Dance With Me (14 page)

“Did it turn you on? Watching me come?” He spoke softly, the moment too tense for anything louder than a whisper.

“Yes,” Rebecca whispered, arching her hips toward him.

Max leaned down and pushed two fingers inside of her and latched onto her clit. He tongued the little bud, feeling it tremble back and forth beneath his lips. The musky-sweet flavor of her filled his mouth, made him light-headed. She was so tight around his fingers, clenching rhythmically with the swipes of his tongue.

Max wanted to draw it out, torture her the way she had him. But he couldn’t. He wanted to feel her, hear her, and
Christ,
judging by the way his dick was already jerking, he was probably going to want to fuck her too.

But she was gasping and moaning, and Max didn’t want to stop. He curved his fingers as he plunged them inside of her and flattened his tongue against her clit.

Rebecca cried out hoarsely and grabbed his head as her pussy convulsed around him. His fingers were suddenly drenched and Max groaned as she came against his mouth. He ate her until she no longer shoved her hips against his hand and then pulled away with a soft kiss.

Max crept up her body until his face was level with hers and kissed her. She hummed against his lips and smiled. Max sat up and pulled her with him, tucking her gently in his arms.

The both fell asleep that way, and when Max awoke, Rebecca was reclined against the arm of the sofa with his head resting on her breasts.
Nice, soft tits.
She was stroking his face again and he nuzzled against one breast, feeling her nipple pucker beneath his cheek. He brushed his cheek against the tight bud and let his thoughts wander.

Sometime during the expulsion of so many emotions he’d reached a decision. It had been hovering on the edge of his mind for months and had been inevitable from the moment he laid eyes on Rebecca. He was done. The major would finish one last mission and give way to Max. He might have to set up a final identity to live out the rest of his life, but it was bound to be a hell of a lot better than being the major.

Max didn’t know if there would be a place for Rebecca in his new life, or if there was a place for him in hers. Either way though, it was over. He couldn’t do it anymore. He’d sacrificed enough, and Max refused to feel guilty over leaving.

But this mission and Naseem Syed Javid were hanging over his head like the sword of Damocles. There was too much at stake for him to leave before he took care of Javid.

“You’re thinking awfully hard about something.” Rebecca stroked her fingers through the goatee and tugged lightly on the hair.

“I was thinking I have to finish this.”

“Finish what?” She trailed her fingers down his cheek and Max tamped down the desire to turn his face into her hand and beg her to pet him.

“This mission. Why I’m here. When it’s over, so am I. Either way, I’m done.”

Her fingers stilled for an instant before resuming the light strokes. “What do you mean when you say either way?”

Max opened his eyes and looked up at her. “Whether I live or die. I’m through.” He sat up and scrubbed his hands down his face. “I can’t do it. I’ve just…got too many demons already.”

Rebecca rubbed his back gently and said, “They’re not your demons, Max. They’re someone else’s and…”

Max jerked away from her touch, stood, and strode across the room to look out the window. Storm clouds again. “Leaving my family and disappearing…those aren’t my demons, Rebecca.” He turned back to her and bit out, “I’ve told you before that you don’t know anything about my demons. Don’t act like you do.”

Fire flew from her eyes and Max watched in awe as she stood and crossed the room to stand before him, indignation spewing from every pore in her body.
God I love temperamental redheads.
“I know you have them. And I know that you can’t let whatever is crouching inside of you convince you that it’s really your fault or your responsibility. Most people have demons.” She pushed him again and Max tightened his muscles to keep from moving. That made her even angrier, as he’d known it would. She was fucking beautiful when she was angry. Her eyes lightened and her chest heaved. Max let his gaze wander from her face to the undulating, luscious…

“Are you even listening to me?” She was shouting and Max realized he’d stopped paying attention. She gaped at him in disbelief.

“Uh, no. Sorry. Got distracted.”

“You got distracted?” She took a step closer and got right in his face. “What the hell is there to be distracted by?”

“You.” That took the wind out of her sails and Max continued in a whisper. “Did you know that when you’re angry your eyes almost turn yellow? And you bristle like a cat. Your cheeks flush pink and…” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. This was going to piss her off, and he was
really
looking forward to it. “Your nipples get hard.”

Rebecca jerked away from him and sputtered. “I…you…I…they do not!” She crossed her arms over her chest and Max laughed—actually laughed—at the angry offense on her face.

“Yes, they do.” He reached for her and pulled until she was in his arms. Max pried her arms from her chest and slid his hand down her arm to tweak a tightly puckered nipple. “See?”

Rebecca’s righteous indignation disappeared immediately and was replaced by mischief. Max’s eyes widened and he released her to take a step back.

“So what if they do? When I get mad your dick gets hard.”

Fuck yeah, it does.
Before Max could respond though, Rebecca grasped his erection through his jeans and slid her hand up and down. His head fell back and he groaned. She rubbed him until he looked back down at her, intending to stop her, afraid she was going to push him to the brink of insanity.

Rebecca smiled at him, and Max tallied the score for this round as Rebecca, 1; Max, 0.

Just then the phone rang. Not the house phone or Rebecca’s cell phone. But Max’s phone. The major’s phone. The burner phone that only one person had the number to. One person that would never call unless…

“Fuck. Can you give me a minute, please?” Rebecca looked at him, confused. “Please, just do it and don’t argue. Just this once.” She shrugged and turned to walk toward the kitchen when he held up the phone to answer.

He waited until she was out of earshot before speaking. “Yeah.”

“Your neighbors found the stray. Kenneled it. Fix this.”

The line went dead and Max closed his eyes. He tried to push himself back inside the hole where he could find the detachment necessary to finish this last mission. He took several deep breaths and began his recitation.
Naseem Ayed Javid…

“Max?”

His eyes snapped open and he braced himself for the cold, dark place where he’d lived for so long. “Not anymore. Not until this is over.”

Rebecca nodded and gestured weakly toward the kitchen. “I started a pot of coffee. If you’ll give it a minute…” She trailed off and took a shaky breath.

The major nodded and took the three steps necessary to be close to her. He ran his hands up and down her arms and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “I have to go.”

Rebecca nodded again.

“I want you to stay here. Do not, I repeat,
do not
open the door without checking to see who it is first. All right?”

She nodded again and his heart dropped.
Stop fucking nodding and tear me a new asshole! I know you want to!
The major cupped her face in his palms and tilted her head back until she met his eyes. “I’ll come back. I swear to you. If I’m alive when this is all over, I will come back for you.”

“When will it be over?” Her voice was shaky, unsure, and it caused a tight knot to form in his chest.

“I don’t know.” The major clenched his teeth.
Please don’t ask me…

“How long have you been working on whatever it is?”

Damn.
He pulled her against his chest and whispered, “Three years.”

Rebecca took a wobbly breath and said, “Don’t take that long, please.”

He didn’t respond, just rocked her gently back and forth. Amaya Hughes was just the beginning. Javid would be the end of it. It could end in a few hours, or it could take another three years. This wouldn’t be the first time he’d hit a dead end.

“Think that coffee’s done yet?”

Rebecca pulled out of his arms and looked over her shoulder toward the kitchen. “Maybe.”

He let her go reluctantly and pocketed the phone still clutched in his fist. “Think I could get a to-go cup for it?”

Rebecca lifted one eyebrow. “Will I get my cup back?”

“Eventually.”
I hope.

“Okay. Sure.” Rebecca ran a hand through her tangled hair and looked around. Without warning, she dove for him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him.

The major kissed her back, his arms crushing her against him, his tongue deep in her mouth. He wanted to lower her to the floor and make love to her one last time. But there wasn’t enough time for that, and he tore his lips from hers, pivoted on his heel, and walked away, the coffee forgotten. One more minute with her and he’d lose his resolve and abandon the most important mission of his life.

Just before he closed the door behind him, the major heard Rebecca plead softly, “Please don’t die.”

* * * *

Chris looked at the naked, obviously just-fucked woman lying on Martinez’s bed. “Couldn’t you have at least covered her up Martinez? For shit’s sake man, she’s…” He gestured toward the general vicinity of her bottom half and let the sentence dangle.

Martinez smiled savagely. “No. This is what she wanted. I gave her a choice.”

Chris arched an eyebrow and frowned. If he knew Martinez, it hadn’t been much of a choice. “Whatever you say.”

Martinez looked up at Chris and said, “What now?”

Chris turned his gaze back to the bound and gagged woman struggling and protesting incoherently on the bed. “We wait. Someone’s on the way.”

“That’s what I told her when I called you. Now here you are, telling me there’s somebody else coming?”

Chris frowned. “Yeah. He’ll be here. I don’t know when though. But he always seems to know…”

Chris was interrupted by a polite knock at the door and grinned. “That’ll be him.”

“
Madre
de
Dios
, sir, who the hell is it?”

“No idea,” Chris responded, completely honest. “But we’ve got to turn her over to him. He’s the authority on this.” Chris stopped and took a deep breath. “Look, Martinez, he’s going to offer you something. Give you an option. And I just want you to know…if you take it, I won’t blame you. And it’ll never leave this room.”

Martinez raised one eyebrow and rattled something off in such rapid-fire Spanish that Chris didn’t catch it. Martinez took pity on him though, and said, “I’m as confused as a whore’s baby on father’s day. What the hell are you talking about, sir?”

“You’ll see.” Chris stalked from the bedroom, Martinez hot on his heels. When he opened the door, it was exactly who he expected.

“Lieutenant Commander Paulson, congratulations on your promotion,” the man said. Then he turned to Martinez and said, “Lt. Martinez. I believe you have something that belongs to me.”

Chris stood aside and jerked his thumb in the direction of the bedroom. “Your leak.”

“
Our
leak, Paulson. Ours. Not just mine.”

Chris nodded and followed as the Black Ops guy moved toward the bedroom. He nearly ran the man over when he stopped suddenly.

“Paulson, you don’t have to be here for this.” The man turned toward Martinez. “You do, though.”

Chris set his jaw. “I’ll stay. Martinez is part of my team. I’m here until he tells me to go.”

Martinez glanced back and forth between the two of them. He shook his head quickly and said, “Sir, who the hell is this?”

Chris pointed to the man who didn’t exist, who was a ghost to his own country. “This?” He shook his head and said, “No idea.”

The man put his hand out to Chris and said, “Major. Just Major.”

Chris eyed the man’s hand for a full minute before looking back up at him. There was something in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. In the handful of times Chris had seen him, he’d never seen any expression on his face. But now…he looked tired. Weary, even. Not to mention this was the first time he’d introduced himself. Chris slowly reached out and took his hand. “Major? As in Army or Air Force?”

Major sneered and said, “Army. Do I look like a flyboy?”

Chris laughed. That’s what the Navy called them too. It was common ground and he pumped Major’s hand up and down. “Martinez, this is Major. He’s gonna take care of our little problem. I need you to not ask any questions.”

Martinez shook his head. “No can do, sir. I need to know who he is.”

Before Chris could respond, Major spoke up and said, “All things considered, that’s understandable. I’ve been tracing this leak through Black Ops channels for three years. It’s led me here, to your girlfriend. She was dating someone from Team Six before you. That wasn’t who they were after though. Team Six doesn’t work the European terrorist circuit. So she found you.”

Martinez stopped him with a growl and said, “Not my girlfriend. Just somebody I was fucking. My girlfriend never even existed.”

Major nodded and gestured to the bedroom. “Let’s see what we’ve got, shall we?”

* * * *

Javier watched as his superior officer and Major—
el hombre con el diablo en sus ojos—
approached Amaya. He tried to gulp back the horror of leaving her that way. His Mama would smack him if she knew, whether Amaya was
una puta
or
monja
.

He’d left her that way, bound and gagged on her stomach, since he’d called Lieutenant Commander Paulson less than twenty minutes before. Javier had eventually had to put a gag over her mouth, her cries for mercy sending pain lancing through his entire body. He’d loved her, wanted to make her his
esposa
, had even asked. She’d said she wasn’t ready, but now he knew. Amaya had played him for two years, drugging him for information while he slept so he’d have no memory of it.