Behind Enemy Lines (16 page)

The men moved closer and closer and finally stopped at a table about ten feet away.

“Minister Ramirez, you will come with us. Our leaders wish to speak with you.”

A terrified looking man stood up and was escorted across the patio by the three rebels. They stepped inside.

As quickly as it began, the incident was over. The patio was silent for several long seconds, and then pandemonium erupted. Tom slumped in his seat as the adrenaline drained away.

It occurred to him that Annie was being awfully quiet. He looked up, and she was staring at him, her eyes huge and dark against pasty white skin.

He threw a couple of bills on the table and said, “Let’s go. The police will be here any second and will question everyone.”

“Right.”

Annie roused herself with some difficulty and followed him out of the restaurant. Tom all but ran from the building. She had to hustle to keep up with him as he ducked into stores, crossed streets without warning and dived into alleys, all the while checking for tails.

Finally they slowed and turned toward home. Annie was startled when Tom veered in yet another direction. A crowd had gathered ahead of them. A building, or what was left of it, spilled into the street in a man-high jumble of cement and steel. A rubble brigade had been established as workers lifted away bricks and chunks of debris, while rescue workers searched for victims.

Tom studied the building, looked over his shoulder in the direction of their apartment and then noted the position of the sun.

“The mortars last night came over our apartment and would have landed right about here. Annie, what was this place?” he asked tersely.

“An office building.”

“What companies were housed in it?”

She racked her brain while Tom stared expectantly at her. She’d sold him on her usefulness because she knew the city like the back of her hand. Now was the time to prove it.

Think!
She looked around the wrecked street, reconstructing what it used to look like. Details started coming back to her.

“There was an insurance company and a bank. National One Television was here, and—”

Tom cut her off. “I think we found the target of last night’s shelling. The government’s TV station.”

Annie nodded. It made sense. The network had been gushing anti-rebel propaganda like an oil well recently.

“C’mon. Let’s get off the street.”

To her surprise Tom steered her into a supermarket on their way home. He loaded their basket with piles of canned food. He added several large plastic containers, rolls of plastic wrap and duct tape, a cheap headset radio, batteries and a stack of candles big enough to elicit a rude comment from the checkout clerk. Annie didn’t ask what they were for. Right now she just wanted to get behind the walls of their apartment.

Before long Annie’s arms were killing her, and she wasn’t carrying nearly as many bags of groceries as Tom. She was huffing when they got back to the apartment, but he seemed unaffected. She’d hate to see him at full strength if he was in such good shape after his complete inactivity the past two months.

She’d no sooner put down her groceries on the kitchen table than Tom said, “Go take a bath, Annie. Take your time and enjoy it. It’s the last one you’re going to get for a while.”

Alarm sluiced through her. “But we found the target of the shelling, and it was destroyed. We don’t have to leave now, do we?”

“No, we’re staying put. But if the rebels were smart enough to go after the TV station, then surely they know to go after the utilities. I’d bet my next paycheck we’re about to lose water and electricity.”

The reality of living in a war zone struck Annie hard. “I hadn’t thought of that, but it makes sense.”

He nodded absently, his mind already at work on the next problem.

“Join me in the bath, Tom?”

His gaze jerked to her, startled. “I’d better not.”

Deflated, she replied, “If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

His gaze softened and a reluctant smile lit his features. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

Tom watched her turn and head for the bathroom. Her hips swayed just enough to drive him crazy. He could still feel them undulating in perfect time with his.

And he could still see the stark terror on Annie’s face in the restaurant. He’d really screwed up back there. He should have seen it coming. The rebels wielding the guns had been clumsy amateurs at terrorism. If he’d been even half alert, he’d have seen the signs of it. But he’d been so wrapped up in flirting with Annie that he’d missed it completely.

He was going to get them both killed if he didn’t get his mind on business and keep it there. It had been sheer dumb luck they didn’t get killed in the restaurant. Next time they might not be so lucky.

Last night was a huge mistake. He couldn’t let it happen again.

How he was going to stop it from happening he had no idea. The mere thought of lying beside Annie, holding her and loving her, aroused him. He wanted her so badly he could hardly stand it. She was an addiction in his blood.

Resolutely he set water on the stove to boil. Once they’d both had a bath, he was going to sterilize the bathtub and fill it with drinking water for them. He would cover it with the plastic wrap and it should last them for a week or two.

He took a roll of duct tape to the bedroom and crisscrossed tape across the windows. If they were hit and shattered, the tape would keep pieces of glass from flying around and injuring them. Next he taped blankets in place over the windows for extra protection from shrapnel. He left tiny peepholes on each side of the windows at eye level.

He dragged the bed into the living room, somehow managing to wrestle it through the doorway. When he finally got it in place along an interior wall, he sat down on it in relief.

Exhaustion rolled over him in a heavy wave, sucking him downward, seducing him into inactivity. If nothing else, their outing had shown him he was not strong enough to attempt leaving Gavarone yet. He closed his eyes and marshaled his strength. There was still a lot to do before dark, and the probable end of electricity. He was gathering himself to stand again when Annie’s voice sounded.

“Tom? Could you come here for a second?”

Immediately he was alert. “Are you all right?” he asked as he hurried to the bathroom.

He opened the door and a wave of steam rolled forth. Annie sat in the tub, covered to her neck in bubbles. Her hair was pinned up, and tendrils curled around her face, teasing her rosy cheeks. She looked like a centerfold about to reveal herself.

“I forgot my razor. Could you get it for me? It’s on top of the dresser in the bedroom.”

“Uh, yeah, sure.”

He stepped outside, leaning against the wall beside the door. He had to stop it, here and now. For both their sakes. But the sight of her luxuriating in that tub, looking hopeful that he might join her…

He shoved away from the wall and got her damn razor. He carried it into the bathroom, prepared to deliver it along with a speech about how they had to cool it.

She was standing up. Suds clung to her in all the right places, and she put any centerfold he’d ever seen to shame. Rivulets of water ran down her body, erasing the suds in their path, revealing tantalizing streaks of feminine flesh.

She had one foot propped on the edge of the tub, apparently waiting for the razor. Dumbly he handed it to her. Before his knees went too weak to hold him, he sat down on the closed lid of the toilet. Helplessly he watched her shave her legs.

Her hand smoothed its way up her calf, behind her knee, and up the back of her thigh. He watched its path, mesmerized. Another long stroke of her hand, and another strip of smooth flesh was revealed. Over and over, her hand glided upward in long, lazy movements. He couldn’t have gotten up and left if his life depended on it.

She gave the same treatment to her other leg, and Tom began to find it difficult to breathe. It must be all the heat and steam in the small space. He unbuttoned the top button of his shirt, fanning the fabric to cool himself. It didn’t help. He slipped another button free. And then another. Before he knew it, the shirt was off.

Still, he was burning up. Annie straightened and turned to look at him. She smiled, and he was lost. He rose and went to his Venus rising from the sea. She reached for his belt buckle, but her fingers were slippery and fumbled with the fastener. He brushed them aside and tore it open himself. She helped him out of his remaining clothes, more in the way than not, but the feel of her hands on him was pure heaven.

Finally, as naked as she, he stepped into the tub and wrapped his arms around her soapy perfection. His hands slid over her skin, and he gloried in her delight. And when she did the same to him, his knees threatened to give way once more. He carried her down with him and twisted so he lay full length in the tub with her stretched out on top of him.

Annie squirmed away and sat up. He guided her knees to either side of his hips and placed her hands on his shoulders. Her whole being lit up with a smile that warmed his soul as they became one.

The pleasure was exquisite, almost painful. He bit his lip and managed not to lose control. His effort was well rewarded by the sight of Annie, her head flung back, her eyes closed, her throat taut with ecstasy.

They laughed when water sloshed all over the floor, and they laughed again when he emptied the rest of the bubble bath into the tub. The heady aroma of gardenias swirled around them, and Tom knew he’d never smell that scent again without thinking of this moment. He gave himself over to it, savoring it with the same abandon Annie did. There was no holding back, no secrets. He laid before her everything that he was, and she did the same for him.

The water was cold by the time they finally climbed out of the tub. They took turns toweling each other dry, extending the moment as long as they could. Tom brushed out Annie’s hair and kissed the back of her neck while she blow-dried it. She spread his shaving cream for him, but he handled his razor himself. Annie inspected his work with her mouth and declared it a satisfactory shave. But finally the moment arrived when they had to leave the magic of their tryst.

Even Annie seemed to sense they might not have another like it. Her eyes grew shiny with unshed tears.

“You know we shouldn’t be doing this, Annie. I need to focus one hundred percent on getting us out of here.”

“I know,” she whispered.

Tom held her gently. “No regrets, angel. Promise me.”

She drew a shaky breath. “I promise. But you promise you won’t forget me.”

“I couldn’t if I tried. There’s never been another woman like you in my life.”

She leaned back to look up at him. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

“I most certainly do not.”

“You don’t have to lie to me. I’ve seen the way groupie chicks hang all over you Special Forces types in bars while you lie your butts off to them about what you can do.”

He scowled at her. “I knew there was a reason why I never date military women. I can’t snow them with tales of my heroic deeds.”

Her expression turned serious. “I bet if you did tell people the truth, they wouldn’t believe you.”

He matched her serious turn. “That’s been my experience. We do some wild stuff. Sometimes even I don’t believe we pull off some of our missions.”

“Is this one of them?”

“It’s getting there. I’ll let you know when we’re sitting in a debriefing room telling the tale.”

She gave him a tremulous smile, the gesture both endearing and heart wrenching. “That’s a deal.”

“Meanwhile,” he said, clearing his throat to loosen the tightness in his chest, “We’ve got a war to get ready for. Our survival may depend on the preparations we make in the next few hours.”

Annie straightened her spine. It nearly broke her heart to see him so determined to take care of her and his men while he was still so hurt himself. The least she could do for him was to stand beside him and match his bravery. “Let’s get to it, then.”

Chapter 9

T
wo weeks into their enforced hiding, Annie woke up after a routine night of gunfire to the sight of Tom sitting on the edge of the bed, cutting the cast off his left arm.

She rolled over and spooned herself around his naked back. “Are you sure your arm’s ready for that?”

He relaxed against her momentarily before the inevitable shift away from her. “Annie, we shouldn’t have—”

She rolled away from him, exasperated. “You say that every single time, Tom. I know we shouldn’t have. But we did. Nobody got hurt, nobody knows but us, and we both know the rules when we leave here. Can’t you just relax and enjoy what we have right now?”

He frowned down at her. “It’s not that simple. I can’t explain it, but I have a gut feeling something bad’s going to come of our relationship.”

“Then we’ll deal with it when it happens. You worry too much.”

“And you don’t worry enough.”

She sighed. They’d been over that ground before. “Any particular reason you’re taking your cast off today?”

“Yeah. We’re getting out of here tomorrow, and it would be in my way.”

Annie sat bolt upright in bed. “Tomorrow?”

“That’s the plan. We’re all going walk out of here and leave Gavarone to its war.”

“You make it sound easy.”

He frowned. “It’ll be anything but easy. Which reminds me. Get plenty of rest today. No hard workouts.”

She’d followed his lead and exercised rigorously for the past two weeks. It had been a nightmare for her. Watching the pain and suffering Tom had to put himself through to recover from the injuries she’d inflicted upon him had been pure torture. With every session, every muffled groan, every carefully disguised flinch from him, her guilt grew. Her need to do something—anything—to make amends to him or even just to suffer in like fashion grew nearly unbearable. She was as trapped in her own way by Tom’s injuries as he was.

His voice interrupted her spinning thoughts. “Are you ready to get back to civilization?”

The idea captured her complete attention. She smiled dreamily. “Just think. I could be taking a nice hot bath the day after tomorrow.”