by Bianca James
“OK, now you’ve done your Boy Scout thing, let me take a look at your wound.” Erin pointed to a small wooden stool next to the stove.
Spider looked at the stool, then back at her.
Maybe she was being a little optimistic. Someone Spider’s size wasn’t going to sit on a puny stool like that. She needed another plan.
“Okay then, lay down over there.” She indicated a lumpy mattress on the floor against the wall. It didn’t look like a hygienic hospital bed, but it was all they had.
“Where’s the emergency medical kit?” She looked around the small room. There weren’t too many places it could be hidden.
Spider nodded toward a metal locker behind the door through which they’d entered. He put his weapon down alongside the mattress, within arm’s reach.
“Take your shirt off,” she instructed as she fossicked around in the locker, extracting the pre-packaged medical kit and a small torch she thought might be handy.
Then she turned around, she was ready to play Nurse Erin. What she wasn’t ready for was what stood before her. He mouth dropped somewhere south of New Mexico and her eyes widened like dinner plates.
“What’s the matter?” Spider asked anxiously, looking animatedly for more wounds or bullet holes he hadn’t been aware of.
“Noth…nothing,” she stammered.
Oh my God! She stood transfixed. Even the most basic of human functions, like breathing, paused as she took in what she was seeing.
Chapter 12
Worms of warm blood seeped from the deep gashes in her wrist. It hurt like hell but she persisted, twisting her hands, gouging the protruding carpentry nails into her flesh. She consoled herself with the thought that they felt fresh and sharp, not old and rusted. At least she’d avoid the irony of dying from a tetanus infection before she was rescued.
And she knew she’d be rescued. Of that she had no doubt. Jarrad would come. She felt it.
She knew it.
The thought of Jarrad brought back the dull ache inside her chest. She fought it back, determined not to let her emotions turn her into a sobbing mess.
Jarrad, where the hell are you?
Chapter 13
“We’re outgunned and outmanned.” It was a statement of fact. Jarrad didn’t expect Jack to come up with a solution. He just felt better saying aloud what they both knew.
Muzzle flashes erupted all around them. Bullets flew in every direction, all aimed at Jack and Jarrad as they sought protection behind a few rocks that had been brought to the surface during the bunker excavation some years ago.
“Spider’s going to have to look after himself for now. We’ve got our work cut out for us staying alive and getting the hell out of here.” Likewise, Jack only voiced what they both knew to be true.
Elle. I need to find Elle. But now wasn’t the time to be a hero. He was no good to her dead. They needed an exit strategy.
“What did you two do to piss these guys off so badly?” Jack asked during a brief lull in hostilities as the shooters reloaded.
A fresh burst of automatic fire from all around them highlighted their dire situation.
They looked to each other, their faces set in determination. “Time to Hotel Alpha,” Jarrad called it first. It was time to haul ass for sure.
“How? We can’t shoot our way out…”
Jack paused for a beat, trying to formulate a plan.
“Unless…” Jarrad encouraged him to continue.
“Unless we do something they wouldn’t expect. Something they’re not prepared for and catch them by surprise,” Jack suggested.
Jarrad stared blankly. Like what?
“Run like hell.”
“That’s the most stupid thing—”
Realization gleamed in Jarrad’s eyes. That’s the last thing their enemy would expect from a pair of combat vets. Maybe that would catch them unaware. Their fire had been aimed more at trying to kill them than pin them down. If they ran they might just buy some time while they found their range on moving targets.
He slapped his hand on Jack’s shoulder. Probably the nearest thing to affection he’d ever shown another man. “Let’s do it.”
In unison, they dropped their weapons to lighten their load and ran hard and fast directly into the forest. A fresh volley of gunfire erupted but the rounds hammered the soil at their heels and not a single round found its mark.
As the forest swallowed them up, the gunfire ceased and an eerie silence descended over the pristine woods through which they ran.
Chapter 14
“What are you staring at?” Spider was plainly concerned that she was staring because she’d spotted another bullet wound or some other injury that he wasn’t aware of.
He couldn’t have been more wrong.
Erin tore her gaze away from the chiseled six-pack that had first caught her attention, past the superbly developed pecs that capped his broad, thickly muscled chest up to the cute cleft of his chin then to his handsome face.
Until now, she’d never really looked at him closely. But his body. Her mouth was dry and she found herself licking her lips to moisten them, and then realized she looked like a salivating dog on heat.
Bad girl, she admonished herself. Very, very bad girl.
When she’d seen him earlier, all she noticed was that he had broad shoulders and a narrow, trim waist. That’s all she could discern when he was fully clothed. But now, half naked and standing only feet away from her . . .
“How bad is it?” she asked, trying to change tack and stop drooling like a hormone crazy teenage girl.
There was blood. Plenty of blood in fact, but there was also an exit wound. A through-and-through meant he wouldn’t have to worry about sepsis or having to dig the bullet out.
“Get my wallet out of my back pocket,” he instructed her.
Erin didn’t respond. She was still in awe. Spider thought she hadn’t understood him.
“Now, quickly, I need my wallet.”
Erin finally responded and reached into his back pocket to retrieve Spider’s wallet. Her hand paused a moment when she realized that his buns felt like they were made of steel.
Inappropriate, Erin. Very inappropriate.
Spider snatched the wallet from his hand and pulled out his credit cards. He placed one over the sucking, oozing exit wound to create a seal and stop the bleeding before handing the other card to Erin.
“I’ve got my hands full. I need you to cover the entry wound with this card and then bandage them both up to keep the pressure on the wounds. Can you manage that?”
She had no choice and nodded as she took the card from Spiders blood drenched hand.
Rummaging through the medical kit for gauze pads and bandages to seal the wounds Erin’s hands began to shake.
“That’s the post adrenaline rush. Don’t fight it, just let your body take it’s time to recover from the fight or flight response,” Spider advised.
“Why aren’t you shaking?” She noted he was rock steady.
“I’m an ex-Marine. We shake in the inside where nobody can see.” He smiled but it quickly turned into a grimace from the pain of the bullet would. “I might need a handful of painkillers if there’s any in the kit.”
As she dressed the wounds with trembling hands she felt the need to talk, to keep her mind of the sight of the blood.
“You saved my life back there, didn’t you?” she asked.
“Are you kidding? Those clowns couldn’t hit the side of a barn with a shotgun. You weren’t in any real danger,” he scoffed.
“You threw yourself over me and got shot for your trouble. I’m not stupid, you know.” She fixed him with a stare that challenged him to contradict her. He didn’t dare.
Even while bleeding profusely he still felt a stirring in his pants at her close proximity. Mountain men were nothing if not extremely hardy. And extremely horny.
“What was that?” she asked, her sparkling green eyes widening as she cocked her head toward the movement below hi
s belt.
“What was what?”
“I saw something move in your…pants.”
It was time for some military tactics. Distract and avoid. Spider fell back to what he was used to and being closely examined by a gorgeous girl was definitely not on his list of things he was used to. He did the only thing he could think of.
He kissed her.
At first he crushed his lips to hers, seeking only to interrupt her flow of interrogation and to throw her off balance. He didn’t want her to know how horny he was for her in that moment. And then before he knew it, he was pressing his large, strong body against her sexy body and he felt his hardened cock thrust against her belly.
Worried that she’d not take too kindly to having his plus size boner poking her in the stomach, he arched his back to make a gap between them. Almost instantly, she pressed herself against him, firmly and deliberately closing the gap, as she ached to feel his hardness against her once more.
Her lips parted, inviting him to explore her. Begging him to explore her. All feelings of shame and brazenness dissipated as her hormones, to which she had now surrendered complete control, surged throughout her body, bringing with them a clawing need to be taken by this brave, strong specimen of a man. She felt like she was melting where she stood and the liquid heat that surged within her pooled below her belly, where his hardness pressed hungrily.
Running her fingers through his stubble of close shaved blond hair she broke their deep, eager kiss to press her mouth to his neck and breathe in his mucky, masculine scent. His was an intoxicating, heady aroma that served no other purpose than to inflame her wanton desires even more. She was long past the point of thinking that such primal lust was inappropriate.
That horse had well and truly left the barn.
Chapter 15
Curling her leg around his, pulling him tighter and closer to her, Erin tore at Spider’s expanse of back and shoulder muscles as she sought to feel every one of the undulating muscle groups with her probing fingertips. She’d never felt anything like it. He was rock hard, but at the same time, there was softness beneath her fingers as he rippled and flowed at her touch.
Bringing her mouth back to his, their tongues sought each other and twirled and snaked together, performing a mating ritual of their very own. Spider snatched a handful of Erin’s hair, pulling it hard as he kissed her possessively, plundering her mouth like he couldn’t get enough of her.
The urges threatened to overwhelm her. She broke away again, breathless.
“What are you doing to me?” she sighed in his ear.
“If you have to ask that, then we really should stop.”
“No…I mean how are you doing this to me? I don’t do this. This isn’t me. Why do I feel like I’m so . . .”
“Horny?” he ventured.
She slapped him on the arm. “No, you idiot, not horny. Drawn. That’s what it is; I feel drawn to you, like this is right, somehow. But part of me says I shouldn’t be doing this. I don’t even know you. And you’re bleeding to death.”
“Trust me,” he said into her mouth, “trust yourself. I feel it, too And don’t worry about the wound, us mountain men are a tough breed.”
As he kissed her, more gently and sensually this time, she became aware, once more, of the heat pooling between her legs and she pressed her wet mound against his hardness, seeking the pleasure of his mighty erection. Its length stretched from her belly all the way down to her dripping pussy. She wanted him. Wanted him to fill her and take her like he couldn’t get enough of her. She wanted to feel him crave her as she desired him. Profoundly and deeply.
His hand slid from her lower back to the thigh she had wrapped around him. His fingers found every curve along the way and still it felt like he wanted more of her as he explored her butt and midriff before sliding his long, firm fingers lower to her waiting pussy.
Shuddering with anticipation as his hand approached, she willed it to move faster. She wanted, no, needed him to touch her there before she exploded. So strong was her desire to be pleasured by him that she actually felt like she could come just at his touch.
As his fingers slid across the fabric of her pants ready to cup her sex in the warm palm of his hand, he stopped.
“No, don’t” she keened wistfully. “Please…”
But Spider wasn’t listening, at least not to her. He cocked his head slightly, his military training and combat instincts having been piqued by a distant sound. Feet. Running feet pummeling the damp forest floor as they ran. Four feet. Two men.
“What is it?” Her selfish pleasures were shunted aside as she picked up on Spider’s focus being fixed on something she wasn’t yet aware of.
A few seconds later Spider made his way to the door. He hadn’t reached it when the door shoved open and a breathless Jarrad and Jack tumbled through the opening. Erin noticed that they both appeared unharmed. And strangely unarmed.
“We were hoping you’d be here,” Jarrad said with a smile. “Those guys are real pissed and I think they mean business this time.
“Ya think?’ Spider shot back.
“This time?” Jack probed.
“I second that. Is this a regular occurrence here in the high mountains?” Erin added for good measure.
Erin and Jack looked to each other, each recognizing that on different levels they were both outsiders and there was more to what was going on that either of them had been made privy to.
“Okay, if I’m going to be shooting guys—” Jack began.
“And I’m getting shot at—” Erin interjected.
“As I was saying,” Jack continued with a sharp glare to shut Erin up, “if I’m going to be shooting guys who are shooting at me, then I ought to know what I’m getting myself into. I’m not a local, remember.”
Jarrad and Spider looked at each other. Jarrad tilted his head discretely toward Erin. They both looked to Jack.
The awkwardness was broken by Erin.
“It’s time you boys manned up.” She looked at all three of them, one at a time. “I’m not going anywhere, it’s like a zillion degrees below zero out there, so I won’t be stepping out while you have your secret squirrel boys club meeting, so you might as well spill the beans right now. I almost got killed today because of you all and I’ve got a right to know.”
“You nearly got killed because you were being nosey and spying on people you had no right to be spying on, Miss…” Jarrad waited for her to fill in the blank.
“Erin,” she submitted. “My name’s Erin Parker.”
“Ha! Nosey Parker. Get it?” Jack looked at Jarrad and Spider. Neither got it.
Nice name, thought Spider, wishing they’d taken the time for introductions before they started.
“Great,” Jarrad’s voice dripped with sarcasm, “now that we’re all buddied up, Spider, do you want to tell the story?”
With a heave of his chest and a sigh, Spider shoved off the wall he’d been leaning against and stepped into the middle of the room.
“Okay, I’ll catch the two of you up as best I can.” He looked at Jack and Erin, wondering how much of the story to tell.
In the end, he told them everything.
Erin was speechless. That surprised her as much as it did the men in the room.
Chapter 16
“I still don’t get it.,” Erin shook her head. “You took the cartel’s money and gave it away. You don’t have their money and the SD card with their bank routing numbers is now worthless, so why are they waging World War 3 on Bear Mountain?”
“Revenge. It’s as simple as that. They want to make an example of us as a deterrent in case someone else has the bright idea of crossing them,” Jarrad stated. “They’ve taken Elle, my wife. They’re using her as bait to get us all in their trap, and then wipe us all out. For good.”
“Something’s not right with that story. There’s more to it than that. I’ve been a reporter long enough to know when a story stinks and this one smells like dead fish.”
“You’re a reporter?” Spider challenged.
“What do you think I was doing spying on you? This was supposed to be my big break. My big exclusive ‘page one’ exposé.”
“So when you said your editor knew where you were, you weren’t lying?” he continued probing.
“No. Well, yes. Kind of. I mean, I have an editor, but he thinks I’m covering a symposium about…well, I’ll save you the details but it’s a boring as batshit and I wanted to find out what was going on up here with all the guns and gunships and stuff blowing up.” She shrugged. There was not much else she could say.
“So what’s your special ‘spidey sense’ telling you is wrong here? Good guys rip off the bad guys. Give away money like Robin Hood. Bad guys come and kill them for payback. Seems simple enough to me,” Jarrad proposed.
“Sure, but why set the trap? They’ve got enough resources, guns, manpower, missiles and gunships to come at you and take you all out, one by one. Why the elaborate kidnap ruse? Doesn’t it seem a bit sophisticated for a bunch of gangsters whose idea of subtlety normally involves posting body parts, a piece at a time, to those they’re trying to manipulate?”
“So what are you suggesting?” Spider queried.
“That there’s something else that they want and you either don’t know what it is or you do and you’re not telling me the whole story. If I were into betting, I’d be going all-in on you guys holding out on me.”
Erin folded her arms as a look of triumph gleamed in her eyes. She was nobody’s fool and was determined to let them know it.
“I haven’t got time for this crap. None of it matters. I’m going to get Elle back and I’ll do it alone of that’s what it takes.” Jarrad moved toward the door.
“We don’t even know where they’re holding her,” Spider pleaded.
“I think I might be able to help with that,” Erin announced with beaming confidence.