Page 42 of Danger Close (Mourningkill #3)

My tongue explored her mouth as I swallowed the acidic words she was ready to spew at me. Words that would crack the delicate connection we had between us. The small foundation we were building as we repaired what we broke thirty years ago.

I pulled away when she groaned in pleasure.

“Don’t fucking fool yourself, baby.” I kissed her nose. “We’re something. It doesn’t matter what you call it. We’re something. ”

She opened her mouth to protest, and I kissed her again. Her moan was intoxicating. The sound of her pleasure echoed in my head. I walked us towards the wall, pushing her on the wood so that I could press myself against her.

The dress that I loved so much was now something I despised for keeping us apart.

She wouldn’t believe a word I said. Words would mean nothing to her. Not after what she’d been through. But actions… a touch, a kiss, an embrace… that got through to her.

The way forward was clear. I needed to present the head of her abuser on a silver fucking platter.

I promised it with a groan against her lips, and a sweep of my tongue. Her fingers laced through my hair.

Or maybe I should take a page from the groom’s playbook, and catch a couple bullets to prove myself. I was willing. I’d volunteer, if it protected her.

And this kiss, this embrace, this moment made my vow. I slowly pulled away, and stared into her lustfilled, blinking eyes. It was a glorious sight.

“ — and second, because she does have information to trade.”

She blinked at me, her brows knotting as if she’d lost the train of the conversation. She was rebooting, trying to figure out what I was referring to.

Good . Because what kind of man was I, if my kiss didn’t make her mind murky?

“What… information?” she said when her shallow breathing evened out.

I considered not telling her. I considered lying. But in the end, I knew that honesty would be the only thing that gave us a chance.

“About Ray.”

She flinched, and tried to pull away again but I tightened my arms, holding her to me.

“You asked, sweetheart,” I reminded her.

“You don’t know what you're doing!” Her voice was quiet, full of despair. “You don’t know what danger you bring to yourself, to Trinity! Why won’t you just listen to me?”

A tear slipped down her eye and I was stuck between two fucking contradictory feelings.

The first was pissed that she had no faith in me, and that I had to bring in Beaufort, my brother, and a thousand other assets to find out something she could just tell me herself.

She could save us all a great deal of fucking time.

Another part of me could see her good intentions, and wanted to reassure her that the thing she feared, the man who haunted her, would be dealt with very, very soon.

“I am listening to you, Princess. You’re not listening to me. ”

One step forward, two steps back…

“I’ve got this handled, whether or not you tell me who he is.”

She shook her head, and tried to pull away again, but I wasn’t going to let her out of my sight.

“I’m going to find this guy, and he’s going to pay for every injury you have on your body.”

She stepped back, and I stepped forward.

“Then, when his mind, his fucking spirit, is broken, I’m going to string him up, and peel his skin off his body, and leave him there to die, in absolute agony.”

Her eyes widened with horror.

“I’m a creative killer, Princess. It’s what I’m known for.”

Sadistic pride made my lips pull back in a smile.

“And whoever this Ray is… he’s about to find out exactly how creative I can get.”

“You… you… can’t.” It was an accusation said in disbelief. “He’s more powerful than you think.”

“I’m more powerful than you think.”

“Why court trouble?” Her voice was so miserable that if I were in any other mood, it would make me crack in despair. But I was sour today.

I grabbed her chin again, forcing her to look me in the eyes so she knew that I meant every single word. “Because he hurt something precious to me.”

Her eyes shut, and a tear slid down her face. “I’ve dealt with this for almost thirty years. I’ve run from him for twenty. I was fine… I am fine. I can just—”

“No. This ends. I will end it. I will end him. ”

She whimpered as the tears began to fall and I wiped them away with my thumb, careful not to smudge the meticulously placed mascara and foundation.

“Just let me go. Let me run. I will leave, and take the danger away. I won’t be a bother to you. To Trinity. To anyone…”

“No.”

Not when I just got her back.

Not when I just got my family back.

“Just let me leave,” she said softly, and I wanted to be a soft man. I wanted to be the gentle kind of person who would be able to talk her down from the ledge with pretty words and gentle assurances.

But I wouldn’t know gentle if it punched me in the face.

“You’re not going anywhere.” I said it firmly, towering over her. “Do not test me, Teri.”

There was too much at stake. For me, for Trinity, for her… we had a fucking audience with some of the country’s biggest players, and the mother of the bride disappearing too soon would cause chatter. The kids did not need the Pentagon watercooler gossip to be about trouble in the bride’s family.

Christ, I wish I could have been a camp counselor instead of a professional spy.

My job was to convince with coercion, or kill with prejudice. I didn’t know how to Win Friends and Influence People without the use of blackmail and torture. Neither technique was helpful under these circumstances.

“You’re going to say two things to our daughter,” I growled, staring down my lover with a curling resentment in my chest. “You will tell her congratulations, and that she’s beautiful. Got it?”

I stuck a reprimanding finger at her nose, towering over her as she looked up at me with those stubborn, cerulean eyes.

“Who do you think you are, Cobra Guerro?” I’d been demoted from Joe to Cobra. “You have overestimated your role here. I am not your wife. ”

Well ain’t that swell.

“Baby, I don’t need a ceremony and a piece of paper to bend you over my knee if you keep acting like a brat.” I kinda wanted to take those words back, but well, they were out there.

She turned absolutely beet red. “How dare you!”

The image of her across my thigh, ass bare, squirming in pleasure as I teased her naked body with pleasure and pain… yeah I fucking dared.

“You’ve been in her life for two minutes and you think you can tell me how to talk to my daughter?

” Her eyes narrowed, wrinkling on the edges.

“Who is this guy she’s marrying, huh? How do you know he’s good enough for her?

You tell me to stay away from his father, and yet, you seem to associate with him just fine. ”

She was trying to hurt me. She was pushing me away. Thirty years ago, that would have worked. But I’m fifty years old, and I’ve seen too much and done too much to put up with this bullshit.

“Kai’s taken a bullet for our kid. They’ve saved each other again, and again.” I clenched my teeth. “Pretty confident he’s earned this.”

“Why would he need to take a bullet for her? What kind of life has she been leading that would require such a thing?”

I love her. I truly do. But sometimes, she really did lose the plot and go off on an unimportant tangent.

“We are staying through this reception,” I said, getting us back on track, “and you will play fucking nice, and not ruin this for our daughter.”

She stared up at me, and I looked down at her. I didn’t care that we might make a spectacle of ourselves.

“She’s not your daughter,” she said in a venomous whisper.

Ouch.

“And yet she has my eyes.” I taunted back, coming to my feet, and extending my hand to her. “You ready to go, plus one?”