by Skye Jordan
He pushed her thighs wide, wedged his hands beneath her butt cheeks, and dragged her to the edge of the bed. He was as good with his mouth as he was with his hands and had her fisting the sheets and sweating in seconds.
“Jesus Christ, Austin…” She couldn’t manage any more. Her body overwhelmed her brain with sensations, and Austin seemed hell-bent on driving pleasure through her.
Her orgasm rose to a peak in minutes. A cry of pleasure rolled out of her, and Austin reached up and covered the sound without taking his mouth off her. He moaned against her, eating at her as if he couldn’t get enough, and another quake shook her body. Her soul.
She was still shivering when he finally pushed to his feet and leaned over her. “Condoms?”
“Nightstand.”
The door opened and closed. Foil ripped. And the mattress dipped where he planted his hands on either side of her head. He lifted her arm off her eyes and deliberately met her gaze as he pushed inside her.
He stretched her slowly, relentlessly forging his way until he was so deep, Everly couldn’t catch her breath.
With his jaw muscle jumping, his dark, fiery gaze drilling into Everly’s, he choked out a lust-filled “You’re so fucking perfect.”
She would have laughed if she could have pulled in a breath. He had no idea how far from perfect she truly was. The thought of parting ways with him swamped her, and before she knew they were coming, tears tingled across her nose, burned her eyes.
The idea of tears was so absurd, they startled her. Everly Shaw didn’t cry. Ever.
Get your shit together.
She took charge, rolling them to their sides. “Let me do some of the work tonight,” she whispered, her breath choppy. “Maybe it will keep you in commission for more tomorrow.”
He smiled and groaned as he gripped her hips and rolled to his back. “Nice thought.”
Everly kept her hands on the bed as she eased him impossibly deep.
“Holy fuck,” he growled, his fingers digging into her flesh. “That’s so good.”
She swung her hair to one side and leaned back, using his thighs behind her for balance to keep her hands off his chest. He pressed a hand to the middle of her chest and let it slide down her body, between her breasts, past her ribs, over her belly. Where their bodies met, he ever so gently pressed his thumb against her.
Everly felt ridiculously sexy and beautiful as she moved over him.
“Best fucking seat in the house,” he murmured, his fiery gaze splitting time between her face and the action of him moving inside her. “You’re so beautiful.”
She rocked and thrust him in and out of her body while he kept his thumb on her, rocking pleasure through her on every move.
Ecstasy peaked again in minutes. Austin gripped her hips with both hands, supporting her through the climax, only letting himself find release once she’d found hers. Again.
She fell forward, bracing her hands on the bed to catch her breath. Her hair fell into his face, and he laughed and brushed it away.
“Come here.” He opened his arms.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t.”
She gently laid her body against his, and he groaned, a sound of combined pleasure and pain. Just when she was about to sit up again, he wrapped his arms around her and sighed.
Everly relaxed and soaked in remnants of pleasure. She breathed him in and kissed his chest.
He let out another sigh, longer, louder, as he stroked her back. “Baby, is this seriously good sex or is it like this for you with everyone? ’Cause it’s not usually like this for me.”
A sweet sensation swamped her chest, and that damn sting of tears threatened again. “This is amazing sex.”
The smile that swept across his face made her heart squeeze hard. She pushed herself up on her hands and eased him from her body, then rolled to her side and gently stroked his abdomen.
A long moment of silence followed, while the television’s light flashed over his ripped body.
She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. “Have you put ice on these?” When he didn’t answer, she said, “I guess it’s kinda late for that, huh? Do you want me to get you more ibuprofen?”
When he still didn’t answer, Everly lifted her head and looked at him. He was asleep. She started laughing.
His lashes fluttered, and his lids cracked. “What are you laughing at?”
“You,” she said, poking him between the ribs in one of the few uninjured areas of his chest. “Falling asleep on me.”
He groaned and forced himself to his elbows.
“Go clean up,” she told him. “When you get back, I’ll have a pillow waiting.”
“Sounds perfect.” He tried to sit up, grimaced, and fell back. “Easier said than done.” He rolled to his side and finally made it to a seat on the edge of the bed. “Girl, you wipe me out.”
“Might have something to do with half a dozen bullets kicking your ass.” Smiling, she gave him a push. Then watched that gorgeous ass as he wandered into the bathroom. “And set the alarm on your watch for five a.m. You have to be out of here before Bella wakes up.”
When Austin returned to bed, Everly turned off the television and propped herself up on an elbow to watch him drift into sleep with the moonlight floating over him. Even once she was sure he was completely out, she lingered there, drinking in the sight.
All sorts of emotions spun inside her. Strange, foreign, and rare emotions that both scared and confused her. He was a good man. She’d known enough men in her life to know the good from the bad. And this man was exceptional—as a father, as a businessman, as a lover. He was also a loyal friend to his men and a generous, respectful employer. There was so much she wanted to know. So many stories about his past she wanted to hear.
But they wouldn’t have time for that.
All the emotions wound down in the pit of her stomach, and that nagging ache she’d been feeling kicked up again.
Everly forced herself from bed. She pulled on her clothes and picked up her phone before she slipped silently from the room.
On bare feet, she made her way up the stairs. She found the office door standing open a few inches, and excitement pumped through her chest. Before she ventured there, Everly paused in Bella’s doorway. She was in a deep sleep, her arm locked around Pauli, her stuffed monkey.
Affection swamped Everly, and she smiled. But it was time to move on, both physically and emotionally. This family wasn’t hers, and not only would she have to let go any day now, she had to find a way to deal with the inevitable hate they would hold toward her. And she knew that even if she never saw them again, she’d still regret every moment she’d spent deceiving them.
Everly pried her gaze from Bella and crossed the hall toward the office. She pushed the door open and hurried straight to the bookcase. She had to investigate this secret room behind the wall and get back to Austin before he woke.
Without turning the light on, she ran her hand over the edge of the bookcase. When her fingers found the nearly imperceptible notch in the wood, her stomach jumped. She took a deep breath, let it out, and pushed the button.
A quiet click sounded, and the bookcase barely moved forward an inch.
“That was anticlimactic,” she murmured.
Stepping aside, she slowly pulled the bookcase open and peered into the darkness. She stepped in, and cold concrete met her feet. The space echoed, and her heart skipped. This was more than just a secret room.
Her heartbeat quickened and Everly turned on the flashlight on her phone. The beam illuminated a long concrete staircase and more darkness. But there were lightbulbs placed at intervals. She located a switch near the opening and flipped the lights on. She could see only a couple dozen steps down before the stairs curved.
She glanced over her shoulder, took a breath, and started down. She was at the curve in ten seconds. Another turn in ten more. As she continued down, she felt the moment the stairs moved underground. The pressu
re in the stairwell increased. A damp, earthy scent permeated the air. And in another fifty feet, the stairs transitioned into a tunnel hewn from rock.
Everly hurried down the length of the tunnel, searching all the shadows with her flashlight before moving on. She already knew the tunnel would end at the beach, and her stomach clenched in anticipation of finding the location of the exit. Her mind leapt from thought to thought. Had Austin built this tunnel? Or had it already been here when he’d bought the house? Was that why he’d bought the house? Because it already had an escape hatch built in?
A new sound scraped her ears, and she halted. She had to focus on slowing her breath to hear. It took her a second to identify the sound—waves brushing the shore.
She picked up her pace, jogging down the tunnel’s twists and turns. After taking what had to be the last turn, she came to a quick halt. The end of the tunnel housed a boat. A relatively modern speedboat. Inboard motor. Tiny cabin. Mounted on a trailer.
Her heart knocked against her ribs as she ran a hand over the side of the boat, inspecting the dashboard. Modern equipment. Digital screens. She moved around the front of the boat to the double steel doors built into the mouth of the tunnel. Sleek design. New metal. They were secured by a simple but effective metal bar.
Everly tested the bar and the doors for movement but didn’t fully open them for fear the sound would travel and wake Austin. She was encouraged by the fact that the bar moved easily and the hinges rotated freely.
Securing the doors, she turned her attention to the trailer and found a motor attached with a basic start-and-stop switch. “Wow,” she whispered, realizing the trailer could be moved without the use of a vehicle. “That is slick, Mr. Hix.”
She climbed into the boat, took a closer look at the dashboard, then tried the cabin door. When it opened, she took the short staircase and ducked her head into the cabin. One bed, a toilet and sink. And packed floor-to-ceiling with military MREs, jugs of water, blankets, tarps, and safety equipment.
A hard jolt of camaraderie hit her. Hix was definitely her people.
She admired his preparedness. His dedication to detail and excellence. His ingenuity and practicality. The way his mind worked fucking excited her.
No. Her thoughts cut into the thrill. Hix may be her people, but she wasn’t Hix’s.
With a new knot in her stomach, Everly jogged back up the tunnel, then the stairs. She was breathing hard by the time she reached the office, where she closed the bookshelf serving as the door.
She tuned in to the house and found it as silent as when she’d left. Everly took a minute to catch her breath and glanced over the books lining the walls. Topics ranged across a variety of subjects. Leadership, military strategy, history, modern cultures across the world, neuroscience, physical training, entrepreneurship, financial growth. More ominous titles included Covering Your Tracks in Today’s World, Living Off the Grid and Security Strategies to Protect Your Family by Any Means Necessary.
Then her gaze paused on a section that didn’t fit with the others, and the titles gripped her heart like a fist. Raising a Daughter as a Single Dad. Single Dad’s Survival Guide. One Hundred Reasons a Daughter Needs a Father. Dear Daughter, What Dad Wants You to Know.
Her throat tightened, and, dammit, the sting of tears was back.
Her phone vibrated in her hand, startling her. She took a calming breath and looked at the screen. Roman.
She answered with a hushed “Finally. What’s going on?”
“Good to hear from you too,” Ian said. Roman had obviously patched him in on the call.
“We don’t have a definitive link between the attacks and Seaver,” Roman told her, “but we have found an association between Hix and a Hezbollah-funded militant group in Honduras.”
That news made her jaw drop. Made her heart freeze over. Her immediate reaction was denial. Then she considered the source, and her heart fell to her feet. “That is seriously…unfathomable.”
“I was surprised too,” Roman said. “After meeting him and watching him with his daughter and Connelly’s people, I was leaning toward your view of the man.”
“Couldn’t that information simply be a crossed wire in intel?” she asked, searching for an explanation that matched the man she knew. “Or information planted by Seaver?”
“It could,” Roman said. “But based on all the information we have, this new connection to an organization that could be working with—or targeting—Hix, and the threat to you and the girl, we’ve decided to go ahead with the extraction.”
Panic flickered hot in Everly’s chest. “Whoa, hold on. That’s a little drastic. This girl has just suffered through two terrifying incidents. Another one could really damage her.”
“She’s lucky it will be us taking her and not the people who’ve tried over the past couple of days.”
“Wait, Roman—”
“We’ll pick you both up at the southeast corner of the property at 21:00 hours tomorrow.”
“Why so soon?”
“There have been two kidnap attempts in as many days. Whoever this is won’t stop until they have her, and without any proof of who paid for that service, we’re not going to risk her life—or yours—another day.”
“The girl is safe here.” She forced her voice low. “Let’s take a little more time to trace the money. Dig harder into Seaver’s financials. Consider the consequences here, Roman. She’s just a baby and he’s a really good father—”
“What happened to ‘Yes, sir’?” The tone of Roman’s voice cut off anything else she’d been about to say. “This is not a discussion. And you will not disobey a direct order.”
Roman’s declaration stuffed Everly back into her box. Her role as a soldier. A teammate. A Manhunter with a mission. Something shifted in her head, in her heart. They both went on lockdown as she transitioned back into her orderly life with the speed of a finger snap. But the fit wasn’t as comfortable as it had been just a couple of weeks ago.
She swallowed her fight and cleared the knot from her throat. “Yes, sir.”
“Southeast corner of the property,” Roman repeated, his tone steely. “Twenty-one hundred hours tomorrow.”
“Sir,” Everly said, “Hix is still awake at that time. And he’s put two more guards on duty round the clock.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Roman told her. “There are wind advisories. It’s the latest we can fly in before the winds kick up. I realize it may be a little harder to get her out at that time, but I also have complete faith you’ll figure out a way.”
His tone wasn’t quite sarcastic but carried a you’ve-been-successful-under-far-more-complicated-situations message. And the truth was, they both knew she could pull it off.
Even though she didn’t want to.
They signed off, and the call disconnected, but Everly kept the phone at her ear. “Ian?”
“Still here,” he said. “Are you okay?”
She was still trying to formulate an answer when he asked, “What can I do?”
Everly released a breath. “Please keep searching.”
“Roger that.”
“And if things somehow turn to shit tomorrow”—she squeezed her eyes closed—“don’t shoot these guys. They’re all really good men.”
“You know us better than that,” he said. “We aren’t going in guns blazing. Our only objective is getting the girl out safely.”
“And Hix’s only objective is keeping her.” She exhaled. “I don’t feel right sending this little girl back into a house where she could be exposed to a possible pedophile. Just because we can’t prove the allegations doesn’t mean they’re not true. I get that we’ve got a job to do, I get there are risks for Bella here. But he’s not acknowledging the risk to her with the Seavers.”
“I’ll talk to him again. Don’t worry, the team will be on the same page when we touch down. And none of us want to hurt Hix or his guys.”
“Thank you.” She disconnected and exhaled heavily, but it didn’t
lighten her heart. She shook the emotions from her head and left the office, careful to leave the door exactly as she’d found it. One more look in on Bella, and Everly walked downstairs with an odd out-of-body sensation. She’d never felt like she’d belonged anywhere but with her team. Her team had always been her bedrock, her home. Her family.
But she felt a similar sensation here, as if this fit, as if this was her place. And now she was forced into a position of choosing. But there was no real choice. She knew that. She’d never truly belong here. Not as the true Everly.
No matter what her heart said, her mind was clear. Her loyalties were ingrained—to her team, to her guys. No matter where in the world they traveled, they were her home in body and spirit.
But as she approached her bedroom where Austin lay in her bed, her heart ached for something different for the first time since she’d entered the military.
The bedroom door opened before she reached it, and her heart kicked. Austin filled the doorway, in nothing but boxer briefs and bruises.
She startled and put a hand to her heart. “You scared me.”
His gaze was intent, his body language rigid. “Where’d you go?”
It wasn’t a question, it was a demand. All Everly’s dreamy ideas evaporated. She fell into script, smiling as she wrapped her arms around his waist. “I was checking on Bella.”
Some of the tension slid from his body, and he cupped her jaw. His gaze softened. “Is she okay?”
“She’s perfect.”
He kissed her, a lingering, emotion-infused kiss. “Come back to bed, baby.”
She smiled and let her heart fill, trying to memorize the feeling. After stepping around him, she pulled him back into the bedroom by the hand. “Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
15
Austin was deep in the throes of analyzing research data when Decker came out of the house and paused beside the table on the deck. Now, thirty hours after he’d returned from Turks and Caicos, data had begun coming in from the training equipment still in the Caribbean, and Austin had a lot of numbers to run.
“Everly and Bella are headed back,” he told Austin as his gaze roamed the jungle toward the south.
