by Lea Griffith
He let her nipple go with a pop, and then he pulled her flush with his body. The contact between the hard ridge of his erection and her swollen flesh sent lightning flashing down her spine.
Her eyes crossed and she moaned. He laughed again and then pushed her back slightly.
“This is madness,” he said.
“Beyond,” she whispered. “And I want more.”
“Look at me.”
She obeyed—she hadn’t realized her eyes were closed.
“This won’t end here.”
More electricity scampering across her nerve endings. “I should hope not.”
He touched her again, running his fingers along the exposed lips of her pussy, stroking gently and then circling her clit until her hips were gyrating for deeper contact.
“You like that?”
She couldn’t answer. Between his deep voice praising her and his wicked fingers working her body so eloquently, she was nearly insensate with need.
“You need to come?”
She nodded. “Yes,” she groaned, but he responded, giving her deeper contact, delving inside her with a finger and then slipping back out.
He groaned. “You are so tight. You’ll burn me alive.”
She thought perhaps they’d burn each other and it would be beautiful. “I need to touch you.”
“Leave your hands there. Let me do this for you, Allie.”
She met his gaze again. Once again, he was showing her that he was a caretaker. And she could no more help giving herself to him than she could have stopped the sun from rising.
“Please,” she whispered.
He took her with his hands, one toying with her breasts as the other took her to a place she’d never been…ecstasy. The world lightened with the colors of the rainbow as her body crested into orgasm under his touch.
Her internal muscles clamped on his fingers, and he praised her once more, stroking her through climax and petting her until she thought she’d go mad. He built her up again and took her over gently, circling her clit and making her keen.
He seemed to know her body better than she did. He shifted them, laying her across the bed, then standing.
“Allie?”
She opened her eyes, meeting his electric gaze and smiling. “Yeah?”
“I’m going to take you now,” he whispered.
“About time,” she responded.
He removed his pants, boxer briefs, shoes, and socks in one fell swoop. Then he covered her body with his, settling himself in the cradle of her thighs. The feel of his impressive length pressing against her pussy had sparks showering through her belly.
So much heat he generated. So much desire.
“I would kiss you more…” he said as he placed a nipping bite at her collarbone.
She remained silent.
“I would lick you more…” He followed this with the blazing trail of his tongue in the valley between her breasts.
Again, she held back from speaking. Doubted she could anyway. This was seduction, pure and simple.
“I would take you high again with my fingers…” he promised as he lowered his hand to her clit again.
Allie waited, breath held, lungs screaming for oxygen.
He moved then, the head of his cock nudging her entrance. “But it would prevent me from finding heaven.”
He surged inside her then, all heat and male and velvet-covered steel. He pushed deep and she moaned. He retreated, and a plea formed on her lips.
But there was no worry. King was not going to stop.
“I’ll take you there, Allie,” he promised.
She reached for him, pulling him all the way down to her and taking his mouth, desperate for everything he had to give and more.
He lifted her leg, and she wrapped it around his hips. He stroked her with his hands, his eyes cataloging her every response. It was erotic, his taking. He watched her and she watched him, the bond forged so deep and sure that she knew she’d never be the same.
Over and over he took her, higher and higher, to a heaven she hadn’t known could exist, much less between two people.
And when she crested the peak, he was with her, groaning her name and spending deep inside her body.
King wrapped her in his arms, still joined to her, and pulled her into his embrace. And there she rested on top of him, surrounded by him, mind whirring but knowing only him.
Chapter 21
He’d taken her. But if he was truthful with himself, King knew she’d taken him. He had decided in Belgrade he was going to make her his—if for no longer than it took to get her home to DC. King wasn’t a safe bet. Bad things happened to the people around him. He had his men to protect, and he didn’t need another burden.
But they were safe here for at least a day, and his mind churned with the war he was having with his body.
Never had he felt this emotion. It settled inside him, warming him, making him want the impossible, forcing him to crave the woman lying in abandon beside him.
He closed his eyes, opened them, and focused on the ceiling. His head hurt, but it was a pain he could breathe away. Instead, he focused on his surroundings. A house on a hill. Ella had taken refuge in an Endgame safe house.
He shook his head. Thoughts of Ella and Endgame had no place here. Not right now.
Right now was about Allie Redding.
He turned to his side and rested his head on his hand. She was incredible. Beautiful with her large, blue eyes and upturned nose hinting at stubbornness. Her hair was all over the place, the sunlit strands stroking everything they touched, including King.
Her smell was wildflowers—delicious, addictive. He’d touched her now. The smudge on her neck, barely peeking out from between the strands of her hair, marked her as his.
How in holy hell was he going to keep her safe? He couldn’t even keep his own men and women safe. How would he prevent the holder of his heart—
Oh shit.
He’d fallen for her.
Five days in her presence, and he was talking the l-word.
He was fucked.
“You’re thinking incredibly hard,” she murmured.
He glanced at her, meeting her blue gaze and feeling everything in him settle. “Nah, that’s not possible.”
She stretched luxuriously, giving King glimpses of her silken skin, the skin he’d wanted to revel in. She turned to face him, resting her head in her hand like him. He grazed a fingertip down her neck to her breast, circling her nipple.
She inhaled deeply, and the tip puckered. King’s mouth watered.
“You make me want, King McNally.”
He sighed. “It’s only fair, since you do the same to me.”
“I don’t know if there’s enough want in the world to explain what this is.” Her gaze held his captive. She was telling him something.
King was a master at reading between the lines. Things unspoken were his world. No matter what Loretta Bernstein had said, he could see through the smoke to the fire—hell, he lived in the fire.
And now he had a brand-new flame to deal with.
“Maybe we shouldn’t talk about it,” he urged. “Maybe we should just feel.”
She smiled then, gamine and teasing. “You’re a wimp.” Apparently he wasn’t the only one who could read between the lines.
He shrugged. “I’m a big, bad spec ops soldier, baby. Ain’t no wimp.”
She laughed and the sound trilled through King, tinkling to settle right in his heart. “Okay, okay, but before we go in for round two, can we have a little get-to-know-you session?”
He groaned and fell to his back dramatically. “Can’t I just give you an amazing orgasm, and we’ll call it square?”
She laughed again, and his heart lightened.
“You aren’t going to let this whole
talking thing go, are you?” he asked with a grin.
She scooted over to him and wrapped her leg over his hips, grazing his erection as she climbed on top of him and rested her head on his chest. “Nope.”
“Okay, but I get first question,” he said.
She nodded and smiled. He wanted that smile for eternity. Nothing was like it. Nothing made him feel more alive.
“What’s your favorite color?”
She raised an eyebrow and frowned. “That’s what you’re going to ask? Did I mention you’re a wimp?”
He tapped her lips. “Unh-unh-unh… I’m asking the question. We gotta start off small and work up to the big things.”
“Green.”
“Green? Why?”
She shook her head. “That’s two questions. It’s my turn.”
He wanted to laugh but she looked so serious, contemplating what to ask him. For a second he was fearful of what it would be.
“What’s your favorite food?”
King barked out a laugh. It almost dislodged her from his chest. And there was that smile again. “That’s what you’re going to ask?” he parroted her earlier comment.
She nodded. “Yep.”
He gave it serious thought, but only one answer kept pounding his brain. “You.” And if she moved over his hard cock anymore, her entrance teasing him mercilessly, he was going to prove it to her.
She shuttered her eyes from him, but he saw the gooseflesh rising on her skin. She liked his answer, no doubt about it.
“My turn.” He stroked along her sides, glorying in her indrawn breath. “What was the name of your first pet?”
“George.” She drew in another roughened breath. “What was yours?”
“My what?”
She chuckled. “It’s my turn for questions.”
“I never had a pet.” His father had abhorred animals, and by the time King left juvie, he was in the service. The navy frowned on pets too.
“That’s sad,” she murmured softly.
“That’s life, princess. Big, bad spec ops boys don’t have pets.” He let his hands continue to rove her body, cupping her bottom before rising to stroke the sides of her breast. “My turn. Why the Peace Corps?”
Allie placed her hands on his chest and rested her chin on them. Her gaze took a faraway path, and he mourned that his question took her away from him. “My mother was a Peace Corps fanatic. She was the single most giving person I’ve ever met and used her influence as an ambassador to UNICEF to further their agenda. She believed in sharing knowledge and medical care and anything else that would make the less-fortunates’ lives better.”
King brushed a strand of hair off her forehead, then wrapped it around his finger. She kissed his chest.
“Okay, what do I ask now? Do I go for the deeply meaningful questions, or keep it banter-like?”
“That’s two questions, maybe three. Which do I answer first? I feel like you’re cheating at this game.”
She frowned at him but couldn’t hold it. “Why did you kill your dad?”
King almost shut down, but something in her eyes told him this was important to her. If opening himself up to the greatest pain in his life would make her happy, he was discovering he’d damn well do it. “My mother died giving birth to me. Thomas Sacco Sr., my sperm donor, was a bastard. Being stuck with a baby wasn’t his idea of a good life, but for the first few years, until I got big enough to hit, he might have done his best to raise me. He taught me to hunt, cook, grow my own food. But he drank. A lot. And he was a mean drunk. Eventually, I got big enough to protect myself, and one night, I gave him back what he’d given me. Unfortunately, he did something I’d longed to do for years—he died.”
Allie was gripping his shoulders, her fingers digging into the muscles there. Then she laid her head over his heart, and he felt the hot sting of her tears.
“Don’t cry for me, princess,” King pleaded. “I’m not worth your tears.”
Long moments passed in which King debated with himself about telling her about his dad. Then she raised her head, and on her face was an expression he’d never seen before…acceptance.
She rose, leveraging with her hands on his chest until she was straddling his hips. His cock rose like a brand between them, begging to be seated in her warmth. She did this to him. No matter his horrible memories, no matter the dire nature of their situation, she made him want.
“Green is my favorite color,” she said softly, lifting up and placing his cock at her entrance. “Because it’s the color of your eyes.”
He hissed in a breath as she seated herself on him, taking him to the hilt and shifting so she could rise and fall with ease.
King gripped her hips as her words tore through him.
He loved her.
A man who’d only known hate now knew the ultimate fear of love.
She rode him with his help, lifting and gyrating and sinking down over and over until King lost what was left of his mind.
He switched their positions then and proceeded to show her with his body everything he couldn’t say with his mouth. He worshipped her until the sun rose.
* * *
Allie woke to King’s mouth at her breast. She smiled and opened her eyes, seeing his wavy, brown hair, feeling the soft strands brush her skin.
“You make me feel things I didn’t think possible, McNally.” She didn’t question her need to voice her conflicting thoughts. She trusted him.
“That’s a good thing, right, princess?” he asked as he looked up at her, his face relaxed, the smile she’d grown to cherish flirting with his lips.
She started to answer when, for the second time in as many days, her world exploded.
“Allie!”
It was King yelling her name, but all she could hear was that damn strange ringing in her ears.
He picked her up and set her on her feet. “Get dressed!”
She shook her head, everything unclear until he grabbed her face in his hands and forced her to look at him.
“Allie! Baby, listen—we’re under attack. Get dressed, take this bag, and hide in the bathroom,” King ordered.
She shook her head as the staccato impression of gunfire splintered in her ears. All she could think was, again?
She did as he demanded, dressing hastily, her body still humming with the pleasure he’d given her, though it was rapidly disappearing under fear.
Whoever Dresden and Savidge were, they were not giving up.
“Be careful,” she said as King pulled gun after gun from his bag.
He paused for a moment and looked up at her. He handed her a gun and said, “I will. Use it if you have to. I’ll be back for you. Hunker down in the tub and I’ll be back, I promise.”
She nodded and moved to do as he commanded.
She locked the door behind her, praying for his safety as every shot pierced the veil of what had happened between them.
Another loud explosion and she yelped. In the aftermath, she heard one voice among the falling debris. King.
“Run, Redding. Run!”
Chapter 22
Allie skirted the city, doing her best to blend in, though her shirt had a bloodstain where she’d cut herself on the glass in the bathroom and her hair was a ratty mess. She looked like a street person, and while that would have suited her purpose inside the city, in these hills it was a slight detriment. People were giving her sidelong glances, and she was drawing notice she couldn’t afford.
She had no idea how much time had passed. King had told her to run, so she’d escaped through the small bathroom window. She’d been half afraid of being shot as she shimmied out, while the other half of her had been afraid she’d be shot if she didn’t. She was numb, the feeling running deep and making her cold.
Fear held her hand now. Was King okay? What about Ella and Madoc? Sh
e didn’t want to run. She wanted to go back and find them.
Instead, she continued putting one foot in front of the other, doing her best to hide her tracks but this running-from-danger business was for the birds. She wasn’t a professional, and she was desperate.
The hair at the back of her nape rose and she brushed a hand over it. Nerves, she told herself. She glanced back anyway, assuring herself no one was paying any undue attention to her. The small village on the outskirts of the larger city in the valley below was going to be her home tonight. If she had to bed down in a stable, she’d damn well do it.
Her stomach growled, and there was that feeling of being watched again. She had limited funds, no phone, and was hurting. She had to hope she’d come far enough to hide because she also had no more energy.
She was a mess.
Maybe she should venture down into the village she could see below, find a small hotel, and use some of the money she’d found in the bag King had tossed to her to reserve a room. Most places required some form of ID even with a prepaid room, but given her appearance, she could claim she’d been mugged. Lord knew she looked like she’d been through something traumatic. Once she settled into the hotel, she could shower, tend her wound, and eat. Light was falling, the sky darkening to deep pinks and oranges. Just a little over two days ago, she’d been in Africa.
It seemed so long ago.
People were beginning to close up shop. She needed to make up her mind. She saw a bus pulling away from the curb and flagged it down.
“¿Puedo conseguir un paseo a la ciudad?” she asked the driver. She needed to get somewhere that had people, and she needed to do it quickly.
“Sí,” he returned with a smile.
Allie walked around to the door and had just stepped on when she glanced to the back of the bus. A man sat there, taking up most of the rear seat, his gray hair shorn close to his scalp and his eyes vacant.
She shuddered, given a moment’s pause by the absolute nothingness in his gaze. Is that what she looked like right now? Empty? Her stomach growled again and she made her decision. No matter how much of a mess she was emotionally, she needed to take this bus to the village below. King would find her. She’d hold on to that.
