Master No (Masters and Mercenaries, #9)(116)

For a spy, he could blanch quite quickly. She rather thought that was only for her. In the field, Tennessee Smith would have the world’s best poker face, but here he was just a man who didn’t want his future wife to know he’d doubted her. “I might have had some thoughts on the subject, but that was all before I met you and realized you were far too sweet to ever be involved in anything like that. Then all I wanted to do was protect you.”

Yeah, she bet he did. She leaned forward and kissed his cock, warm brushes of her mouth over his flesh. “I wouldn’t blame you, Ten.”

His hand tangled in her hair. “Erin knew. She told me from the beginning I was a paranoid freak and you were innocent. I…I haven’t had the greatest luck with women. Suck the head.”

His hands twisted, right to the point where her scalp lit up and she felt the tug in her nipples. The man had learned her sweet spots.

“I can’t imagine you haven’t had hundreds of lovers. You should know I’m the last in that line, babe. I’ve got it on good authority that the women of Sanctum don’t share.” She gave the head of his cock a good long lick. It was perfectly plum shaped and a lovely shade of purply red. A drop of pre-come pulsed out, and she lapped it up before closing her mouth over his cock.

Ten shuddered. “Not hundreds and I wouldn’t call them lovers. They were a way out of myself, an escape. A couple of them were near-death experiences.”

“What?” Faith tried to talk more, but Ten guided her back to his cock.

“It’s kind of in the job description, darlin’. If you’re f*cking for information you sometimes get burned. Or almost emasculated. Or sold to a terrorist group because the operative you’re living with is a double agent. It’s all an accepted part of spy life. Don’t stop, baby. That feels so good.”

“You’re not going back to that job,” she tried to say, but her mouth was kind of completely full of cock.

He chuckled and thrust in a little further before proving he could understand her. “I’m never going back to that job. I’ve got a new mission and that’s taking care of you. You should know though that Ian wants me to run a small office in whatever craptastic country you’re working in.”

He was coming with her. She hummed her assent to that plan as she worked her mouth over and over his cock. McKay-Taggart obviously wasn’t the CIA, and thank god for that. He could use that brilliant mind of his and still stay relatively safe and close to her.

But there was one issue they had to settle.

She came up for air, her hand going down to cup his heavy balls. “I need to stay in Dallas for a while. I need McKay-Taggart to figure out who on my staff was working with my sister. She couldn’t have managed this without someone on the inside. She needed data from the patients she was experimenting on. My doctors rotate in and out, so it has to be one of my full-time nurses.”

It hurt her heart to think that one of her nurses would do that to patients for money, but she had to be realistic.

“Stand up,” he commanded. It looked like he’d only wanted a taste. She stood and his hands found her undies, and suddenly he was the one on his knees. “I’ll talk to Ian when he gets back to Dallas. We’ll work something out, but if you want to go yourself, I’ll be beside you.”

She shuddered as he pushed her back and onto the bed, her legs splaying. He gripped her thighs, pressing them open so her * was right where he wanted it. “I need to stay in Dallas for a while.”

He put his nose right in her labia, breathing her in like she was the sweetest flower he’d ever encountered. “You will. You’re going to be under guard until we deal with your father, but I’m hoping that won’t take too long.”

“I have to stay and help Erin through this.” She wasn’t sure why, but she and Erin had clicked. They’d become the type of friends that rarely came along, and she wasn’t losing that. Love came in some strange forms, but it was too precious to toss out because it wasn’t perfect. Ten wasn’t perfect. He’d hurt her and likely would again because he was human. She would do the same, but if they made that vow to hold on despite whatever happened, they could have a life together.

Holding on. She’d let go of so many things in her life. She’d drifted, but he could keep her steady if she let him. He needed to be needed, craved it. He needed to understand that she wasn’t going anywhere. She was the permanent part of his life.

And she was going to give her friend some stability, too.

Ten rested his cheek against her, sighing as though he’d found his place. “I love you, Faith. I’ll go wherever you need to go. And I thank you for taking care of Erin. She’s going to need it. She’s welcome to stay with us. We’ll make sure she gets through this.”

He turned his head slightly and then his tongue rode over her delicate flesh.

She clutched the bedspread, trying not to scream out. Normally she wouldn’t care, but given the things that had happened, she wanted to respect her friends.

“That’s right. Keep quiet, but don’t think for a second this is disrespectful. I love you. If it had been me, I would want my friends to find something good. Theo was a good man. He wouldn’t deny us this.”

She nodded. He wouldn’t. Theo had been in love. If it had been Ten who had died, any of them really, Theo would have clung to Erin. They needed a reminder that there was still something good, that they were alive.