by Cindy Dees
Tom’s voice echoed in her head. We need to work on this trust thing. Trust. Tom would know what to do. He’d said to go straight back to the apartment. Well then, that’s what she’d do.
Her back tingled with imaginary knives burying themselves in her spine. Her hands still shook, but there was nothing to do about that except clench her purse tightly and hope no one noticed her white knuckles.
She hummed a song in her head and forced herself to walk to its rhythm. Every instinct begged her to run screaming for cover. But she knew without a shadow of a doubt that giving in to the impulse would get her and Tom killed. Strolling toward home was an exercise in the self-discipline of sheer terror.
How in the world did Tom do stuff like this every day? She’d have a nervous breakdown if she had to live like this. Of course, that’s why she wasn’t in the Special Forces and Tom was.
He could have this job.
So then, why in the world was she playing at it?
The answer stopped her cold in the middle of the street. Because of Tom. She was out here risking her neck for him. She wanted to impress him. It was the dumbest thing she’d ever heard of, but here she was. Incredulity rooted her in place.
A horn honked right behind her, and Annie all but jumped out of her skin. She lurched into motion and moved out of the middle of the street.
As she caught sight of the apartment building where Tom waited, her breathing quickened even more. He’d have her in sight by now. The feel of his intense blue gaze on her overwhelmed every other sensation. She was pulled toward it, drawn to Tom by a force too deep, too fundamental to ignore.
Tom’s beeper felt heavy and hot in her bra, burning against her skin. It reminded her of his blunt fingers brushing her flesh as he deposited the device between her breasts.
The beeper was perfectly still as she walked down the street. A film of sweat covered her face. As casually as she could, she wiped it away. There wasn’t even a hint of vibration from the beeper.
What if something had happened to Tom? What if the Gavronese Army had found him? Then he wouldn’t be able to signal her if she was being followed. The sensation of being watched intensified.
She was definitely being followed.
Come on, Tom. Page me. Let me know you’re up there watching and you see the tail.
Nothing.
Now what?
Did she proceed as if everything was okay, or did she assume something had happened to Tom and keep on going? What if the Gavronese Army was waiting for her in the apartment when she got there? If only she’d had more training in how to deal with situations like this.
The door to their apartment building was beside her. She stared at its yawning blackness, torn in two by doubt and paralyzing indecision.
What the heck. Tom had said to trust him. If he wasn’t good enough to evade capture while hidden away in an obscure apartment, then he surely wasn’t good enough to get her out of Gavarone alive. Better that she get arrested now while the United States still had a presence in the country.
She veered into the doorway and hurried up the three flights of steps to their apartment. Annie reached their door out of breath and knocked quietly.
A gravelly voice answered from inside in Spanish.
Annie’s stomach did a spectacular flip. Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God. They’d gotten Tom. And she was next.
Her pulse exploded, and she panted in raw fear. She fumbled for the beeper’s panic button as she spun around to flee.
The door opened. An arm snaked out and grabbed her upper arm. She started to scream as the arm yanked her inside, but a brutal hand slapped over her mouth, cramming the scream back between her teeth.
The door shut behind her, and she couldn’t see a thing in the darkness. Someone had blacked out all the windows.
A powerful body pinned her facing the wall beside the door, and she struggled in animalistic terror.
“I’m an American citizen. I demand to speak to my embassy,” she managed to force out past the hand over her mouth.
She was dragged backward and strong arms wrapped around her in a fierce bear hug.
“Annie, it’s me, Tom. You’re safe. I’ve got you now.”
Thank God.
All the strength went out of her in a rush, and she sagged against him. His hand eased away from her mouth.
Tom hung on tight to Annie and rocked her close while she cried out her fear and relief. He’d always envied women their ability to let go of their emotions so freely. He was none too steady himself at the moment. He’d stood at that window waiting to see her come around the corner for what seemed like a year.
Thank goodness she was all right.
She turned in his arms and buried her nose against his chest. Her arms came up around him, holding on fiercely.
“Why didn’t you page me?” Her muffled voice sounded waterlogged.
“Because you weren’t followed.”
“Are you sure? I could swear I was.”
“I’m positive. It’s just that you were scared. The same thing happens to me all the time. You did fine.”
Her shaking subsided a bit, and she’d recovered enough to look up at him skeptically.
“What do you mean, it happens to you all the time? You have nerves of stainless steel. I bet you don’t remember what fear is.”
He grunted. “Huh. I was afraid—knees-knocking-and-nervous-sweats afraid—the whole time you were gone, Annie.”
She ducked her head against his chest once more.
He buried his nose in her hair and inhaled the fresh scent of it. His hands roamed up and down her back as he reassured himself she was unhurt. The elegant indentation of her spine drew his fingertips, and he caressed the line of her back down to the first hint of her buttocks.
She drew a short breath and molded herself even closer to him, her body giving way under the gentle pressure of his hand. Her hips flowed into his, their bodies intimately and perfectly aligned to each other. The softness of her belly complemented the hardness of his, and her breasts burned against his chest like fire.
How could he have sent her out there by herself? She was too precious to have put at risk.
Too precious?
Oh, Lord. What had he gotten himself into? The sense of impending doom that had been hanging over him ever since he woke up in the hospital moved a step closer. A giant step closer.
He backed her against the wall so his hands could continue their explorations. They ran down her slender arms and raised fine goose bumps under his palms. His fingers twined with hers, and he lifted her hands up over her head, trapping them against the wall.
Their fingers still clasped, he leaned into her, savoring the length of her body against his. He looked down at her, and she stared back at him wordlessly.
Naked desire warmed the dazed expression in her eyes.
His gaze slid lower to the pulse leaping in her throat, and lower still to the rapid rise and fall of her chest. Each breath she drew pressed her breasts against him in sensual invitation.
He ached to bury his face in the shadowed cleft of her bosom, to smell her and taste her, to lose himself in her. With one hand he reached down to stroke from her collarbone toward the subtle valley of flesh.
His fingers encountered hard plastic, almost hot to the touch. He grasped his beeper and drew it slowly from its enviable nest.
Annie’s breath wobbled, catching in a sexual way.
He pocketed the pager and let his hungry fingers return to the exposed flesh of her neck. Delicate tendons and a racing pulse danced beneath her satin skin.
She shifted, and he captured her free hand with his before she could move away. He pinned her hands overhead once more, sandwiching both of hers in the grasp of his left hand.
He leaned down, touching the base of her neck with his lips. Her pulse startled and leaped like a deer. His mouth traveled upward, pausing to sample the feminine delicacy just below her ear.
She inhaled sharply, and her head rolled bac
k, stopped only by the wall. He pulled away momentarily to look at her radiant beauty. It lit the gloom around them, a lighthouse in the storm-tossed darkness of his world.
Her lips parted, sweet and inviting.
She didn’t have to ask him twice. He grasped her chin gently and lowered his head. His mouth closed over hers.
Annie groaned as Tom finally got around to kissing her. Stretched on a rack of agonizing anticipation, the torture of wanting him was so great she could hardly stand it. Helpless to move with her hands trapped high against the wall, she could only use her body to communicate her desire. She writhed against him, glorying in the hardness of his frame and in the way her body yielded to his.
She ached to hold him within her, to cradle his strength against her, to be safe within his embrace, to shield him with her love. All of this she poured into her kiss and into the sensual undulations of her body against his.
His response was immediate and overwhelming. One powerful arm went around her shoulders and another around her waist. He swept her up against him while they pirouetted away from the wall in a dizzying embrace.
She clung to him, her arms around his neck, supported by his broad shoulders. Their spinning kiss carried them across the room to the sofa. He guided her to the cushions, following her down, covering her in a blanket of potent male, all muscle and power.
His thigh wedged between hers, and she gave way before the pressure. An elbow on either side of her head caged her beneath him while he kissed her into mindless oblivion.
She ran her hands into his hair and pulled his head closer, deepening their kiss until she couldn’t tell where he ended and she began.
He groaned, and she relished the sound, taking it into her and holding it in her heart. In return, she wordlessly offered up her remorse and self-recrimination for almost killing this wonderful man. She poured it all into kissing him, into treasuring and cherishing him. If only she could make it up to him somehow.
Her arms tightened around him.
Tom grasped her tightly in return, and then suddenly he shifted his weight to one side.
Startled, she was dragged with him as he rolled off the couch and onto the floor. They landed with a solid thump. Annie sprawled across him in the most delicious fashion, body to body in a nakedly suggestive pose.
And then her hand contacted the cast on his left arm. Her ardor cooled abruptly as shame filled her. She rolled off him instantly, appalled by the thoughtlessness of her lust.
“Oh, no, Tom. Did I hurt you? Are you all right?”
“I don’t care if you hurt me. Just don’t stop, sweetheart.”
She ignored his comment and continued her self-flagellation. “I’ll kill myself if I hurt you again.”
“What do you mean ‘again’?”
She froze. Did she dare confess all to him? And take a chance on ruining what they had together by admitting that she’d decided to sacrifice his life to save her own and had caused him all these injuries? Could she bear to see rage and disgust in his eyes when he looked at her?
“Hey. Why so grim? I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for me. Really.”
“You’re too kind,” she protested.
A faint frown creased his brow, but he said nothing.
Suddenly nervous, she wiped her palms surreptitiously on her dress. “You’ve never told me the details of your accident. Do you know what happened before you got hurt?”
“Yeah. We were egressing from the jungle and had a rebel squad on our heels. The rest of my guys made it into our pickup helicopter, but the rebels got there before I could get pulled out. The rebels started shooting, and the helicopter pilot decided to get out of there. I ended up getting dragged through the jungle at the end of a steel cable.”
She took a convulsive swallow before she could speak. “You must be angry at that pilot.”
Tom stared up at the ceiling as though replaying the incident in his mind’s eye. “Why do you say that?” he asked absently.
“Well, by rights you should have died. It’s a miracle you survived, you know.”
He gaze swiveled to her. “Yeah, I know.” He was silent for a moment. “The only thing that ticks me off is that the pilot didn’t drop me.”
Annie blinked. “Drop you?”
“Yeah. If we’d had an experienced Special Forces guy in the cockpit, he’d have cut the cable and left me behind.”
“Left you behind? But you said there were rebels on top of your position.”
“There were. But they were mostly drug dealers and thugs. City slickers. They didn’t know what they were doing out in the bush. I could’ve run circles around them in that jungle.”
“Wouldn’t you have been hurt if the cable got cut and you fell?”
“The jungle floor is covered with several feet of dead leaves and plant matter. It’s pretty soft. I was only twenty or so feet up when the shooting started. I’d have been fine from that height.”
Sick guilt roared through Annie like hot lava. She wouldn’t have had to hurt him. She could’ve spared him all those weeks of suffering. All she would have had to do was cut him loose. She had no doubt he could’ve out-smarted and evaded the rebels. She was so stupid! Why hadn’t she thought of that?
Because she’d been more worried about getting out alive. About saving her own worthless hide.
“Are you all right, Annie? You look a little pale.” His hand stroked down her back in concern.
“Uh, yeah. I’m okay.”
“Look. I’m sorry if I scared you when you got back here.”
“How did you know it was me?”
“Your step is light like a woman’s, and I heard you panic.”
“What does panic sound like?”
“Your breathing tripled in about one second flat, and your movements became clumsy. I heard you fumbling for something.”
“The panic button on your beeper.”
“Ahh.” His hand paused in the small of her back. “I’m sorry I had to send you out there. And I shouldn’t have taken advantage of your fear by kissing you, either.”
“It’s all right. You didn’t take advantage of me. If anything, I’m the one who’s taken advantage of you.”
“Mmm, whatever.”
He smiled and tightened his arms around her once more. Then he rolled until she lay on her back while he loomed over her.
“Now where were we before we were interrupted by your excessive concern for my fragility?”
Chapter 7
“W herever we were, we can’t go back there, Tom.”
He pulled back and stared at her. “Why not? Because we technically work together? That’s temporary. I’ll fire you if it makes you feel better.”
“That’s not it.”
“Is it because I feel grateful to you for saving my life? You think our relationship’s lopsided? I can’t change the fact that it happened. Tell you what. The next time you’re about to die, I’ll save you. Just put it on account, and call us even now.”
Annie closed her eyes. It hurt too much to look at him. It wasn’t the saving him part that yawned like a chasm between them. It was the killing him part.
“It’s not that simple.”
“Why not?”
He stared at her expectantly. She should tell him now, just get it off her chest before their relationship went any further. He’d hate her, maybe even kick her out. But she still had time to get to the embassy and evacuate with the other Americans.
She took a deep breath and steeled herself. “Tom, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“I’m listening.”
“It’s about…”
A knock sounded in a complicated rhythm on the door. Annie jumped, and Tom’s head jerked up.
“That’s Tex. Hold your thought.”
He rolled away from her and pushed himself to his feet. Annie frowned at the grimace of pain that flicked across his face. He wasn’t resting enough. He was going to push himself too hard and get hurt again. She h
ad to get him into bed somehow.
The irony of the thought struck her, and she smiled wryly as she jumped up and straightened her dress.
The door opened to admit Tex and the tall blond man Tom had referred to as Dutch. They slipped in fast while Tom shut the door quickly behind him.
Tom’s voice was terse. “Were you followed?”
Dutch answered, “No, but there’s a squad of rebels coming down the street looking for someone to harass. We didn’t feel like tangling with them.”
“They’re out in broad daylight?” Tom sounded surprised by that. So was she. It was brazen behavior for people who’d be killed on sight by the Gavronese Army.
Tex replied, “Yup. As big as life. Cocky bast—buggers.”
Tom moved into the bedroom to peer out at the street below. Annie followed, curious to see this rebel menace.
They were impossible to miss. Six young men swaggered down the sidewalk like small-time thugs, while civilians scuttled out of their path. The rebels wore bits and pieces of military uniforms along with the distinctive red berets of the rebel forces pulled down over one ear.
Tom murmured from beside her. “Things are moving faster than I expected. We need more time to set up our escape. But from the looks of those kids, we’re about out of time.”
Annie followed Tom out into the main room. Dutch was examining the contents of the refrigerator, and Tex slouched on a chair, his legs sprawled out in front of him, his chin on his chest. His eyes were closed and violet shadows underscored them. The guy looked whipped.
Tom spoke from behind her. “Have you gotten any sleep the last couple nights, Tex?”
One eye opened balefully and glared in their general direction. “Sleep’s for wimps.”
Tom answered dryly. “I’ll take that as a no.”
Shaking her head, Annie joined Dutch in the kitchen, such as it was. She shooed him aside and poured iced tea while she heated up water for instant coffee. She carried a mug of the hot beverage to Tex.
“Drink up, Superman.”
He looked up at her and grinned. “That’s me all right. Good ol’ Clark Kent himself. Ya wanna play Lois?”