Retribution (23 page)

“Yeah…well…see…nope, that wasn’t it.”
If only it were something that small
. Cooking food had been the last thing on her mind a minute ago.

“Oh, okay then. I’m gone to check the perimeter. The outside door will only open for a retinal scan and palm print. Don’t leave,” he warned her and then headed out the door.

“Yes, sir!” she said smartly and saluted him. He didn’t see her. He was already gone.

She took some time to look around the enormous room. It was decorated in crimson and gray tones that added a touch of elegance and color to what would be an otherwise dismal warehouse room. The floor had been done in a dark hardwood, and there were rugs placed at intervals over the entire floor. Two leather couches sat opposite each other in what had been cordoned off as the living room. The entire east wall was made up of floor-to-ceiling windows that she imagined were bullet proof. What was it he’d said? “The best security”?

The kitchen had black marble countertops with stainless steel appliances. Wooden stools lined the bar area and the table, which sat twelve, was cherrywood. Everything was very modern and chic. She wondered who had done the decorating. Dawn?

She reined in her angst at that thought and noticed a hallway that ran off of the kitchen to what appeared to be a bank of rooms behind a clear glass door. The door had a scanner attached, but she wasn’t brave enough to try to see if her retinas had the magic required to open it. Knowing her luck, she’d set off a nuclear explosion if she tried.

Sasha moved back into the main room, and she sat on one of the couches to wait for Dray. Night had long ago fallen over the Charles River, and lights from ships and other buildings made for a beautiful backdrop. It wasn’t home, but she could see the draw to this area. Feeling safe and absurdly content given the situation, she snuggled down onto the soft leather couch, put her iPod buds into her ears, and fell asleep waiting on Dray to return.

“How’s Sasha holding up?”

“She’s sleeping right now,” Dray informed Surrey. “Con called me earlier. He’s gathering intel in Virginia. He’s going to try to spot Dempsey, and then he’ll head my way tomorrow. How’re things on your end?”

“Between Hal’s bitching, Kara’s whining, and Itchy’s pacing, I’m slowly losing my mind. Bleak was called home, some kind of family emergency with his sister, so he should arrive Friday. The house is secure; Itchy and I have gone over every inch of the property to make sure it’s safe. My best guess is nobody but the occasional hunter has been around here for years. No recent tracks to indicate anything other than wildlife. We’ve settled in, but I’d feel better if I was there with you,” Surrey said.

“I’ve got it on this end, man. I’d rather you were there with her sisters in the event the bastard tries to draw her out by using them as bait. Con’s coming; we’ve got this covered. I know Bleak’s sister has been sick, so I’ll call and check on him. You and Itchy keep the women safe and call me if you have problems,” Dray said emphatically.

“All right. Well, we’ve got our directives, so I’ll touch base with you tomorrow. I’m out.”

Disconnecting the SAT phone, Dray stood at the kitchen counter/bar and looked out into the living room. Sasha was curled up on the sofa, iPod in her ears, dead asleep and heartbreakingly beautiful. She turned him inside out, one minute soft and pliant, the next a smart-mouthed haint. She made him laugh, which he could not ever remember doing with a woman. And she made him want, which he had never done to this degree.

She’d said she needed to discuss some things with him, and he was curious. He shook his head as he determined that no mere mortal man could understand the inner workings of woman’s mind. Hell, for a minute he’d thought she just wanted to tell him she couldn’t cook.

And speaking of cooking, his stomach was empty. He couldn’t resist having one more minute to watch her sleep before he started putting something together for them. He grabbed a throw from the closet in the bedroom and then headed to the living room and covered her with it.

Dray sat beside her and traced the contours of her face. He traced her smooth, unblemished, cream-colored skin, upturned nose, and full lower lip. Long lashes lay like silken fans against her cheeks, and he was taken back to the time in the mountains of Afghanistan when he’d wanted nothing more than to lick the snowflakes from them.

It seemed a lifetime ago since he’d seen her lying broken on the ground in el-Din’s compound. It
was
a lifetime ago if you measured it in the amount of breaths he’d held watching her recover. Two lifetimes if you counted every beat his heart had taken waiting on her to get well so he could claim her.

Yet he couldn’t help feeling he’d waited too long. Not that he doubted the inevitable wouldn’t happen. She would be his. But had he done her wrong in not returning to her immediately after he’d taken care of el-Din?

He shook off his maudlin thoughts, deciding he better move away from her before he woke her up and staked his claim by making love to her. One more lingering touch over the silk of her cheek, he tucked the blanket around her and then got up to make them some food.

*

Sasha could wake up like this after every nap and be perfectly happy. The amazing aroma of whatever cooked in the kitchen wafted into the living room and set her stomach to grumbling. She sat up and pushed her hair out of her face as she took the buds out of her ears. There weren’t any pots and pans banging around. There wasn’t a sound anywhere except her breathing. Dray must have ordered out; she got up smiling, prepared to tease him about
his
inability to cook. She couldn’t find him.

She noticed the oven was on, and the incredible smell was emanating from it, so she figured he had to be in the apartment somewhere. She called his name but received no answer. Her heart beat hard, fear creeping up and biting her with long fangs. Concern was an acidic taste in her mouth, but she managed to push down the panic and went looking for him.

It didn’t take her long to find him.

Heading down the hall that led off of the living room, she knocked on the first door she came to. The sounds of running water indicated he was possibly in the shower. She needed one too. She entered the next room and found it tastefully done in light blues and grays. Her suitcase sat on the bed, and upon entering the en suite bathroom, she found her toiletries lined up on the vanity.

She took the hint, stripped out of her clothes, and got in the shower, where she proceeded to clean away the day. Thirty minutes later, she’d accomplished her mission. Sasha brushed her hair until it fell softly around her face and then dressed in purple silk pajama bottoms, pairing those with a silver cotton tank top sans bra. Her stomach grumbled again, and she patted it saying, “Okay, okay, I’ll feed you.”

She went back to the room Dray had been in earlier and knocked. Not getting an answer, she entered the room and found it decorated in a similar fashion as the living room. Black furniture, black silk duvet on the overstuffed bed, gray furniture, and crimson drapes set the masculine tone for the room. Everything catered to luxury, but it was the glimpse of steam coming from the bathroom that drew her eye. She moved slowly to the bathroom door, knowing she was about to be a really bad girl.

She put her hand on the door and pushed. “Dray—hmph!”

A steel band, in the form of an arm, wrapped around her neck, pulled her into the bathroom, putting no pressure on her throat but effectively preventing her movement. Not having gone through endless hours at a dojo for nothing, it was second nature to protect herself. She dropped down, made herself dead weight, and pulled at the arm while sweeping her right leg behind her.

The move was designed to take her attacker off guard, but the man behind her didn’t do anything but evade her moves and continue to hold her. Then she heard his voice.

“It’s me, Sasha. If I move my arm, will you be okay? You aren’t going to try to fight me, right? It’s okay, you just snuck into the room and I reacted. Please baby, tell me you’re okay,” Dray’s iron-under-silk voice urged.

She stilled after a shudder worked through her. “Yes, I’m fine. Can you move your arm?” she asked quietly.

He removed his arm but pulled her flush against him. Lowering his head to the area between her neck and shoulder, he breathed deeply.

“I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. It’s my fault. I should’ve known better than to sneak up on you like that.”

She remained stiff against him. The bathroom was filled with steam, and every breath she took drew his masculine scent deep inside her. He was completely naked. She could feel the hard ridge of his shaft nestled against her silk-covered backside. Her pajamas weren’t much of a barrier between her special places and his. His heat wrapped around her, and she softened against him, losing control of her desire to just feel him.

He nuzzled her neck, flicked his tongue out to taste her. She moaned, and his hands clenched on her hips, fingers digging deep, making her yearn.

He groaned. She melted.

“We are going to burn together. Your taste—mmm, lemons—makes me so fucking hard. But for right now, unless you want me to continue, you better high-tail it out of here. My good intentions are taking a beating, and all I want to do right now is bend you over the sink and push into your softness.” Another second, a heavy breath that pressed him deeper against her, and then, “
mo ghrá
,” he whispered against her skin. “The things you do to me.”

“We have to talk first, remember?” she reminded him breathlessly.

She’d gone from immediate fight or flight adrenaline to crushing need in the span of a few seconds. Her breath sawed in and out of her lungs as she struggled for control. The hunger rising inside of her threatened to eclipse sanity.

“Talking isn’t what’s on my mind right now, Sasha. If that’s what you want, you need to leave right now. Otherwise, I will
take
you and talk will come later.”

He never stopped touching her. His tongue laved the skin of her shoulder, neck, and ear. His big, scarred hands roamed at will over her hips and stomach. Softness to his steel, she wanted to sink into his heat and scent and never come back up.

Nothing in all of her years had prepared her for this kind of want. The few meager kisses she’d shared with her boyfriend aka fiancé aka ex-fiancé could never have prepared her for this type of desire.

Knowing what her junkie mother had done for a living had put the kibosh on any desire to have sex. Mama Bennoit had told her it was perfectly normal to have desires, but Sasha had been almost glad when she caught Brian on top of Jennifer. Sure, she’d been pissed off the ass had been cheating on her. But relief had followed close on the heels of her anger. She wouldn’t have to deal with his constant pressure for sex anymore.

She’d managed to hold on to her virginity for almost twenty-seven years. By today’s standards she was well into spinsterhood, but she wanted to make sure that before she gave her virginity away she was giving it to the right man.

No one had ever quickened her heart to the point that she experienced a physical ache. Sure, she was a normal, healthy woman who had desires she satisfied on her own. Never had a man stirred her to this kind of passion. Standing here with Dray, the man she had fallen into
something
with on that mountain in the Hindu Kush, she was glad she’d waited. With every stroke of his skin against hers, the certainty rang true: she’d been made for him.

She turned in his arms and gave herself in the only way she knew how, completely. Sasha held his gaze and, going up on tiptoe, pressed herself fully against his naked flesh and said in her most seductive voice, “Then I guess we’ll talk later.”

Fire flared in his eyes, and his face showed only the swiftest of surprise as he cupped her face in his hands. “Are you sure?”

“More than sure,” she replied with her heart in her throat.

Her hands tunneled into his thick auburn hair. It had grown quite a lot, and the back would’ve touched the top of his collar. If he had clothes on. She sighed. He didn’t and it was beautiful.

His mouth hovered over hers, and Sasha’s stomach tightened. Lower he moved until his face was but a breath from hers and the air from his lungs bathed her face. How she wanted this man. She moved the minuscule distance between them and licked at the seam of his lips. She felt his smile even as she stared deep into his eyes. There was a question there she needed to answer. She prodded at his lip with her tongue until he opened for her, and then she went exploring. He tasted like mint toothpaste and she gorged. It didn’t take long for her to lose control of the situation.

With a deep growl, he swooped her up and carried her into the bedroom. Placing her gently on the bed, he came over her, leaning on his hands while keeping only their mouths in contact.

He rose up and looked down at her. “Are you ready for this?”

It rippled through her again—absolutely. “Yes.”

*

That one word set him loose.
God damn, she’s beautiful
. His heart knocked against his rib cage. He couldn’t believe that just moments ago he’d had her throat under his arm, and now her body was under his. He reached down and pulled her tank up a small bit at a time, kissing each strip of skin exposed by his endeavors. She was satin in texture and lemon in taste. She moaned sexy little sounds that drove his blood pressure through the roof, testing the limits of his patience for love play. How long had he waited for her? For this?

He would find the strength to hold out for her. Dray lifted her tank completely off and threw it to the floor. If his hands lingered over the curve of her hip or the dip of her stomach, who would naysay him? He brushed her skin, causing goose bumps, and then gazed in wonder at the beauty of the bounty laid before him.

Reverently, he whispered, “You are so beautiful,
leanbh
. I love touching you.”

She reached up and placed her hand on his cheek. “I love being touched by you.”

Her breasts, so beautifully rounded and tipped with pert berries, called to him. He alternately licked, fondled, and laved each one until Sasha writhed on the bed. How could skin be so soft? How could flesh be so taut and taste so damn good?