Do You Trust Me? (11 page)

He scanned her face
with practiced eyes. “Well, the bruises are turning a nice shade of purple, but
I’m sure makeup can handle it. And your nose doesn’t seem to be any the worse
for the wear. How about the headache?”

She shrugged. “Aspirin
takes care of it.”

He poured himself a
glass of water and sipped it carefully, watching her. “I know this has all been
frightening and confusing for you. And I’m afraid I don’t have good news for
you.”

“About John, right?”
Her stomach knotted and nausea rose in her throat.

He nodded. “I already
told you he missed his last check-in. The truth of the matter is we haven’t
heard from him in several days. At this point, we have to assume he’s been
compromised and is most likely dead. I’m sorry, Rina. I know that’s not what
you want to hear.”

She clenched her
fists in her lap, determined not to fall apart. “But you still have no body,
right?”

“With the people we’re
dealing with, we may never find one. You need to be prepared for that.”

“What’s going on,
Sully? McCall hasn’t given me room to breathe and he won’t tell me a thing.”

And John certainly
said nothing except get the locket and don’t trust anyone. Someone betrayed him
and blew his mission. Who? McCall? The affable Gage? Les? Even Sully himself? Money
was a powerful motivator, no matter who it was.

“All of my men are
under orders not to disclose information,” he reiterated, as if she hadn’t
known that.

“But you’re here to
give me some answers.”

He nodded. “Only
because I hope to persuade you to tell me what you know and be more careful
with your own life.”

“You know whatever
you tell me will go no further.”

“If it does, we’re
all in trouble. You should know that the safety of this country is being
threatened by some of the very people sworn to protect it. John had uncovered a
plot to assassinate the president, funded by arms manufacturer, Andrew
Brechtel, a close friend of the vice president. We’ve learned two of our
long-serving congressmen—a senator and a representative—are also involved, but
we don’t have concrete proof. John was gathering that proof. But he was well
aware of the fact that if he was discovered, it could mean his life.”

Shock waves coursed
through her system. “Kill the president? My God, Sully. Are you serious?”

“I’m only telling you
this because things are moving fast, you’ve been unexpectedly involved, and I
have to trust your discretion. And McCall seems to think we’ve reached a stage
where you need to know the facts.”

“I can hardly believe
what you’re saying.”

“Believe me.” A
muscle ticked in Sully’s cheek, and his fingers threaded through his hair in a
gesture of frustration. “Some people will stop at nothing to protect their own
illegal activities and source of funds. John was aware of the risk and
willingly took the chance.”

Rina twisted her
hands together in her lap, barely holding onto her control. This was worse than
anything she could have imagined. “What kind of evidence was he gathering?”

Sully watched her
reaction as he spoke. “Recordings of conversations between the people involved.”

“And now you have no
idea what’s happened to him.” She swallowed hard, fighting back tears.

“I know, and I can’t
tell you how sorry I am about that.” He studied her face. “I’m concerned about
the phone call you got and the break-in at your house.”

“Do you have any idea
what they’re looking for?” Rina tried to make her face as blank as possible.

Sully’s face was just
as expressionless. “Do you?”

She looked down at
her coffee. “How would I know?”

“Rina, I’m going to
ask you again. Why did you go to John’s place that night? We went to such
lengths to keep your identity a secret. What made you break that? What made
him
break protocol?”

“I-I don’t know what
he wanted. I told you last night. He called me, but when I got there, he never
showed up.”

He smiled. “Maybe you
can get that story over on my men, but you’ll need something better with me. If
John called you, he had a specific reason. Did he want you to get something
from there? Is that why you went?”

“What could he
possibly want me to get?” She was amazed at how calm she sounded, with her
heart thundering against her ribs.

“The evidence he’d
collected?”

“Why wouldn’t he give
it to you?”
Yes, Sully. Why wouldn’t he?

Sully sighed. “Rina,
sooner or later you’ll have to stop playing games. I’ve been honest with you.
Don’t you think it’s your turn?”

I’ve been betrayed.
You’ll know who to trust.

But she didn’t know
yet. Not without reservation.

“I can’t tell you
what I don’t know,” she insisted.

“If John trusted you
with something, he’d want you to pass it along to me. You know that.”

Betrayed.
Again John’s words
echoed over and over in Rina’s head.

“Then why didn’t he
call you instead of me? He must have had a reason.”

Sully gave her a
hard, appraising look and shook his head. “Sooner or later you’ll have to make
a choice, Rina. Just don’t take too long to make up your mind. We’ll be out of
time before long, and I’d hate to do something that damaged our relationship.
Never mind put the president at risk.”

Rina said nothing,
afraid to open her mouth and have the wrong thing come out.

“All right. Let’s
change the subject for a moment. You won’t let us put you in a safe place until
this is over. You’ve made that plain. But if you’re willing, we can use the
situation to our advantage.” He shook his head. “It would be a lot to ask of
you.”

“You want to use me
as bait,” she guessed. “To see if these people, whoever they are, keep coming
after me and give you a chance to grab them. Am I right?”

“It’s a big risk,”
Sully warned. “Especially if you know something and we don’t. One slip could
mean your life. No one would ever be able to prove a thing. If you can tell us
something that can leapfrog us over all this, that would be better. If not...”

She looked at him
with a steady gaze, even as a chill raced through her body. “You’d have people
protecting me, like McCall? They’d make sure nothing happened to me, right?”

“We’ll do our best,
but you should know there are no guarantees. These people are completely
ruthless.” His words were like stones falling on concrete, hard and unyielding.
“If they could discover your existence, contact you and destroy your home, they
can do anything. Even make you disappear. Be sure you know what you’re doing, Rina.”

She bit her lip. If John
had discovered some kind of conspiracy within his team, anyone could be part of
it. That’s what he’d warned her about. If he was dead, this could be the best
way to catch his killers. She inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“All right,” she said
at last. “I’ll do it. For John. He believed in what he was doing enough to give
his life for it. If he’s actually dead, I don’t want it to be for nothing.”

“Then I’ll also tell
McCall the event at the Alamo is a go. If they can’t get to the president
before then and they still believe you have something that points to them, that’s
the best place for them to try for both of you. But we’ll be prepared.”

Rina sat up straight.
“And I will, too.”

Sully took both of
her hands in his. “We’ll do our level best to keep you safe. Your new security
system is being installed, and we’ll give you as much personal protection as we
can. The two men with me will meet Gage at your house after they drop me off.
And McCall will be with you until this is completely resolved.”

And that was a
two-edged sword.

Chapter Six

All the tension the
wine had eased returned with Sully’s information. Alone in the second bedroom,
she touched the locket lying between her breasts. John had said she’d know who
to give it to, and so far no one had said or done anything to make her think he
was the right person. God, what if she made a mistake and all his sacrifice was
for nothing?

And on top of
everything else, the night with McCall loomed ahead, setting every pulse to
beating and her panties to dampening. An image of a naked McCall flashed across
her brain, causing more moisture to seep from her hungry cunt.

Everyone’s talking
about life or death situations, and I’m thinking about sex with the most alpha
male I’ve ever met.

She felt like Alice down the Rabbit Hole, searching for answers in a world gone mad.

“Long day.”

She jerked, dropping
her hands to her sides. She hadn’t heard McCall come up behind her. Now she
felt his warm hands on her shoulders and his breath on her hair.

“Too long.” She gave
a short laugh. “I wonder if I could go back and live it over again?”

“It would be nice if
we could do that with a lot of things, wouldn’t it?” His hands massaged her
shoulders, working the tension from her muscles. “Try to relax if you can. You’re
tight as a rubber band.”

“I know. Keep doing
that and I might be able to.”

“What about this?”
His voice was low as his hands slid past her shoulders and came to rest on her
breasts, his thumbs chafing her nipples while his fingers caressed the swell of
her flesh. “Does this help you unwind?”

A low moan escaped
her lips.

A rusty-sounding
chuckle rumbled up from his throat. “I guess that answers my question.”

She opened her mouth
to say something, but he turned her to face him and his lips came down on hers,
his tongue thrusting into her open mouth. His hands were busy at her breasts
again, rubbing the nipples and caressing the upper slopes.

Even with a shirt and
bra between his fingers and her skin, she was sure he could make her come just
from stimulating her nipples. She clutched at his biceps, holding on for dear
life, as the kiss went on and on, his tongue tasting every inner inch of her
mouth, sucking hers into his own dark cavern. And his fingers never stopped
their sensual dance.

“We have too many
clothes on.” His voice was unsteady as he broke the kiss.

She nodded, beyond
speech.

“I want to see every
inch of your body,” he growled. “Touch it. Taste it.” He nipped at the tender
place where her shoulder and her neck joined. “I have big plans for us tonight,
Rina. We can’t make the trouble go away, but just for a while, we’re going to
forget killers and plots and book signings and everything else. Tonight, I’m in
charge. Clear?”

Wordlessly she
nodded.

“Good. First things
first. Take off your clothes.”

She stared at him. “Excuse
me?”

“I’m in charge,
remember?” His voice had deepened, if that was possible, and the edge of desire
had crept into it. This was McCall, the dom, and he was exercising his
position. “You do what I say. Strip.”

Rina’s hands shook
slightly as she unbuttoned her blouse and shrugged it off her shoulders. Her
fingers fumbled with the clasp of her bra before it gave way and she tossed it
to the side with her blouse. The rasp of her zipper sounded unnaturally loud in
the room as she lowered it and shimmied out of her slacks. The last thing to go
was her thong, embarrassingly soaked with her juices.

McCall’s eyes never
left her as she removed each item of clothing. She stood there, a shiver racing
over her skin, waiting for whatever came next.

He had already tossed
his jacket. Now his shirt and tie landed on the chair, and he toed off his
shoes and socks.

“Safe word,” he said.

“W-What?”

“Remember I told you
to have a safe word ready? Any time you want to stop, all you have to do is say
that word.”

God, she’d totally
forgotten, and now her brain wouldn’t work. “Um, roses.”

He lifted an eyebrow.
“Roses?”

“My favorite flower.”

“Roses it is. Now. Come
here.”

Rina moved to stand
closer to him.

“Down on your knees.
Right here in front of me.”

Her eyes locked on
his, and she lowered herself to her knees, the bulge in his trousers a mere
breath away from her mouth.

“Unzip my pants and
lower them.”

With fingers that
still shook, she unfastened the one button, lowered the zipper, and dragged the
fabric down to his ankles. He stepped out of the pants and kicked them to the
side. His cock sprang to life, tenting his boxers and nearly pushing through
the opening.

“Now the boxers,” he
ordered.

When he stood naked
before her, he took her head in his hands. “Clasp your hands behind your back
and open your mouth. I’ve been thinking about this all day. It’s a wonder I
didn’t come in my slacks like some horny teenager.”

Rina obediently
opened her mouth, and McCall wrapped his fingers around his erection and slowly
pushed it past her waiting lips. She had to strain to accept its size, but even
at that, she was so hot liquid dripped from her cunt and wet her thighs.

“Knees apart, Rina. I
want the scent of your arousal to fill this room.”

She shifted, and at
once the scent of sex enveloped them. McCall inhaled, and his cock swelled even
more. Rina tilted her head back as the hot, silken shaft pressed deeper into
her mouth, the broad head bumping the roof. She swirled her tongue against the
velvet skin, feeling the steel beneath it. Drops of pre-cum dripped down her
throat.

“Suck me, Rina.” His
voice was so hoarse she almost didn’t recognize it. “Let me fuck that sweet,
sweet mouth. I’ve thought about that last time until I was so hard I thought my
dick would explode. And this time I don’t want you to stop. This time I want to
come in your mouth. Feel it shoot down your throat. Do it, Rina.”

She hollowed her
cheeks to increase the suction as he eased his cock in further and further. She
found by tilting her head back even more she could take him deeper into her
throat. Gently, she scraped her teeth along his flesh, and an answering groan
burst from his lips.

He began to move his
hips, slowly, thrusting into her until at last he was fully seated. His hands
reached down and gripped her head again, shifting it this way and that, showing
her how and what he liked. She found the rhythm and settled into it, his hips rocking
in tandem with her mouth.

“Look at me,” he
demanded in that thick voice.

She raised her eyes,
shocked at the intense lust she saw in his.

“That’s it. Keep
looking at me. God, you look so gorgeous, naked on your knees, my cock in your
mouth. I’d like to freeze this forever.”

And all the time he
fucked her mouth, slowly, steadily, she sucked and pulled and grazed the skin
with her teeth. She knew when his orgasm was ready to take him. His thighs tensed,
his fingers on her head tightened, and he thrust hard once, twice. And then his
seed jetted down her throat in hot and thick spurts. She swallowed and sucked
until she drained him of everything he had and felt the loosening of his
muscles.

Slowly, he eased
himself from her mouth and lifted her to her feet. He kissed her, his tongue
swirling in her mouth and tasting himself on her skin. She was dizzy with the
effect of it, her body so needy she was sure she’d come herself just standing
there. It was one of the most erotic experiences she’d ever had.

When his breathing
slowed and she felt strength flow back into his body, he lifted her and carried
her to the bed, stripping back the spread and covers. Placing her on the cool
sheets, he spread her legs, bending them at the knees and placing her feet flat
on the mattress. Her sex was completely exposed to him.

“Jesus, Rina. Even in
my dreams I couldn’t imagine how good that was. I may never get enough of that
talented mouth.”

She gave him a shy
smile. “I liked it.”

“Good.” The voice of
command was back. “Because we’re going to do it a lot more. Now, I bought you
some presents today.”

“Presents? Is that
the errand you had to run?”

He nodded, a
predatory grin spreading across his face. “Yeah. I spotted the store when we
got off the Interstate.”

Her heart was
thumping and bumping in her chest. “We’re in the middle of a crisis and you
went out to buy
toys?”

“Best medicine for
stress,” he told her. “You’ll see. Now, I want you to play with your pussy and
rub your clit while I get them for you.”

She wasn’t quite as
tentative as she’d been the day before. Her hands went at once to her cunt,
stroking the wet flesh and rubbing the swollen tip of her clit. Her gaze
followed McCall as he pulled a brown paper bag from the nightstand drawer.

“Slipping this into
the room with those two hardasses in here was a trick,” he said in a wry tone. “Good
thing the store keeps plain bags for people like me.”

Opening it, he began laying
its contents out on the bed. The first thing he took out was a large box of
condoms. “Don’t want to run out,” he growled. Then he emptied the rest of the
contents.

Rina’s eyes widened
when she saw a dildo, a silver egg vibrator, something that she identified as a
butt plug and a tube that could only be lubricating gel. And another box, which
he picked up and brought to the other side of the bed with him.

“Anything here bother
you?” he asked.

“N-no. Nothing.”

“Ever use any of
these before?”

Rina nodded. “The
vibrator.”

One corner of his
mouth turned up. “Good to know.” He looked down at her. “Keep those hands busy,
Rina. No matter what I do. Clear?”

She nodded, rubbing
herself and slipping her fingers into her sopping channel.

McCall sat down
beside her and took her nipples between thumbs and forefingers, rolling and
pulling them, stretching them out from her breasts.

“McCall, I-”

“You will not come,”
he ordered, guessing at what she wanted to say. “Only when I tell you to.
Clear?”

Oh, god.

Her channel was
already sopping, her clit throbbed with unfulfilled need, and the tight coil of
desire was unwinding from deep inside her faster and faster. Everything in her
told her she was ready to tumble over the other side of that peak. But she
nodded, gritting her teeth to keep from coming. She knew it was important that
she not disobey him.

“Good.” He bent down
and began to suck her nipples, one at a time, biting them lightly then soothing
them with his tongue. “You have the most exquisite nipples. So beautiful. So
plump. We’ll make them a little plumper, okay?”

He opened the box he’d
set next to her, taking something out. Rina recognized what he had at once. She’d
never used nipple clamps, but she’d done enough research on them for her
romance novels. Each of these was comprised of two thin bars with gold chains
dangling from them, the whole thing held together by tiny screws.

McCall took one
nipple, pulling on it again, then sliding it between the bars of one clamp and
tightening the screws. Pain shot through her breast at once, replaced
immediately by the most exquisite shock of pleasure. He licked his tongue
briefly over the engorged tip. Then he placed the clamp on the other one.

He bent his head to
her. “Is that good, Rina? Do you like those little bars squeezing your delectable
nipples? Oh, yes. I can see it on your face. I love that hot look in your eyes
and the way your tongue just peeks out of your mouth when you reach for that crest.”

Rina hoped he didn’t
expect an answer from her because, with three fingers now inside herself, she
needed every bit of concentration to control the spasms that threatened to roar
through her uncontrolled.

When McCall was
satisfied with the placement of the clamps, he removed the silver bullet from
its packaging and knelt between her outspread legs. One lock of his dark hair
had fallen across his forehead, giving him an unusually rakish look. The taut
muscles of his powerful chest and arms flexed as he moved into the position he
wanted. His eyes, so dark, shone with heat in the reflected light of the lamp.
He looked for all the world like a warlord come to claim his prize.

“Ever since I picked
this up, I’ve been imagining how it would look in your cunt, little daredevil.”
His voice was thick with desire. “Sliding up through your juices into that very
slick flesh. I almost embarrassed myself in the store.”

He lifted her hand
from her sex and placed it at her side. Using the fingers of one hand to open
her labia wide, he slid the bullet inside and picked up the remote that came
with it.