by Billi Jean
Relief settled over him. The car would be safer than going on foot to the safe house, he thought, especially if this hotel had an underground garage.
“Did you know…I mean—” Kylie exhaled wearily and stood up. “Did you know me from the start?”
Dare nodded. “I’d been looking for you.” He paused and brushed her hair off her face, debating how much to say. Everything, he guessed. It was now, or let Kylie keep on thinking he was nothing more than some agent out to stop her—not a man who’d discovered that with her, he’d finally found something worth living for.
He stood straighter and met her worried gaze. “Since you saved my life, I’ve been looking for you, Ky. I didn’t sign on to this mission knowing it was you though.” He smiled, remembering how unlike the woman standing in front of him her pictures had been. “You don’t look the same in the photos in your file.”
She frowned at that, but stayed silent.
“It wasn’t until I faced you, that I knew.”
“Knew what?”
“Knew the chase had been worth it.”
It took her a second, but she rolled her eyes and smiled. “Mmm, but…” She reached out and playfully brushed her fingers along his busted up face, but quickly her smile faded and she grew serious, much more serious than he’d ever seen her. She tilted her head and her dark eyes shimmered. “I didn’t recognize you,” she whispered huskily. “When I got you out of that mess, you were covered in blood, your face swollen to obscurity from where you must have landed head first into a low wall. You were delirious. I thought you might die. I thought they’d find you and finish what they started. I thought you’d never make it.”
He grinned, even though he could hear the pain in her rapid-fire confession. Maybe because he could hear it, he thought, watching the way her eyes simmered with worry mixed with heat. “I’m not that easy to kill, baby.” He shrugged and covered her hand with his when she would have taken it away. “You saved my life. I couldn’t die after that, not after all the trouble you went to.”
Some kind of emotion crossed her face quickly then was gone before he could decide if it was fear or pain. She shook her head slightly with an amused look. “You’re too full of yourself to die. Even now.” She caressed his jaw and inspected his face. “You’re healing.”
“More your dad’s work there than mine, I think.”
She nodded and that odd look came back in her eyes, but she dropped her hand and pushed her hair behind her ears. Their conversation wasn’t over, but he could sense she needed some time to come to terms with everything.
“All right. Here’s the plan. We go down and see if they have a parking garage here and if we can, we head to where they’ve set up a car for us nearby.”
“Okay, but we need to talk,” she said, giving him a worried look he couldn’t decipher.
“True. Let’s go in here, wait it out and see if any more of them follow.”
He pushed the button for the elevator and turned to see Kylie watching him oddly. She looked uneasy. Was she more hurt than he’d realized? She’d been gone for hours. The tape still bothered him, but he wasn’t sure how much to ask.
“Did they harm you?”
She shook her head. The elevator doors opened and he motioned for her to go inside. She did, but moved to the back, and settled against the wall with her arms crossed around her waist in a defensive posture.
“Kylie, you can tell me anything, you know that, right? I mean, hell, look at me,” he said trying to get her to smile.
She did and reached up to touch his stitches again when he moved closer. His face was hot from the run, but her fingers were cool, soothing.
“You were hurt badly, weren’t you?” she whispered.
“I’ll heal. I always do,” he said and captured her hand to brush a kiss to her fragile wrist. Her skin was red there, and if he had to guess much longer, he might go insane. “Tell me what they did, Ky.”
“Why do you call me that?”
He blinked at her and again he was struck by how beautiful she was. Even sweaty, tired and a bit dirty, she was beautiful. She had a sprinkling of freckles along her nose and cheekbones. She must have worn makeup to cover them before, but they were so alluring, he never wanted to have her cover them up with makeup again. He rubbed a bit of dust off her cheek and gave her his best smile, well, with a busted face best smile. “It fits, is that okay?”
“It’s okay,” she whispered again, this time he saw tears shimmering closer to the surface.
“Ky, just talk. I need to know if they hurt you, if they—”
She pushed a finger to his lips, silencing him that easily.
“No, they scared me. Threatened to drill into my hand, can you believe that?” she demanded, sounding more grossed out than scared.
His heart hit his toes at the image of them doing just that to her beautiful hand. He’d seen it before. The torture technique was wildly popular down in South America. She continued on, unaware he suffered a minor heartache at her casual words.
“But no, they didn’t hurt me. You look hurt though.”
He moved in closer and brushed her midnight hair out of her eyes. She had the most amazing eyes. Combined with the light dusting of freckles and pink lips, she easily captured his heart and body. Especially his body. His hard-on still throbbed. He’d been hard for so long he was surprised he could focus on anything besides the dull ache in his pants. He wanted to do things to Ky, things like make love to her standing up, so he could watch the rosy glow flush her face as she neared her orgasm. See the look of total passion in her eyes as he brought her to that place where anything and everything was allowed. She’d burn his cock when he finally slid inside her, no doubt setting him off with the first thrust, but that would just be icing on a cake he intended to sample repeatedly.
“Daren?”
There was a slight tremor to her voice he’d not heard before—unease maybe. Suddenly he realized he’d backed her against the wall of the elevator with his cock pressed to the softness of her body. She had both hands on his chest not to caress him, but to stop him. Her face was filled with concern and, he thought, a bit of fear.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, touching her cheek and taking a step backward, worried now she was hurt and hiding it.
She reached out and took his hand, and the concerned expression grew. “Daren, I think I should tell you that the drugs have an odd…side-effect.”
“Is that so?” he asked, wanting to hear her voice again. Better, he wanted to hear her say his name in a breathy whisper after he kissed her. He placed his free hand above her head, and moved in closer to her. The way she watched him, as if she were holding her breath, gave him an odd, warm feeling. He bent to brush a kiss to her lips. “Why don’t you tell me about it?”
“I am,” she stuttered on her breath when he angled his body against hers. Under the camo jacket, she still wore the white silk blouse and short pencil skirt from this morning. The skirt was one of those high belted things that, on her, accentuated the flare of her ass from her narrow waist and covered her legs only to her upper thighs. He wanted to feel her arch up against his hips so he could rub between her lush curves. Instead he hit the lock button on the elevator so they could be undisturbed.
Kylie stiffened against him and sucked in a breath when he tried to kiss her. Instead of letting him like she had that morning, she turned her head, avoiding him. He settled for unbuttoning the jacket and trailing his mouth along the column of her throat. “Did you like what we did this morning, Ky?”
“Daren, I think we should talk,” she said, but under the breathy rush of words he heard all he needed. Desire.
“Mmm, come on, tell me. Did you? Because I did. I want more.”
“Daren, I think we should talk first.”
He laughed, because she was caressing her hands up and down his stomach and chest even while she said it.
“Mmm, we can, we will. But first, I think we need to make sure you weren’t hurt,” he
whispered against the top of her lush cleavage.
For such a small woman, she had perfectly rounded breasts. Just that morning he’d gone off at her touch, but also from imagining thrusting his dick between those curves and coming all over her chest. Macho maybe, but it had set him off so hard, he’d thought he might hurt himself if she ever suggested they try such a thing.
She moaned lightly and rubbed against him. Her eyes were so sexy when she was aroused, it drove him nuts.
“Still want me to talk?” he asked.
“No, oh, God, no,” she whispered.
Her hot words hit and detonated in his body. “It’s not the drug, Ky.”
She laughed softly and nipped his ear. “If it is, that’s okay, because oh, God, you feel good.”
“Yeah? Let me show you something better,” he murmured against the softness of her lips. Gently, he pulled the camo jacket off her, turning her to face the wall in the process and heard her gasp, then moan in anticipation when he pressed his aching erection along the crevice of her bubble butt.
“Oh, God!”
He cupped both cheeks, and rested his thumbs along the hot skin right under her ass. He lifted the generous flesh to close in around his straining cock. The skirt did nothing to hide how drop down gorgeous her ass was. Hell, he thought, his pants did nothing to hide the hard-on shoving upward, ready to sink into her.
She moaned, and tipped her head backward to brush her lips hungrily along his jaw.
“Oh, God, Daren!” she cried when he aligned his hard-on against her ass.
“I’m hurt, Kylie. Aching. You saved me in that desert, but you left me wanting. Do you know what I want from you now, right now, here, in this elevator, baby?”
He mimicked what he wanted from her, giving her the same rough thrust he’d given her this morning, until with a gasp of his name, she gripped his neck with one hand and his arm with other. Then, nearly made him come in his BDUs when she arched her back so she rubbed along his dick like a dream come true.
Her shyness melted away when she grew aroused and he fought the sudden instinctual urge to unzip, bend her over and take them both to paradise. Instead, he captured her lips, thrusting his tongue into her sweet mouth because he had to fill some part of her. She rocked back into him, bouncing along his cock as she did, driving him so wild he bit down on her lip then slowly sucked the spot afterwards.
“Ah, Ky, that’s my girl. Get wild for me,” he told her, sounding so rough, he barely recognized what he’d said. Whatever he’d said though, seemed to be right. Kylie tipped her head back farther to rest on his shoulder and let him devour her mouth again.
Sparks ignited in his blood, pumping him full of desire so hot he had to get skin to skin with her. He pressed her skirt up past her rounded curves and groaned at the site of her. She had the perfect butt, so damn beautiful with her black thong separating the rounded globes, he wanted to kneel behind her and pay homage.
“You’re so damn gorgeous. So fucking hot,” he told her.
She gasped when he slipped his fingers past her thong, but when he looked at her, her face was flushed with passion. She was on the edge, so aroused she panted. He leaned in, kissing a path down the exposed skin of her throat and slid his hand around her hip to brush against her lacey panties. They were soaked.
“Daren,” she whispered breathlessly, angling her head to the side to give him more room to taste her. He sucked hard on a spot, and at the same time slipped his fingers along her slit to test her readiness.
She whimpered and leaned back into him. , He marked her neck harder with his mouth, unable not to.
She was so wet for him he groaned heavily in relief. Finally, she was in his arms, ready and growing wilder for him. Could she be more perfect, he thought in a burst of clarity. She fit him.
He pressed his cock into her rounded flesh and they both groaned. He was so hard his erection stood upright, the crown shoving past the waist line of his BDUs to get a sampling of how smooth her ass was against it. She reached back, shocking him into breaking his kiss from her neck by cupping her cool hand around the head of his erection and rubbing down inside his pants. It was so good, his body went on autopilot and thrust uncontrollably a few times into that soft, sweet hand.
“Ky, sweet baby, I love that,” he told her, reaching down frantically to get his cock free for her. He dripped pre-cum, so ready for her when she stroked him a few more luscious times, he nearly went off. He gripped her hand to stop her, and breathed through his nose until he could hold off the orgasm threatening to shoot all over her ass.
The image of doing just that, had him counting how many times he had jumped out of a helicopter, so he could think on something—anything—other than her mouth sucking him like a lollipop.
“Daren,” she whispered, sounding so turned on, but confused, he shook his head, trying to clear it.
“Daren, I have to tell you something,” she began, drawing him out of his fantasy blow job. “It’s the drug. The drug is making you… Well, it’s increasing your body’s sexual need.”
Suddenly he took stock of his cock out, her skirt up past her beautiful ass and her blouse pulled open to reveal the best set of breasts he’d ever seen spilling over a demi bra in his life.
Holy hell, he’d come close to fucking her in an elevator. The drug did this? Or the hard-on he’d been sporting since he’d laid eyes on Kylie Chung again? His erection flexed, siding with how long it’d wanted Kylie.
“Baby, I can assure you that while your dad might have increased some men’s sexual need, his shit sure as hell didn’t do a thing to mine.”
She stared over her shoulder at him for a heartbeat, looking stunned, then frowned fiercely and tried to get out of his arms.
When he didn’t let her down, she smacked him on the shoulder a few times and yelled at him, “Let me go right this second.” She tacked on some Korean and he was glad he didn’t understand her, for he was certain he’d not like what he heard.
Not that he didn’t deserve it for the smart-assed comment.
He could see how his words might set her off, because what he’d said sounded like it didn’t matter who he had in his arms, he’d be hard no matter what. It wasn’t what he’d meant. With Kylie, no way was he letting her think that.
For the first time in his life, he got why men made complete fools of themselves over women. Why the men he’d known for years laid down the truth for their women repeatedly—even when they knew they’d get shit for it.
He wasn’t letting Kylie storm off—not that she could do much locked in the elevator with him. But he also didn’t want her thinking she was just any woman to him. He’d had enough time in that copter to think about regrets. He had a ton of them—he’d not have ones with her. He’d give her all he could, and if she then decided life with him wasn’t what she wanted, well, he’d try harder to convince her otherwise. He was moving fast, and for some people it might be too quick for them to believe it was true, but he’d lived without someone for so long, he recognized when he’d found someone he’d never find again. Holding her close, he knew he’d realized from the beginning she was it for him, that’s why he’d never forgotten her. Now that he’d spent time with Kylie, she’d dug herself so far in his core he’d never be able to let her go.
Don’t fuck this up, Dare. Not like this.
Everything became crystal clear for him in those few seconds. He couldn’t fuck up with Ky.
He tightened his arms around her until she stopped trying to get away. Breathless, pissed off, and in his arms, she looked so damn beautiful she took his breath away. Their faces were scant inches apart. He wanted to kiss her so badly it was turning into a craving he thought he’d never be able to cure and never wanted to.
“Kylie, no matter what you think you heard, I won’t let you go until you hear me out. I’m hoping you won’t want me to let you go, after.”
She narrowed her eyes to slits but nodded once. It was almost funny—hell it was funny since he held her i
n his arms, and obviously could do what he wanted without her permission—but he fought his grin and laid down the truth. He wasn’t a truthful kind of man with women, but since he’d first met Kylie Chung, that was all she dragged out of him.
Except once—when he’d lied about kissing her.
A woman like Kylie would have her choice of men, and those men would have much more than he had. Truth and loyalty were all he had going for him. And, that she seemed just as interested in him, as he was in her.
“I’m dying here, not because of some pill, but because ever since I met you in the desert, I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind. Let me assure you, now that I have you in my arms I’m not letting you go. You’re what I’ve wanted since Iraq, and you’re what I want now, too.” He shifted so she could feel the pressure building in his body, the evidence so hard he knew she had an intimate example of just what he had in mind.
“This isn’t going away. Not now, not after, possibly never.”
She swallowed tightly and looked even more concerned. He remembered this morning, how tentative but happy her kisses had been and how she’d gone all hot and wild for him within minutes.
Right now, she believed her dad’s drug was making him want her. He needed her to know it was him, all him, when he finally made love to her.
“Although, yeah, in an elevator is not how I want to make love to you the first time. Maybe after the hundredth time, to spice things up, but not the first.”
She gave him a frightened, shocked look for that, but a smile tipped her gorgeous mouth upward by the time he let her slide to her feet. Her dark eyes remained on his face and he thought she might have been trying to assess his honesty. But she didn’t move away and she kept her hands on his chest as if she couldn’t bear to let him go.
“Say something, Ky. This is when you talk.”
“Me?” she whispered, more appalled by that than anything else he’d said so far, he thought by her expression
“Yes,” he growled, adjusting himself back in his BDUs. “Spill your guts. Talk.”
“I…I don’t want our first time to be here, either,” she whispered.
