Tell Me No Lies: The Black Orchid, Book 1 (24 page)

My hands pressed against his chest. “What are you doing?”

His eyes were half closed. He didn’t answer me.

I slapped him back on his left cheek. “Hey!”

The sound was loud and his cheek turned pink. His lips spread into a slow grin. “That’s my girl. Slap me again.”

“No!” I pressed my hand against my smarting cheek.
This was Kael?

“I hurt you. You want to hurt me back. Slap me again,” he snarled. “I like it.”

He began gyrating his pelvis in slow circles, and pleasure radiated from my center.

“When I bite you, bite me back.” He growled like an animal, roughly grabbed one breast with one hand and bit the other.

“You want us to behave like animals. You want me to act like—”

“Like a bitch in heat.” He grabbed my face, his fingers tight around my jaw and cheeks. “I want you crazy for me.”

He kissed me, bit my bottom lip so hard I tasted blood. Angry and aroused at the same time, I slapped him again, shoved his face to the side and bit his neck. “It hurts. Do you see that? It hurts!”

He lifted me off his lap, stood up and bent me over the couch. Grabbing my hair, he shoved my face down and entered me from behind, impaling me on the couch. He was fast, like a piston and I started orgasming immediately.

The sounds of my moans and his groans filled the room. I began to come, an earth-shattering explosion that began with a pulsating throb and ended with my legs shaking and tears falling from my eyes.

And then he pulled out, yanked me around by my hair and threw me onto my back. I could barely catch my breath before he grabbed the base of his cock with one hand, and batted his hardness against my lips until I opened my mouth for him.

Lust had transformed him into a creature of passion, intent on pleasure—his and mine. His eyes were intense and focused on one thing: me. The depth of his emotion both aroused and frightened me, but no matter what, I wanted more. More of whatever he wanted to give me.

He shoved his thickness into my mouth just in time for him to reach climax. His hands held my head firmly in place until he’d stopped coming and my mouth was filled.

It took him a long moment to recover from his orgasm, but when his breathing slowed and his gaze softened with tenderness, he said, “I want you crazy for me.” He gently pulled me up and kissed me on the lips. Because I’m crazy for you.”

I stumbled upstairs to find my clothes.

Alone in his bedroom, I stared at my nude body in Kael’s oval, floor-length mirror. My face was flushed and my hair was a mess. I could barely catch my breath and yet, that man had made me feel things I’d never felt before.

I felt…alive. I gently touched the tender spot between my legs, still wet, still throbbing with pleasure. Now I knew what those women caught in dishabille on the cover of romance books felt like, loved by a passionate man, so overwhelmed by his desire that he could barely contain his primitive urges.

My finger traced a circle around my nipple and I closed my eyes, remembering the way his tongue felt on me. Kael was barbaric.

This was the man I loved?

How could I reconcile this new Kael with the quiet, intense man I’d met in Jamaica, and the one I’d been spending so much time with of late?

I knew he kept something from me, could see the secrets in his eyes. Was this it? He had a craving for love and violence? Could I be with a man like that? Did I even want to?

Moving around the room, I found my overnight bag, stepped into a pair of panties and shrugged on a white sundress. I grabbed my brush and starting working the tangles out of my hair.

In the mirror, I saw the door open behind me.

“You’re clothed.” Kael stood there, his gray eyes unreadable.

“I should go.” Forcing a smile, I quickly redid my ponytail and scanned the bedroom for my purse.

He stepped into the room and sat on his king-sized sleigh bed. “I promised myself, not you. Never you.”

I turned around, concerned with the tone of his voice. “When? When did you promise not to…make love to me like that?”

“Two years ago. Jamaica. When I saw you on the beach.”

I thought back to those halcyon days. Memories ran together like watercolors in my mind. Then it hit me. “That’s why you didn’t want us to make love?” I went to him, kneeled in front of him and touched his face. “You were afraid?”

He looked up. “I was afraid I’d do what I did to you last night. And just now.” His face was grim and his voice flat. “You wouldn’t believe the lengths I’ve gone to not to do that to you.” He exhaled loudly. “But you’re safe from me, Rain. I won’t touch you again.”

I shook my head, not understanding. “But, I—”

“I want to continue to see you. I want us to spend time, as we have. But it’s best if I don’t touch you.”

He slipped out of the room before I could speak. Before I could tell him…
I liked it
.

* * * * *

I stood at the sink, washing the same plate over and over again. Last night and again this morning had been everything I’d dreamed of and I wanted to make love to her again and again in exactly the same manner.

But she’d responded just as I feared, with revulsion. Yes, her body responded to the pleasure but she was no pain whore and it was so wrong of me to try and turn her into one.

I was such a sick fuck. I ran the plate under a cold stream of water, dried it and set it in the drainer. I mindlessly reached for another plate, worried out of my mind that I’d scared her off for good.

What could I possibly say to undo what she’d seen last night? Nothing. There was nothing I could do. She could barely look at me just now. I’d acted normal at breakfast, as if she wasn’t looking at me like I was a monster. As if I didn’t know she was disgusted by me.

I’d fucked up big-time. I needed her close. Il Morte was bound to show up and I had to be with her when that happened. I finished with the plate and turned around when I heard her coming down the stairs.

“You look beautiful.”

She glanced down at her simple white dress and smiled. “If you say so.” She took a step toward me and I froze, not sure what to do. What would be appropriate in this moment?

“I have to go.” She watched me carefully. “Are you okay?”

I shook my head. “I’m sorry.” She stepped closer and I exhaled. Hadn’t realized I was holding my breath.

“
I’m
not.”

Did I hear her correctly?
“What are you saying?”

Her arm snaked out and she touched my hand. “I liked it.” She whispered the words, as if she were afraid for anyone to hear them.

I held her hand. “You did?”

She stepped close to me and I wrapped my arms around her waist. She nuzzled her face into my chest. “I feel embarrassed to say it, but I loved the way you made me feel when you were like that.”

She ventured a look up at me and I saw desire in her eyes. My cock twitched and I tightened my embrace. “Don’t be embarrassed. It’s just you and me here. I won’t tell a soul.”

She averted her eyes. “Would you make love to me again…like that?”

I nodded, hardly able to believe the words coming out of her mouth. “Yes. Of course.”

She kissed me sweetly on my cheek and then my lips. I closed my eyes and savored the moment.

“I want you to teach me everything about pleasure and pain.”

I was shocked. All I could say was, “As you wish.”

When she left my house, I was the happiest man in the world.

Chapter Twenty-Four

I was in Atlanta on business and so was Haley, my girlfriend’s sister, planning to stop an assassination and she had a model shoot. It was only normal that we’d meet for lunch, right?

Haley had just left and I was waiting for the waitress to return my credit card.

I wasn’t stupid. I had a feeling that Rain wanted her little sister to check up on me, make sure I was where I said I was; and after Haley had run into me in New York, who could blame her?

I was still expecting Rain to ask me about that, surely Haley had told her about seeing me there with Zelie. But to her credit, she’d said nothing and I wasn’t going to be the one to bring it up.

Rain could just as easily see other guys when I was away on mission. I hoped she trusted me to be faithful to her, like I trusted her.

The server returned my credit card and I signed the receipt and headed for the exit.

Lunch had been surprisingly fun. Haley was a spitfire and once she’d finished interrogating me about my business in town, we’d discussed the fashion shoot she was on, a cover of a national lad’s mag, and even though I’d promised Rain, I pitched the idea of buying Haley’s friend out of his investment in Rain’s business.

The football player was apparently fine with the status quo, at least according to Haley. Now, with that out of the way I could focus on the mission at hand.

Zelie was pushing the front door of the restaurant open when I reached the foyer.

I looked around curiously. “Are you following me? What are you doing in Atlanta?”

“Do you see what happens when you don’t follow orders?” she hissed at me. “All hell breaks loose.”

I looked around the enclosed foyer cautiously. There was another set of doors behind me that led to the main dining room.

We were alone in a place that served as a waiting area, with a darkened coat check to my right.

I gave Zelie a curious look. “He’s your uncle. You are Taiwanese. What do you really feel about all of this?”

She looked at me and laughed. “I don’t give a damn. I’m not paid to care and neither are you.”

Now that the cat was out of the bag, Zelie’s personality had completely changed. Gone was the purring sex kitten, replaced by a venom-tongued viper.

“You were supposed to kill him when he released his statement expressing his disapproval of the US’s new
rice for guns
policy two weeks ago. Now you’ve created an international incident. The Group is not happy.”

It was well after lunch and the restaurant was almost empty, but it was still not a good idea to discuss missions out in the open.

“Op sec, Zelie.”
Operational security
.

“Fuck operational security. Operation Serpentine is still a go, if you hadn’t noticed. What are you going to do about it?”

Surprised at her blatant disregard for protocol, I looked around the foyer. “Let’s take this conversation elsewhere. Where are you staying?”

She tossed her long hair. “The time for talking is over, Kael. What happened to you?” She sneered at me. “Oh that’s right, you met that girl.”

“That
girl
has nothing to do with the decisions I make in my career.”

“That’s not what The Group thinks. And that’s not what I know. As soon as you met her, you completely lost interest in me and you stopped caring about your work.”

“Are you freaking kidding me? I killed more men in the last two years than you’ve probably— What do you care if I lost interest in you? You were just doing your job. You were assigned to me, remember? The Group has paid you to be my fuck-bunny, which makes you nothing more than a very, very expensive whore.”

Eyes flashing, she bowed up at me like she wanted to do something. Super tiny, delicate-as-a-flower Zelie. I laughed in her face. “What are you going to do, fight me?”

She reached down and pulled a knife from under her dress, flicked it open and pressed it to my neck in a flash.

I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. “Mark was right. You are adorable.”

At that she stretched on her tiptoes and took a swipe at me. I easily disarmed her, tossed the knife a few yards away and twisted her arm behind her back.

“I don’t want to hurt you, darling. We’ve had some good times, but I will hit a girl.”

“You have no idea how many men I’ve killed,” she whispered in my ear.

“I can imagine. But it was probably after a night of hard sex, the man was asleep and you simply sliced their jugular in half. You couldn’t take me if you tried with one hand tied behind my back. So please, my little cherry blossom, don’t try.”

She stepped backwards and smoothed down her hair.

“You need to calm down, Zelie.”

She took a deep breath. “I am calm.” She took another breath. “I cared about you. You were more than just an assignment.” Her bottom lip trembled and she appeared to be on the verge of tears. Only now, I wondered if her display of emotion was genuine or was she just acting.

“The Group has no rules about agents being together. You and I could’ve been a couple. We could’ve made it work.”

I shoved my hands in my pockets. “I wouldn’t want it to work between us, Zelie. Sorry.”

Without a second look, I pushed through the glass doors.

Zelie was right about one thing. Operation Serpentine was still a go and the president of Taiwan’s life was in danger.

Chapter Twenty-Five

He could only hope the hotel manager had given the president his message from the
custodian
. His life was in danger. But, hell he already knew that. It was almost as if he was purposely taunting the US into killing him.

The president was staying at the Ritz-Carlton Atlanta and he was known to have a nightcap alone at the bar every night before bed.

I stepped into the bar and scanned the room. He was sitting at the bar in a red high-backed chair. Two chairs were empty on either side of him.

His detail was easily spotted strategically standing and sitting, pretending to enjoy their bottled water. I approached him slowly, so as not to spook his detail.

A man stood and another stepped toward the president when I neared the bar. The president looked up from his drink, waved his men down and gestured for me to join him.

“Come, Custodian, have a drink with me.”

I settled into a seat beside the president who still wore a suit and a resigned expression on his face.

“Have a glass of Kaoliang?”

“Of course, sir.”

He snapped his fingers at the bartender then turned to me. “They always stock the unofficial spirit of Taiwan when I am here. It is most courteous of them.”

I smiled. “Most likely, one of your staff requests it for you.”

His brow furrowed. “How would my staff know what I prefer?”

“Same as I knew what gum you chewed. The devil is in the details.”

His cheeks lifted slightly. “Of course.” The bartender approached, handing me my drink and topping off the president’s glass.

“They know you well here.”

“Yes. It is a routine of mine. Always before bed a few drinks to remind me of home.”

“You love Taiwan.”

“With all my heart.” He pressed his fist to his chest and allowed it to stay there a moment.

“Which is why you refuse to comply with the US’ directives.”

“Correct.”

I lifted my glass to him. “
Gān bēi.
”
Gahn-bay.
Cheers.

He returned the gesture. “
Gān bēi.
”

“You know you’ve signed your death warrant.”

“Yes.” He set down his empty glass. “And you have come, a handsome debonair grim reaper to mete out my death.”

“I am supposed to, yes. But I will not.”

“Oh. I thought you already tried.” He shrugged. “There have been several attempts on my life.”

I looked around the room. The Group had sent in backup, a routine practice of sending in a secondary agent to complete a job should the primary agent fail.

“Wasn’t me. Still same people.”

He chuckled. “I thought to employ a food taster but I will not fight fate. There was a disturbing electric shortage in my suite last night and a gas leak in the limo the day before.”

“I’m sorry about that, sir. I had nothing to do with those attempts on your life, but I think I know a way to save you.”

He shook his head. “It’s too late. I know how these things work. But I don’t regret.” He cleared his throat. “I don’t regret any of my actions. I am a leader of my people, not a puppet for a superpower.”

He cleared his throat again and coughed. I flagged down a passing waitress wearing black pants, a crisp white button-down shirt and black apron.

Her platinum hair was styled in a bun and thick, coke-bottle glasses covered her face.

“Excuse me, a glass of water please.”

She bowed slightly. “Of course, sir.”

I looked at the president’s security team who seemed unconcerned. I turned back to the president who had stopped coughing, though his cheeks were flushed.

“Someone has to stand up to the enemy.”

“We’re not all bad, sir. I want to help. I think I’ve come up with a way that we can—”

“Your water?” The waitress interrupted us and set it on the bar in front of the president.

“Thank you.” I smiled at the waitress, did a second take and recognized Zelie underneath the glasses and blonde wig.

I reached for the glass. “Sir, don’t drink that water.”

Her full pink lips twisted into a sneer. “Oh, the water is fine. His three glasses of Kaoliang, however, were not.” She patted me on my arm. “Hemlock.”

“You’re my secondary?” My stomach roiled with nausea. “For how long?”

“You’re pathetic. Can’t kill a head of state when you’re told.” Her thin nostrils flared. “You deserve to die and your girlfriend too.”

She tossed her glasses and apron on the floor, stomped the spectacles until they shattered and walked out of the lounge.

The president was choking, grasping at his throat. I reached for a knife on the bar and prepared to create a hole in his windpipe so he could breathe, when his security team surrounded him and took over.

“We got it, mate.” A tall Asian with an Australian accent reached for my hand and shook it. “Thanks.”

Obviously the lead agent, he led me to the side. “Been expecting this for a while. You should probably leave. We know who you are, Agent Brady.”

I looked back at the president. He was lying on his back still gasping for air while his security detail casually talked and waited for him to die.

A few of the bar patrons were filming the scene with their cell phones. Hell, I killed people for a living and even I wasn’t that heartless. Not that it mattered, the security team would be confiscating their phones shortly and forcing them to sign confidentiality waivers.

“We’ll snag the video footage, no worries.” The lead agent was still at my side, watching me with an amused expression on his face.

Right. Now I had to call Mark and explain the unexplainable. That should be fun.

I straightened my tie and left the bar.

When I returned to my suite at the St. Regis I was greeted by Mark in a golf shirt, khaki pants and flip-flops kneeling on the thick-carpeted floor, pawing through my mini-bar.

He looked up and held up a bottle of tequila. “Have a shot.”

“No thanks.”

I ripped my tie off and tossed it on the floor. “It’s been a helluva night.”

“So I heard.” He twisted the cap off the small bottle, poured the drink into a shot glass and threw it back. He closed his eyes, exhaled then poured another.

He sat down on the couch beside my bed. “You should really have a drink.”

I sat on the bed, keeping my wingtips on.

He shot me a hard look. “What happened?”

“Look, I had a plan to get the president back on track. I’m sure given time, I could’ve encouraged him to fall in line.”

“Unfortunately, you’re not paid to be a diplomat. And when the powers that be expect someone to die,” he squinted at me, “they expect them to die.”

“Sorry, boss.” I shrugged. “I made a judgment call. You do pay me to make judgments. Sometimes. Don’t you?”

Mark’s face remained inscrutable.

I leaned forward. “So Zelie was my fucking secondary. Really? She’s that good?”

He nodded “She gets the job done.”

“So do I.”

He stood and began pacing the room. “True but you’re not as precise as before. You’re doing too much thinking, too much strategizing when all I need for you to do…” He pulled out a gun from behind his back, in the waistband of his shorts, then aimed it inches from my head. His voice filled the room “Is kill a motherfucker when I tell you to.”

I didn’t flinch. Guns don’t faze me, no matter where they are pointed. But the fact that Mark raised his voice was alarming. I’d never heard him yell.
Ever.

I slowly rose from the bed and stared directly into my handler’s eyes. “I’m making you look bad, right? You’ve put your neck on the line for me and I’m making you look stupid, yeah?”

He nodded slightly and smiled. “I’m tasked with fixing the ‘Kael Brady’ problem.”

“You gonna kill me, boss?” I kept my breathing nice and slow. Feet planted wide, arms loose and ready at my sides in case I needed to grab something, like Mark’s neck, or maybe a weapon, the heavy brass lamp beside me looked good for it. There could be a couple of goons waiting for me in the hall. I glanced toward the door. “Is that what they want?”

He followed my gaze. “I’m alone, Kael. I wouldn’t do you like that.” He fixed me with a disappointed look. “They just want you to follow orders.”

“Yeah, I get it. And my options…your options?”

“Send you back to The Farm for some experimental shit DARPA has come up with to indoctrinate agents that can’t or won’t follow orders.”

“Or?”

“Kill you.”

I took a deep breath. Hopeful. “There’s gotta be a third choice.”

He nodded slowly. “Find Il Morte. Bag the big dog and you’re back in everyone’s good graces.” He lowered the gun a millimeter. “I’d prefer not to kill you.” Then he smiled. “Some new-fangled electroshock therapy might do you some good.” He lowered the gun, but left it still clearly in view. “But taking Il Morte down would be the best option.”

“Then that’s what I’ll do, boss.”

He exhaled and sat down heavily on the couch. “Oh, there is one more thing.”

A chill went up my spine and I locked eyes with him. “What’s that, boss?”

There was still a smile on his face, but his eyes went flinty. “I’m going to need you to agree to take a little test.”

My stomach dropped. “Whose test?”

“The Group’s.” His lips angled downward. “There are doubts about your loyalty.”

I could feel my heartbeat slow down and my skin went icy. “And if I don’t?”

“Someone you love will die.” He shrugged. “There’s your mother, your father… and the girl. Your choice.”

I almost choked on my rage. “You’re good with this?”

“Not my call. However, I did warn you.”

I glared at him, afraid to speak or move. The ice-cold anger running through my body was of the kind that allowed me to break bones and smash skulls with my bare hands. I didn’t trust myself to act in this moment.

“I warned you about that girl, the one in Jamaica. The one you lied about?”

My vision tunneled and I almost lost sight of Mark in a haze of red, but I could hear him just fine. Hear him talking about Rain, how they’d been keeping an eye on her. How they knew I’d contacted her. About how they thought she was the root of my problems.

I clenched my fists to keep them from shaking.

“So, choose,” he said.

I blinked several times and looked at him, my vision beginning to clear, though my heart was still pounding in my ears.

“Who do we kill should you fail your test?”

I took a deep breath. “I need to choose now?”

He nodded and watched me calmly while I willed my breathing and pulse to slow. “I’m not going to fail.”

He cocked his head to the side. “Even so. A name?”

“I stayed away from her. You must know that. You seem to know everything else.”

“Two years is not the same as forever. You know the rules, Agent Brady.”

I lost two years with Rain for these psychos. Why wasn’t that enough for them?

“Why, Mark?” My throat was dry and my voice sounded hoarse. “I’ve given everything for my country. Why must I give this one thing up too? Why her?”

“Because you care. Because she’s obviously different from all of the other girls you’ve been with since you were recruited.” He sighed. “Past experience has taught us that the best agents, the most effective operators have no relationships, no strong ties to normal society. We need you to be on your A-game.” He laughed roughly. “Love fucks that all up.”

I could tell by the set of his jaw and the way his hand clenched his gun that he could not be persuaded. It was an impossible choice. My mother? My father? Rain? I knew what they wanted. I knew that they wanted to hear me verbally agree that the woman I loved was expendable. And I had to say it. I had to let them know that there was nothing or no one that I loved more than my parents, because then they’d use that against me.

The fuckers
.

“Rain.”

Mark’s shoulders relaxed slightly. “Good. That would, of course, be the correct answer.”

“And the test?”

“Oh, that?” A lopsided grin appeared on his pale face. “It’ll be a cakewalk for you.” He shoved his gun into his waistband and gestured for me to sit down.

I sat on the bed and glared at him. “I’m listening.”

He reached for his black leather briefcase, laying on the desk in the room and pulled out a folder. He took his time shuffling through papers and then handed me a black and white photograph.

I glanced at the full color five-by-seven. A man who appeared to be in his thirties sat on a park bench leaning toward a pretty woman with his arm around her. They both wore jeans, t-shirts and athletic shoes. The woman, a brunette with her hair pulled into a ponytail gazed at him, caught in mid-laugh, her eyes bright with happiness. Behind him stood a little boy, about seven or eight years old, probably his son based on the shared coloring of blond hair and blue eyes. A little girl with curly hair pulled into pigtails sat on the mother’s lap and stuck out her tongue at the photographer.

I handed the photograph back to Mark. No problem. I could kill him. He probably deserved it. They always did. “What’s his story?”

He shook his head. “Not your concern. You’re just going to kill him tonight.” He stared at me. His unsaid words hanging in the air.

Or else.

I glanced at the photograph again
. “
He’s not a bad guy? Not one of our typical targets?”

Mark looked at me noncommittally then stood. “You ready? He’ll be jogging in the Chastain Park Trail in about an hour.”

“How long has this been planned? How did you know I might not kill the President of Taiwan tonight?”

Mark moved toward the door, gun hanging at his side. “So, kill him and The Group will know you’re still loyal to them.” His lips pressed into a thin, cold smile. “And your sweetheart doesn’t have to die.”

I stood by the door. “Gee, is that all it takes, just me shooting some innocent guy in the woods?”

He gave me a sideways glance. “You’re not using a gun. They want to make sure you still have that level of brutality our agents are known for.” He smiled. “It’s kind of like our calling card among the other assassin squads, domestic and abroad, don’t you know?”