Roberts, Sarah - Action Hero Junkie [Movieland] (BookStrand Publishing Romance)

by Sarah Roberts

  Mia caught her breath. The heat in his electric blues almost scorched her. “Which was?”

  He slid his fingers into the nape of her damp hair and pulled her head back. His eyes glittered down at her. “Let’s work on that time together.”

  “Okay,” she whispered, just before his mouth crushed hers.

  He picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, kicking the door shut with his boot. Then he had his wicked way with her. It wasn’t exactly PG-13.

  Mia’s plain white cotton undies didn’t bother him.

  Chapter Six

  It was barely dawn when Aiden wakened her. His arms were still wrapped around her. A warm hand squeezed one of her breasts like it was a ripe melon. The fingers of his other hand played wickedly between her thighs. She was still drowsy, but her body was already stirring. Mia said something witty. “Mmph.”

  His thick, hot length slid into her from behind. Mia might have moaned. She wasn’t sure. The slow friction of his big rod was creating good sensations, the kind that made her body hum. With her eyes still closed, Mia reached back and grasped his undulating hip.

  He picked up her top leg, grasping it behind the knee, and held it up in the air. His shaft thrust deeper inside her. Mia arched her back. Oh, hell yeah! He tightened his hold and began to move faster, harder. “God, I love your body,” he muttered into her ear.

  “I kinda got that last night about the third or fourth orgasm,” Mia gasped. He was rocking her hard. Her breasts bounced. Flames started licking up quick-time through her body. She was a bonfire about to burn out of control. Aiden was masterfully fanning the conflagration.

  “You’re going to come again, Mia! And so am I!”

  She couldn’t argue with a plan like that. She exploded, the tremors of earthquake shaking her. The blaze consumed her. Through the intense rolling heat, Mia felt Aiden coming inside of her. This time, he hadn’t worn a condom. It didn’t seem to matter a whole lot.

  It was a while before they managed to roll out of bed and get ready for the day. Mia discovered new, crisp, perfectly fitting military issue clothing in the closet in her size. She was already one contented, sexed-out woman. Finding out that she was still in the movie was a bonus. Her good spirits rose up even another increment when she found the new set of Victoria’s Secret matching pink bra and panties. She didn’t even have to fight bedhead! Her hair behaved itself, not a frizz in sight. I love having magical movie-dust sprinkled over me!

  After she gave Aiden a hot, tongue-in-the-throat, bone-crushing good-bye kiss, Mia cheerfully waved him off to do his soldier stuff. He looked like a stunned ox, and he was walking kind of funny. She giggled. Poor guy. Duty called.

  The jeep driver, who had watched with interest the fervent good-bye kiss, grinned at her and winked when she climbed in the jeep. He whisked her off to the field hospital. “Have a good one, ma’am.”

  “Thanks!” Mia smiled to herself as she strode inside the hospital. She felt happy and confident. She didn’t care anymore that she wasn’t a real doctor in real life. Here, in action-movie land, she seemed to have all of the training and skills she needed. She was looking forward to a good day.

  After Mia’s shift at the field hospital, she was informed by her jeep driver that the general wanted to see her at headquarters after she’d had a chance to clean up.

  When Mia got to headquarters, an aide escorted her to the general’s work area. She saw that Aiden was already there. Mia grinned at sight of him, but Aiden didn’t smile back. He looked pretty serious. So Mia rearranged her face to look serious, too. She didn’t put her hands on him or kiss him like she wanted to, either. She didn’t know what the military protocol was. She might get him into trouble with a public display of affection. Maybe we’d both get the firing squad, what do I know?

  The aide asked Mia if she wanted a cup of coffee. After working in the field hospital all day, a shot of caffeine sounded good to her. “Okay.”

  The general greeted Mia with a nod. There was a measure of approval in his expression when he looked at her. “I hear that you did quite a job yesterday, Dr. Haven. I’m grateful.”

  Mia nodded. All day, she’d had a certain question burning inside of her, so she just blurted it out. “I’m curious, sir. Where did all of those wounded come from? Surely not just from here. It isn’t possible.”

  The general rolled his unlit cigar between his teeth. “You’re right, ma’am. Our forces are fighting on more than one front. This base is a catchall.”

  Mia thought that made as much sense as anything else. Actually, she reflected, it made a lot of sense, in a weird way. There were a lot of action and military-themed movies. The wounded and dead had to go somewhere offscreen. Mia wondered if she would see any casualties from the thrillers or spy flicks. The Queen’s man, 007, always racked up a few. She might even see Bond himself! Mia was majorly juiced. She really, really loved action movies! She grinned, feeling happy with her strange new world. “I feel right at home.”

  “Much as we need someone like you on a permanent basis, Dr. Haven, you cannot remain here.”

  Mia snapped back into the moment. She looked at the general. The general stared back, his face expressionless. His cigar didn’t even twitch. Suddenly, she was getting a really bad vibe. She shot a look at Aiden. He didn’t look very happy, and he kind of avoided her eyes. Uh-oh. Funny, isn’t it, how something great can be shit-canned in an instant? And you don’t even see it coming. “What? Why can’t I stay?”

  The general shook his head. Mia thought she saw a glint of regret flash in his narrow stare, but his jaw was rock hard. “You worked at the civilian clinic.”

  “Uh, okay.” Mia frowned. Civilian clinic? She could only suppose that the general was talking about the hospital. The real hospital, in the real world. She was thinking hard, trying to find the logic. She guessed that she had to be explained some way in the movie. It all made a crazy kind of sense, when she thought about it.

  The general gestured with his squared hand. “You work for that international aid outfit, right?”

  Mia lifted the cup of coffee to her mouth. “Mmm.” She didn’t want to lie. She was a real person stuck in celluloid. She didn’t think the general would want to hear that.

  The general didn’t seem to need her to say anything. “You will be missed. We can’t just have you disappear. It would cause all kinds of trouble.”

  Yuh think? Mia almost rolled her eyes. Yeah, there would be trouble if she didn’t show back up in her life. Her apartment manager would miss getting the rent. He always got kind of pissy about little things like that. “I can see how it might, sir.”

  “I don’t want an international incident.”

  “Of course not, sir.” Mia snorted to herself. Like that was going to happen. The movie plot didn’t exactly revolve around her, now did it? Aiden wasn’t exactly a lead character, while she was just a few forgettable minutes on screen. Mia sighed over that unpalatable truth. She took another sip of coffee. It tasted bitter.

  “I am glad you are taking this so well, Dr. Haven.”

  “I think I always knew that my time here was limited, general.” Mia glanced over at Aiden. He had been silent the whole time. When he saw her looking at him, he gave her a sad half-smile. She felt a twinge somewhere in the vicinity of her heart. But there was a spurt of anger, too. She didn’t understand it. She didn’t have any reason to be angry at Aiden. He hasn’t said anything! Why doesn’t he say something? She buried the uncomfortable feeling.

  The general rolled his unlit cigar some more. He looked at Aiden, and he swiveled his boxy head to look at Mia. There was a fierce look in his hard eyes. Then he shook his head. “All right, Smith! Let’s get back to work.”

  The two men turned to bend over the table with the maps. While Mia sipped her coffee, she brooded darkly. It so wasn’t fair. She had found this gorgeous, wonderful hunk, and she couldn’t keep him. The script sucked.

  After a while, she started paying attention to what the genera
l and Aiden were talking about. Something about a missing spook. It sounded a whole lot more interesting than listening to her own whiny thoughts. They were debating about some of the details of the layout of the commandant’s fortress. Mia put in her two cents. “The barracks faces the west side of the courtyard. The munitions room is directly opposite the barracks.”

  The general pivoted slowly. He stared at her with his fierce eyes. “You’ve been inside the compound?”

  “Well, no.” She didn’t think it was a good idea to explain to them that she’d seen parts of the compound on a big movie screen. “But certain things I do know.”

  Mia stepped up to the blueprint on the table. She looked at it for a minute, getting oriented in her mind. She nodded to herself, satisfied that she had it straight. She pointed. “Yeah, this is the commandant’s office. See this window? It overlooks the town. He stands there sometimes. The rest of that wing, the one with the sea view, is the private quarters of the commandant.” She made a face. “It’s where he takes his women. Sometimes you can hear their screams in the courtyard. And over here” —she ran her fingertip along another side of the blueprint—“There aren’t any windows on this side of the building. This must be where prisoners are held.”

  “You can hear their screams.” Aiden repeated her words in a slow, heavy monotone.

  Mia looked up to meet Aiden’s eyes. He was gazing at her with such a cold, controlled fury that it made shivers run up and down her spine. Mia carefully trimmed the truth. “The soldiers talk in the cantina. Sometimes the women are taken to the clinic—after.”

  The general and Aiden exchanged an identical grim look. The general’s jaw worked, and his cigar jiggled wildly. He struck his hand flat against the table. The clap of sound made Mia jump. She spilled her coffee, but luckily, it had already cooled. She switched the cup to her other hand and dried her wet fingers on her pants.

  “I want this son-of-a-bitch, bad! We’ll take the bastard out if the opportunity shows itself. Our number one priority is still to free our man, but our intel is too sketchy. We can’t go in on what we’ve got. We’ve already sustained too many losses.”

  Aiden thoughtfully frowned down at the blueprint. “Sir, what we need is someone on the inside, someone who knows the layout of the compound and the routines of the guards.”

  “Uh, I might be able to help you there.” Mia found herself again the target of two pairs of narrowed, sharp eyes. “Do you know of a man called Cadero?”

  “Who is he?” The general’s voice was rough. He chomped furiously on his unlit cigar.

  “He used to be one of the commandant’s lieutenants. He hates the commandant’s guts.”

  “How do you know this Cadero can be trusted?”

  Mia drew in her breath and gave them the movie backstory. She hoped she wasn’t messing up the movie by clueing them in. After all, this part was supposed to have taken place a long time before the military action had hit the screen. “Cadero questioned orders. Instead of having him killed, the commandant sent Cadero away for duty somewhere else. When Cadero returned, he found out the commandant had got hold of his sister. She hasn’t been seen since—at least, not by anyone I’m aware of—but it’s said she doesn’t walk now.”

  The general’s face darkened, and the lines bracketing his mouth deepened. “What happened then?”

  “Cadero went crazy, tried to attack the commandant. He was beaten up pretty bad then taken out in a boat and dumped overboard in the harbor. Somehow he made it back to shore. Some townspeople found him on the beach and hid him.”

  “So Cadero is in hiding.” The general’s bushy eyebrows bristled in a ferocious frown. “Do you know where?”

  Mia shook her head. “He has friends at the cantina. Not the soldiers, but others, like the bartender.”

  “He might be the edge we need.” The general didn’t take long to think about it. He nodded decisively. “Find Cadero for me, Smith.”

  “There’s just one more little thing you might want to know.” Mia looked at the general, then at Aiden, then back at the general. “Cadero is really, really mean, and really, really crazy.”

  “Loose cannon.” The general’s voice was dispassionate. He shrugged. “We’ll have to watch him close, then.”

  “Sir, I’ve also got another idea. Mia says the commandant has a habit of standing at the window of his office. What if we put a sniper in the church bell tower?” Aiden took his thumbnail and ran a trajectory line from point to point on the map of the town.

  “Just on the chance of getting off a shot? Risky, but I like it.” The general gave an approving nod. He smiled, baring his teeth clenched around the cigar. “Good! I’ll give the order.” The general looked at Mia, and she swore that she could see regret in his hard eyes. “You’ve been a great help in your short stay with us, Dr. Haven. We will miss you. Smith will see that you get back to the clinic tonight.”

  “Tonight?” Mia thought she could feel a part of her drop into her toes that had no business being there. It felt real heavy, and she thought it was bleeding.

  “I think it will be best. That is all.” With a last look at Mia and Aiden, the general turned his back on them. His posture was stiff. Mia knew it would be of no use to argue.

  Mia felt numb. Aiden took her arm and urged her to movement. She didn’t know what she did with the coffee cup. She might even have dropped it. Without opening her mouth even once, Mia let Aiden guide her out of the headquarters building and into the hot sunlight.

  They walked the short distance to Aiden’s quarters. Neither one of them said a word. Mia couldn’t seem to wrap her mind around it. She had to leave tonight. Just before she stepped inside, she looked up at the skies. The sun was already starting to sink, streaking pink and gold across the clouds. They didn’t have long. She was shrieking inside. What happened to my happy-ever-after?

  Mia began to feel frantic. “It isn’t supposed to end like this! Not so soon!”

  Aiden guided her to the sofa and sat her down. He dropped down beside her. His weight squished the cushion, and she fell against him. He took her hand and laced his fingers through hers. He sighed heavily. “Mia, I’m being sent out on a mission. I have to see that you get safely back home before I go.”

  Mia clutched his hand really hard. “But you proposed to me!” she blurted. “I can’t go yet!” She had gotten tears in her eyes. She swiped them away with her free hand.

  Aiden looked pained. “You’ve got to know I still want to marry you. That hasn’t changed.”

  “But how? When?” Mia wanted answers, good ones that she could live with. Mia felt like her insides were cracking open and she was oozing out. It hurt, a lot.

  Aiden shook his head slowly. When he looked at her, his gorgeous electric-blue eyes looked bleak. He abruptly muttered a nasty curse under his breath. “This is what Caesar was really trying to warn me about.”

  Mia leaped up. She was furious. She balled her hands into fists. “Don’t give me that civilian versus Special Ops bull, Aiden! I don’t want to hear it! Just say what you really mean! You don’t want to be with me!”

  “My heart is being ripped out of my chest!”

  All of her anger deflated. “Oh!” Hot tears spilled out of her eyes. Mia dropped to her knees in front of him and tried to hug as much of him as she could get her arms around. He hugged her back, really hard. Mia suspected he might be crying, too. She couldn’t see his face because it was pressed against the top of her head.

  Then Aiden eased her away from him, his strong hands gentle on her. “Mia, I want you to have this.” He reached up and pulled a silver chain out from under his shirt collar. There was a small medallion hanging on it. “It’s St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers and soldiers. Will you wear it for me, Mia?”

  Mia nodded, too choked up to say anything. Aiden undid the clasp and then put the silver chain around her neck. The medallion fell in the hollow between her breasts. Mia reached up. She wrapped her fingers so hard around the silver d
isk that the little carven image indented her flesh. It was a powerful talisman. She was a traveler from out of her own world, and Aiden was a soldier. It meant a lot that Aiden had given her the St. Christopher medallion. “Will I ever see you again?” She sounded so pathetic and knew it, but she didn’t care.

  Aiden bent down and lifted her right up into his lap. He didn’t strain at all. She gulped. She was so going to miss those muscles! Mia snuggled against his broad shoulder. When he wrapped her up in his big arms, she felt his chest rise in a huge sigh. “I’ll try, Mia.”

  She started to cry again. Aiden raised her face and kissed her. Then he pressed his forehead against hers. “Don’t cry, Mia. Please. I can’t stand it!”

  “I’ll c–cry if I want to!”

  Aiden gave kind of a choked laugh and kissed her again. Mia grabbed his head and opened her mouth, desperate to taste him. Their tongues tangled together. One thing led to another. She clutched him. He clutched her.

  Their clothes flew apart and littered the floor.

  Aiden and Mia came together like heat-seeking missiles. They rolled around on the rug, knocking up against the furniture. Mia felt the bruises coming up, but she didn’t care, as long as he made her part of him. Aiden was hard and hot and frenzied. His mouth, his hands, and his sex all branded her. It was heart-slamming, scorching, explosive. It was absolutely the best good-bye sex of Mia’s life. She had only one coherent thought left.

  Damn it, I don’t want to get a nice cuddly cat!

  Chapter Seven

  The first thing Mia knew about ‘the plan’ was when she went out the exit door of the theater into the night, and Aiden and Caesar followed her. She was startled and suspicious. “What are you doing?”

  She watched Caesar scurry lithely across the theater parking lot, his black shadow moving across the moonlit asphalt. His big gun was in his hands. Mia was distinctly alarmed. She pointed after his retreating form. “What is he doing?”