Passionate Obsession by D.M. Mortier

Chapter Five

Katia

Almost four years ago…

A year after the rescue, things started to get awkward when I insisted on going back to school. This meant that I had to get a full-time nanny. Mac quickly showed me the error of thinking that, reminding me that, while Martha and Calvin took care of things around the mansion, they never had responsibility for the babies. We never left the babies with anyone other than us. A nanny could not help but realize the boys’ unusual abilities. We quickly nixed that idea, which resulted in Mac spending even more time with the boys. He really cut back on his work and took care of them while I was out of the house.

I should have stopped him and probably headed off the fallout from Mac spending so much time at my house. But nothing could have prepared me for Elizabeth, the easygoing, soft-spoken, gentle lady morphing into a vindictive bitch from hell.

Really, I should have been more understanding of the other woman’s plight. After all, I was the interloper in this relationship. It wasn’t Elizabeth’s fault how fucked up my life was. Why should she pay the price, right? And Elizabeth, God bless her little vindictive soul, felt exactly that. She came to visit me on campus.

“You and those brats are destroying Mac’s life. I want it stopped,” she said as I had just taken a sip of my coffee.

The hot liquid went down the wrong way, scalding my tongue and throat, causing a coughing panic. My eyes watered as I tried to catch my breath. Up until now, Elizabeth had been nothing but sweet and nice toward me and my sons. It suddenly dawned on me that I was finally meeting the real Elizabeth.

“I won’t stand by and watch you and those brats take from him what little joy that my family and I bring to his life,” Elizabeth continued. She didn’t even seem to care about the crowd in the coffee shop or that someone might hear our conversation. “I want you out of his life! Do you understand?”

As soon as I had received her invitation, I had known that this wasn’t going to be a pleasant meeting. However, I would have never expected this level of hostility from her. And damn if that bitch didn’t wake me up to how I really felt about Mac. I had been wrapping myself in the illusion of loving Trey for so long that what I was feeling for Mac hadn’t penetrated until that point.

I hadn’t realized that I had been torturing myself with Mac’s relationship with Elizabeth like an idiot who tasted sour milk despite noting the expired date. I was a glutton for punishment and meticulously followed their glamorous lifestyle through the newspaper clippings I’d kept.

Meanwhile, Mac treated me as if I was a beloved younger sister. We had become fast friends and established an easy camaraderie that I had both loved and hated at the same. Being his friend meant I had to pretend to like him in a platonic way and hide the impact he had on my body whenever he was close.

He was my gentle giant, a coagulation of human kindness that seemed surreal in someone who seemed to have everything. Money. Beauty. Prestige. And the more time I spent with him, getting to know how generous, caring, and incredibly brilliant he was, the more I loved and wanted him. The shock of finally admitting that to myself had me stunned in the face of Elizabeth’s venom.

“You stupid, bitch, answer me! I want you gone!” Elizabeth starred diggers at me with her piercing green eyes. For the first time ever, I saw the evil reflecting through their murky depths. This woman was bat-shit evil.

“Such vitriol,” I drawled and gave her a mocking smile. “I’m a bit confused, Elizabeth.” I took a nice slurp of my coffee, relaxed into my chair, and starred at her calmly. I was suddenly feeling better. Yup, I was used to dealing with that kind of demon. I was used to two-faced manipulative demons, used to demons who hid the evil that they were. I smiled because the old Katia, the Katia who took no prisoners, had returned in all her take-no-shit, child-of-Chucky craziness. I was happy to embrace her. “What in our dealings has led you to believe that you can dictate to me?” I asked silkily. “I mean, really, what makes you believe that I give a shit about what you think?”

She sucked in her breath in shock. I’m sure she thought of me as some poor relative who should be grateful for a few crumbs from Mac’s table. She thought she could speak to me as she liked. Well, I didn’t mind bitch-slapping her into knowledge.

“You think I can’t get Mac to kick you out?” She looked almost possessed in her agitation. “One word, just one word.” She snapped her fingers. “One word to Mac, and he would kick you out. Have some dignity and get out before Mac forces you out.”

I smiled inwardly when I realized how ignorant of Mac this woman was. She didn’t know him at all. And I was damn happy to discover that. “I’m really pissed at myself right now,” I said with a disgusted shake of my head. I stood abruptly while clutching the cup of coffee. “Thanks for the coffee, but I’ve got a lot a shit to get done today. I didn’t factor in any time for dealing with crazy.” I twirled my finger at my head and rolled my eyes comically.

“Sit your ass back in that chair. I’m not done with you yet,” Elizabeth hissed.

I stared at her in mock surprise. “Liz honey, did you forget to take your meds? Do I look like that bitch?”

Her forehead wrinkled in confusion.

I sighed, trying to gather some patience for dealing with stupid. This one clearly didn’t know that I could slap her little skinny ass into next month. I prayed for patience. God knows, I’m a work in progress. “No violence Kat,” I whispered that shit under my breath, praying for divine intervention and for “child of Chucky” to remain dormant. “I’m only going to say this once, Elizabeth. So, please pay attention because I’m not going to ever repeat myself. You’re Mac’s girlfriend. Be happy with that. But for all that is holy, don’t ever fuck with me or my kids. Don’t call me. Don’t look at me. In fact, pretend that I don’t even exist. Because if you ever come near me or mine again, I will beat you like a fucking piñata. You feel me?”

“I—”

“Not interested.” I slice my palm through the air, cutting off whatever she was about to say. I turned and started stalking toward the exit.

“I’m not done with you yet, Katia. Don’t think I’m afraid of you. You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

Without even breaking stride, I said loud enough for her and everyone in the coffee shop to hear me, “Liz, go home and take your meds.”

I never told Mac about that encounter, but I noticed a subtle change in him a few days later. He started spending most Saturdays with us. And he started joining the boys and I at church most Sunday mornings when he wasn’t away on a mission.

I had started taking the boys to the nearby Catholic church almost from the first. They had been almost two months old when I had them baptized in the church. I’d been pleasantly surprised when Mac had joined me in presenting them, taking his role as their father in the baptismal ceremony very seriously. It was only during the service that I realized that Mac had to be Catholic as well. He seamlessly recited prayers and hymns with barely a glance at the provided program leaflet.

I knew Elizabeth had pulled her trigger and that is why he started going to church with us more regularly. I wished that I had lifted the embargo on my eavesdropping on him. Damn, I wanted to be a fly on the wall for that conversation. I would have been ecstatic, but it was clear that he was still going out with her, even if it was somewhat less. I was dying to know what he told her when she asked him to get rid of us.

I got an idea of what it was a few months later when Elizabeth came by the house. She must have known that Mac had taken the boys out and that I was home studying.

I opened the door to her ringing the doorbell but stood in the doorway, blocking any attempt by her to cross my threshold.

“I see you’re still being a parasite,” she sneered.

I shrugged. “And you’re still being a bitch. Life is about consistency, and I hate disappointing idiots.”

“You think you’re so damn funny.”

“Actually, I think I’m damn hilarious, but you know, everyone’s a critic.” I grinned hugely, giving her a candid view of all my pearly whites.

“How does it feel being someone’s charity case?”

I shrugged again, not wanting her to realize that she’d hit a nerve. “Can’t complain. The pay and health benefits are amazing,” I told her cheerfully. I hated having to rely so much on Mac. My inability to take care of my sons on my own made me feel like a complete failure. Sure, they were Mac’s sons too, but I felt as though they were mine to take care of. I now had even better computer skill than I had in the past. It would take nothing for me to shave off a few million here or there from shady bank accounts. Bastards won’t know, right? Sigh. Too bad I was married to an FBI agent and have decided to change my ways.

Mac in no way had asked for this. Hell, I hadn’t asked for it either. Still, Mac shouldn’t have had his whole life altered because of us. I know there was another reason I didn’t punch this bitch in the throat and be done with it. Sigh. “No violence Kat.” Damn, my little prayer wasn’t working fast enough. If she had any idea of the violence coursing through my veins right now, she would run her little skinny ass back to her car. I mean, really, I was twice this woman’s size. Internal eye roll. I could snap her like a toothpick by just sitting on her.

“I don’t understand how you can live with yourself,” Elizabeth taunted. “You’re nothing more than trash. Parasitic trash.”

“You know, Elizabeth, I gave you fair warning last time. Clearly, you’re too greedy for Mac’s millions to be rational. And you’re stupid enough to trespass on my property.”

“This is Mac’s house. Not yours. He’s worth billions, not millions. And I’ll make sure when we’re married that he kicks your fat ass out of here.”

I gave her a short mocking laugh before I launched at her. To be fair, I was more pissed that she thought she would marry Mac than I was that she called me fat. I was jealous, plain, simple, green-eyed freaking jealous. I wanted to murder the bitch, thus my speed.

However, I had never seen someone move so fast. Despite the six-inch high heels, Elizabeth did a mad dash down the driveway to her car that would have made any 100-yard Olympic runner jealous. The woman could move. I didn’t bother chasing her. Watching her sprint on heels that were dangerously close to snapping was too damn funny to miss.

I was laughing so hard I was holding my belly with it.

Elizabeth wasn’t amused. She glared back at me from the safety of her car.

“Don’t come back, ya hear!” I was still grinning, so I don’t know how seriously she was taking me. “Come back onto my property and this fat ass will sit on your skinny ass and squash you like a bug!” Bitch was lucky that I didn’t have the strength and speed that the serum gave Mac and our sons; otherwise, she’d be roadkill. The serum’s impact on me was more sensory. It heightened my sense of smell, sight, hearing, and gave me an ability to astral project my consciousness to where or to anyone I had heard or seen before. So, when I say that I’m “stalking” Mac or Trey, I’m literally projecting myself to wherever they are. Yeah, cool right? Or maybe, that’s not so cool, and I’m “bad” Kat. Hard shrug on that one. I gotta have some vices, right? I also seem to heal faster than normal as well, but not as fast as the twins or Mac.

While I hadn’t ever been skinny or athletically inclined, I had a reasonably healthy body. It had still been stunning when my body snapped back into normal shape days after giving birth to the boys. The only difference had been a flat stomach that I would only have earned if I’d done crunches and push-ups for months. Too bad I loved to cook and therefore loved to eat, and my newfound muscles were in a constant fight to not soften by my natural inclination to sample my cooking. Thank God most of my fatty cells settled nicely into my breasts and ass, leaving my waistline and stomach lean. I had big breasts, wide hips, and a round ass galore, making my waist appear even smaller than it actually was. Seems no serum in the world could conquer that gene. And my double Ds were dangerously close to triple.

Elizabeth had just sped down the driveway when Mac’s big black Ford F150 truck came roaring up the drive. I stared as the muscle truck came to a stop and Mac, dressed in designer black jeans and black T-shirt, stepped out from the driver’s side.

The impact he had on my senses was nothing short of electric. I drank him in as though he were a tall glass of ice water in the hot desert. The man was just too damn beautiful. The jeans rode low on his lean waist and molded his taut masculine butt and trunk-like thighs. His T-shirt pulled tight over his broad muscular chest and ripped eight-pack stomach, and his chiseled biceps appeared corded, sinewy, straining against the short sleeves. Damn yummy was what he was. Could a person die of over stimulation?

“Was that Elizabeth’s car I saw?”

I didn’t even consider lying to him. “Yes, she felt the need to vent,” I told him drolly.

“Vent about what?” Mac strode toward me with the twin baby cradle carried easily with one hand. The boys, then almost fourteen months old, were sound asleep. However, despite how cute and peaceful my babies looked in sleep, exhausted from whatever activities Mac had engaged in with them, I couldn’t take my eyes off of Mac. As usual, he drew me into a brief bear hug.

I savored every second of it, breathing him in while trying to slow my own racing pulse. The feel of his hard male body sent my heart racing with excitement as I throbbed and pulsed deep in my pelvis. Too soon it was over, and I wanted to howl in frustration at being denied this decadent treat. He had felt so damn good that I forgot what we were talking about for a hot minute.

“Kat?” He stared down at me, waiting for a response.

“Yeah?” I said absently.

He sighed and started for the house.

I shuffled after him, still feeling a bit muddled in the brain. We cleared the threshold and closed the front door.

“What did Elizabeth want to vent about?” he asked slowly, precisely.

“Ah, this and that.” Seriously? I couldn’t remember what the woman had said. I was too busy watching the muscles in his taut buttocks as he climbed the stairs.

He shook his head without looking back at me and continued to the boys’ nursery.

I shook my head as he disappeared out of sight and took a deep fortifying breath. Calm ya jets, girl! My brain started back online as I heard him close the nursery door. I went into the kitchen, knowing that he would know where to find me. Right. Elizabeth. I remembered now. I cleared my throat to prepare myself as he started down the stairs to the kitchen. I had been making dinner, and as usual had cooked enough for Mac because he usually stayed for dinner after bringing the boys back.

I strolled across the wood-tiled kitchen floor to the cabinet and pulled down two plates as I prepared to rip the Band-Aid off as Mac stepped into the kitchen. “Elizabeth wanted to remind me, in case I had forgotten, that I was a parasite and that the boys and I were ruining your life,” I said flippantly, looking back at him as though all was right in the world.

“What?” The thunderous look on Mac’s face told me that he had heard those sentiments before and was incredulous that Elizabeth expressed them to me.

However, I still couldn’t help thinking that there was some level of truth to what Elizabeth said. Even my education Mac was paying for. Nothing about that was right. “She’s right, you know. The boys and I are not your responsibility. I need to get off my ass and work.”

“Don’t talk garbage, Kat. Those boys are my sons. You’re their mother and my wife.”

“Come on, Mac, you didn’t sign up for any of this. We’re getting in the way of your relationship with your girlfriend. She has a right to be upset about that.”

“No, she doesn’t. Elizabeth is a friend. She has no rights where I’m concerned.” I couldn’t mistake the earnestness in his voice and demeanor. He was clearly upset at this take on our relationship. “You’re the mother of my children. You’re the only woman to have any rights where I’m concerned.”

I tried to laugh his words off with a playful eye roll and a flippant, “Yeah, right.” I turned to the oven to pull out the lasagna I’d made and to hide the disappointment I felt on not having any real rights where he was concerned. I wanted those rights to him so badly and wanted to give him rights to me too. Rights to kiss him like I was dying to do. Rights to feel his broad chest under my fingertips and on my lips. Rights to call him truly mine. Those are the rights I wanted.

I started slicing the French bread a little more rigorously than needed. With the same aggression, I lathered the slices with garlic butter before placing them on a cookie sheet and sliding them into the oven. “Don’t say things like that to a woman, Mac.” I thought I should warn the guy. He clearly didn’t know what he was saying to my obsessed heart. “I might start to believe you.”

“You should believe what I say because I would never lie to you. I have only spoken the truth.”

“Mac, I am the boys’ mother because those doctors stole your sperm and impregnated me with it. That’s all.” I, for one, wished that I had gotten pregnant the old-fashioned way. “I could have been any woman to them.”

“However, fate decided otherwise, hasn’t it?”

“You believe in fate?”

“Doesn’t everyone? You can’t tell me that we have control over most things in our lives,” he said stoically. “Wasn’t it just by chance you were in the path of the bus that hit you? You certainly didn’t want to be there. Wasn’t it by chance that, out of all the women that had an accident on that day, you were selected to be taken by those scientists? And wasn’t it also fate that you were orphaned at such an early age? No one can outrun their fate, nor should you ever try.”

I breathed in and out deeply because I so wanted him to be right. I wanted to believe that. Those doctors had tried his sperm on many women without success. So, my ability to carry his children was a big deal. Fated. “That still doesn’t make you responsible for us, Mac.” I dished portions of the cheesy meat- and spinach-filled lasagna onto two plates. I placed the now toasted garlic bread into a basket and covered the pieces with a cloth to keep them warm.

“You and the boys are mine,” he said in a hard voice, daring me, anyone, to refute his claim.

“Mac—”

“No! No one, and I mean no one, will take you and the boys away from me. Not those scientists, not you, and for damn sure not Elizabeth!”

My senses picked up his accelerated heartbeat and choppy breathing, letting me know his heightened agitation. I wanted to soothe him. “I wasn’t suggesting that I wanted to take the boys away from you. I simply think it’s time I found work. I need to do something that speaks to who I am.”

We sat down at the tiny kitchen table to have our meal.

Mac still looked pissed and in deep thought, but he was at least a lot calmer than he was moments ago. “See, I told you, food cures all ailments,” I teased.

“No,” he muttered emphatically. “Good food cures all ailments.”

Ten minutes went by while we ate in amiable silence. We were both deep into our own thoughts.

I was a bit startled when he asked quietly, “What do you see yourself doing? I mean as a profession.”

I smiled as I thought of my hidden skills, skills Mac had no clue about. “I believe that everyone in the world has a gift.” I smiled at how fanciful that sounded when spoken out loud. However, after our discussion of fate, perhaps not so much.

“Okay,” Mac said hesitantly as if he wasn’t sure where this conversation would be leading.

I laughed at the expression on his face. It was clear that he wanted to appear as though he was following but also clear that he was cringing at what I might say next. “As I was saying, everyone has a God-given gift. And I think it’s your life’s purpose to find what that gift is and use it.” I laughed again as he blanked his expression, definitely not wanting me to see his skepticism.

“I see.”

No, he didn’t, but undeterred, I pressed on. “I watched an old movie the other day, starring Morgan Freeman. In it, Morgan’s character, Alex Cross, said, ‘You do what you are…’ Honestly, that resonated with me. It’s why I get up each morning, anticipating the possibilities. Every day I try to maximize what I’m good at. And having these little guys, it’s now even more essential I guide them and help them to do and be what they are, what they’re good at. To find their gifts. Yes, they have the super abilities that were artificially injected into their bodies, but they were also born with God given abilities. Abilities that they were destined to utilize or harness.”

He was quiet for a long moment before murmuring, “You really believe this, don’t you?”

He didn’t say “you believe this nonsense,” but I knew he was dying to add that on. It made me love him more for holding those negative words back. “Yeah, Mac, I do. Look at you for example.”

He swallowed audibly and asked manfully, “What about me?”

“We know that those drugs were given to us and altered our DNA. It did that, but it enhanced what we are, who we are. You were always strong and smart, but now you’re stronger, both mentally and physically. You were already a marine, already had an innate desire to protect and serve, and look at what you are now. You’re the best FBI agent the agency has. Do you ever wonder why the serum didn’t impact me the same way?”

“You have no way of knowing that it enhanced my abilities.”

“But I’m not wrong though. I bet if you were not an agent, you would be a police officer or fireman. That’s what you are. That’s your gift; you’re a protector. An enforcer of justice.”

“So, your theory is that I would not make a good CEO or an engineer?”

I laughed softly, as he’d intended. “No, I’m not saying that at all. Did you miss the part about you being also stronger mentally? You can do any job you set your mind to, but you’re the best version of you by being what you are. When you’re using your gift at its optimal.”

Mac shook his head in resignation. “I did ask, didn’t I? The question that I should be asking is, why did the serum impact us positively and was lethal to so many others?” Mac gritted out.

I sighed. “I wasn’t trying to imply that the drugs given to us were good. I was only referring to our gifts and how they have manifested in us. Clearly, I haven’t converted you yet.”

He grunted in agreement. “You have convinced me that you’re a damn good cook. Is that one of your gifts?”

I made a face of disapproval at him. “Now you’re making fun.”

Mac grinned. “No, I really think you’re a damn good cook, and if that’s not a gift, I don’t know what is.”

“That may be a gift, but it’s dependent on those who appreciate it. So, not sure if that counts. I think you and the boys would eat anything.” I laughed at his disgruntled expression. “But that isn’t the gift I’m referring to though.”

“So, a person can have more that one gift?”

I grinned cheekily. “If fate allows, we will have many gifts.” I sobered, wanting him to realize how sincere I felt about this. “If you don’t use your gifts, then it is a sin against God and a betrayal to yourself. You are obligated to find your gifts and use them. Most people will recognize at least one of their gifts. But, if you’re lucky, you can find others that are just as dominant and equally rewarding.”

“Okay.” He pushed his now empty plate aside, and his sapphire gaze focused solely on me. “You’ve diagnosed me. Identified my gift. And I’m humbled that you think that I’m using mine.” His expression had nothing but tenderness and bemusement. “What about you? What is your gift?”

“Me? Well, I’m really spectacular at unravelling codes. Don’t ask me how—” I laughed at his confused expression. “Even without proper training, when I was a kid, I have always been able to get around most computer security systems. And now after the enhancements to my sensory, I am even better at it. I can find anything or person in the world by tapping into my sensory.” I laughed again as he gaped at me skeptically. “You don’t believe me?”

“I didn’t say that. I’m trying to understand what you mean by tapping into your sensory. I know you don’t have the strength and speed that the boys and I have, but I was never clear on what the serum did to you.”

“It’s difficult to explain. However, I can show you.”

He raised an eyebrow but still looked uncertain.

“Okay, doubting Thomas, name someone that you’ve been searching for and haven’t been able to find.”

“It’s not that I doubt your abilities, Kat. For the kind of people I chase, you will need a secure server and much more secure facilities than are here at the house.”

“Again, you doubt me.” I laughed. “I will use my computer for some of my research, but that’s not really how I will find this individual for you. Trust me.” I grinned teasingly just to ease his worried frown. “Tell me who you need found so I can blow your mind.”

The smile that came on his face wasn’t the gentle teasing one that I had gotten so used to. This smile seemed slightly wicked. “Believe me, Kat, you already blow my mind without even trying.”

My breath stilled in my chest. Wait, did he mean what I hoped he meant?

He didn’t look away or fill the silence that descended around us.

Was it my imagination, or did his eyes seem to smolder and simmer with barely banked heat? I didn’t dare let my hopes soar. However, there was nothing I could do with the erratic beat of my heart.

He knew how to steal every bit of oxygen from the room. It took every ounce of willpower I possessed to not reach across the table to touch him.

He cleared his throat, and the moment disappeared. His expression was blank, unreadable. “Anyway, the man that we’ve been hunting has so many damn aliases that, by the time we find him, he’s someone else.”

I swallowed my disappointment at the return to the other topic because this was the longest he had ever sat and talked with me about anything other than the boys. I determinedly pasted on a smile. “Who? Who do you want to find?”

“He was born Mikhail Chernoff.”

“Now we’re talking,” I said excitedly. “I’ll be right back.”

“Wait. I didn’t tell you the rest.”

I grinned. “But that’s all I need to know.” I ran into the study that was really Mac’s and slid the door open to a walk-in closet that hid my custom-built laptop with a firewall security above the normal but nothing as high-grade as I would need for more covert research. I should have felt ashamed of the liberal use of the black credit card that Mac had given me a year ago. While he had assumed that I would buy clothes and jewelry, I had instead built my dream computer and purchased monitors, modems, a high-powered server, and cryptography algorithms. In fact, I purchased anything and everything I needed to become a better analyst and better hacker. However, to be honest, I was using the high-tech systems as a camouflage to what I was really doing now.

In my old life, I had done some amateur hacking, nothing sophisticated or complex, but enough to get things I wanted as a kid. I liked my civil liberties too much to risk being incarcerated. Now I didn’t need to go even that far to get what I wanted. I can use my ability to eavesdrop to get passwords and access that I would have spent hours, if not days, getting. I could access any system, anywhere, and find whatever or whoever Mac was looking for. My ability to get into places I shouldn’t and see and hear conversations without anyone being aware of it definitely augmented and enhanced my computer skills. I knew what I wanted to do with my gift, but it was going to be difficult keeping how I did it a secret, a secret even from Mac.

When I returned to the kitchen almost an hour later, Mac had already cleared the kitchen table, stacked the dishwasher, and was lounging in the den watching a news channel.

He looked up as I walked toward him. Smiling smugly, I handed a piece of paper to him.

“Is this supposed to be where Mikhail is?”

“He’ll be there until tomorrow at 3 p.m. As you can see, he is masquerading as a she with a new name, but that’s him.”

He gave me a hard stare without unfolding the paper to read it. “How did you find him so quickly? If this is correct, you would have achieved what our agents haven’t been able to do for years.”

“Perhaps, y’all should hire me.”

“If this information pans out, I can guarantee that that’s a strong possibility. That or we’re both going to prison.”

I grinned teasingly. “Now you know that they haven’t built a prison yet that could contain you or me. You rescued me once. I know you will rescue me again.”

Mac stood and had such an intense look at that point, his gaze smoldering, piercing sapphires, that I almost expected him to kiss me. He closed his eyes briefly before turning abruptly and leaving without even a goodnight.

He returned late the next night dressed in his combat gear as though just returning from a raid. The boys and I had already turned in for the night, so it was shocking for me to see him, and especially dressed like the day he rescued us. My senses went haywire at the sight of him.

He strode into my bedroom dressed in a dark T-shirt, combat pants and boots, with several large automatic guns and vicious-looking knives strapped to various parts of his body. He had the look of a primal male etched in every line of his body. He stared back at me steadily.

My nerves were shot to hell. Seeing Mac in all of his badass glory made my hormones pop and sizzle to new levels. My clit was swollen and pulsing in rhythm to my racing heartbeat. It felt as though I was melting from the inside out. I didn’t dare let go of the quilt that covered my skimpily clad body. I would never be able to hide my taut nipples covered only by a thin silk nightie.

“How have you remained off of the intelligence agencies’ radar for so long? They are usually on to people like you before you’re out of diapers.” His voice was soft, despite his brutally fearsome look. He sat on the bed with his back supported by a few pillows against the headboard.

“You got him then?” A feeling of absolute elation filled me at his brief affirmative nod.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I have a gift.” I laughed at Mac’s exasperated grunt.

“We’re back to that again?”

“You of all people should believe in it wholeheartedly,” I teased him.

“Are you going to feed me?”

“Do I have a job?” I was so excited I knelt in the middle of the bed and did a happy bounce, grinning like I had won the lottery. His heated gaze stopped me mid-bounce. I quickly pulled the quilt to cover my front. I had completely forgotten my unfettered breasts, which were cupped by the transparent material of my pale pink nightie.Yeah, those girls were an eyeful and then some.

Mac wrapped a massive arm around my waist, sheet and all, and lifted me from the bed.

I squealed.

“Don’t wake the boys,” he admonished softly.

Me? I was too busy trying to find my breath at the exquisite feel of his incredibly hard body against mine. Every thought in my head scattered.

He carried me out of the bedroom and downstairs. He walked through the house with effortless stealth and an easy stride with me held against him as though I weighed nothing. Apparently, he was still worried about the boys waking up. Silently, he carried me through the house and into the kitchen.

I was so stunned at his unapologetically dominant behavior, something Mac had never exhibited toward me before. The riot of sensations racing through my body rendered me speechless and paralyzed with inaction. Despite knowing of his super strength, I couldn’t help bemoaning the fact that I was not a small woman at five-eleven in bare feet, and curves that would make Serena in her catsuit look slender. No, nothing about me was small! I had too much ass and tits for that. And while I did try to remain healthy by exercising regularly, I wasn’t going to lose the extra padding on my breasts, hips, and thighs anytime soon.Nor did I want to. I loved my curves.

He plunked me down onto my feet in front of the fridge and gave me a “I’m man; you’re woman” expectant look. “Food,” he muttered.

I was too disappointed at the absence of his arms around me to remember what we were supposed to be doing in the kitchen.

Unfortunately, Mac had no such problem. He seemed a bit agitated, which was completely uncharacteristic of him. “Kat, I’ve had a long twenty-four hours and haven’t eaten since I saw you last.”

“So, feed you?”

“Come on, woman. The food isn’t going to heat itself.”

“You do realize that this is the twenty-first century and not the fifteenth, right? Man has been known to go into a kitchen and get his own damn food.” We both knew that I was pretend grumbling about this because I loved taking care of him. And Mac loved letting me wife him. Hell, I did everything for him a wife would, except fuck him, and I was quite willing to do that too. Now, if Mac would just ask me to drop my panties as he did everything else. A girl could dream, right?

I wrapped the sheet around me more securely to avoid walking around the well-lit kitchen in a see-through nightie that barely reached the tops of my thighs. I was certain that Mac had already glimpsed the nightie and matching pale pink bikini when he picked me up from the bed, but I wasn’t going to take a chance of him seeing it in the harsh kitchen lights.

I turned to open the refrigerator. “So, if I said I didn’t have food for you tonight?”

“Is that a serious question?”

I stared him down, but he nonchalantly sat at the tiny kitchen table and waited. We both knew that, from day one, I’d never gone a day without ensuring that there was a meal available for him in case he stopped by. However, tonight was the first time he had come over this late and unannounced.

I pulled out a bottle of imported beer from the refrigerator, opened it, and handed it to him. I don’t know what groceries Mac kept in his penthouse apartment, but I always had my fridge stocked with his favorite beer, ice cream, and cheeses. As he knew, dinner was always prepared for him unless he was out of town on a mission, and he always made sure I was aware of those times and how to reach him. He even had a room in the house, complete with a wardrobe upstairs that he used basically to change clothes when he’d finish roughhousing or swimming in the pool with the boys. It was sometimes easier for him to change here if he had to go to work for something urgent that came up. The only thing indicating that he didn’t live with us was that he didn’t sleep over, ever.

I heated his plate of grilled lamb chops with mint jelly, mashed potatoes, and asparagus, sautéed with butter. I struggled with getting everything ready using only one hand, as my other hand was needed to hold the sheet around me. Not to mention that the sheet was dragging on the floor behind me, causing me to trip over it repeatedly.

“You do realize that I’ve seen you in that nightie before, right? I didn’t attack you then, and I’m sure I’ll be able to restrain myself now if you let that sheet go.”

“Not going to happen.” I smirked without turning to look at him. “I had no idea you’d seen me before in this,” I said softly, dying to know when he would have seen me.

“Well, I have.” He stood and came toward me and pulled off his black T-shirt. “If it makes you feel better, here, wear this shirt.” Instead of giving the shirt to me, he pulled the shirt over my head and settled it over my body. The shirt covered my body, reaching my mid-thigh.

The shirt was saturated with his masculine scent and the heat from his body. My senses, which were already clamoring for him, went bat-shit crazy. Want, unlike anything I’d ever felt, rocked me. I stumbled unsteadily and was forced to lean on the counter behind me for support.

“Whoa…” He steadied me with an arm around my waist. “Are you okay?”

“You’re standing in front of me with no shirt on and you’re asking if I’m okay?” I said peevishly. Did he think I liked hurting like this? “Have you looked in a mirror lately?” Muttering under my breath at how obtuse he could be, I turned my back to him, left the sheet on the floor, and quickly finished preparing his plate to be heated.

“I’ll get a shirt,” Mac mumbled behind me.

I felt the slight breeze as he zipped from the kitchen and the slight breeze when he returned seconds later.

“Show-off.” I deliberately tried for light and teasing. It wasn’t his fault that I was so pathetically in love with him. He didn’t know how I really felt about him. And I would die of embarrassment if he did.

He grinned and looked thoroughly pleased with himself. Mac, seated at the small kitchen table, dug into the steaming food like he hadn’t had food in days.

From experience, I knew to let him eat in peace until he had his fill. It was a ritual we both knew well.

“You didn’t answer my question,” he mumbled after more than half the contents had disappeared off his plate.

“And what question would that be?”

“How did you find him and remain off of the intelligence agencies’ radar?”

“That’s two questions.” I smiled.

“Kat.” Mac looked up at me with steel in his regard. It was the first time that he had used that tone and expression on me. The first time that I was being allowed to see beneath his usual cool façade.

That change in demeanor sent a shiver of appreciation up my spine. I liked that glimpse of his bad-boy persona, which he never displayed around me and the boys. I wondered briefly what my punishment would be if I didn’t obey him. I so wanted to find out but realized that tonight might not be the time to test it.

“What can I tell you, Mac?” I shrugged. “I have mad skills. As to staying under the radar, I learned early to go in and out of systems that are not high risk without anyone detecting my presence. Now that I am older and have more knowledge and experience under my belt, it’s an afternoon stroll in the park.” I couldn’t help the cheeky grin, knowing that I was telling the truth but not the whole truth and was still able to sell it.

“There are a few people at the Bureau who want to meet you,” Mac told me quietly.

I couldn’t tell if he was pleased by the idea or not. I wished I could read him better. “Do they know about us?”

“The relevant people know that you are my wife.”

“Really?” I wasn’t certain that I was hearing him correctly. As far as I was aware, no one knew that we were married. No one. Not even Elizabeth.

“The only way to stop people from digging too much into your past or questioning the fake history we planted is to give them our solid present.”

“But—” I was stunned.

“Explaining that you are my wife, and also the mother of my babies, will ensure people will be too stunned about my personal life to worry about yours. I never discuss my personal life. Your existence will be so fantastical that they will be too busy dwelling on that fact to go looking for anything else.”

“But what about Elizabeth?”

“What about her?” Mac didn’t even bother to look up from forking more food into his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully for a few seconds, swallowed, and then said calmly, “My relationship with Elizabeth has nothing to do with our arrangement.”

“I think Elizabeth’s visit to me yesterday says otherwise.”

“Elizabeth will never bother you again.”

I could only raise my eyebrows at that. He must have reassured Elizabeth that her position in his life was solid. Had he spent the night with her last night? I definitely didn’t want to think about that. Instead, I needed to get Mac to be more reasonable about our relationship.

“You’ve given me so much already, Mac.” Yeah, like I wasn’t happy about this? Happy dance! Doing a happy dance! “I can’t ask you to sacrifice your freedom so completely.” Yup, I wanted him to sacrifice other women. I volunteer as tribute! Oh right, this isn’t Hunger Games. Damn.

“I’m sacrificing nothing.”

“So, you’re going to continue dating when people realize that we’re married?” This is what I really wanted to know.

He stilled and gave me a penetrating look. “Don’t worry about me. This job is important to you. You should have it.”

“Is all of this wise, considering that those doctors are still out there trying to find us?”

“Oh, they are too busy trying to explain to Congress how a multi-billion-dollar project went up in smoke.” He grinned. “The defense department hadn’t been honest about what they were really doing with the billions allocated.”

“What did you do? I thought I heard an explosion. Did you destroy the facility?”

Mac had an unholy gleam in his sapphire eyes.

It made me think of what our sons would look like when they got older and could get into more mischief.

“On the night I took you and boys from them, we left a few devices that had the complex burned to the ground within seconds of clearing the building. We not only destroyed all their research, but we also destroyed any samples or records they were storing there. It will take years before they’ll be up and running again, especially without Dr. Reiner.”

“They don’t know about your involvement, right?”

Mac grinned. “Bastards are still trying to piece together what happened. So, you have nothing to worry about from them.”

I really didn’t have much argument after that, and it seemed that nothing I said would dissuade him from acknowledging my presence in his life. True to his word, Mac got me the job as a systems analyst with the FBI. Our being married never became an issue because it wasn’t something that was widely known in the office, nor had there been any reason to enlighten folks about it, outside of our bosses.

I never did give Mac his shirt back. It might have had something to do with the fact that I slept in that shirt for a full month without washing it.

As Mac promised, in the years since, Elizabeth never contacted me again.

And I never saw Mac in another magazine or article with Elizabeth or any other woman. If he had to attend a charity event, he went alone because, under no circumstances, could we afford for my photo to be published. If he was dating Elizabeth or anyone else, I didn’t know, nor did I use my gift to find out. I didn’t want to invade his privacy.

I did know that I was damn tired of being in a platonic relationship with a guy, my best friend, who left me in a wet, throbbing mess every time I saw him.