“I can’t tell you everything. The situation’s a little complicated.”
Taylor moved closer. “Okay, the questions can wait.”
“Just like that?”
“I’ve got more important things on my mind.” She slid open the top button of his shirt.
“I’m pretty sure there are rules against this,” Jack muttered as his shirt opened the rest of the way. “In an hour, I might even remember them.”
“Forget the rules for once,” Taylor said huskily, tugging his shirt free. He was hot and hard against her, the scent of rain in his damp hair, and she wanted him, wanted his body covering her until she couldn’t think, only feel.
“Hold on.” Jack checked the bolt and slid the chain in place. After that, he shoved a heavy chair against the door. When he turned, his face was hard. “There isn’t much time. As soon as I hear from Izzy, we’re moving again.”
Taylor went still. “That’s not what you told Agent Rodriguez.”
“Pretty sharp, aren’t you?”
“Forget the compliments. What’s going on?”
“Everything’s on a need-to-know basis starting now.”
Fear blocked Taylor’s throat. “Because you don’t trust your own team?”
Jack cupped her face gently. “Don’t read too much into this. The fewer people who know the plan, the safer you’ll be.”
“Don’t lie to me, Jack. This is too important.”
“There’s nothing to worry about. Izzy and I have a plan.” His voice was calm, but she felt the tension in his body as she moved into his arms. “I wish we had all night. Hell, maybe we should get some sleep before Izzy—”
Her lips cut him off, tracing a reckless path down his chest and stopping just above his belt.
“Keep it up and I won’t be slow or careful,” he said grimly.
But she knew him now, knew when he was trying to put distance between them because he thought that’s what they needed.
Poor, misguided man.
His belt went flying. Her tongue traced wet circles over that gorgeous, rock-hard stomach. She traced the rigid muscle slowly, hungry to see all of him, and he tensed as she moved lower.
Taylor had never seen a more beautiful body. She’d never come close to touching one.
She wanted to see all of it right now.
She slid down his zipper, transfixed by the sight of her hands against his skin. Abruptly, the zipper caught.
Jack cursed, stopping her hands. He knew they should sleep, knew he should find the control to step back and do the right thing. But when he did, Taylor was right behind him, warm and sexy.
There in the hot darkness, with rain tapping against the window, he drank in the sight of her pale body, knowing control didn’t have a chance. He opened his hands and pinned her against the wall. “Tomorrow you might see this differently,” he said harshly.
“Tomorrow is another century. I want you now. I want you to make me come right here. Then I’m going to see what it takes to make a good man lose all his control. I don’t want you to forget tonight. I don’t want you to forget me, Jack.”
He’d never forget her. And the big news was, his control was already gone.
Her hands moved back to his zipper, cupping him through the straining denim. If he got any harder, he wouldn’t be able to walk, and damned if he’d have her rush him through something he’d dreamed about for days.
For his whole life, he realized. Only now he was able to see the face, the edgy, sassy, wonderful face that went along with all those fantasies.
He gripped her shoulders with fingers that were perilously close to trembling.
“Jack, did you hear me?” Her voice was shaky.
“I won’t forget you. Not in a hundred years.”
“Maybe you could prove that.”
Her sweater went flying and her breasts filled his hands, warm and heavy. He shoved away her jeans.
When he was done, all she wore was a necklace with a solitaire diamond. The sight left Jack so hard he thought his zipper would split. There was a sudden pressure in his chest, as if his whole life had been leading him right to this place, this moment, this astonishing woman.
He saw her body’s response to his blatant stare as dim light from the window brushed over her, with nothing barred from his hot gaze. When he didn’t move, she closed her eyes and pressed against him, the hard tips of her breasts touching his chest in a slow, exotic torture.
He made a strangled sound. His fingers circled the smooth weight of each creamy breast while his thumbs found her straining nipples.
His fingers spread. She swayed as his touch grew harder, as he pulled her breasts higher so he could see her while he gently dragged his teeth across her.
She shuddered, swallowing hard. “These walls are pretty thin. I warn you, this might get noisy. If you keep doing that thing with your mouth—”
“This thing?” His teeth gently closed over her. “Or this one?”
Taylor seemed to be having trouble breathing. She closed her eyes as if caught on some sharp edge of pleasure where release hung just out of reach.
“Let it all go, Taylor. Do it now, for me.”
She was too lost to realize he was pulling her closer, his tongue tracing a hot line down to the shadow of curls that were already wet with need.
She took a broken breath. “Knock me out if I start screaming.”
His chuckle was husky, possessive. Without any warning he slid lower, finding the hidden, wet cleft with his tongue and lapping at her intently. She stiffened and her body snapped back in his arms.
He didn’t stop, covering her with his mouth and driving her up again as he gave the perfect rough-gentle slide of his tongue between his anchoring fingers while lightning raced out of the night, wrapped tightly around them.
The third time, Taylor closed her eyes and screamed.
Jack almost laughed.
He’d had a lot of women in thirty-five years, but none of them had trapped him between mania and delirium the way this woman did. None of them made him want to work his way slowly over her body, inch by inch, and see how many different kinds of pleasure there were to share.
He was hard by nature, a leader by habit. But he knew how to take time with the things that were important.
He tried to remember his patience now with Taylor standing naked, her body a lush fantasy. He didn’t have to work at being generous because he was too busy enjoying the feel of her heart slamming against his hand, her hips driving up against him in restless pleasure.
He ran his tongue slowly over her again, smiling at her whimper. Even her taste was unique, salty and sweet, all sex and woman.
She was still quivering when he bent to her again, hungry for that dark taste, hungry for the way her body moved against him, slim and strong as he drove her back up into another explosive wave of pleasure.
And by God she screamed again.
He’d never felt half so much a man, and he hadn’t even shucked his pants yet. But thinking was the last thing on his mind as her leg rose restlessly, wrapped around his waist, claiming them both for the taking they could no longer avoid.
Taylor closed her eyes, weightless, beyond words, yanking at his jeans to reveal the hard body she’d seen only in dreams.
His size left her awed. His need left her breathless.
Without a word she reached out to touch him reverently, and then her fingers tightened, sliding down to cup his erect tip.
She smiled as she heard him gasp. The more she touched, the more she grew dizzy with her power. She looked up at him in the darkness, saw the tension in his face. “You’re not telling me to hurry?”
“Honey, take all the time you want. I’m a dead man already and I’m enjoying the ride.” His constraint was palpable, his body taut beneath her slow hands.
Suddenly Taylor didn’t want it slow. Her head fell and she covered him with her mouth, frowning at the bead of salty moisture that met her tongue. Touching him like this was making her own body soft
en and turn wet all over again.
Outside, rain tapped quietly against the window as her tongue moved delicately down his length.
“Damn it, Taylor.” His fingers dug into her shoulders. “No more. I can’t hold on.”
“I don’t want you to hold on. I want to taste you when you come inside my mouth.” She’d never wanted that before, not with any other man. Only this hard man with the gentle hands.
With a curse Jack yanked her close, then followed her down and pinned her beneath him. They were both breathing hard, both trembling, caught in a game of discovery older than any words. Now it wasn’t calm or civilized anymore.
She shoved at his chest. “No. I want my mouth on you. I want to feel you when—”
“Not this time.” His voice was raw. “Are you protected?”
She stared at him, then shook her head. “I didn’t plan—” She took a breath, and her eyes widened when he kissed her hand, then pulled away to sheathe himself. Then his hands were in her hair as he opened her legs and drove into her as his mouth covered hers. She fought him even then, wanting for him the release he’d given her three times, but she couldn’t slip free of that hard, implacable body straining against hers.
By his third thrust, she no longer wanted to. Instead she wrapped her legs around him as he rose and fell, giving more of himself each time. Shuddering, Taylor dug her nails into the taut muscles of his back, her body tightening, reaching, and the sight of him was better than all her fantasies as she watched him move down against her, muttering dark, male words that made her blood hammer and her face go hot.
He said them again and she felt the first shimmering edge of climax while she strained against him. When she looked up, there was torment in his eyes and something almost like regret. But there was no time for certainty because the shimmering exploded into a hunger that drove them together, panting, fighting their way across the jagged edge of an intolerable pleasure.
Taylor closed her eyes on a gasp. The earth dropped away and her body surged against him, convulsing.
A heartbeat later he threw his head back, his hands like a vise as he locked her body to his and hammered to a blinding release inside her.
Jack rolled weakly to one elbow and glanced at his watch. “Hell.”
“Is it time to leave?” Taylor stretched carefully, pressed against his chest.
“We’ve got fifteen minutes yet. Better get dressed, because Izzy’s running this extraction like clockwork.” Already his control was returning and there was something grim in his voice.
Only later would Taylor realize its significance.
She ran a hand through the storm of her hair and hopped up, bending over in search of the suitcase that had fallen to the floor. There wasn’t time for questions or promises. Maybe they both were glad for that.
Jack’s eyes narrowed on her backside, then took in her long legs. “On the other hand, don’t hurry to dress on my account.”
Taylor hauled the bag over her shoulder and rewarded his blatant stare with an erotic bump of her hips. “You’d better get into some clothes, too. Agent Rodriguez has an eye for a nice male body. I noticed definite interest when she checked out Izzy.” Taylor cleared her throat. “Under the mascara and silicone inserts, of course.”
“Of course,” Jack said dryly. He swung to his feet and gave Taylor a hard kiss, his hands sliding into her hair. Then he came up for air and did it again so that they both were panting.
Her head tilted. “Are you going to tell me what that was for?”
“I would if I knew.” He ran one hand down her spine, smiling when she shivered. “Can’t keep away from you, I guess.” He took a step back and reached for his clothes. “You take the bathroom first. I need to check in with Izzy.”
“Aye, aye, sir.” Taylor made a mock salute, then spoiled the military effect with an exaggerated sway of her hips when she turned away.
“Lady, you’re going to be the death of me.”
“But what a way to go,” Taylor said huskily as the bathroom door closed.
With the lights still out, Jack eased back the curtains, staring into the darkness as he waited for his cell phone to connect.
Izzy’s answer was an irritated growl. “What?”
“No more sweet talk?” Jack sniffed as he scanned the parking lot. “You almost in place out there?”
“We’ll be right on schedule. You know the plan.”
“Every detail.” Jack tucked in his shirt with one hand, studying the far corner of the parking lot. “Looks like nothing’s moving. Let’s hope it stays that way.”
“Amen. Hold on a minute.” Izzy’s voice faded as he turned away to answer a question. “Rodriguez and her partner checking in,” he explained. “Okay, get your gear. We move on my signal. Five minutes.”
Jack scanned the parking lot. “We’ll be good to go in here.”
But he continued to look into the darkness. Was it too quiet? Shouldn’t a few cars be moving along the access street?
He rubbed his neck and shrugged away his uneasiness. Training had taught him to focus on facts, not shadows. “We’ll be waiting.”
Jack was putting away the phone when Taylor emerged, killer legs encased in snug jeans, damp hair curling around her face. Jack forced back the memories of what they’d just done, angry at his body’s instant response to the sight of those soft, flaring hips.
“Put your bag over here.” He tossed her the suede coat from the bed, then checked his weapon and holstered it. “Izzy will be here in four minutes.”
Taylor studied his face as she pulled on her coat. “You’re worried, aren’t you?”
“Anytime you change locations is a time of vulnerability. Things can always go wrong.” He pulled out the two oversized cowboy hats that Izzy had left him and shoved one on his head with a grimace. “Teague always did have a nasty sense of humor.”
“Gee, I kinda like it, Bubba.”
Jack’s only answer was a snort as he tossed the other hat to Taylor. “At least this should throw off anyone looking for our faces.”
Soft footsteps scuffed outside the door. Jack touched a finger to his lips, and Taylor nodded.
There was one loud tap, then four more in rapid fire. Jack pulled back the chain and opened the door.
Nancy Rodriguez frowned, her back to the parking lot. “Let’s move. Our van’s waiting—”
The same instant she spoke, bullets tore out of a parked car twenty feet away. Rodriguez grunted a protest, spun sideways, and fell back into Jack’s arms, covering them both with blood.
“Get into the bathroom,” Jack shouted to Taylor, pulling the fallen agent inside and slamming the door as a hail of bullets took out the front window. “Do it now.” There was warm blood on his fingers as he charged for the bathroom, locked the door, and shoved Taylor into the shower.
Her face was sheet-white beneath the big hat, but he didn’t have time to comfort her. He didn’t even have time to check the agent bleeding on the rug outside, though it countered all his instincts.
Because it would take every bit of his energy and focus to keep Taylor alive.
He knew the hotel layout by heart and breathed a prayer of thanks for Izzy’s counterplan, kept secret from the rest of the team. The small screen above the shower was unscrewed, just as Jack had left it, and it popped free into his hands. In three seconds the window was open and he was holding out his hands to Taylor.
“Go. A car’s waiting.”
She scrambled up, clutching at the window frame, asking no questions as he boosted her into the opening.
“Look down,” Jack said tightly. “Can you see Izzy?”
“Right below me.”
“Then get moving.”
Jack watched her jump down. As prearranged in the event of an attack, Izzy had cut around to the back of the building, where he was waiting to catch Taylor, hurrying her into a green van idling on the sidewalk.
Behind him, Jack heard the front door explode with a crack. Knowing Taylo
r was safe with Izzy, he felt a burning urge to protect the fallen agent. He was turning back when automatic weapon fire hammered the room next door, and Jack realized it was too late to help Nancy Rodriguez. Nothing could have escaped that devastation.
He climbed into the window and dropped into the darkness, the sound of gunfire burning in his ears as he sprinted along the sidewalk. The van was already moving when he grabbed the open door and jumped inside. More gunfire exploded behind him, followed by a new burst from the back of the building.
Something stabbed at Jack’s shoulder. He sighted toward the incoming burst, squeezed off four shots, and had the pleasure of an echoing scream of pain. One less bastard to hunt down later, he thought grimly.
He slammed the door while Izzy fishtailed around a line of cars. Two figures raced toward them from the back of the building, firing steadily. Izzy ran one down and careened past the other into a nearby alley, following the escape route that had been kept secret from everyone but Jack.
Now all the rules were off.
Now they could trust no one.
Chapter Thirty-five
“What the hell happened?” Jack braced his body against the van’s metal wall as Izzy weaved into one alley and out the next.
“We were sold out, that’s what.”
Jack held his pistol tightly against his leg. “I want the bastard’s name.”
“Get in line.” Izzy’s fingers clenched on the wheel as he gunned along the half-empty streets. “Payback is going to be a real pleasure.” There was raw fury in each word. “Nancy Rodriguez’s niece was going to college next week. She invited me to a big send-off bash.” Izzy glared out at the rainy darkness. “We can’t help her now, so put it away, both of you. She was a pro, and for her, the mission came first. Taylor, are you hurt?”
“No.” Her voice was a wisp of sound.
“Damn it, Jack, check her.”
Jack was already stripping away her jacket and the purse she’d clutched to her chest. He searched her upper body for bullet wounds or cuts from falling glass, which she might not even feel. In a killing zone, the world flashed into a twilight rush of noise and violence, with normal sensations blurred beneath the pump of adrenaline. As a SEAL, he’d seen how serious wounds could go unnoticed until it was too late.
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