Red Awakening (Red Zone)

by Janet Elizabeth Henderson

  “I’m not going to have sex with her.” Maybe. If he could stop it. Could you have accidental sex? He suspected he was about to find out.

  “You’re doing great,” Striker said. “You’ve made contact, you’re taking her to your hotel. We’re right on track.”

  “Yeah.” He let out a heavy breath. “You’re right. We’re still on track. You guys will be there waiting, right?”

  “Sandi, Gray, and me,” Striker assured him. “Just like we planned.”

  His stomach roiled at the words. The woman in front of him had no idea what his team had planned for her. This evening wasn’t going to end the way she hoped. And it made him sick to think about it.

  “This feels wrong,” Mace said a little too loudly.

  Keiko looked back at him. “Did you say something?”

  “No.” He squeezed her hand and went back to watching her hips sway in front of him when she turned around. “Get Friday off the line,” he barked into his mic.

  “No—” Friday started to complain, but then there was silence.

  “She’s gone,” Striker said. “This is just between us. What’s going on?”

  “This situation is out of control. I thought I heard…” He trailed off, unable to talk about the voice that had sounded in his head at the sight of her. Terrified of making the experience real by putting it into words. Because he had to have been mistaken about it, for both their sakes.

  “Look,” he huffed instead. “Keiko’s nothing like we thought she’d be.” Nothing like he’d thought she’d be. He’d expected a hardheaded businesswoman, someone in CommTECH’s schemes up to her neck or someone so sheltered and naive that she was clueless to what was going on around her. Instead, she was funny, caring, and sexy as hell, and he couldn’t think straight from wanting to touch her. “I told you before this that I thought this plan sucked. Now that I’ve met her, I really think it sucks. There has to be another way to get into that press conference. One that doesn’t involve blackmail.”

  “If there was another way, we’d take it.” Although Striker sounded sympathetic, he was immovable.

  Mace’s stomach clenched tight. “I’ll do my job. I’ll bring her in. But I want it on the record that this doesn’t sit right with me.”

  “Duly noted,” Striker said. “You know how important this mission is. Friday might piss you off, but you don’t want millions of people to die any more than she does.”

  As much as Mace might wish otherwise, Striker was right. He ran a hand through his hair. “You’d better be waiting when we get there.” Because he had no idea how long his willpower would hold out against Keiko if they were alone in his hotel room.

  “We will.”

  “Then we’ll see you in a few.” With that, Mace subtly removed his earpiece and thrust it into his pocket.

  The path to the elevators cleared in front of them, and when the doors opened, he tugged Keiko into the corner. Leaning back against the wall, Mace pulled her to him, her back to his front, splaying his hand on her stomach to hold her in place.

  She looked up at him. “Please tell me you know what you’re doing in bed.”

  A guy who was about to step inside the elevator heard her words and grinned at Mace. “I’ll take the next one,” he said.

  Mace gave him a droll smile as he answered the woman in his arms. “No man’s going to admit to being crap in bed, but I haven’t had any complaints.”

  She frowned. “I need to have a serious talk with the owner of this club. Of all the clubs. All this information on their network, but no rating system for prospective lovers. Someone needs to sort that out. There’s a definite gap in the market.”

  “Tell you what,” he said, his words a breath over her ear, “why don’t you rate me as we go? That way, if I don’t meet your standards, we can call a halt to our time together.”

  “Okay.” She let out a sigh. “But an official rating system would be easier.” She angled her face to look up at him. “Don’t disappoint me.”

  He wondered if she’d meant it as an order, because he’d heard it as a plea. There was a vulnerability in her voice that called to him, and it made him sick that he couldn’t reassure her she was safe with him.

  “I’ll do my best.” And in that moment, with every cell of his body, he wished he was taking her back to his hotel room to make love to her.

  She looked back down, resting her head against his chest as her hand stroked the outside of his thigh. His muscles clenched under her touch. He wanted to press her against the wall, push up her dress, and indulge himself in every inch of her.

  She was the mission. The target. A job.

  His hands shook, and his head spun. He needed to calm the hell down and take back control of the situation.

  If he’d ever had control.

  Her backside ground against him, making him harder than he’d ever been in his life, and his resolve snapped.

  Fuck it.

  Turning them, he pressed her back to the wall and ravaged her mouth with a kiss so desperate and hungry it would have shocked him if he’d been thinking straight. But then, he wasn’t thinking at all. Greedy hands tugged at his shirt, pulling it free from his pants. Hot fingers kneaded his abs as Keiko moaned into his mouth. He grasped her hands, bringing them over her head, holding them easily in one of his. Hooking the other under her knee, he lifted her leg around his hip, sliding up the silken smoothness of her thigh, cupping her soft, round ass in his hand.

  “Yes,” she gasped against him, pushing her breasts against his chest.

  It wasn’t enough. Letting go of her hands, he grasped her waist and lifted. “Legs around me,” he ordered gruffly.

  She didn’t hesitate to comply. Her legs wrapped around his waist, pressing her hot core against his stomach. He ran his other hand under her dress to her ass, skimming down the curves, over her panties. Feeling lace, skin, and hot, wet promise. Their kiss deepened, became tinged with desperation.

  He was hard enough to burst through his pants to get to her. He wanted to be inside her. He wanted to feel every inch of her skin with his fingers, his lips, his tongue. He wanted to know how she tasted everywhere and what sounds she made when he touched her in different ways.

  He wanted it all.

  But, at the sound of a throat being cleared, reality descended like a lightning bolt from the gods, jolting him back to stark awareness.

  This was a mission.

  She was the target.

  Damn.

  Chapter Four

  “A second,” Mace barked at the couple waiting to enter the elevator.

  He placed a dazed Keiko on her feet, adjusted her dress, and took her hand.

  “Oops,” she said to the couple as they passed them, grinning wildly while she did it. “Forgot where we were.”

  The couple grinned back in understanding. Mace didn’t smile. He had no right forgetting where they were or why he was there in the first place. But he felt like he was on a runaway train, and there was just no getting off until it reached its destination.

  Holding Keiko close, he wound his way through the crowd and out into the hot Houston night. Stars glittered up above as the hum of the city enfolded them. He held her hand tight as he strode toward one of the cabs waiting outside the club. Its door opened as they approached, and Mace guided her inside before climbing in behind her.

  “The Hilton.” He gave the computer control a voice command because he didn’t have the implants that would allow him to send a mental communication to the vehicle. He hoped Keiko wouldn’t notice what he’d done. Although it wasn’t unusual for people with enhancements to give verbal orders to the machines around them, it still wasn’t the norm.

  She snuggled into his side and gazed up at him. He felt the look like a punch to his stomach, because he imagined they both felt exactly the same way. As though they were surfing a wave, lost in the perfection of the curve, riding the high and waiting for the crash. Only, he was the only one who knew the crash was coming.

/>   “You feel it, too, don’t you?” she whispered. “The fire?”

  At least he could give her honesty in this. “Yeah. I feel it.”

  He couldn’t explain it. She drugged him just with her presence. He stroked his thumb down her cheek. Smooth. Perfection. Her lips fell open at his touch, and her eyelids lowered. A surge of pure desperation swept through him at the sight.

  It’s a job. She’s the target.

  But the words were faint in his mind, drowned out by the sound of his own thrumming need as it raced through his veins. His mouth was suddenly dry as his hand curled over the swell of her hip. The outside world faded, and it took him a second to realize she’d sent a mental command to the car to tint the windows. Now it was just the two of them, racing through the streets toward his hotel. Would it really matter if he took this time for them? A few moments before she met his team. A few heady touches before she discovered he’d betrayed her trust and her look of desire turned to one of loathing.

  “How long until we get to your hotel?” Keiko’s voice sounded husky.

  “Twenty minutes.”

  “Let’s take the long way.” Keeping her eyes on his, she clutched handfuls of her dress at her thighs and inched it upward.

  Mace swallowed hard, his hand tightening on her hip. “Keiko?”

  She wet her lips. “I don’t want to wait until the hotel. I want you now.”

  Such brutal honesty mixed with courage and vulnerability. It was the sexiest thing he’d ever heard. How was he supposed to resist?

  The mission. The job. The target.

  But even his conscience fell silent as Keiko reached under her dress and tugged her panties down her thighs. They were red. Like her dress and her sexy mile-high heels. They were past the point of conversation. Or reason. They were on that train, heading for the crash to end all crashes. And there was nothing he could or would do to stop it. All he could think about was wanting her.

  She kicked the panties away before climbing up onto the seat beside him. Every move she made was slow and sensual. The temperature in the car shot up, the air thinned, and it became hard to breathe. He’d never seen anything as sexy in his life. Never.

  He opened his mouth to say something else, honestly unsure what it would have been.

  Pressing a finger to his lips, she straddled him. “Shh.”

  Automatically, his hands came up to cradle her hips. He should have lifted her off, but she felt so damn good. Keiko leaned in to nuzzle his neck as she slipped her hands under his jacket and pushed it from his shoulders. Her palms smoothed over his chest, mapping his muscles, leaving a trail of heat in their wake.

  He was torn, split in two. His mission. His target. And he desperately wanted to be deep inside of her. To bury himself in her wet heat and lose himself in her passion. He was going to die from wanting her. It was a hunger that overrode his sense of duty, his conscience, his every hesitancy. Nothing could compete with his desperation for her. Not logic nor his team. Nothing.

  The decision was made, and he’d deal with the consequences later. Clasping her face in his hands, he stared into her huge, dark eyes. “If this is what you want, here and now, then you get it. Because, no matter what happens with us, know this—right now, I want you more than is healthy for me.”

  “Then stop talking and touch me,” she whispered against his mouth.

  “Yes ma’am.” Mace smiled back at her.

  As he ran his hands up her sides to cup her breasts, she slid a hand down his body and between them, unfastening his pants to take his throbbing cock in her hand.

  He let out a low, aching moan as she stroked his length. “Yeah. That’s it. Harder. Hold it tighter.”

  “Like this?” She did as he demanded, and his hips shot upward, pressing him farther into her grasp.

  “Just like that,” he gasped.

  She angled her body over his, and he felt her hot, wet opening tease the head of his cock. “Tell me you want me,” she demanded.

  “Never wanted anything more.” He squeezed out the words. Aching with each one.

  She stilled above him, her lips a hairsbreadth away from his. Her hand held his cock tight, as though she owned him. Because she did.

  “Best. Birthday. Ever.” She breathed the words against his mouth.

  Her eyes molten, she sank down on top of him, engulfing him in her heat. She was tight, wet, perfect. As he slowly filled her, her head fell back with a desperate moan.

  “Damn.” His fingers dug into her hips, holding on for his life until he was seated deep within her. “Condoms.” He forced out the word. “We need condoms.”

  Her smile was a secret, her eyes dazed with lust. “I checked your club data. You’re safe. And I have an implant.”

  “Damn. Forgot about that. You make me lose my mind.”

  “Am I supposed to feel bad about that?” Bending closer, she nipped his bottom lip before soothing the sting with her tongue. Her hips rotating, she ground against him, making them both moan.

  Although she’d robbed him of his senses and he could barely think straight, there were things that needed to be said. Threading his fingers through her hair, he angled her face toward him. “Look at me,” he ordered.

  Slowly, lust-dazed eyes hit his.

  “This is real.” He hoped she heard the truth in his voice, along with the desperation that she believe him. “Whatever happens next. Remember what I’m telling you. This, right now, it’s real. I want you. You want me. We needed this. And it’s real.”

  From the look on her face, he knew his words were getting lost in the haze of passion. He cupped her cheeks, making her concentrate on him. “Promise me, Keiko. Promise me that no matter where things go with us, you’ll never think this time, this moment right now, wasn’t real. Because this is as real and as honest as it gets for me. I need you to know that.”

  Her brow puckered as her eyes cleared for a second. “I don’t understand, but I promise.”

  With that, Mace slammed his mouth onto hers. She tasted like heaven, and she gave herself without a second’s hesitation. He kissed her with all of him, holding nothing back, giving her everything he had to give. Giving her honesty in this at least, hoping she understood what he was telling her: with his lips, his hands, his will.

  They broke apart, panting, dazed. The feeling of being surrounded by her was all that mattered.

  “This is so good,” she groaned, rocking her hips. “So good.”

  Eyes closed, lips parted, her head fell back. Stunning. Absolutely stunning. She rolled her hips, riding him slow and easy.

  He surged up to meet her, holding her tight, taking over when the sensations seemed to become too much for her and she lost her rhythm. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips swollen, her breath a rapid, desperate panting. She was on the edge, ready to explode, and Mace didn’t want to miss a second of it. He angled his hips to take her higher. Working to keep her on the edge. To make her feel every second. To give her everything. In that moment, his only thought was of Keiko, and he was her slave.

  “Yes. I’m going to come,” she gasped as her muscles clenched around him.

  “Wait for me.” His tone guttural, his command absolute.

  “I can’t. I can’t.” Her eyes flew open, and she stared at him. “Please…”

  “Not yet.” Slowly, keeping his eyes locked on hers, he lowered his mouth toward her breast, his target the firm little bud that poked out against her red silk dress. All the while, he continued surging up into her, hitting the spot inside of her that made her mewl as her eyes glazed over.

  “Please,” she begged, her fingernails digging into his shoulders.

  “With me,” he growled. “Now.”

  He bit down hard on her sensitive nipple. It was enough to send her over the edge. She let out a loud wail, clamping down on him, milking him for everything he had to give. He groaned and flexed within her, exploding along with her. Holding her tight, he reveled in the heat and softness of her body writhing against his. With
one last shudder, she slumped forward, her head on his chest, over his rapidly beating heart.

  Mace smoothed a hand up and down her spine, wishing he felt satin-smooth skin under his touch instead of silk fabric. His arms flexed tight as a dark, needy possession ripped through him. He didn’t want to let her go. Not now. Not ever.

  The mission. The target, his conscience reminded, and his hold on her eased. She wasn’t for him. This was just a moment stolen from reality. That was all it was.

  She nuzzled against his chest. “You do know what you’re doing,” she said on a satisfied sigh.

  Mace’s answering smile felt bittersweet. It was a smile tinged with longing and loss—for something he’d never really had.

  “Happy birthday to me,” she sang, slightly off-key.

  His heart squeezed tight at the sound. She was burrowing deeper into him with every word. And he found he didn’t care.

  “I feel so used,” he said drolly.

  He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this replete, if ever. He wanted to tell the car to keep circling the block forever, wanted to stay in the little cocoon they’d created. He wanted to forget about his duty, his reason for being there. Forget about the lies he’d told. He wanted to make love to her until this burning need was excised from his system—if that was even possible.

  “Let’s do it again.” Keiko sounded drugged as she pressed a kiss to his throat.

  His eyes scrunched tight as her words slapped him back to reality. When Keiko found out that he planned to blackmail her, that he’d gone to the club to hunt her down and use her, there would be no repeat. There would be no forgiveness. Not for this. Not for giving in to the chemistry between them when he knew what lay ahead.

  All he could do to make amends was contact Striker before they headed up to the room and offer an alternative plan. Instead of blackmail, they could reason with her. Appeal to her sense of fairness, to her kind heart, make her see how important it was for them to attend the press conference, to get information to stop the faulty datachips from being released. To keep people from dying. She was a reasonable person, smart and compassionate. She’d go for it. He knew she would. All he needed to do was sell the new plan to Striker before they got to his room.