by Marie Harte
“Alex,” he hissed as she took him in her mouth. She loved him so generously, so completely, that he found himself close to climax all too soon. Too soon to feel this way, to feel this love...
Hunter fisted his hands in her hair and tugged her away from him. “Get naked and get on the bed,” he ordered.
She did so quickly, her desire clear.
“Lie back and spread your legs.”
“Hunter,” she moaned but did as ordered.
“You’re mine, Alex. The way you respond doesn’t lie.” He didn’t give her a chance to argue. Hunter put his mouth over her clit and gave her the pleasure she gave him by simply being. At turns gentle, then rough, he surrendered to the desire obliterating everything but the need for Alex.
A part of him regretted her birth control that prevented conception. When she’d mentioned a child earlier, an unfamiliar yearning struck him mute. He could too easily imagine Alex round with his child. A small boy with her eyes and his abilities, a young girl with her mother’s beguiling looks and strength of will.
“Mine,” he rasped before he rose from his position between her legs and covered her. He nudged her thighs wider and thrust deep, enraptured by the ecstasy on Alex’s face. The pleasure of her expression prodded him to give her more, to see her explode with the passion they created together.
Heat built as he deliberately ground against her pelvis, rocking against that taut nub that signaled her arousal.
“Hunter,” she cried out. “Yes, yes.”
Alex tightened around him and clung, groaning her pleasure. But it wasn’t enough.
“Give it to me, Alex.” He sent a surge of desire through their special connection, telling her without words what he needed.
She shook her head, still shivering in her climax.
Pressure built at the base of his spine. His balls drew tight, his cock swelled, and he knew his orgasm was a breath away.
“I need to hear it.” Say it, Alex. Say you love me. He tried, but he couldn’t wait.
She cried out when he surged deeper and came inside her. He couldn’t stop the ecstasy crashing over him in a wave so intense he saw stars. He surged and spent, and still he moved within her. The primitive power he possessed came to the surface, drawn to the angel in his arms. Despite his intention to keep it down, it—he—demanded Alex’s surrender. He wouldn’t take anything less.
Their orgasms didn’t matter. Hunter wasn’t sure how he actually did it, but that foreign part of him moved deeper into Alex’s mind and seized control. Absolute power she couldn’t escape from unless he allowed it. And he was helpless to stop himself.
With strong, deep strokes, he pushed them both toward a completion neither was ready for. It should have been impossible for Hunter to continue. Alex, he could sense, needed more time to recover. Yet their hungers rose. Sensation flowed between them, back and forth, his then hers, until they were no longer separate people, but one heart, one mind, crying out their perfect bliss.
Moments later, Hunter came back to himself. Panting, he rested on his hands over Alex, their bodies still joined. The painful need to release no longer drove him, and he withdrew from her warmth, scared of how she’d react. He moved next to her, anxious and angry with himself. He hadn’t meant to go so far, but Alex got to him on a level even Anna had never reached.
If he’d scared her away, he’d never forgive himself. He—
“I’m a mess,” Alex panted. “Did I imagine that? Oh my God. Hunter, you nearly killed me. You’re a sexual maniac.”
He tensed, disgusted at his own lack of control.
Gradually, Alex’s breathing deepened, and she snuggled into the pillow beneath her head. “My maniac.” She drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face.
Hunter stared at her, unable to believe what he’d heard. Unable to stop himself from hoping. He settled next to her and watched as she slept.
Chapter Twelve
When Alex woke, she heard Hunter outside the room speaking in a low voice. She left the bed, threw on Hunter’s shirt, and exited the bedroom for the living room. Hunter stood by the kitchen counter, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans. You sexy, sexy man.
She saw a cell phone in his hand. “Jurek, I got the call. A small jet will be waiting for us in Brunswick, not Savannah International.” Hunter paused and nodded. “Yeah, that would be too easy. What? Okay. Send me what you have on the players and I’ll get on it.” He paused again, a frown settling over his face. “Alex is fine. She’s sleeping right now. Why? Because it’s almost midnight, Jurek! She’s fine. Really. We’re good for tomorrow. Yeah, I’ll call you then.” Hunter closed his cell phone.
Alex ran her fingers through her hair, still feeling slightly dizzy. She still wasn’t sure exactly what had happened with Hunter, but whatever it was, she wanted to do it all over again, provided she could still walk.
Hunter placed his cell phone on the counter and turned around. He froze when he saw her.
“What? No ‘Thank you, ma’am’?” she teased.
He flushed and shook himself out of the tension gripping him. “Hell, Alex. That was a helluva lot more than wham bam.” Crossing to her, he took her in his arms.
“You’re telling me.” She sighed and relaxed into his hug. “When can we do it again?”
He barked a laugh and swung her around off her feet. “You always keep me guessing. Just when I think you’ll say or do one thing, you do another.”
Confused, Alex smacked him to put her down. “What? I should have yelled at you for giving me an orgasm?”
His mirth died, and she didn’t like the somberness that closed his features. “It was more than a simple orgasm, Alex, and you know it.”
“We’re not simple people, Hunter. I had a great time, you had a great time, I guess I’m just not seeing the problem.”
He sighed and walked away from her. Slumping into a stuffed leather chair, he regarded her from under hooded eyes.
After several moments of silence, Alex wanted to burst. “Okay! I give up. I hate you. You’re an ogre. And you’re way too bossy. Happy now?”
He shook his head. “It doesn’t bother you that I took you so hard? That I made you...that I controlled the sex?”
“No.”
He seemed baffled. “No? That’s it?”
“What else is there to say? You made my bones melt. Are you looking for compliments?” She knew he wasn’t, but she had no idea what bothered him.
“So you didn’t mind when I took control of you like a puppet? I forced you to orgasm.”
“Promise to do it again, and we’ll call it even.” She grinned, but the horrified look on his face told her she’d said the wrong thing. “Hunter, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I.” Sudden comprehension flashed through her, though she couldn’t have said what sparked it. Perhaps she and Hunter were still connected in that special way. “This has to do with the ex, right?”
He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. Without looking at her, he spoke very quietly. “Anna and I were happy for a time. My work took me farther and farther away. I thought that was why we’d begun to drift apart. But my mother told me I was a fool to want to marry a woman I couldn’t be totally honest with. Shows you what she knows,” he said, as if to himself.
Alex leaned closer, enthralled by this look into Hunter’s past.
“I came home for a thirty-day leave, the longest I’d ever taken. I spent all of it with Anna. We grew close again, closer than I’d ever been with another woman.”
“How long ago did all this happen?” Alex asked softly.
“A few years ago, before I signed on with Jurek.” He swallowed loudly. “I’d thought about what my mother said. And she was right, really. How could I be honest with my feelings for Anna if I wasn’t honest about everything? I mean, she fell in love with me, but she didn’t know the real me.”
Alex understood what he said, probably more than he i
magined.
“When I told her, she didn’t believe me. So I showed her. It freaked her out at first, but she tried to come around. I was so happy she’d accepted me, I let myself go. I...” He paused and opened his eyes, searching hers for something. Understanding, acceptance, she didn’t know.
“You what, Hunter?”
“I showed her. I let down the barriers between us. When she and I made love, the hunter inside me, the most primitive part of me, took control.”
Realization dawned. “You took charge of her body and pushed her past her limits, right? Like you did with me.” Alex didn’t know how to feel. Jealous that he’d once shared this with Anna, and ecstatic that he had just shared all of himself with her.
He nodded, his face grave. “With her, I meant to. But, Alex, with you, it just happened.”
“So you’re waiting for me to freak out on you and leave, like she did.”
“No. I know you won’t leave. We have a job to do.”
She wanted to smack him for sounding so cold, but the bleakness in his eyes stole her resolve. “Men really are idiots.”
He blinked. “What?”
“Did it never occur to you to just tell me how you felt without me having to drag it out of you?”
He stiffened. “I just told you what happened. I never said anything about feelings.”
You’re mine. How many times had he said that to her before proving it most emphatically? Used to stubborn men, Alex knew better than to force him to talk. By the time she finished with him, he’d be begging her to explain how much he loved her. Because the idiot did. He was just too scared to see it.
Like Alex didn’t have her own issues? She’d dated a ton of men she couldn’t commit to, and they’d been a hell of a lot easier to handle than Hunter. Talk about difficult.
“You know, all this can keep. What did Jurek have to say?” It took a lot for her to squelch her overwhelming joy, but she did.
He opened his mouth, then closed it, eyeing her with suspicion. When she continued to wait calmly, he scowled. “Your brother discovered how Omaney and Wraith are connected.”
“Cole did?”
“Your uncle is pissed as hell at him. Cole broke into Omaney’s house and found the information.”
“Why would Uncle Max be upset about that?”
“Because Omaney was in the house at the time.” Hunter gave her a ghost of a grin. “Your brother has balls, I’ll give him that.”
“I was right. Men are idiots.” She fumed. And Max called her the troublemaker.
“So, what’s the deal, Alex? What is it about your brother that puts you on the defensive?”
Before, she’d put him off. But now, everything changed. “Cole is...unique.”
“Aren’t we all?” he said dryly.
“Cole touches an object and knows things about the people who’ve handled it. It’s called psychometry.”
“No shit.” Hunter looked impressed.
“Yeah. That’s why he had to take off his glove at Omaney’s warehouse. He was feeling for information.”
Hunter whistled. “A handy talent to have.” He grimaced. “And a curse.”
“He’s built some solid shields over the years, so he doesn’t need to wear gloves all the time. But sometimes intense sensations overwhelm him. And in Omaney’s office, we didn’t want to leave any prints.”
“Wonder what he saw when he latched onto me.”
“Funny. He normally doesn’t get anything off people.”
Hunter’s eyes widened. “No, but I was wearing my watch. He must have sensed something from that.”
If the information had been enough to startle Cole, she’d bet it had something to do with her. Alex blanched.
Hunter apparently thought the same thing, for he chuckled. “I bet your brother caught an eyeful.”
“That’s not funny,” she said on a groan.
“Trust me, it is. It also explains why he was so opposed to us spending any time together. And why he’s been a royal pain in Jurek’s ass, wanting to see for himself that you’re okay.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying this.” Pleased that his sour mood seemed to have disappeared, she actually didn’t mind his humor.
“Oh, I am.” When he stopped laughing, he continued to explain Jurek’s phone call. “Omaney took the bait. We’re traveling tomorrow. I’ll drive us to your place, where J.D. will pick us up in a limo and take us to a small airport in Brunswick. From there, we’ll be flown to Wraith.”
“And the auction.”
He nodded. He studied her for a few moments, then patted his lap. “Come here, angel.”
She would have balked at the command, but the tenderness behind it drew her. She settled on his lap and waited.
He kissed her, so gently she barely felt it. “Alex, I won’t lie. I don’t want you to go tomorrow.” He put a hand over her lips when she would have argued. “I know. It’s too late for you to back out. As much as Omaney wants me there, he wants you there as well. I get that. But I don’t have to like it.”
Hunter hugged her to him, tucking her head under his chin against his chest. She heard his heart beat, felt his breath go in and out of his body, and inhaled the pure, masculine scent of him. Suddenly, the excitement of being operational didn’t matter as much as the fear of what might go wrong. What if something happened to Hunter on this mission? What if he was hurt, or worse, killed by those criminals?
“Hunter, I—”
“I’m scared for you, angel. I can’t help it.” He held her in his arms, and they sat quietly. “But I know you can handle yourself. I believe in you, Alex.”
His words meant everything to her. “I believe in you, too.” She leaned back to look at him, and the emotion in his gaze took her breath away.
“Remember what you said, angel. I’m your maniac.”
“You want me to remember that?” she asked with a desperate laugh.
“Just remember I’m yours.” He sighed. “And when this thing is over, you and I are going to seriously talk.”
“SO, PETER OMANEY AND Wraith are friends?” Alex asked the next day as she rode next to Hunter—dressed as Jed Black—in their limo. In another twenty minutes, they’d be at the airport, ready to go God-knew-where.
“Wraith, born Raymond Guest, was the son of a preacher. He grew up poor, abused, and unloved. I’m crying a river.” He snorted.
“So he turned into an arms dealer, smuggler, and now human trafficker?”
“Bingo. Not sure on the details, but his initials match the ones in Omaney’s files that J.D. was looking into. Now that we know the players, we can start changing the rules in this game. I can’t wait to take these assholes down.”
“Right, though I don’t know I’d have put it the same way.” Ever since Hunter had assumed Jed Black’s identity this morning, she’d sensed his energy skyrocket. Her own anticipation heightened, and she used the fear of the unknown to strengthen her resolve. She would help Hunter find Rebecca and keep an eye on him. “I still can’t believe we found Wraith’s client list. That’s a huge plus. Congressman Ulie?” She still couldn’t believe that name. Hell, she’d voted for him last year.
“Just goes to show that criminals come in all shapes and sizes.”
“Great.” She tugged at her short Nicole Miller day dress, glad of at least one tangible positive on this trip. A kick-ass wardrobe.
Hunter continued, eyeing her thighs with interest. “We also found out Omaney has a gambling problem. He never loses more than he can afford and always paid his debts. Except now we know that his debts weren’t being paid by his diminishing trust fund, but by Guest. They’ve been in each other’s pockets for years.”
“So Guest keeps Omaney out of hock, and Omaney uses his legal connections and political friends to keep Guest out of the limelight. Talk about a perfect relationship.” She started when Hunter ran a hand along the inside of her thigh. “Hunter,” she breathed and glanced at the partition currently separating them from J.D.
“It’s Jed, angel. Jed Black. Remember that. And whatever I do, just go along with it,” he reminded her. “Jed Black is a real bastard. He’s not above using you to further his own ends. I may have to get a little explicit around the others, and I just want you to know—”
“It’s not you doing it. I know, Hunter.” Alex leaned forward to kiss his cheek. Except he moved and met her mouth. His lips caressed, coaxed, and aroused her past reason in no time.
Alex was not by nature an exhibitionist. But it took her a moment to realize the partition had lowered, J.D. was laughing at her, and Hunter still had his hand between her legs.
Her cheeks burned, and she shoved at Hunter’s immovable frame. He removed his hand, but not before he slid his fingers over her wet panties.
“I think this is going to work just fine,” he said in a low voice.
“You two are convincing,” J.D. added. “Better than Skinemax.”
Alex pretended not to hear him, and she scowled at Hunter’s satisfied grin. “Maniac.”
“All yours, angel. Just you remember that.”
“Ahem.” J.D. cleared his throat. “Remember, Jed, your shoes are your lifeline. The transponder we’re using is undetectable. All you have to do is plug it in and I’ll sense it. Nothing can block that signal, trust me. Just find an outlet and you’re golden.”
Hunter tapped his shoe on the floor. “Will do.”
“I packed another device for you, on the off chance you lose your shoes. It’s in your shaving kit. And remember, keep the transponder. As soon as you have eyes on, plug it in again and push the button. When the small LED turns green, you’ll know the cavalry is on its way.”
Hunter nodded.
“Eyes on?” Alex asked.
“Eyes on Rebecca, the target,” Hunter explained.
Alex thought it all sounded a little too James Bondish to her. “You’re sure this will work? I’m not too happy about being stuck on Wraith’s turf without someone knowing where we are.” To her shock, in the mirror, J.D.’s eyes glowed a bright, neon blue for a second before dimming.
