Men Out of Uniform

  God Almighty, he wanted to sink into her. He literally ached for her. Every inch of him, most especially the throbbing length between his legs. He wanted to do all kinds of naughty things to her, but mostly he wanted to make slow, passionate love to her. She deserved that.

  Colin shook his head, confused by his thoughts and the uncomfortable emotions that spurred them. Making love? What the hell did that mean? He was a sport fucker. Good Time Charlie. The guy who didn’t do breakfast. The guy every girl could count on to be gone in the morning. And yet, here he was, two mornings later.

  He rolled away and sat on the edge of the bed, raking his fingers through his hair. Two mornings later because he was doing his job, he reminded himself. He looked over his shoulder to find Sophia staring at him with sated, hooded eyes.

  He couldn’t help a smile. “Did you enjoy that?”

  “Hypothetically, yes.”

  He threw his head back and laughed. He stood and was careful not to turn toward her. He’d give her a black eye if he did. “I’m going to jump in the shower. We need to get on the road.”

  “It’s still dark outside!”

  “We need to keep moving, Sophia.”

  She sat up and crawled on the bed toward him. Her full breasts swayed in sync with her sweet ass. His dick swelled. “Damn it, woman. I’m not made of concrete.”

  She sat back on her knees and looked at him with a total feline smile. “I invited you to make love to me, Colin. You passed. Now suffer the consequences.”

  “It’s not that I don’t want—”

  “The reason isn’t important,” she interrupted. “The outcome is the same.” She leaned toward him. “But I’m afraid you have unleashed a sleeping tiger. I want more of that, with or without you.”

  Colin scowled. “Is that all it is to you? Sex?”

  It was her time to laugh. He didn’t like it. “Oh my God! Are you serious? Colin! Did you just really say that?”

  “I meant, will any cock do?”

  She smiled that tigress-on-the-prowl smile again. His blood warmed as her gaze dropped to his thickening cock. She was playing with fire. He could change his mind ...

  “Oh, dear lord, no. Not any cock.” She reached out and stroked the dewy head of his, all the way down to his balls. Colin hissed in a breath. “Only a cock as glorious as this.”

  He wrapped his hand around her fingers and squeezed. He shut his eyes and clamped his jaw tight. When she began to slowly move her hand up and down, he nearly came. He squeezed her hand tighter in an effort to stop her, but it only stoked his fire.

  “Soph—”

  She pulled him gently toward her and rose up on her knees, sliding her tits against his chest. Colin sucked in a deep breath. He was so damn close to losing all control. She kissed his neck, then behind his ear. His muscles tightened as he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her tighter against him. “While you’re in the shower, can I order room service?”

  “What?” he asked not believing she would—

  “Can I order room service?”

  Colin closed his eyes and exhaled. He peeled her fingers off his dick and blue balls. When he looked at her, he saw the laughter in her eyes. She was having too much fun at his expense. “Have at it, but tell them to leave the tray outside,” he bit out as he grabbed his bag, then strode into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

  “Do you want anything?” she asked laughing.

  “Coffee and a blow job!”

  “Hah, I’ll see if that’s on the menu!”

  Despite his blue balls and stiff cock, Colin grinned, shaking his head. Who knew the runaway Mafia wife was so plucky? It was a shame their road trip would ultimately end. He was still smiling when he exited the shower. He wrapped a towel around his waist, grabbed Ruby’s handgun from the leather bag, slid it down between the small of his back and the towel, not taking any chances there was a room-service glitch. He took another towel to his hair, and as he was drying it, walked out of the bathroom. “Sophia, we need to—” He froze in his tracks as the blood drained from his body.

  They had company.

  Chapter 5

  Colin had been trained for situations exactly like this, which is the only reason he remained outwardly calm. Inside, he was pissed he had taken his eyes off Sophia for one minute. This was his fault, damn it!

  A mountain of a man held Sophia in a one-handed chokehold. With his other hand, he dug a modified P90 into her temple. She was ghost white, naked, and from the looks of her, about to faint.

  “The boss ain’t gonna be happy when he finds out you been dipping into the family assets,” Guido said.

  Colin shrugged it off like it was no big deal, wondering where Guido’s partner was. Probably waiting outside with the car running. “We both know you won’t pull that trigger,” Colin said. “So I guess the question is, are you going to make a break with just the girl or are you going to try and be a cowboy and take me with you for the extra Brownie points?”

  Guido nodded and pointed the mini machine gun at Colin’s chest then lowered it to his dick. “We got room for you.” He pulled the trigger just as Sophia dropped to the floor, elbowing Guido in the balls on her way down. It was enough to throw his aim off. Colin pulled the Glock and capped off a single round, hitting the guy right between the eyes. Guido’s three-hundred-pound body buckled to its knees, then toppled forward. Sophia screamed and rushed to Colin. He pulled her behind him and leveled the barrel at the unmoving heap on the floor.

  “Get dressed,” Colin said as he grabbed the P90 out of Guido’s hand and rifled through his pockets for another magazine. Jackpot! One fifty-rounder. He kept the P90 out and stuffed his gun and the magazine into the duffel bag.

  Sophie dressed in a rush with Colin right behind her. Together they dragged the dead assassin into the bathroom, hoisted him into the tub, and tossed all of the towels on top of him. Colin grabbed his duffel bag and Sophia’s hand, then moved toward the door. Cracking it open, he looked down the long hallway before he pulled Sophia out and toward the stairs. They went up two flights. Urgency gripped him. If the other half of Guido’s team wasn’t already looking for him, he would be soon, probably via the service elevator.

  “Back down the stairs to the lobby floor,” Colin said evenly. He kept his voice level, his movements precise, and his breathing even, hoping to keep Sophia calm. If she lost it, they’d be in big trouble.

  Sophia followed silently. At such an early hour the lobby was graveyard quiet. Colin pulled Sophia along and into the ladies’ room. After he made sure they were alone, he pulled out the throwaway cell phones. She gasped when he smashed them against the counter and then did the same thing with his iPad. “Why did you do that?” she asked as he scooped up the pieces and dumped them into the trash can.

  “I used the iPad to search for the helo charter, and while you were taking a shower, I used one of the throwaways to alert my team we were on the run and not going to be back into New York for a few days.”

  Her jaw dropped. “You can’t be serious. You think—?”

  “Someone traced it.”

  “But how? How would Angelo be able to do something like that?”

  “I don’t know, but he found us. I’m not taking any chances.”

  He took her hand and started for the door. As he poked his head out to clear the area, Guido’s twin strode boldly into the lobby. Colin pushed her back. “We’ve got company.”

  It didn’t take long for the ladies’ room door to slowly open.

  Colin sat hunched in the last stall on the toilet seat with Sophia trembling violently behind him. Cautious footsteps approached, followed by the quiet whoosh of each metal stall door being carefully opened and then closed. The footsteps halted at the stall next to theirs. Sophia’s heart slammed against his back. Colin carefully adjusted his aim. He knew what was coming next. He opened the automatic.

  The body on the other side dropped to the floor with a controlled thud. Colin followed the bad guy’s fal
l with a steady stream of rounds. Grunts and cursing preceded a splatter of rounds from the other side of the door. Colin pushed Sophia against the wall as he made himself a bigger target, shielding her.

  It was all over in seconds.

  A widening pool of blood spread toward them on the tile floor. Colin kept the barrel pointed at the target and kicked open the door. The guy was flat on his back and full of holes. Colin grabbed the duffel and stuffed the dead guy’s weapon into it, then stuffed in his own. He grabbed Sophia up into his arms. “Don’t look,” he said, then carried her over the body, let her down, and hurried toward the door.

  They slipped out the front doors just as hotel security poured in. They were in the car and on the road just as the first siren echoed in the distance. He didn’t say a word, he just drove.

  When he was sure they were not being followed, he looked at Sophia’s ashen face. “What happened in the room?”

  She swallowed hard and shook her head. “I—I was just getting ready to call room service when the door flew open. He had a key and bolt cutters. He—he just cut right through the chain lock. I screamed and ran for the bathroom but he tackled me—” Her voice cracked, tears welled. “I didn’t know what to do, Colin. I was so afraid he was going to kill us both! Then that second man in the bathroom. I thought I was going to die!”

  Colin reached over and grabbed her shaking hands. He winced at a sharp, abrupt burn in his biceps. He’d been hit, damn it. “Sweetheart,” he softly said, squeezing her hands. “I told you I’d protect you. I won’t let you out of my sight again. From this moment forward, until we hit New York, we’re going to be joined at the hip.”

  Wide-eyed she looked over at him. “I’m so scared. I—Oh my God, you’re bleeding!”

  The bullet wound was nothing. Getting Sophia to a safe place was all he cared about. “I’m fine.”

  She shook her head and ripped the sleeve off her shirt. “Pull over.”

  “I said I’m fine.”

  “Pull over, now!”

  Exasperated but unwilling to freak her out any more than she had been, Colin pulled over onto the shoulder.

  “Take your shirt off.”

  He opened his mouth to argue, but the stubborn set of her jaw and the glare in her green eyes stopped his protest. He unhooked his seat belt, unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off. He looked down at the hole at the top part of his biceps. The bullet had gone clean through. He’d survived worse with no medical attention.

  “That’s more than a graze, Colin! You need medical attention,” she said nervously. Her voice shaking with emotion.

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  She ignored him. She wound the fabric around his arm, tying it snugly. “That should help stem the blood flow. But we need to get that cleaned up before you get an infection.”

  “Yes, Nurse Ratched.” Colin shrugged his shirt on and started to button it when she slapped his hands away. “I’m not a two-year-old,” he growled as she buttoned him up.

  “No, you’re more like a three-year-old.” When she had finished, he cocked a brow and asked, “Can we go now?”

  “Yes.”

  They needed to hole up somewhere safe, somewhere he could get his bearings, somewhere he could give Sophia a few survival lessons. He hit the gas and asked her, “Have you ever shot a gun?”

  “No.”

  “You’re going to learn.”

  Colin didn’t go back to San Jose’s Mineta International Airport for the helicopter ride. He was taking no chances. He drove south toward Monterey, where he had an old buddy. Evan “Cappy” O’Malley was only eight years Colin’s senior, but he was a marine who had done numerous tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and had lived to talk about it.

  When Colin turned off on the Cannery Row exit, he felt Sophia’s eyes on him. He touched her knee and squeezed it. She pulled away. She had not said a word since she’d bandaged him up. He knew she was upset. Scared and angry. But what bothered him most was the way she withdrew from him. Each time he glanced over at her, she was staring straight ahead, in a near catatonic state.

  “Sophia?” he softly said. “Talk to me.”

  She shook her head. “What is there to talk about? We’re running from a man who has eyes and ears everywhere. We were almost killed back there. You’re wounded. He’s going to get one or both of us.” She looked at him, her eyes dull and hopeless. “What do you want me to say about that?”

  “I want you to trust me. I gave you my word, Sophia. I’ll protect you.”

  “Like you did in the hotel room?” she blurted.

  Her words cut him to the quick. He’d fucked up. He wouldn’t again. But he couldn’t help the defensiveness that leaked into his voice. “You’re here, and alive. What more do you want?”

  “I want to stop running! I want to stop being afraid! I want to live, Colin, but not like this!”

  He didn’t blame her, this was no way for anyone to live. “Trust me, Sophia. It will all be over soon.”

  She slumped back into the seat and stared out the window as she had before. “It will never be over for me.”

  Sophia sat quietly and watched Colin go into a convenience store and emerge a few minutes later with a plastic bag. The bloodstain on his shirt had widened. He hopped back into the car, pulled out of the parking lot, and headed toward Cannery Row. He reached into the bag and handed her a cell phone. “It’s a throwaway. The only number you’re going to call, and only if you need to, is mine.” He pulled out another throwaway. “Go ahead and program them in.”

  As Sophia did, she asked, “Did you get something for your wound?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “To a safe place.”

  No place was safe for her. But she kept that to herself. Trying to convince Colin that Angelo would eventually get them only pissed him off. And she didn’t want to piss him off. He had put his life on the line to protect her. She had been terrified this morning, but he had kept her calm, reassuring her they would make it. In her heart of hearts, she believed that if anyone could keep her safe, it was Colin.

  Thirty minutes later, they pulled up to a double-studded wooden gate, with the image of a large horse head, like a chess piece, carved into it. It was very similar if not the exact same design as the tattoo that ran down Colin’s right side.

  Colin took his cell and punched in a number. “Sergeant Daniels requesting permission to enter, sir.” He spoke in the clipped respectful tone of a subordinate speaking to a superior officer.

  A moment later, the gates rattled, then slowly opened. Colin gave the car some gas and entered what Sophia could only describe as a psychedelic jungle. Overgrown palms and ferns, dotted with bright blooming bushes and plants she had seen only in magazines grew in a crazy kaleidoscope of colors, textures, and fragrances. Wind chimes, garden gnomes, and lawn jockeys peeked out from between brightly colored planters that were peppered throughout the yard with no thought given to strategic placement. But somehow, it all worked. At the end of the gravel driveway was a sprawling hacienda. And standing on the front porch with a rifle slung over his shoulder and two mastiffs drooling at his feet was a man who looked like he should be sitting on a street corner with a cup, begging for his next drink.

  “My captain,” Colin said, shaking his head, a smile splitting his face. He pulled right up to the porch and put the car in Park. “Stay here.” He slid out. The massive dogs began to bark. A sharp command from the captain shut them up.

  Colin saluted the man. Something caught in Sophia’s throat, and her belly rolled. The hot sting of tears distorted her view. Angrily, she swiped at her eyes. She did not want to have such tender feelings for Colin. Being hot for him was one thing. But at every turn he proved he was a man worthy of any woman’s love. She shook her head. Love? She did not know what it meant anymore. She didn’t even try to figure it out.

  The captain said something gruffly, and Colin embraced him. Then heads together, they spoke urgently.
The captain nodded, then went inside. Colin came around to her door and opened it. He extended his hand and said, “Come on, Sophia. No one will find us here.”

  She let out a long breath she had not realized she was holding and took his hand. The captain was nowhere to be found when they entered the airy, open house. “Captain O’Malley is the shy type. He thinks it’s better you don’t get a good look at him. I told him he was a dick, but he insisted we have the run of the bottom floor.”

  “Is it because he doesn’t want me to know what he looks like?”

  Colin shrugged. “I stopped trying to figure him out years ago. I just know we can trust him and he’s going to get us to New York.”

  “He’s driving to New York with us?” She was praying he was not.

  “Sweetheart, we’re flying.”

  “How? I don’t have ID?”

  “Captain O’Malley is a man of many talents, with many toys. One of them flies.”

  Sophia should have been excited by the prospect, but she wasn’t. Flying meant going to New York sooner rather than later, and she wasn’t planning to go at all. Not if she wanted to celebrate her next birthday.

  “When are we leaving?”

  “Tomorrow morning.”

  She swallowed hard and nodded. If she was going to make her escape, she was going to have to do it tonight. No way in hell was she getting on that plane.

  Chapter 6

  Colin showed Sophia to a large, comfortable bedroom at the end of a long hallway. It was decorated to reflect the landscape outside; a hodgepodge of fabrics, wandering textures, and exotic colors framed an eclectic grouping of furniture that all somehow worked. Peeking into the large bathroom, she almost drooled over the huge sunken tub. Colin stepped in behind her and she jerked in surprise.