Page 14 of Deadly Alliance

Chapter Six

“So,tell me more about this May Fayre,” Shane said as he handed Emme her morning coffee. She was, he had discovered after their first disastrous wake-up call, not a morning person until she had ‘caffeinated up’ as she had put it. He watched as her lips touched the rim of the mug and she took her first swallow.

His cock responded to the throaty purr she made when the caffeine hit her system.

“Ahh that’s better,” she said with a smile as she lowered the mug.

He turned away not wanting her to see the way his body reacted to her busying himself with the toast that had just popped, paying considerable attention to spreading the butter. He could feel her heat and smell the body wash and shampoo she used as she leaned past him to snag a piece of the buttery toast.

“Well, it’s a bank holiday this weekend, so that means the Fayre will arrive late Monday and set up Tuesday morning.”

“Is it big?” He saw her smirk and knew which way her dirty little mind had gone.

“Isn’t that my line?” she said then laughed.

“Very funny, smartass,” he replied keeping his face devoid of the humour he felt.

“Fine. Yes, it is pretty big. It goes from St Owens Street all the way down to Kings Street where we had our meal the other night.”

He nodded. “So, it gets pretty busy?”

She had finished the toast and was now licking the butter from her perfect lips. She’s trying to kill me, that was the only thing he could think of. He had spent the last two nights trying to stay awake, so he wouldn’t end up with her plastered against him again.

He had excellent control over his body and mind usually, but she seemed to affect him in ways that he wasn’t expecting. Not just her body, which made him weep, but her playful personality, the way she listened to him, followed his direction in the field. She really wanted to learn and was a quick study. He could see why Zack and Lucy spoke so highly of her. It sucked to admit it, but he had misread her when they first met and for that, he felt terrible.

“Yes, it’s normally heaving, you can hardly move for people,” she said breaking his distracted train of thought.

“So, an operational nightmare then?”

“Pretty much, big guy.” She turned to grab her bag, the diamond of the engagement ring she wore glinted in the sunlight that was streaming through the window distracting him for a second. “Are you ready?”

Shaking himself from his wandering thoughts, he nodded. “Sure, let’s go.”

The plan for today was to go into The Old New Market shopping centre. They would grab a coffee and shop like any other couple on a bank holiday weekend. They had spent the last two days holed up in ‘bed’. As newlyweds it was perfectly acceptable to do that. They had posted a couple of loved-up pictures to Facebook and Instagram with lovey-dovey hashtags, along with the all-important military hashtags. Being in the house also gave them the time they needed to trawl through the files they had on the killer’s victims. So far, they had zip! The only thing Will and Dee had been able to figure out was that all the victims had been using the same hashtag on social media, so they had started to use it in the hope that it would draw the perp out.

He fucking hoped they got a break soon. He needed to be able to tell his oldest friend that the monster who had taken beautiful Misty from them couldn’t hurt anyone else. It was becoming increasingly more challenging to see Emme as another operative; his overprotective streak was bubbling to the surface with this girl.

* * *

The soundof pop music and screaming kids was so loud he had to shout to be heard over the noise as he and Emme walked through the crowd of people. He held tight to her hand as they weaved through teenagers, parents with prams, parents with young kids, grandparents, and couples. Every combination and age group were there.

His ankles had been smashed into more than once by a mum with a buggy causing him to turn and glare at the last one, who just gave him a withering look.

“We have eyes on you, so follow the plan,” Will said in his ear.

He and Dee were running the comms and he had one of Will’s smartwatches on which was being monitored through satellite. Feet on the ground included Zack, Zin, Lucy, Jace, and Owen. He knew they were there, but he couldn’t see them. It was the sign of a good operative that he couldn’t make any of them.

Pulling Emme into the large doorway of Marks and Spencer he wrapped his arms around her as she looked up at him. For a second, he was lost in her beautiful eyes, the noise of the Fayre fading to nothing as he watched her lick her lips.

“Okay, lovebirds move it along.” Will chuckled in his ear, snapping him out of his desire-fed stupor. He frowned as anger and frustration with himself over his continued reaction to her distracted him from the real goal.

Emme smiled at Shane and lifted her head for his kiss. He dutifully obliged lowering his head for a kiss that was meant to be quick but the minute his lips touched hers, heat burned through his blood, making his body ache with the need to touch her, consume her. Her body softened against him as her mouth opened beneath his.

Wrenching himself away he deliberately didn’t meet her eyes and forced a smile. “I’ll meet you at the Booth in an hour.”

The plan was to let her go off on her own for a little while, giving the perp the opportunity to watch her, maybe even make contact while the team were observing her. Emme would arrive at the Booth, a popular pub, early and wait to see if anyone looked suspicious.

Personally, he hated the idea and the thought of walking away right now, leaving her vulnerable to that bastard, filled his gut with bile.