Chapter 14 #2
“Never again,” I promised. I thrust. Slowly at first, and then I pumped faster and faster. Izabel’s nails dug into my shoulders as an expression between anguish and ecstasy crossed her face.
And when she gasped, “harder,” feral intensity took over, and I fucked her like a caveman.
I pounded, hard, wild, and fast. Her nails scored my skin, and I relished the sting as we culminated in blinding pleasure.
I spilled into her. Shoving my face into the curve of her neck, I shuddered with the ripples of my climax.
I was crushing her, and yet she held on tight.
I lifted my head. I stared into her eyes.
Our gazes locked, and, in that moment, the angst of our years apart melted away.
It was midnight when I let Izabel up for air. I couldn’t stop touching her, afraid it was a dream and she would disappear. She tensed when I kissed down her belly and lingered on the scar across her bikini line.
“I had a C-section,” she whispered.
“I know, baby.” I grazed my mouth on the mark one last time before crawling up her body. Bracing on my elbows on either side of her head, I pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“I’m not self-conscious about it.” She managed a watery smile. “Especially since…” Her words faded and, instead, she let her fingers communicate what she wanted to say. Izabel stroked the healed ridges of tissue on my back—her soft touch, a balm to my invisible wounds.
“Our scars tell our story,” I said softly. “The bad, the good. Our heartbreaks and our triumphs. It’s up to us to decide our ending.” I brushed her hair away from her face. “Don’t know about you, baby, but I’m hoping for a pretty damn good one.”
Her eyes glistened. “Me too.”
She shifted beneath me and winced. “I’m sore.”
I hid a grin of satisfaction. “Want me to run you a bath?”
“I’d love it.”
I got into the bathtub behind Izabel. We sat huddled together to enjoy the soothing warmth of the water.
My wife was quiet, and I thought she’d dozed off.
I’d never been this elated in the past three years.
There was truth in that you never know what you’ve lost until it’s gone .
No way was I doing this to our marriage again.
I was not re-enlisting with the SEALs, nor was I continuing with the task force after we fulfilled our mission.
“Do you think we slept together too soon?” she asked drowsily.
My fingers stroking her arms stilled. “Are you regretting that we did?”
She was silent for three heartbeats. “No. I don’t think so.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t overthink it.”
“Maybe we should have talked before we slept together.”
I smiled against her hair. “We communicate better when we fuck.”
She backslapped my shoulder. “Be serious.”
“I am, baby. I know there’s a lot we need to work through?—”
“And there’s the elephant in the room…I’m technically no longer married to you.”
“That can be corrected with a few keystrokes.”
Her hands glided back and forth through the water but she said nothing. I nudged her gently. “Tell me what you’re thinking. Don’t shut me out.”
“It still angers me how easy it is to mess with people’s lives.”
“Are you referring to the terrorists or the task force?”
“Both,” Izabel huffed.
Instinctively, I massaged her shoulders. “I took care of the first and I’m working on the second. Trust me on this.”
“I’m scared.”
“Hey…” I gently turned her head so I had her eyes. “I have a good feeling we’re gonna make it.”
I flashed her my roguish smile.
Izabel rolled her eyes knowing what I was up to, but I was relieved how easily we seemed to be falling back into each other.
“I’m meeting with Doc G again in a couple of days,” she said.
“So the sessions are helping?”
“I guess.”
“Good.”
“Do you know when Marcus and I can go back to work?”
“Let’s talk about that over dinner.”
“It’s midnight.”
“I’m starving. You?”
“I am too.”
Half an hour later, I was in the kitchen in a good mood and whistling as I popped the takeout containers of pasta in the microwave to reheat.
Though my stomach was grumbling for food, all I could think about was taking Izabel back to bed.
Three years of celibacy finally ended and it was fucking amazing.
Sinking into Izabel’s tight heat was every bit the heaven I remembered. My poor wife might not be able to walk tomorrow.
“Iza!” I hollered from the kitchen. “Food’s almost ready.
” My wife and her beauty routine. She mentioned something about putting on a face mask.
I guessed having had a mother whose business dealt with beauty ingrained in her certain habits.
Not that I was complaining. I remembered how ridiculously unreal her skin felt whenever she did one of her “sandpaper spas” as I teased her about it.
Although Izabel insisted it was called exfoliation.
My spine tensed when the sound of a vehicle reached me before its headlights swept over the window. I dropped everything I was doing and opened the cabinet beneath the sink where I hid my Sig.
I headed for the door and peeked behind the curtains. I wasn’t alarmed. I had an inkling of who our midnight visitor was. But I was far from complacent or relaxed. The porch lights illuminated two familiar black SUVs.
Viktor stepped down from the driver’s side of one vehicle.
I could feel his eyes lock on to where I stood.
The legend of Viktor Baran transcended all special ops circles.
Some say the man wasn’t human and maybe a closet superhero.
I was inclined to believe it. I’d seen the man in action more than once.
But every superhero had his kryptonite, and if Viktor ever had one, it was his wife.
She made him human. Which was why I suspected that in his gruff way, Viktor had a stake in me winning Izabel back.
The woman in question chose that moment to make an appearance.
Footsteps scraped on the porch steps, followed by a rap on the door.
“Who is it?” Izabel stayed at the bottom of the staircase, looking apprehensive.
“It’s Viktor.”
I opened the door. Edmunds, Brick, and Marcus were with him.
“What are you guys doing here?” I asked.
“Marcus!” Izabel gasped as she rushed forward. I blocked my wife before she could get past me and out the door. She was wearing damn sleeping shorts, for Christ’s sake.
Brick gave Izabel an appreciative once-over.
“Hey, eyes to me,” I growled at my friend, who gave me a lecherous smile.
Motherfucker.
“Overprotective much?” Brick teased.
“Fuck off.”
Traces of amusement flashed across everyone’s faces.
“Shit’s gonna hit the fan tomorrow,” Viktor informed me. “Wanna invite us in?”
I glanced over my shoulder at Izabel. “Throw on a robe.”
Izabel nodded, her face scarlet. She wasn’t wearing a bra either.
My team and Marcus entered the house.
“Man, your wife is a looker…uhm…wow…that…” Brick’s gaze followed Izabel’s hourglass figure up the staircase.
“Brick, if you say another fucking word…” I started menacingly.
“What? Just saying…know where you’re coming from, bro,” the ginger-haired operator said. “Why you fought so hard to get back to her.”
“Okay, so let’s cut the bullshit and tell me why this can’t wait ’til tomorrow,” I muttered.
“Because tomorrow, the world will know that you survived your team’s massacre,” Viktor said. “The public will not be privy to classified information, but your return will certainly cause controversy, and I imagine your relationship with Izabel will be under scrutiny.”
I crossed my arms. “I get to be Drake Maddox again in public? No more sneaking around?”
Viktor nodded.
My mouth thinned. “Wouldn’t that put Tierney and whoever she’s working with on alert?”
“That’s the idea. We’re sure Tierney is involved, but someone’s holding the leash.”
“She’s been in contact with Exetron Oil’s CEO, Lawrence Mitchell, through official channels,” Brick said. “The news breaks at oh-six hundred. We’ve locked in on Tierney and Mitchell’s signal clouds. Tim is also working on their access to several messaging platforms and will continue to monitor.”
Brick’s eyes shifted beyond my shoulder and I knew that could only mean that Izabel was back. I cleared my throat and glared at my friend. Brick shrugged and looked at the floor with a secretive smile that I wanted to wipe off his face.
“Marcus,” Izabel whispered and this time I didn’t stop her from greeting my former commander. After their hug, though, I pulled her back to my side.
“What’s going on?” Izabel asked.
I gave her a summary.
“No more hiding?”
“No more hiding,” I affirmed, then cut a glance at my team. “I’m concerned with how this will affect Izabel’s safety. There were no event triggers when Hamza was killed, correct?”
“That we’re aware of,” Viktor murmured.
I narrowed my eyes.
“We can’t be one hundred percent sure, Maddox, and you know it. Why we took Izabel the same time we needed to bring Marcus in.”
“Okay, then I’ll be Izabel’s bodyguard,” I said.
Marcus cleared his throat. “I believe that’s my job.”
“Not sure I trust you after Brick and Edmunds got the jump on you.”
“Drake,” Izabel chided sharply.
“If Mitchell and Tierney are going to make a play, we need to keep everything business as usual,” Viktor said.
“Sorry to contradict you, boss…press is gonna have a field day with this story,” Edmunds spoke up for the first time. “Nothing’s gonna be business as usual.”
Viktor shot the Guardian a look of irritation. “Agreed.” He turned to me. “But you can’t be in your wife’s space all the time.”
“I am not risking Izabel.”
“He can play the devoted husband,” Brick suggested. “Totally understandable, right? Some might question why Drake doesn’t whisk her away after having been gone for three years.”
“Fan-fucking-tastic idea,” I muttered.
“She can’t abandon the Solace project. It’s high profile and at a critical stage,” Viktor turned to Izabel. “Am I right?”
“Yes,” she responded slowly. “But why do you care?”
Viktor’s face was bland, but he was watching Izabel in an assessing way I didn’t like.
“No,” I growled.
Viktor raised a brow.
“You’re not using my wife as bait.”
“What’s going on?” Izabel grabbed my hand and I instinctively wrapped my arms around her. “Am I missing something?”
“It’s nothing, baby. Viktor and the others were just leaving.”
The man in question made no move to leave.
“Tierney and Mitchell may not have directed the attack on our operators,” Viktor said.
“But as far as we know, Tierney breached operational security that wiped out an entire JSOC team. The buck doesn’t stop with her.
She’s the chief of staff of a presidential candidate and I’ll be damned before I put any more of our military in this kind of danger. ”
“Are you sure the Veep isn’t involved?”
“VP is a boy scout,” Viktor muttered. “He checked out and there’s no reason to suspect he’s involved.”
“You think I can help?” my wife asked.
“Iza.” The last thing we needed was to give Viktor an inch. “I don’t want this to touch you.”
“Just be prepared for them to find your weakness, Maddox.”
The man’s ice-blue eyes glanced briefly at Izabel, making me bristle.
“Your return will raise questions from every corner of the government. If the Navy or JSOC gives you problems, let me know. My people will handle your release from the military. You work for me. We’ve got Exetron communications and Mitchell and Tierney under close surveillance. We’ll handle them. Just do your part.”
“Back the fuck up,” I growled. “I didn’t spend three years separated from my wife, only to turn around and put her in danger. No fucking way.”
“Drake—” Izabel started.
“No!” I roared at her with more force than I intended, making her jump. But her eyes flashed, indicating her own rising temper.
“You”—she gritted through her teeth—“unilaterally decided to fake your death in order to keep me safe. I want this to be over. I want every single one of them brought to justice and if I can help in any way, I will. Got it?”
“Mitchell is a cutthroat bastard,” I argued.
“You can be too,” Izabel said. “Be cutthroat, I mean. Not a bastard.”
Brick coughed. “Oh…don’t know about that.”
Izabel smiled at my teammate, whose face grew as red as his hair.
Jesus . The situation was spiraling out of my control.
“We need to talk about this,” I informed my wife, even as it was a struggle not to yell at everyone and kick them out.
Viktor slipped a memory stick from his pocket. “Details are here. We’re not sure when, where, or how Tierney and Mitchell will handle this, so we’ll play it by ear.”
“Oooh…” Izabel looked excited as she stared at the flash drive. “Is this one of those that will self-destruct after you look through it?” she asked, deadpan.
I rolled my eyes as everyone chuckled.
“You guys gotta leave.” I scowled at them. “I’d like to spend some time alone with Iza before all this shit goes down.”
I ignored my team’s knowing looks and herded them to the exit. When the door closed behind the guys, I clasped Izabel’s shoulders. “Don’t ever, ever give Viktor an opening. For anything.”
“I was trying to be helpful.”
“Guess what, Iza, you’re not,” I snapped. “Can’t concentrate on my fucking job if I’m worried about your safety.”
Izabel shrugged my hands off her shoulders and backed away. “You’re such a hypocrite.” She pointed between us. “This is what we get when we sleep together and haven’t sorted out our problems.”
“Not seeing a problem here. Seeing a problem when my wife wants to put herself in the crosshairs of the enemy.”
“Well, it’s done,” she countered.
“I just want to keep you safe,” I rasped in growing frustration.
Sadness flashed across her face. “Think about what happened the last time you did that.”
I walked right into that one.
“I’ve made my point.” She spun around and headed toward the stairs.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“I’ve lost my appetite.” She continued up the steps.
“Can I sleep in your room?” I called after her.
Izabel flung an arm out and flipped me off.
I grinned. Yeah, I was sleeping with her.