by Debra Webb
His continued silence rattled Nicole more than if he had ranted at her. He urged her forward against the tree. The bark felt rough against her face. The tip of the muzzle bored into her skull. Her heart slammed mercilessly, urging full-fledged panic. Her mind raced, grasping at fragments, but unable to hold on to anything long enough to form a coherent thought. She had to do something…had to run. Where was Ian? Her chest rose and fell with the breath storming in and out of her lungs. What would Daniels do with her now? Was he going to tie her up? Force her to his car?
“I’m not going to make this easy,” she warned. Nicole could hear the fear in her voice. Dammit. She was trained better than this. Fight, she commanded. Her body froze, refused to respond. She was dead. He was going to kill her. She would never see Ian again. Nicole swallowed against the cold hard lump in her throat. A single tear slid down her cheek. And for what? A piece of garbage like Solomon. Her job…
Strong fingers fisted in the collar of her denim jacket and yanked it down and off her shoulders. Nicole jerked her hands free, frightened of being restrained in any manner. She shuddered inwardly. He probably intended to tie her hands with the jacket. She gritted her teeth when another tear fell. She hated to cry. Especially at the hands of a creep like Daniels. He reached around her, grabbed her shirtfront and ripped it open and down her shoulders. Buttons pinged through the air. Hysteria blurred Nicole’s vision, made her head spin. No! She struggled, but he only pushed the weapon more firmly against her, a lethal reminder of what she had to lose.
“Don’t do this,” she choked out, the tears clogging her throat.
He moved closer, not quite touching her. Nicole licked her lips and tried to control the tremors wracking her body. Just let him try what he had in mind, she resolved. It would be the biggest mistake of his screwed-up life. All it would take was one moment of distraction and she would make a move he would not soon forget.
She could feel his breath on her skin. His face was so close to her hair. The gun still firmly against her. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to draw away from him, but the tree stopped her, its bark rough against her bare skin.
“I swear,” she managed, absolute hatred in her tone, “I’ll kill you if you do this.” Fear pumped through her veins so fast her heart felt ready to burst.
“Payback’s a bitch, don’t you think, Nicole?” he murmured against her ear in a softly accented voice that hummed with simmering anger.
Ian. Relief shuddered through Nicole, making her legs go boneless beneath her. The pressure from the cold steel muzzle eased instantly. Thank God. It was Ian. He had come to rescue her. He was safe.
And he was madder than hell.
Nicole tensed. “It was Daniels,” she offered in hopes of disarming his temper. “It was him all along.”
“I know, but I don’t want to talk right now,” he said furiously, his words clipped, rich with that European blend of accents.
Nicole swiped the moisture from her cheek with one shaky hand. Her skin was slightly chafed from the encounter with the tree bark. She drew in a steadying breath. He was really angry. And she deserved it.
“I thought it was the right thing to do,” she murmured contritely. He would never believe her. Why should he? She had never done anything on the up and up where he was concerned.
“Turn around,” he ordered tightly.
Nicole moistened her lips and slowly turned to face him. Savage determination glittered in those silvery depths. Nicole felt her heart start pumping wildly again. But this time it was different. The fear, the excitement was different…
“Remove your shoes.”
His fierce gaze never deviated from hers. Nicole lifted one knee to her chest and unlaced her hiking boot, tugged it off, then repeated the process on the other foot. She rolled each sock off and tossed it onto the discarded boots. She stood then, waiting for his next instruction. The sliver of moonlight that cut through the canopy of branches cast a surreal glow over his handsome face, leaving devastating angles and shadows. She shivered visibly, then caught herself. She would not give him the satisfaction of knowing how deeply he affected her.
Not yet.
“Now the jeans,” he instructed with just the right touch of danger and sensuality.
Nicole’s breasts tingled beneath the satin encasing them. She could feel her nipples budding, yearning for his touch. Moisture pooled between her thighs. Need shuddered through her so fiercely that she thought she might not be able to stand long enough to take her jeans off. She released the button, then slowly eased the zipper down. Ian watched her every move, his gaze carefully controlled, giving nothing away. Nicole pushed the denim over her hips slowly, very slowly. Down her thighs, off one foot and then the other. The jeans joined the socks and shoes. She straightened, wearing nothing but those red panties and the matching red satin bra.
Ian surveyed her body thoroughly. Nicole’s skin heated wherever his gaze touched her. Warmth welled inside her when she saw that little muscle tic in his tense jaw.
Nicole waited until his gaze connected with hers again, then she licked her lips and asked, “What do you want me to do next?” Her voice was deeper than usual, sultry, sexy, she hardly recognized it as her own.
Ian stepped closer then. He shrugged off one shoulder of his jacket, placed his gun in the other hand and shouldered the rest of the way out of the jacket. He pitched it to the ground and turned his attention back to her. Desire zipped through Nicole as she anticipated his naked body. But her hopes were not to be realized.
One more step disappeared between them, her pulse reacted. “Put your hands above your head,” he said quietly as if he had done nothing more than relate the time of day.
Nicole obediently placed her hands above her head. Her heart was racing now, her body literally throbbing with anticipation. Ian placed his weapon on the ground beside the discarded clothes. He picked up her shirt—his shirt actually. The one she had been wearing when she seduced him. The memory sent another barb of desire stinging through her. Ian stepped directly in front of her then, his body mere centimeters from hers. He reached up and swung the shirt around the tree and then tied it securely, trapping her hands between the soft material and the tree trunk. Nicole’s breath caught in her throat when he looked down at her, his lips only an inch or two from hers. He stared at her mouth for what seemed like forever, then backed away. Nicole almost groaned with disappointment. She wanted to taste him, to feel his lips on hers. To feel his body against hers.
“Close your eyes,” he commanded, the words nothing more than a whisper.
“Ian, I—” Her breath caught, stealing the rest of her thought. Trepidation tangled with the want twisting inside her. She wanted him in the worst way, but feared the intensity shimmering beneath that controlled exterior.
“Close your eyes,” he repeated. His fists clenched at his sides, the only outward display of his own tension.
Nicole closed her eyes, surrendering to his complete domination. She no longer cared what he did to her as long as he made this mounting ache inside her go away.
The tip of one long finger touched her lips. Nicole trembled. He traced her jaw, then the length of her throat and along the strap of her bra until he reached the swell of her breast. He tugged the satin cup down to expose her taut nipple to the cool night air. He circled that peak, rolled it between his thumb and finger. Nicole moaned his name. His hot mouth covered her breast then. She shuddered with the sensations exploding all over her body. He laved her nipple with his tongue, then sucked her hard. She squirmed against her bonds. She wanted to touch him, to hold him against her. He nibbled, licked and kissed his way to her other breast, then gave it the same attention as he had the first. Slowly, methodically, until her whole body writhed beneath his assault, he tortured her.
“Ian,” she cried. The rough texture of the bark against her skin heightened her senses, contrasting with the pleasure.
He moved lower, dropping to his knees. His hands worked a magic of their own
on her bare skin, touching her in places, behind her knees, the swell of her bottom, making her tingle, making her sweat. His fingers found their way inside the waistband of her panties. Slowly, so very slowly, the wisp of silk slid down her thighs, all the way to her ankles. She lifted first one foot, then the other as he removed them. Nicole imagined the red silk landing on the nearby pile of clothing, but she kept her eyes closed tightly just as he had instructed.
His lips pressed against her mound and a cry wrenched from her throat. Her heart thundered in her chest, she felt certain Ian could hear it. If he didn’t finish this soon, she would surely die. But his mouth just kept on moving against her. He spread her legs so far apart that Nicole felt more exposed than she ever had before. His tongue flicked along her feminine channel, once, twice. She shuddered uncontrollably. Deeper, harder, he thrust his hot, wicked tongue into her most intimate place. Nicole tugged harder at her bonds. She had to touch him. She had to see him, but something, some inner force kept her eyes tightly closed. She couldn’t look. She could only feel. And every touch of his tongue, every squeeze of her thighs by those skilled fingers was intensified by her inability to see, or to return the touch.
The tightening began so far away that Nicole was sure she would go out of her mind before completion reached her. Ian slipped one long finger inside her, urging her toward that end, his thumb doing something insanely marvelous of its own. Tighter and tighter her muscles clenched around that part of him. He licked her bare skin near her belly button. His free hand squeezed her bottom again and again as that one finger slid in and out of her until that coil of tension quivered, ready to explode.
He stopped then.
Nicole cried out. She opened her eyes, searching frantically for his. He towered over her now, staring into her eyes, his own glowing with fiery desire. She struggled to free herself again, to touch him, to pull him to her. Her body was on fire, throbbing relentlessly for him. She was wet with his touch, and with her own desire.
“Please,” she whimpered.
He didn’t speak, he just reached up and released her. Her hands went immediately to his body. She pushed the sweater up, reveling in the feel of his muscled chest, but it wasn’t enough. She needed him inside her. Now.
She wrenched open the button of his jeans. He stayed her frantic hands, choosing to lower the zipper himself over his hardened length. Nicole shoved his jeans and boxers just low enough to free him. He sprang forth, beautifully hard, deliciously male. Her body convulsed with need when she stroked him with her desperate fingers. He felt hot and alive. Ian’s arms went around her and lifted her as if she weighed nothing at all. Nicole wrapped her legs around his waist and pressed into him. He groaned savagely as his arousal rubbed her tangle of damp curls. Somehow his mouth found hers and he kissed her brutally, sucking her tongue into his hungry mouth. He cradled her head with one hand and held her firmly against his mouth until he’d had his fill of tasting her, devouring her, taunting her with the flavor of her own heat.
Her body aching, Nicole rocked back and forth against him. His tip nudged her, then glided along her sensitized feminine channel. Nicole screamed her pleasure into his mouth. His kiss was relentless, drawing on her until she felt as if she were falling, becoming one with him. She lifted her bottom, and this time he guided that slick tip into her when she arched against him. One thick, hard inch at a time she took him. He stretched her, filled her completely. His fingers gripped her bottom and ushered her down to take that last inch or two. Climax crashed around her before she made another move. Wave after wave of pleasure, her feminine muscles clutched frantically around his hard shaft. Ian held her against his chest, crushing her tingling breasts against all that smooth muscle.
She knew he had moved, but the haze of lust was heavy, she wasn’t sure when he moved. Ian had braced himself against the tree. His thick organ throbbed inside her, propelling her toward release again when she had barely recovered from the first one. He started then, moving her up and down along his length. Slowly, patiently, as if they had all night. His lips brushed hers. She opened her eyes to look into his, but they were closed, his face was intent with the exquisite friction happening between their connected bodies. Nicole threw her head back and took control of the dance then. She bucked against him, bearing down on him to the hilt, then rising slowly, pulling up to the tip. Ian groaned. His fingers clamped hard around her thighs in silent approval. Nicole increased the pace. She wanted to see him lose control. She resisted the urge to close her eyes when the waves of ecstasy pounded her again, harder than the last time, drawing on the lingering pulses of pleasure still rocking her. She moved faster, squeezed him inside her until he roared like a wild beast with his own climax. She slid slowly down him one last time, and she felt his body sigh.
His eyes drifted open and Nicole knew she was lost. Her heart thumped in her chest. Her arms went around his neck and she pressed her forehead to his. “You scared the hell out of me, Michaels, do you know that?” she whispered, trying to pretend she wasn’t so devastated by what they had just shared.
“Yes.”
She watched his lips as they formed that single word. The sound of his voice made her want to cry with some emotion she couldn’t fully define. She drew back and stared into his beautiful face in the glimmering moonlight. How would she ever live without him?
One hand came up and he gently pushed a tendril of hair from her cheek. The look of tenderness on his face undid her all the more. “Don’t ever take a chance like that again,” he murmured. His gaze searched her face. “You’re lucky he didn’t kill you.”
Nicole swallowed the emotion that rose in her throat. She had to know the answer to one question. “Why do you care whether I live or die?” Her voice quavered, and she gritted her teeth to hold back a sob.
“It’s what you hired me to do, isn’t it?”
Chapter Eleven
Ian led the way back down to the road and the useless SUV. Nicole had said that it ran out of gas. She was certain that Daniels had somehow tampered with it. Ian agreed. Whatever the case, he had no intention of trying to get it back in working order. He would simply send for a replacement. Nicole followed silently behind him as he moved around to the other side of the vehicle. She hadn’t said a single word since he’d answered her question. His response obviously had not been what she wanted to hear. But Ian refused to give her the satisfaction of knowing how much he cared for her. He blew out a breath of self-disgust and admitted the truth he had hidden from himself for three years—he cared too much. That fact changed nothing however. Nicole had hired him to do a job. He would do that job and then he would walk away. But the memory of touching her, tasting her, making love to her would burn in his brain for the rest of his life. No other woman would ever complete him the way Nicole did.
He retrieved his cell phone from the purse Nicole had abandoned on the passenger seat of the vehicle, then passed the purse to her. She slung the strap over her shoulder and folded her arms over her middle. The denim jacket was buttoned up from collar to hem. Beneath it she wore the ruined, buttonless flannel shirt. She looked like a recalcitrant child, pouting over her punishment. Ian swallowed the regret that rose instantly at the memory of how brutal he had been with her. He hadn’t meant for it to be that way. His brows drew together in a frown. He hadn’t planned on making love to her at all. He had simply intended to give her hell for what she had done. For the risk she had taken. And to clear the air once and for all. Instead he had only further muddied the waters. The moment his gaze had fallen upon her hovering in that cluster of small trees, a thousand emotions he had no control over whatsoever had flooded him, made him crazy. He wanted to frighten her, wanted to teach her a lesson…but, most of all, he wanted to tempt her until she melted into submission, then he wanted to take her for his own.
He had done that. He had crawled inside her skin, touched her in a way that changed him forever. Ian had no way of knowing if Nicole had been affected the same way, but he suspected she had—
at least to some degree. Did it change anything? Ian didn’t think so. Nicole was still bent on doing her job—at any cost. A renewed burst of anger swept through him when he considered that she had seduced him, shackled him to the bed, then left him to go do that job.
No. Nicole hadn’t changed in three years. She might care about Ian, but her feelings were secondary to her loyalty to the bureau. He doubted she would ever change. Ian clenched his jaw and headed in the direction of the cabin. He couldn’t change her mind, but he could protect her until they brought down Daniels and his partner.
And that was his job.
It was almost midnight before they reached the cabin. Neither had spoken. Tomorrow Ian would call the rental company to bring them a replacement vehicle. He unlocked the door, drew his weapon and entered the dimly lit cabin ahead of Nicole. When he was satisfied that all was as it should be, he tucked the gun back into his jeans.
Nicole groaned as she surveyed the partially dismantled bed. She pitched her purse onto the sofa and plowed her fingers through her hair. “George is going to kill me.”
“At the rate you’re going, he won’t have to,” Ian said flatly.
Her gaze snapped to his, those blue pools glittering with anger. “Oh, so we’re back to that again,” she said hotly. “I thought maybe I’d paid my penance for that one.” The implication was scathing. “I’d almost forgotten your inability to let go of a grudge, Michaels.”
Ian shouldered out of his jacket, then dropped it onto the back of the sofa. “What you did tonight,” he began as he moved in her direction, “was very foolish, Nicole.” He paused directly in front of her, leveling his unyielding gaze on hers. He was right, she was wrong. It was that simple. “Why can’t you just admit that you always act before you think?”
Something, some emotion glimmered briefly in those crystal-blue eyes, but she blinked it away. “I accomplished what I set out to do,” she said curtly. “I know what I’m up against now. It’s always easier to do your job when you know your enemy.”