Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Redemption for Misty (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Pierce Securities Book 5) (6 page)

Misty had been left out here to die a slow, agonizing death, complete with broken bones, lacerations, and God knows what else.

She screamed. Not outwardly, no. That would be too simple. Besides, she was gagged. No. She screamed inside her soul, which was far worse.

Her screams filled her head until they took over her vision, in a way that was only possible in dreams. Red filtered the dirty clothes she was piled in, then black.

The screams got louder.

“Shhh… Misty… It’s okay… It’s a dream…” That voice. She knew that voice, but it wasn’t her brother. It was someone else.

“Wake up, honey, it’s okay…” Steely arms wrapped around her, and as Misty fought for consciousness, she fought the arms, too. But they were too strong. “He’s dead. You’re safe with me.”

Suddenly, her eyes flew open to the darkness of her room and Chris’s piercing blue gaze.

“Chris?”

“Yeah, honey, it’s me.” He tucked her head into the crook of his chin, shushing her and rubbing her back. She tried to relax into his embrace but failed.

“I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to apologize for. We’ve all had them,” he murmured into her hair, still stroking her back. She curled her body into his embrace, his warmth, his safety—remembering the day she was rescued.

“I was too loud.”

Chris spoke in a low murmur, almost a whisper, “What?”

“That’s why he didn’t…” She couldn’t say the word this time. It was too dark in the room. The nightmare too close. “…do anything with me. I was too loud. He gagged me, but I kept yelling. Then he decided he couldn’t break me, so he dumped me in the garage floor, with all the garbage and dirty clothes and stuff. I was too loud. He beat me.” Chris’s grip on her tightened, but he didn’t say anything, instead leaving her to her own thoughts.

Jordan had found her, and then Ryan had stayed with her until the ambulance got there, but neither of them were focused solely on her like Chris was right this moment. She was eternally grateful for them because without them being there she would have certainly died.

When her heartbeat calmed, she tried to extricate herself from his grasp, but he didn’t release her. She gave in and wrapped her arms around his slender torso.

“Chris?”

“Yeah?” His voice was gravelly, probably husky with sleep. She’d woken him up.

“I’m sorry for waking you up. You can go back to bed now.”

He pulled his head back so she could see his face. “What does Crash do when you have these nightmares?”

Of course, he was here for her brother. Not her. She tried to shrug, but he was still holding on pretty tightly. “Nothing much. He sits on my bed and pats me awake, makes sure I know where I am, hugs me, and goes back to bed.” She tried again to get out of his grasp. “Really, it’s not that big of a deal. It’s just a bad dream.”

“Misty, you were screaming like a damn banshee. You scared the hell out of me. Just let me hold you a minute.” His voice was fierce, and she again felt bad for scaring him.

“I’m sorry.” She was nearly asleep or else she surely wouldn’t be apologizing so much. She hated people who apologized for stuff they had no control over.

“Just… shut up and let me hold you.” He clamped his chin over the top of her head, and she satisfied herself with smelling his neck.

God, he smelled good; nothing like the heap of dirty clothes she’d been found in. His scent dissipated the remnants of the dream.

So she’d just go back to sleep. Misty was really comfortable right then, curled up in Chris with her arms around him while he lazily stroked her back. Idly, her arms traced the contours of his back while she inhaled his clean scent. He’d showered before bed, and the smell of his body wash drifted over her while she calmed down.

When he spoke again, his tone was still soothing, and she almost missed what he said, thinking it would be more platitudes.

“What have I done wrong, Misty? You’ve shut me out.” She pulled her head back to see his eyes squeezed shut, as if he was actually scared of something.

“I thought we might be getting too close. You seemed to want me to pull back. I don’t know.” This was a weird conversation to have right now. She’d just come out of a freaky fucking dream and he wanted to talk about her feelings?

He opened his eyes, the confusion in them vivid. His grip on her tightened, and she curled around his body, not ashamed of her reaction to his strength. She needed it right now. “I don’t know what I want, Misty. Sometimes I have to remind myself you’re my best friend’s sister, but hearing you scream like that just took ten years off my life.” Pain radiated from his voice and he rested his head on top of hers again. “So, fuck Andrew and his patting. I’m going to hold you tonight.” His voice cracked with emotion, and Misty felt awful for scaring him.

“Okay,” Misty whispered, not about to put a stop to this. She liked it too much.

Chapter nine

Tonight was the Chamber mixer, and Chris hadn’t said much to Misty since the night she’d had that nightmare. And that was almost a week ago. It frustrated Misty because he was nice and didn’t seem mad at all. He just wasn’t talking to her. Not really.

There was a lot of small talk at dinner and clean-up, but that was it. And she missed him. She missed laughing with him, flirting with him, being mad at him, all of it. But now, it was like they were just roommates when she’d thought they were friends.

Oh well.

Like always, Misty worked her butt off to get the coffee shop open while Chris sat in his corner by the window where he could see everybody. She had just taken the last pan of muffins out of the oven when Ghost walked in.

“Hey, Misty. How’s things?”

It was a rare greeting from the taciturn man, but she smiled brightly in response. “Great, Ghost. How are you?”

He walked up to the counter and slid his card across the space to her. It was blank, only a phone number on it. She flipped it over to look at the back—nothing. “I wanted to ask you a favor. I’ve been in here on a job, but I’ve gotten called away on something else.” His lowered voice told her to not ask questions, even though she suddenly had a million. “I want you to promise to call me if you have anything weird happen here, okay? Something not normal, no matter what it seems to be. A lot of chatter has come from your Wi-Fi hotspot.”

“O-kay.” She drew out the word, hoping he would answer her unspoken questions. But he didn’t. She’d known he wouldn’t. Instead, he gestured toward Chris.

“Your boyfriend’s in the service, isn’t he?”

Misty was quick to correct him. “He’s just a friend, and yes. He’s former Army.”

Ghost nodded before going over, sliding in next to Chris, and speaking to him in hushed murmurs. Misty would have gone over to eavesdrop, but she figured they were smarter than that, and she had customers to take care of. Mia wasn’t here yet, so it was all on her.

With a sigh, she got to work.

It was about an hour later when Saul showed up, and since it was Friday, he ordered his latte with whipped cream before sitting at the counter to stare at her out of the corner of his eye while he relished it slowly. It didn’t take Chris ten minutes before he was at the poor boy’s elbow. Ghost and his warnings must have spooked Chris, as he was tense and agitated. Misty drifted over.

“You don’t see what this place is all about? The signs around?” Chris pointed to the new sign above his head that explained the shop’s profits went to victims of stalking and violent crimes against women. Misty’s eyes rose to the sign as she listened with growing horror at what Chris was saying. “She was attacked by a man who stalked her at the coffee shop where she worked, and if you don’t quit your mooning around, I’m going to make sure you don’t have a ball sack anymore. Shit or get off the pot, man. If you’re going to ask her out, just fucking do it. Quit sitting here and staring at her like a fucking psychopath.”

She dropped her eyes to where Saul sat, mouth agape, as he stared at Chris. His eyes cut to Misty, who was angrier than she’d ever been, and then to the floor. The blush was creeping up his neck, mottling his skin.

“Right,” Saul muttered before gathering his things for a hasty retreat. Customers stared. Misty had never been this embarrassed in her life.

“Get in the back store room, right fucking now,” she seethed in a stage whisper. Then she turned to the next in line at the counter and helped customers until Mia walked in the door, Jordan and Evan in tow. “Thank God. I’ve got to go deal with something. You can handle this a minute, right?” She’d had little time to gather her thoughts; she only knew she was about to serve Chris his ass on a platter.

Striding back into the store room off the kitchen, Misty flung open the door to find a slightly sheepish Chris standing there. Good. He’d apparently had time to think about his actions.

“Do you have any idea what you just did?” Her finger rapped against his chest, poking the rock solid piece of flesh. “
Do
you?”

“I’m sorry. I was just pissed at him doing that.” His voice was subdued, apologetic. “That’s all.”

“That’s
my
story, Chris.
Mine.
You don’t get to run around telling everyone what happened to me.” His face paled, but she continued, “Saul was a great customer, the best. The kind who comes in every day on his morning break and sits for a half hour. Then
comes back.
Now, thanks to you, he’s not coming back. I just lost a customer.” She turned her back on his pathetic expression. The regret in his eyes made her feel bad, but she wanted to finish. Running her fingers through her hair, she pressed on, “What if he goes back and tells his friends there’s some guy here pissing all over any other guy who comes in? Huh? Are you going to do that, Chris? Are you going to yell at Ghost next? Or Jordan? Are you going to chase off all my regulars just because you don’t have the guts to ask me out?”

Wait. What? Did she just say that?

“I mean…”

“You’re right,” he interrupted her, stepping closer. His eyes captured hers, sweeping across her face and landing on her lips. Chris opened his mouth to speak but didn’t, instead swiping his tongue across his lips. “Fuck,” he said right before he grabbed her hair and pulled her close. When his mouth was a hair’s breadth away from hers, he muttered, “Stop me.”

Misty shook her head. “Nu-uh.” She’d been trying to come up with a way to make this happen since he’d moved in. She’d be crazy to stop it now. And then his lips were on hers in a kiss that needed, demanded, and then took. At first, she was struck numb with the feel of his mouth on hers—hot, raging hard. Then she gripped his biceps, and his lips softened. His hands in her hair tilted her head to the side and deepened the kiss, his tongue conquering the insides of her mouth.

His hands slid down her sides and gripped her waist tightly, pulling her against the bulge in his jeans. He broke the kiss. “Do you feel this, Misty? This is yours. All fucking yours. Every time I see you all I want to do is bury this inside you.” His breath was ragged as if he’d just run a marathon. “You have all the power over me.” He tugged her against his erection, long and hard. “Over this.” He ground it into her, and she let out a whimper. She was hot, and wet, a pulsating need vibrating from deep inside her. She couldn’t speak. Even if she did speak, she probably wouldn’t recognize her voice. And then there was the whole word thing. Misty had no idea what to say. “The first chance I get, I’m going to fuck you so hard you’ll forget your own name, Misty. That’s what I want to do to you.
Need
to do to you.” He dropped his head to her neck, plying her with more kisses as his hands bunched up her skirt.

The feel of his lips on her skin sent waves of sensation rocketing through her. It was electric. She moaned, gripping him tighter. Her skin was on fire; she craved release, and his hands on her were exquisite torture. A low moan escaped her throat, but she clutched him tighter, willing him to turn his words into actions. She hadn’t been with a man since her ex, and Chris was already doing way more for her than he had, and all he was doing was kissing her. Although his talented hands were making short work of her skirt.

“Misty, did you— Oh, shit. Sorry,” Mia had walked into the store room but backed out with a giggle when she witnessed what was going on. “My bad,” she called out as she closed the door.

Chris’s breathing was ragged, his face buried in Misty’s neck. Each inhale dragged cool air against her heated flesh, and each hot exhale sent a wave of shivers down her spine. She felt his teeth as he smiled into her skin.

“Later, Misty. We’re going to finish this later.” It was a promise, spoken like a threat, and Misty couldn’t wait.

“Are you still going to the Chamber thing with me?” He nodded, his face still buried in her shoulder. “Are you going to scare off any more of my customers?”

Still speaking into her neck, his words came out a groan, “Yeah, about that…” His arms went down around her thighs, and he hitched her whole body up onto a shelf. “I make no guarantees.” He ground himself against her panties, his erection still in full force. “Part of me wants to fuck you right here, so you smell like me all damn day and anybody sniffing around will know you’re taken.”

His dirty words made her weak. Nobody had ever spoken to her like that, and Misty found she liked it.
A lot
. She slouched against him, her lips seeking his. He laid a chaste kiss on her lips before straightening her skirt and backing away. “But you’ve got a shop to run, and I am an adult, not a randy goat, so I’ll let you get back to business.”