Master No (24 page)

So full. He was pulling on her hips, impaling her with that big cock of his, and if she hadn’t been so aroused, it might have been too much. As it was, it felt like perfection. She relaxed and let him take over. “Yes, Master.”

“I won’t hold back anymore, Faith. I’m serious. I’m going to be on top of you three times a day.” His jaw was a hard line, arousal plain on his face. His hips flexed and she felt her body heat all over again.

How could he do that? How could he make her feel this way? “I won’t complain. I’ll take you as often as you want me.”

“Famous last words.” He leaned over, settling himself on top of her, his mouth hovering above hers. “Do you know how good you feel to me? If you don’t believe a damn word I say, believe that I’ve never wanted a woman the way I want you.”

He kissed her swiftly before shoving back up and taking her hips in his hands. He held her tight, his hips moving in a hard rhythm. He fucked in and out, his pelvis grinding against hers on the down stroke.

There was nothing she could do but take everything he had to give her. She would have sworn she couldn’t come again. She’d never been one of those screaming multiple orgasm girls, but Master T was bringing it out of her.

He thrust in and his hips swiveled and she went over the edge again. She wanted to hold on to him, but all she could do was take what he gave. She shouted out his name as another wave hit her. This one was hard, rougher than the first. The pleasure crashed over her, leaving her breathless and exhausted, but she forced herself to stay with him. She wanted to watch him, wanted to see the moment she gave him the same pleasure he gave her.

His eyes closed, head dropping back as he held himself hard against her. His whole body tensed, but he didn’t make a sound. He thrust in a few more times, obviously in the grips of his orgasm, but there was a distance that disappointed her.

When he pulled out, she wanted to reach out and touch him, but he was pretty good with the bondage thing.

“Give me a minute,” he muttered and moved off the bed, disappearing into what she thought was likely the bathroom.

He’d left her. He’d fucked her like she was the last woman on earth and then he’d walked away.

Why would he do that? Faith felt the beginnings of tears and forced them down. She didn’t know this was a rejection. People had odd reactions sometimes. She had to be patient and figure out what the problem was. Diagnose the issue.

Ten had been through a lot. His body attested to his rough life. Something could have triggered a bad reaction.

Or he could have not enjoyed the sex.

God, Faith, go to the worst-case scenario much? The man told you he wanted you more than he’d ever wanted a woman. Give him a minute to process.

Deep breath. It was going to be okay. They were learning each other’s quirks, and she wasn’t going to let her own insecurities derail what was turning out to be a really good relationship. If he felt the desperate need to run and hide in the bathroom moments after orgasm, then she would deal with it.

She wasn’t going to immediately think that the world was over. Positive thinking. Negativity never got her anywhere. Nope. It was going to be all right.

What was she going to do if he dumped her after one night?

The door opened and he strode out, a smooth smile on his face. “Extra large, my ass. I’m going to have a serious talk with Tag about the condoms he uses. I damn near filled that one to overflowing.” He started to work the ties off her wrists. “Or I was incredibly inspired. Sorry I left you in these. I didn’t want to make a horrible mess.”

She sighed as he got her free and drew her into his arms. He rolled over and cuddled her to his body.

“Can you forgive me?” He kissed her nose and smoothed back her hair.

She was warm again. She hugged him tight. This was what she’d missed during sex. She’d never really needed it before, but she craved this kind of intimacy with Ten. Warm and naked and safe. She rested her head against his shoulder. “Totally forgiven.”

“Will you come back to my place?”

Would she spend every minute with him until they had to decide what to do? Until reality invaded? Hell, yes. “Absolutely. My bags are packed and waiting.”

“Perfect,” he murmured.

Faith breathed him in, loving the smell of his skin mixed with the musk of their lovemaking. She relaxed and realized she would do almost anything for this man.

It wasn’t as scary a prospect as she thought it would be. She looked forward to the next few weeks and trusted that everything would work out the way it should.

* * * *

Ten stared at himself in the mirror and wondered what the fuck had happened in there. All around him the locker room was buzzing with sound and life, but he was focused on those last few moments with Faith, when he’d forgotten about anything but the silky feel of her skin, the hot clasp of her body. He’d closed his eyes because looking at her had been too intimate, too close. He’d never felt as close to a woman as he’d felt to Faith in those moments, and it had been far too much.

He’d been an ass. He’d practically jumped off the bed and run the fuck away. He’d stood in the bathroom, trying desperately to stop his fucking hands from shaking.

He’d covered it well. He’d forced himself to behave like an actual operative and not some lovesick idiot. He’d strode back out, made a joke about a condom, and pulled her into his arms. She’d settled in like she belonged there and all was right with the world.

Except he kind of hated himself.

“Just tell her.”

He turned and noticed Liam O’Donnell had left the man cave section of the locker room for the quieter changing stations. Big Tag had kitted up the men’s locker room with a widescreen LCD and a bunch of state-of-the-art lounge chairs. A good portion of the crew was currently sitting around the TV discussing the game that was on. The Rangers were up by two, but according to Tag it was all going to fall apart because the pitcher had a lazy arm or something and it was the top of the eighth.

He was never really one for sports.

“Tell who what?” He forced himself back into friendly mode, plastering that smile on his face that he thought let everyone know he simply enjoyed the world around him and wasn’t he the nicest guy?

O’Donnell’s eyes narrowed and Ten was fairly certain the Irishman wasn’t buying his crap. “Tell Faith the truth. Decide right now if she’s innocent or not and tell her what you’re doing. It’s the only way this turns out all right, or you should learn to get on your knees and beg.”

The last thing he needed was O’Donnell’s interference. “You’re not assigned to this op, Li. I think I know what I’m doing.”

O’Donnell chuckled and crossed over to the locker assigned to him. “Yeah, you got no idea, boyo. And you’re not going to listen to a bloody word I say, are ya?”

Ten turned back to his locker, this time avoiding the mirror on the inner door. Why had Tag put those there? Were all his Doms prima donna divas who needed to check that their guyliner was on properly? He pulled out his shirt, shoving his arms in. “You don’t know the op so I think I’ll keep my own counsel.”

“I might not know the op but I know what it feels like to hate meself for what I’m doing to a woman I care about.”

“Faith is simply the target. Actually, she’s not even the target. She’s the means to get to the target.”

“That’s very Agency of you, Ten. Did they teach you that dialogue? Because it’s all a piece of shit. You like the girl.”

He wished O’Donnell would go away. “She’s a likable woman. I’m still not sure she isn’t involved in her father’s business.” Bullshit. That was complete and utter bullshit. This was a woman who had given medical aid to the asshole who had assaulted her. She’d tended to wounds she’d inflicted, but he really thought she was running around selling out soldiers?

He wanted to follow his instincts. Everything he knew told him Faith was innocent. The trouble was, his instincts had been wrong before. Very wrong.

“Does it matter if she is?” O’Donnell’s voice had gone a bit softer and had an almost nauseating sympathy to it.

Why? Why is it nauseating for a friend to feel for you?
Jamie’s voice was back. He really hoped Ferguson never found out that Ten’s dead brother from another mother talked to him.

Was O’Donnell his friend? “Of course it matters. If she’s involved with her father’s business, then she’s responsible for my brother’s death.”

And that isn’t a world you want to live in so it’s not true.

So said the dead guy. Unfortunately, Ten knew it could be true. And yet he really didn’t want to believe it. If it wasn’t true, she could potentially be in danger. What would she do if she ever discovered her father’s scheme?

What would he do?

“Well, then, I guess I was wrong. You seemed very cozy with her tonight. I thought there might be something there. Sorry. I’m a married man. I want everyone to be as utterly miserable as I am.” It was said with the grin of a man who was far from miserable. Liam O’Donnell was a happy man with a baby boy and a wife he couldn’t take his eyes off of. “I’ll also be glad when this op is over and I get my partner back. Although I’m pretty sure Theo’s turned her into a girl. Ruined a perfectly good drinking buddy. I swear that girl could cuss and drink with the best of them. Now she’s probably going to want to talk about her nails or decorating or something. Still, she’ll probably be more reliable than Boomer.”

“Tag put you with Boomer?” Boomer was a first-rate sniper, but Ten hadn’t hired him for his brains. He was loyal as the day was long, but he wasn’t built for intelligence work.

“Been working a missing persons case. The boy was a fighter. I’ve been posing as Boomer’s trainer to get close to the missing kid’s friends. Turns out he wouldn’t take a dive and the mob took exception.” O’Donnell shook his head. “I hate it when I have to give bad news, but at least they have closure and the bad guys are currently being loved on by even badder guys in the state pen. Boomer was excellent at taking a punch, but I damn near lost him. Wandered away looking for a snack right before the bad shit went down. Came roaring back in with a hot dog in one hand. Let me tell you, don’t come between that kid and his food. It’s lucky those boys made it to prison after what Boomer did to them once they’d made him drop his lunch.”

Ten couldn’t help but smile. He missed his team, but it looked like they were fitting in at McKay-Taggart. Even the ones who hadn’t left the Agency were talking about moving to the private side. “I’m going to have to get a whole new team when I get back. Start from scratch, I guess.”

“You’re going back?”

“Once I’ve proven the man who had me burned is a fraud and gotten rid of the Senator’s inside man, yes, I’ll go back.” If he survived. It was all he knew. It was literally the only job he’d ever been trained for.

“You would go back to a place that didn’t fight for you?”

“It’s not like that. The Agency isn’t good or bad. It simply is. And I always knew no one would fight for me. That’s not how it works.”

“You know, I bless the day I got burned. I wonder how my life would have gone if I hadn’t left G2.” O’Donnell had once been an operative with Irish intelligence. A joint mission with the CIA and MI6 went south and O’Donnell had been on the run for years before the situation had been fixed. On the run? Not so much. He’d found a home with McKay-Taggart.

“We’re not all cut out to be in for the long term.”

“Do you ever wonder if maybe this is a sign that you should get out?”

“And do what?” Ten asked.

“What the rest of us do. We work. We live. We have lives.”

And barbecues and picnics, and they all held hands and ran through fields of daisies. Yeah. “That’s not for me. I’m a lifer. I need a mission.”

O’Donnell’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve got a mission. Don’t think for a second that I don’t have a mission.”

“I’m not talking about temporary assignments. I’m talking about something to focus my life on.”

“So am I. Those temporary assignments, they aren’t missions. They’re work. Just work. My mission is something far greater, something I really would give me life for. My wife. My child and any more we’re blessed with. My friends. Protecting them, being good for them, that’s a mission worth taking.”

It didn’t compute. The words didn’t really make sense to Ten. They sounded like a wave of domesticity. What O’Donnell was talking about wasn’t a mission. It was retirement, and Ten couldn’t do it. Still, when the Irishman closed up his locker, Ten felt the need to keep him talking.

“She wouldn’t believe me.”

O’Donnell shoved his keys in his pocket. “You don’t know until you try.”

“That’s easy for you to say. If I fuck this up, everything falls apart. This isn’t simply about revenge.”

“I know that, Tennessee. I also understand that it was hard for you not to take care of the situation the way you wanted to. Did you think about it?”

“Did I think about murdering the man in his sleep?” A bitter laugh huffed from his throat. “I managed to get into his hotel room. I distracted his bodyguard with a hooker. Those are hard to come by in Saudi. McDonald was staying in a four-star hotel with some of the best security you’ll find, but I got around all of it. I hid in a closet while he held a meeting with a Saudi company interested in buying roads in the US. They come in and turn public roads into tollways. Then the states can use the money for god knows what, the politicians get kickbacks, and taxpaying citizens pay four dollars to drive ten miles to work.”

“Shit, brother. Why is he still breathing?”

“I stood over him after he went to sleep and I slit his throat in my head about fifty times before I walked away because if I don’t find the name of the men he’s working with, then none of it matters.”

“And that’s why she’ll believe you.” O’Donnell put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re not a bad man, Tennessee. You have tunnel vision. I’m working on something in the senator’s background. Something that might bring her to your side.”

“What?” If he had something that could buy Faith’s loyalty, he would take it.