Page 75 of Her Wicked Hero

“Fuck no. I trust you with my life, Marcia. This is a matter of everyone playing their position. Wyatt’s entire focus was on you, he didn’t know about our secondary operation, either.”

Marcia thought about it and realized Zed was telling the truth. Wyatt had been just as in the dark as she had been, but he hadn’t been upset, seemed to think this was a good way of handling things. Maybe she needed to take a page out of his book.

“How’s Amelia?” she asked.

Zed started the car and headed toward the apartment.

“Amelia is doing fine, great in fact. Since coming back from Afghanistan, she’s been suffering from PTSD and was sure she could never cope with any kind of combat situation again. She said this helped her turn a corner.”

Marcia was happy to hear that.

A car tried to merge into them and Zed laid on the horn. He accelerated, so they got out of the dumb butt driver’s way, but didn’t slow down until they took their exit. It was unlike him.

“Zed?”

He gave her a tight smile. “Almost home.”

What the heck was wrong? The bad guy was dead, and Zed seemed to be crawling out of his skin.

As soon as the vehicle was parked, Marcia undid her seatbelt and reached for the door. His big hand landed on hers.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Getting out of the car?” She gave him a bewildered look.

“You’re supposed to wait for me.”

“Raymond is dead,” she argued reasonably.

“Marcia, did you forget your house in DC was bombed three days ago? We still don’t have that figured out yet.” Zed’s eyes glittered down at her.

“Mr. B. said it had to do with the Saudi’s and Yemen,” her voice trailed off.

“Until everything is wrapped up to my liking, you follow the safety protocols we’ve established. Got it?”

She nodded. Zed got out and yanked open her door. Where was her calm, cool, and collected SEAL? Marcia gave him a confused smile as he walked her to the apartment. As soon as they were inside, he slammed the door shut and jerked her into his arms.

Zed’s mouth plundered hers, his fingers sinking into hair, while his other hand gripped her ass and pulled her tight against him. For a split-second, Marcia was worried about him, but then all conscious thought dropped away as she spiraled into a pit of need. He maneuvered her against the wall and shoved her tee up and over her head.

Marcia whimpered at their short loss of contact. Before he could ask what was wrong, she twined one arm around his neck, the other hand in search of his heat. She found him, hot and hard, straining against his shorts. She caressed the length of him, needing like she never had before.

Zed worked down her shorts and panties, and when they were partway down her leg, he used his foot to push them the rest of the way to the floor. His fingers found the heart of her, circled and tugged until she thought she would go out of her mind.

“Come for me.”

“Not without you,” she panted.

He thrust two fingers inside her and everything went up in flames. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe. When she finally surfaced, she touched the button on his shorts, then suddenly she was upside down.

“What?”

“No condom out here,” Zed said as he carried her down the hall to the bedroom. He dropped her onto the bed, and she stared up at him. Where was his wicked smile? Those warm eyes? Instead she was facing a marauder, a man who was intent on conquering. Why?

“What’s wrong?”

Zed sheathed himself, then pulled her to the middle of the bed, and pulled her legs over his arms.

“I’ll tell you what’s wrong,” he said as he stroked through her wet folds. “I wasn’t with you. When they made their move, it wasn’t me there to protect you.” Zed slid deep inside her, his eyes never leaving hers.