Nauti Dreams (7 page)

knew she would have, because the fight to stay away from him had been too hard. It had

been more than she could bear.

One more assignment. Just this last operation and then—they would have time then. Not

now.

She shook her head as she arched to him. Now wasn’t the time. She couldn’t divide her

attention like this. She would end up getting killed.

His mouth buried between her breasts, his tongue licking, stroking as she moaned his

name. She needed. Just one more taste of him, then she would be strong.

“Damn you.” Suddenly, his head jerked up. “Why are you here, Chay?”

She shook her head. She wasn’t drawing him in to this. It wasn’t happening.

“Just questions,” she panted. “Follow-up. I have to follow up.”

She was going to have to do some heavy talking if he ever found out where those

questions would lead.

“Liar.” The accusation was soft, wickedly knowing. “You can’t lie to me, Chay.”

He pressed her legs apart with his and the toy; he still had that damned toy. He stroked it

over the damp cotton that shielded her from him.

“Let’s play a game,” he whispered. “I ask a question, you tell the truth, and I give you

something you’ll really like.”

“Kiss me, Natches.”

As he had once bragged, his kisses were potent.

He leaned forward, brushed his lips against hers.

“Scared?” he asked softly, his eyes knowing.

“Let me get drunk on you,” she urged. “Just kiss me.”

“Just kiss you?” The head of the toy pressed more firmly against her hungry core. “But,

Chay, you’re so wet and so wild beneath me. Let’s play my little game first.”

She arched and cried out as he pulled back.

“First question.” He licked over the top of a breast revealed by the material he nudged

lower with his chin. “Did DHS send you here?”

Okay, that one was easy.

“Yes,” she answered carefully.

A soft approving murmur against the curve of her breast and he was nudging the cup of

her bra lower to lick at her nipple. Heat sizzled in her veins and sent her hips thrusting,

grinding against the toy he held pressed to her panties.

“Good girl,” he murmured. “Am I involved?”

Was he? She didn’t think he was. He shouldn’t be. She could be honest there.

“No.” She lifted her hips again, wanting more. Damn him, she was honest. Reward time

here.

He nipped at her nipple and nearly sent her into orgasm.

“Why are you here?”

Her lips parted to answer, to spill her guts just for another taste of the pleasure he could

give her.

“Follow-up.” She moaned.

“Hmm, Chay, my little liar.” He pulled the toy back. “Come on, baby; fess up.”

Her eyes opened as she stared back at him, aching, hurting for him.

“Follow-up,” she repeated, the tormented whisper dragged from her throat. “It’s the only

reason I’m here.” And it was partially the truth. Enough of the truth, and all he needed to

stay safe.

He knelt above her. She watched hungrily as, tossing the toy aside, he loosened his belt,

unsnapped his jeans, then lowered the zipper slowly. She licked her lips, her hands poised

to help him, to catch the heavy length of his erection when it was free. To taste it. To fill

her mouth with it.

“Why are you here, Chay?” She barely missed the hardening of his voice.

“Follow-up.” She felt dazed, off balance, impatient. Like an addict anticipating a fix.

And just that fast he rolled away from her, moved to his feet, and was fixing his jeans, his

expression still, silent with anger.

Damn. There went the fix. Her body was screaming out in protest, reminding her how

mean she was being to it. How long had it been now since she had known his possession?

Five years, two months, three days, and how many hours, she thought morosely.

“I guess that means I don’t get any more rewards.” She sighed as she adjusted her skirt

and top. She didn’t bother to roll from the bed. “Lock the door behind you if you don’t

mind. I may need some privacy after you leave.”

He glared at her. The next thing she knew, the thin cord was jerked from the base of the

dildo and as she watched in horror, he tore it in half.

“Oh my God. Natches, you didn’t do that.”

“If you need privacy, then by God you can make do with your fingers. That’s what

you’ve reduced me to.” He tossed the pieces to the floor. “When you’re ready to tell me

the fucking truth, you know where to find me.”

With that, he stalked out of the room. She stared at the floor in disbelief then at the door

as the echo of the main door slamming penetrated her mind.

He broke her toy and left?

She was going to kill him.

THREE

Somerset and Lake Cumberland appealed to Chaya in a way that had surprised her.

Arriving ahead of the Homeland Security team, in advance preparation more than a year

ago, she had been taken aback by the friendliness of the citizens and the relaxed, peaceful

atmosphere of the mountains surrounding the town.

There was serenity here. Not that there wasn’t crime, or criminals, of course. The theft

and attempted sale of the missiles last year was proof enough. No, it was something else.

There was a quiet, easygoing feel to the area, and she had loved it.

She had missed it since the team had left last year. She had missed the community, and

she had missed Natches. Unfortunately, she had missed Natches more than anything else.

And Timothy had known Natches was her weakness. That was the problem with having a

boss as manipulating and calculating as Timothy Cranston. He knew the agents under

him to their back teeth. Their strengths and their weaknesses. And he didn’t have a

problem using both to his advantage.

Hell, she was supposed to be out of this. Right now, she should have been apartment

hunting or something. She should have been getting her head straight, because it was

something she hadn’t managed to do in five years.

She had managed to quit smoking again. It was a nasty habit, and breaking it hadn’t been

easy. Timothy alone was an excuse to smoke. She bet half of his agents had picked up the

habit only after having been assigned to his team.

This operation had obsessed Cranston though, worse than Chaya had ever seen him

obsessed. Those missiles in the wrong hands would have been disastrous. And knowing

that it had been Americans behind the hijacking and attempted sale had enraged

Cranston. Finding out it had a connection to a much older investigation had made him

rabid. They were so close he claimed, so close to finding the bastards he spent every

waking moment of his life chasing.

He had pulled every string he could find and had broken more than one rule in that

investigation last year. One of those strings was pulling in two ex-Marines onto the team.

Locals known for their wild reputations and their ability to gather and filter local gossip.

Dawg and Natches Mackay. And there had been the added benefit for Timothy of finally

finding Natches Mackay’s “weakness” as he called it.

And that one she had to roll her eyes at. She was anything but his weakness. Natches

wanted her. He would spend the night in her bed in a heartbeat and she knew it. She

could have him. On his terms and by his rules. And that would mean dragging him into

an investigation he had no business being a part of. That, she couldn’t find it within

herself to do.

As she pulled her rental car into the parking lot of the local diner that the Mackay men

were known to frequent, Chaya checked her weapon and breathed out a sigh of

frustration.

She hated this. Hated the deception and the need for it. And even more, she hated being

under Natches’s radar once again. Especially after he broke her toy. And here she was on

assignment. It wasn’t as though she could just go out and buy a new one.

She checked her rearview mirror and there he was. That wicked black jeep pulling into

the back entrance and stopping, the man behind the wheel watching her from behind dark

glasses.

He hadn’t approached her since he had stomped from her hotel room days before. But he

had been following her since she left the hotel that morning. He had hung back, stayed

distant just as he had the year before. He just watched, and just made her as nervous as

hell.

Parking the sedan, Chaya gathered her purse and the heavy file she’d brought with her

before stepping out into the crisp autumn air.

She could feel his eyes on her back as she moved to the entrance of the diner. Intense,

blazing. The feminine core of her had been reawakened by that look over a year ago, and

now, after knowing his touch again, it didn’t seem inclined to go back to sleep.

She pushed her way into the diner and stood for a moment, getting her bearings as all

eyes turned to her. Suspicious, curious, amused. She latched onto the amused gaze of

Sheriff Ezekiel Mayes before striding across the large room.

His hawklike eyes followed her progress through the room as he rose slowly to his feet.

The dun-colored sheriff’s uniform showed off a body in peak condition for a man of

thirty-six years. Dark brown hair was military short and emphasized the strong planes and

angles of his masculine face.

“Agent Dane.” He nodded as she took her seat and laid the heavy file on the table in front

of her, then he returned to his seat.

“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Sheriff.” She tried out her best business smile,

but at the narrowing of his eyes, she assumed it hadn’t gone off quite as planned. “I know

it was short notice.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.” He picked up his coffee and took a drink before setting

the cup on the table and motioning to the waitress as she moved by. “Becca, we’ll need

more coffee over here.”

“Gotcha, Zeke.” The waitress gave Chaya a quick, suspicious look before moving away.

“Have you had lunch yet?” he asked Chaya then.

“I’m fine. I just have some questions I needed to ask and a few things I’d like to go over

with you before we head out to begin these interviews.”

Why Timothy had arranged for this sheriff to tag along with her she wasn’t certain.

Ezekiel Mayes was nobody’s fool. He’d spent five years as a homicide detective in Los

Angeles before returning to his hometown and running for sheriff. He was suspicious by

nature, perceptive, and when he had learned an operation had been conducted without his

knowledge by the DHS last year, he had been in D.C. screaming in the faces of men with

enough power to scald Cranston’s ass.

Mayes had some small amount of pull there, Cranston had learned, and he knew exactly

how to wield it. Proof was in the fact that she was working with him now.

Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. The quote

whispered through Chaya’s mind, and not for the first time. Cranston was playing a very

dangerous game here, and Sheriff Mayes was but one of the potential enemies that he

could make.

“Coffee, Zeke.” Becca, the waitress, set the cup down before turning to Chaya. “You

need anything else?”

“No, thank you.” She shook her head, wishing she could find a way to still the nerves in

her stomach as she lifted the coffee to her lips.

Becca nodded and moved off, but the sheriff’s gaze never left Chaya.

“Cranston’s sunk to a new low.” Mayes leaned back in his chair and regarded her with

sharp golden brown eyes.

“Cranston’s always finding new lows.” Chaya shrugged. “What has he managed to do

this time?”

“He sent a pretty little girl to do a man’s job.” He grunted in disgust. “The Mackays are

none too happy with DHS right now, and neither is the local law enforcement around

here. You don’t pull an op like you did last year and not inform the locals without

stepping on some toes.”

“We weren’t required to inform anyone of our operation here. We were required to

reacquire those missiles, Sheriff, not make nice with the local law enforcement. And my

gender has nothing to do with my ability to conduct this end of the investigation.”

He grunted at that. “Yeah, two years in military intelligence and five with DHS. You

have a hell of a record under your belt, don’t you?”

She did, and it was one she was proud of, sometimes, she assured herself. When she

needed something to find a source of pride in, then it worked.

“I’m not a green agent, Sheriff.” She leaned back in her own chair and stared back at him.

“Nor am I out of my element here. You have enough pull that you were able to make

certain you were contacted and included in any further investigations. I’m fine with that.

But you don’t have the power to give me orders or to direct these interviews. Are we

clear?”

His gaze flared with anger for a moment, then the amusement was back. “Just your little

lackey, huh?” he murmured, glancing over his shoulder at the sound of the bell over the

door tinkling merrily to announce another customer.

Chaya sighed. It was Natches. She could feel him now.

“Shall we get down to business?” She picked up the list of interviewees that she had

chosen to visit that afternoon. “Here’s the short list of people I need to see today. I

assume we can have this completed before too late tonight.”

Mayes took the list and studied it with a frown. “This isn’t the full list.”

“I’m not required to give you the full list,” she told him, feeling Natches moving in