Now You See Me

by S. Y. Thompson

  “Carson!”

  Carson didn’t respond, but her caresses became more concentrated as her hand finally covered the small, silk covered breast. Erin’s body responded immediately, and Carson could feel the hard bump jab suddenly into the palm of her hand. Carson pulled away from the shell of Erin’s ear to claim her lips in a tender kiss.

  Erin responded avidly, but Carson kept the contact gentle. The kiss was slow, and agonizingly sweet, and Erin was pulled from restful sleep into a loving assault on her senses. Her arms instinctively rose to twine around Carson’s lean form, and hold onto her tightly.

  When Carson finally pulled away to look into her eyes, Erin was compelled to slow things down a little. The alarm hadn’t gone off yet, but no doubt soon would, and they both had a busy day ahead of them.

  “Carson, shouldn’t we...”

  “Shh, loving you will not change my feelings. I will not run away.”

  Carson placed a finger against Erin’s lips to silence her, and this time Erin knew there was no stopping what was going to happen. This was inevitable, just as that first meeting in her office had been. From the time they first spoke, they had been heading for this time, and place. Carson interrupted her thoughts.

  “Don’t talk...love me.”

  What little resistance Erin might have had crumbled when Carson leaned down to capture her lips in another tender kiss. Large hands avidly caressed Erin before they slid under her to cup her hips and Carson pressed herself tight against Erin.

  Erin groaned aloud at the sensation that shot through her body while fireworks went off behind her closed eyes. Tongues tangled and danced sweetly as she eagerly explored the inside of Carson’s mouth to learn the curve of bone and teeth before she slid away to explore the sensitive skin of her throat.

  The pulse under her lips pounded in excitement. Erin sucked more avidly on the tender flesh and forced a groan of arousal from her lover’s throat. Erin relished the loving kisses, and held tightly to Carson. She was more aroused than she could ever remember being.

  “I need to feel you,” Erin rasped thickly, and smiled when Carson quickly sat up and began removing her nightclothes.

  Alabaster skin was revealed slowly to loving eyes. When Carson was almost finished undressing, Erin realized she was still covered with a nightgown. She had just flipped back the blankets and started to remove the garment when Carson stopped her.

  “No,” she whispered. “Let me,”

  Carson rested her hand over Erin’s thundering heart and watched in fascination as her nipples hardened even more under the silken material. Then she held Erin’s gaze, and slid her hand down the slender frame until she reached the hem, before she slid her hand underneath to caress the soft skin of Erin’s inner thigh.

  “Please,” Erin groaned.

  Carson pushed the gown up until she could pull it over Erin’s head before she dropped it negligently to the floor. Then she lay down against her side, and kissed her again and began slowly to touch the soft skin.

  Erin could feel Carson’s controlled urgency but she had waited far too long to rush this incredible event. She pulled away for only a moment and whispered, “Relax, trust me...I will take care of you.”

  Even while Erin spoke, her fingers moved to the juncture between Carson’s legs, and dipped into the heat and wetness she found there. At the first touch, Carson cried out and buried her face against Erin’s neck. Erin slid into the creamy wetness, barely entering between Carson’s folds before she brought the moisture up to swirl over swollen hardness. She pushed Carson onto her back before she lowered her head to take a hard nipple into her mouth, and swirled her tongue on it with the same maddening pattern as her fingers.

  Carson clutched Erin’s shoulders as her body arched against Erin’s touch. She writhed and trembled, but Erin was relentless as Carson shuddered in her arms. Then Carson cried out again as she climaxed unexpectedly, the sound tore from her throat as she shook. Erin continued to caress her, and glanced up to see Carson’s eyes closed tight against the excruciating pleasure.

  Gradually, Erin slowed her pace as the tremors eased. When Carson could only rest against the mattress in a boneless mass, Erin finally moved up her body to kiss her gently. To her surprise, Carson immediately captured her lips in a fierce kiss, and her body tensed again.

  Erin cradled Carson’s face, and kissed her possessively. Her own need burned, but Carson needed more and Erin was ready to give it to her. She slid a hand down across Carson’s ribcage, and belly, stroking gently until she parted Carson’s trembling legs.

  Erin caught the gasp from the aroused woman in her own mouth and slowly penetrated her with one long, slender finger. Carson’s hips lifted off the mattress as she tried to encourage Erin to move deeper.

  Carson tore her mouth away from the soft lips and pleaded. “Please...more...deeper,”

  Her fingers dug painfully into Erin’s shoulders in urgency, but Erin

  wanted to move slowly since it was Carson’s first time. She didn’t want to hurt her. Slowly and carefully, Erin moved inside Carson. At the same time, she kissed her deeply until Carson relaxed against her. As she relaxed, Erin felt another flood of moisture and moved easier inside Carson’s body until she felt her start to tremble.

  “Please,” Carson begged again. She whimpered in need and arched against Erin’s fingers. “More.”

  Erin was long past coherent thought by now. She slid another finger into Carson and began to push into her slowly. Carson’s arms were around Erin’s shoulders as she held on tightly, and countered the gentle rhythm.

  Carson’s pulsing body gripped the two fingers that pushed strongly into her. Her hips undulated as Erin matched her movements and sped up the pace. Their lovemaking became frenzied as each unleashed the passion they had held back for days.

  Reflexively, Erin began to rub herself against Carson’s muscled thigh, gratified when she raised her leg to press firmly against Erin’s heated center.

  Erin suddenly arched and cried out as she was gripped and shaken by the strength of the orgasm that claimed her. The sensation was all-consuming and drowned out all coherent thought as she clung to Carson.

  The rapture on Erin’s face as she peaked, along with the feel of warm flesh that skidded deliciously against her swollen clitoris, triggered Carson’s own release. It carried her along on a tide of pleasure until she lay limp and completely unable move.

  Finally, Erin felt Carson stir beneath her, and reluctantly pulled her fingers free. She smiled when Carson immediately snuggled against her with tears shining in her eyes. “My God, that was incredible!”

  “Tell me again why you wanted to wait.”

  Carson looked at Erin in astonished outrage before she saw the mischief on her face. Then both of them started to laugh.

  Erin’s breath caught in her throat. She looked down at Carson with her hair tangled and spread across the pillow and desire ignited again.

  “I hope you’re not tired,” Erin said huskily.

  Carson easily read her intent and shuddered at the feral look in Erin’s eyes. It was early morning, and Carson knew she should still be tired, but sleep was the last thing on her mind. All she could think about, at the moment, was all of the pleasures Erin could introduce her to.

  “Not at all.”

  “Good.”

  Erin moved closer very slowly. Carefully she brushed her lips across Carson’s, teasing, and stoking the fires of passion. She pulled away until she could look into Carson’s eyes that looked black in the low light.

  “I...want you,” Erin whispered into Carson’s mouth. She had almost admitted her true feelings and just barely caught herself. She wasn’t ready for that admission yet.

  “I want you, too,” Carson said and kissed her fully. Carson rose up to turn Erin onto her back. “But this time I want to touch you.”

  “Oh, yes, my darling. Anything you want.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  SOMETIMES THE SHARP edge of fury felt as though
it had always been with him, harsh and insistent like the grief that pervaded his soul. It was the one constant in his life now just as the love and tenderness had been when Mary lived. He resolutely pushed any gentle emotions away. Tenderness now would weaken his resolve, and he couldn’t do that to Mary’s memory.

  The sky was overcast and the full face of the moon barely shone through the darkness to illuminate the frozen white tundra. Anyone else would have been virtually blinded by the lack of light, but he had been born into darkness. His eyes easily discerned the hulking monstrosity that jutted like a gigantic sore from the earth around the reservoir. Marsters claimed that being near a large body of water was necessary in case of a meltdown from all of the chemicals housed in the research labs, but he was sure the true reason was much more insidious.

  He had come to believe that Marsters deliberately poured their toxic waste into the large bodies of water around their labs in addition to what the smoke stacks poured into the air. It was no secret that they maintained defense contracts with the government, and it was very little stretch from there to believe that the research company tested their results on the surrounding populace. In time he came to believe that the cancer that claimed Mary and the others had been caused from a botched experiment of deliberately released biochemical compounds, and had probably surprised Marsters as much as anyone else.

  But, surprised or not, their ignorance was no excuse and he wouldn’t let them continue their experiments. Even if he were only one man, he would bring them down.

  It was easy to get blueprints of the Krycheck Research and Development plant along the Hoover Reservoir in Columbus, Ohio. Even if what they did there was classified, the building plans were not. A quick stop by City Hall late on a Friday night yielded the plans on microfiche. The library was almost empty, and no one had any interest in a lone man working diligently away in an obscure and little used corner. A baseball cap pulled low over his eyes, and a thick trench coat helped him maintain anonymity.

  With the layout carefully studied and memorized, he finally set his plan in motion. He stumbled on the uneven bank of the Hoover Reservoir as he approached the research lab from the riverside. There was a high, electrified chain link fence around the perimeter of the secure lab so he had to find an alternate route. The drainage pipes that fed waste into the water would be the perfect place to find a way in. It wasn’t hard to find the entrance with the light of a full moon. Three cavernous openings were visible as huge dark shadows.

  The wind off the bay chapped his face even through the protection of the heavy beard, but he ignored it as he fumbled with gloved hands to find the flashlight in the bottom of his coat pocket. A bulky backpack gave him a hunched appearance, but it was necessary since it carried all of the supplies he would need to carry out his self-appointed task.

  Humidity dampened his skin and began to crystallize in the frigid air, but finally he found the light and entered the central shaft. With one hand on the curved wall for support, he stumbled into total blackness. He couldn’t risk turning the light on yet for fear that it would be seen by one of the security guards who patrolled the research lab.

  Detritus filled the mouth of the drainage pipe and proved that they hadn’t been flushed in quite some time. It was just more proof of shoddy safety precautions, as far as he was concerned. Ignoring the urge to retch from the cloying stench, he stepped over the pile and into something that squished heavily underfoot. His face twisted in disgust and he finally fumbled for the flashlight switch. Still concerned with being seen before he could carry out his objective he cupped his hand over the light and picked his way carefully forward.

  Rats scurried away from the flashlight, skittering and chittering in fright at the human intrusion into their domain. He ignored the vermin and traveled deep under the research lab until he came to an intersection where the mouth of the three tunnels began. There was a raised platform where workers could come into the tunnels in case maintenance was needed, but at this time of night, the area was deserted. Up there somewhere was an access point into the basement of the research facility.

  Determination settled within him as he thought again of Mary. Sweet Mary had never harmed another, and even after she got sick, refused to be angry at those responsible. She didn’t deserve what happened to her, and even if she could never have blamed them, he could.

  Crossing the trisection of corridors, he saw a tiny set of steps in the far left corner. He was up the steps in no time and moved along the raised walkway until he found a metal door set almost seamlessly into the concrete wall. As he suspected, it was locked, but he had come prepared for almost any problem. He sat the heavy backpack down on the concrete walkway as quietly as possible. Metal items inside shifted and clanked together, but the noise was so slight no one could have heard through the door.

  A quick glance through a small inset window assured him no one was nearby. He fished a crowbar out of the backpack and made quick work of the low-tech deadbolt. He pulled a can of WD-40 from the pack and sprayed the hinges to reduce the noise from what was to come next. Then he used the crowbar again to open the door.

  Images of those he had killed in the Holcomb Building suddenly came to mind and he froze at the realization that he hadn’t minded the bloody work. Snapping the woman guard’s neck had been as easy as breaking dry kindling. The fear in the other’s eyes had made him feel strong, invincible. Could it be that by taking the life of everyone that had any part in Mary’s death made him stronger? Was that why every move he made to destroy Marsters was undetected by the police, and why he had come so far? Maybe this was fate’s way of making things up to him. But even if he brought Marsters to its knees it would never be enough to make up for his loss.

  That thought made him angrier than ever, and his hands shook a little when he put the crowbar back into the pack. No, it would never be enough.

  Silently he passed through the doorway and into a low-lit maintenance access way. He didn’t need the flashlight now, and put it into his pocket before he walked confidently down a path that would take him directly underneath the facility. There he would plant C-4 in copious amounts all around the subterranean structure. Liberal amounts of explosive in the corners and on all support beams would bring the facility down around the nightshift worker’s ears. Secondary and tertiary explosions from the chemicals would do the rest of the work for him. A smile completely devoid of humor settled on his dark features as he began to shape the charges.

  “IT LOOKS FINE to me. It’s just standard legal mumbo jumbo, but essentially it meets all of the points of agreement that you mentioned to me.”

  Carson sat in Erin’s office being assured there was nothing out of the ordinary in the government contract. Her meeting with Colonel Anderson wasn’t for another half hour, but Erin had gone over the documents far enough ahead of schedule for them to discuss the details. Before she checked the documents, Erin assured her that it was perfectly fine for her legal counsel to do so even considering the top secret nature of the details.

  Carson knew she should be listening to Erin’s take on the contract, but memories from last night and early this morning crowded her thoughts. All she could see was the movement of wine shaded lips as Erin spoke and remembered how sweet those lips felt on her skin. Sharp desire surged through her, and she tingled at the remembered sensations Erin had introduced her to. Her breath quickened slightly as her world narrowed down to those lips. Erin was looking down at the documents while she spoke and didn’t see Carson’s silent gasp when her tongue darted out to moisten her lips.

  That tongue had stroked Carson into ecstasy only a few hours ago, and Carson’s body clenched in unconscious anticipation of a repeat performance.

  Suddenly Erin looked up, concerned that Carson hadn’t answered her question. Carson’s blue eyes were dark and half lidded with desire. Her lips were parted slightly as her breath rushed past them. Erin felt an answering charge through her own body and stared deeply into her lover’s eyes.

&nb
sp; After a moment, she said, “If you keep looking at me like that my behavior toward my client might become...unprofessional.”

  “If we were not here, I would already have you beneath me.”

  Erin sucked in a surprised breath and held it briefly. Then she let it out with a rush. All of her ideas on office etiquette came back to haunt her in that instant. Erin remembered how she was about office affairs, and how uncomfortable she had been with the idea that Amy might figure out something was going on between her and Carson. Then she remembered last night, and how easily Carson had gotten past all of her defenses in such a short amount of time. She still didn’t want to be caught in a compromising position at work, but speaking like this would hardly bring the corporate world crashing down around her ears.

  A little flirtation was harmless, but Erin wouldn’t let it go any farther than that right now.

  “Hold on to that thought,” Erin told her in her sexiest growl. Secretly she delighted in the visible shudder that went through Carson’s lean frame before she concentrated again on the contract in her hands. “I was asking if there was something in particular that bothered you about the contract.”

  “No, I just don’t want to overlook anything vital and give the government control of our research because of some loophole.”

  Erin shook her head. “I don’t see anything here that would do that.”

  “That’s a relief. Well, I suppose I should let you get some other work done,” Carson said and stood up. “I need to see Joyce for a moment before the colonel arrives for our meeting. Will you be there?”

  “Of course. I am representing your company now, remember?”

  Erin stood and walked to the door with Carson. For some reason she wasn’t ready for Carson to leave and searched for a more personal topic to get Erin to stay for a moment longer.

  “My father called earlier. He really enjoyed meeting you.”

  Carson looked down at Erin and smiled. They had stopped just before the closed door and were well within one another’s personal space. She saw the golden flecks in Erin’s brown eyes and resisted the urge to take Erin into her arms.