Way of the Warrior (Troubleshooters #17.5)(64)

“Please, Rook,” she begged. Her release moments earlier had only banked the roaring blaze inside her. His hands on her body rekindled it, making it flame even brighter.

She heard the rip of a foil packet and opened her eyes. “I’m safe. We don’t need it,” she said. Whose voice was that, she wondered. A wanton seductress’s.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this? For me?” he asked, face strained at holding back.

She nodded and rose to her knees. “I’ve never been more sure.” Her hands wound with his hands, palm to palm, fingers curled with his—a lover’s embrace. “All in,” she whispered.

She unleashed the beast then. The same beast she’d seen writhing under his skin in the prison. She’d known then that she wanted him. Something in his eyes had called to her. Now she’d have him.

He pushed her back gently, coming over her and seating his cock at her entrance. He pushed into her slowly. His jaw tensed, and she stroked her hand over it, smiling.

“I’m so glad I came for you,” she said softly.

His eyes closed, then opened, and she knew…she’d be his until time ended. His body went still above her, and then he pushed in to the hilt.

He was so big, and she was a tiny woman, but as he settled his hips against hers, stroking her from the inside out, she knew he fit her just right.

“What you do to me,” he said harshly.

Then he ushered her to a place she’d never been before, thrusting into her body, taking everything she was and returning it to her a hundred times over.

“So good,” he said as he lifted away and put a pillow under her bottom.

“So mine,” he reiterated as his hands traced her curves then grabbed her hips, holding her still.

He shifted as he thrust deep and stole her soul, wrapping it up in his own and sheltering her in the midst of his storm.

“Vivi?” he demanded.

“Rook?” Their eyes were as connected as their bodies. He refused to let her close them, anchoring her mind as he ravaged her body.

“I’m not letting you go.”

“That’s good, because I’d hunt your ass down,” she murmured.

Then he showed her his intent, pounding into her body, making her keen in desire and finally forcing them both over the edge in a white-hot wave of release.

“All in,” he muttered again before he tucked her into his side and covered her legs with one of his.

She relaxed against him, replete, complete, like she’d never been before. Then she slept.





CHAPTER 8


Vivi woke at his side slowly. Rook had watched her sleeping, cursing himself for coming here but knowing she was in his blood and he’d never be able to resist her lure. She was both the last and only thing he needed. Olivia Bentwood was a huge complication in a life already so FUBAR it was hard to process.

“You’re thinking really hard,” she muttered as she snuggled into his body, licking his skin before she placed her chin on his chest.

He wiggled his eyebrows. “That’s not all that’s hard.”

He’d always been known as a rough and mean son of a bitch. This tiny woman made him soft. The imp smiled. He cupped her luscious ass and then smacked it. She moaned, and he almost, almost rolled her over and sank into her heat. “Get dressed and come into the living room,” he said as he pulled away from her and sat on the side of the bed.

Rook needed to tell her, but it was going to be hard. He was never going to be a free man. He’d signed on with the devil in order to capture the ones who’d done this to him. And Vivi wasn’t part of the deal. He’d been allowed forty-eight hours with her to make sure she was safe, and then he had to head back to his new headquarters in Port Royal, Virginia.

He reached for his backpack and pulled out some sweats, glancing at his watch and bemoaning the fact that he only had about six hours left with her. It wasn’t enough time to make a lifetime of memories. But it was all he had until this business was finished.

She got up and threw on some sweats and the T-shirt he’d discarded last night. She tossed him a shy smile, and he rubbed his chest. He hoped he made it to heaven, so he could first thank her brother for sending Vivi his way, then choke the life out of him for the same reason.

“Come on,” she said. “I’ll make us some coffee.”

He followed her into the kitchen, watching her prepare the coffee, enjoying her naturally seductive movements. She’d once been a dancer. She loved the beach. She made love like a goddess. She tasted like sin.

He hoped he lived long enough to claim her. She set the coffee, creamer, and sugar in front of him and watched as he pushed everything but the coffee away.

“Black? Eww,” she complained with a laugh.

“I’m a soldier, Vivi. Not some frou-frou CIA field operative.”

She laughed. He smiled and rubbed his chest again. The skin over his heart would be raw before all was said and done.

“Tell me,” she said as she hopped up on the stool beside him.

“This shit is deep, Vivi. I can’t give you any more than what you already know. You’re in the clear right now. Arbor managed to talk the warden at Leavenworth into keeping your presence there a secret. He’s former Army, knew Arbor really well, so we got lucky. Johansen’s death was chalked up as a suicide due to the stress of his job. But right now, you’re safe. Being with me puts you in the crosshairs. They’re hunting me and Knight, Vivi, and they won’t stop.”