Designated Target

by Karen Anders

Her body went from buzzing to shuddering, and it took formidable self-control to keep from turning into his arms, maybe even pushing him down on the small kitchen table and having her way with him.

  “How is your shoulder?” she said, the warmth of his breath against her skin tantalizing.

  “Better. Still hurts, but usable.”

  “You should have let me change the bandage this morning.”

  “I didn’t want to get...distracted.”

  Her pulse dipped, immediately getting his meaning. Maybe she was getting less nerdy and more worldly? “Don’t you think we can behave long enough to tend to you medically?” She turned to look at him over her shoulder, and her insides sizzled at the hot green of his eyes. Okay, maybe not.

  “I can only speak for myself and go by the experiences of yesterday. So, that would be a no for me. How about you? Do you have this...this thing we’re doing under control? Any scientific theories?”

  “Newton’s Law of Motion fits. When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to that of the first body.”

  “Now you’re teasing me in nerd-speak. That’s making me hot.”

  She giggled. Actually giggled. “We should be focusing on other things. That might help.”

  He tightened his arms around her. “Like what?”

  “Dinner, for one.”

  “It smells great.” He nudged her hips and shifted her around to face him.

  She lifted the spoon to offer him a taste but suspected it wasn’t chili he wanted to savor. “We also need to talk about...other stuff.”

  He cupped her hand and drew the spoon to his mouth, where he slowly licked the chili sauce off, while watching her with twinkling eyes. “Mmm-hmm,” he agreed.

  Her knees became unsteady, and she knew she should be ashamed at how easily he could seduce her into shirking her promise, but damn the man, he made it really hard to concentrate. And it wasn’t as if there was anything they could do right now to figure out what was going on. That was the whole point of lying low. But she wanted to know if NCIS had found out anything. When she could go home and leave this dreamy time with Vin and this terrible uncertainty of the threat of kidnapping.

  “I’m not kidding, Vin,” she told him, the warning directed more at herself than him. But if she’d been hoping to solicit some of his help to remain cool, she was fooling herself. Except being cool was far from what she was feeling when his eyes went dark and he removed the spoon from her hand and set it on the counter, covering the pot and turning the burner right to simmer.

  Simmer was right.

  “You started it with the sexy nerd-speak and all that body talk. I got a feeling you don’t know you make me crazy?” he murmured as she backed up. He walked toward her as she playfully backed away from him with a smile. His eyes lit all the way from the kitchen to the bedroom, without laying a hand on her, but remaining so fully in her personal space, she felt thoroughly joined to him on a deep level.

  She’d never felt this safe before, this close to a man, and yet she couldn’t seem to open up. Was she fooling herself? It was probably some sane form of self-preservation. She needed to hold on to her sanity here. This was a temporary situation probably brought about by adrenaline, fear and dependency on this man who was smiling like a rogue. A warrior rogue.

  “Did you figure out a good escape route while you were outside?” she asked him, hearing the thread of need in her voice, even as she tried to fend off his charming magic. He wouldn’t be around long, and she was fighting with the need to indulge herself while she could and maintain some semblance of control to stop herself from wanting too much, want what she couldn’t really have. Certainly more than she was ever going to get to keep, as that was going to be exactly nothing. It wasn’t about her. It was about what she’d promised.

  “I’m always prepared for escape,” he said, as she slipped into the bathroom.

  Was that the sniper in him? The hit-and-run kind of mentality. Surely he was referring to them escaping, but she couldn’t be sure about anything. She didn’t really know him that well. It was for the better, she told herself.

  “That’s exactly what I want to hear from the guy who’s supposed to be protecting me,” she said, although the words weren’t much more than a hushed whisper as she came to a halt up against the sink.

  Maybe she just needed to take him and keep taking him until they both burned their need for each other out of their systems. Apparently they hadn’t come close to reaching that point yet. Not if the flames of desire presently raging between them in the small confines of the bathroom was any sign.

  “As it should be. Can you change my bandage now?” he asked, keeping his eyes on hers.

  “This couldn’t wait until after dinner? After all, you waited this long.”

  “I was busy doing my job and keeping you safe. You wouldn’t want me to get an infection, would you?” He kept his eyes pinned on hers as she reached out to unzip the sweater to his breastbone, the knit warm beneath her fingers.

  “Oh, no. We shouldn’t chance that,” she said, reacting to the amused smile turning up the corners of his delectable mouth. “That would be too dangerous.”

  She slipped her hand under both the sweater and the turtleneck, helping him work the garments off.

  This was dangerous. Just as dangerous as the men chasing them.

  Pulling the clothes over his head revealed his broad chest and wide shoulders. He leaned down and tried to kiss her. She smirked as she put her hand into the center of his chest and pushed him onto the commode. “We shouldn’t waste a minute. Look at that. You feel overly warm.”

  He smiled, full out, and her heart stalled. It transformed his somewhat austere face into something boyish and appealing, as if he wasn’t already appealing enough.

  “I don’t think my temperature rising has anything to do with infection,” he said softly, “but everything to do with...fever.”

  He placed his hands on her waist, sliding them beneath her shirt to the bare skin of her abdomen, his head tipped up to hers, that smile still in place.

  She shamelessly enjoyed how his hands felt as they brushed against her skin. “You wouldn’t be seducing me in order to keep me from more geek-speak, would you?”

  Pushing her shirt up, he looked up at her, then down at her exposed midriff. He grinned. “Would it work?”

  She shook her head.

  “Then I guess the answer is no.” He leaned in closer, tugging on the waistband of her jeans, the smile disappearing from his face as it went intense and sexy-serious, as if her stomach was something to be investigated fully.

  He was an experience. Everything about him was so rich and flavored. Vin wanted her. Passionately, his hands sliding around her waist and drawing her toward him, his breathing ragged. He settled his mouth against the skin of her stomach, his lips warm, reverent and soft. The feel of him was intoxicating, dizzying. He set her on fire with his kiss, made her gasp, and every inch of her wanted more.

  Her hands tingled, and she thought about that so embarrassing moment when she’d asked him if she could touch him. The warmth of his face, heavy breathing sending shivers over her skin, and the prickle of his stubble all added to the desire to fondle him.

  Her hand went into his so soft hair, kneading his scalp and tugging at the inky strands, her palms absorbing the deep sensual feel of Vin.

  They were in the middle of nowhere. No rules and no one in control. No one knew where they were. She couldn’t even hear the traffic on the highway. Was that because she was so caught up in watching him? Feeling him?

  The realization added a dark thrill to the whole heart-stopping experience of having Vin make love to her with his mouth.

  It was crazy. Crazy and hot and utterly sexual in a way she’d tho
ught she would never know except in her fantasies where men didn’t roughly take her when she hadn’t been prepared and have it over before she could even say good-night.

  Ah, damn, now she thought about how Vin could take her roughly. She was more than ready for him, and now she realized the difference between that terrible past experience and her joining with Vin. He’d taken it slow, and it had almost been as if she was experiencing it for the first time. The other incident was fading away, becoming nothing but background noise.

  The experience with Vin was ongoing, even when they weren’t touching. Just looking at each other, like back in the kitchen. The kiss was already in his eyes, and that was just as unexpected as finding out Vin could keep up with her intelligence; doubly unexpected was the way he was so comfortable with it. “I thought you said that my Newton geek-speak was getting you hot,” she said, torn between a laugh at how freeing it was to be with him and a soft moan on how deliciously good the things he was doing with his tongue made her feel. The soft moan won as he continued kissing her.

  “I said your teasing was getting me hot, although your clever sexual innuendo was pretty damn good.”

  She bent over and kissed the top of his head, sliding her hand to his nape, and then her gaze snagged on the bandage. Damn, she was supposed to be changing it. She’d been so caught up in him.

  “Wait,” she said, pulling away, and he raised his head with a quizzical expression on his face.

  “Your bandage. We need to change it.”

  He rose, sliding against her, pressing against her breasts, his hands working on pulling up her sweater.

  She grabbed his wrists and looked into his hot green eyes. Of course he was stronger, but Sky knew without a doubt he would never use his strength against her.

  “You’re going to insist,” he said.

  “I am. We’ve already waited too long.”

  “You’re right. Better to be safe. If I get sick, I won’t be able to function.”

  She nodded.

  “Afterwards, can you stop teasing me and let me kiss you?”

  She stared up at him with his sexy stubble, his eyes going soft and tender, the beautiful form of his mouth. “Oh, just shut up and kiss me.” She lifted up on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth to his, wrapping her arms around his neck. The kiss she gave him was something more than just sexual. Her mouth fused to his, softening and responding to the heat and feel of him. Regardless of the physical attraction, she couldn’t hide that she had real affection for him.

  Oh, damn. She’d been spontaneous without thinking. That made her stomach tie up in knots right away. She had to really think hard about the last person she felt this way about. She came up with no one. Sure, she’d had affection for teachers and classmates, but this feeling for Vin... It was different.

  When she pulled away and pressed against his chest to get him to sit, he took a breath as if he’d just had the same kind of revelation she’d had.

  “You should tell me to shut the hell up more often,” he said, dropping down onto the commode.

  Getting involved with Vin would be a mistake. She wasn’t going to be a long-term prospect for him. But then she realized that he was probably thinking the same thing. It was understandable that she would have feelings for the man who had gone to such courageous lengths to protect her from danger.

  It was just infatuation.

  She had to put all this into perspective.

  She was so sure Vin would.

  “You are full of surprises,” he said as she got to work on the bandage at his shoulder, avoiding his eyes and pretending to study his wound.

  What was that saying? It was like closing the barn door after the horse had escaped. Yes, that was the vernacular. That horse had definitely escaped. She busied herself with changing the bandage. The night he’d taken this bullet came back to her like a wrecking ball. She squeezed her eyes tightly closed, exhaling a whisper-soft, distressed sound. Then her heart twisted in her chest, and before she realized what she was going to do, she leaned forward and kissed the freshly bandaged wound.

  He took a quick breath, his face swinging around to meet her eyes, and she couldn’t seem to hide what she was thinking. She trembled at the new emotions and sensations this man evoked in her. And she knew she was just kidding herself, even as she mourned the lost distance.

  “Sky,” he said softly and took her hand, drawing it to his mouth. “Aw, sweetheart...” His voice trailed off.

  When his lips touched her skin, she felt it all the way to her heart, because his eyes were luminous in the bright light of the room. He didn’t say anything, just kissed her skin and gazed up at her under those thick, black lashes that veiled not only the green of his eyes, but the heartbreaking look that she didn’t want to see there. She didn’t want it.

  It was her next breath—that look.

  And the fear that lurked in her heart at the same time.

  How was she supposed to handle this?

  She had no experience.

  He turned her hand over and placed a hot kiss on her wrist, sliding his mouth along her skin, his breath warm. When he reached the tender spot where her forearm met her elbow, he slipped his hand around her waist and urged her forward against him.

  She was stunned, charmed. He gathered her closer, settling her against him as if she was his next breath. The full length of him pressed against her, the soft places yielding against his hard body. She sank against him, wanting to never leave and feeling the terrible pressure to run. The warmth of him relaxed her in a way her meditation CDs never could.

  Her intellect wasn’t helping her here. Her high IQ wasn’t giving her any answers, and Vin was tougher than any math equation she’d ever tried to figure out.

  He rested his chin on her head, and she released the pressure of those deep emotions that had built in her chest. She buried her face in his chest and tried to breathe through the tightness in her throat.

  Keeping their gazes disconnected a little while longer, she didn’t want to risk him seeing anything else in her gaze, especially when she hadn’t sorted it all out herself just yet.

  When the silence continued and reality began to creep in, he pressed a kiss to her hair and said, “Dinner is probably getting overcooked.”

  Grateful that he was getting them back onto such an ordinary plane, she gave him a little shove with her shoulder, smiling in spite of herself.

  She shifted in his arms, felt that strange bubbling inside her. He made her feel...happy? Was that the word she was looking for? She dug into his ribs this time with her fingers, and he let out a huffing sound and gulped in air while laughter erupted. He made a grab for her hands, but she backed up.

  “No fair, attacking a wounded guy.”

  “I’m the dirty, street-fighting kind of scientist.”

  He smirked, his eyes twinkling.

  “Right. Let’s see if you can take it as well as you can dish it out.” He broadcast his intention. She tensed to run, but moving faster than she thought possible, he lunged forward. He snagged her around the waist with his good arm, and his strong fingers went right for her rib cage.

  She giggled and struggled against him. “Stop it,” she ordered breathlessly as he held her.

  He laughed, swinging her around, pulling her back against him, placing a kiss where her neck met her shoulder, and she couldn’t seem to think. She sighed and leaned into him, knowing her walls had crumbled so swiftly that there was sure to be a big, ugly reckoning coming her way later. But she was happy now, and it was something so new, so unexpected, she decided to worry later about the eventuality of dealing with whatever was going to come.

  “Come on, street fighter,” he said, lifting her hair and kissing her nape, sending a delicious tingling sensation skittering over her skin. “You can show me your deadly moves later.”

>   He was teasing her and she liked it a lot. Her skin heated just thinking about what moves she wanted to show him. She bit her lip as she tried to fight off the inevitable reality check. It would be nice if this time with Vin could be about them and not about safeguarding her from danger. She wasn’t naive. He was her protector and they had been through something intense together. It was natural to want to celebrate life. “I bet you want to see my moves, too.”

  “I do,” he growled in her ear as he nudged her forward and slapped her backside. She turned around, met his eyes and wished she’d just exited the bathroom and left it alone. Her heart bumped against her chest, and she immediately spun around and started out.

  “Whoa, there,” he said, catching her by the shoulder and spinning her. He captured her chin and turned her face up to his. Obviously she wasn’t as good as she hoped she was in hiding her anxiety about anything right now.

  “We’ll refuel. Talk. Get to know each other a little better. Strategize. It’ll all be good.” He got close and tilted his head and smiled, giving her such a cute boyish look she couldn’t help smiling back at his appeal.

  “Strategize? Plan A and plan B.”

  “Maybe even—” he took up a stance and put his hands out, and his face got serious “—a plan C.” He leaned forward and kissed her.

  For some unexplained reason, it was that quick, soft kiss, so natural and so damn sweet, that did her in. Tears welled in her eyes, horrifying her, but there didn’t seem to be any stopping them.

  “I don’t want to lose myself to those...terrible men.” And I don’t want to lose you. This was really the whole reason for the tears welling up. That thought sucker punched her out of nowhere. But he didn’t have to know how she felt, could never know that. Not after she’d been the one to seduce him into taking their relationship to a place he was trying to avoid. Yes, he had wanted it to go the way it had, but he was better at fighting the temptation than she had been.

  “I’m here to prevent that.” He tipped up her chin. “Hey, where’s my tough street fighter?”

  She gave him a wan smile, and he chucked her under the chin and said, “Come on. That chili smells delicious.”