“Your boy’s a pretty sharp kid. When we first got the call relayed through the marine operator, we weren’t sure how seriously to take it, but after listening to him, we had darn near all we needed.”
“I didn’t expect you this fast,” Noah said.
“We were already on the way.”
“You were?” Paige said, surprised.
He nodded. “Redstone was already curious about the sudden lack of reports when things should have been buzzing here. Then we started picking up some odd cellular traffic. And one of Josh’s connections let him know a splinter group of terrorists from Arethusa had suddenly dropped off the map. That was enough for him to round us up and start us this way. Then we got the boy’s call, so we stepped it up.”
“Is there anybody Josh doesn’t know?”
“Not likely. He’s on the way, too, should be here tonight.” Draven studied them both for a moment. “You both look a little worse for wear. Why don’t you let us wrap this up?”
“Gladly,” Noah said. “I’ve never felt more clueless in my life.”
“Not what I heard from their not-so-mighty leader!”
Paige turned to look at the man coming up from behind them, this one a lean, wiry Hispanic man with warm brown eyes and freckles scattered incongruously over his nose.
“This is Javier Santiago,” Draven said. “He’s a new hire. So what did you hear?”
The man poured out a quick version of what had happened since Paige had made her way into the dining room, more than once giving her a curious yet appreciative glance.
When he was done, Draven looked at Noah. “If you ever want a transfer,” he began.
Noah shook his head. “No way. I’ll leave the heroics to you guys, I’m no good at it.”
Draven looked at Noah, then Paige, then around the room to the captive terrorists. “You know,” he said conversationally, “in my experience heroes are mostly people who do what has to be done at the time. You got it done, Rider.”
Noah lowered his gaze and let out a long breath. Paige sensed those simple words were the highest of accolades. And from a man like Draven, perhaps they were.
“Redstone does know how to throw a party,” Rider said two days later.
It was just an inane observation. That the party was a wild success was evident all around them. But he had to say something to take his mind off other things, now that aspirin had dulled the last of the aches and pains. Paige had dressed for this gathering in a slender wisp of a dress that made her look almost fragile, made what she had done seem impossible except for the bruises that were starting to show. He was sure the first aid she’d been administered had included a painkiller, as well, because she was moving easily. Smoothly. Gracefully.
But worse for him, she’d left her hair down, freed from its usual braid or twist. It flowed down her back in a mass that made even the bonfire they had going look tame. And Noah thought he was going to slowly go insane just looking at her.
Across the crowded patio was the tall, lanky man who had arrived on the jet that had also brought the supplies for this huge luau.
“I can’t believe Mr. Redstone himself showed up,” Paige said.
“Josh? I’m not surprised.” He grinned at her. “He takes that Redstone family thing real serious.”
“I know,” she said softly.
Rider saw her peer past the small bonfire to where he’d last seen Kyle. The boy had returned with Lani and the rest of the villagers—including Hannah and her parents, who gushed until Rider was embarrassed—all of whom had been invited to the celebration. He had been quite chastened by the experience, even while exhilarated at the part he’d played. He’d solemnly told his mother the real thing wasn’t anything like his violent video games, and she’d heard him telling Lani he knew now they were childish.
“It’s going to be fine,” Rider told her. He knew they hadn’t had a chance to really talk yet, but he guessed from the fierce hug the boy had given her when he’d gotten back to the hotel that they were going to be all right.
“I think so,” she agreed, for the first time sounding confident about it.
Draven appeared at the edge of the crowd, scanned the area and, after seeming to find everything to his liking, faded back into the shadows.
“He’s quite something, isn’t he?” Paige said, nodding toward where he’d vanished. “Where did Mr. Redstone find him?”
“He was in the service with Josh’s little brother. And, yes, he’s something. Tougher than boiled owl, Josh says.”
She smiled at that—it sounded like something the man would say. “What about Sam and Rand?”
“Sam worked her way up through the ranks. She started out as security at one of the other resorts, but it wasn’t long before Josh realized she was ready for more. I’m not sure where he found Rand.”
“They are quite a pair, visually.”
“We rag them a lot about being twins separated at birth. They use it, on occasion, when it will help. Go in as brother and sister.”
“Go in?” She frowned. “You mean, like undercover?”
“Redstone’s got a lot of operations all over the world. You never know what you might need.”
“Can I have your attention, everybody?”
Rider knew the voice, and when he saw Josh Redstone up on one of the benches at the edge of the patio, he felt a sudden qualm.
“What’s he going to do?” Paige asked.
“Embarrass us, most likely,” Rider muttered. He still didn’t feel like the hero they all called him, felt more as if he’d just stumbled through it all and gotten lucky.
“You, most of all, I hope,” she said, sounding rather cheerful about it. And when he looked at her, she merely added, “Your Mr. Draven was right, you know. You can say you’re not a hero all you want, but that doesn’t change the truth.”
Between the soft smile that curved her mouth and the glow of something warm and intimate in her eyes, Rider was speechless.
“I won’t interrupt for long here,” Josh said in the slight drawl that often fooled competitors into thinking he was a bit slow, much to their chagrin later, when they realized he was sharper than a shark’s tooth. “I just want to bring some people up here I know you all want to thank. Kyle, Lani, where are you?”
The two teenagers, holding hands openly now, went to stand beside the bench, looking at the crowd rather shyly. Kyle without his earrings, Rider noticed. Kyle paused to smile at Tess Machado, who as usual was only a few feet away from Josh. She shook the boy’s hand and then threw him a snappy salute that made the boy grin.
“Rider? Paige?”
With a sigh Rider took her hand and started toward his boss.
“Why does everyone call you Rider?” Paige asked.
He thought about telling her the whole truth, how he hated his first name, but then decided to tell her the new truth he’d learned.
“Because you’re the only one I like to hear call me Noah.”
He was gratified to see that she nearly missed a step and that color rose in her cheeks. He took advantage, shamelessly, of the fact that in a moment she wasn’t going to be able to talk back to him, and whispered intimately in her ear exactly how he’d like to hear her call his name, and soon.
To his shock she simply looked up at him, and as they stepped up to Josh’s bench, said, “Yes.”
And just that neatly, she turned the tables on him. He’d begun by teasing her, hoping she would remember the fevered moments they’d shared and might want to explore further. And wound up in a state of severe, painful arousal, barely aware of the praise that was being heaped on his head.
As soon as he thought they could escape without drawing too much attention, he grabbed Paige’s hand and led the way back into the hotel.
“Pick a number between one and four,” he said. She looked at him blankly. “Just pick one,” he said.
“Three, I guess.” She sounded confused. Or maybe it was flustered. He voted for the latter.
&
nbsp; “Three it is,” he said, and headed down the hallway to the elevators. He spared a moment to think of the last time he’d been in an elevator and how things had changed. But only a moment. He hit the button for the third floor and the doors slid closed. Then he turned to face her.
“If you want to change your mind, you’ve got the length of this ride to do it,” he said, his voice taut.
Paige looked at him, wide-eyed, but she shook her head.
“You’re sure? I mean, this could be just adrenaline, could be reaction, or…something.”
“Then we need to know, don’t we?”
“Need,” he said, wondering at the hoarseness of his own voice, “is definitely the word.”
He reached for her then, but the elevator came politely to a stop and the door slid open. Smothering a grunt of frustration, Rider held the door for her, then followed her into the hall. Moments later he was using his master keycard on the door of room thirty-three, and then they were inside.
He shut the door behind them.
“Three hundred rooms we could be in,” he said as some of the tension inside him let go now that they were alone. “They won’t find us for hours.”
And suddenly Paige wouldn’t look at him. He reached out and gently grasped her shoulders, but she still wouldn’t raise her eyes.
It cost him, but he said, “You know I didn’t mean that, in the elevator. You can change your mind anytime.”
She did look up then. “I don’t want to change my mind. It’s just that since Phil, I haven’t…”
Her voice trailed off. And Rider knew his was thick and rough when he told her, “Then I’m even more honored.”
Color rose in her cheeks. He cupped her face as memories flooded through him. He swallowed tightly, tamped down his unruly body, because he knew this needed to be said, and before things went any further. He wasn’t sure he was ready for this, he only knew he couldn’t walk away this time. No matter what, even if it meant an unexpected fatherhood to a stubborn teenager, he couldn’t walk way. He was more than a little in awe that this brave, bright, loving woman wanted him, and he wanted to be sure she knew it.
“I never forgot you, Paige. Even though I felt so damned guilty about that night, I never forgot you. When I saw you again here, I thought I knew why no other woman interested me. But in the past three days I found out I haven’t even scratched the surface of who you are.”
“I hope,” she whispered, “that you like what you find.”
That was all he needed to hear.
At first it was an odd sort of dance, each of them trying to be careful, aware of cuts and bruises, yet each of them in a hot, urgent rush. The fires they’d banked for so long threatened to blaze out of control at the first touch. And soon the cuts and bruises didn’t matter.
Rider knew he was lost the moment she tugged his shirt up and slid her hands underneath, stroking her fingers over his belly, then his chest. He shuddered at the heat her touch generated and vaguely wondered if they’d survive this, when the first touch nearly sent him up in flames.
He reached out and did what he’d been longing to do all evening. Hell, since the first time he’d ever seen her. He threaded his fingers through that silken mane of red hair, letting it slip over his hands, savoring the heavy silk of it.
“Paige,” he whispered, just to say it.
“I’ve waited a very long time for this,” she said, and he saw her tremble. That she would tremble now, when she’d faced down death without a quiver, sent a shudder through him. And he reined in his demanding body.
Gently, carefully, he undressed her, pausing whenever the feel of her caresses aroused him beyond moving. And when her hands hesitated at his belt, he urged her on, wanting to be naked with her more than he’d ever wanted anything—even help when he’d thought he was going to die.
And when he finally was naked, when she shyly stood nude before him, stealing glimpses of his body as if she wasn’t sure looking at him was her right, he couldn’t resist any longer. He pulled her against him, almost roughly in his haste. His ribs protested, but he ignored it. Nothing mattered, not next to this raging need.
He lowered his mouth to hers, knowing this time they would not be interrupted, yet feeling an incredible urgency just the same. His arms tightened convulsively around her. But then he remembered she, too, had taken a battering, and he gentled his embrace.
His hands slid over her back, delighting in the silken feel of her skin, the taut feel of muscle as he traced her rib cage, then slipped upward. She went still when he reached the gentle swell of her breasts, and he stopped. But then she made a little sound and pressed herself closer. He groaned as the soft flesh filled his hands and her nipples became hard against his palms. He moved slightly, shifting so that his thumbs could rub at those taut peaks. She cried out at his touch, her back arching. Her response was so sweetly immediate that he broke the kiss and lowered his head to her breast, taking first one, then the other nipple in his mouth, flicking them with his tongue.
She sagged against him, as if that alone had robbed her of the strength to stand. He wasn’t sure how he made it to the bed, only that he must have done it, because they were there now, facing each other where he’d so often dreamed they might be, alone together with an endless night before them.
And then Paige was returning his caresses, running her hands over him as if she wanted to touch every inch as badly as he wanted her to. He soon learned that it took very little from him, a gasp, a groan, a slight arching of his body, to show her what he liked. And she learned quickly. Too quickly. Within minutes he was panting, groaning with nearly every breath as she explored him. Her fingers circled his nipples, startling him with how good that felt. Then his belly, then lower, slowly, teasingly, until he thought he’d die if she didn’t go on. And then she did, curling her fingers around him, rubbing her thumb over flesh so sensitive he did cry out then—her name on a breath that seemed wrenched from him.
At last he broke and rolled over, half covering her, raining kisses on her, on any bit of skin he could reach. He returned to her breasts as his hand slid downward, through dark auburn curls until he could feel her wet heat. He probed further as he drew her nipples once more into his mouth, loving the way she moaned and undulated under his touch.
“Noah!”
Her cry as he found that tiny knot of nerve endings he’d sought convinced him once and for all that there really was nothing wrong with his name. He continued that insistent circular caress, kept tasting and teasing her breasts, until she was twisting against him.
“Now?” he asked her, taking one of her hands and gently drawing it down his body until she was touching him again.
In answer she clasped him in a sweet, coaxing grip, shifting her body until he could feel her heat, opening for him in an invitation he felt he’d been waiting for all his life. She rubbed him against her slick flesh, and it was more than he could stand.
His hips drove forward, and he slid into her with an ease that told him she was as eager as he was. For an instant he couldn’t move, so amazing was the feeling of being inside her. Why it was different with this woman, why it was better, hotter, why it transcended anything he’d ever felt before he didn’t know right now. He only knew that he would never be the same after this moment.
And then she moved beneath him, lifting to meet him, and he spiraled out of control. He knew she was with him by her frantic cries, by the feel of her as she grabbed at him and hung on. And then his world narrowed to the feel of her body and the pure emotion shining in her eyes. She tightened around him, fiercely, and he heard her call his name once more, that name he now wouldn’t trade for anything. Spasms shook her, and pure, raw wonder crept into her voice as tiny cries broke from her.
And then he let go, soaring wildly upward until the light caught him, seared him and sent him floating back down in pieces he wasn’t sure he could ever put back together again.
“So they’re going to reschedule the opening in three weeks?�
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“Pending the result of the meeting Josh has with the minister of Arethusa,” Noah said.
Paige brushed at a mark on her dress, realized it was charcoal, probably from the bonfire last night, and gave up. “Do you think everyone will still come, after all this?”
“Most, who can clear their schedule. But I have a feeling Draven and some of the others may be staying awhile, just to be sure.”
She fussed with her left shoe, which had torn near the sole. “It’s hard to think about just going back to school.”
“I know.”
She ran her fingers through the tangled mass of her hair, then realized she didn’t have a prayer without a brush.
“I think I’ll take over Rudy’s job,” Noah said.
Startled, she whirled around to stare at him. “What?”
“Well, at least you finally looked at me,” he said, his mouth twisting into a wry, rueful grimace.
She felt herself flush. She knew she’d been avoiding his gaze, but hadn’t realized she’d been so obvious about it.
“What’s wrong, Paige?” She saw him swallow before he added, “Second thoughts?”
She wasn’t sure how to answer him. The hours they’d spent together had been the most incredible of her life. She’d never known her body could respond like that, but when this man touched her, she was halfway there before they even began. And any doubts she’d had that it was mutual vanished in the moments when he convulsed in her arms, crying out her name as if she were some miracle he’d found.
But now she couldn’t help thinking of what had been seared out of her mind by his touch.
Now what?
He was still a Redstone globe-trotter, and she was still a schoolteacher. A schoolteacher who hadn’t had much luck with another traveling man. And for a moment she wished, foolishly, that he hadn’t been joking. Not that she could see him as a chef, but at least he’d be in one place for more than a week at a time.
He got up and came to her. She went into his arms, wishing…wishing for so many things she didn’t know where to start.
“Paige?” He lifted her chin with a gentle finger. “God, Paige, please don’t say this was a mistake or we shouldn’t have done it or any of those other morning-after regrets.”
Just Another Day in Paradise Page 22
