by Dee, Bonnie
Ian hesitated then pulled a chair up to the booth rather than sit next to the stranger from KOTE. “So, Protector, you really did your job today. You should get a medal. By the way, you might have a little trouble getting your deposit back at the rental car place.”
“It’s trashed,” Mira agreed. “But I’m sure the Council will cover the expense.”
“You know Chris Fujikawa?” Justin asked.
“Yes, we’re old friends.” Mira smiled and nodded at the other man. “They only sent you?”
“The Council wanted the box taken directly to them before anything else could happen,” Chris said. “Two Protectors were sent from Chicago to escort it immediately to California. They’re already on their way there.”
“We were just planning how to help you,” Justin added.
“Sitting around drinking beer and talking is always a good way to rescue somebody,” Ian said.
Mira frowned at him. “Enough. It’s been a hard day for everybody.”
“Well, the box is safe and so are you.” Chris kept his tone light.
“Yeah, except that maniac thinks I have the amulet so he’s still after my ass.”
“Amulet. What are you talking about?” Mira asked. Ian hadn’t said much in the car and, realizing the trauma he’d been through, she’d given him time to relax before the questions started.
“After they let you go, I told Brody you had the box but I’d taken the contents, an amulet, and hidden it at the motel where we stayed. I was trying to buy time and told him part of the truth so he’d think KOTE would be off his back for a while and maybe let his guard down.”
“So you invented an amulet?” Justin said.
“Yeah. Then I killed the guard and escaped before Brody found out there wasn’t anything at the motel. I was almost out of the building before all hell broke loose.”
Mira could feel how much the killing had upset Ian. He might talk about it lightly but it had affected him deeply.
“Did any of you learn anything about the organization that might explain what his plans are?” Chris asked.
“He talked about delivering these people to his father as supporters, of what I don’t know,” Mira said.
“He’s tagging them,” Ian added. “I was hiding in one of the rooms and these guys came through, doing something while the guests are unconscious. I think shooting a tracking device under the skin. From what they said, Brody monitors all these people on computer.”
“We were out for a while.” Mira put her hand to the side of her neck, remembering the stab of the needle.
“I can scan you,” Fujikawa said. “I can locate electronic devices, bugs, taps, anything that emits an electromagnetic wave.”
“How handy.” Ian leaned back in his chair and signaled the waitress.
Mira knew Chris was an Earth Keeper, in tune with the ebb and flow of magnetic currents, but she’d never seen what he could do. She was as intrigued as Ian pretended not to be when Chris leaned across the table and ran his fingers lightly over her neck. He didn’t touch her skin, merely ran his hand up and down about an inch away from the area of the tiny puncture wound in her neck. His dark brows drew together in concentration as he moved his hand around her neck, scanning all of it.
“Nothing. I’m not sensing a thing. Unless he’s developed an entirely new technology, you’re clean.” The Keeper moved to Justin and found no device on him either.
Ian snorted in disbelief as Chris scanned him as well. “That’s a useful skill you’ve got there. How accurate is it?”
Fujikawa ignored the jab. “All clear.”
“Why wouldn’t Brody have marked us?” Mira said. “It doesn’t make sense. That tracking device would be so useful to him right now.”
“Because he wasn’t going to let us go—ever. And because he’s a screw-up just like his old man thinks he is.” Ian tossed back the whiskey he’d ordered. “So, the precious box is on the way to California, but the maniac cult leader still thinks I have what he wants. What happens now?”
“The information you provided about Brody’s ability to track his followers is very important,” Fujikawa said. “KOTE will ensure you’re well protected. We can create a new identity for you and find you a safe place to start over.”
“Like witness protection.”
“Yes, something like that.”
“What if I don’t want it?” What if I want to go back to my old life and pretend none of this ever happened?
“It’s your choice, but…” Chris trailed off suggestively. He shrugged. “I’ll book the three of you on a commercial flight to San Francisco. After debriefing, Donovan will help you decide your best course of action.”
“Thanks for the unlimited options.” Ian scowled and finished off his drink in another gulp. Mira wanted to smack him for his attitude and gather him into her arms and hug him at the same time.
“Make mine to Reno,” Justin said. “I have another situation I was dealing with when all this came up. I have to get there as soon as possible. I’ll drop by headquarters after. I’m going to go outside and take a look around to make sure you weren’t followed.”
Mira moved to let Justin out of the booth. Chris also went outdoors to get better reception on his phone as he called the airline.
She sat back down, resting her elbows on the table and rubbing her forehead. A headache pulsed behind her eyes. She felt she could lay her head down on the table and sleep right there.
“You all right?” Ian’s husky voice came from her right. He touched her shoulder.
“Yeah.” She looked up and smiled at his concerned expression. “How about you?”
“Don’t think I’ll ever sleep again I’m so wired, but I’m okay I guess.”
She reached out and touched the bruises on his neck and cheekbone. “We should get you to a doctor. How are your ribs and those burns?”
“Hurt like a sonofabitch.”
“Did they … do anything else to you after we left?”
He shook his head, looked down at his empty glass and spun it around. “So … what now? We go back to Cali and I start my new life as John Smith, always looking over my shoulder for this guy coming after me?”
“He may not. He must have figured out by now there really is no amulet.”
Ian laughed harshly. “With a guy like that it doesn’t matter. It’s personal. He’s pissed off at me for out-maneuvering him.”
“We’ll make sure you’re safe. Trust me.” Mira wanted to add that she’d personally assign herself as his bodyguard, forever if need be.
“And you?” Ian looked up. His dark eyes focused on hers. “What will you do next?”
“I’ll investigate whatever KOTE asks me to.” She smiled. “Although I think I’ll take a little break and work at my practice for a while first.”
“Ah, right. The psychic healing.”
She nodded. “This was a little more intense than I expected. I need to get back to my regular life.” Mira wanted to express her interest in making Ian a part of that life, but found herself inexplicably tongue-tied. She cleared her throat. “You know, sometimes when people are brought together suddenly and under extreme circumstances like this, they bond very quickly. It doesn’t mean they’re fated to be together forever. It’s easy to get caught up in the situation and let emotions take over.”
Ian dropped his gaze to his glass again. “I know.” He turned it upside down and raised a hand for the waitress to bring another.
Mira laced and unlaced her fingers. “You and I…”
“Would never work. I get it.”
“No. I wasn’t going to say that. I…”
“Couldn’t get a flight out tonight. You’re booked for 6 a.m.” Fujikawa interrupted, sliding into the seat across from her. “We’ll get a motel so you can sleep a few hours.”
“Sounds good,” she said. “You sure it’s safe, though?”
“Foster and I will stand guard.”
Justin rejoined them. “I won’t let an
ything else happen. You’re safe now.”
Chapter Fourteen
Ian stood in front of the cigarette machine in the lobby of the motel staring as if it were an oasis in a desert. He didn’t have a buck in his pocket to make a purchase since he was wearing somebody else’s ill-fitting dress pants. He rested his hand against the glass and felt the low electrical thrum of the machine. He imagined breaking into the machine, filling his pockets with cool menthols and filterless Marlboros.
“Here.” Foster was suddenly beside him, holding out a five-dollar bill.
He glanced at it, shook his head and turned away from the wealth of tobacco in the machine. “No thanks. I gave it up.” Damned if he’d take money from Captain America like some beggar. He turned to watch Fujikawa checking them in at the front desk. Mira stood nearby, gazing blankly at the wall.
Foster put the bill back in his pocket. “You did good today. You got the box out and you got all of us free.”
“Well, I just tried to think what a hero like you would do.” Ian said it with a sarcastic drawl, but it was the truth.
“First time you ever had to kill somebody?”
Ian shrugged.
“I know it’s not easy.” He looked out the window at the dark night and the moths flitting in the pool of light near the door. “Anyway … just wanted to thank you.”
“No problem.”
They waited in awkward silence for the others to join them.
* * * *
Ian’s room was right beside Mira’s. He walked in and flopped on the bed, then lay straining to hear her move around next door. A few moments passed and the shower went on. He closed his eyes and pictured her under the streaming jet of water: black hair plastered to her skull, brown skin, slick and wet as polished wood. He imagined the shampoo lathering her hair and dripping down onto the slope of her breasts, white suds against tan flesh.
He groaned and rolled to his side. He was too fucking tired to be fantasizing like this and needed to get some sleep.
Staggering to his feet, he stripped off his borrowed suit and his own bloodstained T-shirt, turned the shower as hot as it would go and stepped beneath the steaming spray. He leaned against the wall, eyes closed watching random images from the wild day play across his closed eyelids. One picture lodged in his head and wouldn’t break loose—Preston’s astonished eyes, frozen wide and his mouth open and gasping for breath.
Ian was suddenly shaking despite the water’s heat. He wrapped his arms around his body and sank down the wall to sit huddled on the floor of the tub, forehead resting against his knees.
He didn’t know how much time had passed when he was broken from his trance, or whatever the hell it was, by a loud knock on the door. Rising, he slapped off the water, heart pounding. Brody was after them. Foster was at the door because they had to run again.
He got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist then dripped his way to the door. “Yeah?”
“Ian, open up. It’s me.”
He was so relieved to hear Mira’s voice he obeyed immediately, opening the door a few inches.
“The guys ordered pizza.” She held up a box. Behind her in the hall, Fujikawa and Foster were talking and eating slices. “May I come in?”
Ian glanced down at his towel-clad torso. He didn’t want to put on the clothes he’d worn all evening. In fact he wanted to burn them and forget everything that had happened while he was wearing them. Fuck it, he decided. Mira could deal with a little nudity. He opened the door wider. “Sure.”
Her gaze flicked over his body for a brief moment, taking him in, then focused on his burns and bruises. “Are you sure you’re all right? I could send one of the guys to a pharmacy to buy ointment for those burns.”
“Naw. I’m fine.”
“ ’Cause you look…” She trailed off. Closing the door behind her, she reached out to touch his chest with gentle fingertips. “Do they hurt very much?”
Yes. No. Don’t stop touching me. Ian shook his head.
Mira dropped her hand away and stepped back. She held up the pizza box in her hands. “Hungry?”
Ian’s body continued to burn from her tender exploration. “Yeah,” he lied. Actually he’d never felt less like eating in his life. He took the box from her and gestured toward the bed. “Sit down?”
Mira crossed to the bed and plopped down on it, tucking one leg up beside her and letting the other rest on the floor. She wore the same clothes she’d been in for two days, but her hair was wet and sleek. She looked up at him expectantly and he realized he was supposed to sit down with her.
He set the pizza on the nightstand and took a seat on the bed. “What? You look like you have something to say.”
“I always have something to say. Ask anybody in my family.” She smiled, her beautiful white teeth flashing and catching hold of his heart.
“Go ahead then.” He settled himself as casually as he could considering the towel gaped whenever he spread his legs at all.
“I never got to finish what I wanted to say at the restaurant.”
“About why we could never hook up? Don’t bother. I get it. I’m not the guy. You’re looking for somebody like Captain America out there.” He waved his hand toward the hall. “A Protector.”
“What?” Mira frowned. “Why would I be here if that were true? No. I wanted to say that you and I have a connection like I’ve never experienced with anyone before.”
“Have a what?” Ian thought he might still be in the shower in a fugue state imagining this.
She leaned toward him slightly. “Don’t you feel it too? When I reach out my mind I can feel yours—not always clearly or close, but out there somewhere. I knew I had to come for you tonight, that you needed me. And when I was running through the park yesterday and saw you, I knew you were there for me.” She reached a hand out and rested it on his knee. “It felt like I was running toward home.”
Ian couldn’t have been more shocked if Justin Foster had knocked on the door and told him he wanted to fuck. “Me?” was all he could manage to say.
“Yes, Ian, you.” Her smile widened then dimmed. “You do feel something, don’t you? It’s not just me.”
“Yeah, of course, but … why? How could you possibly want me when you could have fucking Captain America?”
“I’m not interested in fucking Captain America. I love you.”
Ian froze at the “L” word. She was teasing him. This had to be some kind of joke. “Why would you say that? You don’t even know me.”
Mira scooted closer. “I know you. And you know me.” She put the palm of her hand very carefully on his burn-scarred chest and looked into his eyes. “In here where it counts. The rest will come later.”
“You know how crazy you sound, right?” His heart fluttered beneath her hand and his chest rose and fell rapidly.
She leaned in until her lips were only inches from his. “Crazier than the idea of Keepers and Destroyers and magic boxes? Justin was right, Ian, Terrans are different from humans in many ways and one of them is a penchant for believing in soul mates.” She pressed her mouth to his, kissing him lightly before pulling away. “I think I’ve finally found mine.”
“Okay, now you’re just scary. Like, Fatal Attraction scary.” Ian’s arms stole around her and pulled her onto his lap, holding her tight even though his ribs hurt like hell. He didn’t know if he was ready for the kind of commitment she was talking about, but was ready to take anything she wanted to give.
Her arms went around his neck. The slide of her skin against his wounds set them screaming with pain, but he didn’t even care. She kissed him again, harder this time. “No bunnies in pots, I promise.” She laughed.
God, how he loved her laugh! Ian’s doubts blew away. He forgot to remember he wasn’t good enough for her and bent his head to kiss her, sucking her full, luscious bottom lip into his mouth then letting it go. “Damn, I’ve wanted to do that.”
His hand roamed up her back and into the silky, wetness of
her hair. He cradled the back of her head and stroked his tongue over hers in a deep, searching exploration.
Mira angled her head a little to make the kiss even deeper.
Their tongues twined together like two flames from one fire, hot and molten. Something passed between them, a jolting, electric surge fusing them together, making them one.
Ian pulled away, clapping a hand to his mouth. “What the hell?” His heart raced and his body tingled all over.
Mira smiled. “I’m not human, Ian. This may be a little more than what you’re used to.”
He swallowed his surprise and grinned. “Bring it on, baby. Sex with a hot alien chick. Every boy’s wet dream.”
*
His wide-eyed shock was replaced by a horny gleam. He gathered her into his arms and ravaged her mouth again.
Mira slipped her hands over the smooth muscles of his shoulders and around the back of his neck. She kept her touch light and cautious on his damaged skin. Entwining her fingers in the shaggy ends of his hair, she tugged on it and kissed him until her lips felt swollen and used. She lifted her chin to encourage his nibbling kisses on her neck.
He kissed and licked down the column of her throat and sucked on the tender skin just above her throbbing pulse.
Ian, she called mentally, quietly, so as not to frighten him.
“Mm?” He continued nuzzling her throat, unaware the word had been sub-vocal.
Mira ran her mind over and around the edges of his, like fingertips stroking. Feel me?
That caught his attention. Once more he pulled away to stare at her.
Let me in and I’ll let you in. Trust me, the sex will be magnified a hundred times if our minds are joined. She sent him images of the things she wanted to do with him then showed him the powerful erotic feelings he aroused in her. As the images and sensations tumbled through her mind, they flashed into his.
He gasped and his eyes closed as he drank in her thoughts and feelings. “Oh.” Complete comprehension was contained in the small sound. His inner voice repeated. Oh.
Yes. Like that. Mira slid her hands down the hard plane of his chest toward his stomach. Only a soft down of hair disturbed the smooth expanse of skin over muscle. She relished his silky skin and broadcast how wonderful it felt to her.
