“I think I should try to sleep now,” she said. “Who knows what tomorrow will bring, right?”
In spite of himself, he caught her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it before letting her go. “You’re right. You’re also pretty amazing. Get some sleep, beautiful.”
She hesitated for a moment—and then she stood on tiptoe and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You’re pretty amazing yourself, Jake Ryan.”
She marched into the bedroom, closing the door behind her. He lay down on the couch and pulled the blanket up. The blanket that was now permeated with her scent.
Yeah, it was gonna be a long-ass night.
CHAPTER NINE
“Come on, we’ve gotta go.” A hand shook her shoulder and Eva blinked awake, her heart racing as she realized who it was and what was happening.
“The Brothers?”
“A perimeter breach. Won’t take them long to get here, so come on.”
Eva scrambled from the bed, grabbing her pants and yanking them on. Then she snatched her boots from the floor and yanked those on too. It took seconds. Jake urged her out the door and through the back of the house to another door. When he opened it, his weapon held at the ready, she strained her ears to hear anything in the darkness.
That’s when the deep-throated purr of motorcycles reached her. Jake grabbed her hand and tugged her outside, pushing her toward a car that she hadn’t even known was there. He clicked the locks and she got inside while he did the same. When he started the car, the deep growly sound of a high-performance engine vibrated through her.
“What about your Harley?”
His teeth flashed white in the darkness. “Not mine. Belongs to the MacKenzies. They’ll get it back eventually.”
Jake didn’t turn on the headlights, but that was no surprise after the dark ride along the highway earlier. He’d about given her a heart attack then. Now, well, at least this was a car and she felt a little more protected if they ran off the road. Probably just an illusion, but it made her feel marginally better.
“Is there a back way out of here?” she asked as he started driving in a different direction than they’d entered.
“Yes, but I’m going to guess the Brothers are coming at us from both directions.”
“How did they find out we were here?”
“They’re better connected than you think. There’s also a really good possibility they put a tracker on the Harley.”
“And you didn’t think to look for that?”
“Not all trackers are obvious, Eva. Which means they’ve got access to some good shit.”
She wanted to hyperventilate. “And you people want me to testify against Brandon? What if I don’t make it that far?”
Headlights appeared then, coming toward them, and he flexed his hands on the wheel. “You’re going to make it. I spend my life fighting these kinds of assholes and I never let the assholes win. It’s not in my DNA.”
“I used to think you were one of the assholes.”
He snorted and revved the engine. “Yeah, well I used to be. Not anymore. Now hang on.”
Eva barely had time to brace herself when the car shot forward like a projectile. The seatbelt grabbed her and held her so tightly she couldn’t have moved even if she’d wanted to. Jake pointed the car toward the approaching headlights and flat out drove like a demon was on his heels. He glanced up in the rearview and his expression tightened. That’s when she knew they were being followed too.
“Are you planning to mow them down?”
“If I have to.” He increased the speed and then flipped on the Mustang’s lights at the last second. The motorcyclists screeched to a halt. Most of them instinctively got out of the way, but a few stood their ground. Jake twisted the wheel and navigated through them without hitting anyone.
There were angry shouts, and the blast of a pistol. More pistols sounded in the night. Jake shouted, “Get down!”
Eva dropped as well as she could with the seatbelt holding her hard in place. The car hit something, bucking almost violently before settling down and shooting forward again.
A window shattered and Eva screamed.
“Take the wheel,” Jake yelled at her over the roar of motorcycles and the plinking of gravel.
She reached for the wheel—thankfully the seatbelt had released its grip on her once the car smoothed out—and steered it while praying no trees or ditches appeared in their path.
Jake turned in his seat and raised his weapon. There was a loud roar as the gun fired again and again. Eva’s heart thudded but she kept her eyes on the road and the car pointed straight. Jake sank into the seat and took the wheel from her when he’d used up his magazine, and she fell back against her own seat with her palms sweating and her throat clogging.
Yet a tiny part of her was exhilarated at the excitement, which only served to horrify her. No, she did not want this kind of life. She wanted a nice, quiet, boring professional man. She wanted a home in the suburbs and a kid or two. She wanted to bake cookies and go to PTA meetings and be normal for once in her life.
Jake Ryan was not normal. Nothing this man did was normal.
Eva turned in her seat to look behind them. The motorcycles were receding quickly in the distance. She turned around again just as Jake slowed and spun the car sideways and onto the road. When the tires hit pavement rather than dirt and gravel, the car took a quantum leap forward in speed. She could feel the relief rolling through her as they sped down the road.
“Are we safe?”
“For the moment,” he told her.
“Where do we go now?”
“I got a place. They won’t find us there. No one will.”
Jake was done playing games with the fucking Brothers of Sin. At the first opportunity, he stopped the car and bought a burner phone. He’d turned his phone off entirely so it couldn’t be tracked. When he had the burner up and running, he called Saint and told him what had happened. Saint would inform the MacKenzies and Colonel Mendez.
He’d given Saint his coordinates, but asked he not share them with anyone outside of their team. There could be a leak somewhere along the way and the broader the ripples in the pond got, the more likelihood of the information being compromised.
He drove for hours with Eva asleep beside him, heading north and east toward Virginia and the place he knew Eva would be safe. The day dawned cloudy and wet, with rain falling steadily and making everything seem gloomy. Eva woke and they talked a little bit about the weather and the scenery. She asked where they were going. All he said was “Somewhere safe.”
By the time they reached the hunting cabin in the Shenandoah Mountains, it was nearly dark again. He pulled into the garage and shut off the engine. They climbed out and went inside the house. He didn’t have to clear it because he knew no one would be there.
Eva stood in the living room looking cold and miserable. It had been warm in Georgia, but coming north where it was rainy, plus driving up into the mountains, had dropped the temperature considerably. It occurred to him that he should have stopped and bought her a coat, but he’d been so focused on getting her here that he hadn’t thought about it until now.
He picked up the quilt draped on the back of the couch and handed it to her. She covered herself but he could still see her shiver from time to time.
“I’ll make a fire,” he said. “It’ll be warm soon.”
“Thanks. Where are we? Is this a MacKenzie safe house too?”
He looked up from the fireplace and the kindling he was currently stacking to make a fire. “This is mine. A retreat from the world when I need it.”
He’d never brought anyone here before. This was his sanctuary, his place to regroup whenever he had time off between missions. It was a couple of hours from DC and HOT, but it might as well be on another planet. Which was precisely what he needed from time to time.
She looked around the room with its warm wood walls and sparse furnishings and he wished it was daylight so she could see the view beyond
the tall windows that looked over a valley dotted with candy-colored fall leaves. But she’d see it tomorrow morning so he’d have to be patient.
“It’s lovely,” she said. “Homey.”
“It’s not much different from the last place.” He continued stacking wood.
“I think you’re wrong. It’s very different. That place was sterile.” She strolled over to a stack of books on the sofa table and ran her finger over the spines. “This has your personality stamped on it.”
“Those are just books, Eva.”
She picked one up. “Tying flies? Trout fishing? No, you’re interested in these things.”
Well, yeah, he was. Fishing was peaceful.
“What are you interested in?” he asked as he finished stacking the wood over the kindling and reached for the lighter he kept on the mantel.
She didn’t say anything and when he turned to look at her after lighting the fire, she was biting her lip and blinking. Blinking back tears?
“I don’t know,” she said on a whisper.
He went over and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tight. He couldn’t stop himself from stroking her hair as he tried to comfort her. She didn’t fight him. No, she reached around him and hugged him back, enclosing him in the quilt with her.
“You’ve spent so long training yourself to be the woman you needed to be that you’ve forgotten the woman you were. But she’s in there, Eva. You know she is.”
“Yes, she is. I’m just not used to thinking about her anymore.”
“Then maybe it’s time you start.”
CHAPTER TEN
It was time she started. Eva closed her eyes and breathed in the clean scent of the man holding her. He smelled like rain and fresh smoke and leather. He smelled heavenly, and he smelled like home, a feeling she hadn’t had in so long that she couldn’t really remember what it was like.
Except that she felt safe with him. Happy. Loved.
Loved?
Well, maybe that was taking things a bit far, but no one had held her close in so long that she’d forgotten what this kind of contact felt like. She kept her arms wrapped around him, her cheek against his chest and her eyes closed as she listened to the comforting rhythm of his heart.
She became aware of something else before too long. He was sporting a massive erection that pressed against her belly and made her insides liquefy.
“Sorry,” he said roughly as she tilted her head back to look up at him.
“Why?”
His gaze was both hot and troubled at the same time. “I didn’t hug you in order to have sex with you. I’m sorry if I’m making you uncomfortable.”
“You aren’t.” It was true. So true. Far from being uncomfortable, she was feeling heated and achy. She wanted to know what would happen if they took this to the next level. How would she feel then? How would it feel to have him inside her, giving her pleasure?
“Yeah, well, I’m uncomfortable,” he said. “Because I’m hard for you but I have to let you go before this gets out of control.”
His hands dropped away, but she didn’t stop hugging him. “Maybe I want to see you out of control.”
His nostrils flared as he stared down at her. “Eva, you don’t owe me anything. I did my job when I got you out of there. You don’t have to pay me for it.”
She let him go and took a step back. Then she dropped the quilt to the couch and reached for the bottom of her T-shirt. She dragged it over her head and dropped it. Jake watched her, the pulse in his throat ticking a bit faster than usual.
She didn’t know why, but that made her feel bolder. She flicked open the button on her jeans and toed her boots off at the same time. When she pushed her jeans down her hips, his jaw grew tight. The bulge in his jeans was definitely noticeable now.
“Eva. Jesus.”
“I want you to be my first, Jake. You won’t hurt me or leave me unsatisfied. I want you to show me how good it can be.”
He closed his eyes and swallowed. “You’ve had a difficult couple of days. Don’t make a decision you might regret.”
She put her hands on her hips, her temper flaring. “Jake Ryan, stop being a jerk. I don’t need you to protect me from myself, okay? Like I told Brandon, I get to decide who I share my body with. And I’ve decided that it’s you.” She sucked in a breath. “And don’t you dare try to tell me it’s not what you want. I can see plain as day that you do—so stop trying to be noble and show me what I’ve been missing. I want you. I want this. Don’t tell me you don’t want it too.”
His eyes were glittering. “No, I can’t tell you that.”
“Then strip.”
She didn’t know what he would do, but then he grinned and shrugged out of his cut. Her mouth went dry as his shirt disappeared. He unbuttoned his jeans but didn’t shove them off. Instead, he closed the distance between them and put his hands on her hips, dragging her against his body.
“Gorgeous girl,” he said before he dipped his head and took her mouth in a possessive kiss.
Her heart soared and her core grew wetter and hotter than before. Every nerve ending in her body was on fire, sizzling and aching and wanting so much more.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, arched her body into him, and nearly groaned at the feel of bare skin on bare skin. She’d never been this close to a man before. Never known the pure pleasure of that naked touch. Considering she was still wearing her bra and panties, she wondered how intense the pleasure would be when those tiny scraps of cloth were gone too.
She didn’t have long to wait to find out. Jake spread his hands over her back, and then her bra snapped open. He tugged it gently from her shoulders as she lifted her arms so he could remove it. And then she was against him again, bare skin to bare skin She moaned with the pleasure of it.
He kissed her long and deep, then swept her up behind the knees and laid her back on the couch, tugging her panties off and dropping them. When he rose above her, his greedy gaze roamed over her body, leaving prickles of heat and longing in its wake.
“Gorgeous,” he said. “Fucking gorgeous.”
She blushed, because she’d never been naked in front of a man before, never had one look at her like he was a slave to her pleasure. But that’s precisely how Jake looked at her—like she was the most important thing in his world at that precise moment and he was going to make sure she got everything she wanted.
He reached out and touched her breasts, his sure fingers flicking her nipples while she bit her lip and moaned softly. Then those clever fingers were sliding down her body to skim over the curls between her legs.
“So many things I want to do to you, Eva. But I think this first time it’s important to make sure you’re as ready as you can be.” He slipped a finger into the seam and found the bud of her clitoris. She gasped as he rolled his finger over her sensitive flesh, sparks bursting behind her eyes. “Think I need to put my mouth here,” he said, and the ache of desire grew even more intense.
“Do whatever you want,” she gasped. “Just make me come.”
His chuckle was deep. “No worries about that, sweetheart. You’re going to come several times before I’m finished with you.”
She thought he might put his mouth on her, but he took her lips again, kissing her thoroughly and deeply. Then he skimmed his mouth over her jaw, down her throat, finally reaching her nipples. He sucked one and then the other, flicking his tongue over each tight bud while she clutched his head and moaned.
Finally, he made his way down her torso, following the trail of tattoos that she’d once thought were merely cool but now thought were designed to make her body even more sensitive as he traced their loops and curves on the way to his destination.
When he spread her open with his thumbs, she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Their gazes met, locking over the pale delta of her body. The firelight bathed them in a warm glow and she thought she’d never seen anything so magical as the sight of Jake Ryan between her legs, his mouth mere inches from her body.
>
“I want you to remember this night forever,” he said gruffly. “Because I’m certain I will, and I don’t want to be the only one.”
“You won’t be.”
He lowered his head and licked her, and she nearly came undone right that moment. Never—oh God, never—had she imagined it could feel like this. Jake sucked her clit between his lips and she saw stars. There was no way she was going to last, no way she could experience more of this divine pleasure without exploding. She tried to make the orgasm lurking right beneath the surface stay there just a little bit longer, but it was impossible. Jake licked and sucked her, slipped two fingers inside her and curled them against her G-spot, and she exploded with a sharp cry.
He didn’t stop licking her and she kept coming until her body shuddered and her breath came out in pants. She opened her eyes to look at him, wondering what she’d see on his face.
What she saw made her heart flip over and emotion well inside her. He looked fierce and pleased at the same time. And he looked possessive. Like he owned her. She hadn’t thought she was the kind of woman who would appreciate a man looking at her like that, but oh God, she definitely did.
He produced a condom from his pocket and she blinked. “You were expecting this?” she asked.
“Hoping,” he said. “Dreaming. Not expecting.” He crawled up her body, his jeans still in place, his hard-on still massive, and kissed her. Tasting herself on his lips made a current of hot possessiveness wash through her. Mine, she thought. He’s mine.
No, it was more like she was his. She didn’t know how he felt about any of this, but she knew what she was feeling. And it was a lot more than gratitude or simple desire. Her soul knew his. Wanted his. They were alike and she felt complete with him. But she had no idea if he felt the same.
“Jake,” she breathed as he broke the kiss and tore open the condom wrapper.
“Yeah?”
She rolled her head back and forth on the pillow. “If the rest is anything like that was—well, I may never want to leave this house again.”
Hot Witness: A MacKenzie Family Novella Page 6
