Each time I pull out, I experience a terrifying emptiness, but that disappears as I ram back in and settle right where I belong. I take my girl hard and fast, just the way she likes it until the pressure in my balls grows heavy and my skin tingles.
My release coils at the base of my spine, then speeds along with each powerful thrust. Eve breaks beneath me, uttering a low, keening wail of pure bliss. I follow Eve right over that cliff, as a wave of pleasure rushes through me.
We come back to earth together, joined in the most intimate way, and that’s when I tell her what’s in my heart.
“You’re mine, bubbles. Always and forever.” I reach over to the nightstand, where I hid the ring last night. “I need you to say yes.”
“Yes, to what?” She doesn’t understand, thinking I’m playing a game, but the moment I slip the diamond ring on her finger, tears well in her eyes. She stares at the diamond as it glitters, then throws her arms around my neck. “Yes. Yes. Yes! Forever, and ever, yes.”
We spend the rest of the evening in bed, making love, forgetting to eat, and loving every minute of it. At some time, we doze off.
I wake later, in the middle of the night. Eve’s curled against my side. Her hand rests on my arm, and that diamond manages to sparkle in the darkness.
It reminds me of something Doc Summers always says, “There’s always light in the darkness. Our job is to find it, and let it shine.”
Well, I found the light of my life and I’m never letting her go.
Forty-Three
Knox
The stench of piss, beer, and puke blends with the acrid smell of unwashed bodies creating a noxious assault on my senses. Half of Alpha team, the bachelors, Liam, Wolfe, and I, troll New Orleans, looking to blow off a little steam after yet another fruitless lead.
We spent the day at the docks in the sweltering summer heat. Now that the heat of the day is lifting, we’re ready to grab drinks, find some chicks to bury ourselves in, and basically chill out.
As for the other half of Alpha team, Max is back in California, recovering from injuries he sustained when we rescued his woman, Eve Deverough. Axel and Griff work to shake down Carson Deverough, the shipping mogul who bartered his daughter’s freedom for what?
That’s the all important question, and one we don’t have answers to as of yet.
Hopefully Axel and Griff will discover something of value. Meanwhile, Liam, Wolfe, and I look for a contact hinted at in the ledgers Max and I pulled out of Tomas Benefield’s operation. That monster is dead. Killed in Colombia when he put a gun to Eve’s head. His entire sex-trafficking operation was taken out during that mission and we obtained the ledgers of every transaction. Every girl who’s life was stolen and every monster who paid to enslave them.
Those ledgers, something we all thought would be gold, are encoded in a cypher our technical genius, Mitzy, can’t unravel. Though, she’s hard at work trying to bust that cypher.
For now, all we have is one name, a date, and a time.
Lei’lani is the name. Tomorrow is the day. Three in the morning is the godforsaken time.
We’re still working on the where.
Each nugget of information leads us further down the path of taking down another asshole intent on stealing lives and destroying dreams.
Since Deverough is a shipping magnet, our suspicion is this meeting will happen at one of the many docks. Mitzy’s narrowed down the possibilities to a few commercial operations. No surprise, it has to do with shipping containers.
The question is who is Lei’lani?
What is her role in all of this?
Is she a business partner of Deverough’s?
A competitor?
Perhaps, we’ll figure something out and solve a piece of the puzzle. Maybe Mitzy will come through like she always does, saving the day in the tenth hour. Or maybe, our visit to New Orleans will leave us empty handed, like the last four times Alpha team descended on this town.
“Lots of potential action tonight.” Liam watches the crowded street. Eyes alert, head on a swivel, he’s not looking for enemies.
“Tone it down.” I slug Liam in the arm. His libido is out of control.
“The night is young.” He shoves me right back, grinning like a fool. “The possibilities are endless.” He returns to checking out the chicks we pass.
The French Quarter, like every night before this one, pulses with vibrant activity. Half the people are stoned, drunk, or otherwise riding one high or another. Festive music pours out of jazz clubs and trickles out of dueling piano bars to mingle with the rhythm of the street and a city coming alive.
It’s still early enough that families are out. Mom’s and dad’s, with eager teens, tweens, and kids with no business being out this late, clutch their children’s hands as they drag their young ones to the safety of their hotels for the night.
Couples brave the later hours, seeking one thrill or the next. Boisterous groups of college kids vie for attention from the opposite sex. The bravado of the young men brings a smile to my face. The coy smiles of the girls make me shake my head.
It’s barely after nine. This city is only just waking up. Which means the skirts get shorter, the dresses grow tighter, and the heels climb higher as chicks eager for a night of partying fill the street.
We pass by a gaggle of sorority co-eds with micro-mini skirts and skintight tops practically sprayed onto their bodies. My gaze naturally drifts to admire what they advertise. Two of the girls aren’t wearing bras and from the look of their skirts, they’re not wearing panties either.
It’s tempting. Liam takes a long look at them as well, but I yank on his sleeve and pull him along.
“Aw, you’re no fun.” Liam grumps, but he doesn’t resist.
“Those girls are a walking smorgasbord of STDs and bad decisions. Best keep your dick out of those waters.” Before I finish talking, a group of guys move in on the girls, eager for an easy conquest.
“Let’s get some chow.” Wolfe prowls restlessly beside me.
He too, scans the crowd, only he’s not checking out the chicks. His eyes are on the men, and boys with too much liquid courage, who’re out looking for trouble. They’re the ones whose intellect rapidly falls in direct correlation with the alcohol level in their blood.
“We just ate.” Restless, and growing more agitated by the minute, my senses are on full alert.
“Still, it’s better than walking the streets.” Wolfe’s tired of being on the prowl.
Honestly, I am too.
We’re out here because I’m restless. Dinner was beyond amazing. All New Orleans food is fabulous, but my skin started itching halfway through the meal; a sense something is off. Not that I can put my finger on what’s bugging me.
Not that there’s any reason to be concerned. The three of us present a formidable force. We’re taller than those around us. Broader and more muscled, it’s obvious we’re either military, ex-military, or bouncers headed to work for the night.
“Still hungry.” Wolfe growls a little, showing his frustration. “Wings and beer? How’s that sound?”
“Oysters. I want oysters.” Liam pipes in and I give him another shove.
“The last thing you need is more oysters.” Oysters are one of my favorite things, but feeding Liam’s raging libido sounds all kinds of wrong.