Submerged (Bound Together #1) Read online

  It’s Friday night and Blake called to say that something came up at work and he’d be by later. It still bothers me that I haven’t figured out his true association with my father. From what I’ve gathered from my mom, and what little information he and Mattias filled me in on during my visit to his house, I don’t believe that whatever it is he’s doing is entirely legal. Every time I questioned my father, he evades and redirects. What I do know is that whatever he was involved in twenty years ago was bad enough that it sent Mom and me running to a completely different lifestyle.

  Natalia is finally down to sleep when my buzzer sounds. When Blake announces himself, I release the door lock and wait for him to make his way up to my apartment. I’m standing on the other side of the door when he knocks. Instantly, my heart does a little extra pitter-patter when I see him. He’s wearing dark denim jeans and a white t-shirt that is stretched tightly around his thick arms. I want to run my tongue over the muscles just to see if they flex when I touch them. He looks good enough to eat, and tonight, I’m famished.

  His eyes darken as if sensing where my thoughts are heading. When he steps through the doorway, he quickly engages both locks before scooping me up into those strong arms. His lips find my neck a moment later as he kisses and runs his tongue along my wildly beating pulse. When I lift my legs up and wrap them around his waist, it’s all over with.

  Blake’s mouth is on me a second later. His kiss is fierce and penetrating, as his lips possess me. He nips at my lower lip until I gasp, giving him unobstructed access to my mouth. Blake uses his tongue to taste me, running it along every surface in my mouth. The groan that fills the room is loud and foreign, yet doesn’t take me long to realize that it came from me.

  “Natalia?” he whispers hoarsely against the flushed skin of my neck.

  “Sleeping,” I whisper moments before we’re moving with great determination to my bedroom.

  Without breaking the contact of our lips, Blake presses my back against the wall, firmly sandwiching me between the hard wall and his even harder body. I sigh into his kiss as I feel the familiarity burn through me. This feels right. Blake feels right.

  “I need you, Carly. I need you so badly,” he confesses as his lips trail burning kisses across my chin and back down my neck, the scruff of his face burning my sensitive skin. My entire being bursts into flames. Flames that only Blake can ignite.

  “I need you, too.” His lips trail down to my collarbone. His hands knead the globes of my ass as he hoists me up and down, grinding and rubbing his very hard length against my aching center.

  “Tell me to stop, Carly. If you don’t want this to go any further, you need to say it right now, baby.” His breath comes out in a pant as he gazes deep into my eyes. I can feel his desire for me. It’s piercing me straight through the heart with the passion in his eyes.

  “Don’t stop, Blake,” I whisper into the night. Saying the words was like throwing gasoline on an already raging fire. My entire body lights up as his hands explore everywhere. My hips, my back, my stomach. The feel of his warm hands against my even warmer skin is something I’ll never forget. Just like two years ago.

  Blake lets me slide down his front, but doesn’t let go. He pulls my t-shirt up and over my head, leaving my breasts fully exposed. The loud, throaty groan that fills the room sends heat straight to my core. Blake’s hot mouth is on my exposed flesh moments later. His tongue laps and licks my erect little nubs. With each swipe of his tongue, he brings me closer and closer to the edge.

  Finally, Blake’s large hand is working its way down my abdomen and towards the place that aches the most. He touches me through my shorts and it almost pushes me over the edge completely. I throw my head back against the wall as he rubs my clit, teasing me into oblivion. Just when I get close to orgasm, his hands pull back. My eyes fly open and clash with his; his pupils are so dilated, I can’t even tell what color his eyes are.

  Suddenly, his hand is inside my shorts and panties. Two fingers slip inside so quickly that all I can do is shudder and moan, longing to wrap my legs back around his waist. He slides those fingers in and out in a slow, steady pace. Each stroke brings me that much closer to the orgasm I crave. Blake places his palm against my throbbing clit, grinding it against me with just enough force to finish me off. My eyes are glued to his with such intensity that I fear that I will never be the same again. I fly over the edge, soaring higher and higher with each aftershock of pleasure as I ride his hand and struggle to pull oxygen into my lungs.

  Before those sweet aftershocks even subside, Blake is moving. I watch helplessly as he rips his t-shirt up and over his head. The muscles in his arms, chest, abs, and neck all flex in the moonlight. He’s like a Greek god, all tanned skin and hard muscle. My body stirs to life as if he didn’t just shatter my existence just a few moments ago. When Blake drops his jeans, my legs practically collapse. He’s so much bigger than I remember. And not just the impressive tent pitched out of the front of his boxer briefs. His arms, his legs, his being; it’s all bigger.

  I reach forward and touch the part of him that wasn’t there two years ago. A large tattoo of a soaring Eagle spreads across his left pec. It’s incredibly detailed with large lines and subtle coloring. In the talons of the majestic bird is a small bunch of wildflowers. They’re colorful and so life-like that they practically pop off his skin. I touch his flesh, tracing the ink with shaky fingers.

  As if he’s had enough of my touch, Blake grabs my fingers and pulls them to his lips. He places sweet, tender kisses on my knuckles before sucking my pointer finger into his mouth. I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him as close as humanly possible, leaving absolutely no room for even air to pass between us. Blake lowers his boxers and reaches for his jeans. Pulling a foil package from his wallet, he sheathes himself before returning his attention fully back to me. With a quick lift, he hoists me up against him, my legs wrapping around him instinctively.

  “I’m a selfish bastard, Carly. I want nothing more than to have my way with you with my mouth, but right now, I need to be inside of you. I promise to slow it down next time, but right now, I just can’t fucking hold back anymore,” he says moments before impaling me with his thick, hard erection. My breath swooshes out of my lungs as I feel my body stretching wider than ever before. “God, you’re so damn tight,” he groans, not moving as he allows me time to adjust to his invasion.

  “It’s been -” I start, but stop, gripping his dick with my internal muscles.

  “What? Tell me,” he demands, gritting his teeth with the desire to move.

  “It’s been two years since I did this,” I confess, embarrassment coursing through my body. Blake’s only response is a long groan before his mouth finds mine and he slowly starts to move.

  “You haven’t been with anyone since me?” he asks softly, raining tender kisses on my cheeks and chin. His hands firmly holding my ass, keeping his pace slow and steady.

  “No,” I whisper, wanting to crawl in a hole and die. It’s not like I had a lot of time to date and have sex. I was pregnant for nine months and then raising a baby. Plus, no one held a candle to the man who is inside of me right now, and the thought of sleeping with someone else just didn’t hold any appeal.

  “Now I really am a selfish bastard because that makes me so fucking happy to know that you haven’t given your body to anyone else since then. No one but me,” he grunts as he thrusts his body deep inside of me as if to accentuate his point.

  “Only you,” I whisper as he starts to pick up his pace. I pay no attention to the pain in my back as he slams his body against me, keeping me pinned against the wall. Our mutual desire for release is our common goal right now; Blake’s swift and deep thrusts prove to be more than sufficient to reach the goal.

  My body starts to tighten around him, my insides gripping and squeezing with everything they have. My orgasm feels like it starts in my toes as I clench his body against me, holding tight and using whatever I can for leverage. Blake slams into me hard as
he starts to shake and moan his own orgasm. He’s leaving his mark on me so deeply that I fear my soul has just shattered, making it impossible to not only feel him on my body, but on my heart for the rest of my life.

  When Blake stops moving, he leans his head forward so that we’re forehead to forehead. His labored breathing fans out across my face as we both do everything in our power to catch our breath. My heart beats wildly in my chest, harder than ever before. With great tenderness, Blake kisses my swollen lips, essentially sealing this moment as pure perfection with his gentle touch.

  Moving, Blake walks us over to the bed without breaking our precious contact. He could stay right here for the rest of my life and I wouldn’t mind. My body cradling his from within brings the realization that my feelings for this man are so much deeper than just one night. From the first moment I saw him I knew he was different. How I can come to care so deeply for a man I barely even know and have spent so little time with is beyond me. All I know is that this feeling isn’t going away. I don’t know what it means, what it’ll mean for the future, but I want to explore it. I want to see where this attraction and chemistry leads with Blake.

  Reaching the bed, Blake gently pulls himself free from my body and sets me down on the bed. He slips into my en suite bathroom, leaving me alone on the top of my bedspread. I hear the water run before Blake comes back in with a warm washcloth. He gently wipes my sensitive flesh with great tenderness before tossing the cloth in the hamper.

  Blake slips into my bed next to me, pulling me snuggly against his naked body. “Can I stay?” he asks through his yawn.

  “Yes,” I tell him, praying that he’ll still be here in the morning this time.

  As if sensing where my mind is, he says, “I promise I’ll still be here.” His words bring unshed tears to the corner of my eyes. I blink several times and swallow hard to keep them at bay, not wanting to cry.

  We lie in the silence of the room, both lost in our own thoughts. “Can I ask you something?” I finally ask.

  “Yep,” he says, voice heavy with sleep.

  “Do you have family here?” I ask. We’ve never really talked about Blake’s family. He’s always asking me about my past and family, but we’ve never discussed his. He’s never offered up any more information than necessary, and even then, it’s sometimes like pulling teeth.

  “Yeah. My brother is Luke, and you met him that night,” he says, indicating the night we met. Luke was the one who invited Tara and me over to their table, but it was Blake who was magically pulling me towards them. I can’t explain it, but I was drawn to him without even realizing it.

  I nod as I say, “I remember him.”

  “My parents are still alive and together. My mother likes to keep us close, you know? Especially my little brother. She watches him like a hawk. Sometimes I wonder why he hasn’t rebelled more than he did back in high school. Even now, she likes to know exactly where he is and what he’s doing. I guess that comes with being the baby of the family,” he says.

  “It sounds nice to have a close, complete family,” I tell him.

  “It is. Though I don’t see them as much as I’d like, I know they love me and would do anything for me. Even if we were a handful when we were younger,” he says with a chuckle.

  “Tell me something from when you were younger,” I prod, wanting to hear a snippet of his childhood. Blake was raised by both of his parents throughout his entire childhood. While I had a wonderful mom, I only had my dad for a few of my younger years, and I barely remember him.

  “One time, our neighbor girl, Sidney, was playing in her backyard having a tea party or some shit. Luke and I used to love picking on her; she was a year or two younger than my brother. So Sidney ran in the house to get more tea, which I think was just water. While she was gone, we replaced the tea in her cups with water from the birdbath and the cookies with mud patties with worms on top. She screamed for ten minutes while sitting there paralyzed as the worms inched their way closer and closer to her.”

  “Worms?” I ask, unable to camouflage my smile.

  “Luke said she was terrified of them,” he says with a laugh. “He loved to pick on her ferociously from the first day she moved in next door.”

  “That’s a nice story,” I say sarcastically, snuggling in a little closer.

  Blake turns me around so that I’m tucked in the crook of his arm, my arm and leg thrown over his large body. He seems to relax instantly under my body, his breathing slowly starting to even out. “I’ve been dreaming of you every night. Every fucking night, Carly, for two long years. I go to bed with you on my mind and wake up hard as stone for you. Only you.” His words wash over me, bringing fresh tears to my eyes that I’m unable to stop. A few slip out, hitting him in the chest. Blake pulls me even closer, wrapping those strong arms around me tightly.

  I don’t speak. Hell, I can’t speak. I just revel in the feel of his body underneath mine; his naked flesh against mine. My eyes close, lulled into sleep by his steady breathing and strong beating heart.

  I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but I do know that as long as Blake is beside me, I can handle anything.

  Or so I hope.

  Chapter Sixteen – Puzzle Pieces

  Blake

  “I have good news for you,” I tell my brother as he slides into the booth bench across from me.

  Luke looks around at all the faces in the coffee shop before saying, “I have good news for you, too.”

  “Me first,” I tell my brother, barely unable to contain my excitement. He nods his head, indicating for me to go. “You’re an uncle,” I say before taking a sip of my coffee. Unfortunately, my brother doesn’t fare so well, and the coffee he had just taken a swig of comes spewing out of his mouth and spraying all over the table.

  “What the fuck?” he hisses, horror written all over his face as he uses a napkin to blot at the wetness. I can’t help but laugh.

  “Well, you remember the night I spent with Carly?” I ask as he frantically shakes his head in confirmation. “She got pregnant.”

  “You’re serious?” he asks.

  “As a heart attack,” I tell him with a huge smile as I think about my daughter. “Her name is Natalia and I met her the night I went to Carly’s after we discovered that she’s Roman’s daughter.”

  “Wow, dude. That’s heavy. And I take it by that shit-eating grin on your face that you’re happy about this?” he asks, concern etched on his handsome face.

  “It’s fucking awesome. She’s the most perfect little girl in the world, Luke. She looks just like Carly with dark hair and her olive complexion, but with my eyes. She’s already wrapped around my finger. Shit, she’s wrapped around my entire hand,” I tell him before taking another drink of coffee.

  “Shit, man. I thought you were going to tell me that you got some. Or maybe that you were ready for the bust,” he says, seemingly disappointed.

  “That second part is coming soon. Mattias called a meeting for this weekend and wanted us all there. Rumor has it they have the mother of all jobs coming with all overseas shipments and it could happen anytime in the next few weeks. This could be the one to take them down, Luke. Tell me the Bureau is ready,” I prod.

  “That’s the good news I wanted to share. We’re ready. We had a meeting early this week with the Special Agent in Charge and she approved the raid. All we need is your intel of when the big one is going down, and we’ll be there,” Luke says confidently.

  “Good to hear,” I tell him, relieved as all get out. It looks like this damn job is coming to an end. I’ve been working this thing for just over two years, haven’t seen my parents in six months, so submerged in the life that it’s all starting to look gray, and now it might all be coming to an end. Of course, plenty could go wrong between now and then, but at least there’s a finish line in sight. The end is finally nearing. And as an added bonus, I have Carly and Natalia to consider a future with.

  “Tell me about Carly and her father,” Luke probes quietl
y.

  “She thought he was dead. Her mom shortened her name from Carlina to Carly when she was five years old. Changed her last name to Mathewson, Georgia’s maiden name. They hid in plain sight, but the thing that bothers me the most is how easy they did it.”

  “You’re thinking inside job again, aren’t you?” he says, green eyes searching my own. Luke thinks like me so much, it’s scary at times.

  “It’s the only thing I can consistently come up with when I look at it from different angles. They never left the state. Hell, they never left town. That file says they were presumed dead after a boating accident off of the Turks and Caicos Islands during a family vacation. Roman supposedly was called back to a meeting, but insisted his wife and young daughter continue on their planned guided sailing adventure. They never returned. Why lie? Carly and Georgia are very much alive and well. It would have been too much work to change their identification, but not much work at all to change their last names and make up a phony story for the FBI file. I’m telling you, it all points to someone on the inside. It’s the only thing that makes sense,” I tell Luke.

  “So that brings us to your question–why lie?”

  “I don’t know. What if he got too deep? Deeper than he planned to in the beginning. What if business went bad and got a little too close to home? What if they were in danger or something? Wouldn’t he do anything he could to protect his wife and child?” My mind goes instantly to Carly and Natalia. Though she’s not my wife, I’d do anything I could to protect both of them. I’d even risk my own life.

  “That makes sense. So, he has someone on the inside that alters his file. He knows we’ve got one on him, but have nothing to make anything stick. Then, when we do get close, the agents disappear.”

  “Yeah, his wife and daughter are both safe, but not far enough away that he can’t keep tabs on them.”

  “I agree with you, brother. This is the only thing that’s making sense. I hate to think of a dirty agent within the bureau, but maybe that was all it was. Someone was paid to alter the file to keep them safe. I mean, if they did have someone on the inside, wouldn’t that person have reported back your position?” Luke asks.