Renegade (Elite Ops 5) (36 page)

met his tongue as she cried his name, her hands tightening in his hair, trying to drag him closer.

He lost his breath at her response, at the complete abandonment she gave him.

The way she filled him.

"Complete me, Mikayla," he begged as he tore at his pants, releasing the agonizingly hard flesh that strained against the zipper.

Hell, there were probably zipper tracks on the too-hard flesh.

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Gripping the shaft, he straightened, pressed closer, until the head of his dick was pressing against the clenched opening. "One more time, little fairy, complete me."

Leaning back, he watched as he began to penetrate her. The heavy, wide flesh

pressed inside, parting her as the folds of her pussy began to grip and hug the heavy erection.

He'd never known anything so beautiful as this. As this perfect innocence

accepting him, lifting to him, crying out for him. Her hands gripped his arms as her neck arched, her hair falling around her shoulders as slumberous violet eyes stared back, locked with his gaze.

Her slick juices clung to his shaft, beading on her curls, slickening his dick.

Fucking her was pure pleasure. It was pure rapture. It was sweet, hot ecstasy.

"There, baby," he crooned, his voice rough. "Let me have you, just like this. Just like this, Mikayla."

He pushed inside her, filled her, sinking in to the hilt as the tight muscles gripped him, flexed around his sensitive flesh until he swore he was dying from the pleasure.

He couldn't hold back. He was losing himself to her. He could feel it. Losing

himself until nothing mattered but this. Nothing but holding her, fucking her until she was screaming his name, until he heard his own voice, choked and desperate, as she began coming around him.

Her pussy gripped him, stroked him. It held him tight as it rippled around him, her juices heating his flesh further as he erupted.

His semen spilled inside her, and a part of him ached, a part of him longed, for the forbidden, the impossible. For one broken second he could see her with his child, see that innocence, that purity, in the eyes of their child.

"Hold me, Mikayla," he whispered as he collapsed against her. "Sweet baby, just hold me."

And she held him. Held him in her arms. In her heart. In her soul.

"I'll always have this, Nik," she whispered, her voice weak, drowsy. "The memory of the greatest pleasure of my life."

Those words echoed through his head as he cleaned her gently and carried her to

bed. Pulling her against him, he sheltered her against his body, felt her hand against his heart, her head on his shoulder, as she slipped into sleep.

She was safe here, he promised himself. Here in his arms was the only place he

knew she was safe. A part of him was terrified to let her go, terrified to trust her to fate.

Fate was a capricious, vindictive bitch and he knew it well. If he trusted this treasure to that whimsical being, then he would be left a broken shell of a man in ways he had never been before.

Smoothing her hair back from her face, he laid a kiss against the top of her head

as his hand smoothed down her naked back.

It was a good thing he was keeping her with him. Her protection was his main

priority. Finding the person responsible for this, for Eddie's death, for the attempts against her, was the only way to keep her safe when he had to leave.

He'd believed Maddix Nelson when he said he had nothing to do with Eddie

Foreman's death. Nik had believed Maddix knew better than to screw him over like this, than to lie to him and expect to get away with it.

Maddix didn't know the organization Nik was a part of, but the other man was

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damned well aware of the fact that Nik wasn't going to be easy to manipulate.

The alibi Maddix had appeared solid. He was obviously not working alone.

As Nik stared up at the ceiling, his forehead creased into a frown. He had help

here. Ian, Kira, and Bailey. They were in D.C. and they would return to Hagerstown if needed.

They were needed.

He had to get this taken care of. He had to return the security to Mikayla's life

before he could walk away from her.

Walk away from her?

His jaw clenched at the thought. How the hell was he supposed to walk away

from her? But how could he bear to stay with her? If something ever happened to her, an accident, a disease, if anything stole her from him once he came to breathe for her existence, then it would destroy him.

Laying another kiss against her brow, he eased slowly from the bed and padded

silently to the guest room. Drawing on a pair of sweatpants, he picked up the cell phone from the dresser and hit the number for Kira Richards.

"Is she okay?" Kira answered quickly. "We heard the return on the attempted hit-and-run. Ian's been pacing the floor waiting for you to call."

Nik doubted Ian was pacing; most likely Kira was the one pacing. Ian was calmer,

more certain that if Nik needed them he would call.

"Is Ian with you now?" Nik asked.

"He's here. Should I turn on the speakerphone?" Kira asked.

"Yes." Nik had to grit his teeth on the word. "Pulling in one of the members of the Elite Ops backup team wasn't easy for him.

"I'm here, Nik." Ian spoke a second later.

"All I saw was a black sedan, no plates," Nik stated. "I put at least two rounds in the vehicle. I need you to check for vehicle repairs. I could have heard glass shatter, so there's a chance I got the front or back window."

"I have it," Ian promised. "How are you doing with the investigation?"

Nik sat down heavily on the side of the bed. "It keeps leading back to Maddix," he admitted. "I'd thought he was smart enough not to try to use me. I could have been wrong."

"Everything I've found on Mikayla points to a very honest, forthright woman,"

Kira stated through the line. "She doesn't even finagle on her taxes. But if Maddix did this, then there's not even a hint of evidence that I've been able to find. Usually, the least you can get is a solid rumor."

Nik rubbed at the back of his neck. "It's not going to be easy to break his alibi,"

Nik admitted. "I'm following every lead I can find, but as I said, those leads are going back to Maddix. I'm heading back to Gina Foreman's tomorrow. In the meantime, Kira, see if you can find a financial trail for Eddie Foreman and Maddix Nelson that coincides somewhere other than Foreman's salary. After I meet with Gina, I've got to find a line in to Reed Holbrook. The man's avoiding me, and he ties in here somewhere."

There was a brief moment of silence.

"How does Reed Holbrook fit into this?" Ian asked.

"Do you know him?" Nik questioned softly.

"I know him," Ian answered.

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"Mikayla and I found Reed's office, cell, and home numbers in Eddie Foreman's private office. There was also a witness who saw Reed and Eddie Foreman talking the day Eddie died. There are a lot of threads moving here, Ian; I need to track down as many as possible."

"I'll get you a meeting with Reed," Ian promised. "If he's involved with this, we'll figure it out."

"That's what I need, thanks."

"I'll get started on the financials," Kira promised. "It may take a few days, though."

"Get it as quickly as possible," Nik asked. "This needs to be finished, Kira. I've been here too long already."

He hadn't been here long enough. He didn't believe any amount of time with

Mikayla would ever be enough. Leaving her would tear his soul from his chest, but better that, he told himself, than losing all he was to her and having her taken from him.

He disconnected the call moments later and moved back to Mikayla's bedroom.

Laying the cell phone on the bedside table, he stared down at her, watching as the fragile light of the moon spilled through the small seam of the curtains to the bed and the woman.

If ever she looked like a fairy, then she did now. The moonlight loved her flesh,

caressed it, bathed it in gold.

He was fucking waxing poetic, something else he'd never done in his life, that he

had never done with any other woman.

Shedding the cotton pants, he moved back into the bed beside her, his lips

quirking as she moved against him, a sleeping little groan falling from her lips as he pulled her against his chest once again.

Her head fell back to his shoulder, her hand to his chest, as he held her to him. He hadn't slept with a woman in over ten years. He'd fucked them. Enjoyed them. But not until Mikayla had he needed one in the bed beside him.

Not until one had penetrated that part of himself that he held in reserve.

Even his wife hadn't managed that. Not until Mikayla had Nik felt his heart

slipping from his grasp with no idea how to protect it.

Only with Mikayla.

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Chapter 19

"Are we going to be questioning Maddix Nelson anytime soon?" Mikayla asked as Nik sat at the kitchen table the next morning on the laptop.

"Not today."

The answer surprised her. Normally he didn't answer her when it came to certain

questions. Maddix Nelson was one of those questions.

"What are we doing today then?" she asked as she poured more coffee, and waited for Nik's reply.

"Today we're going back to Gina Foreman's." Mikayla turned as he twisted around in his chair. "Jarvis said Eddie was trying to sell plans and sabotage the project. I didn't have that information when I sent some friends to go through the Foreman home office. I want to check it myself again."

She blinked back at him. "You had friends go through the office?"

"I do have friends." His brow arched with an edge of amusement.

"Well, of course you do." She cleared her throat, still staring back at him in surprise. "You didn't tell me you were having friends check out the office, though."

"My bad. I'll make sure I don't make that mistake again."

He turned back to the laptop and began scrolling through a file he'd pulled up.

"Your bad?" she asked slowly.

"My mistake." He shrugged.

"Who are your friends?" she asked, intensely curious.

He glanced over his shoulder. "I could tell you, but then they might have to kill one of us. I'm more valuable to them."

"But I'm nicer," she informed him archly. "Give me an hour and they would like me much better than they like you."

There was a brief chuckle. "I have no doubt of that."

Her eyes narrowed on him. "You're being too secretive again."

"I can't tell you who my friends are," he said as she pulled out the chair and sat down across from him. "What I can tell you is that if Eddie was up to something dirty, then the evidence is out there. We'll find it."

At least he was saying "we" and not "I."

"Good." Sipping her coffee, she sat back in the chair and watched him silently for several moments before saying, "When are we going to Gina's?"

He checked his watch. "A few more minutes. I want to time it just right."

"And what would you consider 'just right'?"

His lips quirked. "Just right is just before she leaves. I don't want her looking over my shoulder, and I'm hoping she'll trust you enough to let us stay in the house after she leaves."

Mikayla stared back at him worriedly. "I wouldn't bet on that happening."

He smiled back at her. "We'll see."

We'll see.

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Three hours later, Mikayla stood with Nik on Gina Foreman's doorstep.

The door swung open to reveal a harried, drowsy Gina Foreman. Dark blond hair

was mussed, chocolate brown eyes were sleepy, and it was apparent she had just come from bed.

So much for catching her before she went in to work.

"Mikayla?" Confusion filled Gina's voice. "Mr. Steele?"

"I'm sorry, Gina." Mikayla smiled. "We wanted to ask you a few more questions before you went to work."

Gina shook her head. "I called in this morning. I needed a personal day." She stood back. "But come in. I'll answer what I can."

Mikayla could feel the tension emanating from Nik as he moved in beside her.

"Would you like some coffee or something?" Gina tugged a ragged, threadbare brown robe tighter around her and pushed her hair back from her face as she rubbed her foot against her ankle.

"Nothing, Gina," Mikayla replied. "If you could just help us out a little."

"Sure." Moving to the small seating area, Gina sat down in a recliner and stared back at them inquisitively. "How can I help you?"

Nik and Mikayla sat on the couch across from her.

Now what did Nik have planned? Mikayla wondered. Gina wasn't exactly falling

in line with the plan he had.

"Mrs. Foreman, did Eddie say anything about needing more money than normal?

Did he do or say anything that could have indicated he would have an influx of cash coming?"

Gina frowned. "Like I told you before, Mr. Steele, Eddie always needed money.

And if he had extra money coming, then he wouldn't have mentioned it to me." There was a glimmer of bitter cynicism in her dark gaze.

"Did Eddie play the lottery or gamble in any other way?" Nik questioned her.

Gina shrugged, her gaze becoming clearly upset now. "Look, Eddie stopped

talking to me a long time ago, about money or anything else. I wasn't exactly his best friend."

It was spoken matter-of-factly, without anger, but with an underlying sense of

disillusionment that was more powerful than anger could have been.

"Who was his best friend, Gina?" Nik leaned forward, his gaze intent as he watched her. "Who could we talk to who might know if Eddie was having any problems, Gina? Someone besides Jarvis?"

Gina sat back in her chair and stared back at them with a frown for long moments

before sighing wearily.

"Steve Gainard."

Oh boy.
Mikayla heard the name with a sense of discomfort.

"Steve was one of the only friends Eddie had who was decent. They'd been