Wicked Intentions (Steele Secrurity Book 4) (15 page)

Without asking, Heather knew who it was and why he was calling. “Your friends are severely cramping my style, Brax.”

“Well, if you didn’t have a madman stalking you and sending me pictures of you…” He let his teasing insinuation trail off before he answered his phone. She punched his arm as he connected. “Ow! Hello?”

“Ow, hello?” Noah laughed.

“Heather just punched me. I need hazard pay for this job, man,” Rebel joked.

“Man, don’t you know better than to harass a woman who has a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu? She’ll kick your ass and make you submit.”

“Don’t go dragging my sex life into this. That’s not your business.”

When the laughter on the other end of the line died down, Noah was finally able to brief Rebel on the latest. “They’re two houses down from yours, looking in windows before quickly moving on. They’re definitely looking for her. Roman and Alex are ready to tail the car, and we have GPS tracking on it. There’s no way they’re getting away from us tonight, but I doubt they lead us to Rashad just yet.”

“We’re ready and waiting. In fact, we’re getting a little impatient. Can we just turn on all the outside lights and walk around in the yard? They’re slow as fuck.”

“Rebel, it’s been several weeks since Brianna had the baby, so I know exactly how you feel. But let’s not tip them off that we know they’re out there, okay? We’re watching the outside of your house in case they come back in the middle of the night, so you’ll both be off duty. Make the most of it, then.”

“Expect the favor returned as soon as you’re ready, man. Just say the word.”

“Taking you up on that, brother. They’re moving in your direction now. Look pretty for their cameras.”

With that, Noah disconnected, and Rebel hid his secure phone under his leg. When the two dark figures moved into the view of the window, Rebel and Heather both almost laughed out loud.

“It would be funny if it wasn’t so damn aggravating,” Heather harrumphed. “Let’s just go outside, kick their asses, and be done with them already.”

“You know I would if it would help stop this. We’re on them, babe. Don’t worry. Let them take a few pictures of us to prove to their boss they’re on top of things, and we’ll take them all down at the same time. You’ll get to kick the whole group’s ass at once.”

“Promises, promises. The two stooges are gone. Take me upstairs now. You have promises you’re going to make good on tonight.”

“Your pleasure,” he quipped. “And mine.”

R
ebel walked
to the window and closed the blinds before turning his heated stare to his wife. After all the years they’d been together, nothing had ever diminished or sated his desire for her. Every touch and taste of her only made him want her more. Even if they didn’t already know each other well enough to interpret every expression and every touch, there was no mistaking the desire that burned like a white-hot flame in their eyes when their gazes met.

With a determined stride, he lifted her in his arms. She locked her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, and their mouths clashed in desperate need. He took the stairs two at a time on his way to the master bedroom. When he kicked the door closed behind him, he immediately turned and pressed her back against it. With one hand supporting her weight, he used the other to remove her shirt. His fingers deftly unhooked the front clasp of her bra, and she let it slide off her arms.

She grabbed the hem of his shirt and lifted it over his head, their lips breaking contact only for a split second. His fingers expertly kneaded her breast, slightly pinching and tugging on her sensitive nipples, while she used the door as leverage to rub against his rock-hard cock.

“Brax,” she pleaded.

With a growl, his kiss became even more demanding and possessive as he all but devoured her. So consumed with the feel of his mouth on hers, she didn’t realize he’d moved her to the bed until she felt her jeans being unbuttoned. When his lips left hers, she opened her eyes and watched him slide her pants down her legs. Like a predator stalking its prey, he moved with purpose when he crawled up her body. She watched with fiery desire as he dipped his head and pulled the satiny fabric of her panties with his teeth. With a slight lift of her hips, he tugged them the rest of the way off her.

When his face disappeared between her legs, she braced herself for the overwhelming sensation and intimate pleasure she knew would follow. His warm, wet tongue drove straight inside her wetness and vigorously rolled from side to side. Her fingers dug into the duvet as her body writhed against his mouth involuntarily. When he slid his hands underneath her and lifted her hips, his eyes flicked up to meet hers before he leaned in to capture her clit between his teeth. With light pressure on his bite, he narrowed his eyes teasingly at her.

“You’re killing me, Brax,” she moaned. “I’m dying a slow, amazing death.”

“No, baby, you’re not dying an amazing death yet. I’m only getting started with you. For now, my tongue gets the distinct pleasure of fucking you. Then my fingers will join in on the fun. My dick is already as hard as fucking nails, but you’ll find that out firsthand soon enough.”

As he spoke, he thrust his finger inside her and relished in the knowledge the intense pleasure she felt was at his hand. Literally. His finger and tongue worked in tandem before he added a second finger. The scruff of his beard rubbed against the sensitive skin of her inner thigh, making her whole body shudder from the mixture of pleasure and pain. He worked his hand and his tongue faster and harder until she fell apart under his touch.

He licked his lips as he raised his head and smirked knowingly at her. “You look so content and relaxed. You’re even glowing. I’d say you need this treatment daily.”

“At least daily,” she agreed and rearranged their positions until he was flat on his back. “And now I’m going to remind you what you’re missing when you leave me to run off to Miami.”

“Babe, I don’t leav— Holy shit!”

The warmth of her soft, wet mouth wrapped around the head of his cock stole his thoughts. His fingers threaded through her short black hair and held on tightly through wave after wave of her taking him deeper. The muscles throughout his body tensed, and he fought with all he had to remain in control. He wasn’t anywhere near ready for their first round to be finished, but the way she pleasured him was more torture than even he could bear.

When he tried to stop her, she worked her mouth and her hand faster, leaving no doubt of her determination to finish what she’d started. Each time he hit the back of her throat, she swallowed, forcing the muscles to tighten around him and making his attempts to resist completely futile.

She recognized the signs his body innately exhibited the very second he couldn’t withstand the torture by pleasure any longer. His entire body became rigid just before every muscle relaxed and the dam holding his restraint broke. After taking every drop he had to offer, she smiled up at him triumphantly. “Just a little something to think about next time you leave me.”

She straddled him and lowered herself on his still hard erection until he was fully inside her. She rocked her hips back and forth as he pushed his hips upward, repeatedly driving into her. In a swift move, he switched their positions and melted her with his lustful scrutiny of her naked body. “I promised you hard and rough, didn’t I?”

Before she could answer, he drove hard and fast into her, eliciting a spontaneous and unrestrained scream of passion. Between the alternating grinding and full forward thrusts, she gripped the bed tightly and reveled in the sensations only he could give her. With a matched tempo, they moved together until their bodies were slick with sweat, their breathing was labored, and their energy was spent. Their mouths connected in a kiss, tongues caressed and danced, and fingers dug into skin when they finally reached the height of their pleasure and fell over the edge together.

With one smooth motion, he rotated them both as one body to avoid crushing her under his weight. Spent from sheer exhaustion, she rested her head on his chest and his arms encircled her, holding her tightly to him, savoring the moment. Within minutes, they were both fast asleep, their bodies still entwined, their hearts beating against the other’s chest. It was hours later when Rebel stirred, trying to gingerly move Heather to a more comfortable sleeping position.

“I’ve missed you so much, Brax,” she whispered in the darkness.

“I’ve missed you too. For the record, I never
want
to leave you, my love. I’ve never wanted that, and I will never want it.”

“I hate it, Brax. I hate being apart from you, and I hate that we’ve missed out on so much time we could’ve spent together all these years. I’ve always been supportive because it’s important to you. But it kills me every time I have to watch you leave. And every time, I wonder how much longer we can stay together while we’re so far apart.”

Though he’d thought along the same lines himself at one point or another, hearing her say the words out loud was like a knife to his heart. The quiver in her voice when she spoke was his only clue that she was crying. “Why didn’t you ever tell me you felt this strongly about it?”

“I can’t make you choose between your life with me and your life without me, Brax. We agreed to this arrangement a long time ago, so it’s not fair for me to expect you to give up everything you’ve worked for. If I’m not willing to give up my life here, I can’t ask you to give up your life in Miami. Somehow, we need to make our lives into a life, though.”

“You asked me if I’d give it all up for you, and I told you I would in a heartbeat. You know me well enough by now to know those aren’t just idle words to placate you. I honestly mean it. It sounds like you’ve let this build up for a while without saying anything and you’re reaching the end of your rope. I’m not going to lose you, Heather.”

“I want a baby, Braxton. I want us to have a family.” She held her breath after she’d spoken the words while she waited for his reply.

After several long heartbeats of silence, he finally spoke. “Are you sure? I’m strong, but I’m not strong enough to go through that again.”

That.
He didn’t have to elaborate. She knew exactly what he meant. “Brax, Dalton died from SIDS. It wasn’t anything we did or didn’t do. As terrible as it was, and as much as it hurt, it wasn’t our fault. Of course, I’ll be a nervous wreck for the first year after having a baby just because I’ll be hyperaware of everything. But after going to nursing school and to counseling, I’ve learned a lot about what happened to us. We didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I know,” he conceded. “My rational mind knows that, anyway.”

“Promise me you’ll think about it. We’re not getting any younger, you know.”

“You know I will.”

After a restless night, Rebel and Heather left their house to head to the hotel for a meeting with the others. Brad, Roman, Alex, and Blake were still conducting surveillance of the properties, while the rest of the team worked leads they’d managed to put together from multiple sources. Rebel had enjoyed his assignment the most—his job was to guard his wife’s body from every angle, at all hours of the day and night.

“We have a tail.” Heather rolled her eyes. “Will they ever give up? They’re terrible at this.”

Rebel laughed. “Be glad they are. We don’t want to lead them to Brianna and Amelia. They’ve already threatened Brianna’s life as it is.”

“Let’s turn the tables on them. Lose them, but don’t lose them, and we can follow them back to where they’re staying.”

“We already know where they’re staying, babe, from the GPS tracker tailing them the other night. But they’re not the guys we need to bust just yet. Although, this is a different car, and they could very well be staying somewhere else.”

“They could lead us to the ones we need to nab first. You never know.”

“You’re going stir-crazy,” Rebel replied, suddenly understanding.

“Yes, I am. I can’t stare at the same four walls for much longer. This is the last week I have off of work, and then I need to get back to it. Two weeks off is a long time in the life of an oncology nurse. I haven’t even gotten to see Steve Steele.”

“Okay. We’ll have some fun with your inept stalkers first, and when we get to the hotel, I’ll suggest we go see Steve later this evening. I know Noah and Brianna have talked to him every day, so he’s still doing okay. I’m sure he’d love to see everyone in person, though. Silas will have to go in disguise again.”

“We can all go in disguise. It’ll be fun.”

“Yeah, you’re definitely getting cabin fever all right.” Rebel grinned and laid his hand on her leg. With a light squeeze, he continued. “Let’s see what they’ve got, shall we?”

“It’s about time we get to do something other than hiding out inside the house. I love you, babe, but I’m used to being on the move. I’ve missed training at my Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy. My rolling partners will think I’ve dropped out,” she complained.

“No, they won’t. They know you’re obsessed with training, sparring, rolling, and otherwise taking them to the mat to make them tap out.”

“Yes, that is very true,” she agreed with a nod. “Let’s make
these
guys tap out now.”

As the light turned yellow, Rebel gunned the engine and sped through the intersection. After making a last-second left turn, he immediately turned right and parked in a street-level parking lot. The car that tailed them got caught behind other cars at the red light. From Rebel’s vantage point, he watched the two men through his binoculars. The driver banged his fist on the steering wheel, anger seared on his face, and the passenger blatantly yelled in frustration.

“I think Dude Two is trying to get Dude One to drive on the wrong side of the road,” Rebel chuckled. “These two are definitely not in the upper echelon of competent terrorists. In fact, I’m not convinced they’re not meant to be a distraction.”

“What if they are, Brax? I didn’t even think of that.”

“It doesn’t matter if they are, babe. We need to vet it either way. Any little bit of information we can glean is better than no information at all.”

“Here they come.” Heather couldn’t contain the excitement in her voice when she pointed toward the gunmetal gray compact car that darted around the other vehicles immediately when the light changed.

Rebel waited patiently as they passed by without a sideways glance in his direction. Allowing a few cars in between, he pulled out of the parking lot and casually followed them. Their erratic driving pattern of speeding to the next cross street, slowing to a crawl, then speeding up again until they reached the next intersection would soon attract the attention of the local police. “They’re panicking, babe. They can’t find us.”

Cool and calm, Rebel continued following them, hidden in plain sight within the increasingly angry pack of drivers who were unlucky enough to be trapped behind the chaos. When they finally gave up searching for Rebel, they made a quick U-turn and sped off in the opposite direction. Rebel made the same maneuver at the next light to keep distance between them and not draw their attention to the cars behind them. As he suspected, they seemed oblivious to the casual tail following them.

They followed the nondescript car to a part of town where the residents turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to anything that went on around them. Any questions created problems, and every family had enough problems of their own without inviting trouble from strangers. As long as they didn’t see, didn’t hear, and didn’t know, they couldn’t be held accountable for anyone else’s actions. When the terrorists pulled into the driveway of their run-down, ramshackle house, no one even glanced in their direction.

Rebel and Heather parked one street over, a block away from their targets, and kept a vigilant watch on the house. “This isn’t one of the addresses Brad found,” Heather pointed out.

“No, it’s not. This is new intel.”

“Is this what your job is like every day?”

“Some variation of it, yeah. Some days are more exciting than doing a simple tail and sitting through a boring stakeout. Today is a good day, though, because you’re with me.”

“This is actually fun. I love this cloak-and-dagger shit.”

“It’s not so much fun when the bullets start flying, babe.”

“You can teach me what to do, Brax. You know all the tricks of the trade.”

He cut his eyes to her and slowly raised his eyebrows. “You want me to teach my wife, the love of my life, about participating in a live ammunition shootout?”

“Yes.”

“I know that look, Heather. You’re not going to let this go, are you?”