by Kylie Scott
“Breakfast of champions.”
She tried not to smile. It didn’t work out so well. Her defenses were shredded. Part of her wondered how long it would take before she stopped fighting it altogether and let herself get carried along with his romantic craziness. “That was a sneak attack.”
“You’re welcome.”
Her feet rested on his back, his shoulders and arms holding her open. His two big hands spread across her stomach. There was more than a little “this is mine” in the positioning of his hands, and not an ounce of dignity in the pose, but who cared? There was no one but him to see her.
Stuff it. She couldn’t raise the energy to mind.
Ali gave in and slumped back against the mattress to catch her breath. One breath, two, and then curiosity got the better of her, and she was up on her elbows, watching him. Fascinated by him.
He nuzzled her thigh. The man looked spectacular spread out across the bottom of the mattress in the small hours of the dawn. Bare ass naked and really … yeah, a lot of burnished skin on show. Along with one very tight white ass.
He was gorgeous, with the lean angles of his face and his big body. Short dark hair spiking out every which way, care of her fingers the night before, dark stubble on his chin, and his smile …
A girl could let it all go straight to her head in a very nice way.
Time to admit she was drowning, her lungs working hard but getting nowhere. She was losing the war despite her best efforts. God, she always confused good sex with love. Great big mind blowing sex was certain to break her in two. The way he watched her, he didn’t play fair. As if he wanted to know every stupid thought wandering through her head. No one had ever looked at her like that.
The illusion of guarding her heart kept her going. Because, reality-wise, it would be one hell of a loss when this all went to pot.
Screw it. Why worry it to bits? The pounding of her rabbit heart made her queasy, but irritation prodded her to make a decision. She’d grab happiness with both hands while she could. Life had become more precious now than it had ever been. She needed to make the most of it. Decision made.
Ali turned away from him, studying the gorgeous dawn. The beauty removed the scariness, gave her a chance to calm down and quiet the panic attack in the making.
Already sweat dripped between her breasts. It would be an absolutely sweltering summer’s day.
“So, given you’re a female and all,” Daniel began, fingers tapping either side of her belly button as if it were a tribal drum, “I’m guessing you want to talk about last night. More specifically, what I might have said last night in the throes of coital bliss.”
“The throes of coital bliss? Do you even listen to yourself? No, I don’t actually feel the need to discuss anything right now.”
The drumming ceased. “You sound pretty certain about that.”
Out by the highway there was a flash of light. A whole lot like the slowly rising sun had reflected off something. It was there and gone. “Dan…”
“I meant it. If you’re wondering, at all.”
“No, I…”
“Don’t feel the same way. I know.”
“By your own rules, I now get to spank you.” She wrestled her legs back, not kicking him in the head when it might have been excusable. She sat up and searched their surroundings. “There’s someone out there.”
“Infected? It’s still early. They might be stumbling on home after a big night chewing on the local wildlife or something.”
“No. There was a light. Like sunlight reflecting off something.”
“Well, that can happen.” Daniel shrugged, rolled over onto his back and stretched out, supremely unconcerned, totally at home in his own skin. Totally turned on, too. Long and hard, the thick head flushed a deep dark red.
Her body lit up in sheer instinct at the sight. She was liquid and alive, ready to go. Came close to forgetting what she saw out there, waiting.
“Babe,” he said, winking. The arrogance worked for him, unfortunately. “There’s a better topic of conversation for us right there.”
She faced him straight on. It was easier said than done. Maybe not the time to have been caught checking out his cock, despite knowing each other in the biblical sense. “Daniel, concentrate. The light wouldn’t be there and gone. Wouldn’t the metal or whatever have to be moving to do that? Otherwise it would still be happening.”
Slowly he nodded, the heat in his eyes dimming. “Alright, alright. How about we pack up, move on. There are some back roads we can use, less cover on them for anyone following. If anyone is, which I doubt. My bet, it’s infected.”
“Thank you,” she replied drily.
He gave a pained sigh and one big hand reached down, wrapped around the meat of his cock. He stroked once, twice. “I call rain check on oral, though.”
Her mouth watered. How the hell did he take her from irritation to lust in two-point-oh seconds?
She had never had much of an opinion on the subject of oral. It was the polite thing to do. It was expected. It made a guy happy. With Daniel, she wanted to know if she could reduce him to the same mindless whimpering state as she fell into whenever he put his hands on her. She wanted to know what he tasted like, what he felt like. Would he pant and plead?
She wanted to please him and show him without words what he was starting to mean to her.
She could imagine herself on her knees for him, sucking him off. It was no great stretch of the imagination. Her mind leapt at the idea and her pulse thumped hard down low. The strong, sure way he handled himself held her captivated. A muscle jumped in his jaw and his stomach tensed. With lips parted he watched her watching him. He really was beautiful. Her body heated further every time she met his gaze.
But the light she’d seen, it hadn’t been her imagination. She tensed as the old familiar stress slid through her. They weren’t alone. This wasn’t safe.
“Dan,” she whispered harshly, torn in two. She’d love to watch him make himself come. “This isn’t safe.”
“I love that expression on your face, all hungry and curious. And there it goes.” The man gave up stroking his still-hard cock with a truly agonized groan. Surprisingly, she was … disappointed. Disappointed that he had stopped, disappointed that she had shut down on him, her and her rabbit heart. “Oh, well. We are making progress, babe. I can feel it.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to deny or retract. But she held the old standard in. Ali reached for her clothes, liking the ache between her legs. She gave him a long look over her shoulder, a playful look. Impressed that she remembered how to flirt. He gazed back at her in rapture. Maybe her skills weren’t so rusty.
“I might be willing to honor that rain check,” he said. “Later.”
“That so?” Daniel came to his knees behind her, pressed his front to her back and took the weight of her breasts in his big hands. A shiver ran straight down her spine, a baby jolt of lightning.
“You’re gonna mess with me all day, aren’t you, mean woman?” he said.
“Probably.” She didn’t stutter too much as he rubbed himself against her ass. The hot length of him was melting her down. “We can discuss it once we’ve found somewhere safe tonight.”
“Oh, I guarantee we’ll be discussing it.”
He whispered the most terrible things in her ear, half of them unintelligible. Her surprisingly dirty mind filled in the gaps.
Still, the feeling lingered … they weren’t alone, someone was watching. “Daniel. The light. Remember?”
His breath sounded choppy against her ear, his groan loud. “We may need to up the ante from oral. Be warned.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Daniel knew she would be the death of him. But he couldn’t keep his eyes off her.
Ali wedged her upper body beneath a line of supermarket shelving as she stretched and strained to reach wayward cans of caramel goo. The words pouring out of her sweet, sweet mouth were gutter talk by any standards. Daniel wouldn’t have gone an
ywhere near her had he been the subject of that particular discourse.
What a lie. He was a total sucker for her, fair weather or foul. Ideally he should help her reach the cans of goo. He really, honest to God, should get down and lend her some assistance, only her butt was wriggling in the most intriguing way. He couldn’t move to save himself. The sight held him transfixed. A few hours previous he had lined the length of his painfully hard cock up with the crack of her very sweet ass.
Awfully close to heaven on earth as he knew it.
It made a man wonder what he could talk her into, given a little time and plenty of patience. And he had both. The possibilities were endless.
But back to the present.
“Yes! Eureka!” Said butt wiggled back and several cans rolled forth. He really wanted to cup her ass, take it in hand and call it his. Lick it, bite it, and own it completely. It would so make his day.
“Well done, brave young hunter.”
Ali climbed to her feet, with a victorious grin. “Thank you.”
“You’ve got, ahh…” He gestured to the smattering of dust bunnies that had attached themselves to her front. Who could blame them? He himself loved to be plastered against her, preferably without clothes.
“Hmm.” Her hands started brushing off her shirt, beating off the dust and dirt, setting her boobs to moving in a wondrous manner. Hard to say whether watching or doing would have been more fun.
He grew very hard.
“I’d offer to help but you’d take it the wrong way, wouldn’t you?” One side of her luscious mouth kicked up, and he recalled with much joy, she still owed him a blow job. Life was sweet.
“Are your intentions pure?”
“No. Not in the least.”
Her smile widened. His heart jumped.
“You’re honest,” she said. “That counts for something.”
“I’m glad you think so.” Daniel held the shotgun out to her. When her slender fingers wrapped around it he towed her in, not stopping till their chests bumped. The sweet mounds of her breasts pressed up against him. “What say we call it a night. Find someplace safe to hole up and practice our repopulation methods. Do it for our country. What do you think?”
His girl arched her neck to look up at him, the long line of her throat calling to tongue and teeth. “It’s only a little past midday. We could go for hours yet. I thought towns made you twitchy.”
“I could definitely go for hours. You make me twitchy.”
“Daniel. That’s the strangest compliment I’ve ever received.”
“But you like it, right?” He leant down and brushed her cheek with his lips, slid his free hand around to cop a feel of her. “Tell me this is calling to your inner patriot, babe.”
She smiled and angled her face so their mouths brushed. Lips soon locked with everything hot and wet and good. Kissing Ali was so divine he forgot to breathe. Her kisses made him giddy. The way she opened her mouth to him was exactly what he needed. Her hand moved up his chest hesitantly, turning him rock hard. He oh so welcomed her touch.
Far less welcome was the shrill wolf whistle from the end of the aisle.
Daniel shoved her against the shelving behind him. He kept the shotgun in hand as he faced the strangers. Five of them, all wearing the remnants of military uniform with a dash of “fuck you” thrown in for good measure. Harley t-shirts and shit kickers, mirrored sunglasses and backward ball caps. It was a wonder they could stand, they were so heavily armed.
He had failed her.
“We’ll have the woman,” one large and ugly specimen informed him. Daniel could smell the scotch and marijuana perfuming the bastard from meters away.
“Bad idea, seriously. She’s very mouthy, difficult. I won’t even start in on her trust issues.”
“And yet…” The big bastard licked his chops and ran his fingers up the barrel of his machine gun.
Clearly, the gun overcompensated for something.
The bastard resembled an ape. Hairy shoulders displayed by an undershirt that had to come back as something less tortured in its next life, if fairness counted at all.
Knuckles slid against his skin and her hand gripped the pistol tucked into the back of his belt. The gun slid out and his heart hit the bottom of his chest and broke in two. The pain was shattering.
“I’m sorry, baby,” he whispered hoarsely.
She was mooshed up against his back, caught between him and the shelving. Her frantic breath made a damp spot on his t-shirt. His sweet girl, what the hell had he done dragging her out into this? He had failed her. So angry he was shaking, Daniel bit down on his tongue, focusing on the pain. He wanted to rage at them, but she couldn’t afford for him to lose it. Not now.
“Drop the gun, asshole, and step away from her,” snarled the behemoth.
Ali’s fingers dug into his hip in response, holding him in place. She had obviously connected the dots as he had. They only wanted her. He was expendable.
“Now!” Bastard screamed, his four mates making menacing motions with the weaponry at hand.
Ali pressed a hot kiss against his back. She had a gun. He knew exactly how she planned for this to go down, and while it broke him inside, he had to agree. Leaving her alive at the mercy of these bastards was out of the question.
Pity he had the shotgun instead of his pistol, but he would …
A bright blossom of red erupted dead center in Bastard’s forehead. Daniel’s heart caught. They were in play.
Whoever they were.
Machine-gun fire tore into the roof as Bastard fell, his finger caught on the trigger.
Daniel turned and took Ali to the floor, covering her with his body. Noise and color lit up the supermarket aisle. It had turned into the O.K. Corral. He emptied his shotgun at the bad guys, trying to keep his head low.
The remaining four fell back fast. They sheltered behind the shelves, one full of soup cans. Liquid was flooding the floor, surrounding the dead in a pool of blood and French onion soup.
At the other end of the showdown was one man. One, lone guy. Blonde, twenty-something and serious as shit. He had a pistol in each hand when he ducked out from behind a diaper display, squeezing off rounds at Bastard’s mates.
“Move!” their new best friend roared.
Daniel shoved a hand beneath Ali’s waist and scooped her up. He dropped the spent shotgun and snagged his pistol from her grip.
The bastards didn’t want to kill her, yet bullets filled the air. It was pandemonium. Daniel sheltered her with his body, threw a hand back and emptied his clip helter-skelter. Hauling his girl to her feet, they ran toward their lone ranger.
“Back exit. Go.” The blonde guy nodded toward a “Staff Only” hallway, and Daniel dragged Ali toward it, past a row of fridges full of rotting food.
“Gun. Give me a gun.” Her words were rough, but she had found her own feet.
“Can’t. We’ve lost the pack. Go.” He let her pull free of him and followed her into the dank hallway. The guy wasn’t far behind. Daniel heard cursing and gunshots following them.
A body held the exit door propped open, army boots lying in blood, throat … Oh, shit. Throat gone. Ali hesitated at the gruesome sight. He tugged at her arm. “Don’t stop.”
“Gun.” Without flinching, she scooped up the dead guy’s handgun smothered in thick, congealing blood.
Her face blanched and her throat worked, but she kept it together. Of course, she hadn’t yet seen the second body, dispatched same as the first.
The blonde guy sprinted through the hallway after them, moving like six feet worth of athlete. He crammed a fresh clip into one of his pistols without slowing. He was pretty fucking impressive.
The hallway led to a loading bay, roller door pushed up. Heavy, gray clouds covered the area. Nothing moved in the parking lot. A delivery truck sat idle, stripped down, and a large gas tank lay nearby.
Daniel faced the stranger, heaving in breaths. “Getaway plan?”
“I’m going to blow the
tank,” the stranger announced without preamble. “Run.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
They ran.
Along the back of the supermarket, behind a couple of refrigeration trucks and on to forever; forever these days being not so impressive. They ran down a line of specialty shops, through parking spaces and a row of storage sheds. Debris covered the area.
And damn, she hurt. The side of her face felt fit to explode where it had connected with the supermarket floor. Her head spun and pounded until she couldn’t have found the ground. The tang of blood lingered, thick and cloying, but the gun stayed in her hand. She was done with being a dead weight. Done with panic attacks.
The gas tank exploded behind them, splitting the early afternoon in half. The ground buckled beneath her feet and she nearly hit the ground with her wits cracked and scrambled.
Daniel caught her, dragged her on. He pulled her into one of the sheds as the smoke and haze hit the overcast sky. It had looked like rain, now it looked like hell.
The cool brick wall felt good against her back. The shady inside of the shed was a welcome change from the weak sunlight. Fuck her head hurt, every little last part of it. It spun and pounded and throbbed all at once. Her stomach churned and she swallowed hard, trying to keep its contents down. So damn not good.
Ali rubbed the pilfered handgun against her jeans. What a mess. Some bastard’s lifeblood smeared down her side.
Shit.
Some bastard had wanted to make her a personal fuck toy. Someone who was willing to kill Daniel to do so. Bloody hell.
She had been in the middle of her very first gun battle. Her ears still rang, though it might have been the head wound.
The stranger slipped into the shed like a shadow. Calm, with his gun still in hand, everything about him at the ready. “Hey,” he said with a nice, deep voice, serene despite all the bloodshed and crazy in the supermarket.
Her eyesight blurred, and he was just a shape, crouching down before her. Everything around her was a painful gray haze. She had no recollection of sliding down the wall, but it was probably all for the best.
