Her Daring SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 5) (19 page)

Darius surged upwards, found the condom, and covered himself.  He prayed they would fit together; he didn’t want to hurt her. 

“Rylie, are you with me?”

“Hmmm?”

He carefully probed with his flesh, and she thrust upward in one hard surge.  She clapped her hand over her mouth, and her eyes flashed wide.

“God dammit, Rylie,” he gritted out.  He started to pull backwards, but she clutched him with her arms and legs.

“Don’t leave me.  Don’t, Dare.  Show me how good this can be.”

He closed his eyes, savoring the feel of her. 
How good this can be?  It was perfection.
  Now to show her.  He pulled out just a little, and pushed back in, making sure to rasp against the knot of nerves at the apex of her sex.  She hissed a breath.

“Again.”

He did it again.  He watched as her eyes fluttered shut, and he trailed kisses along her jaw, down her collarbone, to her breast, and found her delectably hard nipple.  Again and again, he continued with a rhythm that had her breath sawing in and out. 

“Faster.” He smiled as he licked, and started to make love to his Rylie even faster.

“Harder.”  She panted.

“In a minute.”  She was new to this.  Her fingers yanked at his short hair.

“Now, I need more now.” 
So did he.
  Need was raking his body with shudders, and electricity was curling at the base of his spine, begging for release.

“You’re beautiful.  I’ve never had a more responsive or passionate lover.”

He felt her melt and relax, and he plunged deeper than before. 
Fuck Yeah!

“You’re everything I could think to want,” she whispered.  And that was all it took, they both went over the crest that belonged only to true lovers.  Primal and raw, and safely locked in one another’s arms. 

***

I
t’d taken her twice the normal amount of time to put on her Sylvia mask before breakfast.  Even now she worried she wasn’t going to be able to pull it off.  She knew everything about her had changed.  How could she ever pull this off?  She concentrated on positioning her spoon beside her plate so she could see her red nails.  It helped a little bit.  Those nails were definitely part of Sylvia.  So was the hideous snake head ring, with the blood-red ruby eyes staring up at her. 

“I believe you will like him.”

“I look forwarded to meeting him.”  She gave Albert a sincere smile. 

If she had any power on this Earth, she would make sure Uncle Liu ended up dead.  Her friend and fellow hacker, Melvin Powers found out it had been on one of Jiang Liu’s cargo ships where a container with three women had been tossed overboard so authorities wouldn’t catch them smuggling.  After she had gutted Jiang, she knew there would be a special lava pit in hell for the bastard.

“You haven’t eaten any of your breakfast,” Brandon noted.

“I think toast and coffee will be enough for me this morning.”  Darius frowned when she spoke, and saw Darius’ plate was picked clean. 

“Sylvia, you need to eat,” Darius said to her.

“You know I’m not much of a morning person,” she protested.

“We’re going to have a celebratory luncheon in Uncle’s honor,” Albert said as he patted his lips with his napkin.  “He’ll be hosting us on his yacht.”

“I didn’t realize he would be arriving by boat,” Darius lied.  “What is he sailing?”

“I don’t know.  You’ll have to discuss it with him.  Sylvia, you and I still have more things to discuss before our luncheon.  After you have finished with your toast, please meet me in my library.”

She watched as Albert and Brandon left the table, leaving her and Darius alone.

“You really need to eat.”

“I can’t.”  It was clear he wanted to say more, but unless they were in their room and were free of electronic surveillance, it wasn’t safe.  Even sign language was out because there could be video.

Darius got up from the table and left the room, and returned with two biscuits and a glass of orange juice.  She glared at him.

“I would hardly eat something like this,” she flicked her wrist at the food.

“I don’t give a shit what you would normally eat, Sylvia.  You’re going to eat this and like it.  I’m worried about you.  Occasionally you have to let me take care of you.”  She saw the pleading look in his eyes, and her mouth watered at the simple fare in front of her.  He must have realized he won, because he set it down in front of her, then took the seat beside her.

He reached over and snagged the butter and strawberry jam, and she thought she had died and gone to heaven.

“I can’t wait to see Albert’s uncle’s yacht,” Darius said, making conversation.

“I forgot how much you like the ocean.  You have a sailboat as well, don’t you, Dare?”  It was part of the cover story they had made up for Darius Lawrence.

“Something tells me my sailboat and his yacht aren’t even in the same ballpark.  This will be great.”  He pushed her hand up to her mouth when she didn’t start to immediately eat the biscuit.  After she had taken a bite, she realized she really was hungry, and soon finished the first one and was digging into the second.  Then she blushed. 

“Just realized why you were hungry, did you?”

“Dare!”  Rylie looked around the room, trying to see if there was any way she could tell if anyone was listening.

“Just eat, Sylvia.”  He handed her the glass of OJ.  “I like taking care of you from time to time, you’re always so self-reliant.”

“Speaking of which, what are you going to be doing while I’m talking to Albert and going over the auction?”

“I’m going to catch up on some business.  We have a new product launch in two weeks, and I want to look over the financials.”  God, he sure could play the part.  She took his hand, surprising him, and slid it under the table.  His lids got heavy until he realized she was signing letters into his palm.  Darius’ eyes narrowed to slits.  In minimal words, she explained she had forwarded information to Clint and Lydia about Jiang Liu, and he should talk to them before lunch.

Leaning in, he brushed a kiss against her lips.  “Enjoy your time working, Sylvia.  Come to our room before we leave for the yacht, you’ll want to change.”

“Yes, Darling Dare.”  He gripped her hand, hard.  Darius wasn’t going to like what he was about to find out. 

They parted ways.  Brandon was lounging in the library’s sofa, by the looks of him, he was either high or drunk, and it wasn’t even nine a.m.  Albert gazed at him with a look of indulgence.  She didn’t understand their dynamic.  This was the same man who had been damn near screamed at Brandon the other night.

“Sylvia, I got the wire transfer from Jarlson, he is definitely a man we want to be doing business with.  How was it you found him?”

“He normally shops with a dealer in Europe.  I’ve been courting him for the last six months.  This last set of photos were of particular interest.”

“You’ve done a marvelous job, but it does put us in a quandary.  Come over to my desk, I want to show you what I had been planning for the silent auction.  I took many of your suggestions, and then incorporated some of my own ideas.”

“And mine,” Brandon said as he got up unsteadily from the couch.  He bumped into Rylie as he leaned into Albert.  “Tell her about the champagne fountain.  That was my idea.”

“Actually Brandon, we’ve decided to forego the fountain.  Instead, the servers are going to pass out flutes of champagne.”

“No!” the man wailed petulantly.  “The champagne fountain is so much classier.  It’ll go good with the fondue.”

“We’re not doing that either.”  Albert was beginning to lose his patience.  “Brandon, everything has to change now we are on a different timeline.  The venue has to change, we are no longer having an afternoon party, this will have to be done at night in order to accommodate Mr. Jarlson’s schedule.  Let Sylvia and I figure out the details.  Why don’t you go rest before meeting my uncle?”

“I don’t want to rest.”

“Brandon, you have to make a good impression,” Albert’s tone was cold.

“But–”

“Go to your room and drink some coffee.  If you’re not sober by lunch, you’re not going to the yacht.  Have I made myself clear?”  Brandon looked at his lover, nodded and walked out of the room.

“So we can no longer hold it at the Shorepoint Gardens?” Rylie asked.

“No, they’re booked for a wedding at that time.  We’ll have to find someplace else and fast.  That’s your job.  I also need you to go back to the farm after lunch and start getting the girls put together so they will be ready the day after tomorrow.”

“Tell me what you had planned.  I’ll try to emulate as much as you had arranged.”

“Here is a thumb drive with all of my information,” he said as he handed it to her.  “We’ll also need an updated catalogue with new photos e-mailed to the buyers.  I have very specific requirements on which flowers to use.  By the way dear, it was ingenuous.  I love that the girls will be wearing flowers corresponding with the bouquets the buyers will be supposedly bidding on.”

“It will keep the girls calmer than if they saw their pictures with people writing down bids beside them.”

“Definitely.  You really are brilliant at this.”  Albert smiled warmly.  “I wouldn’t be surprised if my uncle didn’t try to hire you.”

“I don’t like working for others.  I only do partnerships.”

“Ah yes, I forgot.  I would like to go over the product and the buyers again.  I want to see if we can get an idea of who will likely bid on what.”  Rylie stopped herself from shuddering.  She hated it when this asshole referred to the women as inanimate objects.

***

“A
re you doing all right, Dare?  You’ve been thrown into the world’s worst cesspool, and you have to behave like James Fucking Bond,” Mason Gault asked.

Darius was feeling better now he finally got to Skype with his lieutenant as well as Clint and Lydia.  He put a motion detector outside the door so he could shut down the feed as quickly as he needed to.

“So let me get this straight, the weird ass hacker who is your friend,” Darius asked Lydia, “is back to helping Rylie?” 

“Yep.  His name is Melvin Powers, and he was able to get a shitload more information on Albert’s uncle, Jiang Liu.  Ever since the Liu’s were in bed with Berto Guzman, Melvin’s been trying to find out more.”

“Why has he been so relentless?” Mason asked Lydia.

“Remember the girls who were rescued out of the shipping container.  They said one of the containers had been tossed overboard one night with three girls in it.  Well, he finally found out it was on Jiang Liu’s ship.”

“That motherfucker!” Darius damn near shouted.  “And I have to have lunch with him today on his yacht,” Darius ground out.  “Did you find out why he’s here?”

“Nope,” Clint answered.  “We did tell Mase what you found out about the baby selling ring on the island, did you find out more?”

“You got the files I texted you, didn’t you?” he asked.

“Yeah, eleven in all, right?” Lydia asked, her eyes like coals.

“I’ve already started searches to see what we can do to reunite the mothers and the babies.  What else did you find?” she asked.

“They have this woman.”  Darius paused.  “Who am I kidding, she’s just a girl.  Can’t be more than seventeen.  She’s already in labor, but they’re giving her some kind of drugs to stop it.  In three days there is going to be a couple in Vancouver who are going to buy the kid.  Apparently they want to stop the labor because the couple wants the baby to be as much of a newborn as possible.” 

“Dare, you’re the medic, isn’t that hurting her.”

“This isn’t my area of specialty, but yeah, it can’t be good for her.  These people are inhuman bastards.  Rylie is amazing, she already has Little Liu convinced to hold the auction the day after tomorrow.”

“Little Liu?” Clint asked.

“I like it,” Lydia said.  “Uncle is Sick Old Fuck, and Albert is Little Liu.  This works for me.”  They all laughed.

“Our boy Aiden has already been contacted by Albert to say his five million has been accepted, and he’ll be told where the event will be when he arrives in Vancouver on Saturday.  How did Little Liu get the money?” Mason asked.

“Rylie again.  She actually stole it from Little Liu,” Darius said with admiration in his voice.

“Explain.”

“She pulled fifteen million out of one of his offshore accounts and made it seem like they were putting it into a safety deposit box instead.  So besides the five million she just transferred, we have another ten million to use how we need.”

“Don’t tell Drake,” Clint quipped.

Mason grinned.  “You’re right, she is amazing.  I want to meet this girl.”

“Woman.  She might only be twenty-two, but she’s an old-soul.”

“Okay, we have Finn on site with the girls at the farmhouse.  Drake is less than a mile away camping in the woods if they need him.  I’ll be up there soon.”

“How is your shoulder?” Darius asked.  Referring to the knife wound his commander had received during another mission.  “Are you cleared for duty?”  There was a significant silence on the other end of the line.

Finally, Darius said, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Smart man,” Mason said.

“Nothing keeps him down,” Lydia joked. “Let’s not forget the wedding that’s less than three weeks away,” Lydia reminded him.  Mason’s face lit up.

“Trust me I’m not forgetting.”

“You know, you’re supposed to be bitching and grumbling about the wedding lieutenant,” Darius teased.

“Why in the hell would I do that when I’m marrying Sophia?  I’m the luckiest man on the planet.  Okay, so Aiden is going to check in with Drake before he becomes Terrance Cheesehead.  He’ll fill Drake in on everything he can on the baby operation, plus give him some extra supplies so Drake can head over to the island.”

“I forgot Finn is out of commission as our go-to guy for supplies while he is with the girls.  What else do we need?  Lydia, Rylie can transfer a boatload of cash over to you so the team can get whatever is needed.”

“I want Drake to get a seaplane.  He flies, he should be able to fly one of those bad-boys.”

Clint groaned.  “Have you seen him fly a helicopter, Mase?  He’s a menace.”