by Desiree Holt
Eyes flitting everywhere as he checked to see if he’d been spotted, he pulled his expensive electronic device from the bag he carried. The high-end jammer had cost a fortune, but it would be worth it. The description said it would disable almost any sophisticated system for up to two minutes. That was all he needed. By that time, he’d be inside. And even if that guy was still inside with her, his 9mm would take care of him. He hadn’t planned to kill anyone else, but in any mission there was always collateral damage. And that’s what this was. A mission. To rid the world of evil.
The tiny light on the jammer turned green, a sign that the security system was now jammed. Still crouching low, Nolan made his way to the small back porch of the house. A lock pick took care of the locks with little effort. He placed the canvas bag on the porch, removed the 9mm and eased open the door.
* * * * *
In the dark of the living room, Dan disconnected the call on his cell phone.
“That was the guard. He’s here and on his way.”
They heard the high ping when Switzer attempted to jam the security system. They knew what they’d set up was too sophisticated for any jammer on the market, but Dan had reset the system so it would appear to the stalker it had worked. But the cameras still operated and from the monitor in the den Mark called out the man’s progress.
They waited silently, eyes adjusted to the dark as they’d often had to do when they were all still in the military. Troy snapped his fingers and pointed toward the back door. His keen sense of hearing had picked up the faint scratch of metal against the locks and the nearly inaudible creak as the back door was opened. Dan touched Mark’s shoulder and the three moved into position. He’d tried without success to get Lauren to wait upstairs, but that was one damn stubborn woman. The best he’d been able to do was stash her behind the couch, crouched down, waiting for them to tell her she was safe.
He stood motionless as did the other two men, eyes adjusted to the darkness, focused on the entrance from the kitchen to the living room. In seconds they made out the figure of a man moving slowly into the room. When he had nearly reached the center of the room Troy slipped into position behind him and placed the barrel of his gun directly behind Nolan Switzer’s left ear.
“Lights,” he called.
Dan switched on a lamp and he and Mark, also armed, moved forward to box Switzer in.
“Drop your weapon,” Dan ordered in a flat tone. “Now.”
“Better do it,” Troy told him. “Any one of us would be more than happy to put a bullet in you, believe me.”
Switzer didn’t move, just looked wildly around the room.
“Where is she?” he demanded, still clutching his handgun. “Where is the evil she-devil?”
Troy reached around him with his free hand, chopped at the man’s wrist and the gun fell to the floor. Mark scooped it up immediately. Dan moved forward with handcuffs, only now Nolan was losing control, so it took two of them to hold him still and cuff him.
“Where is she?” he screamed again. “I want to see that bitch. Damn it, make her show herself.”
“I’m right here, Nolan,” Lauren told him in a soft voice, rising from her place behind the couch.
“Damn you to hell anyway,” he shouted. “You should be destroyed, practicing your black magic on people. You ruined my family.”
“I healed your sister,” she pointed out in the same even tone. “What happened after that is all on you.”
“My parents turned against me because of you.” He struggled against Dan and Troy, each holding an arm securely. “You ruined my life.” And then the vitriol spewed forth from his mouth, vile curses impelled by uncontrolled anger.
Mark, who had been speaking quietly into his cell phone, disconnected his call and shoved the phone in his pocket. He nudged Troy out of the way and took his place holding Switzer.
“I called the cops,” he told them. “They’ll be here shortly. And I told our sentry he could go home. Get Lauren out of here, Troy. She doesn’t need to be part of this anymore.”
“Come on, sugar.” He gladly gave up his hold on Switzer, not just to be away from him, but before he forgot himself and killed the man with his bare hands. “You don’t need to be involved in this anymore.”
Lauren’s face was pale and she was trembling, leaning into Troy’s protective arm. Just before they made it to the kitchen, she turned back to her tormenter.
“I’m sorry for you, Nolan. I sincerely hope you get help for yourself. But it has nothing to do with me.” She looked up at Troy. “Okay. They can have him now.”
Troy brewed tea for her and put on a pot of coffee. They could hear Switzer still raving in the other room. Then the doorbell rang and the police were there. Sergeant Hurley had come himself, along with his men. In the kitchen he walked directly to Lauren and took both her hands in his.
“I’m glad I was on tonight,” he told her. “I wanted to come and haul this piece of shit away myself. Make sure you can finally have some peace.”
“Thank you.” Troy could see she was still shaken, but had pulled herself together a little. He’d made up his mind to glue himself to her side. If the cops wanted to talk to him they could damn well do it right here.
“I’m eternally sorry I didn’t believe you in the beginning,” Hurley went on, “and that we weren’t able to do better for you in catching him.
“I think we had better resources to smoke him out,” Dan commented. He and Mark had walked back into the kitchen. “The important thing is this is done with. Sergeant, your men have him in the patrol car. He’s all yours now.”
“I’ll need official statements from all of you,” Hurley told them. “Just so everything’s in order and he doesn’t slip through a loophole.”
Mark nodded. “We’ll come down to the station tomorrow. No problem.”
“I’d appreciate it if you could take Lauren’s statement here,” Troy put in. “Any time tomorrow that works for you.”
She looked up at him. “Troy, I’m perfectly capable of going to the police station. Especially if you’re with me.”
But Hurley nodded at Troy. “I’ll call you in the morning to work it out.”
Troy urged Lauren up from the chair. “Let’s get you upstairs. Mark and Dan can show Sergeant Hurley out on their way to the door.”
And just like that it was over.
* * * * *
“I have good news.” Reid spoke into his Bluetooth cell phone.
On the other end of the connection, Olberman grunted. “It’s about time. Did you find her asshole stalker and take him down?”
“Didn’t have to. Her friends did it for me.” He gave his boss the few details he’d observed. “So they hauled him off to the station, and my guess is we’ve seen the last of him.”
“Call the Hauser woman again first thing in the morning. Let’s not wait to see if our girl calls her first.”
“I will. But I want to point one thing out to you, just so we’ll be prepared.”
“Now what?” Olberman’s voice was edged with impatience.
“These friends of hers are no lightweights. If she turns out to be what you want, snatching her isn’t going to be any walk in the park.”
“That’s what you get paid for,” his boss growled. “Figure out what to do and make it happen.”
“I just—”
But the connection was broken. Reid tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, studying Lauren Cahill’s house and those around it. He’d better start preparing now, so when Olberman gave the word he’d be ready to act. But like he’d told his boss, it wasn’t going to be that easy.
* * * * *
Troy locked up the house and reset the security system again. He’d left Lauren upstairs, and suggested she shower and get into bed. Even a blind man could see she was holding herself together by a thread. In the kitchen he poured brandy into a small glass and carried it up to her. He needed to take the edge off those nerves and get her to relax so she could sleep. Put thi
s whole thing behind her.
But not put him behind her. Oh no. He had plans for Lauren and their future, and tomorrow it would be time to talk about it. He hadn’t ever really seen himself as settling down in a relationship with one person for the rest of his life. But that was before Lauren and the instant connection that exploded between them.
But the circumstances up until now had been anything but normal. All her senses had ramped up, and his own had been overshadowed by the intense need to protect her. Now the danger was eliminated, the tension eased and in the morning, over coffee, he would talk to her about their relationship and where he hoped they were going.
He didn’t expect it to be easy. Lauren had spent much of her life holding people at arm’s length, much as he had. But during this time when he still didn’t have anything pressing with Phoenix, they could test the waters. Get to know each other more than just in bed.
When he entered the bedroom she was already under the covers, propped up against the pillows. Her freshly washed hair fell in a silken curtain around her shoulders, and her face had that newly scrubbed look. She looked good enough to eat, his mouth watering for the taste of her.
Smiling at her, he set the two snifters of brandy on the nightstand and pulled his t-shirt over his head.
“Give me five minutes to scrub off the day and we’ll have a nightcap to celebrate getting your life back.”
“I can get into that,” she told him, and patted the bed next to her. “I’ll keep your place warm for you.”
Hot might be more like it, he thought, and seriously considered showering with cold water. Especially when the steam still lingering in the bathroom was filled with the fresh scent of her body wash and the shampoo she used. His cock swelled and hardened, and his balls ached with need. In that instant, he wanted her more than at any time since he first walked into the house.
Not tonight. She needs soothing and tenderness, not hot sweaty sex.
With ruthless determination, he turned the shower to its coldest temperature and stood under it until he was sure his balls had shriveled to the size of raisins. Probably looked like them too. He dried off with brisk movements, tied the towel around his hips and went into the bedroom to get clean shorts out of the drawer Lauren had given him in her dresser.
“You won’t need those.”
The husky note in Lauren’s voice made him turn, boxers still in his hand. His eyes widened and he nearly swallowed his tongue. She’d lowered the covers, leaving her naked to the waist. Her breasts, so round and plump, rested in her hands as if she was offering them to him. As he continued to stare she brushed her thumbs lightly over the tips and his mouth went dry as dust.
“Jesus, Lauren,” he breathed. “Have a heart.”
She licked her lower lip with a slow swipe of her tongue.
“I do,” she told him. “And a lot of other parts too. I thought you might want to check them out. Make sure they’re still in working order.”
He let the boxers fall back into the drawer and walked cautiously to the bed.
“This has been a very stressful day for you,” he reminded her. “And evening. I thought we both could use a nightcap and some sleep. I don’t want to push you when…” His voice trailed off as she rose on her knees, the covers falling away completely.
“I’m not some fragile doll, Troy. I’m a flesh-and-blood woman, and tonight I want to be treated like one. I want something good to wash away the taste of Nolan Switzer.” She held out her hands to him. “Please. Don’t make me beg.”
“Sugar, begging’s the last thing I expect you to do.”
And a man only has so much willpower.
He undid the towel and tossed it to the side, climbing up on the bed to straddle her, dipping his head to capture one rosy nipple with his mouth. Lauren clutched his shoulders and gave a soft moan that stirred all his nerve endings. He grazed the pebbled surface with his teeth while his hand palmed the other breast, kneading with a soft, gentle squeeze. Another moan escaped her lips and Troy’s cock flexed in response.
“Don’t be gentle with me,” Lauren pleaded. “Not right now. Please, Troy.”
His brain told him she didn’t know what she needed, but his body had a mind of its own. And he was past the point of exercising much control. Pushing her back against the pillows, he proceeded to ravage her breasts with his tongue and his teeth before lifting his head to take her mouth in a devouring kiss. Her tongue met his with eagerness, moving in an age-old dance of thrust and retreat.
He tore his lips away and trailed his tongue along the slender column of her neck and along the underside of her jaw. When he reached the place in her throat where her pulse beat rapidly, he pulled the delicate flesh into his mouth. He kissed a trail between her breasts to her navel, taking a moment to trace the furled flesh with the tip of his tongue.
Lauren writhed beneath him, her fingers clawing at his shoulders as her hips bucked up against him. With a wanton gesture she spread her legs wide, offering herself, silently urging him to go lower. Taste the slick flesh of her pussy. She was damn hot, completely turned-on, and the scent of her musk drifted up to his nostrils and drove him crazy.
He traced the crease between each hip and thigh but then crawled back up her body to smooth kisses across one shoulder, along her collarbone to the other shoulder then down through the valley of her breasts again. She writhed and moaned and tried to tell him with her body to hurry, hurry, hurry.
His cock brushed against her inner thigh and jumped in response.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
If he wasn’t careful, he’d come before he even got inside her.
Linking his fingers with hers, he raised her hands over her head, stretching out her arms in a way that made her breasts arch up to him. Hardened nipples tempted him, his lips closing around one firm bud and pulling on it as his tongue flicked back and forth over the pebbled surface. She writhed beneath him as he paid careful attention to first one breast then the other. He moved his mouth to trail a line between her breasts to her navel, her lips parted as she panted with need.
When he reached her pussy, he traced every inch of it with his tongue. He licked and ate gently into the softness of it, every intimate inch of it open to his exploration. He teased with his lips and his tongue, pulling at her now here, now there. Her arousal pooled in the heated flesh of her cunt and coated his tongue. Sweet. He didn’t think he’d ever get enough of the sweetness of her.
When he captured the hot little knot of her clit, she bucked up against him, delicious sounds drifting from her mouth. She tried to squeeze her thighs against him, but his wide shoulders kept them spread apart. Her fingers gripped his, tightening as he drove her higher and higher, backing off then teasing her again.
It took every bit of his willpower to control himself. His cock was so hard and swollen and his balls ached so badly, he was afraid he’d come with no warning and embarrass himself.
Beneath him, Lauren writhed, the air punctuated by those little sounds of need and hunger he loved so much. At the moment she was finally reduced to begging, he shifted position and flipped her over to her stomach, lifting her to her knees. The rosy puckered flesh of her anus tempted him, his mouth going dry at the sight. Not tonight, he told himself, but soon. He would take her there, and she would be completely his.
But now he reached for the condom on the nightstand and rolled it deftly on with one hand. He positioned himself at the entrance to her wet cunt, gripped her hips and thrust into her with one long, slow glide. Her muscles tightened around him and he had to hold himself still, drawing in a breath to steady himself. Jesus, she just did it to him, as if she seeped into every pore of his body and owned him body and soul.
Lauren rocked back against him, her movements punctuated by breathless little moans. That was all it took. He drove into her again and again, the walls of her pussy scraping against him, rubbing every sensitive nerve in his cock, the head of it dragging erotically against her sensitive inner walls. He held out as
long as he could, reaching one hand around and beneath her to find her clit and rub it between two fingers.
He felt her entire body clench even as she bore down on him, and the orgasm ripped through her. She pulsed around him, crying his name, rocking harder and harder. When he felt the final intense grip of her walls he let himself go, wishing there was no thin latex between them. That he could feel her naked pussy wrapped around him as he emptied himself in great spurts. His entire body shuddered with the force of his release.
Time seemed to stop as aftershocks rippled through them both, the still air broken only by the rough sounds of breath being drawn into starved lungs. Troy managed to catch his weight on his forearms so he didn’t smother Lauren, but that seemed to be all the strength he had left. She turned her head and when he looked down at her beneath him, her eyes were open, watching him, and a rosy flush suffused her skin. The smile she gave him would have made his cock harden again if he wasn’t so thoroughly spent.
He traced the shell of her ear with the tip of his tongue before finally rolling to the side and taking her with him.
“I was afraid we might set the sheets on fire,” he grinned.
She laughed, a soft musical sound. “I’m not sure I would have noticed.”
“As soon as we can drag ourselves out of bed, I prescribe a hot shower, then something to eat. And finally a good night’s sleep.”
“Tomorrow I’ll call Mrs. Hauser back and tell her it’s all clear for me to help her.”
Troy tensed. “I’m still not so sure you should expose yourself again. At least not so soon after the last incident.”
“It will be fine.” She touched his cheek. “This is what I do, remember? Part of the package.”
“Okay. But you don’t go anywhere without me.”
“I can definitely get on board with that.”
Chapter Nine
“I hope I’m not calling too early.”
Lauren held her cell phone in one hand, a mug of fresh coffee in the other. Troy, sitting across the table from her, gave her a smile of encouragement. It was just after eight thirty, but she’d wanted to call Gayle Hauser as early as possible. She knew from past experience the anxiety people felt when someone they loved was ill and dying and modern medicine had nothing to offer them.
