Invincible (A Kingpin Love Affair Book 3) (7 page)

As I continued to stare at her face, it made me realize just how beautiful she was. Her beauty hadn’t changed an ounce since the day I left her.

That only made me think further into what it was that she had done wrong. The man in the suit said something about a debt. Had she borrowed money? Did she have a gambling problem? Was she on drugs? If she headed down a dark road, I would do nothing but blame myself. Hell, I already blamed myself.

“Hey! Bring her back here!” My eyes lifted from her face and rested on the man the voice belonged to—was he her boyfriend? He had protected her, stepped in front of her. Maybe I should just leave her here…

“Who are you to her?” I asked, trying to hide any and all jealously. After all, this was technically FBI regulations, meaning I had to keep it all impersonal. Except with Tegan. I was getting anything but impersonal with her.

The man looked bewildered as my grip on Tegan grew tighter. There was no way I was giving her over to this man.

“I’m her boss, who are you?” He questioned right back. Okay, so he wasn’t her boyfriend, but from the look in his eyes, I knew he wanted to be. For some reason, though, I hadn’t had a fucking claim to this beauty. However, it caused a fire to stir deep in my soul.

“I’m D,” I half-lied, giving him my first initial. There was no way this slime ball was getting my full name, and I most definitely wasn’t going to give away that I was FBI. He and whatever fucking operation he was running through here would run for the hills.

Looking at me sideways, his eyes lingered over Tegan. He looked as if he was assessing her for wounds, as if I would hurt her. That only seemed to make me angrier. My blood was boiling as I held her securely against my chest.

“Give her to me. She doesn’t know you and neither do I.” His voice was full of uneasiness as if I were the one who had just walked into the diner, shooting the hell out of people. I knew the moment the man in the suit pointed his gun at Tegan I would have to open fire on all their asses. It worked, but only slightly, most of the men got away. A few were shot, their blood smeared across the floor of the diner. Unfortunately, they all made it back to the car. They were driving off just as I was running out the back door to get Tegan.

“Nah. I’m going to take her home, make sure she gets where she needs to be safely,” I lied. In reality, I was going to take her back to my cabin and lose my fucking mind. Then figure out where to go from there. See, it wasn’t his business though.

“I don’t think that’s a very good—”

“You don’t want to know what I think right now. All I’m going to tell you is if you want her working for you, you best make sure no more men come into your diner shooting at your employees, because if she gets hurt, if a piece of her auburn hair is even out of place for one fucking second, I will kill you and anyone who hurt her with my bare hands. Understand?” As if he were shocked by what I had said, he nodded his head turning around and heading back toward the restaurant.

What the fuck did I just say? Better yet, did I mean it? Something was stirring deep within my chest, and the more I stared at her beautiful face, the more it reminded me of a time when we were happy, a time when we were all I could ever think about.

Turning around, I headed back toward my car with Tegan in my arms. About half way there, a moan resonated from within her… drawing me from my own thoughts. I needed to get her in the car before she woke up because I knew if that happened, there would be no getting her where I needed her to be.

“Don’t worry, Teg. I got you…” I whispered in her ear, the smell of cherries hitting me right in the face. She even smelled the same. In that moment, all I could think about was running my lips along her throat, her collar bone, inhaling her scent until she became a permanent fixture inside my body. Until she was mine.

As my car came into view, I balanced her weight so I could get my keys out of my pocket. As I moved her around in my arms, I silently hoped the jostling wouldn’t wake her. With a push of the key fob, the door unlocked and I gently placed her in the backseat, even taking the time to buckle her in. Why? I didn’t fucking know. Maybe it was so I could touch her for an extra moment. Revel in the way her skin felt against my hands even if it was just for a second more, because I knew when she awoke it wouldn’t happen again. She would never want the man who had hurt her more than anything to touch her again.

Running to the other side of the car, I jumped in only to stop for a second to think about what I should do.

I could call my boss and risk getting my ass chewed out or worse, being removed from the FBI for not listening to him. I wanted to call Zerro, but that would result in dragging him into this shit storm. That was the last thing I wanted to do because, when shit hit the fan, I didn’t want to drag him down with me, and shit always hit the fan.

And just like that, I had no other options. I had to take her back to the cabin. I had to take her into my own protection. Silently cursing myself, and even Tegan for getting herself into this predicament, I started the Tahoe, throwing it into drive and heading out toward Farmer Johnson’s cabins.

The whole way, I contemplated what I would say to her. How I would calm her down and what I would do to stop myself from undressing her. The very thought caused me to grip the steering wheel harder. One thing hadn’t changed between us and that was the pull. The air around her was electrically charged, and it pulled me in every chance it got. It always had.

As we pulled onto the dirt road, I allowed myself to feel everything for what it was. I had spent so much time turning the other cheek. Running from her and the past. All I had managed to do was put off the inevitable, and there was one thing that scared me more than anything else ever had—what if I had done all of this with the right intentions only for her to turn around and hate me. Even more so, what if I had done this to us with no real need because the entire reason I left was to protect her and somehow, she had ended up here anyway. Then again, she wouldn’t have to hate me… I was already starting to hate myself enough for the two of us.

I pulled up to the cabin and put the vehicle in park. Then I grabbed my handcuffs and gazed at her from the rearview mirror. Had I made the biggest mistake of my life leaving her?

There was no question about it. I was so stupid. Getting out of the car, the cold air bit against my skin, and I relished in the pain. The hate. The anger I had for myself. All the emotions I had in that one moment of time was more than I could handle.

Gently, I removed Tegan from the car and then opened the front door of the cabin. Where was I going to put her? Bed? Could I handle her in my bed?

The handcuffs sat in my hand heavily. Bed it was. Moving her, I positioned her over my shoulder as I climbed the ladder to the bunk. Her ass was right next to my face and the urge to grip it was rushing through me.

With a soft thud, I dropped her to the mattress, handcuffing one of her hands to the pillar. Now she wouldn’t be able to go anywhere. I removed her shoes and pulled a blanket up to her chest wanting to make sure she was comfortable. Then I did something completely strange. I sat on the other side of the bed and stared at her. My eyes roamed over every inch of her.

I smiled as a memory of us surfaced in my mind.

“My mom says I can’t watch the Sex in the City movie.” Tegan pouted, her top teeth digging into her bottom lip. Was she really sad over something so small?

“What’s the big deal? Just sneak behind her back. You sneak all kinds of other stuff behind her back….” I teased.

“That’s not the same,” she said socking me in the arm. I rubbed at it pretending to let her think it had hurt.

“Don’t abuse me, unless you want me to abuse you back…” I winked.

“Oh, shut up!” A ruby-red blush marred her cheeks.

“What is so bad about this movie anyway?”

“I don’t know really… It has sex in it, and ummm… while that’s probably all… She says it’s too adult like for me.” She giggled and stumbled over her words. We were only seventeen. We hadn’t talked about having sex, though I knew she knew I wanted it. God, it was all I could think about. That and her tits.

“Dev?” she called to me, bringing me out of sex-induced thoughts.

“So what? Sex is a part of life. Watch it and take from it what you want. Then apply whatever you learn to your own sex life,” I exclaimed wiggling my eyebrows back and forth.

“Very funny, Devon. Like I’m ready for sex yet.” Her cheeks grew redder with every word she said. This conversation was foreign to her, but I loved it and the innocence she exuded.

Leaning in real close to her, I nipped at her ear. Her breath caught, and I knew I had some type of effect on her. I could hear her heart beating loudly, and all I wanted to do was lay a path of kisses across her chest. Instead, I whispered the words I wanted to say. “Someday you will be ready and when that time comes, I’ll be right here to give you what you need.” I let the words I had said sink in, and when I pulled away from her, her cheeks were flushed and her lips were ready to be devoured.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Tegan

MY BODY SWAYED to the beat of the music, my hips finding their own rhythm.

“I don’t like the way everyone looks at you…” His voice caused goose bumps to spread across my skin. His hands had landed on my hips, just barely touching, though they felt as if they weighed twenty pounds each.

“Why?” I whispered back to him over the music. My senses were heightened, and desperately, I wanted to turn around and lay my lips against his, run my fingers through his hair, and never forget the way his eyes held mine.

“Because they look at you like I do…”

The words bounced around my mind as I came to… Devon! Oh, shit, Devon was here. He had a gun and he was here. Here. Bolting up from the laying position I was in, I opened my eyes. My right hand snagged on something and suddenly, I was turning to see what the problem was.

Handcuffs? Really? Where was I? I filtered through my memories, piecing the events together. I was with Devon… But now—

“Welcome back, sunshine.” Gone was the wondering about the handcuffs because now I understood completely.

“Get these off me. I want to go home.” There was no niceness in my voice, and though I tried not to let my eyes linger, they did.

He smirked and it killed me. It killed every single shred of pain he had brought down on me over the years. It was like my own personal cure for heartache.

“Nope. You have a shit ton of explaining to do. And believe me when I tell you I knew you wouldn’t stay put once you awoke, so I took it upon myself to hinder you from running.”

Fucker. A sheen of sweat was already forming on my body, and my stomach was tossing and turning as if I were riding the world’s worst roller coaster.

“By the look in your eyes, I take it you don’t like that idea.” Damn, was he Captain obvious?

“Not particularly. Not that I mean to bring up the past or anything, but after everything I have been through, I would rather forget this ever happened and move on with my life.” My tone was impassive as I took in the cabin. I was doing anything I could to stop myself from staring at him. He walked up the ladder the rest of the way, and then ducked, crawling across the mattress. The distance between us grew smaller and smaller.

Never in my life had I thought I would be this close to the man who had broken my heart again or that I would even allow it.

“There’s a bit of a problem with your whole plan here, Tegan.” He flexed his fingers as his eyes ran up my body.

“Problem? You’re right. The problem is you, these handcuffs, and the idea that you think I will tell you something when there is nothing to talk about. That’s the problem.” My voice was rising and my cheeks were turning red, but I didn’t care. It didn’t bother me to embarrass myself. Falling in love with him and allowing him to break my heart had been the worst kind of embarrassment. This was a piece of cake.

He leaned his face into mine, his lips mere millimeters away. The same lips I had touched with my own…. Memories were threatening to swarm me, but I pushed them away.

“I can see that distance doesn’t make the heart grow fonder,” he pondered as he raised his eyebrows at me. I stared at his face, his unique scent invading my breathing space. With every breath, I got the scent of rain water and fresh cut grass. How could he still smell like that? How could he still be the same, but different?

“Distance has done nothing for me. Now, I don’t feel like rehashing this shit years after it has—” One of his thick fingers landed against my lips, signaling me to shut up. His eyes glittered with amusement as I forced myself to refrain from biting him.

“Less talking on your part and more staring at me.”

I rolled my eyes. Well, his ego hadn’t change, that’s for sure.

“I have my reason for leaving. I have a reason for every single thing I ever did wrong. It might not ever be right, and it more than likely won’t fix the pain I have caused you, but it might give you closure. So hear me out….”

Great. I was going to have to listen to a sob story, and then he would beg me back. I had read about and seen this in every book and movie out there.

Tilting my chin up so I had nowhere to look but straight into his emerald eyes, he said, “I need you to look at me. I need you to see me, please see me because I see you. From the moment I laid eyes on you, all I ever saw was you. I just… I just couldn’t be the one to give you everything you deserved. Do you see me? I could have never been your husband, the person to give you every fucking thing! I left because there’s shit about my family you didn’t know back then, and I never wanted you to know. The only fucking way for me to get away from them was to leave you. So I did.” He struggled over his words, and the tears found their way onto my eyes.

“I left the one fucking person my heart beat for. I went into the service. I thought serving my country would make me a better person. When I got out, I went into the FBI. I was living my dream one would think, except I wasn’t. It was my nightmare. I saw so much fucked up shit. Shit I will never un-see… shit I have had to do. SO don’t think I had it easy because I’m haunted every fucking time I close my eyes.”