There’s a light. I thought it was halfway up the wall, but…” She shifted, and her back met his chest. “Shit, sorry. Maybe it’s higher. Try your side.”
They both moved to the left.
Instinctually, McCabe’s hands found her hips to hold her still. There was no way she hadn’t felt the rock-hard erection wedged between his stomach and her ass. If she’d quit moving, they could minimize the damage.
“Which side is yours?”
“I’ll go right,” she croaked.
“Right. Okay.” McCabe mustered the strength to lift his hands.
Natalie didn’t move. That wasn’t exactly true. She shifted her hips, nestling his dick between her lush ass cheeks.
McCabe held his breath, hoping to deprive his cock of oxygen, and searched for the light switch. Neither thing helped his situation, only added to their proximity and his inability to think clearly. Finally, his fingers hit the switch, and a linen closet came into view. That, and Natalie’s uniformed backside.
“What are you doing, Natalie?” He kept his hands off her, sure if he touched her in the light, he wouldn’t be able to stop.
“I don’t know, but I can’t make myself stop. If you want me to stop, tell me to now.” The pleading in her voice mocked the confidence from only moments before.
He grabbed the ball of hair at the back of her nape and turned her face to his. Swollen, red lips and dilated eyes greeted him. “What is this, a good bang for old time’s sake?”
“No. I don’t know what it is, but I’m tired, Dixon. I’m tired of fighting it.” She unfastened the buttons on her uniform. “I’ve been running from you for so long and wanting you every day.” The jacket slipped over her shoulders but caught on the bow of her backside.
“Every day since you left,” he snarled.
Christ, almighty. Talk about a no-fucking-win situation. If he fucked her, he’d regret letting her fuck with his emotions. If he didn’t fuck her, he’d regret not sinking his girth into her tight pussy. He’d regret not making her ride the edge of orgasm for so long that she’d go furious under his touch. He’d regret not watching her control fall apart.
McCabe crushed the fabric in his free hand and tossed it into one of the laundry bins that surrounded them, revealing a sheer white tank that hid nothing. There were regrets he could live with and those he couldn’t. He pressed her head down and to the side, revealing the soft swath of skin behind her earlobe. His mouth watered, and he licked his lips. He leaned forward, pressing his cock against her so hard it strained the fabric between them.
His teeth scraped a line from the base of her neck to her ear. Natalie keened under his touch, and it almost undid him. Pressure gathered in his balls, and he swore if he slipped inside her, he’d come instantly. He pressed kisses and laved at the path he’d taken before and then pulled her soft lobe into his mouth. She writhed under him, pressing her legs together and rocking against his shaft.
He lifted to her ear. “Fuck. Me. Once. Shame on you. Fuck me twice. Shame on me.”
Natalie stilled. “You can’t be serious.”
The strain was evident in her voice, and he hated it, but he hated the anger pumping through his veins for her more. No way could he fuck the woman he loved. He only ever wanted to make love to her—even if it was rough as bull riding or as kinky as a lifestyle club.
“Deadly so.” He straightened and unbuttoned his bright orange inmate shirt.
Watching her face turn from tan to pink to red to violet in a matter of seconds shot a thrill up his spine. Shit, he missed that as much as he missed the sway of her backside. Almost as much.
“Fuck you, Dixon McCabe.” She placed both hands on his chest and shoved. He teetered on his heels for a heartbeat before tumbling boots over ass into the laundry basket with his shirt open wide.
Natalie’s hot, dark gaze roved over his chest, and she sneered.
Boisterous laughter erupted from his throat. It could’ve been the roller coaster of highs and lows over the past twenty-four hours or the volatility only he could bring out in her that got to him. Either way, once the laughter came, it seemed never ending. He liked it more than the anger.
“It’s not funny. You’re going to get us caught, thrown in the same holding cell I just sprang you from, and then we’re going to maim or fuck each other to death.”
The lady had a point. He smacked a hand over his mouth, but the rolls kept coming so hard his abs cramped. Natalie shucked her boots one at a time and chucked them at him. Luckily, she couldn’t throw as well as she could shoot. They skittered wide into other bins. Her outrage at the misses only fueled his hysterics. She huffed, gave him her back, and then her thong-strapped ass and creamy thighs were front and center on display.
Laughter went on lock. His chest tightened to the point of bursting, and the rock-hard boner was back at full mast. Damn, the things this woman did to him.
“Don’t worry. I’m not trying to seduce you again.”
“Were you trying to seduce me before?”
“No.” She tossed the pants she’d been wearing, and they landed on his chest. They smelled like her. “That’s not what I meant anyway. I’m changing. You need to too.” Her eyebrows hiked on the last word, widening her beautiful eyes.
He’d hate to see her try to seduce him. Fuck, the scent of her alone was doing stupid things to his brain like depleting his anger and making him think about licking her up one side and down the other.
“Take off your clothes, McCabe, and tell me why they arrested you while you’re at it.”
The tight space between the door and all the bins combined with her near nakedness proved too hazardous a place to strip. He righted himself in the bin, tossed her pants back to her, and removed his boots first.
“What to wear?” Natalie’s gaze scanned the bins and shelves while she folded her pants, stuffed them neatly under a stack of sheets, and then grabbed her jacket. “Corrections officer. Military police. Inmate. Not great options.” She stuffed the folded jacket with her pants.
McCabe lifted his boxer covered butt and tossed Natalie two regular Army uniforms. “How about this?”
She looked at the clothing as though he’d handed her gold. Her gaze lifted and stalled on his bare chest. “Jesus, McCabe, put on some clothes.”
“You told me to take them off.”
“To change,” she shrieked and tossed back one of the uniforms. “Where’d you find these?”
“In my very own cart closet.” He pointed at the awkward surface in which he sat.
“Regular Army uniforms shouldn’t be in here.” Her cute face crinkled.
“They are.” Again, he hiked his boxer covered butt. Plainly, the bin overflowed with the things.
“That doesn’t make sense,” she mumbled almost to herself. “Get dressed and talk. Arrest. Why?”
Good Lord in heaven, how was he supposed to form coherent thoughts with her profiled curves wiggling in front of him while she shoved her feet into pants?
&nb
sp; Her fingers snapped and gave him the signal to continue.
Fine.
He worked on the uniform. “They said I gave insurgents our security schedule so they could get close.”
“Ridiculous. You just got here.” She tied her boots—that she’d had to fish out of various bins—and he tied his. “Evidence?”
“My access code on a secured email to a known Al-Qaeda sympathizer. They questioned me at length about the missing girls.”
“Why?”
“They’re banging at everything, hoping something comes loose. No leads and three girls gone. They’re frustrated.”
“Just like we are.”
“Amen.” McCabe levered himself out of the bin into the tiny space with Natalie.
“I don’t want to hear it.” She shoved his inmate garb into the corresponding bin, shook her head at the regular Army uniforms once more, and then checked the hallway before moving. They reached the door to the outside world a minute later. Suddenly, he itched to be free. The hot night air hit his face, and he filled his lungs with it.
Natalie moved right toward the northern perimeter of the camp. “Who has access to your codes?”
He moved the opposite way. “My CO. Anyone in the K-9 unit.”
“Where the fuck are you going?” she whisper-screamed.
“My unit.”
“What? Why?” she growled but followed him cautiously.
“I’m going to get my dog and kill a couple of the guys if I get the chance.”
“How about interrogate?”
“I like my way better.” He shrugged.
“So you’re going to get shot for a dog?” She pulled at his pants, trying to slow him down.
“If I’d do it for you, I’d do it for the dog.” He pushed on. The unit wasn’t far from the main buildings.
“I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse,” Natalie mumbled, giving up stopping him for watching their six.
Most people in camp were asleep or on border patrol at this time of night. He walked with assurance and purpose until he rounded the last row of equipment outside the training ring. Two of the assholes in question stood just outside the doorway arguing.
McCabe hooked an arm around Natalie’s waist and yanked her back against a large crane. Her brow asked the question. He showed her two fingers and pointed to their location. By the time he looked their way and back, Natalie had crawled under the machine’s large belly.
He mouthed a curse and followed, tucking his much larger frame between thousands of tons of metal and the earth. When he reached her, not even the absence of moon nor ambient light could stop him from seeing the murderous intent in her gaze as she watched the two men gesture wildly.
“Dead men, arguing,” Natalie snarled.
“Now you like my idea? Why?”
“Their names?” Her tone brooked no bullshit.
“Assholes one and two, Burkett and Reyes. Why?”
The look on Natalie’s face was one he hadn’t ever seen and didn’t like, not at all. It crawled down his throat and coiled inside his belly, waiting to strike. He knew the impact would be ugly.
“They prey on lone women. They have a reason to want you, an outsider, out of their unit. They have the means to make it happen.”
“How do you know they prey on women?”
“I was one of them.”
Everything inside McCabe went still. Battle ready quiet was nothing like the deafening roar inside him. The moment he moved, he’d be unstoppable. Ready to break men into pants-pissing boys. Ready to battle cry in their screams. Ready to cover himself in their blood.
His gaze locked on the two men. He measured the distance between them, their proximity to backup, and where he could hide the bodies. Natalie placed a hand on his arm, which only fueled his bloodlust. The dirt would cover the blood, and the bodies would sit in the crane’s cab for a couple of days before the stench drew attention.
“They weren’t successful.”
He wouldn’t use his sidearm. His hands would end their lives.
“Dixon, look at me.” Natalie’s hand wrapped around his chin and jerked it toward her. “They didn’t rape me.”
The fear in her eyes filtered through the cold calculation. “Are you afraid of them?”
“Hardly. I want to make them pay but not with body parts. I want to watch them go to prison, knowing they’re going to get ass raped every day for the next twenty to forty years.”
“What happened?” He couldn’t stop from running a thumb over her cheek.
“They cornered me and talked big like they’d done it before. I wasn’t going easily, and they were interrupted before things got too ugly.”
“Natalie…” Possession he hadn’t experienced since she walked out of his life without a backward glance beat its fists against his chest and howled at the sky. He couldn’t form the words to express the danger these men’s lives were in or the hell he’d exist inside if anything happened to her.
“Let’s get your dog and get out of here, so we can get the evidence we need to bury these men in their personal version of hell.”
He preferred his plan, but his woman liked her justice served cold and with a sizable dose of pocket-holding. If it was in his power to give it to her, he would. Now and forever. She owned him like that. He’d fought it for so long, but the truth always surfaced. Sometimes, it took a while.
“Where do you propose we go?” He scanned the scene as the guys continued to argue. “It’s not like I can hotwire a truck and drive it through the gates. Unless Base Branch has that kind of pull. Omega team is great, but I’m here undercover. So are you.”
“First things first.” Natalie crawled out the back side of the crane and used the training pit for cover, moving down to the main and only door of the kennels.
McCabe followed suit, hating that the fuckers were still breathing.
At the door, he shifted in front of her to move inside first. At night, the dogs usually slept with their handlers, but he hadn’t seen the guys’ dogs. The more K-9s kenneled, the more chances they had to be caught, if a handler came to get his dog or the pent-up group became vocal.
He took a steadying breath and stepped inside.
“Achtung.” McCabe gave the command for attention quietly.
The walls didn’t erupt in barks and whines. He moved silently down the center corridor with Natalie on his six. Each kennel he passed sat empty. Each empty prison amped his adrenaline. If they’d moved Zeppelin or hurt that dog, nothing Natalie would say could stop him from ripping their faces off and hanging them above his mantel.
“It’s okay.” Her sweet hand landed gently on his shoulder blade, calming the fears rearing in his head.
He hoped so. Only three rows left.
Zeppelin sat at attention—his chest proud and ears perked. One of the knots loosened around his heart, but then it clamped back nearly as quickly as it’d left. A muzzle and inward spiked choke collar adorned the majestic beast. Without preamble—a first for them—he opened the gate and called the dog to heel.
Zep obeyed.
“Good man.” McCabe unbuckled the muzzle and choker and stuffed them on a shelf. He grabbed a lead but didn’t attach it to Zeppelin. If shit went down, this wild and abused animal was on his side more than anyone else was, Natalie included. Next, he grabbed a backpack equipped with K-9 rations, a first-aid kit, and his supplies from Omega.
“Done shopping, sweet cakes?” Her hands crossed over her chest, and she leaned against a partition, mimicking his stance and words from another lifetime.
Bull’s-eye. She could’ve hit him square in the nose and not placed a more accurate blow. An image of Natalie in a killer violet cocktail dress that accentuated her miles of legs and toned curves danced behind his eyes. It had been their first real date outside Fort Leonard Wood walls, and she’d had nothing to wear. Desire and a vintage melancholy he carried around in his back pocket pressed on his throat.
“Yeah,” he wheezed.
Her face dropped as though she’d just realized what she’d said. “I…” She turned and headed for the door.
When she stalled at the entrance for longer than it took to clear their escape route, he wondered if she were reliving the night. It topped nearly every other one.
“I’m sorry, McCabe. I didn’t mean to…” Her head dropped.
Natalie Winston never apologized because she never fucked up, sarcasm included. She screwed up, but it was the way she coped with her past and got shit done. He understood it because, like it or not, they had the same background; kids abandoned and in the foster care system before they had a clear mental picture of who’d given them life. They’d both turned to the military instead of the streets, and it gave them comfort and purpose. For the longest time, he’d derived all his value from it, and then he’d met her.
“It was a killer dress. Totally worth the wait,” he whispered.
“I still have it.” She pushed through the door and bolted.
McCabe checked Zeppelin—who hung tight by his left side—and followed her across the compound. With a burgeoning hard-on, thanks to that comment. He automatically pictured her swaying backside in the tight, smooth material. But he hadn’t gotten lucky with her in that dress—not the first time anyway—and he wouldn’t now. His synapses began firing again, and he tamped down the fantasy. This was the real world where people screwed you without so much as a kiss beforehand.
She let up around a corner but otherwise ran from shadow to shadow until they came to the base of a twelve-foot concrete wall. “You sure about bringing the dog?”
“As sure as you are about bringing me.”
Natalie turned and eyed him up one side and down the other. Her chest expanded and held for several beats. She let it out in a gust, and her shoulders straightened. “Fine. How are we going to get him over?”
“Teamwork.” He winked. “You got a little of that left in you?”
The Omega Team: Furiously Mine (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Base Branch Series Book 12) Page 4
