Chapter Fourteen

Autumn jolted awake in complete darkness. Fear surged through her, making her body go rigid, her heart swelling painfully in her chest. Her arms and legs ached from being bound together behind her. Her mouth was dry, the piece of tape over her lips. She was still locked in the trunk, but it wasn’t as hot as it had been. Where had the man taken her?

The car stopped.

Her pulse pounded sickeningly in her ears when a door opened and shut. Footsteps came toward the back of the car.

Autumn tensed, a film of cold sweat coating her skin as she waited.

The trunk popped open. She squeezed her eyes shut, but no light penetrated her eyelids so she opened them. It was dark out. The bad man from before leaned over her, a light somewhere in the background illuminating half of his face. Fear slithered through her when he grinned, the light gleaming on his gold front tooth.

“It’s time, little angel,” he said in an accented voice that sounded almost excited. He held up a phone, the bright flash of light blinding her as he took a picture.

By the time she opened her eyes again he was reaching for her. She bit back a cry of fear, tried to scurry backward away from him but with her limbs bound she couldn’t move. The man grabbed her, roughly jerked her out of the trunk and tossed her over his shoulder. Bone dug into her belly and she gritted her teeth, determined not to cry in front of him.

But inside she was shaking with terror.

He carried her a short distance to another vehicle, where a different man waited. “You fed her?” the new one asked.

“Nah. What’s the point?”

Autumn couldn’t help but struggle as the first man passed her over to the second. He carried her to the new car and lowered her into the trunk. She tried to scream for help but the tape muffled her voice. No matter how she kicked and screamed, the man’s grip didn’t loosen. He didn’t say a word to her as he closed the lid, locking her inside. She thrashed and wiggled around, tears streaming down her cheeks, but it was no use. The first man had tied her too tightly.

Then a door shut and the engine started. A moment later the car began moving. Taking her farther away from her parents, and anyone else that might help her.

Autumn sagged on the musty carpet inside the trunk and cried, wishing with all her might that her daddy would come with his team and rescue her. Shoot the bad man who had her and get her out of this trunk.

Daddy, where are you? Please find me.

****

Reid hadn’t expected to doze off, but he must have, because the next thing he knew his eyes snapped open in the semi-darkness of his bedroom, his heart in his throat and his pulse pounding out of control in his ears.

Autumn. He’d dreamed of her trapped in a dark place, alone, crying out for him.

Fuck.

He swallowed hard and rolled away from Tess, who was curled on her side next to him, sound asleep. He’d lain awake for a long time, staring at the ceiling with her warm weight settled against him while her breathing slowed and she slipped into a deep sleep. Feeling guilty as hell for being safe and warm in the face of what his daughter was going through at that same moment, and yet pitifully grateful for Tess’s soothing presence.

Sitting up, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and ran a shaky hand over his face. Was his daughter still alive? Had the dream meant something? A glance at the clock showed he’d only been asleep for about twenty minutes.

“Reid?”

He stiffened, didn’t speak as Tess shifted over and set a hand on his back.

“You okay?” she murmured.

No, he was the furthest thing from okay. He was going out of his mind.

Without a word, Tess scooted closer and pressed her soft body against his back. She wound her arms around his chest, resting her cheek on the top of his spine. He was so keyed up he almost shrugged her off and shoved from the bed, but she didn’t deserve his anger and frustration. She was just trying to help.

Right now, though, he was walking a dangerous line. A volatile mix of emotions churned inside him, a raging storm he couldn’t escape. And in that moment, that’s exactly what he craved—an escape. A distraction. More than he’d ever craved alcohol. And Tess was unwittingly placing herself directly in the line of fire.

“Can I do anything?” she asked, gently rubbing one hand over his chest in comforting little circles. But instead of calming him, her touch blended with the chaotic rush of adrenaline and fear roaring through his veins. The darkness was a living thing inside him, searching for an outlet.

Not trusting his ability to contain it, Reid reached up and locked his hand around her wrist, stilling the gentle movement, trying to think of an answer to her question. Yes. Make me forget. Get me out of my head, even if it’s just for a little while. Please.

The desperate plea was like a scream in his head, filling his throat, his mouth, until he all but choked on it.

Tess cuddled in even closer, turned her face into his nape and pressed a kiss to his overheated skin.

Reid closed his eyes and forced air into his aching lungs, banishing the hellish image of Autumn’s frightened face and focusing instead on the dark undercurrent of desire heating his blood. Tess was soft and warm along his back, her clean, pear scent wrapping around him. Easing the constriction in his ribcage even as she made the fire burn hotter.

The weight of her breasts nestled against his back as she shifted, her lips brushing along the oversensitive skin at the side of his neck. He sucked in a breath as heat exploded throughout his body, pooling between his legs. His cock surged, swelling until it strained the front of his jeans. Aching for her touch.

“Tess,” he choked out, his voice a warning rasp. She had no idea what she was doing to him. How on edge he was.

“I’m right here,” she whispered back, gliding her lips up to his jaw, to the edge of his mouth. Willingly offering herself to him. A sacrificial lamb to slake the hunger of the beast raging inside him.

The beast snapped its chain.

Releasing her wrist, Reid spun around and captured her face in his hands. In the faint light coming into the bedroom from the hallway, he caught the flare of surprise in her eyes, and the darkening of desire.

And when she lowered her lashes and leaned forward to press her lips to his, he was lost.

Reid gripped handfuls of her silky hair and slanted his mouth across hers, unleashing his inner demons, desperation driving him.

Tess gasped softly at his ravenous hunger but didn’t pull away, pushing the softness of her breasts to his chest as he plundered her mouth with his tongue. His body was like an exposed high voltage line, every single brush of her against him sending electricity racing along his nerve endings.

He pushed her backward, turning them so he could pin her beneath him on the mattress, starving for the feel and taste of her, the chance at oblivion she offered.

Wedging his hips between her thighs, he settled the ridge of his erect cock against her center and gripped the bottom of her shirt to peel it over her head. She raised her arms to help him, undid her bra as he tossed the shirt aside, revealing the plump mounds of her breasts, her nipples erect.

Pushing them together with his hands, he dove down to capture one straining center in his mouth. Tess moaned and arched her back, her fingers clenching in his hair for a moment before running down his back to pull his shirt up.

Reid released her captive nipple only long enough to shrug out of his shirt, then went back to sucking and nipping at her tender flesh, his hands going straight for the fly of his jeans. Tess wrapped her arms around his shoulders, one hand holding his head to her breasts while he shucked his jeans and underwear and kicked them off.

She made a hungry, approving sound and reached for his hips, her fingers like fire against his skin, stroking over his ass, the backs of his thighs, tracing the line of his hipbones until finally, finally, she gripped his heavy, swollen cock.

Reid froze for a second and shuddered at the feel of her gripping him, a guttural growl tearing from his throat. Her lips were hot against his chest, kissing, sucking, a lash on his already frayed control.

Breathing hard, he fumbled with the fastening of her jeans. Her fist stroking his raging hot flesh, making him shudder, she raised her hips so he could drag the denim down her smooth legs, leaving her in just a scrap of black lace.

She slid her fist up the length of his cock, making a swirling motion around the swollen head. Pleasure punched through him, a greedy, voracious need he was frantic to satisfy.

Hooking his hands in the waistband of her panties, he yanked sharply, ripping the fabric apart. Tess gasped at the barely leashed violence of it, but sat up to grab the back of his head with her free hand and fuse their mouths together once more.

Reid groaned into her mouth and shoved her flat beneath him, overwhelming her with his strength and size. There was no finesse, no seduction in his touch, his kisses, only raging hunger. The ache in his cock was almost unbearable, the need to plunge into her slick, soft heat making him shake.

He nipped at her chin, scraped his teeth along the side of her neck as she flung her head back, offering her breasts to him. He cupped them in unsteady hands, pausing only a moment to suck at each distended nipple before moving lower, fixated on the tender flesh between her splayed thighs.

Reid grabbed her wrist and pried her hand free of his cock as he shifted lower, pressing his teeth into her belly while he gripped her upper thighs and pushed them wider apart. The sight of her shadowed folds opening up to him, the scent of her arousal hit him like a sledgehammer to the chest.

With a low growl, he clamped his fingers around her thighs to hold her still and buried his mouth against her core. Tess cried out and tensed at the contact, but Reid held her fast as he tasted her, swirling his tongue around the hard bud of her clit, sucking it before plunging his tongue inside her.

Her fingers grabbed at his hair, her hips rising to press into his face. “God, Reid…”

He couldn’t think. He was all instinct, driven by the need to take, claim, ease the ache between his legs even if it couldn’t ease the ache in his heart. Driving his tongue into her core one last time, he reveled in her helpless cry as he rose to his knees and leaned across her to grab a condom from his nightstand drawer.

She reached for his cock but he pushed her hands away and rolled the condom on, his fingers shaking, his breath rattling in his lungs, heart pounding out of control. As soon as he had it on, he grabbed Tess’s long legs and set them over his shoulders. Her hands flew to his chest as he lined the head of his cock up against her entrance, the position making her completely vulnerable to him.

The single part of his brain that was still functioning warned him that he was being too rough, going too fast, but he couldn’t slow down. The best he could do was stare down into her eyes, let her see his need, the raging hunger inside him as he clamped a hand around her hip and pushed the head of his cock into her.

Slick heat enveloped him, sending fire racing up from the base of his spine. Tess’s fingers curled around the tops of his shoulders, her eyes clinging to his as he stayed like that for a heartbeat, two.

Then she lifted a hand and traced her fingertips down the side of his face in a gesture so tender it broke him. He flexed his hips, sinking into her as deep as he could go in one inexorable thrust.

Tess grabbed hold of his nape, her eyes squeezing shut as a choked cry came from her throat. Reid stilled, every muscle in his body trembling at the feel of her clenching around him. “Tess,” he rasped out, his heart about to burst. He didn’t want to hurt her.

Her eyes fluttered open and met his, and the fingers dug into his nape relaxed slightly. She shifted a little, the small motion sending agonizing pleasure blazing through him.

The selfish part of him wanted to pull back and then thrust, fuck her as deep and hard as he could until the orgasm buzzing at the base of his spine exploded. With the last of his restraint he slid his thumb into his mouth and reached down between their bodies to settle it over the swollen bud of her clit.

A soft, startled moan spilled from her lips and her eyes closed, a look of raw pleasure transforming her features. And he couldn’t stay still a moment longer.

Adding pressure with his thumb, he rode her, slowly at first, then faster as she moaned and twisted in his hold, her thighs trembling on his shoulders. She was slick, hot perfection, her body gripping him like a fist as he drove in and out of her.

His vision hazed over as the pleasure magnified, looming like a huge wave at the edge of his consciousness. “Aw, Tess,” he grated out, unable to stop now, every slide into her body better than the last. Gritting his teeth to hold his release back, he slid his thumb over her clit and angled his hips to hit her sweet spot with his cock on every sliding stroke.

Her fingers dug into his skin, every breathless moan and cry pushing him higher. Just when he couldn’t hold back a second more her core clenched around him, rhythmic squeezes as her sounds of pleasure turned into a wild sob and she arched, coming.

Reid leaned forward to bury his face in her hair and pumped faster, faster, letting the hunger rule him. Ecstasy spiraled up, up, his cock swelling even more until he drove forward one last time and held there, locked as deep inside her as he could get. The orgasm slammed into him like a blast wave, so intense it wrenched a guttural shout from him as he threw his head back and came.

Gasping, his skin slick and muscles trembling, he sagged into her embrace. Tess stiffened a little and he dimly realized he essentially had her folded in half with her legs still over his shoulders.

Grasping one ankle at a time, he gently eased her legs off him, groaning in relief and contentment when she pulled him tighter to her and wound her legs around his thighs, holding him close. She smoothed one hand up and down his damp spine and stroked his hair with the other while their thundering heartbeats slowed.

He allowed her to cradle his full weight, sinking deeper into the solace she offered as the wall of exhaustion finally slammed into him. Sleep enveloped him in a warm, weightless cocoon that sucked him straight into the oblivion he’d so desperately craved.

****

When the call came in, El Escorpion left the family dining table where everyone was eating breakfast together, and strode to the second-floor office in the main house.

The special phone on the polished mahogany desk was encrypted not only to scramble the signal and make it impossible for anyone to trace its location; it also digitally disguised the voice of whoever answered it. “¿Sí?”

“It’s Ramon.”

“Ramon. What can I do for you?” They’d met in person several times. Not that Ramon knew it. Only a handful of people knew who El Escorpion truly was.

“It’s Ruiz.”

Ah. This wasn’t going to be good, then. “What about him?”

“He’s kidnapped a DEA agent’s daughter. One of the FAST members who conducted the raid on Ruiz’s…recreational property in Louisiana.”

More like his whore farm. El Escorpion’s hand tightened around the phone. “Did he. How old?”

“Nine.”

Hijo de puta. “When?”

“Last night. In Virginia. I’ve sent you a picture.”

The phone buzzed, and an image of a dark-haired little girl popped up on the screen, her deep blue eyes full of terror. She was stretched out on her side, staring at whoever had taken the picture. Someone had slapped a piece of silver duct tape across her mouth, and her hands and feet appeared to be bound behind her.

This is what one of the organization’s top lieutenants was up to? Terrorizing a little girl? Bringing the wrath of the DEA and a dozen other federal agencies down on the cartel? “He did this personally?” Seemed ballsy for Ruiz. And of all the violent and extreme things he had done in the past, this one was the most repugnant.

“One of his men. Javier.”

El Escorpion’s lip curled. That piece of shit. The things those men were capable of doing to that little one… “Is she still alive?”

“I think so, but I’m not sure.”

The lack of information was annoying, to say the least. “And Antonio?” Ruiz’s dimwitted head enforcer. His former one had been excellent. The start of this entire downward spiral had begun right after Dillon Wainright had been killed.

“Was waiting for the girl to be delivered to him, last I heard.”

“Where?”

“Somewhere close to the Virginia/North Carolina border. I don’t know the exact location.”

“Find out.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Don’t call again until you have the location.” The back lawn was visible from the office window. It was far too long, and some weeds were showing. Why the hell couldn’t the landscaper see it? “Now. Was there anything else?”

“No.”

“Then this conversation is over.” El Escorpion ended the call and placed the phone back on the desk before turning to stare out at the overgrown lawn. So messy. This situation. This business.

So. Over the past week alone, Ruiz’s overinflated sense of importance and power had resulted not only in the near exposure of the inner workings of the cartel the night of the raid when his female playthings had been rescued, but he’d also just brought the fury of half the U.S. government down on them by kidnapping a FAST agent’s innocent child.

Well. That would not do.

No, that would not do at all.