A View to a Thrill (Masters and Mercenaries Book 7) (33 page)

He fucked her hard, making her feel every inch as he slammed into her again and again. Pleasure built as he managed to hit some magic spot inside her body, and she came again, this time even stronger than before.

Simon’s big body stiffened as he dove deep, grinding into her, pouring out his come. He thrust once and then again and then he relaxed, rolling to her side.

Peace enveloped her like a blanket. It seemed to start at her toes, where their feet met, and it rolled all the way up her body. Simon’s arm tucked around her waist as he pulled her close. Her back was warmed by his chest as blood pumped through her veins. She was so aware of her body in that moment. Aware of how her heart was beating. Aware of how her skin felt like it glowed and how her breath seemed to move in time to his.

His hand slid over her breast, cupping her and drawing her back against him. “Are you all right?”

She couldn’t find the energy to do anything but nod.

His breath was hot against her ear. “I’m glad. You won’t regret being with me, Chelsea. You’ll see. I’m going to take care of you. We fit. I hope you can see that now.”

She loved how sweet he was. He wasn’t a man who held back his feelings. He offered them to her. She couldn’t turn him down. There would be time enough for that later. “I know we do. I never fit with anyone the way I do with you, Simon.”

He chuckled, the sound caressing her skin as he eased back. “I’m going to clean up and when I get back, we might just start all over again.” He kissed her cheek. “Don’t go anywhere.”

As if she would leave him if she didn’t have to.

She sat up and watched as he walked away, his magnificent ass in view.

She was in love with Simon and she would never fall in love again. He was the be-all, end-all of men, and she had to let him go to save him. Ten had been plain. He would clear Simon’s name if she worked for him. If she didn’t, it could take years to undo what The Collective had done. Simon was in America on a visa. He would be deported and he wouldn’t be able to work security. He loved his job. It was all he had. She couldn’t be the reason he lost it.

And she was certain this wouldn’t be the last time someone came after her. If she was working for Ten, he could protect her and no one could use her love or her family against her. She would utterly break ties and let everyone know she couldn’t care less. It was the only way to protect them.

She bit back the now hated tears. She used to only cry during scenes, but the Chelsea Simon brought out was a weepy girl.

One night. Maybe a week. Ten would let her keep Simon as long as the op was going. When they found the package, she would have to give him up.

Stolen time. That’s when all her happiness occurred. Pockets of time she carved out of all the bad shit. Like the days when she and Charlotte would decide they couldn’t take another moment being cooped up and they would risk being seen in public. They’d gone to a beach in Thailand and soaked up some sun with the tourists. They’d walked around Munich and visited the church where legend had it the devil had left a single hoofprint in the entryway. And Venice. They’d met Al. Al, who was gone now.

Hey, you remember the fun we had in Europe? When we spent that weekend there? That was a good time.

He’d mentioned it in the middle of their conversation before he died. Had he been hoping that reminding her of the good time they had would sway her to save him? She would have saved him if she could. How could he be gone? He was right. It had been beautiful. But they hadn’t been all over Europe. They’d only seen each other in Venice. Why had he said Europe?

I’m so sorry, Chelsea. I wish I’d kissed you that day. Sometimes I still feel the wind in my hair and the sun on my face. I really do. That was a beautiful day.

Code. Al believed in code. Al believed that there was power in words and their meanings, and just because a word had a definition didn’t mean it couldn’t bring up other connotations. Sometimes words were keys meant to unlock memories that would lead to the truth.

Al was gay. He would never have kissed her, but that day had been meaningful.

And the place. Because she’d loved Venice, and as she did back in those days, she’d opened an account at one of the local banks. She’d needed an address so she’d bought a small apartment. It had seemed smart to keep a network up. She and Charlotte had kept several of their former hideaways. They had a small bungalow in Bali, a postage stamp of an apartment in Tokyo, a brownstone in Manhattan, and a third floor walk-up in Venice so they would always have somewhere to run. It was in another name, but Al knew about it.

And now she knew where the package was.

He’d sent it to her Venice address. If he’d been a normal person, she’d wonder how he’d gotten it since the property was in another name. Al was smart and knew her fairly well. It would have taken him the work of a few hours to find her Italian residence.

He’d sent the information to Venice.

“Love, do you want a shower? You can join me. I’ll clean you up and then get you filthy all over again.”

“Oh, please don’t. I really can’t live through that again,” a deeply sarcastic voice said from the outer rooms.

Chelsea sat up, her whole body tense. She thought she would have more time. She thought she’d have at least a whole night with him. But that wasn’t to be.

Ian was here and her time was up.

Chapter Fifteen

Simon slipped into his loafers, his whole body still humming. Now he had a double dose of adrenaline. Between the thrill of finally getting Chelsea under him and then knowing he was going to get away, he was kind of hard again. Kind of? Damn. He needed to get the randy fellow to give him a moment’s breath. He had to find a way through it since there was no way he was getting at Chelsea again until they got through the next few hours.

He had no idea how Tag had slipped past Ten, but he was certain that he’d taken care of the situation. If Ian was here, Ten was taken care of for the moment, but that moment wouldn’t last forever. Unless Ian had killed the bastard, the Agency would be hot on their trail again in the near future.

He stepped out of the bedroom, once again properly dressed and ready for whatever was going to come their way.

“It’s romantic.” Charlotte blew out the final candle before glaring at her husband.

Ian shook his head. “It’s not happening. It’s dangerous. Look, he was trying to burn the place down. I think that was Simon’s version of escaping. The British have funny ways, baby.”

He couldn’t help but chuckle. God, they were going to be interesting in-laws. “Charlotte is right. It was romantic. We’re smarter than you yanks. Brits can even be romantic on the run. Are you ready?”

He glanced at Chelsea, who seemed utterly horrified that her sister and brother-in-law had caught them in bed together. Well, she’d been caught in bed and he’d been caught with his willy hanging out. Standing at attention actually. Charlotte had given him a thumbs-up. Ian had made a vomiting sound and told him to lock up his junk.

“You know they’re joking with us, love. Ian and Charlotte aren’t exactly prudes. I think they’re probably more relieved than anything,” Simon said with a chuckle. “Most of the team thought this was inevitable.”

“I need to talk to you.” Chelsea was back in her robe and gown. As clothes to run in went, they were definitely prettier than her PJ bottoms and dirty T-shirt, though he suspected they were less practical. He was sure she would disagree, but it would have to do.

Still, shouldn’t he take a few seconds to explain to Ian about the baby Tags running around the ranch? He walked up to Chelsea, wishing they’d had more time to spend alone. He’d intended to cuddle her, to make her genuinely comfortable being intimate with him, but that would have to wait. They had to escape first. As much as he loved his cousins, he wasn’t going to trust Chelsea’s safety to the Agency. “Of course. When we’re at the safe house we can talk as much as you like. I think Ian won’t object to my staying with you now that he’s seen I can turn pyromaniac to please you.”

He kissed her forehead.

She pulled away. “Simon, this is serious.”

He should have expected that she would struggle. He didn’t have time to deal with her lamentable habit of taking two steps back for every forward movement. Besides, he knew how to handle her now. He would simply get her back into bed and fuck her until she agreed with him. He led her to the door to the living area. “Yes, getting away from here is serious. I have no idea what Ian’s plan is. For that matter, I have no idea how he found us.”

He walked through the French doors and realized Ian and Charlotte weren’t alone. Adam and Jake stood in the room with them, both armed to the teeth.

Adam gave him a grin. “We’re here because it turns out I’m way smarter than The Broker there. Hah, girl. Did you really think I couldn’t trace that call? Amateur.”

Chelsea frowned. For just a second she was her arrogant hacker self again. “Uhm, back up, buddy. You didn’t beat me. Did you really think Ten would allow me to ping that call around the world? No. You beat some twenty-two-year-old nicknamed Hutch. Or maybe that’s his real name. Maybe his mom watched too much TV in the 70s.”

“Damn it.” Adam sighed in disappointment. “I thought it was you.”

Jake chuckled. “He’s been high-fiving people on the street.”

Ian shook his head. “Yeah, well, he’s also lying because all he could do was trace the call to a satellite. We’re here because apparently no one messes with Momma Malone. Let’s move. The van is waiting.”

“What do you mean?” Simon asked as he took Chelsea’s hand and followed Ian and Charlotte out into the hallway. “And we have to get Jesse.”

“I sent Jesse out to the van,” Jake said as he and Adam took their six.

Ian started down the main stairwell. Something serious had to have happened for Ian to boldly walk into the living room.

Chelsea gasped and stopped, turning her head. “Is that Theo? Oh, god, is he dead?”

Simon turned and sure enough, Theo Taggart was laid out on the floor, his weapon at his side as though he’d been trying to get to it even as he’d fallen. Simon noticed what Chelsea hadn’t. There was a nice-sized dart sticking out of Theo’s bum. Oh, he really hoped his cousin didn’t get renditioned somewhere nasty. This particular plan had JT written all over it.

“He’s sleeping,” Ian said. “And I would like to point out that I did nothing but come here to collect my property. Property that Ten stole, so when he wakes up all pissy, I hope someone points that out to him.”

Simon was sure that if Ian had taken Theo out himself, he would likely have questions. He hustled Chelsea down the stairs. She seemed reluctant to leave Theo behind. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw JT and his aunt were in the spacious entryway.

JT winked. “I’ll be sure to take the credit. They always underestimate me because I’m the pretty one. I slipped a little Mickey into their beers. The ones who weren’t drinking, Momma took out with the tranqs they used on Simon and Jesse. Seriously, you should have seen the look on that Ten fellow’s face when he realized a five foot nothing woman had taken him down. You have about twenty minutes before they wake up.”

His aunt walked up to him. She was a good foot shorter, but she was still the ultimate figure of loving authority in his life. She smoothed down his tie. “Simon, do you want to stay with these Agency people or do you prefer to go with the very familiar-looking Mr. Taggart over there?” She sent Ian a frown. “You stay back until he makes his decision. I can take you out too, young man.”

Had he felt bad about coming home? “I think I’ll go with my team, Aunt Ava. And thank you for allowing me to make the decision. If we’d stayed with the Agency, I’m not sure what they would do with Chelsea. But we really do need to get out of here. Ten will probably wake up in a bad mood. JT, you know Michael’s not going to be happy with you. Neither is your father. He’s obviously trying to get the Agency to help with Malone Oil’s overseas problems.”

JT shook his head. “Don’t you worry about that. It’s been a while since Mike and I beat the shit out of each other. It’ll be like old times. As for the other, well, I think Malone Oil has been fine on our own for a long time. It’s time my father and my brother remember that family comes first.”

It did. Sometimes a man’s family went past blood. He turned to Ian. “I’m sorry. I thought I was doing what was best for her and for the team. I should have sat down and talked this out with you.”

“Damn straight, brother. But I really do understand.” Ian put an arm around Charlotte. “The Dennis women can drive a man crazy. Let’s get out of here. Alex is waiting in the driveway with the van. We’re getting out of Dodge for a while, if you know what I mean. We’re dropping Adam and Jake off and then we’re heading for a safe house. We’ll figure out what the hell’s going on before we surface again.”

Chelsea tugged on his hand. “Simon, I just need a minute.”

“All right.” She was likely still worried about dragging her sister in, but she had to see that Charlotte wouldn’t be anywhere else.