Knight Shift (Knight Ops Book 5) Page 7

  “I mean, whatever she’s holding back, I’ll find out for myself.”

  * * * * *

  The knock at the apartment door had the beautiful woman named Dahlia unfolding her legs from the sofa cushion to get up and answer it. When she opened the door, another woman walked in, all spunk and smiles with a brilliant red flower tucked behind her ear and looking like she’d just stepped off the pages of some glamorous magazine.

  Dahlia leaned in to kiss her cheek. “Lexi. We didn’t expect you.”

  “Bo said he was here and I thought I’d see what’s going on.”

  The woman named Elise eyed her. “You and Bo are tight?”

  Lexi shrugged. “After he came looking for me, we became friends. Your ex is fun to shop with and gives good advice about clothes. What’s wrong with that?”

  Elise shook her head and smiled. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”

  Fleur’s head was spinning from the interaction, and then Lexi’s gaze fell on her. Her face turned to nothing but smiles. “Who are you?”

  The direct question had Fleur opening her mouth to reply with her real name. Then she quickly answered, “Rose.”

  “Ah, I love roses. Though this is a lily.” She touched the flower at her ear holding back the dark hair. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

  Dahlia threw Fleur a look. “Lexi works at a flower shop and is Chaz’s sister.”

  Everything fell into place in Fleur’s mind, right down to the coloring she shared with her brother.

  She couldn’t help but feel she’d entered into a family sitcom, though. She’d woken with dreams of a hot man in her mind to find two women in the living room discussing the designs on the home improvement show. Then she’d been shocked to see the big, bad-ass man with a Spaniard’s dashing coloring walking out of the kitchen eating a burrito. And now Chaz’s sister.

  Chaz had told her he was pulling his family into the matter, and clearly her words of denial had fallen on deaf ears. Now Fleur didn’t know what to do.

  Lexi sauntered to the sofa and plopped down next to Elise. When she kissed her sister-in-law on the cheek, Fleur was touched. Lexi seemed like the sweetest woman, and someone Fleur had always wanted as a friend but had never had.

  Thinking back on her life, she could only say she had acquaintances in school. Now it was clear why nobody wanted to be close to her. Why she’d have birthday parties that her classmates in her private school didn’t attend and her father’s friends would bring their children to celebrate with her instead.

  Obviously, everyone knew what her father was doing. Why hadn’t she ever seen it herself?

  Lately, she’d been wondering if her mother had known too. Had she even died in a car accident? The moment when her father had taken Fleur to the bayou, looked out across the water and told her that her mother had died was now a big question in her mind. Her mother had always loved the water, and Fleur had always assumed her father had chosen to tell her there because of that love.

  Now she wondered if there was another darker reason for choosing the location.

  Elise’s phone rang, shaking Fleur from her sickening musings. They all looked to the woman as she took the call. Her expression tensed and then relaxed, relief flooding over her pretty features.

  “See you then. Love you.”

  She lowered the phone and looked at Dahlia. “They’re okay.”

  Relief passed over Dahlia’s face as well.

  Fleur looked between them, wondering what she was missing but not in a position to ask. Even though this family saga was unfolding faster by the minute, she was not a part of it.

  Lexi threw her arms around Elise and then got up to hug Dahlia too. “Are they on their way?”

  Elise gave a nod.

  Bo grunted. “Guess my work here is done. Except.” He looked to Fleur. “You’re not a real redhead, are you?”

  Elise gasped and hopped off the couch. “You can’t ask a woman that!”

  He threw her an amused look. “It isn’t like I asked if the rug matches the draperies. I just see a richer coloring. Are you Creole?” he asked Fleur.

  She felt heat infuse her cheeks at both his reference to her “rug” and her heritage. Elise walked up to Bo and smacked him, which set the other two women to laughing.

  “Go ahead and abuse your ex-husband, Elise. Sean will approve,” Lexi said, grinning at Bo.

  Fleur still wasn’t certain where all the characters sat on the game board of this family.

  Bo ignored them all and polished off his burrito, wiping his hand on his cargo pants. “Next time you dye your hair, use a deeper shade, more cinnamon.”

  “Dear God, Bo. You’re the biggest metrosexual I’ve ever known in my life. You should have your own celebrity fashion show on TV,” Elise said with a laugh. “Don’t listen to a word he says, Rose. You’re beautiful.”

  Fleur raised a hand to her hair. The color had served its purpose, as had the blonde. She didn’t care if she needed a deeper shade or not—she had more urgent decisions to make.

  “They’re here.” Dahlia looked up from her phone and strode to the apartment door. Seconds later six men filed in, each as broad and delicious-looking as the last. When the last man quietly closed the door behind himself and met her gaze, her heart gave a wild tumble.

  “Order some takeout. I’m starving,” one man drawled from behind her.

  Chaz moved to Fleur, and she swallowed the bubble of excitement she felt at seeing him again. He took her hand, and she felt herself curl her fingers around his grasp. He moved in close in that way that unnerved her and made her body hum simultaneously.

  “Are you okay?”

  She nodded.

  “My family can be overwhelming.”

  She looked into his eyes, glad he’d shared his family with her.

  Glad to see him.

  “They can be,” she agreed.

  He looked over her head and raised his voice. “These are my brothers Ben, Sean, Dylan and Roades. And this is Rocko, who might as well be a brother.”

  She felt their hot gazes on her back and slowly turned to give a nod of greeting. She wasn’t a shy person, but these men intimidated the hell out of her. She couldn’t help but wonder if, met under different circumstances, she’d still feel that pulsing of fear in her veins.

  Chaz tugged on her hand. “C’mon.”

  She was drawn out of the main room and toward the bedroom. Her face scorched. Great—they’d all think she and Chaz were having reunion sex. But what did she care anyway? She was grateful for their protection and friendliness, but she’d never see them again once she got out of here.

  Chaz’s masculine scent filled her senses. There was a sweat stain on his broad back, but somehow that only added to his allure.

  He drew her into the room and closed the door. Before she could open her mouth to speak, he had her walked up against the wall, firmly trapped by his body. His dark eyes bored down into hers.

  “You’re going to tell me everything. Starting now.”

  “I…” She gulped back her rising panic. “I told you everything.”

  “No.” He gave a shake of his head. “Start with your name. Your real name.”

  She blinked rapidly.

  “If you don’t tell me, I’ll force it out of you between kisses. Starting now.”

  Shock kept her vocal cords utterly seized up.

  “Guess you’re gonna play hardball.” He leaned in until his lips were a breath away from hers. The minty scent washed over her, and the musk of his skin sent her pulse racing.

  “Tell me.” He kissed the corner of her mouth. “Your.” Her cheek. “Real.” Her jaw. “Name.” His lips landed on her pulse point, sending liquid heat pooling between her legs. “First and last.”

  She quivered and plastered her palms against the wall behind her, already dizzied with what he was doing. This was blackmail.

  He trailed tiny kisses back up to the corner of her mouth again. A light brushing of his lips, so close to where she reall
y wanted it, threatened to drive her to madness.

  And he damn well knew it.

  “Just a name, sweetheart, and I’ll give you what you’re burning for.” He swayed his head slowly back and forth, his mouth so close. Right there. And all she had to do was give him a name to go with the honest story she’d already spilled to him.

  What was holding her back?

  “Hmm. Not quite burning yet?”

  Oh, she was burning.

  He moved to the other corner of her mouth, this time planting his lips just off the edge of hers. She curled her fingers against the wall, panting for air that wasn’t thick with Chaz’s delicious scent.

  Down to the other side of her neck and spent long seconds on her shoulders. Each soft kiss had her eyes fluttering until they finally stayed shut. Sensation teased at her nerves, and she didn’t know how long she could hold out under this sort of torture.

  “Two little words. You want this, don’t you? A real kiss? Fuck, I do.” He stared deep into her eyes.

  Heartbeats passed as she warred with herself. While she didn’t know a lot about Chaz, she knew he was a Marine, a protector and a family man. Was it enough to put her faith in him?

  She did want that kiss.

  But that was a poor reason, even if her libido was forcing her lips open to let the words out.

  He skimmed his mouth so close she could feel the heat off them. They looked so hard but felt so soft.

  “Your name,” he murmured.

  With a wild gasp, she said, “Fleur Sutton!”

  And his lips crashed over hers. Stealing all thought, all knowledge of the world besides his taste and feel as he commanded all of her by sliding his tongue between her lips.

  She threw her arms around his neck and clung to him as he grabbed her by the ass and lifted her, drawing her onto his bulging erection. They both groaned and the kiss grew carnal, mouths slanting, tongues working in a fervor.

  He rocked his hips into hers twice before she was grinding back, her body seeking the end she’d practically wanted since the first time she’d set eyes on him.

  Abruptly, he tore his mouth free and stared down at her, his erection still pushing against her throbbing pussy. When he stared into her eyes, she knew he was going to demand more information from her, and damn if she could think of a reason to withhold it anymore.

  Giving in to everything he wanted seemed the only path for her at this second. She was probably being stupid, but did she really have anything to lose? So he’d know her name and who she was really running from. Did it matter when she planned to sneak out in the night and leave the city? She could always return to search for this Antonio guy.

  Chaz went still, but his big cock still pressed firmly against the seam of her pussy through her pants. She rubbed against him, raising a growl from his throat.

  “You said you didn’t sleep with women you didn’t know. Now you know me.” She pushed against him again.

  He locked her hips to the wall so she couldn’t move if she tried. Chest heaving, he gazed down at her. An almost angry expression twisted his mouth. “Tell me who you’re really running from. Who killed Frankie?”

  “I…” Cold water washed over her with his words. She pushed on his chest, and he moved back enough to give her room to think. Raising her hands to her hair, she dragged in a deep breath.

  “Fleur.”

  God, her name rolling off his lips shouldn’t sound so damn erotic, but it was an aphrodisiac to her senses. Desire poured through her.

  She stared at his black T-shirt, imagining the tattoo over his heart. She was tired of doing this alone, tired of keeping it all in and living in terror that around the next corner would stand her father, ready to give the order to one of his cronies to take her out. Just like Frankie, just like her mother, she was certain. And God knew how many in between.

  She reached for her T-shirt hem and pulled it up and over her head. Her bare breasts peaked under his sharp gaze. When she finally lifted her eyes, she knew Chaz wouldn’t hurt her, only protect. And she wanted him with a force unlike anything she’d felt before.

  “My father,” she stated simply.

  His hands came around her breasts, his thumbs centered over her hard nipples as he slammed his mouth over hers again. Passion flooded, and she moaned into his mouth. He gathered the sound with his tongue and teased her nipples back and forth with strums of his thumbs.

  She reached around his back and pinched the fabric of his shirt, yanking it up and over his head. What she wouldn’t give to really look at his body in all its glory, to imprint her mind with something she could carry forever in her memory after this.

  When their bare chests met, Chaz held his breath. Gazing into her eyes, he rasped, “You’re so goddamn beautiful. Red hair, blonde hair, or the black I think is really yours, you’re the loveliest woman I’ve ever set eyes on.”

  His words touched her, stroking an unseen girly part that had needed these words even if she never knew it.

  Chaz eased a hand down her breast and ribs to stop on the flat of her belly. Looking into her eyes, he eased his hand all the way into her panties, burying his fingers in her seam. Stretching her pussy open for one digit to fill her cavern and one to press down on her hard clit.

  She cried out and threw her head back, need hitting her. “Take me, Chaz. Make me feel good. I’ve been so afraid and I just want to forget for a time.”

  He spoke against her lips. “Did your father threaten you?”

  It took her whirling mind time to catch up. She shook her head. “I overheard his friend telling him I was in Frankie’s house when it happened. My dad said to bring me in and I ran.”

  He was so still, she worried whatever he’d begun would be finished. But he captured her mouth again, kissing her with a deep passion that shook her very bones.

  “I’ll keep you safe now. My family will keep you safe. And just know that I’ve never held off for a woman before.”

  She searched his gaze, seeing the truth of his words there. She had no clue what to make of it—she only needed him to touch her.

  She wiggled her hips, and juices flooded his hand.

  He groaned and yanked from the kiss. Then he kissed down her throat to the crests of her breasts. The soft, wet flicks of his tongue over her nipples got her moaning and sinking her fingers into his hair to hold him there.

  But he moved on, downward, kissing and nipping her stomach until he dragged her clothing down to puddle at her ankles. She stepped out of them and her heel caught in a pantleg. He freed her and from his knees, gave her a dark, hungry look.

  “I’m going to taste you. If you scream, everyone in the other room will know what I’m doing to you. And I don’t give a damn.”

  He leaned in, parted her thighs with his big hands and sank his tongue into her folds.

  * * * * *

  The initial taste was heaven. The second hell—because Chaz knew he could not fuck her and satisfy his own aching need.

  With each pass of his tongue over her slick clit, she tensed more and more, biting back the screams he’d known would come. She seemed determined to keep quiet and not let the others know what was happening to her, and that amused him. And pleased him.

  She was a private person, would only give him the sounds of her pleasure.

  He eased his tongue down over her wet folds to her entrance. When he probed it, she pushed her hips forward and sucked in sharply.

  He spent only seconds there before moving back to her clit. But he slid two fingers into her tight sheath and was rewarded with a strangled cry and a tight pulsation of her pussy around his fingers.

  Jesus, she was everything he knew she would be. Their banter all his time had been foreplay, something he’d never experienced with a woman before. And fuck, she’d hooked him.

  He withdrew his fingers, and sucked her clit until she bowed off the wall. What he wouldn’t give to throw her on the bed and do this right, but he couldn’t risk losing control of himself. Until he ha
d her safe, he wouldn’t ask for her to decide if she wanted to sleep with him. It wasn’t fair to her under the circumstances. When he fucked her, she was going to freely choose.

  She shook around his fingers, and he knew she was close. So close. Adrenaline did that to a person, and she’d been living in hiding too long.

  He flicked his tongue faster over her straining bud until she squeezed hard on his fingers, milking him almost. His cock couldn’t get harder, was weeping with precum.

  He watched her face—eyes wide and glazed as she stared down at what he was doing to her body. Demanding of it.

  She came with a gasping cry, which she swallowed. Body jerking in spasms, her orgasm went on and on. His lips and tongue were coated with her release and he growled out his own pleasure—the only he’d allow for himself.

  He fucked her with his fingers in slow, purposeful thrusts until the final vestiges of her bliss left, and she hung forward, red hair against her creamy breasts. “My God, Chaz. I need more. I need your cock.”

  Goddammit, how was he going to deny her?

  He had to find the will.

  * * * * *

  Fleur was still thrumming from a release so huge, it left her entire body trembling. Still, she wanted more. Maybe recklessness was her new lifestyle, because she didn’t care about anything right now but feeling Chaz overtop of her, inside her.

  He slowly stood and hovered over her, muscled arms braced around her as he leaned in for a kiss. His lips still glistened from her release, and heat scorched her cheeks.

  “I can’t take you, petite fleur. But goddammit, I want to.” He swooped in and claimed her lips in a searing kiss before she could wrap her head around what he’d said.

  He devoured her lips, kissing her deeply and sharing her own flavors with her, which shocked her and turned her on even more. She clung to him, exploring the planes of his back where the sexy tattoos lived as well as the bulges in his shoulders.

  Then it hit her.

  She yanked back and stared up at him. “You’re turning me down?”

  He let out a breath that bordered on a groan. He didn’t tear his gaze from her lips. “You’re under my protection and I can’t ask you to give yourself to me—yet.”