So far, the only people Cate and Ash had seen were employed by the state. Felipe Aguilar was not one of those people. The day after his interrogation, D had been dispatched to take inventory of what was left inside the shack where they’d left Aguilar. He’d reported back that word on the street was that a high-ranking official had been garroted in a slum along with his wife and another woman. The other woman was likely a plant by either Rivera’s cartel or another cartel.
Cate was surprised nobody had claimed responsibility for Aguilar’s death yet, but Noelle had sagely told her that no matter how much power you had, it was never a good idea to piss off the military. And at the moment, the Guatanan military was the only source of authority left in the country.
Beside her, Ash shifted his sniper rifle and Cate tried to focus on anything other than the sexy flex of his biceps. Damn him. He was making it impossible to concentrate. Plus, he smelled amazing—soap, lemon, and a hint of spice. She wanted to lean over and lick his arm.
Get a grip, an internal voice warned.
Right. She couldn’t be thinking these kinds of thoughts. If anything, she ought to be fantasizing about taking her camera and smashing it across the top of his head.
“You enjoying this?” he mocked. “Sitting up here and having the sun bake you into the tar?”
“Better than sitting at home,” she answered coolly, as if they were inside a fancy hotel having afternoon tea instead of sweating like two pigs in August.
“This is boring as shit. I’d rather be in air-conditioning, drinking beer.”
“Then go do that,” she snapped. “Is this what stakeouts with you are like? No wonder Noelle put me with you. No one else probably wants to work with you.”
“I’m awesome to work with. Everyone wants to work with me.”
“I can’t see why. You’re crabbier than an old lady. And when you’re not complaining, you’re brooding so hard I’m getting a headache from it.”
“Then leave,” he muttered.
Argh. All this arguing and sniping and waiting was turning her inside out. Maybe she shouldn’t have fought so hard to come on this stakeout. Being around Ash was torture. He looked too good and smelled too good and the simmering anger and violence he was radiating only whetted her appetite and made her want him more.
She wished she could shut off her hormones, make her body see that Ash wasn’t worth its time, but her desire stubbornly refused to subside. And whenever his green eyes so much as flicked in her general direction, her heart did an infuriating flip.
What was it she’d told Liam the other day? Oh right. That hearts sucked.
At the thought of Liam, Cate suddenly remembered what she’d overheard in her father’s room late last night, and decided that yes, hearts certainly did suck. The anguish on Sullivan’s face when he’d confessed to kissing Liam, to needing to get far away from the man, had been almost unbearable to see. Ash had admitted to her once that he suspected there was something going on between those two, but she hadn’t really believed it until now.
“What’s the matter? Can’t think of a bitchy enough comeback?”
The taunt made her stomach clench. She truly did hate fighting with him. “I’m all out of comebacks,” she said with a sigh.
“Yeah? Then why do you still look mad?”
“I’m not mad.” She paused. “I’m sad.”
Her quiet admission caused his features to soften. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking about . . .” She shook her head. “Forget it.”
“Tell me what you were thinking about,” he pressed, a note of intensity in his voice.
“If you must know, I was thinking about Sullivan and Liam and how bad I feel for them.”
A furrow creased his strong brow. “Why’s that?”
“Because . . .” She let out a tired breath. “Because I think they’re in love and it makes me sad that they can’t tell each other that, okay?”
Ash looked startled. “Oh. Ah, okay.”
“You disagree?”
“No. I don’t. I think your assessment is spot on. Those two have been dancing around each other since the day I joined the team.”
“Four years,” she murmured. “That means they’ve been fighting this . . . whatever it is . . . for four years. And my dad and Noelle fought each other for twenty years. Can you imagine? Not allowing yourself to be with the person you love for that long? Noelle was—” She stopped, her breath hitching as something occurred to her.
“What is it?” Ash’s voice was low, gentle.
“I just realized . . .” Cate swallowed to moisten her suddenly dry throat. “Noelle was seventeen when she first met Jim. He was twenty-five.”
Ash’s eyes went shuttered but not before Cate glimpsed a flicker of emotion in them. She knew he was reading between the lines, seeing the parallels she hadn’t intended to draw. But she couldn’t deny how spot-on the comparison was. She’d met Ash when she was seventeen. He’d been twenty-five.
Were they destined to follow in Jim and Noelle’s footsteps? Allow the hatred between them to stew and fester until they spent their days fantasizing about ways to kill each other? And then, twenty years later, finally drop their guards and fall in love again, both of them regretting all the time they’d wasted?
Granted, to fall in love again meant that they were in love now. Which they weren’t. Or at least, Ash wasn’t. Cate wasn’t sure how she felt about him anymore, but yes, she had loved him at one point.
He’d never loved her, though. To him, she’d been nothing but a little girl with no experience—wasn’t that what he’d told her the night she’d thrown herself at him?
“Cate,” he started, his voice hoarse.
Her pulse sped up. “What is it?”
“I—” He stopped, his eyes narrowing. “Hey, isn’t that Camila Rivera?”
His words were like a cold shower. “Where?”
“Five o’clock, near the bank building.”
She swung her head toward the bank, clicking her camera to take multiple shots of the slender brunette in high heels and a form-fitting dress. “Might be, but it’s hard to tell when all we can see is her profile.”
The woman turned just then, and Cate snapped several more pictures, excitement thrumming in her blood.
“It’s her,” she confirmed.
Ash lowered his gun. “You sure?”
She nodded emphatically. “Ninety-nine percent sure. It’ll be a hundred once I blow up the pictures for a better look.”
Without another word, Ash sat up and started dismantling his gun.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, her annoyance rising. “You don’t believe me?”
“What? No, I’m packing up because we’re going to follow her.”
“We are?”
A burst of happiness replaced the knot in her chest. She couldn’t believe he wasn’t going to force her to go back to the base while he finished the recon on his own. He was actually trusting her to be a part of this.
“Yep,” he said. “Get your gear and let’s go.”
She fought a teeny jolt of suspicion. “Just like that?”
“You second-guessing yourself?” he asked as he snapped his rifle case shut.
Cate shook her head slowly. “No. I’m right. It’s definitely her.”
He shrugged. “Then let’s roll.”
* * *
Liam dunked his head under the shower of the barracks’ communal locker room, but the hot water sliding down his naked body didn’t do a damn thing in easing the tension he’d been riddled with since returning from surveillance duty with Ethan.
With every lead relating to Rivera’s whereabouts leading to a dead end, the team was now running reconnaissance throughout the city in the hopes that Rivera might surface somewhere. But although Liam and Ethan had
watched the market for hours today, there’d been no sign of the cartel leader.
Still, Liam would’ve been happy to sit on that rooftop all morning, day and night if it meant avoiding this base. He’d had to choke down his disappointment when Cate and Ash arrived to relieve him and Ethan, leaving them no choice but to come back to base and report to Noelle.
The queen of assassins was getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress they were making. She wanted Rivera dead for what he’d done to Jim and Cate, and the longer he stayed out of her reach, the more unpredictable she became. Liam wasn’t sure he wanted to be around when she finally lost her trademark cool.
He reached for the bar of soap in the built-in tray on the tiled wall and started lathering up. He was just rinsing himself clean when footsteps sounded from the door.
Anyone but Sullivan. For fuck’s sake, let it be anyone but—
It was Sullivan.
Yeah. Somehow that didn’t surprise him. After what went down between them last night, he’d known that Sully would eventually track him down.
Their eyes met across the steam-filled room. Liam’s throat ran dry as Sullivan flicked the lock on the door.
“Really, mate? You seriously think you can suck my cock and then walk away like that?”
Sully took a step. He wore camo pants and a white T-shirt, but the clothes didn’t stay on for long. As Liam watched in dry-mouthed dismay, the man peeled off his shirt, exposing his heavy, muscular chest. Then he kicked off his boots and removed his pants.
Liam’s heart stuttered. Sully wasn’t wearing any boxers. He was buck-naked, all golden skin and rippled muscles and an impressive erection that stirred Liam’s groin.
Ignoring the pile of clothes at his feet, Sully stalked forward in predatory strides.
By the time Sully reached him, Liam’s erection was at full mast. Neither man addressed their state of arousal. Their gazes remained locked.
“Where’d you sleep last night?” Sully’s voice was smooth as cream and laced with accusation.
“I crashed in the comm room. Left at dawn for the city with Ethan.”
The big blond man nodded.
Liam didn’t know what that meant. And he was valiantly forcing himself not to look at his friend’s crotch. No, his former friend’s crotch. The days of their tight-knit friendship were long gone—that was the only reason Liam had allowed himself to succumb to temptation last night.
He wouldn’t have touched Sully if the man hadn’t made it abundantly clear that there would be no consequences. No friendship to ruin, no awkwardness to deal with. Liam had no doubt Sully would disappear right after this job, the way he always disappeared. He’d run off and hide on his boat, where he’d pretend he didn’t give a shit about the world.
“What do you care where I went?” Liam asked quietly. “You looked more than satisfied before I left last night.”
“Satisfied?” Sully made a disgruntled sound. “Why? Because I came in your mouth?”
His cock twitched at the dirty memory.
“You think I just rolled over and fell asleep?”
“Didn’t you?”
“No, mate, I didn’t.”
With feigned nonchalance, Liam turned to face the shower, letting the water soak his face. He rubbed his palms over his cheeks and then slicked his wet hair back. “Why’s that?” he asked without looking over.
“Because we weren’t done last night.” There was a pause. “We’re not done now.”
He jumped when he felt a warm, male hand on the small of his back. Then, before he could blink, Sullivan twisted him around and pressed him up against the tiled wall, his mouth landing on Liam’s in a harsh kiss.
The greedy stroke of Sully’s tongue sent lust surging through his blood, and he was gasping for air by the time the man released him. Gray eyes, burning with desire, pierced Liam’s face, speeding up his pulse. This was such a stupid idea. It would lead nowhere. It always led nowhere. But he still wanted it. He wanted it more than he wanted his next breath.
From the hot look in Sully’s eyes, he wanted the same damn thing.
Without a word, he slowly brought his mouth back to Liam’s, but instead of another tongue-tangling kiss, he dragged his tongue over Liam’s top lip and lapped at the droplets of water clinging to it.
Liam shivered.
Sully chuckled.
“You made me beg last night,” the blond man murmured, bringing his lips close to Liam’s ear. “I don’t like to beg. But I did. For you. And now you’re going to do it for me.”
He shuddered when sharp teeth nipped at his earlobe. Oh sweet Jesus.
The temperature in the shower spiked about a hundred degrees and it had nothing to do with the hot water pouring from the spray or the steam hanging in the air. Breathing hard, Liam tracked the lazy motion of Sullivan’s hand as it glided down his body and wrapped around his cock.
The strong grip made him moan. “Sully,” he started.
“Shut up.” Sullivan gave a firm stroke that indeed shut Liam up.
He stared into the other man’s eyes as that hand began to move in a slow, torturous rhythm. Base to tip, squeezing, caressing, fondling. Sully dragged his thumb over the little slit on the sensitive head and toyed with the moisture pooled there, teasing and rubbing until Liam’s knees grew weak.
A hot mouth latched onto his neck, a soft hiss of breath that brought goose bumps to his flesh.
“We’re not friends,” Sully rasped. “Not anymore.”
“I know.” It pained him to say it, but it was true. Or at least it felt true.
“You want to know what we are?” Sully’s breath tickled his throat.
He gave a helpless groan when Sully bit down on the hypersensitive tendons there. Oh fuck. His cock swelled in Sully’s hand. He was actually close to coming.
The other man seemed to sense that because he slowed the pace of his strokes. “Want to know what we are?” he repeated.
“What are we?” Liam managed to ask through the gravel in his throat.
“We’re just two blokes who want to fuck each other’s brains out.”
He sucked in a breath. His hips shot out involuntarily, thrusting his dick hard into Sully’s fist. With a filthy smile, Sully released him.
And then he sank to his knees.
Liam glanced down and immediately went light-headed. His gaze soaked in every detail: the gray eyes peering up at him, the moisture clinging to Sully’s chiseled features, the dark-blond stubble shadowing that strong jaw.
Sullivan Port personified sex. He oozed it. And he was really fuckin’ good at it. Liam had seen this man make dozens of women scream in ecstasy.
His mind suddenly flashed back to the last threesome they’d indulged in, conjuring up the memory of Sully’s face buried between a redhead’s legs. She’d been gobbling up Liam’s cock at the time, her moans vibrating through his shaft. He remembered the way she’d writhed in mindless pleasure as Sully’s tongue flicked her clit. The way she’d thrashed and squirmed and begged Sully to make her come.
Now that tongue was on him, circling the head of his cock, bringing him pleasure he’d never imagined. He was aching. He wanted to thrust deep, wanted to fuck Sully’s mouth and shoot down his throat. But Sully had other ideas. He tortured the tip with featherlight licks, while his big fist squeezed the shaft, preventing Liam from pushing into his mouth.
Low, tormented noises rang in the steamy air. It took Liam a second to realize they were coming from him. He was shaking with need, so consumed by it he could barely stay upright.
“Sully,” he said in agony.
The man didn’t reply. He couldn’t—his lips were wrapped tightly around the head of Liam’s cock.
“You’re driving me crazy,” Liam groaned.
Now those lips curved in a smile, and then, with his gaze fi
xed on Liam’s, Sully took him in one inch at a time.
“Oh fuck,” he croaked.
The suction. The heat. He was buried so far down Sully’s throat that every time the man swallowed it sent shock waves up Liam’s dick. But just as he began to move his hips, Sully retreated.
“Don’t stop, damn it.”
Husky laughter rippled in the shower as Sully tilted his head. “Beg.”
Oh Christ.
“Please,” Liam said weakly.
He shuddered when Sully cupped his balls and began fondling them, languidly, as if he had all the time in the world.
“Please. Make me come.”
Sully laughed again.
Liam’s cock bobbed impatiently, seeking the man’s mouth, but when he tried to guide it back to where he wanted it most, Sullivan turned his cheek. He pressed his lips to Liam’s thigh and bit him again.
Liam let out a strangled groan. “Please.”
“Sure, baby, whatever you want.”
The careless response startled him but he didn’t have time to gripe about the mind games Sully was playing because that wicked mouth was taking him deep again.
And that tongue . . . it was scraping along his shaft, licking and torturing.
And that hand . . .
And that finger . . .
He froze when the tip of Sully’s finger breached the one place he’d yet to grant anyone access to. Not even Joe, the man he’d hooked up with in Boston, had touched him this way.
“Relax,” Sully whispered.
Even over the water running, every sound in the room seemed to be magnified. Liam’s shallow breaths. His pounding heart. The wet suction of Sully’s mouth.
And all the while, that finger kept prodding. Maybe if he weren’t so distracted by the fact that his cock was stuffed down Sully’s throat, he would have protested, but right now he couldn’t muster up a single objection. This was too . . . fuckin’ . . . good. Liam didn’t expect to like it, but when that finger slipped inside him and rubbed a particular spot, the pleasure was so intense he lost his footing.