by Krista Wolf
Dallas’s expression was all grim determination. She was slipping between gaps in traffic. Drifting from lane to lane. Every move she made was within inches of disaster. At this point I was afraid to even talk to her, for fear of breaking her concentration.
Holy shit we’re gaining.
Coming up on the Jeep’s side, our bumpers were growing dangerously close. I pulled my sidearm from its holster. I didn’t even know what I was going to do with it…
Dallas brushed the hair back from her face with one quick movement. Her expression was livid. I saw her lips curl back in a snarl, and suddenly I knew what she was going to do.
“Dallas, NO!”
She yanked the wheel viciously, and there was an abrupt and irrevocable connection. Our bumper bit hard into the back of the Jeep…
… and it turned perpendicular to the road going seventy miles per hour.
HOLYSHITTTTT…
I gasped in horror, watching as the vehicle’s tires caught. It flipped sideways, end over end… cartwheeling through traffic like some hellish projectile, shedding bits and pieces of metal and plastic along the way.
She pumped the brakes, and we both lurched forward. The Jeep kept on flipping, over and over again. Spurred on by sheer momentum, and the fact it had practically been torn sideways in the span of half a heartbeat.
“FUCKERS.”
I glanced over at her as we skidded to a halt. Dallas’s eyes were wild and venomous. And they didn’t contain even the slightest bit of remorse.
“Dallas…”
She didn’t respond, at least not right away. I’d seen looks like hers on the battlefield. Looks on the faces of allies and comrades who’d lost people before, and who were now exacting some kind of payback for their loved ones.
“DALLAS!”
She barely reacted as I took her hand. I placed it back on the steering wheel.
“We have to go,” I said. Traffic was already piling up around us. In a few moments, we’d be boxed in. “NOW, Dallas!”
She blinked rapidly a few times, and I had her back again. Turning quickly onto the shoulder we zoomed away, riding the curve. We took the first exit, just in time to avoid the lights and sirens: a half-dozen or more emergency vehicles, racing toward the scene of the accident.
My phone started ringing the second I pulled it out again. I punched the speaker button.
“Tell me something good.”
“Can’t,” Austin called back, loud and low. I could hear the disappointment in his voice already. “We lost em’.”
Twenty-One
DALLAS
The ride home in the back seat was leather and shadow. All gunpowder and steel, sweat and adrenaline.
Oh yeah, and blood.
Maddox was sporting three separate bullet wounds, but thankfully not one of them was even remotely life-threatening. Two of them were superficial; parallel scratches at the edge of one deltoid muscle. The third was a hole blown clear through his shoulder, but the bullet had entered and exited above the bone, but beneath the muscle.
“Lucky bastard,” Kane sneered, from the front seat this time. Austin drove, while I kept pressure on the injury.
“He’s always lucky,” said Austin with a chuckle. “Remember that time in Kosovo…”
I listened only half-heartedly as they launched into another one of their long stories. There were so many I was losing count. Still, I was happy to hear them in good spirits. Even if our overall mission had been a failure.
A mission, Dallas? Is that what we’re calling it?
To tell the truth, yes, I was. I’d been in a full-blown combat situation with them now.
Like Connor.
I felt like I’d achieved some sort of right of passage. That I’d been put into a high-pressure situation, and had come out on top.
Then again, I’d caused us to lose the one chance we had of getting some answers. Maybe if I’d shown a little more restraint…
“How’d they make you, anyway?” Maddox was asking.
“Kane’s size sixteen feet,” Austin groaned. “They probably thought Bigfoot was creeping up on them.”
The big man in the front seat scoffed. “You gonna tell ‘em about that rock you kicked by accident?”
“That wasn’t a rock. It was a tiny pebble.”
“It was a chunk of concrete the size of a silver dollar.”
“Bullshit.”
“You sent it skidding across the ground,” Kane continued, “and that’s when they looked up.”
They continued arguing for several minutes, Kane blaming Austin for their botched approach, Austin blaming Kane for losing the foot-chase.
“You couldn’t keep up,” he said as he drove. “If you weren’t so slow now…”
From the shadowy realm of the back seat I changed out Maddox’s bandage for a fresh one. The bleeding had slowed almost to a stop. I’d tried once to get him to see a doctor, but he’d waved me off. The others had too.
Personally I think they just wanted to see his face as they stitched it.
“So the night’s a loss then,” sighed Austin. “We accomplished nothing.”
“No, not totally.”
Everyone’s eyes turned toward me. Not in an accusatory way, as they had when Maddox told them how I’d pulled a pit-maneuver on the fleeing Jeep. It was more curiosity this time.
“So… about that vehicle we chased?”
“Yeah?” said Kane skeptically. “The one you sent to Jeep heaven?”
I nodded. “I got the plate number.”
Everything went silent for a moment. Maddox’s wince of pain twisted into a grin.
“Holy shit, really?”
“A7X-271”
Kane let out a long, heated breath. “Well fuck. That’s… that’s…”
“Pretty damned useful?” I offered.
“Yeah.”
A half-mile later we made the turnoff, several blocks earlier than we needed to. Austin wended through side roads until he was satisfied we weren’t being followed. Then we headed for home.
“Oh yeah,” said Austin abruptly. “Remember the time Connor dragged us all out to that sushi restaurant?”
Maddox laughed. “Which one?”
“The one where he ordered everything on the menu,” Austin went on. “And they brought out—”
“They brought out that fucking wooden boat,” Kane snickered. “All covered in rice and fish. It had masts and sails and everything. Jesus, that thing took up the entire table.”
“It sure did,” said Maddox, laughing. “Only none of us would touch it. Only Connor.”
Smirking defeatedly, my gaze shot over to Austin. He was looking over his shoulder already grinning. His eyes were gloating.
Alright, alright, I mouthed silently as we pulled into the driveway. You win.
Kane tried helping Maddox inside, and was immediately shrugged off. They marched through the front door together, standing tall.
“The machismo levels in this house are off the charts,” I said, rolling my eyes at Austin.
“You think that’s bad? Wait until we stitch him up and he pretends it doesn’t even hurt.”
I laughed out loud, picturing it perfectly in my mind. It was exactly what would happen, too.
As we took the cracked cement walkway together, Austin’s arm slid around me. He pulled me into him.
“Hey, remember our bet?” he murmured. “Anything I want?”
He had a velvet voice. A smooth but insistent touch.
“Yes,” I answered haltingly. I noticed his scent; musky and manly and delicious. My heart was already beating faster. “Why? Do you know what you want?”
Austin’s hand slid downward, cupping my ass. As he pushed his lips close to my ear, he gave it a promising squeeze.
“I want you in my room tonight,” he whispered huskily. “Late. After we all turn in.”
An electric shiver rocketed through my body. It filled me with feelings of nervousness and excitement. Exhilaration… and
anticipation.
“O—Okay.”
“After all,” he murmured, turning to deliver a smile. “A deal’s a deal.”
Twenty-Two
DALLAS
The house was deathly silent as I slipped into the upstairs hallway. Maddox was all stitched up, and had taken something for the pain. He and Kane were both slumbering deeply, their doors closed.
It was well after midnight when I let myself into Austin’s room. The lights were pleasantly dim. The temperature was warm and welcoming.
“Hey…”
My heart was racing as I closed the door and turned around. Austin was lounged out in a soft, high-backed chair. His incredible body was gloriously naked except for a pair of tight boxer-briefs.
“Lose those,” he said casually, pointing with a short whiskey glass. He was indicating my sleep shorts.
“Yeah?” I teased.
“Oh yeah.”
Moving seductively, I shimmied out of my shorts and let them drop. Then I hooked two thumbs into either side of my thong, pulling the straps away from my hips an inch or two.
“These also?”
He seemed to consider it for a moment as he took a small sip of the amber liquid. Ice cubes rattled around in the glass.
“No,” he said finally. “Those can stay.”
I let the straps snap back into place. Setting my hands on my hips, I waited for his next set of instructions.
This is fun…
“You ready to do anything I want?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“That’s why I’m here.”
“Good. Now get on your knees.”
I took two steps forward onto a thin Persian rug before dropping obediently to the floor. Through it all, I maintained complete eye contact.
“What now?” I asked sweetly.
“Crawl over here,” he said. “Slowly.”
One side of my mouth curled into a grin. He was still staring. Still looking through me with those amazing blue-green eyes, which somehow seemed impossibly bright and beautiful against his darker hair and complexion.
“Now, Dallas.”
I moved. It happened without thinking; one second I was kneeling before the door, the next I was crawling slowly over to where he sat. Austin swung his legs open, revealing two toned, mocha-colored thighs. They were manly thighs — incredibly strong and muscular. Shit, never had a guy’s legs seemed so sexy before.
That’s because you’re at eye-level, the little voice in my head said. You’re practically kneeling between his legs.
I was, and that was perfectly okay. Especially considering the bulge between his legs, straining hard against the fabric of his grey boxer-briefs.
“You wanna touch it?”
He’d seen me looking. Apparently I’d lost our little staring contest.
“You can, you know.”
Austin shifted forward a bit, relaxing even more into his chair. I heard the tinkling of ice again as he took another sip of his drink.
I sighed internally, letting my eyes drag over his body. He was quite literally perfect. Silently I thanked whichever SEAL instructors had honed and sculpted his magnificent body, giving it a lean, chiseled strength that made me want to taste every delicious inch of him. I loved the smell of his skin. The cut of his perfect, washboard abs…
He’s amazing.
I slid upward along his body, gently kissing that beautiful stomach. I found myself kissing his chest, circling one dark nipple with my tongue. I kissed his neck, reaching that impeccably-trimmed goatee, and then suddenly I was pressing my lips against his. Breathing his breath as I caressed his face, our tongues gliding together.
God…
His mouth was all sweet and delicious from the bourbon or whiskey or whatever the hell he was drinking. Either way I loved it; every square inch of him tasted like man. I felt myself going light-headed. My mind, giddy and swimming…
I could kiss him like this forever.
Austin’s hand slid over my head and suddenly he was pushing me back down. Firmly. Insistently…
A not so subtle reminder — I was there for him.
“There’s my girl…”
He groaned as I buried my head in his lap. For a moment I teased him, rubbing my face against his warm, straining member. Cupping and squeezing it gently through the fabric that still constrained it, while kissing my way up and down the insides of his thighs.
“Dallas, I—”
His sentence ended in a groan as I swallowed him.
“Ohhhhh…”
It was a simple thing to pull his cock through the front hole of his boxer briefs. Getting it down my throat was a different trick altogether. Austin’s manhood was warm and thick, and fit perfectly against the back of my throat. I took him as deep as possible, letting him rest there for a few glorious seconds before squeezing the base and dragging my lips tightly over the entire length of his shaft, bottom to top.
“Oh fuck me.”
I chuckled to myself. It was what I wanted, that’s for sure. But not exactly what he meant by the words. Not yet, anyway.
For the next few minutes I focused on delivering the best blowjob of my life. I sucked Austin expertly, giving it to him from every angle, at every speed. I pumped him hard, down at the root. Fondled his balls gently with my free hand.
He tastes so good…
My mouth went even lower, keeping everything slick and wet and beautiful. Moaning around him as my hair thrashed in his lap. When I caught him looking I held his gaze. Fucked him with my eyes as I kept on going, dragging the flat of my tongue slowly upward along the underside of his shaft.
God, you must look like a total slut!
I felt like one too, and that part was awesome. I was reveling in the entire beautiful act. Taking pleasure in his pleasure…
When the throbbing and pulsing began, I knew he was close. I doubled down, sucking and pumping away, but Austin had other plans.
“Your turn…”
Twenty-Three
DALLAS
All at once my lover stood up, lifting me with him. My arms went over his shoulders. My legs slid around his flanks, straddling his waist.
I was admiring his body, his chest, his beautiful face. Trying to figure out where to kiss next, as his cock pulsed and throbbed, trapped firmly between us.
“OH!”
He threw me onto the bed before I knew I was even leaving his arms. I bounced hard, my head settling somewhere up near his pillows. Before I knew it Austin had one big hand wrapped around both my ankles at once.
What the—
I gasped as he pushed my legs high over my head, thighs pinned tightly together. It stretched me out wonderfully. Lifted my ass from the bed…
“OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…”
The air left my lungs in a moan as he pulled my thong to one side… and buried his face in my pussy.
Oh, FUUUCK.
Austin’s tongue was everywhere, bathing my sex from top to bottom. I shivered as he planted a series of soft kisses around my swollen clit. Shuddered as his tongue moved up and down in broad, deliberate strokes.
He slipped a finger inside me, and began sliding it slowly in and out. My eyes rolled back. My head tilted on the pillow…
God…
I was enjoying it all; from the feel of his goatee brushing my sensitive skin, to how incredibly tight his finger felt inside me. My legs were still pressed firmly together, my ankles high in the air. I was being stretched out and devoured. Kissed and licked and sucked…
That’s so. Damned. Good!
Suddenly I felt a jolt… and gasped out loud as an all new sensation reached my brain. It was a frosty, icy numbness. A blast of cold against an area that was oh so fucking hot. I heard the clink of his glass being set down again, and realized why:
My lover had an ice cube in his mouth.
“MMMMmmmmm…”
It felt incredible, the intensity of the contrast. All new shivers rocked my body as Austin clenched the cube between his teet
h, dragging it up and down through my heated channel. He kept on pumping me with his finger. Using the rapidly-melting ice cube to circle and tease the sensitive hood of my clit.
“Oh fuck, baby…”
I writhed and twisted involuntarily, trying to squirm away. Trying to escape the numbing cold, even as my brain told me it felt good at the same time. Soon I was screwing my pussy into him. Welcoming the frigid yet wonderful numbness that had become his lips and tongue, then plunging it back down, where I could feel it melting inside me.
“YES.”
I was just getting used to it when he finally let go. Austin’s free hand pushed my thighs apart, giving him greater access as he kept on lapping away. One finger had become two, screwing in and out of me. And I was screwing right back into his lips and face. Grinding against his probing, penetrating tongue…
FUCK!
I was halfway to coming when his hands slipped beneath my ass. Suddenly he was flipping me over, flat onto my belly. Spreading my asscheeks with two strong hands, as I clutched his pillow in anticipation of what came next.
Austin buried his face between my legs once again. Only this time… from behind.
Wow…
The feeling was absolutely exquisite. Indescribably hot.
“OHH…”
Austin’s face was buried in my ass now. His tongue traveled up and down, from the depths of my semi-numb pussy all the way up to my tight little asshole. I could feel him back there, pushing and prodding. Bathing me with heat and saliva, and the smooth, delicious feel of his hot, squirming tongue.
Oh WOW…
The sensations were incredible. Like nothing I’d ever experienced. Like nothing I’d ever imagined I’d experience, yet somehow, deep down, I knew I’d always wanted to.
This… this is…
I gasped again as he slipped two fingers back into me from behind. Austin was rimming my asshole and fucking me at the same time. Sliding his wet tongue all over it, while gliding two long fingers in and out of my soaking pussy.
Holy hell this is fucking insane!
