The Heist (25 page)

“
High horse,
not low cow,” Xavier corrected her, smirking a little. The fact
that his wolf found her mistakes so damn cute, was something he
would definitely keep between him and it. “And the reason you
didn’t hit me was that you were too damn distracted with that
mutt,” looking over at the tiger cub, “so we can add criminal
damage to your growing list of misdemeanours.”

As he spoke,
Xavier was taking slow steps forward, forcing Alicia to walk
backwards, trapping her between him and the corner of the bed.
 He reached down to push a strand of loose hair back behind
her ear, his fingers ghosting over the slim column of her neck.
 Narrowing his eyes, he stilled as he found he was reluctant
to let the tendril of hair free from his touch, then remembering
himself he snatched his hand back, and cleared his
throat.

“
When you’re
preparing for war, Sweetcheeks, there is no time to chillax as you
put it. I need to make sure you are battle ready, yeah?” His hand
reached up again to wind her soft brown curls around his finger,
distracted by the feminine scent of her body which was starting to
make his wolf impatient.

With the bed
and Xavier trapping her Alicia felt the now all too familiar racing
in her heart, the flow of blood sounding like thunder in her ears
as Xavier’s scent teased her nostrils. She knew she was moving but
couldn’t stop herself as her body got closer to his.

“
If we are
preparing for war then why aren’t you spending more time with me
Xavier?” The ‘R’ of his name rolled off her tongue, hinted with
seduction thanks to Alicia’s Italian accent.

He was
touching her — well her hair — but she was doing nothing to stop
it. No moving away, just getting closer.
His strong hand cupped the back of her head, thumb brushing
her jawline as he lowered his voice, the husky gravel tone making
Alicia shiver slightly when he dipped his head to talk into her
ear.

“
I would
spend every waking minute of the day and night with you, Alicia, if
I could ensure your safety.” As he spoke, Xavier moved closer to
her, putting his other arm past her and leaning the flat of his
hand against the window frame. “But you don’t seem to be able to
stand ten minutes in my company without wanting to bust my balls,
so you’ve got me between a rock...” moving his body against hers so
that his hips and chest rolled against her, “… and a hard
place.”

“
Maybe if you
gave me some credit and didn’t keep me locked up like a caged
elephant…”

Oh duck he’s
hard

With a mind of
its own, Alicia’s body was moving once more. She was rising further
upwards on her tiptoes, the brown of her eyes meeting the shining
green of Xavier’s.
This was a new
shade
, she thought as she gulped
hard.

Xavier honed
in on the way Alicia’s throat worked as she swallowed, the pad of
his thumb brushing over her lush bottom lip as he subconsciously
licked his own. The timbre of his voice had lowered again, so that
he was almost growling into her ear. Closing his eyes he inhaled
deeply as his wolf was baying to be set free.

“
Alicia, I am
demanding of you because I know you can take it, I force you to
rise to challenges because I know you have it in you. Sometimes I
need to ram as much of my experiences into you as I can so that you
can soak it all up like a sponge. I want you wet with my
knowledge.” The innuendos were deliberate as the heat between them
was starting to scorch his skin.

Alicia’s head
was slowly tilting to the side, she was pushed as far as her
tiptoes could go, she was aware that their bodies were touching
almost moulding together. As she exhaled, Xavier started to pull
back, his hand still firmly entwined in the hair behind her head,
slowly lowering his other hand to barely trace down her shoulder,
arm, resting on her hip with a bruising, possessive grip.  As
he looked down he focused on her lips, memorising every curve and
dip of her cupids bow, as his own parted slightly and he leaned
down, feeling her hot breath on his face.

“
Alicia…”

“
Ye’ll ne’er
guess wit the fuck ah foon oot Commander!”

Shuggie threw
the door open and then stood as though transfixed. “Ah, right - ah
kin come back,” he said still staring at Xavier and Alicia as the
tiger cub bolted for him, obviously looking for a safe haven from
the action that was about to go down in the room.  

Picking it up and placing
it on the bed, Shuggie kept staring, even although he had offered
to leave.

“
Fuck.”

Never had his
best friend’s timing been more fucking shit than now.
 Standing with his back to him Xavier said, “Never heard of
knocking, Lieutenant?”

Reluctantly
pulling away from Alicia as he lingered momentarily at her lips,
before turning and giving Shuggie a death glare. “This better be
fucking worth it, yeah?”

Alicia ducked
from under Xavier’s arm and without looking at either men she said
nothing and made a very swift exit from the room, racing through
the corridors and down the stairwells of the derelict hotel until
she was outside and away from any steel that would have stopped her
from flashing to Italy. Her pulse was going faster than ever as she
made her way into the boutique,
his
lips
repeating over and over in her head
as she placed her order.

Curling his
fist into a ball, Xavier struck out and connected with Shuggie’s
nose, hearing it crunch and flatten against his face.

“
That
is
how you fucking knock, yeah?”

Shuggie
laughed and wiped the back of his hand across his bloodied
nose.

“
Interrupting
ye, aye? Ye were looking awfy cosy there, Xavier,” he said dodging
to the left as another punch was headed his way. “Dinnae use up aw
yer energy oan me, Commander, we dinnae want ye spent afore yer
next encounter with the youngling.” Laughing louder as he took a
seat. “Cool yer jets big man, ah’m only teasing.”

Xavier
slammed the door of the bathroom behind him as he looked down at
his pants, cursed, and turned on the faucet to throw some cold
water on his face. He shouted through the door, “Cock blocking
fucking Scottish bastard!”

Shuggie’s
perma-grin was evident as Xavier walked out, scowling at
him.

“
Nae need fur
name callin, Xavier. Ah’m sure yer animal magnetism will seduce the
youngling again.”As Xavier folded his arms across his chest and
looked down at him, he decided that he could save his smartarse
comments for another time, the Commander was definitely not amused.
“Anyway, ah huv some news that may interest ye, an take yer mind
aff other pressing matters.” Giving a pointed look downwards,
before raising his eyes to meet with Xavier’s.

“
Fuck off,
Highlander,” growling, Xavier’s patience was growing thin. “Well,
spit it out”

“
Bet ye
wouldnae say that tae the youngling, eh?” Unable to stop himself,
Shuggie dissolved into gales of laughter until the back of his head
was slapped so hard, he was sure there were tweety birds flying
round his head.

Xavier took
forty-five seconds to cross the room, drag the back of Shuggie’s
chair out to the corridor and slam the door shut in his
face.

“
Get back to
fucking work, Highlander.”

Shuggie, sat looking at
the door, before bursting out laughing again.

Standing he
gave a one fingered salute then headed down to the comms room
singing “French Kissing in the USA”.

The tiger cub
stared at Xavier.

Xavier stared back at
it.

A long
awkward silence followed, with Xavier’s wolf salivating at the
thought of fresh meat.  The tiger cub could sense that there
was danger but couldn’t locate it, and as Alicia had abandoned him,
he was paralysed with fear.

“
What the
fuck am I meant to do with you? And if you piss or shit on my bed I
swear I’ll make you into a rug, understand?” Xavier smirked as he
suppressed the wolf and picked up the small bundle of fur,
scratching him behind his ears as the cub started to nuzzle him.
“She’s going to be the death of me, yeah.” The mewling from the cub
seemed to agree with him. “But what a way to go!”

As he sat on the bed, he
couldn’t believe how close he had come to fucking things
up.

What the hell
was he thinking — about to kiss the vampire who resented
him.

 
Xavier
stood up, letting the cub chew on his finger playfully as he walked
out his room, kicking Shuggie’s chair out of the way.  Rapping
his knuckles on the door to Alicia’s bedroom, he waited for an
answer that never came.

Opening the
door, he discovered the room was empty.

“
Fucking hell,
she’s done it again, hasn’t she?”

He placed the
cub down in the adapted playpen. “Well, why don’t I just provide a
welcoming committee for her when she gets back,” he said, crossing
his arms behind his head as he lay down on her bed, resisting the
urge to get naked under her sheets.

****

Leaning back in his seat,
feet on the desk, Shuggie’s laugh could be heard for miles as he
recounted what he had witnessed between Xavier and Alicia to
Teo.

The Doc was giggling and
demanding all details, which Shuggie was more than happy to
embellish.

Phoning Teo
had been Shuggie’s first action when he was unceremoniously thrown
out of Xavier’s room.  He could listen to her sweet Spanish
lilt endlessly and when he closed his eyes he could see her in his
mind’s eye, as though he was there in the room beside
her.

As her
laughter died down, she turned the conversation back to business,
but Shuggie would have been happy reading the telephone directory
to her just for a few more precious minutes of contact with her.
 She knew that he had something terrible on his mind. She
seemed to be able to read his mood even when he was trying to mask
it.

That was one
of the things he most admired about her.

That, and her analytical
mind.

She could
always help him work out problems and find solutions that no one
else seemed to think of.  The problem was this time that he
couldn’t tell her what was on his mind, he had to inform the
Commander first, besides the information he had was not appropriate
for a lady.

Hanging up
the call, he sat listening to the dialling tone for a few minutes,
before putting the receiver back down. Back to business. Enough
time had passed already, and things were moving fast.  He
needed to track down ‘Mr. Loverman’ and give him the details of the
Belcastro surveillance, because if Xavier reacted the way Shuggie
anticipated, battle lines would be drawn before he could
spit.

****

Alicia said her farewells
to her parents and brother as she rose to her feet and walked out
of the graveyard. She had lost track of time and her cell phone
stated four hours had lapsed. Clutching the bag filled that was the
purpose of the visit to Italy, she flashed back to the compound
Xavier and Shuggie called home.

A squalor was a more
correct description!

It was
nightfall which meant Shuggie would be able to move about more
freely, the light coming from the middle floor which housed the
office he used indicated he was around. Moving her head to the
left,
his
bedroom
light was off.

“
Thank the
gods, I don’t need to face him tonight!”

Alicia took
her time walking into the base and up to her room where she padded
over to her bed. Unlacing her boots and wriggling out of her pants
she slipped into the covers…letting out a blood curdling scream as
she turned and was hit with a brick wall…a breathing
wall!

“
What the fuck
are you doing in my bed you prick?”

Grinning a
response, Xavier curled his arm around Alicia’s waist and pulled
her on top of him.

“
I was
spending some alone time with your pussy.” When she stilled he
added, “The tiger cub…swear to fuck, female you have a dirty mind!”
Looking up at her, he winked.

“
You are
gross!” Alicia wriggled out of Xavier’s hold and willed the lights
to room on, seeing Frazzle in his pen.

“
Don’t be
like that, Sweetcheeks, I’ve been stroking your pussy all
night. Surely that deserves some kind of reward?”

Sitting up,
he got a good look at her in the shorts and t-shirt, wishing that
the material was just a little tighter, a little thinner. His wolf
wasn’t the only thing rising right now, and he hoped that Alicia
didn’t notice.

Forgetting that she was
half naked and now standing at the side of her bed occupied by
Xavier, the furious Alicia glared down at him.

“
Get out my
fucking bed now! You want pussy to play with go see your ‘jaguar’.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I'm tired and want to rest.”

“
You know,
using the words bed and fucking in the same sentence lead a male to
think a certain way, Sweetcheeks.” Laughing as he swung his long
legs over the side of Alicia’s bed, Xavier held his hand out.
“Look, I’ve come to play nice, yeah? You won fair and square, got
one over on me, so as I’m a good loser.
Congratulations.”