The Flyboy's Temptation

by Kimberly Van Meter

  Teagan powered down the plane and as the blades slowly whirred to a stop, the door opened and Kirk, Harris, Ty and lastly Teagan erupted from the plane.

  J.T. ran straight to Teagan and embraced him, too happy to see his brother to care about appearances.

  “You’re a sight for sore eyes, man. I wasn’t sure you’d make it,” he admitted.

  “Like I would leave my little brother stranded in the Amazon. If I didn’t leave your busted ass in Afghanistan, I’m sure as hell not leaving you here with the bugs and snakes.” Then Teagan’s gaze traveled to Hope, who stood off to the side with a forlorn expression, clearly uncomfortable. “And you must be this mysterious client that’s gotten my brother’s tail in a twist.” He reached out to shake Hope’s hand. “Teagan Carmichael. Pleasure.”

  “The pleasure is mine,” she murmured, shooting J.T. an uncertain glance. “Thank you for coming to save us.”

  J.T. knew it was too much to hope that the guys wouldn’t remark on Hope’s attire, but when Harris couldn’t stop staring, J.T. couldn’t help the scowl.

  “Keep your eyes in your head, you dirty Irishman,” J.T. growled, and Teagan just laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.

  “Calm down.” He motioned to Hope. “Let’s get you guys out of here.”

  But Hope shook her head, saying before J.T. could explain, “We can’t leave without my package.”

  “Is it a pile of money?” Kirk asked, his eyes lighting up with hope. “Or maybe some precious yet ultimately cursed diamond that we’ll have to sell on the black market before we die from some unfortunate accident caused by the spirit who cursed the gem?”

  Harris rolled his eyes. “You daft idiot. You’ve watched too much television. There’s no such thing as curses.”

  “You’re Irish! Superstition is part of your culture, man,” Kirk protested as if Harris were betraying his own people. “You know, fairies and goblins and shit like that.”

  “Oh, good grief, we’re not all superstitious fools. We all don’t believe in a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, neither. We do, however, believe in the power of fine whiskey and a woman’s warmth, two things I’ll be needing after spending time with you idiots, getting eaten up by blasted mosquitoes the size of lemons.” Harris slapped his neck, wiping away bug guts. “See? Damn bastards could cart off a small child. I hate the rain forest.”

  J.T. couldn’t help the weary smile. Through all the shit, humor had always been their saving grace. Good times.

  It was Ty who spoke up as the voice of reason. “We need recon before we go charging into a hostile situation.”

  “His name is Anso DeLeon, a man who is both feared and celebrated around here. We don’t know who to trust. The last person we trusted practically hand-delivered us to Anso without a second thought as he was counting his wad of cash.”

  “You always did have an eye for the troublemakers,” Kirk teased, punching J.T. in the arm, adding with a wink, “Not that I blame you.”

  Hope blushed and J.T. wanted to grasp her hand as a show of support, but that would only encourage further ribbing, and right now they needed to focus.

  Teagan agreed with Ty. “We can’t go guns blazing into an unknown situation. We need to hole up, regroup and form a plan. We’ve got a contact at the embassy who can help us out. C’mon, let’s do this smart and live to talk about it over beers later.”

  J.T. rubbed at the grit in his eyes knowing Teagan was right. He looked to Hope. “We will return for your pack, but Teagan is right—we have to be smart if we’re going to have a snowball’s chance in hell of succeeding.”

  “Okay,” she agreed, her voice trembling. “Promise?”

  “Promise.”

  They climbed into the plane as Harris quipped, “You look like shit. And smell just as bad. You’re like a weapon of mass destruction. Damn, you could scare off wildlife with that stench.”

  Hope’s small giggle loosened the tightness in his chest, but there were bigger problems up ahead and even more troublesome questions.

  The burden of knowing what exactly they were going after hadn’t made things less complicated—if anything, the knowledge made for a heavier burden, but he didn’t regret Hope’s telling him.

  He didn’t like the idea of her shouldering the entire weight by herself.

  Even if she had created the problem.

  If anything happened to Hope... Don’t go there.

  It was hard not to.

  Somehow Hope had become more than just a client.

  He could smell her on his body, could remember the taste of her kiss. She was seared into his synapses with the heat of their explosive chemistry.

  It wasn’t as if Hope was looking for attachments any more than he was, and frankly, they were about as ill suited as a giraffe and a lion. He was a maverick, a player. She was a scientist with a brain that he couldn’t possibly fathom.

  But together they made magic.

  Hell yes, together they were a symphony of sensation and that was hard to ignore, but something warned that it was more than simply sexual chemistry that made their attraction white-hot.

  But he didn’t want to think about that. No, he had enough on his plate trying to keep her stubborn ass alive without taking a dirt nap himself.

  “So, what do you think of Brazil?” Kirk asked with a smirk. “I hear the ladies are exotic.”

  A weary grin found J.T.’s lips. “If we manage to survive the next twenty-four hours, be my guest to find out.”

  All he cared about was Hope.

  She was all the exotic he could handle.

  * * *

  TEAGAN MANAGED TO find a small, nondescript hotel for them through a military contact and they settled in for the night with plans to visit Ty’s contact at the embassy first thing in the morning.

  But first Teagan pulled J.T. aside for a private moment.

  “So, what’s really going on?” Teagan asked.

  J.T. understood why Hope had been reluctant to share information about the virus. He also could see why it was wise to keep that information close to the vest. When J.T. didn’t immediately start sharing intel, Teagan added his own two cents.

  “You know, I did some digging around on that lab of hers. Tessara has a reputation.”

  “Yeah? Of what?”

  “Being shady.”

  “It’s a pharmaceutical lab. That’s like saying politicians aren’t truthful.”

  “A few years back I remember some talk about an experimental drug that had the power to wipe memory.”

  “No kidding?”

  “Yeah. Real classified shit. Military grade. But it was hushed up pretty quick. Ty wasn’t able to find much more information. My point being Tessara has a reputation for being involved with real dangerous stuff.”

  J.T. didn’t question Teagan’s intel. It certainly jibed with what Hope had already shared, though he wondered if she knew just how dangerous Tessara really was.

  “If that’s the case, then I trust that if she says she has to get to her lab, then she’s not telling stories.”

  “You don’t know her at all. What if she’s not on the right side of things?”

  He didn’t want to think that of Hope, but he couldn’t deny that his brother brought up a good point.

  He knew next to nothing about Hope in the big scheme of things.

  But his gut told him Hope wasn’t a bad person. He was a good judge of character and his judgment had never let him down before, so he was going to have to trust that he was right about Hope.

  “I trust her,” J.T. said simply, letting the truth of his feelings do the talking. “Win or lose...I have to help her do what she came to do. Are you with me?”

  Teagan shook his head as if J.T. had uttered nonsense. “Of course I am. I just wanted to ge
t the lay of the land before we head out.”

  “Low odds for success,” J.T. murmured with a half grin. “Still interested?”

  Teagan exhaled as if there was no turning back, because there wasn’t. “Civilian life was boring, anyway.” He punched J.T. in the shoulder with a grin. “Now go spend some time with your woman. Lord knows, tomorrow isn’t promised.”

  Amen to that.

  * * *

  WHEN J.T. RETURNED to the tiny hotel room he found Hope staring out the window, nervous and on edge.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “As okay as it can be.”

  “Your brother doesn’t like me, does he?”

  “He doesn’t know you.”

  Hope nibbled her fingernail. “I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t like me either if I’d gotten my family member into deep doo-doo.”

  “‘Deep doo-doo’?” he repeated, laughing. “Such language, Dr. Larsen. You kiss your mother with that potty mouth?”

  Hope smiled nervously, still agitated. Didn’t he realize maybe there was more going through her head than the situation facing them with the virus?

  They were alone in a hotel room, the bed suddenly looming.

  And suddenly it felt awkward between them, as if they were teenagers dancing around the attraction they had for each another, unsure of how to act.

  “Did it just get weird?” J.T. asked, half joking to lessen the tension. “I could room with my brother and the guys if you want the room to yourself.”

  “No,” she said quickly. “I definitely don’t want that. I feel safer with you around.”

  “I’m flattered,” he said with a slight puff of his chest, but there remained an uncertainty, which she could understand. What was happening between them? J.T. decided to tackle the situation head-on. “Look, I get it. Extreme situations and all that. I’m not expecting a relationship when we get back to the States. We’re not exactly peas in a pod.”

  Hope took a mental step back. Was she projecting a fear of a nonexistent future with J.T.? “No, not exactly,” she agreed softly. But was that truly what was causing the tension? Or was it that she craved his touch with a ferocity that defied an easy explanation? She met his gaze with a crooked smile. “I’m glad we are on the same page.”

  “Yeah.”

  She twisted a lock of hair, realizing how grimy she was. Harris had been right. They both could use a scrub. J.T. more so than her, but she’d die before admitting that J.T.’s manly odor was intensely arousing. “Would you like to shower first?” she offered, trying to be solicitous when in fact she wanted to bury her nose in his chest and lick him clean.

  Her cheeks flared with heat and she hoped to God J.T. wasn’t so in tune with her facial expressions that he read her mind, because heaven help her, that was all she needed right now.

  But when J.T. strode toward her, invading her personal space with delicious intent written all over his expression, her knees buckled as he said, “I think we should conserve water and shower together.”

  “Together?” she squeaked, immediately flushing with warmth. “Is that wise?”

  “Darlin’, we haven’t done a single wise thing since coming into contact with one another—why start now?”

  “You may have a point,” she admitted with a hungry whisper, looping her arms around his neck and jumping into his arms. As he clasped her tight, she bit back a moan as the flat of his palm curved her behind with a possessive squeeze. There was something so incredibly virile and primal about J.T. that she couldn’t rightly think straight when he touched her. He was the antithesis of every other man who’d ever touched her intimately and the thrill left her quite senseless.

  A hungry kiss stole her breath and within minutes they were naked, writhing against each another, mindless of the grime and the sweat and mud caked on their bodies.

  J.T. pushed her against the wall and knelt at her feet, drawing her to him so he could feast between her legs.

  Threading her fingers through his hair, she lifted her hips, dying with pleasure as J.T. sucked and licked, spreading her to his marauding tongue.

  Her knees quaked as her building climax approached rapidly, leaving her breathless and unable to speak as she exploded. But he gave her no moment to collect herself and the beautiful savagery of his total need for her was intensely arousing.

  Turning her, he pushed apart her legs and held her to the wall as he entered her from behind, lifting her on her toes with each powerful thrust.

  Being taken like this made her mindless with the pleasure as he pounded into her mercilessly, as if he were trying to drive out every bad memory with the force of his cock.

  Hope shuddered as tiny mewls escaped her parted lips, her nipples abrading against the faded wallpaper of the dingy bathroom.

  “Hope,” he gritted, her name like a prayer that he couldn’t stop uttering. “Oh, my G-God, Hope!”

  And then she shattered again, losing herself to the power of another epic orgasm the likes of which she’d never known.

  She might’ve blacked out because for a long blissful moment, she knew only the sensations rocketing through her nerve endings, clenching her womb and causing every muscle to contract in unison.

  Hope could’ve been orbiting the moon and she wouldn’t have known.

  All that existed was J.T. buried inside her.

  And that was all she needed.

  * * *

  J.T. HELD HOPE while she slept, the scratchy bedding a welcome blessing after spending so much time in the rain forest.

  He should’ve been exhausted after everything they’d done. Hell, the walls had proven thin, as one of the guys had banged on the wall after their third go-round.

  He was going to catch hell tomorrow, he thought with a smile.

  But even that entertaining thought faded when his stubborn brain returned to what was keeping him awake.

  Hope had created a virus capable of knocking out the human race.

  Yeah, it bothered him.

  The saving grace was that she was trying to destroy it.

  Which brought him to his next point of concern.

  There was no way in hell Hope was going to stay put while he and the guys raided Anso’s compound, and he didn’t want her anywhere near that place or that sociopath.

  But he knew how that conversation was going to go.

  He would say, “Hope, I want you to stay behind, safe in this hotel.”

  And she would respond with a flat, “No.”

  And that was about how productive it would go because she was as stubborn as she was beautiful.

  He tightened his hold around her and she shifted with a sigh in her sleep, blissfully unaware of his turmoil.

  Like it or not, Hope was in his blood.

  She was his virus.

  Infecting him with something he couldn’t quite shake.

  He’d never get enough of her. Never kiss her hard enough, love her long enough or taste her enough times to get her out of his system.

  That’s a real problem, Carmichael, a voice quipped.

  Yeah, thanks, Mr. Obvious. You’re no help, so shut up.

  It would all come down to what they found out tomorrow.

  Hell, maybe none of them were destined to survive this round.

  Comforting, he said to himself sourly.

  You ought to write motivational speeches for children.

  Just go to sleep.

  Everything would end as it would end.

  No matter what he had to say about it.

  J.T. lightly kissed Hope and she turned to him in her sleep, sighing like a sleepy kitten, and he knew there was no hope for him.

  She owned him.

  Whether she knew it or not.

  18

&
nbsp; MORNING BROKE WITH a drizzly rain, which seemed fitting seeing as Hope’s spirits were dragging. It seemed an impossibility that they’d be able to breach Anso’s compound without dying and the more she thought about it, the more she knew they were doomed from the start.

  But J.T. wasn’t about to let her give up.

  “When the chips are down, that’s when you find out what you’re made of,” he said, chucking her chin with a grin, but she couldn’t appreciate his sentiment and simply looked away.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked.

  “You mean aside from the obvious?” she replied in a lowered tone so their conversation didn’t reach the others. “This is crazy. We’re not going to make it out of that compound alive.”

  “Ye of little faith.”

  She exhaled a breath of frustration. “Will you stop joking around? This is serious. I don’t want you to die over this. I couldn’t handle it.”

  It was as much of an admission of her feelings as she would allow right now, but he seemed to understand.

  J.T. pulled her close and whispered for her ears only. “This ragtag bunch of guys may seem like a bunch of wisecracking idiots, but they’re the most dangerous, most well-trained bastards the military ever churned out. Trust me—if anyone can get in and out of that compound, it’s them. I wouldn’t entrust your safety with anyone else.”

  Hope’s gaze traveled to Harris, the short, blustery Irishman, who was bickering with Kirk, and then the more serious Ty, who was conferring with Teagan, and she suddenly saw them in a different light.

  They were dangerous. Lurking beneath the surface of those handsome, rugged faces were men who knew how to get a job done—by whatever method necessary.

  She turned to J.T., recognizing the same quality.

  “Why did you retire out of the Air Force?” she asked quietly, wondering if he’d be truthful.

  “I was becoming someone I didn’t want to be,” he answered, and she left it at that. She could infer any sort of conclusion about his answer, but honestly, she didn’t need or care to know details.

  All that mattered was that he was on her side.