Spies, Lies and Lovers

by Sally Tyler Hayes

  “That’s because I drugged you into unconsciousness,” Geri said.

  “No, that was your evil twin.”

  She laughed, then shook her head. “I’ll never understand you. I’ll never understand how you always manage to make me feel better, to laugh.”

  He cocked his head to one side. “Somebody’s got to do it. You desperately need to laugh.”

  “Nobody’s ever done that for me, Alex.”

  “Never?”

  She shook her head, thinking that she knew why. Nobody had ever cared enough to work that hard to make her smile, make her laugh.

  She wondered if he was always like this, if he took such good care of all the women who came and went from his life. There had been a lot of women. She knew that from the background material she’d seen on him. Obviously, he knew exactly how to handle women—which was something she didn’t want to think about tonight. Tonight was all they’d have, and she didn’t want to waste it. She was suddenly desperate for every moment she could have with him.

  Nervous, she knew she’d have to go to him, knew he felt responsible for her having been shot and that he seemed to think that meant he had to keep his distance from her. And maybe he felt guilty about the bit with the handcuffs, too.

  Geri smiled. Odd how that was getting easier, the more time she spent with him.

  He had rolled onto his side, propped his head up on one bent arm, and was watching her. “What was that look?”

  “I was thinking about—I think you called it our little foray into bondage.”

  He fought a smile of his own, and she could swear she saw the heat flare in his eyes. “I brought the cuffs with me. You said you never know what might prove to be useful, so...”

  “Alex!”

  “Am I supposed to apologize for that whole scene again? Because I’m willing.”

  Geri knew she wouldn’t ever forget being handcuffed to his bed. “I guess that depends,” she finally managed to say. “Are you sorry?”

  “Define ‘sorry.’ ”

  “Come on, Alex. Use that world-class brain of yours. You know what it means to be sorry.”

  “Do I regret handcuffing you to my bed? Well...”

  Geri laughed again. “You’re not sorry at all.”

  “I’m not proud of what I did. I was mad, and I knew you were going to be furious. I just wanted you to listen to me, and when I couldn’t do that, I wanted to prove something to both of us. And I guess I pushed too far.” He reached out for her, cupping the side of her face in his hand. “Did I scare you?”

  “You’ve always scared me. Everything about you.”

  “But in a good way, right?”

  “Sometimes,” she said.

  “I’m sorry. I never intended to take it that far with the cuffs, but...”

  “What?”

  “You know what,” he insisted, running his thumb along her bottom lip.

  “No, I don’t. I know what I’d like to believe happened, and I know what I want to happen tonight.”

  He brought her hand to the middle of his chest, pressed it against a mountain of soft, warm skin above a thundering heart, then smiled again. “What do you want tonight, Geri? I’m all yours. I’ll give you anything you want. Anything I have to give.”

  “I want this night with you. I want to feel the way I did that day we spent riding through the panhandle. Hot and urgent and free. I felt absolutely free that day. I didn’t ever want us to stop riding. I didn’t ever want to have to face all the lies and all the danger. I don’t want tomorrow to ever come, because I don’t know how I’m going to let you walk into the trap we’ve set—”

  “Shh.” He sat up quickly, kissing her softly. “I can’t stop tomorrow from coming. Even I’m not that good. But I can give you tonight. If there was anything more I could promise you right now, I would. But that’s all we’ve got. Tonight.”

  “I know,” she said. That made it all the more urgent, although honestly, she didn’t think her need for him could get any more urgent than it already was.

  He put his hands on her arms, running them up and down from shoulder to wrist, just looking at her for the longest time. She felt the heat seeping into her cheeks. Alex leaned down to her and kissed her one more time—a slow, hot, wickedly sweet kiss that left her head spinning.

  “It’s been hell trying to keep my hands off you from the first minute I saw you,” he confessed. “I looked across the bar and thought you must have come there after me, that I’d been caught, but what a way to go. I’ve been aching for you ever since.”

  “That wasn’t me, Alex. In the bar, I mean. That was somebody else entirely.”

  “No, it wasn’t. All those other women, the ones you pretend to be? They’re all you, Geri. They’re all coming from somewhere inside you. You can twist yourself into knots trying to deny it, but all of those personalities you put on come from you. All the things that happen to you on the job really happen to you.”

  “Alex?”

  “Shh.” He stopped her with a kiss. “We won’t settle this tonight. Let’s not argue about anything tonight.”

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  “I think we should take a little ride.”

  “Alex?” She blushed, remembering what she’d told him about wanting to get on the bike and keep riding forever, remembering that other wild ride of theirs. “It’s the middle of the night.”

  “So?” he demanded, perfectly serious.

  “It’s freezing out there,” she protested. They were in the mountains now. There was still snow at the higher elevations.

  “Just a little ride. Remember how good it felt to ride that day?”

  “Yes,” she replied. She’d never felt so free; had never wanted any man the way she’d wanted him.

  “I want that day back,” he said, seducing her with the memories. “And I know just how I want it to end.”

  She hesitated, the coming day and what it would bring telling her she should refuse. “We’re going to need to be alert tomorrow.”

  “We’ll sleep like babies,” he said. “We’ll be exhausted, sated, and very, very happy.”

  Oh, she wanted that. Every bit of it. “Alex—”

  His hands closed over hers. “I’m going to put myself in your hands tomorrow. Put yourself in mine tonight.”

  “I want to,” she said.

  “Then let’s do it. Get dressed. Grab your coat. It is going to be cold.”

  “This is crazy,” she said, liking the sound of it all the more.

  He grinned. “You’ve always said I was insane. Just wait.”

  In the end, she did exactly what he wanted. She threw on her clothes, her coat, her gloves, and hopped on the back of the bike with him.

  It was a beautiful night. Cold, unlike the other day, but beautiful. The road he took was narrow and lined with towering trees, the mountains in the background, a million stars overhead. Geri had to stay close to him to have any hope of staying warm. She buried her nose against his back, and he took one of her hands and pushed it up under his shirt. She tugged off her gloves a second later, needing to feel his skin against hers.

  The bike’s engine roared beneath them. She had her thighs spread wide to either side of his, his hips nestled against her, her breasts flattened against his back, and she could touch him, could reach almost all of him from this position. She pressed a hand over his heart, took comfort in its hard, heavy rhythm. She didn’t want it ever to stop.

  And then she pushed that thought away, as well.

  Her hands had a mind of their own. They roamed over his chest, his shoulders, down that narrow band of hair in the middle of his abdomen. She felt him suck in a breath, felt her own heart kick into overdrive. She wanted him. She wanted to touch him, to stroke him, like she had before.

  As she looked around, it seemed they were the only two people in the entire world—just them and the stars and the ribbon of road, the trees, the mountains, the cold night air. There was no one to see them. Bringing her hand
to his jeans-covered thigh, Geri felt the muscle contract beneath her touch, and stroked up and down.

  He turned his head to hers. “You’re driving me crazy.”

  She smiled and gave him a quick kiss, then let her hand slide farther up, finding that he was every bit as aroused as he had been that day they’d spent riding through the panhandle. The bike lurched forward once again. Every muscle in his body seemed to tighten even more, and once again she pressed her palm against that intriguing bulge in his jeans, the heat of him seeming to blast right through the material separating them.

  She’d never explored a man this freely, this wantonly, had never done anything so decadent as riding down some deserted road in the middle of the night as foreplay. Only Alex, she reflected, would think of something like this. And she loved it. She loved touching him, loved knowing he was this aroused and imagining what he was going to do with her when they got back to the motel.

  She was surprised when he pulled off the road onto a wide spot on the shoulder. He jumped off the bike, pushed her forward on the seat.

  “You know how to drive this thing?” he asked, pure wickedness in his eyes.

  “I can drive anything,” she bragged.

  “Good.” He settled himself behind her on the bike. “Because it’s my turn.”

  “Alex,” she started to protest, even as excitement was building inside her. He was wicked.

  “Take off,” he said, already working on the buttons of her jacket.

  “I’ll kill us both,” she argued.

  “Yeah? Well, life’s full of little risks, isn’t it? Let’s chance it tonight.”

  Geri laughed as she gave the bike the gas, the cold air assaulting her now that she didn’t have him to block the worst of the wind. He left his gloves on at first, and still he was incredibly adept at undressing her. Who would have thought ice-cold leather could feel so erotic against her skin? Laughing, she squirmed away from his touch and then sucked in a breath.

  “It’s freezing,” she protested.

  “Give it a minute,” he insisted.

  But she didn’t need a minute to know that being with him was going to be unlike anything she’d ever experienced. Already, her body warmed to his touch. His wicked hands were beneath her shirt, beneath her bra, cupping her breasts, teasing at her nipples, which were already so tight they hurt.

  “Alex,” she gasped.

  “Hmm?”

  “Your hands. I want your hands.”

  He brought one hand to his mouth and tugged off a glove with his teeth, shoving it into his pocket, then did the same with the other. She trembled at the touch of warm flesh against hers. She already knew he had magic hands—gentle, slow, teasing, magic hands. No one had ever touched her the way he did, stroking, soothing, searing. He could make love to her with nothing but his hands, and she would be happy.

  Then he started with his mouth, finding the delicate skin at the back of her neck and pressing hot, openmouthed kisses there, turning her entire body into liquid heat.

  He held her tighter, his strong arms wrapped around her, and she could feel his arousal—so big, so strong—against her bottom. He was holding her by the waist, thrusting easily against her. She was desperate for him by the time he pointed out another clearing at the side of the road.

  She brought the bike to a stop beside a thick stand of majestic fir trees and turned to him. “You’ll drive us back?”

  “Not yet,” he said, leaning back on the long seat.

  He grabbed her by the waist, lifting and turning her, pulling one of her legs over until she was straddling the seat once again, but facing him this time.

  “Alex?”

  It was all she got out before his mouth came down on hers. She’d been dying for that kiss, she realized. Desperate for it and for any connection she could have to him. She wrapped her arms around him, and he did the same, pulling her flush against him—all those beautiful muscles of his against her soft, yielding flesh.

  It wasn’t long before he had a hand between them, yanking clothing out of the way, before she felt his hot breath on her breast, his mouth closing over her nipple, teasing at it with his tongue. It was crazy and so very cold, but his body was so hot, and she loved it. She absolutely loved it, would have let him do anything in the world to her right then.

  But she didn’t think they were actually going to finish it right there.

  She almost stopped him when his hands went to the button and zipper of her jeans. But he pushed her back until she lay against the curve of the bike and placed a stnng of kisses on her belly, right above the waistband of her pants, and she found her hands tangled in his hair instead, holding him to her.

  He slid the zipper down without a whimper of protest from her, and the next thing she knew, he was pulling down her pants, her underwear. His hand came foraging up her thigh, dipping into the liquid heat between her legs. She saw a hard stab of satisfaction on his face as he discovered how very ready she was for him.

  He slid one finger deep inside her, then two, stroking, teasing, always pushing her just a little bit further, making her a little more desperate, until nothing mattered. Nothing but him.

  He pushed her nearly over the edge, building the tension to the breaking point. She was right there.

  “Alex!” she cried.

  “Not yet,” he insisted.

  “Alex, I want you inside me. Please. The first time... I want you with me.”

  That did it. He sat up, his eyes dark and glittery.

  He took off his jacket and threw it onto a pile of leaves behind the bike, then lowered her down, tugging off her jeans and her panties before she could so much as utter another word.

  “You are crazy,” she said, so excited she could hardly stand it.

  “Crazy for you,” he replied, pulling something out of the pocket of his jeans and tossing it to her. “Open that for me, would you?”

  His hand went to work on his own clothes, unbuttoning the shirt completely. She remembered the way her bare breasts felt against his chest, remembered those springy little curls and those muscles against her skin. He ripped at the button of his jeans then. She watched as he lowered the zipper, shoved down his jeans and his briefs at the same time.

  “Geri?” He nodded toward what she had in her hand. “I need that, babe.”

  It was a condom, she realized, once she’d dragged her eyes from the sight of him, standing there with his clothes all undone in the cold night air. He’d brought a condom. Had he meant for it to happen just this way? This wildly? This dangerously?

  She laughed, feeling every bit as free and as wanton as she had on the bike that day. He’d brought it all back—all the magic, all the hope.

  He grumbled impatiently and took the condom from her hand, ripped open the package with his teeth and rolled it on. She watched, her mouth going dry, the ache between her legs intensifying.

  “You’re not scared, are you?” he asked, lowering himself into the cradle of her thighs.

  “No,” she said. “I’m not scared of anything with you.”

  He smiled at that, tugged his shirttails out of the way and pushed her shirt up, until they were skin to skin, heat to glorious heat. He kissed her once, deeply, wickedly, and then she opened to him, arching against him.

  She wanted him so badly, could feel the big, blunt tip of him at the opening of her body.

  “Alex?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Are you going to make me beg?”

  “I could do that. But not tonight, okay?” he said, bracing himself, sliding inside with one, smooth, powerful stroke. They both gasped in unison, and then he laughed a bit, his forehead coming down to hers. “You’re incredible, Geri. You’ve taken me half out of my mind from wanting you.”

  He kissed her again and again, barely moving, just sinking a tiny bit deeper with every little thrust of his hips against hers. At first she wasn’t sure if she could take all that he had to offer, but her body was slowly easing, adjusting to the breadth of
him.

  “That’s it,” he said. “You can take this. All of me. Just relax.”

  “It feels so good,” she said.

  “For me, too, babe. Me, too.”

  She put her hands on his hips, urging him closer, urging him to move, finding she needed that. His body was lying heavily on top of hers, his head and his shoulders blocking out the sight of nearly everything else, and she found she liked this—liked being utterly surrounded by him and vulnerable to him. Everything was different with him.

  Alex groaned against her ear, pulling her earlobe into his mouth. Then he laughed again—a low, wicked sound—and she shivered.

  “I know you’re not cold,” he said.

  “No, I’m not,” she admitted. “Not at all.”

  She felt as if she were flying, with the wind streaking past, and she didn’t feel the cold at all. And at some point, they just took off—flying. Being with Alex was like flying.

  A new tension came into her body, a need that came from so deep inside, it frightened her. She clutched at him with her hands, because he was the only solid thing in her world. She wrapped her legs around him and arched against him and moaned as he kissed her once again. He was thrusting deeply now, moving powerfully, faster, harder.

  “Alex!” she cried.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “I promise.”

  “I need you. I need this. So much.”

  He pushed his hands beneath her hips, palming them, pulling her to him, the fit so tight, his body so deeply inside hers. “Let go, Geri. I’ll catch you. I promise.”

  And she did. She let go of everything.

  “Just feel,” he urged. “Feel how good it is to have me inside you. I don’t ever want to leave.”

  Her hips bucked beneath his, straining to get closer still, and he seemed to swell inside her. He groaned, and she felt a hot pulsing between her thighs. Him, she realized. That was him. He shuddered against her, holding her so tight, and she wanted to take it all in, to absorb him into her in a way she could never, ever lose him.