Move the Sun (Signal Bend #1)(54)

After a sip from her glass, she started again. “Lopez, my crew chief, told me that he’d seen Hobson around my copter a couple of times shortly before the mission. He said he’d mentioned it in his testimony, but Hobson must have had some reason queued up, because it didn’t make any waves. But a few months after I was stateside, Lopez got in touch. This was before I was fully into this gig, so getting in touch wasn’t so hard. He’d just rotated out, and Hobson got wasted at the party and confessed to Lopez that he’d sabotaged my engine and then fixed it before the Chief got to it. Would’ve been easy to undo what he’d done. He knew he’d be in charge of the investigation—he was senior pilot after me, so he’d be OIC.”

For the first time, Isaac interrupted. “OIC?”

“Office in Charge. The perfect f*cking crime. In charge of the investigation, in charge of the report.”

“Why didn’t Lopez report what Ray told him?”

Their glasses were empty. Lilli got up and brought the tequila in from the kitchen and refilled them. “A drunk utterance about a closed file? A confession that would tear the battalion apart? It would go nowhere but up Lopez’s ass. He did the right thing. The only way for justice to work here is off the books.”

“Lilli, you’re telling me that Ray let a whole squad of men die because he didn’t like you. That’s a special kind of crazy. I know this man.”

“I don’t think he expected the mission to be so dire when he f*cked with Donna. I don’t even know if he was trying to ruin my career so spectacularly. For all I know, he was just f*cking with me. His favorite pastime. Doesn’t matter. What he did got men killed. He doesn’t walk away from that.” The story told, she had a moment to understand something. “Are you saying you don’t believe me?”

He didn’t hesitate. “That’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m trying to get my head around what you’ve told me, though. I need to make the pieces fit.”

“No, you don’t. This is my thing, not yours.”

“You’re wrong, Lilli. This is someone I’ve known most of my life. This is my brother’s brother. A friend of the club. Baby, he’s under club protection. You understand what I’m saying to you?”

She thought she did, and it broke her heart. She stood and took his glass from him. “You’re saying you’re my enemy now. Get out, Isaac.” She turned and walked into the kitchen and put the empty glasses in the sink.

Then he was behind her, his hand on her shoulder, turning her roughly around. “No. You got it wrong.

I’m not your enemy. That’s the last f*ckin’ thing I want. But I have to take this to the club.” He lifted her onto the counter before she had a chance to resist.

The tequila was stirring her sadness and anger into a particular kind of heat, and she could feel her hands shaking with it. She needed Isaac to get out of here. “Then we are enemies. That’s a confidence you can’t break, Isaac. I’ll kill you before I let you. It’s not just me on the line here.”

He wrapped his hand around her ponytail until his fist was against the back of her head. She swung at him, but he caught her fist in his other hand. “You need to trust me, Lilli. You need to let me work this. If you kill Ray while he’s under our protection, the club will kill you. I won’t be able to stop that. Let me work this. Let me figure it out. Let me help you.”

Isaac was panting, his face only inches from hers; Lilli could feel his breath against her cheek and ear.

She was furious, but she was also wet and almost writhing with need. She pushed at him with her free hand, trying to make room to get her leg up and kick him, but he sensed her intent and knocked her leg away, spreading her wide and settling his hips against hers. Oh, f*ck. He pulled hard on her hair, forcing her head back, and then his lips were on her throat, sucking. Gasping, she thrust against him, not even sure herself if she was trying to push him off or just grind on him. She was trying to remember that he was f*cking everything up and threatening to put people who trusted her at risk, but the scent of him. The feel of his denim-clad legs against her bare ones, his hands holding her forcefully . . . f*cking tequila.

“Let go of me.”

She knew Isaac wasn’t feeling the booze the way she was; she’d seen plenty of evidence of his impressive tolerance. But something was on him. His gaze was all but scorching her. “Fight me.”

“What?”

“I want you to fight me. C’mon, Sport. You’ve been trying to hit me since I got here. Fight me now.”

They weren’t done. They were in big trouble. Everything they’d found together was in jeopardy. Hell, it was probably already over. There was a good chance that one of them would kill the other soon. And he wanted a rough f*ck?

But Lilli could feel the hot steel of his erection against her pelvis. Her heart was pounding in her head, and the crotch of her shorts was soaked.

She head-butted him.

“Christ!” Staggering back, he dropped his hold on her fist and put his hand to his forehead. He still had his hand wound in her ponytail, and he’d wrenched her head around when he backed up, but she swung with her just-freed right and punched him in the face. That made him let go of her completely, and she jumped off the counter and backed out of the kitchen.

He charged at her and reached for her arm, but she spun out of his way. She noticed that he was trying to contain her, not hit her. That answered her question of whether this was a fight or foreplay, and she adjusted her defense, ignoring the opening he’d given her. He lunged at her again, and she let him catch her arm. He yanked it behind her back and dragged her against his chest. When he slammed his mouth on hers, she bit his lip, tasting blood.