She smiled, took the foil pack and had it open in a second. His cock was tightly nestled against her crotch. He tugged his trunks down and pulled away enough for her to roll the sheath over his shaft. A deep moan escaped as her fingers caressed the sides of his erection.
He’d never wanted anyone or anything as much as he wanted to be inside Lena at that moment. She spent more time than was necessary getting the condom into place. A wicked smile played across her lips, telling him she knew exactly what she was doing to him. The tips of her fingers tickled him as she made her way back up to the head and continued up his abs and chest. Her eyes were dark when she met his.
He reached between her legs from behind, pulling the tiny piece of spandex to the side before thrusting inside her sopping-wet pussy. They both screamed their pleasure, but he couldn’t stop or even slow down. He rammed into her again and again hard and fast, her body banging against the hard wall. Her pussy pulled on his cock with every withdrawal. “I’m sorry, Lena,” he cried. His orgasm crashed over him shockingly fast. Every nerve in his body rang with the force of it and he remained tucked tightly inside her until it passed.
“I couldn’t wait,” he said.
Her forehead rested against his shoulder and her legs still clung to his waist. “It’s all right. I liked it.”
She was telling the truth, but she hadn’t come. Even in his rapture he would have felt her release. He had selfishly gone too fast. He wanted to kick himself.
Still holding her, he nudged the low coffee table away from the couch and knelt down. Her legs were spread wide. He placed her on the soft cushion and continued down until his mouth touched her wet folds. Her desire was a bolt of lightning flashing through his mind and he relished it.
She sighed and leaned back while still keeping her legs wide for him. He had to pull the bathing suit bottom out of the way while he licked from her tight puckered hole, past her juicy slit to the tight clit that begged for attention. He stopped and sucked until she lifted her ass off the couch and cried his name. Swirling his tongue around the sensitive bud, he sucked it in again. She tasted sweet and spicy at the same time, and with each swipe of his tongue, she screamed and moaned for more.
He watched her face, feeling the rise of her rapture and his own arousal beginning again as her hands covered her full tits and squeezed hard. She continued to massage the globes and pinch the nipples through the suit.
Sucking her clit had her on her toes, pressing her pussy against his face. He made another pass with his tongue and sucked hard, pushing her over the edge. Her body clutched in spasms against his mouth and he lapped up the flow of juices, enjoying every last drop.
Carefully, he slid her bathing suit back into place. He kissed her belly and dipped his tongue into her navel. She gasped. He continued to kiss a path up her body until he tasted those sweet lips again.
“Mmm, you taste like me,” she said.
“Jesus.” His cock jumped at the idea of her tasting her own juices. What kind of power did this woman have over him?
He never said a word about wanting to fuck her again. She pushed him gently back onto his haunches, closed her legs and slid her bathing suit bottom off. Then, as if she could read his mind, she stood up, turned away from him and knelt on the edge of the couch. Her head moved down and her ass lifted in the air, exposing her glistening pussy. He glimpsed her fingers between her folds as she massaged her juices into the sensitive skin.
He wanted to be a gentleman, but no one could resist such an offer. It was too erotic. His cock was hard and ready. He had no idea what happened to the used condom, but he pulled a new one from his duffle, tore it open and put it on. He moved more slowly, entering her one torturous inch at a time. Her sheath clutched at his cock, pulling him deeper. He felt her mind wanting more, but he held back. Sliding in to the hilt, he waited a second as he enjoyed the sensations her body provided. She was wet and smooth, as if he was sliding into silk.
As he slid out, he felt the tips of her fingers as they gently touched his balls.
“Lena, that feels so good, baby. Good god, just like that.”
He moved in and out slowly, holding her hips in place while he fucked her and she caressed his balls ever so gently. Her fingers slid away and he felt just the tips on his cock as she rubbed her clit. Her climax was building. Kane could feel her excitement and it pushed his higher. He thrust faster, this time waiting for her to come. Her fingers moved faster over her pussy. Tiny gasps escaped her mouth. Her back stiffened and her pussy pulsed around him, sending him over his own cliff. The orgasm rocked his body and her pussy continued to tug at him until he had nothing else to give.
She slid forward and sat on the couch.
Kane smiled down at her. “You really are something, Lena.”
“Thanks, you’re pretty hot yourself.” Her grin was at once wicked and sweet.
He recovered the lost condom, went into the bathroom and disposed of both. Once he was cleaned up, he found his new bathing suit and pulled on a button-down shirt. He left it open. Lena grabbed her bottoms and vanished into the bathroom, reappearing a few minutes later looking clean and neat in the suit and a pair of shorts.
* * * * *
An hour later, they walked hand in hand down the white sand beach. To the few people enjoying their vacations in Mexico, they probably looked as if they were a happy couple on a romantic stroll.
Kane adjusted the duffle on his shoulder. Something had been nagging at the back of his mind. Actually, several things bothered him about Lena’s story. Yet he knew she hadn’t lied to him. He’d have sensed a falsehood. Even if she had him blocked, people had tells when they lied and he was an expert at seeing through them.
He could feel the weight of the five little glass stones in the pocket of his trunks. He could also sense the power they drew from the universe. He didn’t like it. Actually, Kane didn’t like anything he couldn’t control. The stones were a variable he hadn’t counted on when he took the job. Falling for Lena was another unpredictable problem. He had to focus.
“If these stones of yours can predict the future, why didn’t you know you were being followed? Why didn’t you see me grabbing you up? Why didn’t you know about Wade and Banta?” His voice held more accusation than he’d intended.
She tightened internally at his tone before she tried to pull her hand away. He held on, hoping that his determination to keep her close would soften his words. Then she closed off her mind to him.
He stopped and pulled her into a hug. “Don’t, Lena.” Now his voice was more pleading. He hated the emptiness he felt without her thoughts open to him. An unwanted silence descended over him.
“I don’t know how to take you.” She pushed away, but only enough to look up at him.
He shrugged. “I’m not complicated. I just need some facts. I apologize if my way of getting them seems rough to you.”
She kept her mind closed and his heart ached more than a little.
“I used the stones when I first escaped. I was nearly captured twice. I thought Oscar might be able to track me when I used them, so I stopped.” She paused and then said, “How did you find me?”
He shrugged. “You used the guard’s credit card in Savannah. It was easy to find you.”
She nodded. “I needed cash. That was why I went to find Porter, but I had to get food and a hotel.”
It was an old story. Most of his marks made the same mistake. They would run out of money and use a credit card to survive. It was simple to find them after that. “I need to ask you something else and you’re not going to like it.”
She tried to pull out of his arms, but he held tight. “What is it?” She continued to struggle.
He kissed the top of her head and let her go. Yearning for her thoughts to be open to him, he had to push the pain away. How had he gotten so attached in such a short time? He pushed his hands in his pockets nervously, but then he felt the stones and pulled them out again quickly as if he’d been burned. Feeling stupid, he pushed his hand bac
k into his pocket and closed it around the smooth rocks before pulling them out and opening his palm.
For a moment, he thought they glowed slightly, but the effect faded and five quarter-size glass stones lay inert in his hand. “If they were mine and they were this much trouble, I’d get rid of them. Why don’t you toss them away and be done with it?”
Suddenly her mind opened up to him and rage he had not felt from her before surged. He didn’t know if she had allowed him to feel her anger or if she had lost control. “Toss them away?” She turned and walked away from him, got ten feet, turned back and stalked toward him. She pointed to the stones in his hand. “Those are the Stones of Adeline. I am Adeline.” She stomped away again.
This time she didn’t stop and he followed as she made her way to the edge of the sea. “I’m just saying, your life would be easier if you got rid of them. Don’t you feel as if they’re a noose around your neck? These stupid things are about to cost you your life.” He had not expected her rage and he certainly hadn’t expected his own anger to flare. The idea that she would hold onto a bit of power rather than save her life infuriated him.
“Stupid things?” She turned and poked him in the chest with her index finger. “Those stupid things have been in existence since the beginning of time. My family has guarded them for centuries. They are my responsibility and I failed to protect them. I can’t even begin to fathom what might have happened if I had been corrupted and the stones had been used for real evil.”
“I don’t understand,” he said. Confusion mixed with frustration over their situation put him in a bad temper. “I just want you safe and you seem determined to get yourself killed over a bit of power.”
She stopped. Her mind cleared. He felt it as if a wiper had cleared away a windshield. “Is that what you think?” she asked. A coarse laugh puffed out of her mouth. “Is that why you believe I am protecting them, for myself? You think I crave power?”
He shrugged. “You married a powerful man.”
The sorrow that filled her made him want to take the words back. If he could have wiped them from the world, he would have done it to make the pain of her sadness leave his mind.
“I married a man who courted me as I had never been courted before. I admit I was taken in by Oscar. I’m ashamed of that fact. But I married him because I believed he loved me, and for a short time, I loved him. Unfortunately, he was not the same man after the wedding.”
He had no idea what to say. He wished he had pretty words to ease her suffering, but he was just a bounty hunter. He tracked people for a living. Until yesterday, he’d never wanted a close relationship with anyone and he hadn’t had one. Now he knew of nothing that would soothe her.
She walked away a few steps. Her mind calmed again and she turned back toward him. “If you think we will have peace if I get rid of my responsibilities, Kane, toss the stones in the sea. Go ahead, damn us both.”
He wanted to do it. Thought he could do it. He looked in every direction. The piece of beach where they stood fighting as if they were longtime lovers was empty of people. He pulled his arm back twice in an attempt to hurl the hated bits of rock into oblivion. But each time he tried, his arm lowered to his side with the stones still tightly fisted.
Kane opened his hand and they dropped to the sand at his feet.
An arch of light shot from the place where the five Stones of Adeline hit the beach. Kane took a step away from the bluish-green beam. Lena moved closer and stood wide eyed.
“What is it?” he asked.
“It’s a vision,” she said.
“I thought only you could make the stones work.”
“So did I.”
Even as she said it, an image of Lena lying on her back on a table came into view. Her skin had a blue hue and her lips were deathly purple. Kane could see the slight lump on the side of her head from where Wade had hit her. The black vinyl bag around her was being zipped by someone out of view. They could only see a man’s hand pulling the zipper closed and rolling the table away.
Lena’s breath was ragged. She had moved next to him and he reached down and took her hand. She didn’t resist his affection and he felt a small sense of relief in spite of the horrifying vision.
An instant later, the vision changed. He saw himself running on grass. He didn’t look as if he was chasing a mark. No. He was chasing a child, a little girl of two or three, with dark hair in pigtails. He lifted her up and tossed her in the air. They both laughed. He landed in the grass with the child clinging to him, laughing. A third person entered the vision. Lena’s smiling face came into focus. She rubbed her distended belly and her mouth moved as if she was saying something. They couldn’t hear what was being said. The vision had no sound. Kane responded. Lena shook her head and back away. A moment later, he leaped up and pulled her onto the grass and hugged her. They both looked happy as they played. The little girl jumped in and cuddled Lena’s round belly.
The vision ended. The light was gone. The stones lay still in the sand.
Chapter Four
It just was not possible. Lena stared at the spot where the vision had been and she knew her mouth was hanging open. Neither one of the visions was all that surprising. She had seen crazier things when she read other people’s futures. The crazy part was, these were clearly two different futures. They could not exist in the same universe.
“What just happened?” Kane asked.
“You triggered a vision,” she mumbled, half to herself.
“Two visions,” he corrected.
She nodded dumbly.
“What does it mean?”
“I have no idea,” she said.
She looked up at him and his mouth was drawn down in a frown. His normal guise of being relaxed had been shattered. He clenched and unclenched his hands. Even the one still holding hers squeezed tighter, though not painfully. “I thought you were in charge of reading these things.”
She released his hand and knelt down in the sand, gathering up her stones. “They have never given two different futures before. I’ve never seen the stones triggered by someone other than my grandmother or myself. I don’t know what to say.”
He knelt next to her. “I can’t watch you die, Lena.” His voice was sad and angry. She knew just how he felt.
“It’s not my first choice, either.”
“The first vision had to be soon. You still had the bump on your head.” He combed his fingers through her hair.
“I noticed.” Her mind was reeling. How can there be two futures? “The stones don’t lie. They tell you what will happen to a point and then you make a choice.”
“Well, what does it mean? Clearly the second scenario takes place several years in the future.”
She touched her flat belly. “Clearly.”
She was lost in her own thoughts about being a mother. Kane’s hand settled over hers. She looked up into his eyes. “Lena, I…”
“You what?”
“I’ve never had a family.” His hand slid up from her stomach to her face. “I never thought of a wife or children. My life…”
“Didn’t you grow up in a family? A mother?”
He shook his head. “I grew up in an orphanage until I was seven and then I was turned over to the Psi-Alignment and trained to do what I do. I have no idea how to be what you need.”
He was afraid. Kane knew about escape. He understood how to hide and evade. If she understood him, he was terrified of both visions the stones had offered. She touched his cheek and leaned forward, pressing her lips to his. He responded, sucking her bottom lip into his mouth and wrapping his arms around her.
She broke the kiss, gasping for air. “First we have to find out how there can be two futures. Then we have to understand how it is you can trigger a vision.”
“How do we do that?” His voice was ragged.
“We’re going to have to see my grandmother. She’ll know what it all means.”
“And where exactly is your grandma?”
�
��She’s in hiding. I knew Oscar would use her as leverage if he could find her.” She trusted him with her life, but she was not ready to trust him with the life of the only family she had left. Her grandmother was too precious.
He kissed her forehead. “I can’t get you there if you don’t tell me where we’re going.”
She rested her head against his chest. His heart beat a steady rhythm and she closed her eyes. “I will tell you, Kane. Just not yet.”
The sun began to set. They walked hand in hand back to the hotel. In the lobby, Kane stopped a bellman. “Can we eat in the restaurant in these clothes?”
“Sí, señor. It is casual here. Would you like for me to check on a table for you?”
“Yes, please.”
A few minutes later, they were seated one level below the lobby at one of the dark tables in the outdoor restaurant. Lena barely noticed the food. She ordered some kind of fish, but she only ate because she was starving. She plucked pieces off the soft roll and popped them in her mouth while she thought about how to get to her grandmother.
“Why don’t you tell me what the problem is and we can work it out together?” Kane asked.
She looked across the table at him. His white shirt was only buttoned part of the way. The smattering of dark hair that covered his chest was visible. His bright-blue eyes devoured her as if she were his soft roll. She wanted to comb her fingers through his mussed hair and pretend they were on vacation, the same as all the other couples eating around them. But they were not on vacation. They were lovers because fate had thrust them together. The vision of them frolicking as a happy family must have been a mistake. Though she’d never heard of or seen the stones make any errors.
Lena sighed. “I don’t even know where to start.”
His smile was warm. It was the kind of look she could get lost in. Oscar had never smiled at her that way. He had been too smooth for warm looks. He used seduction and guile. Kane made no pretenses. He was exactly what she saw, rough edges and all.
When he spoke, it was low, for her ears only. “You are worried that finding your grandmother will expose her to Oscar.”
KanesBounty Page 5
