by Eve Langlais
“Say my name again.”
“Make me.”
“With pleasure.” His head dipped, but instead of taking her breast into his mouth, he swirled his tongue around the throbbing tip. Sucking it into his mouth, he sent a never-ending stream of electric zings down to her already damp cleft. He switched breasts, paying equal torturous attention to the other.
When he stopped, she mewled in loss, but he seemed determined to torture her. He moved down her body slowly, his lips caressing her skin softly, driving her crazy with need. He nuzzled the apex of her thighs, and she parted them, her chest heaving as she fought to capture her breath. She lost it in a whoosh as his tongue jabbed at her damp core. Her fingers found his hair and hung on tight as he ate her, his tongue and mouth alternating between nibbling and flicking her clit then delving into her sex. He inserted two fingers into her channel, pumping her with his digits as his tongue skimmed over her sensitive nub. Her pelvic muscles clenched his fingers tight, her hips rocking in cadence to his thrusts.
When he bit her swollen clit gently with the sharp points of his teeth, she bowed off the bed with a scream. He pushed her back down and anchored her with his hands and did it again, applying even more pressure. Her climax crested and crashed with an intensity that made her lose her mind.
But that was okay, because she’d already lost her heart.
CHAPTER 11
The spasms of her climax gripped his fingers. How tight and hot she felt. He couldn’t wait until he could sink another part of him inside her.
He leaned down to kiss her, kiss those lush and swollen lips, only to freeze.
What is that?
His predator side roused and cocked a wary ear.
There it was again. Thump. Scrape. Given the train was moving, those sounds were not normal at all.
Ark rolled off Jade and peered at the ceiling overhead.
“What is it?” She pushed up on the bed, her shirt still shoved over her breasts, her bra tucked under them, presenting them so delightfully. They really needed more attention from his tongue.
Imagine sliding my shaft between them and watching her as she sucks the tip. A vivid fantasy he wanted to make reality. It made it ever so hard for him to say, “I need to check something out.”
What he’d heard was probably nothing. Just the odd contraction of the metal skin covering the train car or perhaps a low-hanging branch not yet trimmed away from the track.
Maybe it’s something else. Something that squeaks. His bear’s optimistic thought.
Not likely. Only in the movies did adversaries have the means or balls to attack a moving train. In real life, attacks happened on the ground. But just in case …
He exited the room, closing the door, shutting Jade inside. A movement down the hall caught his eyes and he saw Stavros stepping out as well. It appeared as if he wasn’t alone in hearing things. They eyed each other, passing a silent communication.
The door out of the car had a window, but it was dark outside, and the dim illumination inside made it so that the interior reflected back.
It’s probably nothing.
A probably nothing that had interrupted his time with Jade.
It better be nothing or he might kill something.
He flung open the door with one violent motion. Slam. It bounced off the outside frame and stayed open from the force. He’d taken a step out—to check out nothing—when a body landed on top of him.
He stumbled, but the railing linking the cars kept him from tumbling off the moving train into the dark landscape.
The heavy attacker grappled with him, his features obscured behind a mask, his scent stifled by a cloying cologne.
Wham. His fist met the jaw of his attacker.
Slam. He whirled and threw him against a wall. The fellow was clearly outmatched and yet he continued to fight with Ark.
What did the guy want? Did it matter?
Grabbing the attacker by his dark combat vest, Ark leaned him over the railing and shouted, “Who do you work for?”
The reply came in the form of a dirty knee to his balls. Ark managed to divert most of that blow to his thigh, but it still smarted, and the sudden jostle by the train, a big shake, caused him to lose his grip.
Screech. The metal chugging serpent ground to a halt, throwing him forward. Ark gripped the railing and cursed as the big dude shoved away from him, into the car.
Oh no you don’t.
Ark followed and noted the guy sprinted past the first door, down to the end of the hallway where Ruby sat on the floor watching with one hand on her belly while Stavros straddled a bloke, punching him.
“Heads fucking up,” Ark hollered as he bolted toward his cousin.
Stavros paid him heed, sprang off the prone body, and flipped in time to face the rushing male.
The timing of his fist proved to be pure perfection. The guy hit the floor and didn’t get up.
But these two attackers were only the beginning. With the train sitting still, Ark could hear the sound of approaching dirt bikes. Rapid and slick machines that could get in and out of tight places—and scatter if anyone took chase.
Nice. It was something Ark might have done if he had wanted to pull a fucking train heist.
And, yes, he was annoyed. Annoyed he’d not thought of it first. Talk about sounding like fun. Against him it proved a challenge. Ark had two women to protect. Good thing they had two badass bears who were pretty good at that sort of thing.
“First one to the house doesn’t have to share your mother’s famous cherry pie,” Stavros challenged, a grin on his lips and a sparkle in his eyes.
“You’re on.”
Ark sprinted away from Stavros back to Jade, who peeked out the door.
“What just happened? Are we under attack?” She peeked around him and noted the bodies on the floor. “Are they dead?”
“Sleeping.”
“That is not any more reassuring. Why are they attacking us? I thought you said that type of thing didn’t happen.” Her eyes widened. “Are you like some kind of spy bears? Like Double-O Yogi?”
Okay that was funny, but he didn’t chuckle, not with the enemy fast approaching. “We are not spies.”
“And yet you just handled this attack like a pro.”
“Can we talk about this later?” While naked in a bed, with honey. “We need to get out of here before they converge in numbers.”
He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her out the still open door. He didn’t know why the train had stopped but he guessed it might have something to do with the crisscrossing beams of the motorbikes.
The first one zipped by.
Chug. Shudder.
The whole chain of cars shivered as the wheels began to turn with a squeal. But it took time and momentum to get something of this size moving. They didn’t have the luxury of waiting, not if they were going to provide a diversion for Stavros.
“We have to jump.”
“Are you nuts?” she hissed, yanking her hand free.
“Do you want to lead those guys away from your sister?”
She nodded.
“Then we need to draw those bastards away from the train.”
Her eyes widened. “If they’re looking for Ruby, then they’re looking for a pregnant lady.” Jade darted back into the room and grabbed the thin blanket on the mattress and balled it under her shirt.
The sloppiest pregnant belly ever, but it would do in the dark.
“Smart thinking. Let’s go, and head toward the lights.”
“Toward? Isn’t the recommendation to head away from it?”
“Not this time. Trust me.”
“I must be insane, but I do.”
Of course she did, because Ark would never let anything happen to her. He swung himself over the railing and slotted his feet through the bars. He offered her a hand. “Hurry up and get over before the train picks up any more speed.”
“I hate climbing.” A grumbled complaint uttered even as she brought her l
eg over the rail. She’d no sooner joined him on the other side than he wrapped his arms around her and dove from the side of the train. It was a lot harder to land with grace when a guy had a suddenly terrified woman clinging to him and shrieking.
Loudly he might add. Awesome. That would draw attention.
Worry first about landing, idiot. Luckily for them both, Ark hadn’t made it to his ripe age of twenty-nine without a few bumps and bruises. He took the brunt of the dive, ensuring his shoulder hit the ground first, and then tucking as best he could around Jade as they rolled to a stop. Not the worst dismount, he recalled getting bucked off a bull a lot harder as a teen, and look who was on top of him. He peered up at her and couldn’t resist a very husky, “How you doing?”
“You’re out of your bloody mind.”
“Isn’t it wonderful? Let’s go.” He rolled off her and sprang to his feet, his eyes scanning the open field around them. The railways kept a cleared swath on either side of the track. Moving away from the train, car after car clacking by, he noted, in the distance, the red taillights of the motorbikes.
Dammit. They’d missed them.
A red light flashed bright but not as bright as the headlight that slashed over them as a dirt bike spun around and spotlighted them.
He waved. “Get ready. We’re going to steal some wheels.”
Draping his arm around Jade’s waist, he set off at a light jog, zigging and zagging to keep them erratically spotlighted by the head beam. He even angled her once or twice to show the big belly she held, the baby bump blanket threatening to fall.
The whine of the small engine grew loud. He pushed Jade to her knees, mostly to make her a smaller target and not for dirty things, and whirled to face the bike. The driver raised a baton. As if that would save him. Ark sidestepped at the last moment and eased his torso back in a deep limbo before he kicked out, connecting with the body of the bike as it went past. The sharp strike of his boot set the bike off balance, tumbling its driver with it, pinning him under the chassis. Ark nicely yanked it off him, then smashed it down, then pulled it up again. Then down.
When he noticed no movement, he lifted it one last time and straddled the machine. “Get on,” he yelled as the small-engine scream of more bikes filled the air.
Eyes wide, Jade stared at him as if she’d seen something amazing. Or really scary. But since he was saving her ass, and her sister’s, she was going to stick with amazing.
“Now,” he yelled before he gunned the motor.
She scrambled to her feet and slid onto the back. The seat didn’t provide much room, but the motor was strong enough for two.
“Hold on tight.”
Her arms wrapped around his waist—Squeeze me tight!—and he twisted the throttle. The bike lurched ahead, and she tightened her arms anaconda-style.
Riding a metal beast wasn’t new for him, but his mate on the back—in a strange place in the dark—added a certain element. Given escape, and not doing donuts, were his ultimate goals, he drove away from the train tracks, straight across the open strip of field to the woods. Most of the bobbing lights followed him instead of the train.
As they hit the edge of the thin forest, he stopped the bike and got off, holding it steady for Jade.
“What are you doing?”
“Drive this in that direction.” He pointed.
“But—”
He planted a hard kiss on her lips. “Go. I’ll be along to find you shortly.”
“I can’t do this.”
“You can, and will.” He gave her another hard embrace. “Go now.”
Because with her out of the way, he could do what needed to be done.
Grawr!
Only later could he have ripped off his own head for letting her go off on her own. She’d wobbled away safe enough, and he’d charged the oncoming bikes, his big bear form lashing out and knocking them off. On the ground, they were easy targets. One even cried.
Ark was a good bear. He didn’t kill them, because that would result in some difficulties later, but he did shake them and make them wish they were the load of cum their mother had spat out. He did wish he’d eaten a few, though, especially once he loped off looking for Jade and found the bike and only the bike.
No Jade. Nothing but the lingering smell of pussy. The shifter kind. Get your mind out of the gutter and into the game.
Someone in the feline family had taken his mate. Someone dared to take his honey. And he was going to get her back.
CHAPTER 12
In the movies, a heroine awoke looking rumpled and sexy. She didn’t have to pee or worry about a pasty tongue and surely foul breath. She also didn’t have to endure the wide ass of some dude in ill-fitting slacks standing in front of her and, judging by the pfft sound, killing them all slowly with stealthy noxious gas.
Of more concern than his lack of manners about bodily matters was the fact that she recognized him. The twerp standing over her was the same guy who’d broken into her place.
“You!” She lunged at the guy and hit him in the leg.
“Ouch. You bitch!” The skinny fellow raised his hand but stopped when a velvet voice said, “Hit her and I’ll have you tossed from the plane.”
A freaky threat, but freakier still was the fact that she appeared, as the speaker claimed, to be on a plane.
Oh shit. She went from slumped and drooling on the armrest of the couch to rigid and straight-backed. The skinny fellow slouched as he moved away to a group of men huddled around a laptop at the back of the plane.
A plane. Eep.
She heard a chuckle and she whipped her head around in time to see a wiry fellow take a seat across from her.
She could guess who it was. The platinum hair, shaved on both sides, the earring dangling from one ear. The tribal tattoo her sister had mentioned when describing him wound around his arm in thick bands.
“You must be Xavier.” A name she’d forbidden in her apartment because Ruby still seemed so hung up on the guy.
“She spoke of me.” Stated with satisfaction.
“Complained about her creepy ex, yes.” The little lie punctured his small pleasure.
His features darkened. “Are you the reason she’s refused to talk to me? Won’t even see me?”
“Maybe the fact you were practically married and showed yourself to be a two-timing douche nozzle is why she wants nothing to do with you.”
“Merina meant nothing to me. It was an alliance of convenience. I broke things off the moment I found Ruby. But Merina refused to listen. Kept acting as if we were still engaged. I tried to explain that to her, but Ruby wouldn’t talk to me. She ran and hid!”
“Stalking has that effect.”
A low laugh rumbled from him, not the anger she would have expected at her. “Don’t kid yourself. She loved my ardent pursuit.”
“Loved it so much she hid from you? Yeah, I totally see that now.” Jade rolled her eyes.
It had no effect on his conviction. “She succumbed to a fit of jealous rage. She is a female. It happens. But she misses me. I know she does. She wants me back. She just needs some time to get over her tantrum.”
“Tantrum? You’re delusional.” And she might have added more except the plane chose that moment to do a little shaking.
Shaking in the sky.
Way above the ground.
Way, way above.
Gulp.
Her fingers dug into the seat as her phobia shoved past their inane chatter to remind her she was scared of planes. Really scared.
“It’s just a little turbulence,” Xavier noted.
“Is what I’m sure everyone said before their plane went down.”
“You are quite safe.”
“You can’t be sure of that.”
A smile tugged at his lips and only a blind idiot wouldn’t see the charm that could illuminate his features. She could see why Ruby might have fallen for him.
“I can be sure,” he said, “because for you to die, this plane has to crash, an
d I am not in the mood to die.”
“Who said anything about dying?” A high-pitched giggle seeped out of her. “People fly all the time. In the air. In giant metal cans.” With wings. Wings! Who the hell ever thought it was a good idea to put wings on machines?
“Do I need to drug you again?”
Her gaze narrowed. “Don’t you dare. You’re just as vile as Ruby claims.”
“You lie. She wouldn’t say that about me.” He sprang into an immediate defense.
“She said a lot of things. First and foremost was the fact she never wants to see you again.”
“No. I don’t believe it.” He shook his head.
“In case you hadn’t noticed, she ran away from you and cut off all communication.”
“Again, a momentary lapse of judgment.”
“No, your relationship was the aberration. She wants nothing to do with you.”
“If that’s true, then I want to hear it from her lips.”
In some ways, his odd determination reminded her of Ark.
“If you wanted to talk to her then why send that thug to my apartment with a knife.”
“He was only supposed to confirm her presence. No harm would have come to either of you.”
“I don’t believe you. What about when those guys attacked the train?”
Xavier’s gaze darkened. “In their enthusiasm to please me, my men might have gone too far. I told them to locate Ruby, and shadow her movements until my arrival. They were never to harm her.”
“How reassuring. Not,” Jade snapped. “Was it their own initiative that led to them kidnapping me, or was that your plan to use me as bait to lure her?”
“Nothing has gone as planned. Rest assured kidnapping you wasn’t my idea, but now that I have you, then yes, I will turn that to my advantage. If I must dangle you like a carrot to get Ruby to talk to me then I will.”
“All you’ll do is piss Ruby off.”
His lips flattened. “I expect she’ll be a tad miffed. So what do you think? Diamond earrings or a bracelet for her forgiveness?”
She gaped at him.
“You’re right. Both. At the very least. I will give her anything she wants when she comes back to me.”
“Why would she come back to you?”