Risky Temptation (16 page)

              And that’s what this was, human error. Someone had gotten sloppy and I had been there at that exact moment to capitalize on it.

              And now it was starting to come together. TTKey. Turn Tech Key. I still had no idea what this key was and why everyone wanted it but clearly it was something valuable or else a member of the Spanish royal family would not be interested in possibly buying it.

              “Where did you get those names?” Tobias asked again through his teeth, clearly enraged that someone had broken through the thick and foggy veil of the Black Saints.

              “Kill us and all of those names will be released into the public media as people associated with the Turn Tech key,” I said. “I would think the veil of privacy for the Black Saints would be hard to keep then.”

              Tobias swallowed hard. “Where did you get those names?” he demanded for a third time. Someone had made a mistake in his perfectly invisible organization and he meant to find out who had done it.

              But I didn’t know either.

              “It was from a list on a computer on the third floor,” I said honestly. Tobias jerked in surprise at my response. He had trusted me to stay in the library that day.

              Again, human error.

              “It’s a list of potential buyers of the key,” I said.

              Marco and Tobias both jerked in surprised at my answer. They stared at me in stunned silence.

              “You’re sure?” Marco asked.

              I nodded. Clearly, I had indeed tripped upon something very important with this list.

              Marco turned to Tobias, a look of dry sardonic amusement lighting his eyes. His face was still stony and cold but he looked at Tobias with a different gaze.

              “Enforcer,” he said in a voice that had a hint of mocking, “it seems you’ve been negligent in your duties.”

              Tobias glared at him.

              “While you’ve been ogling another man’s woman, you’ve let a rat into your home,” Marco continued. Tightening his grip on his gun, he said, “So what’s it going to be? You heard her. Halle has just rattled off at least half a dozen names that would kill this organization if they ever became public. Kill us and you kill the Black Saints.”

              A tense silence gripped us. I could hear the men behind us shifting as they themselves wondered what Tobias would do. It was a complete reversal of fortune. Tobias had thought he held the upper hand and had underestimated me. I had not only fallen in love with the best but had also learned from his as well.

              Don’t let yourself be taken at a disadvantage twice. The Black Saints got us at Chelsea but I’d be damned if they’d get us again.

              Clearly Marco had felt the same way or else there wouldn’t be a mess at Thatherton to clean up.

              “Do you have the key?” Tobias finally asked, his jaw still tight and his fists still clenched. It was clear Tobias was not a man who was used to losing.

              Marco reached into his jacket and pulled out a small silver drive. He held it between finger and thumb.

              “Do we have a deal?” Marco said.

              Tobias gritted his teeth. “Obviously. I’m not risking the Black Saints over two idiots,” he said.

              Marco snorted but threw the drive anyway.

              Tobias caught it neatly in one hand.

              Now came the moment of truth.

              With Marco’s hand guiding the small of my back, we turned around and walked the long walk to the elevator.

              I had never felt time move as slowly as it did in that short fifteen foot walk with dozens of guns pointed directly at our heads. Once we reached the elevator, we paused. We needed a thumbprint to enter.

              One of the men next to the doors looked behind us, making eye contact with Tobias. Clearly receiving the go-ahead, the man lowered his gun and pressed his thumb against the security screen.

              The doors opened up.

              But before we entered, Tobias called out, “How will I know that you won’t release the names once you are free?”

              Marco guided me into the elevator before turning around with an amused glint in his eye.

              “You won’t,” he said shortly. And not without irony, he added, “You’ll just have to trust us.”

              And the doors closed.

Chapter
Twenty One
Marco

              Halle brushed her hands against her wet cheeks, laughing and crying at the same time as we zoomed down the street back towards central London. She leaned back in her seat, breathless with tears and joy.

              “I’m not crying because I’m sad,” she said, wiping her cheeks again. The tears seemed never ending but her smile was radiant. “I’m just so, so,
so
happy.” She laughed.

              With one hand on the steering wheel, I reached for her hand and squeezed. “Me too,” I said, looking over at her. “Me too.”             

              Halle stared at me before gently brushing a hand against my temple. Her hand came away stained with blood.

              “I think you might need stitches,” she said softly.

              “Don’t worry. I can barely feel it,” I said, grinning. It was true too. I was too high having her near me again to feel any pain.

              A small smile bubbled at her lips but she looked over my face worriedly. No doubt I was a bloody mess. “How many men?” she asked.

              “It doesn’t matter,” I said, capturing her hand again and squeezing gently. “It could’ve been a hundred and I still would’ve come.”

              Tears fell as she smiled at me softly. “I know you would’ve.”

              I would’ve torn up the streets of London to find her and almost had been about to. After bashing in a few heads at Thatherton, I had raced back home angrily, knowing that I was just wasting time by backtracking like this.

              When I got back, Zeke saw my bloody knuckles and raised a questioning brow.

              “He fucking lied!” I had roared. “The fucker didn't show up!”

              Before Zeke could reply I threw a fist into the wall, smashing a large hole into the cream papered panel.

              “Fuck!” I had roared. “Fucking motherfucker!”

              I leaned back against the opposite wall, breathing heavily and unable to contain the pure rage that flowed through me. My hands were literally shaking with how badly I wanted to hurt someone. I would’ve given a million dollars to have Lestrade in front of me at that moment.

              “Well, I—”

              But before Zeke could finish, there was a tiny delicate little
ping
from his computer.

              I looked up wearily, suddenly tired and exhausted and wanting to just scream until I went hoarse.

              Zeke rushed back to the computer and excitedly typed a few things in a fast and manic pace. A minute later, my own phone beeped.

              I pulled it out. It was a text from Zeke. I flicked my eyes at him warily but he merely shrugged. I opened the text and saw that it was a map with a detailed perimeter around one particular square mile.

              “What is this?” I asked.              

              “Where you’re woman is,” Zeke replied calmly.

              I jerked up as if I had been electrocuted. “What?” I said, staring at the phone. “What do you mean?”

              “I couldn’t get an exact location,” Zeke said with a mildly apologetic shrug. “But I was able to narrow it down to about a square mile. Once you get there, hopefully you’ll be able to figure out which building she’s in.”

              Unable to tear my gaze away from the map, I asked, “How the hell did you do this?”

              “With your phone, yeah?” he said.

              I looked up, confused. I lifted my phone. “With this?”

              He shook his head. “With your other phone,” he said. I was confused for a moment when I remembered the slim black phone that I had in my pocket. The burner phone that Tobias had given me specifically to contact him.

              I pulled it out.

              “I could see that you were using that to speak with the kidnapper,” he said. “So I traced it.”

              “You traced it,” I echoed, staring at him.

              Zeke pursed his lips and nodded. “I’ve been tracing it but the calls are always either too short or there is some kind of distortion in the signal. But your last call from Thatherton helped me narrow it down. I would’ve been able to narrow it even further had he picked up but hopefully this helps.”

              I stood up, feeling energy pour back into me. From my feet to my head, I started to feel that warm rush of pulsating adrenaline. I lunged at Zeke and grabbed him by his arms and squeezed hard.

              Zeke yelped in surprise, making his glasses fall down his nose.

              “Zeke, you brilliant motherfucker!” I cried.

              “That’s unnecessary,” he sniffed primly.

              “Thank you!” I cried as I ran out the door. “And don’t you fucking trace my other phone! That one’s private!”

              I heard Zeke snort before the door shut.

              Driving to the location on the map, I had found myself in a neighborhood of warehouses and factories. A lot of them looked in disrepair and were falling apart. I had to drive around twice before I spotted it.              

              One of the buildings had a wall of windows facing east. The moonlight was hitting directly against all the windows but none of them reflected or glowed. The windows had been boarded up from the inside and sealed somehow, blocking out any reflection.

              There was no good reason a warehouse would ever do that.

              I knew where I needed to go.

              Several dozen men and a few threats later, I was able to walk out the front doors of the Black Saints with Halle in my arms.

              She had gasped as we walked through the front lobby of the building. Men were still crumpled on the floor and blood was splattered against the walls. Her eyes were large and round as she stared at the collateral damage. But she said nothing as we left.

              Before we knew it, we were pulling up to our house. I couldn’t believe we had finally made it home. Together.

              I could tell the moment was hitting Halle as well. Her luminous eyes welled up as we walked up to the house.

              Opening the door, she gasped in surprise as she nearly ran into Zeke who was passing in the hall.

              Zeke stumbled back, his owl eyes large through his glasses. “Oh it’s you!” he said in pleasant surprise as if Halle had just returned from a jog. “So he got you!
Wunderbar!”

              Halle stared at him and then broke out into a wide grin. “Yes it is
wunderbar.
”

              But I didn’t let her stay too long downstairs to catch up. I needed to hold her. I needed to feel her weight against me, to know that I finally had her safe and sound in my arms.

              I quickly brought her upstairs and to our bedroom. I heard her sigh in contentment as she entered the room.

              Turning around, she stared at me. Her eyes dark and blue. “You should take all that off,” she said, motioning towards my torn and bloody clothes. “You might be hurt.”

              I wasn’t but I wasn’t going to argue with the idea of taking my clothes off. Quickly I pulled my jacket and shirt off. Halle looked over my body with a pained look. I looked down and saw that my chest and ribs were bruised, the splotches wide and nasty colored.

              I shook my head as I stepped to her. “It doesn’t matter,” I said, holding her face in my hands. Her beautiful delicate face. “Nothing else matters except you being home.”

              She closed her eyes and turned her face into my palm. When she opened them, my heart skipped a beat at those ocean eyes. “I missed you,” she said softly, tears still clinging to her long lashes. “I missed you so much.”

              Any shred of control I had disappeared then.

              Gathering her to me, I crushed my lips against hers, taking in her taste, her breath, her feel. I wanted all of her and goddamn it, I would have her.

              But I clearly was not alone in my hunger. Halle gripped my shoulders, pressing herself even closer to me. Her soft, full breasts were pressed against my chest, making my entire body harden in seconds.

              Quickly, I unbuckled my pants and threw them off. Halle quickly shimmied out of her clothes. I had to remember to burn them. Nothing Lestrade touched was going to stay in this house.

              Completely naked and hungrier than ever for each other, we ran into each other’s arms like colliding atoms. Sweeping her up, I carried her to our bed. I felt such incredible satisfaction in lowering her onto
our
bed in
our
home.

              Halle looked up at me with her eyes shimmering with happiness. “You found me,” she whispered. “You rescued me.”             

              I shook my head as I brushed a hand down her cheek. “Babe,” I corrected, “
you
saved us. You never stop amazing me. And sometime soon I’m going to ask you just how you got and remembered those names but right now, all I want is to bury my cock as deep as I can in you.”

              Halle’s cheeks pinkened in arousal before her eyes widened. “Oh!” she said suddenly. “Don’t throw away those jeans.” Clearly she had been thinking along the same lines as I had been about burning those clothes.

              “Why not?” I asked, wondering if she was suddenly sentimentally attached to them…or to Lestrade.

              “The drive,” she said, looking up at me. “I also have a copy of the list of names on a drive. I saved it and have it in my jean pocket. We can’t lose that.”

              I stared down at her, cradling her head between my hands. Would this woman never cease to amaze me? This delicate, beautiful, fragile, strong, fierce woman. She seemed impossible to be real and yet here I held her in my arms.

              With that list and that drive, we were at a stalemate with Lestrade and therefore, the Black Saints. It was an almost solid guarantee of safety and immunity from their wide reach.

              “Fuck, I love you,” I whispered.

              Halle smiled. “I love you too,” she said.

              And those were the last words she said before I smothered her lips again with my own.

              I reached down and pinched her nipples quickly, enjoying her little gasps as pain and pleasure mingled within her. I reached down and made a rumble of appreciation as I found her pussy as wet as my cock was hard.

              In fact, I was too hard. It was almost painful.

              “Babe,” I said in a ragged voice. “I can’t wait…I need you—now—”

              Halle immediately wrapped her legs around my hips and I plunged my entire length into her wetness.

              Both of us groaned and gasped in intense pleasure. Penetrating her so quickly, I felt her pussy clench as it frantically tried to stretch and accommodate me. I groaned as her pussy contracted and pulsed around my cock, nearly milking me senseless.

              “Oh my god,” she called out, her back arched as pleasure ripped through her.

              I pulled out and thrust back in again. I tried to tell myself to be more gentle, to go more slowly but I couldn’t. I had been craving her—body, mind, and soul—for weeks now and it was all I could do not to pounce on her like a raving lunatic.