“Just wait here while I check things out. It’ll take me about ten minutes to clear the property on my own, so I want you to wait in the driver’s seat and leave if I’m even a minute late. You head back to Reed Security and tell them what happened.”
“Geez, you’re paranoid.”
“I would say the events of tonight would suggest that I’m being perfectly reasonable. Stay here and do what I say. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”
I got out of the SUV with my gun raised and proceeded to the house. After clearing the entire house, I walked back to the SUV, seeing I still had thirty seconds to spare. To my surprise, Maggie was still sitting in the driver’s seat, just as I had asked. I half wanted to pat her on the head and tell her she had been a good girl, but patronizing her right now was probably not a good idea.
“It’s all clear. Let’s get inside and get cleaned up. Then we can go over all the shit you haven’t been telling me.”
To my relief, she walked in behind me and didn’t say a word, though I could feel that she was dying to. I led her up to the bathroom and showed her where the shower was. Heading down to the secure house phone, I put in a call to Irish at Reed Security. Either he or Cazzo would be there since we had several clients at the moment and I was out in the field.
“Cap, is everything okay? We’ve been trying to get ahold of you for the past two hours.”
“Yeah, we got ambushed by whoever was after her source. The source never showed, so I can only assume she’s dead. It was a helluva getaway.”
“Who do you want me to send? Everyone is on assignment right now or about to go on assignment.”
Shit. I had been meaning to hire another team, but hadn’t found the right candidates yet. I couldn’t put Cal on a team with any of the guys yet. No one trusted him, and I couldn’t leave a team down a man, which left me no choice.
“Send me Cal.”
“Boss, you sure about that?”
I could hear it in his tone. He didn’t trust Cal and didn’t think he should be out in the field, but Cal had been a good field operative and as much as I didn’t want to trust him, I knew his record proved that he had been loyal up until his family was taken from him. With them out of the picture, that threat was no longer an issue.
“I’m sure. I need someone else here with me. I had to clear the house and left her by herself in the SUV. That’s not the ideal situation. I’m gonna have to put my trust in him at some point. Better with me than someone else on the team.”
Sighing, Cazzo blew out a harsh breath. “I don’t like it, Cap, but I’ll send him your way. Just keep an eye out. It’s not just that I don’t trust him because of what happened. He’s different since his family died. He’s got no reason to live and that makes him dangerous.”
“I know. Believe me, I know. Did Becky get anything?”
“She’s taking a nap right now. Do you want me to wake her?”
“No. We need to get some sleep, too. Just have her call first thing in the morning. How’s Sinner?”
“He’s doing alright. He’s got a bitch of a headache, but otherwise, still in one piece.”
“I’ll be sure to let Freckles know,” I said with a laugh. “Alright, check-in at 0600.”
“Ten four, Cap.”
I hung up and sat down for all of two point five seconds before I realized that I hadn’t given Maggie anything to change into after her shower. Dragging my tired ass upstairs, I went to the closet and pulled out a t-shirt that would be way too big on her. I briefly considered checking out the clothes that were here from when Alex and Cole were here, but that required too much effort at the moment.
I had let myself slack off too much being the boss. I rarely did field work anymore and working out and training just wasn’t the same as doing the grunt work. I made a mental note to take on a few more assignments to stay on top of my game.
Walking over to the bathroom door, I could still hear the shower running, so I gently knocked. When I didn’t hear anything, I opened the door and peered inside. My jaw dropped and I stood frozen at the gorgeous sight before me. Maggie was standing in the shower running her hands over her body as she washed herself. Her willowy body could barely be seen through the fog that covered the glass of the shower, but I could see the outline of her gorgeous body and it was enough for my cock to stand at attention. When she raised her arms to run her fingers through her hair, her breasts pushed up and out, begging me to touch them.
I imagined going over to the shower and stepping in behind her, running my hands over her luscious curves. I could almost taste the salt of her skin as I ran my tongue along her neck. My pants were painfully tight around my straining erection. The damp fabric did nothing to tame the beast that was threatening to break free.
Before I could think better of staring at her, Maggie turned and wiped the fog from the glass. I could see her staring at my body, her eyes running down my chest. I saw the moment that her gaze landed on my cock. Her eyes widened slightly and then she totally shocked me by running her own fingers down her body until they were sliding along the folds of her pussy.
Fuck. I had to have her. I stepped forward until I was in front of the door and slid it open. Not wasting a second, I stepped into the shower and pushed her up against the wall as I devoured her mouth. God, she tasted just as good as I thought she would. My erection dug into her belly as I rocked against her. I needed her. I needed to touch her and feel how wet she was for me.
Sliding my fingers down her soft curves, I groaned when I touched the soft curls on her mound. A slight gasp followed by a soft moan let me know that she wanted this as much as I did. My fingers touched her wet heat and I almost came in my pants. She was soaked and it had nothing to do with her standing in the shower. I strummed her clit as I sucked on her neck and nipped at her collarbone. She spread her legs wider when I slid one finger into her tight pussy. Adding another finger, I fucked her imagining it was my cock inside her.
“Oh, God. Sebastian, more. I need more.”
Her eyes were closed as she kept calling for me and telling me how much she needed me. I imagined taking her in bed and fucking her all night long, hearing her tell me how much she needed me.
I ran my thumb over her clit as my fingers continued to thrust up into her tight body. Bending down slightly, I drew one of her nipples into my mouth and sucked it into my mouth, gently biting down on the taut peak. Her walls tightened around my fingers as she came all over my fingers. Still, I didn’t stop pumping into her until she stopped screaming my name.
Breathing harshly, she finally opened her eyes and looked at me. Lust filled her eyes and she licked her lips as she looked down at my straining erection. She slowly lowered herself to her knees and pulled the zipper down. My heartbeat increased as I felt her fingers brush over me. When she pulled my pants down, my erection bobbed in front of her gorgeous face. She looked up at me through her lashes as she took me in her mouth.
Goddamn. Her mouth was hot and wet, reminding me of what her pussy felt like just moment before. She licked and sucked on my shaft as my hips started jerking from the feel of her around me. Running my fingers through her wet strands, I thrust my hips forward, forcing myself deeper in her throat. Her eyes widened, but she got the hint and took me deeper and deeper.
“God, yes. Maggie, you’re killing me.”
That seemed to spur her on further as she picked up the pace and sucked me until I exploded in her mouth with a roar. I tried pulling myself from her, but she continued to suck me until every last drop was in her mouth. Fuck, that was hot. I had never had a woman so willingly suck me off like that. She wanted me like no other woman had, and there was nothing sexier than a woman who liked to give head.
Never in my life would I have thought that I would find a woman like Maggie, let alone someone that I was protecting. Shit. Someone that I was protecting. Pulling back from her, I pulled up my pants and quickly tucked myself back inside. Maggie stood with a confused expression.
“Is s
omething wrong? Should I have not done that?”
I ran my hand over my short hair and then wiped the water from my face. “Freckles, I shouldn’t have done that. I’m supposed to be protecting you.”
“What’s the big deal? It’s not like I’m asking you to date me. We just…performed a service for one another.”
I groaned at the thought of her servicing me because it brought up fantasies that practically every guy has about being served by a delectable woman.
“Listen, it can’t happen again. If I start looking at you as someone I want to fuck, my focus won’t be on you the way it should be. This can’t happen again. Just forget that it happened.”
She raised an eyebrow at me. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen. There’s no forgetting what you just did to my body.”
Clenching my teeth, I turned and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind me. I couldn’t believe I had just done that. I was supposed to be protecting her and I was in there ready to fuck her instead. If someone had broken into the house in the last fifteen minutes, would I have even noticed? It was bad enough that I wasn’t as fresh as the other guys on my team. I was the boss. I was supposed to be doing it better than them and instead I was breaking all the rules of protection. Do not get involved with a client.
After another fifteen minutes of berating myself, I shucked my clothes and put on some sweatpants and a t-shirt. I really needed to get some sleep if I was going to be on top of things. I couldn’t share a room with Maggie, though. I’d end up fucking her and I needed to avoid that if I was going to keep any perspective on this job.
After making the rounds downstairs and checking all the monitors, I headed toward the stairs. I was about halfway up when the front gate alarm sounded. I quickly ran to the bank of monitors, cursing myself for not bringing my gun with. God, I was getting sloppy. I saw from the video feed that it was Cal pulling up. Checking the clock on the wall, I saw that he must have left as soon as I talked to Cazzo.
I headed for the front door and pulled the gun that was in the table next to it. Checking the gun quickly, I waited by the inside of the door for Cal to approach. Before a year ago, I might not have been such a suspicious bastard, but now, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I had to be extra cautious.
After Cal knocked, I peered out the window next to the door and saw no one else with him. Blowing out a breath and berating myself for not trusting members of my own team, I opened the door and let him in. He looked at me like he knew what I had been doing and what I had been thinking. I just shrugged and walked into the living room.
“I didn’t think you would be here so fast,” I said with only a hint of suspicion.
“Cazzo told me you needed backup. I wasn’t about to wait until morning to come out here.”
“No, I didn’t think you would. You just seemed to get here awfully fast.”
“Cap, I know I screwed up big time and you have no reason to trust me. No one does. If you don’t want me here, then I’ll leave, but not until someone else can get their ass over here. From what Cazzo told me, there is no one else. So, what do you want me to do? You either have to trust that I’m on your side here or fire me. I’m no use to you if you don’t trust me to do my job.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“No, it’s not, but I’ve got no one left to be used against me,” he admitted defeatedly.
“I need some shut eye. Becky is supposed to be calling around six. I’ll be up by then. Wake me if there are any developments.”
He was right. I asked him to be sent out here, yet I wasn’t trusting him to do his job. If I was always looking over his shoulder, I would put us all in more danger because I wouldn’t be focusing on my job, which was keeping Maggie safe. I headed upstairs to the rooms on the other side of the stairs and let myself into one. Setting the alarm on the clock, I laid down and was drifting off in minutes.
CHAPTER SIX
Maggie
I LISTENED FROM the door of the bedroom as Sebastian spoke with someone downstairs. It looked like the guy that sat in reception when I entered Reed Security, but I couldn’t be sure. It sounded like Sebastian didn’t trust this guy and I had to wonder why he would call him to come if he didn’t trust him. Was Sebastian going to leave because of what happened between us? And was he replacing himself with this guy? Great. I didn’t want to be protected in the first place, but definitely not by someone that no one wanted on the team. What was it Sebastian said when we passed him at Reed Security? He’s got problems? Something along those lines. That didn’t bode well for me.
When Sebastian started up the stairs, I scurried back to the bed and jumped in waiting for him to open the door. When he didn’t after five minutes, I rolled over and shut off the light. I hadn’t really slept well in the last few days, so it was easy enough for me to drift off to sleep, but just as I was entering the land of Nod, my eyes popped open. I scrambled from the bed and pulled my phone out of my soaking wet jeans. I tried powering it on, but had no such luck. The thing was dead.
Making a split second decision, I went over to the closet and found some sweats to pull on. They were way too big and I had to roll them several times to get them to stay up. Then I pulled a sweatshirt over my head to cover my perky breasts. I had laid my bra out to dry and hopefully it would be by morning. I could wear someone else’s clothes, but I still needed a bra.
I headed for the stairs and saw the man sitting at the table by the bank of monitors with a gun on the table next to him.
“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” He asked in a bored tone.
“I couldn’t sleep because I thought of something and I need to see if it pans out.”
He turned to me finally with an inquisitive expression. “Alright, what is it?”
I took a seat next to him at the table and pulled my knees up under me. “I got a text on my way back to Pittsburgh last night. It was someone texting their grandma about not making it to dinner.”
“And you think that’s newsworthy?”
“Well, this person made a point of saying that the bartender, and she gave a name, was watching over her and making sure no one stole her stuff.”
“Ooh. Sounds like you cracked the case on that one.”
I huffed in annoyance. “You don’t understand. It was the language of it. It sounded like she was trying to convey a message, but at the time I thought it was a wrong number.”
“And now you think it was meant for you?”
“Well, considering that I was supposed to meet my source last night and she didn’t show, I’m willing to bet that it could have been her sending me a message, but making it look like it was from someone else. That way if anyone looked at my phone records, it would just look like a wrong number.”
“Okay, so let’s see your phone and see the message.”
“Well, that’s the thing. It’s kind of water logged at the moment.”
“How did that happen?”
“Well…” I cleared my throat before continuing. “We sort of had to jump off a bridge last night because people were chasing us.”
“I see.”
“That’s all you have to say?”
“Sebastian has filled us in on your…precocious talent for getting into trouble.”
“I don’t…I…”
He held up his hand to stop me. “Please. Let’s not pretend that you didn’t run off when you were supposed to be at Reed Security. Let’s also not pretend that you didn’t give one of my teammates a concussion while escaping.”
I turned red with embarrassment when he reminded me of injuring one of the people that was supposed to be protecting me. Well, technically he wasn’t protecting me. Sebastian was. Not that that made it okay, but it was my own little sort of justification. I would never have done that to Sebastian.
He held out his hand to me and I gently placed mine in his large one. He rolled his eyes and pulled his hand back. “The phone. I don’t want to hold your hand. I want to see your ph
one.”
“Oh.” I pulled it out and handed it over, watching as he got up and pulled out a Ziplock bag and some rice. After he took apart the phone, he poured the rice in, dropped the phone into the bag, and sealed it.
“Now we wait. Why don’t you go get some sleep.”
“I don’t think I can now. I’m awake.”
“I’ll make you some tea. Maybe that’ll help.”
He set about getting the water boiling and pulling out a mug and tea bag. He looked like he had done this before many times and I couldn’t help but wonder what he meant when he told Sebastian that he didn’t have anyone left to be used against him. Before I could stop myself, I opened my mouth and did the unspeakable.
“I heard you talking to Sebastian. What did you mean by ‘you don’t have anyone left that could be used against you’?”
He stared at the counter for a minute before turning to me. “Are you asking on the record or off?”
“Off, of course. I would never write anything about you guys. That is, unless you wanted me to.”
“Definitely off.” He brought my tea over and came to sit down. “About a year ago, we were protecting a woman, Alex, that was being hunted by a serial killer. The serial killer took my wife and kids and used them against me. Said that if I didn’t help him, he would kill my family. I had seen what he did to his victims, so I went behind my teams’ back and fed him information.”
I gasped in shock. I couldn’t imagine anyone working with a serial killer, but then again, I had no idea what I would do if I was in that situation.
“Couldn’t you go to Sebastian for help?”
“This guy, he was psychotic. I didn’t want to take the chance that he would find out and kill them.” He sighed heavily as he stared at the table. His fingers drew patterns in the grain of the wood. “In the end, he tied them up in the basement of his cabin and then blew the cabin when the police found it. At least they died quickly.”
Sebastian Page 7
