Heald paused. Confused. Their kiss had been fierce. Had he read her wrong earlier? “Everything okay?”
Laura looked at him over her shoulder with her brown eyes and lanky brown hair. She gave him a half smile that—shit—actually sent his heart fluttering. “Only certain people know the combo. There’s some important stuff in here—”
Heald relaxed the muscles in his face.
She was suspicious.
If anything it made her more attractive. He liked smart women. “Then you should tell whoever’s in charge of that room to get better security. I could punch through the drywall with my fist if I really wanted to.”
Laura looked him up and down, licking her lips. He knew it was probably a nervous habit, but it drove him fucking crazy. He wanted to see those wet lips… he wanted to thrust his tongue…
Goddamn it.
“Don’t even think about it,” Laura said.
Heald blinked. Was he so obvious? Had he spoken out loud? Embarrassment flushed his body, though it didn’t even make a dent in the hard bulge inside his jeans. “What?”
“Rebar reinforces the walls and the door,” Laura said. “It might not look like much on the outside—”
“Oh it looks plenty good on the outside.”
Heald silently chastised himself.
There was no point in teasing her—both of them—like this. He couldn’t lose sight of the fact how dangerous he was to her. His very presence here in this moment put her life at risk, especially if Station found out.
Laura flushed and turned back to the keypad.
Once they were inside, Laura flipped on a desk lamp. Its glow revealed a series of locked cabinets, two desks with various electronic parts scattered across them, and a weird box with some sort of antenna hooked up.
“Precious valuables?” Heald said.
“It might not look like much,” Laura shrugged. “Director Stone likes to fool around with old electronics. That’s a ham radio over there. Ever used one?”
Heald shook his head. “Not yet.” He knew theoretically how to work one, but had never needed to try before now. “Does it work?” He kept his voice neutral. If it did work, he’d have to find a way to destroy it. He couldn’t let Laura notify the authorities about any of this until he was long gone with the horns.
Now it was Laura’s turn to shake her head. “No, she was working on it and it gave me the idea to try something similar in my classroom—”
“You’re a teacher?” Heald didn’t know why he was surprised. He guessed it suited her, or at least her clothes, but it seemed like she belonged in the museum like this solving mysteries and protecting antiquities from guys like him.
“Yeah, it’s how come I can keep my cool under pressure. Try keeping a classroom full of ten year olds alive and learning every day, then some burglars won’t seem like such a big deal.”
Heald shook his head. He admired her bravado but she didn’t know Station. He wasn’t just some burglar. He was part of an international smuggling syndicate. The 10 million dollars in rhino horns was one shipment, a big one, in his system. But the syndicate was much bigger. The worldwide black market for this sort of thing was worth something like 20 billion US dollars. In terms of global black market crime, first came weapons, then human trafficking, then drugs, and next, the ‘illegal wildlife products,’ as his customs brother liked to describe it.
Station controlled a sizable portion of that last market, of which this rhino horn shipment was part.
“But we can’t let them get away with this,” Laura said. “Whatever they’re trying to steal, we have to let the police know. There are paintings and jewels and…” but she trailed off.
Laura didn’t know that Heald already knew about the rhino horns. Good. He wanted to keep it that way.
“You said it yourself, the security system will notify the police. Just give them time.” Heald clicked the door closed behind them. The gears from the keypad locked in place. Someone inside could get out easily enough, but would need to know the code to get back inside.
They settled on separate chairs. Desire, like electricity, crackled in the air between them again. Heald spun away, because he didn’t think he could pull off the next part of his plan if he was looking her in the eyes.
“Look, I think you should stay here. I’m going to check things out.”
“What? But you just said let the police—”
“I know, but you got me thinking. What could they get away with while we wait? There’s one-of-a-kind stuff out there—”
“Do you know what floor they were headed for?”
“Uh,” Heald paused as if considering. What would be more believable and more likely to keep her in this room? Saying they were headed this way or elsewhere. “Upstairs, I think. Maybe top floor?”
Laura let out a sigh. “So they don’t know—”
“Know what?” Heald said.
Laura shook her head, frowning. “It’s nothing.”
“Is it about whatever you’re working on down here?” Heald didn’t know why he pushed it. He knew exactly what Laura was trying to hide from him. And the thing was, she was exactly right to hide it from the likes of him, but it bothered him that she refused to trust him. Everything so far should have proved to her he was a stand up guy, right?
Except you most definitely are not a stand up guy, not today. His conscience whispered.
Shut up, he told his conscience.
“Sort of,” Laura said, sighing again. “This whole museum is full of important discoveries.”
Nice. She had politely side-stepped his question. He’d look even more suspicious if he pressed her now.
“Okay so then we’re agreed,” Heald said. “You stay here. I’’ll go give my cell phone a try upstairs.”
“We should both go,” Laura said. “I’ll be your look out. Everyone needs a lookout. How else do you expect to get away with anything? Even my ten year old students know that.”
A lookout. “What are you talking about?” The gears in Heald’s head began to turn. He was supposed to be smart. He was supposed to be in control, but he felt all of that suddenly spinning away.
“You know, someone to act as a distraction while the rest of the group takes care of business. Unfortunately, the lookout often gets caught and takes the fall for the entire group. Ten year olds are no match for me, no matter how hard they try.”
Shit.
Laura laughed, but then must have seen something weird in Heald’s expression. It felt like all the blood had drained from his face as a familiar desperation began to take hold.
As he remembered things he didn’t want to remember.
One guy. They had sent in one guy to steal back 20 rhino horns. It had made sense at the time.
The world began to spin. Black dots appeared before his eyes. He felt like he was drowning, lost, a little kid again, taking the fall for whatever his father had decided to accuse him and his brother of doing. He would take the beating for both of them, protecting his brother with his own body.
He had made sure to work that body hard in the gym, on the track, out in the field. He had made sure his body was as indestructible as possible. It was his way of making up for all of his father’s beatings and the way Heald’s body had broken under the belt with welts, bruises, and even broken bones.
“Look at me.” It was Laura’s voice, it cut through the blackness and his loss of control. Her voice held a firmness, a confidence that the darkness could be beaten back. “Look at me, Heald. You’re not that person anymore. Whatever you’re remembering. It’s over. You’re here. You’re strong. You’re safe now.”
Heald turned accusing eyes onto her as the storm grew inside. “How do you know that?”
Chapter 8
“I know,” Laura said, putting every bit of emotion she could scramble together into those two words. She hesitated touching him, sometimes when her students relived terrible memories a touch by an adult made things worse. “I know because you’re still
here. You’re alive.”
She saw the need shining clear and angry in Heald’s eyes.
Other times, a touch was exactly what they needed.
She pressed her palm against his arm and her other palm against his cheek. His skin was warm and rough under her touch. He didn’t flinch away, but instead leaned into her and seemed to relax, just an inch, but it was enough to tell her she had made the right move.
She had her own secrets, her own trauma. She recognized it in him—a mature trauma, different than what her students sometimes had to face by living through it in the present.
Heald’s was an old trauma that she saw he had mostly conquered, except for in rare moments like this because that sort of thing never truly went away forever.
“You are right here with me. Right here,” Laura said, pouring warmth into her words.
Heald looked at her now with such desire in his eyes. It shined there so clear, for anyone to see, even Laura couldn’t deny the message. She thought about it for a long second. Was it right to take advantage of him like this? But her own desire surged, pooling low in her belly and moving out to her fingers and toes, making them tingle and turning her feverish.
But no, it wasn’t right. Not like this in a dark basement with burglars roaming the museum above them and him vulnerable in front of her.
She moved to release her hands and step back.
Heald stepped forward. Her head came to his chest and he smelled like wood fire and musky earth. He smelled like desire and strength and that competency she had first noticed. He wrapped arms around her. Strong. Whatever had happened to him, it had only made him stronger and she felt that strength like a great heartbeat.
Though his own heartbeat was racing and hers felt caught in her throat.
He pushed her back and she despaired, thinking it had only been a hug of thanks, she had read too much into it again. Then she looked up and caught his blue eyes and drowned inside the storm that raged there. He crushed his lips to hers and his tongue searched her mouth. She opened for him, feeling herself go weak in the knees as she melted against him.
He released her, allowing her to breath.
She moaned instead, full of desire. “Please,” Laura said, almost panting. She couldn’t look him in the eyes, afraid he would reject her.
Rebellion flared in her belly. She would look him in the eyes and face whatever was there. She forced her gaze up and desire and hunger written all over Heald’s face.
“Kiss me again.”
Heald surveyed her from her head to her chest. Her breasts heaved underneath her shirt and she shivered under his appraisal.
“I won’t want to stop,” Heald said.
Laura felt lightheaded. She pushed herself against him, hooking one leg around his hip, forcing his hard knot to pulse through his clothes against her opening. She had never done anything like this in her entire life. “Please don’t stop.”
A one night stand with a complete stranger? A part of Laura’s brain whispered that it didn’t want just a one night stand with a man like Heald. She pushed that away for now. She hardly knew him. She knew she wanted him. She had somehow lost all control and she reveled in this break from her normal reality.
He started with her shirt, unbuttoning it from the top. When he reached halfway, he stopped to admire the curve of her breasts. She arched her back to help him. She wanted him to—
He leaned over and nuzzled one breast, then the other. He popped one breast out from the cup of her bra, and cupped her with his own hand, fingering the nipple until it hardened and stood erect. Little shots of pleasure coursed through Laura at each flip of his finger against her nipple. Her body felt like it was on fire and she felt a growing wetness that ached to be filled.
He finished unbuttoning her shirt, pushing it off her shoulders, kissing her at the neck and between her breasts, even as she began to fumble with his clothes. She drew his shirt over his head and her breath caught at the muscles that rippled underneath. He had looked good in the shirt, but it did not do justice to his powerful chest and abdomen.
She pressed herself against him. His chest muscles felt deliciously hard against her breasts. He moaned and tangled his hands in her hair, driving her mouth back up to meet his mouth. They sucked and nipped each other even as Laura reached for his jeans. From the very first moment outside, she had thought about that bulge. It was hot and hard under her hands as she struggled with the button and zipper.
He smiled and laughed quietly against her mouth. “Having trouble?”
She smiled back, their tongues still slipping over each other. “I believe you’ve grown out of these pants.”
“Hmmm,” Heald said, moving his hands to either side of her hips and grinding against her. His muscles rippled up and down against her body. He was rock hard and full of need for her. “Let me help.”
He drew back and her body followed him as if he were a magnet. He flicked open his button and went for the zipper.
Laura placed a hand over his to stop him. “Let me.” She didn’t know who this new Laura was, or whether she was going to stick around or not, but she decided to enjoy the moment to the fullest. They were safe in the room for now—a locked door between them and the rest of the world.
The sound of his zipper was the most intoxicating sound she could remember hearing in a long time. It had been a long time. Too long, since she had been with a man like this.
As soon as the zipper came down, Heald’s erection sprung through the cloth of his underwear forming a tent. Tight briefs. She rubbed her hand over the bulge. Feeling his huge size, she needed him to fill her up.
Heald crouched, removing his erection from her touch. He reached his hands underneath her skirt and felt his way up her thighs, hiking her skirt up around her waist. His touch was feather light and it drove her to distraction because it was such a contrast to his hard, overwhelming strength.
His fingers reached the edge of her underwear and she silently begged him to keep going. His head was at breast level and he suckled each breast in turn. Suddenly he slipped his fingers underneath and then inside of her. She felt herself grow wet against the hardness of his fingers. He moaned and pulled gently at her nipple with his lips. The electricity between her breast and her cleft connected. He pulsed a finger against her clit and the feeling of pleasure rocked her to her core. She lost her ability to stand.
He held her up, increasing the strokes. He sucked on one breast, squeezed a butt cheek with one hand, and with his other hand worked in gentle, but increasingly faster strokes, fingering her cleft and circulating her clit. Before she realized it, she felt waves of pleasure begin to build. He was hot against her, his muscles hard like a wall, his fingers filling her up, stroking her.
The waves of pleasure built. Her legs trembled from the emotions coursing through her. Her thighs rippled and her stomach clenched, her body thrumming tight as a drum.
“More,” she said, her eyes fluttering and all sense of the world vanishing except for him, for this body crushed against her, making pleasure course through every nerve until her own body shuddered and she felt her cleft clench and throb around his fingers. He moaned, crushing her against him.
Another wave of pleasure hit her and sent her over the edge. The peak exploded across her body.
She lost all sense of the world except for how he felt against her and how her inside muscles clenched around his fingers. Heald moaned against her breasts, his breath hot against her flesh.
Slowly the waves faded like the tide going out.
She had never come this fast.
She had never come like this before.
Her senses began to come back to her. She looked down at the rippled, defined muscles of his bare back and ran her hands down them. He was slick from sweat. He smelled like man, like wonderful, intoxicating man.
Heald moaned underneath her touch and slipped his fingers out. Her skirt dropped, covering her legs.
“Oh no. That won’t do.” Laura undid the waist
tie and let her skirt drop to the floor. Next came her underwear. The cold basement air raised goosebumps on her skin. It felt delicious. Heald was on his knees, staring at her, hunger in his eyes, erection bulging, pulsing inside the cloth.
She undid her bra and let it drop completely away. It hadn’t been holding up her breasts anymore anyway. Her nipples were still erect and hard and she loved how he stared at her, like he couldn’t get enough.
He watched her every move as she went to her purse and pulled out a condom. He gave her a wolfish smile. He moved as if to stand up. Instead, she pushed him until he was on his back on top of a little office rug.
Bare chested, slick with sweat, muscles rippling, erection bulging, Heald helped her remove his jeans and underwear. His erection sprung tall into the air, straight up from his body. She grabbed the shaft and pumped it once with her hand as she slipped on the condom. Then she took him into her mouth and used her tongue to stroke the head and lip using pulling, circular motions. He tensed and drove his hands into her hair again.
“Laura.”
Laura released him and looked up across his massive chest. Hair curled there, dark and masculine, trailing to his erection. She ached to reach her hands up and feel that muscle. So she did just that and it felt as delicious as she imagined.
“Is it okay?” Laura said, suddenly unsure. “Am I doing it right—”
“I’m not going to last much longer if you keep doing that.”
Laura smiled. She straddled him, arching her back to make her breasts flare out for his gaze. She felt him drinking her up and she wanted to relish this. She felt powerful and desired. She gently lowered herself, taking him in, inch by inch. Feeling him fill up her swollen folds.
Suddenly she was flipped onto her back on the rug.
Heald was above her and driving the length of him into her again and again. It felt like Heald wanted to consume her. She opened herself as his length penetrated her again and again. She swelled around him as he rode her like a stallion, like a scene out of the movies, her breasts moving in time to his beat.
Smuggled Trust Page 4