No Remorse_A Manhunters Novel

by Skye Jordan

  She laughed and he wrapped her in his arms, holding her as if he’d never let her go. A strange warmth crept into her belly. She stroked a hand over his arm. “Hey, if you let me go, you could get in on some of this pleasure.” When he didn’t move, she tapped his hand. “Or we could stay right here. But you’ve gotta take off your shorts.”

  He let out a deep sigh. “Can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  He groaned. “No condoms.”

  She laughed. “And here I thought you were a Boy Scout. Good thing I have some.”

  His head came up, eyes hazed. “You do? Oh my God,” he sighed. “You’re a goddess.”

  She pried his arms from her waist. “Hold that thought. I haven’t even gotten my hands on you yet. And given how hard it was to get you here, I’m not going to chance wasting a second.”

  Austin tried like hell not to wonder why she’d brought condoms. Of course it didn’t work. He’d been clear about keeping things professional between them, even after that kiss at the house. Which meant the condoms only happened to fall into his lap, so to speak. But they could have fallen into anyone’s. Anyone Everly deemed worthy in the moment.

  And, man, that hit him wrong. Which sent up a red flag. He shouldn’t get involved with her. She was a fly-by-night free spirit. She might be great with Bella, but he had no illusions of her sticking around long. This was just sex for her.

  He could do just sex. Couldn’t he? He’d done it his whole life. So why did that concept bother him now?

  He planted his elbows on his thighs, dropped his head, and raked both hands through his hair. Her scent floated to him. He fisted his hand and brought it to his nose, breathing her in.

  Fuck, she was sexy. Blow-his-fantasies-away sexy. No way could he fall for her.

  The click of the door brought his head up. She twisted the lock on the main door, then stepped to the one leading to the bathroom and locked it as well. “In case Bella wakes up.”

  Austin barely heard her. His mind was swamped at the sight of her, so gloriously naked and so totally comfortable being naked.

  She tossed condoms onto the comforter beside him. “Let’s do something about these clothes.”

  She pulled his shirt over his head, then stroked her hands down his arms. “It feels like I’ve waited forever to touch you.”

  She pressed a hand to the center of his chest and pushed him back. Hovering over him, she leaned in for a slow deep kiss. Austin pushed her hair away from her face and held her as he returned her kiss. As their tongues spiraled. As their breaths quickened.

  The woman could so easily shift his reality. “Everly,” he murmured against her lips between kisses. “This probably isn’t the best idea.”

  She pulled back enough to look into his eyes. Hers were open and so damned honest. “It won’t interfere.”

  “I want to believe that.”

  She kissed his jaw, his neck, his throat, his chest. Then met his eyes again. “Denying your own pleasure is no help to Bella.”

  Decker had told him as much a dozen different ways a dozen different times over the last year. But it had been so easy to distract himself. Before Everly.

  Her hand slipped beneath the waistband of his shorts and stroked his bare cock. Pleasure swamped him in a searing wave, tightening his muscles, arching his back and snapping his last tether to restraint.

  He pulled her against him and kissed her, sliding his hands down the slope of her spine and over her ass, where he squeezed handfuls of the flesh and rocked her against his erection. She hummed and licked into his mouth. One hand dove into his hair, the other pressed against the bed and pushed, lifting her and breaking the kiss.

  “Scoot back,” she said, breathless.

  With his head spinning, he used his elbows to slide fully onto the bed. She picked up a condom packet, put it between her teeth and ripped it open, then crawled over him on hands and knees, a wicked little smile on her face.

  She sat back to roll it on, and Austin gritted his teeth to endure the exquisite torture.

  When her fingers hit the base of his cock, Austin flipped her to her back, his hips easing between her soft thighs. God damn, she felt so fucking heavenly against him.

  Braced on his elbows, he framed her face with his hands, stroked her cheeks with his thumbs. “Just tonight. Just this once.”

  He wasn’t sure if he was telling her or himself.

  “Whatever you want.” She reached between them, lifted her hips, and guided his cock to her heat. “Tomorrow, we can go back to business as usual.”

  Austin reacted automatically, naturally, sinking into her softness. Her eyes closed, and she dropped her head back. Her lips parted on a sharp inhale. Then she released a low “Oh fuck” of pure pleasure, shooting a thrill through Austin. His head swam with lust, need, desire, affection, excitement. Everything tangled together, adding fuel to the fire already burning through his veins.

  Austin’s body took over, seeking pleasure. And in spite of his mind telling him to keep it physical, he also found his soul seeking connection.

  Her hands roamed down his sides and over his ass, where her fingers dug in and pulled at his hips. Austin added power to his thrusts, driving into her harder and deeper. Until her pussy clenched his length and made stars blur his vision. Until each thrust forced a sound of pleasure from her throat. Until she crossed her feet at the small of his back and lifted into him.

  “Fuck, that’s good.” Her throaty words sparked more fire.

  He slipped one hand behind her neck, reached overhead with the other, and wrapped his fingers around a vertical slat in the headboard. He leveraged the strength of the frame to add force and depth, but he kept the pace steady, giving her every inch of him with every stroke. Tip to base. Tip to base. Tip to base.

  She reached overhead, flattening her hand against the headboard. The move brought Austin back from delirium. He drove deep and paused to catch his breath.

  “Oh my God,” she whispered, her tone a reverent testimony to their chemistry. “Don’t stop.”

  Austin released her neck and wrapped his arm low on her hips. They were both sweaty, so he held tight as he pushed back from the headboard.

  The move jarred him inside her and made them both moan. Which in turn made them both laugh. When she opened her eyes, the sparkle there tightened his throat. Mountains shifted inside him.

  The emotional leap flooded his fire with lighter fluid. Austin kissed her, infused with renewed passion, and used every ounce of strength he possessed to rock her ever-loving world.

  “Yes, God, yes…” She whimpered, she pleaded, she moaned. Every sound intensified his hunger. His pleasure. “Don’t stop. God damn, Austin.”

  And when she finally peaked, he watched pleasure ravage her expression, felt her muscles coil and release, coil and release in orgasm after orgasm. Austin let himself go as the last shivers trembled through Everly’s body. His pleasure peaked in a searing wave of ecstasy, wringing out every muscle in his body and wiping his mind clear of any worry.

  He let himself float on the high until it naturally eased him back to earth. Back to Everly’s luscious body, limp beneath him.

  She dropped her forearm over her eyes with a reverent “Holy fuck.”

  Austin laughed. He felt like the joy came straight from his chest. He relaxed into her, letting his sweaty forehead drop to her shoulder as they both caught their breath.

  God, he’d never craved a woman like this. He could only hope that Bella was intensely wiped out and slept all night. Because if this was the only taste he ever got of Everly, he was going to make sure it was a night neither of them would soon forget.

  13

  “Boss.”

  Austin jerked awake. For a split second, he didn’t know where he was.

  “Are you sick?”

  He looked at Decker, standing in the doorway, fully dressed in military gear.

  Reality hit Austin all at once—Turks and Caicos, Titus Security, training day.


  Everly.

  “Boss?”

  “Yeah.” He started to sit up and realized he was naked, so he propped himself up on his elbows. “Everything okay?”

  “That’s my question.” Decker was frowning at him. Austin didn’t blame him. He never overslept. Never missed an appointment.

  “I’m fine. Just… What time is it?”

  “Seven forty-five.”

  “Shit.” He rubbed his eyes.

  “The guys are ready to go.”

  Jesus Christ. He wasn’t acting much like a leader today. “Okay. I’ll be down in five.”

  “Meet you at the vehicles.”

  “Wait,” he called after Decker as his brain started turning again. “Give me a security update.”

  “No sign of the other two guys. We swept town last night. Eric hasn’t turned up, and Ramon is still unconscious. We’re still working on a connection to Seaver. It’s not direct. I’ve assessed other threats, but they’re tangential and highly unlikely. I have two guys staying here with the girls, and Cody’s going to camp here today as well. Everly’s completed asset map is in your email.”

  Austin sank back into the bed. “Thanks, Deck.”

  When Decker retreated from the bedroom, Austin vaulted from bed and tore open the closet, dragging out his fatigues.

  But while he dressed, brushed his teeth, and ran wet hands through his hair, his mind tortured him with flashbacks of his night with Everly. The curve of her spine against his chest, the supple flesh of her ass grinding against his groin as she fisted the sheets and pushed back to meet his thrusts. The slap of skin. The silky feel of her hair between his fingers as she took his cock deep into her mouth. Whispered moans. Their threaded fingers and tangled limbs as they’d finally fallen asleep together.

  It was no wonder he’d overslept. The woman had seriously altered his reality last night.

  Austin’s blood was pumping in all the wrong places as he jogged down the stairs and stepped into the kitchen.

  The chef they’d hired was clearing the table. The middle-aged man offered Austin a smile. “I packed your breakfast, sir. You can eat on the way.”

  “Thank you.” He glanced out the doors to the patio and the pool. “Do you know where my daughter is?”

  “I think she’s on the beach with her nanny, sir.”

  Austin jogged past the pool and down the stairs that led to the white sand and the crystalline blue-green waters of the Caribbean beyond. He found Bella and Everly at the waterline, building a sandcastle.

  He trudged through the sand in his boots. Ty wandered the beach on the right. Mark on the left, each with an M4 slung over their shoulders. As he approached, Everly looked up. She wore a bikini top and shorts. Her skin was smooth and tanned. Strands of her dark hair had escaped her braid and blew in the breeze.

  “I thought you’d be gone by now.” Her tone was all-business as usual, exactly as she’d promised it would be last night.

  “Running late,” he told her, crouching beside Bella. “Wanted to say goodbye.”

  “Look at our sandcastle, Daddy.”

  His gaze locked on Bella, then cut to Everly, and he grinned. “Was that a complete sentence?”

  “Yes, sir,” Everly said, glancing at Bella. “We’ve been working hard, haven’t we?”

  “Uh-huh,” she said, distracted by her sandcastle.

  “I left a copy of our schedule for the day on the dresser in your room,” she told him.

  Not a hint of the ecstasy and connection they’d shared the night before leaked into her voice, her expression or her body language. And while that bothered him on an emotional level, logically, he knew he should weep with relief. After all, he’d been the one to insist on “Just tonight. Just this once.”

  Of course, that was before they’d not just had sex, but fused themselves together on the most elemental level.

  “How’s your foot?” he asked her.

  “Fine.” Her voice was clipped and light. “I’ve got the impenetrable duct-tape magic going.”

  Indeed, she had created a full duct-tape cast to keep the sand out. He glanced at her shoulder. “Is it working on your shoulder? Maybe you should stop by a doctor’s office today.”

  “No, I’m fine. We’re going to hang here. I think we’ve both had enough excitement for one trip.”

  A pang of disappointment tugged in his gut. His mind skipped back over their night, wondering if he’d missed a dissatisfied signal. But no, she’d given him every indication that he’d addressed her every need. And then some. He almost wished he hadn’t stopped by on his way out. His reality might have been altered by their night together, but hers was clearly intact, as if nothing had happened between them.

  Which is exactly how you want it, he reminded himself.

  “Okay,” he said. “Give me a kiss, princess. I’ve gotta go.”

  She reluctantly popped a kiss on his cheek before immediately getting back to her sandcastle. “Bye, Daddy.”

  Everly sat up straight, moving out of range for any show of affection he might have entertained, her gaze also on the sandcastle as she offered an utterly unaffected “Have fun out there.”

  He felt dismissed by the two people he most wanted to stay with.

  Shake it off.

  Austin pushed to his feet and scanned the beach. It was empty but for his two guards, as expected. As far as the eye could see, they were alone, with no signs of a boat on the water, no choppers or planes in the air. Still, after last night, he wasn’t thrilled to leave them with only three guys, even though he’d trusted his own life to these three men countless times.

  “Boss,” Ty said, then lifted his chin toward the house.

  Austin found Decker waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

  “We’ll be fine.” Everly drew his gaze, and he found her bright blue eyes focused on him for the first time since he’d driven his name from her lips on a moan. “Focus on your work.”

  Easier said than done. But he turned and jogged toward Decker with a strangely unsettled sensation in his gut.

  He was about to open a dialogue about changing up the security and leaving more men at the house, but Decker spoke first.

  “We’ve got a problem.”

  Austin hopped to the step with Decker. “What?”

  “One of our CIs in town just called with a credible threat,” Decker told him. “Seems the two other guys from last night are gone, but there are two new guys on the ground.”

  Austin cut a look at Everly and Bella and found Everly’s gaze focused on him. He was heavily aware of the company execs and team members waiting for him and the guys at the undeveloped property Austin had rented for training. But arriving late and looking unprofessional was the least of his problems at the moment.

  He looked at Decker. “Stay or go?”

  “I’m surprised you’re asking.”

  Austin nodded. “Call the flight crew. We’re out of here in two hours.” He ran a hand through his hair and pulled out his phone. “Keep the team here. Gray can take charge of the training, and I can go over the results with Connelly on video conference. I’ll call him now. You round up the guys.”

  “Roger that.” Decker trotted up the stairs, and Austin swallowed his pride and called Connelly.

  Anger coiled inside him as he apologized for the change in plans. He hated being at the mercy of these guns for hire. Hated the way Seaver fucked with his and Bella’s life.

  “Yes, sir,” he told Connelly now. “A family emergency. I’m really sorry I can’t be there, but my men are highly trained and very capable of continuing the—”

  The crack of rifle fire touched Austin’s ears a mere split second before bullets hammered his chest. The force pounded him backward, and he hit the sand on his back. His phone was flung from his hand. Pain swamped his body. His lungs froze. His head filled with the static buzz of white noise. He couldn’t pull in air.

  Everything slowed to quarter time. Muscle memory had him reaching for his weapon. He aime
d into the jungle in the direction of the shooter and emptied his clip. The bullets pumped out of his Glock in a painfully slow stream of metal. Ty and Mark were already firing in the same direction.

  Austin turned his head toward the ocean, toward Everly and Bella. He opened his mouth to yell, but nothing came out. He couldn’t fucking breathe. Everly pulled Bella off her feet with an arm around her middle. She pushed toward him, her lips moving with Austin’s name.

  “Run!” he tried to scream, but still, nothing came. His vision blurred around the edges.

  Ty headed toward the jungle while Mark put himself between the girls and the gunfire, guiding them toward the house. The shooter laid down a strip of bullets in the sand between the girls and Mark, separating them. The sand flew, and Everly flinched, turning her head away from the spray. Austin’s vision dimmed, graying around the edges.

  Air. He needed air.

  He forced his lungs to release. Forced his body to roll. He pulled in his first, painful lungful of air as Everly ran past him, handing Bella off to Decker. Then she was back, on one knee beside him.

  “House,” he rasped. “Get in the house.”

  “Did any get through?” She seemed unaffected by the gunfire as her hands searched his chest. “Are you hit?”

  “No,” he managed, rolling to his knees.

  She jerked on his arm and pushed to her feet. “Then get the hell up.”

  Austin got to his feet just as somebody yelled, “He’s down. I repeat, the shooter is down.”

  All gunfire ceased. A sudden silence rang in Austin’s ears. Then his own heartbeat. He bent, supporting himself with his forearms on his thighs. His head spun from the lack of oxygen. Spots danced in his vision. Every breath shot shards of pain through his chest.

  “Sit down.” Everly pulled him to his ass on the stairs.

  “You just told me to get the hell up,” he complained. “I’m okay. Just knocked the wind out of me.”

  She ignored his assurances. Her hands went right to the two clips across the zipper of the vest and unsnapped them in seconds, then continued to the clip at his waist. Then the zipper came down, and her hands were underneath, probing. Her deliberate touch shot more pain through his body, and his breath stuttered.