Текст книги "Nauti Temptress"

Автор книги: Lora Leigh

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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

ELEVEN

Explosive pleasure, flaring through her senses and rasping over sensitive nerve endings, screamed through her body. The feel of Brogan’s lips surrounding the tender tip of her nipple was throwing her senses into chaos. Whipping pinpoints of sensation struck at her clit, at the sensitive depths of her pussy. They burned through her, flickered across her flesh, and sent electric bursts of impending ecstasy rocketing through her.

She arched to him, desperation filling her with the need to get closer to the heat of his body. She needed more, needed her nipple deeper in the fiery heat of his mouth. She couldn’t get close enough. She couldn’t still the demand raging through her body. Frantic, hungry lust built and burned to furious peaks, spilling her juices from the clenched depths of her pussy and drawing her body tight with pleasure.

“Please. Oh, God. Brogan, please,” she cried out, feeling her senses spinning as her breath caught at the sensations thrumming through her clit and making her pussy clench.

Releasing her nipple from the devouring grip of his mouth, Brogan turned his attention to its mate.

“I love your nipples,” he crooned, brushing his beard against the hard, incredibly sensitive peak. “The feel of them, the sweet taste of them.”

He surrounded the hard tip with his mouth, and heat shot from the throbbing peak to pierce her womb before striking at the pulsing bud of her clitoris.

“Brogan. Damn you . . .” Straining at the hold he had on her, Eve felt herself becoming consumed by the needs racing through her body.

Excitement and adrenaline pumped through her bloodstream and laid waste to her ability to hold any part of herself back; pleasure rushed through her system again. Holding her relentlessly in his grip, Brogan sent torturous pleasure whipping through her with his touch, melting her, consuming her ability to function without him.

When his head drew back she could only moan at the loss of his touch as she attempted to push her breasts to him once again.

“I’m going to release your arms, Eve,” he told her, staring into her eyes as she forced them open. “Don’t touch me, understand?”

She could only shake her head, confused now.

“I need to touch you, Brogan,” she whispered, breathless and aching with such force it was like being tortured from the inside out.

She loved the feel of his body. The warmth and strength of him were a stable port in a chaotic storm of sensation.

“Not tonight.” He grimaced. “My control is shot, Eve.”

“Then don’t wait.” She reached for him, pouting when he caught her hands again.

Holding them at the wrists, he stared back at her with dominant intent. “Eve, I could always tie you to the bed.”

Her eyes widened. “You wouldn’t dare!”

Gripping her wrists in one hand again, he lowered the other, trailing it along her thigh before sliding it between them and quickly wedging them apart.

“I’ve dreamed of eating your hot little pussy,” he growled. “So yes, sweetheart, I damned well would tie you to the bed.”

The first sentence hadn’t passed his lips before Eve was breathing roughly, more of her juices flooding her pussy and spilling to the swollen folds beyond.

“Want me to do that to you, Eve?” he asked softly, knowingly, as his finger touched her, slowly easing through the saturated slit.

Her hips jerked, the sensations tearing through her pussy, jerking through her body like bolts of electric energy.

“Ah, you do like that,” he crooned.

Holding her gaze, he returned his finger to where it had been, the tip stroking upward this time to circle the swollen bud of her clit and dragging a harsh, desperate cry from her lips.

A second later he removed his touch again, staring up at her, demand filling his expression. “No touching me, agreed?”

“Fine. Agreed,” she breathed out roughly.

He released her slowly. “Lie back on the bed.”

Oh, God, oh, God. This was going to be so good. She could feel excitement racing through her veins and searing her body.

Lying back, lifting her arms above her head, she breathed in hard and deep.

“Come to the edge of the bed,” he urged her, his hands at her hips to help her scoot forward until her hips were braced on the side of the bed.

Slowly he opened her thighs, spreading them wide as Eve fought to breathe through the anticipation.

“So fucking pretty,” he whispered, his finger easing through the bare folds again, sliding heatedly through the gathering juices.

“Brogan, please don’t torture me,” she whispered, her fingers clenching in the blanket above her head. “I’ve waited too long.”

She’d waited so long for him.

“I’m going to enjoy this,” he promised, his lips pressing to her thigh as she jerked in reaction. “Just let it have you, Eve. Let me have you. Let me give you all the pleasure you’ve waited for.”

All the pleasure she’d waited for?

Could she bear it?

No.

She couldn’t.

The first heated kiss to the swollen bud of her clit had her crying out as his head lifted. Her hips jerked, lifting to him as the first warning pulse of her orgasm began rippling through her.

“No. Damn you, Brogan, don’t stop.” The breathless demand came out as a desperate cry.

Gripping her hips, he controlled her movements easily as she tried to press closer to his mouth once again.

Easing his tongue through the swollen folds, he licked at her flesh, tasting the slick, wet heat spilling from her. Heated kisses along the bare folds stole her breath. As he lifted her feet to the narrow edge of the platform to open her more fully to him, her breath caught.

His tongue glided through the narrow slit, licking and probing as he moved lower. The rasp of his licking strokes moving over the sensitive flesh had her hips lifting to him. The needs assailing her were so unfamiliar they were impossible to anticipate. She couldn’t hold back. Second by second she could feel more and more of herself becoming lost to this man.

Gasping, fighting to breathe through the building sensations, Eve couldn’t help the cries falling from her lips. She couldn’t hold back the burning, building pleasure of her cries.

Her pussy contracted in spasming waves as his tongue flicked around the clenched, weeping entrance of her sex. Quick, heated licks of his tongue lapped at the juices falling from her.

She screamed.

Brogan’s tongue plunged inside her pussy, suddenly fucking into the delicate tissue, rasping around it as the sensitive flesh and clenched muscles clamped down in an effort to keep him inside her. The fierce impalement, the heated internal licks and sure stimulation of her nerve endings sent her hurtling through an explosion that completely devastated her senses.

Ecstasy tore through her. Her hips lifted, her hands jerking from above her head to bury themselves in his hair, clutching the strands, holding on tight, holding him to her. Eve’s release swept through her.

His tongue pumped inside her, even through the brilliant explosions tearing her apart. Her pussy clenched and rippled, clamped down as heat surged from the depths of her cunt. Ecstasy sent her juices spilling to his tongue, explosions radiating through her as she cried out his name.

Shuddering, fighting to breathe, Eve sobbed beneath the overwhelming release, barely aware of Brogan moving, his hands forcing her fingers from his hair as she shuddered again.

She couldn’t imagine a greater pleasure, a more sweeping release. She didn’t believe she could survive it—until she became aware of the fiery, stretching invasion of her sex.

Her eyes opened, her gaze centering between her thighs. There, the head of his cock buried inside her as the slick folds of her flesh embraced the wide shaft.

“So fucking tight. Like a living vise clamped around my dick,” Brogan growled as her gaze jerked up to his.

His eyes were a cloudy gray now, his face savagely hewn and pulled into lines of agonizing pleasure. Perspiration dotted his forehead, but a bead slid slowly down his neck. The muscles of his chest tightened, the exertion of holding back reflected plainly on his face.

Her gaze fell to her thighs again. Eve watched as he eased back, dragging the engorged crest from the spasming entrance of her pussy.

Throbbing, slick from her juices, the dark crest gleamed beneath the candlelight for a second, until he was pressing into her again, entering the flexing entrance and working into the snug muscles.

Eve’s breath caught, the fiery heat blooming in the delicate tissue he slowly forced to part, stretching them until she was certain she could take no more. Until he pulled back and pressed inside again, stretching her further.

“Fuck, baby . . . Eve, it’s so fucking good.” He groaned, taking more of her, giving her more of himself.

With each inward stroke he filled her further, burying himself deeper and deeper inside the fierce clasp of her inner muscles.

“Brogan. More.” She gasped. “Please, please, more.”

More sensation. More pleasure. Enough sensation to send her hurtling into release again.

The incredible pleasure bordered on pain, crossed the line only to ease back before building again. Each thrust was a stroke of pure, lancing sensation. Agony and ecstasy burned and flamed and kept her poised on such a brink of incredible rapture that she began to fear flying from the peak.

Each stroke buried him to the depths of her sex, the thrusts gaining in pace until the sound of their flesh slapping together filled her senses. She was so sensitive she swore she could feel the air brushing across it, the flickering warmth of the candles like a lick of flames.

Her internal muscles stretched around the impaling flesh, nerve endings so sensitive, so responsive that each thrust only pushed her higher.

She was screaming, yet only barely aware of it.

She was begging, terrified of the coming onslaught, desperate to weaken her release when it came. She could feel it building to a critical point. The sensations were flaming higher inside her as her pussy clamped on his cock. With each forward thrust he began fucking her harder, shafting inside her faster as he surged over her. His head lowered to her breasts, his lips covering a nipple and sucking it inside, tipping her over the edge.

Eve felt the explosions tear through her senses. The force and fury of her release flung her so high, so deep into ecstasy Eve swore she felt her soul open and merge. . . .

Felt it embraced and sheltered . . .

* * *

Brogan felt Eve’s release as her pussy clamped down on his shuttling dick. Her eyes were open, her lips parted on a silent cry as he was taken unaware.

It happened so fast. It hit him with such force, with such impact, there was no saving either of them.

He knew the second it slipped his control and began blazing through him. The moment he realized the condom he wore had split, the latex folding back from the head of his cock. For the first time in his life he felt the full sensation of the lush, silken depths of his lover’s pussy. He felt the heat of her slick cream as it surrounded his engorged cock head.

For the first time in his life he lost that last measure of control.

Eve exploded with the initial stroke of his bare cock. Her internal muscles rippled and stroked the wildly throbbing crest, then clamped down on it like an internal fist, milking it until his release began spurting furiously into her fiery depths.

A shattered groan tore from his chest as complete rapture drove spikes of ecstasy through his soul.

He had no idea what happened or how. As his release began spurting inside, the muscles of her pussy clamping and rippling over his dick, Brogan lifted his head, staring into her pleasure-dazed eyes, and he felt her. . . .

The ecstasy and the fear—the uncertainty and the—

God, no, he swore he could feel her heart, step into her soul. He could feel an emotion he couldn’t allow himself to acknowledge as he buried his head at her shoulder and felt the last of his seed spurting inside her.

It had to be an aberration. Shock at the realization that he was spilling into her unprotected. That he was risking not just their lives, but possibly one more innocent than he could ever imagine.

Yet the thought of that hadn’t been enough for him to pull free of the grip she had on him. It wasn’t enough to hold back his release, or the need to give her all of himself once the condom ruptured. Nothing on the face of the earth could have held him back once he felt the unprotected depths of her pussy and the rich heat surrounding his bare cock.

And nothing could change the fact that he had given in to the urge to do just that.

As the last pulses of her waning orgasm caressed his cock, Brogan fought just to catch his breath. Beneath him, Eve was motionless, her own breathing hard, her heart racing in her breast beneath him as he forced himself to ease from her.

A shudder raced up his spine at the incredible pleasure of her snug grip as he pulled free of her. The overly sensitive head of his cock pulsed at the silky stroke of her slick inner muscles that had the shaft throbbing in renewed interest before he managed to pull free.

Hell, his knees were weak.

As he stood before her, his lips kicked up in a grin at the sight of her legs as they sprawled off the bed, her feet resting against the floor.

Picking her up, he laid her fully on the bed, brushed the tangled length of her hair back from her face, and wondered what the hell they were going to do now.

It was bad enough that he’d allowed her to be pulled into something that could possibly risk her safety. But now he’d done something she could find even more unforgivable. Something he didn’t know whether he could even forgive himself for.

Yet he also knew he would do it again if he could.

If it happened again, if he once more found himself bare inside her that second before release, then he would give in to it. Because the pleasure had been astounding; the sensations, the intimacy of it had been more than he had ever imagined it would be.

Pulling back, he strode to the bathroom and quickly cleaned and dried the proof of their release from his flesh before wetting a clean cloth and grabbing a fresh towel. Returning to the bed he had to grin at the sight of her as she slept. Sated, exhausted, she’d given in to the weariness and slipped into sleep. He cleaned her gently, easing the cloth between her legs, then through the soft folds of her pussy before he quickly finished with her thighs.

Drying the dampness from her, he pulled the comforter and sheet over her body before collapsing in the large chair by the bed. Staring at her, watching her sleep, he couldn’t help but wonder at this new joke fate seemed to be playing on him.

He had a woman whose qualities were exactly those he’d once told friends he dreamed of finding in a woman: innocence, honor, humor, and strength. She knew how to find amusement in herself as well as the world around her, but she also knew compassion. She’d saved herself far longer than he had ever imagined a woman of such beauty could have, and she had given herself completely to him.

Because she loved him.

The thought smacked him like a blow to the head and rattled his senses.

That was what he had felt as he stared into her dazed eyes, feeling her release spill along the bare crest of his cock.

She believed she loved him, he amended. She couldn’t truly love him, because she didn’t truly know him.

And once she did?

He sighed at the thought. Once she did, would she still believe she loved him?

He highly doubted it.

TWELVE

Brogan stood next to the water, watching as bass jumped and frolicked playfully in the first morning light. It wasn’t the bass that held his attention, though, any more than it was the beauty of the fog rising from the water and twisting around the trees growing along the bank. It was the unfamiliar emotions twisting and churning in his chest that held his attention.

He was thirty-four years old; there shouldn’t be emotions he hadn’t felt before, but these feelings were completely alien to him.

The possessiveness he knew and he understood. He wasn’t a man who appreciated or practiced casual sex. One-night stands had never been his thing. It had always been his intention to develop a relationship with Eve. It had just been his intention to complete this operation first.

He’d never meant to drag her into whatever the hell was going on in the Lake Cumberland area. And it had never, ever been his intention to risk the creation of a child.

Rubbing at the back of his neck, he paced at the edge of the lake, the sound of the water lapping at the bank joining the soft, early morning symphony as the memory of spilling his release inside Eve tormented his mind.

It had happened only one other time in his life, when he had been much younger. The condom hadn’t ripped with such force, and he hadn’t known the pleasure of finding his release as his bare cock sank inside the heated depths of his lover’s pussy.

Rather, the small tear at the tip of the condom had allowed a small amount of his release free.

Brogan hadn’t been ready to be a parent, but he’d accepted the responsibility of it. The day his fiancée had taken the home pregnancy test four weeks later, his heart had melted at the thought of their child when he’d seen the positive result.

They hadn’t discussed it. She had never mentioned not wanting the child, but neither had she mentioned plans to abort the baby. Until he’d returned home from the law enforcement academy after officially being offered a position in the Department of Homeland Security.

He’d bought a teddy bear for the child, and had made plans to build a house on a piece of property outside his hometown. When he’d stepped in the door of the apartment Candy met him with a happy squeal as she threw herself in his arms. Pulling back, she’d looked at the teddy bear that had fallen at his feet and laughed. She wasn’t ready for a child to blow her figure out of shape, and she definitely wasn’t ready to settle down to the ties of motherhood.

And Brogan had never forgiven her.

The moment the admission of the abortion had slipped past her lips, he was finished with her. He had felt grief wrap around his heart, felt the guilt and shame of it sear his soul. Their child had been innocent of its creation, and she hadn’t been able to give nine months of her life to giving it birth?

He would have taken the child and raised it himself. Hell, he would have paid her to have the baby.

He’d broken their engagement immediately. As she cried, screamed, pretended confusion, and then raged in fury that it was her choice, he had packed.

The child hadn’t just been hers; that baby had been his, too. It should have never been just her choice. He should have had a choice as well. Their child should have had a choice, he had raged at her as he left her life and never looked back.

What would Eve do? he wondered. Would she kill their child or would she shelter it? Could he take the chance that she would at least discuss the options with him?

He was torn, and holding the knowledge of what had happened the night before bothered him more as he thought of it. He’d raged at Candy for not giving him a choice in their child’s birth, yet here he was, holding the truth of a possible conception from Eve, fearing the same result. What he was doing was no better than what Candy had done. He was refusing to give her a choice.

As the internal debate raged inside him, the muffled sound of a boat’s motor moving closer to the cabin reached him. The narrow water lane leading to the hidden cabin wasn’t one that could be accidentally taken. The safeguards set at the entrance of the tributary, the warnings placed farther up it, combined with strategically placed cables stretching across several points, the metal signs attached to them warning boaters back. It normally turned innocent curiosity seekers back.

Whoever his visitors were, they weren’t there by accident. Pulling his weapon from where he’d tucked it at the small of his back, Brogan stepped behind the huge oak growing close to the water. From here, he could identify any threat and make his way back to the cabin before the boat could reach the beach. He would have time to pull Eve out if he had to, and to ensure her protection.

As the boat came into view, clearing the fog, the trolling motor easing it through the water, Brogan grimaced in irritation. This was definitely one of those uncalled-for occurrences in his life.

At the controls was Eli. Riding in the back of the expensive bass boat was Jed, cradling an automatic rifle. Sitting cool and comfortable in the seat next to Elijah was Chatham Bromleah Doogan III, director of operations and all-around fucking bastard.

There were opinions that he and Timothy Cranston were cut from the same cloth.

That wasn’t exactly true. Cranston had a heart. He had compassion. Doogan had neither. Brogan was convinced pure ice water ran through his veins. That or oil. All good robots had to run on something.

As the boat pulled up to the small dock and Jed jumped out to secure it, Brogan stepped from behind the tree and strolled out to the boardwalk that led from the beach to the dock farther out in the water.

What the hell were they doing there cramping his day?

Doogan pulled off his dark glasses, amusement filling his dark brown eyes as a grin curled his lips.

“Dawg Mackay’s looking for his sister and he’s fit to be tied,” Doogan stated, mockery filling his gaze. “He’s a little overprotective, wouldn’t you think?”

What would Doogan know about protectiveness?

“You don’t have a sister, do you, Doogan?” Brogan asked.

Doogan shuddered, his gaze flashing in mock horror. “My parents were actually humane enough to stop with me,” he said. “So I can’t say I do.”

“It shows,” Brogan retorted.

Doogan scowled back at him. “Nevertheless, Dawg didn’t care much for Timothy’s explanation, nor mine. The fact that Dawg knew I was in Somerset still greatly concerns me. I was unaware he knew my full name.” As opposed to the codename Doogan had insisted be listed instead. The only reason Brogan, Eli, and Booker were aware of it was because they’d trained with him, drank with him, and listened to his drunken ramblings before he’d begun his climb up the federal ladder.

“It should,” Brogan assured him. “My question is, how did you find us?”

Doogan smiled complacently. “This is a political retreat, Brogan. All those nasty politicians with their young mistresses need someplace safe to hide. And someone has to make sure the place doesn’t get overcrowded. That job falls to me.”

“And if it does? Get overcrowded, that is,” Brogan asked mockingly.

Doogan shrugged. “Federal Protective Service has a houseboat stored along a nearby tributary and another cabin hidden along the lake. But overcrowding doesn’t happen if one is diligent.”

“Regular little caretaker, aren’t you?” Brogan taunted him.

Doogan tilted his head to the side. “Why do I keep seeing a real dishonorable discharge in your future?”

Brogan shrugged. “Wishful thinking maybe? Because we both know John David Bryce isn’t going to allow that.”

Doogan’s eyes flashed with rueful laughter rather than the offense Brogan had intended.

“There is that,” Doogan agreed. “It’s kind of hard to fire the director of Homeland Security’s bastard son, I would imagine.”

“Well, a few have tried.” Brogan shrugged. “I’m still here.”

“Unfortunately, unfortunately,” Doogan lamented on a sigh. “But I didn’t come up here to trade insults, as much as I do enjoy the opportunity. And neither did I come up here to warn you about Dawg. Though I would enjoy being present when he finds you.”

Brogan only snorted at the comment as he waited to see why Doogan had shown up.

Stepping from the boat, Doogan started around the small clearing. “It’s really rather pretty here,” he commented.

“Get to the point, Doogan,” Brogan growled. “I have things to do.”

Concern flashed in Doogan’s eyes for a second before the brown depths were once again icy and emotionless.

“We need to seriously discuss this operation,” he warned Brogan. “I know you; you intend to tell her your purpose for being here, and the fact that you were ordered to develop a friendship with her.”

Brogan’s brow lifted as he noticed the amused amazement on Elijah’s and Jed’s faces.

“A friendship?” Brogan questioned him. “Doogan, you’ve been playing pimp from afar for more than two years in your attempt to get me to invite myself into her bed. It was only your dumb luck that I wasn’t able to stay the hell away from her any longer.”

Doogan slid one hand casually into the pocket of his slacks as he stared back at Brogan coolly.

“I did you a favor, actually,” he drawled. “You’ll thank me for it later.”

“Get the hell out of here before I have to shoot you.” Brogan glowered back at him. “I don’t have time to deal with you.”

“Not until we discuss what you intend to tell Ms. Mackay.”

“The truth,” Brogan snapped. “I won’t lie to her.”

“I would highly suggest doing just that,” his boss ordered. “She hasn’t been cleared for this operation, and her brother and cousins sure as hell haven’t been cleared for it.” He swiped his fingers through his hair as he glared at Brogan now. “I’m ordering you not to inform her of your true purpose for being here. You will stick to the parameters of your cover and tell her nothing more.”

Brogan almost laughed. Doogan liked to think he had some measure of control over his agents, but they’d all learned how to deal with his manipulations.

“Go to hell, Doogan. Tell me something I want to hear or get the hell out of here,” he warned, hostile.

Brogan might not know what he was up to yet, but he’d figure it out. When he did . . . well, it wouldn’t be the first time the two of them had fought.

“There are a few details we need to go over,” Doogan began.

“Like the one where someone slipped into Eve’s room last night,” Elijah spoke up. “We saw it on the cameras when we returned to the inn. The same intruders tried to get into your room, but the new dead bolt you put on it kept them out long enough that they were forced to leave when Timothy made his rounds. That’s why Dawg’s trying to find you two. Timothy found her door unlocked, stepped inside to see the suite wrecked, and called her brother.”

Brogan slid his gaze to Doogan slowly.

The other man stared back at him coolly before turning to Elijah and Jed. “I could have taken care of that.”

“I was trying to help you out, boss.” Elijah shrugged with a tight grin.

Doogan snorted in disbelief as he turned to Brogan. “You inspire insubordination,” he accused irritably.

“You’re welcome.” Brogan inclined his head in a gesture of gracious accomplishment before turning back to Jed and Elijah. “Did they take anything from her room?”

Elijah shook his head in the negative. “They searched the hell out of it, though. She won’t be happy.”

She wasn’t going to be happy to begin with.

“Why search her room?” he asked thoughtfully. “I can understand searching mine, but why hers?”

“Maybe to be certain you hadn’t hidden anything there,” Doogan pointed out. “You would expect your room to be searched, but not that of a woman you hadn’t even made your lover yet.”

Brogan frowned, turning to Eli. “Did anyone leave the trip yesterday after I did?”

Eli grimaced. “Poppa Bear called it off after you left. He said he wasn’t going searching for scenic destinations or those caves the group was heading to see without the leader of the pack.” He chuckled.

Doogan snickered at the comment.

“This happened before we arrived back at the inn,” Elijah told him. “We were almost there when Donny asked exactly where the caves were, and Sambo commented that it would have been nice to have you there to make sure they were at the right place. That’s when Poppa Bear called us all to pull into the parking lot of a grocery store and suggested coming back.”

Sambo was a bear of a man and often pretended he didn’t know his own ass from a hole in the mountain, let alone how to find some of the most popular caves in Kentucky.

“Did anyone know why I left?”

Jed and Elijah shook their heads. “I don’t know if Donny and Sandi called anyone later or not, but they played real dumb after you left.”

“You know, Brogan, that boy’s acting damned strange anyway after the two of them went ape shit thinking one of them might die. If I didn’t know better, I’d say they might love each other. A lot.” Jed shook his head at the thought.

“That little strike was unsanctioned as hell,” Doogan reminded them all before glaring at Brogan. “You don’t use agency resources to get vengeance over a perceived slight to a potential girlfriend, Agent Campbell.”

Brogan found it strange that Doogan knew about it to begin with. And he’d had to have said something to Jed or Eli about it first for either of them to have discussed it with him.

Brogan turned to the other two men. “Is that everything Doogan needed to tell me?”

Eli grinned as the director shot a silencing look at him and then at Jed. Brogan knew that if there was more, one of them would call or text the moment they had the chance.

“Anything else I need to know before you leave?”

“Don’t tell her what you’re doing here, Brogan,” Doogan warned him again. “She’ll tell her brother, her brother will tell his cousins, and then I’ll have to start arresting Mackays.”

“I’ll consider your argument. . . .”

“No, damn you, you won’t consider shit,” Doogan burst out furiously as he stepped closer. “I’m giving you a direct order, you little son of a bitch. If you want to keep your job, you’ll obey it.”

Brogan’s eyes narrowed, though he was very damn careful to hold back the suspicion he could feel churning in his gut.

“Feel that strongly about it, do you?” he asked softly.

“I feel that strongly about your deliberate, constant insubordination,” Doogan snapped. “Get a handle on it before I take care of it myself.”

Stepping onto the bow of the fishing boat, Doogan stepped back into the boat and took his seat as he shot Brogan a deliberately superior look.

“Move out, Agent Grant,” he ordered Eli.

Eli did as ordered as Jed rolled his eyes and gave Brogan a quick, short shake of his head.

This was why he preferred working with Jed and Eli instead of the two agents over those in the regional office. He could trust them to cover his back, both in and out of the field. His gut was already telling him Doogan’s reaction was way off base.