Текст книги "Mine"
Автор книги: Dimon HelenKay
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Текущая страница: 6 (всего у книги 18 страниц)
NINE
Natalie was the prickliest woman he’d ever met. Gabe decided that the next morning, after an afternoon inside her on the cabin floor and in the shower that turned cold long before either of them came. One of the hottest women he knew, but damn hard to read.
He should be upset. Thanks to her he’d taken years of grown-up, smart, on-the-job rules and crushed them. Not that he even held out that long against her. After only a few days alone with her, he abandoned his common sense and his control. All those comments about not fucking on the job turned around on him until that was all he wanted to do. And he could not regret that choice. He doubted he could go back to not having her either.
The way she looked, walked, talked back to him, rode his dick. Jesus, he wasn’t kidding about his vision blinking out. Seeing her naked and hovering over him twisted his control to the breaking point. But the heavy dose of denial she seemed to wallow in snapped him back to reality. Her need to put up the shield. That got fucking old fast.
Sure, he understood. He’d been wearing similar armor for years. Kept up his guard. Put Brandon first. Relied only on his brothers . . . until Rick proved that was a big fucking mistake.
But at least he’d had someone. He couldn’t imagine her life and what knowing her father killed her mother must have done to her. Unbelievable shit like that had to mess with your head.
The icy top layer of snow crunched under her boots as she walked. “You’re humming.”
“Maybe that’s frustration over your refusal to stay inside.” He’d bundled up and grabbed weapons. He’d planned to forge this trail alone, but she had other ideas—booted up and followed him. It was either tackle her, shoot her or acquiesce. He picked the third but grumbled and swore about it until she rolled her eyes and followed him anyway.
“Get over it,” she said, as she scanned the trees around them.
“You are not very clear on the whole concept of protection, are you?” He’d had people fight his role before. She made it a full-time job.
“And you’re not getting that I’m an expert shot.”
“I saw your work with a hatchet. I don’t doubt it.” The woman’s skills surpassed those outlined in her file. The suggestion that she was soft or administrative only pissed him off. Made him want to defend her, but he doubted she needed anyone speaking on her behalf. “You seem to be good at everything, actually.”
She stopped and turned to face him. “Are you talking about sex?”
Now there was a conversation jump he was happy to take. “No, but I’ll talk sex with you any time.”
It didn’t matter that she wore a heavy jacket and gloves. That she had a plaid scarf wrapped around her neck and tucked up under her chin. Or that she was all bound up with only pink cheeks and big eyes staring out. Natalie mentioned sex and his body defied the cold. Heat crashed through him, and his mind spun to memories of her breasts and how the tips fit in his mouth.
She stole his willpower until he had to fight the clawing need to scoop her up and carry her back inside. Having sex with her only made him want to experience more sex with her. Different positions. Holding her down. Stretching her out.
So much for the idea of being civilized.
“All those comments about being in charge turned out to be bluster.” She stomped her feet and caked snow fell off. “You’re actually pretty unselfish.”
He had no idea what the hell that meant, but it sounded kind of lame. Like, not what you wanted the woman you hoped to sleep with that night to say about you. “I’m not clear if that’s a compliment.”
“It definitely is.”
He decided to believe her. Then he went back to walking. Standing around seemed like a good way to freeze the soles of her boots to the ground, and he had better plans for the afternoon.
“Good.” But he did need her to understand a few facts about him. Better to be clear and in agreement than risk surprises. “You are wrong about one thing though.”
“Which is?”
“Being in charge in the bedroom doesn’t mean being selfish.” He didn’t know what kind of men she’d been with in the past, but he knew who he was. Sex meant pleasure. Sometimes hot and fast. Other times slow, drawing out every minute and every breath.
“Well, sure. I—”
“It’s about timing.”
She shot him the side eye. “Okay.”
“I am going to tie you to the bed and fuck you senseless.” Her breath hit the air in a visible puff, just as he’d hoped it would. “I just have to know no one is coming up behind me with a knife when I do. That means we wait to make it happen.”
She tucked her gloved hands in her pockets. “I thought you were convinced we were safe here.”
“I never said that.” She knew better. There were too many variables. A chance that someone out there with a big wallet had made an offer Gabe could only combat with a bullet.
“You have the perimeter set up.”
Motion detectors. Infrared sensors. A few traps to welcome anyone who stepped in the wrong place. The usual. “Sure, I’m not a fucking novice.”
“Then?”
“Neither will the person be who comes after us.” This was a game for grown-ups. He lived in a world where experts littered the ground. Finding someone to venture out here would not be a burden if someone really wanted to find her. If that happened, the cat-and-mouse chase would begin. The only way to turn this was to keep running or convince the people after her, if there proved to be any, to back off.
“You still think people are coming.”
“Possibly.” He kept walking and watching, doing the job he’d been sent out here to do.
“Don’t.” When he lifted an eyebrow but stayed quiet, she kept talking. “No hesitating and hiding things from me because you think that will somehow keep me safe.”
Time to come clean. She deserved the facts. Her knowing would double his strength . . . and likely make keeping her there even harder. “The same biplane has flown over twice today already.”
She halted at the edge of a drift with the snow piled around her, past the top of her boots. Her grim expression said she understood the potential peril. “You’re sure it’s the same one?”
He excelled at gathering intel. He could lie on his stomach in a swamp and not move for hours while crocodiles circled and the enemy closed in. Visually tagging a plane and marking its movement counted as child’s play to him. “It’s buzzing low. Doesn’t have any distinguishing marks.”
Skepticism showed in every line of her body and in the smirk she held back, but not by much. “And that’s enough to tell you someone is coming?”
Well . . . “And Andy sent me a signal. Insists the person is not coming to inflict harm, just do a check, which is why we’re walking the perimeter.”
She sent him that same you’re-an-idiot eye roll she’d been aiming his way since they met. “Why would someone come out here just for a check?”
“Good question.” As soon as he could raise his brother, Gabe would ask. Right now they communicated through abbreviated code in an attempt not to disclose their location, because there was no question someone out there was watching. “I’m waiting for more intel from Andy.”
“It might be easier to grab the person lurking around out here and squeeze the information out of him.” She slipped her hands out of her pockets and acted out her words.
“I like your style.” Her no-nonsense practical nature appealed to him. He’d known strong women, many agents and military officers throughout the years. He admired brains, and her beauty sure sucked him in. The combination drove him to his knees. “And that was my thought exactly.”
“So, we’re really looking for tracks.” She glanced at the ground to the blank canvas of snow in front of them.
Good instincts but wrong direction. “Something like that.”
“And while we do that, you thought it was a good time to talk about tying me to a bed?” She rubbed her hands together.
“I think about it every fucking second, so I may as well talk about it.” And that was the truth. So was his need to keep her mind unfocused and off the danger. He needed her to act like a job and listen, not question if something life-threatening headed their way.
She froze. “What if I don’t want to be tied down?”
No way that stiffness came from the cold. “Your eyes are all big. Not sure why you’re afraid to admit you’re a sexual being and enjoy sex.”
“I never said—”
“You’re pretty great at it and clearly like it. Seems to me, you should stop fighting it.” Oh, she let go during. He just sensed that she didn’t like losing control with him.
He understood the sensation of being out of control. The way he discarded every personal rule with her and felt a twisting in his gut whenever he stared at her for more than two seconds. All new, and none of it welcome. But he’d ride it out, enjoy the sex and keep her safe until he turned her over to restart her life.
“You don’t know everything,” she mumbled as she started walking again, taking big marching steps.
A white blanket surrounded them. The makeshift forest filled with the sounds of their thudding steps and the crackle of branches as the weight of the wet snow sent them crashing to the frozen ground.
He took it all in, the sights and echoes of the unpopulated area around them, but his mind kept winging back to her. “Tell me what I don’t know.”
Through the scarf, she snorted. “Forget it.”
“Exactly my point.”
She continued to scan the ground, careful before placing each footstep as they ventured closer to the trees outlining the side of the cabin. “You’re trying to bully me into this conversation.”
“I’m trying to let you know that the guy you’re sleeping with gets that things happen and that life can be shit sometimes and is willing to talk it all through with you.” Backgrounds usually amounted to nothing more than lines on pieces of paper to him. With her, he wanted to dig around, get to know the woman who tried to keep him at a distance even as her gaze followed him around.
“We’ve had sex a few times.”
If she wanted to piss him off she’d found the right way to do it. His jaw tightened and his teeth clamped together as he spotted a pattern in the snow about six feet in front of them, right at the edge of the forest.
He knew he should drop the conversation and get back to work. And he would—in a second. “The number of times doesn’t matter.”
She broke eye contact with the snow long enough to glance at him. “You think we’re dating now?”
Not that he was looking for commitment or even nights together once the assignment was over, but still. He’d used that line so many times. Having it thrown in his face made him realize how shitty it sounded. “I think I’m the closest thing you have to a friend.”
She touched a hand to her hat. Pulled it down closer to the top of her eyebrows. “I don’t sleep with friends.”
For some reason that sent his temper spiking. “You sure do have an answer for everything.”
She smiled above her scarf. “How does that feel? Annoying, isn’t it?”
One point for Natalie.
Perfect time to pivot. He reached for his gun and took a step toward the spot that had grabbed his attention a minute ago. “Now we have an entrance point.”
The corners of her mouth dropped. “What?”
“Do not look until we start to turn around and head back to the cabin, but we have covered tracks. No prints, but snow that’s been pushed and not just fallen in that pattern.”
She kept her focus on him. Didn’t engage in the usual panicked rookie mistake of checking out the scene despite all warnings. There certainly were benefits to having a client who knew how the dark side of the world worked.
“Can you see anyone in the vicinity?” she asked, as she gathered her coat around her and turned back to walk directly into the wind.
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. To anyone watching the move might look romantic. For him it was really about being able to jump in and shield her if necessary, though part of him wondered if she’d let him try.
“No, but I’d be real disappointed in the person’s skill set if I could.” He kept his voice steady and his steps even. No signs they’d found the person scouting him. Even now the person, man or woman, could be watching from nearby, and Gabe refused to tip them off.
“So, now what?” Her hand slipped into her pocket, right where she kept the gun he gave her.
He looked forward, but with each step he did a quick visual sweep of the land, looking for any sign of movement. In the trees. On the ground. The person could be hiding anywhere. But wouldn’t be for long. “We set a trap.”
She hmpf’d. “We could just shoot the person.”
“While I appreciate your bloodthirsty response, we need him or her alive to answer questions.” He squeezed her shoulder but doubted she felt it through all those layers. “And Andy’s code said non-hostile.”
“What if Andy’s wrong?”
Gabe refused to let that thought snake its way in. Andy knew something. Now Gabe needed to know what. “Rarely happens.”
“You’ll understand if I don’t trust your hopeful loyalty to your baby brother.”
The same lethal baby brother who once took down a drug runner by stabbing him in the forehead. But Gabe didn’t start spouting off Andy’s resume or his own.
“Then trust me.” He’d been nothing but straight with her, even though it cost him to admit to the attraction kicking his ass. That had to count for something.
“Because we slept together.” Not a question. She said it as a statement, without judgment. Just a flat tone as she pretended to look at him but glanced past him in a check of the trees.
Part of him thought that should be enough, but he went with the more obvious answer. “Because this is what I do.”
“Fine.”
They walked faster, their boots clomping against the snow as he switched to a wider stride and pulled her along with him. “And, for the record, ‘slept’ suggests past tense, and I think we both know that’s not the case.”
“You’re awfully sure of yourself.” She matched her gait to his, never complaining, even as she grabbed on to his arm for balance.
Words ran through his head as tension built in his gut. Something was wrong. Really wrong.
He wanted her inside and behind a wall. Walking out in the open was an invitation to danger. He didn’t welcome that. “The blame is on you.”
“Of course it is,” she said in a dry tone.
“You’re the one who screamed my name the last time we were naked.” The memory pricked at him, but he blocked it. Had to. He needed all of his concentration to get inside the cabin and hunker down. Regain his bearings.
She picked up her pace even more. “Go to hell.”
A stray thought worked its way back into his mind, and he didn’t fight it. “I’d rather go back to bed.”
They reached the bottom porch step, and she practically jumped on it before turning back around to stare at him. “I have to stay alive for that to happen.”
That sobered him up. “No matter what I have to do, you will stay safe.”
She nodded. “Both of us.”
A nice idea, but he was starting to wonder. “Right.”
TEN
They’d been inside for over two hours, and Gabe hadn’t stopped pacing. He went from one cabin window to another. Since there were only three, and one amounted to little more than a slit for ventilation in the bathroom, that meant he circled. Round and round until she thought her brain might explode.
Since playing the audience seemed to be her only choice, she went with that. She balanced an elbow on the couch’s seat cushions as she sat on the floor and watched him stalk. That’s what it was. Not walking. The intensity rose well above a mere one-foot-in-front-of-the-other thing.
She rested her chin in her palm and continued to follow his set surveillance path from her seat on the floor. “You aren’t exactly inspiring confidence.”
With his back against the wall, he glanced out the window, keeping his body well behind the frame. “I’m checking for infiltration.”
Sometimes she wondered if he could stop a bullet with his bare hands. He came off as so capable and uncomplicated. The kind of guy with an ingrained set of rules and a theory about right and wrong that had more to do with practical life lessons than anything preached to him through the years.
That’s why the kid thing hit her wrong. A guy who stuck to her the way he had, despite her fighting and yelling and even attempts to ignore him, ignoring responsibility? The idea of that guy dropping off his son for a semester or a year and not looking back didn’t ring true for her.
Maybe the difference was cash. Powerful people paid him to protect her. People who insisted they were her friends, even though she’d never had many of those. No one paid him to watch over his son. Could be that made it easier to abandon him.
She shook her head and tried to clear the unwanted thoughts from her brain. How he treated his kid was none of her business. This didn’t amount to a love affair. Their time together centered on waiting out a threat, and possibly running from one, and sex. Boredom-burning, don’t-overanalyze-it sex.
And to get back to the mindless pleasure of that she needed him to step off guard duty. “No one is coming in without you knowing. Not on foot.”
He leaned his head back against the cabin wall and rubbed his eyes. “We can’t be sure.”
The man was losing it. “You’re the one who told me that.” She patted her hand against the hard floor. “Come here.”
He dropped his hand to his side and looked over at her. “I need to focus.”
She expected a haze. She got an unwavering stare. One that told her his mind had been on something other than a potential attacker. “You can’t do that here by the couch?”
“Not if I’m sitting with you.”
Big tough guy wanted sex and was determined to deny it. She’d dealt with cocky assholes her entire career. Guys who thought every word and every explanation they gave came dipped in gold. Seeing Gabe fight his attraction while trying to keep her safe turned out to be pretty endearing.
She didn’t do sweet or long. The last time a guy made a move to switch from convenient sex to something that included dinners and movies she cut him off. That was the right answer. Always the right answer. You stayed safe by staying smart. But the idea of losing herself in him for a few more days tugged at her. She just never thought she’d have to beg for it. Gabe MacIntosh was a mystery.
Instead of saying all of that or unbuttoning her shirt, she told the truth. One she struggled to understand because the concept seemed so foreign to her. “I trust your control.”
“Don’t.”
He meant sex. The guy preached pleasure and could back up the words. “You don’t strike me as someone who loses his way.”
“Usually, no.” He slid along the wall, away from the window and moved closer to her. “You’re different.”
If he let her she’d release some of that tension that caught him in a stranglehold. “How?”
“The competence.”
Well that was . . . not interesting at all. She could almost feel something inside of her deflate. “How sexy of you to notice.”
He laughed then, rich and deep, and the sound washed through the room. “It is. Trust me.”
Enough dancing around it. “Come. Here.”
“Why?” But he was already moving, coming in closer as his eyes flashed with an intense heat.
“The tension in here is about to choke us.” Much more of this and she’d drag him to the floor with her.
“Sitting will fix that?”
Damn the man was dense today. “I will fix that.”
“Something’s off.”
“What?” Whatever the sensation, it had been pricking him since they’d been outside. He stayed calm at seeing the tracks, or the not-really-tracks, but then something changed. A snap, and his mood morphed into something dark and almost paranoid.
“It’s a feeling, really. Like danger is coming and I need to be ready.”
She waited for her instincts to kick into gear and . . . nothing. She’d been so sure at the start of all this that the answer was to run off alone and hide. Somehow start her new, boring life that she hadn’t been trained to handle. No other option made sense, and dragging someone into her mess seemed ridiculous. But here, in the cabin with him, she felt at ease. The usual panic and need to plan an exit strategy didn’t hit her.
She sensed, even with someone lurking around out there, they were safe. At least for now. Which meant she needed to concentrate on him. “You can stare at the door the whole time.”
He shook his head as a smile inched up one side of his mouth. “I know I’ve said it before, but you are so fucking tempting. You say these things and all I want to do is get you naked.”
Now they were at least talking the same language.
“Then come here and let me tempt you.” She glanced at the couch cushion then back at him. It qualified as the least subtle offer ever, and if he didn’t take it soon she’d take it off the table.
Proving he was as smart as she thought, he started moving. Slipped the rest of the way along the wall, then to the end of the couch. He put his gun on the small table, pointed away from them, as he sat down.
“Are you going to join me?” he asked, in a voice that sounded scratchier than usual.
“Soon.” She turned over and pushed up on her knees. The wood squeaked under her legs, but she ignored the sound. Gabe’s gaze held her captive. The unblinking stare. And then there was the way he ran his hand up and down her leg.
When she touched his thigh, he opened his knees and she slid between. Her fingers trailed along his sleek muscles to rest on his hips. She leaned in, and he met her halfway. Without words, their mouths met and the kiss burned through her. Just like before, the touch of his lips against hers was like being thrown in a whirlwind. Energy whipped around her and waves of excitement crashed through her.
It would be so easy to lose herself, let him take over. But she wanted to lead on this. To show him that she could envelope him in pleasure.
Before he could make a move or even say anything, she reached for his belt. The buckle clanked as she opened it and pushed the ends aside. Her fingers moved to the jeans button and slid it free from the hole. Next came the zipper. His bulge grew until, with one brush against the waistband of his briefs, his cock spilled into her hand.
“Nat, please.”
The temptation to draw this out, make him wait, pushed her. But she wanted this as much as he did. Lowering her head, she took him in her mouth. The first few inches slid between her lips as her hand moved up and down along his length. She lifted her head just long enough to sweep her tongue over his tip, and she felt his fingers slip into her hair.
The heat of his stare didn’t throw her. She could sense his need, feel the attraction thrumming off him. When she took him deep, he groaned. The sound deepened when she tightened her fingers and licked her tongue over him. The combination of the pumping of her hand and suction of her mouth had his hips lifting off the couch.
She picked up speed, caressing his cock with her mouth. Taking her time to cover every inch of him. One hand held him still for her mouth while the other traveled. She massaged his balls and let her pinky finger slip between his ass cheeks. The intimate touch might have other men bolting off the couch, spouting a stream of denial. Not Gabe. He leaned into the touch. Let her learn what turned his insides wild with desire.
With each plunge of her mouth his body pulled taut. He wound her long hair around his fist and held her there. Looking down the length of his body, he watched her. Saw every puff of her cheeks and lick of her tongue.
When she swallowed him to the base one last time, he started to come. His body shook, and low, guttural sounds rumbled in his throat. She could feel and hear him shift as those fingers tightened against her scalp.
“Jesus, Natalie.” The whisper floated through the room as his hips continued to shift. “You’re amazing.”
She swallowed and sat back on her heels. Tried to regain her usual even breathing as she took in the sight of him in a half-naked sprawl. He’d slouched down until his head balanced against the cushions, and those sexy dark eyes stayed shut.
Her legs ached and she needed to stand up. She was about to when his eyes popped open and he looked at her.
A smile formed on his lips. “Your turn.”
She thought he’d never ask.
• • •
An hour later Gabe slipped around the left side of the cabin at the point farthest away from where he’d seen a break in the trees. Another few steps and whoever was out there would have tripped a sensor. A bit to the side and he would have snagged a wire and been hanging in a net from a tree branch.
The tracker seemed to be too smart to get caught fast and clean. Erasing the footprints showed serious training. Gabe would have made the same move but done better. The trick is not to make the trail too perfect. That operated as much as a giveaway as leaving the footprints.
After years of building his skills and refining his craft, he didn’t get thrown off easily. In stepping outside, he’d blocked Natalie from his mind. Pretended he couldn’t still feel her mouth on him or remember the feel of her skin under his fingertips. He needed focus and clarity.
All good things, except for the fact that he could smell her. That shampoo he’d purchased and thrown in her go bag before taking off for Montana smelled like the beach. Recalling her blond hair and that scent, his mind wandered, and that could not happen now.
He glanced over his shoulder and saw her creeping up behind him. She’d been quiet, even managing to keep her footsteps from crunching in the icy snow. He glared at her anyway.
When she fell in behind him with her body almost touching his, he whispered. “I told you to stay inside.”
“Outside of the bedroom you aren’t the boss of me.”
Fucking damn. “We’re not talking about that now.”
“What are you looking at?”
He hesitated, convinced the answer was to shoo her inside. Not that she was a shooing type of woman. “Around the back of the cabin to our eleven o’clock.”
She eased her way to the end of the cabin wall and peeked out. Her eyes went to the ground then lifted before she turned to face him again. “In the tree.”
“Good catch.” Not that he was surprised. She might have spent the last few years riding a desk and commanding from headquarters and behind armed guards, but she understood how the game worked and didn’t show fear.
“Has he moved?”
Despite the stress of the moment Gabe had to smile at that. “You think he’s dead?”
“No, genius. I’m wondering if he possesses your stalking and waiting skills.” She took out her gun and checked it.
Watching her hands move, those fingers sliding over steel, mesmerized him. “Possibly.”
“What’s the plan?”
“We’re not shooting him.” Though part of Gabe did think that would be the most efficient solution. Dump their tail then move on. Maybe to somewhere warmer this time.
“I think that should be Plan B.”
Since she sounded so serious, he decided she probably was. The snow had begun falling again. The watcher was about to get cold and wet. As much as he wanted her out of this, grabbing the watcher’s attention now might be the best way to shake a few answers out of him. Then he could talk with Andy at the prearranged time and report in.
That meant subterfuge. Gabe would bet she excelled at that, too. “Since you’re out here, we’ll flush him out. You create a distraction, and I’ll bring him down.” With a shot, if the guy even thought about raising a weapon in Natalie’s direction.
She nodded. “Sounds good.”
“Walk around the front. Carry the hatchet or something that suggests you’re gathering wood or whatever. We’ll have only seconds before he realizes I’m not with you and we lose our edge.”
“Then you’d better run fast.”
“I aim to impress.” He didn’t hear what she said after that because she turned around and headed toward the front of the cabin, but the mumble sounded like “You do.”
Gabe slipped to the corner of the cabin where the side wall met the back and hunkered down. His timing had to be perfect. One second off and he’d be spotted, and the guy could bolt. One second too early and there could be gunfire. Gabe was up for both options but secretly hoped this went according to their informal plan.
From this position he couldn’t see the cabin’s front and watch whatever Natalie was doing, but he trusted her to follow through. He focused all of his energy on movement in the trees, looking for any sign the other guy got up or moved. The world around him fell into a still silence as he concentrated. He took the small magnifying lens out of his pocket and watched.
After a few seconds, the surveillance paid off. An arm shifted and the guy’s weight moved forward. He stayed on his stomach, but he’d switched to alert. That could only mean one thing: Natalie.
Gabe didn’t wait. He took off at a flat-out run, ignoring the way his boots slipped against the snow. The depth of the pile slowed his movements, but he stepped as lightly as possible, careful not to sink.
By the time he hit the clearing where the open area met the edge of the trees, the guy was already climbing down. Gabe jumped over the trap he knew lay right there and jumped deeper into the thick woods. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Natalie running toward him.
“Match my steps.” It was all the warning he could get out before he picked up the pace. All of his attention stayed on the guy bounding down the tree with an ease that almost suggested he’d been raised in one.
The guy let go of the last branch and Gabe leapt. Hit him square in the side and knocked them both off balance. They flew, falling to the ground. Rough rocks and broken tree limbs poked into Gabe as they rolled. The other man, younger and lighter, used his legs and hands. He was fast, but Gabe had the weight edge and a load of fury fueling his movements.
They ended their sparring with the guy’s back on the ground and Gabe straddling his hips. The guy kept moving. Reached for a knife in a holder by his waist. Might have gotten off a swipe if Natalie hadn’t picked that moment to step up.
She aimed her gun at the stranger’s head. “I’d stop moving unless you want us both to shoot you.”
While she covered him, Gabe sat back and caught his breath. A second later he searched the guy for weapons. Slid his hands into pockets and conducted a pat down. Unpacked two knives and two guns and figured he’d missed a few before getting up to stand next to Natalie.
