Dangerous in Motion

by Sidney Bristol

  He blew out a breath and embraced her, soaking up the warmth of her body, the scent of soap and shampoo. He couldn’t promise to play it safe. That wasn’t who he was, but he could be honest with her about what they were doing and the danger involved.

  Heidi lifted up on tip toe and kissed him.

  God, after all these years, he still loved this woman. He grasped her by the hips and pulled her in closer, tilting his head to deepen the kiss.

  She pushed her hands up under his shirt, stroking his skin. He let go of her long enough to pull his shirt off. He was starving for her touch, these private moments. He’d thrown himself into work and other things to distract himself from the yawning chasm left where Heidi—his heart—should be.

  Heidi stared at him, his chest, her hands roving over him, this little, teasing smile on her lips. That smile did things to him. Trying his restraint. He cupped the back of her head, grasping the strands of her hair and tightening his grip. Not too hard, but just enough.

  Her smile spread into a grin and she leaned into him, her body going soft.

  Adam kissed her mouth and walked her back against the dresser situated against the outside wall. She laughed and gave in when he lifted her onto it.

  “Was this your real plan all along?” she asked.

  “It was a possibility.” He wasn’t completely stupid. He knew they had a lot to come to terms with, but time hadn’t changed the way he felt about her or how much he wanted her.

  Adam grasped the hem of her shirt and tugged it up, over her head. She released the catch on her bra and both garments got lost on the floor. He bent over her, kissing her shoulder, her collar bone. She grasped him by the hair and her other hand slid over his shoulders. She sucked in a breath, her breasts beckoning him lower.

  Time hadn’t changed the fact that, when it came to Heidi, he was an expert. The swift intake of breath, how she touched him it was a language he spoke. She was the same girl who would make herself sick on lemon drops, and her breasts were every bit as sensitive as they used to be.

  He wrapped his lips around a nipple and she gasped, arching her back. He toyed with the other stiff peak, enjoying the whimpers. How she didn’t hold back. The nails digging into his skin drove him on, lavishing love on her skin.

  Adam needed her. Now, in his life, in every possible way.

  He straightened, taking in the sight of her leaned back against the wall, chest heaving, the way she looked at him.

  After all the time apart, she deserved slow and soft, tenderness and all the love he could dish out. But the need was sharper, insistent.

  Heidi leaned forward and grasped the tail of his belt. She tugged him closer, between her knees, and undid the buckle. He took that as a sign of permission. He grasped the waistband of her yoga pants and her panties, yanking them down, almost dragging her off the dresser. She laughed and kicked her pants off, leaving her in nothing but creamy, freckled skin and a smile so beautiful it made him ache.

  When this was over, he’d go slow, torture her with desire. For now, they had a lot of time to make up for.

  He shoved his jeans down his thighs and freed his cock. She grasped his length and leaned forward, kissing his lips. She guided him to her entrance, sliding the head of him through her folds.

  Fuck, how had he ever been this lucky? Meeting her, having her in his life, it changed him. Made him want to be better.

  Adam bent his head closer and thrust. Heidi gasped. He pulled her to the edge of the dresser and thrust again, sliding into her. They both groaned. Heat and pleasure rolled through him.

  There was no one for him, except Heidi.

  Her calves wrapped around his hips, her heels driving into his thighs. He rocked forward, finding her lips with his. Her nails scraped his arms and shoulders. Her breasts slid against his chest with each thrust.

  How many times had he wanted this? Fantasized about having her back?

  And here they were.

  The only problem was, reality was a whole lot sweeter than what went on in his head.

  Warmth spread along the base of his spine.

  No, he couldn’t come yet.

  She dropped one of her legs from around him, and the next moment she lifted her hips off the dresser, meeting his thrust.

  Fuck.

  Adam dropped his head to her shoulder and slid his hand between them. He’d be damned if, after all this time, she didn’t come, too.

  He found her clit by feel.

  Heidi’s body shuddered, and she whimpered unintelligible words. Her pussy tightened, and he closed his eyes, grit his teeth and thrust. All at once the world seemed to come apart at the edges. Pleasure rolled up through him, so good it hurt. He clutched Heidi closer.

  Next time, he’d do better. Or try to.

  He kissed her cheek and her brow. Her eyes were closed and her cheek rest against his chest. Her smile was still in place. Was that what contentment looked like? Did they have the chance for more of this?

  God, he hoped so.

  Adam wrapped his arms around her and prayed his jellied legs could hold out a few moments longer. He picked her up off the dresser and she wrapped her limbs around him. He carried her the few feet to the bed and crawled onto it, cradling her close. For all their shortcomings, they still had this. Could this be proof they had a shot?

  They lay on the bed for several moments, neither speaking. This time Heidi didn’t immediately run away. There were no tears.

  He kissed her again, wanting to revel in these moments for as long as he could before the real world called them back with pesky tasks like clean up...

  Fuck.

  Adam’s eyes popped open, and he swallowed.

  They hadn’t used a condom. Granted, they hadn’t since they were seventeen, but that was because...

  “Heidi? I didn’t ask, but—condoms?”

  “What about them? They exist?” Heidi pried one eye open and looked at him. She snorted a laugh and stroked his cheek. “I still have an IUD to help control my cramps. They’re worse now than in high school, so fair warning.”

  “Oh. Good. Not—fuck.”

  “Gee, thanks.” Heidi laughed again and kissed him.

  “Is—are you okay though?” He’d taken her home a few times from school over the year. Being with her had desensitized him pretty fast to feminine needs.

  “Yeah. Just part of being a girl.” She laid her head against his shoulder and snuggled closer.

  For the first time since he had to leave his new wife, and everything was right with his world.

  WEDNESDAY. CHHATRAPATI Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai, India.

  Léo’s whole body ached. The travel, cramped conditions, the old wounds, they didn’t make for comfortable international experiences. Still, he was alive and breathing thanks to the boss. If it weren’t for that, Léo might have died. He owed the boss his life, a fact he was painfully aware of.

  There were times Léo thought about leaving this behind. He didn’t have to manage the business, but he chose to do it. Out of love or loyalty, it was hard to say, but he’d begun down this path and hadn’t ventured from it.

  Crane took their bags while Léo checked his phone. He saw the dozen or so messages waiting for him and sat down on a bench, the weight of it all dragging at him. What now?

  We have a problem.

  Really? The boss was just now figuring that out?

  They know about Sorkin.

  That message stopped Léo in his tracks.

  If they knew about Sorkin, how long until they knew about Laranya? The boss still believed he could save that woman, too.

  Léo scrubbed a hand across his face.

  He could get on a plane, go somewhere right now, be done with all this.

  And trust the boss’ welfare to someone like Julie? Someone who’d take chances, risk it all, and get them all killed? Was that any way to treat the person who had saved Léo’s life?

  No, he had to see this through which meant he’d handle this new hiccup as
well.

  Everything that should never have happened was tied to Sorkin Pharmaceuticals. While the vaccine line of business was a nice stream of income, it came at a high risk. The moment they’d partnered with that company marked the turn into something worse. Something Léo didn’t know if they could handle.

  He blew out a breath and tapped out a message since that was the way the boss was communicating.

  Just landed in Mumbai. What do you want me to do?

  Léo pressed send and glanced up. Crane was still finding a taxi at this late hour. They’d need to hire a car and get resources up and running.

  His phone vibrated again.

  Call Julie.

  Léo shook his head and tapped his phone against his hand. If the boss wanted Julie, who Léo had brought with him, it meant they were ready to accept a certain amount of loss. Léo wasn’t going to get his hopes up that the boss was ready to put a bullet in Heidi Novak. He just wasn’t that lucky. So what was the boss up to?

  7.

  TUESDAY. BASU RESIDENCE, Mumbai, India.

  Heidi stared at the outline of Adam’s face in the darkness. It felt as though she had a string of tension inside of her, vibrating at such a pitch that it stopped time. She was afraid to breathe in case she ruined this perfect bubble. Nothing seemed to touch them here. If they could stay in this room forever and shut out the world, she might do it.

  She’d given up hope of more with Adam years ago. His parents still kept her apprised of what he was doing in a general sense. They’d taken their role of in-laws seriously, treating her like a daughter. She’d never had kind parents. The Novaks were her haven. Always had been.

  Her earliest memory of them was fuzzy and more a series of feelings.

  She’d been little and her parents were fighting, which wasn’t anything new. She’d hide when they really got going. This time she’d gone out into the yard and it had begun to rain. Instead of going inside, where the fight still raged on, she’d tried to take shelter under a tree. Adam had found her huddled in the dirt. She didn’t recall what happened to lead him to decide taking her to his house was a good idea, but the next thing she remembered was being wrapped in a huge, fluffy towel.

  Mrs. Novak had made them hot chocolate and let them watch cartoons in the living room. Heidi never got to watch TV in the living room at her house. That was her father’s domain. Heidi had been so happy. She’d wanted to stay there forever, but all good things had to end. When her parents came to find her she’d cried, but Mrs. Novak said she could come over another time.

  That was the beginning of her and Adam. It was always kindness that brought them together. Giving her a shelter from the storm. A place to belong. Someone to trust.

  Without him, she knew she’d have turned out differently. At the very least she’d have run away from her toxic home for good. At the worst, maybe she’d have been there the day her parent’s killed each other.

  She’d been with Adam instead of at home, which might have saved her life. They’d gone to a movie, but left early to fool around in the car. He’d only been home a week, and they’d just made-up from their post-deployment break-up. He’d driven them back to their street with the plan to eat dinner with the Novak’s when they saw the lights outside her house.

  Even now she recalled those events with a detached sensation. As though she were a passenger instead of a part of it all. The officers had explained her parents were dead. It wasn’t until later that the forensics indicated they’d shot each other.

  Her parents weren’t bad people, but they weren’t good for each other either. She’d never understood why they hadn’t split up. Why they forced themselves into a union they resented.

  Heidi reached out and ran her fingers across Adam’s hand.

  She liked to think it was different with them. She loved Adam. But her parent’s had loved each other, too. Heidi had to wonder if they’d passed that dysfunctional genetic down to her. If this Merry-Go-Round she and Adam had going on was because she wasn’t capable of a healthy, normal relationship.

  Then again, Adam was equally guilty of breaking up with her half a dozen times because he was leaving again. Every deployment started like that. He’d sit her down, break up with her, they’d both cry, and a few weeks after he’d left she’d get a letter or phone call if she was really lucky and he’d take it all back. Usually that was the only time she heard from him while he was gone.

  The rest of those break-ups were her, and deep down she knew she used to do it to get his attention. That sometimes he’d take her being there for him as the norm and he’d forget to make time with her a priority.

  In hindsight, she’d thought getting married would change all of that. That they would magically be different. Better. Instead, he’d left with every intention to not speak to her for his entire deployment. There was no reason to call her if they hadn’t just broken up, but she’d waited, staying close to home on the off chance he’d call.

  If she could go back and change things, if she could put off her PhD for a semester so she’d have been home when he got back, she would have. Instead they’d spent all these years apart. Could they pick up the pieces and really try? Was that a possibility? Or were they kidding themselves? Would they spend a week together and learn they hated who the other had become? Were they even good for each other anymore? Was she bound to turn out like her parents?

  She closed her eyes and swallowed.

  There it was.

  She could pretend that thought didn’t haunt her, but it did.

  They didn’t have a great history. What if, after a while, she turned into her mother? Or worse, her dad? Being apart meant she hadn’t had to face these questions. She’d shoved them down deep, but they’d been there. Rearing their head from time to time, telling her she was better off alone, away from Adam. For his own good.

  The only person she’d shared this part of her life with was John. He’d been a good friend to her these last few years.

  Adam’s hand turned, and he grasped her hand. He sucked down a breath and stretched. Unlike most people, Adam was either completely asleep or entirely awake. There was no in-between period.

  “Morning,” she whispered.

  “Morning,” he mumbled.

  Warmth curled through her body at the sound of his sleep roughened tone.

  How was it she could go this long without seeing him and yet, she still got butterflies? It had to be love if she felt this way despite the time apart and all the baggage, right?

  “Time?” he asked.

  “Almost eight, I think.”

  “We need to go.” He tugged on her hand.

  She scooted toward him until Adam could wrap his arm around her, tucking her in close to his body. She closed her eyes and relished the warmth radiating from his body, how being snuggled up with this man made her forget everything going on in the world.

  “Do we have a plan for today?” she asked.

  “Zain got us blueprints for the Sorkin building. We probably need to get going.”

  “I can see the urgency.” She slid her hand around his waist. Soon they’d both be wearing clothes and she wouldn’t be able to touch him like this.

  Did she think she could overcome her history for a better future? Or was she bound to repeat the past?

  A sharp knock at the door startled her. There was no voice, no command, just a knock.

  “That’s probably Kyle.” Adam sighed. He squeezed her once more, then kissed the top of her head. “Come on.”

  He let go of her and rolled out of bed, onto his feet.

  “Do we have to?” She sat up and pushed her hair back.

  “Yup. Come on, get dressed.”

  In short order they packed up their things and got ready. Regardless of whether things went well today, they’d need to do something. Whatever Léo was working on wasn’t going to wait for them.

  Heidi and Adam left the luggage in the lower living area, then went up to join the rest at the dining table for an a la cart b
reakfast of whatever they could shove in their mouths. Their hosts were nowhere to be seen. Heidi would have loved to pick Aanya’s head for what Adam was like on a normal job, but it didn’t appear she would get that chance.

  “Okay.” Kyle tapped a notebook on the table, all eyes going to him. “Abigail was able to get us on the CEO’s schedule. That’s just going to get us in the office. Zain needs us in there for at least five minutes to hack their system, so we have to start with soft questions. Got it?”

  “Do you have a list?” Cindy asked.

  “I was thinking Adam, myself and Heidi will go into the office while the rest of you remain outside. We don’t want the two of you connected to this for as long as possible, but we need someone in that room who speaks the language.”

  “What are the rest of us doing?” Cindy crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn’t used to taking orders after so long giving them.

  “You’ll be with us, ma’am.” The smooth talking cowboy leveled a grin at Cindy that she deflected with her icy cold sniff.

  Kyle’s watch beeped. He tapped it then glanced up.

  “Let’s do this.”

  TUESDAY. SORKIN PHARMACEUTICAL, Mumbai, India.

  Léo stared across the street at the Sorkin office building. The company had consolidated their labs and offices into one location as a way to trim the fat back before they began working with Léo’s boss. Now it was a well-oiled machine. Efficient. Purposeful. And neatly under the boss’ thumb. For now.

  The way Léo saw it this was a bomb waiting to go off. They might have the CEO in check for now, but how long would that last if the truth got out?

  This was yet another case of when the boss’ hyper focus got them into more than they could handle.

  Two years ago the boss had done some work in this part of the world and met a lovely young woman named Laranya Reddy. Léo didn’t know the story, he hadn’t been involved in the boss plans for her until it was too late and the ball was already rolling. The only thing Léo had been able to do was try to get out in front of the wreck before it took them all down.