Colt Knox
"Hmmph?.."
Mikki shifts about in my lap, reaching down to make herself more comfortable, finding solid steel beneath her pretty little ass..
Her green and gold eyes go wide with scandalised surprise as she blinks up at me.. "W-What is that?"
"You know.." I grin at her, amused by the sweet pink flush to her cheeks and the shy smirk on her lips.. Having her near me like this, so close I can make out each and every fine freckle and beauty mark of her honey-milk complexion, it's almost enough to have me forgetting my place..
Fuck it.. I could forget just about everything around Mikki..
"Oh my god! Colt!" She giggles, making a move to retreat when I wrap my arms around her, keeping her from escaping me, not ready to give up her delicious sugarcane scent just yet..
"Naww, I'm kiddin', Sugar.. See--" I reach down to tug the Sig from my waistband, dropping the pistol to the table beside us.. "Just my piece.."
She presses her full lips together to hide her smile, and in doing so, she draws every drop of my attention to them.. My every thought focused on the single notion of tasting those lips..
As if she can read my mind she leans closer, the whisper of my name on her tongue sending fierce fiery sparks surging southbound through my veins.. "Colt.."
"Mikki?" I rasp in reply but I dont move an inch, like if I don't make the first move here it somehow makes me less culpable..
Or at least that's what I tell myself..
And it's complete bullshit..
When her lips meet mine, all rationale is sucked from my mind to fizzle and dissolve deep down the molten pit of hot lava simmering low in my guts, all my thoughts silenced as her breathy moans strained with need, fill the humid air..
Flashing lights strobe and alarm bells ring in my head, warning me of all the lines I'm crossing, the boundaries of betrayal my actions are pushing and the uncertainty of the murky seas I find myself navigating..
But she's too damn sweet to quit..
"Mmmmhh.." Her tongue challenges mine with gentle encouragement, she tastes like spearmint gelato in summertime, silky smooth and sugary..
I can't stop the torturous delight.. I don't want to.. I could hang suspended from her lips for hours, I could let myself fall even deeper under her hypnosis until I forgot my own name..
But I know what I'm doing is wrong.. Seizing control of Mikki's life had been wrong.. Lying to her is wrong.. And kissing her now only piles on to the mountainous heap of deceit I've created..
No.. Not me..
Fucking Harrison..
Why was I sent here to turn Mikki into an asset if she was already informing? Why not let the DEA finish the job they started?
The deeper I wade into the De'Lucca debacle it seems everybody has their own motives, everyone is looking for their own slice of the action.. Including me..
And somehow, it always seems to come at Mikki's expense..
Fuck..
Her gentle hands slip around my neck as she presses her chest to mine and I can feel the patter of her speedy heartbeat matching my own..
My cock throbs filling with lust and my shoulder soon aches, seeping fresh blood though my stitches..
Goddamnit..
That pain brings me crashing back to reality..
What am I doing?
This isn't who I am.. At least I don't want to be..
I am not this selfish asshole..
I'm not the kind of guy that takes advantage of a vulnerable woman like this..
With a pained grunt, I gently hold her up, taking her by her petite shoulders, speaking soft and careful like, since the last thing I want is to push her away or upset her.. "Mikki-Sweetie, stop.. Not like this, Sugar.."
Her brows knit together in hurt confusion.. "I-I thought you-- um.. Oh, god.. I'm so embarrassed, I'm sorry--"
She shakes her head blushing rhubarb red with humiliated heat, leaping to her feet..
I reach out to take her hand and she freezes up, giving me those shining doe-eyes, a slight tremble to her fingers against mine.. "Don't be sorry, Sugar.. It's not you.. I swear.." I tug her back towards me, coaxing her to sit with me again.. Just because I shouldn't, that doesn't mean I don't want to be as close to her as possible..
Hesitantly, she settles in.. "If it isn't me.. What is it?"
I sigh.. "It's just-- not right.."
"Oh.." She hums disappointedly.. "You mean-- because of Juliette?"
Why does Mikki keep coming back to that?
I wasn't lying when I told her Jules is like a sister to me, I've never considered the idea of anything else..
Yeah.. Maybe it's strange for me to be so close to my cousin's widow, but he made her a Knox when he married her, and that makes her family to me.. So what else am I supposed to do, leave her to run the ranch Kane had always dreamed of, all by herself?
Nah, family has to stick together.. I'd never abandon Juliette..
So while I spend most of the year working Specter's contracts in the city, once a month I drive up here and make sure she isn't struggling..
Which she never is, by the way.. The woman is made of iron, Juliette might just be the toughest philly of all..
"What? No.. Listen, Mikki.. I try to be a good guy but--" I can't hold her gaze, it's so intense, searing scrutiny, so instead I focus on her cute little cocoa curls, twisting them around my fingers.. "I've done some things I'm not proud of.."
"Like what?" She probes..
A long list of fuck ups comes to mind, too many too count, so I start with the recent and obvious.. "Like abducting you.. Sugar, I'm real sorry if I scared ya.."
She tips her head curiously.. "Why did you take me, Colt? If you aren't going to kill me, then this isn't revenge.. You said you aren't going to ransom me and this isn't about money.. But now you don't want to fuck me, so it isn't about me either.. I just don't understand what is happening?.. Why would you do all of this?"
I feel a little sickened with myself to hear that on some level she'd been wondering if I'd taken her for some sinister perverted reasons.. Especially since only a few moments ago my mind had been filled with all kinds of explicit and indecent thoughts..
"Right, firstly, if I was going to kill you I'd have done it already, and I definitely wouldn't have introduced you to a bunch of witnesses before doing it.. Second, extortion via ransom is rarely successful, Sugar, Cops get involved, fingers get chopped off, its a whole fuckin' mess of disasters waiting to happen, that's just common knowledge.. And third.. I never said that I don't want to fuck you, Miss Mikki.. It just wouldn't be right for me to go takin' advantage of you after all you've been through.. And the fact you're clearly fuckin' scared of me ain't helpin much.."
She bites her bottom lip.. "I'm not scared of you.." I can see the lie in her glassy eyes and she sighs.. "Okay, when you talk about fingers being chopped off and all-- maybe I am.."
I smirk tiredly.. "Yeah.. So, what's happening is I'm gunna prove to you that you can trust me, by doing the job I was hired to do, exactly like I promised you I would.. And right now, I'm just trynna keep you safe until I can figure out what happened to your boyfriends.."
A disapproving frown darkens her delicate features.. "That's not funny.. You know I don't--"
I shrug half heartedly.. "Lovers then? Whatever you wanna call 'em.. Diesel and Mr DEA.. One of 'em is decommissioned and the other is missing.."
She scoffs, but I can see the relief in her eyes at my attempt at a lighter tone.. I'm not trying to make her feel any worse.. "You're such a jerk.."
I nod, not disagreeing with her.. "Yeahhhp, baby-girl, but I'm tryin' real hard not to be.. So as bad as I wanna kiss you.. And, Sugar, I really fuckin' do.. I'm not gonna be another guy that brings you pain, Mikki.. That's not who I wanna be.."
Her eyes search mine for sincerity.. "Oh.. Colt.. That-- that's the nicest thing anybody has said to me s-since--" She tears up, turning her cheek to me, ducking to nuzzle into my chest so that I won't see her cry.. "Thank you.." She whispers so quietly I could be imagining it..
There in the darkness we slip into a comfortable quiet, her fingernails tracking ticklish little trails back and forth over my arm, my own fingers soothing circles against the small of her back, her sleepy sighs lulls my own breath to match hers, her presence calming me completely..
.......
When I stir awake in the dusty sunrise light that peeks over the horizon to flood through the windows, bathing the room in a soft warm glow, for just a few seconds everything feels like a dream..
Mikki sleeps, curled up against my chest, her tiny hands wrapped tightly around my forearm as her petite shoulders rise and fall in a slow peaceful rhythm..
She feels so small in my arms, delicate and dainty.. And she's warm.. Fuck, she's so warm..
Careful not to wake her, I reach up to brush her caramel curls from her cheeks to better see her sweet angel-face..
Goddamn..
Will looking at her ever get any easier?.. She's the kind of gorgeous that just gets to a guy.. That creamy buttermilk skin, those rose-pink lips.. She gets to me..
Mikki gets under my skin..
She mumbles, squirming around.. "Hmmnn--" Her button nose scrunching up in discomfort, making me wonder what she might be dreaming about..
She shifts, slowly blinking awake with a stretch, peering up at me, a little shocked to find herself still in my arms
But let's be real, as if I was going to move her..
"Oh.. Hey.. Good morning, Cowboy.." She smiles..
"Mornin', Miss Mikki.."
A loud clattering in the kitchen tells me Jules is awake.. Grinning at the gorgeous goddess in my lap as she sits up to rub her tired eyes.. "Ya hungry, Sugar?"
Mikki nods.. "Starved."