Rowan had her files in front of her and her laptop open, but after the news she’d just received, there was no way in hell she could concentrate on work. Ruiz’s attorney had countered with another deal, but they weren’t taking it. The offer she and Val had made him the other day was the only one he was getting. His only other option was going to trial, with the possibility of life in prison or even the death penalty if he was found guilty.
And he was going to be found guilty.
Her phone rang, and when she saw Malcolm’s number her heart kicked hard. “Hey,” she answered with a sigh, leaning back in her chair to stretch her back. “You heard what happened?” She was still shaken by it.
“Yeah. I wondered if you had.” He sounded tired.
“They called my team right away. They’re checking the building right now and putting another marshal outside for surveillance. God, I just can’t believe what happened.”
“Yeah. It was bad.”
“Where is Oceane now?”
“The FBI wanted to interview her, but under the circumstances they’ve allowed her to go see her mother.”
Rowan blew out a breath and rested her forehead in her palm, stunned. “She was incredibly loyal to and protective of her bodyguard. She trusted him.” With her life. With her mother’s life. God, how awful.
“I know.”
Rowan had been furious when she’d thought Oceane or her mother might be involved with the bombing, but now she felt terrible for them both. To have to kill someone you cared about so much, and then lose your mother right after, and in such a horrifically violent way? Rowan didn’t even know what she would do in Oceane’s shoes.
“The Veneno cartel members are all animals,” she said, her voice taut. Making Ruiz die in prison was a step. A small step, but an important one. It showed that even the top cartel hierarchy were vulnerable, and could be extradited to the United States.
“Not arguing.”
“WITSEC is supposed to be completely secure,” she said, getting angry now that the initial shock was wearing off.
“I know. It shouldn’t have happened at all.”
“And how did they find them so fast?”
“Exactly. That’s what investigators are trying to find out.”
“I asked my detail about Victoria but they haven’t told me anything yet. Is she safe?”
“Yes.”
“Are they going to move her now, in case everything’s been compromised?”
“No. The orientation center is on lockdown and they’re checking to make sure it’s still secure. I don’t think the location’s been compromised. Taggart’s sending Hamilton over to see her at a secret location now.”
Rowan sat up and leaned back in the chair. “Good.” She was an important source of insider info on the cartel. Names, faces she’d seen or heard during her research as a journalist and then her subsequent captivity. Not only that, but the woman had already endured far too much suffering. Rowan couldn’t stomach the thought of anything more happening to her.
With Victoria on the stand, they could bury Ruiz. She had a powerful presence about her. They had all her statements recorded and transposed, but hearing her testimony in her own words would be twice as powerful. And Rowan wanted Victoria to have the opportunity to look at the piece of shit responsible for her suffering and know she was helping put him away forever. Maybe it would even help her heal a little.
“You hungry?” he asked, abruptly changing the subject. “I know you haven’t eaten yet.”
She sighed, pushing aside the stab of guilt for thinking of something so trivial as food when Oceane was hurting so much. “I’m starving.”
“I’m gonna run home and shower, then I’ll grab something and bring it over. Be there around eight or so. That okay?”
“That’s perfect.” She needed to see him.
Burying herself back into her work helped the time fly by. The next thing she knew, he was at the door. One of the marshals assigned to her checked the door before letting him in, and Rowan’s heart swelled at the sight of him.
He gave her a smile, those dimples appearing in his freshly-shaved cheeks, his arms full of brown paper takeout bags. “Hope you guys are hungry. I brought Mexican.”
It was a nice touch that he’d thought to buy dinner for the FBI agents too. He was so mouthwatering standing there in his dark jeans and button-down shirt.
She wanted to walk right over there, throw her arms around him and kiss him senseless, but that would be hella awkward given their audience, so instead she took two of the bags from him with a thanks and started putting everything onto the kitchen table.
Her security detail thanked Malcolm for the food, filled their plates and made themselves scarce in another room. Rowan sipped at the wine he’d brought, drinking in the sight of him over the rim of her glass. What she wouldn’t give to be alone with him right now. All she could think about was what he’d done to her this morning, the way he’d pinned her beneath him. The feel of his hands, his mouth, the way he’d filled her…
He looked up and met her gaze, his brown eyes darkening at the look she was giving him. Then his mouth twitched. “So, you make any headway with work today?”
She was thankful one of them was able to play it cool. Her body was on edge, needy as hell, and it was damn hard to sit here and pretend otherwise. Still, she wasn’t up for an audience the next time she got sexy with him. “Some. Spoke to Val a few times, and my parents. My last update from Nick was that Kevin was awake and talking. He seems alert and like his normal self, so they’ve cut back the pain meds so he’s not all drugged up. Nick said he’d call back tonight if Kev’s up to it so I can talk to him.”
“And your parents?”
“They’re both at the hospital.”
“How’s your dad handling that, with Nick there?”
“Surprisingly well, according to Nick,” she said with a small smile. “A bit stiff at first, but he’s loosened up some since. He’s making progress.”
“About goddamn time.”
Rowan cocked her head slightly, smiling at him. “I love that you’re so accepting of Kev.” From what he’d told her he’d been raised in a strict, religious home. Sometimes that made people judgmental about things like sexual orientation.
Malcolm shrugged the broad shoulders she wished were naked and she was stroking her hands over right now. “He’s a good guy. Deserves to be happy.”
That put a knot in her throat. “Yeah, he sure does.” Setting down her fork, she reached across the table for his hand, grasped it and lowered her voice. “And so do we.”
A slow smile curved his lips, making those crazy sexy dimples appear again. They were so much more evident without all the stubble on his face. “I’m glad you see it that way.” He squeezed her fingers, his eyes promising untold pleasure the next time they got naked together.
“Kev somehow knew the way I still felt about you. The night he was injured, up in my office he warned me that we don’t get any do-overs in this life. He’d had the courage to go after his own happiness. I finally found mine too.”
Malcolm raised their joined hands to his mouth, turned them to press a slow, lingering kiss to the back of hers. “Then I guess I owe him a thank you next time I see him.” He lowered their hands to the table.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Why did you leave the Navy? You told me once that you loved being a SEAL.”
“I did love it. It was the hardest, most punishing yet most rewarding thing I’d ever done.” He sat back, thought about it for a moment. “I was starting to get numb. I saw it happen to other guys, and I wanted to get out before I didn’t feel anything anymore.”
God, she couldn’t imagine him being like that. “I’m glad you got out.”
“It was the right decision for me. And it gave me a solid background to try out for FAST selection.”
Suddenly the uncertainty of the days stretching out before her seemed like an eternity. An eternity of not having Malcolm. “So you’ll be back with the rest of your team now?”
He nodded. “Rodriguez is flying back tonight. His mom’s been real sick, but she’s on the upswing now so we’ve got the whole team together again as of tomorrow morning, and it’ll be good to have him back. He’s been on the team almost as long as me.”
It was obvious how much he loved his teammates from the way he talked about them. But her mind was trying to work out the logistics of where this new transition left her and Malcolm. “You’re going to wait for me, right?”
He eyed her in amusement, eyebrows raised. “You seriously worried I might not, after I waited this long?”
She shrugged. “Just looking for some reassurance.”
He lowered his eyebrows, leaned closer and dropped his voice. “I might wait for you, if you promise to make it worth my while.”
The sensual purr slid over her skin like the stroke of velvet, making her shiver. “I will.”
Another grin, and it was all she could do not to climb up onto the table and grab his face between her hands so she could kiss that delectable mouth. “Then you’ve got nothing to worry about, sweetness.”
Sweetness. She loved that so much. Until that moment she hadn’t realized how much she’d missed it.
Releasing his hand, she reached for her wine because her throat was suddenly dry. “So. How long until I can get out of here, do you think?”
“No idea. But however long it is, it’s too long for my liking.”
Hers, too.
They spent the rest of the leisurely meal enjoying each other’s company, talking about various things, laughing at each other’s jokes. But there was so much that they didn’t say. Things that would have to wait until they were alone.
He helped her clear the table and tidy the kitchen afterward. When he shut the dishwasher door they stood facing each other a few feet apart in the kitchen, pent up sexual tension crackling between them, and no way to relieve it. “Well,” he said softly, hands braced behind him on the countertop, the pose emphasizing the powerful muscles in his shoulders and chest. “I should get going. I bet you’ve got a ton of work to catch up on.”
Ugh. Work. She sighed. “Yeah.” She had to talk to Val about the Ruiz counteroffer, then review the evidence they’d gathered so far and get it ready with the victim impact statements they’d gathered. If Ruiz rejected the offer they’d made to drop a few charges in exchange for a reduced sentence, then they would be going to trial soon.
“Gimme one second,” he said, and headed to the next room. She picked up the low murmur of his voice as he spoke to her security detail, then he emerged a moment later. “Walk me to the door?” he asked, a gleam in his eye.
She followed, understanding why he’d asked that when she realized no one could see them at the door from the next room. At least they’d been given some measure of privacy to say goodbye. She’d take it, because it was better than nothing.
He stopped at the door, waiting for her. As soon as she got close, he grasped her hips in his big hands and turned them so that his back was to the room. Shielding her, even from the possibility of prying eyes.
“We’ve got two minutes until they come to follow protocol and lock me out,” he said. “So I’m not wasting a single second.” Sliding one hand up her back to plunge into her hair, he brought his mouth down on hers.
His dominant possession sizzled through her like a lightning bolt. He wasn’t like Carter at all, didn’t want to control her anywhere but in the bedroom, and that was more than fine with her. Desire streaked through her, so intense it made her dizzy. She grabbed hold of his shoulders for balance, flattening her body along his.
The hard ridge of his erection pressed into her belly, maddening her with the promise of what she couldn’t have. His tongue teased hers, a slow, sensual caress that revved her arousal even higher. Rowan squirmed to get closer, standing on tiptoe to rub the seam of her jeans against his erection.
The hand in her hair tightened, squeezing as his other reached down to cup her ass and lift her higher, aligning their bodies until she got what she was looking for. God, she remembered what he had felt like inside her, how thick and hard he’d been, the way he’d shifted his hips so that he stroked just the right spot inside her while his thumb on her clit made her mindless. The friction now was torture, yet she didn’t want it to end.
But of course it did.
All too soon he slowed the kiss, gentled his grip and lowered her back down until the soles of her feet were flat on the floor again. Rowan stroked her hands over the back of his head, feeling the slightly rough texture of his short hair. Down his neck to those gorgeous shoulders and across his back. Tracing the muscles, loathing the moment when she had to let him go and face an unknown length of separation from him.
Malcolm ran a soothing hand up her back, his fingers tracing the length of her spine as he kissed the corner of her mouth, paused to suck at her lower lip. Nip it.
“The next time I get you naked, I’m gonna take my time and kiss you everywhere,” he whispered against the corner of her mouth. “Especially here,” he added, rocking the hard ridge of his erection between her open thighs. “Until you melt all over my tongue.”
Rowan barely managed to stifle a whimper, her whole body clenching with need. She’d imagined it countless times; it was her favorite masturbation fantasy. But she had a feeling that reality was going to blow her mind. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
He raised his head, met her stare, his pupils all but swallowing the chocolate rim of his irises. “Good. I want you to hold my head between your thighs while I lick you until you scream and come on my tongue.”
A torrent of molten desire pooled low in her belly, between her legs, her clit throbbing at the thought of his mouth on her. Oh, Jesus, the things he said in that deep, wicked voice… “That was dirty,” she accused, aching and knowing she would have only herself to take the edge off with later.
“Oh, sweetness, that wasn’t even close to the way I do dirty, I promise you.”
A discreet clearing of a throat behind them made her want to growl at the man. Malcolm chuckled softly, pressed a kiss to her forehead and stepped back. “Good night. Sleep tight. I’ll be in touch.”
She nodded, forced herself to let go and behave like an in-control adult. But she was suddenly cold without his arms around her. She wrapped hers around her waist, watched as the marshal went through the ritual of taking him out, locking the door behind them.
Hand pressed against the closed door, the sting of tears in her throat told her he’d just taken her heart with him.