Page 55 of A More Perfect Union

Rook answered with aslow, lingering drag of her fingers between her legs and then she flipped Zoeygently onto her back, bent down, and took one of her nipples into her mouth.Zoey shook with arousal as Rook’s tongue teased while her fingers played withher throbbing folds, slipping in and out in a steady, building rhythm. “Thatfeels amazing,” Zoey said, her breath ragged.

Rook looked up andsmiled. “Yes, it does.” She held Zoey’s gaze as she trailed her tongue down herchest to her abdomen. When Rook’s tongue circled her aching clit, Zoey threwher head back and moaned. Rook drew her closer and closer to climax with long,slow strokes, taking her almost to the brink before pulling back to beginagain, each pass making Zoey crazy with desire. When she couldn’t stand it anylonger, Zoey pulled Rook back up until they were lying face-to-face, and shedipped her fingers into Rook’s swollen sex, loving the way Rook arched into hertouch.

As she stroked Rook,Rook reached for her again. Zoey tried to slow her own reaction, to give Rookher full attention, but she was so close, so ready to come. She twisted thecomforter in her fist, torn between holding the pleasure tight or letting itconsume her, but within moments, she let go and bucked against Rook’s hand,urging her to take whatever she wanted and offering it freely. As the waves ofarousal crested over her, she threw her head back and cried out, feeling alevel of freedom and release like she’d never known before.

Chapter Nineteen

Rook woke beforeher alarm and took advantage of the extra time by allowing herself a fewminutes to linger next to the warm, naked body beside her. Slowly opening hereyes, she absorbed the reality of someone else in her bed.

Zoey’s head wasresting on her shoulder and the rest of her body was tucked up against Rook’sside. Her eyes were closed and her face was relaxed and peaceful, which Rooktook as a sign of satisfaction after the hours they’d spent in the throes ofpassion the night before.

She’d been satisfiedtoo, more than, but seeing Zoey this morning had her longing for more, wishingshe had nowhere else to be but right here, in her bed with Zoey in her arms.The feeling was new and strange and she wasn’t sure what to do with it. Neverbefore had she wanted to shut the rest of the world out. Usually, she invitedit in as a welcome distraction from her bedmate’s desire or demands for moreintimacy, but last night with Zoey left her in a different place. Now she wasthe one craving intimacy, against her natural instinct to pull back once herphysical needs were satisfied.

For the first time inher life, Rook realized she’d drawn all of her passion from her work, but workcould only give so much. Ironic since work would have kept her from Zoey ifshe’d followed her steadfast rule not to get involved with clients. But she’dbroken the rule and the sky hadn’t fallen, and now she wanted to push theboundaries even further.

The vibration of herphone broke into her musings. She reached over and shut it off, but try as shemight, she wasn’t able to resist checking the screen to see who’d called.Relieved that she didn’t recognize the number, she started to set it down, butnoticed the time. Six a.m. She quickly calculated how long it would take to getready and get to the White House for her meeting with Julia and thought shemight be able to steal a little bit longer with Zoey, but then she rememberedthe files Eric had sent. Damn. She needed to review those before her meeting incase she needed to provide Julia with an update.

She glanced over atZoey again and cursed the timing. She’d have to save more boundary-pushing forlater. She brushed a soft kiss against Zoey’s hair, gently extracted her arm,and rolled out of bed.

By six forty-five,Rook was showered and dressed. She’d packed the laptop with Eric’s files toread in the car and penned a note for the still sleeping Zoey. She yawned asshe wrote, but the exhaustion was the good kind, leaving her feeling slightlyeuphoric and like she could conquer the world if it weren’t such a happy placethat it didn’t need conquering.

When Rook walkedoutside, she spotted George sitting in the car with his window rolled down,talking to a woman carrying a steaming Starbucks cup. As Rook strode over tothe sedan, she heard the woman call out “thanks for the directions” and wave asshe walked away. Rook smiled as the woman passed her and resisted the urge tograb the coffee and gulp some much needed caffeine before she opened the doorand climbed in. “Good morning, George. I hope you enjoyed your evening off.”

“I certainly did.” Ifhe felt bad about letting Zoey take over his chauffeuring duties the nightbefore, it wasn’t evident from the grin he flashed in the rearview mirror. “Howabout you?” he asked. “Did you enjoy your evening?”

She returned hissmile. “Matter of fact, I did. Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” hesaid. As he pulled away from the curb, Rook stared back at the house,conflicted about whether she should have woken Zoey before she left, but shehadn’t had the heart to disturb her. She closed her eyes for a moment andimagined a time in the future when, having been together longer, they found itnatural to wake each other before they left for their respective jobs, but thenher eyes popped open and she pushed aside the fantasy.One night togetherand you’re acting like a love-struck teenager. Get it together, Daniels.

Rook fished thelaptop from her briefcase and flipped through the files Eric had compiled,hoping the work would divert her attention from the distraction that was ZoeyGranger. She needn’t have worried. Eric had provided extensive annotations,showing how the code the Darcy Agency had been using worked, but she spedthrough that to get to the meat of his findings. Eric had found severaliterations of agency files attached to Mitchell’s emails and provided her witha breakdown of the information they contained, including references to theirclients’ ranks and security clearances and notes about their pleasurepreferences listed right along with their other vulnerabilities, including pastmisdeeds and family connections. He’d concluded that the escorts at the DarcyAgency weren’t offering prostitutes for pleasure, but rather as spies for anelaborate scheme of intelligence gathering and blackmail across the entiremilitary structure.

Holy shit. Rook’s gutclenched as she considered the implications. If these files were accurate, thisscandal could rock the entire military, and as much as she dreaded having todeliver the news to Julia, she dove back into the files to make sure she was asprepared as she could be for their meeting.

Much of the code wasin Russian, and Eric had included a table of those words and their Englishtranslations. Two words in particular jumped out at Rook—hero andranger—sparking a memory. Wishing she’d paid more attention to what Zoey hadsaid last night instead of concentrating on getting her into bed, Rook thoughtback over Zoey’s recounting of her interview with Donny Bloomfield. No, thatwasn’t it. Zoey had used the words when she’d described her conversation withJack Riley, and the story he’d relayed about General Sharp. What had she said?Something about Sharp having won a medal and his squad dubbing him a hero.

Another memorysparked, and she typed Sharp’s full name into a Google search to confirm herhunch. As she scrolled through the results, she did some mental calculations.Before he’d been assigned to Fort Bragg, where he’d been Zoey’s commander,Sharp had served in the 75th Ranger Regiment. Wikipedia gave her a quickrundown of the regiment’s history, but it was the Ranger motto, located in thecenter of the page that sprang out at her as if it were surrounded by blinkinglights.Rangers lead the way.

Mitchell had signedoff his letter to Zoey with the exact same words. Zoey had mentioned somethingabout it last night, and now Rook wished she’d listened more closely, but she’dheard enough to know that Sharp was not only a Ranger but also a hero. Was it acoincidence the corresponding words in Russian were popping up in Mitchell’semails? Was Mitchell’s final letter a coded message to Zoey that Sharp wasinvolved in what was turning out to be a spy ring posing as an escort service?She needed answers and she needed them now.

They were only aboutten minutes from the White House. Rook pulled out her cell and called Eric,launching in the moment he picked up the phone, letting urgency overridesecurity concerns about discussing the case on an unsecured phone. “The filesyou sent me, is there any chance there was someone above Mitchell’s pay gradedirecting the show?”

To his credit, Ericdidn’t act offended at her curt manner. “Absolutely. Mitchell received orders,but wasn’t giving any of them. Someone else was definitely calling the shots.”

“Any way to find outwho?”

“I’ve tried to backtrace the emails, but I can’t locate the ISP they were sent from. Your pals atthe White House may need to get NSA involved.”

“I’m on my way therenow, but in the meantime, I have another project for you.” She reeled offeverything she knew about General Sharp. “Put together whatever you can find onhim, and I’ll take a look at it when I get back to the office.”

“Do you think he’sinvolved in this?”

“I don’t know, butI’m working on a hunch. Go as far back as you can on his service record andwhatever personal information you can find.”

“Got it. Anythingelse?”

Rook looked up to seeGeorge had just pulled into a line of cars near the guard gate. An image ofZoey, peacefully asleep, flashed in her mind. If Sharp, her mentor, wasinvolved with a Russian spy ring, was Zoey involved as well? She squashed thethought as quickly as it had come. The Zoey she’d come to know was forthrightand honest and there was absolutely no way she’d betray her country, but if shestumbled onto the same information Rook now had and chose to confront Sharp,she might be in danger.

She should warn her,but if Sharp was a spy, there was a better than even chance he or someone hewas working with might have access to Zoey’s calls, texts, and emails, and Rookcouldn’t afford to tip him off.

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