SLEEPER (Crossfire Series)

by Gennita Low

  She felt hands on her, moving over her body slowly. Someone was tearing off her clothes. An awful thought entered her mind. Maybe she was back at the brothel. Maybe she was being…no, she didn’t want to wake up. She retreated back into the darkness again. It was always easier to be unconscious.

  But the heartbeat pounding under her ear kept interrupting her sleep. It was strong, and it was beating faster. The water splashing her body felt like a shower. What was she doing showering? Wasn’t she in the river?

  Snippets of memory entered her consciousness again. She remembered the car, the river, and then the awful cold. Reed. She opened her eyes to slits, peering out.

  Her face was buried in someone’s bare chest. In fact, from the way she was positioned, she was sitting on that someone’s lap. She frowned. In a shower.

  A hand slid up the length of her thigh, moving over her hip bone. Her body shuddered at the sensation.

  “I know. I’m sorry your shoulder hurts,” a voice said above her. It was Reed. And his heart was pounding like he was running. “Almost done here.”

  Lily realized he was talking to himself; he wasn’t aware she was awake.

  “Just a leg. Thigh. Kneecap.”

  A hand caressed her thigh and her kneecap. It was softly rubbing her skin. She had sensitive thighs and had to resist the urge to squirm.

  “Other thigh. Kneecap. Nothing to it.”

  He was washing her. And naming her body parts while doing it. She frowned and was about to say something when she went very still. That hand was moving higher. The sound of his heartbeat was echoing like thunder now. She felt her teeth biting down on her lower lip as he slid his hand between her thighs, the water feeling very warm. She bit down harder as the hand nudged intimately. There was a pause. The hand didn’t move, as if Reed had encountered some problem.

  Finally, it moved, sliding downward. Her leg was lifted at the bend of the knee and braced against the wall. Her legs parted. She heard him cough. Then his hand was pulling at something clinging to her skin. Her leggings.

  “Inner thigh,” the voice above her muttered. “The…”

  There was silence. He moved, and her face was buried deeper into his chest as he leaned forward to…oh, my God. He could see everything. She tried to move but her limbs felt like lead. She could only squeeze her eyes tighter with embarrassment as the silence continued.

  “The…the…” He seemed to be at a loss over what to name the part as his hand kept pulling at the rest of the legging under her. “Damn you, come off, will you?”

  She could actually feel his sigh of relief when the material under her gave way. He moved away, and she stiffened again when water splashed onto her…ahhh…

  She must have made a sound.

  “Lily?”

  She wasn’t going to be caught awake with her legs spread open and hot water splashing right at…ahhh…She almost groaned aloud.

  He moved again and his body blocked the cascading water.

  Nooo! Her body protested. No, it’s good. Thank God.

  But her body certainly didn’t agree. She kept her eyes closed as she felt herself lifted and then placed on a hard surface. She was on some kind of a seating area in this shower room. There was silence again. She knew he was looking at her, trying to see whether she was conscious. Hell no, she wasn’t going to open her eyes and look into his.

  “Lily?”

  She didn’t answer. Couldn’t. Not when seconds ago, she had almost….Finally, after a few long moments of inactivity, she peeked. His back was toward her, his head bent in fierce concentration. She realized suddenly that he still had his jeans on and was trying to get the things off him.

  Spray hit his body, and she could see how dirty his back was as brown rivulets ran down his equally muddy pants. He finally pulled the jeans down, squeezing out of the tough denim. Her eyes opened wide at the sight of his bare ass followed by muscular thighs.

  “Fucking things,” he muttered, as he pulled and tugged.

  She closed her eyes quickly, but the temptation to peek again was too much. She wondered whether the man was as magnificent to look at from the front. The back muscles of his calves stood out in cords as he finally freed himself from the jeans. Kicking them aside, he picked up the bar of soap and began to briskly lather himself.

  He soaped his hair and face in the careless way only a man could, then turned to face one of the shower heads, his eyes shut. Lily was given a whole frontal view for a full five seconds. She caught sight of a wide, athletic chest that narrowed down at the waist. Magnificent pecs. Magnificent abs. Her eyes traveled lower. And a magnificent something protruding rather obviously.

  She closed her eyes again, knowing that he would look in her direction as soon as the soap was gone from his head and face. It was good that the bathroom was steamy because she certainly didn’t feel cold any longer. In fact, her whole body felt flushed all over.

  The water shut off. She heard him moving about, pushing the shower door open.

  She was scooped up against a bare chest. She was very aware of her nakedness against his. He smelled clean. She had the insane urge to lick his skin, to taste him. He carried her out of the bathroom, where the air wasn’t as steamy but his heat penetrated her cooling skin. She heard his strong heartbeat and it was still at galloping speed.

  Then she felt him lowering her gently. She swallowed as she felt his penis pushing hard against the side of her thigh when he lowered her onto something soft.

  “Jesus,” he muttered, unceremoniously dropping her body onto the bed.

  Pain shot up her side. “Ouch!” she gasped, her eyes flying open.

  He jumped back as if he’d been burned. “Your shoulder. I’m sorry. I tried not to touch it, but—”

  He stopped when he realized she was staring at his nakedness. He looked down at the obvious, then turned around and walked out of the room without another word.

  Lily continued staring. Nice back. Nice ass. And up close, nice…front.

  * * *

  What was wrong with him? He was acting like some horny teenager.

  Reed dried his hair with a towel and threw it with the pile of clothing on the bathroom floor. Nothing had gone the way it was supposed to.

  Instead of negotiating with Lily Noretski about a missing weapon, instead of finding out whether she’d sold it and whether she was still under the influence of mind control, he was naked with her in his family’s penthouse suite. In his father’s hotel. And his mind certainly hadn’t been on missing weapons or sleeper cells.

  He pulled another towel off the rack and wrapped it around him. He wasn’t going to use the excuse of having a naked woman in his arms. He’d trained himself to be unaffected by emotion, especially by feminine wiles. Not that Lily was practicing any feminine wiles on him.

  He released a sigh, tucking the knot securely. That was it. She’d been soft and pliant. She’d really needed him to take care of her. His emotional distance had been culled from years of listening and watching his mother’s calculated play on his emotions, and nothing about his mother was pliant in the least. But Lily hadn’t been playing that kind of game—she’d been direct at the club, even though she was lying about her identity. She hadn’t fooled him one bit with that tough girl act. There was something vulnerable about her, almost fragile. He had no idea how to stop the feeling of tenderness that engulfed him when she was in his arms, like a helpless kitten left in his care, knowing that she needed him, even though she wasn’t aware of it. It did strange things to him. Must be some entrenched genetic makeup in the male to take care of someone so lost and on her own.

  “The flower…” He raked a hand through his hair impatiently. Oh, stop fucking thinking about the stupid book. He had to get out there and act like who he was supposed to be…a former soldier running illegal weapons, doing one last final run for profit. He also had to make the woman lying on the bed in the other room think she was safe with him. He took the bathrobe off the hook. She was safe from everyone but
him.

  Lily was under the spread when he walked back into the room, not that it helped. He could remember every part of her shapely body, the long legs, the…ah, better not start naming body parts again. That was what had gotten him in trouble.

  “This is for you,” he said, showing her the bathrobe.

  She looked at him, her eyes settling briefly on the towel around his lower body before quickly going back up to meet his. “Uh, where are we?”

  “My best friend loaned me his hotel penthouse,” Reed lied. “This is the only place I could think of at the time where I know we’ll be safe.”

  “Safe…” She thought for a moment, her forehead furrowing. “I’m trying to remember everything. You saved me in the river. Thank you.”

  He nodded. “A bullet grazed your arm. How do you feel?”

  “It hurts like hell,” she admitted, glancing at the wound, “but definitely better than having one inside me.”

  “Yeah.” She was so matter-of-fact, as if she had been shot at before. “Will you let me look at it and clean it up?”

  Color tinged her cheeks, but again, she surprised him with an impish grin. “Why not? You’ve cleaned me up everywhere else.”

  His lips quirked. No games, always to the point. “Believe me, you wouldn’t want to be wearing any of your clothes.”

  “Okay.” She shifted under the blanket. “How long can we stay here?”

  “Not sure,” he said honestly. He needed to communicate with several parties as soon as possible. “Actually, I’ve got to go tell someone we’re here, so after I’ve taken care of that arm, I’m running down to make sure no one barges in on us or something.”

  “Are you sure we’re safe here? Can’t we just call someone?” She looked at the phone by the bed.

  “Since I didn’t tell anyone, the phone line’s dead.” This time he had to lie. “And my cell’s in the river. I didn’t see any on you.”

  Her eyes darted away. “Your friend trusts you so much that you can just pop into this place without calling him?”

  He walked to the table where Petr had set the medical box. “Yeah,” he said easily, taking out what he needed. “I’m very close to him. Someone like me has to have a place away from the usual fun and games, you know.”

  “I’ve never met a gunrunner without a hideout,” she said from the bed. “This is nicer than most, from what I’ve seen.”

  He headed back to her. He could see she wasn’t sure how to take him. He sat down by her, on her injured side. “So you associate with gunrunners a lot?”

  “Some,” she replied noncommittally. “Business only.”

  “Are some of them after you? The car was going straight for you.” He unscrewed the bottle of iodine, then wet a big swab of cotton with it. “This is going to sting. Who wants to take you out?”

  She tensed and winced at his first touch. She was damn lucky. It was a damn close call to a bullet hole.

  “Who’s after you, Lily?”

  Her frown deepened. “How did you…oh yeah, I told you.” She sighed. “I don’t know.”

  He glanced up. Her gaze was on her arm, so he couldn’t look into her eyes. “Are you sure?” he asked gently. “You knew they were after you.”

  She shrugged. “It could be any number of reasons.”

  He examined the gash. “They’re going to look for me now, too, you know. If you’re hiding anything, let me know.”

  She finally looked up, her expression sober. “Don’t we all have secrets? As soon as I’m able, I’ll be out of your hair.”

  Not taking his eyes away from her, he pulled away the seal to the gauze. “You’re forgetting something.”

  “What?”

  “You need something from me.”

  She stared at him, her expression freezing. He knew she’d just realized what he’d known since he’d brought her here. “The passports…” She closed her eyes. “Oh my God, they’re gone. I was holding onto them when I jumped.”

  Her shoulders slumped. She stayed that way as he continued to take care of the wound. He waited, knowing that she was running through her options. Even though the original plan hadn’t included all the passports being gone, it was helping him tighten the screws on Lily. Still, he felt a twinge of reluctance to bring it up right now. It couldn’t be a good feeling to be slowly forced into a corner.

  “This is going to throb for a while. I have pain medication if you have trouble sleeping tonight,” he said quietly. When she just shook her head, he added, “I’m going to tell someone we’re here. Will you be all right alone?”

  She nodded. “I’ll be fine.” She looked disinterestedly at her bandaged arm. “How long will you be gone?”

  “Half an hour to an hour. I’ve got to get us clothes and food.”

  “How are you going out? Not in that towel.”

  “I’ll make do with the bathrobe.”

  She frowned. “It’s going to look weird.”

  “It won’t. Lots of vacationers around here. I’ll be right back.”

  He took the robe and went back to the bathroom. When he came out, he brought her a glass of water and some more towels.

  “Will the phone be working when you get back? I need to get hold of somebody.”

  “I’ll try to see whether I can get a cell phone.”

  “Okay.”

  He gave one last backward glance at the bedroom entrance. She looked lost in thought, lying there on the propped-up pillows, looking up at the ceiling.

  “Lily?” He felt a need to comfort her, to take away that worried look. “It’s going to be all right.”

  * * *

  Lily looked at the shut door, listening for the sound that would tell her Reed had left. But there was nothing. She frowned. Maybe it was one of those heavy doors that closed slowly.

  She looked around the bedroom again. From the ultra-huge bed she was in to the intricate furniture to the beautiful artwork hanging on the walls, it looked and smelled expensive. One of her many jobs dealt with art pieces, some of them stolen. Through the years, she’d learned to recognize the real from the fakes. Many of these were originals. This friend of Reed’s had lots of money.

  Which reminded her…She ran a weary hand through her damp hair. What the hell was she going to do now? How could she have forgotten about her bag? Granted, the passports would still have gotten destroyed, but she hadn’t even given them a thought. Instead, she’d been in that shower admiring a man’s naked body.

  She was totally useless. When she wasn’t thinking, she reverted back to her stupid, silly self—the one who would forget, just because a handsome body happened to be in front of her, that other people were depending on her.

  There was a time when she’d have immensely enjoyed the whole ridiculous experience. She wouldn’t have minded sitting up and taking that bar of soap from Reed’s hands. There was a time when seducing a man had been downright easy and she would have done it just to know she could conquer that male body.

  “Lily, you can’t be like that anymore,” she muttered, picking up the towel Reed had left on the bed and starting to dry her hair. “Can’t let your emotions take over.”

  She was afraid. If she let herself go, how long would it take before she forgot, and then before she knew it, she would pick up a cell phone…. She threw the towel on the floor in disgust. She couldn’t use one, so how was she going to reach Tatiana?

  Leaning over on one side of the bed, she touched the phone. He said the line was dead but she could check. Once would be okay, wouldn’t it? Her finger hovered over the speaker button, but she was unable to push it. She took her hand away. She couldn’t chance it, not until she got the girls away from her.

  Lily sat up and kicked off the spread. She had to get out of here, get back to the girls and rethink this whole situation.

  Pain shot up her entire side when she put weight on her arm. Gasping, she fell back, tightly holding her bandaged arm as her body absorbed the shock, waiting for the stars floating in front of her
eyes to disappear. Minutes went by before the pain subsided. She hadn’t realized how tender the areas around her neck, shoulder, and arm were.

  Slowly she made her way out of the bed, carefully sliding off the side. She let her injured arm hang loosely, trying not to jar it any further. Cracking the bedroom door slightly, she peered outside.

  Reed was nowhere to be seen. She opened the door wider and hesitantly stepped outside, her bare feet clinging to the soft carpet. Her mouth gaped open as she took in her surroundings.

  The place was incredible. The living room looked like one of those settings in an expensive magazine. Fireplace. Dark paneling. Even a whole wall filled with books. A plasma TV hung on the wall.

  She walked through each room, looking at everything. Picking up the notepad by the phone, she read the letterhead and frowned. Hotel Palazzo, with the address. She walked to one of the windows and parted the drawn curtains a few inches.

  She looked down. The street was way down there. She turned back to the living room, looking left and right for the main entrance. It was nowhere in sight.

  She walked around the place again, checking all the doors, but they all only led to closets or a powder room. Finally, she paused by the phone table again. This looked more like a foyer, with its coat rack and little table placed in a narrow, well-lit area. The wall opposite had panels of mirrors from ceiling to floor to create the illusion of space. Pausing, she looked at the light switches on the wall. One of them looked like a wall intercom with a numbered pad.

  Walking over, she examined the mirrored wall carefully. Part of it was recessed. She took a few steps back, looking at its height and width. Here was her door. She ran a hand along the creases. It looked like it could slide open, but where was the handle? She glanced at the pad with the numbers on it, then at the door again.