Seeking Vengeance: Callaghan Brothers, Book 4 (24 page)

“Mind-fucking, not regular fucking,” she clarified.  The corner of Taser’s mouth quirked.  “My mistake.  Please, continue.”

Nicki got up off the couch and crossed her arms in front of her chest.  She began to pace the width of the room.  Golden eyes followed her closely.  She completed several passes before she spoke. 

“Why don’t you just kill me already?” she blurted out finally, stopping and glaring at him.

Taser’s expression did not change.  He remained the picture of ease, traces of amusement clearly visible.  “Do you
want
me to kill you?”

“Well, of course not,” she snapped as if she was talking to an idiot.  “But I fucked up, and rules are rules, and you know you have to make an example of me, so go ahead and just do it already.”

He considered her for a moment.  “You seem really preoccupied with the concept of fucking this morning.  Do you need to get laid, Nix?”

“Agh!” she cried out in frustration.  “Don’t be such a dick!”

The quirk became a full-fledged grin.  “Methinks the lady doth protest too loudly.”

“
Taser!
”

“Okay, okay,” he said, chuckling.  “Come over here.”  He patted the seat beside him.  Warily she made her way over to the sofa and sat down.  Taser tapped a few keys and then closed up his laptop.

“Nix, I am not going to kill you today, nor am I going to fuck you.”  He grinned.  “I do, however, reserve the right to do either – or both - at some future point in time.”  Nicki rolled her eyes and snorted.  “Now that we’ve cleared that up, know this:  Your vacation ends now.  Get in the kitchen and make me some breakfast, woman.”

“Fuck you,” Nicki said with affection.

Taser laughed.  “That’s my girl.  I already ate anyway.  Go grab something for yourself and bring it back here.  We can talk while you eat.”

Nicki rose and began to walk away, then turned suddenly and regarded him.  “You’re serious, aren’t you?  You’re not going to do it?”

He made an “X” over his chest.  “Cross my heart.”

She believed him, even though he routinely insisted he’d had his heart surgically removed years ago, and it felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders.  She stared at him for a few long moments, wondering if anyone really knew the man before her.  “You know, you look an awful lot like Tommy Gunn with the whole ‘stache/beard thing going on.”

Taser chuckled at the adult film star reference. He really was quite attractive when he smiled like that.  And when he wasn’t trying to kill her. 

“Where do you think I got the idea?  He’s one of my idols.  My rod’s bigger though,” he winked.  Nicki sighed, her expression martyred, and wondered why she even bothered sometimes.

––––––––

“Y
ou know, I still can’t believe you’re just reinstating me, giving me another assignment.”  Nicki tossed the apple core toward the woods for some creature’s later delight and licked the last of the peanut butter off the spoon.  They sat on the swing together, rocking lightly.  Nicki’s foot was tucked at an angle beneath her; Taser was lounging back, regarding her with those golden eyes, reminding her of a huge cat sizing up his prey.

She still housed some doubt as to whether or not Taser was being honest with her.  Maybe this was all part of the plan, a ruse to get her feeling comfortable and unthreatened, to relax her guard.  Even though she had already decided she wouldn’t fight her “elimination”, her instincts would probably kick in anyway.  She was more than capable of inflicting some serious damage, and maybe Taser just didn’t want to take the chance of losing anyone else.  There weren’t that many of them to begin with. 

“Oh, it’s not that easy, sweetheart.  This is not just any assignment.  There are consequences for what you did, you know.”

Nicki narrowed her eyes.  Maybe Taser’s plan all along had been to put her in an unwinnable situation.  She’d go down in the line of duty.  It made sense.  Even if she couldn’t make it back alive she’d take a few of the bad guys with her, and Taser wouldn’t have her blood on his hands.  Sure, everyone knew the rules, but there might be a few agents genuinely upset if Taser did her in.  If someone else did it, it was a win-win.  For everyone except her, that was. 

“Just what are we talking about here?”

“I’ll let your partner fill you in on the details.”

Nicki frowned.  Partner? 
Ah, shit
.  Taser wasn’t going to make Fisher or Brookes take her out, was he?  A form of penance for not checking her before things got out of hand?  They all looked out for one another, took care of one another.  Their teams were so close it really didn’t matter who actually messed up.  They all shouldered the responsibility.  Sharing the blame was the only way they all managed to remain upright. 

But surely this didn’t count.  Fisher and Brookes couldn’t possibly be held accountable for anything that occurred in Pine Ridge; they weren’t even there until they showed up at Sean’s place.  Technically, she’d been on leave.

“Fisher didn’t know.  Neither did Brookes,” she blurted out.  “They had nothing to do with what went down up north.”

Those golden eyes burned right through her.  Taser was the only one she knew of – besides a certain hard-assed Irishman – that could truly out-stare her.  “They should have been watching you more closely.  If they had, we might have minimized the collateral damage.”

Collateral damage.  A.k.a., Sean Callaghan and the Ghost Team.  Icy blue eyes and the expression Sean wore that last time she’d seen him – surprise, desire, determination – rose unbidden in her mind’s eye.  Had he been searching for her?  Had he enlisted the aid of his brothers?  Fisher already told her they’d been attempting to do a background check on her.   

Maybe Sean was really pissed about the whole stinger thing.  He was definitely not the sort of man someone got the better of, not without retribution, anyway.

One look at Taser confirmed her theories.  The Ghost Team was giving him a hard time of it.  The idea almost made her smile.  So few were capable of getting close enough to plant a thorn in Taser’s thick hide.  The very thought that Sean might be looking for her – that he cared enough to do so – sent a thrill down her spine, even if he probably did want to kill her.  She quashed the thought immediately, returning to the defense of her teammates.

“It’s irrelevant,” Taser said, halting Nicki’s argument before she could get going properly.  “Fisher and Brookes are currently deployed elsewhere.  You’ve got a new partner.  One who I know will be able to keep you in line.”

The back of Nicki’s neck prickled, a natural response to the suggestion that anyone was capable of such a thing.  Nicki answered to no one.  Well, except Taser.  But that was by her own choice.  The man had literally saved her, both her life and her sanity.  Maybe even her soul, but she didn’t like to think too closely about that one.  She still wasn’t entirely sure she had one, or if she did, how much of it was intact. 

“Who?”

His mouth twitched.  “You’ll see soon enough.”

“Prick.” 

“God you’re hot when you talk dirty, Nix,” Taser chuckled, completely unfazed.  Nicki rolled her eyes. 

The soft whir of nearly silent chopper blades had Nicki looking up sharply.  “Ah, good,” said Taser.  “He’s here.”

Nicki stood and put her hands on the rail post, squinting for a better view.  A sleek black helicopter suddenly appeared over the tree tops and prepared to land right in the clearing in front of her.  She watched as the pilot expertly maneuvered the craft, touching down as lightly as a feather.  Whoever her new partner was, he was one hell of a pilot.

The engines were cut, and the soft whir grew fainter over the next several minutes as the blades slowed and then finally ceased moving.  Only then did a familiar figure swing gracefully out from the pilot’s seat and begin walking toward the cabin.

Sean Callaghan
.  She’d know that confident, stalking gait anywhere.  Images of those broad shoulders, muscular chest, and lean hips were hardwired into her brain.  Nicki glanced back at Taser, he met her gaze head on.  She swore his eyes were actually
glowing
.

What was he up to?  Had Sean proven to be too much of a threat?  Had Taser tricked him here to this remote, God-forsaken location using her as bait?  Did he expect to eliminate two birds with one stone?

No, the sane part of her said.  Not even Taser would be that arrogant.  To take out Sean he’d have to take out the entire Ghost Team, and while the Chameleons were good, they weren’t
that
good.

Nicki turned back toward Sean.  She watched him close the distance between them, stopping only a foot in front of where she stood.

“Meet your new partner,” Taser said from behind her, amusement lacing his voice.  “Nix, Sean Callaghan.  Sean, Nix Milligan.”

Nicki wanted to turn around and scowl at him, demand to know what game he was playing at, but she couldn’t.  It was impossible to turn away from Sean’s icy blue gaze.  Without touching her, Sean held her as captive as tangibly as if he’d bound her head to toe.  His expression was fierce, but the reasons behind it were undeterminable.  Was it hunger?  Anger?  Resentment?  Relief?  Need?  Or, like her, did he feel all those things at once?

They stared at each other forever, or at least it seemed like it.  Time didn’t flow around Sean Callaghan like it did everywhere else.  It might have been a few seconds or a few minutes.  Then, with the suddenness of a cobra strike, Sean pulled her into his arms and commanded her mouth.

Nicki’s head swam with the taste of him as her body ached against him.  Was he bigger, harder?  Or was her mind playing tricks on her?  The thought of fighting him never even entered her mind.  Sean assumed immediate and absolute control of her heart and body, with her mind chasing behind yelling “wait for me!”  For those few moments, there was nothing else in her world.

“Ah, I’d forgotten you’d already met.”  Taser spoke up, and Nicki felt, rather than heard, the growl in Sean’s chest at the blatant interruption.  Had Taser not reminded them of his presence, Nicki was sure Sean would have taken her right here on the steps.  Even worse, she would have let him.

The sound of Taser’s voice brought Nicki back to reality, or at least cut through some of the Sean-induced fog to which she seemed so susceptible.  “He’s my new partner?  How... how is that possible?”

Sean’s eyes sparkled like blue diamonds.  He had released her lips, but his arms kept her tight against him – and his massive arousal – in a cast iron grip.

“Call it a collaboration, if you will,” explained Taser.  “A joint venture between the Chameleons and the Ghost Team.”

Sean’s eyebrow arched at the reference.  “The Ghost Team?  Is that what you call us?”

Taser shrugged.  “Blame her.  She’s the one who came up with it.” 

“What kind of collaboration?” Nicki asked suspiciously.  As Sean’s heat and need seeped into her, she grew stronger.  It was odd, she thought, how his presence both controlled and empowered her at the same time. 

At Taser’s suggestion they moved inside to continue the conversation.  Nicki made a move to take a seat next to Taser, but Sean tugged her down next to him.  He refused to let go of her hand, even for a moment.

“Think of it as a transfer of sorts,” Taser said a while later, after he had outlined things.  “Technically, you still belong to me - ” Sean growled audibly at this “- but your assignment is to assist the Ghost Team.  Sean will be responsible for you during this time.”

“Don’t I get a say in this?”

“No.”  Both men answered emphatically at once.

Nicki frowned.  “For how long?”

“Indefinitely,” answered Taser, though it was Sean’s whispered answer she heard more clearly:  “
Forever
.”

Nicki was quiet as her mind whirred along at the speed of light, trying to process everything she’d learned in the past hour.  Talk about a mind-fuck.  In her wildest dreams she wouldn’t have envisioned the direction this day would have taken. Hell, she hadn’t even expected to
see
another day.  But something didn’t make sense.

“You’re outsourcing me.  What do you get out of it?”  Chameleons never worked with others outside of their own.  It was one of their most basic rules of operation.  They were spooks, and no one ever saw them in action.

“Besides getting you out of my hair?  Lowering my blood pressure?  Reducing my risk of stroke?”

“Yes,” she said through clenched teeth.  “Besides that.”

Taser exchanged a look with Sean.  “I get the cooperation and assistance of the Ghost Team when I need it.”

Nicki’s jaw dropped.  As anal and exclusive as the Chameleons were, the Ghost Team was even more so.  To be a member of that team was a blood right, outsiders definitely
not
welcome.  A collaboration between the two?  Unheard of.  “You’re kidding.”

“Nope.  Not kidding.”

She looked at Sean.  “Why would you do this?”

His eyes blazed for a moment before they softened.  His thumb made little circles over the back of her hand.  “Don’t you know?”

Nicki suddenly felt paralyzing fear.  He couldn’t be saying what she thought he was saying, could he?  “But the team – it’s all your brothers, too.  Why would they...?”  She left the question hang, blinking against the sudden moisture that seemed to be filling her eyes.

“Because,” he said, reaching into his pocket as he slid to bended knee.  “Once you accept this, you become part of the family.”  Nicki blinked furiously, certain that she was hallucinating.  That couldn’t possibly be a diamond ring - the most perfect, clearest, most radiant diamond she’d ever seen, flanked by stunning blue sapphires on either side and set in antique white gold intricately carved with Celtic symbols.

She brought both hands up to her mouth and they quickly became soaked as her tears poured freely over them.  Her body shook involuntarily as she struggled for breath.

“Nicolette Milligan, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

It was too much.  Way, way too much.  She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.  She tried to expand her lungs, and nothing happened.  And then, for the first time in her life, Nicki Milligan fainted.