Holdin' On for a Hero

by Ciana Stone

  Max pulled out an iPhone and called up a page that showed the layout of the building. He indicated the rear entrance that led from the parking deck that adjoined the building.

  “Won’t they have security cameras there, too?” she asked.

  I’m going to deactivate them. He keyed in the response before putting the phone into the pocket of the dress shirt he wore.

  “How?”

  He tapped the pocket of his shirt and grinned.

  “Okay, if you say so,” she said and opened her door. “Ready?”

  He nodded and together they walked leisurely to the parking deck. Once they were at the entrance, Max stopped and used his iPhone to access a web site. She watched over his shoulder but couldn’t make heads nor tails out of what he was doing. He keyed in a sequence, waited, then put the iPhone into his pocket.

  He took her hand and led her into the parking deck. Once they reached the elevators they stopped. Max got his iPhone and typed away on it for a few moments then put it away and keyed in a code onto the numeric pad mounted beside the door.

  After a moment the light on the panel turned green. Max grinned and punched the elevator call button.

  They took the elevator up to the top floor. Max stuck his head out and looked around as the doors opened, then motioned for her as he exited. There were only two apartments on the top floor. A large foyer separated them. Abernathy’s apartment was on the left.

  Max rang the bell and they waited. He rang again. After several minutes, he pulled a small flat leather case from the pocket of his pants and opened it.

  “You learn that on the internet?” she whispered as he selected the tools he wanted from the set of picks.

  He shook his head and signed to her. Ranger training.

  “They teach you how to break and enter?” she asked as he went to work on the lock.

  He smiled over his shoulder at her and turned the knob. The door opened.

  “Wooo,” she said softly. “That kinda makes me hot.”

  He grinned and gave her ass a squeeze then signed to her, I’ll pick the lock on your bedroom later.

  “Promises, promises,” she replied and looked around in the dark. “So where do you think he’d hide information he didn’t’ want anyone to find?”

  Max shrugged. “Let’s split up,” she suggested. “You take this room and I’ll start with the bedroom.”

  He nodded and they both went to work, searching the place. An hour later they’d found nothing. Max had successfully broken into a small wall safe in the study, but aside from bank books, passports, some cash and expensive jewelry, there was nothing. Nikki hadn’t found anything to speak of except a collection of gay porn in the closet.

  “Now what?” she asked.

  Now we go home.

  She was disappointed and frustrated. She’d hoped they would find something they could use to prove that Abernathy had falsified Max’s medical records. She must have watched too many bad movies to think that Abernathy would keep incriminating evidence in his home. She wished he had. They could have used that to help prove that Max wasn’t mentally incompetent.

  But they were going home empty-handed.

  Feeling a little defeated and a lot frustrated, she followed Max out. It wasn’t until they reached her car that she realized he’d taken the lead the entire night. Suddenly it wasn’t her who was in control.

  “Can you drive, Max?” she asked as she pulled her key from her pocket.

  He nodded and she handed him the key. “Then you drive.”

  No license, he signed.

  “Then don’t get pulled over,” she replied and walked around the car to get into the passenger’s seat.

  To her surprise, he didn’t turn into the estate but turned off about a half mile short of the entrance onto a small gravel road. It wound through a dense wooded area and stopped at the shore of the lake.

  When he turned off the car and reached for her, she hesitated. “Max, this might not be a good idea. I mean if we get caught.”

  My family owns this land.

  “Oh, well in that case, what’d you have in mind?”

  He grinned at her and signed, Get out of the car and find out.

  She didn’t bother to reply. She just got out of the car and heard him do the same. When she reached the front of the car she stopped and so did he. There was enough moonlight filtering through the trees for her to read what he signed.

  Take off your clothes.

  Locking eyes with him, she stripped, putting her clothes on the hood of the car. Max stepped closer, his eyes moving slowly down her body and back up. You’re so beautiful.

  “So are you,” she replied. “And I’d love to be looking at more than your slacks and shirt. Standing here naked all alone isn’t going to be much fun.”

  He grinned and stripped. She moved close, molding her body to his and pulling his head down for her kiss. She wished this was all they had to think about. That they were free to explore what was developing between them without all the problems and danger. She wished she could tell him how much she cared, how much she wanted him and wanted for him.

  She felt his arms move around her and something seize her inside. A surge of emotion that seemed to seep from his skin and into hers. She didn’t understand it, but didn’t need to. They had this moment and she was not about to waste any of it with questions. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, deepening the kiss.

  She was the first to break away. She licked his skin, wanting the taste of him on her tongue. Turning him to lean against the hood of the car, she kissed her way down his body, her hands moving to fist him, feeling him already hard and ready.

  She knelt, taking him in her mouth, feeling his body tighten as she laved the swollen head, tonguing the small opening. Her fingers moved lightly across his testicles feeling them tighten at the touch.

  When his hands tightened in her hair to pull her to her feet she rose and found her lips captured by his, his hands roaming down her back to cup her ass and pull her firmly against him.

  They were both breathing a little faster when the kiss ended. Max gave her a sexy smile, turned her around, and laid her back on the hood of the car. He spread her legs and she shivered with excitement as his hands traced along her inner thighs. When his fingers brushed the sides of her sex, she spread her legs wider, bending her knees to grant him better access.

  His touch was light as he stroked her outer lips. She trembled with need. She’d never known what it felt like to want someone this much, to want to surrender completely and be possessed. Her sex swelled, need flowing from her.

  He spread her wider, inserting one finger inside her. She arched up as another finger joined the first and began to move inside her. Almost immediately a climax started to build, bringing a surge of heat to her skin that had sweat making her feel slick against the hood of the car. When his thumb, slick with her lubrication, circled them plunged into her anus, she exploded, crying his name as she filled his hand with her warm juice.

  Max pulled her to him. Her arms went around his neck as their lips met, caressing and soft, his tongue parting her lips to taste her. The gentleness inflamed her. She groaned fisted both hands in the back of his hair, deepening the kiss, her tongue battling with his for dominance.

  She could feel his heart pounding against her. When she wrapped her thighs around him and pressed her wet sex against him, his hands tightened on her. A moment later, she was on her back with his shaft pressing against her opening.

  “Yes,” she encouraged, “Yes now.”

  She saw the look on his face, recognized the need that burned in his eyes and welcomed it. She arched her back, offering her breasts. When his mouth clamped on one nipple she moaned and pressed against him, wanting more. Her hands roamed his body, exploring the tight muscles beneath the smooth skin, tracing the line of hair that ran from his navel to thicken into tight curls at the base of his penis.

  His breath caught when she wrapped her hand around him a
nd started to stroke. His eyes met hers and the look was so hungry that it made her breath come faster, her need soar higher. She rubbed the head of his erection against her and he drove inside her. She pushed against each thrust, wanting as much as he had to give. Her belly quivered, her sex clenched and suddenly all control slipped away. Sensation claimed her and she screamed his name. A moment later she felt his body tense. The way he pulsed inside her intensified what she felt and sent her spiraling.

  When he rolled onto his back beside her, his chest heaving, she smiled and rolled onto her side against him. He wrapped one around her, holding her close.

  For a long time they stayed as they were. Nikki felt sleep pulling at her and knew that unless she moved soon they would run a greater risk of being discovered missing from the estate. Reluctantly she pushed herself up.

  “Max, you’re worse than any drug,” she teased and returned the smile he gave her. “I’m serious. Every time I think this is the best it gets and then the next time you take me further. If you’re not careful you’re going to have me too addicted to ever hope of being cured.”

  I wish, he signed.

  “Be careful what you wish for,” she replied and reached for her clothes. “You just might get it.”

  I should be so lucky.

  She kissed him and they dressed and got back into the car. Max crouched down in the small space of the floorboard and she drove. She parked in her normal spot and checked around to make sure no one was about. Once satisfied, she prompted Max and they snuck in together.

  Want to come up to my room? he signed

  “I want to change clothes and put my purse up. Come with me to my room.”

  They made their way through the quiet mansion. Nikki opened her door and they slipped inside. She turned on the lights and gasped.

  Her room had been ransacked. Drawers were standing open with clothing hanging out or strewn about, the bed clothing was lying off the bed and the closet was standing open, clothes lying on the floor.

  Nikki’s heart leapt into her throat. She turned to Max with fear filled eyes. “Do you think Deborah did this? What if she found out—?”

  Max grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her to him. She hugged him tightly for a few moments then pulled back.

  What could anyone have been looking for?

  Nikki’s hand went to the pocket of her slacks where the bag containing the pendants rested. She pulled out the bag. “Before I came here, one of my professors, Christian Bernard, asked me to meet him. He was scared and upset and wouldn’t even talk to me in his office. He drove me to a park and we were followed. We got out and ran. Two men chased us. He said we should split up and he pressed this bag into my hand. Later I looked at what was inside.”

  She reached in, took hold of a chain and pulled out the sphere pendant. “Christian gave me this one a few years ago. We were…involved for a short time.”

  Max reached out and touched the small sphere dangling from the chain and suddenly reality shifted.

  They stood in the center of a large tent. Candles flickered in the hot breeze that wafted in from the opened flaps, displaying a fiery sun setting over the desert. Nikki wore the traditional long dress of a Bedouin, a rich turquoise in color embroidered with ornate designs with silver thread. A tarha, or headcloth covered her hair, but her burka, or veil, hung loose from one side, baring her face.

  He looked down and saw that he was dressed in similar fashion, a long cotton shirt, covered by an abaya, a flowing outer garment. He reached up and felt his head.

  “You’re wearing a shemagh,” Nikki said in amazement. “It’s blue and the agal holding it in place is black.”

  “Where are we?” Max asked, as astonished as she to hear words come from his lips.

  “You can talk!” she exclaimed. “Oh, Max! You can talk.”

  “But where are we?” His Ranger training suddenly took over, prompting him to get a firm bead on their location and the safety of it.

  “I don’t know. Somewhere in the Middle East—a Bedouin camp.”

  “And how did we get here?”

  Nikki lifted her hand. The chain bearing the sphere was wound around it, the tiny orb glistening dully in the flickering light.

  Max touched the sphere then looked at her. “Is this real or just another fantasy?”

  “I don’t know. And if it is another of my fantasies, how are you aware of it?”

  “I thought it was my fantasy.”

  Nikki started in surprise. “You mean…oh my god, Max. Do you think it’s possible that we’ve been sharing the same visions?”

  “I don’t know. Tell me about the sphere.”

  “Could we wait on that?” she asked with a sexy smile.

  “Why?”

  “Well, if this is a fantasy, there’s no point in wasting it.” She peeled off the cloth covering her hair, then unfastened her long dress. She wore nothing beneath it.

  Max fought a momentary battle. Lust won. If this was a fantasy, she was right. No point in wasting it. If it was real, then they didn’t appear to be in any danger, so again, no point in wasting the moment.

  He dropped down before her, grabbing her by the hips to pull her to him, burying his face into the vee of her thighs and inhaling her scent. He flicked at her clit with his tongue and she spread her legs, giving him access.

  Her sex bloomed under his touch, growing full and damp. By the time he’d worked his way down to her wet channel, she had both hands fisted in his hair, pressing her pelvis against him in a rocking rhythm that told him it wouldn’t take much to send her over the edge.

  She moaned and pushed away. “No, wait,” she said breathily. “Please.” She extended her hand to him and pulled him to his feet. She removed his clothing, taking time to kiss each bit of skin she exposed.

  When he was nude, she knelt down and smiled up at him. He could see the dilation in her eyes, the passion in their depths. Her fingertips moved like the touch of a butterfly, as light as air up the inside of his thighs, glancing against his erection then moving away to retrace their route.

  The next trip up, one of her hands wrapped around him, squeezing and stroking. His eyes closed in pleasure, but opened abruptly when her warm wet mouth closed on him. He couldn’t stop his body from tensing and pressing against her as her tongue and mouth performed their magic.

  He wound his hands in her long hair, pulling her more firmly against him. She swallowed as much of him as she could take and stroked faster. Max wanted to give in to it, let the climax grow and take him. But he didn’t want the moment to end. He tugged on her hair, bringing her to her feet. Her hands took the place of her mouth on him as he pulled her to him for a kiss that was soft and slow but filled with hunger.

  Sweeping her up in his arms, he carried her to a pile of soft rugs and pillows placed within the confines of a curtain of gauzy thin material that waved in the slight breeze. He placed her on her back and smiled as she stretched and reached for him.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered and knelt between her legs, letting his eyes travel across her.

  His hands moved to her breasts, fingers stroking then squeezing her nipples. She exhaled with a breathy moan and arched into his touch. “Max.”

  It was the call of a siren that could not be ignored. His lips moved to her breasts, hands holding them firmly as his tongue traveled from one to the other, teasing her hard nipples. Her breath quickened and she pressed her pelvis up against him.

  He smiled against her breast and released one so that his hand could move lower to the mound of her sex. She was wet and ready when his fingers penetrated. She gasped and bucked against him. “I want you, Max. Now.” Her voice was a husky whisper that tore at his control, making him want to plunge into her wet depths.

  “Please,” she whispered, breaking down his resolve.

  He could not refuse. His hands moved beneath her hips to lift her, spreading her legs wider. He lowered his mouth to her, lapping at her clit and feeling the series of trem
ors that ran through her. Her hands clutched at his hair, pulling harder as he took her clit into his mouth, circling it with his tongue, flicking rapidly across it.

  Her breath became pants and the pants became a long drawn-out moan as her body quaked in orgasm. Max lowered her and she pulled him to her, biting and licking at his lips and tongue. He responded to the kiss, straining to keep his passion controlled. But the way she writhed against him and her whispered plea of “take me, please,” eroded what little control he had left.

  She reached between them to guide him inside her, encircling his waist with her legs to press him deeper. Max moved his hands beneath her ass, pressing her closer and she undulated against him, her skin flushed and eyes hooded with desire.

  Max wound one hand in her hair to pull her face to his, holding her captive as he ravaged her mouth. She surrendered, but that surrender was only momentary before she became the aggressor, fisting both hands in his hair to hold him hostage to a scorching kiss that made his balls throb.

  Nikki’s breath caught as he started to stroke deeper inside her, gripping her ass tightly to drive her down the length of him. She arched back with a moan, offering her breasts. It was an offering he could not refuse. His tongue moved between her breasts then beneath her left breast to nip at the soft underside.

  An increase in her breathing signaled that she was close. He traveled up her breast, taking the nipple into his mouth. She cried out as an orgasm claimed her and rocked up against him.

  “Slow down, baby,” he crooned and slowed his pace when she began to pump faster against him. “This is our fantasy. We have all the time in the world.” He slid free from her hot sex and knelt between her legs, sliding his hands to her hips, stroking slowly up her sides. As his hands cupped her breasts and pushed them together, he ran his tongue into the crease then up to circle and tease one nipple. Nikki gasped and clung to his shoulders, arching toward the delicious sensations. He took her nipple into his mouth, feasting on it.

  She moaned and writhed against him and after a few moments he released her breasts and let his hands slide down her thighs then up, barely brushing the sides of her sex. His hands traveled up her body, across her breasts, his thumbs brushing over the sensitive nipples. As his hands moved steadily upward, his body lowered inch by delicious inch until he was stretched over her, his hot flesh barely in contact with hers, his weight on one strong arm. He couldn’t suppress a growl as her nipples brushed his skin and her mons pressed up against his erection, sandwiching it between their bodies.