by S A Monk
Nick smiled at him and enclosed his thin flannel-clad frame in his arms. “Yes, they did. Now I’m going to go to get him and bring him home, sport.”
The smile that lit up the ten-year-old’s face was luminous. “I know you’d do it!” He threw his skinny arms around his uncle’s neck and gave him a big bear hug. “When Daddy be home?”
“A couple of days.” Nick stood up with him and hoisted him onto his shoulders, making Christopher squeal with delight. “Now you need to get back in bed. It’s way past your bedtime.”
“I sleeping with grandma,” the boy informed him. “Read me a story.”
Jessie reached out and rubbed her grandson’s leg as it dangled over Nick’s broad shoulder. “I’ll read you one, honey. Nick is tired.”
“No,” the little boy insisted, angling his brown-haired head down and to look upside down into his beloved uncle’s face. “I want Uncle Nick to read to me.”
“It’s okay, Mom. It won’t take long. He looks pretty sleepy.” Nick turned to Hanna, who was still seated at the table, smiling up at the three of them. “Wait for me, and I’ll walk you home.”
“I can walk home by myself, for goodness sakes.”
“Wait for me,” he insisted, every bit as stubborn as his nephew.
“Okay,” she conceded as she pushed her dark-rimmed glasses up onto her nose. “I’ll wait.”
“Thank you.” He winked at her, then left with his mom and Christopher, bending at his knees into a squat, duck-walking, to get through the doorway with the little boy on his shoulders. Hanna’s gaze followed them until they disappeared into the darkness.
Nick’s relationship with Lance’s son was so very touching that it made her eyes water. Christopher trusted his uncle to rescue his dad and bring him home safe and sound. For that matter, they all had been doing that from the day Nick had arrived home.
These were such dangerous men that had entered their lives. And their leader had a personal vendetta against Nick. She didn’t want anything to happen to either of the Kelly brothers. She loved both of them, though one differently from the other. And Lord help her! Now that she and Nick had become lovers, she would never be able to bear losing him.
CHAPTER 21
HER GRANDMOTHER’S HOUSE was completely dark as she and Nick entered through the back door and strode quietly upstairs.
Hanna looked back at Nick over her shoulder and barely suppressed a giggle. “I feel like a teenager sneaking a boy into her room.”
Nick caught her around the waist and brought her to a halt at the top of the stairs. “You never did that, did you?”
“What do you think?” She made a face at him over her shoulder. “Of course not. I didn’t have any boyfriends in high school, remember? No one wanted to go out with a brainy underage geek, like me.”
Nick whirled her around to face him. “I did!” Even in the dark, she could see the adamant, half-angry look on his face. “I admit you were too young to get serious about, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t consider it.”
She stared up at him in wonder and disbelief. “You had so many girlfriends all through high school,” she reminded him, remembering how each new one had hurt.
“Yeah, but after taking you to our prom, things were different, at least, for me. That summer after graduation....” With a slight shake of his head, he gazed down at her. “Remember how much time we spent together all that summer? Camping, sailing, and diving? Hanging out together?”
“Dylan and Lance were there, too,” she reminded him. “They went everywhere we did.”
“You were too young to be alone with me.” His eyes became very intense, and his voice dropped lower. “I had the experience to know what could happen. You didn’t. Geez, Hanna, you were barely fifteen!”
She was speechless. What a revelation! He’d been attracted to her way back then? She’d had no idea.
They were at her bedroom door when Christine emerged from her room across the hall. There was an empty baby bottle in her hand. She looked over at them and grinned.
Hanna was grateful for the darkness. She could feel herself blushing all the way to her toes. It was obvious Nick was intending to stay the night. He had his shaving kit in one hand and a change of clothes in the other. He’d asked her to spend the night at his mother’s, but Hanna didn’t think that was a good idea because of Christopher.
“The baby still wakes up once in the while, hungry in the middle of the night,” Christine explained with an astute grin. “Don’t let me disturb you. Colleen went to bed a couple of hours ago.”
“Good night, Christine,” Nick replied as he opened the door for Hanna. “Give Katie a good night kiss for me.”
“See you in the morning,” she finished. “Stay for breakfast.”
Hanna took that to mean that neither Colleen nor Christine would be shocked if Nick spent the night. She whispered good night to her sister-in-law then went into her room.
Nick shut the door behind them, then dropped his things in a nearby chair and swung around to catch her in his arms. “I need a kiss,” he murmured as she struggled to suppress another giggle. “No― more than just a kiss, pretty doctor.”
Hungrily, he took her mouth in a bone-melting kiss that rendered her weak in the knees. His lips moved over hers, along her arched neck, back and forth between her collarbone and earlobe, his teeth taking little nibbles along the way.
Her body bent backwards as her arms wound around his neck, her fingers splaying into his short hair. She pushed her fingers upwards, to where his hair was longer, to the back and top of his well-shaped skull. She luxuriated in the soft silky warm feel of his hair.
Her caresses brought his head closer. His kiss intensified, if that was possible. Her lips parted once again in invitation, and his tongue thrust into her mouth. It mated with hers, coaxing and cajoling. She felt the burn all the way to her toes. It was such a fierce kiss that she uttered a hungry, shameless groan.
With an answering growl, Nick swung her off her feet and carried her to her bed, where he fell backwards onto the mattress with her still wrapped tight in his arms. Their kiss continued even as they twisted sideways to face one another. It was ravenous, unending, defying them to breathe, to separate.
Nick pushed his hands into her hair, turning her head this way and that for the deepest access he could find. While he was rapidly sending her into oblivion, she struggled to lower the zipper on his jeans.
She had to wedge her knee between his to gain purchase, then because she just had to feel even more of him, she pushed her knee higher to rub back and forth against his groin. He shuddered when she came into contact with his swollen shaft.
Understanding her message of need, he pushed her onto her back, finally broke his contact with her mouth, and began to unbutton her blouse. He disposed of all the buttons and stripped it from her with amazing speed, then began working on the zipper to her jeans. Hanna kicked off her sandals and nudged Nick’s sneakers off his feet.
She was surprisingly good at getting them off, considering how tangled their bodies were. By that point, he had her jeans around her ankles, so she wiggled out of them. Twisting against each other, they both managed to get him out of his jeans. Then Nick rose above her to tear his polo shirt off over his head and toss it backward carelessly, onto the floor.
A squeaky laugh of delight escaped her as he emerged from his shirt, bare-chested and nearly naked. She actually had on more than he did. She was wearing the stretchy lace bikini panties and demi-bra Christine had given her, and discovered the true value of such seductive attire when she saw Nick notice them and suck in a quick breath.
His dark eyes filled with heat as he slowly scanned her figure. Sending her pulse racing, he bent his dark head to the pale thrust of her breasts that rose above the delicate lace. His tongue sketched their full sloping shape. Through the sheer lace, his lips closed over a nipple. Hanna arched, moaning, against the erotic pull of his teeth and lips.
One hand slipped beneath the s
atin and lace of her matching panties. His fingers found her unerringly. She writhed and twisted beneath his fondling caresses, his name breathlessly falling from her lips with each assault he made on her senses.
Her climax spiraled to the surface. Her world spun dizzily. Her body bowed upwards, nails dug into the sheets. To silence her cry of ecstasy, Nick pulled his mouth from her breast to cover her lips.
Before she had time to float back down, he stripped her of her underwear, then his own, and entered her with the same surety his fingers had. Hanna loved that moment when he first entered her. All her empty places were filled with him. He became so much a part of her, she wondered how they could return to two separate beings. For her, the fusion of their bodies was a fusion of their souls, of their essences.
Clutching him to her, she felt the hard flex of the muscles in his back. Her fingers slid across his shoulder blades and along his spine. They molded the smooth hard curve of his waistline, sculpted the round firm shape of his buttocks. With her nails digging into warm skin, she grasped him tight as he rocked forcefully in and out of her. Because she knew he loved it, she wrapped her long legs tight around his waist. It locked her hips to his. His pace quickened. Sweat slicked his chest, his arms, his entire body.
His stamina was wondrous. Hanna reveled in it, glad she was in good enough shape to enjoy it. As far as she was concerned, he could love her all night like this. She rotated her hips against his, making the circular motion she had discovered drove him wild, savoring the feel of his pelvic hair against hers and the deep groans that rumbled in his chest.
Her tongue came out to lick the sweat from his arched neck, his collarbone, his Adam’s apple. He tasted salty. Inhaling his gloriously masculine scent, she nuzzled her nose in the light dusting of dark soft hair on his broad chest and breathed deeply. Her lips found his male nipple, then her teeth, gently biting him. His thrusts became urgent, hard, and fast.
Another climax rose inside her, hotter and more intense than before. She felt his building, and anticipated it as much as her own. Shivers turned to deep shudders. They were slipping wetly against one another. The telltale goose bumps rose on both their sweat-slick flesh. Hanna’s long lithe body arched one final time, then dipped into the mattress beneath the final fierce thrust of Nick’s. Their voices blended in a cry of muffled pleasure. Consummation was so intense it rocked both of them.
Little quivers racked their limbs for long moments afterwards. Nick reluctantly shifted his weight to her side. Not wanting to be separated by even the merest inch, Hanna turned with him and locked her arms around his waist to trap him as close as she could get him. He found a similar hold on her. It seemed forever that they held each other that way, Nick breathing heavily into her hair, Hanna doing the same into his chest.
At long last, their bodies cooled enough to need the blankets pulled up. Beneath them, they rolled onto their backs to stare at the ceiling silently for a moment. In the dark, their hands found each other’s, fingers locked and intertwined.
She had no idea if making love was this absolutely wonderful with any other man, but she knew it was beyond what she had ever dreamed of with Nick. Either because she loved him so much or because he was an amazingly skilled lover, or maybe both, having sex with him was the closest to heaven she imagined she would get while she lived on this earth.
Finally, he turned to her, rose up on one elbow and caressed her cheek with his knuckles. “How am I ever going to do without this? Without you?”
She frowned in a mixture of consternation and joy. Was he preparing himself to leave her? Or was he telling her that he couldn’t? “You don’t have to do without me,” she told him quietly.
“I don’t, huh?” He stared at her thoughtfully, his mouth curved into one of those crooked grins she loved so much. But there was also a slight frown wrinkling his forehead.
“Can you still retire?” she ventured.
“Yes, and I could do so with full benefits.”
But she could hear the hesitancy in his voice. “You don’t want to, though, do you?”
“Not really.” His head fell back onto the pillow, and he stared at the ceiling once again. “The Corps is all I know. It’s my life, my career, but I want things to change. I want there to be more to my life than all these long overseas’ field deployments.”
It sounded to Hanna like he’d been thinking about a new direction in his career. But it also sounded like he hadn’t come to any decisions yet. She didn’t want to press him. She figured that if he wanted her in his life on a regular basis, he’d have to come to that realization in his own way and time. She’d waited twenty years for him. She could wait a little longer. And even though he hadn’t told her he loved her, he’d been telling her with his body how much she meant to him. She’d let that be enough for now.
She finally scooted up to sit against the pillows. When she was comfortable, she reached over to turn on her beside lamp. Then she grabbed her glasses and a navigational map out of the night stand drawer.
“So, show me where Lance is?”
She unfolded the map and smoothed it over her quilt-covered lap. She was still wearing her bra. Either Nick had left it on her on purpose, or he’d forgotten about it.
He plumped his pillows and sat up next to her, letting the quilt fall around his waist as he checked his wristwatch. “Feeling energized, are you?”
“I thought we’d make some plans so we can get started on this rescue mission.” She saw his frown and knew what was coming. “And don’t even think about telling me I’m not going along with you.”
“Hanna....”
“Colonel!” Her chin set stubbornly.
“These are dangerous men. They’d just as soon shoot you as look at you. I have experience with situations like this. I’m trained for this. You’re not. I can’t put you at risk by letting you come on this mission with me.”
“You need help.”
“I plan on asking Kurt to go with me.”
“I’m a doctor. Lance may need me.”
That stopped him for a moment. Then he shook his head in disagreement. “I have enough medical training to treat any injuries temporarily.”
She didn’t have an argument for that because she knew that he did have EMT training. “I can’t let you go without me. There has to be something I could do for you. I’ve learned to operate all the special equipment you’ve had me use. And I want to help bring Lance home.”
She looked so adorable sitting next to him in her little lacy black bra and disheveled hair. As he stared at her pleading expression, his heart twisted with love. Yeah, he loved her, he finally admitted to himself. And not just as his best friend. This woman was incredibly important to him. He was torn between giving her what she wanted and deserved, and what he wanted, which was to keep her out of harm’s way. He knew that she was smart and capable enough to be of assistance to him, but somehow he had to keep her away from the real danger.
“Okay, you can go— up to a point. I’ll take you with me to the island, but not necessarily inside the compound.”
Her eyes sparkled with a happy smile before she cast them to the map spread out on the queen-sized bed. She pointed to a place on the north end of Vancouver Island that was entitled Stormy Harbour. “Is this where Yancy told you Lance was?”
Nick nodded as his index finger joined hers on the map. “Just above Stormy Harbour, right about there, below the northern most tip of Holberg Inlet. Yancy said the place sits atop a high rocky headland overlooking the bay. The whole thing is surrounded by an electrified fence. I’m going to call in for some satellite photos of the area tomorrow.”
“You can do that?”
“I have the clearance and the authority. Depending on the weather and the clarity, the photos may give us a picture of Chen’s property, maybe even some good close-ups. I’ll match the pictures up with a variety of topographical maps. I also want to check the nautical maps, like this one of yours. We’re going to need to see a map of the logging ro
ads, too. We’ll find the best way to approach and enter the complex.”
“Won’t you have to find out exactly where Lance is being held?”
“It would help. We should be prepared to set up a bare minimum camp close by; some place well-hidden, while I conduct some on-site reconnaissance.”
“Are we hiking in then? Backpacking?”
“No, I think we ought to rent ATV’s. That way we don’t have to carry all that gear in, and we can get out faster if we need a speedy escape, although it would be nice to get out by boat.”
After a moment’s contemplation, Nick swung out of bed and walked across the room to her desk. Hanna looked up from her map to enjoy the view. Naked, Nick was an absolute pleasure to behold. From behind, his back rippled with muscle. His shoulders were broadly cut. His waist narrowed smoothly to perfectly round tight hard buttocks that Hanna loved running her palms over and squeezing. Below them, his legs were thick with sinewy bands of muscle along his thighs, tapering to calves that bulged hard as rocks. At six foot four, his two hundred and forty pound frame was all hard, sculpted muscle, distributed on his long big body in perfect proportion. He looked incredibly strong, and yet she knew, first hand, how very gentle he could be, with her, with his mom, with Christopher, and with tiny Katie. It was no wonder she loved him enough to have waited this long for him. How many men in the world were there like him?
When he came back to her bed, he had a notepad and pen in his large hands. He sat back down next to her, oblivious to the fact she had been so openly admiring all his attributes.
“I’m going to make a list of all the equipment we’ll need, and you can help me start putting it together tomorrow. We’ll start with a float plane.”
“A float plane? Why not my Emerald Mermaid?”
“A plane is faster— for getting there and getting out.”
