Poison Evidence

by Rachel Grant

  “I’m sorry. I’ll tell you next time.”

  His hands cupped her face. She wished she could see his eyes. “I’m falling in love with you, Ivy, which means you’re in more danger than ever. More danger than my sister and nephew, because you’re here, while they’re in Russia and out of reach.”

  All drowsiness left her.

  “You’re falling in love with me? You’ve barely talked to me for three days. And we’re stranded on an island together.”

  His lips were on her throat and trailed along her neck to the sensitive spot just below her ear. “Because I thought it would be easier for us both if I stayed away. But it didn’t make it any easier. And now I feel stupid because I’m on short time as it is, and I’m wasting it.”

  He nibbled on her earlobe, then nipped at her jawline, moving toward her lips. Then his mouth was on hers, and she let him in.

  He kissed her deeply. She reveled in it and kissed him back, taking over when he would retreat. She opened her thighs, and his body settled against hers, pushing her deep into the air mattress that needed more air.

  He finally lifted his mouth from hers. “This isn’t fair to you. I’m endangering you.”

  She ran her hands over the stubble on his cheeks and chin. Texture to add to her mental map. “I’m needed to run CAM. There is no interface. I’m the only person who knows the commands. And frankly, I keep changing them as CAM learns the terrain.”

  “But once we have the AUUV, all bets are off.” He kissed her neck again. “I’ll kill anyone before I let them hurt you. Anyone.”

  “I know.” After all, she’d seen him do it. Maybe it hadn’t been intentional, but all three men had died just the same. “What happens when we find it?” she asked softly.

  “I contact my handler and arrange for the exchange. You’ll call whoever Dominick has sent for your exfiltration—my guess is Luke and maybe the former CIA operator, Ian Boyd. They’ll take you back to DC, and I’ll hand over the AUUV.”

  “Nothing is ever that simple.”

  “No. But close enough.”

  He would be killed, likely executed on the spot. The thought made her want to vomit. Instead, she stroked his chest and tried to wipe away the vision of a Dimitri-less future. “Make love to me.”

  “I shouldn’t. It’s not fair to you,” he repeated. “All I can give you is right now.”

  “There’s something else you can give me.” The words were a low dry whisper, spoken before she even knew if she could follow through and state the wild, dangerous idea that had tickled at her thoughts for days.

  It was a future, of a sort, for him, and also what she’d wanted desperately for years.

  “What do you mean?” Dimitri asked.

  “You could give me a child.”

  Dimitri stiffened against her, then pushed back as if to rise, but she grabbed his shoulders. “Please, Dimitri. I want a baby—I’d planned to attempt in vitro when I get back to DC. I’d already started reading through the sperm catalogue. And it’s not like there are any guarantees. I’m two weeks out from my period, so I’m probably ovulating, but that doesn’t mean it will take. Believe me, I know that better than anyone. But I’d like a chance. I’d like to think maybe, when all this is over, a piece of you will live on.”

  “No.” His voice was hard. Cold. “Absolutely not.”

  She cupped his face. “I would love your baby with every ounce of my soul.”

  “But don’t you see? A baby is another weapon. My God, I can’t imagine what the GRU would do to my own child.”

  The reverence in his voice on the words “my own child” told her he wanted what she offered, even though he feared it. “But they’ll never know it’s yours. And if you…if you really don’t survive this, they’ll have no reason to hurt the baby or me.”

  “And if they take me prisoner instead of killing me on the spot, it would be torture knowing you were unprotected.”

  She pressed her mouth to his. “Then we won’t let them take you prisoner.”

  He buried his face in her neck. “It’s not that simple. My love is poison, and that’s all it can ever be.”

  “Please, Dimitri. I want a baby. I want your baby. I want someone to love when all this is over. I want a piece of you to live on, for you to be a father.”

  Dimitri could barely breathe. She was offering him the one thing he’d never dreamed he’d have. Which he still wouldn’t have. He’d be gone, and his child—if she conceived—would grow up fatherless.

  And ah, fuck, if he gave her this, he’d have to try to live. He couldn’t give up when he had a son or daughter who needed him.

  He closed his eyes and imagined Ivy pregnant with his baby, and a wave of possessiveness unlike anything he’d ever felt washed through him.

  His baby. His Ivy. His.

  All at once, he loved this child who didn’t exist. It wasn’t even an embryo, yet his body lit at the prospect. His primal core, his hard wiring, drove him to touch her, to slide his hand beneath her panties and stroke her clit. Biology told him to take her offering, fulfill a natural predisposition to reproduce. But his heart…that was where he lost the battle. His heart wanted to stake his claim by planting a child within her.

  It was primal. Raw. Fierce. A perfect mirror for how he felt about her. He wasn’t lying when he said he was falling in love with her. He’d slipped over that edge days ago.

  Now she was offering him the only form of immortality available to humans. And, oh God, it was embarrassing how he wanted it. Proof he was human after all.

  “Make love to me, Dimitri,” she whispered. “Give me a piece of you.”

  His voice was hoarse as he said, “No one can know the baby is mine. If you get pregnant, that’s the one thing you can’t tell anyone, not unless you’re certain I’m dead. As in you’ve seen my body with your own eyes, dead.”

  “No one will know.”

  He thrust his pelvis against hers. “If we do this, it won’t be sweet. It won’t be tender. It will be hot and animal. A fuck to end all fucks. I’ve never had sex without a condom before, and honey, I’m going to enjoy this in all its primal glory.”

  He kissed her then, holding nothing back. As promised, his kiss was hard and primal. He owned her mouth as he would own her body. “You’re mine, Ivy. You’ll always be mine.”

  She nodded. “Yours. Always yours.”

  He explored her body methodically with his mouth. Enjoying every shape and texture. “Just so you know, when I was in the Coast Guard, we were tested regularly for STDs. I haven’t been with anyone but you since my last test. I’m clean.”

  “You’re perfect,” she said in a husky voice as she slid her hand across his abs, under his briefs, and stroked his erection. “I was tested multiple times, months apart after I learned about the cheating. I’m clean too.”

  He pulled her T-shirt over her head and licked her breasts. “These tits are mine.”

  She laughed. “Yours.”

  He reached to the side and found the power strip for the lights and flicked it on. “Dark won’t do. I’m going to see all of you.”

  She was gorgeous, splayed beneath him. He sat up and moved to her side so she could spread her thighs and he could play. He stroked her clit, then slipped two fingers inside her vagina. “God, but you are beautiful. Don’t ever listen to anyone who tells you otherwise. They’re either blind or they have an agenda. You’re strong and tall, and you have these gorgeous curves.” He stroked her hip, his hand trailing upward to cup her breast.

  He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “And when I’m done with you, you’re going to need to buy some serious hardware, because you won’t be able to imagine ever fucking another man.”

  She panted out a laugh as he stroked her clit.

  He nibbled at her lips, then slipped his tongue in her mouth, a tease, not letting her suck on his tongue. “Your mouth is mine.”

  “Yours,” she repeated. “And I want to taste you.”

  He scooted up on th
e bed and slipped his dick into her mouth. She took him, and he groaned with the sensation. He pulled out, but she sucked him back in.

  Why had he wasted days when he could have been making love with her? Stranded on a deserted island in the tropics with the most amazing, sexiest woman he’d ever met, and he’d spent his days and nights working?

  He pulled out of her mouth, then settled between her thighs. “Let’s do this, then.”

  She gripped his shoulders and pressed up against his cock. He positioned the tip at her vagina. Unsheathed. What a glorious thing. He paused to look, to watch so he could enjoy the moment with all his senses.

  He slipped the head in and groaned. He pulled out, just to savor the moment. He thumped his cock on her clit, dampening her with precum, then rubbed with his thumb, causing her to pant and groan.

  He dipped his cock back into her opening. Again just the tip, watching her face as he stroked her clit and ever so slowly filled her, one thick inch at a time.

  The sensation was exquisite. Just like Ivy. He paused when he was in as deep as he could go and leaned down and kissed her. Her thighs were wrapped tightly around his hips. He was home at last.

  He lifted his mouth and held her gaze. He pulled out just as slowly as he’d entered her. She was slick and hot and everything he ever wanted.

  “I love you,” he said, then thrust hard and fast. She met his thrusts with her own, and they rocked together in a rhythm as old as time.

  Right now, this was the only multiverse he wanted to be in.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “It’s done,” Ivy said as she leaned back in her chair and stretched her neck. “I’ve isolated every poison tree on the ten islands within the circle of highest probability of being the AUUV’s hiding place, along with the closest five islands outside the circle.”

  Dimitri stood behind her and planted his hands on her shoulders. He dug his thumbs into the muscles, and she groaned with pleasure. “Your shoulders are a mess,” he said.

  “All this computer time is killing my back.” She tilted her head back and batted her eyes at him. “Maybe before we go find the AUUV, we can spend the day at a spa where I can get a ninety-minute, four-hand massage?”

  He dropped a kiss on her lips. “I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with my lousy two hands.” He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “But you’ll get more than ninety minutes of pleasure.”

  She laughed. “I’m going to hold you to that promise. And your hands aren’t lousy.” She tapped the mouse and directed his attention to the monitor. “Based on your specs for the AUUV, I think our best shot of finding the little beastie is in one of these seven locations.” She toggled the display, and the seven areas changed from green to red. “They’re large enough, and three of them have the potential for caves under the tree’s root system. I want to send RON to do another flyover of each location before we attempt a physical search. We might be able to find it without leaving this cave, and we don’t want to get up close and personal with poison tree sap unless we have to.”

  “As soon as it gets dark, you can send RON.”

  “I could do the closest island now. We haven’t seen any boats in the channels in two days.”

  “Too risky. We’ll stick to the night flying.”

  She flicked the sleep button on the computer. “Well then. For the first time in days, we’ve got hours to kill with no work to do. Did you happen to include a deck of cards in the stash of goodies down below?”

  “I don’t think so. Why?”

  She stood from the chair and grabbed his T-shirt. “I was going to challenge you to strip poker.”

  He grinned and cupped her ass. “How about we just strip instead?”

  “You promised me a ninety-minute massage just a few moments ago.”

  “Keep in mind, I never promised to massage your back.”

  “If Jack Keaton doesn’t want company, then it’s not my place to help you find him,” Ulai Umetaro repeated.

  “But he does, Mr. Umetaro. He sent me this card to bring me here.” Luke tapped the card he’d set on the workbench that lined the wall just inside the pilot’s floatplane hangar.

  Umetaro flicked the card away. “Rubbish. Anyone could have posted that.”

  Luke wasn’t buying his act. He’d seen the man’s eyes widen when he saw the card. Ulai Umetaro knew something.

  Ian returned after walking the U-shaped hangar well to admire Umetaro’s de Havilland Beaver seaplane. “She’s a beauty, Captain. Any chance you’d take us for a flight?”

  “Charter’s booked for the rest of the week, mate. Sorry.”

  “I thought Ivy MacLeod booked you for the whole month?” Luke asked. He was bad cop in this scenario. Palea had opted out of this interview. He’d questioned Umetaro twice already to no avail and believed Ian and Luke would have better luck in their unofficial capacity with the card from Dimitri as their ace in the hole.

  Umetaro spit into the water. “Nah. Just two weeks. When she didn’t show for the second week, I had to take what jobs I could to make up for the lost income.”

  Ivy had been off the grid for five days. Her friends and family back in DC had passed frantic in their worry.

  Luke and Ian had spent the last two days running down leads in Koror with Palea, as they waited for Umetaro to return from a second trip to Kayangel. The only new information that had come their way was forwarded to Palea by the DIA. The real Jack Keaton had been tracked down in Madagascar. The man was happy and healthy, but a dead end as far as information on Dimitri was concerned.

  As they waited for the seaplane pilot to return to Koror, Ian and Luke had outfitted a boat for cruising the Rock Islands. If Umetaro hadn’t returned this morning, they’d have set out already.

  “We’ll pay you twice the going rate,” Ian said.

  Alec Ravissant had given them carte blanche over the budget for this job, and Luke knew that for Ian, the search was more urgent knowing that Zack Barrow was here and on the hunt for Ivy.

  “Where do you boys want to go?” Umetaro asked. His thick accent thinned the longer they talked. Umetaro was an interesting man. He seemed like he’d been playing an exaggerated version of himself until Luke presented him with Dimitri’s card.

  “Rock Islands,” Ian said.

  “That’s a little broad. Have a fancy for a particular island?”

  “Wherever it is that Keaton has spent the most time in the last few months,” Luke said.

  Umetaro stood. “Tell you wot, if Keaton calls me and says he wants to talk to you, I’ll pass on your number.”

  Luke rolled his eyes, while Ian gave the man his Raptor business card and, Luke suspected, at least two hundred dollars. “There’s a sat phone number written on the back, for when we’re out of cell phone range.”

  “I’ll let you know if I hear from him.”

  They thanked the man and left the enclosed hangar and proceeded down the dock to the yacht they’d rented. Once they were aboard, Luke asked, “Did you plant the tracking device on the plane?”

  “Yep. He knows something. Bet he flies out of here in ten minutes.”

  “Nice of you to give him gas money,” Luke said.

  “If he’s going to lead us to Veselov, I figured it was the least I could do.”

  For the third time, they heard a plane pass over their refuge. Ivy glared at the cave ceiling. The solar panels on the hilltop might be missed on a first or even second pass, but a third flyover was a bad sign. “What do we do?”

  “I’m going to swim out through the tunnel and see who it is.” Dimitri rolled from their mattress and reached for his Under Armour briefs and shirt.

  “With scuba?” Ivy asked as she grabbed her own discarded clothes from the cave floor.

  “No time.”

  “Dammit, Dimitri, it’s too dangerous!”

  “I’ve done it many times.”

  “I don’t care. It scares the hell out of me.”

  “Scarier than being snuck up upon by o
ne of your ex’s cronies?” He wrapped a hand around her neck and pulled her to him and kissed her, hard and fast. “Do you remember the PIN for the satellite phone?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.” He grabbed the neoprene holster with his Sig sealed inside and strapped it on. “If I’m not back in thirty minutes, or if you hear gunfire, use the phone. Call Curt Dominick and give him your coordinates. Then shoot anyone who tries to enter the cave, unless you know it’s someone Dominick sent. It’ll take a team of SEALs at least an hour to mobilize from Guam.”

  He turned to the water, then glanced over his shoulder, giving her a meaningful look. “I love you,” he said, then took a deep breath and dove into the pool.

  He disappeared in the dark depths, his bubbles lost to the rippling surface.

  She hadn’t had a chance to say the words back. She didn’t know if she could, so maybe it was for the best. But now she held her breath in unconscious sympathy, wondering how long it would take him to traverse the tunnel and surface again.

  Given the pounding of her heart and panic in her soul, she suspected she did love him.

  She should have insisted on exploring the tunnel herself. They had scuba equipment. She might feel better if she knew what he was facing.

  Or that might make her feel even worse.

  He could drown here. Now. And she wouldn’t know he was in trouble until it was too late to help him.

  She ran a hand over her belly and wondered how she’d cope if she never saw Dimitri again.

  Relief washed through Dimitri when he recognized the floatplane. Ulai Umetaro’s Beaver. It could only mean one thing: Luke Sevick had arrived and had shown Ulai the card.

  Dimitri had stashed a radio in the vegetation for just such an occasion, and made a beeline for it. Ulai knew what frequency Dimitri would use. He hailed the pilot, and a moment later, Ulai responded.