Yours for the Night

by Samantha Hunter

  She buried her hands in his hair, forgetting reasons and reasonableness, wanting only to lose herself in him. The man had a mouth like none she had ever known, and he knew how to use it. She felt her knees quiver when he nipped her lightly.

  He burrowed into her neck, biting a tender spot, then moving on to another. Raine swallowed, her breathing ragged. She knew she wanted him, but she didn’t know what else she wanted from him.

  She wanted to be safe—and right now, Jack was safe. She wasn’t sure how much of one was combined with the other. He had been so good to her all day, so helpful, and she was, when she thought about it too much, frightened. It was easy to misunderstand one need for another under these circumstances.

  “Jack, we shouldn’t—”

  He inhaled the scent of her hair and perfume and knew he wasn’t backing off—not this time. He wanted her in his bed, and maybe in his life. The unbidden thought shook him, but he pushed it aside. For now, bed would suffice—or the backseat of his car, as luck would have it.

  “Raine, just be quiet.”

  He didn’t wait for a response but kissed her again and wound her arms tightly around his neck as he reached to the side and opened up the back door. To be honest, he felt a little thrill but also a little apprehension—it had been many, many years since he had had a woman in the backseat of his car. He hoped he was up to the challenge.

  He disengaged from her slightly, and met her bemused stare as he began to unbutton her coat. Her eyes widened. He finished unbuttoning the coat, unwound her scarf and pushed them both from her shoulders.

  “Get in before you get cold.”

  Shivering once, she slid into the car, but eyed him warily.

  “Jack, seriously…”

  His own coat was off and thrown down on the seat, and he was glad to find the car toasty warm. They were alone in the parking lot, and the windows were nicely fogged. Perfect.

  “No, Raine…absolutely no seriousness. Let loose a little—remember online you told me you have never had sex in the backseat of a car before, and wondered what it would be like? Let me show you.”

  “But…”

  He somehow slid his hands under her butt and pulled her up next to him, then shifted and settled her over his lap, where she could feel the hard ridge of his cock pressing against some very sensitive places. She wriggled a little to get comfortable, and he moaned and lifted his hips up.

  His kiss was so hot she started to break into a slight sweat. He murmured against her lips, words no one had ever said to her before. Things he had only written on the screen of a computer were now coming to passionate life.

  “I’m so ready for you, Raine. I’ve missed this so much…how hot you are…”

  She replied with a vague sort of “me, too,” but he didn’t seem to care much what was coming out of her mouth, he was too busy doing other things.

  Her head swam, and she lost track of exactly what it was she was going to say. As she tried to remember, his hand was slithering up inside her sweater, and closed over the warm skin of her breast, kneading and pinching until she couldn’t think at all.

  Sighing in pleasure, she gave in and slid her hands up inside his sweater as well, hungry fingers remembering the shape of his body. She put her hand over his heart, and felt it pumping madly.

  “That’s better, baby—just let go.”

  His voice was rough with need, and she joined him in frantic touching, kissing and biting. They laughed as they fumbled in the confined space, pushing her skirt up, his jeans lower, until his hot, velvet shaft sprang free and jutted against her.

  He closed his mouth tightly over her nipple, drawing hard as he worked one hand between them, rubbing and stroking her sex quickly with his able fingers, applying just the right pressure, knowing just where her most sensitive spots were, hardly letting her take a breath as she rocked into his touch and she shuddered against him with one of the fastest, sweetest orgasms she had ever known. He continued to stroke, his hand hot and wet next to her skin, probing and stretching her tender nether lips.

  She felt his hand move away, and looked down to see him closing it over his huge erection, rubbing her glistening juices over himself. She felt her insides liquefy as he touched himself, and she licked her lips, meeting his hungry, dark eyes with hers.

  “Raine, I need you, I can’t wait....”

  She didn’t want to wait, either, but couldn’t form the words. Straddling him, she moved up close, steadying her hands on the backseat, and took him inside in one smooth move. He groaned, lifting up underneath her sharply until he was buried to the hilt, and she dug her fingers into the material of the backseat as her body found a seductive rhythm of its own. His hands gripped her ass firmly, squeezing and guiding her as she rode him hard and fast.

  His head was thrown back on the seat as he gave himself over to her, and she felt a swift rush of power she had not experienced before. She was still sensitive and shivering from her own climax as he slid in and out. She wanted to give him as much as he had given her, and focused on how she could make this as good for him as he had made it for her. He was panting, his head was thrown to the side, and she smiled, loving how it felt to have this hot, needy man underneath her.

  She ran her hands over him lightly, teasing, and took his mouth in a wide-open, wet kiss as she thrust against him, taking him whole each time, squeezing tight. Suddenly he cried out her name and his entire body stiffened underneath her. She didn’t let up, but adjusted to his body’s movements, sliding her body along his as he trembled with release. He stroked her back, emptying himself utterly, until he simply sighed and let his head fall forward, his face buried in the hollow of her neck.

  His voice was muffled when he spoke.

  “Okay, you killed me. Call nine-one-one.”

  She smiled again and kissed his temple, and he lifted his face to see her looking at him with satisfied, happy eyes. It was a look he could get used to. He felt himself go flaccid, leaving the warmth of her body, and hugged her close.

  “They would have to bring two stretchers. One for each of us. I’m not sure I can move—they could find us here in the morning.”

  He smiled and laughed lightly, not wanting to let the moment pass, not knowing what to expect when it did. Would she just dismiss him, the way she did before? Would he be even more addicted to her now, had he gotten himself in too deep? As if he had a choice. She was all he could think about—all he had been able to think about for months. She was everything he wanted—fantasy and reality all rolled up into one. Now all he had to do was convince her of that. His heart sank a little, as she was the one to disengage first, her voice light.

  “I guess I’ll have a hard time explaining this skirt to the dry cleaners.”

  She was tugging her clothes back into place, smoothing her hair, making a light joke. He did the same, pulling up his jeans, searching the front seat for his jacket. She smiled at him, looking shy. He touched her face, and kissed her, not saying anything. Maybe things were best left unsaid for the moment. This was better, he knew, than last time, when she had kicked him out—but still, it was less than he wanted—not that he could define what that was.

  “You stay here, let me get your car warmed up, then I’ll follow you home.” It was on the edge of his tongue to ask if he could stay when they got there, but he bit down. Too much too soon, and he wasn’t even sure how she was going to react to this once it set in.

  Heading out into the cold, his body was still so hot from their lovemaking that he barely needed his coat. It was snowing harder now, and it took him a few minutes, but he found her car and started it. When he opened the driver’s door, she was there, waiting.

  “You’re all set.”

  She nodded, and stepped forward, seeming awkward and unsure. He marveled—this woman who had just ridden him with such confidence and intention that he had almost spontaneously combusted underneath her was now uncertain about what to do next? He met her halfway, and slipped his arms around her, pulling her cl
ose, and sighed a deep breath of relief when hers went around him as well. They stood like that for a quiet moment, and then she pulled away gently, and gave him a warm look before getting into her car. He went to his, and followed her out of the lot.

  Neither of them noticed that by the corner of the magazine’s office building, a figure in a long dark coat stood watching, deftly sliding into the shadows as they drove by.

  * * *

  THE NEXT MORNING, any hopes Raine might have had about the stalker going away were leveled. There was a message on her desk to come down to Duane’s office immediately, and without so much as turning on her own computer, she headed straight there.

  The news was not great. She had not been able to deal with her reader correspondence for more than a week, due to the chaos in her life, and had been planning on taking care of it that very day. But apparently the stalker decided to take care of it for her. Raine sat in shocked silence as Duane explained.

  “Somehow, he got into your email, and got hold of all your reader notes—and responded to them. The responses were insulting or sarcastic. He used every offensive word in the book, Raine. I’ve had phone calls and emails flooding in nonstop complaints, demands to cancel subscriptions, and we’ve been explaining that there’s a problem and giving the readers an extra year for free to convince them not to cancel.”

  He looked down, shook his head.

  “We can’t afford this, we are still a relatively new publication, you know that. I think readers would believe it wasn’t you who wrote the replies, and we plan on printing an immediate explanation and apology on the website and in the next issue. But this is a real mess, Raine. I know it’s not your fault, but it’s not good.”

  Raine nodded, barely containing her fury that someone had interfered with her work this way, and had tried to tarnish her reputation with her readers.

  “I know, Duane. I don’t know how he could have gotten in. Jack told me that he had sealed up the network, and there was no way he could have gotten in again.”

  She unwrapped her fingers that had been gripping the chair arm like a vise, stood, and squared her shoulders. “I’ll send personal thanks and apologies to each of the readers affected. Can you tell me their names?”

  Duane looked stressed, and paced around to the back of his desk, staring out the window for a moment, and then looking back at Raine. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, not knowing what that look meant, but she knew she wasn’t going to like it. He sighed, and looked her in the eye, clearly ill at ease.

  “Sure, you can do that, I will get you the names. It will probably help. But until this thing is over, the publisher wants you to take a break.”

  He held up a hand, staying her immediate objection.

  “Raine, listen—I went to bat for you, and you know I want you here. But right now, they feel you are indirectly making the magazine a potential target, and if this guy would go this far, then he may be willing to do a lot more damage, and we can’t risk it. Neither can you. A few weeks off—paid—is not so bad, right? Maybe he will lose interest, maybe he’ll do something stupid and the police will catch him. Either way, you can still work independently.”

  Raine sat again, miserable. “How are you supposed to explain that I’m not here? Why I’m not at meetings?” she said, her voice reflecting the numbness she was feeling.

  Duane nodded. “Well, if anyone asks, you are taking part of your vacation, sick, working from home, whatever. It’s just until this thing blows over, Raine—then you are back here, no problem.”

  She raised her eyes to his. “What if it doesn’t blow over? What am I supposed to do? The police said they can’t help, the magazine wants me out....” Her voice started hitting a hysterical pitch, though she hated it, she couldn’t control it. Duane was around the desk, his hands firm on her shoulders.

  “No, we don’t want you out—you aren’t losing your job, okay?—I promise. Get it out of your head that you are in trouble here. But try to see the situation from our perspective, Raine. This may ultimately be safer for you, too—it’s obviously too easy for him to get at you here. Just take a few weeks to let it settle down. Then if it continues when you come back, we will have to find some way to get the authorities more aggressively involved.”

  “But right now you don’t see the point in doing that? I know, the publisher doesn’t want the bad press. You know, he may come looking for me even if I am not here.” She chilled at the thought.

  Duane sighed, and nodded. “I will talk to the police again, and see if we can get them to move on anything. Until then, maybe you should take a real vacation, get away from here, visit home or something. Go to the beach somewhere warm. Get out of the target zone. Don’t worry about the next issue. We can expand Gwen’s section to fill the space for one month.”

  Raine didn’t—couldn’t—respond. Now he was cutting her articles? She wouldn’t be in the next issue. Her heart sunk. Her readers would probably think she was fired.

  She would be damned if she would go on a vacation when her life was falling apart. She was going to find out who—and why—starting with how someone could have accessed her computer after Jack had said it was safe. Anger flowed through her veins, replacing numbness, and she stood, and left his office without a word, heading straight for the basement.

  10

  “JACK.” RAINE STOOD in the doorway of the small, softly lit office. She was surprised, it was nothing like she would have expected. The way Gwen had described the basement made it seem like something out of a sci-fi thriller, but while there were many, many computers humming, it was basically just another floor of offices.

  Jack’s office was particularly nice. Twice the size of her own. He had eschewed the fluorescent lights for lamps that sat on the desk and a wooden bookcase, and several plants appeared to be thriving in spite of the artificial light.

  He was bent over his desk, angled away from the door, set back in a corner. Not the typical power-position office design. This office design stated: “Don’t bug me if it’s not important.”

  Well, this was important, and he apparently hadn’t heard her the first time. She stepped into the room—something smelled very nice—and walked up directly behind him. “Jack.”

  He looked up calmly. He had been so focused she had expected him to jump, or at least startle, or scowl. Instead, he smiled. It was a warm—no, hot—smile that made awareness skitter over her skin as time stopped for a second and she remembered every moment of the night before. God, she had been so riled by the meeting with Duane, she had forgotten when she’d stepped into his office that just a little more than twelve hours before, they’d had wild sex in the backseat of his car. She was completely knocked back. Wow. That was one killer smile. And it was for her.

  “What?” he said.

  “Hmm?”

  He raised an eyebrow at her. “Um, you said, ‘Jack’—twice—and I said, ‘What?’”

  She frowned. “If you heard me the first time why didn’t you answer?”

  “I’m sorry, I was just finishing a thought on this report. Someone fried my mind last night—more than my mind, actually—and I am having a little trouble concentrating today.”

  “Oh.” There was that smile again. He got up and walked to her, standing so close she just wanted to fall against him and forget it all.

  “So, what can I do for you?”

  Raine raised an eyebrow now, not sure if she’d heard a suggestive inflection in this simple question. Her anger was dissolved by the smile and the comforting atmosphere of the office, and she walked over and slumped into a chair, closed her eyes, raising her hands to her head.

  “He got into my email.”

  “Tell me.”

  All jokes aside now, he turned his full attention to her. She relayed the details of the break-in, and what the stalker had done to her readers. Jack’s eyes went to ice, then fire, as he listened.

  “Jack, I guess these things aren’t infallible, but how could he have don
e this, and not have left a trace? I thought you said it was impossible. That things were locked up.”

  Jack nodded. “They are. I scanned the network this morning for any intrusions in the last twenty-four hours, and there were none. I changed your email login last week. But there are a lot of ways still that he could have gotten your address book—a single-purpose virus, or a trojan attached to one of those earlier emails—not all of this stuff is easily detectable, or detectable at all—it depends on how good this guy is, and how determined. But I’m sorry, Raine. What did Duane say?”

  Raine tried to follow the explanation. Trojans? What the heck? She shook her head, and made a note to ask what those things were—insofar as computers were concerned—later.

  “He said the publisher wants me to take a ‘vacation.’” She spat the word out derisively. “They think I am indirectly making the magazine a target, and that if I go away for a while, the problem will, too.”

  She looked up, and was shocked. Jack was at the boiling point. She had never seen him so angry, not even with her. But his voice was calm—in the way a frozen lake was calm.

  “I’ll talk to him. You shouldn’t be punished for this. The publisher is an ass.”

  He started to leave the office, and she stood quickly, catching his elbow. “Jack, please don’t. I mean, thanks, but it’s not Duane’s fault. He did what he could. He says if the guy is still out there when I come back, they will try to get the police to do something more aggressive.”

  Jack glowered. “Well, that’s just dandy. How noble of them to be willing to put you out there to take bullets for the magazine.”

  When she paled, he shook his head, and put his hand over hers and squeezed.

  “Not literally, Raine, I’m sorry—bad phrasing. But it’s much safer for you to be here all day with all these people around, than home, or anywhere else, alone. They are just worried about their precious bottom line instead of thinking about your safety first. Their attitude is inexcusable, and I intend to talk with Duane about it.”