Authors: Violet Walker
I
think I’ve ruined things between me and Tag. Ever since I told him I loved him things have been weird. Nothing that would be noticeable to an outsider but I felt it as keenly as if it were a living breathing thing. We still talked at home but it was surface talk and when we made love it was powerful but there was a distance between us. I didn’t like it at all, in fact it broke my heart.
The only good thing about the past few weeks was my job. After talking with the other Howard brothers I was immediately hired despite my lack of experience. I dove right in with the work and quickly began streamlining certain procedures so they could focus on what they do best. Max who was closest in age to me and Tag was the hardest to convince but after I got us a contract with a well-known Hollywood starlet and then secured a probationary one year contract with the British government with the option to extend to five, he’d finally come around.
It was time for me to find a place of my own. I can afford it easily and really don’t want to make Tag uncomfortable in his own home. I clicked on a few real estate ads for houses. If all went well I could make Boulder my permanent home. Then again if things went south with Tag I wouldn’t have a job and I’d probably have to leave again. I closed all those windows and clicked on apartment ads. I really love waking up in Tag’s arms and passing out in a sweaty sated sleep next to him. I would miss it, but it would kill me to watch the distance grow between us.
My office phone rang and I picked it up with a question in my voice. “Hello?” Very few people knew to call me and especially not to my direct extension.
“Callie love, how are ya?”
“Gavin? Oh my goodness, how are you? How’d you know to find me here?”
“I’m well love, doing well. What are you doing in Colorado, I thought for sure you’d be married to that boring bag of bones, Stuart.”
“That didn’t work out too well for me so I’m reinventing myself. Wait until you see me, you’ll flip. How’s Alastair?”
I could hear the smile in his voice. “Sexy as ever love. But now we must get down to business. I wish I was calling for a better reason.”
It took my brain a second to process what he was saying. In fact I had no idea what he was trying to say. “What news, Gavin?” My heart was hammering in my chest. “Just tell me.”
“Sorry love, I hate to be the one to tell you but it looks like your boy Levi Howard was taken prisoner along with a few of our boys.”
“Shit,” I leaned back in my chair, my heart heavy for the news I’d have to give to three big handsome men. “Okay tell me everything you know.” I listened for twenty minutes as he told me every detail he had. Gavin promised to send any helpful information he had since we were now contracted with his government.
I made a quick trip to the bathroom because I knew the next few hours would be long and I might not get a chance for a while. My heart was breaking for what I’d have to tell these guys but I needed to do it. “Okay you’ve got this.” I needed to get myself a pep talk as I gathered my notes and maps and research I’d gathered so far. Max was a tech expert so he’d be able to dig up any additional information they might need.
“Hey do you have a minute?” Tag’s voice washed over me, soothing and calming me in these frantic moments.
“Not really, we need to go. Can we talk later?” I saw his eyes dart to my screen and realized he’d seen the apartment search I’d done before Gavin’s call. “It’s not what you think okay, but we will talk about this I promise.”
He wasn’t happy but he nodded and followed me out the door. As I passed the offices I called out to Max and Reece that we needed to meet in the conference room.
Ten minutes later we were all gathered around the large oak conference table. “I received a call today from a friend of mine who works in British intelligence.” I took a deep breath and decided it was best to just spit it out. “It seems the flight Levi was on was carrying 3 American soldiers, 2 British soldiers and 2 Canadians. The plane that was headed to Fort Benning when contact was lost somewhere over the Atlantic.” I turned on the screen projecting on the wall and a photo of Levi appeared. “This photo was sent yesterday to the British government, we’re not sure if the other governments have been contacted.”
“Is this a hostage situation,” Max was already on his super-secret totally encrypted laptop looking up information.
“I’m not quite sure but Gavin said no requests have been made yet. This could just be a way to get our attention but if they don’t want anything,” I trailed off not knowing what to say.
“If they don’t want anything then they’re all as good as dead.” It didn’t sound any better when Reece said it even though I know it’s the truth.
“How did you come upon this information Callie when none of us have heard a thing?”
Tag was upset I could tell by his tone and the way his eyes shot hate missiles at me. “I introduced Gavin to his husband Alastair, whom I went to grad school with.” I narrowed my gaze at him before turned back to Max. “This is everything we have. The last coordinates of the plane, the IP address the message came from but it was rerouted through several different countries. It likely came from the middle east so we should assume this is about US or UK enemies.”
Max looked at me and gave me an impressed smile. “Thanks Callie.” He looked at his watch, “Let’s reconvene in an hour and see if we’ve come up with anything new to find our brother.”
Tag
Shit. All the information that’s come at me in the past hour was enough to make me want to board a flight and beat the shit out of every person I find until my brother is back with us, where he belongs. Hearing Callie so happy to talk to some British fuck on the phone about tore my heart out but it would be no more than I deserve. She told me she loved me and I said nothing. Not one fucking word. Things were strained between us and we’d only been living together for a short time. She was already looking for another place to live.
Shit.
Now it looks like someone has taken my brother and that fucking sucks. For weeks, months we’ve been expecting Levi to walk through the doors of
Hawkeye Security Solutions
with a shit eating grin on his face and that cocky walk of his. But no, he was somewhere as a prisoner probably being beaten and tortured. “Fuck!” This was a shit storm none of us ever saw coming. I mean Levi fucking Howard is a SEAL. He’s a bad ass motherfucker who kicks ass for a living. If someone kidnapped Levi and other special operations officers then it had to be an inside job. “Shit!” I needed to talk this out.
“Max. It has to be an inside job.” I explained my theory as quickly and succinctly as I could. Max tossed out alternative arguments to make sure we had all our bases covered. “I think it’s time to call in a few of the others, but only the guys we can trust.” Max agreed.
“Let’s wait until tomorrow. I want to spend tonight gathering more intel and we all need to get a good rest, I don’t think we’ll get much in the next few days.” He smiled up at me. “Callie is great Tag. She does a great job and for some reason she loves your ugly mug.”
“Yeah, thanks.” Hearing Tag praise Callie wasn’t what I needed to hear right now. But since we’d all be getting a good night’s sleep, I guess tonight we would have it out. “Call me if you need anything from me.”
I didn’t want to have a conversation with Callie about us because I knew she wasn’t mine to keep. She was a pampered princess with one hell of a work ethic and she was smart as fuck. Why her dad wouldn’t want her running The Morgan Group is beyond me, Max was right she was fucking brilliant. And I was going to lose her.
Why didn’t I tell her I loved her when she said it? It’s not like I don’t because shit by the time we’d made it to Colorado I knew I’d fallen for her like the pussy that I am. She was great, damn near perfect and I’d had it for her since we were kids. As an adult Callie was a fucking dream come true. She was smart, hardworking and she actually seemed to give a shit about me, something no one but my brothers could say.
“Do you want to grab some dinner at home so we can talk?” Speak of the devil. Callie stood in my doorway looking wary and tired.
“Sure, let’s go.” I couldn’t let Callie leave me and I wouldn’t.
As soon as the door closed behind me she turned and kicked off her shoes. “So, talk.”
I had to smile at her demanding tone. It made me proud but it also made me hot as hell. “Why are you leaving me?”
She looked confused. “I’m not leaving you, what are you talking about?”
She knew but I told her anyway. “You were looking at apartments in Boulder, what else should I think?”
She sighed and went into the kitchen to pour herself a stiff drink. My girl didn’t go for wine when she needed a drink, she reached for the whiskey. “It’s not because I’m leaving you. Tag you have to admit things have been weird since I said I love you. I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable in your own home because you don’t feel the same way.” She tossed back the whiskey and poured another. “I love you Tag, I do. Maybe it’s too soon, I don’t know but I know how I feel. I feel you pulling back and hate it. So if you need me to be out of here to make things easier for you, I’ll do it.”
“Shit Princess is that what you think?” Man I’d fucked this up more than I thought. “You just shocked me when you said it in the car and I didn’t know what to do. No one has ever said that to me before.” Her shocked gas was just another reason I loved her. She always felt shit on my behalf. Right now she’s upset that no one has seen how great I am and told me they loved me before her. “I handled it badly and as time went by I didn’t know how to say it.”
“It?”
Her wide honey brown eyes were filled with disbelief. I had to smile at her. “I should have told you in that car that I loved you, that I was crazy as fuck about you and wanted to keep you by my side forever. I should have said all that and more but shit Callie you’re way too good for me. You deserve so much more than I can give you but I’m a selfish bastard and I want you. I want you so damn bad I ache with it.”
She slammed back another whiskey and stared at me, her face nothing but a blank mask. Then I saw it, one side of her mouth slowly began to lift and then the other side. “So what you’re saying is that you’re madly in love with me, a girl with nothing but a small trust fund to her name and a new job at a fast growing company? Did I get that right?”
“Hey Princess, that’s pretty good for a socialite.” I loved giving her shit because she dished it right back. “And since you’re with a bona fide bad boy who’s set for life, you can feel free to decorate this space in your crazy bold colors and patterns.”
“Really?” She tried to hide her excitement. “Well I do have my own money so I won’t have to be a kept woman, you know.”
“Aw but honey I want nothing more than to keep you. Forever.” I lifted her up until she wrapped her legs around my waist.
“Forever is a long time, Ranger.” She kissed my neck and my knees damn near buckled. “Now let’s get something to eat, I’m starved.”
“You know Callie, I’m pretty hungry too.” I lowered her onto our marble dining table and quickly removed her skirt and silky red thong. “Fuck baby you are making me hard in those stockings.”
She extended her legs, resting her ankles on my shoulders. “These old things?”
“Mmmm,” I grunted at her and pulled up a chair. “So. Very. Hungry.” I used my hands to push her thighs out until she was bared to me. “So silky and pink. Ooh and so wet. Is that wet pussy for me?”
“You know it is Ranger. I’ve been thinking about you all day and this is what happens.”
I loved that my sweet little Callie could talk dirty. It was a fucking turn on, let me tell you. I grabbed her and pulled her closer so I could feast on her sweet pussy. And I did. I flattened my tongue and swiped up and down, occasionally sliding through her folds until her hips began to roll under my mouth. I spread those pretty brown lips and watched the cream spill from her pussy. I lapped it up and sucked it out, making her squirm and tighten her thighs around me. “Give me all of your juices, Princess.”
“Take it Tag, it’s all yours anyway.” She held her lips open for me so I could feast and I did not disappoint. I sucked that sweet clit into mouth and pulled until she was vibrating with her need to come.
“You want to come Callie? You need to come all over my tongue?” She moaned and fisted a handful of my hair, keeping me where she needed me.
Needed. Me.
I slid three fingers inside her sweet heat and clamped on to her clit until she was screaming my name and coming all over my tongue. I slowed my mouth to bring her down a little but not too much. My girl loved to come and she could practically do it on command.
“Tag I need you inside me now. I need to feel you.”
Her soft whispers were driving me crazy and I stood, knocking over the chair and getting rid of my pants and underwear. “You want this hard dick?” I smacked her clit and she gasped because she was still extremely sensitive. “Are you wet enough for me, Princess?” I almost came as soon as I came near her wet heat so yeah, she was more than wet enough. She was dripping fucking wet and I coated myself in her before I slammed inside.
“Oh!” She dug her feet into my ass to spur me on and I hammered into her until we were both climbing the walls to reach our pleasure. “So close,” she groaned and I felt her squeezing me so I knew she was closer than close, she was standing right on the edge. I pinched her clit and stroked harder and faster into her until we were both screaming our pleasure loud enough to shake down the walls.