Chapter 16 #2
Yes, please. But, also, fuck him for thinking she wasn’t a worthy partner. For thinking that going it alone was preferable to having her by his side.
“There’s the gratitude,” she said, keeping her voice light though emotions boiled inside.
“It’s not that I doubt you. Much,” he added, and she had to credit him for the honesty. “I know this mission could be my last. I’d rather not take anyone else down with me.”
“You fucking idiot,” she growled. “You’ve spent years going into combat situations with a handful of men, and you didn’t balk at that. So maybe Viktor’s people know who you are. You have a plan, or you wouldn’t be doing this. Tell me what it is.”
He studied her for a second, then shook his head and laughed. “Goddamn, you’re a ball buster. I’m not sure whether I like that about you or not.”
“Just accept it, Alex.”
He leaned against the counter and folded his arms in an echo of her posture.
“Okay, fine. Here’s what I’m thinking. It’s possible McCann didn’t pass the information.
He was totally the kind of bastard to play two sides against the middle.
He might have been negotiating, waiting for more money.
Or he told Dashevsky simply for the pleasure of knowing he’d be causing shit for us.
Even if he did pass the information, I didn’t lie to Gannon or anyone else about who I am.
I told the truth, or most of it, because they’d know a lie if they already have the truth.
But if they believe I’m as disillusioned as I’ve claimed, then I might get to the next level anyway.
I’m one guy, raging against the machine.
How am I a danger to their operation?” He shrugged.
“Like I said, I know the language and the culture of splinter groups. It helps.”
She wanted to know more about him, but she wasn’t sure he’d tell her. Still, why not ask? Worst he could do was refuse to answer the question. “You said your dad took you to Alaska. Was he part of a militia group there?”
He let out a breath, studied the floor for a long moment. “For a while,” he finally said. “Until he decided they were ineffective and the best preparation against tyranny was to go remote.”
“Remote?”
“The wilderness. Alaska has a lot of it, and much of it’s inaccessible for months every year.
When I tell you that no mission I’ve ever been on has equaled the hellscape my father created, I’m not kidding.
I’d sleep on a thousand desert floors with scorpions and snakes crawling everywhere, and I’d face a thousand enemy soldiers before I’d ever relive even a moment of that life in the Alaskan wilderness.
You don’t know what cold is until you live like that. Or fear.”
Her heart throbbed. “How old were you?”
“Nine when we moved. Eleven when he took us remote.”
“How did you end up in the military?”
She knew he’d gone to West Point, but it wasn’t simply a matter of filling out an application and showing up at the beginning of the year. You had to have fantastic grades and test scores, and you needed a Congressional endorsement. Not easy to get when you lived remotely.
“I had help from adults who cared. I didn’t have access to school for most of those years, but when I got out at fifteen, a family took me in and gave me what I needed to succeed. They helped me get into West Point.”
“I’m glad you had them.”
“Me too. They were old enough to be my grandparents at the time, but they didn’t hesitate. They’ve passed on now, but I’ll always be grateful.”
“Are your parents still…?”
His expression was flat. “Dead. Mom died when I was fourteen, my dad a few years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Wasn’t a big loss when my dad went. My mom, though… She was the glue that held him together. Mostly. When she went, so did the rest of his mind.”
“That must have been terrifying for you.” He’d been fourteen. A kid. Not tall and broad and jaded with years and experience like he was now. Just a kid without the skills and confidence he had as an adult male grown into his own power.
“Wasn’t fun.” He straightened and walked toward her. “I’m done talking about it. No more questions.”
He pinned her to the counter with a muscled arm on either side of her body. “Here are your choices, Princess.”
She bristled even as her limbs softened because he was so near. “Princess?”
“You’re a princess to me. Remote, beautiful, untouchable for a peasant like me. But here I am, about to touch you.” He nuzzled her neck, his lips traveling up to her ear where he gently nibbled her lobe. “You even smell expensive, you know that?”
“It’s, um, soap.”
“Soap.” He chuckled, the sound resonating through her body like a gong. “Fancy soap.”
“French.”
Honestly, why was she talking about soap? Shut up, Diana.
“Like I said. You’re a princess. And I want to touch you. Everywhere.”
Her hands curled into fists in his shirt as a sigh escaped. She’d been called princess before, but never had it sounded so sexy and tender.
“Your choices,” he said, dragging her back from that blissful place in her mind she’d been sailing toward.
“Yes?”
“I can walk you to your car, put you in it, and say good night.” He dragged her shirt free of her waistband with one hand, slid his palm beneath it, glided slowly toward her breast, branding her skin with fire. “Or I can peel these clothes off and take you to my bed.”
She shivered. “And what would you do there?”
He chuckled again. “Whatever I want, Princess. But I promise you’ll be satisfied.”
“Let me think about it,” she said just to make him laugh. She wasn’t disappointed as it rumbled in his chest.
“Think about this, honey. My face between your legs, my tongue in your pussy, eating you good. I’ll make you come fast the first time, then we’ll take it slow, make sure all your needs are met.”
Her body was on fire. Her pussy ached. She needed him to touch her.
“I’ve thought about it,” she whispered, looking up at him, the intensity in his gaze turning up the fire. “And the answer is yes.”
He gripped her chin in his fingers, tilted her face up. Stopped when she could feel his breath on her skin.
“I never doubted it,” he growled in the moment before his mouth claimed hers.