by Dale Mayer
“Going somewhere safe,” he said cheerfully.
And, just like that, he steered her into an alleyway that didn’t lead anywhere familiar. And then they were at a door, which opened in front of them. He quickly nudged her inside, and she found herself in the back stairwell of some hotel. She looked around, then at him. “Dodgy much? Are we renting by the hour?”
He chuckled and urged her up the stairs. “We’re going to the third floor, so let’s move along.”
“Is that safe?”
“This is as safe as we’ll get right now.”
When they reached the third floor, a big steel door faced her. She raised an eyebrow. He tapped on the door, but it was an odd knock. The door open, and the woman on the other side looked at them both, but her gaze was hard and knowing. Her face was lean, as if she’d spent way too many years without food. But Abby revised her opinion. This woman was in fighting form, to the extent that Abby herself had never seen before. The stranger let them in and then said, “Straight down the hallway to the left.”
Following instructions blindly and wondering why and what instinct within humanity drove her and others to do that, Abby went into the designated room. Sure enough, it was a bedroom.
As they stepped in, Jax said, “Hang on.”
She stopped as he quickly searched the entire room. She looked at him and asked, “Even here?”
“Even here,” he nodded. He went to the door, shut it, and locked it. “Now, my dear, you have a bed.”
She looked at it with longing but first walked over to the window and went to throw the curtains wide open, but Jax stopped her.
“No.”
She groaned, nodded, kicked off her shoes, walked back to the bed, and fell down face-first. Only as her head hit the pillow did she realize just how damn tired she truly was. She snuggled deeper into the pillows, murmuring, “I’m so done.”
A blanket landed lightly on her shoulders.
“Don’t you need to sleep?” she muttered.
“I will in a bit,” he said.
“Do we only have four hours?”
“Maybe,” he said. “Maybe less.”
“Such a waste,” she said with a big yawn.
“In what way?” he asked, but his voice was distracted.
“Because any other time that I’ve been sequestered in a room with a badass, sexy, and available male,” she said with yet another yawn, “I’d have found something better to do than sleep.” And, on that note, she dropped into a deep slumber.
Jax stared at her in shock. Not only had she uttered words that he would love to act upon but she’d fallen asleep as if somebody had pulled the plug on her. It was amazing. He’d worked hard to get a similar ability, but then, as a doctor, she was probably forever being called out or had to deal with many scenarios where sleep was something she grabbed at any chance. Still, it was a skill he admired. He crashed softly on the bed beside her, reached over, and tucked her up close. He was gratified when she cuddled closer. He thought he heard a murmur. He leaned closer and asked, “What did you say?”
“Took you long enough,” she muttered. And then her breathing returned to deep and even breaths.
He chuckled and said, “Didn’t know you cared.”
But, of course, he did. The signs were all there. Everything between the two of them had been leading up to them having so much more. Yet, at the same time, the circumstances were definitely not cooperating. He closed his eyes but kept opening them up at regular intervals. Another habit he’d trained himself to do, always checking to make sure they remained safe. He slept in a light REM sleep, grabbing ten minutes at a shot. By the time she murmured and rolled onto her back, her eyes opening, he felt like he’d grabbed at least two hours. But he knew it wasn’t enough. Still, it would power him up for another bout of whatever was to come.
She smiled up at him, looped her arm around his neck, and came in close. “I don’t know how long I was out,” she said, “but it doesn’t feel like it was very long.”
“A couple hours, maybe a bit longer,” he said, murmuring.
“Did you manage to close your eyes?”
He nodded. “A little bit.” His phone buzzed again. He checked it. “Still no sign of Benjamin.”
“Are we safe here?”
He nodded. “If nothing else, Benjamin doesn’t have the firepower or the skills to break the defenses here.”
“What is this, an MI6 safehouse?”
He didn’t answer.
She leaned up on an elbow and stared at him in shock. “Seriously?”
He gave her a glimmer of a smile and asked, “How about you just don’t ask questions?”
“Good deal,” she said, collapsing back down. “There’s just something about being free from all that, at least for a moment.”
“It’s very important.”
She yawned again. “Must we go back so soon?”
“No. I don’t see any point in leaving until they’ve got Benjamin. Do you?”
She shuddered. “I would just as soon not go back even when they do have him. There’s no reason for me to be involved at all at this point.”
He leaned over and kissed her gently on the temple. “Well, you were a major part of this right from the beginning, so you may want to see it through to the end, if only to put the nightmares to rest.”
“Only if that means Benjamin’s dead,” she muttered. “And I know that’s a terrible thing to say, but he’s a terrible man.”
“And yet, we haven’t seen him, not really,” Jax said thoughtfully. “That’s always bothered me.”
“What?”
“That he’s a ghost. I didn’t see him. You haven’t seen him. And, although the MI6 security team thinks they saw him once in a doctor’s lab coat, that photo was a little bit indistinct for me.”
“Meaning, you think it might not have been him?” she cried out. She sat up in bed, looked down at him. “If there’s one thing you must understand, that is Benjamin. He was always this ghost in the hallways during med school. He’d be in class, and you’d turn around, and he’d be gone again. He was one of those people who everybody loved to ignore and to overlook. And it sounds like he’s still doing the same thing in his career and his personal life.”
“We’ve all met people like that,” he said. “I remember in school, one mother complained because her son never made it into the yearbook, and she was astonished when people barely even recognized his name. He’d been one of those who, although he’d attended class, he was always in the background. He walked the hallways, and nobody ever really knew him. It was pretty disconcerting for the mother to hear that, and then, when we heard, for us to realize how much we hadn’t even seen him either.”
“Well, Benjamin was like that. But that also made it even creepier when I found out he was following me everywhere.”
“Do you think he still is?”
She dropped down on her back again. “Well, if he is, that would mean he’d know exactly where we are now. Because, if there’s one thing he was really good at, it was stalking someone.”
“So maybe he does know,” Jax said thoughtfully. “It’d be interesting if he entered this building.”
“Why?”
“Because plenty of cameras are here, and DeeDee will be watching them.”
“DeeDee?”
“The woman outside.”
“That woman who looks like she’d rather slice open your throat than let you have a cup of coffee is called DeeDee?”
He flashed a grin.
She chuckled. “Oh, my goodness,” she said. “Talk about misnaming someone.”
“I think she has a more complex and Far East–sounding name, but DeeDee is the shortened version.”
She laid on her back, smiling at the ceiling. “Thank you. I needed that. Just something lighthearted to remind me that there’s so much more in the world than Benjamin.”
“He’s been a threat over your shoulder for a long time, hasn’t he?”
&nb
sp; She nodded. “The trouble is, he’s always been that big boogeyman. I just didn’t know it at first. I thought he wasn’t anything to be afraid of until he caught me. It didn’t take long for him to completely disable me to the point that I almost didn’t get free. If the neighbors hadn’t heard me screaming, I have no doubt that he would have imprisoned me in my house for however long he chose to and would do any number of unspeakable things to me also because he chose to.”
“Sounds like he has no care for anybody else, like a true sociopath.”
“Exactly. It’s amazing just how much he’s impacted my life, leaving that heaviness in the background. Even after he was gone, he wasn’t ever really gone.”
“Well, after this,” Jax said, “he’ll be gone.”
“Promise?”
He looked at her gently and nodded. “I promise.”
She reached her arms around him, leaned up, and kissed him. “Good. Now isn’t there something better for two people on a bed to do than talk?”
“Absolutely,” he murmured and lowered his head.
Chapter 17
Abby chuckled as his lips met hers. “I figured you might have some ideas.” And she kissed him as she’d been wanting to since the first time she’d faced him, standing before her, fully geared up and looking so damn dangerous. Only to find out he was a softy on the inside. But an honorable softy. And the whole package was irresistible. At least for her. Even as he chuckled, the warm breath from his mouth mixed and mingled with hers as their lips gently stroked back and forth, tongues tasting and testing, lips soft and gentle as the pressure and the tension slowly eased, knowing that this is where they were and that this is what they were about—and not only that but that they both wanted it. He lifted his head for a moment, and she looked up at him and said, “Don’t even think to question me.”
His lips quirked, and his head came back down. He gave her a kiss that seemed to force a response from deep inside her. She’d fully intended to respond with all her heart, but it seemed like he was after her soul too. And she had no recourse but to give it to him, her body melting against his in compliance and in complete agreement as his heated kiss drove through her, comingling with his soul, as if he could see right through her head to her toes. When he finally lifted his head, she gasped and said, “Wow, that’s deadly.”
“Good,” he said, a tremor in his voice. “Because that was my exact response too. You pack a hell of a powerful punch, lady.” And then he lowered his head again.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight. She wanted this, and she wanted so much more, but she’d take this for the moment. He was something to be experienced, even if she had to walk away afterward with her tail between her legs, yet her head held high. She still wanted every moment she could have with him.
When he lifted his head the next time though, she followed his head up and claimed his lips for her own, kissing him back with all the power and presence that she had available and letting him know exactly how much she wanted him right now. He rolled over, giving her the lead, and she sat up, straddling his hips, pulling her shirt over her head, then tossing it to the side as he reached up and unclipped her bra.
As soon as the soft pink cups fell away, his breath caught in the back of his throat as he stared in awe.
“It’s always nice to see a reaction like that,” she teased.
He cupped her breasts gently, holding the weight of them in his hands. He shook his head and whispered, “Gorgeous.” Then he sat up with her still straddling his hips, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close.
She pushed him back gently and said, “You’re wearing too many clothes.” With her help, they quickly stripped off his shirt, and he hugged her tight. Skin against skin, heat against heat, she moaned softly as her breasts flattened against his chest. She just laid against him for a long moment, loving the feel of togetherness. “It’s been a long time for me,” she admitted.
He held her tight and whispered, “For me too.”
She smiled at that. She didn’t know if he was lying or not, but she appreciated the thought. “A big beautiful guy like you?” she asked, shaking her head. “I doubt it.”
“A smart beautiful lady like you?” he asked, shaking his head too. “I doubt it too.”
She burst out laughing and stood while he lay there, watching her. She stepped back and shucked out of her jeans, leaving just a scrap of pink lace in play, with her socks on as well. She motioned at him. “Your turn.” He hopped off the bed and quickly stripped off everything, his masculinity erect and ready, standing proudly in front of her. She smiled and walked over to the edge of the bed and said, “You get to take this piece off.”
He reached out gently and slipped his fingers under the elastic and drew the thong down to her ankles, where she stepped out of them. But his eyes never left the tiny triangle of hair at her privates.
He gave a happy sigh. “You are seriously beautiful.” His gaze wandered from her knees to her hips to her ribs to her breasts to her shoulders. “Everything is perfectly aligned. It’s like God did all the rest of His practice, and then, when He got to you, He finally made the real thing.”
She was touched. “I think that’s the nicest thing anybody has ever said to me. Of course it’s absolute garbage, but hey.”
He grinned, looked at her, and said, “I’m not so sure it is. You’re very blessed in the genetics of biology.”
“I am,” she said. “And so are you.” She dragged him to the bed with her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, the two of them locking gazes as she whispered, “Now you can kiss me.”
“Isn’t that what we have been doing?” he asked as he drifted kisses down her neck, making her moan as the goose bumps raised up and down her skin, her shoulders, and all along her back. When his hand slid up to her ribs, just resting below her breasts, she shifted, wanting his hands on her more. But he refused. His lips shifted from side to side, gently caressing her skin, tasting and teasing.
She drew her hands through his hair, stroking, holding him close and loving the feel of togetherness at the moment. She desperately wanted this time with him. She worried a call would come through to interrupt them, not wanting the reminder that neither had turned off their cell phones. No way they could. Not given the situation. But she refused to think about that right now.
She shifted, caught his head in her hands, and kissed him gently with all the fierce longing she’d held deep inside. She pulled him with her as she then rolled over, so she sat astride him, a move that happened so fast that he stared at her in shock. She chuckled and said, “My turn.”
And she gently explored his body, her fingers stroking across the ribs, the plains, the hollows, the muscles, and the scars. She kissed the edge of one scar and didn’t even bother to ask where it came from. The man was a warrior, and his body was a testament to his survival skills. She took his nipple and grazed her teeth across the edge, fingers raking across the other one.
He shifted, his manhood hard and powerful beneath her.
She gently slid down lower and lower, her hand stroking and caressing until she could grasp him fully in her hand. She stroked once, twice, and leaned over and gently slipped her tongue along the top of it. He groaned, his hips rising and asking for so much more. But she held him steady, her fingers caressing until she cupped the two globes beneath and gently squeezed them.
He groaned and said, “No more of that.”
But she didn’t listen to him. Instead her mouth gently came down over the top, her lips sealed tight as she stroked him with her tongue, teasing him and caressing him. And just when she was about to take more of him deeper into her throat, he picked her up, tossed her down, and flipped until he was on top. And he growled, “My turn.”
And when he slid down, he slid all the way down, his mouth coming down on top of her most intimate place. The gasps escaped her lips as her hips heaved upward. He held her firm in his hands as he tasted her deeply, taking each of the outer
lips and sucking them deep into his mouth.
She twisted underneath him. “No, no, no,” she said. “Come to me.” But he was merciless until her body exploded as the climax ripped through her with a ferocity that she had never felt before.
Then he rose up before her, grabbed her hips, and seated himself deep into the heart of her.
She laid trembling in shock as the orgasm still worked through her.
When he started to move, she didn’t even have a chance to catch her breath. A second climax climbed up her throat, ready to explode. She held back ever-so-slightly, but he was having none of it.
“Relax,” he said. “Let it come.” As he said that, his fingers gently massaged the nub between her legs. That second orgasm ripped through her. She cried out, but he didn’t stop even then. Not until he plowed deep time and time again, raising the tempo and shifting her position until she was once again screaming underneath him.
And this time, she cried out, “I want you with me.”
He leaned over, and his pace picked up until he dove into her faster and faster and faster, and suddenly he groaned, his body shaking uncontrollably as he poured himself into her.
And set off yet another orgasm in Abby. She laid trembling in his arms as he collapsed beside her, tucking her up close. She’d known it would be heaven, but she hadn’t realized it would be … this. And, even now, as she laid on his chest, still gasping for air, she knew nothing she’d ever experienced came close to this.
He pulled her up tight against him. “You okay?”
She nodded. “Better than okay,” she gasped. “Never better.”
“Good,” he whispered. “I didn’t want you to forget me.”
She groaned and whispered, “I don’t want you to forget me either. Feels like we’re two ships in the night, but it’s going to be dawn soon, and I’m trying to figure out how to make it night again so we can meet up for a second time.” Just as she said that, he rolled her slightly forward onto her belly and slid inside her from behind. She groaned as he slowly and gently stroked deeper inside, his fingers raising her torment from the front as he loved her again over and over and over. By the time they had shared a fourth orgasm, and he collapsed back down, she was mindless jelly. “My God,” she murmured. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
