“We’re not dealing with fiction here, Kaitlyn. You didn’t just witness a murder. You witnessed an execution that could have international political ramifications.”
“Don’t think I haven’t thought of that,” Kaitlyn said uneasily. “But why are you guys involved in all this? You’re bounty hunters. International intrigue is hardly in your job description, is it?”
“We’re only involved to the extent that it’s somehow connected to Boone Fowler. He remains our target.”
“And if he’s not involved? That would void our little agreement, wouldn’t it, Aidan? You’d no longer need to use me to draw him out.”
“Whether he’s involved or not doesn’t change the fact that your life is in danger. Unless you want to take your chances in federal custody, you’re stuck with me.”
Kaitlyn could think of worse things. She studied his profile for a moment. He kept checking his rearview mirror until she turned to stare out the back glass. “What is it?”
“A car has been trailing us for the past several miles.”
Kaitlyn could barely pick out the lights in the distance. “They may not be following us,” she said. “This is a public road.”
“Yeah, but it’s also remote and nearly one o’clock in the morning.”
Kaitlyn glanced out the back glass again, then turned to watch the road. In spite of the fact that they might have a tail, Kaitlyn wished Aidan would slow down. He was traveling fast on a two-lane highway that zigzagged down the mountain. Keeping one eye on the rearview mirror, he took the hairpin turns at a breathtaking speed.
They were coming upon another curve. Kaitlyn clutched the edge of her seat as they seemed to slide into the turn on two wheels. Aidan again glanced in the rearview mirror, but Kaitlyn was staring straight ahead. She was the first to see the boulder that had rolled onto the road, directly into their path.
“Aidan, watch out!”
He saw the boulder a split second after she did. Pumping the brakes, he cut the wheel hard to avoid impact, but the moment they hit the loose gravel on the shoulder of the road, the vehicle went into a spin. When Aidan finally had the wheel under control, they were heading straight for the embankment.
“Hold on!” he yelled.
They went over the edge, and for what seemed an eternity, the Jeep bounded over rocks and underbrush until it finally bottomed out on a boulder and jerked to a stop.
Kaitlyn’s heart was pounding so hard she could hardly breathe, but she didn’t think she was seriously hurt. Just a little jarred.
“Are you all right?” Aidan asked worriedly.
“I think so.” Other than feeling as if her teeth might have been rattled loose, she was fine.
“We’ve got to get out of here. I’m not so sure that boulder rolled down the mountain on its own.”
Kaitlyn whipped her head around. “What do you mean? It was a trap?”
“Maybe.” Aidan reached across her and opened the glove box. After taking out a gun, he slid in a clip and released the safety. “Do you know how to use this?”
She nodded. “I can manage.”
No sooner had she spoken, than the back glass shattered into a million pieces. Kaitlyn screamed.
“Get down!” Aidan shouted.
Flinging open the door, he all but dragged Kaitlyn out behind him. Then he opened fire as they dove for cover behind several boulders that were at the base of the embankment.
“Keep them honest,” Aidan said as he snatched his cell phone from his pocket and lifted it to his ear. “But don’t waste bullets. Once we’re out of ammo, we’re in big trouble.”
“Who are you calling?”
“Someone I can trust.” He dialed the number, then said, “It’s Campbell.” Quickly he described the situation and the location. “We need backup ASAP.”
A new round of shots rang out, and Kaitlyn returned the fire. “How long before help gets here?”
“Hopefully, soon.”
Aidan fired back, too, but it was only a matter of minutes before they’d both be out of ammo.
“I’ve only got a couple of shots left,” she said. “What happens when we run out?”
“We’ll have to make a run for it,” Aidan told her.
Run where? Kaitlyn wanted to know, but just then she heard the distant whop-whop of a chopper, and in another few moments, she saw the lights.
The helicopter was flying low and fast, and when it crossed the highway, a spotlight came on, illuminating wide swatches of the dark landscape.
The jump door was open and two men with automatic weapons were crouched in the opening. The moment the chopper set down, they jumped out and began to spray the area with bullets.
Aidan grabbed Kaitlyn’s hand. “Come on!”
They ran for the chopper and Aidan helped Kaitlyn inside. Then one of the men threw him a weapon, and they continued to fire as the chopper began to lift off.
“Wait a minute!” Kaitlyn cried. “They’re not on board!”
The pilot tossed her a headset and Kaitlyn put it on as she climbed into the front with him.
“Buckle up,” he said with a grin. “You’re in for one hell of a ride.”
POWELL CIRCLED the area with the spotlight as Aidan and the others beat the bushes on the ground, but after nearly forty-five minutes of searching, they had to finally admit that the gunmen had managed to get away, which meant whoever had set up the attack obviously knew the terrain.
As soon as Murphy sent reinforcements, Powell flew Aidan and Kaitlyn to a safe house in the mountains where they’d be able to get a few hours of rest without having to worry about an ambush.
But as Kaitlyn watched the helicopter lift off, lights twinkling in the night sky, she wondered if she would ever be able to sleep again.
Aidan had grabbed a blanket from the chopper as they disembarked, and now he draped it around her shoulders as they trudged from the clearing where Powell had landed to a small A-frame cabin that seemed to be perched on the edge of a cliff.
Kaitlyn stood on the porch shivering as Aidan unlocked the door. “Who owns this place?”
“Some of my buddies and I bought it a few years ago,” he said. “We come up here to snowboard in the winter and rock climb in the summer.”
Climbing rocks sounded dangerous to Kaitlyn. And like a lot of work.
Aidan opened the door and stepped in first to turn on the lights.
“I’m surprised you have electricity,” Kaitlyn murmured.
“We’re not that rustic,” Aidan said with a grin. “Make yourself at home. I’ll turn on the heat and get a fire going. We’ll get this place warmed up in no time.”
While he busied himself with the fire, Kaitlyn walked slowly around the room. The place was small and furnished for comfort, not style, with mismatched overstuffed furniture and a few scattered rugs to warm up the wood floor.
Snowshoes hung on the walls, along with a few fishing rods and a framed photograph that Kaitlyn walked over to take a closer look at. It was an aerial view of a group of rock climbers scaling what appeared to be a vertical wall that seemed to rise endlessly toward the sky. It gave Kaitlyn a breathless sensation, just staring at the photo.
“Are you in this picture?” she asked Aidan.
He glanced up. “Yeah.”
“Who are the other guys?”
“Some of the rescue climbers I worked with in Colorado after I left Special Ops.”
“Rescue climbers? Does that mean you rescued other climbers when they got into trouble?”
“Among other things.”
Kaitlyn reexamined the photograph. “And then for fun you climbed more rocks, right? You know what I like to do for fun? I rent movies and make popcorn.”
Aidan smiled. “I like that, too.”
He returned to the fire and Kaitlyn crossed the room to stare at the view. The wall of windows looked out on the edge of the cliff, but at night, there was nothing to see but blackness below and a sky filled with stars above. It almost gave the sensat
ion of being suspended on the edge of the universe.
“Come over by the fire,” Aidan said. “We’ll get you warmed up in no time.”
She turned to join him. Placing her trembling hands over the fire, she said, “You wouldn’t happen to have something to drink up here, would you? Something stronger than coffee or hot chocolate, I mean.”
“We’ve probably got something stashed around here somewhere. Just keep warming yourself. I’ll be right back.”
But instead, Kaitlyn followed him into the small kitchen and watched as he opened a cupboard. “How about a shot of whiskey?” he said, taking down a bottle and two glasses.
“Sounds good to me.”
He stood at a small island in the center of the kitchen and poured the drinks. Before he could propose a toast, though, Kaitlyn lifted her glass and downed the con tents. She wasn’t used to anything stronger than wine or beer, but the fiery liquid was just what she needed. She placed her glass on the counter and Aidan poured her another.
“You’re not trying to get me drunk, are you?” She didn’t really care if he was or not. At the moment, getting drunk sounded like an excellent idea.
“This was your idea,” he reminded her. He finished his own drink and watched as she downed her second.
Kaitlyn licked her numb lips. “How come you’re so calm about all this? Your hands are as steady as a rock. Look at mine.” She held them out and showed him how badly they were still trembling.
“It’s not the first time I’ve been shot at,” he said.
She kept forgetting about his past. “A Special Forces soldier, a rescue climber, and now a bounty hunter.”
She licked her lips again. “You know what I think you are? You’re one of those adrenaline junkies.”
He leaned his elbows on the counter as he regarded her with a bemused look. “Is that so?”
“You get off on danger. Like those guys who jump out of airplanes in the troposphere.”
“Nothing like free-falling from the edge of space,” he said.
“You’ve done that, too?” Kaitlyn shuddered as she poured herself another drink. “There’s a guy in Eagle Falls that used to be in Special Forces. I interviewed him once. He’s a graduate of the Military Freefall Jumpmaster School in Yuma, Arizona. He runs a sky-diving company that includes tandem freefall. For a few hundred bucks, he’ll take you up to fifty thousand feet, strap you to him, and jump out of the plane. Not exactly my idea of a great time.”
Aidan feigned shock. “What, you didn’t do it? What kind of reporter are you?”
She propped her elbows on the counter and shrugged. “The cowardly kind,” she freely admitted.
“Seriously, you should try it sometime. There’s nothing like it.”
She groaned. “Please don’t tell me it’s better than sex. That’s such a cliché.”
“Better than sex? Hmm.” He seemed to consider it for a moment. “I’d have to say that all depends.”
On what? Kaitlyn wanted to ask him, but the look he gave her pretty much said it all.
The look that implied that she could jump out of a hundred airplanes and the thrills wouldn’t equate to spending one single night with him.
That look.
Slowly, she put down her glass.
Chapter Thirteen
Their gazes clung for the longest moment, and then bending across the counter, Aidan kissed her. Maybe that was all he meant it to be. A simple kiss. Some sort of comfort or warmth she could cling to in order to assuage her fears.
But the moment his lips touched hers, something came unleashed inside Kaitlyn and, sliding her fingers into his hair, she pulled him even closer, grinding her mouth against his as their tongues mated desperately.
Somehow Aidan ended up on the same side of the counter as she, and grabbing her around the waist, he lifted her up to the smooth surface, kissing her again as his fingers deftly unfastened her blouse and then slid it down her arms. She wasn’t quite as accomplished in the undressing department, so she ended up ripping apart his shirt, sending the buttons flying in every direction.
Aidan didn’t seem to mind. In fact, her actions caused his eyes to darken with something that made Kaitlyn tremble, though not with fear. He grabbed her and kissed her again, hard and fast and desperate, and then trailed his lips down her throat, teasing her breasts through her lacy bra.
Kaitlyn leaned back on her hands, her heart beating so hard she could hear it in her ears as Aidan’s fingers slid inside the waistband of her jeans to unsnap them.
He didn’t remove them, though, until they were in the bedroom. Kaitlyn lay on top of the covers as he tugged off her jeans, and then rising to her knees, she skimmed her lips along his washboard abs as her fingers found his zipper.
A second later, they were both naked, and as Kaitlyn watched Aidan lower himself over her, she began to tremble even harder. Part of it was still the aftermath of danger. She knew that. But mostly it was the thought of what they were about to do.
There was nothing gentle about the way they came together, but Kaitlyn didn’t want gentle. It hadn’t been a gentle night. It had been dark and dangerous, even savage, and a tender coupling wasn’t something either of them could have managed at the moment.
What they needed was an immediate release from all of the adrenaline still rushing through their veins, and as Aidan thrust inside her, Kaitlyn’s was almost instant. She couldn’t stop it. It burst over her in wave after wave of sensation, more powerful than any she had ever ex perienced before, and prolonged, it seemed, by the intensity of Aidan’s shuddering response.
He held her until both their shudders subsided, then he rolled over and lay on his back next to her. Hearts still pounding, they lay side by side in complete silence. After a moment, Aidan reached down, took her hand and squeezed it.
It was the only communication Kaitlyn needed.
AIDAN HADN’T WANTED their first time to be that way. He’d wanted to make love to Kaitlyn slowly, savoring every inch of her beautiful body, but the moment he’d touched her, he hadn’t been able to control himself.
Later, when they went in to shower, he told himself it would be different this time. But there she stood, all wet and naked, her eyes telling him that she didn’t need slow and deliberate, she wanted it fast and desperate again. And then she showed him she meant business, first with her hands and then with her mouth.
He lifted her in his arms and kissed her roughly as he pressed her back against the tile wall, thrusting inside her until they both shuddered to another mind-blowing climax.
Afterward, they climbed into bed and slept for a while, and it wasn’t until they awakened sometime in the afternoon that Aidan was finally able to make love to her the way he’d always intended.
He started with her feet, massaging first one then the other between the palms of his hands until her muscles turned to Jell-O and she sighed with pleasure. Then he slid his hands up her legs, teasing them open as he bent to kiss the insides of her thighs. With a soft groan, she opened even more for him, and he took his time with her, pulling away when he sensed she was getting a little too frantic, giving her a moment to calm before starting the slow buildup all over again.
He explored every inch of her with his hands and his lips and his tongue. Finally she threaded her fingers in his hair and tugged him up to her, kissing him so deeply that Aidan’s control began to waver. And when her hand slipped around him, guiding him to her, he couldn’t have stopped at that moment if his life depended on it.
He rolled them over, and Kaitlyn lowered herself over him, moving so slowly and deliberately that Aidan realized it was he who had been seduced.
LATE-AFTERNOON SUNLIGHT streamed in from the window and slanted across Kaitlyn’s face as she slowly opened her eyes. It took her a moment to remember where she was, and then, as it all came back to her, she turned over so that she could watch Aidan sleep. But he was already awake, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling.
She rolled onto her stomach
and, wrapping an arm around his lean waist, she placed her chin on his shoulder. “Hey,” she said softly.
“Hey.”
“You look so serious,” she said with a frown. “What are you thinking about?”
“Not really thinking about anything. Just letting my mind wander,” he said with a shrug.
“Some day, huh?”
“Yeah.” He kissed her hair. “Some day.”
“Can I ask you something, Aidan?”
His lips were still in her hair. “What is it?”
“What made you join the service? Was your father a military man?”
“Why would you think that?”
She shrugged. “Military service is sometimes a family tradition, right?”
“In some families, I guess. But my father is a corporate attorney in Los Angeles.”
“Really?” Kaitlyn didn’t know why that revelation surprised her, but it did. “Then what made you decide to join up?”
“I didn’t have much of a choice.” For a moment, Kaitlyn thought he wouldn’t elaborate, but then he shrugged as he scowled at the ceiling. “I was the kind of kid who got into one scrape after another. Alcohol, drugs, you name it. I had a fast car, money to burn, and enough family connections to keep me out of trouble. It’s amazing what you can get by with when you flash an ID with a Beverly Hills address on it.” His words were flip, but there was something dark in his voice.
It was shame, Kaitlyn realized. A shame so deep that he couldn’t quite bring himself to look at her.
What had he done? What could possibly be so bad that he hadn’t been able to forgive himself all these years later? she wondered
“I won’t bore you with the details,” he said, as if anticipating her next question.
“Then give me the condensed version,” Kaitlyn urged softly. She turned to him. “I’m not trying to pry, Aidan. I just want to know something about you.”
Going to Extremes Page 14