Chapter Twelve
Saxon walked Elizabeth to the door of her cottage. He knew the place was equipped with a state of the art alarm system—after all, he’d had Victor install the system. But he still hesitated at her door. “Why don’t you let me go inside first?” Saxon asked her. “Just to make sure everything is safe?”
“Is that why you wanted to see me home? More guard duty?”
He shook his head. “I told you…the lover and the guard are the same.” He took the keys from her. Disengaged the lock. Her security system was beeping and he put in the access code.
“You know my code, too?” There was a sharp note in her voice, one that told him he’d just screwed up.
“Protocol,” he told her without looking back. He was busy scanning her cottage right then. “In case of an emergency, Victor had to be sure I knew it.”
He made his way through the little cottage, searching swiftly but thoroughly, going in all the rooms, stopping only in—
Her bedroom.
Damn, but the place already smelled just like her. Sweet and sexy. His gaze strayed to the bed. A four-poster. What he’d like to do to her in that bed…
“Is it clear?”
Her voice was close.
He turned toward her. “Clear.” But he didn’t move out of that bedroom. He wanted to stay right there, to fuck her all night long.
Forever.
I have it so damn bad.
Elizabeth was in the doorway, watching him carefully. “Who are you?”
“What?”
“Are you the man I met in Miami, the guy who could kill as easily as he could kiss?”
He stiffened.
“Or are you the poised businessman I met today? The guy who had me naked in his office within five minutes?”
“Elizabeth—”
“You’ve been a dozen men, haven’t you? Over the years…all those undercover jobs.”
Yes, he had been.
“Who is the real Saxon? What’s that man like?”
He was just like the guy…who could kill as easily as he could kiss.
“It’s so extreme. Miami to…to this place.” She took a step forward. “Victor told me that you were dead to me. I didn’t think I would ever see you again, and now—now you’re right in front of me, but I feel like I don’t know you at all.”
He had to be careful here. There was fear in her gaze, and he hated that. “You know me better than most people do.”
“Really? Because I don’t know your favorite color. I don’t know your favorite food. I don’t know your family. I don’t feel like I know anything…but how you kiss and how you fight and how you fuck.”
Anger hummed in his blood. He stalked toward her, stopping only when they were bare inches apart. “You’re asking about things that don’t matter.”
“I need to know you. I need to know that I’m not being crazy to trust you so much because…I-I do trust you. In this whole insanely messed-up world that I’m living in now, you’re the one man that I trust completely.”
And he knew exactly how precious the gift of her trust was. “Blue. Sushi.”
A furrow appeared between her brows. “What?”
“My favorite color is blue, and my favorite food is sushi.”
Now her eyes widened.
“The only family I have left…that would be Victor and a woman you haven’t met.” Not yet. If he had his way, though, they would. One day soon. “Her name’s Jasmine, and she’s the closest thing to a sister that I’ve ever had. I mentioned her to you before.”
She kept staring at him. What did the woman want? For him to bare his soul?
For her, I will.
“I met Jasmine and Vic when I was a teenager.” He lifted his right hand and stared at the line of scars across his knuckles. “I was a fighter, so was Vic. Any battle, any place, as long as we got paid.” There hadn’t exactly been a lot of employment options for him back then. But he’d been big and strong and the wrong kind of people had been interested in watching him beat the living hell out of others. “One day, I fought Vic. The bastard was as strong as I was. When it was over, we were both so bloody and broken we could barely move. Everyone else just walked away from us…everyone but Jasmine.”
Her hand lifted and caught his. She brought his scarred knuckles to her mouth and pressed a gentle kiss to them. Saxon inhaled sharply, but he continued, “It became the three of us against the world. We stayed together, through thick and thin. Through so much darkness. Victor is the one who wanted to join the FBI. I’d had his back for years, so I followed him.” And he’d kept doing the job, one bloody day at a time until… “Then I realized I wanted something for myself. Jasmine—she married a lucky bastard from Vegas. He helped set the deal for the winery.” Now his lips curled. “The guy would do anything for her.” Even nearly die. But that was another story. “And I knew that place was going to be my ticket out.”
“But you’re risking that ticket, for me. What if someone tracks me here, what if they find you, what if—”
“I can handle anything that comes my way.” Only that wasn’t exactly true. He couldn’t handle her. She made him feel off-balance and uncertain. And he wanted her too much. “This is our chance for a normal life, Elizabeth. Yours and mine. No one knows about our pasts here. We’re safe.” They could be just like every other person out there. They could actually have a shot at happiness.
If she’d just take a chance on him.
He stepped closer, closing that final distance between them. “Keep trusting me,” he told her. “Always, no matter what. Because I swear, I will never betray you. Not for anything or anyone.” She could count on him.
“Why?”
He frowned down at her even as his left hand curled under her chin.
“Why have you done all of this for me? Why are you still doing so much?”
“Because I want you.”
Her breath whispered out. “It has to be about more than desire. I’m sure you’ve wanted plenty of women.”
“I have.” He wouldn’t lie to her. “But I didn’t think about them every minute of every day. I didn’t dream about them.”
Her gaze searched his.
“You’re in my blood, sweetheart, and I can’t get you out. I want you, more than I’ve ever wanted anything.” Even the new life he’d worked to get.
“Saxon…”
His cock jerked. “I like the way you say my name.” Soft and husky, with an edge of desire. His head lowered toward hers and he kissed her, a light press of his mouth at first, but when her lips parted, his tongue swept inside, claiming her. Deeper, harder, he kissed her as the need he felt for her raged ever hotter within him.
The bed was right behind him. He could have her on that bed, have her naked and spread beneath him, in about five seconds flat.
He started to lift her into his arms.
Elizabeth pulled her mouth from his. “No.”
The drumbeat of his heart seemed to echo in his ears. Lust surged through him, his cock ached and she was telling him—
“This time, we’re doing this my way.” She slid away from him. “Do you trust me?”
He blinked at her. He trusted Vic. He trusted Jasmine. He—
“I trust you,” Elizabeth said. “Now it’s your turn to trust me.”
Then her hands went to his belt and her knees hit the floor before him.
The surge of desire that hit him then was so strong that Saxon almost felt light-headed. “Sweetheart, no, you don’t—”
She had the belt unhooked. She unsnapped his pants, slid down the zipper, and then she had his straining cock in her hands. Soft, silken hands that caressed him and pumped his flesh, making him grit his teeth and lock down all of the muscles in his body.
Because I want in her. I want to make her scream when she comes for me.
I want to come in her. Want to prove she’s mine. Always mine. Forever.
But he didn’t move. He waited, for her.
Elizabeth stared up at him. Elizabeth on her knees before him—her eyes tinted with desire and her cheeks flushed as she leaned toward him—that was probably the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.
Then her lips touched him and his eyes squeezed shut. Fuck.
Her hands were still around him, pumping his flesh. Bringing his desire to a feverish intensity, but her mouth—oh, hell, yes, her mouth had closed around the tip of his cock. A wet, hot heaven as she sucked him. Her name broke from him as a frenzied growl when Elizabeth took him in even deeper, moving her head now in a rhythm designed to absolutely shred his control.
His hands were on her shoulders. Holding her far too tightly. He forced his eyes open because he wanted to see her, and, hell, yes, she was even sexier now. Moving with sensuality as she licked and caressed and—
I can’t take anymore.
He lifted her up.
“Saxon, no, I wasn’t finished—”
He put her on the bed. When she reached out for him again, he managed to bark, “Don’t.”
She froze.
Only a thin sliver of his control remained.
He stripped while her eyes stayed on him. Such deep, green eyes. The first time he’d seen her eyes, he’d known then that—
“Oh, Saxon.”
His shirt had hit the floor. Her gaze took in the wounds that were now fresh scars.
She moved to the edge of the bed. Her fingers were trembling when she reached out to touch one of the long, red scars. “You nearly died because of me.”
For you. There was a difference, but he wasn’t sure she was ready to hear that yet. “Protecting you was my job.”
There were tears in her eyes. Tears. He didn’t like to see her beautiful eyes filled with tears. He wanted to see the desire again. The need for him. Not tears.
“We should be careful,” she whispered, “We should—”
His lips took hers, and he wasn’t careful. He wasn’t gentle. He wasn’t controlled. He had the one thing he wanted most, and he wasn’t about to let go.
Or waste a moment being careful.
He tumbled her back on the bed. Caught her hands in one of his and pinned them above her head. Then his free hand went down and pushed up her skirt. All day, he’d known that she wasn’t wearing panties. Those torn panties had been safely secured in his drawer, and she’d been bare.
He touched her silken flesh now. Pushed his fingers into her sex even as he kissed her. She was wet for him. Wet and ready and there was no going back for him.
“Don’t move,” Saxon ordered her.
Her breath seemed to catch.
He lifted up, and he didn’t bother unbuttoning her shirt—he just yanked it open. Buttons flew, and he didn’t care. He’d buy her another blouse, maybe one that matched her ripped panties. An emerald color to go with her eyes? Buy her anything. Everything.
The sexy black bra she wore was pure temptation. It lifted her breasts up toward him, an offering that he’d never refuse. He kissed her through that lace, then he shoved the bra out of his way and took her nipple into his mouth.
“Saxon!”
He sucked her harder. Scored her with his teeth.
And he parted her legs. He positioned his cock at the entrance of her body. She was so incredibly soft and hot and when he thrust into her, Saxon nearly lost his mind.
He angled his body down, making sure that every thrust of his hips pushed him against her clit. She moaned for him and twisted beneath him. Saxon licked her other breast. Her nipple was tight and hard. So very perfect.
He withdrew. Thrust deeper.
He had her underneath him in that four-poster bed. He was in her so deep and her sex was a tight glove. She was whispering his name, her nails were digging in his back.
There were no fears. No hesitations. No questions.
Just a white-hot desire that burned right through everything else.
She came for him. He felt the ripples of her release all around his cock even as she arched up against him and gasped out his name.
Then he let go. He drove into her again and again. The bed thudded into the wall, the frame seemed to shake beneath them, and he didn’t care. He didn’t give a fuck about anything—
But, well, fucking her.
Deeper, harder. The desire consumed him. He couldn’t stop. Couldn’t slow down. He could only feel her and when the climax hit him, Saxon was lost. The pleasure beat through him, so powerful and consuming that nothing else mattered. He held on to her as tightly as he could.
And when the pleasure finally ebbed, when the aftershocks stopped running through their bodies, he finished stripping. He tucked her under the covers and then slid in the bed beside her.
He’d slept in countless hotels, dozens of apartments, hell, he’d even slept on the street—both before and during his undercover days.
But as his eyes drifted closed right then, as Elizabeth curled her body around his, this time—this bed—this place—it was the first time that he’d ever felt as if he were sleeping…at home.
***
Victor had spent years cultivating contacts—some on the right side of the law and some on the wrong. So when he needed intel on a dead prisoner, he got that intel. And when he needed to learn more about a missing woman…he had full access to her records.
So just hours after he left the prison, he knew that Zoe Peters was a twenty-seven-year-old, ex-Vegas showgirl who’d packed up all her belongings and moved to a little town in South Carolina—a place called Bluff. Only a few weeks after moving to the town, she’d vanished.
And a day later, well, that was the day that Titus Rowe had been killed by Luther Bates. Shanked in the shower—not a particularly glamorous way to go, but one that had surely involved plenty of gore. From all accounts, Luther had nearly severed the man’s head.
For Luther to make such a personal move, to kill with plenty of witnesses around—well, obviously, he’d wanted to send a message.
A message that was linked to Rowe?
Because, once upon a time, Rowe and Luther Bates had worked together. Rowe set up a few explosions for Luther. Rowe had a dark and dangerous skill when it came to bomb-making, and, apparently, he’d been all too eager to make buildings explode for the right money.
Victor’s detective work had revealed that Rowe had one child, a son who owned property just outside of Charleston, South Carolina. Now, as fate would have it, Charleston and Bluff were only two hours away from each other.
Coincidence?
Hell, no. Victor sure didn’t think so.
And that was why he was currently headed to Charleston…hopefully to find Rowe’s son Hugh and to recover the missing show girl.
Then maybe, finally, he could get some fucking peace. I’ll have peace, once that hit is off Elizabeth’s head.
***
Gary Warren sat hunched in the interrogation room chair. He still hurt, dammit, and he could sure have used more drugs from those docs. But instead of getting some sweet oblivion from pain meds, they had him stuck in this place. Those bastards were just keeping him waiting. He’d demanded to see Victor so long ago—hours ago! And the prick hadn’t shown. This shit wasn’t going to work for him.
And neither is jail. I can’t spend my days locked in solitaire. And I sure as hell don’t plan to be in general population.
So Victor needed to get his sorry ass in there and start working a deal.
The door opened.
Gary looked up, glaring. “Finally!” he snarled.
Tracy smiled at him.
He stiffened. “Where’s Victor?”
Tracy shut the door. Leaned back against it. “He didn’t tell me where he was going. The guy just left me at a prison and took off for who the hell knows where.” She shook her head. “You know Victor. He’s not exactly the sharing type. Not so trusting, you know.” One eyebrow lifted. “Probably because guys like you keep betraying him.”
Now that Tracy was there, he figured folks must be in the next room, too, watching through that one-way mirror on the wall to the left. He leaned back in the chair and kept his eyes on her.
Tracy didn’t move from the door. “Don’t you want to know who he was visiting at that prison? After all, that is the job he felt was more important. He didn’t come rushing back to see you. I’m the one who flew back down. He was more concerned with what the inmate up there had told him.”
His fingers drummed on the table. Tracy wouldn’t have the pull to get him a deal. The woman was pretty, a nice piece of ass, and smart. He’d admired her while they worked together. But she didn’t have power right now. I still have power. Power he intended to leverage. If the FBI wanted him to talk, then they’d better get ready to deal.
“He was there to see Luther Bates.”
Gary tensed. Yeah, he’d admit it, he was still afraid of Luther…even though the guy was in prison.
“Bates killed a man recently. Took out another inmate in the shower.” She shrugged. “So much for his chance at parole.”
Gary had to laugh. “You know better than that.” The right money could make any witness disappear and witnesses in prison were particularly expendable.
Her gaze slid toward the mirror on the left. The one-way mirror. “I went into the prison and talked to Bates, too.”
Sweat slickened his palms so he flattened them on the table. “Did you now?” He knew better than to show any fear.
“He told me…that you were a dead man.”
Not yet.
She walked toward him. He saw that she had her weapon holstered on her hip. His gaze rose from that weapon back up to her face.
“You’re going to leave solitaire when you go back to the prison,” Tracy said softly. “You…know that, right? It’s general population time for you. And Bates will have someone waiting there to take you out. Because you didn’t do your job. Not two years ago, and not now.”
“I’m not that easy to eliminate.” Shit, he needed Vic there. So he’d shot up Saxon, what was the big fucking deal? Saxon was expendable—just muscle they used to infiltrate gangs.
Disposable.
She was near the table. Staring down at him.
“Victor thinks he can get the hit called off Elizabeth Ward. He worked out some kind of deal with Bates—Bates is actually going to back off, provided Victor carries things through.”
No. Shit, no. Bates was supposed to have his back. He’d risked everything for that bastard. Risked it all…for the payout that wouldn’t be coming.
His laughter was bitter. “She didn’t remember me, did she?”
Tracy’s expression didn’t alter.
“I was so worried Elizabeth Ward would remember meeting me, but she didn’t.” His brows lifted as he gazed up at Tracy. “I went to her parents’ house, I talked to her. That was the way I handled things back then. I got the lay of the land by pretending to be from a security firm.”
Now Tracy was the one to laugh. “That was two years ago! Are you seriously telling me you thought a witness would remember your face from that long ago?” She shook her head. “You know most witnesses can’t ever remember shit.”
No, most couldn’t. Five minutes after they’d met someone, they forgot the person’s face. But there were certain people who were more observant, who actually did recall—
“How much were you being paid? Because I don’t buy this crap about you going after her because you thought she might remember a five minute meeting from two freaking years ago.”
Ah, Tracy. She was always rather good at cutting to the heart of the matter. “When the three Wards are dead, Bates will pay the million dollar bounty.”
Understanding lit her gaze. “It was an all or nothing deal, huh? Guess you got screwed on it.”
“If Victor and Saxon hadn’t fought to keep her alive—” He broke off. If those two jerks hadn’t been in his way, Elizabeth would be dead. And he’d be rich.
“You made a mistake,” Tracy said softly as she leaned toward him. “You thought you could take down Victor and Saxon, but you weren’t strong enough to handle them. And now that Victor talked to Bates, I’m sure he’s learned plenty about you.”
Rage and fear poured through him. Bates had sent him out on plenty of kills. But if Bates thought he was going to turn on Gary…Think again! Bates wasn’t going to betray him. I’ll betray you first! I know all your secrets, too—and, bastard, I’ve already spilled some of them! Not to the Feds, but to others who’d been willing to pay a premium price…
Like to a man out for his own revenge, a man named Titus Rowe. Both Titus and the guy’s son—Hugh—they were more than eager to collect their pound of flesh. A life for a life.
Every man had a weakness. And a price.
“I want to see Victor!” Gary demanded and his fisted hands slammed onto the table. “You bring him to me, right now!”
“Told you already,” she murmured. “He’s not here. He sent me back to keep an eye on you.” Her gaze drifted over him. Her voice was a mocking whisper as she said, “I guess a dead man isn’t really his priority.”
His control snapped as the rage took over. After all of those years and everything he’d done, things couldn’t end this way for him. “You bitch! I won’t let you do this to me!” He shot across the table, his hands going right for her throat. They tumbled back, falling together when their bodies collided.
The bullets hit him before he and Tracy hit the floor. The bullets thudded into his chest and he realized—she’d drawn her gun before he ever touched her.
His hands were still around her throat and his blood was pumping out.
The door flew open and banged against the wall. Footsteps thundered toward them.
He stared into Tracy’s eyes.
“See,” she whispered, her voice so low that only he could hear it. “I told you…you were a dead man.”
Then he realized…She talked to Bates…she—
“One down,” she whispered. “One to go.”
Hard hands grabbed him and pulled him off her. He tried to speak, but he was just coughing up blood.
“I-I didn’t have a choice,” Tracy said, her voice tumbling out with a high, desperate edge as the other officers went to work on him. “He came at me. I-I didn’t have a choice!”
Pain pulsed through his chest. That lying, traitorous bitch.
He’d trained her too well.