by Julie Rowe
“I’ve seen these before.”
So had Ruby. Her mother had put one in her coat pocket before she’d left on a backpacking trip to Europe a couple of years earlier. She’d done it so she’d know where Ruby was at all times.
“This is United States government hardware.”
She wanted to tell him about her parents, but they’d ordered her to keep it quiet.
He stared at her, silent and waiting. “FBI or Homeland probably bugged you, since you’re new.” He didn’t sound surprised.
“If you find a third one, do I get a prize?”
“You don’t want the prize for that.”
She rubbed her face with both hands before throwing them in the air. “I don’t understand any of this. Biological warfare isn’t rational. It’s not a weapon that can be contained.”
“And why resort to kidnapping?” Henry stared into space, thinking so hard she could almost hear him test one hypothesis after another.
“They’ve always attacked head-on,” he said. “Explosions and shootings are aggressive and violent. Kidnapping someone, that’s a different kind of hostility. It requires more time, more people, and a fixed location. That’s a lot more risk, and it’s outside their normal modus operandi. Why the change?”
Was she supposed to know the answer? “Maybe the investigation is getting too close?”
“A cornered animal is a vicious animal.” Henry studied her. “How long did they give you to deliver the virus?”
“Midnight tonight.”
He hummed and continued to think.
“Why is kidnapping so different than everything else they’ve done?”
“Because until now, all they’ve tried to do is kill people. After all the shit they’ve pulled—bombs, assassination attempts, and the release of several other pathogens—now they resort to kidnapping? It’s like they’re desperate, or they’ve run out of bombs and bullets, or different people are running the show, or as you say, they’re backed into a corner.”
“Or maybe all of that,” she said softly.
His face slowly hardened, and he looked more dangerous than any person she’d ever seen before. Ruthless, cold, and angry—so angry. Then the hard edges of his expression softened, and he sighed. “Yeah, it could be all of it.”
“About my brother—”
“I’m not just going to leave him hanging,” Henry interrupted. “We might have to go through with your intended plan of handing the sample over.” He glanced at the vial still sitting on the shelf inside the locker.
She hated the sight of it.
“Only,” he said after a moment, “you won’t be doing it alone.”
Alarm rang through her. Risking herself was one thing—risking Henry was something else entirely. “If they see you…”
“They’re not going to see me,” he said with an arrogance she’d never heard in him before. “You’re going to make the trade like they want, and I’ll kill them.”
He said it like someone would say they were going to the grocery store for bread and milk. A short, everyday chore. Just a little errand. Kill a few people and be home in time for pizza and a beer.
He was a veteran, but he’d left the army at least ten years ago. If he attacked the terrorists, there was a good chance they’d fight back, and more than the bad guys might die. Her brother was already in danger. If Henry was, too…no. No, she couldn’t do it, couldn’t function if they were both in danger.
She stood, shaking like her bones were trying to break through her skin, and took a couple of steps away. “No.”
“No?” He stood, too. “What do you mean, no?”
“I mean you can’t do it. I’d be too afraid to think straight. I’d screw up and all of us would die. No.”
His eyes narrowed and he took a step toward her. “Why would you be too afraid to think?”
“Because you’d both be in danger. You and my brother.”
His eyebrows rose. “I rate on the same level as your twin brother?”
What? That’s not what she said. Ruby opened her mouth to explain, to refute his assumption, but not a sound came out of her mouth. That was what she’d said. Damn it. She snapped her big mouth shut.
Something hot flared in his eyes, and he leaned forward with a predatory smile curling his lips. “How did I get to be so important to you?”
Oh, you arrogant man.
She ignored the heat that rose in her thanks to that smile and sighed. “You’ve been nothing but kind to me. You’re an excellent mentor and friend.” That’s right, you’re hot, handsome, and squarely in my friend zone.
His gaze never left her face. “You’d be too afraid to function because your brother and a friend might be in danger of getting dead?”
When he put it that way, it made her sound like a dolt. She was going to have to brazen her way out of this. She narrowed her eyes. “So what? You think that when things get hard, I should just dump all my problems into some schmuck’s lap?” She paused for a beat before continuing. “And yes, in this scenario, you’re the schmuck.”
His eyebrows rose, but she continued before he could say anything.
“I pull my own weight, I perform my job to the best of my ability, and I deal with my own crap. Only a coward or a spoiled brat expects other people to clean up after them.”
He watched her with an intensity that probably should have made her back off, but he was pushing a whole lot of buttons she didn’t realize she had.
It took him a few seconds to respond. When he did, it was with one word. “Bullshit.”
She flinched. Stubborn jerk.
“I want the truth.” The words were growled.
“I’ve given you the truth.” As much of it as was possible, anyway.
He circled around behind her and said in her ear, “After the stunt you pulled today, you owe me more than that. I deserve an explanation.”
His words stabbed her heart, and the pain was enough to buckle her knees, but she managed to stay standing. Nope, not going to fall apart, because this situation was all her own fault. She’d broken the trust between them.
“It doesn’t matter now, does it?” She faced him, but her eyes were so full of tears his face was indistinct and distorted. “I did pull that stunt.” She sniffed. “How many years in jail do you think I’ll get for stealing that vial?”
“You think you’re going to jail?” he asked, so still and calm his voice sounded wrong.
“Well…yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I stole—”
“Nothing,” he interrupted. “You’re conducting an inventory of our storage facility. An inventory I instructed you to do. This particular sample”—he held it up—“while historically significant, isn’t dangerous. Plus, we have several more samples of cowpox. Losing this one won’t hurt us.”
“But—”
His smiled and there was something in it, in his eyes. He was angry again, but also…hungry. Something primal in her recognized it, and a scorching warning shot down her spine.
She took a step backward, toward the door.
He followed her.
“What are you doing?” Why did her voice sound so breathy?
“You’re going to tell me why you’re so scared of me getting hurt,” he said, his tone deep, rich, sensual.
He knew. Oh God, he knew she cared about him.
She broke and ran for the door.
He caught her in three steps, his arm sliding around her waist and pulling her back into his hot, hard body.
Her judo training knew what to do to put an attacker from behind on the floor, but this was Henry. A man who was honest and honorable. Who’d given so much to protect his country, who’d suffered physical insults that would have killed most people. He would never hurt her. She could not, would not, fight him.
/> Besides, he wasn’t hurting her or doing anything inappropriate. He held her, his other arm coming around, over her breasts, so his hand curved around her rib cage. A hot breath ghosted over the skin beneath her right ear a second before warm lips left a kiss there.
Okay, that was a little inappropriate, and it sent a shiver through her and turned her breathing ragged.
“Why are you scared for me?” he asked, whispering the words in her ear, sending another bolt of electricity arrowing through her to her core. If he kept talking like that, she was going to orgasm on his voice alone.
A moan echoed through the room. It took her a moment to register she was the one who’d made the noise.
She sagged in his arms, reached back with both hands, and tilted her head to the side to give him better access. Beneath her palms, his thigh muscles were hard and hot, even through his clothes.
His tongue flicked against her neck, and she gasped. Before she could catch her breath, his teeth grazed over the same patch of damp skin, and she arched into him, rocking her hips back so her butt rubbed over the hard bar of his erection.
This time, he moaned.
Was this really happening, or was this some kind of sleep-deprived dream and she’d wake up in the cot next to his, cold, alone, and in the dark?
“You want me.” His voice was low and rough. “Yes or no?”
This was why she’d never believed in his I’m-an-asshole persona. He would never take. He always stopped to think. He had his own code. If she said no, he’d let her go, back off, and never bring it up again.
If she said no, she wouldn’t get another chance to be with him. He might hide the truth to save her from going to jail, but they’d both knew what really happened. She’d crossed the line and betrayed him and the CDC by taking that vial.
“Yes.”
The arm over her breasts slid back so his hand could cup one, tracing the outline of it, then his fingers sought out the nipple. He plucked, rubbed, and worried at it, sending shivers across her entire body.
“You sure?” he asked, his voice almost guttural now. “Be sure, because once I start, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop.”
“And that’s a problem how?”
He opened his mouth over her neck and sucked hard, then bit down just hard enough to flip a switch inside her head, that small pain becoming an avalanche of pleasure.
“Because.” The word rumbled through her. “I haven’t been with anyone in years, and I’ve been starving for a taste of you since the day we met.”
A fierce joy suffused her. He wanted her, too.
Her chest tightened in anticipation, and she had to work to get words out. “Do you imagine ripping my clothes off, bending me over a desk, and fucking me until we both scream?” she asked, her breath coming in long, hard waves.
He stilled behind her, a hot, hard statue.
“Do you wonder what I taste like and how it will feel when you’re deep inside me?”
His hands clenched on her.
“I do,” she whispered. “I want to taste you.”
He growled, spun her in his arms, and slammed his mouth down on hers. The violence of it should have scared her, but it made her glad, relieved he wanted her enough to lose control, to show her everything and hold nothing back.
She kissed him with a wild urgency, yanking at his clothing, wanting to feel nothing but hot skin.
He grabbed the bottom of her shirt and tore it over her head, then shoved her bra up to free her breasts. He stared at them like he’d never seen breasts before. “Shit.” He cupped them with both hands. Squeezed and stroked.
She took that moment to undo her bra and drop it on the floor.
“You’re fucking gorgeous,” he breathed out as he bent and put his mouth on her nipple and sucked hard.
Pleasure, hot, sweet, and electric, coursed through her, arching her back. She hung on to his shoulders and hiked one leg up on his body so she could rock her hip against his erection. A mixture of shock and excitement at what she felt made her laugh.
“You’re…huge.”
He growled and switched breasts, making her shudder.
One hand let go of his shoulder and sought out his cock, cupping it through his pants. “God, Henry, what do you feed this monster?”
“Mouthy little lab techs,” he said without missing a beat.
Her answering snort turned into a gasp when he put one hand down the back of her scrub pants, curving his large palm and long fingers around her bottom to stroke her through her panties.
He released the nipple he’d been tormenting with his mouth. “Your panties are soaked.”
She squeezed his cock in retaliation. “How on earth is this going to get inside me?”
“It’ll fit,” he said, his gaze an inferno as he stroked her again and again, winding her up tighter and tighter.
“I ne-need…”
“What do you need, darlin’?”
She made a frustrated noise. “You, damn it.” She attacked his pants, trying to push them down so she could get at his cock. Feeling the outline of it was one thing; she wanted to see it, take it into her hands, put her mouth on it and taste it.
He ignored her efforts, stripping her with surprising efficiency.
“What…?” How did she get so naked so fast?
Then he tugged off his shirt and shoved his pants down to about midthigh. His cock stood up, long and thick.
Her mouth dropped open. “That is not going to fit.”
He started laughing, gathered her into his arms and kissed her. “We’re going to be so fucking hot together this place might catch on fire.”
“Is this your way of saying you’re going to drive me insane with foreplay?”
He pressed his body against hers, pushing her back until she ran into the wall, then he used one hand to tug at a nipple while the other traced the hot, wet core of her. “I promise to deliver.”
She looked over his shoulder at the empty, sterile room. “Where are we going to do this?”
“Right here.” He nibbled on her neck while his hands pulled her under into a timeless place of pleasure and need.
He put both hands under her butt and lifted her so she could wrap her legs around his waist. His cock slid through her wetness, the tip rimming her entrance.
“Hurry up,” she hissed.
“I thought you didn’t think it would fi…”
She kissed him, thrusting her tongue in his mouth as she used her legs to center herself and sink onto his cock a couple of inches.
He groaned and flexed his hips, pulling out then pushing inside a little farther.
Then he froze and jerked out of her. “Condom,” he muttered, as he pulled her off him and put her on her feet.
Ice water pouring over her head would have been warmer than she felt right now. Ohmygod. How could she have forgotten a condom? She never had unprotected sex.
Wait a second. “You have condoms in your wallet?”
“Not usually,” he said, fumbling with his pants and pulling out his wallet. “But something told me to be prepared.”
He tore open the package and rolled it on over himself. Above his cock, his abdominal muscles stood out in stark definition. His shoulders were heavy with muscle, and his biceps flexed. His gaze was on her face, his eyes ablaze with lust.
He was going to take her, and she was going to enjoy every second of it.
It might be the only time she’d ever get to touch him without reservation or condition, so she wasn’t going to waste a moment.
Chapter Nine
6:25 p.m.
Henry hadn’t quite finished rolling the condom on when Ruby went to her knees in front of him and put her hands on his hips.
The expression on her face was intent, and she stared at his cock like it was her new favorite thing
in the whole world.
She glanced up at him and smiled, and he damn near came right then and there. He was about to reach down so he could lift her up and pick up where they left off, but she braced her hands on his hips and leaned in to tongue his balls.
Oh holy shit.
Pleasure was a blaze roaring through him, and she kept stoking the fire with her eager mouth until he had to stop her. “Ruby.” His voice was so guttural he didn’t recognize it as his.
“Yes?” she said, one hand playing with him, cupping his balls then rubbing the sensitive skin between his sac and his ass.
His hips thrust forward, and his cock bumped her cheek.
She laughed. “Is that a request?”
“I’ll give you a request,” he managed to get out as he slid his hands under her arms and lifted her up so she rode his hips again. He turned and planted his back against the wall. He slid his hands down a little so his thumbs were just below her breasts and his palms and fingers cradled her rib cage. It put him in complete control.
The smile on her face told him she’d enjoyed teasing him.
“You still want it?” Don’t say no, don’t say no.
Her enthusiastic nod sent a surge of triumph through him, and he lifted her up a little more until his cock slid into position. He thrust into her, slow and careful.
Shit, she was so tight he wasn’t sure how long he was going to be able to make this last. He paused to catch his breath, to control the urge to fuck her hard and fast. It would be over too soon if he did that. He wanted to savor, to push her into orgasm after orgasm, to watch her lose herself in pleasure.
She moaned low in her throat and rocked her hips, driving herself onto him a little more. In doing so, she arched her back, presenting her breasts for him to feast on.
That was an invitation he’d never turn down. Her tits were glorious, large with pink nipples that turned a slightly darker color when she was aroused, like now.
He took one nipple into his mouth to suck and nip with his teeth while he carefully controlled his strokes into her.
Finally, he was all the way in, and she shivered, her muscles quivering all around him.
“You…okay?” he managed to ask.