by Debra Webb
“That’s my man.” Logan slapped him on the back and joined the others at the rear of the vehicle.
“You expecting trouble?” Larry demanded.
“I always cover all the bases, buddy,” Logan told him as he took the briefcase Erin carried. “Always.”
As Esteban predicted, the warehouse they entered was empty save for one long table. The briefcases were placed side by side on the table, then unlocked and opened. Their contact would arrive any minute now and the deal would go down.
“Baby, you and Sheila cover that entrance,” Logan ordered. “Larry and I will take care of things on this end.”
The building was one long structure, with overhead doors, as well as walk-thrus on each end.
When Erin and Sheila were in position, Logan moved back to the table where Larry waited.
“I want you to know I don’t like this,” Larry told him flatly.
Big surprise. “I can see that.” Logan assessed the other man’s expression. “But you’ll have to live with it.”
Tension thickened between them for several seconds before Larry responded. “I guess I will. At least until you screw up and Esteban realizes his mistake.”
Logan dipped his head in acknowledgment of the challenge. “Don’t hold your breath.”
Erin watched the tense exchange between Watters and Logan. She knew for certain that Sheila couldn’t be trusted and doubted if Larry could. She was relatively certain that’s why Logan had stationed her at his back, to cover him.
The grating sound of a heavy overhead door being opened drew Erin’s gaze to the far end of the warehouse. The large drive-through door rolled upward revealing the front end of another black limo like the one they’d arrived in.
“’Bout time,” Sheila muttered.
“You know these guys?”
She glared at Erin as if she were too ignorant to comprehend a simple yes or no. “I didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday. Yeah, I know ’em. Unlike you, we’ve been working this territory for some time now.”
Erin nodded. “So what’d you do before this? Cosmetology?” Sheila’s hair was a different shade of red today. In the last week, she’d changed the color three times.
She sneered. “You’re funny. I knew a girl once who was funny like you.” She withdrew her weapon and caressed her cheek with it. “I had to kill her. She got on my nerves something awful.”
The limo drove straight to where Logan and Watters stood. When it stopped, three men emerged. All wearing dark business suits and dark glasses. Erin kept forgetting hers. Logan and the Watterses never left home without their designer shades. Erin was really behind the curve. A whole week on the job and she still couldn’t remember to properly accessorize.
The three men joined Logan at the table where the merchandise awaited their perusal. The packaging was inspected and finally one was selected for purity testing. Just like in the movies, Erin thought. Only she was here watching…participating.
She shivered. How many more times would they have to do this before it was over? She thought about how she’d lain in bed next to Logan last night. Sleep had been slow in coming. And every second of every minute she’d wanted him. Yearned for him. He’d wanted her, too. She’d sensed it. But he held back. Didn’t want to cross the line except when necessary to facilitate the mission.
Erin couldn’t see any way out of this without serious damage to her already battered heart. But maybe Logan was doing the right thing by not allowing things between them to get more complicated. Although, as far as she was concerned, they were already pretty complicated.
Just the sound of Logan’s voice among the other men’s made her long to touch him. The deep resonance of it tugged at her senses. Made her want to know him outside this setting, these boundaries.
But that wouldn’t happen because he was too dedicated to duty. He wasn’t the marrying kind. He wasn’t even the falling in love kind.
Erin sighed. Life really did suck sometimes. Just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, something else kicked her in the teeth.
One of the rear passenger doors on the limo opened and a young Latino got out. Unlike the others, he wasn’t wearing a suit, just dark slacks and a white shirt. Erin’s tension ratcheted up a notch. He sniffed and wiped his nose as if he’d just inhaled a hit of cocaine.
Erin rolled her eyes. God, she hated these people.
Logan had assured her that the drugs they carried would be confiscated before they got a block from this warehouse. Erin did not want to be responsible for even one ounce of cocaine hitting the streets.
The man who’d just gotten out of the limo started toward the others, but hesitated to take a second look in her direction. His gaze settled squarely on Erin. Just what she needed, she mused wryly. Some dopehead coming over to flirt with her.
As the tall, thin man neared, recognition flared in his eyes. Erin suppressed the very nearly overwhelming urge to run like hell. He raised his arm, aiming a long finger accusingly at her.
“You’re dead,” he murmured. “I killed you.”
Erin stiffened. What was he talking about?
“Who is this jerk?” Sheila demanded.
He shook his head. “You’re dead!” he shouted, repeatedly stabbing his finger at Erin. “I killed you!”
Before Erin could react he had drawn his weapon and stuck it in her face. “I don’t care how many times I have to kill you—”
The rest of his tirade ended with the small round hole that appeared in the center of his forehead. He fell forward, right into Erin’s arms. She screamed. Her heart surged into her throat.
All hell broke loose. Weapons fired. Erin dropped to the concrete floor using the dead guy for cover. The sound of weapons discharging echoed in the building. Curses and heated instructions were shouted. She shuddered and huddled more deeply behind the body. Fear ravaged her. Paralyzed her. She wanted to check on Logan, but didn’t dare move. What was she supposed to do? Her brief training had not prepared her for this.
But she couldn’t just stay here and do nothing. She had to know…to help. She had to do something.
Only two men were standing when Erin peered up from her makeshift hiding place, Logan and a newcomer all dressed in black, ski mask included.
Sheila screamed. She dropped her weapon and rushed to her husband, falling to her knees beside his motionless body.
Erin struggled up, her weapon clenched in her fingers. She stumbled away from the body at her feet.
Logan moved toward her. The other man removed his mask and Erin recognized him immediately as the man who’d flirted with her in Medellín on Saturday. The one who’d followed them to the restaurant. Logan had called him their guardian angel. He didn’t look much like an angel then and damn sure didn’t now.
“Are you all right?” Logan surveyed her for damage, his gaze concerned, fearful even.
“I’m okay.” She waved him away. “You’d better check on Sheila.”
An ear-piercing shriek cut through the air. Sheila grabbed her husband’s weapon and took a bead on Logan.
“You did this!” she screamed.
The explosion of the weapon firing came in slow motion for Erin. She tried to push Logan out of the way. The bullet glanced off the floor a few feet away. Then there was silence.
Sheila collapsed atop her husband’s body. Ferrelli had taken her out. Erin hadn’t even heard his shot. A closer look at his weapon explained the absence of sound, he used a sound suppresser. Logan had told her about those.
“The disk is in a fast-food bag on the ground near the limo.” Logan shoved his weapon into his waistband. “I have no additional intel.”
Ferrelli surveyed the collateral damage including the driver for the second limo slumped near the driver’s side door. “I’ll call Housekeeping.”
“Thanks.”
Logan’s arm went around Erin’s trembling shoulders. “We have to get back. We’ll take the drugs and the money. Maybe that’ll appease Esteban when he finds out things
went to hell again.”
Erin looked back at the dead man who’d claimed he’d already killed her once. “Who was that guy?”
“His name’s Sanchez.” Logan stared at the man with pure hatred. “He’s the weasel who killed Jess.”
No wonder he looked as if he’d seen a ghost. Erin shuddered. He’d thought she was the real Jess, Logan’s former partner.
“Thank you,” she remembered to say to Ferrelli, “for saving my life.”
Ferrelli smiled. When he did, his gray eyes danced. Erin was sure she’d never seen a man with more compelling eyes. She hugged her arms around Logan. Well, except for Logan’s.
“I’m glad I could take him down for you and for Jess,” Ferrelli said, then gifted Erin with a flirtatious wink. “Anything else I can do before you two roll?”
“Just tell Lucas to find something on that disk, things are getting too hot around here,” Logan answered.
“Will do.”
Erin was too shaken to protest, but she already knew they wouldn’t find anything. Wherever Esteban kept his private working files, it wasn’t on his PC.
As Logan had ordered, the limo driver waited right where he’d left him.
Ferrelli and Logan loaded the money and drugs into the trunk. Ferrelli snatched up the burger bag and waved a little salute of farewell before disappearing into the shadows farther down the alley.
Erin slid into the limo, her legs too weak from receding adrenaline to hold her upright any longer. She trembled violently as her gaze met Danny’s equally fearful one in the rearview mirror.
“Don’t worry,” she said, her voice weary. “We’re the good guys.”
He exhaled a mighty breath, going for a chuckle but not quite hitting the mark.
Logan settled into the seat next to Erin and closed his door. “Let’s go.”
The limo rolled into forward motion. Erin closed her eyes and dropped her head against the seat. How would they ever explain this to Esteban?
They were dead.
“Don’t worry,” Logan said softly. “It’ll be all right.”
She opened her eyes and looked at him. Really looked at him. She wondered how he could be so calm after all that had happened. How could he simply go back and face Esteban with this news and not sweat the repercussions?
She shook her head. “No it won’t. It won’t ever be all right again.”
Concern crept into his handsome features. “I’ll make it right.” One fingertip traced a path down her cheek. She shivered in reaction. “You have my word on that.”
Erin stared deeply into Logan’s dark, dark eyes and saw her reflection there. Saw a woman in love with a man she would never have…couldn’t possibly dream of having. And time was slipping away. In just a few hours they might both be dead. There was no more time to waste.
“I’m afraid your word isn’t going to be enough.” She pulled his face down to hers and kissed him hard on the mouth.
He kissed her back, not quite with abandon, but with a slow building, restrained passion she could feel simmering just beneath the surface.
She quickly released the buttons of his shirt and slid her hands over the magnificent terrain of his chest. She wanted to touch all of him…to feel the warmth of his skin against hers, flesh to flesh.
“Whoa,” he murmured against her lips. He reached for her roaming hands. “We need to slow this down.”
“No.” She pulled his unbuttoned shirt from the waistband of his jeans. “No more waiting…no more pretending.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his mouth back to hers. She knew the instant he made up his mind. The passion erupted to the surface, unbridled hunger made him bolder, more aggressive. He pushed her down onto the soft leather seat, kissing her lips, her chin, her throat.
He reached up, pounded on the glass with the flat of his palm.
“Yes, sir?”
Logan broke free from the kiss just long enough to say, “We’ll need a little more privacy and a lot more than seventeen minutes.”
“Whatever you say, sir.”
Erin would swear she heard a smile in the driver’s voice. The privacy shield came up between the passenger compartment and the driver’s seat. And for the first time in more than a week, they were completely alone with no one listening or watching, only the needing and wanting throbbing in the silence.
Logan urged her to a sitting position as his fingers caught in the hem of her blouse. He pulled it over her head and tossed it aside. For one long moment he simply stared at her satin-and-lace encased breasts. He moistened his lips, the move sending an electrical current straight to the juncture of her thighs. Moisture pooled there, anticipating his touch.
The limo ride was as smooth as glass. Just like Logan’s long-fingered hands when he lifted her breasts from their confines, first one, then the other. He tucked the satin cups beneath her breasts, making them tilt upward and outward for his attention. Kneeling before her, he leaned forward and made a wide circle around one breast with his tongue. Erin moaned softly and braced her hands against the seat.
He made achingly slow circles, each time around the circle grew smaller, his tongue eased nearer to her swollen nipple. Then he took it into his hot, steamy mouth. Sucked hard. Her hips lifted from the seat. She bit back a scream.
He did the same with the other nipple, taking his sweet time, drawing out the pleasure. Making her crazy with need. Her hips moved restlessly, instinctively mimicking an age-old rhythm that played deep in her soul. His fingers tightened around her rib cage as he pressed his mouth more fully over her left breast.
She couldn’t wait any longer. She had to touch him. Her fingers buried in his thick hair. She urged his hungry mouth to take more of her. His hands traveled down to her thighs and she begged him to touch her there, not with words, but with her body’s desperate language.
Those magical hands slid up her thighs, beneath her skirt. His fingers curled in her panties and dragged the skimpy things down and off her legs.
She was wet. So wet. The feel of that one finger as it slipped inside her, had her arching against his hand. She wanted more of him inside her. Now!
“Enough.” She pushed him away from her tingling breast and fumbled with the closure of his jeans. She whimpered when she couldn’t open them quickly enough. He helped, easing down the zipper. His erection sprang free, pleasantly surprising her. She’d forgotten he didn’t wear underwear. She was so glad he didn’t. She touched him. Encircled that silken part of him. He groaned. Another wave of urgency flooded her. Now. She wanted that part of him now.
She shoved his pants beneath his hips and ushered him onto the seat. She straddled him. He caught her waist in both hands and prevented her desperate downward plunge.
“Wait,” he breathed.
She shook her head. “No more waiting.” She pressed herself against his straining tip. He made an animal sound in his throat. “Now,” she moaned.
He released a ragged breath. “There are things…” He growled when she brushed her wet feminine channel along his tip. “…things you need to know.”
She encircled him with cool steady fingers and guided him to her entrance, pressing down as hard as she could, fighting his hold. “Later.” She cried out as she took an inch of him inside her.
His restraining hold weakened. Another inch eased inside. She couldn’t utter a sound…she could scarcely breathe. She was unbelievably tight. It had been so, so long. Or maybe it was just Logan…
She pressed down another inch, relishing the exquisite feeling of penetration…of stretching. His fingers bit into the flesh of her waist. He was shaking now with the effort of restraint. Release was already building inside her. Tightening her muscles…drenching them both in her liquid heat.
She put her hands on his shoulders and looked straight into his eyes. “I know all I need to.”
Something changed in that dark, dark gaze. A clarity that chased away the doubts. A need that overwhelmed all else. His features a stu
dy in desire and desperation, he allowed her downward progress, inch after hot, hard inch, until he fully sheathed his thick length inside her…until her throbbing bud nestled firmly against his male flesh.
Climax was instantaneous.
Never breaking the seal of intense joining, he lowered her to the seat, putting himself in the dominant position. He drew back, thrust hard into her. Repeated the delicious action. Again. Faster. Harder. His muscles tense…his gaze primal, piercing, looking right into her soul as he climbed upward, upward toward his own pinnacle. She climaxed again, this time the full body kind of release that went on and on.
He came hard…roaring with it. His muscles corded to the point of snapping, his rigid length pulsing, plunging once, twice more.
He held his weight off her, his arms trembling with the weakness of his recent release. He kissed her again, slowly, softly, making her whimper with the sweetness of it. They’d forgotten all about kissing in those last desperate minutes. They could only stare into each other’s eyes. But now, the kiss went on and on, drawing on her heartstrings with the incredible tenderness of it.
He drew away just far enough to look into her eyes, his expression tormented. “We have to talk.”
Chapter Twelve
“We don’t have much time.”
Erin leaned against the limo watching Logan stalk back and forth in front of her. The driver had taken them to an out-of-the-way place not far from the airfield.
We have to talk. Logan had said those words to her while he was still deep inside her and he hadn’t spoken another word to her until now. Dread pooled in her stomach. She was suddenly certain that she didn’t want to hear whatever it was he had to tell her.
“So tell me already,” she said pushing away from the shiny black vehicle.
Logan stared at the ground for a second that dragged into five. “It’s my fault you’re in this.”
The statement startled her so that she laughed. She put her hand over her mouth. Maybe it was hysteria, considering all that had happened. One minute people are dying around them, the next they were making love. Of course she had no one to blame but herself for that one.