by Mighty Men
Chapter Twelve
Nate and Donovan walked into the hut together. Colby looked at them and saw an instant replay of their morning scribbled across their foreheads, etched in their faces.
He wasn’t jealous like he once feared he might have been. Instead, a strange sensation consumed him, a load off his mind. After all, since Donovan and Nate arrived, the sexual tension existed everywhere.
Nate possessed a secret weapon and needed to take full advantage of his personal arsenal. Nate and Colby needed to know where they stood with Donovan. If discovery meant fucking the truth out of Donovan, then Colby could turn his head and look the other way. Unless, of course, they asked him to join them.
Nate avoided eye contact even after Donovan headed for the shower. Reaching into the mini-fridge for a bottle of water, he said, “Where’s Karen?”
“Don’t know,” Colby said, smiling. “I thought she might have been with the two of you.”
Nate quickly looked up and said, “No. We were alone.”
Colby finally experienced the first pinch from the green eyed monster. “All alone?”
“Yes,” he said. “We’re moving to the last bungalow on the beach. It’s larger and has more room. Plus, it’s not safe for us to play by Shoemaker’s rules anymore.”
He took a swig of water and studied the sofa. Suddenly, a convertible daybed held a lot of peculiarity and captured his complete interest.
“Nate?”
“Yeah?”
“You fucked him. So what,” Colby said. “We need to know where he stands. At this point, we should use everything we have at our disposal, including ourselves.”
“Yeah, but there may have been a better way,” Nate said. “I wouldn’t want you fucking him without me there.”
Nate wouldn’t want him to risk vulnerability. Colby recognized more than anyone the defenseless position an ISO took when he or she slept with the enemy. Assuming Donovan Collier remained true to his inner assassin, Nate placed himself in the line of fire, too, when he jumped into Donovan’s bed. ISOs were taught how to manipulate any and all situations, including those in the bedroom.
Colby wanted to make things easier for Nate, so he said, “I don’t care what happened with you and Donovan. You knew I wouldn’t. I don’t think you would’ve spent the morning all alone with him if you thought...” When Nate’s lips thinned and he acted uncomfortable with the way the conversation was headed, Colby changed directions and blurted out, “We needed to know—”
“Damn, Colby,” Nate started to walk outside. “There’s more to this mission than what happened this morning.”
“You don’t say? Would you like for me to spell it out so we’re all on the same page? I’ve been right here, Nate. I’ve thought of all the outs we have, but you and I know what happens when a hit is placed. If this one isn’t carried out, other ISOs will come. Eventually someone will pull the trigger. The little red lights on our foreheads will glow until we’re ten feet under.
“Maybe Donovan won’t do the job. Then again, maybe he’s arrogant enough and green enough to believe if he takes us out then it will end this thing. Either way, we’re marked. Either way, we have a world of troubles. I don’t know how we’re going to get out of this. What I do know is the only one I trust on God’s earth right now is you.”
Nate snapped over his shoulder, “You have no idea how dangerous it is for you to have faith in anyone right now...even me.”
Colby reached for him, and Nate allowed contact for a split second. The men locked in a knowing gaze, and Colby said, “If I can’t trust you, then I’ll die without putting up a fight.”
Nate took a deep breath. His nostrils flared and he said, “You trust me, Colby, because I was once sent in to save you. You were a job, and you don’t need to forget how we met. You were only an assignment.”
Colby released him. He saw the lie in Nate’s eyes. He allowed meaningless words to spill from his lips, and Colby wasn’t sure why.
Rage, stark anger churned through his veins. Colby retaliated. “Bullshit! I was more than a job, and you damn well know it! You’re running scared Nate, and damn you, I won’t let you push me away in order to save me. It’s not going to happen this time. My family isn’t here pulling political strings. Your ISO commander turned on you, and by God, you are all I have. I’m all you’ve got, too, soldier. That’s better than what either of us had when we first arrived in these islands.”
Nate flinched. The deafening silence consumed them then, and Nate looked thoughtful. Colby didn’t want them to doubt one another. They had too much to lose if they started to look at each other with skepticism.
Nate gripped Colby’s shoulders and stared into his eyes. “Colby, listen to me. There are too many puzzles to solve, too many elements we need exposed. I’m dizzy trying to keep up. We have so many complications and no clue where to start in order to dig ourselves out of shallow graves.”
Colby lowered his voice and said, “We have to get rid of Karen, Nate. We need her out of here. Her loyalties aren’t with us and—”
“And you think his are?” Nate turned around suddenly and tilted his chin toward the bathroom, chugging another swig of water, then wiping his mouth on his short sleeve.
“Maybe.”
“Why, because he’s gay?”
“No,” Colby said, shaking his head. “Because of the way he looks at you whenever the two of you are in a room together. He’ll do what you tell him to do. Trust me. I believe you have a better hold on him than you think.”
Donovan reappeared in the doorway. “And what if I have the same hold on your man, Colby? What then?”
Colby wheeled around. “You’re going to make this about Darby, aren’t you?”
“I don’t see any reason why we can’t,” Donovan said arrogantly. The white towel he draped around his waist hugged his hips and allowed the outline of his dick to show through the thin material.
“There are plenty of reasons,” Colby began.
“Like?” Donovan asked.
Colby watched Nate as he seemingly studied them both, his gaze working much like a ping pong ball, darting between men. “This is starting to make perfect sense. Of course I didn’t put any of it together until now.” Nate rubbed his chin and finished. “Shoemaker knew the two of you were at odds?”
Donovan said, “I wanted to kill him. Until a few days ago, I didn’t know who the ‘he’ was. I only knew Darby had an infatuation with another ISO, a man who kept him from committing. Your man, as a matter of fact.”
Colby paced the floor.
“I’m still waiting,” Donovan said. “Give me those reasons, Colby.”
“You can wait, damn it,” Colby snapped. “I wasn’t in love with Darby Winslow. You were his life. He was just as important to you as you were to him. Don’t try to deny your feelings.”
“I never said one way or the other. I spent a lot of time with Darby. We were inseparable because of the jobs we took and the skill sets we each brought to the table.”
“Guerilla warfare in the worst conditions?” Nate asked.
“They were two of the best,” Colby quickly confirmed. “A perfect team.”
“Yes,” Donovan said. “We were.”
“Then you’re a liability if you work better with partners,” Colby said.
Nate arched a brow.
“This isn’t about Darby,” Donovan said, smiling. “It’s about Nate.” Taunting Colby, he added. “I can see where you would have some insecurities.”
“I’m not insecure,” Colby snapped. “But don’t think you’ll take what belongs to me in retaliation for the time I spent with Darby.”
“Oh, you should have some serious doubts about Nate,” Donovan said, shooting Nate a warning glare and then going for the punch. “As hard as I fucked him, you’d better believe you have cause to worry.”
Colby didn’t shake down as easily as Donovan might have thought. He tried to keep his emotions in check and regrouped. Taking a few short breath
s, he finally said, “Darby Winslow was a job, Donovan. They sent me in to take him out, and he would’ve been dead the first day we met, but someone called off the hit.”
“Yeah?” Donovan drawled. “I guess Daddy didn’t like it when he found out his little bastard was a moving target, huh?”
Colby grinned. “Oh, he moved all right. I made damn sure I kept him humping.”
Donovan jumped forward, and Nate stood in his path, blocking him from taking a full swing. “You sorry son of a bitch, he fell for you!”
“I did my fucking job. You and even Nate here would have done the same thing in my place. It’s how we’re paid. It’s in our job description. It’s who we are. We take our assignments, one by one. We don’t ask questions. We don’t have the fucking time!”
“And you would’ve killed him?” Donovan asked, clarifying.
“You’re damn right I would have.”
A death wish washed over Donovan, stamping the proof of rage across his red face. Colby saw through the eyes of a cold blooded killer. Donovan Collier once loved Darby Winslow. Maybe he still did. If so, then Colby pushed too hard and said far too much. Everything Nate shared with Donovan went out the window in a weak moment of flared tempers.
Nate’s lips thinned, and he set his jaw. Storming past them, he walked in the bedroom and yanked his luggage from the closet. Packing quickly, he didn’t say a word. Colby exchanged icy glares with Donovan before he followed suit.
As they packed, Colby couldn’t help but revisit the past few minutes. Discovering the connection Nate formed with Donovan ate at him.
Nate fucked Donovan, and then he allowed him the same pleasure, so what? Who cared? Maybe he’d regret it when he moved past the lust between men. Maybe then he’d remember something far more important than his dick and manly pleasures.
They were the hunted, and they were there with a job to do. They were assassins, hunters, and yes, they were natural born killers. Jealousy and stirred rage would make a completed mission very possible. In fact, a deadly outcome seemed probable.
Chapter Thirteen
Karen walked into the larger cabana with her head held high. “Anyone here want to explain why no one informed me of this move?”
“It’s time to go our separate ways,” Nate stated flatly.
Karen arched her brow. If Nate Francisco was any other man, she would’ve blown him to kingdom come and the heavens above and back again, just for kicks. Then she would’ve shot him for taking advantage of her in Mangaia even though, technically, he barely touched her. Maybe there was the problem. She longed for his caress, every stroke and thrust he wanted to give.
Attracted to Nate and fighting her lust at every turn, Karen strolled by him adding a little sway to her hips in hopes he’d notice. He didn’t.
“So where’s my room?” she asked, looking around.
Colby stood in the doorway of one bedroom. Donovan blocked the archway leading to his space. They both looked at her like she had balls of steel. Well, at least they possessed some level of intelligence, though she banked on theirs being lower than Nate’s.
“You aren’t staying here, Karen,” Nate said.
The other two looked like they stood with Nate in support of a unified decision. Too bad they didn’t remember her ace in the hole. She reminded them. “Are you forgetting where I hold the most value?”
“It sure ain’t in the sack, sweetheart,” Nate stated dryly.
“She wasn’t that bad,” Colby said, giving her a heated once-over and enough to go on. He had enjoyed her plenty.
Donovan smirked. “I imagine you found more pleasure in her pussy than you get out of your hot, sweaty palm.”
“Fuck you, Collier.”
“I might let you,” he replied. “That is after I take another turn fucking Nate’s pretty little ass.”
Colby glared at Donovan. Ah, she thought, a little too much animosity existed among the toy soldiers.
Hmm, she wondered what Nate had done to cause such a stir among his boys.
She studied Donovan for an additional moment and then quickly turned on Nate. The two men looked at one another with fresh lust in their eyes.
So it was true. Nate fucked Donovan? Interesting, she decided. She wondered if Colby walked in on them. She also wondered why Nate bothered. Did he make a point to take all of his enemies to bed? God, she hoped so.
Right then, she was, in fact, considered by all of them as the adversary. They didn’t need or want her at their makeshift island compound.
“Boys,” she began, dropping her bag to the floor. “I’m not leaving. I have nowhere to go and no desire to find a place. You’re stuck with me until this mission is over.”
“We’ve heard about all the babble from you we can stand,” Nate said, moving toward the kitchenette.
“And I’ve been neglected by you for the last time.”
Nate quickly faced her. “Neglected?”
She popped her hip and placed her palm in the curve of her waist. “Yes, Nate. I didn’t stutter.” She stood taller, tilted her chin upright and cursed herself for challenging him. Her mouth dried when she saw the heated expression wash over his face, the lust filled danger settling in his eyes.
“I see,” he said. “So, honey, what is it that I can do for you? Huh?”
She quietly tried to gain some sense of control, but the woman in her trumped the agent. She wanted Nate Francisco, and she longed to have him right between her legs, thrusting inside her with rage and lust, anger and desire. Yes, she’d take him any way she could get him.
Her gaze wandered, and she damn well took her time gawking. She started at his loafers and worked her way up his muscular legs until she stopped at the bulge in between his thighs. Lord help her, she wanted some of what he had.
Nate’s tongue held at his upper lip, and he moved toward her. His entire demeanor changed, and his eyes darkened. Somewhere in the background, she heard Colby when he said, “Nate, don’t.”
Too bad, she thought.
She wasn’t allowing him to stop now. She called out the wicked nature of a killer, the kind of man who did fuck his targets and got off on the idea of snapping a neck right after he came. She wanted that man to show his face. She wanted to see the male behind the ego.
“Nate,” Colby warned again. “Damn it. Don’t do this.”
They were beyond putting on the brakes. Colby tried and failed.
Nate’s hands gripped her forearms so roughly she thought she lost her limbs in combat upon entry of a war zone. When Nate squeezed her arms, he was all soldier. He wanted to manhandle her.
Diabolically, he shifted his weight into hers. Slow and easy, he rocked. His dick pounced at her pussy. Pressing, pressing, he pushed the weight of his heavy cock against her center and smiled as he thrust.
Watching her, he said, “You aren’t going to be happy until you have me.”
Damn right. She wasn’t leaving the islands without the knowledge. She wanted what Admiral Shoemaker desired. She longed to take everything the admiral had and then some, including the man—or men—he’d never have the joy of claiming for himself.
Karen wanted Nate Francisco, the soldier dubbed as the best man for any job the ISO force ever assigned. She wanted to fuck the best, hold the wild, ride the beast and then live to tell about her experiences. She’d give anything to document the whole episode unfolding, tape it live and send in the footage. Only, she didn’t have time. She decided to savor the moment and truly come alive in Nate’s arms.
* * * *
Nate worked her over like he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted a man. In truth, the reason he gave her what she desired had little to do with her and everything to do with the way Colby and Donovan looked on, observing quietly with heavy lust in their eyes.
Both men knew him intimately as a lover. They each enjoyed him explicitly, and now their gazes made him erect and ready, anxious even, to take a woman he would soon make just as crazy about him.
Colby and D
onovan didn’t follow them into the bedroom when Nate pulled Karen into his arms and carried her there. They stayed in the hallway, waiting and watching.
Spreading her legs out as far as they easily parted, he shifted his weight and lay between them. His fingertips went to the band of her shorts, and he stripped them off like he meant to ravage her body, take her sex, and own her soul.
The vixen scraped at his chest. Her apparent hunger obvious, the woman wanted his flesh and he would give her what she evidently yearned for most—skin on skin. “Wait,” he said. “Everything in due time, wench.”
He wanted her begging, yelping like a whore in need of his cock. He would make her cry out his name until he knew he had her loyalty. He would leave her sated but craving him like a new drug.
Nate used women. If Karen wanted to stay on with them, he’d make her into a willing submissive who protected them all by doing what she was told and submitting to each of them. Otherwise he’d throw her out, and she’d lose the protection she desired when he waved goodbye.
Yeah, Karen was easy, and thanks to her, he could use sex to get his way. Even if it meant taking her the way he only wanted to take Donovan and Colby.
Donovan.
Thinking about his early morning romp with the other man made his dick gain new life. Like a man suddenly ready for his first fuck, he knew a delayed start wasn’t possible now.
He shoved her shirt high above her head and worked with his belt, zipper, and buttons. Karen’s loose blouse fell to the bed. He yanked her up with one hand and shoved his pants past his hips, tugging a condom from his front pocket in the process.
Unhooking her bra, he curved his arm around her back and pinched her nipple while stripping his own T-shirt over his head. He ripped the foil packet open and sheathed himself, holding her so close she probably felt the friction, the way his hand worked the protection over his penis.
“I know what I’m doing,” she assured him.
Of course she did. Otherwise, he wouldn’t take her.
When he released her, his cock hung at her entrance. He glanced into the mirror behind the bed and locked gazes with Colby. God yeah, this was right. This was the only way to take a woman.
