Justice (Bad Boys of X-Ops Book 2) (10 page)

Midnight Fuck Up

“WHAT IN THE FUCK do you think you’re doing?” I barked when I came across Tilly later that night.

We’d done the shame-faced-shuffle around each other all day long after that moment in the kitchen. I entered a room. She exited it. I happened to find her alone, and beat feet in the opposite direction.

We weren’t fooling anyone. Least of all ourselves.

But this?

This was the most stupid thing I’d ever stumbled upon.

Her knuckles halted midair as she crouched beside the soldered-shut door in the bunker that led to the tunnel.

I couldn’t let myself be with her. I couldn’t stop imagining what it’d be like to kiss her again without the fear of being discovered by Lawless, without the fear of possible death and defeat at the hands of the terrorists breathing down our necks.

I did what I could. I slept when she was awake. I took watch while she slept. I did
not
return to the danger zone of the gym because my willpower was stretched thin where she was concerned. After she’d touched my back . . . traced my tat. After she’d spoken so softly with understanding shading her voice, I’d needed to put up my armor around her even more.

Less than twenty-four hours after the
incident
in the gym, Storm, Walker, Bane, and I had finalized our exit strategy, and our escape plan was concrete, if not exactly airtight.

We’d filled in Lawless. His approval wasn’t necessary, but his cooperation would be essential.

He’d stroked the thick beginnings of a stiff, steel wool-like beard. “
Hmm
.”

Storm had looked at me. He’d begun prepping go-bags from our dwindling supplies as the hours counted down.

Bane had paused from packing medkits.

Walker busily checked wires and the tiny devices only he had the patience to fiddle with, even though boundless energy rolled off him like sunrays bouncing across the flat fields of a prairie.

I’d met Lawless head on. “We believe this is the best, most expedient option, sir.”

He sized me up with an unswerving stare. “You think I don’t see the way you look at my daughter, sonny boy?”

Erasing every expression from my face, I squared my shoulders. “This isn’t about Miss Lawless.”

His fist pounded on the table. “Well, it should be!”

“All due respect, sir, but
you
are the main asset.” I jammed my hands in my pockets, mirroring his belligerent stance.

“I don’t care about assets or even my own blamed ass!” Shoulders drooping, he’d deflated into a chair, his head hanging low. “My wife is gone. Tilly’s all I have left.”

Tilly had told me about her mother. I knew their family had dwindled to two.

But that wasn’t my problem.

I hadn’t been able to give Lawless the reassurance he needed, but I knew I’d fight to the death to deliver Tilly to safety.

Now, everything was in place. We just waited for the right moment.
Waiting
. An irritating waste of time often forced upon us while on an op, and the uselessness of sitting around made me feel no less like a ticking time bomb where Tilly was concerned.

But none of that shit mattered at all, ’cause I’d just caught Tilly Lawless in a seriously comprising position. And
this
time bomb was set to explode in her face.

I grabbed her wrist, hauling her to her feet. “Answer me, goddammit it! What are you doing?”

She jerked free, rubbing her wrist. “Sending messages.”

“To get us all killed? After what we witnessed today?” I kicked the door with a ringing clang before spinning back to her.

Getting all up in my face, her hair lashed across my chest. “Don’t be a jackass! To help you out.”

Snort
. “Right.
You
. Think this might be above your pay grade, Miss Matilda?”

“I won’t lower myself to smack you across the face again, but I am real damn close, Justice.” She seethed, and her uncorked fury filled the room.

Good. I was just as fucking angry.

I snatched her wrists again. “Do you have
any
idea what they’d do to you?” Shaking her, I snarled in her face. “Rape you, Tilly. Gangbang the American bitch then kill you!”

“They’re not going to get me.” She shuddered in my hold. “You won’t let them.”

“Jesus Christ.” I dragged her to me. “
Jesus Fucking Christ.
What are you doing to me?”

“Nothing. Nothing. I’m just . . .” Her arms wrapped around me.

“Have you compromised the field?” I asked through short breaths sped against her hair.

“No. I wouldn’t.”

I snatched her around the waist and whirled her against the door. “What . . . kind . . . of . . . messages did you send them?”

“International Morse Code.”

My jaw fell open.

Given a spare inch, Tilly stabbed the hard planes of my chest with a fingertip. “It may come as a surprise to you, Mr. Marine, but even though I teach photography I
am
an ambassador’s daughter, and I
have
seen warfare up close before.”

“What did you tell them?” I gnashed, the side of my jaw clenching.

“I convinced them I was one of their insurgents caught inside during the initial attack. Told them there were twelve of you.”

My eyebrows snapped up in surprise.

“Said the only way into the stronghold was through the tunnel and to keep going. To put all their manpower on it.”

“
You WHAT
?”

“Well, I figured there was no way we’d be using that route since we heard the voices coming through the first night”—Tilly ran her hand along the bumpy welded seams of the door—“so you must’ve come up with another exit. And if all their forces are concentrated in one area we’ll have a better chance.”

Fucking unbelievable.

I hooted a quiet laugh to the ceiling, hanging my thumbs in my pockets. “Jesus, girl. You got some balls.”

“And if they believe there are more of you, they’ll commit larger numbers in one concentrated area—the weakest point.” She hooked her index finger behind her shoulder, indicated the tunnel I hoped never saw the light of day again.

“Who the fuck taught you that?”

“My dad.”

I looked at her with grudging respect in the ambient lighting before anger subsumed my admiration, snuffing it out like the lights fizzled out above our heads as the generator shut down for the night.

I swung Tilly away from the door, manhandling her to the opposite corner. I boxed her in with my arms.

Anger at her for putting herself in danger and acting on her own.

Fury about her acting at all.

Rage that I couldn’t have her.

“You stupid, foolish woman,” I growled at her.

The heels of her palms beat against my chest. “Get off me, you asshole!”

“Like hell I will.” My voice rumbled like thunder. Gripping her shoulders, I shook her hard. “What the fuck got into you?”

“I wanted to help.” Her fingers cinched into my shirt, dragging hot slashing streaks down my chest. “You think I’m just gonna sit here and bake goddamn biscuits or something while you try to save us?”

She gave me a mighty shove.

I didn’t budge an inch. “I expect you to do what I tell you.”

She stomped on my foot. “You do not give me orders!”

“Some man sure oughtta.”

“Oh . . .
you . . .
you!”

I jerked up her chin between two hard fingers. “YOU! You scared the shit out of me, Tilly!”

My body barged against hers, and I kept her bracketed between the wall and me. Rage pulsed out of me in waves, but it wasn’t enough to eclipse the simmering sexual heat steaming between us.

I was so ready for Tilly I wanted to haul her up my thighs, pull my cock out of my pants, and find her equal need. She’d be hot and soaked and swollen—and tight on my dick.

“Let me go!” Her irises flared, hot green coals, deeper than ever.

“Let you go? Half the time you saunter around here like it’s a seduction, not a siege, and the other half”—I laughed, a throaty bark—“you . . .
you are asking for trouble
.”

“Am I? So why don’t you give it to me?” Wrangling free, she punched back, her hands on her hips.

“That what you want?” I circled her, eyeing everything I wanted.

Her tits, her hips, her waist, the legs that wouldn’t quit, and her stubborn chin.

“Want a hard man to fuck you. Because I’m telling you, Matilda—”

“It’s goddamn Tilly, and you know it!”

“I’d screw you right through the wall. Fuck you until you scream for more.” I beat my fist against the plaster right beside her head. “I’d do you so good you’d never speak my name again without wanting to spread your legs for me,” I hashed out. “But this is war. This isn’t playtime.”

“I
am not
playing with you.” Her chin rose, and she grabbed my biceps. “Why can’t you admit what’s going on between us?”

I jerked back as if burned. “What’s going on between us is a rescue mission.”

“You and I both know that’s not the whole truth.” She swiped the hair from her eyes, never once backing down from me.

“Maybe not.” I paced away from her, back and forth across the doorway to the hall so she couldn’t escape.

Not yet.

“And I know it’s your job to protect my father.” Cautiously, she strove behind me.

Tilly didn’t need to announce her whereabouts. I knew where she was at all times even when I didn’t have eyes on her.

Her fingers dipped to the shallow of my spine, and a harsh breath exploded from my lungs.

Too soon, she fell back. “That’s exactly what I expect you to do when the time comes. You don’t need to worry about me, Justice.”

I folded my arms over my chest, trying to hold its knocking inside. Every part of me vibed with her. I rolled around, inspecting her profile.

Jesus. She was so stubborn.

The perky nose.

The pouty lips puckered.

The gusts of breath billowing up from her full, round breasts.

The head held high as a ponytail of glossy, apricot-colored hair cascaded down her back.

I stood there.

Hesitating.

Wishing.

Wondering.

“Tilly—”

“Matilda, remember?” She relaxed her shoulders, facing me. “Matilda. And I’m not your charge . . . or anything else to you.”

The air around us sucked in as if burning tongues of flames swallowed all the oxygen in the room.

She wanted me to save her dad. He’d skin me alive if she didn’t make it out. My body strained toward hers, always seeking connection. She was a livewire, a woman who’d shocked me to life during the most shitty circumstances, the most dire.

Futile.

The cross purposes were at odds with who I was. Who I’d chosen to become.

I hesitated.

For the possible love of a woman, or the success of a mission?

Even Tilly knew the answer to that as she stepped back, a wry smile on her lips. One that never reached her sober eyes.

Before leaving her, I ran a fingertip along her cheek, following the dusting of freckles, imagining them sun-warmed from a day at the beach.

Something I’d never see.

My voice drew deep and raspy. “Goodnight, Tilly.”

Mandatory Fun

I WOKE UP WITH a slow roll of my hips. I’d gone to bed geared-up. Everyone was ready to move out at a moment’s notice. Go Time could happen at
any
time
.

Something had slipped into my consciousness. Not danger. Not an alarm.

Nothing like that.

A soft stirring and a light tantalizing pressure on my cock.

My fingers opened then clenched beside me. My eyelids flickered at the fleeting sensation on my groin, but I didn’t open them. No way did I want to disturb this dream.

Hot damp warmth blew over the taut fabric directly over my balls before streaming up my cock.

My neck cranked back, and my lips parted on a silent groan.

My feet arched.

My thighs bent open.

The rasp of a zipper broke through the cloudy formation of my dream, and then I shuddered from head to foot.

The warmth became volcanic, engulfing my bared cock. I heard a suck and a slurp and a moan.

A husky moan straight out of my XXX fantasies of Tilly.

I flew up, wide awake, my pistol in hand.

Tilly was a shadowy silhouette on my bedroll. Her hair drifted around her, the light cinnamon color faded to monotone by nighttime darkness. She hunkered between my legs with her tongue lapping the length of my cock.

The sizzling heat centered at the knob of my cock when she pointed her tongue and dipped it achingly into the slit. I hissed a deep breath that rattled my chest, my eyes rolling back in my head. With one hand, she reached for the gun barrel and pressed it down to the pallet.

My dick flagged in the air in front of her face, swathed with engorged veins, as thick as her wrist and long enough to do some damage to a girl like her.

She wrapped her fingers around the wide base and sucked with just her lips at the bulging swollen head. “Lose the gun, Justice. Only one I need loaded is this.”

She jacked me in a loose fist, darting her tongue into the hot slit to gather every ounce of jizz that welled out.

I was only dimly aware Walker was on watch. Storm and Bane were on rack ops on either side of me. Close quarters meant keeping quiet, but . . .
FUCK
.

My pelvis bucked, and—
oh man
—she was good at giving head. Tilly didn’t have to be. All she had to do was show up. So, her, here, now, with my cock in her mouth?

Some sort of primal instinct led her to my balls, which she slavered over until they tugged up tight to my dick.

Some sort of predatory wildness in me made me plunge my hands into her hair, drawing her face tighter into the V of my legs. She murmured against me, leaving me nearly senseless as the muscles in my thighs thickened and flexed.

Her tongue delved into the crease between my thigh and groin, and her name wordlessly left my mouth.

Grabbing her hair harder in my fists, I warred with desire and honor.

Honor won, but I was tempted, so goddamn tempted. I pushed her away roughly.

Tilly’s hands came down in front of her to steady herself, and I skidded backward.

“Justice, what are you—”

“Shut the hell up and go back to your room before I fuck the southern belle so far out of you, you’ll crave my cock every second of every day.” I spoke tersely, trying to ignore her slick swollen mouth and the way her tits pillowed between her straight arms.

Her head quirked, she moved her hand up the inside of my quaking thigh. “You’re scared.”

I huffed a silent laugh. “Not scared.”

“Yes. You are. You admitted it before. Scared of feeling. Scared of feeling
good
with me.”

I watched helplessly as she trailed two fingertips up my unflagging cock then brought them to her lips as if to savor the taste of my precome.

Swallowing in a rush, I whispered, “Tilly, this is a mistake.”

She leaned forward slowly, crawling back to me. Her smile shined in the dark.

I reclined back.

Heat imploded inside me when h
er tongue spun from tip to root then she languidly moved up and up, sucking at me with her plush mouth and the silkiness of her inner lips.

Her teeth rasped delicately at the burgeoning cliff head of my dick at first. Then she latched her tongue to my slit and dug in harder. 

The tip of my shaft turned deep ruddy red. 

My hands rose to her neck. I swept her hair from it, cradling her when she finally sealed her mouth around me to encase me in velvety heat. She almost made it all the way to the thick base, brandishing her tongue over each long throbbing inch. Swallowing and sucking up and down, Tilly sighed every time she came off my cock. She licked her luscious mouth and smiled at me. She held me at the base, her fingers gliding to my balls.

I itched to force her faster, to hear her chug with my cock in her throat. A groan wedged in my throat when she sucked in quicker longer wetter motions. Somehow her lips formed a foamy bubble over my thick crown, and she slurped it all up.

After another few wet passes she drew off me.

I was on fire.

Sweating.

My muscles tensed and flexed and felt like they were spasming.

Strands of clear jizz hung from her lips, her chin, drizzling down to her tits pressing against her top. Her saliva and my precome coated her mouth, covered her stroking hand, glistened on my shaft and glazed my heavy balls she swooped to lap and lick.

“Stop, Tilly. Stop!” I said as loudly as I dared.

My hands shook, and I was dangerously close to coming. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold back the roar even now building in my chest as my cock stood upright and so hard it hurt.

“Why are you fighting it? We don’t know what’ll happen tomorrow.” Pumping me, Tilly moved up and kissed my neck, my Adams apple, my earlobe. “Hell, we don’t even know what might happen in an hour. Why waste more time?”

Thrusting her away by her shoulders, I tried to dislodge her hand. “Because this can’t be a relationship. Because I can never give you what you deserve.”

Her mouth found mine, and her tongue and lips were persuasive. I coiled my arms around her, pulling her tight against the pounding in my chest.

She panted against my lips. “I’m not talking about what I deserve. Talking about what I want. What I think you want too.” 

With my hands crushed in her hair, I tried to fathom her eyes. They were bright dots in the dark, a refuge. She kissed me again, slanting her head, sliding her mouth, drawing at my tongue and enticing me to the edge of my limits.

My defenses crumbled. “Not here.”

Gently that time, I pushed her away. I crouched on my heels and shoved my aching cock back into my pants. I grabbed the bedroll, holstered my sidearm, and hauled Tilly to my side with our fingers laced together.

****

By the dim light of the hallway I turned toward Tilly. She looked at me with lust-struck eyes half-mast and so dark they appeared black. Unbarred longing filled her face and made sharp hollows in her cheeks. Her lips were puffy from having been on my cock and mashed against mine.

My dick jumped with arousal when I took in how little she wore. I scanned her head to toe and back again. All that covered her incredible body was a long, ribbed, white tank top stretched almost sheer by her tits. Her nipples puckered, forming distinct twin smudges I couldn’t wait to get my mouth on. A light sheen of perspiration dotted her shoulders and collarbone.

I kissed her quickly, roughly, kneading her ass with both hands and rutting against her.

Turning her loose, I snatched her hand again.

She looked so goddamn young with her hair loose and bouncing, her face bare of makeup, but she was all woman as she boldly slipped up against me to nip the taut skin of my neck.

“Hurry, Justice. I want you inside me.”

My throat bobbed. So did my cock.

Impatience and frustration and need so overpowering battered through the final barrier I’d built against her. I hustled her down the short hall, checking the rooms, looking for . . .

Walker.

I gently pushed Tilly aside to keep her hidden before I popped my head around the doorway of the kitchen where Walker toed back and forth.

“Hey.” I raised my hand, as if—
you know
—I was in the habit of taking a midnight stroll during the middle of a mission.

Immediately alert, Walker drew his weapon and held it down by the side of his thigh. “Somethin’ up? Did I miss something?”

“No. Nothing wrong.” Nothing at all, just Tilly waiting right there, and my body bursting to fuck her.

I cleared my throat.

“Well, pull up a chair, my friend.” Walker nudged one out with his boot, holstering his long-barreled Smith & Wesson. “Fucking too quiet around here at night. I miss Jade. Jesus, but that woman can talk a blue streak, and I don’t even mind.”

He grinned. And waited.

“
Uh.
” I worked a hand over my hair, rustling it sheepishly. “Can’t stay.”

“
Reeeealllly
? Got big plans,
huh
? Because we’re not stuck here in this building with the heat pouring down on us or anything.”

Fuck me. Talk about awkward.

Hey, buddy. Just wanna go get laid by the ambassador’s daughter and don’t want you to worry if you hear me grunting and growling and bellowing at the top of my lungs when I come inside her.

I winced and shook my head at the floor. “Wanted to tell you if you hear anything from the gym it’s just me.”

“Late night workout?” His braid whipping over his shoulder, he studied me. “You’re already buff enough, Jus.”

My face probably turned hot pink, and that was even before Tilly prodded me aside.

“
We’ll
be in the gym,” she firmly clarified.

Willfully stupid, Walker glanced between us. “You’re both working out in the middle of the night?”

I swallowed.

Tilly smiled.

The light finally fucking dawned in Walker’s eyes. “
Ooooh.
That
kind of working out?”

“Exactly,” Tilly quipped.

I stood rooted to the spot.

“The
loud
kind,” Walker continued.

Asswipe.

“All righty then.” He clapped his hands together as if everything was settled. But then he pushed away from the counter and squinted at me. “You sure that’s such a good idea?”

Not at all.

Tilly’s fingers walked possessively up the center of my chest. “Probably the best idea I ever had.”

Walker whooped once.

Tilly tugged me away.

I forgot all about Walker, tilting my head to watch her hips sway back and forth in front of me.

Forgot
alllll
about Walker until I heard him chuckling in the background, probably watching us. “I’ll be damned. Justice has been had.”

I flicked a lazy middle finger in his direction behind my back.

Inside the gym all was silent. Even the stilled air seemed expectant, anticipating. Lowlighting provided just the right amount of illumination. I closed the door and leaned against it. Tilly sauntered to the middle of the room, her fingertips glancing off various machines that were not gonna get a workout tonight.

She stopped and peered over her shoulder.

Her smile beckoned me forward. The invitation in her eyes guided my footsteps across the floor. I stopped when I caught a glimpse of myself in the wall-to-wall mirrors. I’d washed earlier, but dark gold stubble bristled my jaw. Black clothing stretched over my body. My heavy soled boots seemed glued to the floor beneath my feet.

I looked exactly like what I was: an undercover operative capable of killing with his bare hands.

And Tilly?

Jesus Christ.

Soft and warm. Smart and in-your-face funny. Talented. Courageous. Sultry. Hardcore.

And for some reason she made me think
of hearth and home
. It had been so long since I’d had anything pure and wholesome in my life.

She hooked her finger at me, giving me a smoky laugh.

I forgot to add
naughty
to the list of everything I’d never be able to describe adequately about her.

The glimmer of metal at my hip was the only thing that stopped me from obeying her come-hither command. The fucking gun had to go.

Carefully disarming, I placed my Heckler on the floor within reach.

“I’m not scared of guns.” Tilly strolled toward me as I rose to my feet.

A hot burn started low in my groin, crackling outward with every move she made. The need to fuck tightened every muscle in my body.