Wanted (Hostage Rescue Team Series Book 8) (3 page)

And he always made sure she got there.

Those knowing, callus-roughened fingers were so gentle on her slick flesh, sliding along the throbbing bundle of nerves in an endless caress that had her writhing and moaning. His low chuckle brushed against her jaw, his hands taking her to the brink of madness while his cock teased her opening.

It was too much. She’d gone too long without him.

“
Clay
.” She pushed up hard, trying to scramble up onto her forearms and knees but he kept her pinned beneath him and teased her until she was ready to beg.

She had no pride where he was concerned. With him she was totally free to express her sexuality in whatever way felt good and she loved it when he took control, which he almost always did. Her trust in him was absolute.

“I’m so close,” she gasped out, trembling all over. It always stunned her, how fast he took her to the brink. “Do it.” The nipple he was tormenting was still tender, but the tiny bite of pain combined with the pleasure only intensified the sensations streaking through her. She wanted him inside her.
Needed
it.

“I want to hear you when you come,” he ordered in a low voice, easing his weight forward to press the head of his cock inside her.

There was no way she could stay quiet and he knew it. Her mouth opened on a cry of pure need and she pushed back with her hips, trying to drive him inside her.

“My greedy raven,” he murmured, his pleased tone telling her he loved how she let him see her need. She
was
greedy with him. How could she not be, when he made her body feel like this?

One hand cupping her breast and the other buried between her legs, he surged forward in a single thrust that lodged him deep inside her. The sudden stretching and fullness was so intense she gasped.

Her hands gripped the bedding, needing something to hold onto. A choked sob came out of her and as the sensation swamped her she went mindless, her body acting all on its own, hips churning, hungrily going after the release hovering just out of reach.

Clay lowered more of his weight onto her, restricting her movements, and the sensation of being trapped heightened the experience. The muscles in her belly and thighs pulled tight. His fingers toyed with her sensitive bud as he began a slow, deliberate rhythm in and out of her aching core. His big body surrounded her, enveloped her, his size and strength yet another huge turn-on.

Flat on her stomach, pinned by his weight like this, she felt protected, overwhelmed, and she’d missed him so damn much…

His hips pumped slow and firm, fingers caressing her most sensitive spots until the pleasure exploded inside her. Her cries of release echoed in her own ears as the orgasm punched through her, exquisite pulse after pulse rushing through her body.

Behind her Clay growled low in his throat and thrust harder, faster until she felt him swell impossibly thicker inside her. The hand cradling her breast tightened and he buried his face in the nape of her neck as his entire body shuddered, a raw groan of ecstasy ripping out of him.

Weak with pleasure, Zoe melted back into the mattress, savoring the feel of his weight anchoring her, the way his body heat seemed to soak into her bones. “Love you,” she murmured, suddenly too tired to even keep her eyes open.

“Love you back.” He kissed her cheek, withdrew and slowly rolled off her despite her protests, then curled up behind her and tucked her into the curve of his body, her back to his chest, his thighs cradling hers.

Sleepily she trailed her fingers over one of his forearms, exploring the ropey muscles and tendons there. She would never get tired of touching him. He’d opened up so much emotionally since they’d been together. Not easy for him, after the disaster that had been his relationship with his ex-wife, but every day their bond grew stronger because he trusted Zoe completely.

She kept hoping that one day soon he’d put his old fears behind him for good and ask her to marry him. “I’m glad you’re okay. That one was scary.”

“Yeah, it was intense. Missed you.” He squeezed her tight.

Losing him would gut her. But it also annoyed her to know that if something had happened to him, legally she’d have had absolutely no say in his medical care or anything else. That wouldn’t change unless they got married.

She desperately wanted to, but she wasn’t sure if he’d ever be ready to do that again so she’d been careful not to bring it up, not wanting to pressure him for fear he’d retreat emotionally from her. The only thing she’d ever kept silent about in their relationship. Normally she wasn’t one to hold back if she had something to say.

They’d been together a year now though. If he didn’t want to marry her by now, he probably never would.

Part of her was afraid to ask because she feared she might not like the answer.

He squeezed her tighter. “Cruzie’s mom and sister were on board, too.”

Zoe gasped and tried to roll over to face him, only managed to get her head turned. “You serious?”

He nodded, those vivid blue eyes steady, dark hair trimmed short. Such a beautiful man. “They’re both okay now though.”

“Thank God for that.” She rolled back over to face the window, let out a sigh of contentment. “You feel good.”

“You too.” He smoothed her hair away from her forehead. “You’re still pretty tired, huh?”

“I just need a full night’s sleep, I think.” But the heaviness of this exhaustion was starting to worry her a little. Maybe she had mono or something. The stress of the online stalker situation wasn’t helping matters.

Maybe now that Clay was home she’d actually be able to go into a deep sleep without worrying some maniac was plotting to come after her. “If I don’t feel better by tomorrow I’ll call my doctor.”

“Okay.” He stroked his fingertips over the back of her hand, his touch so gentle, at odds with his size and often grim exterior. “Need anything? Some soup maybe?”

She smiled. He was so sweet with her, her gruff and sexy badass. “No, I’m good. This is all I need.” For now, anyway.

He was quiet for a minute, both of them enjoying the sense of closeness. “Any more weird messages in the past couple days?” he finally asked.

“A few, yeah. Haven’t checked my e-mails since this morning though, so there could be more.” She’d been getting odd messages on her pseudonym’s social media sites from a guy online that raised red flags for her. About a dozen so far over the past two weeks. She’d blocked him and he kept using new accounts to contact her.

It had gone from weird to annoying and now past that into cray-cray town. Whoever he was, the guy was purposely trying to creep her out. Clearly he was mentally ill, but something in her gut told her he might be dangerous, and that worried her the most.

Having been stalked and kidnapped once already, she had no desire to ever go through it again, and wanted this situation defused before it escalated. “I didn’t want to bug Celida about it again, given what was going on in Seattle and Anchorage.”

“I already talked to DeLuca about it, but give them to me in the morning and I’ll pass them on to Rycroft.”

Alex Rycroft, a higher-up at the NSA Clay had met on the job. “You sure?”

He snorted. “Am I sure I want to take your safety seriously? Yeah. Rycroft has all kinds of resources for that sort of thing at his disposal. And he’s a good guy. He’ll look into it. His people will be able to trace the IP address in no time.”

“All right.” Already feeling better about it, thrilled to have Clay home and cuddling her like this, she covered her mouth and let a yawn so big it made her eyes water.

“By the way, did you know Tuck and Celida are getting married this weekend?”

At that her eyes popped wide open and she half turned toward him. “What? No.”

“Yeah. This Saturday, if all goes well. Tuck asked me to stand up for him.”

Zoe was a little annoyed that her cousin and best friend hadn’t called to tell her themselves, but given that things had been crazy the past few days, she would cut them some slack. She lay back down, snuggled under the covers. “I guess I’d better dig out my bridesmaid dress and see if it still fits.” She’d bought it last fall when Celida had bought her wedding gown.

Clay grunted. “Tuck’s handling all the details for now. He thinks Celida might not be home for another couple days maybe.”

“Really? I’ll help him until she gets here, if he wants a hand.”

“I’m sure he’d appreciate it. I’m gonna set up some sort of bachelor party thing. You gonna do a shower or whatever?”

She hadn’t thought about it because there hadn’t been a firm date nailed down before now. Celida wasn’t close with her remaining family and Zoe was pretty much her only close girlfriend, but she knew most of the HRT girls and liked them.

It was rare that they all got together outside of team functions, so that would be nice. And right now all but one of them were only girlfriends rather than wives, which helped them bond and feel less like outsiders.

“I’ll do something.” Zoe wanted to plan something relaxing but special for her. Hopefully tomorrow she’d feel more like herself again.

“Okay. Figured you would.” Clay kissed the top of her head, his breath ruffling her hair slightly. “Sleep now, baby.”

“Yeah.” Secure in his embrace, she closed her eyes but couldn’t shake the feeling of dread about finding another message from her online tormenter in the morning.

****

Amanda was up early monitoring the e-mail accounts she’d been watching for the past few weeks when the call came in. She didn’t recognize the number, waited for the caller to leave a message.

Once she confirmed it was Dominic, she called him back using a burner phone. “Where are you?”

“I’m on my way from the hotel. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“
No
.” She absolutely didn’t want him in her place.

The rent here was pricey for a reason, because the security was state-of-the-art. She didn’t want anyone on the security staff to see him on video surveillance and be able to link the two of them together after the fact. Once this op was over she needed to make a clean getaway out of the country and wouldn’t risk leaving threads to tangle her up.

“I’ll meet you someplace, but tomorrow, because I’m working right now. Have you got everything?” He was supposed to have picked up his weapons and gear before he checked into the hotel.

“Yes.” He sounded pissed off at her demanding attitude, but she didn’t care. He might be the one who would take the actual shots when the time came, but she’d set this whole thing up and had done all the work. He was lucky she was giving him as much of the reward money as she was, for two pulls of the trigger.

“I’m getting close,” she told him without going into specifics. Zoe had definitely received her last message because the chatter Amanda had been monitoring had mentioned it early this morning.

And Zoe was worried enough that someone had apparently contacted the NSA on her behalf. There’d also been zero activity on her social media accounts in the past two days, something unusual that Amanda found very interesting.

Oh yeah, the bitch was scared.

“I should have her location by tomorrow afternoon.” Maybe sooner, if she was lucky.

Because she liked to fly her freak flag high and proud, Zoe stood out wherever she went. Amanda had been studying her credit card records, had found a few patterns that gave her key places to check. Getting security footage on her own was possible, but she’d already maxed out her favors with her existing contacts.

Working by herself, it was easier to go and stake a handful of places out. Zoe’s favorite coffee shop was a good place to start. “I’ll call you once I know something more.”

“What’s your deal with her, anyway? The reward is for one of the HRT guys, not their women,” he said, his voice filled with disdain.

As if targeting a woman was beneath him—a newbie enforcer for one of the Fuentes cartel’s only surviving lieutenants. She was taking a huge risk by enlisting the help of an enforcer with a short track record but time was limited and she’d had few options.

“It’s personal, and don’t worry about it because I’ve told you before, she’s the weak link. If we get her and wait, he’ll come to us.” Targeting an HRT member was difficult and downright dangerous, but getting to them through someone else without training was doable. As a soft, civilian target, Zoe would be an easy enough mark once Amanda got a lock on her location.

“Is it because of what happened with Ruiz?” he pressed.

The mention of the name gave her pause. How did he even know about Carlos?

Maybe she hadn’t been in love with Carlos Ruiz at first, but he’d been useful, good in bed when she’d traded sex for information, and the connections and intel he’d given her had proven lucrative. Given all that, it wasn’t surprising that she’d fallen for him completely within a few months. She’d loved him single-mindedly, would have done anything for him.

It hadn’t been until weeks later that she’d found out he’d been fucking around on her. He’d been obsessed with getting back together with his ex, Leticia, and it had been his undoing. Then he’d kidnapped Zoe when she’d interfered with his plan, the HRT had killed him during her rescue, and Amanda’s world had come tumbling down around her.

She’d been lost after he died. Just as lost as when her mother had drunk herself to death and she’d been bounced from foster home to foster home afterward at the age of nine.

No one had wanted her. Not really, throughout her entire life. Until Carlos.

With Carlos she’d truly believed they’d have a future together. He’d once promised her a beach house in the Caribbean, where they’d spend their days enjoying the warm trade winds that rustled through the fronds of the coconut palms outside.

Whenever things got too hard, when despair threatened to drown her, that’s what she thought of. She no longer dreamed of sharing that life with Carlos, but she would damn well take her revenge on Zoe and get the reward money to buy that house for herself.

“Let me rephrase so it’s crystal clear,” she told Dom. “My deal with her is none of your goddamn business. I hired you to do this job, and you agreed to the terms. It’s too late to walk now.”