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  I woke up a few hours later with Ten’s name on my lips, my hands tangled in her hair, and my very hard dick trapped between her pretty, pink lips. The sheets were wrapped in a tangled mess around our legs, and the only light in the room was coming from the early morning sun peeking through a small crack in the closed curtains. It was enough I could see the mischievous gleam in Ten’s eyes as her head lazily bobbed up and down the length of my cock. She did a swirly thing with her tongue, licking across the swollen head and flicking the tip of it along the length of the dripping slit. I had no idea how long she’d been awake, or how long she’d been working me over, but I felt pleasure pooling in my gut and the start of an impending orgasm at the base of my spine. I was impressed she worked me up so fast, and kind of pissed I missed any of this moment to sleep.

  Her tongue flattened along the underside, the tip leaving a wet trail up and down the thick vein I could feel throbbing in time with my rapid heartbeat. She took me so deeply I felt the tip of my cock brush against the back of her throat. Her emerald eyes teared up briefly, and I pulled on her head where it was trapped between my hands to get her to let up. I didn’t want to hurt her. I didn’t need her pain to get off. I just needed her.

  She let me pull her off the rigid pole of flesh in her mouth, and watched me with curious eyes as I struggled to catch my breath and regain some control after her surprise attack. I used my thumbs to caress the delicate skin of her temples and gave her a smile that was tied to the strings of my heart.

  “You don’t need to swallow it for me to get there. I’m already close.” So close. I was leaking precum, the whole shaft twitching every time she exhaled and her warm breath hit the wet skin she’d left behind.

  She quirked a challenging eyebrow at me and gently scratched her fingernails up the line of my inner thigh. The small burn that followed almost brought me up and off the bed. “How many times am I going to have to tell you? I never do anything I don’t want to do. Especially in bed. If I want you so far down my throat I can’t breathe, if I want to feel every single inch of you vibrate against my tongue as you come, I’m going to do whatever I have to do to make it happen.”

  I chuckled and loosened my hold on her head. “Like a sneak attack.”

  She laughed softly and when her head lowered, the long length of my shaft brushed against the side of her cheek. “This thing was poking me in the stomach for an hour before I decided to teach it a lesson. It’s not very well behaved when you’re asleep.”

  Surrendering myself to her skilled hands, I withdrew my hands altogether and placed them behind my head like a sultan waiting to be serviced. I cocked an eyebrow back at her and lifted my chin in challenge. “Do your worst then.”

  She let out a low laugh and wrapped her hand around the wide base of my erection. “Nope. You only get my very best, Webb. You and only you.”

  She’d saved her best for only me, just like I’d saved the words that meant something just for her.

  My response was stolen when she dropped her head once again and warm heat encased my cock. She hollowed out her cheeks with a long suck that filled the room with undeniable sex sounds. I was pretty sure my eyes rolled back in my head, because everything went dark for a second when I felt the tight sleeve of her throat surround my pulsing cock. My hands tightened into fists, and I was reduced to nothing more than grunts and the occasional moan of pleasure. Ten put a hand on my clenched abs to keep me from moving as she worked me down as far as she could. My dick liked the attention. I loved the way she kept her eyes on mine, even as they watered.

  She made a pleased sound, a little hum of delight at her complete and utter power over me, and then it was all over. I barely got out a shout of warning, telling her to pull off, before my hands flew to hold her in place at the same time. I forgot myself, forgot her, and lost myself in the powerful sensations sweeping throughout my body. She couldn’t keep me still as my hips kicked up and my hands once again found their way into her hair. I bucked into her as a warm rush of satisfaction flooded her sweet mouth. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she took everything I fired at her like a champ. She swallowed every salty drop and lifted her head, but not before pausing to drag her tongue over the super sensitive slit. I almost cringed from the zing on such a sensitive spot, but it turned into a shiver of satisfaction as Ten moved to drop a series of light kisses along the line of my hip bone.

  It was a minute or so before I came back down from the high. When I did, she was lying on my lower half, her hands stacked on my stomach as she watched me with confident, sparkling eyes.

  “Good morning.” The tone of her voice matched the grin on her face, and I was so fucking happy to be the reason for it.

  “Good doesn’t even begin to touch it.” I yawned and reached for her. “Come up here and let me start your day off right.”

  Both her pale eyebrows winged up, and it took a few more minutes of coaxing before she relented and let me position her, so she was kneeling on the bed, her knees on either side of my head, with one hand braced on the wall and the other on the top of the wooden headboard. She mumbled no one had ever done this for her before, and once again, I wanted to strangle the men who’d come before me. They might be slightly older, and supposedly more experienced, but they didn’t know jack about the things this woman needed. I could feel her thighs trembling next to my ears, and I could see the way her body went slick and ready at the first swipe of my fingers through her delicate folds. I heard her suck in a sharp gasp as I lifted one hand and settled it on the top curve of her ass. Her muscles tensed under my hand as soon as she felt the first glide of my tongue through the slippery moisture gathered at her entrance. I used the fingers of my free hand to give my mouth better access to all her sweet, hidden places. She shivered above me and started to roll her hips when I worked my tongue inside of her, flicking it in and out of her opening, twisting it around the tiny bud of her clit, generally driving her insane with my mouth in every way I could think of.

  She all but screamed my name, her legs tightening on either side of my head. I loved how uninhibited, how wild she was when we were together like this. She was controlled, so exact in everything else; it was like a little secret only the two of us shared.

  I slid a couple of fingers into the clenching channel of her pussy, collecting the moisture from my mouth and her pleasure. When she was stretched by both my tongue and fingers, her head tossed back, and I felt the ends of her hair tickle across my stomach, the small kiss of those silky strands was almost enough to get my dick hard again.

  While Ten was blissed out, eyes closed, bottom lip caught between her teeth, I pulled my now-soaked fingers out of her clasping body and slicked them along the soft, hidden crevasse between the perfectly rounded globe of her ass. I waited for a protest, for her body to stop writhing or still above my mouth, but when there was no sign of hesitation, I slipped just the tip of my index finger into the softly quivering pucker between her cheeks. I locked my mouth around her clit at the same time, sucking and using the edge of my teeth to torment the tightly bundled collection of nerve endings.

  Ten’s entire body tensed. Her legs locked around the sides of my head, and then my name escaped on a long, low wail loud enough to wake the neighbors on either side of us. When she rocked backward, the motion pushed my probing finger deeper inside of her. When she squirmed forward, it pushed more of her wet, willing pussy into my mouth.

  Suddenly one of her hands was wrapped in the longer hair on the top of my head. Her breath was coming out in choppy, uneven pants, my name escaping on every other puff of air. Ten was actively riding my mouth, grinding on my face, taking every ounce of pleasure I was giving her and reveling in it. She pulled on my hair, and I used my teeth on her clit. She dropped a string of words that may have made a lesser man blush, and I felt her body quiver and flutter under my mouth. There was a flood of moisture that hit my tongue, and her sweet flavor filled my mouth.

  A moment later she rolled to the side and collapsed in a limp h
eap on the bed next to me. It was my turn to watch her with knowing satisfaction. I wanted to be the one to put the look of bewildered wonder and awe on her face every day from here on out.

  I reached out to lace the fingers of our hands together, lifting them and placing a kiss on the back of Ten’s. I wasn’t ready for our connection to be lost. I would never be ready.

  Unfortunately, the real world couldn’t be held at bay any longer just because I wanted to bask in the aftermath with Ten. It was too early for her cell phone to start screaming, but it did anyway. It didn’t stop until she untangled herself from me and the sheets and went to grab it from the spot I’d left it charging in the bathroom when I stripped her down.

  I heard a mumbled greeting and then another long line of dirty words, but these ones weren’t thick with sensual heat. They were hard and angry. She came out of the bathroom looking the same way, pushing her hair off of her face.

  “Get dressed.” She moved toward her suitcase, and I watched her slip back into the skin of the woman who kept everyone, including me, at arm's length.

  “Why?” I sounded like a petulant child, and I wasn’t going to apologize for it. I resented having our peaceful morning interrupted.

  Ten lifted her head and gave me a pointed look. “That was Rodie. The FBI are here, and they want to talk to both of us.”

  By ‘FBI,’ I knew she meant her ex. It was my turn to swear, and just as easily as she’d pulled her armor on, I did the same. Hiding behind a grin and untroubled façade. It made the moments we were real with one another even more obvious.

  Ten

  When Rodie called and told me Gage was waiting in his office acting like the king of the universe, I automatically slipped into battle mode. Probably too easily for Webb’s taste, but every protective instinct I had fired to life and screamed at me to keep him safe. I wasn’t going to let Gage sacrifice Webb on the altar of his career like he had so many others.

  When we left the hotel, I felt like a paranoid mess. Webb had a straw cowboy hat pulled low over his eyes and an old, tattered flannel shirt that was missing the sleeves over a tank top. I think he was doing his best to blend in, but the look made him stand out even more than he normally did. I felt like he had a giant bullseye painted on the center of his chest. I stayed close to his side, eyes darting around the mostly empty parking lot, snagging on every shadow and flicker of light. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and a bolt of unease shot down my spine.

  “I swear to God, someone is watching us.” I bit the words out between clenched teeth as one of Webb’s hands landed between my tense shoulder blades. “Don’t you feel it?”

  His sapphire eyes flashed at me from under the brim of his hat, and I could see his mouth was pulled into a tight line. “Just keep moving.”

  Those words were pretty much his answer to everything he’d come up against in his life. When things got tough, when things became complicated, he just kept moving. I wasn’t so sure his method was going to work for him this time around. He was going to have to stay still if he wanted to give his twin a chance to catch up to him.

  Webb kept his head down and stayed in line with my quick movement toward the truck. It was the one I drove for work, so the distinctive dark green and tan with the Forest Ranger’s logo on the sides was hard to miss. I should’ve left it behind and grabbed my SUV from the ranch, but I’d been so tired and in such a hurry to get to Webb when I finally came out of the forest last night, I wasn’t thinking with the cautious part of my brain. I might not have been thinking with my mind at all. Where Webb was concerned, my heart seemed to be leading the way, and the rest of me followed blindly along.

  We shared an intense look across the cab, and he wordlessly reached out and wrapped his hand around mine. I returned the squeeze he applied to my fingers and quickly turned over the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. I felt like a sitting duck. My imagination ran wild as I pictured someone with Webb’s face, but missing his heart and his soul, staring down the barrel of a rifle with the two of us in the crosshairs.

  When we walked into the sheriff’s station, it was obvious Gage had thrown his weight around and tried to take over. There were men in suits milling about with the deputies. Several had phones pressed to their ears as they did their best to ignore the side-eye thrown by the local boys. Rodie wasn’t so easy to push around and had corralled the pushy fed into an empty meeting room, grumbling about Gage trying to commandeer his office as soon as he showed up. Considering he knew the dark and dirty history between me and my former superior, it didn’t surprise me at all that Gage was sitting in a wobbly chair drinking tap water instead of bottled. There was no way Rodie was going out of his way to make my ex comfortable. I kind of loved him for it.

  I did not love the way Gage zeroed in on Webb as soon as he followed me into the room.

  “What do you want, Gage? What’s this production about?” I crossed my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes at the man who’d always found me lacking.

  Rodie shut the door and leaned up against the wood, an irritated scowl stamped on his face. “I asked the same thing the minute he showed up, but all he would say is he needed to speak with both of you.”

  Gage cleared his throat and tugged the knot of his tie. I fought the urge to roll my eyes at the nervous gesture. He wasn’t used to not being in control of the situation, and I doubted he expected the three of us to present a united front against him.

  Webb slipped around me and took a seat opposite the other man. He used an index finger to push back the brim of his hat and locked eyes on the man who tried to ruin his life not so long ago.

  “I know Ten told you to talk to my old man, Agent Gordon. I know there is irrefutable proof out there that I have a twin brother, and I know you know it. Why am I here?” Webb kept his tone even and his face impassive, but I could see the tension across his shoulders and the impatient way he tapped his fingers on the table in the front of him.

  The fed pulled on his tie again and looked away. If I hadn’t known Gage as well as I did, I might have missed the fact he flushed under his tan.

  “I did speak with Mr. Bernard. He verified he fathered twins with Jolene Bryant as well as one other child. I can confirm the FBI recognizes the possibility that it was your twin who committed the robberies we arrested you for.” Gage’s gaze shifted from Webb and locked on to where I was hovering behind him. “Once we had the information from Bernard, we started looking into the possibility that the other suspect was involved in armed robberies before the ones that were committed around here. The robberies were too practiced and too well planned to have been the perpetrator’s first time.”

  My eyebrows shot up, and I reached out and put a hand on Webb’s shoulder as he leaned expectantly on the table.

  “Seems like it should’ve been something you started with when you couldn’t pin the robbery on Webb.” Rodie’s gravelly voice was thick with censure and accusation. He might not be a federal agent, but the man knew how to run an investigation. Something Gage had never been particularly interested in. He liked the limelight and accolades, not the actual work.

  Ignoring the looming sheriff, Gage looked down at the table in front of him and had the good grace to appear properly remiss. “There were several steps I admit were rushed in this case. Both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation would like to apologize to Mr. Bryant.” Gage huffed out a breath and plowed a hand through his hair. “When we started digging into similar crimes, we found a string of robberies matching the profile throughout the South. Several in Florida and Georgia. The suspect wore a disguise, but he did leave DNA behind at a couple of scenes. It matches yours.”

  Webb stiffened under my palm. “Are you asking me for an alibi again?”

  Gage shook his head. “No.” He sheepishly looked back at Webb. “Your brother verified your whereabouts for several of the dates.”

  I heard Webb growl under his breath. I was forced to let go of my hold
on him as he leaned threateningly over the table. “You checked with Wyatt because whatever I said wasn’t going to be good enough?”

  Gage glanced away again, but he wasn’t finding support from any corner of this room. I would be pissed as hell if my integrity was questioned the way Webb’s was. In no way did he have to prove himself to Gage. He was three times the man Gage was, without even trying.

  Gage chose not to answer the pointed question. “We’ve started a full-blown manhunt for your twin brother, Mr. Bryant. We’re also still trying to track down your mother. We believe you both might be in danger.”

  Webb snorted and leaned back in his seat. “No shit. Was your first hint the way he tried to frame me for his crime?”

  Gage grunted and put his hands flat on the table in front of him. “We also believe anyone closely associated with you may be in danger.” He lifted his gaze to mine, and a flash of something that may have been regret flickered in my direction before he blinked. “I’d like you to consider going into protective custody. You too, Tennyson. You’re a liability.”

  I bristled instantly. I took a step back as Webb jumped to his feet, the chair he was sitting on flying backward. “She’s not a liability. She’s an asset. The only one I’ve ever had. She’s got a better chance of bringing my brother to justice than you ever did because she didn’t automatically discount every word out of my mouth as bullshit. She actually listened when I told her I didn’t do a damn thing.”

  Gage made a strangled sounding noise low in his throat. “I don’t think she was particularly unbiased in this case, Mr. Bryant.”

  Webb growled again, but this time it was loud enough to echo throughout the room. Rodie moved fast for such a big man. He had a hand wrapped around Webb’s bicep and was pulling him back before the blond man could launch himself across the table separating him from my ex.

  “Not today, kid. He’s looking for a reaction. Searching for something to hang you up on so he gets his own damn way. Don’t give it to him. If you don’t want to go into protective custody, you don’t have to. We’ll keep an eye on you, just like we planned all along.” Rodie narrowed his eyes in Gage’s direction. “I get that you think we’re nothing but a bunch of hicks and hillbillies, but believe it or not, my entire staff is highly trained and invested in keeping Webb in one piece.”