Broken Justice (Justice Brothers)

by Halliday, Suzanne

  Hours later, Lacey was enjoying some small talk with a group of military spouses gathered for a day of recreation. She’d been left to her own devices shortly after arriving, having gone through some heavy formalities and a sobering security check. Cameron had quickly been drawn away through the security zone while she had been warmly welcomed at the base community center bustling with families and volunteers.

  It hadn’t taken long to overcome her initial shyness, and she found the time spent over lunch and relaxing in the outdoor courtyard with the military families heart-warming and informative. Hearing their stories helped Lacey create quite a vivid picture in her mind of what life on deployment was really like.

  Tales of intense heat-waves, bugs, poor food, and a lack of simple comforts as well as the constant danger and never-ending high-alert moved her beyond words. Knowing Cameron had experienced these things squeezed at her heart. He hadn’t said much about the military but she’d known from his fevered delirium that he’d been in the special forces.

  Even when he was actively seducing the breath from her body he’d been sure to remind her that he was, as he put it, no gentleman. Even referring to himself as a complete bastard several times. Hearing what the spouses told her today, she understood that the emotional burden of war sometimes made those who’d served think they were not very nice people. Cameron clearly thought of himself as somewhat broken. She couldn’t disagree more.

  Escaping the heat of the late afternoon, everyone had gone back inside the center where she was standing by a vending machine chatting with two women when Cameron appeared at the end of a long hallway. He was deep in conversation, hands jammed in his pockets and walking alongside someone in an officer’s uniform. The way he moved and held himself showed a strength she was starting to see through different eyes.

  Keeping her eyes on him as he made his way down the length of the narrow hall, Lacey enjoyed the warmth creeping along her nerve-endings. Seeing him as he was, tie loosened and the top button of the white shirt that stretched tight across his solid chest, he looked so gorgeous that she lost her thoughts and nearly forgot to breathe. Damn.

  “Is that your man, honey?” the woman at her side asked. “Oh my! Girlfriend, that man is H-O-T!”

  Lacey blushed and looked away, making the two women hoot in delight at her obvious embarrassment. “Don’t be shy, Lacey!” The one teased, “I wouldn’t mind if he put his shoes under my bed, if you know what I mean!”

  She couldn’t help but giggle at their easy banter, eventually making quiet, shooing gestures with her hands to halt the chatter before the advancing men came into their space.

  On their approach the older woman called out to the officer. “Colonel Davis. You know Lieutenant Turner’s wife, Sarah, don’t you?” she asked as the two men came to a halt.

  The Colonel acknowledged both women before turning to Cameron and performing the basic introductions. It didn’t take long after that for the women to wander discreetly away. When the Colonel turned to Lacey, Cameron quickly staked his claim with a hand at the small of her back, drawing her close to him.

  “Who is this lovely young lady?” the Colonel asked with a twinkle in his eye. “Don’t tell me she’s with your sorry butt, Justice,” he added with a smile. “Ah, the injustice!”

  Both men chuckled at the funny twist on his name. When Cameron answered, he did so with a half-assed salute and a smirk. “Just because you outrank me now Frank doesn’t mean you get to flirt with my companion.”

  Cameron waved dismissively in the other man’s direction. “Lacey, this cigar-chomping reprobate with the ugly buzz cut is Colonel Frank Davis. We had the misfortune of being deployed together a long time ago. Don’t believe anything he says. As an officer, he is no gentleman and lies like a rug.”

  While she laughed and smiled, Cameron fixed his old friend with a searing look. “Frank, this is my friend, Lacey Morrow.” Nobody missed the slight emphasis he’d placed on the word, friend.

  Reaching out politely to shake her hand, the Colonel nodded his head, acknowledging Cameron’s’ introduction. “It’s a pleasure to meet any friend of a Justice Brother,” he said.

  Lacey twitched in surprise when Cameron added hastily, “She’s traveling with me to Arizona.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa! You’re taking someone this pretty into the Justice compound? Cam! You old dog, you!” chortled the obviously amused officer.

  Turning mischievous eyes her way, the Colonel mock-whispered to her, “Watch out for that piece of work, Draegyn St. John. He’s a devil with the ladies.”

  At the mention of Drae and his womanizing ways, Cam’s stomach clenched. So did his jaw, teeth, hands, and thighs as a low growl built in his chest. “Yeah, well Drae will be on his best behavior. Even he knows better than to fraternize with an employee. Lacey will be handling the front office for a while,” he quickly added, earning a thoughtful stare from his old comrade.

  Lacey watched this strange exchange and wondered what was really being said and why the man at her side had tensed to ramrod straight in a heartbeat. The conversation eventually went back to more serious matters as the three of them made their way from the rec center across the courtyard to the parking area. Cameron’s hand stayed glued to the small of her back while she walked quietly at his side. She liked the sense of possessiveness that his body language conveyed.

  Their business concluded, the men gave a brief salute then embraced in one of those bro-hugs that spoke louder than words. She was beginning to understand how deep the emotions ran between modern day warriors serving together on the battlefield. Theirs was a special bond that would endure a lifetime. Suddenly humbled by the man she was traveling with, she considered that while he may be damaged and been knocked around a bit, he was also worthy of her respect.

  After driving hours away from the base, Cam was exhausted. His analytical mind was picking apart the information he’d learned in the security meeting while trying to squash his body’s ever growing desire for the quiet women in the seat next to his. He was normally out-of-sorts anytime he had dealings with the military. Damn memories had a way of clogging his thoughts. Maybe his strong reaction to her presence was a result of that.

  The moment he’d introduced her to his old buddy Frank, Cam had been overcome with feelings he didn’t know how to handle. The man had been yanking his chain by suggesting Drae would have designs on Lacey. It had been nothing more than typical soldier teasing. Snarky comments were something they excelled at. Sarcastic chitchat was one way they dealt with the more serious shit. His reaction of immediate insane, red-hot, possessive jealousy had thrown him, big time.

  She looked so damn pretty in her flowered dress with the sandals that made her sizzle as she walked. Releasing a heavy sigh, Cam doubled down on exercising some control before he pulled over to the side of the road and lifted her into his lap so he could get at her body.

  Wanting her the way he did and not acting on that desire was making him crazy. Chalking it up to simple frustration, something physical, Cam had to admit he wasn’t used to reigning in his libido. How else could he explain his unexpected reaction?

  Really? Really, screamed his inner voice. You don’t know how else to explain that green-eyed reaction? What a fucking liar. Get some new bullshit to spew, Justice.

  Time to stop for the night. Get some food and take a hot shower. Maybe by then his mood would shift and he wouldn’t need a virtual gun at his head to stop his hands from finding their way into the Ponytail’s panties. Grinding his jaw when he remembered that she was off-limits, Cam reluctantly acknowledged that losing himself in the sweet heat of her surrender wasn’t going to make him forget where he’d come from and everything he’d done. Well, maybe it would for a while, but eventually the grim reality of who he was would come back. He didn’t want to use her like that.

  Lacey was tired of being quiet and she’d had enough of being cooped up in the cab of the truck while sexual tension swirled around them in the close confines. He seemed a
wfully dark and moody after their time on the base. For reasons she didn’t self-examine, she wanted to comfort her dark knight. Wanted to get close and whisper to him how brave and wonderful she thought he was. Wanted the somber scowl on his otherwise beautiful face to be replaced by something less sad. Oh yeah, and she wanted all that while he was dressed, or rather undressed, and wearing only the sexy cotton briefs burned in her memory.

  Sighing, she perked up quickly when the truck exited the highway. Thank goodness they were stopping. It seemed like they’d been driving forever. She needed to get her wayward thoughts under control and desperately needed to use the bathroom. Maybe after she’d relaxed and eaten something she’d be thinking clearer.

  He’d checked them in to a surprisingly comfortable hotel hours ago on a wave of tense silence that wasn’t fading. Even after they’d had a bite to eat, relaxation hadn’t been on the agenda. The storm of unpleasant memories kicked up by the visit to the military base had not settled one bit. Actually, Cam was feeling dark and slightly dangerous. The beast inside him was prowling quietly, straining to get off the tether that kept his baser instincts in check.

  Memories, visceral and intense, were tap-dancing on his nerves. He couldn’t contain the need to burn each and every one to the ground, any way he could, before they messed with his head. Those shadowy thoughts were always pushing back, reminding him of darker times when blood and war and survival ruled the day.

  How he kept up the pretense of being a card-carrying member of the human race he did not know when the primal creature inside him was snarling to be let loose. An epic, internal battle was raging inside. On the one hand, his better self was urging calm. Reminding him that Lacey was someone special to be guarded and protected. The other hand, however, was pushing the boundaries in every way possible. Urging him to take her, to ease his frustration and anger at the past in the only way he knew how.

  He’d arranged for adjoining rooms again but had retreated into self-imposed isolation once they’d gotten settled. She kept looking at him with those smoky blue eyes as if she could see into his tortured soul. It tugged at his heart the way she softened each time his eyes caught hers.

  Growing more and more frustrated, Cam knew he was fucked, because her sweet innocence excited and rankled him at the same time. Still, he had no business dragging her gentle loveliness into the darkness of his half-life.

  It had been a relief when she’d disappeared into the bathroom and he heard the shower running. Needing time to put on his game face and get his desires in check, he kept silently chanting, She’s not for you, soldier. She’s not for you. Unfortunately, he was pretty damn sure his dick wasn’t listening.

  Time passed. The shower turned off. He knew this because he’d finally prowled his way into the shadows of her room, lying in wait like an animal hunting its prey. He’d reached his breaking point. He. Couldn’t. Stay. Away.

  When Lacey appeared wearing the button down shirt he’d removed earlier, he lost his mind in a heartbeat. Okay, maybe it took two heartbeats. Either way, he was up and stalking toward her with just one thought in mind, to make her his once and for all, and to do it now.

  Lacey didn’t immediately realize she wasn’t alone in the room until she sensed a knockout blow of raw, intense energy hit her from behind. When she whirled around the shock she experienced wasn’t from finding her dark knight in the same room but rather from the way her body reacted to the fiercely aroused look etched on his face and the way he was zeroing in on her with the precision of a heat-guided missile. She. Was. In. Trouble.

  Or perhaps it was he who was in for trouble if the heat surging between her legs and the way her breasts plumped and nipples peaked were any indication. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. Oh right, her brain shouted. She was wearing it and almost nothing else. His trousers were unsnapped but still zipped and showing an impressive bulge she couldn’t ignore.

  Eyes, devoid of their green color and dark as a midnight sky, bored into hers with an intention and purpose that unleashed flames of desire inside her. As he moved through the shadows of the sparsely lit room, she saw twin shards of color infusing his cheeks, evidence of the wild desire driving him on. Jesus, she could sense his arousal. Was she breathing? Lacey wasn’t sure.

  “I surrender Ponytail,” he snarled. With a look that devoured and enflamed, he came so close she could feel the energy as it sparked between them. The small whimper escaping her throat was a direct result of the way his powerful eroticism enveloped her entire being.

  “I want you. Under me, naked, legs spread wide as I sink into your body over and over and over until both of us are wrecked.” She watched, helplessly fascinated, as his nostrils flared and his eyes glittered with each provocative word.

  “And you want me too, Lacey. I can see it in your eyes, smell it on your skin.” He took a single step closer as her senses shifted into overdrive. It was hard to breathe. She was painfully aware of her chest heaving as she struggled to keep oxygen moving in and out of her lungs. She thought he was beautiful and at this second, she’d never seen anything sexier or more enthralling than Cameron Justice.

  With a heavily aroused voice, Cameron growled out a single command. “Turn around and put your hands on the desk.”

  Lacey blinked. No more dancing around and pretending this wasn’t going to happen. She wanted his hands on her. Wanted to know what it was like to be consumed by this man, to be flung into the flames of desire until he had absorbed all her fire and wrung the last drops of pleasure from her body and soul.

  Slowly, with heart thumping wildly in her chest, she turned, only dropping her eyes from his at the last second when she had to. With her back to him, leaving her essentially blind to whatever came next, she bent forward slightly, resting her trembling hands on the desk against the wall. Swallowing the thickness crowding her throat, Lacey stood there silently aware of the way his shirt barely covered her bottom and the sound of his breathing, thick and heavy, hanging in the air.

  Cam’s knees almost buckled when she turned around. Enjoying the seductive view her fantastic backside afforded, even covered by the length of his shirt, was pleasure beyond description. The outline of her ass teased him through the stark whiteness of the button down shirt. As long as he lived, he’d never see anything quite as mouth-wateringly sexy as her heart shaped bottom just waiting for his touch.

  Inhaling deeply he savored the way her womanly scent mingled with the smell of coconut shampoo. Holy shit, but his mouth actually watered while his tongue seemed to grow larger and more insistent, rather like his cock, which at this moment was throbbing against the tightness of his trousers.

  In a voice deepened by desire he whispered, “I dream of you like this. Half-naked, your body calling out to me. Do you dream of me too?” His fingers lightly touched her thighs making her legs quiver at the soft caress. “Do as I say, Lacey. Do everything I say and if you’re very, very good, I’m going to fuck you senseless just the way you pictured it in your dreams.”

  Cam watched as she reacted with a seductive arching of her back. Enticing her body was going to be easy but seducing her mind was equally as important. Gently palming her lovely ass he commanded that she put her legs together and not move until he said she could. He felt intense satisfaction watching her legs close while her breathing got heavier. Right then and there he wanted to tear her panties away and shove his hungry cock into her trembling body. He could smell the arousal coming off her and it was all he could do to stay focused and not succumb to the needs of his own body.

  Lacey was stunned. He could see into her thoughts, into her fantasies and nighttime musings? Oh no! Secret, erotic fantasies suddenly burst to life in her brain. Cameron suckling voraciously at her breasts while his hand dipped between her thighs to test the flood of desire he’d wrung from her body. Cameron gently parting her womanly folds to flick his tongue against her throbbing nub before pulling it into his mouth as she dreamed of him doing to her nipples. Cameron pushing her thighs apart so he could t
hrust deep, deeper into her. Oh. My. God. His hands swept around her and in seconds the shirt drifted silently to the floor.

  She was a quivering mess by the time she’d squeezed her legs together, waiting for whatever came next. Senses on overload, Lacey shook her head, feeling her long ponytail fall down her back. When Cameron’s hands began tracing the skin at her knees, moving slowly up the outside of her thighs, she had to grip the edge of the desk until her knuckles went white. By the time his touch arrived at the leg openings of her cotton panties, she let out a quiet whimper that sounded completely foreign to her ears. Was that her with the low, husky moans? He had barely touched her yet she was more turned on than she’d ever been before and that was saying something since their kisses had been off the charts hot.

  Unable to stop herself, Lacey involuntarily shimmied her bottom in response to his sensual stroking, earning her a stinging swat on her butt and his growling warning to be still and move only when told she could. Her head dropped forward and she tried to clear her mind, aware of how desperate she was becoming. She wanted more.

  Cam was lost in an erotic haze of thundering lust watching his big hands stroke her warm, soft skin. My God. She was sex on two legs and didn’t even know it. Running just a fingertip of each hand lightly along the elastic leg openings of her panties, he almost lost it at the sight of her skin prickling under his touch. She was so sensitive, so open to what he was doing to her. He slid his hands under her panties and massaged each butt cheek bringing her head snapping up from where it had been hanging just moments before. Hmmm. She liked what he was doing. Good. He liked it too.

  Removing his hands from her heated skin, he moved until his aroused body was almost touching hers. He made sure not to actually touch, preferring to drown her senses with suggestions of what lay ahead. He knew she could sense him from the sounds of her erratic breathing and the way her thighs quivered as he neared.