“This is my condo,” Penny said. “My father is the owner of Sentry Security. He sent Ian to get me out of here.” She explained the how the roaming gang had chased her into the bunker twice.
“We got a call about a fight, but we also know there is a gang roaming around here,” one of the young officers said while his partner checked Ian’s credentials. “We’ve been trying to track them down.”
“We’ve got a big problem in my back yard you need to see.” Penny launched into another explanation about Frank, including the details about him stalking her in California. “Ian took him down. He’s hogtied in the back yard.”
One of the officer’s lifted one eyebrow. “I’m impressed.”
His partner kept a stern frown. “Did you hurt him?”
“Hell yeah, I hurt him. He’s probably got a concussion. He needs an ambulance,” Ian said.
The stern officer used his shoulder radio to call for medical backup.
A third officer asked, “I take it you were in the military?”
Ian kept an even stance, not even crossing his arms in what could be interpreted as a defensive or arrogant posture. “British Special Air Service.”
Penny relaxed a little when this seemed to break the ice with the officers. Two of the police officers went to the backyard while Ian and Penny waited with the one who’d questioned Ian about his military service.
When the other officer returned from the police cruiser, he handed Ian his identification. “Congratulations. You check out.”
“We don’t have wheels any longer,” Ian said.
Ian had already explained his mission and that he needed to get her back to Buckleport.
The cop shrugged. “Not sure I can help you. We’re up to our ears in crap here.”
Ian nodded. “Understood. But if you see me hotwiring a vehicle, don’t arrest me, okay?”
The officer grinned and nodded. “Deal.”
Eventually the ambulance came, but right before that, Frank woke up. Though Penny and Ian stood in the front yard, she could hear Frank yelling obscenities and accusing Ian of attacking him. But then he rambled on about Penny being the devil’s concubine and how she should submit to him. When they brought Frank around the side of the condo, his hands cuffed and stumbling along, Ian slipped his arm around Penny’s shoulders. She automatically looped her arm around his waist and snuggled into his side.
Ian held her tightly and whispered in her ear. “It’s all right.”
Frank glared at them and then his lips curled into an ugly grin. “Bitch! You’re the devil’s cunt, you know that Penny?”
“Watch your language,” the officer leading him to the cruiser said in a deadpan voice.
Frank obliged, and when the officer stuffed him in the car, Penny felt a sense of relief. The ambulance came a short time later, and Frank was transported to the hospital. It took a long time for the officers to finish questioning Penny and Ian. Penny said she’d press charges and signed some paperwork. Once the officers learned Ian was taking Penny to Buckleport to her father, they didn’t insist she stay in town, especially after they saw the trashed condition of the condo. When they left, Penny felt as if a million spiders were skating over her skin, her nerves prickling and jumping. She just wanted to run until she could escape this place. She turned to the condo, wanting to hide from everything that had happened. Ian followed and clasped her arm to turn her back to him.
His gaze was unyielding and with little understanding in his eyes. “Why the hell didn’t you stay in the bunker like I asked?”
Tears welled in her eyes and blurred her vision. Anger rode close behind. She sucked in a deep breath and turned away. She need a few moments. She headed straight for the bunker. Her heart was still pounding, and she thought she might start screaming. No, not screaming. She didn’t know what she would do. She heard him following and quickened her steps. When she reached the bunker she stalked straight for the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. She chugged, almost choking as she finished more than half the bottle. She slammed it onto a table and stood with her head hanging down. Her skull no longer throbbed, but her mind whirled. Part of her felt as if she might explode.
The bunker door shut, and she heard him lock it. Here they were again. Locked away. He went into the bathroom, and she heard the water running. Of course. He probably had blood on his hands or his knuckles bled or…Her stomach lurched.
After a few moments he returned.
“Penny. Hey.” His voice had that tone. Her father’s matter-of-fact tone that made her anger or concerns illegitimate.
She turned toward him but didn’t make a move. “Hey? That’s all you have to say?”
“Did you…” His mouth twisted a second. He planted his hands on his hips. “Did you still have feelings for him?”
“Are you kidding me?” Her voice rose. “No. God, no. I was afraid he’d get the drop on you somehow and kill you.”
Silence shrouded them for a few moments until he spoke again. “Did he hurt you?”
“No.” She heard the tremble in her voice and realized her body was shaking. “I mean…he knocked me down and I hit my head, but it isn’t anything.”
“Hit your head?” He sounded angry again. “Why didn’t you say something? You should have been in the ambulance.”
“Stop telling me what to do, Ian. How to feel. My head doesn’t even hurt anymore.”
“Doesn’t matter. You could have a concussion.”
Adrenaline mixed with pure happiness that Ian had returned in one piece and survived a very short fight. She’d never experienced both emotions at one time. It was a confusing array so sharp and harsh. Once more, a wave of awareness cracked her wide open and made her forget all the sense she was born with. Why? Why the hell couldn’t she resist this explosive, ridiculous attraction to Ian MacDaniel?
Ian stripped off his vest and holster and placed them on the bench. “I’m sorry.”
His voice was soft, a low rumble that held genuine sincerity. He strode toward her—it wasn’t as if he had far to go before he was less than a foot away. She stared up at him, feeling the heat off his body, smelling his male scent. His gaze snagged hers and held. Exasperation hadn’t left his face, and the wildness still burned in his eyes. He looked like he wanted to strangle her or fuck her. That slammed into her full force like a body blow. His fists were clutched at his sides. His chest moved up and down, and his nostrils flared.
“You were gone longer than you said you would be,” she said thickly. “I wasn’t staying in here and rotting while you might have needed my help.”
“And look what happened,” he said, his voice raspy and rough with his thick accent. “That wanker could have raped you or worse. And now you’re angry with me.”
Her irritation rose higher and hotter.
“You just yelled at me for not staying down in the bunker.” She shook her head, unable to deal. “Just forget what happened. Forget it.”
“I don’t get why you’re acting this way. I understood when I left because I wouldn’t take you with me, but you’re still ready to rip me a new one.” His attention stayed on her face, searching. His voice lowered to a husky timbre that smoothed over her senses like a caress. “Were you crying just now? Were you worried?”
“What if I was? First you didn’t show up when you said you would and then Frank comes in and you fight him and—” She threw her hands up.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “Penny I—I didn’t mean to take so long. The SUV is trashed, my assault rifle is gone. Apparently the new security system your father had put in the SUVs doesn’t work worth dick. You should have stayed—”
“Stop.” Her gaze tangled with his. “Stop trying to control me. I won’t get involved with a man who acts like my father. I won’t. It isn’t going to happen.”
“Who are you trying to convince? Me or yourself?”
That stung, because she knew the answer. It was her all the way.
He moved in closer, and though h
e wasn’t touching her anywhere, his strength, purpose and masculinity affected her on a very deep level. Her breath quickened as her gaze landed on his mouth.
“I’m angry. That’s why I cried,” she said.
“I see.”
Did he? She wouldn’t enlighten him. She’d never felt more on the edge of a discovery, more heightened in her awareness of him. Fragility threatened to break her into tiny pieces.
“I left the shelter because I thought something bad had happened to you. That you might need rescuing, you big idiot,” she said, her voice raspy. “Then you and Frank…I didn’t know what would happen.”
“You were worried about me?” he asked softly, that damnable sexy accent turning her inside out and liquid with longing.
“Of course not. You can handle yourself.”
Ian didn’t answer at first.
Eventually he snorted softly. “You’re contradicting yourself. Which is it? You were worried about me or you weren’t?”
She felt irrational. Admitting feelings to him would mean he’d won. The dominating male with his soul-stealing looks and off-the-charts sexuality wouldn’t win over her resistance. “Weren’t.”
He shook his head. “You can’t deny this.”
“This what?”
He gestured to his chest. “This thing between us. It’s so hot I’m scorched. I’m afraid if I touch you right now I’ll burn up and there won’t be any of me left.”
Whoa. I didn’t expect him to say that.
Arousal prickled under her skin. “It’s just…the heat of battle. You’re feeling that thing they say happens to soldiers afterwards. Bleeding off testosterone.”
A slow smile crept across his mouth, but the flames in his eyes didn’t cease. “Oh, yeah. There’s some of that. But it’s always this intense when we’re in a room together. Always. Damn it, Penny. You don’t get it do you?”
“Get what?”
“You drive me mad. Have since the day I first saw you. I don’t want this with any other woman. And yet I can’t touch you.”
Heat flamed in her face. “You’ve touched me. A lot.”
“Yeah, but if your father caught me I’d be ripped into little pieces and tossed out on my ass.”
“I’m thirty years old, damn it! My father doesn’t get to dictate what I do.”
“But I think he does.”
She frowned and planted her hands on her hips. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You’re letting him decide who you want to be with. You’re so afraid I’m going to be like him in every way that you won’t let me get close enough to find out if it’s true.”
“Ho! That’s rich. You’ve been saying since you got here that you betrayed my father by almost sleeping with me. What’s so different now?”
He touched her shoulders, cupping them gently and drew her closer. His touch didn’t insist, didn’t pressure. But the heat of his hard, amazing body so close set her on fire. She trembled.
“I’m sorry I snapped at you for not staying in the bunker. I was scared,” he said.
She saw the sincerity in his eyes and heard it in his voice.
He continued, “Penny, every time I’m near you is damned torture. Every time you smile at me, hell, even when you yell at me, I’m like fuckin’ silly putty. I can’t get you out of my head.”
“Do you want to?” she asked.
His voice lowered to a husky rasp. “No.” He edged even closer until they were inches apart. “All I want is to get inside you.”
A wild shiver raced through her body at his blunt statement. She couldn’t speak.
“All I want,” he said, “is to make love to you until you’ll never want another man. Have you ever come so hard you can’t remember where you are? That’s what I want to do to you. I want to make you come like that.”
Tingles ran over every sensitive place. Her nipples. Between her legs. His words were like gasoline on fire, shocking, explosive. Standing here with him and listening to his deliciously erotic voice sent her entire body into overdrive.
“No,” she managed to whisper. “I’ve never…” She licked her lips. No, she didn’t do this. She’d never experienced sexual tension so raw and out of control before except with this man.
She tilted her head to look at him, feeling small next to his powerful frame. She wasn’t frightened. Oh, no. She was alive everywhere. She felt herself straining toward him. Their lips were inches apart. Inches. She hung on a precipice of knowing and discovering.
“Deny this. The way you feel when I’m close to you. The way you feel whenever I touch you.” He leaned down until his warm breath touched her ear. “Tell me to stop and I will.”
“No. I…” She what? She was a live wire, her nerves prickling, her skin tingling, her breath coming faster.
No? No? It was way too late for that. Her nipples were tight points, and she knew she was wet between her legs. One kiss from this man, one look from him…he didn’t even have to touch her, and her arousal went off the charts.
He edged even closer. “Deny it all, and I’ll stop—”
She grabbed the front of his turtleneck and yanked him forward.
Chapter 7
Ian cupped the back of Penny’s neck, his arm slung around her waist. His lips meshed with hers. They exploded into lava, into a white-hot kiss. She didn’t know where he ended and she began, their bodies moving, tracing, tasting and lingering in first one spot and then the other. His tongue stroked into her mouth, caressing until she moaned under the onslaught. Arching into his body, she let her head fall back. He continued a relentless assault of kisses over her neck. Her hands slid over his hard shoulders as she searched his body with the same relentless need as he did hers. This wouldn’t be soft, slow, sweet or pretty, and she didn’t care. Urgency pushed her toward an ending she wanted, that she must have this moment. Now.
He buried his face in her neck, his lips brushing softly against her skin. She shivered in sweet enjoyment. He reached under her shirt and found her bra. He unhooked the front clasp, leaving her breasts vulnerable to his touch. His thumb brushed over her right nipple.
“Oh,” the soft, startled sound left her throat. Another shiver went through her, but it was pure erotic pleasure.
He cupped her breast in his big, warm hand and then lifted her shirt up and off. He helped her peel her bra off and they tossed it away. He leaned in to taste one vulnerable nipple with sweet, hot lashes of his tongue. She gasped as the tingle raced around her nipple and arrowed straight to the moist flesh between her legs. She hung on to his shoulders, writhing in his arms, the torment exquisite. He suckled the other nipple, and she held his head to her breast as each tight, prickling sensation sent flares of pleasure straight to her core.
He palmed her hips and butt, strong fingers squeezing. The long thickness of his erection pressed against her stomach. She wanted him with a fierceness as hot as anything she’d ever felt. All she wanted was Ian. Who knew what would happen in the world in the next minute or even tomorrow? Nothing stayed stable and nothing was guaranteed, but this craziness she couldn’t define and could no longer deny. Because she wanted to feel his thickness inside her, to come apart around him. Yes, she did want to come so hard she couldn’t remember where she was.
She reached for his belt buckle and when she couldn’t get it loose, he did it for her. He unzipped his pants. She trembled with barely restrained boldness.
Before she could touch him, he caught her hand and groaned. “No. I gotta be inside you when I come. Deep inside you.” He brought her hand to his mouth, the heat of a sweet kiss send new tremors through her. He wrapped his arms about her waist and whispered into her ear again. “Wait.”
“Why?” Frustration colored the question.
“Protection. I don’t have a condom.”
Her breathing was ragged. “I’m on the pill and I’m clean.”
“I’m safe, too. We’re tested every six months.”
She sagged a little. She thought
she’d lose her mind one step at a time if he kept this up. He drew his turtleneck over his head and it fell to the floor. Once more his exquisitely carved and sculpted arms and torso came into view. She couldn’t wait to touch him. Before she could palm his muscled chest, he stooped down and untied her boots. She toed out of them. A second later he undid her jeans and yanked them down her legs along with her panties. Her feet were cold on the concrete, and she didn’t care. All she could feel was the relentless drive to take him, to feel his hard length inside her. He stood away from her and stared.
“Oh, baby,” he said as he stared unabashedly at her. “Beautiful.”
She’d never seen a man admire her body with such stark and outright forwardness. He smoothed his thumb over the hair at the top of her mons, and she gasped at the intimate touch. He gently wedged his hand between her legs and teased along the seam of her folds. She moaned as he caressed her, knowing he could feel the evidence of her desire for him.
He gathered her close and took her mouth, his kiss urgent and seeking her surrender. With a slow, deliberate thrust he inserted one finger deep into her. Yet it was only a sweet tease as his big finger caressed sensitive tissues. Every thrust of his tongue matched the movement of his finger. She groaned at the exquisite sensation, wanting so…so much more.
She broke away from his kiss with a groan. “Stop teasing me. Please.”
Another kiss and his tongue caressed hers, carnal and deep. He cupped her ass and hiked her upwards. She gasped and grabbed his shoulders, her legs wrapping around his hips automatically. He carried her to a wall, propped her against it and—
She couldn’t stop a moan as his cock touched her, thrust just slightly and—stopped. A sweet inch penetrated, spreading her that scant increment. “Oh.” Her eyes flew open as he held her there. Her womb clenched. “Ian.”
“Easy, baby.” His hands tightened on her butt as he stared directly into her eyes. “Easy.”
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