by Layla Reyne
Aidan licked a path up his arched neck to that spot he ached for. “My dirty angel.”
Jamie’s answering whimper broke the last of Aidan’s restraint. He couldn’t wait any longer. He lined up and thrust inside his lover. Jamie took him in, only a touch of resistance, and there was none when Aidan leaned over him for a kiss.
Wrapped tight in Jamie’s arms, so intimately connected, Aidan was home.
And he wasn’t the least bit scared of it anymore.
He levered up on his elbows and brushed sweat-dampened curls off of Jamie’s forehead, waiting for his lover’s eyes to flutter open. When they did, a thin ring of cobalt surrounded blown wide pupils.
Gorgeous.
“I love you, Jamie, so goddamn much.”
“I love you too, baby.” He craned up for a kiss. “But right now, I need you to fuck me.” Jamie grabbed hold of his ass, forcing a punishing pace Aidan was only too happy to oblige. On the torturous edge of pleasure, Aidan threw them over when, hand wrapped around Jamie’s cock, he nipped that spot behind his ear and whispered, “Come for me, baby.”
Shouting his name, Jamie’s release coated Aidan’s hand and his ass clenched tight around Aidan’s cock, carrying Aidan over with him, Jamie’s skin between his teeth as he groaned through a shattering orgasm.
Desire and heart satisfied, they collapsed together on the bed, the tension and adrenaline that had kept them going waning. After blissed-out minutes of easy kisses, Jamie grunted and shifted his leg out from under Aidan.
Aidan rolled them onto their sides and lifted the sore leg on top of his. Once situated, he drew each of Jamie’s wrists forward, removing the cufflinks one at a time. He reached behind himself, dropped them on the bedside table, and snagged his phone, tucking it under his pillow in case anyone needed them. He’d feel the vibration before he distinguished the phone ringing from the ringing in his ears. Jamie shrugged the rest of the way out of the shirt and rolled back into him, nuzzling Aidan’s chest.
Aidan skated a hand over his knee. “Want me to get you some ice for this?”
“No, I’m good, right here.” His breaths were getting longer, deeper, and Aidan’s own eyelids grew heavy. Jamie kissed the underside of his chin. “Thank you for coming home.”
Aidan tilted his face and kissed Jamie’s forehead. A benediction for his angel. “Thank you for giving me one.”
Chapter Sixteen
Tremors nudged Aidan awake, interrupting the best sleep he’d had in months. The vibration under his head stopped after a few seconds; the one on his chest did not. Senses coming online, Jamie’s freight-train snores reached his ears as heavy puffs of breath tickled his bare chest. Easing open his eyes, Aidan squinted against the bright, midday sun, a curse on the tip of his tongue, but bit it back when he glanced down at the man draped over him. The sunlight cast a warm glow on Jamie’s back, exposed from broad shoulders all the way down to the curve of his ass, the cotton bedsheets tangled low. As much as Aidan loved Jamie’s chest and the tattoo over his heart, the expanse of defined back muscles under smooth milk-and-honey-toned skin was almost as tempting.
Too tempting in this position, with Aidan on his back and Jamie half atop him, arm around his waist, leg thrown over his thigh.
Morning wood digging into his hip.
Face in his hair, Aidan breathed Jamie in as he stroked both hands down that back, on either side of Jamie’s spine, the skin as warm and supple as it looked, sending heat purling through Aidan. Jamie chuffed and dragged him closer, more fully under him.
God, he could stay right here forever and be perfectly happy. Covered by the man he loved, nothing but his warm weight pressing Aidan into the mattress. The sound of their breaths and hearts, in time with one another.
He was home, utterly at peace.
Finally.
The vibration under his head started again. Remembering he’d put his phone under his pillow, he reached an arm back, scrounged around for it, and saw he’d missed three calls from Grace in the past fifteen minutes.
Peace began to fade, darkness creeping in despite the sun blanketing the room. He dialed his sister back and brought the phone to his ear.
She answered on the first ring. “Ai, Ai.” Her voice was broken, crying.
“Grace, what’s going on?” Aidan scooted out from under Jamie, sitting up. He wished he’d stayed down with her next words.
“Katie’s missing.”
He sucked in a sharp breath. Couldn’t get another one in to save his life. His niece, his goddaughter, the closest he had to a child of his own...missing.
An innocent. With no means of protecting herself.
Gone, while he’d slept. He was supposed to protect Katie, and he’d failed. But the threat had passed. And they’d still had guards on all the family.
Jamie’s anxious “Baby” drew his gaze. He’d sat up beside him, hand on his back. “Aidan, talk to me. What’s going on?”
His hand shook so badly he could barely hold the phone. Jamie slid it out of his hand and put the phone on speaker.
“Grace, it’s Jamie. What’s going on?”
“Katie’s gone.” Grace cried harder, and Aidan felt his sister’s soul-crushing wails, her fear as a parent, all the way to his bones.
Danny came on the line. “J, she’s missing.”
“Missing how? From where? For how long?”
Aidan tried to concentrate on the conversation despite the roaring in his ears, despite the fog closing in around him.
“Grace went to pick her up from preschool and she wasn’t there.”
“She wasn’t there?”
“An FBI agent came by and flashed a badge. Said that Aidan sent him to pick up Katie for her safety. They know Aidan works for the FBI, so they didn’t question further.”
“Did the preschool say anything about the agent who took her?”
“Male, Hispanic, lighter eyes, midthirties.”
Aidan’s stomach revolted. “Oh God, no.” His worst nightmare they couldn’t seem to shake, Oscar Torres, back for a fourth act.
Eyes locked, the same understanding darkened Jamie’s. Then buzzing from the floor drew his gaze away. “Danny, hold on,” Jamie said, and handed the phone back to Aidan. He rolled off the bed, tagged his pants where Aidan had tossed them, and yanked out his phone. His face paled, losing all its warm, honeyed glow.
“What is it?” Aidan whispered hoarsely.
“Oscar wants a trade. Westley for Katie.” He sat next to Aidan, phone held so Aidan could see it. Katie stared up at them, clutching her Lucky Care Bear, her nose red and her green eyes bright with tears.
And full of fear.
What had that bastard done to her?
“Fuck!” Aidan doubled over, chest aching, gut churning, bile stinging the back of his throat. Jamie’s hand on his back did nothing to beat back the panic whitening the edges of his vision.
Jamie cleared his throat. “Danny, put Grace on the line.”
“Jamie?” Grace said after a moment, voice small and scared.
Aidan hated that he had a hand in making it that way.
“Grace, honey.” Jamie lengthened his drawl, seeking to calm her, though the tremor in his hand on Aidan’s back revealed he was anything but. “We know who has her. We’re going to get her back.”
“How?”
“You remember my friend Cam?”
She sniffled. “Yeah.”
“He’s the Bureau’s best kidnap and rescue agent, especially when it involves children. I’m going to call him as soon as I get off the line with you.”
Aidan’s stomach somersaulted, reminded of the reason he’d always answered Byrne’s calls. Aidan needed him to rescue one of his own now.
“Jamie, please,” Grace cried, and Aidan stifled his ow
n miserable moan with a fist.
Jamie must have heard it, must have felt the hitch in his breath. He hauled him against his side, whispering “She’ll be okay” against his temple, for both his and Grace’s benefit. “Grace, put Danny back on the line for me.”
Aidan buried his face in Jamie’s neck as he and Danny exchanged a few more words, Jamie telling him to bring Grace to his place and that Byrne would meet them all here. Once he hung up, he pulled Aidan’s face out of his neck and held it in his hands. “Breathe, baby.”
Aidan took a giant gulp of air that ended in a choked sob.
“We’re going to get her back, Irish.”
“She’s only five.”
“I’m gonna call Cam and we’re gonna do whatever it takes.”
“Jamie, I can’t lose her too.” He palmed the side of Jamie’s face, needing an anchor. “After you, she’s the most important person in my life.”
“I know.” Jamie wiped the tears off his face. “Which means she’s pretty damn important to me too. I won’t let anything happen to her. Trust me?”
Aidan nodded. A million other doubts raced through his head but his trust in Jamie wasn’t one of them.
“Then believe me.” Jamie kissed his forehead, lingering there. “We’re not going to lose her.”
* * *
Jamie bustled about his kitchen, brewing a fresh pot of coffee and cooking up a hash of eggs, peppers, leftover pulled pork and potatoes. He doubted any of them had much of an appetite, but it gave him something useful to do while Aidan, marginally calmer after a shower and two cups of coffee, went over details of Katie’s disappearance with Cam.
He needed to remain steady and focused for his partner, a difficult task when all he wanted to do was set up a meet with Oscar, rescue Katie, then beat the shit out of the former agent. Hearing Aidan fill Cam in on the spite and greed that had motivated Oscar to ally himself with Renaud only made Jamie angrier. Oscar had played them in Charlotte, using Aidan’s desperation to find Jamie to hack into their system. And he was playing them again, using Aidan’s attachment to Katie, and Jamie’s willingness to do anything for Aidan, to get Westley out of lockup. Jamie had no love or respect for that kind of emotional blackmail.
“Jameson.” His full name, spoken in Cam’s Boston brogue, snapped Jamie out of his thoughts. “Don’t kill the eggs.”
He glanced down at the pulverized hash and forced his fingers to uncurl from around the spatula, blood rushing back into his whitened knuckles.
A dining chair scraped across the hardwood and a moment later, Aidan appeared at his side, switching off the burner. “Breakfast burritos, then?”
“Tostada,” Jamie replied, hanging on to a happier time, recalling that first breakfast Aidan made for him.
Half smiling, Aidan dropped a kiss at the corner of his mouth. But then the doorbell rang and his body went rigid next to Jamie’s, grin fading.
“I’ll get it,” Cam said.
Jamie pulled Aidan close, whispering his mantra of “We’ll get her back” before taking two more mugs out of the cabinet.
He should have retrieved three. Their boss cleared the top of the stairs behind Grace, eyes surveying the new surroundings. Dressed down in jeans, a white cashmere sweater and leather riding boots, with her much shorter, curlier hair held back by aviators she’d pushed on top of her head, it was the most casual he’d ever seen Mel.
While Jamie was surprised, Aidan bordered on outraged. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in the hospital still.”
Mel waved him off. “I’m fine.”
Aidan continued to harangue her, even as he drew Grace into a hug. “You’ve got a concussion.”
“Don’t bother, big bro,” Danny said. “We’ve already had this argument.”
“For the past forty minutes,” Grace added, sounding as wrung-out as she looked.
“Katie’s family,” Mel said. “I’m not sitting this one out.”
Their stare-down lasted several long seconds until Aidan conceded. He led Grace and Danny over to the table where Cam waited, while Mel headed toward Jamie in the kitchen, her attention riveted on the coffeepot he’d just set back down. Jamie took the two mugs he’d filled over to the table, hugged Danny and Grace, then returned to the kitchen, where Mel was already filling a third mug.
“I’m guessing you’re not supposed to have that?” he said.
“Probably not.” She drained half in one swallow. “How’s Aidan doing?”
“Wrecked, but hiding it well.”
“And you?”
“About the same. You?”
She shifted, wincing a little. “About the same.”
They stood, leaning against the counter, while Cam confirmed with Grace the details Aidan had earlier relayed. Every time her breath hitched, Aidan held her closer. By the time they finished, she was sobbing into his shoulder.
“Rooms upstairs?” Mel whispered under her breath.
“Two,” Jamie said. He followed her out of the kitchen into the dining area.
“Danny,” she said softly. “Why don’t you take Grace upstairs?”
Jamie was glad to see the anger finally gone from the youngest Talley’s eyes. He wasn’t glad for the worry, or weariness, that had replaced it. Jamie suspected Danny was the most exhausted of them all, having kept watch at Mel’s beside only to be drawn into another crisis.
“Come on, sis.” He jostled Grace loose from Aidan and tugged her up.
“I’m going to do everything I can to bring Katie home,” Cam said to her. “I promise.” He’d kept that promise with Aidan. This one wasn’t made any more lightly; it would kill Cam not to keep it.
Grace gave him a weak smile. “Thank you.”
Danny led her up the stairs, and Mel slid into the chair next to Cam. Jamie took the one next to Aidan, laying a hand on his bouncing knee. “The guard on Katie?” Jamie asked Mel.
“Found dead in his car.”
Jamie’s stomach sank. If Oscar was willing to go that far...
“What’s good is that we know what he wants,” Cam said.
“Why?” Aidan said. “If they’re not lovers...”
“But they’re partners, of a sort,” Cam said. “Found the connection last night. Met in black-hat circles a few years back. Renaud is not the first time they’ve worked together. Westley brought him in.”
“And Westley does multiple identities better than anyone,” Jamie reasoned out. “Between Westley’s forgery and Oscar’s hacking, they can disappear.”
“Any use negotiating with him further?” Mel asked. “For something else?”
Cam’s dark gaze bounced from him, to Aidan, then back to Mel. “No. This is their exit plan.”
Jamie slid his hand up and down Aidan’s tense thigh, seeking to calm his partner as much as himself.
“Then I’m not going to waste time,” Mel said. “Let’s give him what he wants.”
“What?” Jamie and Aidan said together.
“Or rather, we’ll make him think we are.”
Aidan propped his elbows on the table. “How’s that going to work?”
“We’ll give him Westley, get Katie back, then take him and Westley into custody.”
Jamie leaned back in his chair, an arm thrown over the top of Aidan’s, his presence there if his partner needed him. “Oscar will expect that.”
“Probably,” she acknowledged, “which is why he demanded you come alone and will set the meet in public. We’ll also feed him information that the rest of us are elsewhere. It can only look like you there.”
But they would all be there, backing him up.
“How’s this going to work with the US Attorney’s office?” Jamie asked.
“I’ve already called Nic,” Mel said.
&
nbsp; “Bowers isn’t our biggest fan right now.”
“He’s not my problem. Torres is. I’ll get Westley out, one way or the other.”
“Mel,” Aidan gasped, though Jamie wasn’t surprised. He was already putting together the pieces in his head. There was only one place this could go, after everything that had happened.
“Aidan, I don’t care.” Her voice brooked no argument. “Katie’s family, and once this investigation gets papered, I’m done.”
“You’re done?” Danny said from the bottom of the stairs.
Her eyes tracked his steps across the living room to the seat on the other side of Aidan. “I’ve known about Renaud for months. I asked you to keep it off the books for fear of implicating my brother. If I hadn’t, maybe I could have averted all this. Someone has to take the fall, and I’d rather it be me than any of you.”
Aidan straightened his spine, lifted his chin, and Jamie dreaded the inevitable words that came out of his mouth. “I’ll go with you.”
Mel shut him down before Jamie had the chance. “No. We get them both into custody, and we can clear you of all charges.”
“Gabe was my husband.” The pain and regret coloring his voice had Jamie dropping his hand off the chair and onto his back.
“And you didn’t know he was involved until six weeks ago,” Mel said. “I’ve known for nine months, since before Galveston.”
“I’m going with you,” Danny said.
Her brown eyes darted to him, clashed with glittering black ones, and she nodded. There was no way he was leaving her life to chance again. Which meant she’d need more backup. And there was only one place this could go for Jamie as well, with the charges pending against him.
“I’ll go too.”
This time it was Cam and Aidan together. “What?”
“I’ve known too, since September.” He raised a hand to cut Mel off when she started to speak. “Order or not. And they’ve got me on assaulting a suspect and the illegal software, which compromised an investigation. I’m done too.”
Aidan hauled him up by the arm and dragged him into the adjacent office area. “What the hell is this?” he said, Irish brogue barreling through.
