Shot in the Dark

by Tracy Solheim

  “I don’t want to talk about my father or my damn feelings.”

  Josslyn snaked her hands up his chest. “Good. Because talking is the furthest thing from my mind right now.”

  She pressed her hips against his and whatever sanity he had left quickly evaporated. Adam crushed his mouth to hers and took what she was offering. Within an instant, they were a tangle of tongues and limbs with Josslyn trying to assert herself every chance she got. But Adam wasn’t having any of that. She might have started it, but he was taking them to the finish line.

  Without breaking contact, he eased her back to the wide berth at the bow of the boat. The triangularly shaped cabin was mostly bed surrounded by a sleek wooden shelf filled with photos and knickknacks from Ben’s adventures. Two narrow transom windows lined the bow, giving the cabin an airy feel.

  Guilt niggled at his conscience when he pushed her back onto the mattress. “Last chance to make a clean getaway.” His body pinned her to the bed. “Because I told you before I can’t give you what you want. I’ll only be using you.”

  She wrapped her legs around his waist, arching her pelvis against his in challenge. “What makes you think I’m not using you, too, Bourne?”

  The last of his control snapped at her words. His mouth and hands made short work of her clothing. Josslyn did her part by yanking his sweatshirt over his head. She let loose an excited hiss when her fingers came in contact with his bare skin. Adam was nearly done in when she unsnapped the fly of his jeans. He bent down to kiss the wicked smile off her face when she reached inside to stroke his length.

  She struggled to get his jeans past his ass. Adam nearly chuckled at her frustration.

  “The fact that I want you naked is no joking matter,” she complained.

  He moved to the edge of the bed to unlace his boots. She took advantage of the situation, kissing her way up his back.

  “Those boots are ridiculous,” she murmured against his ear. “Are they even from this century?”

  “A soldier’s boots are the most important part of his uniform.” Adam paused with his hands on the well-worn heel.

  Where had that bullshit come from?

  His father used to say that to his mother every night as he polished his boots. Adam shook his head in an effort to clear the memories. He had a very willing, very naked woman in bed. There was no room on this boat—or in his life—for his father.

  “Are you still with me?” Josslyn’s arms circled his waist.

  He let the boot drop to the ground and shucked off his jeans. Turning in her arms, he flipped Josslyn back down onto the bed. “I’m about to be with you in multiple ways,” he promised as he crawled his way up her body.

  She bit her lip at his words. Adam soothed it with his tongue.

  “I’ll try to make it good for you,” he whispered against her mouth.

  Josslyn dug her nails into his ass. “For someone who didn’t want to talk, you’re sure doing a lot of it.”

  He silenced her with another demanding kiss. Not surprisingly, she responded with equal intensity, wrestling for control until their bodies became slick from the exertion. His limbs hummed with tension in response to her feverish pants. He let her have her way, rolling on his back so she could straddle him. She bent down to touch his nose with hers. That ever-present medallion she wore slapping into his chin.

  “Now I’ve got you where I want you,” she teased as the cascade of her silky hair brushed along his shoulders.

  The sight of her glorious breasts dangling above him was almost too much to endure, but Adam managed to keep his wits. No way was he relinquishing control. Wrapping his fingers around her waist, he shifted her ass back until his erection nudged against her. Her eyes went wide before she slid her lashes closed with a low moan.

  “What were you saying?” he teased.

  He swallowed his own moan when she slid back further so her heat closed in around his length. Adam was playing with fire and he knew it. Sitting up he bent her back over his arm.

  “Adam,” she pleaded when his mouth found her breast. “Please.”

  “Please, what?” He teased the nub with his tongue.

  “Please don’t make me beg,” she cried.

  He chuckled against her warm skin. “It might be too late for that.”

  She moved again so that he was poised at her entrance. “Condom,” she panted.

  Trailing his fingers along the shelf, Adam pulled protection out of the Rubik’s cube container Ben kept them in. Josslyn snatched it from his hands and was already ripping the package open. The look of pure bliss on her face when she rolled the condom over him nearly had him coming right there.

  “Damn it, woman,” he growled before reaching for her hips.

  With her fingers splayed against his chest, she pushed him back onto the mattress. Adam guided her down until he was poised at her slick entrance. Their gazes locked as she slowly took him in. Her breathing hitched when he began to trace little circles along the skin at her sides. And then she began to move. Her eyelids drifted closed and her shoulders rolled back as she rode him, slowly at first and then with a vigor that had him chanting wicked words of encouragement to her.

  Tearing his hands from her skin, he skimmed a finger against the sensitive nub at her core. Her breathing became more frantic. She teased his nipples with her fingernails. Adam returned the favor by increasing the pressure with his finger. They each increased their rhythm, Josslyn riding him nearly to oblivion until she suddenly shattered around him. She let out a yell that sounded like it belonged in the jungle before slumping against him. Her muscles contracted around him nearly taking him over the edge with her. But he had other ideas.

  Gripping her taut ass, he rolled them over and came up on his elbows to gaze down at her. She was gasping in lungsful of air through her kiss-swollen lips. Her hair was scattered across the pillows in a riotous mess. But, She-Devil that she was, she still went for the upper hand, clenching her muscles together around his erection.

  “Told ya I was going to use you,” she taunted.

  Slowly, he pulled himself halfway out before thrusting home again. “My turn.”

  Josslyn arched into him, meeting his cadence with her hips. The breath sawed through her lungs once more when he increased the tempo. Adam could feel the release building within her again. She wrapped her arms and legs around him so they were skin to skin. Sweat beaded on his forehead. Adam was holding on by a thread, but he wanted to see the ecstasy on her face one more time. He wanted her to know he was still calling the shots. Josslyn cried out and bucked beneath him when he shifted his hips slightly. She came in a rush so incredibly erotic that with a single thrust of his own, Adam followed her over the edge.

  Long moments passed with only the sounds of their uneven breathing and the slap of the water against the hull filling the berth. The mattress rocked in time with the tide. Josslyn’s fingers gently stroked Adam’s back. He could feel her heart beating against his. The intimacy was suddenly so profound, Adam’s heart stuttered.

  “You’re welcome to use me anytime, Special Agent Lockett,” she whispered against his neck.

  Which was exactly what he was afraid of. She’d want more. Why not? His subconscious argued. Sex with her was like a balm to his tattered soul, bringing the pieces of his messed-up life back together, even if only briefly. But that road led only to trouble. Josslyn would eventually want even more of him. And it was better to return to their proper roles before she figured out that there was nothing more of him to give.

  His body protested when he rolled off her. “There won’t be any more using. Today or any day after,” he declared. “Get dressed. I’m taking you back to the Crown.”

  Josslyn eyed him solemnly for a long, charged moment before swinging her legs off the bed. “I never figured you to be a coward,” she tossed the words over her shoulder, as she made her way to the lavatory, the dimples in her ass mocking him all the way.

  Chapter Twelve

  “A dozen eleph
ants were found slaughtered along the border of the Zimbabwe National Animal Preserve last night,” David solemnly reported later that day. “All of them had their tusks extracted.”

  “Isn’t the point of an animal preserve to preserve the damn animals living there?” Trevor stomped around the East Sitting Room of the White House in disgust. “When did they become breeding grounds for freaking poachers?”

  Josslyn stirred honey into her tea with a little more force than was necessary, half listening to her friend’s rant. From the sofa beneath the room’s landmark majestic fan window, she glanced over to where Agent Groesch stood just outside the door, her back ramrod straight and her gaze focused off in the distance. The agent had been circumspect since retrieving Josslyn from the marina earlier. But she hadn’t let Josslyn out of her sight.

  Adam, on the other hand, had no problem letting her out of his sight. In fact, he’d been in a hurry to do so. He’d handed her off to Agent Groesch with a terse warning that losing a protectee was grounds for dismissal. Without so much as a nod in Josslyn’s direction, he’d disappeared back into the marina. She rationalized the unease she currently felt was guilt for putting Agent Groesch’s career at risk.

  Reminding herself she’d been using Adam as much as he had used her, she tamped down on the sharp twinge in her chest. His detachment couldn’t hurt if she didn’t let it. She’d only sought out Adam to comfort him. To distract him from the demons he was battling. The out-of-this-world sex they’d shared was simply her reward for being a compassionate person. If they were going to return to being friends without benefits, then that was his loss—the idiot. The unsettled feeling in the vicinity of her heart was simply indigestion from eating too many of Marin’s cookies.

  Nothing more.

  The snapping of Trever’s fingers refocused her runaway thoughts.

  “I’m sorry.” She turned to face the two men. “What were we talking about?”

  Trevor studied her quizzically while David spoke.

  “We were saying that we are no further along than we were two weeks ago when you first went to Africa. We have no idea who the suppliers are—”

  “Except for their images on a video,” Josslyn pointed out.

  “Yeah, a video that tells us exactly nothing.” Trevor dragged the fingers of his good hand through his hair. “Without Ngoni identifying who’s who, all we have are theories. And all of those are circumstantial. Meanwhile, herds of elephants are being slaughtered while we sit here and sip tea.”

  “He’s right,” David agreed. “We need to connect the dots. And quickly. There are rumors this ring is facilitating a major sale of tiger pelts and bones in Taiwan later this month.”

  “Then I guess that leaves us with only one option.” Josslyn clasped her hands in front of her to keep them from trembling. “Dinner with Tseng.”

  Trevor froze in the center of the room. “You can’t be serious?”

  Josslyn strolled over to the door and quietly closed it. “We’re running out of options to solve this. You heard what Agent Shaw said the other day. They can’t seem to make anything stick to Tseng. I have the perfect opportunity. The man asked me out.”

  “The man is a freaking crime lord!”

  She put her finger to her lips hoping to calm Trevor down before the entire White House discovered her plans. “We don’t know that yet. But if it will make you happy, David and Lin will come with me. We can make it a double date.”

  “The Secret Service won’t allow it.” Trevor was beginning to sound like the tattletale from third grade.

  Josslyn bristled. “The Secret Service doesn’t make decisions for me. As far as they’ll know, I’m going to dinner with friends.”

  Adam would be furious. But he’d apparently relinquished control over her detail to Agent Groesch for the time being. Besides, she didn’t care what he thought. Her goal was to out the leaders of this animal trafficking ring, not to make the Tower of Testosterone happy. He’d made it very clear earlier that their relationship was of little concern to him. Josslyn pressed her medallion to her breastbone trying to subdue the persistent ache there.

  “Set it up, David. The sooner, the better.”

  The words “before I change my mind” hung back in her throat. Not only that but the familiar adrenaline rush she always experienced when she was about to take on those who harmed animals wasn’t as strong this time. She chalked it up to exhaustion. Josslyn hadn’t been sleeping well since arriving back in Washington. She’d rest once she exposed this ring of monsters for what they were. And she’d do it without hiding behind the shield of a sexy special agent within the Secret Service.

  “I’m going on the record as not agreeing with this plan,” Trevor continued while David texted Tseng.

  Josslyn stretched up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. “Duly noted. If it makes you happy, I’ll take Agent Groesch with me.”

  “It would make me happy if I went instead.”

  “You’re an adorable dinner companion,” Josslyn reassured him with a pat to the chest. “But from the way Tseng was leering at me the other night, I think he’s more of a breast man.”

  “As long as all the man does is look.”

  “He can look all he wants,” she said. “As long as he talks while he’s ogling. Besides, based on what I observed last night, he’s infatuated with another.”

  She wasn’t sure why Christian’s wife’s betrayal disappointed her so, but it did.

  “We’re on,” David announced, his eyes a bit owlish behind his wire frames.

  “That was quick.” Trevor looked as surprised as David. “When?”

  “Tonight. Seven o’clock at La Plume.”

  The knot in Josslyn’s chest shifted to her stomach. She told herself it was because she wasn’t comfortable with deception, but in this situation, the ends justified the means.

  “In that case, I’ll go and inform Agent Groesch of my dinner plans.”

  She didn’t bother mentioning to Trevor she planned to conveniently leave out the part about Tseng joining them. No doubt the director wouldn’t allow her to go if he knew that. For the first time that day, Josslyn was relieved about Adam’s absence. The stinger in her chest be damned.

  *

  Adam checked his phone for what felt like the hundredth time. According to the bank, his father had yet to cash the check. He’d been so sure his old man would simply take the money and run. But then, when did his father ever do what was expected?

  “Are you even listening to a word I’ve said?” Ben interrupted.

  Griffin chuckled as he tossed the bone from a chicken wing into the basket at the center of the table. “I told him not to get involved with a protectee, but does he listen? Hell, no.”

  “I wouldn’t rib him too hard given the role your fiancée played in today’s great escape.” Ben grabbed a chicken wing for himself.

  “Marin has already apologized profusely.” Griffin’s dimples formed quotation marks around his wicked smile. “If it helps, I plan on having a serious discussion with her this evening about the error of her ways.”

  “Great.” Ben tossed the empty bone into the basket. “Everyone here is having sex except me. Probably because I’m working my ass off trying to figure out who is after Doolittle.”

  The three men were squeezed around the galley table aboard the Seize the Day. In spite of the beer and food, Adam was still feeling a little stir-crazy. Part of that was likely due to the image of Josslyn riding him like a warrior princess earlier. The fantasy-come-to-life kept playing on a loop behind his eyelids, fueling his body’s strong desire to do it again. And again. With herculean effort, he yanked his thoughts back into the conversation at hand.

  “Have you found anything connecting Sumner’s wife to Tseng?”

  Ben groaned. “Yet another guy who’s getting lucky.”

  “Yeah, with another man’s wife,” Griffin added, his voice laced with disgust.

  “There is no obvious connection,” Ben continued. “Aside f
rom them both being Taiwanese, I’ve got nothing. They don’t even travel in the same circles. Her money is old and established. His money is a result of the recent technological explosion of the last twenty-five years, although there is evidence that the finances may be stretching a bit thin among the vast network of family members. She’s a well-known socialite. Tseng, on the other hand, mostly keeps to himself.”

  “What about her and Sumner?” Adam was curious how the obnoxious undersecretary managed to snare any woman much less a wealthy socialite. “How did they end up together?”

  “That one’s easier to answer.” Ben pulled up a gossip site on his computer. “They met last year when he was an attaché to the US Embassy in Taiwan. It was somewhat of a whirlwind relationship that caught everyone by surprise. They had wedding ceremonies both in Taiwan and here in Washington. It was quite the political and social statement.”

  “Any evidence that she travels with him?” Josslyn suspected Sumner’s wife for some reason. Adam still hadn’t figured out why. “Could she have been in Africa last week?”

  Ben brought up another article. “According to this, she was in London attending the opening of the new Andrew Lloyd Weber show.”

  Adam studied the photo of Sumner’s wife draped in diamonds and fur as she smiled for the camera. She was accompanied by a tall Asian man who was gazing at her adoringly. “Who’s the guy with her?”

  “A cousin, apparently. He’s the CEO of the family’s pharmaceutical company. The guy has a twin brother. The two of them are known within Singapore society as the ‘Twin Towers,’ a reference to their six-foot-seven height. She’s rarely photographed without one of her family by her side.”

  Griffin sighed with disgust. “With the exception of her husband.”

  Both men turned to stare at him.

  “What?” Griffin shrugged. “Marin hears things in the White House. Sumner’s father is a big Hollywood producer. The rumor is she was only after Sumner so that her family could gain access to the entertainment industry.”

  Adam shook his head. “Wow, if Sumner wasn’t such an asshat, I might feel sorry about his wife’s extramarital activity.”