DARC Ops: The Complete Series

by Jamie Garrett

  Empty, and perhaps a little idiotic. She knew the absurdity of this, rolling around in the sand with the lead subject of her story. Only hours after he’d pointed a gun at her. Only hours after she landed in a trash bin. Cole didn’t seem to mind about the trash, his lips coursing across her skin. And she didn’t mind about the gun, now, as she felt the only thing she was interested in hardening against her hands. He groaned with it, the buzz passing through his lips as his mouth climbed over her chin and began sucking on her bottom lip. She moaned back into him, into their hot kiss.

  There was no more space between their bodies, no room for her hand to explore, for her fingers to encourage. It was just the bulk of him, the muscled solidity of Cole’s ex-military and perhaps ex-private security body pressing against her in the sand. And a little more than that, what she’d been working on, what they’d been helping together: Cole’s erection hardening through his jeans, and through hers, rubbing stiff along her inseam. Like two high-schoolers again, dry-humping on the beach as if their lives depended on it. But most unlike high school, their lives actually did depend on lying low somewhere. In the shadow of the jungle, lying low on the sand, compact. Together, as close as possible.

  As close as they were, she wanted closer. Cole, too, grinding into her now. Closer, without the hindrance of clothes or context. She worked for it, forcing her hand between them again, between their clashing hips, slipping in to make more space for her other hand, prying him off her just long enough to undo his belt. Loose now and clattering, his pants slipping off his hips, her hand diving in and his body squirming with her hungry grasp.

  She had a firm hold on his cock now, through boxers, the last barrier. Until his own hand took hers and pushed it inside so she could feel him completely. Every inch. Skin. She gripped him firmly, moving her hand along his length. Cole’s head leaned back and his mouth fell open slightly as a low groan escaped. She pumped him twice more, then ran her fingers over the head. His cock jerked in her hand and then his hips, all of him moved to push his jeans off his legs, followed by his boxers. He kneeled, stripping off his shirt and then laying them both on the ground beneath him, before moving her to lie on top of them. He was bigger than she was, so big that his clothing made almost a blanket for her to lie on. Definitely more comfortable than the sand directly beneath. Speaking of how big Cole was—she looked up. His erection was long, thick, and pointed up toward his abs. Christ, the man was big fucking everywhere. She licked her lips and another slow groan escaped him. He leaned forward, kissing her again, long and deep, and then without any more words, he reached down and grabbed the hem of her shirt. He cast it aside on the sand, and then his hands returned, moving across her skin, grazing her breasts. Her nipples stood to attention through her bra. That was sent the way of her shirt and Cole sat back, drinking in his fill. The shadows of the moon washed across his body, highlighting the dips and curves of his muscular form and a shiver ran through her.

  “Cold?” Cole asked. “I better warm you up, then.” He moved quickly, her pants disappearing, and then his warm body lay over her, covering her from the elements. He sucked a nipple into his mouth, and it was her turn to groan. His hands never stopped moving, learning every part of her as they traced along her skin, leaving a trail of goose bumps in their wake. They weren’t from the cold. God, she’d never be cold again. Cole’s touch had ignited a fire inside her that felt like it would burn for all eternity.

  His lips kissed their way up her neck, even as his hand dipped lower. “Let me make you feel good,” he whispered in her ear, eliciting a round of shivers. Her back arched involuntarily, pushing her hips up into him. His hard cock brushed against her core. She needed him inside her. Now.

  “Make love to me, Cole. Right here.”

  His lips and hands never left her body, but she felt the small hesitation. His head lifted up, looking her straight on even as his deliciously hard body remained pressed against hers. “Are you sure?”

  He needed reassurance? That she could do. “I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.” She searched his gaze, wanting to give him what he needed. “What you told me before, this isn’t just a way to pass the time for me either, Cole.” She shifted beneath him and every nerve ending sparked at his body gliding against hers. “You had me before I even met you. You need to know that.”

  He didn’t say another word, his lips coming down on hers and taking her mouth. Hard. Rough. Just how she wanted it. His tongue thrust inside as his hips moved against her, his cock grazing her entrance. “Please, Cole. Now.”

  His mouth broke away and he stopped for just a moment, his breathing ragged. “God, Annica. I want nothing more, either, Baby.” He reached down, running a finger through her wetness, making her head fall back and her eyes close. She felt his head nudge at her pussy and she opened her legs wider. Cole’s mouth was back on hers, taking her mouth as his hips pushed forward, thrusting him deep. She gasped and his tongue slipped inside, moving with hers as he pulled out, slowly, before thrusting back inside her again, deeper. “You okay?” he grunted out. “Fuck, you feel incredible.”

  His hips moved again, sliding him over the perfect spot and her pussy gripped around him. Could she possibly come that quickly? It seemed impossible, but then nothing about Cole had been ordinary. They’d been engaging in foreplay all afternoon, perhaps all month. There was nothing left to do now but feel and hang on for the ride. She reached up, gripping him behind his neck and drawing his mouth down for another kiss. “Cole?” she said.

  “Hmmm?” He hummed against her mouth, turning her bones to jelly.

  “Fuck me.”

  Her words unleashed something inside him and he moved again, harder and faster, frantically thrusting into her and fueling the heat that had been growing inside her for hours. Every delectable movement pushed her higher, burned hotter, until his cock glided over the secret spot inside her. Her legs rose, wrapping around his hips and she pushed her body against his. “More.”

  Cole grinned. “With pleasure.” He moved again, grabbing one of her legs behind the knee, holding it against him and moving it to his shoulder, shifting his cock even deeper inside her again. Her pussy rippled around him as he surged into her, her moans turning into loud cries. Cole silenced her by taking her mouth again, swallowing the sounds as ecstasy washed over her. Her body locked around his as he thrust deeply inside, his hips rocking against hers, deliberately brushing against her clit and holding himself there again and again, prolonging her orgasm. God, nothing had ever felt so amazing. He moved inside her once, twice more, before holding himself taut over her, his cock swelling and then pulsing inside her.

  Finally, the world returned, and yet it felt like the earth was still moving under her. Cole had withdrawn from her body, but he still lay pressed against her, and she brushed her hand along his chest as his lips caressed hers. A noise sounded above her.

  She drew her hand away.

  She drew her mouth away.

  Something was wrong.

  20

  Annica

  “What?” Cole asked.

  She didn’t know.

  He came back for another kiss, gentle, pleading. He pulled back again and whispered, “What is it?”

  “Do you feel that?” she said.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Fuck yeah. So do you.” He ground his hips between her legs and she felt him grow hard again. His tongue, too, rolling into her mouth and shaking the ground underneath her. His body, pressing her down, shaking. Annica, shaking. The whole beach, shaking. They pulled apart again, this time Cole’s wide-eyed expression matching hers. “What is that?” he said.

  So it went beyond them. Beyond their mouths, and their hips, and the tight squirming of their bodies. Beyond the beach, too. A shaking that began in slow, rhythmic waves like the ocean, like them. A rocking motion. Memories of being sick on the cargo ship. Memories of Cole out on the railing in the storm.

  It frightened her. She sat up, desperately groping for her clothing.


  “Earthquake,” Cole said, moving to pull on his pants and hand Annica her shirt. “We’re okay, it’s just an earthquake.”

  “What?”

  “I mean, I know I’m earth shattering and everything. But this one might actually be the earth. I’m guessing you’ve never felt one before?”

  No. She knew that was a fact. She had never felt anything like this before. Him or the ground underneath, how it all felt, how it all shook and rattled her senseless. She felt dizzy. “An earthquake?” she said again, trying to convince herself, to ground herself somewhere in reality.

  Cole said, “I’m guessing you don’t get too many of those in Washington.”

  “No,” she said. “Not like San Diego, I guess.”

  “Well, congrats on your first earthquake. You okay?”

  “Yeah,” she said, feeling a little thrilled, as if she’d just survived and stepped off some scary roller coaster. She had survived the ups and downs and now was staring back into Cole’s beautiful eyes. She had survived a lot today.

  The noise sounded again above them. “What’s that?”

  Fluttering wings, hundreds of them, tiny dull shapes streaming overhead. Birds leaving the island.

  “Crazy,” Cole said. “They started up before the shaking.”

  “Animals have that sixth sense for earthquake,” she said. “I definitely don’t.”

  “It’s okay. You were distracted.”

  “I was, very well,” she said. “Very happily.”

  She leaned her head up to him for another kiss, but froze in place at another, larger sound. A big rustling around in the leaves behind them. “Oh, God,” she said, horrified now at Cole’s reaction. He had been calm with the shaking and with the birds, but to this, he’d spun onto his feet with alarming speed.

  “What is it?” she asked again, getting tired of the question. She wasn’t used to earthquakes or things lurching out of jungle foliage.

  With the rustling came a sort of guttural, human sound that immediately repulsed her. And then a snorting.

  Snorting?

  Cole had both his hands to his pants, one at the belt and the other his holster, feet wide for firing. He hiked up his pants again and said, very calmly, “Get back.”

  “Huh?”

  “Get behind me and stay there.”

  “What is it?”

  A round, blurry mass emerged from the darkness of the jungle, flashing across the sand toward them. A wild boar. The shine of its snout bounced along as it hustled across the sand and away from them, arching away suddenly after spotting them.

  “It’s okay,” Cole said. “It’s okay, the earthquake must have scared him out.”

  The shaking had the effect of a hunter flushing out the game. Fortunately, Cole didn’t draw his weapon on the poor creature. Instead, they watched the animal pick up speed as it bounced away, flicking up sand until disappearing around the next corner of green.

  “Okay,” Cole said. “Now that’s out of the way . . .”

  Annica laughed, still a little nervously, from the surprise, from their bodies . . . “Can’t the world just wait a minute?”

  “I know,” Cole said, still looking down the beach. “We’re not getting too lucky with this, are we?”

  She walked up and wrapped her arm around him, leaning her head against him. “I actually feel pretty lucky,” she said. “Don’t you? A little bit?”

  “A little bit,” Cole said, looking back to the woods. He leaned down, dropping a kiss on the top of her head. Neither of them had said anything about their impromptu romp on the sand. They didn’t have to. It had felt right. A satisfying end to a seriously fucked-up day.

  “Maybe more than a little,” she said, grinning.

  He smiled back. “Maybe more.”

  She tried looking back where he’d been scanning. But nothing stood out from the dark green wall. “Do you see something?”

  “I thought I did,” he said. “Maybe not.”

  “Maybe that earthquake shook loose whoever was following us.”

  “I’m worried they’ll be coming next out of there.”

  They both watched, together, holding each other. The ground was finally stable under their feet.

  At first she thought it was just her imagination. What were the odds? Shaking branches at just the exact spot she’d been looking at. Shaking branches coming closer, turning into another blur of a shape and Annica escaped his arms immediately and ran toward the water, running blindly away from the movement. She could see Cole behind her, trailing. She just wanted to get away from the edge of the forest, where surprises kept emerging. When she turned back, he was too close, and she’d stopped too fast, both of their bodies coming together with a solid thunk, and now both of them were lying on the ground in one big nervous, laughing pile as another wild boar ran off down the beach.

  When the laughs subsided, neither of them moved off each other. Convenient, Cole back on top of her, smiling down. “Let’s just stay here, on the ground,” he said, “no matter what else.”

  “Yeah, but now we’re out in the middle of the beach again. With you on top of me.”

  “Remind me why that’s so terrible?”

  “Someone might see us,” Annica said. “Was that it?”

  “Hmm,” he said. “I forgot about that. I think the earthquake shook something loose in my head. I can’t seem to remember anything outside of what we were last doing.”

  “Isn’t it nicer that way?”

  “Blissfully stupid, yes.”

  “It’s not a good position for a journalist, but . . .”

  “I like this position here,” Cole said with a smile, his eyes drifting down her body.

  “That one, too.” She watched him climb lower and pause at her waist. “You’ve really got me discombobulated,” she said.

  “I want to do worse.” Cole was looking down at her, licking his lips.

  “You do?”

  He started to unbutton her pants and she felt a quick shock of resistance, pushing her hands down to block him. Cole looked back up her and said, “What’s wrong? You don’t want worse?”

  She didn’t know what to say, her hands easing, relaxing.

  “Is this too worse?” he said, trying again, his hands fumbling easily out of hers and trying again at her pants. She felt the button pop open, her hands lying still and loose now.

  “Just relax,” he said.

  She laid her head back.

  “That’s it.”

  Annica felt fresh air against her skin as the zipper opened up, his fingertips around the sides of her jeans, tugging, pulling down. She wanted this, shamelessly. It had only been twenty minutes, tops, since he’d been inside her, and she wanted him again. And she wanted it faster. She tried helping him, her hand moving in to slide her pants down, but he held her hand away.

  She let it fall back into the sand as she closed her eyes. She listened to the waves again, the sound coming in more clearly. She could feel it rumbling through the ground under her.

  Fresh air on her thighs now. She spread her legs for him.

  He climbed back up to her. Her hands found him there, shirtless.

  “That was fast,” she said.

  “What, your pants or my shirt?”

  “I don’t know,” she said, feeling his weight back on her, opening her eyes to see his. She laid a hand down his abs and worked on his pants again.

  “I took my shirt off in case you wanted to use it again.”

  “Use it?”

  “Like a blanket,” he said. “For the sand. It stretches out pretty wide unbuttoned.”

  “And why’d you take off your undershirt?”

  “Oh,” he said. “I guess that’s for you, too.”

  “What am I supposed to do with that, Cole?”

  “It’s what you’re supposed to do without it.”

  “Oh,” she said, like she was uncovering some great story. “I see.”

  He was kissing her neck, and she felt the curve of
his lips as he smiled. It was easier between them now, happier, the furiousness of the first time drifting into a happy comfort.

  “I’m guessing you have a lot of experience with this,” she said. “Sex on the beach, literally.”

  “So that’s what we’re doing?”

  “I don’t know what you’re doing.”

  “I’m making you comfortable,” he said, leaning off her and spreading the shirt across the sand. “Here,” he said, patting it, “park yourself right on here.”

  “You make it sound so romantic.”Annica moved herself onto his shirt. It was still warm from his body. It felt nice and dry and soft after the sand.

  “I know,” Cole said. “But there’s nothing really romantic about it.”

  “No? Sex on the beach?”

  He said, back on top of her. “I’m feeling something else.”

  “I can tell,” she said. “I’m feeling it, too.”

  She reached for his mouth and sucked him in. She wrapped her bare legs around him now, remembering the pants he still had on, the barrier between them. She started pulling them off and he helped, only he was taking his boxers down, too. His cock sprung out of the waistband and slapped warm against her thigh.

  “You’re right,” she whispered. “I can feel it.”

  His hands were moving down her body. “Can you?” Hands between her thighs now, his hands running over her. She could feel herself soaking. “I can feel you,” he said.

  He rubbed her gently through the fabric of her panties, aching shivers running through her. She had no idea what he was going to do. She only knew what she wanted him to do.

  She fought back against her impulse to tense up, forcing her body to relax and go limp for him to explore and for her to enjoy the meandering of his hands—though they had narrowed in on one contour of her body, exploring, warming, exciting. Annica retreated back into her head and tried to block out everything else outside of this moment. The horrible possibilities, the consequences. What tomorrow may bring. What mission she would or wouldn’t have to partake in to help clear up the mess she got started. For once she could just be another happily satisfied vacationer, lying on the beach with her man. Doing what couples do when they weren’t worried about getting snuffed out. Though she supposed it was more like what lovers did, away from the prying eyes of the tourist spots. Two people, desperate for each other, sneaking off for a few moments of privacy. Of Cole. She shook underneath him, each time taking a deep breath, her chest shaking with it. This was a kind of adrenaline she hadn’t even felt back when her life was in danger at the Kahn facility. It was stronger and definitely more enjoyable.