Acres, Natalie - Cowboy Boots and Unsettled Debts [Cowboy Boots 3] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) (15 page)

He chuckled. “I just bet you will.”

“You son of a bitch,” she whispered. “You’ve been a part of this team since day one, haven’t you?”

“Yes. Conrad thought I was a perfect candidate for the job.”

“I bet he did,” she said quietly. “Does Brantley know?”

“He does now,” Kit replied.

“How about Ace?”

Kit felt the wind leave his chest. Ace pissed him off, and he wasn’t in the dark about why he infuriated him. Ace had been digging around in Abby’s past. He did things the normal man wouldn’t do unless he was either an obsessed lunatic or a man in love. As much as Kit would like to credit him with the first, Ace wasn’t crazy. He was one of the best in the Underground Unit.

Fact was, if he’d been in Abby’s bed first, Conrad would’ve sent him packing, too. Instead, he and Judson were the two chosen. They should’ve kept their dicks out of Abby’s pussy.

“You didn’t answer me,” Abby said, a flash of hurt in her eyes. “Does Ace know about you?”

“Relax,” Judson said, helping her take a sip of water from a plastic bottle. “Your little boyfriend didn’t know about us until a few minutes ago.”

“How do you know?”

“I’m listening in on them now. Wanna hear the conversation?”

She shook her head. “And he’s not my boyfriend.” She stretched her neck and took another drink.

Kit stared at her breasts. Good Lord, he hoped they could kiss and make up soon. He’d missed those sweet tits rubbing against his lips. “You don’t know how glad I am to hear you say that, Abby.”

“Why would you care?”

Kit and Judson locked gazes. Finally, Judson said, “It’s a long story.”

“I didn’t ask you, Judson.”

“I think she’s still a little bitter at you, man,” Kit said, sitting on the edge of the bed. He patted her knee. Then he caressed her, his fingers walking higher before he could control them.

“Stop,” she ordered, practically glaring through him.

“Neither one of us wanted to leave you.”

She shrugged. “You left.” Then she looked at Judson. “You were right behind him.” A beat later, she added, “As you can see, I didn’t fall apart. I’m still with the Unit, and I’ve done well for myself.”

“Ah, Abby, you’re still as hard on the outside as you are soft on the in.”

She grunted at that. “Kit, remove your hand from my leg.”

He managed to pull himself away from her. “Abby, there’s a lot you don’t know.”

“Hmm, I guess showing up here would’ve been my first clue there, right?”

“Would you like to hear the story, or do you prefer to be a smart-ass?” Kit asked, thinking he’d love to taste some of her rage. His cock was hard in an instant. He’d watched her with Casey earlier. If Judson hadn’t been viewing the footage with him, he would’ve taken his cock out of his pants and yanked like hell for the freedom he needed—a stout release, potent enough to make him remember why he accepted this job in the first place.

He’d wanted to protect his woman, and so far, so good. Only, he’d missed her more than he’d thought he might. Seeing her every day was a far cry short of holding her in his arms.

“I see you haven’t changed any,” she said, her eyes still moist.

“Don’t do that,” he said firmly.

She looked away.

Judson narrowed his gaze and studied Kit. He probably thought this was one of Abby’s stunts, but Kit knew her better than Judson. He understood her so well he recognized her pain. Oh no, her show of emotion was no game. She’d agonized over their breakup.

“Untie her,” Kit said, his eyes fixated on the little beauty he’d desperately longed to touch again.

“Are you crazy?”

“Maybe,” he admitted. “I still want her free to move about the suite.”

Judson shook his head. “You’re a sucker. That’s all I can say.”

“Abby, if you leave this room,” Kit said in a firm voice, “you will die. Juraz’s men are looking for you, and your new boss doesn’t have a plan in place to…”

A large wallop knocked him for a loop. As soon as she was free, her leg propelled high above her head, and the battle had begun.

“Damn it, Abby!” Kit screamed, rebounding quickly then dashing across the room in an effort to detain her.

“I fucking told ya!” Judson yelled, moaning as she brought him to the floor as well.

Standing over them after a few seconds of wrestling, Abby rested her foot on Kit’s chest. “Now, let’s get one thing straight. I’m in charge now. Conrad wasn’t just my boss. He was my father. I don’t know what you’ve seen, what you’ve overheard, or what you’re doing to gather and maintain intel on me or the rest of our unit, but you can’t read my mind.

“I have a plan for Juraz. It’s my plan. My mission is to take out a target. My father would expect his daughter to pull the trigger. He’d want me to settle this, and you both know it.” She took a deep, ragged breath.

Her lapse in speech forced Kit to see the truth. Abby didn’t want to be the one to deal with Juraz, but she was driven, certain Conrad would expect her to avenge his death.

“Either you work with me or you work against me. I could give three shits about what you do, but I plan to see this task through with you or without you.”

Kit saw an opportunity and took it. He grabbed her ankle and caught her as her knees buckled, forcing her to land atop him. Quickly, he rolled his body over hers, tucking her underneath him. “Well, doll. It looks like you’re stuck with me. Consider the mission ahead a joint venture.”

Chapter Fifteen

“You should’ve saved your energy,” Kit said. “You may need it.”

She couldn’t agree more. An hour later and she was exhausted. She and Kit rolled around on the floor until Judson intervened, and then she’d matched wits with him. Now she wasn’t sure if she was downright enraged or turned on, damp from sweat or drenched in arousal.

“Got ya all worked up, didn’t I?” Kit asked.

She grated back fighting words. She just didn’t have it in her to keep the battle engaged.

Kit was a beast of a man. With chiseled cheeks, an angular nose, and a case of abs, the man looked like the kind of brute another fellow wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley and a woman couldn’t wait to fuck if she happened to find him there.

His coal-black hair was longer than she remembered, hanging slightly beyond his shoulders. Unfortunately, she still itched to weave her fingers through the strands.

This was crazy. Even after five years he could get to her, make her wild to touch him.

Judson, on the other hand, was thinner. He’d changed considerably. Still built for a woman’s pleasure, he stood about three inches shy of Kit’s six-foot-five frame. His fire-red hair was shag-style, and his bangs hung low over those mesmerizing green eyes.

Judson wasn’t pretty-boy handsome. He was manly and sexy, and had once been more man than she could handle in the sack given his enormous dick size—thick, long, wide, and meaty.

She smacked her lips.

“Somebody is most definitely bent out of shape,” Judson said, bringing her attention back to the job at hand.

“So what if I am?” she snapped, deciding honesty was the best policy given the fact she’d been without sex for over a year now, something they probably both knew.

“We could help you out if you need a couple of willing men at your disposal,” Judson suggested.

“I can make do without your assistance.”

Kit chuckled. “Have it your way. You won’t pass up the dessert table for long, lover.”

“Quit calling me pet names,” she grumbled. “If I remember correctly, you dumped my ass and skipped town within an hour of breaking my heart.”

He jerked. She saw a flash of pain in his eyes right before he looked away. When he strolled to the wet bar in the corner of the hotel room, she knew she’d hit a nerve.

“Abby, we don’t have time to rehash the past,” Judson said. “We need to know what happened with Juraz.”

“You tell me. You’re the one who seems to know everything about this mission. Why don’t you start at the beginning and I’ll fill in where you’re lacking information.”

“The beginning starts at his club,” Kit said, pouring a straight shot of bourbon. “We were privy to intel there. Why don’t you tell us what happened on the plane.”

Immediately, she felt her skin heat.

“You didn’t fuck him,” Kit stated flatly.

Their eyes met. “You aren’t so sure about that, are you?”

“I’m sure,” he said, gulping his liquor.

“The hell you are, Kit.” She fluffed up a pillow from the bed and leapt to the center of the mattress, positioning herself squarely in the middle. Crossing her ankles, she folded her hands in her lap. “Thing is, big boy, you couldn’t handle the truth if I gave it straight to you.”

“Try me,” he suggested, winking.

“All right,” she began, wiggling her shoulders against the pillow. “Juraz gave me a dildo. He told me to put it in my pussy. I couldn’t get excited, so I thought about the man who turned me on most. I texted him.”

“I didn’t receive the message,” Kit said. “Sorry about that.”

“I don’t have your number.” A beat later she looked at Judson. “Or yours. Wanna guess again?”

Kit frowned. “So you contacted Ace and then what? The two of you had wild and passionate text sex?”

She sighed dramatically. “Yes, but that didn’t work.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Kit asked.

“So phone sex did the trick,” she stated proudly. “Want me to go on?”

* * * *

“He’s not picking up,” Brantley informed the group when he met his team in the command center later that evening. “Why don’t we turn in for the night? We’ll call them first thing in the morning.”

“Try him again,” Ace said, thinking this was typical Kit Reeves. He was an arrogant somebody. He played by his own rules, worked solo better than with a team, and had been so crazy about Abby he was nearly obsessed.

After Ace received the file on their relationship, he’d been a little envious. Kit and Abby had a torrid love affair, apparently had a fuck-load of sex, and didn’t care where they screwed so long as they did it several times a day.

“You still with us, Ace?” Porter asked, staring right at his pecker.

Ace dropped his hands over his crotch. “Man, I don’t go that way.”

“Me either, but you’ve sported that hard-on all day. Maybe you can go manhandle your little problem then tell us about it in the morning. Perhaps debrief us on the matters you found under hand.”

“Go fuck yourself,” Ace snapped.

“Chill, Ace,” Fowler said.

“Has Abby tried to contact anyone?” Ace asked, scanning the faces in the room. “Casey?”

“No.”

“He wasn’t that memorable,” Porter teased.

Casey smirked. “Don’t be so sure about that. If she phones a friend, I’ll be the first on speed dial.”

“If Kit doesn’t want her to check in, she won’t,” Brantley said.

Ace looked at his watch. “It’s three in the morning. What kind of operative doesn’t have his phone on at three a.m.?”

“Maybe the kind of agent who is pretty tied up at the moment,” Porter suggested. “Did you ever think of that?”

“Fuck you again.”

“I’m beginning to think you want to. Every single time I’m around you, you’ve got that thing pointed at me.”

Ace leapt to his feet and watched as Porter backed the hell up. He could taunt the hell out of him all he wanted. Abby belonged to him. Soon, she’d realize it, if she didn’t already. Sure, she cared about the others, but she was
his girl
.

Brantley hit
redial
. “There. Satisfied?” he asked, holding up his phone. Pressing the speaker option, the phone rang and rang.

Finally, Kit answered. “What the fuck do you want? Do you know what time it is?”

“I’m your commanding leader. I want Abby here by ten in the morning. Are we clear?”

“Do you have a plan?”

“Yes.”

“Good. We do, too. We’re sticking with Abby on this. I’ll explain tomorrow. Sleep well, Brantley.” The phone went dead.

Fuck.

Ace massaged his temples. This wasn’t good.

Chapter Sixteen

“I might have killed him if he’d fucked her,” Judson admitted, thinking he might still if Abby couldn’t eliminate the bastard.

“Who—Ace or Juraz?” Kit asked, rubbing his nape.

They’d been sitting on the sofa watching Abby sleep for the last several hours. Few words had passed between them.

They’d anticipated this day, known it would eventually come, but when the moment arrived and intervention was necessary, they almost didn’t do what was required. In fact, Judson encouraged Kit to make the call and let Brantley handle her.

Too much time had passed. There were too many questions to face and answers they didn’t want to provide.

“At this point, I’ll say Juraz,” Judson finally replied.