Seek and Destroy (14 page)

    He doubted any of the lowlife scum he'd been sent to take out over the years would have been so kind. Oh, they'd teach her a lesson, all right. One she'd never forget. And after they raped and tortured her for their own pleasure, they'd kill her and throw the body out like yesterday's shit bucket.

    He led her back out of his room and over to the elevator. As they waited for the doors to open, he stole a glance her way. She had her eyes closed as she drew in deep breath after deep breath.

    Hiding his amusement at her transparency, he leaned up against the wall and shoved his hands in his pockets. He didn't want to take his eyes off her in that little blue number. Very appetizing, he had to admit. She definitely tested his will to the extreme. But he had the upper hand. He knew why she'd really been sent in to retrieve him. The poor ICE agent had no idea.

    Weber was such a chicken shit. He knew David would tell him to take a flying leap if he came to Hawaii. Instead, he sent an agent who had the ability to make him forget how to speak, how to breathe. It was no secret how he'd reacted to Charis back at the hospital.

    No doubt the female Weber had a hand in this, too. She'd tried to fix him up on more than one occasion. Because her only friends were other NASSD agents, it never went beyond the first awkward meeting. He would smile when prompted, laugh at his date's little jokes. And when the night ended, he would politely thank her and tell her he'd call her.

    Then lose her number.

    Ah, if they could only see him now. Would Weber approve? Would he have any right to say anything at all? And what about JT? Would she be giving him the thumb's up with this one?

    Man, how he hated the dating scene, but JT had every intention of finding him happiness, as she'd called it. Whatever. If he wanted to get laid, he didn't need his best friend's wife to fix him up. He was perfectly capable of finding a woman, and had been doing so on his own since he turned seventeen.

    Dating was nothing more than a job interview. If you passed through the first round, you moved up a notch on the marriage material ladder. And the one thing he found in common with all the women he'd come across, they all wanted one thing.

    A husband.

    
Been there, done that. Not ever doing it again.
David had done his time with a ring on his finger. He'd served his prison term and would rather chew off his own hand than be forced to wear another wedding ring and go through the act of marriage again.

    He used the term act literally. His ex-wife, and he used the term wife
quite
loosely, and Charis had some of the same characteristics. Great body, easy on the eyes. He only hoped their likeness stopped there.

    His studied her. Why was he comparing her to Brenda? Unlike his bitch of an ex-wife, Charis had a heart. She had spunk. Personality. Hell-on-wheels, in your face, personality. Add to that her intoxicating blue eyes, silky curls of chestnut hair you just wanted to run your fingers through and he didn't have to wonder why she held his interest.

    The doors opened and she raced into the elevator, resting against the corner in the back. The come-and-get-me-grin took him completely by surprise. Just when he thought he had her figured out. He took a step toward her, testing the waters.

    Without warning, she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him into her, connecting her mouth to his. He didn't try to pull back, instead burying himself deep into her lips and taking in the taste of her mouth.

    Holy Jesus. She tasted even better than she looked. And the woman knew how to kiss. He traced the lining of her lips with his, nibbling, nipping with his teeth, willing himself to pull back, knowing there wasn't a chance in hell he would. She gave as well as she received, the motions of her mouth mimicking his.

    He took command of the kiss and parted her lips with his tongue. She threw him off again when she eagerly met his tongue with her own. The slight whimper that escaped her lips made him forget where he was, and why.

    Deepening their connection, he pulled her into his arms and gently caressed the small of her back with his hands, moving his way down to her round, firm ass. She fit so perfectly against him as he pulled her in tight. He felt the pucker of her nipples strain against the thin material of her dress, and the way she moved against him made his cock instantly, and painfully, hard all over again.

    The doors dinged open and broke them of their contact. He looked up to see they'd reached the ground floor, panting from his lust-filled delirium. Seven floors had never gone so fast. Looking back at Charis, he grinned when he watched her turn bright crimson. God how he loved the way she looked at him like he was the only man in the universe, the only man who held her attention. "Let's take this outside."

    He led her outside, not really sure what to think. He wanted her. Spying the bulge in his shorts and the way she moved against him, she knew that as well. Thank God the tiki torches were the only light or the entire resort would have been able to see his want for her. But he didn't want to take this too far. He wanted to scare her, not fuck her. Well, he
did
want to have sex with her, but not like this. Not as a weapon, a scare tactic.

    "Yo, David! What happened to you?" Tony called out from behind the bar, lifting his palms to the sky as he shrugged.

    David nodded toward Charis and didn't try to hide his grin.

    Tony nodded in return. "Good one, man. I'll keep the twins occupied for you."

    "The twins?" Charis inquired, a wry smile lighting up her eyes.

    "Never mind," he answered and made a mental note to talk to Tony about his timing. He pulled her through the forming crowd at the outside bar and down toward the surf.

    Chills washed over him and he wondered if she'd be warm enough on the beach. She didn't seem to mind, however, as she ran past him and out to the surf, slipping her shoes off, stopping just short of getting her feet wet.

    She turned back to him, a grin from ear to ear lighting up her face in the darkness. He smiled at the warmth it brought him.

    "What are you doing?"

    "I love the ocean! Can you believe this is the first time I've actually been out here since I got here? Well, except for a little burial."

    "Burial?"

    "Nothing serious."

    "What did you bury?"

    She waved it off. "Some postage stamps connected by fishing line. And even then I didn't go into the water. Crazy, right?" She called back at him, yelling to be heard over the sound of the crashing waves. He noted how strong the waves crashed down on the shore, frothing like a mad dog. Interesting. Must be a storm brewing.

    Pulling the clip out of her hair, she let her curls fall and flow in the wind. He groaned as his cock swelled. She looked so damn delicious he had to remind himself why they were out here. She giggled as she danced in the water. The sound shot straight to his dick. It twitched, reminding him he was man, and Charis McKoy was all woman.

    
Agent
. Teaching her a lesson. Sleeping with her would be bad.
Bad
. Got it?
Got it
.

    Not.

    "My parents would take all of us kids to the mountains every summer. We have a cabin up in the mountains above Philipsburg, butted up against the Discovery Ski Resort. That's in Montana."

    He'd love to butt up against her-

    "Of course, it isn't open in the summer so I've never actually skied up there. Well," she stated and cocked her damn cute chin to the side. "I did once. But that doesn't count."

    "Why not?"

    "I wiped out on my first run. You should have seen me. I resembled a helicopter right before plowing myself headfirst into a snow bank. Luckily my brother Chris was the first to arrive at the scene and made it look like I took this hella-jump full bore. I only suffered a sprained knee and a bruised ego, and made up a great story. Wanna hear it?"

    He knew better than to interrupt a person spilling their life story. He allowed her to pause, knowing she only built up steam for her next roll. He shook his head.

    "After spending the rest of my Christmas vacation in a stupid immobilizer, I begged my parents to take us to the beach the following summer."

    "So did they?"

    "They did, actually. We rented a house right on Longbeach, Washington. It was great, but I missed that stupid cabin. Can you believe it? Always wanting something you can't have."

    David thought about the comment Weber had made to him back at the op in Sri Lanka. "A bird in the hand," he started.

    "Is worthless if stuck in a bush," she finished with a definitive nod.

    He didn't even try to cover his amusement and burst into a fit of laughter. It felt so good to laugh like that. It had been well over a year since he'd even felt the want to laugh. "That isn't quite how it goes."

    She looked at him, completely baffled. "Really?"

    "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. It means make the best of what you have instead of going after the BBD."

    "BBD?"

    "Bigger Better Deal."

    Digging her toes into the sand and drawing lines, she answered. "Then why not just say that? All these clichés drive me nuts. My mom says them every other sentence." She paused. "I never know what they mean."

    He loved the sound of her voice. She fascinated him. Intrigued him. Irritated him. Why did she have to talk so much? And why, then, couldn't he get enough of what she had to say?

    "You should meet her. She's great. My dad is, too. A little overbearing at times, but really great. My brothers," she laughed. "Well, they're a different story. I know they love me, but they suck at showing it."

    David grinned.

    Charis looked off into the distance, a slight curve forming on her pouty, kissable lips. "I had the best memories growing up at that cabin in the mountains. Of course, my obnoxious brothers would always do something to get us all in trouble. But it was still the best times, at least when I wasn't babysitting my little sisters. God they were annoying."

    He listened to her rambling, not really sure why she wanted to share her life story but not saying anything to stop her. He couldn't explain it, but he actually wanted to know her life story. For some odd reason, he actually cared about what she had to say. He wasn't being polite and letting her ramble as a precursor to the main event. No, he genuinely wanted to know.

    He approached her and paused, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. This didn't feel right. And yet he'd never felt so natural around a woman as he did Charis McKoy.

    What the hell did that mean?

    When she stopped talking, he felt an odd void fill his ears. Wanting, needing to hear her voice again, he urged, "Go on."

    "I have four brothers. They call themselves-"

    "The four musketeers?"

    "Nope. Everyone always thinks that. Funny." She paused and watched her toe disappear under the wet sand. After kicking it up and sending sand into the air, she started walking along the surf. "This sand is cold. I figured Maui would have warmer sand."

    "It is when the sun is on it. When I first moved here I couldn't even stand on the beach without shoes. You can pick out the tourists based on whether they wear shoes on the beach or not."

    She laughed and the sound floated through the air, slammed down into his heart. "I'm not wearing any shoes. What does that make me?"

    The way she looked at him just then made him suck in a breath. The slight glow from the moon danced around her frame, giving her an angelic appearance. He licked his lips as his erection pulsed. "It's nighttime."

    Laughing, she pushed him. The heat from her touch seared his skin, left him aching for more. He kept his hands deep in his pockets to stop him from pulling her in and burying himself in her right there on the beach.

    Think of something else. Anything. "Tell me more about your brothers." He'd seen the McKoy brothers in pictures. They were all huge. The size of the defensive line for the Seattle Seahawks. He didn't know what they fed them in Montana, but knew whatever it was definitely did a body good. He gave a sideways glance at Charis. Oh, yeah. Definitely did a body good.

    His cock pounded, demanding attention. The wind coming off the surf swirled in her hair, ruffling the fabric of her dress. Dear God she looked so damn beautiful dancing in the surf. Swelling to a painful hardness, David let out a groan.

    
AgentAgentAgent
.

    "The four amigos," she said. "That's what we call them."

    "Four? Shouldn't that be the three amigos?"

    She stopped hopping in the water and crinkled her brow at him, the look a cross between bewilderment and amusement. He loved the way her eyes sparkled, even at night. He bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from groaning again. "No. I told you. I have four brothers."

    Her parents were busy. "Right."

    She nodded. "And two sisters. They're twins. I'm a twin, too."

    
Very
busy. And twins? He barely controlled himself around one Charis. Holy hell, he'd lose it completely if he spotted two of them running around the world, pushing a man to the edge of sanity. "Another sister?"

    "Nope. My brother was born about five minutes after me. I'm the oldest of the McKoy clan. My brother's name is Chris. Chris McKoy. Have you heard of him? He transferred to NASSD about six months ago. Oh, wait a minute. I guess, since I can't get you to come back to Seattle with me, he's not in. Not anymore." She stopped and lost her smile.

    Ouch. The guilt of her comment smacked him against the back of his head. Maybe he'd find a way to work it so Chris would still be in as NASSD without David coming back.