Authors: Jan Springer
“Please trust me.”
“If I tell you, you mustn’t repeat it. It would be dangerous if word got out they exist.”
She nodded and said sadly, “I’m very good at keeping secrets.”
“I’m counting on you telling me yours, Ashley.”
“I will. I promise. I will tell you everything…but first you have to answer my questions.”
There appeared to be a desperation about her. A need to know more about him. It seemed as if she might be testing him. Maybe she was checking him out to see if she could trust him with her secrets?
“Okay…S.K.U.L.L. stands for Skilled Kill Undercover Liaison Links. They are a secret US Army Intelligence agency that uses men and women in the medical profession. People who have excellent shooting skills and who know how to kill.”
Ashley drew a lazy circle around his right nipple and acted as if this newest tidbit didn’t bother her. But it did. He could tell by the cute little worry wrinkles marring the area between her eyebrows.
“An assassin, like the general told me.”
“You both knew who I was?”
“No. The general didn’t know anything until that last day. And he told me long afterward…after you and I had parted. He told me someone tipped off his son that 147
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there was a hit out on him. While you, Blade and I were…together that last night, the general was at a restaurant meeting with his son. He had guards secretly stationed outside the building…they saw Blade…and then they saw you when you showed up and one of them recognized you. That’s when they realized you were an assassin. He told me you’d just used him and me as a cover to get to his son.”
She shrugged her shoulders and inhaled a shaky breath.
So that accounted for all these questions she was throwing at him and why they’d known Blade and he were lying in wait that night. It also proved she hadn’t been a knowing decoy as Blade had once suggested. These tidbits of information certainly made him feel a whole hell of a lot better.
Suddenly she peeked up at him. “Doesn’t that go against your oath or something?
Killing people.”
He repressed the painful memories of the people he’d had to kill during the Wars. His life back then had been out of his control. The unleashing of the X-virus. The mutations that had followed. The helplessness he’d felt when he’d watched his mother and sister die horribly from a deadly mutation of the virus. The deaths of so many women he’d known. It had just been so overwhelming.
Anger had followed. Red-hot rage that had persuaded him and his brothers to join and fight against the bastards who’d killed so many women. The fight had spread and ultimately included any country who had insisted on placing women as second-class citizens or non-persons.
He’d always been the best shot when his dad had taken them hunting. The Army had noticed. Seen his potential. Had sent him to S.K.U.L.L. for training. He’d been part of a large military machine and fighting for his country. Simply following his orders and fighting for all the women who had died. Over the years he’d become an expert at keeping his focus directly to the present and keeping the past in the past…keeping everything in the past…except Ashley. She’d been the one person who he’d never been able to forget. Probably because he’d thought she’d been a sweet and innocent victim, dragged unwilling into the mayhem of the Terrorist Wars.
“When I was ordered to join S.K.U.L.L. that oath was abolished,” he admitted.
“So you had to go undercover to kill people…terrorists?”
“Anyone the US Army wanted out of the way. On either side. I used my medical skills as a doctor as my cover.”
He held his breath as he let his words sink in. More wrinkles, this time in her forehead.
“On our side too?”
“That’s right.”
“You had to kill our own people? Why?”
Oh shit! She’d said she wouldn’t judge.
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“There were traitors…high-ranking officers who fed information to the terrorists for money. And then there were officers like the general whose son had left the US Army to join the terrorists. S.K.U.L.L. worked it so the general believed I’d saved his life in some controversial brain surgery. They’d hoped he’d be so grateful that I’d put my career on the line to save him, that I must be trustworthy. They anticipated he would thank me by taking me into his home as his personal physician.”
The lazy fingers smoothing over his skull tattoo got a little tenser.
“What would have happened if you’d refused to join S.K.U.L.L.?”
“Not following orders would have gotten me into the brig. I couldn’t practice my profession in the brig…so I did what I was told. I did the assigned kills and I was allowed to use my skills out in the field between assignments.”
“And Blade? He’s what?”
“He’s my backup. My partner.”
“And why did you bring him to the general’s villa…was he part of the cover or…”
So that’s what she was angling at. She’d wanted to know if he’d used her for his friend’s benefit.
“It was nothing like that, Ash. I wanted to give you your fantasy and I needed his help in taking you away with me.”
“But you never did take me away. I woke up and you were gone.”
“We came back. But the note and the comb you left me on the pillow—”
She tensed, gazed at him. Anger sparked her eyes. “I never left that comb on the pillow and I certainly did not leave you a note. You left me one. You said you changed your mind. That you were only acting out a fantasy with me.”
He stilled. “I never left you a note, Ash.”
Her confused gaze unsettled him. “The only one I ever wrote was the one Cheri made me write to you the other night.”
Colter closed his eyes as everything sunk in around him. She’d never left him. The concept of it wrapped snugly around his heart. She’d never written that note. She’d never left the comb on the pillow for him to find. Christ! All this time he’d hated her, wanted her, planned to walk away from her once he’d had her.
“Fuck!” she whispered harshly. “That bastard! I should have known he was involved. Should have known!”
Colter swallowed hard as memories of searching for her burst behind his eyes. He’d read that note. Hadn’t believed it. Had wanted to hear it from her own lips. He’d put his life in jeopardy asking around about the general. He’d discovered the general had vanished with Ashley. The Army wasn’t giving out the details. He’d known the general had connections. Had probably paid off the higher ranks to find him a cushy job somewhere else until Colter forgot about her. 149
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He’d counted on S.K.U.L.L.’s help. He’d been pissed off beyond belief they’d refused his personal request. Thank God for Blade. He’d tried to help him find Ashley but he hadn’t been successful either.
Colter had spiraled after losing her. Hit rock-bottom. Somehow, Blade had gotten him out of it. Had kept him busy with assignments and Colter had vowed he’d get his revenge. Had nurtured his anger toward Ashley. Had planned his revenge against her and when the opportunity had presented itself, he’d put his assignment in danger because of her.
No, because of what the general had done.
He fought down the anger churning inside him. Now was not the time to be pissed off. Now was the time to get answers from her.
He snapped open his eyes and found Ashley staring at him. She looked lost. Afraid. Devastated.
He wanted to reach out to her. To hug her to his chest, but there was no more time to waste. They had to pick up the pieces of their relationship, but first, he needed to hear her secrets.
“Your turn,” he said simply.
She nodded.
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Chapter Eleven
Anxiety tightened in Ashley’s chest. She couldn’t believe she was so surprised in learning the general had somehow gotten someone, probably a member of his staff, to put that horrid note on her pillow pretending it was from Colter. She’d had no reason not to believe it was from him. She didn’t know his handwriting. Had assumed it was his.
The general had somehow found out about the comb, probably had videotaped Colter giving it to her. He would know how important the comb had been to both of them.
Of course Colter would assume the items would be from her. And there she sat. In bed with the man she’d trusted, the man who she’d thought had betrayed her and all she could think of was how he must have hated her. Hated her for something she’d never even done.
Now everything made sense. His anger toward her. Blade’s anger toward her. And now he wanted her to tell him her secrets.
She made a move to loosen the ball stretcher she’d wrapped around him. It must be hurting by now.
“Leave it for now, Ashley. Quit stalling. Why didn’t you tell me about your daughter? Why are you here with only one bodyguard?”
“I’m here with only one bodyguard because I escaped the general. He’s dead. I killed him a couple of weeks ago at his Utah compound where he’d taken me after the collapse of the Terrorist Wars. My bodyguard helped me to cover up his death. He made it look as though the general had suddenly gone out of the country on business. He also helped my daughter and me escape. When I had her in a safe place he helped me to come here to bid on the cure.”
He blinked at her but said nothing. It was as if he hadn’t heard her confession. Or maybe he had and he was just trying to figure out what to do about the fact he’d been fucking a murderess. Suddenly the need to explain simply broke from her. It all just started spilling out in a horrible rush.
“We were fighting about our daughter. He’d sold her to Cheri. He was going to send my innocent baby to that evil woman, and he said he was going to breed me again. He was touching me, and he made me feel so furious, so dirty and worthless…so helpless… I tried to push him away…we both fell and he broke his neck when he hit the fireplace mantel.”
Now besides her trusty bodyguard, only Colter and she knew what a terrible thing she’d done.
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He was shaking his head and rubbing his chin with puzzlement as if denying what she’d said.
“So that’s why you were so scared when you were talking to Cheri when you first arrived. You thought she’d find out about the general?”
“Yes. Mike forged the letter, bribed his way for us to get here so I could bid on the cure. I wanted to give the information to the government, to make sure they would create the vaccine for my daughter and all the young girls but now…”
Now she was at the mercy of Colter for the cure. At the mercy of S.K.U.L.L. A sob escaped her and he reached out and grabbed her, pulled her against him. She sank against his welcome warmth. There were too many emotions to sort through at the moment, and the strong feel of his hard body against hers made her feel safe. Safe enough to finally allow the tears of rage, the humiliation of being a sex slave, the fear of what would happen to her daughter, everything to just flow out of her in a wave of endless tears.
She snuggled closer to him. Tried to bury herself into his power, his strength as he softly caressed her hair and whispered to her. His calm voice magnetized her. Centered her, and after a while she was able to pull herself together. But she stayed in his embrace, awaiting his next questions. She didn’t have long to wait.
“You said he wanted to breed you again…who did he breed you with before?” His voice sounded hoarse, strangled.
He knew the answer. She could feel it in the tense way he held himself.
“He put drugs in your food. It only allowed the sperm that would create females to reach my womb.”
“You said you were on birth control.”
“They were placebos. He told me everything afterward…after I found out I was pregnant with your child…your daughter. He knew we were together. It’s why he brought you to the mansion. For us to produce a girl for him to eventually sell.” An odd silence filled the room.
She’d expected him to be angry. He wasn’t. She’d expected him to curse the general. He didn’t.
“I have a daughter?” he finally whispered. His voice was thick with emotion. Ashley nodded and found herself stroking his skull tattoo again. For some reason she seemed drawn toward it. Maybe because she realized if he hadn’t been assigned to this S.K.U.L.L. team, then she would never have met Colter and never had Colette. Just thinking about her pretty little daughter made a wonderful happiness bubble through her entire being.
“She’s what…four years old?”
“Yes. Her name is Colette and she’s absolutely adorable.”
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“Who does she look like more? You? Or me?” Typical father question. Ashley couldn’t help but smile.
“Both of us. She has your hair color and my eyes.”
“Starry Eyes just like her mother, her beautiful mother. I’m so sorry I’ve been such an asshole with you.”
“You were angry. We both were angry.”
“I’m not angry anymore. I just want to make love to you. Feel myself inside you…now.”
She felt the same way. They needed to bond. Needed to forget. If only for a few minutes.
She moaned as he leaned down and took her mouth in a wickedly delicious kiss. Closing her eyes, she savored the carnal sensations showering her. She was unsure of their future together, but there was one thing she knew for sure. She wanted this man. Wanted her Outlaw Lover with her very being.
He chuckled after breaking the kiss. Then he grabbed her hands and maneuvered her on top of his lap just like the way she’d done earlier. Earlier before her whole world had changed.
She still couldn’t absorb it. They’d been used, manipulated and duped horribly by the general and she couldn’t decipher the feelings swamping through her. It would probably hit her later.
But right now…
“Oh my gosh! What are you doing?”
He’d grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her backward until her head was lying on top of his ankles.
“Just enjoy, Starry Eyes,” he chuckled, and maneuvered both her legs to each side of his shoulders. Firm fingers gripped her hips and he pulled her upwards, dragging her ass over his captive cock, his hard belly, his damp chest until she giggled when his hot breath slammed against her pussy.