Miah (Lane Brothers #2) Page 10

  She’s begging me to just be me when I’ve been trying to be more than that for weeks now. It humbles me so much that for once I’ve chosen someone who doesn’t want Miah Lane, the super soldier, or the badass who’s just into a good time and sex.

  Clari just seems to want me, and from now on, that’s who I will be. She’s right about me killing myself, that I’ve been doing it because I’ve been feeling like less ever since I walked into the station and saw her sitting there afraid and alone.

  I’ll never know how Wyatt lives with the shit that happened to Ellie without going nuts.

  “I will, babe. I will if you promise to take it easy and not fight me so much about work and the security.”

  That makes her blush, and I grin when she bites her lip and nods.

  “Fine. I won’t complain about them shadowing me if you promise not to go all Rambo on me again. I miss you. A lot.”

  “I miss you, too. Now come here, woman. I started kissing you last night and failed epically when I couldn’t follow through.”

  She giggles and starts squirming on my lap, and I know that I am right where I need to be right now.

  Veronica and her cohorts can go to hell for one day, as can Dobson and that ex of hers. Right here and now I have everything I need and want, and I’ll keep my promise to her even if it kills me to share responsibilities with the others and watch from the sidelines.

  ***

  “Your woman spoke to you, huh?”

  “Jace, I swear, if you get all smug and shit and start giving me the ‘I told you so’ speech, I’ll knock your ass right the hell out and leave you here for the militia to find.”

  We’re hiding in the woods bordering the swamp, of all places, as a truck that Jace has been tracking for two days slowly makes its way to a rickety little hut tucked away at the edge of the water.

  I know exactly what this is. I’ve seen many exchanges over the years, and this is one of the sloppiest I’ve ever seen. Either Dobson is getting slack, or whoever is driving that truck doesn’t care all that much about being spotted and caught hauling a few hundred kilos of meth, coke, and marijuana.

  Jace starts chuckling when the door opens, and I’m groaning before the fool hops out of the truck and starts clapping hands with the filth that piles out of the hut.

  “That cocky little bastard.”

  “Aw c’mon, bro, you know you love how sneaky Roman can be. Besides, look at the way he’s making pals with the enemy. Isn’t this what you were hoping for all along?”

  “Yeah.”

  But I never thought that I’d be left holding my own dick while my brothers start taking over my freaking job. I recall Clari’s words and sigh heavily. Christ, I really am turning into a family man when I start smiling about her reprimanding me for working too hard while my fool cousin saunters into a den of drug runners and traitors as if he were born to do it.

  We cool our heels in the woods, taking photos with our night-vision cams and waiting on Roman, when I hear another vehicle coming down the road at a speed that does not bode well.

  “Is that Dobson?”

  The car screeches to a halt and the fat asshole jumps out, followed by one of his crooked pals, and starts yelling at one of the men who come running out.

  My sixth sense starts tingling like hell when I hear a gunshot and see the others dragging Roman out behind them.

  “Christ!”

  “Wait, bro,” Jace mutters, pulling me back down when I would have run from cover.

  Dobson starts slapping Roman and turns to punching the guy when he regains consciousness, and it’s then that he raises his voice enough for us to hear.

  “Are you IA, Lane?! Jesus Christ, Tommy vouched for you, asshole.”

  The hitting escalates to kicking, and I’m about ready to start shooting to kill when I hear another car screeching down the road. It’s a pink Beetle that sends the dust flying when it stops.

  “Daddy, no! What are you doing?”

  “Is that Melissa Dobson? What the fuck is going on here, Jace?” I demand, watching Roman lift his bloody face with effort and smile at Melissa.

  “She’s his cover and one of his sources, bro. Roman started talking to her when she came into the department one day, and they’ve been buddy-buddy ever since. She’s helping him collect info and proof on Dobson, and she’s his ticket into this mess. Just watch.”

  I turn back to see the girl yelling her head off at Dobson and slapping at the men holding him down. My idiot of a cousin just grins and lumbers to his feet before picking the girl up and kissing her, bloody mouth and all.

  What I see has me shaking my head and grinning in disbelief. That clever asshole. He’s in all right, and not just with the drug running that’s going on here, but pretty soon Dobson will lead him right to the main players in this cell.

  Soon Melissa starts dragging Roman along behind her on her way back to her car.

  “Melly, honey, I’m sorry!”

  “Fuck you, Dad! You had your hired goons beat up the father of my unborn child?!”

  Oookay. I’ll ask later.

  “Now, Melly, you got to understand. Daddy thought he was a spying traitor like that cousin of his. The only reason I haven’t killed that bastard yet is because his daddy would rain down hell on the operation.”

  That gets her to turn around and I watch her stalk right on back and drill a finger into her father’s chest.

  “You won’t do any such thing, Dad! Roman is my family now, and that makes Miah my family, too. You’re going to keep your shit together and run your business properly while keeping my new family safe, or I swear to God I’m calling Uncle Jim down here to see just what a nasty piece of work you really are.”

  Roman looks fit to bust a gut when the little brunette turns on her heel and stalks back to the car with a frustrated shriek that sets the nightlife abuzz.

  “Honey bear—”

  “Not another word! You either trust my man or you don’t, and that’s final. Now shut up and leave us be for the rest of the night. I have to get Roman to the emergency room before he bleeds to fucking death. I swear to fuck, all men are Goddamned brainless!”

  Roman salutes the chief and gets into the car, its headlights disappearing after a minute or two.

  “That’s it? Old Dobson is afraid of his brother, the senator, and Melissa gets Roman into the inner sanctum by blackmailing her father?”

  “Something like that. He made a deal with the girl, and she’ll collect after this is all done.” Jace shrugs, turning away to start the long trek back the way we came and to the car we hid down the road.

  The walk is silent while I think it all through, and I’m not too sure I like this one bit by the time I get to the car. Too much can go wrong. Roman has involved an innocent woman in this mess, and knowing him, if he’s not banging her yet, he will be soon enough.

  I can’t have him ruining shit by falling for Dobson’s princess.

  “Can we trust her, Jace?” I ask, getting into his car and leaning back with a sigh.

  “Beats me, bro, but Roman seems to think we can, so I gotta trust him, ya know? Long and short of it is that we don’t have any other choice right now. We have the cops on the corruption but nothing on that militia yet, and that’s the main mission here. He needs to get in with those guys before we move on Dobson.”

  “Yeah, but what if Melissa Dobson turns out to be one of them?”

  “All we can do is keep an eye out for the guy and hope this goes down good, man, you know that. This op is no different from any of the others we’ve pulled over the years. We go in and do what we can and hope an informant isn’t a plant.”

  Yeah, but working an op with guys who aren’t my blood makes things so much easier. Having one of my own in the line of fire makes things complicated, and I find that I don’t like it one bit.

  “Stop overthinking things and trust the guy, Miah. He’s good for this. We, on the other hand, have to turn our focus to Ronny and her little band of not-so
-merry idiots.”

  “What’s she up to now?”

  Jace scratches his chin and smiles at me in the darkened interior of the car.

  “She just booked a flight to good old Paris, bro. You thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “Impossible.”

  “Nope. Jared got Paulie to hack her computer and download her travel itinerary, and take a guess where she’s headed.”

  “Not…”

  “Yes.”

  That changes things. Big time. The question is what to do about it. If Veronica somehow knows about Bolton…

  “We’ll have to move him.”

  “No, man, me and Case were thinking that he could shadow her down there and make sure she doesn’t leave France. Just think, Miah, we’d be doing her a favor, reuniting her with her long-lost bestie.”

  That sound great but for a few pertinent facts.

  “If she disappears, there’ll be no reason for Paulie to be there anymore, and we won’t have someone on the inside. Cleo’s great but she’s limited to what intel she can provide. So far Paulie has been vital.”

  Jace considers this and scratches at his beard growth with a frown.

  “Dammit, that’s true. So what do you want us to do?”

  “Get Case down there and have him move Bolton to the other location, and let’s leave Veronica to chase her own tail.”

  “Damn. You’re way too smart for my liking, bro. I was looking forward to seeing Ronny foaming at the mouth.”

  “That’s why I’m still in charge. I’m the brain. Now get me home, if you please. Clari promised to save me a plate of Ma’s pork roast, and she recorded Gold Diggers for me.”

  “You’re getting old.”

  “Nah, man, just happy. Just happy,” I reply, grinning when he scowls sourly and flips me the bird.

  “How’s Tracy?”

  That earns me another scowl.

  “Stay out of it, Miah.”

  “But, Jace—”

  “No. Just mind your business and leave this alone. Tracy and I are not going to happen, and that’s final.”

  Stubborn asshole. He should know by now that Ma’s already gotten wind of Tracy being back in town. She’s probably already got her own plans in place to get the woman home where she would have been years ago if Jace weren’t such an ass.

  I sit back with a smile and close my eyes for the ride home. Things are looking up. Clari was right. All it takes is a little patience and some praying.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Clara

  I’m asleep when I feel lips coasting up my leg before stopping at my thigh to nibble and lick at the sensitive skin below my butt.

  I stay still and languid, enjoying the sensation as Miah raises the tee shirt I stole from his closet and pushes at my underwear with an impatience that makes me want to giggle.

  “Hey, babe, you awake?” he asks, ripping at my panties before I can reply.

  Someone’s impatient tonight, I muse, moaning softly when he tears the silk in half, exposing my lower body to his lips and hands.

  Those large hands settle on my butt and start kneading as his lips glide up from the small of my back to the nape of my neck.

  “Babe.”

  “M’wake,” I grumble, gasping when his mouth opens over my pulse point and sucks strongly enough to leave a mother of a hickey on my flesh. “Miah.”

  “Hmmm?”

  The hand on my butt gives me one last squeeze before he pushes his fingers between my legs from behind and seeks out the moist heat awaiting him.

  “Are you okay?”

  I ask him this every time he leaves and comes back to me, even though I know that he is.

  “Fine, babe. Ahh, there it is. You’re always so ready to take me, Clari.” He sighs happily when one of his fingers slides through my cleft and straight up into me.

  I can’t help moaning when he crooks his finger and hits my G-spot without so much as a cursory search.

  “Ah, yes, right there, Miah,” I moan when he presses deeper and starts rubbing at that spot I hadn’t known existed till I met him.

  It feels so god when he keeps rubbing that I pump my hips back, despite knowing that it will only make him go slower.

  “Babe, hold still for me,” he warns, pressing higher, making me desperate when he pulls his finger out and pushes back in.

  “Ah, please. Take me, Miah. Please. I need you.”

  It always ends this way and it never gets old. I have to be at the point of begging before he relents, and even now, as he slides into me from behind and keeps me pinned beneath him, the rhythm he sets is slow and torturous.

  I feel every movement of him from this angle, and he goes so deep it hurts in that good way that tells me I’m taking his full length easily.

  “That’s it, babe, take what I give you. You feel me, Clari?” he growls, using his hands to span my waist as he lifts slightly and tunnels deeper, harder, making love to me as if he hasn’t seen me in days instead of just hours.

  “Oh, Clari, babe, I love you so much. You’re so soft and warm. Do you feel my heart beating? That’s yours, Clari, all yours.” He groans, pushing in only to pull out and push back in with a growl that reverberates through every cell I have.

  “I love you, too. Oh, deeper, yes, just like that.”

  The rhythm becomes choppy after a few more minutes, and I feel that heat coil deep inside my belly before I erupt around him, lost to the world in those few precious seconds when all I feel is the pleasure and the way he stiffens before flooding me with his heat.

  I love what comes next, the way he nibbles and kisses me as he struggles for breath before turning to his side and spooning me.

  He never fails to whisper how much he loves me or how thankful he is that we found each other.

  “We finally made some headway. Roman’s in with Dobson’s daughter, and she’s sworn to keep him in till they get to the militia part of things.”

  The softly spoken words are filled with pride, but I hear the concern in his voice and feel a pang at the thought of Roman being in such danger, and for what? Because a few cops and some extremist knuckleheads just can’t stop being greedy or prejudiced against others who aren’t like them?

  “Good, I’m glad something happened for you guys. I’m tired of watching Roman sulk and Jace mope around because he’d rather be in on this op than go after his girl.”

  Miah laughs and hugs me closer, distracting me with tiny kisses at my nape.

  “Ma’s been talking, huh?”

  “Has she ever been. I’m glad you and I finally got together, because I do not want to know what she had planned for us after listening to her plan a matchmaking scheme as well as a general plans his attacks.”

  “I warned you about Ma being intense, babe. But I’m glad she’s getting involved. I tried to talk some sense into the guy earlier but he’s being stubborn again.”

  “A Lane family trait from the sounds of things.”

  “Hey! I was not being stubborn. I was trying to protect you from myself, Clari. There’s a difference here and you know it. Jace is just afraid to even try because he hurt Tracy years ago.”

  I snort.

  “I’m worried about all of this happening so close and soon. Roman’s in danger, Jace is miserable, I never see Jared unless he pops in to visit Josh, who, by the way, is swearing thanks to Jared’s potty mouth. Everything is so unsettled because of this mission. Promise me that you won’t get hurt, Miah,” I beg.

  I’ve had this bad feeling for days, and I can’t shake it.

  Ellie once told me that anticipation and fear are worse than actual pain, and I know now what she was talking about.

  “I promise to do everything to ensure that we all make it through this unharmed. That’s the best I can do, babe. I won’t lie to you and say that I feel great about all of this garbage being right on our doorstep. Even here, with all the safety measures in place, I worry that one of these animals will get to the people I love.”

 
Dammit, way to kill the peaceful mood, Clara.

  “You shouldn’t, you know. You’ve seen how pedantic George is about security, and at least one of you soldier boys is always hanging around to keep an eye on everyone.”

  He sighs, a sound I’ve come to despise because I know that it’s him worrying again and I hate it. And I hate that my crazy ex-boyfriend gives him another thing to worry about. The calls and the texts have remained constant, but I refuse to burden Miah with the knowledge that Nick’s threats have escalated. Once Roman’s position is more settled and Miah loses that haunted look he’s been sporting, I’ll apologize and tell him everything.

  For now, I’ll just keep myself safe by following the security team’s instructions and being alert.

  “Babe? You okay?” he asks sleepily, pulling me from my thoughts with a guilty jolt.

  “Yeah. Just thinking that this mess isn’t going to go away anytime soon, but I’d really like to take Josh to the zoo for his birthday, if we can manage it. He’s been harassing poor Jude about it all day, and she didn’t have the heart to say no.”

  “That, we can do. I think. I’ll have to talk to Jared and Jace about it and see about security, but I don’t see why not. Now go to sleep.”

  I obey and let the worries and doubts be replaced by the security I feel in his arms and the fact that I love him as much as he seems to love me.

  I’m going with the flow, just like I told Miah to, and right now I’m glad that he continues to see something in me worth loving.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Miah

  I’m woken from a sound sleep to the sound of my door banging open against the wall and a harried Wyatt falling into the room at a sprint.

  “It’s time! It’s time! Get the hell up and do something, Ellie’s water just broke!”

  Clari groans and pulls the sheet over her head, her chuckles husky and way too sexy for my comfort with my older brother standing not three feet away and practically ripping his hair out by the roots.