He did notice. Any time she nerved herself to look around for Jesse, she discovered that he was watching--and he didn’t look at all pleased about it, but at least he wasn’t unaware of her.
She’d just begun to think Tavian’s tactic might actually work when they arrived at last at their destination.
Her first clue that they’d arrived was when the ship stopped and set anchor. Merely curious at first, Erin moved to the porthole of the main cabin and glanced around to see if she could see any reason for the fact that they’d stopped. There wasn’t a sign of land, unless one counted the hazy line on the horizon which might be land and might be nothing more than a low lying cloud. She hadn’t heard anything to indicate the ship’s engines had broken down. She couldn’t hear a lot of activity topside either.
Her interest thoroughly aroused and excitement beginning to hum just beneath the surface, Erin left the main cabin and went topside. Tavian and Jesse were standing at the bow of the boat with binoculars.
“What is it? Are we there?”
Jesse and Tavian both lowered their glasses and turned to look at her. After a moment, Tavian nodded and departed as if he and Jesse had exchanged some sort of telepathic communication.
“We’re close enough,” Jesse said finally. “We’ll wait for dark before we go in.”
“I’m going with you,” Erin said, a little breathless from the adrenaline pumping through her big time now.
“You’ll wait here.”
Erin gaped at him. “You aren’t serious! I need to go with you to take care of the baby.”
Jesse frowned. “You’re human, not Lycan. You’ll only slow us down.” Turning away from her, he lifted the glasses again.
Erin glared at his back.
She’d promised herself she wouldn’t pick another fight with him--or allow him to provoke her into a fight. She couldn’t hope to make any sort of truce unless she could manage to speak more than a dozen words with him without it turning into a battle of wills, or a shouting match.
She knew he was right. Jesse and the others were capable of shifting, and as beasts they could move through the woods at least twice as fast as a human could, maybe more, besides having far better night vision.
She was already turning away when he caught her arm. Surprised, she looked up at him questioningly.
“You’ll be safer here. My son needs his mother. I don’t want anything to happen to you and I can’t be sure I can protect you if there’s any shooting.”
Warmth flooded Erin, washing away the hurt and anger almost instantly. Fear reared its ugly head, though, fear for Joshua if he should be caught up in a gun battle, and for Jesse. “Do you think I’ll be safer alone?”
Something flickered in his eyes. “You won’t be alone. Billy Ray will stay to guard you and the boat, and also Kenneth and Zack. They can take the yacht into deeper waters if necessary, but I don’t think it will be. We won’t go in until its dark. Even if they pick up the boat on their radar, they’ll probably just dismiss it as local fishermen.”
“What if you don’t come back?” Erin asked shakily, swallowing against the hard knot threatening to form in her throat from the moment she’d spoken the thought hovering in the back of her mind aloud. A terrible sense of loss descended upon her. She could no more imagine the many years lying before her with no hope of seeing Jesse and Joshua than she could cease to breathe.
She knew then, without room for doubts, that Tavian had been right. If she could not imagine life without Jesse she also couldn’t deny to herself that she loved him.
“I will,” Jesse said implacably.
“You don’t that,” Erin whispered. “You can’t promise me something that might be beyond your power.”
The grip on her arm loosened. Time seemed to still. For many moments Erin was certain that Jesse would slip his hand up her arm to cup her cheek. He seemed to sway infinitesimally closer, as if to gather her to him and kiss her.
Near the stern of the boat, something fell, jarring them both back into reality, spoiling the moment, though it might only have been wishful thinking on her part. She would never know now for Jesse merely dropped his hand and stepped back. “Billy Ray will know what to do,” he said gruffly as he turned away and resumed his study of the distant horizon.
She stared at his broad back, fighting the urge to move closer, to make the first move if he wouldn’t. The need to feel herself cocooned in the warmth of his body, to have his arms wrapped tightly around her and soak up the reassurance of his strength and life was nearly overwhelming. Doubts of her welcome held her to the spot and finally she merely turned away and fled below.
She found she couldn’t bear the confines of the cabin, though. After pacing restlessly about the room like a caged animal for perhaps an hour, watching the agonizingly slow progression of the sun toward the horizon, she couldn’t stand it anymore and left the cabin, heading for the galley.
It wasn’t her night to cook. Billy Ray didn’t object to her abrupt appearance or her determination to help, however. After pointing her toward a pile of vegetables waiting to be peeled, he returned his attention to the meat he was preparing.
She had no idea what he planned to cook--some Cajun dish, no doubt, that would scorch the tender skin of her mouth and set her on fire--but she didn’t care so long as she had something to do. When she’d peeled the potatoes and diced them, she scooped them into a colander and rinsed them and then set them aside and started on the onions and peppers.
When her hands, arms, and shoulders began to cramp, she shoved a stray lock of hair from her face, stretched to relieve the ache and glanced out of the tiny porthole set in the galley bulkhead. They sun was sinking into the sea, turning the water and sky into a fiery red-orange glow.
Her stomach knotted.
They would probably wait until they’d eaten to pull anchor.
Weary now, Erin finished the last of the cutting and preparation and rinsed the vegetables, leaving them to drain in the sink. Removing the apron she’d donned when she’d settled to work, she headed back to the cabin. A hot shower relieved the cramping muscles and drained the last of her tension. When she’d dried off, she merely wrapped a towel around her and trudged back into the cabin, collapsing face first on the bunk.
The mattress dipped, rousing Erin sometime later. Still groggy, she lay still, listening for the sounds of a storm that might account for the rocking of the bunk. Instead, she heard the rustle of fabric. The towel she’d wrapped around herself was flipped away. A hand, large, warm, rough with calluses, skated up one thigh and then over her buttocks.
Her heart seemed to stand still in her chest. She tensed, waiting to see what he would do next.
She felt the heat of his breath along the cleft of her ass moments before she felt the nip of his teeth along one cheek. Goose bumps erupted, racing up her body and along her arms and legs.
She rolled onto her side, stared at Jesse, crouched at the foot of the bunk, for several moments and lifted a hand to him in invitation. Releasing a gusty sigh, he surged toward her, settling the weight of his body along hers, twining one long leg around her and dragging her lower body tightly against his.
His cock, hard and erect already, dug into her belly. She arched against it, slipping an arm around his waist and cupping and massaging his buttocks.
He was deliciously bare. A faint smile curled her lips as she familiarized herself with his upper chest and neck, tracing a path along his hard male breasts and upward to his throat with her mouth, tongue, and the edge of her teeth while she explored his back with one hand, feeling the rounded, puckered scars that dotted his flesh. She tried not to think about that.
He’d expected a welcome.
She was ok with that, better than ok. If she’d known all she had to do was sleep naked….
His lips beckoned. She teased the corners with light kisses then nipped her way across his full lower lip. He sank his fingers into her hair, cupping the back of her skull as he opened his mouth over h
ers in a deep, scorching kiss. Pleasure erupted in her veins like wildfire. His taste and scent invaded her senses like a heady drug as he thrust his tongue into her mouth and raked it along hers. Heat washed over her, made her skin tingle with acute sensation, keen awareness of the touch of his flesh against hers.
She wrapped an arm around his neck, pressing her breasts tightly against his chest. They swelled, growing heavy as her need increased. Her nipples puckered into hard nubs.
Groaning, he broke the kiss, releasing the fistful of hair he’d captured and stroked his hand down her back, catching one of her thighs and dragging it across his hips. The head of his cock nudged against her clit, evoking a riot of sensations. She undulated against it, increasing the pressure, feeling her belly clench as a warm wetness bathed her sex in anticipation of his possession. When he shifted and his cock slipped along her cleft, however, she pulled slightly away.
She was determined this would be a night he wouldn’t forget.
Pushing against his shoulders until he rolled onto his back, she shifted over him.
He was staring at her quizzically when she lifted her head to look at him. A smile curled her lips. “I read a hooker’s guide to giving head once,” she murmured. “Want to see if I mastered it?”
His lips twitched. Without a word, he folded his hands beneath his head.
Taking that as consent, Erin began to work her way down his body with a slow thoroughness that left no part of him unexplored. By the time she’d reached his cock, beads of sweat had broken from his pores and his body twitched with feverish heat. Coming up on her knees, she bent over his hips, wrapping one hand tightly around his shaft, stroking him from the root to the tip over and over, first the under side and then the top, taking care that she massaged every inch of his exquisitely sensitive shaft thoroughly.
A sense of satisfaction filled her as his fingers clenched on the sheets on either side of his hips, fisting and relaxing rhythmically. His breath caught in his chest, was expelled harshly and sucked in again. His belly quivered. The muscles all over his body tensed, trembled with his effort to remain still and passive to her ministrations.
Heat flooded Erin. Her throat closed with an unnamable thirst. She stared at the cock in her hands, resisting the urge to cover it with her mouth and suck him.
Switching hands, she continued to stroke his cock and began to gently massage his testicles. He jerked, his shoulders coming off the bed. With an obvious effort, he lay back. His hands moved over her shoulders, stroking her, and then clutched the sheets again.
Erin felt her belly clench. Her throat tightened as she felt the heat of his need washing over her.
“Chère,” he muttered on a harsh breath.
“Shhh,” Erin murmured soothingly, leaning down at last to place her mouth over his cock.
A harsh groan erupted from his throat. He went rigid, began to thrash restlessly. His cock jerked in her mouth, as if he would explode in that moment.
Erin’s belly clenched with her own ravaging need.
Abruptly, he bolted upright, grasped her shoulders and shoved her back onto the mattress. Almost before she’d caught her breath, he was driving into her. His cock head slid almost bruisingly along her cleft and plowed into the mouth of her sex.
Planting the soles of her feet on the mattress, she lifted to meet him.
Mindless with his need and completely beyond control, he pumped into her again and again until she felt the root of his cock grinding against her. His frantic need surged into her, sent her own control spiraling beyond her grasp. She curled her fingers into his arms, dug her nails in, meeting each thrust with a burgeoning sense of desperation.
When he stilled abruptly, dragging in a harsh breath, Erin lost the battle to stave off her release. Groaning, she bucked against him as she felt her body begin to convulse in waves of ecstasy. Slipping an arm beneath her hips, he began to thrust hard and fast, uttering a guttural cry as his own body exploded with release.
* * * *
Erin pretended she was asleep when Jesse eased from beneath the covers and dressed. She was fairly sure she couldn’t go up on deck and watch him leave without behaving badly and making everyone, Jesse included, uncomfortable.
It was better this way. If she felt like crying, she could cry without having to consider whether it would worry anyone else.
She almost gave up the pretense when he’d finished dressing and stood beside the bed staring down at her for what seemed a very long time. Finally, he merely turned and left, closing the door quietly behind him.
She turned onto her back then and lay listening to the sounds around her. Even without the distant sound and vibration of the engine, she could tell the ship was moving. The closer it came to shore, the more violently waves battered the hull and the ship bobbed in the water. Abruptly the engine stopped. The ship didn’t. For what seemed an endless time it glided silently through the water. Finally, she heard the sound of the anchor being released. The forward glide slowed and finally ceased altogether.
Hearing the Lycans moving about on the upper deck, Erin threw the covers off at last and got up. To her disappointment, she saw nothing from the cabin’s porthole but winking stars and the ripple of their light on the water.
She wouldn’t be able to watch them leave. The ship was facing the wrong direction for that.
Feeling a sudden need to catch one last glimpse of Jesse, Erin began to scramble for clothes, dragging them on haphazardly and then dashing from the cabin and along the gangway. Silence had fallen by the time she reached the deck. She rushed to the starboard railing anyway, peering through the darkness toward the darker shape some distance away rimmed by a pale ribbon of sand. She’d almost given up the effort to find them when her gaze finally lit upon a dark shape moving through the water. She studied it hard. After a time, she thought she could make out the individual shadows crowded into the dingy.
She couldn’t tell which of them was Jesse, though.
“They will be back before dawn.”
Erin glanced at the man who’d come to stand beside her. “You think?”
He leaned down, bracing his arms on the railing. “Tonight they will only reconnoiter the place. Tomorrow, or the next day, or maybe even the day after that, they will sweep through it, destroy all the data that has been collected, and be out again before the Feds know what’s hit them.”
Erin frowned as she studied Billy Ray. “Jesse didn’t tell me that.”
“No?” Billy Ray grinned. “Maybe he git carried away by the worry in his lady’s eyes, no?”
Meaning he was too busy enjoying himself to consider her feelings? She knew, suddenly, that that was not the case. He hadn’t said anything because he fully intended to go in tonight if the opportunity arose and she was pretty sure Billy Ray knew that.
He was only trying to distract her.
She saw the dingy had reached the beach. Dark shadows poured out of it and disappeared into the thick jungle vegetation that edged the ribbon of sand.
With an effort, she forced a smile to reward Billy Ray for his efforts to reassure her. “So--even if he finds an open door, he’s just going to look around and come straight back?”
Billy Ray shrugged, but grinned. “If they welcome him, then maybe he will go in and take care of business, but Jesse is no hot head, nor one to fall into a trap. He is smart, very smart. He will study the problem and pick it apart before he strikes.”
Erin nodded, realizing she was reassured. “We’ll wait here for them?”
“Oui, for now. If they are not back before dawn, we will have to move further from shore, but I don’t expect that.”
There was nothing to do but wait.
She was going to be a raving lunatic long before dawn.
She remained by the railing for a while after Billy Ray had left. When she could no longer bear the inactivity, she wandered about the deck, her ears strained to listen for the sound of distant gunfire.
She found no peace when the sound neve
r came. Instead, her fertile mind began to torment her with other scenarios, of the men walking into a trap, captured, taken to the laboratory to be tortured and dissected.
Time hung upon her like a pall. The moon rose, but seemed to stand still in the heavens, not moving by so much as an inch. Finally, when she realized that everyone but the night watch had gone below to try to rest, she went below decks and paced her cabin for a while. After glancing at the porthole for the dozenth time, she decided to go to the main cabin. At least there she might see something when and if there was something to see.
She was sorry she’d taken a nap earlier. At the time, she’d been so exhausted from her anxiety she’d welcomed the chance to rest. Now she couldn’t even seek that modicum of peace and staring at the clock on the wall of the main cabin wasn’t helping her nerves any more than staring at the moon had.
Mentally taking herself to task for working herself into a mass of screaming nerves, she strode purposefully to the cabinet that housed Juliette’s collection of reading materials and dragged out a stack of magazines. After a brief internal debate, she chose the couch and settled with the stack beside her, flipping the pages idly and trying to focus on the pages rather than the thoughts teasing at the edges of her mind.
It would’ve been easier, she thought wryly, to distract herself with the damned things if they’d actually held anything of concern to her, but even the ads, which naturally enough were related to the subject of the magazines, didn’t pique her interest. She persevered, struggling to focus her mind away from her worries. She’d flipped through most of the stack when a sound outside caught her attention.
She froze, listening more intently. She’d just decided it was purely imagination when she heard a very distinctive thud on the deck above her. She was on her feet before she even formed the thought. They were back!
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