Renegade (Elite Ops 5) (32 page)

Distancing himself from Mikayla was killing him and hurting her. But that

distance was all that was left to save his soul when this was over. Walking away from her would be impossible otherwise. Staying with her would only endanger her, and he

couldn't face that, either.

He paced the small bedroom, his gaze rarely falling on the open laptop and the

files he had pulled up earlier, before showering. Information on Reed Holbrook, Jarvis Dalton, Eddie Foreman, and Maddix Nelson were waiting for Nik's perusal.

He already suspected Eddie Foreman had been either stealing materials and

substituting inferior grade or deliberately sabotaging the job for Reed Holbrook. Either way, as Maddix's current foreman had stated, it was a recipe guaranteed to fuel Maddix's temper but not enough to cause him to kill.

As he paced to the window and the heavy shades that blocked the view of the

backyard, the cell phone at his hip vibrated.

Nik grabbed it like a lifeline, desperate to find something, anything, to keep him from crawling over Mikayla like a wild animal in need.

"Hey there, sexy," Kira drawled.

Nik heard her husband in the background, former Navy SEAL Ian Richards,

laughingly protesting.

"What did they find?" Nik wasn't interested in their byplay; he was interested in Ian and John's secretive visit to the Foreman home. Frankly, tonight Nik couldn't handle it. It reminded him too damned much of what he didn't have with Mikayla.

Kira and Bailey's earlier visit had been strained. They had sensed the tension

between him and Mikayla and he knew it. Questions were coming. They were questions he didn't want to ask.

"Interesting stuff," Kira stated. "Ian and John just got back from the Foreman home. Mixed in the mess of a filing system the man had was the blueprint of the job site he was killed on. There were some distinct X's marked on it. Ian said they were particular weak spots. Places where the foundation and skeleton would have to be strengthened by using specific materials. One of those locations was of the foundation that last year Nelson had to completely replace when the inspector found a crack forming in the

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cement. There were also vague notes that could have been referencing where lesser-grade materials were used in other areas. Ian and John's assessment is that he was deliberately sabotaging the building, and I agree with them."

Nik raked his fingers through his hair with a tight grimace. Evidence was

mounting against Maddix, which meant Nik was going to be making another trip to talk to him. Unfortunately, this time Nik had a feeling he'd be taking Mikayla with him.

Hardheaded damned stubborn woman, he thought, she was going to be the death

of him.

"Ian did a little research into Maddix," Kira continued. "He has a temper, and he and Eddie Foreman had gone head-to-head before, but Eddie was pissing a lot of people off before he died."

"He's pissing me off now," Nik growled.

"Maddix's alibi is solid from the reports you sent me and the follow-up Ian did today," Kira informed him. "Robert Cronin checked out as well, but the information he gave hasn't yet been confirmed by any of our contacts, though it is early for information there to be coming in. If Maddix was involved with the underground gambling world, then we'll know soon. Eddie Foreman was involved, though, even our contacts knew him, and they didn't like him any more than anyone else did. He owed everyone money."

"Mikayla's certain it was Maddix; that means we're looking for someone

attempting to frame him for whatever reason. Let's go deeper into Eddie and Maddix's past, see what we can find out," Nik suggested.

"Tehya's already suggested that and is moving on it," Kira assured him.

"Tell her to put a rush on it," he sighed. "The next time the bastard shoots at Mikayla, it just might be fatal."

"She's an interesting young woman," Kira said softly. "I'm a damned good judge of character. Not once this evening did she even attempt to discuss you or whatever problems the two of you are having. She did a good job of hiding it as well, even as tired as she was. You have a treasure there, my friend."

"Don't start, Kira," Nik breathed out roughly.

"And it looked to me like you're becoming pretty involved." Her voice softened.

"Are you going to break her heart, Nik?"

Was he? As far as he was concerned, there was no way around it, unless she

wasn't in love with him. And he knew better. She wasn't clingy, whiny, or possessive, so far, but she was in love.

"If you have no more information, Kira, then I have to go," he told her without answering her question. "Let me know if Ian learns anything more."

"I'll be sure to, Nik." Her voice held that gentle, sympathetic tone that she reserved for animals and morons. He could only imagine which one she was thinking of.

Disconnecting, he laid his cell phone on the bedside table before rubbing at the

back of his neck as he fought the irritation, the arousal that only grew inside him.

He could almost feel Mikayla's soft skin against his hands, his fingers flexing at the memory of the warmth of her, the snug heat of her pussy enveloping his dick.

He was as hard as iron. He had been as hard as iron all day. His damned dick was

going to end up getting him into the type of trouble that he didn't want to deal with. The type that would end up with him back in Mikayla's bed, and in a hell of a lot of trouble for both of them.

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He paced the bedroom like a caged tiger, that hunger eating at him from the inside out as he fought the need to go to her, to ease the hurt and the confusion from her pretty eyes.

She was softening him; he could feel it, and he hated it. Softening meant looking

at himself, seeing the shadows he knew existed inside his own soul. Remembering when he didn't want to remember.

"Nik?" A soft knock, Mikayla's low voice, and his senses seemed to go into overdrive.

The door opened slowly.

She stood there, long blond hair flowing around her, while amethyst eyes stared

back at him with innocent hunger. She had changed from the lounging pants to a robe, and if he wasn't sorely mistaken, she was naked beneath it.

"Are you coming to bed?" Soft as a whisper, like fairy wings, her need reached out to stroke against his senses. "I miss you against me, Nik."

"Mikayla," he sighed her name. He should tell her no, he should walk away now.

So why wasn't he?

"Is it over so soon?" she asked him then, a hint of painful knowledge filling her gaze. "I didn't expect that."

"You don't want me tonight, Mikayla." He shook his head wearily.

"Why don't I?" she asked softly. "I've wanted you since the moment I saw you.

Why would that change?"

The bleak despair she had sensed earlier shadowed his gaze once more.

"So fucking innocent." He felt like an animal, the need for her burning through his veins. "You have no idea the things I could ask for."

Nik was dying, fighting to hold back. She had no idea how hard holding back

truly was.

A spark of anger should have lit her eyes rather than that spark of need that went beyond hunger or lust. That glimmer of something deep, something that pierced his soul and left him aching to lose himself in her silken embrace.

She stared back at him as she drew her lower lip between her teeth and gazed at

him with that sweet, burning hunger. Then she did something he fully didn't expect. With incredible grace, her fingers loosened the belt to her robe as she shrugged, the silken violet material sliding over her shoulders, her arms, to pool on the floor at her feet.

Creamy pink-tipped breasts rose and feel quickly, the hardened nipples tempting

his tongue as his fingers curled with the need to touch her.

He felt like an animal ready to pounce, the hunger raging through him with a

desperation he wouldn't have believed possible. She was his. The innocence glittering in her eyes, the gentle warmth, the need, it was his. He was her first lover. He was her only lover. The need to mark her as his forever raged through with a force nearly impossible to control. To mark her body, her heart, her soul. To ensure she was always his.

He moved without thought. Thought was a thing of the past. Striding across the

floor, Nik lifted his woman in his arms and strode down the hall to the bedroom and the bed where he had first claimed her. The bed where he had found the greatest pleasure imaginable.

His lips stole hers in a kiss that fired his blood the second he picked her up. As she twined her arms around his neck, a low, delicate moan sent his senses crashing into 157

pure need.

Lust,
he forcibly reminded himself. It was lust. It wasn't need.

But it was need. A need that defied description. The hunger that tore through him

made no sense, yet it felt as natural as breathing. It felt as needed as the air around him.

She was a flame burning in his arms, and he was helpless to do anything but burn

with her.

Shouldering her door open, Nik carried her through it before kicking it closed

behind them. He laid her on the bed, their lips parting as Nik fought to draw in enough air to sustain him. Enough to, he hoped, dilute the surging arousal. Nothing could dilute what he was feeling now. There was no force of earth or of nature that could possibly turn down the fire raging through him.

Stretching above her, Nik held his weight on his knees and elbows as he stretched

her arms above her head and held them in place. The feel of her silken hands touching him frayed his control. At the moment, he needed his control.

His lips wandered down her neck, nipped and caressed with his lips as she arched

beneath him with a decidedly feminine moan. Hard-tipped breasts brushed his chest, searing his flesh and making his mouth water with the need to taste, to stroke.

Moving lower, he licked over the rounded tops, ignored her strident little demands for more, and simply relished the taste and feel of her.

"Nik, you're killing me with the teasing," she whispered, her voice thick with arousal. "Please."

"Please what?" He could barely breathe. The hunger raging through him tightened his chest and sent a fiery ache of longing surging through his senses.

"So pretty," he crooned, holding her wrists in one hand as he plumped a breast.

His thumb raked over the hardened little tip; he felt her flinch from the pleasure and had to grit his teeth to keep from fucking her now.

"You feel so good," she whispered as her head ground against the pillow. "You make me lose my mind with the pleasure, Nik."

She was killing him. God, he needed to gag her if he was going to hold on to his

control, because her innocent murmurs had his balls drawn tight, his cock throbbing with imminent release.

Brushing his lips over her nipple, Nik parted them to pull the succulent berry into his mouth and release the soft taste of female flesh. His female's flesh.

A shudder raced through her, vibrated against him, and had sweat popping out on

his brow as her fingers bit into the wrist holding hers.

"Oh, yes," she moaned. "Oh, Nik." Her thighs tightened on his, her hips lifting to rub the mound of her pussy against his upper leg. "That's so good. Your mouth is so hot."

Damn her.
How the hell was he supposed to keep his fucking wits with her

pleasure-taking voice?

Raking his tongue over the nipple, he sucked at it ravenously, feeling her pleasure as she trembled and shuddered in his arms. Adrenaline was pumping through the veins, the proof of his effect on her tightening his muscles, thickening his dick, until he felt wracked by the hunger surging through his system.

His tongue lashed at the tender tip, drawing a cry from her lips as she arched

tighter against him. Never had a woman given him her response so easily, so

unconditionally.

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"I want to touch you, too, Nik," she cried out as she tugged against his hold on her wrists. "I want to feel you. I want to taste you." Her thigh pressed against his cock. "Oh, God. Like you let me before. I want you in my mouth, too."

Fuck. Fuck.

He was going to come against her leg if she kept this shit up.

The memory of his cock in her mouth destroyed him. Releasing her breast, he

jerked to his knees, pulled her up, and with one hand at the back of her head, the other gripping his dick, he pressed the flared crest against her cherry, kiss-reddened lips.

His neck arched back until he wondered if it would snap. Ecstasy tore through his

veins as she sucked the throbbing head inside the liquid heat of her mouth. Her tongue lashed at it, as his had at her nipples. A second later, she rolled her tongue over it with lazy pleasure, the glitter of amethyst eyes peeking beneath her lashes as she rubbed against the underside of the crown.

Ah, hell.
She was killing him.

She sucked him to the back of her mouth, licked and tasted him until he swore he

was going to lose his mind to the pleasure. He couldn't believe the temptress who held him in her grip now.

Reaching down, he palmed a full, rounded breast in one hand as he held the back

of her head with the other. His cock thrust in and out of her mouth, fucking her in slow, agonizing movements as he felt the come boiling in his balls.

Mikayla was shaking with the pleasure and the need rushing through her. She had

never imagined she could be so brave, that she could take how he had touched her and turn it around to use it on him. To see that she was bringing him pleasure as he did to her.

She was on the verge of climax. She could feel her juices dampening her thighs,

her clit throbbing in need. She wanted him as she had never wanted anything in her life.

Sucking the head of his cock as deep as possible, she shuddered again as he pulled back, leaving only the thick, heavy crest just inside her lips. She licked it, laved it, feeling his hand lower to his balls as his fingers tightened around them to hold back his release.