Retribution (26 page)

Her heart stuttered. “Oh, so you’re calling me a baby then, or your baby? I need to make sure I get it right in my head so that when my heart trips, I can either knock it around for being stupid or fall to mushy pieces because it’s so damn sweet.”

“
My
baby,” he stressed with a light touch of his lips to hers.

“What about mo—um, mo…what’re those other two things you say?” she leaned back and asked.

He pulled her back against him, flush against him as his lips hovered over hers. “
Mo chroí
means ‘my heart.’
Mo ghrá
means my—”

Their breath mingled, lips so close to touching again, nothing but need between them.

“Love,” she whispered. “Am I, Drayven Bonner? Could I be your heart and your love?”

“We’ll have to see now, won’t we?” His voice was deliciously deep. She shivered.

Her lips had just softened for his kiss when ringing sounded from the kitchen.

Dray grimaced. “It’s the SAT phone, hold on a second. Do you want anything else while I’m in the kitchen?” he asked her.

“Nah, I’m stuffed. I’ll just sit right here and wait ’til you get back, sugar,” she poured on the Southern accent because his eyes flared when she talked that way. She also found she seriously enjoyed teasing him because it helped draw her out of her woe-is-me moods.

“You keep talking to me that way,
mo ghrá
, and you won’t be sitting when I get back—you’ll be flat on your back.”

She held her hands out palm first and shook them. “Oh, I’m really scared now. Go answer the phone, then we’ll talk…” she smiled secretively, “
sugar
.”

He tapped her nose, pushed to his feet, and walked into the kitchen. His movements were predatory, as if everything in front of him was an obstacle to be tackled.

Sasha laid her head back against the couch and sipped her wine. Being with him in this way, eating supper, drinking wine, and just talking…it surprised her how easy it all was. She’d had the occasional worry over the past twenty-four hours that maybe being thrown together as they’d been had caused a false sense of attraction. Maybe the recent threats to her safety had caused him to feel obligation.

Sasha didn’t want an obligatory relationship. She wanted a true relationship with love and as close to happily-ever-after as people could get. What had happened earlier in the bedroom had nixed the whole false sense of attraction concern. Sitting here talking with him about her painful past had eliminated her concerns about whether they were compatible outside the bedroom, as she’d both seen and felt his need to comfort her.

There wasn’t too much about Dray that didn’t fit what she wanted in a man. He was sexy as all get out, tender, concerned about her welfare and safety, and hot for her. He didn’t seem to be turned off by her rough start in life and wasn’t even put off by her smart-ass nature.

Her insecurities, while great, had prevented her from making the decision to be with him a year ago. She’d turned him away, not wanting to be an obligation, unwilling to put her heart on the line when she felt she had nothing to offer him.

Nobody had wanted to be around her during her rehab—she’d been a grade-A bitch. She regretted taking the decision from him, but she’d learned early in life to push people away before they had a chance to hurt her. Her timidity hadn’t been helped by her ordeal in Afghanistan. She’d been mired in self-pity and pain, unable to ask him to stay. Not a day had gone by since that she hadn’t kicked herself in the ass for her mistake. But she had a chance now to show him she not only wanted him but needed him as well.

She was lost in her musings when he returned to the living room. His deep voice as he’d talked to whoever was on the phone sent shivers up her spine. She’d eventually given up trying to spy on his conversation and just lost herself in the beautiful depth of his voice.

He dropped down beside her, picked up his wine, pulled her closer to his side, and toyed with the skin at the back of her neck. Electricity arced from the point of contact and centered in her abdomen. She inhaled swiftly, drawing his scent into her nostrils as her skin tingled.

Everything heightened when he was near her.

He kept his gaze forward, staring into the darkness of the night outside the window and said, “That was Bleak, then Con. Bleak has a family emergency, so it’s just Itchy and Surrey out in Colorado with your sisters. They’re doing well, by the way. Bitching up a storm according to Surrey, but that runs in your family, right?” he asked with a smile in his voice.

She elbowed him lightly. “What do you expect with five women? We have the corner on the bitching market,” she said.

“I’m not touching that with a ten foot pole. Hey, pull that elbow a little next time. I only have twenty-four ribs, and I think you just broke twelve of them,” he teased, rubbing his side as if she’d actually hurt him. “Con is on his way up and will be here in the morning. So,” he wagged his eyebrows at her as he grabbed her by the hips, placed her on his lap, and said, “wanna get frisky?”

“I don’t know,” she said lightly, “if you can’t handle a little ol’ bitty elbow like what I just gave you, how are you going to handle the rest of me?”

“Come here and I’ll show you,” he said in a gruff tone that had her blood heating.

He leaned down and brushed her lips with his, using his tongue to stroke the seam and the corners of her mouth with feather-light touches that sent fire zinging along her nerves. She closed her eyes and melted against him, flattened her palms and her chest against his, and moaned softly. She stayed there for a time, soaking in his heat as her head rested on his shoulder before she pulled away to look at him.

He was so damn hot. And he was going to be hers. She was going to entwine herself around him so completely he never wanted to get away. She gazed into his eyes and took a gigantic leap. What was love without risk?

“I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you.”

When he looked as if he wanted to say something, she pressed her fingers against his lips. “No, let me finish. This is important to me. I need you to know how I feel about this before it happens.”

He took advantage and grabbed her fingers with his lips. So slowly she couldn’t contain the groan it elicited, he licked between each digit. She savored every stroke of his tongue against her skin.

Her breath ripped through her, and she tore her gaze away from his erotic actions to look deep into his eyes. Expectation was a sweet taste in the air and a warm breeze in her soul. His body strained toward hers, and a shiver shook his frame.

“I’ve held onto myself for twenty-six, almost twenty-seven years. I believe my body is a gift to be given to the man I choose, the man who can capture my heart. Mama never told me how I would recognize who that man was. All she said was, ‘you’ll know’.”

She cupped his head in her small hands and pulled his face toward hers until only a breath separated them.

“Dray Bonner, I don’t know that much about you—what your favorite color is, your favorite music, or if you snore,” she mimicked the words he’d given her earlier. “But I know I was created for you. When I opened my eyes in Afghanistan, saw you there so intent and overwhelming, my heart clicked. I wouldn’t have called it love, more like a need I couldn’t place. I knew my future lay within you. My soul recognized you. You must have thought I was crazy outside that bathroom yesterday, but what I said is absolutely true. I want to give you me, Dray.”

She humbled him. How could Dray have managed to find her in the midst of chaos? How would he be able to survive if she left him? He was a hard man, a dominant man, yet she’d reached inside him and found the softest parts.

Now she wanted to share her body with him. This woman who’d been through hell was going to give him the greatest gift he’d ever received.

Her.

Everything else in his life, his concerns about keeping her safe, his concerns about her sisters’ safety, Dempsey—it all just fell away as he stared into her whiskey eyes.

“
Mo ghrá
, I’m not an easy man, and once we do this, I won’t be able to let you go. How I am now will be nothing compared to how I’ll be after we make love. Make sure you understand what I’m saying. It’s all or nothing with me. Do you understand?”

“What are you asking?” she questioned lightly, but uncertainty beat a swift path across her face.

Her hands locked in his hair, the sting reminding him he was here, right now, with Sasha. Better she know now what she was dealing with.

“I’m not asking,” he said as his hands slid up her back and settled on her shoulders. “I’m telling you, you will be mine. Hell, we should probably get married before we do it, but I don’t know if I have that much restraint or control when it comes to you. My grandfather would roll over in his grave if he knew I had taken my lady in all the carnal ways I want to take you and not married her.”

“So you would marry me to satisfy your dead grandfather?” she asked sharply.

He shook his head. “No, that’s not what I’m saying,” he replied gently. A smile creased his features as he looked at her. “Listen to me—know what you’re taking on. Once I’ve had you, Sasha, you’re mine. There won’t ever be another for either of us. This is all-consuming for me. Make sure it is for you too.”

Dray let the subtle warning hang between them. He felt raw and beaten. Part of him wondered if now she would deny him.

She narrowed her eyes. “Well then, I’ll be yours. End of discussion. And just so you know, I agree with you. There won’t ever be any other for you or me. You are mine just as I’m yours,” she stated solemnly.

“Yes,
cheansa
.”

He leaned toward her mouth and had just touched his lips to hers when the SAT phone began ringing again. Touching his forehead to hers and drawing a deep breath he said, “Damn!”

Groaning, she repeated his expletive and sighed loudly, saying, “Guess you gotta get that, huh?”

“Yeah, guess I probably need to. It’s Con’s ring.” As he shifted to move her off of him, he pressed his lower body into the vee of her legs and rocked slightly, enjoying the way the light in her eyes flared and an involuntary groan was pulled from her throat.

“We aren’t finished. Not by a long shot,” he pointed at her and promised as he moved to the kitchen.

He grabbed up the phone and barked out a “Yeah?” as he watched her. She crawled up onto the couch and pulled a plush gray throw over herself. Within seconds her eyes closed and her body relaxed. He rubbed his chest, trying to eliminate the pain there.

If anything happened to her, he’d be the one to suffer. He’d well and truly wrapped his soul around her. She was his heart now.

“Yo, you there?” Con asked him over the phone.

“Yeah. Go ahead.”

“He’s moving. His current location puts him about five hours away from you, but he’s heading north in your direction. I’m about an hour out, so I’ll see you soon. Surrey check in yet?” Con asked him.

“Yeah, he’s complaining about Hal and Kara still whining and how cold it is out there, but I told him he’s a big boy, suck it up. Bleak had an emergency with his sister, but he checked in and everything’s fine. He’s heading back out day after tomorrow. Stay on Dempsey’s location, Con. I’m assuming you put the new tracker on his SAT signal?” Dray inquired, already knowing the answer.

“Yep. Got him locked and loaded. We won’t lose him. Those new gadgets that DOD loaned me are working in a very sweet way. They need to lock up whoever makes that shit because if those tracking devices got into the wrong hands, we’d all be FUBAR. You can’t hide from anybody with that eye in the sky on you. Trust me.”

Con had contacts in every major branch of the Justice system and Department of Defense. He also had the ability to charm said departments out of whatever he wanted
. Must be those California pretty-boy looks
, Dray thought.

“Good. The weasely little shit needs to be monitored. I should’ve never let him leave that hut in Ecuador alive.” He took a deep breath to calm the raging storm. “The way we’ve baited him, he won’t be able to resist coming for me, but we can’t lose him. He’ll find a hole and wait it out if he has a clue what we’re doing. All right man, good job. I’ll see you in about an hour.” Dray signed off and turned to walk back into the living room, back to Sasha.

“Ah, baby. You’re worn out, aren’t you?” He’d neither expected nor received a response.

She was fast asleep.

Dray was unable to resist touching her in some way. His fingers outlined the contours of her face, her skin soft and delicate. She shifted slightly, seeking a more comfortable position, and turned into his hand. His eyes closed as she whispered his name on a sigh and then settled once more.

Need curled through him. He’d come earlier, but it had done nothing to alleviate his body’s ache for her. He wanted this woman more than his next breath. But he wanted her forever and was unwilling to rush what would be one of the most importance experiences of both of their lives. He wanted everything to be perfect for her when he finally took her. He’d take his time with his lady and show her all the ways he wanted to love her. A quickie before Con got here wasn’t the way to do that.

He sat down in front of the couch, his arm next to her. Dray had to have the contact. He picked up his wine glass and watched the boats going by on the Charles River. Sparkling white lights against the deep black of the Boston night. Yeah, he’d missed home. And thinking of home forced him to thoughts of Dare.

Earlier, as he’d prepared their food, his brother had called to check in on him. Darrow McHugh Bonner was his identical twin, but they shared more than just the same DNA. Their bond had been forged in the womb and continued throughout their lives.

Closer than close, they had a way of communicating that wasn’t understandable; it simply was. They each knew when the other was in trouble, and while most twins shared what some scientists termed a psychic connection, Dare and Dray had managed to work their connection to the nth degree. No matter the distance between them, they knew when the other was hurt or happy. Their emotions translated into feelings for the other twin, in some instances manifesting into actual visions of what the other was experiencing.