Cops 02 - Love on the Run (26 page)

“You’re right,” she conceded. “I guess I hadn’t thought about it that way.” “Looks like you’re on vacation for the next week.” The look on Tony’s face told her exactly how he wanted her to spend her days off.

Bianca was yawning by the time everyone finished eating. They made quick work of

cleaning up and then Tony led Bianca toward the stairs. “Time for bed. You’re practically asleep on your feet.” Bianca couldn’t even argue. Her body ached all over, and she could barely keep her eyes open.

“Tony?” The sound of Clarke’s voice stopped them at the bottom of the stairs, and they turned back to look in her direction.

“Thank you,” she said softly. “Thank you for coming back in one piece and for bringing Bianca home safely. I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to either of you.”

Tony walked over to Clarke and hugged her tight, gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I wouldn’t have had it happen any other way, sis.”

“Are you sure they’re inside, Sacha?” Dimitryi scanned the darkened house through the binoculars from his car parked about a block away.

“Positive,” Sacha confirmed. “We caught a glimpse of the women through the blinds about an hour ago, and no one has left the house.”

“Good. Let’s go,” he said. “We finish this now.”

Sacha seemed to hesitate. “Dimitryi, I’m not sure that we should risk going inside.

There are at least three agents in there, but it could be more, in addition to Tate, Parker, and the women. There are only four of us. I don’t like our odds here. Why don’t we just blow the house, and be done with it?”

“No!” Dimitryi roared and slammed his fist against the dashboard. “This is no longer about business.” He turned to a startled Sacha. “I want to feel Tate and Parker’s pain when I kill their women. I want to see their fear when I put a bullet between their eyes. I want my vengeance. And I will have it. Tonight.”

*

Tony watched from the shadows of the room as the door slowly eased open, and Dimitryi walked in, his attention and gun focused solely on the forms in the bed.

Dimitryi moved across the carpeted floor until he stood over the bed. Reaching out, he pulled the covers off, revealing the pillows underneath.

“What…” Dimitryi threw the covers to the floor, swearing softly. Tony stepped behind him and pressed his gun against his temple before he could move again.

“Not quite what you expected, is it, asshole?” Dimitryi visibly tensed at the sound of Tony’s voice before his shoulders relaxed. He chuckled softly. “That was very clever, Mr. Tate. It seems that I underestimated you.”

“Yeah, well, that was your first mistake.” Tony snatched the gun from Dimitryi’s grip.

“Too bad you won’t get a chance to do it again.”

“I suppose you want me to put my hands in the air and give up quietly as well.” Dimitryi’s tone mocked him.

“Oh, no, feel free to resist arrest,” Tony urged, his voice vibrating with rage. “Give me an excuse to put a bullet in your head.”

Light suddenly flooded the room as Jack and Matt entered with their weapons trained on Dimitryi.

Dimitryi glanced in Jack’s direction. “Ah, there you are, Parker. Now all we need are those two little whores, and the celebration can begin.”

Tony bellowed, and the sound was so wild, so ferocious, it was almost inhuman. One moment, Tony held a gun to Dimitryi’s head, and the next he held him down on the bed with a hand wrapped around his throat, his gun shoved in Dimitryi’s mouth.

“You have no idea who you’re fucking with.” He could hear Jack and Matt speaking, but the fury radiating within him had his ears ringing so loudly, his heart racing so rapidly, it was impossible to focus on anything other than Dimitryi.

“Don’t think for one second that I won’t take you out. Right here, right now.” Tony spoke through teeth clenched so tight, his entire jaw throbbed.

“Anthony, don’t you fucking do it!” Jack yelled. “This motherfucker is less than nothing. He’s not even worth wasting a bullet on.” Jack gripped Tony tightly by the arm.

“Listen to me, Tony. I know you want to pull the trigger. I do, too. But we got him, bro. It’s over. He’s done.”

Matt placed a firm hand on Tony’s shoulder. “I swear to you, Tony, we’re going to make sure that he won’t be around to hurt Bianca, Clarke, or any other person again.”

“Baby, please, don’t do this.” Bianca appeared in the doorway. “Don’t let that animal destroy you…destroy us.” Her softly spoken plea hit him with such force, it made him tremble, and he finally released his hold on Dimitryi.

As Jack handcuffed Dimitryi, Tony went straight into Bianca’s arms, holding on to her as if his life and his sanity depended on it. Her loving words and gentle touches calmed him and guided him back from the dark, violent haze that had engulfed him, clouded his judgment, and threatened to completely overwhelm him.

As his world slowly righted itself, Tony became aware Tomas stood inside the bedroom and that Clarke stood quietly behind Bianca in the hallway. Tears slowly rolled down Clarke’s face.

“As soon as our backup gets here, we’ll take him and the others into custody,” Matt told Jack. “Good.” Jack pulled Dimitryi roughly off the bed and shoved him toward Tomas. “Go and put this garbage with the rest of the trash.”

Tomas nodded. “With pleasure.” He tucked his gun into the back of his pants and grabbed Dimitryi by the arm.

“Let’s wait downstairs,” Bianca said. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I can’t stomach being this close to him a moment longer.”

Tony led Bianca by the hand down the hallway. He heard Jack and Clarke behind him, followed by Tomas and Matt, who flanked Dimitryi.

As they walked down the stairs, Tony saw the other three men who’d been with Dimitryi handcuffed and guarded by Tim and Jeremy.

The sound of knocking drew everyone’s attention to the front door.

“Must be our escort,” Matt said as he and Tomas came down the stairs with Dimitryi between them.

Tony and Bianca had reached the bottom of the stairs when he caught a glimpse of movement above him. Everything seemed to go into fast forward as Dimitryi reached out and pulled Tomas’s gun from the back of his pants, his aim directed at Jack and Clarke, who were going down the stairs in front of him.

“Jack!” Jack’s head snapped up, and his eyes widened when he saw Tony’s gun pointed in his direction. Tony didn’t have time to explain as he opened fire. The bullets found their intended target, hitting Dimitryi so hard that he slammed into Matt before he tumbled down the stairs. He collapsed at the bottom of the stairs with the weapon still clutched in his cuffed hands.

Jack came down the rest of the steps and looked down into Dimitryi’s dead eyes before meeting Tony’s gaze. “Thanks, partner.”

“Any time.” Tony tapped his fist against Jack’s.

Additional agents suddenly appeared in the foyer. During the commotion, Tony had forgotten all about them. Judging by the splintered front door torn from its hinges, they had broken it open to get inside once they’d heard the shots fired.

“Jesus, I’m so sorry.” Tomas said as he and Matt came down the stairs to stand next to Jack and Tony. “I don’t know how I got distracted like that.” Apology and remorse filled his voice.

“Don’t sweat it, man.” Jack smiled. “Besides, we’re not the ones about to be measured for a wooden box, so it’s all good.”

“Well, this wasn’t exactly how I’d planned for things to end,” Matt said. “But this works, too.”

Jack pulled Clarke close to him. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s exactly the ending that Dimitryi deserved.” “I guess this was the loose end that needed to be tied up before we could leave.” Clarke looked at Matt. When he nodded in confirmation, she asked, “How in the hell did Dimitryi even know about this place to come looking for us here?”

“We can thank Captain Reyes for that,” Matt told her. “We had him leak information to Dimitryi about the location of the house. We figured Dimitryi’s hatred and need for revenge would drive him to make one final attempt on your lives before he disappeared again. Luckily for us, our gamble paid off.”

Tony turned to Bianca. “Are you doing okay?” He could tell she was a little shaken, but otherwise she looked fine. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“I’m not,” she told him. “I’m glad I saw it for myself. Now I know with absolute certainty that he’s gone, and he’s never coming back to fuck with any of us again.”

“You’re right,” Matt agreed. “Although as soon as word gets out that Dimitryi is dead, there will be ten more just like him waiting in the wings to take his place.”

Tony and Jack shared a look. “Then we’ll just have to make sure that they meet the same fate as their predecessor,” Tony said.

*

Tony leaned against the closed bedroom door, admiring Bianca as she stood looking out the window.

“Hey, baby.”

She turned around and gave him a breathtaking smile. “Hi. Are they finished downstairs?”

“Yeah.” He pushed away from the door and walked toward her. Bianca met him halfway, and he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Everybody’s gone, and the car is waiting downstairs to take us to a hotel.”

“Are Clarke and Jack ready?”

Tony nodded. “They were about to head downstairs when I came in here.” He kissed her on the neck. “You know, I was thinking that since your job isn’t expecting you back for another week, and I’m on furlough for the next ten days, we could just hang out here in Vegas for a few days instead of heading home tomorrow. What do you think?”

“Sounds good. But what about clothes?”

“I guess we gotta go shopping.” Tony chuckled softly.

“Ooh, I definitely like the sound of that.”

“I was also thinking that while we’re here, you could start on your next story.”

Bianca leaned back and looked at him in confusion. “What story is that?”

“Well.” Tony cleared his throat. “I figured that since Las Vegas is the wedding capital of the world, you might be interested in doing a story on that.” Bianca stared at him with a shocked expression on her face. “Tony…”

“Hold on.” Tony put a finger to her lips to silence her. “I put a lot of thought into this story, so just hear me out, okay?” Bianca nodded mutely, and he continued.

“See, I know how much you like to research a story, so I thought we could pick a wedding chapel so you could experience the whole wedding ritual firsthand.” Tears leaked from Bianca’s eyes as he spoke, and he wiped them away with the pads of his thumbs.

“I also know that you need a partner in order to complete your research, and I would be so honored, so privileged, so proud to be your partner, if you’ll have me.”

“Are you sure this is what you want?” Bianca’s tear-filled words made him smile.

“Am I sure that I want to spend the rest of my life with the beautiful, smart, sexy woman standing in front of me?” Tony leaned down and kissed her. “Oh, baby, I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.” He rested his head against hers. “So, what do you say?

You wanna go research a wedding chapel with me?”

“Just say yes already.” Clarke’s voice floated through the door. “The sooner you do, the sooner we can finish our honeymoon, and you can start yours.”

They chuckled softly at Clarke’s words. “She makes a good point,” Tony whispered.

“So, what’s it gonna be?”

Bianca was nodding her head before he finished speaking. “Yes…yes…I love you.” Her soft lips covered his, and Tony moaned at their salty-sweet taste. “I promise,” she said, breaking the kiss, “you won’t regret making me your wife.”

“The only thing I’ll ever regret is the time I wasted when I could have been with the woman I love.” He took her lips in another heated kiss.

“Besides.” A slow smile spread across Tony’s face. “I know what to do if you get too out of line.”

“Oh, really? And what would that be?”

Tony’s hands slid down her back, and he gripped her rounded ass cheeks. “Turn you over my knee.”

Bianca laughed. “In that case, I’m thinking I’ll need to get out of line real soon.”

“I knew you were going to say that.” Tony’s deep laughter rang out in the room.

Bianca laced her fingers behind his neck and gave him a quick kiss. “You know me so well.”

“Yeah, I do,” Tony agreed, hoping that all the love he felt for her showed on his face.

“And I love every single thing.”

*

About the Author

*

Kori Roberts writes erotic tales of love, lust, and passion — stories filled with strong, adventurous, and exciting characters who love hot, kinky, no-holds-barred sex.

Kori’s novels reflect her belief that beauty comes in all forms, shapes, and sizes; love crosses all colors, races, and genders, and happiness can be found in the most obvious and the least expected places.

Whether you’re seeking contemporary, fantasy, paranormal, or suspense novels with single partners, multiple partners, same-sex partners, or all of the above, you’ll find what pleasures you within the pages of Kori’s books.

Learn more about Kori by visiting her on the Web at www.kori-roberts.com.