Page 24
Story: Handling Haven
Smiling, he brushed sauce over several racks of baby back ribs. “Got it covered, babe, but thanks for the offer. I’d love another beer, though, if you don’t mind.”
She grabbed one from the nearby cooler and rolled over to him. Her reward was a brief kiss on the lips that held the promise of something more later when they were alone.
It was a quiet celebration of a mission gone well. It hadn’t taken long for the surviving terrorist-wanna-be, Sadi al-Bina, to start spilling his guts after being threatened with castration. Apparently, he was more interested in meeting the seventy-two vestal virgins than Allah himself in the afterlife. The suitcase nuke was right where he’d told them it would be, in an inconspicuous hotel room in Nuevo Laredo. The plan had been to kidnap “Preston Ward” and get the software protection dongle for free, then transport the bomb over the border and plant it in downtown Austin. Of course, they hadn’t counted on the operatives of Delta and Deimos messing up that plan.
After confirming they could move the nuke without the chance of blowing it up, several Deltas had loaded it into an unmarked van, then quietly drove it to an isolated area, north of the city. They were met by members of a government-classified team, who’d flown over the border in a non-military helicopter to retrieve the device and transport it to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico for disposal.
As far as the Mexican authorities knew, they’d been lucky that a few US soldiers happened to be atthe mall after taking a break from training. After identifying the bombing suspects and trying to capture them, they’d been involved in a shootout, during which both terrorists were killed. Eighteen victims had died in the mall, and over seventy had been injured. Had the Americans not interfered, those numbers could have been much higher if the remaining pipe bombs had been detonated. The Mexican government was so grateful they’d willingly overlooked the fact the soldiers had somehow managed to bring their sidearms into the country without being detected.
The man Haven had recognized from both the wedding and from the terrorist attack in Madrid had been identified as Hamad el-Salik. The analysts at Deimos were still trying to track down how the man had remained off everyone’s radar all these years, but one thing they’d learned was he’d planned on becoming a martyr by blowing himself up with half of the population of Austin. He’d been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and wanted to go out with a bang—literally. With that new knowledge, Haven was even more satisfied with his violent death than she’d been several days ago and hoped he’d gonestraight to Hell.
It had taken her a few hours for the reality of the day to hit her, but when it did, Frisco had been there to hold her as, once again, she’d grieved for her mom and sister. She’d sat on his lap and bawled for what felt like hours, as he held her tightly and murmured words of comfort. After that, he’d taken her to bed and made sweet love to her. Even though the mission was over, he’d slept with her each night since. Last night, he’d even taken her out on that date he’d wanted. At first, it’d been odd, sitting in a movie theater with a guy, for no other reason than to enjoy the show, but after they’d started making out in the back row, it’d felt so right. Somehow, Frisco had gotten past all her defenses, and she’d fallen in love with him. Where they were going from here, she had no idea, but wherever they went, she had a feeling it would be together, hand in hand.
Rejoining the others, Haven looked at Kenny who seemed to have completely recovered from his near kidnapping. “So, when are you going back to California? Tomorrow?”
“Nope,” he answered with a smile. Haven’s eyes narrowed as he continued. “I talked to Mr. McDaniel and asked if I could transfer here to work with you. He said yes.”
“What? Seriously?” She was shocked but thrilled.
“Yeah. I mean, how else am I going to find the right girl someday without one of my two best wingmen ... or wingwomen, I guess I should say.”
“Look out, Texas chicks,” Carter said with a teasing laugh, “there’s a new geek in town.”
Haven leaned over and gave her redheaded friend a peck on the cheek, which caused him to blush. “This is great. I’m going to love working with you.”
“Dinner’s ready,” Frisco announced, placing a plate laden with ribs on the table, before going back to the barbecue to grab some baked potatoes and ears of corn.
The others moved from the sitting area around the fire pit to the table as Roxie hurried over to join them from where she’d been sleeping in the shade of a tree in the backyard. Realizing she wasn’t getting any human food, she laid down next to Haven’s wheelchair.
“By the way, where’s Avery?” Jordyn asked as Carter filled a plate for her.
Haven’s eyes sparkled as she smiled. “On a date ... withFrisco’s colonel.”
“Ooooh. Good for them.”
Frisco took the seat next to Haven, and before anyone could dig into their meal, he held up his beer. “A toast. To a successful mission, good friends, good times, and new beginnings. Cheers.”
Everyone clinked their bottles and glasses together. “Cheers!”
Later that night,after their guests had left, Frisco sat on the couch, moaning in pleasure. While watching a movie, now forgotten, Haven had rolled onto her stomach, unzipped his jeans, pulled his boxer briefs down, and withdrew his cock, which had responded in her hands. Taking him into her mouth, she wrapped her lips around his girth and sucked, as his hand plunged into her thick hair and palmed the back of her head. Her tongue swirled around the hard flesh from the notched tip to its base. When she tried to gain access to his balls, Frisco lifted his hips just enough to push his jeans and boxers to his knees, then relaxed again to enjoy her ministrations. She rolled his heavy sac in her hand, while her head bobbed up and down. Dropsof salty and tangy pre-cum oozed from his slit and the taste urged her on.
Frisco’s hand skimmed down her back, ducked under the waistband of her sweatpants, and squeezed her ass cheek. When she brought him to the back of her mouth and swallowed, he groaned, “God, baby, don’t stop. That feels so good. Please, don’t stop.”
She loved how desperate he sounded, as if she was the only woman on Earth who could drive him to the brink of sensual insanity. Each time they made love, she regained more confidence in herself. The old Haven Caldwell was gone forever, but she liked this new one much better, even if she hadn’t in the beginning. If it hadn’t been for Frisco, she might never have realized she had so much to live for. Her life hadn’t gone as her teenaged self had hoped it would before being irrevocably changed for the first time in Madrid and then again in Mumbai. But somehow, those traumatic events had led her to the man she was certain had been made for her. There were very few men who could truly understand what she’d been through, and even fewer she could discuss her past, fears, and career with. But Frisco got her in more ways than she’dever expected someone could. He hadn’t run away when things got tough, instead, he’d regrouped and come on even stronger. After asking a few questions about her memory of the terror suspect, he hadn’t scoffed at or placated her, he’d trusted her enough to stand beside her and helped prove she’d been right.
The hand in her hair tightened, sending a tingling through her scalp that bordered on pain, but excited her even more. Frisco pulled her off his erection. “Baby, if you keep that up, I won’t be responsible for drowning you. Can you straddle me?”
Giving the tip of his cock a final swipe of her tongue, she said, “I think so. If you help me.”
As he retrieved one of the now ever present condoms from his wallet and quickly donned it, Haven shed her clothing, tossing them in a heap on the floor. Frisco added his T-shirt to the growing pile and kicked his jeans and boxers off. He then grabbed Haven under her arms and pulled her on top of him. She grasped the back of the couch for support as they worked together to arrange her legs on either side of his thighs. He glanced up at her. “Okay?”
“Mmm-hmm. But it’ll be more than okay after you’re inside me.”
“Impatient, are you? Well, so am I, baby.”
Using the back of the couch, Haven raised her body up, and Frisco positioned his cock at the entrance to her pussy. As she lowered herself down on top of him, he clutched her hips to give her extra support. They both moaned as he impaled her. Slowly, her body yielded to its mate’s invasion until he was buried to the hilt. With his eyelids closed, Frisco held her in place for a moment, clearly trying to get himself under control and not cum too soon.
Finally, his eyes opened again, and Haven almost gasped at the love she saw in them. Her heart pounded in her chest as she realized he wouldn’t say the words until he thought she was ready to hear them. It was at that moment she knew she’d fallen for him completely. There were no more doubts, no regrets, and no defenses needed. This man was the other part of her she’d never known was missing.
She grabbed one from the nearby cooler and rolled over to him. Her reward was a brief kiss on the lips that held the promise of something more later when they were alone.
It was a quiet celebration of a mission gone well. It hadn’t taken long for the surviving terrorist-wanna-be, Sadi al-Bina, to start spilling his guts after being threatened with castration. Apparently, he was more interested in meeting the seventy-two vestal virgins than Allah himself in the afterlife. The suitcase nuke was right where he’d told them it would be, in an inconspicuous hotel room in Nuevo Laredo. The plan had been to kidnap “Preston Ward” and get the software protection dongle for free, then transport the bomb over the border and plant it in downtown Austin. Of course, they hadn’t counted on the operatives of Delta and Deimos messing up that plan.
After confirming they could move the nuke without the chance of blowing it up, several Deltas had loaded it into an unmarked van, then quietly drove it to an isolated area, north of the city. They were met by members of a government-classified team, who’d flown over the border in a non-military helicopter to retrieve the device and transport it to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico for disposal.
As far as the Mexican authorities knew, they’d been lucky that a few US soldiers happened to be atthe mall after taking a break from training. After identifying the bombing suspects and trying to capture them, they’d been involved in a shootout, during which both terrorists were killed. Eighteen victims had died in the mall, and over seventy had been injured. Had the Americans not interfered, those numbers could have been much higher if the remaining pipe bombs had been detonated. The Mexican government was so grateful they’d willingly overlooked the fact the soldiers had somehow managed to bring their sidearms into the country without being detected.
The man Haven had recognized from both the wedding and from the terrorist attack in Madrid had been identified as Hamad el-Salik. The analysts at Deimos were still trying to track down how the man had remained off everyone’s radar all these years, but one thing they’d learned was he’d planned on becoming a martyr by blowing himself up with half of the population of Austin. He’d been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and wanted to go out with a bang—literally. With that new knowledge, Haven was even more satisfied with his violent death than she’d been several days ago and hoped he’d gonestraight to Hell.
It had taken her a few hours for the reality of the day to hit her, but when it did, Frisco had been there to hold her as, once again, she’d grieved for her mom and sister. She’d sat on his lap and bawled for what felt like hours, as he held her tightly and murmured words of comfort. After that, he’d taken her to bed and made sweet love to her. Even though the mission was over, he’d slept with her each night since. Last night, he’d even taken her out on that date he’d wanted. At first, it’d been odd, sitting in a movie theater with a guy, for no other reason than to enjoy the show, but after they’d started making out in the back row, it’d felt so right. Somehow, Frisco had gotten past all her defenses, and she’d fallen in love with him. Where they were going from here, she had no idea, but wherever they went, she had a feeling it would be together, hand in hand.
Rejoining the others, Haven looked at Kenny who seemed to have completely recovered from his near kidnapping. “So, when are you going back to California? Tomorrow?”
“Nope,” he answered with a smile. Haven’s eyes narrowed as he continued. “I talked to Mr. McDaniel and asked if I could transfer here to work with you. He said yes.”
“What? Seriously?” She was shocked but thrilled.
“Yeah. I mean, how else am I going to find the right girl someday without one of my two best wingmen ... or wingwomen, I guess I should say.”
“Look out, Texas chicks,” Carter said with a teasing laugh, “there’s a new geek in town.”
Haven leaned over and gave her redheaded friend a peck on the cheek, which caused him to blush. “This is great. I’m going to love working with you.”
“Dinner’s ready,” Frisco announced, placing a plate laden with ribs on the table, before going back to the barbecue to grab some baked potatoes and ears of corn.
The others moved from the sitting area around the fire pit to the table as Roxie hurried over to join them from where she’d been sleeping in the shade of a tree in the backyard. Realizing she wasn’t getting any human food, she laid down next to Haven’s wheelchair.
“By the way, where’s Avery?” Jordyn asked as Carter filled a plate for her.
Haven’s eyes sparkled as she smiled. “On a date ... withFrisco’s colonel.”
“Ooooh. Good for them.”
Frisco took the seat next to Haven, and before anyone could dig into their meal, he held up his beer. “A toast. To a successful mission, good friends, good times, and new beginnings. Cheers.”
Everyone clinked their bottles and glasses together. “Cheers!”
Later that night,after their guests had left, Frisco sat on the couch, moaning in pleasure. While watching a movie, now forgotten, Haven had rolled onto her stomach, unzipped his jeans, pulled his boxer briefs down, and withdrew his cock, which had responded in her hands. Taking him into her mouth, she wrapped her lips around his girth and sucked, as his hand plunged into her thick hair and palmed the back of her head. Her tongue swirled around the hard flesh from the notched tip to its base. When she tried to gain access to his balls, Frisco lifted his hips just enough to push his jeans and boxers to his knees, then relaxed again to enjoy her ministrations. She rolled his heavy sac in her hand, while her head bobbed up and down. Dropsof salty and tangy pre-cum oozed from his slit and the taste urged her on.
Frisco’s hand skimmed down her back, ducked under the waistband of her sweatpants, and squeezed her ass cheek. When she brought him to the back of her mouth and swallowed, he groaned, “God, baby, don’t stop. That feels so good. Please, don’t stop.”
She loved how desperate he sounded, as if she was the only woman on Earth who could drive him to the brink of sensual insanity. Each time they made love, she regained more confidence in herself. The old Haven Caldwell was gone forever, but she liked this new one much better, even if she hadn’t in the beginning. If it hadn’t been for Frisco, she might never have realized she had so much to live for. Her life hadn’t gone as her teenaged self had hoped it would before being irrevocably changed for the first time in Madrid and then again in Mumbai. But somehow, those traumatic events had led her to the man she was certain had been made for her. There were very few men who could truly understand what she’d been through, and even fewer she could discuss her past, fears, and career with. But Frisco got her in more ways than she’dever expected someone could. He hadn’t run away when things got tough, instead, he’d regrouped and come on even stronger. After asking a few questions about her memory of the terror suspect, he hadn’t scoffed at or placated her, he’d trusted her enough to stand beside her and helped prove she’d been right.
The hand in her hair tightened, sending a tingling through her scalp that bordered on pain, but excited her even more. Frisco pulled her off his erection. “Baby, if you keep that up, I won’t be responsible for drowning you. Can you straddle me?”
Giving the tip of his cock a final swipe of her tongue, she said, “I think so. If you help me.”
As he retrieved one of the now ever present condoms from his wallet and quickly donned it, Haven shed her clothing, tossing them in a heap on the floor. Frisco added his T-shirt to the growing pile and kicked his jeans and boxers off. He then grabbed Haven under her arms and pulled her on top of him. She grasped the back of the couch for support as they worked together to arrange her legs on either side of his thighs. He glanced up at her. “Okay?”
“Mmm-hmm. But it’ll be more than okay after you’re inside me.”
“Impatient, are you? Well, so am I, baby.”
Using the back of the couch, Haven raised her body up, and Frisco positioned his cock at the entrance to her pussy. As she lowered herself down on top of him, he clutched her hips to give her extra support. They both moaned as he impaled her. Slowly, her body yielded to its mate’s invasion until he was buried to the hilt. With his eyelids closed, Frisco held her in place for a moment, clearly trying to get himself under control and not cum too soon.
Finally, his eyes opened again, and Haven almost gasped at the love she saw in them. Her heart pounded in her chest as she realized he wouldn’t say the words until he thought she was ready to hear them. It was at that moment she knew she’d fallen for him completely. There were no more doubts, no regrets, and no defenses needed. This man was the other part of her she’d never known was missing.