Mighty Men with Weapons (15 page)

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Karen made a serious error in judgment when she released the wire on the back door. She wanted to open up the back of the house and allow the breeze to blow through the cabana. She never counted on company in the middle of the afternoon.

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120

Addison Avery

The ISOs holding her had cold eyes. They were young and green, and both men had something to prove. She understood the young guns and the way they thought. They wanted to take their shots, have their first assignments complete and tidy so they could earn their first paycheck and receive their well earned praise.

The two operatives secured her in a fetal position, bound by her hands and feet. Then, they left her on the floor. She looked around for anything she could later use, a hidden knife or even a razor blade. If she found anything to cut the ropes confining her, she’d run like hell and find Nate.

Oh, God, where was Nate? Why wasn’t he there to save her?

She swallowed hard. What if he still didn’t trust her? What if they were going to let her take the first fall for them simply because of a grave error, a mistake she shouldn’t have made?

She heard an operative say something about Shoemaker. Then, the other one left the room. She heard some low babbling, a conversation in progress a few rooms down the hall. Unable to make out the words, she tried to remain calm and think of a plan to put into motion, but strategies were hard to devise given her current predicament.

Blinking, she looked up at the window and saw Donovan peer in and then duck again. Her heart raced. Thank God, she thought.

Donovan would help her. He waited for his chance, the perfect opportunity to strike.

Kneeling, one of the operatives said, “Miss Whitaker is it?”

Glaring, she said, “Who wants to know?”

“Dumb bitch,” the ISO said, drawing back to strike.

The other ISO blocked the punch. “Wait a second. We don’t want to mess up her face. The admiral wants her all pretty when he pays her a visit. Admiral Shoemaker seems to have a particular fondness for you, little lady.”

“I bet,” she groaned. “The only fondness he has is for men who can suck cock and women who pretend to think of him as a man with heterosexual desires.”

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“I beg your pardon,” the operative who almost struck her choked back his amusement.

Laughing, she said, “Ah, don’t tell me. You boys didn’t know about Admiral Thomas F. Shoemaker’s fetish for guys in uniform?”

She glanced over their shoulders and saw Donovan again. He pointed toward the door and then mouthed something. She assumed he wanted to know how many ISOs guarded her. She blinked twice, tilting her head toward the men crouched over her. They immediately turned to look behind them. He ducked.

Distracting them, she said, “The two of you are crazy if you think you won’t soon have the same mark on your heads. Why don’t you take a peek in a mirror when you get a chance?

“Strong, tough, military men like you two, with good bodies and handsome looks to match?” She made a throaty sound and added, “Oh yeah, Shoemaker will use you to take out Nate, Donovan, and Colby.

Then, he’ll put someone on you because you look good enough to suck and swallow. Shoemaker doesn’t like the men who refuse to let him dine.”

The ISO closest to her said, “I see why the admiral wants to handle you by himself. You have a smart mouth, don’t you?”

“I get by,” she said, smiling, truly happy to see Donovan sneaking up on them then.

Whirling his knife, he took the two operatives out before they knew what hit them and then turned to her and said, “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

Cutting the ropes and helping her to her feet, Nate and Colby entered with their weapons drawn.

Nate immediately stormed forward. He gripped her forearms and shook her. “What the fuck were you thinking?” he screamed, never noticing the blood pooling at the necks of Donovan’s victims.

“I made a mistake!”

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Addison Avery

“You’re damn right you did,” Nate said, anger boiling hotter and hotter. “You could’ve gotten yourself killed.” He drew his gun and held it to her head. “I should finish you here.”

Karen’s eyes watered. She felt the moisture pooling at the corners, and she couldn’t see any of them through the tears welling over her pupils. “Then go ahead! Pull the fucking trigger!”

He cocked the gun, and Donovan said, “Put it down, Nate.”

“She’s trying to set us up,” he spat from the corner of his mouth.

“The hell I am,” she fired back.

“She would’ve turned on all of us,” Nate said.

“Fuck, Nate,” Donovan said. “I heard the whole conversation.”

His lips thinned, and she saw his brow crinkle. He wanted to pull the trigger. God help her, he wanted to take the shot and watch her lifeless form fall to the floor.

“I’m not your enemy here, Nate,” she said quietly.

“The hell you aren’t.”

“Nate,” Colby said. “She’s not. You were wrong. We’re running on adrenaline and without enough sleep to process information. Drop the gun, please.”

Nate shook his head once, swallowing over and over again. “I’m not going out because you can’t decide which side you want to stand on when we start firing these guns.” He pressed the revolver against her head one last time. Then, he reluctantly lowered his firearm.

Pain-stricken, her head throbbed as badly as it might have if he had used the weapon to deliver a close-range blow.

“Damn it!” he screamed, stalking away. “I saw you set the bomb at the back door.”

“She did what?” Donovan asked, turning to Karen.

“I armed it, but I knew you saw me, Nate. I only disarmed the damn thing because I wanted to let the breeze blow through the hut while we were covering you.”

“I don’t need you covering me, Karen. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m pretty capable of taking care of myself.”

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She rubbed her head, and Colby studied her. Trying to please Nate, the son of a bitch wasn’t going to side with her now when Nate was clearly wrong and out of hand.

“You,” Nate said, pointing, “need to take the first flight out of here. You’re trying to get us all killed.”

“Oh sure, you know what? You’re right. That’s exactly what I’m doing.” Karen slammed her hands against his rock hard chest. “The only thing I’m doing here is trying to save your mother fucking ass!”

With too much passion released in the way she screamed, never mind the tears streaming across her face, she realized then that Nate saw everything he needed to see. Through blurred vision, she backed away from him and she cried. Damn it all, she bawled like a baby.

Embarrassed, she ran into one of the bedrooms—the one they planned to let her have for herself—and she leapt onto the bed face down. Sobbing like a sentimental, never mind fragile, woman, she buried her sorrow in the mattress.

Yes, undoubtedly, Nate and the others now knew where she stood.

A woman stood by her man. A lover fought beside her greatest loves.

Karen realized then she had to face the truth.

She was one hundred percent committed to Nate Francisco. She also loved the hell out of him.

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124

Addison Avery

“Does he know?” Karen was on the bed with her hands folded under her chin when Donovan walked inside the bedroom. She had long since cried her last tear, and now anger consumed her.

Donovan snickered, sat down next to her and said, “That you’re in love with him?”

“Funny.”

“No, Karen, it’s not. And, yes, I think he has a pretty good idea of how you feel.”

“I hope not.”

Donovan grinned. “Why? You don’t want him to have the pleasure of knowing he makes your heart beat a little faster?”

“He makes it stop altogether,” she said, rolling over and staring at Donovan.

“Yeah, well, welcome to my world.”

Gazing into his eyes, Karen said, “We could all stick together.

You know we could. We’re going to have to run anyway, Donovan.

There’s no way we’ll beat Shoemaker.”

“He’s going down, hon. Nate won’t leave here until Shoemaker comes for him.”

“He’ll come. He’s already on his way according to those two you killed.”

“Did you tell Nate?”

“I heard,” Nate said, walking inside the bedroom. “I was with Colby under the porch, and we could hear bits and pieces of the conversation.”

Karen swallowed. “Get out of my room.”

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“That’s real mature,” Nate said, leaning inside the doorframe.

“Bet you get off on telling big, bad guys what to do.”

Donovan patted her hip and rose to his feet. “I’ll let you two talk this all out.”

“Don’t go,” she pleaded, grasping his forearm.

Searching her eyes, he said, “Karen, why don’t you tell him what you told me.”

“I didn’t tell you anything. You assumed.”

“I spoke the truth. Now he needs to hear it.”

Without waiting for her reply, Donovan moved by Nate. They exchanged a heated glance, and then Nate said, “I’ll be out there in a minute.”

“No hurry,” he said.

Nate stepped inside and closed the door.

“You need to turn right back around and march your sorry ass out of my room.”

“I do?” he asked, unbuttoning his shirt.

Oh, God, why did he have to look at her like he wanted to fuck her in order to make things better?

Dropping his shirt on the bed, he unhooked his belt. “Get out of your clothes, or I’m going to rip them off of you.”

She shivered. Why the hell was she so cold?

“Are you scared?”

“Fuck no!” she blurted, jumping from the bed. She hurried for the door, and he blocked her.

“Have it your way,” he said, warning her only a second before ripping her shirt away from her body. “Want the shorts in shreds, too?”

“Why are you doing this?”

He placed his palms on either side of her head. “Because you started this, and I’m going to finish it.”

Her heart pounded, pounded, pounded. God help her, Nate Francisco was the man she loved. He made her heart beat faster one Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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126

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minute and stole her breath away the very next. “What are you going to do, Nate? Fuck me or kill me?”

He laughed outright.

“Something funny?”

“Yeah,” he said, dropping his mouth to hers and claiming her lips.

“God, yeah, there’s something comical about all of this...especially this.”

Opening wider, his tongue swept into her mouth and swirled around her tongue until she didn’t resist him, couldn’t push him away when her hands defied her and continued to draw him near. He framed her face with his hands—God, she loved that—and made love to her mouth like he enjoyed kissing her more than anything in the world.

Blindsided, she stepped back, losing her balance. Breaking free of his kiss, she regained her composure and said, “You didn’t answer me.”

Nate backed up, stumbled to the bed and fell against it. Motioning for her, he crooked his finger back and forth. “I don’t want to kill you.” He tugged his cock from his shorts and then pushed them away from his buttocks and hips.

Threading his penis in between large fingers, he looked down at his self-inflicted hand job, slowly licked his full mouth and said, “I can do this or you can. Take your pick.”

Smirking, she reached for the doorknob and said, “Since you seem to have everything under control, go for it.”

She opened the door, shook her head, and stepped into the hall.

There, Donovan stood with his arms crossed.

“Great,” she mumbled.

He shrugged. “You wanted Nate. You got him. And you can keep him all night long.”

She whipped around and glared. “You set this whole thing up.”

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“No, sweetheart, you did,” Nate said. “From the moment you came here, you knew what you wanted. I need to find out if you think the effort was a wasted one.”

“I’m—”

Donovan moved forward and whispered in her ear, “You’re wet.

I’d put money on it.” With his hand at her waist, he pushed her back inside the room and sealed off the door once more.

Nate pumped his cock up and down. “Come here, Karen.”

“I—”

“You’re in love with me, I know.”

Damn him. Damn him
.

He winked. “What’s not to love?”

“Plenty,” she promised.

He sat up then and reached for her. “Then fuck me. Prove me wrong.”

She considered her options. Trying to get Donovan to move, which wasn’t possible given her smaller form, or taking the ride of a lifetime, one where she could enjoy Nate all by herself.

Stepping to the bed, she finished undressing. Her bra fell to the mattress, and she removed her shorts and thong, completely saturated with her wet heat.

With her first attempt to join him on the bed, he yanked her forward. Her knees immediately parted over his head, and he assaulted her pussy lips, his tongue stroking deep inside her walls until she wasn’t just drenched with lust but overcome with a desire so thick she felt certain of her own death...by drowning.