by Linda Conrad
Glancing at her face, he saw the delicious look of pure, erotic ecstasy spreading across her features, her pleasure a sight to behold. Unfortunately, the gorgeous vision of her went too far toward building his own pleasure to volcanic proportions.
Oh, man, he had to make this good for her. Soon.
Changing the position of his hand slightly, he used one finger to slide inside her core. In and out. Once. Twice.
Her body trembled, then suddenly exploded in moisture against his hand. Covering her mouth with his own, he swallowed her erotic scream and reveled in her body’s newly found sensuality.
Nina felt as though she’d gone over some kind of edge, violent and sizzling like fireworks, and she’d liked it. A lot. In fact, she wanted more.
The trouble was how to ask.
Wishing to appear sophisticated and knowledgeable in the ways of sex, she opened her eyes and met his gaze. But the look in his eyes turned her breathless and quaking. Then he smiled as though he knew her thoughts and something deeper and more meaningful tried to push its way to the surface. She shoved whatever it was aside.
“Feeling good?” he asked.
“Very much.” While enjoying the remaining aftershocks, her gaze fell to his full erection.
Trying to keep her eyes from widening with sheer disbelief at the size of him was futile. “Um…I thought that was your turn, but—”
She let herself stare, mouth open, and body yearning. If she hadn’t already known his biggest flaw was the blazing need to be a hero, she might have backed off right there, worrying that she had not been enough to entice him to finish. Or that her inexperience had totally turned him off and made him stop before being satisfied.
But the way he was still raking her body over with a hungry look that demanded something she wasn’t sure she could give, made her willing to try.
“I was a little rough. Anything hurt?”
Leaning up, she spoke against his lips. “I liked rough. More rough, please.”
Suddenly he was kissing her, pushing his tongue inside her mouth and tangling with hers. The kiss was all heat and fire and every inch of her body responded to him with an electricity that snapped and crackled like a thunderstorm. Digging her fingers into his shoulders, she pulled him down with her, without breaking the kiss.
His next move was as fast as lightning. Before she knew what had hit her, she was on her back. He’d wrangled a spot lying between her legs with his hard length nudging the tender spot between her thighs. Grabbing her wrists with one of his big hands, he pinned them above her head.
And still they held the kiss.
The feeling of him, on her, with her, surrounding her, was all encompassing. She wanted him everywhere. If their bodies could meld together in this heat, she would die happy in the fire they’d created.
“This is going too fast,” he murmured against her lips.
Fast? Was he crazy? If he didn’t hurry up and soothe the building ache inside her, she might just go insane.
“I’m sorry, darlin’, but slow will have to come next time.”
One of his palms raked down her side, sending chills along her nerve endings. Sliding that hand beneath her lower back, he held her bottom still.
She gasped for breath, wanted to scream. Now!
His erection nudged a little harder against her opening and her attention to other details flew out the window. She hadn’t wanted to miss out on any part of this. Wanted to take it all in and keep it in her memory forever, but right now her concentration seemed shot.
All she could do was feel. Feel, as his body began inching inside hers.
Slow. Exquisite. But still too slow.
Squirming, she needed to feel him deep, completing this extraordinary sensation of the two of them becoming one.
“Take it slow,” he said against her temple. “This might hurt some.”
She didn’t care. A little pain would be nothing compared to the pleasure with him.
“Now.” Frustration finally gave her a voice. “Please, now.”
Wrapping an arm around her back to hold her close, he surged forward. And then there was nothing but the sense of fulfillment, tight and thrilling. Shivers and heat. But no pain.
He leaned up on his elbows and placed a hand on each side of her face to hold her in place. “Shush. Don’t move yet.”
Looking longingly into her eyes, he leaned down and gently placed butterfly kisses against her cheeks, her forehead, her lips. She could feel his heart beating against hers, another sort of butterfly kiss that tingled throughout her body and shot straight to her center. But it was the sensual look he was giving her, a wordless communication, that shook her the most.
Something in what he wasn’t saying burrowed its way deep and landed in the vicinity of her heart. She sensed in his expression that he needed her more even than she needed him, and the concept sent shivers skittering across her skin.
Sweat appeared on his forehead and dripped down his neck, warning her that staying like this was as hard on him as it was on her. The instinct to move, to grind her hips against his, proved in the end too strong to resist.
Rotating her hips once, twice, was all it took to change the atmosphere. Josh began to glide in and out of her. His thrusts felt to her like a possession, every move a silent shout about having his own way. But as of now she wanted to be claimed as his.
The deeper he surged, the more of him she needed. She moaned involuntarily and circled her hips again, desperate to feel him to her very core. He surged, driving her past coherence as he pounded out his need to own her body.
More. More. More.
Until at last he reached between them, found her throbbing nub and caressed away the ache she hadn’t even noticed. Firelights suddenly exploded behind her lids and a feral scream came from so deep it had to have originated in her gut.
With a groan, he grabbed her around the waist and moved fast and hard. She couldn’t keep up because her body was already shattering around her like sparks from a fuse.
“Open your eyes,” he demanded with a rasp.
When she fought to obey, as she tried to focus on his face, he let go. Shuddering and issuing a rough, all-male shout, Josh collapsed against her, his body a mixture of flame and shower.
“Nina,” he groaned after a few moments of heavy breathing. “Are you all right?”
She might’ve known his only thoughts would be of her. Even when she’d wanted to be sure it had been good for him. But she couldn’t help but love him for being who he was.
“Just fine.” And that totally inadequate statement were the last words either of them managed for a long, long while.
*
Meanwhile, sitting in front seats of a truck idling across the highway from the park where the RV was plugged in, the same two hired men still watched and waited in the darkness.
“You’re sure they’re still in there?” The man who spoke unwrapped a brisket sandwich and got ready to take a bite. “We haven’t actually seen the girl all day.”
Fed up with all the whining, his buddy Curly growled an answer. “For the last time. See that blinking light there on the machine?” He pointed to the special computer their boss had installed on the dash.
Munching noisily, his comrade nodded but didn’t speak.
“We’ve been following that light. Remember when we put a bug in the girl’s computer case? It goes where she goes. And we go where it goes.”
“But it ain’t going nowhere,” the other man slurred around a swallow. “I thought that broad and her boyfriend were supposed to be headed for an airport. Instead they’ve been driving around in circles and now they’re asleep for the night. I’m bored and tired.”
“Shut up. And finish that stinky food. It’s smelling up the whole damned cab.”
Curly remembered that their boss, the sheriff who usually paid so good, had given clear instructions. Stick with her. Don’t get spotted and don’t lose her until she boards a plane.
If this idiot he�
��d been saddled with couldn’t understand even those basic orders, Curly might just have to dump the jerk off by the side of the road.
“I wanna be home in my own bed,” the buddy whined as he rolled up the sandwich’s plastic wrap and pitched it out the window. “Sleeping in this here truck sucks.”
“Idiot. You’re lucky you’re not stuck standing watch in seven feet of snow. This truck seat is comfortable compared to some jobs I’ve had.”
“How much longer are we supposed to watch?”
“If she doesn’t move soon, we’ll call the boss at sunrise.”
And if this idiot didn’t shut his mouth soon, Curly thought, come morning he would be looking for another way home. Or maybe Curly would get smart, waste a bullet and send the turkey home in a box.
Chapter 8
Nina woke up alone when the gray light of predawn cracked through the window blinds. She and Josh hadn’t had much sleep, but then she didn’t seem to care. Sleep was not that important while in a bed with Josh.
She felt terrific. Healthy and full of life.
Josh had done that for her. With his gentle touches and devastating kisses. If she’d had any idea how wonderful a woman could feel during the act of making love and afterward, she’d have tried it long ago.
“Morning.” Josh appeared at the bedroom door with a mug in hand. “Coffee?”
He wore jeans, unbuttoned at the waist. His chest was bare, the hair wet and curly from a shower. But as she stared, the line of a long, thin scar, looking whiter than the tanned skin surrounding it, suddenly appeared on his chest, reminding her of his early brush with mortality. The moment she glanced up, though, his hazel green eyes sparkled with humor—and deep desire.
On second thought, she was damn glad she’d waited to try this sexual stuff with Josh. The idea of doing the things they’d shared with anyone else seemed wrong.
Climbing out of bed, without giving a thought to her state of undress, she plastered herself to him. Then she stood on tiptoes and kissed him with all the pent-up heat she could muster.
He put his free arm around her shoulders, held her close and deepened the kiss. Gripping his waistband to steady herself, she let his passion and energy surge through them both.
Finally, he let her go and stepped back. “Here.” He handed her the steaming mug. “We need to have a conversation before we begin your training. Come with me to the kitchen and down a few carbs while we talk.”
“Shall I get dressed first?” The man was pushing her again. Doctor Do-gooder was back and her ornery pride wanted to stand toe to toe with him.
He gave her naked body the once-over. “Maybe you’d better cover up. I’m having trouble keeping my hands to myself.”
Ha! That was all she’d wanted to know.
Shoving the coffee mug back in his hands, she edged past him and stepped into the shower stall. “I need a shower first, please.”
He stood where he was in the hall right outside the bathroom and watched her carefully. She was dying to find out how far she could take him with her newfound sensuality. And the tight quarters of this RV made things easier for her.
She turned on the water and stepped in—slowly. After getting wet, she began running the soap over her body—slowly. Throwing him a glance out of the corner of her eye, very slowly, she experienced a thrill at seeing the desperate look of hunger in his gaze.
But he didn’t move. Not one muscle. Just stood there staring, drooling, with a cooling mug of coffee in one hand.
She lathered the soap and began to wash. The pleasant ache between her legs, which she’d been enjoying ever since waking up, was nearly gone.
She heard Josh gasp, then he disappeared. One moment later he was back, naked and taking her in his arms.
“You are driving me crazy.” He kissed her as though he would like to dive right inside her. “You’ve turned into a tease.”
Hot. Steamy. Her blood pounded sizzling heat through her veins.
He said nothing more, but twisted her around until she faced the wall. Then he bent her over at the waist. Next thing she knew his fingers were sliding inside and the only sounds she heard were her own moans of pleasure echoing off the tile.
She couldn’t see him but sensed his passion building behind her. His hands were everywhere, tantalizing her body, gliding over her wet skin.
Then suddenly he spread her legs wider and took her with one powerful thrust.
“Oh, yes,” she screamed. This was exactly what she’d hungered for.
Leaning over her back, he murmured in her ear. “You feel so good, my darling. I won’t ever get enough of you.”
His hot whispers blended with the rush of warm water and sent erotic shivers running down her spine. One of his hands palmed her lower stomach, the other found a nipple and squeezed. She pressed her bottom up to meet him as he kissed the back of her neck.
Sublime. This felt so good. So right.
He eased almost all the way out of her. The sensation was incredible. Slow. Intense. Erotic. But also slightly terrifying.
“Don’t leave.” She didn’t know what else to say.
Plunging deep once more, he grabbed her hips and held her tight. “I’m right here,” he whispered in her ear. “I’m not leaving you.”
His words flashed through her mind for a second. Everyone she cared about always left—one way or another.
But when he picked up the pace, driving them both to the edge, she stopped thinking altogether. Instead she melted, braced her hands against the tile until she shattered into a million tiny sparks of light.
When every nerve ending was on an edge, she screamed his name. With one last surge, he moaned her name at almost the same time. Fireworks again. And showers of electrified light.
When the earthquakes were nearly gone, Josh pulled out of her, twisted her around and took her into his broad, muscular arms. Cradling her close to his chest, she felt his heart pounding in time with hers.
Keeping her close, he reached over and turned off the water. Then holding her face steady between both hands, he kissed her. The tenderness of his kiss shocked her almost as much as their intense lovemaking.
He swept her up in his arms and took her to the bedroom. “We’ll talk later.”
Nina had no urge to stop. She still hadn’t had enough of this wonderful man.
*
Forty-five minutes later, she finally pulled a T-shirt over her head and slipped into her running shoes. Josh was making them breakfast.
Coming down the hallway, she saw him standing at the stove, hips cocked and back muscles rippling, and had to stop to catch her breath. She was in love. Of all the crazy things to have happen to her, falling in love was the worst.
Bad timing. Bad idea for a loner like her. And worst of all, he was the wrong man.
She might get past the bad timing. It didn’t matter that someone wanted her dead, so what? People had been chasing her for most of her life.
And being a loner didn’t seem to matter at the moment. She’d never been this interested in getting close to anyone before. All she could think about when she looked at Josh was getting closer.
But it did matter that he wasn’t the right man for her. She couldn’t bear to think of him getting hurt. If he stayed with her, and he was the kind of guy that would die trying to protect her, he would probably get hurt. Or die.
Her life wasn’t really important in the big scheme of things. No one would care if she lived or died. But Josh—he was special. He saved people’s lives. He’d been granted extra time with his transplanted heart for a reason—he did good things. And if that wasn’t enough, he had a family that would grieve, miss him terribly, if something bad happened.
“Ready to eat?” He turned, grinned in that endearing way he had, and her heart broke into a million pieces.
No way she could stay with him and watch that gorgeous smile disappear. She had to find a way to make sure he was safe.
Sliding into the kitchenette booth, she picked up her r
efilled coffee mug and forced her lips into a smile. “Didn’t you say you wanted to talk, before we—um—before we’d found something better to do?”
*
Josh instinctively felt the change in her demeanor and attitude, even though her outward appearance and the things she said seemed normal enough. But something had changed.
He sensed her pulling away. Distancing herself, though he could still reach out and touch her.
For sure everything had changed for him. Before they’d made love, all through his years of med school, then residency and the years in Special Forces, sex had been quick and impersonal. But now he knew that never again would he see sex as just something to ease physical stress.
A sexual experience was supposed to be a life-altering deal for a woman. Instead it looked as though he was the one who’d fallen—and fallen hard.
Making love with Nina confirmed what he’d suspected all along. She was the one woman in the world for him.
Not sure he could adequately express his new feelings, he slid into the booth across from her and took her hand. He had to try.
“Before you got up—the first time—I was doing a little research on the internet.”
Her eyes grew wide as she sipped her coffee. “You were out of bed long enough to do research? Didn’t seem like the space next to me had been empty for too long.”
“Yes, well, you were sleeping fairly soundly.”
She gave him a wry smile. “You wore me out, I guess.”
The electricity started up between them again and he was forced to drop her hand so he could concentrate on the important things he had to say.
“I wanted to check on our neighbors, the Reimers. Remember the ex-cop and the retired RN?”
She blinked and nodded. “I almost forgot about them. What did you find out?”
“They are exactly who they say they are.” Josh wasn’t terribly surprised. The couple hadn’t seemed to be hiding anything. “In fact, Jim Reimer apparently was the police chief in a Dallas suburb for over fifteen years. He won awards for valor in the line of duty.”
