by Cindy Dees
Aah, so spirited, she was. A force of nature. He joined their bodies by slow millimeters, staring into her eyes and stopping whenever she would have closed her eyes, forcing her to open them once more. Gazes locked, they became one. He moved slowly within her, savoring the tight pull of her body against his.
Establishing a slow, steady rhythm, he refused to be hurried, even when she wrapped her legs around his hips and begged for more. This was not about one moment’s pleasure. Tonight was about winning the lady’s heart forever.
“Jeff! Please,” she panted.
“Please what?”
“Please, more.”
He pressed more deeply into her but did not change his pace.
“Faster. Harder. Don’t be so gentle with me. You’re driving me crazy.”
“What’s your name?”
“Jennifer.”
He smiled and held his ground. Her breathing came faster and shorter, hitched, and then broke on a cry of pleasure. He paused just long enough for her to catch a breath, and then resumed his slow torture. She writhed beneath him as yet more pleasure built between them.
“Your name?”
“Uhh. Jenn.”
“Mmm. Better.” He picked up the pace just enough to push her over the edge again but did not stop. The flush on her cheeks spread to her breasts, and the pauses between climaxes became shorter and shorter as he drove her ever onward. His own body shouted for release, but he hung on with iron control. Not. Yet.
As she clawed at his back, out of her mind with need, he captured her wrists and pulled them up over her head, holding them with one hand. He drove into her harder now, deeper. He let loose more of his prodigious strength, and she absorbed it eagerly, her body clutching at him, demanding even more of him.
Gritting his teeth against the climax tearing at him, he ground out, “What’s. Your. Name.”
“Jeff!”
She wasn’t so far wrong. He wasn’t sure where he ended and she began. Maybe they shared his name, too. She surged up against him, and what little control he had left snapped.
He drove powerfully into her, holding nothing back. He stared down at her, allowing her to see into the depths of his soul as he took her with his entire being and made her his. The end roared toward them like a freight train, deafening thunder rolling over them.
“Your. Name.” He hardly remembered his own name as wave after wave of pleasure pounded through him.
She cried out incoherently, her eyes huge and black and unfocused as she stared up at him. She cried out again, the sound breaking off. And then, as he exploded from the top of his head to the bottoms of his feet, she let out a long, trembling cry and poured out every last drop of pleasure left within her for him.
He collapsed onto his elbows, his chest heaving, his forehead resting against hers. If that didn’t make the point to her that they were made for one another, he gave up.
“What’s your name?” he panted.
“Scarlet.”
His lips curved and he kissed the smile off her mouth. Now was probably not the moment to remind her that Rhett and Scarlet were married. There would be time enough for that later. Assuming they lived through the next twenty-four hours.
Chapter 15
Jennifer blinked awake to bright sunlight streaming around the edges of the curtains. She wasn’t quite sure what Jeff had done to her last night, but she knew one thing. Her life would never be the same. No way would Rhett have walked out on Scarlet if the two of them had shared a night like that together. And as for Scarlet? Would she have been able to deny her true feelings for Rhett after that? Somehow, Jennifer doubted it.
Reason argued that a long-term relationship wasn’t all about the sex. But dang, last night had been epic. Sex like that could sustain a girl for a good long time. And it wasn’t like Jeff was a bad guy. He was a pretty incredible guy. The only glitch was his little superhero problem. But it was a deal breaker. How was she supposed to watch the man she loved destroy himself by slow degrees? No way could she survive another episode like the one at the island with him.
A door opened and Jeff emerged, his hips casually wrapped in a towel, his hair wet. Yep, the sight of all that macho muscle could keep a girl going for a good long time.
Spying her gaze on him, he smiled and moved to her side. “Good morning, Scarlet.”
“Morning, Rhett.”
He sat down on the edge of the bed beside her and pushed back her tangled hair from her face. “How are you feeling? I apologize in advance if you’re sore.”
She stretched luxuriously. “Nothing a hot bath won’t soak away.”
“I left you some hot water. Why don’t you go have a nice, long soak while I take a look at those maps. I’ve been doing some calculations on how much dynamite we’re going to need to rock this island. I want to double-check the numbers.”
“There will mostly be military grade C-4 in the armory.”
“All the better. A little bit of that stuff makes a big explosion.”
“And you know so much about explosives, how?” she asked.
“Winston Mining.”
Of course. “Is there anything you can’t do?”
He considered her thoughtfully. “I don’t know how to knit.”
She laughed. “Neither do I.” She climbed out of bed and headed for the shower. One thing she could say about this mission for sure. She’d never done a field assignment—heck she’d never heard of a field assignment—that had taken place in the sort of luxury that this one had. But that’s what a girl got when she tangled with a Winston, she supposed.
Jeff had laid out a cold breakfast of food from their packs when she joined him in the library. Thankfully, he didn’t insist on talking about their relationship like he had last night. Her cheeks heated up at recollection of just what form most of the “discussion” had taken.
“Hot bath?” Jeff asked as she joined him.
“Uh-huh.” Yeah, that was why her cheeks were bright red.
They ate quickly and cleaned up after themselves. No need to trash the Gray’s house just because they’d broken into the place. From her acquaintance with the couple, she doubted they’d mind in the least that she and Jeff had let themselves into the mansion, especially when they heard the reason why. Carson Gray was a patriot. And he understood that sometimes the end justified the means.
She frowned. That was one of the arguments Jeff used to explain his medical experimentation. Did his end justify his choice of means? She was grateful when Jeff distracted her by launching into a recap of his calculations to determine that they would need about a half-dozen blocks of C-4 per explosion to cause a noticeable shaking to the folks in H.O.T. Watch.
“The big problem,” he elaborated, “is going to be choosing spots for the explosions that won’t weaken the structure of the H.O.T. Watch facility itself. We don’t want to collapse the place on anyone’s heads.”
“If we stick to the perimeters of the lower-level caves, I’d think we’ll be okay,” she replied, studying the maps.
“Agreed. So. How do we get into those caves?”
It was reasonable that the narrowest tunnels on the maps were also the smallest, but that was all they had to go on. Even armed with these maps, they were going to have to do some old-fashioned spelunking to find a back door into H.O.T. Watch.
Jeff shifted topics. “When do you want to hit the armory?”
“Late tonight. When only the night crew’s on duty,” she replied.
“I’m going to suggest we head out around sunset, then. And besides, that lets us spend the day in air-conditioning.”
“For a man who can stand a lot of pain, you sure do like your creature comforts.”
Jeff grinned. “Nowhere does it say we have to suffer unnecessarily to be heroes.”
“I thought that’s what being a hero is. Pushing beyond one’s limits to do the impossible.”
He rolled his eyes. “Been there, done that, got that T-shirt. It’s overrated.”
They spent the rest of the afternoon plotting out their best guess at a course through the tunnel network and estimating where on the island they would find a surface entrance to the underground complex of passages.
Finally, she announced, “We can swim out to these cliffs and look for this entrance, here. If we stay close to shore, the currents aren’t bad.”
Jeff frowned. “I’m not exactly nimble in water. I don’t have enough body fat to counteract my muscle mass. Makes swimming hard work.”
“Guess we’ll have to get you some of those inflatable water wingies little kids wear on their upper arms. You’ll be adorable.”
“Gee. Thanks.”
“We might be able to approach the cliffs from above and climb down to the cave entrance.”
“It’s worth a try,” he replied in obvious relief. “But in case that’s a bust, I think I’ll go explore the garage and see if I can find something to help my buoyancy.”
While he did that, she rolled up the maps and lashed their storage tube to her pack. To pass the time, she did one last inventory of their gear. Flashlights, climbing harnesses, hard hats—
Jeff burst into the library without warning. “Problem. Someone’s out there.”
“Someone who?” she asked in a reflexive whisper. “Where?”
“In the trees behind the house.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t just an animal you heard?”
“Yes, I’m sure. I saw a man out there. He was wearing jungle fatigues and carrying a big damned gun.”
She frowned. “If the special forces guys from H.O.T. Watch are out there, no way would you have seen them. They’re too good for that.”
“Then someone else is skulking around getting ready to assault this house.”
Jennifer stared at him in dismay. “Our Ethiopian friends? Have they found your tracking burr?”
“If you’re certain it’s not your guys, then it’s probably mine.”
“Any idea how many men are out there?”
“No. I just saw the one. But he didn’t look like the kind of guy who’d be traveling alone.”
She swore under her breath. “I guess we get to see just how good your stealth skills are now.”
“Most of the field guys who work for Winston Industries are ex-military. I picked up a thing or two from them.”
Yes, but he was a really big moving target. And the slightest mistake on his part could get them both killed. Trust, darn it. Trust. She could trust him. Hadn’t she opened herself up to him completely last night?
They slipped outside in the gray of twilight, easing along the front of the house to where the jungle came closest to the drive. She debated crawling the expanse of grass and decided they’d be spotted regardless. They might as well just make a dash for it. She signaled Jeff and took off running across the lawn. They dived for the cover of the heavy brush and crouched there, panting. Nobody had shot at them. This was good.
They moved out cautiously. It wasn’t dark enough for night vision goggles to be useful, which meant they had to rely on their own sight and hearing to detect any threats. It also meant any bad guys out here were in the same boat.
Jeff insisted on taking point, and she gave in rather than cause a serious argument. He’d have to pull his weight out here, anyway, if they were to succeed. She might as well find out right now if he could move quietly or not.
She followed as he glided off into the trees. Truth be told, he did a good job of blending into the shadows and varying his movement to avoid creating a rhythmic target that would be easy to spot. She mimicked his halting progress, her gaze roving constantly for possible threats.
She almost shot a wild parrot, and something small and furry that skittered off into the trees nearly gave her heart failure, but otherwise, all was quiet. Well, quiet being a relative thing as night fell in the jungle. It was a screaming madhouse of insects and night creatures. Jeff angled away from the house, roughly paralleling the coastline like they’d discussed, moving cautiously enough that they didn’t disturb the night’s symphony. She was actually impressed.
But then the volume of the critter chorus diminished sharply. Jeff froze without her having to touch his shoulder. He eased into the shadow of a massive palmetto and she joined him. Now, patience was the key.
They’d stood, statuelike, for maybe three interminable minutes when Jennifer spied a tiny movement in the distance. Something tall and two-legged was moving through the trees, angling away from them.
Jeff tensed beside her. He’d seen the guy, too. He indicated that she should follow him as he moved to tail the target. What was he doing? The idea was to avoid getting caught out here, not tracking down random patrols and engaging them!
But he was already a half-dozen feet ahead of her. Irritated and alarmed, she headed after him. They tracked the man for perhaps a quarter-mile. Their quarry was moving quickly. Not quite carelessly. But he definitely didn’t think anyone else was out here with him.
Jennifer’s pulse spiked as she spied movement ahead over Jeff’s shoulder. It looked like three men waiting for the scout they’d been following. The cluster of men drew close together to murmur to one another. She tugged at the back of Jeff’s shirt, but he ignored her warning to stop. What was he doing?
Shocked, she eased forward in a crouch just behind Jeff. He was going to get them caught! And whoever these guys were, they undoubtedly weren’t playing games. They were carrying AK-47s, for crying out loud.
Jeff paused behind the trunk of a palm tree and she mimicked his stance. Tiny bits of conversation drifted their way. The hostiles couldn’t be more than twenty feet from them. Her trigger finger itched and her whole body screamed of danger. But then the conversation began to register. That wasn’t English. In fact, it sounded…Chinese? What the heck?
The island was under attack! Or at least being invaded. The Ethiopians must have called in the big guns after the encounter in Jamaica. Here was the proof they needed that El Mari was working for the Chinese.
Did that mean the Chinese were behind the suborning of the H.O.T. Watch facility? She had to shut down H.O.T. Watch now. Not to mention, she had to get in touch with Brady Hathaway somehow and let him know to deploy his men out here and catch these bastards.
She began to ease backward, away from the intruders. Jeff frowned, but she ignored him. It was imperative that she get in touch with Brady. Now. Jeff could sit there and watch bad guys for all she cared.
But he chose to accompany her as she glided away from the party of men. When she’d put a hundred yards or so between herself and the men, she picked up speed. She didn’t lose her head and take off running, but she did move quickly through the trees until she had sufficient distance between herself and the intruders to use her cell phone. She pulled out the instrument and powered it up.
“What are you doing?” Jeff demanded in a whisper. “H.O.T. Watch can track the position of that!”
“We’ll just have to take that chance. I’m betting they won’t be looking for the signal, and by the time they pull up the tracking information, I’ll be done talking and turn it off.”
“You’re warning them, aren’t you?” he asked grimly.
She nodded and started to dial.
“You do realize that if they flood the island with soldiers we’ll get caught, too.”
“I guess we’ll just have to be better and faster than the soldiers, then.”
He shook his head in disgust as the phone began to ring in her ear.
“Jennifer?” Brady’s voice asked in disbelief.
“Yes. Listen fast. There are armed intruders on the surface of the island. At least four, and they’re speaking Chinese. Unless you’re running a hell of a realistic exercise, the island’s been breached.”
“How do you know that?” Brady bit out, all business. She could picture him typing in a scramble order into his computer as he spoke. Of course, he could also be typing in the command prompt to bring up the GPS locator program and zero in on her c
urrent position.
“How do you think I know, Brady? I saw them. I swear, I’m not lying. Lock the place down and initiate the attack plan.” She disconnected without saying any more. She’d warned him. It was all she could do. Of course, the question now was, how were she and Jeff going to get inside the facility with the place on high alert?
* * *
“I hear someone coming,” Jeff breathed. He dropped flat and rolled partially under a bush of some kind.
Jennifer dropped beside him and laid perfectly still. He heard the quiet sounds of men passing by and listened tensely as they faded into the distance. The island wasn’t that big. And if Brady believed Jenn, the place was about to get a whole lot more crowded.
He turned his head and placed his mouth on her ear. “We need to get into those caves before this place is crawling with special forces types.”
She nodded and stood up, pointing off to their right. The ocean was that way. He concurred with her thinking. So much for approaching the cliffs by land. Looked like he got to go for a swim tonight, after all. He sighed. Thankfully, he’d found a boogie board in the garage and could use it to help float himself.
They emerged from the trees, and a narrow stretch of beach gleamed silver in the moonlight. They slithered awkwardly to the water’s edge on their bellies. No time to stop and take off shoes. They went straight into the ocean.
The water was calm, with waves no more than a foot high rolling in quietly. He crawled through the shallow water on his hands and knees, then in a crouch, and finally, wading until he stood in chest-deep water. Jennifer was submerged nearly to her neck. She untied the second boogie board from her pack, and he helped her lash the two backpacks to it. She put the board’s ankle lanyard around her arm and took off swimming in a modified breast stroke.
He hoisted himself onto his boogie board, which sank a foot or so under his weight. But it was enough for him to keep his head out of the water with reasonable ease. Feeling like a very clumsy sea turtle, he took off after her. It was slow going, but they gradually made their way around a headland and came to the east side of the island and its tall, black cliffs.
The waves were stronger here and buffeted them, pushing them toward the treacherous rocks. It was a tricky maneuver to find a spot where they wouldn’t be torn to shreds on outcroppings of jagged volcanic rock. But finally, they washed against a cluster of smooth boulders.
