Chapter 29
TWENTY-NINE
An hour later
There is zero chance the steering wheel is going to slip from my grip. I’m not sure if my hands will come unglued after this drive. I’ll have to raid Westerly’s building with it as a weapon.
God. I’m so jacked.
Every mile drives another spike into the tight coil in my stomach.
It’s another moment to think of all the things that could go wrong when I take Rosalie with me to capture an employee of Allison’s father’s company, and try to recover the missing soil sample.
Worst idea ever.
But leaving her behind was NOT a choice. Not when there’s someone out there trying to eliminate her. Not when we need all hands on deck.
I’m going to be a madman when this is done. There won’t be a sane brain cell inside my skull when this night is over. Go ahead and plan to have me committed.
As long as it includes locking me in with her.
For a year.
“Yeah, that’s what I want,” I mutter before I can stop myself.
See, already losing my mind.
“Hmm? Did you say something?”
“Talking to myself.”
Annnnnd trying to keep my eyes on the road. Failing miserably apparently, because one wheel dips off the pavement, shooting gravel against the underside of the company SUV.
Her hand shoots out, grabbing the ‘oh-shit’ bar. “Whew, that was exciting.”
Fucking hell. Her voice is all breathless too.
Heat crawls upward from the base of my spine.
Don’t look. Keep your eyes on the road!
Do not think about how she looks like a gorgeous, breath-stealing contradiction. Worrying at her fingernail one moment, but all decked out in the tactical gear the girls kitted her up with.
Shifting in my seat, I press my palm against my dick.
Down, you bastard.
You’ve already caused enough trouble.
Getting balls deep in Rosalie without a condom. I mean for real? Bastard made me forgot all about protection.
Dragging a hand over my open mouth, I grunt something unintelligible, that’s surely the sound every dangerously aroused male has made.
That tiny, tight pussy…
My ruin.
More like my obsession.
“What are you wearing under those cargo pants?” I grate out, the vein in my temple starting to throb.
“Some panties…they had all this inventory of clothing, and I found this cute pink—”
“Not another word. I’ve got a hair-trigger right now. If we weren’t about to do what we have to do, then I’d be bending you over the hood, and taking advantage of the handholds on that tactical vest.”
She just looks at me with her mouth hanging open.
I’m chugging air so hard it sounds like I’m running to the damned location, not driving. “God. I cannot be thinking about that. I have to keep my focus.”
“I could wear this vest…and nothing else for you later.”
This time it’s not gravel on the side of the road, it’s thorns and they tear down the side of the SUV with a howl.
She’s laughing, her hand over her mouth. “Oops.”
“Just sit over there and look pretty, okay. You can ruin me with that tactical vest and anything else you want later when this is all done. I might even let you play with the zip-cuffs, if you’re a good girl.”
Her eyes get really, really wide as her smile turns into something not even the devil could resist.
Blowing out a breath, I scan the mirrors again. Checking for headlights from the truck Ryker’s driving behind us. But the road is pitch dark.
“Let’s talk about work.” She flattens her expression. “Have you heard from the others?”
“No check-ins, but we should be getting an update soon.”
A quick check of my watch confirms my intuition. “Marshall will call before we get to Westerly’s.”
“This is all so…logistical. I’m impressed. Anyway, where would they be now?”
“Grab the tablet from the console, we can follow them in real time—they have beacons on right now.”
She’s suddenly excited again. Her pale green eyes lighting up from the dashboard lights, even though the interior of the truck is dark.
It’s like punching me in the face. Every fucking time she smiles, I get KO’d.
“Pull up that blue app icon with the star. Then select their names.”
“This is sooo cool,” she breathes, folding her legs under her in the seat. “The vehicles are all tagged, but nothing on the individuals, right?”
“Actually, Beast had a necklace made for Camile. Truck gave one to Allison.” I let my hand settle on her leg, my thumb stroking there, feeling the warmth through the cargo pants Allison and Camile pulled out of the supplies.
Curious how she’s going to react, I add, “I’m having one made for you as soon as possible.”
“Oh…” Her fingers stop, hovering over the screen, her focus on me. “Is that like a going steady ring or something?”
I chuckle, but I’m not really amused. I’m more dizzy. “Yeah, something like that.”
She turns fully to face me and I growl. “Your seat belt won’t work correctly like that. It could decapitate you.”
“Ewww. That’s gross.” Her nose scrunches. “Now, back to what you were saying about this necklace. Does this have some special meaning for you?”
I fight an eye twitch, and focus on the road. But inside me there’s a riot going on. It means EVERYTHING.
“What do you think?” I rumble, uncomfortable with the rapid expansion going on inside my ribs.
“I think you’re possessive,” she says resolutely.
“Fuck right I am. The depth of my possessiveness knows no bounds. Now that I’ve been inside you…bare at that, consider yourself mine.”
She blinks and I have to force myself to look away when I want to grab that pretty face and kiss my frustrations out.
“You’re growling,” she points out, and I can hear a smile in her voice.
“I’m tense, okay.”
I’m also horny as a motherfucker. But I don’t say that. I think it’s pretty clear from the way there’s now a mountain peak behind my zipper.
“I want you wearing a tracking necklace like fucking yesterday.”
She leans her elbows on the console and nuzzles my neck, her warm breath making a million goosebumps pop up.
“That’s so romantic,” she says, tasting the undoubtedly salty skin, because I’m sweating missiles.
Sweating bullets seems far too lame of a description for what’s happening right now.
“Well, I’m glad you think so,” I choke, every word grinding out of me between ragged inhales.
“So, how can I make this easier on you?” She whispers right next to my ear.
“By not causing us to wreck, first of all.”
She laughs lightly, plants a kiss on my cheek and slides back into her seat. Like a good girl. Even tightening her belt.
“You’re fun to rile up.”
“Fuck. You like playing with fire, angel,” I grumble, but a smile is trying to curve the corners of my mouth. “You look cute by the way, all badass with your tactical vest.”
“So it’s a yes for the tactical lingerie when we get back?”
My vision wavers from the intensity of the throb in my dick. “Do. Not. Talk. About. That.”
“What shall I talk about?” She asks in a playful tone.
“Get back to work,” I grumble. “Check the app and see where everyone else is.”
I already know where they are, but if she’s busy, she won’t be kissing my neck. There’s only so much a man can take, and between the frustration, the impending mission, and her looking like a dangerous little tactical vixen, I’m goddamned triggered.
“They’re in the air over the Pacific,” she reports, zooming and moving around the map.
“And Ryker?”
After tapping on the screen a few times, she says, “He’s half a mile behind us.”
She’s good. Adapts easy. I knew Rosalie was smart, but I guess it still takes me off guard at how easily she fits into my world.
We’re already syncing up. Which is why I feel the instant her mind circles back to the woman Ryker carried into the safe house.
It’s like I can read her thoughts.
The air shifts, darkening, and when I look over, the light has dimmed in her gaze.
“Do you think the woman with Ryker will be okay?”
“He’s a good man. I know that Ryker will do whatever it takes to keep her safe,” I say, my tone gravelly, as I process how badly the woman was assaulted.
None of our team would let that go on.
Rosalie shivers, as she closes the tablet, holding it against her tactical vest like a shield. “Do you think she’s okay there alone at the house?”
“That safe room is one of the best places she can be right now.”
“But she’s alone.”
“Ryker called in a favor.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Some military contact. The guy lives in the area. He’s watching the house. But I could tell Ryker would rather be there himself.”
“Romantic!” she says on an exhale as she flutters her fingers over her heart.
“Is everything romantic?”
She sighs, her mouth pursing. “Maybe it’s the rose-colored lenses. Or the orgasms, but since we can’t talk about sex, then I think you should go over the mission plan one more time.”
I shake my head to get my mind right. For the next ten minutes, I run down the mission plans. Rosalie nods, listening intently still as I park in the deepest shadows under a group of trees.
The night is dark, the shadows even more, giving us an ideal spot to leave the truck.
She’s raring to go. “Okay. I’m ready. I’ve got my bear—”
I grab her vest’s shoulder strap with one hand, loop my other around the back of her neck, pulling her toward me until we’re just inches apart.
“I need to tell you something,” I say, roughly.
She moistens her lips, gaze locked on me. “Okay. I’m listening.”
God, that look. The trust she has in me. I don’t fucking deserve it. But I crave it.
Is this supposed to be like this?
Is the obsession I have for her, the dark, possessive thoughts, the utter craving for the feel of her skin, normal?
“Sweetheart,” I start, my throat dry as sawdust, but warmth fills every bit of my bone marrow, like sunshine was just shot through me. “I love you.”
I let that hang in the air for a beat before I add, “I’m not only putting a tracking necklace on you, I’m putting a ring on your finger.”
For a second she just stares, hard, and I can see the cogs whirring in her powerful brain.
“Oh!” She starts to blink adorably. Rapidly. “That’s not what I expected you to say at all.”
I chuckle, my thumb brushing over the pulse-point in her neck. The place where my mouth needs to be. Right damned now. “What did you expect?”
“One of those stern drill-sergeant lectures that you see on Netflix before the military people go into the mission.”
I’m grinning when I lean in and take the kiss I need. She meets me just as hungrily, her hands finding my tactical vest as I slide my fingers into her hair, dragging her closer with the other hand.
A flash of light cuts through the rear of the SUV. Ryker. Damn him.
She pulls back and exhales hard, her fingers finding the glistening surface of her lower lip. “Wow, that was some pep talk.”
“Come on. Let’s go, before I drag you into the back seat.”
She picks up her can of bear spray—fuck me—her expression so adorable it hurts, and says, “By the way, I really like lab-grown diamonds…because they’re SUPER cool.
Did you know they are made by crushing carbon molecules with a force of nearly 60,000 times the atmospheric pressure? And it’s done at an insane 1600°C.”
Never. Ever. In my life did I expect to think science is sexy.
But never did I expect to be completely taken out at the knees by a short, curvy brunette who clearly has my number.
“Duly noted,” I rumble. “Now, please, whatever you do, do not shoot me in the face with the bear spray.”