by Lisa Eugene
“Did you murder those men?” she heard herself ask, her quiet voice fracturing the silence. She wasn’t sure he’d heard her but then saw the evidence in the bulge of his tense shoulders. It was a protracted moment before he turned around.
Another moment slipped by as his hard gaze searched her face. His jaw clenched tightly.
“Have no illusions, Maggie. I’m a killer.”
“Did you murder those three men?” She didn’t know why the distinction meant so much to her.
He frowned. “One, no. Two, yes. In self-defense.” It seemed to cost him something to admit that.
She nodded curtly and exhaled the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. “Would you have killed David?”
He turned back to the computer, silently dismissing her.
“Tell me the truth.”
“Are you still worried about your boyfriend?” She thought she heard amusement in his voice.
“He’s not my boyfriend. He’s my best friend. He lives across the hall. I don’t want him harmed.”
“Go to sleep, Maggie.”
Realizing she’d get no more out of him, she rolled over on her side, resting her head on her clasped hands. A thought circled through her mind, creating a spiral of anxiety that made her restless. She sat up.
“Uumm…where’re you going to sleep?”
“Go to sleep, Maggie,” he said again without turning around.
She gave a long-suffering sigh and rolled over on her side, away from him. Myriad thoughts ran rampant through her brain. There was no way she could sleep while he was in the room, let alone if he was in the same bed. She would force herself to stay awake all night if she had to!
Gabe swung his head from side to side, trying to work out the kinks in his neck. He’d been at the computer for hours and still had only gotten through a third of the data contained on the flash drive. Part of his distraction, he knew, was the puzzling woman solidly asleep behind him. She was smart, and brave, and foolish, and sexy and…he swiveled in his chair and observed her sleeping form…so very tempting, even with her loud wake-the-neighborhood snoring. She was out cold. His gaze slid across her pouty lips. Even in repose she defied him. He scanned her body. Her ass was deliciously round beneath her sweats, and her breasts a virtual bounty he ached to feast on. He felt desire stir at the thought. Although half the time he wanted to throttle her, the other half he wanted to sink his cock into her lush body. He groaned and dragged a hand through his hair. Abandoning any hopes of getting more done tonight, he turned off the computer and pulled out the flash drive.
He’d known that he’d been hired to procure valuable data, but had had no idea it was this significant. He rolled his shoulders, working out his stiff left arm. He never really cared about what he stole. His requisite investigation of an assignment basically ended with its feasibility. He was hired because he was good at what he did—getting impossible things done for large sums of money without asking too many questions. And he never got involved in the essence or often ambiguous morality of what he was hired for. He always kept it simple. No emotional ties. He did what had always had come easy to him, and his training as a SEAL was an added bonus.
There was something, though, about this job that bothered him. He wished he could put his finger on it, but whatever it was kept eluding him. How had that disembodied voice in the alley known his given name? It had been careless of him to leave the cell phone behind with those bodies. It would have given him valuable information. He never would have made such a mistake years ago. Perhaps he was growing apathetic, reckless. He wondered fleetingly why he’d even taken the job.
The past few years he’d been accepting fewer and fewer requests for his services, preferring to exist alone with his demons and guilt. It wasn’t as if he needed the money. He cleared his throat. He knew exactly why he’d taken the job. Harry. It wasn’t often that Harry begged him a favor. Plus, the assignment had seemed straightforward, easy. He realized now too easy. He needed to have a chat with Harry. He’d met him in SEAL training. They were like two lost souls fighting the hounds of hell. Harry had lost the battle, and after sustaining life threatening injuries had to leave after only ten months.
He couldn’t believe it had been five years already since he’d walked away from the SEALs. He grimaced. That seemed to be his MO. Despite pressures from his family, he’d left Harvard business school and joined the Navy at the ripe young age of twenty three. The death of his father had been unbearable. The combination of his rage and guilt had ironically fueled the stamina and discipline he’d needed to get through BUD/S training and move into Tactical.
Completing his requirements in record time, he’d quickly joined a Platoon and was deployed overseas. At first, each assignment had given him the numbing adrenaline rush he’d craved. He’d excelled in every aspect of SEAL life. Until that one mission that had left a void in his soul, and he’d realized he couldn’t do it anymore. He’d quit. It had only been his family’s influence that had saved him from his superiors. He guessed he owed one thing to the Masters’ name.
Determinedly pushing away his thoughts, he refocused on the woman in the bed. He wasn’t planning on intruding on her much longer. Now that he had the drive, he could move on. He’d leave before sunrise. He didn’t want to wear out his welcome. He smiled slowly. Not like he’d ever had one. All he needed was a few hours rest and he’d be good to go. He didn’t want to examine his nagging melancholy at the thought of never seeing her again. Ignoring it, he flicked off the light in the room.
Because he’d drawn all the curtains there was no ambient illumination, and the room was smothered in darkness. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the murky hue. As was his habit, he slipped his gun beneath his pillow and lay fully dressed on the bed. The dip in the mattress caused Maggie to shift in her sleep, and like a contented kitten, she snuggled intimately against him. Her warm curves molded to him, sending a flare of heat racing through his groin. Shit! He’d never get any sleep now. He was already rock hard and aching. Calling on his famed discipline, he took a deep breath and forced his heart rate to slow to a lazy throb.
Half hour later, Gabe was ready to chew nails. Anything would have been easier than trying to discipline his need for the temptation beside him. In her slumber she was delicate, and warm, and restless as she glided against him like a prurient siren. The weight of a toned leg snaked over him, drawing a knee across the protrusion in his pants. He sucked in a sharp breath at the second pass and counted slowly. God, he was no saint! He was trying to convince himself to move to the floor when a needy mewl rumbled from her throat, causing his shaft to jerk attentively. With a tortured moan he rolled over and faced her, searching her shadowed face in the gloom.
Her eyes were still closed, but her breathing had picked up its pace, and her lips were parted and relaxed in invitation. He couldn’t have stopped even if he’d wanted to. His mouth swooped down on hers, first teasing and tasting, then demanding more. She opened her mouth, and he slipped his tongue inside, coaxing hers into a duet. His fingers brushed back her hair, then gripped it tight as he ravished her mouth, his tongue licking and mimicking his flexing hips.
He knew the instant she awoke from her languid haze. He felt her body tense suddenly, but undeterred, he continued to plunder her mouth, sucking her lips and nipping the full bottom flesh. A heated groan inspired him, and he abruptly turned her onto her side with her back tucked against his chest. He pushed her silky hair aside and let his lips play over the supple skin behind her ear and at the nape of her neck. He needed more. He needed her like he needed his next breath and couldn’t stop to try and reason why.
His hand snaked under her top and reached around to cup the firm globe of her breast. He jolted at the feel of her warm skin. His questing fingers instantly attended to her erect peaks, stroking and tormenting the puckered flesh. Her breath hitched, and he speared his fingers into the front of her sweats, forcing himself to calm as he combed through downy curls and encounter
ed a hot, drenching heat. She parted her legs, and his fingers glided slowly over slick, dewy folds. He lightly stroked and petted, circling a nub of flesh that strained for every touch.
“God, you’re so wet!” he whispered against her ear, dipping into her seeping channel.
Her hips bucked against his hand, and he let her ride the fingers he offered her. He listened as her breath panted out hoarsely and floated into the darkness. Her hips churned eagerly on his fingers. Desperately she reached back and sank her nails into the corded muscles of his thigh, causing his engorged cock to swell and jerk as he circled his hips against the ample curve of her ass.
Gabe’s body was on fire. Lust was seeded in every cell of his body and caused sharp spasms to arc through him like shooting stars. Her fingers found his straining flesh, and she squeezed him through his jeans, yanking a loud groan from his throat. Her hips caught a frenetic rhythm, and he whispered into her ear, encouraging her to her peak. He was about to use the pad of his thumb to stroke her towards that goal, but curiosity got the better of him. In one swift move he reached low behind him and withdrew the sleek cylindrical object from the bottom drawer. He’d always been a gadget guy, and he smiled triumphantly as with a twist the object started to vibrate to life. Even in the dark he sensed her shocked protest coming and she started to roll away.
“Shhh, relax,” he coaxed, capturing her lips for a passionate kiss. He pressed behind her again and enveloped her in his arms.
Her body tensed, but the small shudders he felt passing through her revealed her curious anticipation. He ruched up her shirt and passed the vibrating cylinder slowly over her nipple, first one, and then the other. She trembled in his arms, and he could picture her biting her lip to silence her cries of pleasure. He trailed an unhurried path down to her belly button, where he lingered briefly, causing a sweet rush of air from her lips. He followed the slight curve of her lower abdomen. The toy in his hand buzzed softly, and he loved the way it made her flesh quiver beneath his fingers. He tarried for a long moment at the edge of her mons, gently massaging until he could feel the gentle sway of her hips urging him to dive off the cliff into the lush, heated valley below. Instead, he skimmed down the swollen halves of her flesh, ignoring the moist center. She inhaled a sharp, shaky breath, her thighs crowding around his hand, trying to draw him closer.
“Tell me what you want, Maggie.” His breath whispered against her ear. “Where do you want this? What do you do with this?”
She responded with a whimper, a strangled plea for relief.
“Tell me.” He swept up and down again, and then made a fleeting pass over a tight knot of nerves. He felt a gush of slick fluid coat his fingers and groaned harshly, gently biting into the lobe of her ear. Although he enjoyed controlling her pleasure, the result on his already taut body was overwhelming. He was so stiff his shaft pushed eagerly up through the waistband of his pants to curve just below his belly button, the rampant head leaking onto his abdomen and dampening his shirt.
“Tell me!” he commanded harshly.
“Rub, there…” were her tentative words, but her fingers reached down to adjust the purring smoothness exactly where she needed it. Always a quick learner, Gabe swiveled and soothed, swept low against the humming flesh, then pulled back to nudge a sleek fast stroke against her swollen nub. He could feel the vibrations pulse throughout her body, and he reveled in her ardent response and quick breathy sounds. Suddenly her back arched against him, and a strangle moan crawled from her throat.
“Oh yes, Maggie, let go! Let go for me… Let me hear you come…”
A keening cry detonated low in her chest. The blast echoed into the room as her hips bucked and lurched against him in the throes of her orgasm. Just as her convulsions started to subside, he discarded the implement and sank two fingers into her wet rippling body.
“I need to feel you, baby. So hot, so wet…so damn good…”
He plunged deep in and out of her with his fingers, splaying her thighs wide; his brisk, frenzied pace was a sign he was mindlessly spiraling out of control. His heavy muscles bulged, a steel cage around her. Sweat dampened his shirt. She was the sharp focus of every thought, the darkness engulfing him in a sensual matrix. The musky scent of her sex made his mouth water, and the clutching heat around his fingers drove him wild. She crested again with a rolling scream and that was his undoing. He drew her ass tightly to him as his hips slapped rapidly against her, grinding his burning cock into her backside. His balls ached with a maddening fullness.
Then, his swollen flesh thickened, and his body seized as fierce pleasure burst inside him. Lights exploded behind his eyes, and he shook and shook. He blinked in disbelief even as his hips continued to push against her and thick ropes of semen jetted to his chest and pooled on his abdomen. It was a long moment before Gabe regained his equilibrium. A long moment before he reluctantly eased his fingers from the puffy flesh they were still buried in. His harsh breathing slowly simmered in his lungs and he lay exhausted on the pillow.
Holy fuck! His hands were still shaking and he worked hard to discipline his muscles. What the fuck was that?
It was rare that he lost control in the bedroom. But Maggie seemed to have that effect on him, scrambling his control at every turn. In bed and out. She felt so good in his arms he continued to hold her close, wondering what could be going through her brain at that moment. A wry smile pulled at his lips. No doubt she was chafing at the mess he’d made. The humid stickiness coated his abdomen and her lower back. A shower together would be nice. The thought sparked some life into his flagging member, and he groaned inwardly.
He didn’t know how he’d held off earlier, but there was no way he could shower with her and not end up balls deep inside her. Before, he’d wanted to pleasure her, to demolish her barriers and rouse the desire he knew she’d been denying between them. He certainly had not been able to resist the temptation. And it had turned out to be more than he’d expected—a lot more. Deeper, more fulfilling…Strange, because he hadn’t even had sex with her. His release had rocked his world on its axis. Their connection was incredible. Even when they were fighting, it was there like a thread weaved through them and tied them together.
A pang of guilt twisted his gut. He was leaving in a few hours. He was a scoundrel for pressing his attentions when their situation was as autocratically one-sided and as volatile as it was. Hell, he was her captor and her aggressor. He’d done nothing but tyrannize her—or at least tried to—since he’d broken into her apartment. He recognized that her attraction to him—or the lust she felt—was a basic primitive need that couldn’t be denied. He knew there was truly nothing in her heart for him but anger and hatred.
And that’s the way it should be.
His features hardened. He forced himself to uncurl from her supple warmth. Locating the gun beneath the pillow, he flung his long legs off the bed, and strode into the bathroom. He kept the door open as he cleaned up and changed, his senses trained for her movements.
Maggie counted slowly. She even tried to calculate some rudimentary figures. It was a trick her dad had taught her to keep her cool. She admitted the futility of her efforts when she repeatedly bungled her two-times tables. Her befuddled mind would not be distracted by math or any such nonsense. She was still trying to figure out how the most sensually erotic dream had actualized into a deliciously hot reality. She couldn’t believe it. She’d actually been dreaming about him, then she’d been lured from her erotic fantasies and—wow! Her neither regions throbbed in memory as her mind savored the events. His touch had been electric. The stroke of his long fingers like millions of tiny sparks igniting her flesh. He’d…oh God…oh God…had used it! Her body seized with humiliation, but her mind tsked smugly and suggested her discomfiture was only because he was more skilled at using it than she was.
The pleasure from his touch still echoed in every cell of her body. She quivered at the memory of how her body had soared, how his long fingers had masterfully strummed her like a mu
sical instrument. Embarrassingly, she couldn’t recall ever receiving so much satisfaction. Though she and her ex-boyfriend had had sex frequently, he’d been more concerned about slaking his needs than hers, often leaving her frustrated and unsatisfied. That’s when David had taken matters into hand and dragged her to a unique novelty shop tucked away in the Village. That’s when she’d acquired it.
She still blushed at the memory. David called the shop his ‘grocery store of genital goodies. And she’d been surprised that it was much like a grocery store, with seemingly ordinary people pushing shopping carts filled with its and other curious items up and down isles. He’d teased her mercilessly because of the wig and dark glasses she’d insisted on wearing, and repeatedly assured her that she looked like the only weirdo pervert in the store, especially after she’d spent a great deal of time questioning the manager about the most efficacious ways of cleaning and sterilizing the device she’d reluctantly purchased. After being referred to the manufacturer, she’d finally gotten some answers, and had even made suggestions that he assured her would be added as an insert with the product. She’d been thrilled to offer her expertise on infection control.
Maggie inhaled deeply and tried to focus, tried to get a rational grip on this recent turn of events. This was way beyond Stockholm. It was as though her body was held in his thrall. She was still his prisoner. He was still a killer and an admitted thief. She needed to be rid of him. A needful part of her psyche silently wailed in protest and she quickly stymied the intrusion. So many confusing emotions swirling together. She needed to shower. She always rationalized so much better when she was clean.
Gabe switched places with Maggie. He now lay in bed while she idled in the bathroom. They’d both been awkwardly silent about what had transpired earlier. She’d reverted back to glaring at him and him growling at her. He was glad. The last thing he wanted at this hour of the night was a hysterical woman ranting and raving at him for making her come—twice. Although…Maggie wasn’t the hysterical type. She was the adorably vexing type that promised defiance and reprisal.