“Of course. We’ll take care of that. And I know you’re still in shock from all this, but time is of the essence. I’ve spoken to the contacts you were in touch with at the CDC and they want to know if you can replicate the research from your lab.”
I shake my head. “The only people in the world who knew what I had developed were the CDC people. However this terrorist group found out about it, there’s a leak at the CDC. I don’t trust them anymore.”
“Understandable. So our official answer will be no. But between the three of us, is there any possibility?”
I sigh heavily. “I don’t know. To start over from scratch, with nothing…I don’t know if I can remember enough to replicate it.”
“You wouldn’t be starting completely from scratch,” Ford says.
I look at him.
“I copied your hard drive at the lab the day before the explosion,” he says.
“You did?”
“Yep.”
“What if the people who blew up the lab copied it, too?”
“I don’t think they did. They wanted your research to disappear.”
I consider. “Well, with a copy of my hard drive…maybe. That’s a big maybe. I’d have to replicate my experiments. It would take time.”
“I’d like you to try,” Assistant Director McKenna says. “That vaccine is a game-changer. You’ll be well-compensated for your time and we’ll cover all expenses.”
“I’m not about the money. A grant was covering my expenses.”
McKenna nods at someone off-screen. “I have to get to a meeting. Ford, keep her safe at all costs and call in any resources you need. Sarina, let’s fast track this as much as you can. We’ll provide anything you need.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ford says.
The screen goes dark and he looks at me, arching a brow with amusement.
“Bet you feel bad for doubting me,” he says.
I roll my eyes. “If I did, it would be offset by you mentioning nude photos of me one second before the video call went through.”
He shrugs. “What can I say? I’m a moody bastard with a playful streak.”
“Uh-huh.” I nod at the computer. “Why don’t you pull up that copy of my hard drive so I can get to work?”
“I can do that.”
“And maybe while I’m working you can cook dinner?”
“The fuck do I look like, your maid?”
I smile. “Put on an apron and I’ll let you know.”
“You just want to see my ass.”
My cheeks warm, but I don’t say anything. I’m feeling a little tongue-tied right now.
“Busted,” Ford says, sounding satisfied. “You like my ass.”
I shove his shoulder. “Please. It’s probably all sweaty and disgusting right now.”
“It’s a little swampish.”
“Ew. Go take a shower.”
He hands me the computer. “I’ll get a quick one. Promise me you won’t leave.”
“I promise.”
He sets to work on the cabin’s few windows, which have thick wood shutters that close and lock from the inside.
“Why’d you ask me to promise if you were going to do that anyway?” I ask, miffed.
“This isn’t to keep you from getting out,” he says, meeting my eyes from across the room. “It’s to keep others from getting in.”
“Oh.”
He goes into the bathroom and I start looking through the files from my computer. Replicating my research will be a ton of work. But it’ll give me something to focus on besides the loss of my life as I knew it.
Chapter 8
Ford
I already chopped enough firewood to last us a good two weeks, but here I am, back at it again. The physical exertion helps keep my mind off Sarina.
Specifically, off being alone in my cabin with her. At first I told myself it was just that I haven’t been with a woman in almost eight months—a personal record—but the more time I’m around Sarina, the less sure I am.
It’s her I want. My dick swells in my jeans every time I see that little crease she gets between her brows when she’s reading something on the computer. The things about her that get me going aren’t traditionally sexy. It’s the way she tucks a pen behind her ear but can never find it, the way she nods in silent agreement with whatever she’s reading from her research, and the way her neck looks when she piles her hair up on top of her head to work. It’s graceful and pretty, her perfect skin begging to be touched.
This is the last thing I need. I have to focus on my mission and not let myself get distracted. Her life depends on it. Besides, the reason I walked away from her at the bar in Arizona that night is the same reason I need to stay away from her now.
She’s too good for a roughneck like me. I’ll never be able to sweep her off her feet the way she probably dreams of. Could we have incredible sex? Most definitely, but then what? A woman like Sarina deserves more than casual fucking.
Some other guy will end up giving her what she deserves. She sure as hell better pick someone better than Chad. I read through her emails after copying her hard drive, which is standard procedure for a mission like this. I had to see if I could figure out where the leak about her research came from, and I’m pretty sure it came from Chad. His background check revealed he’s an unemployed wannabe computer hacker, and based on their emails, he lied to her about that.
No need to tell Sarina, though. What’s done is done. I’m just hoping the group behind the lab explosion believes she’s dead.
Being holed up in my cabin with her may be pure torture, but it’s also kinda nice. I like seeing a beautiful woman asleep in my bed. I’ve never brought a woman here, and I’m surprised that instead of finding the place drafty and small, Sarina seems to like it.
“Ford?”
At the sound of her voice, I look over.
“Can you come in for a sec?”
She said a sec, but my dick heard some sex. It’s stiffening as I lean the ax against a tree and head for the cabin.
“How would you feel about having twenty-five glass cages in here?” she asks as soon as I walk in.
“Whatever you need.”
Her eyes light with enthusiasm. “I think we can test multiple samples at one time. I’m going to need to order a lot of mice.”
“Mice?”
“It’s what I test the samples on.”
I nod. “Okay. Whatever you need.”
“I finished my order of supplies. And I ordered some clothes and stuff, too. Both orders are on the computer if you want to look them over.”
“No, just use the credit card I gave you to pay for them.”
I turn to go back outside, but she stops me with a hand on my shoulder. Her touch radiates through my whole arm, filling me with the nervous excitement of a teenage kid with raging blue balls.
“Is everything okay?” she asks. “You don’t seem like yourself.”
“I’m fine.” I don’t turn around, because I don’t want her to see my boner.
Fuck, this is ridiculous.
“Hey, I’m wondering something,” she says. “My uncle had a good friend whose son was a Navy SEAL and I remember the son saying his team called him Tink even though his name was Shawn. Do all you guys have nicknames like that?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“What was yours?”
I’m wound too tight to make a crack about it right now, so I tell her the truth.
“Hawkeye.”
“Because you’re from Iowa?”
I nod and glance at her over my shoulder. “And I went to the University of Iowa.”
“It fits you,” she says, smiling.
“If you had a nickname, what would it be?”
She laughs, the warm, rich sound making me hot for her yet again. “I don’t know, something nerdy and scientific. Beaker, maybe. Is there a single word that encapsulates awkward, shy and introverted?”
“You’re none of those things, Sarina. I can think of lots of
words to describe you, but none of them involve being nerdy or awkward.”
She doesn’t say anything, and I walk out the front door, closing it behind me. When I get back out to the tree line, I start chopping down another tree. Thanks to my sexual frustration, we’re gonna have enough firewood to last several weeks.
Chapter 9
Sarina
Ford had groceries delivered to the cabin today, so our second dinner here is better than our first. I made chicken fettuccine and a salad, and he’s devouring a second serving of both.
“You must have worked up an appetite chopping all that wood,” I say, arching a brow in amusement.
He nods. “I haven’t had a home cooked meal in…” He considers. “Nine months.”
“Nine months?” My mouth drops open with surprise.
“Prison food was awful. I bet I dropped ten pounds in there.”
“I’ll make cookies tomorrow. We have all the ingredients for oatmeal raisin ones.”
“I’m all for that.”
We finish eating and he surprises me by grabbing a dishtowel to dry the dishes as I’m washing them.
“Yeah, I do dishes,” he says with a wry smile. “I know what you’re thinking.”
“Oh, do you?” I turn to him. “What am I thinking?”
“That you can’t believe the ogre of a guy who was cleaning his guns while you cooked dinner would do something so domestic.”
“Something like that.” I smile up at him and bump my shoulder against his upper arm.
He stiffens when I touch him. He’s seemed off today and I can’t figure out why.
“Hey, can we maybe go for a walk after we’re done?” I ask. “I’m starting to feel kinda stir crazy.”
“It’s not a good idea for you to leave the cabin right now. I’d let you if I could, but—”
“I understand,” I say, cutting him off.
He dries the last of the dishes and puts them in the big Rubbermaid containers he stores them in, which he keeps under the cabin’s pine kitchen cabinets. When I asked him about the containers, he told me mice are inevitable in a cabin in the woods. Enough said.
It’s gross, but I like his practical solution. I also like that he put out a bunch of mousetraps earlier. I don’t mind mice, as long as they’re in glass cages.
He’d offered to live trap the mice for my research, but I told him it doesn’t work that way. I need the ones that are arriving tomorrow with my other supplies.
“It’s colder today than it was yesterday,” I say, rubbing my hands on my upper arms.
“Come sit by the fire,” Ford says, throwing another log onto it.
I sit on the rug right in front of it, the warmth immediately taking away the chill I’d been feeling. When Ford sits down beside me, a tingle of excitement runs down my spine. He took a shower when he finished cutting firewood earlier, and he’s so close that I can smell the spicy clean scent of his soap.
“I’d call you Butterscotch,” he says, staring into the flames of the fire. “Because that gold color in your eyes reminds me of those butterscotch candies my grandpa used to eat.”
My heart pounds as I turn to face him. His soft tone is so unlike the gruff, self-assured one I’m used to from him.
“Or Beauty,” he says.
“Would that make you the Beast?” I smile and lean closer to him.
“I do tend to growl when I’m pissed.”
I can feel the heat of his body now. He leans his face down to mine and says, “I think I’d settle on Spitfire, though.”
I crinkle my nose and laugh. “Me?”
“Yeah, you. I don’t know why you think you’re shy and awkward. I see a woman who doesn’t put up with any shit and speaks her mind.”
“My ex-boyfriend told me I’m boring.”
“He’s a fuckin’ idiot.”
“You think?”
I feel Ford’s warm breath on my lips as he says, “I know.”
He kisses me then, and my body responds the same way it did the first time he kissed me. Heat spreads from my core outward and my heart races with excitement. When he cups my cheek and deepens the kiss, I melt into him.
Maybe he’s right. Maybe I’m not shy and unsure of myself. I’m kissing a sexy man in front of a roaring fire right now. It’s romantic and spontaneous.
He puts his hands on my hips and pulls me into his lap, and I gasp as I feel his excitement against me. I press my hands into his hair and pull on it as he grips my ass, a groan vibrating deep in his chest.
When I pull my mouth away from his, I’m breathless. His dark, hungry eyes are locked on mine as I take in a deep breath.
“Fuck,” he mutters. “I want you so bad right now.” He slowly runs a thumb over my lips, his skin rough from all the hours spent chopping firewood. “I’m dying to flip you over on this rug and fuck you long and hard, Sarina.”
“Long and hard?” My voice breaks with nervous anticipation.
“Very fucking long and hard.” He slides a hand beneath the bottom of my shirt, the brush of his thumb over the small of my back making my skin break out in goosebumps.
I move my hands to his cheeks, slowly smoothing my fingers over the soft black hair of his short beard.
“Imagining how it will feel against your thighs?” he asks in a low tone.
I feel a clenching sensation between my legs. “I am now.”
“Lick your lips like that again.”
I didn’t even realize I’d licked my lips, but my tongue darts out, obeying his command before my brain even has time to process it.
“I couldn’t believe it was you,” he says, his fingertips grazing my skin as he runs them up my spine.
“What do you mean?”
“The day I opened the file for this assignment and saw your name and photo. It was…I don’t know, surreal, I guess. Of all the people in the world I could have been assigned to protect, it was the woman I’d been fantasizing about in the joint.”
I hold his gaze, stunned by his admission. “Me? You fantasized about me?”
After a single note of laughter, he says, “Hell yeah. Was that parking lot make out session only memorable for me?”
“No,” I say quickly. “I…remember it well.”
“Did you ever think about it after that night?”
My cheeks heat with embarrassment. “Yes.”
His fingertips slide beneath my bra strap and I inhale sharply. “Did you fantasize about me, Sarina? About us?”
“Yes. But I feel like reality will be better than any of my fantasies.”
He closes his eyes and sighs heavily. “I can’t, no matter how much I want to.”
“You still think I’m too good for you?”
When he opens his dark eyes and smiles at me, my stomach flips with excitement. “Yeah, but I could look past that for a night with you. I have to stay focused, though. I should have a firearm within reach at all times, but when you sat down here, I just wanted to be next to you and I didn’t give two thoughts to where the closest gun is. I have to listen for suspicious sounds outside, and I can’t do that if I’m listening to you moaning and screaming my name.”
Now I’m the one smiling. “Screaming your name, huh?”
“I wouldn’t stop until you were screaming, Spitfire.”
I lean my forehead against his and he wraps his hands around my waist.
“Maybe someday,” I say.
“If I’m really fucking lucky.”
I kiss his lips gently and then wrap my arms around his back. He holds me tightly, and I feel a closeness to him that’s a little scary. I’m developing feelings for Ford, but what will happen when he’s done with this assignment? He’ll move on to the next one, and I don’t want to get my heart broken again.
But for now, he’s here, and I just want to revel in the way he makes me feel—comforted, beautiful, desired and completely safe.
Chapter 10
Ford
Six months of fantasizing about Sarina in prison
has elevated her to near perfection in my mind. And the reality of having her in my arms again is even better than the fantasies.
It’s a cruel twist of fate to have her here but be unable to act on how much I want her. Even though she’s sleeping in my bed at night, and even though she wants me just as much as I want her, I have to stay sharp and think about her safety.
So close, but so far away.
When she leans back to look in my eyes, it hits me that I could fall hard for her. She brings out a soft side of me that no woman has before. I can’t afford to be soft right now. Not when there are people who want her dead.
Easing her off my lap, I say, “I’m gonna move the bed closer to the fire so you’re warm tonight. It’s windy and it’ll get drafty in here.”
“You don’t need to sleep on the couch, you know. There’s plenty of room in the bed. I promise not to take advantage of you.”
I get up from the floor and shake my head. “Thanks, but I need to stay on the couch.”
“Ford, it’s freezing over there by the door.”
“Yeah, but that’s where I need to be so I can hear if someone’s approaching.”
I offer her a hand and when she takes it, I help her up from the floor.
“Do you always sleep with a gun in your hand?” she asks.
“I do a lot of the time when I’m working.”
“Is it loaded? I’d prefer not to get shot in my sleep.”
I scoff. “There’s no chance of that, sweetheart. Your area of expertise is poisoning lab mice and mine is weapons and warfare.”
“I don’t poison them,” she says, giving me a mock glare.
“Really? So they’re all gonna be fine? We’ll drop ‘em off at a mouse sanctuary to live out their lives when you’re done with them?”
“Okay, so some of them won’t make it. But this vaccine has the potential to save so many human lives.”
I nod. “I read it in the file. I gotta say I’m damned proud to be looking out for a woman who’s doing work that can save lives in all branches of our military.”
She smiles. “That’s a very nice compliment. Thank you. My Uncle Owen deserves the credit, though. He’s been working on this project since the year I finished high school. Or…he was, I mean. He worked on it for more than eight years before he passed away.”
Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting Sarina (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 5
