Saving Rain Read online

  He would love to stay in bed and do nothing except hold her all day long, but he didn’t get much work done yesterday. He wishes he could spend his Saturday morning with Raina, but obligations call. Kissing her forehead, he gently starts to pull away from her, “I’m sorry, baby, I need to go into work for a few hours.”

  Raina wraps her arms around his muscular torso and pulls him back to her, snuggling against him for few seconds longer before she presses her lips to his bare chest and gives it a quick kiss, sending his southern point jolting back to full attention again. “Can I go with you?”

  Kas wants to punch himself in the face at how he has put her into a position to where she has to ask his permission to go, due to him earlier forbidding from helping on their case until she rested. Knowing all of what he knows now about her past, he understands her tenacious actions much better, but he still detests how she pushes herself too hard, leaving herself exhausted. He wishes he knew the reasoning behind her actions before, so he could have handled the situation differently.

  “Of course you can go with me,” he whispers, hoping she hears the apologetic tone in his words. He would flat-out tell her again that he is sorry for his stubborn bossiness, but she is so at peace this morning after her tumultuous state last night, and he doesn’t want to spoil it. Sitting up in bed quickly, he realizes, that with all that has happened over the past couple of days, he hasn’t had the chance to tell her that they got El Diablo.

  Raina sits up, taken aback by his sudden hurriedness.

  Kas slides out of bed and pulls her gently to the edge. “I’ve got something to tell you,” his voice is both excited and relieved.

  She looks up at him, self-consciously tugging his t-shirt lower on her legs. She runs a hand down her hair, hoping it isn’t too wild.

  He feels a tug on his heart as he sees worry flash in her eyes at her early morning look. “Darlin’, you look absolutely beautiful,” he tells truthfully, taking in her untamed hair as it cascades over her shoulder and back in sexy disheveled waves. As a blush colors her cheeks, he rubs his thumb across her lip and leans in to to kiss her, but she stops him. He pulls back, uncertainty wavering in his mind.

  “I need to brush my teeth,” she blushes from embarrassment.

  Relief floods through him at hearing her words. His worry, thinking that she regretted their kisses from last night, dissipating.

  “What were you going to tell me?”

  “We got the man that was holding Claudia.”

  Raina jumps off the bed and throws her arms around Kas’ neck. His t-shirt comes up high on her thighs in her distracted excitement. Her pink, lace-trimmed panties peek out from underneath the bottom of his shirt.

  Kas glimpses a flash of firm, creamy flesh on her thigh, leading to a small succulent section of bare flesh, perfectly full and rounded, below the delicate lace trim of her panties, and he has to remind himself to breathe.

  She steps back, pulling the t-shirt down when she realizes it had come up too high when she hugged him. She bites her lip, which sends a jolt of electricity spiraling into Kas, not doing anything to help his current state of raw desire and devouring need.

  “Sorry,” she mumbles, as a flicker of shame starts in her eyes.

  Renewed anger ignites in him as the shame that he hates with a passion, pops up on her face. It doesn’t take a doctorate in psychology like Chase has for him to know that the emotional abuse her father subjected her to has caused more pain and lasts much longer than any amount of welts and bruises. When he thinks of how her father blamed her, calling her a whore for what Brian did to her, he has to force himself not to jump into his jeep and drive to her father and kill him with his bare hands.

  He knows that he will have his moment with her father, but now is not the time. She needs him now, and he’s too angry to be sure that he wouldn’t lose his usual strong hold on his self-control and actually kill him, or at the very least, cause lasting damage if he doesn’t give himself time to regain his control. He tilts her chin up to where she has to meet his gaze. “Sweetheart, I’m going to say something, and I want you to listen really well,” he commands her. “You do not have to feel ashamed for anything you do around me. I respect you more than I have ever respected anyone. You deserve nothing but respect and love, and I have an immense amount of both for you, so I don’t want to ever hear you apologize to me again when you haven’t done anything wrong, do you understand?”

  Raina nods softly, and he kisses her forehead, pulling her back into his arms. “I’m going to take a shower. We can stop at the bakery on the way if you want. I’m thinking something full of chocolate sounds good for breakfast today.”

  Raina laughs, “Sounds good to me, too.”

  Kas playfully pops her on the butt. “Sorry, I just couldn’t resist. By the way, I really, really love how pink looks on you,” he winks and ducks into his bathroom as she grabs his pillow, launching it at him.

  Kas and Raina finish their chocolate glazed doughnuts as she flips through transcripts to translate, and he looks over the files from the information gathered from the captured traffickers.

  “Do you think Erik is here? I would like to look at the computers recovered at your last raid, if that’s okay?”

  “I called him while you were in the shower, he should be here soon.”

  Raina looks up at him over her transcripts. “This mind reading thing of yours is starting to get a little creepy,” she teases.

  Kas laughs, “Darlin’, sometimes I wish I could read that mind of yours.”

  Raina raises her left eyebrow and bites her lower lip as she continues to gaze at him.

  He leans in closer to her. “Like right now,” he whispers.

  “Now, Agent Pierce, I thought you were the best decipherer of micro expressions in this entire region,” she taunts him, her voice soft and sexy.

  Kas pulls her chair to where it is flush to his, and he places his hands on each of the chair arms, returning her stare with hot, hazy desire filled eyes.

  Raina pulls her knees in closer to her as she leans her shoulders closer to him. “Did I say something wrong...sir?” she playfully smirks.

  Kas waves his finger slowly back and forth as he shakes his head in mock disapproval, “Huh uh, no messing with the boss allowed. Just sit there and let me amaze you with my brilliant expertise.”

  Raina bites back a laugh as he sends her a teasing warning glare, “Uh, so sorry, sir.”

  “Now, that’s much better.” He moves his face to where it’s barely an inch from hers. “I can tell by your increased heart rate, shallow breathing, and how your pupils are dilated that you really, really want me to kiss you right now.” Kas sweeps his eyes over her body, “And I can tell by your knees tucked tightly to your chest, but your posture leaning closer to me, that you are afraid to let yourself embrace your, let’s say, sensual, feelings for me, but you are slowly expanding your boundaries.”

  Raina swallows hard, knowing that any person with half a clue could’ve read the first part, but he hit the nail square on the head with the last bit.

  Kas gives her a cocky smile, “But, don’t worry, darlin’, I won’t let you take advantage of me.”

  She laughs and playfully smacks him.

  “Physically assaulting your superior? That just won’t do, Miss Kapture.”

  “So, what exactly are you doing to do about it, sir?”

  Kas leans back and presses his fingers to his lips as if he is seriously pondering her question, “Oh, there will be severe disciplinary actions when we get home.”

  “And what would those disciplinary actions involve?”

  He leans forward to where his nose is almost touching hers, “I will be forced to torture you relentlessly with my lips until you beg me for mercy.” He leans in closer, “Or, we can get your punishment over with right now since my blinds are closed, and we are all alone in here.”

  The sharp knock on the door startles both of them, sending Raina flying backwards, almost tipping her
chair over, but Kas steadies it in time. He laughs, “Easy girl, it’s just the door.”

  He slips behind his desk, hiding the evidence that clearly shows what they were really doing before he yells, “Come in.”

  Erik walks through the door with a cup of steaming coffee in his hand and gives Raina a pointed look. “I just want you to know that you are the only person that I would come into work for so early on a Saturday morning, especially after a very long and vigorous night with Susanna.” His gaze shifts to Kas. “I’m going to borrow your girl for a while,” he says, grabbing Raina’s hand before turning and telling Kas over his shoulder, “and don’t even try to tell me that she’s not your girl, because you’re not the only one who can read emotions or tell-tale signs of what goes on behind closed doors.”

  Kas laughs, and Raina blushes as Erik throws his arm around her shoulder. Kas watches as they walk out of his office, and he takes a deep breath, trying to calm his raging desire. He reopens the file he was reading and gets back to work, thoughts of Raina distracting him every few minutes.

  At noon, he gives up and decides he’s going to check on the progress with the computers. Taking the stairs this time, he hopes the physical exertion will work off some of his sexual frustration. As he opens the door to the computer lab, he hears Erik let out a loud curse. He sprints to the back to find Raina feverishly working on a laptop while Erik looks on in an angry panic. “What’s going on?”

  Erik turns to Kas, “I’m sorry, man, it looked so legit. I screwed up.”

  Kas looks at Erik, confusion frustrating him, “You’re going to have to give me a little more details than that, Erik.”

  “I hit a trap, the computer has released a virus against itself, and Raina’s trying to salvage all she can before the data is lost.”

  Kas looks over Raina’s shoulder as she is furiously typing, tension hardening her entire body. She doesn’t say anything as she throws her full concentration onto the small machine in front of her. Erik is pacing, a defeated look shadowing his usual upbeat personality.

  “Kas, remove the other computers from the main frame, this virus isn’t specific to this PC. Erik, get me a WD, I have to get this off our system or it will take us down with it.”

  They both do as Raina commands and watch helplessly as she continues fighting an invisible opponent. The hair on the back of her neck starts to dampen from her arduous concentration. “It’s going,” she informs them in a pained tone.

  The screen goes black, and Erik loudly curses again. Raina slaps the table before leaning back in her chair, staring at the laptop with contempt. “Whoever this Ghost is, he’s very, very good.”

  Kas looks at Raina expectantly, “Did we lose everything?”

  She turns to another computer, “Is this clean?”

  Erik nods, his hands locked together tightly on top of his head. Raina accesses and downloads programs neither of them has ever seen before. Erik looks over her shoulder and shakes his head in admiration. Kas gives Erik a questioning look, silently asking him to fill him in.

  Raina turns around before Erik has a chance to say anything. “I’m going to be here for a while,” she informs Kas.

  Erik rakes his hand through his hair, “I should’ve seen that as a trap.”

  She places her hand comfortingly on his arm, “It was very easy to miss. I’ve never seen anything like this before. It is significantly more complex than the set up with the other computers.”

  “That makes it even worse, knowing that I probably just destroyed pertinent data,” Erik chastises himself.

  “No, your quick thinking probably helped to salvage some of the data that would’ve been destroyed,” she assures him before turning to Kas. “There is something on there that we are not supposed to see, and I’m going to do my best to find out what it is.”

  Erik pulls himself together. “I’m here for as long as you are. My specialty here is the recovering process.”

  Kas grabs a chair and sits down. “I may not be a geek sheik, but I’m not going anywhere, I’ll help any way I can.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  It’s 8:00 p.m. and none of them have had anything since breakfast. Raina stands up and stretches, rubbing her eyes wearily. Kas stands behind her and begins to rub her shoulders.

  “You gonna share the love, man?” Erik teases, patting his shoulders.

  Kas kicks his chair, and Raina laughs.

  “If we don’t get some sustenance in us, we aren’t going to be any use for much longer,” Kas groans as he pulls out his cell, flipping through his contacts, “Pizza, Chinese, Thai, what do you two want?”

  Raina laughs, “You keep restaurants that deliver in your contacts?”

  “They’re on my speed dial, it’s kind of a necessity that comes with the job.” Kas tilts his head and stares at Raina, his curiosity from earlier returning, “What are those programs you have working, whatever the hell they are working on, over there?”

  She shrugs and starts to turn away, but he grabs her arm, knowing that shielded look of hers too well by now. “Huh uh, I asked you a question, now spill.”

  Raina looks to Erik for some assistance, but he throws his hands up, “I’m with him on this one.”

  “Okay, Thai,” she states simply and sits down, spinning around to the computer to check the progress, but Kas spins her chair back around.

  “Cute, but you know that’s not what we meant.”

  Raina sighs and gives in, “Fine, I developed those programs.”

  Erik points at her excitedly, “I knew it!”

  Sitting down, Kas stares at her incredulously, “So these are the programs you told me about when you bought your car?”

  “Yes, they share a lot of the same qualities as genetic algorithms.”

  “How many programs did you develop, Raina?”

  “Just the two.”

  “‘Just,’ between that word and ‘fine’, I really think you need to expand your vocabulary.”

  Erik laughs at the sheepish expression on Raina’s face, then his stomach loudly growls, “Are you going to order the Thai food or what?”

  At three in the morning, they finally walk out to the parking garage, overwhelmed by exhaustion and the information they recovered from the destroyed computer that had belonged to El Diablo.

  Kas already contacted Dexter, who immediately contacted Derrick, who has pulled El Diablo out of his not-so-peaceful slumber in his new 6 X 8 home and has him profusely perspiring in interrogation.

  Kas’ mind works overtime as he thinks of how this ring of traffickers is much larger than they previously thought and spans several countries. There is a direct link between the Ghost and El Diablo, but they couldn’t recover enough data to track the trail sufficiently. Raina is right, Prizrak’s too freaking good, and it’s beginning to really piss him off.

  They found out that there are several sub-groups within this ring, and they have only taken out three of them. Recovered e-mails gave information of another sub-group about four hours away, which is apparently actively recruiting new traffickers to bring in fresh girls. True to their intelligence so far, it looks like they are extensively checking backgrounds before they recruit.

  Dexter has already authorized an undercover sting. Monday, Kas’ and Derrick’s teams will join again to plan and scout. Kas’ brow furrows as he considers the reach and intelligence of the ring, he knows they are going to have to be very careful and thorough when putting together a false identity that looks legit. Closing Raina’s door, he rubs his eyes as he slides into the driver’s seat, too exhausted to think anymore tonight. For now, he plans on taking Raina home and curling up next to her hot little body as she sleeps next to him.

  The slam of the door awakens Raina, and she groggily looks around, momentarily disoriented. Her door swings open, and the chill of the early morning air causes her to shiver. Kas slips his jacket around her as she slides out of the jeep.

  “I’m beyond beat,” Kas yawns as he unlocks the door and shuff
les a very tired Raina inside.

  “Uh, huh.”

  “Do I need to carry you?” he laughs at her half-closed eyes.

  She playfully nods, letting out a loud, surprised squeal when he sweeps her off of her feet and into his arms, heading directly towards his bedroom. “Hey, where are you going? I have to brush my teeth.”

  He plops her onto the bed before heading back out of his bedroom door, returning a few seconds later with her toothbrush and toothpaste, “You have exactly two minutes to get ready and get back in bed so we can finish what we started earlier.”

  All of the fatigue vacates her body as tingles of anticipation run through every part of her, warming her low in her belly. Kas brushes his teeth before grabbing his t-shirt, tossing it to Raina again, and then he turns around and rips his own shirt over his head. Her blood pulses through her veins, chill bumps cover her arms, and a liquid heat warms the lowest part of her belly like hot silk. She watches the sinew ripple of the muscles on his back as his body moves when he pulls off his shirt.

  Slipping underneath the covers, she sits up against the headboard of the bed and peeks through her lashes as he unbuttons the top button of his jeans. She knows she should turn away, but she doesn’t care a bit about what she should do at the moment. The heat between her thighs intensifies when he steps out of his jeans, standing magnificently in front of her in only his snug black briefs. She feels as if her heart is going to palpitate straight out of her chest at the sight of his pure masculine frame standing mere feet away from her. She struggles to find her voice as she whispers shyly, “Maybe I should go to my room tonight.”

  Kas throws the covers back and climbs onto the bed next to her, causing her body to vigorously react with such force it frightens the wits out of her.