“You’re the sexiest man I’ve ever met,” Valerie said, toying briefly with the HOG’s tooth strung around his neck before reaching out to trace his pecs. Her feather-light touch sent shivers down to his toes. Then she trailed her fingers slowly over the ridges of his abs leaving sparks in her wake. When she reached his boxers, her fingers slipped beneath the waistband and skated along the edge of the fabric as she held his gaze.
He forgot how to breathe as she tugged the only barrier between them lower.
Taking her hands in his, he stopped her progress and gave her a desperate, hungry kiss that stretched out far longer than he’d intended. “Hang tight,” he said, lifting her hips to move her off his lap.
She frowned, but scrambled aside. Once on his feet, he took a deep breath, drew his underwear down over the bandage, and let the boxers drop to the floor as he straightened.
The moment of truth.
Her eyes widened.
As much as he wanted to believe she was impressed by his cock, his scars had her full attention now. He shouldn’t worry. Did he want her any less for the nasty ribbon that cut across her ribs? Hell no.
Still, she was the first woman to see him naked outside of a hospital. What if his scars sent her running for the hills? Heaven knew he avoided them whenever possible.
“How long were you in the hospital?” she asked, scooting to sit on the edge of the bed, posed like some kind of X-rated pinup.
Despite the stellar view, his erection softened at her question, and he sighed. “Almost a year.”
She gasped.
“My femur was broken in several places. Plus, the burns… And I needed a lot of physical therapy.”
She bit her lip and looked up at him. “May I?” she asked, waving her hand at his pelvis.
He nodded, mesmerized by the sight of her elegant fingers so close to his gnarled skin as she moved in closer.
Her touch was so light he couldn’t even feel it. She glanced up. “Is that okay?”
“Yeah. The nerve endings are pretty much destroyed.”
She traced the lumps and tendrils of skin with slow, deliberate strokes and then placed her palm flat over top of the worst scars and gripped his hip. Something in her demeanor shifted, and her silken breath caressed his penis.
“I’m so glad you survived,” she said, her voice hoarse.
His dick twitched and came to life again, and he nearly groaned in embarrassment. Great timing. He made to step back, but Valerie wrapped her fingers around his renewed erection. His pulse tripped.
“Make love to me,” she said, her gaze steady, resolved.
“Why?” The word came out before he could stop it, but if this was a pity fuck—What? He’d say no? Yeah, right.
She released him as she leaned back on the bed resting on her elbows and—thank you, Jesus—spread her legs, giving him a glimpse of the treasure hidden beneath her dark curls.
He turned painfully hard.
“Because I’ve wanted you for days and I don’t want to wait any longer.” Watching his face, she lay flat out and raised her arms over her head. “Make love to me, Scott.”
Valerie shivered in anticipation as Scott kneeled carefully before her. Every five seconds she wanted to cover her midriff, hide the ravaged skin that marked the worst day of her life, but the hungry expression on his face—like a wolf on the prowl—reminded her that he didn’t care.
In his eyes, she wasn’t damaged.
Logically, she knew that. His scar didn’t change her opinion of how sexy he was, so it should be the same for her, right? But that hadn’t been her experience with men in the past. They either treated her with too much care, or were turned off. Either way, the scar interfered.
But not today, not with Scott.
He ran his rough palms up her thighs, massaging as he went and following the trail he blazed with hot, openmouthed kisses that made her body tingle and yearn. And made her thankful that she’d shaved her legs with one of the razors she’d found in the stash of toiletries. He tugged her closer to the edge of the bed and slid his hands under her buttocks, lifting her slightly, bringing her closer to his mouth.
Her face heated—she’d never done this with the light on—but then he licked her in one long, powerful stroke and she forgot about the light, her scar, being on the run, and everything but the warm, electric pleasure rippling from her core out to her limbs. He kissed and licked and suckled, sometimes diving into her with his tongue and then returning to lavish the most sensitive part of her body with loving attention, his beard rasping against her thighs amping up the onslaught of sensations.
She tangled her fingers in his soft hair and held on for the ride, forgetting to breathe as he snaked a hand up her body and caressed her left breast. Eyes closed, she arched up as everything within her came together in a single, shining point of light and then burst apart like a supernova, showering her with stars, like glitter raining down from above.
A noise escaped her, half cry, half moan, and she fought for air as he eased her down with butterfly kisses on her stomach.
Putting his right knee on the bed, Scott moved over her and gave her a smoldering grin. “You are the hottest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
She laughed, suddenly shy. “You did that.”
He nodded. “I did.” He spent a few minutes exploring her breasts with his mouth and hands, ramping up the heat that coursed through her, before looking up with a playful smile. “I’m going to do it again.”
“But—”
He cut her off with a slow, sensuous kiss that went on for days and chased away all thought. When he pulled back, he said, “There’s nothing I’d rather be doing right this second than tasting you.”
Oh.
Her heart swelled. In this moment, the way he looked at her, the way he touched her, she could almost believe this was something more than a quick fling, something more than the fleeting attraction of two people forced together under unreal circumstances.
Without waiting for a response, he snuck a hand under her back and slid her higher on the bed. Then he lowered himself between her legs and set her on fire again and again and again, until her muscles were worthless and she was desperate for him.
He stretched out on his right side next to her and caressed her ribs. She rolled to face him, and began stroking his erection until he closed his eyes on a groan. “Stop,” he said, gently holding her wrist. “I want to be inside you when I come.”
Her pulse tripped. “I’m ready.”
His chuckle sounded strained. “I’m more than ready, but we need a condom and I don’t want to stop touching you long enough to go searching for one.”
Reaching over her head for the nightstand, she opened the drawer and removed one of the condoms she’d stashed there earlier in a fit of wishful thinking. Thank God for optimism. “Wish granted.”
“You planned this,” he said, his tone amused as he stroked her thigh, seemingly incapable of breaking contact.
She could feel the blush creeping up her face like a rising flood. “Hardly, but I planned for it. You know, just in case.”
“I hope you put a few more in there.” He shifted onto his back and let her roll the condom on. “First ride’s free,” he said, gesturing her to climb on.
She laughed and threw her leg over him, careful to avoid his injury. Which made her pause. “Is this going to hurt you?”
Sitting up, he gave her a hard, fast kiss and said, “If I’m not inside you in the next five seconds, I’m going to be in a lot of pain, and not from my leg.”
“I’m serious. What if you pull a stitch or start bleeding again?
“Stop thinking. I’m fine.” His thumb swept her clit and her breath hitched at the intense rush of heat. “Stop worrying and make love to me, Valerie,” he said, echoing her words back to her.
“Only if you don’t move your hips.” She leaned over him, placing her hands next to his head and brushing her breasts against his sculpted chest. “Just lie there and let
me do all the work,” she said, summoning her most seductive voice. Two could play at this game. Luckily, this was a game they’d both win.
His hands encircled her waist. “Yes, ma’am.”
“You promise?” She drew out the words as her mouth traced a path from the edge of his beard, down his throat, and across his shoulder.
“Scout sniper’s honor, honey. Now fuck me.”
His rough command made her body throb with desire. Reaching between them, she guided him to her core and slowly settled on his hard shaft, rocked by the sensation of being filled by him.
He groaned and closed his eyes. “Jesus,” he muttered, stretching up to capture her breast in his hot mouth.
For a second, she held still, savoring their connection, the sense of total completeness. Then his hips jerked, and she sat up to ride him, her rhythm turning faster, more frenzied as the delicious friction pushed both of them toward the edge.
Scott’s hands gripped her upper thighs hard, and he clenched his jaw, blue eyes dark as twilight as he came with a low, animal growl.
The sounds of his pleasure pulsed through her, heightening the sensations that pushed her closer to ecstasy. Then he once again stroked her with his thumb as she rode his aftershocks, spinning her to new heights.
She was close. So close.
With another caress and a slow thrust, Scott set her alight. She soared above them and slowly drifted back to earth on a warm cloud, collapsing onto his sweat-slicked body, listening to his steady heartbeat, unable to lift a single, pleasure-pummeled muscle.
Rain pattered on the roof, while he made lazy circles on her back with his fingers and gently kissed her hair. “I’m never moving again,” she said.
“Works for me.”
Valerie couldn’t remember a more perfect, more magical moment in her entire life.
Then a soft ding came from her computer.
Chapter Sixteen
Falls Church, VA
Wednesday, 6:30 a.m.
Scott sighed inwardly at the sound of the bell and tightened his hold on Valerie. He finally had her in his arms and, goddammit, he didn’t want to let her go. She was beyond sexy, all warm and pliant, her soft breasts mashed pleasantly against him.
He was drawn to the feel of her skin on his in a way he’d never been with anyone else. Attraction was one thing, but with Valerie it went to a whole new level. He couldn’t stop touching her, stroking, caressing, kissing.
And what the hell did he do with that?
Don’t overthink it.
There was too much going on to worry about whether they had a future together. For now, he’d take what he could get and try to make sure they survived.
Valerie groaned and crawled off him toward the nightstand. “Who the hell is in at this hour?”
“What is it?” he asked, trying to cover the unpleasant shock of losing contact with her skin.
“Someone took the bait.”
“Holy shit.” He sat up. “Really?”
She slipped under the comforter, unfortunately covering her nakedness, and propped the laptop on her knees. Within seconds, she was typing away madly on the keyboard. “Someone plugged in one of my USB drives.” She gave a triumphant fist pump.
Whatever that meant. Unable to push aside his disappointment at being interrupted, he used a tissue from the box on the nightstand to remove the spent condom and then held up his shirt and skivvies like a shield as he stood to cross the room. He needn’t have bothered. Valerie was so engrossed in whatever was on her computer, he could have danced naked on the bed and she might not have noticed.
He understood that kind of focus. His life’s work was based on it. That, and patience. Valerie shared those qualities with him. Whereas he could spend weeks in the desert tracking and observing a target, she willingly spent weeks—or even months—attacking her target’s defenses until she found a vulnerability.
Patience and focus. His had been legendary, even among scout snipers.
But around her—with the exception of delaying his own gratification while tending to hers—both traits pretty much went out the window. Now, all he could think about was how soon he might be inside of her again.
Obviously, she wasn’t similarly affected at the moment.
Christ. Time to cowboy up and shift his focus back to what mattered here.
He cleaned up in the bathroom, and then returned to the bedroom and slid on the pajama pants Tara had bought for him. “Want some coffee?” he asked Valerie, resigned to staying up despite being dead on his feet.
She glanced up and frowned. “You’re dressed.”
Maybe she wasn’t as immune to his presence as he thought. With a shrug, he said, “You’re working.”
“Not much longer.” Her attention returned to the keyboard. “It looks like this is Eli’s laptop. He’s not connected to the corporate network right now, but I uploaded a script that’ll get me everything I need if he logs in. Otherwise, we’ll have to hope one of my other schemes works.”
Scott sat next to her on the bed and rested his palm on her knee, unable to be this close without touching her, even with the comforter separating them. “How did you get a flash drive into Eli’s hands?”
She grinned in triumph. “My usual social engineering techniques were out. One, because I couldn’t be there in person, and two, because Aggressor is more on alert than usual with me on the run. When I was in Missouri, I bought some drives and Ethernet cables on the dark web that have radio transmitters embedded in them, along with a transceiver with a WiFi hotspot. Then I repackaged the drives and cables to look like they had come from Aggressor’s normal supplier, mailed them off, and hoped it would take a while before someone realized the shipment didn’t match any orders.”
“So, whoever opened the box stuck everything in the supply closet, and at some point Eli grabbed one.” Damn. Scott whistled his appreciation. “But where’s the transceiver? I’m pretty sure no one would be dumb enough to leave that lying around.”
“The range is several miles, so I sent it general delivery to the nearest post office. They’ll hold the package for thirty days, so we still have about two weeks left before I lose the ability to intercept a signal. That’s assuming they’re diligent about clearing the general delivery bin.”
“I’m a little bit scared and a whole lot turned on right now,” he said.
She laughed and tugged him close for a quick kiss. “The NSA used the technology pretty extensively. Once Snowden leaked it, people rushed to create their own versions. It is kind of scary.”
“So this transceiver has enough battery life to last a month?” He licked his lips and scooted closer to the head of the bed, gently nudging her hips over to make room.
“Yeah. The device uses very little power when it’s in wait mode, and it only fires up the WiFi when it needs to transmit.”
“But why not just put…what’s it called? Malware.” He snapped his fingers. “Why not put that on the USB and have it set to notify you once it has network access?”
“That would be easier,” she said, “but this gives me more control, including the ability not to infect the user if I don’t think they’re worth it, or if I think it’s too dangerous. I have some pretty elegant scripts that could go through much of that logic automatically, but they’d be difficult to hide on the user’s system. It can be done, but that requires NSA-level coding skills that I don’t have. Besides, I’ve been wanting to try this new tech out.”
“Damn, you’re sneaky and brilliant.” He grinned. “I admire that in a woman.” Who ever thought he’d be obsessing over a geeky chick?
She turned a pleasant shade of pink and shrugged. “Only problem is, we have to wait for someone to need a flash drive or a cable, and hope they choose one of mine.”
“What about the email trick you used on Hollowell’s admin?”
“You know how small Aggressor is. If I send something like that to too many people it’ll get back to the person whose email I spoof. There a
re a few other phishing schemes I can try, but I need to figure out the bait and the landing pages first. I started researching everyone at Aggressor and their families before, um…before Jay.” She cleared her throat and Scott took her hand. “I’ve even managed to become friends with a few of them on social media using fake profiles. I’ll be able to target them based on their interests or background, but all that takes time.”
“With any luck, the cops—and Hollowell—think we’re in Mexico.”
“So far, luck hasn’t been on our side,” she said.
He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “I don’t know about that. We got lucky a few minutes ago, didn’t we?”
An indignant sound escaped her lips, and she gave him a playful but solid punch on the arm.
With a chuckle, he slid his hand behind her neck and kissed her thoroughly, not letting up until she moaned into his mouth and moved her laptop aside to tug him closer. They were both breathing hard when he broke the kiss to turn his attention to her neck, burying his face in her sweet-smelling hair.
“I think—” She gasped at his gentle bite on the taut muscle of her trapezius and gripped his biceps hard. “I think we…could both use…a little more luck…right now. Don’t you?”
“Hell, yeah.” Tugging down the covers, he filled his hands with her breasts, gently squeezing, caressing, craving. He clasped his mouth around her nipple and she arched against him, sliding her fingers into his hair.
“Mmm.”
Just like that, he was locked and loaded and ready to fire. Jesus. She pushed down his pants and skivvies far enough to release his dick as he groped for a condom, scattering several packets across the top of the nightstand.
The sheets and comforter were flung back and within seconds he was sheathed and positioned between her knees, ogling her spectacular body. In one slow thrust, he entered her fully, a little shell-shocked at the fucking amazing feel of her wrapped around him.
He held still for a long minute, trying to catch his bearings.
“Scott?” She lifted her head and her brows drew together. “You okay? Is it your leg?”
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