At Close Range (Ranger Ops Book 1)

by Em Petrova

  “I say we storm that building and scope it out to find Vincent. Take all the tech we see and confiscate it. Anyone who tries to stop us, we subdue,” Penn drawled, arms folded casually across his chest.

  “Like we haven’t already considered that, Penn. Besides, you’re not part of this team, so you don’t get a say.”

  Penn flipped him off, and everyone laughed, even Nash.

  Things were coming to a head faster than he’d expected, thanks to Nevaeh’s interference. His mind began to wander over to the woman that Lennon was guarding.

  Nash continued, “These guys aren’t going to just let us walk in and tear down their entire empire. Besides, it isn’t only operated out of that building. Setups like this are much broader. Here’s what I’m thinking…”

  As he spoke, he made sure the guys were listening. They added ideas, and Nash weighed the options. In the end, the fact was, Nevaeh was still a key player in this dangerous game. And that meant they needed to up the security surrounding her.

  “I’m going to steal that fingerprint Nevaeh left behind when she hacked their system. Then I’m going to taunt these assholes.” Jess’s face lit up at the idea.

  “Yeah, do that. Cav, get Lennon and fill him in.”

  Cavanagh, arms crossed and legs in a wide stance, cleared his throat. “I couldn’t help but notice the floor of this hostel has cleared out. You have anything to do with that, Sully?”

  He eyed Cavanagh. “What do you think?” He couldn’t risk anybody seeing more than what they should and ordered the rooms emptied at once.

  He grinned. “You work behind the scenes, but I see you, man.” He did a finger wave and walked out.

  Nash turned to the rest of the group. “Woody, you’re headed downtown to keep an eye on that building. We need more than cameras on it. Linc, you and Penn get to act like a couple of drunk guys talking about your bitcoin wealth and where to spend it or how to invest.”

  Linc gave a crooked grin. He looked to Penn. “Know anything about bitcoin?”

  “No, but I put away a gun runner who was pretty deep in it.”

  Nash stared at his brother a moment. He might not go about things in an official manner, but he got assholes off the streets, and that was worth something in this world. He squeezed Penn’s shoulder and bumped fists with Linc. “Watch each other’s six.”

  “You know it,” Linc responded.

  Nash moved to the door too.

  “I suppose he gets to protect the pretty girl,” Penn remarked to Linc.

  “Hardest job there is. Holding back from touching all that hair? Hell, I’d rather walk into that building unarmed.” Linc cocked a grin.

  Nash paused. “Actually, I’m going to move her.”

  Linc’s brows rose. “We look like tourists to anyone on the outside, man.”

  “I’m still moving her. She isn’t safe here, and we need to stay ten steps ahead of anybody who’d come looking. I’ll be in touch.”

  Also, best to ignore the comments about how beautiful she was. His body was already reminding him.

  Hell.

  He went into the empty hallway and nodded to Cavanagh and Lennon standing outside Nevaeh’s door, heads bent together. Despite the hostel being emptied of its guests, the guys weren’t speaking aloud. Cavanagh was using a series of hand gestures to get across most of the information to Lennon.

  “I’ll take over guard duty from here,” he said to them.

  They gave dual nods of agreement and moved back to the room with the others.

  This time Nash didn’t knock to get Nevaeh to open the door. Instead, he used several keys on the various deadbolts his men had installed. When he quietly pushed open the door, his gaze fell over Nevaeh lying on the bed, facing away from him. Tenderness shouldn’t hit him like a damn tidal wave, but it fucking did.

  He also felt her nearness like a kick to the gut.

  He closed the door and twisted the locks—all of them.

  Fuck, this couldn’t be good, but he was drawn to her like nothing else in this world.

  He was here to move her, nothing else, and he’d do well to remember that.

  He opened his mouth to wake her and ask her to gather her belongings for the trip, when her voice reached him, a warm, soft stroke to his senses.

  “I don’t want to see you, Captain Sullivan.” She didn’t look around at him.

  “How’d you know it’s me?” He walked toward the bed.

  “The sound of your footsteps. I really don’t want to see you.”

  He looked down at her. “Too bad.” Unable to help himself, he dragged her up off the bed and sat on the edge of the mattress, pulling her onto his lap.

  She was stiff in his arms, and no wonder. He’d kissed her, got her to a state of burning and then left her quivering and wanting. He was still aching after the encounter, and she must be too.

  “Nevaeh, look at me.”

  She wouldn’t, so he pinched the point of her chin lightly and drew her face up to meet his gaze. “This is a precarious situation we are in,” he began.

  She nodded. “I shouldn’t have stolen that laptop and entered that code.”

  “It’s not that, though you should have told one of us what you were thinking first. That database you breached… those men know what happened.”

  When she sank her teeth into her lower lip, his cock surged against his fly. “Can they track the location? I know computers can be tracked by their IP addresses…”

  “No,” he said at once. “Jess disabled all that. But you’ve left a pathway for them to follow, and we’re going to guard you closer from now on. We’re going to move you—probably even a few times to ensure you’re safe.”

  “I see.”

  “This is no picnic for you, darlin’.” He couldn’t send her back home now, though. Not with the hounds of hell broken loose. She was safer here with him.

  Dammit, she was warm and soft in his arms.

  The sweet, delicate woman straightened her shoulders with all the determination of a battle-worn soldier. “I can handle it. I just want to find my brother.”

  His gaze drifted over her beautiful features. “And we’re closer than ever now, thanks to you. We will find him, alive or dead.” Too late he realized how his words affected her. While she didn’t shed a tear, her eyes widened, giving off the stained glass effect again.

  Fuck, they were tied together by some invisible rope that could not be cut.

  She was staring at his mouth, long lashes dipping to cloak her eyes from him. “Nash. Why did you kiss me?”

  A rumble vibrated his chest. “Because I was weak,” he grated out.

  Her eyes flashed up at him. “Then you wanted to kiss me?”

  “Darlin’, no one makes me do anything I don’t want to. Yes, dammit, I wanted to kiss you, touch you, feel you clench around me—” He broke off, aware of his arousal poking into her round little ass in his lap. What had possessed him to hold her like this? The minute he’d touched her, that steely outer layer she kept locked around herself seemed to have fallen away. Like this, with her cuddled close, she seemed so vulnerable, and he needed to offer comfort, to protect and soothe.

  Another fucking misstep, and he couldn’t make more mistakes.

  But the way she was looking at him, as if she wanted him to kiss her again, had him tilting her face up to his.

  “Nevaeh, you fuck with my control.”

  “I’m sorry.” She didn’t sound a bit sorry, which would have made him smile if he wasn’t in total pain, holding himself back this way.

  “Nash.”

  “Yes?”

  “You fuck with my control too.” She leaned forward, shocking him by brushing her lips across his. The scantest of touches that ripped apart his world. A fucking grenade would have the same effect on his person.

  He grabbed her, latching a hand on her ass and yanking her against his erection even as he cupped her nape and dragged her down to plunder her mouth.

  The kiss had no warmup
time at all—going from zero to a million degrees of hotness in a blink. She moaned against his lips, and he tugged her closer, deepening the kiss by sinking his tongue deep in her mouth. When she touched the tip of hers to his own, he let out a barely harnessed groan.

  Pleasure tore through him, and before he knew it, he was angling her down to the mattress and her breast was in his palm. She arched upward to meet his touch, and he felt her nipple pucker under his hand.

  Christ, she was so open to him. Why? What was it about them being alone together that brought this out in both of them? He couldn’t imagine Nevaeh was a woman who gave herself to men easily. Hell, her file had reported her as single most of her life.

  He ran his hand over her breast again, and she laced his fingers with hers, holding him there. “Touch me, Nash. I’ve never needed touched so bad.”

  “Fuck, darlin’. Why me?”

  “Because you’re the only man who’s ever…” she searched for words, “unlocked me.” With her fingers still threaded through his, she guided his hand down her torso, letting him explore the dip of her waist before she led him straight to her pussy.

  Through her thin leggings, he felt her scorching heat, and his cock pressed up out of the elastic of his boxer briefs. Fuck, he was going to strangle his cock if he didn’t get it out soon. But the minute he did, it would be all over—he’d claim her in every goddamn way a man could, and that was much scarier than facing a firing squad for his actions.

  Because he couldn’t have her. Couldn’t keep her. He was crossing so many lines, it was a sure court martial for his behavior. His actions would be construed as taking advantage of a vulnerable relative to the man they searched for.

  Yet, he couldn’t quit touching her.

  He skimmed his hand over her pussy, learning the swollen feel of her outer lips through her clothing, which was quickly growing damper. She moaned into his mouth, and he gave up to it.

  “Touch me, Nash. Please.” Her words sank into his brain, and he was helpless against her plea.

  He yanked back to look into her eyes. “Fuck, I can’t stop it. I have to have you.”

  * * * * *

  Nevaeh had never touched muscles like Nash’s. Spanning her hands over his shoulders was enough to fuel her fantasies for years, so when she pulled off his shirt and laid eyes on the rest of that chiseled torso… She ran her tongue over her lower lips, and he let out an answering rumble in his chest.

  “I like how you look.” Her voice sounded breathless, but no wonder with those pecs looming in front of her vision.

  The corner of his mouth tipped upward, but the gesture was gone as soon as it came, a fleeting moment of the true man beneath all this rugged exterior. He was a fighter, a protector. She wanted to know more about him, but she knew her body connected with his on a primal, instinctive plane.

  Resting her fingers on his chest, she began to explore as he kissed her senseless. Each dip of his tongue into her mouth sent her up another dizzying notch, and the muscled steel beneath her fingertips edged her toward a frenzy.

  He skimmed his hands over her waist, latching onto her hips briefly and bringing them up against his in the slightest of bumps that ignited. This man knew how to tease and unravel her.

  Passion spread, and she hitched her thigh around his hip, grinding lightly.

  “Easy, darlin’,” he drawled out in that Texas boy way. “Take it slow.”

  “Nash,” she arched as his lips skated into her cleavage. He yanked her top down to expose the swells of her breasts to his scorching hot tongue. Each lick and swirl had her gripping at him and rocking upward. Hooking a finger into her bra cup, he tugged aside the cloth and swiped his tongue over her nipple.

  “Oh gawwwwd.” She shuddered under his touch and reached for her shirt hem to help him along faster.

  “Easy.” The word vibrated over her flesh, shooting sparks to all corners of her body.

  “You’re driving me” —she threw her head back as he flicked at her nipple with his tongue again— “crazy!”

  Taking mercy on her, he drew her top up and over her head. When he skimmed his gaze over her body, she felt beautiful, safe and cherished. The sensation was something altogether new, and she was shocked to realize how amazing it felt to finally let down that guard. Until this moment, she’d never understood the true toll Antonio’s disappearance had taken on her.

  He popped the clasp of her bra and drew the strap over her shoulder in tiny increments that made her burn hotter. Need had her panties soaked, and she couldn’t stop herself another minute—she went for his belt.

  He lifted his head and flashed a look at her, piercing her with some unknown order she couldn’t make out. But she lay there still, watching him push back onto his knees to work open his belt with sharp moves of his big hands. Then he popped the top button of his jeans, and she focused on that enticing bulge that snaked from the top of the zipper down the long line of his cargo pants.

  She must have made some noise, because his eyes darkened with a dangerous spark. But she wasn’t frightened—only turned on.

  “You’re fucking beautiful, lying there all dewy and ready for me. Show me how you pinch your nipples.”

  Her lips popped open in surprise. Nobody had ever asked such a thing of her before. But having this man give the order made her want to please him in all ways.

  She raised her hands to her breasts and cupped them. He groaned, eyes lidding as he looked on.

  Driven by his reaction, she closed her fingers over her distended nipples and squeezed lightly. He let out a hungry growl, and she moaned as excitement flipped low in her belly and pleasure shot through her nipples at her own touch.

  “This is what you’re made for, darlin’.”

  Pinching her nipples again, she watched his reaction to her and burned for more. She ran her hands down her torso and dipped one into her leggings and wet panties.

  “Hell,” he ground out. He let her stroke the folds of her slick pussy a moment before easing her hand out and raising it to his lips. As he darted his tongue over her fingers, he held her gaze prisoner.

  “Nash… please. I need you to make me come.”

  He stuck her finger into his mouth and sucked. She almost came undone there and then. Her eyes slipped shut. When she opened them again, he was poised between her legs.

  Watching a man like Nash undress her was one of the most thrilling experiences of her life, and she would relive it over and over again. The way his rough fingers worked down her leggings, pulled her panties off her ankles and discarded them… God, she was going to explode.

  Then he fixed that dark gaze of his on her and parted her thighs. A bead of wetness slipped from her pussy even before he touched her. He ran a finger over the seam of her outer lips, making her moan and shake. But when he thumbed her apart and lowered his tongue to her needy bud, she cried out.

  “Fucking heaven.” He sank his tongue deep, cradling her ass and lifting her to feast on her pussy. Each rotation of his tongue on her clit had her splitting apart more, and soon she’d be nothing but a moaning, panting, trembling mess.

  Uncaring, she slid her hand around his nape and clasped his face to her pussy. He sucked at her seam and drew one of her lips into his mouth. The brand new sensation rocketed her higher.

  He released her and went for her clit. When he sucked that onto his tongue, she crested on a high wave of ecstasy and then came down hard. She orgasmed with a muffled scream, riding his tongue as shocks hit her system over and over again.

  As she released a harsh breath, he buried his tongue into her opening and licked her juices out of her with long swipes. She clamped her fingers in his hair and held him right where she wanted him.

  He raised his mouth, wet from her folds, and grated out, “You want to keep me down here eating your pussy, don’t you, darlin’?”

  His dirty talk had her on edge all over again.

  It also made her feel powerful.

  The sensation was new and completely une
xpected. How could a sex act with a near stranger give her what she’d battled to achieve for a decade? She wanted to feel strong and empowered, and Nash was giving her that just by setting her free.

  “Say it.” His demand was a rough stroke dragged over her senses.

  Her stomach fluttered with a thousand butterflies as she stared into his eyes. “Eat my pussy till I come again.”

  * * * * *

  Looking at this woman was enough to make a man feel a thousand feet tall. But watching her come apart for him had him feeling like a goddamn hero.

  She was off-limits.

  But she tasted so damn good.

  He drove his tongue into her pussy again and pressed down on her clit with his thumb. She bucked upward, and he felt her clench around him, grabbing for more. She fucking deserved every screaming orgasm he could give her in the short time they had together.

  Just knowing he’d have to walk away and leave her soon made him want to hurl some bullets, but he pushed the thought from his head and concentrated on pleasuring Nevaeh.

  The soft little cries breaking from her plump lips had his cock like the hardest oak. It pushed against his fly, torturing him further with the pressure. Hell, he was splitting balls here, but he wasn’t sinking into that tight body of hers until she’d come on his tongue a second time.

  Clamping his fingers on her hips, he dragged her up to his lips. Mouthing her gently now, teasing his way up and down her soaking sex as she ground her hips in demand.

  Fucking yesssss. Take all you want.

  Realizing he’d let her make a slave of him if she begged him to was something he’d come to terms with later. He’d never wanted to please any woman this way, and that fucking scared him.

  Deal with it later, Nash. Just like everything else.

  He closed his lips lightly over her clit and nibbled.

  Her fingers tightened on his hair, and he felt her muscles coil. Using his tongue along with his lips, he drove her on ruthlessly.

  Come for me, he chanted in his head. When he slid two fingers inside her clenching heat, she gave a hard pulsation around his hand. Then another.

  As she came apart in a squirming orgasm, total satisfaction spread across his face in the form of a smile. Her flavors swirled in his head, arousing the hell out of him. And he was motherfucking ready to take her—now.