Page 35 of Valiant

“You’re driving me wild. If it wasn’t for these damn ribs—” He sucked in a breath when she licked the tip of his dick. “Oh, god, Kels.”

She didn’t need more encouragement to plunge her mouth down on him. She sucked hard and then used her tongue to trace the throbbing vein on his dick. She did it again before looking up at him through her eyelashes. He was watching her intently. His face was flushed and his expression unguarded. She saw pleasure there, but was that something else, too? Longing? Love?

Whatever it was, it made her pause and lock eyes with him. Her expression probably conveyed more than she wanted it to, but she couldn’t hide how she felt about him at that moment. She loved him, but she would lose him, and she would make peace with that. All that flashed through her mind, followed by the knowledge that he was hers in that moment.

He reached out to her, cradling the side of her face in his palm. “Come closer. I want to feel you against me.”

The way he said it made her heart beat faster. She unsnapped the bra and tossed it aside before shimmying out of the thong. Gently and slowly, she covered his body with hers. He cupped her butt, bringing her closer so his erection rubbed between them. She kissed him, letting everything she felt for him come through in the kiss. The complexity, the longing, the heartache, and the happiness.

Finally, she couldn’t wait any longer to have him inside her. She rolled the condom on him and guided him into her. They sighed together once they were joined, and his hands came to her waist as she rode him. Her breasts dragged against his chest.

After climaxing, she collapsed next to him on the bed. Both of them were panting. She placed her arm across his chest, unconsciously declaring that he was hers even when she knew he wasn’t.

She lifted her head to meet his eyes, reading in them the same questions she had. There was love between them, but was it enough? With a sigh, she placed her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, trying to stave off the loneliness that suddenly swamped her knowing that love wasn’t enough.

TWENTY-ONE

Cole rose before Kelsey the following morning, slipping from under the sheets so he didn’t disturb her. After spending the afternoon in her bed making love, they’d gotten up, cooked dinner, and played with Eddy following his nap. The baby was doing better, but some of the trauma had remained, making it difficult for him to settle at bedtime. Knowing that Kelsey needed rest, Cole sent her to bed and stayed up until midnight with Eddy.

When Eddy was finally down, Cole had crawled in next to Kelsey and held her during the night, wondering at the strange distance he’d felt between them all day, even when they were skin to skin. Making love to her had been as amazing as always, but the sense of deep connection he usually felt with her had been oddly absent. He didn’t know what to make of it. Their relationship was fraught with troubles like landmines surrounding an enemy compound. He couldn’t reconcile the opposing forces, not while other dangers lurked. He just knew that he had to protect them because Kelsey and Eddy meant everything to him.

He also knew what their next move should be. He’d made a decision in the night while listening to Kelsey’s soft breathing. They needed to run. Get someplace safe and out of the public eye, just as Edwin had done, until they could figure this thing out. Someone had a hit out on Kelsey, and Cole was willing to do anything to protect her. Anything.

He did an abbreviated workout, mostly stretching to test his battered ribs, before going to the kitchen to make coffee. While there, he heard a soft rap on the front door. Before answering it, he brought the doorbell camera app up on his phone to check the image. Raymond and David stood on the other side with Raymond staring into the camera.

Cole went to the door and opened it for his SEAL buddies to enter. He’d called them the day before to update them on the situation and cancel their evening meeting, but they’d agreed to come over first thing. It was a relief to see them. He was going to need their help to move Kelsey and the baby to a safe house. Extra eyes guarding them were a necessity since he couldn’t anticipate where an attack might come from.

“Hey,” Raymond said as he entered. “Found this on the front step.” He put a package in Cole’s hands.

“It’s not ticking. We checked,” David added. Cole knew they were only half joking considering what else had been found outside Kelsey’s house in the past weeks.

“Thanks.” Cole debated for just a second and then pulled the tab to open the package. He should call the police and let them evaluate it, but he wasn’t in a mood to wait. He gingerly tipped the box and a laptop slid out into his open palm.

“Is that Dad’s personal laptop?” Kelsey was on the stairs and came dashing down, barely glancing at Raymond and David. “It is,” she declared as she got to him. “I recognize that scratch on the side.” She immediately reached for the computer.

“Wait,” Cole commanded. “Take a step back.”

She looked at him and he saw the moment she understood his caution. When she moved away, he took a few minutes to thoroughly inspect the inside of the box. He found nothing to concern him, so he opened the lid of the laptop. He didn’t think it was rigged with a bomb, but he wasn’t going to let Kelsey take that chance. After he was sure it was clean, he handed her the computer.

She sat down at the dining room table and began tapping on keys. “Password needed. I know what it used to be.” She typed. “Damn. He’s changed it. That’s okay. I can figure it out. Give me a few minutes.” Her fingers were flying over the keyboard. “The fact that he sent it to me means he wants me to find something on it. Some clue to where he’s at or what’s going on. The password must be something I’ll be able to guess.” She was one hundred percent focused on the task.

Cole gestured for the guys to follow him into the kitchen. He propped the swinging door open so he could see Kelsey, but they could still talk without bothering her. He poured mugs of coffee for Raymond and David and carried one out to Kelsey. He set it on the table, but she didn’t even look up from the screen. He had to appreciate her single-mindedness, but he liked it better when she focused that on him as she had the previous afternoon.

“What are you thinking?” David asked after Cole caught his buddies up on everything that had happened in the parking lot and hospital. He’d given them a quick review on the phone, but he wanted them to have the full details.

“It’s pretty clear that whoever we’re dealing with has eyes on this place. There’s no way they could have known we’d be at the grocery store unless they followed us there. If I’m going to keep Kelsey and Eddy protected, I’ve got to get them someplace safe,” Cole said with a glance toward Kelsey. “Any suggestions? It needs to be nearby.” The three of them sipped their coffee for a minute.

“I might know of a place in San Diego. Let me make a call,” Raymond said as he pulled out his phone and walked off a few feet to have a brief conversation with someone named Leon. Raymond was smiling when he returned. “I’ve got a safe house,” he said.

“Who was that?” Cole asked. He trusted Raymond, but he wasn’t willing to fly on blind faith when Kelsey and Eddy’s lives were at stake.

“FBI guy I worked with once,” Raymond explained. “You remember that mission I got assigned to in Mexico last year?” Cole nodded. “He was the lead on that, and he owes me a favor.”

Cole didn’t ask for details, but he could guess that Raymond had saved Leon’s life. “All right, then. That gives us a place to hide out, but I’m done with waiting around. We need to figure this shit out—including who’s really behind it, because like hell do I believe that Gomez managed to pull off all of this.”

“I’m in,” Kelsey’s excited voice came from the dining room, and then she sighed. “Dad has no sense of file management. Sorting through this is going to take time. I’ve got a lot of places to look.”

Cole was going to respond, but her attention was already back on the screen. “We’ll move out after Eddy gets up. In the meantime, let’s talk this through.”

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