EDGE OF TEMPTATION

by Gennita Low

  She pounded Walker’s back. “Are you okay?” She asked.

  “I like her mouth,” the kidnapper spoke in Russian to the other. “She’ll be easy to get to talk.”

  “I like her mouth too,” replied the other. “Maybe we could use it for other things besides talking after she’s done her job and give Vadim what he wants.”

  They both laughed.

  “Vadim will never approve.”

  “Vadim hasn’t heard her speak.”

  The one with the heavy accent turned to Walker and said in English, “Maybe, if she’s a good girl, we’ll give you your exciting honeymoon after all.”

  “I don’t know. I think being kidnapped by gangsters is plenty exciting,” Walker replied. “But I do appreciate the thought.”

  “They’re considerate gangsters,” Nadia chirped in. “But we’re still going to be so late for our wedding. Where are you taking us anyway? Maybe you could drop us off when this is over because we already paid for the reception.”

  The man turned to Walker. “Is she always like this?”

  “As long as I’ve known her,” he replied.

  Nadia decided she really liked this Walker. He was quick and witty. And if he looked as good without his clothes as he did with them, she would take him prisoner and have her way with him.

  Quick on one’s feet was good in her world. They were going to some place, probably where Dr. Kantor was and two things could happen.

  One, Dr. Kantor showed up to persuade her. Nadine had said they had only spoken half a dozen times, but surely the man would know there was something wrong, even with her concocted story about getting married. They might be twins, but her sister’s voice, although similar sounding on the phone, had different inflections in the way she spoke.

  Two, Dr. Kantor had done his job and she would be interviewed by someone higher than these goons. Maybe this Vadim they just mentioned.

  With Kantor, there would another round of trying to get someone to go along with her ruse. With Vadim, it would be direct and she could find out about who the hell these people were a lot faster. There wouldn’t be much chance of bloodshed until after the talk about what exactly Vadim wanted. By then, her obstinate sister should have calmed down enough to follow her instructions and call the number she’d left her. Meanwhile, she just had to play smart and negotiate to give herself time to get ready.

  She slid Walker a sideways glance. So, would this stranger be a Honey Bun Bun or a Sexy Beast when it came to real action? Mmm, she preferred Sexy Beast showing up for that. She hoped so. She must try to find out more about him before everything went boom.

  * * *

  “Bossman.”

  “Oh-oh. Calling me that while you’re fisting my cock means you’re up to no good,” Jared said, eyes closed. “We’re supposed to take a quick nap, remember?”

  “It’s almost feeding time, anyway. I need a little snack first.”

  The hand between his legs moved suggestively. It was a wonder he could still get an erection. They’d been fucking like bunnies the last twelve hours.

  Post-partum lust, Sugar called it.

  He was enjoying it, whatever it was. He was enjoying everything right now—his wife, his new baby, his family-time mini honeymoon. Parker and Lexi had rented this little cottage for them as a gift.

  “Yeah, but you want something besides a snack,” he said wryly. “You’re playing dirty.”

  Sugar’s hand slid up and down his hard cock, slowly drawing out his pleasure. Darn woman was deliberately torturing him, sliding a thumb just under but not touching the throbbing head of his penis. He ached for his wife, ached to get on top of her and slide into her wet sheath.

  “You like it,” Sugar said.

  She moved, her womanly curves brushing his tantalizingly, and he felt her hot breath against his already heated hard-on. Still, he didn’t open his eyes, imagining that mouth so near where he wanted.

  “What do you want, Baby Cakes?” He asked, trying not to push up.

  “Well...” A lick. God. “Just. I’m. Curious.” A long, mind-blowing wet lick from his balls to the tip.

  Pause. Damn it. She was mean.

  “Of?” He probed, trying to think what exactly was his woman after now. “I thought I satisfied your curiosity about my sexual prowess by now.”

  “It’s about that call.” Ahhhhhh. Inside that sexy mouth. Hot. Damn wet and hot. “From Rookie.”

  “Do you mind if we don’t discuss about another man while my cock is in your mouth?”

  “Okay.”

  She sucked on him and he strained up, wanting more. Her tongue swirled around, teasing and driving him a bit crazy. She sucked harder and then released his erection with a small pop.

  “It’s just...I’m curious,” she said, blowing on his poor protesting penis. “What’s happening. He hung up on us in such a hurry after that question about a scientist in leather.”

  Jared lifted his head, gazing down at his beautiful wife’s face positioned so tantalizing near his erection. She was an evil woman. She knew him inside and outside, knew he was thinking about work and was trying not to because he’d promised these few days was just going to be about them.

  “Parker is tracking Walker. He’ll update this evening,” he said, firmly. Or as firmly as he could because Sugar stuck out a tongue and gently placed the tip right...there. Where it was most sensitive. He gritted out, “Baby Cakes.”

  “Why don’t you call while I’m feeding our daughter?” That tongue snaked around the crown of his penis, making him shudder. “I just have a feeling something’s going down.”

  “Sweetheart, the only thing going down is me, losing my sanity while you torture me with that mouth,” Jared said. “Do I do that to you? Talk about checking up on another woman while we get sexy?”

  That wonderful mouth smiled menacingly. “I’d shoot you if you do,” she told him, then gently bit him.

  He arched his back in response. Her whole mouth covered the entire length of his aching erection then and there was a few minutes of serious cock loving. Jared grunted. Holy post-partum lust. His eyes closed by themselves, his entire focus on the brink of the exploding pleasure building within.

  When his orgasm hit, he groaned and pushed up, deeper into that melting sweetness. He was hers, always. He settled back onto the bed, his breathing deep and long.

  “Love you,” she said.

  He could hear the satisfied smile in her voice. He opened his eyes and watched her climb over his satisfied body.

  “Love you more,” he told her softly. “Even if all you want to do is work me to death.”

  Her eyes widened innocently. “I was just curious. Want me to show you again?”

  Jared laughed. “No, I’ll show you.” He rubbed his wife’s back. “That feeling you always get when trouble’s brewing is just you wanting to get into trouble.”

  “Can’t. I have a baby to feed but I want to hear about our operatives’ exciting lives, that’s all,” Sugar replied, with a grin. “I mean, surely they’re betting how long before you give in and call in to check and be in the action.”

  Jared lifted his head. “Yeah?”

  “I have a bet. I’m gonna win this bet.”

  Jared shook his head and laughed. His darling wife just admitted to betting against him to win a wager. How could he not love her?

  “Baby Cakes. I’ll call Parker. We’ll find out about your Rookie, and then after everything’s settled down, I’m going to fuck you until only my name’s on your lips.”

  “Deal.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Rule #3. Never let a strange woman warm her hands on your body.

  But his “fiancé” was cold. She had complained about the lack of heat reaching the back of the car. Their captors hadn’t paid attention to her request to turn up the heat. So she’d snuggled even closer to him and slipped one cold hand under his jacket. Then she’d proceeded to move around quite freely, her nails lightly scratching him under the material.<
br />
  The little minx was looking for weapons. She wouldn’t find any there, but if her hand traveled any lower—Walker didn’t even want to consider whether she would do that. He sucked in his breath as fingers moved above his belt, pausing momentarily at the beeper hooked there. Please don’t take it off. She didn’t. The hand moved down to his pants pocket. This scientist was a lot more innovative than he’d first thought.

  He tried not to react to her at all. Once he got her to safety, he was going to have a long talk with Nadine Kincaid about taking advantage of a man. He might even retaliate. Hell, the woman had a kinky side. Who knew, from her proper and staid file photos?

  Why was the FBI interviewing some Russians about DARPA scientists? They’d told Jared it had to do with a missing one, and they needed some eyes on all personnel who had any communication with said person while they figured certain things out at their end.

  Walker looked at the other men in the car. Russians, huh? The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, did all kinds of advanced technology, some of which were commissioned by the military. They reported to the Department of Defense, so that was the connection to the FBI. According to the FBI intel, Nadine Kincaid was not first tier in military tech research. Her expertise was mainly on something called the microbioem and she was working on a virtual reality project that would help paraplegics and wounded veterans to deal with injuries.

  Yet, these Russians targeted her. If this Dr. Kantor was top-tier and was the kidnapped scientist, why didn’t he know Dr. Kincaid wouldn’t be in the kind of research work in which these Russians were probably interested? Or, was she?

  He looked down at his amazingly-calm-for-a-kidnapee companion, who had undone two buttons and had her now warmed hand inside his shirt. Nothing about her added up. He was determined to ask some tough questions when the opportunity arose. Fingers tickled his belly button. Damn it. There had to be a rule about strange women playing with a tough guy’s belly button.

  The miles went by and it was way past lunch time. Walker had gone without food and water, as well as bumpy transport along lonely trails, for long periods before, so the hours of being in a confined space didn’t affect him. Instead, he took note of where they were being taken. The fact that these guys didn’t think it necessary to blindfold them was a bit worrisome. It could mean they didn’t care if Nadine and he knew where they were heading. That could also mean they didn’t think their prisoners were going to be allowed to go free.

  The vehicle was heading into the countryside. Normally, he would enjoy the Virginian scenery. This was what he missed most when he was in the desert—miles and miles of hillside green with picturesque old houses. But now he only took in the landmarks, which got fewer. The traffic became lighter.

  The Russian turned. “We stop for a break,” he said curtly in his thick accent. “Lady, you get five minutes in the restroom and come out or we kill your fiancé. Then your turn. In, out, or we kill her.”

  “But five minutes?” Nadine asked, looking aghast. Her voice lowered into that register that gave Walker the sudden urge for a long, cold drink. “I beg you, Mister Kidnapper, can I have more time? It takes a girl longer to take off her clothes. Especially these tight leather pants.”

  That voice made all the Russians look at her, even the one driving. She cocked her head, looking back at them. Didn’t the woman remember they had guns?

  “Anyway, I don’t have a phone to call for help,” she continued to plead her case. “What do you think I would do, climb out of some window and ruin my new pants? I just need to freshen up.”

  “There are no windows in that bathroom,” the other Russian said.

  “There you go. No windows,” she repeated. “I can have a nice long pee without a timer, right?”

  Walker almost choked again. He could not believe he was hearing a negotiation of bathroom time. The woman was insane.

  The big Russian actually cracked a smile. “We also have your...Honey Bun Bun. You hurry or he’s ex-Honey Bun Bun.” He slashed his neck with a finger. “Understand?”

  “Oh, comprende, totally. Too bad you don’t speak Spanish, so I can practice on you. I’ve been looking for someone to help me with pronunciation.”

  She then went into the sexiest countdown Walker had ever heard. Even her pauses in between as she tried to remember was sexy to watch. All of them sat there, mesmerized, anticipating each number.

  The thug turned to his partner and spoke in Russian, “With that voice, I might just kill her Honey Bun Bun and take his place.”

  The other man rubbed his short beard and agreed, “With that voice or not, she’s pretty fucking hot, but not sure whether I want to be called Honey Bun Bun during sex.”

  Walker was good at pretending not to understand another language. That Nadine Kincaid had dangerous men eating out of her hand was not difficult to see, though.

  She patted him on the chin when the vehicle stopped. “Stay,” she ordered, her voice so low and soft, it was a caress. She darted a glance at the briefcase by his feet. “Do not make a move while I go pee.”

  He nodded. She was warning—no, ordering—him not to try to try to break the two of out the situation. What the hell was she up to?

  * * *

  It was a small convenience store restroom, the one that was outside, so even if she wanted to summon help from the store owner, it would be highly risky under the watchful eyes of the one Russian hanging outside.

  Nadia looked around. Despite what Nadine had yelled about her hare-brained idea, she hadn’t gone into this unprepared. She’d gotten her operations chief to help keep track of her. The flat device, cleverly disguised as a metallic button on her outfit, was difficult to detect with ordinary tracker wands. T. would stop by this bathroom later to look for notes.

  First order of things was to check up on a Walker Stillings for her, if that was his real name. She did pick his pocket while patting down that nice body of his. The man had abs of steel and from feeling around that flat tummy, had very little fat on him. He hadn’t objected when she palmed his cards. That could mean they were all fake IDs but right now, looking at them, they seemed real enough.

  She would have to hide his photo ID so T could see what a sexy beast her “fiancé” was. Her sister’s fiancé, Nadia corrected. He thought she was Nadine and was probably now wondering whether Nadine was bipolar. She grinned at his confusion. It wasn’t the first time she had pretended to be her twin sister, but definitely this was the most fun by far. She was pretty certain by now that her sister couldn’t possibly be dating this man. Nadine, when she did think of the opposite sex, tended to gravitate toward intellectuals and professorial types. Walker didn’t look like he’d do well on the lecture circuit.

  She recalled the warm male flesh under that shirt. If he were, she would go back to school and would be seducing Professor Stillings, dammit.

  Back to business.

  It was easy enough to slide the card and message under the mirror. Her Chief would know where to look because she knew Nadia too well. GEM operatives mostly work alone but T had a way of keeping tabs on everyone and inserting herself into assignments. This wasn’t technically an assignment, so Nadia didn’t mind the help. Her sister’s name was on a target list for some reason and it was up to her to protect her from any harm. After all, she was the older twin.

  She took a tampon from her pocket and pulled it apart, revealing a needle. She injected herself with the liquid inside, then flushed everything away in the toilet. After washing her hands, she turned on the noisy hand dryer. She gave herself a critical once-over in the mirror.

  “It’s going to be bumpy weather,” she announced softly.

  * * *

  “So where are they taking Walker and his scientist?” Jared asked, putting Parker on speaker phone so he could quickly perused the files sent to his laptop. The kidnapping, Walker’s smooth intervention, the black sedan—everything was recorded from the dash cam in Walker’s vehicle. “Can we trace the number?
Did Walker activate a tracker on the car?”

  “Car license plate—working on that. Tracker, yes. He stuck that inside the door when he stumbled,” Parker said. “Hate to tell you this, Bossman, but they’re heading towards your direction.”

  That made him sit up. “What? To our holiday cabin?”

  “Well, in the general direction. They’re taking back routes and country roads. Wouldn’t it be funny, though, if you and Sugar had to go on a rescue mission with Baby Vi strapped on Sugar’s back?”

  Jared coughed. “Don’t say that out loud. She’ll hear you.”

  Parker chuckled.

  “I heard you,” Sugar called from somewhere outside the room. “This cabin isn’t that big, you know.”

  Parker chuckled harder. “Sorry, Bossman,” he said.

  “How far away?”

  “I’ll send you the coordinates and will keep you lovebirds updated. Meanwhile, I think I’ll go get Walker’s car.”

  “Try a little B&E of our scientist’s place,” Jared suggested. “There’s something either the FBI isn’t telling us or doesn’t know. Sugar said she just have a feeling about this.”

  “Copy,” Parker said.

  “I’ll call them myself and see if they get excited that Dr. Kincaid is missing. If not, that’s something to think about too, right?”

  “You mean, maybe they want her to be kidnapped? Why set us on this then?”

  Jared had run over several strategic scenarios in mind. He had had enough dealing with the Feds to get a feel for their methods.

  “They are suspecting or they know it’s international,” he guessed, “and they don’t want the CIA in for now. But they don’t want to leave their fingerprints all over, so...”