A Kiss in the Dark

by Karen Foley

  As he rounded the corner, he saw Larson gripping Sedona by the upper arms. Before he could reach them, Sedona gave Larson a shove backward. The other man staggered once before he regained his balance and then advanced on Sedona. Angel saw red.

  “Larson.”

  Larson’s expression of astonishment gave Angel a brief second of satisfaction, but not nearly as much as when he grabbed the bastard and jerked him away from Sedona.

  “Angel!” Sedona’s voice was low and shocked.

  Surprised to see me, baby? I’ll bet. He had Larson by the collar of his shirt, and the little puke’s eyes were about bugging out of his head. He glanced over at Sedona, who was watching them with a mixture of horror and relief in her green eyes. Then his gaze fell on her arms, where Larson’s fingers had left reddish marks on her pale skin.

  It was enough to snap the last bit of sanity he still clung to. Without a word, he pushed Larson slightly away and then followed with a hard right to the guy’s jaw. Larson staggered and fell heavily against the wall.

  “Angel, oh, my God…”

  Sedona took a step toward Larson, arms outstretched as if to catch him, as he staggered and tried to regain his balance. With an incoherent sound of fury, he pushed her away.

  “Stay away from me,” he spat.

  “No, Larson,” Angel growled, “you stay away from her.” Reaching out, he caught Sedona by the arm and propelled her through the corridor toward the elevators.

  “Angel,” she gasped, jogging to keep up with his long strides, “I can explain.”

  He glanced sideways at her. Her face twisted as if she might cry.

  “Please,” she said, her voice trembling, “I can’t keep up with you.”

  Angel stopped and turned to face her. “No, mina,” he bit out, “it seems I can’t keep up with you.” He raked a hand over his hair. “Jesus.” He laughed humorlessly. “When I think I came back here hoping you might actually be waiting for me…”

  “I did wait for you!”

  “Oh, yeah?” Angel stared down at her. “And then what? You just couldn’t wait anymore? You had to go down to the bar and snag the first available guy?”

  Her eyes widened. “Is that what you think? Did it really look to you like I was interested in Ken Larson?”

  Angel recalled the hard shove she’d given the other man, but right now he was still too pissed off to listen to reason. He raised his hands and turned around to continue walking. He didn’t want to see her eyes filling up with tears. Didn’t want to hear her excuses.

  “Forget it, okay? I don’t really want to hear it, anyway.” But he hadn’t taken more than a step when he found his path blocked by Sedona. Her face was blotchy with suppressed emotion, but she was determined. She glared up at him, hands on her hips.

  “Too bad, flyboy,” she said, and despite the tears in her eyes, her voice no longer wobbled. “You’ll stand there and listen to what I have to say, and then if you still want to walk away…well, that’ll be your choice.”

  Angel blew out his breath in resignation. He was behaving like an ass, and he knew it. He’d seen how Sedona had shoved Ken away and knew whatever had transpired, she hadn’t been a willing player. But seeing them together had caused something inside him to bend, and then snap. He’d felt a little rabid. Had wanted to tear into someone.

  But not Sedona.

  “Okay,” he conceded grudgingly. “I’m listening.”

  Sedona blew her breath out. “I was waiting for you. I was in bed…reading. I was thirsty and wanted something cold to drink, but the ice maker on our floor isn’t working. I put some clothes on and came down to get a soda.”

  Okay, so far what she said agreed with everything he’d seen in her room. Except the part about reading. He shrugged. “So you needed a cold drink because you were, what…hot? So hot you had to run down to the bar and see who was available?”

  “No, and if that’s what you believe then you don’t know me.” She crossed her arms and hugged herself, looking miserable.

  “Then enlighten me.” Angel knew his voice sounded hard and cold.

  She gave a small huff of laughter, but Angel thought it had a nervous edge to it. “It sounds so…stupid when I try to put it into words.”

  He gave her an encouraging squeeze. “Try.”

  She blew out her breath. “It’s just that—” She broke off and groaned in frustration. “You’re not going to believe me. I can hardly believe it myself.”

  Angel gave her a tolerant look.

  “Okay,” she continued, “I’ll just say it.” She turned solemn eyes to him. “I found out there’s a group of guys at the agency who started a club, where promotions are based on having a fling while on business travel.”

  “What?”

  “It’s the truth,” she insisted. “And initially, I thought I could expose them, put an end to the whole thing, but they think I want to become a member, and I don’t. Ken Larson doesn’t get that, though, and he’s a member so now he thinks that if he and I have a wild fling while we’re out here, we’ll both get promoted.” The words tumbled out while her eyes sought his with something like desperation.

  Angel just stared at her.

  Finally, dumbfounded, he raked a hand over his head, and turned away, then spun back to her. “Are you serious?”

  “Completely.” She bit her lip and watched him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think he’d be so persistent, but I guess he really wants that promotion.” She smiled weakly.

  His brain was spinning. He’d heard some vague rumors on the flight line about an exclusive club of engineers, but hell, he’d figured it was more along the lines of a math club, not a sex club. “Jesus,” he breathed, and shook his head. “I can’t freaking believe it. A bunch of Poindexters, starting a sex club?”

  “I know, it’s pretty disgusting.”

  “So is that why you…wanted to get together with me? Because you want a promotion?”

  Her face paled, and the genuine distress he saw in her eyes said he couldn’t be further from the truth. “What? No. I already told you, I don’t want anything to do with the club! I’ve told Larson I’m not interested, but he won’t leave it alone.”

  Angel closed the distance between them in one step and jerked her into his arms. “I believe you,” he said roughly, knowing it was the truth. “When I saw you leave with him, I thought—” He couldn’t finish. “Let’s just say I thought the worst.”

  She tipped her face up and gave him a trembling smile. “I only left with him because I thought he’d found out about the two of us, and I was afraid he’d make a scene right there in the bar.”

  Angel gave her a quizzical look.

  “I don’t know how the navy feels about their officers engaging in…” She blushed furiously and averted her eyes. “I just didn’t want you to get in trouble, so I went outside to try and reason with him.”

  Angel tightened his arms around her, breathing in the fragrance of her hair. “I don’t care who knows about us,” he said. “Even Larson. Especially Larson.”

  Sedona lifted her face to his. “You thought I was involved with him?” She slid her arms around him and pressed herself closer. “How could I even think about anyone else when I have you, my own real-life fantasy, right here?”

  “Is that what I am? Your fantasy?” He cupped her face in his hands, smoothing his fingers over her jaw.

  “Oh, yeah,” she whispered, and lifted her face to his, her spiky, wet lashes drifting down to her cheeks.

  With a groan, Angel kissed her, sweeping his tongue past her lips and claiming her with an urgency bred of fierce relief and hunger.

  When he finally lifted his head, Sedona’s mouth was swollen and damp. “Jesus,” he groaned, fitting his hips against hers, he let her feel the effect she had on him. “I want you, Sedona, right now.” He rested his forehead against hers. “When I thought you might be getting it on with Larson…”

  He didn’t finish the sentence, but when he’d thought she was involve
d with Larson, he’d wanted to kill somebody. When he had seen her leave with him, he’d been consumed by a surge of jealousy and rage, sure. But there’d been more. He’d felt as if someone had ripped his heart out.

  “C’mon,” Sedona whispered to him, her fingers caressing his back and neck. “Let’s go back to my room.”

  Angel growled softly and crushed her lips with his. “I thought you’d never ask, mina.”

  He guided her swiftly toward the elevators, unable to rationalize the crushing relief he felt at knowing she hadn’t sought out another man. He’d been crazy to think she was capable of it.

  After all, he’d seen her sketchbook, and there hadn’t been one picture of Larson in it. Nearly every picture had been of him, rendered by a woman who was obviously infatuated with him.

  Maybe even in love with him.

  13

  SEDONA DUCKED INTO her room, knowing she had about two seconds to scoop the incriminating sketchbook off the bed and tuck it safely away before Angel opened the connecting doors between their rooms. She’d have a tough time explaining that to him.

  She snatched up the pad and looked around for a quick hiding spot. When she heard Angel turning the knob of the connecting door, she made a beeline for the bathroom, the only place she could think of where he wouldn’t follow her.

  “I’ll be right out,” she called, and closed the door, locking it behind her. The bathroom didn’t yield any drawers or cupboards in which to stash the sketchbook, so she slid it between the folded towels on the chrome rack next to the shower enclosure.

  Glancing into the mirror, she gasped. God, she looked awful. Her hair had come slightly free of the ponytail and hung in disarray around her face, which was pale except for two bright spots of color high on her cheeks. She’d come so close to crying back there when Angel had turned and walked away.

  She felt a huge sense of relief at having told him about the Membership. He’d been shocked, but he’d believed her. She hadn’t told him she would be leaving the agency once their inspection of the Coyotes was over, but there would be time for that later. It probably wouldn’t even be an issue, since they’d already agreed their relationship wouldn’t continue once they returned to the East Coast. For all she knew, he’d breathe a sigh of relief to discover she wouldn’t be a potential burden or embarrassment to him. But for now…

  She yanked the elastic band out of her hair and combed her fingers through the unruly mass. She hadn’t anticipated running into Angel down in the bar, or she’d never have been caught dead in the T-shirt and jeans she now wore. She’d owned both for more years than she cared to admit, and it showed. But her pajamas were still on the bed in the other room.

  What was it her sister had told her? The one thing a guy couldn’t resist was a naked woman? Pushing aside her inhibitions, she peeled off her clothing and wrapped a towel around her nudity. Then drawing a deep breath, she stepped out of the bathroom.

  And stopped dead in her tracks.

  She swallowed. Hard.

  Angel sprawled indolently on top of her bed, wearing nothing but a pair of loose pajama bottoms and a wicked smile. The light on the bedside table cast intriguing shadows over the dips and angles of his body. He’d pulled the bedspread down to the foot of the bed, and against the pristine white of the cotton sheets, he looked dark and exotic.

  He held her sensible cotton pajama top and bottoms in one hand. His grin widened as his dark gaze swept over her, and with one lazy motion, he tossed her pajamas over his shoulder.

  “Well,” he drawled, “you won’t be needing these.” He bent one arm beneath his head and patted the mattress with his other hand. “Come here.”

  Talk about Christmas in July! Seeing him stretched out on her bed, tempting her with all that bare, tanned skin, was like another of her fantasies come true. She put a hand to her hair, suddenly self-conscious.

  “I look terrible.”

  His eyes grew darker, hotter. “You look incredible. I’ve been dying to get my hands on you all day, mina. Don’t make me come get you.”

  He sat up and swung his long legs over the edge of the bed. She noticed how, even in a sitting position, his pajama bottoms tented over his arousal. Her stomach knotted in anticipation and a languorous heat began to build between her legs. She longed to run her hands over all that wonderfully smooth, bronzed skin. His shoulders bunched as he pressed his hands against the mattress and prepared to rise.

  Slowly, her face flaming and her heart thudding with expectation, she loosened the towel from where it was knotted over her breasts, but found she couldn’t quite release it. She held a corner of it bunched in her hand and let it hang in front of her, partially obscuring her body from his view. Instinct made her clutch it tightly against her breasts, which was crazy. Angel had already seen her. Every bit of her. She had no reason to feel so self-conscious. Especially not when he eyed her the way a kid would eye a free ice-cream cone.

  Heat flared in his eyes, and Sedona didn’t miss the way his fingers curled into the bedding.

  She dropped the towel onto the floor.

  He groaned.

  Emboldened, she stepped slowly toward him until she stood within arm’s reach. “So…here I am, flyboy.”

  His gaze slid down the length of her body and he swallowed. Hard. “Jesus, mina,” he rasped. “I’d forgotten…”

  She stepped into the opening between his legs and laid her palms on his shoulders, reveling in the satiny heat of his skin. “What did you forget?” Her words were no more than a whisper.

  He tipped his head back to look at her, then grasped her hips in his hands and drew her forward until her legs bumped against the edge of the mattress. “How damn hot you are, and how much I want to do this.”

  His husky confession caused a liquid heat to slip along the underside of her skin, and her pulse began a heavy, sweet thudding. Still watching her face, he slid his hands up over her belly and filled his palms with her breasts. He cupped them, caressed them until she gasped softly. Then he bent his head and drew one breast into his mouth, gently laving the nipple with his tongue.

  Sedona’s breath caught and she brought her hands up to stroke his cropped hair, enjoying the rough velvet texture.

  “Oh, God.” She sighed. “That feels too good.”

  Angel wrapped his big arms completely around her and buried his face between her breasts. He inhaled deeply. “You smell good.”

  “I missed you today,” she admitted, and rubbed her cheek against the top of his head. It was true. She had missed him. When he wasn’t around, she missed his easy confidence and his quiet capability. She missed the way his eyes heated when he looked at her. She missed how he made her feel—feminine, and safe.

  “Mmm,” he mumbled against her sensitized skin. “I missed you, too. I couldn’t believe it when you weren’t in your room tonight. I’m sorry about what happened, mina. Earlier, with Larson. I jumped to conclusions and behaved badly.”

  Sedona pulled back slightly and looked at him. “I’m glad you showed up when you did.” She shivered. “I mean, I could have handled Ken, but I’m glad I didn’t have to.”

  Angel’s arms tightened around her. “You don’t need to think about him again. All you need to think about is this.” He ran his hands down over her hips, grasped her buttocks and squeezed gently. “I love your ass.”

  Sedona laughed and couldn’t resist caressing his jaw with her fingers, enjoying the texture of shadowed stubble. “The navy actually lets you fly their jets? Your eyesight is obviously impaired, or you’d see my butt is huge.”

  He growled playfully and fell backward onto the bed, dragging her over him with his hands cupping her buttocks. His eyes gleamed with devilry. “That’s crazy. Feel how you fit perfectly into my hands.”

  Her breasts were flattened against the broad planes of his chest, and his erection pressed on her belly. Only the thin material of his pajama pants separated them. When he squeezed her bottom, and slid a finger deftly between her legs and stroked
her cleft, desire licked its way through her. Molten heat pooled at her center, and her breasts ached for his touch.

  She braced herself on her elbows and stared down at his face, mesmerized by the endless depths of his dark eyes. Her gaze drifted lower, to the tantalizing fullness of his lower lip. He smiled, bringing his dimples briefly into play, and it was all over for her.

  “Yeah, we’re a perfect fit,” she finally breathed in response, her lips scant millimeters from his, “Angel…” She covered his lips with hers, putting everything she had into the kiss. She reached down and stroked him through his pajamas, loving the hot, thick feel of him against her hand, loving how he moaned and thrust himself helplessly into her palm.

  “You feel so good.” She slid her hand inside the waistband of his pants and closed her fingers around him. She squeezed him, then moved her hand up his impressive length to swirl her thumb over the swollen head.

  “Mina,” he choked, “stop.”

  Sedona smiled against his mouth. “Why? Don’t you like it?”

  He made a noise that was part laugh, part groan. “I’m trying really hard not to lose it right now. But if you keep that up, I’m not going to last.”

  In one smooth movement, he rolled her beneath him, dragging her hand from him in the process. Sedona gave a small cry of surprise and clutched at his broad shoulders for support.

  For a moment, they stared at each other. When Angel finally bent his head to hers, it was to cover her lips in a kiss that was incredibly sweet. Sedona made a small sound of approval and arched against him, rubbing her breasts against the firmness of his chest. At the same time, she pushed his pajama bottoms down over his thighs and used her feet to free him completely from the soft fabric.

  Dragging her mouth from his, she scooted herself partway up the mattress, until her head bumped the pillows mounded in front of the headboard. Pushing them beneath her head, she used her hands to urge Angel higher.