Retrieval (28 page)

“Her name is Sasha Bennoit. Yes, that’s our quint, and if what Bleak told me is true, she’s alive, well and presently pregnant with twins. She’s also got a little of her sisters in her, because she’s giving her man hell for some reason or other. Get this—she’s refusing to marry him. She lives in Georgia and was raised by a loving family, but I haven’t the time to look into her further,” Sky told them before she rubbed her temples.

“Are you okay?” Piper asked, and it was the first sign of concern she’d shown since their conversation had started.

“I’m right as rain, Pipe.”

“So this is the way it looks to me,” Raina said. “It looks like Smythe-Ward picked Sebastian because he’s good at finding people and bringing them back to whoever is looking for them. But Sebastian wasn’t prepared for you or us and has now reconsidered his very lucrative job in the interest of protecting you, and by extension, us. We’ve somehow managed to locate a sister we haven’t been able to find in twenty-six years, and she’s involved with a former spec-ops soldier who has ties to Sebastian’s former commander. Peter Dempsey has not only tortured two of our sisters, but the sister of a man we’re now connected to, and it looks like Warren Goolsby is hot on our tails because Sebastian found us and reported to Smythe-Ward.” Raina rubbed her temples as she finished.

“That sounds about right, but it isn’t just Goolsby gunning for us.” Skylar got up to pace the room.

None of the women seemed to notice the energy that was starting to wreak havoc on the just straightened room. The curtains billowed, and the sheets on the bed tossed to and fro. Books were beginning to shake out of the bookcase and even the windows were rattling.

“We need to remember that Smythe-Ward is coming for us balls to the wall, and if we don’t stop him, he’ll kill these men and do whatever it takes to get us to surrender to him.” Her voice was hard.

“Skylar, how strong are your feelings for this man?” Piper asked.

“I love him. I’d give my last breath to keep him safe, and unfortunately for Sebastian Graham, he is the other part of me. I have no doubts that if we’d met under different circumstances, we would have made one hell of a team. But it isn’t to be for me. That doesn’t change the fact that I will do whatever it takes to keep him safe because no matter how good he is at being a soldier or a tracker or a retriever, I’m stronger than he could possibly know, and I will destroy anyone or anything that compromises his existence.”

Sky’s voice was terrible, but the emotion was there in her voice, and it danced down the bond she had with her sisters. The love she had for this man caused tears in her sisters’ eyes.

“That’s enough for me then.”

When Sky looked at Piper with a question in her eyes, Piper said, “He’s yours, so that makes him one of us.” Then she shrugged as if that said it all.

“We also have Bleak and Morrissey to protect. Rover’s a hell of a good guy too, plus we now have our eyes on Sasha. Can you believe we’re going to be aunts?” Kinsey asked in awe.

“Aunts who probably won’t live to meet their nieces or nephews,” Piper reminded them baldly.

“You are ever the harbinger of optimism, Pipe,” Raina said ruefully before she got up and held out her arms for her sisters.

They hugged, sharing the bond that had been theirs since conception. Love flowed from one to the other in an unending stream, and by the time they broke apart, peace had been restored, and they each felt better.

“So what’s the plan, Sky?” Piper queried.

“We get as much information as we can from Sebastian’s team on Smythe-Ward’s location without them knowing. We probably need to leave within the next twenty-four hours so that these men aren’t compromised. I’ll have to set up some type of diversion to draw Smythe-Ward away from here and get him back on our tail.”

“Okay then, we’ll get back to work. Let’s say we meet back up in the morning after breakfast when they go out for another perimeter check, and then we’ll get whatever plan we come up with put into motion.” This from Kinsey, who didn’t sound too damned happy about leaving.

Sky thought she just didn’t want to leave Morrissey, but seeing as she liked her head on her body, decided it was best not to mention that to her sister.

“All righty then. In the morning. I love you guys,” Sky said, and it was then that she felt the presence of someone else in the room with them.

Sebastian, Rover, Morrissey, and Bleak were all in the room with them holding weapons trained outside the windows.

“You’re shielding too hard, and they can’t see us,” Raina said ruefully.

“Ya’ll ready?” Sky asked them.

“Yes,” her sisters responded firmly.

She dropped the shield and prepared to deflect any bullets the men might inadvertently fire. She should have known that her man was too disciplined to fire without knowing what he was firing at.

The relief that came over his face almost undid her. Morrissey cursed, and Bleak just shook his head looking at each of the women with amazement.

Rover said, “That’s some kind of voodoo mojo, Skylar.” Then he holstered his weapon and left the room.

“Yeah, black magic. Ooooohhhh.” Morrissey snickered as he too left the room.

“Ya’ll freak me the fuck out,” Bleak said, and then he also left.

Her man was a different story. He rechambered his nasty-looking gun, put it in a holster under his arm, and crossed those massive arms over his smoking-hot chest. He stood there with a stern look on his face.

“Ya’ll don’t really freak me out, but has anyone told you it isn’t nice to hide from your hosts?” he asked them.

“Yeah … no, can’t say anyone ever imparted that knowledge to us before. Sorry if we broke the kidnapee’s rule of etiquette,” Piper quipped, and then she turned with her sisters to leave.

“Piper?” Sebastian said silkily.

“Yeah?” she returned equally as silky.

“Stay out of this room tonight. In fact, all of you stay out of this room tonight,” Sebastian ground out between his teeth.

His mouth was a straight line, and she dared anybody to call it a smile, but the man had tried to be nice to her nasty sibling, and if she wasn’t already stupid in love, that would have pushed her to it.

The door closed behind them, and Sky was left with a very irate-looking Sebastian who just continued to stand there staring at her as if he had nothing better to do.

“What?” she asked in exasperation.

“Why did you shield from me?” he asked her bluntly.

“Look, it’s habit okay? My sisters and I have had no one but us for years, and it’s sheer lunacy for you to think I can change a lifetime of habits in one week. Besides, it’s not like we’re getting married Bastian. We’ve just now become fuck buddies.” She tossed out haphazardly, sick of the harassment first from her sisters and now from him.

Before she could blink he was in her face.

Or rather he’d picked her up by her upper arms, and she was in his face.

“Don’t you ever say that.”

His expression was livid, and his tone was straight pissed-off male.

“Say what?” she asked him innocently.

“What we have been doing … well … it’s more than just fucking okay?”

He was angry. She hadn’t meant to piss him off. Or hell, maybe she had.

“I know. I’m sorry. My sisters are tough cookies, and you picked a bad time to show up,” she said dropping her forehead to his.

“Yeah? What time is that?” he returned, and his voice was somewhat normal again as he set her down.

She took a couple of steps back. “Time enough to tote what they had coming,” she said cryptically and chanced looking into his eyes.

His eyes were lit as if by a blue flame, and her body responded to it. The man was dangerous to her sense of self-preservation, but then again, any time she was able to spend with him was self-preservation. He made her feel like she could have a future, even though her mind challenged what her heart felt.

“Don’t, Sky. Don’t even think of trying to leave.” He warned her somehow picking up on her bad vibes.

“Or what?” she asked as she deftly evaded his unspoken question.

“I’m not playing. You even think of leaving the safety of this house, and I’ll tie you down myself,” he threatened her.

“There’s not a knot that’s been tied that I can’t undo Mr. Closet Freak, so what else you got up your sleeve?” she taunted him, her blood running hot and thick at the thought of being tied up and at his mercy.

“It’s not what’s up my sleeve you need to be worried about.” He smirked and then gasped as she quickly moved to plaster herself against him and ever so gently pressed her hand against his hardened flesh.

She went up on tippy toes to lick the seam of his lips. “Don’t I know it,” she whispered. “What’s going on?” he asked her, solidly refusing to give up on why she’d been shielding from him.

“This.” She swept his leg out from under him in a stellar judo throw that landed him on his back on the mattress. She fell softly on top of him.

“You think you can sex me out of finding out what you’re hiding from me don’t you?” Sebastian asked in a gruff voice.

“I just know that with you, I got it like that.” She teased him and giggled playfully when he took both hands and placed them on her butt, moving her in sinuous circles, so that her mound was grinding against the hard ridge of his dick.

He switched their positions and lowered his head. “Yes, you do, baby. Yes, you do,” he assured her before he began eating at her mouth.

Then she was the one gasping as his hands quickly divested her of her shoes, jeans, and T-shirt. He was like a man possessed, and she reveled in her ability to make him lose his much-talked-about control. He nipped, laved, licked, bit, and suckled until she panted for breath and begged for release.

“Who’s got it like that now?” His dark voice was like her favorite chocolate.

“You, Bastian, only you,” she whispered against his ear as he drew back to toe off his own shoes and get rid of his clothes.

*

She looked like a pagan offering lying there on his bed, naked, wet, and flushed with her desire for him. He’d been scared shitless when he’d entered the house and been unable to find her. Though he had a queer sense of her presence, he’d been unable to see her, and he had just about lost it. Once he’d entered his room he knew she was there. When she’d dropped the shield he’d been relieved and then pissed as hell.

But she’d managed to take the anger away and replace it with this consuming fire of need for her. And she’d done it in record time. Of course, he was always hard around her, all she had to do was breathe, and he was hard, and their bone-deep connection had a nice little side benefit. Their pleasure was a continuous loop, his to her and hers to him. Whatever he felt was magnified and returned through their bond and vice versa. He felt her in his marrow and knew that if anything happened to her he would be desolate. For a man who’d once harbored no illusions about love, she was a gift beyond measure and a temptation he didn’t have the will to resist.

Good thing for him she found something about him that drew her because he was so far gone over this woman that there was no way out for him. She must have heard him because her brown eyes darkened, that hint of purple flashing in their depths, and he felt a distinct ratcheting up of the sexual energy between them. She came up on her knees and held her arms out to him, and all he could do was stare in stupefaction at the beauty before him.

Her tiny frame was all luscious hills and slim hollows. As he looked at her firm breasts and her berried nipples, he took himself in hand, rubbed over the head of his cock and spread the moisture beaded there around the tip of his shaft. Her lips were shiny as if she’d just licked them, her eyes were bright, and he could smell the scent of her arousal from where he stood. She opened to him so completely that his heart stuttered, and his breath stopped for a beat.

His heart wrenched, and his body went cold then hot. “Damn, you undo me.” The words felt pulled from his soul.

“Then let me put you back together, Bastian.”

He could wait no longer, concerns about what she was hiding from him faded to the background, and in one stride he was on her, in her, stroking not only her body from the inside out but also her heart and soul. He gave her all that he was, and as he felt the lightning move from the base of his spine and wrap around to his chest, he knew that everything he was, everything he had, was for her alone.

*

His gaze never left hers, and he refused to let her look away. The tension knotted inside of her until she felt like screaming, and if she were honest with herself, she knew she loved every second of it. His intensity brought her to a precipice she’d never dreamed of experiencing, and his wicked body played hers like a master.

She shuddered under his plunging hips, her body receptive and so hot and wet that she didn’t know if she could maintain her physical self. He was a big man, and still she cherished his weight as his driving hips stroked his shaft in and out of her. Her walls clamped down instinctively to try to prevent him from leaving her sheath, and she heard him groan as the friction of his retreating cock against her silken walls caused pleasure so intense she saw stars.

She was in a race, but the outcome was already determined. She held onto him and rode the waves of ecstasy that crashed over and through her, and when the tide began to ebb she distantly heard herself say the words she had always longed to tell the man she would call her own.

“I love you.”

It was a screamed whisper, and yet she knew he heard her because he plunged one final time and poured himself into her as he shouted her name. The peace she felt in that instant was light to the darkest parts of her soul. Nothing was going to hurt this man. Nothing and no one. He was her everything now, and she would give all she was to keep him safe and alive.

Even if it meant giving her own life to save his.

* * * *

She’d been dozing lightly and smiled contentedly when she felt his hands begin to linger over her curves. They’d been spooning together for a short while, both trying to recover from the explosiveness of their earlier passion. She’d told him she loved him, and he’d said nothing. He’d simply wrapped his arms tightly around her and pressed a hot kiss between her shoulder and her neck. She had turned around shortly after that, not wanting him to see how he unraveled her. Though their feelings were clear along their mental link, she had yet to hear the words, and for some reason it made her prone to the all the girly insecurities.