Blackout

Chapter 20

Location: Imaia

Code Name: Blackout.

Time:15:00 hrs International Time

After three weeks of intensive work I sent the order to the other units to pack things and return to their main locations. Electricity had been reestablished across the island and our technical group was already working on connecting our servers to military satellites. It would take a couple of weeks more to go back to normal but the worst had passed. The moment we returned to our campament we went back to work on our money laundering mission. 

It had taken us an entire month to hunt down the middle man between a very secretive organization named Foxtrot and a series of illegal channels of distribution across the Caribbean. It came out that the ship named Foxtrot belonged to this unknown organization that we were now gathering information on. Apparently, they trafficked everything, from drugs to people and everything in between. We had circumvented the illegal commerce routes, destroying every single small operation until a man by the name of Olivier had appeared in Guyana. Olivier was the point of contact between Foxtrot and the small clandestine systems of exportation and import that existed around the Caribbean. Modern corsaires with no moral code that followed blindly every single order that came from the high seats of Foxtrot. 

We descended on Olivier with the intention of killing him regardless of the fact he spoke or not. The man was a rat that deserved to die after selling little girls to the Mexican borders so they could be smuggled inside the USA. And his life was irrelevant. We already had enough information that pointed to the possibility that Foxtrot’s headquarters was located in Western Europe. In our world that was enough information to send us to another search party, but Olivier had been an important piece of the puzzle. Not that we spared his life, but his intel had been important. The man had been so scared of us that he had sung like a canary. He gave us all the information he knew, which was jack s**t, but one important piece of information was revealed.

Foxtrot had been only recently founded. At least, that’s what Oliver had said. He had been working for them for half a year before we had found him. In my experience that wasn’t exactly the case with international organizations that ruled illegal business across the globe. It took time and gigantic laundering systems to expand at the level this organization had grown. They had to have been working secretly for quite a while but only recently had come out at full force. It made sense since we hadn’t found out about them until they tried to expand on the Caribbean, but the fact they had passed down our radar for so long was quite alarming. And their name Foxtrot irked all of us the wrong way. Why were they named like Colin’s military alias? Was this some sort of personal vendetta of a crime lord against us?

Connor and I had already asked permission from our superiors to have access to all the information regarding Colin’s last mission. We knew Colin had accepted a side operation to work with another delta team on the case of a Colombian drug lord known as Cortez. We had helped to track the criminal down but at the last moment he had escaped, killing Colin in an altercate near Gocta Waterfalls in the sss. Colin’s body had never been found and neither had been Cortez’s.

We had worked day and night to locate their bodies but after a year even Connor had lost hope of finding the remains of his dead brother. The time frame between their disappearance and the resurgence of Foxtrot was suspicious and we all knew that our best course of action would be to explore the loose ends that pointed at a possible illegal headquarters of Foxtrot in Western Europe. I’d already signed two forms asking for permission to deploy my team to Germany so we could hunt them down. The authorization forms had been denied, since we were still needed back in Imaia after the hurricane that had destroyed the island. 

Honestly, I wasn’t mad at the idea of staying at Imaia. Maybe in the past I would have grown restless at the idea of having another more exciting mission already waiting for us but that had been before Max. The month I’ve passed away from her only made me realize how important the woman was for me. I’d missed her. I’d missed seeing her, touching her, hearing her voice and her angry outbursts. I’d missed the way she walked, with her back straight like an arrow and her head high, shoulders drawn back. She seemed to shine when she had her white coat on and a stethoscope around her neck. It was like seeing an angel passing you by the hall. Whenever I heard her talking about her last surgeries I always got hard. She became so excited and her eyes would shine while she listed all the scalpels she’d used and all the complications she faced. It was sexy as f**k and I’d wanted to f**k her instantly, even if she was walking with other doctors on her way to another surgery or just sharing a cup of coffee with Rosie on the dining hall.

I wanted to f**k her all the time.

Not just to scratch an itch, which by the way, has been left completely unscratched for six months now, exactly since the moment I’d met Max. I couldn’t even look at other women. No other would ever compare to her. As a result I’d been jerking myself off at the idea of f*****g Max for months now. And even that was better than the idea of taking another one. I couldn’t even remember jerking so much when I was a kid. f**k that. Once I started f*****g women I rarely ever indulged in a wank. As a man I’ve enjoyed a good f**k over my hand and had plenty of women since the moment I started f*****g. I had them anywhere I went and how many I wanted. Now I couldn’t care for other women.

All I cared for was Max.

Max and her hazel eyes. Max and the way she always walked as if she was the queen of every space. Max and those dimples at her lower back. Max and that belly piercing that she kept hidden from everyone. Max and her sexy moans when she was coming. Max and her perfectly shaped thighs, shaking between my hips. 

I checked my military watch for the hundredth time and Judge smirked by the other side of the table. He knew better than to try my patience by saying anything, but even I knew I wasn’t acting like myself. This woman…man. She had me wrapped around her little finger and she didn’t even know it. I grounded my jaw, rasping my knuckles over the table while I tried to stop counting the minutes and focus again on our logistics meeting. We wanted to organize our next mission before we needed to go. It was always wise to have a plan of action before being deployed at any moment’s notice. Normally I would plan for everything alone but my head was not exactly in the game and Judge had offered to help.

I checked the watch again and jumped out of my seat when it was finally the time to see her. I ran out of the camp at full speed, passing Blue and Bell who had been returning to our tent with some hot coffee and dried jerky. Both men raised their eyebrows when they saw me pass them.

“Major Jameson?” asked Blue, his eyes opened in surprise but I didn’t have time to indulge the kid in an explanation.

Instead I reached the medic unit, jumping easily over the rock fence and climbing the first floor until I reached the water spout. I balanced my body to the right and branched myself to the wood ceiling that fell in a steep angle to the side. I rocked back, letting myself fall easily on the hall of the second floor, just in time to see Max emerge from a room with a clipboard in her hand. Tonight she had let her hair loose and had her black glasses on. I’ve seen her at times using them and I had to say, never a woman had looked so incredibly hot with glasses like she did. They were heavy rimmed and square, ugly in every sense of the word, but on her delicate face and framing her pretty eyes she looked f*****g beautiful. 

She had been writing something on her clipboard but the moment she looked up her entire little body froze and her hazel eyes grew shiny when they focused on my face. For weeks now I’d been jumping on her whenever we had free time. I’d learned her entire schedule and worked around the clock to be free whenever she was free. We never had enough time, only a couple of minutes before she was needed somewhere or my men started looking for me, but damn, I made those minutes count. Yesterday I cornered her against the back of the dorms and kissed her until we both had dry humped each other and she had asked me for more. I’d made her come on my hand while she screamed my name against my lips, so I could swallow every single sweet sound she made.

Without saying a word I took her hand and guided her inside an empty medical room. I closed the door at our backs and placed a chair against the handle just in case. I liked my privacy and wasn’t in the mood to kill any bastard who stepped on us kissing each other. I turned to Max fast, locking a finger at the neck of her shirt and pushing her blue uniform up and away. Tonight she was wearing a white cotton bra. My mouth watered at the sigh of it. Max had the most beautiful breasts in the world. Big enough to fit in my hands, which was the perfect size if you asked me, and rounded. They were heavy under my touch and her small, brown n*****s tightened for me, begging to be sucked and licked.

Impatient to touch more of her I started lowering her pants, caressing with the tip of my fingers the strong lines of her stomach. She was my own personal wet dream. Max was perfect in every way. I could never have enough of her. I loved how narrow her waist was and how my hands ran easily over her smooth skin, gaining her big ass and holding tight to those perfect shaped globes. She moaned when I opened her cheeks gently, letting my fingers play with the folds of her s*x. The vixen was already dripping wet for me. Goddamn, this woman. Knowing she was ready for me made me feel a little bit crazy in the head. I was one touch away from ripping her thong to pieces and exploring her fully when Max broke away from my kiss, holding me a step away while she panted out of breath.

“Wait, hold a second... please,” it was her please that made me stop.  When I looked down at her she was staring at me with hooded eyes and was breathing hard. She licked her lips and I swear only that small gesture had my hands shaking with need. f**k, this woman was perfection. I braced my hips, holding on to the impulse of pushing her down the bed and eating her p***y until she was coming all over my face. She sighed, her breathing a little shaky and unsteady, before speaking, “I want you.”

I tensed, staring down at her and grinding my jaw so hard that I could feel a nerve pulsing in it. She couldn’t possibly be saying what I imagined she was saying, right? I inspected her eyes and sure enough there was need in them and there was also a plea. I controlled myself as best as I could and nodded slowly.

“You want me after we marry,” I said in a tight voice and Max scratched one of her eyebrows, giving me a tentative smile.

“Not exactly,” she murmured and I frowned.

“Woman, speak clearly,” I wasn’t thinking straight. Hell, I wasn’t even thinking. We were alone, she was on her bra and we had twenty more minutes before the end of her break. All I could think of right now was touching her. Max blushed a little, her olive skin flushed under the fluorescent lights hanging from the roof. She finally spoke, loud and clear, staring me in the eyes.

“Callan, I want you to be my first,” she explained, taking a tentative step closer and placing a hand over my chest. Her touch was incendiary. Just that, just one simple touch of her hand over my chest and I was a goner. She must have read my need staring back at her in my eyes because she smiled sweetly, moving even closer, “I don’t want to wait anymore. I know you are the right choice and if this ends…”

“Wait,” I took her small hand and gently pushed it away. Taking a step back from her I stared into those big, innocent eyes and frowned, “ What do you mean if this ends?”

“With your lifestyle and my lifestyle it would be impossible for us to be with each other. It’s not fair for me to tie you down, not when I know for a fact the army is your passion. I saw you out there Callan,” she smiled proudly, shaking her head in admiration, “ You save people all the time and you do it so easily, as if it was just an afterthought and not what it really is. Saving people it’s your calling. As it is mine. And maybe that makes it impossible for us to be together but I would never get in the middle between you and your duty. If s*x it’s all we can have then let’s have it.”

“No,” I said, hoarsely and angry. f**k that and f**k myself for shooting myself in my damn foot but… “I chose you already, woman. I’d choose you a thousand times. I'd choose you in any version you might come. If I could go anywhere right now, if I could have anyone and see anything I want, it would still be you. You are all that matters to me and I will not rest until you are completely mine. I want you to be my wife, to carry my name and give me children that look like you and have your soul. There are no ifs. There are not things we can’t have. It’s all or nothing, not in betweens.”

“Marriage is not a game, Callan,” she said and I took her small hands, bringing her closer until I could rest my forehead over her head. Our eyes met and there were no doubts in my mind about this. I’d always been a man who knew instantly what I wanted. I wanted Max Cruz to be my wife for as long as we lived and I would work every single f*****g day to be the husband she deserved. 

“Good think I’m not playing games,” I said gravely, watching her and reading those hazel eyes that seemed to be about to cry, “Please...just please, be my wife.”

“I don’t know you well enough. We haven’t even said that we love each other and…”

“And I will take a bullet for you,” I said right away, not letting her think too much into that thought because at the end of the day people said s**t they didn’t mean all the damn time. I was not a big talker and I hated to be speaking about emotions, but I could promise her tangible, real things. I cupped her cheek, never breaking eye contact, “I will jump down a cliff for you. I will walk through fires to reach you. I will kill with my own hands whoever tries to harm you. I will protect you with my own life and keep you safe. Tell me what else you want from me and I will give it to you.”

Max looked up, holding in tears that seemed to be about to fall from her eyes. She sniffed, taking a deep breath before looking back at me. She looked so damn beautiful right then that I kissed her forehead but she pushed her head back, narrowing her eyes at me, “If we are doing...this, I want you to promise me three things.”

“I’m listening,” I said right away and Max grew very serious, staring into my soul with her eyes. I never looked away from her but I worked on my breathing, keeping it steady so she could not see too much into me. There were parts of me that I didn’t want her to see. Max had only seen the soldier that saved lives and helped people, but there was this person I became during missions that I didn’t want her to see. Not ever. Not if I could spare her the disappointment. Max lifted one finger then, listing her first stipulation.

“If you are marrying me you will not touch any other woman,” she said, and she meant business, “If I know you f****d someone else I’m getting a divorce the next day. There will be no negotiations about the matter, no apologies and no couple’s therapy. We are done.”

It was the easiest promise I’d ever made, “I promise to not f**k any other woman but you.”

“Callan, I’m being serious,” she reiterated, opening her eyes pointedly. I took one step closer, taking her hand and placing it over my hard c**k. She blushed, staring between my eyes and my d**k.

“This is yours and yours only,” I said to her, leveling her with an honest look, “I haven’t touched any other woman since the day I met you. I can’t even look at them anymore. It’s only you Max.”

“Are you serious?” she smiled a bit, the worst of her preoccupation passing over.

I nodded, “I already see you as my wife, woman. For months now I’ve been giving you the respect you deserve while I’ve waited for you. I will never take another woman but you while I live.”

“Callan…” she smiled again, pushing myself closer and hugging me. Max was so small that she only reached my chest with the tip of her head. This woman that saved lives and brought people back from the dead was still delicate and tiny. She was mine to protect. The gravity of the situation sinked pleasantly in my bones. This was my woman, today, tomorrow and always. She was mine. She had always been.

“What else do you need me to promise?” I asked her in her ear and she looked up, resting her chin on my chest and looking me in the eyes.

“Promise me that you will always be honest,” I tensed at her words and she noticed, “Callan, what’s the matter?”

“There are things I might not be able to share with you. Not because I don’t want to, but because it’s safer that way,” she nodded, understanding. I caressed her cheek, trying to reassure her with my touch, “I promise I will tell you what I can and to be always honest about us. The rest is only noise either way.”

“I will take that,” she said with a tiny smile.

“What else do you need?”

“I want you to promise me that you will always come back to me,” she said slowly, enunciating every word, “No matter what happens, no matter where you are or if your life it’s about to end. You will stop and think about this moment and you will remember I’m waiting for you. You will live, and you will return and find me, and then you will kiss me as if you could have died but you didn’t.”

Damn.

I curled my fingers around her face and kissed this woman as if we were about to die and only had that second. I kissed her hard, worshiping her very creation and everything that she was. I knew I wasn’t worthy of her. I’ve killed too much, destroyed too much and hurted too many, but she was my redemption. I would be the man she deserved and I would work my damn best to make her happy.

“I promise,” I said between our kisses and she nodded, closing her mouth over my lips and kissing me as desperately as I’d kissed her. I deepened the kiss, feeling Max smile happily against my lips, “Please… marry me, Maxima Cruz.”

“Yes, a thousand times yes, Callan,” that was all I needed to hear.

I broke the kiss, taking her shirt from the floor and dressing Max fast. Then I pushed her white robe over her shoulders and took her hand, guiding her away from the room. She was laughing a bit, staring at me with shiny eyes that looked at me as if I was a better man than what I was. I loved that. I wanted to keep her looking at me like that until we died old and wrinkled, in each other’s arms.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“To get married.”