Heated Pursuit

by April Hunt

  “Fuck yeah they are.” Rafe murmured against her mouth, “I need to feel you grab onto me, sweetheart. Let me have it. Let go.”

  Penny moved her hips faster, matching each of Rafe’s thrusts with one of her own. He slipped his hand between their sweat-slickened bodies, expertly finding her already throbbing clit. Soft and gentle, he rubbed at her until every muscle in her body tensed.

  And then she was falling off a virtual cliff of pure bliss. Her body pulsed around him, pulling out a groan from his throat. Thrust after thrust, it intensified until she felt like she’d burst in a million different directions. When she gently bit into the fleshy part of his shoulder, he followed her over that edge, and she thanked God she wasn’t expected to do anything but drape her sated body over his.

  “Wow.” Penny panted, her body pleasantly limp. “Well, I can honestly say I didn’t see that on the agenda for tonight.”

  “That should be on the agenda every damn night.” Breathless, Rafe skated his lips from her neck to her mouth. “And beds may be overrated, but I can’t wait to do that again lying down in one.”

  She chuckled. “I’m game if you are, but you’re going to have to be in charge of relocation because I don’t think the feeling’s going to return to my legs for at least a week or two.”

  “I’ll make your recovery my top priority.” Rafe devoured her with his mouth as he walked them down the short hall to the back bedroom, and he did it without faltering a step or pulling out from her already reawakening body.

  Two seconds ago Penny didn’t think she could move. Now her body was raring to go for another round despite the nagging voice in her head muttering that she had lied.

  Big-time.

  Rafael Ortega couldn’t just break her. He could crush her.

  * * *

  Penny’s stomach somersaulted a few dozen times, and she wished it was because of Rafe’s magical hands. And his talented mouth. And every inch of his lethal-to-her-senses body. Last night, as corny as it sounded, had been a life changer. And she couldn’t imagine anyone but Rafe being the one capable of doing it.

  Of course, that meant she didn’t know what was going to come at any given moment—except her with him. Maybe. Hopefully. But not right now.

  Now she was mentally cursing the fact his hissy-fit plan worked too well. Between her earsplitting cries and the fervent stomping of her high heels, Diego’s men would’ve done almost anything to get her to shut up. Hoisting her into the back of a helicopter without a blindfold had been a small price to pay for her cooperation. For them.

  Penny glanced at Rafe sitting next to her, a blindfold secured tight over his eyes, and contemplated stealing it for herself.

  Through deep breaths, she studied the panoramic view beneath the chopper. For all its drawbacks, poverty and crime to name two, the Honduran countryside was exquisite. Lush green treetops blanketed the untamed jungles. Jagged mountains blended seamlessly into the occasional open plain, and interspersed amongst the terrain rose the sporadic groupings of small villages, villages that looked no larger than a few ant-sized structures.

  There wasn’t an inch of land lacking beauty, but what was noticeably absent were conspicuous landmarks. There were no street signs or roads, and for most of the expedition, no civilization. That meant there was nothing to memorize.

  The chopper pitched left. With a gasp, Penny’s grip on Rafe’s knee tightened. She closed her eyes and focused on making each breath deeper than the last.

  Though they were the only ones without communication headphones, Rafe still made certain to keep his concerned voice low as his lips brushed against her ear. “You doing okay?”

  “Peachy,” she lied.

  “The nail marks in my knee say otherwise.” Rafe caressed the inside of her leg in soothing circles.

  “Sorry.” She made an effort to lighten her hold, but the second the chopper shuddered beneath them in a loud grind of metal on metal, she resuctioned her hand back onto his leg. “Okay, maybe I’m not so peachy. We’re football fields above a tree-topped wilderness in a flying contraption that looks as if it should’ve been laid to rest about four wars ago. Your blindfold looks really good right now.”

  “Would you like me to take your mind off it, Roja?” Murmured seductively into the curve of her neck, in Spanish, his nickname for her never sounded better.

  Rafe chuckled, no doubt feeling the surge of her heart rate against his mouth. A promise like that from him was probably the only thing that could take her mind off dropping to the ground in a blazing inferno.

  When they landed ten minutes later, Penny would’ve dropped to her knees and kissed the jungle floor if Rafe hadn’t secured an arm around her waist.

  “You’re looking a little peaked, Roja.” He grinned.

  “I think the color you’re searching for is green,” she joked dryly.

  “But even green tinged, you’re still fucking gorgeous, sweetheart.”

  “Welcome!” Diego’s voice turned them both around. Looking very much like a general in front of his camouflaged fortress, Fuentes marched toward them, quickly eating up the distance with his long strides.

  And it was a fortress. Trees hugged the large stucco mansion on all sides, effectively melding it into the surrounding jungle. Macaws in vivid shades of greens and reds squawked from the red clay rooftop while white-faced capuchins swung on low-hanging limbs.

  An over-the-shoulder glance confirmed that Fuentes’s men had covered the chopper with camo netting and jungle life. Operation No Backup had officially started.

  “Keep it cool, Red.” Rafe’s lips grazed against her temple, missing nothing.

  “Señorita Hanlan. Rafael.” Diego placed another gag-invoking kiss on Penny’s hand. “I am ecstatic that you could make the trip. One of my men will show you to your room, and after you have had a chance to refresh, we will sit down to dinner.”

  “I’d rather get down to business,” Rafe added. “Not that I don’t appreciate your hospitality, but I do have a company to run and eventually get back to.”

  “All in due time, mi amigo. Due time. Think of your time here as a little business vacation.”

  Diego ushered them into the house, which was no less impressive on the inside than the outside. Expensive pieces of art lined the walls. Antique tables were adorned with statues in a vast array of mediums. And the opulence continued in their room, where four large circulating fans hung delicately from the vaulted ceiling, one of which hovered over a king-sized bed. Everything looked lavish and rich—and Penny fought like crazy not to smash every valuable in sight.

  It wasn’t until she and Rafe were left alone that she opened her mouth, and turned straight into a kiss that curled her toes. Oh, the man could kiss.

  Rafe took full advantage of her impending rant. His tongue brushed against her bottom lip before slipping into her mouth. In zero point two seconds she went from stomach-twisting sick to panty-melting hot. Her arms linked around his neck while his large hands gripped her hips and pulled her between his muscular thighs.

  Her gelatin legs no longer mattered when he walked her backward and pinned her body against the wall. Vertical was her new favorite position, at least with Rafe. With unhurried strokes, his tongue mimicked the slow grind of his hips, tormenting every inch of her body until she emitted a husky, feminine groan.

  Until last night, she’d never been kissed like this—like the very existence of the earth depended on this one single meeting of mouths. If this was what it was like to be ravished, she’d been missing out on a hell of a lot. His callused hands bit into the silky fabric of her sundress and lifted both the hem and her leg to his waist.

  It felt animalistic, primal—fitting since they were in the middle of the jungle. Control obliterated, she tossed her reservations into metaphorical Yucca trees and chased after the hot, burning need ripping its way through her body.

  She no longer received, but gave. She matched the thrust of his hips with her own, lured his tongue farther into her mouth
before invading his. She slipped her hands beneath the cotton of his button-down shirt and relished the feel of hard, flat abs. One strong tug and buttons flew, leaving his chest exposed to her touch. Someone, or both of them, trembled.

  With a soft curse, Rafe spun them into the bathroom, never once taking his mouth from hers as he kicked the door closed behind them.

  “Keep your arms raised.” He clasped her fingers around the mounted towel hook and continued to run his hands down her body. When he got to the hem of her dress, he sifted it up and bunched it around her waist. Her knees buckled as his thumb brushed over the dampened lace of her thong. And when he followed the caress with a slow nuzzle of his mouth, she whimpered, one hand falling to the top of his head.

  “Hands up, Roja, or this is all you’re going to get.”

  No. Freaking. Way.

  Rafe waited until she obeyed to pull her thong to the side and take a long, slow swipe with his tongue. Her body tensed as he skated it back through her wet slit. Up and down. Around. He took his time, making her body quiver beneath his mouth before daring to give her engorged clit a gentle suck.

  “Oh my God,” she murmured at the exact time the pleasure turned to carnal bliss.

  He hummed against her mound, the vibrations tightening her hold on the towel hook to avoid falling. The mix of his rough, stubbled jaw against her thigh and the smooth glide of his tongue made her come so hard that her legs went limp.

  Rafe continued to lick her until she was breathless and panting. She lost track of time, watching him beneath half-hooded eyes as he kissed his way to her waiting mouth. Tasting herself on his lips felt so wrong, and yet made her so damn hot.

  Not letting go of her, Rafe reached into the shower and turned the nozzle to full blast. With a lazy smile, he dropped his forehead to hers. “Holy hell, Red.”

  She flashed him a tremulous grin. “You took the words out of my mouth. And not that I didn’t enjoy that because I obviously did, but what was that about?”

  “Bugs.”

  With the still-pulsing rush of pheromones, it took a minute to realize he meant microphones and not hand-sized cockroaches. “How did you—?”

  He gestured to Charlie’s creation strapped to his wrist. “Charlie wasn’t kidding. This thing works like a fucking charm. That room out there’s filled to the brim with them, and it looks like there’s a video signature out there, too.”

  “So you’re telling me that your choices were either giving me a mind-numbing orgasm or having me blow our cover?”

  He flashed her a wicked grin that made his eyes twinkle. “What can I say? I’ve been thinking about tasting you ever since we woke up this morning.”

  Penny couldn’t argue with his chosen option, because she’d been thinking about the same thing. She just hadn’t pictured it happening against the door in Diego Fuentes’s bathroom.

  “I’ll scope out the mics and deliver them to our host with an ultimatum, but I think it best we leave the camera.” Rafe got them back on track. “It doesn’t appear to have sound capabilities. This way, Fuentes can feel as though he has an eye on us. Of course, that means no breaking character. At least physically.”

  “Then let’s go round up some bugs.”

  “Not right this second.” He propped his arm against the door, blocking her exit.

  “Can I ask why not?” She challenged his naughty grin with a lift of her eyebrows.

  “It doesn’t take a sex therapist to see where things were heading out there. We were going at it pretty hot and heavy. I may be undercover, but I still have a reputation to consider. There’s no way in hell I’d be done with you after only a few minutes.”

  Heat came roaring back to both their eyes with his brutal honesty. Rafe had made her shed her reservations regarding commando types once already, twice if you factored in the kiss at the safe house, and it was clearly going to become a habit.

  Her rules hadn’t factored him into the equation, because he was more than the ruggedly gorgeous outside package. It was his brief moments of humor, of compassion…and yeah, ridiculous sex appeal. When he dropped his cool exterior and looked at her like he wanted to eat her whole, she shivered. A man like him didn’t do anything half-assed. He was thorough and attentive, woefully unselfish. Jealousy over an unknown woman who would one day be lucky enough to call him hers made Penny give herself a mental slap.

  His gaze drifted toward the running water. “I can think of one way to pass the time.”

  Her eyes rounded as she fought not to misinterpret his meaning, but the upward curl of his lip and the matching glint in his eyes said she hadn’t misread a damn thing. “Seriously? You want to take a shower? Now?”

  “It’s as good a distraction as any. Water conservation is the eco-friendly thing to do. What do you say, Red? Do you want to help me save the planet?”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Showers would never be the same for Rafe again, not after lathering Penny in soapy suds and running his hands over every square inch of her gorgeous body. Watching her eyes light up with arousal as she came was a damn addictive sight to behold, which is why he made her come on his hand a second time in the shower before letting her drop to her knees.

  And Jesus. He was glad he did. If being inside her warm pussy was the ultimate heaven, having her tongue wrapped around his cock took a damn close second. His strut had a spring to it as he inconspicuously scanned the room for bugs, pocketed them, and then located the camera in their room’s unused fireplace. He gave Penny a heads-up and then left her to prepare for dinner.

  As he navigated the halls of the mansion, he drew a mental blueprint of points of entry and exit, of every door and corridor and security detail. The entire time, one of Fuentes’s homegrown militia shadows followed, but he didn’t care.

  The howl of curses brought Rafe straight to Diego’s door.

  “I do not fucking care if it has become difficult for you,” Diego snarled into a phone. “Take care of it or I will take the fuck care of you, you arrogant son of a bitch! Comprende? Fix this. Now. Or I’ll have your body parts spread over the entire southern hemisphere. Try spending my money then!”

  Fuentes hurled the phone against the wall, making it splinter into a dozen pieces.

  “Breaking up with your service provider?” Rafe joked dryly, announcing his presence.

  The older man ventured over to his wet bar, his face back to an eerie calm. “It is an unfortunate case of entitlement issues, I am afraid. But I do believe I made my stance on the matter clear. And if I have not, I will soon enough. I trust that you and your beautiful señorita have found your accommodations to your liking?”

  “The bathroom’s quite roomy.”

  Diego’s twisted smirk tested Rafe’s control. Yeah, the bastard had seen the show in the bedroom. Rafe was suddenly very glad he’d moved them into the bathroom.

  He dropped the mics onto the mahogany desk and let his displeasure be known. “I could’ve done without these. The kind of business relationship you’re proposing requires trust, Señor Fuentes. This isn’t what I call trust.”

  “You must pardon me, Rafael, but I do not trust so easily.” Diego slipped a drink in Rafe’s direction. “Nor, does it seem, do you. However, I do apologize for the necessity, and for the invasion of your privacy.”

  “And I have your word that no more will be put in their place?” Not like he’d believe the man for a minute.

  “Sí. Sí. Of course!” Diego gestured to one of the plush leather seats. “Come. Join me for a predinner drink and then I will allow you to fetch your beautiful lady friend. You must tell me how a man from your rather humble background has acquired so much success.”

  * * *

  It was Vince, Penny’s friend and mentor, who told her that using the attributes given to her by God and genetics sometimes couldn’t be helped. It was the way of the world, and the men they often sought after in bail enforcement didn’t expect a curvy vixen in fishnets and a micromini to tote around a shiny Glock 19 and an arres
t warrant beneath her garters.

  It was a tactic she’d never felt truly comfortable executing, and it wasn’t any different now than it was then. Except for the fact that Fuentes wasn’t a parole jumper with a penchant for beating on prostitutes…and she wasn’t armed. It wouldn’t have mattered if they had been able to sneak in their handguns. Although it covered her body from neck to knee, the snug fit of her blue Asian-style dress couldn’t have hidden the outline of a matchbook, much less a weapon.

  The sleek material hugged her every curve as if it were airbrushed onto her skin. All the clothes she’d brought on this op fit the same way, as if they were designed and made just for her. It made Penny wonder if Maria had somehow managed to take her measurements while she was sleeping.

  Penny turned sideways, looking into the bathroom mirror from different angles. No matter which way she turned or how much smoky-eyed makeup and lip balm she applied, the woman staring back at her looked uncomfortable.

  The click of the bedroom door followed by the complete lack of footsteps broadcasted Rafe’s arrival. “Our host is waiting for us, Roja,” his voice echoed from the bedroom.

  She peeked around the corner and watched him act casual as he did another electronic scan of the room with his Hot-and-Cold watch. “I’ll come out, but you’re not allowed to judge. Also, don’t make me bend, laugh, or expect me to breathe too deeply. In other words, anything physical is pretty much off the table. But if we need one of those living statues, I’m your girl.”

  Pulse pounding, she showed herself in the doorway and felt her heart plummet to her stomach at the sight of Rafe’s wilting smile. “Oh God. It’s bad, isn’t it? I look ridiculous? I knew it.” She turned, prepared to hide her head in the nearest hole.

  “Don’t move a muscle.” His soft order brought her feet to an automatic stop. But it wasn’t until his presence warmed the front of her body that she hesitantly met his gaze. She watched in fascination as his blue eyes changed to stormy gray.