The Fall and Rise of Kade Hart: A Hart Brothers Novel (33 page)

“Juliette, I’ll tell you anything you want
to know. Just ask.”

“Do you always travel like this?”

“Yeah, unless the pilots are all busy with
clients, which is very rare. They have such a large team of
them.”

“You’re spoiled.” I can’t get used to this.
“I feel like I need to pinch myself.

“Don’t do that. If anyone’s doing any
pinching, it’ll be me.” He winks. “And yeah, it is a bit much. But
I’m pretty grounded too. I’ve had the benefit of living in the best
and worst places on earth. Seriously.” His face draws into a
frown.

“It’s made you stronger. And humble. And
much more empathic and sympathetic to others’ needs.”

My comment sinks in and he offers me a
dazzling smile. I’m stricken again by how utterly exquisite he is.
My body tingles just from his smile. How can he do that do me?

“You do the same to me, Jules. I hope you
know that.”

The flight attendant comes by and wants to
know if he can get us anything. We both get bottled waters. He said
a meal will be served in a couple of hours. A meal? Kade laughs at
my expression.

“Don’t worry. It’ll be good, too. Kolson is
very particular about his food, so he serves the best on his
flights.”

“I didn’t expect to get food so I brought
snacks.”

He chuckles. “I should’ve said something.
The boat will be stocked, too. The marina knows we’re coming, so
they’ll have orders to have it completely stocked for a week.”

“Can I tell you a secret?”

“Anything.”

“I’m afraid of the boat thing. What if a big
storm comes in?”

He takes his thumb and forefinger and grabs
my chin. “I would never intentionally put you in danger like that.
The boat is equipped with all kinds of radar and other
instrumentation that will let us know of anything like that. We
will never lose sight of land and if a storm is coming in, we’ll
head straight to the marina. Keep in mind, this is winter, and
storm season doesn’t start until June.”

“Oh, I feel so much better. I was pretty
worried about all that. I had visions of giant waves sweeping us
overboard.”

“Don’t put another one of those thoughts in
your head. And if you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to
carry you back to that cabin, strip you naked, and fuck you until
you scream.”

My mouth waters at the thought of Kade
between my legs, driving into me, me gripping his ass, him sucking
my nipples. Oh shit, did I just moan?

Kade’s hand reaches around me and unbuckles
my seat belt.

“Get up.”

I have no mind to disobey him. He takes my
hand and pulls me behind him as he kicks the door open to the
cabin. Inside is a bed, all tidily made up. I don’t have time to
take in anything else before the door is kicked closed and Kade’s
mouth is sucking on my lower lip. My shirt whips over my head,
revealing a black lacy bra. It’s one that was laid out on the bed
for me this morning with a little note from Kade. “Wear me today,”
was all it said. It came with a matching thong.

“Oh, God. I knew I’d go crazy when I saw you
in this. You’re so damn beautiful, Juliette.” His fingertips trip
over the lace of the cups, then move to the flesh of my breasts
that spill over the top. His head bends, and his mouth covers one
breast, sucking it though the lace of the bra, pulling, drawing on
my nipple, until the stiff peak hardens to such a point it seems
like it will pierce the fine lace. I grind my back against the
cabin door, lost in the ecstasy of Kade’s mouth. When his teeth
bite down, I groan, and my hands plow into his hair, twisting into
it as I pull him closer. His hands move to my jeans, unbuttoning
and unzipping. I feel the whisper of cool air across my abdomen as
he tugs my pants off, and he lifts his head, standing back to
look.

His breath comes fast and hard, like mine,
and he gazes, examines. I’m instantly shy. But he shakes his head,
saying, “Gorgeous. Perfect.”

One finger traces the top of the lace of my
thong, and then it trails down to between my legs, running over and
around the lace. Moisture nearly drips from me, I need him so much.
He drops to his knees and kisses my thighs, but he moves to the
lace, scraping his teeth and chin against me. His stubble creates
the perfect amount of friction, making me even wetter for him. My
hands find his hair again.

“Your scent, it’s heavenly. But nothing
comes close to your taste. Turn around, Juliette.”

I do as he asks, and he groans as he kisses
my ass, biting and nibbling. Then he says against me, “I want to
take you this way, but first I want to taste you. I want one orgasm
of yours on my tongue.” He spins me so fast, my back is flat to the
wall, and his mouth is buried against me. But only for a minute.
Soon, he pulls my thong down to my ankles and his mouth and tongue
are on me, inside me, licking, sucking, nibbling, biting, pressing,
circling, fucking, until I shatter into thousands of pieces around
his mouth, crying out his name. Then he licks me from my slit all
the way to my mouth, and his tongue possesses me in a deep sensuous
kiss. He’s like velvet as he sweeps through my mouth, leaving
nothing unexplored. He deepens the kiss even further, stealing my
air, my heart, my soul, my everything.

And suddenly, he stops, and spins me yet
again. I hear the ripping of the condom packet, then he spreads my
legs with his knee and enters me. Oh my, it’s sublime. He’s deep.
So damn deep, kissing parts of me he never has before.

“Jesus, Juliette,” he murmurs against the
back of my neck. His warm breath sends currents of heat spiking
down my spine and recharging my nerve endings. He takes my hands
and raises them over my head, holding them with his. At some points
he moves fast; others, he inches in and out until I’m on the edge,
about to scream. My rock-hard nipples brush the wall, teasing them,
making me want more. I arch my back and jut my hips into his.

“Harder, Kade. Give it to me.”

One hand lets mine go. It wraps around my
waist and pulls me tight to him. Then the thrusting begins. And
it’s sheer bliss.

“Yes, there.”

“I’m close, Jules. I need you to come again.
For me.” His hand moves to my sex and he rubs me in a circular
motion. It doesn’t take long for that to push me into my climax. I
feel him coming, too, as his cock throbs against me. When he’s
emptied, we lean there, me on the wall and him against me, trying
to catch our breath.

I wiggle enough so I can turn and when I’m
facing him, I kiss him. “Wow. That was pretty wow-ful.”

“I would have to agree. I’m going to have to
get you some stilettos.”

“Why’s that?”

“It’ll be easier on my legs to have you a
bit taller.” He laughs.

“Oh, I didn’t think about that. Or maybe I
can just kneel on the bed and you can be behind me.”

“That too, but you standing against this
wall was … no fucking words. Damn, Juliette, seeing your ass like
that. You don’t know what you do to me.” He takes my hand and we
fall onto the bed.

“Do you think our quick getaway and takeoff
worked?” I ask.

“I have to think so. Did you see any of them
around?”

“No. But I’m sure they were. I just didn’t
have a good visual from inside the plane.”

“Let’s not think of them. I have this
unbelievable almost naked woman on top of me, so I have better
things to think of.”

“Indeed you do.”

An hour later, we emerge from the cabin. I’m
a bit embarrassed, but when the flight attendant approaches with
our meal, he acts like nothing’s amiss. Since he’s the employee, I
suppose he is trained to mind his own business. Kade explains that
all the attendants that are hired are very discreet. It’s in their
employment contracts.

The remainder of the flight goes quickly and
we land in Tortola around two p.m. We’re whisked through customs
and our ride awaits us to take us to the boat. When I get my first
glimpse, I think that this is no ordinary boat. It’s sleek,
pristine, and like nothing I imagined. Oh, and it’s huge. For some
reason, I had in my mind some small thing. This boat is huge. I
don’t know how Kade will ever operate this thing by himself.

“What do you think?” he asks.

“It’s awesome, but can you run this
thing?”

“It can almost run itself. Come on. Let me
show it to you.”

The interior is much larger than I expect.
It contains three bedrooms (which I’m told are berths or cabins),
three bathrooms (which Kade tells me are called heads), a kitchen
(a.k.a. the galley), salon or dining area, and all kinds of cool
storage space. Then there is the navigation station where all the
electronic equipment is located. That’s all down below. Above is
the cockpit and everything else you’d expect.

“It’s all very nautical.”

Kade lets out a howl of laugher. Then he
hops back down below and makes sure we have everything we need. He
does a check on all the boat’s systems and announces she’s
seaworthy.

“That’s great news.” I make a face at
him.

“What’s that for?”

“I don’t know. Nervous, I guess. Do I need
to wear a life jacket?”

“No, sweetheart. I’ll keep this thing from
running aground. I promise. Have faith in my sailing skills. I only
need you to do a couple of things for me. See those lines that go
from the boat to the dock?”

“Yep.”

“I’m going to toss them to you, one by one.
All you need to do is catch them. Okay?”

“Sure.”

He does and I do, and then he jumps aboard
and we pull out. I thought this thing was a sailing vessel, but I
hear a motor running so I ask Kade. He explains that it does have a
motor, too, but it goes faster under sail with a big wind. Okay,
makes sense. When we pull away from the marina, I’m astounded by
the beauty that is all around us. I hadn’t had a chance to take any
of it in after we arrived. We went from customs, to the car, to the
boat in such a rush, I didn’t pay any bit of attention to the
island. But, oh my word. This place is truly paradise. Palm trees,
mountains, tropical flowers, crystal clear aqua seas—I have never
seen anything so stunning.

“Oh, Kade, this place. It’s like Eden. Have
you ever seen such beauty?” I smile as I face him.

His sculpted face lifts, and almond-shaped
ice-blue eyes pierce mine as he says, “Plenty of times. I see it
every day when I look at you, into your eyes, when you smile, hold
my hand, kiss me, love me. Nothing compares to you, Jules.
Nothing.”

And everything, all the picturesque scenery
that surrounds me, fades away as I dissolve into someone who wants
nothing but Kade Hart.

The Seven

“Explain? Explain! There is nothing to
explain. They went to the airport, got on the plane, and left for
fuck’s sake. With Judgment Day! Without protection! And now they’re
on a private jet, going WhoTheFuckKnowsWhere! It’s going to take a
hell of a lot more work to track them,” Sabin grits out. He picks
up a chair and it splinters as it hits the wall.

Edge speaks out and says, “Well, sir, we
were tailing them but by the time we got there, the door to their
aircraft was closed, so it wasn’t possible for us to get on board.
And she doesn’t exactly know she has Judgment Day.”

Wrong thing to say.

Another chair flies at Edge and he has to
duck in order to keep his head from getting creamed.

“The fuck? What the hell was I supposed to
tell her? That she carries one of the activators to Paradox? Are
you fucking nuts?”

Another chair zooms by Edge’s head and he
deflects it with his forearm this time.

“No! But perhaps you could’ve told her
something.”

Rafe takes his finger and slices it across
his neck, indicating that Edge needs to shut the hell up. Too
late.

Sabin shoots a look at Edge that would
wither the steeliest of men. “Do you value your balls, Edge?”

“My balls, sir?”

“Yes. Your testicles. Gonads. Whatever the
hell you refer to them as?”

“Uh, yeah. Yes, I value them, sir.”

“Then you’d better keep your mouth shut or
I’ll cram them so far up your ass, you’ll be squeaking like a
soprano.”

Edge immediately grabs his balls, covering
them up just in case.

“Okay, everyone, let’s calm down. Nothing’s
happened,” Rafe says.

“Yet,” Sabin clips.

Rafe calls out, “Drey, Helios, track that
flight right now. I don’t care how many sites you have to hack. Do
it and keep your goddamn footprints covered. You’re the best at
this. Failure is not an option. I want anything you can get. I’d
start with the FAA. There has to be a flight plan filed somewhere.
Verus, get on it with your tracer. See if you can pick up an traces
of Judgment Day.”

“On it,” they all say.

That leaves Edge, Andros, Sabin, and Rafe.
Rafe looks at Edge and says, “You two, go to their house. Get into
their computer and see what you come up with. Don’t come back here
until you have something for us. I don’t care if you have to go
through every single byte on their hard drive.”

“Got it,” Edge says and they both leave.

Sabin casts a weary glance at Rafe. “This is
bad and I have a very bad feeling about this.”

“Don’t. Not yet anyway. We know his
brother’s wife was due to have a baby. Maybe that’s where they
went.”

“I don’t know.”

“You need sleep. Go. Now.”

“Fuck you, Rafe.”

Rafe gets into Sabin’s face. “Listen to me
and listen good. If this damn thing goes south and you’re called
down for it, do you want to explain this situation looking the way
you do? When was the last time you slept?”

Sabin shrugs.

“Go now or I’m exercising my right of duty
and pulling you off this mission.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Watch me.”

“You son of a bitch.”