Rescue Me

by Allie Adams

  She knew TREX would check under every rock. They found things for a living, things nobody else could find. She counted on that now.

  Maybe Travis was right. Maybe she shouldn't waste their talents by having them search an area she knew Tommy wouldn't be hiding in. When she turned to leave the Com Van and tell Spencer to redirect his team, the door opened and he stepped in. His massive frame took up the entire doorway.

  He handed her a radio. “My team finished their assignment and is standing by.”

  “They searched all those spurs already? That was fast.” Kat tried to downplay the jump in her pulse. He actually gave her access to his sacred TREX radio traffic.

  “They're efficient.”

  She looked at the map and chewed on her other thumbnail. Where could she send them to keep them close? Her frustration mounted. They only had a few hours of daylight left. If they didn't find Tommy by dark, they wouldn't find him alive.

  “Can you get your teams—”

  “Com Van, Horse Team Two.” The radio in her hand sounded. She frowned and swung her attention to Spencer.

  “I dialed in your SAR frequencies. It's got ours, too. You can monitor the entire search from that radio.”

  “Com Van,” Kat answered, covering the radio while Ed made a fast food run for the team. She turned to Travis to make sure he listened in.

  “We heard something when we did a voice check. Sounds like it's coming from the valley. The trail is too steep to ride the horses down, so we're walking them. Hopefully it evens out.”

  “It will.” Kat knew the trail. She'd walked it many times as a ground pounder when she worked searches with her dad. “Do another voice check to confirm.”

  “Stand by,” the OL said. Several seconds passed and Kat gripped the radio so tight her knuckles turned white. “It is definitely a voice.”

  “Yes!” she cried and punched the air. Snapping her fingers to get Travis's attention, she then pointed at the map. “Make sure we mark their location.”

  “We found a sweatshirt!” The OL shouted over the radio waves. “It looks fresh. Maybe from this morning.”

  “Give me your coordinates, Horse Team Two.” Kat wrote them down and looked at Travis, who then pinpointed the location on the map. “Mark it, pick it up, and keep moving.”

  Kat began to pace, which proved difficult with Spencer standing a few feet away. She gave up and went back to chewing on her nails.

  “Com Van, we found...” the OL paused. Kat wanted to scream at him to finish, but remained silent.

  Agonizing seconds passed and no longer able to take the silence, she asked, “What did you find, Horse Team Two?”

  “Prints. We found footprints about fifty feet down the trail.”

  Kat snapped her fingers at Travis again. He nodded and waited. “Coordinates?”

  Travis marked the coordinates on the map.

  “There is something else.”

  Her pulse leapt in response. “What?”

  “They appear to be barefoot. Jesus Lord.”

  Oh shit. Exactly what Kat had been afraid of. “In most cases of hypothermia, the body goes into hyper drive to heat up. The body literally starts to freeze and blood rushes to keep warm, causing the person to become disoriented. They strip because they think they're too hot. Find him, Horse Team Two. There's no other option.”

  “Understood.”

  “Do another voice check.”

  She paused, her portable radio in hand, raw fear sweeping her body. What would they find when they did locate the boy? Finding him being anything other than in perfect health plagued her thoughts and kept her pulse rate bouncing around like water on a hot griddle.

  The OL from the horse team spoke. “What the… Who are you?”

  The world stopped as she looked to Spencer. What if there was another kidnapper out there? What if her team had just stumbled upon a very pissed off man with a gun?

  “Spencer?”

  “It's okay. It's my team.”

  She didn't even want to know how they got to her horse team so fast or even knew where they were. Her heart went back to actually beating again. “Proceed, Horse Team Two.”

  “Who are these guys?”

  Spencer gave her a slight shake of his head.

  “I borrowed them from another agency. They're working the search with us.”

  “Working it? Or taking over? Hey! Hold up. You can't… Holy shit.”

  “What?” When the OL didn't respond, Kat keyed up again. “What is it, Horse Team Two?”

  “Subject retrieved,” an even voice she didn't recognize came across the airwaves.

  She turned to Spencer. “Who is that?”

  “Lyons.” Spencer pressed the mic hiding behind his collar. “Condition?”

  Silence, even though Spencer nodded. Apparently they were on a frequency Spencer hadn't dialed into the radio he'd handed her.

  “Get him out. We have a medical team here waiting. And Lyons? You know what finding him means. The first round is on you. No. Weber will handle the family.”

  Kat wanted to shred him for taking over like that, but she was so damn happy they'd found him that she let it go. “Well?”

  “He's a mess, but he's alive. He's rounding the edge of stage one hypothermia. He's conscious, and all his parts are still there and seem to be working. My team wrapped him in emergency blankets and is bringing him directly to a TREX medical team. We'll take over from here. Go ahead and pull your teams in.”

  She clenched her fists and almost threw the radio at him. “You don't get to steal this from me and my teams. We've all been out here busting our asses for sixteen hours.”

  Spencer audibly growled as those eyes darkened. “Fine. Have them return to base camp. I'll debrief them.”

  “I'll debrief them,” she corrected. “They're my team.”

  “You're a real pain in the ass, you know that?”

  “Ditto.” She handed the radio to him. “I'll use my own radio, thank you.”

  Instead of waiting for a response, she marched to the rear of the Com Van to use the mounted radio. It transmitted better and Kat didn't feel like repeating herself. “Com Van to all K-SAR units. Return to base. I repeat, return to base. The subject has been found.”

  Despite the mood Spencer put her in, she couldn't help but smile. She turned to walk out of the bedroom only to freeze as Spencer advanced down the hall, trapping her in the back room.

  And then he shut the door behind him.

  TEN

  Nothing stood between them but the thick tension that had been building since he showed up at her door at three this morning. He looked good then and challenged her control every passing second.

  He looked even better now.

  A wave of shock and arousal twisted inside her. His gaze seemed to ignite as he studied her. As she tensed, fighting to move to him as she'd always done, his sensual voice broke the spell he had her under.

  “You did it, Katy-Lou.”

  Oh, God. Not his nickname for her. She had some sense of restraint against him until he said that.

  “Thanks for sticking with me.”

  He grinned and winked. “I'll use any excuse to stay close to you.”

  And he was intent on getting real damned close. She saw it in his eyes, in his heated expression. The hunger, now that the worst had passed, built inside her body like a starved, savage beast. Everything she'd denied since leaving him resurfaced with a vengeance. The want. The need. The undeniable desire that consumed her day in and day out, threatening to take over if she let it. And there were times when she would let it.

  The world around them ceased to exist and only man and woman remained. No radio chatter. No Travis on the other side of that door. Their gazes met and neither looked away. She couldn't stop what was about to happen and didn't want to. He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her.

  And then Spencer lowered his lips to hers.

  She closed her eyes and held him close for fear if she didn't
he'd pull away. He swept his lips over hers, and she parted hers to grant him full access. He plunged his tongue deep inside her mouth and she moaned, reveling in the feel of his hard body against hers.

  In that moment nothing else mattered. Just this man's touch. The kiss grew urgent, demanding, robbing her of her breath. Kat returned the hunger with equal desperation.

  His taste electrified her senses and stimulated every inch of her body. Her nipples peaked and scraped the lace of her bra, but that was nothing compared to the fervent craving that pooled between her legs. She wanted him to make her feel the way he used to.

  Special. Wanted. Needed.

  Their tongues danced, each fighting for control. Every cell in her body throbbed. Her sex spasmed as her clit swelled, demanding attention.

  He cupped her face and deepened their kiss, growling in the back of his throat. He nipped at her, sucking in her bottom lip and running his tongue across the surface. Delicious shivers of icy heat raced through her, saturating her folds with blistering juices.

  The blood in her veins sizzled, burning her with want. Her ache exploded to a full blown pounding as her clit swelled further. Her pulse kicked up a few hundred beats when she felt his impressive, hard cock pushed up against her hip.

  Yes,Yes,Yes! Her body begged for his intimate caress. Rocking her hips, she urged him to touch her, to relieve the torturous tension surging within her. He glided a hand downward and cupped her ass, pulling her closer to him. Sensual sparks flew to her insistent little bundle of nerves. His erection dug into her pelvis, demanding attention of its own. If only she hadn't removed the bed from the back of the Com Van.

  Com Van!

  “Maybe you two should get a room.”

  Kat jumped back at the sound of Travis's voice on the other side of the door, her focus completely frazzled, the lust-induced haze in her brain making it hard to focus. She looked at Spencer, losing herself in those handsome eyes. Blinking several times to pull herself together, she took another step back.

  A muscle in his jaw ticked. He licked his lips, his eyes darkening as he centered his gaze on her. Wicked, carnal hunger sparked his expression.

  She knew the feeling.

  “I need air,” Travis announced and slammed the door of the Com Van as he stormed out, leaving Spencer and Kat alone.

  She glanced at Spencer, and froze. The look in his eyes stole what little focus she'd managed to reel in. Lust, pure and raw, swirled in his gaze. Leaving nothing to the imagination as to what he had on his mind.

  “I think we need to...” She lost her train of thought. What was she going to say? That they need to take this outside? To convert the table into a bed and finish what they'd started? The thought of him driving inside her, burying his rigid flesh so deep they'd meld together slickened her cleft and had her desperate for him.

  “Focus.” His voice vibrated as he finished her sentence. He brushed his lips along the back of her neck before giving her a heated nip on her ear. He then soothed it by tracing the bite with his tongue. “Can you focus on anything else right now? Or are you thinking what I'm thinking?”

  The moist warmth from his breath tickled across her neck. She swallowed thickly and shivered. Fighting to keep control over her body's reaction and losing furiously, she held her expression still and continued to stare at the radios. “And what's that?”

  “I can't wait to take you, Kathryn. I can't wait to be inside you. To completely erase the past. I've missed you so much, baby. I'm in pain just thinking about tasting you.” His tongue flicked and fluttered over the sensitive flesh at the nape of her neck.

  Twinges and spasms spiraled deep inside her, building into what would be a shattering orgasm. “Spencer, the search—”

  “Is over,” he rasped. “It's over, baby.”

  With that, he pulled back and turned her to face him. “I mean that, Kathryn. No more hiding from each other. No more denying ourselves.”

  Her mouth fell open. Oh wow. She'd never seen such unbridled hunger in his gaze. “No objection here.”

  His eyes twinkled wickedly as he continued to watch her. “That's my girl.”

  What he said, the lust thickening his tone, threaded her tight with sexual tension, rousing the coil clenching her womb. “Let's finish this.”

  He spiked his brow.

  “The search,” she clarified, frazzled that her blinding need overshadowed everything else. “We need to finish the search.”

  “Of course. We have a little boy to reunite with his family. But then…”

  Damn, that gleam in his eye seared into her. Brooding sexuality swirled around him as he continued to stare, an intense hunger heating the air between them.

  Her heart thudded. Finding that little boy, knowing he might have died had they not brought her in, already had her spinning with over-stimulated excitement. And now Spencer had made it clear he still wanted her. But, deep down, the fear of him breaking her heart again still terrified her.

  She refused to live in fear any longer. Screw me once, shame on you. Screw me twice, shame on me. If he broke her heart again, then shame on her. Until that happened, she'd take Spencer back in her life.

  Maybe this time they'd find their happily ever after.

  * * * *

  A knock on the Com Van door had Spencer throwing the bedroom door open and him marching down the narrow hall to answer. No one should be in the motor home but the search command team and they didn't knock.

  He threw open the door to see his SAC glaring at him.

  “Weber?”

  “Miller wants to see you.” Weber turned toward the wall tent. Spencer stepped out and went to close the door when Weber stopped him. “Both of you. Let's go.”

  He stepped back into the Com Van. “Kathryn? The family is asking for us.”

  She hurried to him and gave him a sly, knowing smile before moving past him out the door. Sweet Jesus, he couldn't wait for the debrief. Then he'd take her home and give her his own version of a debriefing.

  Weber stopped them right before they rounded the Com Van to the tent. “Now you both listen to me. The mom doesn't know about the kidnappers. She thinks Salazar had Tommy brought up here to get him out of their lives. It stays that way. Got it?”

  “What about the grandfather?” Kathryn asked.

  “He knows,” Weber told her and said nothing more.

  “Everything?”

  Weber narrowed his eyes. “You two will accept the family's thanks and then you, Ms. Davis, will excuse yourself. You know too much about this find.”

  “If Martin Miller already knows the truth, why bother hiding it from the mom? She has the right to know the truth about her son.”

  “She only needs to know that he's alive and back in her arms.”

  Her voice raised an octave. “But he's hurt!”

  Becker had inched his way toward them and glanced up at Kathryn's outburst. Goddamn it. Spencer lowered his volume to barely above a growly whisper. “Damn it, Kathryn. Keep your voice down.”

  “This is why we keep you on a need to know basis only,” Weber added.

  She flicked a glance Becker's way. “It's only Travis.”

  Weber was right. Civilians didn't know which intel to keep their mouths shut on. “And up until the kidnapping, Damon Salazar was only Martha Miller's boyfriend.”

  She chewed on her bottom lip and gave him a nod. He stole a quick glance at Weber, whose glare had increased in ferocity. Great. He was in a shit load of trouble, all due to Kathryn overhearing him talking to Martin Miller.

  The woman should be in TREX's interrogation division. She had a knack for uncovering information with nothing more than a smile. He knew exactly what card she played when she'd flirted with Damon Salazar. That didn't mean he had to like it. Watching the way that sick bastard eyed her, a dark thirst in his expression as he mentally fucked her, had Spencer's blood boiling. He'd snap the weasel dick's neck if he so much as breathed a little too hard in her direction.

  Weber set his
jaw as he kept his attention on Kathryn. “Can you, or can you not, follow those very simple instructions?”

  “You're an asshole.”

  “That doesn't answer my question.”

  Color splashed Kathryn's cheeks as her eyes grew to an icy blue. Oh, yeah. Weber pushed the wrong button. Spencer rested his hand on her back before she unleashed on his SAC and got them both in trouble. She drew in a breath and gave Weber a nod.

  “Good. Now, follow me.”

  “Prick,” she muttered under her breath. Spencer hid his grin. Weber had no idea how close he was to a seriously pissed off redhead. An irate woman was bad enough. Add in her fiery temper that went with the hair and all bets were off.

  Spencer slipped his hand around hers and squeezed. She relaxed slightly, but didn't remove that heated glare from the back of Weber's head. He rubbed his neck.

  Weber stopped outside the tent and gave Kathryn another look. She lifted her brow in response. He didn't trust her and she knew it. Spencer just stood back and watched the show. Weber was good at the stare down, very good. But Kathryn was better.

  Pulling the tent flap open, Weber motioned for them to enter. The minute they did, Martha threw her arms around Kathryn and burst into tears. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You found my baby.”

  Kathryn hugged her back. “You're welcome, Martha.”

  Only after Martha released her did Miller approach. When Kathryn held out her hand, he shook his head and pulled her into his arms, shocking the shit out of Spencer. Judging by the look on Weber's face, it shocked the shit out of him, too. Martin Miller didn't hug.

  “You did it, Ms. Davis. If you hadn't seen through Damon, we would have never found Tommy.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Miller.” She stepped out of the hug and gave him an uncomfortable smile. Spencer moved to her side and took her hand in his. When he squeezed, she squeezed back as her smile finally reached her eyes.

  Miller dropped his gaze to their hands and gave a single nod. “Very good. I see you're taking advantage of my offer.”