Saving secrets, p.16
Saving Secrets, page 16
I looked to Eli. “What is he talking about?”
Eli turned ashen. “I didn’t know, Ace. I—”
“Don’t come looking for me.” I slammed the pathetic excuse for a door behind me.
I searched the warehouse for Reginn, then the showers, but found him making circles around the helicopter, like a phantom walking in step with death, treading lightly so the living didn’t come looking.
When he heard my footsteps, he lifted his face to me, but he didn’t speak.
“I’d ask a penny for your thoughts, but I think they’re worth a twenty-dollar bill tonight.” I leaned against the side of my bird, wondering if Reginn bartered with a god to take his life in exchange for Payton’s. Or am I the only martyr left in the world?
“I think Victor would share his for a peso.” Reginn didn’t have any malice in his voice. He acted as if he accepted Victor’s judgment.
“Is the cargo explosive, Reginn?” I already knew the answer, but I needed to hear him say it.
His stoic reply stung more than it should have. “Yes. But you didn’t need to know that, Rhea. You’ve done fine with the cargo. As long as it remains stable, it’s the same as flying bricks.”
“I deserved to know!”
“Conrad didn’t want you to worry about another element in the air.”
“You know Reginn, sometimes you have to do the wrong thing to do the humane thing,” I said.
“And how did that turn out for you today?” The moment it was out of his mouth, I could see his regret. “Shit, Rhea. I didn’t mean it.”
I swallowed my own guilt down. “You did.” I slapped the side of the helicopter so hard a loud pop echoed through the valley. “You did mean it!” I wished this day would fucking end already. I wanted to lash out at Reginn for lying to me, for choosing the job over me.
I laughed. Of course he did. This was his life. I am but a blip on his radar.
“The funniest part of this whole shit show is that I originally came out here to be your friend. I thought you might need someone after the crap that was said in there.” But he didn’t want a friend. He didn’t want me. “It was a waste of my time. You don’t trust me enough to talk to me.” I kicked a rock toward his leg. “You’re a hypocrite. You want me to tell you everything, but you tell me nothing. I don’t even know who you are, Reginn.”
“I do trust you,” he said.
“You don’t have to lie to both of us. I’ll fly the cargo no matter what.” I pivoted on a heel to walk away. I couldn’t keep playing ping-pong with my emotions around this man.
“We were in Lebanon, working for AMN, when a target was discovered inside a building. Our job was to engage. Take down the target. And get all of the intel inside his home before leaving.”
I turned around. “What went wrong?”
“Nothing, if everything would have been exactly as we trained. Payton and I had entered the house. We cleared each room down a long hallway. There were two rooms remaining on the left. I took the first, he took the second. The target was in my room, he aimed his gun to fire. I shot first. Target extinguished. That should’ve been a job well done.”
I reached for his hand.
He stepped away from me.
“But walls of clay don’t stop a bullet from an M4.”
I closed my eyes. “Your bullet went through the target, then the wall, and hit Payton?” I tried to take another step toward him, so I could soothe the pain reverberating off of him like an earthquake. “I’m so sorry.” I wished there was more to say, but sympathy didn’t heal a wound like this. Only Reginn could do that.
“No matter what I say, I can’t undo it. No one else fired the bullet that went through Payton’s side, sliding exactly where his steel plates didn’t cover. It pierced through his heart and lungs, then lodged itself in his spine. Victor blames me. And he should.” Reginn paced with a vengeance. He wouldn’t even look at me anymore.
“Do you talk to Payton about it?”
“Are you not socially aware? He’s dead, Rhea!”
“I know.” I took a deep breath and reached for Reginn’s moving body on his tenth loop around the helo. “Talk to his ghost. You feel him, don’t you? Payton won’t leave your mind, will he?” I forced Reginn to stand still with me. “I will never fully know what you went through. And I’m a mess of a human, so take it with a grain of salt. But talking to him might help.” I slid my hands up his wrists. “You choose when you let go.” I smoothed my hand up his chest and swallowed down my own realization.
“You want me to talk to a ghost?”
I kissed his jaw. “Yeah. I do.”
Reginn rubbed the top of my hair, gently playing with the strands. “Maybe one day,” he said.
I went onto my tiptoes and caressed his cleanly trimmed beard with my lips, enjoying the slight tickle, and the strange familiarity that came with touching him. I tilted my head and swept my mouth against his for a soft, languid, kiss. One where we didn’t fight for supremacy. Just one of warmth, sharing a bond in a way no one else knew.
“I want to erase the past,” he whispered into my ear. “For the both of us.”
“That isn’t possible. But what if we create something new? A good memory for both of us.” I traced my fingers over the wolf tattoo I could barely see through his thin white T-shirt.
Reginn’s strong hands inched me into his body. When we were this close, the energy drawing me into him, tying us together, almost felt visible. Like a firefly in the distance twinkling its light then fading suddenly, only to reappear again, brighter, closer, more vibrant than before. He cupped my face, forcing my eyes up to his piercing blue gaze. “Mine. You’re mine tonight. No one else’s.”
The claim was simple. I understood what he meant. It heated my core and sent a white-hot flame through my heart. I wanted Reginn. Only Reginn. “You’re the only man I want to think about tonight.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
REGINN
I KISSED RHEA, TASTING HER unique flavor, knowing the connection between us was different than any other woman I’d taken to my bed. She was carving herself into my soul. And the places where she hollowed out, she filled with her passion. She took away part of what I thought I would always carry with me—resentment, guilt, and pain.
Rhea became restless in my arms. She withered against me, wrapping her arms around my neck. She sank her devious fingers under my shirt and scoured them down my chest. I groaned so loudly, Aden on the damn mountain could’ve heard me. “Christ, Rhea. I’m bending you over the side of this helicopter and taking you right here for everyone to see if you do that again.”
Rhea licked her lips like I’d promised her favorite treat.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” I asked.
Rhea flicked her tongue over my lips, teasing me with her mouth, not letting me fully kiss her. “Against it might cause a crowd to form. I was thinking in it.” She stepped back and opened the side door.
I would never find another like Rhea.
I shed my shirt and threw it inside. I didn’t want a barrier from her touch. I loved the feel of her hands against my skin, the way she explored the ink on my body with a heated fascination. She liked the wolf. I knew by the way her tongue swirled down its face like she was petting it. No one had done that before, and it made me want her heart even more.
Her bite mark had faded over the tattoo. The possessive part of me wished she would give me another tonight.
On the days I’d been gone with Victor, I imagined too many times her mouth claiming me again. I blamed my ancestors for the savage thoughts I wasn’t going to share with Rhea. She would make a run for the hills if she knew the way I wanted her.
I lifted her into my arms and laid her down in the bay of the helicopter. Now empty of cargo, we had plenty of room. I shut the door and crawled onto Rhea as she worked out of her shirt and boots simultaneously.
Always in such a hurry.
I pinned her wrists over her head and spread her legs with my thigh, gently rubbing my groin against her clothed core. I wanted her to know what she was getting into. “Are you sure, Rhea?” My body roared to take her hard, to possess her in every way that she wasn’t ready to have.
She rolled her hips with a frustrated moan. “The sex thing is easier if I’m naked.”
I cupped her chin, drawing her eyes to mine. “We cross this line only if you tell me, yes.” Of all of the rules we were destroying, I wouldn’t break this one. I needed her, but only if she needed this too.
“Does my quick strip indicate otherwise?”
“Say it.”
An impish smile twisted her lips. “Yes, Viking, plunder away.” She tugged open my belt. “But we should make some time before we have an audience.”
I kissed her lips lazily. Forcing myself to slow this down for the both of us. “Foreplay, darling. Foreplay. We’ve been over this.” She didn’t want romance which threw me for a loop. It’s not like I could offer it here, in this hell, but I still wanted to give it to her. Tonight there wouldn’t be any seduction, or flowers, or candlelight, but we were at least going to enjoy every last moment together. And I was going to wring every ounce of pleasure from her body before this night was over.
Rhea eased her hips to the ground and wrapped her hand around my length. Her fingers fit, just nearly. “I don’t want you walking away this time.”
I forced a shaky breath into my lungs. “You’re mine. This night is all ours. The hounds of hell aren’t keeping me away from you tonight.” I kissed her deeply, swallowing her sighs and aching murmurs for more.
I licked down to the clasp of her pants, and snapped them open, then slid my tongue over each delicate hip bone. My lips whispered over the scars weaving down her outer thigh. I hadn’t noticed them earlier. Rubbing the pad of my thumb over the marred skin, I memorized the pattern of marks to ask her about it later.
I uncovered more skin, inch by inch, my lips leading the way.
Rhea spurred her fingers into my hair, holding me against her while I cupped her mound in my hand and continued my quest further south. “Reginn?” she asked.
“Yes, darling?”
She shimmied her hips, creating more pressure against my palm. “Could you, umm…”
I’d never seen Rhea shy for a damn moment. Her hesitancy made me pause. “Rhea, anything you want, I’m ready to give it to you.”
She tugged softly at my hair, leading my lips to her core, then lifting her hips. “Lick me?”
I spread Rhea’s legs even wider apart. “Lick you? Baby, I’m going to feast.” I swiped my hand down her slick cleft. “Yeah, darling. I’m going to enjoy every last drop.” I adored every part of the act—watching her face, feeling her pleasure, and hearing her murmur my name over and over while my arousal built. When she seized against my fingers, I didn’t lift my lips until every last bit of her release was on my tongue.
Her heady taste had me dazed, caught in a storm of need. I needed to be inside Rhea. I flipped onto my back, taking her with me. She should control this, not me. I didn’t trust myself to not take something she didn’t want to give.
Rhea straddled my hips. In the dim light, I saw the yellow, green, and brown hues of her eyes brighten. The sensual softness of her body conflicted with the fire in her stare as she gripped me in her hand, stroking me slowly from base to tip. “You’re… a lot,” she said. But there wasn’t a tentativeness in her voice, or her touch.
I couldn’t hold back my grin. “I thought you liked a challenge?” I laved at her swollen breasts, waiting for her response. If she had second thoughts, we’d stop. I promised myself I would.
She tangled her fingers in my hair, and I began to suck roughly at each nipple. Her head fell back on a moan. I didn’t have to guess at her thoughts now. This was what she wanted. And I loved giving it to her.
Rhea’s hands firmly caressed me. I didn’t believe I could get any harder until she peered at me with the look of a true hellion. “Don’t worry, Wolfy. I’ll be gentle.” The wickedness in her eyes told me she lied. She planned to destroy the aching need inside both of us. Whatever it took.
#
RHEA
REGINN WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL man I’d ever touched. The surreal moment charged me with a lust I didn’t think I could possess. It’d been so long since I’d even wanted someone. Now I realized, I’d waited too long. I’d deprived myself of an integral part of me for so many years. I used to love sex, every part of it.
Reginn stretched me, burning me, making me want more. With his hips still, he played with my nipples, and put every possible part of me into his mouth. When he was fully sheathed inside me, I didn’t believe I could take a deep breath without crying out.
The game between us began again, we both knew it. Who would move first? Who would seek more pleasure first? Reginn dared me with his eyes.
My hands clenched on his chest, my nails biting into him, but Reginn’s fingers never paused their dark caresses. I couldn’t hold out any longer when he used his teeth against the column of my neck. My hips jerked and began a violent rhythm of their own while Reginn’s guttural words mixed with his harsh kisses. “Mine. My wicked little Ace. All mine.”
I closed my eyes. His claim wasn’t permanent. I knew it, and yet it spurred my pleasure higher. I wanted to hold back, raise the intensity even more, until we both couldn’t stand it. Even more, I wanted to take Reginn’s release with mine this time.
But I lost myself when he tilted his hips and surged inside me. I burst apart on his third thrust, unable to hold back for another breath.
Reginn buried my head in his chest to muffle my scream.
On his next thrust, I felt him shudder underneath me with a deep growl from his chest, “Rhea.”
I stayed bound in his arms, sated for the first time since I could remember, listening to our panting breaths. My head laid on his wolf, and I traced the woven design down his arm.
This was a different side of Reginn. The man, not the soldier.
He pushed the hair back from my face and feathered a kiss over my forehead. He performed the act with a simple familiarity, like he’d done it a hundred times. As if we weren’t practically strangers to each other. I’d signed on for the mind-blowing sex, not the cozy, drowsy, after thing we were doing.
I turned my head and tried to roll out of the cocoon he’d made around me. He clenched his arms in a quick squeeze. “I’ll clean you up. Don’t move.”
Torn between pulling away to make a point, or staying still to not make a further mess of the helicopter, I laid motionless while Reginn grabbed a bottle of water from the cockpit and dampened his T-shirt.
When I saw what he intended to do, I opened my mouth to object. But he kneeled beside me, kissed each of my hips, then gently used his shirt in between my thighs.
Nope. I was wrong. I should’ve made a run for it. Naked or not.
A man had never done this for me after sex. I thought it would be awkward, but with Reginn it was plain intimate. Then tantalizingly carnal. He took a sip of the tepid water, drew away the shirt and lowered his mouth to me. He carefully dripped the water from his mouth onto my body.
I held my breath as he swiped his tongue across my oversensitive slit.
The intensity in which Reginn did everything scared me. This simple action became downright depraved.
My toes curled on his second mouthful. He laved at my swollen clit, while lapping up the water. I couldn’t stop the small tremors raking through my body. And with a shaky moan, I came in an unexpected wave of pleasure.
What is he doing to me?
“What the hell was that?” I asked.
Reginn’s eyes danced with satisfaction. He licked his lips like he just finished a plate of chocolate cake, not licking me clean. “Afterplay. Just as important as the foreplay.”
Is this man for real?
“Huh? Never heard of it. But five stars, Wolfy. I’ll write you a superb Yelp review. Promise.” I snagged my bra and pulled it on. While I turned my shirt inside out, Reginn laid on his side, rubbing his hand up my thigh.
“How did you get these?” He circled a callused finger over each perfectly rounded scar on my thigh. Six in total, a straight line down my leg.
I didn’t have to tug at the memory. It came flying forth with vivid detail. “It’s from when I was a teenager.”
“You throw yourself out of a tree or jump off the second story of a house and end up in the rose bushes trying to break curfew?” Reginn laughed. “God help your parents. How did they survive you?”
“They didn’t,” I said without reservation. “My grandparents raised me and Nicky.” I shrugged. “Alcoholics. Other issues. They did us a favor by dropping us at our grandfather’s farm and never coming back.”
A darkness shadowed over Reginn’s face. “You were abandoned?”
“I think of it as the best thing they ever did for us. My mother’s parents owned a large farm, and they only had one kid, my mom. I don’t even remember my dad at all. And the bits and pieces I do recall of my mom aren’t worth sharing.” They weren’t present in our lives even before they left us. I’d loved my grandmother dearly until she passed Nicky’s senior year in high school. “My grandparents were the reason I ever became anything. My grandfather had been in the Army Air Core back in the 1930s and early forties. He convinced me to be a pilot, said it was in my nature.” He had passed a few years before my grandmother.
Reginn’s thumb played over my scars. “I’d have liked to have met him.”
“You would’ve liked him. Could’ve bonded over your days in the Army, or mutual hatred of them,” I laughed, debating what my grandfather would’ve thought of Reginn.
He kissed each mark on my leg. “Still doesn’t explain the scars.” Reginn crawled up beside me then nestled my head under his jaw.
“This one was my fault,” I mumbled. “Max, Nicky, and I were playing on my family’s barn. Hide and go seek which Max and I were better at, being so much older than Nicky. But she was small and light. She jumped into a pile of hay from the loft. I followed her.” I rubbed over the scar, unconsciously, remembering the pain. “Nicky missed the board with rusty nails sticking out of it. Thank God because it would’ve cut her into two. But I landed right on it. The nails went straight through my leg and lodged there.”
