Last Ride on the Merry-go-round

by Judith Rochelle

  Dino had just finished giving Ethan the details of the evening and his impressions of Van Dine's phone call.

  "You're just lucky you and Jen didn't turn out to be the spaghetti,” Ethan grunted.

  "Always hedge your bets, I say. In any event, between what happened tonight and some emails I'm getting back, I have the feeling this is more than just your usual traffic in stolen antiquities. And that whoever killed Sutherland is a lot more powerful than we've been thinking."

  "Do you think they know Van Dine was meeting you?"

  "Not yet, but if they have the connections I think they do, they'll find out soon enough. That's what worries me. I've got Mike on the boat tonight and I brought Jen back to the house. But I'm thinking tomorrow when he leaves, we'll move back onto the water and stay there for a while. I can change locations whenever I want to and I'm not a sitting duck."

  "I'm calling in some favors, too. Between us there aren't many corners we can't reach into. We need to pool our information tomorrow and see what's what. But I agree that this is a lot more than Jennifer believed. And more than we thought. If these people can reach around the world, there's a lot of power here."

  "We need to pull out all the stops on this one, E. Dig up everyone still in the shadows. Full court press before the good guys wind up dead."

  "On it. I'll call you back in the morning. And just send the money back with Mike tomorrow."

  "Consider it done. Thanks."

  Dino set the sat phone back on the table next to the open laptop and tapped another message into his secure email. Jen's soft voice behind him startled him. He hadn't heard the bathroom door open.

  Keep your wits together, Brancuzzi.

  "Still at it?"

  "I think I'm done for the moment. I asked the questions. Now I need to wait for the answers.” He closed the lid on the computer, turned and the sight of her nearly brought him to his knees. Freshly scrubbed from the shower, her damp blonde hair hung around her face in gentle curls. She had that soft-looking peach robe wrapped around her and belted at her slender waist. A little color had returned to her face but her weak smile belied the pain and fear in her eyes. Every nerve in his body stood at attention, including a few he'd rather keep hidden.

  Oh, sweet Jesus. Don't let me lose my head here.

  "Did I hear you speaking to Ethan?"

  "Yes.” He poured an inch of brandy into each of the glasses and handed one to her. “First of all, Deanne's fine. She went to bed tonight with no urging and she and Jamie seem to be bonding."

  Jen bit her bottom lip, a habit Dino found endearing. “Is she, you know, asking for me?"

  "She was glad you'd spoken to her earlier. She just keeps asking if Ethan is sure you're all right. I said we'd call in the morning.” He tipped his head toward the table. “Come sit down and we'll talk."

  She sat down opposite him, shoving the sleeves of the robe up to her elbows. “You'll tell me everything, right? Whatever you find out?"

  He nodded. “I don't see any good reason not to. The more you know the more you can help. And I don't want you to have to deal with any more surprises."

  "Who was that man whose boat exploded? All you said earlier was he was someone who might have information for us.” She focused her gaze on him. “Must be pretty important if it was worth a million dollars."

  Dino leaned back in his chair, sipping the aged brandy. As fragile as Jennifer LaCroix looked, he knew she could handle whatever truth he needed to tell her.

  "His name was Martin Van Dine. He made his living buying and selling information, sometimes carrying out the odd assassination, insinuating himself into trouble spots to see how he could capitalize on them."

  "Sounds like a sweet guy."

  "He and I have a history that goes way back. I ... did him a favor one time. Not voluntarily. He owed me big time. I called him because if anyone could find out who's behind this antiquities business, it was Van Dine."

  "So what do you think happened?"

  Dino snorted. “I think he got overconfident and careless."

  He saw Jen's hand tremble slightly as she lifted her glass to take another sip. “And someone killed him? Just like that?"

  "In his line of business, killing is an everyday activity. But this is a little over the top even for Van Dine's enemies. I think what he had to tell us was worth whatever it took to get rid of him."

  Jen's eyes were locked on his again, and she tightened her hands on her glass. “This is a little more than just a stolen antiquities ring, isn't it."

  He knew she wasn't asking a question. “Yes. I think it is. There's something about the people, the artifacts, or both that's got people on a killing spree."

  "What did Ethan say?"

  "He's got people on it and so have I. It's time to start calling in favors."

  "I just wish I could figure out where John would have hidden whatever it is they're looking for. We could give it back and get rid of them."

  Dino shook his head. “We're way past that, cara. We're in some deep shit here. Whenever we find out who's behind all of this, we turn them over to the proper people and get the hell away from them.” He swallowed the last of his drink and stood up. “Meanwhile, we need to get some sleep. I have a feeling tomorrow's going to be a busy day."

  Jen swallowed the last of the cognac, rinsed her glass and turned to go toward her room, but stopped.

  "Dino, thank you for everything. No matter what happens, I'll never be able to thank you enough."

  Oh, yes. You could if I weren't so determined to be a gentleman.

  He turned out the small light in the kitchen and headed to his own room. Remembering the look of fear in Jen's eyes, he lit a small wall sconce in the hallway so the house wouldn't be completely dark. In his dark room he dropped to the side of the bed, trying to get the image of Jen in her robe out of his mind.

  Up to now every gesture, even when she'd nestled in his arms on the boat, had been couched to express comfort and reassurance. That wasn't what he was feeling now. Not at all. And Jennifer LaCroix had enough problems in her life without some horny man crawling all over her. That wasn't part of his missions, and he always kept to the mission plan.

  Finally he stripped down to his boxers and crawled under the covers. Closing his eyes, he willed himself to stop thinking about the woman in the next room and how badly he wanted her.

  * * * *

  Jen tossed and turned as if someone had thrown her in a spin dryer. There was no place in the bed where she could seem to get comfortable. She wondered if sleep was eluding Dino as well. He'd been more than the perfect gentleman, but they'd have to be idiots not to sense the thread of sexual tension tightening around them.

  As chilled as she'd been before, now her body felt warm, her skin prickly with heat. The sleep shirt she'd pulled on, soft as it was, felt harsh against her skin. She pulled and tugged at it, finally yanking it off and tossing it to the foot of the bed. Again she tried to find a comfortable spot, deliberately pushing the thoughts of Dino from her mind. With the perilous situation she was in, sex was the last thing she should be thinking about.

  She tried to conjure up images that would blunt the urges in her body and at last, from sheer exhaustion, dropped into a restless sleep.

  It was hot. Very hot. Flames were racing toward her, licking the air around her. She ran as fast as she could but the fire was outrunning her. The closer it got the more the heat consumed her until it was on her, wrapping itself around her.

  Where was Dino? Why wasn't he helping her?

  She screamed his name as loud as she could, but the fire was pressing in on her, as if it had grown hands and was gripping her.

  "Jen. Jennifer. Wake up."

  "No!” she screamed. “Hot. Don't burn me."

  "Come on, Jen."

  Hands shook her, finally pulling her away from the heat and flames. She forced her eyes open, her consciousness reaching for the voice. Dino was gripping her shoulders, shaking her.

  "Wake up, J
en. It's only a dream."

  Her eyes widened and she glanced around, her face still taut with panic. Then she saw the reassuring setting of the bedroom. The bedside lamp had been turned on, chasing away the darkness. Her heart was racing and she was shaking so badly she had to lean into Dino for support. He pulled her against his chest and held her for a long time, until her pulse approached something close to normal and her breathing was less ragged.

  She lifted her gaze to his face, saw the worry in his eyes. “I did it again, huh?"

  His hand smoothed her hair. “It's all right. Tonight would have given anyone nightmares under the best of circumstances. And this definitely doesn't fit that category."

  "I'm sorry I woke you."

  "That's okay. I can go back to sleep easily. It's an old trick I learned years ago. Sleep where and how you can."

  They sat that way for another long moment, silence settling over them like a mantle. Jen looked down, feeling Dino's hair-roughened chest against her naked flesh and quickly yanked the sheet up between them, The look in his eyes told her he was just as aware of their situation as she was and doing his best to ignore it. Her cheeks burned and she wondered if she could just pull the covers over her head and hide.

  "Don't worry,” he joked. “I have half-naked women throw themselves at me all the time."

  She choked on her laugh and inched away from him.

  His hands gentle on her shoulders, Dino eased her back against the pillows and pulled the blanket up to cover her as well. His hands smoothed her tangled hair away from her face.

  "Okay?” he asked. “Are you all right if I go back to bed now?"

  Jen swallowed, gathering her courage. “Dino?"

  "Yes?"

  "I-I'd sleep a lot better if you'd lie down here with me.” She closed her eyes, not wanting to see rejection in his face if he made up some excuse.

  His hands tightened on her skin and he leaned forward to kiss the top of her head before answering. “Jen, we're both adults here, and we're not stupid. You know as well as I do something's cooking with us. If I lie down with you, we'll be doing a lot more than sleeping."

  Now she raised her eyes to his, shaken by the heat she saw burning in them. She wet her lips with the tip of her tongue. “O-Okay. Sleep is overrated, right?"

  "Are you sure?” He cupped her chin with one hand, studying her face and her eyes. “I don't want you to think you have to do this because..."

  "I want to do this because I want to do it. Okay?"

  His mouth turned up in a slow, lazy smile. “Okay, cara. Very much okay."

  She was clutching the covers where he'd tucked them at her chin, covering her nakedness, but Dino gently turned them back.

  "No hiding, cara. I want to see you. I've been dreaming about this body since we got to Key West. Don't deny me the pleasure."

  She lay there trying to relax as his eyes traveled over every inch of her body. She'd been naked in front of men before. Too many men, she thought regretfully. But with Dino everything seemed brand new. She felt almost virginal.

  He stripped off the boxers he'd worn to bed, the warm olive of his skin golden in the light of the lamp. He was rock-hard everywhere, carved like a sculpture, the muscles in his thighs corded. His erection, proud and swollen, rose from a thick nest of dark curls.

  Jen wet her lips again, in her mind already feeling the thickness of him inside her.

  He lay down on the sheet with her, pushing the covers further away with his foot, and his nearness made her pulse leap. His fingers traced a careful line over her cheekbones and down the curve of her jaw, stroking the column of her neck. His hand grazed the swell of her breasts and tested the weight of their fullness, his thumbs rasping against nipples already hardened and demanding. As light as a feather he explored every inch of her abdomen, one finger circling the indentation of her navel, then tracing the crease of the line where hip and thigh met.

  A flick of his hand separated her thighs and he caressed the soft inner skin. His eyes never left her body, first following the path of his hand, then locking on hers. She knew he was taking his time to learn every part of her, every inch of her body, and the anticipation of what would come next had her drawn tight as a bow.

  "Relax,” he murmured. “It's all right. Just let yourself feel."

  She swallowed and unclenched fists she didn't even know she'd made.

  "Close your eyes, Jen.” His voice was low and seductive. “Just close your eyes and let me make you feel good."

  She closed them on an exhale of breath. Every other sense leaped to life. She caught the scent of him, cologne and sun and sweat and male. The sound of his voice, like warm chocolate, covering her with words of arousal. And his touch! Holy mother! Just the briefest caress sent her pulses leaping and her blood heating. He touched her everywhere—the backs of her knees, the insides of her ankles, across the line where her mound began.

  By the time his fingers threaded through the soft curls of her sex she was ready to scream. He didn't have to urge her to open her legs wider for him. They did so automatically, her hips doing a little dance to signal what she wanted.

  "Slow, cara. I don't want to rush this. You're like a treasure that I want to explore one layer at a time."

  His head lowered to hers and when he kissed her heat shot through her. His tongue was a wild thing in her mouth, tasting everywhere, flicking against her own tongue, then scraping the roof of her mouth. His lips were like rough satin, bruising in their intensity. A kiss that went on forever.

  His mouth moved over her cheek and he trailed his tongue along her jaw and the column of her neck. At the hollow where her pulse beat so rapidly he nipped and nibbled, then placed a sucking kiss there almost like a brand. She felt herself being devoured, and all the time his hand stroked, petted, teased at her flesh.

  By the time his fingers separated her folds and gathered her slick cream she was half out of her mind with wanting. He stroked her labia before moving his hand and brushing lightly against the top of her clit. Jennifer jerked at his touch and a soft moan vibrated in her throat.

  "So wet,” he crooned. “So hot. My God, you'll burn me alive."

  His erection pressed against the side of her thigh like a thick, heated shaft. She tried to reach down for it but he captured both of her hands with one of his, his fingers like warm manacles around her wrists. He pulled her hands over her head, stretching her out, and his fingers returned to her heated core. When he slid first one, then two of them inside her she felt her inner muscles clamp down on them.

  His fingers curled inside her, reaching for her sensitive places. A guttural sound rolled from her mouth and her arousal flooded his hand.

  Dino laughed softly. “Hit a sweet spot, did I?"

  "Mmm,” was all she could manage, hitching her hips again.

  Her eyes were still closed, sensation piling on sensation, swamping her. His fingers were everywhere, inside her, slipping in and rubbing her sensitive flesh, pushing her higher and higher.

  "I want to touch you,” she whispered.

  "Next time. I'm too close. You do wicked things to me, cara."

  "No, you're the one who's the devil,” she panted. “Please, please, please."

  She opened her eyes when she felt him move over her, releasing her wrists and positioning himself at her entrance. When he entered her she raised her legs to take him deeper, locking her ankles behind his back.

  "Oh, God,” he breathed. “I must have died because this can only be heaven."

  And then he began to move, a slow roll and thrust of his hips until she wanted to scream for him to hurry, hurry, hurry. But he took his time, pulling out until only the tip of his shaft was inside her, then plunging fully inside again, burying himself to the hilt, the softness of his sac slapping against her buttocks.

  A tight coil low inside her began to unwind, stretching, reaching through her. Her blood was racing and her heart was pounding. Dino leaned back, his shaft barely inside her wet channel, put his big han
ds under her buttocks and lifted her to him. When he plunged again she felt him all the way to the tip of her womb. A thought flashed through her with the swiftness of lightning—we fit. God, we fit so good. Then she was lost again in the sensual journey he was taking her on, nothing existing but this man and the feel of him inside her.

  His pace quickened and she matched it, their rhythm perfectly coordinated. Their eyes were still locked together and she swore he could see into her soul. She could feel her orgasm building, her nerves sparking, her body reaching, reaching, reaching.

  When it exploded it hit every part of her, spasms wrenching her body, her liquid heat flooding the thick shaft inside of her pulsing its own cream. Her inner muscles milked him as she dug her heels into his back, pulling him as tight against her as she could. Her body shook and shuddered as the climax pulsed endlessly.

  Her arms and legs were still locked around him when he dropped his head to her shoulder. The only sound in the room was the ragged sounds of their breathing and the thundering of their heartbeats, which Jen swore were louder than drums.

  She had no idea how long they lay there like that, but eventually they began to untangle themselves, forcing strained muscles to move and bodies to shift.

  Dino shifted to lie beside her, his hand pushing her hair away from her damp face, his touch so tender she wanted to cry.

  When he cleared his throat a tiny pin stuck her heart.

  Uh oh. No, not the speech. Not now.

  "Jen, listen."

  She pressed two fingers to his lips. “Not tonight. If you're sorry I don't want to know about it until tomorrow."

  He captured her hand and dragged it away from his mouth. “We have to do something about that attitude of yours. That's so far from what I want to say it isn't even in the same book. This was a life-altering experience. You know I've had a lot of women. I can't deny it. But they were just preparation for you. It was never like this before. Not with anyone."

  She felt heat rise on her cheeks. “You mean it?"

  He dusted a light kiss on her mouth. “More than anything. But Jen, I didn't use my brain. Or any protection."

  "Oh.” For a moment she wondered what it would be like to be pregnant with his child. To share the experience. But not with her life in its current mess. She counted backwards in her head. “I think we're okay. I was taking birth control pills but obviously that's been the last thing on my mind the past week or so."