Warrior Mine (19 page)

S
ophie seriously wished
her mom would relax and enjoy the road trip. The woman fidgeted as though she’d contracted OCD and a sudden drug dependency. The only time she stilled was when Vail held her hand, but then her eyes got whiplash jerking between her hand and Sophie’s camp in the minuscule backseat. Sophie beamed brightly in an attempt to soothe her mom, but it only seemed to fluster her more.

The sparkle of big city lights pulled Sophie’s attention out of the car once more. Spires and monuments cluttered the night sky. Cars dashed by, or rather they zipped past the other cars. Soon they veered off the interstate. A momentum pulling her just a little closer to the view. Her exhales lightly hazed the window. Unlike the jam-packed downtown, the buildings were spaced farther apart, but it didn’t detract from their significance. Artful gardens and sprawling green lawns accentuated their formidable heights.

They passed several construction sites dotted with forklifts and large trucks masked in thick layers of dust. The cars slowed as they neared a fancy building with a surprisingly amicable mix of old world brick and modern glass architecture. She read Capital Hill Tower as they rolled past the front. They turned into the structure’s parking garage and parked next to a real-life monster truck.

Sophie hurried out of the car, ignoring her mother’s alert, I’m-ready-for-battle stance and shifting gaze. The driver’s side window came to eye level and she jumped to peek inside. Clean, dark-tan leather covered the seat and steering wheel. It complemented the slick, orangy-red paint on the exterior perfectly. She ran to her mom, threw her arms around her waist, and rested her ear on her back. The move tossed her mom and her surveillance off balance.

“I love you so much.” Sophie grinned.

Mom dragged Sophie around to her front. The quirk in her brow said she knew something was up. “What do you want now?”

“That truck! It’s awesome. Think about it this way, someone could hit me and I wouldn’t even notice,” she reasoned.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t notice when you plowed over a car either.” She peeled Sophie’s arms from around her middle. “Come back when all you want is a hug. Now, let’s get the bags.”

Vail closed the trunk with one bag over his shoulder and two, theirs, in his hand. “Bags are gotten. And Sophie, maybe after work tomorrow I’ll teach you how to drive it.” He jut his chin in the direction of the massive truck.

“What! That’s your truck?” She bounced on tiptoes, fists above her bent elbows, conservatively victorious.

Mom must have given him a look. He shrugged. “What? How not to run over cars will be first on the tap.”

“She’s twelve,” Mom reminded.

His nose wrinkled like he smelled something rotten. Sophie’s did the same. “Ah, maybe just a ride tomorrow?” He added with a whisper, “There’s a bit of country not too far away where you can test her out.” They fell into step together, headed for a bank of elevators. “What?” he asked again, this time with his free hand. “She can’t bother anything out there. Anyway, how old were
you
when you first got behind the wheel?”

“Twenty,” Mom said.

“No way,” she and Vail said in unison as they all stepped onto the arrived car.

“Growing up, I had drivers.” Her mom frowned.

“Why didn’t we have drivers?” Sophie asked.

“I wanted to be able to go where and when I wanted. As much as I could,” she admitted.

The doors opened and they exited into a neat hallway. Vail turned right, tugging Mom along by the hand. They walked and walked to the end of the corridor, and then waited for him to punch a whole lot of numbers on a keypad before unlocking the door and ushering them inside.

“Swank.” She hurried through the foyer and into the kitchen, impressed by the walls of floor-to ceiling-windows overlooking the city. “Is that the capital building? And what monument is that?”

“Yep, that’s the Untied States Capital and that’s the Washington Monument.” He pointed to each. “They had me on lock-down in here for weeks. I missed this view. Guess Khani called off surveillance since I wasn’t here and my assailant has been found.” He wiggled his brows and kissed her mom’s hand before releasing it to set their bags on the sofa.

“Khani?” Mom asked. The crook of her mouth belied the casualness of her tone.

Sophie stretched to keep from laughing out loud. Her mom had no clue how beautiful she was or how totally over the moon Vail was for her. That was part of her charm. Sophie bowed, grabbed the edge of the granite countertop, and tugged on her cramped back muscles.

“She’s second in command, a ballsy babe just about as tough as you are,” Vail said. But she missed her mother’s reaction as she sank deeper into the delight of movement.

When she straightened she noticed the scatter of papers across the otherwise spotless counter. Except for her fingerprints. Using the inside corner of her T-shirt, she wiped at the smudge and succeeded in smearing them into an even bigger mess. Her gaze snagged on a picture sticking out from the stack. A severed hand lay pale and limp in the dirt. Beneath it a dark, misshapen circle stained the ground.

Vail’s hand slapped over the detached one and she jumped, nearly leaving her skin where she’d stood. He gathered the strewn papers into one file stuffed fatter than a taco at Renardo’s back home. “I shouldn’t have left this out. I’m sorry,” he said. His gaze jerked hers from the bundle in his hand. His thick brows V’d in concern.

“I’m not a baby,” she reassured. “I can handle it.”

The file hit the counter with a
thump
. Vail stepped forward and framed her shoulders in his big hands. “I know you can, but you shouldn't have to see the horrors the world has to offer. Only the beauty.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Often, it changes a person. Dims their inner light. I don’t think that’ll happen to you. You’re too strong, but if I can protect you from it, I will.”

Sophie’s heart exploded with love. Or maybe it was her stomach. Because she couldn’t catch the words that rocketed out of her mouth. “I love you.”

Vail dragged in a sharp breath as though she’d stabbed him with a really big kitchen knife. Her mom’s wasn’t far behind.

Two for the price of one.

Her gaze dropped to her feet. She suddenly wanted a super-power. Invisibility or teleportation would have been handy. Or time augmentation. His finger crooked under her chin and lifted. She closed her eyes—not nearly as brave as her mother—terrified by the pity or disapproval she might see on his face.

“Sophie.” Her shoulders dropped a bit and she opened her eyes. Vail smiled, not big and cheesy. This was a new one. Small and almost a frown at the same time. “I love you, so much.”

She played the words over in her head to be sure she heard him correctly. His hand on her shoulder tugged just a little and she dove for him. He lifted her into the air as though she were no more than a few molecules of O
₂
. The oxygen in her lungs jarred as she met his hard chest and his arms encompassed her. She clung to him just as fiercely, squeezing with all she had.

He twirled her about, once. As the room spun her mom came into view. A wash of wonder and fear blighted her pretty face. Their dual declarations obviously poleaxed

her. Heck, Sophie was shocked and she’d initiated the whole thing. She latched onto the amazing feeling and the closest thing to a father figure she would ever have in her life.

After a minute more, his lips brushed her hair. He set her on the floor and stepped back. “All right.” His hand ran from the crown of his skull to his forehead, flattening his already flat hair. “Let me show you to your room.” Probably sensing Mom needed a minute, he skirted them both, grabbed her bag, and headed left through the open living area and down a short hall. She followed in a rush. “My bedroom is the only one in the opposite hallway. You need anything, let me know. Bathroom is on your left, and here is your room.”

He flipped on the lights and the massive window continued through the room’s exterior wall. Stepping inside he drew the thick curtain, blocking out prying eyes. “The bed is small, but so are you.”

“This is twice the size of the one I’ve been sleeping on.” She plopped her bottom on the mattress and dipped low before bouncing back onto her feet. “Wow, and twice as soft.”

The white-on white-bedding invited her to snuggle in and stay for days. With the way her muscles ached from fighting for her life, she was tempted to try it. But first, she was more interested in seeing how things played out between Vail and her mom. So, when he turned to go, she followed him out.

“Nosey, huh?”

“Yeah.” No use in denying the apparent.

“Well,” he said, rounding into the kitchen, “I’ll leave you two to snoop around while I shower.”

Smart man.

She placated her mother—who hadn’t stirred much from her shock—with a smile she missed staring at Vail. Just as well. If her parental sensors had been functioning at all, she’d have chastised Sophie for making him think she’d snoop. And she would. Snooping was how you figured things out.

“If you get hungry, there are granola bars in the cabinet. I have water, orange juice, and coffee. Not much else that doesn’t need cooking.”

“What kind of granola bars?” Sophie asked.

“There’s no way you can be hungry. We bought that restaurant out an hour and a half ago,” Mom said, snapping out of her funk.

“I’m a growing girl.” She drew her shoulders back and straightened for effect.

“Almond and cashew, I think.” Vail bowed his head and turned toward his room.

Sophie moved through the wide living room. She didn’t dare sit on the smartly-put-together furniture or touch the neatly lined books on the minimalist shelf. Everything in the space had an assigned spot. It all coordinated and flowed like the photo on the cover of a magazine.

Everything except Vail.

He slept and ate here, but he didn’t live here. There were no family pictures or wrinkles on the throw pillows. She folded her arms and looked out at the view. Instead of seeing the brilliant DC skyline, she saw her mother’s reflection. The woe she’d felt for Vail doubled at her mother’s stricken expression.

The edges of the paper she held rippled under her violent grip. Her chest heaved. A gaze fiercer than she’d ever seen on her mother—and she’d seen some doozies—could have spontaneously ignited the sheet.

“Mom?”

She set the page on the counter as though it roasted her hands and stepped away. “It’s late, Sophie.” Shaky hands smoothed over the fitted lavender shirt beneath her jacket. Sophie watched her approach in the reflective glass, losing her once in the cast shadow from the far off kitchen light. “Get some sleep, baby. You have to be tired from yesterday.”

“I am,” she admitted.

Soft lips kissed her cheek. Sophie grabbed her mother hand and squeezed. “I love you, Momma.”

She was suddenly crushed in an embrace so fierce it shifted her organs.

“I love you, baby girl.” She kissed her once more and then hurried out to the balcony that wrapped the living room’s full view.

Happiness and sadness dueled for seniority. She chaffed her arms and turned away from the window. The curious side of her wanted to run to the counter to see what had upset her mother. But the child still very much a part of her, though she’d never admit it, shied from the kitchen altogether. She’d boasted about her indifference to the severed hand, but visions of it would keep her nightmare department busy for a while.

If she wasn’t mature enough to help her mother, she knew just the person who was. She hurried into the farthest room and gave a mini fist pump when a desk and wall of legal looking books greeted her. With a note pad and pen she wrote, “Heads up. Mom’s sad about something in the file. She’s on the balcony. Help, if you can.” Her hand pulled back from the paper, lowered, jerked away again.

How should she sign off? Hugs, Sophie? Love, Sophie? Just…Sophie? She sighed, put the pen to paper, and hoped for the best. “I love you, Sophie,” just popped out. So, she went with it, taking the entire pad with her to his door, and then sliding it underneath. He could miss a little sheet of paper. In the kitchen she grabbed a drink of water, dimmed the brilliant droplights, and then headed to bed to sleep forever. A.K.A. as long as her mom would allow.

E
very minute
he was around her he loved her more. He smiled at the, “I love you, Sophie,” complete with a balloon heart representing the I in her name. His line of sight traveled to the top of the note and his smile faltered.

Shit.

There was only one thing in that file that would hurt Carmen. And he’d wanted to be the one to tell her. Well, he never wanted to tell her, but it beat her reading it in a file. He scrubbed the towel over his head one last time hard enough to begin the balding process. At the dresser he retrieved flannel sleep pants and his well-worn MIT sweatshirt, and yanked them on.

She sat staring at the city, but seeing only the demons in her head. The wind toyed with the curls draping her shoulders and back. Her dried lips knitted. Tears welled from the biting breeze, emotion, or both.

He slipped through the door and walked to the railing. Cars crawled like lighted ants in the distance. The city noise melded into a soft din, muffled by howling gusts. His thumb tapped the rounded metal top.

“I should have told you.”

“I should have known.” Her voice was hoarse. Angry.

“You couldn’t have known.”

“Couldn’t I? Everything in my life is evil. My own mother…the first and most successful cartel leader to date. Ha. You should take me in now. Put me behind bars before my true nature reveals itself.”

Vail let it go. People said all sorts of thing in enmity. He knew better and so did she. But he let her vent. Things kept inside only molded and decayed the soul.

“I should have never had Sophia.”

He snapped around on that one. Tears streaked her face. Her knuckles shown white wrapped around the thin iron armrests. Her gaze found his and a sob broke free. “What if I gave her my tainted blood?”

In two strides he was on top of her. The metal on concrete scraped as he turned her from the patio table to face him. He bent at the waist and put his nose a few inches from hers.

“Think about your daughter. Is there any sign of evil in her?”

Carmen’s hands slapped over her face. She wept long and hard. Vail tucked her head against his chest and rolled with the riptide of emotion.

“She’s the sweetest thing in the world,” she cried.

“She is.” He agreed. Finally Carmen’s tears subsided. “I don’t know if it’s nature or nurture. Probably they can both skew. But I know what I see. A loving mother and the beautiful person she’s nurtured in an impossible situation. She’s happy and healthy because of you.”

“I’ve never seen her so happy…” She sniffled.

The look in her midnight eyes didn’t make Carmen seem all that happy about it though. “And…?” he coaxed.

“And I’m terrified you’re going to break her heart.” She dragged each lip in turn through her teeth and eyes him.

“Hers or yours?”

“Both, maybe.”

He couldn’t tell her what he wanted. Not yet. But he could show her.

Vail attacked her mouth, their lips colliding with near bruising force. The chair screeched against the concrete from the brunt of his incursion. His hand fisted in the twine of hair, holding her to him. Not that she had anywhere to go trapped between him and the hard metal at her back.

Though every fiber in his being would rage against it, if she wanted, he’d let her go. Thank all that was holy and several things that weren’t—like his carnal intentions—she opened to his seeking tongue. He kissed himself drunk on her rich flavor, parrying his tongue with hers, sucking the sweetness from her lips.

With one hand and his other arm supporting her back, he hitched her off the chair. Her hands dug into the fabric of his sweatshirt. It strained at his nape. She circled his torso with the biting grip of her legs. The soft heat of her core nuzzled the length of his growing erection. He stumbled over the chair in an effort to get to the door without breaking the kiss. What was he, seventeen?

Smooth, Tucker
.

Yep, her hands were smooth all right, sliding skin-to-skin up his back. The cool breeze charmed his feverish skin. He bit at her lower lip and her moan carried off on the wind. With more tentative steps, he eased toward the door. Carmen rubbed her center up and down his plumped cock.

He ripped the door open, but, surprisingly, he had the wherewithal to protect his girls and lock it behind him. His steps to his bedroom were hurried. Since her legs were clamped so tightly a hurricane gale wouldn’t knock her off, he released his hold on her bottom. The coolness of her belly met his fingertips as he glided over her ribs to her nipple.

Through the lace of her bra her soft bud distended. A flick and light pinch stirred her tender flesh. It hardened under his strident hand. He was going too hard. Too fast, like before. But still, not as fast as he needed to go. Only Sophie’s presence inside the condo kept him from stopping at the dining table, stripping her bare, and filling her.

They fumbled their way into the bedroom. Again, Vail locked the door, ensuring Sophie’s mental safety. Talk about scars. Walking in on your mom getting—well, getting properly serviced—would sure create some. He smiled against her mouth and she licked the edge of his lips. Light from the bathroom and closet crisscrossed the dark room, giving more than enough light to see his destination. He hurried past the plush bedding and gray accent wall to the translucent one on the far side.

Though he hated to lose her heat, the plans he had for her body heated him more. It took more strength than he expected to peel her legs from around his torso. He set her in front of him and the backdrop of the DC skyline. He bracketed her face and eased his lips away.

“Sometimes we don’t see ourselves for the people we are. Impressions, polluted impressions, from others cloud our perception and we’re forever lost to the madness. You don't deserve that, Carmen.” Her swollen lips parted, but no words leaked out.

He grabbed the leather covering her shoulders. A gentle tug had the thing on the floor. Her gaze remained locked on him while he undressed her piece by piece. He untied her laces then slipped the boots and socks from her feet. Unable to resist he hugged her bottom to his face while he worked on the fly of her jeans. His hands actually shook as he wrestled with the button of her jeans. Anticipation had him on a hair trigger.

“I want you to see yourself through my eyes tonight.” He spread the fly wide and worked the pants over her dreamy ass. He left them crowded at the base of her calves, liking the picture she made.

The outside of his finger grazed the side of her cheek. “The only way you’re going to see yourself the way I see you is for you to watch me make love to you.” She swallowed, inhaled to speak, but before she could object he turned her to the window.

“But they’ll see,” she gasped at her splendid reflection in the dark glass.

“They’ll see shapes, not details, but most importantly they’ll see the beauty you have to offer with your heart, mind, and body.” He touched the center of her chest, the bridge of her nose, and then dragged his finger down to her pubic bone. Her breath caught. “I want them to see me love you. To be jealous that it’s not them.” Vail lowered his head to her ear. “Whether you know it yet, or not, they’ll know…you’re mine.”

“Vail.” His name was a cry on her lips. Of joy? Of sadness?

Interlocking their fingers, he stretched her arms wide overhead and flattened her palm against the cool surface. He bore his weight against her back, reveling in the contrasting texture of her form. “
Shhh
.” He kissed the proud corner of her jaw. “I don’t know where this is going, honey, but it’s going hard and fast. I suggest you breathe and enjoy the ride.”

“I’m so scared.”

“Me too.”

He rested his forehead on the soft waves at the crown of her head. Her scent filled his lungs, clamped down on the chains of his heart. His head stayed there. He got drunk on her smell while his fingers slipped over her almond colored arms. The swell of her breasts tempted him to stray, but he remained steady in his goal. Total exposure followed by a steady advance, and then invasion.

His greedy hands followed the sloping curve to her hip. Slipping two fingers under the hem of her shirt, he snagged the end and peeled it off. When her hands fell to the side he whispered, “Hands up.”

She obeyed eagerly. Utilizing every bit of will power he possessed, he kept his mouth off her smooth ass as he knelt at her alter. The black V of a thong slipped between the dimples of her cheeks.

“Sweet Jesus.”

“Yes,” she agreed.

Pants gridlocked at her ankles, he spread her ass wide, slid a finger underneath the string, yanked it to the side, and buried his face. His tongue speared her silky channel. The glass squeaked under her hands. Carmen groaned in unabashed pleasure and tilted her hips, allowing him better access. And he took it all. Thrusting like a man possessed, he coaxed her moisture to him while giving his own. Pants ricocheted off the window and echoed through his bedroom and his sex incensed brain.

Dipping his shoulders, he dove farther between her legs. At least he tried. Her jeans wouldn’t allow him access. The red mist clung so densely he sat back to clear it, but as usual Carmen beat him to the punch. She bent, yanked at the bottom of each pant leg in turn, and discarded them to the scattered heaps of clothing littering the floor. Her hands outstretched high on the window once again and she opened her legs wide. His cock strained at the erotic X she formed.

Without a second’s thought he dipped, and then turned. His lips suctioned over her cleft. He tempted her clit from its protective den, using steady pulls. Carmen’s hips jerked against his face. She rocked. He slipped two fingers inside her liquid heat, letting his index finger nestle against the puckered entrance between her cheeks, and match the increasing churn of her body.

“Vail. Vail. Oh. Yes. Please.”

He growled and lapped at her precious nub in retaliation for the fit of desire she forced on him. She fucked his face in long, flowing strokes that shortened with her breaths. Her core tightened, then convulsed around his fingers.

The sweetest song.

When he slipped from her legs and looked up, her head sagged against the glass. His lips slid along her backside. Damp curls clung to her shoulder despite the temperature outside. He shifted it to the side and continued his ascent.

“You know, I’m beginning to feel like this relationship is extremely one sided,” Carmen said, a smile heavy in her voice.

“So, you admit this is a relationship?”

“They don’t have a word for what this is.”

Quick as a flash of jagged lightning, she encircled his wrist, pivoted, exchanging their places, and pinned his back to the glass. Her hands slipped under his sweatshirt and glided across his abdomen, gathering the fabric as she went. Up and over his head, she worked it until he was free.

She leaned forward, molding her breasts to his chest. Her tears had faded, but a hesitation crept into her features. He ran a reassuring hand along her jaw and over her back. Gradually her gaze returned to his. She held it as she dropped to her knees, pulling his loose pants down as she went.

“Men aren't supposed to be beautiful. But I can’t find a better way to describe you.” She swallowed. “You do things to my body without a single touch that I didn’t think possible. And when you put a hand on me. Or mouth. My body isn’t big enough to contain the pleasure you give me.” Her hands sailed up the inside of his thigh. “I want to give you that same kind of thrill.”

“The sight of you does that, honey. God, especially now.”

A smile quirked one side of her mouth. She licked her lips and encircled his shaft with her dainty hand. “Well, let’s see what this does to you.”

Vail watched as the head of his cock disappeared between the swollen redness of her well-kissed lips. His heartbeat ratcheted. His abs clenched. With great care she sucked him in a few inches, and then popped off his tip. Adjusting her position, she came back for more, this time working him to the back of her throat. She gagged. Vail tried to pull out, knowing she’d likely never given head before. The glass barred his hips. Carmen refused to slow, only adjusted and took him deep again.

Soon slurps, sucking, and her moans addled his brain into submission. The world shrank to her mouth, his need, and her apparent delight in driving him mad. His hands fisted at his side. Heedless of his struggle for restraint, his hips pumped into her mouth. His head lolled. Too quickly the tingle at the base of his spine screamed in warning. He didn’t want to stop. Couldn’t stop.

“Carmen, you have to stop. I can’t. God, I’m about to come.”

Whether lost in the maelstrom or possessed, she worked him harder. Faster. He strained against the need for release. His restraint only intensified the climax. It evaporated the air in his lungs as it rocketed from deep within, tearing off a part of his soul with it. Vail muffled the roar of climax as much as he could, half insane with unrivaled euphoria.

She accepted all of him and pulled greedily for more. His dick refused to soften in her eager mouth. She licked him clean and kissed his head before working her way up his body to his heart. “Now they can see that you’re mine, even if you don’t know it yet.”