The car was a boring, gray sedan, perfect for blending in. With our belongings in the trunk, save for the weapons strapped to our bodies, we drove to the address I’d memorized.
I did another sweep and my gut told me we were clear. Glancing at my wife—no, I needed to think of her as Scarlett while we were in the field—she nodded, indicating she agreed with my assessment.
We exited the vehicle and approached the building, halting when the door opened before we could knock. A pretty young woman stood there. Probably in her early twenties, she was a tiny thing with short, curly blond hair and alert, blue eyes. “Brandon and Penny Abel?” she questioned in Italian.
“Sì,” I confirmed. Those were the names on our new identity papers.
She moved back and waved us forward. “Entra. Come in. I’m Antonia.”
“Grazie,” Evie thanked her. “Per l'incontro con noi, Antonia.” I knew Evie spoke Italian fluently, just as I did. I’d heard it many times, considering we had a home there. However, no matter how much I heard it, it never stopped being a huge turn on. I had to find a seat quickly and set the bag I was carrying on my lap, doing my best to disguise my growing erection.
Antonia took the chair beside mine, forcing Evie to sit on the couch across from me. Her eyes narrowed slightly, but her tone was neutral as she started the conversation. “You have information on the whereabouts of Mark Sai?”
Blue eyes bored into me as Antonia placed a hand on my bicep. My erection suddenly withered and died, limp as a noodle. “I do, but my knowledge isn’t free.”
“Of course.” I reached into the bag, but her hand moved to cover mine.
“I’m happy to trade what I know for … other things.” A sound that could best be described as a growl emanated from the other direction. I looked to see Evie sitting ramrod straight, her hands clenched into fists on her lap, and her face storming. The situation was too tense for me to enjoy my wife’s display of jealously, but make no mistake, I’d be coming back to it later.
“Colin certainly enjoys his preferred method of paying me and he suggested you might too.” I hear whispered in my ear. Colin. He was messing with me, and I was going to kick his ass before I strung him up by his balls.
“Would you please remove your hand from my“—Evie hesitated—“partner,” she requested frostily. “Before I remove it for you.”
Antonia spared her a quick glance and must have noticed a connection of some kind because her eyes bounced from Evie’s ring finger to mine, then back up to my face, smiling smugly. She obviously wasn’t put off by Evie’s attitude since she didn’t see a ring on either of us. We didn’t wear them in the field. Letting on that you have a spouse, or family, puts you, and them, into even more danger. It was the reason Evie had referred to me as her partner.
It was time to shut this shit down. I pulled my arm away and adopted a bored expression. “I’m not on the menu.” Opening the bag, I withdrew nine hundred Euros and waved it in front of her. “Talk.”
She sighed and leaned back in her chair sulkily. “I heard rumors of an arms deal going down in two weeks. Supposedly, word got out and they are moving it to a port off the coast of Spain.”
“Why would we care about an arms deal?” Evie pipes up.
Antonia finally turns her full attention to my—to Scarlett. “Because the man you’re looking for. He’s the courier.”
I blew out an annoyed breath, no wonder the agency wanted to interrogate this guy. He could be the key to taking down a major crime ring. So, why did Scarlett’s superiors want him dead?
“You should know,” she added, “my contacts also tell me this man isn’t only dealing in weapons.”
My stomach sank. I knew what was coming, but I hoped I was wrong.
“He’s deep into the slave trade as well.” Definitely what I hadn’t wanted to hear. I still didn’t understand how anyone could think him more valuable dead than alive.
We thanked Antonia for her help and returned to the car. Once inside, I faced Evie. I needed answers. “What possible reason could your people have for wanting him dead, rather than alive to spill his secrets?”
She chewed her bottom lip as she considered my question. I wanted to reach out and remove it, but I waited, keeping my hands to myself. Finally, she seemed to make a decision.
“He’s got a noc list.”
I rear back in surprise, almost slamming my head into the window behind me. “How many?” I croaked.
“Every operative in southern Asia.”
Fucking Hell.
A noc list had the real identities of agents working under non-official cover, ones who didn’t have official ties to the government. Spies like Scarlett.
I fought the need to drown in my fear for Evie’s safety. This wasn’t the time to let my training go.
“I still don’t understand the kill order.”
Evie ran an agitated hand over her head and down her smooth pony tail. “He has a photographic memory. The list is in his head. We can’t take the chance, Alex. Not even within The Company. There could be a mole, and the lives of all those agents and their families would become targets and they would be picked off one by one.”
I shook my head in denial. “A mole?” I asked skeptically. “This isn’t the cold war, Scarlett. You know as well as I do, the likelihood of a mole in the agency is slim to none.”
“And yet,” she argued, “somehow this guy got a look at a list of black operatives.”
Her point was valid, but I couldn’t swallow the bitter idea of a traitor within our ranks.
“Thus, my bosses want him eliminated.”
I finally understood their rationale, but I didn’t agree with it. I wanted this guy alive. I was going to bleed everything he knew out of him, a drop at a time. There was a reason I was the one given the tough interrogation assignments. With me, everybody talked.
Chapter 7
Evie
I’d tried to forget about the dreadful woman’s actions all day. I’d been successful at pushing my anger down and focusing on the task at hand, but it was more difficult than it should have been considering I’d never had an issue keeping my emotions out of a mission in the past. Then again, this was my husband we were talking about. It wasn’t a normal op.
After spending the day hitting one dead end after another in our search for Heron, once we were back in the safety of a hotel room—at the Grand Hotel Palatino this time around—I let my irritation get the better of me. I finally blurted out the question which had been on my mind ever since her hand had landed on top of the bag my husband had been holding in his lap. The bag which rested right over his cock—or my cock, I should say, since I considered it my personal property. The little blonde was damn lucky we were on a mission and needed information from her, because it was the only reason I hadn’t broken every finger in her hand.
I was staring out the window and doing a sweep of the prime view we had of Rome’s rooftops when the words popped out of my mouth. “If I hadn’t been there, would you have given her the payment she really wanted?”
“Would you care to repeat that?” Alex’s question was a deep purr as he stalked across the room towards me. His reflection was clear in the glass of the window. His body was coiled tight and his muscles were bunched, as though he was ready to strike. “Because I must have heard you wrong. There’s no way in hell my wife just asked me if I’ve betrayed her by fucking another woman in the course of a mission.”
I swiveled on my heel, jerking my chin up as I stared him down. I wasn’t about to back down, not after what I’d heard that little whore whisper into his ear. “You’ve worked with Colin the entire time I’ve known you, and he certainly seemed to think you would have taken Antonia up on her offer. What am I supposed to think?”
He stopped inches from me and wrapped his hands around my upper arms. My hands went up, palms out as I held him back. “You should damn well know better, Evie.”
As little as a day ago, the thought never would have crossed m
y mind, but things had changed since then. “There’s a lot I don’t know about you, Justice.”
“I could just as easily say the same about you, baby. But you don’t hear me accusing you of fucking your way to a kill.”
“We both know how you would have reacted if some guy had lain his hands on me and told me my pussy was payment enough for the intel he could offer, since one of my co-workers had told him I’d be down to play!” I tossed out recklessly.
My accusation seemed to break his restraint and he pounced. He went to lift me over his shoulder, but I countered by dropping my arms to my sides and completely relaxing them. I shook my hands a little and envisioned my arms extending from my shoulders down and deep into the earth.
“Shit,” Alex huffed, struggling with my weight. “I pick you up all the time, but it’s like you’re impossible to lift. How the hell are you doing it?”
“Your Evie might be willing to let you haul her around, but you’re going to find that Scarlett’s not so easy to manhandle.”
“Manhandle?” he growled, bending low and digging his shoulder into my stomach as he successfully lifted me into the air. “Every time I touch you, it’s with love in my heart.”
He punctuated his statement with a swat on my ass before tossing me onto the mattress and swiftly following me down, covering me with his body. If I’d really wanted to get away from him, there were several moves I could have made. But I didn’t try a single one of them, not even those which wouldn’t hurt him. I’d poked and prodded at the beast, and I wanted to stick around to enjoy the show.
“You’re the only woman I want,” he snarled. “There hasn’t been anyone else for me from the moment I first saw you.”
The honesty and love shining from his eyes helped to soothe my wounded heart. “Then why did Colin tell Antonia you’d be interested?”
“I haven’t even worked that closely with him since they moved him overseas. Then he had to go dark on a mission so I haven’t talked to him at all until this mission. And he knows me better than that.” His voice softened. “I don’t know what the hell he was trying to pull, but I’m going to find out. You’re even sexier than usual when you’re jealous, but I’m not about to let his little game stand if it hurt you in any way.”
“While you’re at it, let him know that I’m a dangerous woman to cross,” I mumbled, embarrassed by my show of insecurity.
“I’ll handle him.” Alex’s tone was firm, brooking no argument.
I cocked my head, studying his expression and trying to discern why he was so adamantly against the idea of me getting into it with Colin. “I’m a notorious assassin. I can handle him just as well as you can.”
“As far as Colin is aware, your presence here is a total coincidence,” he pointed out. “One I haven’t even positively confirmed, and I’m not sure I want him knowing differently.”
“Don’t you trust him?”
“I’ve trusted him with my life countless times,” he answered. “But yours is a different story.”
Poof! There went any lingering anger or doubt. How could I stay mad when he was so damn sweet? “No handling of Colin for me then,” I teased, attempting to lighten the mood.
My words had the opposite effect, though. “If you’re going to handle anyone, it had better be me.”
“Oh, yeah?” I drawled. “How do you want to be handled?”
“I want to fuck you.” His words were blunt. Stark. But they sent need racing through my veins. “Hard. But first I want you on your knees, sucking my dick with your dark eyes shining up at me. After you take edge off with your sweet mouth, I want to bend you over this bed, hold your hands behind your back and fuck you until you’re begging me to let you come.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” I whimpered.
“And then when I’m done fucking you, I want to make love to you. To worship every inch of your body with my lips and hands until you know to the depths of your soul that I’d never so much as look at another woman.”
My clit throbbed right along with my heartbeat. “In case you were wondering, I’m totally on board with this plan.”
“I thought you might be.”
He smirked down at me, and just as I was about to pull his head down to kiss the hell out of him, he rose up to his knees. Then he unsnapped the button on his cargo pants and lowered the zipper. His cock was already hard when he pulled it out, and I was mesmerized by the sight of his hand stroking up and down his length. My tongue flicked out to wet my bottom lip, drawing his eyes to my mouth with the motion.
“You want this as much as I do, don’t you baby?”
The question didn’t require an answer. We both knew I wanted to suck his dick, but I responded anyway. “Yes, please.”
He climbed off the bed, tugging my hands and taking me with him. After he got me settled on my knees, with a pillow underneath them, he stepped in front of me and nudged my lips with the tip of his cock. “Open up, baby.”
My lips parted and he slid inside my mouth. His flavor burst on my tongue, and I tilted my head back to let him go deep. I gazed up at him, my eyes locked on his as he pumped his hips.
“It feels so good, baby, to have those plump lips of yours wrapped around my cock while you suck me off.”
“Mmmmm,” I hummed around his length, bobbing my head up and down in rhythm with his thrusts.
“Almost too good,” he groaned. “Since I’m not going to come until I’m balls deep inside your tight pussy.”
Even if I didn’t have a mouth full of his cock, I wouldn’t have argued with him. Not when my pussy ached for him. He was sexy as hell, staring down at me while he fucked my mouth like he owned it.
“Mine,” he murmured, as though he could read my mind. “So fucking gorgeous and completely mine. Men see you and want it, but nobody else gets to have this.”
He slowed his pace, rubbing the tip over my lips before sliding into my mouth again. I twirled my tongue around his length, licking along the underside and moaning when I reached the crown and tasted his pre-come. Letting out a groan, he pulled his cock from my mouth and helped me to my feet. His fingers shook while he made quick work of my clothes, stripping them from my body and letting them fall to the floor.
“Lean onto the mattress, baby,” he instructed. “Belly down with your ass in the air.”
I turned away from him, doing as he asked without question. I wanted his cock in me, just as he’d described. I was rewarded with the feel of his palms as they slid up my ass, along my spine, and over my shoulders. Down my arms until he gripped my wrists and tugged them behind my back. He positioned himself behind me, and I felt the material of his cargo pants brush against my legs. It was insanely hot to know I was completely bare to him while his cock was the only part of himself he’d exposed. It made his control of me seem even more complete, something I’d never given any other person except for him.
“Knowing you’re willing to give me this, seeing you this way. I can’t tell you how much it means to me, Evie. Even more so now that I know the Scarlett side of you.”
He drove deep, filling me in one powerful thrust that took my breath away.
“Alex,” I moaned.
“Don’t come yet,” he warned. “Need to fuck you hard first.”
He did exactly as he’d said he would, each and every thrust sending me closer to the edge. His thrusts were hard, driving my body into the mattress like he was trying to nail me into it. His cock swelled within me, the heat of his come tossing me over as my orgasm crashed through me. When he released my wrists, I blindly reached for the sheets and dug my fingers into the mattress. Holding on tight as we both found relief in each other’s body.
“No,” I whimpered when he eased out of me. I wasn’t ready to lose him yet.
“Shhh, baby,” he murmured, pressing a kiss on my lower back. “I’m not done with you. Let’s get you cleaned up so I can worship you the way I promised.”
My legs were unsteady as he helped me into the bathroom. I l
eaned against the counter while he gently cleaned me. After he got all the stickiness of our come washed off me, he swatted my ass and motioned towards the bed through the open door. By the time I made it to the bed, he was right behind me and completely naked. He dove on the mattress, twisting until he was on his back, and crooked a finger at me to join him. I didn’t hesitate, crawling over his body and kneeling up until my pussy hovered a couple inches above his mouth.
“Spread ‘em for me, my Evie,” he ordered. “I can smell how turned on you are for me from here and can’t wait to have you come all over my face.”
Sliding my hand down my body, I rubbed over my clit along the way and moaned.
“Now, Evie,” he barked.
The second I parted my lips with my fingers, his head lifted off the mattress. He gripped my hips tight and slammed me down onto his mouth hard, eating me like he was starving for my taste. Sucking and licking until my knees shook. Sliding his tongue in and out while I rode his face, my hips pumping as I raced towards another orgasm. When his hand reached between us to pinch my clit, I exploded. Writhing in his hands as he licked me through my climax. When it was over, my knees gave out and I flopped to the side.
“Can you take me again, baby?” he whispered in my ear, rolling over me, his hands braced on each side of my head and his cock nudging my entrance.
“Always,” I answered, lifting my legs to wrap them around his hips.
He inched inside and I moaned in pleasure. My nerve endings were sensitive from my last orgasm, and it was almost too much for me. Almost, but not quite. My body tightened as he slid in and out of me with slow strokes that teased. As hard as he took me before, this time was gentle. Loving. He really was worshipping me with his body, and I felt it all the way to my soul.
The Passion & Vows Series Page 7
