by Cynthia Eden
“Are you going farther?”
“D-do you want me to?”
“Oh, yeah, but not if this was supposed to be some therapeutic massage.” He cranked his head around and pinned her with a gaze from beneath heavy lids. “You wanna stop, you stop, and I’ll go bang my head against the wall.”
A smile crept to her lips. “I don’t want you sustaining any more injuries. I need you—to get me through this mess.”
“Is that the only reason you need me?”
She didn’t want to answer that question, didn’t want to think about the variety of ways she needed Austin, so she peeled back his sweats.
His muscled backside curved into a perfect crescent, and her fingertips tingled as she ran them across his skin. He shivered beneath her touch.
She drove the heels of her hands against his tight glutes and along the sides of his hips while he moaned softly and buried his head in the crook of his arm.
After several minutes, he said in a muffled voice, “I can honestly say that’s the first time I’ve ever had my backside massaged.”
“Does it feel good? Do you like it?”
“Do you want me to show you how much I like it?”
Before she could answer, he rolled onto his back, dragging his sweats down over his hips. His erection rose from his body, hard and hot.
She lodged her tongue in the corner of her mouth. “Looks like you enjoyed that—a lot.”
“I think I need a massage here, too.”
“This is going to cost you extra.” She cupped one hand between his legs and closed the other around his erection, running it up and down his shaft.
Tipping back his head, he made a low sound deep in his throat. He thrust his hips forward, and she pumped him harder until he grabbed her wrist.
He growled, his voice rough around the edges. “I can do a type of massage, too.”
“Really?” She widened her eyes and batted her eyelashes as heat surged through her body.
“With my tongue.” He sat up suddenly and grabbed the hem of her nightshirt, yanking it over her head.
The cold air made goose bumps rush across her chest, and her nipples hardened and ached beneath Austin’s hungry gaze. He encircled her waist with his hands and flipped her onto her back. He loomed above her and slid her underwear down over her thighs. With one finger, he dragged them down her legs and flicked them off her feet.
She drew her knees to her chest, but he planted one hand on each knee and spread her legs apart.
“This is your idea of a massage?”
“Oh, yeah.” He crawled between her open legs, burying his head between her thighs.
The ends of his hair tickled her tummy and she stifled a giggle.
He peered up at her. “Are you laughing at my attempts at therapeutic massage?”
“I…” Her words ended in a gasp as Austin drove his tongue into her core.
He played her, bringing her to the edge of passion and then teasing her by slowing down, drawing back, leaving her gasping for more. She dug her fingers into his scalp and urged him on. Her muscles tensed as he spun her higher and higher until she was almost afraid of the inevitable crash.
His lips sucked at her flesh, pulling her into his mouth. The tingling at her toes raced up her legs and pooled between her thighs. She arched her back, offering even more of herself to Austin’s talented tongue.
When he grabbed her derriere with both hands, she lost it. Her orgasm clawed through her and she opened her mouth to scream, but she couldn’t muster the breath to make a sound. Something between a squeal and a whimper eked past her lips as her hips bucked wildly.
Over and over the waves of passion ripped through her body, and she thrashed her head from side to side as colored light flashed behind her eyes, which were squeezed tightly closed.
Austin, his head no longer between her thighs, pinched her nipples, extending her orgasm with shots of pleasure. As she began to descend from her high, he kissed her mouth and she wriggled beneath him, sighing against his lips.
But if she thought this was some kind of calm respite after the storm, Austin soon dispelled that notion as he drove into her.
He whispered in her ear. “Sorry, but I’m too damned hard to wait.”
She felt the truth of his statement filling her up, plunging into her deeply, making her whole. Wrapping her legs around his hips, she squeezed him, holding him against her body and going along for the ride.
He stimulated her sensitive points and her passion rose again, but she’d have to wait for another orgasm because his exploded inside her.
His low growl morphed into a full-fledged howl as he threw his head back. He lifted his body, bracing his hands on either side of her shoulders as he continued to spend himself.
She ran her fingertip from his chin down his glistening chest to his hard abs and ended where their bodies connected.
His gaze pinned her with a look so hot, she almost felt the steam rising from the bed. Even though he’d already reached his climax, he continued moving against her.
“Your turn again.”
Even if she hadn’t been close, the smoldering way he looked at her and the unselfish way he continued to pleasure her sent her over the edge.
Her second orgasm moved through her like hot lava, and she melted beneath him. He thrust into her a few more times before lowering himself on top of her and nuzzling her neck.
“It feels so good inside you, better than I even imagined—and I imagined a lot.”
“Was I too obvious with the massage ploy?” She smoothed his hair back from his forehead with the palm of her hand.
He pressed a kiss against the pulse throbbing in her throat. “I was just waiting for a sign from you. I didn’t want to take advantage of the situation.”
“I knew you’d be too chivalrous to make a move.”
“Enough of chivalry. I’m not done with you yet, woman.” He wrapped his hands around her waist, and, still inside her, did a one-eighty so that he was flat on his back and she sat astride him.
With his fingertips, he tickled the tattoo of a rose she had imprinted above her hip bone. “At least it’s not some guy’s name.”
She snorted. “That would indicate something more permanent than I’m willing to give.”
A shadow crossed his handsome face, and she almost bit her tongue. Why’d she have to bring up her personal issues at a time like this, with a man like this?
He puffed out a breath, and then cupped her breasts in his palms, dragging his thumbs across her already aching nipples. “I knew these would fit perfectly in my hands.”
“A lot of our parts fit perfectly.” She folded her body forward and kissed his chin.
He jerked beneath her, his thumbs jabbing into her soft flesh.
“Ouch. What did I do?”
“Sophia, we’re being watched.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Austin kept his gaze pinned to the glint of light on the door adjoining the connecting room. It had to be a camera.
Sophia had drawn back sharply, her knees digging into his sides, her face a mask of fear and confusion. “What are you talking about?”
He put his finger to his lips and pulled the sheet around her shoulders. Could they hear them, too? He had to assume they could.
He whispered. “Just follow my lead. Try to act naturally.”
He scooted out from beneath her, rolling from the bed. He grabbed his sweats from the floor and held them in front of his crotch, although it didn’t much matter at this point since whoever was watching had pretty much seen everything he had to offer. “What am I talking about? You wore me out. Let’s take a shower—together this time.”
“Austin?”
He turned his back to the camera lodged in the door and gave
Sophia a hard stare from narrowed eyes. “You’re insatiable. Shower first.”
She swallowed. “Okay.”
She started to slide from the bed, clutching the sheets around her, and he gave a quick shake of his head. She dropped the sheet, her body still shimmering from their lovemaking, and joined him by the side of the bed. They’d already seen everything she had to offer, too, and the thought prompted a white-hot anger to thump through his veins.
He still had to make sure that what had caught his attention was, in fact, a camera, but he didn’t want to signal that he knew it was there.
Taking her by the hand, he led her to the bathroom, shielding her naked body with his as much as he could. He swung open the bathroom door and nudged her inside. Then he turned on the shower full blast.
He took her by the shoulders. “I think there’s a minicamera in the door adjoining our room to the one next to ours.”
Sophia covered her mouth with both hands. “What? How?”
“I don’t know, but we have to get out of here.”
“Do you think they’re in the next room right now?”
“Not unless the senior citizens in there have gone to the dark side. I saw them earlier with family and grandkids—no way. Somehow the guys on your tail got access to the room long enough to plant a minicamera in the adjoining door. They don’t have to be present, and even if I destroy it, which I will, they’ve been receiving their video and maybe audio on a computer somewhere.”
A red stain blotched her cheeks, and she put one arm across her breasts.
“I’m sorry, Sophia.”
“Oh, God.” She shook her head. “What they saw us doing just now isn’t important, but how’d they track us to this hotel?”
“It’s not the cars. I checked those thoroughly. Nobody followed us. It can’t be my phone, which is untraceable and untrackable. It has to be your cell phone.”
“They’re tracking my cell phone?”
“They must’ve been able to ping it somehow and track it down, although that must’ve happened recently or they would’ve made a move on us before this.”
“I don’t understand.”
“There’s not much more to understand at this point. We’re getting out of here and you’re leaving your phone…and your car.”
“Where will we go? I have to attend Dr. Fazal’s memorial. I told you that.”
“We’ll go to another hotel. I have a second set of fake identity papers, so if they got my name from this hotel, I can check in as someone else. I think we’ll be okay, as long as you leave your phone here.”
“I feel sick to my stomach, but I’m ready to leave now.”
He pushed the hair from her face and kissed her temple. “We can’t leave right now. We have to pretend we don’t know the camera’s there, and I don’t want them to see us packing up and leaving in the middle of the night.”
Her face blanched and her bottom lip trembled. “I can’t, Austin. I can’t spend the night in that bed with them watching me, watching us.”
“Sure you can.” He tugged on her soft earlobe. “I’ll be right beside you. We’ll pretend we’re going to sleep after a lusty night of sex.”
“What if they come for us at night? What if they break into the room?”
“They’re not going to break into the room. That’s why they set up the camera next door. I have a weapon with me, and I’ll make sure they see it.”
A vertical crease formed between her brows. “How are we going to disguise the fact that we’re leaving? They’ll see you remove the camera.”
“I’m going to remove the camera from the other side. They might think it’s just a malfunction.”
“How will get into that room?”
“They did it, didn’t they?” He pulled her close and rubbed her back, one hand resting on the curve of her backside. “I’ll take care of this, Sophia. You did a great job out there—and I don’t mean the sex, although that was pretty fantastic, too. You kept your cool. We’ll get through this.”
“What now?”
“Quick shower and off to bed.”
They climbed into the tub together and rinsed off while he cursed the circumstances and the wasted opportunity of having Sophia in the shower with him.
After they patted dry and brushed their teeth, he handed her a dry towel. “You can wrap up in this if it makes you feel more comfortable. I don’t think that would be unusual.”
“Neither do I.” She snatched the towel from him and wound it around her body.
He scooped in a deep breath and pushed open the bathroom door. He said in a loud voice, “I’m going to get my weapon. You crawl into bed and find a movie.”
As Sophia walked jerkily toward the bed, Austin crouched beside his bag and removed his gun. With the weapon dangling from his hand, he strolled back to the bed, where Sophia was huddled under the covers, the remote control in her hand.
He turned off the bedside lamp and slid between the sheets next to her, glancing toward the adjoining door. The tiny camera winked back at him. He placed his weapon on the nightstand.
“Did you find anything to watch?”
She pointed at the TV with the remote. “Have you seen this one before?”
“No. Leave it on.”
Sophia dropped the remote in her lap. She’d pulled the sheets up to her throat and was sitting bolt upright, her arms at her sides—a perfectly natural way to watch TV next to a man you’d just banged.
He turned up the volume and punched the pillows behind him. Sliding an arm behind her waist, he said, “Scooch down here with me.”
She turned a pair of round eyes on him and crossed her hands over her chest like a virgin on her wedding night, and he knew damned well she wasn’t a virgin and this was no wedding night.
He lowered his voice. “You look ridiculous sitting like that.”
She huffed out a breath and slid down. He draped his arm across her shoulders and pulled her close until her head was resting on his shoulder.
“That’s better.” He kissed the top of her head. “Try to sleep. I got this.”
She snuggled her naked body closer to him, skin to skin, flinging one arm across his midsection and hooking her leg over his thigh. His libido stirred, along with a couple of choice body parts as he gritted his teeth. He should’ve left her in that virgin pose.
He had the strongest urge to take her again, right here, right now—and he didn’t give a damn who was watching.
* * *
THE FOLLOWING MORNING, they went about their business in the most natural way they could muster. Sophia was a trooper.
When they heard their neighbors open their door, they sprang into action and met them at the elevator.
Sophia smiled at the older couple. “Busy day today?”
“Lexington and Concord, and Walden Pond on the way back.” The woman held up a dog-eared map. “Do you know that Thoreau really wasn’t roughing it at Walden Pond?”
“No, I didn’t know that.”
The woman’s husband rolled his eyes. “Irene, nobody’s interested in Thoreau.”
“I know you’re not.” His wife tapped him with the map while she winked at Sophia.
They parted ways in the lobby, and Austin steered Sophia to the hotel restaurant. As soon as they took a seat at a table, he tapped his phone and put it beside his coffee cup. He’d set up his laptop to monitor any disturbances in the room and then transfer that data to his cell phone.
When the food arrived it could’ve been sandpaper, since all of his senses were on high alert, and he shoveled eggs in his mouth with one eye on his phone and the other on the entrance to the restaurant.
Fazal’s killers knew they were here, and they’d use any opportunity they could to grab Sophia—because that was their current goal
. They wanted to know what she knew, even if she didn’t know she knew it. Thank God he didn’t have to explain that one to her. She got it.
She got everything.
Sophia nibbled on the edge of her bagel. “Are we just going to hang around all day and wait for housekeeping to show up on our floor?”
“Yep.”
“Being in that room creeps me out. I can’t wait to leave.”
“You and me both. How do you think I liked it, walking around that room naked, knowing some guy’s checking out my junk?”
Sophia choked and sprayed orange juice into his plate of eggs. “That’s what you were thinking about?”
“Believe me, that’s what any guy’s gonna be thinking about.”
“At least you’ve got junk worth checking out.”
“Thanks. That just made the situation ten times more disturbing.” He gave her a grin. He liked making her laugh.
When they finished breakfast, they took their coffee into the lobby, where Austin could watch the floors above and the progression of the housekeeping carts.
About an hour later, he nudged Sophia’s arm. She’d picked up a paperback in the gift shop and now nodded over it.
She rubbed her eyes. “Is it time?”
“The cart’s on our floor.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“It won’t take long, and the guys watching us won’t figure it out for a while, giving us a head start.”
They got off the elevator on their floor and waited in the room with the ice and vending machines. When the housekeeping cart stopped in front of the room next to theirs and the maid opened the door, they slipped into the hallway.
He took Sophia’s arm and pressed her shoulders against the wall outside the room. Ducking his head, he brushed his lips against her ear. “Stay here and keep watch. This won’t take long.”
He curled his fingers around the knife in his pocket and entered the room. With the maid in the bathroom, running water in the sink, he strode toward the door that led to his own room.
He ran his hand over the smooth wood until he felt a protrusion and circled it with his fingertip. Damn, they were good. These were no amateurs.