“You’re not?”
“I’m… I’m—”
“You’re what? I’m getting into character. You should give it a try.”
“You’re rubbing your hard-on against me, is what you’re doing.”
“All part of my cover. Believable, huh?” Her innocent act was toast. She was far more like Jessica Rabbit than Snow White. “If I tried to drag you off to bed right this second, you wouldn’t join me?”
There was only one answer. He knew it. Felt it as sure as he felt her body mold against him. She couldn’t fight their hunger either.
Her breaths escalated. The quick rise and fall of her breasts fueled him. Winters cupped her chin in his hands, palms caressing her cheeks. Sweet Mia. If he could freeze this moment, it’d be one he’d put on repeat.
“I would,” she whispered. “But…”
“Forget everything else. It’s just you and me.” He thumbed her lips, dragging the bottom one down.
Slowly, his hands drifted into her hair. Lust hung heavy in the cool night air. Her dark lashes fluttered, and her hard nipples pressed against his chest.
How beautiful would she be naked? How would she feel? Impossibly smooth. He would whisk across her sensitive spots, watching those succulent breasts rise and fall in anticipation. He would make sure she ached for him. As much as he ached now.
His fingers tangled into her hair, and Mia leaned her head back, heavy lidded and heady breaths.
“Shouldn’t you watch for the bad guys instead of torturing me?” Her eyes were sealed shut, defenseless.
His lips grazed her neck, and she purred, the sinful sound acting as a deft stroke to his already engorged shaft.
“You don’t think I can multi-task?” He kissed behind her ear, dancing his mouth down her neck. It was a tease. A simple promise of what was to come. When he had a moment to concentrate on her, he’d do whatever it took—lick, kiss, caress, and suck—to make her cry out for him.
His fingers slid to her nape, trailing to the front of her shirt. The fabric felt fragile under his palms. He was losing a battle to a ripped shirt on a pretty girl, but revenge would be amazing.
“How can you do this,” she nudged her head down to where he nuzzled his erection, “and pay attention to anything else?”
“Can you imagine what it’s going to be like between us when I don’t have to worry about anyone but you?”
A smile bloomed but before Mia could respond, the faraway sound of tires crushing gravel flittered through the parking lot. She tensed in his arms. Her body now rigid as the brick wall he leaned against.
“Did you hear that?” she asked, all arousal siphoned away.
“I’ve got it. Don’t you worry about a thing.”
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Time for his game face. He would fight and maim, whatever the hell it took to end up in that motel room alone with her.
A vehicle moved to the far side of the lot and idle. “That’s our guy. Just relax and stay with me.”
“I can’t relax. I don’t know what to do.”
“Yes, you do.”
Her eyes darted toward the night sky, panicked, and her muscles morphed into cement slabs.
“You handled yourself just fine earlier.” He watched their enemy over her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. It’s in you to pull this off. “You were a fighter. Just do what you did before.”
“Tell me what’s going on, Colby.”
“You want a line by line?” Knowledge was control. That made sense. He fingered the tear in the fabric at the top of her shirt, playing his part as a distracted drunk. The shirt was toast very soon.
She nodded. His ears strained to hear an engine cut off.
“Two guys. They see us.”
She tensed again.
“Come on, girl. Relax with me. They can’t know we see them.”
His hands ran down her back, massaging her not-so-imaginary knots. Her tense muscles began to relax, melting all over again.
“There you go. We’re going to walk around the corner soon and disappear from their line of sight after they get out of their car. I need you to play it up. Remember. I’m seducing you. You’re caving. When we round the corner, I’ll have to let you go to take care of this.”
“Don’t get hurt.” She locked eyes with him, complete seriousness clouding her face.
Really? She didn’t mean to lob insults, right? He choked out a harsh laugh and shook his head. “Mia, I’m taking offense to that, so you know. You need to say something like go get ‘em, killer or my, your muscles are big.”
She moved her palms over his arms. “My your muscles are so big.”
Her nervous laughter electrified him, making him want to prove she was protected. Nothing would harm her. Ever.
“Now you’re getting the idea.”
“Just don’t forget you’re not invincible.” Her smile faltered. “Okay?”
What was up with the challenges? Her timing wasn’t spectacular. He’d have to bring that up when a better moment presented itself.
“I’m a lot of things, doll. But worried about getting hurt ain’t one of them. Now, if you don’t mind, feed me macho shit or shut that pretty trap of yours.”
Crazy woman. Worrying about him. Questioning him.
“All right, here we go.” He pushed them from the wall. “Time to convince our audience we’re headed to bed.”
She took a step back, pulling from him, batting at his bicep. He mirrored her dance, tugged on her shirt, and tried to close the distance toward the corner of the motel.
It wasn’t a hard role to play. He wanted in that motel room more than he’d ever wanted a woman in a bed.
Her head dropped back. Fake, flirtatious laughter floated in the air as she played her role well. Their game ignited Winters’s contempt for the men watching them. Watching her. She was a sight to see, and he’d hurt them for their mere enjoyment.
He lifted her in one fluid motion, her bare feet fluttering inches over the ground, and he walked backwards, one slow step at a time, nuzzling the rasp of his cheek against her skin.
Training was his savior as she moaned for him. If he didn’t have a pinpoint focus on the enemy, he’d be out of control, attempting anything and everything to hear that sound again and again and again.
They rounded the corner, and Winters pinned Mia against the wall, caging her. She had nowhere to go, yet his breath caught in his throat at the sheer power she held over him.
“You’re sexy as sin.” He placed a finger over her mouth in a show of silence.
His rough finger looked harsh against her lips. He wished her tongue would flick out and run the length of his finger onto his palm. He imagined the wet heat wicking across his skin, and it shot all the way to his cock. Talk about inappropriate timing for a dirty fantasy.
Mia untangled herself from his hold without complaint and without any more ludicrous questions about his safety. She had no idea what thoughts crossed his mind. He had to laugh, then turned toward the corner.
Winters heard enemy footsteps fast approaching. He held his hand up to her, reissuing the order to stay put and mum.
The first man came broadside. Winters struck out at him, fist balled with lightning-like wrath. Like a shot of caffeine, it rushed through him with energizing satisfaction.
The second man rushed into the fight, uncoordinated. Winters’s punch plowed into doughy flesh. It gave a dull thud as the man stumbled back and dropped.
Man number one reappeared, and Winters grabbed his throat, forcing his carotid artery closed. He needed another ten seconds until the man would go limp. It’d be great if man number two would take longer than that to rebound. Trying to keep the other man down, Winters heeled number two’s face onto the pavement. Just a little more time.
Five. Four. Three. Go to sleep, fucker.
Man one gasped against Winters’s hold, eyes bulging and veins popping. Sweat poured off him, strings of saliva running out the side of his open mouth. Shit. Man numbe
r two rolled loose and jumped back to his feet, jabbing with a knife.
Winters kept his hand on the man’s throat. Waiting for lights out. He evaded a stab, jumping to the side in this game of Swiss Army hopscotch. The need to kill crawled through him. He wanted them to pay but didn’t need the overkill. Mia shouldn’t witness the aftereffects of it.
And goodnight. Man one was definitely out. His legs stopped flailing. His arms hung limp. Winters dropped him onto the ground. One down, one to go.
Man number two tried for another stab. Winters snagged the offending hand, twisting an arm back and up. The knife clattered to the parking lot. The man’s shoulder popped. He howled. Winters landed a punch to his head, knocking him silent, then dropped him on top of the other. Assholes. You shouldn’t have fucked with my girl.
CHAPTER TEN
Winters toed the bodies, rummaged through their pockets, and pulled out a set of car keys before he turned to Mia. Frozen in place, she hadn’t moved from the wall, manning her assigned spot. Her jaw was tight, her lips pressed into a straight line, and her eyes as round as the backlit O in the motel sign high overhead. Her skin had paled in the dark night.
Ah, man. He’d worked so hard to make her trust him. To make her think he was safe. Now, her face screamed stranger danger, and her stance said the woman was about to beat feet. All in all, she’d reverted back to when he pulled the shoulder toss move on her post-airport.
“Mia, honey.”
Her jaw dropped and hung wordlessly. Not good. Not. Good. At. All.
“It’s a really bad time for you to go into shock.”
“Not. Shock.”
“Whatever it is, I need you to snap out of it.”
“I’m safe. You… Took care of them, just like you said.”
He jangled the keys to catch her attention. Mia focused on him, dazed. He lofted the key ring her way. She caught them one-handed while still plastered against the wall. Not a bad catch.
“Get their car and drive it over here.”
She nodded, peeled away from her brick support, and obeyed without question, parking it in the unlit spot he pointed at. Winters popped the trunk and tossed the first man in, then the second. He eyed the parking lot in a quick sweep. No other cars struck him as suspicious. No one exited the karaoke bar. They were all alone.
Violence had never before been an aphrodisiac. Hell, it wasn’t now. But protecting her, isolating her from dangerous men, that shit was downright carnal. His blood rushed to his cock. A savage possession reared up.
Her dark eyes flicked over him, making his cock ache for her, and she hissed. “I told you to be careful. You could’ve been hurt.”
He was by her side in an instant, pinning her against the wall again. God, he should be careful with her. But the temptation on her face, the flash in her gaze, promised it’d be impossible.
“You doubted me?”
“No. No. I didn’t doubt you. I just…I didn’t know what else to say just then.”
Not giving her a second to make the same mistake twice, he slanted his lips over hers. It’d been too long since her lips covered his. Everything in the parking lot was a game. All part of the dance.
He needed her embrace to wash away the violence coursing through him. The need to battle dissolved as soon as she opened her mouth wide, wicking her hot tongue across his.
Mia knotted her hands in his hair, pulling him to her. Her mouth molded onto his, her body molten against his hands. Mia was just as hungry as he was. If that wasn’t one of the hottest things ever…
Her legs snaked up his, and she pushed against him, firing everything he tried to ignore. Her hands clawed his neck, making him hard within seconds. Miss Khakis-and-Cardigan had been so deceptive. Dressing sugar sweet but with an inner temptress.
“Maybe I am invincible. What’d you call me, GI Joe?”
“Shut up, Colby.” Her mouth punctuated the command with a kiss.
Their room was steps away, the key in his pant pocket. Both her legs encircled his waist, grinding her onto his erection. Christ, he needed to make it to that room. He needed privacy right this second. Winters pushed the door open, supporting her tight ass on his forearm, and kicked it closed behind them. Seclusion couldn’t have come fast enough.
He paused in the dark room. His free hand slid across the wallpaper. He had to find the light switch. There wasn’t a chance in hell he’d miss watching this.
He flipped the switch.
Two bedside lamps illuminated the cheap room in an amber glow. She deserved better than this, but there wasn’t anything he planned to do about it now.
Winters leaned forward over the bed, placing her on the mattress as quickly and gently as he could manage. Given the circumstances, it wasn’t a tender moment.
Her nails dug into his back. Nope. She didn’t need gentle. What the hell was he thinking? Just like that kiss in the truck. She wanted. She needed. And the wicked glint in her eye told him just as much.
The showy rip in her shirt that had tested him all day was done for. He grabbed the edge and tore. It split but gave him no relief as the air rushed out of his lungs and his mouth watered. She was gorgeous.
“I hated that shirt anyway.”
“I’ll buy you a new one. That shirt teased me all day. It was payback.”
Her pink lace bra was sheer. Her full breasts begged for his tongue, his lips. He thumbed one through the lace, and she arched her back, rolling her head to the side. “There was no teasing.”
“The hell there wasn’t.” The bed sank down as Winters nudged her legs apart to kneel between them. “You’re beautiful. Breath stealing, knock me on my ass gorgeous.”
She laughed and turned away from him.
“No, you don’t, Mia.” He bent over and cupped her face, pulling it back to him. “You okay? You need me to back off?”
“I never said I wanted you to stop.”
He smoothed a palm over her flat stomach. Torn fabric lay at her sides, framing her. He leaned over and brushed her nipple, teasing with his lips. She groaned, and her hips rocked. Her khaki pants. His tactical pants. They were so opposite, but right now, so connected.
With each swipe across her pebbled nipple, she twisted, offering approving cries, and pushing her breast into his mouth. Her backside lifted off the bed, making his insides corkscrew tight.
“You like that?”
“Uh-huh.” She nodded, doing great things for his ego.
“I’ve wanted you naked and underneath me since we squared off.”
“Pretty sure,” her eyes danced, “that’s why I tried to kick you in the balls.”
“So it’s like that, huh?” He closed down on her nipple, giving her more tooth than tongue.
Her fiery purr escaped on a breath, and he wanted her lips around his dick worse than he could have imagined. He traced a path up her arms, letting his fingers crawl across her creamy skin.
He’d take everything he could, anything she would offer, and relish it. This would all go away too soon. The tightness in his chest, the attraction to his opposite, it would disappear when they arrived home. He needed to make the most of it, and get her out of his system. Out of his head.
Winters grabbed hold of her wrists, pinning them above her head. She resisted and met him with a kiss that short-circuited his head. Her hips thrust toward his, then she bit his lip. Hell yeah. Not the reaction he expected. It was so much better.
“Give me my hands back, Colby.” She screwed her legs tight on his thighs. Her hair splayed out on the bed, wild in every direction.
“Not a chance, doll.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Mia, honey, if you find yourself in a fair fight, you didn’t plan your mission correctly.” He wanted her to tear at his grip, to come apart while he held her in place. He wanted to see her, from head to toe, rocked in a cataclysmic orgasm.
His legs held their ground, and he undid the top button of her pants. As if he hit the slow-mo button, he dropped Mia’s zippe
r one stilted frame at a time. The pleasurable torment made his cock strain for its release.
He wedged his fingers past the tight opening in her pants, between her legs, and smiled in satisfaction when he found the damp underside of her lace panties. Her zipper bit at his wrist, but it didn’t matter.
She rubbed her sex against him and struggled to shift her pants down.
“That’s my job. These will come off when I say you’re ready.”
Moaning exasperation betrayed her. “Colby, now.”
He moved to her side, and she kept her legs open, rocking her against his touch. Winters immobilized her. One hand above her head. The other pressed against her mound.
He pushed the damp lace aside. One finger, then another, slid across her. If he thought he’d know how smooth and silky, wet and wanting she’d be, he was wrong. Stroking her was so far past pleasurable.
Her pants shifted over her hip bone. A small tattoo caught his eye. A symbol. Artful and delicate.
“You have a tattoo.”
“Hm-hmm.”
“What’s it mean?”
“Survivor.”
“Didn’t expect that.”
“It seems like you haven’t expected me at all.”
So true. His fingers dipped into her, then withdrew. A small shudder coursed through her body. He encircled her sensitized bud of nerves, so slick with her juices.
Mia struggled to lean up, straining against the wrist hold. She wants to see?
And like she read his mind, she said, “I want to watch you.”
He was wrong if he thought he couldn’t get any harder, and he’d never been so close to losing it before.
“You can see.” His throat hurt with guttural vibrations. He didn’t recognize its sound.
“Not as much as I want to.”
He released her hands, and she arched into him, digging her nails into his shoulder blades. She clawed for blood. Marking him as hers. She could leave scars for all he cared. He’d own that constant reminder.
Her legs opened wider, straining at her pants, then she pulled from him and unclasped the front opening of her bra. Her swollen breasts fell free and taunted him. She was intentionally trying him. It was a game of who could distract who more. And it was fucking awesome.
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