by Aliyah Burke
Taber’s eyes narrowed as he skimmed over Sidra’s body. Then he pulled out a sidearm and shot Larson in the leg. The man went down with a scream.
“Oh my God! You shot me!”
Taber shrugged unrepentantly. “You tried to run.”
There were times when Pete truly loved his family. This was one of them. Beside him, Sidra shook again and he immediately removed his jacket to put around her. Cort stood overlooking the man still whining like a baby on the ground, bleeding into the snow.
And it was like in slow motion. A feminine wail filled the air grabbing everyone’s attention. A shot was fired. When he looked at his brothers all he could see was Sidra in front of Taber, pushing him out of the way, then her body arched and she fell towards the ground.
Pete was in front of her, stopping her from collapsing. Her face pale and eerily serene looked up at him, her head wobbling as if her neck unable to support it. His hands were around her back and his heart stopped as he felt the warm stickiness of her blood run over his skin.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Taber fired a shot. When his brother crouched beside him, he assumed he’d gotten the sniper.
“Hang in there, Siddy,” Pete begged. “Please. Just hang in there.”
“Pete,” she rasped. “It’s in the star. It’s in the star.”
Sinking to the ground and holding her close, one hand against her wound, the other stroking along her face, smearing her blood, he said, “It doesn’t matter. We’ll talk about it later.”
“No.” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “It’s in the star.” Then her eyes closed.
“No. No. No!” he hollered, pushing to his feet,with her in his arms.
“Take her and go,” Cort ordered. “I’ll be behind with these two.”
Pete took off without waiting another second, Taber running beside him. Pete was breathing hard when his brother’s cabin came into view. Barely slowing, he headed for the garage. In the earwig, he heard Taber say, “I got her keys, it’s open and starting.”
He slid in the back and pressed his face to her still one. “Hang in there, Siddy. Oh please. I love you.” The tears ran unchecked down his face. Pete removed the rifle from around his shoulders and gathered her close.
Taber jumped in the driver’s seat and they tore out of the garage. Pete was barely aware of the trip to the hospital. He just held Sidra close and whispered to her. Ignoring the help from Taber when they arrived, he followed his brother who was yelling, “I’ve got a gunshot wound victim here!”
A gurney appeared before him and he laid her unconscious body upon it. “Let go of her, Pete,” Taber said. “They have to get her into surgery.”
It took Taber forcibly removing his hands before he released her. Pete watched them roll her and cut the turtleneck in the back. Her tattoo became exposed and he frowned. It’s in the star.
“Taber,” he said quietly, taking the wipes from a nurse to clean up the blood on his hands. “The chip is in the star.”
“What?”
“In her tattoo. She had it with her all the time. They need to remove it while they are doing surgery.”
“I’ll go tell them. You stay here.” Taber shook his shoulder when he began to move forward. “Pete, you can’t go in there.”
Standing at the door, he stared through the glass and watched the small hospital staff as they worked on his wife. He refused to leave, just stood there watching. Afraid if he left, so would she.
My Siddy. Hang in there, baby. Don’t leave me.
Chapter Six
She opened her eyes and frowned. The sterile surroundings told her where she was. A hospital. Sidra hurt everywhere. In the corner of the room sat a hunched figure. She wasn’t sure who it was. At the slight moan that slipped from her mouth, the person pushed easily from the chair and strode into the dim light in the room.
Taber Kysenzki.
He had a few days growth on his face and he looked tired. Good, damn good, but tired.
“You’re okay,” she said gratefully.
His intense blue eyes softened as he held a straw up to her lips and gave her some water. “You saved my life, sweetness. I can’t thank you enough for that, but it almost cost you yours.” He frowned. “And that we weren’t too fond of.”
“We?” she asked after swallowing the cool liquid.
“Us, sweetness. Your family.”
My family. Except for Pete who’s not here. “You have a family, Taber. I don’t.”
“Don’t talk like that, darlin’,” another voice drawled from the doorway. “You are our family.”
“Cort,” she said. Two of the handsomest men in the world and she didn’t want either of them. She wanted their youngest brother.
“He’d be here if he could, darlin’,” Cort assured her, stepping up to the other side of her bed. “They’re deployed.”
“Is he okay?” she questioned.
“He’ll be better now that you’re awake,” Taber said.
She struggled to sit up and both of them helped. “Don’t you two have somewhere else to be?”
“Nope.” They answered as one.
“This is one of those things I’m not going to win, am I?”
Both men shook their head. And that’s how it went for a few weeks. One or both of them were around. She also got to meet their parents, Bernard and Thalia Kysenzki. Cort had introduced her as Pete’s wife and they had welcomed her with open arms. Of course, it may have been because she saved Taber’s life, but Taber assured her it wasn’t that.
The day she was getting discharged, Cort was the only one there with her. She sat on the bed tying on her shoes. Still stiff but ever so grateful to be getting out of the hospital. “I can drive myself you know.”
The large man leaning against the door merely raised an eyebrow at her. Sidra sighed. These men were immoveable when they wished it.
“So am I taking you somewhere?” she asked.
“Not quite.”
She lifted her eyes and stared at him. “What does that mean exactly?”
“We’re going to DC.”
Sidra nodded. She had known this would happen. It was inevitable; she would have to face the ramifications for her actions. Slipping off the bed, she said, “Let’s go then.”
Cort held her coat for her and walked her out of the hospital. She withdrew into herself and was silent for the five-hour plane ride. A black sedan with tinted windows waited for them when they exited Dulles. Fear began to knot in the pit of her stomach and she wondered how much shit she was truly in.
She stood before the building on Pennsylvania Avenue and took a deep breath. Cort placed a hand at the small of her back.
“Come on, darlin’,” he said softly.
He escorted her to her former boss’s office. Director Adam Willis. Cort took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze as he winked at her. Then he left her alone.
“Sit down, Bonnaire,” Willis said, his voice as gruff as ever.
She sat carefully on the edge of the chair, wishing Pete were with her. Sidra held Willis’ gaze without flinching and waited for him to speak.
Lacing his hands behind his salt-n-pepper haired head, he stared back. “You know what you did, right?”
“You mean protected my ass when you tried to hang me out to dry and sent me to a shrink?”
He shrugged and readjusted so his elbows rested on the blotter on his desk. “Still bitter about that?”
Oh you fucker! She arched a brow but declined to answer.
“You brought in Larson.” One hand waved around. “Or rather you were integral in his apprehension. And that of Julie Bicker, who was apparently working with him.”
Stifling a yawn, she blinked a few times. “I’m assuming there’s a point to this drivel somewhere.”
“I want you back.”
“No.”
“No?” Willis asked frowning.
“No. As in no, hell no, not-even-if-hell-froze-over no.”
“Pay
raise and better benefits?”
She shook her head. “Not a chance. You didn’t trust me, thought I was crazy. I won’t work in that situation.”
He sighed loudly. “Is this because of that incident between us?”
She lifted an eyebrow. “You mean where you tried to use your position to get me in your bed that Christmas party?”
The door crashed open and Cort stood there, his face set in anger. “You did what?” he thundered.
Sidra covered her eyes and shook her head. Pushing to her feet, she walked to Cort and laid a hand on his arm. “Let it go, Cort, please. And don’t tell Pete. It’s not worth it. He was drunk and stupid.”
“Yes, he was,” Cort snarled.
Willis flushed, but with only a minor straightening of his tie which betrayed his nervousness, he said, “You will always have a job available here if you want it, Sidra Bonnaire. You’re one hell of an agent and having that chip back in our hands is a huge relief for us all. Thank you.”
She stared at her former boss and blinked once. “Goodbye, Willis.”
Beside her, Cort still remained stiff in anger. She knew he wanted to know more about the incident between her and Willis, but when she squeezed his arm, he led her from the office and back outside into the winter DC night. “You know, Virginia Beach isn’t that far away.”
“I need to go home, Cort.”
He turned her towards him and lifted her chin. His blue eyes gleamed in the night light. “Where is your home, Sidra?”
She licked her lips and thought about his question. A smile lifted her lips when she nodded. She knew where her home was.
* * * *
Pete was in a foul mood. Back from his most recent deployment, a shorter one of three weeks, he’d gone up to Washington to see Sidra only to find she’d checked out. Taber didn’t know where she was, and he couldn’t get a hold of Cort.
He parked his car before his townhouse and opened the door. The smell of cooking food reached him and he frowned. Was my mom coming for a visit? “Mom?” he hollered.
“Well, that’s a new name. I’d really prefer Siddy to Mom, but we can go with whatever.”
Sidra walked out into the sitting room and smiled at him. He dropped his bag and ate up the vision of her like a starving man. His legs shook and he wasn’t entirely sure they would hold him up. She wore one of his button-down shirts and a pair of his lounge pants.
“Siddy?” he rasped.
“Hey,” she said with a slight smile.
He walked to her and pulled her tight into his arms, burrowing his face into her hair, revelling in the familiar scent of Sidra. Tears pricked his eyes when her arms slipped around his waist.
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there when you woke, Siddy.”
“I know, Pete. They told me you were deployed.”
Lowering his mouth to hers, he kissed her. Gently at first, but it quickly grew heated. Pete forced himself to end it.
“Are you okay?”
“I am now.”
“When I saw…all your blood…Siddy…”
“Yes, Pete. My answer to your question is yes. I want to stay married to you.” She stared up at him. “I love you.”
“Oh my Siddy, I love you too.”
He pressed their mouths together again. The purr from the back of her throat shot pulses through him. His cock went rigid in his jeans and he ground his hips against her.
Her hands made short work of unbuttoning his jeans and he groaned in pleasure when her warm hand touched his length through his boxers after shoving his pants down over his hips. He toed off his shoes and stepped out of his jeans and socks, then ripped his shirt off over his head.
Naked, Pete pushed hers down too and grunted his approval of her lack of underwear. Backing her up against the wall, he lifted her slightly and teased her wet entrance with the head of his cock.
“Please,” she whimpered.
“Siddy, did you mean it?”
“Yes, Pete.”
He lowered her slowly on his shaft, gritting his teeth as her tightness gripped him. His skin prickled and he groaned in pleasure. Deep within her, he carried her to his bed, not wanting to aggravate her injury.
“Ohh yeah,” she mewled.
Back and forth, he moved within her. Her strong legs wrapped around his waist, an action which allowed him deeper penetration. The walls of her pussy held him like a vice and he could feel his eruption coming close. There was no way he was going to last long.
Pete nibbled along the skin of her neck as he thrust within her. Sidra dug her nails into his shoulders and undulated against him. The room was filled with their moans and cries of passion. She screamed as she came on his cock and he soon followed with his own release.
Heart pounding, breath coming short and fast, Pete readjusted them on the queen-sized bed. Covering them with a blanket, he stared into her eyes. “Do you know I’m never letting you go?”
Sidra snuggled into his chest and he could feel her smile against his skin. “I like that sound of that, Pete.”
“Me too, Siddy.” He stroked a hand up and down her hand. “Are you okay, in any pain?”
“I’m good. I get a bit stiff some days, but it’s all good.”
He kissed her. “Yeah, I get a bit stiff too, and it’s all good.”
She chuckled. “Incorrigible.”
“You love me,” he said confidently.
“I do.”
“So what happens now?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. All I know is I’m with you.”
“Now and forever, Siddy. Now and forever.” He held her close.
Over dinner, he stared at her endlessly. He was scared to look away for fear he’d wake and find it all a dream. That night in their bed as he came deep within her body, Pete realised nothing else mattered but the woman in his arms. She was his love. She was his future. Sidra was the lieutenant’s wife.
About the Author
Aliyah Burke loves to read and write.
She is married to a career military man, they have a Borzoi, German Shepherd, and a DSH cat. Her days are spent sharing her time between work, writing, and dog training.
Email: [email protected]
Aliyah Burke loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at http://www.total-e-bound.com.
Also by Aliyah Burke
Seducing Damian
Through the Fire
Camouflaged Hearts: A Marriage of Convenience
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