Hidden Agendas (41 page)

With his dick still semi-hard inside her, the first wave of hunger sated, he lifted his head from the pillow beside her and found his gaze snared by hers.

Sweet, soft sapphire. Her gaze was filled with emotion, with love. It was soft with gentleness, filled with satiation.

"Say it again," she whispered, her fingers trembling as they lifted to his lips, touching them, like heated silk.

"I love you." He spoke the words against the pads of her fingers, watching the tears well and overflow her eyes, the glistening moisture tracking down her flushed cheeks.

"You love me." Her lips trembled.

"I love you, Emily."

"No more condom fetish?"

"No more condom fetish, Emily." He nipped at the pads of her fingers. "Just the two of us."

He was fully erect once more, his sensitive cock surrounded by the milking heat of her pussy as he began to move again.

"Babies?" she whispered.

"When you're ready." His throat tightened with fear as he leaned his forehead against hers. "Be patient with me, sweetheart. A step at a time."

"A step at a time." Her breath caught as her eyes began to daze. "Oh God, Kell—" She lifted to him, her hips moving beneath him, churning, writhing, as her legs lifted to clasp his back once again.

She surrounded him, held him, warmed him.

"I love you," she cried out.

She loved him.

"I treasure you," he groaned into her neck. "With my life, my heart, my soul. I treasure you, Emily."

As their breathing slowly returned to normal long minutes later, Kell rolled to his back, dragging Emily with him and staring down at her where she rested on his chest.

"So what now?" she asked, her gaze drowsy and replete, despite the questions he could see there.

"What do you mean?" He was almost hesitant to ask.

"It's time to let the past go," she whispered then. "All of it, Kell."

He lifted his gaze from her, staring at the ceiling thoughtfully as he remembered his grandparents. The hope and pain in their eyes, the knowledge that they wouldn't be around much longer. And Emily was right, it was time to let the past go.

"Feel like a trip to Louisiana?" he asked as he stared back down at her, anticipation suddenly filling him, a sense of rightness invading him.

Her smile lit up his heart. "Louisiana sounds wonderful, Kell."

"I have to show Grand-père that I did indeed learn how to catch a fox." He smirked then as he tugged at her hair. "He won't believe me if you aren't with me."

"I'll always be with you," she promised.

And he believed because loving her meant believing. It meant trusting. And it meant life. It meant Kell Kreiger was no longer alone.

Ian moved through the silence of the hospital. It was close to three in the morning, security was at its weakest now, and it was easy for him to slip into her room.

She was sleeping. He was grateful she wasn't awake. Saying goodbye sucked. Hell, he had barely gotten to know her.

He moved to the bed, brushing the strands of black hair back from her pale face.

"I wanted to say goodbye," he whispered as he stared down at her, his lips quirking at the faint frown that marred her brow. Hell, did she ever really rest? He was certain she didn't.

"I wanted to tell you that I could have—" He winced. "I could have cared for you."

She couldn't hear him, and it was better that way. It made it easier to say the words rather than to just feel them.

"I didn't want to leave without saying goodbye," he said softly. "Without seeing you one more time."

A frown flitted across her brow, her fingers moved restlessly beneath his.

"Goodbye, Agent Kira Porter."

The Chameleon. She was one of Homeland Security's best agents.

He leaned forward, his lips touching her brow in the faintest caress before he straightened and left the room. He moved quickly down the hall. He had wasted enough time, he had a meeting to keep.

As the elevator doors opened, he came face-to-face with Macey.

The other man was leaning against the back wall, his brown gaze brooding as Ian stepped into the elevator.

"You getting out?" He held the elevator doors open, praying Macey was there to check on Kira.

"Naw. I came to see you." Macey crossed his arms over his chest and stared back at him.

Shit
. He let the doors close.

"I traced that last message," Macey said. "It took a while. Almost two years, but I finally found you.

You're Judas."

Ian stared at the elevator doors.

"Tell me what the fuck is going on, Ian. We're buddies, man. Help me out here."

Ian shoved his hands into his pockets. "Let it go, Macey."

"I can't let it go. Judas is one of Fuentes's men. We know that. I just traced his fucking e-mails back to you. Tell me it was a mistake. Tell me something, goddammit."

"It wasn't a mistake."

Diego Fuentes's plane was waiting for him at the airport. A private plane sent to fly him to his father. Hell, it wasn't supposed to end like this. Fuentes wasn't supposed to ever learn he had a son. It was a promise Diego's father had made to Ian's mother when she left. That Diego would never know she was pregnant.

For some unfathomable reason the old man had wanted to save her from Diego.

"Did you betray us too, Ian?" Macey asked then.

Ian grimaced. Hell no. He had never betrayed his country. He would never betray his friends.

"Lieutenant Richards, I asked you a fucking question," Macey snarled.

Ian turned and faced him slowly. "Fuentes."

"What?"

"Ian Richard Fuentes. He's my father."

Ian took advantage of the elevator doors opening and stepped free, his gaze locked on Macey's face. On the betrayal in his friend's eyes, the fury building in his face.

He had just made an enemy. The first of many.