Walker (Bad Boys of X-Ops #1) (14 page)

He Who Dares . . . Wins?

I LOOKED AT JADE with all the cold arrogance I could marshal because to give in to this feeling I had for her would end me forever.

“If you hadn’t . . .” Jade’s voice dropped, but she shook with rage and her eyes flashed incandescent green fire. “If you hadn’t insisted on getting your
dick
wet with me, we wouldn’t be in this predicament in the first place, Walker.”

My jaw clenched hard, and I set down the wineglass before it splintered apart in my white-knuckled fist. “You didn’t put up much of a fight at the time.”

She tapped me on the sore shoulder. “Beg to differ. “

Manacling her hands behind her back with sudden force, I drew her straight up against me. “You wanted it just as badly as I did.”

Our mouths hovered close. Heavy heated breaths pushed our upper bodies together. Want flared to life, fanned by days of close proximity, years of simmering desire shooting off the charts.

“One more reason not to get involved with you. We cocked it up big time that night.” Jade ripped her hands free, shaking her head at the floor.

“That wasn’t the mistake.” I kicked a chair out of the way, working my fingers through my hair. “The mistake was trusting you in the first place.”

“Fuck you,” Jade spat at me. She grabbed my arm and wheeled me around.
“Why’d you let me keep my weapons then?”

Jade patted the pocket of her white robe where the Beretta resided, the butt-end evident.

“You know what? I don’t care anymore. Fucking shoot me if you want to.” I turned my back, giving her the easy way out if she wanted.

“Is that what
you
want?”

“No.” I snarled, jolting around. “I want you!”

She jumped into my arms, slamming an unforgettable kiss to my lips.

I bit at her mouth, her moans lashing me higher—the days of sexual torment finally finding an outlet.

Ripping her bathrobe open to the waist, I flung it away. With her legs at my hips and her fingers fumbling with the button fly of my jeans, I drove her against the wall. Shirt over my head. Her tits filling my palms.

“I hope you’re fucking ready.” Biting her neck, I growled. “’Cause I can’t wait.”

Arching up in a sinuous move, she dropped onto my cock with sizzling, seizing heat.

I stumbled, shouting.

Heat and passion took over.

Fast. Tight. Loud.

Harsh. Rough. Raw.

A lamp fell over as I fucked Jade upright against the wall, the loud crash barely making an impression above the shockingly wet desperate fuck while we grabbed at each other.

I bucked into Jade, surging inside her with her ass in my hands. She threw herself into each deep stroke, the heat of her moans breaking against my ear.

She screamed like a banshee, clamping down on my rutting cock, drenching me all over. The spear of release began in the balls of my feet. I lifted her higher, digging in, rocking her against the wall as the pain-pleasure sped up my calves, up my thighs until it settled low in my groin. I gripped her hip, her neck, grunting and licking across her half-open mouth.

The dam burst inside.

My cock swelled and kicked inside her, what felt like white-hot jizz rushing out of my dick, painting her spasming insides, her slick warm sex swallowing it all like a mouth on my cockhead and slurping at my shaft.

Holy shit.

My head swam, and I collapsed, pinning Jade against the wall with my body weight.

Shivering, shuddering, damn near stuttering—never mind the hypothermia incident from the Hudson—I slurred against her neck, “Y’okay?”

“
Uhnnnn . . .
”

“Me too.”

Slipping around so my back pressed against the wall, I slid down until my ass was on the floor and she straddled my lap. Heated wetness spilled from where we joined, and I had no intentions of moving.

In fact, my cock waved inside her from its snug warm home.

“Walker!”

I swept the hair from her face. “Hush now. My dick likes you.”

She snuffled a laugh against my shoulder. “I can tell.”

I laid my hand against her neck, loving the silkiness of her skin, the roundness of tits against me, and the turn of her thighs spread around me.

“That didn’t fix anything.” Jade protested, but she didn’t move away from me.

“Beg to differ,” I said with a lazy curl of my lips.

She hid her face deeper against my chest. “Walker. We can’t keep doing this.”

“Sure we can.” Kissing the top of her head, I wrapped my arms more strongly around her.

“This is getting out of control. The BND, the SVR, MOIS and the Feds, the fucking Easter Bunny, all of them gunning for Majedah. How do we keep her safe?”

“Control is overrated. As just proven.” I smirked.

“You are impossible. And a brute.” Jade halfheartedly swung at my shoulder with a closed fist. “I don’t even know how you’ve managed to stay alive this long.”

“Just waiting for you to come along and do me in, one way or the other.”

That is the goddamn truth.

Peeking up, she ran her index finger over my upper lip, coasting across the bottom one before she cupped my face. “If I was going to kill you, I’d have done so already.”

Her words were meant to be harsh but her eyes were so hazy soft. Besides, I was still hard and thick inside her, and she kept wiggling her bottom.

“And they say romance is dead, babe.” I grinned.

“
Absolutely
impossible.”

“Dead sexy.” Swooping down, I captured any further protests with my mouth on hers.

The immediate spark pulled me deeper inside her—my never flagging cock, my darting tongue.

Jade withdrew, softly panting my name. “I still need to know where we’re going from here.”

“The only safe place I know.”

No matter how much it hurts me.

“I have a location. But I need to know everything.” Slipping her off my lap—groaning when my wet erect cock emerged—I scooted away from temptation. “And you and Madge are still keeping me in the dark about something.”

Jade shook her head.

“Look at me.” Kneeling in front of her, I swear the depths of my soul shone in my eyes for her.

I rubbed my thumbs across the crests of her cheeks. “You have to trust me, Jade, or this isn’t gonna work.”

The instant her sparkling irises—forest green and oh so wise—met mine, I knew she got me.
It
wasn’t just this fucked up mission, but her . . . and me. Together.

Jesus.

“It’s just me. Has nothing to do with Majedah. And it won’t affect you or her.” She cupped my hand, kissing the calloused fingers. “I’ll tell you. As soon as you get us where we’re going. Deal?”

I was holding out. So was she.

So be it.

Instead of shaking her hand, I pulled her up into my arms and carried her to our bedroom.

I kicked that door shut.

And made love to her all night long, just like I’d imagined.

****

We’d crossed state lines from Minnesota to South Dakota by midmorning the next day.

We made the last leg of the journey in a beat-up old pickup in tones of rust red and shit brown I’d had the foresight to stash in a locked-down storage unit in Rapid City. Only my dad and I had access, and I knew as soon as the engine fired to life he’d been out this way, making sure it was fine-tuned and prepared whenever I had need of the Chevy.

Damn if the winter weather didn’t follow us all the way as city gave way to rolling hills the closer we got to the so-called Badlands.

I’d considered it a bad place for five long traveling years, but now, seeing the distant Black Hills wreathed in low gray clouds sifting down pure white snow like a wife’s bridal veil, I sat forward, eagerly taking in the land I’d grown up on.

Closer and closer through the vista that would become spring lush and grassy green—as green as Jade’s eyes—every moment delivered not the pain I’d imagined, but a new sense of peace.

Welcome to Inyan Kara Reservation. The Lakota Sioux. Buckle up. It’s the Law.

I heard Jade gasp.

The final miles found me urging the truck faster while Jade stared out her window, seemingly awed by the vastness of this wild, untamed land.

The word
road
wasn’t an apt description for the minimally snowplowed track. I shifted into fourth gear to jar us out of each deep hidden rut. Excitement hummed through my veins as I hit the gas at the exact moments, steering the stubborn wheel across the whitewashed, windswept landscape with
Ȟe Sápa
—the Black Hills—rearing up like great gray monoliths of solid rock
.

Years of driving my pop’s rigged 4x4, not to mention riding roughshod horseback over every square acre of the land, meant I knew where each furrow lay and how to avoid every snow-covered ditch.

I easily navigated the plains despite the inclement weather.

Hump-backed bison huddled together in the background, shaking their shaggy coats.

Madge sat between Jade and me, open-mouthed and amazed. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“At least the Feebs can’t touch us here. Presumably.” I cracked a wry smile, gunning down a hollow, the pickup’s tires finding purchase on the fleecy white ground.

Then we followed the last snowdrifts, rounded the final turn, and I saw the roughhewn structure of the meetinghouse. I fishtailed to a stop on the skiddy snow, but I controlled the truck and parked with hands that almost shook.

I stepped out beneath the white fluff floating down. Fat snowflakes melting on my dark skin, I hoisted out Jade first, then Madge.

The chief stood before us against a backdrop of winter white and the sturdy timbers of the longhouse.

Barrel-chested, he drew his height to the full six foot five inches. Wearing modern clothes—a flannel shirt and faded jeans—beneath a buffalo robe that had belonged to his father. The hide was turned out, the geometric pattern painted in pigments no longer as vibrant as they’d been, and the fur collar caressed his brawny neck. When he bent slightly toward me, the ancient bear-tooth amulet rattled, and his long braided white hair slid over his shoulders.

“How did you know I was coming?” I halted in front of him, stiffly formal after so many years away from home.

“The spirits speak.” He loosened his foreboding expression long enough to wink. “And so does your mother. She said you texted her.”

I swallowed that unnerving feeling of having failed the tribe, my family, my . . .

“Welcome home, Wakiza
.
”

“
Até
.” I clasped my dad’s hand, and he pulled me into a hug.

Sacred Mountain, South Dakota

“WAKIZA!”

My mom elbowed my dad aside. Tall and slender, she looked like a willow reed beside him.

“Five years?” Pushing off the hood of her cape, she bared a scathing glare just before winding back and smacking me on the face. “Don’t you ever do that again.”

As elegant as ever, but man, she still had that hitting hand.

Patting my stinging cheek, she hugged me. “I’ve worried about you every single day.”

We stood there in the snow, sheltered by the longhouse. I embraced my
ina
—my mother—her familiar scent of clover mixed with the expensive Chanel No. 5 bringing me home.

Clearing my throat, I brought Jade forward, her hand in mine.

“
This
is my nation, Jade.” Intense pride swelled in me after I’d tried so long to forget and forego my roots.
“Dad, this is Jade Huntington.”

She nodded toward my father who merely grunted in response.

“Jade, White Buffalo.” Then I passed her onto my
ina
. “Mom, I’d like you to meet Jade. Jade, this is my mother, Red Thunder,
Shappa
.”

My mom took her hand, looking her over with a brimming smile. Somewhere during the intros my heart got stuck in my throat.

“And this is Majedah.” I introduced the last of our party, waiting for the interrogation to begin.

Didn’t take long.

With the tribes people appearing, dogs barking, voices rising, and kids buttoned up to their chins, everyone crowded around like I was the prodigal son when I was anything but.

It’d take more than a cold blast to keep the curious folk at bay, not with newcomers in the midst.

From the longhouse to the outskirts of the settlement, houses emptied, torches lit, and the tribe circled around.

Mom started the inquisition in Spanish,
natch.
The first language she’d taught me after Lakota and English. “
Qué pasó
?”

I smirked at Jade then whispered to mama, “She understands Spanish.”

“
Wewe akarud, Wakiza
.” My mom joined her arm through mine.

You came back.

“She knows Swahili too,” I explained.

Mom’s laugh coiled up to the sky and her hair shone like silver filigree. “I taught you well. Someone taught your woman better.” She patted my hand. “Come. Tell me how you met your match.”

“She’s not my woman.” I spared a glance at Jade.

She and Madge were surrounded by kinfolk, elders, cousins . . . and probably freezing their tits off.

The only people noticeably not present were Kimimela’s family
.

Jade looked up. Her gaze met mine.

She smiled so wide the little silver piercing almost dimpled.

“Not your woman,
huh
?” Mom chuckled.

I dropped my eyes and turned my back.

This wasn’t the time.

This wasn’t the place.

Too much had happened here.

Shappa—
Red Thunder
—
my mother
towed me along with her, talking just as fast as Jade. She was a linguist—a freakin’ multilinguist in fact. A traveling college professor of languages and Native American studies around the country. Breaking boundaries. Making a new renaissance for our tribe. She wasn’t just Red Thunder. She was
Sheila
Red Thunder. Sought after by Ivy League universities.

But she always came home.

Unlike me.

Half of my gifts came from her.

The other side—the warrior—I’d inherited from my dad.

Jade, Madge, and my dad caught up. He carried all our bags, stomping behind us, sending up fresh billows of snow.

Another two-dozen folks fell in step behind him.

Jade looked longingly at her pack with the Beretta safely stowed inside.

I put my hand on my holster, the steady weight of the Smith & Wesson slapping against my thigh.

The only reason we used weapons here was to hunt. Kill game. Stock for the winter and feed.

Jade and I killed for money.

A paycheck.

We relied on our intel and decided we were doing something for the good.

What could be more
for the good
than living off the land?

Killing no one.

Being at peace
.

“What about Lakota?” my mom asked.

“
Wha-?
”

“Does she speak our language?”

“You can probably talk freely.” I chewed on the corner of my lip.

As we shuffled toward the house—a rambling log cabin where snowdrifts rose knee high—I drew Jade forward.

I kept my arm clasped around her shoulder, taking the brunt of the snowfall.

Despite Mom’s efforts to be subtle, her questions and observations were totally obvious even to someone who didn’t understand Lakota as she gushed over Jade.

She’s very beautiful.

Remarkable eyes.

Is she in your same line of work?

Do you love her?

Okay. Those last two questions . . .
not answering
.

When we reached the house, Dad dismissed all the prying folks and closed us inside where we listened to the departure of dozens of feet from the porch and down the steps.

My dad dropped our bags and dusted the snow off his robe before placing it on the back of a chair beside the big open fireplace. Leaving Jade’s side, I approached the burly man who still hadn’t said more than two sentences to me.

My mom bustled around the huge old cookstove where the kitchen area and a long timber table took up a corner of the large room.

“Madge and I will just go see if your mother needs any help,” Jade called over.

I looked at her like she was crazy. Only thing she knew how to cook up was trouble—or microwavable meals.

“What finally brought you home?” Dad glanced at me from under bushy eyebrows.

Rubbing the back of my neck, I cringed. “About that. We got into a little bit of a bad situation.”

“You never get into anything little, Wakiza.” He sat down, gesturing toward the great oak mantle for his hand-carved tobacco box. “Out with it.”

I handed him the box with his pipe and tobacco and watched him pinch out the aromatic flakes and push them into the bowl.

“There are some people searching for us.” I scraped a match across the mantle and brought the glowing tip to his pipe. “We need shelter for a couple days.”

He took a deep inhale then invited me to sit in the chair beside his. “Explain
some people
.”

There was no love lost between Native Americans and the federal government. I knew my dad would keep quiet on the matter. I quickly and quietly laid it on the line, giving few actual details about who Jade and I worked for or what we did.

But my ’rents weren’t stupid. They were aware I was in a dangerous business without knowing the ins and outs of it.

“So, we can now add the Feds to the list, apparently.” I breathed in the scent of the smoke rising from his pipe, listening to the low voices of Madge, Jade, and my mom behind us.

“And you thought what better place than the reservation to keep a low profile?”

I nodded.

My dad let out a booming laugh, a big, free, full-body rumble until tears streamed from his eyes. “Outsmart the Feds? Count us in.”

“I wouldn’t have come here if it wasn’t a last resort kind of thing.”

“You are a son of the Nation. You’re always welcome, and your guests, son.” The corners of his eyes crinkled through the soft trail of smoke. “Seems to me you shouldn’t need a reason to come home. And we sure have missed you.”

With a heavy pat to my shoulder, he ended the conversation. He lumbered to his feet, emptying the remnants of his pipe into the fire.

“Majedah and Jade, there’s a room with double beds down at the end of the hall if you want to clean up before we eat.” He prodded me in the back. “You stay in your old room.”

No freakin’ way was I gonna miss the chance to spend another night with Jade.

“Jade is my
mahasani
.” I pulled back my shoulders and firmed up my stance. “We’ll share my room.”

My mom clapped a hand over her mouth, no doubt to hold in a
whoop
of glee.

My dad glanced at her, his features stern. But when he cut his eyes to me, they danced in the firelight. “I can agree to those terms.”

Later after we’d eaten a small bite, my mother and father excused us.

But it wasn’t to be for long.

“Wakiza?” My mom called gaily, holding Dad’s hand across the table. “There will be a gathering tonight.”

They sputtered with laughter as I stomped down the hallway.

Would I never get more than a few minutes alone with my woman?

****

Jade practically jumped on me after I closed the door of my bedroom. “Oh my God, Walker. I never thought I’d see where you come from!” She clasped her hands to my face before spinning free. “This is your history.”

“Safety measures only,” I grumbled. “And I’m not exactly part of the Powwow circuit.”

But in truth, I was proud of where I came from. Proud to show her off, too, as long as everyone else kept their mouths shut about me in front of her.

I’d become a black sheep.

She squinted at me. “What was that you called me earlier?”

“
Huh
?”
Play dumb, Walker
.

“When you were talking to your dad about the rooming arrangements. You’ve said the word to me before too. In Somalia.” Jade advanced with that hip-swinging strut that really did make me dumb. “Need I remind you I pick up languages easily?”

I hooked my hands at her hips and drew her to me. “What I said was on a strictly need-to-know basis.” I kissed her, my tongue dipping inside to mate with hers. “And you don’t need to know.”

Jade leaned against my chest, her kiss-fresh lips nice and pouty.

I plucked at them again before swatting her on the ass. “Now, get changed. We got a gathering to go to.”

She stripped down with no compunction at all and no consideration for my hard-on. I wanted to keep her naked and take her out to the front room to lay her down in front of the fire just to see her skin glowing, framed by the bright flames.

I wanted my hands on her.

“So explain the nature of this gathering to me.” Pulling on panties—lacy and black, her signature color—she tossed the length of her hair over her shoulder, and the bright maroon streaks in the black sheaf looked soft and glossy.

“Only if you don’t wear a bra, with something low cut.” I bent at the waist, drawing one of her berry-colored nipples between my lips.

Her fingers curled into my hair. “
Ahhh
. Walker!”

I lapped my way to the other crest and lashed it with my tongue. Straightening up, I squeezed both plentiful tits in my hands. I rasped my palms over them before willing myself to step away.

Jade took a shaky breath. She slipped a body-hugging dark blue shirt over her head that dipped into a deep, almost navel-grazing V.

“Will this do?”

“Until I can get my hands on you again.” I grasped the nape of her neck and dragged her to my mouth.

Lush lips opened in surprise. The velvet feel of her tongue, the tight nibble of her teeth, the sweet low moan cranked my need for her higher.

Gruff and ready to fuck, I explained, “Music. Food. Celebrations. Tradition.” I backed her up to the wall, flexed my cock against her belly, and palmed her cunt through her panties. “And I’d rather be fucking you.”

“Oh, no. No, no, no.” Jade shoved me back. “I’m not missing my one chance to see you in your element.”

She continued to get ready, fitting her legs and her hips and that ass into a tight pair of leather pants I hadn’t seen before.

Her eyebrow rose when I discarded my day-old clothes and swapped them for suede breeches and moccasins laced up my calves. Hell, if I only returned to the rez once every five years, I was gonna do it right. As befitted the son of the chief. I braided my hair and tied it off with a feathered leather thong. I tossed an old flannel shirt on top, worn through years of wear and washing. At my waist I looped a long-handled tomahawk whose blade shone with a fine edge.

Jade started clipping on her holster.

“Babe. You can ditch those.”

“You have a weapon.” She pointed, frowning.