Page 25

It had been a long day, and Cobble couldn’t wait for Andy to get home. He needed to have her in his arms where he knew she’d be safe. The car chase and crash this afternoon had scared the crap out of him, then instead of coming home right afterward, she and Chuck had gone to do a recon on the dead agent’s house.

Cobble had been on edge ever since.

Andy, of course, had eventually texted, letting him know that things had gone well and she was headed to him, but even so…

Until she was safely back, he wouldn’t feel settled.

Cobble had been hanging out on the porch, watching the road that led into the site for the past half hour, even knowing Andy couldn’t have made it back that quickly. If he were being honest, it wasn’t just Andy’s imminent arrival that had him jazzed, it was the thought that—if nothing went wrong—within a matter of days, this could all be over.

So he’d needed the fresh air.

To tamp down his excitement and his agitation because…

It was the “if nothing went wrong” part, that wouldn’t let go of his gut.

With how this whole case had gone, it would be just Cobble’s luck that those who were after him would be the ones coming down the road tonight to shoot the place up. He knew the possibility was slim to none with how careful Andy had been, but Cobble wasn’t feeling entirely rational after a day of “what the fucks”.

He heard the far-off crunch of tires on gravel and seashells, and ducked down to make himself less visible, just in case. A car’s headlights came into view, and blinked twice…

Yes!

It was Andy.

Cobble popped up and ran toward the car. Even before it came to a full stop, he already had the door wrenched open, then he was practically falling on top of Andy in his haste to hold her. He barely managed to miss her as he dove over her into the passenger seat, twisted, then gathered her up into his embrace.

She laughed hysterically. “Wait. What? Wait. I need to put the freakin’ car in park,” she howled uproariously.

“Screw the car,” Cobble snarled, mock-ferally. “I need to feel you.”

His hands were everywhere as he undid her seatbelt and tucked her beneath him to swarm her face, her ribcage, and her luscious ass with his touch. His nose buried deeply into her hair as he inhaled her addictive scent.

By the time Andy managed to reach over and switch the car off, then turn her attention totally to him, her glasses were already askew, and her collar opened down to the top of her regulation white bra.

Sexy as hell .

“Didn’t I just see you this morning?” Andy chortled as Cobble kissed his way down the column of her neck.

“Yes.” He barely came up for air to answer. “But since then, you were almost run off the road and killed by a maniac, you had to go into a house that could have been rigged with any kind of boobytrap; nerve gas, poison darts…” Cobble choked up. “And I felt certain there’d be another ambush of some kind. Possibly here.” He took a deep breath. “I hate that you were in danger because of me.”

Her fingers found his scalp where she massaged slowly and languidly.

A growl of satisfaction emanated from his throat and his dick hardened.

“Better?” she asked cheekily.

“Inside. Now,” he rasped, almost not recognizing his own voice.

Huh. As long as he was a grunting fool, he might as well roll with the caveman vibe. “I am going to lick you until you scream.”

Andy arched under him and purred. “Right back attcha, doll,” she responded, pulling his head down and sucking his earlobe into the warm cavity of her mouth.

Cobble wasn’t quite sure how he orchestrated it, but the next thing he knew, they were out of the car, Andy was in his arms, and he was kicking in the door to the house—which, thankfully he’d left ajar. He marched them toward the kitchen.

“I thought we were going to…ya know?” Andy said flirtingly, finding and pinching one of his nipples through his T-shirt.

“We are. But I like to eat at the counter sometimes,” he managed, already picturing her sweet pussy, splayed open for him as she perched her pert little ass on the Formica.

“But then I can’t reciprocate,” Andy pouted.

He knew by her squirming and the way she was rubbing her thighs together, that she wasn’t too vested in having a bilateral arrangement.

“Later,” he groaned. “Right now, this is all about you.”

As if he’d said the magic words, Andy finally relaxed in his arms and snuggled into his pecs.

His chest swelled with love.

He was going to make this so good for her.

She deserved it.

****

An hour—or maybe it was two—later, after licking Andy to completion on the counter, they’d moved to the couch where she’d knelt on the floor between his legs. Fondling his balls, she’d sucked him straight to heaven.

They’d then moved things to the bedroom where his cock had taken over, plunging into her waiting warmth until they’d both detonated; twice more for her, and once, mind-explodingly, for him.

“I don’t know about you,” he yawned, “but I’m going to sleep like the dead tonight.” He was murmuring into the top of her head as they snuggled happily under the blankets, post coitus, or whatever the hell the plural of that might be.

She made an “mmm” sound without opening her mouth, as if to agree.

Moving slightly to gaze down at her, Cobble could see that her eyes were already closed, and he laughed to himself.

Andy was almost out.

He wasn’t far behind.

****

Cobble didn’t immediately know what time it was when Andy’s phone buzzed, waking them both from a sound sleep.

“Wha…?” Andy sat upright, blinking, before scrabbling for her phone on the bedside table.

Cobble glanced at the clock. Four AM . Did anything good ever happen at that time of the morning?

“H’llo?” Andy managed.

As Cobble watched, her eyes popped open wide; large, even when not behind her glasses.

Her voice became slightly shrill. “You’re shitting me. Is everyone alright?”

Now Cobble was on alert. What the fuck had happened?

There was a minutes-long diatribe on the other end of the line.

Cobble could hear the enraged tone, loud and clear, but not the words. It sucked having to wait, but…

“Okay. Okay.” Andy was calming down. “Are we still on for tomorrow to make our safehouse known, then?”

There was a pause.

“Yeah. You’re right. I think that’s for the best, too. Okay. I’ll see you then. Bye.” She hung up.

“What?” Cobble asked.

“Someone blew up Oliphant’s house tonight, uh, this morning.”

Cobble’s mouth dropped open. “Seriously? I thought Baskins had a couple agents watching the place. Did they catch who did it?” he asked hopefully.

“No.” Andy didn’t look happy. “Whoever pulled it off, did it with a drone,” she told him. “Which was sort of a lucky thing. One agent was stationed inside the house, and one was in the yard. Luckily, the agent outside saw the thing coming. Because its payload was so big, she recognized it for what it was, and was able to alert the agent inside to get the hell out.”

“And…did he? Make it?” Cobble asked.

“By the skin of his teeth,” Andy gritted with a clenched jaw. “He has some minor burns from the flash, and both of them have some temporary hearing loss, but other than that they’ll be fine. Baskins is pissed. He figured with his agents in place, he’d have all this sorted; the bad faction jailed so you wouldn’t have to dangle yourself as bait.”

Cobble placed a hand on Andy’s blanket-covered knee. “It’s alright. I’m okay with the original plan,” he told her. “Really I am. I want to be part of ripping this thing wide open. It’s screwed with me almost my entire adult life, and I should see it finished.”

Andy dropped her head into her hands. “I’m worried,” she told him. “You know from everything that’s happened, whatever agent or agents are orchestrating things to fuck with us, they’re experts,” she lamented.

“Stop,” Cobble ordered. “You and Baskins are smarter than them, and you have the best team imaginable behind you with your SOS guys. I believe in them, and I believe in you. With the final moves of this case now being firmly in our laps, we’ll come out on top.” Or die together, trying , Cobble didn’t add.

Andy knew the risks as well as he did

Cobble continued. “Now we can only hope Chuck finds something on those hard-drives that will help us identify the enemy before we engage. But have you thought of this?”

Of course she probably had .

“Since Agent Englewood is still in the air—or in South Sudan—he couldn’t have been the one blowing up a house, which means he’s probably in the clear, and we’ve now narrowed the field down to two; Georgio and Fleischerman.”

“Baskins agrees, and so do I,” Andy told him. “Which is why it’s good they’re the ones making up part of your safety crew starting later today, so we can flush them out.”

Cobble wasn’t going to think about that possible shit-show, at least for now.

“Did Baskins say anything about El-Umar’s current status?” he asked instead.

“He did. The team he sent met the CIA agents at the airport and were able to take custody of the man. They’re just waiting to get on a plane home, now.”

“Which means they’ll be here…?”

“If the flight goes as scheduled, Baskins says it should be here around this time tomorrow morning.”

“So, is it possible we should postpone our next move? Wait until we have more good guys available to us and keep the bad faction guessing?” Cobble crossed his fingers beneath the blankets.

They’d been planning on bringing him into the office around nine, to meet up with the two agents who were suspects. But maybe, with the advent of the drone strike, they should play things a bit cagier; look more hesitant and nervous about their plans to see if the perps would feel falsely empowered and make mistakes.

Selfishly, too, he’d love another day here at the seashore with Andy.

She gave him his first cheeky grin of the morning, and his heart soared.

“Yup,” she said. “Baskins sees no reason to fast-track things now that the rogue faction is down to one or two players. With El-Umar coming in tomorrow, our perp or perps will have to make a decision; how to take out the last two people who possess the knowledge that will get them incarcerated for life. They may end up scrambling.”

“So, we’re giving them time to rethink their strategy, and you believe that’s going to work in our favor,” Cobble reiterated.

“Maybe. Maybe not. But like you said before, it also gives Chuck a chance to look over all the material we took from Oliphant’s house.”

“So, a toss-up as to who will benefit from the delay.”

“True, but I like to think ‘team good-guy’ will win the day.”

Cobble cleared his throat. “I know who actually wins,” he told her with a wink.

“Who?” she responded slyly, looking down at the sheets already tented with evidence of his renewed desire.

“Us,” Cobble mock-snarled, and headed under the covers.

Hearing Andy squeal delightedly while he attacked her nipples, made the pre-dawn hours a little bit brighter.

****

The next time Cobble opened his eyes, it was clearly late morning. The sun was blazing outside their curtained window, and his bladder was complaining. He gazed down at the woman still draped over him and drooling on his chest. He smiled.

One more day .

To not only love some more on the woman he cherished, but one more day of purgatory before he’d either be dead or starting a glorious lifetime with the lady who’d stolen his heart. The latter meant he could look forward to Andy slobbering on him every single freaking night.

But right now…

Cobble gently swung the covers back, and eased his first foot off the bed. He slid his ass over, carefully attempting to dislodge himself from underneath Andy without waking her up. He delicately lifted and moved her arm off him, but…

She snorted and woke up.

“Where you goin’ handsome?” she asked sleepily, and the hand he’d just managed to relocate, dropped to his junk. “Maybe we should stay in bed a little longer.”

Cobble groaned, his cock responding to her suggestion.

But… pee .

“Now you’ve done it,” he groaned, removing her digits from his ever-hardening dick. “I have to use the facilities, and chances are I’m going to have to hose down the toilet once I’m through.” Yeah , Andy might not know it, but urinating with a stiffy was not an exact science. Hitting the bowl directly while sporting a hard-on was about a fifty-fifty proposition.

Andy laughed. “Oh. Poor baby.” She flipped the covers off both of them. “But in that case,” she responded languidly stretching…

“I’m going first,” she squealed.

Andy leapt out of bed, naked and sassy, streaking across the room while chortling with glee. She turned to give him an impudent grin before shutting the bathroom door behind her.

Cobble gritted his teeth and chuckled at the same time.

Of course there was only one bathroom in the little cottage.

He could just step outside, but… Nah. He could hack this for however long she took.

Love transcended a needy bladder. He’d let Andy have her win.

Besides, given the minute or two she’d be gone, he might be able to get his prick back under control so he could use it for its most basic of functions.

Then, Cobble grinned, the randy fellow would be primed for another round of what it loved to do best.