Under Fire (Love Over Duty #1)(75)

The collision of mad, excited, and sexually frustrated was an energizing combination. She leapt off the bed and grabbed a sheet of paper. With a black Sharpie, she wrote a title at the top of the page. True North Pharmaceuticals. Then she screwed it up and threw it in the garbage. She grabbed a second sheet. True North Laboratories. Better. But it still lacked  …  ambition. Size. Shit. How the hell was someone who hated being around people going to run a company? She folded the paper into an airplane and aimed it for the trash can. It drifted past and crashed into the glass doors to the garden.

At the top of the third sheet, she wrote True North Industries. Go big or go home, right?

She drew a tick box and added Hire a CEO.

Just because she owned it didn't mean she had to run it.

For the first time in days, the tightness around her chest released.

* * *

Six turned the key in the lock and gingerly stepped into the house. No amount of adrenaline was able to prevent his body from realizing that two hundred and thirty pounds of bone and muscle hitting concrete hurt like a bitch. Despite the energy coursing through his body, he walked like an old man and needed the ice packs from the freezer in the garage, which felt too far away down way too many steps for his messed-up knees.

It had been the driver who'd cracked first, and Buddha owed him ten bucks because of it. Meatheads were all mouth and no balls. And Mitkin had learned an important lesson about holding phone conversations in the back of a car. Turned out that Mitkin was Lemtov's son-in-law, and the one responsible for hiring Kovalenko. Even more interesting, they now knew that Lemtov was Ivan's godfather. And that at Ivan's request, Lemtov had sold the formula to an underground criminal organization in Russia. It didn't look good for anybody involved that they couldn't create it, and now they needed Louisa to solve it.

The lights were off in the living room and the kitchen, but he could see the light shining from underneath Louisa's door. Deciding that a shower would be the best bet before ice, he made his way to his bedroom, pulling his long-sleeved shirt over his head as he walked. 

Louisa's door opened suddenly, and a gust of air hit the hallway. "You're home," she said, her eyes wide with  …  something. Excitement. He couldn't quite tell. "Are you okay?" she asked, running her hands all over him, in his hair, and then working their way down his biceps as if checking for injuries.

It tickled. And it mattered that she cared. "I'm fine, Lou," he said, grabbing both of her wrists in his hands between the two of them.

"Thank God," she said with a sigh. Using the hold he had on her as leverage, she pushed herself up onto her toes and crashed her lips into his. "I was worried about you," she mumbled against them, and then kissed him in the way he craved right now. Dangerous, and hot.

When he opened his mouth to hers, he couldn't hold back a grin as her sweet-as-anything tongue met his. Jesus Christ. She was like a spider monkey, practically climbing up him. Their moment on the porch had destroyed the last remnant of his self-control, so if that's how she wanted it, he was more than ready to comply. As was his dick, which was already rock hard and ready for action. Scratch that. Desperate for action.

He placed his arms around her waist and stood up straight as she wrapped her legs around him.

"Shit," he gasped as his knees took the weight of both of them. Gently, he lowered her back to the ground.

Louisa took one look at his face. "Where are you hurt? You should have told me."

"The only thing hurting Lou, is my dick," he said, taking her hand and leading her back into her room. Papers covered the floor and table, and as much as he was intrigued by what she'd been doing, the only thing he could focus on was getting her naked faster than the speed of a bullet. Horny as hell, he felt like he'd spent the last forty-eight hours in a permanent state of arousal.

"You're limping," she said, tugging him to a stop. "Let me see."

"I'm serious, Lou. That thing about balls turning blue and dropping off, it's no lie."

"You're forgetting I'm a biology major, sailor. This is my territory," she said, placing her palm on his chest. "Let me be your nurse, Six."

Well, when she put it like that. "Yes, ma'am," he said, and saluted her.

"Very good. Now where does it hurt?" she said, running a fingertip down his chest and over his nipple. "I promise to kiss it better." Her voice was low and husky.

It was clear she wasn't going to continue until she knew what was going on. "My knees hit the concrete, but it's no big deal, honestly."

This time she took his hand and pulled him in the direction of the bathroom. "Let me be the judge of that. A good nurse always triages her patient. I need to assess what parts of you hurt most, and treat them in order," she said, running her hand down the length of his cock in a move that made it jerk and him jump. The first time they'd made love had been incredible, even though she'd been uncertain. Now, as she fisted his cock tightly in one hand while looking him square in the eyes with a look that said she wanted to devour him, she had confidence in spades. And he loved both sides of her equally.