Devon was caught up in her thoughts about going back to the country she’d been traumatized in and about being part of an op that could end with loss of life on one, or both, sides. “Don’t worry about it,” Zara said. Devon had been staring at the cherry in her drink, and her silence must have been noticed. “We do this kind of thing all the time, and we’re all still here.”
“Says the woman at the table who died,” Kadie said, scooping cream onto her finger.
“Shh,” Zara said and laughed with her friend again before reaching over to pat Devon’s knee. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. You can stay here with Bess or you can come for the trip and stay with Kade.”
“What about you?” Devon asked. “Where will you be?”
“Zara’s always in the field. It focuses Brodie,” Bess muttered in her usual maternal way. “Can’t keep that girl away from the action. She’s usually jumping in before the boys get a chance to think.”
Zara shrugged. “Brodie loves bailing me out,” she said, sealing her lips around her straw. “He can’t get enough of it.” After her drink, she sat up. “It will be useful to have you around to translate.”
“I can’t believe Brodie doesn’t speak Spanish,” Kadie said.
“Some of the Arabic dialects, French, Italian,” Zara said, growling at the last one. “And Russian too… no Spanish.”
“I’ll be happy to help,” Devon said. Having a job would give her something to think about other than being an accessory to murder. “I can shorthand it… something I learned in one of my many jobs.”
“Now you and I can write each other in code,” Zara said. “That’s another language Brodie doesn’t understand. The Kindred have their own shorthand.”
“Speaking of the men,” Kadie said, bouncing off her stool and picking up her glass. “You and I should check in, make sure those boys are on topic and not planning some poker night or Vegas weekend or something.”
“More likely they’re planning a full-out assault,” Zara said, going after her friend and taking her milkshake with her. “Brodie keeps talking about the explosives he has stored. He’s just looking for an excuse to blow something up.”
“He’s just jealous that you were responsible for the last epic explosion,” Kadie said, pushing the door with her ass to grant her and Zara’s exit.
The idea that Zave would go gallivanting to Vegas was ridiculous. Devon hadn’t been invited to the meeting in the first place, so she wasn’t going to stalk after Zara and Kadie and force herself into the room. Bess was happy to sit and drink milkshake with her.
“I think I’ll talk to Jennifer again before we go,” Devon said.
“You should. She would like that,” Bess said. “But you might want to put some clothes on first.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Devon went to her room to shower and change. After that, she went over to Jennifer’s room to talk with the woman for a while, giving their victim a chance to talk about what she’d been through. Hearing another woman’s tale helped her to put her own in perspective, and while she didn’t give Jennifer any details, she was reflecting on her own past when she went back to her room.
She was sitting on the floor cross-legged, leaning against the seat of the armchair working with charcoals that she had spread out on the low coffee table that had been put in here for her to work on. Devon liked sitting on the floor, feeling the soft pile of the carpet beneath her bare thighs, which was why she chose to wear denim cutoffs and keep her feet bare.
The charcoals tended to make a mess when she worked with them, and they washed from skin easier than they did from fabric, so she’d elected to wear a tank top with narrow straps. The wind was howling outside suggesting it was cold, but in here it was toasty warm. It had to cost a fortune to keep such a huge place with its high ceilings warm all the time. She’d have to ask Zave about that, maybe there was a secret to it.
Bess had offered her lunch a while ago, and she’d refused because she wasn’t hungry and was desperate to finish her piece. Engrossing herself in art focused her mind, and Devon needed this time to herself to consider how she felt about what she might have to do this weekend.
She didn’t hear the door open or know Zave had entered until he was leaning on the back of the armchair perpendicular to the one she was propped against. He cleared his throat and her eyes darted up.
Lifting her blackened fingers from the page, she used the back of her wrist to push her hair from her eyes. “Busy?” he asked.
“I didn’t expect to see you today,” she said, placing her charcoal back into its slot in the box it came from. Picking up her cloth, she wiped the excess dust from her hands. “These charcoals are amazing, the best I’ve ever used.”
“You have access to the best now, shy. You can have anything you want.”
He’d said that to her before, and even though she’d shared his bed, the strength of her desire for him hadn’t lessened. “You are an incredible man,” she muttered, looking at the page she’d been working on.
“Zara said she spoke to you.”
“She did,” Devon said, pushing her shoulders into the seat of the arm chair.
“You don’t have to go.”
“No more than you do.”
“It’s my mission,” Zave said. “This corner of the Kindred belongs to Thad and me. Brodie and Zara are along for the ride, we need everyone’s skills on this.”
Devon tilted her head. “But not mine?” she asked. “Is that why you’re telling me to stay?”
“I’m not telling you to stay. You can come and you’ll be safe. We’ll all look after you. But if it’s going to be too much…”
Pasting a smile on her face after he trailed off, Devon put the heels of her hands on the table to push onto her feet. “Are you kidding? I’d miss the chance to ride in a private jet! There’s no way I’m giving that up.”
Springing towards him, she kissed him quickly as she passed on her way to the bathroom where she washed her hands. Devon was drying up when he came into the doorway. “The jet will always be there, and it will take you anywhere you ever want to go. It’s at your disposal. Don’t let that be the reason—”
“It’s not, I was kidding. I’m not that shallow,” she said, straightening the towel on the rail again. “I mean, yeah, it will be hot watching you at the controls.” Crossing, she walked her fingers up his chest. “I’ve never had sex with a pilot before.”
He closed one eye. “You did last night.”
She laughed and straightened her arms to hook them around his neck. “I guess you got me there.”
“And there won’t be time for that, the flight deck is cramped. The jet will be full, and we’ll be talking logistics. There will be equipment around and—”
“It sounds like you’re trying to talk me out of being there with you. But I have to be there. I have to watch these fuckers go down. And it’s one thing to know you’re going to an auction where you don’t plan to start a fight and another to know you plan to hurt these guys… If they find that out, they’ll hurt you and I… I have to be there, lord.”
“Ok,” he murmured and lowered to kiss her. “I had to know you were sure. I’ll let you get back to your work.” He backed away, giving her hips a push to separate their bodies.
She didn’t want him to go but couldn’t keep him here when he had other things to do. “I’ll be here if you want me.”
“You should eat something,” he called over his shoulder.
“Later,” she muttered, for her own ears not his.
Going back into the bedroom, Devon looked at the window she hadn’t opened, thinking about if she’d like to go outside to blow away her worries. Whatever she did to prepare for this weekend, it wouldn’t be enough, because until she saw those men fall, it wouldn’t be real.
“Oh,” Zave said. Devon thought he’d already gone, but he was there at the door, half out the room. “Rigor is your only family, right?”
She didn’t know why that
was relevant. “Yuuuh,” she said, perplexed by the peculiar timing of the question.
“So he’s the only one you want at the ceremony?”
Confused, she squinted. “What ceremony?” she asked, hoping that animal sacrifice wouldn’t be part of her Kindred initiation.
“The wedding.”
Zara was already married. Kadie wasn’t, but when Devon brought it up this morning, she hadn’t hinted that she and Tuck planned to tie the knot. But, why would Rigor be at Kadie and Tuck’s wedding? Maybe they were friends, but why would that be Zave’s problem? He was no wedding planner.
“What wedding?”
He let go of the door he’d been leaning on to stand up straight. “Ours.”
Devon had no idea how long she stood there gaping at him, but it was long enough for him to realize that she was surprised because he stepped back inside and closed the door. “Ours?” she said, dipping her head forward. The word was so deep and blunt that it didn’t sound like her voice.
“I told you last night,” he snapped at her, and his brow clamped down to shade his eyes. “I told you if we had sex you would be my responsibility.”
“Yes,” she managed to stutter, and her eyes widened because she couldn’t bring herself to blink. “Yes, you did say that. But I didn’t… I didn’t know that meant…”
“What?” Zave had never been a patient man and hadn’t had much finesse when it came to expressing himself. “I suggest doing it this weekend on the way there or the way back. If your brother has to be present, I’ll have to fly him in. Timing will be crucial. If it’s necessary, we’ll go to him if you have ideas of a fancy affair. But that will mean a significant detour.”
Devon had never been one of those women who fantasized about her wedding. She’d always assumed that she would be married at some point, but like a lot of people, she had been too busy dealing with life to ponder specifics.
“You want to get married. Married?” she asked.
Her hands went to her chest as she tried to figure out who he was talking to. Confirming with a fondle that she was actually her, they went up through her hair in a physical display of her disbelief, and then she covered her mouth and nose with her fingers. Surprise became elation.
If any other guy had tried to rush her into marriage or made assumptions about their future together, Devon would’ve retreated, pulled away from him. Her fear and inhibitions would’ve stopped her from leaping in. She’d have made an excuse and run for cover.
“Yes, now pick, on the way there or on the way back? If you want to make a spectacle later, you and Bess can plan that out. But we get the paperwork done as soon as possible, shy. We only have to wait three days for the license. Pick.”
“On the way there,” Devon heard herself say. Because if something was to happen while they were away, she wanted him to know that she’d been willing to make the commitment with him. “Rig doesn’t need to be there. He won’t care.”
“You’re sure?” he asked.
And she was, so she nodded and then had another thought that made her scowl. “I don’t want to do it in Vegas.”
“God, no, we’ll go into the city tomorrow and pick up the license. Everything’s been drawn up for us, we just have to show up. Then three days later, we go to the courthouse.”
“Three days,” she said. The cartel meeting was in four days, so their wedding would be a quick stop en-route to the mission. “I can’t believe you want to get married.”
“You didn’t pick up on that?” he asked.
It was odd, there had been no proposal and they were standing almost a whole room-width apart. “You’ll have to talk to your lawyers, there isn’t much time. I’ll sign whatever you need me to.”
“Good,” he said. “Because I’m sure there’s a line on the marriage certificate for your name.”
Obviously, but that wasn’t what she’d been talking about. “I mean a pre-nup. A guy like you has to protect himself.”
“From what?” he asked, and she was grateful when he came to meet her. Devon went into his arms when they encircled her. “Nobody here cares about that shit. You can have half of everything now, if you want it. There will always be more money to be made. And stuff? It doesn’t matter. If you want the house, here, you can keep it. Rave has a spare room or two.”
Bess had said that Brodie’s place was the same as this one, at least on the exterior. So Brodie had more than a couple of guest rooms. “I only want the island if it comes with the lord of the manor,” she said, wearing a grin.
His stony expression was serious and not interested in playing. “It does, and you missed the point. You marry me, you’ll belong to me. There is no divorce or division of assets. There’s no end. No goodbye. You’re mine.”
Devon didn’t doubt that he meant these words. They’d spent one night together, and he was demanding she stand at the altar with him. Now Devon got why he’d resisted sleeping with her, because he’d known if he did, they would be forever, and those weren’t just words to him.
Whether it was because of his vow to himself to remain on the straight and narrow or because he just couldn’t bear to live without her, he believed in commitment, responsibility, and taking charge.
“You haven’t even told me if you love me,” she said.
“Love you?” he said, and his scowl wasn’t encouraging. Her concern grew when his arms dropped to his sides. “Love is a word that means nothing. It’s thrown around like it’s important, but it’s not. What matters is our actions. Haven’t I shown you how I feel in the way I treat you?”
He’d resisted having a relationship, he’d fought with her. But he’d done it with passion and resolve, not out of indifference. He pampered her and spoiled her, and treated her like she was on a pedestal.
“Zave, you know I’m not perfect.” A glimmer of reluctance seeped into her. “I don’t want to do this because you have an idea in your head of what I am. If I don’t live up to that and I disappoint you…”
“You couldn’t. I know everything about you,” he said. “I knew every fact about your life before I first saw you. You’ve been in this house for months, shy. Months. Every chance I get, I watch, I listen, I absorb you. I don’t think marriage will be a picnic.”
Nothing about their relationship had come without conflict. “We will fight.”
Zave wasn’t discouraged, he brushed her face with a fingertip. “We always have,” he murmured.
When she’d sat down to work, she hadn’t considered that she might be affianced just an hour later, but now that he’d put the idea into her head, Devon was beginning to like it. “I might have some new demands,” she said, picking up his hand as she sauntered towards the bed.
“What kind of demands?” he asked, wary either of her statement or her playfulness.
Devon took a big breath. “Well, for starters,” she said, sitting down while keeping his hands. “We have to get another pillow for your bed.”
And it was rare enough that when she saw his smile, she pulled him down onto the bed with her because she couldn’t resist kissing him for another half second. “Such high expectations,” he said, scooping her hair away from where it had flooded his face when she launched her mouth to his. “Anything else?”
“We need a regular script for my pill,” she said, pretending to think hard about what she’d need.
“We have a doctor who comes to the island every week. That’s easy.”
She threw a leg over him to straddle his abdomen. “You’ll need to keep me in milkshakes and art supplies.”
“Noted.”
Devon didn’t want anything from this man except him. “And I might need an account at Victoria’s Secret.”
His hands ran up and down her back. “I’ll put that one to the top of the list,” he said.
Devon laughed before bowing to kiss him. When she was thoroughly warmed and ready to strip him bare, she sat up and began to unbutton his shirt. “And what about you, husband?” she asked. “We’re eq
ual, remember? What are your demands?”
He took his time to come up with something. “You have to let me move all of your things from this room to mine.”
Devon got to the bottom button and opened up his shirt to massage her hands over his torso. “I can start on that today. Next?”
“No skinny-dipping. Ever.”
She never had, but he had a real bug up his ass about that ever since it had been suggested. Circling his nipple, she traced a line from his throat to his navel. “You never let me do that in the first place. Next?”
Zave was on a roll. “You can walk around naked in the lab as much as you like, I encourage it, but keep it behind our secure entry. Never leave there nude.”
That had to be a nod to this morning. “I didn’t know we had company,” she said. “And I didn’t have anything to wear except the clothes I’d had on in the city all day or the lingerie in the bags scattered in the lab. I didn’t think you would appreciate me coming into the dining room in a silk teddy.”
He gripped her pelvis and slid her down to rock her hips over the hardness of his cock that was still hidden in his jeans. “You give it up, day or night, when I want it,” he said. “Don’t forget that you started this when you’re telling me I fuck you too much.”
She wouldn’t forget and she would never complain. Rising high on her knees, Devon unbuttoned her shorts and flopped to her back to wriggle out of them before returning to her previous position on top of him. Loosening his jeans, she pushed them down just enough to let her make wet contact with his solid cock.
“Won’t ever happen,” she murmured.
His hands slid over her. “And your product testing days aren’t over,” he said. “I’m still going to play with you. Except when we’re married, I can go as far as I like.”
That was intriguing enough for her to make eye contact, but she was still enjoying her intimate massage and with his hands now fondling her breasts, she didn’t trust her memory for his words.
“I’ll do whatever makes you happy.”
Falcon (Kindred #5) Page 27
