Dare Me (Take Me Series Book 2)

by Calista Fox

  13

  She wouldn’t say there were no psychological effects to having sex for the first time with a man who wasn’t her husband.

  Nikki was smart enough to have anticipated that guilt would creep around the fringes, along with a sense of betrayal. Not that it was necessarily logical to feel she’d been deceptive by being intimate with another man. The manifestation was a result of the fact that Nikki still considered herself to be married—because she’d never gotten a divorce or an annulment. And death had not severed the emotional tie, clearly.

  However… She didn’t regret being in Damen’s arms. She didn’t regret how sensational it felt to be pressed against all his hot, powerful sinew. To have his hand stroking her hair and his warm breaths teasing her temple.

  Nor did she regret it when he started to grow hard inside her again.

  “Impressive recovery time,” she murmured.

  “You have yourself to thank for that,” he said in a lust-tinged voice.

  He shifted both of them, repositioning them so she lay on her back on the sofa, her head propped on a pillow. His lips tangled with hers in slow, sensuous kisses as he began to move inside her. Nikki draped an arm over his shoulder and a leg over his waist. He captured her other leg with his forearm along the underside of her knee, effectively angling her hips so he could push deeper into her.

  He pumped languidly, steadily. Thrilling her and stealing her breaths. He was thick and full inside her. And the tip of his cock stroked that magical spot that made her hotter, wetter.

  Her free hand gripped his biceps and she clutched him tight, holding her to him. His palm was flattened alongside her head, propping him up so he didn’t crush her. She wanted him to crush her. She wanted to feel his hunky body on top of her, melded to her.

  Lord, it’d been so long since she’d felt a man’s body on top of her.

  So her hand on his arm tugged, coaxing him closer. Until he went down on his forearm and their chests touched.

  Ah, bliss…

  Her fingers glided up to his shoulders, his neck, his hair. She threaded the lush strands as Damen continued to engage her in sexy kisses, continued to thrust leisurely into her, though with a hint of force, a hint of insistency.

  Her hips moved in time with his. Her inner muscles squeezed him firmly, then relaxed. Then squeezed again.

  “Damn, Nikki,” he said on one of those half-growls that turned her on even more. “You feel so incredible. Better than anything I’ve ever known.”

  He kissed her tenderly…though even that intimate gesture was laced with a sense of restraint.

  She mentally contended that he likely felt remiss for having bypassed the gentle lovemaking for a fast-and-hard fuck their first time. But she’d been the one to advocate for the latter, soo…

  She’d tell him he had nothing to make up for and he could fuck her again. Except…the way he moved so smoothly, so rhythmically inside her, stroking her inner walls, rubbing her G-spot, pushing her higher and higher… Well, it was all too delicious for her to say a word.

  His mouth left hers and skimmed along her throat, his teeth nipping, which sent electric currents straight to her core. Causing her to clench him again.

  “Such a sweet, tight pussy,” he murmured against her neck. In Portuguese.

  Nikki melted even more. “Oh, that is so damn sexy.”

  “Talking dirty to you in a foreign language?”

  “Mm, yes. And with that provocative accent that I can’t fully place.”

  “Citizen of the world, remember?”

  “Who knows how to please a woman.”

  He glanced up at her. “This woman.”

  “Definitely this woman.” She was about to come again, after all.

  As though sensing this, he let that hint of force, that hint of insistency take over.

  He plunged deeper, with heartier strokes. Pushing the air right from her lungs.

  “Oh, yes,” she sighed. “Oh, God, yes.”

  His mouth went back to wreaking sexy havoc on her throat. His thrusts inside her turned shorter, fiercer, sending her right to the brink again.

  “Damen,” she said on a whimper. Her hands shifted to his ass and she gripped his cheeks, as best as she could, and kept him glued to her while silently urging him to fuck her harder.

  He did.

  His low, primal groans mingled with her rasping breaths. His head dipped lower and the tip of his tongue flitted over her taut nipple, making it throb as vibrantly as her pussy.

  “Oh, my God,” she muttered. Then caught her bottom lip with her teeth as the pressure inside her mounted, as the tingling of her nipples added to her pleasure, as everything inside her swelled to a decadent level that momentarily held her spellbound.

  Then he thrust deep, hitting that glorious spot just right—and Nikki lost it completely.

  She cried out as she came, riding the rush of heat and the high-voltage zings. Giving herself over to the raw intensity radiating from Damen that heightened her awareness of him and made her climax even more powerful. Prolonged it, even, while she clutched him so tight, he snapped as well. And called her name as he came, once again filling her with his essence. It flowed thick and hot through her, like a wave of magma.

  And Nikki came again.

  It wasn’t until after they showered—and did it in there, too—and were changing into fresh clothes when Nikki suddenly thought to tell Damen, “I have an IUD, just so you know.”

  He stared blankly at her for a few seconds. Closed his eyes, shook his head slightly, then pinned her with an intent look. “How did I fucking not think of a condom?” His gorgeous blue irises clouded. “I have never forgotten a condom.”

  Nikki propped a hip against the vanity in the bathroom. “A Freudian slip of sorts?”

  He stared a bit harder at her. “As in, I subconsciously want to knock you up?”

  She couldn’t help but grin at his flippant terminology. He’d used it on purpose. Because this was actually very serious business they were discussing. Their own risky territory.

  She reasoned, “You intimated that I might find a new professional home on the ops campus. In D.C. Where do you live, Damen?”

  His jaw clenched for a moment. “In D.C.”

  “And your niece, whom you want me to meet? Where does she live?”

  “With me.”

  “In D.C.”

  “Her parents passed a while back. My mother watches her when I’m gone.”

  Obviously, there was more psychological trauma wrapped around all of that.

  Nikki stayed the current course, however, saying, “I’d certainly avoid disaster zones if I were pregnant.”

  Now, his gaze narrowed on her. “I did not intentionally—”

  “I don’t believe you did, either,” she was quick to interject. “Using a condom was the last thing on my mind as well. I would like to believe that, with anyone else, I would have immediately insisted. But with you, I was swept away and…that’s not even an excuse. I didn’t want you to use a condom.”

  He took a step closer to her, still staring into her eyes. “How deeper into each other are we getting here, Doc?”

  14

  Nikki had no answer for that dire question.

  This was all happening so fast, unfolding in a way that forced her to confront the emotions Damen evoked as strongly as the sensations he ignited within her.

  So much of it was unexpected and overwhelming and, certainly, a lot to process.

  She had to at least explain to him that, despite not having any clue where this was all leading, she did have feelings for him. They’d started to form when he’d been in the hospital in Mexico City. The attraction had grown when they’d been on the plane, and now…it was something significant, something worth taking the time to dissect and discuss.

  So she bucked up, saying, “Damen, I—”

  Suddenly, an eerie clicking sound echoed throughout the room, followed by a nearly ear-piercing, high-pitched tone.

&
nbsp; “What is that?” she demanded.

  Damen’s gaze snapped to her laptop, where the screen had stilled, so no more data scrolled.

  “It’s done,” he said. “All downloaded.”

  “And what, exactly, did we trigger by downloading the contents of that device?”

  “It’s the device itself that’s engaged. It’s…sending another signal.”

  “I’m beginning to hate technology!” she said over the wretched sound.

  He reached for the laptop and swiveled it around on the counter so that she could see the steady red light on the dongle. Which promptly began to flash.

  Simultaneously, the consistent shrill turned into a pulsating beat.

  “Fuck,” Damen grumbled as he closed the lid and turned back to Nikki. “Get dressed, quickly. If you can pack up in two seconds, fine. If not, leave the non-essentials.”

  “I don’t have non-essentials in my life, Damen,” she huffed, fighting the rise of panic in her throat.

  “Quickly, Nikki,” he asserted. Then snatched his cell, also on the vanity, and hit a number. “They’re tracking us—and have a fix on our location.”

  Nikki’s jaw dropped. Only briefly.

  She sprang into action, jerking on a pair of jeans and ankle boots, yanking a sweater over her head and zipping her suitcase. Meanwhile, Damen strutted into the living room with wide strides, carrying the laptop, his phone and his toiletries bag. He hastily dressed, placed the computer in Nikki’s bag and slung it over a shoulder, across his body. He did the same with his bag. He grabbed the handle of Nikki’s suitcase as one of his men burst into the suite.

  Damen shoved the suitcase at the other agent, clasped Nikki’s hand and they were all on the move, rushing down the corridor toward the stairwell.

  As soon as the door flung open and they crossed the threshold, Nikki halted, involuntarily. The action tugged on Damen’s hand and he glanced back at her.

  “Jesus, you’re pale,” he said.

  “Stairwells aren’t my thing anymore.” She suffered the flashbacks of being in the Mexico City hotel as explosions rocked the block—and the foundation of the hotel she’d been staying at with Kate and Jude. “One of those explosions sent Kate sailing over the railing and me hurling into a wall. A door blew off and slammed into Sophie’s mother.”

  Damen’s tense expression softened. “This is a bit different. It’ll be okay,” he gently coaxed.

  “Just a little PTSD,” she said on a shaky breath. Then sucked it up and forced her feet to move forward.

  There were several agents with them, two in front and three bringing up the rear. They all hurried down the stairs, double-time. Nikki’s pulse raged in her veins, resonated in her ears. They made it numerous flights down when a group of black-clad men can barreling up the stairs from the ground floor.

  “Shit.” Damen and his agents instantly whirled around, backtracking, and Nikki fell into step with them. They veered off at the landing between flights and bolted down another hallway, to the elevator.

  Nikki’s heart pounded in her chest.

  There was activity beside her, two guys speaking into earpieces, the other three on their phones. She couldn’t latch onto even one conversation.

  Damen gave her hand a tender squeeze and she tried to breathe properly. Not vibrate from head to toe.

  She was usually grace under pressure. But this scenario held a dual edge to it. Not only was her life in danger—Damen’s was as well.

  Been there, done that, flitted through her mind. And, of course, she thought of Conner and the endless amounts of perilous situations he’d found himself in. One, he’d eventually not escaped.

  As the elevator hit the ground floor where the sub-level garage was located, three of Damen’s men stepped out first to secure the immediate area. Damen and Nikki followed. It was the middle of the night and no one was around.

  Still… Nervous anxiety skittered through her.

  How the hell were they going to get out of this?

  Especially as the door to the stairwell burst open and the men in black came charging forward, weapons drawn.

  Nikki let out a small cry.

  As a follow-on, she whispered, “Oh, my God.”

  “Be calm,” Damen said from beside her. “No one’s going to hurt you. No one’s getting through me in order to get to you.”

  She stared at him, seeing the conviction in his intense blue eyes.

  A heartbeat later, a black SUV came careening around the corner, tires squealing, brakes screeching as it jerked to a stop in front of Nikki, Damen and their group. The passenger’s door flew open.

  “Get in!” yelled a female voice.

  Damen’s head ducked so he could catch a look at the driver. He scowled and erupted with an, “Oh, fuck, no!”

  He drew his gun.

  The other contingent closed in on them.

  Shots were fired, two hitting the side of the SUV.

  “You have no choice!” The voice insisted.

  Damen’s agents fired back.

  Growling under his breath, Damen whipped open the door to the cabin and all but shoved Nikki inside.

  Her gaze connected with Nurse Garcia’s.

  Agent Garcia’s.

  Rogue Agent Garcia’s.

  Nikki gasped. Then cried out, “Damen!”

  15

  “Just sit down and buckle up, Dr. Kane,” Garcia hastily said as the others all-but fell into the vehicle and it sped off before the doors were even shut.

  More gunfire ensued and Garcia swerved the SUV in hopes of avoiding the bullets, while Damen pressed a hand to the back of Nikki’s head and forced her to stay down, her temple resting against his thigh.

  With his other hand, he pointed his gun at Garcia. One of Damen’s agents was in the previously empty passenger seat and trained his weapon on her as well.

  Nikki squeezed her eyes shut for just a moment. Then she glanced up to the rearview mirror, where she saw Damen glaring hard at Garcia, whose gaze occasionally flashed to his as she navigated her way out of the parking garage at lightning speed.

  “Speak,” Damen commanded of Garcia. “And it had better be good.”

  “I’m on your side,” the agent said. “I have been this whole time. I didn’t defect. I only turned temporarily.”

  “You’re a double agent?”

  “I had to become one, briefly,” Garcia told him, her voice tense, yet steady. “I needed to get my hands on that intel from the terrorist cell. There were enough whispers around the hospital that I knew I had to betray a few confidences in order to earn others. And they trusted me to get that device out of the country—and to New York.”

  “Dr. Kane was the obvious option for a mule?” he said between clenched teeth.

  Nikki could practically feel the fury rip through him.

  “Yes, as a matter of fact. When I learned that was where she was from. I knew she’d eventually return.”

  “Goddamn it, Garcia!” Damen didn’t lower his weapon. “Do you know what you’ve done to her life?”

  “I had no choice!” Garcia insisted. Then very methodically said, “I knew if I used Dr. Kane, that information would eventually end up in your hands, Castillo.”

  “How so?”

  Garcia flashed another look in the mirror—a near-smirk of an expression. “Come on, Castillo. Between the two of you asking around about each other, it was obvious you were trying to reconnect after we moved you out of the hospital. I banked on the reconnection happening. And if you were tracking the device, it’d happen sooner rather than later. Fortunately for us, that was the case. The quicker we get this intel decoded and deciphered, the quicker we can breakup this terrorist cell and lock up all these ass—Oh!”

  Garcia ended her diatribe on a short shriek at the same time Nikki let out a similar sound as another vehicle slammed into the back of the SUV, making it lurch forward and jarring everyone inside.

  “Keep down,” Damen told Nikki as they raced along an empty reside
ntial street. Damen finally lowered his weapon. Instructed his agent to do the same. Then, to Garcia, he said, “Shake them, fast.”

  “Working on it,” Garcia lobbed back.

  Nikki’s line of vision allowed her to just barely see over the dash. The SUV hit something hard, soared, and then landed with a thud that made Nikki groan from the impact.

  It appeared they were now in a park.

  Garcia wove through a widespread grove of trees and then, called out, “This might hurt!” She sped up.

  “They’re right on our ass!” another agent bellowed.

  “Good.” She accelerated a bit more. “Everyone hold on!” She slammed on the brakes while sharply turning the wheel—and the back quarter of the SUV hit a large tree trunk, shattering one of the side windows and likely denting the entire panel.

  She quickly drove off and a second later, there was a loud crash that echoed all around them.

  “Please tell me those motherfuckers just had a head-on collision with that tree,” Nikki said.

  “Spectacularly,” Damen said. And shot a look of appreciation Garcia’s way, which Nikki caught in the rearview mirror.

  So maybe Garcia really was on their side.

  Damen and Nikki transferred into a Town Car awaiting them in Jersey. Nikki was shocked the SUV had made it that far. Apparently, the back wheel well hadn’t collapsed in enough to rub against the tire or some such thing and they’d actually been able to continue on.

  Though Damen had insisted on separate transportation when they’d ascertained they weren’t being tailed further.

  Nikki didn’t even bother asking where they were headed as she and Damen settled into the backseat. She already knew: D.C.

  She whipped out her iPhone and sent a text to her SAR contact in Switzerland to alert him she wouldn’t make her morning flight and that she’d send a replacement ASAP. Then she sent a broadcast message to her network to let them know her spot on the team had opened up and anyone immediately available was welcome to fill in.