Deep Dark Mire (An FBI Romance Thriller ~ book four) (31 page)

Disconnecting the call, Elizabeth looked over at the tracker. “You better crash Julian; tomorrow’s going to be a long day. Hey, you get to go home after we get to the bodies. Great work!”

He shrugged. “I’ll stay if Ethan needs me, but you're right about the sleep.
Are we having a sleep over?” he asked, nodding to the man lounging beside her. “Can I join in the slumber party?”

Whitefox pulled
Elizabeth possessively against his side and gave him a not so nice look. “Julian, do you want to make it out of that swamp tomorrow, or have that be your final watery grave?”

He raised his hands and grinned. “I’ll see you downstairs for coffee tomorrow morning before we head into the swamp. Dress
light. You don’t want to be weighed down in the mess. It’s not going to be a fun walk in or out.”

“
Deja vu,” laughed Elizabeth. “I seem to remember you saying this to me once before, but wasn’t it cold and snowy?”

He laughed. “If you have your gun, bring it. There are gators in the water and they like pretty young FBI agent.” He walked to the door and made his exit.

“I hope he wasn’t thinking I was going to be the problem again,” she said, “Because I’d hate to school his ass twice in one year. That might be construed as ego crushing.”

Callen laughed and clicked off the light on his side of the bed. He slid down into the softness and waited for Elizabeth to join him. When she did he relaxed
, but his mind was still going.

“What’s wrong, Cal?”

He didn’t know how to say it, and he hoped he didn’t piss her off when he finally just got it off his chest. “He knows we were in bed together. You and I know there wasn’t any sex, but word travels fast,” he sighed. “I don’t want anyone to hurt you or Ethan, and both of you are directors of FBI West. I don’t want rumors flying and damaging your careers.”

Elizabeth could hear the hurt and pain in his voice. “Callen, I’m not going to deny anything to anyone at FBI West. If they find out you and I were sharing a room, let them speculate on anything they want. I’m off duty and if I want to sleep in a bed with you, I’m entitled to just that. Ethan doesn’t care,
since we were all just in bed last night. If anyone has big enough balls to start rumors at FBI West let them, because I’ll surgically remove them and use them as bookends. I look at it this way; I’ll be the envy of all the women in that building. I get to sleep beside two sexy men.”

He relaxed that she wasn’t going to hurt him.
“It won’t be forever. I’ll be out of your way eventually.”

Elizabeth turned the light back on and looked over at him. “Look in my face
, Callen James Whitefox. You aren’t bothering me or your brother. You’re not in our way or a burden. What you are is family and I love you. You sleep there as long as your heart tells you to, and don’t you dare listen to anyone else. Am I clear?”

He nodded. “Thank you, Lyzee.”

She nodded and clicked off the light, cuddling against his body. “You matter to me and that’s what it comes down to. I don’t care what people think about me. You should know that by now.”

“Can I ask you a question or two?”

She ran her hand over his tattoo of the fox reassuringly. “Shoot, darlin’.”

“Are you really going to wear a bikini into the swamp?”

Elizabeth started laughing. “I plan on wearing it under a shirt and with my cutoffs. Why?”

“Just because I want to bring a camera and take pictures of all the men’s faces
that will be on this little exhibition into the swamp. You know how I love to torment my brother and this is probably the biggest fun I’ll have all year.”

Now Elizabeth laughed. “You may not make it out of
Cypress Grove,” she said, snickering. “What’s your second question?”

Callen Whitefox kissed her on the top of the head. “I can’t sleep and I was wondering…”

“Yes?” she asked, looking up at him in the light from the window.

“Is there any Chinese food left? I’m suddenly very hungry.”

Elizabeth began laughing. “It’s in the mini fridge. You want to eat and get some work done instead?”

Whitefox clicked on the light. “Yeah.”

Who was he kidding? Now all he was thinking about was Elizabeth’s body in a bikini. There was nothing related to work floating around in his mind at that moment.

He suddenly couldn’t wait until morning.

                                *   *   *

Blackhawk sat on the jet with his team in route to Cypress Grove. Practically the entire team was crashing and trying to catch a few hours of sleep, with the exception of Doctor Chris Leonard. It was difficult to not notice the man staring at him from across the jet, and he figured the doctor needed to get something off his chest.

Blackhawk motioned
to him and slid over to make room for his ME. “Chris, you have a look on your face, and you're not asleep. Want to tell me what’s going on in your head?”

“Desdemona is on the ground there, and I’m on a transport to Cypress Grove. I’m going to guess she’s still in trouble.” He liked the woman
a great deal and was feeling responsible, since he hired her.

“Okay, I was going to brief the team when we lan
ded, but here’s what’s currently happening. Desdemona’s sister went missing two weeks ago. The last decade or so she’s had a situation with a stalker and we think it’s connected. Elizabeth and I don’t want her doing the visual on the scene in case it’s family.”

Now it was
clearer, and Chris was less nervous about the entire situation. “Okay, I just was worried she wasn’t on your good side, and I was going in to replace her.”

Blackhawk watched the man. “Chris, she lied to her bosses, and while there she struck Elizabeth and
assaulted Callen. She’s not in a good position with us right now. I’m not saying her career is done with the FBI, but she’s in hot water when all this if finally over.”

He was a little surprised. “She physically assaulted
Lyzee and Callen?”

“Just be ready for some aggression over this.
We need an ME to go in, and we really want to keep this in house and under wraps. Elizabeth has requested first dibs on the corpses to help Doctor Adare out. The tracker we sent in to locate the bodies found them on Native land, and while Callen and I both fit that role, we still have a fine line to walk.”

“I get it.”

“So please, no matter what it looks like on the ground, know that we’re trying to save her job and help her. No one should have to do an autopsy on their sister.”

“Agreed
on that.”

“Now go catch some sleep. We land in under three
hours; you have to trudge into the swamp to retrieve a body. It’s going to be long hot work and probably disgusting too.”

“Okay Director.”

Blackhawk touched his arm as he was getting ready to stand. “We aren’t in the field. You can call me Ethan. I really don’t bite,” he grinned. “Unless I catch your hands on my wife, and then I do more than bite.”

Chris Leonard laughed. “No offense Ethan, but you biting is nothing compared to your wife breaking my arms off and using them to beat me senseless from touching her. I think I’ll be afraid of her a little bit more. You’re the civilized one.”

Ethan knew that was the tale appearances on the outside told. The truth was vastly different.

~Chapter Eight ~

Tuesday Morning

Stepping
out of the shower, Callen wrapped a towel around his waist. Waking up next to Elizabeth had its pros and cons. The pros were the feel and smell of her hair was unbelievable, and unfortunately the cons were the same damn thing. It wreaked havoc on the male body, and he needed a very cold shower to try and stop thinking about her.

When he stepped out of the bathroom he found her dressed
, or what she was calling dressed. She was in a bikini top and cut off shorts, digging for a tank top in her suitcase. She was leaning over the bed, and the shower’s effects came screeching to a halt. His body was hard again, and he was instantaneously turned on by what was waiting for him in their room.

Watching
her pull the tank top over her head, it somehow didn’t really do anything to stop the effect. If anything it made him hotter. Pink bikini under white tank top, and he was trying to force himself to stop thinking about it.

Yeah, he’d seen her in a bikini
lying in the sun in the yard, but his brother and Desdemona had been there. That always managed to cool the fire, until later when Callen would use the memories to fuel some Elizabeth driven fantasies.

Yes, he
had thought about her while having sex with his fiancée, a lot. It was horribly wrong and should have been his big indicator there was an issue. What played in his head was his own business, as long as it stayed carefully hidden away. At least that was what he told himself daily.

Now
, he was ten feet from Elizabeth, alone, and very turned on at what he was seeing. He also remembered watching her in the mirror, and his body tightened more.

Jesus Christ, how the hell was he going to survive this?

“Hey Cal, how was your shower?

“Terrific.” What he wanted to say
was ‘
lonely, care to join me so I can feel you, taste you, and bury myself deep in your body until I explode?’

“Great, you better get dressed
. We have to go down in a couple of minutes. I want to be suited up before the team arrives.”

Funny, Whitefox wanted to un-suit her before the team
showed up. He struggled to regain focus and find some clothing that was going to cover his growing problem, and yet keep him from sweating his ass off in the swamp. He went with a pair of camouflage shorts and a tank top, as he prayed for divine intervention.

Dressing, Callen
hoped that his brother would arrive soon. Generally, that could scare the shit out of him enough to erase all his errant thoughts. Then maybe he wouldn’t be thinking of repeatedly taking Ethan’s wife over and over again.

“Are you okay?” she asked, noticing
he was tense. That and Callen was avoiding her. Usually he’d stroll around in his boxers and not think twice. She’d grown accustomed to it, and now he was rushing to dress, his back to her and his body was incredibly rigid. There were ripples down his back along his muscles.

He started laughing. “Yeah, I’m
terrific. I couldn’t be better, and I’m just damn awesome.”

Elizabeth walked up behind him and placed her hand on his back
, and was startled when he actually jumped at her light touch like it burned. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

There was m
ore laughter because it was too funny. It wasn’t lost on him that it was a sick cruel universe thing, where he was destined to suffer immeasurable torment at the hands of love and fate. The man who had sex nonstop in his life just to have sex was now going to be celibate. Every day, he would be surrounded by a woman who turned his blood to lava and made him feel everything that he wanted in life.

Karma was a bitch.

Before sex was easy. Women who meant nothing were waiting to jump into bed with him for a sweaty romp, and now he found the one who mattered and Callen couldn’t touch her.

What he felt when he was with Desdemona wasn’t half of what he felt just
lying beside Elizabeth. Yeah, they had great sex, and it was fun, but just being near Elizabeth was far more… overwhelming, breathtaking, and magnificent. The list could go on and on.

“We just need to get down there, Lyzee,” he muttered, trying to breathe and not think about her right behind him.

“Callen,” she said, touching his arm.

“Please, just step away from me. I need you to not touch me right now.” If he looked at her, he was going to do something incredibly stupid.

Elizabeth felt the snap in his voice, and it shocked and hurt her. “I’m sorry,” she said, feeling pain at how he suddenly pushed her away and uncertainty at what she did to deserve it.

Whitefox heard the
injury in her voice, and he didn’t want to hurt the woman he loved. He turned suddenly, moving at her and grabbing her roughly. He ignored the look of surprise on her face before pulling her against his body and kissing her.

Callen
poured everything into it. It was days of pent up sexual frustration and need. He ripped through his body and tore into hers. Part of him knew that he was doing something so completely wrong. This was his brother’s wife, but he couldn’t control it. Whitefox swore, promised, and vowed that it would stop in a second or maybe two, possibly three. At least when Desdemona had been in his life, he had a way to burn off the lust that he was feeling for the woman in his arms.

Now there was no outlet for his pent up frustration.

Elizabeth just held on during the storm, and let him kiss her like he needed at that moment. She loved Callen and hated that he was suffering. It was a pretty phenomenal kiss, and she wouldn’t lie. It was incredible. He kissed just like his brother when he was all stirred up. Who knew?

It took all his control but he managed to break the kiss.
Callen stared down into her eyes, waiting to see the anger and hate that he’d crossed the line and destroyed trust. Yet, it wasn’t there. Elizabeth simply gazed at him with nothing but calm, clear, love and concern. She touched his cheek and he dropped his head to hers and they just stood there.

“I’m
so sorry, Lyzee.”

“Callen, don’t be. I’m not mad at you.”
Elizabeth ran her hand up and down his side, reassuringly. “Are you okay?”

“I think so.”
Callen wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but he believed he might be able to pull it off.

“That was a pretty amazing kiss, Cal.” Now she was giggling and trying to not break into full blown laughter.

Only she would find what just happened funny, but it was contagious. Finally, Callen found the humor in it too, because it was definitely funny. He was just making out with his brother’s wife, in the Deep South, before going out to find corpses in a swamp. It was so completely insane that he had to laugh too.

“Come on, Cal. Let’s get out there and get ready.”

Elizabeth grabbed her FBI badge and hung it from the chain around her neck. Clipping on her gun, she slipped into her boots. “How do I look?” she asked, grinning at him.

“Like
a cross between the southern girl next door and a bad ass FBI agent. It’s hot and completely erotic in a redneck kind of way.”

Elizabeth snickered, as he mimicked her actions, attaching his badge and gun. Together they exited their shared room, and headed down to get ready for the team. The entire bed and breakfast was silent
, except for the owner standing behind the front desk.

She was staring at them like they were aliens.

“Good morning. I’m sure by now you’ve gotten the call and the FBI has rented more rooms, so let me reintroduce myself. I’m Director Elizabeth Blackhawk, and this is my partner Director Special Agent Callen Whitefox. He isn't my husband, but he is my brother-in-law. We’re here working an assignment here in Cypress Grove.”

The woman just stared. “I really thought you both were a couple.”

Elizabeth looked up and smiled. “We’re partners and VERY close, and we’ll leave it at that. In about five minutes my team is going to be rolling in, and I apologize in advance because we tend to be a handful. But on the bright side, no one will rob you while we’re here.”

Julian came down the stairs and whistled. “You weren’t kidding
, Director Blackhawk,” he said, stopping at her side.

“
Mr. Littlemoon is one of you too?”

Elizabeth laughed when Whitefox pulled her closer to his body. “
Yep, he works for us.”

“So
, you did need that second room?”

Whitefox didn’t move or speak.

“Sure we did. We needed a place for our suitcases. Now if you’ll excuse us, we have a rendezvous in two minutes.”

They walked
from the building, dropping their sunglasses on their faces. The sun was just popping up over the horizon and she could hear the hum of big vehicles coming.

“
Looks like the cavalry is right on time,” Whitefox said. “Lyzee, thank you,” he added quietly, knowing she knew it was for the kiss. “I won’t ever forget what you just did for me.” The rest was for not denying him in front of the owner, by telling her they used the room when they clearly didn’t.

“I told you
, Callen. I’m not worried what people think. Standing here in a pink bikini in front of my tech staff should be proof enough.”

Two more vehicles pulled up and a van into the parking lot. Out popped Christina and
four techs who proceeded to stare at her like she was wearing a sign that said ‘GAWK AT ME’.

Blackhawk
was out of the one vehicle next, and strode towards his wife. Immediately, she went into his body and Ethan hugged her. “I missed you, baby.”

Elizabeth missed him too.

“I thought I said no bikini,” he whispered into her ear, and then started laughing. “Why does my brother look all freaked out and ready to implode.”

Elizabeth whispered back. “Bikini, bed together, long
tension filled night.” She wasn’t going to lie to him, he was too smart, and they had rules. No lying was the big one for them.

Chris Leonard and Tony Magnus hopped out of the second vehicle and
strolled over.

“Wow, a bikini,”
Chris said, and then saw the look both brothers gave him.

Elizabeth started laughing. “I
don’t see what the big deal is. You’re all in shorts and tank tops too; with the exception of my husband- because of course you're going to wear a suit to the swamp.”

He laughed
at his wife and added a salacious wink to follow her comments. “Get your Kevlar on, no one’s going in that swamp unarmed and not suited up. Gators, Natives, and plus a killer doesn’t mix.” He helped his wife slip into hers, and then his brother. He tossed Julian a vest and ordered him to wear protection too.

“I’ll ride with you two over to the entry point into the swamp, and then I’ll drive into town to work my scary boss mojo,” he said, grinning. He tossed one of the techs his keys.

Elizabeth nodded. “Okay, then let’s get this show on the road. It’s going to be ninety three degrees today in the shade.”

Everyone hopped up into the vehicles. Julian opted to drive his
rented motorcycle, in case he needed to leave the scene. There were four shiny vehicles rolling through the town, and although it was early, they still garnered attention. A big black Escalade, followed by two black Denalis and a black tech van that said FBI. There was nothing like blending in.

Pulling into the Adare family driveway, they all parked and exited, ready for the impending mission. I
mmediately, Desdemona and her grandmother met them in the yard, halting their entrance into the swamp. Both looked ready for a confrontation of some sort.

Blackhawk greeted the
women, nodding at his other ME. “We found some remains in the swamp, and the team is going in to retrieve them. We don’t have visual confirmation on whether they’re your sister or not, but we’ll advise you as soon as possible.”

“I’m coming with you,” Desdemona said. “I’ll do the visual.”

Elizabeth stepped forward now because this fell under her responsibility, since her spiffy husband had drawn Sheriff Jackwagon duty. “No, I’m sorry Doctor Adare; you will NOT be joining us on our little leech filled tour of Cypress Grove’s swamps. We have Doctor Leonard and Magnus with us for this one.”

She felt her temper spike. “I’m an ME too. I
think I can handle it!” She stepped towards Elizabeth and was very angry. “You realize you really can’t stop me.”