by Zoe Dawson
She shamelessly enjoyed how his hands felt as they brushed against her skin. “You wouldn’t be seducing me in order to keep me from more geek-speak, would you?”
Pushing her shirt up, he looked up at her, then down at her exposed midriff. He grinned. “Would it work?”
She shook her head.
“Then I guess the answer is no.” He leaned in closer, tugging on the waistband of her jeans. The smile disappeared from his face as it went intense and sexy-serious, as if her stomach was something to be investigated fully.
He was an experience. Everything about him was so rich and flavored. Vin wanted her passionately, his hands sliding around her waist and drawing her toward him, his breathing ragged. He settled his mouth against the skin of her stomach, his lips warm, reverent and soft. The feel of him was intoxicating, dizzying. He set her on fire with his kiss, made her gasp, and every inch of her wanted more.
Her hands tingled, and she thought about that so embarrassing moment when she’d asked him if she could touch him. The warmth of his face, his heavy breathing sending shivers over her skin, and the prickle of his stubble all added to the desire to fondle him.
Her hand went into his so soft hair, kneading his scalp and tugging at the inky strands, her palms absorbing the deep sensual feel of Vin.
They were in the middle of nowhere. No rules and no one in control. No one knew where they were. She couldn’t even hear the traffic on the highway. Was that because she was so caught up in watching him? Feeling him?
The realization added a dark thrill to the whole heart-stopping experience of having Vin make love to her with his mouth.
It was crazy. Crazy and hot and utterly sexual in a way she’d thought she would never know except in her fantasies, where men didn’t roughly take her when she hadn’t been prepared and have it over before she could even say good night.
Ah, damn, now she thought about how Vin could take her roughly. She was more than ready for him, and now she realized the difference between that terrible past experience and her joining with Vin. He’d taken it slow, and it had almost been as if she was experiencing it for the first time. The other incident was fading away, becoming nothing but background noise.
The experience with Vin was ongoing, even when they weren’t touching. Just looking at each other, like back in the kitchen. The kiss was already in his eyes, and that was just as unexpected as finding out Vin could keep up with her intelligence; doubly unexpected was the way he was so comfortable with it. “I thought you said that my Newton geek-speak was getting you hot,” she said, torn between a laugh at how freeing it was to be with him, and a soft moan on how deliciously good the things he was doing with his tongue made her feel. The soft moan won out as he continued kissing her.
“I said your teasing was getting me hot, although your clever sexual innuendo was pretty damn good.”
She bent over and kissed the top of his head, sliding her hand to his nape and then her gaze snagged on the bandage. Damn, she was supposed to be changing it. She’d been so caught up in him.
“Wait,” she said, pulling away, and he raised his head with a quizzical expression on his face.
“Your bandage. We need to change it.”
He rose, sliding against her, pressing against her breasts, his hands working on pulling up her sweater.
She grabbed his wrists and looked into his hot green eyes. Of course, he was stronger, but Sky knew without a doubt he would never use his strength against her.
“You’re going to insist,” he said.
“I am. We’ve already waited too long.”
“You’re right. Better to be safe. If I get sick, I won’t be able to function.”
She nodded.
“Afterwards, can you stop teasing me and let me kiss you?”
She stared up at him with his sexy stubble, his eyes going soft and tender, the beautiful form of his mouth.
“Oh, just shut up and kiss me.” She lifted up on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth to his, wrapping her arms around his neck. The kiss she gave him was something more than just sexual. Her mouth fused to his, softening and responding to the heat and feel of him. Regardless of the physical attraction, she couldn’t hide that she had real affection for him.
Oh, damn. She’d been spontaneous without thinking. That made her stomach tie up in knots right away. She had to really think hard about the last person she felt this way about. She came up with no one. Sure, she’d had affection for teachers and classmates but this feeling for Vin…it was different.
When she pulled away and pressed against his chest to get him to sit, he took a breath, as if he’d just had the same kind of revelation she’d had.
“You should tell me to shut the hell up more often,” he said, dropping down on to the commode.
Getting involved with Vin would be a mistake. She wasn’t going to be a long-term prospect for him. But then she realized that he was probably thinking the same thing. It was understandable that she would have feelings for the man who had gone to such courageous lengths to protect her from danger.
It was just infatuation.
She had to put all this into perspective.
She was so sure Vin would.
“You are full of surprises,” he said as she got to work on the bandage at his shoulder, avoiding his eyes and pretending to study his wound.
What was that saying? It was like closing the barn door after the horse had escaped. Yes, that was the vernacular. That horse had definitely escaped. She busied herself with changing the bandage. The night he’d taken this bullet came back to her like a wrecking ball. She squeezed her eyes tightly closed, exhaling a whisper-soft, distressed sound. Then her heart twisted in her chest, and before she realized what she was going to do, she leaned forward and kissed the freshly bandaged wound.
He took a quick breath, his face swinging around to meet her eyes, and she couldn’t seem to hide what she was thinking. She trembled at the new emotions and sensations this man evoked in her. And she knew she was just kidding herself, even as she mourned the lost distance.
“Sky,” he said softly and took her hand, drawing it to his mouth. “Aw, sweetheart…” His voice trailed off.
When his lips touched her skin, she felt it all the way to her heart, because his eyes were luminous in the bright light of the room. He didn’t say anything, just kissed her skin and gazed up at her under those thick, black lashes that veiled not only the green of his eyes, but the heartbreaking look that she didn’t want to see there. She didn’t want it.
It was her next breath—that look.
And the fear that lurked in her heart at the same time.
How was she supposed to handle this?
She had no experience.
He turned her hand over and placed a hot kiss on her wrist, sliding his mouth along her skin, his breath warm. When he reached the tender spot where her forearm met her elbow, he slipped his hand around her waist and urged her forward against him.
She was stunned, charmed. The full length of him pressed against her, the soft places yielding to his hard body. She sank against him, wanting to never leave and feeling the terrible pressure to run. The warmth of him relaxed her in a way her meditation CDs never could.
Her intellect wasn’t helping her here. Her high IQ wasn’t giving her any answers, and Vin was tougher than any math equation she’d ever tried to figure out.
He rested his chin on her head, and she released the pressure of those deep emotions that had built in her chest. She buried her face in his chest and tried to breathe through the tightness in her throat.
She kept their gazes disconnected a little while longer, not wanting to risk him seeing anything else in her gaze, especially when she hadn’t sorted it all out herself just yet.
When the silence continued and reality began to creep in, he pressed a kiss to her hair and said, “Dinner is probably getting overcooked.”
Grateful that he was getting them back on to such an ordinary plane, she gave him a li
ttle shove with her shoulder, smiling in spite of herself.
She shifted in his arms, felt that strange bubbling inside her. He made her feel…happy? Was that the word she was looking for? She dug into his ribs this time with her fingers, and he let out a huffing sound and gulped in air while laughter erupted. He made a grab for her hands, but she backed up.
“No fair attacking a wounded guy.”
“I’m the dirty, street-fighting kind of scientist.”
He smirked, his eyes twinkling.
“Right. Let’s see if you can take it as well as you can dish it out.” He broadcast his intention. She tensed to run, but moving faster than she thought possible, he lunged forward. Snagging her around the waist with his good arm, his strong fingers went right for her ribcage.
She giggled and struggled against him. “Stop it,” she ordered breathlessly as he held her.
He laughed, swinging her around, pulling her back against him, placing a kiss where her neck met her shoulder, and she couldn’t seem to think. She sighed and leaned into him, knowing her walls had crumbled so swiftly that there was sure to be a big, ugly reckoning coming her way later. But she was happy now, and it was something so new, so unexpected, she decided to worry about the eventuality of dealing with whatever was going to come, later.
“Come on, street fighter,” he said, lifting her hair and kissing her nape, sending a delicious tingling sensation skittering over her skin. “You can show me your deadly moves later.”
He was teasing her, and she liked it a lot. Her skin heated just thinking about what moves she wanted to show him. She bit her lip as she tried to fight off the inevitable reality check. It would be nice if this time with Vin could be about them and not about safeguarding her from danger. She wasn't naïve. He was her protector and they had been through something intense together. It was natural to want to celebrate life. “I bet you want to see my moves, too.”
“I do,” he growled in her ear as he nudged her forward and slapped her backside. She turned around and met his eyes and wished she’d just exited the bathroom and left it alone. Her heart bumped against her chest, and she immediately spun around and started out.
“Whoa, there,” he said, catching her by the shoulder and spinning her. He captured her chin and turned her face up to his. Obviously, she wasn’t as good as she hoped she was in hiding her anxiety about anything right now.
“We’ll refuel. Talk. Get to know each other a little better. Strategize. It’ll all be good.” He got close and tilted his head and smiled, giving her such a cute, boyish look she couldn’t help smiling back at his appeal.
“Strategize? Plan A and Plan B.”
“Maybe even—” he took up a stance and put his hands out, and his face got serious “—a Plan C.” He leaned forward and kissed her.
For some unexplained reason, it was that quick, soft kiss, so natural and so damn sweet, that did her in. Tears welled in her eyes, horrifying her, but there didn’t seem to be any stopping them.
“I don’t want to lose myself to those…terrible men.” And I don’t want to lose you. This was really the whole reason for the tears welling up. That thought sucker-punched her out of nowhere. But he didn’t have to know how she felt, could never know that. Not after she’d been the one to seduce him into taking their relationship to a place he was trying to avoid. Yes, he had wanted it to go the way it had, but he was better at fighting the temptation than she had been.
“I’m here to prevent that.” He tipped up her chin. “Hey, where’s my tough street fighter?”
She gave him a wan smile, and he chucked her under the chin and said, “Come on. That chili smells delicious.”
She preceded him out of the bathroom but stopped short outside the door. “Um, you go ahead. I just need a moment.”
He nodded and slid past her. “Don’t think too hard about it, Sky,” he said, disappearing out of the bedroom door.
She swiped at her eyes, wondering when she’d lost her mind.
That was simple. The instant she’d stopped taking care of herself and let herself lean on somebody. Maybe he’d had the right idea all along. Letting themselves want each other, giving in to that want, had led to allowing themselves to depend on each other. To needing things that they shouldn’t be needing…and wanting things they couldn’t have.
Right now, she needed a little privacy, a chance to regroup, to figure out what she wanted—no, what she needed to do next. She knew what she wanted.
She leaned back against the closed bathroom door and let out a long, contented sigh now that Vin couldn’t see her. Yeah, the thought of him taking her roughly was back. She squeezed her eyes shut. It only made the images in her mind stronger. The sensations, how he filled her when he’d been thrusting inside of her, made her thighs clench together as her muscles jumped at the thought of him.
She turned suddenly away and rubbed vigorously at her face, catching her reflection in the mirror as she did so. It stunned her that she looked no different, completely unchanged, same long dark hair, same delicate arched brows, her full mouth and plump lips and the same cobalt-blue eyes. She looked closer, meeting her gaze headlong in the mirror. No, she’d been wrong, the blue was the same, but that depth was new. Something that hadn’t been there before she’d gone through this ordeal. Before she’d met a very special agent. Confusion was new to her, though. Usually her head was quite clear. Her gaze landed right on the bed. How likely was it that they wouldn’t end up back there? Not long from now. She took a long, deep breath as her body made it clear that it was enthusiastically on board. So much for regrouping.
She jumped when his voice came sailing in through the open bedroom door. “If you don’t get your butt out here, Sky, I’m going to carry you over my shoulder, then force feed you with choo-choo whistle sounds.”
She snorted. She was a goner. How was she supposed to shore up her defenses, resume her steely-eyed distance from a guy who’d brought her through hell, taken her to heaven, then made her laugh?
Chapter Ten
Chris paced while the news played in the background. He could hear Sia laughing as she bathed their son, Raphael.
Why the hell hadn’t Fitzgerald checked in? He was already skating on thin ice with the director for disappearing with Dr. Baang.
His cell rang, and he snatched it off the coffee table. “Vargas.”
“Boss, it’s me.”
“Beau, what are you still doing at work?”
“I couldn’t relax, knowing that there are tangos out there dogging Vin. I found some hacking activity on our database. Not much of a breach, but they got something on Vin.”
“What the hell!”
“The guy was good, but not good enough to get deeper into our database. IT is on it.”
“They damn well better be. Where’s Vin’s family?”
“Boston.”
“Call the field office and get some agents over to his family’s residence. Tell them to use caution, and, for the love of God, don’t freak out the family. If he doesn’t call in soon, he’s going to be in even hotter water.”
“He’s doing his job, boss. Protecting Dr. Baang. I don’t know how the safe house was compromised unless there was an internal leak. It seems to me he’s justified.”
“We have protocol for a reason, Beau. Do you have any idea where he could have gone?”
“No, but I can dig around and see if I can come up with something. I’ll call you back if I find out anything.”
“I’m worried about him, too. See what you can do. Is Amber there, too?”
“Um…would you believe me if I said no?”
“No.”
Chris hung up, but then his cell phone chimed again. He answered.
“Special Agent Vargas, this is Dr. Russell Coyne,” the man on the other line said. “I was wondering if Dr. Baang is all right. I’ve tried her cell numerous times and she’s not answering.”
“There was an incident at the safe house. She’s been moved.”
&n
bsp; “I really need to speak with her. I have a presentation at the end of the week, and I need the results of a test she recently ran. It’s imperative.”
“I’ll see what I can do to help, but her safety is much more important than data, Dr. Coyne.”
“Of course, it is. I’m as concerned about her welfare as you are. If you could ask her to call me as soon as she can, I would very much appreciate it.”
“I’ll relay the message when I can.”
“Thank you. Good night.”
Chris disconnected the call and swore softly under his breath. He got up and walked into the bathroom. “Sia, sweetheart, I have to go back to the office.”
“Is Vin still off the radar?”
“Yes, and if he doesn’t call in soon, I’m going to have to put him on administrative leave and pull him off this detail.”
“Really? Even though he’s trying to save this woman? Chris, can’t you stall? You know Vin and how good he is. I’ve never known his observation skills to be off.”
“I agree.” He cupped her cheek. “I may be home late or out all night.”
“You do what you have to. We’ll be here when you get home. Be careful.” He kissed her and headed out the door. He wasn’t going to sleep while his team was working hard. One more head might help.
“That looks really good,” Sky said as she settled across the table from him. “Look at you. You set the table and everything.”
“I have skills,” he said, watching her without trying to watch her. He was completely screwed. He knew it deep in his gut. Sky was trying to hide her anxiety, and really, he didn’t even know her story. He was sure she had one, especially after she’d dropped that bomb about him wasting his time at NCIS when he’d first met her. The woman drove him crazy with the wanting of not just her body, but of that agile and brilliant mind. She was clever and funny, but what was putting that anxiety in her eyes? It wasn’t tied to the kidnapping. He was sure it was tied to him.
He was the root of the problem, but he was very observant, could read people just like he’d read what kind of clothes she would prefer. It was all about that knowing he’d always possessed.
