Page 19 of Silver Fire

“Doesn’t seem to prevent you from having a harem.”

“You’re beginning to sound like Maia,” Derek said with a trace of exasperation. “We got that straight, Angel, I want to bury myself inside you with no fucking condom between us. And that’s after I eat you until you scream.”

Oh my god. Her sex spasmed at his words, a warmth pooling between her legs.This man can talk you into an orgasm.

Smiling at her, he brushed her lips with his and trailed it down to her ear and whispered, “You’re wet for me, aren’t you?”

Sophie tried to control her trembling but couldn’t, and then she was immediately clenched against a hard chest as Derek’s mouth claimed hers, plundering her lips ruthlessly. His tongue tangled with hers as he molded her body to his. He broke the kiss too soon, and Sophie whimpered in protest. He chuckled softly before burying his face in the curve of her neck. “Jesus, I gotta go. I don’t think I can control myself around you right now.”

“Well I’m sure one of your three women can help you out,” Sophie said.

Instead of getting mad, Derek grinned, that grin that made him look so boyish and charming. “Jealous, sweetie?”

“No!”

“I’ve informed all my women that I am currently unavailable.”

“You’re an arrogant reprobate.”

“Dream of me, Angel.” Derek kissed the top of her head affectionately and walked away. Sophie was left wanting more of him.

4

Derek lethimself into his condo and threw his keys on the kitchen counter. He walked over to the refrigerator, opened it, grabbed a beer, and popped it open on the edge of the counter. His housekeeper always frowned at him whenever he did that. It was barely 9:30 p.m. on a Tuesday evening and he rarely was home so early. He did not entertain women until 11:00 p.m. and he was usually at the bar having a few drinks with Jack or Maia, sometimes with both of them. They formed an odd trio ever since both of his friends had hooked up and gotten married. They never made him feel like a third wheel, although sometimes his man Jack had problems knowing the boundaries defining public displays of affection.

He had never seen his friend this gung-ho over any woman, and watching this unfold was making him hesitant about pursuing a particular blonde-haired angel. Derek had been tempted to settle down before, but never was the urge as strong as with Sophie. He tried to talk himself out of showing up at the bungalow after Stephen had given him what sounded like the brush-off from her. But did he stay away? No. He had been irritated as hell. He also felt more determined. Which was saying a lot because Derek Lockwood never put much effort in pursuing a woman. His usual female acquaintances were women he met at the numerous social functions he attended in Washington DC and New Park. Usually, they were high-powered lawyers or lobbyists, too busy to have relationships. Sometimes they were daughters of politicians and socialites such as Layla Robinson. Layla had not been happy when Derek cut short their arrangement. They had been regular partners on and off in the last few years. Sometimes Layla would bring a friend and they would have threesomes, but recently she had become more possessive and kept showing up by herself. His other current partners were students at Georgetown University finishing up their Master’s degrees in foreign service/economics. He met them at a bar the week before.

Derek shook his head as he evaluated his long life of promiscuity. His last girlfriend was in high school. He spent two years in college fucking his way through the sororities before he dropped out and joined the Army. He had witnessed many of his friends get cheated on by their wives or girlfriends while they were away fighting for their country. Derek was already in Army Special Forces when his squadron team leader and best friend, Harry, saved the lives of his men by using his body to absorb the blast of a grenade. It was the ultimate act of valor and at first Derek could not comprehend why Harry had sacrificed himself. He had a family. But responsibility toward his men, coupled with the grit of being a true leader, led to that fateful split second decision—all, except Harry, had survived. Harry left behind a daughter and a pregnant wife. The experience left an indelible mark on Derek’s consciousness.

Derek left Special Forces when he was twenty-nine, and had gone directly to work for AGS as a tactical analyst at their datacenter. He’d met Jack through a mutual friend who requested the use of their intel on the Colombian drug cartel that had been targeting families of Ex-Navy SEALS. Zero traveling enabled him to finish his business degree. It was not long after that he had started missing the thrill of the mission and asked to be put in tactical operations where he had frequently worked with Maia. The two also became great friends.

Four years before, Jack had asked Derek to become a business partner at MDI to function as the main liaison with the design engineers. He worked at MDI ever since but still contracted with AGS on some of their assignments.

Derek had no close family. His mother died when he was ten, his dad passed away when he was twenty-four. He was not close to any of his relatives and after he joined AGS he decided it was better not to cultivate any close familial or romantic relationships. Their missions were frequently dangerous, and the threat of blowback was very real. But Derek loved women and sex, he had experimented in all types of sexual deviances and kinks and for the longest time he had been satisfied. But lately he’d been feeling this void, and each sexual encounter had left him wanting for more. But whenever he was in the presence of Sophie, he felt whole and contented. He hadn’t even had sex with her! His brain was scrambled. She was not his type. At all. Derek preferred brunettes. He wanted them voluptuous both in chest and ass. Sophie was none of those. She was blonde, she was too tall, her breasts were small. Her ass was almost non-existent and yet—and yet, something in his chest twisted whenever she was near, and his damned cock responded quickly to her nearness and scent. Whenever he recalled the night she watched him have sex, he wanted to storm over to wherever she was, strip her naked, bend her over a desk, lay her on a bed or lift her against a wall and plunge himself deep inside her. He didn’t care if it was in her lab, in the bungalow or here at his condo. He wanted to fuck her; to mark her as his.

And she was damned complicated. The death threats against her he could handle, he could protect her if only she would let him. It was that other issue that was driving him crazy. She responded to him and yet was repulsed by him. What if she could never get over the man who had taken her innocence and her heart?

Fucking hell. Chugging down his beer, he got up to get another one.

* * *

In another partof New Park City.

A dark-skinned manmade his way through the dank alleyways between run-down apartment buildings in the Cloverleaf district that abutted the warehouse district of New Park City. The area had been in steady decline in the last decade and gangs and other low-life criminals had moved into the area. He went inside one building and made his way up the rickety stairs until he reached the eighth and last floor. He headed straight to the last room and knocked in code.

The door cracked open and the eyes of a large black man appraised him before letting him in.

“I have not found her,” Paki told the man who let him in.

The big man, Tebogo cursed in Afrikaans and said, “We know she’s alive. Tony saw her outside her house after the fire. She’s alive, breathing and walking. She left with her reporter friend but never returned with her.”

“We have eyes at the research center. Several tinted SUVs go through there every day, and we’re not sure if she is in one of them.”

Tebogo stared at Paki for a moment before exhaling harshly. “Make the deal with our contact. The information is going to cost us money we cannot afford right now, but we have no choice.”

Paki nodded, turned around and left.

* * *

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