by Desiree Holt
“Which you don’t have,” she reminded him.
He ignored her as he continued talking. “I don’t want to take advantage of you while you’re in a vulnerable state emotionally. I’d hate myself for a long time.”
She was rapidly losing patience. “Damn it, Dan. Do I look like a shrinking violet? Like someone who can be pushed around? I’ve had to be tough to deal with this stupid ‘gift’ and to be able to build a life for myself. I could easily have looked at you just now and told you you’d gotten your signals wrong and to back off. But I didn’t do that, did I?”
Again thoughts of the erotic vision she’d had slammed into her and a flash of excitement sizzled through her. She looked up at Dan and saw answering heat in his eyes. Saw resistance falling away. As was hers.
“Mia…”
She sucked in her breath. “I know.” And she did. Everything was different with this man. All her natural shields were down, her defenses nonexistent.
“This isn’t the time…I don’t want to…”
“O-Okay.” Should have known. He’ll find an excuse. Get over it. Back to dull Mia.
“The hell with it.” He cupped her face with his hands and his warm mouth pressed down on hers, gently at first, then with more urgency. He tasted her lips, licking the edges, nibbling at them before probing the seam with his tongue.
Mia clung to his wrists, anchoring herself, the pain in her hand forgotten. She’d always considered herself slightly repressed sexually but Dan pressed a switch inside her that opened a door. She opened her mouth eagerly for him, accepting his tongue inside. Exulting when it fluttered and explored. Meeting it with her own.
He prolonged the kiss, tasting every bit of her, wooing her with his mouth before finally lifting his head.
“I don’t usually do this.” His voice was even but his eyes were heated.
“H-Have sex?” She laughed nervously.
“With someone I’ve just met whom I respect. Especially in the middle of a mission.”
Mia’s body tightened, rejection already sweeping over her. “I understand. It’s all right.”
“No.” His mouth was touching hers when he almost shouted the word. “This is different. I don’t know…I can’t explain…If you want me to stop, now is the time to tell me.”
“Don’t stop,” she whispered.
He swept her up in his arms and carried her into one of the bedrooms. Setting her on her feet, he tossed back the covers on the bed and snapped on the bedside lamp. Reaching into his pants pocket he took out his cell phone and set it on the nightstand before turning back to her.
“I can’t wait to see you naked.” His voice was hoarse with need.
She began to unbutton her jacket but he brushed her hands away.
“Let me. Please.”
He peeled off each layer of clothing as if he was unwrapping a Christmas package. Mia stood there, trembling at his touch, watching his eyes travel over each part of her body as he bared it to his gaze. His hands cupped her breasts with an almost reverent touch, the thumbs brushing back and forth over nipples that hardened into peaks. Slivers of lightning flashed through her body, igniting her pulse. A throbbing began deep inside her cunt, radiating outward until she was sure Dan could feel it, also.
He paused long enough to remove his jacket, tie and shirt before stepping close to her again. His body was just as she remembered it, taut and muscular and golden. Surely he was the most gorgeous man she had ever seen. Tanned, olive skin covered hard, sculptured muscle. Crisp, curly black hair lay across his chest, arrowing down a very flat abdomen to the most enormous erection she had ever seen. Only a long, thin scar that ran from his collarbone to his abdomen marred his beauty—but in Mia’s opinion it only added to his sex appeal.
She sifted her fingers through the soft dark curls on his chest and scraped her nails over his nipples. He rewarded her with a hissing intake of breath. She’d never been an aggressive lover, barely able to respond because her partners never came to her as if they really desired her as a woman.
But Dan made her feel as if she was all the desirable women in the world rolled into one. He trailed kisses down the column of her neck, nibbled at her ear, licked the upper swell of her breasts before taking one nipple into his mouth. She felt the pull clear down to the center of her pussy, to the clenching of her womb.
She felt more alive than she’d ever been. Every sense she had was on high alert, electrified just by this man’s touch. By his presence. His scent was sharp in her nostrils, his skin alive beneath her fingers. Every place his body touched hers, her nerves fired like tiny rockets. Even their breathing was sharp and clear, the rushing of air in and out of their lungs. She had the strangest feeling she’d stepped into one of her own visions. Only there was nothing fractured about this one.
Dan slid his hands around to her back, pulling her tightly against him so her breasts were pressed against that hard wall of chest. Her skin was so sensitive now that she could almost feel every individual curl in that mat of hair.
He was kissing her again, plunging his tongue inside her mouth, barely giving her air to breathe. Somehow her slacks and panties disappeared and he lowered her to the bed, splaying her legs, his eyes glued to the wet folds of her cunt. Mia knew she should feel embarrassed. She wasn’t used to having men look at her this way. But somehow with Dan Romeo there didn’t seem to be any self-consciousness.
He leaned over her, running his hands from her shoulders down the length of her arms to her fingertips, his touch firm and light at the same time. His fingers danced along her waist, cupped her breasts than traveled over her tummy to the neat line of hair defining her wet labia.
Pulling back, he made quick work of his slacks and boxers, kicking his shoes and socks to the side. Mia’s eyes widened when she saw him fully naked before her. Nothing in the vision could have prepared her for the reality of the man. His cock was proud and erect, the tiny bead of fluid on its broad head gleaming in the lamplight. His sac hung heavy against his muscular thighs. A Roman god, Mia thought, her breath catching in her throat as her eyes took him in.
“I want to taste you.” His voice was thick with hunger. “No, I have to taste you.”
He arranged her on the bed so he was between her thighs, placing a pillow beneath her hips to raise her to him. When his fingers opened her labia he took a moment to drink in the sight of her again before bending and lapping the length of her slit.
Mia’s heartbeat stuttered before shifting into overdrive. His tongue was magic, caressing every inch of her throbbing cunt, rasping against her clit again and again. The image invoked a thick cloud of lust that enveloped her like a quilt. Only now she didn’t have to bring herself to climax; the Roman god was doing it for her. Her skin felt as if the top layer had been sandpapered away so that every touch was so sharp and distinct. Was it possible to have sexual sensory overload?
The spasms began deep inside her, rocketing into the walls of her pussy, burning through her, blanking out everything except the voluptuous sensation of pulse and beat. When he suddenly withdrew she cried out, hung on the precipice of fulfillment. She opened her eyes to see him dragging his pants from the floor, yanking out his wallet and fishing inside. The sound of crinkling foil told her what he was doing. She heard his labored breathing as he sheathed himself, then he was back, the head of his penis poised at the entrance to her hot channel.
“Please,” she urged, in a tight voice, eyes closed. God, she just wanted him inside her. Now.
With one hard thrust he was inside her, the thickness of his cock stretching her walls and setting off every tiny bundle of nerves. She opened her eyes again to see his taut face just inches from hers and a passion burning in his eyes brighter than any candle flame. He lowered his head and pressed his mouth to hers, invading her with his tongue. The taste of her own flavor was so erotic, so exciting, her body blazed in reaction. She clutched at his shoulders, scored his back with her fingernails, wrapped her legs around him silently asking fo
r more. Deeper.
Slowly, steadily, he moved his hips, rooting deep, his tongue mimicking the movement of his body. Mia could think of nothing but this man, this place, and the pulse racing through her. As he increased his pace he murmured into her mouth, erotic words, things he wanted to do to her. Every word, every groan, only drove her higher.
She felt his incredible control in the tension of his body as he waited for her to peak, for the tight spiral of need to finish unwinding.
“Dan!” she screamed, as it crashed over her.
And he let himself go.
The spasms seemed to go on forever, bodies convulsing together, her pussy grabbing his cock with an iron grip. She felt the hot spurt of his cum inside the latex, heating her through the thin barrier, and knew this was beyond anything she’d ever experienced before.
When the pulses finally ebbed, slowed to aftershocks, then faded to nothingness, Dan collapsed forward, barely keeping his weight from crushing her. The only sound in the room was their labored breathing as they drew air into oxygen-deprived lungs, and the slamming of their hearts, which Mia was sure echoed off the walls of the room. Everything sounded so acutely loud, as if someone had turned up the volume in her ears.
When his breathing slowed to a manageable rate, Dan pressed light kisses everywhere on her face, telling her better than words could that this hadn’t just been a quick fuck to him. That she was more than that.
He withdrew slowly, took time to dispose of the condom before sliding beneath the covers, taking her with him. He tucked her head under his chin, cradling her with muscular arms that offered comfort, protection and…affection.
Affection?
Mia snuggled back against him, feeling replete and not even aware of her injured hand.
“Sleep,” he urged her in that warm molasses voice of his. “You’ll need it.”
They were both highly aware that tomorrow was Tuesday. Only three days remained to find out who was behind this and stop them.
Chapter Ten
Nate Wilson believed life had been very unfair to him. He’d started out twenty-five years ago in the Army full of piss and vinegar. In short order his commanding officer had discovered Nate’s aptitude with explosives and made good use of him. He blew up bridges, roads, enemy strongholds, whatever was required of him.
Then he got careless, waiting too long to haul ass from some charges he set up. A blown knee and a back injury earned him a medical discharge and a lot of pain.
Unwilling to sit around feeling sorry for himself, despite his injuries he’d talked himself into a job with the San Antonio Police Department bomb squad. He didn’t have to be agile, just clever with his hands.
Then Fate stepped in again. A bomb with a hair trigger went off as he was disarming it and blew off two fingers of one hand and blinded him in one eye. That ended his police career and his marriage. It also increased his pain quotient and he quickly became addicted to Vicodin and Oxycodone. Needing to feed his habit, he put out the word here and there and soon a third career was born. If you wanted someone or something blown up, Nate was the man for it.
He’d been making himself a nice little living and keeping up his supply of drugs when the job for Mia Fleming came down. And everything came to a screeching halt.
“You told me to make her disappear.” He snapped the words off angrily. “Well, nothing makes a person disappear more than a bomb, right?”
“Disappear as in take her away. Kill her someplace else so people would think she’d left on her own. Are you an idiot?” The caller’s rage vibrated through the connection.
“Let’s not start with the name-calling. You needed a job done in a hurry and it seemed to me you weren’t too fussy about how it got done. I did it. I want my money.”
“You do realize that you killed a man from the Phoenix Agency, right? Dan Romeo won’t take very kindly to that.”
“Fuck Dan Romeo,” he nearly shouted. “How the hell was I supposed to know someone else would be driving her car?” He held the receiver away from his head to tone down the voice shouting into his ear.
“That’s what you got paid for.” The caller was nearly incoherent with fury. “It would have been bad enough if she’d been in the car. Maybe we could have tried to pass it off as one of those nuts always stalking her. But now, besides the cops who were all over the place last night, Phoenix will be on your ass until hell freezes over.”
“Fine.” Nate pulled a soiled handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his forehead. This was not going well at all. “Then I want the rest of my money and I’ll get out of town. But now I need more than the original amount. Give me enough to stay gone so they’ll never find me and I won’t need to look for more work.”
There was a long pause. “And exactly how much are we talking about?”
“Half a million.”
“Are you crazy?” the caller exploded. “No way. You fucked up what should have been a simple job and now you want to hold us up like this? No way in hell.”
“Don’t give me grief,” he ordered. “I know you can get your hands on that kind of money. I know all about your secret stash. So pay up or I’ll be talking to the cops instead.”
He waited out the silence while his caller mulled over all the possibilities.
“Fine,” the answer came back. “Tell me where to send it and I’ll wire it.”
Nate snorted. “You think I’d fall for that? Then I really would be an idiot. I want cold hard cash. And I want it right now.”
The caller sighed. “All right. I’ll get it ready.”
“Good. Give me your address. I’ll come by and get it.”
“Are you crazy?” The rage rolled through the phone connection again. “I don’t want you anywhere near here. Let me think a minute.”
“Yeah, well, think fast. I wanna get going.”
Another pause. “All right. Let me think.”
“Meet me at the airport,” he said. “You know where the cell phone lot is, right?”
“You don’t think that’s a little public? The idea is for us not to be seen together.”
“There are cars in and out of there all the time so no one will pay any attention to us. You can get in and out before anyone even knows you’re there. Then I can hit the interstate or get on a plane and go wherever I want to.”
“All right. Fine. But I don’t ever want to see you or hear from you or about you again. Otherwise you really will disappear.”
“Thirty minutes,” Nate said and disconnected the call.
* * * * *
Joe Harmon had been working at San Antonio International Airport for ten years. When an on-the-job injury had sidelined him from the Kendall County Sheriff’s Department, a friend had referred him to airport security and he’d settled very comfortably into a position as a guard. The hours were much better than when he was a sheriff’s deputy, the work was much easier and since his wife had died, it proved a good way to fill up his nights. People thought he was crazy but everyone was always happy to let him have all the night shifts he wanted.
He wondered frequently who all the people were coming and going at the airport at three o’clock in the morning. The crowds simply amazed him. Why would anyone want to travel at that ungodly hour? His shift started at midnight and things seemed to get progressively busier rather than slower.
In his airport-issued golf cart Joe patrolled the open places around the terminal. That included the drive-up areas and the parking garages. His job was to make sure there was no mischief afoot and that people didn’t keep their cars past the allotted time at the passenger pickup areas. The cell phone lot was one of the many areas he was responsible for. Here people could wait for arriving passengers who would then call on their cell phones when they arrived. It was a good system and for the most part worked pretty well. Joe usually just had to do a quick drive-through and move along.
It was very unusual for a car to be in that lot for more than fifteen or twenty minutes. People usually t
imed their arrival so they’d have a short wait. Whoever they were picking up would call them on their cell phone—hence the name of the lot—and by the time they got to the pickup area their passenger would be waiting with luggage in hand.
So when he realized the banged-up Toyota Corolla was still parked in the same place more than an hour after he first spotted it, he became suspicious. Normally he wouldn’t even have noticed. He basically just counted cars and went on his way. But when he pulled up behind the car he noticed the man inside appeared to be asleep. In the best of circumstances, which this was not, a parking lot wasn’t a great place to take a nap.
Unsnapping the flap on his airport-issued sidearm, he climbed out of the golf cart, walked easily over to the car and rapped on the driver’s side window.
“Hey, buddy. You okay?” When he received no response, he banged harder on the glass. “Buddy? You all right in there? Time to wake up.”
He turned on his flashlight and shone it into the interior. That’s when he saw the blood.
“Holy Mother of God.”
He backed away, grabbed his radio and called the main security office.
“Hey, Sheila,” he told the dispatcher. “Get the boss down to the cell phone lot pronto. And tell him to call the cops. I got a dead guy here.”
* * * * *
Mia felt as if she was swimming up from the bottom of a deep pool of water. She needed to wake up or she would drown. She swam and swam but she couldn’t reach the surface. Just as the last of her breath disappeared an explosion rocked the water and a gun came tumbling down to her.
She sat up in bed, dragging air into her lungs, perspiration covering her body. She closed her eyes, trying to bring the image back and there it was. The gun tumbling out of the ball of fire into the water.
She flailed at the air with her arms, screaming when something clamped down on them.
“No! No! Let me go.”
“Mia?” A deep, slow voice rolled into the dream. “Honey. It’s all right.”
“No!” Desperation clawed at her.