Fierce Justice

by Piper J. Drake

  Her cheeks flushed an amazing shade of dusky rose.

  She stood and snapped her fingers. King scrambled to his feet, surprised, and she sent him into the bathroom with a whispered command. She closed the bathroom door, then walked back to Jason. She had his absolute attention. “In this moment, tonight, I believe you.”

  He got her. Tomorrow or a week from now or years from now could be a completely different scenario. He wasn’t about to ask if she chose these kinds of liaisons often and he was pretty sure she didn’t care if he did either. It didn’t matter because this was about to get amazing.

  He waited. She was in the lead here, and he did not want to misinterpret what they were doing, not in any way.

  She stared up into his eyes, some decision made. He wanted dearly to know what she was thinking but he was also drunk on her proximity. It took all of his self-control not to reach the bare inches between them to pull her against him. Still, she held back.

  “No strings, no complications,” she whispered. “Just this now and when we’re done, that’s it. One time.”

  He didn’t trust himself with words so he nodded. He wanted her, badly, and he’d enjoyed his share of one-night hookups but he was sure this, she, was going to blow his mind. He wasn’t going to mess this up.

  She rose up on the balls of her feet, leaning her hands on his chest, and touched her mouth to his. Just the brush of her lips set him on fire. He opened for her and she tilted her head as they both took their kiss deeper, their tongues touching and exploring. A small sound of approval came from the back of her throat and she moved closer, the soft curve of her breasts pressing against his chest.

  He let his iron control slip a little and placed his hands on her hips, easing back to tease her with light kisses for a minute until she practically growled at him. Chuckling, because he wanted her to ask for more, he slid his hands around to the small of her back and finally pulled her body in close against his. He wanted to crush her against him, slam her against a wall, and do everything she asked for and more because he was sure she could match him and clash with him and match him again. But she hadn’t asked yet. So he went slow, excruciating for him, because he was determined to savor every moment she gave him. He ducked his head and kissed her neck in the place just above her shoulder, paused, then very gently pressed his teeth against her skin.

  Her hands fisted in his T-shirt and she arched her back. “Harder.”

  He bit her just hard enough to mark, not break skin.

  She let go of his shirt and lifted her hands to either side of his face, kissing him hard. He kissed her back, fierce and hungry. He shifted his hands down to cup her firm behind, lifting. She responded by setting her arms around his neck and wrapping her legs around his waist, giving him her weight.

  He moved forward until his knees hit the side of the bed, kissing her the entire way, and let them both fall onto the bed. When he reared back out of her arms, she protested and he grinned. He coasted his hands from her thighs up her sides and cupped her breasts. She lay back and arched into his hands until he squeezed. They both made noises of pleasure then and she put her hands on his wrists, urging his hands lower.

  She helped him unbutton her pants and gave him a look saucy enough to stop his heart as she wiggled out of them. He bent to kiss the black satin and lace of her panties reverently. He was definitely going to make the most of this, if it was going to be a one-time thing, and he’d do his best to make sure she remembered it with a smile, too.

  He slid his lips over the edge of her panties and pressed his thumb against her center, gently moving in small circles until the satin went wet. It took no time.

  “Now.” She lifted her hips.

  “Not yet.” But he did take the hint and pulled her panties down and off, discarding them somewhere over the edge of the bed.

  She might have growled at him, or the closest a human could come to growling, and the sound turned him on even more if that was possible. He spread her thighs and encouraged her to lift her knees, then he bent to taste her. She jumped as he put his mouth on her.

  He froze, hovering over her. “Does it hurt?”

  She was panting. “No. It’s so good. I’m just…really sensitive.”

  Oh yes. “I’ll be careful.”

  He didn’t promise to be gentle. He licked at her in a hard, long stroke and she threw her head back, a yelp escaping her. But she reached down and buried her fingers in his hair, encouraging him.

  Yes, ma’am.

  He feasted on her, learning every fold of her most intimate and sensitive places. He licked and sucked, figuring out what would make her buck in his grip and writhe under his touch. She was incredible, strong and gorgeous and vibrant under his hands and mouth and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could resist being inside her.

  He slid a finger into her and almost lost it as she stretched around him. She was tight.

  “Do you want to play more first?” He ground out the question because no matter how strong she was, how much she could take a beating in their line of work, he did not want to hurt her in this.

  She tightened around his finger, making a cat-like sound of pleasure. “I’m not willing to wait anymore, Jason. Come inside me, please.”

  Her last word broke him. She wasn’t begging, but she’d asked him sweetly and the contrast with her sharper temper sent him past coherent thought.

  He stepped away from her and got out of his own clothes in record speed. He only paused when he realized she was watching him, and he let her get a good look at him from head to toe as he reached into one of the cargo pockets on his pants for a condom. Ready for any situation.

  Her gaze dropped to his erection and he felt himself grow bigger than even he thought possible. He had the condom on in a fraction of a second. Then he climbed over her, coaxing her knees apart again. She reached a hand between them, helping to guide him. Once he was at her entrance, he nudged until the tip of him was inside her and she dragged her fingertips hard down his back. She didn’t scratch—she was being careful of him too—but she was digging into his flesh in the hottest way.

  He pressed into her slow, gritting his teeth as he struggled for control. She felt so good around him, tight and hot. Finally, he was deep inside her, his entire length, and she had her legs wrapped around his waist.

  “Ready?” He whispered the question next to her ear and she nodded into his shoulder.

  He pressed into her slow and drew back as she gasped. This was so much more than he’d anticipated, and they were both about to lose their minds. He pressed a kiss against her temple, then he slid into her again. Then again, harder and harder as she matched him. She ran her hands over his torso and back, nipped his shoulder as he thrust into her. Their shared rhythm picked up speed until they both crested in mingled shouts.

  Minutes later, they lay entangled on the bed catching their breath. He savored the feel of her in his arms, trying to memorize every moment. This had been insanely good and he wanted to remember it for lonelier times. He was too deep in the feeling of this thing between them and he reached for a lighter mood. “Am I still sleeping on the floor?”

  She laughed, cuddling into his chest. He really liked that she cuddled. “No, but we both need to wash up and let King out of the bathroom.”

  He lifted his head so he could look into her face. “Round two in the shower?”

  Chapter Nine

  Arin positioned herself to have simultaneous line of sight on approaches into the Search and Protect office space and out the window to the small courtyard downstairs. Most of the Search and Protect office space was defined by floor-to-ceiling ballistic glass walls, which made her current situation easier. Internally, stylish graphic patterns printed on the glass provided a modicum of privacy for the offices while still allowing for judicious visibility at certain heights in case of an incursion. The effect was sleek and professional, very corporate yet practical for the defense-minded. Each of the Search and Protect team members had an office, ev
en if they spent most of their time away on missions. Pua, their communications specialist, was the only one of them that came in every day.

  The exterior of the building was harder to make secure, though. Just outside the windows was a wall of concrete fashioned into a surprisingly delicate latticework. It kept the office building from looking boring and also served as a kind of sunscreen so the hot tropical sunlight didn’t bake the interior. People inside could still see out the windows, but the latticework created a partially obstructed view of the courtyard at just about any angle.

  Fortunately, Jason was being smart and remained seated on the bench in the shaded corner where she’d left him before coming upstairs. They hadn’t been tailed on the way from Honolulu International Airport and the courtyard was reasonably secure. She’d chosen the spot because it wasn’t completely exposed but still viewable from where she was standing. She was less worried about him being vulnerable and more curious about whether this was the moment he’d choose to disappear. Sure, he’d said he wanted to come with her and join any effort to go after the new person in charge of the human trafficking ring. But now she’d learn whether he was the type to change his mind once he’d had time to cool off. If Raul would stop ranting at her for more than a minute, she’d tell her teammate about Jason.

  “Why didn’t you withdraw from Kawaihae Harbor and wait for an EOD unit? You and King are search and rescue, not explosive ordnance disposal.” Raul was still on a roll, pacing as he spoke. He wasn’t the type to yell, but his voice had dropped at least an octave, and he definitely had a whole lot of emotion packed into his tone. He’d been worried about her and she appreciated it, even regretted it. So she’d been letting him vent while they waited for Zu to arrive from another meeting to begin the formal debrief. “We both know bombs aren’t in your past experience skill set, either. King isn’t even an explosives detection canine.”

  Raul had a point. Their dogs were amazing in the range of their training and abilities, but they couldn’t do everything. Neither she nor King were explosives specialists. “Those people would’ve tried to run if I’d left them. They wouldn’t have believed me about the explosives and they’d have taken the risk, hoping for a bluff. They’d all be dead and the container terminal at Kawaihae would’ve taken some serious damage.”

  Raul stopped in his tracks and glared at her.

  She lifted a shoulder and let it drop. “The task force you’re assigned to has strong political backing from the state of Hawaii and some funding, but it’s not well enough funded to absorb that kind of cost.”

  Raul scowled. “Since when do you care about budget? Pua sent me the invoices for the rooms you reserved on Big Island. Did you have to reserve three different places?”

  She’d have been amused but she and Raul were both used to directing conversation. They might’ve backed off the more sensitive topic for the moment to regain steadier ground, but he was still after something from her and it wasn’t a debrief. The time for that would be when Zu arrived at the Search and Protect offices after his other meeting. For now, it was just Raul working off the worry he’d carried through the night.

  Raul cared about people and expressed it. He was good people.

  “All three places have a policy to only charge for the first night if I’m a no show.” She kept her words light but she couldn’t quite manage a reassuring smile. Old habits were hard to let go, especially when they’d kept her alive in darker times.

  “No one is trying to kill you anymore.” Raul made the statement gently, but his gaze was direct and his jaw set in a hard line. “Those missions are done, and the people involved who might be carrying a grudge? They’re dead. You walked away from all that.”

  She’d left a trail of corpses in her wake. It all seemed like a story from some thriller, and their conversation sounded like something out of a movie.

  Restless, she dropped her hand to her side and King stood from where he’d been lying at her feet to push his muzzle into her palm. She’d spent years working freelance without a canine partner. It was wonderful to be able to trust unconditionally again.

  “I reserved the rooms just in case because I was uneasy when we were planning the mission,” she admitted, then she shook her head quickly. “As it turns out, it’s a good thing I did. I used two of those places.”

  “Where is our new friend, by the way?” Raul’s tone was light but his gaze was sharp.

  “Right where I can see him.” She tipped her head to indicate her view of Jason, still sitting in the courtyard.

  Raul sighed. “What would we do if someone took a shot at him right now?”

  “I don’t think they’re actively hunting him at the moment.” She reached up and tugged a lock of her own hair as she shared what she’d been thinking. “They were tying up loose ends on the Big Island. He’d been knocked out at the scene and they came after him at the hospital. But if they were looking for him after that, they didn’t find us while we were in hiding and they didn’t leave guards at the shipyard either. Maybe they didn’t think he’d come looking again after he’d been left for dead the first time.”

  Or maybe they thought he was likely to leave the island posthaste, happy to have survived both getting knocked out and the hospital incident. Question was, did his former teammates really know him? Was she getting to know the real him?

  “Okay, so he’s not at risk at the moment.” Raul was ready to move on. “And the IED at the harbor was impersonal, meant to destroy evidence if the container was discovered before they could move their assets off the island.”

  She nodded. “If we hadn’t disturbed it, there would’ve been no danger. It was my fault we started the timer.”

  Raul joined her by the window, looking down at Jason. “And he disarmed it. What are the chances?”

  “I thought about that, too.” Hell, she was still thinking about it. It was a possibility, even after what she and Jason had shared, that it was all an act. She didn’t think so, or at least she hoped not, but she’d be stupid not to consider it. “Explosive ordnance disposal isn’t that uncommon, though. It’s a valuable skill set in the private sector. It just takes a special kind of crazy.”

  Raul sighed. “The last thing we need in Search and Protect is more crazy.”

  “We’re all our own special kind of crazy, though.” This time she let herself be a little wistful as she spoke. “It’s a prerequisite to fit into the team.”

  “But you weren’t working with the team last night, Arin.” Raul craned his neck to get into her line of sight, despite her still looking out the window. “What I’m worried about is whether that IED is a signature precaution we’re going to see in the future as we go after more shipments full of people. It means we’ll need bomb squads. You and King need to stop rushing in on your own.”

  “We weren’t alone.” She’d been giving Jason a chance. Whether he’d taken the chance to take her out or disappear, she’d have been less surprised than what he’d actually done. “He did prove more helpful than I’d expected.”

  When it came to most people she encountered in the world, she tended to keep her expectations low. He’d exceeded her expectations and maybe won a bit of her trust. Now, he was more dangerous because she wouldn’t just be learning something new about him if he turned out to be playing her; she could end up dead.

  “You didn’t have to go to the harbor to test him or to get any more information out of him than you already had.” Raul’s words brought her back from her internal confession. “Don’t use this guy as a distraction tactic. What were you there to do?”

  Raul already suspected the answer. He needed confirmation. As a friend, and he was her friend, she owed him at least that. “I made a promise to Kim. I was looking for her brother. I didn’t want to come back here and tell her we were close and lost him.”

  “Kim.” Raul sounded lost. “A woman I met during that undercover investigation in the massage parlor. Since when did you make friends with her?”

  It h
adn’t been just a massage parlor. It’d been one of the fronts for the human trafficking ring under the old manager. Women had been forced to work there, giving massages and sexual favors to clients. Raul and Zu had gone in undercover to find out more about the operation and potentially where a group of kidnapped scientists were being held. After the Search and Protect team had literally blown up a portion of the human trafficking ring headquarters, local authorities had raided the massage parlor, too, based on the evidence Raul and Zu had provided. Since then, the research program Mali worked for had converted it into a legitimate massage therapy business.

  Arin shot him a glare, then resumed watching Jason. “Mali and I go in once in a while. Kim’s happy to have gotten certified as an actual massage therapist and not having to provide side services. She asked me to look for her brother and I promised her I would.”

  The weight of Raul’s stare was almost tangible on her skin. “It’s not like you to make promises to acquaintances.”

  She didn’t answer him.

  “Mali knows you can keep a promise, Arin.”

  She shook her head. “No, she doesn’t. She thinks promises are those light things everyone makes to everyone else and as long as there’s a good reason, promises can be broken. But there aren’t good enough reasons in the world for me leaving her when I promised I’d always be there.”

  “You were kids.”

  “We’re not now. And the promises I make are much more serious.” Finally, she turned her gaze to Raul and let him see how dedicated she was to this, because anything having to do with her sister meant everything to her. “I made the promise in front of Mali and I kept it. I found Kim’s little brother for her and damn it, I wasn’t going to let him blow up after all that.”

  Raul opened his mouth, closed it, then started again. “Okay. Mission accomplished. I get what you were trying to prove to Mali and I’m not sure she gets it, but that’s between you two. What are you doing with him now?”