by Raven Scott
“Alex,” he murmured in a low rumbling tone against her lips. “I didn’t bring anything with me. Let me go get protection.”
She shook her head while pushing up his shirt so she could touch his bare skin. Lucas pulled his head back from her and lifted her chin gently until she looked up at him with hooded eyes.
“What do you mean?” he asked with furrowed brows.
“You don’t need to get any,” she explained, finding it difficult to be articulate. “I have some.”
“You do?”
Alex shrugged dismissively, realizing how it sounded for her to have come to this hideaway with a supply of condoms.
“They were in my bedroom, and it made sense that I would take them with me on an extended vacation.”
Lucas paused, and then grinned with that slow, easy, panty-wetting smile.
“Makes sense to me, too,” he replied simply. “Where are they?”
She turned in his arms and pulled open the top drawer of the dresser beside them. The small stack of condoms was right there next to her underwear. Alex tore one off the strip and closed the drawer. Lucas pulled her back around and took the packet out of her hand to place it on top of the dresser before kissing her thoroughly again. Then he stepped back and unhurriedly removed his clothes, tossing each item aside until he was only wearing boxer briefs.
Alex had seen him partially naked before, less than a week ago. Yet the site of his beautiful body still caught her by surprise. He was tall, lean, and perfectly contoured, like a performance athlete. The light from the bathroom highlighted every hard ripple and dip of his cinnamon skin.
It also revealed the rough, raw edges of a small wound on his shoulder, and Alex remembered seeing it bandage when they were at the hotel. She reached out one of her hands to trace lightly over the injured spot.
“What happened?” she asked, softly.
But Lucas was silent as he took hold of her T-shirt, bunching the cotton in his hands and easing it up her body. She raised her arms into the air so he could easily pull it over her head. He flung it in the direction of his clothes while they stared intently at each other.
With an unexpectedly gentle and tender touch, he stroked a hand along a path from her cheek, down her neck, and over the firm swells of her peaked breasts.
“You’re incredible,” he whispered while his finger swept lower across her stomach on down to the apex of her thighs.
She could only moan, clutching at his broad shoulders for strength when he finally touched her now-swollen nub.
“Yes,” she gasped hotly.
Lucas stepped closer, so her breasts brushed against the upper part of his abdomen, and his touch reached farther, deeper. It was delicious. Her back arched and her legs quivered with sharp arousal as he stroked into her tender, wet flesh. Alex closed her eyes and her head fell back. The sensations were incredible, yet excruciatingly intense. He cradled the back of her head and bent his to kiss her neck and stroke his tongue along the rim of her ear.
“So hot,” he whispered thickly, then brushed her lips gently with his while his fingers increased their sensual assault.
Alex was panting with urgent want. Her body was tight and quivering as a sharp orgasm curled tighter in the base of her spine.
“That’s it,” Lucas urged between nibbles to her lips and the sweep of his soft tongue along the tender inside of her mouth.
“Lucas,” she sobbed, her eyes scrunched tight as she clenched his shoulders, her nails digging in the hard flesh. “Yes!”
He stroked his finger into her wetness with firm, relentless pressure until Alex came hard and fast. Her skin was damp with sweat as every shattering vibration seemed to last an eternity. Yet it slowly faded away too soon. Once she could manage free movement, Alex opened her eyes to find Lucas holding her close to his body to keep her on her feet. She let out a deep breath and stroked down the length of his chest. He tangled his fingers within her locks.
“Are you good?” he asked softly against her temple.
“Yeah,” Alex replied with a short giggle. “I think I’ve survived.”
She felt his chest rumble with laughter. Then he stroked both his hands down her back and cupped firmly at her ass, suggestively rubbing her against the hard, insistent force of his naked arousal. His underwear was now gone.
Alex rotated her hips, loving the feel of his thick length. Her want for him was swiftly throbbing back to life, though she had felt completely sated only moments earlier. She reached between their bodies to cup the heavy sac of his balls. Lucas groaned deep in his throat. Alex smiled to herself, really liking the sound of it. She fondled him a little more until he bit her earlobe in protest.
“You don’t like that?” she teased.
“Too much,” Lucas murmured. “But there’s something I want more.”
Alex stifled a scream of surprise and he quickly lifted her up in the air and placed her legs around his hips. Then he took a few steps until her back was against the wall. His strong legs were braced wide to keep her balanced and stable.
“Hold on,” he instructed as he grabbed the condom and slipped it on between their bodies.
Alex barely had time to think before Lucas gripped her hips and pressed forward, inch by inch until his hard, thick length was sheathed in her body to the hilt. He filled her fully, so completely, she felt merged with his flesh. They were both panting with acute arousal and anticipation for what was to come. But Lucas remained still for several seconds, his eyes closed and jaw clenched hard. Alex watched the sexy, masculine contours of his face, knowing she had never seen a man so perfectly beautiful.
As though aware of her stare, he opened his eyes to look back at her. They shone with deep fervor and something else she could not identify but really wanted to understand. Did it echo this feeling that was budding in her stomach? As though he was now closer to her than anyone could be, and ever was? That he might take a vital and irreplaceable piece of her with him when this was over?
“Hi,” Alex whispered, feeling the need to fight the emotional lump in her throat, reminding them both that this thing between them was supposed to be fun, casual, and convenient.
Lucas gave her a strained smile before leaning forward to touch his forehead against hers. He gripped her hips, squeezing her soft flesh to create subtle friction. She felt his arousal thicken and lengthen within her, and her body pulsed in response.
“Jesus, Alex,” he growled deeply, his lips so close that his warm, moist breath brushed her skin. “I want—”
He swore deep with frustration, then stroked hard into her, pinning her against the wall. Every nerve ending in her body tingled in response. Her body wanted and needed more of the same. He was now entering with powerful thrusts, touching her so deep that Alex moaned over and over with approval. His lips brushed her face in feathery soft breaths while his harsh breathing echoed around them.
“Lucas,” she panted, loving every minute.
“Yeah,” he gasped, increasing his speed and intensity until she could only hold on for the ride, craving whatever the journey would bring her.
Suddenly, he wrapped his arms around her waist to hold her still and carried her across the room. Within seconds, she was flat on her back and Lucas barely broke his pace. His driving rhythm had them both breathing hard and damp with sweat. The new position added more stimulation to her sensitive bud, and Alex was quickly climbing to ecstasy again.
“Alex . . . Alex . . .” chanted Lucas as his thrusts became wild and untamed.
She wrapped her legs tighter around him knowing they were at the edge together. Then another incredible orgasm swept through her body and mind.
CHAPTER 20
There was a long, still silence as their breathing calmed. Eventually, Lucas turned, taking Alex along so they were both lying on their sides facing each other. With his eyes closed, he stroked his hands along the length of her back, savoring the silky texture of her skin as their bodies cooled. He would be content to stay like this for
as long as possible, even all night. But that wasn’t possible.
When Lucas finally got up, it was too soon. Alex sat up on the bed also, sweeping her tangled mass of hair away from her face. He strode into the bathroom, feeling the warmth of her gaze against his back before closing the door. Lucas quickly cleaned up and washed his hands while his thoughts remained fixed on the woman he’d left naked on the bed.
How the hell had that happened? He had only sought her out to provide an update on the case. Yet, the moment she entered the room, smelling sweet and clearly naked under the thin loose T-shirt, Lucas was rock hard.
With his hands spread, he leaned on the counter of the sink to look closely at himself in the mirror. There were two things very clear to him at that moment. He wanted Alexandria Cotts with a hunger and ferocity that was now impossible to ignore, and her protection remained his single most important priority. Now, he just had to figure out how to ensure both those two things weren’t mutually exclusive.
When he returned to the bedroom, Alex was dressed in her T-shirt again, and sitting cross-legged in the middle of the bed. She had also picked up his clothes off the floor and draped them over the footboard.
“I need to talk to you about something,” he stated as he pulled on his underwear.
“I thought we already talked about it,” she replied, watching him openly. “Though I guess we really didn’t finish the conversation, did we?”
“That’s not what I came here to talk about,” Lucas explained, zipping up his black cargo pants. “I have an update on Cesar Hernandez.”
“Oh,” Alex stated, clearly taken aback. “Okay.”
“We have a lead on who tried to sell him the battery design that Adam North had developed for you,” he told her.
“It wasn’t Adam, right?” she insisted. “He would never do something like that. I know it.”
“No, it wasn’t North. It was his wife, Susie.”
“Are you serious? Why?”
“That we don’t know yet, but we should have more information soon,” he assured her.
Alex covered her eyes and let out a deep breath.
“I should call Adam,” she finally muttered. “Does he know yet? He must be freaking out.”
“Sorry, Alex, you can’t say anything to him until we know all the details. Including what he knew about his wife’s activities, and when,” he instructed.
She looked back at him with her shoulders low, but finally nodded with understanding.
They looked toward each other for a few moments, until it became awkward. Lucas dug his hands into his pockets.
“Alex, about earlier,” he started, knowing he could not just walk away without saying something to explain his unplanned behavior.
But she shook her head, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed to stand up across from him.
“Maybe we should just forget about it for now,” she then stated.
She seemed confused and uncertain, and Lucas found himself frustrated at the knowledge that he had caused it. He stepped toward her, ignoring her stiff spine and raised chin.
“I’m not sure I can,” he whispered before leaning down to kiss her softly. “Good night, Alex.”
Then Lucas walked away while he still could.
Over the next week, they fell into a predictable routine. Alex still spent all day in the shed working, only taking breaks to eat. But each afternoon, shortly after lunch, they met out back by the steps down to the dock and took a walk into town for a coffee. Each night, when she returned to the house, Lucas watched her head off to her room and resisted the driving need to join her.
During that time, he and Fortis made great progress to reveal the full network involved in the Magnus assignment. The follow Friday morning, Lucas called Marco Passante to provide a report on the assignment and Lucas’s recommendations for next steps.
“Once the Optimal driver confirmed that Susie North was the woman who had approached him to sell her husband’s new rechargeable battery technology, everything else fell into place. While North was building the battery for you and Alex, his wife was trying to sell it for more money through the racing club that North belonged to in Chicago.”
“I have my lawyers reviewing the situation right now with North and his wife,” Marco stated. “He thinks there is a good chance we can sue for damages.”
“Well, the feds haven’t charged her with anything yet. It will depend on what North provides in his official statement about what he shared with his wife about the technology. So far, he’s not provided them with that information.”
“So what about Cesar Hernandez?” Marco asked.
“Hernandez admitted that he wasn’t interested in just a new battery, he wanted the whole new hybrid design that Magnus was rumored to have in the works, and hired a firm called Crow to steal it back in January,” Lucas explained. “He claims they had three months to deliver and we know that Crow planted Timothy Pratt at the University of Illinois in Chicago to get into North’s computer in order to hack into the Magnus network through his access rights. When Crow realized that Adam’s access was limited to uploading encrypted files on the Magnus file-sharing server, they had to wait until he delivered the final battery design, to which Pratt ensured that a Trojan horse was loaded along with it. Once we shut down the intrusion, Crow could not deliver the Cicada designs to Hernandez. Hernandez then cancelled the gig with them and hired Frank Nunez to have it destroyed.
“We know most of that is true based on the statements from Nunez and the Petrov brothers. So, he’s now charged with a list of offenses, the least of which is the destruction of property, and conspiracies to commit theft of trade secrets and copyright infringement.”
“Jesus, what a greedy prick!” Marco swore.
“Even if he manages to escape jail time, he’s ruined financially. His partners in the venture capital firm, Red Stream, have already filed several lawsuits based on other shady deals they’ve now discovered,” added Lucas.
“That’s something, I guess. So, where does that leave us with Alex?” Marco continued.
“I would like to tell you that all is safe for her to return, but I don’t think it is, Marco,” Lucas explained. “We believe that this firm Crow that Hernandez hired is now after the Cicada design.”
Lucas then explained that attempt to hack into their networks after the Crow contract was cancelled.
“Maybe it was just a mistake, a delay in communication?” suggested Marco.
“We considered that at first,” Lucas acknowledged. “But early in the case, we made a copy of the laptop the hacker, Pratt was using. It had a copy of North’s design, e-mail exchanges between him and Alex with technical specifications, then search strings on hybrid engine design. All of that would be beyond the gig that Hernandez hired them to do.”
“Shit!” cursed Marco. “So what now? Can’t we find these Crow people and shut them down?”
Lucas stood up and walked across the living room of the cottage to look out at the shed where Alex was working.
“That’s the problem. They’re a ghost organization of expert hackers. You don’t find them unless they want you to,” Lucas explained.
“But you guys know one of them. The one with the laptop you copied. Timothy Pratt, right?”
“Yeah, we did. But someone killed him after Hernandez cancelled the job.”
There was a long moment of silence as the seriousness of the situation sank in on the other end of the phone.
“What are you proposing?” Marco finally asked. He sounded tired and spooked, and Lucas couldn’t blame him.
“I would like to keep Alex here for the next three weeks until the engine is rebuilt,” Lucas explained. “The good news is that we haven’t seen any more activity from Crow since Hernandez was arrested, so there is the possibility that the threat has been eliminated. But it’s a risk I’m not willing to take.”
“Okay, I understand. Does Alex know all of this?”
“Most of it, but I haven�
��t told her my recommendation. I wanted to secure your approval first.”
Marco sighed.
“I spoke to her this morning and she seemed optimistic now that Hernandez was charged. I’m sure she’ll be disappointed not to be returning home until after the Sea-to-Sky race.”
“I agree,” Lucas added. “But I think she’ll quickly realize it’s for the best.”
“Well, you now have my approval,” Marco finally stated. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
The call ended soon after, and Lucas spent the next couple of hours confirming logistics with the Fortis team, then analyzing all of the information they had gathered about Crow, Pratt, and the network attack over a week ago. He also called his neighbor, Kathy to let her know he’d need Lita’s cleaning services for another few weeks.
Occasionally, he was distracted by thoughts of Alex in anticipation of their conversation about extending their stay at the cottage through June. He wondered how she would react to the news that they would be staying at the cottage for the long haul. Lucas expected that she would be disappointed. Who wouldn’t be, cut off from friends and family and her real life? Yet he couldn’t deny feeling a sense of relief to know she would be safe with him until the threat to her and her design was neutralized. And that they would have more time together for him to figure out what to do with the unnerving feelings she stirred in him.
He worked through the lunch that Ned made, then walked out to the edge of the lake at the usual time. Alex was sitting on the top of the stairs to the dock. They smiled at each other before starting their usual walk along the boardwalk.
“I spoke with Marco this morning,” he stated when they were a few houses down. “I gave him a summary on the case.”
Lucas then quickly gave her the same information about Cesar Hernandez, Susie North, and the shadow organization known as Crow, but left out the murder of Pratt.