by Cindy Dees
“That was just a little welcome-back peck. That wasn’t a real kiss.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You can do better than that?”
His blue gaze danced. “Most definitely.”
“This I’ve got to see.”
Tom leaned toward her, and Annie’s heart pounded furiously as he drew near.
“Hey, boss!”
Annie jerked back as guiltily as he did. Tex stood in the doorway to the bedroom.
“I forgot to tell you the U.S. Navy arrived last night. The Independence carrier group is sitting off the coast a couple hundred miles.”
“That’s good news, Tex. All we have to do now is get out to it.”
If her ears didn’t deceive her, Tom was breathing a little hard. Good.
“Boss, the bed’s too soft for me. If you’d like to grab a little shut-eye in it, I’m gonna sack out on the floor.”
“Do I look like I need a cushy mattress? Am I turning into an old lady?”
Tex’s usually smiling gaze went dead sober. “You nearly died. Doc said he’s never seen a guy hurt so bad pull through. And if you’ll forgive me for pointin’ it out, you’ve still got a little hitch in your git-along. I just thought you might want to rest a spell.”
Tom accepted the rebuke gracefully. “Now that you mention it, some shut-eye does sound good.”
As the two men retreated into the bedroom, Tom looked back over his shoulder at her and mouthed the words, “You owe me a kiss.”
Grinning, she stuck out her tongue at him and stretched out on the sofa for the nap he’d suggested.
Annie woke more tired than when she laid down. Between the blankets Tex had hung over the windows in preparation for the coming night and the unrelenting steam heat outside, the apartment was stifling.
Unbuttoning the top buttons of her dress as she went, she crossed the room to the refrigerator. A blast of chilled air hit her as she fanned the door back and forth. She fished a couple of ice cubes out of a plastic tray in the freezer and pressed them against the back of her neck. The cold wrenched a gasp from her, but relief from the heat soothed her shock.
The ice cubes dripped between her fingers, sending cold rivulets down her wrist and between her shoulder blades. And then something hot touched her neck. She jumped and would have turned, but Tom’s fingers gripped her shoulders and held her where she stood.
His mouth traced the path of the melted ice, stealing the cold greedily from her skin, replacing it with a fire that made the room seem cool by comparison. She let her head fall forward and gave her neck to him while goose bumps rose on her skin that had nothing to do with cold.
He muttered against her skin, “I could eat you alive.”
She twisted under his hands and came up against his chest. Her arms went around him, hugging until he took a sharp breath. She released him instantly. “I forgot about your ribs. I’m so sorry!”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine, and I wish you’d stop pretending you are.”
“I wish everyone would stop treating me like I’m going to break if I even take a deep breath.”
“We’re worried about you. Is that such a bad thing?”
Tom frowned, considering Annie’s question. “To be honest, you’re a distraction I can’t afford. But damned if I can keep my hands off you.”
She stared, shocked at his candor.
“You relax me. Thing is, a guy in my line of work has to stay sharp. If I don’t get my head in the game, not only will I die, but you will, too.” He set her away from him, and reluctantly, she let him.
Tom said briskly, “Is there any chance you could make Tex a bite to eat before he leaves? If he hasn’t slept in a couple days, it’s a good bet he hasn’t eaten, either.”
“Good grief! Of course I’ll fix him something.”
“Protein and carbs if you’ve got them, and lots of both. He may be lean, but he can really chow down.”
Tex was up and around by the time she finished making an industrial-size batch of spaghetti and meatballs. Howdy arrived just as they were sitting down to eat.
He was medium in height and lean of build, with light-brown hair and medium-brown eyes. Annie’s gaze had a way of passing right over him, even though he sat beside her at the table.
She’d prepared enough food for at least six people, but between Tom, Tex, and Howdy it all disappeared in short order. At least Tom was getting his appetite back.
Throughout the meal, Tex was almost as quiet as Howdy. Immediately afterward, Howdy headed for the couch and went horizontal, and the lanky Texan slipped out of the apartment with no more than a murmured word of thanks.
She asked, “What was up with Tex, Tom? Did I do something to upset him?”
“Not at all. He was gearing up for tonight. Putting on his game face. Behind all those down-home quips, he’s a pretty serious guy. Best spotter I’ve ever worked with.”
She reached across the table to squeeze Tom’s hand. “You’re worried about him, aren’t you?”
He gave her a candid look and lines of worry etched themselves in his brow. “This is a dangerous situation, and my men are out there, split up and exposed.”
“You’ll figure it out. I have faith in you.”
EASY FOR HER TO SAY. All the responsibility didn’t sit on her shoulders.
Tom helped Annie clean up after the meal while Howdy slept on the couch. The man had gone unconscious the second his head hit the cushion. That worried Tom.
His guys looked and acted worn-out. While he’d been snoozing in a hospital, they’d been living under extreme stress, building impromptu covers and trying to watch a revolution unfold, all without getting caught.
They’d been in the jungle for a solid month before his accident and were exhausted the night he got hurt. Now, on top of that, they’d had to play spy for two more months. Espionage was not what his men were trained for. It had to be draining their nerves badly. He needed to get them out of Gavarone before one of them slipped up.
Tom watched in appreciation as Howdy woke up from his nap, gathered his gear soundlessly and slipped out, ghost-like, in complete silence. He went into the bedroom and pulled back the corner of the curtains to observe the street outside. Even though he looked long and hard, he didn’t catch so much as a glimpse of Howdy as the man left.
Annie banged around in the kitchen for a couple more minutes, and then her soft footsteps scuffed across the bedroom to his side. The deep sense of isolation that had overcome him seemed to have caught her, too. She was unnaturally still and silent beside him. Maybe she’d been in a position of leadership before. Maybe she, too, knew what it was like to worry about her troops, hoping she’d taught them well enough to deal with what she’d sent them into.
Command sat heavy upon him tonight.
As Tom watched the people below hurry to finish their last errands before darkness and its dangers, a deep restlessness welled up inside him. He wanted to be out there with his men, to be in the thick of the action, to watch events unfolding before his eyes. Unfortunately, about all he was good for was looking out a window.
As the streets emptied, his mind shifted into high gear. His senses grew sharper with each passing moment, more alert, faster, lethal. It was the coming of the night. It brought out the hunter in him. Adrenaline surged in his veins, and he itched with the anticipation of pitting his strength and wits against the enemy’s. It was addictive, this feeling.
Annie stirred beside him. “What do you see when you look out there?”
He opened the blanket wider to give her a view, as well. “I see a city preparing itself for war, without any idea of what it’s really going to be like.”
“But you know, don’t you?” Her voice was quiet, almost sad.
Maybe it was a bit sad that he knew precisely what was about to happen to this peaceful, prosperous city. “This is going to be an ugly fight with no mercy.”
He heard her sigh, a soft sound of compassion and regret. “Such a traged
y,” she murmured.
How right she was. As they waited and watched, the silence outside deepened. By gradual degrees the stillness grew heavy with anticipation.
Annie began to fidget. “I almost wish the fighting would start,” she muttered. “The waiting is killing me.”
He grimaced. “I’ll remind you of those words in about six hours. Never fear, the fighting’s getting close.”
“Can you hear it?”
“No, angel. I feel it.”
“How?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. This fight is like being in the same room with a pair of secret lovers. They’re circling around, pretending to ignore each other, but the electricity between them is so thick you can almost touch it. Don’t you feel it?”
She shook her head in the negative.
“Come here.” He pulled her in front of him and put his arms around her. “You see over there on that high hill, the one with the church on it, how there’s a bluish haze hanging in the air?” He pointed over her shoulder so she could sight along his arm.
“I guess so.”
“That’s the army. They’ve got a big convoy of armored vehicles and tanks parked there, and that haze is their exhaust fumes.”
“Are they getting ready to roll?”
“Nah. They’ll wait until after dark. It’s probably just mechanics checking out the equipment. But the tension’s building.”
Annie relaxed back against him as the sun began to set, and he savored her easy trust in him. Since they were so near the equator, the sun seemed to hang motionless in the sky, not far above the rooftops, for a long time. Then, all of a sudden, it dived toward the horizon as if it, too, fled the night to come.
Sunset bathed the city in blood red, and under Tom’s hands goose bumps raised on Annie’s cool flesh. “It’s not an omen, Annie. It’s just a red sunset.”
“I know. But it’s still creepy.”
He smiled into her silky hair. “Our lovers are circling each other, drawing ever closer with each trip around the room. They play at not noticing each other, but they’re so vividly aware of each other they can hardly keep from rushing headlong into an embrace.”
Annie shifted restlessly. Her body felt like silk in his arms, fluid yet substantial.
He murmured, “Our lovers are savoring the anticipation. Imagining the sex to come, the sight of it, the sound of it, the smell of it. The waiting is heady, almost better than the real thing. But then, that’s the reason for taking a secret lover, isn’t it? The thrill of doing the unthinkable, of tasting the forbidden, of breaking the rules.”
Annie’s respiration was rapid, her skin flushed. Sexual heat poured off her. She provoked every unthinkable, forbidden fantasy he’d ever had of a woman. His cock as hard as a rock, and his own breathing accelerated to match hers.
“Are we still talking about the army and the rebels?” Her whispered words were ragged.
“You tell me.”
A long silence ensued, her body alternately rigid and relaxed as she wrestled with her answer. He waited her out.
“Is that why you choose this life? You get a thrill out of it?”
He snorted. “I hate killing people.”
“Then why?” she whispered. “Are you punishing yourself?”
Her words tore a jagged wound in a piece of his heart he’d thought was long ago put to rest. The pain almost buckled his knees. He forced himself answer her, but his voice was ragged. “I do it for Simon. The guy Jackie got killed was named Simon Pettigrew. I led him into a trap that I was too blinded by lust to see. My first command. My fault—”
Annie’s hand was suddenly on his mouth, holding back any more words. “Stop. Don’t tear yourself up like this. It happened a long time ago. What’s done is done.”
He reached for her wrist and pulled her hand away. “It’s never done. Don’t you see? I go from one war to another. There’s always another one’s waiting for me.”
“What I see is a brave man, a good commander, being too hard on himself.”
He whirled away from her, staring, unseeing, out the window. She didn’t get it. She’d never had to make life-and-death decisions. She’d never made the wrong choice and killed someone.
“Tell me what else you see out there, Tom.”
He fought back his turbulent emotions. “I see youth and eagerness straining to prove themselves. I see cynics taking advantage of naive ideals. I see disappointment, disillusionment and disaster coming.”
Annie turned around in his arms to face him. “Is that how you see me? Young and naive? Are we headed for disaster?”
“I was talking about the boys out there who are being sent to war by gray-haired politicians safe in their offices and told to kill each other. That’s not what I see in you.”
“What do you see when you look at me?”
“I see a beautiful woman circling the room, pretending she doesn’t know I’m here. I can taste her now. I can already hear her voice raised in ecstasy beneath me. I feel her body becoming part of mine. I’m willing her to look my way, to catch my eye and signal that she can’t wait any longer to have me.”
Annie’s voice came out muffled against his chest. “Wow.”
Right now he needed her touch worse than just about anything he’d ever needed. He needed to be reminded that he was still a part of the human race. It had been so long since he’d allowed himself this.
“Be my secret lover, Annie. Break the rules with me. Do every forbidden thing with me that you’ve ever imagined.”
“I know better,” she mumbled, “but I want you anyway.”
“Then come with me. Let’s leave the party and have our secret rendezvous. Let’s make the anticipation pale by comparison to the real thing.” His hands roamed up and down her back. Her spine curved as tautly as a bow as she leaned back, staring up at him in terrible indecision.
He gave her a half smile. “Come on, angel. Sin a little with me.”
A reluctant smile lit her face. “How can a girl say no to the Devil himself?”
“The Devil, am I?” She was closer to the truth than she knew. “I promise your fall will be one to remember, angel.”
He leaned down and claimed the kiss that hovered on her lips waiting to be taken. They turned away from the window, and the last, dying streaks of the crimson sunset wrapped around them as if the very gates of Hell yawned open, beckoning.
With a flick of his wrist, Tom pulled the blanket over the window completely, plunging the room into soft darkness.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Annie sprawled naked on top of Tom when the shelling started. She had no exact recollection of how she’d gotten into this position, other than a vague memory of Tom’s clever hands moving over her and her clothes magically disappearing.
His body was solid everywhere, all slabbed muscles and hard tendons, just like she remembered. Except he was so much more impressive awake and in motion. The very gentleness with which he handled her spoke volumes about his strength, and Annie reveled in his care.
The sound of the first mortars tickled the edges of her consciousness, building slowly to a growl, vibrating deep in the city’s throat. Meanwhile Tom’s hands explored every part of her body, and the tremors he set off were nearly indistinguishable from those outside their private world.
The subliminal rumbling gradually grew into thunder, low and powerful, rolling through her and sweeping her along in its majesty. Tom’s mouth followed the path of his hands, capturing her in a separate storm of his own making.
He started at the tips of her toes and worked his way to the top of her head, feeling and tasting all of her. He lingered at the backs of her knees, nibbled the tender flesh of her inner thighs, kissed his way across the flat plane of her stomach to savor the trembling flesh of her breasts. His explorations didn’t end there, though. He lifted her up and slid her down his body slowly, burying his face against her neck, sending a riot of sensations throughout her. She eased down his gorgeous body, returning the f
avor, relishing the feel and taste of him.
Bright flashes of lightning exploded within her to match the surging thunder of Tom’s heartbeat under her ear. He rolled over and stared down at her, his eyes caverns of darkness in his shadowed face. “I shouldn’t be taking advantage of you like this.”
“Like how?”
“You’re scared, and you want to forget what’s happening out there.”
“That may be true, but I still want to be here tonight…with you.”
An even deeper shadow crossed his face, one from inside his soul. “Look, Annie. I care about you. Enough to tell you right now that my life, my work, doesn’t mix well with long-term commitments.”
She stared up at him, undecided. He was offering her an out, and she ought to take it. She knew the kind of life he led, the way his job would always come first. Besides, she had no business jumping into bed with a man she’d been prepared to kill. Was it guilt she felt or real attraction to him? This wasn’t the way to find out.
But he was everything she’d ever fantasized about in a man—intelligent, kind, strong, confident. She’d thought about this moment practically from the first moment she’d been told he was going to live. For weeks she’d ached to have him wake up and respond to her touch.
The rumbling outside grew louder, separating itself occasionally into distinct explosions. The bed shook slightly. Whether it was from the shelling or her own trembling desire, she couldn’t tell. The danger outside crept slowly but surely into their nest, a living thing creeping over the windowsills like fog and roiling along the floor to lick at their feet. There was no way of knowing if she’d live to see another morning.
“Tom, you’re right. I am afraid. But that has nothing to do with how I feel about you. I—” she hesitated and then took the plunge “—want you.”
He let out his breath on a sigh. “I can’t promise you anything beyond this moment, Annie.”
She placed her palm on the smooth plane of his cheek. “I know the rules of engagement here. I have an idea of the kind of life you lead. This moment is enough for me.”
