by Stormy Glenn
“My…my history there isn’t that stellar, Coop. In fact, it’s kind of a nightmare. I tend to go back only when I absolutely have to.”
Cooper’s eyebrows drew together. “Why?”
“Gangly, freckle-faced gay teenager.” Did I need to say more?
“Well, that gangly freckled-face gay teenager turned into a beautiful man, and I dare anyone to make fun of you now.”
“It wasn’t them making fun of me that I had a problem with.” Well, most of the time. Kids could be cruel. “It was the getting beat up every day after school that I objected to.”
“Yes, but as you’ve so often told me, you’re stronger now. You could just bite them.”
I stared at Cooper as his words sank in.
He was right. I was no longer that frightened geeky kid who couldn’t fight back. Not only had I blossomed into a man in high demand for photo shoots, but I could defend myself just as good as anyone could. On top of that, I was probably richer than ninety percent of the people in my hometown.
I also had a Marine who loved me to back it all up.
I started to laugh.
“I take it you’ll consider the idea?” Cooper asked.
“Only if we do it together.” There was no way in hell I was moving home by myself. “And we don’t live with Hank and Ian.”
“Hell, no. Hank is a great guy, but I wouldn’t live with him on a bet. I’ve spent too much time with Hank out in the field. The man snores like a freight train.”
“Just tell me when and I’ll start looking for a place for us. I can have it ready when you come home.”
“Home.” Cooper’s eyes grew misty. “I like that word.”
“Yeah. Me, too.”
I liked it a lot.
Chapter Fourteen
It was strange waking with someone curled around me. It had been a very long time since I had cuddled with someone, let alone slept with them. I wasn’t a virgin, but I wasn’t easy either.
This was something I could get used to.
“Morning, kitten.”
I frowned as I glanced over my shoulder. “What’s with the kitten thing?”
Cooper grinned. “You’re an ocelot. That falls into the kitten category.”
“In what world?”
“Yours apparently.”
“I’m not sure I like this whole kitten thing.”
In fact, I was pretty sure I didn’t.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that one’s not going to go away.”
Cooper laughed when I growled.
He captured my lips, stealing all thoughts from my head just as he stole the breath from my lungs. I groaned into the kiss as Cooper’s scent filled every pore in my body. The kiss was gentle, but consuming.
Just that quickly, I was going up in flames. I knew I could quickly become addicted to kissing the man all day, every day.
An animalistic sound rumbled in Cooper’s throat. He was branding me, making his claim. His movements were wild, unforgiving, and dared me to interfere, to stop him.
Like I was that stupid.
The man was a bronzed god. I wanted to lick every inch of his body. I leaned forward, placed my hands on well-sculpted thighs, and took Cooper’s cock into my mouth. I worked the thick cock, licking and humming the whole time. Two large, beefy hands slid through my hair as I lapped up the pre-cum spilling onto my tongue.
“Suck my cock, Andrew,” Cooper crooned as my fingers continued to skim through my hair. “Take it all.”
I stopped myself from gagging and then did as Cooper demanded. I found the man’s shaft daunting. Not only was Cooper thick as hell, the man had to be at least eight inches long.
Cooper hissed as I took in another inch. I could feel the head slipping further down my throat. My lips were stretched wide, but I was determined to take all of the hardened cock.
“Oh, god,” Cooper said as his legs shook harder. “That’s it, baby…that’s…it.”
Taking in a deep breath through my nose, I pushed forward, feeling Cooper’s erection slide all the way in until the wiry hairs at Cooper’s groin tickled my nose.
“Holy fuck!” Cooper’s hands gripped my hair as his hips snapped forward. It was a slow, sensual fuck. The man’s cock was going down my throat, and then pulling back. I didn’t need to make a tight suction. Cooper’s dick filled my mouth to the stretching point already.
“Son of a bitch!” Cooper shouted, his thighs shaking as he filled my mouth with his release.
Cooper ran his fingers under my chin. When I looked up, Cooper’s green eyes were watching me closely. Cooper pulled back. The cock I had been sucking on popped from my mouth.
“God, look at you,” Cooper said as he bent over and captured my lips. “You look so good when you’ve been sucking me into your mouth.”
The man knew how to talk naughty.
I loved it.
A heavy knock on the door made me groan. I quickly scooted up next to Cooper and then grabbed the blankets, pulling them over both of us. I wasn’t ashamed to be caught in bed with Cooper. I was pretty sure we had made enough noise last night that everyone knew what we had been doing. I just didn’t want anyone to see Cooper naked.
That was my sexy Marine.
Cooper’s voice was laced with amusement as he called out, “Come.”
The door opened, and Hank stuck his head. For just a moment, he grinned when he spotted us on the bed, but then he grew serious. “We need you all out here. Danny was able to track down another one of Cavetti’s businesses, and he thinks Cavetti is there now.”
“Give us twenty minutes to shit, shower, and shave, and then we’ll be right out,” Cooper said.
“Coffee,” I called out as Hank started to close the door.
I wasn’t doing anything without coffee.
I gasped when Cooper reached under the covers and grabbed my cock.
Screw coffee, I wanted a different kind of pick-me-up.
“If we shower together,” Cooper said as he gave me a little squeeze, “I can make your morning as good as you made mine.”
“Deal.”
We made it to the main room with thirty seconds to spare, but I had a grin on my face.
“So, what did you find?” Cooper asked as he walked over to Danny.
“Well, I started thinking that the warehouse couldn’t be Cavetti’s only place of business. The man has too much money to be working out of one place. I was able to find several businesses with his name on it, mostly gambling houses and bars and such.”
Wait, I was confused. “I thought Hank said you had found another one of his businesses and he was there.”
“I did, but what’s so special about this business is that belongs to a shell corporation owned by one Maxwell Crammer.”
I growled.
“I traced Cavetti’s phone calls for the last week, and he’s made several of them to Max. I didn’t think a lot of that until he made one to Leonard Lake from the same location where Max was. Then I grew curious as where they were and followed the money trail.”
“Do you know what he was talking to Lake about?” Cooper asked.
Danny shook his head. “I don’t have the right equipment with me to listen in on phone conversations. I just know when they are made, from where they are made, and to whom they are made to.”
“Is Cavetti there now?” I asked.
“He was thirty minutes ago when he made his last phone call.” Danny shrugged as he glanced at his laptop. “I can’t make any promises that he’s still there unless he makes another phone call.”
“Then we need to get going,” I said.
Cooper lifted his brow. “We?”
I started to growl at Cooper, but…I lifted my nose into the air and sniffed. I shot Ian a look to see if he smelled what I did.
Ian nodded.
“Danny, take your laptop and go into the bathroom,” I directed in a low tone. “Don’t come out until one of us comes for you.”
Danny didn’t even question m
y order. He just grabbed his laptop and hightailed it to the bathroom.
I turned to look at Ian. “I smelled five.”
Ian nodded.
I glanced at Cooper, who was staring at me with a confused frown, and whispered, “Ian and I both smell five guys out in the hallway. They’re just standing there. I suspect they are getting ready to come in here.”
Ewan shook his head. “I smell three more people,” he whispered. “I think they were waiting for backup.”
“How did they find us?” Ian asked in the same low tone.
“Most likely,” Kaito said, “they have their own Danny.”
That made sense.
“It doesn’t matter how they found us,” I said. “It matters that they are here now.” I glanced at Cooper before grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him to me. I planted a heavy kiss on his lips. “Don’t get shot.”
I shifted and then ran over to hide under the end table.
Ewan, Kaito, and Ian followed me into our furry forms. Ewan ran to crouch down under the small table next to the bathroom doorway. We all had a soft spot for Danny, but Ewan was closest to him. He took Danny’s safety very personally.
Ian and Kaito found other pieces of furniture to hide under, and just in time, too. They barely had time to pull their tails in before the door crashed open, and two no-neck goons came barreling in, their guns drawn. Cavetti and Max walked in behind them. Two of the other thugs stepped into the room behind Cavetti. The other two took up spots by the door.
Cavetti took one look around the room before glancing at Cooper. “Where is he?”
“Where’s who?” Cooper asked.
Cavetti’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t play games with me, Cooper. I don’t like them.”
I shot Hank a look, wondering if he was just going to stand there or if he was going to do something. The other three Marines with him and Cooper were spread throughout the room. Corporal Jack McDermott was leaning against the wall by the bathroom and Ewan. Corporal Abiola Sesay sat on the couch, where Kaito was hiding. Corporal London Judge stood between the bathroom and the couch.
They all looked so damn casual.
“Now, where is he?”
“Where’s who?” Cooper asked again.
He was obviously playing with Cavetti, but I couldn’t figure out why. Cavetti didn’t seem to me like a man who had a sense of humor.
“Search the room,” Cavetti ordered.
When the goons started to move, Hank stepped forward, shaking his head. “I’m afraid I can’t allow you to do that.”
Cavetti sneered as he looked Hank up and down. “Who are you?”
“Ask him.” Hank nodded toward Max.
Cavetti turned. “Who is he?”
Max’s lips twisted before he replied, “Hank Moore, Andrew’s cousin.”
“Oh, you should give him my full title, Max. Mr. Cavetti should know who’s going to put you all behind bars.”
Max sputtered.
“Lieutenant Hank Moore, Marine Force Recon, and I’m here to arrest you for drug trafficking, kidnapping, and whatever else I can come up with. And just so you know, whoever you have on your payroll in the local District Attorney’s office won’t be able to help you this time.” Hank’s grin was pure evil. “Since you kidnapped Unites States Marines, this is a federal case.”
Max went ashen white.
Cavetti stared at Hank for a moment before laughing. “You and what army?”
“We’re Marines, asshole,” Hank clarified. “We don’t need an army.”
Cavetti snorted before gesturing to one of his thugs. “Go search the other rooms.”
Judge stepped in front of the goon. “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”
When the thug tried to push Judge, he didn’t even move back a step.
He did grin.
“Shoot him!” Cavetti shouted.
The goon pulled out his gun, but before he could raise it, Judge punched him square in the face. The guy dropped like a rock.
Hank grinned as he looked at Cavetti. “You can’t have Andrew, but I do have something else for you.” He pulled a set of handcuffs out of his pocket and twirled them on his finger. “They’ll look good on you, and I hear cell bars are in this year.”
Cavetti’s face turned so red, I thought his head was going to pop right off. He turned to glare at his men. “Don’t just stand there,” he shouted. “Do something, you idiots.”
Cavetti’s goons did something all right. They spun around and ran out of the room, leaving Cavetti and Max to fend for themselves.
Hank grabbed Cavetti and swung him around, pushing him into the wall before slapping the handcuffs on his wrists.
“No, no, no,” Cavetti cried out. “You don’t want to do this.”
“Oh, yes, I do,” Hank replied.
“I have money, lots of money. I’ll share it with you.”
“Money?”
Even from where I sat crouched under the coffee table, I could see Hank roll his eyes.
“Yes, yes, Leonard Lake paid me half a million dollars for your cousin, half now and half on delivery. I’ll give you what I have right now if you release me.”
Hmmm…half a million dollars? For that amount, I might sell myself.
I wonder if Cooper has money?
I’d accept pennies.
“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Hank said. “I kind of like my cousin.”
“I’ll give you a million dollars!” Cavetti shouted.
“Nope.”
“Two million!”
“Not interested.”
I stayed in ocelot form until Hank and Judge marched Cavetti and Max out of the room. As soon as the door closed behind them, I shifted and turned to Cooper. “What about Leonard?”
I didn’t want to think about that man being out there, running free. I might have ways of protecting myself, but what about the next guy Leonard started obsessing over?
“Hank will call it in to our superiors,” Cooper said as he drew me into his arms. “I have no doubt Lake will be behind bars by nightfall.”
“And then what?”
“And then we start looking for a home.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Hey, you.”
I smiled at the sound of Cooper’s voice. I had missed him. The daily phone calls were nice, but they didn’t hold a candle to Cooper being there with me. “Hey, handsome.”
“Did you have a good day?”
I glanced around at all the boxes I had packed and chuckled. “Productive. What about you?”
“Paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork. I never realized it took so much work to get out of the service. I think they do it in the hopes we’ll get fed up and change our minds.”
“If that’s what you want to do…”
I’d hate it, but I’d deal with it if it meant having Cooper in my life.
“No, baby,” Cooper replied. “I’m coming home to you.”
“When?” I winced, realizing how needy that sounded. I had promised myself I wouldn’t do that. This was hard enough on Cooper as it was.
“Soon, I hope. I may have to stop off at the infirmary and get a cast for my hand from signing all those forms, but…”
“I’ll kiss it better when you get home.”
“I have something for you to kiss, and it’s not my hand.”
I laughed. I seemed to be doing that a lot more nowadays.
“So, Hank got a call from the Justice Department. Max took a deal.”
Damn, there went my bubble of joy.
“He what?” I asked.
“He took a deal, but a part of that deal was that he had to give up everything he had on Lake and Cavetti. He sang like a bird. With his testimony and the evidence the investigators were able to recover from his home, Cavetti is going away for a very long time.”
“You think there will be a trial?”
“Cavetti would be stupid not to take a deal. We have too much evidence. Not only did we have those dr
ugs you found at the warehouse, but we have the testimony of those kidnap victims you and the rest of the geek squad rescued.”
“Were they able to find out what happened to your soldiers?”
“Yeah, and you were right. Max talked them into doing a few photo shoots then sold them. Hank and the others are tracking them down now. As soon as they locate them, a team will be sent in to rescue them and whoever else Cavetti and Max might have sold.”
“And the guys Cavetti had in the warehouse? What happened to them?”
“They’ve all been reunited with their loved ones. Most of them were kidnapped right off the street, but a couple of them fell form Max’s modeling story. Just one more nail in his coffin.”
“What about Leonard Lake?”
“I saved that one for last.” There was a lot of amusement in Cooper’s tone.
“Why?”
“Well, it seems Leonard is a trust fund baby, enjoying the world on Daddy’s dime, and dear old Dad has a shitload of government contracts. When it became apparent that Leonard’s misdeeds could reflect badly on him, Mr. Lake senior washed his hand of his son, taking all of his money with him.”
“And that means what?”
“Leonard can’t even scrape together a quarter to call his court-appointed attorney.”
I blinked as my mouth slowly opened. “Leonard is broke?”
“As a three-dollar whore.”
A spurt of laughter shot out of my mouth.
“With the records we found at Max’s place, plus copies of the wire transfers for the money Leonard paid for you, there’s no way he’s walking away from this. It might have made a difference if he was still being backed by Daddy’s money, but he’s not. The judge will not go easy on him.”
“It’s over.” I dropped down to sit on one of the packed boxes. “It’s finally over.”
“It is, baby. Max will be doing five to ten for his part in this mess, Leonard just as long if not longer, and Cavetti will never see freedom again.”
“I don’t think I ever actually believed it would be over.”
“Well, it is, and just as soon as I get done here, I’ll come home and prove it to you.”
“I’d like that.”
I’d like that a lot.
* * * *
