Chapter 8

Warlock? Sounds like some kind of geek with those taped up glasses… who spends all his time behind computer screens, making up girlfriends.

“I know it sounds lame, but that was the name. And the way he played us… it was like magic. We never saw it coming until it was too late.”

“And he’s still out there somewhere?”

Jules just nodded. Max didn’t like that. He didn’t like knowing that somewhere out there was a man who wanted Juliet dead. A man who would probably stop at nothing to kill her.

“Mac and a more… elite team… have found all but three of them. Crawford, his second in command, and the man pulling all the strings.”

“And do they have any idea where to look?”

“At the moment… no.”

That wasn’t good enough. She couldn’t move on until they killed the mall… or they killed her. And he refused to let that happen.

“Maybe we shouldn’t go out tonight.”

“Max, no one knows I’m here. And I need to get out of this house. I’m getting cabin fever!”

He did want to take her out. Now more than ever. He just didn’t want to put her out in the open like that. Even if she was right, and that everyone thought she was gone.

“I’ll make you a deal.”

“Oh god…”

“C’mon! You haven’t even heard the terms yet.”

“That’s what worries me.”

Max chuckled and then used a finger to tilt her face up to him.

“Do you trust me?”

She looked startled by the question, but when she told him ‘yes’ he could see the honesty on her face and the raw emotion in her eyes.

“Okay then. We’ll go out tonight like I had planned. Dinner, a walk through the streets of Old Montreal… dessert out, or maybe back here…” she growled with a smiled. “Definitely here then. All you have to do is let me help you. Finish what we’ve been talking about and let me start to help you heal.”

“Your price is very high.”

“The rewards outweigh the cost. Don’t they?”

He was being selfish. He knew that. But he had to know the rest of the story. He had to know what happened. He was actually hoping that once she started, everything would spill out and she’d be able to start really grieving for the loss of her friends. She needed to do that. And hopefully the nightmares stopped. Or at least became more infrequent.

“You don’t know the meaning of the phrase ‘Just let it drop,’ do you?”

Max flashed her a killer smile and shook his head back and forth slowly. Juliet sighed and sat up, keeping the blanket over her body.

“I will go downstairs. Make us something light for lunch. Some coffee… you come down when you’re ready.”

He swept in for a quick kiss and then jumped out of the bed before he could be distracted. Bounding down the stairs he started pulling things out of the fridge to make simple sandwiches and he fixed a pot of coffee. When he heard the squeak of the stairs Max wiped his hands on a towel and slid both plates over to the where he had bar stools set up along one side of the counter. Then he poured two cups from the pot and set the cream and sugar out as well.

Juliet stepped into the room and he gripped the counter to keep from running right over to her and kissing her senseless. She smiled tentatively and sat on one of the stools. He motioned for her to fix her coffee while he cleaned up and then he sat down next to her.

“Do you want to eat first? Talk first? Eat while talking?”

“Thank you for all of this Max. Not just today. The whole thing… I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”

“Just being here is enough. I like having you around.”

“I like being around.”

“Then promise me something.”

“Shouldn’t I do this first thing you asked before I start making your more promises and things?”

“No, this one’s even simpler than the other one.”

Her stomach growled and he motioned for her to eat while he took a deep breath.

“When Mac finishes this… don’t just pick up and leave. Tell me you’ll think about sticking around… at least for the rest of the summer.”

“You’re pretty confident that he’ll have this done in no time,” Juliet said with a smile.

“I know he will. Because it’s for you.”

Touching her hand, he waited for her to look at him.

“Just tell me you’ll think about it.”

“If he doesn’t need me to go back right away… I’d love to stay here longer. I can’t promise you that I would be able to though. But if I can…”

“That’s good enough for me. Now eat.”

They both picked up their food and made quick work of the sandwiches. He poured them both another cup of coffee and then twisted on his seat and waited for her to talk. He didn’t have to wait long.

“He sold us out. I still haven’t been able to figure out why. Why our team? I still haven’t come up with that reason yet… but… like I had told you, we were scoping out the area where they were holding the boy. Crawford had told us that they weren’t around. We knew that they didn’t have a huge security system set up yet and that we could get in, get a feel for the place… I told Frenchie to stay in the van.”

“Then we went in, light weapons and no real armor. Crawford was on point, I was behind him. The others were spread out and we circled the house. Orion and Doc came in from the back door. We had cleared the rooms and were about to take some photos for reconnaissance… Crawford had gone out of the room. I didn’t think anything of it.”

When Max looked at her, he saw the first tear fall down her cheek. It dripped onto the counter top and was quickly joined by more. He stood and stepped over to her, wrapping his arms around her and rocking her while she sobbed silently.

“I’m sorry. We can stop. I didn’t think about… I wanted to help and… We’ll let it go.”

“No. I want to talk about it. I need to.”

She wiped her eyes and sniffled.

“I heard a little tick tick noise. Romeo and I were discussing where we could place explosives now… The canister flew into the room. It clinked on the hardwood floor and rolled for a second maybe two. We all just sort of stared at it and I remember hearing Romeo yell ‘SONOFABI’ before the flash bomb went off. He’d grabbed me and pulled me against him, hiding my face from the blast. That was how I was able to move quicker.”

“There was a muffled laughter. I know I heard it. Then the door was kicked open and broken glass hit the floor in another room. I heard the first pop of gunfire and one of the girls screamed. The scream… it turned to a gurgle, I’m guessing from a knife. Romeo yelled for me to run. I stumbled as I headed back the way we had come in. There were more screams as I sprinted through the door. By the time I got to the van I was yelling for Frenchie to start the vehicle.”

“But he was gone. His throat… I grabbed my bag from the front seat and took a second to decide on which way to go. I could still her the laughter. And the taunting voice. ‘Come out, come out, wherever you are.’ It was disturbing. I turned and fled toward the tree line. I heard the shot the instant before it hit me. The pain in my shoulder was like nothing I’d ever felt before. I know I cried out. But I couldn’t… wouldn’t stop.”

“And then you broke into Geno’s house?”

“I didn’t really break in. The door was open.”

“How far were we from where this happened? I would think that we would’ve heard gunshots.”

“Silencers.”

Max nodded and took a sip of the hot liquid. It burned down his throat but he needed something to distract him from the hurt that he felt for her. All that she went through. Her entire team was demolished by a madman. And the worst part was… she still didn’t know why. He didn’t know how to help her stop him, but he knew he’d do whatever he could.

It was strange that he felt something so strong for someone he hadn’t known very long. But he’d decided not to fight it. Whatever it was… if it died out, fine. But right now it was a need burning deep within him. The urge to protect this woman at all costs was coursing through him. He didn’t want to scare her, but at the same time he wanted to pick her up and carry her to his bedroom again and never let her go.

“Tell me I did the right thing… by listening to Romeo and running. Tell me there was nothing I could’ve done to stop their deaths.”

She choked out the final few words, the tears starting again, and Max lifted her up. Her legs wrapped around his waist and he carried her up to the bathroom, whispering comforting words in his native French as he walked. When he stepped into the bathroom he set her on the sink and peeled her limbs from his body. Slowly, ever so slowly, he started stripping her clothes from her body.

When he was down to her underwear he turned and twisted the faucets, getting a shower going. As the steam lifted up he finished helping her out of her clothes. Making quick work of his own clothes, he pulled her under the spray with him and shut the shower door. She leaned against him, her tears mixing with the water now as he held her.

“There was nothing you could’ve done chérie. No way that you could’ve stopped any of it.”

He felt her nod into his chest. They stood there for a few moments and he hoped that this was soothing. Perhaps washing away some of the guilt. Max grabbed a washcloth and poured from of that citrusy body wash that she always smelling onto the cloth before soaping it up. Piling her hair atop her head with the clip she had put around the showerhead, he turned her so she was facing away from him.

Then he started at her shoulders, running the slightly rough material over her skin. He ran it up and down both arms and over the back of her neck before bringing it back around her front and dipping it between her breasts. He didn’t spend a long period of time there, moved down to her stomach and sides so she wouldn’t think he was just trying to get in her pants… again… but Juliet ripped the washcloth from his hands, threw it down, and moved his hands back to the soapy globes.

“Mon chere, I was not doing this to make you think that I wanted…”

“Shhhh. I want this.”

“You’re very emotional right now and I thi…”

She spun around quickly, holding onto his arms to keep from slipping.

“Dammit Max. I don’t need a lecture right now. I need you to make everything go away again. Make me forget it all, everything but the way you feel inside me. The way your fingers moved over my flesh. The way I cry out your name when you suck on my…”

Max groaned and captured her lips, pressing her back against the cold tiled wall. She gasped into his mouth as her back arched against the cool sensation. He took his time learning the contours of her body, hoping that the hot water lasted as long as he planned to.

It didn’t. They made it through a rather intense orgasm for her and then he quickly twisted off the water and wrapped her in a towel. Before she could protest, he tossed her in bed and followed, slipping between her legs and burying himself inside her.

“Gah… Magnifique….”

“Stop speaking in a language I don’t understand. You could be telling me that I’m a fat, ugly, disgusting… Oh!”

He gripped her hips and slammed into her, driving as deep as he could. A series of punishing thrusts and she was clutching his shoulders and crying out his name.

“Oh god Max… please don’t stop! Harder.. yes, oh fuck! Max!!”

She quivered in his arms and threw her head back. He growled and covered her, biting down on her neck as he rocked gently. Juliet clawed at him and moaned as he started thrusting faster again. They moved in unison, the only noises to be heard were the smack of skin on skin and an occasional grunt from his lips.

He wanted to feel her fall apart once more before he came, but Max could feel his balls boiling with the need for release. He pried himself loose and backed away before flipping her body over. Juliet helped by rising up onto her knees and he found himself once again nestled in her tight little pussy. He pushed her down though, leaving her prone beneath him, unable to lift her hips. He slid out and back in with quick motions.

“Jeeeeesus you are so big!”

A surge of male pride coursed through him and Max bit his lip as he brought one hand down, snaking it between her sweat-soaked skin and the blankets. He searched for a moment, trying to find the exact spot that would make her scream. As his fingers pressed over the bundle of nerves that was drenched in her juices, Juliet was scrunching the cover in her hands.

“Right there… Max… please… oh, oh, oh… Fuuuck! Yes!”

She clamped down on his dick and Max thought he would pass out. He laid out on top of her and his hips bumped against her ass as he jerked. White hot pleasure coursed through his veins and he bellowed her name. Her hips would probably be bruised later, with the death grip he had on them, but as he felt his load fill her up Max couldn’t do anything but smile.

“Juliet… my sweet, sweet Juliet… are you okay?”

“Can’t. Talk. Dead.”

Max chuckled and whispered praises to her. He felt her shift beneath him as she turned over, bringing their bodies flush against one another.

“Can we still go to dinner Max? I’d really like to get out of here for a night.”

HE nodded at her and bent down for a brief kiss. There was no way he could deny her something as simple as a restaurant for dinner after the day they’d had. She sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck before closing her eyes and mumbling something about a quick nap before they had to get ready. He agreed, for her, and then slid from the bed to let her sleep in peace.

The dreams must not have been bad because she didn’t wake up until late afternoon. It gave him plenty of time to call Marc and Vero, to talk to him about this grand scheme of things. He couldn’t keep her all to himself forever, but until she left… he was going to give her the best ‘vacation’ ever… and perhaps he’d stand a chance of asking her to stay.

Chapter 7

I don’t want to talk about this. I don’t want you to hear all of the details.

Even as she processed the thought Juliet knew that sooner or later she was going to be sitting with an on-base shrink and if she could get through it now, with Max, maybe when the time finally came she would be about to talk about it with a more professional attitude. An attitude that spoke of the courage and strength she no longer felt she had.

“It was supposed to be a simple snatch-and-grab… and it turned into a massacre,” she told him.

Max was rubbing her thumb with his, back and forth, back and forth. It was soothing and methodical. As she focused on the motion her mind drifted back. She closed her eyes and started from the beginning.

“I lived with my grandfather. My parents were both killed in a car crash when I was eleven. No siblings, no aunts and uncles on either side. It’s been me and Gramps for the past ten years. I’ve grown up with the stories of his tours during World War Two, we’ve visited most American battle sites from the Civil War on up, and been to a few places that held personal meaning to him overseas. Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted to go into the military.”

“And what happened to your granddad? Is he… is he still alive?”

“Yes. I’m sure the initial news would’ve hit him very hard if Mac hadn’t made the call to him as soon as he got off the phone with you. His grandfather and mine served together. We’ve known one another all our lives it seems.”

“So he knows you aren’t dead.”

“Right. He knows that I’ll contact him when I can. Until then, the only way he would hear from me would be through Mac… who I need to contact tomorrow, don’t let me forget.”

“I won’t. So, you joined right after high school?”

Juliet nodded. She wouldn’t bore him with all of the details. Maybe another day she would tell him about Parris Island, all that training, The Crucible. Hardest test she’d ever had to take in her entire life. Not to mention, the most dangerous. But that, coupled with all of those long talks over dinner about strategies and such with Gramps had prepared her for that first tour of Iraq.

Initially she’d been in a unit that was set in one of the calmer bases. The most action they saw was when one of the guys would come running out of his bunk because he forgot to check his boot for a scorpion. But, like any other war zone… no place was safe from IED’s or enemy fire. Not completely. And five months into an eight month tour, they found that out.

“Yeah, graduated from my hometown in May, shipped off to Parris Island at the beginning of June. Did all of my training and graduated in October of 2004. Two weeks of leave time and five more weeks of training and I shipped out for an eight month tour in Iraq. Came home in eleven months with battle scars, visible and hidden. I was a wreck for the first week or two. Every noise made me jump. I woke up screaming in the middle of the night. Kind of similar to this situation. But worse, if you can imagine that.”

“I can,” he whispered.

Juliet tore her gaze from their hands and looked up into his eyes. It was like watching the tides roll in off the coast of Bora Bora. That had been a rather interesting mission. Posing as Mac’s wife. She’d given a performance of a lifetime. By the end, even she’d considered herself his. Sure, nothing had ever happened… nothing that they didn’t both want, but when they got back to reality… Mac wasn’t suited for her. Not really. They were too much alike to ever make a real go at a relationship.

Plus, Mac had been injured in a one-on-one fight toward the end of the mission. He was moved into the supervisor position and supervisory fraternization was a no-no. Then they had been given a new teammate. One that had never fully sat well with her.

“Where’d you go just now? You’re a million miles away.”

She tried to beat around the bush, used a different tactic to get him to stop his line of questions.

“Has anyone ever told you that looking into your eyes is like standing on a cliff? They’re so blue, it’s like you could take that single step, towards the bluest oceans, and just let go. I could just let myself fall into you. And that scares me Max. Because you don’t know me. I’ve done things in my past that…”

“It’s your past. It made you who you are today.”

“I’ve killed people.”

She expected him to cringe, to let go of her, to get out of the bed and walk out of the room. But he didn’t. He just held her even tighter and rocked her as the dam let loose and the tears started to fall.

“I kind of figured that. You do seem to know your way around a gun. And someday, if you want to, you can tell me more. But stop drawing it out Juliet. Tell me what happened that day.”

As she cried she told him everything. It all just came pouring out. The training in South Carolina, the final three day ‘operation’ to become a Marine. The different missions she’d been on… even the Mac history. He’d hugged her close at that, promising to learn to fight so that if Mac ever came askingfor another chance, he’d have to go through him first.

She chuckled and cleared her throat, steadying herself for the finale of her story. Wiping her eyes with her palms, she went back to holding his hand while she got ready to relive one of the most painful days of her entire life. She closed her eyes amd tried to be objective instead of breaking down again.

“Okay. My team was sent in to pick up a… package. A human package. There was a small boy, an admiral’s son, being held by a small terrorist cell.”

“In Pittsburgh?!”

“You’d be amazed at the places they hide. It’s not always ‘Hey let’s hide in the nation’s capital!’ type of situation. That’s television and movies. Anyways… our task was to get in, get him out, and get home safe. It was pretty routine actually. We’d done this multiple times, never had a problem.”

“But this time they were sneakier?”

“No, not sneakier. This time they had a man on the inside. He was giving them our intel, playing us. Working for the military but selling all the secrets he could. I should’ve known something was wrong. I felt like it was… different or something. I had told Mac about my suspicions. He asked me to kep an eye out for anything that seemed… off.”

“Who’s idea had it been to go straight to the meeting place?”

“It wasn’t a meeting place actually. It was the hideout. But we had been told, by our newest member, that they were at a different spot.”

“Why would they be in a different place, other than the hideout?”

“It throws you off. Keeps you guessing. If they have more than one place to stay, then it’s more difficult to keep tabs on them at all times. So when he said it was safe, no one questioned it. And that’s why we allowed Frenchie to stay with us.”

“How many members were there on your team?”

“Including me? There were six of us. Three male, three female. Oh, and Mac. I’d worked with them so many times… I trusted them completey, and they trusted me with their lives… and I let them down.”

“I don’t believe that. And I bet they wouldn’t either. What would’ve happen if you had stayed? You’d be dead too. What good would it have done for you to die as well?”

“At least I would’ve been with them still. I just left their bodies there. I didn’t go back to see if maybe one of them was still alive or anything!”

“From what I can tell, you went into survival mode. And none of them, knowing you the way they did, would condone you for the choices you made. The only one doing that, is you. You didn’t lie to the team. You didn’t set them up. You didn’t… you didn’t kill them. He did. And the other guys with the guns. You. Are. A. Victim.”

“But I should’ve died! I was the second in command. When Rupert turned on us, that put me in charge of everyone. All four of their deaths are on me.”

“Non! You could not have stopped it. Do not do this. Do not blame yourself for something you could not have changed.”

She knew that his words were true. They were the first words that Mac had said to her when he entered her hospital room. It was hard not to take it personally though, so hard not to want to take the blame for everything. Deep down, she knew that they wouldn’t hold her at fault for what happened. But… it was still there.

“Tell me about them, your teammates. We’ll come back to the… incident… later.”

“They were great. Each and every one of them.”

“Were you closest to one in particular? One of the other women?”

“Actually, I was closer to the guys. Always had more friends of the opposite sex growing up.”

“Oh, lots of boyfriends too?”

Juliet bit back a smile at the note of jealousy in his voice. Max was cute. He tried to play the big, bad hockey player role… but he was a softie. She reached up and twirled some of his hair around her finger.

He really needs a haircut. Just think about what he’s look like with short, styled hair. Goodbye panties.

“Is the silence your way of telling me it’s not my business? Or are you trying to remember all of the past boyfriends?”

“If you count my ‘relationship’ with Mac… I’ve had three boyfriends since I started dating.”

“Okay. That is not a lot. Back to your story, s'il vous plaît."

"Well, being that my name is Juliet, and Mac's sense of humor, I was nicknamed 'Bard'... after William Shakespeare. it wasn't bad... at least he didn't go with Desdemona or Ophelia."

Max chuckled and she glared at him.

"Sorry, sorry."

"Sure... anyways... when the team was first set up, and they brought us all into the room, one of the guys couldn't stop staring at me. I'm not trying to sound cocky or something, he just wouldn't. I guess it was my natural good looks combined with desert camo... but he looked like an idiot and Mac laughed and chirped 'Hey Romeo, close your mouth before the drool spills out!' and it just stuck."

"Did Mac give all of you your nicknames?"

"No, I gave out one. But it was kind of an assumed rule that Mac did. He was the leader."

"Until the 'bad guy battle' that left him wounded."

"Right. So, Christian was dubbed 'Romeo' and he and I were pretty close. I mean, I was close to all of them, considering the time we spent together... but he was our explosives expert, I was the strategist... we were always in cahoots."

She smiled, remembering the training day when she and Christian set off a stink bomb in Mac's bunk. It was worth the three days leave that they had rescinded. Especially when the reast of the team came back early with food poisoning. Max was staring at her as she giggled to herself so she told him the story. By the time she was finished he was laughing as well.

"And did Mac have a nickname?"

"Nope. Mac is short for his last name, MacDonald. I've never, except for once when he was with my grandpa, heard anyone call him by his first name, Luke. It was always Mac, or Sir."

"Alright, so we've covered the three of you. That leaves two other women, the man in the van, and the... the other one."

"The other women, they were sweethearts. Doc... she had a little boy back home, four years old... His name's Jack. Her husband works from home, he's a nice man. When this is all over I need to go see them."

"I would go with you."

"Thank you Max," she told him quietly.

He kissed her forehead.

"The other woman was our translator. Ramona Jones. She could speak more languages than I could name. When Mac was thinking of names, he asked her what her favorite past time was. She got real sarcastic and smarted off 'Oh, I just love to sit and look up at the starts... when I'm out hunting... wild boar... in the jungle.' We all laughed but Mac just smiled, wrote down on a scrap of paper and threw it at her."

"What was it?"

"Two choices for her name. One was male, one was female. He let her decide. She scribbled out one and crumpled the paper back up before chucking it at his head. he nodded and folded the paper up, put it in his pocket, and the next day she had a badge for the inside of her hats that said "Orion.' I never did find out what the other choice was."

"Athena."

"What??"

"It was probably Athena. She was the goddess of The Hunt in Greek mythology. Orio was a hunter in the same mythology. I don't think he was a god though. Just a hunter. And it's a constellation... probably appealed to her more."

"Makes sense. She wouldn't have wanted to be dubbed a 'goddess' any more than ne or Doc."

"Did she have a family?"

"Boyfriend right off base. and a big family back home. i was the hold out among the women. None of the guys had significant others... that I knew of. They just had fun."

"And you had fun with them."

"I most certainly did!"

They both laughed at that and before she could think about not going out with them anymore, Max was moving her right along.

"Was the man in the van, your electronics whiz... he was the one you named?"

"Yes... Frenchie. He was originally from here, from Montreal. Moved to the States, applied for citizenship. Got approved and joined us. That accent of his could hold me captivated for hours. It seemed like an appropriate name. And he would lay it on extra thick when we were 'out on the town.' I'd take bets with Romeo on how many women he could get phone numbers from in one night."

"They sound like they were a great group of people to have as an adopted family."

"They were the best. The only one who never fit in... I should've talked to Mac about my suspicion. But I had nothing concrete. Just... that gut feeling you get, when something just seems off."

"And what was his code name? Did Mac name him too?"

"No, he came from another team. A more... no-nonsense, get things done quickly no matter the collateral damage, or death count, team. His code name was perfect, because he sure put a spell over us, kept us in the dark."

"What was his name?"

"I've taken to calling him Benedict Arnold. His realy name? Rupert Crawford. His code name... Warlock."

Chapter 6

Why did you ask her if she was sure?! Why would you jinx your chance??

Max smacked himself internally as Juliet lay on top of him, in the hallway that led to his living room. Her hair was falling down, covering his face and tickling his neck. He dug his fingers into her back, massaging her muscles and listening to her moan of appreciation as she arched against him.

“Upstairs. Now.”

“Yes Ma’am,” he chuckled as she pushed up and held a hand out to him. He adjusted himself for the climb and then pushed her up each step before pulling her into his room. Now she was the one laughing and he grabbed her shirt, tugging it up over her stomach. As he lifted it higher and higher his vision clouded over. In the years he’d been pleasing women, he’d never wanted someone so bad.

The back of his hand grazed her breast and he heard her gasp. He finished pulling up the shirt and then dropped it at their feet. Her bra was a deep crimson red with small yellow flowers embroidered in swirling patterns over the cups. Max slid his hands behind her back and quickly flicked the clasps open and drawing the straps down over her shoulders and arms.

When the satin fell to the floor and Max let his eyes feast on her bare breasts for the first time… he groaned in surrender and bent down, burying his face between them. She smelled like vanilla and tasted just as good. His tongue traveled along her skin from one breast to the other before he sucked the tip of one between his lips.

“Oh fuck,” he heard her murmur and he teased her, his fingers pulling on the other nipple as he nipped at her.

Juliet slid her fingers through his hair, and forced him to switch his ministrations to her other breast. She shuddered as his teeth bit down on the sensitized flesh. He pushed her backward as he continued his torment and when he knew she was against the bed he released her nipple and shoved her onto the mattress.

She let out a tiny squeak as she bounced and he was distracted by those perfect globes rolling around as she wiggled into a sitting position, leaning up on her elbows and licking her lips. The look on her face was almost predatory and something within him snapped. He growled as he dove onto the bed with her, crawling quickly up her body and smothering her with another kiss.

She made little noises as the material of his shirt pressed and rubbed against her chest with every twist. Max left a path of kisses over her cheek and down her neck, whispering in French all the things he wanted to do to her. And how many times he wanted to do them. He nipped her pulse point, feeling it jump under his teeth.

And as he moved over more of her, he pressed a feather light kiss to the puckered skin on her shoulder where the doctors had done their best to leave a minimal scar. He flicked his tongue out and traced the small ridges that made up the three centimeter line.

“Je suis désolé bébé. Jevais vous protéger. Je vous promets.”

He wasn’t sure if she knew what he was saying. He didn’t really know that much about her. They’d known one another for two weeks and he didn’t know if she had a huge family that was mourning what they thought was the loss of their daughter, sister, cousin and or niece. Perhaps she was an orphan. He didn’t know. And right now, the only thing that could keep him from claiming this woman as his would be if men burst through the door with guns to finish the job they’d started encountered.

Fuck, that might not even stop me.

Lifting his body up some Max brought one hand down and snaked it beneath her jeans. He blinked when he encountered nothing but heat.

“You go commando?”

“Well… I kind of am a commando.”

He laughed and when Juliet started to laugh with him he slipped one finger inside her, his palm resting on top of her mound. She stopped laughing and threw her head to the side as she hissed a breath out quickly through her teeth. He worked the digit in and out quickly, pressing his hand down as he drew one nipple between his lips again.

She cried out his name between gasps of air and each breath jerked her chest. He was about to twirl her other nipple in his fingers of his free hand when he noticed her own fingers already tugging and twisting the hardened tip.

“Max… More… Now…”

“Oui... Much, much more.”

Moving his body from her he peeled her jeans down, smiling as she kicked out of them and almost clocked him in the head. As she settled herself in the middle of his bed, he whipped his shirt over his head and tried to figure out the fastest way to get his pants off. He finally opted for standing and shoving everything down. When he looked up to crawl back into bed with her, Max noticed Juliet’s eyes.

“Like what you see chérie?”

She licked her lips and Max groaned. Rolling slightly when his knee pressed into the mattress, Juliet opened herself to him and pulled him down. As he stretched out on top of her he felt her legs come up, circling his waist as she rolled her hips beneath him, pressing herself against his body.

His dick felt like a heat-seeking missile. Any other woman and he would’ve had to reach down to guide himself inside, but as her hips moved, he slipped between her folds. And then he sunk in completely, not stopping until he could feel every inch fully encased in her dripping center. Her fingers dug into his shoulders, her legs tightened around his waist and she bit her lip as her head turned to the side.

Max smoothed her hair back and used his hand to turn her face back to his so he could claim her lips. Then, prying her hands off one by one, he pulled them up over her head and with their fingers entwined, he started thrusting slowly. She met him at each stroke, her body moving with his and her nails biting into the top of his hand every few seconds.

“Keep your hands up there,” he said in a gruff voice. She nodded and when he released her fingers he watched her wrap them around one of the bars on his headboard. She was stretched out beneath him now, her chest pushing up at him and teasing him. Giving in, his mouth found a breast and latched on, sucking her nipple past his lips again.

With his hands free now, Max tapped at her legs and as she spread them for him, he smiled against her flesh and brought them up. Then he pushed against her thighs as he came up on his knees. When he lifted each knee over his shoulders and dug his fingers into her hips, he watched the blissful look spread across her face as he dipped back inside of her.

“Max, Max, Max,” she moaned. He smiled and gave her three punishing thrusts, listening to the hitch in her breath and how her cries got sharper and louder. They gave and took, feeding off the other’s movements. She molded her body against his no matter what position he shifted into, as if they were floating together in water.

“Juliet, I want to feel it, I want to feel you come for me.”

His words brought a tightening of her muscles. Squeezing his eyes shut, Max held himself from ending things before he got to watch her fall apart. Juliet’s hand cupped his cheek, her fingers turning his head until her lips were pressed against his. He kissed her as his hips rocked against hers and he could feel the tension that was building within her hit it’s breaking point.

As her head flipped back in a silent scream, Max held her tight against him, his body wrapped in her embrace. He could feel the flutter of her muscles and he buried his face in the crook of her neck as he came with her. When it was all over he grabbed the extra afghan from the foot of the bed and pulled it over them both as he enveloped her more fully in his arms, their bodies still connected intimately.

“We have things to do,” Juliet yawned. He just smiled and tucked her head into his arm, watching her sigh as he combed through her hair with his fingers.

“We have nothing to do.”

“You came running in the house about something.”

“Just a place for dinner. It’s only one thirty. We can take a nap.”

“You should set an alarm or something…”

Max figured there was more she wanted to say but her eye were closed and her breathing was even. He hadn’t expected her to be that worn out from one round. Then again, with all the time they’d spent together, she really hadn’t done a lot to strengthen herself back up to the way she’d been before she was shot.

He still came in on those nights when he heard her thrashing around in bed. He’d actually become accustomed to wearing clothes to bed now so that when he woke up he didn’t have to take extra time to throw on shorts and he could spend more time in the room with her.

You’re hopeless Talbot, hopeless.

But he felt something for her… this woman who had entered his life in a most memorable way. He still wanted to get her to talk about what happened. Maybe… maybe now that they had slept together she would feel comfortable enough with him. It was worth a shot to try and get her to open up about something instead of just the daily ‘How are you feeling today?’ ‘Good.’ routine they had going on right now.

Deciding he would wait until they woke up, Max cinched an arm around her waist and breathed in the smell of her hair as he drifted to sleep. When he woke up a couple of hours later, he reached for Juliet, half afraid that she wsn’t going to be there. But his fingers slid over an expanse of bare skin and he chuckled as she growled at him.

“It’s about time you woke up. I was just about to molest you in your sleep.”

“Feel free to do that anytime you want. I would gladly wake up that way!”

He opened his eyes finally to find her smiling impishly at him. With a grunt he tugged her by the arm and pulled her beneath him, starting the love-making process all over again. This time however, he made her come more than once before he finally succumbed to the pleasure of being inside her. And afterwards, when they were lying all tangled up together and Juliet was tracing small patterns on his chest, Max asked his question.

“Will you talk about that day, with me?”

He expected her to deny his request, to bring that composed mask over her face and turn away. He would’ve even let her go if she had gotten up to leave the bed. But instead of doing anything like that she took a deep breath and blew it out, flipping up the hair around her face. Then she snuggled close to him, slipping her fingers in his.

“It was supposed to be a simple snatch-and-grab… and it turned into a massacre.”

Chapter 5

“And so whenever you have a nightmare, Max comes in and holds you until you fall asleep?”

“Yep.”

“But then he leaves before you wake up?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And ne never tries anything with you?”

“No!”

“Weird… but you want him to?”

“BADLY! And I had to tell someone about this before I completely lose my mind!”

Two weeks ago, after she’d woken up to find Max behind her, his hardness pressed against her backside, she’d been having extremely naughty thoughts about her ‘caretaker.’ He hadn’t shown any evidence though, aside from that morning, that he wanted to have anything to do with her. Other than being friends. And he was wonderful to spend time with. And that day, that was when she’d met Marc-Andre and Veronique. And the woman was a godsend.

“So… why don’ you just go for it? What holds you back?”

And here was the crux of the problem with Juliet’s relationship with the beautiful and extremely friendly Frenchie who’d become one of her confidants. Vero didn’t know the truth. Didn’t know who she was. It wasn’t that she couldn’t be trusted, Max just made the comment that the less people who knew… the better off they all were.

He was right. It would be better if people didn’t know the whole story. It would make it easier in the end. Easier when she left.

But she didn’t want to leave. She didn’t even want to think of that. Mac had been in touch a couple times. It had been yesterday afternoon actually that he’d phoned to say that they had rounded up the ‘minor players’ and were just waiting for the ‘big fish’ to bite. Once they were all behind bars… or dead… she’d have no real reason to stay.

“Earth to Juliet... Jules?”

“I’m sorry V… just caught up in something that seems like it was already a lifetime ago.”

Glancing at her friend, she laughed at the expression on Vero’s face. It was a cross between a smile and an aggravated sneer. They both laughed then, and Juliet rubbed her shoulder through her shirt. She didn’t feel pain anymore. And she was doing therapy on it daily, getting it back to the strength she’d had before the bullet.

“Come back to the present crazy. We have to figure out how to get you and Max together.”

“It’s not that easy. There are… complications... things that would make us doing the horizontal mambo a bad idea.”

“The same ‘complications’ that had me calling you Mariette for three days??”

That was still Max’s fault. He hadn’t realized that Vero was over and he’d come home and just yelled for her by her real name. That cat had been let out of the bag. But the rest… she wouldn’t jeopardize anyone else’s well being by getting them mixed up in this crisis. Maybe once this was all over… maybe then she could try and explain everything.

“JULIET!!”

“Sorry, sorry… yes, those complications. And no, I won’t bore you with the details.”

Thankfully Vero let the issue drop for now. Juliet knew it wouldn’t go away forever, but for now she would focus on this math-making idea that she’d concocted. They were sitting in the kitchen, talking and laughing about Max and Marc when the door burst open.

On a reflex, Juliet grabbed Vero and hauled her to the floor while simultaneously reaching for her gun that was tucked in the back of her pants.

“Juliet? Vero? Are you guys here?? Guess where we’re going to dinner tonight?”

She cursed under her breath and looked over, praying that Vero hadn’t noticed the loaded weapon in her hand. Seeing the wide-eyed stare and open mouth…

Dammit.

Standing quickly, Juliet slid her gun back into place as she glared at Max. He knew better than to do anything like that. Surprises and shocks were not a good thing while she was on the mend. How would she explain this one?!

“Hello Max,” she said through her teeth. “What a lovely surprise...”

If he couldn’t hear the sarcasm in her voice… she had a mind to pull the gun back out and shoot him just for the hell of it.

“What were you doing on the floor? Where’s Vero?”

“I am here,” came the surprisingly strong voice of her tiny friend.

V stood and straightened her clothes. Then she pulled her hair back, tying it up into a bun before staring at Juliet. Her eyes moved from her to Max and back a few times.

“Listen V, I can explain...”

Vero just waved her hand in dismissal before closing her eyes. She was nodding and shaking her head, using her hands as though she was taking pieces of information and putting them up on an invisible board in front of her. Suddenly her eyes flew open and she practically beamed.

“You are the soldier girl!”

“I’m the what??”

“You are. You’re the one he told Marc about! The gun-toting girl that he wants to…”

Jules watched her throw a hand over her mouth to stop whatever had almost come out. It was her turn to flick between two people, a smiling Vero and a clearly unhappy Max who was glaring at the wall.

“The one he want to… what?”

Her friend just shook her head and rapidly produced her phone from her pocket.

“Allo? Oh hi Marc-Andre! Yes, I will come home now. I was just getting ready to leave actually! See you soon! Bye.”

“V…”

“Would you look at the time…”

“Vero…”

“…so I should really head out…”

“VERONIQUE!”

"I can’t believe you didn’t tell me who you were. Such a shame to hold things from people. If I didn’t have to leave right now then we would definitely talk about this. Well, I must be off! Let me know about this dinner Max! Bye!”

And then she was out the door before Juliet could open her mouth again to yell. So she turned to the only other person in the room.

“Max…”

He had that deer in the headlights look perfected.

“What did she mean Max? And how does she know about me… the real me??”

They were standing on opposite sides of the kitchen island, staring down one another. She was desperate for answers to this. Did he want her as badly as she wanted him? She’d leap over the counter if that was the case. All he had to do was say jump and she’d be in his arms in a heartbeat.

“It is nothing.”

“Don’t lie to me Maxime. You told me before, we needed to be able to talk to one another… start talking.”

She didn’t think he would at first. He dropped his head and stared at the floor for a moment. When he looked up once more Juliet gasped at what she saw. The undisguised lust that was present in his eyes made her panties disintegrate instantly. The room closed in immensely, her heart started beating triple time.

“Can you read my expression chère?”

“Yes… I’ve never seen that look though. Not from you.”

“Because I hide it from you. I don’t let you see it because it would be my undoing. I’ve never wanted someone so bad in my entire life.”

“Then why don’t you…”

“If something were to happen to you… every morning I wake up and I wonder if today is the day that Mac calls and says you’re safe. If it will be the day that you leave me.”

“Max…”

“No, let me finish. You wanted to hear it… when you have a nightmare, I almost fell giddy because that means that I can come be the hero for a moment. I can be the strong protector and hold you and keep the monsters away. But I always leave before you wake up so I don’t embarrass either of us again like I did that first morning. But it gets harder and harder each day not to just stay there with you all wrapped up in my arms. I want to be there when you open your eyes. I want to be there when you fall asleep actually.”

Juliet stared at him. She didn’t know what else to do. He was standing here, telling her that he wanted to be her knight in shining armor, and she had been under the impression that he was only interested in her platonically.

“Jules… Juliet… please, say something.”

“I… Max, I didn’t know… I’m sorry…”

“No, I get it.”

He skirted around the island and started toward the stairs and away from her. Making a split decision, she took a deep breath and chased after him. She was almost on top of him when he turned around.

“You know what? I don’t understand actu.. Ooffff!”

They fell together to the floor. Max had his arms wrapped around her, hugging her to him and taking the brunt of the fall. His hands were splayed across her back and both of hers were out like she was going to do push-ups, her fingers on either side of his head. She stared at his eyes. He was staring at her mouth.

“Max I…”

He lifted his head, his lips connecting her hers.

The spark she’d felt the night he kissed her to shut her up, it was back. That, combined with his tongue sweeping along her bottom lip, took her breath away. He tasted like popcorn… she dragged her mouth away.

“You and Marc went to the movies instead of training, didn’t you?”

Max just laughed and hauled her down for another kiss. She smiled as his one had traced the bare skin that was visible now that her shirt had ridden up some. Juliet pressed herself against him, her body trying to mold itself against his.

“Are you sure about this Jules?”

“Completely. I just have one question.”

What?”

“Your bed, or mine?”