In the Dead of the Night

by Spear, Terry

  She buttoned the shirt over the olive drab T-shirt underneath. She liked Allan’s black T-shirt better, but this one would have to do.

  After she tied up her boots, she pulled the door open.

  Dale, Samuel, Cameron, and Lantham stared at her in disbelief.

  She smiled. “Something wrong, guys?”

  Dale smiled first. “If the women I knew in the service had looked like you, I would have stayed in.”

  “Now, Dale, what would your wife think of you saying a thing like that?” she asked.

  Cameron downed the rest of his Coke. “Ditto, to Dale’s comment.”

  Samuel shook his head. “Allan’s in trouble now.”

  Folding her arms, she tilted her chin up. “Why? He isn’t giving me one of his guns.”

  Lantham laughed. “Hey, Allan, you’re going to have your hands full tonight!”

  The guys all laughed.

  Allan exited the kitchen with two glasses of golden champagne, the bubbles rising to the top. Immediately he raised a brow. “I thought you might wear that white dress of yours again. Or the black one.”

  She folded her arms. “Nope. Not playing the damsel in distress here. Since you won’t let me borrow one of your uniforms, this will serve its purpose.”

  Joining him, she took the glass he offered her.

  The other men headed for the door. Dale said, “We’ll be back in a little while. Let you folks enjoy a quiet dinner.”

  When they closed the door, Allan led Jenny to the table. Tea-scented red roses filled a vase and red-shelled, steamed lobster sat on plates, with small bowls of melted butter sitting beside them to dunk the sweet morsels of meat in. Bright green asparagus and baked potatoes finished off the meal.

  “Wow, Allan. This sure looks great.” She looked at him. “Would you really prefer me to wear a dress?”

  “Yeah. Not to be a chauvinist or anything.”

  She smiled. “All right. Be back in a jiffy.” Somehow the Army fatigues didn’t suit the elegant setting he’d prepared for their special evening. She would change into the fatigues before the big fight with Stevens later.

  When she was wearing the white dress again, Allan’s eyes sparkled appreciably. “Yeah, I like that.” He pulled her close and kissed her bare neck. She melted against his firm body. Already, his arousal pressed against her waist. He liked the dress. Well, maybe the woman in it, just a little, too.

  They continued to kiss, their tongues tangling intimately. His hands caressed her shoulders while she held onto his waist tentatively, not sure what he had in mind. She wanted him to make love to her, but she couldn’t take his constantly getting her all worked up into a raging ball of desire, then turning it off.

  Her heart beat out of bounds as he teased her with his tongue, licking her neck, nipping gently at her skin. Was he willing to take their relationship further after all?

  He slid his hands lower on her back and cupped her buttocks, pulling her against his arousal. Heat spilled into her loins, her panties already wet with desire. A spark of electricity surged through her.

  “You’re getting your memories back, Jenny,” he said softly against her ear, as if not wanting to break the spell of the moment.

  She ran her hands over his back. “Yes,” she said breathlessly as his fingers continued to massage her buttocks.

  “If we take this further, I want it to be forever.” He mouthed her neck, kissing and caressing.

  Her head was spinning. Did he mean he wanted to be married to her? Really married and for the long term? If he made her feel like this, craving more and desiring his touch forever, she was all for it. “Yes,” she whispered against his neck.

  “It means sometimes I’ll have to be away for periods of time, like the others who aren’t with their wives and children right now. The women get together and help make the time pass, but if you couldn’t cope with my absences…”

  She didn’t want them to ever be separated. Could she endure long periods of separation from him? She wasn’t sure, but she was willing to make a go of it. She nodded.

  He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes, his own clouded with desire. “I mean it, Jenny. Some women can’t handle it.”

  “Like your wife?”

  “Yeah, well, that situation had some extenuating circumstances.”

  “Randy Stevens.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Roxie and I can share extra strawberry margaritas while you’re away.”

  He smiled. “I’ve married a lush.”

  Laughing, she slipped her fingers into the back of his pants. She couldn’t get far with his leather belt blocking her passage to his firm ass, but her maneuver seemed to intrigue him as he shifted his leg in between hers and pressed against her mound.

  “I’m afraid I’m spoiling our dinner which is growing cold while our champagne is getting hot.”

  She smiled. “I can think of other things that are getting hot.”

  He hugged her to his breast, squeezing the air from her lungs. “I don’t want to pressure you into anything you’re not ready for, Jenny. You’re just getting your memory back, you don’t know me—”

  “You’ve been the best thing in my life in a good long while, Allan. I want this, okay? You can’t keep getting me this worked up, then shut me off like an oil well you cap when you don’t want it anymore.”

  He raised a brow as his lips curved up. “An oil well, eh?”

  She grinned. “A pretty profitable one, too.”

  Scooping her into his arms, he headed to the bedroom. “It’s been a long time for me, Jenny, so if you change your mind, make it early or I might not be able to stop.”

  She chuckled, running her fingers over his chest, tracing the nipple underneath the cotton. “I’ll keep it in mind.” But she had no intention of having him stop. Not the way her body ached for him.

  He laid her down on the bed, then jerked off his shirt. She focused on his sturdy chest, then shifted her gaze to the dark hair that made a sexy beeline to his trousers. Beneath the ebony fabric an obvious bulge caught her attention.

  Reaching down, he unfastened his combat boots, then quickly unhooked his belt.

  She wound a piece of hair around her finger and licked her lips. “Hmm, my very own male stripper.”

  “Go to those kind of joints a lot?”

  Smiling, she drew her leg up, then rocked her knee back and forth, slowly.

  A smile touched his lips. When he’d stripped down to his boxers, he pushed her dress up and seated himself between her legs, pressing firmly against her mound. “You know you could have undressed while I was stripping.”

  She ran her hands through his dark brown hair. “I might have missed something. Besides, you haven’t removed everything.”

  “I told you, if we go too far, there’s no turning back.”

  “What makes you think I want to turn back?”

  “All right.” He rolled over onto his back and pulled her on top of him. His fingers struggled with her zipper as perspiration beaded his brow. She didn’t help him as she kissed his neck, spread her legs and leaned hard against him to feel the heat of his body against her most erotic spot.

  “Need help?” she whispered against his chest, then licked his rigid nipple.

  “Ahhh,” he groaned. “Next time I want you in that silky nightie. Easier to remove.”

  She laughed. When she sat up on him, he moaned as she pressed against his groin. She reached back and unzipped her zipper. While she worked on removing her dress, every jiggle of her body brought fresh groans from deep within his chest. She smiled.

  After pulling the dress over her head, she dropped it to the floor. “Better?”

  His eyes focused on her breasts, then he rolled her on her back. He licked one of her nipples, making her moan in ecstasy. She tugged at his boxers.

  He chuckled. “No turning back, Mrs. Thompson.”

  “Quit making me wait, Mr. Thompson.”

  Slipping his fingers into her panties, he
touched between her legs. Dipping inside, his wet fingers stroked her most erogenous zone. She felt drawn to the edge of a crevice as if she’d nearly reached a runner’s high, exhilarating, stretching for the gold. Closing her eyes, she moved her hips upward to increase the pressure of his fingers against her. She held his shoulders in a death grip. He was quickly sending her over the edge. The anticipation was killing her.

  She moaned his name as warmth and erotic pleasure coursed through her. In all her memories, she couldn’t recall ever feeling so enraptured as she did with his touching her. Then with his fingers stroking her need, an electric current flowed through her, followed by a flush of heat. She wanted to say his name, but the pleasure washed over her like a rogue wave, pulling her under, stealing her words away.

  Quickly, he pulled her panties down, and kissed her belly, stroking his tongue over her abdomen. Then he jerked his boxers off. When he rolled off her, she turned to see what he was up to now.

  His erection stood at attention as he grabbed his pants.

  She smiled. “Really impressive.”

  He chuckled. “You’re pretty impressive yourself.” Yanking a condom out of a pocket, he pulled it out of its package.

  “Let me.” She reached out to him.

  He stood next to the bed while she rolled the condom onto his length. As soon as she was done, he quickly pulled her knees apart, and slipped his fingers inside her. Her body still pulsed from the orgasm he’d given her. The glitter in his eyes, the lust filling them, primed her all over again. Reaching for his hips, she tugged at him to do his duty.

  Her touch brought him surging forward. Moving between her thighs, he thrust forcefully deep inside her. She felt a connection between them that she didn’t remember having ever had with another living soul. Every bit of him felt just right. She craved every hard inch of him as he penetrated her more deeply. Arching her back, she urged him on, the angle she placed her hips, allowing him to drive into her as far as he could.

  He responded with urgency as if he’d been stranded on a desert island without a woman’s contact for centuries. Jenny’s hands touched his buttocks pressing him against her, as he uttered her name against her cheek.

  Her heart beat so rapidly her head pounded with the blood rushing into her ears. His maleness mixed with a subtle spicy scent, smelled heavenly. She licked his skin, enjoying the taste of him, deliciously salty. Hoarse groans of pleasure issued from him. She wasn’t sure what he said, nor for the moment did she care. All that drew her attention were his fingers touching her face, her shoulders, her breasts in eager caresses. Then he dipped his fingers down between their perspiration-covered bodies, down until he touched her between her legs again.

  Shaking her head, she stopped his hand to discourage him. “I…I can’t…not again.”

  He removed her hand and kissed it. “I want us to climax together. Together.” His words were spoken emphatically.

  He angled his body slightly away from her, rubbing her with his fingers like a man who knew his business. The business of making passionate, fulfilling love.

  His name spilled off her lips as she ran her fingers through his dark hair. He reacted by taking one of her nipples in his mouth and sucked hard. Her breathing grew more ragged. Wrapping her legs around him, she dug her fingers into his broad shoulders.

  Heat spread through her, and at all at once he sent her over the precipice with mind-shattering pleasure again. He followed shortly after, saying her name over and over, then sank against her, depleted, and undoubtedly totally satiated.

  Kissing her, he devoured her mouth with passion. Opening her lips to him, she encouraged the intimacy to continue. Everything felt right about being with him as her body ached for him.

  But when the door to the condo opened, reality came crashing down on her. No more letting their guard down. No more making earth-shattering, mind-blowing sex.

  From now on, it was back to the deadly business of survival.

  Chapter 13

  Thurman Wilson clenched his teeth, all the while pacing across the sunroom of his Florida home as he spoke into the phone. “Let me get this straight, Angel. After you told Jenny you were an agent and the other men were cohorts of mine, she ran away? And you didn’t find her before they did, why?” He glanced at Caruso, waiting, listening, his henchman’s face an unrevealing stone mask.

  “They’d contacted the border patrol and other local law enforcement agencies before we even knew she’d run off.” Fear laced Angel’s voice. Stinking, rotten fear. Which meant, Angel had failed. Thurman hated a man who made mistakes. But he hated one even worse who was afraid to admit it. “The area was crawling with them. I figured if she didn’t trust me to be with A.T.A., she’d have screamed bloody murder anyway, if I’d found her.”

  Thurman’s blood pressure elevated. The adrenaline coursed through his body with intense hatred for the bungling efforts of his men, but he kept his voice calm and collected. If Angel could still pull it off, Thurman had to let him try. “How do you propose to resolve this now?”

  Angel cleared his throat. “One of the agents married her. They went to a lawyer’s office immediately after going to the courthouse. I’m afraid the money’s out of our reach now.”

  Thurman cursed under his breath. Angel was a dead man. Thurman rubbed his freshly shaved chin, trying to fight the urge to kill someone, anyone who got in his way. “Who married her?”

  “Allan Thompson.”

  Thurman closed his eyes. “I want him and the girl brought to me alive.”

  “That might be kind of difficult. It’d be better if we killed all of the agents.”

  Thurman opened his eyes. His men didn’t argue with him without paying the consequences. They did as he ordered and without delay. Up until this point, he’d given Angel some leeway, being that he was on the A.T.A. payroll still. Now, all of that was bound to have changed. “Alive, Angel.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Thurman pulled a sword from the wall and yanked it from its sheath. “I take it you have a plan that’ll succeed this time?” He swung the blade at an invisible opponent.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Then do it and don’t screw it up this time.” He glanced over at Caruso, bull doggedly watching his every move. The man leaned against the wall, as if comfortable with his position with him. Didn’t Caruso realize if he screwed up, he’d be dead like the rest? Thurman slammed the phone down on the base, his blood pulsing in his temple as he fought the urge to crush everything in his sight.

  “I’m to pick up that woman from the personals this afternoon. Want me to see if she can come earlier, boss?”

  Thurman ran his hand over the cold metal blade. “Yeah. Bring her on.”

  He looked up at Caruso, the glint in his eyes revealing he knew what Thurman wanted the woman for. She’d calm the rage that burned in him. He couldn’t wait an hour longer.

  “Get right on it, boss.”

  ***

  Allan kissed Jenny’s eyelids as she lay beneath him, their skin glistening with perspiration, glad Dale and Cameron hadn’t arrived five minutes earlier while they were in the middle of lovemaking. Hmm, she was the best thing that had ever happened to him. He rolled off Jenny with a groan. “Guess it’s time to eat dinner, albeit a little cold.”

  Then the realization Stevens would come for her and try to take her away from him, chilled him to the bone.

  She smiled and touched her naked breast, the nubs still hard and flushed. God, she was beautiful. He fought the urge to stay with her in bed, pulling his trousers on in a hurry before he changed his mind.

  A devilish smile played on her lips. She climbed out of bed as he buckled his belt, then she crossed the floor and pressed her breasts against his bare chest. “Hmm,” she said as she kissed his mouth.

  He ran his fingers over her back, her fragrant skin, silky to the touch. He wanted to return to bed with her, snuggle with her for the rest of the evening, enjoy her loving curves, the taste of her sweet skin, the fe
el of her warm breath panting against his mouth, but he had to do a job, protect her at all costs. No matter what, he couldn’t let that bastard Wilson get hold of her again.

  She licked Allan’s nipple. Groaning, he cupped her face in his hands, then tilted her head up.

  “Later, honey.” His voice betrayed the arousal she stirred all over again. He kissed her mouth with feeling, and she parted her lips, encouraging him to explore her deeply all over again. “You, are a vixen.”

  He grabbed her gown and held it for her. She stepped into it, and once he’d pulled it up to cover her breasts, she turned around for him to zip up the zipper.

  Once he was done, he pulled her back against his chest and ran his hands over her satin-covered breasts. “You sure know how to get a man all worked up.”

  She laughed, throatily, like she had a lot more moves where those were from to use on him later.

  He nuzzled her neck. “Keep thinking those thoughts.”

  Grasping his hand, she slid it down her dress. He chuckled deeply, as she directed his fingers to her soft rounded breast.

  He massaged her breast and held onto her waist, pressing her back against his erection. “More…later.”

  Then he let her go and reached down to get his T-shirt while she brushed out her hair. After pulling his shirt on, he led her out of the bedroom.

  Sitting on the sofas in the living room, Dale and Cameron looked up at them. Each had a handful of cards, playing a game to while away the time. Dale smiled. “Noticed you didn’t quite get to your dinner yet. Guess something else came up.” A pregnant pause followed. “I guess we came back too early, but better safe than sorry.”

  “Yeah,” Cameron said, tossing a card on the discard pile on the oak coffee tabletop. “That’s what’s good about microwave ovens. Heat up that cold meal in a jiffy, so you can keep other things warm in the meantime.”

  Jenny slipped into the kitchen, her cheeks flaming red. Allan shook his head at his partners, who laughed in response. He followed her into the kitchen where she’d already started to warm up their plates.