Deep Dark Mire (An FBI Romance Thriller ~ book four) (63 page)

The woman giggled
more. “Are you really with both brothers? You know, ‘with’ with, and not just hanging out.”

Elizabeth looked back over her shoulder at Whitefox. The choice was hers, and she wasn’t going to hurt him by denying what they had.

“Between us girls, and since we’re off the clock, yes I am.”

Whitefox wasn’t expecting her to admit it to a co-worker. Something in his heart squeezed that she wasn’t going to pass off what they had
, like it was something she was ashamed of or embarrassed by. The love he felt completely overwhelmed him, and he dropped a kiss on the top of her head, as if to punctuate their relationship.

“I assumed when I saw the tattoo
with your initials, but then I just saw the ring that Doctor Adare used to wear.”

Elizabeth twisted the ring on her finger. “Well, this is the Blackhawk family ring, and when Callen and Desdemona decided to part ways, I got lucky. He decided to pick me to wear it next.”

Callen placed his hand on her shoulder, drawing her focus to him. “Not just next, but forever and last.”

She accepted his kiss and smiled when he broke away. “I like forever, personally.”

Christina grinned up at her boss. “When I grow up, I want to be Elizabeth Blackhawk. I used to idolize Gustav Kirchhoff, but you are so much cooler.”

She laughed at the comment
and like always, she had no clue who Christina was talking about. So when in doubt- go for it. “It’s a good gig. If you ever get the opportunity, jump in and do it. For obvious reasons, it’s pretty damn awesome.”

~ Chapter Fifteen ~

Thursday Evening

Blackhawk paced his room, feeling edgy and out of sorts. It wasn’t his own safety he was concerned for, but for the woman who he loved more than life itself. Right now she was away from him, and it was crushing his heart. What Ethan really wanted was to hold her in his arms, climb into bed and forget how close they’d come to a different outcome.

In fact, the room was lonely
without her and Callen. He’d grown accustomed to having his brother and wife beside him as he slept. It felt natural and gave him a sense of peace. Now that they were away from him, a part of him was empty.

Maybe he’
d call her, just to see how they were doing. Hearing their voices might make him feel a little better. You’d think a grown man could survive one night away from his wife, but like a strung out junkie, he was going through withdrawal. Ethan even caught himself lying on her pillow, just to be reminded what her hair smelled like. The scent of her shampoo, lingering with his and his brother’s cologne, mixed together simply called to him. Blackhawk couldn’t explain why it did. It just did, and he was out of sorts without them.

The love
he felt for her was just overwhelming.

Ethan
pulled out his phone and dialed his brother. Callen answered the phone laughing, and he was both happy and disappointed that they were having fun without him. How he desperately wanted to be there with them.

“Hey Ethan! Your wife is cheating her ass off in cards and
believes it’s acceptable because she’s ‘hurt’,” he stated, his voice full of amusement.

“Is she really cheating or are you just that bad at it and need a scapegoat?” he asked, smiling.
Blackhawk was accustomed to their normal back and forth teasing.

“
Shhhhh. Don’t tell her!”

Elizabeth grabbed the phone
, giggling when Whitefox tried to look at the cards in her hand. “Hey, Cowboy. I miss you!”

His heart skipped a beat. “I miss you too, Lyzee. I wish I was there with you.”

Immediately, she heard his emotions in his voice. “Are you okay, Ethan?” She looked alarmed, and grabbed Whitefox’s hand to get his attention.

“Yeah, I just miss my wife. How are you feeling?” he inquired. “Did you have dinner?”

Elizabeth’s eyes filled with tears. “I happen to know for a fact that your wife misses you too. I’m perfectly fine, handsome. Callen got me chocolate for dinner. Want me to leave and come be with you?” she offered.

Everything in him wanted to say yes, but he just couldn’t do it. He wanted her to be safe, and
the hospital was a safer place than at the bed and breakfast. “No baby, you stay there until tomorrow. I’ll survive a night without you both.”

“Okay love bug,” and she waited for his laugh
, and it never came. That worried her more than anything. Whenever she used that nickname he always laughed or snickered. Something at least in response to show her he got it.

“I better let you get back to your game. I’ll dream about you tonight, baby,” he added. “I love you Elizabeth, more than anything in this entire world.”

“I love you too.” She listened to him disconnect the call, and her heart crumbled and the tears started.

“What’s wrong?” Whitefox pulled her into his arms and kissed them away. “Is he okay?”
Now Callen was worried too.

“He
isn't doing well, Cal. We have to get out of here and get back to the bed and breakfast. Ethan didn’t sound right and I can’t sit here knowing he’s distracted and a killer could be watching him through the window.”

Whitefox weighed the options before him, and decided to go with her gut feelings over what Blackhawk
had ordered. “Okay, here’s what we do. You go for a walk around the corner. When the nurses aren’t looking, then head into the stairwell. I’ll meet you there. I need to call us a taxi to take us back, and set it up so the nurse stays out of here until tomorrow morning. By then we’ll be at twenty four hours and in the clear.

Elizabeth kissed him
quickly, wanting to get out of there fast. “Thank you for understanding!” She slid off the bed, grabbing her gun and badge and tucking them into the back of the scrubs. As she peeked out the nurses were busy at the station, and she took her chance, slipping out. Out into the hall, Elizabeth moved towards the stairwell exit. Once inside, she held her breath waiting for Callen to come through the door. Now, she had to hope that no one else found her waiting there. Security in this place would make Ethan cringe. Elizabeth found the most unobtrusive spot and waited for her partner to pull it off.

Whitefox turned on the TV
, locking the door before closing it. It might buy them some time if they were discovered. They could claim accidental lock out while they were just taking a walk.

Strolling up to the nurse’
s station, he smiled at the youngest woman, whipping out the Blackhawk grin. Callen played it up big time for the girl, and was feeling incredibly guilty. He swore that after this, no one would see the grin but Elizabeth.

“Can I help you?” she asked, smiling back.

Whitefox pulled out his badge and pointed at the door he just closed. “Hi, I’m on protection duty for Director Blackhawk. I’m going down to grab a smoke and then come back. Can you just make sure no one bothers her? She just went to sleep and doesn’t want to be disturbed the rest of the night until discharge tomorrow.”

The woman looked down at the badge and then the gun on his hip. “Sure thing!
I’ll put a ‘do not disturb’ note on her file.”

“I’ll slip back in shortly. I really appreciate your help
, sweetheart.” Now he turned on the charm.

“Anything
for the law,” she answered, smiling and batting her eyelashes.

Whitefox winked and walked towards the exit
, he looked over his shoulder and waved at her for good measure.

So far so good.

When he opened the door, he found Elizabeth back in the corner trying to stay unnoticed. “News flash, they’re going to notice a gorgeous woman with a bandage on her forehead trying to hide in a concrete corner.”

Elizabeth laughed. “Thanks!”

He turned around. “Hop on; I’ll give you a ride, beautiful.”

Now she stuck her tongue out at him, but
complied. “I believe that’s my line, minus the beautiful part. You’re more ridiculously sexy.”

Whitefox laughed
, trying to not picture her riding him. One of the things he loved most about Elizabeth was she never hesitated. With Desdemona he always had to talk her into doing something silly like a piggy back ride. Elizabeth just trusted him completely and never questioned if he could pull it off. She just knew he would. It was that unshakable faith in him that owned his heart.

“Do I want to know what you did to get away?” she inquired, wr
apping her arms around his neck and keeping her voice low, as she whispered in his ear.

Callen got goose
bumps as her breath tickled against his flesh. He was pretty sure she did it on purpose. “You don’t want to know,” he answered, laughing.

“Oh well here’s my basic rule when it comes to being in a relationship with someone. If I get naked with you,
there are no secrets or lies.” Then she nibbled on his ear. Apparently Callen had the same erogenous zone as his brother. Good to know for future reference.

He tried to focus on the stairwell, and looked up at the number two and prayed he didn’t drop her. “Angel, you’re killing me.”

“Don’t change the subject,” she replied, laughing and then running the tip of her tongue along his ear lobe just because she could.

“I pulled out the badge and the Blackhawk grin,” he finally answered,
concentrating on what she was doing to his entire body, while only focused on his earlobe.

“Poor woman never had a chance,” she answered, pulling the hair tie from his ponytail. Callen Whitefox’s hair was considerably longer than his brother’s hair,
and a warm brown color, but it was still the same silkiness she loved to run her hands through. 

“If I drop you, then you ha
ve no one to blame but yourself,” he mumbled, as she moved to his other ear and whispered into it. “Angel!” Now her hand was in in the opening of the front of his shirt. And she had the top button undone.

Elizabeth giggled.

“You’re a menace to men everywhere.”

“
I have no desire to be a menace to anyone but the Blackhawk men. You and your brother make me wild,” she added and this time bit him just as they exited the building.

“Elizabeth, you really want to have sex in the grass in front of the hospital? Don’t think I have that much control.
Ethan has had months of practice. This is new to me.”

Now she was laughing. “Okay, I’ll behave until we get back to
the bed and breakfast, and then I can’t promise anything. I think I’ll blame it on the day’s events.”

Whitefox saw the cab and pushed her into it, giving the man the address. The man looked at the gun on his hip and the one in her hand and looked nervous.

“FBI,” he pulled out his badge. “Just get us there fast, okay?”

The man took off like he was driving a race car.

Elizabeth slid across the seat and into the side of his body. Automatically, he put his arm around her shoulders, holding her to him protectively. When her hand went to his upper thigh, his entire body started waking up.

Staring up at Callen,
she winked and pulled his mouth down to hers, using his hair. “Thank you for springing me. You’re my Indian in shining armor, Cal,” and then she proceeded to kiss him. It was slow and gentle, but full of so much emotion. When they broke apart, she ran her fingers over his cheek and lips. “Or maybe that should be my Indian brave in feathers and war paint.”

The visual of that heated her body. Elizabeth pictured both men all ‘warriored up’ and had to kiss him more.

The meeting of lips had his full attention. When Callen pulled away from her, everything in him demanded he take her right there. Instead he leaned down to her ear. “You make me absolutely crazy, and I think you do it on purpose.”

“I do.” Then she started giggling when the man driving looked up at them in the rearview mirror. She ran her hands up and down his thigh until he finally
had to stop her. Already his heart was pounding, and he was having a difficult time breathing.

“Don’t be bad, you know what happens to women that are
trouble, Elizabeth.”

She grinned up at him and then whispered in his ear.

Callen would have swallowed his tongue if it wasn’t attached. “Jesus, Elizabeth. I don’t have a reply for that other than please count me in,” he muttered, as the man pulled into the bed and breakfast. He paid him as fast as he could, and Callen would have tossed the entire wallet at the man at this point. All he was thinking about was the woman tormenting him.

As the cab pulled away, he looked around.
“Okay, now we need to get to the room.”

“
Want me to climb the tree,” asked Elizabeth.

“Hell no! You have a concussion. We go in the front door and hope there’s
none of our doctor staff around to rat us out and pull your gun and badge.”

“I’d lose them both for Ethan,” she said, hopping back onto Whitefox’s back.

He knew Elizabeth meant it. “Okay, act normal and we’ll sneak in and past the front desk to our room.”