Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Lying naked atop Luke was about the best position in the world, she decided. With her ear to his chest, the strong command of his heartbeat like music; she could easily fall asleep like that.
His fingers combed through her locks before stroking her back. They’d lain there like that for at least thirty minutes after he’d come, all without saying a word.
“Do near-death experiences turn you on?” he asked.
She lifted her head to find his eyes, a smile dancing in his blues. “Funny.”
“Just calling it like I see it.”
She lowered her head back to the hard planes of his body and felt the stir of his cock against her, and it had her pelvic muscles tightening with need. “And what’s your excuse?”
“Oh, that’s easy. You.”
“I’m your kryptonite?”
His heartbeat crept up, and his hand stilled on her back. “You’re so much more than that to me.”
“You—” A knock on the bedroom door cut her off.
“Get dressed. I have news,” Jessica said through the door.
“Be over in five,” Luke replied.
She started to stand, but he caught her wrist and dragged her back to him. “Jessica must know about us.”
His gaze tightened. “I don’t care.” He kept his eyes on her, a slight crease in his brow. “Are you going to be okay?”
She stiffened. They needed a hell of a lot more than five minutes to have a conversation about their feelings. So, she said, “Of course.” She forced an innocent smile and rolled off him and stood, but his large hand swept to her hip bone and slipped to the curve of her bottom before he squeezed.
“I could look at this view all day.”
She peeked back at him and wiggled her hips. His hand found her center beneath her ass cheeks, and he slid a finger inside of her.
“What are you doing?” she asked as he started to rub her clit with his deft fingers, drawing the breath from her.
“I want you one last time.”
One last time.
It was so final.
It was so . . .
She slowly faced him, which forced him to drop his hand. “We only have five minutes, and she must need you, so—”
“But I need you,” he said, his voice laced with a sexy grit.
He was hers.
Well, for five more minutes.
Five minutes of memories she could at least remember forever.
And so, she straddled him without wasting a breath or time. She sank down onto his length and leaned back to brace his thighs.
“Five minutes,” she mouthed as he stretched her with every inch, and his Adam’s apple moved as their eyes locked.
Time stood still for those five minutes.
And when they were both dressed and standing in a room full of suspecting SEALs, heat crawled up her cheeks; she was sure her skin matched the pink of the sweater she now wore.
“So.” Ladies’ Man Liam coughed into a closed fist.
“Did you find Malik’s family?” Luke approached the desk and held on to the top of the chair and studied the computer.
Owen pointed to something on the screen, but from Eva’s vantage point, she couldn’t see anything.
She scanned the room and noticed that most of the guys continued to observe her with curiosity in their eyes.
Jessica, though, she was focused. A woman in control.
“I got a match on a grocery store security camera of our guy as he exited,” Owen said. “This image was taken two hours ago. We switched to the parking lot cameras, but the camera angle wasn’t great, so I couldn’t get a plate, but I got a vehicle description.”
Luke nodded. “Where is that, and what’s in the area?”
“It’s a small town north of Binghamton, New York,” Owen answered.
“I pulled one of our guys off babysitting Ender, but I can’t send him alone.” Jessica folded her arms as Luke faced her.
“Will won’t like it,” Luke said, and Eva wasn’t sure what he was talking about now.
Jessica shrugged. “We can’t ask for a government assist on this, so what choice do we have?”
“What’s wrong?” Eva asked. A few of the SEALs she wasn’t on a first-name, or any-name, basis with looked right at her as if she were suddenly an enemy in the room.
Luke caught the eyes of his teammates and breathed out of his nose as if coming to a monumental decision. “We can trust her. She already knows almost everything, anyway.”
“He’s right. She did put her life on the line earlier,” Jessica said.
Does that mean I’m in?
“Your guess about me was fairly spot on,” Luke said.
“We work off the grid for the government on missions such as these. But no one knows about us, aside from a handful of high-ups.” He scratched at his jaw, his body growing stiffer.
“Our alias is a company called Scott & Scott Securities.” He crossed the room and stood before her. “I’m Luke Scott.”
It was the first time she’d heard his full name.
Wow, she’d had sex with someone and hadn’t even known his last name. She shook away her thoughts, realizing that wasn’t important right now.
“Oh” was all she could get out of her mouth.
“We’re all still technically active-duty SEALs. But retired SEALs work with us at our security company,” he explained. “They don’t know about these off-the-books jobs, though.”
“Isn’t it hard keeping it from them?” Eva asked and looked around the room.
Everyone looked to Luke for an answer, and so, he said, “Very. Especially now when we need their help.”
It had to be hard for him to live such a double life. Maybe she knew a thing or two about it—but she was pretty sure his was a hell of a lot more complicated, not to mention dangerous.
Luke eyed his sister. “Who isn’t working a job right now? We probably need to send three guys to Binghamton.”
“I already made a list. I was waiting for your thoughts before I called,” Jessica said.
“Just tell them it’s a kidnapping case and no Feds can be involved. They won’t ask questions,” Luke responded.
“It should take three hours for them to get there. In the meantime, we’ll narrow down the search perimeter and try to get a plate number,” she said.
It was three in the morning, and they were already running on fumes. Would they really be able to rescue Malik’s family by sun-up?
“Can you push the call to Will until nine?” Luke asked, a mirror of Eva’s thoughts.
Jessica checked her watch. “If we don’t have them by nine, I won’t have a choice but to call him, and you know that. I can’t keep lying to him to buy us time.”
“Why won’t he be okay with your plan?” Eva asked, and she heard a few guys grumble.
“He won’t trust Malik’s word.” Luke rubbed at the whiskers on his jaw, the stubble growing thicker, and the memory of it tickling her inner thighs warmed her heart. It was a shit time to remember such a moment, though.
“Oh.” She tensed and fought against the pull of heat gathering up her throat and into her cheeks, yet again. “What do we do now?” She clasped her hands together, suddenly nervous in the overcrowded room of badasses.
“You sleep. Let us handle this,” he said like a command.
“I doubt I can fall asleep,” she said lightly.
He placed a hand on her shoulder and found her eyes. “You can trust me, remember?”
She knew she could trust him with her life, but could she trust him with her heart?