Friends In Spy Places

by Diane Henders

  Jacket soft under my head. Foam pad comfortable beneath me. Arnie’s hand caressing my back. His legs warm and firm under my arm. The faint scent of leather that always clung to him.

  Yum.

  My eyes cracked open. My forehead was tucked against his hip, and from that angle the tiny light silhouetted the bulge of his fly.

  My body warmed at the thought of what lay beneath that worn denim. No underwear, as usual. Just warm naked skin, waiting for a caress to stiffen into hot temptation. All that pleasure, only inches away…

  My mouth watered.

  Sliding my hand over his thigh, I traced the seam of his jeans up to cup his crotch.

  His hand stilled on my back.

  “Well, hey there, darlin’,” he rumbled. “Lookin’ for somethin’?”

  “Maybe.” I made little circles with my fingertips. “Think I might find something interesting?”

  “Guess you’ll just hafta look an’ see.”

  “Mmmm.” Scraping my fingernail lightly up the length of his zipper, I found the button and worked it open. He exhaled and widened his legs as I slid the zipper slowly down, holding the tab away from his skin. Squirming closer, I propped myself against his thigh.

  “Well, look who I found. I think he’s glad to see me.” I eased his rapidly-firming erection through the opening.

  “He’s always glad to see ya,” Arnie rasped. “Really fuckin’… ahhh…” He groaned as I bestowed some soft flicks of my tongue on a particularly tasty spot. “…glad…” His voice deepened and roughened as I squirmed into a better angle and added some finger action. “…to… see… yahhhh… Jesus, darlin’…”

  Savoring his pleasure, my excitement rose along with his. I slowly increased the pace and intensity.

  “Ahhhh-yeah!” His hoarse moan kindled fierce heat between my legs. His hands came up to twine in my hair as his hips moved with my rhythm. “Fuck… me…” He tensed. “Shit. Stop, darlin’.”

  “What’s wrong?” I popped up to eye him worriedly.

  “Nothin’ in the world.” He blinked at me, heavy-eyed and smiling. “But I wasn’t gonna last if ya kept doin’ that.”

  “You don’t have to last. That’s the whole point.” I dipped my head again.

  He sat up, bringing me to my knees and gently diverting my lips up to his. “Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?” He kissed me, then drew away with a smile. “If I’d wanted to blow my load in a coupla minutes, I’d’a jacked off in the shower this mornin’.” Reaching for the button on my jeans, he added, “I got a better idea.”

  Chapter 43

  “We can’t.” I stopped Arnie’s hand before he could undo my pants. “We have to be ready to move in case we get a hit on the surveillance cameras.”

  He grinned. “Only one of us hasta be ready to move. I can get my pants up an’ be drivin’ in ten seconds, an’ by the time I get us there, you’ll be dressed an’ ready to go. Besides…” His hand described an extremely persuasive arc across the curve of my hip and around my ass, trailing light fingertip-friction along the centre seam of my jeans. “It’s only a quarter after ten. Nobody’s gonna try anythin’ ’til after midnight. Betcha an orgasm that I’m right.”

  I sucked in a breath of pure lust as he stroked me through my jeans. “Feels like somebody’s trying something right now,” I purred.

  “Mmm-hmm.” His lips claimed mine, his dexterous fingers still teasing me. “Is it workin’?” he mumbled against my lips before trailing kisses down my throat to that magic spot on my neck.

  “Oh, hell, yes.” Shivers arrowed down my spine as heat spread from his fingertips.

  This was definitely a bad idea. Having sex in a public park, knowing we might be discovered at any moment…

  Arnie was kissing me again, his tongue making sensuous promises. His hands…

  Ohmigod, his hands…

  My jeans loosened and eased down to my thighs. His hot fingers skimmed a mind-meltingly light touch over the front of my thong.

  Right there.

  Right… there…

  “God, Arnie…” I moaned against his lips.

  Unable to remember why this had seemed like a bad idea, I rocked from one knee to the other as he worked my jeans and underwear off one-handed.

  “Come here,” he growled, sliding down so he lay on his back, knees bent. “I got a moustache ride with your name on it.”

  A shock of arousal made me gasp even as I shook my head. “No. You’ll drown.”

  He laughed. “But what a way to go.” He urged me closer. “Come on, darlin’. Mount up.”

  “I…”

  There was a valid objection here somewhere, but I couldn’t remember it. His strong hands guided me into place.

  Then his mouth went into action and all I could do was cling to the front seat, my only anchor in the storm of sensation.

  Somehow the position seemed more intimate than anything we’d ever done, my thighs spread wide, my body fully open to his tongue as it licked and penetrated, flicked and circled.

  Every nerve ending came alive. Waves of pleasure crashed through my body and my fingers dug into the headrest, whimpers choking me as I tried to hold back my cries.

  Whiskers stimulating sensitized skin, lips sucking, teeth… nibbling… tongue… oh…

  my…

  GOD…

  A cry ripped from my throat as the hurricane of orgasm flung me aloft. Blind and deaf, blazing with sensation, I soared until the spasms slowed at last and gravity claimed me again. Legs quivering uncontrollably, I got off him and collapsed to the mattress.

  “Are…” I could only manage a breathless whisper. “You… still breathing?”

  “Hell, yeah.” Arnie’s voice was deep with satisfaction.

  I coasted a hand up his leg, discovering the hard evidence of his enjoyment. “Your turn now.” I stroked him.

  “Mmm.” He stilled my hand. “Our turn, if you’re up for it.”

  The tingles of my afterglow intensified to new desire. “God, yes!”

  Arnie chuckled. “That’s what I wanna hear.” He pulled himself up to lean against the driver’s seat again, delving down into the space below.

  “Hurry.” I straddled his legs and kissed him.

  A plastic bag rustled and his lips turned up under mine. “How ’bout an early Christmas present, darlin’?” As I pulled away, he held up the bag from Lola’s shop with a devilish grin. “Wanna play?”

  “Yes!” I reached for the bag but he whisked it away, still grinning.

  “Shut your eyes, then. I got a surprise for ya.”

  I obeyed with a shiver of anticipation.

  “Keep ’em closed,” he admonished over the crinkling sound of packaging. “I think you’re gonna like this.”

  “I like it even without any extras,” I assured him.

  “Then you’re really gonna like this.” His hands worked momentarily between us. “No peekin’.” As my hands slid down to explore his activities, he added, “No touchin’, either.” A kiss landed on my lips. “Just a couple more seconds, darlin’… there. Okay, no peekin’…”

  His hands gripped my hips, urging me up onto my knees, then settling me on top of him. As he slid inside me I sucked in a breath that came out in a moan. “Oh God, you feel good!”

  He pulsed gently under me, slowly filling me until I sat firmly in his lap. As he sat up straighter and pulled me to him, I felt an unaccustomed object between us.

  “What’s… that…?” I inquired breathlessly as I slid experimentally up and then down again. God, that extra bit of friction hit me in just the right place.

  “Wait an’ see…” He rocked his hips into an unhurried rhythm that intensified the friction, sparking electric sensation into nerves already sensitized.

  “Ohmigod!” My hands fisted convulsively in his shirt and I ground against him, greedy for pleasure both internal and external.

  He groaned and picked up the pace, driving deeper while the new device teased me into a frenzy. />
  It seemed like only moments before I was ascending the peak.

  Just a…

  few…

  more…

  strokes…

  A sudden electric vibration hit me, sensation bright as a plasma arc.

  My orgasm detonated like a bomb.

  Too-much-too-fast-too-hard and I screamed for more harder more, my body bucking out of control, my mind shattering.

  The world shifted and somehow Arnie was on his knees, holding my hips up and driving into me more-harder-oh-god-fuck-me!

  He let out a wrenching groan and thrust hard once, twice…

  The vibration stopped and he rocked me gently on his body, prolonging the glorious spasms.

  Adrift in helpless ecstasy, I could only float down in shreds of myself, the last contractions still shaking me, flares of pleasure slowly ebbing.

  When I could think again, I opened my eyes to see Arnie kneeling above me, his head and shoulders bent to avoid the roof of the Forester. His hands held my hips in place, our bodies still joined. He was panting almost as hard as I was.

  “Christ, darlin’,” he croaked.

  Just the sound of his voice was enough to set off another mini-orgasm. As my body pulsed around him, he groaned and rocked back to sit on the floor again, his powerful arms keeping me in his lap.

  Another orgasm ripped through me as my overstimulated nerves reacted to the movement. Arching my back, I let it take me. Shake me. Leave me drowning in pleasure, limp and pliant and utterly spent.

  “Aydan?”

  “Mm?”

  “Ya okay?”

  “Mmhm.” Somehow I managed to drag my eyelids open. “If you even twitch,” I mumbled, “I’m going to come again.”

  “Will ya live through it if I do?”

  I let my eyes fall shut again, grinning. “Who cares?”

  “Okay, then.” I could hear the smile in his voice. His strong arms lifted me off and I collapsed to the mattress beside him, gasping and shuddering from the fresh explosion of sensation.

  Eyes closed, I listened to the familiar sounds of condom disposal and cleanup, smiling.

  A whiskery kiss brushed my cheek. “Okay, darlin’?”

  I opened my eyes, smiling up at him. “So much better than okay. You?”

  “Oh, hell yeah. But after all my talk about lastin’, I sure as hell didn’t last long.” He squirmed down to lie on his back beside me, sharing my makeshift pillow.

  “Any longer and my brain would have exploded.” I cuddled in, resting my head on his chest as he tucked an arm around me. “What was that?”

  “Vibratin’ cock ring. With a remote.” He held up a small device and pressed the button, and the shopping bag responded with a buzzing sound.

  “Good Lord, it nearly killed me. That was amazing!”

  He laughed. “Lucky we’re out in the middle a’ Bumfuck Nowhere so nobody heard us. The way ya were screamin’, I wasn’t sure whether to stop or go harder.”

  “‘Go harder’ is usually the right answer,” I mumbled, sinking bonelessly into his warmth.

  “Yeah, I figured; but I wouldn’t’a wanted to explain all that screamin’ to the cops if they showed up.”

  I snuffled a laugh into his chest. “Would you believe I was trying to be quiet?”

  He guffawed. “Fuck me.”

  “I’m pretty sure I just did.”

  His chuckle rumbled up under my ear, and I sighed with pure contentment and let my world shrink to nothing but the strong steady beat of his heart.

  Ping!

  Earthquake.

  The whole world was shaking…

  My eyes flew open, my brain spinning up to speed as Arnie lunged out of our nest in the back of the Forester and flung himself into the driver’s seat.

  “We got action!” he rasped as he slammed the vehicle into reverse. “Get dressed, darlin’!”

  I was already groping for my underwear and jeans, my gaze glued to the dark figure moving furtively toward the back entrance of Lola’s shop.

  “Park at the front,” I barked. “We’ll sneak around and box him in. I’ll come up from the south and trank him, you stay behind the fence on the north side in case I miss or he takes off.”

  “Roger.”

  Giving up the effort to balance as the Forester swayed around corners, I flopped down and squirmed into my clothes. My Glock and trank pistol were still in place, and I smiled despite the urgency. How lucky was I to have a lover who didn’t think twice about screwing a woman who kept weapons strapped to both ankles?

  “He still there?” Hellhound snapped as the Forester slowed.

  “Yeah, he’s bent over doing something near the back door.” I yanked the blackout curtains off and tossed them to the back of the cargo bay, leaving myself a clear path to the door.

  “Okay, I’m gonna cruise in slow an’ easy. Don’t want him spooked if he hears a car comin’ up fast.”

  My nerves jangled as the Forester decelerated to what felt like an impossibly slow crawl, but it was probably just the speed limit. The dark figure straightened, then backed away from the shop door.

  Had he set a trap?

  Or a bomb?

  We ghosted up to the front of the shop and glided to a halt.

  “Go!” I hissed, and we both sprang out of the vehicle, leaving the doors hanging open.

  No door slams to alert him.

  Trank pistol clenched in my hand, I dashed for the back of the shop, trying to be silent. The snow crunched under my boots loudly enough to wake the dead.

  Dammit, he’d hear us for sure!

  I put on an extra burst of speed.

  Christ, there’d better not be any ice here, or he’d get away clean when I fell and broke my fucking leg…

  I hurtled around the corner, trank pistol at the ready.

  He’d heard us. He was running.

  I squeezed off a shot. Missed.

  Don’t run and shoot at the same time, idiot!

  Skidding to a halt, I fired again, my lungs heaving for air.

  Missed.

  Fuck, he was getting away!

  I fired again, and again.

  Hellhound sprang out from behind the fence just as the figure wavered and fell.

  I pounded forward, trank pistol at the ready.

  Hellhound was already on his knees beside the fallen man. “He’s out.”

  “Good, get the Forester.”

  Hellhound sprang up and sprinted for the front.

  Reversing direction, I ran toward the back door of the shop, slowing as I approached. Fumbling my little LED flashlight out of my waist pouch left-handed, I shone its beam to where the intruder had been crouching.

  No ice this time. But dammit, he’d been doing something down here. I crept closer, heart pounding.

  The flashlight beam caught a quicksilver glint. A sliver of reflection, then nothing.

  What…?

  I crouched, easing closer. There it was again. This time I spotted its slim silvery path in the darkness. A tripwire.

  “Bastard!”

  No time. Already I could hear the Forester’s engine approaching. Swallowing my rage, I studied the setup.

  Was it a trigger device?

  No, thank God. Only strong fishing line, stretched taut between two bushes, perfectly positioned to trip an elderly woman.

  A violent kick was enough to snap the line. I hurried back to the fallen man and planted my foot on his shoulder to shove him onto his back, keeping the trank pistol trained on him just in case.

  He flopped over limply, and as the Forester pulled up beside us its headlights flashed over his face.

  Bob Armstrong.

  “Fucking asshole!”

  I kicked him in the head.

  Chapter 44

  Armstrong’s head snapped over under the force of my kick, then rolled limply back.

  Hellhound lunged out of the Forester. “Don’t kill him!”

  “I’m not.” I glowered down at the unconscious face.
“I barely touched him. Didn’t even break his nose.”

  “Awright. Come on.” Hellhound opened the liftgate of the Forester, and together we hoisted Armstrong’s flaccid body into the cargo bay.

  I crawled in beside him. “I’ll get the restraints on him. Get us out of here.”

  Hellhound nodded and closed the liftgate before hurrying around to the driver’s seat. “Where to?”

  “Back to the park.” I shoved Armstrong onto his face and zipped the steel-reinforced nylon restraints onto his wrists and ankles. “If nobody heard me screaming out there, they won’t hear him, either.”

  Hellhound put the vehicle in gear and we rolled away. “Uh, darlin’…” He hesitated. “Don’t wanna tell ya how to do your job, but… if we’re gonna do anythin’, uh… serious… we prob’ly shoulda been a bit more careful about DNA evidence.”

  What a guy. He had my back even when he thought I was going to torture and murder a man. I wasn’t sure whether to be touched or horrified.

  “It’s okay, I’m not planning anything serious,” I assured him. “I just want to scare him a bit, and then we’ll take him into Sirius and put the lie detector on him.”

  “Oh, okay.” Relief warmed Arnie’s voice. “Wasn’t sure, when I saw ya kickin’ him when he was down.”

  “I just wanted to make sure he had a bruise so he’d think he’d fallen and knocked himself out. I don’t like to advertise that our trank pistols exist.”

  That was true; but it wasn’t the only reason I’d kicked him. Shame congealed in my stomach.

  “Makes sense,” Hellhound agreed, sounding even more relieved.

  God, now I felt even worse. When your violence level shocks a professional assassin, you’ve got to take a damn hard look at yourself.

  Later.

  Plying my flashlight again, I gave Armstrong a once-over. A trank dart was lodged in the back of his coat, and another had pierced his gloved hand. Fluke shot. He’d still be running otherwise.

  “The aerosolized trank didn’t touch him at all,” I complained.

  “Yeah, he was runnin’ into the wind. An’ I’m surprised the dart went through that big coat.”

  “It didn’t. I hit him in the hand.”

  “Nice shootin’.”

  “Sheer dumb luck.” I dropped the spent darts in my pocket. “Is it okay if I use one of your blackout curtains for a blindfold?”