Beyond the Call of Duty (16 page)

There was disbelief on his face, and he sat up, pushing her off him so he could roll off the bed. “Thank you? That’s all I get? I’ve never, ever told a woman I love them before, and then I find her, the woman who could make me happy for the rest of my life, and I get nothing but a
thank you
?”

Lexi couldn’t stop giggling. She tried to hide it behind her hand, but with every ranting word he said, it grew harder to conceal. Finally, she just lay back, letting it out. She ran her gaze over him, seeing the outrage on his face, the heaving of his chest and the hard thrust of his cock. “D-Don’t get mad, G-Gabe. Y-You should have s-seen your f-face. H-Hysterical,” she stuttered between outbursts of laughter.

He stared at her, his hands on his hips, and then reached for her, yanking her over to the end of the bed. “You’re laughing at me? I tell you I love you, and you laugh at me?” He grabbed hold of her hips, pushing her thighs apart before he thrust his cock deep inside her.

She moaned at the sudden intrusion. “Going to laugh at that?” he whispered in her ear. She shivered as the warmth of his breath tickled her.

“No,” she moaned, putting her hands on his shoulders as he began to stroke inside her.

“Good,” he grunted, pushing hard so he bottomed out in her. “Now, tell me you love me, Lexi, and make me believe you.”

“If I don’t?” she gasped as he rammed himself inside her, sending massive tingling sensations through her body.

“Then I’ll stop,” he said, holding her against the bed with his weight between her thighs.

“Oooh, not fair, not fair at all,” she snarled, running her nails across his ass. She let one finger tickle down his crack, moaning as he jerked against the feeling, making her feel even fuller. She let her finger inveigle its way into his ass and pushed it further, hearing him growl and groan her name. “So you’ll stop, will you?”

“Alexandra Hunter,” he growled. Reaching back to grab her hand, he brought it to his lips, kissing her palm before twining his fingers between hers. “Now, tell me what I want to hear.”

She stared up into his heavily lashed hazel eyes and felt her heart melt at the hope she saw in them. He really did love her, and he let her see all that emotion, hiding nothing. “I...I do love you, Gabe. I never thought to find someone to love, not with my schedule and the amount of time I’m protecting witnesses. There’s not much time for dating, but...”

“But...” he urged, his heart singing at her words. A smile crossed his handsome face as he waited to hear whatever else she had to say.

“But...I don’t know how we are going to make this work. You’re my witness. I’ll get you through trial safe and sound, and then we’ll set you up in a new life. That new life can’t include me, it just can’t. It might get you killed. I would never forgive myself if I did that.” She felt a tear wend from her eye down the side of her face and brushed it away impatiently.

He let his head drop, pressing his forehead gently against hers. “That’s in the future, Lexi. We’ll work it out. Maybe when this is all over and done, the Traegers will be rounded up, and I won’t have to disappear. We don’t have to worry about that now, love.”

“Tell me again,” she demanded, arching her back to push her breasts against his hair-roughened chest. “Tell me you love me.”

“I do,” he growled against her mouth, moving his body almost desperately against hers. “I love you more than anything, Lexi.” He pummeled into her, and she cried for more. She grasped at him with her hands and moved her body urgently beneath him. His cock was encased in her warmth, in her silky sheath, the muscles fluttering around him as he drove her from one urgent peak to the next.

* * * *

He cupped her breasts with his hands, holding one to his lips so he could suckle her. He could feel her muscles contract around him, could hear her cries of pleasure. They were so sweet, and he begrudged the orgasm he felt himself teetering toward. He never wanted this to end. He never wanted to be out of her arms or away from the way she made him feel.

Her cries were more insistent as she dug her nails into his back and wrapped her legs around his hips, holding him to her. “God, Gabe!” she cried out, and he quickly kissed her, muffling her explosive pleas. She moaned under his lips, and her entire body shook, tightening around him as she came.

He held her tightly, squeezing his eyes shut. She was hot and wet, clasping him firmly inside her. He thrust against her and felt his first spasm, jerking desperately as his cock grew and began to spurt ropes of his creamy seed into her. It seemed to take forever for it to be over, and he pushed himself off her body, dragging her up next to him on the bed. Leaning down, he gave her a quick, breathless kiss and relaxed against the mattress.

* * * *

Lexi sat curled up next to him, watching as he scooped one hand through his hair to get the tangled, sweat-soaked mass away from his face. “That was...hmmm,” she said, humming in pleasure.

“Yeah, and now I think we both need a shower,” he teased, pulling wet strands of her hair off his chest.

“I guess that’s what I get for falling in love with a romantic,” she complained good-naturedly.

Gabe’s eyes grew serious as he stared down at her. “I do love you, Lexi. I’d never believed in love before I met you.”

She lifted her head, folding her hands across his chest and leaning her chin on top of them. “Oh, come on, you’ve never had a crush, not even when you were a boy?”

“I never had time. My father was a hard ass with a grudge against God and the world. He taught me how to steal before I was old enough to spell my name. He had me in one con after the other until finally some generous bastard shot him through the heart before I was twelve. From that moment on, I was dodging the truant officers, the social workers and any foster parents they tried to give me. I lived on the streets and by my wits. I had a good education on how to run a scam from my old man. It’s something like riding a bike; you never forget it.”

“What happened to your mother?”

Gabe scoffed. “From what the old man said, he had a few extra dollars, and she was just a good-time girl with bad timing. When she got pregnant, she blamed it on my dad and dropped the baby off on him. He left me with whatever girlfriend he had at the moment. It wasn’t so bad. Most of the time, they made sure I had food and a warm place to sleep. My dad had a habit of picking busty blondes who had little in the way of intelligence. After dad got popped, I found a place, made it my own and learned to use my fists. I was into the street-fighting deal when I met Tony. He pulled me out before I got brain damage and gave me a job and trust. That meant a lot to me.” He pushed her hair back from her face, stroking his finger around her small ears.

“I can understand why you cared so much about him.” She was quiet for a while and let her head rest against his chest, listening to the slowing, rhythmic beat of his heart.

“When they killed Tony, it was like they killed the only family I’d ever known, Lexi. You have no idea how badly I want the Traegers to pay for what they’ve done. Tony might have been a crook, but he had a heart of gold. I wasn’t the only schmuck he pulled out of the gutter. Ray, the guy that looked after Tony’s warehouses, had been in and out of rehab and was on his way down when Tony met him. Tony got him dried out and gave him a job. I guess that’s why it hits me so hard that Teri did what she did. She was nothing but a street hooker when Tony found her.”

“Sometimes money and respectability are more important than trust and care, at least to some people. She’ll go down for her part of the Blandon murders, Gabe. I personally gave her name to the ADA.” She leaned up and tipped his face toward hers, kissing his lips. “We should get up before Joe and Gerald come looking.”

“Oh, let ‘em come.” He laughed at the look she was giving him. “Come on, now, doll, are you going to try and hide this from them? I can’t keep my hands off you.”

“If Jack finds out, he’ll pull me from the case, so you better learn to keep your hands off,” she warned, trying to slide out of his arms. He tightened them, rolling so she was beneath him again.

“Let me go,” she growled, her fist once more against his nose.

“Tell me you love me and that you’ll always be with me, somehow, and I’ll let you go.”

“Gabe. Do not make me hurt you.”

“Do not make me kiss you into submission.” He chuckled. “It’s easy; three little words and one promise, and you’re free as a bird, at least until we get in the shower.”

She sighed. “You are impossible. I love you,” she huffed out, and he lifted one eyebrow at the feeling behind the words. It spoke more of reluctance than romance.

“Try it again.”

“I love you, Gabe. If there is any way at all for us to be together, I’ll find it. I promise.”

He smiled down at her, and she squeaked as she found herself standing beside the bed before her mind could comprehend the change. He was half way toward the bathroom. “Last one in has to soap up the winner,” he called.

“I’m in love with an idiot,” she said breathlessly. “A complete and total idiot.”

Chapter Twelve

Lexi couldn’t keep the smile off her face. No matter the fact they were trapped in this house, that they had insane mob bosses sending out assassins after them, or that they were marked for death, it just couldn’t ruin her good mood.

She had Gabe to blame for that. He’d been absolutely wonderful. He even made Luke smile once or twice. The nights she spent in Gabe’s bed made her smile grow even wider; he was an attentive and imaginative lover, and nothing seemed to be over the top for him.

She hummed as she rounded the balustrade on her way down the stairs. Toby and Luke were on duty. Toby was slowly figuring his way into the tightly trained group of agents Lexi commanded. He was always ready to do whatever needed doing, and no job was too disgusting or degrading. He wasn’t Molly, nobody could take Molly’s place, but he was turning into a competent agent.

“Morning, boss,” he sang out when he saw her coming down the stairs.

“Morning,” she said with a smile. “Where’s Gabe?”

“Kitchen. He kicked us out of there, and said he was cooking this morning.”

She laughed. “Oh, this should be interesting.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Luke chimed in from where he sat behind the monitors connected to the fifteen cameras they’d set up around the perimeter of the house. “He said he knew what he was doing.”

“Well, let’s hope so, or Gerald and Joe might find four bodies when they get here.” Lexi jerked as a familiar voice rang out.

“Now that just hurts.” Gabe snorted in disgust at the three of them. “I was a short-order cook for two years. I can fix breakfast.”

“Oh no; greasy, runny eggs, bacon cooked until it breaks to pieces in your hand and pancakes hard enough to be Frisbees that will take out dogs’ teeth. This could be a worldwide disaster.”

“Okay, Toby, it’s not nice to make fun of a man holding a big knife who used to work for the mob,” Lexi said softly. Toby grinned.

Gabe ignored Toby, but reached out and snagged her hand. “I need a pats...I mean an aide. You know to do things like get out the plates, toast detail.” He leaned in really close so only she could hear him. “And maybe to suck my cock.”

“Mm,” she hummed. “Just my kind of breakfast.”

The look promised retribution for the teasing she was giving him in front of the other agents. He asked for orders and went back into the kitchen, closing the swinging door firmly shut behind them.

* * * *

Luke glanced at Toby, a knowing smiling on the senior agent’s face. “Breakfast might be a while, Toby. We should check perimeters. Take the back, but stay away from the kitchen window if you want to stay in the boss’s good graces.” Toby nodded, sliding his Sig out to check the load before slamming the clip back into place and shoving it into its holster at the small of his back.

Luke cocked his head to one side. “Lexi! Toby and I will be checking perimeters, so give us a squawk when breakfast is done!” He listened for a moment before heading toward the front door. “Keep your head down, Toby. I’ll meet you in ten in the back yard. Stay away from the kitchen windows. Lexi may shoot first and ask questions later.”

Toby nodded. “I never would have thought a woman like Lexi would ever end up with a scumbag like Gabe.”

Luke turned around. “Toby, you’ve been cut a lot of slack because you’re new to our team, so I’m only going to say this once and hope you learn. Gabe worked for the mob, but he had ethics. He would have nothing to do with the drug trade, and he never beat anybody up who owed money. He was more like Tony Blandon’s personal security, and he almost lost his life when the Traegers shot down the family. He’s a strong man, who has a bit of a self-esteem issue, but he loves Lexi, and I think she loves him. After losing Molly...” He had to pause to calm down his own emotions. “This life is too short, and if they can find happiness, I’m all for it.”

“What about the rules of conduct? Aren’t they breaking, like, eighteen of those?”

“Not that I’ve been able to see. She’s helping him in the kitchen, Luke. That’s all we need to know. Okay?”

Toby looked thoughtful. “Has this ever happened before with Lexi?”

“No, she’s always been someone who ran by the rules as closely as she could. She works sixteen-hour days and longer and puts her life on the line for every case she has. I think this one time we could cut her some slack. I think both Gabe and Lexi deserve a bit of slack.”