Heated Pursuit

by April Hunt

  Beneath him, Penny groaned. He took his mouth off her body only long enough to pull the shirt over her head, and then his lips were back on her, flicking, nipping. He rubbed his mouth down the length of her neck. By the time he reached the delicate curve of her collarbone, he had her bra off and his hand cupping one perfect mound.

  When their gazes entwined, something clicked. Changed. Suddenly Rafe didn’t remember how to make his chest rise and fall, and judging by the widening of her eyes, Penny didn’t either. This time when he took her mouth in a kiss, it was different.

  This was different. They were different. Lust and need still threatened to drown them both, but there was something stronger hovering between them. This time when he twined his fingers into her hair, he felt his trembles rumble through their touching bodies.

  He wanted to prove her right—that he could be all the things she deserved and so much more. But unable to find the words, he let his eyes, his mouth, and his hands do the talking. For now.

  They worked together to ease the BDUs down her slender thighs, underwear and all. Layers slowly evaporated, each removal instigating a new round of caresses. He could’ve taken her at any point, but this wasn’t about the quick thrill. It was about savoring. About showing. About living for the first time in his life.

  Rafe enjoyed the sight of her naked and spread out before him. Her eyes stayed locked on his as he gently urged her legs a little wider and settled between her thighs. “I don’t know what I did to make you look at me like that, sweetheart, but I’m so glad that I fucking did it.”

  Her hand cupped the side of his face. “You were just you, Rafe. That’s all you ever need to be with me.”

  Her words directed him right over the edge of his control. As he stared into her desire-filled eyes, he touched his mouth to her center and relished her breathy sigh. On the second slow swipe of his tongue, she quivered.

  “Rafe. Please,” Penny moaned.

  Sliding his hand up to play with the taut peak of her left breast, Rafe lingered on her swelling clit before taking another pass through her wetness. Again and again. He could stay in this spot all fucking day. With the taste of Penny on his tongue, time lost meaning. Only her pleasure mattered, and he focused on every breathy moan until her body started to flutter against his mouth.

  Rafe picked up the pace in small increments, taking her right to the edge—and with one gentle flick over her clit, pushed her over. Her body tightened, hips bucking up toward his mouth as he stroked her through her climax. He stayed with her for every little flutter and soft keening moan…right until the last quake rolled from her body.

  Rafe climbed his way back up her body. “You’re always gorgeous, sweetheart, but when you fly apart like that, you’re unbelievable.”

  “You’re blind,” Penny panted against his mouth. “I did the best I could in that shower, but water can only do so much to wash away an entire jungle.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with my eyesight, Red.” Feather soft, he brushed his mouth over hers in a kiss that despite the gentleness of it, packed one hell of a wallop.

  Penny shivered, not protesting when he tucked her knees around his hips. The change in position slid his rock-hard cock through the folds of her wetness. He slid back and did it again, this time making sure the rim of his dick brushed against her clit. Sucking in a breath, Penny canted her hips upward and encouraged him to do it again.

  He teased them both for as long as he could handle, and then, making sure he had her full attention, he slid into her tightness with one slow push. They both groaned as her body reflexively wrapped around him. It was freaking heaven. A homecoming.

  He dropped his forehead to hers, fighting the urge to go too damn fast. “I don’t think I can let you go, Red. God help me, but I don’t think I’m strong enough to watch you go.”

  “You don’t have to. I’m right here. I’ll always be right here.” She kissed his cheek. His chin. And then finally, she slid her lips over his waiting mouth. Beneath him, she rolled her hips. Her body sucked him in to the hilt. “Make love to me.”

  He didn’t need to be told twice. They were in perfect sync, locked together as one. One thrust turned into another until the quickening of her muscles turned their movements frantic.

  “Rafe.” Penny’s ragged sigh urged him harder…faster.

  The unguarded warmth shining at him through her eyes broke his hard-fought control. Her body erupted, muscles clamping down on his cock like a vise. Rafe thrust deeper, intensifying the strong pulses with each stroke. He quickly roared his own mind-boggling release. Slick from sweat, he continued to rock their bodies together.

  It took forever to come down from the high, and even when the last pulse eased away, the euphoric feeling stayed behind. The ghost of a smile on Penny’s face flipped something in his chest.

  His former self would’ve backed away from the unknown and then created a thousand-mile distance. The Rafe Penny had somehow created now molded her against the side of his body and held on tight.

  The truth was a warm glow of energy that filled him from the base of his core outward. His body, heart, and soul no longer belonged to him.

  They were hers.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  A few short weeks ago, Penny would’ve never imagined being cocooned in Rafe’s arms, much less the safe feeling that came with it. And it was more than knowing she was physically safe that turned her insides into a warm pile of goo. It was the knowledge that she could be herself and be enough—with the right person.

  Hopefully with Rafe.

  They’d made love for hours before exhaustion took told and Penny slept so deeply she didn’t think she’d moved in twelve hours. But when they woke, Rafe had been more than willing to work out the knotted kinks in her lower back with another spectacular round of love-making.

  No doubt everyone was starting to wonder where they were—or maybe not.

  “You’re not allowed to move even an inch.” Rafe’s voice rumbled the man-pillow beneath her cheek. “Actually, don’t even think about moving at all, because you’re not going anywhere. Ever.”

  Staying wrapped in his arms for an indefinite amount of time sounded good to her. As a matter of fact, it sounded like perfection. Penny propped her chin on his chest and met his sleepy-eyed gaze with an automatic smile. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  “Good. Because I’ll hunt you down and haul you back to where you belong. And in case you’re wondering, that’s right the hell here.” The arm that rested possessively on her hip hugged her closer. “Get that sweet ass over here.”

  Penny squealed as he tugged her on top of him. Astride his still-naked body, she shimmied until the hardness of his erection brushed against her still-sensitive clit. With a groan, Rafe slid home in one tortuously slow thrust.

  * * *

  It was déjà vu as they silently dressed. In a methodical system, Rafe inspected the mags for each of his handguns before slipping them into his black combat vest. Already in place and tucked against each thigh were knives that would’ve looked lethal in any torture chamber. The thought of him needing to use any of it turned Penny’s stomach inside out.

  Moments before the start of an operation wasn’t the time to purge feelings. Distractions were dangerous, and he and the others were about to walk into a virtual minefield. So Penny kept silent, unable to say a word even if her tongue weren’t stuck to the roof of her mouth.

  Weeks of worry and planning were finally ending, one way or another. But for that to happen, the man she loved and the men she’d grown to care about like brothers were putting their lives on the line.

  Rafe tugged his vest into place and gave the zipper a sharp tug before turning toward her. The longer he stared, the heavier the elephant sitting on her chest became. Being in his arms made it so easy to tune out the rest of the world. Watching him transform from lover to badass commando, that world came rushing back with a vengeance.

  He was in front of her in two long strides, tipping her
chin up with a pinch of his fingers. “If Rachel’s there, I will bring her back. I promise.”

  A buildup of emotions made it hard to breathe. “I know. Just bring yourself back, too. Please.”

  Penny kissed him, nearly spilling her heart out at his boots with one brush of lips. It nearly killed her to back away without telling him that she loved him.

  “Stay alert while we’re gone. Stay close to Logan,” he ordered gently. “We still don’t know exactly where Fuentes has his inside man planted, and I don’t trust Collins as far as he can throw a goat.”

  “Really? And here I was thinking it would be more along the lines of an adult-sized buffalo,” Penny tried to joke.

  The tight press of Rafe’s mouth told her that her attempt to lighten the mood failed miserably.

  When a heavy knock landed on the door, Rafe pulled it open to a waiting Trey. Dressed nearly identical to Rafe, he stood in the hall, thumbs hooked into his pockets, not looking the least surprised to see Penny walking up to his friend’s side.

  “Prepare yourself for a lot of whining,” Trey warned her with a wink. “Logan’s been bitching about being left behind.”

  The operator in question turned the corner. Grin in place, Logan strutted down the hall in his usual loose swagger.

  “You look surprisingly okay with having to stay behind,” Penny stated, suspicious of the former Marine’s jovial mood.

  Logan dropped an arm over her shoulder. “I’ll admit I was a little put out at first, but then I saw the group that’s going to be piling into the helo all sardine-like. Trust me—I’m definitely getting the better end of the deal. What do you say to you, me, and a bottle of the finest jungle wine they got on hand, darlin’? We’ll make an entire night of it.”

  “There’s such a thing as jungle wine?” Penny grinned.

  “You’re right. We don’t need the wine to have a good time. We just need each other.”

  A low growl from Rafe’s direction had everyone—except Rafe—chuckling. He gripped her belt loops and pulled her out of Logan’s grasp and into his own, making the Marine laugh harder. “Cool down, brother. I’ve got almost nothing but the safety of your girl in mind.”

  Penny rolled her eyes at the level of machismo filling the small hall and wrapped her arms around Rafe’s waist. When his gaze dropped to hers, she gently assured him, “We’ll be fine. You need to stop worrying about what’s happening here and start concentrating on what’s going to happen out there.”

  “We still don’t know where Fuentes has his mole planted, and I’m about to leave you in a DEA-run facility…with Collins.” Rafe palmed her cheek, and instinctively she pushed her face into his touch. He waited a moment before leveling a look in his friend’s direction. “I’m entrusting you with precious cargo, Callahan.”

  Logan nodded, suddenly a little more somber. “Like the lady said—no worries.”

  Penny wished that were actually true. As they collected the rest of the team and met up with Collins and the others on the tarmac, her stomach tightened into multiple fist-sized knots. Ten minutes later, she watched the helo carrying Rafe and the guys lift into the dark sky.

  This was real. It was happening. After bunkering down in flea-infested hotels and traipsing through the Honduran wilderness—which literally almost killed her with a scratch—things were finally coming to a close. It seemed to take forever to get to this point, and now it was flying by way too fast.

  Though Rafe hadn’t asked for it, she summoned every ounce of love and threw it into her prayers for a safe return—very much aware that they hadn’t discussed what would happen between them when he did.

  * * *

  Penny’s eyes remained glued to the black-and-white footage being transmitted from the camera on Rafe’s vest. Each of the four Alpha-led teams entered the jungle warehouse—Fuentes’s suspected distribution hub—from different vantage points. Screen to screen, her eyes jumped from one monitor to the other. They all looked the same. No movement. No noise except for the brief exchange of voices as the teams systematically cleared each room and moved deeper into the building.

  The place looked like a tomb, the halls no less vacant than each of the rooms or the surrounding grounds.

  “Where is everyone?” Penny whispered.

  “Situation report, Stone Cold?” Rafe’s voice called out Sean’s handle but was answered with blaring silence. One beat passed, then two. “I repeat, sit-rep? Do you read me?”

  “Fuck me.” Sean’s muttered curse echoed over the comm link as if he’d shouted it through a megaphone. “Everyone, pull back! I repeat, all teams pull back! Get the fuck out of the building! Now! Move! Move!”

  The microphone cut out, replacing the two-way audio with a static hiss. Penny was on her feet in an instant, her stomach flipping on its side as Rafe’s camera bounced with his mad-like-hell run. “What’s happening? What did he see?”

  Logan’s fingers flew over the computer keys, cursing with each attempt to bring back the sound.

  “Logan!”

  “I’m working on it, darlin’. I’m working on it. Fuckin’ A, Collins! These computers are pieces of shit! Know how to work a fucking upgrade!”

  “Explosives…rigged…trap.”

  A split second after Rafe’s words came online, they once again cut out. A blink later, the images on each monitor disappeared in a volcanic eruption of light and fire. That was it. One minute the entire team was there, and the next…nothing.

  No sound. No visual. After the blinding flash dissipated, nothing but blackness filled the screens. Shock froze the breath in Penny’s lungs, and rainbow dots peppered her vision.

  Rafe was gone. Trey was gone. All of them…gone.

  “You fucking son of a bitch!” Logan shouted. “Penny! Run!”

  The shout of her name and the coinciding crash were the only things that kept Penny from hitting the floor. She turned as Logan dropped, heavy and unconscious, to the ground.

  Agent Collins redirected his attention—and his gun—to her. “Alone at last. I believe we have a mutual friend, Miss Kline…and he’s very anxious to lay eyes on you again.”

  * * *

  Burning pain made Rafe suck in a sharp breath. Fuck, that hurt. Everything hurt. He flipped on his back and cursed. “Mother-sucking son of a—”

  “Rafe!” A hard nudge followed the shout of the voice. “Over here! I found him!” Another nudge. “Fuck, man. Are you dead?”

  “Poke my ribs again, Hanson, and your new handle’s going to be fucking Stumpy.” Rafe coughed, then growled as a jab of lightning speared straight through his torso. He forced his eyes open and winced at the light Trey aimed into his face. “Turn that fucking thing off.”

  “If you wanted to take a nap, you could’ve at least waited until the work was done,” Trey joked. He stepped back, offering an arm to help Rafe back to his feet.

  Rafe took him up on the assist and ignored the sharp twinge in his back that came along with the abrupt move. “I think that blast could’ve been spotted from the fucking Hubble.”

  “You’re not fucking lying,” Stone stated as he and Chase walked up with Vince and his crew in tow. All of them looked a bit singed around the edges, Franklin a little more literally. Half his fucking pants leg was missing. “Damn glad we didn’t opt for an all-in breach. Now the question is what set it off? Was it timing? Bad luck? Or someone off in the shadows with a remote detonator?”

  “None of them,” Vince interjected. “That place was rigged to blow a few minutes after entry—at least the setup I saw in the east corner of the building.”

  “It was the same with the west end,” Chase agreed.

  “So it wouldn’t have mattered which entry point we chose,” Stone said, stating what they all were figuring out. “The place would’ve blown to high hell with any of them.”

  Vince nodded in agreement. “Smart thing to do would be to rig every single entry point. With the amount of C-4 that was used, one trip would be all that was needed to set off a
chain reaction of explosions until you have one big-ass hole in the ground.”

  “You.” Chase crooked his finger at a baby-faced DEA agent. “This has been the compound you guys have been focusing on for the last few months?”

  He nodded. “This entire region.”

  “Why?”

  The kid looked at him as if he had two heads. “Because according to our footage, this is where all the activity was happening. The drug runners couldn’t have advertised their presence more if they’d sent up smoke flares and wore reflective gear. There was no reason to look anyplace else.”

  Rafe’s stomach dropped like a lead ball. He didn’t give a damn that it wasn’t professional or that his teammates shouted at him to calm the hell down. He fisted Doogie DEA’s shirt and brought the kid to his toes. He prayed that for once in his life, his gut was wrong. “Who’s the agent who stumbled on this intel?”

  “A-Agent Collins,” the kid stuttered. “He’s the one who has to sign off on all missions—intel gathering, surveillance…raids.”

  “And what’s been done with the east and northern quadrants?”

  “Nothing. We’ve been throwing most of our focus out here.”

  With a disgusted curse, Rafe dropped the kid to his feet. One look at his team indicated they were all on the same page. They’d found Fuentes’s inside man.

  And he was back at HQ.

  With Penny.

  * * *

  A steady thwump-thwump-thwump filled Penny’s ears, ricocheting pain from her hairline to all points north, south, east, and west. She blinked, winced, and blinked again. The sharp contrast of the dim interior and brightly colored control panel seared her retinas, but it was the explosion of memories that stole her ability to breathe.

  The raid.

  The explosion.

  Rafe.

  She’d witnessed the blast, seen the screen of white fuzz, and heard the aftermath of the chilling silence. But wouldn’t she have felt something if Rafe was gone? An ache? An all-knowing gut feeling? The irreparable shatter of her heart?