Mine's to Kill (9 page)

Her eyes sprang open to find him watching her with the most intense stare. How long had he been watching her lips move? How much had she spoken that he was able to understand? “Let me up,” she said forcefully. Maybe it was the look in her eyes that told him she was serious because he did let her up. She scrambled to the farthest end of the couch making sure they had enough room between them.

He just sat back and grinned. “You want me,” he signed. “I know you do.”

“That’s not…not going to happen,” she said instead of telling him that’s not what she meant with the words she had spoken because she did want him.

“You sound beautiful,” he signed. “I can tell because of the vibrations; you make me want to do all sorts of naughty things to you,” he winked.

“I’m not in the habit of compromising my position,” she signed, trying to put up her defenses, but God the man was looking so hot she wanted to strip him and explore that fine body of his.

“I’m not in the habit of quitting,” he told her. “As far as positions go, Autumn, you can take whatever position you want just so long as we’re both naked while you do it.” He eased closer to her and she put out her hand to stave him off, but instead of backing down he grabbed hold of her wrist and pulled her closer to him. Within seconds he had one hand fisted in her hair and before she could utter another protest his mouth was on hers. He used his tongue to part her lips and she didn’t even try to stop him. Instead, she opened her mouth and let him in, relishing in the feelings he was sparking to life inside her.

Stopping wasn’t an option. She couldn’t pull away from him because she wanted this, wanted his touch, his kiss. She had been able to deny the attraction—moderately deny it anyway—until he touched her, until he decided to kiss her.

He kissed her with heat and passion and she gave back just as good as she was getting. If it hadn’t been for her phone ringing she wouldn’t have been able to drag her lips from his until they were both completely satisfied. This was madness—this hunger was too much, too strong, and she hadn’t even been with him long. If this protection duty went on for much longer she couldn’t imagine being able to leave, to walk away, without giving in to what they both wanted.

When she pulled away from him she could see the heat in his eyes, the desire to do more and she was sure her own eyes mirrored the sentiment. Instead, she looked to her phone and watched as he did the same. The glowing light told him she had an incoming call. He looked back to her, smiled and with a devilish wink he eased back enough to allow her to move to grab the phone off the coffee table.

“Kitsap,” she said as she watched Colt staring at her. He was nearly undressing her with his eyes. How was she going to concentrate with him looking at her like that? “I saw the piece earlier. Turn on the news.”

Autumn reached for the remote and turned the television back on. “Yes, I see the problem,” she admitted. There was a crew standing outside with their cameras on live feed and they were discussing the fact that a neighborly shop owner had called to inform them that a certain “artist” hadn’t been running since the date of the attack. “Grand,” Autumn mumbled.

“You fix this. We need to keep his identity under wraps as long as we can. The stupid Feds still don’t have anything on the guy. Fix it.” Candice disconnected the call without further conversation. Right; how was she supposed to fix that? One news crew was bound to turn into more if they thought they found the witness. This was a huge case in this town, and the fact that men were the victim seemed to garner a lot more attention than normal. Every station was covering the murders and there was a lot of pressure placed on the police department to find this guy quickly.

Autumn undid the top buttons on her blouse down to the cleft in her breast. She un-tucked her shirt, ran her fingers through her hair, tussling the barely there curls and she looked to Colt. “Time to go play the girlfriend,” she said. Fix it meant making up a reason he hadn’t been running since the attack without putting him in front of the vultures. Maybe they would think having his girlfriend in town would definitely cramp his routine—at least she hoped the shop owners didn’t know him well enough to know his dedication. Thus far she hadn’t been able to cramp the man’s routine for even a second.

She secured her weapon in the back waistband of her pants. She knew it wouldn’t be visible if she went down stairs, but she couldn’t put on her boots to go down because she wanted it to look as if they were interrupting something, so there was no hiding a piece anywhere else on her body. The incessant flashing of the lights told her they were laying on the doorbell with no intent of stopping until they got what they wanted—an interview with their suspected witness.

She went down with bare feet and realized how much of a bad idea that was the moment she opened the door and the cold air assaulted her toes. “What?” She asked with some annoyance.

“We’re looking for the artist.”

“He’s unavailable at the moment,” she plastered on a fake smile.

“We believe he’s the State’s witness to the recent murders. He hasn’t been jogging since and we want to talk to him to find out what that experience was like, what he saw and why the cops aren’t protecting him.”

“I can assure you Colt hasn’t been jogging because we’ve been getting our exercise in other,” she smiled wickedly, “positions.”

“But…” The reporter’s ash eyes shot behind her as his words trailed off. She had to turn to see what caught his attention. What she saw left her mouth hanging open. Colt was naked as the day he was when he was born.

“Colt!” She eased the door up enough to shield his body from the cameras. These guys were on live television and he had just come down stark naked. He grinned as he came close enough to her to breathe on her neck. She turned swiftly. That didn’t stop him from kissing her neck and running one hand down her body while the other hand pushed the hair in his way off her shoulder so he could continue his sensuous assault.

“As you can see,” she giggled. She actually giggled. She didn’t giggle. “We’re a little...” he kissed another tickly spot and she squirmed, but he refused to let her out of his grip. “We’re…um…busy.” She slapped his hand away when he started reaching for the button on her jeans. She stepped back enough to close the front door. She was now giggling and laughing so hard because while this wasn’t what she had in mind—exactly—she knew it had worked. The short and stocky reporter with the ash eyes and the too blond hair definitely looked as shocked as she was when Colt emerged sans clothing.

“You are so bad,” she told him as they went back into the room. The reporter was still on live television wrapping up his piece. “I wouldn’t go jogging either if I had her in bed with me,” the anchor said.

Autumn shook her head. “Well,” she turned to Colt so she could sign to him. “At least they bought it.” She hit his shoulder. “How could you do that?”

“You said you were playing girlfriend.” He shrugged.

“You were naked…you still are.” Her eyes roved his body, drinking in every inch. Good lord the man was hard all over…no wonder the cameraman and reporter looked even more shaken and stirred—the man looked like he was just waiting for a place to put that jutting erection and the place he, and they were thinking about, involved a part of her body. “You,” she signed furiously. He laughed. He actually tossed back his head and laughed.

When he sobered enough to stop laughing and actually look at her he still had that smirk on his face. “I’m already naked. Want to join me?” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“Put your clothes on,” she rolled her eyes. Her phone started ringing. She blew out a slow breath to calm herself. “Director,” she said as she answered the phone.

“Don’t Director me, Autumn. I told you to call me Candice when we’re not in the office. Now, that was brilliant.”

“I hadn’t expected him to…wait, what?”

“Brilliant. They bought the ruse and him coming there naked was definitely a distraction. Tell him if it makes him feel better the camera didn’t catch his penis all that clearly from the background and while he was close up they focused higher. That look he gave the camera was priceless. If I didn’t know any better I would say the two of you were rolling deep in sex before that camera crew showed up. Good job,” she said and then hung up again.

Autumn tossed the phone down on the sofa and shrugged. She took her weapon out of its position and secured it back in the drawer of the coffee table. She turned back to face Colt. “Your tactics have gone over well. She says you didn’t flash the entire nation too much of your private parts.”

He shrugged as if he didn’t care. “Nudity doesn’t bother me, Autumn.”

“Clearly,” she mumbled. “The girlfriend cover works.”

He took a step closer to her and she took a step back. “Girlfriend,” he signed the single word.

“Pretend,” she added.

“I think we need practice.” He reached out, grabbed hold of her arm and yanked her flush against his naked body. The movement caused her to stagger a bit and she had to brace her hand on his chest to stabilize herself—not that he was going to let her fall.

“We don’t need practice.” That twinkle in his eyes and that grin on his face warned her of his intent. She tried to pull away, but it was too late. His lips were already massaging hers, coaxing her to open her mouth and let him inside. Naked or clothed, Colt was dangerous to a woman’s ability to concentrate. While she knew she should regain the distance by whatever means necessary she didn’t want to. So instead of giving herself space she wrapped her arms around his neck, went up on tiptoes and deepened the kiss. She didn’t protest when he grabbed hold of her behind and pulled her closer—as if she could get much closer than they already were. She didn’t protest when his hands started working the remaining buttons on her blouse a loose. She didn’t protest when his fingers went for the button and zipper of her jeans. And when she found herself standing there with her jeans pooled at her ankles, her shirt dangling off her shoulders and nothing but her bra and panties serving as a barrier between them she didn’t protest then either. One night. They could have one night and then he was going to have to put his mind back on work and off her body. She would have to do the same—only the body she was touching now was going to be a hard one to forget.

When he broke the kiss enough to untangle her arms from around his neck and discard her shirt he said with his voice, “step out of them,” as he looked at her jeans. She stabilized herself by placing her hands on his solid biceps and stepping out of her jeans. Now that she was standing there in bra and panties, watching him watching her, she felt vulnerable—she felt naked.

When he looked back to her eyes she was so ready for more with this man. This shouldn’t happen, but she wasn’t going to shut it down now. “Condom?”

He grinned. “Oh yeah. I have condoms.” He took hold of her hand and led her back toward his bedroom. Tonight she wouldn’t be sleeping on the couch. Tonight they were going to explore this sexual attraction and tomorrow they were going back to business as usual.

Chapter Eight

“T
hat’s him,” Billy said with a smile on his face. He would know those eyes anywhere. It was more the shape than anything else, because he hadn’t been close enough to get a look at the color. He might not have been close enough for exact details, but he knew the shape of the eyes he had looked into. He knew the look of the man who was trying to ruin all his plans. That was definitely him. They said he was an artist—Colt Grayson was the name they gave before that woman came to the door. Was she really the girlfriend? Of course she was. The way Colt came to the door told Billy they were in the middle of something when the reporters showed up.

He chuckled. “That explains why he’s not in protective custody.” He laughed hard. “Well your lust is going to be the death of you, Colt Grayson. She’s going to be the reason you die. And you,” he pointed at the paused DVR of the news program; “you’re going to be the reason she dies.” He hadn’t killed a woman before. He didn’t have any anger with women, but if she were there when he went in to complete his mission then she was going to have to die too. “I’m sorry,” he said as he looked over the paused image of the woman standing in front of Colt. “You’re not part of my mission, but my mission can’t be stopped. I must complete it, no matter the cost.” He studied the image of Colt Grayson and his “girlfriend,” so that he could recognize either one of them if he saw them anywhere else. He now knew where this guy lived, but he was certain getting to him at his home wouldn’t be easy now. The cops were more than likely going to have patrol set up…unless they believed the reporters were not going to return. Clearly they thought his reason for not going for his run was that woman—maybe that was part of the reason, but Billy knew the real reason—the cops had probably told him not to venture back into the park.

“You need a plan Billy Boy. You need a plan.” He turned off the television and pulled out his favorite knife. He was going hunting. This would be a slight detour, but once this was done he could go back to saving the little boys. He would eradicate every potential threat one kill at a time.

York waited until the office was practically empty before taking care of positioning the camera and audio devices. He had to make sure they were strategically located so they weren’t detectable. His plan couldn’t work if actions changed because they knew they were being observed. Honestly he hated this part. He hated the violation of privacy, but in this case he didn’t have a choice. When a person decided to betray their position, their country, their unit, then they forfeited the right to privacy. He wasn’t skeptical of his choice of the traitor; all he needed was proof before he cast the net and dragged the scum in.

They had lost too many witnesses, too many good agents young and old, married with children and single—they were all good people who didn’t deserve what they received. When Autumn confided in him, confirming his suspicions that she was there as more than what they all assumed she was there for, she confirmed another suspicion he had regarding those attacks on previous safe houses. He thought then that the information had to be leaking from inside somewhere; he just couldn’t figure out where and on what level. He hadn’t suspected, or more like he hadn’t wanted to suspect, one of their own. He had thought higher up because there were a select few who knew details of where every witness was going. It had to be one of them. But when Autumn told him she was there because of their unit, because the traitor was within their walls, he put some things together and came up with the person he thought it might be. One thing led to another and here he was installing cameras and audio devices.

They had to stop this before anybody else got hurt. Every agent and witness out there was in danger until they found the leak and plugged it. He would say a bigger concern would be trust. If witnesses started hearing about how unsafe the protection program was they would be more reluctant to come forward, let alone testify, than they already were. Something had to be done before they crossed the threshold of no return. This had to be stopped and there had to be justice. He would make sure there was justice.