Code of Honor

Chapter Twenty-seven

“With luck, we can get out of here later tonight,” Loren said. “If we hit the road by midnight, we can be home tomorrow night.”

Sky focused on her in the misty mirror above the vanity in the small bathroom. The air still undulated with heat, and her skin steamed, inside and out. The surface of her brain burned, her thoughts scattered embers of sensation and desire. She couldn’t seem to concentrate on anything other than the way Loren had felt against her mouth, under her hands, so pliant and open and incredibly hers. She watched as Loren pulled a towel off a shelf, rubbed her hair, and tossed the towel aside. Muscles rippled in Loren’s shoulders, her dark hair feathered in sensuous strands along the taut column of her throat. Swallowing the sudden lump of desire that threatened to choke her, Sky said, “What?”

Loren’s gaze grew heavy and she stepped closer, reaching around Sky’s body to loosen the towel she’d knotted above her breasts. Pressing against Sky’s back, her arms wending around Sky’s waist, Loren whispered against Sky’s neck, “We can beat the crowd home. I want you alone for a while.”

Sky reached back and threaded her fingers into Loren’s hair. She couldn’t get enough of her. She wanted to be touching her everywhere. She wanted Loren touching her everywhere. “Ramsey won’t care?”

“By tonight, he’ll be too into the party to care who goes where.” Loren breathed in the scent of vanilla shampoo and the lotion Sky had just rubbed on her arms, the kind they always stocked in hotels, but on Sky the aroma was as erotic as expensive perfume. Moisture beaded between their bodies, and when she cupped Sky’s breasts, the nipples hardened in her palms. “Then again, we’re alone right now.”

“Loren,” Sky whispered, a desperate sound that might have meant stop or more.

“Right here.” Loren edged back, turned Sky with her hands on her hips, and kissed her. Sky arched into her and Loren filled her hands with smooth, hot flesh. Sky’s fingers dove into her hair again, tightening, tugging, telegraphing urgency and desire. Loren kissed down Sky’s throat, lifted her breast into her hand, and slipped Sky’s nipple into her mouth.

“Oh God,” Sky groaned.

Sky’s head fell back and her thighs parted. Loren pressed a leg between Sky’s, a welcoming heat flooding over her skin. “Right now.”

“So good,” Sky breathed, her eyes barely open, hazy and heavy-lidded.

Loren held her breasts in both hands and kissed between them, licking and sucking, edging her teeth over oh-so-sensitive flesh until Sky cried out.

When Sky slid a hand behind Loren’s neck and pressed Loren’s face harder to her breast, Loren slipped a hand between them, found Sky open and wet, and filled her.

“Yes,” Sky hissed between clenched teeth, pressing down against Loren’s hand, drawing her deeper. “Yes. Right now.”

Loren surged within her, desperate to hear her sobs of pleasure, wild with the tight, slick invitation to take, to own. Her mind blanked, her heart beat furiously, she gave herself to the blinding need to claim. “I want you. I want you.”

“Oh God,” Sky cried, surprise and pleasure ringing in her voice. “You’re making me come.”

Loren drove her through her orgasm, and while Sky still pulsed and thrust against her hand, she dropped to her knees and took her into her mouth. Sky’s startled gasp brought the blood pounding furiously in Loren’s head, and she took her with her mouth and her hands, over and over in one long swell of desire, until Sky pushed weakly at her face. “Stop, please, no more, I can’t.”

Loren closed her eyes and rested her cheek against Sky’s thigh, drinking in Sky’s soft sobs of satisfaction. Finally, she rose on trembling legs, pulled her close, and kissed her. “You’re amazing.”

Sky dropped her head against Loren’s shoulder and clung to her, more than a little afraid. She’d never given herself so completely, never wanted to be taken so thoroughly. She felt marked, branded, a sensation both terrifying and exhilarating. Loren’s heart pounded furiously against her chest, as if she had run miles to reach her. Sky kissed Loren’s neck, tasted salt and steam. “You’re the one who’s amazing. I’m not even sure what you did to me.”

Loren rubbed her face against Sky’s hair. “You’re so sexy, you kill me.”

Sky laughed, her voice shaking. “My intention is to keep you very healthy so you can do that again.”

“When?”

“I might need a little nourishment first.” Sky stroked Loren’s back. “And I might have a few other things I want.” Her hand dropped to Loren’s ass, squeezed. “Like this.”

Loren laughed softly and pressed her pelvis into Sky’s thigh. “Works for me.”

“Let’s go put in an appearance so we can get out of here. But, Loren?”

“Hmm?” Loren stroked Sky’s breast, thinking about tasting her again.

“You’re pretty banged up. You might need to take the bitch seat.”

Loren laughed. “You keep dreaming.”

Sky kissed her, the expression in her eyes suddenly serious. “Maybe I am.”

Loren wanted to tell her not to worry, wanted to keep her safe, and knew she could do neither. But she could give her the truth. “This is no dream. This is real.”

*

Sky’s phone vibrated in the front pocket of her jeans, and she searched the casino for Loren. She found her at the far end of the bar, drinking with Ramsey, Quincy, and some biker she didn’t know. The only other person who might be calling her was Dan. She said to Trish, “Gotta hit the ladies’. I’ll catch you later, okay?”

“Sure, sweetie,” Trish said. “Have fun.”

Sky threaded her way through the crush of bikers in the direction of the restrooms but quickly ducked out a side door before she reached them. A few people congregated near the exit, a few smoking, others in various stages of working up to sex. None of them paid any attention to her. She strolled away from the cone of weak illumination thrown by the security light above the fire door and smiled at a younger woman in a short leather jacket with faux leopard fur at the throat, and pants that looked like they were made out of red latex painted onto her pencil-thin legs. She rocked back and forth on stiletto heels while she smoked furiously.

“Hey,” Sky said brightly. “You got a fag I could borrow?”

“Sure,” the girl said, pulling a crumpled pack from the tiny pocket of her jacket. She held it out to Sky, who extracted the filtered menthol, put it to her lips.

“Light?”

Wordlessly, the girl held out her cigarette and Sky lit hers off the glowing end. She hugged herself with one arm and took a drag. “Thanks. Too noisy in there.”

“Yeah,” the girl said absently, her eyes dull and vacant. Stoned or maybe drunk.

“Well, thanks,” Sky said, drifting away. The girl paid her no attention. She walked on until she couldn’t be overheard and returned the call. Dan answered immediately. “Not a good time.”

“Where are you?”

“Out of town.”

“You need to get back. Day after tomorrow, you’ve got an appointment.”

Sky did some quick calculating. “It’s gonna be tight for me to make that. Can you reschedule?”

“That would be awkward. There’s some urgency.”

Sky sighed. “I’ll do what I can, but I’ve got some things going on that are more important.”

“I don’t get that sense. You need to be there.”

“Fine.” Sky dropped the cigarette and ground it out against the cracked macadam of the parking lot. “I’ll call you when I know for sure. And let’s keep this quiet. Too many eyes on this already.”

“Yeah. Don’t worry.”

“No, why would I?” Sky ended the call and pushed the phone back into the pocket of her tight jeans. Dan was a decent guy to work with, but he was more of a manager than field agent. He worried a little too much about career advancement and performance reports. None of which made a damn bit of difference out here.

She found Loren still at the bar, but Ramsey was gone. She leaned into her and kissed her. “Hey, baby.”

Loren wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Hey.”

Sky nuzzled Loren’s ear. “We need to go.”

“Then you better make this look good.” Loren pulled Sky tight and kissed her.

Sky gripped the back of Loren’s jeans to keep her balance and fought to keep her brain functioning. This show was for Ramsey and the others. But, God, Loren could kiss. A mind-melting few minutes later, Loren let her breathe.

“Let’s go, baby,” Loren said tightly, grabbing her hand and tugging her into the crowd. “I’m not done.”

Sky followed, slipping with frightening ease across the border between reality and fantasy.

*

Jane pretended to watch the football game in the small lounge on the first floor of the barracks. As soon as she’d arrived at the camp, she’d moved back into a spartan ten-by-ten room, just like the one she’d occupied during her breaks from college. Her only other option had been to find an apartment, and the expense and isolation made this a much better choice. Here, she was close to what mattered—her father, her mission, the men and women who shared her passion for justice and freedom. She was the only woman billeted in the barracks, but that was no problem. The soldiers treated her with friendly but distant regard. She’d come down to the lounge in hopes of finding something to divert her thoughts from Jenn, but nothing was working.

Her guilt made it hard to think of anything else. She was here, home, safe, and Jenn was alone somewhere. Imagining her sister’s desolation kept Jane awake, plagued her through the day, even though she knew Jenn was prepared for it. They’d all been trained with the expectation that they could be imprisoned, interrogated, even physically abused. Jennifer would be able to endure, but Jane wasn’t sure she could. The pain in her chest grew larger every hour.

Her phone rang and she read her father’s number with a sense of relief. She needed a mission, something to fill the expanding void inside her. She hurried outside to answer in privacy. “Sir?”

“I need you over here now.”

“Yes, sir. Right away, sir.” She tucked her phone away and jogged across the compound, up the stairs to headquarters, and back to her father’s office. She tapped on the door and entered. “Sir?”

Graves stood behind his desk, his hands on his hips, his face set. “We have a problem.”

Dread snaked through Jane’s insides. “Sir?”

“The Renegades may have been infiltrated.”

The relief nearly made her gasp. Not Jennifer. Jenn was all right. “They’re compromised?”

“Possibly.” He walked to the windows that looked out over the training fields. His back stiffened, the hands he’d clasped behind his back tightened into fists. “My information is incomplete. My contact in the sheriff’s department says there’s a meeting being scheduled between an FBI agent who’s infiltrated one of the local biker gangs and a Homeland Security agent.”

“Homeland.”

Graves turned, his eyes glinting with fury. “Yes. Interesting, isn’t it.”

“I don’t like the timing.”

“Neither do I.”

“How exposed are we through those bikers?” Jane asked.

“We can’t be sure what the agent knows, but my contact says the Homeland agent is interested in us.”

“Us.” Jane took a breath. “I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t buy that this is a coincidence. I don’t know how, but we must assume this is related to…the lieutenant.”

“I agree. Especially considering who the agent is.”

“Sir?”

“Cameron Roberts.”

The air in the room seemed to chill, and Jane’s blood drained from her head. She fought a wave of dizziness and clenched her jaw. “Roberts.”

“Yes.” Her father studied her intently, as if waiting for her to answer a question he hadn’t asked.

Jane smiled and hope surged for the first time in weeks. “That’s very good news, sir.”

He grinned, a feral snarl that reminded her of a rabid wolf they’d come upon in the mountains when she’d been twelve. “I was hoping you would say that, Captain.”