Catching Teardrops (MAC Security 5)

His arms move around my waist, lifting me up off the bed as he presses me against his chest and burrows his face into my neck.

“I love you,” he murmurs, his deep voice vibrating through me. “So fuckin’ much, Lily.” He moves faster before shifting one hand between us and flicking his finger over the same bundle of nerves he did earlier.

“I love you, too,” I groan out before my head rolls back and I close my eyes, loving all the sensations coursing through me.

I know the horror of what was taken from me won’t disappear overnight, but when I open my eyes and look deep into Luke’s ice-blue ones as pleasure rolls through us both, I’m certain with every touch he gives me, it’ll lessen.

LUKE

I stare down at Lily, her breaths slow and measured, her eyelashes fluttering as she dreams. I don’t want to leave her only hours after what we did, but I don’t have a choice. This is to protect my family—to protect her.

By the time the sun comes up, we won’t have to worry about Darrell and finding out exactly who he is because Daley will have him. It’ll be another weight lifted off my shoulders with only one final piece needing to be solved. Right now, all that matters is taking Darrell down and keeping Lily safe.

I take one final look at her before pushing my gun into its holster and spinning around.

The guys are all standing outside in the compound, Ty talking to Kay on the porch of his house before he kisses her and jogs down the steps and over to where Evan, Daley, Kitty, and I are. It’s a small team but it’s exactly what’s needed to take him down.

None of us speak as we all separate off—Evan with Ty, and Kitty and Daley with me. The drive is quiet, the navigation telling me it’ll be an hour until we’re there. I keep the music turned off, needing my head in the game.

I was sure our case was colder than it ever had been when James died, but right now I know we’re gonna end this for good.

All the shit he’s put my family through is about to come down on him like a ton of bricks.

Pulling up outside an office block, I frown, not understanding, and when I catch Daley’s gaze in the rearview mirror where he’s checking his gun over, he says, “Always hide in plain sight.”

When Daley said base, I had the image of an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere, not a building of offices.

I wait a beat before turning the engine off and getting out when Ty and Evan do in front of us.

We went over the plan several times in Evan’s safe room. Two in the back, three in the front. There’s only two exits—three if you count the roof. Once we have him, we take him to Daley’s safe house, find out what he wants from us before Daley has him moved to a secure site. I know it’s code for something much worse, but I couldn’t care less after the shit he’s caused.

“Ready?” Ty asks, and when we all nod, he pulls out his gun, running toward the back with Evan on his tail.

I start toward the front door with Kitty and Daley behind, keeping low and making sure we’re all aware of what’s around us.

Daley pulls out a card, swiping it on a key box before he taps in a long code and then one of the automatic doors slides open.

I keep my body to the side, checking around us before waving my hand for them to follow me. My gaze doesn’t stop moving, tracking where Daley and Kitty are, knowing all the angles of this floor before I wave at them again, running toward the stairwell.

Ten flights of stairs, checking every floor before we get to where Darrell’s base is.

Adrenaline pumps through my veins. We’re close. Closer than we’ve ever been, and with Daley’s intel, there’s no way we won’t get him this time.

But as we make it to the top floor, my gut screams at me, my senses going haywire.

“Something feels off,” I say through the earpiece as we wait outside the door that’ll take us to his floor.

“Yeah,” Ty replies through the earpiece. “The lights are on but it’s quiet.” I look through the glass in the door but the side we’re coming from is dark, and when I look over at the only other door to the floor, I see Ty’s shadow behind the glass.

I look at Kitty and then Daley, and I know we’re all thinking the same thing. This could be our only chance.

“On my count,” Daley says. “Three, two, one.”

I go in first, my gun drawn in front of me at the same time Ty appears on the opposite side, Kitty and Daley at my back and Evan at his.

We all trail around the edge of the floor, checking each station and office, but there’s nothing. It’s silent.

“Too quiet,” Kitty announces through the earpiece.