It’d been their first chance alone, and honestly, she didn’t even know how to begin the conversation. A million thoughts pounded in her mind, giving her a headache, but she didn’t want to unleash a flurry of broken sentences that wouldn’t make any sense.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he said, his voice toe-curling deep. “You could’ve gotten yourself killed.”
“Nothing happened to me. I’m fine.”
“It could’ve gone very differently. We got lucky, and I don’t like relying on luck.” His chest lifted and fell as he sucked in sharp breaths.
She placed a hand on his chest, trying to find the courage to speak. But before she could say anything, he grabbed hold of her hips and kissed her.
She stumbled back, hitting the wall, and he swooped her arms up and held her wrists within his one hand, pinning her against him. “I’m mad at you,” he said against her lips and kissed her again.
“Why,” she rasped mid-kiss, “are you kissing me then?”
He tightened his grasp on her hands. “You want me to stop?” His words vibrated against her lips.
She tipped her chin, relishing in the way his body felt against hers. “No,” she cried.
His tongue swept into her mouth, stealing her breath, and the fingertips of his free hand skirted up her dress. A soft caress of her skin left a trail of fire behind, and she angled her head, breaking their kiss to allow his lips to roam over the sensitive part of her neck.
He released his caged hold of her arms, which afforded her the chance to lift his tee and run her hands up his abs and to his chest. She moaned as he slipped the dress strap off her shoulder to palm her breast. With her back still against the wall, he ravished her like a starving man.
A pool of heat gathered between her legs as her thighs tightened, and it was as if Luke knew what she needed, because he helped her all the way out of her dress to access her sweet spot.
Her head tipped back as her eyes blurred. She was alive—alive to experience the moment. A moment she had sworn to herself she wouldn’t give in to. But how could she resist experiencing another chance to connect with him?
“I want you,” he said gruffly into her ear before lifting her, and she eagerly wrapped her legs around his hips, allowing him to carry her into the bedroom.
He set her down and raked both hands through his hair, staring at her with nearly glossy blue eyes.
His eyes narrowed, and a twitch to his lips hinted at a smile, which had her even more desperate for his touch.
He stepped closer to the bed, studying her.
“Luke.” She rose, and he placed a closed hand beneath her chin, guiding her to his eyes. “I know what you’re thinking, but we can pencil that conversation in for another day”—she cracked a smile—“because right now, all I want is for you to be buried deep inside of me, and I don’t even care if your friends hear us from next door.”
This induced a crinkling of his eyes and the temptation of a grin. “How bad do you want me?” He cocked a brow and smoothed his thumb over her cheek.
She squeezed one eye. “On a scale of one to ten, you know—maybe a four point five.”
He laughed this time, and the sound had her nipples hardening and her skin flushing. “What do I have to do to earn a ten?”
“You’re a SEAL. An overachiever.” She bit her lip. “I’m guessing you can get creative.”
“I do love a challenge.” He shoved off his pants and boxers.
She freed herself of her panties, and stood before him as his arms flexed, the biceps popping as he took off his tee.
Eva reveled beneath his stare, her skin like satin beneath her own touch as she tapped her fingers up her chest.
The muscles in his jaw tightened as he pulled her closer, allowing her to forget everything that had happened tonight. “Be with me,” she said against his mouth. “Be with me like tonight’s our last night.”
Because it is, isn’t it?
His gaze darkened before he gently nudged her onto her back on the bed. He braced himself on top of her, and she shimmied against him, loving the feel of him against her already soaked center.
She wanted to feel this man in every possible way, but she needed it to happen before she came undone from the pulses of desire pricking her skin.
His hips rotated slightly, his strong body not crushing her as he held his frame above her, while still being close enough so she could feel his warm skin.
“Please,” she whispered.
He squeezed his eyes tight as if torn, but then he guided himself to her opening, and she bucked against him as the heat of his cock filled her as deep as humanly possible.
Her eyes nearly rolled in the back of her head as she gripped the cut of his muscular arms and held him tight as he rocked inside her, slowly at first as they found each other’s rhythm.
And then he lowered his chest even closer to hers, smashing her breasts against his muscles, and he reached for her hands and threaded their fingers above her head as they made love.
Her eyes flashed closed as a glimpse of the future caught her mind—of her in a pale blue dress with a baby bump.
Emotion punished her, and she was certain that when she opened her eyes she’d be crying.
“Eva,” he said, his voice raw. “Everly.”
He slowed his movements, and she snapped her gaze open, worried he’d stop. “Yeah?”
“You okay?”
She nodded, fighting the tears, and lifted her head to find his mouth. A mewl escaped her lips as he guided his tongue inside, deepening the kiss.
She grew light-headed from the impending orgasm as it swelled inside of her.
Their lips broke and his forehead rested upon hers as he grunted and came along with her—both finding bliss and hiding from the truth of tomorrow.
She’d been caught in the clash of a dangerous mission, but her heart and soul got swept along for the ride, and she knew in that moment there’d be no turning back.
Chapter Nineteen
Lying naked atop Luke was about the best position in the world, she decided. With her ear to his chest, the strong command of his heartbeat like music; she could easily fall asleep like that.
His fingers combed through her locks before stroking her back. They’d lain there like that for at least thirty minutes after he’d come, all without saying a word.
“Do near-death experiences turn you on?” he asked.
She lifted her head to find his eyes, a smile dancing in his blues. “Funny.”
“Just calling it like I see it.”
She lowered her head back to the hard planes of his body and felt the stir of his cock against her, and it had her pelvic muscles tightening with need. “And what’s your excuse?”
“Oh, that’s easy. You.”
“I’m your kryptonite?”
His heartbeat crept up, and his hand stilled on her back. “You’re so much more than that to me.”
“You—” A knock on the bedroom door cut her off. She bolted upright and almost fell off the side of the bed.
“Get dressed. I have news,” Jessica said through the door.
“Be over in five,” Luke replied.
She started to stand, but he caught her wrist and dragged her back to him. “Jessica must know about us.”
His gaze tightened. “I don’t care.” He kept his eyes on her, a slight crease in his brow. “Are you going to be okay?”
She stiffened. They needed a hell of a lot more than five minutes to have a conversation about their feelings. So, she said, “Of course.” She forced an innocent smile and rolled off him and stood, but his large hand swept to her hip bone and slipped to the curve of her bottom before he squeezed.
“I could look at this view all day.”
She peeked at him from over her shoulder and wiggled her hips. His hand found her center beneath her ass cheeks, and he slid a finger inside of her. She gasped and edged back into his touch.
“What are you doing?” she asked as he started to rub her cl
it with his deft fingers, drawing the breath from her.
“I want you one last time.”
One last time.
It was so final.
It was so . . .
Her eyelids fell heavily, and she slowly faced him, which forced him to drop his hand. “We only have five minutes, and she must need you, so—”
“But I need you,” he said, his voice laced with a sexy grit.
She opened her eyes to view his powerful and naked body on display—and he was hers. Well, for five more minutes.
Five minutes of memories she could at least remember forever.
And so, she straddled him without wasting a breath or time. She sank down onto his length and leaned back to brace his thighs.
“Five minutes,” she mouthed as he stretched her with every inch, and his Adam’s apple moved as their eyes locked.
Time stood still for those five minutes.
And when they were both dressed and standing in a room full of suspecting SEALs, heat crawled up her cheeks; she was sure her skin matched the pink of the sweater she now wore.
“So.” Ladies’ Man Liam coughed into a closed fist.
“Did you find Malik’s family?” Luke approached the desk and held on to the top of the chair and studied the computer.
Owen pointed to something on the screen, but from Eva’s vantage point, she couldn’t see anything.
She scanned the room and noticed that most of the guys continued to observe her with curiosity in their eyes.
Jessica, though, she was focused. A woman in control.
“I got a match on a grocery store security camera of our guy as he exited,” Owen said. “This image was taken two hours ago. We switched to the parking lot cameras, but the camera angle wasn’t great, so I couldn’t get a plate, but I got a vehicle description.”
Luke nodded. “Where is that, and what’s in the area?”
“It’s a small town north of Binghamton, New York,” Owen answered.
“I pulled one of our guys off babysitting Ender, but I can’t send him alone.” Jessica folded her arms as Luke faced her.
“Will won’t like it,” Luke said, and Eva wasn’t sure what he was talking about now.
Jessica shrugged. “We can’t ask for a government assist on this, so what choice do we have?”
“What’s wrong?” Eva asked. A few of the SEALs she wasn’t on a first-name, or any-name, basis with looked right at her as if she were suddenly an enemy in the room.
Luke caught the eyes of his teammates and breathed out of his nose as if coming to a monumental decision. “We can trust her. She already knows almost everything, anyway.”
“He’s right. She did put her life on the line earlier,” Jessica said.
Does that mean I’m in? Her palms grew clammy, so she rubbed them against the sides of her leggings.
“Your guess about me was fairly spot on,” Luke said. “We work off the grid for the government on missions such as these. But no one knows about us, aside from a handful of high-ups.” He scratched at his jaw, his body growing stiffer. “Our alias is a company called Scott & Scott Securities.” He crossed the room and stood before her. “I’m Luke Scott.”
It was the first time she’d heard his full name.
Wow, she’d had sex with someone and hadn’t even known his last name. She shook away her thoughts, realizing that wasn’t important right now.
“Oh” was all she could get out of her mouth.
“We’re all still technically active-duty SEALs. But retired SEALs work with us at our security company,” he explained. “They don’t know about these off-the-books jobs, though.”
“Isn’t it hard keeping it from them?” Eva asked and looked around the room.
Everyone looked to Luke for an answer, and so, he said, “Very. Especially now when we need their help.”
It had to be hard for him, to live such a double life. Maybe she knew a thing or two about it—but she was pretty sure his was a hell of a lot more complicated, not to mention dangerous.
Luke eyed his sister. “Who isn’t working a job right now? We probably need to send three guys to Binghamton.”
“I already made a list. I was waiting for your thoughts before I called,” Jessica said.
“Just tell them it’s a kidnapping case and no Feds can be involved. They won’t ask questions,” Luke responded.
“It should take three hours for them to get there. In the meantime, we’ll narrow down the search perimeter and try to get a plate number,” she said.
It was three in the morning, and they were already running on fumes. Would they really be able to rescue Malik’s family by sun-up?
“Can you push the call to Will until nine?” Luke asked, a mirror of Eva’s thoughts.
Jessica checked her watch. “If we don’t have them by nine, I won’t have a choice but to call him, and you know that. I can’t keep lying to him to buy us time.”
“Why won’t he be okay with your plan?” Eva asked, and she heard a few guys grumble.
“He won’t trust Malik’s word.” Luke rubbed at the whiskers on his jaw, the stubble growing thicker, and the memory of it tickling her inner thighs warmed her heart. It was a shit time to remember such a moment, though.
“Oh.” She tensed and fought against the pull of heat gathering up her throat and into her cheeks, yet again. “What do we do now?” She clasped her hands together, suddenly nervous in the overcrowded room of badasses.
“You sleep. Let us handle this,” he said like a command.
“I doubt I can fall asleep,” she said lightly.
He placed a hand on her shoulder and found her eyes. “You can trust me, remember?”
She knew she could trust him with her life, but could she trust him with her heart?
Chapter Twenty
“We’re sure it’s this location?” Luke tucked his hands beneath his armpits, eying the property on the screen.
“The boys are an hour out. They’ll be able to confirm once there,” Owen stated, cracking his knuckles before drinking his gasoline-colored coffee. They all needed a pick-me-up after having barely slept since their arrival in Monaco. “What’re the rules of engagement?”
“Try and keep everyone alive so we can find out for sure if Ender was working with al Jawali, since the son of a bitch probably won’t ever wake,” Luke said.
“’Kay.”
He whistled a breath between his lips and peeked at Jessica on the couch, her dark-rimmed glasses on as she swiped at her iPad. “Anything from Harper?” he asked her.
“Not yet,” she replied.
“Our asses are gonna be toast,” Owen said. “Eva, Harper, and now our other crew are being brought in on this.”
“It’ll be on me.” Luke was prepared to handle whatever verbal lashing Will threw his way. He knew the guy wouldn’t fire him. Well, not as long as he came through with this mission, at least.
He took a moment to allow the idea of getting fired to sit with him, to let the ideas of a future play out without having such a classified life—all he saw was Eva. And yet, a gut-agonizing pain ripped through him at the idea of not being on his team anymore.
How could he choose between the love for his country and the love for . . .? He shook his head; he needed his thoughts to fall through the cracks of his mind so he could focus.
He vaguely heard the sound of a ringing phone as he stifled a yawn—because yawning at such a moment didn’t feel right. Of course, having sex with Eva twice earlier hadn’t been exactly the right fucking time, either. But he hadn’t been able to stop himself.
Knowing the sacrifice she’d made for the mission had nearly severed his heart. And, had he not taken her in his arms then and there, he would’ve bled all over the expensive hotel rugs.
They couldn’t be together; they both knew that. Even now that she had privileged information about his team, it didn’t change anything. He’d have to wipe any connection she had to him, to keep her safe. He couldn’t risk anyone e
ver coming after her to get to him, could he?
Jessica snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Did you hear me?” She removed her glasses and clutched them in her palm.
“No. Did you say something?” How long had he zoned out? Christ. Eva on this mission was like a stun gun to the mind.
“Harper called. She said her handler at the CIA found out she’d been looking into Reggie’s old files. She had to tell Will, so he could cover for her since he was the one who’d pulled her from her assignment to help us.”
“How much does Will know about why we’re looking into Reggie?” he asked.
“Only as much as she does, which isn’t a lot,” she said.
“There’s only one reason Will isn’t calling to rip us a new asshole right now.” Luke’s arms tensed.
“He wants to do it in person,” Jessica said.
“What did you report out to Will in your last message?” Luke asked.
“I told him we’d tracked Malik to a location outside of Monte Carlo, and we were prepping to move in.”
“Harper doesn’t know we made contact with Malik, which means Will doesn’t know we lied to him,” Owen said.
“He’ll sure as hell figure it out when he shows up,” Jessica snapped.
“We should have time to wrap this up before his plane even lands in Nice, but I’d like to know how much time we’re working with. Find out what flight he’s on,” Luke instructed.
“Do you think we can pull off a miracle before he gets here?” Jessica asked.
“If your intel is right about the location of Malik’s family, then yeah, I think so.”
“Well, that’s good, because I’ve never been wrong,” she said, confidence blooming in her eyes once again.
Eva was still asleep, and Luke had no intention of waking her, not with his men a few minutes from infiltrating the home where Malik’s wife and daughter were hopefully being held.
“Asher says they’re five minutes out,” Owen reported.
“Let’s hope his family is alive for him to FaceTime with, and that this isn’t a trap.” Jessica’s fists bore down atop the desk as they all waited with bated breath.
Finding His Mark (Stealth Ops Book 1) Page 17
