by Cynthia Eden
Vicious. Juliana swallowed and nodded. She would do whatever she had to do.
He didn’t drop his hand. Just stared at her. The air seemed to thicken with the tension between them.
“I’m not going to let them get you again.”
His fingers were behind her ear, caressing. She shivered at the touch and the memories it stirred. In the past, he’d liked to kiss her in just that spot.
“I’ll stand between you and any person who comes for you.”
She believed that he would. But Logan was flesh and blood. He couldn’t stop fire or bullets.
He could die, too.
Then what would happen?
I’d be without him again.
Her gaze lifted to his. There was arousal, need, so much lust in his eyes. But he wasn’t pushing her, wasn’t trying to kiss her, and his hand was falling away from her.
She’d told him no hours before. Told him to keep his distance. We’re done.
He’d called her on the lie.
She still wanted him just as much as always.
He cleared his throat. “If we just knew where James had stashed the evidence...”
“I’d barely spoken to him in years.” Because she’d seen what he’d become. Not the father she knew. He turned into someone cold, twisted. “He wasn’t sharing any secrets with me.”
Logan’s head cocked to the right as he studied her. “Maybe not directly.”
“Not indirectly, not in any way.” She hadn’t even seen him last Christmas. She’d spent the holiday alone. “Wherever he hid the evidence—I don’t know.”
Logan squared his shoulders. “Okay, let’s try this again. I’ll come at you and you attack back, as hard as you can.”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, hesitated, then said, “Aren’t you worried that I’ll hurt you?”
He smiled. “I want you to.”
Okay, then. If it was pain he wanted... Juliana turned her back to him. She’d give him as much as—
His arms closed around her, tight bands that stole her breath. His last attack hadn’t been so hard and she hadn’t expected him to come at her full force. Panic hit for an instant. Panic, then—
I won’t be weak.
She hunched her shoulders, dropped low and slid out of his hold. She came up with her elbow, ready to hit him hard right in the groin, but Logan came at her. His body hit hers, and he pushed her back onto the rug, caging her body beneath his.
She lost her breath at the impact. He caught her hands, trapping them on either side of her head. “Use your feet, your legs,” he gritted out. “Fight back with any part of your body that you can. Never give up.”
No, she wouldn’t. She twisted and her leg slid between his. Her breath panted out. Juliana yanked up her leg, driving her knee right toward his groin.
Logan twisted to the side, and her knee hit his thigh. “Nice,” he said. “I knew you had a tough fighter inside.”
His breath wasn’t coming so easily, either. He still had her hands. Still had his body over hers.
She should tell him to move away. Should say...enough. But it suddenly wasn’t about fighting. Her heart was still beating too fast, but the ache in her body, that wasn’t from fear or adrenaline or anything but desire.
Need.
She’d had another relationship after Logan. It wasn’t as if he’d been the only man she’d taken to her bed. Actually, she’d been with two other men over the years.
But the pleasure had never been the same.
And if she was honest with herself, when she’d closed her eyes... I saw him.
She hadn’t been able to connect with the others, to let go. Not like she’d done with Logan.
“You shouldn’t look at me like that.” His voice was even deeper now, the sexy growl that she remembered. Lust could always make him growl.
“Like what?” But she knew.
“Like you want me to devour you.”
She didn’t move. The soft cotton of his sweatpants brushed over her leg. His hands were tight around her wrists but not hurting her. The man was always so conscious of his strength.
So strong, but she knew how to make him weak. Juliana had learned other lessons back in this cabin.
His hands released hers. “I think that’s enough for now.” He shifted his legs, pulling away from her.
Now it was her turn to grab him. Juliana’s hands curled around his shoulders.
Logan froze. “Julie...”
“I did lie.” They both knew it.
His pupils seemed to burn away the blue in his gaze.
“I still want you.”
The muscles beneath her hands tensed. Like steel. “And I’m dying for a taste of you....” He moaned, then his mouth was on hers. Not easy. Not tender. Not like before.
So long ago.
This was different.
His tongue swept into her mouth. Took. Tasted.
He was different.
Her nails sank into his skin.
She was different.
The faint stubble on his jaw brushed against her. She liked the rough feel of it on her flesh, liked his taste even more. Her breasts were pushing against his chest, even as her hips arched against him.
The need inside, the need she’d wanted to hold in check, was breaking through, bursting like water out of a dam. She couldn’t hold back, and right then, Juliana wasn’t even sure why she should hold back. Pride?
Fear?
His mouth tore from hers. His lips pressed against her throat. He used the edge of his teeth. Her eyes fell closed, and she couldn’t hold back her own moan.
“Missed...you...” His words were rough.
Her gaze flew open, but he was already sliding down her body. His fingers had eased under her T-shirt. Rough, calloused fingertips swept over her stomach, sliding over the flesh, shoving up the shirt and baring her to his hungry stare. Then he was touching her breast, stroking the hard tip and making her shudder.
Making her want him even more.
“Stop me,” he told her as his left hand fisted her shirt. His right hand kept caressing her.
She didn’t stop him. Instead, Juliana whispered, “I want your mouth...on me.” In the midst of a nightmare, why couldn’t she have her pleasure?
If death was stalking her, then she’d take the life that she could. The pleasure that was right before her.
Logan.
Then his mouth was on her breast. Not some tentative kiss. His lips closed over her. He sucked, licked, and the hand that had been stroking her slid back down now, heading over her stomach, down to the waistband of her shorts.
Goose bumps rose on her flesh. Need electrified her blood. Every breath brought in his scent, filling her with him. She was touching him, learning the hard planes and angles of his muscled body once again. He was bigger now. Stronger.
She wanted to kiss that tattoo.
His fingers brushed against the waistband of her shorts. “Juliana...” he rumbled against her breast.
She arched her hips. There was no stopping. Not now. There was only need. Pleasure was so close, just out of reach.
She caught his hand. Pressed it against her. “I want you.”
His gaze blasted her. “And I’d kill to have you.”
She believed him. His words terrified a part of her, a part that wasn’t wild with need and lust. This man—she knew how dangerous he was. To her and to others. But at that moment...
She didn’t care. She wanted his strength. She wanted him.
So when his hand slid under the elastic waistband of her shorts, Juliana arched her hips up, giving him better access. She wasn’t going to pretend she didn’t want this—him. She needed his touch more than she needed breath right then.
Her whole body was tense. Too eager. Her muscles straining. Then he was pushing his long, broad fingers under the edge of her panties. Touching her in the most intimate of caresses. His name broke from her even as she squeezed her eyes tightly shut.
H
e didn’t touch her with hesitation or uncertainty. He touched her the way a man did when he knew his lover’s body and knew how to give her the most pleasure.
His fingers slid over her flesh, found the center of her need. His touch grew more demanding. Her breath came faster, faster...
His mouth was on hers, kissing, thrusting his tongue past her lips. Her hands dug deeper into his shoulders. The pleasure was so close, driving her, making Juliana desperate for the release that would rip through her and take the pain away.
A shrill alarm cut through the room. The ringing pierced her ears even as she choked out Logan’s name. The pleasure hit, fast, brutal, but he stiffened against her.
The alarm’s shriek continued and Logan swore.
Juliana’s body shook when Logan pulled her to her feet.
“Someone’s coming,” he snapped.
Her heartbeat was still racing. She swallowed as she tried to ease the dryness in her throat. Her hands fumbled and she attempted to fix her clothes.
“You’re safe in here,” he told her even as he stepped away and opened a nearby drawer. When his hand rose again, she saw that he was holding a gun.
Someone’s coming.
Logan caught her hand and pulled her with him into the small room to the right, a room filled with about five monitors. On those monitors, she just saw trees. Empty woods. He must have been using some kind of night-vision cameras so that they could get the view, but she didn’t see anyone approaching the cabin.
“Someone triggered the alarm.” He yanked on a thick shirt, shoved into shoes.
Juliana shook her head. “They couldn’t have found us already.” It had just been hours. Hours.
Her thighs pressed together. The pleasure had left her emotions raw, and this—now? “They can’t be here,” she whispered.
But as she stared at those monitors, she saw the men creep from the shadows and close in. Men dressed in black with hoods covering their faces and big guns cradled in their hands.
The images were grainy on the screens. She leaned closer, narrowing her eyes.
And the gunfire erupted. No sound came with the shots, but she saw the men begin to fall. Two staggered back, clutching their chests. The others lifted their weapons. Fired at enemies she couldn’t see...even as they raced forward, their images flickering on the monitors.
“Give me a weapon,” Juliana said, surprised that her words were so steady.
Logan glanced at her and studied her face with narrowed eyes.
“Give it to me.”
Logan’s team was out in those woods. She got that. They were firing at the men. But if they didn’t take them all out, if someone got to the house...
Logan opened a thick safe on the left, nestled behind the screens. More guns were inside. Knives, too. What looked like a giant stockade of weapons.
He handed her a gun. “Here’s the safety. Make sure it’s off when you fire.”
The weapon didn’t feel heavy in her hands. She’d expected more.
It was cold. Hard.
The alarm was still beeping. She could hear the shots now, coming from outside. The battle was nearly at her door.
“Stay behind me,” Logan ordered.
She nodded.
His fingers curved under her chin. He tilted her head up and flashed a smile at her.
“Try not to shoot me,” he said, then he kissed her. A fast brush of his lips against hers.
His words surprised her enough that a rough laugh slipped from her. Laughing, now? Maybe she was as crazy as he was.
But then the shots came again, and the laughter was gone and only fear remained when she heard the voices shouting outside.
Logan had his own weapon up, ready, and—
Glass shattered. A window. Someone was coming in the window.
“Stand down!” Logan yelled.
Gunshots. They weren’t standing down.
Wood cracked. The front door? Being broken down?
Logan pushed her back against the wall on the left. The door to their room was open a few precious inches. He put his gun barrel through that opening. Aimed—
The blast of his gun had her ears aching. Someone groaned, then there was a heavy thud of sound.
Silence, a long beat. Long enough to make her think that the battle was over. Safety was close and—
Gunfire erupted as all hell seemed to break loose in the small cabin.
Chapter Six
The hunters had arrived too soon. No way should have they already been at the cabin.
The Shadow Agents hadn’t even had a chance to leave their trail of bread crumbs for Guerrero yet. They weren’t ready for his attack.
They shouldn’t have underestimated the man’s resources.
A bullet tore right through the door next to Logan. He barely heard the thunder of the weapons, and he wouldn’t let himself look back at Juliana. He didn’t want to see the fear in her gaze.
He had to focus to get the job done. To protect her.
Kill or be killed.
Logan wasn’t in the mood to die.
Not wasting any bullets, Logan took aim only when he had a target. When he had a target, his bullet slammed home, taking down another one of the attackers.
Logan panned for another mark.
Another one hit the floor.
They should have stood the hell down when he told them to. Logan’s breath rasped in his lungs. Adrenaline had tightened his body, pumped through his blood and amped him up for the battle.
He’d always enjoyed the battles, but this time, with Juliana’s life on the line, the tension edging through him cut sharper than a knife.
From his vantage point, he saw when the next man rushed through the cabin’s front door, but Logan didn’t squeeze the trigger this time.
Gunner was the man in his sights.
Gunner’s gaze swept around the room and he gave a low whistle. “Three down...all in the heart.”
Kill or be killed.
Logan didn’t open the door. “Clear?”
“Yeah, yeah, we’re clear, Alpha One.”
He finally glanced back at Juliana, but instead of the fear he’d expected to see burning in her eyes, the woman just looked mad.
Her fingers tightly clutched her gun, and he wondered...would she have used it, if she’d had to do the job?
As far as he knew, Juliana had never hurt another soul in her life. And shooting at another human, being ready to take a life, that was a line many couldn’t cross.
Logan opened the door. I never saw that damn line. The kills had come too easily for him.
Monster.
He knew what he was, even if Juliana didn’t.
A weapon. A killer. An assassin. Senator James had been right about him after all.
Now Juliana had just seen up close and personal how dangerous he could be. Her left hand reached up and curled around his arm. “Are we safe?”
He glanced back to the outer room. Gunner was checking the men. No point in that. They sure weren’t moving.
His nod was grim.
Then Logan opened the door, making sure to keep his body in front of Juliana’s, just in case. “What the hell,” he began, voice lethal, “just happened?”
No way should those guards have gotten this close. Guerrero’s men weren’t even supposed to know about the location, not until they’d set up a more secure perimeter, but...
“We got slammed,” Gunner said, staring at him with narrowed eyes. “Explosives, artillery...they came prepared, but we still managed to take them all out.”
So they had. His feet crunched over the broken glass. The cabin was shredded, windows busted. The front door was ripped from its hinges and bullet holes lined the walls.
He’d loved this place once. It had been a sanctuary, courtesy of his stepfather. A place to lick his wounds.
A place to share with Juliana.
Not any longer.
Logan bent next to one of the fallen men. With Juliana so close, he hadn’t
been able to take any chances. Kill shots. If the men had survived, they would have just kept shooting at him.
“Tell me you have someone alive outside,” Logan said, not glancing up. If they had one of Guerrero’s men in custody, they could try to make him talk. The problem in Mexico was that too many there were too afraid to talk to authorities—really, to those who hadn’t already been paid off by Guerrero. The guy wasn’t called El Diablo for nothing. People feared him because he could bring hell to their lives.
“The ones still breathing turned tail and ran.”
Figured.
Logan’s hold tightened on his gun. This was just—
He heard the whisper of cloth almost too late. A rustle of sound that shouldn’t have been there. He glanced up at the broken window and saw the barrel of the gun pointing toward him.
Logan started to lunge to the side even as he brought up his own weapon, but then something—someone—slammed into him, knocking Logan to the floor.
His bullet blasted out, still heading for its target. A man screamed even as Logan grabbed for...
Juliana?
She’d been the one to knock into him. He twisted her, shoving her body behind his.
Gunner had already made his way to the window. He flew out with his hands, breaking the gunman’s wrist and sending the weapon tumbling through the ground.
Logan’s gaze swept over Juliana. Okay. She’s okay.
He pushed her back and rushed to his feet. In the next instant, Logan was at Gunner’s side. Logan grabbed the now-moaning man and dragged his sorry hide through the window.
Gunner kicked the man’s discarded weapon a good five feet away.
Juliana had risen to her feet now. She still had her gun out—and aimed right at the moaning man.
Blood streaked down his face. He glanced up at her, and his lips twisted in a sneer. “You’re...the one...”
Logan put his own weapon under the man’s chin. “Where is he?”
The man’s gaze, a dark brown, turned back to Logan. His sneer stretched. “The lover...think you’re keeping her safe?” A shake of his head. “You’re the one killing her...leading us...right to...her.” The man’s voice was raspy. As Logan stared at him, he could see the jagged scars from an old injury that crossed the man’s neck.
