His voice was soft, almost as if he were talking to himself, so she chose not to answer. She reached her hand down for his.
“Come on,” she said. “We need to get packed.”
He got up by himself but didn’t relinquish her hand, keeping it snuggly in his. “You’re right. It’s going to be dark soon.”
“And we still have dishes to do. Come on, Junior,” Heather called and then they followed the dog inside.
It was just as well that that spell had been broken, Heather thought as she started cleaning up the dinner dishes. She was here to help Alex break free of his dependence on gambling, not get herself involved. Her life was complicated enough already, thank you.
“Did you ever have a time when nothing seems simple and straightforward?” Alex asked.
She laughed and rinsed out the bowls. “Have I ever had a time when it did?”
“No, I’m serious,” he said.
She looked at him then; his eyes were wearing a troubled look as he sat on the edge of the table. Something was bothering him. She put the bowl down and leaned her back against the sink.
“Actually, so was I,” she said. “Nothing has ever been simple and straightforward as long as I can remember. Everything has a million possible consequences and all of them dire.”
“So how do you decide on a course of action?”
“Toss a coin. Pick the squeakiest wheel. Go through the closest door.”
He stood up, walking ever so slowly across the kitchen toward her. There was something in his walk, something in his eyes, something in the fire that seemed to race before him to scorch her before he was even within reach. He stopped, just a bare few inches from her, and put a hand on the counter on either side of her.
“What if what you want is purely for the moment with no possibility of a tomorrow?”
She just stared up into his eyes, stared at those lips that had the power to drive her wild, stared at the fact that tonight might be the only night they would ever have. But she was thirty-three years old and tired of playing it safe. Tired of backing away from passion. Did pleasure have to come with a guarantee?
She reached up and touched his lips with a gentle caress, followed by a whisper-soft touch of her lips. She felt his heat radiating into her heart, felt his hungers and his iron-tight self-control.
“I think it’s getting too dark to drive that road,” she said, her voice a mere breath on the air. “We could regret trying to.”
Her caught her hand in his and brought those fingers back to his lips, touching each one in a heart-tingling kiss. “We could regret staying.”
“We could regret not.”
She took her hand back and slid it behind his head, pulling his lips down to hers. Their mouths met with a jolt of electricity, with a spark that set fire to their hearts. It was all the magic she’d ever dreamed of, all the wonder that she had longed for.
They kissed and kissed and kissed again, until their hearts were racing too fast to think or question or even breathe. There was nothing but their needs, their lips, their hungry bodies. His touch ignited her soul into a wonderful fiery ball of cravings. She’d never felt like this before, never felt needs controlling her body and driving her actions.
Alex’s mouth left hers, trailing kisses along her cheek and neck, sparking her hunger into an even greater intensity. Then she felt him bury his face in her hair, breathing soft kisses into it.
“I love how you smell,” he said, his voice as unsteady as her knees felt. “It’s like springtime. Like everything coming to life again.”
It was how she felt, strangely enough. How his touch made her feel. As if she’d been asleep forever and was only coming awake, alive, with his caress. She moved deeper into his arms, wanting only the feelings to continue.
But he moved away from her slightly. “If we’re going to go, we’d better do it now,” he murmured.
“While there’s still light?”
“While there’s still sanity.”
But she was through with that. For just this night, she was going to live for the moment and treasure the now. This was all she wanted and in the morning, she would worry about tomorrow and all the days after that.
“I think the only place we should go is in the bedroom,” she said softly.
“I think there’s light enough left for that,” he returned and swooped her up in his arms.
The last lingering glow of the sunset lit the way through the cabin to the bedroom and he laid her gently on the bed. Heather didn’t know if it was the dying glimmers of the daylight or the fiery passion that they were feeling, but the room seemed filled with a rosy hue. A golden glow as if they were flying in the heavens.
Alex kicked off his shoes, and reached over to pull hers off. Her bare feet against the quilt was sensuous enough, but when his hands roamed slowly over them, she thought she would start purring with pleasure. But then his caress moved upward and his hands slid under her shirt. His touch was cool against her heated skin, that grew ever hotter from his touch.
He tugged at her shirt and pulled it over her head, then loosened her bra. If she’d had thought left or time to be embarrassed she might have wondered if her body was pleasing to him, but he gave her no chance. Bending down, he took the tip of one breast in his mouth and let his tongue tease it. He sucked on it, and closed his lips around it, pulling and tugging and causing hot surges of desire to race through her.
She moaned softly, and then again as his mouth took the other breast captive. Wrapping her hands around him, holding him as close as possible, she let him take her on a ride into the sky. She’d never felt like this, never had this sweet knot of tension building inside her before.
She clung to him, wondering how love could get any more wonderful, when his hand slid over her stomach. Shivers of awe and delight raced through her, then his caress went lower. Under her shorts, under her panties, his hand found the core of her womanhood. A touch, another, soft and gentle, even and steady. She felt the knot of tension grow and grow as her heart pounded.
So this was love. So this was the magic that awakened only in special arms. But she wanted to feel her hands bringing that explosive power to him.
She pushed him over, and pulled at his shirt, tugging it over his head. “Tell me what you like,” she whispered. “Tell me what to do for you.”
“Anything.” His voice was raw and ragged, a hoarse echo of its normal self. “Everything.”
She ran her hands over his chest, through his chest hairs, until she could feel his body tremble. She leaned over to lick at his nipples and felt him quiver beneath her. Her hands roamed over his stomach, wondering at how good it all felt. How right. How necessary.
Then he took her hand and pulled it down lower, down to the center of his manhood. She touched, a little afraid, a little bold, but mostly in a hot feverish need. Her fingers ran over his hardness; each stroke seemed to be an agony of pleasure for him.
In a moment, though, he seemed to have reached some peak for he pushed her back and pulled her shorts and panties off. With the same urgency, she tugged at his until they lay naked in each others’s arms. Hot burning hungers between.
She spread her legs and he slid inside her. There was exquisite pain for a moment, then exquisite pleasure. He moved against her, with her, in her, to a steady rhythm even as he showered her face in kisses. Even as he clung to her as if they were the only two people in existence.
His body did magical things to hers. She felt alive and on fire and ready to explode. Her joy seemed to dance in the air, to fly on the clouds and soar within the boundaries of his arms. No, it was heaven they were reaching. A showerburst of stars as she clung so tightly to him that she thought they would be forever one. And then there was a sweet soft falling sensation.
They clung even tighter, then lay in each other’s arms. She smiled at him, suddenly feeling almost shy.
“Wow,” she said. “What do you do for an encore?”
He started to laugh as he pull
ed her closer. His lips lightly took hers. “Make that a double wow,” he said. “Lady, you are really something.”
She just closed her eyes and cuddled into the shelter of his arm where she would always be safe.
Chapter Twelve
Heather snuggled down under the sheet, hiding her face against Alex’s body and trying to stay asleep in the semilight of a rainy morning. She heard the rain beating against the cabin roof, and heard the crash of thunder, but was too comfortable to care. This was a morning to loll about in bed. Last night had been so perfect. She had loved and been loved, and it had been wonderful.
The wind was picking up, blowing so hard that it was almost whistling. She supposed she ought to look outside—if she moved just a fraction she could look out the open window—to make sure there wasn’t a tornado coming, but that would mean moving away from Alex’s side. Away from her blissful cocoon.
Junior started to growl and she knew she was going to have to wake up. Of course, that might not be a bad idea, come to think of it. It might present more satisfying ways of reliving last—
“Damn!” Alex exploded, flinging himself out of bed.
Heather was awake at that and sitting up. The whining, whistly noise of the wind was still there. She could hear it over the storm, Junior’s barking and Alex’s swearing, but it didn’t quite sound like the wind anymore.
“Alex?”
He turned to look at her, his eyes blazing angry—but not at her, she sensed. “You’d better get dressed,” he said and grabbed his jeans.
“Get dressed?” She sat up in bed. “What is that noise?”
But Alex didn’t reply. He’d gotten his jeans and shirt on, and was tossing her clothes onto the bed. “Come on, Heather. Put your clothes on.”
She reached for her T-shirt and pulled it on as a loud crash of thunder shook the cabin. She shivered, her fear of storms suddenly rushing back. This was a terrible one, and a very real sense of impending danger took hold of her. Alex was going over to the side window, where Junior was in a frenzy with his barking. She had to get them away from there. That’s where the danger was.
“Alex, come away from there,” she called out. “Junior, here, boy. Here.”
Neither of them seemed to notice she had spoken. Her stomach was turning upside down and inside out. She got out of bed and pulled on her shorts, only then realizing she’d forgotten her bra and underpants. She shoved them under the pillow.
“Alex? What is going on?”
But it wasn’t his voice or the storm she heard.
“This is the police.” The bellowing voice from outside echoed through the cabin. “Come out immediately with your hands above your heads and no one will get hurt.”
Junior was straining at the window, barking and leaping, but all Heather could do was stare at Alex, her heart pounding so it was drowning out all the other noise. Police? “Alex, what is going on?”
He turned from the window then, a look of defeat in his eyes. “Will you get Junior calmed down? I don’t want anyone to get hurt.” His voice held no emotion. Nothing but words.
Heather just kept on staring at him, her heart slowing down as she forced herself to not fall apart. She knew what had happened—the bad guys had found them and were pretending they were the police.
She had to pull herself together. Alex needed her help. “Junior, quiet.” The dog quit barking and she turned to Alex. “All right. We need a plan.”
But Alex was wearing defeat heavily around his shoulders. “You need to put some shoes on,” he said. “And then we need to go outside.”
Didn’t he understand? She would help him fight. “No, no. If we go outside, they’ll get us.”
“If we don’t go outside, they’re going to fill this place with tear gas.”
“Tear gas?” She slipped on her athletic shoes. “That’s ridiculous. They only do that in movies and then it’s the police who do that.”
“Those are the police out there,” Alex replied.
“This is your last warning.” The amplified voice must have been audible for miles. “Come out with your hands up or we’re coming in.”
She stopped tying her shoes and stared at him, her eyes looking into his. This was more complicated than she had thought.
“What are the police doing here?” Her words came out in a hoarse whisper.
“They want to rescue me.”
Rescue him? She started, as a clap of thunder shook the cabin. If only she was still asleep and dreaming all this! But the awful ache in her stomach kept reminding her she was awake. “Rescue you? From what?”
A crooked grin slowly stretched out his lips. “I think from you.”
“Me?”
But he didn’t explain any more. He just leaned over and kissed her forehead. Softly. Tenderly. In goodbye. His hand lightly brushed her cheek. His eyes were filled with the memories of last night for a long moment, then they turned shuttered and empty.
What in the world was he doing? But she couldn’t ask. Her eyes had filled with tears and somehow they were choking her, cutting off her ability to speak. She had nothing to say anyway.
Alex went to the bedroom door, then paused. “This whole thing is just a bad misunderstanding. I’m going outside to talk to them. Come out in a few minutes, but make sure Junior stays cool.”
Heather could barely hear his footsteps over the rain as he went across the living room and into the kitchen. When she heard the back door close, she sank onto the bed. Her legs just wouldn’t hold her up anymore.
What in the world was going on? Why would the police be coming up here for Alex?
She got to her feet and went over to the window. The yard, dreary-looking in the downpour, was the parking place of a half dozen police cars.
Among the cars were groups of men and women, all wearing dark waterproof blue jackets with FBI in large letters on the back. They were indeed police. As she watched, Alex walked through the rain toward them, then he was surrounded and lost from her sight.
She blinked back tears. Oh, Lord. They were going to arrest Alex.
Oh, heavens. She couldn’t let that happen. She loved him. He needed her. Whatever he had done was a mistake; he hadn’t meant to. It was because his father died and he’d missed him so.
Terrible fear eating at her heart, Heather raced through the cabin and rushed out into the rain. The thunder rolling through the forest was almost deafening, but she didn’t care. Alex needed her.
“Officers,” she yelled as she raced toward the group that seemed to be in charge. “Officers, I can—”
She stopped. Alex was about ten feet away. He wasn’t handcuffed. He didn’t even appear threatened in any way. An uneasy feeling began to dance in the pit of her stomach. Maybe it was the fact that everyone had turned to stare at her.
“So this is the neighbor,” another man said.
Heather turned to face him. She had no idea what he was talking about, but her mother had always taught her to address the person who addressed you.
“Sir.” She shivered even though the drenching rain was warm. “There has to be some mistake. Alex is a good and decent man. You can’t arrest him.”
“Heather—” Alex began.
But she didn’t look his way. If she looked into his deep-brown eyes, she would be lost. She’d never be able to fight for him. She’d start to cry and look like a fool and no one would listen to her.
“Maybe he made a mistake,” she continued, the rain plastering her hair to her face. She squinted away the water. “But that’s all it was. A mistake. He didn’t mean any harm. He’s gentle and kind and caring. He even helped me catch a feral kitten. You can’t arrest him.”
“Arrest him?” The other man was frowning. “I don’t see anything I can arrest him for.”
A little ray of hope took hold of her heart. She wiped the wet from her face, not certain if it was tears or rain. “You don’t?”
“No.” The man looked over at Alex. “But I certainly see a lot I can reprimand
him for.”
“Reprimand?” It was an odd word to use, and Heather just stared at the man. She shivered again as a certain stillness took over her heart. “I don’t understand.”
“Alex is an experienced agent,” the man stated. “He should have known better than to lead us on this wild-goose chase.”
“Experienced agent?”
That stillness crept out from her heart, freezing her hands, her feet, her brain. She felt as dense as a piece of wood. Fear. Dread. Horror. They were all paralyzing her, keeping her from connecting the dots and making sense of all this.
“What—” she began, then stopped.
The man she’d been talking to seemed to have forgotten her and was busy with Alex and another man. She knew Alex was looking her way, but she refused to meet his eyes. Somehow she couldn’t yet. Somehow it would make everything all clear and all wrong.
Bits of the men’s conversation began to penetrate. Miss another payment. Set up a meet. Talk about influence. Placing bets. Fixing games. It was enough to make her head swim. But it was also enough to make everything very very clear.
This whole thing—everything, even his professorship! —had been a game. Nothing was real or right or true. Nothing.
“Come on,” Casio said. “Get in the car. We’re going to drown if we stand out here any longer.”
Alex clenched his jaw, his eyes following Heather back into the house. She had looked so beaten down, and it wasn’t just being soaked by the rain. “Just a minute. I need to talk to Heather.”
“You don’t need to do anything,” Casio snapped. “Everything’s taken care of. Willa is driving the woman and the dog back.”
“She has a cat, too.”
Casio shrugged. “I’m sure Willa can handle it. We need to get to Chicago. This thing is about to bust wide-open.”
Alex just looked at Casio. He knew that he had to go, knew that they were at a crucial point in the investigation. But he wasn’t leaving until he’d seen Heather. “I need to talk to her. I need to make sure she’s all right.”
He didn’t wait for permission, but strode through the muddy yard and back into the house. It was silent inside, except for the sound of Junior’s feet on the wooden floor.
Secret Agent Groom (The Bridal Circle #2) Page 17
