Chapter 11 On The Hunt #2
“What’s the point? I’m just going to have to pee again in five minutes. Between the IVs at the hospital and the seven thousand bottles of water you insisted I drink, my bladder feels like it’s floating down a river.”
“That’s better than the alternative, don’t you think?”
“You’re right, I’m sorry.” She crawled under the covers. “I’m just mad at myself for letting this happen.”
The call to Waverly could wait a little while longer. Climbing in beside her, I lay on my side with my head propped in my hand. Sloane mirrored my position, except her head was on a pillow. My fingers combed through her long brown locks, stopping to toy with the ends.
“I’m the one who should be apologizing, Sunshine, not you.”
“How do you figure?”
“It’s my job to take care of you and I failed spectacularly. I should’ve been paying closer attention to your needs. It won’t happen again, I promise you that.”
She yawned. “Why do I get the feeling you’re going to go overboard?”
“Because you know me too well.” Leaning in, I kissed her soft and sweet. She tried to deepen the kiss, but I pulled away. “You’re sick.”
“Not anymore. I’m fine, Duncan.” She peppered kisses along my jawline while her hand snaked between us, rubbing my hardened cock through my pants. “Please, honey, I need you.”
“Dammit, Sloane.”
“Is that a yes?”
“When have I ever said no to you?”
Sloane
He had us both naked before I even realized what he was doing.
Duncan sat against the headboard with me straddling his lap.
I may have initiated sex, but I was under no illusion as to who was in control.
Honestly, I preferred it that way. He played my body with expert precision, bringing me to the brink of release and holding me on the edge until he wanted to tip me over.
“Let me know if I’m too rough.”
It was the only warning I got before he slammed his mouth over mine, matching the strokes of my tongue with a swirl of his own.
We nipped, sucked, and tasted, like it was our first time together.
His hands roamed over my body, pinching a nipple, kneading my breast. When his palm connected with the fleshy part of my bottom, I moaned deep in my throat, welcoming the sting like an old friend.
Everywhere he touched, my skin tingled with need.
My hand slid between us, taking him in my grip.
His cock was long and hard, steel and satin as I stroked him from root to tip.
Over and over, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted to give him more.
Climbing off his lap, I shuffled back, dropping to my hands and knees.
“What do you––”
I took him into my mouth before he finished talking.
“Fuck yes,” he groaned.
His hand sank into my hair, fisting it near the scalp.
He didn’t use his grip to force my movements, he guided them while allowing me to take the lead.
I started a slow rhythm, taking a little more of him on each downward glide.
He was almost too much for me to handle, but I was bound and determined.
“Hold up, Sunshine.” He pulled me off, then slid down until he was lying flat on his back. Before I could protest, he lifted me and spun me around. I was on all fours, straddling his chest, facing his feet. “I like this view much better. Besides, now I can do this.”
His mouth was on my pussy before I had the chance to become embarrassed.
My back arched as his tongue lapped at my opening, making me forget my own name for a split second.
Lowering myself down, I licked across the head of his dick before sucking him to the back of my throat.
I was lost to the pleasure, both the giving and receiving.
My hips rocked back and forth of their own volition, searching for relief which came when one thick finger penetrated my core, followed quickly by another.
Duncan latched on to my clit, sucking hard as he added a third.
The orgasm crashed into me out of nowhere.
My body was still trembling when he slid out from under me.
“Elbows to the mattress, ass in the air, Sloane,” he demanded.
He knelt behind me, swiping his dick through my wet folds, then with one powerful snap of his hips, he filled me, stretching me to my limits.
“God damn. Tell me you’re okay.”
“Move, Duncan,” I panted. “Please.”
He withdrew to the tip, then slammed into my core. Again and again. His fingers dug into my hips, pulling me backward to meet his every thrust. No doubt, I’d have bruises in the morning, but it was a small price to pay to feel him lose control. He was wild, uninhibited, and I loved every second.
Suddenly he pulled out, flipping me on my back like I weighed less than a feather.
My legs wrapped around his waist automatically.
An instant later, he powered back inside with a grunt, slamming into me fast and hard.
His finger found my clit, lightly strumming the hard nub in a way he knew would send me flying.
It wouldn’t take much. He already had me on the edge.
“You’re close,” he grunted. “I can feel you squeezing on my dick.”
“I’m already there.”
“Come with me, Sloane.”
Once, twice, on the third stroke he planted deep, both of us crying out in unison. He collapsed onto the bed next to me, his arms no longer able to hold him up. I moved to his side, laying my head on his chest, letting the steady beat of his heart lull me to sleep.
For the next five days, Duncan and I made love each night, then he’d leave by seven thirty in the morning once my brother arrived at our house.
Finn was my compromise after our first major argument.
It all started when Duncan, being the stubborn, alpha male he was, had the audacity to suggest I wasn’t “allowed” to stay alone.
While I understood his need to protect, he had to understand I wasn’t a doormat.
Fortunately, he was a quick learner. I didn’t have to follow through with my threat of sleeping in the bed with Reagan.
For security reasons, we kept the twins home from school also. It was easier, and involved less manpower, to guard the three of us at the same location. That’s where Finn came in. Both he and Joel spent the day with me while Duncan and his team planned the takedown of his old handler.
My stomach rolled every time I thought about their upcoming mission.
The idea that Duncan or someone we knew and loved could be injured made me twitchy.
I hated everything about it, but it had nothing to do with my feelings.
It was about serving justice to a man who thought he was untouchable.
We wouldn’t be in limbo much longer. If everything went according to the plan, Niall would be sitting behind bars in less than twenty-four hours.
That’s probably why my nerves were more of a mess than usual.
“What’s all this?”
Finn strolled into the kitchen. He’d given me the day off, but he had back-to-back-to-back video conferences that took up most of the morning.
“I’m baking.”
“No shit. But who the feck are you baking for? The entire state of West Virginia?”
“Ha, ha. It’s not that much,” I lied to him and myself.
Baking was a way to relieve stress. Judging by the massive number of desserts, my stress to ingredient ratio was larger than I realized.
Spread out across the counter were the makings of two apple pies, five dozen peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, a loaf of cinnamon bread, and a tray of banana nut muffins.
Crap. Who was going to eat all of this?
“Sloanie,” he sighed. “Cut the shit and tell your big brother what’s bothering you.”
“Aren’t you scared, Finn? Your fiancée could get hurt or worse.”
“I figured that’s what this was all about.
” He leaned with his elbows against the counter, crossing his feet in front of him.
“Let me tell you a little something about Way. She’s a genuine bad arse.
Do I worry? Absolutely, I’d be a fool not to.
But I trust in her ability to do her job. You have to do the same with Duncan.”
“I do trust him.”
“Then trust in them all to stay safe. You’ve never seen the team in action, but I have. After the bombing, they jumped into the fray, no hesitation, no second-guessing. Hell, they barely even had to communicate. It was like they knew what the other was thinking.”
“Can we talk about something else? Tomorrow is going to be hard enough.”
“Sure. What do you want to talk about?”
The oven beeped, letting me know it was pre-heated.
I placed both pies on the top rack and set the timer.
Finn followed me out of the kitchen into the living room where I’d left a laundry basket full of clean clothes.
Besides baking enough treats for an army, I was doing housework to keep my mind busy.
I reached into the basket, pulling out a towel to fold.
“How did your meetings go?”
“The first two were boring.”
“And the third?”
“Interesting, if not a little scary.”
“What do you mean?”
I sat the finished towel on the coffee table, then grabbed the next item off the top, Reagan’s favorite princess pajamas. She had three pairs because she refused to wear anything else.
“Noah and Lanie actually asked for the meeting.”
“Really? Who was it with?”
“Zakhar Vlaschenko––Zak he said to call him.”
“Never heard of him.”
“Unless you’ve had dealings with the Russian Bratva, you wouldn’t have.”
My head snapped to his. The what? There was no way I’d heard him correctly. The only thing I knew about the Russian Bratva was what I read in fiction books. They were the Russian version of the mafia, only bigger and deadlier.
“Could you repeat that please?”
He laughed. “You weren’t hearing things.”
“What would a criminal need to do business with Lachlan Industries for?”
“Zak isn’t a criminal. At least not in the way you’re thinking. And to answer your question, he was interested in the prosthetic prototype.”
Finn’s company designed and was in the human testing phase for a brain-controlled prosthetic limb. If it was successful, the prosthetic would make a big difference in the lives of amputees.
“Did he lose a limb in a shootout?”
“Stop being melodramatic. And it wasn’t for him. It was for his assistant. Although I’m almost certain he’s hoping for a different kind of relationship.”
“Oh boy.”
“I don’t have all the details, but from what Lanie told me, the woman, Prudence, was injured when she was taken hostage by another Russian family, who was trying to use her as leverage against Zak. Apparently, the FBI was investigating the same family. That’s how Lanie and Noah met him.”
“You can’t leave me hanging, Finn. There’s obviously more to the story. I need details.”
“I figured you might be intrigued. You can ask Zak when he gets here tomorrow.”
“Why would he be coming here tomorrow?”
I had the feeling I was not going to like his answer.
“Noah called in a marker.”
“Stop speaking gangster.”
“Listen, there were two reasons for my meeting. You know the first, the second was about a protective detail. Duncan didn’t want to take the chance that Niall could try to use one of us to gain the upper hand.
They have no idea if he’s working alone or with someone else.
So we, meaning you and the kids, Henley, Jade, Jett, and myself, will be here at your house, under the guard of Zak and a few of his men while the team is doing what they do best.”
My head was going to explode. “That’s––I don’t––I can’t.”
“Take a breath, Sloane.”
“You take a breath,” I snapped. “It’s the freaking mob. In my house! You’ve all lost your F-ing minds!”
Finn fought back a smile, the jerk. Didn’t he see? If Duncan was worried enough to have the Russian-freaking-Bratva protect his family, what kind of danger were the rest of them truly in?
“Relax. It’s a precaution.”
“I don’t need another precaution. I’m already wearing these weird patches.” I rolled up my sleeve to show him what I meant.
“What the hell is that?”
“It’s a tracking device, according to Nelson. Heck, I’m not sure it does anything more than itch like crazy.”
“And you’re wearing it because?”
“Duncan asked me to.”
“So if Duncan asked you to jump off a bridge…”
“Shut it, Finnian O’ Lachlan. Don’t you have work to do?”