Lost in Shadows

by CJ Lyons

  “Let’s take this inside,” he said, his voice low and throaty. He tugged at her hand.

  Vinnie resisted his pull. It had been so long—she missed this feeling, the familiar blood rush of passion.

  She slipped her hand from his. The faint light glimmered on the white gold of her wedding band.

  Before Lucky could turn around, she slid it from her finger and into her coat pocket, gave the fox family one last glance, then followed him. Just for one night, she told herself, her fingers worrying the still-warm ring hidden from sight.

  Surely she deserved that much? To escape for one night?

  CHAPTER 13

  The heat of the shelter took Lucky’s breath away after the frigid temperatures outside. Or maybe it was the woman who stole his breath, stole his reason.

  He’d never believed in love at first sight—always thought that those who claimed it were suffering from a chemical imbalance, a kind of temporary insanity they would quickly regret.

  Yet, as he watched Vinnie close the door behind her and shrug off her parka, her rich, dark hair flowing around her, Lucky became a believer.

  A believer gone to heaven. He shed his coat, dropped his weapon onto it and stepped out of his boots to join her in front of the fire.

  The flickering light played along the shiny strands of her hair, reflecting in the melting snow. He skimmed a finger over one eyelash, freeing a snowflake trapped in her thick lashes. She said nothing, blinked, then met his gaze head on, no sign of fear or nerves.

  But even when he had held a gun on her earlier, she’d never shown fear. Lucky decided that was the instant he had fallen. Hopelessly, helplessly, caught in a spell he had no power over.

  Hadn’t she said there were witches in these hills?

  She stood before him, silhouetted by the firelight, only a thin layer of silk between them. He skimmed his fingers beneath her shirt, felt her breath catch at his touch. She pulled her top off, over her head.

  Lucky’s heart stuttered as she shimmied free of her tights. Finally he was free to feast his eyes on her perfection: rounded hips, flat belly, firm, voluptuous breasts. He could spend eternity merely looking at her and would die a happy man.

  She reached out a hand, took his good one and raised it to her breast, rubbing it against her skin. Her nipple swelled with arousal. He moved into her embrace, allowing his hands to explore freely as his mouth roamed.

  Vinnie felt as if she’d been granted a gift. A night free of guilt, free of the responsibility of tending to Michael’s memory, a night devoted solely to her needs and desires.

  Her body quivered as Lucky’s eyes rested on her, then his hands were on her and her muscles clenched with excitement. He seemed to possess an animal instinct, knew every secret place to touch, to thrill her, to excite her further.

  She unlaced the thong that held his hair back, it brushed his collarbones, hung around his face like a lion’s mane. The gold flecks in his eyes glinted in the light of the fire and a raspy sound caught in his throat as she danced her fingers down his spine, sliding them beneath the waistband of his jeans.

  His hand closed over her breast and the resulting jolt of pleasure arched her back. His mouth found the vulnerable throat she presented, his tongue circling over her pulse point, driving her heartbeat faster. His teeth grazed her flesh as he slid his head between her breasts.

  God, it had been so long, so very long. She had forgotten it could be like this—even in her most private dreams it hadn’t been like this.

  Lucky paused and turned his head, his face pressed against her racing heart, and she felt him exhale a sigh of contentment. Then he opened his mouth over her breast, rolling her nipple against his palate.

  Another surge of pleasure swept over her and her legs trembled. She didn’t know how much of this she could take, but, oh, it felt so good. Her hips surged against his, and she felt his erection bulging against the fabric of his jeans. He was ready, yet he took the time to pleasure her first.

  Her vision darkened. By the time he finished ravishing her breasts, she was leaning most of her weight on him, heedless of his injury. He surprised her by turning her body around, guiding her hands to lean against the mantle, as his fingers explored her back. The fire warmed her belly, as did his heat behind her.

  He edged her legs apart so that she was almost off balance. His hands captured her breasts once more as he burrowed into her hair.

  “A man could get lost.” His words barely penetrated the pounding roaring through her brain. “All this hair.”

  His mouth traveled down her spine, and it was her turn to moan incoherently. His right hand dropped to her hip, then began to stroke her. Her body responded, and she wanted him inside of her, any part of him, all of him.

  “Now,” she commanded, her voice a low, throaty gasp. It was a fight to force the single syllable past her tightened throat muscles.

  His chuckle vibrated against her skin as he continued to tantalize her. Her knees were weak, she was off balance, would have fallen if not for his arms around her.

  Then his fingers sank into her, just as his teeth closed on the flesh above her shoulder. Her body shuddered with the climaxes he gave her, one after another until her arms shook and she could no longer stay upright. He pulled her back against his body, lowered them both to the floor.

  Vinnie took a moment to catch her breath. Not even with Michael had it ever been like this. She was no longer Vincenzia DeFortuna Ryan, she’d been transformed into a primal beast intent solely on pleasure for her and her mate.

  She rolled onto her hands and knees, raised her head to look at him. He lay propped up against the wall, fire reflecting from the sheen of sweat that covered his chest and abdomen. He was breathing hard as if he was the one who had just achieved climax, staring at her with naked lust in his eyes.

  A small circle of crimson was visible on the otherwise pristine whiteness of his bandage. Vinnie’s blood raced at the sight, drumming through her veins in a primal rhythm. In the animal kingdom, sex was all about blood, control and dominance, the urge to survive.

  A coppery taste filled her throat, and she licked her lip. She lowered her gaze to his groin and smiled. It wasn’t over, not by a long shot.

  Lucky watched as she looked up at him, a wicked grin on her face. Her long hair was tousled around her as if she were a wild animal. A low, almost inaudible feral sound came from her lips, vibrating through his senses, making the hairs on his neck stand upright.

  Her eyes widened when she looked upon the blood on his shoulder, and it wasn’t a look of concern. He had the sudden feeling Vinnie was about to devour him whole.

  She moved toward him on her hands and knees, her body sleek, her muscles rippling. He’d never known a woman like her. She opened his jeans and tugged them from his legs without any help from him. She straddled him, her fingers caressing him until he cried out for mercy.

  He tangled his fingers in her hair as she whipped it over his bare flesh, soft, silken strands that aroused every nerve ending until his skin was goose bumps, trembling in desire. He’d never needed a woman before, not this way, as if he would be forever lost, abandoned until she completed him.

  Grabbing on to any distracting thought, he tried to stay in control, to wait for her.

  She fumbled in his jeans pocket, and found the wallet with his condoms—wrong place to carry them, he knew, but it wasn’t like he had a purse to keep the damn things in. And this day and age, every guy had to be prepared, you never knew—

  “Ahh,” the exclamation was forced from him as she used her mouth and tongue to tease the condom over him. He couldn’t hold out much longer.

  He grabbed her hips and lifted her onto him. She held back, allowing him to enter her only an inch at a time, torturing him until tears seeped from his eyes.

  She leaned forward to lick the tears away and then relented, lowering herself onto him, taking all of him into her as his hips surged up, meeting hers.

  His grip on her hips was bruising,
but he was past caring. He felt the pressure build within her, heard her first gasp of release, then shuddered and allowed himself to finally join her. Their cry of passion echoed through the small room, was answered by a beast prowling somewhere out in the night beyond.

  CHAPTER 14

  Some people dream of talking with God. Lucky stirred, struggling to break through the haze of slumber, and dreamt of the last conversation he’d had with his cardiologist.

  “They used a modified stun gun?” the physician had asked while pouring over reams of white and pink checked paper as if translating a lost language.

  Lucky stepped off the treadmill, wiped the sweat from his chest with a towel. It irked him that the heart specialist was so fascinated by his near death experience. All Lucky wanted to do was put it behind him. Bury it alongside the memory of the man he’d killed.

  “I think,” the cardiologist said, peering at Lucky over the rims of his reading glasses, “that the electric shocks sent your heart into ventricular fibrillation. The muscles went into a chaotic spasm, leaving you with no pulse or discernible heart beat.” He wiggled his fingers to demonstrate.

  Lucky shrugged into his shirt and looked down to button it, more interested in his future than the “miracle” of his resurrection.

  “The man who did this to you, stopped your heart. But, what started it again?” the physician mused. “I will bet that after he realized you were dead, he gave you one last shock.” The doctor looked at Lucky appraisingly. “Ironic, isn’t it? The man who killed you is also responsible for saving your life. Many men would take that as a sign, an opportunity to change their lives.”

  Figured Lucky would get a cardiologist who was also an armchair philosopher. Lucky didn’t believe in signs, things he couldn’t see or touch or prove with scientific theory. Everything happened for a reason.

  “Bottom line, doc.”

  “You’re fine. Cleared for duty if you want to return to work. Your enzymes are back to normal, stress test and Gallium scan all show your heart is functioning at an above average efficiency. In my opinion, you’re going to live a long time before you have to worry about your heart giving out on you, Agent Cavanaugh. You’ve been blessed with a second chance at life.”

  Lucky gave a small grunt of acknowledgment. If his heart was so healthy, if everything was “fine”, then why did he feel so dead inside?

  Vinnie was already up and dressing when he opened his eyes again. He watched her, trying to ignore the aches settled into his joints from the night on the floor and the calisthenics that had preceded sleep. His shoulder was throbbing in time with his pulse, but not as bad as yesterday.

  Nothing seemed as bad today as it had yesterday.

  “Do you believe in love at first sight?” he asked as she stretched her arms into her fleece pullover. He wished he was the one dressing her, but watching was fun, too.

  “No, and neither do you.” She pulled her head through and turned to stare at him. “You ever been in love, Cavanaugh?”

  “No.”

  “Then trust me, because I have. Last night wasn’t about love, it was about lust.”

  Ignoring his grimace, she turned away to step into her pants. Damn, the woman could be harsh.

  Must mean he hit a sore spot. Lust he’d known before—last night was about more than lust. If she couldn’t see that, he’d just have to prove it to her.

  “So you and Michael, it wasn’t love at first sight, the fairytale romance?”

  He’d caught her off guard. Her fluid motion stuttered, floundering for an instant. “Not for me,” she finally answered. “We didn’t exactly hit it off at first. He had to wear me down.”

  “Kind of like us.”

  “Nothing like us,” she said. “There is no us. Last night was sex—pure and simple, chemistry and hormones. Don’t start deluding yourself into thinking it was anything more, Cavanaugh.”

  She pulled her hair back, swiftly braided it and tucked it into her collar, out of the way. Then he noticed that she once again wore her wedding ring. Hard to talk about romance with the ghost of the dead husband back in the room.

  The scientist in Lucky knew Vinnie was right. Last night meant nothing.

  He hated that he’d almost convinced himself otherwise, hated the impulse that made him dare to hope that it could have been more. But the light of day and Vinnie’s cold, hard logic set him straight.

  He of all people knew hope was dangerous. Best just to focus on the facts, work the problem at hand instead of dreaming up new ones.

  She tossed his clothes to him. “We’ve got to hurry, it’s almost dawn. I’ll change your bandage once we get to my cabin, don’t want it to start bleeding again. Do you need help getting dressed?”

  Lucky would love nothing better than to have Vinnie’s hands on him again, but she was right, this was neither the time nor the place. He waved off her assistance and eased his aching body into his clothes. She doused the fire and helped him on with his sling.

  “What do you want for breakfast?” she asked, her voice back to normal. She held out two foil wrapped MRE’s. “Turkey tetrazzini or beef stew and potatoes?”

  Vinnie purposely kept her gait faster than what Lucky could handle. If he was huffing and puffing, then he couldn’t ask any more uncomfortable questions.

  Damn it, she was a biologist, she knew what last night was about: hormones, pheromones, the aftershock of adrenalin. Last night was sex, pure and simple, no holds barred and no promises made.

  She hoped he understood that as well. There was no way she could trust her heart to another man. She’d loved fiercely and completely once, there just wasn’t any more left in her to give.

  Especially not to a man who carried a gun and would return to his concrete jungle as soon as possible. She would help Lucky get safely off her mountain and out of her life. That would be the end of it.

  She sighed. Damn, but the man knew how to make a woman hum. Forget everything. Even Michael—for a few hours, at least.

  A squirrel chattered nearby, and Vinnie came to her senses. Forgetting for one night was fine. Now it was daylight again, and there were men out there trying to kill them. She needed to keep her wits about her.

  “There’s an overlook up ahead. We can see back down the trail.”

  “Right. Wouldn’t want to miss the scenic view. Gee, not like all this white stuff doesn’t look the same.”

  He cursed as he trudged behind her, following in her footsteps. She slowed her pace, took pity on him. The man had been shot, after all.

  They reached the outcropping of boulders overlooking the gorge just as the sun peeked above the mountain range to the east. The valley below was blanketed in mist, the bank of dark storm clouds to the west a growing threat.

  Vinnie sat and drank from her water bottle. The trees were silhouetted in brilliant purple light as the mountains in the distance slowly gained definition. Not far from this spot was where she’d first met Michael.

  Strange how the memory didn’t hurt as much as it usually did. Instead of hitting her unawares, slapping at her, today thoughts of Michael seemed distant and remote, hidden behind a veil.

  Lucky caught up with her and sagged down against the boulders, gulping down water.

  “Nice,” he allowed when he raised his head to peer into the gorge. He quickly pulled his head back, a turtle retreating into its shell.

  “You don’t get this in your cities.”

  He was silent, looking out over the gorge with wide eyes. City boy, she thought, why did he think it was called Lost River?

  “Yes, it’s down there, you just can’t see it for the trees and the steep drop,” she answered his unspoken question as she grabbed her binoculars and scanned back over their trail.

  There was a definite column of dark smoke back to the southeast. “I think your booby trap worked,” she said, pointing to the smoke in the distance.

  “Bet that got someone’s attention,” he said. “Sorry about your car.”

  “It w
as just a tin box on wheels.” It was amazing how so many things she once thought important suddenly didn’t matter.

  “I’ve been thinking,” he began in a solemn tone.

  “I was afraid of that,” she said, focusing on a red-tailed hawk with her binoculars.

  “One of us has to get off the mountain with this information. After we cross the bridge, I think we should split up. I’ll head to your cabin. You go the long way around, across the ridge top. You can move faster than I can and they won’t be expecting anyone to go that way, on the map it looks virtually impassable.” He paused, and she felt his eyes on her. “You could make it, right?”

  She shook her head. The man was transparent. Using her pride to force her to make a choice, the choice he wanted her to make. “I could. But I’m not.”

  “I should have taken a chance with that road block. It’s my fault we’re stuck here on this damn mountain!” His voice echoed through the woods around them.

  Vinnie raised her hand. “Hush.”

  The woods grew ominously silent. She stood on the edge of the ledge and made a quick reconnoiter with her binoculars. In the far distance she could see a line of headlights moving through the morning mist at the base of the mountain. Then a vibration jarred through her, unnatural and foreign to these mountains.

  Suddenly her view through the binoculars was filled with a sinister appearing black helicopter. Several armed men were visible through the open doors of the cargo bay.

  “Back, into the trees!”

  Despite his injury, Lucky was quick to react, tugging at her pack as he scrambled backward into the scrub pines, the closest shelter.

  The helicopter rose up through the gorge like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, its engines now audible. It hovered just south of them, rotor wash whipping tree branches and bending saplings.

  She looked at Lucky, and his face reflected her dismay.