by Lea Hart
A bullet of happiness exploded in his brain and he couldn’t decide what the best reaction would be. Grinning like an idiot, he decided to play it cool because Lucky wouldn’t appreciate it if he slobbered all over himself and made a big deal of the use of one small word. A damn important word, but a small one nonetheless. “Jeans and a sweatshirt, okay?”
“Yes.”
“Be there before you know it.”
“Hurry!”
He ended the call and looked over at Judit, who was now awake. “Seems Mom has finally decided to take me seriously and if I don’t screw this up spectacularly, we may have a chance at a happy family.”
A small snuffle was the only response she gave him, and he decided to take it as a yes. Signing off the secure server, he powered off his laptop and slid it into his briefcase. Seemed Lucky’s skills were going to be the difference between winning and losing once again.
***
Lucky opened her door and felt her heart beat a little faster when she saw Sam standing on the doorstep. “Hi there.”
Judit walked in and pressed her head into her leg as a greeting and then kept moving. “Guess she didn’t miss me.”
“I did,” Sam said as he stepped in and enveloped her in a hug.
Feeling his big arms hold her as he crushed her against his chest warmed something deep in her soul. Something she hadn’t been aware existed.
The feeling his embrace gave her was a mixture of comfort, heat, and desire. All the best things in the world rolled into one. His scent was now familiar and, as she breathed it in, she decided it felt like home.
“I better let you go, so the ice cream doesn’t melt,” he said as he released her. “Hugging you is reminding me why I like you in my arms and I need to keep it in check until after dinner.”
Taking the bag from his hand, she pulled him down and gave him a kiss that wasn’t completely innocent and then let him go. “Follow me and I’ll get you something to drink.”
“I see something else I’d like, but I guess that’s not on offer yet.”
“Soon, Sammy. Very soon.” Hearing him laugh as he followed her gave her a little jolt of happiness. Playing with Sam was a lot more fun than fighting, and the fact she could verbally spar with him and he got it was fast becoming one of her favorite things about him.
So far, he’d taken everything she’d ever sent over the proverbial net and returned it with ease. A smart man was one thing, but one who got the importance of verbal play was a whole other species. Walking into the kitchen, she heard the oven timer go off. “Let me check this and then I’ll get your drink.”
“Do you want me to open this bottle of Valpolicella?”
“Yes, please. I know Chianti is more popular, but I like this one more, so I hope you don’t mind.” She put the ice cream in the freezer and then opened the oven.
“Are you kidding me?” he said with a laugh. “I’m standing in a warm kitchen with my hot girlfriend who isn’t wearing a bra bending over pulling a delicious meal out of the oven. I’m living the dream, and I’m happier than I ever expected to be.”
“It’s the lack of bra that’s making the whole thing work…right?”
He lifted the corkscrew and pointed it at her. “It sure isn’t hurting.”
“Men are so easy.”
“You have no idea,” he replied as he uncorked the bottle and poured two glasses.
She closed the oven and reset the timer. “Twenty more minutes to cook and then it has to sit for twenty minutes.” She took the glass of wine Sam handed her and grinned. “Now that we seem to have crossed some line and are now…together, I will never wear a bra when I’m at home.”
“Is this some kind of bonus program that I’m unaware of because, if it is, then all I have to say is: thank you, Jesus.”
Sliding her hand on her hip, she looked him up and down. “Sam, when was the last time you were in a relationship and had a girlfriend?” She watched him drink his wine and then look up at the ceiling. “That hard to remember?”
“It was four years ago, and I was living in Virginia and was on HRT. When I was injured, she found it was too much and ended the relationship.”
Moving to a chair, she slid into it and propped her face in her hands. “Are you serious?”
“Like a heart attack,” he replied as he took the seat next to her. “Turns out having a boyfriend with part of a limb missing wasn’t what Shelly envisioned for her future.”
“There are a lot of names I could use, but I’m a lady so I won’t.” Moving her hand to his, she took it and noticed how much bigger it was than hers. “Maybe it was best to find out who you were dealing with before you got married.”
“I don’t know that marriage was in our future, but finding out what she could handle definitely worked in my favor.”
“Did she break your heart?”
“No, but she nicked it when she walked out of my hospital room.”
Not knowing what the right response was, she kept her mouth shut and drank her wine. She’d never come close to experiencing anything similar and the last thing she wanted to do was be disingenuous and say something flippant.
Sam was a good man and though he hadn’t always shown that to her, she saw it clearly now and for someone not to stick by him in the most difficult of circumstances pissed her off. “Good riddance to bad trash.”
“Are you getting angry on my behalf for something that happened years ago?”
“Yes! I don’t know why you find that so surprising.”
“Lucky Santorini, you are one in a million.” He leaned forward and cupped her face. “Can’t tell you how happy I am that you gave me the opportunity at a second chance.
She pressed her mouth to his and tasted the wine and his sincerity, and knew it was the sweetest thing she’d ever experienced. “Should we talk about my discovery before or after dinner?”
“Before, because the last thing I’m going to want to think about after dinner is a bunch of Russian mobsters.”
Standing, she held out her hand. “Follow me and I’ll show you my lair.”
He did as she asked and snorted. “With you, I know that you’re talking about your very own command central and not your bedroom.”
“You have a problem with that, Barton?”
“No, Lucky, your hacking skills are damn sexy and I’m happy to go wherever you lead.”
“Good answer.”
Judit followed them out of the kitchen and collapsed on her bed and rested her head. “How many walks did you take her on?”
“We had a long one in the middle of the day and that was it.”
“Okay, she seems tired.”
Sam stroked her head and then picked up the remote. “Maybe she was readier for retirement than anyone thought.”
Lucky watched him put on Animal Planet and then studied her dog. “I hope that’s all it is.”
“She’s adjusting to her new routine and I think she’s happy.”
“I hope so.” Kissing her dog’s head, she stroked her several times and then stood. “I’ll grab my laptop and bring it down here, so she’s not alone.”
Sitting on the couch, Sam nodded. “Okay, we’ll put on Sports Center and catch the scores in the meantime.”
Lucky walked to the stairs and stopped before going up. She looked at Sam stroking Judit’s head as he flipped through the channels. Why he looked like he fit perfectly into her life and into her house was as shocking as it was welcome.
What a difference a week could make.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Saturday Evening
Sam watched Lucky cut into the lasagna and inhaled the rich scent of tomato, cheese, and basil and decided he was in heaven. Not only was a smart, sexy woman feeding him while they discussed the intricacies of Russian/Eurasian transnational crime, but he had a good chance of making her his before the night was over.
Filling both of their glasses with wine, he tried to keep his eyes off her gaping T-shirt and his mind engaged,
but it wasn’t easy because his normally agile brain was nothing more than a bowl of mush. His thoughts were soaked in lust and his body was on fire and all he could do was pray he didn’t embarrass himself before the meal was over.
“Are you listening, Sam, or looking down my shirt?”
“If I say both, will you believe me?”
“No, you have a wild glassy-eyed look that tells me you’re not that interested in my analysis of Vazov’s activities.”
“No one is more interested in taking this guy down than me, but I’m a mere mortal and there’s only so much that can be expected.”
She handed him a plate with a big slice of lasagna and gave him a beatific smile. “Stay with me on this Vazov thing through dinner, and then we can go upstairs and do naughty things to one another.”
Clearing his throat, he looked at the salad bowl and nodded. “I can do that.”
She sat down across from him and patted his hand and then served them both salad. “Explain how the executive order can help take down Vazov.”
“It gives us one more way to go after him since he’s tied to a group that’s named in the order. He’s considered a ‘foreign person that is part of a significant transnational criminal organization’ that threatens the safety and sovereignty of this nation. Which means we can freeze his strategic assets and not have to wait until we’ve got an airtight case to present to the AG, so he can be brought to trial.”
“So, it circumvents the usual legal roadblocks and lets the government seize, freeze, or block assets as they do with terrorist groups.”
“Exactly. The groups are being treated like terrorist organizations and that means we’re not trying to take them to court for their crimes, we’re just trying to stop them. 9/11 changed the way government approaches people or organizations that threaten our freedom and safety.”
“What do you mean?” Lucky asked as she cut into her lasagna.
“The government has held many views on extrajudicial killings over our history and in the last thirty years, it’s changed dramatically. President Jimmy Carter signed Executive Order 12036, and it stated, ‘No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in assassination.’ Which made complete sense considering where the CIA was going in the early seventies. Then the world began to change and in 1998 bin Laden made his intention clear by issuing his infamous public “fatwa” and six months later his words turned into reality with the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.”
“Which made us a little less civil when it came to our enemies.”
Swallowing, he then wiped his mouth. “Yes. The government’s desire to capture bin Laden, despite the fact that there was no pending indictment, meant the executive order had to be modified. It was accomplished through a series of MONs that started in the halls of the CIA and ended up on President Clinton’s desk. The short version is that each one loosened the restraints about what we as a government were willing to do to capture bin Laden. President Clinton started out with a MON that approved a snatch and, by the time he was done modifying it, it authorized the Afghan tribals to kill bin Laden if capture wasn’t feasible.”
“And here we are almost twenty years later, and the precept has evolved over fifteen years of battling terrorists and now we’re not a polite government anymore and we’ve taken the gloves off, right?”
“We were never all that polite, but yes, when the towers and Pentagon were hit, we changed the rules we were operating by and went after the people and groups that threatened us with all the might we possess. The Bush administration launched the assassination program in October 2001 in Afghanistan and then expanded it in 2002 to Yemen and went from there. Under Obama, the government developed an actual kill list and, as far as I know, it’s still in effect.”
“So, the new order of business now includes the criminal organizations because they can be tied to terrorists?”
“Partly, but it’s really more of a recognition of how the groups are intertwined. There’s not a clear line delineating the two groups anymore and treating them differently doesn’t make sense. There’s a group based in Oslo called The Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime and they’ve been studying the nexus between organized crime and terrorism. Along with the UN General Assembly and Security Council, they’ve been studying the interaction between the two groups and how they impact international peace and security.”
“I had no idea the world of organized crime was so complicated. Before I looked into the Outfit for Grady more than a year ago, I had no clue about what was out there.”
“Every time I think I’ve got a handle on the monster, I learn something new and realize I’m not even close. I went to an event at the beginning of the year in Oslo and learned so much that I still haven’t digested it all. There’s another symposium on drug trafficking that looks at the new players and routes next winter and I’m planning on attending.”
“I guess you’re not just a guy in a suit sitting in a building pushing papers around.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Did you think that’s what I was?” He watched her face color and knew that’s exactly what she thought. “No wonder you weren’t interested in me and wouldn’t return my calls. A paper pusher isn’t as sexy as an operator and it makes sense.”
He started eating again and tried to shove down the insecurity that was choking him. It wasn’t a welcome feeling and he hated it like hell. There was nothing wrong with how he spent his days and the fact that he could no longer be a Tier One operator didn’t mean he was less.
Except that’s exactly how he felt because he’d rather be out there on the frontlines than anywhere else.
“You’re dumb as a box of rocks, Sam.”
His head flew up and he glared at the woman pointing her fork at him. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” Moving her fork in a circle, she narrowed her eyes. “You think because you’re no longer jumping out of planes into enemy territory that you’re not doing important work. But that is far from the truth.”
“I know it’s not true because I have the capacity to save hundreds, not just a few since I’ve joined the Organized Crime Division.”
Standing, she moved over and sat next to him and put her hand on his. “I know, Sam, but I’m not sure you always do.” She pressed her hand against his heart and smiled. “Your head understands, but I don’t think this has gotten the message yet.”
Covering her hand, he looked down and hitched his shoulder. “I’m trying, Lucky.”
“Try harder because I think you’re a hero whether you sit at a desk or jump from tall buildings.” She kissed his arm and then leaned her face against it and looked up. “To be absolutely clear, the reason I avoided you was because you acted like an ass.”
He bent down and kissed her quickly. “And now?”
“You’re not acting like an ass at all; in fact, you’re kind of amazing.”
Feeling a shot of heat warm his heart, he wrapped her in his arms and held her tightly. “I haven’t even gotten started yet. I need to take you out and treat you like the treasure you are. Don’t think that I’m not capable of really showing you a good time.”
“Do I have to wear a bra when you’re showing me a good time?”
“Not necessarily.”
“If you’re done eating, then maybe you can show me what you mean upstairs.”
“As badly as I want to ravage you, I don’t want to be an ass and ignore the fact that we haven’t talked about what you discovered earlier. The bookkeeper is a key component of the organization and I don’t want to dismiss the importance.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to save it until tomorrow because right now, I’d rather spend my Saturday night naked with the sexy man in my house than talk about mobsters.”
“I can’t argue with that.” He stood and took her hand and led her out of the kitchen. “I’ll do the dishes in the morning.” They passed through
the living room and Judit was snoring as the sound of lions filled the room.
“Should I turn the TV off?” Lucky asked.
“No, it’ll keep her company if she wakes up.” As he strode up the stairs, he knew they were not coming back down for the rest of the night because he had a hell of a list he wanted to get started on.
***
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” Sam said as he took her hand.
Watching his finger trace a long line along her arm, past the crook of her elbow, and down to her palm stole her breath. “This is overwhelming, Sam.”
He moved behind her and pulled her against him with one palm on her stomach. “Relax, Lucky.”
“I am.” Letting herself fall back, she felt his arms engulf her.
“Look at us,” he said as he pointed toward the mirror in the corner. “You fit me perfectly.”
Staring at the view, she saw how he towered over her and his wide shoulders stretched past her own. His dark to her light. Running her hand along his leg, she felt the difference between his warm skin and the sock that covered his knee. The prosthetic he was wearing today had a camo design and she decided it might be one of her favorites. “I guess we do,” she finally responded as she saw his dark gaze reflected in the mirror.
“Touch yourself and show me what makes you feel good.”
Looking at him in the mirror, she felt her face flush. “What?”
He took her hand and pressed it against the juncture of her thighs. “I want to watch you and learn.”
“I uhh…” In reply, he pressed into her and she felt his hardness against her thigh. Seeing his eyes blink and his breathing slow made her want to give him what he asked.
“Please.” Moving his hand over hers, he guided her fingers down slowly toward her clit and rested his chin on her shoulder.
Feeling his stubble graze across her skin as his breath warmed her gave, gave her the courage to make one small circle around her clit. His hand followed hers, and she realized he was having her teach him exactly what she liked. She let her hand slide deeper, and as he groaned into her ear, she saw color slash across his cheeks.
