Until Now (Plan B Book 1) Read online

  “He said nothing and kept digging,” Raheem posited.

  Cruz nodded. “They eventually found out what he knew, or maybe he went to Logan and threatened him. Who knows what he did, but somehow they found out what he was doing and had him arrested.”

  “Planting drugs on him was easy since it’s what they often do in these raids,” Shanice said.

  “Let’s think about what we have here,” Cruz said. “We have bribery, that’s no doubt. What we don’t have is a direct link showing Logan Investors actually paid these officers to conduct the raids. We have circumstantial evidence, and a good attorney could get this information dismissed, no matter how damaging we think it is. We need concrete proof that he paid these officers. We also need concrete proof that Senator Sandoval is involved.”

  “How do we prove any of that? Dennis didn’t seem capable of putting together proof, even though he had connected the dots.” Raheem set aside his file.

  “We’ll have to go to the source,” Cruz said.

  “Logan?” Raheem asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Tell me you have a plan.”

  Cruz smiled crookedly. “I do. We need to get into Logan Towers.”

  Raheem’s eyes lit up. “You’re thinking about doing a computer dump.”

  “Exactly. But not his computer. Guys like Randall Logan don’t do their own dirty work, and whatever he does, he’ll want it to look legit, which means he’s probably got a company set up that will take care of the payments, which will look like regular old business expenses. We need to go to accounting.”

  “I have the perfect program to take care of the dump,” Raheem said.

  Cruz stretched an arm along the back of the sofa. “And I know how we’ll get inside the accounting office. We set off the fire alarm, then you and I go in and dump the computer files onto your external drive.”

  He laid out the plan, with Raheem nodding his agreement at various points. When he finished, there was silence as both men turned the idea around in their heads, checking for flaws.

  “I could help,” Shanice piped up from the bed.

  They both looked at her.

  “No,” Cruz said.

  She looked crushed. “Why not?”

  “Because I said so.”

  She opened her mouth to protest, but Raheem interjected, “Actually, her suggestion kind of makes sense. If she goes in ahead of us and hits the alarm, she could leave with the crowd and disappear, then you and I could go up.”

  “No. We stick to the plan I laid out. You set off the alarm, and I’ll come in as backup.”

  “Cruz—”

  “I said no, and that’s final. I won’t risk her getting hurt. We’re the professionals. If something goes wrong…” He stopped talking because his voice had thickened with worry.

  “I feel like a burden. Let me help,” Shanice implored.

  “You’re not a burden, and we can find something else for you to do.”

  “Like what, Cruz? Sit here and wait until you come back? I want to do this, and based on the plan you laid out, having me help will make your life easier. If you have a third person set off the alarm, you can both be in disguise without having to change in the building, and then you’ll have less chance of getting caught. Let me help, please. Dennis was my friend, and I want these bastards to pay for what they did to him and for what they’re doing to these tenants. Let me do something.”

  Raheem averted his eyes and became preoccupied with one of the open files on the desk.

  Cruz dropped his feet to the floor and sighed heavily. Her impassioned, pleading voice was his undoing. When he spoke, his voice was heavy with the gravity of what they were about to do. “You get in and get out. You understand me?”

  Her eyes lit up, and she nodded, but he didn’t like the idea of her going to Logan Investors one bit.

  With reservations, Cruz said, “Okay, here’s the plan…”

  From the doorway of the bathroom, Cruz watched Shanice. He’d hoped she would already be in bed. The room was small but seemed smaller with her standing half naked in the low light cast by the lamp on the nightstand. If he stretched out a hand, he could touch her soft skin and lose himself in her sweet embrace like he had earlier when they hugged goodbye.

  His loins still ached from that brief contact, and watching her bent over the sofa, digging around inside her backpack, didn’t help. The curved underside of her backside peeked from beneath the hem of the shirt and made blood rush to his groin.

  He’d almost followed Raheem out the door to avoid spending another night alone with her. He wanted her too much, and this close proximity didn’t help. He kept imagining her naked and reliving the night before when he’d fingered her. The only thing saving him from going crazy was his ability to compartmentalize, but he was having a hell of a time doing so.

  Cruz rubbed the back of his neck, wondering if he’d made a mistake by including her in tomorrow’s little project to break into the accounting office at Logan Investors. He knew the dangers involved in the work they did. If someone recognized her or anything at all went wrong, they could grab her and hurt her to get the information they wanted.

  “You’re very brave,” he said.

  She turned at the sound of his voice. “Not brave. I want to help, like I said. Doesn’t mean I’m not scared.”

  He walked over to where she stood. Looking deeply into her eyes, he said, “It’s okay if you change your mind. I won’t get mad, and I won’t judge you. Neither will Raheem.”

  “I won’t change my mind.”

  She spoke with such confidence that she actually put his mind at ease a little bit. Maybe she could handle this. Maybe she wasn’t as fragile as he thought, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t worried about her welfare.

  “Just remember the plan. If anything goes wrong, you call us and we’ll be right there. Got it? They won’t get you out of that building without going through me first.”

  She smiled. “Stop worrying.”

  “I can’t help but worry,” he said gruffly, walking by her. He stuck the last folder in the box on the desk and placed the lid on top.

  “I trust you. I trust the plan. I’m not worried because I’ve seen how you work, and I know we’ll get through this just fine.”

  “You’re that confident in me?”

  “Yes. I know that confiding in you was the right decision,” she said in a soft voice.

  Her eyes drifted over his bare chest, and desire filtered into her eyes. His traitorous manhood swelled in response.

  His reason for coming into her life might have been fake, but this constant hunger he felt and saw reciprocated in her eyes—that wasn’t fake. He figured she found him attractive because he was different and not like the men she was used to. Maybe there was a little hero worship involved, but she shouldn’t want a man like him. Within her was innocence and light, but he’d seen the ugliest of humanity. He wasn’t innocent, and his world was filled with darkness.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” he said, sounding like he had a tennis ball lodged in his throat.

  “I can’t help it.”

  She cast her eyes downward, and he let out a raspy laugh filled with longing and swiped a hand down his face.

  Nothing should happen between them. That’s what he told her, right? A little more than twenty-four hours ago, and he was already contemplating going back on his word.

  She’s turned me into a liar, he thought with disgust. A horny, pathetic liar with a dick so hard he needed relief.

  He took a single step toward her, and her head tipped back to look up at him. “I don’t want to hurt you, Shanice. Do you understand that?”

  “Yes.”

  Cruz cursed softly, eyes laser-focused on the fullness of her mouth.

  She wasn’t like the other women he encountered during his line of work. She wasn’t a hardened criminal determined to hurt the government or its citizens. She wasn’t a fellow assassin who wore an invisible cloak of steel to protect aga
inst falling prey to feelings and emotional entanglements that could jeopardize a mission. Shanice was a civilian and could become attached, which meant he could seriously hurt her when he left her behind.

  Which is why what he planned to do made him the worst kind of selfish prick. Telling himself she was an adult and knew what she wanted didn’t help.

  He threaded his fingers into her soft hair and tilted back her head. Her eyes fluttered closed and her chest heaved as the rate of her breathing increased.

  He knew better. He should stop. But he didn’t.

  20

  Cruz kissed her, his mouth moving over her soft lips with urgency. He wanted to kiss her all the time and couldn’t remember another woman whose mouth he’d ever enjoyed as much.

  Warmth seeped into his limbs as she pressed her body against his. His hands slid down her sides and then moved back up her rib cage to close over her breasts. She moaned into his mouth, and he drizzled kisses along the arch of her neck. Sucking gently on her collarbone, he moved her backward toward the bed.

  They lowered onto the firm mattress and he pressed between her welcoming thighs. Impatiently, he ground his hips into hers while taking his time to kiss her properly. Her mouth was succulent and sweet, and the scent of her skin was intoxicating and provocative.

  He wanted her, needed her so badly and struggled to control his intense reaction to having her in his arms, worried he’d frighten her with the driving need to conquer and devour. He sucked on her bottom lip and grated her chin with his teeth. Holding her head steady with one hand, his tongue sought refuge in her mouth, claiming her as his with deep, leisurely strokes.

  He couldn’t get enough and groaned when she arched into him, whispering his name and raking her fingers through his hair. Using her whimpering mewls as a guide, Cruz removed her shirt and continued to explore her body. His tongue flicked across the tips of her breasts, and the caramel nipples grew hard beneath the ministrations of his mouth. He squeezed their softness and sucked with the abandon of a newborn, giving each breast the attention it so richly deserved.

  While he dragged his tongue along the curved underside of one breast, he let his fingers move over the curve of her hips and between her thighs. He rubbed her sex, using her body’s moisture to glide a finger over the turgid clit hidden between the wet folds.

  Grasping one leg, he drew her thighs apart and placed a soft kiss at the side of her knee. His lips skimmed lower, slowly savoring each newly explored inch of silky golden skin. He could smell her arousal, and the scent tempted him to edge closer and closer to his target.

  She whimpered when he reached the crease that connected her thigh to her pelvis.

  “Cruz, I—”

  “Shh. Let me…”

  He flicked his tongue against her clit, sampling the delicious honey between her legs. On a ragged moan, she pleaded with him to stop and fuck her, but he knew she didn’t mean it. Her thighs had fallen open wider, and she strained up into his mouth, clamping one hand at the back of his head. Those were the actions of a woman in the throes of passion. A woman who didn’t want him to stop.

  He buried his face in heaven, sucking on her engorged clitoris and licking at the moisture that professed her hunger for him. He feasted on her slick lips, ruthlessly getting her off with his tongue while depriving her of his dick.

  When she came, her breathy moans turned into hoarse cries of satisfaction. Twisting and turning, she trembled through her climax, and only when he lifted his mouth from her flesh did she finally relax.

  Cruz wiped his mouth clean and then kissed his way back up her body. She was panting now, begging even more for him to take her. “Please, please,” she whispered.

  He smiled to himself, her enthusiasm its own special aphrodisiac. And who was he to deny her? He was certain he could not deny this woman anything she asked for.

  Cruz got a condom and then removed his boxers. She was so goddamn eager for the dick, he barely had time to haul off her panties before she was pulling him on top of her.

  He slipped in, merging their bodies and moaning into her neck. The tight, wet fit felt so damn good. He knew right away he wanted more of her. More of this. Too much would not be enough. When this investigation was over, he didn’t know what would become of them, but for now he would enjoy every minute in her presence and every second between her thighs.

  His thrusts increased in tempo as his climax neared. A bead of sweat trickled down his spine as pressure built in his balls. He felt the moment an orgasm rippled through her and the tightening of her internal muscles around his length.

  Fingers gripping the sheets, he thrust harder. Grunting, he lifted his head to stare down into her face. What a sight to behold, this thick, beautiful, sexy woman lost in the mind-numbing throes of ecstasy. Eyes closed, cheeks flushed, her open lips letting loose hoarse cries of passion.

  Cruz lifted her leg just below the knee and angled his body to go deeper. The volume of her rapturous cries increased, making goose bumps rise on his skin.

  He would have to remember this exact position to bring her to climax again, but for now all he could do was give in to the relentless undulating motion of her hips and the aggressive orgasm that throbbed impatiently in his groin.

  Cum shot out of his body, and he was certain nothing had ever felt this good. Not even the successful completion of a mission, which used to be the ultimate high.

  He cursed repeatedly in Spanish until his tense, quaking body finally collapsed from the excruciating pleasure. He fell on top of her, depleted of his strength and ability to move.

  Did anything feel as good as the warm, postcoital embrace of a man’s arms?

  Cruz smoothed a hand up and down Shanice’s back, and she moaned, stretching and rubbing against his hard body. She’d for sure sleep well tonight, but she didn’t feel like sleeping right now. She wanted to remain awake so she could continue to enjoy snuggling with him in the dark. When morning came, their mission to get inside the Logan Investors office would interrupt this comfy feeling like sunlight interrupts the darkness of night.

  “What was your life like growing up?” Cruz asked.

  Shanice considered the question before answering honestly. “Fun, for the most part. My parents were very strict and I led a sheltered life. I didn’t get to go to a lot of parties and do the normal things kids and teenagers do where they stay out late and get into trouble. Most of the time I was at home with my mother and father. When I was old enough to go out on the weekends, I was always with my cousins. I still had fun, but for other people it might be considered boring.”

  He played with a curl near her ear. “You were a good girl.”

  She laughed. “Pretty much. I never got into trouble, and I obeyed curfew, the whole bit. A complete and total goody two-shoes.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with that,” Cruz said. “I could’ve used some restraint when I was younger.”

  She shifted her head on the pillow to get a good look at him. “Tell me something about yourself.”

  He looked at her and she waited, hoping he would share. Cruz was guarded and had erected barriers between them, but she wanted to know him, really know him. Not the persona he originally presented but the man—the real man beneath the code of silence and abs of steel.

  “Living in Cuba, I often felt like my life was destined for a dead-end,” he said, starting slowly, as if trying out this idea of sharing a part of himself. “My parents died when I was young, and I didn’t have any brothers and sisters. My father’s mother lived in Canada, so I went to live with my mother’s mother when I was nine. Like a lot of the older folks, she was satisfied with her life, but I was like many of the young people. We were restless and wanted something more. We wanted more freedom, and for us, the United States was where we wanted to be. The first time I tried to come here, we were stopped by the Coast Guard and turned around.”

  “That must’ve been difficult,” Shanice said.

  “Very. We had drifted on the water for twenty-f
ive days, so to have to go back was very disappointing. That didn’t stop us though. We made our second attempt six months later and were successful. I was fifteen. I stayed with an uncle and aunt who had immigrated to the States many years before. I went back a handful of times to see my maternal grandmother, before she died. ”

  “How did you end up working for the government? You never really explained to me who you work for, either. Are you CIA?” She hoped her many questions didn’t cause him to clam up.

  “I don’t work for the CIA or FBI.” He paused. “I work for an agency that officially doesn’t exist. Unofficially, we’re part of the U.S. Department of Justice. Our job is to protect the country from domestic and international threats. The agency is always on the lookout for new recruits, usually people like me—troublemakers, preferably with no close family ties. If you’re a smart criminal, even better. They can use your criminal background as leverage to convince you to work for them. I was constantly in trouble, and they approached me when I was in jail for beating the crap out of a guy who assaulted a girl in the bathroom of a house party I’d attended. It wasn’t my first assault charge. Since I was eighteen and faced a long stretch, working for them was an appealing alternative.”

  “If your agency doesn’t exist, what happens if you’re hurt or…die?” Her voice shook on the last word.

  He shrugged. “Nothing. The government would act as if they never heard of me, and they’ll behave as if they didn’t send me on the mission.”

  “But if you work for the Department of Justice—”

  “We work for the department, but we’re not restricted by their guidelines and protocols.”

  “Oh.” Shanice played with a hair on his chest. “If you weren’t doing this kind of work, what would you be doing?”

  “You’re full of questions tonight, aren’t you?”

  “Do you mind? I just want to know a little bit about the man I slept with.”

  “Fair enough,” he said with a healthy dose of humor in his voice. “Assuming I stayed out of trouble, I’d probably start my own security firm. I like what I do, but I sometimes think about having a normal eight-to-five job—or as normal as security could be.”