Ambition: A Dark Billionaire Romance Anthology (30 page)

"Cool. Maybe something with a lot of coconut, and especially a lot of chocolate in it," Helen replied. "But don't sweat it if you forget. Set a date yet?"

"We're thinking later in the year. Kind of depends on Patrick's political future, if you know what I mean."

"I know. Rumors are making the papers. Anything you want to spill the beans on?"

I shook my head and smiled. The game of politics was as much about what wasn't said as what was said, I was learning. "Nothing I can confirm or deny."

I
yawned
, the constant late nights were getting to me. I was on the twenty seventh floor of an upscale condo complex in the downtown area, outside Francine Berkowitz's place, after spending the past half hour penetrating the building and making sure I was so far undetected.

My work was easier when I could be a "business investor" or even in my hitman days as a "freelance troubleshooter." I could sleep until noon, shower, and roll out for an afternoon or spend a day getting my body clock adjusted again. Sophie was understanding, and we were able to cover for each other when I needed to be Marcus Smiley. Nobody cared if I went into work at noon, as long as it was just the two of us.

Being a father demanded more. A baby negates all that. Sophie needed help with our daughter, and I couldn't be so greedy as to monopolize all the time I was awake for just my work. So in addition to being a masked vigilante (I refused, no matter how often Tabby joked, to refer to myself as a superhero or costumed avenger), I had to be up by eight o'clock in order to catch the morning stocks, as well as give Andrea her bottle while Sophie got her first workout of the day in. She was doing workouts twice a day, pushing hard, knowing the fight that was coming. I didn't like it, but there was the possibility of getting back on the streets for her. I was hoping that it would never come to that, and that we could find a way for Patrick to fight the battle on another front with his increasing political influence. But we had to be ready just in case.

After her workout, she would routinely take Andrea for a quick bath while I did some cleanup around the house and prepared lunch and dinner for our growing family. We were getting used to lots of casseroles, I just didn't have time for freshly cooked meals as often. A casserole could be put together quickly and then just tossed in the oven later to be ready at six or seven whenever we needed it.

With my evening work often going until two or three in the morning, I was running short on sleep, and I was starting to feel it. Sophie had even let me to take a nap that afternoon after finding Andrea and I asleep on a bean bag chair together, my daughter snuggled against my chest. It was the best hour of my month, at least until Andrea peed on me. We enjoyed letting her sleep nude as often as she wanted except at night, it prevented diaper rash, but it didn't help with having a wet, stinky t-shirt on me.

I shook my head and focused on the task at hand. I was good at breaking and entering, but wasn't the best around. I was more adept at industrial type buildings, which tended to use a lot of armed guards. Private residences couldn't afford such things, and used more electronic devices. You'd think those are easier to defeat, and they often are, but there is a drawback in that if you don't know one is there, you're easily screwed. Many of them had battery backups or other systems in place, so you had to scan for them individually.

I anticipated trouble though, and was taking my time. Francine Berkowitz was not only rich, but corrupt as well. Before, she'd only used her corruption and power in what could be called quasi-legal means. Lots of blackmail, some arm twisting, but at least nobody had a gun held to their head. By contacting the Latin Kings however, she had crossed a line, one that took her out of just being countered in the political and legal arenas and into my line of expertise.

My sensor flashed and I pocketed the small computer. There was one final system that I could expect, and it was one that I couldn't detect. I needed assistance. "You there?"

"Yeah,"
Patrick replied in my ear. He was back at Mount Zion, working the computers. Sophie was ready to assist, but was resting with Andrea. The mission tonight didn't require quite as much knowledge as some, and it was good practice for him. "
You sure we need this much area?"

"I'm sure," I said. "Even if the sensor has a battery backup, we need to cut out the power to the cell towers in the area. I've already taken care of any hard-lines."

"Okay. You've got five minutes to get in and get out,"
Patrick reminded me. We were tapped into the city power department through a backdoor hack that Captain Zappy had given me months ago. It would take them that long to reboot their system once we crashed it, blacking out fully a couple city blocks. Fortunately there were no hospitals or other emergency care centers nearby.

I listened, and as soon as the click in my ear told me the power was down, I went into action. Slipping the lock, I had to move silently and quickly. It was the most dangerous type of breaking and entering, in that Francine was at home. I couldn't move during the day, and she was unpredictable as to when she would be at home or at the office. I had to wait until she was asleep and hope that she wasn't having a bout of insomnia. She was divorced, her husband and children having moved out years ago. My sensor sweep and casing had at least shown she wasn't moving around and talking, but you never knew for sure.

The condo hallway was pitch black, but my night vision goggles let me see clearly enough. I made my way silently to the living room, looking around for something to hide my little presents in. By the television, under the Blu-Ray player, I hid one, a super thin passive microphone that would go active only on a trigger.

The second bug was more traditional, and was active, using a burst wifi signal to send constant audio and video to an offsite server in Malaysia. A program on the server would scan for target words in conversation, and ping us back at home if certain words were said. We could also tap into it at any time we wanted.

The third sensor was like the first, passive. It went under the sofa, against the wood frame where it wouldn't be detected. Unfortunately, it would also be slightly muffled, but I only wanted it there in case bugs one and two were detected. My time running short, I made my way out, double checking to lock the door behind me. The unarmed security system could be attributed to the power outage, and I didn't think Francine would suspect anything.

T
he next night
, I had another contact to make, this time for the first time meeting someone face to face. Or at least he thought so.

The roof of the Federal building was cold, but it was safe. It was just past eleven at night, and I hoped my meeting would go quickly so I could get home before one in the morning. Seven hours of sleep was a luxury.

"You up here?" I heard, then a stamping of feet and hands rubbing arms over a heavy jacket. Bennie Fernandez may have been a good attorney, but he wasn’t prepared for the winter cold. He was dressed in a full length heavy parka, looking for all the world like he was getting ready for a winter blizzard instead of just a conversation on a clear winter night.

"You look uncomfortable, Prosecutor," I said, keeping my voice pitched. "You should try getting a job in Dallas or something."

"Very funny," he replied. "You know I'm breaking about half a dozen volumes of the laws I'm supposed to be upholding just talking with you up here. What do you need?"

"Francine Berkowitz," I said. "You have your eyes on her?"

"My boss does, I don't," he replied. "She's a very big fish, like in Washington level. There are plenty in the DOJ who would like to see her taken down, but she's got a very tight game. Nothing that can be proven, nobody willing to talk. And she's got political allies. Why?"

"If I bring you direct evidence of her collaborating with a street gang to incite violence at the new community center that is opening up next month, think you can get something done?"

Bennie thought about it. "You're going to make me famous if you do. I'll take the case myself if the evidence is damning enough. What do you have?"

"You might have to wait for it," I replied. "I have a recorded conversation between Edgar Villalobos, the head of the Latin Kings, and someone claiming to represent the Union discussing a collaboration. But I don't have Berkowitz herself on tape saying anything."

"That would be helpful. You can get some heat on Berkowitz, but she's got enough connections and a high power team of lawyers. No way could I get even an indictment without either testimony, a confession, or her on tape, preferably high definition audio and video. You do that, I can get an indictment on at least a RICO charge."

"I'll see what I can do," I said. I turned away, but Bennie's voice called me back. "Yes?"

"You're doing more than just gathering information for me, I know that," he said. "But how long are you planning on keeping this up? Your luck has to run out some time."

I leaned against the side of the building and crossed my arms over my chest. "How long are you planning on trying to take down the corrupt assholes I keep bringing you? You know eventually one of them is going to get off on some technicality on appeal. You're making enemies just as powerful as mine."

"It might happen," Bennie agreed. "But I have the hope that I can be promoted out of here and in Washington or heading an office by that point. Hell, my luck holds up, you might be breaking in a new federal prosecutor soon enough. But as to your question, I'm not stopping. Cleaning up the streets, it's in my blood."

"I won't stop either," I replied. "We all have our reasons, Bennie. Some day, maybe years from now, we can sit down and enjoy a drink together and celebrate the fruition of our plans."

"And if we can't? What if you get arrested in the meantime?"

I turned and headed to the edge of the roof, where I pulled my black hang glider from out of the shadows and strapped it on. "Then I expect a pretty good case from the city DA. But it won't come to that. Good night, Bennie."

I
looked down the sight
, working to still my body and my heart. It had been nearly seven months since I'd last shot a firearm, and I didn't have time for any more rust to accumulate on my reactions.

The target was tiny, an empty Red Bull can a hundred meters away against the dusty bluff of dirt. There weren't too many places within easy driving distance of the city where I could actually go out and fire under real conditions, but there was only so much I could do with laser replications or pellet guns. Patrick and Mark might have been able to keep their skills up using indoor firing ranges, but I was practicing long range shooting.

The AR-15 felt light in my hands, and I knew I was stronger than I had been the last time I fired. I hadn't been sitting on my ass the whole time I was pregnant, and my hard work since having Andrea had paid dividends. My waist and hips were still larger than they'd been pre-pregnancy, but that was due to changes in my pelvis. I was in nearly the best shape of my life, and while we hoped it wasn’t going to come to it, I was ready if need be to fight next to my husband.

There was only this one skill to work on still, one that took not aggressive energy, but patience and calmness. I caressed the trigger, and the gun kicked in my hands, sending another round down range. The can tumbled over, and I knew I had another hit.

"Good job," Mark said, taking his binoculars away from his face. Andrea was enjoying a day with her Aunt Tabby and Uncle Patrick, a bit early for a three month old baby, but necessary. "Think you're up for longer range shots?"

"Yeah, let's take it out to two hundred meters. If I can hit those well, we'll be ready for three hundred plus with the balloons," I said. It was one of the ways Mark had changed me, making me a stronger, better woman than I'd been before. The military might ask for soldiers to hit only torso sized targets, but I held myself to a higher standard. My goal was to hit balloon sized targets consistently at three hundred meters, which if you've ever tried, is hard as hell. They flutter in the wind, move around erratically, and demand pinpoint targeting to hit. Even a good sniper could miss them in a good breeze.

Mark had taught me how to find that place inside where snipers operated best, when emotion and doubt and confusion fell away, leaving just the mind and will. It took me a long time and a lot of training prior to having Andrea to reach a level even approaching his, but I used it often. Working communications for his missions, I had to go there in order to focus on the task at hand and not worry that my husband was potentially getting shot at on the other end of the line. It had even helped in delivering Andrea, allowing me to suppress the pain enough to let Tabby do her best to help take over communications.

By the end of my training, I was exhausted, mentally more than physically. Focusing on such precise control for so long is just tiring. Still, I was happy. It was a lot better than I'd done the week prior, and while I wasn't quite ready yet, I was making progress. "Let's go home."

On the drive back, I noticed Mark kept looking over at me. "What?" I asked, smiling at how silly I felt. "Do I have some gunpowder on my face or something?"

"No," Mark replied huskily. "You're just so sexy, it's hard."

Suddenly, I felt it too. It had been a long time since we'd had sex, one of the side effects of his late nights and a very young baby at home. But that day, it was just the two of us, and we were being who we loved to be. More importantly, we were with the person who was most important to us. "Can you make it home?"

"Hell no," he said, reaching over and putting his hand on my thigh. His touch was hot and arousing, and my hands twitched, the car swerving in our lane before I straightened out. "But don't crash."

We drove on in a silence that was heavy with anticipation, constantly exchanging little glances as we looked, searching for a place to pull off the highway. Finally, three miles down the road, I saw a turn-off onto what I knew was a mostly deserted country road. Taking it, I drove along until the highway was invisible in the rear view mirror, and on until the road opened up on the left side slightly. The woods were deep in this area, heavy old growth that earlier in the year would be heavier with hunters. The early spring sun was barely warm enough, but I couldn't wait any longer. I threw the car into park and reached into the back seat, grabbing a blanket that we had brought in case the wind had picked up.

"In here or over there?" I pointed to a small clearing in the trees, thick with fallen pine needles and clear of even traces of snow. It had been over a year and a half since we'd had sex outside, the last time being during my training in Eastern Europe, but right then I didn't care. I'd have stripped butt naked on the fifty yard line of Spartan Stadium if Mark wanted me to.

Mark opened his door and got out, me right behind him. Instead of heading for the clearing though he stopped me at the front of the car, taking the blanket out of my hands and spreading over the hood.

"Warmer here," he explained as he turned, wrapping his arms around me fiercely and kissing me with unrestrained passion. I returned his passion with my own, clutching at his jacket and kissing him back as hard as I could. He pressed me up against the car, which I had to admit was warm, his hands busily working at the zipper on my jacket while I returned the favor.

In my haste, I jammed the zipper on his old fashioned military field jacket, tugging uselessly until I grew frustrated and pulled as hard as I could. With a metallic *ping*, the teeth yanked free, the brass clasps destroyed as I pulled his jacket open to feel the slick, tight fabric of his thermal Under Armour top beneath. I noticed it was a new one, black with white patches rather than the all black he'd always worn before. "New duds?"

"Uh-huh, thinking of wearing them at night," Mark replied as he got my jacket open and pushed a hand inside, his strong hand roughly caressing my breast. It would have bordered on painful if I hadn't been wearing the exact same type of shirt he was, the slick fabric lessening the grip enough that it was amazing instead. Fire flooded my skin, my nipples aching under the warm fabric as we kissed again. I reached up and tweaked his nipple through his top while I spread my legs and wrapped them around his waist. Even through the heavy fabric of our pants, I could feel the heat and iron hardness of his cock. We rubbed together through our clothes, groaning as we reconnected.

I'd been naked with Mark since Andrea was born, we would take time to hold each other in bed, or to sometimes even shower together. But exhaustion or the cries of a baby had inevitably killed nearly every prior encounter. Even the ones we'd had felt rushed, the fumbling of two people who wanted more than what time and circumstances were permitting them, most often not even given the time to come to orgasm before being pulled apart by something beyond our control. Here though, on this deserted country road that was barely more than a fire trail, I felt closer to him than since before our daughter's birth, even through thick layers of clothing.

Still I needed more. Pulling his shirt up, I slid my hands under his shirt, too impatient to let him strip, feeling and scratching my fingers down the hard muscles of his back and chest. He was as sexy as ever, each muscle perfect, his skin smooth and flawless except for his scars that told me the tale of his painful past.

While I traced my love's history written on his body, he found the soft tender skin of my neck and kissed, my head falling back and offering myself to him. He nipped and sucked, harder and harder as his fingers reached for the button of my pants and undid them quickly. He pulled back from my neck and stared with nearly frightening intensity into my eyes. "How?"

"Here," I said, turning around and resting my chest against the warm hood of the car. There wasn't a lot of room to spread my legs with the way the pants bound at my feet, but it didn't matter. Mark pushed my jacket up to expose my ass, which chilled as the skin was exposed. My ass broke out in goosebumps for a moment before his warm hands ran over the skin, turning my shivers of cold into shivers of wanton lust. I lowered my head and said what came to my mind first, my voice thick and drawn out with need. "Oh Mark, fuck me."

"As you wish," he grunted, pulling back just long enough to open his jeans. I felt my wetness increase with each muted click of his zipper being pulled down, until he pushed against me, his cock hard and hot against my panties. I was soaked, delirious with sensation as he rubbed his cockhead against the slick, wet fabric, my body nearly convulsing with the feeling. "Ready?"

"Fuck me," I growled, reaching back and pulling my panties to the side. We'd make love another time, but this was something different, something primal and needy.

The first push of his cock inside me was hot, and again bordering on the fine line between pain and pleasure as he filled me up. I lost all track of time as Mark thrust all the way inside me, lightning detonating from my pussy all the way to my brain with each inch of his cock pushing inside me.

All I knew for glorious, eternal minutes were the dual sensations of the warm hood of the car against my breasts and Mark's cock hammering into me from behind. He filled over and over, every cell in my body screaming in pleasure from the sensation. I couldn't get enough, pushing back into his thrusts and meeting him, desperate for more and more.

As we continued, it dawned on me the dual nature of what we were doing. We were growling and moaning like animals, perhaps not that much different than the normal residents of the woods, rutting and mating in an ancient pattern written in our very DNA. His cock plunged in and out of me with ferocity, making me his over and over, driving me wild with pleasure as my pussy clutched at him. I wanted my man, and gave myself over to him. But at the same time, with all of the raw, base physical pleasure, there was still a connection, a tenderness and need that grew between us. We weren't just fucking because we both happened to desire it, we were doing so because we knew the other person wanted it as well. I was pushing back not only for my own pleasure but for Mark's, for the sensations I was giving his cock and the feelings I was giving him. It compounded my pleasure, almost as if I could feel from both sides of the situation.

My orgasm rushed upon me with the suddenness of breaking glass, shattering the endless pleasure of our sex with an even purer, more intense explosion through my body, so intense it was impossible for it to last more than a moment before I overloaded, just holding on as my body shook and spasmed. I felt Mark push me one more time against the car, his cock emptying inside me, his precious gift more valuable than jewels or money or anything made of gold or platinum. Instead, I had my husband, my mate, my perfect companion.

We stayed there for wonderful minutes, embracing as Mark's cock slowly softening until he slipped out of me. The creeping sensation of cold air on my ass again started feeling a bit too uncomfortable, and I pulled away with real regret. I pulled my pants up and turned around, pulling him down into another kiss, this one as soft and loving as the earlier ones had been passionate and heat filled. "We can't go this long in between sex," I sighed as he kissed me underneath my ear. "We'd both go crazy."

"I know," he mumbled against my neck, his arms pulling me close. I held him, and we stayed there for a long time, secure against the whole damn world. A sharp gust of wind came down the trail, and even with Mark around me my ears were tingling, so we folded up the blanket and put it back inside.

"Next time, let's do a five star hotel or something, okay?" I asked as we closed the door. "Soft sheets, room service, the whole nine."

"Actually, I was thinking," Mark said as we got back into the car and I started getting us turned around. "Maybe that's something we can make a regular thing of."

"What, driving out in the woods to have sex on the hood of our car?" I said with a laugh. "Don't think so. Murphy's Law would eventually come to bite us in the ass."

"No, not that silly," he said. I got back on the highway, and headed for home. "I meant like date nights or just making sure we spend time together. Think Tabby and Patrick would mind having some more days watching Andrea while we get away sometimes?"

"As long as we're willing to return the favor, I don't see why not," I said. "Think the two of us could handle two kids for a couple of hours or even overnight?"

"I can fight five men at once, do combat reloads on over a dozen different types of firearms, and run five minute miles repeatedly," Mark replied confidently. "How hard could two kids be?"

"Two toddlers?"

Mark cocked his eyebrow, conceding. "Good point. Okay, together we might be able to handle that."