Storm Warning (Security Specialists International Book 4) (21 page)

Finally, Ace ended the kiss. Leisurely, he placed light kisses over face as he murmured, “I take it that means you’re okay with me loving you.”

She laughed and tugged on his hair. “Yeah.” She angled her head until she could look him in the eye. “Just in case you haven’t figured it out … I love you, too.”

“Thank God,” he rasped out. Moisture welled in her man’s eyes as he continued to cherish her with kisses.

“Thank God or who or whatever brought Dev to the pilots’ briefing room that day, because that day set me on the path to you,” she said. “I plan on loving you for a long, long time.”

“That’s good, since I plan on doing the same.” He placed one last lingering kiss on her lips, then nudged her head onto his chest. “You still want to talk or go to sleep? We have an early day tomorrow with the flight to Denver to catch the charter flight to Cancun.”

The Belize mission started tomorrow. That had been part of the reason she’d spoken with the gals earlier about oral sex. She wanted her and Ace’s sex life to be another step closer to normalcy for many reasons, one of which was for the sake of their cover during the mission. She’d thought she could handle third base in the game of foreplay, but obviously not. So—

“Talk, please.” She sensed the Stygian shadows creeping in, determined to take control of her conscious mind again. But Ace’s love was too bright, and the darkness was swallowed by the light, defeated for now.

“Talk, it is.” Ace handed her the hot chocolate and then grabbed his scotch and took a long drink.

She sipped at her cocoa. The warm chocolate felt good going down and then—“Whoa, that has a kick.”

“I figured you might need a little extra alcohol to relax—plus it should help you go to sleep.” He cuddled her against him, then rubbed his hand up and down her arm. “Why don’t I start? I hit a memory trigger, didn’t I? You were okay licking and sucking my cock until I thrust into your mouth.”

He sounded so guilty.

“Not your fault. You couldn’t have known.” She heaved a sigh. “Because I didn’t warn you. I figured since it was you and not … him, I’d be okay. I’d been doing so well … being with you. Guess I underestimated the power of past sexual trauma.” She coughed, then took a sip of the hot chocolate and let the alcohol do its thing.

“He raped your mouth.” It wasn’t a question. The words sounded as if Ace ground them out.

“Yeah.” She closed her eyes. “But … back then … I wasn’t on top. I figured … well, you can guess what I figured.” She inched even closer to Ace’s body and let his warmth chase away the chills. “After beating me, he forced me … to my knees. Told me if I sucked him off, he wouldn’t rape me.”

“Fucker.” Ace growled and tossed back the rest of his scotch and then slammed the glass on the beside table.

She petted his chest in soothing circles. “Obviously, he lied. And—”

“Shh, I can guess the rest.” Carefully, as if he were afraid to spook her yet again, Ace took her cup and placed it on the table. He framed her face with his hands and held her gently as he looked her in the eyes. “I promise as long as I have a breath in my body, I’ll protect you from Varney and men like him. I swear this on all I hold dear.” Then he sealed his vow, her gentle knight, with a kiss that held all his love for her.

“I know.” She covered his hands with hers. “My promise to you is I’ll fight any man who tries to hurt me. I also promise I won’t let the memory of what that asshole did to me hurt us. So-o-o, I want to try sucking you off again, but…”

“Not tonight.” He urged her head back to his chest and rubbed his bristled cheek over her hair. “The fact you can still tolerate to be held and kissed by me is all I need right now. Well, that and your love.”

And there was why she loved this man so very much. He was strong enough to protect her from everyone, even from herself. He sensed the memories were still too close to the surface. Ace read her better than anyone she’d ever known, including her mother.

“Love you so much.” She kissed his chest and was delighted when his strong body shuddered in response. It was nice to know she affected him just as intensely as he did her.

“Love you back.” He kissed the top of her head and then rearranged them so they lay on the bed. Her body still held protectively in his arms, her head resting on his chest. “Do you think you can sleep now?”

“In your arms? Always.” She closed her eyes, and all she found in the darkness of her mind’s eye was the image of Ace’s face when he’d told her he loved her. Sleep stole over her as she replayed his words of love again and again.

February 24th, Cancun, Mexico

Tweeter took DJ’s elbow and then guided her across the open-air lobby. They followed the porter who had their mostly empty bags. Once they were checked into their private
casita
, he’d take DJ shopping for some resort clothes. The bags currently contained some survival gear and clothing, just in case they had to make an emergency escape into the Belizean jungle to rendezvous with Conn.

As they strolled through the lush lobby, he checked out the picture DJ made in the outfit Callie had given her from her personal wardrobe—much of which were couture clothes from her modeling days.

DJ looked like a sex goddess. The dress, what there was of it, was the color of a tropical sea with a halter top composed of fabric criss-crossing her gorgeous, full breasts and then buttoning behind her neck. Her toned back was left bare to the waist; the rest of the dress flowed over her hips to stop mid-thigh. There were no panty lines as the silky fabric lovingly outlined the luscious curve of her ass. He’d looked and so had every man they’d passed since they landed in Cancun and entered the hotel. But he’d be the only man who’d discover just what she had on under the sinfully sexy dress. And if the Latin-lover-wanna-be they were about to pass didn’t put his tongue back in his mouth, Tweeter would be very happy to cut the fucker off.

“Behave.” DJ pulled him closer to her side and hugged his arm, which brushed the side of her breast. He almost swallowed his tongue when her nipple immediately peaked at the brief touch. “Stop growling like a hungry jaguar. The man’s merely looking.”

“He can fucking stop.” Tweeter leaned over just enough to nuzzle her ear and mutter, “He’s stripping you with his eyes.”

DJ turned and brushed her lips over his chin. “Pot … kettle?”

She had him there. “But I have the right,” he murmured. “I sleep with you.” He adored sleeping with her. She was a cuddler—and he liked going to sleep and waking up with her plastered against his body.

After last night, he was thankful she still wanted to be with him at all. Because DJ had a spine of steel and because his slow, patient approach had garnered her trust, he’d dodged the bullet after hitting one of her trigger points. He never wanted to see such a stark look of fear on her face again—and especially didn’t want to be the cause of it.

This morning, she’d awakened him with her hand on his cock and her tongue in his ear. She was all teasing smiles and warm affection. He’d fingered her clit and suckled her breasts as she worked his cock with the confidence she’d gained over the last week. After mutual orgasms, they showered together just as they’d done each day since she’d moved into his cabin and then went to the Lodge to eat a hearty breakfast before their flights.

His woman was a survivor, but she also no longer had to work through her emotional trauma alone. Now that they’d declared their love for one another and committed to a life together—they had time to work out everything else.

“Ace…” DJ tugged on his arm and pulled him into a secluded, arched alcove. “I’ve been thinking about last night … I want to try again.”

“Sugar—” He understood what she meant and was about to tell her he didn’t mind waiting until after the op when she placed her palm over the front of his well-washed jeans and then squeezed the semi-erection he’d sported ever since his arm brushed her breast.

“No arguments. We’re safe in this hotel, right?” She arched an eyebrow. She rubbed her hand down then up his crotch.

Clenching his jaw against a groan, he muttered, “Yeah.” Well, as much as anyone was safe anywhere.

The
casita
he’d reserved was isolated by location and the surrounding landscaping. It also had a nine-foot privacy wall around a patio with a small pool. Plus, he planned to set up some Wi-Fi perimeter alarms that would work through his computer and the secure satellite connection he had through NSA. They could make love with the assurance there were no extra eyes and ears.

All of a sudden his neck itched. Shit, someone was watching them.

Tweeter’d had a similar twinge of
knowing
at the taxi stand outside the airport charter terminal. He’d signaled Conn, who’d preceded them to Cancun and was mingling in the crowd at the terminal.

Conn had singled out the watcher and was even now keeping an eye on the man, whom they presumed had been hired by someone to follow the Phantom.

Glancing at his phone, he noted Conn’s tracker signal was at the front of the hotel. So, this could be the same tail and Conn was allowing the man some space—or it could be someone new. The sensation of being watched felt different and, if pinned down, he wouldn’t be able to say why. It just did.

Either way, they needed to get out of the open and do so without raising any alarms in their watcher.

Making sure they were protected by the alcove stuccoed wall, he kissed her shoulder and took a surreptitious look around to see if he could spot anyone taking an unusual interest in them. “Have I told you how absolutely gorgeous you are in that dress?”

All he saw was thick foliage, stone columns, other
casitas
, and no one else.

DJ narrowed her eyes at him, but played along. Fuck, he loved smart women. She snorted, a cute feminine sound. “At least a hundred times. It’s too short. I’m four inches taller than Callie.”

“Yeah, all leg. Nice.” He aimed a snarl and a nasty look at a sun-burned Nordic type in a Speedo who’d just exited a
casita
across from the alcove and stopped to ogle DJ. “I didn’t appreciate her sending pics of you to Evan. Now he wants you and Callie to model for him.”

After the skin cancer case waiting to happen passed by, Tweeter moved them back onto the tiled walkway which led to their
casita
. He wanted her safe, behind locked doors and all the protection he could muster before he called Conn and got a sit rep on the tail from the airport and to report what he’d sensed just now.

“I’m not the model-type, Ace.” She hugged his arm against her breast again and his dick twitched in response. “I’m more your type.”

“Damn straight,” Tweeter muttered as he continued to scan the surroundings. Not only did his neck itch, the hairs on his arms raised. They were definitely being observed, and Tweeter couldn’t see anyone. All he could think of was sniper, and the thought chilled him to the bone. He made sure his body was between DJ’s and the wide open area where a shooter might set up his hide.

DJ placed her mouth against his ear. “Ace … is it the watcher from the airport?”

Tweeter pulled her to a stop as the porter, who’d gone ahead of them and waited for them to catch up, opened the door to their
casita
. “We’ll talk once we’re inside.” He gently pushed her ahead of him into the dim coolness of the entry hall.

DJ frowned, then mouthed “fuck.” He gave her credit. She hadn’t looked around and gave their suspicions away. Also, her instincts were good. She’d cottoned onto their tail at the airport as soon as he had. Her question also indicated she sensed the difference in this guy. The new watcher was much better than their airport shadow.

DJ turned into his body, hugged him, and muttered into his neck. “I’m a loser.”

“You aren’t a loser,” he murmured in a low monotone against her ear. “Let me do my thing inside and then we can talk freely.”

DJ nodded and then laid her head on his shoulder, waiting quietly while Tweeter gave the porter a tip and took the key cards. But he knew her active mind was going back over every step between here and the airport.

“Come on, sugar.” He nudged her farther into what was basically a one-bedroom cottage, a very luxurious one. “Let’s check out the place.”

DJ immediately split off and headed for the bedroom with her phone in hand. It was loaded with his and Keely’s special app for finding electronic surveillance devices. “I’ll check for
bed bugs
. These Mexican resorts get them all too easily and have a hard time getting rid of them.”

Lips curved into a wide smile, Tweeter shook his head as he used his phone and swept the main rooms. He found nothing, but he hadn’t really expected anything. The room reservation was made after they were on the private charter flight leased to Erik Slade. The yacht was a more likely target for alien bugs since he’d purposely bragged on some hacker forums on the Dark Net about bringing his new girlfriend down by private boat.

But again, anyone trying to bug the yacht would have to get by Conn, and that was an unlikely occurrence.

Quickly, he set up his security perimeter and fired up his laptop to make sure the system worked. Anyone breaking in would see a normal-looking laptop and not figure it for the mobile hotspot for an NSA satellite and an alarm system.

DJ came out of the bedroom and walked straight into his arms. “No bugs. Am I crazy or did it feel like a different watcher here than at the airport?”

“Nope. I read it the same way.” He rubbed her back. “Conn will follow us when we go out and do the tourist thing. He’ll spot anyone following, no matter how many.”

“Yeah, and we’ll deal with them if and when we have to.” She stared at his chest and played with the buttons on his tropical shirt. “I meant what I said outside … I want to pick up where we left off last night.” She rubbed her cheek on his chest. “Plus, I want to slide into home plate before we board the yacht.”

“I also want that,” he said. “But … I don’t want you to feel pressured into doing anything. We’ll have all the time in the world to take home plate once we’re back in Idaho. I’d never forgive myself if I scared or hurt you, because you weren’t one hundred percent ready.”

DJ leaned her head back. Her eyes glowed with happiness and love. “You are an amazing man, Stuart Allen Walsh. But hear me—I want this. I can handle it. Your words of love, your commitment to me … to us, freed me. The past can’t hurt us. I refuse to let it.”

Yeah, he’d called it—she was a warrior-woman … and all his.

DJ looped her arms around his waist.“Right now, my main worry is you’ll be … disappointed. I’ve heard stories … about you and Price … about your sexual conquests.”

Shit.
Keely and her gossipy gal pals again. Why did women have to talk about other people’s sex lives? Men just talked about their own, mostly for my-dick-is-bigger-than-your-dick bragging rights.

While he couldn’t deny what DJ might’ve heard, he could blunt the effect somewhat. “Probably exaggeration as to my exploits. Most likely true about Price’s. I don’t have nearly the amount of experience he has, mostly because I had a later start. As I grew older, meaningless fucks were depressing. I soon figured out I wanted to connect with the woman I had sex with. Occasional hookups just didn’t do it for me. I wanted a relationship.”

“Well, you’ve got that now.” She placed a biting kiss on his lower lip, then suckled it before letting go. “Deep inside, I always knew if I found
the
man who could deal with my past that I’d hang onto him with everything in me.”

“Then we’re good.” Tweeter brushed his lips over hers. “Because I feel the same way about you.” He took her mouth in a deep kiss, tasting her with his tongue and lips just as he planned on sampling her sweet pussy later. If the replay of third base went well this afternoon, then, tonight, after a romantic dinner, some rum drinks, and skinny-dipping in their private pool, he’d take her into home plate.

****

With Conn guarding their butts and watching for tails, Tweeter took DJ to lunch and then shopping. Now, they were alone in their
casita
.

“Going to catch some sun, Ace. I don’t want to be pasty white if I’m gonna be your arm candy, especially in all those clothes meant to be set off by a tan.”

Tweeter turned as DJ walked out of the bedroom. His jaw dropped. He started to speak, choked, coughed, swallowed, then managed to croak, “Where in the hell did you get that bikini? We didn’t buy that.”

The bikini he’d okayed for public consumption, after she tried on about a dozen, had more fabric and was basic black. This one was bright blue with cutouts in what little fabric it had. It looked as if someone had taken a skimpy two piece suit and slashed it. The suit screamed “take me to the ground and fuck me.”

“Callie bought it for me at Macy’s in Lewiston.” DJ exited the patio doors to their very private, thank fuck, pool area.

Blinded by the bright, tropical sunlight reflecting off the white limestone pavers, he didn’t get a good look at the back of the outrageously sexy suit. It struck him he needed to check it out. He moved onto the patio.

DJ picked up a towel and spread it on a chaise, then lay on her stomach.

Fuck me.
He almost swallowed his tongue. To save his life, he couldn’t look away; his gaze was super-glued to the view.

The back of the bikini bottoms didn’t cover all of her perfectly formed ass cheeks, didn’t even come close. He swiped at his mouth, checking for drool, then forcibly closed his eyes and prayed to anyone who’d listen to give him the strength not to fall on her like some rutting animal and take her right where she lay. He’d worked hard over the last weeks to prove he wasn’t a mindless animal. Hell, less than twenty-four hours ago, he’d frightened her with one small unintentional thrust of his hips. Leaping on her could erase all his progress.

But at the moment, his little brain didn’t want to listen to reason. He’d devolved into a primitive male itching to claim his mate. His hard-on could drive nails into cement.

“You have this weird look on your face.” Angling her head, DJ stared at him over the top of her sunglasses. “Are you in pain?”

Hell yeah, he was in pain, but not the kind she was thinking.

“You will
not
wear that suit on the boat or in Belize.” He was pleased he managed to get all the words out, even though they were uttered through gritted teeth in the tone a ravening beast might use.

DJ pushed up further onto her forearms and shoved the sunglasses to the top of her head. “You don’t like it.” The corners of her lips turned downward. “I told Callie it didn’t fit right, but she insisted I looked like a super-model in it.”