Embracing Carly

by Tianna Xander

  Carly crawled onto the bed. Placing her arms over her chest, she crossed her legs and curled into a ball, obviously trying to make herself the smallest possible target. “Please,” she whimpered.

  Bastien spun around, immediately contrite. How in the hell was he ever going to make this woman understand he would die before he ever hurt her intentionally? He looked down at the destroyed shirt on the floor and grimaced. Well, he definitely wouldn’t do it like that.

  “I’m sorry, baby.” He walked back to his suitcase, grabbed another shirt and went to help her put it on. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. The sight of your scars was nearly too much for me to bear. I have no other excuse.”

  He cursed himself when she flinched away from him as he tried to help her into the fresh shirt. He closed his eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry for scaring you and I’m sorry for the things he’s put you through, but I’m not like him. Nor will I ever be. I might get angry. I might even get angry with you. But if I do, I will never strike you in anger. I swear it on my life.” He pressed his right hand over his heart.

  She turned to him. Though the panic had left her face, he felt a lingering tremor of fear course through her body. It was a fear that he put there and would forever regret.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, laying a hand on his arm. “I know, at some level, that you won’t hurt me,” she said with a shrug. “It’s possible that most of my reaction was a survival mechanism I developed while living with Robert.”

  “I wish you’d stop being sorry for everything, Carly. Rant at me when I do something that startles you or ticks you off. Don’t just take it. Instead, reach out and slap me sideways.”

  She grinned, then ducked her head. “I don’t know if I could do that, but I’ll keep it in mind.”

  When they went downstairs, they found Dimitri in the kitchen dividing a frozen pizza he’d just pulled from the oven.

  “Dimitri,” Bastien said, “do you have something to say to my mate?” Bastien stood with his arm around Carly, waiting for the man to acknowledge their presence.

  He grunted.

  Bastien started forward. Carly grabbed his arm, holding him back. “He’s your friend. He was only trying to protect you.”

  “At the cost of your safety?” He shook his head. “That’s unacceptable. One never puts another’s mate in danger.” He cast a glance toward the other man. “And he knows it.”

  Dimitri bowed his head. “Yes, old friend. I do know that. Yet, when I saw that she’d hurt you so, I couldn’t stop myself from reprimanding her.”

  “Which is my job to do,” he glanced at her, lifting the corner of his mouth. “If I see fit. It isn’t yours.”

  Dimitri nodded, still looking at the floor. “I did not expect her to run away into the woods.”

  “Because you didn’t expect her to confuse her mate with her ex-husband,” Bastien said. He looked down at Carly and pulled her closer. “She married a very abusive man, Dimitri. The mention of her mate arriving alarmed her, causing her to panic and run from us.”

  “Ah, that is why she practically knocked me on my ass when she bolted from the motorhome.” He gave her a speculative look, tilting his head. “She’s not a quitter, this one. If it comes right down to it, she will fight and I believe she will make a very formidable opponent. Though you should train her to protect herself if her ex-husband approaches her when she is not under another’s protection.”

  “Yes. And I will protect her from him at all costs.”

  Carly waved her hand in their faces. “Hey, guys. I’m right here. You don’t have to talk about me like I’m an inanimate object.”

  Bastien turned her way and grinned. “I have never once thought of you as an inanimate object.” His eyes burned a trail down to her bare toes, then back up again. “In fact, you prove to be quite animated in every one of my fantasies.”

  Carly’s face turned an interesting shade of red. “I knew it! I told myself and I just wouldn’t listen. I am so in over my head.”

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Andrews Air Force Base: Maryland

  “What’s the problem, Doctor?” General Hiram Butterick reached into a wooden box on top of his desk and pulled a face. “I’d ask you if you wanted a cigar. However, there’s nothing but damned licorice in this thing since the base adopted the non-smoking policy.”

  Dr. Richard Thornton smiled. “That’s quite all right, General. I gave those up six months ago, anyway.”

  “What brings you here?” Butterick asked, leaning back in his chair with a red licorice-stick stuck in the corner of his mouth. He tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair.

  “We have a problem.”

  “What sort of problem, Richard?”

  “Well, Hiram, as you know, we had a few...” Richard lowered his voice... “unwilling test subjects.”

  The general nodded. “I still think it was a bad idea, even if it saved some Air Force dollars.” He shook his head. “Having civilians doing the work in a military application? It only works in the movies, son.”

  Richard bit his tongue. He wouldn’t remind the general that he was a civilian. “It was going fine, General. At least until someone sent in a highly trained group of men and women to extract the subjects. The squad even blew up my facility.”

  Butterick sat up, resting his hand on his file-covered desk. “Highly trained, you say?”

  “Special Forces kind of trained, General.”

  Butterick frowned, then shook his head. “They surely weren’t from my group.”

  “I never imagined they were. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit to find that these people have a military-like organization of their own.”

  “Do you really think they’re that organized?”

  Richard shifted in his seat. “Yes, I do. I think there are a lot more of them than we previously projected. There were at least thirty of them at my compound in northwest Michigan.”

  “That many?”

  Richard nodded. “At least.” Then he grinned. “They made a major mistake, though. They missed a bank of video recorders when they blew up the station. I’ve always been one who doesn’t keep all my eggs in one basket.”

  The general snorted. “Don’t I know it? How many facilities are we funding for you now, Doctor?”

  “Twenty-two, Hiram. Well, twenty-one, now. But that’s beside the point. One of the redundancies you dislike so much, just saved our asses. There was a satellite link to a shed on an adjoining piece of property. The video we recovered from that is going to prove indispensable.”

  “Faces?” The general asked. Sitting further forward in his seat, he rested his elbows on his desk.

  “Better than that,” Richard said, chuckling. “It couldn’t have worked out better if we’d planned it. We have license numbers from at least ten different vehicles.”

  The other man also chuckled. “We’ve got them now.”

  “Exactly, providing the vehicles they used were their own and not rented under aliases.”

  “One of them made a mistake and left a trail. I’ll guarantee it.” Standing, the general offered Richard his hand. “I hate to cut this short, but I have a staff meeting about a project that’s on the books.” He snickered. “Don’t want to piss off the Senate Appropriations Committee, eh?”

  “So, you do want us to investigate those license numbers, correct?” Richard asked, shaking the general’s hand.

  “Yes, yes, by all means. We want to get as much Intel on them as we can. Strike while the iron is hot, as my grandfather used to say.”

  Richard nodded. “Fine, then. I’ll get some men right on it.” He turned from the door, looking back at his superior. “Those men you were going to send me?” He continued at the general’s nod. “I might need them sooner than we expected, and in greater numbers. We’ve had a few setbacks. We lost a few of our security teams in that raid.”

  Butterick frowned, reaching for another piece of licorice. “I’ll see what I can do. I can funnel the money from a few projec
ts. The men, however, could be more difficult.”

  Nodding, Richard left the office. He stopped just outside to admire the general’s buxom secretary as she bent in front of a filing cabinet. Looking up, she gave him a nervous smile, straightened her skirt and turned her back to open a drawer in the file cabinet behind her desk.

  “Can I help you, sir?”

  Richard shook his head and headed for the elevator, smiling to himself. With the extra men, he could afford to send his own people in search of his stolen test subjects.

  To hell with the damned FBI. They didn’t like to cooperate when they discovered they were searching for test subjects instead of kidnap victims. Except for a select few at The Bureau, he liked to keep the agents in the dark. Only a very few of the strait-laced men and women had a price.

  “The idealistic idiots.”

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Carly sat on the edge of the bed, studying her nails. The butterflies in her stomach had gone wild some time ago. Apparently, they had thought to hell with flitting about lightly, this situation warranted a full out assault on her system.

  Resting a hand on her abdomen, Carly took a deep breath and released it slowly. Would she have the courage to do what she had come here to do?

  “Yes.” Dammit. She was going through with this if it killed her.

  Standing, she removed her bathrobe, threw it on the back of the chair by the window and hurried back to the bed. She launched herself onto the sapphire comforter just as she heard Bastien’s footsteps in the hall.

  Close to hyperventilating, Carly forced her breathing to slow and, drawing a deep breath into her lungs, she released it slowly, then struck a seductive pose.

  “It’s past the point of no return, now, you coward. So stop shaking,” she said to herself as she watched Bastien’s shadow from under the crack in the door.

  The door opened slowly. At first, he was looking down at the floor, almost as if he was searching for something. Then he looked up and their eyes met. His eyes widened when he spied her lying on his bed in nothing but a new transparent white teddy someone had shoved into the suitcase for her.

  The sudden tightness in the front of his khaki slacks told her he was more than happy to see her there.

  Carly’s face heated as she watched his eyes travel from her face to the dusky tips of her taut nipples peeking through the white lace undergarment. Whoever had packed her things had thrown that in with her clothes. She hoped it was his sister.

  His scorching look burned a trail down her torso to the dark red triangle at the apex of her thighs. She squirmed beneath his heated stare. She reveled in the abandoned way he reached down and fondled himself through his pants. Did he even realize he was doing it?

  “What are you waiting for?” she asked, her voice husky.

  He swallowed visibly. “I’m afraid you’ll disappear if I move.”

  She raised her brows. “Why?”

  “Because you’re a vision, baby, a dream, and I’m afraid I’ll wake up.” He moved his head from side to side, his dark eyed attention never leaving her body.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” she said, lowering herself further onto the bed, dropping her voice to a seductive purr. “Unless you want me to leave.” Her mouth formed a moue. “Don’t you want me?”

  He took a step closer, inhaling deeply, as if he loved her scent. “I want you more than anything, Carly. But you must know, if we do this thing, we will be mated for life. I can’t, I won’t accept anything less.”

  Carly brought her legs up. Tucking them beneath her, she pushed forward, crawling toward the foot of the bed. “I’m not going to beg you, Bastien. If you don’t want me—”

  She shrieked when he moved. One moment he was standing in front of the doorway, then a fraction of a second later, the door slammed shut and he stood next to the bed, looming over her, very slowly lowering his head.

  Their lips met in a hot kiss. It was electric. Heat sizzled through her, rushing through her blood. The feel of his mouth pressing against hers drove out all thoughts of panic, all thoughts of pulling back and taking the easy way out. She wanted Bastien more than she had ever wanted anyone or anything in her life. Tonight was their night. Tonight, they would have it all.

  “I want you with everything in me, baby,” Bastien whispered against her lips. His hands were everywhere. Touching, teasing and releasing the stays and clasps of the scrap of lace she wore.

  Carly resisted the urge to stand and tear it from her body. She needed to feel his hands and his mouth everywhere on her sensitive skin. Soon, she lay naked and writhing beneath him. “Please,” she cried out, her hands reaching for his.

  Bastien grasped both her hands in his, raising them above her head, and held them there as his tongue explored the depths of her honeyed mouth.

  The heat built, becoming almost too much for Carly to bear. The sensations he introduced her to were addictive like a drug and she wanted more. She needed more.

  Pulling his mouth from hers, he trailed tiny kisses between her full breasts to one hardened nipple. He lapped the small nub, then blew lightly. The cool air tightened the dusky bud.

  Carly cried out with frustration, her head thrashing on the pillow. It had never been like this before. Before, sex had always been something she could either take or leave. It was something that could be pleasant, yet usually left her feeling more awkward than anything else. Robert had not been a considerate lover.

  Releasing her arms, Bastien raised his head and looked deep into her eyes. “There is no one in this room but us, Carly. Why do you insist on dragging that animal in here?”

  Carly sighed, “I didn’t mean to, Bastien.”

  “I know, love. Don’t think about anything, just feel.”

  Nodding, Carly watched him lower his head to her breast. She cried out when he finally took the hardened nub into his warm mouth, groaning when he laved it repeatedly with his tongue. His hand moved to her other breast, his fingers plucking gently at the jutting nipple.

  His hand slipped lower, making light circles on her stomach until she thrust her hips up in invitation. With incredible gentleness, his fingers delved into her downy soft curls. He slid one finger inside her, pressing into her, moving deeper to press up against her inner walls behind her navel.

  “Bastien!”

  He pulled his fingers from the nest of downy soft curls and drew them into his mouth, seeming to savor her essence. “Are you sure you want this? If we do this thing, there will be no turning back.” His voice was deep, smooth, pure seduction. His mental defenses slipped, and Carly felt his desire, his unending love for her.

  Her own need was so great, so consuming, she couldn’t bear the thought of refusing him. It would kill her, she was sure of it. Carly squirmed and, raising herself up, offered him her breast, wrapping her arms around him as he lowered his head to take the hardened nub into the warmth of his mouth.

  “Oh, my God, Bastien, please!” Carly didn’t know what she wanted. It had never been like this before. A strange sensation washed over her, through her. It was as though her entire existence blew apart for a moment before she slowly came back to her senses. She didn’t know what had just happened to her. Was it her first orgasm?

  “Yes, baby. That’s exactly what it was.”

  Bastien pulled away from her for a moment, ripping the clothes from his body. Shreds of material flew wildly about the room. They floated to the floor in dozens of tiny colorful pieces until he stood before her wearing nothing but his desire.

  Carly licked her lips. What a perfect specimen of manhood he presented, standing in front of her like some dark, Greek God. His muscular build and bronzed skin glowed in the soft light of the room. She lowered her eyes. Finally, she would know the answer to the provocative question that had plagued her for some time. Her eyes widened and she swallowed. Where in the heck did he think that was going to fit?

  Bastien chuckled. “Right where it’s supposed to, darlin’.” He moved toward the bed slowly,
almost as though stalking her. She was his prey, small and a little frightened, caught in his unblinking stare.

  Carly pressed back against the bed, part of her wanting to run screaming from the room. Another part, the part that loved Bastien so much it hurt, kept her lying on his bed, waiting for his possession.

  He slowly lowered himself to the bed, giving her time to stop him, allowing her the opportunity to change her mind.

  Reaching up, Carly wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her. She raised her head, pressing her mouth to his. Her tongue danced over his lips, begging for entrance.

  His lips parted and Carly thrust her tongue against his. She moaned with surprised delight when he drew lightly on it, pulling her deeper inside. His hand trailed lower, moving to the dark red vee at the juncture of her thighs. Carly mindlessly opened her legs, allowing his fingers to delve deep inside her.

  Reaching up, she tangled her fingers in his hair, then moved her hands easily over his shoulders and back until they came to rest on his firm buttocks. He groaned against her breast when she squeezed.

  “You’re going to kill me, sweetheart,” he said as his expert fingers delved even deeper into her slick heat.

  Carly allowed her hands to move back up over his body, smoothing the tense muscles of his back, shoulders and chest. Her fingers slowed, the tips feathering over one flat nipple.

  Bastien’s breath hitched as he positioned himself between her spread thighs. The velvet soft tip of his shaft pressed against the slick folds of her sex. “Are you sure, love? Once we do this, there is no going back. I won’t give you up. I won’t be able to. You’re everything to me.”