by Christina OW
He’d been in the shower for around five minutes when he felt the presence of someone else in the bathroom. He kept his hands on his head, pretending to rinse his short buzz. The shower door slid open then soon shut. He waited until he felt her arms slip around his waist, her chest pressing into his back. He lowered his arms, keeping them at his sides with his hands clenched. He might have been able to resist her the night before because she was scared, but now… he considered this an invitation he was going to have a damn hard time turning down.
“What are you doing?” he demanded sternly.
“Taking a shower,” she purred, rubbing her hands up and down his torso. One hand lightly floated down his hip and he quickly caught it before it reached its target.
“Let me make one thing clear. I’m no gentleman.”
She pressed her lips to his shoulder. “I didn’t accuse you of being one.”
“I accused you of being a prostitute and you said I was wrong.”
She went stiff at the implication. She knew what he was saying and was probably thinking about it at that moment. But apparently she didn’t have much to think about when she relaxed against him and her one free hand continued wandering over his torso.
“If I’m going to end up dead, I might as well enjoy my last few hours.”
That caught his attention. He quickly turned around to face her—he had to lower his head to do that. She was almost two heads shorter than he was, her hair curled in wet tendrils around her face, over her shoulders ending right over her chocolate covered areolas and tight nipples. She looked like a large C cup—his favorite.
“Why did you say that?” he asked, still bashfully staring at her breasts. He placed his hands on her hips and pulled her closer so that her tight nipples pressed against his torso and his already jutting erection nestled between her thighs.
She swallowed hard, her head falling to his chest as her thighs clenched around him. “I stabbed him before I ran from him. What do you think?” she muttered breathlessly.
Damien pulled her closer until they were completely touching, her head resting on his chest as her arms wound around his waist. He caressed her back, loving how well she fit against him, how small she was to his large body. He liked small women for just this reason—easy to pick up, easy to shield if need be and easy to carry on his chest as they slept after a night of wild lovemaking. And women loved him for just the same reasons, including how well hung he was; and the Celtic tats over his large muscles.
He was a tattoo and fitness freak like his cousins Dale and Derrick, who not so coincidentally, all worked for Uncle Sam. They were more like brothers as their mothers—sisters—only had one child each and they were raised together having been born just months between each other. But immediately after they enrolled into college, their parents each took off to their husbands’ ancestral homes to live out their golden days—Dale’s went Ireland, Derrick’s Brazil and his, Japan. Yup, they all married men of different races, which made growing up pretty interesting with all those different cultures.
She trailed her hands lightly from around his waist and up his torso and chest to wind around his neck as she looked up at him, desire blazing in her eyes. “So, do you plan on just standing there and staring at me or are you going to do something about that thing twitching between my legs?”
Who was he to refuse such a direct invitation? He lowered his hands to her ass, massaging the voluptuous globes before he lifted her up and pressed her against the shower wall, her legs going around his waist.
“You clean?” he whispered against her lips.
She nodded. “And on the pill—don’t say it. I’m not a prostitute, but I’m not a nun either.”
He chuckled, rotating his hips so that his tip teased her entrance. “Good to know because there is nothing saintly about what I’m going to do to you,” he nibbled on her lips. “I guess I’m here for another two days guarding this delicious body.”
Chapter Two
Summer 2012
Damien swung his bag over his shoulder when the ding sounded in the large elevator, signaling his arrival to his floor. He was beat and would have loved nothing more than to go straight to bed, but his cousin had asked him to meet him at his office. Considering he would be imposing on him for a few weeks until he found an apartment of his own, he couldn’t say no. He walked out onto the busy floor, stepping out of the way of a few rushing agents. His curiosity demanded he ask what all the excitement was about, but his tired body and brain just wanted to lay down right there on the floor and take a cat nap.
He pushed open the glass door and stepped into the bullpen. It wasn’t as active as the corridor; in fact it looked a little empty. Where was everyone? What was going on?
He heard the quick indraw of breath and his head snapped to it. A chubby girl with long hair that matched the rainbow, her clothes just as colorful, stood a few feet away from him, staring open-mouthed at him. For a second, he wondered if he was walking around naked and actually looked down at himself. No, he was fully clothed. Maybe she was shocked at how filthy he was. Busing it through the country, searching for one girl without any other thought but her had him neglecting himself a bit. It was how he’d spent all his vacations for the last five years. This past year was the longest he’d ever had and he’d been sure this time he would find her, especially after the message she’d left him. He’d taken a year off work; put his promotion to the FBI on hold, just to find her and nothing. It was like she didn’t exist.
His throat stung and his chest tightened. He couldn’t think like that. He couldn’t give up. He had to keep looking… so what if he added one more year to the other five? It was because he’d been searching for her that led to this promotion. Busting a Russian mob and ending their guns and human trafficking business gets a lot of attention. It was that attention that had her contacting him the third time. The first time to beg for his help from Vladimir and the second time, two years later, was to ask him to stop searching. She was so cold and distant during that second call, he was sure Vladimir had already gotten to her and hurt her. He cursed himself for failing her and that year he almost lost himself in the bottom of a bottle, if not for his cousins.
But the third time she called, he was sure she needed him. She might not have said a word during the call, but he was sure it was her. He spoke to her, begged and cried—not his finest moments, but he was desperate. He wasn’t sure exactly what was going on with him. He wasn’t even sure if he loved her, but he did come to terms with the fact that he was obsessed with her, obsessed with finding her and making sure she was safe. It was what had driven him these past five years and he didn’t see himself letting up anytime soon.
“The guys in your family can’t all be drop dead gorgeous! It just isn’t fair to the rest of the male population.”
His lips twitched with a smile at the colorful girl’s statement. Normally, this was where he would put his moves on and have her panting and wanting him by the time he had her panties around her ankles. Normally that is, if he was himself five years ago. Post Victoria Secret he would cut to the chase and find a secluded corner somewhere where he would bend her over something, ride her long and hard then walk away with a bored thanks. Senseless sex had kept him from drinking himself to oblivion every night and he preferred it, though he didn’t derive any pleasure from it.
“Ah, but this one isn’t like the rest of us. He’s got beauty and brains.”
Damien turned to the approaching voice of his cousin, a real smile commanding his face. It had been three years since he last saw him, since he last saw either of his cousins and at that moment he felt like the biggest jerk. How long had it been since he last saw his parents?
He hugged Dale, patting him on the back hard and making him wince.
“Careful with him! His back is having a bad season!” The girl with the multicolored hair warned behind him.
Damien pulled away and stared at his cousin who was now glaring past his shoulder. He stepped away,
his eyes swinging quizzically between the two.
“Why is your back acting up Little D?” he asked Dale, the youngest of the three cousins.
“Just a little back injury I got a few years ago Middle D,” he answered, his voice casual but his eyes lethal.
Multicolored girl snorted. “If you call getting shot in the back twice just a little back injury. His back is acting up because of the cold—lucky your summer starts in a few weeks.”
Shot? Damien held up his hand. “Time out. You got shot? Why didn’t anyone tell me—why didn’t you tell me?” he demanded, glaring at Dale.
Dale’s gaze softened. “You were having a few troubles of your own,” his eyes did a once over, on Damien, “Looks like you still do.”
Damien looked away, fighting to swallow the guilt that choked him. “Was Derrick here at least?”
“No and you know why.”
Damien nodded, looking everywhere but at Dale. “Yeah, his problems are everyone’s problems.” Such was the life of a CIA operative. Of course, they weren’t supposed to know what Derrick did for a living, but the cousins rarely hid anything from each other.
Dale playfully punched his shoulder. “Hey, your problems are about to become mine and mine are about to become yours.”
Damien looked at him at that. “What do you mean?”
He pointed to multicolored hair girl. “That’s Audrey. There is nothing she can’t find unless it dates before computers and the internet. Give her everything you’ve got on VS to date and she’ll find something for us.”
Damien gave him a bemused look. “Don’t you think I’ve tried that already. I even wrote an entire algorithm on VS and it’s like she doesn’t exist.”
“You’re a tech nerd?” Audrey asked, coming to stand close beside them.
Dale snorted. “He’s a Kevin type nerd. Broke his father’s heart when he chose to become a cop instead of a mad science genius.”
Damien shrugged with a crooked grin. “What can I say; I liked playing cops and robbers better than space aliens.”
“Oh no. Nothing like Kevin, a better version of Kevin,” she grabbed his bicep and squeezed. Her black lips formed an adorable O. “He’s got bigger muscles than you do. He’s you and Kevin combined.”
Dale rolled his eyes. “I don’t spend as much time as I want at the gym. The kids take a lot of my time now.”
Damien’s head snapped to him. “Kids? You’ve got kids!”
He clenched his jaw when Dale gave him a pitying look. “Yeah, I think it’s time your problems became mine and I gave you something else other than VS to concentrate on.”
His jaw tightened so hard his teeth hurt. “Dale, you know I can’t give up. Not now.”
“After five years, what have you got?” Damien looked away. “I thought so. Now let someone else take a look at it. I need fresh eyes as well.”
“Why?”
“Because his psycho sister-in-law escaped from the loony bin a year ago and she’s finally been spotted.” At his shocked look, Audrey went on with more vehemence. “Yup, she’s the one who plugged your cousin twice in the back and we are all afraid she’ll come back and finish the job.”
Damien rubbed his face frustratedly with his free hand. He was exhausted, but there was no way he was going to get any sleep now. Taking a deep breath and loudly exhaling, he looked at the two of them and said, “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”
****
Damien emptied his second cup of coffee after an hour of being regaled with a crazy ass story. He would have thought it fiction if not for the hurt and angry expressions on Dale’s face that occasionally slipped his cool ‘all business’ mask. She had really done a number on him if he was this scared. To slice open her own sister to steal her baby… what the fuck?
Wanting to lighten the mood he held his hand out to Dale over his office desk.
His brows furrowed together, Dale looked between his face and his hand, “What?”
He wiggled his fingers. “The kids’ pictures. I know you’re dying to brag.”
Dale laughed sitting up to pull his wallet from his back jeans pocket. He opened it and handed it to Damien. “That’s Stacey-Ann and Dale Jr. His godmother calls him Jamey and the rest of us call him Third. Drives her nuts!”
He smiled back at the large sweet smiles beaming up at him. “Gorgeous kids; must take after their mother,” he teased, which only made Dale laugh harder. “Why Jamey?”
“James, after his grandfather on Ellie’s side. Her parents are both dead so we named the kids after them.”
“Stacey,” Damien nodded. “Aunt Ann must be going bananas over them, especially the girl. She always wished you were a girl.”
Dale glared at him, “And when are you going to make Aunt Alice a grandma?”
Damien’s smile shrunk. He hadn’t really thought about anything much except finding Victoria Secret. He flipped over a flap to see the other pictures and his entire body went cold. He turned the wallet around and held the picture out to Dale. “Who is this?” he hissed.
Dale sat up straight in his seat and stared hard at Damien. “Dude, what’s up? You look like you’re about to blow.”
Damien couldn’t have said it better himself. He was about to blow like a fucking atomic bomb. “Who is this?” he yelled.
“My wife, Ellie, now tell me what’s wrong with you!” Dale yelled back.
If he hadn’t been sitting, he would have been on the floor on his ass by now. She married his cousin? This couldn’t be happening, it just couldn’t be possible. “I want to see her, I need to see her!”
Dale’s eyes widened. “Calm down man. You’re getting hysterical.”
Damien dropped the wallet and combed his fingers through his long messy hair. Hell, he was losing his mind!
****
As he drove, Dale kept stealing side glances at his cousin. Damien fidgeted in his seat like he had ants in his pants and when he wasn’t doing that his knee bounced incessantly, his fingers drumming in the same fast tempo on the armrest. His jaw clenched and unclenched, his eyes darting around. Add that to his long curly brown hair, the bush on his face and his clothes that looked like they hadn’t seen water in weeks, he looked like a bum high on drugs and nothing like his cousin.
Hero Damien Chan, the genius ladies man that Dale knew, was always particular about his looks. He was always clean shaven or kept a light buzz around his mouth—something he had on good authority from numerous ladies that it made him look even more the heartbreaker when he smiled. His hair was always trimmed short, a closer shave on the sides of his head than the top. His clothes were always neat, straight and pressed that sometimes Dale wondered if he ever moved around especially as a cop. No cop looked as impeccable as he did by the end of a long day. But now he looked like a bum—a junkie bum—and he was sure Ellie was going to flip the second they stepped into the house. The kids were always home with Ellie after she took a sabbatical after Ellsa’s escape from the psych prison. Now, she always had her guard up, more around people they were acquainted with than strangers. She didn’t want to falsely trust someone else again who’ll end up helping Ellsa steal one of the kids, again.
Everything inside Dale told him to stop the car and demand why Damien wanted so badly to see his wife, but he knew his cousin well enough to know he wasn’t going to utter a word until he got what he wanted. Stubborn ass.
It wasn’t long until Dale pulled into the driveway of his year old home. They had just moved into a two-story five bedroom house when they’d gotten word of Ellsa’s escape. It dampened their new lease on life and turned their new home into just another safe house, a location Ellsa knew nothing about, since she hadn’t shown up yet. But soon Dale would find his crazy sister-in-law and put her back where she belonged and he and his family could go back to living a nightmare free life.
Dale hadn’t even gotten the car to a complete stop when Damien jumped out, running for the house. The locked door kept him from rushing in and he turne
d around to glare impatiently at Dale. Both Dale’s brows shot up to his hairline.
Fuck! What the hell have I just brought to my home?
He stalled in the car, watching Damien keenly, suddenly not willing to let him near his family. He wasn’t going to have another case of Ellsa in his home. He would drag him back into the car…
The door swung open and Damien turned to face it. Ellie stared at him curiously, shifting a questioning look at Dale before turning back to Damien with a hesitant ‘hi’.
Dale couldn’t see Damien’s face, but he heard him loud and clear from where he sat in the car a few feet away from them.
“I finally found you,” his voice so tender it broke Dale’s heart, right before his anger flared when Damien grabbed Ellie and kissed her on the lips.
“What the fuck!” Dale yelled, jumping out of the car and running to them.
****
Damien sat on the love seat opposite Dale and Ellie on the couch and just stared at the object of his five-year obsession. He couldn’t believe he found her at last and in his cousin’s home no less. The anger of knowing that she shared Dale’s bed almost overshadowed the joy of seeing her again—almost. But how could he be angry as he stared into those lovely brown eyes that were wide with alarm? The pink glossed lips—the lower one being worried between her teeth—that he remembered so vividly kissing until there were swollen. They were red then, full and red and ever so seductive. The chewing of the lower lip was new though. She used to roll it inside her mouth when she was nervous and also when she was thinking. But it had been five years and she was bound to change. He certainly had, though not for the best.
