Page 12

Ace

The move to my place didn’t take much. The prospects did the grunt work, and one of them made a grocery run to stock up the fridge with enough food to keep us fed and happy for a couple of weeks.

If Emma wanted something special, I’d let one of the prospects know and they could run out and get it for her.

Fuck, I didn’t even know what Emma liked to eat. Or if she liked to cook. Or if she even knew how to cook. We’d both grown up poor enough to know twenty ways to serve cheap noodles. Pretty sure she hated them as much as I did at this point.

This might turn out to be a good thing, shacking up and getting to know each other.

I glanced at my watch. I had a couple of hours to spare.

I had a meeting scheduled with the Feds this afternoon.

I needed to let them know Emma was permanent.

It was a given that they’d run a background check on her.

Kind of a pointless exercise since I had no intention of letting her go, but they had their protocols, and they followed them religiously.

Dumb as fuck, and just one of the reasons Riptide cut the umbilical cord decades ago.

Originally Riptide had been formed as a ghost organization for the FBI, and occasionally the CIA.

Totally controlled. They’d owned our asses, carefully recruiting guys who knew how to handle themselves in risky missions.

Guys willing to take on those nasty undercover missions that might get them killed.

Ex-Navy SEALs fit the bill perfectly, or so the desk jockeys thought.

Problem was, we weren’t so good at blindly taking orders or we would have stayed in the SEALs.

We had our own values, and we stuck to them.

We asked questions. We refused to compromise our honor.

It wasn’t long before we refused to be a ghost organization under the Feds’ control. That did not make them happy.

A lot of shit went down at first. Threats.

Posturing. The Feds didn’t like to be told no.

In the end, though, we came to an understanding.

Riptide became an independent group. If the Feds needed something done quietly, they’d contact us.

If we all agreed on the mission, we’d do it on a contract basis.

They paid us. We kept their reputation lily-white for them.

Sometimes justice needs to be served, and you know the pansy-assed legal system just isn’t up to the task.

That’s where Riptide came in.

Part of the arrangement though, was letting them know about any newbies in the group.

Paranoid bunch, those Washington desk jockeys.

Seemed to think we could be tricked into taking a spy into our club, someone trying to get to them.

As if we’d just pick up a stranger and let them into our clubhouse.

They did not understand the brotherhood, the bond we shared, the family we’d become.

Hell would freeze over before that would happen. Yeah, they could check Emma out, but it meant fuck-all. She belonged, part of the family.

I lay down beside her and wrapped my arms around her, carefully avoiding the gunshot wound. Lowering my head, I nibbled at the tender skin on the back of her neck.

* * *

Emma

I woke up wrapped in my lover’s arms.

I tasted the word, rolled it around on my tongue. Lover .

Yeah. It felt good. I’d never relied on anyone else, and the thought was terrifying, but I was okay with having a lover.

Ace had made love to me last night. Making love was totally different than fucking. Everything he did, every move he made, he made with my feelings uppermost.

I blushed all over again when I thought about how many times I’d climaxed.

I stretched, smiling when Ace grumbled in his sleep and snuggled closer.

Dropping an affectionate kiss on the top of his head, I slipped out from under his arm and headed to the bathroom.

I hadn’t had time or energy to unpack my stuff the previous night, so I rifled through the contents of the garbage bag to find something to put on.

I wasn’t comfortable cavorting around Ace’s house in the nude.

I was well aware that one or two of the prospects were lurking in the shadows to protect us.

Donning a pair of jeans and a comfy sweatshirt, I wandered out into the kitchen.

I wanted a coffee, but that chrome monster did not look like something I could figure out. Maybe with an owner’s manual. And a couple of hours of instruction. And a butler. That might work to coax a drinkable beverage out of it.

Frankly, the thought of attempting to use it had me opening cupboards and searching for a substitute. Ace didn’t look like the tea drinking kind of guy but looks could be deceiving.

I managed to find some mugs in the cupboard beside the sink, and a dubious looking can of hot chocolate. By dubious, I mean it looked like it had been purchased when I was in grade school and jammed into the back corner of the cupboard.

Maybe I could just go with hot water and pretend it tasted like coffee?

A knock on the door interrupted my explorations. Abandoning the search for life saving caffeine, I padded out to the front room and peered out the peephole.

Thor stood on the front porch, balancing a tray of takeout coffee in one hand and a paper bag in the other. Saved!

I fumbled with the deadbolt and threw the door open. “Come in!” I snatched the tray of caffeinated goodness from his hands and turned to find Ace glaring at me.

Clad only in a pair of boxers, he looked like an avenging demon.

A deliciously well-appointed demon. His hair, tousled from a night’s sleep only made him look sexier.

Hands on his hips, he narrowed his eyes as he clipped out the words.

“You. Do. Not. Go. Near. The. Door.” He made it sound like the verdict at a murder trial. Harsh and final.

“But it’s Thor. And he had coffee.” I frowned in confusion, stretching out my arms to show him the tray.

“Um. I should go.” Thor shuffled his feet, his gaze firmly locked on the floor.

“Go.” Ace didn’t take his eyes off of me.

Thor beat a hasty retreat, pulling the door closed behind him.

“What the heck?” I shouldered past Ace to place the tray down on a side table. “I looked first. I knew it was one of your minions. It’s not like I’m an idiot.” I picked up one of the cups which had my name scrawled on the top. “Do you think I’m an idiot?”

“No. I just don’t think you realize just how deadly the people who are after you can be.

What if they were waiting for you to look through that peephole so they could shoot you?

What if they had a gun on Thor just out of sight of the door?

” His stance relaxed just a tiny bit, and I hated that I noticed the way his biceps flexed.

“Wouldn’t they have had to get past your guard dogs first? You told me you had guys patrolling the perimeter.” My temper was starting to get the better of me. I put the coffee cup down and turned to face him, my hands on my hips.

“I do.” He took one step closer to me, and I could suddenly smell that scent that was peculiarly Ace. “That’s not the point. Someone could take them out. Or slip past them. These are not rebellious kids we’re talking here. They’re hardened killers. Assassins.”

“You expect me to just sit here and not even answer the door when I know who’s there?”

“That’s exactly what I expect. I intend to protect you from everyone, including yourself.”

“What if I don’t want your protection?”

“You asked for my protection.”

It just angered me more, him pointing it out like that. “That was when someone was shooting at me, and I thought they were going to kill me.”

“And you think it’s over now?” He stared pointedly at my side.

“I think I can handle it. I can disappear. Maybe move or something.” I knew I was being unreasonable, but I didn’t care. No one got to dictate to me, not even a sexy biker who could make me wet just by looking at me. “I hear California is nice this time of year.”

Ace laughed. Actually laughed, a deep-down belly laugh. Damn him. When he stopped acting like a dictator with total control over me, he was irresistible. I couldn’t stop the side of my mouth from curving up in the beginnings of a smile.

“What’s so damn funny?”

“The thought of you in California.” He didn’t bother to wipe the silly grin off his face. “You aren’t nearly laid back enough for that scene.”

I sniffed. “I can be laid back.”

Heat shone in his eyes, and that grin took on a predatory look. “Yes, you can. As a matter of fact, I’m thinking of laying you back right now.”

He pounced on me so fast, I didn’t have time to dodge.

As if I actually wanted to. I squealed as he scooped me up in his arms and carried me to the kitchen.

Setting me down on the counter, he kept his arms wrapped around me.

It amazed me that he could do all that without putting any pressure on my side.

He slid his hands up under my shirt, tracing the curve of my spine.

I shifted, attempting to shed the top and he obligingly grasped it by the bottom and pulled it over my head.

Naked from the waist up, I shivered in anticipation.

“Damn.” He stared at my breasts; my nipples hardened into stiff peaks. “You are so beautiful.”

I chuckled softly. “You’re a breast man, are you?”

He didn’t bother to answer, leaning forward to stroke his tongue across first one, and then the other.

Scooting closer to the edge, I arched my back. He responded by sucking one breast deep into his mouth, his tongue tracing a blazing circle around the nipple.

I took a deep breath, inhaling his warm musky scent. God, how I wanted him. Wanted to feel him inside me. On top of me. Surrounding me.

In his arms, I felt safe, secure. Contented.

I didn’t want to explore that too deeply. This was just temporary, until the danger was over.

He moved his attention to the other breast, and I gasped. Wrapping my arms around his neck I pressed up against him, spreading my legs to grind my aching groin into him.