Out of Sight

by Cherry Adair

  "Let's go for it. And I won't tell if you won't." She nipped at his chin, scraping the edges of her teeth across his skin. When Kane still didn't respond, didn't move in any way, AJ felt a chill course through her body.

  What did she need? A two-by-four across the back of the head? He didn't want her. He had a male's reaction to a warm female body, but he didn't want her. This had never happened to her. Not that she'd ever made this blatant an invitation before in her life.

  And no way in hell was she getting out of this with her pride intact. What could she say? Let me just slide off your body, you poor little sexually harassed thing, you. Her pride was hurt. Her ego was dented. And her body was burning, with no sign of a fireman rushing to the rescue.

  "Hey, I can take a hint." Face hot, she jerked her hand away, and tried to roll off him. "No need to get pious on me," she added sarcastically. Tears of sexual frustration and embarrassment pricked her eyes. Damn it. "The quickies were enough for you. Cool. I'll live with the disappointment."

  His fingers bit into her upper arm, holding her in place. "Cold feet, Antarctica Joy?"

  "Cold feet? You're the one in the fridge, bubba." She stopped trying to pull away. He'd release her when he was good and ready. But now she was damned if she'd respond, even if he wanted her. "You know," she said coldly, keeping her voice level with effort, "you keep guessing like that, and you'll hit on my real name."

  "And?"

  "And a gypsy once told me the first guy to figure out my real name would be my future husband."

  "That so?"

  "Don't panic." This time she spoke through gritted teeth. "The invitations aren't ordered. The chances of anyone tr—getting it are a million to one."

  "No one's even tried?"

  She struggled in earnest. Trust him to always pick up on the one damn thing she didn't want him to. "A," AJ gritted, "That's so none of your business. B: I want you to let the hell go of me, pronto. I apologize for starting something you didn't want to finish, but right now you're holding me against my will. C: One wrong move now and my knee will make you perfect for the doorman at the local harem." When he still didn't let go, she said tightly, "Damn it, Kane." Her breath caught on a sob that shocked the hell out of her. "Please." Chest tight with fury, she tried to wrench her arm free of his hold.

  "I didn't say I didn't want to make love to you again. You jumped the gun. As usual."

  "Excuse me?" He was still as hard as a rock against her, damn him. "Pretty much felt to me like I was getting through, but you still said no." She was absolutely furious. "Now I'm over it. Let go. I need to get some sleep."

  Without her realizing it, his hands had stopped gripping her upper arms, to slide up her shoulders, glide up her neck until his fingers combed through the hair at her temples. He wasn't holding her, but she couldn't seem to move away from him. Which really pissed her off.

  He wasn't hurting her, but his hold on her head was implacable. She'd roll off him in a minute, turn her back, and go to sleep. In a minute. "What do you want from me, you son of a bitch?" His penis jumped to attention between them.

  Her insides contracted in reaction, and her nipples ached. "Stop that!"

  His thumbs stroked maddeningly gentle at her temples, across her cheekbones, inside the shell of her ears. "What are you willing to give me?" His voice was thick and husky.

  "A black eye?"

  "Tough talk."

  "Let me go and we'll see."

  "Now, why would I want to do that?"

  "Make up your mind, here, Wright. Nah. Let me do it for both of us." She tried to knee him. In a lightning-quick move, he blocked her leg with his own and locked her in place with his calves, sandwiching her legs.

  "You're not going anywhere."

  She blew her hair out of her eyes. Trying for calm when her temper was jumping like an Olympian. "Look," she said, embarrassment turned to irritation just this side of red-hot, "I offered, you declined. End of story." She lay still, panting slightly from sheer unadulterated temper. "Hell. By the time you finish giving me this lecture or warning or whatever the hell it's supposed to be, we could've had sex five times and been fast asleep! I'm not going to flog a dead horse." She managed to twist her body sideways, off the heat of his.

  "The horse is far from dead." He tightened his legs and jerked her back where he wanted her. Back into the cradle of his thighs. "And we've had it hard, fast, and five times already. Superlative, by the way. But not enough."

  It was damn hard to maintain her temper when she wanted to melt into him and say, "Forget whatever you're trying not to say, and just do me." Problem was, she had adrenaline, anger, embarrassment, and sexual frustration all blended together, with nowhere to go. And the man was giving off such complicated mixed signals, she had no idea what the hell was going on.

  She punched his shoulder. Hard.

  She wanted sex—now—or she wanted a good fight.

  At this point, either would do. "You're giving off mixed messages here, Wright. Tell me straight out what the hell you want."

  His hands slid from her hair, down her back, and gripped her bottom tightly. He held her still against him. "This is what I want from you. But no involvement. No obligation."

  "Perfect," she snapped, frustration getting the better of her temper. "Put it right there on the table where we can both see it. No involvement. No obligation. No messy emotions involved. Excellent. That's just what I want. I—"

  He silenced her with a kiss that rocked her to the marrow of her bones and sent her temperature spiking. She opened her mouth to taste him. Hot. Intoxicating. Addictive. The kiss was lascivious, juicy, and hot enough to melt all her girl parts. Jesus God. She'd never been kissed with this much diligence in her life. Not even by him.

  The noisy blackness around them took on a whole new dimension as he continued kissing her. He devoured her mouth in hungry, deep kisses that took her breath and made her lose all reason.

  Desperate need fueled them. It arced between them, bright and hot, pulsing off their bodies, filling the close confines of the vehicle with heat that was nearly unbearable.

  AJ clung to him, her fingers twining through his hair, anchoring her. Her body dissolved into his. Her heart raced in time with his. Her hips rocked against his, pounding his erection closer, harder to the aching center of her.

  She lifted her head enough to growl against his mouth, "I want you inside me. Now."

  The sound of the raging storm outside was drowned out by the cacophony of her blood racing in her ears. In the darkness, AJ was blind, and acutely aware of Kane's touch. His smell. The sound of his ragged breathing. The taste of his mouth.

  "Soon." His voice was thick, sexy, and hot. "Soon." And he brought his mouth back to hers like a homing pigeon.

  The son of a bitch turned her on as easily as a light switch.

  The wind howled long and low outside, and the thrumming of the sand on the Humvee became AJ's heartbeat, a part of her. Nature's fury raged inside the car as well as out.

  "Hurry." She sank her teeth into his chest as need raged through her, found his nipple, sucked on it the way she wanted him to do to her. He gasped and moaned, grabbing her head, both of them breathless now as they rolled about in the back of the Humvee, boxes falling about them unnoticed. His hands were rough on her, and her skin came alive, burning hot, feverish.

  She ripped at his shirt with one hand, wanting, needing the feel of bare skin. Buttons flew. The sound of rending fabric was so satisfying, she grabbed the front of his shirt in both hands and used all her strength to shred it again.

  Good.

  And again.

  Better.

  "God. Hurry." Her hands slid feverishly over his warm, hair-roughened chest, up and over the smooth skin of his broad shoulders. Back down, over his shirt-covered biceps, thick with muscle, down his sinewy forearms, and back across his chest to tangle her fingers in the wedge of chest hair she found there.

  "No, Cooper, no. We will not do this fast. Not again. We hav
e time. Let's use it." He brushed her mouth. Once. Twice. "Let's use it, and take it slow this time."

  She didn't want it slow anymore. She wanted it hot and fast. They had time to do it slowly… later! Something raw and primitive spiraled through her, and she shuddered with want. Oh, Lord, he felt so damn good under her hands, hot, smooth, hairy. She almost melted. While her own heart was going ballistic, his beat hard and heavy. And steady.

  The car rocked violently in the wind as she ripped and yanked at the rest of his shirt, trying to get it off completely. Since his arms were locked around her, the shirt wasn't going anywhere. Mouths fused, breath mingling, she pushed his shirt off as far as possible, then skated her hands down his sides and yanked at the waistband of his pants.

  "Why won't you hurry?" she demanded, almost sobbing as she tried to squeeze her hand between their hipbones to get to his fly. Although his body parts and her body parts desperately wanted to party, it wasn't happening.

  "Slow down." His hands swept to her behind and he stroked and kneaded her flesh until she whimpered. "Ka-aaane!" She wanted him. Now. This instant. More than she'd ever wanted anything or anyone in her life. They were practically glued together. And she wanted that. Desperately. But first she had to get this man out of his pants, and into her.

  "Off. Off. Off!" she muttered thickly, frantically. "That's an order."

  "Yes, ma'am."

  She laughed, the sound bubbling up from deep inside her. "Nice salute." Her laughter mixed with the yearning need to have this man inside her. It was different, incredible, this mix ofn joy and red-hot desire. "Let's not waste it."

  Her fingers encountered his roller-coaster-shaped zipper. His body immediately reacted to her touch as she sought the zipper tab by touch. "Hells bells, Wright." She tugged, then tugged again. "Is there a padlock on this thing that I don't know about?"

  He laughed shortly. "Protecting the family jewels."

  "Oh," she said dryly, "you are a funny, funny man." She yanked at the stupid zipper again, with no success. "These pants didn't look this tight when I saw you earlier. What'd you do, shrink-wrap them when I wasn't looking?"

  "Think of it as unwrapping a Christmas present."

  "Yeah?" she warned, leaning in close to his mouth and taking a little punishing nip from his bottom lip. "Well, when I really want my present, I rip it open. Sometimes small working parts of my toy might get damaged. Sure you want to see that happen here?"

  "On second thought," he said with a hoarse laugh, "why don't you let me unwrap it for you." He shifted, and she heard the happy rasp of the zipper teeth opening.

  She couldn't get his clothes off fast enough, and trying to finish unzipping his pants while she was lying on top of him, with his erection pushed against the zipper, suddenly seemed farcical and made her laugh. Breathless, and semihysterical, but laughter nevertheless.

  "You find this amusing, do you?" Kane asked. Easy for him to say. She was naked, while he was still fully, and annoyingly, clothed.

  "Hell, yes," she said, still laughing under her breath. "Not exactly a graceful moment." She fumbled with his damn zipper again, eventually succeeding in getting it tugged all the way down, then slipped her hand inside. Kane groaned as her fingers closed over him. His thick penis, smooth as satin, jerked in the warm glove other fingers. "Gimme."

  "Good things come to those who wait, Angelica Japonica." He rolled her over onto her back, his body welcome and heavy against hers. Camera bags and boxes toppled and scraped together as they shifted in the small cargo area. She heard him shove things out of their way. AJ raised her knees to cradle his body, and he rocked against her heat while his mouth devoured hers. She felt fire crackle in her veins, saw fireworks behind her closed eyelids.

  She groaned, and arched her back as one large, calloused hand slid up her side and closed over her breast. The sensation was piercingly sweet. "Ahhh…"

  His strong, beautiful hands slid up the inside of her arms, sending goose bumps skittering across the surface of her skin. He wound his fingers between hers, pressing her hands up above her head and flat against the carpet.

  And he kissed her. Her mouth. Her neck. His lips lingered for several minutes on each breast as he laved her nipples with his hot, wet tongue. His chin brushed her midriff, her belly… and lower.

  He spread her knees with his broad shoulders, then buried his face against the damp curls.

  AJ tried to free her hands to grab his head. "Kane! Wait—Stop—You can't—"

  He could. He did. His avid mouth pressed against her, making her hips rise from the floor as his hot, competent tongue laved her.

  He released the shackles of his hands to scoop up her hips and draw her more firmly against his mouth. Holding her against the heat and insanity-causing action of his very clever tongue.

  AJ couldn't think, she could only feel. And God, what a feeling. She brought her hands down and grabbed hold of Kane's hair, helpless to stop herself from arching her back and making little whimpering sounds from deep in her throat.

  The corded muscles in his arms bunched under her thighs as they flexed and shifted, moving her hips, holding her as her body bucked and rolled through the tempest of sensations.

  This was more than sex, AJ realized as her body shuddered and shook with the onslaught. Oh, God. This was way more than uncomplicated sex. She tried to shift her hips away from his mouth. Too much. More than too much. "Kane. I—I—"

  She came in a tidal wave of sensation, her body shuddering and quaking. Her mind completely, utterly blank.

  She came back to earth as lightly as a feather. Limp as a piece of overcooked spaghetti. Kane still between her legs.

  "Ah…"

  He raised his head, then trailed a burning, damp path up her stomach, up her rib cage. With strategic stops at her breasts and nipples along the way.

  Then he took her mouth, and as he did, his body slid into hers so swiftly, so completely, she gasped with the overwhelming sensation of fullness. Before AJ could catch her breath, he moved inside her, pushing her, stretching her body wide to accommodate him. Her nails dug into his back as she shuddered at the intoxicating sensation of him filling her.

  Pleasure drenched her as she rocked against him, until he drew in a ragged breath.

  Her climax came hard and fast. Her body clenched around him. She dug her nails into his shoulders and clung to him with a vicious grip as she sobbed with the sheer perfection of it.

  "Sometimes hard and fast is good," he said softly against her ear. "And sometimes—Are you asleep?"

  Her head was heavy on his shoulder, her long hair clinging like hot silk filaments to his damp skin. Her leg thrown across his body. Kane ran his hand lightly down her arm and slid his fingers to the curve of her hip. Her skin was unbelievably smooth and soft, damp with their exertions.

  The next time they made love, he wanted to see her. Wanted to look into her face and watch her eyes darken and go hazy with desire. He wanted to feel her nipples peak as he sucked on them. He wanted to see her blush when he buried his head between her legs.

  Her reactions to his lovemaking made Kane suspect her past lovers had been a selfish lot of asses. There was a lot to be said, he thought smugly, feeling the weight of her head on his chest, for savoring the moment.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  « ^ »

  The ringing of the Sat Comm link woke them. They'd managed to grab four hours of sleep. Better than nothing. Naked, Kane climbed over the seats to grab the link.

  AJ searched around in the thick darkness for her clothes, pulling them on as she listened to his terse questions, and surmised the answers. Jesus God. Her heartbeat thudded in her ears. Things moved in slow-mo while she raced to dress.

  She listened intently to Kane's tone as she grabbed a handful of his clothing, and slipped between the seats and into the passenger seat of the cockpit, then turned on the overhead light.

  Kane's face was frighteningly grim as he disconnected from the call. "It's a viral agent," he said flatly
, taking his clothes from her and starting to dress. "Raazaq's got enough to annihilate a small town and infect countless others. Apparently it kills as many as it infects. Some die within days, others are fine, except they're carriers. It's highly contagious."

  "Holy shit."

  Kane finished dressing and cranked the engine. It was still dangerous to drive. Sand replaced air, and visibility was zero. It was pitch-dark, and winds whipped past them at upwards of eighty miles per hour. But they had no choice.

  She buckled her seat belt, then reached across Kane as he drove, grabbed his belt, and clicked it into place.

  The sharp, metallic tang of fear filled her mouth, and her heart beat irregularly. Something this toxic in the hands of a sociopath terrorist like Raazaq was enough to give Mother Teresa, as dead as she was already, a heart attack.

  AJ squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. She wanted backup, goddamn it, and she wanted it now. But they'd just have to do what they could.

  "Two degrees south." AJ checked the GPS on the dash, absently correcting Kane's heading. "There's not a damn thing this far south," she mused, gripping the dash in both hands as the wind threatened to turn the vehicle over like a turtle.

  Mentally, she nipped through maps of the area, trying to figure out where Raazaq could possibly be headed. "He could be going to Bawiti," she mused, thinking out loud. "But I doubt it. Not populated enough. Why waste something that could kill thousands on a few hundred 'peasants,' as he calls them? Maybe farther south? The Sudan?" She shook her head, discounting that notion. "Then why not fly? Hell, why not take the river?"

  They skidded and skated down the incline as the heavy winds tried to force them back. Even nature was working against them. Kane's jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. In the dim dash light, AJ studied his expression and gave thanks that she wasn't the focus of his anger.

  It was going to be slow, agonizingly slow, progress, made worse by the sense of urgency nipping at their heels. It was like being in a dream and trying to run while your legs wouldn't move. Keep busy, she told herself. Keep talking. Stop thinking so damn much. "There are a few settlements. A couple of decent-size oases out here. Not much more." She braced herself as the Humvee bounced convulsively, broadsided by the gale. Her gaze shifted from the wash of sand beyond the windshield to the man behind the wheel. "We need that team. Here. With us, to contain this when we catch up to the bastard."